Bible Study on Matthew 8, verses 28 to 34, there met him two possessed with devils

 

Matthew 8:28 ¶  And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29  And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? 30  And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. 31  So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. 32  And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33  And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. 34  And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

 

In this chapter Christ’s authority over disease and natural occurrences like storms is made apparent. Here He will show His power over the spirit world. Matthew reports that there were two men possessed of devils. Matthew has not been chosen yet so he had to rely on the testimony of those who were there under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. Mark gives a variant spelling of Gadarenes with Strong’s saying they are the same and John Gill saying they are different towns near each other and Mark only mentions one possessed person but Mark, supposedly John Mark, is also writing based on testimony of others. Only one possessed man is focused on in Mark’s account in chapter 5 of his gospel. The difference is completely irrelevant. I’ve seen many historical accounts that focus on one or a few when many more were participants. If you have ever seen Band of Brothers on HBO you certainly didn’t believe that they were the only soldiers in the U.S. Army during WW2, did you? John Mark was writing, according to tradition and the testimony of early church fathers, from sermons and writings of Peter. I’ve discussed that previously and will again in my study on Mark’s gospel.

 

Possessed people having a fascination with tombs and graveyards is nothing out of the ordinary for us as we have a cult of death in this country that associates everything from satanic rites in graveyards and horror movies to abortion to a mass-die off of the human race to “save the planet” as being good things. Gill wrote that the Jews had many myths about how the deads’ spirits hovered near their bodies for a period of time resulting in some people trying to speak to them like the witch of Endor in 1Samuel 28. He also noted that these tombs were large enough that you could find shelter in them.

 

The violent aspect of possessed people is attested to in other places;

 

Mark 5:3  Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4  Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5  And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

 

Acts 19:14  And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

15  And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

16  And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

 

The devils acknowledge that Jesus is the Son, uppercase S, of God, or God in the flesh, and has authority over them. What they plead with Jesus to do, understanding that He will do something, is very interesting.

 

We know that swine are forbidden as food for the Jews. Pork was a big part of the Roman soldier’s diet and there were probably many Gentiles in this area who may have owned the swine. Let’s suppose for now that it was Jews who owned and cared for these swine, whether their intent was on selling to the Romans or not. Jews throughout history have been keen and, indeed, have made a lot of money pandering to the desires of the Gentile. From banking in the Middle Ages to something as unseemly today as peddling pornography they have had a tremendous influence in satisfying the desires of the Gentile populations around them. It would not be impossible to imagine Jews herding swine they could not eat to make money off of the Gentile occupiers.

 

Here in the first recorded instance of “hogicide” or “deviled ham” as Dr. Ruckman jokingly noted. Here is a characteristic of devil possession in animals. They will destroy themselves. This small fortune for the owners is lost and as a matter of good business practice the owners ask Jesus to leave.

 

This is a very easy to understand situation. Can you imagine a revival you were instrumental in causing in a bar and how the owners would want you to leave and stop damaging their livelihood as their clients left? Some commentators say it was out of fear for a greater judgment coming on them. Whatever the reason, this situation caused quite a stir and much evangelism was accomplished as the city knew about Christ’s power over the spirit world.

 

A Psalm for Sunday, Psalm 68, part 2, verses 7 to 14, the earth shook

 

Psalm 68:7 ¶  O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: 8  The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 9  Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. 10  Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. 11  The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. 12  Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. 13  Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. 14  When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.

 

God led the Israelites out of Egypt.

 

Exodus 13:20  And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. 21  And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: 22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

 

Mount Sinai was a place of a tremendous appearance by God to the Israelites.

 

Exodus 19:18  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

 

God blessed the Promised Land for them.

 

Deuteronomy 11:14  That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

 

He blessed this congregation of ex-slaves, His people.

 

Deuteronomy 32:13  He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; 14  Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

 

The Lord gave the word, His written word to Moses, and many, many Israelites kept it through generations. One known group even had rules about copying that if they made a mistake on a piece of parchment or a scroll the entire page must be destroyed and they would have to start over. But the Lord also gave the word of His gospel and millions of Christians have paid it forward in countless manuscripts and books. But back to the Israelites they drove out the Canaanites from the land that God had promised them. Kings were terrified and many fell by the sword.

 

Numbers 31:8  And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. 9  And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.

 

We can also think of this as the spoils taken from Satan for God by the Christian witness, as some commentators attest. Though the Israelites lives had been bitter in their slavery God lifted them up and made them beautiful in His eyes.

 

Exodus 1:14  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

 

So, the Christian is clothed in Christ’s righteousness.

