Bible Student: Volume 2, 1882
Table of Contents
Preface
A few words introducing this, the first volume of this magazine in its enlarged form, may not be out of place.
The nucleus of this periodical, as has been stated already in its pages, is “the Bible Students’ Class.” This consists of a band of voluntary laborers in the “gold mines” of God’s word, who seek to bring out of them month by month fresh treasures for the interest and spiritual profit of all who read the magazine. It is, we believe, entirely a novel feature, that the interest of a Bible magazine should center round the work of a voluntary band of its own Christian subscribers. We desire to preserve the quality of this work at a high standard, and would earnestly invite still further co-operation from any Bible Student who is prepared to give from four to six hours’ work each month for the purpose.
A word or two as to the remaining contents will suffice. The Bible Queries take up a great part of the present volume. To render any truth they contain available for ready research, a copious index has been prepared, showing at a glance where each query can be found. The whole volume has been thus fully indexed in order that it may serve rather as a work for reference and study than be merely used for present perusal.
The notes on Eastern Manners and Customs are nearly all new, and published here for the first time.
We need not speak of the written articles, which we trust may be the means of awakening in many hearts a deeper interest in Divine truth, and a truer insight into the “ God inspired’ (θεοπευστος 2 Timothy 3:16) character of the Word of God.
Our chief delight is that the character of the present volume has enabled us very largely to allow the Bible to be its own spokesman, and very wonderful indeed have been the fresh revelations the Word itself has given us of the beauties and glories of Christ, of the privileges and responsibilities of the Christian’s life, and other matters, all dear to the heart in which God’s word is “hid.”
We commend this little effort to spread the truth to Him who is the Truth, and pray that if anything has slipped into its pages contrary to “sound doctrine,” it may in no way be used by the enemy, but that, on the contrary, the Master may use whatever speaks to the heart of Himself, and of His things for His own glory, through the lips and lives of our readers.
To Our Readers
This being the first number of the “Bible Student” in its new and enlarged form, it may be well to give a short account of its history, and of what is proposed for the coming year.
Last April there appeared in the pages or the “Young Believer” (W. B. Homer) the following letter from a well-known writer “Dear Friends,—I do not know whether any of you have ever felt as I have, that it is a difficult thing to make the most of occasional spare hours over the Bible. No doubt there are many ways of doing this, but the thing I would suggest is in reference to only one of these ways, namely, the study of special subjects, looking out through the Scriptures, from beginning to end, all that we can find in reference to them ... By uniting together in this search, the result of the labors of each would be helpful to all. Many passages may be overlooked by one student, but discovered by others, and thus by communication with one another, much more might be brought to light than by solitary labor. It may, perhaps, have occurred to you how much evidence is given of the verbal inspiration of Scripture, by the constant recurrence, in so many different forms, of a thought or principle, not expressed, but left to the discovery of those who are willing to bestow patient labor in the searching out of the thoughts of God. Should any be willing to help one another in these studies, by written or personal communication, they will find a double blessing.
To your prayerful consideration I commend the subject.
Yours affectionately in Christ,
“One Who Desires To Learn More.”
The result of this letter was the formation of a Bible Class, and the commencement in July of the “Bible Student.” Each month some subject was subdivided among the class (now numbering considerably over too), and the result of the search was published in the magazine. The subjects already worked out are as follows:—The names and titles of Christ used throughout the Old and New Testament, classified according to the books in which they are found; types direct and indirect of Christ throughout the Old Testament; the allusions throughout Scripture to the contents of the book of Genesis; pride and humility as spoken of in Scripture by precept and example; a list of all the children of God (that can be proved to be such by their faith or walk) in Scripture. It will thus be seen that the Bible Class forms the nucleus of the magazine. The sole condition imposed on any who wish to join the Class, is that they should send a paper regularly on the part allotted of the monthly subject, as occasional contributions would only be a hindrance. Any therefore wishing to join have only to send a paper on any part of the subject for the current month, together with their full name and address, and a line saying they are able and willing to contribute a paper monthly. A reference number will then be given in the same month’s magazine in which the subject on which they have worked appears, and a division will be allotted to them in future.
Another important feature of the magazine are the Bible Queries. Reference to these in the present number will show how they are conducted. Bible Notes form a third special feature, which we desire greatly to extend, with the help of our correspondents, and we beg they will consider the request made under this head. Under the head of Expository, will appear consecutive Notes on some book of the Bible, original anecdotes and sketches from the East illustrative of Scripture, and other articles. We need not enumerate the other papers, suffice it to say that the magazine has been enlarged, and its contents arranged with a view to making it of real practical help to Bible students, more particularly to those who may be yet young in the faith. Other ways of attaining this object and increasing the usefulness of this paper may suggest themselves from time to time, and they will be adopted if space should allow, which, however, largely depends on the efforts of our readers. If they find the magazine helpful, and by making it widely known, increase its circulation, we may be able still further to increase its size without adding to the price. This first number can be had free from the publisher on application, for the purpose of distribution. We earnestly ask those more advanced in the faith to help in the work both by their prayers, and if possible by their writings.
Notes on last month’s Subject. 6—The Children Of God Mentioned In The Bible.
From the note prefixed to this subject it is plain we must not expect to find here a complete list of all the children of God mentioned in Scripture, but only of those of whom it is judged that satisfactory evidence is recorded entitling them to be considered as suchapter The list is certainly an interesting one to look through, and bearing in mind what is recorded of the lives of each, to remember that these will form a prominent part of our companions in eternity. Certainly they do not constitute what would be esteemed on earth either select or desirable society, including as they do a group of poor fishermen, a thief, three blind beggars and one lame one, a Roman jailor, a runaway servant, a black slave, two lepers, a demoniac, and at least two women of bad character. All these, however, washed in the blood of the Lamb, now stand in heaven without spot or stain in the holy presence of God. Not that we by nature are any better than the vilest, even as the apostle says, after giving a black list of sinners, “And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
As one ponders over the list of Old Testament saints and finds all classes, grades, and characters associated together in one company, one wonders what bond there is that links them so closely. They knew nothing clearly at any rate of the value of the blood of Christ, but they had this in common,—they were all the children of faith. They all believed God; not about Him, but believed in Him as a person, and what He said to them. Faith is the bridge over which they all passed from time to a glorious eternity. Faith in God caused Noah to build his ark, Abraham to leave his home, Amram to disobey the king’s command, Elijah to call down fire on Mount Carmel, Daniel to brave the king’s wrath. And faith is the same at all times, though the object of belief may differ. In the brighter light of our gospel day, we are somewhat inclined to look down upon the twilight of ante-Christian times; but should we not rather admire and seek more earnestly to copy the devoted faith and trust in the living God that still shines across four thousand years, telling us to trust and not be afraid? It seems as if the lives of such as Abraham, Moses, or Daniel, and all this mighty cloud of witnesses, have a wonderful Voice to us in our timid moments, when we shrink from trusting wholly the God who has saved us, seeming to say in the words of our Lord, “O ye of little faith, wherefore do ye doubt?”
We would suggest as a very interesting exercise in connection with this subject, that the grounds on which each is admitted into the list be searched out and classified. Those whose faith only is recorded might be placed in one division, while those whose works or lives are given might be arranged according to the character of action that is supposed to indicate the new life. Such a study would give a great insight into the fundamental principles of godly character which ever remain the same at all times.
Included in the lists are forty-nine women. Five only of these are placed in the first list—Sarah, Jochebed, Rahab, Hannah, Huldah. The first three on the grounds of faith, the next for her personal piety, and Huldah for her sacred gift. There are twelve considered somewhat doubtful, and therefore placed in the second list—Eve, Hagar, Rebekah, Rachel, Leah, Shiphrah, Puah, Miriam, Ruth, the wife of Phinehas, Abigail, and Esther.
In the New Testament we have a wonderfully interesting list, well worthy the close study of all Christian women. The first contains twenty-eight names, which we will enumerate, specially to point out who are women in Romans 16. We get five Marys, Salome, Elizabeth, Anna, Joanna, Susanna, Martha, Dorcas (famous as the only woman ever raised from the dead), Lydia, Damaris, Priscilla, Phoebe, Tryphena, Tryphosa, Persis, Julia, Euodias, Syntyche, Lois, Eunice, Claudia, Apphia, the elect lady, (supposed by some to be identical with the mother of our Lord, who was committed to the special care of the beloved apostle,) and one woman whose name is unknown on earth, that was saved at Samaria’s well. The list closes with four others; Rhoda and Chloe and two who are nameless, of whose faith not much is said.
Before closing this short review, we may mention that there is some ground for believing that we know somewhat more of the history of Pudens and Claudia than is contained in the brief notice in 2 Timothy We find from history that the daughter of a British king, Cogidubnus, took the name of Claudia, and married Pudens (who is mentioned in the same verse). This Pudens, according to an inscription found at Chichester, and now in the possession of the Duke of Richmond, was at one time closely connected with this British king. Recent researches in Rome have shown that Pudens was a servant of Claudius, who was then reigning. The only link that seems to connect Christianity with this interesting couple, however, is that Pomponia, the wife of the Roman commander in Britain at that time, was herself one of the family of Rufus (Romans 16:13) and was publicly tried for believing a foreign superstition, A.D. 57. Claudia is also called one of the family of Rufus, which might well be explained if she were a protégée of this lady’s. These facts are interesting, and must be taken for what they are worth. Further investigations are tending to throw still more light on Paul’s Christian companions at Rome.
This Month's Subject: Christ Our Example
The subject worked out for this month is—Christ our Example.
We are sure from the numerous letters we have received, that the search has much refreshed the hearts of those engaged in it, and we earnestly trust that the result now printed as a whole, may be used for blessing to all who read it, stirring up many in real desire to be more like. The One who has left us so perfect an example, to the end that we might walk in His footsteps.
We may add that the subject being Christ Himself as our example, we have not included in the references passages which record only His precepts.
With a view to making the subject of real practical value we have added an exhortation from one of the Epistles, to most of the divisions.
Obedience to Parents. — “Children obey your parents in the Lord? Ephesians 6:1. “ And Jesus went down with His parents, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them.” Luke 2:51.
Obedience to God. — “As obedient children.” 1 Peter 1:14. “For I do always those things that please my Father.” John 8:29. “Even as 1 have kept my Father’s commandments.” John 15:10.
Faithfulness to God. — “Be thou faithful unto death.” Revelation 2:10. “Who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.” 1 Timothy 6.13.
Submission to God and Devotedness to His Will. — “That good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2. “But for this cause came I unto this hour.” John 12:27. “Nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt.” Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42. “The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” John 18:11.
Choosing God’s Time for everything. — “And he straightly charged them to tell no man that thing.” Luke 9:21. “My time is not yet come, but your time is alway ready.” John 7:6.
Prayer, the expression of dependence on God, and the source of Strength. — “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. “He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12; Matthew 14:23; Mark 1:35, and other passages.
Thanksgiving. — “In everything give thanks.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18. “For every creature of God is good if it be received with thanksgiving.” 1 Timothy 4:4. “He took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and brake.” Matthew 14:19; Mark 6:41; Luke 9:16 John 6:11, and other passages.
Rejoicing in God. — “Rejoice in the Lord alway.” Philippians 4:4. “ In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit.” Luke 10:21.
Confidence in God. — “We are always confident.” 2 Corinthians 5:8. “ There arose a great tempest but he was asleep.” Matthew 8:24; Mark 4:38; Luke 8:23.
Zeal for the House of God. — “Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them that sold and bought.” Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; Luke 19:45; John 2:15.
Seeking the Glory of God. — “Do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31. “He that seeketh His glory that sent Him.” John 7:18.
Being guided by the Word of God. — “All Scripture ... . is profitable.” 2 Timothy 3:16. “He answered and said, It is written.” Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:8. “He answered and said unto them, have ye not read?” Matthew 19:4. “Why do ye transgress the commandment of God by your tradition” Matthew 15:3; Mark 7:8.
Giving up all for God. — “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” Philippians 3:7. “The Son of Man hath not where to lay his head.” Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58. “At night he went out and abode in the mount of Olives.” Luke 21:37.
The Service of God, the food of the soul. — “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his word.” John 4:34.
Zeal in the service of God. — “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season.” 2 Timothy 4:2. “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” Luke 2:49. “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom.” Matthew 9:35; Mark 1:38; Luke 8:1; and many other passages.
The blessing of others an object in life. — “I will gladly spend and be spent for you,” 2 Corinthians 12:15. “For the Son of Man is come to save that which is lost.” Matthew 18.11. “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister.” Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45.
Faithfulness in reproving evil. — “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” Ephesians 5:11; Leviticus 19:17. “Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.” Matthew 23:13; Luke 11:43, &c. John 4:18; 7:7.
Wisdom in Speech — “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Colossians 4:6. Matthew 22:15, 46; Mark 11:27; 12:13; Luke 7:22; 10:26; 13:23; 20: 3, 21, &c.
Worldly recognition to be refused. — “By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” Galatians 6:14. “I receive not honor from men.” John 5:41. “When Jesus perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed.” John 6:15.
Obedience to God taking the precedence of natural ties. — “Follow me.” Matthew 8:22. “Jesus said unto her (his mother), Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.” John 2:3.
Endurance of weariness in the service of God. — “In weariness and painfulness.” 2 Corinthians 11:27. “ Jesus being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well.” John 4:6.
Graciousness in dealing with the unsaved. — “He that winneth souls is wise.” Proverbs 11:30. Matthew 9:10; Mark 2:15; Luke 15:2. “Jesus said to the woman, “Give me to drink.” John 4:7.
Respect for the law of God. — “The law is holy, and just, and good” Romans 7:12, but “The priesthood being changed there is made of necessity a change also of the law.” Hebrews 7:12. “ Jesus saith unto him show thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded.” Matthew 8:4. “ Now when He was at Jerusalem at the passover.” John 2:23; 5:1.
Subjection to the powers that be. — “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.” 1 Peter 2:13. “Notwithstanding lest we should offend them.” Matthew 17:29. “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are acmes.” Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25.
Compassion and Sympathy. — “Weep with them that weep.” Romans 12:15. “When He saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion.” Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34. “And when the Lord saw her he had compassion on her.” Luke 7.13. “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping He groaned in spirit.” John 11:33.
Love. — 1 Corinthians 13 “That he who loveth God, love his brother also.” 1 John 4:21. “Lord, behold he whom thou lowest is sick.” John 11:5. “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” John 13:1. “As I have loved you.” John 15:12.
Patience with the ignorance of others. — “Be patient toward all men.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14. Matthew 15:15-20; 16:9.
Kindness. — “Put on therefore as the elect of God......kindness.” Colossians 3:12. “Suffer little children to come unto me.” Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:16.
Meekness. — “The servant of the Lord must not strive in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves.” 2 Timothy 2:24, 25. “But he answered nothing.” Matthew 26; 27; Mark 14; 15, &c. “ Who when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened not.” 1 Peter 2:23.
Appreciation of good in others. — “Charity believeth all things, hopeth all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:7. “Then Jesus beholding him loved him.” Mark 10:21. “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” John 1:47.
Encouragement of the Timid. — “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees.” Hebrews 12:12. “He saith unto them, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” Mark 6:50; John 6:20.
Thoughtfulness for others. — “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Philippians 2:4. “They need not depart; give you them to eat.” Matthew 14:16; John 6:5. “He saith to his mother, Woman, behold thy son.” John 19:26, 27.
Prayer for Enemies. — “Pray for them that despitefully use you.” Matthew 5:44. “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23.34. “Pray for them which despitefully use you.” Matthew 5:44.
Slowness to impute evil. — “Charity shall cover a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8. “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no mere.” John 8:11.
Desire for the spiritual welfare of others. — “Ye which are spiritual restore such an one.” Galatians 6:1. “If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” John 13:14.
Joy when others are used in God’s service. — “Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached, and —I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” Philippians 1:18. “Forbid him not for he that is not against us is on our part.” Mark 9:39.
Care that nothing shall be wasted. — “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” John 6:12.
The Truth of God the rule of doctrine. — “As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them.” Galatians 6:16. “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” John 7:16.
Holiness. — “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16. “ Who did no sin.” 1 Peter 2:22.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 1-32
Notice. All queries on biblical subjects received up to the 3rd of each month, are inserted here in the following month. Wherever possible, answers are given which however must by no means be considered final, as discussion and further replies to the queries are invited, and the latter will be inserted (with the correspondent’s initials attached) whenever helpful, it being however distinctly understood that the Editor holds himself responsible for no replies to which initials are attached. Any questions on practical Christian life and conduct must be addressed to the Editor of the Young Believer (at the same address) and will be answered in the pages of that magazine under the head of “Practical Queries.”
New Queries, Nos. 1-32.
Q. 1. Are the Old Testament saints included in those who are asleep in Jesus?
A. The passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 refers no doubt specially to those Thessalonians who had died, and for whom the living were sorrowing. But those who will be raised when Christ comes embrace all that are His, (1 Corinthians 15:23), and must therefore include all old Testament saints.
Q. 2. Did not the “good seed” in the parable take the longest time to come up, showing that a deep work in the soul is desirable?
A. No doubt there is a designed contrast between that seed which sprung up forthwith, because it had no depth of earth, and that which fell into (not on) good ground, the former being compared to those who receive the word with joy, and yet have no root. All this shows that a deep work is not only desirable but essential, shallow superficial hearers being found rather in the ranks of mere professors than of true Christians. Do not however think that, because a work is deep, it must necessarily be slow. The work of grace in the jailor’s heart was undoubtedly deep but it was exceedingly rapid Observe too that the first fruits of the gospel when truly received, are not joy, but conviction of sin, leading to repentance, and followed then by true belief in the gospel of salvation with which of course deep joy is connected.
Q. 3. (1) Would you please explain Isaiah 19:18-22; also (2) 4:5, 6. E. B.
A. (1) This passage will be true literally of Egypt in the future. Israel’s ancient idolatrous oppressor will tremble and turn to God, and even Assyria shall then form one of a trio, marked with God’s special favor. (2) As the Divine presence was a shelter to Israel in the desert so will the glory be to Jerusalem in the millennium. These verses may refer to the glorious light of the Heavenly Jerusalem above the earthly city.
Q. 4. How do we know that “temptation” means “tribulation,” in Revelation 3:10; E. B.
A. In the R. V. it is rendered “trial” and if we consider for it moment, we shall find that “temptations” and “trials” are very often much alike. Tribulation is a stronger word than trial, and refers primarily to the threshing out of wheat, to which the sore trials of the righteous are compared, out of which they will come like gold refined in (1 Peter 1) Temptation or trial includes more than tribulation, and in this case covers a considerably longer space than the great tribulation of chapter 7 and yet more than that of Matthew 24.
Q. 5. Will you kindly tell me if the man mentioned in Matthew 12:13, is a believer. H. P.
A. We have no evidence that he was; unless the fact of his obedience to Christ’s command is deemed a sufficient proof of saving faith.
Q. 6. Does “all pleasing” in Colossians 1:10 mean pleasing all men or pleasing the Lord in all things? H. R.
A. The latter decidedly. This wonderful sentence presents one of the loftiest standards of Christian walk to be found in the whole word of God, “To walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing.” How little do we consider the weight of words like these.
Q. 7. Will you please explain John 11:52. Why is it said that Jesus should gather together in one, the children of God? M. N.
A. No doubt Caiaphas here prophesied a great deal of which he understood but little of the depth or scope. We understand the gathering in one of Jew and Gentile to refer to what was accomplished by Christ’s death on Calvary and fully described in the latter part of Ephesians 2.
Q. 8. Would you kindly explain Philippians 1:14? J. A. E.
A. This verse refers to those who were carrying on the good work begun by Paul, in preaching the gospel to the Gentiles while he was prevented by his bonds from doing so. Ver. 16 refers to a different class who, terrible as it may seem, were really preaching Christ in a spirit of faction and self-exaltation, taking advantage of the absence of the bright light of the great Apostle of the Gentiles to make much of themselves.
Q. 9. How would you explain Hebrews 13 to, as applicable now? C. M. B.
A. Kindly refer to Q. 311, B. S. vol. 1. page 67. The passage, written to believing Hebrews, points out that in receiving Christ they occupied a far higher place than the body of the nation, being in the place of priests to God (compare ver. 15.).
Q. 10. Please explain 1 Peter 3:18-20. M. A.
A. Observe in Genesis, Jehovah’s (i.e., Christ’s) Spirit was only to strive with man 120 years. Those who disobeyed this were in prison (Hades.) So now, Christ preaches, by His Spirit, and those who heed it are saved as Noah was by water (death), of which salvation, baptism is a figure: not in cleansing the body, but in satisfying the conscience, and thus making it a good one before God, by the death and resurrection of Christ. Noah preached by the Spirit of Christ before the flood to souls alive on earth in his day, but who were in prison when Peter wrote of them.
Q. 11. (1) Why are Psalms 120-134 called “Songs of Degrees?” (2) Have the five porches in John 5:2, any typical meaning? E. S. M.
A. (1) The answer to this is by no means certain, no less than four distinct meanings being given to the word. Some consider that it refers to the air to which the Psalm was chanted, others to the style of composition and the repetition of the closing words of one verse at the beginning of the next, as in Psalms 121:1, 2, 4, 5; 124:1, 2, 3, 4, &c. Others again think that these fifteen degrees allude to the fifteen steps which in the temple at Jerusalem led from the court of the women to the court of the men, on each of which a psalm was chanted. The opinion however most generally held now is, that the word refers to stages on a journey, and that some at least of these Psalms were composed on the return of the captives from Babylon. (2) We do not know of any, perhaps some of our correspondents can furnish one.
Q. 12. Please give the correct rendering of Deuteronomy 33:5, and has it any teaching for us? (2) Can you say why the Lord generally addressed His mother as “woman,” John 2:4, and 19:26? E. S. M.
A. Jeshurun is a common term for Israel (see Deuteronomy 32:15; Isaiah 44:2; &c.), and Moses proceeds to invoke a blessing on its individual tribes beginning with Reuben. Ver. 6 simply means that the tribe was not to become extinct in Israel. We cannot see any special meaning in the words beyond what lies on the surface. (2) “Woman” in the East implied no disrespect, but was the common mode of address. We must beware of judging the language of Scripture by the standard of propriety common amongst us at the present day.
Q. 13. Is it known what has become of the Ark? E. S. M.
A. It was probably taken captive or destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, if We may rely in any way on the statement in the Apocrypha (2 Esdras 10:22), a work which although not inspired is often of value in historical matters. Josephus plainly states that there was no ark in the second temple. And it is said that a sacred stone stood in the place where it should have stood.
Q. 14. In Mark 14:3-9, The Lord’s head is said to have been anointed, and in John 12:3-8, His feet. Please explain this, and say if Luke 10:38-42 refers to the same event. G. B.
A. No doubt both are true. The propriety of the head being mentioned in Mark and the feet only in John will be at once seen if we consider that in the former we have Christ as the servant, in the latter as the Son of God. Luke 10 describes a previous scene in which Mary was not rendering any service to Christ, but learning from Him. In John 12 we get Mary giving, in Luke 10 she is getting. And it was doubtless what she got on this and similar occasions that enabled her to show such exquisite feeling when it became her turn to give.
Q. 15. Is it right to use the text “Choose you this day whom ye will serve” in speaking to the unconverted? It seems very appropriate, and yet the Lord says “ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.” C. H. V. P.
A. Certainly. Your question however raises the old and well-worn one of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Both are true and Scriptural, but incapable of being intellectually reconciled by our finite capacities, darkened as they are by sin. Responsibility throughout Scripture is pressed on unbelievers, “Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life,” &c. while God’s electing grace chews us that after all it is His drawing that brings us. We know no better illustration of the two truths than the familiar one of the gate over which is written on the outside “Whosoever will let him come” while on the inside is written “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Some taking heir stand outside deny what is written within, while others from within deny the free grace that is inscribed without. The Bible student knows that both are true and also that, although difficulties can be easily raised by cavilers, the truth of election forms no barrier for any soul really in earnest.
Q. 16. Please explain Romans 14:5, 6, and Galatians 4:10, 11 which seem to be contradictory. J. B. S.
A. We must read the context of both passages. In Romans 14 the apostle bids us respect the weak conscience of our brother. He does not here set one day above another, but says that the conscience of the man who does so is to be respected, while seeking at the same time to instruct him (15:2.) In Galatians on the contrary the apostle is attacking a relapse into Judaism that was threatening to sap the whole foundation of the Christian faith. keeping days being here an integral part of the Jewish religion. Hence the apostle denounces it unsparingly.
Q. 17. What does Romans 15:13 “that ye may abide in hope” mean? J. B. S.
A. We see no difficulty in the passage. In verse 8 the apostle points out the connection of Christ with the Jews, and in verse 9 with the Gentiles, which he proceeds to prove in verse 10 from the Law, h. verse 11 from the Psalms and in verse 12 from the Prophets, and then he sums all up with a prayer to the God of hope that they might be filled with joy, peace, faith, and hope through the Holy Ghost.
Q. 18. Was Paul right to leave his work at Troas, and go in search of Titus? (2 Corinthians 2:13.) J. B. S.
A. The Apostle’s zeal to get to Macedonia was partly for the sake of the Corinthians themselves, although as we find here, personal affection had a large share in directing his steps. Certainly it is a very serious thing to pass by an open door, especially when one can say “a door was opened unto me by the Lord,” and to some it may seem doubtful whether in this case Paul should not have stayed at Troas. Mere than this we cannot say.
Q. 19. Does 1 Corinthians 9:27 favor ascetic practices? J. B. S.
A. Not for the sake of asceticism. But we must beware lest in condemning all self-imposed bodily mortifications, we give the reins on the other hand to a love of ease and self-indulgence. There is a middle path, and this Paul trod, careful while preaching to others to keep the reins well over himself in everything, not as a meritorious action, but as an approved minister of the gospel. (Compare 1 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Timothy 2:14, &c.)
Q. 20. (1) Please explain Exodus 23:3, 8. (2) 1 Corinthians 15:2; (3) 2 Corinthians 1:5; (4) Revelation 13:18. J, B. S.
A. (1) Verse 3 probably means “browbeat,” verse 8 is very w ell understood at the present day. (2) Believing in vain here means believing in what was false, that is, in the resurrection if there were none, which the Apostle proceeds to argue about. (3) The Apostle did not get Christ’s sufferings without getting Christ’s consolation, which has been true ever since (4) Revelation 13:18, nothing whatever is known about the number of the beast excepting that it is a threefold shortness from perfection (typified by the number seven); innumerable profitless speculations have been made in all times concerning it. One thing however may be said which is that in the Apostle’s time it was by no means unusual to designate persons and places by numbers. Under this supposition one of the early Fathers (Irenaeus) has made the number mean “ Latin “ referring to Rome.
Q. 21. Please explain 2 Corinthians 2:16 (2) 2 Corinthians 3:16. J. B. S.
A. (1) Refer to Q. 370 B. S. vol. 1, p. 117. (2) The margin in R. V. reads “ a man shall turn to the Lord.” The passage is true whenever a Jew is converted, and the veil taken away, and he for the first time really understands the Scriptures; but it will be true in a still wider sense when the nation as a whole look to Him whom they have pierced and mourn.
Q. 22. How does (1) Exodus 27:20 agree with 1 Samuel 3:38; also (2) Ecclesiastes 1:4 with 1 John 2:17?
A. The word “always” does not necessarily mean incessantly, but regularly (at its appointed time from the evening till the morning) from year to year. We think it is clear that the lamp did not burn in the daytime. (2) Ecclesiastes speaks of God’s earth, 1 John 2 of man’s world: two entirely distinct things, the confusion of which leads to great error. The earth in Eccles. is said to abide forever, that is relatively, in comparison with the little day of man’s life.
Q. 23. What does Psalms 17:2 mean? Also (2) Psalms 104:5? J. B. S.
A. (1) The Psalmist seeks God’s sentence on his path, not man’s, and that God’s eyes may righteously discern all. (2) The language here as elsewhere is highly poetic. “Forever” in these and other places must be limited by what Scripture reveals elsewhere of the duration of the material world.
Q. 24. Will you kindly explain (1) Mark 2:19, (2) John 3:29, (3) 2 Corinthians 11:2? H. B.
A. Christ was the bridegroom, and His Jewish disciples the children of the bridechamber. (2) Here John the Baptist appears to speak prophetically of the future bride of Christ which He had come to purchase with His own blood (Acts 20:28), putting himself in the Jewish place of being merely the bridegroom’s friend. (3) The church is not yet married to Christ. That scene will take place in heaven (See Revelation 19). Meanwhile the Church has to keep herself from the world; espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ. (Compare Revelation 17 for the contrast.)
Q. 25. What does 1 Corinthians 15:29 mean? J. B. S.
A. The general interpretation is that it means baptized to fill up the ranks of those that have fallen; as when in battle, one falls, another takes his place to continue the struggle. The idea is a military one and is in keeping with the military similes employed throughout the Chapter (verse 23 &c.).
Q. 26. Please explain John 10:35. H. D.
A. In Exodus 22:28, “gods” distinctly means judges or rulers, and it is in this sense the Lord uses the word here. These judges were the representatives of God’s government in the earth, and if they were called gods, how could the Jews accuse Christ of blaspheming, for calling Himself the Son of God, when He had been sent in a far more special way.
Q. 27. Kindly explain the parable of the tares Matthew 13 “Let both grow together until the harvest”. Are we not to try and remove evil? Or in doing so are we departing from our own work and doing that of the angels? S. B.
A. You must carefully observe verse 38 “the field is the world.” Nearly all Christians speak as if it said “the field is the churchapter” Hence it is not our place to put the world right, but it is our place to put away evil from the churchapter Read carefully 1 Corinthians 5:12. “What have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth.” If not clear, write again.
Q. 28. Please explain 2 Kings 6:6 and 13:21. M. E.
A. We cannot say that the passage has a typical meaning. It has been remarked that “The house built with that which was taken from the banks of the river, and the power of the stream overcome and destroyed by the piece of wood cast into it, by means of which that which was beyond hope and lost was rescued from it, easily suggest a typical meaning” The same writer remarks in reference to 13:21. This resurrection, wrought by contact with the bones of Elisha, appears to me to give the comforting instruction, that, while apparently lost to Israel, the true Prophet is still the vessel and guardian of all their hopes; and that when Israel is as it were, dead and forgotten, He will after all restore them to life in a manner as unexpected as powerful”.
Q. 29. Have we any proof from Scripture that the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3:3 was the apple? S. J. R.
A. No, and we do not suppose it is possible to ascertain what fruit it was.
Q. 30. Please say who is meant by the “friend of the bridegroom” in John 3:29. (2) Matthew 22:12. Can anyone get into the feast without the wedding garment? L. P.
A. No doubt John the Baptist here alludes to himself. Refer to Q. 24. (2) Certainly, because the feast is here regarded as that into which professors may enter, but from which they will inevitably be finally excluded when passed under the Divine scrutiny; even as many pass muster now amongst Christians and outwardly enjoy Divine things who will however eventually be shut out from heaven.
Q. 31. (1) Is the meaning of the first part of Revelation 22:11, that they who in this dispensation have rejected the gospel will never have another opportunity? (2) Does 1 Peter 3:1 mean that unbelievers can be “won” or converted to Christ without the “Word,” or does it refer to believers who are disobedient to the word? L. P.
A. (1) This passage appears to regard the coming of Christ and the closing of the testimony as so imminent that all would be found in the state in which they were, and that like the foolish virgins in the parable, time would not then permit of a change. (2) This passage refers to unbelievers, who, however unwilling to read the word of God for themselves, will really observe, and may perhaps be won by the example of their wives, illustrating by their conduct the precepts contained in scripture.
Q. 32. What is meant by the “sin unto death” in 1 John 5:16? Is it the “blasphemy against the Holy Ghost” spoken of in Matthew 12:31? (2) Please explain Hebrews 6:4-6. F. E.
A. The sin unto death does not mean any special sin, but in accordance with the abstract style of this Epistle refers generally to all sin which may require Divine chastisement in taking away the offender in judgment. Compare 1 Corinthians 11:30. (2) This refers to Jewish professors who, after having taken their place amongst Christians and enjoyed all their peculiar privileges, turned round and apostatized from the faith. It nowhere says they had eternal life. If we compare the passage with verse 18, we learn two things, first, that the greatest amount of privileges cannot save, and secondly, that the weakest faith can.
Notes on Former Questions: Vol. 1, 389; 428
Q. 389. Vol. 1. p. 117. Does the “angel,” Ecclesiastes 5:6, mean the “priest?” In Malachi 2:7, the priest is called “the messenger of the Lord of Hosts,” the word for angel being the same as for messenger.
I have seen a different rendering for the passage which is somewhat free, but appears to clear up the difficulty, “Suffer not thy mouth to subject thy body to punishment, (i.e. through the breach of thy vow), neither say thou to the priest, it was a mistake (I have made the vow inconsiderately and therefore have not kept it), wherefore should God be angry at my voice, and frustrate the undertakings, for the success of which my vow was made?” H. E.
Q. 428. Vol. 1. p. 139. The whole question appears to my mind to rest upon the application of the word “heaven.” That our blessed Lord refers to the immediate presence of God seems very clear from what precedes this verse. He had been discoursing to Nicodemus on the new birth, and the work of God the Holy Ghost, in fact of “heavenly things,” and heavenly in this particular that they had to do immediately with the Godhead. The connection is not broken but continued through verses 12 and 13. “And” continues our blessed Lord, no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” As though He would have Nicodemus to see that no one but Himself could tell him of the “heavenly things” which He had just before unfolding to him, for no one had ascended up to the very presence of God and been permitted to look into the Eternal mind from which these “heavenly things” proceeded save He who came down from heaven, from “the bosom of the Father,” John 1:18, and who was in the counsels of Jehovah when man’s salvation was planned, and who even then, though manifested as “Son of man” on earth, was in heaven with the Father by virtue of His eternal Godhead. The difficulty respecting Enoch and Elijah disappears when the subject is viewed in this light, as no Bible Student would contend that they were taken up to the heaven of which to my mind our blessed Lord speaks in this passage. C. F.
Note. Are not the “heavenly things” in v. 12, those of which our Lord was about to speak, not those of which He had already spoken! Ed.
Jottings From Bible Margins
Under this heading we propose to insert all short Bible Notes of value received from our correspondents, extracted from their Bible margins or Note Books. We are quite sure that large numbers of notes lie thus buried which might be helpful to many if made public. Several now printed have been sent to us anonymously, but we shall in future print the initials of each contributor.
TONGUES.
Divided Tongues, sent in judgment, Genesis 11:9.
Divided Tongues, used to carry the message of grace, Acts 2:1-12.
Divided Tongues, united in glory on the earth to praise God and the Lamb, Revelation 7:9.
THREES:
Crowns. —Of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8) of life (James 1. 12) of glory (1 Peter 5:4).
Shepherds. —The good shepherd the object of love (see Psalms 23) the great shepherd, the object of faith (see Psalms 22) the chief Shepherd the object of hope (see Psalms 24).
Appearings. —Past (Hebrews 9:26) present (Hebrews 9:24) future (Hebrews 9:28).
Suppers. —Gospel supper (Luke 11:16) Marriage supper (Revelation 19:9) the great supper of wrath (Revelation 19:17).
SEVEN THINGS IN HEAVEN.
We have our Master (Ephesians 6:9) our home (Hebrews 11:16) our rest (Hebrews 4:9) our Father (Matthew 6:29) our conversation (Philippians 3:20) our treasure (Matthew 6:20) our hope (Colossians 1:5).
SEVENFOLD CONFESSION OF CHRIST AS THE SON OF GOD,
By the disciples (Matthew 14:33), by Himself (Matthew 27:43), by the centurion (Matthew 27.54), by the Holy Ghost (Mark 1.1), by devils (Mark 1:24) by an angel (Luke 1:35), by John the Baptist (John 1:34.)
PERSECUTION.
Withers the professor—Mark 4:17; 2 Timothy 4:10.
Stablishes the believer—Acts 11:19; Romans 8:35; 2 Corinthians 12:10.
THE GATES OF PARADISE.
Shut to the first Adam Genesis 3:24; open to the second Psalms 24:7.
GRACE IN COLOSSIANS.
Paul’s first desire, 1:2, and last desire, 4:18; known in their conversion, 1:6; in their singing 3:16; in their speaking, 4:6.
THE PRODIGAL SON.
Conviction— “Came to himself” Luke 15:17
Contrition— “No more worthy,” Luke 15:19
Confession— “I have sinned Luke” 15:18
Conversion— “He arose and came” Luke 15:20.
SEVEN WALKS IN EPHESIANS.
Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world Chapter 2:2.
Good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them, Chapter 2:10.
I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, Chapter 4:1.
That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, Chapter 4:17.
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, Chapter 5:2.
Now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light. Chapter 5:8.
See then that ye walk circumspectly. Chapter 5.15. B. B.
GOOD, BETTER, BEST.
Good to have truth in the head, 2 Timothy 2:2.
Better, to have truth in the heart, Mark 9:24.
Best, to have it in both, Romans 10:9; Acts 18:25.
Notes and Comments
The following may interest our readers:—
AND THE LORD WAS WITH HIM:
Joseph, type of Christ.
The Lord was with Joseph, Genesis 39:2 (in Potiphar’s house.)
His master saw that the Lord was with him, v. 3.
But the Lord was with Joseph, v. 21 (in prison).
The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, v. 23.
Stephen, speaking of Joseph, “but God was with him,” Acts 7:9
Samuel, And the Lord was with him, 1 Samuel 3:19.
David, type of Christ.
One said of him, “And the Lord is with him,” 1 Samuel 16:18.
Because the Lord was with him, 1 Samuel 18:12.
And the Lord was with him, v. 14.
Christ.
Nicodemus says, “For no man can do these miracles ... except God be with him,” John 3:2.
Peter says, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth ... who went about doing good ... for God was with him.” Acts 10:38.
Beloved Readers, is the Lord with you?
New Testament Words Explained: Ask - Corrupt
Principally such as represent more than one word in the Greek.
Ask.
Two distinct words are frequently translated by the one word “ask.” One is aiteo, the other erotao. Both occur in John 16:23, “In that day ye shall ask (erotao) nothing: verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask (aiteo) the Father in my name He will give it you.”
There is not here as would at first sight appear, a contrast between asking the Father and the Son, but the first “ask” refers to verse 19, and means that they should be so taught of the Spirit as no longer to have to inquire (the force of the word) anything from Him. The second “ask” means request, and is a word always used by an inferior when addressing a superior, as in Matthew 7:7, 9; Luke 11:1;1 Acts 3:2; 12:20; James 1:5; 1 John 3:22; whereas erotao means more to interrogate, to ask questions. It is remarkable that aiteo is never used in the requests of the Son to the Father (as from an inferior to a superior), but the word used is always erotao, John 14:16, &c. Erotao, however, is never a right word to use for the request of a creature to God, though we have seen (ver.19) that it was used to Christ, when on earth as man. It is interesting to remark in John 4 that the word used by the woman of Samaria in verse 9, shows clearly that she had no conception who it was that spoke to her, “How is it that thou being a Jew, askest (aiteo) drink,” &c. The Lord in reply speaks of Himself as having said unto her, “Give me to drink.” The only other passage where the word is applied to the Lord is in John 11:22, where Martha says “Whatsoever thou wilt ask (aiteo) of God,” and here again the speaker betrays her ignorance of the dignity of the person of the One to whom she spoke. Nowhere is Christ said to ask anything from man.
Assembly or Churchapter
There are three words used for this in the New Testament, Ecclesia, sunagoge, and paneguris. The first, &desist, is used in three senses, a heathen, a Jewish, and a Christian. It means “called out;” and a heathen ecclesia consisted of those who were called out of the population to confer on public affairs. Among the Jews two words were in use, ecclesia, or assembly, and sunagoge, or synagogue; the former, however, gradually became almost exclusively Christian, the latter almost exclusively Jewish: we say almost exclusively, because the word assembly is used in a Jewish sense in Acts 7:38, and the word synagogue was occasionally used by the early fathers for the Christian assembly. The distinction between the two appears to be that the former is applied to any large or small number that are banded together by laws or other bonds, the latter only implies that such are assembled together; the one means convoked or called together, the other means simply congregated. The word ecclesia was thus not only more appropriate for Christian use, but being familiar to the Greeks, which synagogue was not, was far more adapted to an assembly composed of both Jews and Greeks.
“The ecclesia which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” Ephesians 1:22, 23.
The third word, paneguris differs from ecclesia in signifying a festival, hence the term panegyric, which was a discourse delivered on such an occasion. It is peculiarly appropriate in Hebrews 12:23, the only place in the New Testament where it occurs.
Bear.
Of the eleven words thus translated in the New Testament, we may notice two as an instance of the wonderful accuracy of Scriptural language, phoreo and phero. The former is defined by the Greeks as meaning to bear or carry habitually, and hence is peculiarly applicable to clothes, to which it is applied in the six instances where it occurs (Matthew 11:8; John 19:5; Romans 13:4; 1 Corinthians 15:49 twice, James 2:3), whereas the latter means to carry on any special occasion, hence to bring (see Mark 2:3), and is never applied to what was worn habitually. This accuracy is all the more remarkable, inasmuch as the distinction was not always observed, even among the Greeks.
Corrupt, Handle deceitfully.
These are represented by two corresponding Greek words of which the history and distinction are rather interesting. Each word occurs only once in the New Testament; “corrupt” (kapeleuo) is in 2 Corinthians 2:17, while “handle deceitfully” (doloo) occurs in 2 Corinthians 4:2, both being applied to the Word of God. The first (kapeleuo) originally meant a small retail dealer, but particularly a small wine dealer, a trade peculiarly exposed to the temptation of fraud, either in adulteration or in selling short measure (Isaiah 1:22). Thus the word came to mean making any shameful profit, or following any improper trade. It therefore evidently means, not only to deceive, but to deceive for the purpose of gain, whereas the other word (doloo) simply means to falsify. All false teachers therefore can be accused of falsifying (doloo), but when Paul earnestly says he does not corrupt (kapeleuo) the word, he refers to perverting it for the sake of gain or advantage. See Acts 20:33; 2 Corinthians 12:14; Philippians 3:18,19; Titus 1:1 2 Peter 2:3,14,15; Jude 12., 16.
Divine Names and Titles: 1. Jesus
1.—Jesus.
Let us briefly but reverently consider the wondrous meaning that resides in this name. Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which itself is a contraction of Jehoshua, that is “the help of Jehovah.” This word occurs in Numbers 13:10, on the occasion of the changing of the name of one of the twelve spies from Oshea (help) to Je-hoshua (the help of Jehovah). The name Jesus was expressly given by divine command to the Lord, and it is His only name, all others being titles, and we may then surely look upon it as worthy of our careful thought.
We may first remark that though pre-eminently human and given to Christ as man, it also proclaims Him as God over all, blessed forever. The first syllable Je or Jeho-tells on divine authority the wonderful fact that our Jesus is Jehovah, the “I AM.” What a flood of comfort and blessings belongs to the knowledge of this one fact, that He, who carried His people on eagles’ wings all through the days of old, and brought them to Himself, whose longsuffering and patience were proof against their many murmurings, and who fed them during their whole journey through the waste howling wilderness, is our Jesus. Oh! that we knew more of the wondrous stores contained in this name. This first syllable tells us of His Eternal Godhead, of His covenant relations, of His mighty power, of His thoughtful love; all the glories, all the virtues but dimly seen in the Jehovah of old, are ours in Jesus now. It commands our reverence, it gives us lofty and fitting thoughts of Christ as the High and Holy one that inhabits eternity. But were the name to end here, we could not look on it without awe and dread; it would not be the Jesus we know. One syllable is wanting to make the name peerless above all others to us; Jesus, the help or salvation of the Lord.
This second syllable tells us of Christ as man; it speaks to our ears of a life of patient grace, an atoning death of infinite suffering; it proclaims to us pardon and peace; it opens the gates of heaven and delivers us from hell; it calls forth springs of gratitude, and notes of praise that shall not be hushed through out eternity. And observe that the two syllables are knit together; “the help” is “the help of the Lord,” how secure then, how divinely certain is our salvation! On what a rock does the feeblest believer rest when he rests on Jesus! When his weary head is pillowed on this name and his broken heart is bound up here, he is resting on the bosom of the High and Holy one that inhabiteth Eternity, and in His salvation is his trust. Jesus, a name so despised among men, so often called “of Nazareth” in contempt, is sometimes too lightly used by the believer now, but never by the one who has sat down in contemplation of its wonders, and listened to the unfolding of its majesty and fragrance, its deep and lofty meaning.
Does it not rest your heart, beloved reader, to meditate on His name? Do you not find a beauty, shared by none other in this oft repeated and familiar word? It reaches from the highest heaven to earth, from the throne to the cross, from the cross back again to the throne, from eternity to eternity. It speaks of the “yesterday” of the cross, of the “to-day “ of grace, of the “ forever” of glory. Oh! how little do our hearts grasp the simple fact this name repeats to us, that our Savior, our Help is “JEHOVAH” Himself that the Man crucified between two thieves for us, was none other.
But while the name has such a high and holy meaning, in was yet free to all. The blind beggar at Jericho was welcome to it, in common with all who at all times have a need that it can meet. It is remarkable, however, that after the resurrection, when that same Jesus had been made Lord and Christ, the name is used alone only some thirty times, on every other occasion having the prefix “Lord” or some other title added. This has a meaning for us; Christ is no longer the humble, despised and rejected man. We triumph in the fact that His sufferings are all over, that in heaven at last He has now His proper place, as He shortly shall have on earth as well, and in accordance with His new place in the glory, we call Him “Lord Jesus.” Such is His proper title now, though doubtless there are occasions when the blessed name can with all reverence be used alone. We may consider the title Lord at another time, we only just allude to it now to point out the change that the glory of the Lord has made in the use of the name “Jesus.”
This word has been the fragrance of Christian song for eighteen hundred years, and as long as the world endures will “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds” soothe and comfort the weary heart.
The following well known lines of George Herbert, though quaint, contain a deep and true insight into the virtue that lies in the name of “Jesus”,—
Jesus is in my heart, His sacred name
Is deeply carved here; but th’ other week
A great affliction broke the little frame,
Ev’n all to pieces; which I went to seek:
And first I found the corner where was J,
After, where E S, and next where U was graved.
When I had got these parcels, instantly
I sat me down to spell them and perceived
That to my broken heart, He was I ease you,
And to my whole is JESU.
With such a name shedding its sweetness abroad in our hearts, surely we can press on with fresh courage along the thorny road, cheering it with songs of praise to our Help, our Jehovah, our thrice blessed Savior, until at length the wilderness over, our haven reached, His presence entered, we understand in all their meaning those beautiful lines by Irwin”
Hark! the thrilling symphonies
Seem within to seize us,
Add we to their holy lays,
Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
Sweetest sound in seraph’s song,
Sweetest note on mortal’s tongue,
Sweetest anthem ever sung,
Jesus! Jesus! JESUS!
The Holy Bible: Remarks Upon the Books of the Old Testament
There are 39 books in the Old Testament, but the ancient Jewish writers reduced the number to 22 so that the sacred books might correspond in number to the 22 Sacred letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Josephus of Jewish historic fame, an unbeliever in Christ, born in Palestine about the time of Paul’s conversion, and thoroughly conversant with Hebrew literature, probably more so than any man then living, thus writes,— We have only two-and-twenty books which are justly believed to be of divine authority, of which five are the books of Moses. From the death of Moses to the reign of Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, King of Persia, the prophets who were the successors of Moses, have written in thirteen books. The remaining four books contain hymns to God, and precepts for the regulation of human life.”
This arithmetical feat was accomplished by regarding the Pentateuch as five separate books as in the Septuagint and in our English Bibles. The “thirteen books” written by the prophets were, (1) Joshua, (2) Judges with Ruth, (3) Samuel, (4) Kings, (5) Chronicles, (6) Isaiah, (7) Jeremiah with Lamentations, (8) Ezekiel, (9) Daniel, (10) The twelve minor prophets from Hosea to Malachi, (11) Job, (12) Ezra and Nehemiah, (13) Esther. The four remaining books are the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song. It may appear singular to some that the 12 Minor prophets should be do grouped, but in most, if not all ancient catalogs they are regarded as one book, as also in all quotations from them. The reason of this, we suppose, was to facilitate an easy reference to these prophetic books. The modern Jews make up the Old Testament into 24 books.
The first five books of Scripture are ascribed to Moses, and this on the most unquestionable authority. They were originally written on one scroll, forming but one book, and are still so regarded in modern Jewish usage. It is difficult to say when the Pentateuch was first put into separate books, but it must have been at a very early period as the Seventy, about 280 B.C. regarded the Pentateuch as then so divided. The order in which they occur, as also their titles in our English Bibles is from that first of all translations i.e., the Septuagint.
When the Pentateuch was completed Moses directed it to be carefully placed beside the Ark, (Deuteronomy 31:24,26). Was this the identical copy of the law found by Hilkiah the high priest 750 years afterward, amongst the rubbish of the Temple, (2 Kings 22; 23)? or, was it a copy transcribed from the original by one of the early kings, (Deuteronomy 17:18)? We believe it was the very copy of the law or Pentateuch written by Moses, (2 Chronicles 34:14). That Moses was the writer of these five inspired records is evident from the testimony of the books themselves, (Deuteronomy 31:9, 24), by Joshua (Chapter 1:7), by Samuel, (1 Samuel 12:6-8), by David, (1 Kings 2:3), by Solomon, (1 Kings 8:53, 56,) by Jehovah, (2 Kings 21:8), by Josiah, (2 Kings 23:2, 3, 25), by Jehoiada, (2 Chronicles 23:16-18), by Hezekiah, (2 Chronicles 30:16), by Ezra (Chapter 7:6), by Nehemiah, (Chapter 13), by Daniel, (Chapter 9:11-13), Malachi, (Chapter 4:4), by Christ (John 5:45-47), by Peter, (Acts 3:22-26), by Stephen, (Acts 7), by Paul (1 Corinthians is. 9), by all Jewish writers, ancient and modern, and by the Jewish nation in all ages, by apostates as Mahomet and Julian, by heathen writers as Longinus and Tacitus. Yet in face of this overwhelming testimony, Divine, Christian, Jewish, and Heathen, men will be found bold enough and bad enough to impugn the authority of the Pentateuch (To be continued.)
Eastern Manners and Customs: "Nay my Lord,I give it thee."
“Nay my Lord... I give it thee.”—Genesis 23
Flattering and empty speeches like those of Ephron to Abraham, when a purchase was under consideration are common in the lands of the Bible to the present day. When a friend of the writer had occasion to hire a house in Jerusalem, the native to whom it belonged met his inquiries respecting the rent with “I do not want any money from you; you are my father; come and live in my house as long as you like; you are welcome; I shall charge you no rent,” &c. At last, however, he named his price, which was as exorbitant a one as he could ask, and the arrangement was concluded. Compare with this the interview to which reference has been made and which took place some 3700 years. ago. Abraham states his business, the acquisition of a burying place, and before he has time to complete his sentence (compare verses 4 and 9), the people interrupt him by assuring him that he is welcome to bury his dead in the sepulcher of any one of them. But he courteously declines the offer of interment for his own dead in one of their heathen sepulchers; and asks for a price to be fixed. Three times does Ephron reiterate that the field is to be a gift, but, on being further pressed, he fixes the very large sum of “four hundred shekels of silver”; about £52 of English money, adding, with apparent indifference, “what is that betwixt me and thee?” Abraham, we are told, “hearkened unto Ephron;” he paid respectful attention to his words; but “he weighed to Ephron the silver,” and thus acquired his “ first and only possession in Canaan,” viz. a grave.
Analysis of 1 and 2 Samuel
1. History of Samuel the Prophet.
3. Samuel Established as Prophet.
4. Death of the High Priest & Loss of the Ark.
B. The Ark with the Enemy.
V. The People Restored by the Prophet.
2. History of Saul, Man’s King.
A. Personal History of Saul.
B. Saul Anointed of the Lord.
C. Saul Chosen by the People.
A. First Failure-Disobedience in Worship.
B. Religious Flesh (Saul) and Real Faith (Jonathan).
C. Second Failure-Disobedience in Service.
3. History of David, God’s King in Rejection.
I. David’s Early History.
a. Goliath defies Saul and Israel.
b. David sent to the battle.
c. Undertakes to fight the giant.
e. Conquers in God’s strength.
f. Israel shares in the triumph.
a. Saul tries to kill David himself.
b. Saul tries to kill David by the Philistines.
c. Saul tries to kill David by his servants.
d. Saul repents for a time.
a. Saul tries to kill David.
2. Jonathan hated for David’s sake.
3. Jonathan’s grief for David.
A. Fed With Hallowed Bread, Armed With Goliath’s Sword.
B. Flees to Achish (First Time).
C. Prophet, Priest, and King in AdulLamentations
D. David Pursuing God’s Enemies and Saul Pursuing God’s King.
E. David Refuses to Kill the Lord’s Anointed.
F. David Insulted by Nabal.
c. Abigail’s intercession.
d. David leaves vengeance to God.
G. David Again Refuses to Kill Saul.
H. David Flees to Achish (Second time).
I. Saul’s Last Battle and Death.
1. The Philistines declare war.
2. Saul consults the witchapter
3. Samuel foretells his death.
b. David is kept from fighting the Lord’s anointed.
c. But fights against the Lord’s enemies.
a. Kills the man who slew Saul.
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Abominations - Bells
We have sought in the following list to interpret the Symbolic language of the Word of God. In order to facilitate further study, and to serve as a work of constant reference in the reading of the Scriptures, we have alphabetically arranged the words and expressions.
Idols and idolatry in general.
1 Kings 11:5, 7; Daniel 9:27; 12:11; Ezekiel 8.
Hardness of heart, and seared conscience.
Ezekiel 3:9; Zechariah 7:12.
Israel’s unfaithfulness in turning from Jehovah to idolatry.
Jeremiah 3:8, 9; Ezekiel 23:36, 37.
Active, secret, deadly evil.
Psalms 140:3; Genesis 16:17; Proverbs 23:32.
Moral influences acting upon man.
Ephesians 2:2; Revelation 9:2; 21:7.
Christ meeting the responsibility of the sinner in judgment.
Christ in the value of His person the ground and object of the saint’s worship.
Fruit in resurrection-life produced by the Spirit.
Numbers 17:8; Exodus 25:33, 34.
Confidence and security founded on what is divine.
A representative or messenger; expressing office, not nature; the context determines which is meant.
Matthew 18:10; Revelation 2 and 3.
Consecration; power conferred.
Leviticus 8:10-12, 30; Exodus 24:7; 2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:27; Acts 10:13.
Apples of Gold in pictures of Silver
Fruit of Divine righteousness (gold), set in the beauty and stability of the atonement (silver).
Christ the Bridegroom in His own preciousness.
Song of Solomon 2:3; 8:5.
Divine strength, human power.
Isaiah 52;10; Psalms 10:15.
Christ in His wondrous and adorable person as Man (the shittim wood), as God (the gold). Seat of Divine strength. Figure of Israel’s relationship with God.
Exodus 25:10-22. Psalms 132:8. Revelation 11:19.
Judgments or chastenings.
Deep humiliation; through self-judgment. Witness of the judgment of sin.
Job 40:6. Numbers 19:9, 10
Man in nature, self-willed and ungovernable.
The future ecclesiastical apostasy or corrupt churchapter
An immature Christian state.
1 Corinthians 3:1; Hebrews 6:12-14.
Defense against every form.
Ezekiel 16:10; Exodus 26:14.
Man Divinely measured. A measure of scarcity.
Daniel 5:27; Revelation 6:5, 6.
2 Samuel 10:5; Leviticus 14:9; Jeremiah 48:37.
Any powerful and destructive enemy. Persian Empire.
Proverbs 17:12; Daniel 7:5.
Imperial, or other power acting without reference to God.
Daniel 7; 1 Corinthians 15:32
Numerous enemies. The Assyrian in latter-day judgment upon restored Israel.
Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalms 118:12. Isaiah 7:18.
The testimony of the Holy Ghost to the acceptance of Christ’s work in the presence of God.
Exodus 28:33, 34; 39:25, 26.
The Revised Version of the New Testament: Matthew 22:8-24:33
22:8. —In this verse the word “Christ” is omitted by the Revisers.
23:24 — “Which strain out the gnat.” There can be no doubt whatever that this is the true meaning of the text. The rendering “which strain at a gnat” conveys a wholly different idea, of which there is no trace in the original.
24:12. — “The love of the many.” The insertion of the definite article is here of great importance. “The love of many” is a phrase which conveys no definite idea, but “ the many” is an expression very common in the prophetical writings, as referring to the great mass of the Jewish nation. Thus, for example, we find in Daniel 9:27, that a covenant is to be confirmed with “the many” (the article is present in the Hebrew), that is to say, with the majority of the Jews. In the latter days the Jewish nation will be divided into two parts, “the many,” who receive the Antichrist as their Messiah, and the remnant, also called “ they that understand among the people” (Daniel 11:33). In this verse in Matthew the defection of the many is foretold.
24:33. — “Know ye that he is nigh.” This may also be rendered, as the margin adds, “that it is nigh;” but the former is probably the right interpretation, as the question asked by the disciples at the beginning of the Chapter was, “ What shall be the sign of thy coming (or presence)?” The answer is given in the 33rd verse.
(To be continued.)
Notes on Last Month's Subject: Christ Our Example
We are very glad but not surprised to find that this subject has proved full of blessing to those who have searched it out, for surely in the whole range of Biblical study it would be hard to find a theme so practical and so full of interest for the Christian heart as the study of those blessed footprints that Christ has left to guide us through this weary world.
But we trust the blessing connected with this subject will not end with the class, but that many of our readers will derive much profit from a further study of the guiding principles of the life of our Lord that are enumerated in last month’s subject.
Glancing down the list as a whole, we would say at once that a subject like this is evidently capable of being classified in a large variety of ways. No doubt the one adopted is as good as any that could be chosen, and derives additional value from the exhortations to Christians (added from the Epistles) after each subject. Thirty-nine examples are selected in all, which we may classify as follows.
Fourteen examples illustrate Christ’s life as man with reference to God.
Fourteen show us how He acted with reference to sinners and the world generally.
Four examples only show His relation to His disciples. The remaining seven examples display the personal character of our Lord.
It may be remarked in passing, that after all, the Gospels only give us mainly the outward view of the Lord’s life: we see how He spoke and how He acted. But for the hidden motives which were the springs of all the actions, for the thoughts and feelings which passed through His heart, we must study the Psalms. There we find in the most wonderful way, often put into the lips of the psalmist or as descriptive of the character of the truly righteous man, the Lord’s own thoughts and feelings. These however are not our theme at present, although we would suggest as a useful and profitable exercise for some diligent “Bible Student” to see for how many of these 39 instances of the way the Lord acted, they can find corresponding thoughts and feelings from the Psalms.
Within the limits of this short paper we can only consider very briefly the four main divisions indicated above. The fourteen that refer to Christ’s life in reference to God may be further subdivided into seven that refer more to the inner life of the heart and soul, and seven connected more with the outward ways and acts, thus: Seven graces characterizing Christ’s inner life with God.
1. Obedience (2)—hearty, ungrudging, unvarying, perfect.
2. Submission (4)—entire surrender to the will of God Hebrews 10:7.
3. Dependence (6)—shown in prayer, the perfect expression of the relationship of man to God.
4. Thanksgiving (7)—gratitude and acknowledgment of God in the smallest things.
5. Rejoicing (8)—the pure joy in the fact that God’s will was being accomplished.
6. Confidence (9)—the repose of one who lived in the very presence of God.
7. Zeal (10)—the earnestness of one whose soul burned for God’s glory.
Seven graces characterizing Christ’s outer life of service in relation to God.
1. Faithfulness (3)—The perfect servant here closes his service without fault and blameless.
2. Guidance (5)—as to when, and how to act-a most important matter.
3. Devotedness (11)—God’s glory the servant’s first object.
4. Surrender (13)—all things (even a home and a pillow) given up in doing God’s will.
5. Service (15)—indefatigable zeal in God’s service.
6. God first (20)—no movement save in obedience to God’s will.
7. God’s wisdom (38)—no self-exaltation, but all glory given to God.
The fourteen examples of the Lord’s actions towards others are hardly susceptible of subdivision. They are as follows.
Fourteen graces shown by the Lord with regard to others.
1. The blessing of others (16) was a great object of the Lord’s life.
2. Faithfulness to others (17) was unsparing whenever the occasion demanded.
3. Wisdom in answering (18) is seen in the passage given as well as the grace and meekness that accompanied it.
4. Unworldliness (19)—honor and popularity alike refused.
5. Graciousness (22)—in condescending to be indebted to a creature.
6. Subjection (24)—to the powers that be, as ordained of God.
7. Compassion (25)—and sympathy shown perfectly by the Man of sorrows.
8. Patience (27)—unwearying and untiring.
9. Kindness (28)—of way and manner.
10. Meekness (29)—shown to be perfect when most severely tried.
11. Appreciation of others—(30)-even when they could not appreciate Him.
12. Thoughtfulness (32)—for the temporal and social wants of others.
13. Prayer for others (33)—who hated and crucified Him.
14. Slowness to condemn others (34)—even when He alone had the power to do so.
The four examples given of Christ’s ways with His disciples are; Love (26)—when there was nothing to love save what His own grace had implanted.
2. Encouragement (31)—to the feeble faith of His disciples.
3. Service (35)—in washing His disciples feet. The type of restoration.
4. Unselfishness (36)—In upholding others whose heart was right, though their knowledge was defective.
The seven examples given of what the personal life of Christ was like in itself complete the picture, and are as follows: 1. Obedient to parents (1)—though God over all, blessed forever.
2. Guided by God’s word (12)—though Himself the living word.
3. Moved by God’s will (14)—though the Eternal Son, one with the Father.
4.Subject to weariness (21)—being in His grace found in fashion as a man.
5. Obedient to the law (23)—as the only perfect Israelite.
6. Careful (37)—in the smallest matters.
7. Holy (39)—in everything, harmless and undefiled. Such then is the briefest possible summary of last month’s subject, which we trust will stimulate many a flagging footstep, recall many a straying step, fix many a wandering eye to follow more earnestly and steadily so bright an Example.
This Month's Subject: Christian Example Illustrated by Lives of Bible Saints
The subject worked out for this month is—
Christian Example illustrated by the lives of Bible saints, and especially by that of the apostle Paul.
The subject has not been treated in this instance exhaustively, as that would be well nigh impossible, but for the first part of this subject, twelve leading graces have been chosen, and the twelve best examples selected of each; for the second, a somewhat full list has been given of the life of Paul as an example of Christian practice.
Part 1. —Examples for Saints Generally of:
1.—Compassion and Sympathy:—
Moses—on account of the oppression of his people, Exodus 2:11.
David—for Mephibosheth, 2 Samuel 9
Jonathan—for David, 1 Samuel 20:41.
Boaz—for Ruth, Ruth 2:15, 16.
Job—with those in sorrow, Job 30:25.
Ebedmelech—for Jeremiah, Jeremiah 38:7.
Daniel—for God’s people, Daniel 9
Jailor—for Paul and Silas, Acts 16:33.
Mary—with Christ about His death, Mark 14:8.
Hebrews—to Paul, Hebrews 10:34.
Onesiphorus—to Paul, 2 Timothy 1:16.
2. —Faith for Spiritual Blessings:
Patriarchs—for the heavenly city, Hebrews 11:14.
Jacob—for God’s blessing, Genesis 32:28.
David—when in trouble, Psalms 23, &c.
Simeon—to see Christ, Luke 2:25,34.
Peter—for an incorruptible inheritance, 1 Peter 1:3.
A woman which was a sinner—for forgiveness, Luke 7
Elisha—for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, 2 Kings 2:9.
Moses—for spiritual reward, Hebrews 11:26.
Jailor—for eternal life, Acts 16:32.
Cornelius—for further light, Acts 10
Dying thief—for admittance into the kingdom, Luke 23
Blind man—to receive Christ, John 9:38.
3. —Faith for Temporal Mercies:—
Abraham—for the land, Genesis 15:6.
Abraham’s servant—for a wife for Isaac, Genesis 24
Rahab—for bodily safety, Joshua 2:21.
Ezra—for bodily safety, Ezra 8:22.
Hannah—for a son, 1 Samuel 1:18.
Two blind men—for their sight, Matthew 9:29.
Diseased woman—for healing, Mark 5:34. Jairus—for his daughter’s healing, Mark 5:24.
Bartimaeus—for his sight, Mark 10:52.
Centurion—for his servant, Luke 7
Nobleman—for his son, John 4:50.
Widow at Sarepta—for food, 1 Kings 17:8.
(We have no proof that all these were children of God.)
4. —Humility:—
Abraham—in giving way to Lot, Genesis 18:27.
Jacob—before God, Genesis 32:10.
Moses—according to God’s testimony, Numbers 12:3.
Hannah—in meekness when accused of drunkenness, 1 Samuel 1:16.
David—before God, 2 Samuel 7:18.
Solomon—before God, 1 Kings 3:7.
Daniel—in ascribing all wisdom to God, Daniel 2:30.
Jeremiah—before God, Jeremiah 1:6.
John the Baptist—in taking a low place, Mark 1:7.
Syrophoenician woman—in taking a dog’s place, Matthew 15:25.
Centurion—in not being worthy to receive Christ, Matthew 8:8, 9.
Publican—before God, Luke 18:13.
5. —Joy in God:—
Miriam—for His great deliverance, Exodus 15
Hannah—for answer to prayer, 1 Samuel 2:1.
David—for help and refuge, Psalms 63:7, &c.
Nehemiah—to keep the feast of tabernacles, Nehemiah 8:10.
Children of Israel—when giving for His service, 1 Chronicles 29:9.
Isaiah—for salvation, Isaiah 61:10.
Habakkuk—in spite of the loss of all, Hebrews 3:18.
Jeremiah—on account of God’s word, Jeremiah 15:16.
Mary—for the birth of Christ, Luke 1:46.
Zacharias—for the birth of John, Luke 1:68.
Apostles—for suffering for Christ, Acts 5:41.
Silas—in prison, Acts 16:25.
6. —Liberality:—
Abraham—to three strangers, Genesis 18:3-8.
Joseph—to his brethren, Genesis 43:32.
Abigail—to David in his rejection, 1 Samuel 25:18.
Queen of Sheba—to Solomon in his glory, 1 Kings 10:10.
Nehemiah—in entertaining others, Nehemiah 5:17, 18.
Shunamite woman—in entertaining Elisha. 2 Kings 4:18.
Obadiah—in feeding 100 prophets, 1 Kings 18:13.
Gaius—in receiving strangers, Romans 16:23. 3 John 5, 6.
Macedonian Christians—in helping Paul, 2 Corinthians 8:1-4.
Dorcas—in working for the poor, Acts 9:36.
Mary—towards Christ, Mark 14:3.
Widow—in giving all her living, Mark 12:42.
Joseph—to his brethren, Genesis 45:1-4.
Moses—to God’s people, Exodus 2:11.
Ruth—for God’s people, Ruth 1:16.
Jonathan—for David, 1 Samuel 18:14.
Mephibosheth—for David, 2 Samuel 19:30.
Nehemiah—for Jerusalem, Nehemiah 1
Sinful woman—for Christ, Luke 7
Mary—for Christ, John 12:3.
Mary Magdalene—for Christ, John 20:11, 13.
John—for Christ, John 13:23.
Philippians—for Paul, Philippians 4:15.
Epaphroditus—for Colossians, Colossians 4:12.
8. —Obedience to God:—
Noah—to direct command, Genesis 6:14-32.
Abraham—to direct command, Hebrews 11:8.
Moses—concerning Divine worship, Exodus 40:16.
Gideon—as to God’s way of working, Judges 7:4, 5.
Elijah—to go to Jordan, 1 Kings 17:5.
Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego—to God’s word, Daniel 3
The Wise men—in a dream, Matthew 2
Peter, James, and John—to Christ’s word, Luke 5:5.
Joseph—to take Mary, etc., Matthew 1:24;2. 21.
The disciples—to leave all, for Christ. Matthew 4:18.
Peter and other apostles—to Divine commission, Acts 5:29.
Peter—in receiving Gentiles, Acts 10
9. —Patience:—
Abraham—in bearing with Lot, Genesis 13:8.
Jacob—in long service for Rachel, Genesis 29:20.
Joseph—with his brethren, Genesis 45:5.
Moses—in bearing with the people, Exodus 33:13.
Joshua—in compassing Jericho seven times, Joshua 6
David—under Goliath’s taunts, 1 Samuel 16:13.
Nehemiah—in all his work at Jerusalem, Nehemiah
Jeremiah and the prophets—in various ways, James 5:10.
Job—in his afflictions, Job 2:10; James 5:11.
Stephen—as a martyr, Acts 3:54-60.
Simeon—in waiting for Christ’s first coming, Luke 2:25.
Thessalonians—in waiting for Christ’s second coming, 1 Thessalonians 1:3.
10. —Prayerfulness:—
Abraham’s servant—when fetching Rebekah, Genesis 24
Jabez—for himself, 1 Chronicles 4:10.
Hannah—for a child, 1 Samuel 1:10.
Samuel—for deliverance, 1 Samuel 7:9.
Hezekiah—for deliverance, 2 Kings 19:15-20.
Daniel—for God’s people, Daniel 9
Nehemiah—for guidance, Nehemiah 1:11.
David—about God’s house, 2 Samuel 7:18-29.
Jeremiah—for God’s people, Jeremiah 27:16.
Peter—for a miracle, Acts 9:40.
Cornelius—continually, Acts 10:2.
The Church—without ceasing, Acts 12:5.
11. —Repentance:—
Job—after sore affliction, Job 40:3.
David—for great sin, 2 Samuel 12:13.
Children of Israel—for sins, Judges 10:15,
Nineveh—at Jonah’s preaching, Jonah 3; Matthew 12
Dying thief—from railing at Christ, Luke 23:40, 41.
Those baptized by John—for their sins, Matthew 3:6.
Jailor—for his sins and treatment of Paul, Acts 16:30-33.
Sinful woman—for her sins, Luke 7
Zacchaeus—for defrauding, Luke 19:8.
Peter—for denying Christ, Matthew 26:75.
Joseph’s brethren—for their sin, Genesis 44:16.
Darius—for what he had done, Daniel 6:14.
(These were not all children of God.)
12. —Truthfulness:—
Samuel—to Eli, 1 Samuel 3:18.
Hushai—to Absalom, 2 Samuel 16:18.
David—in confession, 2 Samuel 24:17.
Micaiah—in speaking God s word only, 1 Kings 22:14.
Daniel—in action, Daniel 6:10.
John Baptist—in saying who he was, John 1:20.
Diseased woman—in saying who cured her, Mark 5:33.
Dying thief—in owning his just condemnation, Luke 23:41.
Peter—in preaching, Acts 4:13.
Peter and John—before the rulers, Acts 4:20.
Peter—in narrating events, Acts 11
Officers—in stating their convictions, John 7:40.
Part 2—Example Of Paul The Apostle.
Public acknowledgment of Jesus as the Son of God, Acts 9:20.
Meekness in bearing suspicion from believers. Acts 9:23, 27.
Boldness in the confession of Christ. Acts 9:29; 14:3; 19:8.
Following the leading of the Holy Ghost. Acts 13:4; 16:6-10.
Proving all things by the word of God. Acts 13:16-41; 17:2.
Honoring the Jews as the beloved nation. Acts 5:46; 14:1.
Obedience to the commands of Jesus (Mark 6:11; Matthew 10:23)
Acts 13.51. Refusing honor due to God only. Acts 14:14, 15.
Suffering for Christ—
(1) Reproach and contradiction. Acts 13:8, 45.
(2) Pain and shame. Acts 14:5-19; 16:23, 24.
(3) False accusation. Acts 16:20, 21; 17:7.
Resisting false doctrine. Acts 15:2; Ephesians to Galatians throughout.
Care for the spiritual welfare of saints. Acts 14:21-23; 15:36.
Care for the bodily necessities of saints. Romans 15:25-28; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4.
Preaching not in human wisdom, but by Divine power. 1 Corinthians 2:9.
Independence of man’s judgment. 1 Corinthians 4:3.
Carefulness as regards the conscience of the weak. 1 Corinthians 8:13.
Relinquishing rights and claims, lest the gospel be hindered. 1 Corinthians 9.12.
Free from all men, yet a servant to all. 1 Corinthians 9:19.
Beeping under the body. 1 Corinthians 9:27.
Pleasing all men in all things, that they may be saved. 1 Corinthians 10:33.
Preaching the simple Gospel,—the facts relating to Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:.3, 4
Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. 1 Corinthians 16:3.
Comforting those who are in trouble. 2 Corinthians 1:4.
Trusting not in self, but in God. 2 Corinthians 1:9.
Simplicity and godly sincerity. 2 Corinthians 1:12.
Grief for the sin of the churchapter 2 Corinthians 2:4.
Continual triumph in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:14.
Not corrupting the word of God. 2 Corinthians 2:17.
Being the vessel for the treasure of God. 2 Corinthians 4:7.
Occupied not with the things seen, but unseen, 2 Corinthians 4:18.
Willing to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:18.
Being a worker together with God. 2 Corinthians 6:1.
Giving no offense in anything, lest the ministry be blamed. 2 Corinthians 6:3.
Sorrowful yet alway rejoicing. 2 Corinthians 6:10.
Poor, yet making many richapter 2 Corinthians 6:10.
Having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 2 Corinthians 6:10.
Neither wronging, corrupting, nor defrauding any man. 2 Corinthians 7:2.
Giving proof of care for the souls of saints. 2 Corinthians 7:12.
Rejoicing with those that rejoice. 2 Corinthians 7:13.
Not warring after the flesh, and discarding carnal weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:3, 4.
Jealous lest the saints should be untrue to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:2.
Preaching the gospel fully without reward. 2 Corinthians 11:7-9.
Not only feeling, but expressing love. 2 Corinthians 11:11.
Sympathy with the weak and the offended. 2 Corinthians 11:29.
Glorying in infirmities, because they display the power of Christ. 2 Corinthians 12:9.
Taking pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, and distresses for Christ’s sake. 2 Corinthians 12:10.
Gladly spending, and being spent for the saints. 2 Corinthians 12:15.
Loving without return of love, and when love is withdrawn. 2 Corinthians 12:15.
Doing all for edification. 2 Corinthians 12:19.
Faithfulness in rebuking sin. 2 Corinthians 13:2.
Not seeking to please men, but God. Galatians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:4.
Not conferring with flesh and blood. Galatians 1:16.
Not giving place by subjection to false teachers. Galatians 2:5.
Remembering the poor. Galatians 2:10.
Telling the truth even if it provokes enmity. Galatians 4:16.
Not shrinking from the offense of the cross. Galatians 5:11.
Glorying in nothing save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14.
Crucified to the world, the world to him. Galatians 6:14.
Prayer for the Saints. Ephesians 1:16; 3:14. Philippians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 3:10.
Humility as to spiritual attainments. Ephesians 3:8.
Trusting in the loving interest of the saints. Ephesians 6:21.
Longing after the saints. Philippians 1:8.
Rejoicing that Christ is preached, if even for unworthy reasons. Philippians 1:18.
Confidence that in nothing I shall be ashamed. Philippians 1:20.
“ To me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21.
Desiring to depart and to be with Christ, yet willing to remain in the flesh for the sake of the Churchapter Philippians 1:23,24.
Rejoicing in the unity of the Spirit as kept by the saints. Philippians 2:2.
Rejoicing in the proclamation of the word by the saints. Philippians 2:16.
Rejoicing in being offered up for the saints. Philippians 2:17.
Caring to know the state of the saints. Philippians 2:19.
Willingly sparing Epaphroditus “ who ministered to my wants,” in order that he and the Philippians might have the comfort of seeing one another. Philippians 2:25.
Counting all loss for Christ. Philippians 3:7.
Not trusting in his own righteousness. Philippians 3:9
Desire to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death. Philippians 3:10.
Not satisfied with present attainments, but following after. Philippians 3:12.
Doing one thing, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, pressing toward the mark for the prize for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13,14. Being a peacemaker. Philippians 4:2.
Having learned in all states to be content. Philippians 4:11, 12,
Doing all things through Christ which strengthened him. Philippians 4:13.
Not desiring a gift except for the gain to him who gives. Philippians 4:17.
Perfect satisfaction. Philippians 4:18.
Warning every man in all wisdom by the preaching of Christ. Colossians 1:28.
Laboring and striving, according to the working of God. Colossians 1:29.
Caring earnestly even for saints unknown in the flesh. Colossians 2:1.
Rejoicing in the order, and in the faith of the saints. Colossians 2:5.
Bestowing praise where due. Philippians 2:29, 30. Colossians 4:12, 13. 1 Thessalonians 4:9.
Carefulness to set an example in all things. 1 Thessalonians 1:5.
Free from deceit, uncleanness or guile. 1 Thessalonians 2:3.
Not using flattering words. 1 Thessalonians 2.5.
Nor a cloak of covetousness. 1 Thessalonians 2:5.
Not seeking glory of men. 1 Thessalonians 2:6.
Gentle, even as a nurse cherisheth her children. 1 Thessalonians 2:7.
Laboring night and day, not to be chargeable to any. 1 Thessalonians 2:9.
Living holily, justly, and unblameably. 1 Thessalonians 2:10.
Exhorting, and comforting, and charging others, as a father doth his children. 1 Thessalonians 2:11, 12.
Love not weakened by absence. 1 Thessalonians 2:17.
Diligence to make known the things to come—(Paul was but 3 weeks at. Thessalonica, and found no believers there when he arrived). 2 Thessalonians 2:5.
Deep sense of sinfulness. 1 Timothy 1:15, 16.
Trust in the living God. 1 Timothy 4:10.
Conscientious service. 2 Timothy 1:3; Acts 24:16.
Full trust in Christ. 2 Timothy 1:12.
Gratitude for love and kindness, and affectionate remembrance of service rendered. 2 Timothy 1:16-18.
Enduring all things for the elect’s sake. 2 Timothy 2:10.
Fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7.
Love for the Lord’s appearing. 2 Timothy 4:8.
Personal and individual remembrance of the saints, and love for them. Last Chapters of Romans, of 1 Corinthians, of 2 Timothy, &c.
Care for little matters relating to the personal wants of the saints. Titus 3:13.
Rather desirous to beseech, than to command or enjoin. Philemon 1:8, 9.
Anxiety to give the opportunity for willing, rather than constrained service. Philemon 1:13, 14.
Carefulness in money matters, to do all honestly, as regards the creditor, and generously, in taking the place of the debtor. Philemon 1:18, 19.
In all things being willing to live honestly. Hebrews 13:11.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 33 - 61
Notice. All queries on Biblical subjects received up to the 3rd of each month, are inserted here in the following month. Wherever possible, answers are given which however must by no means be considered final, as discussion and further replies to the queries are invited, and the latter will be inserted (with the correspondent’s initials attached) whenever helpful, it being however distinctly understood that the Editor holds himself responsible for no replies to which initials are attached. Any questions on practical Christian life and conduct must be addressed to the, Editor of the Young Believer (at the same address) and will be answered. in the pages of that magazine under the head of “Practical Queries.”
Q. 33. In a Bible Almanac for 1881, I see that “the Rose of Sharon” is the Church, in Q. 376 it is said to be Christ, which is right? E. B.
A. As rendered in our English version the “ rose of Sharon “ and the “ lily of the valley “ appear doubtless to refer to the same person. But we believe the construction favors the thought expressed before that the “rose” refers to Christ, and the “lily,” connected with the next verse, to His Bride. We have received a further communication on this verse which we hope to insert next month.
Q. 34. Please explain “Work out your own salvation, &c.” Philippians 2:12. E. B.
A. This passage speaks of salvation as future, as also Romans 13:11.; 1 Thessalonians 5:8,9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 2:10; Hebrews 9:28; and both the epistles of Peter (excepting 1 Peter 1:9, where soul salvation is a present reality), God works in me, what I work out with fear (godly fear) and trembling, and the one that most fears to grieve God is the one who most fully knows His unchanging love. It were well if this godly fear and trembling were more felt amongst us; not the fear of being lost, which cannot exist in the heart that rests in God’s word, but the fear of sinning against such infinite grace and perfect love.
Q. 35. Please explain “ Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down!” Isaiah 64:1. Does it refer to the Lord’s coming? E. B.
A. This seems a still more earnest expression than 43:15, and is a call to God to manifest Himself in all His power on behalf of His people, to be fulfilled doubtless when Messiah stands once again on Mount Olivet. Observe verse 4, which is often quoted instead of 1 Corinthians 2:9,10, the former sheaving that to the Jews the glorious blessings of the future were not revealed, the latter stating that to the Christian by the Spirit they are.
Q. 36. Please explain briefly (1) Revelation 12 also (2) Zechariah 5:7-11. J. R. R.
A. (1) In Revelation 12 we get symbolically the Jewish people—Christ born of the seed of David— the power of Satan (Herod, &c.) arrayed against Him, and deliverance effected by God in taking up the man-child to His throne. The Jewish remnant (ver. 6) flee into the wilderness, the cause of their flight being accounted for (ver. 7-13) by the casting down of Satan to the earth, and are persecuted for 3 1/2 years, being the half of Daniel’s last week. (2) By some this is thought to mean that the spirit of idolatry that originally came from Shinar is here seen to be shut up and rapidly transported by Divine power out of Judaea back to its native place in Babylon, no more to corrupt Israel.
Q. 37. In Exodus 7, it says Moses was fourscore, and Aaron fourscore and three. But we find Aaron died at Mount Hor at the age of 123 (Numbers 33:39), was this the same year that Moses died, for he died at the age of 120? A. D. J.
A. Aaron did not die till the forty years wandering were almost over, and we see no reason to doubt that within the same twelve months Moses died also.
Q. 38. Please explain Galatians 6:2, in connection with ver. 5, which seems to contradict it. A. D. J.
A. Verse 2 teaches unselfishness and care for others, according to the word and example of Christ, whereas verse 5 shows that each one must bear the weight of his own personal responsibility to God for all his work and actions (of course as a Christian). The word burden is not the same in the two verses. The former meaning what is heavy and presses down, the other simply a freight or a full load.
Q. 39. Is Moses or Aaron meant in Numbers 16:48? Does this refer to Christ at the present time? Z.
A. Aaron as priest was the only one who by intercession could stand between the living and the dead, and the incense, fragrant in type with Christ, stayed God’s righteous judgments on His rebellious people. The very priesthood that Korah had despised was the only means of saving the people. So now it is only by the exercise of Christ’s priesthood that a people full of sins and failures are brought through the wilderness. Observe no fresh sacrifice is offered, no blood shed. The action is purely priestly intercession, though based doubtless on the blood ever sprinkled within the veil.
Q. 40. Does the word “ bring” in 1 Thessalonians 4:14, refer to the resurrection of sleeping saints when the Lord comes, or to His bringing them with Him when He appears to the world? In Hebrews 13:20 the word brought is applied to the Lord’s resurrection as being accomplished by God. W. H. M.
A. Verse 14 is general, and merely states the fact generally that all the dead (whom the Thessalonians appeared to have given up all hope of ever seeing again) would be brought with Christ at His public appearing from heaven. From verse 15 we get the special word of the Lord to tell us that this is brought about by their being previously caught up to heaven when the Lord descends into the air to meet them. “ Brought,” in Hebrews 13:20 is a different word, and is “brought back again” from the dead, not from heaven.
Q. 41. Please explain (1) Luke 13:20, 21, and (2) 2 Chronicles 21:12. E. S. M.
A. (1) We must bear in mind that “leaven” is everywhere a type of a hidden evil principle. Therefore just as three measures of meal (originally pure flour) get everywhere pervaded by the working of a small quantity of leaven, so that which was originally set up in purity has become pervaded everywhere with mere empty profession, and contains every sort of corruption. That which bears the name of Christ, “Christendom,” is now everywhere pervaded with evil. (2) Please say what is your difficulty here.
Q. 42. Does 2 Peter 1:9 refer to true believers? Z.
A. Those is verse 9 may be true believers, for “these things” that they lack do not include faith, but seven graces which were to be added to faith; and it is faith that saves, not these graces though they are the blessed fruits of the new life. A Christian who lacks these though saved, has no insight into Divine things, has not grown in grace or the knowledge of the Lord, and moreover is in great danger of slipping into the world and forgetting the practical purity and separation that become the Christian path.
Q. 43. What is the true force of 1 Timothy 4:8? Does it mean “ for a short time,, (See Y. B. vol 1. p. 38) or for small things? Z.
A. Our English version reads in the Margin “for a little time,” the R. V. simply “for a little.” (which indeed is all the Greek warrants.) The passage may either be taken as contrasting “ a little time” with the “ life that now is and that which is to come” or as you suggest “small things” with all things” The great point is to see that it is said to profit for a little, not to be of little profit.
Q. 44. Does “ for us all “ Romans 8:32, mean all men or only believers? Z.
A. The passage all through is addressed to those who “are in Christ Jesus,” and does not therefore raise the question as to the scope of Christ’s death. That is answered elsewhere.
Q. 45. Why is blood named first in John 19:34, and water first in 1 John 5:6-8? Does water here refer to cleansing by the Word? Z.
A. In the Gospel “the blood” is mentioned first by the Apostle, because it is God’s side of the atonement, and answers His claims on man as a sinner. In the Epistle, water is uniformly named first because it is a question of our walk as Christians, and water is the symbol of the cleansing action of the Word by which and the Spirit, we are born again (John 3).
Q. 46. What is meant by a covenant of salt, or a perpetual covenant, Numbers 18:19? Z.
A. A covenant of salt throughout the East is synonymous with an inviolable pledge. It is also symbolical of fidelity and friendship. Hence during the Indian mutiny there were great complaints by the natives against the men who had eaten our salt and then turned against us.
Q. 47. How is the expression “the body of Christ,” Colossians 2:17, to be understood? Z.
A. This substance or body of all the shadows of Jewish ritual is Christ Himself. Why then turn round and forsake the substance for the shadow, as all do who leave a living Redeemer to find satisfaction in rites and ceremonies?
