GALATIANS # 8
HISTORY
An overview (7)
7/26/10
As recorded throughout the Old Testament, God continued to guide and counsel His chosen people, revealing more and more information about Himself and the coming Messiah. The events that were unfolding were showing more and more clearly the inevitable destruction, the hopeless condition we humans are in if left to our own devices.
In the New Testament book of Hebrews the writer says (Hebrews 1:1 ( KJV )) God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, …line upon line , precept upon precept…
After settling in the Promised Land, they continued in their ways, repeatedly turning away from God, bringing disastrous consequences upon themselves. Through it all God’s patience never failed, He never wavered…He never broke His covenants, in spite of the repeated failures of His chosen people.
As things went along, and the people would begin to fall away, God raised up Prophets who gave very specific instruction and warnings to the people and the leaders - they often ignored, resented, or rebelled against these messengers and they suffered accordingly. Much of this was recorded in writing for our use as well. God also inspired men to write Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, songs of praise and wise advice, all of which document and reveal more and more of Himself and His plan of salvation for us.(2Tim 3: 16; John 5: 31 – 39) It was a rocky relationship between men and God – God was faithful but man frequently “wavers”, disobedient and rebellious, always with disastrous results. However, there was always a “remnant” who remained faithful.
God brought the Israelites out of Egypt in 1275 B.C., The Israelites entered the Promised Land in the year 1234 B.C. under God’s guidance the kingdom grew, but due to their disobedience the kingdom never fully encompassed the land promised by God. Israel reached its peak during the reign of Solomon (965 – 926 B.C.). during his reign, to complete his grandiose construction program, Solomon had implemented forced labor – almost slavery. Qne of his key men (Jeroboam) rebelled against this and fled to Egypt.
After Solomon’s death, things rapidly fell apart. His son, Rehoboam, was appointed king - he was a completely incompetent leader; cruel, selfish, vain, arrogant….
1 Kings 12
And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.
And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;)
That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying,
Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.
And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed.
And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people?
And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.
But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:
And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter?
And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s loins.
And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.
And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him;
And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.
And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they sent and called him unto the congregation, and made him king over all Israel: there was none that followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only.
And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,
Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD.
Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel.
And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:
If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.
And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.
And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.
So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.
As we see here, the mocking of God’s teaching (last week Isaiah 28) was only one of a long series of astonishingly rebellious activities that had begun with the death of Solomon. Upon Solomon’s death, the ensuing power struggle led to the splitting of the country: Judea in the south and Israel in the north. the king of the newly formed Israel, for political power purposes, immediately set up gold calves to worship – both countries went downhill from there!
The nation was divided in 926 BC: the drunken confrontation we looked at last week took place , about 200 years later, shortly before the complete destruction of Israel.
By 700 BC the nation of Israel no longer existed:
2 Kings 17: 1 – 24 1In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. 2And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. 3Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. 4And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. 5Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 6In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, 8And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. 10And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: 11And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: 12For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. 13Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 14Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. 15And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. 16And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 18Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. 19Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. 21For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin. 22For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; 23Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day
God is very patient but also is completely just, these people had two hundred years of men of God warning them, advising them begging them, to obey God – they mocked Him – the punishment was completely just…As we read in Numbers 15: 22 – 31, with the coming of the law, if you knowingly disobey, judgment and punishment is inevitable – if not done “presumptuously” sacrifices will atone for the sins.
As God reveals more and more of Himself the consequences increase: Luke 12:47-48 ( KJV )
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
The nation of Judah continued it’s spiral downward, it’s leaders disregarding and resisting God’s guidance, finally, in 585 B. C., Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah, burned the temple: Judah ceased to exist, it became a province of the Babylonian empire.
In 539 B. C. the Persians conquer the Babylonians and Cyrus fulfills the prophecy given in 545 – 538 B.C.(Isaiah 40: 1 – 5; 44: 28; 45: 6), in 444 B. C., he allows the Israelites in Babylon to return and rebuild Jerusalem some, but only a small number do and the nation of Judah begins re-emerging. They are not allowed to re-establish the monarchy; it becomes a theocracy led by the high priest, still a subject state of the Persians.
The book considered by most scholars to be the last of the Old Testament, Malachi, is written about this time. This book ends with a promise of the coming of “Elijah”…John the Baptist (Matt. 3: 3; John 1: 23; etc) the forerunner of the Messiah…
The Old Testament begins with the promise of a Messiah (Gn. 3: 16) and ends declaring and anticipating the coming of Emmanuel (Malachi 3). A little later Jesus said:
Title : The Holy Bible, King James Version
Edition : Third
Copyright : Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1998, Parsons Technology, Inc.
