Copyright: Copyright © 1994-95 by Philip P. Kapusta
Citation: Copyright © 1994-95 by Philip P. Kapusta


1 Kg 1:30-34

1 Kings 1

30 Even as I sware unto thee by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.

31 Then Bathsheba bowed with [her] face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.

32 And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king.

33 The king also said unto them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon mine own mule, and bring him down to Gihon:

34 And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel: and blow ye with the trumpet, and say, God save king Solomon.

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1 Ki_2:36-38

1 Kings 2:36-38

36  And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither.

37  For it shall be, [that] on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head.

38  And Shimei said unto the king, The saying [is] good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

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1 Kings 15:1

Was the king's name Abijam or Abijah

1 Kings 15:1 gives us the name of Rehoboam's son as "Abijam" who succeded him as king of Judah.  A parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 13:1 records his name as "Abijah".  Abijam's real name was probably "Abijah", while "Abijam" is a spelling due to the religious feeling of the Jews, who felt that the divine name "JAH" should not be retained in the name of a wicked king.

Although Abijah endeavoured to recover the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, making war on Jeroboam, and demonstrated nobleness and zeal for the LORD in 2 Chronicles 13:3-12, his true character was that "his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father" (1 Kings 15:3).

In comparing the two parallel accounts of Abijah's reign, the writer in 1 Kings takes a much worse view of Abijah's character than we find in 2 Chronicles.  From the first book of Kings we learn that Abijah was guilty of the sins of his father Rehoboam, who installed pagan high places of worship and sanctioned perverted cultic practices: "And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him" (1 Kings 15:3).

"Is there an indirect insight into this king's moral decline in the diverse spelling of his name?  Chronicles spells his name Abijah, which means "Yahweh is my father."  Kings spells the name Abijam, which means "my father is Yam."  Yam was a Canaanite sea-god.  Could it be he started out as Abijah, a follower of Yahweh, and ended up as Abijam, a follower of a false god?"

Dilday

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1 Kings 15:1-2

1 Kings 15

1  Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah.

2  Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name [was] Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

2 Chronicles 13

1  Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam began Abijah to reign over Judah.

2  He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also [was] Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

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1 Kings 1:33

Why did kings ride on mules?

Mules were traditionally reserved for the royal family (2 Samuel 13:29; 18:9).  Horses were not introduced into Jewish military life until Solomon's reign and then only for pulling chariots, not for riding.  Mounted warriors were used in other cultures during this period of history, but not in Israel until much later.  Since Hebraic law forbade crossbreeding (Leviticus 19:19), mules had to be imported and were therefore very expensive.  So while the common people rode donkeys, the mule was reserved for royalty.

Dilday

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1 Kings 1:4

1 Kings 1:3-4

3 So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

4 And the damsel [was] very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.


1 Kings 1:50

The significance of taking hold on the horns of the altar

The horns were wooden projections overlaid with brass protruding from the four corners of the altar (Exodus 27:2).  The practice of finding safety in the sanctuary was common enough among the various cultures in the ancient Near East.  It was so abused among the Romans that sacred asylum was abolished by the Emperor Tiberius as the temples became overcrowded with the worst criminals in the empire.  Although it was provided for in Exodus 21:12-14, the only record of such sanctuary in the Old Testament is here and in 1 Kings 2:28.  It should be noted that this asylum was intended to protect innocent persons.  Hence, Adonijah's and Joab's use was really an abuse and explains why Solomon later had no reservation in punishing them both.

Dilday

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1 Kings 1:50-52

50 And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

51 And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me to day that he will not slay his servant with the sword.

52 And Solomon said, If he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die.


1 Kings 1:6

1 Kings 1:5-6

5 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

6 And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also [was a] very goodly [man]; and [his mother] bare him after Absalom.


1 Kings 22

Did God cause the prophets to lie?

How do we explain the implication in 1 Kings 22 that God endorsed a "lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets"?  Did God cause the prophets to lie?