Q. 48. What is the typical meaning of cedar wood? Z.
A. Cedar wood means the highest and greatest thing in nature, and the hyssop the lowest and most despised.
Q. 49. What does “singing with grace” mean in Colossians 3:15? Z.
A. Not merely with melody of voice which man can hear and appreciate, but with the grace of Christ in the heart which God alone can see and love. No singing is beautiful to God that lacks this; while the feeblest song, though with a broken voice, that is the fruit of His love and grace in the heart, is sweet to His ear.
Q. 50. What “ enmity” is spoken of in Ephesians 2:16? Z.
A. The “enmity” is the hatred of Jew to Gentile, which was greater in bitterness and intensity than is generally thought This enmity was the result of holding in a carnal way the law of commandments contained in those ordinances that formed the barrier between them. Exalted by spiritual pride, that fatal vice, they looked down with supreme contempt on those Gentiles who were “ without the law.”
Q. 51. I should be very glad to have more light about 1 Peter 3:4, “the hidden man of the heart,” and the “ incorruptible ornament?” Z.
A. The “hidden man” is here in direct contrast to the “outward man” (or woman). The beauty of the Christian was not to consist in gold, silver, or costly array, which moth can corrupt and thief steal, but in the incorruptible ornament and priceless jewel of a meek and quiet spirit, springing from the new nature which God has implanted Q. 52. How is the seeming evasion in 1 Samuel 16:1, 5, to be understood? (2) When were Israelites first called Jews? W. J. H.
A. Samuel was told to go and sacrifice at Bethlehem, and God would then show him further what to do. On account of Samuel’s want of faith God allowed him to do this without disclosing his ultimate design. It is often the mark of a fool, rather than of a truthful man to utter all one’s mind. The sacrifice was a natural mission for Samuel in the absence of the regular priesthood. (2) In 2 Kings 16:6, the next place is in Chapter 18:26.
Q. 53. What became of the bodies of the saints who rose, Matthew 27:52, 53? H. W.
A. We are not told. Probably they lived on earth. We shall be glad to hear more about them. See also Q. 271. vol. 1, p. 40.
Q. 54. What does Matthew 16:28 mean? H. W.
A. It was fulfilled in eight days when three of those standing there saw in striking figure the Son of Man in His glory in the immediate presence of God the Father whose voice came out of the bright cloud; the heavenly saints being represented by Moses and Elijah, the earthly by the three disciples.
Q. 55. Under what circumstance was 1 Corinthians written? F. E. L. P.
A. The epistle was written towards the close of Paul’s three years’ visit to Ephesus, (Acts 19:10-20:31.) See 1 Corinthians 16:8. The apostle had intended to visit the Corinthians on his way into Macedonia and them on returning to pay them a second visit. The dreadful state of the church prevented this and occasioned a letter instead. The subject of this letter is based, 1St, on information received from some of Chloe’s household (1, 2.) of grave divisions; 2nd, on information he had received of a dreadful case of immorality, and also of great irregularities at the Lord’s supper and elsewhere; and 3rd, this letter was also in answer to many special inquiries addressed to Paul from Corinth as to Christian practice, &c. There was a great deal of philosophy at Corinth (though Athens was its seat); but it was mainly the eastern center of polished immorality and worldly luxury of every description.
Q. 55. Did John the Baptist wholly, or only partly fulfill Malachi 3, 4, or is part of this yet future?
A. Matthew 11:14, says, “ If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come,” referring to Malachi 4:5,6: as a matter of fact they did not receive it, and hence put off (humanly speaking) the fulfillment of Malachi for 2000 years. Jerusalem did not know the time of her visitation and her house is still left desolate, and Malachi will yet be fulfilled. (Compare Revelation 11:3, 6, &c.) The coming of the Baptist therefore was only a partial fulfillment of this prophecy.
Q. 57. How can we read these verses together, John 6:37-44, and Chapter 5:40?
A. Refer to Q. 15. As has been well said, “It is impossible to reflect closely and not to see that to our human reason moral incapacity seems to disprove moral responsibility. At this issue our reasoning must arrive, and human reason has nothing to reply. When Paul himself had brought the argument to this point he did not argue, but only said, “Nay, but O man! who art thou that repliest against God?” Much time would be saved if we at once accepted the fact that sovereignty and responsibility each pressed home, seem to our finite reasons, darkened by the fall, mutually to exclude each other. It would be well if we did net defer to do that which is required of us, namely, to believe the Scriptures, till we can do what is not required of us, namely, to reconcile sovereignty and responsibility. But against this our pride of intellect revolts, and so makes void half of Scripture. Because we find John 6:37 written, we deprive of all its meaning the tender remonstrance of John 5:40. Yet why should man argue when God has spoken. He has declared both these things; and though difficult in the abstract, they have never presented any practical difficulty to an honest seeker. Every conscience testifies of their truth; every man born again of the Spirit knows he did not, and could not have done it for himself; and every man that continues in sin knows he does it willfully, and of his own ungodly preference: and both these truths will be testified to in heaven and hell to all eternity.” Chapter 6:44 has special reference to the human form Jesus took, which was so lowly that none untaught of the Spirit could recognize in Him the Son of God.
Q. 58. How do we reconcile Romans 8:3. “Whom he did predestinate, them He also called” and Matthew 22:14. “There are many called, but few chosen?”
A. All predestinated are called, and the call is effectual, but the Gospel call is not limited to such, on the contrary it is world-wide on the basis of “Whosoever will” and hence all are responsible for rejecting it. Only those accept the call whose hearts are wrought upon by the Spirit; that is the “chosen” or “predestinated.” The question essentially is the same as Q. 57. The “call” in Matthew is in its widest sense; in Romans it only speaks of those in whom the call is effectual.
Q. 59. What is meant by “delivered unto Satan?” 1 Timothy 1:20. F. E.
A. We believe that it refers to an especial apostolic power. We see a similar action by God in Job’s case and by Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 and we think it goes entirely beyond mere church discipline.
Q. 60. (1) What prophecies are alluded to in 1 Timothy 1:18. (2) Did the apostle (ver. 13) obtain mercy because he sinned ignorantly, or is ver. 16 the cause? F. E.
A. We believe it refers to prophecies by some unknown N. T. prophets which had indicated Timothy’s future position in the church of God. Hence the apostle’s commission was not merely in virtue of his own authority, but according to the prophecies of others. (2) Both were true reasons why Paul obtained mercy, the grace of God was extended to the chief of sinners on account of his ignorance, but not only so, but also that the purpose of God might be fulfilled in showing forth in him, as the chief, (H. V.) all His longsuffering.
Q. 61. Why are children not visited by the sins of their fathers in Deuteronomy 24:18 as in Exodus 20:5? A. N.
A. Deuteronomy refers to being put to death by the word of man, where it would be manifestly unjust to put one to death for the sins of another, however God might see fit in His providence to punish whole generations who tread in their fathers’ steps. The two passages are in no way parallel, Deuteronomy referring to man’s conduct towards his fellow man, and Exodus to God’s dealings with his creatures according to His infinite wisdom and perfect justice.
Notes on Former Questions: Vol. 1, 430
Q. 430. Vol. 1. p. 146. The following extract from the Commentary of Delitzsch may throw some light on Isaiah 32:19,20. The verses should be translated as follows: — “And it hails as the forest falls, and the city is greatly abased. Blessed are ye who sow by all waters, and let the foot of the ox and ass go free.” In verse 19 the two last judgments are referred to, that of the Assyrian who is called the forest (see Isaiah 10:34), and that of Jerusalem. Those who survive the time of these judgments are possessors of a land cleared of all enemies. They are free to sow wherever they will, and on account of the fertility of the soil are not obliged to keep away their cattle and asses from the cornfields, as is usually done, but allow them to stray in perfect liberty. For a parallel passage see Isaiah 30:23, 24. A. B.
The Lord Knoweth
“The way I take” Job 23:10; “our frame” Psalms 103:14; “Them that trust in Him” Nahum 1:7; “What ye need” Matthew 6:32; “His own sheep” John 10:14; “Them that are His” 2 Timothy 2:19; “How to deliver” 2 Peter 2:9.
Seven Sevens: Life-Purity-Ark Names-I Ams-Abundance-Togethers-Prayers-Passovers
Christ our Life. —
(1) Bread of life, John 6:35;
(2) Fountain of life, Revelation 21:6;
(3) Tree of life, Revelation 2:7;
(4) Light of life, John 8:12;
(5) Path of life, Psalms 16:11;
(6) Word of life, 1 John 1:1
(7) Prince of life, Acts 3:15.
Purity in Timothy. —
(1) A pure heart, 1 Timothy 1:5;
(2) a pure conscience 3:9;
(3) In purity, 4:12;
(4) with all purity, 5:2;
(5) keep thyself pure, 5:22;
(6) with pure conscience, 2 Timothy 1:3;
(7) A pure heart, 2:22.
Seven Names of The Ark. —
The ark of the testimony; (Exodus 25:22),
Of the covenant; (Numbers 10:33),
Of God; (1 Samuel 3:3).
Of the Lord God; (1 Kings 2:26),
Of the Lord of all the earth; (Joshua 3:13)
The holy ark: (2 Chronicles 35:3),
The ark of thy strength; (Psalms 132:8).
“I Am’s In John. —
(1) 6:35, I am the bread of life;
(2) 8:12, I am the light of the world;
(3) 10:7; I am the door of the sheep;
(4) 10:11, I am the good Shepherd;
(5) 11:25, I am the resurrection and the life;
(6) 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life;
(7) 15:1, I am the true vine.
Abundance. —
(1) Abundant mercy, 1 Peter 1:3,
(2) Abundant grace, 2 Corinthians 4:15,
(3) Abundant consolation, 2 Corinthians 1:5,
(4) Abundant joy, 2 Corinthians 8:2,
(5) Abundant pardon, Isaiah 55:7,
(6) Abundant peace, Psalms 37:11,
(7) Abundant entrance, 2 Peter 1:11.
Seven “Togethers” Of Believers. —
“Framed together,” Ephesians 2:21,
“Joined together,” Ephesians 4:16,
“Builded together,” Ephesians 2:22,
“Knit together,” Colossians 2:2,
“Followers together,” Philippians 3:17,
“Striving together,” Philippians 1:27,
“Caught up together.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
Seven Prayers Of Our Lord In Luke. —
Chapter 3:21;
5:16;
6:12;
9:18;
9:28;
11:1;
22:41-44.
The Seven Recorded Passovers.
Exodus 12—In Egypt.
Numbers 9:5. —In the wilderness of Sinai.
Joshua 5:10. —In the plains of Jericho.
2 Chronicles 30 —In Jerusalem at the proclamation of Hezekiah.
2 Chronicles 35—In Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of Josiah.
Ezra 6:19, 20. —In Jerusalem after the return from Babylon.
Matthew 26:17-30. —In Jerusalem by our Lord and His disciples.
Notes and Comments
“E B” suggests that there are eight conversions in John, the unnamed companion of Andrew being the eighth (John 1:40). This is generally supposed to be the apostle John himself, the writer of the gospel. And hence we suppose was not included with the others. At the same time we find that many of the so-called “sevens” are really manufactured out of a far greater number. We think such a practice is useless unless the seven chosen can clearly be shown to be grouped to illustrate some special truth, and would ask our contributors to see when they do send “sevens” that they are not “eights,” or even higher numbers in reality.
The following note on the accuracy of Scripture may interest our readers.
In Jeremiah 32:2-5; 34:2, 3, we find it was prophesied of Zedekiah, king of Judah, that after escaping from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar he should be captured, that his eyes should behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and that they should speak mouth to mouth, and that he should go to Babylon, and in Ezekiel 12:10-13 we find it further prophesied that though he should die in Babylon, yet he should not see it.
In Jeremiah 39:5-7 and 52:8-11 There is recorded the exact fulfillment of these apparently contradictory prophecies, Nebuchadnezzar first putting out Zedekiah’s eyes, and then leading him captive to Babylon, where he remained in prison till his death.
We are told by Josephus, the Jewish historian, that Zedekiah ridiculed the two contradictory prophecies. Was he not like many now who ridicule what seem to them to be contradictions in Scripture, and who will find out when it is too late that they are terrible truths? M. T.
We find that many consider that they cannot take in this Magazine without joining the Bible Student’s Class. We need hardly say that this is not the case.
New Testament Words Explained: Crown - Godhead
Crown.
The Greek words stephanos and diadeema both mean crown, but the former refers exclusively to the crown of leaves or flowers awarded to a victor in the old Grecian games, and to this the apostle Paul alludes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, 2 Timothy 2:5, &c.; while the latter refers to the kingly crown which in ancient times consisted simply of a fillet or band of silk or linen, and is used in Revelation 12:3; 13:1. The fact of these being mere bands and not head-coverings explains how there could be many crowns on one person, as in Revelation 19:12. In Matthew 27:29 the word used is stephanos, and not diadeema, for although the crown that was put upon the Lord’s head might seem to be a kingly one, its shape and construction resembled the former and not the latter.
Defile.
The Greek word moluno, thus translated, means literally to smear or daub with mud, and occurs in 1 Corinthians 8:7; Revelation 3:4; 14:4. The word miaino is also translated defile (John 18:28; Titus 1:15; Hebrews 12:15; Jude 8), but means to dye or stain with color, and hence has not literally the meaning of defilement although frequently so used.
Evil.
Besides the common word kakos two words, poneeros and phaulos, are thus translated. The former of these means evil’ in its positive aspect, the latter in its negative, implying the absence of good, or as we say, good-for-nothing.
Poneeros is applied to Satan in Matthew 6:13, and Ephesians 6 (see also Luke 7:2;1 Acts 19:12), he being actively wicked, while phaulos in many cases means worthless rather than wicked. It occurs John 5:29; Titus 2:8; James 3:16, etc Fear.
Three words are thus translated-deilia used in a bad sense, eulabeia used in a good sense, and phobos used in both. Deilia we find in 2 Timothy 1:7, and its derivatives in Matthew 8:26; Mark 4:40; John 14:27; Revelation 21:8: it may be translated cowardice. Eulabeia occurs only in Hebrews 5:7; 12:28. Phobos is used in a bad sense in Romans 8:15; 1 John 4:18; and in a good sense in Acts 9:31; Romans 3:18; Ephesians 6:5; 1 Peter 1:17. It thus occupies a middle place between the other two words.
Garment, raiment, robe.
Nine Greek words are thus indifferently translated, which we may briefly distinguish. Himation (Matthew 9:16; 11:8; 14:36; 26:65, &c.) is the general word, meaning men’s or women’s clothes. It is however also specially used to mean the large outer garment which was worn over the close-fitting under-vest or kiton. We thus often find the two words together, as in Matthew 5:40; Luke 6:29; John 19:23; Acts 9:39. In Matthew 5:40, they are thus distinguished by the Lord— “If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat (kiton), let him have thy cloak (himation) also:” that is to say, the less valuable article first, and the more valuable cloak after. In Luke 6:29, where the person is supposed to have forcibly (not legally) taken away the cloak, himation naturally comes first. Peter, when he was naked, (John 21:7) still hail on his kiton, having merely laid aside his fisher’s coat, while engaged in his work. Himatismos, a third word, is generally only used of splendid and costly garments (often rendered vesture) Luke 7:25; 1 Timothy 2:9; Matthew 27:35; John 19:24. In these two latter passages it is applied to the Lord’s kiton, or vest, which was probably therefore beautiful and costly; not that it was worn for display, being always covered by the himation, or outer garment.
Chlamuse is the word used in Matthew 27:28, 31, for the purple robe, and means an official dress; it was probably the cast-off robe of some Roman officer.
Stolee is any stately robe (stole), applied often to woman’s dress sweeping on the ground, also to the garments worn by the Scribes (Mark 12:38; Luke 20:46). It occurs also in Mark 16:5, Luke 15:2;2 Revelation 6:11; 7:9, &c.
Podeerees means emphatically a garment reaching to the feet, and hence is very like stolee. The three other words, esthees, (Luke 23:1), estheesis (Luke 24:4) and enduma (Matthew 22:1-2) have no very distinctive meaning.
Godhead.
There are two words thus translated, which are perceptibly different in meaning,—theotes or divinity, and thektes, or deity; the former used only in Colossians 2:9, the latter only in Romans 1:20.
In Colossians, where the Apostle is showing that Christ really revealed God Himself, the higher word theotes is used, in Romans on the contrary, where he shows how much of God may be revealed in nature, the word theiotes is used, not signifying God Himself, who can only be known in the Son, but His divine attributes and power. The word theiotes is common in Greek among the heathen writers, though only used in the above passage in scripture, whereas theotes is only found once in classical Greek, as it is also found once in scripture. The latter is the word always used by the early Fathers to express the Godhead, never the former.
The distinction between these two words is of great importance to the Christian reader, in showing that God as such is only revealed in Christ, not in nature.
Divine Names and Titles: 2. Christ
2—Christ.
This the most familiar of all the titles of our Lord, is frequently coupled with His name Jesus, especially in the Epistles, and the two form what is considered to be His full name.
The word is derived from the Greek word for anointing, and means The Anointed One. It is used as an equivalent for the Hebrew word Messiah, which has the same meaning, and which we may consider at another time.
That priests (Exodus 40:15), kings (1 Samuel 9:16), and prophets (1 Kings 19:16), were anointed to their office, sufficiently explains why the title “Christ” should have been chosen by the inspired writers to express the fact that Jesus of Nazareth was the Prophet, Priest, and King of whom Moses and the Prophets did write. The general use of this title is plainly seen in connection with Old Testament prophecies, as in Matthew 22:42; 23:10; 24:5, 23; Mark 12:35; 13:21; Luke 3:15; 20:41; John 7:26, 27, 31, 41, 42; 12:34; in all of which places the character of “Christ” as described in the Old Testament is referred to. Were this, however, all the meaning connected with this special title, it would only have at most a secondary interest for us, poor lost sinners of the Gentiles; but such is not all its meaning. If we turn to Matthew 16, we shall there find a remarkable change given by the Lord in the force or meaning of this title or name.
At this time the Lord had been definitely rejected by His ancient people. He had come unto His own and His own had received Him not. In Chapter 12 Their leaders attributed His mighty works to Beelzebub (v. 24), thus committing the unpardonable sin (v. 32), and Jesus calling them a “generation of vipers,” and “an evil and adulterous generation,” pronounces the final judgment on the people (39-45), declaring that His brethren now were all who should do the will of His Father in heaven (50). He then goes forth as a sower to sow the seed of a new race, of whom Matthew 13 gives the history in parable. In Chapter 16 Peter, by the express revelation of God, not now from Old Testament Scriptures, places the name of “Christ” in a hew connection as “Son of the living God,” and Jesus declares that on this confession He would found His church, and at the same time charges His disciples no longer to proclaim Him on earth as Messiah (v. 20); that is to say, that having been rejected by His earthly people when presented to them as the “Christ,” Jesus takes up this same title and transfers it in resurrection (“the living God”) to a new and heavenly race, gathered from Jew and Gentile, the church of God, of whom henceforth He was to be the Head. The subject is resumed in Chapter 18, where the value of “the name,” taken in this new connection (with the church instead of with Israel), is shown (v. 20). The result of this wondrous change is that the name of Christ now ceases to be Jewish property, and becomes the cherished possession of Christians, the new race thus scripturally (1 Peter 4:16) taking their name, not from Jesus, but from Christ. In proof of this we find that, whereas “Christ” only occurs some 22 Times in the Gospels, in the Epistles, as now belonging to us, it occurs over 220 times; “Jesus Christ” which is found only some 8 times in the Gospels, occurs about 90 times after. Looking at the new use of this wondrous name, it is seen at once that it has a far deeper meaning to the Christian than it ever had to the Jew. That wonderful expression, so constantly occurring that we are in danger of passing over its deep meaning, “in Christ,” could never be applied to the Messiah as suchapter It is Christ who is the Head of His body the church, as well as the head of every man (1 Corinthians 11:3). The new life is Christ in us for He is our life (Colossians 3:4). So inseparable is Christ now from His people, that in the well-known passage in 1 Corinthians 12:12, they, the body, with the Head are called “the Christ” (lit). What special thoughts are there then to feed our souls in connection with this name! We get in it the one Body, the union of all believers with one another and with Christ, we get our security “in Christ,” and our power for walk “Christ in us,” we get the Rock (Matthew 16) on which all our hopes are built. In short, in this name we see expanded in a full and glorious way in resurrection all the meaning that lay hidden in the latter half of the Lord’s own name, JESUS. And if we put the two together we get a full picture of the person and work of Christ. Jehovah the mighty God is our help, the God of Jacob is become our refuge and is now in resurrection our life, our portion forever. Jesus the humbled man, Christ the risen Lord, the two together tell all the story of the “sufferings of Christ and the glories that follow.”
The Holy Bible: Remarks Upon the Books of the Old Testament
The magnificent conclusion to the blessing of the Tribes Deuteronomy 33:26-29,) forms a perfectly beautiful and fitting close to the pen of inspiration in the hand of Moses. The first eight verses of the concluding Chapter of Deuteronomy were probably written by Joshua, and the last four verses by an utterly unknown hand, perhaps Ezra the editor of the Old Testament. This last Chapter of the Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 34). is however as fully inspired as the first Chapter (Genesis 1).
The next group of sacred writings is from Joshua to Esther, twelve books in our Bibles, but reckoned by the Jews as six.
JOSHUA. It has been gathered by some from the frequent use of the third person that not Joshua, but a contemporary and eye-witness was the writer of the book. But it must be remembered that it was not an unfrequent occurrence on the part of the inspired writer, both to speak and write in the third person, (see Ezra 7). Jewish tradition ascribes the authorship of the whole to Joshua save the last five verses which were evidently written after the death of the “Savior” of Israel as the name Joshua imports. Probably one of the elders who out-lived Joshua added these supplementary verses, as also the record of certain transactions which occurred some time after the death of Joshua, (Chapter 15:16-19 comp. with Judges 1:12-15; Chapter 19:47 with Judges 18)
JUDGES. According to generally accepted Jewish tradition, Samuel was the writer of this book. The remark, “In those days there was no king in Israel,” four times repeated (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) would skew that the book was written after the establishment of Monarchy in Israel, but before the capture of Jerusalem and destruction of the Jebusites by David; (for this compare Chapter 1:21, with 2 Samuel 5:6-9.)
RUTH. From the allusion to a then old custom in Israel “concerning redeeming and concerning changing” (Chapter 4:7), and the historical account of David’s genealogy (Chapter 4:17-22), we gather that the book was written certainly not earlier than the accession of David to the throne of Israel. Probably Samuel was the writer.
BOOKS OF SAMUEL. These books in the ancient Hebrew formed but one. In the Septuagint and Vulgate and in the sub-title of our English Bibles they are spoken of as, 1St and 2nd Books of Kings. We have no difficulty, on the authority of 1 Chronicles 29:29, in assigning the first 24 chapters of the first book to Samuel, and the remaining chapters with the whole of the second book to the prophets Nathan and Gad.
Eastern Manners and Customs: "Friend, Lend Me Three Loaves."
“Friend, lend me three loaves.”—Luke 11:5.
It was usual for the Lord Jesus to illustrate His teaching by reference to common things, such as concerned every day life. Increasing acquaintance with the customs of Eastern lands throws light upon many a passage upon which differences of opinion have arisen, such as respecting these “three loaves,” a custom which to this day is well understood by the people of Bible lands. A missionary lady directed her servant to buy some bread for an unexpected visitor, and he said he must get “three loaves.” Eastern loaves are small, not larger than English dinner-rolls; but three seemed a large quantity, and she said so. The man replied “I must buy the loaves; that is a man’s portion, and you cannot set less before him.” Another lady who lived for many years in Jerusalem, has stated that the words “three loaves” are always known there to signify provision for an unexpected guest. The heat of the climate renders it unadvisable to prepare more food, at one time, than is likely to be consumed at one meal; the uncertainties of Oriental travel makes it impossible for a guest always to time his arrival; and he may, therefore, make his appearance when there is nothing in the house for his refreshment, and his host has to send round to his friends and neighbors to see if fragments can be found from which some dish may be hastily prepared. The last mentioned lady was sitting in her room one evening, when a black boy, servant of a Missionary living near, put his head in at the door, with these words “My master says, Will you lend him three loaves? “She understood at once the state of the case, as well as if the boy had repeated the verse that follows these words. She found a small piece of meat, and a little milk, sufficient for the traveler’s tea (the boy had already obtained bread from another friend); and this was her part of the required “ three loaves.”
Such illustrations as these, familiar to all who listened to the Lord’s words, furnish one reason, we can well understand, why “the common people heard Him gladly.”
Analysis of 1 Kings
1. History of the reign of Solomon, God’s King in glory
1. Solomon Placed on the Throne
B. Made Known to the King
2. Early History of His Reign
B. Judgment of David’s Enemies
a. His princes and officers
b. The extent of his kingdom
c. His household and wisdom
3. Building of the Temple & King’s House
A. Hiram’s Friendship and Assistance
B. The Building of the Temple
C. The Building of the King’s House
D. The Brazen work of Hiram
4. Dedication of the Temple
5. The Glory of His Kingdom
B. Visit of the Queen of Sheba
A. His Idolatry and its Consequences
C. God Gives Ten Tribes to Jeroboam
2. History of the Kings of Israel
A. Division of Israel and Judah
B. Idolatry and Death of Jeroboam
b. God’s judgment by the prophet
c. Disobedience of the prophet
d. God’s judgment by Abijah
C. Notice of Rehoboam’s Reign
2. Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Omri
A. Notice of Abijam’s Reign
D. Victories Over Benhadad
F. Notice of Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Belly - Cedar
Romans 16:18; John 7:38; Revelation 10:9, 10
Overwhelming sorrows of a judicial character
Agents of good or evil. Spiritual wickedness
Isaiah 31:5; Revelation 18:2
Mourning. Moral defilement
Jeremiah 4:28; Revelation 6:5; Song of Solomon 1:5, 6
Without spiritual perception
2 Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 3:17
The pollutions of human nature
Life forfeited by sin, but claimed by a Holy God
Complete apostasy from God and truth
Heavenly character. The leading color used in the construction of the coverings, curtains, and veil of the tabernacle
A register of Christian profession written in time.
Register of real believers written in eternity
Place of rest and deepest affection
John 1:18; Isaiah 40:11; Luke 16:23
Distant conflict. Deceit and falsehood
Revelation 6:2; Jeremiah 9:3
Genesis 49:25; Isaiah 46:11
One loaf, Christ for the communion of the Church— one being the expression of their unity
Twelve loaves, Christ for the communion of Israel—twelve being the expression of their unity
Christ’s ability in bearing the responsibility of the sinner, as in the brazen altar
Christ’s ability in sustaining the responsibility of the saint as in the brazen laver
Firmness of Divine judgment
Moral condition as a safeguard for the heart and conscience
Ephesians 6:14; 1 Thessalonians 5:8
Moral restraint upon man’s will and nature
Psalms 32;9; James 3:2; Isaiah 30:28
Utter ruin and intense anguish
Revelation 14:10; Job 18:15
Christ— a sacrifice offered to God in the strength and vigor of perfect manhood,
Leviticus 1:1-15; chapter 16
Cruel and powerful enemies
Psalms 22:12; Jeremiah 50:11
Psalms 18:2, 30; Song of Solomon 4:4
A religion that would attach man to earth; or, the union of human and Divine principles
Exodus 33:7; Hebrews 13:13
Artificial light. Divine light and favor
Revelation 22:5; Job 29:3
The fullness of the Spirit’s light resting upon believers.
The perfect display of the moral glories of Christ as seen in His adorable person
God’s instruments of judgment upon the Gentile oppressors of His people, Israel
Man displayed in the best and fairest forms
Leviticus 14:4-6; Numbers 19:6
The Revised Version of the New Testament: Matthew 25:6-28:19
25:6. — “Behold, the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him.” The Authorized Version has, “Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” The word “cometh” is omitted in some of the best manuscripts. The rendering, “come ye forth to meet him,” shows that the “cry” is made by those who accompany the bridegroom, not by those who see him approaching.
25:8. — “Our lamps are going out” is unquestionably more correct than “our lamps are gone out.”
25:14. — “The expression” the kingdom of heaven “is not to be found in the original, as the italics of the Authorized Version spew us. “A far country “has been changed by the Revisers into “another country,” which is no doubt an improvement.
25:21. — “I will set thee over many things” is more literal translation than “I will make thee ruler over many things,” as the word used in the original does not necessarily imply the idea of ruling.
25:27. —The words “bankers” and “interest” may perhaps appear to some persons too modern, but they are certainly more correct than “exchangers” and “usury.” “Usury” always conveys the idea of unjust gain, whereas the Greek word means originally “produce” and has no evil signification.
25:32. — “All the nations” is somewhat preferable to “all nations,” which latter expression seems to include the whole of mankind, whereas we know from many passages in Scripture, that “the nations” here mentioned are merely the nations living on the earth at the time of the Lord’s coming. In this verse we have a strange example of the way in which the Authorized Version creates distinctions, where there are none in the original. The word for “separate” is the same as that for “ divide.” The Revisers have very properly translated “separate” in both cases. A still more striking instance of the same thing occurs in the 46th verse of this Chapter. The Greek word translated “everlasting” is precisely the same as that translated “eternal.” The use of two distinct English words greatly mars the sense of the passage. Here again the Revisers have made a similar correction.
26:3. — “The court of the high priest” is more literal than “the palace of the high priest.” In the 69th verse of this Chapter we read, in the Revised Version, “Peter was sitting without in the court.” Here the same Greek word is used, and it is evident that the rendering “court” is in this case more appropriate.
26:15. There can be little doubt that the rendering “they weighed unto him,” is more correct than “they covenanted with him.” This alteration makes the parallel between this passage and Zechariah 11:12 still more striking.
26:50. — “Do that for which thou art come,” Whether this translation is better than “Wherefore art thou come?” is not quite certain, as the Greek text may bear either interpretation.
26:53. — “He shall even now send me.” The Authorized Version has, “He shall presently give me,” using “presently,” in its older sense of “at present.”
26:58. — “The officers.” The word here used is quite different from that rendered “servant” in ver. 51. The Authorized Version has “servant” in both cases.
26:5. — “The sanctuary.” The Authorized Version renders this word “temple,” thus robbing the passage of its force, for the word here employed refers to the holy place, into which none but the priests might enter. The “temple” includes the courts round the building.
27:9. — “They took the thirty pieces of silver.” The margin here adds, “Or I took.” The original may have either meaning; but in the passage from which the sentence is quoted (Zechariah 11:13) there can be no doubt that “I took” is correct.
27:34. — “They gave him wine to drink.” The Authorized Version translates “They gave him vinegar to drink,” but the Greek word certainly means “wine,” and is quite distinct from that employed in ver. 48.
27:35. In this verse the words, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet They parted my garment among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots,” are omitted by the Revisers. In John 19:24 the quotation is retained.
27:44. — “Cast upon him the same reproachapter” This rendering is both clearer and more literal than “cast the same in his teeth,” the latter expression being almost obsolete, and no doubt unintelligible to many readers.
28:2. — “An angel of the Lord.” As the article is absent in the original, this translation is preferable to “the angel of the Lord.”
28:9. — The words, “As they went to tell his disciples,” are here omitted.
28:14. — “Rid you of care” is more definite than “secure you,” which would refer rather to escape from punishment than to escape from anxiety.
28:16. — “The mountain where Jesus had appointed them.” The Authorized Version has “a mountain,” but the presence of the article in the original is not accidental. What particular mountain is here referred to, we of course cannot tell; those in whose time the Gospel was written, must have known.
28:19. — “Make disciples of all the nations.” This means more than “teaching.” The Revisers have substituted “into the name” for “in the name,” as being a more correct translation. This agrees with what is said of baptism in Romans 6:3.
(To be continued)
Notes on Last Month's Subject: Christian Example Illustrated by the Lives of Bible Saints
Next to the direct example of our Lord Himself which we considered a little last month, we should think this subject to be the most profitable one for Christian study. From a brief review of what appeared in last month’s number, it is plain at first sight that, although a large amount of work has been carefully and on the whole well done, still the subject is by no means exhausted, and we would recommend our studious friends who wish for a little profitable occupation for a leisure Sunday afternoon or evening to make out further examples of the lists of Scripture graces in such chapters as Romans 12. It is evident, however, that for the purposes of the class some selection had to be made, and so we will now briefly glance at last month’s work.
We may remark that we are at once struck by the fact that the same name is several times repeated. Thus David, Moses, Daniel, Abraham, Jacob, Peter, Hannah, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and others, each appear under several heads. In some cases this gives us a slight sketch of their Christian character.
For instance, David is an example of eight out of the twelve graces chosen, and he is seen to be compassionate, a man of faith, humble, joyful, patient, prayerful, repentant, and truthful. Moses is an example of sympathy, faith, humility, love, and patience. Daniel is marked by sympathy, humility, prayerfulness, and truthfulness; Mary of Bethany by sympathy, liberality, and love; Abraham by great faith, by liberality, obedience, and patience; Peter, in spite of his great failures, yet furnishes us examples of faith, obedience, prayerfulness, repentance and truthfulness; the dying thief shows faith, repentance, and truthfulness; Hannah gives a beautiful example of faith, humility, joy and prayerfulness; Jeremiah of humility, joy, patience, and prayerfulness, four lovely virtues; while Nehemiah’s character is accurately portrayed in his joy in God, his liberality, love, patience, and prayerfulness. Interesting though it would be however to pursue this line of thought, we leave it for the far more practical one of bringing the question home to ourselves.
Let us consider a few of these graces. What about compassion and sympathy? How many lonely hours have we cheered, how many weeping eyes have we dried? As to this, “Have we done what we could?” What about our faith for spiritual blessings? Are our eyes set on brighter things above, or taken up with things around us? Could the epitaph which the Spirit of God inscribed over the tombstone of the patriarchs, 2000 years after their death, be truthfully written over ours?
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
What about even faith for temporal mercies? Does God see us really trusting in Him who feeds the sparrows, and without whose knowledge not a hair of our head can fall to the ground? Oh! how rebuked we must feel in going through even this short list! What about humility, is it known and seen and felt by all we meet that we are truly humble-minded, that we think little of our acts and still less of ourselves? How about by in God, not in prosperous circumstances, but after the manner of Habakkuk (3:18), of Paul and Silas in prison. But we must not stay to go through the list, Liberality, Love, Obedience, Patience, Prayerfulness, (oh! how we neglect this) Repentance and Truthfulness, surely each of these has some voice to our consciences.
We can quite understand the inclination to say, “Well this is a very disagreeable subject, it makes me quite uncomfortable.” It is well that it should do so to each of us. A little stirring up as to practical christian walk does nothing but good to those who are only too ready quietly to slumber in the security of their christian privileges. And in conclusion, we would recommend those who would really get the full good of such a subject, quietly to take the first leisure hour, and, pencil in hand, to take the list, including also above one hundred examples from the life of Paul, and in careful self-examination before God, see against how many they can honestly make a mark showing that to some extent, however imperfectly they can truly say they exhibit that grace. An hour truly so spent would be laden with blessing to the one who thus allows the Word of God to search his daily life.
This Month's Subject: The Titles and Work of God the Father
The subject for this month is—
The Titles and Work of God the Father.
We must testify to the very complete manner in which the subject has been worked out, indeed in many cases much more has been sent than it properly included, and hence we have felt some difficulty in arranging a result which will be thoroughly satisfactory to all.
The subject was intended to be limited to the work of God distinctively as Father; and while there are many passages, especially the Epistles speaking of the work of God where the context clearly indicates that the Father is referred to, still as it is not stated in them to be work of the Father as such, we have not included them.
In order however that the work done, which is not quite within the limits of the subject, may not be confined as to its usefulness to the individual worker, we have added a few of the most striking passages of the description referred to above.
The same remarks apply to the second part of the subject, “The Titles of the Father”; and here we have felt obliged to exclude much that those to whom this portion was allotted have most industriously, and as we are sure, to their own profit, searched out.
THE GOSPELS.
The Work of the Father in relation to Christ.
He testifies of the delight He found in Christ, Matthew 3:17; 17:5; 2 Peter 1:17.
He delivers all things unto the Son whom He alone knows, Matthew 11:27; Revelation 2:25.
He is revealed by the Son, Matthew 11:26.
He has made Christ the Head of the corner, Matthew 21:42.
His will was that Christ should drink the cup of suffering and death Matthew 26:39; John 18:11.
He forsook Christ as the sin-bearer, Matthew 27:46.
He had work for Christ to accomplish, Luke 2:49; John 5:36.
His glory shall accompany Christ at His appearing, Luke 9:26.
He has appointed a kingdom unto Christ, Luke 22:29.
He sent His Son in love into the world, John 3:16; 1 John 4:14.
He loves the Son and has given all things into His hand, John 3
35; and shows Him all things that He does, John 5:20.
He has committed all judgment unto the Son, John 5:22.
He hath given to the Son to have life in Himself, John 5:26; and authority to execute judgment also, John 5:27.
He bore witness to Christ, John 5:37.
He sealed Christ, John 6:27.
His will is that none whom He has given to Christ should be lost, John 6:39.
He taught Christ what to say, John 8:28.
He honors Christ, John 8:54.
He gives the sheep to Christ, John 10:29.
He sanctified and sent Christ into the world, John 10:36.
He heard Christ, John 11:41.
He gave Him a commandment what to say, John 12:49.
He gave all things into Christ’s hands, John 13:3.
He was glorified in Christ, John 13:31.
To Him sinners come by Christ, 14:6.
He who knows Christ knows the Father, 14:7.
He that has seen Christ has seen the Father, 14: 9.
Christ is in the Father, and the Father is in Him, 14:10, 11.
The Father speaks the words and does the works of Christ, 14:10, 11.
To Him Christ went on leaving the earth, 14:12.
He is glorified in Christ by answering the prayers of believers. 14:13.
To Him Christ prays, 14:16.
He gives the Comforter, 14:16.
He loves those who love Christ, 14:21.
He loves and makes His abode with those who keep the words of Christ, 14:23.
The word of Christ is His word, 14:24.
He sends the Holy Ghost in the name of Christ, 14:26.
He is greater than Christ (as man), 14:28.
He is loved by, and commands Christ, 14:31.
Christ kept His commandments and abides in His love, 15:10.
All things that He has are Christ’s, 16:15.
He loves those who believe that Christ came out from Him, 16:27.
He was with Christ on the earth, 16:32.
He glorifies the Son and the Son glorifies Him, 17:1, 4.
He has given the Son power over all flesh and He has given to the Son those to whom He wills that the Son should give eternal life, 17:2.
The Son had the glory with Him before the world was, 17:5.
He gave men out of the world to the Son, 17:6.
All that He gave the Son was of Himself, 17:7.
All who are Christ’s are His, and all who are His are Christ’s, 17:10.
In answer to the prayer of Christ, He keeps through His own name those whom He has given to Christ, 17:11.
In answer to the prayer of Christ, He keeps His own from the evil of the world; and sanctifies them through the truth, 17:15-17.
He gave glory to the Son as Man, 17:22.
He loved Christ before the foundation of the world, 17:24.
He is known by Christ, 17:25.
The Work of the Father in relation to His people.
He rewards them openly, Matthew 6:4, 6.
He knows and supplies their needs, Matthew 6:8, 32.
He forgives those who forgive others, Matthew 6:14.
He gives good things to those that ask Him, Matthew 7:11.
He speaks by them, Matthew 10:20.
He reveals Christ to them, Matthew 16:17.
He answers their prayers, Matthew 18:19.
As compassionate, He requires that they should be the same, Matthew 18:35.
He selects their places in the glory, Matthew 20:23.
He gives the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him, Luke 11:13.
It is His good pleasure to give them the kingdom, Luke 12:32.
He honors those who serve Christ, John 12:26.
He is the husbandman of the true vine, John 15:1.
He takes away every branch that bears no fruit, and purges every branch that bears fruit, that it may bring forth more fruit, John 15:2.
He is glorified in the fruit brought forth by saints, John 15:8.
He gives all things to those who ask in the name of Christ, John 17:16.
He loves His own as He loved the Son, John 17:23.
The love with which He loves Christ is in the saints, John 17:26.
The work of the Father in relation to the World of Sinners.
He sends forth laborers, Matthew 9:38.
His will is that none should perish, Matthew 18:14.
He loved the world and sent His Son into it—for salvation and not for condemnation, John 3:16, 17.
He raises up and quickens the dead, John 5:21.
He judges no man, John 5:22.
His will is that all who see and believe on the Son should have everlasting life, John 6:40.
He draws men to Christ, John 6:44, 65.
The work of the Father generally.
He makes the sun to shine on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust, Matthew 5:45.
He feeds and cares for the fowls of the air, 6:26, 10:29.
He is kind unto the unthankful and the evil, Luke 6:35.
He reveals to babes that which He hides from the wise and prudent, Matthew 11:25.
He alone knows the hour of the coming of the Son of Man, Matthew 24:36, Acts 1:7.
He is perfect, Matthew 5:48, and merciful, Luke 6:36.
He seeks worshippers, John 4:23. He works in the world, John 5:17.
He gives true bread from heaven, 6:32.
He sends the Comforter, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4; 2:33.
The work of the Father generally.
The Epistles.
From Him come grace and peace, Romans 1:7, and the opening verses of most of the Epistles, except those to individuals where we generally find “grace, mercy, and peace.”
By His glory He raised Christ from the dead, Romans 6:4.
He is called “one God” in distinction to the many gods of the heathen, 1 Corinthians 8:6.
To Him Christ yields up the kingdom having put down all opposition, 1 Corinthians 15:28.
He is the comforter of those who are in trouble, 2 Corinthians 1:4.
Paul’s apostleship was derived from Him and Christ, Galatians 1:1.
It was according to His will that Christ gave Himself for our sins, Galatians 1:4.
He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ, Ephesians 1:3. (Read the whole of Chaps. 1, 2 and 3 for the circle of wondrous blessings conferred upon us by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ).
To Him we have access by Christ, Ephesians 2:18.
Of Him every family in heaven and earth is named, Ephesians 3:15. He is above all, and through all, and in all believers, Ephesians 4:6. He will be glorified in that every creature shall confess Jesus to be the Lord, Philippians 2:11.
The church is in Him, 1 Thessalonians 1:1.
Believers are elect according to His foreknowledge, 1 Peter 1:2.
He judges according to every man’s work without respect of persons, 1 Peter 1:17.
With Him was the eternal life which has been manifested to us, 1 John 1:2.
With Him is our fellowship, 1 John 1:3.
With Him is our Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, 1 John 2:1. His love is not in those who love the world, 1 John 2:15.
Those in whom is abiding truth which is from the beginning, continue in Him, 1 John 2:24; 2 John 6.
He has bestowed such love upon us that we are called children of God, 1 John 3:1.
He bears witness in heaven, 1 John 5:7.
He has commanded that we should walk in the truth, 2 John 4.
He sanctifies His people, Jude 1.
To Him we are made kings and priests by Christ, Revelation 1:6.
His name is written on the foreheads of 144,000 who stand on Mount Zion, Revelation 14:1.
Passages in which, while the Father is not referred to by name, the context appears to indicate that the Father is meant.
“God whom I serve... in the gospel of His Son”, Romans 1:9.
“We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, Romans 5:10.
“God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,” Romans 8.3.
“He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son,” Romans 8:29.
“He that spared not His own Son,” Romans 8:32.
“It pleased God... to reveal His Son in me,” Galatians 1:15, 16.
“God sent forth His Son,” Galatians 4:4.
“Hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,” Colossians 1:13.
“God... hath spoken to us by His Son,” Hebrews 1:2.
The Titles of the Father.
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 15:6.
God our Father, 1 Corinthians 1:3.
Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 2 Corinthians 1:3.
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 11:31.
God the Father, Galatians 1:1.
Our Father, Galatians 1:4.
God of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 1:17.
Father of glory, Ephesians 1:17.
God and Father of all, Ephesians 4:6.
The Father, Colossians 1:12.
The Trinity
God never was revealed as one, He is one, but He never was revealed as suchapter He was said to be one, in contrast with a plurality of Gods, but this was no revelation of Himself. When God does reveal Himself it is by the Son who is on earth, and yet in the bosom of the Father. But the “darkness comprehended it not.” Hence the Holy Ghost gave competency to apprehend the Son’s revelation of the Father. All are God, all one God, and God all three; yet the Father is revealed, the Son reveals, and the Spirit quickens and gives discernment. The full revelation of the one God is only thus—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This, this only is what God is, one identity of will and being, so that they are essentially one, and one only; yet distinct in willing and acting, hence we speak of three persons. Through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Bible Queries: Vol.2, 62-118
Q. 62. Please explain Leviticus 27:26 with Romans 12:1. M. H. W.
A. In Leviticus under the law, inasmuch as the first-born belonged to God by redemption (Exodus 13:2) it could not be set apart to God as a freewill offering, being already His. In Romans, however, under grace the exact converse holds good; for although we are God’s property by redemption we are told to yield ourselves unto God. Thus “of His own, have we given Him,” and in grace God receives this. The comparison of the two passages throws an interesting light on one of the many contrasts between law and grace.
Q. 63. Why is the genealogy of Joseph given in Matthew 1 and Luke 3? M. H. W.
A. The genealogies were extracted from public records which always ran in the male line. That of Joseph had actually to be made out for the civil census ordered under Augustus, which brought Joseph to Bethlehem (Luke in the public genealogies Jesus would only be registered as Joseph’s son. The Evangelists, however, necessarily add, “as was supposed.” For the difference between Matthew and Luke, see B. S. vol. 1. p. 89, Q. 324.
Q. 64. (1) What are the “clefts of the rock “ (Obad. 1:3,) is it the same as in Song of Solomon, 2:14? (2) Can Hosea 4:17, be applied to Christians? E. S. M.
A. (1) In Obadiah it refers to the rocky fastnesses in which the Edomite lived, and on the strength of which they relied. In Song of Solomon the word refers to the places where the doves delighted to build their nests. There is no special connection between the two. (2) Under grace we do not think that one christian could ever rightly say it of another. Hebrews 10 however conveys the thoughts that God’s grace does often no longer strive with deliberate apostates, which would be equivalent to “let him alone” here.
Q. 65. What is the sin which doth so easily beset us? E. S. M.
A. We do not gather that this refers to one specified sin, but to sin which would entangle our feet and trip us up in the race we are running; just as on the other hand the weight of cares and troubles would press us down. Of course, each individual has some special failings most liable to trip him up, against which to keep watchapter
Q. 66. Does “before all” 1 Timothy 5:20 refer to Christians only, or the world at large? M. W.
A. The connection of the passage, that of office in the house of God (iii. 15), would seem to make the “all” refer to believers only.
Q. 67. Will you please explain Acts 15:20-29, also 21:29 in connection with 1 Corinthians 8? L. A. C.
A. The last two at any rate out of the four restrictions imposed on Gentile converts in Acts appear to have had regard to the consciences of their Jewish brethren. The first two were for the Gentiles’ own sakes. Accustomed to eat meat consecrated by being offered first to an idol, they were no longer to do this. At the same time Paul points out in 1 Corinthians that it was not on account of the meat being injured by such a ceremony or rendered unclean (as a Jew would think), but because such a practice would lead the weak one who did not understand Christian liberty to think lightly of the sin of idolatry. We walk and act on the same principle now of respecting when necessary the consciences of others, whether as to these or other matters. When no conscience is injured, 1 Corinthians would show that we may freely use our liberty as to these matters. The remaining restriction is plainly to us of a different character, being on moral grounds, though in the corrupt heathendom of the time it was hardly accounted a vice at all.
Q. 68. Will you kindly explain Matthew 26:52? C. H. v. P.
A. The direct reference of this Scripture appears to be in seeking to fight for Christ with carnal weapons: “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.” Those who acted in such a way should perish by such means. It is very likely this passage may have a special force in the great tribulation as to how to resist evil, not by force but by faith and patience. Carefully compare Revelation 13:10.
Q. 69. Kindly explain Luke 9:26; 2 Timothy 2:12, and other similar passages. To whom do they apply? C. H. v. P.
A. To those who act according to them. The final end of those who through fear or shame refuse Christ, choosing rather the approval and applause of the world, is seen in Revelation 21:8. “But the fearful shall have their part,” &c.
Q. 70. How do you reconcile Acts 1:18, 20, and Matthew 27 as to Judas’ death? C. H. v. P.
A. Both are probably but parts of the entire narrative of his fearful end. We may suppose that Acts follows Matthew, the hanging but half accomplishing his death, owing to the halter breaking, or that the word rendered hanging may mean death by spasm, and was followed by the heavy fall. (In the same way Absalom ‘s death might have been described either as by hanging or by spear thrusts).
Q. 71. Are “Philadelphians” a special set of Christians or are they individuals; and would the individual in Revelation 3 lobe counted one? C. H.
A. They appear to have been a little company of christians gathered at Philadelphia, although it was certainly the conduct of the individuals that determined the character of the whole. A person in Laodicea is certainly not a Philadelphian. As regards his action it is doubtless more difficult to stand alone for God than to form one of a company who do so.
Q. 72. Does “without rebuke,” Philippians 2:15, refer directly to our practical standing and walk before God-God not rebuking us because we walk according to His will? Z.
A. Yes. The R. V. gives “without blemish,” the verse seems to be in implied contrast to Deuteronomy 32:5, especially in the Septuagint.
Q. 73. Does 1 Corinthians 15:28 refer to eternity? Z.
A. Yes, after the close of Christ’s reign as Son of Man. The eternal state is described in Revelation 21:1-7.
Q. 74. Why is Deborah not named in Hebrews 11:32? Z.
A. A selection only is made of the leading characters who fought for God’s people against the enemy, many more being included in ver. 33-38 than those named in verse 32, who are merely as samples.
Q. 75. Will you please explain the full meaning of 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17?
A. The force is that if any one corrupts (or “destroys” R. V.) the house of God, that is, brings into it doctrines subversive of Christianity, he should likewise be destroyed,—doubtless by the effects of the very false doctrines he brings in. The Scripture refers to apostates, false teachers, and others of a like class.
Q. 76. Please explain the latter part of Luke 21:36? J. F.
A. This Scripture, addressed specially to Jews and referring to the still future persecution under antichrist, warns those who will go through it to watch and pray so that, escaping all the dangers around, they may stand before the Son of Man forming a part of Jewish remnant.
Q. 77. What is the meaning of “Chosen from the beginning to salvation” 2 Thessalonians 2:13? Z.
A. This refers to the truth of election taught in Ephesians 1:4, and elsewhere.
Q. 78, Can Philippians 3:18, 19 be understood as referring to believers; Demas for instance? Z.
A. Verse 19 appears to say more than could be said even of worldly Christians, for their end is not destruction, however much God may chastise them by the way. These would appear to be only professors.
Q. 79. What is meant by the “love of the Spirit” Romans 15:30? Is the same thought found in Chapter 5:5? Z.
A. The thoughts are a little different. In Chapter 5 the love is shed abroad in our hearts for our own consolation. In Chapter 15 it is the love produced by the Spirit that would lead out the hearts of the Romans to pray for Paul.
Q. 80. Is 2 Kings 8:20 the fulfillment of Genesis 27:40? E. B.
A. Yes.
Q. 81. Please explain Luke 13:24. C. M. B.
A. “Strait” means narrow, and is in contrast with the broad way. Many will seek to enter in when it is too late (ver. 25-27). It is not only necessary to come, but to come in time.
Q. 82. What is the teaching of Luke 12:35-49? Will all believers be caught up, or only those that are watching? S.
A. All will be caught up (1 Corinthians 15:51), but a special blessing seems here to be reserved for those who, in separation from the world around, are truly looking out for their absent Lord.
Q. 83. What is the origin and meaning of “Shiloh,” and how came the name to be applied to a place before the coming of Christ? E. M.
A. “Shiloh” means sent; it only occurs as a personal name in Genesis 49:10, where it may refer to Solomon, whose name has a similar meaning, but no doubt finally to Christ according to Isaiah 9:6. Some however regard it merely as the name of a city even here, as in Joshua 18:1, 10, &c.
Q. 84. In B. S. Oct. 8r, page 73 line 6, it says that Jacob should be included among the types of Christ. Will you please say how? E. B.
A. Many men are only types in part of their lives, as Solomon, and Jacob here. Up to Genesis 27, at any rate he seems a very apt type of our Lord as the patient servant, getting as his reward first Leah, who may fairly be taken as a figure of the Gentile bride of Christ, and lastly (though loved first as was Israel) Rachel who similarly may set forth the Jewish one, who though still Loammi (not my people) shall yet be betrothed. See Hosea 2:19-23, and compare the same words as true of the christian now 1 Peter 2:10, before they are fulfilled to the Jew. In connection it is interesting to observe that the men in Genesis, Adam—Isaac—Jacob—Joseph, correspond to the four evangelists. Adam the first man corresponding to Luke which speaks of the Son of Man, Isaac the risen son of the father, corresponding to John, which speaks of the Son of God; Jacob a type of the faithful servant is in character like Mark the Gospel of Christ as servant; while Joseph as ruler corresponds to Matthew’s Gospel-Christ as Sing of Israel.
Q. 85. Will you kindly explain 1 Timothy 4:12? G. D.
A. Timothy was put in a very prominent place for so young a man, hence the need that his life might be such as to command respect so that none should despise his youth.
Q. 86. Does the new nature ever get defiled? G. D.
A. No (1 John 3:9), but the Christian does by allowing his old nature to act instead of the new.
Q. 87. (1) Is the believer who has fallen still perfect in God’s sight? (2) Where does Paul say we shall differ as the stars? G. D.
A. (1) As regards his standing in Christ he is, for nothing can touch the eternal perfection of Christ’s work for him; as regards his state he certainly is not, and is not restored to God’s favor until he has confessed and forsaken his sin (1 John 1:9). You must ever distinguish between a believer’s standing and state. (2) “One star differs from another in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead,” &c. 1 Corinthians 15:42.
Q. 88. What is the difference between God as God, and God the Father? M. B.
A. God as God probably includes the whole Trinity, God as Father only the first person in it. The first we find all through scripture, the latter is only brought out in the New Testament, when He is revealed in and by the Son by the power of the Spirit.
Q. 89. Genesis 49 though both Simeon and Levi are evil, Levi is blessed. Is it because they stood for God at the time of the golden calf? If so, what about Ephesians 2:9? “Not of works lest any man should boast.” And why is Simeon left out of Moses’ blessing? E. H.
A. Levi more than regained his lost position at the time of the golden calf Simeon never did. Ephesians 2:9, refers to work connected with salvation. The action of the tribe of Levi was not in any way a question of salvation but was like Rahab’s (James 2) a proof of their fidelity to God.
Q. 90. Will you explain Matthew 18:15, 16? Is the question a personal one, and how should the action be conducted? 0. C.
A. The procedure in the passage evidently refers to personal matters. The whole must be conducted in the true spirit of love, and, observe, the first person to act in love is not the aggressor but the injured person.
Q. 91. Should there ever be prayer when there is not faith for the answer? S. B.
A. Decidedly, though such prayer is not of the highest order. Still Philippians 4:6 is clear; “in, everything” that is, I am entitled to carry straight to God whatever burdens my heart. The point in Philippians is not the prayer being answered, which may or may not be the case, but the relief of a burdened heart in casting its care on God.
Q. 92. Will you kindly explain Q. 27, B. S. more fully, are they individuals, events, or good and evil principles? S. B.
A. If you read verses 37, 38, you must see that individuals are spoken of, not merely principles. We can hardly explain the parable more clearly than verses 37-43; verse 41 may refer to the judgment of Matthew 25.
Q. 93. Does “as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law” mean the heathen? S. B.
A. Yes. They have not been put under the law like the Jews.
Q. 94. What is conscience, and what power belongs to it? S. B.
A. Conscience may be natural or acquired. Natural conscience is the knowledge of good or evil, and was received at the fall. An acquired conscience is one brought up under a certain rule; such a conscience Paul had (Acts 23:1), which was a good one when persecuting the saints (when in relation to Judaism), but a bad one (when in the light of Christianity). Conscience therefore is not a safe guide, for it may vary according to the light brought to bear upon it. This is often seen in children who may easily be taught to regard many things that are wrong as right, and vice versa, great care is therefore necessary not to make anything a matter of conscience that God does not make so. A conscience is spoken of as good (Acts 23:1); weak (1 Corinthians 8:7); pure (2 Timothy 1:3); scared (1 Timothy 4:2).
Q. 95. Please explain who the saints were that rose, and what the “holy city” means? Matthew 27:52-3. A. G. J.
A. See B. S. vol. 1. p. 40, Q. 271. The saints were probably some who had recently died, and the “holy city” means Jerusalem.
Q. 96. (1) Please explain Matthew 10:23, and (z) Mark 9:49. “Every one shall be salted with fire.” S. M.
A. (1) See B. S. vol 1, p. 63, Q. 292. This verse will be literally true when the Jewish remnant take up the message of verse 7 again, shortly before the Lord’s return to the mount of Olives. (2) This is fully answered in B. S., vol. 1, p. 19, Q. 257.
Q. 97. What is the meaning of the 22 names dividing Psalms 119 into pieces each 8 verses long? A. D. J.
A. The twenty-two words are simply the letters of the Hebrew alphabet; they are placed before each 8 verses to show that (in the Hebrew) each of these verses begin with this letter. Thus Aleph before verses 1-8 means that each of these begins with “Aleph” or “A.” Beth before 9-16 that they each begin with Beth or B and so on. It is called an “acrostic psalm” in consequence.
Q. 98. (1) What is the “day when the Son of Man is revealed” Luke 17:30. (2) On, the son of Peleth, was associated with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, in their rebellion against Moses and Aaron, (Numbers 16:1); how is it that he is not mentioned in the judgment that fell upon the others? M. S.
A. (1) It is the day of His public appearance when He descends to the Mount of Olives to reign over the earth. (2) As he is not mentioned again it is possible that he repented. (A rabbinical tradition says that he did, being persuaded to do so by his wife.)
Q. 99. (1) Please explain Isaiah 7:15. (2) The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove, and on the disciples as fire: why is there this difference? M. S.
A. (1) Butter and honey signify plenty, and the prophecy that the land though desolate for a time should again become prosperous as it was at the time of the Lord. We should be glad of further light on the latter clause of the verse. (2) The difference is in accordance with the object of the manifestation. In the case of the Lord it was in accordance with His character of meekness and humility; in Acts it was connected with the power of speaking in different languages, thus undoing by the Spirit’s power (for the moment) the results of Babel.
Q. 100. (1) Please explain 1 Timothy 5:9-16. (2) Are faith, hope, love, (1 Corinthians 13:13) eternal? J. H.
A. (1) The directions here seem very clear, please say what is the difficulty. (2) Faith must cease when changed to sight, hope when all it looks for is fulfilled (Romans 8:24), but love abides forever. In one sense too faith will ever be in exercise (as in such a connection as Hebrews 11:3).
Q. 101. Please explain the difference between baptizing “ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19); “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38); “in the name of the Lord Jesus” (19:5).
A. The baptism is the same, and we should believe that the same words were used, as there is only the one command, but the baptism is described in different terms according to the case. Thus in the command when “all nations” are contemplated we get the full words given; in Acts 2 specially Jewish the name of Jesus is made prominent, being the One who had been rejected by them; while in Acts 19 it is the “Lord Jesus” being Christ in resurrection, and not addressed specially to those who had just crucified Him.
Q. 102. (1) Was the kingdom of heaven set up on earth after the resurrection of Christ? (2) What is the distinction between it and the kingdom of God?
A. (1) It is not set up in power till the King reigns. It was preached however and people entered it. It was not established after Christ’s resurrection because He (the King) was still rejected even then. (2) The kingdom of God always exists, for God always rules, and those who own and fear Him are in His kingdom. The term is also applied to the kingdom of heaven looked at morally (Luke 17:21), for morally this kingdom was established in the hearts of those that believed. The kingdom of heaven is the rule of heaven (and of God) over the earth. The kingdom of heaven is not a kingdom in heaven, but on the earth, the subjects being the Jews, and the sheep of Matthew 25 Christ is the King, and believers will reign with Him at His appearing.
Q. 103. What does dispensation mean? M. S.
A. The word literally means “the law of the house.” The meaning of the term is the particular aspect of God’s dealings at the time a discerning of which is essential to true christian conduct. Paul for instance in Galatians 3 and 4 clearly brings out the distinction between the dispensation of law and that of grace.
Q. 104. Will you please explain (1) 1 Timothy 2:9; also (2) 1 John 1:7? Are all Christians in the light? L. A. C.
A. (1) The passage plainly refers to the fashion of largely adorning the person. It does not condemn the actual plaiting of the hair, but the doing it for purposes of outward worldly adornment. The fashion changes but the principle of the verse remains the same. (2) All Christians are ever in the light, but they do not all walk “as children of light.” If they were in darkness, a stumble could be excused, but there is no such excuse for a true Christian.
Q. 105. Please explain what spirits are referred to in 1 Peter 3:19. M. N. M.
A. Read carefully Q. 10. B. S., January last, p. 13. They are the spirits of those who, while alive on earth, rejected the testimony of the Spirit of Christ.
Q. 108. Did our Lord Jesus Christ preach the gospel of the grace of God? Is the gospel in Mark 1:15 synonymous with the gospel of Christ in Romans 1:16? J. G.
A. What the Lord preached is briefly recorded in Mark 1:15, namely, the good news of the coming kingdom. We must remember that God was still seeking fruit from man according to the parable in Matthew 21:33-46. It was the death of Christ at the hands of His own people that filled up the measure of man’s iniquity. The gospel of Romans 1:16, is founded on Christ’s death and resurrection, (1 Corinthians 15); hence it is clear that Christ could not fully proclaim it previous to the cross. He does command it to be preached after His resurrection, Mark 16:15. We must carefully distinguish between the time when man was still as it were on his trial, and the time when (sentence having been finally pronounced against him) Christ stepped forward and bore it all as a substitute: so that now, Matthew 21 is fulfilled and God is no longer looking for fruit from guilty man, but bidding him to the gospel feast, (Matthew 22)
Q. 109. Does Matthew 5:20 refer to the righteousness wrought out for us by Christ, or wrought in us by the Spirit? Is it imputed or imparted? J. G.
A. It refers to practical Christian righteousness, not to the righteousness of God in Christ, which indeed was not and could not at this time be revealed. It is what is wrought in us by the Spirit here, not what is imputed to us. You cannot get the full gospel or the righteousness connected with it until the foundation of all was laid, not in the birth, but in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Q. 110. What is meant by “whereunto also they were appointed?” J. G.
A. This in l Pet. 2:8, as in Jude 4, does not mean that they were appointed to sin or condemnation, but points out the special character of sin and of condemnation that they should fall into. The emphasis in Jude is on the word “ this.”
Q. 111. Are there any limitations to the command in Luke 6:35. “ Lend, hoping for nothing again?” (This and similar Scriptures have cost me pounds, I believe.) J. G.
A. Most certainly. Your duty to provide for your own, to do good especially to those of the household of faith; and other Scriptures clearly limit it. We doubt not that, in this verse as well as verses 29, 30, what is taught is the spirit in which we are to walk and act.
Q. 112. Is it right to emphasize the “if” in 1 Corinthians 15:2? J. G.
A. Whether it is emphasized or not is of little matter so long as it is there. Paul is here writing to his Corinthian converts (or professed converts) and refers to the gospel which they stood in and were saved by (if they had held fast the truths he had preached which were of saving power) unless it should turn out that (there being no resurrection) their faith was vain. Compare verse 14. The “if” did not touch any that did hold it fait, and those who did not were obviously mere professors.
Q. 113. Will you kindly explain “and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace?” M. A. T.
A. We cannot say that the exact meaning is clear to us. Great blessing here attaches to the peacemaker, as in Matthew 5:9. Righteousness and peace are his; two things that are met together, and both ours in Christ; only here it is the practical righteousness and peace that belong to the ways of the true peacemaker. We shall be glad of further light on this verse.
Q. 114. In Genesis 2:2, “and on the seventh day God ended His work,” Ought it not to be the sixth, for He rested on the seventh. Also are these days of 24 hours, or ages? M. A. T.
A. “On” might very well mean “ by.” The meaning however is clear that by the seventh day all the work was ended. We believe the whole language of the passage “evening and morning” &c. tends to show that ordinary days were meant, not vast undefined epochs of time, for observe the seventh is equally called a day, and was set apart and hallowed by God for rest from labor, as practically one day in seven has been ever since. The seventh clearly is not an age, but a day: therefore why not the other six? All the vast periods of time that geologists require come in between verses 1, and 2, for observe the rest of Genesis 1 does not describe the creation of the world, but merely the ordering of an already created heavens and earth for the abode of man.
Q. 115. Does the word “stauros” mean stake, or cross, as refering to Calvary? H. N.
A. It means literally “a stake.” There was no word for what we understand as cross in Greek, death being inflicted by various methods of impalements, and of tying or nailing up on bars of wood; some were simple poles, others like a X, others like a T, others like the sign +, and others again like the shape of a true cross. It is difficult for christians to whom the last has been perfectly familiar for nearly twenty centuries to remember that it is only the fact of the death of Christ that has given the word such a definite meaning and special significance. Even the Latin word “crux,” (whence cross) has no precise meaning.
Q. 116. Does “swear not at all” prevent taking lawful oaths? E. M.
A. We think not. On the contrary Leviticus 5:1 seems to show that such were justifiable.
Q. 117. Is leaven always a type of evil, and in what sense is the kingdom of heaven like “leaven?” E. M.
A. We believe leaven is always a type of a hidden corrupting principle rapidly pervading a mass. The parable in Matthew 13:33 is the counterpart of the previous one, which denotes the outward corruption that would mark the development of the kingdom; for it must ever be remembered that this embraces the whole circle of christian profession, and we well know into what a great tree this has now grown, and how many unclean birds find shelter beneath its branches. This parable chews the inward corruption, and that the kingdom would be characterized by a system of doctrines that should possess the whole mass. It is not faith, but a mere religious profession.
Q. 118. (1) Why is Dan omitted from the list of those sealed? (2) Why do not the numbers of Matthew 1:17 cones-pond with what goes before? E. M.
A. (1) We cannot say, but should be glad to hear. The tribe was certainly conspicuous for idolatry. That it will have a share in the final blessing and division of the land in the millennium is clear from Ezekiel 48:1,32. (2) The verse fully corresponds with what goes before. Please state the difficulty, and also refer to answer to Q. 368. B. S. vol. 1 p. 113.
NOTE. —In consequence of the great influx of queries this month, we are compelled to leave a few over till April, as our space is more than filled up.
Notes on Former Queries: Vol. 1, 376
Q. 376. Vol. 1 and Q. 33. The best commentators consider Song of Solomon ii. 1, to be the utterance of the Bride, not of the Bridegroom. The words “Rose of Sharon” have been more correctly translated “wild rose,” “rose of the field or plain.” Tyndale’s Bible, A.D., 1637, gives the words as “the floure of the felde;” and the Septuagint has “I am a flower of the plain.” This interpretation seems to be borne out by the next verse which is evidently the utterance of the Bridegroom, taking up the Bride’s own words with reference to the “lily and the rose,” and the “lily” of verse 1 clearly refers to one and the same person. It has been suggested that the Bride speaks of herself as “of the plain,” with regard to the future extent of the church, and “of the valley,” bearing in mind her lowly origin. It. A. W.
God's Care
Past-Hitherto has the Lord helped (1 Samuel 7:12), thou hest lacked nothing (Deuteronomy 2:7): Present—The Lord is my Shepherd (Psalms 23:1), I have all and abound (Philippians 4:18): Future—Thou shalt not lack anything (Deuteronomy 8:9), my God shall supply all (Philippians 4:19), no good will He withhold (Psalms 84:11).
Jottings From Bible Margins
The Gospel is set forth in Matthew 1 by the four women introduced into the genealogy: TAMAR (Genesis 38) is a dark picture of nothing but sin, yet sin brings her into connection with Christ. RAHAB (Joshua 2) is a sinner, but faith brings her into connection with Christ. RUTH is a Moabitess (Deuteronomy 23.3), a spotless character, but kept out by the law, which must be set aside to bring her into connection with Christ. BATHSHEBA shows David (a saint) sinning, but (Romans 5:8, 10) he is saved forever: hence Solomon (peaceful) can follow the true confession of his sin.
The gospel then is for sinners, is received by faith, justifies those shut out by the law, and is eternal in its value.
THREES, IN CONNECTION WITH PETER.
His threefold denial of our Lord, Matthew 26:69-75, etc.
The Lord’s thrice repeated question, John 16:15-17.
The threefold letting down of the sheet from heaven, Acts 10:16.
Three men came to him from Cornelius, Acts 10:19.
The Angel’s threefold command to him, Acts 12:7, 8.
E. C. D. and A. D. J.
“Upon me be thy curse my son,” Genesis 27:13.
“His blood be on us and our children,” Matthew 27:25.
E. B.
COMPARE Genesis 6:1, and Acts 6:1.
JUSTIFICATION.
God the author (Romans 3:26), grace the spring (Romans 3:24), blood the ground (Romans 5:9), resurrection the proof (Romans 4:25), faith the principle (Romans 5:1), works the evidence (James 2:24).
ROLL—
Thy way upon the Lord (Psalms 37:5), thy works upon the Lord (Proverbs 16:3), thy burden upon the Lord (Psalm 4:22).
GOD—
To us (Genesis 17:7), for us (Romans 8:31), with us (Matthew 1:23), us (1 Corinthians 14:25).
Notes and Comments
A correspondent (C.) takes exception to the expression on page 4, that those saved “now stand in heaven without spot or stain in the holy presence of God,” on the ground that departed spirits are in “Paradise,” Luke 23:43. This is true, but we must also remember the scripture, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord,” and in the general sense in which the word heaven is used it is quite legitimate to say that believers when they die go there; the word “stand” is purely and necessarily figurative, because they are merely departed spirits, and will not receive their bodies until the resurrection morning. Accuracy is valuable, and we are glad of the remark, but do not think the expression would mislead any. C. also asks what scripture speaks of the Lord working as a carpenter. We would refer our correspondent to Mark 6:3, which we think is sufficient ground for saying that during His retired life at Nazareth, He worked at His father’s trade. As to the sin unto death, C. must send a more definite query.
“M. N. M.” has not time to join the Bible Class, but at a private class of young friends studies the month’s subject, a plan we would recommend to many. We feel the members of the class lose greatly if they confine their study of the subject to the portion allotted to them. They should work this out, then study the entire subject as printed, and lastly the notes on it given in the following month.
“F. P. S.” questions whether “truthfulness” is a Christian virtue, and whether it is not rather a moral quality found also in the unsaved. We can only say that we think the same objection might fairly be raised against at least four of the nine spiritual graces in Galatians 5:22. Truthfulness is inculcated as a Christian virtue in Ephesians 4:25. We quite grant that an unsaved man may be naturally truthful, but many are not, and truthfulness developed in their character after conversion is a true fruit of the Spirit. In the same way some may be naturally kind and gentle, others not. In these cases the only way to distinguish natural from spiritual graces is to discern which have been developed since conversion.
A correspondent sends a most interesting query on “Christ our example,” which, however, we must leave over till next month for discussion, as our space is so fully occupied.
We trust our more advanced students are carefully noting down all Bible Queries only partly or imperfectly answered, and searching out better replies, and we trust to receive such as soon as arrived at, as it will be seen that there are several queries each month where no full answer is given.
New Testament Words Explained: Goodness - Life: Also, Divine Names and Titles: 3. Lord
Goodness.
Two Greek words are thus translated, agathosunee and chreestotees. The former occurs four times in the New Testament (Romans 15:14; Galatians 5:2 2 j Ephesians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:11); the latter word also only occurs in Paul’s writings, and is variously rendered goodness, gentleness, kindness. The former means love and pursuit of what is good, and hence may be displayed in various ways, not only in kindness, but in rebuking and correcting. The Lord acted in this spirit when denouncing evil. Chreestotees, on the other hand, means the beauty and gentleness of goodness, that is to say, its loving and gracious side. So much did this graciousness or gentleness characterize the Lord, that amongst the heathen “Christos”, Christ, frequently became “Chreestos”, gentle; and in like manner Christians, Chreestians, i.e., gentle or harmless people.
Grieve or Mourn.
We may consider four words which are thus rendered. Lupeo occurs in Matthew 14:9; Ephesians 4:30; 1 Peter 1:6, etc., and is the general word for being sorrowful, but does not necessarily include the expression of sorrow (see Romans 9:2).
Pentheo (Mark 16:10; James 4:9; Revelation 18.15 etc.), means a violent and open grief which everyone can see and recognize. Threeneo (Matthew 11:17; Luke 7:32; 23:27; John 16:20) means to wail or lament over a person. Kopto, the last of the four, signifies to strike or beat upon the breast, as is common in the East when great grief is felt (Matthew 24:30; Luke 23.23; Revelation 1:7).
Beast.
This is the common rendering given to three Greek words, Zoon, Theerion and Kteenos. The first means the whole of the animal kingdom including even man himself (Revelation 4:6-9; 5:6; 6:1). The second means a wild beast (Mark 1:13; Acts 28:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 15:32; Titus 1:12; Hebrews 12:20; Revelation 11:7;13. 1), and is generally used in a bad sense, which makes the fact that both these words are translated “beast” very serious in some cases. Compare Zoon Revelation 4:6-9 and theerion Revelation 13:1. The third word occupies a sort of medium place (Luke 10:34; Acts 23:24; 1 Corinthians 15:39; Revelation 18:13 only) meaning beasts in the sense in which we generally use the word-cows, horses and the like, neither rising as high as living creature (Zoon) on the one hand, nor falling so low as wild beast (theerion) on the other.
Holy.
Hieros, one of the three words thus translated, means holy as applied to things and not to persons. It occurs only in 1 Corinthians 9:23; 2 Timothy 3:25. Hosios (Acts 2:27; Hebrews 7:26, etc.) is applied to what is in itself holy and right, while hagios means principally set apart to the service of God. It may be applied to God Himself as being absolutely separate from evil (Revelation 3:7.)
Life.
Two words are thus translated; Zoe meaning life as opposed to death (2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Peter 1:3; Revelation 2:10; 3:5, etc.,) and Bios signifying the duration of life, also the means of living. It has the former meaning in such passages as 1 Peter 4:3, the latter in Mark 12:44; Luke 8:43; 15:12; 1 John 3:17. It also sometimes means the manner of life or way of living, as in 1 Timothy 2:2.
The distinction between Zoe and Bios is well seen in the two words Zoology, or the word about living animals, and Biography, a writing about the duration and manner of life.
(To be continued.)
Divine Names and Titles.
3. Lord.
This, which next to Christ is the most used and best known title of our Savior, properly belongs to Him as risen and glorified, according to Acts 2:36, “God hath made that same Jesus... both Lord and Christ,” though His own personal dignity caused it to be not unfrequently used while He was on earth (some 50 times as compared with 300 in the first 10 Epistles). It is interesting to note the connection of “Lord” and “Christ” in the above quoted passage. Christ, as we have already seen, is primarily connected with the Church, the one body, of which He is the head; it is also connected with our lift “in Christ” and testimony, “Christ in us”. Lord, however presents Christ more as a distinct person; “Our Master,” more as the One to whom we belong, whose we are, and whom we serve whose wishes we obey; the living links whether personal or corporate belonging more to the name “ Christ,” while the duties and responsibilities are more connected with the word “Lord”.
“Lord Jesus” is the proper title of the glorified Man (compare Luke 23:52 with Chapter 24:3) and is more fitting and reverent for general use than “Jesus” only, though as we have seen, the name “Jesus” alone, to those who understand it, contains a higher glory than any added title can give.
Jesus then is our Lord. His are our bodies and souls, our lives, our possessions, all that we have and all that we are belongs to Him. It is a great thing to grasp a thought like this thoroughly; it is one thing glibly to repeat it, another for it to possess us in all its power.
It is not for us to consecrate ourselves; by the work of Christ we are thus consecrated, belonging wholly to Him. Our bodies we can present as a living sacrifice (Romans 12) but only in the deep sense that they are already His (1 Corinthians 6:20).
The thought of a Lord, a Master, greatly calms and steadies the soul. We have not anxiously to run hither and thither like a dog without a master, but rather like those that are highly trained, steadily follow our Master, watching His eye, listening to His voice for all our actions. Jesus is our Lord, it is our place to obey and follow, His to lead, and truly He knows how to estimate one who understands and keeps his place. It is a great thing in practical Christian life to cultivate the habit of instinctively turning to our Lord whenever a difficulty arises, and never to think of acting on our own responsibility.
Two things are especially connected with this title in Scripture; a day (Revelation 1:10), and a supper (1 Corinthians 11:20). The “day” is none other than the very one on which Jesus was made both Lord and Christ, the day of resurrection, called by the heathen “ Sunday,” by Christians “the Lord’s day”, a beautiful expression and Scriptural title, the day above all others when He claims our time and services, when He should fill our thoughts What need have we to use a heathen title, or a Jewish one (Sabbath) or one of our own devising (first day), when God has given the day its own appropriate name. Surely if we weighed the meaning of the title, we should have far more Scriptural thoughts how rightly to use the day, than by calling it in preference by another name, which either must convey a wrong thought, or no thought at all. There is a great deal in a name, when it is of God’s giving.
The “Supper” is celebrated on the resurrection day. It is the Lord’s Supper, in memorial of His death; death and resurrection, the sufferings and the glory thus being beautifully linked together on the one day. What fields of thought do these two words open up? The Lord’s Supper tells of darkness, weakness, wrath, sorrow, suffering, death; the Lord’s day, of light, power, glory, joy, triumph, life; the one of the close of the old creation, the other of the dawn of the new.
Oh! for hearts to receive and enjoy the thoughts connected with this supper and this day, the one taking us by the hand back to the awful past, and bidding us gaze on Calvary, the other leading us on to the bright, bright future, when the “day of the Lord” shall last a thousand years, and all shall own His rightful title.
“Every tongue,” heavenly, earthly and infernal, shall yet own Jesus as Lord; but the confession, forced in that day from those who will not own Him now, will bring no blessing with it: the willing homage of the heart now is connected with salvation, for no man can say that “Jesus is Lord”, but by the Holy Ghost. Let us bless Him therefore that He has bowed our hearts now, and that we do rejoice to own Him Lord, and let our care be that our actions are molded and controlled by this great governing thought that “one is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren.”
Those who thus follow Him will joyfully own that “His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace.”
The Holy Bible: Remarks Upon the Books of the Old Testament
BOOKS OF KINGS. These books form but one in the Hebrew. In the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Titles of our English Bibles they are spoken of as the 3rd and 4th books of Kings; consequently, these kingdom records are a continuation of the history contained in the books of Samuel. The Jews assign the authorship to Jeremiah on the ground that the last Chapter of that prophet covers the same ground as the concluding section of and Kings (Chapter 24:18-chapter 25). We consider it much more probable that Ezra was the inspired historian of these kingdom histories, which were written during the captivity, and probably in the reign of Evil-Merodach King of Babylon (2 King 25:27.)
BOOK OF CHRONICLES. These constitute but one book in the Hebrew; called by the Jews “words or acts of the days,” i.e. journals or diaries, rendered chronicon by Jerome and with us chronicles from the Latin Vulgate. The title by the Septuagint Paraleipomenon, “things omitted,” is a most objectionable one. The special design of these books, which we hope to point out in a subsequent article, is as manifestly of God and as worthy of its Divine author as any other portion of holy Writ. The close of the Babylon captivity is indicated more than once in the course of these books and moreover is regarded as a past historical fact (1 Chronicles 6:15). The closing verses (2 Chronicles 36:22, 23,) constitute the opening words of the book of Ezra, in which the history contained in the Chronicles is continued. Ezra therefore may safely be regarded as the writer and compiler of the Chronicles, and the time at or during the restoration to Palestine. In the Hebrew Canon these books stand last in order.
EZRA. When, where, and who wrote this book are questions easily answered after the return from the Babylon captivity, in Palestine, and by Ezra. The change from the first to the third person, as in chaps. 7, 10 in no wise affects the authorship; John the Apostle habitually does so in his Gospel. Similar instances might be adduced from Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and elsewhere. Yet Professor Smith (in his Lectures on the Old Testament in the Jewish church page 321,) says “One asks for proof that any Hebrew ever wrote of himself in the third person”. Is human learning to be trusted in the things of God? What is man in presence of these divine and imperishable records? The books of Ezra and Nehemiah anciently formed but one work; they are still spoken of by Roman Catholic writers as the 1St and 2nd books of ESDRAS.
NEHEMIAH. This book was written about the close of Nehemiah’s administration over the returned Jews to Palestine, and after his return from the Court of Persia (Chapter 13:6). Nehemiah himself was the writer (Chapter 1:1).
ESTHER. We utterly reject the thought advanced by some, that this book is a mere compilation from the Persian records, on the ground that the name of God does not once occur in it. There is a divine reason for such an important omission, which we hope to refer to at another time. The scenes of this book come in historically between chaps. vi. and vii. of the book of Ezra. We believe on internal evidence that the book was written by “Mordecai the Jew”. But we would again observe that the questions of When, Where, and by Whom the books of Scripture were written are altogether irrespective of their inspiration and Divine origin.
JOB. This is a book upon the moral government of God, consisting of 17 speeches and an introduction in which Jehovah, Satan, and Job mainly figure (Chapter 1-3) with a weighty and instructive appendix, in which Jehovah and His broken-hearted servant alone appear (Chapter 38-42). The book is without dates, and hence neither characteristically dispensational, nor historical. Volumes have been written to prove (as if that were possible) the non-existence of the patriarch, and that the book is merely a page of Arabian romance. Ezekiel among the prophets (Chapter 14:14, 20), and James among the apostles (Chapter 5:1) guarantee the life, trials, and death of Job, while Paul authenticates the divine character of the book by citing from it, introducing the quotation with the usual formula “it is written” (1 Corinthians 3:19 with Job 5:13).
The scenes of this book belong in point of antiquity to the patriarchal age: this we gather from the following considerations. Job must have been nigh a century old, if not more, when the Lord opened the controversy with Satan respecting His servant. The patriarch then had seven grown-up sons, for they had houses of their own, and three daughters, while after his trial he lived a hundred arid forty years (chaps. 1, 42). Does not this long age conclusively point to a time, certainly not later, if not earlier than, the days of Abram? This is further confirmed by a reference to the earliest form of idolatry, that of the heavenly bodies (Chapter 31:26, 27) the only kind mentioned in the book, and further by the frequency of the patriarchal title “the Almighty”, occurring oftener than in any other book of Scripture. Job, too, like his contemporaries prior to the days of Moses is seen in household priestly action (Chapter 1:5). According to many, Moses was the writer of the book; if so, it was probably written 40 years at least before the Pentateuch, the former in the land of Midian (Exodus 2), and the latter subsequently on the plains of Moab (Deuteronomy 31:22, 26).
The five books from Job to the Canticles constitute the third divisional title of the Old Testament, “the psalms” (Luke 24:44).
THE BOOK OF PSALMS. This inspired collection of Sacred Songs, and of compositions of various character, has evidently the impress of God upon its arrangement. He selected them, gave them their present shape and form, gave 116 of them those untranslated headings or titles, which are rarely read and still less understood. He gave to the whole collection its present title “The Book of Psalms” (Luke 20:42), and caused them to be numbered too for more easy reference by us, as “the second psalm” (Acts 13:33). The Psalms are inspired and their arrangement is divine. Uniform tradition—Jewish and Christian—ascribes the compilation of the Psalms to Ezra on his return to Palestine after the Babylon captivity. Human arrangement would have set the psalms in chronological or historical order; but God has classified them in an order manifesting His purpose and befitting His glory, whoever was the instrument. We hope to be able to show this in our brief notes on the Psalter in the pages of the Bible Student.
THE PROVERBS. The whole of these proverbs were spoken by Solomon, save those contained in the two last chapters. We may regard these wise principles and maxims as part of the 3000 uttered by the illustrious monarch of Israel (1 Kings 4:3; 2) and here selected and arranged by inspiration of God. The compiler was probably one of the prophets living in the days of the godly Hezekiah, if indeed that monarch himself did not do so: we know at least that his servants copied out a number of these Proverbs (Chapter 25:1). We know nothing of Agur, (Chapter 30:1) nor of King Lemuel (Chapter 22:1); their names alone have been handed down to posterity.
ECCLESIASTES. The opening words of the book are conclusive as to its authorship, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, King in Jerusalem”. The boundary of Solomon’s horizon is the sun, beneath it all is pronounced “Vanity”. Read the book, and you will say that it was evidently written by Solomon at the close of his reign, in the evening of his life; probably too in Jerusalem, at least in Palestine. One class of critics boldly tell us that the book was not written by Solomon, but that some unknown author assumed the name, and personified the character, of Israel’s wisest and richest monarch, because they have discovered that the style is not that of Solomon’s, nor the circumstances in the book in accordance with his reign. “Knowledge puffeth up”; and so these wise men in their own conceit regard with a sneer and with supreme contempt the fact that God has settled the question of the authorship of the book (Chapter 1:1), and further that it always held its present place in all Hebrew Bibles, and formed part of the Sacred Scriptures in the days of Christ and writers of the New Testament. We suppose moreover that the Jewish mind is quite as capable as any modern critic of estimating the value of differences in style and diction of Hebrew writers especially; yet the Jews ancient and modern fail to see a difficulty in assigning the authorship to Solomon. But enough, God has spoken (Chapter 1:1), and we would reverently bow and implicitly believe.
Eastern Manners and Customs: "The He-goats Before the Flocks" ; "I Have Enough"
“Be as the he-goats before the flocks.”—Jeremiah 1:8.
“Some time ago we sent a shepherd and a Chowkedar of the regiment with too rupees to buy a flock of sheep for the Mutton Club. They were obliged to buy a large he-goat to walk at the head of the flock, for until they did so, the sheep ran hither and thither, and could not be driven comfortably. Does not this illustrate the expression (Jeremiah 1:8,) in which the Jews are told to go out of Babylon, and be as the he-goats before the flocks, that is, to set an example to others to follow.”
—Mrs. Colin Mackenzie.
“I have enough.”—Genesis 33:9, 11.
