1Kings, chapter 10, comments

 

1Kings 10:1 ¶  And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. 2  And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. 3  And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. 4  And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built, 5  And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her. 6  And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. 7  Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. 8  Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. 9  Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice. 10  And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. 11  And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones. 12  And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day. 13  And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Strong’s and others have Sheba as a kingdom in Southern Arabia. Some say it lay in modern day Yemen and a minority think it was in or near Ethiopia on the African mainland but Southern Arabia sounds most likely.

Caravans have been traversing the Arabian Peninsula of thousands of years facilitating trade from Africa to Asia. These included, some sources say, the Incense Route where the expensive items as mentioned here were traded. Yemen was known for its gold trade in conjunction with the incense trade for thousands of years with gold jewelry being notably prominent as a trading item, these sources note.

It is reported that Solomon has somewhat of a discussion of wisdom with this queen who marveled at what God had revealed to Solomon. Here, she praises him for his wealth, his power, and wisdom, two remarkable things that impressed her immensely. God had truly blessed this Israelite king. Again I want to reiterate that this was the Golden Age of Israel, not to be repeated again, perhaps, until Christ’s millennial reign from Jerusalem in the future.

A talent was a unit of weight, with some sources stating that a talent of gold could have been 75lbs. and that in the time of Jesus’ walk on earth a talent could represent 20 years of wages.

Almug trees, according to Strong’s, are possibly Sandalwood trees. Algum in 2Chronicles is simply an alternate spelling for an English transliteration of two slightly different Hebrew words. There is almug from al-moo-gheem and algum from al-goom-meem. Most likely, they are the same tree with two Hebrew spellings and two English spellings provided.

1Kings 10:14 ¶  Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold, 15  Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffick of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country. 16  And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target. 17  And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. 18  Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. 19  The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. 20  And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. 21  And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. 22  For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. 23  So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. 24  And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 25  And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. 26  And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king at Jerusalem. 27  And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance. 28  And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price. 29  And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.

Now 666 is an interesting number for this king and at least one commentator insisted that Solomon was both a type of a returning Christ and a type of the Beast of Revelation, the Antichrist. Solomon was a wealthy monarch in the countries of the Ancient Near East. We should remember that when an ancient writer, including a Biblical one or, say, a Roman one, referred to the world they were speaking only of the world they knew, the geographical area in which they and their neighboring countries lived. Was Solomon richer than Chinese kings? Perhaps. But keep in mind the likely context of such a statement as So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches.

Fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen show us that, as I have said before in my comments on chariot warfare, they used a string of horses to replace dead horses for a chariot in battle as the horses that drew the chariot were a likely target for infantry and archers to render the mobile fighting platform immobile and helpless.

Chariots will play a very important part in place in the Old Testament and be a source of contention. One thing missing in scholarship and Bible exposition is the common sense understanding of chariot warfare. A chariot was a mobile fighting platform as well as a ceremonial vehicle whose weak link was also how it was delivered to the forefront of the battle so quickly; its horses. Logic tells us, logic and common sense, that the horses would be what the infantry would go after first. Kill the horses and the chariot cannot move and respond to the battle. So, with chariots there needed to be a string of horses and horsemen to accompany them. Like the pit crew at a NASCAR event these teams needed to be able to replace dead and injured horses or, in a fierce battle, the chariot would have been rendered useless and even helpless quite quickly, as the driver would not be able to remove to safety in the event of being overwhelmed with dead horses.

1Kings 4:26  And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

2Chronicles 9:25  And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

So, in these two verses which have been the source of much disagreement it is very obvious to me that Solomon had 40,000 stalls for chariot horses and 4,000 stalls that were big enough for the chariot and the horse team that drew it. This would be necessary for maintenance and preparation before training and battle. This also implies a string of 10 horses per chariot as the primary team and backup. These backup teams would have not only needed protection by cavalry but perhaps were a capable fighting force all their own. There is no contradiction, just common sense and reading comprehension needed here.

Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt. Solomon’s story gives us clues as to the why of the eventual downfall of Israel as he multiplies wives to himself of foreign religions and goes back to Egypt for horses.

Deuteronomy 17:16  But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

But at this point King Solomon and his kingdom of Israel are on top of their world. It does look promising, doesn’t it?

John 12, verse 20, there were certain Greeks

 

John 12:20 ¶  And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:

Greeks, Gentiles, who came to worship at the Passover is quite an interesting event. Timothy, Paul’s young preacher protégé, was the son of a Greek unbeliever and a Jewish mother.

Acts 16:1  Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek:

In the New Testament the word Greek is used for Gentile or non-Jew as the dominant culture in that part of the world was Greek-centered and the Greek language was commonly spoken, even by many Romans. Any non-Jew in the New Testament might be called a Greek.