John 5:31-47 ( KJV )
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 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. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
425 B.C., Judah enters an obscure period: the 400 year “silent” period between the Old and New Testament.
DISCUSSION
1. Where is the first reference to Christ?
2. Where, in the O. T., is the last reference to Christ?
3. What is the purpose of the Old Testament?
4. How is this accomplished?
5. What happened after Solomon died?
6. Who was Cyrus?
7. Why was he significant?
8. What became of the Israelites who didn’t return to Jerusalem?
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Galatians lesson #7
GALATIANS # 7
HISTORY
An overview (6)
7/19/10
As Karl Barth and J.I. Packer described (excerpts last week) without God’s incremental revelation of Himself there is no way we could ever come to know Him:
Isaiah 55:6-9 ( KJV )
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The first thing that God taught us about himself (when Adam and Eve disobeyed him) is that He is, always was, and will always be, very serious about our obedience to Him and our trusting Him. According to the wisest man that ever lived, that is why He made us:
Ecclesiastes 12:13 ( KJV )
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
The consequences of defying Him, not accepting His love, are always disastrous, the punishment Adam and Eve’s rebellion brought upon mankind was the beginning, the scriptures record instance after instance of God patiently correcting and teaching us – we humans tend to learn slow - sometimes the just punishment at first appears harsh (the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues in Egypt, etc) the book of Numbers provides a striking example:
Numbers 15:32-36 ( KJV ) But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.
And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.
And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
God is Love (1 John 4: 8) so how could he demand such harsh sentences, for what appears to be minor infraction of the law? Well, There are no minor infractions of the law; you either love Him with all your heart, mind and strength, in which case you “keep his commandments”, or you don’t…
We find part of the answer to this paradox in the preceding verses vv 22 -31:
Numbers 15:22-31 ( KJV )
And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses,
Even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations;
Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance:
And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.
And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.
Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.
Very important point here, for the first time God provides a means of atoning for sins – not salvation: atonement (more on this when we get into Paul’s Christology/soterology). The blood of goats, lambs etc can’t save, only atone, foreshadowing the coming (first promised in Genesis 3: 15) of The One whose blood can save: Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Even as God causes these things to become more and more apparent, giving us more and more information, we humans “kick against the goads” and do astonishingly stupid, arrogant things, for instance, several hundred years later, after God has patiently revealed more and more, after witnessing miracle after miracle:
Isaiah 28
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
These drunken arrogant rulers mock God:
Title : Hard Sayings of the Bible
Edition : Fourth
Isaiah 28:13 ( KJV )
Do and Do, Rule on Rule?
(Isaiah 28:13) This translation appears to be little more than nonsense. What is the prophet really saying, and what is the meaning of “Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there”? The problem here is with the translations of the Hebrew. They fail to take into account that what follows in this meaningless chatter are the impressions and mocking representations of those drunken listeners of the prophet. The words are no doubt slurred by virtue of their inebriated states, mockingly going back to their childhood rubrics for memorizing the alphabet. But they also are represented in the Hebrew by means of an abbreviation, where the first letter is the letter for the alphabet and the second consonant is the letter waw, here used as a sign for an abbreviation. The Masoretes added an unnecessary “a” class vowel to make it appear that it was some type of Hebrew word, but no exact fit for such a word is usually identified. The words rendered in the niv as “do” and “rule,” or in the older versions as “precept upon precept,” “line upon line,” misunderstand the fact that the Hebrew is representing letters of the alphabet: “ṣādê upon ṣāde, ṣāde upon ṣāde, qôp̄ upon qôp̄, qôp̄ upon qôp̄,” approximately where p and q come in the English alphabet. They are mocking the prophet’s preaching by sneering, “The word of the Lord amounts to ‘Watch your p’s and watch your q’s; watch your p’s and watch your q’s.’ That’s all it is—one rule after another.” With that, they stagger and reel, and then vomit on the tables where they are drinking (Isa 28:7-8), laughing over the words with which the prophet has wounded them, but without any evidence of change. Our expression “mind your p’s and q’s,” of course, comes from the similar saying that one must watch his “pints and quarts” of liquor. But these rascals had turned it around and aimed it at the prophet for having what they deemed too many rules and injunctions against sin. The result, however, is that they themselves fall backward, are injured, snared and finally captured, both figuratively and actually in the Assyrian invasion that was to come.
, or as Adam Clarke described it:
Title : Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Old Testament
Edition : First
Copyright : Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc.