These words, used by Jacob and Esau at their meeting of reconciliation, differ in the original, and their force and meaning are lost by their being rendered alike in the Authorized Version. Esau uses rabh, great things, equivalent to “much goods laid up for many years.” “I am rich,” he says boastingly. But Jacob’s rejoinder, kol, is rightly rendered in the margin. “ All things are mine,” he says with the confidence of faith. St. Paul seems to repeat these words of Jacob.—1 Corinthians 3:21.
The characters of the two brothers, the man of the world, and the man of God, are thus indicated by the different expressions which they use.
Analysis of 2 Kings
1. History of the Kings of Israel (cont’d)
B. Elijah Destroys 100 men
a. Journey from Gilgal to Jordan
A. Victory over Mesha, King of Moab
b. Pottage healed and loaves multiplied
c. Naaman’s leprosy healed
e. Syrians smitten with blindness
C. Benhadad besieges Samaria
E. Brief notice of Kings of Judah
c. He kills Ahab’s seventy sons
d. He kills the worshippers of Baal
D. Notice of kings in Judah
4. Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II
c. Notice of kings of Judah
5. Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, Hoshea
a. Notice of Azariah and Jotham
b. Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah
a. Israel carried away captive
2. Closing History of Kings of Judah
B. Sennacherib’s Invasion
b. Hezekiah’s trust in God
c. God’s answer by Isaiah
C. Hezekiah’s sickness and death
B. The law found and read
4. Jehoahaz, Jehoiachim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah
b. Judah carried away captive
c. All the treasures removed
e. Jehoiachin’s captivity
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Chariots - Dust
The governmental power and authority of Jehovah
Psalms 68:17; Isaiah 64:15
The moral supports of God’s throne exercised administratively in government, as justice and judgment.
Exodus 37:7; 1 Kings 6:28; Ezekiel 10:5; Psalms 91:1
Jeremiah 2:12; Isaiah 36:16
The Church in millennial glory; apostate Christendom
Man as dead material, the subject of the sovereign power of God
No foot-hold in suffering
Daniel 5:11, 13; Psalms 104:3; Revelation 1:7; Exodus 33:9, 10; 24:15-18; Luke 9:35; Leviticus 16:2
The presence of Jehovah, but His glory veiled
Genesis 38:3; 1 Chronicles 29:2; Isaiah 54:11
Those who would place Christians under law
There are four crowns set before the saints:—
First, the crown of gold common to the redeemed
Second, the crown of life for the martyr
Third, the crown of righteousness for the servant and witness
Fourth, the crown of glory for the shepherds of God’s flock
Divine restraint; compelling of love
Christ in glory the food of a heavenly people
The sinners’ portion, Divine wrath
The believers’ portion, Divine favor
The curtains of the Tabernacle were inside, and set forth Christ and His glories for us.
The curtains of the court were outside, and set forth Christ and His glories to be displayed by us
Sharp and sudden temptation
Apostasy from God and truth
Divine and judicial judgment upon man
An expression of utter contempt
Matthew 15:27; Philippians 3:2
Persons without conscience or feeling
Divine opening and liberty for service
1 Corinthians 16:9; Revelation 3:8
Liberty for communion with Christ
Beauty; harmlessness; spotlessness
Psalms 68:13; Matthew 10:16; Song of Solomon 6:9
Cruel Egyptian power; Satan
Ezekiel 29:2; Revelation 12:13
Utter insensibility to judgment; carnal excitement
Isaiah 29:9; Ephesians 5:18
Utter contempt and abhorrence
Malachi 2:3; Philippians 3:8
Utmost depths of humiliation
Psalms 22:15; Daniel 12:2
Plan of the Ages Chart
Innocence was the state, and paradise the place, where Adam was set. Genesis 2.
Man having sinned away his state and place was left by God for 1656 years, without promise to cheer, or law to restrain. Corruption and violence characterize the scene. Genesis 6.
Man was placed under civil government, the principles of which remain, and His blessing secured so long as the “bow” arches the heavens. Genesis 9.
The world having gone right off into idolatry was morally judged by the calling out of it of Abram, in whom God deposited His promises of heavenly and earthly blessing. Galatians 3:16.
The law was the measure of God’s claims upon man and Israel. Before it was given, man was a sinner, under it he becomes a transgressor. Romans 5.
While Saul was the first king of Israel, yet David is ever regarded as the head of royalty, as in him and his house God had deposited His counsels. Psalms 132.
The kingdom after having existed for about 400 years, was destroyed by the Chaldeans. Israel because of her sin and idolatry from 588 B.C., is in subjection to the Gentile imperial powers. Daniel 2.
The crowning sin of the Gentile and Israelitish heart— the cross awarded to Jesus— has opened on God’s side the channels of Divine grace. Grace reigns, and triumphs. Luke 24:47.
For 1000 years— after a season of awful judgment, prior to and accompanying the Lord’s descent with all His saints, into the earth— glory will fill the heavens, and blessing the earth. Psalms 8; 72.
The last act of time will be the resurrection of the dead, their judgment will be in eternity. Revelation 20:11-15. The rest of God into which the saints will enter is our certain and eternal blessing. Revelation 21:1-7.
Notes on Last Month's Subject: The Titles and Work of God the Father
This subject appears from the note prefixed to have caused more than usual difficulty in its arrangement, owing mainly to the frequency with which God the Father is evidently spoken of without being so named. We think, however, that a wise discretion has been exercised in largely excluding such passages, and merely giving those that definitely present God as Father.
We have no intention of reviewing the work on this occasion generally, but would like to call especial attention to the different uses of the word “Father,” as applied to God in Scripture, briefly indicated in the last section of our subject. We think that it is a line of truth but little searched out, and one that would well repay careful study.
A brief consideration of the subject shows that the word Father is applied to God in six different ways (perhaps a closer study may reveal seven). They are as follows 1. “God the Father” (Galatians 1:1, etc.) merely expresses His position in the Trinity, being (as we say) the first person in it.
2. “The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” expresses His relationship to Christ.
3. “God our Father” shows His relationship to Christians.
4. “Father of Mercies, etc., uses the word in the sense of “author” or “originator.”
5. “God and Father of all” expresses His general relation. ship to His creatures.
These are all found in the last section of our subject; for the sixth, however, we must refer to the o. t., where we find 6. “A Father to Israel,” showing God’s relationship to His ancient people.
From the above it is therefore dear that (5) in a general sense God is a Father to all His creatures, being over all (Ephesians 4:6), giving sunshine and rain (Matthew 5:45), caring for the brute creation (vi. 26), kind to the unthankful and the evil (Luke 6:35).
We next see (6) that Israel nationally being regarded as God’s son (Hosea 11:1; Romans 9:4), God is called in a general sense their Father, (1 Chronicles 29:10; Isaiah 63:16; 64:8; Jeremiah 31:9; Malachi 1:6) in a few isolated passages.
We must, however, most carefully distinguish the world-wide application of the word (5) and its national application (6) from its wonderful personal and individual use in the New Testament as applied to Christians in a relationship so near, and with love so intense, that as Father He is said to love His own as He loves the Son (John 17:23). To show that such a relationship is entirely new, and consequent on the death and resurrection of Christ, we need only refer to such a passage as Galatians 3:4, where, after carefully describing the Jew as a child, differing however nothing from a servant, the apostle proceeds to contrast this with the brighter glory and more intimate relationship of the christian position as a son (4:6, contrast “when we were” in ver. 3, with “because you are” ver. 6). It is the latter alone, and that by virtue of the indwelling Spirit, who can cry “Abba Father”—a beautiful utterance, and one not known under the law. Romans 8:15 also presents the same cry as the result of the Spirit of adoption.
“Abba” as is well-known is the Syriac form of “father” according to the common language of Palestine, while “pateer,” the other word, is the Greek form of the same. If then we may, without straining the interpretation, regard “Abba” as the Jewish, and “Father” as the Gentile form of the same title, we get a wonderful significance in the union of both in this the Christian’s cry, Jew and Gentile both being one in Christ (Colossians 3:11).
If a doubt should still remain in the minds of any as to the entire difference between our relationship to God, and that of the Jew of old, a brief study of pp. 78, 79 contrasted with the six or seven solitary passages in the o. t. that speak of God as Father will show that there is no possible parallel between the two, and that we occupy a place of wonderful nearness to God, little though our souls really enjoy it.
W e have no room in the short space at our disposal to touch upon God in relationship as Father to Christ; (2) a subject full of deepest interest and mystery, containing such utterances as “ My Father is greater than I” and yet “I and my Father are one”; at times taking us into the hidden counsels of the triune God before the world was, at others showing us the delight that rested on the lowly Man on earth; but before we close, we would just allude to “ Father” used as “author.” (4) Take for instance that mysterious passage in Hebrews 12:9, which seems to carry us back to Genesis 2:7, or those beautiful titles given us in our subject, “The comforter of those in trouble,” “The Father of mercies, and God of all comfort,” “The Father of glory.” Oh! how little do we know of this “all comfort,” much though we need it; how little gratitude do the unnumbered “mercies” of our Father cause to ascend from our hearts, and oh! how little are our hearts set by faith on that bright “glory” of which He is the Father, to the exclusion of the earthly shams that are all around. May God indeed use this subject we have considered together to deepen in each of our ‘souls the sense of the blessedness of our position and the greatness of God’s love.
This Month's Subject: Children
The subject worked out for this month is—
“Children” as spoken of in Scripture.
We regret to say that there has been a falling off in the number of papers received this month, some to whom divisions had been allotted having found themselves unable from different causes to work out the subject; so that in one or two sections we have had but few papers, and we fear that the result may be somewhat imperfect. The subject is one of the deepest interest to all, especially when we consider that the young are particularly exposed to temptations, and that the loosening of natural ties is one of the signs which indicate to us the approach of the perilous times of the last days.
It may be that some have found the subject too difficult. We have wished for some time to be able to obtain the opinion of the Class on the subject that should be selected. The plan of asking each to suggest some subject has not succeeded, as the subject proposed has often been too vague or impracticable. We hope, however, next month to inaugurate a new plan that will be pleasing to all, and that is, to select four suitable subjects from those sent, and submit them to the Class generally, for consideration as to which of the four would be most generally liked. Thus next month the subject selected for July will be given as usual, but in addition four subjects will be named, and each member of the Class is requested to state when sending in their paper, which of the four he or she would prefer to work at, and the one found most generally acceptable will be the one given the month after (June) for August.
1. Statements and Precepts Relating To Children Generally.
Families in the sight of God.
“Thou and thy house,” Acts 16:31.
Noah’s faith leads to the salvation of his family, Genesis 6:8, 18; Hebrews 11:7.
God’s covenant is with Abraham and his seed, Genesis 17:6, &c.
Children, who have even only one believing parent, are “holy,” 1 Corinthians 7:14; Deuteronomy 4:40; 5:29; 30:2; Acts 2:39.
Dathan, Abiram, and their families are swallowed up by the earth, Numbers 16:27.
Achan and his family are put to death, Joshua 7:25.
Daniel’s persecutors and their families are cast into the den of lions. Daniel 6:24. Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 3:6; 32:25; Job 17:5; Psalms 109:9, 10; Joshua 6:21.
Children generally.
Children are God’s gift, and as such, a blessing to their parents, Genesis 33:5; Psalms 127:5; 128:3, 4.
Fatherless children are the especial objects of His care, Exodus 22:22; Psalms 68:5 87:4; Jeremiah 49:11.
And should be cared for by His people, James 1:27.
Children share the fallen nature of their parents, Genesis 8:21.
Yet God can accept their praises, Psalms 8:2; 148:12, 13; Matt: 21:15, 16.
Children are exhorted
to fear their parents, Leviticus 19:3.
to honor them, Exodus 20:12; Matthew 19:19; Mark 7:10 Ephesians 6:2; Colossians 3:20.
to obey them, Proverbs 6:20; Ephesians 6:1.
to hear their instruction, Proverbs 1:8, 9; 23:22,
to obey God, Deuteronomy 30:2.
to remember God, Ecclesiastes 12:1.
Children should be careful not to bring dishonor upon their parents, Titus 1:6.
And should be subject to them, Galatians 4:1, 2.
Children are not to be despised, for the Son of Man came to save them, Matthew 18:10-14; 19:14; Mark 10:13-16.
Children will find profit in the knowledge of the Scriptures, 2 Timothy 3.15. But should remember that their knowledge is only that of children-limited, 1 Corinthians 13:11.
The manner in which the relationship of children to their parents is maintained is indicative of the character of the times, Mic. 7:6; Matthew 10:21; Mark 13:12; 2 Timothy 3:2, 3.
2. Passages Referring to Good Children
1. Statements and Precepts
Promises to such, Exodus 20:12
They observe God’s law, Proverbs 28:7
—show wisdom in hearkening to their parents, Proverbs 13:1.
—shall be blessed, Ephesians 6:3.
—show love to parents, Genesis 46:29.
—are a cause of joy to their parents, Proverbs 10:1; 15:20; 23:24, 25.
—obey parents, Genesis 28:7; 47:30.
—take care of parents, Genesis 45:8-11.
—honor the aged, Job 32:6, 7
2. Examples of Good Children
Isaac, Genesis 22:6.
Joseph, Genesis 37:13, 14; chapter 46.
Jephthah’s daughter, Judges 11:34, 36.
Samson, Judges 13:24.
Samuel, 1 Samuel 17:20.
David, 1 Samuel 12:24.
Solomon, 2 Samuel 12:24.
Abijah, 1 Kings 14:13.
Obadiah, 1 Kings 18:12.
Azariah, 2 Kings 15:3.
Joash, 2 Chronicles 24:2.
Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34:3.
Esther, Est. 3:20.
Job, Job 29:4.
Sons of Jonadab, Jeremiah 35.
Daniel, Daniel 1:17.
Hananiah, Daniel 1:17.
Mishael, Daniel 1:17.
Azariah, Daniel 1:17.
John the Baptist, Luke 1:30.
Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:15.
3. —Passages Referring To Bad Children.
1. Statements and Precepts.
With regard to their parents-
—are the cause of heaviness, Proverbs 10:1.
—are a shame and reproach to them, Proverbs 19:26.
—are a calamity to them, Proverbs 19:13.
—are grief and bitterness to them, Proverbs 17:25.
—they despise their instruction, Proverbs 15:20.
—are proud in Isaiah 3:5, and Job 19:18.
They are punished for—
—Setting light by their parents, Deuteronomy 27:16.
—Disobeying parents, Deuteronomy 21:20,21.
-Mocking parents, Proverbs 30:17.
—Cursing parents, Exodus 21:17; Mark 7:10. Smiting parents, Exodus 21:15.
—Gluttony and drunkenness, Deuteronomy 21:20,21.
2. Examples of Bad Children.
Ham, Genesis 9:20-27.
Ishmael, Genesis 21:9.
Esau, Genesis 25:32.
Joseph’s brethren, Genesis 37
Eli’s sons, 1 Samuel 2:12.
Samuel’s sons, 1 Samuel 8:3.
Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:10.
Adonijah, 1 Kings 1:5.
Children of Bethel, 2 Kings 2:23.
Adrammelech, 2 Kings 19:37.
Sharezer, 2Kings 19:37.
Manasseh, 2 Kings 21:2.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 119-164
Q. 119. Will you kindly explain Ephesians 4:4? Is the oneness expressed in the loaf (1 Corinthians 10)? A. F. E.
A. Ephesians 4:4-6 gives the seven unities of the Christian faith. The first, that of the body of Christ, is expressed by the fact of all partaking of one loaf at the Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians 10:17. The loaf thus not only sets forth Christ’s actual body broken for us in death, but also reminds us of His spiritual body of which we all are members.
Q. 120. Please explain 1 Corinthians 3:15. A. F. E.
A. These would seem to refer to a true child of God in contrast to ver. 16, 17, which appear to speak only of professors (See Q. 75, p. 83). In this case the man is not destroyed, but, his work being built of materials that can not stand the searching fire of God’s judgment, is all burnt up; he, himself being saved, because a true believer. It is sad to think that a christian may thus at the end lose all the fruits of a hard and laborious life, unless the work has really been of God, and according to the immutable principles of His written word.
Q. 121. What is the difference in Scripture between the blood, death, and cross of Christ?
A. Refer to Q. 330, vol. 1. p. 90. The blood of Christ is the atoning value of His death between God and the sinner (Romans 3, &c.) The death is rather the delivering power of Christ’s work from sin and Satan; hence it is not so much between me and God, as between myself and sin, and Satan (Romans 9), while the cross is rather the separating effect of the death of Christ between me and the world, (Galatians 6) The cross is the measure of the rejection of Christ, the death the delivering power, and the blood the atoning value of Calvary.
Q. 122. Do the “love feasts” of 2 Peter 2:13, and Jude 12, (R. V.) refer to the Lord’s supper, or a common meal of love? S. R. T.
A. Early in New Testament times the Lord’s supper seems to have been preceded by the “Agapee,” or feast of love. See 1 Corinthians 11 where the apostle, if he does not actually separate the two, enjoins greater order and decorum at the first. As time went on, the love feast gradually got more and more separate from the Lord’s supper, until it finally died out. The expressions in the passages alluded to, clearly refer to the common love feast.
Q. 123. Will you kindly give the meaning of “double” in Isaiah 40:2? Is it the same as pardon? E,
A. The result is pardon on the ground of having received double punishment for her sins. Of course, it is God’s grace that reckons thus, looking at the Jews in connection with their Messiah; for apart from Him no amount of suffering could bring a righteous pardon for sin against God. This however, is a question of governmental pardon only.
Q. 124. Please explain Isaiah 28:16 (last clause) and say what bearing it has on what goes before, and what application (if any) to us. E.
A. The New Testament (1 Peter 2) following the Septuagint reads, “shall not be confounded,” and clearly refers to the contrast between those who rest on a sure foundation, and those who make lies their refuge (v. 15). This application of the passage is as forcible to us as to the Jew. The text (founded on our Authorized Version, “shall not make haste”) has also been used to teach that Christians should not act with undue haste or from impulse.
Q. 125. What position will children dying in infancy have in heaven? Will they form part of the church which is Christ’s body? B.
A. Children who die young are saved in virtue of the death of Christ (Matthew 18:11). They are therefore among those who are Christ’s, and are thus raised and changed at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:23). We are not aware that anything further is said about them, but shall be glad to have any scriptural thoughts on this interesting subject.
Q. 126. Please explain “Henceforth know we no man after the flesh.” E.
A. It means that the Christian is brought into a new sphere, and new relationships by the death and resurrection of Christ. The apostles had known Christ as the Messiah after the flesh. But He had died, and now in resurrection they know Him in His new character as head of the new creation and of the churchapter Their links also with Christians were all formed on this new and heavenly ground.
Q. 127. What was the name of David’s mother? E.
A. It appears probable from a careful comparison of 2 Samuel 17:25, and 1 Chronicles 2:16 that her name was Nahash—a serpent, unless the marginal reading be preferable that reads “Jesse” instead.
Q. 128. How are believers practically sanctified? E.
A. By becoming servants to God according to Romans 6:22, yielding their bodies a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1, 2), and by cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit inwardly, as well as ungodly connections outwardly (2 Corinthians 6 and 7:1).
Q. 129. What is the difference between “the kingdom of heaven” in Matthew and the “kingdom of God” in Luke? T. H.
A. Refer to Q. 102, p. 88, where this question is answered.
Q. 130. Please explain the last clause of James 3:9. Z.
A. It clearly refers to Genesis 1:26, but we should be glad of further light as to what that means. In a general sense it no doubt sets forth the high qualities in which man differs from any other created being.
Q. 131. Does “we may have confidence,” 1 John 2:28, refer to the apostle as having been instrumental in the conversion of those to whom he wrote? Z.
A. Certainly—they were the fruit of his labors. Compare 2 John; and 1 Corinthians 3:15.
Q. 132. Is “Hagan” to which Jacob was bidden to flee in Genesis 27:43, the same as Padan-aram, Genesis 28:2? Z.
Haran is a city, Genesis 24:10, in Padan-aram,—that is “ the table land of Aram”—a northern district of Mesopotamia. The former is therefore the name of a city, the latter of an immense tract of country of greater extent than modern Syria.
Q. 133. What is meant by the “middle wall of partition,” Ephesians 2:14? Z.
A. The legal ceremonies and ordinances that fenced the Jew off from the Gentile, thus forming a partition wall between them.
Q. 134. How can Satan be said to have the power of death, Hebrews 2:14? H. J. M.
A. Man (Adam), seeking to be independent of God. was deceived by Satan, and became subject to death and to the dominion of Satan, who held over him the fear of death which kept him in bondage, testifying as it did both to the righteous judgment of God, and to his inability to escape the consequences of sin. Hence Satan’s power is gone for those from whom the fear of death is removed by the delivering work of Christ.
Q. 135. Please explain Matthew 5:34, 35, 36, “Swear not at all: neither by heaven” etc. Would such an expression as “by Jove” be forbidden by this passage? W. F.
A. The passage rather needs obeying than explaining, for it is so plain that none could misunderstand it. Such expressions as you refer to need no words of ours to chew how unsuitable they are to christian language. We do not speak of the unconverted, as such passages are not addressed to them at all.
Q. 136. What are the “hornets” spoken of in Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:1, 2? Z.
A. We cannot say whether the literal insects are meant. We have historical proof that even armies have been seriously molested by swarms of hornets Moreover these insects abounded in Palestine. The simile of “chasing like bees” is found in Deuteronomy 1:44, and it is possible that the word may be merely so used in these passages to symbolize the intense dread that God would put upon the Canaanites according to Exodus 15:16, and Deuteronomy 2:25. —See also Isaiah 7:18.
Q. 137. Please say why it was not wrong to eat the shewbread and do good on the sabbath, Matthew 12:1-14. E. B.
A. Because the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. We must carefully distinguish between the Divine law and the Rabbis’ traditions as to the Sabbath day. The former, while prohibiting all secular and unnecessary labor, allowed even extra labor in religious things, for the morning and evening sacrifices were doubled on the Sabbath, and so much work had to be done that it became a saying, “There is no Sabbath in holy things.” To this Christ appeals in 12:5. Feasts were also allowed on Sabbath days. The tradition of the Rabbis, however, prohibited all action on the Sabbath, and was full of trivial absurdities, leading them, while professedly zealous for the letter, entirely to neglect the spirit of the law. The objection raised by the Pharisees in John 5:10, is based no doubt on Jeremiah 17:21-27, though all can distinguish between such a necessary act and bearing burdens in connection with business.
Q. 138. What is the meaning of the “second Sabbath after the first?” E. B.
A. It has been thought that this expression refers to the seven Sabbaths between the wave sheaf and Pentecost. On the morrow after the first Sabbath the wave sheaf was offered, before which it was contrary to God’s law to eat green ears of corn (Leviticus 23:14); this was the next and therefore the first Sabbath they could do so.
Q. 139. Can you give the correct reading for Isaiah 50:4? E. B.
A. Please say what is your difficulty the passage is a lovely picture of Christ on earth as God’s servant. The contrast is between the rebellious people who would not hear when Jehovah spoke (ver. 2), and the perfect Servant whose ever attentive ear was the secret of His ready tongue.
Q. 140. (1) In Exodus 17:1-7, and Numbers 20:1-13, the name Meribah is given. Were Rephidim and Kadesh near each other? or were two different places named Meribah? (2) Were they supplied with water from the rock in Horeb, (Exodus 17) all the journey, and did it fail in Numbers 20:1-13? E. B.
A. (1) Meribah, meaning contradiction, contention, striving, might well be a name given to two separate places so characterized. Kadesh and Rephidim lie far apart, the one near the beginning of the wilderness journey, and the other at the borders of Canaan. (2) On two separate occasions when there was a failure in the natural supplies that are found in the wilderness of the wanderings (which was nowhere the sandy desert so often supposed) water was miraculously provided out of a rock; on the latter occasion Moses sinned, and therefore never entered the land.
Q. 141. “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,” (Romans 1:20.) What are the “invisible things?” E. B.
A. Does not the apostle clearly answer your question? His eternal power and Godhead,” witnessed to by the rain from heaven, the fruitful seasons (Acts 14:17) and all the varied glories of creation. This is also the argument of the closing chapters of Job.
Q. 142. Will you be kind enough to explain Matthew 12:20? S. B.
A. The quotation is from Isaiah 42:3. The popular explanation is that the condescension of the Lord is such that He will not despise or neglect the feeblest, represented by “a bruised reed” or a “smoking flax.” Another interpretation rests on the word. “till,” and is to the effect that the Lord was not on earth to execute judgment on any represented by the reed or flax, but that He would judge such in a coming day. We trust we shall receive some further replies to this query.
Q. 143. Does not the “day of the Lord” begin when the church is taken away, and close at the commencement of the millennium, or does it go on through to the end of time? Is it not characterized by such scriptures as Daniel 12:1; Zechariah 14; Malachi 4:1; Matthew 24:36, and others? E. L.
A. The day of the Lord begins with Christ’s public and sudden appearance in the clouds of heaven (1 Thessalonians 5:2), and will last through the millennium according to 2 Peter 3:8, and will even include at the close the passing away of the heaven and the earth. It does not begin before the church is taken away, for Christ comes for her as “the morning star.” The day does not begin until the rising of the Sun according to Malachi 4, which prefigures the public return of the Son of Man as depicted in Revelation 19. Inasmuch as the saints come with Christ out of heaven, they must have been taken there previously.
Q. 144. Would you kindly explain Mark 3:28, 29? H. R.
A. Compare Matthew 12:31,32. You will see that what the Lord means by “ speaking against “ the Holy Ghost is attributing His work to the power of Satan. Those who thus spoke against the Holy Ghost should not be forgiven; neither in that age (that of the law), nor in the age to come (that of Messiah’s reign). The Lord having taken His place as Son of Man in humiliation, this solemn warning did not extend to words spoken against Himself.
Q. 145. Would you kindly distinguish between “envy” and “jealousy” as used in Scripture. In the R. V. it has “jealousy” where “envy” is used in the A. V. (Acts 13:45.)
A. The proper word for envy only occurs in the New Testament as follows: —Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10; Romans 1:29; Galatians 5:21; Philippians 1:15; 1 Timothy 6:4; Titus 3:3; James 4:6; 1 Peter 2:1, and is always used in a bad sense. The other word translated envy, zeal, fervent mind, jealousy, etc. has two meanings, according to its use; the one is equivalent to envy, and the word is so used in 2 Corinthians 12:20; Jasmes 3:14, &c. The other meaning is rather that of honorable emulation than envy. The difference between the two has been beautifully defined “We ought by all means to note the difference between envy and emulation; which latter is a brave and noble thing, and quite of another nature, as consisting only in a generous imitation of something excellent, and that, such an imitation as scorns to fall short of its copy, but strives, if possible, to outdo it. The emulator is impatient of a superior, not by depressing or maligning another, but by perfecting himself.” The word is used in this better sense in John 2:17 (zeal); 2 Corinthians 7:7 (fervent mind); 2 Corinthians 9:2 (zeal): 1 Corinthians 12:31 (covet earnestly.) &c., &c., Acts 13:45, is evidently a bad use of the word.
Q. 146. Please explain Matthew 8:4. T. H.
A. Jesus simply told the man to act as the law directed him in Leviticus 14:3.
Q. 147. Is “defiled” in Deuteronomy 22:9 a correct translation? Z.
A. The word literally signifies “set apart,” and hence it is usually applied to holy things. It seems here to mean that the crop thus mingled must be set apart, and could not be available for man’s use, being obtained in contrariety to the Lord’s commands, which taught distinctiveness and separation in every transaction in life. In Benisch’s Jewish School and Family Bible (a Version made under authority), the verse is thus translated: “ Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed; lest thy fullness, the seed which thou have sown, and the increase of thy vineyard, become unlawful.” In Leviticus 27:10 a somewhat similar meaning to that of the use assigned to this word defiled, is conveyed by the expression holy (a word from the same root) referring to a beast brought for sacrifice, which even if “bad” i.e. not suitable on account of some blemish, could not be redeemed, taken back for the use of the offerer, or even exchanged, but fell to the portion of the priests for their maintenance.
Q. 148. Nehemiah 8:10. Is the thought here, the joy the people had in the Lord, or the Lord’s own joy in His people at that moment? What light does the Hebrew throw on this? Z.
A. The word used for joy in this passage occurs in the Hebrew Bible only here, in 1 Chronicles 16:27, (where it is translated gladness,) and Ezra 6:16. It literally signifies praise, and evidently seems to refer to the joy of the people in the Lord, joy which they first received from Him, John 15:11, to strengthen them in their path through life. It has been well said that “ the devout soul derives strength from godly thankfulness, and holy joy, because that God will help those who praise Him to rejoice in Him. If the strength of the Lord is our joy, then the joy of the Lord will be our strength.” A depressed Christian cannot be a strong Christian.
Q. 149. Why did the Lord frequently instruct those whom He healed to “ tell no man,” as in Mark 8:26, also in ver. 30, under other circumstances? (2) Why did He justify David and the priests, Matthew 12:3-5? W.
A. (1) Christ was not here to glorify Himself or to speak of Himself, but of His Father. He never sought publicity though giving all who had ears to hear, and eyes to see, opportunities of recognizing Him as the Son of God. The command was in perfect keeping with the character of His mission, and especially so in Mark as the perfect servant. (2) In showing that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, we could however say that Christ justified David. Did He not rather chew that if the king’s followers could act on an emergency in such a manner, how could the pharisees (who all revered David) find fault with His disciples who had broken no law, but merely their tradition? See also Deuteronomy 23:25; Q. 137, 138 ante.
Q. 150. Ecclesiastes 9 seems to teach the doctrine of annihilation, but is not the “preacher” looking at events from man’s side and not according the wisdom that God teaches? W.
A. We cannot agree with you that annihilation is here taught. Refer to Q. 319, vol. 1, p. 88, and you will see that the standpoint of the whole book is a survey of all on which the sun shines, hence verse 6 is quite true. Death closes a man’s earthly career in this world forever; what happens to him hereafter, and in another world is not the subject, and would be quite out of place if introduced here.
Q. 151. In Numbers 1:33-35 the tribe of Ephraim is numbered as 40,500, and that of Manasseh as 32,200. In Chapter 26:34-37 Manasseh is increased to 52,700, while Ephraim is decreased to 32,500. How is this, for did not Jacob prophesy that Ephraim should surpass Manasseh? W. J. B.
A. The decrease is very remarkable, but was only temporary (Deuteronomy 33:17), and the subsequent history of the tribe which got its first ascendency under Joshua and culminated in becoming a kingdom under Jeroboam, abundantly fulfilled the prophecy of Jacob.
Q. 152. What is the lawful use of the law spoken of in 1 Timothy 1:8? W. J. B.
A. That for which it was intended, namely, as a rule for man in the flesh, (not that he could ever keep it, but to demonstrate that he could not). The Christian is not under law. Hence to put him under it is not a lawful use of it; nevertheless he is to walk in the spirit of it and indeed far beyond it. (Matthew 5 &c.)
Q. 153. (1) Who are the “sons of God,” Genesis 6:2? (2) Please explain Exodus 24 10, 11. E. S. M.
A. (1) It is generally thought that they were those on the earth who feared God (the Shem line) for which reason they are called “sons of God,” as Adam was (Luke 3:38); that their sin consisted m their intermarrying with a godless race (the Cain line,) thus furnishing the first example of the mingling of hot and cold, of which Laodicea (Revelation 3) is the last and worst. There is much however to support a contrary view, viz., that angels are here referred to (see Job 1:6, and Jude 6). The whole of heathen mythology also shows that the idea of a race of giants, the offspring of a superior race of beings intermarrying with the human race, was wide-spread. Against this thought, Matthew 22:30, and Hebrews 1:7 have been urged, but they are not conclusive, being only descriptive of the normal state of unfallen angelic beings. On the whole, we are inclined to believe that Jude especially refers to this time, and that “sons of God” here means angels. (2) Refer to vol. 1, p. 66, Q. 304.
Q. 154. (1) When was the “writing” from Elijah written, 2 Chronicles 21:12? (2) Is it known why the blind and the lame were “hated of David’s soul,” 2 Samuel 5:8? E. S. M.
A. (1) We read of Jehoshaphat’s death and Jehoram coming to the throne before we read of Elijah’s translation; and hearing of his great wickedness in murdering his brethren, Elijah probably left this writing to be sent to the king on the first opportunity. We know nothing certain beyond the fact mentioned here. (2) If we read ver. 8 according to the margin, it would appear that the very cripples confident in the power of their stronghold had insulted David who was not likely to overlook the offense. It is worthy of note that “great David’s greater Son “healed the blind and the lame in the temple at the same spot.
Q. 155. (1) Can the believer by faith in Christ claim the entire redemption of his body from Satan’s power? (2) Does not Deuteronomy 7:15 apply equally to the obedient believer now whose life is consecrated to the glory of God? F.
A. We do not quite grasp your question. We wait for the redemption of our body as a fact. As a matter of faith, the price has been paid, and we are redeemed body and soul. Still if Christ does not come, death may yet claim our bodies, that “last enemy” which is surely the proof of the power of sin and of the work of Satan. (2) Not necessarily. Israel was an earthly people and all their blessings were bodily and temporal. The Christian is not of the earth and his blessings are spiritual, (though God surely cares for the body too,) and sickness is not always the result of sin. It often is however from sin, 1 Corinthians 11, &c. We would therefore agree that in a general way such a passage is often true of those you speak of, but could not lay it down as a doctrine.
Q. 156. Did Satan claim the body of Moses, or what was the dispute about in Jude 9? F.
A. It appears that he did, and it has been thought that, inasmuch as Moses and Elias probably are to be the two witnesses in the last day, and appeared at the transfiguration, the object of Satan was to prevent the presence of one by having possession of his body. For two witnesses were required by the Jewish laws to convict of any great crime, such as the crucifixion of Christ. The simpler reason however would be that he wanted to obtain it in order to make it an object of worship to Israel, and thus become a snare to them.
Q. 157. What is the meaning of “the Mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ,” Colossians 2:2? A.
A. The R. V. reads “that they may know the mystery of God, even Christ,” &c. Another critical reading is “ to the full knowledge of the mystery of God, in which are hid all the treasures,” &c. If the R. V. is right the mystery is clearly “ God manifest in flesh,” i.e. Christ, otherwise the mystery would evidently refer to Ephesians 3.
Q. 158. In 1 Thessalonians 5 it is said “ That day shall not overtake you as a thief.” Does it not seem from this that the Church will be on earth until the Lord’s appearing in judgment? The passage can scarcely mean “ It shall not overtake you at all.” What would you consider the strongest passage to support two comings? J. H. B.
A. We do not quite know from what version you are quoting. The A. V, reads “ But ye, brethren are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief;” the R. V. is practically the same. We fear therefore that your rendering is merely a misquotation and one on which you have based an erroneous idea. The attentive reader will readily discern the difference between “that it should,” and “it shall.” The day of wrath and judgment of Chapter 5 is not for the christian (ver. 9) it being revealed in Chapter 4 that he will be caught up previously to heaven, thence to return with Christ according to Revelation 19. Chapter 5:1 shows that they needed no instruction as to the public appearing, Chapter 4:14-17 shows that they required a good deal as to the previous coming into the air.
Q. 159. What does the third part of the sun and moon being darkened, (Revelation 8:12) mean? Is it that the day and night will be shortened, or is it simply that light will not be so intense? J. H. B.
A. We should understand it to mean the latter, that is, that its light would all be dim and dull.
Q. 160. What are “vows” spoken of in the Old Testament? Have they any meaning for us in principle or practice? T. R.
A. Devoting one’s person (Numbers 6.2), one’s children (1 Samuel 1:11), one’s property (Genesis 28:22), &c. to God. The Nazarite vow is the one most spoken of (Numbers 6) and is the pattern of the life of Christ on earth, and of the lives of all who tread in His footsteps in real separation from this world, and from sin by the power of the cross of Christ (Galatians). The separation, however, is inward now, not by outward signs as in the Old Testament. The measure of christian devotedness is found in Christ’s life, the example of it in Philippians and the exhortation to it in Romans 12.
Q. 161. Why was the whole sacrifice not burnt in Leviticus 1:16, as in the other burnt offerings? here the crop and feathers were to be cast aside. A. P. C.
A. You will find from Leviticus 7:8 that the skin of the burnt offering (to which the feathers of the bird corresponds) was not burnt. Hence there is the most perfect analogy.
Q. 162. Is the crown of life (Revelation 2:10) only for martyrs, the crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4) only for those who shepherd the flock, and the crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8) only for those who love His appearing, or will each believer receive all these crowns? H. C,
A. The crown of gold (Revelation 4:10) seems common to all, and the three you have alluded to are only promised as special rewards for special service. See p. 106.
Q. 163. (1) Do the 24 elders in Revelation represent the church? (2) Is the tree of life (Revelation 2:7) Christ Himself? (3) What is meant by the hidden manna, and the white stone in Revelation 2:17? and (4) What by the leaves of the tree in Revelation 22:2? H. C.
A. (1) We cannot say that they represent the church as suchapter Inasmuch as saints are said to be kings and priests unto God, (chaps. 1 and 5) the number 24 certainly suggests an analogy with the 24 courses of priests appointed by David just before the glorious reign of Solomon (1 Chronicles 24) It is clear that the saints seen on earth in Chapter 1 as kings and priests are the same here in their priestly order, and royal position (crowns and thrones) in heaven. (2) Yes. (3) Christ in His humiliation remembered in all the glories of heaven, referring to the pot of manna laid up before the Lord in the Holy of Holies, The white stone refers to the old way of voting, when black stones were given against the candidate and white stones in his favor. It means a mark of special individual favor. (4) We cannot say.
Q. 164. Is “loving kindness” in Psalms 63:3 the right word? E. B.
A. Yes, the word is also frequently translated mercy.
Notes on Former Queries: Vol. 2, 14; 63
Q. 14. p. 18. In the answer to this query, it seems to be assumed that the “ woman “ who anointed the “head” of our Savior as described by Matthew and Mark, is the same as Mary mentioned by John as anointing his feet. The following succession of references will, I think, show that the anointing described by John as done by Mary was performed on a previous occasion; and probably by another person than the person mentioned by Matthew and Mark.
John 11:2, says this is “that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair.”
John 12:1, “Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany” &c. 3rd verse, “Then took Mary, &c. and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair.” 12Th verse, on the next day (the fifth before passover) Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem in triumph.
Mark 11:11, after entering the Temple and looking about upon all things “he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.”
12Th verse, on the morrow (fourth day before passover) “as they came from Bethany he was hungry and came to the barren fig-tree.”
15th verse, Jesus cleansed the Temple, and 19th verse, went out (to Bethany) at even, 20th verse, “and in the morning (third day previous to the passover) they found the figtree withered, and going on to the Temple the Pharisees dispute with Jesus, (see Mark 11:27, to 12.) Then 13:1 records his going out of the Temple, and the rest gives His discourse on the Mount of Olives; immediately followed by the note of time 14:1, after two days was the feast of the passover, and the account of the feast in the house of Simon the leper and the anointing by the “ woman” who broke the alabaster box and poured the ointment on the head of Jesus, see verse 3, corresponding with Matthew 26:7. In neither Matthew nor Mark is anything said about the feet being either anointed or wiped, and the 13th verse in Matthew 26 and the 9th verse in Mark 14 agree together in recording the prophecy respecting the wide publicity to be given to the act of this “woman.” When Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, is it not more likely that (as Martha served) it was at the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus that the feast was then given?
H. S.
Note —We cannot say that we agree with the conclusion our correspondent has arrived at, but as this is a subject on which a good deal of difference of opinion has been expressed, perhaps soma other of our readers will reply to his remarks. Ed.
Q. 63, p. 53. It is said the saints who arose after the Lord’s resurrection appeared unto many. From this I would judge they did not live on earth again, but they appeared unto many just as the Lord Himself did.
J. H. B.
Jottings From Bible Margins
1 John 2:28.
Condition—little children.
Command—abide in Him.
Cause—when He shall appear.
Consequence—We may have confidence.
S. S. B.
Ten things made plain, or evidenced in the 1St Epistle of John.
Greek (ek touto) same in each case.
In this (2:3) we do know that we know Him.
In this (2:5) know we that we are in Him.
In this (3:16) perceive we the love.
In this (3:19) we know that we are of the truth.
In this (3:24) we know that He abideth in us.
In this (4:2) know ye the Spirit of God.
In this (4:9) was manifested the love of God.
In this (4:10) is love, not that we loved God.
In this (4:13) know we that we abide in Him and He in us.
In this (4:17) is love with us made perfect.
S. S. B.
1 Peter on “Well-doing.”
2:14. —The praise of them that do well.
2:15. —That with well-doing ye may put to silence, &e.
2:20. —If when ye do well and suffer for it, &c.
3:6. —As long as ye do well.
3:17. —Better that ye suffer for well-doing.
4:19. —The keeping of their souls in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator.
S. S. B.
Things that cause indignation or much displeasure. (same Greek word.)
1. To the disciples: —That the ointment is poured upon the Lord. (Matthew 26:8; Mark 14:4.)
2. To the ruler of the synagogue: —That Jesus healed on the Sabbath. (Luke 13:14.)
3. To the ten disciples: —That James and John should ask for the highest -the nearest-place in the glory. (Matthew 20:24; Mark 10:41.)
4. To the chief priests and scribes: —That the children should shout the praises of the King. (Matthew 21:15.)
5. To Jesus: —That His disciples should rebuke those who brought the children to Him. (Mark 10:14.)
S. S. B.
Manifold (or divers) temptations (1 Peter 1:6 and James 1:2) are met by manifold (or divers) grace of God. (1 Peter 4:10.) S. S. B.
Doing God’s will (Hebrews 10:7) by Christ.
Doing God’s will (Hebrews 10:36) by the Christian.
S. S. B.
Notes and Comments
A correspondent sent us a most interesting query on “Christ our Example,” which has unfortunately been mislaid. We should be glad to receive it again as we think it would interest many.
We trust our Bible Students that belong to the Class will observe the note under “This month’s subject,” with regard to leaving the actual selection of each month’s subject in their hands, and we hope that on their part they will seek to suggest various new and profitable lines of research, so that we may always have a good number to select fRomans
“C. H. P.” wishes to know if there is likely to be anything in the B. S. about the different kingdoms spoken of in the New Testament. We believe there are six in all, and should be very glad if some friend would send a short article on them.
We would especially call attention to the valuable article this month on” Love and Hatred” from the pen of “One who desires to Learn more,” the originator of the Bible Student’s Class.
Our readers will be glad to hear that the circulation of the Magazine is increasing, and its sphere widely extending. There must, however, be large numbers of Bible Students who have never yet seen a copy, and we would urge our friends to send old numbers when done with on to suchapter A leaflet concisely setting forth the object of this Magazine, together with the January number, can still be had gratis for distribution on sending stamps for postage.
New Testament Words Explained: Lamb - New
Lamb.
It is beautiful to observe that while in John’s Gospel the-word used when speaking of Christ is the common Greek one amnos, in the book of Revelation the word used throughout is arnion, meaning “a little lamb,” as if to reassure us when moving amongst the transcendent scenes there unfolded, by giving to Christ the humblest and lowliest name ever applied to Him. This is the more remarkable because the word is never applied to Christ elsewhere, and indeed is only used once besides, when He bids Peter feed His “little lambs.” It is wonderful indeed to think that the very word given by the Lord Himself to the feeblest believer here is the title He takes for Himself when moving in the highest scenes of heaven’s glories.
Love.
The two words both translated thus are agapao and phileo. The former is a reasoning love, an esteem, a love caused by the intellect only, rather than the heart, whereas the latter is a more impulsive love of the affections alone. Thus we are frequently told to love (agapao) God (Matthew 22:37; Luke 10:27; 1 Corinthians 8:3) but never to love (phileo) Him, while God both loves (agapao, John 3:35) and loves (phileo, John 5:20) the Son. In John 21:15-17 the distinction is important. The first “Lovest thou me?” is agapao: Peter answers “I love (phileo) thee.” The second question is in the same words, and again Peter replies “I love (phileo) thee.” The third time the Lord adopts Peter’s word phileo. A beautiful distinction between the words is seen in John 11:3,5. “Lord he whom thou lovest (phileo) is sick”: but when the Evangelist speaks of the love of the Lord to Lazarus and his two sisters, the other word agapao is used.
Miracle.
Dunarnis, one of the two words thus translated means power (Acts 2:22; 1 Corinthians 12:1 o; Galatians 3:5, etc.), and refers to the divine power displayed in the miracles; Seemeion, the other word means a sign (Mark 16:20; Acts 14:3; Hebrews 2:4, etc), and refers to the purpose for which they were wrought. The former —thus refers to the cause, and the latter to the effect.
Murderer.
We have three Greek words to consider which are 411 rendered “murderer.”
Anthropoktonos (John 8:44;1 John 3:15 only) means “homicide” or “manslayer.”
Sikarios only occurs once (Acts 21:38) and means a man who wore a short sword or dagger, and hired himself for the express purpose of assassination.
Phoneus, the third word, means any murderer, but may be applied morally, and does not necessarily refer to men. It occurs Matthew 22:7; 1 Peter 4:15; Revelation 21:8, etc.
Net.
This is represented by three distinct words in the Greek, diktuon, amphibleestron and sageenee. The first, meaning something which is thrown, is the common word for all nets, and includes other than fishing nets, whereas the two latter refer only to this class. Amphibleestron, which only occurs in Matthew 4:18 and Mark 1:16, is the casting net, and is of small size, thrown by one man; sageenee is the large draw net or “seine” which is swept along the bottom of the sea between two boats; it is used in the New Testament only in Matthew 13:47.
New.
Kainos and Neos both mean, and are both translated “new” the former in Ephesians 2:15; Hebrews 9:15; Matthew 26:29; the latter in Colossians 3:10; Hebrews 12:24; Matthew 9:17. In each of these three cases they are applied to the same thing, viz: man, testament, and wine respectively. The meaning, however, may in spite of this be distinguished, kainos meaning “new” as opposed to “old,” neos, “new” with regard to time, i.e. recent. Thus, we find kainos in Luke 5:36; Matthew 9:17; Luke 5:28; 2 Peter 3:13; Mark 16:17; Matthew 28:60. This last passage plainly shows its meaning, the newness of the tomb not consisting in its having been recently excavated, but in its never having been used before. Still more striking is the difference between 1 Timothy 4:12 (neos) and Romans 6:4 (kainos’ the former meaning youth, the latter newness or novelty. If this distinction is borne in mind it shows at once the force of the new (neos) man of Colossians 3 Jo, and the new (kainos) man of Ephesians 2:15. For that which is born again is now recent as regards time when compared with “ the old man,” And not only so, but is of a different sort or species, being no repetition of the other as a son is of his father, and hence is not only neos but kainos. He is new as to time and new in quality. Neos then refers to time, kainos to the thing itself.
Divine Names and Titles: 4. Messiah
4.-Messiah.
We have already seen in another paper (CHRIST) that this name is the Hebrew one answering to Christ, both meaning “anointed.” The word at first was used of anyone anointed with the holy oil. It was applied to the high priest (Leviticus 4:3,5,16) and figuratively to Saul’s shield. (2 Samuel 1:21.) But the word especially refers to the Promised Prince who was to restore Israel to more than their pristine prosperity.
Three distinct classes of prophecy point to the coming; the first, previous to the entry of the people into Canaan; the second, when they were there; and the third, when they were in captivity out of it. Examples of the first class are Genesis 3:15, (the earliest and most comprehensive) Genesis 12:2, 3; 49:10; Numbers 24:17-19; and Deuteronomy 18:18 (probably referred to in John 5:45, 47.) Instances of the second class abound in the Psalms of David, (Psalms 16:22, &c.) and also occur in 2 Samuel 7:13;22, &c. The third class are found in the prophets, Isaiah 11;40-66 Mic. 5:2; and particularly as fixing the date of His coming, Daniel 9, commonly known as the vision of seventy weeks. The prophecy is worded thus: “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times,” or margin “strait of time.”
This last expression has been supposed to mean “the narrow time” referring to the seven weeks in contrast with the longer time of sixty-two weeks, the two making up the sixty-nine weeks of Messiah the Prince: so that the prophecy means that the city should be rebuilt in seven weeks (of years) or less than half a century. The prophecy continues “and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself” (or margin) “shall have nothing” (John 14:30). We have italicized the word “after” to contrast it with “unto” in verse 25; the two words showing that whereas Messiah should come as Prince at the end of 69 weeks or 483 years, He should not be cut off till after that period, Among the many more exact interpretations of this prophecy, the following recent one is perhaps the clearest and most interesting. The sixty-nine weeks clearly begin at Nehemiah 2:10, and by careful calculation most writers have found that they end at a date corresponding about with that of the crucifixion. Various independent calculations extending over many years have led to the same conclusion-that the dates corresponded to within a week of the crucifixion.
This might be thought exact enough, but quite recently attention has been drawn to the fact that the true reading of Luke 19:42, is not “in this thy day,” but “in this day,” and that the day on which Christ definitely presented Himself to His people at Jerusalem as their Prince, in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy, was the very day when the last of the sixty-nine weeks ended. We cannot now touch further on this interesting subject, but if true (as seems scripturally probable) it certainly gives a wonderfully deep meaning to our Lord’s action in riding into the city, and also to His lamentation over it, “If thou hadst known in THIS DAY, even thou, the things which belong unto peace but now they are hid from thine eyes.” (R.V.)
We have seen in the paper on “Christ” how in that name the Lord leaving His earthly people (after their rejection of Him) takes His place at the head of a new and heavenly race. But He has not cast off Israel forever (Romans 11); His affections for His ancient people are unchanged, and when Daniel’s seventieth week shall have run its course as described in the Apocalypse, Messiah shall return to the Mount of Olives, to the place where He wept over the beloved City, to usher in His millennial reign (Daniel 9:24).
Then in the glowing words of the fine old German hymn will Jerusalem awake from her sleep of death, and welcome her once rejected and crucified Messiah.
Wake! Awake! the night is flying,
The watchmen on the heights are crying,
Awake Jerusalem at last!
Midnight hears the welcome voices,
And at the thrilling cry rejoices,
Arise ye virgins, night is past.
The Bridegroom comes, awake,
Your lamps with gladness take.
Hallelujah!
And for the marriage feast prepare
For ye must go to meet Him there.
Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And all her heart with joy is springing,
She wakes, she rises from her gloom,
For her Lord comes down all glorious,
The strong in grace, in truth, victorious;
Her star is risen, her light is come,
Ah, come! thou Blessed Lord,
Ah! Jesus, Son of God.
Hallelujah!
We follow till the halls we see
Where thou hast bid us sup with Thee.
It is profitable for our hearts to dwell upon the affections of Jehovah (Jesus) to His ancient people, for they skew us what depths of love are in His heart, and from them we get a faint picture of the deeper love wherewith He now loves His chosen Bride, of which you and I, beloved reader, to the praise of His glory, have been called to form a part throughout the ages of eternity.
Hatred and Love
That which I am can be judged of by man, by that which I say, and that which I do. It is judged of by God, according to that which I love, and that which I hate. My words and my actions are more or less a manifestation of the love and hatred which exist in my heart. In the word of God, the love and hatred of the natural man, and the love and hatred of the new man are set before us, so that we may therefore behold ourselves, as seen not by man, but by God. Let us, beginning with the Old Testament, look at the hatred and love of the natural man.
He hates (21 Things)
The Lord, Deuteronomy 5:9, &c.
Christ, Psalms 18:17, &c.
Instruction, Psalms 1:17, &c.
Knowledge, Proverbs 1:22, 29
The poor, Proverbs 14:20
Life, Ecclesiastes 2:17
All his labor, Ecclesiastes 2:18
Him that rebuketh him, Proverbs 9:8, &c.
Israel, Psalms 105:25.
The lying tongue hates those that are afflicted by it, Proverbs 26:28
The upright, Proverbs 29:10
The neighbor, Deuteronomy 19:11
The righteous, Psalms 34:21
Peace, Psalms 120:6
Zion, Psalms 129:6
Reproof, Proverbs 12:1, &c.
His own soul, Proverbs 29:24
The good, Micah 3:2
God, Psalms 83:2.
Wisdom, Proverbs 8:36
He loves (27 things)
Them that hate the Lord, 2 Chronicles 19:2
Evil more than good, Psalms 52:3
All devouring words, Psalms 52:4
Vanity, Psalms 4:2
Cursing, Psalms 109:17
Violence, Psalms 11:5
Death, Proverbs 8:36
The bed of another than the Lord Isaiah 57:8
Strangers, Jeremiah 2:25
Prophets prophesying falsely, and priests bearing rule by their means, Jeremiah 5:31
The sun, the moon, the stars as objects of worship, Jeremiah 8:2
To wander, Jeremiah 14:10
“Give ye,” Hosea 4:18
A reward, Hosea 9:1
To oppress, Hosea 12:7
Simplicity, Proverbs 1:22
The rich, Proverbs 14:20 (margin)
Transgression, Proverbs 17:19 Strife, Proverbs 17:19
Pleasure, Proverbs 21:17
Wine, Proverbs 21:17
Oil, Proverbs 21:17
Silver, Ecclesiastes 5:10
Sleep, Proverbs 20:13; Isaiah 56:10
Abundance, Ecclesiastes 5:10
Gifts, Isaiah 1:23
Evil, Mic. 3:2
In the New Testament—
He hates (7 things.)
The disciples of Christ, Matthew 10:22 &c.
Christ, Luke 19:14, &c.
The Father, John 15:24
God, Romans 1:30
The light, John 3:20
A brother, 1 John 2:9, &c.
One another, Titus 3:3
He loves not (5 things.)
One that reproveth him, Proverbs 15:12
The truth, 2 Thessalonians 2:10
God, John 5:42
Jesus, John 8:42
His brother, 1 John 3:10
He loves (16 things.)
Money, 1 Timothy 6:10
Those who love him, Matthew 5:46
To pray where he can be seen of men, Matthew 6:5
The uppermost rooms at feasts, Chief seats in the synagogues, Greetings in the markets, to be called of men Rabbi, Matthew 23:6-8
To gain respect by his dress, Mark 12:38
Men of the world, John 15:19
The world, 1 John 2:15
Darkness, John 3:19
The praise of men, John 12:43
The wages of unrighteousness, 2 Peter 2:15
Himself, 2 Timothy 3:2
Pleasures rather than God, 2 Timothy 3:4
A lie, Revelation 22:15
Let us bear in mind in reading these lists that in each case it is not that a selection is made of the objects of love and hatred of the natural heart. All are here given. And thus we find in this portrait of the heart drawn by the hand of God, no good thing is the object of love, nothing but that which is good is the object of hatred in the unconverted man. With the aid of a Concordance this can easily be verified. May it serve to awaken some whose way has as yet been “right in their own eyes.” May it serve to teach us more of the power and value of the work of Christ, by means of which the deepest roots of love and hatred are reached and destroyed, and replaced by a new love, a new hatred, precisely and diametrically the reverse of the love and hatred of the old man. Let each consider whether this marvelous change has really taken place in his or her case. The reversal of these mighty mainsprings of all action and thought is not such a small fact that it can happen without our knowledge of it. “I love the things that once I hated, and I hate the things that once I loved,” was the answer of a poor girl when asked if she knew she had been born again. It is true that it is by looking away from self to Christ, and to Christ only, that we receive forgiveness and life. But where forgiveness and life are, this mighty change is the necessary consequence. “Turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God.” We will next time look through the deeply interesting passages on the bright side of the subject-the love and hatred of the new man.
The Holy Bible: No. 7. —Remarks Upon The Books Of The Old Testament.
THE SONG. Solomon was not only a Preacher (Ecclesiastes). and a Moralist (Proverbs), but a Song-composer (Canticles). Of the coos Songs (1 Kings 4:32) written by Solomon, all have perished save this one which is styled by way of preeminence “The Song of Songs,” unless we include in the number of 1005 the two psalms 72 and 127 attributed to Solomon.
The book was written in Palestine, probably Jerusalem, by Solomon in the early period of his reign, about 1014 B.C.
All Jews and Jewish writers in ancient times regarded the book as a sacred one, and it has always formed part of the Hebrew canon unquestioned till modern times. It also received the seal of the risen Lord as contributing its quota of testimony to Himself—His sufferings and glories.
THE PROPHETS.
Prophecy and God’s government of the earth, having Palestine as the land, Jerusalem then Babylon, and again Jerusalem as the City, Judah or Israel as the people, and the glory of Christ as the object, form the ground-work and basis of the prophetic revelations contained in the next 17 books-from Isaiah to Malachi.
ISAIAH. This is the grandest, sublimest and most comprehensive of the prophetical books; and because of its copiousness of subjects and wide sweep of the prophetic future occupying the whole scene of God’s purposes respecting Israel and the nations, it is first in order in all Hebrew and English Bibles. If Isaiah lived to the close of Hezekiah’s reign, then he must have worn the prophetic mantle for a period of at least 60 years, dating his introduction to the prophetic office from the last year of Uzziah’s reign (Chapter 6). Being a Judah-prophet, and standing in high repute in the royal court, these magnificent prophecies were mainly uttered in Jerusalem. Jewish tradition asserts that the aged prophet, then about go years old, was “sawn asunder” during the reign of Manasseh, and that to protract his sufferings a wooden saw was used for the cruel purpose. Isaiah too being their favorite prophet must have a royal parentage: so they tell us that Amoz the father of the prophet was a brother of king Amaziah. These traditions are not supported by a particle of evidence. We do not say they are false, neither can we say they are true. This great prophecy is divided into two main portions, the first occupying chaps. 1-39, the second part consist of chaps. 40 to the end. Now in this latter portion the prophetic intimations respecting Babylon and other nations are remarkably full, and have been fulfilled to the letter. Even Cyrus, the Deliverer of the Jews from their Chaldean exile and Destroyer of Babylon, was prophetically appointed for the work, and surnamed about 150 years before he was born. (chaps. 44 and 45.) Here then our modern critics are on the horns of a dilemma. If this latter part of the prophecy be really the work of the “Evangelical Prophet,” or of the “Fifth Evangelist” as some have termed Isaiah, then the authority of Holy Scripture is supreme, for God alone can reveal the future, but then this portion of Isaiah is an integral part of the book. How then can it be got rid of? Well, it is said that the last 27 chapters were written after the events by Ezra, who is thus made the author of a stupidly arranged imposition. Can our denunciations of such unfounded suppositions be too scathing or severe? When our Lord went into the synagogue at Nazareth, there was handed to him “the book of the prophet Esaias,” (Luke 4:17-21). Ah! did the Lord not know what our modern infidel scholars have found out, that only the first 39 chapters in general constituted the book of Isaiah. He read a portion of Chapter 61, that is, one of the so-called spurious chapters, and when finished, He said “this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Was Christ reading, applying to the consciences of His hearers, and fulfilling what falsely professed to be written by Isaiah? But the theory is baseless, and absolutely false, for Paul cites from the “great unnamed” (Chapter 65) The one to whom this title is applied by German and English divines, was Isaiah to him (Romans 10:20) and Isaiah and Scripture to the Lord (Luke 4) Why these persistent efforts to set aside the historical Moses and the prophetic Isaiah? Just this, dear reader, that you may doubt everything and believe nothing. The full verbal inspiration of the Scriptures is the ground of all authority. Hold fast, then, the written word of God.
Eastern Manners and Customs: "The Gift of God"
“The gift of God.” —John 4:10.
No cry (in Egypt) is more striking than the short and simple cry of the Water-carrier. “The gift of God,” he says, as he goes along with his water-skin on his shoulder. It is impossible to hear this cry without thinking of the Lord’s words to the woman of Samaria: “If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water” (John 4:10). It is very likely that water, so invaluable, and so often scarce in hot countries, was in those days spoken of; as now, as “the gift of God,” to denote its preciousness; if so, the expression would be very forcible to the woman, and full of meaning. —Miss M. I. Whately.
“Baldness is come upon Gaza.” —Jeremiah 47:5.
The remarkable feature (in Gaza) was the numerous mounds of a kind I have not observed elsewhere. Each is round, and of white sand, and each is girt with weeds or plants, and each looks precisely like the bald pate of an old man. —Rob Roy.
“Anoint the shield.” —Isaiah 21:5.
It was customary to smear the shields (made of hide) over with oil, to render them smooth, so that the weapons of the enemy might slide off, and also to preserve them from being injured by rain. This was done before engaging in battle. —
Henderson.
In 2 Samuel 1:21, David laments that the shield of Saul had been “vilely cast away... as though it (as the word sup plied should be) had not been anointed with oil “; in which case it would have been worthless.
Analysis of Haggai
Haggai prophesied in Jerusalem after the return from the captivity.
Subject. —The House of the Lord.
1. First Prophecy: To Build the House
2. Second Prophecy: Encouragement by the Lord’s Power and Final Glory
3. Third Prophecy: State of the People
4. Fourth Prophecy: To Zerubbabel (Christ) Chosen of the Lord
Analysis of Zechariah
Subject. —The Restoration of the people (partially at the time, but fully at the end) in connection with Jerusalem rather than exclusively with “the house” (the temple).
2. Prophecy: Gentiles & Jerusalem
A. First vision (horses); Jehovah’s care for Jerusalem
B. Second vision (horns): Final Destruction of Israel’s oppressors
C. Third vision (measuring line): Restoration of Jerusalem
D. Fourth vision (Joshua): Cleansed and Clothed (representing the people)
a. Joshua before the Lord
b. Placed on his responsibility
E. Fifth vision (gold candlesticks): Jerusalem a light on earth maintained by the royalty and priesthood
F. Sixth vision (flying roll): Judgment of the wicked in Israel
G. Seventh vision (ephah of lead)
H. Eighth vision (four horses): Four Gentile empires
1. Ninth vision (the branch): Full result in Christ
3. Prophecy: Jerusalem and Christ
A. Hardness, insincerity, and judgment of the Jews
a. During their captivity
B. The Lord’s mercy to Jerusalem
a. At that time, detailed
c. Future and unconditional
d. Extending over all the land
b. Restoration of Israel and Judah
D. Details as to Messiah’s present rejection
F. Final restoration in Jerusalem
b. Judah’s confession of sin
c. Cleansing from idols and false prophets
d. Christ introduced—wounded and smitten
e. One third of Judah finally saved
f. Coming of Christ to deliver them
g. Coming of Christ generally
h. Judgment of Judah’s enemies
i. Jerusalem—the center of worship and holiness to the Lord
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Eagle - Fountatins
Emblem of strength, safety, tenderness, and care
Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11
Sure and thorough judgment
Luke 17:37; Job 39:29, 30
King of Babylon; King of Egypt
Matthew 13; Revelation 2:11
Prophetically, the Roman Empire
Prophetically, the convulsion of a settled order of things
Isaiah 29:6; Revelation 6:12; 16:18
Personal appropriation of Christ; entering by faith into the reality of His death
Communion and fellowship generally
1 Corinthians 10:16; 5:11; Acts 11:3-9; Song of Solomon 5:1; Matthew 26:26
The priests’ eating of the sin and other offerings expressed their thorough identification with what those sacrifices respectively set forth
Divine perception and intelligence
2 Chronicles 16:9; Revelation 4:8
Numbers 10:31; Psalms 123:2
Fruitfulness, abundance, excellence
Psalms 63:5; 92:14; Numbers 13:20; Ezekiel 34:20
Utter insensibility of heart and conscience towards God
Isaiah 6:10; Psalms 119:70; Deuteronomy 32:15
The fat of the sacrifices set forth the holy energy and devotedness of will which led the Blessed One to death
Revelation 4:7; Ezekiel 1:10
Ephesians 6:15; John 13:1-10
Under the feet; thorough subjection
1 Corinthians 15:27; Ephesians 1:22; Romans 16:3
Luke 21:29; 13:6, 7; Hosea 9:10
Security, prosperity, peace
Zechariah 3:10; Mic. 4:4; 1 Kings 4:25
Action of the Word of God
Dignity; not necessarily an expression denoting birth
Psalms 89:27; Colossians 1:15
The nature of man as such, or that principle of life and action in man, which in its very nature, is opposed to God
Genesis 6:3; Romans 7:5; Galatians 5:16-19; Ephesians 2:3
Mere human life, without reference to its moral character
Luke 3:6; Philippians 1:22; Matthew 24:22
Ezekiel 9:4; Revelation 14:9; 13:16
Ezekiel 20:46; Jeremiah 21:14; Isaiah 10:18, 19
Illicit intercourse with the world
Revelation 2:20, 21; 17:2; Ezekiel 16:15
2 Timothy 2:19; Isaiah 28:16
Psalms 36:9; Revelation 8:10; 7:17; Isaiah 41:13
The Revised Version of the New Testament: Mark 1-3:5
Mark 1-3:5.
1:2. — “Even as it is written in Isaiah the prophet.” The reading of the Authorized Version “in the prophets” is that of one important manuscript. The words “in Isaiah the prophet” no doubt present a difficulty, as the remainder of the verse is quoted not from Isaiah, but from Malachi 3. But there are several difficulties of this kind connected with quotations from the Old Testament.
1:14. — “Preaching the gospel of God.” One manuscript has “the gospel of the kingdom of God.” “The gospel of God,” and “the gospel of the kingdom” are common phrases in the New Testament; but we do not think that the expression “ the gospel of the kingdom of God” occurs anywhere, except in this passage.
1:24. —In this verse the clause, “Let us alone” is omitted by the Revisers, in accordance with some of the oldest manuscript.
2:14. “The place of toll” is possibly preferable to “ the receipt of custom,” as being more intelligible to modern readers. In Greek this idea is expressed in a single word, derived from the noun translated “custom” (both in the Authorized and Revised Versions) in Romans 13:7.
2:18. — “John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting” this is the literal and evident meaning of the passage. The rendering of the Authorized Version, “used to fast,” is far less appropriate.
3:5. — “His hand was restored.” The words “whole as the other” have here been omitted.
(To be continued)
Notes on Last Month's Subject: "Children" As Spoken of in Scripture
X. — “Children” As Spoken of In Scripture.
THE subject we are about briefly to consider is of peculiar interest to two classes of our readers: those who are parents; and those who have not as yet left the parental roof. An attentive study of the subject as given last month, with a careful weighing of the numerous Scriptures referred to, will prove of great value to suchapter
In our present brief notes, however, we do not feel that we can do more than take up four points; two of which are of special interest to parents, and two to children.
The first is the Scripture quoted at the beginning of the subject, “Thou and thy house.” It is hardly needful for us to run through Scripture to show that both by promise and example God clearly spews that this is His designed order. The children of Christian parents are in a place of special blessing and privilege. Their parents have the above and other Scriptures to rest on, in faith that the same power which saved them will also save their children, it may be, from their earliest years. But the blessing must be waited for in prayer and faith, using all the means possible to set the truth as it is in Jesus before their “house.” These promises are not given to enable us to sit down and fold our hands and say, “Oh, we are Christians, and so our children are sure to be saved,” but to serve as a ground for confiding faith, and as a stimulus to earnest prayer. Moreover, our ways must not contradict our faith and our prayers. It is vain to be crying to God to fit our children for heaven when all our efforts are directed to mere worldly advantages, and tend to make them forget there is a heaven at all.
We must show to God that we are really in earnest about the matter by consulting His glory first in every step that we take for our children’s good. One other way yet remains to further the object we have at hears, and that is our own example. This too must be in keeping with our faith, our prayers, and our precepts. Children will not listen to parents speaking on a subject about which it is plain they care but little themselves, nor will they think much of heavenly blessings if they see their parents entirely absorbed by earthly ones. Children are quick to mark inconsistency in this.
But, on the other hand, those who would realize the promise of “thou and thy house” must remember the when and the how are all in God’s hands. Cramming the young mind with high doctrines, or cultivating a proficiency in discussing dogmas, are often anything but stepping stones to salvation, and in later years frequently bring on a fatal reaction. No harm however can be done by speaking loving words and by sheaving forth Christ Himself, letting His beauty and love find their way to the young heart, and leaving the doctrines to follow in due time.
But we must pass on to our second point, and that is the Scripture alluded to on p. 113—Matthew 18:10-14. This spews two things; first, that children are born lost, but are saved in virtue of Christ’s work. If this were all, then all the world would be saved. But then comes the second point, that too many alas! when old enough reject, instead of accepting, the Savior so freely provided. We are persuaded that there is a time when individual moral responsibility to God begins for every child, the age varying of course with the development.
Before this time they are safe if they die, on the ground of the death of Christ; after this time they are saved or lost according as they accept or reject for themselves the proffered Savior. It is well to remember this, and especially when teaching the very young, for it is clear that those who have never rejected Christ must be on a different ground from those who have.
The two points we would touch on, of interest to those of our readers who are still under the parental roof, are both also under the head of “Children generally.” We find here that children are “exhorted to obey their parents and to obey God.” But the question is often asked by those who have careless or unconverted parents, What am I to do when their commands are directly opposed to God’s? That there are such cases none can deny, but that they are not nearly as common as is supposed, we strongly affirm. The first thing is to see whether God has really commanded what the parent forbids. It will often be found that such is not the case, but the point pressed is merely a question of Christian privilege, which it would be more honoring to God cheerfully to forego than insist on. One point, however, is abundantly clear, that the general obedience of any child who feels obliged to go contrary to his or her parents’ wish, should be perfect, so that it may be evident to them that the disregard of their wishes arises from no spirit of opposition, but from a real exercise of conscience. The love of a truly christian child would also seek to show at such a time the pain felt in having thus to obey God rather than man. W e repeat however that such extreme cases are by no means common. Waiting and prayer will generally break down much opposition, especially if combined with the walk of 1 Peter 3. Unquestionably the first earthly duty of all christian children is obedience to their parent’s wishes. We have had many letters written in deep distress at a supposed necessity to disobey a parent’s wish; but in every case we have counseled patience and prayer, or pointed out that there was no command of God on the subject, and in several cases have been cheered by receiving letters expressing the good results following a truly humble waiting upon God, and increased consistency in general walk.
The last point we would allude to is in 2 Timothy 3:15, the advantage of knowing the Scriptures from a child. The younger our reader is the more earnestly would we press upon him to make scripture increasingly his study. It is a good foundation on which every good work afterward can be built. It is a safeguard against a thousand evils. And when the time of youth is once passed, the mind gradually loses its receptive and retentive capacity, and study of all sorts becomes increasingly difficult. Use then the present golden time to store your mind with good. Jesus has won your heart, that is well. The first thing undoubtedly is to have a full heart, but this is no reason why there should be a empty head; affection is not increased by ignorance, if the one loved be worth knowing, and with Christ this is pre-eminently true. The more we know of Him the more we love Him, and all scripture is full of Him. Let this thought then redouble the ardor and diligence of every member of the Bible Students’ Class, as well as every reader of these pages.
This Month's Subject: The Christian's Standing and State
The subject worked out for this month is—
The Christian’s Standing and State.
We are glad to be able to record that this month a considerably larger number of the Class have sent in papers, and this confirms us in the opinion expressed last month that the subject then selected had proved too difficult. At the same time we have had only one paper in two divisions, and from this cause the subject may not have been thoroughly worked out. It will be obliging if any who are compelled to give up sending in papers will let us know, so that the allotment of divisions may be more satisfactorily made.
Without anticipating the remarks to be made next month, we may call attention to the wonderful catalog of the blessings conferred upon us by God on the ground of the accomplished work of Christ, and thus ours unconditionally. How gracious of our God to secure them to us in so firm a foundation. May the consideration of His grace encourage us to live more to His glory who has done so much for us.
I. The blessings and privileges, past, present, and future connected with the believers’ standing in Christ, including all that he is said to be or to have, in virtue of a simple faith in Christ as his Savior.
PAST BLESSINGS AND PRIVILEGES.
He is saved from his sins, Matthew 1:21.
He is passed from death unto life, John 5:24.
He is clean through Christ’s words, John 15:3.
He is freely justified by God’s grace, Romans 3:24; Titus 3:7.
His iniquities are forgiven, his sins are covered, and sin is not imputed unto him, Romans 4:7, 8.
He is justified by faith, Romans 5:1; Galatians 2:16; by the blood of Christ, Romans 5:9.
He is reconciled to God by the death of Christ, Romans 5:10.
He has received the reconciliation, Romans 5:11.
The grace of God and the gift by grace has abounded unto him, Romans 5:15.
He has received abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, Romans 5:17.
He is dead (or has died) to sin, Romans 6:2.
He was baptized unto the death of Jesus Christ, Romans 6:3; Colossians 2:12.
He was buried with Christ, Romans 6:4.
He has been planted together in the likeness of Christ’s death, Romans 6:5.
His old man is crucified with Christ, Romans 6:6; Galatians 2:20.
He is dead with Christ, Romans 6:8.
He is made free from sin, Romans 6:18.
He is become dead to the law by the body of Christ, Romans 7:4; 2:19.
He is delivered from the law, being dead to that (margin) wherein he was held, Romans 7:6.
He has received the spirit of adoption, Romans 8:15.
He was foreknown by God, predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, called and justified, Romans 8:29, 30.
He is called into the fellowship of God’s Son, 1 Corinthians 1:9
God has shined into his heart, 2 Corinthians 4:6.
God has reconciled him to Himself, 2 Corinthians 5:18. Colossians 1:21.
Christ gave Himself for his sins, to deliver him from this present evil world, Galatians 1:4.
Christ loved him, and gave Himself for him, Galatians 2:20.
He is blessed with Abraham, Galatians 3:9.
He has been redeemed from the curse of the law, Galatians 3:13.
The world is crucified unto him by the cross of Christ, Galatians 6:14. He has put on Christ, Galatians 3:26.
He has crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts, Galatians 5:24.
He is blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, predestinated unto the adoption of a child, Ephesians 1:3, 4, 5.
He is accepted in the Beloved, Ephesians 1:6.
God has abounded toward him in all wisdom and prudence, and has made known to him the mystery of His will, Ephesians 1:8, 9.
He has obtained an inheritance in Christ, in whom also he has trusted, and in whom he has been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:11-13.
He has been quickened with (also Colossians 2:13,) raised with (also Colossians 3:1), and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ, Ephesians 2:5, 6.
He is saved by grace, Ephesians 2:8.
He is the workmanship of God, Ephesians 2:10.
He is made nigh by the blood of Christ, Ephesians 2:13.
He is called in one hope of his calling, Ephesians 4:4.
He is sealed by the Holy Spirit of God unto the day of redemption, Ephesians 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:22.
God has forgiven him for Christ’s sake, Ephesians 4:32.
Christ gave Himself for him, Ephesians 5:2.
He is made meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light, Colossians 1:12.
He is delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, Colossians 1:13.
His trespasses are forgiven, Colossians 2:13; 1 John 2:12.
He has put off the old man, and put on the new, Colossians 3:9, 10.
He has turned to God from idols, to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10.
God has called him to His kingdom and glory, 1 Thessalonians 2:12.
He is called unto holiness, 1 Thessalonians 4:7.
He is chosen unto salvation, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, and called by the gospel, 5.
He has received everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 2 Thessalonians 2:16.
He has received the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind, 2 Timothy 1:7.
He is saved, and called with a holy calling, 2 Timothy 1:9.
He is saved according to the mercy of God, who has shed the Holy Ghost abundantly on him through Jesus Christ his Savior, Titus 3:5, 6.
His sins are purged by Christ, Hebrews 1:3.
He is delivered from the fear of death, Hebrews 2:15.
He is sanctified by the will of God through the offering of the body of Christ once, Hebrews 10:10.
He is perfected forever by the one offering of Christ, Hebrews 10:14.
God has begotten him of His own will with the word of truth, James 1:18.
He is begotten again unto a living hope, 1 Peter 1:3.
He is redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, 1 Peter 1:19.
He is born of the incorruptible seed, the word of God, 1 Peter 1:23.
He is called unto God’s eternal glory, 1 Peter 5:10.
He has obtained precious faith, 2 Peter 1:1.
God has bestowed on him all things that pertain unto life and godliness, and great and precious promises, 2 Peter 1:3, 4.
He is purged from his sins, 2 Peter 1:9.
Present Blessings and Privileges.
He is the light of the world, Matthew 5:14.
He is in the way that leadeth unto life, Matthew 7:14,
He is the object of the Father’s constant care, Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7.
Power is given to him to become a Son of God, John 1:12.
He possesses eternal life, John 3:15.
As drinking of the water that Christ gives, he has in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life, John 4:14.
He is indwelt by the Holy Ghost, John 7:39; 14:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:8.
He hears and knows the voice of the Good Shepherd, John 10:14, 27.
He receives the peace of Christ, John 14:27.
He is kept by the Father from evil, John 17:15.
He is not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world, John 17:16.
He is sent unto the world by Christ, as Christ was sent into the world by His Father, John 17:18.
He is sanctified through the truth, John 17:19.
He is called of Jesus Christ, Romans 1:6.
And called a saint, Romans 1:7.
Salvation is his, Romans 1:16.
He lives by faith, Romans 1:17.
The righteousness of God is unto and upon him, Romans 3:22.
Righteousness is imputed unto him, Romans 4:6.
He has peace with God, Romans 5:1, access by faith into grace, 5:2, and has the glory of God as his hope, 5:2.
He is able to glory in tribulation, Romans 5:3.
The love of God is shed abroad in his heart, Romans 5:5
He joys in God, Romans 5:11.
He is not under the law, but under grace, Romans 6:14.
He is become the servant of righteousness, Romans 6:18.
He is married to Christ, Romans 7:4.
There is no condemnation to him, Romans 8:1.
He is made free from the law of sin and death, Romans 8:2.
He is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, Romans 8:9.
Christ is in him, Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 13:5.
He is a debtor not to the flesh to live after the flesh, Romans 8:13.
He is the child of God, the heir of God and joint heir with Christ, Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:6, 7.
He has the first fruits of the Spirit, Romans 8:23.
He is saved in hope, Romans 8:24.
All things work together for good to him, Romans 8:28.
Christ makes intercession for him, Romans 8:34.
Nothing can separate-him from the love of God, Romans 8:34.
He is a vessel of mercy, Romans 9:23.
He is the Lord’s, Romans 14:8.
He is sanctified in Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1:2.
Christ is made to him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30.
He has the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16.
All things are his, 1 Corinthians 2:21.
He is washed, sanctified, justified, 1 Corinthians 6:11.
His body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 6:19.
He is bought with a price, and his body is God’s, 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23.
By one Spirit he and his fellow believers are baptized into one body, 1 Corinthians 12:13.
God gives him the victory through his Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15:57.
God comforts him in all his tribulations, 2 Corinthians 1:4.
He stands by faith, 2 Corinthians 1:24; and walks by faith, 2 Corinthians 5:7.
He is an epistle of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:3.
He with unveiled face beholds the glory of the Lord, 2 Corinthians 3:18.
He is a new creature in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:17.
He is made the righteousness of God in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Through the poverty of Christ he is rich, 2 Corinthians 8:9.
He is a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ, Galatians 3:26.
He knows or rather is known of God, Galatians 4:9.
He is the child of promise, Galatians 4:28.
He, through the Spirit, waits for the hope of righteousness by faith, Galatians 5:5.
He has redemption through the blood of Christ, Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14.
God’s power toward him is exceeding great, Ephesians 1:19.
Christ is his peace, Ephesians 2:14.
He has access through Christ by the Spirit unto the Father, Ephesians 2:18.
He is a fellow citizen with Lie saints and of the household of God, Ephesians 2.19,
He is a partaker of the promise of God, Ephesians 3:6.
He has boldness and access with confidence, Ephesians 3:12.
He is privileged to know the love of Christ, Ephesians 3:19.
Grace is given to him according to the measure of the gift of Christ, Ephesians 4:7.
He and his fellow-believers are members one of another, Ephesians 4:25.
He is a dear child, Ephesians 5:1.
He is light in the Lord, Ephesians 5:8.
He is a member of the body of Christ, Ephesians 5:30.
God works in him to will and to do of His good pleasure, Philippians 2:13.
His conversation (citizenship) is in heaven, Philippians 3:20.
His name is in the book of life, Philippians 4:3.
God supplies all his needs, Philippians 4:19.
A hope is laid up for him in heaven, Colossians 1:5.
Christ is in him, the hope of glory, Colossians 1. 27.
He is complete in Christ, Colossians 2:10.
His life is hid with Christ in God, Colossians 3:3.
He is the elect of God, Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4.
He serves the Lord Christ, Colossians 3:24.
He is the child of light, 1 Thessalonians 5:5.
He looks for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and his savior Jesus Christ, Titus 2:13.
He is one with Christ, who is not ashamed to call him His brother, Hebrews 1:11.
Ile is a partaker of the heavenly calling, Hebrews 3:1.
He enters into rest, Hebrews 4:3.
He has a great high priest—Jesus, the Son of God, Hebrews 4:14.
He can come boldly unto a throne of grace, Hebrews 4:16.
He has a strong consolation, Hebrews 6:18; and a hope as an anchor of his soul, ver. 19.
He draws nigh to God.
Christ appears for him in the presence of God, Hebrews 9:21.
The Holy Ghost is a witness to him, Hebrews 10:15.
He has boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Hebrews 10:19.
His heart is sprinkled from an evil conscience, his body washed with pure water, Hebrews 10:22.
He has in heaven an enduring substance, Hebrews 10:31.
He lives by faith, Hebrews 10:38.
A better thing has been provided for him, Hebrews 11:40.
He has come unto Mount Sion, &c., Hebrews 12:22.
He receives a kingdom which cannot be removed, Hebrews 10:28.
He has an altar, Hebrews 13:10
He is kept by the power of God, 1 Peter 1:5.
He is a living stone, built into a spiritual house, 1 Peter 2:5.
He is chosen a royal priest, one of a holy nation, and of a peculiar people, 1 Peter 2:7.
He has the word of prophecy made more sure, 2 Peter 1:19.
His fellowship is with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ, 1 John 1:3.
He has fellowship with his fellow believers, 1 John 1:7.
He knows the Father, 1 John 2:13.
He has an unction from the Holy One, 1 John 2:20.
A promise, even eternal life is made to him, 1 John 2:2.3.
The Father has bestowed such love on him that he is called the child of God, 1 John 3:1.
Love is made perfect with him, 1 John 4:17.
He is born of God, 1 John 5:1.
The truth dwelleth in him, 2 John 2.
He is sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ and called, Jude 1.
Future Blessings and Privileges.
He shall not come into judgment, John 5:21.
He shall never perish, John 10:29, 30.
If dead at the time of Christ’s return he will live, and if living he will never die, John 11:25,26; 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17.
A place is prepared for him, to which Christ will come and receive him, John 14:2, 3.
He will be with Christ and behold the glory which God has given Him, John 17:24.
He will be saved from wrath through Christ, Romans 5:9.
He will be saved by the life of the Son of God, Romans 5:10.
He will reign in life by Jesus Christ, Romans 5:17.
He will be in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection, Romans 6:5.
He will live with Christ, Romans 6:8.
His mortal body will be quickened, Romans 8:11.
He will bear the image of the heavenly, 1 Corinthians 15:49.
God will raise him up by Jesus, 2 Corinthians 4:14.
He will obtain an exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 2 Corinthians 4:17.
He will be to the praise of God’s glory, Ephesians 1:12.
In the ages to come God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to him through Christ Jesus, Ephesians 2:7.
God who has begun a good work in him, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1:6.
Christ will change his body of humiliation and fashion it like unto His body of glory, Philippians 3:21.
He will be presented holy, unblameable, and unreproveable in the sight of God, Colossians 1:22.
He will appear with Christ in glory, Colossians 3:4.
A rest remains for him, Hebrews 4:9.
He shall be saved to the uttermost, Hebrews 7:25.
Christ will appear unto him, the second time without sin unto salvation, Hebrews 9:28.
When Christ appears he will be like Him, 1 John 3:2.
He looks for the mercy of his Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, Jude 21.
Unto Him that loveth us, and hath washed us from our sins in His blood, and hath made us a kingdom, priests unto His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
2. —The blessings and privileges, past, present, and future, connected with a believer’s practical state, including all that may characterize him, or that he may become in virtue of a godly and faithful walk.
We would add here that some of the Class do not appear to have quite understood the scope of this division of the subject. It was not intended that the exhortations to, or the characteristics of, a godly and faithful walk should be searched out, but rather the blessings and privileges which are and will be the believer’s in consequence, as we may put it, of his following out these exhortations and exhibiting these characteristics in a practical manner during his path in this world. Some of the papers which have been sent in however have given us a hint as to what is likely to prove an acceptable subject for a future occasion.
We trust that in reading the list of blessings that follows, each one will carefully refer to the context, so as to see the conditions on which they are ours; the result will then be of real practical benefit.
Present Blessings.
Matthew 5:3-11; Luke 6:20-23.
He is the child of his Father which is in heaven, Matthew 5:45; Luke 6:35; 2 Corinthians 6:18.
He finds rest in bearing Christ’s yoke, Matthew 11:29.
He is recognized by Christ as His brother, Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35.
He does not walk in darkness, but has the light of life, John 8:31.
He is a disciple of Christ indeed, and knows and is made free by the truth, John 8:31.
“My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him,” John 14:23.
He bears fruit as abiding in Christ, John 15:4.
His prayers are answered, John 15:8.
He abides in Christ’s love, John 15:10.
He is the friend of Christ, John 15:14.
He has his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life, Romans 5:22.
He proves what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God, Romans 12:2.
He is acceptable unto God and approved of men, Romans 14:8.
His labor is not in vain in the Lord, 1 Corinthians 15:58.
He is able to rejoice in the testimony borne by his conscience, 2 Corinthians 1:12.
He is acceptable unto the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:9.
The God of love and peace is with him, 2 Corinthians 13:11; Philippians 4:9.
He does not fulfill the lust of the flesh, Galatians 5:16.
He is not under the law, Galatians 5:18.
He is blameless and harmless, the son of God, shining as a light in the world, Philippians 2:15.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps his heart and mind through Christ Jesus, Philippians 4:7.
He pleases the Lord, Colossians 1:10.
He is a good minister of Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy 4:6.
By practicing godliness he has promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come, 1 Timothy 4:8.
He is a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work, 2 Timothy 2:21.
He may be the instrument for the repentance of those who oppose the truth, 2 Timothy 2:25.
And may cause them to be ashamed, Titus 2:8.
He and his fellow-believers may be the house of Christ, and partakers of Christ, Hebrews 3:6, 14.
