Correspondence: Ecc. 11:2; Mark 9:44, 46, 48; Exo. 12:22

From: Correspondence

Narrator: Chris Genthree

From: Young Christian: Volume 24, 1934

• 2 min. read • grade level: 7

Ques. Please give the meaning of Eccl. 11:2²Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. (Ecclesiastes 11:2).

Ans. Ecclesiastes is wisdom under the sun. Chapter 11:1-6 evidently looks at and exhorts us to use opportunities without regard to opposing elements. "Cast thy bread upon the waters," "Give a portion" and "Sow thy seed" as opportunity affords, leaving the results with God, are expressions of this exhortation.

This suggests for us service to the Lord, sharing with others what we enjoy; giving a portion to all we can reach; sowing the seed evening and morning, as we find opportunity. May our walk and ways, as well as our words, be "holding forth the word of life" (2 Thess. 2:17¹⁷Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:17)).

Ques. How would you explain "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched"?

Ans. Mark 9:44, 46, 48⁴⁴Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:44)
⁴⁶Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:46)
⁴⁸Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:48) refers to the end of the wicked. Their worm tells them of sins committed, of warnings despised, of neglected opportunities of being saved. The memory of them is like the gnawing of a worm that never dies. The fire is the place of torment into which the lost ones are cast (Rev. 21:8⁸But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)). Both are fearful realities for all eternity.

Ques. What does the bunch of hyssop dipped in the blood that is in the basin, show us? (Ex. 12:22²²And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. (Exodus 12:22)).

Ans. The hyssop pictures man's littleness, as the cedar pictures his greatness (1 Kings 4:33³³And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. (1 Kings 4:33)). From the greatest to the least, man by nature has nothing acceptable to God. All that he is, is ended in the death of Christ; this is seen in the sacrifices, (Lev. 14:4, 6, 49, 51, 52⁴Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: (Leviticus 14:4)
⁶As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: (Leviticus 14:6)
⁴⁹And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: (Leviticus 14:49)
⁵¹And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: ⁵²And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: (Leviticus 14:51‑52); Num. 19:6, 18⁶And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. (Numbers 19:6)
¹⁸And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave: (Numbers 19:18)).

In dipping the hyssop in the blood and sprinkling the doorpost, it is as if the Israelite said: I am only a worthless sinner; Christ is everything. His blood is my shelter from the judgment of God which my sins deserve.

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