A WORK NOT BELIEVED— BUT THAT'S UP TO YOU!

 

A Work that will not be Believed!

"AND I WILL WORK A WORK ......" Habakkuk 1:5 There were signs at the FIRST coming of the Lord Jesus to this earth. His birth was announced to Joseph and Mary. Shepherds in the fields were told about it from angels. Wise men from the East came to worship Him. The birth of John the baptist was told to his parents; he would lead the way (Luke 1:67-80). Those people would have shared all that news with at least some others; certainly the shepherds would have told others what they had seen and been told. From the New Testament we know that some of John the baptist followers were from the evidence around them, looking for the ONE whom the prophets had spoken about - the Messiah. Some of John's followers became Jesus' disciples. John himself gave witness that Jesus was the Lamb of God (John 1:35-36). When Jesus called Philip he went to Nathanael and said, "We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph (John 1:43-45). Jesus told Nathanael he had seen him under a fig tree.....Nathanael said, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God..." (John 1:47-49). So from many things a number of people KNEW it was TIME for the Messiah to appear in Israel and do God's work. Oh yes, most of them had a number of things mixed up and not clear in their minds. They knew the Messiah would restore Israel to a world power and influence. They had most of the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah in POWER and GLORY, mixed in with the coming that was now in front of them. Many things, they did not have straight about the coming of the Messiah that was at that time. The Scribes and Pharisees taught something about a coming of Elijah at the Messiah's coming. But they did not fully understand that truth. The idea about it came out when Jesus was transfigured in front of Peter, James and John his brother on the mount (Matthew 17). Moses and Elijah appeared in that VISION with Jesus (v.3,9). Jesus told them to tell no one what they had seen. They answered, "Why then say the Scribes that Elijah must first come?" (v.10). Oh it was correct what the Scribes taught. Jesus went on to say Elijah would come, and RESTORE all things. Yet Jesus further added that Elijah HAD COME, and he suffered from persecution. The masses of the "religious" people did NOT recognize the prophecy about Elijah was fulfilled. The none religious.....well they certainly did not know or even care or take any notice of this "strange" guy in their midst telling people to REPENT, for the Messiah was near at hand (v.11-12). Ah then it came clear in the minds of Peter, James and John, that Jesus was talking about John the baptist as the fulfilling of the promised Elijah (v.13). Now this prophecy about the Elijah to come is found in Malachi 4:4- 6. So we should now be able to see that this prophecy of the Elijah has TWO FULFILMENTS - one at the first coming of Christ and one at the second coming, or to be specifically correct BEFORE the DAY OF THE LORD. In end time prophecy that is the last year (day for a year principle in prophecy) before the literal return of Jesus to earth in glory and power. Sometime BEFORE - not given as to how much before the day of the Lord, this prophecy will have its reality. Now if you are putting all this correctly in your mind; from Matthew 17 and Malachi 4. You now know there will come a work of Elijah (you should have seen already it's not the literal Elijah of the Old Testament) that will RESTORE things and it will all happen sometime BEFORE "the day of the Lord" at the end time. I've covered and proved for you in other studies that the END TIME of the book of Revelation is about 1260 days or 42 months. The "day of the Lord" being about the last 12 months of the 42 months. The religious world at Jesus' first coming basically knew there had to be an "Elijah" before the Messiah came, BUT THEY SURE COULD NOT RECOGNIZE THAT PROPHECY WHEN IT WAS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM! A lot of prophecy is DUAL in application, BUT the second fulfilment does not have to follow EXACTLY like the first fulfilment. But there will be a very SIMILAR "not recognize" application, even as it was in the first fulfilment. The SECOND fulfilment as Jesus said will "RESTORE ALL THINGS" (Matthew 17). Yet with the world of the Internet you can go on there and find MANY people or organizations that will tell you, THEY have the truth of the word of God. Now we not only have the Internat but also YOUTUBE, with all kinds of "preachers" of God's word on there - probably a few hundred at least that "preach and teach" in a somewhat large way (we'll count out the many on there who only preach and teach just a little). For to do as Jesus said "restore all things" I think you'd have to be pretty large in your teaching and preaching, for MANY truths would have to be taught I think to qualify for "restore all things." And if you are still thinking logically, it would also mean, many FALSE "Christian" teachings would need to be exposed as false teachings. So again thinking logically the "run of the mill" the "popular" Christianity that has been around for centuries, would not qualify as "restore all things." For why at the end time would you restore all things if all things have been restored for centuries of even for one or two hundred years already? Yes common logic should tell you MANY of God's truths HAVE BEEN PERVERTED by the end time, and certainly need to be restored before the day of the Lord comes on this earth. Logic would tell you that they need to be restored so a people at the end time can BE PREPARED to WITNESS FOR TRUTH before the day of the Lord and also witness for that truth during the day of the Lord, right up to the coming of the Messiah in glory and power. There is something very important, important in a sad way really, to this end time Elijah prophecy. It's what is the heading of this little study. It is found in Habakkuk chapter one. For starters how many people read the book of Habakkuk? If I was a betting man I'd say very very few Christians indeed read the book of Habakkuk today. The book of Habakkuk is an end time book, yes it is. It will have an end time fulfilment. Look at chapter 2 and verse 14 -- "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Now tell me if that has EVER been fulfilled since the days of Adam and Eve. I've expounded for you the book of Habakkuk FOR TODAY on this website. Before all that will take place in the book of Habakkuk right up to the knowledge of God covering this earth like the waters cover the seas ...... well notice what God says, "BEHOLD YOU AMONG THE HEATHEN AND REGARD, and wonder marvellously: FOR I WILL WORK A WORK IN YOUR DAYS, ***WHICH YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE, THOUGH IT BE TOLD YOU*** (V.5). Only a very FEW, relatively speaking, AT THE TIME OF JOHN THE BAPTIST, recognized the prophecy of Malachi was in fulfilment, and it was then the age of looking for the Messiah to come. And most important it was a time as never before to GET IN HARMONY WITH GOD AND HIS TRUTHS AND TURNING THE HEART OF THE FATHERS TO THE CHILDREN AND HEART OF THE CHILDREN TO THE FATHERS.....WHICH WAS A WAY OF SAYING HUMBLE YOURSELF AND COME TO REPENTANCE.....FOR INDEED THAT WAS WHAT JOHN WAS DOING.....BRINGING PEOPLE TO TRUTH AND REPENTANCE. SO NOW YOU KNOW A WORK WILL BE DONE BEFORE THE MESSIAH COMES AGAIN, A WORK THAT WILL RESTORE THE TRUTHS OF GOD, BRING PEOPLE TO HUMBLE REPENTANCE, PREPARE A PEOPLE FOR THE FIRST RESURRECTION AT THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH IN POWER AND GLORY. MOST AT CHRIST'S FIRST COMING DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHT HEART, THE RIGHT MIND, THEY COULD NOT COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH. THEY COULD NOT SEE THE TRUTH WAS BEING GIVEN TO THEM, THE WORK OF GOD WAS BEING DONE BUT IT WAS NOT BELIEVED, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS TOLD TO THEM. SO WHERE ARE YOU FRIENDS? DO ***YOU*** HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS AND TRUTH? DO YOU DESIRE THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD MORE THAT ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD? DO YOU DESIRE IT MORE THAN GOLD OR SILVER, MORE THAN ANY PERSON, MORE THAN ANY JOB OR HOBBY? ARE YOU WILLING TO SPEND TIME SEARCHING FOR THAT TRUTH, SOMETIMES MANY HOURS OF BIBLE STUDY MIXED WITH PRAYER AND MEDITATION, EVEN ADDING SOME FASTING NOW AND AGAIN? I CAN TELL YOU ONE THING GOD'S TRUTHS IN HIS WORD CAN BE FOUND. DO NOT BE ONE OF THOSE WHO WILL NOT BELIEVE IT THOUGH IT BE TOLD YOU. Keith Hunt - May 2012

SALVATION IN THE PSALMS!!!

 