He is rewarded by God, Hebrews 11:6.
God deals with him as with a son, Hebrews 12:7.
He is perfect and entire, wanting nothing, James 1:4.
He puts to silence the ignorance of foolish men, 1 Peter 2:15.
He is neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:8.
The love of God is perfected in him, 1 John 2:5.
He has confidence toward God, 1 John 3:21.
He has both the Father and the Son, 2 John 9.
Future Blessings.
He will receive a reward for faithfulness during his Lord’s absence, Matthew 24:46.
He will be confessed before the Father, Matthew 10:32; Luke 12:8.
He will receive from God a recompense for giving up all for Christ, Mark 10:21, 30.
He will receive a reward, 1 Corinthians 3:14.
He will be acceptable unto the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:9.
He will of the Spirit reap life everlasting, Galatians 6:8.
In due season he will reap, Galatians 6:9.
He will receive of the Lord whatever good thing he has done, Ephesians 6:8.
He will receive of the Lord the reward of the inheritance, Colossians 3:24.
He will receive rest, 2 Thessalonians 1:7.
He will reign with Christ, 2 Timothy 2:12.
He will receive a crown of righteousness, 2 Timothy 4:8.
He will receive a crown of life, James 1:12.
The trial of his faith will be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 1:7.
He will be the means of bringing glory to God in the day of visitation, 1 Peter 2:12.
He will see good days, 1 Peter 3:10.
An entrance will be ministered unto him abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:11.
He will have confidence and not be ashamed before Christ at his coming, 1 John 2:28.
He will receive a full reward, 2 John 8.
He will eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God, Revelation 2:7.
He will eat of the hidden manna and will receive a white stone, and in the stone a new name written which no man, s lye he, will know, Revelation 2:17.
He will have power over the nations, Revelation 2:26, and will receive the Morning Star, (ver. 28).
He will be clothed in white raiment, his name will not be blotted out of the book of life, and Christ will confess his name before His Father and before His angels, Revelation 3:5.
He will be kept from the hour of temptation, Revelation 3:10.
He will be made a pillar in the house of God: and upon him will be written the name of God, and the name of the city of God, and Christ’s new name, Revelation 3:12.
He will sit with Christ on His throne, Revelation 3:21.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 165-195
Q. 165. If wisdom in Proverbs 8 means the Lord Jesus, what is the meaning of “I was set up,” and “I was brought forth?” Does ver. 31 mean that Christ was looking forward to the future? C. H. P.
A. The whole passage is highly poetic and figurative, and speak directly of the wisdom of God personified as a woman. Now inasmuch as Christ is “the wisdom of God,” in this wonderful scripture Christians of all ages have discerned the description of Christ Himself. Such phrases as you allude to are not to describe His beginning, but rather to show as far as human language can that He was ever with God, “set up front everlasting” being equivalent to this. Ver. 31 describes the delight Jehovah ever had in man, and His dwelling with Him, a subject alluded to throughout scripture (Exodus 15; John 14 &c.), but not consummated till sin is banished forever in the new heavens and earth. (Revelation 21:3).
Q. 166. (1) Please explain the latter part of Proverbs 16:10. (2) also of Proverbs 21:16.
A (1) This text speaks of the king, referring doubtless to both Solomon and Christ, and in an abstract way to the office as suchapter As a proposition this is alas! far from being literally true of all who reign. (2) Some read congregation of the giants others “congregation of the lost,” the meaning doubtless being the same as ver. 15. “Congregation” simply means “company.” Those that leave the way of understanding shall find their portion among the lost.
Q. 167. Where do all the “great multitudes “come from in Revelation 7:9? And would “nations” include England, &c.? J. C.
A. They are the Gentile inhabitants of the millennial earth just as the 144,000 are the Jewish ones. Observe these are before the throne; the 24 elders are round about it, and (ver. 13) are in no way part of the great multitude. The heavenly saints moreover have their home in the Jerusalem which has no temple; the great multitude on the contrary according to ver. 15, and Zechariah 14:16 shall worship in the temple in the earthly city. We should judge that 2 Thessalonians 4:8-12 excludes from this company all who have heard and rejected the gospel.
Q. 168. Why do we not have the “cup after supper” as spoken of in the New Testament? C. P.
A. We do. It is the Paschal supper that we no longer eat. In Luke 22 you get both suppers. The paschal supper is from ver. 13-18. This is done away for us, and the Lord’s supper instituted in its place, which follows in ver. 19, 20. “ After supper” does not mean after the Lord’s supper, but after the Jewish passover.
Q. 169. Does “ your fathers” in John 6:58 refer to their wicked ancestors, or ancestors generally? M. A. T.
A. Ancestors generally. The point is not whether these Israelites were saved or no, but that this new manna had life-giving properties that the old did not possess. As has been remarked, Christ came to His people in John 5 to deliver them (as in Egypt) with signs of miraculous power; in Chapter 6. He presents Himself to them as the heavenly manna for their wilderness journey, and in chaps. 7 as the joy of their feast in the land, but is rejected in all three.
Q. 170. What does it mean in 1 John 3:9, “Whosoever is born of God... cannot sin? If it said “ought not to sin” I could understand it. M. A. T.
A. This passage identifies the believer with the spotless new nature that he possesses by the new birth. The epistle regards the believer at the height of his proper standing in Christ. Every Christian is looked at here as acting solely in the power and energy of the new nature. But you may say he often does not. This is true, otherwise there were no need for 1:9, but this is not the subject here. It could not say “ought not to sin” for it is solely speaking here of what is born of God, and it is plain that nothing born of God can sin. The reason we ever sin is because we allow that within us to act which is not born of God. Such a Christian is not contemplated here.
Q. 171. How does the following text apply to the Lord’s supper, “Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire?” M. P.
A. Do not feed on a Christ that has died merely naturally (as the normal close of a perfect life) nor in any other way, save as having been the victim of the consuming fire of the righteous judgment of God. We feed on Him here not as our example and forerunner, but as our Savior, the one who endured God’s wrath for us. It is this that is expressed in being “roast with fire.”
Q. 172. Who were the 500, and when did our Lord see them? A. D. J.
A. Probably in Galilee, according to Matthew 28:10. They were composed of His Galilean disciples.
Q. 173. What Scriptures were written about Christ besides the prophecies? Were there any New Testament scriptures written at the time of Luke 24:27. A. D. J.
A. “All the scriptures” here refer to the Old Testament only. None of the New were extant at this time. Besides the prophets, such scriptures as Genesis 3:15; 22:18; 49:10; Numbers 21:9; Deuteronomy 18:15, 18 all refer to Christ.
Q. 174. What are we to learn from the fact that Moses and Elijah were seen in glory with Jesus on the mount? H. J. M.
A. Do we not see them there as the two great witnesses to the law and the prophets? The law was broken, the prophets despised, and Christ Himself rejected. All was then over according to Matthew 16 with the Jewish nation, and the only vindication of God’s glory was in the cross of Calvary, which formed the topic of their conversation. Looked at as a picture of the coming kingdom, (Matthew 16:28) we get Christ the center, the heavenly saints typified by Moses and Elijah, (the former representing those put to sleep by Jesus, Elijah those caught up to heaven without dying;) while Peter, James, and John represent the earthly saints in the millennium, enjoying the heavenly glory of which they are eye-witnesses.
Q. 175. Was Mary Magdalene the sister of Lazarus and the same that anointed our Lord with ointment? E. B.
A. Mary of Magdala is not the same as Mary of Bethany. She is first named in Luke 8 as a woman who had been healed of a fearful disease, and appears to have had considerable wealth (ver. 3). Neither is there any ground for connecting her with the nameless sinner of Luke 7, who was an abandoned character. The name of “Magdalene” commonly applied to such, is utterly without warrant in Scripture.
Q. 176. Please explain why they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 7:14? C. M. B.
A. This figurative expression merely means that they owe all their salvation in common with all other saints to the blood of the Lamb. As already stated in Q. 167, this company form the Gentile inhabitants of the millennial earth, and are doubtless the same as the “sheep” of Matthew 25
Q. 177. Please say what is meant by following Christ, and what is the difference between suffering for Christ’s sake and for righteousness’ sake? K. T.
A. Treading in His footsteps as recorded in the four Evangelists. Suffering for righteousness’ sake is spoken of in Matthew 5:10 and 1 Peter 3:14, suffering for Christ’s sake in Matthew 5:11 and 1 Peter 4:13. The former is connected with the light of God shining on the conscience, the latter with the love of Christ attracting the heart. Hence, I suffer for righteousness when I act in daily life according to the divine standard of truth and rectitude; I suffer for Christ when I follow Him in a path or trial and rejection.
Q. 178. What is the true meaning of Matthew 18:18? Was this a special power given at that time? M. A. S.
A. It is the same power as given in John 20:23. When Jesus was down here he had special power to forgive sins on earth as Son of Man dispensationally (Luke 5:24). Before leaving the world, He gives this power in John 20:23 to the company then gathered, with Himself in the midst (compare Matthew 18:20). In the company there were probably women (20:18) and certainly others in addition to the eleven apostles (Luke 25:33), besides the two just returned from Emmaus (Luke 24:35). So that this power was not here given to an individual, nor to a body of apostles, but to a company of disciples gathered round their Lord. A practical carrying out of this power may be seen as to retaining sin, or binding in 1 Corinthians 5:4, 5. when the man’s sin was retained on him as regards his position on the earth, by a body of disciples gathered according to Matthew 18:20, a procedure ratified by God, and as to remitting or loosing in 2 Corinthians 2:6,7 where the sinner was restored and his sin remitted. This act has nothing to do with guilt before God, but is connected with the sphere of Christian communion on earth.
Q. 179. Is it likely that some of the descendants of Issachar (Genesis 46:13) who went with Jacob into Egypt to Joseph afterward lived in the land of Uz? If so, is the “Job” here the same person as in Job 1:1? E. B.
A. Job, the third son of Issachar, should be rather Jashab (1 Chronicles 7:1) and has no connection with the patriarch, who is supposed to have lived in Idumea at a very early period. Some without any good ground have supposed he was the same with Jobab (1 Chronicles 1:44), others place him before Abraham’s time from the internal evidence of the book. None can however exactly fix the date of Job’s existence, though the general evidence all shows that it must have been at a period of great antiquity.
Q. 180. As sin bearer did our Lord suffer physical pain on the cross? S. B.
A. The Lord was a true man, and not merely appeared to be suchapter Hence, He suffered agonizing pain on Calvary. But all this though fully felt could not for a moment be compared to the unutterable anguish of bearing for our sakes the wrath of God. We cannot however go deeper and distinguish further between these sufferings. The whole cross, with all its suffering and shame was so intimately connected with the bearing of our sin that we dare not attempt to separate one part from another.
Q. 181. How may it be shown that the “abomination of desolation” did not refer to the Roman Standard? W. J. H.
A. There is no doubt but that Matthew 24 is one of those numerous prophecies that have an immediate and partial fulfillment and a distant and complete one. Such prophecies we find in Daniel 11 which though referring unmistakably to Antiochus, Epiphanes to ver. 32 will yet have another and deeper fulfillment in the person of Antichrist who is clearly spoken of in v. 36 also in Acts 2 when Joel’s prophecy (to be fully accomplished in the millennium) had a partial fulfillment at Pentecost. So in Matthew 24 we find not only events which may refer to the siege and overthrow of Jerusalem (which almost exclusively occupies the corresponding prophecy in Luke 21:21-24,) but plain references to the last days. Not only is the coming of the Lord spoken of but the whole passage is descriptive of “the end of the world” (or rather “age,”) ver. 3. We therefore consider that the “abomination of desolation “though possibly referring partially to the presence of the Roman Eagle in the holy place, will not find its entire fulfillment until the image of the beast is set up in the temple during the reign of Antichrist. See Daniel 8:13; 9:27; 12:11, and Revelation 13:14, 15.
Q. 182. (1) Does the “sword” in Luke 2:35 refer to the maternal sorrow of Mary for Jesus as her son? (2) How should Luke 11:24-26 be understood? W. J. H.
A. (1) Yes, and was surely fulfilled at Calvary. (2) Does it not refer to the history of the Jews? The unclean spirit of idolatry appears to have been cast out of them in a most remarkable manner by the Babylonish captivity, for we do not read of it after their return, nor do we find it even alluded to as a current sin by our Savior. Their house, however, though swept and garnished with Rabbinical traditions, was still “empty,” when their Messiah stood at the door and knocked, they did not open to Him, (John 1:11) and therefore the spirit of idolatry will return in the last days under Antichrist, (see the preceding query), and their last state be worse than their first.
Q. 183. (1) Does 1 Corinthians 3:12-14 refer to all Christians, or only to the apostles? (2) In what sense have we “the mind of Christ” 2:16? S. B.
A. (1) It refers to all builders, not solely to the “master builders” who laid the foundation; surely “any man” is sufficiently emphatic testimony that it cannot be limited to the apostles. (2) In having the Holy Ghost as our teacher, and having a new nature or spiritual mind capable of being taught. See preceding verses.
Q. 184. (1) Does the cleansing in 1 John 1:7 refer to removing guilt, and is it conditional? (2) What is meant by the expression destroy” in Romans 14 IS, 20? J. G.
A. (1) Blood generally refers to guilt before God, and atonement for it. Cleansing by the washing of water by the word (ver. 9, see also Ephesians 5:26) refers rather to practical defilement. The cleansing here is eternal in its value; hence it is in the present tense as including past, present, and future, showing its intrinsic value. Every Christian is “in the light,” hence the only condition here implied is that of being a child of God. (2) “Destroy” in ver. 15 means to destroy or cause to perish: in ver. 20, it is a different word, rightly translated destroy overthrow” (R. V.) A parallel passage is in 1 Corinthians 8:11 and both mean that by willfully violating the conscience of another, I turn aside and (destroy as far as it is in my power) his integrity and faith.
Q. 185. Referring to Q. 70, we read in Matthew 27:7, that the priests bought the field, and in Acts 1:18 that Judas bought it. Will you explain the apparent discrepancy? C. H. P.
A. The discrepancy between the two accounts has led tradition from all time to assign two distinct places to the field of blood in Matthew 27:8, and Acts 1:18. We cannot see however any reason why taking the two passages together and accepting Matthew as the literal historical account, Judas could very well be said in an indirect manner in Acts 1:19 to have purchased the field. True he did not buy it himself, but he provided the wages of iniquity for the purpose, and hence in a sense may be said to have bought it. We think such an explanation preferable to supposing two Aceldamas. There is no doubt if we knew all the circumstances the apparent discrepancies would disappear.
Q. 186. Please say why Jericho was cursed, (Joshua 6) E. S. M.
A. Because it was the first city to resist the entry of the Israelites, and represented the power of Satan as opposed to the children of God.
Q. 187. Did Paul act according to Colossians 2 in having Timothy circumcised, (Acts 16:3). E, S. M.
A. This act was more in accordance with 1 Corinthians 9:20. On more than one occasion even Paul judaized to a considerable extent, as at Jerusalem (Acts 26:26) and probably at Cenchrea, (Acts 18. 18).
Q. 188. (1) What is meant by being a member of a church? (2) What is the usual time for partaking of the Lord’s supper? (3) Would you kindly explain “Whosoever sins ye remit,” &c. (John 20) E. S. M.
A. (1) An individual Christian was associated with his fellow-believers in the locality; but membership properly so called is only spoken of in the New Testament, in two senses, one “with Christ” and the other “with one another.” Both these are really but one, being the membership of the one body of Christ. (2) The usual time spoken of in Scripture is the first day of the week. No express command however is given on the subject. (3) You will find this fully explained in Q. 178.
Q. 189. (I) Please explain Matthew 18:10, also (2) 1 John 5:21. Does this refer to literal idols? Is there any danger of our love for the friends God has given us becoming idolatry? R. M.
A. (1) Refer to B. S. vol. i. page 138, Q. 422. We shall be glad of further light on this verse. (2) It refers to anything and everything that comes before God in our hearts. He must be first, and, if anything else is, it is an idol. There is a constant danger of Christians becoming idolators in this sense. God does not forbid natural love, but puts it in its right place.
Q. 190. What is the meaning of Luke 16:9? G. D.
A. The latter part of this verse is better translated “ye may be received.” 1 Timothy 6:17 etc., throws great light upon this scripture. The meaning of the verse is, “Lay out your riches in such a way as to bring, instead of present enjoyment, an eternal reward”; as 1 Timothy 6:19 says, “Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come.” “He that giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord,” and not even a cup of cold water given in His name, shall ever lose its reward. “When ye fail” means when you die.
Q. 191. Please explain 1 Corinthians 9:27. L. B.
A. Refer to B. S. Jan. 1882 p. 19. If you want more, write again.
Q. 192. Is it not Scriptural to use the expression “Lord’s day” and not Sunday according to Revelation 1 to? and is there not in so doing an indirect testimony to the world and to Christians who know the day only as Sunday or the Sabbath? S. R. T.
A. We should decidedly say “yes.” If you refer to B. S. for March p. 97, you will find some thoughts on this subject.
Q. 193. (1) Will you explain Ezekiel 28:13-15, and (2) 2 Corinthians 12:2-4. W. J. B.
A. (1) We understand it to be a full description of the pristine beauty of the one whom we know as Satan. The fall is described in ver. 17, hence pride is called in 1 Timothy 3:6, the “condemnation of the devil.” (2) Paul here speaks of himself as being caught up to the third heaven. In scripture there are three heavens, one (Deuteronomy 4:19) the firmament or air where birds fly and the clouds gather; another (Deuteronomy 14:19) the whole of space where the sun, moon, and stars are; and thirdly (Psalms 2:4) the dwelling place of God “ the heaven of heavens.” Here he heard things too glorious to put into human language. He could not tell whether he was in or out of the body. It occurred about 14 years before, about which time Paul was stoned and left for dead at Lystra. If this were the occasion here referred to, we can quite understand how Paul would not know whether he was dead or alive.
Q. 193. (1) What is the meaning of “man did eat angels’ food,” Psalms 78:25? (2) How could gold be ground to powder, Exodus 32:20? W. J. 0.
A. (1) Bread that would be fit food for angels, did they require any; or as some read, bread provided by the ministry of angels. Considering the highly figurative character of the Psalms we think the former the more likely meaning. (2) By mixing it with about one ten-thousandth part of its weight of lead.
Q. 194. Were not the Samaritans in some sense akin to the Jews from John 4:12? And yet 2 Kings 17; Ezra 4:1-5 and the feeling with which the Jews regarded them seem to point to the contrary. W. J. H.
A. There was no doubt a great admixture. Besides the Scriptures you mention, it appears from profane history that the neighborhood of Sychar was peopled by Jews by Alexander the Great, and after this from B. C. 109 the Jews also lived in the city until Pompey the Roman general restored it to the original inhabitants of mixed origin. A comparison of 2 Kings 17:24 with 2 Kings 25:12 will show that none of the original Israelites were left in Samaria. The new comers were mainly Assyrians; but possibly by intermarriage with some of the renegade Jews left in the above settlements, by degrees they advanced a claim to Jewish origin, which however was never admitted by the Jews, nor owned by the Lord (Matthew 10:5,6).
Notes on Former Queries: Vol. 2, 100
Q. 100. 1 Timothy 5:9-16. The difficulty is, if widows over 60 only, should be taken into the number of those relieved by the assembly, and thus exclude all others under that age being relieved. Does not ver. 16 suppose relationship and means? J. H.
A. We think the whole passage is strictly literal. The widows who were under 60, were not to be kept by the church and natural relationships are meant in ver. 16.
With reference to Q. 121 a correspondent asks whether it is possible to distinguish between the blood, cross, and death of Christ, and we would say that while it is impossible to separate them, we think Scripture fully bears out the distinction drawn in the answer. With a view of showing this forcibly and distinctly, we add the principal passages in which the words respectively occur.
Blood.
Matthew 26:20. —This is my blood of the new testament. Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25.
John 6:54. —Whoso...drinketh my blood hath eternal life.
John 19:34. —Forthwith came there out blood and water.
Acts 20:28. —The church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Romans 3:25. —A propitiation through faith in his blood.
Romans 5:9. —Being now justified by his blood.
1 Corinthians 10:16. —The cup... the communion of the blood of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:27. —Guilty of the body and flood of the Lord.
Ephesians 1:7. —Redemption through his blood. Colossians 1:14; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:9.
Ephesians 2:13. —Are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Colossians 1:20. —Having made peace through the blood of his cross.
Hebrews 9:12. —By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place.
Hebrews 9:14. —The blood of Christ... purge your conscience.
Hebrews 10:19. —Boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Hebrews 12:24. —The blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Hebrews 13:12. —That He might sanctify the people with His own blood.
1 Peter 1:2. —Elect unto ... sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:7. —The blood of Jesus Christ ... cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 5:6. —Came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:5. —Washed us from our sins in His own blood.
Revelation 7:14. —Washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
Cross.
1 Corinthians 1:18. —The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
Galatians 5:11. —Then is the offense of the cross ceased.
Galatians 6:14. —The cross... whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Ephesians 2:16. —That He might reconcile both (Jew and Gentile) unto God in one body by the cross.
Philippians 2:8. —Even the death of the cross.
Philippians 3:18. —Many walk... enemies of the cross of Christ.
Colossians 2:14. —Handwriting of ordinances... nailed to His cross.
Hebrews 12:2 —Jesus... endured the cross, despising the shame.
2 Corinthians 13:4 —He was crucified through weakness.
Death.
Romans 5:10. —We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Romans 6:3. —Were baptized into His death.
Romans 6:4. —Buried with him by baptism unto death.
1 Corinthians 11:26. —Ye do show the Lord’s death.
Philippians 2:8. —He became obedient unto death.
Philippians 3:10 —Being made conformable unto His death.
Hebrews 2:9. —That He... should taste death for every man.
Hebrews 2:14. —Through death he might destroy... the devil.
Romans 5:8. —While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.
Romans 6:8. —Now if we be dead with ‘Christ. Colossians 2:10. .
1 Corinthians 15:3. —Christ died for our sins.
2 Corinthians 5:15. —He died for all.
2 Corinthians 4:10. —Bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
Notes and Comments
A correspondent suggests the following plan as a help in the study of the Bible, and though no doubt many students have already adopted it still as it may be new to some who feel a lack of method and purpose in their reading, we think it may be useful. Let a notebook be kept with headings of subjects arranged alphabetically, and when an apposite passage, illustration, or explanation is met with let it he noted down. We all know how treacherous memory is, and must all have experienced the loss of the key to passages, the meaning of which has at one time seemed quite plain to us.
Under the title of “Christ our Example” we hope to give from time to time a few extracts bearing on the subject we considered together last January and February. They were not written for this magazine, and some have already appeared in print in periodicals now discontinued, or been published with other matter in other forms; but as few of our readers are likely to have met with them, we think that the insertion of a few on the precious subjects we have already studied together will still further deepen in each of our souls the sense of the perfections of our Lord and Master. We are glad to say that we have received most interesting letters connected with the study of this subject.
We may mention that the second part of the article on Love and Hatred will appear in our next.
New Testament Words Explained: Old - Prove
Old.
Two Greek words thus commonly translated are archaios and palaios. The former means “from the beginning” and is thus used in 2 Peter 2:5; Revelation 12:9;20. 2: it is also found in Acts 21:16, where the expression “ old disciple” does not refer to Mnason’s age, but that he had been a disciple from the beginning. Palaios means old often in the sense of “worn out” or “aged” (Matthew 9:16, 17; Mark 2:21; Hebrews 8:13).
Prayer, Request, Supplication.
These words are represented in Greek by six, three of which proseuchee, de-eesis, and enteuxis occur in 1 Timothy 2:1, the other three are aiteema, iketeeria, and euchee.
This last word is only found once in the sense of prayer (James 5:15), but twice in that of “vow” (Acts 18:18; 21:23) which is its more proper meaning. Proscuchee is prayer in general, but always to God, whereas de-eesis means not only more particular requests made to Him, but petitions in general even when asked of men; it is however only used in the New Testament in the former sense. Enteuxis, occurring only in 1 Timothy 2:1;4. 5, does not mean strictly “intercession,” but rather implies free familiar prayer such as boldly draws near to God. Aiteema means the various requests of which a prayer is composed (Philippians 4:6; 1 John 5:15), or it may not be restricted to prayer, but refer to requests in general (Luke 23:24). Iketeeria originally referred to the olive branch bound round with wool, which was held forth by a suppliant in token of his character. Hence it has come to mean a humble prayer. In the New Testament it is only used in Hebrews 5:7.
Prove, Try, Examine.
Peirazo, and dokimazo are each rendered in the New Testament in all the three ways given here: “prove” in John 6:6; Luke 14:19, “ try” in Revelation 2:2; 1 Corinthians 3:13; and “examine” in 2 Corinthians 13:5; 1 Corinthians 11:28. The difference between the two words may be roughly expressed thus; peirazo is proving to find out or bring out the evil, dokimazo to bring out the good. Peirazo is thus often Satan’s work (Matthew 4:1; 1 Corinthians 7:5 James 1:2; Revelation 2 o), but may be used of God (Hebrews 11:17), here meaning simply to make manifest what was in the person. Dokimazo however can never be used of the temptations of Satan, because he never tries with a view of finding out good. It often means not only means “proved” but “ approved” (2 Corinthians 8:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Timothy 3 to), just as with us “ tried” means not only “ tested” but “ trustworthy”; thus. “fireproof” means “that can withstand fire.”
(To be continued.)
The Bible Family Registers
What is the use of the numerous long lists of hard names which we find in the Bible? The reply is not far to seek, “ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
The Word of God would not be complete without these family registers, for such these records are; and if we open our Bibles, and turn to some of these passages,—those to which I will now briefly refer—we shall, I trust, discover how very useful and profitable these very lists of hard names are.
Genesis 4:16-24, gives us a list of the descendants of Cain. We read here also, how Cain the murderer went out from the presence of the Lord, and built a city. Of his children, Jabal is the first man we read of that dwelt in a tent, Jubal the first man that played a musical instrument, and Tubal-cain appears to have been the first mechanic in the world. The children of Cain tried to make themselves comfortable, although they were “afar off” from God.
Now turn to 1 Chronicles 1:1. Here we read simply, “Adam, Sheth, Enosh.” Not a word is said about Cain and his children here. Why? They went on in their own way, they led their brethren, the other children of Adam, into sin; and the last we read of these sinful men is, that “The flood came and took them all away.”
Genesis 5 gives us a list of the children of Seth, among whom are found the names of Enoch and Noah; men that “walked with God” in those days of sin before the flood.
In Genesis 10 we find how the earth was divided amongst the families of the sons of Noah. Verse 25 informs us when the said division took place. (The object of the division is found Deuteronomy 32:8.) Nowhere else can there be found, upon this subject, a record so old, and yet so true as this is. Learned men can find no other record to equal this; all have to confess, that this Chapter is the very best, as well as the oldest explanation of the division of the earth amongst the nations.
In Genesis 36 we find a list of the children of Esau or Edom. From this passage we know that for a very long time kings had reigned over Edom, before there in as any king over Israel, but with Hadar the Bible records of the kings of Edom cease. Why? It is very evident that the children of Esau were not counted worthy to be traced any further by the pen of inspiration. This reminds us of the words: “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.”
When David was king over Israel, “all Israel were reckoned by genealogies.” Lists were carefully made of the descendants (or sons) of each of the sons of Israel. The leading members of each great family are to be found given in that particular part of the first book of Chronicles, which treats of the tribe to which they belonged. For instance, in 1 Chronicles 4, we get the family register of the tribe of Judah. In the next chapter we have that of Reuben, etc. And these were deemed by the children of Israel to be of very great importance.
These family registers of each tribe, too, give us a few details of private history, some of which we get nowhere else recorded in the Bible. Thus 1 Chronicles 7:20- 9, informs us that some of the sons of Ephraim, were slain by the men of Gath, during Ephraim’s lifetime: “and Ephraim their father mourned many days.”
In 1 Chronicles 2:3-17, we get a list of David’s forefathers. In 1 Chronicles 3, we get a list of David’s descendants, (including the royal line of the Kings of Judah,) unto Zerubbabel, the prince that led back the first captives from Babylon in the days of the great Cyrus.
The line of the priests of the sons of Ithamar is not recorded in the Bible. This may be because of the iniquity of the house of Eli. For the house of Eli was of the sons of Ithamar. And it is written in the word of God “For evil doers shall be cut off.” But the direct line of the priests of the house of Eleazar is to be found in 1 Chronicles 6:4-15. Many of these, whose names are here given, were during their lifetime the high priests of Israel.
As for the sons of Moses, the man of God, they were not priests, as were their brethren of the house of Aaron; but the two great divisions of Moses’ sons as Levites held very high positions. See 1 Chronicles 26:24-28, for it is written, “The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.”
Many of the Psalms have this heading, “A Psalm for the sons of Korah.” These sons of Korah were the descendants of the very man who led the great rebellion in the wilderness. See Numbers 16. Korah died in the midst of his sin, but of his sons we read, “Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not” Numbers 26:1;1. Now turn to 1 Chronicles 6:31-38. Here we discover that Heman was of the “sons of Korah.” Well might he take the lead as one of the chief sweet singers of Israel for Asaph, of the sons of Gershom, stood on Heman’s right hand, while Ethan (or Jeduthan) of the sons of Merari, stood on Heman’s left hand, as, together with their sons, and their brethren, they sung the “songs of the Lord.” Thus they stood, and they praised the Lord by day and by night, 1 Chronicles 9:33 etc.
The grandfather of Heman was the great prophet Samuel, (see Chron. 6:33) or Shemuel, as his name is here spelled. So that Samuel the prophet was of “the sons of Korah!” Truly the Lord’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways His ways.
In Matthew 1:1-17, we get “the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Verse 17 divides the forefathers of Jesus into three fourteens. Among the names of the first fourteen (Abraham to David) are to be found the names of those, who while they lived, “confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,” and “God is not ashamed to be called their God.” The second fourteen (David to the captivity wore the Royal diadem, and if the remaining fourteen were not allowed this dignity, (Ezekiel 21:26, 27,) among them were surely to be found those who in evil days “feared the Lord,” and “spike often to one another.”
On the return of the captives from Babylon, there were some who claimed to be priests; but, because they could not prove this by genealogy, these were, as polluted, put from the priesthood, Ezra 2:61-63. This shows the very great importance of the family registers, in the eyes of the godly Jews. But when the Holy Ghost baptized all believers into one body, whether they were Jew or Gentile, whether they were bond or free, no further regard was to be paid to “endless genealogies.” See 1 Timothy 1:4.
It makes no difference to any child of God by faith in Jesus Christ, as to whether he be descended from Abraham, or from Esau. All are now “one” in Christ Jesus. But there will come a time when these old Bible family registers, to which I have referred, will once more be deemed of great importance.
Who knows where the ten tribes of Israel are? Yet at the proper time it will be known, who of these belong to the tribe of Dan, and who to the tribe of Ephraim, and so on. In that day the Lord will in wisdom allow each tribe to prove their descent from their forefathers.
We may notice in closing that the Lord Jesus, in heaven, speaks of Himself as being the Root and the offspring of David, and that even there He is entitled the Lion of the tribe of Juda. He still remembers family ties, and even in glory does not forget that according to flesh He is the son of David and of Abraham.
The Holy Bible: Remarks Upon the Books of the O. T.: Jer. - Dan.: Also, Symbolic Language: Fowls - Hill
JEREMIAH. This is the second of the “greater prophets,” the other two being Ezekiel and Daniel. Jeremiah was of priestly descent, his father being Hilkiah, one of the priests residing in the Levitical town of Anathoth, four miles north-east of Jerusalem. The name Hilkiah was a common enough one among the Jews, so we cannot say that the high priest of that name who found the copy of the law in the Temple was the father of our prophet. Jeremiah was ordained a prophet to the nations before his birth, and was early called to the office (Chapter 1:5-7)—about 130 years after the call of Isaiah—which he occupied for the long period of 42 years, uttering his predictions in and about the metropolis of Judea, then, on the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, among the remnant spared, who, spite of the faithful remonstrances of the prophet, went down into Egypt, (chaps. 43, 44.) These prophecies in our English Bibles, as also in the Hebrew, are arranged—(by whom we cannot tell, probably by Ezra,) without regard to chronological order. But whoever was the editor of Jeremiah’s weeping prophecies, for almost “every letter is written with a tear, and every word is the sound of a broken heart,” must have been divinely directed; for the moral order and connection of the various prophecies to each other is evidently of God. In the Sept. they are arranged chronologically. The last verse of the 51St Chapter ends with “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.” The last Chapter of the book is not written by Jeremiah, but is an historical appendix substantially the same as 2 Kings 24:18-20;25 and equally given by inspiration of God, and needful in its place. It is only in this book, so far as we know, that the duration of the Chaldean kingdom is given, as also the duration of Judah’s captivity in Babylon (Chapter 25:9-14; 29:10). Daniel was a devout student of these very prophecies, especially of those portions just referred to (Daniel 9:2). We may observe that Chapter 10:1 1 Contains a message to the heathen written in their own language—the Chaldee.
LAMENTATIONS. It is self-evident that this book is from the pen of Jeremiah. The Septuagint has the following passage, “And it came to pass after that Israel was taken captive, and Jerusalem was laid waste, that Jeremiah sat weeping and lamented this lamentation over Jerusalem!’ These strains of anguish uttered over the success of the Chaldean attack upon Jerusalem, and the consequent desolation of city and people, are most touchingly expressed. The book originally constituted one work with the prophecies of Jeremiah. The structure of the book is worth noticing. The first, second, and fourth chapters each contain 22 verses, and are, in the original, arranged alphabetically according to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The third Chapter of 66 verses is also alphabetic in structure, only there are three verses to each letter. The fifth Chapter consists of 22 verses, but is not arranged as the others. Several of the psalms are of similar structure, proof of God’s tender compassion for the feeble minds and failing memories of His poor people.
EZEKIEL. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel were contemporary prophets; the two former were priests, while the latter was of the seed royal of Judah. Jeremiah prophesied amongst the poor of the people who were spared and left in the land through the clemency of the Chaldean conqueror, and afterward in Egypt, whither the miserable remnant of the nation fled after the murder of Gedaliah the Babylonian governor of Judea. Ezekiel lifted up his voice, and by sign and word warned the exiled portion of Judea in the land of Mesopotamia as also considerable numbers of the ten tribes transported thither at an earlier period. Daniel interpreted the visions and dreams of the heathen monarch in Babylon itself, and there too were communicated to him those visions and prophecies which most of all concern the European and other Gentiles in relation to the Jews.
The complete subversion of the kingdom of Judah and the deportation of her king, princes, priests, and people were effected by the Chaldeans on three separate occasions. In the year 599 B.C. Jehoiachin,— second last king of Judah,—after a brief reign of but three months was taken captive along with the principal people of the land, including Ezekiel (2 Kings 24) Seven years previously Jehoiakim with Daniel and other members of the royal family had been removed to the proud and haughty court of the Gentile in Babylon. The third captivity 2 Kings 25, eleven years after the second and 18 years after the first, completed the ruin of Judah. Our prophet was located on the banks of the river Chebar a considerable distance from the capital. The most distinguished of the Judah exiles flocked again and again to the prophet’s dwelling at Tel Abib, (chaps. 8:1; 16:1; 21:1; 33), and there the burning and eloquent lips of the exiled seer and priest uttered the word of the Lord. The prophecies contained in the book were proclaimed during a period of 22 years (Chapter 1;2), although the prophet’s forced exile lasted 27 years (Chapter 29:17). Christ, Daniel and Ezekiel are the only persons termed “Son of Man in the Scriptures, the latter about too times. We do not agree with those who consider this book a difficult one to understand; in our judgment it is the reverse. The first 24 chapters contain chronologically arranged prophecies bearing upon the Chaldean invasion of Judea and capture and sack of Jerusalem, 588 B.C. Then you have the destruction of those nations who participated in the attack or rejoiced in the ruin of Judah, (Chapter 25-32). Lastly, Israel herself and her future great enemy Gog or the northern power (Russia) are judged, with particulars of the millennial temple and throne, and details of an interesting kind occupying the closing chapters of the book (chaps. 33-48).
DANIEL. This prophet was taken to Babylon nearly 20 years before the final Chaldean attack upon Jerusalem and sack of the city; and, as he survived the captivity, which was 70 years, even to the third year of the reign of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire (Chapter 10:1), he must have been taken captive when very young, and hence could not have shared the national guilt to any considerable extent; but this very consideration gives weight and solemnity to his confession of national sin (Chapter 9). From the setting aside of Jerusalem and substitution of Babylon as the center of Divine government on the earth, we date “the times of the Gentiles,” that is, until the Jew is again taken up in sovereign grace, the government of the earth has been handed over to the Gentiles. This government exercised through the four successive Gentile monarchies is the great subject of this book. It is an interesting circumstance that that portion of the book from verse 4 of Chapter 2 Till the close of Chapter 7 is in the Syriac or Aramean language, that being the tongue spoken by the Babylonians and the Assyrians—the two powers employed in the captivity of all Israel. In that portion we have divinely sketched the rise, progress and doom of Gentile power. Thus not Hebrew, but Syriac is the selected tongue, so that the Gentiles could read for themselves and were thus without excuse.
The style and character of the four greater prophets present striking contrasts. Isaiah is grand, Jeremiah is tearful, Ezekiel is energetic, Daniel is calm. When the Spirit of God selects any instrument to accomplish His work, the individuality of the chosen vessel is in fullest accord with the Spirit’s inspiration.
(To be continued.)
Ezekiel 31:6; Matthew 13:32
The moral perfectness of Christ displayed in what He was and in what He did. All went up to God as a sweet savor
Leviticus 2:2; Leviticus 2-6
Deuteronomy 4:20; Isaiah 48:10
Matthew 13:42, 50; Revelation 1:15
The kingdoms and powers of the world
Revelation 3:4; 16:16; Exodus 28:40-43
Genesis 19:1; Revelation 21:12, 13
Open gate denotes security
Isaiah 60:11; Revelation 21:25
Prepared and ready for service
Revelation 15:6; Psalms 109:19; Exodus 29:9
Practical preservative from evil
Alexander the Macedonian king
The living wicked at Christ’s return
Historically, the future Russian prince and his land; thus literally to be understood
The wicked on the earth at the close of the millennial reign; thus symbolically to be understood
Divine glory, Divine righteousness, Divine nature of the Lord
Apostates ready for judgment
Numbers 13:33; Isaiah 40:22
Prosperity of a temporary character
James 1:10, 11; Revelation 8:7; Isaiah 40:6, 7; 1 Peter 1:24
Sudden and severe judgment
Isaiah 30:30; Ezekiel 13:13; Joshua 10:11
Subjection. The woman’s glory
1 Corinthians 11:15; Revelation 9:8
Masculine energy and dignity
1 Corinthians 11:14; Numbers 6:18, 19
Christ’s personal place of power and favor
Security. Power and judgment
Psalms 16:8; Exodus 15:6; 21:8
A corrupting religious system or people
Ezekiel 16; Hosea; Revelation 17:5; Jeremiah 3:1-10
Matthew 13:30; Revelation 14:15; Joel 3:13
Matthew 9:37, 38; John 4:35
Seat of moral government, intelligence, and power
Isaiah 7:8, 9; 9:14, 15; Genesis 49:26; Zechariah 6:11; 1 Corinthians 11:3-10
Seat of the feelings, affections, and understanding
Proverbs 6:18; Luke 6:45; Hosea 7:11; Luke 24:25; John 12:40; Colossians 3:16
Scene of authority and light
Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:13; 8:10
Divine certainty of salvation
Ephesians 6:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8
The moral judgment of evil according to God
Deuteronomy 33:15; Psalms 125:1, 2
Eastern Manners and Customs: "A Corn of Wheat"; "The gods of Conquered Nations"
“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone.”—John 12:24.
There is a remarkable fact connected with the germination of wheat which lends great force to our Lord’s illustration ... A grain or corn of wheat, when properly buried in the ground, like all other seeds sends forth roots which grow downwards, and a stalk which ascends. But when the stalk emerges from the earth, its first knot or joint is made, and from this a leaf springs, and here a very peculiar feature may be noticed. As soon as the weather will allow, a second set of lateral roots are thrown out from this knot, which act as the real feeders of the plant; while the stalk and roots that are beneath speedily perish. This must occur in the case of all healthy wheat that is to bear “much fruit.” The growth of these lateral roots, and the decay of all below them, is only found wanting where the grain has been too superficially sown, that is, has been allowed to fall on but not “into the ground,” and under these circumstances it can never flourish. It is, therefore, literally true, in a remarkable manner in which it is not true of other seeds, that “a corn of wheat,” in order to its proper and abundant increase, must actually die.
Revelation James Neil.
“Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad?” — 2 Kings 18:34.
“It was the custom of the Assyrians to carry away in triumph the images of the gods of the conquered nations, which were placed on poles, and borne in procession upon men’s shoulders.”
Notes on Last Month's Subject: The Christian's Standing and State
11. —The Christian’s Standing and State.
Half-an-hour quietly spent in reading over the wonderful lists given by the Class last month must, we think, produce in every Christian soul two feelings. The one, praise and wonder at the long catalog of blessings that are ours through the atoning death of our Savior; the other, surprise to find so many things that one had supposed were limited to the few, cataloged as the birthright property of every believer. We would strongly recommend our readers to give this subject a still further study, classifying and arranging the first part for themselves in such a way as to imprint the subject firmly on their hearts. From the note appended to the second part, we think that this portion of the subject might be made much more useful by not only giving (as has been done) a list of the blessings a believer may receive in virtue of his walk, but by giving also the reasons for which he gets them. Hoping therefore that some such subject may shortly engage the attention of the Class, we will confine our remarks this month to the first part of the subject—The blessings and privileges the believer gets through simple faith in Christ—and will give an example of one of the many ways in which this subject may be classified.
First, then, we may group the facts connected with the soul’s salvation; secondly, those connected with the old and new life; thirdly, fourthly, and fifthly, its relation to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; sixthly, its relation to the world, the law, and sin; and seventhly, general facts connected with our standing.
We only give a selection of each class.
1. As to the believer’s salvation, he has:
Justification by faith, by God’s grace, through Christ’s blood Forgiveness by faith, by God’s grace, through Christ’s blood
Grace abounding
Acceptance in the Beloved
Deliverance from the fear of death, from coming judgment, from this present evil world
Redemption
Life— by faith
Peace with God
Joy in God
Righteousness
Wisdom
Sanctification
His name enrolled in heaven
Reconciliation
Precious faith
Liberty—from the law of sin and death
2. As to the old and new life, he is:
Passed from death to life, for he is:
Crucified with Christ
Dead with Christ
Buried with Christ
Begotten again by God’s will, by the word of God, by the Spirit
Raised with Christ
A new creature in Christ
3. As to his relationship with God the Father, he is:
Reconciled to God by Christ’s death
Brought nigh to God
Adopted a son of God
Born a child of God
Able to cry “Abba, Father”
The object of his Father’s care
Kept by his Father from evil
An heir of God
A dear child
The object of his Father’s love
He has knowledge of the Father
He has fellowship with the Father
4. As to his relationship with Christ the Son, he has:
Fellowship with Christ
Put on Christ
Received Christ’s peace
Christ in him
Christ as his peace
Christ as his high priest
He is:
Loved by Christ
Quickened with, raised with, and seated in Christ
The Lord’s
An epistle of Christ
A member of Christ’s body
Complete in Christ
One with Christ
5. As to his relationship with the Holy Ghost, he is:
Quickened by the Spirit
Sealed by the Spirit
Indwelt by the Spirit
Baptized by the Spirit into one body
The temple of the Spirit (as to his body)
He has:
The witness of the Spirit
The firstfruits of the Spirit
6. As to the world, the law, and sin, he is:
Crucified to the world
Not of the world, even as Christ
Sent into the world, by Christ
Dead to the law
Delivered from the law
Redeemed from the curse of the law
Not under the law
Dead to sin
Freed (or justified) from sin
Delivered from the power of darkness
Purged from his sins
Not a debtor to the flesh
7. As to his standing generally, he is:
Blessed with all spiritual blessings
Made meet (or fit) to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light
Perfected forever
Called unto God’s eternal glory
A vessel of mercy
A citizen of heaven
Light in the Lord
The child of light
Kept by God’s power
A holy and a royal priest
He has:
Turned to God
Received everlasting consolation
Received the Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind All things that belong to life and godliness
A Comforter in all tribulations
Access into the holiest
A portion in heaven
Fellowship with other believers
The truth
Such then, in brief outline, is one of the many ways in which this subject may be arranged. To comment on such a list would be merely to weaken its value. What we need is to con over and over again these glorious title—deeds, sealed to us by the blood of the Son of God, and then, remembering who and what we were by nature, to seek to realize what we are by grace. We are sure that in the present day it would be impossible to find better and more helpful spiritual employment than that which occupies the Class in ransacking for themselves the wonderful stores of God’s word. All that we desire and seek to press in some measure each month is that none may rest content with a search, however successful, or a classification, however complete, but may themselves feed on the fruit of their labors, thus growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, remembering that “The husbandman that laboureth must be the first to partake of the fruits.” 2 Timothy 2:6. R. V.
This Month's Subject: Animals Used Symbolically
The subject worked out for this month is—
Animals used Symbolically.
It would appear from the papers furnished this month that very few animals indeed can be said to be used in a constantly symbolic sense in Scripture. In many instances certain natural characteristics are taken up to illustrate certain points in the history of a person or nation, but this does not of course justify us in considering the animal itself as symbolic of the person or nation, and this is the more evident from the fact that in many cases the different characteristics of the same animal are used in illustration of different nations. Some animals however come before us prominently both as symbolic and illustrative, and amongst these we may single out the Lamb and the Serpent. In arranging the subject we have included illustrative as well as symbolic uses.
The Lamb.
The Lamb is so pre-eminently typical of our Lord that we have ventured a little more into detail, and print below one of the papers which we have received on the subject, merely remarking in addition that the character of the animal is also used in Scripture as typical of certain graces which were prominent in the Lord’s ways on earth.
In the Old Testament first alluded to Genesis 4:4. This verse explains to us why (Luke 11:50, 51) Abel is called by Christ a prophet. The lamb was his prophecy.
First mentioned Genesis 22:7, 8. Here we have the prophecy of Abraham, who is counted amongst the prophets in Psalms 105:15.
The Passover lamb Exodus 12 it was to be
1. Without blemish
2. Set apart on the 10th day of the first month, answering to the day described John 12:12-36.
3. Killed on the 14th day, answering to the day of the Lord’s death.
4. The blood ensured the perfect safety of the houses upon which it was put.
5. The flesh was food for the delivered people of God.
6. It was to be eaten with unleavened bread, 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8.
7. With bitter herbs, repentance and humiliation.
8. It was roasted with fire. Fire, the constant figure of the wrath of God. Isaiah 53:10.
9. The eating of the lamb the signal of departure from Egypt, (the world).
10. Not a bone of it to be broken.
11. A stranger not to eat it. 2 Corinthians 6:14,
12. A bondsman not to eat it. Galatians 5:1, 2.
A daily sacrifice, Exodus 29:38. This was of two lambs, one morning, one evening. Thus a perpetual sacrifice was offered, answering to the perpetual value of the one offering of Christ. Other offerings on the following occasions:—
1. For a peace offering. Leviticus 2.
2. Sin offering. Leviticus 4:32, (This for one of the common people.) Leviticus 5:6.
3. At the consecration of the priests, on the 8th day. Leviticus 9.3
4. At the cleansing of the leper, three lambs. Leviticus 14:10.
5. At the waving of the sheaf of the first-fruits. Leviticus 23:12.
6. At the offering of the first-fruits of bread. Leviticus 23:18,12.
7. At the defilement of the Nazarite. Numbers 6:12.
8. At the expiration of the Nazarite’s vow, Numbers 6:14.
9. Two lambs every Sabbath, Numbers 28:9, 10. (besides the usual daily offering.)
10. At: the beginning of the months. Numbers 28:11.
11. At the feast of unleavened bread, Numbers 28:19. (seven lambs on each of the seven days).
12. At the feast of trumpets. Numbers 29:2.
13. On the day of atonement. Numbers 29:8.
14. At the feast of tabernacles, 14 lambs each of the seven days and 7 lambs on the 8th day (15 times 7). Numbers 29:12-38.
Other passages in the Old Testament where the lamb is the figure of Christ, Isaiah 53:7; Jeremiah 11:1.9.
We find also the lamb as the figure of the people of God, Isaiah 40:11.
In the New Testament, The Lord Jesus, John 1:29, 36; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:6, 8, 12; 6:16 &c. This is the prevailing name given to the Lord Jesus in the Revelation, and in many new connections. Thus we have not only the “Lamb slain,” but described as with 7 horns, and 7 eyes, (the power and discernment of the Spirit). We have the Lamb as the object of worship to the 4 living creatures, the elders, the angels, and every creature in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, and in the sea.
The wrath of the Lamb, 6:16.
Robes washed in the blood of the Lamb, 7:14.
The Lamb as the One who feeds and leads to the living fountains of waters, 7:17.
The blood of the Lamb the victory over the devil, 12:11.
The Lamb as the avenger, 14:10.
The Song of the Lamb, 15:3.
The Lamb as the conqueror of the Beast, and the 10 Kings, 17:14.
The marriage of the Lamb, 19:7.
The Bride the Lamb’s wife, 21:9.
The 12 apostles of the Lamb, 21:14.
The Lamb the temple of the City, 21:22.
The Lamb the light of the City, 21:23.
The book of life of the Lamb, 13:8; 21:27.
The throne of the Lamb, 22:1.
We thus have in Scripture the history of the Lord Jesus from the cross to the throne, as the Lamb of God.
The people of God, Luke 10:3; John 21:15.
Man in need of redemption
Ever firstling of an ass shalt thou redeem, Exodus 13:13
A bridle for the ass, Proverbs 26:3
Ridden on—typical of humility
Lowly and riding on an ass, Zechariah 9:9; John 12:14
Speak ye that ride on white asses, Judges 5:10
The tribe of Issachar as submitting to bondage
Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens, Genesis 49:15
Natural man as refusing God’s authority
For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt, Job. 11:12; 39:5
Assyria a wild ass alone by himself, Hosea 8:9
As wild asses they go forth, Job. 24:5
He will be a wild (Hebrews ass) man, Genesis 16:12
Israel as turning away from God
A wild ass used to the wilderness, Jeremiah 2:24
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, Lamentations 3:10
As a bear robbed of her whelps, Hosea 13:8
As a bear robbed of her whelps, 2 Samuel 17:8; Proverbs 7:12
A ranging bear ... so is a wicked ruler, Proverbs 28:15
And behold, another beast ... like to a bear, Daniel 7:5
To skip like a calf, Psalms 29:5
Christ as the sin-offering
Neither the blood of goats and calves, &c., Hebrews 9:12
As food, symbolic of the best thing that the heart of the giver (God or man) can provide
Bring hither the fatted calf, Luke 15:23; Genesis 18:7; 1 Samuel 28:24; Amos 6:4
Ye shall grow up as the calves of the stall, Malachi 4:2
Thou shalt not bring the price of a dog into the house of the Lord, Deuteronomy 23:18; Matthew 7:6
For dogs have compassed me, Psalms 22:16; 59:6, 14
Is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it to dogs, Matthew 15:27
But it is happened unto them according the true proverb; the dog, &c., 2 Pet. 2:22
Beware of dogs, Philippians 3:2
As a dog returneth to its vomit, Proverbs 26:11
Dog generally, or dead dog
That which is contemptible, insignificant, or vile
Am I a dog that thou comest, &c., 1 Samuel 17:43. After a dead dog, after a flea, 1 Samuel 24:14; 2 Samuel 3:8; 16:9
Unfaithful ministers as to their testimony
His watchmen are blind ... they are all dumb dogs, Isaiah 56:10
Covetous ministers making a gain of their flock
They all look to their own way, Isaiah 56:11
His offering of turtle doves, Leviticus 1:14
Beauty and purity especially applied to the bride of Christ
Many passages in the Song of Solomon
The Spirit of God descending like a dove, Matthew 3:16
I did mourn as a dove, Isaiah 38:14; 59:11; Ezekiel 7:6
Simplicity as befitting Christ’s messengers
Be ye harmless (simple as doves) Matthew 10:16
Ephraim also is like a silly dove, Hosea 7:11
God’s people in affliction
O deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove, Psalms 74:19
God’s care for His people
I bare you on eagle’s wings, Exodus 19:4. As an eagle ... fluttereth over her young, so the Lord alone did lead them, Deuteronomy 32:11
Swiftness of divine judgments
The Lord shall bring a nation against them ... as the eagle flieth, Deuteronomy 28:49; Hosea 8:1; Hab. 1:8
Swifter than the eagles of heaven, Lamentations 4:19; Job 9:26
The pride of thine heart ... though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, Jeremiah 49:16
Kings of Babylon and Egypt
The destruction that shall overtake the enemies of God
They shall be a portion for the foxes, Psalms 63:10
Anything which destroys the communion of the people of God
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines, Song of Solomon 2:15
The desolation that overtook Israel
The mountain of Zion which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it, Lamentations 5:18
They prophets are like foxes of the desert, Ezekiel 13:4
Go ye and tell that fox, Luke 8:32
Ye shall take it ... from the goats, Exodus 12:5; 1 Corinthians 5:7
Christ as typified by the various offerings
If his offering be ... of the goats, Leviticus 1:10
Christ in the double aspect of the work of redemption— God-ward, making atonement, man-ward, bearing away sin
Then shall he kill the goat of the sin-offering ... and bring his blood within the vail ... and he shall make an atonement. And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel ... and shall send him away, Leviticus 16:15-21
Now the rough goat is the king of Grecia, Daniel 8:21
Those who oppress the weak of God’s flock
Behold I judge between the rams and the great he-goats, &c., Ezekiel 34:18
the nations who reject Christ’s messengers before the millennium
He shall set ... the goats on the left. Then shall He say also to them on the left, Matthew 25:31-46
Song of Solomon 2:9, 17, &c.
As the hart ... so panteth my soul after thee, O God, Psalms 42:1
Lightness and joy of heart
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, Isaiah 35:6
Her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, Lamentations 1:6
He maketh my feet like hind’s feet, Psalms 18:33
Let her be as loving as the hind, Proverbs 5:19; Hab. 3:18
Christ as the basis of an abiding covenant
Take me an heifer, Genesis 15:9
Christ whose blood alone can cleanse guilty Israel from their sin in killing Him
Deuteronomy 21:1-9; see Matthew 27:24, 25
Christ on the ground of whose work the believer is cleansed from defilement contracted during his wilderness journey
A red heifer, without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke, Numbers 19
Egypt is like a very fair heifer, Jeremiah 46:20
Ye are grown fat as heifers at grass, Jeremiah 50:11
Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, Hosea 10:11
For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer, Hosea 4:16
Moab ... an heifer of three years old, Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:34
Strength and swiftness in which man trusts (but vainly) instead of trusting in God
An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength, Psalms 33;17; 20:7; 147:10; Proverbs 21:31; Isaiah 31:1
Impatience of control and needing firm guidance
Be ye not as the horse and the mule which have no understanding; whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, Psalms 32:9; Proverbs 26:3; James 3:3
Swiftness of destroying power
His horses are swifter than eagles, Jeremiah 4:3; 8:36
Blindness of Jerusalem rushing to destruction
As the horse rusheth into the battle, Jeremiah 8:6
His goodly horse in the battle, Zechariah 10:3
He that sat on him had a bow, Revelation 6:2; 19:11, 14
There was given unto him a great sword, Revelation 6:4
He that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand, Revelation 6:5
His name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him, Revelation 6:7
Permanent characteristic of evil
Or the leopard his spots? Jeremiah 13:23
Fierceness of God’s wrath against Israel
A leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out shall be torn in pieces, Jeremiah 5:6; Hosea 13:7
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, Revelation 13:2
Symbolic generally of power, strength, and energy, and of that which is thoroughly able to provide for its own wants
Numerous Scriptures in the Old Testament, e.g., What is stronger than a lion, Judges 14:18
Terrible, cruel, powerful, and unsparing
They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring lion, Psalms 22:13
As a roaring lion ... so is a wicked ruler, Proverbs 38:15. Your adversary the devil as a roaring lion, 1 Peter 5:8
Judah is a lion’s whelp: he couched as a lion, Genesis 49:9
The lion of the tribe of Judah, Revelation 5:5
A difficulty that appears insurmountable
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, Proverbs 26:13
The character of the judgments which God will execute against Judah and Israel
The young lions roared upon him, and they made his land waste, Jeremiah 2:15; Isaiah 5:29; Jeremiah 4:7; 5:6; Lamentations 3:10; Hosea 5:14; Amos 3:4; Joel 1:6
The Lord in defense of Mt. Zion
Like as a lion ... so shall the Lord of Hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, Isaiah 31:4
Israel in rebellion against the Lord
Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest, Jeremiah 12:8
The remnant of Jacob among the Gentiles
As a lion among the beasts of the forest, Micah 5:8
Nineveh in the day of its power
For if the blood of bulls and goats ... how much more shall the blood of Christ, Hebrews 9:13, 14; Leviticus 1:2-9
Devotedness to the service of God
For each prince an ox, Numbers 7:3
Jeremiah 31:18; see also Deuteronomy 33:17
Fierce and brutal enemies
Israel, during the tribulation, exhausted by her ineffectual efforts to escape from her enemies
As a wild bull in a net, Isaiah 51:20
The nations under the judgment of God
Isaiah 34:7, 8; Jeremiah 46:17, 22
Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9, 10; 1 Timothy 5:17, 18
An ox that is brought to the slaughter: and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, Jeremiah 11:19; Proverbs 7:22
Blessings provided in the gospel
My oxen are ... killed, Matthew 22:4
The Gadites ... were swift as the roes upon the mountains, 1 Chronicles 12:8; 2 Samuel 2:18; Proverbs 6:5
The beauty of Christ in the eyes of His bride
Let her be ... as the pleasant roe, Proverbs 5:19
The people of God, both Jewish and Christian
The sheep of thy pasture, Psalms 74:1; Ezekiel 34. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, John 10:11. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, John 10:16. Feed my sheep; John 21:16.
Israel as departed from God
The lost sheep of the house of Israel, Matthew 10:6; 15:24
I have found my sheep which was lost, Luke 15:6
Those who depart from God
I have gone astray like a lost sheep, Psalms 119:176; 1 Peter 2:25
The nations who receive the Jewish preachers sent by Christ
Then shall he set the sheep on his right hand, &c., Matthew 25:31-46
That our sheep may bring forth thousands, Psalms 144:13
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter, Psalms 44:22
That the congregations of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd, Numbers 27:17
Those who do not trust in their own strength
As sheep in the midst of wolves, Matthew 10:16
An outward appearance of humility
False prophets ... in sheep’s clothing, Matthew 7:15
That old serpent, called the Devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world, Revelation 12:9; 20:2; Genesis 3:1; Isaiah 27:1
Dan shall be a serpent by the way, Genesis 49:17
Sin in its poisonous hurtful aspect
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, Psalms 58:4; 140:3
The unfailing certainty of God’s judgments
I will command the serpent, and he shall bite them, Amos 9:3
The shall lick the dust like a serpent, Micah 7:17
Satan in his beguiling character
So your minds should be corrupted, &c., 2 Corinthians 11:3; Genesis 3:1-6
Satan in his persecuting character
He persecuted the woman, Revelation 12:13-17
And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, Numbers 21:6
Christ as made sin for us
So must the Son of man be lifted up, John 3:13
The wicked obstinately refusing to listen to God
The deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, Psalms 58:4
New Queries, Nos. 196-217.
Q. 196. (1) What is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 7:14, and (2) Romans 11:26? How shall all Israel be saved? T. N. S.
A. (1) Refer to B. S. vol. 1, p. 115, Q. 377. If more is wanted write again. (2) The time will come when all Israelites on earth will own their Messiah, their hearts being turned to Him according to Zechariah 12:10. The word. “ Israel” seems purposely to include not only those we know as “Jews,” but also the lost ten tribes who will then be restored to their own land. Previously, however, to this glorious time numbers of Jews who have been deceived by Antichrist, and received the mark of the beast will have perished.
Q. 197. Isaiah 66:23 and Zechariah 14:6 seem to imply that there will not be night and day on earth during the millennial reign. How would this correspond with Isaiah 4:6; 60:11? G. S.
A. Isaiah 4:6 speaks of the “day-time” implying a “night-time,” and 40:11 speaks of day and night, Isaiah 66:23 does not mean there will be no day nor night, and Zechariah 14:6 speaks only of that special and glorious day when Christ will descend to the Mount of Olives. There will be day and night on earth during the millennium, but not in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Q. 198. Explain 1 Peter 4:1, more particularly the last clause. E. S. M.
A. The death of Christ is here presented in a peculiar aspect. He suffered on the cross, (thus accomplishing the will of God,) sooner than yield to sin in any way. By dying being tried to the uttermost, He had done forever with sin which constantly assailed Him from without. Now, we are to arm ourselves with the same steadfast purpose to accomplish God’s will. But remark that the word “flesh” in the end of the verse does not mean the perfect human nature or life which is called flesh in the beginning of the text. Our temptations are not always from without, but often from within. Hence our old nature (called the flesh) suffers; that is, it is not indulged or gratified if we do not yield to it, and we thus cease from sin. When we do not suffer in the flesh we commit sin, for its desires are ever evil. This verse is only another way of rendering Romans 6:11, 12, with the addition of the example of Christ as a model.
Q. 199. What passages prove that there will be a temple on earth during Christ’s reign on earth? Will the sacrifices be offered according to the former Levitical dispensation? M. B. H.
A. Ezekiel 40 to the end is taken up with a full detailed description of the millennial temple and sacrifices. Passover and Tabernacles will both be re-established (45:21, 25). Pentecost, however, being “fully come” in Acts 2:1, in the formation of the church, will not be revived. The sacrifices will have a retrospective aspect with regard to the cross, to which previously to the coming they of Christ looked forward. Many scriptures speak of the temple in the earthly Jerusalem, Zechariah 14:20, &c. &c. In the heavenly Jerusalem there will be no temple.
Q. 200. Is there any scriptural ground for the statement that doctrinal evil is worse in God’s sight than moral evil? C. H. C.
A. There is just the difference between sin of practice and principle. In 1 Corinthians 5 evil, wicked, immoral practice had crept into the Church of God, and apostle unsparingly pointed out the evil. But the sin was a plain offense against the laws of God, and could clearly be exposed and judged as suchapter In Galatians however, there was not a question of immoral actions, but of a subtle principle of legality or fleshly religion creeping in, undermining, and supplanting the gospel. This struck at the very principle of the truth, and the tone and language of the apostle is much more severe here than to the Corinthians, and he has evidently more difficulty in exposing and getting them to judge the sin.
Q. 201. What is the connection between Job 38-41 and the rest of the book? Job’s sin was justifying himself rather than God, and these chapters are occupied with God’s power and not His righteousness, and power is not in itself a proof of justice or goodness. T.
A. Elihu’s argument in the preceding chapters fully justifies and explains God’s actions with regard to Job. What Job now needed was to understand that it really was GOD whom he had to do with. Job had spoken of God, and Elihu had spoken of Him, but now he was brought face to face with Him (proved to be God by His wonders in creation,) for the first time, (compare Romans 1:20) and thus Job really understood his own utter insignificance and nothingness. We quite agree that these chapters are not enough alone, but neither are the others; for right thoughts of God’s power are as necessary as of His righteousness. We too often forget that God is God, and that we are but men.
Q. 202. Is it in accordance with Scripture for us to draw inferences concerning the times and seasons of this dispensation from the symbolism apparently existing in the great Pyramid? To say for instance that the 1882 inches of the long passage typify the 1882 years of the Christian era? T.
A. We fear the deductions drawn from most of these measurements are but the result of the ingenuity of the human mind, and certainly we do not exalt the great pyramid to the level of a divine revelation. There is no hint in Scripture that we are to look for any such a supplement to the Bible, and we fear that excessive occupation with such a subject only tends to make one forsake the fountain of living water for cisterns of our own hewing that hold no water. What will be the result moreover, if the Christian era should last 1883 years, if as you say there are but 1882 inches? It is easy to find coincidences agreeing with past events. God alone can foretell the future.
Q. 203. Please explain 2 Peter 1:19-21. H. N.
A. Refer to B. S. vol. 1, page 88, Q. 319.
Q. 204. When will the Jewish resurrection spoken of in Daniel 12:2 Occur? C. H. C.
A. Does not this refer rather to the bringing back the Jews to their land out of the earth (Gentile world) where they are scattered; ver. 1 describing the Jewish remnant who will be delivered through their trouble (under Antichrist) if their names are written in the book (see Revelation 7), verse 2 more especially referring to the lost 10 tribes of Israel, who will be brought back as life from the dead (see Luke 15:32; Romans 11:1.5, similar expressions) to their land. See Ezekiel 36;37
Q. 205. Does the term heretic apply not only to the one who forms a party round himself, but also to those who are gathered round him? C. H. C.
A. We presume you refer to Titus 3:10. There is nothing said here as to forming a party. The R. V. reads “a man-that is heretical (or factious) after a first and second admonition refuse (or avoid). The word does not apparently imply excommunication, but rather absence of friendship and intercourse. Of course, his errors may lead him absolutely astray, and possibly as you say to form a party. About this however the Scripture says nothing. The term used would, apply equally to every man who held heretical views or followed heretical ways Q. 206. Will you please explain the genealogies in Matthew and Luke? Is the one of Joseph and the other of Mary? R. S. S. (U. S. A.)
A. Refer to B. S. vol. 1, page 89, Q. 324, also to B. S., vol. 2, p. 81, Q. 63.
Q. 207. (1) Would you say that “Jesse” was David’s mother’s name? (see Q. 127 B. S.) (2) Could you give the correct rendering of 2 Samuel 17:25? E. B.
A. (1) No. What we said refers to the fact that if Nahash be not the name of David’s mother, it is another name for Jesse (the name of his wife being unknown). It is a universal tradition among the Jews that Nahash and Jesse are identical, and in Ruth 4:22 They read, “and Obed begat Ishai (Jesse) whose name is Nachash.” (2) We cannot give any better rendering than the text.
Q. 208. (1) “They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them,” (1 Corinthians 10:4.) Did the water flow on as they journeyed? (2) Can you tell me where to find the sentence “Thy favor which is better than life?” E. B.
A. (1) We do not see the slightest indication from the historical narrative that the children of Israel were followed by a continuous stream of water. Water is still found naturally in many parts of the Peninsula, and is believed to have been much more abundant formerly. We rather think the passage means that it was Christ, He who “carried them all the days of old,” who followed them in all their wanderings. There is still evidence, as testified to by careful travelers, that there was formerly a far greater abundance both of vegetation and water in the wilderness than now, so that it was only on exceptional occasions that it was miraculously provided. (2) The nearest are the following, “Thy loving kindness is better than life,” (Psalms 63:3); “Favor is better than silver and gold,” (Proverbs 22:1. margin).
Q. 209. Please explain Ephesians 4:3. C. M. B.
A. The unity of the Spirit mainly refers to that unity that the Spirit forms the one body (1 Corinthians 12), and it was to be kept practically in peace by Jew and Gentile, lately hating each other, but now made one in Christ. This exhortation was peculiarly needed at Ephesus. The way to fulfill it is by walking in the spirit of ver. 2. It is only as we realize the intense antagonism that existed naturally between Jew and Gentile in every detail of religious and social life, that we understand the peculiar force of such an exhortation at that time to those who had so recently been made one in Christ.
Q. 210. Do not “so many of us as” in Romans 6:3, and “ as many of you as” of Galatians 3:27 mean all of them? C. G. A.
A. Certainly. Galatians 3:26 says “For ye are all the sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus,” and then proceeds, “For as many of you,” etc., evidently applying to the same company.
Q. 211. (1) Please explain Ezekiel 13:18. (2) Explain briefly “Who is blind as my servant.” (3) Also, Isaiah 63:17. T. H.
A. (1) Fastening cushions to the armholes, or rather for the arms to rest on, signified in the symbol which the false prophet uses, that the people might rest in security, for no enemy would disturb them; while “kerchiefs on the head of (people of) every stature” were badges of liberty or triumph, signifying that they should overcome the Chaldeans; thus the people were deluted. (2) We think, Israel that is reproached in Isaiah 42:19, for being blind and deaf, but should be glad of further light on this difficult passage. (3) Refer to B. S. vol. 1. page 134, Q. 409.
Q. 212. Will you please tell me if we are to eat and drink in heaven? If not, why did Jesus say that He would not hence-. forth drink... till He drank... in His Father’s kingdom? A. C.
A. We believe that our Lord here used wine as a symbol of joy connected with the earth. The meaning of the passage is not therefore literal drinking from a cup, but rather entering with His disciples on the scene of earthly joys in the millennial morning. Till then, like the Nazarite of old, he gets no joy from this earth as suchapter We know no Scripture showing that we shall eat or drink in heaven.
Q. 213. In 2 Chronicles 2:7 we read “with me in Judah and Jerusalem,” does this skew that part of Jerusalem was not in Judah? (see Joshua 15:63;18. 28 and Judges 1:21). H.S.
A. Jerusalem properly speaking was in Benjamin, the boundary line between it and Judah (Josh, 15:7, 8; 18:16, 17) running along the valley of Hinnom.
Q. 214. Please explain the following expressions (1) “went out to the south” (Joshua 15:3), (2) “fetched a compass,” (3) “south side of the river,” what river? (ver. 7), (4) “unto the south side of the Jebusite” (ver. 8), (5) “and the border was drawn” (ver. 9), (6) “They met together” (chapter 17:10), (7) “the mountain that hath before” (18:16). H. S.
A. (1) “towards the south side,” (2) “made a detour,” (3) “south side of the” torrent “a rocky gorge that runs into the Jordan near Jericho,” (4) the city of Jebusites was on the north side of the valley of Hinnon, and forms part of Jerusalem, the part known in modern times as Sion, (5) “marked out,” (6) It appears to mean that the boundary of Manasseh and Ephraim taken together was Asher in the north and Issachar in the east, (7) probably Mount Sion, or if not, the mountain to the south side of the valley of Hinnon.
Q. 215. Kindly say what is the meaning of Hebrews 6:1-6. J. F. G.
A. Refer to B. S. Jan. 1882, p. 18, Q. 32. Hebrews 6:4-6 describes the whole circle of christian privileges in contrast with the Jewish elements spoken of in verses 1 and 2, and proceeds to show that if a Hebrew, after tasting and being connected with all that Christ had brought in, returned to Judaism, and. gave all up, there was nothing further for him; he openly joined the crucifiers of Christ (ver. 6), and put Him to an open shame. Observe these people never went beyond more profession; there is not a hint of their being “safe in Christ” or of having believed on Him. They were enlightened, they had tasted of the heavenly gift (the revelation of the grace of God)—of the good word of God, of which they saw the preciousness, although not quickened by it, (see Matthew 13:20), and the powers of the world to come (miracles which they had seen); but only to reject all; they were also outward participators (the force of the word used) of the Holy Ghost, not as life, but as a new power known and felt among all professing christians. Thus no christian privilege was wanting, but the enjoyment of them all does not imply life; the simplest trust in Christ does. This is seen in ver. 18, God thus conclusively chewing in the same Chapter that the greatest privileges and professions do not give life, but that the weakest faith does. Moreover, although the apostle thus warns any Hebrew apostates, he expressly (ver. 9) excludes the christians whom he was addressing, however ignorant, because (ver. 10) their faith had shown itself in fruit.
Q. 217. By whom will the gospel be preached after the church is translated? E. S. M.
A. The present gospel will no longer be preached, the door of grace being then shut, but the everlasting gospel will be proclaimed to every heathen nation as we learn in Revelation 14:7, probably by Jewish messengers whose treatment by these nations will form the ground of the judgment of these according to Matthew 25.
Q. 218. Had our Savior sinless infirmity? E. B.
A. Scripture nowhere says so. On the contrary, it carefully contrasts human high priests “compassed with infirmity” (Hebrews 5:2), having infirmity (Hebrews 7:28) with Christ. The only place where we can find weakness or infirmity associated with the Lord is on the cross. “Crucified through weakness (infirmity)” 2 Corinthians 13:4, where the meaning is obvious. We cannot say that we fully understand your question.
Q. 219. Referring to Q. 135, p. 118, does not Matthew 5:34-36 refer to ordinary conversation only? If so, would 1 Peter 2:13,14 be a sufficient warrant for a christian to take the customary oath in courts of justice, and also to make affidavits? H. N.
A. Matthew 5 is evidently referring to conversation. With regard to the other point refer to B. S. vol. 2, p. 90, Q. 118.
Q. 220. What is the meaning of Jeremiah 17:13, “They that depart from me shall be written in the earth?” When the Lord stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground (John 8:6), did He wish to show the Pharisees that he would write their names in the earth, because they would not receive Him? H. N.
A. Jeremiah 17:13 means that the names of the wicked should be blotted out like an inscription on the sand. We do not know what the Lord wrote on the ground. All explanations must he hypothetical, and yours is probably as good as any other.
Q. 221. (1) What is typified by the yoke in Numbers 19:2? (2) What are the principalities and powers in Ephesians 6:12? and are they the same as in chapter 3:10, and Colossians 2:10. W. H. M.
A. (1) One never used in the service of man. (2) It is evident that those principalities and powers of which Christ is head (Colossians 2:10, Ephesians 1:21) cannot be the same as those in Ephesians 6:12, of which Satan is chief. The word “principality” is a peculiar one, literally meaning and generally rendered “the beginning” (John 1:1, 2, etc.) It also has a secondary meaning of rule (1 Corinthians 15:24) which is the meaning of the word “principality.” Of course, there is both good and bad rule in the spiritual world.
(Several Queries are left over for want of space).
Notes on Former Queries: Vol. 2, 102;142; 153
Q. 102. Is not the present aspect of the kingdom of heaven here lost sight of? The special character of the kingdom of heaven as now existing on earth, professedly owning its absent King, which began as soon as the Lord of it had taken His place above. It is the reign from heaven, and so is not the kingdom of heaven whilst the King is on earth. Later it divides into the Millennial kingdom (the kingdom of the Son) set up in power on Christ’s return to the world; and into the kingdom of the Father, when the heavenly saints shine forth in glory. D.T.C.
Q. 142. The force and application of the passage in Isaiah 43:3, is consequent upon the circumstances which led up to its quotation in Matthew 12 In the Chapter we see Jesus ‘exercising sovereign power in deepest lowliness. Knowing that the Pharisees had conspired against Him He withdrew Himself, and great multitudes following Him He healed them all, charging them “that they should not make it known: that it might be fulfilled.” That which follows reveals His character, as the rejected One, put in proverbial form. It is doubtless true that this character is displayed towards those who are as feeble as bruised reeds, or whose love may be but as smoking flax; but this is not the truth brought out in the passage, as the 16th and 17th verses prove conclusively. For notice, He “charged them that they should not make it known: that it might be fulfilled,” &c.; here it is the character of the one acting which is brought into prominence and not (so much) the action. Of course this is His character only “till he send forth judgment unto victory.” C. F.
Q. 153, p. 122. —We regret to find that some of our readers have gathered from the remarks made under the answer to this query that we intended to bring forward heathen mythology in support of Scripture. Such, however, was in no wise our intention. We are fully persuaded of the all-sufficiency and divine inspiration of the Scriptures, and that they need no support from external evidence. What we intended to convey was, that Scripture gives the true account of the facts upon which heathen mythology has based its fables.
Jottings From Bible Margins
POSSESSION —to have Christ, as 1 John 5:9.
PROFESSION —to live Christ, as Philippians 1:2; Galatians 2:20.
CONFESSION —to testify, as Romans 10:9; 1 John 4:14.
The Perfection of Jesus.
IN HIM was no sin. 1 John 3:5.
HE KNEW no sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
HE DID no sin. 1 Peter 2:22.
He was WITHOUT sin. Hebrews 4:15.
Yet He His own self bare our sins in His own body. 1 Peter 2:24.
CHRIST OUR MODEL.
1. For FAITH. Looking unto Jesus the Author and Completer (proper rendering) of faith.
2. For BROTHERLY LOVE. “Walk in love as Christ also loved us.” Ephesians 5:2.
3. For PURITY. “And every man that hath this hope in (God) purifieth himself even as he (Christ) is pure.” 1 John 3:3.
4. SUFFERING. 1 Peter 2:21. “Because Christ suffered for us,” &c.
5. PATIENT ENDURANCE. Hebrews 12:3. ‘For consider him,” &c.
6. SELF-SACRIFICE. Philippians 2:5-8.
7. WHOLE CONVERSATION. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he (i.e., Christ) walked. 1 John 2:6.
RESISTING the Spirit. Refusing to accept His testimony of Christ. Acts 7:51-53.
GRIEVING the Spirit. Yielding to things forbidden. Ephesians 4:29.
QUENCHING the Spirit. By despising prophesyings, 1 Thessalonians 5:19, 20 the Spirit speaking by others hindered by others from expression.
GROWTH IN GRACE.
1. “Least of the apostles.” Then 5 years later—
2. “Less than the least of all saints.” Just previous to death.
3. “Sinners of whom I am chief.” 1 Timothy 1:18.
He (i.e., Christ) must increase, but I (i.e., self) decrease.” John 3:30.
J. L.
New Testament Words Explained: Psalms - Rest
Psalms, Hymns, Spiritual Songs.
These occur in Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16, but although they have here each only one corresponding Greek word, still it may be well briefly to point out the essential difference between them. Psalmos meant primarily to touch, then to touch a harp, then the harp itself, and finally it came to mean the song that was sung with the music. In the above passages the Psalms no doubt are those of David, Asaph etc., contained in the Old Testament. Humnos (hymn) originally was always in praise of God, never being merely descriptive or occupied with complaint or lamentation, as a Psalm, but always full of praise. The early Fathers taught that there were three essentials to a hymn, which we would do well to remember. First, it must be sung, Second, it must be praise, Third, it must be to God. We find hymns, in Luke 1:46-55; 68-79; Acts 4:24; 16:25. Odee (Spiritual Song) was originally a song used on a festive occasion, as for example at harvest time, after battle, etc. It is a freer composition than a hymn, and the meaning is well represented by the word used.
Remission.
The general word used for this is aphesis, but in Romans 3:25 however, we find another word paresis, which means not a remission of sins or a putting them away, but a praetermission, or a putting them by, which was the case with the sins of Old Testament saints until by the sacrifice of Christ their sins were put away. Since the death of Christ, the word aphesis and not paresis is applied to us.
Rebuke.
Two Greek words are thus translated, epitimao meaning simply to rebuke, and elencho to rebuke and convict or convince, that is, to bring the rebuke home to the person. Jesus was rebuked by Peter (Matthew 16:22), and one thief rebuked (same word) the other at the cross (Luke 23:40), but elencho is used in John 8:46, “which of you convinceth me of sin?” also in John 16:8, “He (the Comforter) will reprove (convict, R.V.) the world of sin,” etc. It is also used in John 3:20;8. 9.
Repent.
Metanoeo, one of the two words thus translated, means literally “to know after;” this after knowledge came to mean a “change of mind” for a second thought often differs from a first. It then implied regret, and lastly a change of conduct arising from the change of mind. But outside Scripture all this might be for evil equally as well as for good,—thus a murderer who spares a child, but afterward goes back to kill it, is said to repent in this sense. In Scripture, however, metanoeo always means a change of mind for the better. Metamelomai (Matthew 27:3; Hebrews 7:21 etc.), while it may be used in the same sense as metanoeo, literally means an “after care,” and hence a repentance often arising more from a dread of consequences than from a real inward change of mind.
Rest.
The two Greek words both translated “rest” are not exactly alike in meaning. The one anapausis means “ceasing from labor” and is the word used most appropriately by the Lord in Matthew 11:28, 29. Paul on the contrary, as in 2 Thessalonians 1:7, uses the other word anesis, which has the force literally of relaxation, that is, the loosing of cords of endurance.
Christ Our Example: In Him Was Light
No. 1. — “In Him Was Light.”
The life of Jesus was the bright shining of a candle. It was such a lamp in the house of God as needed no golden tongs or snuff-dishes. It was ordered before the Lord continually, burning as from pure beaten oil. It was making manifest all that was around, exposing and reproving; but it ever held its own place uncondemned.
Whether challenged by disciples or adversaries, as the Lord was again and again, there is never an excusing of himself. On one occasion disciples complain, “Master, carest thou not that we perish” But he does not think of vindicating the sleep out of which this challenge awakes him. On another occasion they object to him, “The multitude throng thee, and press thee and sayest thou, Who touched me?” But he does not need this inquiry, but acts upon the satisfaction of it. At another time Martha says to him, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” But he does not excuse his not having been there, nor his delaying for two days in the place where he was; but instructs Martha in the wondrous character which his delay had given to that hour.
What a glorious vindication of his delay that was! And thus it was on every like occasion; whether challenged or rebuked, there is never the recalling of a word, nor the retracing of a step. Every tongue that rises in judgment against him he condemns. The mother rebukes him in Luke 2; but instead of making good her charge, she has to listen to him convicting the darkness and error of her thoughts. Peter takes upon him to admonish him: “This be far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee.” But Peter has to learn, that it was Satan himself that in Peter prompted the admonition. The officer in the palace of the High Priest goes still farther, correcting him, and smiting him on the cheek. But he is convicted of breaking the rules of judgment in the very face and place of judgment.
Therefore, when we look at the Lord Jesus as the lamp of the sanctuary, the light in the house of God, we find at once that the tongs and snuff-dishes cannot be used. They are discovered to have no Counterpart in him. Consequently, they who undertook to challenge or rebuke him when he was here had to go back rebuked and put to shame themselves. They were using the tongs or snuffers with a lamp which did not need them, and they only betrayed their folly: and the light of this lamp shone the brighter, not because the tongs had been used, but because it was able to give forth some fresh witness (which it did on every occasion) that it did not need them.
The Lord was “poor, yet making rich,” “having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” These high and wondrous conditions were exhibited in him, in ways that were and must have been peculiar-altogether his own. He would receive ministry from some godly women out of their substance, and yet minister to the need of all around him out of the treasures of the fullness of the earth. He would feed thousands in desert places, and yet be himself an hungered, waiting for the return of his disciples with victuals from a neighboring village. This is “having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” But while thus poor, both needy and exposed, nothing that in the least savored of meanness is ever seen attaching to his condition. He never begs, though he have not a penny; for when he wanted to see one (not to use it for himself), he had to be ask to be shown it. He never runs away, though exposed, and his life jeoparded, as we speak, in the place where he was. He withdraws himself, or passes by as hidden. And thus, again, I may say, nothing mean, nothing unbecoming full personal dignity, attaches to him, though poverty and exposure were his lot every day.
Blessed and beautiful! Who could preserve under our eye such an object, so perfect, so unblemished, so exquisitely, delicately pure, in all the minute and most ordinary details of human life! Paul does not give us this. None could give it to us but Jesus, the God-man. The peculiarities of his virtues in the midst of the ordinariness of his circumstances tell us of his person. It must be a peculiar person, it must be the divine man, if I may so express him, that could give us such peculiarities in such common-place conditions. Paul does not give us anything like it, again I say. There was great dignity and moral elevation about him, I know. If any one may be received as exhibiting that, let us agree that it was he. But his path is not that of Jesus; he is in danger of his life, and he uses his nephew to protect him. Again, his friends let him down the wall of the town in a basket. I do not say he begs or asks for it, but he acknowledges money sent to him. I say not how Paul avowed himself a Pharisee in the mixed assembly, in order to shelter himself; or how he spake evil of the High Priest that was judging him. Such conduct was morally wrong; and I am speaking here only of such cases as were, though not morally wrong, below the full personal and moral dignity that marks the way of Christ. Nor is the flight into Egypt, as it is called, an exception in: this characteristic of the Lord; for that journey was taken to fulfill prophecy, and under the authority of a divine oracle.
In answering inquiries Christ did not so much purpose to satisfy them, as to reach the conscience or the condition of the enquirer.
In his silence, or refusal to answer at all, when he stood before the Jew or the Gentile at the end, before either the priests or Pilate or Herod, we can trace the same perfect fitness as we do in his words or answers; witnessing to God, that at least One among the sons of men know “a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.”
Great variety in his very tone and manner also presents itself in all this; and all this variety, minute as it was as well as great, was part of his fragrance before God. Sometimes his word was gentle, sometimes peremptory; sometimes he rear sons; sometimes he rebukes at once; and sometimes conducts calm reasoning up to the heated point of solemn condemnation; for it is the moral of the occasion he always weighs.
Matthew 15 has struck me as a Chapter in which this perfection, in much of its various beauty and excellency, may be seen. In the course of it the Lord is called to answer the Pharisees, the multitude, the poor afflicted stranger from the coasts of Tire, and his own disciples, again and again, in their different exposure of either their stupidity or their selfishness; and we may notice his different style of rebuke and of reasoning, calm, patient teaching, and of faithful, wise, and gracious training of the soul: and we cannot but feel how fitting all this variety was to the place or occasion that called it forth. And such was the beauty and the fitness of his neither teaching no. learning in Luke 2, but only hearing and asking questions —To have taught then would not have been in season, a child as he was in the midst of his elders, To have learned would not have been in full fidelity to the light, the eminent, and bright light, which he knew he carried in himself; for we may surely say of him, “He was wiser than the ancients, and had more understanding than his teachers.” I do not mean as God, but as One “filled with wisdom,” as was then said of him. But he knew in the perfection of grace how to use this fullness of wisdom, and he is, therefore, not presented to us by the Evangelist in the midst of the doctors in the temple, at the age of twelve, either teaching or learning; but it is simply said of him, that he was hearing and asking questions. Strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God upon him, is the description of him then, as he grew up in tender years; and when a man, conversing in the world, his speech was always with grace, seasoned with salt, as of one who knew how to answer every man. What perfection and beauty suited to the different seasons of childhood and manhood!
Love and Hatred
The following is a list of things the new man loves and hates:-
He loves (Old Testament) 18 things.
The Lord’s name, Psalms 5:11
The Lord, Psalms 18:1, &c., &c.
