Bible Study on Matthew 5, verses 33 to 37, just yes or no

 

Matthew 5:33 ¶  Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34  But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35  Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36  Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37  But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

 

Again, similar to our Supreme Court that claims to interpret the meaning of the original Constitution let’s look at what came from God through Moses.

 

Numbers 30:2  If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

 

Here, Jesus, not negating the Law but in keeping with the last passage about being better off to lose a hand or an eye than be cast into Hell for your lust says here that it is better not to swear at all. He gives very valid reasons including our powerlessness in making such oaths as we do not have the ultimate capacity to control events that might prevent us from keeping such a promise.

 

Notice how the hairs of our head are numbered, a number we cannot know.

 

Matthew 10:30  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

 

Ultimately Christ calls for very straightforward communication from us. Words mean something and our words should be plain and clear and honest. Let us dispense with all such, “I swear I’ll…,” or, “As God is my witness …,” and other such obsolete and uncalled for declarations.

 

Notice verse 35 a perhaps future prophecy in that Jerusalem will be Christ’s capital when He reigns on earth physically for a thousand years. Some authorities believe the following is a reference to the millennium.

 

Zechariah 8:21  And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.22  Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. 23  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

Bible Study on Genesis 34, verses 1 to 5, the ordeal of Dinah

 

Genesis 34:1 ¶  And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2  And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. 3  And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. 4  And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. 5  And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come.

What happens next is not Dinah’s fault any more than your car being stolen from its parking space because you left it unlocked is your fault. Sin is the fault of the person who commits the sin. The offence has come through the thief. However, living carelessly has its punishments. Here, we learn something about what Paul speaks of in Titus 2:5, a woman being discrete and keeping at home. Dinah was rather unlike her male ancestors who acted quite cautiously and were very worried about even the possible intentions of those around them. She ventured out to see the daughters of the land and was raped by Shechem, the son of that territory’s ruler. Notice the phrasing, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. There is no hint here of a consensual act.

First, prince means a ruler and a judge. Notice the synonyms joined by and in the following verses.

Exodus 2:14  And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

Acts 7:35  This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.

The words king and prince denote ruler and final authority in judgment over a people, a chieftain by today’s standards in more primitive cultures.

Proverbs 14:28  In the multitude of people is the king’s honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.

Dinah, apparently being without any strong protection, was obviously raped. Remember that Abraham and Isaac both had fear that the ruler of the land in which they sought a place to live temporarily would kill them so that ruler could easily take their wives. God did not prevent this from happening as he did prevent the women’s defilement in those former cases.

Apparently, the ancient world in this area was a very dangerous place for women who did not have the men of their family to protect them, as much of it is today, in the Middle East and Africa. God will eventually give a law that protects women in these circumstances but in their relation to the group, the Hebrews. But, when we get to the Law given to Moses we must understand that those Laws are the civil and religious ordinances for the Hebrew people separating them from the people around them, and do not go far enough for the Christian as Christ and Paul lay out the spirit of those Laws rather than the carnal letter which dealt with the flesh itself. The Law given to Moses was more about the integrity and character of the group than the character and integrity of the individual as God was separating a people of a particular ethnicity unto Him rather than a person who had no abiding nation on earth necessarily.

Shechem’s heart was smitten by Dinah, though, and he felt tenderness toward her after his violence rather than the contempt, for instance, that Amnon felt for Tamar in 2Samuel 13 after he raped her. He petitioned his father to ask for her in marriage. Jacob knew what had happened but in his position of being a guest, a stranger in their land, exercised restraint waiting for his sons to come in from the field. His position was not good. The rape of Dinah will be felt as a wrong committed against the family, the group, more importantly than against Dinah, as an individual. This is clearly a different sort of attitude than the Christian feels, as all sin is against God and against the person, and government is established to punish those who do evil. In fact, if you read Romans 13 it is one of the only justifications for human government.

Dinah may have had the opportunity to visit the daughters of the land. She may have even had the right to do so. But it was not a very smart thing to do, not thinking through the situation without protection. She is not to blame here for the crime as you own your sin. But she was not wise. Still, God allowed this to happen to set in motion something revealing to us. I remember in college when there was a campus rapist in operation many of the young men trying to convince the young women that although they had the right to go on their own across campus at night to the library it was not smart to do so without an escort. This, of course, offended the modern feminist, whose rights the rapist predator could not have cared about in the least.