Salvation In The Psalms

All Scripture Quotations From The KJV with Modern English Words by the Compiler THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES GAVE SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST "And that from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim.3:15).   THE BOOK OF PSALMS GIVES THE WAY TO SALVATION CHRIST IN THE PSALMS FROM PAGE 764 OF THE NKJV: Psalm Portrayed Fulfilled 2:7 The Son of God Matthew 3:17 8:2 Praised by children Matthew 21:15,16 8:6 Ruler of all Hebrews 2:8 16:10 Rises from the dead Matthew 28:7 22:1 Forsaken by God Matthew 27:46 22:7,8 Derided by enemies Luke 23:35 22:16 Hands and feet pierced John 20:27 22:18 Lots cast for clothes Matthew 27:35,36 34:20 Bones unbroken John 19:32,33,36 35:11 Accused by false witnesses Mark 14:57 35:19 Hated without cause John 15:25 40:7,8 Delight's in God's will Hebrews 10:7 41:9 Betrayed by a friend Luke 22:47 45:6 The eternal King Hebrews 1:8 68:18 Ascends to heaven Acts 1:9-11 69:9 Zealous for God's house John 2:17 69:21 Given vinegar and gall Matthew 27:34 109:4 Prays for enemies Luke 23:34 109:8 His betrayer replaced Acts 1:20 110:1 Rules over His enemies Matthew 22:44 110:4 A priest forever Hebrews 5:6 118:22 The chief stone Matthew 21:42 118:26 Comes in the name of the Lord Matthew 21:9 GOD'S CHARACTER IS PERFECT, HOLY, AND RIGHTEOUS: "For you are not a God that has pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with you......you hate all workers of iniquity" (Ps.5:4,5). "For the righteous Lord loves righteousness....."(Ps.11:7). "For the word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth. He loves righteousness and judgment....." (Ps.33:4,5). "Your righteousness is like the great mountains; your judgments are a great deep......For with you is the fountain of life: in your light shall we see light" (Ps.36:6,9). "Among the gods there is none like unto you, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto your works......you are God alone.......a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth" (Ps.86:8,10,15). "For who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?.....Justice and judgment are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before you" (Ps.89:6,14). "Your testimonies are very sure: holiness becomes your house, O Lord, for ever" (Ps.93:5). "Say among the heathen that the Lord reigns......He shall judge the people righteously.....for He comes, for He comes to judge the earth: He shall judged the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth" (Ps.96:10,13). "......righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne" (Ps.97:2). "Let them praise your great and terrible name for it is holy.....Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy" (Ps.99:3,9). "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endures to all generations" (Ps.100:5). "Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with honor and majesty. Who covers yourself with light as with a garment....." (Ps.104:1,2). "His work is honorable and glorious: and His righteousness endures for ever.....the work of his hands are verity and judgment; all His commandments are sure.....He has commanded His covenant for ever: holy and reverend is His name" (Ps.111:3,7,9). "But our God is in heaven, He has done whatsoever He has pleased" (Ps.115:3). "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable" (Ps.145:3). "Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite" (Ps.147:5). DEFINITION OF WICKEDNESS (SIN, UNRIGHTEOUSNESS): "The transgression of the wicked says within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.....He devises mischief upon his bed; he sets himself in a way that is not good; he abhors not evil" (Ps.36:1-2,4). "You have rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from your commandments.......Horror has taken hold of me because of the wicked that forsake your law.....Depart from me you evil doers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.....They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from your law" (Ps.119:53, 115, 150). DEFINITION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS: "My tongue shall speak of your word: for all your commandments are righteousness" (Ps.119:172). WE ARE NOT TO SIN: "Stand in awe, and sin not......" (Ps.4:4). "Depart from evil and do good, and dwell for evermore" (Ps.37:27). "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me" (Ps.39:1). "You that love the Lord, hate evil......" (Ps.97:10). "Your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you" (Ps.119:11). MANKIND ARE ALL SINNERS (UNRIGHTEOUS): "The foolish has said in their heart: There is not God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good......The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there was any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one" (Ps.14:1-3). See also Psalm 53:2-3. "And enter not into judgment with your servant: for in your sight shall no man living be justified" (Ps.143:2). THE WICKED CANNOT HAVE SALVATION: "Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not your statutes" (Ps.119:155). MUST CONFESS WE ARE SINNERS: "I acknowledge my sin unto you, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord......" (Ps.32:5). "For my iniquities are gone over my head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me......For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin" (Ps.38:4,18). "For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me" (Ps.40:12-13). "I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against you" (Ps.41:4). "For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight: that you may be justified when you speak, and be clear when you judge" (Ps.51:3,4). "O God, you know my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from you" (Ps.69:5). "You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance" (Ps.90:8). "We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly" (Ps.106:6). MUST CRY OUT FOR MERCY, FORGIVENESS, IN HUMILITY AND REPENTANCE: "I cried unto the Lord with my voice....." (Ps.3:4). "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer" (Ps.4:1). "Harken unto the voice of my cry, my King, my God: for unto you will I pray" (Ps.5:2). "In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears" (Ps.18:6). "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to your mercy remember you me for your goodness' sake, O Lord.....For your names sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquities; for it is great.......Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins" (Ps.25:7, 11, 18). "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.....Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow......Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.....The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Ps.51:1-2, 7, 9-10, 17). See also: Ps.26:11; 27:7-9; 30:2,3,10; 31:9,10; 38:21,22; 40:11; 79:8,9; 86:5 GOD WILL HEAR AND BLESS THOSE WHO SEEK AND FEAR HIM: "And they that know your name will put their trust in you: for you, Lord, have not forsaken them that seek you" (Ps.9:10). "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant" (Ps.25:14). "Oh, how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for them that fear you...." (Ps.31:19). "Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy; To deliver their soul from death....." (Ps.33:18,19). "Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear him....." (Ps.85:9). "He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy towards them that fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.....But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them" (Ps.103:10-14, 17-18). See also: Ps.111:10; 112:1; 115:11,13; 119:153,154; 145:17-20 GOD WILL SHOW AND GIVE MERCY: "The Lord has chastened me sore: but He has not given me over unto death: (Ps.118:18). "If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared.....Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy , and with Him is plenteous redemption" (Ps.130:3,4,7). "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works" (Ps.145:8-9). See also: Ps.30:10-11; 31:5; 32:1-2, 5; 40:1-2, 17; 59:16,17; 66:20; 103:3,8 MUST HAVE FAITH: "O Lord, my God, in you do I put my trust......" (Ps.7:1). "But I have trusted in your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation" (Ps.13:5). "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower" (Ps.18:2). "I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy: for you have considered my trouble; you have known my soul in adversities" (Ps.31:6,7). "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusts in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about" (Ps.32:10). "The Lord redeems the soul of His servants: none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate" (Ps.34:22). See also: 39:7,8; 52:8; 86:2,3; 119:41, 42, 81, 86 MERCY, FORGIVENESS, IS GIVEN TO THOSE WHO HUMBLY REPENT: "When He makes inquisition for blood, he remembers them: He forgets not the cry of the humble" (Ps.9:12). "Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble: you will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear" (Ps.10:17). "For you will save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks......You have given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great" (Ps.18:27,35). "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit" (Ps.34:18). "For, lo, they that are far from you shall perish: you have destroyed all them that go a whoring from you" (Ps.73:27). "You are my portion, O Lord: I have said that I would keep your words. I entreated your favor with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to your word. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto your testimonies. I made haste and delayed not to keep your commandments. The bands of the wicked have robbed me, but I have not forgotten your law......I an a companion of all them that fear you, and of them that keep your precepts. The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy: teach my your statutes" (Ps.119:57-64). MERCY, FORGIVENESS, SALVATION, IS GRANTED TO THOSE WHO WILL OBEY AND KEEP GOD'S COMMANDMENTS AND COVENANT: "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His commandments and His testimonies" (Ps.25:10). "Come, you children, harken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desires life, and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry. the face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth" (Ps.34:11-16). "The steps of a good man are established by the Lord: and he delights in His way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholds him with His hand" (Ps.37:23,24). "But unto the wicked God says, what have you to do to declare my statutes, or that you should take my covenant in your mouth? Seeing you hate instruction, and cast my words behind you......Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offers praise glorifies me: and to him that disposes his way aright will I show the salvation of God" (Ps.50:16,17,22,23). "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Ps.66:18). "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them" (Ps.103:17,18). See also: Ps.119:67, 71-73, 76-77, 153-155, 165, 166, 174, 176 GRACE, MERCY, DOES NOT ABOLISH THE LAW OR COMMANDMENTS OF GOD: "Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, and put your trust in the Lord" (Ps.4:5). "Lord, who shall abide in your tabernacle? who shall dwell in your holy hill? He that walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. He that backbites not with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, takes up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes a vile person is condemned; but he honors them that fear the Lord. He that swears to his own hurt, and charges not. He that puts not out money to usury, nor takes reward against the innocent. He that does these things shall never be moved" (Ps.15). "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure , making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is your servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward" (Ps.19"7-11). "Who can understand his error? cleanse you me from secret faults. Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins, let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression" (Ps.19:12,13). "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk after the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and seek Him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in His ways. You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently......Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto your commandments........With my whole heart have I sought you: O let me not wander from your commandments.......Open mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.......I will run the way of your commandments, when you shall enlarge my heart.......Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; yes, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of your commandments; for therein do I delight.......And I will walk at liberty for I seek your precepts. I will speak of your testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed. And I will delight myself in your commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto your commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in your statutes.......O how love I your law! it is my meditation all the day. You through your commandments have made me wiser than my enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep your precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep your word.......Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.......My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget your law.......I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes, even unto the end. I hate vain thoughts: but your law do I love.......It is time for you, Lord, to work: for they have made void your law. Therefore I love your commandments above gold; yes, above fine gold.......I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for your commandments........rivers of water run down my eyes, because they keep not your law.......Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth. Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me: yet your commandments are my delights....You are near, O Lord; and all your commandments are truth.......for all your commandments are righteousness....I have longed for your salvation, O Lord; and your law is my delight.......I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant; for I do not forget your commandments" (Ps.119: 1-4, 6-7, 10, 18, 32, 34-35, 45-48, 97-100, 105, 109, 112-113, 126-127, 131, 136, 142-143, 151, 172, 174, 176) Read this whole 119th Psalm, there are many other verses I have not quoted, that give the truth that grace does not abolish the law and commandments of God. THE REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND THE WICKED "Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish" (Ps.1). "Fret not yourself because of evildoers, neither be you envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb....... For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yes, you shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. but the meek shall inherit the earth.......The Lord knows the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed of the evil time....But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.......For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth; and they that are cursed of Him shall be cut off.......For the Lord loves judgment, and forsakes not His saints; they are preserved forever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.......Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.......But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off" (Ps.37:1-2, 9-11, 18-20, 22, 28-29, 34, 38). "Also unto you, O Lord, belongs mercy: for you render to every man according to his work" (Ps.62:12). "Whoso privately slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that has a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eye shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that works deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all the wicked doers from the city of the Lord" (Ps.101:5-8). "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. bless you the Lord, O my soul. Praise you the Lord" (Ps.104:35). "You have trodden down all them that err from your statutes: for their deeds is falsehood. You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love your testimonies" (Ps.119:118-119). "The Lord preserves them that love Him: but all the wicked will He destroy" (Ps.145:20). THE WAY OF SALVATION IS SO WRITTEN .......................... Compiled in July 1997 by Keith Hunt, while visiting for 3 months in England and Wales.

ALLEGED DISCREPANCIES OF THE BIBLE #2

 Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible  #2

Will abhor

And my soul shall abhor you.

Leviticus 26:30

Will not abhor

I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them.

Leviticus 26:44

The condition is stated plainly in the intervening verse, the fortieth. If they should confess their iniquity, the Lord's "abhorrence" of them would be changed into mercy toward them. The whole context of these passages is hypothetical.

Permission granted

And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.

Numbers 22:20

Permission withheld

And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. And God's anger was kindled because he went.

Numbers 22:21-22

The permission given to Balaam was conditional; "If the men come to call thee," etc. Balaam, in his eagerness, "loving the wages of unrighteousness," does not appear to have waited for the men to call him; instead of this, he volunteered to go with them. Hengstenberg 31 observes that Balaam "immediately availed himself of the permission of God to go with the Moabites, which he could only do with the secret purpose to avoid the condition which had thereby been imposed upon him, 'The word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.'" Again, "since God's anger was directed against Balaam's going with a definite intention, it involves no contradiction, when afterwards his going was permitted."

Keil thinks that God's anger was not kindled till near the close of Balaam's journey, and then by the feelings he was cherishing. A "longing for wages and honor" caused him to set out, and "the nearer he came to his destination, under the guidance of the distinguished Moabitish ambassadors, the more was his mind occupied with the honors and riches in prospect; and so completely did they take possession of his heart, that he was in danger of casting to the winds the condition which had been imposed upon him by God." Hence the divine anger was awakened.

Aben Ezra and Bechayai 32 say that the Lord had already manifested his will to Balaam that he should not go to Balak, but as if imagining God to be

……

31 History of Balaam and his Prophecies, pp. 345, 372.

32 Menasseh ben Israel's Conciliator, i. 265.

……

able, he again inquired if he might go, when the Lord, who impedes not the ways of men, permitted it—If, knowing my will, you still choose to go, do so. Hence his actual going displeased the Lord.

Henry: "As God sometimes denies the prayers of his people in love, so sometimes he grants the desires of the wicked in wrath."

Inaccessibility

God approachable

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1

It is good for me to draw near to God. 

Psalm 73:28

The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Psalm 145:18

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.