Whom shall he teach knowledge?” Whom, say they, would he teach knowledge?”—The scoffers mentioned below, verse 14, are here introduced as uttering their sententious speeches; they treat God’s method of dealing with them, and warning them by his prophets, with contempt and derision. What, say they, doth he treat us as mere infants just weaned? doth he teach us like little children, perpetually inculcating the same elementary lessons, the mere rudiments of knowledge; precept after precept, line after line, here and there, by little and little? imitating at the same time, and ridiculing, in verse 10, the concise prophetical manner. God, by his prophet, retorts upon them with great severity their own contemptuous mockery, turning it to a sense quite different from what they intended. Yes, saith he, it shall be in fact as you say; ye shall be taught by a strange tongue and a stammering lip; in a strange country; ye shall be carried into captivity by a people whose language shall be unintelligible to you, and which ye shall be forced to learn like children. And my dealing with you shall be according to your own words: it shall be command upon command for your punishment; it shall be line upon line, stretched over you to mark your destruction, (compare 2 Kings 21:13); it shall come upon you at different times, and by different degrees, till the judgments, with which from time to time I have threatened you, shall have their full accomplishment. Jerome seems to have rightly understood the general design of this passage as expressing the manner in which the scoffers, by their sententious speeches, turned into ridicule the warnings of God by his prophets, though he has not so well explained the meaning of the repetition of their speech in verse 13. His words are on verse 9 “Solebant hoc ex persona prophetarum ludentes dicere:” and on verse 14 “Quod supra diximus, cum irrisione solitos principes Judaeorum prophetis dicere, manda, remanda, et caetera his similia, per quae ostenditur, nequaquam eos prophetarum credidisse sermonibus, sed prophetiam habuisse despectui, praesens ostendit capitulum, per quod appellantur viri illusores.” Hieron. in loc. And so Jarchi interprets the word משלים mishelim in the next verse: Qui dicunt verba irrisionis parabolice.” And the Chaldee paraphrases verse 11 to the same purpose, understanding it as spoken, not of God, but of the people deriding his prophets: “Quoniam in mutatione loquelae et in lingua subsannationis irridebant contra prophetas, qui prophetabant populo huic.”—L. Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be upon precept—The original is remarkably abrupt and sententious. The hemistichs are these:— לצוצולצוצוכי latsavtsavlatsavtsavki לקוקולקוקו lakaukaulakaukau שםזעירשםזעיר shamzeeirshamzeeir For,—Command to command, command to command. Line to line, line to line. A little there, a little there. Kimchi says צו tsau, precept, is used here for מצוה mitsuah, command, and is used in no other place for it but here. צו tsau signifies a little precept, such as is suited to the capacity of a child; see verse 9. קו kau signifies the line that a mason stretches out to build a layer of stones by. After one layer or course is placed, he raises the line and builds another; thus the building is by degrees regularly completed. This is the method of teaching children, giving them such information as their narrow capacities can receive; and thus the prophet dealt with the Israelites. See Kimchi in loc., and see a fine parallel passage, Hebrews 5:12-14, by which this may be well illustrated. My old MS. Bible translates oddly:— For sende efter sende, sende efter sende: Abide efter abiide, abide efter abiide: Lytyl ther, lytyl ther. Coverdale is also singular:— Commande that may be commanded; Byd that maye be bydden: Foorbyd that maye be forbydden; Kepe backe that maye be kepte backe: Here a litle, there a litle. Isaiah 28:12 This is the rest “This is the true rest”—The sense of this verse is: God had warned them by his prophets that their safety and security, their deliverance from their present calamities and from the apprehensions of still greater approaching, depended wholly on their trust in God, their faith and obedience; but they rejected this gracious warning with contempt and mockery. Isaiah 28:15 A covenant with death—To be in covenant with, is a kind of proverbial expression to denote perfect security from evil and mischief of any sort:— “For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.” Job 5:23. “And I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field. And with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground.” Hosea 2:18. That is, none of these shall hurt them. But Lucan, speaking of the Psylli, whose peculiar property it was to be unhurt by the bite of serpents, with which their country abounded, comes still nearer to the expression of Isaiah in this place:— Gens unica terras Incolit a saevo serpentum innoxia morsu Marmaridae Psylli.— Pax illis cum morte data est. Pharsal. 9:891. “Of all who scorching Afric’s sun endure, None like the swarthy Psyllians are secure: With healing gifts and privileges graced, Well in the land of serpents were they placed: Truce with the dreadful tyrant death they have, And border safely on his realm the grave.” Rowe. We have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement—עשינו חזה asinu chozeh, we have made a vision, we have had an interview, struck a bargain, and settled all preliminaries. So they had made a covenant with hell by diabolic sacrifice, כרתנו ברית carathnu beritth. “We have cut the covenant sacrifice;” they divided it for the contracting parties to pass between the separated victim; for the victim was split exactly down the middle, so that even the spinal marrow was exactly divided through its whole length; and being set opposite to each other, the contracting parties entered, one at the head part, the other at the feet; and, meeting in the center, took the covenant oath. Thus, it is intimated, these bad people made an agreement with שאול sheol, with demons, with whom they had an interview; i.e., meeting them in the covenant sacrifice! To such a pitch had the Israelitish idolatry reached at that time! Isaiah 28:16 (Clarke)
The Assyrians were some of the cruelest, evil, brutal people that ever lived; it was a horrifying thing to fall into their clutches…
DISCUSSION
1. Describe the “otherness” of God.?
2. How does God help us with this difficult problem?
3. What is our purpose (according to Solomon)?
4. Why is God’s punishment so harsh?
5. How does God demonstrate his love in both the old and new Testaments?
6. What led the drunken leaders of Judea to mock God?
7. Then what happened?
HISTORY
An overview (6)
7/19/10
As Karl Barth and J.I. Packer described (excerpts last week) without God’s incremental revelation of Himself there is no way we could ever come to know Him:
Isaiah 55:6-9 ( KJV )
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The first thing that God taught us about himself (when Adam and Eve disobeyed him) is that He is, always was, and will always be, very serious about our obedience to Him and our trusting Him. According to the wisest man that ever lived, that is why He made us:
Ecclesiastes 12:13 ( KJV )
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
The consequences of defying Him, not accepting His love, are always disastrous, the punishment Adam and Eve’s rebellion brought upon mankind was the beginning, the scriptures record instance after instance of God patiently correcting and teaching us – we humans tend to learn slow - sometimes the just punishment at first appears harsh (the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues in Egypt, etc) the book of Numbers provides a striking example:
Numbers 15:32-36 ( KJV ) But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.