It is a callous error, though, of modern fundamentalism to insist that men cannot control themselves and that if a man acts wrongly out of lust it is a woman’s fault. As I said earlier, regardless of how you want to cut it, you own your own sin. Don’t put it off on the employer who leaves money to tempt you, the girl who passes by you wearing too revealing clothing, or the person who runs into a store leaving the keys in his car. Take responsibility. Child molesters will even blame a child for enticing them. This is a wicked thought pattern, of course.

We will learn here another principle of the Bible. One crime does not blot out another. God allowed this to happen to reveal something, to show us the character and nature of the patriarchs of the Hebrew people. In this, they are going to be shown as very much like the people around them, from whom God is drawing them out. Paul writes in Romans 15 that these things were written about for our learning. So, learn.

Bible Study on Matthew 5, verses 27 to 32, speaking to the Jews on divorce

 

Matthew 5:27 ¶  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 31  It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

 

I have already explained in the last passage about how verse 32 is written so that we are required in our mind to include saving for the cause of fornication after the last divorced. Here, in this passage Jesus goes deeper into the meaning of the Law and God’s intent. Let’s look at passages about divorce under the Law.

 

Deuteronomy 24:1 ¶  When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2  And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3  And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4  Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

 

Although uncleanness can mean other things this uncleanness referred to in verse 1 of Deuteronomy 24 can be linked to this definition due to the context.

 

Numbers 5:19  And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:

 

So, we are talking about adultery here in replacing your wife. Now, in the Roman world of that time divorce was easy to accomplish just by declaring you were no longer married and moving on to the next one. The emperor Augustus felt that husbands were not punishing adultery so it became a crime and finding your wife in bed with another man allowed for justifiable homicide. Roman husbands had absolute control over their wives and children and could even kill their children such as handicapped infants. Jesus notes that under the Law there was only one justification, adultery, for divorce.

 

The Jew and by extension, the Christian, has already committed the sin of adultery by looking at a woman with the intention of committing adultery with her. The context and the way the sentences are written show that this is about the intention to commit adultery, not about noticing a woman in hot pants and a tank top walking in front of you before you avert your eyes. This is not a condemnation of being a red-blooded male who will have to make himself look away but of the intention to commit a grievous sin against God that is likened in the Old Testament to Jews who practiced idolatry in opposition to God.

 

Notice here how Jesus says it is better for the Jew justified by works, by literal obedience to the literal Law to lose a part of his body rather than be cast into Hell. This sentiment underscores an important difference between the Jews and the Christian unless you believe that you can lose your salvation. Where the eyes looked and where the hand touched could place the Jew in grave danger of damnation. Think about that.

 

Some sources say that by the First Century AD the Jews had made divorce much easier for a man. Jesus was objecting to this type of “no-fault from the man’s perspective” divorce. Jesus’ ruling like God’s Supreme Court here is really in the favor of women who could then not be cast off like an old newspaper. The Pharisees had dumbed down God’s commands to suit themselves. They will confront Jesus later about this. Notice for every cause.

 

Matthew 19:1 ¶  And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan; 2  And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.

 

    3 ¶  The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4  And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7  They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8  He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9  And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 10  His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

Bible Study on Genesis 33, Jacob and Esau

 

Genesis 33:1 ¶  And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 2  And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. 3  And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4  And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

Genesis 33: 5 ¶  And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. 6  Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7  And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8  And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. 9  And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 10  And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 11  Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. 12  And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. 13  And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. 14  Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 15  And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

Esau, whom Jacob thought would be possessed of a wrath and fury against him and want to kill him and his family, has clearly not kept this burden of bitterness and anger in his heart. He has been blessed by God and holds no resentment to Jacob. Here are several good lessons for us. Even a person who felt he had been cheated out of his inheritance and birthright by his brother can be forgiving. Also, no matter how badly you have been served by someone God can still bless you abundantly and give you much more than you believe you have lost. We will see this with Joseph, coming up, how bad circumstances can have good endings. Esau does not now hate his brother, Jacob.

This is most admirable of Esau considering what state he was in when Jacob left the family those decades ago considering many of us still hold grudges from our childhood and young adulthood.