James 4:8

Not accessible.

Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? why hidest thou thyself in times  of trouble?

Psalm 10:1

Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.

Isaiah 45:15

Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.

Lamentations 3:44

Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

Ezekiel20:3

Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.

1 Timothy 6:16

"Obviously, the expression "draw near to God" is not to be taken in the literal sense. In relation to an omnipresent being there can be, strictly speaking, nearness, no remoteness. God is as near to one as to another. We "draw nigh" in a figurative sense, by prayer and devout meditation, by engaging in spiritual communion with him.

Psalm 10:1 and Lamentations 3:44 express a degree of impatience that God does not instantly appear, that he sees fit to leave his people temporarily in affliction.

Isaiah 45:15, Delitzsch renders, "Thou art a mysterious God," and says the meaning is, "a God who guides with marvellous strangeness the history of the nations of the earth, and by secret ways, which human eyes can never discern, conducts all to a glorious issue."

Ezekiel 20:3 was addressed to men who, while cherishing hypocrisy and wickedness in their hearts, attempted to inquire of God. Such inquirers he ever sternly repels.

First Timothy 6:16, "Dwelling in light unapproachable," is a statement of the unquestionable truth, that no mortal can literally approach God, endure the ineffable splendor of his presence, or fathom the mysteries of his existence.

No one of these texts intimates that men may not draw near to God, in the only possible way—by penitence and prayer; no one of them denies that he is accessible unto all that "call upon him in truth."

All seekers find.

If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

1 Chronicles 28:9

I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain.

Isaiah 45:19

I am sought of them that asked not for me, I am found of them that sought me not.

Isaiah 65:1

He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Matthew 7:8

Some do not find.

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.

Isaiah 55:6

Strive to enter in at the straight gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

Luke 13:24

Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.

John 7:34

Andrew Fuller 33 remarks: "Seeking, in Matthew, refers to the application for mercy through Jesus Christ, in the present life; but in Luke, it denotes that anxiety which the workers of iniquity will discover to be admitted into heaven at the last day. . . . Every one that seeketh mercy in the name of Jesus, while the door is open succeeds; but he that seeketh it not till the door is shut will not succeed."

The text from John was addressed to the unbelieving Jews who would not seek Christ, at the right time, nor with the right spirit. Hence, their future seeking would be unavailing. Alford: "My bodily presence will be withdrawn from you; I shall be personally in a place inaccessible to you."

These texts contain nothing whatever to debar those who seek the Savior at the proper time, and in the right way.

(YES  IT  IS  SEEKING  WHEN  CALLED  BY  GOD;  IF  YOU  ANSWER  THE  CALL  YOU  WILL  FIND.  THEN  SEEKING  IN  THE  WRONG  WAY  YOU  WILL  NOT  FIND  -  Keith Hunt)

Early seekers successful. 

Those that seek me early shall find me. 

Proverbs 8:17

Some fail to find.

They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.

Proverbs 1:28

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33Works. 675.

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These two texts, as the connection evinces, point to entirely different classes of persons. The text from Proverbs 8 is taken by many commentators as applicable to the young who seek God. Zockler 34 says the word here rendered "seek early," coming from a noun denoting the morning dawn, "signifies to sees something while it is yet early, in the obscurity of the morning twilight, and so illustrates eager, diligent seeking." In this opinion, many critics substantially concur. 35 On this hypothesis, the sense is, "Those who seek me in youth shall find me."

(I  LIKE  THE  "ILLUSTRATES  EAGER,  DILIGENT  SEEKING"  FOR  GOD  DOES  NOT  ALWAYS  CALL  WHEN  YOUNG  OF  AGE  -  Keith Hunt)

The other text, in the first chapter, rendered by Stuart, "They shall earnestly seek me, but they shall not find me," contemplates obstinate and hardened transgressors. They are described 36 as "fools" and "scorners," are said to have hated knowledge, to have not chosen the fear of the Lord, and to have despised all his reproof. The two texts may, therefore, be paraphrased thus: "Those who early and earnestly seek, shall find me; but impenitent rebels who, in the hour and from the fear of retribution, earnestly seek, shall not find me." Properly explained, there is not the slightest collision between the two texts.

Inscrutability

God's attributes revealed

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. 

Romans 1:20

They are unsearchable

Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?

Job 11:7

His greatness is unsearchable.

Psalm 145:3

Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Psalm 147:5

There is no searching of his understanding.

Isaiah 40:28

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Romans 11:33

Neither of the affirmative texts intimates that God can be weighed or measured, or the depths of Deity explored by mortals.

……

34 In Lange on Proverbs 1:28.

35 So B. Davidson, Noyes, Parkhurst, Umbreit, Opitius, Stockius, Moore, and Frey.

36 See verses 22, 29, and 30.

……

Psalm 19:1 asserts that the heavens above us, the "upper deep," adorned with sun and moon and stars, "Forever singing, as they shine, 'The hand that made us is divine," are a proof and illustration of the wisdom, power, and benevolence of the Creator. They thus declare his glory.

Romans 1:20 merely implies that the invisible attributes of God, particularly his eternal power and divinity, are clearly revealed in his works. Aristotle has a strikingly similar observation, "God, who is invisible to every mortal being, is seen by his works."

Stuart: "God's invisible attributes, at least some of them, are made as it were visible, i.e. are made the object of clear and distinct apprehension, by reason of the natural creation."

His wonders recounted

That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

Psalm 26:7

Hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

Psalm 71:17

I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.

Psalm 73:28

Innumerable

Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number.

Job 9:10

Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbered.

Psalm 40:5

These affirmative passages are not to be rigidly interpreted. It is idle to explain the language of emotion according to a strict literalism. David neither asserts nor implies his ability to enumerate and set forth all, in the absolute sense, of God's wonderful works. His meaning is: To the extent of my ability I declare thy marvellous deeds. None of the foregoing texts impinge upon the unsearchableness of God, as to his essence and mode of existence.

Invisibility

God seen many times

And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Genesis 32:30

Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Na-dab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: and they saw the God of Israel.

Exodus 24:9-10

Not seen by man

And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live. Exodus 33:20

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.

Deuteronomy 4:15

And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.... And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

Exodus 33:11, 23

And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

Judges 13:22

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Isaiah 6:1

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

Daniel 7:9

No man hath seen God at any time.

John 1:18

Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

John 5:37

The King eternal, immortal, invisible. 1 Timothy 1:17

Whom no man hath seen, nor can see. 1 Timothy 6:16

Some of the cases mentioned in the first series of texts—those of Isaiah and Daniel, for example—were visions, in which men "saw" the Deity, not with the physical eye, but with that of the soul. In most of the instances, however, something more real and objective seems to be intended. In some cases, it is said merely that "God" was seen; in others, an "angel" appears, who is identified, during the process of the narrative, with Jehovah.

It is beyond question that God-—-as a spirit—as he is in himself-—is never visible to men. In what sense, then, may he be said to have been "seen"?

He might assume temporarily, and for wise purposes, some visible form in which to manifest himself to his creatures. Cases of this kind are termed "theophanies," in which, as Hengstenberg 37 says, God appears "under a light vesture of corporeity, in a transiently-assumed human form." This seems in some instances the best solution.

He might be seen, as we may say, by proxy—in his accredited representative. This explanation is a very ancient one. In the Samaritan Pentateuch in the narratives of divine appearances, it is not God himself—-Jehovah—who is mentioned as the Person appearing, even where this is the case in the Jewish

……

37 Genuineness of Pent. ii. 370.

……

text, but always an Angel. 38 So, in the Chaldee Targum, Jacob's language stands, "I have seen the Angel of God face to face."

It is a striking fact that, in many instances, this "representative Angel" claims for himself divine honors and purposes, and accepts divine worship. 39 Respecting the nature and rank of this celestial messenger, opinion is divided. 40 Augustine, Jerome, the Romish theologians, the Socinians, Hofmann, Tholuck, Delitzsch, Kurtz, and others, hold that he was a "created angel" who personated Jehovah, acted as his proxy or nuncius. We know that it is not uncommon for a monarch to depute some nobleman to act as his proxy or representative for the time being with all needful powers and privileges.

The early church, the old Protestant theologians, Bush, Hengstenberg, Keil, Havernick, Lange, Wordsworth, with others, hold that this Angel was the Logos, the second Person in the Trinity, who temporarily assumed the human form, and thus "foreshadowed the incarnation." In this manner God was seen in his Son. On any one of these hypotheses, there is no difficulty, for God was seen, and yet not seen.

In his infinite and incomprehensible essence, as we have just said, Jehovah is seen by no mortal; but in a theophany, in his representative Angel, in the Logos who is "the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person," the "King eternal, immortal, invisible" has often been seen.

Little need be said concerning the specific cases above mentioned. The Lord spoke with his servant Moses "face to face," that is, familiarly. Two men may speak face to face in darkness, neither seeing the other.

As to Exodus 33:23, Keil says: "As the inward nature of man manifests itself in his face, and the sight of his back gives only an imperfect and outward view of him, so Moses saw only the back, and not the face of Jehovah."

Andrew Fuller:41 "The difference here seems to arise from the phrase 'face of God.' In the one case, it is expressive of great familiarity, compared with former visions and manifestations of the divine glory; in the other, of a fullness of knowledge of this glory, which is incompatible with our mortal state, if not with our capacity as creatures."

Murphy: "My face is my direct, immediate, intrinsic, self. . . . My back is my averted, mediate, extrinsic self, visible to man in my works, my word, and my personal manifestations to my people."

……

38 Bleek, Introduction to Old Testament, ii. 393.

39 See Genesis 18:10,14; 22:12; 31:11, 13; Acts 7:30, 32.

40 Lange on Genesis, pp. 386-391.

41 Works, i. 674 (edition in 3 vols.)

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Bush: "Nothing could be more expressive than the mode adopted to convey the intimation, that while a lower degree of disclosure could be made to him, a higher could not." An important truth is couched in highly symbolical language.

As to the apparent collision between John 5:37 and those passages which represent the voice of God as heard at times by men, 42 the citation from John may be taken as asserting that no mortal ever saw the form or heard the voice which is peculiar to God. Or, as Alford suggests, the language may have been intended to apply to those persons then present, "Ye have not heard his voice, as your fathers did at Sinai; nor have ye seen his visional appearance, as did the prophets."

On either interpretation there is no difficulty.

