Bible Study on Acts 7, verses 42 to 60, the martyrdom of Stephen

 

Acts 7:42 ¶  Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? 43  Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon. 44  Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. 45  Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 46  Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47  But Solomon built him an house. 48  Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49  Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50  Hath not my hand made all these things?

 

Note that God gave them up to worship the host of heaven. Compare that with Paul’s accounting of mankind’s religious history.

 

Romans 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

 

In this we see that our societal ills are a judgment on us from God after we worshipped the creature more than the Creator. He prevents us from doing things and, yet, can withdraw His hand of protection from us and allow those things to be expressed to our ultimate sorrow.

 

In verses 43 Moloch would be Moloch or Molech from the Old Testament and Remphan would be Chiun.

 

Amos 5:25  Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26  But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. 27  Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

 

Verse 45 makes an interesting declaration. The Joshua from Old Testament Hebrew is Jesus of New Testament Greek. At least one commentator believes that this shows that Jesus will return in the same route as Joshua entered the Holy Land. Joshua was a warrior leader as Jesus will be when He returns.

 

For verses 49 and 50 see the following;

 

Isaiah 66:1 ¶  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2a  For all those things hath mine hand made,

 

Acts 7:51 ¶  Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. 52  Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53  Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

 

Stephen gives one of the class sermons of all time reliving the history of the Hebrews, the Jews. In the end he convicts the Jewish leadership of murdering the Messiah they were promised as they had murdered prophets sent to them by God through the years. Their response to his condemnation makes them and their descendants suffer horribly for the next two thousand years. The Jews had already made two damning statements about themselves that would echo throughout history.

 

Matthew 27:25  Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

 

John 19:15  But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

 

Fortunately for them God is merciful and loves the Jewish people. Paul said;

 

Romans 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28  As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. 29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

 

Acts 7:54 ¶  When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55  But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56  And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57  Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. 59  And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 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.

 

Here is the first martyr for the Christian faith, Stephen. Saul, who we will know later as Paul, took charge of their garments. Stoning is a brutal way to die and there have been many gruesome descriptions of what it does to the human body. Mankind, if he has learned nothing else, has learned very effectively different ways to kill.

 

Stephen sees Christ standing at the right hand of God. Elsewhere He is said to be seated. Perhaps this was the Jewish leadership’s last chance at repentance before the Saviour sat down and the next two thousand years of suffering for the Jews was to begin. Stephen is stoned with a fury as these men refuse to accept what he has said. He echoes a sentiment similar to Christ’s from the Cross in asking for pardon for his murderers.

 

Not for the first time in the Bible, as we have seen, sleep is used as a euphemism for death.

Bible Study on Exodus 14, verses 1 to 9, the Egyptians pursued them

 

Exodus 14:1 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2  Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. 3  For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. 4  And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. 5  And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? 6  And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: 7  And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. 8  And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. 9  But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.

From Etham the Hebrews are directed to go set up camp at Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. Now, from their starting point at Rameses they have traveled to Succoth and Etham and are now told to encamp here. These are traditionally locations to the west of the Gulf of Suez, an arm of the Red Sea.

The Hebrews are now between Migdol and the Red Sea. Again, God hardens Pharaoh’s disobedient heart and encourages him to chase after the Hebrews in regret over letting his slaves go. He takes 600 chariots, and it says all the chariots of Egypt. 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.

What is about to happen will explain this verse in Numbers.

Numbers 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

The Amarna Letters tell us of Canaanite kings pleading for military help against the Hebrews, military help that was not forthcoming because the Egyptian army was destroyed.

Historical records are very incomplete and traditional dating in Egyptology is conflicting and unreliable. It is difficult to put the events we know from the Bible in perfect order with what we think we know from the scant historical records. A pharaoh named Thutmose III was called the Napoleon of Egypt and he conquered the area of Canaan. His eldest son died. Skip a couple of generations and another pharaoh’s eldest son died and a pharaoh came to the throne and tried to institute the worship of one god but failed. Somewhere in all of this swirl of uncertain history, guesswork, and conclusions drawn from scant information is the pharaoh of the Exodus, and his successors.

Bible Study on Acts 7, verses 17 to 41, Stephen continues his argument

 

Acts 7:17 ¶  But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt, 18  Till another king arose, which knew not Joseph. 19  The same dealt subtilly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. 20  In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months: 21  And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. 22  And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. 23  And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 24  And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: 25  For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not. 26  And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? 27  But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? 28  Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? 29  Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.

 

In verse 27 we see the definition of a judge of the book of Judges. It was a ruler. In Exodus the word prince was used, the same thing.

 

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.

 

In the next passage all three will be linked to deliverer which hearkens back to Judges 3:9 and 15.