The habitation of the Lord’s house and the tabernacle of his honor, Psalms 26:8
The Lord’s salvation, Psalms 11:16, &c.
The Lord’s commandments, Psalms 119:47
The Lord’s law, Psalms 119:97
The Lord’s testimonies, Psalms 119:119
The Lord’s word, Psalms 119:140
The Lord’s precepts, Psalms 119:159
Jerusalem, Psalms 122:6
Wisdom, Proverbs 8:17
Instruction and Knowledge, Proverbs 12:1
Power of the tongue, Proverbs 18:21
His own soul, Proverbs 19:8
Pureness of heart, Proverbs 22:11
Him that rebuketh him, Proverbs 9:8
The king, Sol. 1:3, 4
He hates (Old Testament) 10 things.
Evil, Proverbs 8:13
The work of them that turn aside, Psalms 101:3
Every false way, Psalms 119:104
Vain thoughts, Psalms 119:113
Lying, Psalms 119:163
Them that hate the Lord, Psalms 139:21
The congregation of evil doers, Psalms 26:5
Suretyship, Proverbs 11:15
Gifts, Proverbs 15:27
Covetousness, Proverbs 28:16
He loves (New Testament) 7 things.
Christ, John 14:23, &c.
The neighbor, Romans 13:8, 9
God, 2 Thessalonians 3:5, &c.
The Lord’s appearing, 2 Timothy 4:8
The brethren, 1 Peter 1:22, &c.
Life, 1 Peter 3:10
The nation of Israel, Luke 7:5
He hates (New Testament)
Father, Mother, Wife, Children, Brethren, Sisters, when he has to choose between those and Christ
His own life, Luke 14:26
Sin, Romans 7:15
The deeds of the Nicolaitanes, Revelation 2:6
Garments spotted by the flesh, Jude 23
Many more passages might be added to these lists, were those included which are commands of God as to love and hatred. Perhaps some who have been interested in the subject will look out such passages. For where the command is given, the answering love and hatred will assuredly be found in the new man, who is “renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created him.” Seven objects of love are thus commanded in the Old Testament, and more are added in the New Testament. The lists would thus be rendered more complete, both as regards love and hatred. May the Lord bring home to each heart before whom this subject is brought, the depth and reality of the wonderful work of redemption, by means of which a change so complete and so radical is effected in every believer in Jesus.
isturkal auk. Tilustratiim.
(Concluded from page 134).
The Holy Bible: Remarks Upon the Books of the Old Testament
By Jewish arrangement the twelve minor prophets were grouped in one volume. Thus, in the enumeration of the sacred books by Josephus and others, and in all ancient catalogs, they are classed together, and cited from, as one book. The Hebrew arrangement of the first six prophets differs from the Septuagint. The order in which they stand in our English Bibles follows the Hebrew, which is the moral order. In the Septuagint they are represented thus-Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, which is not strictly chronological.
We would classify those twelve books under three divisions. 1St. Those which relate to the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel by Assyria, and of Judah by Babylon. 2nd. Those which unfold the judgment of the Gentiles. 3rd. Those which relate to the people restored from the Babylon captivity. Under No. we place the books of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, six books in all. Under No. 2, we have the three books of Obadiah, Jonah, and Nahum. While under No. 3, we place Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, which along with Ezra and Nehemiah are termed “the books of the Restoration.”
We may here add that the sixteen prophetical books from Isaiah to Malachi (Lamentations not included) are in our English Bibles, arranged in the main in chronological order; but what is of more value to us, and manifests moreover the hand of God, is the moral arrangement of these writings. The last historical book of the Old Testament is Nehemiah, while the last prophetic book is Malachi. Thus, from Genesis to Nehemiah you have sixteen books, the sum of Old Testament history; while from Isaiah to Malachi you have sixteen books the sum of Old Testament prophecy.
HOSEA. From the first verse of the book we gather that Hosea must have prophesied for a period of about 60 years. We cannot with certainty say whether the prophet resided in Samaria or Judea; probably the former, as Israel or the kingdom of the ten tribes is more especially the burden of these prophecies. But while Judah and Israel for judgment, as also for millennial blessing, are directly regarded in this book, it is. to be observed that the Gentiles are entirely passed over, save perhaps in Chapter 1:10, which study and compare with Romans 9:24-26.
Joel. In this book we have no historical data or chronological notes whatever, to guide us as to the place or time when the prophecy was uttered. But judging from the internal character of the book, and also from the fact that the closing words of our prophet (Chapter 3:16) are the opening words of Amos (Chapter 1:2), we gather that Joel uttered “the word of the Lord” in Judea, perhaps, Jerusalem, and further, as preceding Amos, must have been one of the earliest of the Judah prophets, probably about Boo B.C. The then present circumstances of Judah, the harvests utterly destroyed, the sacrifices withheld from the house of the Lord, while famine and desolation wrapped the land, and all classes of the people in mourning owing to the dreadful ravages of countless swarms of locusts and other insects, form the text on which Joel enlarges and announces “ the day of the Lord.” Judah and Jerusalem-people and city-are specially remembered for millennial blessing (Chapter 3:1, 20), but not the Gentiles as such, who are rather the object of divine judgment (Chapter 3:9-16). “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh” (Chapter 2:28) does however intimate that grace will overstep the narrow limits of Judaism in the happy years at hand. The descriptive powers of our prophet (see Chapter 2) are unequaled by anything found in Scripture or elsewhere.
Eastern Manners and Customs: "Sycamore Fruit"; "Will He Give Him a Stone"
“A gatherer of sycamore fruit.” —Amos 7:14.
THE sycamore, or common fig of Egypt, is a noble tree of wide-spreading, giant branches... Just the tree which when it over-arches the way, a man could easily climb into, and find there a safe perch of observation... It is essentially a “fruitful tree.” The natives of Syria say that it bears seven crops a year... At the end of each of its figs a drop of watery fluid is in the habit of forming, which, if it is not removed, entirely prevents the fruit ripening. The cultivation of this tree requires, therefore, that each fig should be lanced, or lacerated, to allow of the escape of this noxious matter. The way in which it is effected is by rubbing and slightly tearing the fruit, shortly before the time it should ripen, with an iron comb, when some four days afterward, it comes to perfection. The prophet Amos... tells us, as it is in the original Hebrew, “I was a cultivator of sycamore fruit.”
Revelation James Neil.
“Will he give him a stone?”
The native Egyptian bread is a sort of flap, pliant, and moist, like a cold pancake; it is always round, and of a dusky color, and in fact, resembles the flat stones often found in the bed of rivers, or in the desert. At a distance, a pile of bread might be taken for a pile of such stones, and makes one think of the beautiful expression of scripture, “What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?” (Matthew 7:9). Will he give the mockery of a good thing, instead of its reality? M. L. W.
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Hinds - Lamp
Agility, fearlessness, liberty, affection
2 Samuel 22:34; Psalms 18:33; Hab. 3:19; Proverbs 5:19; Sol. 2:7, 3:5
Mere natural affection; forbidden to be offered in sacrifices
Psalms 119:3; Revelation 10:10
Divine security, founded on the righteousness of God (gold) and the grace of Christ (silver)
Daniel 7:8; Revelation 13:17
Psalms 75:10; 132:17; 1 Samuel 2:1; Revelation 5:6
Successful power in war and conquest
Zechariah 6; Revelation 6
Leviticus 14; Numbers 19:6; 1 Kings 4:33
Any object of life or center for the heart short of God
1 John 5:21; Colossians 3:5; Philippians 3:19; 1 Corinthians 10:14
One who represents another. Man in the old creation, Christ in the new
Genesis 1:26; Colossians 1:15; Acts 19:35
Christ in the value and the fragrance of His person offered to God
Prayers of future suffering saints
Revelation 5:8 (Compare also 8:3)
The future brief but awful period of Israel’s suffering at the hands of Jehovah
Daniel 3:40; 7:7; Job. 40:18
1 Timothy 4:2; Revelation 9:9
Revelation 4:3; 21:11, 18
Our preciousness to God; marks of divine favor
Malachi 3:17; Ezekiel 16:17; Isaiah 61:10
The right to exercise Divine authority and government
Isaiah 22:22; Revelation 1:18; 3:7; Matthew 16:19
The inward feelings and affections
Familiar yet holy expression of love
1 Corinthians 16:20; 1 Peter 5:14
Divine expression of love
Philippians 2:10; Ephesians 3:14
Communication between heaven and earth
Gentle, meek, tender, unresisting
The word occurs nearly thirty times in the Revelation, but is there associated with strength, glory, and worship contrasted also with the beast, as the holy
The great Passover sacrifice
The daily morning and evening sacrifice, earth-rejected but now exalted sufferer
Religious profession in possession of light and privilege
The Spirit’s perfect light in the sanctuary —the presence of God
The Revised Version of the New Testament: Mark 3:14-5:30
3:14. — “And he appointed twelve.” The word rendered “appointed “means literally” made.” The Authorized Version has “ordained.”
3:15. — “And to have authority to cast out devils.” Some manuscripts here add the clause “to heal sicknesses,” which reading has been adopted in the Authorized Version.
4:11 — “Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God.” In the Authorized Version we read, “Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God.” It is needless to point out the difference between being given “the mystery,” and being given “to know the mystery.”
4:12. — “Lest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them.” The rendering “turn again” is much more correct than that of the Authorized Version “be converted.” In Isaiah 6 so the Authorized Version strangely translates “convert,” but here again the meaning of the original is simply “turn.”
4:22. — “Neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light.” The expression “come to light” is preferable to “come abroad,” not only as being a more exact translation, but also as referring to the metaphor of the “ lamp” employed in the preceding verse.
5:24. —The words “unto you that hear” are here omitted by the Revisers.
5:30. — “Perceiving in himself that the power proceeding from him had gone forth.” This is merely a new rendering of the Greek text, and involves no change of reading. It is both clearer and more literal than the rendering of the Authorized Version.
(To be continued.)
Notes on Last Month's Subject: Animals Used Symbolically
12. —Animals Used Symbolically.
The unusual length to which last month’s subject extended must have astonished many of our readers, who doubtless thought when the subject was given that the research would produce a very small result. We had no idea that so much of varied interest could be found respecting the animals selected, and are sure that the list now collected, we believe for the first time, will prove of great value to Bible Students. We will just indicate briefly one or two points of interest that have struck us in glancing down the list, leaving our readers to consider the subject more deeply at their leisure.
One great fact that impresses us at once is, that every animal that is typical of the believer is also in some way typical of Christ. There are seven animals that are used in this double way: the lamb, the calf, the dove, the hart, the lion, the sheep, and the serpent. We will just look at each briefly.
The lamb is typical of Christ in suffering (as “led to the slaughter”) in death (the Lamb slain), and in glory (the Lamb is the light thereof). It is typical of the believer in feebleness and dependence (“as lambs among wolves”), also of young believers specially (“Feed my lambs.”)
The calf is typical generally of Christ in death, and specially of Him as the best thing our Father’s heart can give us for food. It is also typical of the prosperity of those who form the Jewish remnant, and who fear the Lord, to whom Christ shall arise with “healing in His wings.”
The dove is typical of Christ in death, being the offering provided for the one who was too poor to buy an ox or a sheep.
The believer is also called upon to be as harmless as a dove, while the turtle dove in Psalms 74:19 is emblematical of God’s people in affliction.
The hart is beautifully used in the Canticles as figurative of Christ, and in the Psalms as figurative of the earnest longing of the believer’s soul. It is further typical of the believer’s joy, and of the security and sure footedness of those who trust in God.
The lion is one of the titles of Christ in the Apocalypse, symbolical of strength and power, doubtless also alluding to the description of Judah in Genesis 49 It is also used by the prophet Micah to show the strength of the faithful remnant of God’s people when surrounded by their enemies. No other animal is used in such varied similes as this, which is typical not only of God, of Christ, of Judah, and of the faithful remnant, but also of the wicked cities of Nineveh and Babylon, of rebellious Israel, of Christ’s crucifiers, and even of Satan himself.
The sheep in her dumbness and patience at shearing time is typical of our Lord in His sufferings. It is also typical of all believers, once lost, now found.
The serpent (the last of the seven) made in brass and lifted upon a pole is typical of Christ as the only saving object for the eye of faith to rest on, while believers are to be “wise as serpents,” though “guileless as doves.”
Thus, although the usage may differ, the fact remains, that no animal in the list is typical of the believer that is not also typical of Christ. In our natural state it is not so. The unconverted man is compared in value to an ass, the ransom money for both being the same; also to a dog in his uncleanness and shamelessness, but to neither of these is Christ ever compared.
On the other hand, in His atoning death the Lord is symbolized by goats and oxen, neither of which are symbolical of believers. Speaking of goats we think the heading in page 189 “The two scape goats” must be an oversight, for there was but one scapegoat. The two goats beautifully show, as is pointed out, the difference between propitiation and substitution. The blood of one goat carried into the holiest and sprinkled in the Divine presence, typifies the aspect of the atonement in Romans 3:25, in virtue of which the guilt of sin having been put away by Christ’s sacrifice, God is free to declare his righteousness and show forth His grace. All this, however, does not in itself save the sinner. It provides perfect salvation for him, but unless he takes it he is still lost. Here then the second or scape-goat comes in, where the sins of the people are confessed upon the head of the live goat, and it bears them all away forever; so in Romans 4:25 we read “ who was delivered for our offenses.” Thus also in Egypt where though, there was but one lamb, it was not only slain, but the blood was sprinkled by the hand of the saved person over his own door.
We trust these few remarks have been sufficient to show how much there is of interest to repay further study of this wide and varied subject.
This Month's Subject: God's Dealings with His Children
The subject worked out for this month is—
Examples of the result of God’s dealings with His children, in three divisions as set forth in Hebrews 12:5-11.
1St. Those who despised the chastening of the Lord, 2nd. Those who fainted under it, 3rd. Those who were exercised by it.
A few of our correspondents have included in their papers those who were not children of God, but as this was only in a few divisions, we have not included them in the list. In many instances, however, the manner of God’s dealings is full of instruction for us, and may well form a subject for study, —see the cases of Cain, Saul, and others.
There are instances too of God’s children, of those chastisement and its object we are told, but not the result, for instance Hymenaeus and Alexander whom the apostle Paul delivered unto Satan that they might “learn not to blaspheme.” We may call attention also to the warnings to the churches in Revelation 2 &
DIVISION 1.
“My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord.”
LOT left the path of faith, seeking that which the world could offer him: he pitched his tent toward Sodom (Genesis 13:12), he dwelt in Sodom (Genesis 14:12), but though chastened by being carried captive, on his return he appears quite unexercised, and we next see him sitting in the gate of Sodom (Genesis 19) he is involved in the judgment of that wicked city, but is saved through the mercy of God, suffering the loss of all that which had attracted him, and does not appear from his subsequent history to have been exercised in soul by God’s dealings with him.
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, (Numbers 13) believed the report brought by the 10 spies, rather than the testimony of Caleb and Joshua, and refusing to enter the land, murmured against God (chapter 14:27); in judgment God declares that none of them shall enter the land; but refusing to bow to His word, they presumptuously march toward Canaan, and are smitten by the Amalekites and Canaanites.
ASA relied on the king of Syria and not on the Lord, and for this cause he was visited with the judgment of constant wars; instead of being humbled, however, he put in prison the prophet whom God had sent to announce the judgment. 2 Chronicles 14, 15, 16.
JOASH and the people of Judah, after the death of Jehoiada, lapsed into idolatry, and when God testified against them by the mouth of Zechariah, they slew him. In the end the judgment against Judah was executed by the Syrians, and Joash was slain by his servants. 2 Chronicles 24:17-26.
AMAZIAH’S history is almost identical with Joash’s, 2 Chronicles 25
DIVISION 2.
“Nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him.”
AARON, when judgment had fallen upon his house in the persons of his sons Nadab and Abihu, is not able to fulfill his priestly duties in eating the sin offering. Leviticus 10
DAVID in seeking to bring the ark from Kirjathjearim, fails to observe God’s order (1 Chronicles 15:13) and Uzza putting forth his hand to support it is smitten by God. David is afraid (faints under the judgment) and the ark remains in the house of Obed-edom.
DIVISION 3.
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to
them that are exercised thereby.”
ADAM and EVE, for their disobedience in eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, are excluded from the garden and become subject to death: they appear to have had faith in the word of God and, by the names they gave their sons, to have looked for the promised seed.
JACOB in his whole life and wanderings appears to be under the chastening hand of God for his want of faith in seeking to make sure of the promised blessing (Genesis 27): in his latter days, especially after his reunion with Joseph he evinces exercise of soul.
THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL appear during their sojourn in Egypt to have been wholly given up to idolatry (see Ezekiel 20:5-9); for this judgment fell upon them at the hand of Pharaoh; they cried unto God, and though at first they appear to have fainted under the affliction (Exodus 2:23, &c.), and then to have refused the deliverance (Chapter 5:21), they were eventually delivered and, when across the Red sea praise God for his mercy to them. During the absence of Moses on the Mount, they made a golden calf and worshipped it (Exodus 32); in judgment 3000 of them were slain by the children of Levi, and afterward the people appear to have humbled themselves (33:6.)
Numbers 11:1,2. They murmured against God, who consumed many with fire, and on their crying unto Moses he prayed unto the Lord and the fire was quenched.
In the person of Achan (Joshua 7) they sinned by taking part of the spoil of Jericho: in judgment they are defeated by the men of Ai, but on their clearing themselves by the death of Achan they are victorious.
Read also Deuteronomy 8:1-5.
MIRIAM AND AARON speak against Moses, and in chastisement Miriam is smitten with leprosy: they repent and at the intercession of Moses she is restored. Numbers 11
MOSES failed to honor God (Numbers 20:12) and he is in consequence excluded from the land: the exercise of his heart is apparent in Numbers 27:16,17.
SAMSON revealed the secret of his strength to Delilah and in judgment he is taken by the Philistines and his eyes put out. In prison he appears to have been exercised by the chastisement, and his prayer to God that he may be avenged of his enemies is heard.
ELI did not restrain his sons in their evil course, and their judgment is announced first by a man of God (1 Samuel 2:27), and then by Samuel (chapter 3:18.) He appears to have humbled himself (chapter 3:18),
DAVID sinned against Uriah in procuring his death that he might take Bathsheba for his wife: he humbled himself and confessed his sin to Nathan (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalms 51) nevertheless he is chastened by the death of his son.
He numbered the people (which Joab saw to be wrong): in chastisement God sends a pestilence on Israel, and David recognizing the sin to be his, humbles himself before God. 2 Samuel 24
REHOBOAM (2 Chronicles 12:1) forsook the law of the Lord, and is delivered into the hand of Shishak, King of Egypt: he humbles himself, and the judgment, though not altogether removed, is lightened.
JEHOSHAPHAT joined himself with Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Syria; for this Jehu the prophet warns him that wrath is upon him from the Lord: the judgment appears to take the shape of an invasion by the Moabites and Ammonites, over whom, however, Jehoshaphat and the men of Judah gained a victory, having first humbled themselves before God. 2 Chronicles 18; 19; 20.
A second time Jehoshaphat joins himself with a wicked king of Israel, but his ships being broken by God in judgment (2 Chronicles 20:37) he appears to have broken off the alliance. (1 Kings 22:49).
NOTE. —Some may judge that Jehoshaphat should rather have been placed in the first division, inasmuch as he a second time commits the sin for which the chastisement of God had already fallen on him.
HEZEKIAH. “But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up; therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.” 2 Chronicles 32:25, 26; see also for his sin, 2 Kings 20:12-19 and Jeremiah 26:18,19.
EZRA & NEHEMIAH identified themselves with the sin of the children of Israel, who were scattered amongst the nations, in consequence of their disobedience. They make confession before God, and are humbled and exercised about the condition of the people, and of the city, and receive the permission of the king of Persia to return to Jerusalem.
JOB. We do not read of any sin of Job’s on account of which he was so sorely chastised; on the contrary, we have God’s own testimony as to his integrity and uprightness (chapter 1:8). Yet the whole book shows plainly that he had never seen himself in the light of God’s presence (chapter 33:9), and it is to this end-the knowledge of himself and of God-that the chastisement brings him (chapter 42:5, 6). Truly we may repeat the words of Hebrews 12:10, “ but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness.”
JONAH is commanded to testify against Nineveh: instead, however, of obeying the command he flees to Joppa and takes ship to Tarshish; on the way, however, the judgment of God overtakes him in the shape of a storm: he is thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish: he humbles himself before God and is released, and on a second command testifies against Nineveh.
ZACHARIAS does not believe the word of God by the angel, foretelling the birth of John, and in consequence is smitten with dumbness (Luke 1:19): on the birth of John his tongue is loosed and he praises God.
THE CHURCH at Corinth permitted sin in their midst (chapter 5.); for this probably and for other reasons, the judgment of God fell upon them (chapter 11:30): at the rebuke of Paul they humble themselves, and clear themselves before God (2 Corinthians 7:11).
See also 2 Corinthians 2:6,7.
PAUL receives a thorn in the flesh that he might not be exalted above measure, and might learn that the Lord’s strength is made perfect in weakness.
This dealing of God with the apostle had more the character of a preventative than of chastisement.
The history of the Children of Israel abounds in so many instances both of Divisions II. and III. that we have not been able to insert all, but only a few selected examples. In many cases, especially those recorded in the book of Judges, they appear to have humbled themselves under the hand of God, and to have been delivered from their enemies: in a brief time, however, they sinned again, so that the exercise of soul would not appear to have been of a very abiding character.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 222-271
Q. 222. What is meant by the “day of visitation” 1 Peter 2:12? M. N.
A. The day of judgment, when an account shall be given of every idle word spoken against God’s children now (Matthew 12:36).
Q. 223. How does Genesis 10:5, agree with Genesis 11:1-6? s. B.
A. Chapter 10 is a sketch of the whole history of the population of the earth by seventy nations (Japheth 11, Ham 30, Shem 26) the number having reference to those of Israel (46:27), compare Deuteronomy 32 S. Chapter 11 takes up the thread of the historical narrative broken off at the end of Chapter 9. Hence most of Chapter 10 is subsequent to chapter 11.
Q. 224. How does the kingdom of heaven suffer violence? Who are the violent? What does the verse mean? s. B.
A. The violent are those who are strong enough in faith to enter the kingdom in spite of all obstacles. To become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven which was spiritual, required an energy and determination to which citizens of the Jewish monarchy were quite unaccustomed. The word “suffereth violence” is rendered “presseth” in Luke 16:16.
Q. 225. (1) What is the meaning of 1 Corinthians 9:22? (2) If Paul was sure of attaining unto the first resurrection, why did he say “if” by any means I might attain? E. M. B.
A. (1) Paul adapted himself to the religious capacity and modes of thought of those whom he labored for, not those he labored with. We can fully understand from other Scriptures that this did not involve giving up one iota of the truth of God, but was a giving of it out, in such a way and measure as they were able to receive. (2) Because the thought he wished to convey was that the prospect before him was of such a glorious nature, and so ardently desired, that he would go through anything (fire and water, as we say) to get there. The word “if” often means “so that” or sometimes “since” as in Colossians 3:1.
Q. 226. Does Christ reign over the world now?
A. No. He will shortly (Revelation 22:20) return into the air (1 Thessalonians 4) to take all His saints, living and dead to heaven. The earthly judgments foretold in the book of Revelation will then take place and not until their close will the angel announce (Revelation 11:15) “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ.” Shortly after, He will descend from heaven as a King (Revelation 19:12) and after judging all evil will reign 1000 years. Christ is thus the “little stone” of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, who will then fall on the restored 10 kingdoms (ten toes) of the Roman empire (legs of iron) and grind them to powder (Daniel 2)
Q. 227. (1) Will there still be a people on the earth after the millennium? (2) Where will Abraham be? (3) Is the promise of God “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever” to be taken literally. s. B.
A. (1) After the millennium and the last rebellion of man against God at its close (Revelation 20:7-10.) the present heaven and earth will pass away altogether, and in the new, the dwelling of God will be with men on the earth (21:3), in a more intimate and nearer way than even in the millennium. (2) Abraham will be with the company of heavenly saints in that city for which he looked (Hebrews 11:10). (3) Yes; why not?
Q. 228. (1) Were Luke 10:18 and John 12:31 fulfilled at the time our Lord spoke, or are they yet future? (2) Does Satan accuse the brethren before God now? E. M. B.
A. (1) Luke 10:18 is future, anticipated by the Lord when He saw the powers of “ the world to come” (the coming kingdom) used by His disciples. John 12:31 refers to the double aspect of the death of Christ as filling up the measure of iniquity of the world, and as destroying and breaking the power of the enemy of those in it, according to Hebrews 2:14, 15. (2) Revelation 12:10, which we believe is still future, clearly says so. Job; 1 Kings 22 and perhaps Zechariah 3 give illustrations of his position and actions in the heavenlies, where even now our warfare with Satan is. (Ephesians 6).
Q. 229. Was the baptism of the Spirit accomplished once for all at Pentecost, or are individuals baptized into one body on believing? E. M. B.
A. All believers then on earth were baptized into one body at Pentecost, but many to whom Paul wrote, as also himself, were not in this company, and yet they are said to be baptized into one body, 1 Corinthians 12:13. We understand the expression to be equivalent to sealing, Ephesians 1:13, which is a different aspect of the same event viz. the Holy Ghost taking up His abode in our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19). The moment therefore that we are indwelt by the one Spirit that dwells in the one Body we are then said to be baptized into that body.
Q. 230. (1) Who are the “little flock” of Luke 12:32, and what kingdom will the Father give? (2) When will all men be drawn to the Lord? T. B.
A. Primarily the Jewish remnant. The kingdom is the coming one in the millennium. This kingdom is spoken of in seven ways “ kingdom of God” Matthew 12:28; “of heaven” Matthew 3:2; “of His dear Son,” Colossians 1:13; “of the Father,” Matthew 13:43; “of the Son of Man,” Matthew 16:28; “everlasting,” Daniel 7:27; “heavenly,” 2 Timothy 4:18. (2) The passage in John 12:32 means that although in His life Jesus only came unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, in His death His attracting power should be world wide, no longer confined to any one nation. No doubt there is reference to ver. 20. Not however until the millennium will all on earth bow the knee to the crucified Redeemer.
Q. 231. (a) What is taught by the statement in Numbers 13:22 That Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in-Egypt? (2) Why is it said that the children of Israel passed over Jordan, not through it in Joshua 3 and 4? T. B.
A. Zoan was probably one of the head quarters of the warlike race that overran Egypt (n.c. 2080). Hebron was a still more ancient city belonging to the Anakim (originally the city of Arba, after Arba father of Anak Joshua 21:11;15. 13, 14) who were the same or a kindred race. The passage appears merely to chew the extreme antiquity of Hebron. (2) “Pass over” is rendered by two Hebrew words, the one meaning literally to pass over, (See Exodus 12:13,23,27), the other to pass across or through (See Genesis 15:17;32. 10; Exodus 12:12,23; Deuteronomy 2:14, etc.) It is the latter word that is used in Joshua.
Q. 232. What is the heavenly kingdom spoken of in 2 Timothy 4:18? s. B.
A. The heavenly side of the coming kingdom. There will be an earthly side consisting of those ruled over, and a heavenly consisting of their rulers. “Kings and priests” who will reign with Christ a thousand years (Revelation 20:4). The New Jerusalem will be the seat of heavenly authority.
Q. 233. Does not Judah’s crouching (Genesis 49:9) and Israel’s (Numbers 24:9) refer to the dwelling in Egypt when Pharaoh recognizing their power wished to keep them down?
A. We would rather suggest that Judah as a crouching lion is a picture of his future strength and yet quiet character, able to overcome, and yet not cruel in his strength. The passage in Numbers is somewhat similar, apparently meaning that it would be in vain to attempt to move or dislodge the tribes of Israel. We do not think either passage refers to Egypt.
Q. 234 (1) What is meant by the “seven spirits which are before the throne?” (2) Why did John “turn” to see the voice that spoke to him? Revelation 1:12. c.
A. (1) The Holy Ghost; no longer regarded as one (Ephesians 4) in connection as now with the one body composed of Jew and Gentile, but in His sevenfold perfection as seen also in Isaiah 11 “the Spirit of the Lord, of wisdom, of understanding, of counsel, of might, of knowledge, of the fear of the Lord.” (2) We can give no answer beyond the fact that the voice was behind him.
Q. 235. (1) Were not the sufferings of our Lord on Cal. vary for sin far deeper than those in Gethsemane (Luke 22:44.)? (2) Does not Christ value the remembrance of Himself in our hearts at the Lord’s supper? c.
A. (1) As already stated in a previous answer we do not like to analyze these sufferings too far, we may, however, say with reverence that to be forsaken by God was surely the greatest of all sufferings, and this was at Calvary, not in Gethsemane. (2) Surely, He does. It is not merely the outward act, but the inward occupation of heart with Himself that He values.
Q. 236. (1) Please explain 1 Corinthians 10:1-10. (2) What reference, if any, has it to the two sacraments? (3) How are they ensamples to us?
A. These events that happened to Israel were ensamples to us, that no amount of privilege (in their case, the Red Sea, the Rock, and the Manna —in our baptism, and the Lord’s supper is sufficient. There must be practical godliness shown as a proof of vital godliness within, otherwise there is the judgment of God. We are also not to yield to temptation. The principles are thus laid down; not to trust in privileges, and to resist the devil in times of trial.
Q. 237. Who is Reuel, Exodus 2:18, and who is Jethro? Are they both the same person? (Exodus 18:1.) F. E. L. P.
A. Reuel is only one of the names of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. He is also called Hobab. Some think from Numbers 10:29, that Exodus 2:18 must really mean that Reuel was the grandfather, not the father of Zipporah. Jethro was a priest, or prince of Midian.
Q. 238. Why is Dan left out in Revelation 7? S. V. P.
A. See B. S., March 1882, p. 91, Q. 118.
Q. 239. How do you reconcile John 1:34 with Matthew 11? J. L.
A. “Until John” evidently includes him, because of Matthew 11:9.
Q. 240. What is your opinion of the value of the marginal readings in the R. V., say in Romans 9:5 and Acts 8:38? J. G.
A. The marginal readings are frequently of as great or greater value than the text, the former being that adopted by some of the highest individual authorities, the latter requiring (when differing from the A.V.) a majority of two-thirds of the Revisers. In both the cases you refer to, however, we believe that the text is the more correct, especially in omitting verse 37 in Acts 8.
Q. 241. Please explain “make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,” Luke 16:9. M. H.
A. R. V. reads, “Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.” The meaning clearly is, that as the unjust steward used his master’s goods not for his present but future advantage, so should believers lay out that which is not their own, i.e. worldly riches, not for their present advantage but their eternal reward, so that when they die they may have an abundant entrance into the kingdom, sending as it were, their wealth on before instead of leaving it behind. For further explanation refer to B. S.; May 1882, p. 164, Q. 190.
Q. 242. Is it a scriptural thought that Christ did all His miracles simply as a dependent man? Did He not perform them by virtue of being the God-man? If the latter be correct, why did He say in John 11:41, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me?” H. N.
A. The power was of God, but no miracle was wrought save in per-feet obedience to His Father’s will. The object of the miracles was to chew that Christ was the Son of God, hence they are recorded for this end (John 20:30,31). He wrought them by the power of God, (Luke 11:20) but He also had power in Himself by virtue of being not only man but God (John 5:21; 10:18). As man He said John 11:41. Christ therefore did not do miracles merely as a dependent man, for He had Divine power, neither did He do them merely as Almighty God, for He was a dependent man, but He did them in His inseparable and mysterious character of the God-man, Christ Jesus.
Q. 243. Is there any significance in the order observed in Hebrews 12:22-24? H.
A. We think there is. There are eight things in all, each being separated by the word “and.” 1, the mount, 2, the city, 3, the innumerable company of angels, 4, the church, 5, God, 6, spirits of just men, 7, Jesus, 8, the blood. The earthly Zion raised the apostles’ thoughts to the heavenly city and to heaven generally, then to their innumerable angelic hosts, and then to the church enrolled there by the grace of God. God as judge naturally introduces the spirits of those faithful ones who had suffered righteously on the earth. This leads on to the new covenant and its Mediator, who will again establish relationship with God’s ancient people, and not only with them but, in virtue of His precious blood (that does not cry for vengeance as did Abel’s,) with the whole millennial earth. The passage thus speaks of God, Christ, heaven, angels, the church, the remnant of the Jews, and the redeemed earth.
Q. 244. (1) What is the baptism of the Holy Ghost? and (2) What is the earnest of the Spirit? J. G.
A. The “baptism of the Spirit” is His indwelling by virtue of which each believer becomes a part of the one body, being brought into the “unity of the Spirit.” It first took place at Pentecost where individual believers were for the first time formed into a unity. The “earnest of the Spirit” means that the Spirit Himself is the earnest, and He is the foretaste of our coming portion and inheritance, just as the grapes of Eschol enjoyed in the wilderness, are foretaste of the glories of Canaan. See Q. 229.
Q. 245. (1) How are we to reconcile Matthew 24:34 and Luke 21:32? (2) What is the true meaning of 1 Corinthians 10:12? R. T. B.
A. “Generation” is not literal, for nearly all who heard the Lord’s words would be dead even before the taking of Jerusalem, and even this event only partially fulfills the prophecy. The word is used characteristically, meaning that the same self-will and rejection of Christ should still characterize His people until all these things were fulfilled, that is right up to Christ’s return to Mount Olivet. (2) It is a warning to Christian professors to see that in the first place they are not standing on privileges, but on the rock, Christ; and secondly, that they are not standing in pride so as to be tripped up by Satan, as all such surely will be, though they are true children of God.
Q. 246. (1) Please explain Genesis 47:9, (2) and Exodus 4:24-26. J. R. R.
A. (1) Jacob had been a wanderer principally through impetuous following of his own will, and not waiting God’s time; hence when called upon to testify before kings, instead of a song of praise he is heard to murmur, like many Christians now. (2) Those who are about to enter God’s service must themselves be obedient to His laws. As a type, circumcision being a judgment of sin on oneself-this must be practically carried out. For an uncircumcised servant see the case Paul puts in 1 Corinthians 9:27. (not himself, see 1 Corinthians 4:6)
Q. 247. Were the male children drowned in Exodus 1:17-22 (Acts 7:19)? J. R. R.
A. No doubt many were destroyed, some by the king’s command others through exposure, but not all.
Q. 248. (1) Does the house of the Lord (Psalms 27:4, &c.) mean the temple, and what does it typify? (2) What does “chastisement of our peace” mean, Isaiah 53:5? J. R.R.
A. (1) Yes, and is typical of heaven. Read carefully Hebrews 9, 10. (2) That “chastisement” through means of which peace is made between a sin-hating God and sinners.
Q. 249. (1) Is the woman in Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9 the same as Mary, John 12:3-8? (2) Please explain Matthew 25:4, and (3) Luke 19:12-27. J. R. R.
A. (I) Yes. See B. S., Jan. 1832, p. 14, Q. 14. (2) There was not merely an outward show of Christianity (shown by lamps burning) but an inward possession of the Holy Ghost to keep the flame alight. (3) This describes our Lord’s present absence from this world, and the faithful or unfaithful conduct of His servants in this world, to each of which He has entrusted some gift to be used for His glory. It also describes the future rewards for faithful service.
Q. 250. Please explain (1) John 15:2-6. (2) John 1:9; (3) Matthew 11:11-17. J. R. R.
A. (1) See B. S., vol. 1, p. 68, Q. 314, also p. 140, Q. 430. (2) The B. V. gives the true meaning, “There (that is, Christ) was the true light which lighteth every man, coming into the world,” or “coming into the world lighteth every man.” (3) See Q. 239 above.
Q. 251. Have Luke 13:6-9 and 1 Corinthians 11:30, any application to believers now? J. R. R.
A. The passage in Luke refers to the Jewish nation. It is interesting to note that on three great occasions from Moses to Christ, blessing was given and fruit sought with an interval of seventy weeks (490 years) between eachapter Once in Solomon’s time, 490 years after Moses, when they reached their highest position as a nation; next, 490 years after, when restored under Nehemiah; and lastly, 490 years after this, when Christ came: but according to verse 8, a further respite was still granted till the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus. The passage in Corinthians does refer to believers, and means the death of the body. See also Hebrews 12
Q. 252. Are there different degrees of punishment for the lost (Matthew 11:22; 12:42)? J. R. R.
A. These passages clearly indicate that there are-just as in heaven there is difference of rewards.
Q. 253. Please explain (1) 2 Peter 2:20-2 and (2) Ephesians 1:9. J. R. R.
A. (1) The end of false professors, never inwardly renewed, but only outwardly cleansed, like a washed sow. (2) The descent of Christ into Hades (the place of departed spirits).
Q. 254. Please explain (1) Hebrews 1:14, and (2) Revelation 1:13-16. J. R. R.
A. (1) It simply describes the mission of angels, who are messengers of God employed on behalf of all believers. (2) This is Christ seen in accordance with the character He bears towards the seven churches; many details being taken up separately in the addresses which follow. He was clothed as a priest, girt with divine righteousness, His head surrounded with the emblem of Divine glory (see Daniel 7) His eyes full of penetrating judgment, His feet strong in justice, His voice powerful and beyond all human control, in His hand the representation of the seven churches, judgment proceeding from His mouth, face full of glory.
Q. 255. Were John 14;15;16 spoken on the way to the garden or at the supper table? G. S. B.
A. It would appear at first sight that they left the house at the close of Chapter 14, but it is more probable that they only then prepared to go, and that the whole discourse and prayer was given in the house.
Q. 256. (1) Does “went to God” in John 13:3 mean going in prayer or, in the sense of Acts 1:9, about to go in resurrection? (2) Was the morsel given to Judas (John 13:26) a piece of the unleavened bread, and was it dipped in the wine? G. S. B.
A. (1) “About to go,” i.e., in full view of His divine mission. (2) Probably not. Most likely it was a piece of unleavened bread dipped in a dish of sauce made of vinegar, figs, dates, almonds, and spice, said to be beaten up to resemble the clay of Egypt, out of which the bricks were made.
Q. 257. Does John 6:53-58 refer to the Lord’s Supper? A. D. E C.
A. No. Jesus offers Himself as the manna (35), but as a matter of fact none could feed on Him save in death, i.e. flesh and blood. Verse 54 is the same as verse 47. “Eating” is “believing” all through. To make it literal eating would reduce the Chapter to the greatest absurdity. Matthew 26:26,27, is the institution of the remembrance of Christ’s death by Christ Himself during His life. This in the wisdom of God, makes utter foolishness of transubstantiation. For Christ’s body was not broken, nor was any of His blood then shed. Besides, after (ver. 28) He has called it “His blood,” He expressly (ver. 29) says it is still the “fruit of the vine.”
Q. 258. When was the latter part of John 21:18 fulfilled? A. D.
A. in Peter’s martyrdom at Rome, which though not recorded in Scripture, rests on such universal historical authority that it is probably authentic. The manner of his martyrdom is not certainly known, but it is said to have been crucifixion, many also adding, with the head down-wards.
Q. 259. (1) Please explain why Zerubbabel is called the son of Pedaiah in 1 Chronicles 3:19, while in other places he is said to be the son of Shealtiel or Salathiel? (2) Arid why in the list of his sons, neither Abiud (Matthew 1:13) nor Rhesa (Luke 3:27) is mentioned.
A. (1) He probably was the son of Pedaiah, but as Pedaiah’s brother appears to have been the firstborn, and to have had no children, Zerubbabel, who was really his nephew, probably succeeded his uncle as head of the house of Judah, and hence passed generally as his son. (2) Rhesa is conjectured not to be a person, but simply “Rosh,” the prince, the title given to the heads of the captivity in Babylon, and hence referring to Zerubbabel. This would make Joannes, the son of Zerubbabel, probably the same as Hananiah, 1 Chronicles 3:19. Abiud has been supposed to be the same as Hodaiah (1 Chronicles 3:24) probably the grandson of Zerubbabel by Shelomith.
Q. 260. Why is only Manasseh’s sin mentioned in Kings, and not his repentance, which is told so fully in Chronicles.
A. We should be glad to know.
Q. 261. Is it possible for any one to be “perfect,” Colossians 4:12; also Matthew 5:48, and Hebrews 6:1? T. N. S.
A. The word in 1 Corinthians 14:20 is translated “men,” in Hebrews 5:14 “full age.” The verb is rendered six times “fulfilled” or “finished,” Luke 2:43; John 4:34; 17:4; Acts 20:24. The adverb occurs but once, and is translated “to the end,” 1 Peter 1.13. The noun is translated “performance” in Luke 1:45, and “perfection” in Hebrews 7:11, and “finisher” in Hebrews 12:2. In the natural sense, therefore, the word means “fully grown as men.” A man is perfect who has attained the moral end, that is to be a man in Christ, all graces in him are ripe and mature. The word necessarily can only be used relatively of us “Be ye therefore perfect,” though absolutely of God “as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” The doctrine of perfection implying absence from inbred sin has no place in Scripture. In the passage referred to it simply means “full growth in grace,” absolutely therefore it can be true of none in this world, relatively Paul claims it for himself, (Phil, 3:12).
Q. 263. (1) What are the “two immutable things” Hebrews 6:18? (2) Who is it that returns and repents in Joel 2:14?
w. J. B.
A. (1) Do you not think they are God’s promise and God’s oath? (2) God and the blessing He leaves is to be rendered back to Himself as an offering. he desolate wilderness of ver. 3 left neither corn nor wine for meat and drink offerings, but on their repentance God would not so utterly destroy the land but leave sufficient for them to enjoy and offer to God.
Q. 264. (1) Explain Psalms 119:109, and (2) Job 22:30, (3) How should Psuchee be translated in Matthew 16:25,26? W. J. B.
A. (1) If we use the word “life” for “soul,” is not the meaning clear? To have one’s “life in one’s hand” is a familiar expression. (2) It refers to such a case as Abraham’s intercession for Sodom, see Genesis 18:26 We cannot say why “island” is used. (3) The word is used in ver. 25 to mean natural life, and in ver. 26 to mean what we call the soul. That the word has the double meaning of “life” and “soul” is evident. For the former see Matthew 2.20, for the latter Matthew 10:28?
Q. 265. (1) Who is the porter in John 10:3? (2) What is meant by “all men” in John 12:32? H. c.
A. (1) Is it not the Holy Spirit who announced the coming of Christ by John, Simeon, Anna, &c., and opened the door for Him into the Jewish fold? (2) Not Jews alone any longer, they had rejected Him, but the power of His cross should be felt by all nations, (Matthew 28:19).
Q. 266. What is the meaning of “Sinners of whom I am chief,” 1 Timothy 1:15? C. B.
A. The word is not “arkos” a chief or ruler, but “proton” the first or foremost, a word used constantly and always rendered “first.” The meaning surely is “foremost as a sinner” that is in guilt. And was it not so? When Christ had just established the infant church on the Rock, the man who undertook to wipe it off the face of the earth, to destroy “the body “ now they had slain “ the Head “ was Saul of Tarsus. And yet this was the man who in the wonderful ways of God is the only one to whom is committed the mystery of the church, and who alone fully unfolds the real character of that against which he had sinned SD deeply.
Q. 267. Who are meant by “his servants “ in Revelation 22:3? Does not our service end with our lives on the earth? M. A. T.
A. Surely not. It means us. Are we not to be kings and reign? Our weariness and toil, our tears, our weakness, our unfaithfulness, will all be over then, but not our service. He ever will still be a servant (Luke 12:37), and shall not we? This, indeed, will be the bliss of heaven to be permitted to manifest, in a small but thus perfect measure, our love and faithfulness to our beloved Lord.
Q. 268. Please explain Jude 21, “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” M. A. T.
A. We give the following remarks by another. “When one sees what are the fruits of the heart of man, one feels that it must be His mercy which presents us without spot before His face, in that day, for eternal life with a God of holiness. No doubt it is His unchangeable faithfulness, but in the presence of so much evil, one thinks rather of the mercy. Compare in the same circumstances, what Paul says 2 Timothy 1:16. It is mercy which has made the difference between those that fall and those that stand. (compare Exodus 33:19).”
Q. 269. What is the meaning of “abiding” in 1 John 3:15. J. F. G.
A. Dwelling (ver. 17), remaining ver. (9); the same word. It means he does not possess eternal life.
Q. 270. Esau said in his heart, Genesis 27 the fool hath said in his heart Psalms 14:1. What is the meaning of the Hebrew word; does it mean thought only? W. J. B.
A. The Hebrew word for heart is used in the Scriptures to denote figuratively (a) the soul, life, (b) the seat of the affections, and emotions of the mind of various kinds, as love, confidence, contempt, joy, sorrow, contrition, bitterness, despair, fear, security, fortitude, (c) the mode of thinking and acting; (d) the seat of will and purpose; (e) intellect and wisdom. Gesenius gives references to the texts in which the word appears in these senses.
Q. 271. (1) Please explain 1 Corinthians 7:14. (2) What is the true rendering in 2 Timothy 2:26 and 3:16? J. G.
A. (1) See B. S. vol. i, p. 115, Q. 377. (2) We cannot understand the textual reading of the R. V. and much prefer “having been taken captive by him (i.e., the devil), for (or unto) his will.” It is probable this second “his” being emphatic refers to God, who does thus allow evil doers to be delivered over to Satan see 1 Timothy 1:20. In 3:16 there is no “is” in the Greek at all, hence “inspired of God” is one statement, “profitable for teaching” another.
Notes on Former Queries: Vol. 2, 125; 123; 153
Q. 125. Matthew 18:6 tells us that the “little ones” alluded to believe in Me.” I cannot think that infants who die young are saved by the death of Christ: without shedding of blood there is no remission, and faith is always the condition of salvation. Your view would absolve me from the necessity of praying for the salvation of my young children. V. C.
[We think that ver. 6 refers to true believers here compared to little children; whereas ver. 10 appears to refer to the literal children in the Savior’s arms and ver. 11 to be in connection with it. Observe there is no “seeking” (Luke six. 10) only “saving” in connection with infants. They are saved on the ground that the blood is shed. This view in no way interferes with prayer for all those who are old enough to be personally responsible. —Ed.]
Q. 123. The meaning of “double” in Isaiah 40:2. It was a custom amongst the Jews that a man who had been sued for a debt, when he paid received two receipts: one he retained, the other called “the double” was posted in a public place to show his complete acquittal.
J. L.
Q. 153. The Hebrew word translated “giant” in our A. V. is derived from a root meaning to fall down, and the word is literally “fallen ones.” That angels are here meant is supported by the Alexandria Version of the Septuagint where Genesis 6:2 reads “angels of God.” S. C.
Jottings From Bible Margins
TWO BIRTHDAYS are recorded in Scripture—Pharaoh’s, Genesis 40:20, and Herod’s, Matthew 14:6. On both of these a man was put to death. E. C. D.
SERVICE.
Serve the Lord with all thine heart (Deuteronomy 10:12); serve Him without fear (Luke 1:74); serve the Lord with gladness (Psalms 100:2); serve Him with a willing mind (1 Chronicles 28:9); serve with pure conscience (2 Timothy 1:3); serve God acceptably with reverence (Hebrews 12:28); serving the Lord with all humility (Acts 20:19).
ORDINANCES.
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by lore, Galatians 5:6.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, Galatians 6:15.
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God, 1 Corinthians 7:19.
THE FATHER.
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him, John 6:44.
THE SON.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me, John 14:6.
THE HOLY GHOST.
No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 12:3.
PERFECTION.
God’s work, is perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4), His way is perfect (Psalms 18:30), His will is perfect (Romans 12:2).
Notes and Comments: Also, NT words explained: Seem- Single
We have received from V. C. a book entitled “Great David’s Greater Son,” written partly to prove that the Lord could not and did not work as a carpenter. The point of the book is to uphold the majesty and Divine dignity of the God-man, Christ Jesus; and the need of this we fully recognize, and warmly appreciate every sentence written with this object. At the same time we must say that the author produces absolutely no argument to prove that Christ did not work as a carpenter. In attempting to show that such a thought is unworthy of Christ we think that he has failed to recognize the grand fact that God can be glorified in every sphere of life, and that these thirty years cannot be regarded in any sense as wasted when we leave the narrow standpoint of man’s interest and turn to the question of God’s glory. Was not He glorified in having One on the earth for the first time in its sin-stained history who for thirty years led a life of perfect obedience to His Father’s will in the obscurity of a Galilean village? Can we not recognize in this the meat-offering of fine flour mingled with oil that represented the perfect life of Christ? We maintain that our Lord as fully and perfectly glorified God in His retirement as He did subsequently in His public life when ministering to our needs. We regret we have not further space for comment on this subject, but trust that all our readers can appreciate the beauty of the holy retired life at Nazareth into which no eye but God’s is allowed to penetrate, as well as the ceaseless service that followed it.
As we find from letters received that many of our Subscribers do not at all understand the meaning of the long array of figures and the notices on the first page of the cover, we have inserted an explanatory note, and trust that it will be the means of adding many intelligent Bible students to the Class. We feel sure from many testimonies received that there is no surer way of strengthening one’s Christian growth, and arming one’s self against the assaults of infidelity than by a regular and diligent study of the Scriptures, and the fact of being able to unite with others not only in study but in producing a result of permanent value is a great and worthy incentive, as we not only benefit ourselves, but afford much food and instruction to others.
New Testament Words Explained: Principally such as represent more than one word in the Greek.
Seem.
Dokeo andphainomai are both translated thus although there is a clear distinction between the two. Dokeo means the estimate or thought a man may have about a matter (Acts 15:28; 1 Corinthians 4:9; 7:40), which may be wrong (John 16:2: Acts 27:33) or right. Phainomai means the outward appearance a thing or a matter presents, irrespective of any estimate that may be formed of it. Bearing this distinction in mind, it will be seen that the rendering of the R. V. in James 1:26 is much more accurate than that of the Authorized Version, the latter reading “seemeth,” whereas, the word being dokeo, the idea is not the appearance, but the conception formed of the matter, “thinketh himself to be religious.” In a similar manner the R. V. gives for the first time the true force of phainomai in Philippians 2:25. Hitherto the word here has been translated “shine,” but now it is correctly rendered “are seen” or appear.
Servant.
This one English word is represented by six Greek words, each with a distinct meaning. Therapone means one who does a service, whether a permanent servant or no, whether a slave or a free-man; hence it is an honorable term. It is only used once in the New Testament, in Hebrews 3:5, “and Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant.” Diakonos is a servant in relation to his work, just as doulos is a servant in relation to his master. The former (meaning to pursue) signifies activity and zeal in work (whether the one is not implied), and we find the word in Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 3:6. In Matthew 22:3,4,8, to the servants are douloi or slaves, being men, but in ver. 13 where angels are referred to, the word used is diakonos.
A fourth word kupeeretees originally meant a rower, but came to mean the performer of any hard work, particularly under the commands of another. Thus the servant whose ear the Lord healed (Luke 22:51) is doutos, the one who struck him on the face (John 18:22) is lin/Seel-elms. Oiketees, a fifth word, means always a “domestic servant” in contrast with a daubs or slave; it occurs only in Luke 16:13; Acts 10:7; Romans 14:4; 1 Peter 2:18. The sixth word pais means simply child, but points to the custom of the East where in large families many of the children were really in the position of household servants. When used for servant, Matthew 8: 6; 12:18; Luke 1:53,69, it is a term of consideration and endearment.
Sin.
Three Greek words are thus translated. One, hamartia is the general word for all sin; it means literally “a failing to grasp or reach,” so in ordinary Greek it often meant to miss a mark. In Scripture however this mark is the glory of God of which we have all come short by sin.
Hamarteema (Mark 3:28;4. 12; Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 6:18) means solely the act of committing sin, never sin itself in the abstract.
Paraptomr, the third word which is often used to mean sins (Ephesians 2:1, etc.) may only mean faults or errors, Romans 5:15,17, 18; Galatians 6:1, and hence in many cases is not so strong a word as the others.
Single, Simple, Sincere.
These companion words represent four words in Greek, single being aplous, simple akeraios and akakos and sincere adolos. The study of the different shades of meaning in these words is full of interest. Aplous only occurs twice in the New Testament (Matthew 6:22; Luke 11:34) and means literally “spread out” i.e., without folds or wrinkles. Akeraios occurs thrice (Matthew 10:16; Romans 16:1;9, and Philippians 2:15) and means “simple” in contrast to “compound,” i.e., without admixture. Akakos occurs twice (Hebrews 7:26; Romans 16:18). In the former of these passages it means the absence of all evil, inferring the presence of all good, whereas in the latter it means that absence of all evil which prevents its being suspected in others and thus leads to a simplicity of character that is in danger of becoming credulous and easily deceived. The fourth word adolos occurs only once (1 Peter 2:2) and means without guile. As a contrast to the sincere milk of the word here spoken of is the handling the word of God deceitfully spoken of in 2 Corinthians 4:2. The four words then mean without guile, without evil, without mixture and without folds.
Christ Our Example: That Eternal Life Which Was With the Father: Also, Obadiah - Malachi
No. 2. “That Eternal Life Which Was With The Father.”
We track His wondrous path from the glory to the Heirship, of all things. What discoveries are made of Him, beloved! Read of Him in Proverbs 8:22-31; John 1:1-3; Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:13-22; Hebrews 1:1-3: 1 John 1:2; Revelation 3:14. Meditate on Him as presented to you in those glorious Scriptures. Let them yield to you their several lights, in which to view the One in whom you trust, the One who gave up all for you, the One who has trod, and is treading, such a path-and then tell me, can you part with either Him or it? In the bosom of the Father He was —there lay the eternal life with the Father, God and yet with God. In counsel He was then set up ere the highest part of the dust of the earth was made. Then, He was the Creator of all things in their first order and beauty; afterward, in their state of mischief and ruin, the Reconciler of all things; and bye and bye, in their re-gathering, He will be the Heir of all things. By faith we see Him thus, and thus speak of Him. We say, He was in the everlasting counsels, in the Virgin’s womb, in the sorrows of the world, in the resurrection from the dead, in the honor and glory of a crown in heaven, and with all authority and praise in the Heirship and Lordship of all things.
And still further; in each stage of this journey we see Him awakening the equal and full delight of God; all and as much His joy at the end as at the beginning, though with this privilege and glory, that He has awakened it in a blissful and wondrous variety. This blessed thought Scripture also enables us to follow.
But when His Beloved was set up as the center of all the Divine operations, or the foundation of all God’s counsels, He was still God’s delight. In such a place and character, we see Him in Proverbs 8:2;2-3 1. In that wondrous scripture, Wisdom or the Son is seen as the great Original and Framer and Sustainer of all the Divine works and purposes, set up in counsel before the world was-as several scriptures in the New Testament also present Him to us (see accordingly, John 1:3; Ephesians 1:9, to; Colossians 1:15-17).
And in all this He can say of Himself, “Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.”
So when the fullness of time was come, the Son of God lay in the Virgin’s womb. Who can speak the mystery? But so it is. But it is only another moment, and a fresh occasion, of joy —and angels came to utter it, and tell of it to the shepherds n the fields of Bethlehem.
Then again, in a new form the Son of His love was to run another course. Through sorrows and services as Son of man, He is seen on earth, but all and as unmixedly awakening ineffable delight, as in the hidden ages of eternity. “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” “behold My servant, whom I uphold, Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,” are voices of the Father telling of this unchanging joy, while tracking the path of Jesus across this polluted earth.
And that same voice, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” is heard a second time—heard on the holy hill, as on the banks of Jordan, in the day of transfiguration, as at the baptism. And the transfiguration was the pledge and type of the kingdom, as the baptism was entrance on His ministry and witness. But the same delight is thus stirred in the Father’s bosom, whether the eye of God track Him along the lonely path of Jesus the servant in a polluted world, or on the heights of the King of glory in the millennial world.
It is delight in Him, equal and full delight all along the way from everlasting to everlasting; no interruption, no pause, in the joy of God in Him, though various and changeful joy-the same in its fullness and depth, let the occasions proceed and unfold themselves as they may. The one who awakens the joy is the same throughout, and so the joy itself. It can know no different measures, though it may know different springs.
The Holy Bible: No. 9. —Remarks upon the books of the Old Testament.
Amos. This prophet was a Jew residing in Tekoa, a small town six miles south-east of Bethlehem, and followed the very humble occupation of a herdsman and gatherer of sycamore fruit (Chapter 7). From thence he was called to utter “the word of the Lord” in Israel, especially in Bethel, the southern seat of idolatry in the kingdom of the ten tribes (1 Kings 13). The charming simplicity of the prophet’s account of himself and of his peasant life, his striking images and metaphors drawn from nature and the animal creation, with which he was familiarly acquainted, are beautiful and very striking. The native eloquence of the shepherd of Tekoa characterizes the book throughout. Judgment upon the Gentiles in external relationship to Israel, as Damascus, Syria, Tyrus, and the Moabite nations bordering upon the land of Israel is the burden of the first eighteen verses of the book. Then the prophet denounces the wickedness and hypocrisy of Israel, even under the splendid reign of Jeroboam II., and predicts her captivity to Assyria and that of Judah to Babylon, announced in language and symbols both striking and original. The last five verses of the prophecy are beautiful, and we are not surprised at their frequent quotation by prophetic students in describing millennial blessedness. Amos was contemporary with Hosea (Chapter 1:1) and probably followed Jonah. The latter may have lived in the early part of Jeroboam’s reign, and Amos in the latter part.
OBADIAH. This is the shortest of the prophetical books, and unless we regard ‘Obadiah as an historian, writing after the capture and sack of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans 588 B.C., (actively assisted by the Edomites that exulted in Judah’s overthrow,) we must place him among the early prophets and discard the date of the accomplished chronologist Ussher, viz: 587 B.C. The burden of this book is the doom of Edom, a people proverbial for their pride, wisdom, power, and whose rage against the people of Jehovah’s choice found vent at the Chaldean destruction of Jerusalem. Alas! the Babylonians needed not the encouraging cry of the Edomite in wreaking their vengeance upon the poor Jew: “Rase it, rase it even to the foundation thereof” (Psalms 137:7). The land of Edom is about an hundred miles in length, and is prophetically destined to be the scene of the most appalling judgment in the divine records (Isaiah 63:1-6). Here the character, doings, and thoroughness of the overwhelming desolation yet awaiting Edom by the hand of conquering Judah are calmly and sternly announced. The prophecy was probably uttered in Judea.
JONAH. It was probably because of the Gentile mission to which Jonah was separated and which he so disliked, that the ecclesiastical leaders of Judah conveniently forgot that a prophet had arisen out of Galilee (John 7:52). Jonah was born in Gath-hepher in the northern part of Palestine, and was probably a contemporary of Elisha, or at least immediately succeeded him. This piece of information we glean from 2 Kings 14:25-27, where we are told that the enlargement of Israel’s sea coasts wrested from the Syrians was according to a previous prediction by Jonah. This consideration, as also the internal character and contents of the book itself, warrants us in assigning a very early date indeed to this prophecy of judgment upon proud and haughty Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian kingdom and the mistress of the earth. It is perhaps the earliest prophetical bock we have. The personal history of the prophet occupies the larger portion of the book, while the remainder affords a highly instructive narrative of the Lord’s governmental ways with nations as exemplified in the threatened judgment of Nineveh, its repentance, and the suspension of the stroke for a lengthened period. The book was probably written about 826 B.C. and either in Palestine or near Nineveh.
MICAH. This prophet was contemporary with Isaiah, Hosea, and Amos: see the first verse of each of the books of these prophets. Micah is termed “the Morasthite” from Moresheth-Gath, a small town in southern Judea, not far from Jerusalem. There is not in this book such a range of subjects or comprehensiveness of treatment as in Isaiah, yet Micah in some respects resembles his great contemporary. Both specially regard Israel’s political foe and external enemy in the future Jewish crisis, namely, “the Assyrian” or “king of the north;” and both predict millennial blessedness in the same eloquent terms (Isaiah 2:2-4; Mic. 4:1-3). Jeremiah was not afraid that his credit as a prophet would suffer by referring expressly to Micah (Jeremiah 26:18), as did Daniel in a latter day to Jeremiah (Daniel 9:2), and Amos to Joel (Amos 1:2). There are few original characters in the world, and we above all others, should beware of the spirit of independency, for God has set us in:” one body” and constituted us members one of another and thus mutually dependent; let us not hesitate therefore to own frankly indebtedness to one another. In the prophecies contained in this book, Jerusalem the religious, and Samaria the proud, the respective capitals of Judea and Israel, have special judgment meted out to them; these predictions have been fulfilled to the very letter. Here Jehovah is seen coming out of His place, the temple; and so the storm of divine wrath sweeps through the land of Immanuel, then the land of Assyria, and finally spends itself upon the near and distant heathen. But glory will break for Israel and the nations in those coming days so grandly foretold by Isaiah, weepingly yearned for by Jeremiah, and energetically predicted by Ezekiel. Palestine (probably the southern kingdom) would be the scene where and 750 B.C., about the date when these prophecies were uttered.
NAHUM. The prophets Jonah and Nahum were Galileans, and both had Nineveh as the burden of their testimony. In the former, however, the character of the prophet forms an integral part of the book, while in the latter the character of God is unfolded in language unrivaled for its sublimity. The short, abrupt, bold and elegant sentences in describing Nineveh, her lengthened siege and the manner of her capture, make the book a very interesting one indeed. We need not the pen of the historian to trace for us the particulars connected with the destruction of that city which with its rival Babylon is doomed to perpetual desolation. A more graphic account of the pride, cruelty, and idolatry of Nineveh, of its size and of its resources, and finally of the mode of its capture, with the surprise of its king and nobles, cannot be produced, and positively makes the reader independent of the mere human historian. Here we have God’s account of things, surely preferable infinitely to man’s judgment and his generally faulty record of things and persons.
Nahum prophesied in Palestine, and nearly a century-and-a-half after Jonah his predecessor, in testimony to and of Nineveh.
HABAKKUK. We have nothing in scripture as to the personal history or parentage of this prophet, but plenty of tradition as to both, which is not of much value. It has been remarked that Jeremiah’s great prophecy has been divided into two parts which we might term the moral and prophetic, and further that Habakkuk takes up the moral side of the book of Jeremiah, as Zephaniah does the prophetic side. We have neither note of time, nor exact historical data as to when or where this prophecy was uttered and written. We should judge, however, from verses 5 and 6 of Chapter 1, which intimate the Chaldean invasion of Judea, that the vision of Habakkuk (Chap, 1 and 2.) and his sublime and fervent prayer (Chapter 3) considerably preceded the rise of the Chaldeans, and that the southern kingdom of Palestine, probably Jerusalem, was the scene of the “vision,” and “prayer.” If Nahum announces the judgment of the Assyrian who destroyed the kingdom of Israel, Habakkuk on the other hand predicts the utter ruin of the Chaldeans, who in turn destroyed the kingdom of Judah. The distinctly moral character of the book, and the prophet’s identification with the people in their sin, and then in their turning to Jehovah and hoping in His mercy, are truths of priceless value to every true servant of God whose desire is to serve Him and His afflicted saints and churchapter It will be observed that the word “Selah” meaning to pause or consider, occurs three times in the third Chapter, as also about seventy times in the book of Psalms. This Chapter also contains other points of resemblance to the Psalms. The character of the Chaldean power (Chapter 1) and the five woes pronounced upon it (Chapter 2) are foretold with an exactness, force of language, and striking imagery peculiar to our prophet. We heartily endorse the encomium of another who says “it were difficult to find words to set forth adequately the exalted claims and peculiar merits of this high minstrel of grief and joy, of desolateness and hope, of scorn and tenderness.”
ZEPHANIAH. The pedigree of this prophet is carefully given, for four generations, as also the period of his prophecy, —the reign of the godly Josiah, the last pious king of Judah (Chapter 1:1). The time and place of these predictions are thus easily ascertainable. It was in the land of Judea, and about 630 B.C., or a few years later when Zephaniah uttered his “Thus saith the Lord”—the usual formula of the prophets. The references to preceding prophecies as Isaiah, Amos, and Joel, are numerous in so short a prophecy. The harmony and entire agreement in the prophetic books of the Old Testament is well worth consideration, as evidencing that one Divine mind and purpose characterize all Scripture. The great themes of all the prophets are iniquity, judgment, and glory, and Zephaniah descants on these subjects, especially the latter. In the main, the burden of his prophecy is the “great day of the Lord,” the day of Jehovah’s anger-an expression common to all the prophets, and signifying the future period of judgment. It is therefore pre-eminently a book of judgment, but glory triumphs in the end. The judgments predicted by this prophet are not only general and universal in their range and extent, but are also minute and particular—none escape. Thy land and people, O Immanuel, will yet be the object of Thy joy, and the rest of Thy love.
HAGGAI. The three last books of the Old Testament have a peculiar character impressed upon them. They contain predictions of judgment, but are also exceedingly rich in their anticipations of that happy future awaiting Israel and the earth. They were uttered in presence of the remnant returned to Judea from the Babylonian captivity, and in view of their then moral condition. Man’s utter failure and inability to respond to God’s claims of grace or law, with Jehovah’s tender and yearning love over His guilty people, are truths graven in these books by the “Prophets of the Restoration.” Haggai and Zechariah greatly encouraged the people to resume the building of the Temple which had been interrupted for about 14 years (Ezra 5 by a decree from Artaxerxes, the Persian Monarch, forbidding the work (Ezra 4). The energetic and faithful remonstrances of our prophet and of his able coadjutor Zechariah, had the desired effect, and the people recommenced the work before Darius reversed the decree of his predecessor, and confirmed the commandment of Cyrus. What about the unchanging laws and unalterable decrees (Daniel 6:15) of the Persian realm in presence of God and of His power? When God is working with His people, and they are in fellowship with Him, what is man? All! we have omnipotent strength and infinite love to count upon, the strength for our weakness and the love for our need. The living God is Himself the resource of His people.
The book contains four messages, termed in each case, “the word of the Lord” delivered in Jerusalem in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, 522 B.C. and within a period of about three months.
ZECHARIAH. This prophet commenced his prophetic service two months later than his contemporary and colleague Haggai (compare Zechariah 1:1 with Haggai 1). The latter is simply termed “Haggai the prophet” whereas the father and grandfather of our prophet are expressly named. We gather from a comparison of the first verse with Nehemiah 12:4, and Ezra 5:1, that Zechariah was of priestly descent, as were Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Ezra, and perhaps Habakkuk. We would direct special attention to the minute accuracy of the dates in the books of Zechariah and Haggai. They conclusively mark God’s recognition of the sovereign power granted to the. Gentiles and under which His people were placed till the government of the world shall be once again exercised through the Jew, and from Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. The prophecies contained in this book are mainly respecting Judah as a people, and Jerusalem as a city in their judgment, as also in their blessed future, but in special relation to the Gentiles. The eight visions seen in one night (chaps. 1-6.), from the Persian power, under Cyrus (the rider among the myrtle trees, but figuring Christ, Chapter 1:8) till the temple and throne are set up in Jerusalem in millennial glory, present the great facts connected with Israel and her relation to the imperial powers. In the rest of the book numerous details of a deeply interesting kind bearing upon the millennial future, are given; moral truths, prophecies of and about the Messiah and physical facts (Chapter 14) abound.
MALACHI. Significantly, the name Malachi means “My Messenger.” (Chapter 3:1). What now remains for God to do in view of Israel’s moral condition, if His claims are treated with proud contempt, His service a weariness, and His worship a lifeless form? If Jehovah’s last pleadings of love fall upon the cold insensible ears and hearts of these returned remnants, save upon a few (a remnant out of the remnant Chapter 3:16-18) what can God now do to His degenerate vine but send “His messenger” before He comes personally in judgment? We have the coming of Jesus in grace referred to (Chapter 3 and His coming in judgment (Chapter 4:5.) The opening words of our prophet are quoted by Paul (Romans 9:13) while the closing utterances are cited by Jesus (Matthew 17:11, 12). We close these remarks upon the Old Testament in the earnest hope that the reader will lay deeply to heart the solemn lessons and truths graven on these last books of the former revelation.
Eastern Manners and Customs: "Muzzle the Ox"; "Bidden"; "Bind Them in Thy Skirts"
“Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” —Deuteronomy 25:4.
“THE traveler’s first sight of an oriental custom has a special charm, and is a memorable event. It is now some years since, wandering about the Pyrenees, we first lighted on a few illustrations of eastern life, drifted there, we suppose, by some waves of Moorish influence, during the possession of Spain by the Saracens. In a small village on the Spanish side, we once came suddenly upon a little yard, where cattle unmuzzled were quietly going round and round, trampling upon heaps of barley, and so threshing it out; whereupon, of course, we saw in a new and practical light, the old Hebrew law, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.” Anon.
“A certain man... sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready.”—Luke 14:16,17.
It would appear to us unnecessary to send round to those who had not then, apparently, refused the invitation; but a similar custom still prevails in some parts of the East. A missionary lady, recently writing from India, described an entertainment which she gave to as many of her pupils as she could gather together; and said of her guests, “although invited, as I have said, a week beforehand, yet, according to custom, they had to be bidden again when everything was ready.” R. A. W.
Ezekiel 5:3.
One day, in our Egyptian Class of Bible study, the lesson was the fifth of Ezekiel, which we were reading in the Hebrew. A member of the class is blind, and it came to him to translate into Arabic the third verse “and thou shall take thereof a few in number and bind them in thy skirts.”
The blind lad inquired “why is the word translated skirts? It means wings. The wings of a garment are the sleeves, and we always bind up things in our sleeves, and not in our skirts.”
It is quite true that kenef means wings, and Orientals are accustomed to tie up almost everything, from a dose of medicine to a bushel of barley, in their sleeves: see Haggai 2:11, 12, where the holy flesh is carried in the sleeve.
Our Oriental servants, who come home each morning with their sleeves full of meat, vegetables, and fruit, would think that they had insulted us as well as polluted the eatables should they bear them beneath the girdle. See also Ruth 3:9, (compare same word in Chapter 2:12), Ezekiel 16:8, and Zechariah 8:23. Anon.
Analysis of Malachi
Subject —God’s final controversy with His people
A. Indifference to God’s service
B. Failure of the priests
b. Towards their brethren
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Laver - Nurse
No measurements are given of the laver wherein the priests daily washed their hands and feet. God’s remedy for cleansing the daily defilements of His people is not blood but water— i.e., the constant application of the Word of God to the thoughts, words, and actions of the believer. Christ is the laver; the word of God is the water
Judgment of evil and evil men
Exodus 15:10; Zechariah 5:7, 8
Psalms 1:3; Matthew 21:19
Millennial blessing and healing
Revelation 22:2; Ezekiel 47:12
1 Corinthians 5:5-8; Galatians 5;9; Matthew 16:6
Daniel 2:33; Sol. 5:15; Psalms 147:10
Grecian Empire in its rapid conquests
Uncleanness in heart and life; sin in the flesh
Obedience connected with the judicial power of God
Ezekiel 1:13-14; Nahum 2:4
Loveliness and virgin purity
Matthew 6:28; Sol. 2:1, 2
Personal purity; the fruit of the Spirit in Christian life and ways
Leviticus 16:4; Revelation 15:6; 19:8-14
Genesis 49:9; Revelation 5:5; Ezekiel 1:10
Church presented to God in her actual state at Pentecost, hence the presence of leaven (evil) in these loaves
Utter and widespread destruction
Joel 1:4; 2:25; Psalms 78:46; Revelation 9:3-7
Inward strength; bracing up of the inner man
1 Peter 1:13; Luke 12:35; Ephesians 6:14
A humbled Christ for our wilderness circumstances
Appropriation or possession
Zechariah 2:2; Ezekiel 40:3-5; Revelation 11:1; 21:15
Christ as the nourishment of the new nature
1 Corinthians 10:3; John 6:27, 55
The throne of God, where in righteousness and grace, because of the sprinkled blood, Jehovah could meet His guilty people. Christ is the true mercy-seat
Exodus 25:21, 22; Leviticus 16; Romans 3:25
Elementary truth for babes in Christ
1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12
Derived light and authority
Sol. 6:10; Revelation 8:12; 12:1
New moon—Israel’s reappearance in the latter day
Psalms 81;3; Ezekiel 46:1
Source of religious corruption or blessing
Galatians 4:22-31; Revelation 2:20-23; 17:5
Stability and greatness, political and moral
Daniel 2:35; Jeremiah 51:25; Psalms 125:1, 2
What in itself is small and insignificant
Steadfast; firmly established
Isaiah 22:23-25; Zechariah 10:4; Ezra 9:8
Spiritual destitution; without Christ
Revelation 3:17, 18; 2 Corinthians 5:3
Psalms 9:15; Proverbs 1:17; Hab. 1:15, 17
1 Thessalonians 2:7; Numbers 11:12
Notes on Last Month's Subject: God's Dealings with His Children
12. —God’s Dealings with His Children.
Our present subject is totally different in character from those we have considered recently, treating rather of deep moral principles than giving some fresh and valuable Scriptural information. In one way, therefore, it has a wider interest than some of the preceding subjects. Christians may indeed get on without an exact knowledge of the symbols and types of Scripture, but none can dispense with a real practical knowledge of God’s dealings with His children. It is a subject with which we are all sooner or later brought face to face, and it is of the greatest value fully to understand the manner and method of our Father’s ways with His sons and daughters. We may consider it in two ways: first of all looking at the subject of discipline itself, and next at the causes which lead to it. A consideration of the first of these two ways leads us briefly to tabulate the subject in hope of making it still more clear.
Sin leads to chastening, which may be despised.
Sin leads to chastening, which may lead to fainting.
Sin leads to chastening, which may lead to exercise.
If despised, we get further sin, and further chastening.
If we faint, we lose the joy and blessing of restoration.
If we are exercised, we repent, we confess, we are forgiven, and we are restored, and the chastisement is removed.
Let us now in a few words consider these statements. The first is only true of God’s children. Worldly men sin and prosper. This we get in the seventy-third Psalm fully unfolded in all its mystery by the one who could not sin and prosper, because he was a child of God.
Here we see that future and eternal judgment awaits the unbeliever. In Hebrews 12 we find that, although the believer through the grace of God has no such prospect before him, present and often severe discipline is the sure result of disobedience. The result is that if a believer and an unbeliever commit the same sin, the former is punished, while the latter escapes—for a time. The punishment, or chastening, of the former being a proof of his sonship.
Now this Fatherly discipline may take various forms, which are indicated in the subject before us. Thus, Lot lost everything, even his own liberty: Jacob is allowed to eat the fruit of his own ways; the children of Israel are taken away by death; Miriam has a terrible bodily affliction; Moses loses a great blessing; David is tried in his family; and Jonah finds circumstances all against him. We can easily extend this list from our own experience, or that of others. The great thing for us, however, is to be able to recognize it when it comes. This is all important,—otherwise we may despise it, or we may faint under it, but we fail to be exercised. It is a great loss to us when we mistake the meaning of God’s dealings. Sometimes we take no notice of the trial, looking on it as a matter of course, as if trouble could spring out of the ground. Others (and these by no means few in number) positively bear it with the utmost complacency, under the impression that it is part of their lot as Christians, and it is their duty to be patient and resigned, entirely missing the purport of it, which is self-judgment and humiliation.
We can well imagine that such was Lot’s case. Instead of dwelling as a pilgrim in the promised land with Abraham, he left the path of faith for one of sight and worldly advantages, actually at last dwelling in the most wicked city in the world, and that by his own choice (Genesis 14:12). Being truly a righteous man, God, in discipline, allowed him to be carried captive. Lot may very possibly have thought this to be merely one of the fortunes of war, and considered that he had fulfilled his duty in bearing it without murmuring. At any rate, he appears to have come out of it, wholly unexercised, only to return to a still more inconsistent position in Sodom (Genesis 19). There appears to have been no self-judgment, nor exercise of soul, in this case. Contrast with this Israel after the defeat at Ai. We do not find Joshua taking this as one of the fortunes of war, and calmly saying, “We cannot always be successful.” On the contrary, the discipline brings Joshua on his face before the Lord to find out the reason of it, and hence he is shown it, and Israel is restored and blessed.
This subject will indeed be of great value to us, if it only leads us to seek to find out from God in every affliction and trial the true cause. In nine cases out of ten we shall be far safer in assuming it is some fault or error of our own, than in seeking any other reason.
As we have already seen, a chastening despised fails of its object, and too often we fall into further sin, and incur fresh trial; on the other hand, if we faint under the hand of God, we fail to learn the lesson intended by His love, and we miss the joy of restored communion. Although in this case there is a true exercise of soul, there is a failure to discover that the chastisement is from a Father’s hand.
But if we neither despise the chastening, nor faint under it, but are really exercised in soul, we are led to true repentance. Repentance takes place the moment that self-will is replaced by self-judgment; or, in other words, when I take part with God against myself. This leads to confession, and brings us to John 1:9. And now it is important to note that the immediate forgiveness of our heavenly Father follows true confession. In this His faithfulness and justice (1 John 1:9), not only His love and grace are concerned. The work of Christ has put away all the guilt of the sin, or rather never allowed it to enter God’s presence at all. God forgives, therefore, in perfect justice, as well as faithfulness to Christ’s work. But sin defiles, and though we cannot lose our place as children, we lose our Father’s smile and favor. Here the work of our Advocate comes in, and the same grace is waiting to forgive us that leads us to confession. The next step is restoration. We feel we have got back into the sunlight of God’s presence, that our soul has been restored, as our feet have been brought back into the paths of righteousness; and now also the “if need be” (1 Peter 1:6) existing no longer, the chastisement is removed immediately. In some cases, the story of our failure and of God’s grace ends here; in others, the effects of our sin still remain, sometimes for the rest of our lives. After confession, however, there is no longer the sense of chastisement.
We feel rather that we are reaping what we have sown according to God’s governmental dealings, but that we ourselves are fully restored.
Thus we find the punishment entirely removed in Miriam’s case; we find it mitigated in confession in Rehoboam, and we find it continuing after full confession almost throughout David’s life.
Thus the continuance of the trial does not in every case, by any means show that it I: as not had its effect. It may result from the very nature of our sin, so as to make us to go softly all the days of our life.
Let us now for a few moments briefly consider some of the examples given in Div. 3., with a view of ascertaining some of the principal causes of backsliding and the exercise of God’s discipline. We are at once struck with the fact that failure, and that of the most serious kind, is found in the lives of noted saints of God, such as Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah; and by considering their lives, we discover the special sins to which God’s children are liable, and for which they are chastened of their Father, that they should not be condemned with the world.
In Adam and Eve we find disobedience, which we may at once say is the root sin of all others. All sin is doing our own will instead of God’s. This is the Divine definition of the word. “Sin is lawlessness,” and lawlessness is sin. The moment we grasp this fact we get a true view of the essential character of all evil, which at once delivers us from superficial and erroneous definitions of the word, tending to extenuate sin in a believer.
In Jacob we find lack of faith, leading to a pursuit of his own will with the usual result. At the end of his eventful life, instead of being able to sing a song of praise to God when called to stand before Pharaoh, he is found to murmur and repine. We may be assured that if our life is a hard one, it is most likely that we have made it so ourselves. Nothing brings greater hardships on the Christian than following his own will through want of confidence in God, and patience to wait His time. Dear reader, can we not find in this the secret cause of many of our troubles. “He that believeth shall not make haste.” “Let patience have her perfect work.”
In the children of Israel we get idolatry, a sin by no means unknown now, especially in the particular form then practiced. Be assured that if a Christian sets off on a race for riches with the men of this world, he will either get tripped up (in God’s mercy), or will find his soul all withered up with the degrading pursuit; while the worldly man will go on in a prosperous career. In connection with this study attentively Psalms 73.
In Miriam and Aaron we see pride and self assertion opposed to a meekness that could not then be roused. God at once steps in and punishes it. This, too, is very common and dangerous, since spiritual pride is the devil’s own sin, for which he fell from heaven to hell (Ezekiel 28 and 1 Timothy 3:6). Oh! let us beware of putting God’s truth under our feet to raise ourselves by, instead of receiving it into our hearts to humble us. ‘Mien once this subtle sin has began to inflate our poor silly minds, it is hard indeed to subdue, and too often we go on increasing in pride, and decreasing in love and every Christian grace. May God deliver the beloved readers of these pages from this deadly sin.
In Moses, “the meekest man in all the earth,” we now find “impatience and anger.” It is, indeed, remarkable to find Moses thus failing in what we may call his strongest point, but surely it teaches us this lesson-that when once we are taken by the enemy off our guard, we may any of us fail in that very point to which naturally we were the least liable. It is very humbling, but it casts us all the more entirely on that grace that can alone keep the best of us.
In Samson, the Nazarite, we find union with the world, a sin that deprives the christian of his spiritual strength and power, and brings down upon him, sooner or later, his Father’s chastening hand.
In Eli we find culpable weakness, the sort of character that could not say “No,” leading him to wink at and allow all sorts of things dishonoring to God in his family, not because he loved them, but because he had not the courage to stop them. What a word for some of us here! For observe He was punished for the sins of others. God rightly expects us to be firm for Him, and to stand for His glory, not only in our own persons, but in all our surroundings.
In David, alas! that great saint, we get gross sin, showing to what depths a true child of God may at times fall. Nowhere, perhaps, in the whole range of Scripture do we get a more vivid and truthful picture of the evil still existing in the believer’s old nature. The only remedy is to seek, day by day, to keep it in constant check, not to allow it to think, or speak, or act, thus keeping on it the sentence of death which God pronounced at the cross of Christ (Romans 6:6).
In Rehoboam we again get disobedience.
In Jehoshaphat again union with the world, this time apparently for a good purpose, and yet still condemned by God according to the principles laid down in 2 Corinthians 6.
In Hezekiah we get pride, while in Job we find self-righteousness.
We are sorry we have no space to dwell at greater length upon these most instructive histories, and can only hope that the varied points of interest we have indicated in our subject may serve to awaken us to a deeper study of these wonderful pictures of God’s dealings with His children, “ For all these things happened unto them for examples; and they are written for our-admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
This Month's Subject: The Titles and Work of the Holy Ghost
The subject worked out for this month is—
The Titles and Work of the Holy Ghost.
1.—The Titles Of The Holy Ghost.
The Spirit, Matthew 4:1.
Holy Spirit, Luke 11:13.
Holy Ghost, Luke 2:25.
God, Acts 5:3,4.
The Lord, 2 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 3:18. (marg.)
Spirit of holiness, Romans 1:4.
Spirit of life, Romans 8:2.
Spirit of adoption, Romans 8:15.
Spirit of God, 1 Corinthians 2:11.
Spirit of Christ, Romans 8:9.
Spirit of our God, 1 Corinthians 6:11.
Spirit of the living God, 2 Corinthians 3:3.
Spirit of the Lord, Acts 5:9.
Power of the Highest, Luke 1:35.
Spirit of His Son, Galatians 4:6.
Holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:13.
Holy Spirit of God, Ephesians 4:30.
Spirit of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1:19.
Eternal Spirit, Hebrews 9:14.
Spirit of grace, Hebrews 10:29.
Holy One, 1 John 2:20.
Spirit of your Father, Matthew 10:20.
Spirit of truth, John 14:17.
Spirit of glory, 1 Peter 4:14.
Comforter, John 14:16,26.
Seven Spirits of God, Revelation 4:5.
2. —The Work Of The Holy Ghost.
lst. —Historically, In The Gospels And Acts.
Christ was born of the Spirit, Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35.
John testified that He would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire, Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16, and John 1:32.
Christ was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, Matthew 4:1, in whose power He returned into Galilee (Luke 4:14), and testified in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:18).
The Spirit descended upon Him, Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32; Acts 10:38.
He cast out devils by the Spirit, Matthew 12:28.
He testified that the Spirit should be received by those who believe on Him, John 7:39.
Through the Holy Ghost He gave commandments to the Apostles, Acts 1:2.
Christ’s words to His disciples concerning the Holy Ghost in John 14; 15; 16 — “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.” “But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send him unto you. And when he is come he will reprove (convict R.V.) the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.” “Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself: but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.”
Testimony was borne by the Spirit in Old Testament times through David, Mark 12:36; Acts 1:16; through Isaiah, Acts 28:25.
And in the New Testament previous to the death of ‘Christ, by Elisabeth, Luke 1:41; Zacharias 1:67, and Simeon, Luke 2:26.
The future was revealed by the Spirit to Simeon, Luke 2:26; Agabus, Acts 11:28; 21:11.
John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit from his birth, Luke 1:15. Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost can never be forgiven, Matthew 12:31, Mark 3:29, &c.
Christ promised His disciples that when brought before the rulers, they should be taught by the Spirit what to say, Matthew 10:20, &c.
Man must be born of the Spirit, John 3:5.
The Spirit—
Quickens, John 6:63.
Was not given before Jesus was glorified, John 7:39.
Was received by the disciples, John 20:22 (this must be carefully distinguished from Acts 2:33).
Was promised of old, Act 2:17.
Was received by Christ of God, Acts 2:33.
Was lied to and tempted by Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5:3, 9.
Was resisted by the Council, Act 7:51.
Was received by the following companies or individual saints: the whole company of disciples, Acts 2:4; The Samaritan believers, Acts 8:17; Saul (Paul), Acts 9:17; Cornelius and his friends, Acts 10:41-47; The disciples who had been baptized with John’s baptism, Acts 19:2.
The following are spoken of as being “filled with the Holy Ghost.” Peter, Acts 4:8; Stephen, Chapter 6:5; 7:55; Barnabas, Chapter 11:21; Paul, Chapter 13:9; the disciples, Chapter 13:52.
The following are recorded as having been distinctly guided by the Spirit, Philip, Acts 8:29; Peter, chapter 10:19; 11:12; Barnabas and Saul chapter 13:4; and Paul and Silas, chapter 16:6, 7.
The Spirit—
Comforted the saints, Acts 11:31.
Separated Barnabas and Paul for their service, Acts 13:2.
Approved of the apostles’ decision, Acts 15:28.
Witnessed that afflictions awaited Paul at Jerusalem, Acts 20:23.
Made the elders at Ephesus overseers of the flock, Acts 20:28.
2nd. —DOCTRINALLY IN THE EPISTLES.
In connection with the testimony of the Gospel.
My preaching was... in demonstration of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:4, 13; Romans 15:19; 1 Thessalonians 1:5.