(ALL  SOMEWHAT  MADE  COMPLICATED.  THE  SIMPLE  TRUTH  IS  THE  GODHEAD  IS  MORE  THAN  ONE  PERSON.  THE  ONE  WE  CALL  THE  FATHER,  HAS  NEVER  BEEN  SEEN  OR  HEARD  BY  ANYONE.  THE  ONE  CALLED  THE  SON  OF  GOD,  JESUS  THE  CHRIST,  THE  SECOND  MEMBER  OF  THE  GODHEAD,  WAS  THE  GOD  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT.  HE  IS  GOD  AS  THE  FATHER  IS  GOD. HE  APPEARED  AT  TIMES  IN  HUMAN  FORM  TO  MAN,  SO  COULD  BE  SEEN  AND  TOUCHED,  SPEAK  TO,  HAVE  A  MEAL  WITH,  MEN/WOMEN;  AND  WAS  SEEN  IN  HIS  GLORY  STATE  BY  MOSES  BUT  ONLY  HIS  BACK,  AS  NO  MAN  CAN  SEE  THE  GOLRY  FACE  OF  GOD  AND  LIVE,  AS  MOSES  WAS  TOLD.  HE  ALSO  APPEARED  AS  BEING  CALLED   AN  ANGEL.  ALL  THIS  PROVED  BY  MY  STUDIES  ON  THIS  WEBSITE.  AND  THE  GODHEAD  WAS  SEEN  IN  VISION  AS  DANIEL  SAW;  IN  THE  MIND'S  EYE  OR  LIKE  A  DREAM  VISION  -  Keith Hunt)

Similitude of God seen

The similitude of the Lord shall he behold.

Numbers 12:8

No similitude visible

And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude.

Deuteronomy 4:12

The first text refers to Moses, the second to the people in general. He saw certain manifestations of God which they were not permitted to see.

Holiness

God the Author of evil

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

Isaiah 45:7

Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you.

Jeremiah 18:11

Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?

Lamentations 3:38

Not the Author of evil

A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Deuteronomy 32:4

For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

Psalm 5:4

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil.

Jeremiah 29:11

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42 See Genesis 3:8; Exodus 19:19; Deuteronomy 5:26; Job 38:1.

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Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live.

Ezekiel 20:25

Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it ?

Amos 3:6

Shall there be evil in a city, Lord hath not done it?

Amos 3:6

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.

1 Corinthians 14:33

"Evil," mentioned in the first, second, third, and fifth texts, means natural, and not moral evil, or sin. Henderson says, "affliction, adversity"; Calvin, "afflictions, wars, and other adverse occurrences."

When Pompeii is buried by the volcano, Jerusalem destroyed in war, London depopulated by the plague, Lisbon overthrown by an earthquake, Chicago devastated by fire; it is God who sends these "evils" or calamities.

In Psalm 5:4, "evil," as the parallelism shows, is iniquity; in Jeremiah 29:11, it means punitive displeasure.

As to Ezekiel 20:25, the "statutes" which were "not good" are variously referred.

Calvin, Vitringa, and Havernick say the customs and practices, the idolatrous and corrupting rites, of heathenism, to which God gave over the Jews as a punishment for their ungodly disposition.43

Fairbairn: "The polluted customs and observances of heathenism." Wordsworth: "These evil practices are called 'statutes' and 'judgments,' in verse 18, like the 'statutes of Omri' in Micah 6:16."44 Umbreit and Kurtz say, "the liturgical laws which Jehovah prescribed, but which the people abused for heathen purposes."

We know that abused blessings may prove the heaviest curses. May not the meaning be that these "statutes," though good in their original design and adaptation, proved "not good" in their result, through the disobedience of those to whom they were addressed? Are not Paul's words, "And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death," 45 explanatory of the text under consideration?

Wines 46 takes the meaning to be, laws not absolutely the best, but relatively so. This view of the meaning and force of the text is confirmed by the words of our Savior. He has told us that Moses tolerated divorce among the Jews, because of the hardness of their hearts. If the Jews of Moses' time had been less hardhearted, several of his statutes would have been different. These statutes

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43 Compare Psalm 81:12; Romans 1:24-25; 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

44 Compare "statutes of the heathen," 2 Kings 17:8.

45 Romans 7:10.

46 Commentary on Laws of Ancient Hebrews, p. 119.

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were intended to meet special exigencies, but were not designed for universal application.

Solon, being asked whether he had furnished the best laws for the people of Athens, replied, "I have given them the best that they were able to bear."

"When divine wisdom," observes Montesquieu, 47 "said to the Jews, 'I have given you precepts which are not good,' this signifies that they had only a relative goodness; and this is the sponge which wipes out all the difficulties which are to be found in the law of Moses."

Whichever interpretation maybe adopted, none of the above texts, nor any others when properly explained, sanction the revolting proposition that God is the author of sin.

(GOD  IS  SAID  TO  CREATE  EVIL  ETC.  BECAUSE  GOD  ALLOWS  ALL  THINGS  IN  THIS  PRESENT  AGE  OF  MAN.  GOD  IS  THE  ALMIGHTY,  THE  ONE  WHO  IS  IN  CHARGE  OF  EVERYTHING,  AS  ALLOWING  OR  PERMITTING  ALL  THINGS  THAT  THIS  PRESENT  AGE  OFFERS.  SO  IN  THAT  SENSE  GOD  TAKES  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  ALL  THINGS.  HE  COULD  STOP  ANYTHING  AT  ANY  TIME,  IF  HE  SO  DESIRED.  BUT  HE  DOES  NOT  IN  THIS  AGE  OF  MAN  AND  SATAN.  GOD  DID  ALLOW  CERTAIN  LAWS  LIKE  EASY  DIVORCE  UNDER  MOSES,  LAWS  NOT  THE  ULTIMATE  BEST,  BUT  ACCOMMODATED  THE  PEOPLE  FOR  THE  HARDNESS  OF  THEIR  HEART.  HE  ALSO  AT  TIMES  HANDED  PEOPLE  OVER  TO  LAWS,  CUSTOMS,  TRADITIONS,  OF  THE  SPIRITUALLY  BLINDED  MINDS  OF  MEN  AND  NATIONS  -  Keith Hunt)

God jealous

I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. 

Exodus 20:5

The anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man.

Deuteronomy 29:20

For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

Psalm 78:58

Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen.

Ezekiel 36:5

God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth.

Nahum 1:2

Free from jealousy

The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Psalm 145:8-9

For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.

Proverbs 6:34

Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before [jealousy]?48

Proverbs 27:4

Jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

Canticles 8:6

The words "jealous" and "jealousy" are each used in a good and a bad sense. 49 Applied to God, they denote that he is intensely solicitous for his own character and honor, that he does not tolerate rivalry of any kind. An infinitely wise and holy Monarch cannot be indifferent as to the loyalty of his subjects.

Keil regards the terms as implying that God "will not transfer to another the honor that is due to himself, nor tolerate the worship of any other god"; and Bush, as denoting "a peculiar sensitiveness to everything that threatens to trench upon the honor, reverence, and esteem that he knows to be due to himself. The term will appear still more significant if it be borne in mind that idolatry in the

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47 Spirit of Laws, B. 19, c. 21.

48 Zockler says the original word denotes here, not "envy," but plainly "jealousy."

49 "In the Hebrew, jealousy, envy, zeal, and anger may be expressed by a single term, [Hebrew  given]; Fuerst and Gesenius.

……

Scriptures is frequently spoken of as spiritual adultery, and as jealousy is the rage of man so nothing can more fitly express the divine indignation against this sin than the term in question." According to Newman, 50 the phraseology brings to view "the great principle essential to all acceptance with Jehovah their God; namely to put away the worship of all other gods. This is constantly denoted by the phrase that 'Jehovah is a jealous God;' and out of it arose the perpetual metaphor of the prophet in which the relation of God to his people is compared to a marriage; the daughter of Israel being his bride or wife, and he a jealous husband. Thus also, every false god is a paramour, and the worship of them is adultery or fornication."

Hence, even in the estimation of this sceptical author, these expressions are not derogatory to the holiness of God.

Does not tempt them

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.

James 1:13

God tempts men

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham.

Genesis 22:1 And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

2 Samuel 24:1
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Matthew 6:13

The Hebrew word "nissah," tempt, in the first text, means as Gesenius says, "to try, to prove any one, to put him to the test."

It is used in reference to David's trying Sauls armor, 51 and the queen of Sheba's testing the wisdom of Solomon. 52 The meaning therefore is, as in the old Genevan version, "God did prove Abraham."

Bush: "God may consistently, with all his perfections, by his providence, bring his creatures into circumstances of special probation, not for the purpose of giving him information, but in order to manifest to themselves and to others the prevailing dispositions of their hearts." God put Abraham to the proof before angels and men, that his faith and obedience might be made manifest for an example to all coming generations.

As to the second text, it is sufficient to say that God ordered or allowed such influences to affect the mind of David as should lead to a specific wrong act so 

……

50 History of Hebrew Monarchy, p. 26. 

51 1 Samuel 17:39. 

52 1 Kings 10:1.

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resulting in needful chastisement. Yet the ultimate end in view was the welfare of David and his people.

It should be added that, according to Lord Arthur Hervey, 53 the passage should read, "For one moved David against them." This translation would seem to change the whole aspect of the passage, and to make the numbering of the people the cause, rather than the result, of the divine displeasure.

Keil:54 "The instigation consists in the fact that God impels sinners to manifest the wickedness of their hearts in deeds, or furnishes the opportunity and the occasion for the unfolding and practical manifestation of the evil desires e£ the heart, that the sinner may either be brought to the knowledge of his more evil ways and also to repentance, through the evil deed and its consequences; or, if the heart should be hardened still more by the evil deed, that it may become ripe for the judgment of death. The instigation of a sinner to evil is simply one peculiar way in which God, as a general rule, punishes sins through sinners; for God only instigates to evil actions such as have drawn down the wrath of God upon themselves in consequence of their sin."

"Lead us not into temptation," either "Do not suffer us to be tempted to sin; or, if "temptation" here means trial, affliction, "Do not afflict or try us." Such, in substance is Mr. Barnes's view. God "tempts," tests, or tries men, but always for wise reasons, and with a good motive; he never places inducements before men merely in order to lead them into sin. His ultimate object is always good.

(LEAD  US  NOT  INTO  TEMPTATION - TRIALS  OR  TESTING  -  TO  CORRECT  US.  IN  SIMPLE  LANGUAGE  WE  SHOULD  PRAY  THAT  GOD  WILL  NOT  HAVE  TO  PUT  US  IN  TRIALS  AND  TESTS,  BUT  THAT  WE  WILL  BE  EVER  HUMBLE  AND  QUICK  TO  SEE  AND  DO  WHAT  IS  RIGHT  BEFORE  GOD,  HENCE  THE  LORD  DOES  NOT  HAVE  TO  CORRECT  US  IN  TRIALS  BECAUSE  OUR  HEART  AND  MIND  IS  TOO  HARD.  AS  DAVID  SAID,  "CORRECT  ME  LORD  BUT  NOT  IN  YOUR  ANGER  LEST  I  BE  BROUGHT  TO  NOTHING."  A  SUPPLE  MIND  TOWARDS  GOD'S  WAYS  MEANS  LESS  REBUKE  AND  CORRECTING  FROM  GOD  -  Keith Hunt)

God, a respecter of persons

And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.

