Bible Study on Matthew 5, verses 43 to 48, Love your enemies

 

Matthew 5:43 ¶  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

 

Commentators note that the addition to the end of verse 43 was a tradition added by the Rabbis. This shows that Jesus was dealing not only with the Law given to Moses but also tradition as He does elsewhere in Matthew, chapter 15 and in Mark, chapter 7. Jesus is about to explain God’s standard as we who are followers of Christ are dealing with eternity not some temporary squabble.

 

Verse 44 is a standard that most of us Christians are unable to comply with on a consistent basis without a great deal of prayer. But Jesus says to be the child of God you are supposed to be you must think like God Himself. He blesses the good and the bad just as we learned from Job that good things can happen to bad people and bad things can happen to the good and the innocent.

 

Other New Testament references to this include Christ’s plea from the Cross;

 

Luke 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

 

…the martyr Stephen’s prayer;

 

Acts 7:60  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

 

Paul told the Christian;

 

Romans 12:14  Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

 

Publicans were tax collectors and Matthew was one. They were not highly regarded, as tax collectors for the Romans, and were often extorting money from the people making themselves rich.

 

Jesus makes a very important point here for us to understand, about how God treats everyone. Just as the book of Job tells us how bad things can come upon good people for no apparent reason Jesus here explains that God is kind to the good and to the bad. Bad people derive joy from life and blessings from nature. Does that not disturb some of us? God’s greater purposes are often a mystery to us. That is a mystery we must accept.

 

Deuteronomy 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

 

Look at the command to be perfect like God is perfect. See here for the definition of perfect, as in complete and lacking nothing..

 

2Chronicles 8:16  Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected.

 

Colossians 4:12  Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

 

James 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

 

It is so clear that God has tolerated so much of mankind’s rebellion and yet given him good things when mankind has deserved only judgment. Are we not to show restraint when dealing with the persecution we might face? Is that too much to ask seeing how God has put up with you?

Bible Study on Genesis 34, verses 18 to 24, every male was circumcised

 

Genesis 34:18 ¶  And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son. 19  And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father. 20  And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21  These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22  Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23  Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us. 24  And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.

Now, Shechem, the man who assaulted Dinah, is said to be the most honorable man in his father’s family. This shows you how, by Christian standards, depraved the Canaanite culture was. He was very fond of Dinah, though, and wanted to ‘do the right thing’ because of his affection for her and not discard her like garbage as some cultures of men in America so easily do today. We understand and most of us accept today that rape is rape and a woman can say, “no,” at any time and it must be respected or the act is considered a crime. Offering to marry the girl doesn’t change anything today.

Father and son encourage the men of their city to make this treaty of peace with Jacob’s sons and what must have been a rather large army of servants to care for their flocks. They would have been a formidable force. Hamor and Shechem, as part of their argument, say that this will signify a union between the family of Israel and themselves making them both one people.

Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) are made one people at the Cross. Pay attention to Paul’s argument again.

Ephesians 2:14 ¶  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

There is another hint here at self-interest. Hamor and Shechem want the men of their city to believe that with this union the wealth of Israel and his sons will be their wealth as well.

…all that went out of the gate of his city refers to the residents of the city, in context, the male residents who held political power. These are the men who could also defend the city. In this somewhat bizarre agreement based on questionable thinking on every side all of the men of the city consent to be circumcised.

It does not say that Jacob’s sons and servants did the circumcision, but it is certain that Jacob’s sons would have been there to verify that it was done. This would not have been too strange, as we think of it.

Cultural standards were much different in the past than in the last century or two. My point is that people were must less concerned about such things between men in the past. For instance, the Greeks worked out in their gymnasiums naked and their athletic events were conducted in the nude. Presumably Hamor and Shechem did the circumcising as it was the custom for the leaders or priests to perform the act and we know the king of a city was also its high priest from past references. First, with Abraham, father to his children and master to his servants, to Joshua, leader of his people;

Genesis  17:23  And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.