We all know that God does not lie, in fact we are told in Hebrews 6:18 that it is impossible for God to lie.  Also, it is stated in Titus 1:2, that he "cannot lie."  In addition, we know that God does not cause any man to sin, and that he has given us all our freedom of choice between good and evil.  On the other hand, we know that "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

When we consider these facts, and look closely at the context in 1 Kings 22, our conclusions must be consistent with the entire word of God.

Ahab was certainly an individual who did not like to retain God in his knowledge, and consequently he was one of whom it could be said, that God gave over to a reprobate mind (see Romans 1:28).  Ahab's wickedness was climaxed in his illegal possession of the vineyard of Naboth, after his arranged death.  Ahab had been given ample warnings by Elijah to repent.  God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

In the account in question, Ahab's 400 prophets (of Baal) followed the pattern that was typical of all of the false prophets.  They told the king what he wanted to hear, that he would prosper.  They did not receive their inspiration from God, but they lied in response to their own fleshly need to maintain their livelihood.

God did not cause them to lie, even though it was consistent with His will that Ahab believe them.  The time had come for Ahab to die. God providentially intervened, even to the point where we are told, "And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness" (v. 34).  The judgment of God was carried out, in spite of Ahab's attempt to disguise himself.

Micaiah' s prophecy created the strong delusion necessary to convince Ahab to believe the lies of his own false prophets.  Micaiah did not lie.  He simply spoke in parable form, these facts:

1. God had decided to providentially arrange for Ahab's death at Ramoth-gilead.

2. All of the prophets of Ahab were under the influence of a lying spirit.  The "spirit" or "influence" in this case was the prophet Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah, who was the apparent leader of those who opposed Micaiah.

Micaiah's prophecy was what we might call "reverse psychology."  Knowing that Ahab would never believe him, he simply told the truth.  His example is a good one for all of us to follow, even when we are tempted to allow certain circumstances to justify otherwise.

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1 Kings 2:19

1 Kings 2:19-23

19  Bathsheba therefore went unto king Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

20  Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; [I pray thee], say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say thee nay.

21  And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife.

22  And king Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he [is] mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

23  Then king Solomon sware by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.

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1 Kings 2:19-23

Adonijah's request for a wife cost him his life.  Why?

Adonijah's "request to have the beautiful Abishag, David's nurse and concubine, as his wife appeared on the surface to be an innocent if presumptuous one.  She would be a kind of consolation prize for the man who came in second in the race for kingship.  Abishag is described as young and lovely (1 Kings 1:4) and Adonijah as very good-looking (1 Kings 1:6).  They would have made a handsome couple, and perhaps Bathsheba's "match-making" instinct led her to assume his request was nothing more than a harmless, romantic affair of the heart, certainly not another conniving plot to take over the throne.

By ancient custom, however, claiming the widow or the harem of a deceased king was an indirect was of claiming the right to the vacated throne (2 Samuel 16:20-22; 12:8; 3:6-7).  So Adonijah's request may have been tantamount to another coup d'etat and was, therefore, treason.  Some believe Adonijah was simply driven by lust for the beautiful woman, reflecting the same weakness that infected Ammon and even his father David, but it seems clear from the suspicious manner in which he approached Bathsheba that Adonijah knew very well what he was doing."

Dilday

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1 Kings 2:28

1 Kings 2:27-31

27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD; that he might fulfill the word of the LORD, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28 Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

29 And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, [he is] by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

30 And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

31 And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.

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1 Kings 2:36-38

Shimei commanded not to cross the brook Kidron.  Why?

King David died, he instructed his son Solomon (1 Kings 2:8-9) to see that Shimei, a Benjamite, be put to death for the curses he hurled at David many years earlier (2 Samuel 16:5-8).  In spite of the grievous consequences of cursing God's anointed servant, David forgave Shimei when David returned in victory over Absalom's revolt (2 Samuel 19:15-23).  Yet for some reason David believed that the curses remained in effect, and hoped that they would be cancelled out through the execution of Shimei.

When Solomon was made king, Solomon put Shimei under a limited house arrest with the condition that he remain in Jerusalem...  This would win popular favor for the new king as a just and merciful ruler.  The reprieve, however, did not last long.  Shimei broke the agreement when he crossed the brook Kidron, which Solomon named as the limit beyond which Shimei could not cross.

