Notes and Comments

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 12
“E B” suggests that there are eight conversions in John, the unnamed companion of Andrew being the eighth (John 1:4040One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. (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, 32For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house. 3For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; 4And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes; 5And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the Lord: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper. (Jeremiah 32:2‑5)
2Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: 3And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. (Jeremiah 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 12:10-1310Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them. 11Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity. 12And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes. 13My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there. (Ezekiel 12:10‑13) we find it further prophesied that though he should die in Babylon, yet he should not see it.
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.
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