Joshua 5:3  And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

The very idea that the authority of governmental or even tribal leaders extends to our reproductive organs is appalling to us today. We cannot even imagine it and I am excluding abortion because that is taking the life of an innocent child which is a totally separate issue. Imagine the local mayor or the patriarch of your extended family saying we’re all getting together to get circumcised at the square. Imagine you letting them. We have relegated such things to doctors or, in the case of parts of the Jewish culture, a person called a ‘Mohel’ does this.

If by this point you don’t know what circumcision is you’ll have to look it up. I’m not going into the grisly details here.

Bible Study on Matthew 5, verses 38 to 42, about an eye for an eye

 

Matthew 5:38 ¶  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

 

This is a very intriguing passage which opens up a lot of discussion about the intent of the Law given to Moses itself. Let me post what I wrote about this in my discussion of the Law.

 

“Leviticus 24:17  And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. 18  And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. 19  And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; 20  Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. 21  And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death. 22  Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God. 23  And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.

 

…we see the eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth admonition which skeptics insist was a very barbaric standard of justice. However, it must be noted that there is another side to this. In a brutal and violent world justice was uneven and the social status of the victim was important as was the social status of the guilty party. As we see by context God is leveling the playing field by insisting on one standard of justice for all.

 

If a beast was killed its value was restored and if a man was killed the murderer was to suffer death. This was for everyone, not just, as laws typically were, weapons against the poor and powerless to maintain a social regime. I have read in some historic cultures that if a commoner’s shadow even crossed a nobleman’s the commoner could be killed and the rich quite often simply took that which belonged to the poor without compensation. See David’s anger at the parable Nathan tells him in 2Samuel 12. This is why I think looking at this admonition as comparable to arsonists in Rome being burnt alive or a person who threw acid in someone’s face today in an Islamic nation having acid thrown in their face as ordered by a court is the wrong way of looking at this passage.

 

This is about equal justice in a world where there was none. Verse 22 here in Leviticus 24 is the key to understanding this doctrine in context.” UNQUOTE

 

God, and Jesus Christ is God as God the Father is God, is the Supreme Court of the Universe

 

Hebrews 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

 

Revelation 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

 

            He is explaining the detail of the meaning of the Law to these Jews specifically under Roman occupation so be careful how you apply this to yourself.

 

Verse 39 is a reference whose context is very important to keep us from doing wrong and saying that it is God’s will. In the Southern United States among African-Americans there is a custom whereby a man might slap another man who has offended him in some way or just as a challenge. The challenge is to his manhood. It is an insult called, “takin’ his manhood.” If the person slapped doesn’t respond violently he has lost his manhood. The person doing the slapping is gambling on the belief that the person slapped is weaker and afraid. Ultimately, though, it is an insult and an effort to dominate.

 

Evil in this context is a malicious act, an act of violence intent to do some king of harm.

 

See this context;

 

Genesis 37:20  Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

 

And then, later in Matthew as Jesus said, it is trouble;

 

Matthew 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

 

We can also see evil as trouble and calamity that comes from judgment and the opposite of peace, and it is caused by God.

 

Isaiah 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

 

Traditionally, this passage has been interpreted as a call to not only not get personal revenge but of a complete disdain for the demands of machismo and response to tyranny. Eternity is a long time and the disrespect you might have to endure here is meaningless so if you appear to be groveling and submissive that’s okay. However, I find that a rather lazy way to view this passage.

 

Look at the context. Here is a command not to seek personal revenge. Then, there is a command to go beyond what the Law requires of you. This is a way to show your obedience to Christ. Commentators report that Romans were quartered in Jewish homes and Jews could be required to carry their equipment for a set distance as laborers.

 

Remember what Paul commanded the Christian.

 

Romans 12:18  If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

 

Paul warns us to live our lives for Christ not engaging the world in foolish disputations and arguments trying to prove a point. We have more important work to do. When I am tempted to post a harsh political argument on Facebook and Twitter I am often compelled to remember that I am on there to post my videos and to witness for the God of the Bible and the God of history. I often then delete posts I’ve made because my purpose there is not to make a clever political point or start an argument. My purpose there is to release my content and see what God does with it.

 

Christians need to get the chips off their shoulders. The enemy is doing terrible things to us and to this country and we can’t see it as it happens as we keep our chins held too high and our noses in the air usually out of joint. See God’s desire in the following.