And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.
And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
God is Love (1 John 4: 8) so how could he demand such harsh sentences, for what appears to be minor infraction of the law? Well, There are no minor infractions of the law; you either love Him with all your heart, mind and strength, in which case you “keep his commandments”, or you don’t…
We find part of the answer to this paradox in the preceding verses vv 22 -31:
Numbers 15:22-31 ( KJV )
And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses,
Even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations;
Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance:
And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.
And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.
Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.
Very important point here, for the first time God provides a means of atoning for sins – not salvation: atonement (more on this when we get into Paul’s Christology/soterology). The blood of goats, lambs etc can’t save, only atone, foreshadowing the coming (first promised in Genesis 3: 15) of The One whose blood can save: Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Even as God causes these things to become more and more apparent, giving us more and more information, we humans “kick against the goads” and do astonishingly stupid, arrogant things, for instance, several hundred years later, after God has patiently revealed more and more, after witnessing miracle after miracle:
Isaiah 28
Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up.
In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
These drunken arrogant rulers mock God:
Title : Hard Sayings of the Bible
Edition : Fourth
Isaiah 28:13 ( KJV )
Do and Do, Rule on Rule?
(Isaiah 28:13) This translation appears to be little more than nonsense. What is the prophet really saying, and what is the meaning of “Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there”? The problem here is with the translations of the Hebrew. They fail to take into account that what follows in this meaningless chatter are the impressions and mocking representations of those drunken listeners of the prophet. The words are no doubt slurred by virtue of their inebriated states, mockingly going back to their childhood rubrics for memorizing the alphabet. But they also are represented in the Hebrew by means of an abbreviation, where the first letter is the letter for the alphabet and the second consonant is the letter waw, here used as a sign for an abbreviation. The Masoretes added an unnecessary “a” class vowel to make it appear that it was some type of Hebrew word, but no exact fit for such a word is usually identified. The words rendered in the niv as “do” and “rule,” or in the older versions as “precept upon precept,” “line upon line,” misunderstand the fact that the Hebrew is representing letters of the alphabet: “ṣādê upon ṣāde, ṣāde upon ṣāde, qôp̄ upon qôp̄, qôp̄ upon qôp̄,” approximately where p and q come in the English alphabet. They are mocking the prophet’s preaching by sneering, “The word of the Lord amounts to ‘Watch your p’s and watch your q’s; watch your p’s and watch your q’s.’ That’s all it is—one rule after another.” With that, they stagger and reel, and then vomit on the tables where they are drinking (Isa 28:7-8), laughing over the words with which the prophet has wounded them, but without any evidence of change. Our expression “mind your p’s and q’s,” of course, comes from the similar saying that one must watch his “pints and quarts” of liquor. But these rascals had turned it around and aimed it at the prophet for having what they deemed too many rules and injunctions against sin. The result, however, is that they themselves fall backward, are injured, snared and finally captured, both figuratively and actually in the Assyrian invasion that was to come.
, or as Adam Clarke described it:
Title : Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Old Testament
Edition : First
Copyright : Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc.