Genesis 27:41 ¶  And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

It doesn’t say that Esau had specifically forgiven Jacob but so much water had gone under the bridge and God had blessed Esau so abundantly it was no more a part of him. He had let it go.

But, Jacob still is not completely convinced. He rejects the offer of traveling together or even Esau leaving some of his own servants with Jacob to help. Better safe than sorry in case of some hidden treachery, the suspicious Jacob probably thinks, a trickster paranoid about the deception of others.

Is it not usually the case that a person who is sneaky and crafty is suspicious that other people are just as conniving as he is? Of course, Jacob, the trickster, did have to deal with Laban, the exploiter. It is only natural he would fear Esau, whom he himself had manipulated and taken advantage of earlier.

Genesis 33:16 ¶  So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. 17  And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. 18  And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. 19  And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money. 20  And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel.

Jacob had no intention of following Esau to Seir. Jacob takes a right turn into Canaan having come down from Syria, leaving Esau to return to Seir in Edom. He was probably very relieved at having escaped what he thought should be vengeful wrath on the part of Esau.

Succoth, as you can see by the text with the words after the colon defining what went before it, means booths. Booths are temporary stalls, shelter for Jacob’s beasts. There he purchased land from Hamor’s family which we shall soon find was a fateful act on the part of Shechem. Jacob builds an altar and names the altar Elelohe-Israel, which Strong said means, “the mighty God of Israel.” I suspect Jacob was very thankful that He did not receive what he thought could be coming to him.

Bible Study on Matthew 5, verses 21 to 26, without a cause

 

Matthew 5:21 ¶  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22  But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26  Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

 

Thou shalt not kill is stated as such in the Law given to Moses in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17. Jesus will define this very general sounding statement and clarify it as not murdering, that is killing an innocent person, in Matthew 19:18.

 

However, in this context God in the flesh is going a step further than forbidding murder. John Gill, the Baptist preacher who led Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s church a century before him said, citing rabbinical sources, that the brother here is every human being, every man. The Jews, and we by extension, are to be angry at no man without a cause, to call no one worthless, Raca, a term of contempt or reproach in Aramaic, which John Gill linked with someone worthy to be spit upon, and we are to call no one a fool, with the meaning, according to Gill, of being wicked.

 

Psalm 53:1  «To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David.» The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

 

From this we see that this is serious stuff to God. Christians should be careful in their speech, not mocking, or using words carelessly.

 

Ephesians 5:3 ¶  But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4  Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

 

On the most superficial level you don’t know what anyone you talk to is going through or what they are struggling with and if you say you don’t care you are a reprobate.

 

On a deeper spiritual level the Jew here is told and we by extension that we are not worthy to worship God if our brother, whom many commentators, such as Matthew Henry, insist is anyone made of the one blood of all mankind, has an offense against us. Please note the express literal meaning of the following verse without any racist interpretation.

 

Acts 17:26  And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

 

If someone has something against us, if we have been angry at someone without a cause, called someone a worthless person holding them in contempt, or even wicked and without a cause as the context implies this without having to write the phrase without a cause over again, we need to be reconciled to them before offering our worship to God. Think about this for a moment.

 

There are other places in the Bible where writing a phrase once allows it to be applied to the rest of the statement without writing it over again.

 

Matthew 5:32  But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced [the passage requires we think “for a reason other than for the cause of fornication” and then] committeth adultery.

 

James 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man [the passage we requires we think adding “with evil” for God does tempt, test, prove His people as in a comparison of Genesis 22:1 with Hebrews 11:17]:

 

The analogy Jesus gives us with a criminal case before a judge compares that to the Jew’s and our relationship to God’s judgment. It does not suggest a purgatory however as a place from which you can be delivered by the prayers of others or your own repentance AFTER death.

A Psalm for Sunday, Psalm 66, make His praise glorious

 

Psalm 66:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm.» Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: 2  Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. 3  Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. 4  All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah. 5  Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. 6  He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him. 7  He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

 

The first verse of this Psalm is repeated later.

 

Psalm 100:1 ¶  «A Psalm of praise.» Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

 

Certainly we can see how this would be realized in the Millennial Reign of Christ with the Lord present and ruling physically over the earth, most likely from Jerusalem. In different contexts notice the joy which doesn’t take much to see as having a meaning of the time in which they were written but also applying to Christ’s reign on earth.