The question may be asked, "Why the boundary of the brook Kidron?"  The Kidron is a brook that flows along the eastern slope of Jerusalem and separates Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.  This brook was the boundary between the tribe of Judah (the house of David) and the tribe of Benjamin (the house of Shimei).  Solomon was therefore restricting Shimei's access to his tribal kinsmen and thereby reducing the possibility of future trouble.  Technically speaking, Shimei most likely did not cross the Kidron when he attempted to retrieve his servants, who had fled to the city of Gath (1 Kings 2:39-41).  Gath was a city to the west of Jerusalem, off the coast of the Mediterranean, and could be accessed from Jerusalem without the need to cross over the Kidron brook to the east.  Nevertheless, Solomon's original intent was that Shimei should never leave Jerusalem, and hence when Shimei left for Gath, it cost him his life (1 Kings 2:42-46).

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1 Kings 2:39-41

39  And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants [be] in Gath.

40  And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.

41  And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.


1 Kings 2:42-46

42  And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the LORD, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst unto me, The word [that] I have heard [is] good.

43  Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged thee with?

44  The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head;

45  And king Solomon [shall be] blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever.

46  So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

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1 Kings 2:8-9

8  And, behold, [thou hast] with thee Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I sware to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword.

9  Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for thou [art] a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him; but his hoar head bring thou down to the grave with blood.


1 Kings 5:3

1 Kings 5

3  Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.


1 Samuel 24

1 And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David [is] in the wilderness of Engedi.

2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.

3 And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where [was] a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.

4 And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.

5 And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

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1 Samuel 24:4

Why did David cut off the skirt of Saul's robe?

When David spared Saul's life, he took away evidence that he had him in his power: "Then David arose and stealthily cut off the skirt (hem) of Saul's robe" (1 Samuel 24:4).  Why did David do this, and why did his conscience smite him for having done it?  Was there some special significance in what he had done?  In fact the act of cutting off the hem (fringe) of Saul's robe was of very great significance, which Saul was not slow to recognize.  When the shouting began next day Saul said: "Now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand" (1 Sam. 24:10).  David had robbed Saul of his status symbol, the fringe of his robe that identified him as king.

The hem of a Jew's garment was not, as in modern clothes, a simple fold of the cloth, sewn down to prevent the edge from fraying.  It was a decorative feature which made a statement about the status and importance of the wearer.  The people of other nearby nations also had this custom.  In texts found in Mesopotamia, references indicate that the removal of the fringe of a man's garment was the equivalent of removing part of his personality.  To cut off the hem of a wife's garment was regarded as divorcing her.  Tablets have been found with the impression of a fringe as the mark of the individual, a personal seal or signature.

Thus the hem or fringe of a garment indicated the rank or personality of the wearer.  It will be remembered that Jesus castigated the Pharisees for enlarging their fringes (Matthew 23:5), the inference being that they were thereby trying to magnify their importance.  The tassels on the fringes were formed by the threads decorating the fringe being brought together at the corners of the garment and knotted.  The original purpose of the fringe and tassels as stated in the law became obscured in course of time, becoming a mere tradition.

John V. Collyer

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1 Timothy 5:8

Take no thought for the morrow?

Does Matthew 6:34 contradict 1 Timothy 5:8?

In the Matthew reference, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus bids us "Take no thought for the morrow"; but in 1 Timothy 5:8 Paul says that "if any provide not for his own...he hath denied the faith".

There is no contradiction in any of the apostle Paul's writings with the teachings of his Lord and Master. Jesus is telling us not to be over anxious about tomorrow's needs, recognizing that it is a human characteristic to be greedy and covetous. But it is also human to be lazy, indolent and over-dependent on others. So Paul adds that the Christian must work honestly to provide for his own needs and those of his family.  Taken together, the two teachings show that there is an acceptable middle course between avarice and idleness, and that is the way we should try to take through life.