Whom shall he teach knowledge?” Whom, say they, would he teach knowledge?”—The scoffers mentioned below, verse 14, are here introduced as uttering their sententious speeches; they treat God’s method of dealing with them, and warning them by his prophets, with contempt and derision. What, say they, doth he treat us as mere infants just weaned? doth he teach us like little children, perpetually inculcating the same elementary lessons, the mere rudiments of knowledge; precept after precept, line after line, here and there, by little and little? imitating at the same time, and ridiculing, in verse 10, the concise prophetical manner. God, by his prophet, retorts upon them with great severity their own contemptuous mockery, turning it to a sense quite different from what they intended. Yes, saith he, it shall be in fact as you say; ye shall be taught by a strange tongue and a stammering lip; in a strange country; ye shall be carried into captivity by a people whose language shall be unintelligible to you, and which ye shall be forced to learn like children. And my dealing with you shall be according to your own words: it shall be command upon command for your punishment; it shall be line upon line, stretched over you to mark your destruction, (compare 2 Kings 21:13); it shall come upon you at different times, and by different degrees, till the judgments, with which from time to time I have threatened you, shall have their full accomplishment. Jerome seems to have rightly understood the general design of this passage as expressing the manner in which the scoffers, by their sententious speeches, turned into ridicule the warnings of God by his prophets, though he has not so well explained the meaning of the repetition of their speech in verse 13. His words are on verse 9 “Solebant hoc ex persona prophetarum ludentes dicere:” and on verse 14 “Quod supra diximus, cum irrisione solitos principes Judaeorum prophetis dicere, manda, remanda, et caetera his similia, per quae ostenditur, nequaquam eos prophetarum credidisse sermonibus, sed prophetiam habuisse despectui, praesens ostendit capitulum, per quod appellantur viri illusores.” Hieron. in loc. And so Jarchi interprets the word משלים mishelim in the next verse: Qui dicunt verba irrisionis parabolice.” And the Chaldee paraphrases verse 11 to the same purpose, understanding it as spoken, not of God, but of the people deriding his prophets: “Quoniam in mutatione loquelae et in lingua subsannationis irridebant contra prophetas, qui prophetabant populo huic.”—L. Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be upon precept—The original is remarkably abrupt and sententious. The hemistichs are these:— לצוצולצוצוכי latsavtsavlatsavtsavki לקוקולקוקו lakaukaulakaukau שםזעירשםזעיר shamzeeirshamzeeir For,—Command to command, command to command. Line to line, line to line. A little there, a little there. Kimchi says צו tsau, precept, is used here for מצוה mitsuah, command, and is used in no other place for it but here. צו tsau signifies a little precept, such as is suited to the capacity of a child; see verse 9. קו kau signifies the line that a mason stretches out to build a layer of stones by. After one layer or course is placed, he raises the line and builds another; thus the building is by degrees regularly completed. This is the method of teaching children, giving them such information as their narrow capacities can receive; and thus the prophet dealt with the Israelites. See Kimchi in loc., and see a fine parallel passage, Hebrews 5:12-14, by which this may be well illustrated. My old MS. Bible translates oddly:— For sende efter sende, sende efter sende: Abide efter abiide, abide efter abiide: Lytyl ther, lytyl ther. Coverdale is also singular:— Commande that may be commanded; Byd that maye be bydden: Foorbyd that maye be forbydden; Kepe backe that maye be kepte backe: Here a litle, there a litle. Isaiah 28:12 This is the rest “This is the true rest”—The sense of this verse is: God had warned them by his prophets that their safety and security, their deliverance from their present calamities and from the apprehensions of still greater approaching, depended wholly on their trust in God, their faith and obedience; but they rejected this gracious warning with contempt and mockery. Isaiah 28:15 A covenant with death—To be in covenant with, is a kind of proverbial expression to denote perfect security from evil and mischief of any sort:— “For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.” Job 5:23. “And I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field. And with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground.” Hosea 2:18. That is, none of these shall hurt them. But Lucan, speaking of the Psylli, whose peculiar property it was to be unhurt by the bite of serpents, with which their country abounded, comes still nearer to the expression of Isaiah in this place:— Gens unica terras Incolit a saevo serpentum innoxia morsu Marmaridae Psylli.— Pax illis cum morte data est. Pharsal. 9:891. “Of all who scorching Afric’s sun endure, None like the swarthy Psyllians are secure: With healing gifts and privileges graced, Well in the land of serpents were they placed: Truce with the dreadful tyrant death they have, And border safely on his realm the grave.” Rowe. We have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement—עשינו חזה asinu chozeh, we have made a vision, we have had an interview, struck a bargain, and settled all preliminaries. So they had made a covenant with hell by diabolic sacrifice, כרתנו ברית carathnu beritth. “We have cut the covenant sacrifice;” they divided it for the contracting parties to pass between the separated victim; for the victim was split exactly down the middle, so that even the spinal marrow was exactly divided through its whole length; and being set opposite to each other, the contracting parties entered, one at the head part, the other at the feet; and, meeting in the center, took the covenant oath. Thus, it is intimated, these bad people made an agreement with שאול sheol, with demons, with whom they had an interview; i.e., meeting them in the covenant sacrifice! To such a pitch had the Israelitish idolatry reached at that time! Isaiah 28:16 (Clarke)
The Assyrians were some of the cruelest, evil, brutal people that ever lived; it was a horrifying thing to fall into their clutches…
DISCUSSION
1. Describe the “otherness” of God.?
2. How does God help us with this difficult problem?
3. What is our purpose (according to Solomon)?
4. Why is God’s punishment so harsh?
5. How does God demonstrate his love in both the old and new Testaments?
6. What led the drunken leaders of Judea to mock God?
7. Then what happened?
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Galatians #6
GALATIANS # 6
HISTORY
An overview (5)
7/5/10
The automatic reaction to any supernatural event, “miracle”, is mystical – emotional not intellectual. This is the primary explanation of the Israelites so quickly swinging from belief –
Exodus 14:31 ( KJV ) And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses
– to unbelief, a complete turning away to golden calves, etc., astonishingly extreme turning away in some cases:
Numbers 14:1-12 ( KJV )
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?