Genesis 4:4-5

And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

Exodus 2:25

For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.

Leviticus 26:9

And the Lord was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them.

2 Kings 13:23

Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

Psalm 138:6

Does not respect them

A great God,  a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward.

Deuteronomy 10:17

There is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.

2 Chronicles 19:7

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.

Acts 10:34

For there is no respect of persons with God.

Romans 2:11

God accepteth no man's person.

Galatians2:6

Your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

Ephesians 6:9

The Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work.

1 Peter 1:17

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53 In Bible Commentary.

54 Commentary on 1 Samuel 26:19.

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The first series of texts implies a righteous and benevolent "respect," based upon a proper discrimination as to character; the second series denotes a "respect" which is partial, arising but of selfish and unworthy considerations.

The Hebrew expression, "nasa panim," in Deuteronomy 10:17 and 2 Chronicles 19:7, is to be taken, according to Gesenius, "in a bad sense, to be partial, as adjudge unjustly partial or corrupted by bribes." Fuerst gives, among other definitions, "to take the side of one with partiality.." In both of the above texts, the connection makes it clear that this is the correct interpretation. The corresponding Greek term "prosopolepsia," expressing concretely the same idea, 55 and occurring in some modification in all but one of the New Testament citations, conveys an unfavorable meaning, uniformly implying partiality.

There is therefore no collision between the two series of texts, inasmuch as they refer to widely different kinds of "respect."

Not angry

The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands.

Exodus 34:6-7

A God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.

Nehemiah 9:17

Great are thy tender mercies, O Lord. 

Psalm 119:156

Fury is not in me.

Isaiah 27:4

God, an angry God 

Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

Isaiah 26:20

The fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us.

Jeremiah 4:8

The Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.

Nahum 1:2

The "anger" ascribed to God in the scriptures is, as Rashi says, "the displeasure and disgust" which he experiences in view of human conduct. Let any one seriously reflect as to what must be the feelings of an infinitely wise and holy Being in regard to sin, and he can scarcely be at a loss to appreciate the meaning

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55 See Hackett on Acts 10:34.

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of the term, "anger of God." Prof. Tayler Lewis 56 has the following remarks: "Depart in the least from the idea of indifferentism, and we have no limit but infinity. God either cares nothing about what we call good and evil; or as the heaven of heavens is high above the earth, so far do his love for the good and his hatred of evil exceed in their intensity any corresponding human affection." The Being who loves the good with infinite intensity must hate evil with the same intensity. So far from any incompatibility between this love and this hate, they are the counterparts of each other—opposite poles of the same moral emotion. "A religion over whose portal is inscribed in letters of flame, 'I am Holy' can without risk represent God as angry, jealous, mourning, repenting. Scrupulosity, under such circumstances, is the sign of an evil conscience." 57

(SIMPLY: GOD  IS  ANGRY  AT  SIN;  AND  GOD  WILL  SHOW  NO  ANGER  WHEN  PEOPLE  REPENT,  HE  WILL  SHOW  MERCY  AND  KINDNESS  -  Keith Hunt)

God, susceptible of temptation

Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

Deuteronomy 6:16

They that tempt God are even delivered. 

Malachi 3:15

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 

Matthew 4:7

Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples.

Acts 15:10

Cannot be tempted

God cannot be tempted with evil.

James 1:13

Men are said, in the Bible, to "tempt" God, when they distrust his faithfulness; when they brave his displeasure; when, challenging him to work miracles in their behalf, they presumptuously expose themselves to peril; also, "by-putting obstacles in the way of his evidently determined course."58

The quotation from James, as it stands in our version, simply asserts that there is nothing in God which responds to the solicitations and blandishments of evil; it presents no attractions to him. He is not allured by it in the slightest degree.

Alford, DeWette, and Huther, however, render, in substance, "God is unversed in things evil." With either rendering there is no discrepancy. 59

Justice

God is just

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Genesis 18:25

All his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Deuteronomy 32:4

The LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Psalm 92:15

Hear now, 0 house of Israel: Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

Ezekiel 18:25

Unjust

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Matthew 13:12

(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Romans 9:11-13

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56 In Lange on Genesis, p. 288.

57 Hengstenberg, Genuineness of Pent. ii. 327.

58 Alford on Acts 15:10.

59 On supposed sanction of Human Sacrifices, see under Ethical Discrepancies.

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As to Matthew 13:12, Barnes says: "This is a proverbial mode of speaking. It means that a man who improves what light, grace, and opportunities he has shall have them increased. From him that improves them not, it is proper that they should be taken away."

Alford: "He who hath—he who not only hears with the ear, but understands with the heart, has more given to him. . . . He who hath not, in whom there is no spark of spiritual desire nor meetness to receive the engrafted word, has taken from him even that which he hath ('seemeth to have,' Luke); even the poor confused notions of heavenly doctrine which a sensual and careless life allow him are further bewildered and darkened by this simple teaching, into the depths of which he cannot penetrate so far as even to ascertain that they exist."

Drydens Juvenal furnishes a fine parallel to this text:

"Tis true poor Codrus nothing had to boast; And yet poor Codrus all that nothing lost."

Stuart says that Romans 9:11-13 "refers to the bestowment and the withholding of temporal blessings."

John Taylor, of Norwich: "Election to the present privileges and external advantages of the kingdom of God in this world; and reprobation or rejection, as it signifies the not being favored with those privileges and advantages."

Barnes: "He had preferred Jacob, and had withheld from Esau those privileges and blessings which he had conferred on the posterity of Jacob."

That temporal privileges and blessings are very unequally distributed, no one can deny. The fact is patent to the most casual observer. "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?" If this fact constitutes an objection against the justice of this world's Governor, it is an objection which the infidel is as much bound to answer as is the Christian. The truth is, the All-wise Sovereign has an unquestionable right to bestow his favors as he sees fit.

(GOD  GIVES  SPIRITUAL  AND  PHYSICAL  BLESSINGS  AS  HE  SEES  FIT  TO  WHOM  HE  SEES  FIT,  AND  WHEN  HE  SEES  FIT;  SOMETIMES  JUST  AS  HE  WILLS;  OTHER-TIMES  DEPENDING  ON  THE  MIND-SET  OF  PEOPLE.  IN  HUMAN  TERMS  IT  MAY  BE  LOOKED  UPON  AS  LOVE  AND  HATE.  THE  HUMAN  WAY  OF  EXPRESSION  OF  GOD  WORKING  HIS  PLAN  IN  THE  PHYSICAL  AND/OR  SPIRITUAL  LIVES  OF  PEOPLE  -  ANOTHER  HUMAN  WAY  TO  PUT  IT  WOULD  BE  LOVE  AND  LESS-LOVE  -  Keith Hunt)

Punishes for others' sins. 

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.. .. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

Genesis 9:22,24-25

Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.

Exodus 20:5

And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor … And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.

Joshua 7:24-26

What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?

Ezekiel 18:2

Does not thus punish

The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

Deuteronomy 24:16

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die … The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Ezekiel 18:4,20

The righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds.

Romans 2:5-6

As to the case of Canaan, it cannot be proved, though often assumed, that he was cursed for the misconduct of Ham, his father. Bush thinks that Ham's gross disrespect or contemptuous deportment toward his aged parent became, "under the prompting of inspiration, a suggesting occasion of the curse now pronounced. . . . Noah therefore uttered the words from an inspired foresight of the sins and abominations of the abandoned stock of the Canaanites."

Keil: "Noah, through the spirit and power of that God with whom he walked, discerned in the moral nature of his sons, and the different tendencies which they already displayed, the germinal commencement of the future course of their posterity, and uttered words of blessing and of curse which were prophetic of the history of the tribes that descended from them." The reason why Canaan alone of Ham's sons was specified "must either lie in the fact that Canaan was already walking in the steps of his father's impiety and sin, or else be sought in the name 'Canaan,' 60 in which Noah discerned, through the gift of prophecy, a significant omen; a supposition decidedly favored by the analogy of the blessing pronounced upon Japhet, 61 which is also founded upon the name."

Lange thinks that Noah's malediction is "only to be explained on the ground that, in the prophetic spirit, he saw into the future, and that the vision had for its point of departure the then present natural state of Canaan."

Aben Ezra, 62 Rashi, the Talmudists, Scaliger, and others, with Tayler Lewis, hold that Canaan too saw Noah in his exposed condition, and that he committed a cruel and wanton outrage, or some unnamed beastly crime, upon the person of the sleeping patriarch; and that this vile indignity drew down the severe denunciation upon him as the actual offender. Prof. Lewis 63 assigns the following reasons for this opinion: The Hebrew, rendered "his younger son," cannot refer to Ham, who was older than Japheth, but means the least  youngest of the family, and hence is descriptive of Canaan. The words "had done unto him" mean something more than an omission or neglect. The expression is a very positive one. Something unmistakable, something very shameful had been done to the old man in his unconscious state, and of such a nature that it becomes manifest to him immediately on his recovery. "There seems to be a careful avoidance of particularity. The language has an euphemistic look, as though intimating something too vile and atrocious to be openly expressed. Thus regarded, everything seems to point to some wanton act done by the very one who is immediately named in the severe malediction that follows: 'Cursed be Canaan.' He was the youngest son of Ham, as he was also the youngest son of Noah, according to the well-established Shemitic peculiarity by which all the descendants are alike called sons." This explanation is equally plausible and natural.

On either of the above hypotheses, Canaan was punished not for others' misconduct, but for his own; hence the charge of "injustice" in the case is without foundation.

As to Exodus 20:5, we may say that Jehovah "visits" the iniquity of the fathers upon their children, in that he permits the latter to suffer the consequence of the sins of the former.

He has established such laws of matter and mind that the sins of parents result in the physical and mental disease and suffering of their offspring. The

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60 That is, "the submissive one"; Keil.

61 "Widely spreading," so Gesenius.

62 See Conciliator, i. 33.

63 In Lange on Genesis, p. 338.

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drunkard bequeaths to his children poverty, shame, wretchedness, impaired health, and not infrequently a burning thirst for strong drink. The licentious man often transmits to his helpless offspring his depraved appetites and loathsome diseases. And this transmission or "visitation" of evil takes place in accordance with the inflexible laws of the universe. Obviously "injustice" is no less chargeable upon the Author of "the laws of nature" than upon the Author of the Bible.

Even if the above text conveys the idea not only of suffering, but also of punishment, yet the language, "unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me," indicates children who are sinful like their parents. Hengstenberg: 64 "The threatening is directed against those children who tread in their fathers' footsteps." Plainly children are intended who imitate and adopt the sinful habits and practices of their parents; hence, being morally, as well as physically, the representatives and heirs of their parents, they may be, in a certain sense, punished for the sins of those parents. Bush: "The tokens of the divine displeasure were to flow along the line of those who continued the haters of God."