 

Zechariah 8:23  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

 

Deuteronomy 32:43  Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

 

1Chronicles 16:31  Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The LORD reigneth.

 

A glorious praise of God is what David calls for. This sentiment is present all through the Psalms. It is a joyful expression of worship. Here are examples.

 

Psalm 47:6  Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. 7  For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.

 

Psalm 96:3  Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. 4  For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. 5  For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. 6  Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 7  Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 8  Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts. 9  O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. 10 ¶  Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.

 

In verse 3, the word terrible once also meant awe-inspiring, leaving one speechless in amazement, worthy to be feared.

 

Deuteronomy 10:21  He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

 

Verse 4 has, of course, its application in David’s praise but also we can look forward with the verse to God’s fulfillment in our lives and in the future history of Revelation.

 

Psalm 22:27  All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

 

There seems to be a reference here to the Red Sea Crossing in verses 5and 6. I am reminded of Exodus 15.

 

Exodus 15:1 ¶  Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 2  The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3  The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name. 4  Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. 5  The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. 6  Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in

power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. 7  And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. 8  And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. 9  The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 10  Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. 11  Who is

like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 12  Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. 13  Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. 14  The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 15  Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 16  Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall

be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. 17  Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. 18  The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. 19  For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. 20  And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in

her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. 21  And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

 

Verse 7 is a praise and a warning.

 

Daniel 4:35  And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

 

Psalm 66:8 ¶  O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard: 9  Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved. 10  For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. 11  Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. 12  Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

 

This praise of God continues as the people are expected to praise Him who keeps them alive and makes them stand strong. God has tested them and heated them like silver that is being refined, allowing their enemies to have their way with them for awhile but eventually bringing them through it.

 

Can you see how this speaks to our own lives? Can you imagine how this speaks to those who survive the depredations of the Beast of Revelation? For a time, God allows the enemies of God to have power over His faithful, to afflict them, but in the end He will bring them to eternal life with Him. It is our guarantee.

 

Psalm 66:13 ¶  I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows, 14  Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. 15  I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. 16  Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. 17  I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. 18  If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 19  But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. 20  Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

 

In an abundance of praise for God’s mercy and deliverance David promises to offer up his sacrifices and pay his vows. God has greatly blessed David and David has lifted God up in praise and thanksgiving. God has heard David and has not turned His back on him or denied David God’s great mercy.

 

Our sacrifices are of a different nature than the Israelite under the Old Testament Law.

 

Romans 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

 

1Peter 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

 

We don’t go to a Tabernacle or a Temple because our body is the Temple of God.

 

1Corinthians 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

 

1Corinthians 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

 

Would it were so that we were as grateful each and every day as King David was and that we shouted God’s praises throughout the day, offering up our prayers of praise and thanksgiving as a living sacrifice to the God who saved us from an eternity of loss and agony and very often delivered us from the dangers we face each and every day.

Bible Study on Matthew 5, verses 17 to 20, Jesus Christ is the fulfilling of God's Law

 

Matthew 5:17 ¶  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

 

Jesus Christ is the fulfilling of the Law. He is our Law. He completes the Law. Christ fulfilled, completed Scripture and is the ultimate expression of God’s reconciling mankind to Himself. All of the things spoken of about Christ will be fulfilled. 

 

A jot, also jod, as I understand it, was the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet and a tittle was an even smaller extension of a letter. Even the smallest consideration of the Law given to Moses is fulfilled in Christ and will be fulfilled in Christ. This should give us direction when interpreting the Law. But here, this is a revealing of what is to come and of who Christ is. It is an introduction so to speak to Christ as the Messiah.

 

Considering how righteous the Pharisees tried to be this is a tall order. The follower of Christ among the Jews must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees to be accepted. There are at least two ways of looking at this and probably more. This passage may be saying that under the Judaism that was current at that time God regarded the Pharisees’ dogma as falling short of His intentions. Paul would make this statement.

 

2Corinthians 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

 

And Jesus will note;

 

Matthew 22:34 ¶  But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. 35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  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. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

The danger here, that the Pharisees fell into as do many Fundamentalists today, is to miss the point of the Law, to draw us to Christ, and focus on its dogmatic letter to elevate us and to exercise the all too human desire for self-glory and self-worship in self-righteousness.

 

Galatians 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.