I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
This all took place in a very short period of time, probably less than a couple of years passed between the Israelites “believed the Lord” (Exodus 14: 31) and then all the congregation “bade”
( H559 אָמַר ʼâmar aw-mar' A primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):—answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command (ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use [speech], utter, X verily, X yet.)
to kill both Moses and Aaron and return to Egypt (Numbers 14: 10)!
After all the miracles in Egypt; after being freed as foretold; after crossing the Red Sea and the pharaoh’s army was destroyed; after the visible pillar of fire and column of cloud led them; after their having witnessed the death of the worst of the worshipers of the golden calf and the death of the usurpers, and quail eaters, etc; after all the miracles which had preserved them…after all this, they still don’t trust God; they rebel and want to kill Moses and return to slavery!
Why?
All that we have studied up to here has demonstrated the shallowness of many believer’s conviction, based only on emotion, even His chosen people, even to this very day: without a solid knowledge of God belief is inevitably founded on emotion (even Christian) with little or no intellect engaged; when a miracle happens we humans are enthralled by it and worship/fear God – until the emotion wears off - and we return to our “normal” existence, wandering away to again worshiping the creation instead of the creator.
God is perfect in every conceivable nuance of meaning of “perfect.” With his revelation of the law in His ongoing, growing, revelation of Himself, He revealed that He is absolutely just, absolutely pure, absolutely perfect and absolutely necessary. When we humans find ourselves dealing with absolutes coming from God we have a bit of a problem accepting/comprehending the concept: we often either harden our hearts, or, occasionally, are awe stricken and rejoice when we brush up against what some describe the “otherness” of God.
Karl Barth discusses the impossibility of knowing God in any way as a result of this “otherness, except for what he reveals of Himself, in his book, “The Epistle to the Romans”:
“… [Paul] appeals only to the authority of God. This is the ground of his authority. There is no other.
Paul is authorized to deliver - the Gospel of God. He is commissioned to hand over to humanity something quite new and unprecedented, joyful and good – the Truth of God. Yes, precisely – of God! The gospel is not a religious to inform humanity of their divinity, or to tell them how they can become divine. The gospel proclaims a God utterly distinct from humanity. Salvation comes to them from Him, and because they are, as human beings incapable of knowing Him, they have no right to claim anything from Him. The Gospel is not one thing in the midst of other things, to be directly apprehended and comprehended. The Gospel is the Word of the Primal Origin of all things, the Word which, since it is ever new, must ever be received with renewed fear and trembling…
Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the Gospel and the meaning of history. In this name two worlds meet and go apart, two planes intersect, the one known and the other unknown. The known plane is God’s creation, fallen out of its union with Him, and therefore the world of the “flesh” needing redemption. The world of humans, and of time, and of things – our world. This known plane is intersected by another plane that is unknown – the world of the Father, of the Primal Creation, and of the final redemption. The relation between us and God, between this world and His world, presses for recognition, but the line of intersection is not self-evident. The point on the line of intersection at which the relation becomes observable and observed is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the historical Jesus.
To comprehend this intersection both intellect and emotion must be engaged.
Mysticism (emotion) is an integral component of knowing God, but alone leads to a shallow religiosity, a disaster; however, over intellectualization can be just as dangerous, just as disastrous, a balance must be maintained. God tells us to:
Matthew 22:37 ( KJV )
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
(Mind: G1271
διάνοια dianoia dee-an'-oy-ah From G1223 and G3563; deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise:—imagination, mind, understanding)
This balance between intellect/feeling (heart/mind/soul) can only be achieved by knowing God: that can only come about through our study of God’s revelation of Himself; we are only able to “know” God with our minds, by sincere study (Hebrews 11:6 ( KJV ) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him ; John 5:39 ( KJV ) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Etc.) of His “verbal” revelation of Himself to us
In his book “God Has Spoken,” J. I. Packer, wonderfully describes God’s revelation of Himself:
“…What is revelation? From one standpoint it is God’s act, from another his gift. From both standpoints it is correlative to man’s knowledge of God, as on the one hand an experience and on the other a possession .As God’s act, revelation is the personal self-disclosure whereby He brings us actively and experientially to know Him as our own God and Saviour. As God’s gift, revelation is the knowledge about Himself which He gives us as a means to this end. Revelation as God’s act takes place through the bestowing of revelation as God’s gift; the first sense of the word thus comprehends the second. Accordingly, revelation in the narrower sense ought always to be studied in the setting of revelation in the broader sense.
How does God reveal what has to be revealed in order that we may know Him? By verbal communication from himself. Without this, revelation in the full and saving sense cannot take place at all. For no public historical happening, as such ( an exodus, a conquest, a captivity, a crucifixion, an empty tomb), can reveal God apart from an accompanying word from God to explain it, or a prior promise which it seems to confirm or fulfill. Revelation in its basic form is thus of necessity propositional; God reveals Himself by telling us about Himself, and what He is doing in His world. The statement in Hebrews 1:1, that in Old Testament days God spoke “in divers manners,” reminds us of the remarkable variety of means whereby, according to the record, God’s communications were on occasion given: theophanies, angelic announcements, an audible voice from heaven (Exodus 19: 9, Matthew 3: 17, 2Peter 1: 17), visions, dreams, signs…as well as the more organic type of inspiration, whereby the Spirit of God so controlled the reflective operations of men’s minds as to lead them to a right judgment in all things. But in every case the disclosures introduced, or conveyed, or confirmed, by these means were propositional in substance and verbal in form.