Leslie Johnson

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1Kings22

1 Kings 22:1-30

1 And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel.

2 And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.

3 And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead [is] ours, and we [be] still, [and] take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?

4 And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramothgilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I [am] as thou [art], my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.

5 And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord to day.

6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king.

7 And Jehoshaphat said, [Is there] not here a prophet of the Lord besides, that we might enquire of him?

8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, [There is] yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.

9 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten [hither] Micaiah the son of Imlah.

10 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the Lord, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.

12 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the king's hand.

13 And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets [declare] good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak [that which is] good.

14 And Micaiah said, [As] the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak.

15 So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver [it] into the hand of the king.

16 And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but [that which is] true in the name of the Lord?

17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the Lord said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.

18 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?

19 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.

20 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.

21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him.

22 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 shalt persuade [him], and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

23 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.

24 But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee?

25 And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.

26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;

27 And say, Thus saith the king, Put this [fellow] in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.

28 And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.

29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead.

30 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.

31 But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.

32 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it [is] the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out.

33 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it [was] not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.

34 And a [certain] man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.

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2 Chronicles 13:3-12

3  And Abijah set the battle in array with an army of valiant men of war, [even] four hundred thousand chosen men: Jeroboam also set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, [being] mighty men of valour.

4  And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which [is] in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;

5  Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, [even] to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

6  Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord.

7  And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them.

8  And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David; and ye [be] a great multitude, and [there are] with you golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods.

9  Have ye not cast out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of [other] lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, [the same] may be a priest of [them that are] no gods.

10  But as for us, the LORD [is] our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the LORD, [are] the sons of Aaron, and the Levites [wait] upon [their] business: þ

11  And they burn unto the LORD every morning and every evening burnt sacrifices and sweet incense: the showbread also [set they in order] upon the pure table; and the candlestick of gold with the lamps thereof, to burn every evening: for we keep the charge of the LORD our God; but ye have forsaken him.

12  And, behold, God himself [is] with us for [our] captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

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2 Chronicles 13:4-6

4  And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which [is] in mount Ephraim, and said, Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel;

5  Ought ye not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, [even] to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt?

6  Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord.


2 Chronicles 13:5

What was a covenant of salt?

Since salt is commonly used as a preservative, there arose the expression among the Hebrews that any perpetual or everlasting covenant is a "covenant of salt" - an agreement or arrangement that cannot be broken - a covenant that endures the ages.

Here we find this expression used in this sense as King Abijah reminds Jeroboam that God gave the kingdom of Israel unto David and his sons as an everlasting covenant (Psalm 89:3,34; 132:11), and that Jeroboam should not attempt to break God's covenant with David and his house.

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2 Chronicles 24:20-21

2 Chronicles 24

20  And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper?  because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.

21  And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.


2 Samuel 13:29

2 Samuel 13:28-29

28 Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.

29 And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded.  Then all the king's sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled.

2 Samuel 18:8-9

8 For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

9 And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that [was] under him went away.

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2 Samuel 16:20-22; 12:8; 3:6-7

2 Samuel 16:20-23

20 Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.

21 And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that [are] with thee be strong.

22 So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.

23  And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, [was] as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God: so [was] all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

2 Samuel 12:5-9

5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, [As] the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this [thing] shall surely die:

6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

7 And Nathan said to David, Thou [art] the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

8 And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if [that had been] too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.

9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife [to be] thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

2 Samuel 3:6-8

6 And it came to pass, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul.

7 And Saul had a concubine, whose name [was] Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and [Ishbosheth] said to Abner, Wherefore hast thou gone in unto my father's concubine?

8 Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, [Am] I a dog's head, which against Judah do show kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?

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2 Samuel 16:5-8

5  And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name [was] Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came.

6  And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men [were] on his right hand and on his left.

7  And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:

8  The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou [art taken] in thy mischief, because thou [art] a bloody man.

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2 Samuel 19:15-23

15  So the king returned, and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan.

16  And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which [was] of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David.

17  And [there were] a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the king.

18  And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan;

19  And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.

20  For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.

21  But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD'S anointed?

22  And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I [am] this day king over Israel?

23  Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him.