 

This reinforces how word substitution between Old and New Testament helps define words in context as meant by the Holy Spirit. See the previous comments on Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1 to further understand how this method of interpretation works. Notice also how by the use of word substitution the Holy Spirit defines words. By comparing the two passages, one in Isaiah and one in Luke we see synonyms like preach and proclaim, deliverance and liberty, gospel and good tidings, poor and meek. Experiment with that interpretation method and you will learn some amazing stuff throughout the Bible in quotes made in the New Testament from Greek with the Old Testament translated from Hebrew under the guiding hand of the Spirit of God and Christ.

 

Acts 7:30 ¶  And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. 31  When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight: and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, 32  Saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled, and durst not behold. 33  Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. 34  I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee into Egypt. 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. 36  He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. 37  This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 38  This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: 39  To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 40  Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 41  And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.

 

Some interesting things about this passage include Sina from Greek for Sinai from Hebrew. Here we have the synonyms that we can read back into Judges; ruler, judge, deliverer.

 

Stephen here links Jesus with the Prophet foretold by Moses.

 

Deuteronomy 18:15 ¶  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18  I

will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

 

This is not the first time that connection is made.

 

John 6:14  Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

 

The angel that was with Moses was the preincarnate Christ.

 

Judges 2:1 ¶  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

 

Exodus 3:2  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

 

An angel is the presence of someone or some thing that is somewhere else but which can act on reality.

 

Isaiah 63:9  In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

 

Examples also include;

 

Matthew 18:10  Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

 

Revelation 1:20  The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

A Psalm for Sunday, Psalm 75, Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks

 

Psalm 75:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician, Altaschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.» Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. 2  When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. 3  The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah. 4  I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: 5  Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.

 

This is a peculiarly interesting Psalm. Altaschith, also noted in Psalm 57, 58, and 59 means do not destroy but some say it is the title of a melody to which these Psalms would be sung.

 

There are many occasions in Israel’s history when these Psalm could be sung. For instance, David being delivered from Saul or the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon. We should pray this often for it is always applicable.

 

We can see this also as having a meaning beyond the time in which it was written and sung originally. Picture the millennial reign of Christ, from the beginning to the end when eternity begins.

 

2Peter 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 ¶  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

 

See also a warning to those who would oppose God. Read Psalm 2.

 

Psalm 2:1 ¶  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6  Yet have I set my king

upon my holy hill of Zion.

 

    7 ¶  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 9  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

 

    10 ¶  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 11  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

 

Psalm 75:6 ¶  For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 7  But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. 8  For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. 9  But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. 10  All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

 

Being lifted up comes from God Himself and does not come from any other direction under heaven. It is God who raises up and puts down. We must remember;

 

James 4:10  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

 

1Peter 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

 

There is no one other than God who can do this.

 

Matthew 24:23  Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

 

There is no other Saviour, no other God.

 

Isaiah 44:6  Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

 

Isaiah 45:21  Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

 

Deuteronomy 4:35  Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.

 

God has raised men up and put men down.

 

Luke 1:52  He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

 

Daniel 2:21  And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

 

Luke 14:11  For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

 

The wrath of God is symbolized by a cup.

 

Isaiah 51:17 ¶  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

 

Jeremiah 25:15 ¶  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.

 

Revelation 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

 

Psalm 11:6  Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

 

Horns symbolize power and authority in the Bible and this reference is in keeping with the theme of this Psalm.

 

Habakkuk 3:4  And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

 

Revelation 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

 

We can see the end of history clearly in this Psalm and we should give praise to God not only for His mercy but for His power and sovereignty.

Bible Study on Acts 7, verses 1 to 16, Stephen lays the foundation for his argument

 

Acts 7:1 ¶  Then said the high priest, Are these things so? 2  And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, 3  And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. 4  Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell. 5  And he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child. 6  And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. 7  And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. 8  And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. 9  And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, 10  And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. 11  Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Chanaan, and great affliction: and our fathers found no sustenance. 12  But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. 13  And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh. 14  Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. 15  So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, 16  And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.

 

Stephen starts preaching with Abraham’s calling by God to leave Ur of the Chaldees.

Genesis 11:27 ¶  Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 28  And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29  And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 30  But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31  And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32  And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

12:1 ¶  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

4 ¶  So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5  And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Notice the difference between words translated from a Hebrew text and words translated from a Greek text. For instance, Elijah of Malachi 4:5,6 becomes the Elias of Luke 1:17. So here, the Haran of Genesis 12:4 becomes the Charran of verse 2.

We discussed the four-hundred-year timeframe when you and I were going over Genesis. In the comments on Genesis 15:12-16 I noted;

“God tells Abram that his seed will be servants in a foreign land, which we know to be Egypt. They will be afflicted for four hundred years and will serve the people of that land. This is an about, not an exact 400 years, ten months, 23 days, and two hours type of statement.

Exodus 12:40  Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

And then, Luke recounting what Stephen said, alluding to what Moses had written from God’s words;

Acts 7:6  And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years.