Why does God reveal himself to us? Because, as we saw, He who made us rational beings wants, in His love, to have us as His friends; and He addresses His words to us – statements, commands, promises – as a means of sharing His thoughts with us and so making that personal self-disclosure which friendship presupposes, and without which it cannot exist.
What is the content of God’s revelation? This is determined primarily by our present plight as sinners. Though we have lapsed into ignorance of God and a godless way of life, god has not abandoned his purpose to have us as His friends; instead, He has resolved in His love to rescue us from sin and restore us to Himself. His plan for doing this was to make Himself known to us as our Redeemer and Re-creator, through the incarnation, death, resurrection and reign of His Son. The working out of this plan required a long series of preparatory events, starting with the promise to the woman’s seed (Genesis 3: 15) and spanning the whole of Old Testament history. Also it required a mass of concurrent verbal instruction, predicting each item in the series before it came and applying its lesson in retrospect, so that at each stage men might understand the unfolding history of salvation, hope in the promise of its full accomplishment, and learn what manner of person they, as objects of grace, ought to be. Thus the history of salvation (the acts of God) took place in the context of the history of revelation (the oracles of God). (Mc Grath)
With the limited extent that God had revealed himself up to the time of the Israelites proposing to kill Moses and Aaron and return to slavery, it was not un-likely, in fact it was very probable, that the Israelites worship of God would automatically be primarily mystical – emotional - and as such prone to serious “wavering”.
DISCUSSION
1. What is the normal reaction to a miracle?
2. Why did the Israelites “waver”?
3. How was their life different after receiving the Law?
4. What is “the greatest commandment”?
5. By what means does mankind know God?
6. What is the purpose of revelation?
7. How does karl Barth describe how Jesus Christ our Lord fits in to all this?
8. How does J. I. Packer describe the content of revelation
9. How does Packer describe the process of revelation?
10. How does Packer describe the role of Jesus?
HISTORY
An overview (5)
7/5/10
The automatic reaction to any supernatural event, “miracle”, is mystical – emotional not intellectual. This is the primary explanation of the Israelites so quickly swinging from belief –
Exodus 14:31 ( KJV ) And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses
– to unbelief, a complete turning away to golden calves, etc., astonishingly extreme turning away in some cases:
Numbers 14:1-12 ( KJV )
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?
I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
This all took place in a very short period of time, probably less than a couple of years passed between the Israelites “believed the Lord” (Exodus 14: 31) and then all the congregation “bade”
( H559 אָמַר ʼâmar aw-mar' A primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):—answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command (ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use [speech], utter, X verily, X yet.)
to kill both Moses and Aaron and return to Egypt (Numbers 14: 10)!
After all the miracles in Egypt; after being freed as foretold; after crossing the Red Sea and the pharaoh’s army was destroyed; after the visible pillar of fire and column of cloud led them; after their having witnessed the death of the worst of the worshipers of the golden calf and the death of the usurpers, and quail eaters, etc; after all the miracles which had preserved them…after all this, they still don’t trust God; they rebel and want to kill Moses and return to slavery!
Why?
All that we have studied up to here has demonstrated the shallowness of many believer’s conviction, based only on emotion, even His chosen people, even to this very day: without a solid knowledge of God belief is inevitably founded on emotion (even Christian) with little or no intellect engaged; when a miracle happens we humans are enthralled by it and worship/fear God – until the emotion wears off - and we return to our “normal” existence, wandering away to again worshiping the creation instead of the creator.
God is perfect in every conceivable nuance of meaning of “perfect.” With his revelation of the law in His ongoing, growing, revelation of Himself, He revealed that He is absolutely just, absolutely pure, absolutely perfect and absolutely necessary. When we humans find ourselves dealing with absolutes coming from God we have a bit of a problem accepting/comprehending the concept: we often either harden our hearts, or, occasionally, are awe stricken and rejoice when we brush up against what some describe the “otherness” of God.
Karl Barth discusses the impossibility of knowing God in any way as a result of this “otherness, except for what he reveals of Himself, in his book, “The Epistle to the Romans”:
“… [Paul] appeals only to the authority of God. This is the ground of his authority. There is no other.