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2 Samuel 21

1 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, [It is] for Saul, and for [his] bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

2 And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites [were] not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the

children of Israel and Judah.)

3 Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord?

4 And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel.  And he said, What ye shall say, [that] will I do for you.

5 And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us [that] we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, [whom] the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give [them].

7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord's oath that [was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell [all] seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days], in the beginning of barley harvest.

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2 Samuel 22:1-9

Why were Saul's sons put to death?

During David's reign it is recorded that there was a famine in Israel.  God explained to David that it was "for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites"; and the record then explains:  "now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah" (2 Samuel 21:1,2).

Whatever the incident was in which Saul had shown misplaced zeal against the Gibeonites, it is not recorded. We may surmise that, since Gibeon fell within Benjamite territory when Joshua divided the land by lot, but was a city given to the Levites (Joshua 21:17), Saul, being of the tribe of Benjamin, sought to slay the Gibeonites to retrieve the city for Benjamin. Whether that was the reason or not, his actions were clearly unjustified, and David therefore acceded to the request of the Gibeonites that seven of Saul's family be hanged to pay for the wrong. When this was done the famine ended (see the remainder of 2 Samuel 21).

David's actions may seem vicious and heartless at first sight, but we know his godly character and that what he did was approved by God Who is both just and merciful. The sum of the evidence suggests that those who were hanged were guilty men, possibly because they were Saul's accomplices against the Gibeonites, possibly because they were idolaters, or possibly because they were both. Idolaters were punished for up to three succeeding generations: "Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me" (Deuteronomy 5:8,9). Note that it is only those that "hate" God who are so punished. The innocent do not suffer for the guilty. As Ezekiel affirms, "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).

We conclude therefore that the seven men of Saul's family who were hanged were guilty men.

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Acts 11:28

Acts 11

27  And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

28  And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.


Acts 26:6

Why did Paul conclude his defense before King Agrippa with the resurrection?

Some readers ponder at the apparently abrupt break in the argument of Paul's defense before Agrippa, when he said, "For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be deemed a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?" (Acts 26:6-8).  One wonders why here would Paul introduce the subject of "the raising of the dead?"  What had it to do with the subject at hand, that is "the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers"?  The solution is simply this: "These all died in faith not having received the promises" (Hebrews 11:13); and unless Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were raised from the dead they would never see the fulfillment of God's promises to them.

It will be seen by Paul's invincible logic that he himself had "the hope of the promises made of God unto our fathers."  Abraham himself understood and believed in the need for a resurrection in connection with God's promises to him.  Look at the remarkable statement in Hebrews 11:17-19: ''By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called.  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure."

The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob neither expected nor received the fulfillment of all of God's promises during their lifetime.  It is recorded that "these all died according to faith, not having received the promises" (Hebrews 11:13) - that is, the promised inheritance.  "Died...not having  received."  Neither did they "receive" anything in death, but "died according to faith, being fully persuaded that, what God had promised he was able to perform".  In fact, it is evident that they expected to die before coming into possession of the promises.  "They saw the  promises afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the land."  This accounts for the fact that when Sarah died Abraham did not claim  possession, but purchased a parcel of ground for a burying-place "from the sons of Heth."  This, too, was an act of faith on his part.  So also with  their "dwelling in tabernacles in the land of promise as in a strange country."  Had they for a moment imagined themselves then and there in actual possession they would no doubt have settled down in permanent  dwellings instead of "living in tents," as they did.  Taking all this into  account, we are not surprised to hear the announcement of Stephen, a man "full of Holy Spirit," that God "gave him (Abraham) none inheritance - no not so much as to set his foot on," in the land; yet "He promised  that He would give it to him and his Seed, when as yet he had no child" (Acts 7:5).

What specific promise or promises did God leave unfulfilled?  What did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fail to receive during their lives?