 

Romans 3:25  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

Revelation 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

 

Finally, there is a reference to a snow-covered mountain or hill called Salmon where God caused kings to flee. This is information we might not be given elsewhere and is incidental to David’s praise and plea. John Gill referred to Revelation and the destruction of the kings of the earth.

 

David’s praise of God continues.

Bible Study on Matthew 8, verses 23 to 27, Lord, save us, we perish

 

Matthew 8:23 ¶  And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24  And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25  And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26  And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27  But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

 

Notice this Psalm;

 

Psalm 107:23 ¶  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. 25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

 

Christ, God in human flesh, has power over the elements. He is present in the storm but He is not the storm. See the following also;

 

Psalm 65:7  Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.

 

Psalm 89:8  O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee? 9  Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

Bible Study on Genesis 38, verses 12 to 23, Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute

 

Genesis 38:12 ¶  And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13  And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. 14  And she put her widow’s garments off from her, and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife. 15  When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. 16  And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? 17  And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? 18  And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. 19  And she arose, and went away, and laid by her vail from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20  And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not. 21  Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place. 22  And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place. 23  And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.

Tamar, promised Shelah, is ignored. This culture is rather bizarre to us but certain economic factors should be considered, particularly the powerlessness of women. Tamar concocted a plan to have a child, a plan which we find, at best, strange and very objectionable morally. She disguised herself as a prostitute would look and went to Timnath where Judah was shearing sheep. Covering her face, an action that, in some modern cultures has come to mean severe modesty, signified her then as a harlot. Notice how it was an act of modesty with Rebekah in 24:65.

When he negotiated with her a price for her services she demanded of him some things that would definitely be identified as belonging to him as a deposit until he could send her a kid of his goats. After the deed was done she went back to being Tamar, the widow of Onan and Er. Judah could not find her and witnesses denied there ever was a prostitute there, a harlot. Judah then acknowledged that he had done his part to make good on the deal and decided to leave things as they were.

Lest an unbalanced, carnal, or wicked person think that this passage justifies men going to prostitutes as being acceptable to God let us examine something important. First, it is vital to a clear understanding of reality as explained in the Bible that God permits man to do many things man wants to do that are against God’s preferences and standards but that none of man’s moves can prevent God’s ultimate will from being accomplished. Women had no political power in this culture. A woman had to accomplish her wishes sometimes by being clever or subtle or appealing to a man’s sense of ego or honor. Woman was no longer Adam’s helper, worthy or meet to be his partner or as would be said later, his fellow heir in the grace of life as in 1Peter 3:7 or equal to him in God’s eyes as in Galatians 3:28. Woman had become a servant, a pack animal, not much better than an oven in which to create the next generation, preferably of men.

Finally, there are enough admonitions about adultery that harlotry and prostitution are clearly not acceptable behavior. Although God will use a harlot in His ministry of reconciliation of man to Himself such as Rahab of Jericho (Joshua 2:1) the behavior is proscribed as adultery and fornication are forbidden (for adultery see Exodus 20:14).

Judah has had sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, unknowingly, but things will become even more complicated in a short time. Judah followed the impulses of his culture in comforting himself with whom he thought was a harlot when his wife died and Tamar did what she thought she must do to secure a child, hopefully a son, lest she be a widow for the rest of her life in Judah’s household. We know in life that human beings often do things that were better done differently and yet God uses them anyway. This is one argument against both abortion and suicide. No matter how you got here or what you are or have done God can and will give you a special purpose in His plans.

This passage is a warning to us to be careful of viewing cultural references or desperation as doctrine or to think since it is reported must mean that it is approved by God lest someone think this activity is acceptable behavior for a Christian. Just because a preacher declares, “It’s Bible!” does not mean that something written is doctrine or even good. Just look at the context.

As Miles Coverdale wrote in the introduction to his Bible translation in the 1500s, “It will greatly help you to understand scripture if you note – no only what is spoken and written, but of whom and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goes before and what follows."[1]

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[1] Miles Coverdale, in his introduction to his Bible translation from George Pearson, ed, 'Remains of Myles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter,' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1846), 15. https://openlibrary.org/works/OL6580147W/Remains_of_Myles_Coverdale_..._Containing_Prologues_to_the_translation_of_the_Bible

 

Bible Study on Matthew 8, verses 18 to 22, let the dead bury their dead

 

Matthew 8:18 ¶  Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. 19  And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 20  And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 21  And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

 

This scribe swears that he will follow Christ anywhere and Christ replies with the fact that He, as the Messiah of the Jewish people, indeed of the world, has no home. This suggests that the scribe better think of the cost before he writes a check with his words that his actions can’t cash. Here is the cost of following Christ in another passage;

 

Luke 14:25 ¶  And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28  For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? 29  Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, 30  Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. 31  Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? 32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. 33  So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

 

Matthew 8:22 is a significantly important statement about how the Jews of that time were spiritually dead. This is a stark condemnation of their spiritual state. According to John Gill, who preached in Spurgeon’s church a hundred years before him the Jews counted the sinner as dead and spoke of them, even while alive, as dead.