 

1Timothy 2:1 ¶  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

 

            Our best form of resistance to the world is to obey Christ, not holding the things the world regards as important as important. Choose your battles carefully and wisely and don’t compromise your faith in getting what you perceive as your proper respect.

 

Bible Study on Genesis 34, verses 6 to 17, the wrath of the sons of Jacob

 

Genesis 34:6 ¶  And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. 7  And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done. 8  And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. 9  And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. 10  And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. 11  And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. 12  Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. 13  And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: 14  And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: 15  But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; 16  Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17  But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.

Shechem’s father, Hamor, meets with Jacob to try to work out a marriage agreement with him. Jacob’s sons, Dinah’s brothers, were filled with wrath at the offense done to the family. Verse 7 is interesting in that the statement is made that what has happened is wrong.

Let’s remember an important point here, that God did not create culture, not yours, not theirs. Culture and civilization’s existence is part of God’s permissive will, not necessarily His direct will. Remember, God does have a will where He wants something to happen, prefers it to happen, indeed even ordains it which the Christian should always be seeking.

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. 2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

God, though, often accomplishes His desired ends in a different than a preferred way, by allowing man to have the desires of his heart, even if the consequences are painful to man. This happens in everyday life as well as in the bigger events of history. No one would argue that it would not have been better for mankind if he and she had stayed as husbandmen in God’s garden having eternal fellowship with Him but those who believe and trust Him will eventually have that eternal fellowship, only with a much longer way around to get there.

In God’s will there were previous incidents where He did not permit rape and murder to happen; in the previously mentioned cases involving Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebekah. But, God did not prevent Shechem from assaulting Dinah. Here, He allows something which reveals character, behavior, and the nature of a people; vengeful, capable of wrath and great violence, as well as duplicitousness. Like we Gentiles the Hebrews, the family of Israel, were not righteous in themselves. They needed God’s hand but, as we do, often went their own way.

Rape, sexual violence, in the degradation of the ancient world, was viewed differently than we do today, at least today in the more sophisticated contemporary countries and cultures. It was less a crime against a woman than it was against her family in a context such as this. In primitive, abased cultures rape is either the woman’s fault or a means by which a more physically or politically powerful man may have his way with a woman who is not protected by the men of her family or husband.

This sin falls under the very same thought processes as many sins of unregenerate man. “I can do it because I want to do it and I can do it because it is within my power to do it.” It is only after the fact that people might have second thoughts. Think of the many couples in today’s world who committed fornication and then, finding that the woman was pregnant, decided to, “do the right thing,” and get married.

This is the same type of thinking, as well, that goes into the Ayn Rand type of, “whatever I want is good,” or, “whatever I perceive to be in my own self-interest is the greatest good.” There is little difference in the sinner’s heart whether he or she commits a violent interpersonal act or simply a non-violent, selfish act. The feeling is the same as in the RocknRoll song, “Kinda I want to.”

Hamor is going further. He is trying to make peace with Jacob’s family by reciprocation, offering his own daughters and women of their tribe to Jacob’s sons. Whether this is an attempt to prevent revenge or, in acknowledging guilt a political ploy to cover over the evil we cannot know. Jacob’s sons, as crafty as old Jacob once was, say that they will only consent to this peace treaty if Hamor’s people accept circumcision, their own sign of unity and obedience to God, and they will become one people. That, of course, is not their intention at all. Revenge is their intention.

This ancient city, as mentioned before, would have had family worship around idols, gods, and city worship as a singular religious entity. There is the danger, of course, at this early time, if Jacob’s sons had truly agreed with Hamor, of the Hebrews as a separate people being a dead issue. The coming act of violence will keep them separate from those around them. The

important thing is that God permits it to happen. His chosen people will do it and He will use it for His purposes while revealing their character and true nature. But, we Christians are admonished;

Romans 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

I recently read a news article about a man “beating up” a 13 year old boy who offered his 13 year old daughter a key chain for her virginity and going to prison for the beating he administered. Can any father out there honestly blame that father for his rage? Don’t think too harshly of Dinah’s brothers. Examine yourself.