And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. (Genesis 12:17)

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. (Genesis 13:15)

Who then is the "Seed" mentioned in those "promises"?  Listen to Paul: "Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as (if he spoke) of many; but as of one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ" (Galatians 3:16). That clears up a great many questions, and among them one relating to the possession of Canaan by the Israelites.  "The many" spoken of were not "the Seed" mentioned in the promise, but the "One, which is Christ."  Then the promise can be read as thus: "Abraham, to thee and to Christ will I give everlasting possession of the land of Canaan."

Since Abraham and the patriarchs died not having received the promises (that is, the fulfillment of the promises), this situation would therefore necessitate a resurrection from the dead in order for God not to be found a liar.

Therefore we see how central the resurrection from the dead is in respect to God's promises to the patriarchs (and to us) and why Paul referred to it in his defense before King Agrippa.  The Gospel that Paul was preaching and the promises made unto the patriarchs both had their hope rooted in "the Seed", that is, Jesus Christ.  And without a resurrection, God's promises could not be fulfilled.  Upon these truths Paul rested his case.

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Acts 26:6-8

6 And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:

7 Unto which [promise] our twelve tribes, instantly serving [God] day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.

8 Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?


Acts 7:2-4

Acts 7

2 And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran,

3 And said unto him, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and come into the land which I shall show thee.

4 Then came he out of the land of the Chaldaeans, and dwelt in Charran: and from thence, when his father was dead, he removed him into this land, wherein ye now dwell.


Acts 7:4

Did Stephen make a mistake?

The passage in Acts 7:2-4 where Stephen reviews the history of the nation of Israel and mentions the death of Abram's father is often pointed to as an example of the Bible containing errors.  But is it really?

Some people find fault with Stephen's history where he tells us that Abraham departed from the city of Haran "after his father died."  Critics often site that "had Stephen studied Genesis 11:25-32, he would have realized his error - that Abram departed from Haran at age 75, at a time when his father Terah was 145.  Since Terah lived for 205 years, Abram's father still had another 60 years of life remaining!"

One only has to look a little more closely at the account to see that there is a plausible explanation to the apparent differences.  In Genesis 11:26 Terah (Abram's father) is mentioned as having begat at the age of 70 years.  However, the age he was when he begat EACH of his children is not listed!  Nor is it listed for all the prior accounts as to when they had each of their children.  Simply put: it is an account of when he started to begat children, and not specific as to his age at each of the children's births.  Abram may have well been the last born, and not the firstborn as many assume, at the age of his father being 130.  Should you doubt why Abram is then mentioned first: the prior accounts mention only one child, (as the other children are not mentioned by name), but all three are mentioned of the brothers of Abram, and he is the focal point of the account, & the first-called Jew by the LORD and is rightly listed first in the account of the descendants of Terah.  Should one further doubt: the account in Genesis 11:32 is about the death of Terah, and Genesis 12:1 begins the account of Abram leaving his "father's house".  And why is it his "father's house", and not his father?  Because Terah his father had already died, and the house was all that was left.  Abram as a loving son must have stayed with his father in his old age.  And reading it so causes, (as one can clearly read and see), the account to progress in a orderly fashion.

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Ammonites and Moabites

Both the Ammonites and Moabites were the descendants of the incestuous relationships between Lot and his two daughters (Genesis 19:30-38).


Bibliography and notes

Bibliography and notes:

Barnes, Albert. Notes on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983).

Fringes and Snails

John V. Collyer. Fringes and Snails - The Christadelphian, June 1987.

Dilday, Russell H. The Communicator's Commentary, (Waco: Word Books, 1987).

Earle, Raplh. Word Meanings in the N.T., (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1986).

Farrar, F. W. Cambridge Bible for Schools & Colleges - The Gospel According to Luke, (Cambridge: University Press, 1895).

Farrar, F. W. Texts Explained, (Cleveland: F. M. Barton, 1899).

Hendriksen, William. The Gospel of Luke, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978).

Lamsa, George M. Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text, (New York: Harper & Row, 1968).

Mansfield, H. P. The Book of Ruth, (West Beach: Logos Publications, 1979).

Martin, John. The Epistle of James, (S. Australia: CSSS).