Romans 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Romans 10:12  For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

Galatians 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:11  Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

 A person might be of an ethnic background other than Greek but still be called a Greek based on culture in the New Testament while in the Old Testament more attention is paid to specific ethnicity or nation. In the following verse the word nation as elsewhere in the Bible does not  refer to a nation-state as it does today. It refers to ethnicity, as in tribal affiliation or people group like the Hebrews or the Chaldeans, or a kingdom in a couple of instances. See Genesis 12:2,3; 10:5, 32 and then Genesis 18:8 with Acts 3:25.

Mark 7:26  The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

Actual ethnic Greeks, though, had a long history with the Ancient Near East as traders, settlers, and mercenaries who fought for both sides in any given war of which there are a number of historical works including Xenophon’s Anabasis.

Zechariah 9:13  When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.

Mercenaries are called hired men.

Jeremiah 46:21  Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.

At the Battle of Carchemish, referred to in 2Chronicles 35:20 and Jeremiah 46:2, both Nebuchadnezzar’s and Pharaoh Necho’s armies were at least partly composed of Greek mercenaries.

There is a lamentation regarding children sold as slaves to the Greeks.

Joel 3:6  The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

My point is that it is in this way that the Greek culture and mainland Greece would have learned about Jewish religion and been influenced to create their mythologies that justified their own political histories. Examples would be how Hercules is a Greek Samson and a Jonah. Not only was he a man-god of great strength but he, too, was swallowed by a sea monster for three days. The myth of Atlantis is the pre-flood civilization. There are a number of similarities in Greek mythology, too many to discuss here, that would suggest that Greece’s mythology is simply a reworking of Bible truths which preceded them by hundreds of years used to justify political and cultural themes.

The Greeks mentioned in this verse did not have to come from mainland Greece although they could have. They may have been Hellenized (Greek culture) Gentiles of the Near East who had become believers in the Jewish religion as the Ethiopian official in Acts 8 had.

Proverbs 29, verse 8, wise men turn away wrath

 

Proverbs 29:8 ¶ Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath.

The scorner is linked to the wicked man in Proverbs 9:7. He is the opposite of the wise man by contrast in the following verse. He doesn’t listen to rebuke in Proverbs 13:1. Even when he looks for wisdom he can’t find it in Proverbs 14:6. He won’t go to the wise for advice and he doesn’t like people who correct him as per Proverbs 15:12. He is proud and haughty; arrogant, and his wrath, his constant anger, is a reflection of his immense pride as well. See 21:24. In Proverbs 22:10 we see that he’s the cause of contention and strife and reproach and when he’s kicked out all of that goes with him. In 24:9 he thinks sinful, foolish thoughts and he’s an abomination to men.

When scorners rule, a city or a nation are in deep trouble. Democracies tend to be ruled by the men who can afford to run for office, by the elite, highly educated, proud, and arrogant. They have no problem sending someone else’s children to die for their failed diplomacies. They have no problem causing someone else’s children to be killed for their own personal plans or prejudices. Their main concern is not how they spend the money the state extorts from its citizens in the way of taxes on virtually everything but air but how they can dupe the public enough to get them reelected. The system is set up that way and attracts those kinds of people.

The Scriptures say;

Daniel 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Satan himself said to Jesus;

Luke 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

The 19th century viewpoint among Christians was predominantly postmillennial. They were going to bring in the kingdom of heaven on earth without Christ physically present but with them ruling in his place much like the Catholic Church believed it had been doing for 1500 years. That view began to die out when the horrors of World War One and Two’s total war showed them that mankind was perhaps not capable of building a better world. 150 million dead and displaced in the 20th century knocked a hole in the “Glory, glory, hallelujah, His truth is marching on” crowd’s belief in a perfect world run on Christian principles.

The fact is that Satan is the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) and rules over the kingdoms of this earth, including the USA, until Christ returns to take control (Revelation 11:15). The best we can pray for now, besides Christ return, is that we can push and pull the government into occasionally doing right and holding it accountable for its actions. But, it is important to not fall into the postmillennialist trap of believing that mankind himself will do what God has said he will not and like Lorenzo Dow, famed 19th century evangelist, believe that the very creation of America was the fulfillment of prophecy as the stone in Daniel that smote the feet of the world’s great powers and then grew to be a great mountain that covered the whole earth. This blasphemy was commonplace until the 20th century’s wakeup call.

 

Scornful, wicked rulers ensnare a nation. We need a wise man and wise men to run the country. God’s wrath is on the nations of men.

Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

Some people try to pretend that the world is a wonderful place full of beauty, knowledge, wonderful architecture, arts, learning, and goodwill. But you can dress a pig up in an evening gown and makeup and it’s still a pig. In reality, the only thing that separates us from savages in New Guinea is some nifty looking buildings.

Of course, our culture can hardly help the decay it is experiencing because of who we hold aloft as admirable and worthy of respect.

Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

With scorners in power in either party, perhaps God’s wrath has not come down full on America because there are still a few wise men and women who know what a Bible actually is and believe it and keep praying for mercy for the America that is today’s Babylon.

 

John 12, verses 1 to 19, they made him a supper

 

John 12:1 ¶  Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2  There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3  Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. 4  Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him, 5  Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? 6  This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. 7  Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. 8  For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always. 9  Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead. 10  But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; 11  Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

At this supper to which Jesus was invited, Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead, sat next to Him. Mary poured a pound of expensive ointment on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. This act of devotion, only possible when Christ was physically on the earth, was referred to in chapter 11, verse 2.

Judas Iscariot pointed out that this ointment cost 300 pence. In Biblical terms that would be equal almost to a year’s wages as a penny is the standard set for a day’s wages. See Matthew 20. Translated originally from the word, denarius, using penny and pence is more understandable to us for the smallest unit of money than it would leaving denarius in the text.

Judas was not expressing concern for the poor but was upset because he was stealing from the bag of money. Notice that Jesus and His disciples were not collecting money to build a church gym or take the group on a cruise of the Greek islands. The money was for the poor. Of course, Judas’ statement is also the same excuse every theological liberal makes when he wants to avoid preaching the undiluted gospel to the world, as well.

Jesus makes a point that should be well-noted by interpreters of the Bible, by pastors and teachers. Verses 7 and 8 reveal to us that there were certain conditions that were only met by Jesus Christ actually being on the earth physically walking about. For instance, it was only possible to commit the unpardonable sin by attributing Jesus Christ’s work to an unclean spirit thus blaspheming the Holy Ghost, the third part of the three parts of God, while Jesus walked on the earth.

Mark 3:28  Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29  But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: 30  Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

Jesus’ statement here in “The Gospel According to John” does not give Christians a pass when it comes to caring for the poor in the church so they can buy gospel tracts. If that were so there would be a contradiction with other verses in the New Testament about helping those in the church who were suffering. So, in the little time that God walked the earth His friends and disciples did well by acts of devotion to His person. In a brief time He would be physically gone from them. But, the risen Christ, through His words and the words of His ministers would never accept neglect of the poor in the church. As one example read Ephesians 4:28, Paul’s admonition to Gentile Christians.

Ephesians 4:28  Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Many of the Jews believed on Jesus because of Lazarus and they were fascinated to see the man who had been plucked out of the arms of death. Because of this the chief priests wanted to murder Lazarus because of the threat Lazarus’ new life represented much as a person in many a church today becoming born again is a threat to that church organization. Their sole concern was not truth but how Jesus’ very existence might threaten their power over the people. Like Judas they were really concerned about someone interfering with their scam, their con job. How evil the religious elite were. They were not to be trusted then and are not to be trusted now.

John 12:12 ¶  On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13  Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. 14  And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, 15  Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. 16  These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. 17  The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. 18  For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. 19  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

For a time Jesus is recognized for who He is, Israel’s true king, their Messiah, their Christ. A great many people praised Him shouting and waved branches of palm trees. They praised and blessed His name. The palm tree was an emblem of victory and triumph in the ancient world, as Matthew Henry tells it. There is an air of expectation in these praises for Him to be the agent of God’s deliverance of Israel.

Psalm 118:25  Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. 26  Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.

Read Psalm 118 for a mix of the first and Second Advent prophecy, then read it together with Psalm 2 to get some perspective of the millennial reign of Christ and the events at the end of the millennium when Satan tempts Gog and Magog to rise up in Revelation 20:7-10. This triumphal entry into Jerusalem may be a sign of things to come at the end of history as Jesus does not assume the temporal kingly role at His first appearance but early Christians did expect Him to physically return to rule for a thousand years, called the Millennium or the Millennial Reign of Christ. This is what some historical church organizations think they are doing now, in His stead, with, to them, a millennium just being a long period of time until they win the world for Christ and turn it over to Him at His eventual return. Not doing too good a job are they? The early Christians, though, were expectantly waiting for Christ’s return to rule. They were not expecting to set up a millennial golden age without Christ being physically present.

Jesus came in riding a donkey in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

Zechariah 9:9 ¶  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Riding upon an ass, a donkey, was an ancient and honorable way of travel for royalty.

2Samuel 16:2  And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.