Having received the word ... with joy of the Holy Ghost. 1 Thessalonians 1:6.
God also bearing witness with... gifts of the Holy Ghost, Hebrews 2:4.
Have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost, 1 Peter 1:12.
What the Spirit has done, is, does, and will do with regard to the believer.
The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Romans 5:5.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death, Romans 8:2.
Ye are... in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Romans 8:9.
He... shall also quicken your mortal bodies because of (marg.) His Spirit that dwelleth in you, Romans 8:11.
The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, Romans 8:16.
Ourselves also which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, Romans 8:23. The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, Romans 8:26.
The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, Romans 8:26.
But God hath revealed (the things that God hath prepared for them that love him) unto us by His Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2:10.
The Spirit of God dwelleth in you, 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14.
The Spirit divides (i.e. gifts) to every man severally as He will, 1 Corinthians 12:8-11.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, 1 Corinthians 12:13. Who hath... given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, 2 Corinthians 3:17.
The Spirit lusteth against the flesh, Galatians 5:17.
That Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance, Ephesians 1:13,14.
The mystery... now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, Ephesians 3:5.
What the believer is, has, and does by virtue of the Spirit. They that are after the Spirit (mind) the things of the Spirit, Romans 8:5.
But ye... are in the Spirit, Romans 8:9.
If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live, Romans 8:13.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God, Romans 8:14.
Ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father, Romans 8:15.
That ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost, Romans 15:13.
But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God, 1 Corinthians 6:11.
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, 1 Corinthians 6:19.
No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost, 1 Corinthians 12:3.
Ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministered ... with the Spirit of the living God, 2 Corinthians 3:3.
We... are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord, 2 Corinthians 3:18.
We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, Galatians 5:5.
If ye be led of the Spirit ye are not under the law, Galatians 5:18. Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Ephesians 1:13.
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father, Ephesians 2:18.
Ye are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit, Ephesians 2:22.
Exhortations connected with the Spirit.
I say then, Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, Galatians 5:16, 25.
I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called ... endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Ephesians 4:1-3.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, Ephesians 4:30.
Be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5:18.
Quench not the Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:19.
The Spirit.
Is received by faith, Galatians 3:2, 14.
Has been sent by God into our hearts, Galatians 4:6.
Has been given to us by God, 1 Thessalonians 4:8.
Testified in olden times, Hebrews 3:7; 10:15; 1 Peter 1:11; 2 Peter 1:21.
Was partaken of even by those who were not true believers, Hebrews 6:4.
Testified by means of the temple, Hebrews 9:8.
The fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law, Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:19.
The kingdom of God is joy... in the Holy Ghost, Romans 14:17.
That the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, Romans 16:16.
The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, 1 Corinthians 12:7.
Approving ourselves... by the Holy Ghost, 2 Corinthians 6:6.
He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting, Galatians 6:8.
There is... one Spirit, Ephesians 4:4.
The sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, Ephesians 6:17.
Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit, Colossians 1:8.
Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:2.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, 1 Timothy 3:16.
He saved us by the... renewing of the Holy Ghost, Titus 3:5.
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, Hebrews 9:14.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, 1 Peter 1:22.
Christ... quickened by the Spirit, 1 Peter 3:18.
To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, Ephesians 3:16.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, Ephesians 6:18.
Praying in the Holy Ghost, Jude 20.
The communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all, 2 Corinthians 13:14.
And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us, 1 John 3:24,
There are they that bear witness... the Spirit and the water and the blood, 1 John 5:8.
And The Spirit And The Bride Say, Come, Revelation 22:17.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 272-302
Q. 272. Please explain the difference between “heave” and “wave,” in Exodus 29:27, and elsewhere. F. E. L. P.
A. They are two distinct words in the Hebrews the one means to lift or raise, the other to scatter or shake.
Q. 273. What is the difference between “symbol” and “type?” In the paper on animals, in the same number, they seem used interchangeably. A. P. C.
A. We think the difference can be more easily felt than defined, and we do not think we could in a short space distinguish them satisfactorily. Many writers use the words interchangeably and in some dictionaries each is used as explanatory of the other. Still we think there are instances where “symbol” would seem appropriate, but in which we should shrink from using “type” without the direct warrant of Scripture. Type seems to mean an express and direct emblem, symbol is a wider and more general word.
Q. 274. Kindly say if Ecclesiastes 7:1 refers to the believer’s death only. If not, what does it mean?
A. It certainly refers to the death of a good man. At his birth he has a life of trouble before him, but at his death, all this is over, but a good name (better than precious ointment) remains. Always remember that the subject of Ecclesiastes is confined to what is “under the sun.” (1:3, 14).
Q. 275. (1) What is the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:27? (2) also of Hebrews 12:27,28? w. J. H.
A. (1) It is not “whoever is unworthy to eat and drink,” but whoever “eats and drinks unworthily.” It is not an adjective referring to the person (which we get in 1 Corinthians 6:2), but an adverb referring to the manner of eating and drinking (which is only used here and verse 29). In Corinth (20-22), it was grossly irregular. Taking the bread and wine without any sense of that which they set forth, would be another way of eating and drinking unworthily. The question is not of our worthiness, but of eating and drinking in a becoming way and spirit. (2) It is a solemn exhortation to a godly and consistent walk in view of our great privilege, and of God’s great power and holiness, as will be shown in the coming judgments.
Q. 276. Who was Cain’s wife? Genesis 4:17. w. J. H.
A. We are not told. Scripture plainly teaches the descent of all from a single couple. Hence Cain’s wife must necessarily be one of the unnamed daughters of Eve. No doubt following the analogy of other Scriptures, only a brief glimpse of her history is given, and from Genesis 5:4 we learn that she had several more children than the three named. Let us admire and respect the silence of Scripture, where a plain statement might have led to evil in other days.
Q. 277. Because women were allowed to prophesy (1 Corinthians 11:5; Acts 2:17) is that any warrant (now that is past) for their public teaching and speaking now? W. J. H.
A. Prophesying in the N. T. saints includes speaking to the conscience (1 Corinthians 14:24,25), and we could not say in this sense it has wholly ceased. Other Scriptures limit the sphere in which women may exercise this and other gifts they may possess. (See 1 Corinthians 14:34, and 1 Timothy 2:12).
Q. 278. (1) In 1 Timothy 2:9, what are women to do in “like manner” and when? (2) In 1 Corinthians 11:5, where and when are women to pray with their heads covered? s. T.
A. (1) All that follows in the verse and everywhere “in like manner” as men in ver. 8. (2) See B. S. vol. 1, p. 68, Q. 313, also p. 94, Q. 348.
Q. 279. Did the high priest ever wear the garments of glory and beauty? D. T. C.
A. For eight days at his consecration Leviticus 8:33,36, but not all of them subsequently in the holy of holies (Leviticus 16:4). The robes for glory and beauty (Exodus 28:2,40) consisted of seven parts, four colored and three white; the breastplate, ephod, robe and broidered girdle of different colors; the broidered coat, the miter, and linen girdle of pure white. After Leviticus 10 only the last three of the garments of glory and beauty were to be worn in the holiest. It is however, possible that all might have been worn on other occasions of priestly ministry.
Q. 280. Will you kindly define the meaning of the word “regeneration?” What is the washing of regeneration, in Titus 3:5? s. B.
A. It is only used here and in Matthew 19:28. It means the new creation in Christ. In Matthew it refers to the creation in Christ or new beginning of creation in the millennium, when all the effects of sin are done away. Here it means the spiritual new creation in Christ, which has practically purified us by giving a new place when the old is done away, and all is become new. It goes beyond the new birth in John 3
Q. 281. In 1 Kings 12:1, why did Rehoboam go to Shechem to be made king? H. S.
A. Its position was very central. It was the capital of the powerful tribe of Ephraim, who were the king’s chief opponents. It would therefore be a conciliatory act on his part.
Q. 282. Kings 16:18 speaks of the “covert of the Sabbath.” What is meant by this? H. S.
A. It is supposed to be either a sort of shelter or canopy erected for the people on the Sabbath, when the crowd was too great for the porch to contain them, or a seat covered with a canopy placed on an elevation, for the king and his court, when they attended public worship.
Q. 283. 2 Samuel 5:17, says David went down to the “hold,” and the Philistines “ spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.” What is the “hold” here, and is the valley of Rephaim the same as the valley of that name near Jerusalem? H. S.
A. We cannot say what “the hold” is here; the words are omitted in 1 Chronicles 14:8. The broad plain between Jerusalem and Bethlehem which is called by this name by Josephus, answers very well for the spot in all respects but one. The Hebrew word seems to point rather to an enclosed valley than a plain. On the whole, however, it appears most probable that this was the place alluded to in the passage.
Q. 284. With reference to 2 Kings 24:8-12 and 2 Chronicles 36:9-10, was Jehoiachin 8 or 18, and did he surrender in the 1St or 8th year of his reign? M. B. H.
A. The reading in 2 Chronicles 36:9 appear preferable, being supported by the historical record in 1 Esdras i. 43, and thus agreeing in the date of Jehoiachin’s birth with Matthew 1:11. He was king of Judah for three months. The 8th year refers to the date of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.
Q. 285. (1) Was Malachi 4:5 fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist? (2) What Scriptures prove that the Jews will be restored to Palestine? and will this be before Christ’s return for His saints? M. B. H.
A. (1) In part according to Matthew 11:14, but inasmuch as they did not receive it, there will be a further fulfillment in Revelation 11:3, just before the Millennium. (2) Isaiah 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 29, 32, 34, 35, 54, 62, 65, 66, Jeremiah 32, 33, Ezekiel 20, 34, 36, Zechariah 13, and many other chapters. This restoration may begin before the church is taken away to heaven, but Israel will not be grafted into their own olive tree (Romans 11) until the Gentiles are cut off, and God ceases to deal with them in blessing as now. This will evidently be when the church is gone and the present day of grace closed.
Q. 286. What is the meaning of being “baptized for the dead” 1 Corinthians 15:29? E. J. B.
A. See B. S., January 1882, p.16, Q. 25.
Q. 287. Conder’s “Handbook to the Bible” says, the holy anointing oil was only made once, as the penalty of “Keritoth” was denounced against the repetition of the manufacture of it. Is this statement correct? Was not the denunciation against the profane use, rather than against the actual repetition of its making for sacred use? H. S.
A. Exodus 30:32,3, certainly seems to bear out what you say. It is probable that Conder only repeats the Rabbinical tradition in stating it was only made once, founding this un that rigid interpretation of the letter of ver. 32 apart from the spirit, which is the root of so many of their blunders, They say it lasted 900 years, till the captivity. It appears however from 1 Chronicles 9:30, that more was subsequently made. Saul, David, Solomon, Jehu, Joash were anointed with it.
Q. 288. Will you kindly explain John 12:47,48? Who is meant by the “one” in ver. 48, as in the previous verse the Lord says “I judge him not?” F. H.
A. “I judge him not” means that the Lord did not then execute judgment on those who believed not. The “one” refers to the gracious word He then spoke, which, when the day of judgment came, should rise up in judgment against all who heard them only to reject; even as now.
Q. 289. Many make use of Zechariah 1:12,13 to support the doctrine of the “Invocation of Saints.” Please spew the difference between angels and saints. C. H. F.
A. The passage refers to “angels,” not “saints”. The prevalent vague idea that we are to become “angels” some day finds no shred of support in Scripture. Angels existed before ever a “saint” was heard of. They too are spirits; we shall have bodies. They are not redeemed by the blood of Christ, for the fallen ones are never restored. Indeed there is no parallel between the two classes.
Q. 290. Is the “ last trump” of 1 Corinthians 15:52 synchronous with Revelation 11:15, viz., the seventh trumpet? A. R. C.
A. No. The trump in 1 Corinthians 15 is a signal for the rapture of the saints, and the first resurrection; the seventh trumpet in Revelation is subsequent to this, and has no reference to the same event. See also B. S. vol. 1. p. 92, Q. 341.
Q. 291. Is it true that believers ought not to pray day by day for the pardon of their sins? Did not our Lord Himself command us to do this in the prayer He taught His disciples, and is it not also the teaching of that verse. “He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit?” I know another verse speaks of our being “clean through the word” and yet another of the washing of water with the word. But yet, day by day, especially at the close of the day, or after any fall which has greatly grieved me, I go to the cross of Christ, and cannot really help confessing, and asking for fresh pardon. Surely this is not wrong, nor unscriptural. I should be very thankful for some explanation of the subject.
A. R. C.
A. We must distinguish between being cleansed once for all before God, by the blood of Christ according to Hebrews 10:2,22 etc., and the more common use of the word cleansing, which is by water, i.e., through the word (See John 15:3; Ephesians 5:26, etc.) This cleansing, however, is twofold, which you have rightly distinguished. The bathing or complete cleansing refers to the new birth by water and the Spirit (the word of God applied by the Holy Spirit’s power). The washing of the feet refers to the constant practical cleansing needed as to our daily ways, not as affecting our standing before God, but as affecting our communion with our Father. The word to a believer as to the sin he commits after conversion is plain in 1 John 1:9. We are to confess our sins daily, heartily honestly, and fully, and we receive there and then our Father’s forgiveness. Once we really judge ourselves, there is no need to implore forgiveness, for it is assured us on the authority of this verse. Still none could find fault with the practice you describe: provided that you clearly understand that no sin alters your standing which is eternal, resting on the infinite and unchangeable value of the blood of Christ, in whom indeed alone you stand, but that it does affect your state, and that you get no communion, no forgiveness, until it is fully confessed.
Q. 292. What is being “fallen from grace.” Galatians 5:4? S. B.
A. Seeking to be justified by the works of the law, rather than being justified by the work of Christ, thus giving up grace for legality. It was this that the Galatians were in such danger of doing.
Q. 293. How long was Noah building the Ark? From Genesis 5:32 and 7:11, it would appear 100, but from Genesis 6:3, 120 years. A. H. B.
A. Probably a very short time. The following considerations tend to show this. Verse 3 was not said to Noah. Verse 14, ordering the construction of the ark, was probably a very short time before the flood (see verse 13 “is come before me”). Verse 18 shows that Noah’s three sons were not only born, but married. Now the eldest was only born a hundred years before the flood. If therefore we allow time for the youngest to get married, it brings us close to the date of the deluge. Besides this, two whom we regard as in the line of godly men, lived, the one (Lamech) to within 5 years of the flood, the other (Methuselah) to the very year of the flood. And it is hardly likely that in their lifetime Noah was the only righteous man (7:1.), which is the ground of 6:18. Besides this, there is absolutely no scripture to favor the thought that the ark was a long time in being built.
Q. 294. Will all sins committed by God’s children and unconfessed be brought to light at the judgment-seat, where work and walk will be tried? with especial reference to 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 John 1:9, also Romans 14:12., Luke 12:2., Matthew 12:36, Psalms 90:8, and Romans 2:6. H. C.
A. Certainly. Does it not say so in 1 Corinthians 4:5; Romans 14:11; Luke 12:2; Romans 2:6. Matthew 12:36, rather applies to unbelievers. Refer also to B. S., vol. 1, p. 42, Q. 284, p. 67, Q. 311, Q. 312, which may perhaps throw some light on the subject.
Q. 295. Please explain John 13:10. s.
A. The R. V. reads correctly, “He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” The meaning is, he that is washed all over, or bathed with the washing of regeneration by the Word and Spirit at the new birth, does not require a new nature again when he falls; but only requires the defilement, his feet (that part of him that touches the world) to be washed; that is the application of the word to his conscience, leading to true confession and restoration (1 John 1:9,) See Q. 291 above.
Q. 296. Please explain Numbers 31:40. For what purpose were these 32 Persons, who were “the Lord’s tribute” used? F. J.
A. Probably as servants to the Levites, or the priests. See verses 18-30.
Q. 297. Please explain (1) Colossians 1:20; (2) Ephesians 1:10. F.J.
A. (1) This passage stands in remarkable and striking cent] fist to Philippians 2:10. There when it is a question of being compelled to bow. three order of things are included, things celestial, terrestrial, and infernal. Here where it is a question of reconciliation, and making peace by the blood the things infernal, are most pointedly omitted, and the expression “all things” is expressly limited to things celestial and terrestial. The distinction is all important. What the reconciliation of earthly things means we know, that of heavenly things is more mysterious. In some way we know that Satan has access to the heavenlies, and there must be defilement where his presence is. Hebrews 9:23, refers to the same subject. It is sufficient for us to know that there will be nothing in heaven or earth left that is not reconciled to God by the blood of Christ. (2) In this passage also, “all things” is again limited to things celestial and terrestrial. Here Christ is not the reconciler, but the head and center of all, even as He will be in the Millennial reign, when this passage will be fulfilled.
Q. 298. Please explain (1) Hebrews 6:4; (2) 1 Corinthians 15:31. T. H.
A. (1) Refer to p. 18, Q. 32, also p. 199, Q. 216. (2) The apostle’s life of constant danger and trial was a daily death. We should be glad to know the force of the first part of the verse. “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Q. 299. Briefly explain Matthew 13:10, 11. T. H.
A. Christ so clothed His teachings in parabolic language, that only those who had ears to hear, heard; that is to say, only those who would do His will knew of the doctrine. John 7:17.
Q. 300. Please explain Matthew 19:23. T. H.
A. This agrees with 1 Corinthians 1:26. The “hardness” refers to the immense snare that wealth and position are, and the hindrances they oppose to the simple reception of the gospel.
Q. 301. Should the last word in Isaiah 50:4, be “learned” or “learner?” See Q. 139. E. B.
A. The word is, properly an adjective, in the plural form. It is translated disciples, in Isaiah 8:16. The verses are thus rendered by Benisch, whose version is authorized among the Jews:— “The Lord eternal hath given me a tongue for disciples, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning; he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the disciples.” And Henderson, in his blank verse translation of the Book of Isaiah, gives it as follows: “The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of those that are taught, That I may know how to succor the weary with a word; He wakeneth me e very morning, he wakeneth my ear, That I may listen like those who are taught.”
Q. 302. Referring to B. S. vol 1, p. 41, Q. 277, please explain more fully the difference in significance between LORD, and Lord. E. S. V.
A. Dr. Angus states in his “Handbook,” “LORD, in capitals, is the translation of Jehovah, and Lord, in small letters of another word. See Psalm Exodus, 1. This distinction is important.”
That other word is Adonai; both this and Jehovah are considered to refer to the Second Person in the Trinity: and it is interesting to trace the word in this connection through the Old Testament.
Bishop Wordsworth, thus writes on the same subject: “The name JEHOVAH is a word of higher import (than Elohim); it is derived from the old verb hared?, to be, and signifies self-existence, (see Hosea 12:5.) Its proper meaning seems to be “He is,” (see Gesenius, p. 337). The word JEHOVAH proclaims I AM THAT I AM. It was rarely uttered by the Jews, on account of their reverence and awe for the Divine Being, the Everlasting... but in its stead, they uttered the word Adonai, where the word Jehovah occurs in the Bible (except when it precedes Adonai); and since this word Adonai signifies or Runes Lord (and is rendered by Kurios in the Septuagint or Greek Version), therefore in our English Bibles the name Jehovah is represented by LORD. The great antiquity of the word Jehovah is evident from its etymology. The word is derived from havah, to be, which was already antiquated when the Pentateuch was composed, and had been almost supplanted by hayah.
Notes on Former Queries: Vol.2, 117; 214-215
Q. 117. In confirmation of your reply to the above query (p. 90), and of the opinion that leaven is always used in scripture in a bad sense, and would be so understood by our Lord’s hearers, the following remark of a recent writer may be interesting:— “No Arabic protestant minister or preacher in the Holy Land would speak of the world as being leavened by Christianity, but would consider such an association of ideas as incongruous and unnatural.”
Q. 214, 215. I should be glad to have the position of the valley of Hinnom further elucidated. By your references to this valley, you appear to regard it as the valley bounding the modern city of Jerusalem on the south and west.
Is this really the valley called in scripture the valley of (Ge)-hinnom?
The Revelation W. F. Birch (in Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, for April, 1882, pp. 55, etc.) maintains that scriptural statements respecting the valley show that it was the one which separated the Temple Hill and Ophel, from that part now known as Zion.
In previous articles he has, I think, shown that in Scripture, “Zion,” the “City of David” and “Jebus,” are all names of one place, and that situated on the Eastern hill of Jerusalem. If he is wrong will you please give the passages which prove (Qy. 215, 4), “The city of the Jebusites was the part known in modern times as Zion.” H. S.
(We do not think that we can open our pages to the discussion of a subject such as this, which, deeply interesting as it must be to all our readers, cannot we think be independently investigated by many. In the answer referred to, we gave the view generally adopted, which distinguishes the valley of Hinnom from the Tyropoeon: but as to the identification of the different localities in Jerusalem, we have no doubt much to learn, and we may look for further light from the explorations now being carried on. That Zion was the Eastern Hill of Jerusalem, is a view that has been maintained by several writers. —En.)
Jottings From Bible Margins
“THIS MAN.”
“THIS MAN receiveth sinners.” Luke 15:2.
“Never man spake like THIS MAN.” John 7:48.
“No fault in THIS MAN.” Luke 23:4, 14, 41.
“THIS MAN... somewhat to offer.” Hebrews 8:3.
“Through THIS MAN is preached,” &c. Acts 13:33.
“THIS MAN... worthy of more glory than Moses.” Hebrews 3:3.
“THIS MAN... sat down.” Hebrews 10:12.
“THIS MAN continueth ever.” Hebrews 7:24
“Truly THIS MAN was the Son of God.” Mark 15:39.
“We know THIS MAN.” John 7:27.
CHRIST declared Himself in the Gospel of John to be
The bread of life. John 6:35.
The light of the world. John 8:12.
The door of the sheep. John 10:7.
The good shepherd. John 10:11.
The resurrection and the life. John 11:25.
The way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6.
The true vine. John 15:1.
Before Abraham was, I AM. John 8:53.
CHRIST’S WITNESSES.
The Father. John 5:37.
Christ Himself. John 8:14.
The Spirit. John 15:25.
Prophets. Acts 10:43.
Apostles. Luke 24:48.
John the Baptist. John 5:33.
His own works. John 5:36.
FOR US.
GOD THE FATHER—
Providing salvation. Luke 1:77.
Giving up His Son. Romans 8:32; 2 Corinthians 5:21.
On our side. Romans 8:31.
Making provision. Hebrews 11:40.
GOD THE SON—
Gave Himself. Titus 2:14; Ephesians 5:2.
Died. Romans 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:10; 1 John 3:16.
Suffered. 1 Peter 2:21; 1 Peter 4:1.
Was sacrificed. 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Made a curse. Galatians 3:13.
Made sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Obtained redemption. Hebrews 9:12.
Maketh intercession. Romans 8:34 Hebrews 9:24.
Entered within the veil. Hebrews 6:20.
Hath made a way. Hebrews 10:20.
GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT—
Maketh intercession. Romans 8:26.
THE FEAR OF THE LORD.
“Tendeth to life.” Proverbs 19:23.
“Is a fountain of life.” Proverbs 14:27.
“Is the beginning of knowledge.” Proverbs 1:7.
“Is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs 9:10.
“By it men depart from evil.” Proverbs 16:6.
“Is instruction of wisdom.” Proverbs 15:33.
“Is strong confidence.” Proverbs 14:26.
“Is better than treasure.” Proverbs 15:16.
“Is riches, honor, and life.” Proverbs 22:4.
“Prolongeth days.” Proverbs 10:27.
“Is to be chosen.” Proverbs 1:29.
“We are to be in it all the day long.” Proverbs 23:17.
Notes and Comments
For some time past we have had a desire still further to forward the study of God’s word, and to increase the interest of the Bible Student by means of a bona fide Bible Reading of a conversational character. The idea at first was to form a Bible Class for the combined study of some chapters, but it has been given up in favor of a wider plan. There exists already the Bible Students’ Class engaged in the monthly study of Biblical subjects, and open to all who can contribute regularly every month. But there are a large majority of our readers who though unable to undertake a monthly task, would yet we believe readily send occasional contributions. We therefore thought of commencing a series of “ Bible conversations” on the following basis. 1. A Chapter to be selected each month for study. 2. Questions, remarks, jottings, original or selected bearing on the Chapter to be sent by any subscriber addressed, B. C., Editor B. S., 27, Paternoster Square, E.C., by the 25th of each month. 3. The papers sent in will be arranged in the form of a conversation on the Chapter, each contributor being distinguished by his or her initials, or “nom de plume.” 4. The Editor will take part under the initial “S.,” and will only hold himself responsible for opinions expressed under this initial.
We trust that some such simple plan will lead to most interesting conversations on the Word of God. It will be seen that this proposal in no way clashes with the already established and hard-working Bible Student’s Class.
To these we would just give one little word of encouragement. Their labors are not alone for their own advantage. The results of their researches published monthly in this magazine have already proved of great blessing. We have testimonies as to this from many parts of the world. One most touching letter as to the help afforded in many long lonely hours has lately come to band from a Missionary in the heart of Africa. To our dear fellow workers we would say, Go on steadily working in the mines of Divine wisdom, and bringing to the surface month by month fresh treasures for your fellow christians.
If we are permitted to continue this little magazine another year, we should like the first” Bible Conversation” to appear in January. To ensure this, the subject must be announced on Nov. 1St, and papers sent by Nov. 25th. Our present object in mentioning the plan thus early is to ask our friends to write to us under the above heading on three points:—1St, as to whether they approve of the general plan, and whether they can suggest any improvements in it; and 2nd, as to whether it would be better to study detached chapters, or a book, and 3rd, what book or Chapter they would propose to begin with.
We trust that all who have an interest in Bible Study will send us their thoughts on these points, as we earnestly desire to make this as well as every other part of the magazine of real practical value to our readers.
We may mention that a somewhat similar plan, only on subjects connected with practical Christian life has been already started in the pages of “The Young Believer.”
New Testament Words Explained: Speak - Thief
Speak, Say.
Amongst the many Greek words thus translated, we may consider two, laleo and lego.
The former word refers to the power of speech itself (Matthew 10:33; Mark 7:37;16. 17; Luke 11:14; Acts 2:4; 1 Corinthians 12:30); lego is not only to articulate but to speak words, and it is rather the mind that speaks, than the fact of uttering words, which a parrot might do. Thus in Revelation 13:15, where the image of the beast speaks, it is not that it uses the mind (lego), but merely that it utters words like an automaton (laleo). We find the meaning of the two words beautifully distinguished in John 8:43, “Why do ye not understand my speech (from laleo)? Even because ye cannot hear my word (from lego).” The true meaning of this remarkable passage being that they who do not in their hearts lay hold of the meaning, the spirit, the power of the truth cannot understand the letter or the speech by which the word is conveyed. Thus while in one sense we understand the spirit by the letter of the word, in another it is equally true that we can only rightly understand the letter by having His word abiding in us.
Temple.
Two Greek words are thus translated in the New Testament —the one, hieron, meaning the whole of the temple, its courts, and all buildings connected with it; the other, naos, meaning the proper dwelling-place of God. This distinction is interesting and helpful in many places. Zacharias (Luke 1:9) entered i nto the naos, those that waited without were still in the hieron. We often find Christ teaching in the latter, but into the former He never entered, none but priests being allowed there. “Between the temple and the altar” (Matthew 23:35) is naos, and there means between the temple itself, and the altar in the court. Judas, in his despair, rushed into the naos itself to cast down the money. A third word, oikos, is translated “temple” in Luke 11:51. The usual meaning is simply house, and it is so translated everywhere else.
Thief or Robber.
There are two distinct words in the Greek as in the English. In our translation, however, the distinction has not always been strictly preserved. We find both in John 10:8, the word thief meaning the secret stealer, and robber the violent and open plunderer. Thief occurs Matthew 24:43; John 12:6; robber Matthew 11:13; 26:55; Luke 10:30; John 18:40; 2 Corinthians 11:26; Matthew 27:38,44. It will be observed that the word thief is always so translated, whereas the second word is sometimes rendered thief, sometimes robber. In no place is the distinction more important than in the last passage we have quoted. These two were probably fellow-insurgents with Barabbas (Mark 15:7). He was a robber, but by no means a thief, and possibly in the first place a mistaken zealot, of whom there were many at that time who undertook to deliver the nation from the Roman yoke.
Christ Our Example: The Son of Man Hath Not Where to Lay His Head
No.3. “The Son Of Man Hath Not Where To Lay His Head.”
Christ Jesus was the only one who chose his own condition in the world, and his choice was adverse to all that human wisdom would have suggested. We should have said of him, as we say of ourselves, that an elevated station would afford the greater means of doing good. We should have thought a great deal about influence and opportunity, and the effect to be produced by a descent from princely greatness to a malefactor’s grave; with all the contrast to be exhibited by the way, between the humility of his deportment and the dignity of his station.
God judged otherwise—he has judged always otherwise. Whether to manifest that while the instrument is nothing, all power and all effect depend on the hand that wields it, or with intent to pour contempt on whatever seems great and glorious to us, he has never chosen the great things or great ones of this world with which to do His work, even when they seemed the fittest for His purpose. What an effect, as we should think, would have been produced, had Jesus made the throne of the Roman empire the stepping-stone to the cross, and exhibited his passion and humiliation before the delegates of the universe assembled there, through whom the report would have gone forth to every nation under heaven! But this was not what he intended: he chose his birth-place in a tributary province, distinguished indeed above every other, but with a distinction nothing thought of in the world; and he chose it not in the capital of that province, but in an inferior city; and not amongst the great ones there, but with its meanest and most unknown. All that was striking, all that was remarkable in the Redeemer’s birth, was supernatural. He deigned not to make any use of temporal signs to distinguish it from others, as if he were determined to derive no evidence of his greatness from the world, and to give it none but of a miraculous kind.
Nor was it for himself alone, that Jesus chose poverty and meanness of condition. He chose the same for companions and instruments of his work. He took his disciples from among the unknown; not that he preferred the poor because they were poor-we must beware of erecting poverty into a merit, as has been done ere now—but he preferred poverty, because he knew it to be the state in which his followers could best subserve his Father’s purposes. Doubtless he who foreknew and fore-arranged the whole, had placed in that situation those he intended to select from it—a choice as little consonant with our ideas of what would have been best, as that which he made for himself; because the sudden conversion of twelve persons of elevated station and distinguished talent would have produced a great sensation, tending much more directly, as it seems to us, to the evangelizing of the world. But God never meant to evangelize the world: he meant to call for himself a people out of it by the workings of his grace, and to this little flock to give his kingdom. He meant to send the whispers of his still small voice throughout the earth, that whosoever would hear it might be saved; but he would commend it to them by no factitious attractions, borrowed of this world’s wisdom and greatness.
It is as individuals, each one for ourselves, that we are to be conformed to the image of our Lord. He chose poverty, he chose meanness of condition, he chose to be the least of all men. Who besides him does so? Who is of the mind of Christ? There would be a remedy, if men believed that ‘they are strangers and pilgrims upon earth-travelers, whom it encumbers to have much to carry-sojourners, who have no abiding city here. This is what the Scripture says we are, but we do not think so.
It will be said, it is a needless question what we ought to choose, when we cannot choose at all. Our station in life is appointed by our Maker, and our subsequent fortunes are in his hands. But we must remember that “a man’s heart deviseth his way, though the Lord directeth his steps”; and the state of his heart may be judged by his desires, whether they be prospered or defeated. There is much in our condition that is entirely of God, and not of the will of man. I wish it were that part with which we are best satisfied. If it be an exalted station, it would be as rebellious to descend from it, as it would be from a lower to aspire to it. If it be in abundance, it would be as ungrateful not to enjoy it, as to complain when we have it not. The chief who leads an army to the battle, the insignia of nobility about him, is not to doff his dangerous distinctions, and seek for safety in the rear. Every christian should know, every one who is like-minded with his Lord does know, that distinctions are not desirable; and the more he has of them the better he knows it, whether they be talents, wealth, or name. To such a one they are not a source of pride or exaltation. I will say, for I believe it, that they are a source of humility and self-abasement. I believe a child of God, whose mind is as it should be, is never reminded of his powers or his possessions but his heart sinks within him under a sense of his unworthiness, and the deep responsibility that is upon him, testifying to himself, at least, that he did not choose it. Like most of the genuine traces of the Christian character, this is a hidden feature. Who but God would have known, had he not told it us, the different emotions of one royal bosom looking down from the ramparts of Babylon, and of another, when he asked, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house?’
But our responsibility is greater than it at first appears. The circumstances of birth are much; and constitutional differences are much; and God overrules the current of our destiny. But from the moment of our entrance into life, other agency begins to work upon our fortunes. For a while it is the parents’ responsibility, and the Christian parent does as much prove the likeness of his judgment to the judgment of his Lord, in the choice he makes for his children, as for himself; perhaps more, for he looks upon life then with its tried value full before him, and should have added knowledge to his faith. The choice of the heavenly Father for his children is the pattern by which to regulate our desires for those whose fortunes are in a measure within our influence. It rests with us to save our children from the very necessity we plead as an excuse for what our better principle condemns, by giving them simple habits, moderate desires, and a just estimate of what constitutes the greatness and happiness of a child of God, of an heir of heaven in the days of his minority; choosing a station rather below than above what they might by possibility attain.
With graphic clearness the word of God places before our eyes the two extremes of human destiny, each one in possession of his own good things—doubtless the things that in his lifetime he esteemed most good. It shows us the first Adam in the height of prosperity, lord of all that he beheld, possessed of the world’s good things, when they were good indeed, falling on the first temptation by desire for something more. And after him all who are molded in his likeness. Lot exposing himself to the sin and to the doom of Sodom, because of the rich pastures and well watered plains. Israel forgetting in their pleasant lands the lessons of their long adversity. Solomon, the Lord’s anointed, corrupting himself, in possession, with the very greatness he had been once too wise to ask. The rich man leaving Christ, because he had too much of earth to leave for him. All men, as St. Paul expresses it, seeking their own and not the things of Christ; exposing themselves to temptations, loading their consciences with sin, and piercing themselves through with many sorrows, because they will be rich, be great, be somebody, be something. On the other hand, the Scripture exhibits to us Christ, the second Adam, choosing lowliness as the fittest state in which to recover what the first in his plenitude had lost; to triumph in adversity, as he in prosperity had fallen: making himself the servant of all; and because he so humbled himself, God hath highly exalted him above every creature. And it shows us those who are renewed after his likeness, doing all the same thing. Moses preferring adversity with the people of God, to the riches and royalty of Egypt; Abraham leaving all that lie had to go out, he knew not whither; and those, of whom the world was not worthy, who held its greatness for nothing, and its wealth for dross, confessing they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.
There has been seen from that time forward the likeness of both—in the likeness of one or the other all men must be found. There are the rich and the poor, the prosperous and the afflicted, the high-born and the base, the rising and the sinking; but the line that separates these, though it were better defined than it is, could never separate the image of the first Adam from the image of the second, the lowly from the proud, the earth-renouncing from the earth-aspiring. There is a line visible from the heights of heaven, whether we upon earth can distinguish it or not. On one side of it are those who, be they what they may, would still be something more, or seem to be something that they are not; who cannot enjoy what they have because their desires exceed it, and cannot be grateful because they are not satisfied. There are those who are ashamed of a position which their Master chose, or proud of one which he refused to occupy; and, in spite of all God’s declarations to the contrary, persist in accounting the proud happy, and their end honorable.
On the other side this line of separation there are some, born indeed in the similitude of Adam, but changed by grace into the image and spirit of Christ. They have not changed their station, they are not at liberty to do so, unless God does it for them; but they have changed their mind. They have broken the scale by which this world’s good was measured, and taken the word of God to measure it by instead. Their vain imaginings have ceased, and the devices of their hearts are changed. The grasping hand is unloosed; the heart lets go its hold; the foot of pursuit is slackened. If there are none who have come to the full mind of Christ, which I cannot say there are not, that it is best to be least, and safest to be last, and happiest to be nothing, there are many who are hastening towards it, having more fear of than value for the world’s distinctions, do not admire them, do not seek them, and would rather not have them.
It is said that our position is not like Christ’s: He was God, and could not want means to do good. It is not to be supposed that he who had been partner of the Father’s throne should value the distinctions of this poor world. There is something almost ridiculous in the supposition. What should the Lord of glory want with the honors and pride of this life? The thought seems absurd—it is absurd; but what miserable pretenders then are we! How does our unbelief betray itself! Are not we, too, the heirs of celestial glory? Are we not expectants of a heavenly crown? Are we not preparing, in as short a space as he was, for a destiny so great, so blessed, that in comparison with it the distinctions and possessions of this world are really no more to us than they were to him? Are we not likewise sons’ and daughters of the Most High, too great to be exalted or debased by any condition here, or any thoughts that men may have of us?
The Book of Psalms: Its Divisions: Also, Eastern Manners and Customs
Were we asked for a proof of the Divine character of the Bible, we would point to the ordering and arrangement of the Psalms as in all Hebrew and English Bibles. It would have been an utter impossibility for man, whatever his gift, genius, or piety, to have originated the plan on which the Psalms as a whole are classified, whether into distinct books, or again, those composing the books into orderly arranged series. How could man have collected these 150 inspired songs—the work of many writers and composed during a period of a moo years—putting them in moral order, each psalm in its right place, so that if one were placed instead of another, the Divine symmetry of the whole would be marred? The collector and editor might be Ezra the accomplished scribe of Israel, but God is the Author.
The Jews—ancient and modern-not only regarded the Psalms divided into five books, ending respectively with Nos. 41, 72, 89, 106, 150, as a Divine arrangement, but also considered each book to correspond with the separate books of the Pentateuch, having the same distinguishing characteristics. We will in as few words as possible trace the parallelism.
The first book of Psalms (Nos. 1-41) stands in the same relation to the whole collection that Genesis does to the Bible, both books being introductory and in both are unfolded the counsels of God to this earth. The second book (Nos. 42-72) brings in God as Redeemer, as in the former He is revealed as Creator; hence the future blessing and redemption of the people on the ground of sovereign grace alone-all being utter ruin on man’s side-is the lesson as distinctly graven here, as it is in Exodus the second book of the Pentateuchapter In the third book (Nos. 73-89) we have God made known as Sanctifier, and the whole nation SET APART for God-the root idea in Sanctification. The “Sanctuary” and the “ House” characterize these 17 psalms throughout as they do Leviticus, the third book of Moses. The fourth book (Nos. 90-106) commences with what has been termed “the funeral psalm of the wilderness”—No. 90. Here too we have the patriarchial title “God Almighty,” faith’s resource in wilderness circumstances, and “Most High” the Millennial title so as to sustain the hopes of the pilgrim, journeying host. The frailty and mortality of man, of Israel, is solemnly chanted in the opening of this new series of 17 psalms. But we have also the righteous ground unfolded in the death of the Messiah, and the glory and eternity of His being, (No. 102) on which God will yet set His people in Canaan blessing, after the truths of death and resurrection have been practically learned. And are not these the very truths and characteristics of the fourth book of Scripture-Numbers? There we behold the generation of Israel dying in the wilderness, there too we see the cross (Chapter 21) man’s only hope and refuge I there also we witness the testing of man. But why amplify with the teachings of both books before our very eyes? The fifth book (Nos. 107-150) is a book of review, a book in which the moral element largely prevails. Here God in His character, ways, and works is unfolded in strains-sublime and rapturous. Is the correspondence to Deuteronomy difficult to perceive? Have you ever compared the song (Chapter 32) and blessing of Moses (Chapter 33) with the closing five Psalms? We consider therefore that the Jews had a Divine thought in holding that parallelism existed between the separate books of the Pentateuch and the separate books of the Psalms.
It will be observed that the first, second, and third books of psalms end with the words, “Amen, and Amen;” while the fourth and fifth close with a “Hallelujah,” or “Praise ye the Lord.” The expressive note attached to the second book or 72nd psalm, “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended,” was probably the work of the inspired compiler. What more could be desired? Immanuel’s land is filled with glory and the praise of the once despised Nazarene, the Man of sorrows engages the heart and tongue of the Millennial earth, for “daily shall He be praised.” The last five psalms each begin with a “Hallelujah,” and also close with it, while the last of the five is a “Hallelujah psalm” throughout.
Hebrew and Christian Division of the Book of Psalms
Book 1 contains Psalms 1-41
We have here the godly or remnant part of Judah— “the excellent of the earth,” with whom Christ identified Himself in the historic past (Matthew 3), as He will by His Spirit in the prophetic future. To this remnant Jehovah reveals His counsels, and makes them the depository of His thoughts, hence the frequency of the covenant name Jehovah—270 times.
Book 2 contains Psalms 42-72
Here the remnant are prophetically viewed as suffering under the Beast or civil power (Revelation 12; 13; Daniel 7), but outside Jerusalem, which is governmentally given up to the gentiles, for the last half of Daniel’s week, or three years and a half, hence the prominence given to the creatorial title God. —200 times.
Book 3 contains Psalms 73-89
Israel as a whole (not Judah only, as in the previous books), has her history divinely sketched from her rise till her Millennial glory— Jerusalem being fully owned. Before the nation’s yet future acceptance, (Psalms 73-83), God is the leading title throughout; after the nation’s acceptance (Psalms 84-89), Jehovah is the much more frequent name.
Book 4 contains Psalms 90-106
Here Christ is regarded as “the hope of Israel,” and for His return they sigh and wait. The successive announcement of His coming for their deliverance, and the overthrow of their enemies, are celebrated in triumphant strains. As this involves the national restoration to the Divine favor, the covenant or relationship title is the one used. — Jehovah —107 times.
Book 5 contains Psalms 107-150
God’s character, His ways, and works are here grandly celebrated in songs unrivaled for sublimity and poetic sweetness and fervor. Jehovah occurs about 260 times. The last psalm is one triumphant “Hallelujah” or “Praise ye the Lord.”
In the first Psalm, the two parts of the nation are distinguished—the godly (verses 1-3), the ungodly (verses 4-6). In the second Psalm, the counsels of Jehovah respecting Christ are declared. Thus these two Psalms are introductory to the whole collection.
Eastern Manners and Customs: Illustrating Various Passages In The Bible.
“I will not...offer burnt offerings without cost. —1 Chronicles 21:24.
An American missionary has recently given the following interesting illustration of these words of David, speaking of the incense sticks which are burned by the Chinese in all the forms of their idolatrous worship. He says:” A few weeks ago, I was tramping with one of our native preachers along a road, some fifty miles distant, that led over a high mountain pass. At the highest point on the road, we came, as is usual in such places, upon a shrine with an urn, where travelers burn incense sticks to the deities presiding over that locality. These incense sticks are bought in small packages, and may be burned, or left, near the incense altar. At this shrine on the mountain ridge, I picked up part of a package of the sticks, and said to the preacher that was with me, Suppose a man coming here should burn the sticks which another man has left, would that answer the same purpose as if he burned some he himself bought? ‘He exclaimed at once, and emphatically, No! no one would think of offering that which cost him nothing;’ and added further, If any one should burn these sticks, the benefit would accrue to the person who bought them, and not to the one who burned them.”
“Thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.”—Proverbs 25:22.
“A very affecting realization of Bible language is seen in the custom of the bakers, and many well-to-do persons, who, having live coals left over after the baking or cooking in their houses, are prepared to give these remains to the poorer class, who come through the streets with an iron tray and a cushion on their heads, and receive the gift of these still living embers. This, in truth, is carrying out heaping coals of fire, and is an act of charity in so doing to the receiver, whether offered to the adversary or the friend.” A. F. F.
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Oak - Plumbline
Isaiah 1:30; 2:13; 6:13; Amos 2:9
Matthew 25:4; Leviticus 2
“Mingled with oil” — sets forth the conception of Jesus by the Holy Ghost
Anointed with oil—sets forth the truth of Acts 20:38
Fruitfulness and testimony for God
Romans 11; Judges 9:8, 9; Jeremiah 11:16
Parental forgetfulness, cruelty
Job 39:13-17; Lamentations 4:3
Thorough, sever, and unsparing judgment
Solitariness in suffering
Patience and strength for labor
1 Timothy 5:18; Psalms 144:14; 1 Corinthians 9:9
The growth and flourishing state of the righteous
Sol. 7:7, 8; Psalms 92:12
Revelation 7:9; John 12:13
The third heaven, or the immediate presence of God
Luke 23:43; 2 Corinthians 12:4
The church in unity, beauty, costliness
Matthew 13:46; Revelation 21:21
Ability to support, uphold, or maintain
1 Timothy 3:15; Galatians 2:9; Revelation 3:12
Used in the construction of the tabernacle. The believer upheld and maintained by Divine power, variously employed. “Kept by the power of God”
1 Corinthians 9:10; Luke 9:62
Notes on Last Month's Subject: The Titles & Work of the Holy Ghost
12. —The Titles & Work of The Holy Ghost.
This subject fittingly completes similar researches respecting the Father and the Son that have already occupied us, by giving a full and comprehensive review from the New Testament of the titles and work of God the Holy Ghost. To those of our readers who have leisure, we would suggest a comparison of the three subjects side by side. A most interesting and profitable series of short Bible jottings, suitable for the readers of this Magazine who have not time to work out such a subject for themselves might be made by giving lists of similarity of action in the three Persons of the Trinity, of differences of action, or of combination in action. If some of our friends will thus collate the three subjects, we doubt not they will be able to furnish us with many new and valuable thoughts. In the short space at our disposal it would be manifestly impossible to attempt this; indeed, on looking through last month’s subject alone, it appears so vast and so full, that we feel we cannot do more in the present paper than briefly take up the first of the two great divisions in which it is arranged.
The titles of the Holy Ghost as given in the list may be profitably classified as follows: TITLES OF THE HOLY GHOST.
I. Titles connected wdth the Godhead generally.
God, Holy Spirit of God, Spirit of our God, Spirit of God, Spirit of the living God, Seven Spirits of God
Titles connected with God the Father.
Power of the Highest, Spirit of the Father.
Titles connected with God the Son.
Spirit of Christ, Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of Jesus Christ, Spirit of His Son.
Six personal titles of God the Holy Ghost.
The Spirit, The Lord, Holy Spirit, Eternal Spirit, Holy One, or Holy Ghost, Comforter.
Seven special titles of God the Holy Ghost.
Spirit of grace, Spirit of adoption, Spirit of promise, Spirit of glory, Spirit of life, Spirit of holiness, Spirit of truth.
In Division 1. we notice two facts of all importance; first, that the Holy Ghost is God, and second, that He is the Spirit of the triune God. Just as in Christ dwells “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:19), so may we not in like manner say with reverence that in God the Holy Ghost we get God spiritually? Of Christ as the bodily expression of God we read, “Every eye shall see Him,” of God the Holy Ghost as the spiritual expression of God it is written, “Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not” (John 14:17). The expression “seven spirits of God,” in the Revelation, is not only in keeping with the character of the book (which looking at all things from the Divine standpoint, sees them fully and perfectly as sevens) but referring to Isaiah 11 presents to us the sevenfold power of the Holy Ghost in government. The seven spirits there alluded to are as follows: The Spirit of the Lord—of wisdom—of understanding—of counsel—of might—of knowledge—and of the fear of the Lord. The “Spirit of the living God” refers especially to God in the power of resurrection, for it is in the power of resurrection that the Spirit thus engraves upon our hearts the name and qualities of Christ.
Turning to Division 2. we find that, not only is the Holy Ghost the “Spirit of God” generally, but that He is specially spoken of as the “Spirit of the Father.” By the Spirit in this connection the Father speaks through His children (Matthew 10:20) and thus, when walking really in dependence upon God, we have a wisdom and words not our own, but given to us from above. It is a thought full of comfort and strength, that the Holy Ghost who dwells in us is the “Spirit of our Father.”
But, not only so, in Division 3. we find that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, He is Christ, spiritually in us (Romans 8:10), so that in proportion as we are led and guided by the Holy Ghost and not by our own wills, are we being led and guided by Christ, and in us are reproduced the spirit and ways that were found in Him. Not only does the ungrieved Spirit thus guide us rightly in all our ways manward, but as the “Spirit of His Son” He gives right feelings, thoughts and words Godward. It is by this Spirit that we cry, “Abba, Father.” As the “Spirit of Christ” therefore the Holy Ghost is our life; as the “Spirit of Jesus Christ” He strengthens us in the hour of trial; as the “Spirit of His Son” He produces in our hearts the language of a son.
In Division 4, there is much to learn in connection with the six titles there given. One fact specially should impress us, and that is that God being the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity, we have to do with One whose holiness cannot sanction any sin. Sin indulged, grieves the Holy Ghost, silences His voice and takes away from our hearts all the blessing and communion with Christ that His enjoyed presence gives. When we sin and act willfully, the Spirit can no longer fulfill His mission as “Comforter” in our hearts. He came down as a Person for this purpose at Pentecost (though breathed into the disciples as, the breath of the new life in John 20:22 j compare Genesis 2:7) and will remain on earth in and with God’s people, until that time when He (the Spirit) who now letteth (or hinders) the entire triumph of evil in this world (2 Thessalonians 2:7) “be taken out of the way,” or in other words, until the coming of the Lord for His people, when the Holy Ghost has, like Eliezer of old (Genesis 24), accomplished His work of leading the Bride of the Son across the desert of this world to the Father’s house.
Division 5. gives us seven special titles of the Holy Spirit which are full of instruction. Grace (Hebrews 10:29), glory (1 Peter 4:14), adoption (Romans 8:15), life (Romans 8:2), promise (Ephesians 1:13), holiness (Romans 1:4), truth (John 14:17).
As the Spirit of grace and truth, He especially represents Christ in the twofold character in which He came— “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In a general way He convicts the world at large of the truth of its condition (John 16:8) while at the same rime bringing home to the hearts of men the grace that alone can purge away their sins. In a more special way through the Spirit have we all received of Christ’s fullness in these two ways, so that He produces in us the fruits of grace while at the same time He guides us into all truth. (John 16:13).
The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free from all our old relationships, while the Spirit of adoption brings us into the new. Those who have the Spirit of life are free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2) which has no power over an existence that begins beyond the tomb on resurrection ground. Those who have the Spirit of adoption can and do cry “Abba, Father,” having the Spirit of sonship in their hearts; while therefore in the one case all links of slavery are broken, in the other fresh chains of obedience are forged.
Just one word in closing, on the Spirit of glory, which expression occurs in 1 Peter 4:14: it is there said that if we be reproached truly for the name of Christ, the Spirit of God, bringing home the power of the coming glory, rests upon us. The word “rest” is the same word as Matthew 11:28, “I will give you rest,” and means taking a rest or even “ finding satisfaction;” so that we get rest by coming to Christ, while the Spirit of God can find His rest and satisfaction in the one who is a partaker of Christ’s sufferings. Our space forbids us to look further into this interesting subject, but we trust that what has been said will stimulate our readers to consider it still further for themselves.
This Month's Subject: The Prayers of Scripture
The subject worked out for this month is—
The Prayers of Scripture, giving as far as possible a summary of their contents, and the answers granted wherever recorded.
Without anticipating the remarks to be made next month, we would just observe, that, in arranging the papers for the result, we have been struck with the comprehensiveness of the word Prayer as used in Scripture. We are often in the habit of limiting it (as in the subject proposed) to the expression of our needs, and the desire that they should be met, but it would seem to include the soul’s intercourse with God and the unburdening of the heart before Him. Might we not almost say, all that passes between our hearts and God that is not included in the word praise?
We have been obliged to make the summary of each separate prayer rather more brief than the example given in the July number, as the subject would otherwise have exceeded our limits.
Prayers in The Old Testament.
1.—Prayers answered.
Abraham prays that Ishmael may live before God, and he receives the assurance that his prayer is heard. Genesis 17:18-20.
Abraham prays that Sodom may not be destroyed if even ten righteous can be found there: his prayer is granted, but as there are not the ten to be found, the city is destroyed. Genesis 18:32-33.
Lot prays that Zoar may be spared, and his prayer is granted. Genesis 19:20-22.
Abraham prays for Abimelech and his house, and they are healed. Genesis 20:17.
Abraham’s servant prays that he may meet at the well the woman who is appointed as Isaac’s wife, and he meets Rebekah. Genesis 24:10-27. Isaac prays for Rebekah, and Esau and Jacob are born. Genesis 25:21. Jacob prays that he may find favor in the sight of Esau, and his prayer is granted. Genesis 32:11-12; 33:4.
Moses prays that the land of Egypt may be delivered from some of the plagues, and he is heard. Exodus 8:12,30; 9:33; 10:18.
Moses intercedes for the children of Israel when they had sinned in making the golden calf, and the anger of the Lord is turned away. Exodus 32:11-14; Deuteronomy 9:20.
Moses entreats that the presence of the Lord may go with the children o f Israel, and it is promised. Exodus 33:12-17; 34:9-11.
Moses desires to see the glory of the Lord; he is told that none can see His face, nevertheless the Lord passes by before him. Exodus 33:20; 34:5-7.
Moses prays that the fire of the Lord which consumed the people might be quenched, and he is heard. Numbers 11:1, 2.
Moses prays for Miriam, and she is healed. Numbers 12:13.
Moses intercedes for the people after they refuse to enter the land and they are pardoned, though excluded from the land. Numbers 14:17-20; Deuteronomy 9:26.
Moses prays for the people when they are bitten by fiery serpents, and he is told to raise up the serpent of brass for their healing. Numbers 21:7, 8.
Joshua prays that the sun and moon may stand still. Joshua 10:14.
Manoah prays that the angel of the Lord who had appeared to his wife may still further instruct them as to Samson, and the angel again appears. Judges 13:8,9.
Samson prays for water, and it is provided in a hollow in the jawbone with which he had slain the Philistines. Judges 15:18,19.
Samson prays that he may be strengthened so as to be avenged of his enemies, and he is enabled to pull down the house where they were assembled. Judges 16:28-31.
Hannah prays for a son, and Samuel is born to her. 1 Samuel 1:11-19.
Samuel prays when the Philistines are gathered against Israel, and a great deliverance is wrought. 1 Samuel 7:9
Samuel prays respecting the desire of the Israelites for a king, and he receives instructions concerning it. 1 Samuel 8:6-9.
David prays that the word of God concerning his house may be established, and it is fulfilled in Christ. 2 Samuel 7:25.
David prays that the counsel of Ahitophel may be turned to foolishness, and it is disregarded by Absalom. 2 Samuel 15:31; 17:14.
Solomon prays for an understanding heart to judge the people, and his prayer is granted. 1 Kings 3:9,28.
Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple. 1 Kings 8.
1St. That God would hear him, and that His name should be in the house. See 1 Kings 9:3.
2nd. That God would condemn the wicked, and justify the righteous. See Isaiah 3:10,11.
3rd. That if Israel were smitten before their enemies and repented or confessed their sins, they should be restored. See 2 Chronicles 33:11-13, Nehemiah 1:4-11. To be perfectly fulfilled hereafter, see Romans 11:26.
4th. That if there should be no rain because of the sins of the people, on their confession it should be sent. See 1 Kings 18:39-41.
5th. That if there should be famine, pestilence, or a foreign invasion, they should be relieved on confession. See 2 Kings 19; Isaiah 37
6th. That if a stranger should come and pray toward the temple, he should be heard. See Acts 8:27-40.
7th. That if the people went to battle, He would maintain their cause if they looked to Him. See 2 Chronicles 14:11; 20:20.
8th. That if they were carried away captive and confessed their sins, and returned to Him, He would cause their captors to be merciful to them-fulfilled in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The man of God prays that Jeroboam’s hand may be restored, and he is heard. 1 Kings 13:6.
Elijah prays that there may be no rain, and there is none for three years. 1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17.
Again he prays, and there is rain. 1 Kings 18:42. James 5:18. Elijah prays that life may be restored to the dead son of the widow of Zarephath, and he is heard. 1 Kings 17:21,22.
Elijah prays that God will manifest Himself at the burnt sacrifice on Mt. Carmel, and it is consumed by fire from heaven. 1 Kings 18:36-39. Elisha prays that life may be restored to the dead son of the Shunamite, and he is heard. 2 Kings 4:33-35.
Elisha prays that the eyes of his servant may be opened to see the deliverance of God, and he is heard. 2 Kings 6:17-20.
Hezekiah prays that his life may be prolonged, and fifteen years are added to his days. 2 Kings 20:2-6; Isaiah 38
Jabez prays that God may be with him, and his request is granted. 1 Chronicles 4:10.
David prays for Solomon, and his request is heard, as regards at least the earlier days of his son. 1 Chronicles 29:19.
Asa prays for help when in battle with the Ethiopians, who are defeated.
2 Chronicles 14:12.
Ezra and his companions pray that a right way may be opened for their return to Jerusalem; they are delivered from those that lay in wait for them. Ezra 8:21-32.
Nehemiah and his companions pray for deliverance from those who oppose the rebuilding of the wall, and they are heard. Nehemiah 4; 6.
Nehemiah prays that God will remember him for all that he has done for the people. Is part of his reward the record given in the book bearing his name? Nehemiah 5:19;13. 14, &c.
Job prays for his three friends, and finds acceptance with God on their behalf. Job 42:8-10.
Isaiah prays for Israel, and is heard. Isaiah 63:15-chapter 65.
Jeremiah repeatedly prays for the men of Judah, see Chapter 14: 7-9, 20, 21; 15:15; 32:15-25, and in response he receives communications from God in reference to his prayer.
Daniel prays that the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream may be made known to him, and it is revealed in a night-vision. Daniel 2:18,19.
Daniel prays three times a day, notwithstanding the command forbidding prayer. Daniel 6:10.
Daniel prays earnestly on behalf of Jerusalem, with confession of the national sin, and in response, the future of the city is revealed to him. Daniel 9:16-chapter 10.
Amos prays for the house of Jacob, and the Lord repents of the evil he had determined. Chapter 7:2-6.
The men in whose ship Jonah was going to Tarshish pray that they may not perish on his account, and when they throw him overboard, the waves cease. Jonah 1:14-16.
Jonah prays while in the belly of the fish, and is heard, and delivered. Jonah 2
The Children of Israel cry to God many times when in distress or danger and they are delivered; but we are not told what was their prayer on those occasions. See Exodus 14:10-28; Judges 3:9; 4:3; 6:7; 10:10, &c.
Likewise, Moses cries to God, and is heard at Marah and Rephidim. Exodus 15:25; 17:4
Instances are given of those who inquired of the Lord, and received answers, but these scarcely come under our subject, e.g., David, 1 Samuel 23:2, 4, 10, 11, &c.
The people of Nineveh turned to God in repentance, and He spared the city. Jonah 3:5-10.
Habakkuk cries to God (chaps. 1 & 3.) and in the end he is able to “rejoice in the Lord.”
The angel of the Lord who communed with Zechariah cried for mercy on Judah and Jerusalem, and the Lord answered with good and comfortable words. Zechariah 1:12, 13.
2. —Prayers not answered.
Moses prays that he might enter the land, but is forbidden, because he did
not honor God at Kadesh. Deuteronomy 3:24-27; Numbers 20:12.
David prays for the life of his child, who, however, dies in token of the judgment of God. 2 Samuel 12:14-19.
Elijah prays that he may die, fearing Jezebel’s wrath, but he is encouraged by God, and is translated to heaven without passing through death. 1 Kings 19:4; 2 Kings 2:11.
Jonah prays that he may die, being displeased at the forbearance of God toward Nineveh, but God teaches him the justice of this by the lesson of the gourd. Chapter 4.
Prayers In The New Testament.
1.—Prayers answered.
The leper (Matthew 8:2), the centurion (8:8-13), the ruler (9:18-25), the two blind men (9:27-29), the Syrophoenician woman (15:22-28), Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-62), pray for temporal mercies, either for themselves or others, and they are heard.
Zacharias prays for a child, his prayer is heard, and John the Baptist is born. Luke 1:13.
The thief on the cross prays to be remembered, and the answer is, beyond his expectations. Luke 23:42, 43.
It is recorded many times (seven in the gospel of Luke) that our Lord prayed.
In John 17 we are permitted to read the outpouring of His heart to His Father.
(With reverence we read His “If it be possible let this cup pass from me,” and we behold Him drinking that cup to the dregs on Calvary. Matthew 26:39; 27:46.)
The Apostles pray that the lot may fall upon the one of their company who should fill Judas’s place, and Matthias is numbered with the eleven. Acts 1:24-26.
After being charged by the chief priests and elders not to speak any more in the name of Jesus, the Apostles pray that boldness may be given to speak God’s word. Acts 4:29, 31. In the following Chapter they continue preaching without fear.
Stephen prays “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” Acts 7:60. May not the immediate conversion of Saul be an answer to this?
Peter and John prayed that the Samaritan believers might receive the Holy Ghost, and their prayer is granted. Acts 8:15-17.
Peter, after prayer, is able to call Tabitha to life. Acts 9:40.
Cornelius, who “prayed to God alway,” receives the assurance that his prayers are heard, and Peter is sent to lead him to the knowledge of salvation. Acts 10
Peter having been cast into prison by Herod, instant and earnest prayer (margin) is made by the Church on his behalf, and it is answered by his miraculous deliverance. Acts 12
Paul prays, and heals the father of Publius of a fever. Acts 28:8.
Besides these, many prayers are recorded without details. Peter on the house top at Joppa, (Acts 10:9): the Church in sending forth Barnabas and Saul 3), Paul and Silas in prison (16:25); Paul with the elders at Ephesus (20:36); Paul and the disciples (21:5), &c.
Paul prays that he may be prospered in his journey to Rome, where he longs to see the saints (Romans 1:10); he is taken there, but as a prisoner (Acts 28:16).
Paul prays that he may visit the Thessalonian saints (1 Thessalonians 3:10), perhaps fulfilled in Acts 20:2.
2.-Prayers not answered.
Paul prays for deliverance from those who did not believe in Judea (Romans 15:31), but soon after arriving at Jerusalem, he is put into prison.
Paul prays thrice that the thorn in the flesh may be taken away from him 2 Corinthians 12:8). This request is not granted, but he is told by the Lord, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
In the Epistles we do not find an historical account of events that took place, and consequently there are but few prayers, the answers to which are recorded. We read however the outpourings of the Apostles hearts and learn what were their desires for their fellow believers, and, as these afford us happy instructions as to what may now be the character of the prayers of those who have the welfare of God’s people at heart, we have selected from the researches of the class such passages as seemed the most deeply interesting. Embracing as these prayers did, the whole Church of God, we may believe that they were abundantly answered as regards many, of whose lives we have no record, but whose record is on high.
The prayers of Paul.
That Israel might be saved. Romans 10:1.
That the saints might be of one mind, and so glorify God. Romans 15:5,6.
That they might be filled with joy and peace and abound in hope. Romans 15:13.
That they should do no evil. 2 Corinthians 13:7.
That they might have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, and might know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and the exceeding greatness of His power towards them. Ephesians 1:17-19.
That they might be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man. That they might know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Ephesians 3:16-19.
That their love might abound in knowledge and judgment, that they might approve things that are excellent, and be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Philippians 1:9-10.
That they might be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Colossians 1:9-12.
That they might increase and abound in love toward one another and toward all men. 1 Thessalonians 3:10-13.
That they might be sanctified wholly, that their whole spirit, soul, and body might be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
That God would count them worthy of His calling-that the name of the Lord might be glorified in them. 2 Thessalonians 1:11,12.
That they might be comforted, and stablished in every good word and work. 2 Thessalonians 2:17.
That their hearts might be directed into the love of God, and the patience of Christ—Revelation 2, Thessalonians 3:5.
That the Lord of peace might give them peace always, by all means. 2 Thessalonians 3:16.
That they might be made perfect in every good work to do God’s will. Hebrews 13:21.
Paul’s prayers for particular saints.
For Timothy, 2 Timothy 1:3.
For Onesiphorus, that he might find mercy of the Lori in that day 2 Timothy 1:16-18
For those who forsook him, that it might not be laid to their charge 2 Timothy 4:16.
Peter, that the God of all grace might make them perfect, stablish, strengthen and settle them. 1 Peter 5:10.
Christ...who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able and to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared. Hebrews 5:7.
PRAY WITHOUT CEASING.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 303-325
Q. 303. In Numbers 12 we are told that both Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses, but only Miriam is punished. Can you give the reason for this? E. B.
A. The anger of the Lord was against both of them, but Aaron’s priestly office may have saved him from the outward sign of God’s displeasure. It is also possible that Miriam may have been first in the transgression, being named first in ver. 1 but not in ver. 4, where the natural order is given.
Q. 304. (1) What is the meaning of “baptized for the dead,” 1 Corinthians 15:29? (2) How is a thing sanctified by the word of God, 1 Timothy 4:5? s. H.
A. (1) See B. S. January, 1882, p. 16, Q. 26. (2) It is set apart by the word of God which reveals that every creature of God is good, and by prayer which receives all with thanksgiving. (ver. 4).
Q. 305. Please explain Acts 15:29, in connection with 1 Corinthians 8:9, 10. A. G. G.
A. Does not the epistle give the godly reason on which the apostolic injunction is based? It was not intended to bring the Gentiles into bondage, but in this matter at any rate there was a concession to the conscience of their Jewish brethren, and it is on this ground Paul so lovingly puts it in the Scripture referred to.
Q. 306. Referring to Q. 218, we read of our Lord being “weary,” “hungry,” and of His weeping. Would not these be called infirmities? S. B.
A. The bodily suffering and weakness that Christ felt, and to which you allude, were a part of the perfection of His sinless humanity. In a sense they may be called infirmities, but the modern use of the word rather implies disease, or some physical, or mental deficiency. Hence, we would rather say, Our Savior had all the feelings proper to a perfect, sinless humanity.
Q. 307. Please explain Daniel 7:9-14. Who is the “Ancient of Days,” and who is the one “like the Son of Man?” E. B.
A. Is not the former God the Father, and the latter Christ, as “Son of Man?”
Q. 308. What is the meaning of “purifying their hearts by faith” Acts 15:9? It does not appear to be the extirpation of sin. F. C. B.
A. It is in no way different from the other passages which speak of the cleansing, or washing, or renewing consequent on conversion. On believing I receive a new and holy nature, my heart is practically cleansed. It is not that my old evil nature is gone, but that it no longer reigns supreme in my being, that is in myself, as a source of will and action.
Q. 309. (1) When will Isaiah 19:19 be fulfilled? Can the “altar” be applied to the great Pyramid? (2) Did Jephthah act rightly with regard to his daughter, Judges 11:30-40? E.
A. In the Millennium, when Egypt shall share in the blessing of the Jews. From the rising of the sun, even to the going down of the same. Jehovah’s name will be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto it and a pure offering. No wonder there shall be an altar to Jehovah in the land of Egypt and a pillar at the border thereof—a sign and a witness unto God in that land. We do not know where this altar will be. (2) Jephthah acted wrongly in making his foolish and rash vow. According to Numbers 30:2, the vow once made could not be broken. The difficulty that has always been felt with regard to this passage arises no doubt from the way in which Jephthah is spoken of in Hebrews 11:32.
Q. 310. Explain Genesis 49:17.
A. This Chapter contains both literal blessings, &c., and a prophetic glance at the whole history of the children of Israel. Dan typically represents the power and treachery of Satan, while the remnant looking out for Christ cry as in verse 18. The typical character of the Chapter may be shown thus: Apostate Israel of old—Reuben, unstable—Simeon and Levi—rebels and murderers.
Christ at His coming and now—Judah.
The despised nation now Zebulun—Israel a merchant, and Issachar—subject to Gentile rule.
Nation under Antichrist? —Dan— see Leviticus 24:11 and Judges 18.
The Remnant saved— Gad— victory at last, and Asher—blessed. Naphtali—freedom and worship.
Christ at His second coming—JosEphesians
Christ in His millennial reign—Benjamin—son of my right hand, Psalms 110:1.
Q. 311. Who are the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:2 and in Job 38:7? M. L.
A. In Job they are clearly the angelic host. Probably also in the former passage. See B. S., April, 1882, p. 122, Q. 153: also the note to the same query on p. 201.
Q. 312. How do you reconcile John 1:34, and Matthew 11:3. (This was put ver. 13 in Q. 239). The generally accepted, but I think entirely mistaken view, is that John’s faith was failing, was it not on account of the Character of Christ so utterly unlike what he had expected? “There is one coming,” saith he “who will burn you up as chaff with unquenchable fire.” But as months pass on and John himself is cast into prison, and hears only of deeds of mercy, and healing, is it to be wondered at that he feels confused, not as to Jesus being the Christ, but as to why He was so different from all former prophets? J. L.
A. Your remarks only tend to explain the cause of the wave of doubt that passed over John’s mind, not to deny it. No doubt neither John nor even the Apostles could understand the meekness and lowliness of Christ when both had expected a king to reign over them in power. Still less doubtless could John see why One who was all powerful would permit His faithful follower to languish in prison and not lift a finger to release him. The plain meaning, however, of the Baptist’s words leaves no doubt that for the moment his faith in the Messiah was clouded.
Q. 313. (1) Is the redemption in 1 Corinthians 1:30, the redemption of the body, being mentioned last? (2) What is the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19) with which the believer may be filled? H. C.
A. (1) Why not redemption of both body and soul? (2) All that God is. It is not “filled with,” otherwise we could bold it, that is, the finite could hold the infinite! But “filled unto” or “into,” just as an empty vessel without a bottom might float about in the ocean and be filled into all its fullness, any amount of water passing through it as long as it remained in the ocean, but incapable of holding a drop if taken out. Such is the believer.
Q. 314. Why is it that in Acts believers are always said to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, instead of in the name of the Trinity according to Matthew 28:19? E. M. B.
A. The words used were doubtless those of Matthew, for this was the only commission given. Still, in the historical record, it is said to be in the name of Jesus Christ, of the Lord, and of the Lord Jesus, all meaning that it was in confession of His name and belief in Him they were baptized, thus showing it was Christian, as opposed to Jewish baptism.
Q. 315. Please explain Acts 22:16. Was Paul baptized unto John’s or Christian baptism? If the latter, why is it added, “and wash away thy sins?” E. M. B.
A. Baptism is but the figure. It is not the washing away of the filth of the flesh by the water that saves me, but the answer of a good conscience towards God (see 1 Peter 3:21). Besides, it is here added “calling upon the name of the Lord” (Romans 10:13). It is through identification with Christ in death that my old self is gone and my sins washed away. Baptism is but the figure of this.
Q. 316. Kindly explain 1 Timothy 4:8 and Mark 10:30. In what sense have we the promise of the life that now is? E. M. B.
A. Were things in their normal condition we should know the benefits of being introduced into the Christian family in a way we little know now. Hundreds of houses would be opened to us, and we should feel we had gained ten friends for every one lost. As it is, some of us have experienced even in the present ruin, in no small measure, the truth of this verse, in the wide circle of Christian love and sympathy practically shown. See also Matthew 6:33.
Q. 317. How can a believer be denied by Christ before His Father? E. M. B.
A. We do not know that we have any ground for assuming that those spoken of in Matthew 10:33 were believers.
Q. 318. Will christians who do not suffer with Christ and for His sake, reign with Him? 2 Timothy 2:12. E. M. B.
A. We doubt not that our position in the glory will depend on our faithfulness here. In a sense, however, we believe that all who have a part in the first resurrection will reign with Christ, according to Revelation 20:6.
Q. 319. Please explain Romans 14:5,6, and say if the passage warrants the observance of days. E. M. B.
A. It warranted a tender regard on the part of Gentile converts towards the consciences of their Jewish brethren who had been taught by God to observe days and months, &c. It affords no excuse for Gentiles, who have never been so taught by God.
Q. 320. (1) What tidings out of the East and out of the North will trouble Antichrist, Daniel 11:44? (2) Is there any Scripture which states that he will profess to the Jews that he is Christ? (3) Is there any evidence that he will be at Armageddon in person? J. T.
A. It is important to observe that tidings out of the East and out of North (which we can only conjecture) trouble not Antichrist, but the last king of the North, who is in question from the middle of ver. 40 to the end of Chapter 11 “The king” who is attacked by the king of the South (Egypt) and by the king of the North (Syria) is Antichrist, whose end is not given here but in many other Scriptures. The closing verses follow up his history with the doings and the end of the Assyrian or king of the north, who is really the enemy of the Antichrist, and is to stand up against the Prince of princes, but to be broken without hand. (2) It is “the king” who reigns in the land of Palestine, as if he were the Christ; but he is really the Antichrist. See verse 36-39, and compare John 5:43, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10, Revelation 13:11-13. (3) The Antichrist is to be destroyed along with the Emperor of the West, the revived Roman beast, by the Epiphany of the Lord Jesus from heaven, and consigned to the lake of fire alive, (Revelation 19.20), as, it would seem, the king of the North also and later. Compare Isaiah 30:33, reading “for the king also.”
Q. 321. Who are meant by “the heathen upon whom thy name is called,” Amos 9:12? J. T.
A. The Gentiles who are to be brought to know and confess the name of Jehovah in the future days of Messiah’s kingdom. James cites this scripture for the principle, which overturned the Judaizing desire that Gentiles should not be now owned, though believing in the name of the Lord, unless they were circumcised, i.e., became practically Jews. The apostle applied it to God’s present work of grace in calling Gentiles as such will be true in another and far larger way when the Lord reigns over the earth and fulfills the prophets in all their extent.
Q. 322. In 1 John 3:6,9 we read that those who are born of God and abide in Him do not commit sin; does not this seem to contradict other passages of Scripture, and also our own experience, and to favor what is called the doctrine of perfectionism? H. H.
A. The flesh is not “born of God,” but the believer is, having received a new nature. In this Chapter the Christian is regarded solely as living and acting in the power of this new nature. Provision is made elsewhere for failure, but not here. The doctrine of perfectionism, that is, the absence of the flesh, “sin,” is however carefully guarded against even in this epistle (Chapter 1:8). Refer to B. S., May 1882, p. 159, Q. 170.
Q. 323. Do you consider that the various passages which speak of Christ’s second coming lead to the belief of his temporal and personal, or spiritual reign on the earth? T. H.
A. His temporal reign for 1000 years over this earth; not however, reigning (as is indicated in Ezekiel) personally over Jerusalem (a prince of the house of Judah will here be His vicegerent), but personally as regards the earth at large, and we shall reign with Him.
Q. 324. (1) What is the meaning of “anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,” James 5:14? (2) Who are we to understand Melchizedec to be in Hebrews 7? H. C.
A. (1) Oil is actually and typically used for healing in Scripture (see Luke 10 &c.). We cannot say more. (2) A literal man, only without father and mother, &c. in a priestly sense, i.e., his priesthood was of a different order from Aaron’s which entirely depended on descent and genealogy and lasted for a definite period. All that is said about him in Hebrews 7 is as a priest.
Q. 325. Please explain the parable in Luke 19 who is meant by the wicked servant, and what by the pounds and the bank? H. C.
A. It shows forth man’s responsibility until the Lord’s return, just as Matthew 25 (the talents) shows forth God’s sovereignty. The former says “You have all got something; whatever it is, use it to the best advantage for God’s glory, and you will be rewarded accordingly.” Matthew says “Although one may have far more brilliant gifts than another, yet all who are equally faithful shall alike enter the joy of their Lord.” The wicked servant is a professor only. The pounds are the gifts God gives us.
Notes on Former Queries: Vol. 2, 283, 224
Q. 283. (page 267). The “hold “ mentioned here refers to the fortress or strong hold of Zion mentioned in verse 7. In 2 Samuel 23:14, it refers to the cave of Adullam, which David used as a strong hold, and in Judges 9:46, “hold” means a deep place in the house. The following is an extract from Lever’s Sermons, page 88.
“The Scots assault castles, towers, and such manner of holds,” which chews it was commonly used at the period of the Authorized Version.
B. W.M.
Q. 224. The Greek word used in Matthew 11:12, and also Luke 16:16 has many meanings: to attack violently—to ravage—to resist—to push from you—to press against: as “ hold the truth “ in Romans 1:18, means to resist it—to push it away. As a matter of fact all men did not, in your sense, press into the kingdom, but in my sense, they violently opposed it, and it culminated in the cry representative of the nation, “We have no king but Caesar.” “Therefore the kingdom of God shall be taken from you” is the formal sentence of their king.
The kingdom of God is preached, and every man sets himself violently against it. Luke 16:16.
The kingdom of heaven is attacked violently, and the violent ravage it. Matthew 11:12.
J. L.
We shall be glad of further remarks on this passage, but we must add that we entirely dissent from our correspondent’s interpretation of Romans 1:18. (Ed).
Jottings From Bible Margins
LIVE as in God’s sight, as Enoch walked with God; as Abram walked before God. Genesis 5:24; 15:1.
DO nothing you would not wish God to see. 1 Corinthians 10:31
SPEAK nothing you would not wish God to hear. Psalms 141:3.
SING nothing that will not be melodious in God’s ear. Ephesians 5:19.
WRITE nothing you would not wish God to read. Psalms 139:2.
READ nothing which you would not like God to say g show it to me.’
J. L.
“Unto The End.”
“I am with you unto the end.” Matthew 28:20.
“He loved them unto the end.” John 13:1.
“Who shall confirm you unto the end.” 1 Corinthians 1:8.
“The rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Hebrews 3:6.
“Beginning of our confidence, steadfast unto the end.” Hebrews 3:14.
“Full assurance of hope unto the end.” Hebrews 6:11.
“Keepeth My works unto the end.” Revelation 2:26.
Remarks on Scriptures: Short Summary Of Romans.
1. Lost. What man is. 1:18 to 3:20.
2. Saved. What God does for man. 3:21 to end of 8.
3. Man learning. God teaching. 9; 10; 11:32.
4. Lesson learned, man on his knees. 11:33-36.
5. Lesson practiced, man walking with God. 12:1; 15:7.
There are THREE KEY WORDS in Romans, and in John’s first Epistle.
1. Ruin; 2. Redemption 3. Righteousness in Romans.
1. Light 2. Life 3. Love in John.
Genesis teaches truth by Persons,
Exodus teaches truth by Actions,
Leviticus teaches truth by Things.
J. L.
Notes and Comments
An interesting parallel to the Oriental custom mentioned on page 250 may be found amongst the boys on the foundation at Winchester, the sleeves of whose gowns, fastening above the elbow, always contain their handkerchief, and frequently other articles. G. A. K.
We may mention that we shall now be glad of some more “Notes from Bible Margins” from our readers. We feel sure that many of them must have in their Bibles and note-books rich stores of these gleaned at many a Bible-reading, which only want to be made known to be of profit to many. We trust those of our readers who have them will not grudge the time spent in copying them out and sending them to us, as we find they are much appreciated.
We are glad to find that the plan of allowing the Bible Class to select their own subject works well; but we trust each member will use still greater diligence to send in his or her paper regularly. Even if nothing can be found in the portion allotted, the paper ought to be sent in just the same, stating the fact, and thus obviating the necessity of a further search in these cases a negative result is often as valuable as a positive one.
In B.S., vol. 1. p. 65, Q. 301, “ Zurich” asked “Please explain ‘So shall he sprinkle many nations.’“—Isaiah 52:15. The answer was, “That we should be glad to know the exact force of sprinkle ‘ from our readers.” In reply we have received the following remarks from W. T. H. which we have not inserted in “ Notes on former Queries,” as we wish to confine such to those of the current year, but we give them here in the hope that some of our critical readers may also be able to throw further light on this interesting passage:” Two words are used in the Old Test. in connection with the sacrifices, and both are translated “sprinkle” in A. V. First “nazah,” which is always used in connection with expiation, or cleansing for sin. The Septuagint translates it to sprinkle, besprinkle, &c., except in Isaiah 15, where it gives to wonder, or admire. Second, eared, which is used, too, in connection with sacrifices, but the Sept. renders it with but one exception to pour, as out of a vessel. It is mostly applied to the blood of sacrifices which was poured upon the altar; so the one would be used for sprinkling, as with the finger, the other for scattering as from a vessel. (Exodus 29:20, 21).
“Many, I am aware, in Isaiah 15, follow the Sept. in preference to the A. V., objecting first, that ‘to sprinkle’ does not agree with the parallel verb ‘to astonish’ (v. 14); secondly, that ‘nazah’ is in every other case accompanied by the object sprinkled upon. With regard to the former, I think instances may be adduced where the antithesis is equally strong. Taylor, in his Hebrew Concordance, says ‘nazah’ means to sprinkle, but in Isaiah 52:15 it seems to have a peculiar meaning, which is not easily collected from the other places where this word is used. The antithesis points to regard, esteem, admiration; thus (v. 14) as many were astonished at thee, so shall he sprinkle—engage the esteem and admiration of many nations. But how to deduce this from the sense of the word I know not. This is honest at any rate, and surely sufficient evidence that the objection is untenable.
“The second objection, I think, is weak in the extreme. Adding to this, that the Syriac, Vulgate, Luther, the Spanish of de Valera, and many other versions, agree with ours, one may safely conclude the A. V. is correct, and that the word means ‘to sprinkle,’ or ‘make expiation’ for many nations.
The word translated astonied in verse 14 is more expressive of hatred than astonishment. Might it not be translated loathe, ‘or detest,’ and did not the Jews loathe and detest the Lord Jesus when on earth? Was it not on account of their hatred that His visage was marred “—wounds received in the house of His friends? And so through their rejection of the Messiah, grace went out to the Gentiles, and will do so yet more fully in the time that is not far distant.”
New Testament Words Explained: Time - Wash
Time.
Five Greek words are thus translated, only two of which need occupy us. The other three mean respectively, genealogy, day, and hour, and are generally so rendered. The two are chronos and kairos. The former means simply time as opposed to eternity—that is, the continual succession of moments divided by us into hours, days, weeks, months, years, &c. (Matthew 25:19; Hebrews 4:7; Revelation 10:6), while the latter, better translated “seasons” (Acts 1:7) means rather an epoch of time marked by some great events, or a dispensation (Acts 17:26; 1 Thessalonians 5, &c.).
True.
Four Greek words are thus translated, aleethees, aleethinos, and two others. God is aleethees (John 3:33; Romans 3:4), meaning He is true in the sense of speaking the truth, He “cannot lie.” But God is also aleethinos, meaning that He is the true God in contrast to false Gods (1 Thessalonians 1:9; John 17:3). The latter word, however, does not always mean “true” in opposition to “false;” but often “substantial and real,” as opposed to what is only shadowy, as in John 1:9; “That was the true light,” does not mean that John was a false light, neither does the “true bread,” John 6:32, imply that the manna was false bread, but simply that both were inferior to what Christ was and gave. In thus bringing out the true and real, which is one of the leading features of Christianity, it is interesting to notice that five-sixths of the occurrences of the word aleethinos are in the writings of the apostle John. The other two words are each only once rendered “true.” One means faithful, and the other sincerity springing from relationship.
Unlearned.
Four Greek words are thus translated in the New Testament. Agrammatos (Acts 4:13 only) means simply illiterate; idiotees (Acts 4:13; 1 Corinthians 14:16,23,24; 2 Corinthians 11:6) originally meant a private man in contrast with a public one, then by degrees an unpractical one, i.e., one not versed in worldly matters (Acts 4:13). In 1 Corinthians 14 however, the use of the word appears to be a little different, here meaning a person not unpractical in a general way, but one unversed in spiritual things, or better still, without spiritual gifts, not being a pastor or teacher, &c. Amathees, the third word, occurs only in 2 Peter 3:16 and means uninstructed, literally “undiscipled,” not made a disciple or a learner. The fourth word, Apaideutos, also only occurs once (2 Timothy 2:23), and means untaught or unschooled, that is not instructed by a pedagogue or tutor.
Wash.
This one word is represented by three in Greek, pluno, nipto, and louo. Pluno refers to the washing of things, not people, and is used in Luke 5:2, &c. The other two words both refer to the washing of persons: nipto, however, is used when a part of the body is washed, as the hands (Mark 7:3), the feet (John 13:5), the face (Matthew 6:17), the eyes (John 9:7), while louo means rather to bathe than to wash, thus referring to the whole body (Hebrews 10:22; Acts 9:37; 2 Peter 2:22, &c.). Where perhaps the distinction between bathing and washing is most important is in John 13:10: the Revised Version clearly marks it, “He that is bathed (louo) needeth not save to wash (nipto) his feet.” The meaning clearly is that he who has been born again by the word and thus cleansed and renewed needs no repetition of the act, but only the application of the same word to the part that gets defiled by contact with the world—the feet.
Christ Our Example: Take Up the Cross and Follow Me
4. — “Take Up The Cross And Follow Me.”
Of the cup of sorrow filled for all men, there was one who drank so much more deeply than the rest, that he has been emphatically called “the man of sorrows,” as if there were no other. “His face was so marred more than any man.” “He path no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Excepting his fast in the wilderness, we are not told to what corporeal sufferings Jesus was exposed previous to his condemnation to a painful death.
Bodily sufferings, which form so large a portion of the primeval curse upon our race, can have no connection, in themselves, with our conformity to the image of Christ. As expiatory they are useless: his only could atone for sin. As voluntary, they are not required at our hands. As laid on us by Providence in judgment or in mercy, it is neither sinful to feel nor meritorious to endure them. Any conformity to our Lord’s example required of us in respect of these, must be sought for in the spirit with which they are received and borne; with reference to which we may observe, that these were not the sorrows Jesus felt the most. He makes but little complaint of them, and that little was between himself and God: in the gospel narrative there is none.
Twice in the narrative of Jesus’ life, we are told by those who saw him, that he wept. Observe the occasion of his tears: at neither time did he shed them for himself. The one occasion (John 11:35) exhibits the exquisite sympathy, the extreme sensitiveness with which Jesus regards the sorrows of his people. He knew the mourning of that beloved family would soon be turned into joy. He knew what he was about to do. But they did not know; and his sensibility yielded to the impression of their transient sorrow. A beautiful representation of what he is in heaven; touched with the feeling of our infirmities, while he delays to remove them—mourning with us, while he waits to be gracious-sharing every present sorrow, while preparing to change it into everlasting Joy.
