WE will look this week a little at the bear as found in Scripture.
In 1 Sam. 17, when David wished to go and fight the Philistine giant, Goliath, Saul said, “Thou art not able,”— David told Saul this beautiful little story of what had happened when he was keeping his father’s sheep. He said: “There came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock; and I went out after him and slew him and delivered it out of his mouth... Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear... David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”
Now, what does this mean? For surely it has a meaning for us. David, the shepherd, we know is a type of our Shepherd, even Jesus, who delivered His lambs from the power of Satan, (the Lion); we will look more fully at this when we study the lion. But here we have a bear as well as a lion, and I think we may say it means human power, usually in connection with Satan. When our blessed Lord Jesus was on the cross, the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for the sheep, He suffered from the hand of man, prompted and led on by Satan.
In 2 Kings 2 we find some naughty children mocked the man of God, Elisha, and said, “Go up thou bald head... And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood and tare forty and two children of them.” Now I would have you learn at least two lessons from our study of the bear.
The first is, that Jesus has prevailed over all the power of wickedness in man or Satan, so that He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him.
The second is, that God’s judgment falls on those who despise His messenger. If you have come to Jesus and believed on Him as the One who laid down His life for the sheep, no one, man nor devil, can pluck you out of His hand. But if you despise and reject the message of God’s offer of salvation, through Jesus as the One who has died for sinners and has gone up to heaven, there is nothing for you to expect but the judgment of God.
E. G. B.
ML 06/25/1899