His disciples did not catch the meaning of all of this until after His resurrection. The Pharisees express their exasperation with another unintentional prophecy as the worship of Christ will become a worldwide religion.

Proverbs 29, verse 7, the cause of the poor

 

Proverbs 29:7 ¶ The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

In the Hebrew kingdom of the ancient world, under God’s law, created to separate the Hebrews as a distinctive people, unique among a host of wicked, Gentile nations the poor were supposed to be taken care of in specific ways. The Hebrews were to leave some food in their fields for the poor and for the foreigner living among them to get during the harvest. Clearly, the poor were expected to do some work to get it.

Leviticus 23:22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

The Hebrew was to be generous to the poor.

Deuteronomy 15:11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

The instructions given to the kingdom of Israel regarding welfare for the poor were more like American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) programs of the 1930’s where you even had out of work executives whose only business attire was a suit sweeping a city sidewalk or cleaning up a park. You could get government aid, but if you were able and healthy enough to do so you had to work.

Somewhere in the 1960’s welfare programs became a handout with no expectation of work on behalf of a healthy, able-bodied individual. Then, in the 1990’s President Bill Clinton introduced a type of “workfare”, a word first coined by 60’s civil rights leader, James Evers, and first used in a speech by President Richard Nixon. This was designed to get the welfare recipient into employment. Some on the left criticize it as simply moving the poor person into a different category and not employing them at all.

We also have many working poor in our country. There are people unable to find full time work with benefits or a living wage and will work two or three part time jobs just to maintain a roof over their head or food on their table. There is usually nothing else left for improving their lives and many of these people used to not have health insurance.

 

There are no Christian countries and never have been as only a person can be a Christian. There is no communal or group salvation. Each and every individual is responsible for coming to Christ. Certainly, the United States was founded on Christian principles and often by many men who claimed to be Christian of some stripe or the other. However, leaving the political world aside let’s look at the individual’s responsibility to the poor, both within and “without the camp” under the doctrines of grace.

Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, made himself poor for our sakes.

2Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

With regard to caring for the poor within the house of God, the family of God, the church, which is the body of Christ on earth, Paul tells us;

2 Corinthians 8:12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. 13 For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: 14 But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: 15 As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.

And in this context he says in an often abused passage by preachers trying to raise money for a new parking lot or a basketball court rather than the poorer brethren’s needs;

2 Corinthians 9:6 ¶ But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) 11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

So, in context the Christian has a responsibility before God to help his poorer brothers and sisters. This is considered a good work and is the active result of having charity toward your brothers and sisters. Paul calls those Christian who are rich in this world to distribute and communicate, two words that mean supplying a physical need.

1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

And returning back to the context of the earlier passage about giving bountifully and as God has laid it on your heart Paul brings us to the point where our mercy and benevolence is expressed not only to those in the church but the poor in the world, as well. The wicked choose to look the other way.

2 Corinthians 9:11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God; 13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; 14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

This is a voluntary function, a Christian work done because a person is saved, not to get saved or to stay saved, or even to purchase salvation. It is from the heart and not done as a political act, at the point of the proverbial gun. So, you must separate in your head your duty to the state and what you do out of love for Christ and for the brethren. They are two entirely separate things, although you probably will not object to your tax money going in part to help people simply because you are generous.

Christian giving is not political. Considering the poor is a Christian duty and an act of love, not a nuisance that gets in the way of you taking vacations to Cancun or building a nest egg for your children’s ease of living. And God will take care of you. Paul, after thanking the Philippians for being generous in supporting him in his missionary efforts promises;

Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

The wicked simply don’t care about the poor. It doesn’t even cross their mind. “I”, “me”, and “mine” are their trinity. Neither Ayn Rand nor Karl Marx were followers of Christ when they were on the earth. But believe me, if government welfare was efficient and went where it was actually needed rather than being a tool with which to buy votes then people like Bill Gates wouldn’t set up a foundation to help people. They’d just write bigger checks to the government and take fewer deductions.

In any event, once you have met your own survival needs then look to the needs of others, first in the church, then in the world. God will take care of you.

John 11, verses 45 to 57, the opinion of Caiaphas

 

John 11:45 ¶  Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. 46  But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. 47  Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 48  If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. 49  And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, 50  Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 51  And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52  And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. 53  Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death. 54  Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples. 55  And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves. 56  Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast? 57  Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.

Some of the witnesses to this miracle believe but amazingly some rush to tell the leadership about this dangerous threat to the status quo. The Pharisees and the council are in a quandary. What are they going to do? They acknowledge that Jesus has actually performed many miracles. Their great fear is that the disruption Jesus causes will encourage the Romans to overrule their authority.