As to the case of Achan's sons and daughters, Canon Browne 65 says: "The sanguinary severity of Oriental nations, from which the Jewish people were by no means free, has in all ages involved the children in the punishment of the father." Many, however, think that Achan's sons and daughters were simply taken into the valley to be spectators of the punishment inflicted upon the father, that it might be a warning to them. Some explain the execution upon the ground of God's sovereignty, and his consequent right to-send death at any time and in any form he pleases.

Keil and others hold that Achan's sons and daughters were accomplices in his crime. "The things themselves had been abstracted from the booty by Achan alone; but he had hidden them in his tent, buried them in the earth, which could hardly have been done so secretly that his sons and daughters knew nothing of it. By so doing he had made his family participators in his theft; they therefore fell under the ban along with him, together with their tent, their cattle, and the rest of their property, which were all involved in the consequences of his crime."

The "proverb," Ezekiel 18:2, implied that the sufferings of the Israelites, at that time, were not at all in consequence of their own sins, but exclusively for the sins of their ancestors—a false and dangerous idea, fitly rebuked by the Almighty.

……

64 On Genesis of Pent. ii. 448.

65 In Smith's Bib. Diet., Art. "Achan."

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Slays the righteous with the wicked. 

This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

Job 9:22

And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north.

Ezekiel 21:3-4

Spares the righteous

Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God … When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

Ezekiel 18:9,19

But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

Ezekiel 33:19

Now the just shall live by faith.

Hebrews 10:38

The first texts do not teach that God, regardless of character, cuts down the evil and the good together. The two classes may be alike in the external circumstances of their death; but they are totally unlike in their destiny. The righteous are, at death and by death, "taken away from the evil to come." 66 It may be the greatest possible blessing, the highest mark of the divine favor, to a good man to be summarily and forever removed from the sorrows and impending evils of earth to the ineffable bliss and repose of heaven. The second series of texts refers to spiritual, and not earthly life. Since the two series of passages contemplate things entirely different, there is no collision between them.

(IN  GOD  DEALING  WITH  A  NATION,  WITH  ISRAEL,  AND  THE  PUNISHMENT  TO  COME  ON  THEM,  THE  HUMAN,  AS  HUMANS  LOOK  AT  RIGHTEOUSNESS  AND  WICKEDNESS,  BOTH  WOULD  SUFFER  THE  SWORD.  YES  IT  IS  TRUE,  SOMETIMES  IN  PUNISHING  A  NATION  WITH  THE  SWORD,  SOME  TRUE  SAINTS  OF  GOD  ALSO  SUFFER  DEATH.  SO  IT  HAS  BEEN  DOWN  THROUGH  HISTORY.  SO  IT  WILL  BE  AT  THE  END  OF  THIS  AGE,  AND  DURING  THE  LAST  GREAT  TRIBULATION,  SOME   SAINTS  WILL  GIVE  THEIR  LIVES  FOR  THE  TRUTHS  OF  GOD  -  Keith Hunt)

Benevolence

God witholds his blessings

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

Isaiah 1:15

Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

Micah 3:4

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

James 4:3

Bestows them freely

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Luke 11:10

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him.

James 1:5

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66 Isaiah 57:1-2.

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The limiting clauses of the first three texts, "hands full of blood," "ill behavior," and "asking amiss," show clearly why God withholds his blessings in these cases. Moreover, the connection in which the last two texts stand evinces that these texts were not intended to be of universal application. They contemplate those persons only who "ask in faith." 67 Everyone that asketh aright, receives. The principle upon which God, in answer to prayer, bestows his blessings is thus enunciated: "If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us." 68 It should be added that such limiting clauses as the above are, in order to make out a contradiction, dishonestly suppressed by those writers who engage in the manufacture of "discrepancies."

Hardens men's hearts

And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them.

Exodus 9:12

And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him.

Exodus 10:1

And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Exodus 11:10

But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

Deuteronomy 2:30

For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses. 

Joshua 11:20

O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear?

Isaiah 63:17

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

John 12:40

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Romans 9:18

They harden their own hearts

But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them.. .. And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

Exodus 8:15, 32

And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Exodus 9:34

Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?

1 Samuel 6:6

And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel.

2 Chronicles 36:13

Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

Proverbs 28:14

Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.

Hebrews 3:8

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67 See James 1:6. 681 John 5:14.

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We may premise that the rejection of truth and the abuse of blessings tend ever to "harden the heart." God, therefore, by making known his truth and by bestowing his blessings, indirectly "hardens" men's hearts; that is, furnishes occasion for their hardening. Thus, the divine mercy to Pharaoh in the withdrawal of the plagues at his request became the occasion of increasing his hardness. When he saw that there was respite, that the rain and hail and thunder ceased, he hardened his heart. 69 In brief, God hardened Pharaoh's heart by removing calamities, and bestowing blessings; Pharaoh hardened his own heart by perverting these blessings and abusing the grace of God.

Theodoret: 70 "The sun, by the force of its heat, moistens the wax and dries the clay, softening the one and hardening the other; and, as this produces opposite effects by the same power, so, through the long-suffering of God, which readies to all, some receive good and others evil; some are softened, and others hardened."

Stuart, 71 concerning Pharaoh: "The Lord hardened his heart, because the Lord was the author of commands and messages and miracles which were the occasion of Pharaoh's hardening his own heart."

Dr. Davidson: 72 "This does not mean that he infused positive wickedness or obstinacy into the mind, or that he influenced it in any way inconsistent with his perfections, but that he withdrew his grace, allowed the heart of Pharaoh to take its natural course, and thus to become harder and harder. He permitted it to be hardened?

Keil, on Exodus 4:21, observes: "In this twofold manner God produces hardness, not only permissive, but effective, i.e. not only by giving time and space for the manifestations of human opposition, even to the utmost limits of creaturely freedom, but still more by those continued manifestations of his will which drive the hard heart to such utter obduracy that it is no longer capable of

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69 See Exodus 8:15 and 9:34.

70 Quaest. 12 in Exodus.

71 Com. on Romans, Excursus xi. p. 483.

72 Sacred Hermen., pp. 545-546.

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returning, and so giving over the hardened sinner to the judgment of damnation. This is what we find in the case of Pharaoh."

As to Sihon, Deuteronomy2:30, God providentially arranged circumstances so that the malignant wickedness of his heart should develop and culminate in "hardness" and "obstinacy," bringing upon him merited destruction.

Bush, on Joshua 11:20: "God was now pleased to leave them to judicial hardness of heart, to give them up to vain confidence, pride, stubbornness, and malignity, that they might bring upon themselves his righteous vengeance, and be utterly destroyed."

As to the ancient Jews, God hardened their hearts, in that by his providence he sustained them in life, upheld the use of all their powers, caused the prophets to warn and reprove them, and placed them in circumstances where they must receive these warnings and reproofs. Under this arrangement of his providence, they became more hardened and wicked.

Delitzsch, on Isaiah 63:17, remarks: "When men have scornfully and obstinately rejected the grace of God, he withdraws it from them judicially, gives them up to their wanderings, and makes their heart incapable of faith. . . . The history of Israel, from chapter 6 onwards, has been the history of such a gradual judgment of hardening, and such a curse, eating deeper and deeper, and spreading its influence wider and wider round."

Barnes, on John 12:40: "God suffers the truth to produce a regular effect on sinful minds, without putting forth any positive supernatural influence to prevent it. The effect of truth on such minds is to irritate, to enrage, and to harden, unless counteracted by the grace of God. And, as God knew this, and knowing it still, sent the message, and suffered it to produce the regular effect, the evangelist says, 'He hath blinded their minds."'

Alford, on Romans 9:18: "Whatever difficulty there lies in this assertion that God hardeneth whom he will, lies also in the daily course of his providence, in which we see this hardening process going on in the case of the prosperous ungodly man."

(IN  ROMANS  9  AND  CONTEXT  OF  SPIRITUAL  SALVATION,  IT  IS  GOD  WHO  IS  WORKING  HIS  PLAN  OF  SALVATION  ACCORDING  TO  HIS  WILL;  HENCE  SOME,  THE  MAJORITY  ARE  LEFT  IN  BLINDNESS,  NOT  CALLED  TO  SALVATION,  WHILE  THE  RELATIVELY  FEW  ARE  CALLED  AND  CHOSEN.  GOD'S  SALVATION  HAS  A  PLAN  FOR  ALL  MANKIND.  SEE  MY  STUDY  CALLED  "THE  GREAT  WHITE  THRONE  JUDGMENT"  -  Keith Hunt)

He is warlike

The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

Exodus 15:3

The Lord of hosts is his name.

Isaiah 51:15

Is peaceful

Now the God of peace be with you all. Romans 15:33

For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

1 Corinthians 14:33

These two sets of texts present God in a twofold aspect—in his attitude toward sin and incorrigible sinners, on the one hand, and that toward holiness and the good, on the other. He is hostile in respect to the one, and friendly in relation to the other. All his attributes are at war with evil, but at peace with "that which is good." Every good magistrate and ruler sustains a similar twofold relation. His attitude toward law-abiding citizens is a peaceful one, while in respect to evildoers he "beareth not the sword in vain." 73

Mercy

Unmerciful and ferocious

And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee: thine eye shall have no pity upon them.

Deuteronomy 7:16

And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and three score and ten men.

1 Samuel 6:19

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not: but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

1 Samuel 15:2-3

And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the Lord: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them.

Jeremiah 13:14

For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:29

Merciful and kind

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

1 Chronicles 16:34

The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Psalm 145:9

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

Lamentations 3:22

The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

James 5:11

God is love.

1 John 4:16

As to the injunction to slay the Canaanites, in Deuteronomy 7, see the discussion elsewhere.74 In respect to the Bethshemites, there is, in all probability, a mistake in the number specified. "Seventy men" is the true reading, with which Josephus 75 agrees. Copyists often made these mistakes, by taking one numeral letter for another which closely resembled it. In our present Hebrew text the words stand

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73 See Romans 13:3-4.

74 Ethical Discrepancies; "Enemies, treatment."

75 Antiq. vi. 1, 4.

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"seventy men, fifty thousand men." But in several manuscripts the Hebrew answering to "fifty thousand men" is entirely wanting. From this circumstance, and the fact that the town of Bethshemesh could by no means furnish anything like fifty thousand men, Keil and others hold that the expression "fifty thousand men" has rightfully no place in the text, but has crept in, by some oversight, from the margin. 76 But it may be asserted that the element of number does not necessarily come into the account—that the death of one person, under those circumstances, presents as real a difficulty as would that of fifty thousand persons. It is needful to say only that these Bethshemites evinced a profane and sacrilegious curiosity, and disobeyed the most solemn, explicit, and repeated warnings of Jehovah. For example, we read, in respect to some of the Levites even, "The sons of Kohath shall come to bear it; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die"; and "They shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die." 77 The rabbis say that the Bethshemites actually opened and looked into the ark. It was essential to teach the people, at this time, a solemn and effective lesson with reference to the proper mode of dealing with sacred things and of approaching Jehovah.