If I wrote you a lesson that said, “in the thousand years since the Norman invasion of England,” and then, in the lesson later wrote, “in the nine hundred and fifty seven years since 1066, when William the Conqueror defeated King Harold at Hastings,” would that be a contradiction or would you understand what I said as meaning the same thing?

Here is Paul referring to this bondage bracketed between the covenant and the giving of the Law.

Galatians 3:17  And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

Rabbis have written that the affliction begins when Ishmael, the offspring of Abram and Hagar, an Egyptian, begins to persecute Isaac, the son of the promise. They regarded the four hundred years to start from that point.

God also tells Abram that four generations will come into being in Egypt before returning to the land that is promised, The Promised Land of Canaan. For instance, Levi, Jacob’s son, and his son, Kohath, and his son, Amram, and his son, Moses. These were four generations that sojourned in Egypt. It is then important to see that God is talking about two different things; four hundred years of affliction and four generations in a foreign land.”

In verse 14 we have the issue about how many people came to Egypt with Jacob. Here again are my comments from Genesis 46:5-27;

“Verse 15 tells us for that either Dinah wasn’t Jacob’s only daughter or, as said earlier, the daughters could logically include daughters-in-law. Arguing about the count becomes nonsensical when we know everyone wasn’t included in the count of those that mattered to God’s ministry of reconciliation. There are obviously servants to consider, as well, which are not mentioned.

We also come to differences in the count given for different reasons at different times.

Exodus 1:5  And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt already.

Deuteronomy 10:22  Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Acts 7:14  Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.

Some argue about these differences with fundamentalists trying to gloss over what they fear naggingly in the back of their minds is an error in the text. However, the problem is with the modern reader who is infected with a mental problem I call modernism. You read the Bible like you would read the owner’s manual for your car rather than as you would read a letter sent to you from afar, in this case a distant time, a personal account of something dear to the writer. The Holy Ghost, through the wisdom and understanding, the meaning of Biblical inspiration which is not word-for-word dictation, given to Moses, refers to events from the perspective of their importance to the point He is trying to get across (see Job 32:8; 2Peter 3:15). In one reference He may include wives who are not included in another or He may be referring to an event from another angle and only include specific others. The modern fundamentalist who claims to believe the Bible literally, which they don’t really, in their attempts to explain by juggling numbers what the Bible says, is really expressing their own disbelief and lack of faith by trying to explain a contradiction that isn’t there.

I went over this kind of thinking when I was discussing years, back in my comments on Genesis 15:12-16, regarding the length of years that the Hebrews were to be persecuted. The point is all of the number references are correct and any differences can be explained by the Holy Ghost counting people in one who are not counted in another. We will find this again in the numbers who will die in a plague later in another book. Verses 26 and 27 warn us that our calculations may not be based on God’s calculations which will keep the doubter or the skeptic spinning his or her wheels trying to find an equation that will make him or her feel better.”

Again we see translation differences as Emmor and Sychem transliterated from Greek were Hamor and Shechem from Hebrew in Genesis 33:19.

Bible Study on Isaiah 5, verses 1 to 4, wild grapes?

 

Isaiah 5:1 ¶  Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2  And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3  And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4  What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?

 

Chapter 5 here can be associated with the fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy. This chapter condemns Israel for, among other things, not upholding God’s justice in verse 7.

 

Deuteronomy 16:20  That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

 

It warns of a terrible judgment coming and how God will use their enemies in this judgment. See the entire chapter, Deuteronomy 28.

 

Some commentators see Isaiah 5 as a fulfillment of the judgments pronounced in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy establishes and underscores the covenant made between God and Israel and Isaiah 5 speaks of the consequences of breaking that covenant.

 

Isaiah now tells the story of God’s people and their relationship to God symbolically. Israel was God’s vineyard.

 

Verse 7 will say;  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant

 

Psalm 80:14  Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; 15  And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself. 16  It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

 

It was planted in a very fruitful land with every advantage.

 

Deuteronomy 8:7  For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9  A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

 

See also Psalm 80:8 ¶  Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

 

Jeremiah 2:21  Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

 

They were to shew forth good works but they, instead, did bad things.

 

God through Isaiah goes on to say that they should compare themselves to their God. We are compared to Christ not to other people, by the way. A person who says they don’t need a Saviour because they are of the best people must be made to realize that they are not being compared to other people but to Christ, so they can never measure up without His indwelling them by His Spirit.

 

Repeating the grapes and wild grapes metaphor He goes on to ask, what more could He have done? He carves out a people, nurtures the people, saves the people, delivers the people, gives the people a wonderful land in which to dwell, teaches them His law, gives them whatever they need, delivers them time and time again, and yet, they produce bad fruit, so to speak. What else could He have done besides make them automatons? They made these choices.