On another occasion (Luke 19:41) Jesus looked upon Jerusalem and wept-not for her calamities then, but for her sins. There was sickness, and want, and misery, in her streets, and he had shown no slowness to relieve them; but it was not for these he wept, it was for the iniquity of his people. As in another place it is written, “Rivers of water run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.” These were not selfish mournings. His own sorrows were kept for his own bosom, or poured in secret into his Father’s ear; we find no expression of them to those about him till the time of his latest agony. In the secret outpourings of his holy soul, we read at once the depth and the character of his sufferings; externally, they may seem no more than other men’s: the secret of their intenseness was within; in the purity and exaltation of the soul that was to bear them—in the spiritual nature of his afflictions, and their undeservedness, so abhorrent to his high and holy nature—in the mental anguish of imputed sin and divine abandonment—in that power of unlimited suffering derived from its own infinity: these were the hidden depths of the Redeemer’s sorrow. Men think lightly of it, because they think lightly of him. They think of him only as a man; other men have been scorned and buffeted—other men have been tortured and put to death unjustly—martyrs have been seen to bear as much as this;—or they think of him only as God, deriving from his deity such support as left him little more than a fictitious rehearsal of sorrow he was too great to feel. How false an estimate! His pure manhood made him susceptible of the faintest touch of evil, to which the noblest natures must ever be the most averse: his Godhead made him capable of suffering it to an infinite extent. In finite being, suffering has a limit—a limit that has been reached, but never passed. Men have touched the point at either end, where sorrow ceased to be painful, and joy ceased to be enjoyed, because it exceeded their capacity to feel: as objects, approaching the eye too nearly, by their very magnitude become invisible. The man Jesus Christ only had an unlimited power to feel and capability to endure, that his sufferings might be sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world. No one can enter into the nature of his passion but those who know what spiritual sorrows are—the greatness of it none can estimate. Every kind of sorrow had been accumulated upon his head—his enemies were triumphing around him-his own people were bringing the curse of his blood upon themselves and their children; of those who had been his familiar friends, witnesses of all his works that he had done, one had betrayed him, and one denied him, and the rest had forsaken him and fled. All this had drawn no audible complaining from his lips. One anguish only was too much to be suppressed— ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ When it came to that, there was nothing to be added-sorrow had reached its utmost-the expiation was perfected. He said, “It is finished,” and died.
Has conscience spoken while we read? Has memory flown back through all our days of sorrow, and numbered our bygone tears to find how many of them fell for causes such as these? -how many for man’s destruction? —how many for God’s outraged laws and his averted countenance? —how many for our sins? Christ requires those who would come after him, to take up their cross and follow him. The apostle Paul speaks of believers as “planted together in the likeness of his death;” and of himself he says, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death;” and the apostle Peter, “Forasmuch, then, as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.” And again, “Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example.”
And God has promised that if we suffer we shall also reign with him.
Respecting this sorrow, which characterizes the people of God, begetting in them a feature of likeness to their blessed Lord, there have been many and great mistakes; but this cannot abrogate the word of God, that there should be no such thing, or that it should not be required of his people. It is not for man’s perversions to deprive the word of God of meaning, and leave it an empty letter. It makes one shrink to hear thoughtless people say, “This thing or that thing is my cross,” “We have all our cross.” No, we have not all a cross, and yet without one we cannot walk in the steps of our blessed Master.
Human Life
The life of Man has been shortened by about a half several times, thus:—
Methuselah lived 969 years.
Heber lived 464 years.
Peleg lived 239 years.
Abraham lived 175 years.
An Israelite lived 70 years.
Christ lived 33 years.
METHUSELAH came short of the period allotted to man during the coming reign of the Lord Jesus over the earth. Then believing Jews and Gentiles, blest under the peaceful sway of the Lord of Glory, will live on the earth during the whole course of the Millennium— a thousand years. Death will then be the exception, in presence of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life.
HEBER, (or Eber) lived the longest of any born after the flood, and was the last of the Fathers, previous to the dispersion at Babel. He is regarded as the progenitor of the Hebrews or people of Israel.
PELEG was the father in whose days the earth was divided, as the meaning of the word, division imports. Then man’s daring independence of God in the attempted erection of the “tower” and “city” of Babel, called for marked and signal judgment; life was considerably shortened, and man worldwide dispersed.
ABRAHAM, an idolator, when called out by the word and glory of Jehovah, was again in his own person a witness that sin and long life could not go together. Hence God marked His sense of the growing corruption by further reducing the age of man.
ISRAEL. In the 90th Psalm, entitled “the funeral Psalm of the Wilderness,” the earliest, chronologically, and the only one of the 150 penned by Moses, 70 years are assigned as the limit of man’s life, perhaps 80 years where unusual vigor was found.
CHRIST, the suffering Messiah, thus pleads: “O, my God, take me not away in the midst of my days.” (Psalms 102:24.) Jehovah answers by declaring the perpetuity of His Divine Being (compare Psalms 102 last clause of verse 24, with Hebrews 1:10-12). Christ lived about 33 1/2 years, the present average of human life. Thus, in life and death amongst men there is the continual testimony to the guilt of the creation in crucifying the Lord of Glory.
The Unwritten Period of Revelation
From Adam to Moses there is a period of 25 centuries, that is, 2500 years, in which there was no written revelation from God. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on stone, rock, lead; and other hard and imperishable material were the earliest forms of writing. Jehovah wrote the ten commandments on, tables or slabs of stone; the Peninsula of Sinai is covered with rock-inscriptions; the monuments of Egypt, the bricks of Babylon, and the exhumed remains of Nineveh bear witness to that most ancient style of writing; the first mention of a book is in Exodus 17:14. There is no proof, however, that writing was practiced even in its rudest forms prior to Moses, unless we except Job 19:23,24.
Hence the inquiry still remains how are we to span the bridge of 25 centuries of unwritten revelation? How was the truth and testimony of God preserved, and when were the successive revelations to these holy men of old transmitted to their descendants? We answer at once by tradition. We need not be afraid of the word, for, be it remembered, there were apostolic traditions and mere human traditions. The early church welcomed the former, but rejected the latter (2 Thessalonians 2:15; Colossians 2:8). Now we, as Christians, reject “traditions” in toto, the patriarchal and apostolic “traditions” having been embodied in the Holy Scriptures.
Now, from the expulsion from Eden to the flood there is a period of 1656 years. Methuselah, whose life is the longest on record, could have walked and talked with Adam for more than 200 years. Thus, the fundamental truths of Scripture, ruin and redemption, could have been fully communicated by the father of the race; the words and actions of a Savior—God in Eden, and other incidents and truths could thus be made known to Methuselah, while he again could transmit his knowledge to Noah, with whom he could have conversed for about 600 years. Thus, the whole of the Ark family were not only in possession of the testimony immediately communicated to Noah, but also that given to Adam and Enoch, conveyed by Methuselah, the friend of the one, and the son of the other. Then, again, the chosen son of Noah, Shem, in whom God deposited further truth and testimony, lived long enough to be contemporary with Isaac, the chosen seed of Abraham, for nearly so years. The grandson of Isaac was Levi, and the patriarch for at least 30 years could have held familiar and frequent intercourse with Levi, whose daughter Jochebed was the mother of Moses. Thus, then there are but seven links of oral tradition in this precious chain of divine testimony, but seven arches in this bridge of 25 centuries.
Owing, however, to the shortening of human life and the rapid multiplying of the race, a written revelation of the Lord’s will and mind for man was rendered necessary, and hence Moses, the first of inspired writers, commenced the sacred volume on the plains of Moab, near 15 centuries before Christ. Thus, the truth was permanently fixed; oral tradition gave place to the written Word. O what a boon we possess, what a priceless treasure we have in our homes in our dear old English Bibles.
The Book of Psalms
After David had completed the conquest of Canaan and established the kingdom on the ruin of all opposing authority-enlarging it moreover according to its prophetically defined limits, from the Nile to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18) glory for a season wrapped its folds around the land of Immanuel. In the days of Solomon, the kingdom reached the zenith of its prosperity. This richest, wisest, and most powerful of monarchs sat on the throne of Judah in the magnificently adorned city of Jerusalem—the city of the Savior’s love and choice—but the season was of brief duration, and Israel’s sun under Solomon sank behind dark clouds of idolatry. It will however yet rise to set no more, and the glory of the Nazarene will hereafter light up the heavens and the earth.
Transient beams of glory once and again flitted across the land on which the eye of Jehovah rests perpetually, and grace had on several memorable occasions created melody in the heart of Israel and unsealed her lips to praise her redeeming God. But these moments and occasions were of rare occurrence. Moses did not provide that which was the suited expression and pledge of Christ’s, Israel’s, and creation’s glory in Millennial times; it was reserved for David the king and minstrel to establish both glory and praise. From the days of the “sweet Psalmist of Israel,” vocal and instrumental music became an integral part of Jewish worship. As the founder under God of a musical institution of singers and players, he gave a permanent form and character to Hebrew poetry in general, and his name, genius, and character are impressed on every page of the book of Psalms. Thus, for nearly 3000 years no portion of the Holy Scriptures has been so frequently read in public assembly and in private study as the Psalms of David. We are convinced that this book has exercised more general influence amongst professing christians than any other part of the sacred volume, and who among God’s saints have not, under all circumstances, found fitting expressions for their feelings, whether of joy or sorrow, in this book, which has been happily termed “the heart” of the sacred volume?
The general favor in which the Psalter is held is on account of the rich and varied experience it records—an experience common to all saints throughout all ages. There the Spirit of God has provided an outlet for the emotional part of our being. The soul may pour itself out in strains of anguish or in accents of gladness, may grandly celebrate the works of God in creation, or His ways of grace in redemption. This volume of holy song has been likened by certain Orientalists to the Reg-Veda or Hindu book of hymns. When you compare the sun’s blaze at noon with the candle’s flickering light, then compare the Psalms of David with the Hindu Reg-Veda.
But the Psalms while universally read, and more frequently referred to and cited from in the New Testament than any other portions of the Scriptures, are yet generally misunderstood, because their prophetic character has not been perceived.
(To be continued.)
Eastern Manners and Customs: Wine Bottles; "A Light to My Path"
“Wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up.”—Joshua 9:4.
This “evidently refers to bottles of skin, torn and sewn. Also, distended skins must be meant by the allusion in Job 32:19 ‘ready to burst like new bottles.’ The unfitness of old skins to hold wine subject to fermentation is, beyond question, the point in our Lord’s memorable words, ‘Men do not put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish.’ When we read in Psalms 119:83, ‘I am become like a bottle in the smoke,’ the allusion is to bottles hung in the abodes of the poor, where there were no chimneys, and where the smoke would be sure to collect on the hairy surface of the skin, and leave upon it minute particles of soot. Under such circumstances, the bottle might also have a shriveled appearance, and would altogether be a striking symbol of affliction and calamity, to denote which the psalmist employs it..., As we wandered in the northern desert of Till, not far from Beersheba, how could we help thinking of Hagar and Ishmael, when the water was spent in the bottle. The word bottle’ here used signifies a leathern or skin one: and, indeed, no other would suit the conditions of the beautiful story, for the carrying of a pitcher of water all that way on the head, or by hand, would be quite out of keeping with Oriental life. Hagar’s empty skin upon the ground, and the boy Ishmael placed under the shrub were realities before us, as we saw the corresponding objects on our way.” Anon.
“A light unto my path.”—Psalms 119:105.
“The streets of Jerusalem are perfectly safe, but some of the roads around bear a bad character. In the city, at night, a lantern must be borne before the passenger, and it is a realization of the words of the Psalmist, A lantern unto my feet and a light unto my path.’ The lantern, (a large one, with a powerful light) is held down at the feet, to show every step, and the light is cast a long way on the ground.”
A. F. 1:
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Pomegranates - Swine
Fruit of a heavenly character
Exodus 28:33, 34; Song of Solomon 6:11; 8:2
Divine sovereignty exercised in grace or judgment
Jeremiah 18:1-10; Psalms 2:9; Romans 9:21
Talents or gifts for public service
John 19:2; Revelation 18:16; Exodus 25:4
Energy in Christian life and service
1 Corinthians 9:24; Hebrews 12:1
Blessing from heaven; refreshing and fruitful
Psalms 84:6; Hebrews 6:7; Deuteronomy 32:2
Consecration; Median and Persian power
Leviticus 8:22; Daniel 8:20
Man’s weakness consecrated to the service of God
Absolute devotedness and consecration to God
Isaiah 63:2; Zechariah 1:8
Isaiah 36:6; Matthew 11:7; 2 Kings 18:21
Inward thoughts and feelings
Psalms 26:2; Revelation 2:23; Jeremiah 20:12
Honor; royal authority; love and relationship
Genesis 41:42; Esther 3:10; Luke 15:22
Channel of spiritual blessing
John 7:38; Psalms 65:9; Revelation 22:1, 2
Thoroughness of the judgment of God
Exodus 12:8; 2 Chronicles 35:13
Christ risen, our righteousness in the Divine presence
Firm, immovable foundation
Psalms 31:2; Matthew 7:24, 25; 16:18
Power displayed in chastening or judgment
Psalms 2:9; Isaiah 10:5; 1 Corinthians 4:21
Preservation; Godly speech; perpetuity and incorruption
Matthew 5:13; Colossians 4;6; Mark 9:49
Genesis 22:17; 32:12; Psalms 139:18
Glory of the throne of God
Exodus 25:10; Ezekiel 1:26
Revelation 17:3, 4; 18:16; Numbers 4:8
Sign of royal authority; tribal character of Israel
Esther 4:11; Amos 1:5, 8; Genesis 49:10
The instruments of mental distress and anguish
King of the north— great political enemy of the Jews and leader of the peoples attacking Palestine in the last days
Peoples in a state of anarchy and confusion
Revelation 8:8; 13:1; Matthew 13:1
Restlessness of mere nature
2 Timothy 2:19; 1 Corinthians 9:2; Ephesians 4:30
Marked for blessing and preservation
Pause; consider. Occurs about 70 times in the book of Psalms; also three times in the prophet Habakkuk, chapter 3
See Psalms and Habakkuk 3
Satanic and mere worldly wisdom; subtlety
2 Corinthians 11:3; Isaiah 27:1; Genesis 49:17
Civil or ecclesiastical rulers and guides
Genesis 15:1; Psalms 3:3; Ephesians 6:16
Genesis 49:13; Revelation 8:9; 18:19
The holy humanity of our Lord Jesus
Christian walk and wilderness traveling
Exodus 12:11; Ephesians 6:15
Ability; strength to bear or carry burdens
Price of Redemption—the precious blood of Christ
Outward appearance revealing inward condition
Death as to the body; it is never so used of the soul
1 Corinthians 11:30; John. 11:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:4
Blinding and darkening judgment
Isaiah 14:31; Revelation 9:2, 3, 17, 18
Revelation 1:14; Lamentations 4:7; Psalms 51:7
Sockets of silver and of brass
Founded and secured on the ground of the blood of Jesus (silver) and the divine ability of Christ in meeting the judgment of God (brass)
The commonest of creatures, objects of Divine care
Psalms 84:3; Matthew 10:29, 31
Divine graces; moral qualities
Exodus 30:23-28; Sol. 4:14
Loathing of and utter rejection
Revelation 3;16; Leviticus 18:28
Sign of wilderness journeying
Psalms 23:4; Mark 6:8; Hebrews 11:21
Emblem of power and judgment
Subordinate lights and rulers
Revelation 8:12; 12:1; Daniel 8:10
Staves of shittim wood and gold
Christ in the dignity of his person (wood as man and gold as God) sustaining us in our wilderness path
Supreme glory, light, and authority
Revelation 1:16; 8:12; 12:1; Malachi 4:12
Last meal before midnight; grace of judgment
Luke 14:16-24; Revelation 3:20; 19:9, 17
Psalms 84:3; Proverbs 26:2
Uncleanness in nature and practice
2 Pet. 2:22; Isaiah 66:3, 17; Deuteronomy 14:8
Notes on Last Month's Subject: The Prayers of Scripture
15. —The Prayers of Scripture.
In reading through the results of the work of the Bible Students’ Class given last month, we feel that we are face to face with a subject full of practical teaching and profit to our souls. Prayer is one of the two great links of communication between the creature and the Creator, the saint and the Savior, the child and his Father. No Christian can live without it. As to its scope we would even go further than the note prefixed to the subject, which would make “prayer” include “all that passes between our hearts and God that is not included in the word praise,” for one half at least of what is called prayer, and we think rightly so, consists of worship, thanks and praise to God for what He has done for and is to us. In short, it would appear that so wide is the meaning of this word, that any address from man to God by word of mouth (otherwise than in song) is called prayer.
As has often been pointed out, in prayer, considered for the moment as an expression of need or as a request made, there are three orders which we may distinguish in Scripture. The first, and what we may call the lowest, order is the cry of distress or need to God, as in Luke 18:8, in the parable of the unjust judge. We are at liberty to unburden our hearts to God of whatever oppresses them day and night. We do not in this case wait for faith before we ask.
The second order we find in Philippians 4:6,7. Here we not only unburden our hearts, but our requests are made known unto God. It is one thing to utter a cry, another to be quite sure that God has both heard and understood it, the immediate result of which is, that the peace of God, which passes all understanding, replaces the care or trouble and garrisons (keeps) our hearts and minds; and this too before ever our prayer is answered. It is important to remark here, that this blessed peace is not the result of having received the answer to our requests, but of their being made known unto God. It is indeed a wonderful thing in prayer to have the deep consciousness in my heart that God has heard me. Many things may hinder this. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me (Psalms 66:18).
Again, “the ears of the Lord are open unto the prayers of the righteous” (1 Peter 3:12). Again, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16).
But there is an order of prayer even beyond this. In the first order, the point is the importunity, the free liberty to cry to God day and night. In the second, the point is that the moment I know that my request is made known to God I get His peace replacing my care or need. The third is, that if I ask in faith I know that my prayer will be answered (Mark 11:24). This is necessarily connected with my condition of soul as abiding practically in communion with Christ, so that I ask nothing contrary to His will (John 15:7). In this order of prayer it is not merely said that our requests are made known unto God, but, that “if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us” (in the sense of “ favorably hears” us,) the result being that if we know that He hears us (quite different from the hearing or being made known of Philippians, which by no means implies the granting of the request) we know that we have the petition we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14,15.) Since however this paper is intended not merely as a slight help to the general subject of prayer, but more especially as a short review of last month’s subject we must not say more on these three varieties.
We feel that it is very encouraging to see what description of prayers have been answered in Scripture. We find that prayer has been answered for the following subjects amongst others:for the sparing of a town from God’s just judgments, for restoration of friends to health, for special guidance and wisdom on a journey, for children, for the removal of God’s judgment on a wicked land, for an increased knowledge of God, for removal of sickness, even when it is directly inflicted by God, for rain and for absence of rain, for temporal needs, for temporal deliverance when in danger, for understanding and wisdom, for God’s presence and blessing, for God’s people when going astray, for deliverance from any distress or danger, for the guidance of the Holy Ghost, for boldness in preaching, for forgiveness of our enemies.
Surely there is not one who reads these lines, but can cry to God for some at least of the above subjects, and the gracious way in which such prayers have been answered may surely encourage us in crying to the same loving God.
We can only notice one point more, leaving for want of space the greater part of our subject still untouched. We think that the way in which Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple was answered is most encouraging, showing us how long after the voice of the one who prays is silent in the grave, his prayers may yet bring down blessings from above. Little did the many who benefitted in receiving the answer of that wonderful prayer think of their indebtedness to the one who offered it, and little do we think how dependent we are, not only on the prayers of those we know and love, but on many of whom we have never heard. An instance of this which occurred two months ago, and to the writer’s own knowledge may serve as an illustration. A servant of the Lord in Ireland, knowing that a fellow-servant in England was in want of money sent a certain sum, and, having no more, prayed earnestly to God, unknown to any, for the sum of £20 to be sent to the one in England who needed it. These prayers were heard. A friend utterly ignorant of the need or of the prayer felt constrained to forward a Bank note for £20 to the laborer in England. He, being ignorant of the prayer thus answered, had much hesitation at first in accepting it, but the circumstance being accidently named the to praying servant in Ireland, the whole story came out, affording a remarkable instance of the way in which our blessings are often answers to the unknown prayers of others. Perhaps seeing how briefly we have considered this subject, some of our friends may take it up further for the profit of our readers.
This Month's Subject: The Characteristics of a Truly Godly Walk
The subject worked out for this month is—
The characteristics of a truly godly walk, being a full list of the qualities and graces proper to every believer.
We have already had before us (in the May number) the blessings and privileges that may characterize a believer in virtue of a godly walk, and our subject for this month is limited to that which characterizes a godly walk itself. We make this remark, as otherwise some of the class might think that their work had been overlooked, whereas in reality it has already occupied us.
We have not on this occasion attempted any division of the subject, the divisions that at once suggest themselves being so numerous and bearing upon almost every aspect of life, and being perhaps more suitably left for the remarks to be made next month. Nor have we inserted passages indicating the character of walk proper for certain special spheres of service, as for instance that which should characterize a bishop or deacon as in 1 Tim 3 but we have briefly indicated some of the passages bearing more particularly upon special relationships in life as husband and wife. We may add that the description of and exhortations to, a godly walk being as a rule more concise in the Epistles than the Gospels, we have more frequently quoted from the former. In the latter it is preeminently Christ Himself who is our example, and with this we were occupied in January last. In the Acts also the example of the Apostles is our chief instruction, and this we have not felt to be quite in the limit of our subject, having already been considered this year (February).
1.—The Gospels And Acts.
Blessed are the poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3); the meek (v. 5.); the merciful (v. 7); the pure in heart (v. 8); the peacemakers (v. 9).
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16.
But I say unto you that ye resist not evil. Matthew 5:39.
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you. Matthew 5:44.
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect, Matthew 5:48.
When thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, Matthew 6:3.
Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, Matthew 6:20.
Take ye no thought for your life, Matthew 6:25.
Judge not, that ye be not judged, Matthew 7:1.
Have peace one with another, Mark 9:50.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he corneal shall find watching, Luke 12:37.
Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations, Luke 16:9.
If ye love me, keep my commandments, John 14
If a man love me, he will keep my word, John 14:23.
These things I command you, that ye love one another, John 15:17. Obeying God rather than man, Acts 5:29.
THE EPISTLES.
Be not conformed to this world, Romans 12:2.
Love’ without dissimulation, Romans 12:9; 1 Peter 1:22.
Abhorrence of evil, Romans 12:9.
Cleaving to good, Romans 12:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
Kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love. Romans 12:10; Ephesians 4:32.
Honor one for another, Romans 12:10; Philippians 2:1-3.
Diligence in business, Romans 12:11.
Fervency in spirit, Romans 12:11.
Serving the Lord, Romans 12:11.
Rejoicing in hope, Romans 12:12.
Patience in tribulation, Romans 12:12; 2 Thessalonians 1.4.
Continuance in prayer, Romans 12:12; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Distributing to the necessity of the saints, Romans 12:13; Galatians 2:10. Hospitality, Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9.
Returning good for evil, Romans 12:14,17,21; 1 Thessalonians 5.15; 1 Peter 3:9 Sympathy with others in sorrow and in joy, Romans 12:15; Hebrews 13:3. Being of the same mind one toward another, Romans 12:16.
Regarding rather the humble than the exalted, Romans 12:16.
Lowliness of mind, Romans 12:16; Philippians 2:3-8.
Providing things honest in the sight of all men, Romans 12:17: 1 Thessalonians 4:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12; 1 Timothy 5:8; 1 Peter 2:12.
Peaceableness, Romans 12:18.
Subjection to authority; Romans 13:1; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13.
Paying what is due, Romans 13:6, 7.
Freedom from debt, Romans 13:8.
Honesty, Romans 13:13; 2 Corinthians 13:7.
Not causing others to stumble, Romans 14:13.
Bearing the infirmities of weaker brethren, Romans 15:1.
Impartiality, Romans 15:5; James 2:1-9.
A walk that glorifies God, 1 Corinthians 6:20.
Desire for the welfare of others, 1 Corinthians 10:24; Philippians 2:4.
Doing everything to the glory of God, giving no offense, 1 Corinthians 10:31.
1 Corinthians 13
Doing everything with charity, 1 Corinthians 16:14.
A walk that is by faith, 2 Corinthians 5:7.
Laboring to be acceptable to the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:9.
Giving no offense in anything, 2 Corinthians 6:3.
Being not unequally yoked with unbelievers, 2 Corinthians 6:14.
Separation from the unclean, 2 Corinthians 6:17.
Having therefore these promises... let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, 2 Corinthians 7:1.
Liberality, 2 Corinthians 8:12; 9:7.
Abounding in every good work, 2 Corinthians 9:8.
Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, 2 Corinthians 13:11.
The fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, Galatians 5:22, 23.
Not desirous of vain-glory, not provoking nor envying one another, Galatians 5:26.
Bearing one another’s burdens, Galatians 6:2.
Perseverance in well-doing, Galatians 6:9.
Doing good to all men, especially those of the household of faith, Galatians 6:10.
A walk worthy of the vocation, Ephesians 4:1-3.
Truthfulness, Ephesians 4:25.
Righteous wrath, Ephesians 4:26.
Resisting the devil, Ephesians 4:27; James 4:7.
Laboring in order to supply the wants of others, Ephesians 4:28, Acts 4:35. Propriety in speech, Ephesians 4:29; 5:3, 4; Colossians 4:6.
A circumspect walk, Ephesians 5:15; Colossians 4:5.
Making good use of the time, Ephesians 5:16; Colossians 4:5.
Temperance (in the common sense of the word). Ephesians 5:18.
Thankfulness, Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
Submission one to another, Ephesians 5:21.
Wearing the whole armor of God, Ephesians 6:13-17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8. Fellowship in the gospel, Philippians 1:5.
Being filled with the fruit of righteousness, Philippians 1:11.
A conversation that becomes the gospel of Christ, Philippians 1:27.
Standing fast in one spirit, striving for the faith of the gospel, Philippians 1:27.
Being like minded, of one mind, of one accord, Philippians 2:2; 1 Peter 3:8.
Not murmuring nor disputing, Philippians 2:14.
Being blameless and harmless, shining as lights in the world, Philippians 2.15.
Pressing forward to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, Philippians 3:14.
Rejoicing in the Lord, Philippians 4:4.
A moderation that is evident to all, Philippians 4:5.
Careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving making requests known to God, Philippians 4:6.
Meditation on things honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report, Philippians 4:8.
Love to the saints, Colossians 1:4.
A walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, Colossians 1:10.
Patience and long suffering with joyfulness, Colossians 1:11.
Affections set on those things that are above, Colossians 3:2.
Mortifying the members that are upon the earth, Colossians 3:5.
Bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, Colossians 3:12.
Forbearing and forgiving one another, Colossians 3:13.
Doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God, Colossians 3:17.
A work—of faith, labor—of love, patience—of hope, 1 Thessalonians 1:3.
To follow the Lord, 1 Thessalonians 1:6.
A walk worthy of clod, 1 Thessalonians 2:12.
Increasing and abounding in love toward one another and toward all men,
1 Thessalonians 3:12.
A walk pleasing to God, 1 Thessalonians 4:1.
To study to be quiet and to do one’s own business, and to work with one’s own hands, 1 Thessalonians 4:11.
To comfort and edify one another, 1 Thessalonians 5:11.
Warn the unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, 1 Thessalonians 5:14.
Rejoicing always, 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
Not quenching the Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:1.9.
Not despising prophesyings, 1 Thessalonians 5:20.
Proving all things, 1 Thessalonians 5:21.
Abstaining from all appearance of evil, 1 Thessalonians 5:22.
Walking so that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified.
2 Thessalonians 1:12
Standing fast, holding the Apostle’s doctrines, 2 Thessalonians 2:15. To withdraw from the disorderly, 2 Thessalonians 3:6.
Praying for all men, 1 Timothy 2:1.
Maintaining a good conscience, 1 Timothy 1:19; 1 Peter 3:16.
Contentment, having food and raiment (the strangers portion. Deuteronomy 10:18); 1 Timothy 6:8; Hebrews 13:5.
Following righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness, 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Timothy 2:22.
Fighting the good fight of faith, 1 Timothy 6:12.
Doing good and being rich in good works, 1 Timothy 6:18.
Readiness to distribute, willingness to communicate, 1 Timothy 6:18.
Separateness from iniquity, 2 Timothy 2:19-22.
Being perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, 2 Timothy 3:17. The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men (marg.) hath appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, Titus 2:11-13.
Holding fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm to the end, Hebrews 3:6.
Holy fear of seeming to come short of the rest of God, Hebrews 4:1.
Considering one another to provoke to love and good works, Hebrews 10:24.
Not forsaking the assembly of the saints, Hebrews 10:15.
Patience, Hebrews 10:26.
Laying aside every weight, running the race with patience, looking unto Jesus, Hebrews 12:1, 2.
Lifting up the weary hands and feeble knees, Hebrews 12:12.
Following peace with all, and holiness, Hebrews 12:14.
Not forgetting to do good and to communicate, Hebrews 13:16.
Rejoicing in the trial of faith, because of the result-patience, James 1:2, 3.
Readiness to hear, slowness in speech and in wrath, James 1:19.
Bridling the tongue, James 3:1,2; 1 Peter 3:9.
Submitting to God, James 4:7.
Not, speaking evil one of another, James 4:11.
Patience unto the coming of the Lord, James 5:7.
Not swearing, James 5:12; Matthew 5:34.
Sobriety, 1 Peter 1:13;4. 7.
Obedience, 1 Peter 1:14.
Holiness, 1 Peter 1:15.
Passing the time of sojourning here in fear, 1 Peter 1:17.
Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the King, 1 Peter 2:17.
Patience in suffering for well-doing, 1 Peter 2:20.
Ministering one to another, 1 Peter 4:10.
Casting all care upon God, 1 Peter 5:7.
And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue: and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness: and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity, 2 Peter 1:5-7.
Diligence in order to be found of Gad without spot, blameless, 2 Peter 3.14.
That ye sin not, 1 John 2:1.
Keeping His commandments, 1 John 2:3.
Keeping His word, 1 John 2:5.
Walking as He walked, 1 John 2:6.
Loving one’s brother, 1 John 2:10.
Not loving the world, nor the things that are in the world, 1 John 2:15.
Purifying one’s self even as he is pure, 1 John 3:3.
Loving in deed and in truth, 1 John 3:18.
Walking in truth, 2 John 4.
Separating from those who do not abide in the doctrine of Christ, 2 John 10,11.
Earnest contention for the faith once delivered, Jude 3.
Keeping one’s self in the love of God, Jude 21.
Special exhortations—
Husbands, Ephesians 5:25-33; Colossians 3:19; 1 Peter 3:7.
Wives, Ephesians 5:22; Colossians 3:18; 1 Peter 3:1-6.
Children, Ephesians 6: 1, 2; Colossians 3:20.
Parents. Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21.
Servants, Ephesians 6:5, 6; Colossians 3:22-25; 1 Timothy 6:1, 2; 1 Peter 2:18.
Masters, Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 4:1.
Men, generally, 1 Timothy 2:8.
Women, 1 Timothy 2:9-11.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 326-348
Q. 326. What do you gather as to woman’s teaching from Judges 4:4,5; Luke 2:36-38; John 4:28, 29, 39; 20: 17: Acts 2:17, 18; 21: 9? A. E.
A. We gather that she is free to deliver any message the Lord may give her, provided it be done in accordance with scripture; that is, that other passages which restrict the sphere of her teaching be not violated. There is no doubt, however, that, as a rule, a woman’s ministry is of a more hidden and quiet character than that of an old Testament prophetess.
Q. 327. May the last word of 1 John 5:16 be translated “him” instead of “it?” if not, what does it mean? J. T.
A. The Revised Version reads “Not concerning this do I say that he should make request.” This is very clear, and will no doubt explain your difficulty.
Q. 328. (1) Explain “For every one shall be salted with fire,” Mark 9:49. (2) “Shall offend one of these little ones” Mark 9:42. (3) “If I may but touch His clothes,” Mark 5:28. T. H.
A. (1) Refer to B. S., Vol. 1. Q. 237, p. 16. (2) It points out that it is better for a man to lose his natural life than to stumble a young believer (presumably deliberately and intentionally). God thinks a great deal more of young Christians than we do: they are very precious to Him. (3) Simply, that in fulfillment of the words “according to your faith, be it unto you,” the woman received the blessing which she had faith to believe could be obtained by a touch, even of the outward garments of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Q. 329. (1) What is the meaning of “Christ, the end of the law” Romans 10:4? (2) What is meant by “eye-witnesses of his majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16? T. H.
A. (1) None who believe in Christ seek to obtain righteousness by the law, for with the heart they believe (on Christ, dead and risen) unto righteousness, or in other words, failing to establish their own righteousness (by keeping the law) they accept the righteousness of God (ver. 3). When man has been thoroughly tried as to righteousness, and has utterly failed so that “there is none righteous, no not one,” it is no longer a question of human righteousness at all. The problem solved by the death of Christ is not how Dian can be righteous, but how God can be just, and the justifier of him that believeth. The way this is accomplished is by Christ becoming (in two ways) the end of the law for every one that believeth: in the first place, His death pays the last penalty exacted by a broken law, and places those whose substitute He is beyond its reach, for when the law has taken a man’s life there is no more it can do: in the second place, through the same death, God can now righteously reckon the sinner who believes justified from all things, and thus God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), or on the principle of faith (not of works, else it were legal) to the faith that will receive it.
(2) Peter here refers to the transfiguration.
Q. 330. What is the scriptural meaning of “repentance “as taught by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2) and by Christ (Matthew 4:17)? T. H.
A. The scriptural meaning of the word implies the confession and forsaking of sin (were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins). We find that the two must go together, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy,” Proverbs 28:13. Literally the word means an “after-thought,” and since an after-thought too often in our short-sighted actions means a change of thought, it came to mean “a change of mind.” The word however, as used by our Lord and His forerunner always means a change of mind about sin. True repentance must ever accompany salvation: “Repent ye, therefore, and be converted.” Acts 3:19, also 2:38. In Acts 5:31 we find it precedes forgiveness, and yet in the gospel book of the Bible (the Gospel of John, see Chapter 20:31) the word repentance never occurs, either as noun or verb, the fact being, that it is necessarily implied in true belief and conversion. If we turn to God, we must turn from dumb idols (see 1 Thessalonians 1:9) as well; as has been well expressed, the proffered gift that opens the sinner’s hand at the same moment causes him to drop the assassin’s knife, and directly the love of Christ enters the heart, it leads to repentance.
Q. 331. In Revelation 22:2, we read “the leaves of the tree shall be for the healing of the nations “ and in Chapter 21:4 “there shall be no more pain.” What then will the nations want healing for? m. A. T.
A. It is important to notice that the first eight verses of Revelation 21 properly belong to and follow on after Chapter 20. After the last judgment of the dead, the earth and heaven having fled away (Chapter 20:11), a new heaven and earth appear, distinguished physically from the present one by there being no sea, and morally by there being no more sin, and hence no more sorrow, crying, pain, or death: this is the eternal state. From Chapter 21:9-22:7 there is presented to us the theme of Chapter 20:6, and other scriptures, which speak of Christ’s millennial reign, taken up and expanded, as is the custom in this prophecy: so that this passage is descriptive of a time antecedent to the last judgment and the eternal state. During the Millennium there will be sin in the hearts of the unregenerate who will follow the devil at its close (20: 7), and there will be death. The span of man’s life, however, will be greatly prolonged, death being then regarded as the direct judgment of God. (Isaiah 65:20.)
Q. 332. Does the “day of the Lord” include the great tribulation? D. T. C.
A. The “day of the Lord” seems to commence with the terrible series of divine judgments at the close of Daniel’s last week (see Ephesians 1:14; Isaiah 13:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:2). It extends not only through the Millennium and the judgments at its close, bat includes the forming of the new heavens and earth (2 Peter 3:10-13); thus (one day being with the Lord as a thousand years) this day of the Lord will last for over a millennium. If by “the great tribulation” is meant the fearful persecution of the Jewish remnant under Antichrist, it would seem that this is immediately before what is called the day of the Lord; for, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4, the man of sin (Antichrist) is revealed first, and is the sign that the day of the Lord is at hand.
Q. 333. Is there not a plurality of heavens?
A. There are three heavens spoken of in scripture: 1St, the firmament or air, where birds fly, and the clouds gather (Genesis 1:20); next, the space where the sun and moon and stars are (Genesis 15:5); and thirdly, the dwelling place of God, “the heaven of heavens,” called also the “third heaven” in 2 Corinthians 12:2. See also Hebrews 4:14, where our Lord is spoken of as having passed through (R.V.) the heavens.
Q. 334. Does not the word of God reveal the kingdom of God as a state of being, and in this sense are not the two terms, kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven, used indiscriminately and universally? x. x.
A. The kingdom of God is more a condition of soul, “the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). This is never said of the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand we are said ourselves to be in both the kingdoms of heaven and of God. In one sense the kingdom of God has always existed in these hearts where He has reigned. The kingdom of heaven has a definite beginning in Christianity, see Matthew 11:11,12. Refer to B. S., Vol. 2, p. 88, (4 102.
Q. 335. Please explain 2 Corinthians 11:17,18. c. M. B.
A. By the preference the Corinthians were in danger of giving to other preachers, who were beguiling them from their simplicity in Christ during his absence of which they took advantage to disparage him, Paul was driven to come down to the low level of self-vindication. This, however, the Spirit has used to make us acquainted with an outline of the marvelous labors and sufferings of the Apostle which otherwise we should never have known.
Q. 336. (1) Explain Exodus 22:22, 33, and (z) Ephesians 5:4, especially the word “jesting.” H. s.
4. (1) It is in accordance with other scriptures, Deuteronomy 24:17; Psalms 94:6,7; Isaiah 17; Ezekiel 22:7; James 1:27. (2) Is not the injunction very plain? The lips but express the thoughts that pass through the mind. The word jesting may be rendered “buffoonery” or “ribaldry,” and convenient has the sense of “befitting.”
Q. 337. (1) Explain how the law would bring us to Christ. (Galatians 3:24). (2) Also verse 27. H. S.
A, (1) The law does not “bring us” to Christ. These words are in italics, are not scripture, and entirely mar the sense. The passage reads “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto (or until) Christ.” (2) Put on Christ as a profession, baptism being here the public profession of Christianity. It is not that we are children of God by baptism, that is by faith, (see preceding verse) but that it is the public introduction unto the Christian position as contrasted here with the Jewish.
Q. 338. Do John 19:34 and 1 John 5:6 unfold the two natures, human and divine? W. B.
A. Scarcely. Water is hardly a type of divine nature. It is a type of the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26) also of death (in baptism) and of cleansing generally. Blood is atoning. Hence in the two passages we find cleansing and atonement (in 1 John 5), atonement and cleansing (in John 19); the difference being that the Epistle looks at the death of Christ from my side, hence cleansing (water) comes first, while the Gospel is from God’s side, hence atonement (blood) precedes.
Q. 339. Is the custom of addressing God in prayer as “O God, our God, blessed God “ (leaving out “our Father”) strictly in keeping with our relationship, having been made sons and daughters unto God? See Galatians 4:6.
A. Both are true and right. By the Spirit we cry “Abba Father,” but the One whom we do thus address is God, and it is well to remember this. As to scriptural practice, we have Acts 4:24; 12:5, in which God only is spoken of, also Ephesians 1:17 to God, and Ephesians 3:14 to the Father. The Lord’s prayer gives us also the authority to use “our Father.” We judge therefore that we have freedom to use both titles, the use of the one, however, never causing us to lone sight of the other.
Q. 340. What is the “beginning” in 1 John 1:1?
A. The commencement of Christianity in opposition to more recent views that had sprung up in the Apostle’s closing years. It is the period when that eternal life, which is the theme of the Epistle, was first manifested in the person of Christ. “From the beginning” is different from “in the beginning” in John 1:1, which is eternity. This, of course, literally has no beginning, and the expression, as used here, is therefore merely an accommodation to our finite minds. If we go back in our minds as Ear as ever we can, all we can say is, that the “Word” was there then just as it is now. It is not that “the Word” began in what is here called the beginning, for then this would mark a period of time, but that the Word was there. In Genesis 1:1 “the beginning” is a definite period of time, for then God created the heavens and the earth. When this was, we are not told: no doubt ages before the events subsequently recorded in the Chapter. John 1:1, however, goes further back than this. Again, in Mark 1:1 we find another “beginning,” viz, that of the public ministry of Christ. Thus there are four distinct “beginnings” in these four passages.
Q. 341. Does not our Lord both by precept and example set forth fasting as a positive Christian duty? M. H. U.
A. Yes. We find it also in the practice of the Apostles (Acts 13:3, &c.) We may suggest, however, that although abstinence from food is no doubt primarily meant, it perhaps, does not exhaust the meaning of the word: may not “fasting” also imply a voluntary abstinence from legitimate earthly pleasures and pursuits, in order to be wholly given to the Lord’s work Q. 342. Have we any authority in scripture to pray for the dead? M. H. U.
A. None.
Q. 343. (1) Is it the teaching of 1 Corinthians 11, that women should always have their heads covered? (2) Please explain verse 10. c.
A. (1) See B. S, vol. 1. p. 68 Q 313 and p. 94, Q 343. This passage plainly refers to public and not private worship. (2) The marginal note in Bagster’s Bible, we think correctly gives the meaning, i.e. a covering in sign that she is under the power of her husband. Compare the action of Rebecca in Genesis 24:65.
Q. 344. Will you kindly explain Acts 17:28? Did not the heathen poets mean Jupiter when they said “For we are also his offspring?” If so, how could the apostle apply it to God? Would it not serve to give color to the idea which some have, that it is the same God who is worshipped alike by Christians and by Pagans, only under different names? Pope says:—
“Father of all! In every age
In every clime adored;
By saint, by savage, or by sage
Jehovah, Jove, or Lord.”
Surely that must be an utterly wrong idea (1 Corinthians 10:19, 20), but I suppose they would take up Acts 17:28. I have read that some missionaries in making a translation of the Bible used throughout the name of Buddha for god. I shall be so glad if you could help me to understand what the verse really means. C.H.P.
A. In the religious belief of many heathen there is a certain amount of truth, especially with regard to the existence of a Supreme Being. This point of faith is either traditional, or a part of natural religion, for “the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead so that they (the immoral heathen) are without excuse.” It was of Jupiter “the father of gods and men” as they called him, that the poets Aratus and Cleanthes wrote the words, “We also are his offspring.” This, says the Apostle to his Athenian hearers, is a TRUE belief. We are the children of the Supreme Being, the objects of His love seeing that we are His handiwork, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” Is our God then degraded to the low level of the heathen Zeus? Not so! for the Apostle had already raised the minds of his audience to a far loftier conception of the Supreme Being than was generally prevalent among the heathen. God that made the world and all things that are therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands (no local deity, not confined to one spot): neither is worshipped with men’s hands as though He needed anything, seeing that He giveth to all, life and breath and all things. After these grand words it must have been clear to all His hearers that the God of whom the Apostle spoke was not the Jupiter of heathen mythology, while at the same time he did not reject what alone was true of their system of religion, namely, their belief in the existence of a Supreme being. The Hymn to Zeus from which he quoted is one of the most sublime effusions of those earnest spirits who in the doctrines of heathenism groped after God if haply they might find Him, and who did find some light, though not the light of revelation-the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Pope’s lines are quite opposed to the teaching of scripture. Respecting the translation of which you speak, we would remark that the Apostle Paul, who, in his epistles, had to address people only half emerged from the darkness and traditions of heathenism, nowhere speaks of the true God under a heathen title.
Q. 345. (1) What is meant by the similitude of Jehovah Numbers 12:8? (2) Who are the “they” in John 8:33? It seems as though they were the same as those to whom the Lord was speaking in verses 31 and 32, and yet they are called “those Jews which believed on Him.” C. H. P.
A. (1) The appearance or likeness, probably as elsewhere all through the Old Testament, that of a man, see Exodus 24:10; Joshua 5:13, &c. &c. (2) Compare John 2:23-25. The verses that follow chapter 8:33 show plainly that most of those there spoken of were not “His disciples indeed” though they became outwardly His disciples, the Lord did not here, as in John 2 “commit himself unto them,” but proceeded to test their spiritual state by the keen edge of the Word which soon discovered the thoughts and intents of their hearts, proving that they only belonged to that class of hearers who anon with joy” receive the word, but having no root, “by and by” are offended (verse 33) and end by seeking to stone the One in whom they had professed to believe (v. 59.)
Q. 346. (1) Who are the thieves and robbers referred to by our Lord in John 10:8. (2) Does the apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:32, intend us to understand that he did literally fight with wild beasts at Ephesus? H. B. C.
A. Are they not those shepherds so wonderfully described in Jeremiah 23:1-4 and Ezekiel 34 of whom the Scribes and Pharisees of the Lord’s day were surely true examples? (2) He says “speaking after the manner of men” and we should therefore think he alluded to the temple scene in Acts 19. An additional reason for thinking the language is figurative is that no allusion to any such literal conflict occurs in the full list of dangers given in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28.
Q. 347. Please explain the paradox in Proverbs 26:4,5. H. C. B.
A. Does not verse 4 show that for your own sake you should not bandy foolish words with a fool, while verse 5 shows that at the same time for his sake it is unwise to cast pearls before swine and enter into a serious argument with one incapable of understanding or appreciating the subject.
Q. 348. What is the difference between an exhorter, a teacher and a pastor? H. N.
A. An exhorter is one who specially applies the word of God, to the conscience and heart in a practical way. A teacher, one who unfolds its meaning. And a pastor one who cares for and looks after, as well as feeds the sheep of Christ.
Notes on Former Queries: Vol. 2, 224; 260; 222
Q. 224. The plain meaning of Matthew 11:12 is undoubtedly that to enter the kingdom it was necessary to exercise strong faith, which is appropriately termed violent. The obstacles which had to be overcome by it were great. John the Baptist had to be received as the Elias of Malachi 4:5. The King had come, but not in manifested glory and power, indeed, had come in lowly grace; and to receive both John as Elias, and Jesus as the Christ, needed the exercise of violent faith, i.e. faith which would force through all the difficulties which opposed it, in order to take and enter the kingdom. Luke gives us the same truth. (Luke 16:16). The same word as used by Matthew is translated here “presseth” in the Authorized Version, but in the Revised Version it is rendered “violently.” So every man entering into the kingdom of God useth violence, or enters by strong, violent, overcoming faith. The “every man” are those pressing into the kingdom, not that every man enters into the kingdom, but every man who did, did so by the exercise of violent pressing faith. Your correspondent J. L. p. 306, makes a mistake by confounding the word used in these scriptures with that used in Romans 1:18. In these it is to take violently, but the word translated in Romans 1:18, “hold” in the Authorized Version, and “hold down” in the Revised Version, can only have application when there is possession. So the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down, retain or repress the truth which they know or have possession of, in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest to them etc. This scripture proves idolatry of every kind with its vile practices to be inexcusable, by reason of the truth of God’s eternal power and Godhead being manifest to men in creation. Indeed, it justifies the revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against unrighteousness. C. F.
We may have occasion to refer to the passage in Romans in our first conversation, and therefore we would here only say that we think the meaning is very clear referring simply to those who had a knowledge of the truth which they held in unrighteousness. They might be orthodox but unrighteous. —Ed.
Q. 260. The Book of Kings apparently gives us the effect on the nation at large, which was in no way altered by Manasseh’s repentance (2 Kings 24:3,4). Chronicles gives more the personal history of the sons of David: thus the sin of Asa, of Joash, of Uzziah, is given in much greater detail in Chronicles, affecting as it did the individual rather than the nation But the sin of Solomon is given in Kings only, its consequence being the division of the kingdom (l Kings 11:31-35). S. C.
Referring to Q. 222, does not 1 Peter 2:12 refer to God’s visitation in mercy, as in Acts 15:14? Visitation is used in this sense in Luke 1:68; 19:44, &c. 1 Peter 3:16 would seem to refer rather to being put to shame in the judgment for the same reason. M. L. B.
This use of the word “visitation” is very interesting, and it is possible that 1 Peter 2:12 may refer to a visitation in mercy with the gospel instead of in judgment. One reason for thinking it to be the latter is that it is here spoken of as something still future. 1 Peter 3:16 we think refers to a present shame felt by those who subsequently see the good and righteous walk of those whom they have accused. Ed.
Jottings From Bible Margins
In the Heavenlies
Our blessing. Ephesians 1:3.
Our position. Ephesians 2:6.
Our testimony. Ephesians 3:10.
Our conflict. Ephesians 6:12.
One Mind
In the gospel. Philippians 1:27.
In likeness to Christ. Philippians 2:2, 5.
In pressing forward. Philippians 3:15.
In peaceful walk here. Philippians 4:2.
Seven Things We Are Told To Hold Fast.
That which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21. The form of sound words. 2 Timothy 1:13.
The faithful word. Titus 1:9.
The confidence and rejoicing of our hope. Hebrews 3:6.
Our profession. Hebrews 4:14.
The confession of our hope. Hebrews 10:23. (Revelation Ver.)
Grace. Hebrews 12:28. (margin)
In Christ We Are Crucified
To the law. Galatians 2:19, 20.
To the flesh. Galatians 5:24.
To the world. Galatians 6:14.
D. T. C.
We Are To Walk—
In newness of life, Romans 6:4.
By faith, 2 Corinthians 5:7.
In the spirit, Galatians 5:25.
Circumspectly, Ephesians 5:15.
Worthy of the Lord, Colossians 1. 10.
In Christ, as we have received Him, Colossians 2:6.
In the light, 1 John 1:7.
The Father Himself loveth you, John 16:27.
Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Matthew 6:32.
He careth for you, 1 Peter 5:7. M. N.
Notes and Comments
We are glad to say that we have had many letters from correspondents warmly approving of the proposed “Bible Conversations,” and also containing many suggestions of practical value. On the Whole the study of a Book seems to be preferred to that of a Chapter or subject. Perhaps the Epistle to the Romans might be the best Book to begin with, as it contains what all of us really need. Not a gospel sermon, but a full setting forth of the gospel to Christians; not a preaching of the gospel news, but a full teaching of it. We have necessarily as yet no practical knowledge of the length to which our Conversations will extend, but having only twelve in the year, and but a few pages (4 or 6) at our disposal each month, we could not hope at the utmost to go through more than the sixteen chapters in 1883. This being the case, we might propose a consideration of Romans 1 & 2 for the first “Conversation.” Inasmuch as the January No. requires to be got ready rather sooner than the other months, we must fix October 20 as the date by which all communications on these chapters should be sent in. We may give a few hints as to the nature of these and other matters, Initials or noms-de-plume should always accompany the letters, and be retained in all subsequent communications.
Queries, expositions, comments, original or selected, references of all sorts, parallel passages and all descriptions of notes bearing on the chapters selected are admissible.
All communications should be as brief, plain and pointed as possible and they may be shortened or omitted wholly or in part at the discretion of the Editor, all being however acknowledged at the head of each conversation, Any queries arising out of previous “Conversations” will be answered or discussed in the usual way in “Bible Queries.”
All readers of the magazine can send contributions, no class being formed. Contributions may be either occasional or monthly.
All communications for “Bible Conversations” to be addressed “B. C.” Editor of B. S., 27 Paternoster Square, E. C.
A further suggestion is in the form of a query from W, T. H. as follows:— “Is there any possibility of having a prayer meeting in connection with the “B. S.?” We could devote a specified time regularly if such could be selected and notified in the Magazine.”
In answer to this we would say that, while a fixed time might tend to formality, besides being difficult to fix so as to suit the convenience of all, we do entreat all who help in these “Conversations” to make them the subject of earnest prayer to God that He would graciously use them as a means of real blessing to our readers, that He would save them from formality and deadness, and above all that He would preserve them from containing anything contrary to His revealed truth.
We now leave the project with our readers and trust to receive by the 20th abundant material for a most instructive and helpful conversation with which to start the New Year, should we still be here to see it. One word in closing, to our more advanced Christian readers. We know there are many such who have been helped by the Student’s class in the monthly researches published in this magazine and we would therefore confidently ask their aid, counsel and practical help in this new means of presenting Scriptural truth to our readers.
New Testament Words Explained: Wind - World
Wind.
We find three Greek words thus translated in the New Testament—pnoee, pneuma, and anenzos. The first means a very slight and gentle breeze in Acts 2:2 however it is used for a strong fierce wind, the reason probably being that the word pneuma, which might properly express this, is here (as elsewhere) used for the Spirit Himself, and therefore to use it for the wind also would have produced confusion. Pneuma is however used for the wind in John 3:8. Anemos means a tempestuous wind (Matthew 7:5; John 6; Acts 27:14, etc.)
Wisdom and Knowledge.
Each of these words is expressed by two in Greek: wisdom by sophia and phroneesis, knowledge by gnosis and epignosis. Sophia is the highest word, meaning the knowledge of all things, human and divine. It is never used (unless ironically as in 1 Corinthians 1:20;2. 6) of evil people, but commonly of God and of good men. Phroneesis means cleverness or prudence, which may however be applied to good or evil ends; it is thus evident that it is far inferior to sophia (Luke 1:17; Ephesians 1:8; Matthew 10:16). In this last passage its exact meaning is well brought out, clearly showing its distinction from pure wisdom. The difference between sophia and gnosis is well expressed by the words “wisdom” and “knowledge,” the one being abstract and the other more concrete and definite. Epignosis means a full knowledge or perfect acquaintance (Romans 1:28; 3:20; 10:2; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Ephesians 4:13, etc.)
World.
Four words quite distinct in their meaning are thus translated —Kosmos, alone, gee and oikounzenee. Speaking generally, the first word is the world as to space, the second as to time, the third is simply the earth, and the fourth the habitable part of it. Hence we read of the “end of the alone” (Matthew 13:39; 1 Corinthians 10, 11), but never of the end of the kosmos, with which the idea of time is not connected. The word kosmos originally meant the material world (Matthew 13:35; John 21:25; Romans 1:20) but afterward the people dwelling on it (John 1:29; 4:42; 2 Corinthians 5:19), and lastly the world looked at as the corrupt system that has rejected Christ and out of which the church is gathered (John 1:10; 1 Corinthians 1:20; James 4:4; 1 John 3:13). Atone is best translated “age” and refers to the different dispensations of this world’s history-thus, “the millennial age.” Gee means land in contrast to water, while oikoumenee means the part of the globe that is inhabited as in Luke 2:1, when all the habitable world was taxed.
Christ Our Example: Extracts Illustrating Our January Subject. 5
He did good, and lent, hoping for nothing again. He gave, and his left hand did not know what his right hand was doing. Never in one single instance, as I believe, did he claim either the person or the service of those whom he restored and delivered. He never made the deliverance he wrought a title to service. Jesus loved, and healed, and saved, looking for nothing again. He would not let Legion, the Gadarene, be with him. The child at the foot of the mount he delivered back to his father. The daughter of Jairus he left in the bosom of her family. The widow’s son at Nain he restores to his mother. He claims none of them. Does Christ give, in order that he may receive again? Does he not (perfect Master!) illustrate his own principle— “Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again?” The nature of grace is to impart to others, not to enrich itself; and he came, that in him and his ways it might shine in all the exceeding riches and glory that belong to it. He found servants in this world; but he did not first heal them, and then claim them. He called them, and endowed them. They were the fruit of the energy of his Spirit, and of affections kindled in hearts constrained by his love. And sending them forth, he said to them, “Freely ye have received, freely give.” Surely there is something beyond human conception in the delineation of such a character. One repeats that thought again and again. He never refused the feeblest faith, though he accepted and answered, and that too with delight, the approaches and demands of the boldest. The strong faith, which drew upon him without ceremony or apology, in full immediate assurance, was ever welcome to him; while the timid soul, that approached him as one that was ashamed and would excuse itself, was encouraged and blessed. His lips at once bore away from the heart of the poor leper the one only thing that hung over that heart as a cloud. “Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,” said he. “I will; be thou clean,” said Jesus. But immediately afterward the same lips uttered the fullness of the heart, when the clear unquestioning faith of the Gentile centurion was witnessed, and when the bold earnest faith of a family in Israel broke up the roof of the house where he was, that they might let down their sick one before him.
When a weak faith appealed to the Lord, he granted the blessing it sought, but he rebuked the seeker. But even this rebuke is full of comfort to us; for it seems to say, “Why did you not make freer, fuller, happier use of me?” Did we value the giver, as we do the gift,—the heart of Christ as well as his hand, this rebuke of weak faith would be just as welcome as the answer to it.
And if little faith be thus reproved, strong faith must be grateful. And therefore we have reason to know what a fine sight was under the eye of the Lord, when, in that case already looked at, they broke up the roof of the house in order to reach him. It was indeed, right sure I am, a grand spectacle for the eye of the divine and bounteous Jesus. His heart was entered by that action, as surely as the house in Capernaum was entered by it.
Time made no change in the Lord. He is the companion of his disciples in labor after his resurrection, nay, after his ascension, as he had been in the days of his ministry and sojourn with them. This we learn in the last verse of St. Mark. On the sea, in the day of Matthew 14, they thought that they saw a spirit, and cried out for fear; but the Lord gave them to know that it was he himself that was there, near to them, and in grace, though in Divine strength and sovereignty over nature. And so in Luke 24, or after he was risen, he takes the honeycomb and the fish, and eats before them, that with like certainty and ease of heart they might know that it was he himself. And he would have them handle him, and see; telling them, that a spirit had not flesh and bones, as they might then prove that he had.
In John 3 he led a slow-hearted Rabbi into the light and way of truth, bearing with him in all patient grace. And thus did he again in Luke 24, after that he was risen, with the two slow-hearted ones who were finding their way home to Emmaus.
In Mark 4 he allayed the fears of his people ere he rebuked their unbelief. He said to the winds and the waves, “Peace, be still,” before he said to the disciples, “How is it that ye have no faith?” And thus did he, as the risen One, in John 21, He sits and dines with Peter, in full and free fellowship, as without a breach in the spirit, ere he challenges him and awakens his conscience by the words, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?”
The risen Jesus who appeared to Mary Magdalene, the evangelist takes care to tell us, was he who in other days had cast seven devils out of her; and she herself knew the voice that then called her by her name as a voice that her ear had long been familiar with. What identity between the humbled and the glorified One, the healer of sinners and the Lord of the world to come! How all tell us, that in character as in divine personal glory, he that descended is the same also that ascended. John, too, in company with his risen Lord, is recognized as the one who had leaned on his bosom at the supper. “I am Jesus” was the answer from the ascended place, the very highest place in heaven, the right hand of the throne of the majesty there, when Saul of Tarsus demanded, “Who art thou, Lord?” (Acts 9) And all this is so individual and personal in its application to us. It is our own very selves that are interested in this. Peter, for himself, knows his master, the same to him before and after the resurrection. In Matthew 16 the Lord rebukes him; but shortly after he takes him up to the hill with him, with as full freedom of heart as if nothing had happened. And so with the same Peter, —in John 21 he is again rebuked. He had been busy, as was his way, meddling with what was beyond him. “Lord, what shall this man do?” says he, looking at John,—and his master has again to rebuke him— “What is that to thee?” But again, as in the face of this rebuke, sharp and peremptory as it was, the Lord immediately afterward has him, together with John, in his train, or in his company up to heaven. It was a rebuked Peter who had once gone with the Lord to the holy mount; and it is a rebuked Peter, the same rebuked Peter, who now goes with the Lord to heaven; or, if we please, to the hill of glory, the mount of transfiguration, a second time.
Full indeed of strong consolation is all this. This is Jesus our Lord, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; the same in the day of his ministry, after his resurrection, now in the ascended heavens, and so forever; and as he sustains the same character, and approves himself by the same grace after as before the resurrection, so does he redeem all his pledges left with his disciples.
Prophetic Explanations: From The Book Of Daniel.
1. The Great Image. —Gentile Imperial power as a whole. See Luke 21:24.
2. The four Metals of the Image. —The four successive Gentile Empires.
3. Decreasing Value of the Metals, from gold to iron. —The gradual decline of the governmental power, at first immediately derived from God. See Chapter 2:37.
4. The gold, silver, brass (or copper,) and iron. —The Empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, also symbolized by four wild beasts. Chapter 7.
The supreme power granted to Nebuchadnezzar the “head of gold,” who was responsible, and subject to God alone, from whom he directly received his kingdom and power. In the second, or Persian Empire, the nobles and princes made the laws, which the king confirmed. The laws and decrees of the realm were irrevocable, binding even the monarch himself (Chapter 6:7-15.), a clear departure from God’s original order, which placed the king as maker of, and above the law, God alone being his lawgiver. An inferior order of power characterized the third or Grecian Empire, the government being administered by the military authorities, who were created at the will and pleasure of Alexander. A still lower character of governmental power characterized the fourth or Latin Empire. The emperor was a mere puppet in the hands of the lawless soldiery, and the imperial crown was generally bought, and its continuance secured by currying favor with the legions. The empire was essentially military and aggressive, hence the “iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things.” (Chapter 2:40.) At a triumph accorded to Pompey, (one of Rome’s ablest generals) “there were exposed to view, besides kings, captives of the highest rank, and an immense treasure, the names of 15 conquered kingdoms, of 800 cities taken, of 29 recaptured, and of 1000 castles brought to acknowledge the Empire of Rome,” and adds the historian: “such was the bruising and breaking to pieces effected even by one single general.”
5. The mixture of iron and clay, (Chapter 2:41,42.)— “Brittle” or constitutional government, as at present, previous to the last phase of the Empire—a tenfold division.
6. Stone cut out of the mountain without hands. —Not a triumphing gospel, but the conquering Christ in power and glory to wind up the times of the Gentiles in judgment.
7. The winds of heaven upon the sea (Chapter 7:2.)—God in providence calling the Empires in succession out of the troubled mass of people then in anarchy and confusion, to bear rule over the earth.
8. The Lion, Wings, &c. (Chapter 7:4.)-The majesty of Babylon (the lion), its ambition and conquest (the eagle’s wings), its supremacy destroyed (the wings plucked), its utter degradation, (standing upon its feet). Nebuchadnezzar’s repentance is expressed in the last clause of the verse; see Chapter 4:34-37.
9. The Bear with ribs, etc. (chapter 7:5). —The Medo-Persian Empire cruel and tenacious of its grip over its conquered provinces, like the “bear,” “arise devour much flesh,” see Esther Chapter 1:1. The one side rising up higher than the other, would express the ultimate supremacy of the Persian over the Median, thus Darius the Median reigned before Cyrus the Persian, the latter however made the Empire essentially Persian, and raised it to the supreme place of power on the earth.
10. The Leopard with wings and heads (Chapter 7:6.)—The Macedonian Empire under Alexander, remarkable for its rapid attacks, like the leopard’s spring, and the swiftness of his movements, like the wings of the fowl, building up his mighty Empire in the course of 12 years. The “four heads” would denote the fourfold division of the Empire soon after the death of the mighty Grecian chief; see fuller details in chaps. 8 and 11.
11. The fourth beast with ten horns, etc. (Chapter 7:7). —This unnamed beast, sets forth the oppressing power, vast extent, and cruel character of the fourth or Roman power; its ten horns represent the ten kings or kingdoms into which the Empire will be distributed when revived by Satan.
12. “The little horn” —The Spirit specially directs attention to this, the personal and future head of the Western Empire.
13. “I beheld till the thrones were east down” (Chapter 7:9.) read “I beheld till the thrones were set” or “established.”
14. “Ancient of days” and “Son of man” refer to Christ; Compare 7:13 with Revelation 1:13-16.
15. “Saints of the most high” (or heavenly places) as Ephesians 1:3.-The heavenly saints are meant, not Jewish or earthly ones. “Most high” in verses 18, 22, 27, of Chapter 7 does not refer to God, but to the heavenly places, the sphere of blessing.
16. The two-horned Ram (Chapter 8)—The second Empire, Medo-Persia in its constitution; “the higher (horn) came up last” i.e., the Persian Cyrus who made the nation famous succeeded his uncle Darius the Median.
17. The he goat from the West—The Macedonian kingdom.
18. The notable horn—Alexander the Great.
19. The great or notable horn broken—Death of Alexander in the zenith of his glory and power.
20. “The four notable ones” i.e., horns—The fourfold partition of the Macedonian Empire after the death of Alexander.
21. “A little horn” Chapter 8:9. —Historically, Antiochus Epiphanes whose rage and cruelty against Israel knew no bounds. Typically the king of the north (Chapter 11) or Assyrian, (Isaiah 10) the future north-eastern power who will oppress Israel in the future crisis of her history.
The “little horn” of Chapter 7 is the great blaspheming power in the west and persecutor of the saints of Go; while the “little horn” of Chapter 8 is Israel’s great political enemy is the east. These horns will be mutually opposed to each other in the coming crisis.
22. “His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power” (Chapter 8:24) —This “little horn” or northern king will be upheld by his great chief, i.e., “Gog” or Russia, Ezekiel 39
23. King of the South—Egypt.
24. King of the North—Northern part of Syria.
Observe that from the time of the vision and prophecy down to the era of the Maccabees we have exact historical fulfillment (although typical of the future Jewish crisis) in the first 35 verses of Chapter 11 From the 36th verse of the Chapter to the end all is future; C. the king” of verse 36 must be distinguished from the northern and southern kings, the “Antichrist” being meant.
25. The ships of Chittim— The war galleys or naval power of Rome.
26. “Abomination that maketh desolate”— “Abomination” refers to Idolatry, 1 Kings 11:5-7; “ maketh desolate,” this Jewish idolatry will bring a desolator on the scene, i.e. king of the north.
27. Instructors amongst the Jewish people (Chapter 11:32-35). Historically the Maccabees; Typically, godly Jews seeking to instruct the nation in practical righteousness.
28. The time of trouble (Chapter 12:1). The coming tribulation; see also Jeremiah 30:7; Mark 13:14-24; Matthew 24:15-29; Revelation 12
29. Sleep in the dust of the earth (Chapter 12:2). At the epoch of Messiah’s personal intervention on behalf of Judah, a portion of the nation will be amongst the Gentiles in the utmost depths of moral degradation; verse 1 refers to the Jews in the land; verse 2 to those then out of the land.
From Zechariah.
30. Vision of Chapter 1. The colored horses, red, bay, and white represent the character and energy of the three Imperial powers of Persia, Greece, and Rome. The man riding on the red horse sets forth Cyrus the Persian, the destroyer of Babylon and deliverer of the Jews, prefiguring, however, Christ, Israel’s Savior and Judge of the mystic Babylon. Revelation 18;19 The four horns (verse 18) are the four Gentile Empires which scattered Judah, while the four carpenters (verse 20) represent the instruments used of Jehovah, for the judgment of the Empires, who, in punishing Judah, exceeded their commission (verse 2).
31. Vision of Chapter 2. The man measuring Jerusalem is Jehovah’s prophetic intimation that He will yet appropriate to Himself the land and people of Judah; see Revelation 11:1,2.
32. Vision of Chapter 3. Here the future justification of guilty and defiled Israel, and her place in millennial glory according to the sovereign grace of Jehovah is intimated. Joshua prefigures the nation in her guilt in verse 1, in her defilement in verse 3, in her justification in verse 4, in her acceptance in verse 5, in her responsibility in verse 7, he represents Christ, however, in verse 8. The stone with seven eyes (verse 9) represents the stability of Messiah’s government exercised according to the intelligence of God.
33. Vision of Chapter 4. Saved Israel, in millennial glory, will be God’s vessel of light on the earth; now the Church is the light, or candlestick. The testimony (the olive trees) will be to the priestly grace and kingly glory of the Messiah, the former represented by Joshua, and the latter by Zerubbabel. The power—the oil, and the instruments—the golden pipes, will maintain the testimony of the Lord for at least 1000 years.
34. Vision of Chapter 5. Jehovah will surely punish His guilty people; the flying roll intimates sure and certain judgment; but the idolatry of the Gentiles which will again be rampant in the land of Judah will be removed and sent back from whence it came-the land of Shinar; Jehovah will punish His people, but He will remove her guilt, and banish her sin to its original scene and center.
35. Vision of Chapter 6. The character and geographical course of the four Gentile kingdoms are here set forth, and as accomplishing, unknowingly, the counsels of God. The black horses (Persia) go forth into the north country, viz., Babylon, and destroy it; while they, in turn, are destroyed by the white horses, Greece; the grisled horses (Rome) establish themselves in the south (verse 6). God grants universal dominion to Rome (verse 7) and rests in the destruction of Babylon (verse 8). From verse 9 to 15 we have Christ building up Zion in glory, as a Priest, too, upon His throne (verse 13), His people crowned (verse 14) and the Gentiles willingly lending their aid (verse 15). This symbolic representation beautifully confirms the prophetic Word.
36. The details of Chapter 14 are to be accepted in their literal import.
From the Revelation.
37. The Angel of the churchapter The representative or representatives of the moral condition of things; the godly person or persons, not necessarily gifted, but competent to reflect the light of heaven upon the state of things, as “stars” shine in a dark night.
38. “I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Chapter 3:16). The rejection of the professing church; its judgment is executed instrumentally by the Western Powers in Chapter 17; by God, the source of her judgment, in Chapter 18; and celebrated by the hallelujahs of heaven in Chapter 19
39. “The morning star.” The joyful return of the Lord in person; see Chapter 22:16.
40. “Four and twenty seats.” Four and twenty thrones.
41. “Four and twenty elders.” Representatives of the Old and New Testament saints.
42. The beasts, or “living ones” are so described as to set forth the judicial authority of God. His character and attributes in governmental exercise.
43. The seven-sealed book (Chapter 5). The title deeds of Christ’s inheritance claimed by the Lamb from Jehovah, in virtue of His person and work.
44. A “Beast” signifies an Imperial power, or its head.
45. A “Horn,” a kingdom, or its king.
46. A “horse,” warfare.
47. A “Throne” sets forth established conquest, hence set up for exercise of government, for reward and punishment.
48. A “crown,” general or special reward.
49. A “Sword,” bloodshed.
50. The “Sun,” supreme and controlling authority.
51. The “Moon,” derived governmental authority.
52. The “Stars,” ruling but subordinate powers; also ecclesiastical personages.
53. The “Lion,” majesty.
54. The “Jasper,” divine glory.
55. The “Sea,” men in anarchy and confusion.
56. The “Land,” or Earth, settled government.
57. The “Trees,” eminent political personages.
58. The “Grass,” general prosperity.
59. The “Ships,” commerce.
60. The “Rivers,” the moral life and principles of nature.
61. The “Dragon,” satanic authority in the fourth Empire.
62. The “Woman,” (Chapter 12). Israel.
63. The “Harlot,” corrupt churchapter
64. “Babylon,” the corrupt professing church, in her future wickedness, and worldly grandeur.
65. “New Jerusalem,” the glorified bride and wife of the Lamb in heavenly and divine splendor.
66. The “Harvest,” discriminating and separating judgment.
67. The “Vintage,” unsparing judgment.
68. The “Wine Press,” the execution of divine wrath.
69. “Virgins,” moral purity.
70. “Vine of the earth,” future union of apostate Judaism and corrupt christianity.
71. “Heads” and “Horns” (Chapter 17.7), forms or phases of government and also kings.
72. “Gog and Magog,” Symbolic representation of the last uprising of the wicked; the expression in Ezekiel 38 refers to Russia, and her future chief and lord.
Note On Prophetic Dates.
The seventy weeks of Daniel 9 give in full number 490 years. From the commandment concerning the building of the city (verse 25), which is alone recorded in Nehemiah 2 (the decrees in Ezra referring to the Temple), till the public entrance of Messiah, the prince, into Jerusalem (Matthew 21) according to the prediction of Zechariah 9:1 we have a period of 483 years The last seven needed to complete the number are yet future, and the events recorded in Revelation from Chapter 6 to 19:10 are embraced in that still future interesting period. Thus these 18 christian centuries really form a parenthesis between the 69th week and the 70th.
The periods of days in Daniel and Revelation as 1290; 1335; 1260; all refer to the last half of the future 70th week. The first 31 years of the seven are not specially noted in Scripture for reasons which we cannot at present give for want of space. The last named number of days, 1260, equal to, and refers to the same time as 42 months, and a time, times and half a time. The point from whence we reckon is the middle of the future week of seven years.
The Book of Psalms: Their Prophetic Character
While heartily accepting the statement that the Psalms are rich and full in unfolding experiences common to the redeemed of all ages, and abounding in expressions of personal piety and confidence in God which any saint might truthfully adopt, yet the reader of the Psalms will search in vain for truth, experiences, and ways characteristically christian. A purged conscience (Hebrews 10), eternal life (John 5), eternal redemption (Hebrews 9), a heavenly position (Ephesians 1), divine righteousness for standing (Romans 3) and God’s glory the Christian’s hope (Romans 5) are truths which were utterly unknown to saints of old, and consequently unrevealed in the pages of the Old Testament.
The Psalms treat of the government of God on earth: neither heaven nor heavenly hopes are therein disclosed. They directly apply to Israel and to the Messiah’s identification with the godly part of the nations who will morally represent the people before God confessing the national guilt (Acts 7:51-53) and suffering governmentally the displeasure of Jehovah.
The latter-day circumstances of Israel’s history previous to her final blessing by the advent of the Messiah are not here prophetically unfolded as they are in the books of the prophets, but the moral character of these days and circumstances, with the feelings, hopes, joys, fears and state of soul of the remnant or godly are here laid bare by the Spirit of God. Now in all the past and future sorrow of Israel Christ had His part: “in all their afflictions He was afflicted” (Isaiah 63:9). It is this latter consideration which demands for the study of the Psalms Scriptural intelligence as to the respective hopes of Israel—which are earthly, and of the church which are heavenly. In the epistles we are regarded as identified with Christ in heaven, but in the Psalms Christ is regarded as identified with the godly Jew on earth.
For a due apprehension of the Psalms in their prophetic character, and for the application of each Psalm or part of one to Israel, or Messiah, or even to both, and that even in the same verse, careful handling and accurate reading in the presence of God are absolutely essential. But when thus read, what treasures they unfold! What a moral commentary on the government of God on earth, and on His ways toward Jew and Gentile! How holy the lessons to us! How profitable the teachings to our souls! (To be continued.)
Eastern Manners and Customs: "A Spring of Water, Whose Waters Fail Not"; "The Olive"
“A spring of water, whose waters fail not.”—Isaiah 58:11
“I was greatly struck by an illustration which was forced on my attention where staying at Alexandria, and thought it might interest some English friends. It was at the little sea place of Ramleh. I was going down to the coast to breathe the sea air, and noticed amongst the clumps of palms which beautified the spot, one standing alone, and bent so much that it seemed not likely it could stand many more of the strong blasts to which it was exposed, and I casually observed to my Arab guide “That tree will surely soon come down, it is already bent so muchapter” “Not at all, lady,” he coolly replied, “ it is quite strong, and will last very long yet.” I will tell you why: if it were like those palms yonder, planted in the garden, and watered as the gardens are, its roots would not have struck very deep, and being bent like that, (by some storm when very young) it would fall. But this is an old wild palm of the desert, and in order to get water, its roots have been obliged to strike very, very deep, till they reached the hidden water, far under the sand, and the great length of the roots, and their strength supports it. Then there is a hidden spring, said I. Oh yes, from the Lord, meaning not dug by man. Ah, there is nothing like the Lord’s own hidden springs for giving strength to the weak. The righteous (in Him, and whose righteousness is His) may indeed flourish like the palm tree, and not fall even when bent by storms and blasts.” M. L. W.
“Shall cast of his flower as the olive.”—Job 15:33.
“The olive is the most prodigal of all fruit-bearing trees in flowers. It literally bends under the load of them. But then not one in a hundred comes to maturity. The tree casts them off by millions, as if they were of no more value than flakes of snow, which they closely resemble. So it will be with those who put their trust in vanity. Cast off, they melt away, and no one takes the trouble to ask after such empty useless things, —just as one olive seems to throw off in contempt the myriads of flowers that signify nothing, and turns all her fatness to those which will mature into fruit.” Dr. Thomson.
Notes on Last Month's Subject: The Characteristics of a Truly Godly Walk
16.-The Characteristics Of A Truly Godly Walk.
We believe that this subject is a sort of supplement to the second part of our May subject (p. 150, &c). We suggested in our remarks upon it (p. 181) that some such subject should be selected, because we felt then that the second part of the subject was not so complete as the first. All the blessings connected with the believer’s standing clearly are solely, and entirely, the fruit and result of Christ’s finished work. Not so, however, with those blessings that are connected with the Christian state. These are entirely contingent on his walk. While therefore we had then a wonderful list of the blessings that might be ours by a godly and faithful walk, we did not at that time see in what a godly and faithful walk consisted. This want is now supplied by our present subject. And a wonderful subject it is. What a field these six pages present for self-examination! Perhaps indeed one of the most profitable and practical uses to which they could be put would be to go through each line with the question, “Do I do this?” or “Is this true of me?” We would strongly recommend all our Christian readers thus to go over the whole list, putting, if wished, marks for reference according as conscience tells them they fulfill in a measure, or fail in each characteristic. Surely none could go through a task like this alone with God and their conscience, without coming to a truer estimate as to the character of their Christian walk, and seeing clearly the points wherein their failure is greatest.
It is manifest, however, that this, undoubtedly the best and most practical use to which our subject can be put, must be left to the individual reader to carry out. We can only suggest it, and express our firm conviction that none will prayerfully undertake it, without receiving a blessing in their own souls from God.
We see in the note prefixed to the subject a suggestion that we should attempt in these remarks some further division or classification. It will be clear that the limits of this paper entirely preclude us from doing so exhaustively. We may, however, point out that a christian’s life and conduct may be regarded from at least four standpoints. First, there is his own individual character, what he is in himself; then there is the way he is to act toward God, the way he is to act toward his brethren and the way he is to act toward the world at large. Glancing down the columns of our subject we see that in the First Division, viz., his own character, he is to Abhor evil Cleave to that which is good Rejoice Be patient in trouble Be prayerful Be lowly Provide everything honestly Be honest and peaceable Be liberal Persevere in well doing Abound in all good works Be full of love and joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance Be truthful Be proper in speech Be thankful Be blameless and harmless Be moderate in all things Be occupied with that which is good Love the things above Study to be quiet and mind his own business Abstain from all appearance of evil Bridle his tongue Not to swear Be obedient Be holy His character and actions Godward we place in the Second Division. In this the christian is to Keep God’s commands Obey God rather than man Serve the Lord Walk to God’s glory Seek to be acceptable to the Lord Press forward for the heavenly prize Make every request known to God Walk worthy of God Do all in Christ’s name Walk so as to please God Walk in God’s truth Seek to be found without spot of God Walk as Christ walked Walk so that Christ’s name may be glorified Submit himself to God Cast all his care on Him Keep Himself in God’s love The christian’s duty and bearing towards his brethren we may classify as follows in the Third Division. The christian in relation with other christians is to: Be peaceful Live honestly Be kind Honor others Be hospitable Be of like mind Care for the poor Regard the feeble Bear the burden of others Be submissive Be unmurmuring Be loving Be forbearing Be forgiving Comfort others Support others Be patient Lift up weary hands Not to backbite The last of the four divisions we have spoken of is the christian’s relation to the world at large. Fourth Division. In this he is to: Be unresisting to violence Love his enemies Return good for evil Sympathize Be subject Pay all dues Owe nothing Be anxious for others’ welfare Be unoffending Be doing good to all Be peaceful to all Honor all Pray for all Keep a good conscience But he is not to love the world or the things in it, he is not to be conformed to it, and he is to be separate from unbelievers.
Such then is a brief sketch of the leading practical qualities to be found in the Christian’s life, and we feel sure that on reading them through, the first thought will be how simple, how plain, how homely all these exhortations are. There is nothing here that savors of mysticism or transcendentalism. These are everyday virtues and graces. This is true, but then on the other hand, how many of these simple virtues grace your life and name, beloved reader? To practice them is indeed to become like Christ, to honor God, and to give a true testimony that none can gainsay to the world. We pray God then that in His gracious hands the practical outcome of this paper may be a more consistent, quiet Christ-like walk, and we would especially entreat the beloved members of the Students’ Class to whose labors we owe so much, not to rest content with “ laboring,” but also to “partake of the fruits,” and seek to make more of these beautiful graces their own.
This Month's Subject: The Offerings of Leviticus
The subject worked out for this month is—
The offerings of Leviticus, and the various points in which they are typical of Christ.
This is a subject of a very different character from any which have hitherto occupied us, and it is one in which a reverent handling of the Word of God is more than ever necessary. In the consideration of these typical sacrifices there is so much that suggests itself to the heart for which perhaps the direct teaching of Scripture cannot be adduced, that we need to be especially careful that we are not carried away by our imaginations.
We have therefore felt it necessary, in arranging the papers sent in, to prune with a somewhat unsparing hand. The result is perhaps somewhat more brief than we could have wished, but we were anxious not to give it the appearance of a series of extended remarks on the Offerings. This will perhaps be more suitable for the paper in next month’s number.
It will be observed that in the peace offering we have merely indicated the chief points in the law, but in such a manner as we hope may direct the hearts of our readers to the spiritual meaning of the sacrifice.
The Burnt Offering.
A male without blemish, Leviticus 1:3. “Without spot” Hebrews 9:14; “ a lamb without blemish and without spot,” 1 Peter 1:19.
Of his own voluntary will, Leviticus 1:3. “Christ who... offered himself... to God” Hebrews 9:14; “ Therefore doth my Father love rue because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of thyself.” John 10:17,18.
He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, Leviticus 1:4,—the identity of the offerer with the sacrifice. “as he is, so are we in this world” 1 John 4:17; also 2 Corinthians 5.17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 2:20.
And he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into his pieces, Leviticus 1:6.
And the priests...shall lay the parts, the head and the fat in order upon the wood, Leviticus 1:8.
And his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water, Leviticus 1:4. Thus not only was Christ’s outward life perfect in the sight of God and man, but His inner life also, the head-intelligence; the fat-will; the inwards-motives; the legs-walk, and the two latter were washed in water, thus rendering them typically what Christ was essentially-pure. “I come to do thy will, O God,” Hebrews 10:9; “ I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea thy law is within my heart” Psalms 40:8.
And the priest shall burn all on the altar, a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord, Leviticus 1:9. “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” Ephesians 5:2.
The distinctive features of this offering would appear to be the death of the offering which was to be consumed wholly by fire for a sweet savor unto the Lord.
The Meat Offering.
His offering shall be of fine flour, Leviticus 2:1. The characteristic of fine flour is its evenness, the absence of anything rough or unequal; hence it is adapted to be a type of our Lord’s perfect life, on the earth. It is impossible to say of Him (as we might say of the most devoted of His followers) that He was distinguished by any one particular quality-all was perfect and all was in its place.
Fine flour mingled with oil, Leviticus 2:5. “ That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, “ Matthew 20.
Thou shalt pour oil thereon. Leviticus 2:6. “The heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him. “Matthew 3:16; Luke 3;21-22.
With all the frankincense thereof, Leviticus 2:2. The sweet savor of the life of Christ Godward.
Salt, Leviticus 2:13. —Salt in Scripture is that which preserves from corruption. “Let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt,” Colossians 4:6, and how true a description is this of our Lord’s intercourse with those by whom He was surrounded!
For ye shall burn no leaven, Leviticus 2:11.-Leaven in scripture is invariably a type of evil, and the application of this thought typically to our Lord’s life is too obvious to need comment.
Nor any honey, Leviticus 2:11. —Honey apparently is used to express sweetness, but in a human sense. How needful is the example presented to us by our Lord’s life that we should not allow the claims of nature to interfere with our service, See Mark 3:31-35; Luke 2:49; John 2:4.
Baken in the oven (Leviticus 2:4), in a pan (v. 5), in the fryingpan (v. 7) These thoughts surely present the sufferings of our Lord, but inasmuch as the meat offering was in no respect a sin offering, we may perhaps judge that it represents not His sufferings at the hand of God as the sin-bearer, but as a perfect man in the midst of all the evil and sorrow brought into the world through sin-See Isaiah 53:4.
And the remainder of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons, Leviticus 2:3; see also chapter 6:14-18, where the priests were directed to eat it in the holy place.
“A royal priesthood,” 1 Peter 2:9; “priests” Revelation 1:6. Hence we are taught that the believer’s spiritual life is nourished as he meditates on the perfections of Jesus—but in the holy place.
In this offering there is no death; and while part is offered by fire for a sweet-savor unto the Lord, the remainder is the food of the priests.
The Peace Offering.
In many points this offering is so similar to the burnt offering, that a comparison of the two may serve to bring the points of difference clearly before us.
Both were offerings made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord (chapter 1:9; 3:5).
In both the identity of the offerer with his offering were expressed by the laying on of his hands (chapter 1:4: 3:2.)
Both were free-will offerings.
The burnt offering was to be a male without blemish-the peace offering might be either a male or female.
The burnt offering was flayed, cut in pieces, and the inwards washed in water—in the peace offering these directions are omitted.
In the burnt offering the priest was to burn all on the altar—in the peace offering only the fat, the kidneys, and the caul were to be burned, the rest being reserved as food for the offerer arid the priest.
In the ordinance of the peace offering directions are given that neither blood nor fat are ever to be eaten. Blood-that which makes atonement; the life which belongs to God. Fat— “the food of the offering by fire for a sweet savor” expressing the energies of a will devoted entirely to the service of God, “all the fat is the Lord’s.”
If the peace offering was for a thanksgiving, the offerer was to eat his portion the same day as that on which it was offered, Leviticus 7:12-35. If it was a vow or a voluntary offering, it might be eaten the same day and the day following, and the third day it was to be burned.
None might partake of the peace offering save those who were clean, see 1 John 1:7.
It was to be shared with the priest who offered it, whose portion was to be the right shoulder.
The breast was to be Aaron’s and his sons.
In this sacrifice death is presented, the Lord’s portion is burnt as a sweet savor unto the lord, and the remainder is the food of the offerer, of the offering priest, and of the priests in general.
In these three sacrifices it will be observed that sin is not in view: in the burnt offering indeed, atonement is spoken of, but still it is not the thought; all are characterized as “an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord.”
We now come to an offering in which this significant expression is omitted.
The Sin Offering.
Under this head are two great classes-sin offerings and trespass offerings, and the latter again are divided into four, as follows: (1) Leviticus 4; (2) Leviticus 5:1-13; (3) Leviticus 5:14-19; (4) Leviticus 6:1-7.