Parker, Joseph. The People's Bible, Vol. 9, (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1888).

Tenney, Merrill C. The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, (Grand Rapids: Regency Reference Library, 1976).

Wilson, Benjamin. Emphatic Diaglot, (New York: Intnl. Bible Students Assoc., 1942).

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2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

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Compare Acts 10:38 with Psalm 89:20

Psalm 89

20  I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him.

Psalm 45

7  Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Acts 10

38  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

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Deu. 23:3

Deuteronomy 23:3-4

3  An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

4  Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.


Deuteronomy 23:3

Moabites forbidden to worship Yahweh, yet David was of Moabite descent!

Ammonites and Moabites were excluded from participating in the worship of the LORD.  The Ammonites were forbidden because they failed to offer hospitality (bread and water) to the Israelites; the Moabites because they attempted to use Balaam to bring down a curse of God upon the Israelites.

How then do we explain the fact that David's grandmother Ruth was a Moabitess, and yet David as a descendant of a Moabite participated freely in the worship of the LORD?  Does the Bible contradict itself?

There are four possible answers in explaining why David, a Moabite descendant, and his sons, were allowed to participate in the religious rituals of Israel:

1) God overturned His own law prohibiting the exclusion of Ammonites and Moabites from joining in worship.

2) The law in Deuteronomy 23:3 was to be taken in a spiritual sense and not literally, for "he is a Jew, which is one inwardly...in the spirit, and not in the letter" (Romans 2:29).  In this light, despite her Moabitish origin, Ruth was in character a true Israelite, so that the prohibition no more applied to her, nor her children.

3) One's ancestry was to be reckoned through one's father, and not through one's mother.  Although possible, the Bible does not state that this was the common practice.

4) Boaz was commanded by Mosaic Law to marry Ruth, a Moabitess, in order to continue the name of Ruth's deceased husband, an Israelite (Deuteronomy 25:6).  Since God instructed that such a marriage arrangement should occur in the first place, Ruth was brought into the assembly of Israel LEGALLY.  Her offspring, therefore, would likewise be accounted as belonging to the nation of Israel, and hence have a right to participate in its religion.

Of these four choices, the latter appears to be the most likely solution to the problem.

The prohibition of Ammonites and Moabites from joining the house of Israel was still in effect in the days of Nehemiah, for Nehemiah grieved upon learning that the Jews had taken in marriage women from these nations (Nehemiah 13:23).  In light of the fact that David and the kings of Israel/Judah were not chosen by the nation, but appointed by God Himself, we must conclude that God did not overturn His own law, but rather the descendants of Ruth the Moabitess were legally absorbed into the congregation of Israel through a levirate marriage.

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Deuteronomy 25:6

Deuteronomy 25

5  If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.

6  And it shall be, [that] the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother [which is] dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.


Deuteronomy 32:13

Deuteronomy 32

13  He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.

Job 29:6

5  When the Almighty [was] yet with me, [when] my children [were] about me;

6  When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil.

Isaiah 61

3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

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Exodus 21:12-14

12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.

13 And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver [him] into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.

14 But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.


Exodus 27:2

Exodus 27:1-2

1 And thou shalt make an altar [of] shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof [shall be] three cubits.

2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.


Exodus 4:24

Why did God seek to kill Moses?

Exodus 24

24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast [it] at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband [art] thou to me.

26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband [thou art], because of the circumcision.

Why did God seek to kill His servant Moses?  The answer from the passage is clear - that it was to punish Moses for neglecting to circumcise his son.

Why would circumcision be so important to God?  Today circumcision is performed primarily for health purposes, and therefore the significance of circumcision in the Old Testament is unknown to most people.  In Genesis 17 the LORD appeared to Abram, and gave unto Abram a new name, Abraham.  Abram's new name meant "father of a great multitude" or a "father of many nations".  And promises were given unto Abraham, specifically that God would give all the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed after him, for an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:4-8).  God thus made a covenant with Abraham, and circumcision was the visible seal and sign of participation in this covenant.  The failure of a father to circumcise his sons was therefore a statement of his faith, revealing that he did not believe in the promises of God to Abraham.  Such rebellion and disbelief were to be punished, for God states, "And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant" (Genesis 17:14).