Human government’s main preoccupation is with preserving its authority. A politician in a Democracy has as his main impulse the drive to get re-elected. Power is the end goal of power. Here we have an admission that Christ is doing many miracles but rather than being drawn to Him, their paranoia and fear of losing control over the people takes precedence.

The Messiah performing miracles, supernatural acts of healing and raising people from the dead, cannot be tolerated. Eventually, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, would understand this.

Mark 15:9  But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews? 10  For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.

Envy is a dangerous thing.

Proverbs 27:4  Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?

The high priest, Caiphas, not knowing that he is working toward God’s own goal of the cross and the empty tomb, states that Jesus must die for the sake of the nation. However, there is no fear of God in Caiphas’ remark, though. Later Gamaliel, the great teacher of Paul (Acts 22:3), will say about some of the Apostles actions;

Acts 5:38  And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 39  But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

Verse 51 states that this was an unintentional prophecy, that Jesus would die for the Jews and not only those over which the Sanhedrin controlled but also for those scattered abroad meaning the Jews around the world. Here is the phrase used in another context for the Jews not living in Israel.

James 1:1  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

The phrase scattered abroad is first used to refer to the descendants of Japheth, Ham, and Shem from Genesis 9 who are dispersed around the world at the Tower of Babel event in Genesis 11. After that it is predominantly used to refer to the Jews in Acts 8, 11, and in James. Notice the greeting in 1Peter 1:1 as well. In some dispensational theories the Bible is written predominantly to the Jews, first to the people of God under the Law and then to the Jewish followers of Christ. By this theory the Bible is written in dispensational order so that only the books that start with the name, Paul, are written directly and doctrinally to Christians. Genesis, half of human history, is before the Law was presented although God’s standards were understood in many instances as you can see by pagan kings’ fear of God and Job’s understanding of right and wrong. Then, there is the Hebrew or Jewish people under the Law through the Gospels and then after the church age ends in a rebellious slave being sent home to his master in Philemon. After that, the letters are written to Jewish believers, scattered abroad. Matthew, Acts, and Hebrews are transitional books that show the unfolding of the Gospel to the Jews, early church history, and the transition from a predominantly Gentile church to again, a predominantly Jewish one at the end of history. Every verse in the Bible has an application to Christians but as far as our direct marching orders are concerned we must look to Paul’s letters to the churches. Of course, that is just one theory of Biblical interpretation among many.

 Whatever theory of interpretation you prescribe to just be careful about instructions given to the Jews and do not confuse the Jews with the Church. We can look at the Bible for what it says to the people it was originally written to and in what context, look at its application all through history to Christians, and then see how it applies directly to us individually. Notice what Christ said to the Philadelphia church.

Revelation 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

One type of Replacement Theology has the Christian church claiming the physical promises to Ancient Israel and saying that God is done with the Jews. I have said repeatedly that I think the Bible makes it clear that God is NOT done with the Jews but that’s a discussion for another time.

From this day forward their purpose was to kill Jesus and they put out word for informants to let them know where He was. The Passover was coming and it was expected that He would show up there. After all, how could He not, at this most important of times?

Jesus removed Himself and His disciples to the country temporarily, to a town called Ephraim.  

Proverbs 29, verses 5 and 6, flattery

 

Proverbs 29:5 ¶ A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.

There have been several warnings against flattery in Proverbs, particularly that one should look out for it and not be deceived when someone tries to get an advantage over us with it.

Proverbs 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

Proverbs 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.

Proverbs 7:5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

Proverbs 7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.

Proverbs 20:19 He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.

Proverbs 26:28 A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.

Proverbs 28:23 He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.

The person who flatters you, who pumps you up, pays undue attention to you, and exaggerates your better traits is after something. He or she is laying a trap for you. People in authority are prone to have people flatter them to gain some advantage. Many a powerful man has been knocked out of his place by his own lust and the attentions of a young woman. People who know where they are going, though, and what their purpose here on earth is are not so prone to being found the victims of their own weakness for self-worship and the flattery of another.

When someone knows what is in man as Jesus did spoken of in John 2:25 and when someone knows the condition of the human heart as in Jeremiah 17:9 then the flatterer will have a frustratingly difficult time with him or her. However, the fact is that if certain people ever change their religion it will be because they no longer think they’re God. Those kinds of weak people, even in positions of power and authority, are susceptible to the damaging flattery of someone, particularly those who seek to entrap them.