In the consideration of these offerings we need to bear particularly in mind the words of the apostle Paul in Hebrews 10 and especially verse 14.
It may be more convenient if we consider principally the sin offering of the great day of atonement (Leviticus 16), as being the one by which the relationship of the people with Jehovah was maintained, and therefore typical of the work by which we are brought into relationship with God.
It will be observed that while burnt offerings (in which the truth of atonement is presented) were offered, there were neither meat nor peace offerings.
“ That he come not at all times into the holy place within the wail,” Leviticus 16:2; Hebrews 9:7; Luke 23:45; Hebrews 10:19.
“ He shall put on the holy linen coat, etc.... these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water and so put them on,” Leviticus 16:4. “ For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens.” Hebrews 7:26.
“And he shall take...two kids of the goats for a sin offering.” Leviticus 16:5. We judge from this that the directions with regard to both animals must be considered, for us to learn from the type a full view of the work of Christ as the sin offering.
“ One lot for the Lord” Leviticus 16:8. “ Behold the Lamb of God.” John 1:36.
“ The other lot for the scape-goat.” Leviticus 16:8. Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6.
“ And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell and offer him for a sin offering.” Leviticus 16:9. and in detail verses 15-19. “Whom God hath set forth a propitiation,” Romans 3:25.
“But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.” Leviticus 16:10; and in detail verses 20-22. “Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:25.
“Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring his blood within the vail... and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat,” Leviticus 16:15. “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal, (seven times sprinkled) redemption.” Hebrews 9:11,12.
“And he shall make an atonement for the holy place,” Leviticus 16:16. Hebrews 9: 21-23, 24, “for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself.”
“And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation” Leviticus 16:17. “And there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour,” Luke 23:44.
“And have made an atonement... for all the congregation of Israel,” Leviticus 16:17. “To make propitiation (R. V.) for the sins of the people,” Hebrews 2:17. “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the whole world,” 1 John 2:2.
“And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel,” Leviticus 16:21. “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” Isaiah 53:6.
“And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited,” Leviticus 16:22. “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more,” Hebrews 10:17: Psalms 103:12.
“Without the camp: and they shall burn in the fire their skins and their flesh and their dung,” Leviticus 16:27. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate, Hebrews 13:11,12.
“And this shall be a statute forever unto you, that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month... on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you,” Leviticus 16:29,30; “once a year” Leviticus 16:34. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with the blood of others... but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared... So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, Hebrews 9:25-28.
In the sin offering, as set forth in Leviticus 4:5-6, there remain a few points to be noticed which supplement the teaching of Chapter 16 Such of the details as are common to other sacrifices are omitted.
“He shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head,” Leviticus 4:4. Expressive of identity— “He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
In the burnt offering we read of the laying on of the hands, but also it shall be accepted for him, chapter 1:4. So that the offerer shared in all the acceptance of the offering; here the body of the sin offering is burned without the camp (chapter 4:12): hence the offering is identified with the guilt of the offerer.
In verses 8-10 we find that the parts, which in the burnt offering were washed and then burnt on the altar, are here likewise burnt-the excellency and perfections of Christ acceptable to God, even when he “suffered for sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:18.
It will be observed that these sacrifices were offered by those whose position before God had been secured for one year by the sacrifice offered on the great day of atonement which had been considered above: they have therefore the aspect of the restoration of one already in relationship with God and not of the bringing of any into relationship. Their teaching is thus more by contrast, and we do not so readily refer to texts showing the typical bearing.
The sacrifice of the red heifer in Numbers 19, is of deep interest.
The blood was sprinkled seven times and the body burned, as in Leviticus 4, 5 and 16 without the camp, and into the burning were cast cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet, expressive of the world (see Galatians 6:14).
The ashes were then preserved, and water added to them as a water of purification to cleanse any who had contracted defilement. See Hebrews 9:13,14.
The following would appear a brief summary of the teaching we gather from the above chapter.
The Burnt Offering-offered wholly to God for a sweet savor. Christ in death, devoted to the Father’s glory, offering Himself without spot to God.
The Meat Offering-part offered to God for a sweet savor, the remainder eaten by Aaron and his sons. Christ in life, devoted to the glory of the Father whose delight was in His perfection, and also the spiritual food of the believer.
The Peace Offering-part offered to God for a sweet savor, the rest eaten part by the offerer and part by the priests. Christ devoted to the Father’s glory unto death, and also the believer’s appreciation of and communion therewith.
The Sin Offering of the great day of atonement—the blood of one goat sprinkled before and on the mercy seat to make atonement, and the body burned outside the camp—the sins of the people confessed on the head of the other goat and borne away into the wilderness. Christ making atonement to God and bearing our sins in His own body on the tree.
It will be observed that the above is the order in which the laws of the offerings are given: in the application, as in Leviticus 9 and 14, the sin offering comes first.
Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law, then said he, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. Hebrews 10:8,9.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 349-377
Q. 349. Referring to the August subject, Can “ spirit of glory” 1 Peter 4:14, be termed a title of the Holy Ghost? It is not printed with a capital letter in the Authorized Version? L. C.
A. It is printed with a capital letter in the Revised Version, but the word. “spirit” is not in the text at all, it is only from the context that we judge that the Holy Spirit is here spoken of.
Q. 350. Please explain how the devil can be regarded as the Lord’s servant. 2 Timothy 2:26. E. S. M.
A. We cannot altogether accept the wording of the Revised Version here. The American Revisers read “having been taken captive by him unto his will.” Two different pronouns are used in the Greek for “him” and “his,” and the latter word probably refers to God. We should be glad to know on what authority “the Lord’s servant” is put in the text.
Q. 351. Do you think that the one mentioned by John in Mark 9:38,39, and Luke 9:49,50, was a believer in the Lord Jesus? Is it not rather remarkable that he should have been empowered to work this miracle? M. A. S. W.
A. We think that he could not work miracles in a name in which he did not believe. He may have been a disciple of John’s who still clung to the forerunner rather than to the Messiah. Though not as yet outwardly one of Christ’s followers (which aroused the jealousy of the disciples), he was on His side against the powers of darkness, owning and proving the value and power of His name.
Q. 352. Please explain (1) Daniel 9:26,27, and (2) 12:1. F. W. B.
A. (1) We would paraphrase it briefly thus “ After 434 years (62x7) shall Messiah (Jesus) be cut off (crucified), but not for himself (but for others) or “ shall have nothing,” i.e. of His portion as Messiah, and the people of the prince that shall come (the Romans who will hereafter be the people of the infidel head of the revived Roman earth) shall destroy Jerusalem and the temple, and at the end of the siege all shall be carried away as by a river (people, treasures and everything) and desolation shall reign over Zion (as is now the case.) All this verse is past or present, the next verse is future, and between the two, lies the present unnoticed interval of over 1800 years when God is not dealing with the Jews, but preparing a Bride for Christ. The next verse proceeds “And he (the coming prince, head of the Roman empire) shall confirm a (not “the”) covenant with the many (or the mass of Jewish people) for seven years (Daniel’s last week, still future); but after three years and a half this Roman prince will cause the revived circle of Jewish offerings and sacrifices to cease” (see Matthew 24, Mark 13 &c.), (as to the covenant see Isaiah 28:14), “and by means of” or “on account of” the wing (or protection, see Psalms 91:4) of the abomination (which means simply idol,) he shall make the land of Israel desolate even until the close of the seventieth week, when judgment shall be poured not only on the prince, but upon the Jews whom he has made desolate by causing to trust to the protection of his idolatries. This will be at the glorious appearing of Christ for judgment when He descends to the Mount of Olives. We shall be glad of further contributions on this interesting subject. (2) Although strongly against the common practice of spiritualizing Old Testament prophecies, we cannot admit that this passage refers to a literal resurrection; we take it as referring to the same period as Ezekiel 36, when the dry bones of Israel that have been slumbering in the earth (the world) will be brought back to their land. These are especially the ten tribes of Israel who will return after the great tribulation, which will in righteousness fall on the two— tribes only, who were directly concerned in the crucifixion of Messiah. These ten tribes are now slumbering in the earth, and no man can say where they are. A comparison of Luke 15:32, and Romans 11:15 especially will show that this is by no means the only passage where the return of that which has been lost is regarded as “lite from the dead.”
Q. 353. Referring to p. 317, are we told in Scripture if Methuselah lived with Adam in the garden or out of it? F. W. B.
A. No one, as far as we know, ever lived in Paradise except our first parents. Adam was driven from it before the birth of Cain, and ever after was excluded from it.
Q. 354. What was the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, Revelation 2:15? A. G.
A. The Greek word “nicolaos” is an approximate equivalent to the Hebrew Balaam. Hence it is not improbable that here we have to do with one sect under two names “ those that hold the teaching of Balaam” whose history is there recorded, and then is added “So halt thou also some that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitanes in like manner.” From this point of view the teaching of Balaam and of the Nicolaitanes would be identical. The two sins spoken of here were the very two things forbidden to the Gentiles by the apostolic council (Acts 15:20,29). They were closely allied, and both almost inseparable from the ordinary heathen life. In times of persecution eating things sacrificed to idols would be a crucial test. These teachers held that it was an indifferent Matter, and, still worse, sought to bring in the impurities of heathen orgies into the christian love feasts (2 Peter 2:10,12,13,18; Jude 7,8). All this was taught as doctrine, not merely regarded as laxity. Thus the special combination of sins in Balaam were reproduced. This at any rate was the doctrine of Balaam. If the Nicolaitanes are supposed to be a separate sect, their evil (from the few notices left to us) would seem to be of a similar character. It was a deliberate effort on the part of the enemy to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.
Q. 355. What is meant by blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Matthew 12:31), and can any one do such a thing now? (2) What is the meaning of the “concision” in Philippians 3:2? A. C.
A. The passage is primarily Jewish, but has no doubt a solemn meaning now. The sin was deliberate blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, not the mere utterance of the lips, but the belief of the heart. There is no forgiveness for this sin, because not only is the Savior rejected, but the only One who can apply the word in power is blasphemed. The expression “neither in this world, nor in that which is to come” means probably “neither in that age (that of the law) nor in the age to come (of Messiah’s reign)” The Lord having taken His place as Son of Man in humiliation, this solemn warning did not extend to words spoken against Him. We could not say that such a sin could no longer be committed. (2) The concision was the mark in the flesh of the Israelite who had submitted to the outward rite, but had never been circumcised in heart. It is an expression of the utmost contempt fur empty formalism.
Q. 356. What are meant by the four cherubim and the four wheels in Ezekiel 1? M. H. U.
A. The four cherubim represent the attributes of God in government. We find them characterized by the intelligence of man, the strength of the lion, the stability and patience of the ox, and the swiftness of the eagle. It will be remarked that such symbols were worshipped by the heathen as idols. As has been well remarked, “formal idolatry began with a figurative personification of the attributes of God. These attributes became their gods, men being impelled to worship them by demons, who governed them by this means, so it was these demons whom men worshipped-a worship that soon degenerated so far that they set up gods wherever there was anything to desire or to fear, or that answered to the lust which inspired these desires or these fears. Now these attributes belonged to the only God, the Creator, and the head of all creation, but, whatever their power and glory might be in action, they were but the supporters of the throne on which the God of truth is seated. Majesty, government and providence, united to form the throne of His glory. But all the instruments of His glory were below the firmament; He whom they glorified was above. It is He whom the heathen knew not.” These cherubim it will be observed have four wings, whereas the seraphim (Isaiah 6) have six, and cry “Holy, Holy, Holy” day and night. The cherubim appear (Genesis 3; Psalms 18; Ezekiel 10) to be the executives of God’s judgments, the seraphim rather of God’s mercy (Isaiah 6). We find the characteristics of both combined in the “four beasts” of Revelation 4 showing that mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other at and since the cross of Christ. The wheels seem to convey the idea of swiftness of motion on the earth, just as “wings” are symbols of swiftness in heaven.
Q. 357. Is there anything in Scripture to support the thought of the following well-known lines:—
“By weakness and defeat
He won the meed and crown.”
Can this be said of our Lord? and if so when was He defeated and by whom? M. H. V.
A. Christ was crucified through weakness. He also in a sense spent His strength for naught, in that He came unto His own and His own received Him not. In this limited sense it may be said that His mission as Messiah was defeated by the hardness of His people’s hearts. We are not however aware that Scripture ever directly sanctions the second of the two expressions, though it clearly does the first.
Q. 358. What is meant in Matthew 5:22 by the one who calls his brother a fool being in danger of hell-fire? D. T. C.
A. The Lord is here showing that murder does not begin with the outward act, but with the heart. The law took cognizance of the latter; but God here shows that murder may exist in the heart, the only outward sign being the words “ Thou fool.” Hence the danger of hell-fire, for murder in the heart is as bad in God’s sight as the real act.
Q. 359. (1) Were the state and place of the departed spirits of saints changed when the Lord Jesus arose? (2) Did they go to “Paradise” before He had died? He says to the thief “today with me in Paradise” yet Psalms 16 shows that His soul went into Hades; was Hades Paradise? A. P. C.
A. (1) We have no record of any such change. Paradise is the part of Hades where the blessed dead go. Hades is the entire abode of departed spirits. It is divided into two parts, with a great impassable gulf between (Luke 16) Hence it is equally true that our Lord went to Hades and to Paradise, as did also Lazarus. Dives went to Hades but not to Paradise.
Q. 360. (a) Does Hebrews 2:14,15 mean that when “He destroyed Him that had the power of death,” He delivered from Hades those who in their lifetime had feared it, as Hezekiah in Isaiah 38? (2) Would Ephesians 4:8 show that He took these saints as a “multitude of captives” with Him into Paradise when He ascended? A. P. C.
A. (1) it was not that He delivered them from Hades, but that life and incorruptibility were first brought to light through the gospel. These existed before, but were not made manifest. The spirits of all Old Testament saints went to Paradise, but all their portion and hopes were in this life. Hence they had not revealed to them that light beyond the grave that robs death now of all its terrors to the Christian. Hezekiah wished to live, Paul to depart, and yet both were saints. (See also B. S. vol. ii. p. 117, Q. 134.) (2) No. In that man in the person of Christ had risen up out of death into which He had descended, He had broken its power and destroyed its terrors, and all that held man in captivity He now triumphed over in resurrection and led captive.
Q. 361. Was it ignorance that made the saints so dread Hades, or was it really an unhappy place? A. P. C.
A. It was ignorance and dread of the unknown. Some like Job may have had a light beyond the tomb, but the truth about a future state was not yet revealed. The spirits of just men however went to Paradise then as now. The great difference was that the portion of the faithful then was on this side the grave (hence long life was a favor), the Christian’s is beyond.
Q. 362. (1) Please explain the latter part of Proverbs 16:4. (2) Is it correct to say the Lord’s body was “broken,” the word is omitted in the Revised Version in 1 Corinthians 11:24? W. H. M.
A. (1) The wicked are God’s creatures as well as the righteous. The very powers by which they fight against God were given by Him. He made no man wicked, but on the other hand He will not save those who are wicked because they are His creatures from the day of evil. Though He may not be glorified in them, yet will His righteousness be glorified upon them in that day. Compare Psalms 10 vii. 13, 14; Romans 9:21. (2) It is not a Scriptural expression. The Lord’s body is nowhere said to be “broken”; the bread however that represents it is.
Q. 363. Did the sufferings of Christ from man before the cross form part of His atoning work? If not, why did He endure so much? M. Y.
A. We read of the sufferings of the Lord in anticipation of the cross. These and all the other bodily sufferings preliminary to it are all inseparably bound up together with the cross itself, though it was only on the latter that He atoned for sin, being made a curse for us. The whole scene must be regarded as one, though we can distinguish the special time when the Father hid His face. We doubt not too that many of the earlier sufferings were similar to those the remnant (Jewish) will pass through, and which the Lord felt in sympathy with them. See Q. 375.
Q. 364. Are “Paul’s gospel” and the “preaching of Jesus Christ” (Romans 16:25) the same, or does this passage refer both to Paul’s gospel and to what Jesus preached when here? If the latter, what constitutes Paul’s gospel? T. B.
A. The gospel that Paul preached is fully described in 1 Corinthians 15:1-6. In 2 Corinthians 4:3,4, “ our gospel” is called the “ gospel of the glory of Christ,” while in Ephesians 6:19 Paul says he is an ambassador in chains for the “ mystery of the gospel.” In 2 Timothy 2:8 the resurrection of Christ is insisted on (as in 1 Corinthians 15) as a prominent point of Paul’s gospel. From these passages and the one before us which we think proceeds to describe “my gospel” as being connected (as in Ephesians 6:19) with the mystery, we should say that Paul’s gospel began with the crucifixion and death of our Lord, went on to His resurrection and present glory, but did not stop until it had unfolded the mystery of the church, the one body of Christ, a doctrine specially committed to Paul. “The preaching of Jesus Christ” we understand to mean the teaching of the Gospels regarding the person rather than the work of the Lord.
Q. 365. Please define between “fellowship” (1 Corinthians 1:9.) and “ communion” (2 Corinthians 6:14; 13:14). T. B.
A. In the Scripture you refer to, the word is the same all through. There is therefore no difference in the real meaning, of the word. In English we distinguish a snade of difference between “fellowship” a id “communion,” the former being more outward and manifest, the latter more inward and hidden. In one solitary place (2 Corinthians 6:14), another word is used for fellowship signifying a temporary and voluntary bond not of as close or enduring a nature as the usual word for communion.
Q. 366. Is it right to say with reference to Genesis 6:3 that God waited 1 20 years but that the ark was not all that time being prepared? 1 Peter 3:20 seems against this. E. B.
A. Peter merely states that in this period of 120 years the ark was prepared. We think that what you suggest is correct and that it is not contrary to 1 Peter 3:20.
Q. 367. Will God the Father judge the world? See Daniel 7:9-13. E. B.
A. John 5:22 Says He will not, and verse 27 adds that judgment is given to Christ because He is the Son of Man. The Ancient of Days here gives the Son of Man full power and dominion over men. We must remember however that the Son of Man is also in one sense the Ancient of Days (Compare 7:9 with Revelation 1:13-16) and in verse 22 His coming is spoken of. The great difficulty of the passage is how Christ can in any way be presented under two figures at the same time. We must remember this is but a vision. Matthew 25 and Revelation 20 clearly show us Christ on the judgment seat. We would like further remarks on this passage.
Q. 368. Of what significance is the color of manna in regarding it as a type of Christ?
A. We cannot say, unless it be simply the purity of His spotless life.
Q. 369. What is meant by “idle words” in Matthew 12:36.
A. The word is also translated barren, and would mean any useless, worthless words. The day of judgment will investigate not merely every evil thing but whatever is an improper or foolish use of our powers of body or mind.
Q. 370. Why are the words at the end of Judges 5:15 different from those at the end of verse 16? C. B.
A. The words in the original are different, and therefore correctly rendered by two different English words. The character of Hebrew poetry is to repeat the same thought, slightly varying it each time.
Q. 371. In 1 Kings 7:26 we are told that the molten sea held 2000 baths, and in 2 Chronicles 4:5 that it “received and held 3000 baths.” Please explain the difference. c. H. P.
A. We shall be glad to receive some explanation of the apparent discrepancy.
Q. 372. What should we understand the word “angel” to mean in Revelation 2 and 3? F. J.
A. They mean men viewed as representatives of different assemblies, and held responsible for the state of each churchapter They cannot be “angelic beings” as we can hardly conceive of our Lord writing by a man to suchapter The word is used in a similar sense as “a representative” in Acts 12:15.
Q. 373. Explain Matthew 5:42, and Luke 6:30.
A. The whole discourse is the contrast between the principles of law and grace. The law requires a just weight and a balance in selling, but i grace gives and lends, and it is in the spirit of grace not of law we are to walk. We cannot of course either give or lend what is not our own, and other Scriptures bring in our responsibility in other ways. The great thing to see is that the principle of our walk is now more than justice, it is grace.
Q. 374. (1) Do the “ends of the world” (1 Corinthians 10:11) mean the same as “the last days” 2 Timothy 3:1? (2) Please explain Joshua’s answer, “Ye are witnesses against yourselves” Joshua 24:22. W. J. B.
A. (1) It is a much broader expression, and would include the last days. It means the last ages or epochs of this world’s history. (2) He meant in case that they failed in so doing, their own words would condemn them, and that hence they were witnesses against themselves.
Q. 375. (1) How can we reconcile 2 Chronicles 15:19 with 1 Kings 15:16? (2) Does Lamentations 1:12 refer to the sufferings of our Lord or to those of Israel? W. J. B.
A. (1) The “war” probably preceded the building of Ramah, and may be alluded to in 2 Chronicles 17:2. The statement of Kings shows that there was no peace or truce between Asa and Baasha. This is quite compatible with a cessation of active hostilities for a time, which is probably what 2 Chronicles 15:19 means. (2) It does refer to the sufferings of Lord, but primarily doubtless to those of the Jewish remnant into whose sorrows our Lord so largely entered in sympathy.
Q. 376. Who are the two witnesses spoken of in Revelation 11? M. H. U.
A. They are probably Moses and Elias, both of whom were carefully cared for by God in their death. Both moreover were witnesses at the Mount of Transfiguration where they were fully instructed as to Christ’s coming decease. The one moreover shuts up heaven as did Elias, the other turns the water into blood as did Moses.
Q. 377. (1) What is the “glorious holy mountain” spoken of in Daniel 11:45? (2) Do we find any further account in Scripture of the battle spoken of in Revelation 16:14-16? *
A. (1) Is it not Mount Zion, which is often spoken of in such terms in scripture? (Ezekiel 11:23; Zechariah 8:3; Isaiah 27:13). (2) Is not that in Revelation 19 the same!
Notes on Former Queries
Q. 224. It may help in this question to see that Matthew’s Gospel is Jewish in character. Its genealogy begins with Jesus as Son of David, and so King of Israel. Hence the phrase “kingdom of heaven,” a dispensational term derived from Daniel 2:44, is characteristic of this Gospel. The Jews expected this kingdom to be manifested upon the earth. But the Lord takes occasion in Chapter 11 to disabuse their minds of this notion, by contrasting the kingdom in a public form with it, the latter being open to faith only. He thus shows the true hope of Israel to be heavenly in character, and hence the necessity of violently breaking down everything in the shape of rites and ceremonies that would be likely to oppose faith.
Luke on the other hand displays the grace of God towards the Gentiles who had been, as it seemed, so long forgotten in His outward dealings. To the Jews He had manifested Himself from the beginning, and had amply proved in every way His mercy towards them. But Israel would none of Him or His kingdom; therefore He turns to the nations whom they despised. Hence the genealogy in Luke goes up to Adam as father of all men, and in keeping with this the Lord says “The law and the prophets were until John.” Both of these were Jewish in character, and belonged to the old state of things. But God is bringing in something different now, “the kingdom of God is preached and all men press into it,” the “all” including both Jew and Gentile in contrast with Jews only, as before.
The preposition εἰς has the sense of “direction towards, reaching, if not hindered;” never “against” in the sense of violent contact. In such a case επι would be used; as Luke 21:10. “nation shall rise against (επι) nation, and kingdom against (επι) kingdom.”
I venture to assert that all men did not “violently oppose” the kingdom. Surely the disciples for instance instead of opposing had entered into it in prospect.
J. L. (p. 304) follows Bloomfield and others in his view of Romans 1:18; but I give from another what seems to be the mind of the Spirit. “ I understand therefore that ver. 18 gives, first the general description of human ungodliness in every phrase, and then the unrighteousness which was at that time most conspicuous in the Jews, who combined with practical injustice a tenacious hold or possession of the truth; the former demonstrated to the end of Romans 1; the latter (after the transition of Chapter 2:1-16) pursued from Chapter 2:17 to 3:20.” W. T. H.
Q. 14, p. 18. The arguments used by H. S. on pp. 125-6, appears to resolve themselves into three, which may be stated thus: —(1) The account in Matthew and Hark takes place two days before the Passover, bat John’s six days before. (2) In Matthew and Luke the head is anointed, but in John the feet. (3) The incident in Matthew and Mark took place in the house of Simon the leper, but that in John in the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
Now that these difficulties may be surmounted is, I think, shown from the following facts. (1) A careful survey of the passages seems to show that the accounts in Matthew and Mark are inserted out of strict chronological order (“Now when Jesus was in Bethany” &c. Matthew 26:6. And while he was in Bethany,” &c. Mark 16:3 (R. V.) (2) This may be said to be only the variations of different accounts. In neither place it is said or implied that the feet only, or the head only were anointed. Besides, the propriety of the distinction has been noticed in the Editor’s answer, Christ having been described in Matthew as the Son of David, and in Mark as the Servant (the head anointed), but in John as the Son of God (the feet anointed.)
(3) This is an ill founded argument. Is it right to affirm that because Martha served, that the supper took place in her house? if so, why is it specially noted that Lazarus “was one of them that sat at the table with him?” Our Lord’s affection for Lazarus and his sisters were very good reasons why Simon should invite them—his neighbors.
In conclusion let it be noticed how incredible it seems that two anointings should occur in five days with so many points of resemblance, and in fact not plainly distinguishable. If there were two, it is hard to suppose that the disciples would make similar objections (Matthew 26:8,9) Mark 14:4,5), after Judas had been so sharply rebuked (John 12:4,5). If it be said that Lazarus is not mentioned in Matthew and Mark, it must not be forgotten that his name does not occur in those Gospels, and that the event making him famous is not recorded in the Chapter previous, as in John. W. J. H.
Q. 185, page 163. Judas did not pay the money for the field; though he may have intended to purchase it, or even have made the commencement of the bargain which the priests thought best to fulfill. Doubtless Judas did not believe the cause of Christ would last, and very likely he selected this spot as a dwelling place for himself and his family, (Psalms 109:9).
It may be interpreted as a colloquial expression by which we attribute to a man the consequence of his actions when such were not designed or expected by him. Compare Genesis 42:38; 1 Kings 14:16; Romans 14:15; 1 Corinthians 7:1,10; 1 Timothy 4:16. W. J.
Q. 272. “ In waving, the offering was turned to the four corners of the earth, and also to heaven, as an acknowledgment that He to whom it was offered was Lord and giver of all. In the heaving, it was signified that the offering was raised from earth, and was dedicated to Him whose glory is revealed in heaven.”—Bishop Wordworth. H. A. W.
25. p. 16. It seems to be taken for granted on all hands, that the word.. von must needs mean instead of, or in the place of, as if it had no other sense. If such were the case, there would certainly be some excuse for the difficulty. Seeing however that the word has a great variety of meanings (I counted 28 the other day), why not select the one most in unison with the context? Now if the word for be taken in the sense of AS which is one of its many meanings, the difficulty at once vanishes.
Read “baptized as the dead,” in accordance with Romans 6:3,4, &c., or as those who have died (in Christ) which is recognized in baptism, and immediately we get, instead of a bewildering question utterly irreconcilable to the context, one, which upon the very face of it is beautifully appropriate, and which is borne out by the whole argument.
The death and resurrection of believers, in that of the Lord Jesus, was first taught orally, Acts 17:18, and it would seem that the teaching of the” figure” in baptism always accompanied it. From the several examples given to us, we may fairly infer that those who believed received and understood both. These forthwith testified their belief in both, by adopting the “figure” of baptism as the answer of their conscience. 1 Peter 3:21. To the first believers therefore, the question in the above form would be perfectly simple and intelligible, yea, very cogent, for they had professed. their belief in both by baptism. In order to be consistent with themselves therefore, if they take away the resurrection, as some of them did (see verse 12), they must also take away the latter half of the figure, and where are they then? Manifestly in death. This at once reduces baptism, in their case, to an absurdity. And herein is the gist of the questions he puts to them. For who would go into the water, i.e. into death, if there were no coming out of it, i.e. resurrection? Bat if they do both, that is, “baptize,” they at once acknowledge the resurrection. Here the apostle places those cavilers “on the horns of a dilemma,” just as our Lord did the Pharisees by the baptism of John. Looked at in this light one can readily perceive how pungent the apostle’s questions must have been to those who, notwithstanding that they denied the resurrection, had gone blindly through the performance of the “figure” of it (as doubtless many do still). Hence the question “why?” But as everything to the believer depends on this truth, (ver. 13-17) and, must stand or fall with it, the apostle may well exclaim “What shall they do who have been baptized as dead ones,” or as those who have died in Christ “if the dead rise not at all?” Not, as those who have been baptized in the place of some others who are dead, as commonly understood.
T. P.
“Jesting,” means rather the polished raillery of the man of fashion, than buffoonery or ribaldry—See a good explanation of the passage (and excellent rules for conversation) in Dean Goulburn’s book “The Little Word.” C. A. K.
Q. 337 εἰς cannot mean “until” without considerable forcing may not the passage mean that the law convicts us of our inability, and so brings us to Christ for pardon and instruction: the παιδαγωγος never taught, I believe (except perhaps the alphabet), he took the children to the Master. G. A. K.
Although the Athenian “Pedagogue” did not instruct, the word generally is used (See Liddell and Scott) for a teacher or instructor.
“To” or “up to” may be a better rendering than “until” but there is no “bringing” in the passage at all, moreover, the law could not bring to Christ before Christ came. —Ed.]
Q. 240. It is quite clear that what our Lord said was directed to the Pharisees (not his true disciples) who were among His followers or disciples ver. 14 and 15. We start with the fact that the “certain rich man” and “his steward” were much alike in principle, one did wrong, and the other commended him. “Make to yourselves,” &c. I believe, is directed by our Lord to the Pharisees who were covetous and practiced great dishonesty therewith, yet in their own conceit they were very wise but our Lord shows that whatever end. is obtained by such practices here that there is a future state, that if a man gain the world there is no profit if he lose his own soul. Surely this was a word to the worldly wise, the self-righteous, and covetous. Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye die they (the friends of the unrighteous mammon) may receive you into (not merely earthly homes) but into everlasting habitations, and could we not add, there shall be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. H. A. D.
(The beginning of the Chapter “and he said also, &c.,” contrasted with 15:3 shows clearly that, whereas that Chapter was addressed to the Pharisees this parable is not, but as is expressly stated, to the disciples, “and I say unto you” could hardly mean any others than those in ver. 1. Do we not get an illustration of the very principles in 1 Timothy 6:17, &c. The injustice exists only in the parable, and disappears when it is applied, for we do not rob God, as did the steward by using His goods to the best advantage. Ed.)
Simeon and Levi
These brethren in their wrath had far outstepped even the wide limits-allowed to the avenger of wrong in that wild time, and God through Israel’s mouth pronounced their eventual destiny, “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” Thus they never could be great or powerful, or rise into importance as a single state: and most literally was this prophecy fulfilled. They had no tract of country allotted to them, they had no border. Cities were given to Simeon here and there, scattered about through Judah’s wide inheritance, and to Levi they were assigned in the portion of each of the tribes. The race of Simeon inherited the fierceness of their ancestor, and bore his punishment. Their land was too little for them as they increased in numbers. They were wild and poor, so poor, that tradition reports that many of the sons of Simeon wandered away among the other tribes, seeking a livelihood by teaching children. Thus did Simeon work out his sentence.
Far otherwise was it with Levi. The posterity of Levi on a memorable occasion stood forth alone on the Lord’s side, and consecrated themselves in the blood of their idolatrous brethren who worshipped the golden calf at the very foot of Horeb. The prophetic doom of Levi was literally carried out, but the Almighty’s merciful approval of their conduct at Sinai turned the punishment into a blessing. Levi was “scattered in Israel,” but it was as the consecrated priests of the Most High, appointed to perform the rites and ceremonies appertaining to His worship. What a strong illustration this gives us of the mode in which Jehovah deals with his people! What evils He will avert! What blessings He will send down on those who are faithful to Him! Those that honor Him, whether nation or individual, He will honor.
Deuteronomy 14:1; Leviticus 19:28. — “Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” “Ye shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you.”
In Abyssinia, as soon as a near relative dies, women cut the skin of both their temples with the nail of their little finger, which is kept long for the purpose. The wound made is about the size of a sixpence, which when healed leaves a scar.
Christ Our Example: Extracts Illustrating Our January Subject.
6. — “Let This Mind Be In You Which Was Also In Christ Jesus.”
In the history of flesh and blood given to us in scripture, we learn that by sin came death. To all as headed or represented in Adam, it was this:— “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Touching, however, the promised Seed of the woman, who was not thus represented, it was said to the serpent, “Thou shalt bruise His heel.” The death of this Seed was thus to be as peculiar as His birth. He was, in birth, to be the woman’s Seed; in death He was to have His heel bruised. In the fullness of time this promised One was “made of a woman.” The Son of God, the sanctifier, took part of flesh and blood; He became “that holy thing.”
Had death, I ask, any title? None whatever. Whatever title the everlasting covenant had on His heel, death had none on His flesh and blood. In this blessed One, if I may so express it, there was a capability of meeting the Divine purpose, that His heel should be bruised; but there was no exposure to death in any wise.
Under the covenant, under this Divine purpose, at His own Divine pleasure, He had surrendered Himself, saying, “Lo, I come.” For the great ends of God’s glory and the sinner’s peace, He had taken “ the form of a servant.” And accordingly in due time He was “ made in the likeness of men,” and being found in that “fashion,” He went on in a course of self-humbling even to “the death of the cross” (Philippians 2).
In such a course we see Him through life. He hides His glory, “the form of God” under this “form of a servant;” He did not seek honor from men. He honored the Father that had sent Him, and not Himself. He would not make Himself known. He would not show Himself to the world. Thus we read of Him. And all this belonged to the “form” He had taken, and gets its perfect illustration in the histories or narratives of the Gospel.
Under the form of a tributary to Caesar, He hid the form of the Lord of the fullness of the earth and sea. He was asked for tribute; at least Peter was asked, did not his Master pay it? The Lord declares His freedom; but lest He should offend, He pays the custom for Peter and Himself. But who all the while was this subject to Cesar? None less than He of whom it had been written, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” For He commands a fish from the sea to bring Him that very piece of money which He then passed over to the officers of Caesar (Matthew 17).
So again we read of Him, He would not strive nor cry, nor lift up His voice in the street. He would not break the bruised reed, but rather withdraw Himself. And all this because He had taken “the form of a servant.” And, accordingly, on that very occasion the Scripture is quoted, “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen” (Matthew 12).
Very significant of His way, all this was. “Show us a sign from heaven” was another temptation to Him to exalt Himself (Matthew 16). The Pharisees then tried Him, as the devil tried Him when he would have Him cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, and as the kinsfolk were doing when they said, “Show Thyself to the world.” But what said the perfect servant? No sign should be given but that of Jonas—a sign of humiliation, a sign that the world and the prince of the world were apparently to get advantage over Him for a moment, instead of such a sign as would awe and silence the world into subjection to Him.
Excellent, indeed, are these traces of God’s perfect servant. David and Paul, standing, as it were, on either side of Him, like Moses and Elias on the holy hill, reflect the ways of this wondrous servant, thus hiding Himself. David slew the lion and the bear, and Paul was caught up to the third heaven—but neither of them spoke of those things. And lovely reflections of the perfect servant such actings were. But they and all like them, which we may find in Scripture or among the saints, are more distant from the great original than we have measures to measure. He hid “the form of God” under “the form of a servant.” Jesus was the strength of David when he killed the lion and the bear, and He was the Lord of that heaven to which Paul was caught up, but He lay under the form of one who had “not where to lay His head.”
So on the top of “the holy hill,” and again at the foot of it. On the top of it, in the sight of His elect, for a passing moment, Ile was the Lord of glory; at the foot of it, He was “Jesus only,” charging them not to tell the vision to any till the Son of man was risen from the dead. (Matthew 17)
Observe Him again in the vessel on the lake during a storm. He was there as a tired laboring man whose sleep was sweet. Such was His manifested form. But underneath lay “the form of God.” He arose, and as the Lord who gathers the winds in His fists, and binds the waters in a garment (Proverbs 30:4) He rebukes the sea into a calm (Mark 4).
The Son of God came into the world the very contradiction of him who is still to come, and after whom as we read, the whole world is to wonder. As He Himself says, “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” And in accordance with this, if His life be threatened He does not at once become a wonder in the eyes of the world, but the very opposite. He makes Himself of no reputation. He would be nothing and nobody. He refuses altogether to be a wonder in the sight of men—the great and glorious contradiction of him whose deadly wound is to be healed, so that the whole world may wonder and worship, whose image is to live and to be made to speak, that all, both small and great, may take his name in their foreheads.
The Son of God was the very contradiction of all this. He came in His Father’s name, and not in His own. He had life in Himself. He was equal with Him, of whom it is written, “who only hath immortality;” but He hid that brightness of Divine glory under the form of one who appeared to shelter his life by the most ordinary and despised methods. Blessed to tell it, had we but worshipping hearts! The other who is to come “in his own name” by-and-bye, may receive a deadly wound by a sword and yet live, that the world may wonder-but the Son of God flees into Egypt.
Are we wanting in spiritual apprehension so far that we cannot perceive this? Is the sight of the glory thus hidden to be indeed forced upon us? If we need that, the Lord even so far bears with us, and gives it to us. For under this veil there lay a glory which, like the flames of the Chaldean furnace, had it pleased, might have destroyed its enemies at once. For at the last, when the hour had come, and the powers of darkness were to have “their hour,” the servants of those powers in the presence of this glory “went backwards and fell to the ground.”
But, as we have already said to His praise, the Son of God on earth was ever hiding His glory—the form of God, as we have been seeing—under the form of a servant. His glory had been owned in all parts of the dominions of God. Devils owned it, the bodies and the souls of men owned it, death and the grave owned it, the beasts of the field and the fish of the sea owned it, winds and waves owned it, and so did the corn and the wine. I may say He Himself was the only One who did not own or assume it; for His way was to veil it. He was “Lord of the harvest,” but appeared as one of the laborers in the field; He was the God of the temple, and the Lord of the Sabbath, but submitted to the challenges of an unbelieving world (Matthew 12)
Such was the veil or the cloud under which He thus again and again causes the glory to retire. And so, in entire fellowship with all this, as we have already said, did He carry Himself on those occasions when His life was threatened. Under despised forms He hid His glory again. At times the favor of the common people shelters Him (Mark 11:32;12 Luke 20:19); at times He withdraws Himself in either an ordinary or a more miraculous manner (Luke 4:30; John 8:59;10. 39); at times the enemy is restrained from laying hands on Him, because His hour was not come (John 7:30;8. 20); and on one distinguished occasion, as we have seen, a flight into Egypt removes Him from the wrath of a king who sought His life to destroy it.
In all this I see the one thing from first to last-the Lord of glory hiding Himself, as One who had come in another’s name and not His own. But He was “the Lord of glory,” and the “Prince of life.” He was a willing captive as I have already observed, and so was He at the very last a willing victim. “He gave His life a ransom for many.”
Books Quoted or Referred to in the Bible
The following is a list (not at all complete) which we have culled from the pages of the Sacred Volume, of writings not included in the Canon, at least many are not, and yet divine reference is made to them, or passages quoted from them.
1. The Greek heathen poets, Aratus and Cleanthes quoted, Acts 17:28.
2. The Greek heathen poet Menander quoted, 1 Corinthians 15:33.
3. The Greek heathen poet Epimenides quoted, Titus 1:12.
4. The Book of the Wars of the Lord, Numbers 21:14.
5. The Book of Jasher, Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18.
6. The Book of the Acts of Solomon, 1 Kings 11:41.
7. The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, 1 Kings 15:7.
8. The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel, 1 Kings 15:31.
9. The Book of Samuel the Seer, 1 Chronicles 29:29.
10. The Book of Nathan, the Prophet, 1 Chronicles 29:29.
11. The Book of Gad, the Seer, 1 Chronicles 29:29.
12. The Prophecy of Ahijah, the Shilonite, 2 Chronicles 9:29.
13. The Visions of Iddo, the Seer, 2 Chronicles 9:29; 12:15.
14. The Book of Shemaiah, the Prophet, 2 Chronicles 12:15.
15. The Story of the Prophet Iddo, 2 Chronicles 13:22.
16. The Book of Jehu, 2 Chronicles 20:34.
17. The History of Uzziah by Isaiah, the Prophet, 2 Chronicles 26:22.
18. The written Lamentations over the godly Josiah, 2 Chronicles 35:25.
.19. The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah, 2 Chronicles 35:27.
NOTES.
Nos. 7, 8. There seems to have been a separate account of each monarch’s reign, to which reference could readily be had.
No. 9. This may refer to the Books of Samuel, and which were originally written as one.
Nos. 10, 11. Jewish tradition is sometimes well founded. We are inclined to receive it in this instance, which attributes the authorship of the first 24 chapters of the first book of Samuel to that prophet, while relegating the remaining seven chapters, along with the second Book to the Prophets Gad and Nathan. “And Samuel died” (1 Samuel 25:1) is evidently the historical statement of another, and not the prophetic: utterance of the prophet himself.
Nos. 15, 16. See the margin of our English Bibles.
Nos. 19. This is not exactly the same as Nos. 6 or 7.
Eastern Manners and Customs: "Among the Pots"; "The Bridegroom Cometh"; "The Almond Tree"
“Among the pots.” Psalms 68:13.
The roofs in Cairo are usually in a great state of litter.
One thing never seemed cleared away, and that was the heap of old broken pitchers, sherds, and pots, that in these and similar houses are piled up in some corner. A little before sunset, numbers of pigeons suddenly emerge from behind the pitchers and other rubbish, where they had been sleeping during the heat of the day, or pecking about to find food. They dart upward and career through the air in large circles, their outspread wings catching the bright glow of the sun’s slanting rays, so that they really resemble shining “yellow gold”; then, as they wheel round, and are seen against the light, they appear as if turned into molten silver, most of them being pure white, or else very light colored. The effect of light in these regions is difficult to describe to those who have not seen it, and evening after evening we watched the circling flight of the doves, and always observed the same appearance. — “Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.”—Psalms 68:13.
M. L. W.
“Behold the bridegroom cometh.” Matthew 25:6.
“Miss W— asked me to accompany her on a visit to a bride, a young native (at Damascus) who was to be married the following day. We found the bride surrounded by a large party of friends. Refreshments were handed as usual. We withdrew to the terrace, the night was lovely; the moon, just rising, lighted up all the town below. It was almost with a feeling of awe that we saw, advancing through the uncertain light, a procession of twelve or fourteen figures draped in white, and each carrying in her hand (extended before her) a lighted lamp. They came up the steps at our feet, and passed into the house. None but those who had witnessed this visible, realization of the parable of the virgins could imagine the impressiveness of the scene, which, as we were afterward informed, is still further carried out the next evening, when they follow the bride to her new home. As soon as within sight, the cry is heard ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh,’ and with this signal (which is one for all his friends to attend him) he appears on the house top, breaks a cake over the bride’s head as she comes to the door, and then descending, receives her on the threshold, and all who are of the marriage party entering the door is shut.” A. F. F.
“The rod of an almond tree.” Jeremiah 1:1; 10
“It often blossoms in February, and this early activity is repeatedly attended to in the Bible. Jeremiah opens his heavy vision thus, ‘the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see the rod of an almond tree. Then saith the Lord, Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten my word to perform it,’ just as this tree hastens to bud and blossom long before any other has begun to wake out of the repose of winter, and before it has put forth its own leaves. The same thing is implied, according to the general economy of miracles, in the selection of rods from this tree by Moses to be laid up in the tabernacle... the rod of Aaron was budded, and brought forth buds, and yielded almonds. This was miraculous rapidity certainly; hut a rod was selected for the purpose from that tree which, in its natural development, is the most expeditious of all; and not only do the blossoms appear on it suddenly, but the fruit sets at once, and appears even while the flowers are yet on the tree, buds, blossoms, and almonds together on the same branch, as on this rod of Moses. In that affecting picture of old age drawn by the royal preacher, it is said that ‘the almond tree shall flourish,’ or blossom. The point of the figure is doubtless the fact that the white blossoms completely cover the whole tree, without any mixture of green leaves, for these do not appear until some time after. It is the expressive type of old age whose hair is white as wool, unrelieved by any other color.”
The Land and the Book.
Fragment
Death is symbolized in scripture by water spilled on the ground, 2 Samuel 14:14;—by sleep, John 10:11;-by cutting down the grass or the flower (difference of age or rank, but all leveled by the mower’s scythe) Psalms 90;5;6—by a desolating flood, Psalms 110:5;—by a shadow, Psalms 23:4;—by a valley, Psalms 23:4; Hosea 2:15;—by a tent taken clown, 2 Corinthians 5:1;—by a change of place, Philippians 1:23:—by passing over Jordan, Jeremiah 12:5.
To the believer death is but putting off rags for robes, falling asleep in the Father’s arms, exchanging a pilgrim’s tent for a prince’s palace, leaving school for home. It is remarkable that we have three instances in Scripture, in which the exact time of death was foretold; yet we find this solemn warning ineffectual to save the person warned: Hezekiah, fifteen years, Isaiah 38; yet see Chapter 39:5-7.
Hananiah, one year, Jeremiah 28:16, 17.
The rich fool, one day, Luke 12:20.
It is singular to observe the different colors different countries have adopted for mourning. In Europe, black is generally used as representing darkness. In China, white, because it is believed the dead are in a place of purity. In Egypt, yellow, representing the decay of leaves or flowers. In Ethiopia, brown, the color of the earth whence man was taken, and where he returns. In some parts of Turkey, blue, representing the sky, where they believe the dead are gone, but in other parts, purple, because being a mixture of black, and blue it represents sorrow on one side, and hope on the other.
The Symbolic Language of the Bible: Sword - Wrinkle
Keen searching judgment of the Word of God
War and bloodshed; judgment
Magisterial authority and power
1 Corinthians 10:21; Psalms 23:5; Leviticus 24:6
False prophets and false teaching
Isaiah 9:14, 15; Revelation 12:4
Religious but unsaved professors
Cruelty, mischievous power
Daniel 7:5, 7, 19; Psalms 58:6
Daniel 2:32; Genesis 32:25; Psalms 45:3
Generally what is unprofitable
Hebrews 6:8; Matthew 13:7
God’s instruments in chastening His people
2 Corinthians 12:7; Numbers 33:55
Revelation 5:11; Daniel 7:10
Seat of established authority
Isaiah 66:1; Matthew 25:31; Revelation 4:2
Speech; remorse and torment; mere profession
Proverbs 12:18; Luke 16:24; 1 John 3:18
Psalms 61:3; Proverbs 18:10; 2 Samuel 22:51
Anguish of spirit and great anxiety
Jeremiah 4:31; Galatians 4:19
Eminent political persons
Ezekiel 31:5, 9; Revelation 8:7; Daniel 4:20-22
Zechariah 9:14; Revelation 8:2; Jeremiah 51:27; Joel 2:1, 15; Isaiah 27:13
The trump of 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians will sound for Christians only
1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:52
Great strength; the agonies of death
Numbers 23:22; Psalms 22:21
Vail of the tabernacle, with its colors, cherubim, and material
Christ is absolute purity, in His varied glories and character heavenly and earthly as a man
Exodus 26:31; Hebrews 10:20
Israel—the responsible fruit-bearing system on earth
Christ on earth morally replacing Israel
Poisonous doctrines and ways
Matthew 3:7; 12:34; Job 20:16
Separation from the world, its idolatry, and ways
Revelation 14:4; 2 Corinthians 11:2
Quickness of sight; keen vision
Divine and also human security
Isaiah 26:1; Revelation 21:14, 18; Deuteronomy 1:28
Psalms 22:14; 2 Samuel 14:14
The sanctifying and cleansing character of the Word of God
Ephesians 5:26; John 15:3
Nations acting under certain moral influences
Revelation 8:11; 16:4, 5; 17:15
Divinely inflicted judgments
Psalms 42:7; Jonah 2:3; Psalms 88:7
Source of blessing and refreshment
Psalms 84:6; John 4:14; Genesis 49:32
Jeremiah 23:28; Matthew 12:24-30
Course of providential government on earth
Manifestation of Divine power
Zechariah 9:14; Isaiah 66:15
Revelation 1:14; 3:4; 14:14; Mark 16:5
Religious corruption; spiritual idolatry
Ezekiel 16; Revelation 18
Revelation 18:7; Isaiah 1:23; 47:8
An afflicted and desolate condition
Unseen, yet powerful operations of the Spirit of God
Ephesians 4:14; James 1:6
False and vain expectations
Divine manifestation in judgment or in grace
Isaiah 57:12; Daniel 2:35; Ezekiel 37:9
The mere excitement of nature; joy; judgment
Ephesians 5:18; Judges 9:13; Jeremiah 35:5; Leviticus 10:9; Isaiah 63:2, 3
Protection; shelter; rapidity of action
Psalms 91:4; 36:7; Luke 13:34; Ezekiel 1; Revelation 9:9; 12:14
Enemies of God and destroyers of His people
John 10:12; Acts 20:29; Matthew 7:15
Weakness and imperfection
The false church as well as the true bride; Israel also, or any religious system
Matthew 13:33; Galatians 4:22-24; Revelation 2:20
The expression of what Christ is personally and essentially
Abject and contemptible creature; eternal misery
Job 25:6; Psalms 22:6; Mark 9:44, 46, 48
Expressive of care and old age
Deuteronomy 28:48; Matthew 11:29, 30
Notes on Last Month's Subject: The Offerings of Leviticus
17. —THE OFFERINGS OF LEVITICUS.
We trust our readers will find in this subject, as we have done, much to draw out the affections to Christ, as with a reverent eye we survey His varied perfections sketched in these types by the unerring hand of God ages before His advent. Wonderfully full indeed the subject is of Christ, and everywhere with His name, introducing us to the inner aspect of His life and death as seen by the eye of His Father, and giving us the Divine estimate of it all.
How beautiful to notice in the burnt offering not only the outward spotlessness, but the inward purity of the whole life and character of Christ. How touching to see that it was “of His own voluntary will” that He thus offered Himself to God In the burnt offering, Christ, completely offered up to God for the full expression of His glory, undergoes the full trial of judgment. The first tries what He is, He is salted with fire. “The perfect holiness of God, in the power of His judgment, tries to the uttermost all that is in Him. The bloody sweat, the affecting supplication in the garden, the deep sorrow of the cross in the touching consciousness of righteousness, Why hast thou forsaken me?”—as to any lightening of the trial, an unheeded cry—all mark the full trial of the Son of God. Deep answered unto deep, all Jehovah’s waves and billows passed over Him. But as He had offered Himself perfectly to the thorough—trial, this consuming fire and trying of His inmost thoughts did, could, produce naught but a sweet savor to God.
It is remarkable that the word used for burning the burnt offering is not the same as that of the sin offering, but the same as that of burning incense. In this offering, then, we have Christ’s perfect offering of Himself up, and then tried in His inmost parts by the fiery trial of God’s judgment. The consuming of His life was a sacrifice of a sweet savor, all infinitely agreeable to God—not a thought, not a feeling, but was put to the test—His life consumed in it; but all, without apparent answer to sustain Him, given up to God, all was purely a sweet savor to Him. Such was the burnt offering.”
In the meat offering the first thing we observe is the fineness of the flour. As has been beautifully observed “ There was no unevenness in Jesus: no predominant quality to produce the effect of giving Him a distinctive character, He was, though despised and rejected of men, the perfection of human nature. The sensibilities, firmness, decision (though that attached itself also to the principle of obedience), elevation and calm meekness which belong to human nature, all found their perfect place in Him. In a Paul I find energy and zeal; in a Peter ardent affection; in a John tender sensibilities and abstraction of thought, united to a desire to vindicate what he loved, which scarce knew limit. But the quality we have observed in Peter predominates and characterizes him. In a Paul, blessed servant though he was, he does not repent though he had repented. He had no rest in his spirit, when he found not Titus his brother. He goes off to Macedonia though a door is opened at Troas. He wot not that it was the high priest. He is compelled to glory of himself. In him, in whom God was mighty toward the circumcision, we find the fear of man break through the faithfulness of his zeal. He who would have vindicated Jesus in his zeal, knew not what manner of spirit he was of, and would have forbidden the glory of God, if man walked not with them. Such were Paul, and Peter, and John. But in Jesus, even as man, there was none of this unevenness; there was nothing salient in His character, because all was in perfect subjection to God in His humanity, and had its place, and did exactly its service, and then disappeared. In a word then, His humanity was perfect, all subject to God, all in immediate answer to His will, and so necessarily in harmony. The hand that struck the chord found all in tune; all answered to the mind of Him whose thoughts of grace and holiness, of goodness, yet of judgment of evil, whose fullness of blessing and goodness was a sound of sweetness to every weary ear, and found in Christ their only expression, every element, every faculty in his humanity responded to the impulse which the divine will gave to it, and then ceased in a tranquility in which self had no place. Such was Christ in human nature. But we must pass on. This fine flour was not only pure, and even and full of sweet savor and frankincense, but was mingled with and anointed with oil, or in other words Christ was born of, and anointed with the Holy Ghost. Thus in His nature was a perfect absence of all evil and the presence of the Holy Ghost’s power.
In the peace offering we get typified the communion of saints according to the efficacy of the sacrifice with God, with the priest who has offered it in our behalf, with one another and with the whole body of the Church, with the offerings that accompanied this sacrifice it was ordered (7:13.) that leavened cakes should be offered. For though that which is unclean is to be excluded, there is always a mixture of evil in our worship itself. The leaven is there, man cannot be without it, but it may be a very small part of the matter.
In the case of the sin offering, he who came, came not as a worshipper, but as a sinner, and instead of being identified with the acceptability of the victim, the victim became identified with his guilt, was made sin in his behalf and treated accordingly. This offering, however, is treated so fully that we need not enlarge upon it here, especially as our space is almost gone. We conclude with one or two general remarks.
The Lord’s part in the peace (or prosperity) offerings being the fat of the inwards, and this being consumed on the burnt offering (Leviticus 3:5), and with the meat offering (7:12), the participation in the other parts of the peace offering of the priest that offered, the priests at large, and the worshipper, really brought them into communion with God’s own joy and delight, not only in the peace offering, but also in the burnt and meat offerings, of which the fat of the peace offering was “ the food.” Further; the fat of all the sin offerings (except the red heifer in Numbers 19), was consumed on the altar of burnt offerings (see Leviticus 4:10, 19, 26, 31, 35; 7:5; 16:25, &c., &c.) Thus we see, that even in that view of Christ’s work, in which He was most actually and absolutely made sin for us, his own inward devotion to God, in which He was willing to be thus made sin, was infinitely pleasant and acceptable to God, forming thus a link between the sin offering and all the rest. How precious, that at the very time when Jesus was really bearing wrath for our sins; when it was impossible that God could manifest His favor to Him; when in consequence, He had to cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” at this very time the link with God, on His part (Christ’s) was still, as always, unbroken! Indeed, in what one scene do we so see His complete devotion to the Father’s glory, as that in which He bows to His Father’s will that He should be made sin and suffer without the gate? And even when forsaken, and asking “why” He calls Him “My God.”
Again; the case of the priest (chapter 4.) whose sin interrupted the communion of the whole congregation or the similar case of the sin of the whole congregation is what cannot now occur. The instruction, therefore, as often in Hebrews, is by contrast not comparison. Our Priest cannot fail, and all the sins, yea, the sin of the whole congregation has once for all, and forever been so expiated, that nothing can now disqualify the whole church as such for communion and worship.
Lastly,—as to the diverse force and meaning of the laying on of hands on the victim. In the one case, that of the sin and trespass offerings, a person came as a sinner, and placing his hands on the victim’s head, confessed his sins, and transferred, as it were, the load of sin to the victim that suffered in his stead. In the other case, a person came as a worshipper, and placed his hands on the head of the animal, in token of being himself identified with the.acceptableness of the offering.
This Month's Subject: The Temptations of Scripture
The subject worked out for this month is—
The Temptations of Scripture, distinguishing those that were yielded to, and those that were resisted.
In arranging the papers sent in, we are at the outset met by a difficulty which was perhaps scarcely sufficiently weighed when the subject was suggested—what character of temptations we should include in the result.
From James 1:14, -15, we see that every sin is the result of a temptation yielded to, hence the first part of the subject fully worked out would be a catalog of all the sins recorded in the Bible, and this, however profitable for our study individually, would perhaps scarcely be the result intended to be brought out by the researches of the class.
We have therefore made a selection, including all cases where there would seem to have been a direct temptation towards a certain line of conduct, but excluding those in which a sin is only recorded in general terms 1st—Temptation yielded to.
Genesis 3:1-6. Eve was tempted by Satan to give up dependence upon God.
4. Cain, by jealousy to kill Abel.
12:10-20, Abraham, by fear of Pharaoh to act deceitfully, also chapter 20 25: 29-34, Esau, by hunger to sell his birthright, Hebrews 12:16.
27. Rebekah and Jacob, by a desire that the latter should obtain a blessing, to deceive Isaac.
37:8, Joseph’s brethren, by jealousy, to get rid of him, and 37: 29-34, to deceive their father.
Exodus 2:11, Moses, by a desire to deliver his brethren, to slay an oppressing Egyptian.
32. Aaron, by a desire to please the Israelites, to make an idol.
Numbers 11 The Israelites, by the remembrance of the good things of Egypt to murmur against God.
13. The ten spies, by fear, to bring an evil report of God’s chosen inheritance.
20:1-12. Moses and Aaron, by impatience to disobey, instead of sanctifying God in the eyes of the people.
22. Balaam, by covetousness, to listen to Balak’s request that he would curse those whom God had blessed.
Joshua 7 Achan, by covetousness to keep for himself part of the treasure found in Jericho.
Judges 16:15-20. Samson yielded to the importunity of Delilah, and betrayed the secret of his strength.
1 Samuel 15 Saul, by covetousness, to spare the best of the spoil of the Amalekites.
2 Samuel 11 David, by lust, to procure the death of Uriah, whose wife he coveted.
15. Absalom, by pride, to rebel against David.
24:1. David, by Satan (1 Chronicles 21:1.) to number Israel.
1 Kings 1. Adonijah, by pride, to be made king during David’s life.
3. Solomon, by his wives, to worship idols.
26-33. Jeroboam by fear lest the Israelites should return to the house of David, to raise altars and idols in Dan and Bethel.
1 Kings 15:17-23. Asa, by fear, to bribe Benhadad with the treasures of the temple.
1 Kings 21 Ahab, by covetousness, to procure Naboth’s death.
2 Kings 5:20-27. Gehazi, by covetousness, to take from Naaman what Elisha had refused.
20:12-19. Hezekiah, by pride, to show all his treasures to the king of Babylon.
2 Chronicles 26:16. Uzziah by pride, to transgress by burning incense on the golden altar.
Daniel 4:28. Nebuchadnezzar, by pride, to boast in his power.
Matthew 28:11-15. The soldiers who watched the sepulcher were tempted by a bribe to bear false witness.
Luke 22:3. Judas by Satan (through covetousness) to betray the Lord.
22: 64-62. Peter, by fear, to deny the Lord.
John 19:12-13. Pilate, by fear to deliver up Christ.
Acts 5.3. Ananias and Sapphira, by Satan, to lie to God.
Galatians 2:11-14. Peter, through fear of the brethren, who came from James, to withdraw from association with the Gentile believers.
Let no man say when lie is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man; but every man is tempted, when lie is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
James 1:13-15.
Temptations resisted.
Genesis 14:21. Abraham resisted the temptation of being made rich by the King of Sodom.
39:7-19. Joseph resisted the allurements of Potiphar’s wife.
Numbers 13:20. Caleb and Joshua refused to agree with the ten spies in the evil report they brought of the land.
Judges 8:22-23. Gideon refused to rule over the Israelites.
1 Samuel 26:11. David resisted the temptation to slay Saul.
1 Kings 21:3. Naboth refused to accept a bribe to induce him to part with his vineyard.
Ezra 4:1-4. Zerubbabel refused to allow the adversaries of Judah to help in building the temple.
Job. Job, when tempted by Satan and by his wife, sinned not at first in murmuring against God, yet afterward he yielded through his friends.
Jeremiah 35 The Rechabites refused to drink the wine that Jeremiah set before them.
Daniel 1:8-16. Daniel and his companions resisted the temptation to conform to the customs of the Babylonians.
3: 18. Shadrach, Meshech and Abednego, refused to worship the golden image, though the penalty of their refusal was to be cast into the fiery furnace.
5:17. Daniel refused the gifts offered by Belshazzar.
6:10. Daniel refused to abstain from prayer, though the penalty of his refusal was to be cast into the lion’s den.
Amos 7:10-17. Amos resisted the temptation to listen to Amaziah, and continued prophesying as God had sent him.
Matthew 4:1-10. The Lord Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, whom he resisted and overcame by the word of God.
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to mart; but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13.
Bible Queries: Vol. 2, 378-393
Q. 378. Why is it that there are overcomers in Laodicea? Why are there not in Philadelphia, if both go on to the end? D. T. C.
A. There are overcomers in Philadelphia (Revelation 3:12) to whom a high and blessed reward will be given, but to those who stand for God in a more evil time, association on the throne is the reward given (ver. 21). If more is required, please write again.
Q. 379. How do you reconcile 1 Timothy 5:14 with 1 Corinthians 7:40? m. W.
A. The passage in 1 Corinthians is the apostle’s personal judgment, in which he thinks he has the mind of the Spirit, and he there considers that a widow is happier if she abide in her widowhood. But practically he well knew that the younger widows would not so remain, and therefore, instead of burdening the church with the care of such, he considers it is better for them under the circumstances to marry. This does not deny the blessing of the higher path for those who have faith to tread it.
Q. 380. Do we not learn from Matthew 11:22 That there will be different degrees of punishment at the day of judgment? M. H. V.
A. Yes, and from many other passages. We no more believe there will be equality of punishment than of reward, though both are in their very nature eternal.
Q. 381. How do you explain Mark 10:30? It certainly is not literal, though we receive greater blessings. M. H. U.
A. Refer to Q. 316, p. 303. We see no reason why, as there pointed out, it may not be in a measure literal, although the christian’s blessings are spiritual, and his portion, as such, is not in this world.
Q. 382. What is the meaning of “Most High” in Daniel 7:27? N. L.
A. The margin to verse 18 gives the correct meaning “high places” and refers to Ephesians 1:3; 6:12, where the expression is more fully explained. It does not in ver. 18, 22, 27 refer to God, but to the sphere of blessing.
Q. 383. If a christian were to fall into the sin of Mark 3:29, would there be no forgiveness for him? N. L.
A. We cannot know that a man is a christian save by his fruits, and if deliberately and willfully he were to come under this condemnation, we have no right either to say that he is a christian, or to weaken the force of the passage as it stands.
Q. 384. Will you kindly say whether in 1 Peter 3:12, it should be “upon” as in Revised Version or “against?” Also what is the difference between “eyes” and “face?” “For the eyes of the Lord,... but the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil.” M. A. T.
A. The word is the same as translated “over” at the beginning of the verse, and is generally rendered “ upon.” The word however is translated “against” in Matthew 10:21; 24:7; 26:5; Mark 3:24,25; 10:11: Luke 9:5;12. 53 (6 times) &c., &c., and we think it has this meaning here. The reason probably why the word is rendered “upon” both at the beginning and end of the verse is to show that it is the same word in the Greek. The “face” means the general aspect.
Q. 385. (1) Why was Daniel not with the three in the fiery furnace, and why were they not with Daniel in the lions’ den? (2) Kindly explain 2 Thessalonians 1:10. T. D. S.
A. (1) It is possible that at this time Daniel was too greatly in the favor of the king for any to dare to speak against him, for it was he, not the three who had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Darius owed Daniel no such debt of gratitude: hence the presidents and princes had him cast into the den of lions. We do not know what had become of the three at the time. (2) It refers to the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, when His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives.
Q. 386. (1) How does Hebrews 2:3 look at salvation? (2) What is the scope of Hebrews 4:15? T. D. S.
A. (1) As the present salvation of the soul offered through the finished work of Christ. (2) The word is “sympathize.” Our high priest is not only God, but man; and as such has felt every sorrow and weakness that sinless human nature may feel.
Q. 387. (1) Could Hebrews 6:4-6 apply to any cases now? (2) Is Hebrews 8:10, 11 being fulfilled now, or is it future? T. D. S.
A. (1) Though primarily referring to a Jew, who had nominally embraced Christianity, we cannot doubt but that it may apply to a similar class now. (2) It is alas but too evident that this new “covenant” with Israel is yet future. Now is the time of Gentile blessing, and Israel is still distinguished by blindness and hardness of heart. This scripture will be fulfilled shortly, and thus usher in the Millennium, Q. 388. What are the “fables and endless genealogies” in 1 Timothy 1:4? T. D. S.
A. No doubt parts of the endless traditions of the elders that were constantly being introduced by Judaizing teachers. The fables were not such as we now understand by the word, but simply silly and foolish traditions devoid of all truth.
Q. 389. When and how did Satan become god and prince of this world? and can it be said Scripturally that he has the entire control of it? If so, in what sense can 1 Chronicles 16:31; 29:12; Psalms 9:6-10; 97:1; 47:8 be understood?
A. In a general way “the Most High” ever “rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He will.” This was specially the case at the establishment of the four great empires of Daniel’s vision-Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman. During the whole of the world’s history however, the devil has had great sway and power over the corrupt hearts of men. Until the Cross of Christ, the world was as it were on its trial, then it was judged and condemned (John 12:31), and God, though still sending fruitful seasons and exercising His providence and rule in a general way, is not now dealing specially with it, save to take out of it a new and heavenly race. Of the world-system, therefore, as it now is, Satan is emphatically the god and prince. He, as well as the world, met his judgment, and had his power broken at the Cross, so that “ whosoever will” may escape from the bondage of this “Pharaoh,” but he still reigns, and will not be finally cast out until the second coming of our Lord and Savior. The only reason why, with the sway of one so utterly corrupt, the whole mass does not entirely sink in corruption, is because “the salt” is still in the earth. When it is taken away, then will be seen the most frightful corruptions and violence the world has ever witnessed, and Satan, not content with being practically god in the hearts of mankind, will cause an image to be set up in the temple of Jerusalem and thus destroy the last vestige of the worship of Jehovah. The fact of Satan being a god to this present evil world in no way clashes with the Scriptures you refer to, God still holds the power, though not now actively exercising it.
Q. 390. Why is the robe put on Christ said in Matthew to be “scarlet,” and in Mark and John “purple?” F. M.
A. The word translated purple undoubtedly meant a “red purple,” the violet purple is generally translated “blue.” The word rendered “scarlet” really refers to a crimson color rather than to our scarlet. Thus in many cases as in the one you here refer to, purple and scarlet are really used as interchangeable words. The word for blue purple is found in Esther 1:6. (violet); Jeremiah 10:9; Numbers 15:38 (blue). The color we call scarlet is alluded to in Exodus 26:14.
Q. 391. Who are the sons of God spoken of in Job 1:6? E. M. B.
A. The same we believe as in Chapter 38:7; i.e. the angelic hosts.
Q. 392. (1) Explain “we shall be saved by his life” Romans 5:10. (2) How can Christ “deny us?” 2 Timothy 2:12. E. M. B.
A. (1) The death of Christ is ever regarded as His weakness and humiliation, His resurrection and present life as His strength and glory. If then, says the apostle, such a blessing as reconciliation with God flows from the former, how much more will the latter tend to our blessing in securing our salvation from all coming wrath and eternal death? Because He lives we shall live also, John 14:19. He is our life, and it is not in a dead, but a living Christ in resurrection that our faith and hope rests. (2) We cannot exactly say “how” because it is not revealed. Matthew 10:33: Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26, however all corroborate this Scripture, and show that the Lord if He rewards faithfulness must in some way also mark His sense of unfaithfulness. It does not mean that a true saint will be lost if he be unfaithful, any more than that he will be saved on account of his faithfulness.
Q. 393. Does God’s Spirit strive with men now? E. M. B.
A. Yes. The Holy Ghost has been sent down for this purpose, John 16:8-11; Romans 2:4; Hebrews 10:15. The Scripture in Genesis refers exclusively to the antediluvians: God’s day of patience and grace had a limit then, as it has now. Then it was fixed at 120 years, now it has already lasted over 1800, and will only be closed when the Master rises up and shuts to the door, i.e., when the Lord comes into the air for all His people.
Notes on Former Queries: Vol. 2, 367; 371
Q. 367. —In regard to the vision in Daniel 7, may there not be the same arrangement in this as in the prophecy concerning the 70 weeks in Daniel 9, F. There we have a summary given first, the details following in order. In this vision, I think verses 9, 10 may be taken as extending over the whole period of judgment here inaugurated, from the setting of the thrones to the great white throne of Revelation 20:12, that which follows supplying the details which fill up the period intervening. The opening of the books we know from Revelation 20:12 to be connected with the judgment of the wicked dead, which immediately precedes the eternal state; so that if the last clause of the 10th verse in Daniel 7 refers to it, as most certainly appears be the case from its mention of the “ books,” then it follows that, so far as the order of the vision is concerned, it should be understood to be placed after all that follows it in the Chapter. If this view is correct, there is no difficulty in the matter of Christ as Son of man (who is also the Ancient of Days) taking the position of Judge which is His as the Son of man, and acting in this capacity when the judgment of the great white throne shall be set. C. F.
Q. 371. —The two passages can be harmonized in three ways,-1, By supposing that a “ bath” in Ezra’s time only held two-thirds of a “bath” in Solomon’s. Ezra writing a popular history would use the current measures (compare our bushel with a Winchester bushel). 2. By supposing 2000 to be its ordinary contents, 3000 its possible contents. (This seems to be the view of our translators. 3. By construing the verse in 2 Chronicles “it held when repaired,” literally “to its repairer.”) G. A. K.
Q. 371.-The margin of my Bible in 1 Kings 7:26 reads, “ There were but 2000 baths in it usually, but when quite filled it contained 3000.
A. M. H.
Jottings From Bible Margins
CHRIST OUR MODEL.
1. For Faith. — Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of faith. Hebrews 12:2.
2. Purity. —Every man that hath this hope in him (Christ), purifieth himself even as he (Christ) is pure. 1 John 3:3.
3. Brotherly Love. —Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and given Himself for us. Ephesians 5:2.
4. Patience Under Provocation. —For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself. Hebrews 12:3.
5. Forgiveness And Forbearance. —Forbearing one another and forgiving one another, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Colossians 3:13.
6. Suffering. —Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps. 1 Peter 2:21.
7. Unselfishness. —Let every one of us please his neighbor for good to edification. For even Christ pleased not Himself. Romans 15:2, 3.
Finally, For Our Whole Walk —Let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus: and again, He that saith he abideth in Him (Christ) ought himself also so to walk even as He (Christ) walked.
J. L.
THE JOY OF JESUS.
In anticipation, Proverbs 8:31.
In obeying the Father, Psalms 40:8.
In resurrection, Psalms 16:11.
In revealing Himself, Luke 10:21.
In His people, Psalms 16:3.
In His people’s obedience, John 15:1.
In presenting them to His Father in the day of His glory Jude 24.
Notes and Comments
The close of the first year of this periodical in its enlarged form seems a fitting occasion for a few words as to the past and future. The interest shown during the past year in connection with this periodical, and more especially with the Bible Students Class and Bible Queries, has shown us, beyond our hopes, how many Christians there are who are thirsting for a deeper and fuller knowledge of the word. It is indeed encouraging to find so many in these closing days referring all their thoughts and opinions to the unerring standard of the word, and especially so when the rejection of it on the part of others becomes daily more avowed and open. Our earnest desire is still further to help all such students in their study of the word, but we increasingly feel that the best help we can give is in leading our readers to the fountainhead. We are indeed conscious of how little we have succeeded in this, but we do trust that some have been stirred up to an increased study of the Bible. During the forthcoming year (should the Lord tarry) we propose adding some fresh features to the magazine. We hope to give a series of connected Notes on Scripture, commencing in January with the book of Genesis. The Bible Conversations, will, we trust, prove very helpful and interesting to our readers. The Bible Student’s Class will, we trust, be reinforced by fresh members, and their labors will, we doubt not, if carefully and perseveringly carried out be of great value not only to themselves but to our readers. With a view to increasing the practice of daily private Bible Study, and adding to its interest we have issued a small book designed to lie with the Bible in the bedroom and to receive each day all thoughts or queries that may rise in reading the daily portion. Full directions as to its use are given with it, and with a hope of encouraging perseverance an offer is made by the Editor to correct all private notes thus regularly made, if forwarded to him at the close of every three months. Such an offer of course is only made to those young in the truth who would feel helped by such aid. We trust each of our readers will not only procure but make daily use of this book, for simple as the plan may appear, we are convinced if faithfully carried out it will greatly conduce to the interest and regularity of Bible reading. As to what shall be read we leave that to the choice of each one. For the benefit of any however who have no settled plan, a course of Scripture reading already used by a large number of “Young Believers” daily, is provided in the note book. In conclusion, we again ask the earnest prayers of our Christian friends that God will use this magazine greatly for His glory, and guide those who conduct it to make it fulfill better the object they have at heart.
We would also ask our friends to use every effort to make it known to all Christians who love their Bibles.
A correspondent, J. W., writes objecting in unmeasured language to the answer to Q. 337, which speaks of “putting on Christ as a profession, &c.” and he proceeds to make the extraordinary statement that professing is pretending, and says in so many words without any qualification “Profession is hypocrisy.” We should not call our readers’ attention to such remarks were it not to point out the not uncommon error our correspondent has made of treating all profession as necessarily false. Profession on the contrary is always assumed to be true unless proved false. Indeed, we presume that J. W. himself “professes” to be a Christian, and is not therefore a hypocrite. In the word of God also in such passages as 1 Timothy 6:12; Hebrews 3:1; 4:14; 10:23, profession is something we are to hold fast and of which the Lord is High Priest. We trust our readers will guard against this error of only using “profession” in a bad sense.
As we find that we shall not be able to read through more than Romans 1 in the January Bible Conversation, the February portion will be from Romans 2-3:20. All papers on this Scripture to be sent to B. C., Editor of B S., 27, Paternoster Square, E. C. by the 25th instant. We hope to receive a good selection of plain and pointed remarks with references original and selected. Some papers to hand are rather of the nature of diffuse commentaries on the whole Chapter. We trust all who take an interest in this class will join in prayer that it may be used to the spread of the truth.
Christ Our Example: That Your Joy Might Be Full
“That Your Joy Might Be Full.”
Had the Man of sorrows any joys? The Gospels, the proper memoirs of his life, make no mention of any. His tears are spoken of; but not his smiles. When we consider what he was—holy, pure, divine, eternal; when we consider whence he came—from the bosom of the Father, from a throne in glory; and what he came for—to suffer, the just for the unjust; we might conclude that in this unsatisfying, miserable world, the Son of God could find nothing to enjoy—could have no thought of gladness; and yet I think he had. We must look very closely indeed to find the sources of his joy, for they were few and hidden. Once, and I think no more, it is said in the Gospels, that Jesus rejoiced in spirit. (Luke 10:21.) The occasion of his rejoicing is very remarkable ‘I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.’ There could be but one cause for this—Jesus had no pleasure in the blindness of any one—no value for the soul of one above another; but he beheld his Father’s glory in it; he knew that had the wise and prudent of this world been chosen to make known his gospel, men would have given to them the glory—perhaps they would have taken it to themselves. But God had chosen the foolish of this world to confound the wise, and Jesus delighted in the preference, because he saw the greater glory that would result from it to God: proving that salvation is of grace, and not of merit; that divine knowledge is imparted immediately from heaven, and not acquired by human understanding. I cannot help remarking how different a feeling prevails among men. There is apt to be great rejoicing in the Church when some great one, some wise one, is converted, as if it were more important that such a one should be saved than one who is poor and unknown. A great deal is said about the influence such a conversion may have on others, the power of such a one for doing good, the conspicuousness of a light so elevated. This may be the result if God so pleases, but it is evident that Jesus made no account of all this: he expressly rejoiced that it was otherwise.
I have said, there is in the Gospels no other mention of the Redeemer’s joys. It is only by inference we can trace them. It may be inferred justly, that he himself rejoiced in that which he declared to be a cause of joy in heaven-the bringing of a sinner to repentance. ‘He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied;’ entirely, when the purpose of his travail should be accomplished in the salvation of his Church; but prospectively in the depth of his sufferings. As St. Paul also speaks, ‘Who, for the joy that was set before him, despised the shame.’ As one and another turned to follow him, we must suppose the compassionate Savior rejoiced in the fruits of anticipated victory, with a joy proportioned to his love—and that was infinite. When, of the ten who were healed, one only returned to glorify God, some pleasure in that one would mix itself with his sense of the ingratitude of the remainder.
And when, in the house of Lazarus, Jesus expressed so little satisfaction in the hospitable assiduities of Martha, needless to him, and injurious to herself, we cannot suppose otherwise than that he felt pleasure in the company of Mary, as she sat listening at his feet. And did he not take pleasure in Mary’s love, and the Centurion’s faith? When we consider how dear to him were the souls he came from heaven to save, and how dear the glory of the Father which he came to vindicate, it cannot be doubted that Jesus felt a joy exalted as his own nature, whenever a sinner gave tokens of repentance, and God was glorified in his works. If we would know more, we must have recourse to the Psalms, those sacred soliloquies of Christ’s humanity. Let them testify as to the character of the Redeemer’s joy. A single quotation will unfold it all. ‘Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God.’ ‘The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and my cup; thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel; my reins also instruct me in the night seasons- I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. Psalms 16
Were we to multiply quotations, as we might, the result would be only this—Jesus mentions, the prophetic Spirit mentions for him, only two sources of delight; God, in his law, his glory, and his presence, and the salvation of mankind. If he had any other pleasures—if the senses and affections of his humanity could delight in what gratifies ours—if he could enjoy those external blessings so abundantly bestowed on us, nothing is said of it—he does not tell us so. Jesus came on earth in search of pain and sorrow: probably he found no joys but those he brought with him from heaven; certain it is, he does not speak of any other.
If this was so, we cannot but perceive in how different a position the servant stands with respect to the enjoyments of this life, to that in which his Lord was placed. ‘The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.’ The meanest of God’s people, the most ungrateful of his enemies, have more sources of temporal enjoyment than were granted to the humanity of his only begotten Son. The common gifts of Providence, those rains that descend alike on the just and the unjust, how abundant they are! We are not justified in undervaluing them, and we are not forbidden by our Savior’s example to enjoy them.
Admitting, in this one respect, a merciful unlikeness, there is not the less a required conformity between the enjoyments of Christ and the enjoyments of his people.
If it is difficult to set forth the secret sorrows of the believer, how much more so to give the measure of his joys! Had we the language of heaven to express them in, we should fail to convey a just impression to the mind of the ungodly. We find ourselves in a maze when we would set about it, and know not where to begin, and are ready to give up the attempt. We must recall the Savior’s words, for we perceive that joy is joy, only in proportion as it resembles his.
‘How I delight to do thy will! ‘or as David, Lord, how I love thy law!’ and St. Paul, For I delight in the law of God after the inner man.’ This the natural heart does not and cannot. The unconverted man may sometimes do the will of God: he may wish, with a view to the eternal consequences, that he could do it more; he may by his natural judgment perceive that God’s laws are good, and, without entering into the spiritual meaning, make an attempt to observe them in the letter. Those who do not so themselves, often bear testimony to their excellence, by admiring those that do. But to love them, to delight in them-this no man ever did, but he who has learned it of his Savior. Consider what this delight implies. It is in all his will-in all his laws; this law, this will, may require of us the sacrifice of everything—the sacrifice of ourselves, and our sins, it must require. The will of God often imposes severe and bitter trial, much passive endurance, as well as active self-sacrifice: a pharisaic effort to do the one, and a calm submission to endure the other, have often been manifested by the children of this world. It is reserved to the children of God to find joy in them. St. Paul rejoiced in his infirmities when it was the will of God they should not be removed; he speaks of them that glory in tribulation. St. James bids the rich rejoice when they are made low. Our Savior bids us rejoice, and be exceeding glad, under falsehood, insult, and oppression. These are not nature’s joys; no natural man can say he ever felt them-the believer can.
The believer further manifests his delight in the law of God, by the joy he feels in seeing others do it. As he can never behold sin without feeling pain, so does he never see holiness without delighting in it. What exquisite joy, in the darkness of this evil world, to look upon the lights that grace has lighted—to hear of, to see the works of them that walk according to his law: to find, it may be in some public walk, it may be in some abode of poverty, one who seems living only to fulfill his will: this is a pleasure worthy of Christ to have enjoyed—and doubtless he did enjoy it, when he beheld Mary at his feet, forgetting in her desire to learn of him.
If I speak less of joy in doing the will of God, than in having it done in us, and seeing it done by others, it is not because I do not know it to be greatest. But we so seldom attain to it—it is so seldom we are satisfied with anything we do-we perceive so much more of defect than of conformity in our best performances, that though I know it may be felt, and be more grateful to us than any other joy, and though I know we may so desire it as to say, with our Lord, My meat and drink is to do the will of God;’ yet the sense of having done it satisfactorily is so rare, I can say little about it; it may at least be judged of by the pain of having failed in it.
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and my cup. ‘The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.’ This is the gladness of him, who, having found a treasure hidden in a field, for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he bath, and buyeth that field. Perhaps it would be too much to say the believer is the only contented one on earth. I have seen the children of this world so well pleased with its perishable possessions, as long as they can keep them, that I must suppose they too believe they have a goodly heritage, as he did who said to his soul, ‘Soul, take thine ease,’ &c. But when these words applied to Christ, he had no such possessions-He had not where to lay his head; He had stripped himself of infinite wealth, and retained no portion to rejoice in but his God. The enjoyment of God, as a present portion, is very difficult to describe, but every experienced christian knows what it is; it is something quite distinct from the expectation of future blessedness; it is what St. Paul calls ‘being filled with the fullness of God;’ of which David says, Happy are the people that have the Lord for their God.’ And again, ‘Thy lovingkindness is better than life.’ And in Revelation 1 know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty: but thou art rich towards God. This is spoken of present good. It is difficult sometimes to separate present enjoyment from eternal hope; but the believer knows that he has both. He as much seeks happiness in God now as he expects to seek it in heaven, and finds it in him when he has none elsewhere. The moments of greatest delight in God are usually those of greatest destitution: when we look for some to take pity, but there is none; and for comforters, but there is no man. Ask the tried saint which have been the happiest moments of his life, and he will tell you of those in which every earthly good had departed from him-in some deep affliction, some extreme suffering, some pressing danger, when man either could not or,—would not give him any help. These have been his happiest hours; for then, emptied of everything else, he was fullest of God; and had such sensible enjoyment of him as earthly language is not suited to express, nor earth—devoted spirits able to understand. It is then that, having nothing, we are possessed of all things.
I proceed with the Redeemer’s words. I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth. The Lord is to his people an abiding portion. He does not, like some friend of earth, come in at distant periods, give us a fond embrace, and go away. He makes his abode with us. He sits down, as it were, at our right hand, to be ready for our need of him. The seasons of peculiar joy we have just spoken of, more akin to heaven than earth, are but for an occasion, and generally pass with it: leaving behind them a more distinct notion of what our future blessedness will be, a firmer evidence of what God will do, by what he has done in our time of need. Were this elevation to continue always, we should not only have no cross to bear, but should be unfit to do our work on earth. The disciples, together with their Master, descended from the mount of transfiguration, to try in very different scenes the love and faithfulness of God. So must our seasons of spiritual enjoyment pass: leaving their remembrance like a beacon light to cheer the believer through his hours of darkness. But it is not in times of exaltation only that the child of God is conscious of His Father’s presence. Joyful above measures as these moments are, they are not those visits that he values most. It is the abiding—the sitting down— the perpetual consciousness of God’s presence, he values above these evanescent joys. He is about my bed, and about my path. ‘He knoweth my down-sitting and mine uprising.’ When thou goest through the waters I will be with thee. ‘I laid me down and slept, I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.’
Eastern Manners and Customs: "Images"; "Garments are Warm"
“Neither shalt thou set thee up any image (margin, statue, or pillar) which the Lord thy God hateth.”—Deuteronomy 16:22.
A modern commentator remarks upon this verse, “He had forbidden a carved image, and they may not set up even a pillar: they must resist all approaches to idolatry.” It is curious that this pillar-worship still lingers in Egypt. Dr. Van Dyck thus describes it:— “In a corner of the small open space near the Hotel d’ Orient at Cairo, a most interesting ceremony occurs once a year. A number of Moslems set up a large wooden pole; around it, for three days, a large crowd of men is to be seen, from about nine in the morning till sun-down, gathered in aisles, all facing towards the pole, and crying out incessantly ‘Ya Allah,’ which means ‘O God.’ They bow and wave their arms down, upwards and inwards, towards the pole. The time for beginning these incessant cries is about half-way between sunrise and mid-day... that is, the hour for the morning sacrifice... and precisely at sunset the cries stop, to be again taken up the second and third days.” Thus the prophets of Baal “called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us.”
Dr. Van Dyck adds:— “It is indeed wonderful to see how this high place, or more properly speaking, this ‘pole’ ceremony still holds its own through many ages. The Koran, and the doctrine of a single unique God, has not been able to root out this custom of worshipping round a pole, or upright beam, a remnant of the old worship of Astarte, or Ashtoreth, and what was most emphatically forbidden in the Mosaic books, is to-day practiced upon the banks of the Nile.”
The word “pillar,” as given in the margin, occurs also in the following places, amongst others: Exodus 23:4; 24:4; 34:13; Leviticus 26:1: Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3; 1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 3:2; 17:10; Jeremiah 43:13.
R. A. W.
“Thy garments are warm when he quieteth the earth by the south wind.” Job 37:17.
“We can testify that during the siroccos the clothes are not only warm but hot. This sensation is only experienced at such a time; and on such a day too, we understand the other effects mentioned by the prophet—bringing down the noise and quieting the earth. There is no living thing abroad to make a noise. The birds hide in thickest shades; the fowls pant under the walls with open mouths and drooping wings; the flocks and herds take shelter in caves and under great rocks; the laborers, retire from the field, and close the windows and doors of their houses; and travelers hasten to take shelter in the first cool place they can find. No one has energy enough to make a noise, and the very air is too weak and languid to stir the pendant leaves even of the tall poplars. Such a south wind with the heat of a cloud does indeed bring down the noise and quiet the earth.”—Dr. Thomson in “The Land and the Book.”
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