The reason for the command in 1 Samuel 15 is as follows: When the Hebrews were toiling along on their weary pilgrimage from Egypt to Canaan, the Amalekites hung upon their rear, laid wait for them, and butchered in cold blood all who were unable to keep up with the main body. The following is the artless language of the sacred historian: "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God."78

They did this, says Keil, "not merely for the purpose of plundering, or of disputing the possession of this district and its pasture grounds with the Israelites, but to assail Israel as the nation of God, and, if possible, to destroy it." The Amalekites, as we gather from the narrative, were, in earlier and in later times a horde of ferocious and bloodthirsty guerrillas. It seemed best to the Almighty to extirpate a race so hardened and depraved, so utterly lost to the nobler feelings of mankind. Hence he said to Saul: "Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites." 79 In pursuance of this object, he was ordered to "slay both man and woman, infant and suckling."

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76 Lord Arthur Hervey, in Bible Commentary, expresses the opinion that the error arose from the use of numeral-letters; Ayin denoting 70 being mistaken for dotted Nun  representing 50000.

77 Numbers 4:15 and 20.

78 Deuteronomy 25:17-18.
79 1 Samuel 15:18.

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It is objected that this command proves God to be "cruel." If so, the fact that in numberless cases he slays tender babes, innocent little ones, by painful diseases, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, hurricanes, and the like, militates equally against him. The charge of "cruelty" lies just as heavily against the order of things in this world, by whatever name it may be designated, as it does against Jehovah.

Besides, had the women and children been spared, there would soon have been a fresh crop of adult Amalekites, precisely like their predecessors. Or, suppose merely the children had been saved; if left to care for themselves, they must have miserably perished of starvation; if adopted and reared in Israelite families, they might, from their hereditary dispositions and proclivities to evil, have proved a most undesirable and pernicious element in the nation. It was, doubtless, on the whole, the best thing for the world that the Amalekite race should be exterminated.

(WE  DO  NOT  ALWAYS  SEE  AS  GOD  SEES;  SOMETIMES  WE  ARE  NOT  TOLD  ALL  THE  REASONS  AS  TO  WHY  GOD  DOES  CERTAIN THINGS  THE  WAY  HE  DOES  THEM.  WE  DO  NOT  SEE  THE  DEPTH  OF  WHAT  GOD  SEES,  OR  THE  FUTURE  THAT  HE  SEES;  HENCE   HIS  DECISION  TO  DO   WHAT  HE  DECIDES  TO  DO  -  Keiht Hunt)

The people so severely threatened in Jeremiah 13:14 were abominably corrupt and depraved. In Jeremiah 7:9, they are charged with theft, murder, adultery, perjury, burning incense to Baal, and with idolatry in general. Yet, as the connection 80 clearly shows, the severe threatening above mentioned was a conditional one. They might have repented, and escaped. They would not reform, hence the threatening was strictly carried out.

As to Hebrews 12:29, God is a "consuming fire" in respect to evil and evildoers. According to Afford, the fact that "God's anger continues to burn now, as then, against those who reject his kingdom, is brought in; and in the background lie all those gracious dealings by which the fire of God's presence and purity becomes to his people, while it consumes their vanity and sin and earthly state, the fire of purity and light and love for their enduring citizenship of his kingdom."

His anger fierce and lasting

The fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.

Numbers 25:4

And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed. Numbers 32:13

Wilt thou be angry with, us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?

Psalm 85:5

Slow and brief

For his anger endureth but a moment. 

Psalm 30:5

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

Psalm 103:8-9

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See Jeremiah 13:15-17.

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The "fierce anger" of the Lord is his intense and infinite displeasure at everything unholy and evil. He is "slow to anger"; for though he feels an infinite abhorrence of sin, yet he bears-long with the sinner, before giving punitive expression to that abhorrence. He dealt very patiently with the Israelites, as their history abundantly shows.

As to Psalm 30:5, Delitzsch observes: "'A moment passes in his anger, a (whole) life in his favor, that is, the former endures only for a moment, the latter, the whole life of a man."

The anger of God ceases upon the repentance of the sinner. In relation to a certain class of persons, that anger is fierce and lasting, but with respect to a different class, it is slow and brief.

Fearful to fall into his hands

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews 10:31

Not fearful

And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord: for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

2 Samuel 24:14

The first text refers to the case of apostates and other incorrigible sinners; the second to the case of those who are truly penitent. Alford: "The two sentiments are easily set at one. For the faithful, in their chastisement, it is a blessed thing to fall into God's hands; for the unfaithful, in their doom, a dreadful one."

Laughs at sinner's overthrow

I also will laugh at your calamity: I will mock when your fear cometh.

Proverbs 1:26

Has no pleasure in it 

For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. 

Ezekiel 18:32

The persons addressed in the first text are obdurate despisers and scorners who have persistently rejected God's admonitions. So, when calamities overtake them, he contemptuously rejects their prayers, which have no trace of penitence in them, but are the offspring of base fear. On this passage Stuart comments as follows: "I shall henceforth treat you as enemies who deserve contempt. . . . The intensity of the tropical language here makes the expression exceedingly strong. Laughing at and mocking are expressions of the highest and most contemptuous indignation."

The second text refers to persons who, though sinful, were less hardened and in a more hopeful condition than the former class.

A God of Justice

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

Deuteronomy 32:4

Of Mercy

The Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

2 Chronicles 30:9

God's justice is not restricted to what is termed "distributive justice," which gives to every man his exact desserts, leaving no room for the exercise of mercy. The divine justice is that "general justice" which carries out completely all the ends of law, sometimes by remitting, and at other times by inflicting, the penalty, according as the offender is penitent or otherwise. Every wise parent and ruler employs general justice, securing the great ends of government by punishing offenders, or by showing mercy, as circumstances may warrant. The following is a striking passage: "Unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy; for thou renderest to every man according to his work." 81 From this text it would seem that, in the Psalmist's view, mercy and justice are so far from being incompatible, that the one attribute is dependent upon the other. "Thou art merciful, for thou art just." Hengstenberg: "He must have lovingkindness, inasmuch as it is involved in the very idea of God as the righteous One, that he recompense every one according to his work, and therefore manifest himself as compassionate to the righteous, while he destroys the wicked."

He hates same.

Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau.

Malachi 1:2-3

Is kind to all

The Lord is good to all.

Psalm 145:9

The word "hate" is used here, as often in scripture, 82 in the sense of to love less. If one person was preferred to another, the former was said to be "loved," the latter "hated." Henderson observes: "As the opposite of love is hatred, when there is only an inferior degree of the former exhibited, the object of it is regarded as being hated, rather than loved."

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81 Psalm 62:12.

82 See Genesis 29:30-31; Proverbs 13:24; also Luke 14:26, compared with Matthew 10:37.

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Veracity

God cannot lie

The Strength of Israel will not lie.

1 Samuel 15:29

That by two immutable things,  in which it was impossible for God to lie.

Hebrews 6:18

Sends forth lying spirits

And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shall persuade him, and prevail also; go forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.

1 Kings 22:19-23

The whole declaration of Micaiah, in the passage, is a highly figurative and poetical description of a vision he had seen. Putting aside its rhetorical drapery, the gist of the whole passage is that God for judicial purposes suffered Ahab to be fatally deceived. Bahr: "Because Ahab, who had abandoned God and hardened his heart, desired to use prophecy for his own purposes, it is determined that he shall be led to ruin by prophecy. As God often used the heathen nations as the rod of his wrath for the chastisement of Israel (Isaiah 10:5), so now he uses Ahab's false prophets to bring upon Ahab the judgment which Elijah had foretold against him."

A. Fuller:83 "That spirit to whom thou hast sold thyself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord now desires thee as his prey. He that has seduced thee into sin now asks permission of God to deceive thy prophets, that he may plunge thee into destruction; and God has granted him his desire. And that which Satan is doing for his own ends, God will do for his. There is as much of the judicial hand of God in a lying spirit having misled thy prophets as of readiness in the evil one to entangle and seize thee as his prey."

(AGAIN,  GOD  ALLOWING  EVIL  AND  DECEPTION,  TO  GO  FORTH,  BECAUSE  HUMANS  ARE  ON  A  MIND-SET  TO  DO  EVIL  AND  SIN,  SO  PUNISHMENT  WILL  COME  TO  ALL  WORK,  IN  THE  LONG-RUN  FOR  GOD'S  WILL,  JUSTICE,  AND  WORK,  IN  THE  WORKING  WITH  HIS  PEOPLE  THROUGH  THEIR  HISTORY,  SO  ALSO  BRINGING  TO  PASS  THE  OFTEN  PROPHETIC  MESSAGE  GOD  SENT  OUT  TO  HIS  PEOPLE,  IN  WARNING  ADMONITIONS  -  Keith Hunt)

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83 Works, Vol. i. p. 620.

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Keil: "Jehovah sends this spirit, inasmuch as the deception of Ahab has been inflicted upon him as a judgment of God for his unbelief. But there is no statement here to the effect that this lying spirit proceeded from Satan, because the object of the prophet was simply to bring out the working of God in the deception practised upon Ahab by his prophets. . . . Jehovah has ordained that Ahab, being led astray by a prediction of his prophets inspired by the spirit of lies, shall enter upon the war, that he may find therein the punishment of his ungodliness."

Denounces deception 

Cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing. 

Malachi 1:14

Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Acts 5:3

Sanctions it

And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.

1 Samuel 16:2

O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed.

Jeremiah 20:7

And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

Ezekiel 14:9

Even him, whose coming is after-the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a He: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness..

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

On the text from 1 Samuel, Calvin says: "There was no dissimulation or falsehood in this, since God really wished his prophet to find safety under the pretext of the sacrifice. A sacrifice was therefore really offered, and the prophet was protected thereby, so that he was not exposed to any danger until the time of full revelation arrived."

Keil: "There was no untruth in this; for Samuel was really about to conduct a sacrificial festival, and was to invite Jesse's family to it, and then anoint the one whom Jehovah should point out to him as the chosen one. It was simply a concealment of the principal object of his mission from any who might make inquiry about it because they themselves had not been invited."

It is our privilege to withhold the truth from persons who have no right to know it, and who, as we have reason to believe, would make a bad use of it. Lord Arthur Hervey 84 well observes: "Secrecy and concealment are not the same as duplicity and falsehood. Concealment of a good purpose, for a good purpose, is clearly justifiable; for example, in war, in medical treatment, in state policy, and in the ordinary affairs of life. In the providential government of the world, and in God's dealings with individuals, concealment of his purpose, till the proper time for its development, is the rule, rather than the exception, and must be so."