Young women are notoriously susceptible to the kind of flattery from men designed to overthrow them and bring them to ruin. Fawning words and unnecessary attention to your appearance or even your character can and often are a thinly disguised attempt to put you in a vulnerable place where you can be taken advantage of. I know you crave to hear someone remark that you’re pretty, or smart, or really nice but beware of men, young or old, who do that. Rather than receiving a compliment you may be victim of someone who wants to steal your pride from you. Of course, if you know what the human heart‘s condition is and what is in man you will not be so easily manipulated.

Beware of flattery and flatterers.

 

Proverbs 29:6 ¶ In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice.

Examining this verse by contrast, with the clause after the colon helping to define the intention of the clause preceding it is clear that the Proverbs says that the sin of the evil man does not produce joy or happiness, but that it is the righteous that sings and rejoices.

This applies in life and after life as for eternity those who belong to Christ will be praising God and rejoicing in His presence while those who reject the free gift of salvation through Christ will spend eternity in a lake of unquenchable fire. This isn’t a political statement nor is it an exercise in exclusivity as God has offered the free gift of eternal life to all men regardless of race or ethnicity or national origin. It’s there for the taking. Salvation is predicated only upon belief in and trust in Christ alone; no church, creed, dogma, doctrine, or works can save you. Salvation is predicated upon a belief and trust in a risen Saviour. Don’t add to it based on your favorite preacher’s agenda or your own desire to control others.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Certainly in this life, the error of sin will catch a person on fire all by itself. People who reject common sense and God’s standards laid out in the Bible often find themselves in dire situations with sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned children, poverty, alienation, prison, and the misery that comes from having no options left. When we follow our heart as our right to do we find that the wicked human heart will lead us down a path of self-destruction. I’ve known many people who started out in life bent on a course of self-satisfaction only to find that within a few years they had been left with little to show but a broken body, a fractured mind, and the fallout from sin that leaves behind wounded and innocent children destined to grow up to repeat the sins of their parents, without the Holy Spirit’s intervention.

 

If the Christian is miserable, and some are, it is because he or she has chosen a carnal lifestyle, focused on themselves and on self-worship, and has no Fruit of the Spirit of God shining through them.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

If the Christian is miserable it is because they don’t have any love for their fellow Christians, which is what the word charity means in the Bible. You can’t have a love for people you don’t know. If you don’t join with other believers in worship you can’t love them and if you attend a church where people discharge their “duty” on Sunday morning but have no fellowship with the other believers you can hardly feel love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, with the internet there is even less of an excuse not to fellowship with at least a couple of other believers online worshipping God and searching the Scriptures for what God has to say to you.

1Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Loving and caring for your brothers and sisters in Christ is a command straight from Jesus Christ.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

If Christians, particularly Fundamentalist Christians, spent more time doing what God has told them to do; displaying the fruit of the Spirit and loving the brethren, and less time worrying about what other people do and whether or not others live in a way that mirrors their own or have the same personal convictions that they do they would certainly be happier and able to sing and rejoice and more likely to draw the unsaved to Christ.

The transgression of the evil man is a snare. It binds and enslaves him to his own flesh, the world’s preferences for him, and to Satan himself. It ends in physical and spiritual destruction. There is no joy in the natural outcome of living for your flesh, whether you be bound for Hell or for Heaven in the end. Don’t worry about me being a hypocrite. I’m speaking as much to myself as to all of you when I write these comments. When I work on them I pray for light from God. If the light God gives me condemns my behavior or calls into question my walk with Christ, then so be it. Truth is truth, whether or not it pleases my flesh.

The righteous doth sing and rejoice regardless of his or her circumstances. If you can’t do that then,

2Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

 

John 11, verses 33 to 44, part two, comments, Jesus wept

 

And here, in this passage, the Creator of the universe, in the form of a human being, looks on the misery and grief caused by sin and mourns with us, being one of us.

Jesus wept.

Have you ever wept for sin and its consequences in the history of the earth? Have you ever wept for the sorrow of death, just in general, not necessarily for a loss you’ve suffered but for the despair all mankind and, indeed, all creation faces as a result of man’s sin?

Although I cannot be sure if this is exact or not one source reports that 55 million people die every year, over 105,000 per day, or two people every second. This statistic does not take into account the untold millions suffering from starvation and disease. Nor does it take into account the million and hundreds of millions suffering mentally and emotionally, grieving, distraught, anxious, and afraid. There are millions of children and women who have been sexually and physically abused and elderly people with no way to care for their own needs. Adam’s sin, which we have inherited, has a devastation that is its consequence that is unimaginable.

In many of the houses you drive by on your way to work or the store there are dramas in play that revolve around heartbreak, betrayal, manipulation, exploitation, and disillusionment. Many of you suffer from things you have done or things others have done to you in your life. Many even suffer from seemingly random acts, chance acts, which deprived you of someone you dearly loved. And, in the end, there is, on top of all the pain and suffering, a grave.