Paul is authorized to deliver - the Gospel of God. He is commissioned to hand over to humanity something quite new and unprecedented, joyful and good – the Truth of God. Yes, precisely – of God! The gospel is not a religious to inform humanity of their divinity, or to tell them how they can become divine. The gospel proclaims a God utterly distinct from humanity. Salvation comes to them from Him, and because they are, as human beings incapable of knowing Him, they have no right to claim anything from Him. The Gospel is not one thing in the midst of other things, to be directly apprehended and comprehended. The Gospel is the Word of the Primal Origin of all things, the Word which, since it is ever new, must ever be received with renewed fear and trembling…
Jesus Christ our Lord. This is the Gospel and the meaning of history. In this name two worlds meet and go apart, two planes intersect, the one known and the other unknown. The known plane is God’s creation, fallen out of its union with Him, and therefore the world of the “flesh” needing redemption. The world of humans, and of time, and of things – our world. This known plane is intersected by another plane that is unknown – the world of the Father, of the Primal Creation, and of the final redemption. The relation between us and God, between this world and His world, presses for recognition, but the line of intersection is not self-evident. The point on the line of intersection at which the relation becomes observable and observed is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the historical Jesus.
To comprehend this intersection both intellect and emotion must be engaged.
Mysticism (emotion) is an integral component of knowing God, but alone leads to a shallow religiosity, a disaster; however, over intellectualization can be just as dangerous, just as disastrous, a balance must be maintained. God tells us to:
Matthew 22:37 ( KJV )
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
(Mind: G1271
διάνοια dianoia dee-an'-oy-ah From G1223 and G3563; deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise:—imagination, mind, understanding)
This balance between intellect/feeling (heart/mind/soul) can only be achieved by knowing God: that can only come about through our study of God’s revelation of Himself; we are only able to “know” God with our minds, by sincere study (Hebrews 11:6 ( KJV ) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him ; John 5:39 ( KJV ) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Etc.) of His “verbal” revelation of Himself to us
In his book “God Has Spoken,” J. I. Packer, wonderfully describes God’s revelation of Himself:
“…What is revelation? From one standpoint it is God’s act, from another his gift. From both standpoints it is correlative to man’s knowledge of God, as on the one hand an experience and on the other a possession .As God’s act, revelation is the personal self-disclosure whereby He brings us actively and experientially to know Him as our own God and Saviour. As God’s gift, revelation is the knowledge about Himself which He gives us as a means to this end. Revelation as God’s act takes place through the bestowing of revelation as God’s gift; the first sense of the word thus comprehends the second. Accordingly, revelation in the narrower sense ought always to be studied in the setting of revelation in the broader sense.
How does God reveal what has to be revealed in order that we may know Him? By verbal communication from himself. Without this, revelation in the full and saving sense cannot take place at all. For no public historical happening, as such ( an exodus, a conquest, a captivity, a crucifixion, an empty tomb), can reveal God apart from an accompanying word from God to explain it, or a prior promise which it seems to confirm or fulfill. Revelation in its basic form is thus of necessity propositional; God reveals Himself by telling us about Himself, and what He is doing in His world. The statement in Hebrews 1:1, that in Old Testament days God spoke “in divers manners,” reminds us of the remarkable variety of means whereby, according to the record, God’s communications were on occasion given: theophanies, angelic announcements, an audible voice from heaven (Exodus 19: 9, Matthew 3: 17, 2Peter 1: 17), visions, dreams, signs…as well as the more organic type of inspiration, whereby the Spirit of God so controlled the reflective operations of men’s minds as to lead them to a right judgment in all things. But in every case the disclosures introduced, or conveyed, or confirmed, by these means were propositional in substance and verbal in form.
Why does God reveal himself to us? Because, as we saw, He who made us rational beings wants, in His love, to have us as His friends; and He addresses His words to us – statements, commands, promises – as a means of sharing His thoughts with us and so making that personal self-disclosure which friendship presupposes, and without which it cannot exist.
What is the content of God’s revelation? This is determined primarily by our present plight as sinners. Though we have lapsed into ignorance of God and a godless way of life, god has not abandoned his purpose to have us as His friends; instead, He has resolved in His love to rescue us from sin and restore us to Himself. His plan for doing this was to make Himself known to us as our Redeemer and Re-creator, through the incarnation, death, resurrection and reign of His Son. The working out of this plan required a long series of preparatory events, starting with the promise to the woman’s seed (Genesis 3: 15) and spanning the whole of Old Testament history. Also it required a mass of concurrent verbal instruction, predicting each item in the series before it came and applying its lesson in retrospect, so that at each stage men might understand the unfolding history of salvation, hope in the promise of its full accomplishment, and learn what manner of person they, as objects of grace, ought to be. Thus the history of salvation (the acts of God) took place in the context of the history of revelation (the oracles of God). (Mc Grath)
With the limited extent that God had revealed himself up to the time of the Israelites proposing to kill Moses and Aaron and return to slavery, it was not un-likely, in fact it was very probable, that the Israelites worship of God would automatically be primarily mystical – emotional - and as such prone to serious “wavering”.
DISCUSSION
1. What is the normal reaction to a miracle?
2. Why did the Israelites “waver”?
3. How was their life different after receiving the Law?
4. What is “the greatest commandment”?
5. By what means does mankind know God?
6. What is the purpose of revelation?
7. How does karl Barth describe how Jesus Christ our Lord fits in to all this?
8. How does J. I. Packer describe the content of revelation
9. How does Packer describe the process of revelation?
10. How does Packer describe the role of Jesus?
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