 

The phrase Son of man links Christ to Daniel 7:13.

 

Daniel 7:13  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

 

It is the Messiah in His human form as fully man just as He is fully God as the Son of God.

 

Bible Study on Genesis 38, verses 1 to 11, the ordeal of Tamar

 

Genesis 38:1 ¶  And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2  And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her. 3  And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er. 4  And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. 5  And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. 6  And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. 7  And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. 8  And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9  And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. 10  And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also. 11  Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.

If you recall, the excuse that Rebekah used for sending Jacob away was the concern about the daughters of Heth, Canaanite women, from whom Esau selected his wives. Here, Judah, who we now know as being in Christ’s genealogy rather than his elder brother Reuben, has relations with a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shuah. She bore him three sons; Er, Onan, and Shelah. Judah arranged a wife for Er, named Tamar, but God killed Er who was wicked.

Judah’s command to Onan to father children by his dead brother’s wife comes to us in a modern word for the system called a Levirate. In a society where women have no political and little economic power this system can provide a protector and offspring, a male child being the only support in old age for a widow. More importantly to Judah and Onan in this culture the system provides for a man’s physical lineage to continue by his brother being a proxy. Compare, if you will, the similar action of a woman providing her maid as a surrogate wife to bear children for her husband as we have already discussed. The Levirate has been practiced in several African cultures, as well.

Onan resented his duty to provide offspring in his brother’s place and practiced a form of birth control we call Coitus Interruptus but has been known, because of this Bible character, as Onanism, named after Onan, came to mean any sexual act that was not meant to produce offspring. This even was carried over into birth control which was considered a sin in parts of our culture still not long ago. Onan’s unwillingness to obey his father invoked God’s displeasure. Onan clearly knew that Er was the firstborn and any child considered his would be the heir of Er and his father, Judah’s, wealth, in the main. We see later in the Law given to Moses how standards of long practice are confirmed by God. In this case the Levirate will be called for in the Law given to Moses.

Deuteronomy 25:5 ¶  If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband’s brother unto her. 6  And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. 7  And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother. 8  Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; 9  Then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house. 10  And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.

This is evident in the book of Job, for instance, in seeing that people knew God’s standard long before the Law was given. Many of the Laws God gave to Moses were not new things but the reinforcement of old standards along with new commands separating the Hebrews from the behavior of the Canaanites.

Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, will come through Judah so there is some importance here that goes beyond simply rebelling against your father’s wishes so that you inherit all rather than your dead brother’s heir that you helped make.

God kills Onan. Who knows how? A heart attack, an aneurysm, or some other of the million or so ways that God uses to end our physical lives, takes him. Judah tells his unfortunate and perhaps traumatized daughter-in-law, Tamar, to live in his house until his youngest and only remaining son, Shelah, is old enough to secure an offspring. Now, the story gets even stranger, if that were possible. This story was certainly not invented by someone trying to glorify an ancestor or justify a leader’s position of authority. It is remarkably disgusting as some Bible stories tend to be. It certainly isn’t how you or I would write Christ’s lineage unless we were simply reporting the unpleasant and unvarnished truth.

One thing that this story represents is how God makes a plan out of the wreck and unseemly life you create for yourself. For all of your wickedness you cannot thwart God’s will.

Bible Study on Matthew 8, verses 14 to 17, the prophet Isaiah being fulfilled

 

Matthew 8:14 ¶  And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15  And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. 16  When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 17  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

 

Here is a reinforcement of the last passage with Jesus healing with a touch and a word and casting out devils. Peter’s mother-in-law is healed. Matthew tells us that this confirms and fulfills Isaiah when he writes;

 

Isaiah 53:4 ¶  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

 

This confirms as well that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah explained in Isaiah.

 

   Isaiah 52:13 ¶  Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14  As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15  So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

 

    53:1 ¶  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 

    4 ¶  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 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. 8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

 

    10 ¶  Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

 

See how Peter alludes to Isaiah 53:5;

 

5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

 

1Peter 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.