Jeremiah 20:7 is rendered by Davidson 85 thus: "O Lord, thou hast constrained me, and I was constrained."

Henderson: "'Thou didst persuade me, O Jehovah, and I was persuaded.' The prophet alludes to his reluctance to accept the prophetical office, which it required powerful inducements from Jehovah to overcome." Naegelsbach, in Lange, gives a similar version.

Ezekiel 14:9, which refers to idolatrous prophets, exhibits the fact that when men, without divine authority, set up as prophets, God, in order to expose the falsity of their pretensions, "deceives" them; that is, he so orders circumstances that these prophets will utter false and foolish predictions, which by their failure shall disclose the true character of their authors, and overwhelm them with shame and disgrace.

(GOD  KNOWS  THE  HUMAN  HEART;  PEOPLE  WANT  TO  HEAR  WHAT  THEY  WANT  TO  HEAR;  THEIR  HEART  TOWARDS  GOD  IS  NOT  TRUE;  SO  FALSE  DECEIVERS  ARE  ALLOWED  BY  GOD  TO  COME,  AND  DECEIVE;  HE  GIVES  THE  PEOPLE  WHAT  THEY  WANT.  BUT  INDEED  THE  PEOPLE  WILL  BE  HELD  ACCOUNTABLE  FOR  THE  DECEPTIONS  THEY  DESIRE  AS  WELL  AS  THE  FALSE  PROPHET.  IT  IS  WE  REAP  WHAT  WE  SOW.  ALL  WILLFUL  DECEIVERS  HAVE  THEIR  OWN  PART  IN  TEACHING  DECEPTIONS,  ALONG  WITH  THE  DEMONIC  FORCES  WHO  ARE  EVER  IN  THE  GAME  OF  DECEPTION  -  Keith Hunt) 

As to the last text of the second series above, observe the description of the persons contemplated by it. The "deceivableness of unrighteousness" is in them; they neither love nor believe the truth, but have "pleasure in unrighteousness." They deliberately choose error. As they prefer falsehood and delusion to truth, God gives them their choice in full measure. With a judicial purpose, he gives them what they love, together with all its fearful consequences. 86

Alford: "He is the judicial sender and doer; it is he who hardens the heart which has chosen the evil way."

Ellicott: "The words are definite and significant; they point to that 'judicial infatuation' into which, in the development of his just government of the world, God causes evil and error to be unfolded, and which he brings into punitive agency in the case of all obstinate and truth-hating rejection of his offers and calls of mercy."

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84 In Bible Commentary.

85 Introd. to Old Testament, Vol. ii. p. 435.

86 See South's Sermon on Falsehood and Lying, Works, i. pp. 192-203. Also, Miiller, Doctrine of Sin, ii. pp. 413-415 (second edition).

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Habitation of God

Dwells in light

Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.

1 Timothy 6:16

Dwells in darkness

Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

1 Kings 8:12

He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

Psalm 18:11

Clouds and darkness are round about him.

Psalm 97:2

The meaning may be that that in which God dwells is "light" to him, but "darkness" to us. The morning sun, which is light to the eagle, is darkness and blindness to nocturnal animals.

A better explanation, perhaps, is the following: Imagery of various and widely diverse kinds is employed in the scriptures to set forth the attributes of God and his immeasurable remove from finite conditions and creatures. Where two or more figures are employed to illustrate the same idea, we should look for the common features of resemblance or common point of comparison. In the case before us, both of the figurative expressions—"unapproachable light" and "thick darkness"-—set forth vividly and equally well the unsearchableness of God in relation to his creatures. This is the point which, in the present instance, the sacred writers intended to illustrate and beyond this their language should not be pressed.

(GOD'S  ESSENCE  IS  LIGHT;  PURITY;  BUT  TOWARDS  MAN  HE  ALSO  DWELLS  IN  ANYTHING  BE  IT  THE  SUNLIGHT,  OR  CLOUDS  OF  DARKNESS;  BE  IT  THE  RAIN  OR  THE  STORM;  BE  IT  THE  SKY  OR  THE  DEPTHS  OF  THE  SEA.  FOR  MAN  GOD  CAN  DWELL  ANYWHERE.  BUT  WHERE  HE  LIVES,  IN  HIS  HEAVENLY  THRONE,  THERE  IS  ONLY  PURE  GLORIOUS  LIGHT  -  Keith Hunt)

Dwells in chosen Temples

And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice ... For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

2 Chronicles 7:12,16

Does not dwell there

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? 

Isaiah 66:1

Howbeit, the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.

Acts 7:48

Observe, first, that God does not promise to "dwell" in the temple. He says he had chosen it, not as a residence, but as a "house of sacrifice." So Solomon understood it, for he says: "But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?" 87 The promise that

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87 2 Chronicles 2:6.

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the name, heart, and eyes of Jehovah should be there, meant simply that he would regard the house with peculiar favor, and manifest his power and grace in it. It is to be noted, secondly, that the whole promise was conditional, as is explicitly stated in the following verses: "But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations." 88 As the conditions were not complied with, the promise was of course not binding. The quotation from Acts merely affirms that the infinite, omnipresent Spirit is not restricted to any one locality, or confined to any single place of worship.

Inhabits eternity

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy.

Isaiah 57:15

Dwells with men

And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

Exodus 29:45

I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Isaiah 57:15

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

John 14:23

God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

2 Corinthians 6:16

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Revelation 21:3

An omnipresent Being may do both-—-dwell in eternity, and with men too. The "omnipresence" of God is his power to develop his activity everywhere at once. Hence, in this view, the passages present no difficulty.

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2 Chronicles 7:19-20. Kimchi and Rashi give this explanation of the case.

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Dwells in heaven.

Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

Psalm 123:1 

Dwells in Zion

Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion.

Psalm 9:11

In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwellingplace in Zion.

Psalm 76:2

To a mind capable of comprehending the meaning of the term "omnipresence" these texts are seen to be in perfect harmony. Most simply, yet sublimely, is the idea expressed by the inspired prophet: "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." 89

Position God assumes

One Position

There will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

Joel 3:12

A different one

The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

Isaiah 3:13

This is a fair specimen of the trivial, verbal discrepancies which certain infidel writers palm off upon their careless or ignorant readers as cases of real contradiction. Of course, no person of candor and common sense would think of interpreting the language literally. The figure "sit" brings graphically to view the deliberateness and impartiality with which God judges men; the term "standeth" represents him as in the act of executing his judgments.

(FIGURES  OF  SPEECH  AS  GOD  EXECUTES  HIS  JUDGMENTS  UPON  ALL  PEOPLES;  HE  CAN  DO  IT  IN  ANY  POSITION  AS  FAR  AS  THE  WAY  HUMANS  COULD  LOOK  UPON  IT.  COULD  HE  SIT  AND  PLEAD  AS  WELL  AS  STAND  AND  PLEAD?  OF  COURSE!  IT  IS  THE  POETIC  WAY  TO  TEACH  THAT  GOD  CAN  DO  ANYTHING  IN  ANY  POSITION  WE  HUMANS  MAY  WANT  TO  THINK  -  Keith Hunt)

Law of God

A law of liberty

So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

James 2:12

Tends to bondage

These are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage.

Galatians 4:24

The "law" of the first, is not identical with the "covenant" of the second passage. The former refers to the norm or rule of life contained in the gospel. It is Christ's law of love, purity, and liberty as embodied in the Sermon on the Mount.

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Jeremiah 23:24.

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Alford: "It is the law of our liberty, not as in contrast with a former law of bondage, but as viewed on the side of its being the law of the new life and birth, with all its spontaneous and free development of obedience."

On the contrary, the "covenant" is the Mosaic law, with its complicated and burdensome ritual. This gendered to bondage. Ellicott comments thus: "'Bearing children unto bondage' i.e. to pass under and to inherit the lot of bondage." Peter terms it a "yoke," which "neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." 90 As, therefore, the two texts refer to entirely different things, there is no collision.

(ONE  IS  THE  LAW  OF  LIBERTY;  THE  TEN  COMMANDMENTS; OUT  FROM  ITS  CONDEMNATION,  WE  CAN  OBEY  IT  UNDER  GRACE.  THE  COVENANT  FROM  SINAI  -  TRYING  TO  GAIN  SALVATION  BY  OBEYING  THE  OLD  COVENANT  IS  IMPOSSIBLE,  DOING  SUCH  AS  NOT  POSSIBLE,  AS  IT  WAS  NEVER  INTENDED  FOR  SALVATION,  WOULD  ONLY  LEAD  TO  BONDAGE  OF  NEVER  BEING  SAVED  BY  GRACE  THROUGH  FAITH  IN  CHRIST  JESUS  -  Keith Hunt)

Law is perfect

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty.

James 1:25

It perfected nothing

For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did.

Hebrews 7:19

As in the preceding instance, these texts refer to different things—the former to the Christian, the latter to the Mosaic, law. Besides, were the same law intended in both cases, it would by no means follow that a perfect law necessarily secures perfect obedience.

Observance tends to life 

Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 18:5

For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth these things shall live by them.

Romans 10:5

Tends to death

Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord. 

Ezekiel 20:24-26

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

Romans 7:10

If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

Galatians 3:21

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90 Acts 15:10.

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The first two texts affirm the general principle that obedience secures felicity, but do not say that any human being renders this obedience, in the full and perfect sense. The words, "if a man do," are merely hypothetical.

Ezekiel's words, taken in their connection, are explained by Kimchi 91 in the following manner: As the Israelites did not choose to observe the comparatively mild statutes of God whereby they might have lived happily, he substituted other statutes, so different from the first as to render it impossible to live under them, by subjecting that disobedient people to those enemies who instituted violent and rigorous laws against them. That is, the "statutes not good" were not the Mosaic statutes, but those of heathen tyrants and oppressors, to whom, from time to time, God delivered the Jews in punishment of their sins. 92

The commandment which was fitted and intended to secure life, Saul, through transgression, found to result in death. Our criminal law, which makes hanging the penalty of the crime of murder, is designed for the preservation of life. But the murderer who is tried, convicted, and executed under that law finds it a law "unto death."

The quotation from Galatians maybe paraphrased thus: "If there had been a law given which could"—under the circumstances, "which could"—-amid the limitations, frailties, and imperfect obedience of humanity, "have given life." The law requires perfect obedience, in order to life. But it is absolutely certain that man does not, and will not, render this obedience; hence the law cannot give life to him. No law, as such, can give life to sinners. In brief, we may say that the first series of texts implies that the design and normal tendency of the law is life; the last, that, through mans imperfection and disobedience, the actual result is death. Hence, there is clearly no discrepancy.

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A GREAT BOOK TO HAVE ANSWERING THE SO-CALLED CONTRADICTIONS OF THE BIBLE.