It is not a “glorious” death most of us face but a whimpering, gasping, drug-clouded death in a hospital, nursing home, or at home, perhaps alone with strangers who see death every day, and many times without a familiar face nearby to look for compassion and sorrow in at our passing. I want to impress upon you, who in this age have been so removed from death in a way our ancestors were not, the despair and the grief that Jesus stood facing.

Some commentators have insisted that the following phrase, spoken by Jesus in the popularly called ‘Sermon on the Mount’ is about mourning for the existence of sin and its consequences.

Matthew 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

God sees the anguish and sorrow of heart that death, the primary result of our sin here, causes. He, too, wept. Have you? Thank God, Jesus Christ has overcome death.

Hebrews 2:14 ¶  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15  And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

When Lazarus’ name was called he arose to meet the Lord.

1Thessalonians 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

But, like many of us adults who were saved in our prime of life he needed help directed by the Lord to be unbound from the vestiges of his former condition. Unlike the little 12 year old child who arose immediately and was commanded to be fed by the Lord in Mark 5:42 or the son of the widow of Nain in Luke 7 who was perhaps older and needed help even to get up to be delivered to his mother Lazarus represents that middle age between childhood and the older adult who believes.

God can save us, call us forth, to leave the tomb of our sin and wickedness, but we are often still bound in our graveclothes and need help. It is the duty of the body of Christ on earth to edify and instruct the Christian newly delivered from the grave, not to bind them in different graveclothes, keeping the living person bound nonetheless. The call to every preacher and teacher, indeed, to every mature Christian is to take the new believer and, as Jesus commanded Loose him, and let him go.

Proverbs 29, verse 4, bribes

 

Proverbs 29:4 ¶ The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.

Bribery in all its forms is condemned by God. Any public official who takes or demands a bribe should be taken out and horsewhipped, not just removed from office. A key part of public service is public trust. Without it you simply have a run of the mill barbarous government. It has been said that the U.S. government is totally corrupt, bought and paid for by corporate and union interests, plus influential men of great wealth.

Both the taking….

Exodus 23:8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 16:19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.

Amos 5:12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

And the giving of a bribe is soundly condemned.

Proverbs 17:23 A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.

This Proverb states that a corrupt government, influenced by the taking of gifts, cannot stand for long. This is a clear warning for any nation whose leaders take gifts and bribes to pervert judgment. Without a dull, glassy eyed electorate or hidden hands to prop it up for special interests such a corrupt government cannot exist for long.

How does the king, the chief executive, the leadership establish a nation? By judgment. What is judgment?

It is synonymous with justice.

Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

It is to be done with righteousness.

Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.

It is to be done in an impartial manner.

Deuteronomy 1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.

It is to be done without regard to the social status, political power, or legal status of the individuals being judged. (A stranger is a foreigner.)

Deuteronomy 24:17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge:

All of God’s ways; his precepts, statutes, commandments, testimonies, and words are judgments (read the first dozen or so verses of Psalm 119.)

Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

There is no place in righteous judgment for the taking of gifts.

1Samuel 8:3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

(A word of note to Christians. The Holy Spirit will refer to verses in the Old Testament by allusions, paraphrases or quotes in the New. At times a different word is inserted into the verse to show that in God’s plan and for our edification the two words mean the same thing. The following verses show us that truth is the victory or triumph of God’s judgment just as we can see the relationship between to “bring forth” and “ send” [examine closely Exodus 3:10]. We know that Christ is THE truth (John 14:6) and God’s wisdom [1 Corinthians 1:24; 30] through whom we have victory [1 Corinthians 15:57] and Christ has the victory over Satan and death and Hell [1Timothy 1:15; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 1:18.] That would be a good subject for a sermon, perhaps.

Isaiah 42:3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.

It is an interesting exercise to look for other parallel verses like this. I’ve found many.)

A corrupt government cannot be a just government. A corrupt government cannot stand for long. At the rate we are going the United States will be a flash in the pan in the long course of history.

John 11, verses 33 to 44, Jesus wept

 

John 11:33 ¶  When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34  And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. 35  Jesus wept. 36  Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! 37  And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? 38  Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 39  Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. 40  Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? 41  Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.  42  And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43  And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44  And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Our sorrow over death, our fear of it, and the grief it brings have always been a burden on the mind of man and woman. Some people have come up with philosophies that deny a just and compassionate God, or a God at all, could exist with such facts presented to us. A famous evolutionary scientist and militant atheist, Richard Dawkins, understood what we see around us but applied this false conclusion that the universe is an undirected thing with no God present. He said;

The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive; others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites; thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored….In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. (16)

 

Another atheist scientist does not go so far in his explanation but confirms an important fact of biology;

Humans on rare occasions may survive to 120 years, some turtles to 200. But all animals eventually die. Many single-cell organisms may die, as the result of accident or starvation; in fact the vast majority do. But there is nothing programmed into them that says they must die. Death did not appear simultaneously with life. This is one of the most important and profound statements in all of biology. At the very least it deserves repetition: Death is not inextricably intertwined with the definition of life. (17)

The Bible, however, tells us that death, not present in God’s original creation, was caused by man’s sin, his disobedience;

Romans 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

For arrogant humans who object to being compared to the beasts, with whom we have death in common;

Ecclesiastes 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

 The Bible tells us that the whole creation is in agony with pain and trouble abounding;

Romans 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Before the Flood, the great physical disaster in human history compared to Adam’s Fall, the great spiritual disaster, neither beast nor man ate flesh by the evidence we have in the Bible.

Genesis 1:29 ¶  And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

It is difficult for us to understand how different that world was. But, it was after it that beasts became afraid of man and man was given the authority to eat them.

Genesis 9:1 ¶  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2  And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Christ is the only answer for our grief and suffering, for our anticipation and fear of death. Let anyone who says they are not afraid to die ask themselves what measures they take each day to ensure that they will live. Do we not consider someone who wants to commit suicide as mentally ill or, in some cases, possessed by a devil? We, as humans, like the beasts, wish to avoid death as long as we can. Death is a specter that hangs over us all. Christ is the only answer to the question of death.

Revelation 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

(16) Richard Dawkins, River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (New York: Basic Books, 1995), 154-155.

(17) William R. Clark, Sex and the Origins of Death (London: Oxford University Press, 1998), 54.

Psalm 38, rebuke me not in thy wrath

 

Psalm 38:1 ¶  «A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.» O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. 2  For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. 3  There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. 4  For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 5  My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. 6  I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long. 7  For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh. 8  I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. 9  Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee. 10  My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. 11  My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.

 

Here is David begging for mercy from the standpoint of every person who has royally messed up their life and comes to God. His health is shot because of his sin, his sins are weighing him down, his self-inflicted wounds are obvious, he is depressed, maybe has a sexually transmitted disease, and everyone rejects him, even his family. Now, I don’t know how absolutely true this was of David but it is true of many of God’s children who have sunken into the pit of alcohol and drugs, immoral behavior, dishonesty, impulsiveness, and recklessness who have spent their lives like spare change you find in the sofa. There are those of us who can relate to this prayer. There are those of us who know people who can relate to this prayer. It’s all fun and games until it’s not.

 

Verse 1 is a repeat of a plea made in Psalm 6:1.

 

Psalm 6:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.» O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. 2  Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed. 3  My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long? 4  Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.

 

For verse 2 sharp arrows can be words, as in God’s Law that David has sinned against. See the following verses where words are likened to arrows.

 

Psalm 57:4  My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

 

Psalm 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

 

For verse 4 see;

 

Psalm 40:12  For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

 

Verse 5 reminds me of;

 

Isaiah 1:5  Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

 

For verse 6 here is a comparison;

 

Psalm 6:6  I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

 

These cross-references should give you an idea of how dire the situation is that David and anyone else making this prayer is in. Next, David will express his fear at the personal danger he is in from others as the Psalm moves from internal agonies to external dangers.

 

Psalm 38:12 ¶  They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long. 13  But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. 14  Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs. 15  For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. 16  For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me. 17  For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. 18  For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. 19  But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. 20  They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is. 21  Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. 22  Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.

 

David complains about the viciousness of his enemies here.

 

Psalm 25:19  Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.

 

As it gets to verse 20 they even render the good that David has done to them back on him for evil.

 

Psalm 109:4  For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

 

In all of this David reminds me of Christ.

 

Isaiah 53:7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

 

Matthew 27:12  And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. 13  Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? 14  And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.

 

John 15:23  He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24  If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25  But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

 

As Philip taught the Ethiopian eunuch.

 

Acts 8:26 ¶  And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. 27  And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28  Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. 29  Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30  And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31  And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 32  The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: 33  In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. 34  And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? 35  Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

 

The mention of salvation is verse 22 is temporal salvation not eternal. In fact, the vast majority of times that the words salvation or saved are used in the Bible they are not a reference to everlasting life but to delivery from a danger here on earth. In a Bible study with my son, Micah, we did a study of those words and found it to be so. What David is concerned about here is being delivered from his enemies. We, too, can appropriate this prayer for ourselves, to be delivered from the present consequences of our past sins over which we are sorry and to be delivered from those who would do us harm for no good reason.