So we see that Moses' failure to circumcise his son was not a small matter in the eyes of the LORD.  At this point in time Moses was headed back to Egypt for the purpose of leading the children of Israel out from bondage.  In order for God's promises to Abraham to be fulfilled, the Israelites had to return to Canaan, for God said, "I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land...all the land of Canaan" (Genesis 17:8).  Therefore in keeping with His covenant, God would deliver Israel out of Egypt.  Yet Moses had failed to show his faith in God's covenant to Abraham, the very covenant that necessitated that the children of Israel leave Egypt, for which cause Moses was being called into service in the first place!

So Moses' neglect to obey the command to circumcise his son was of utmost importance.  The one who God would use in the process of keeping His covenant with Abraham must himself obey that covenant!  No wonder God was angry, and sought to harm Moses.  Moses hypocrisy would not be tolerated.  If Moses was to participate in the fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham, Moses would have to obey.  Since the record has Zipporah performing the act of circumcision on her son, it would indicate that Moses had indeed been smitten of the LORD with some illness or affliction, and he was therefore physically unable to perform the rite of circumcision.  Zipporah, his wife, was either told by Moses or she already knew what needed to be done.  She circumcises the boy and associates Moses with the act by touching him with the blood from the circumcision wound.  The phrase "cast it at his feet" (AV) is misleading and causes some writers and readers to wrongly assume that Zipporah was either angry at Moses or disgusted with the rite.  The following translations give a more accurate wording: "made it touch his feet" (RSV); or "touched him" (NEB).  Thus once the circumcision had been accomplished, the wrath of the LORD was removed from Moses.

This seemingly little event should not be lost on us.  This event in the life of Moses should teach us to pay careful attention to God's Word, the need to obey His commands, and the importance of teaching our children the promises of God.

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Genesis 11:25-32

Genesis 11

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 Now these [are] the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.

28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife [was] Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

30 But Sarai was barren; she [had] no child.

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

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Genesis 12:1

Genesis 12

1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:


Genesis 17:4-8

Genesis 17

4 As for me, behold, my covenant [is] with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

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Genesis 19:30-38

Genesis 19

30  And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

31  And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father [is] old, and [there is] not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:

32  Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

33  And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

34  And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, [and] lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

35  And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.

36  Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

37  And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same [is] the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38  And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same [is] the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

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Genesis 22:13

Was Abraham a thief?

Genesis 22

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

How convenient for Abraham!  Just when he needed to find a ram to sacrifice on the altar that he and Isaac had built, there it was.  The believer in Divine providence will see this as evidence of God's concern for Abraham, shown in this very practical way.  But the critic may take a different view, and see this incident as evidence that Abraham was a thief for stealing another man's ram.  At first this may seem to be a very reasonable way of looking at the event.  This ram could not have been one of Abraham's own flock, for he had left his herdsmen about fifty miles away at Beersheba.  He had not brought the ram with him, so it must be concluded that it belonged to somebody else.

This accusation against Abraham could not be answered satisfactorily until the code of laws of that time in history was found.  Abraham lived under the laws of Hammurabi, the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylon.  He was more famous as a lawmaker than as a warrior.  His code of laws was found by archaeologists at Susa in Iran, inscribed on an immense stele of black diorite stone.  The British Museum has a carefully made copy of it on display.  After extolling King Hammurabi as the shepherd of his people, it lists 282 paragraphs dealing with the laws that the king had gathered and enacted.  Among these laws is one concerning any animal that has become trapped, such as a ram caught in a thicket.  This law states that such an animal was to become the property of whoever freed it from its toils.  Thus Abraham was well within his rights, when he rescued the ram, to regard it as his own property.  He was thus free to offer it as a sacrifice.  By the law of the land, Abraham was not a thief.

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Genesis 27:30-38

31  And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me.

32  And Isaac his father said unto him, Who [art] thou? And he said, I [am] thy son, thy firstborn Esau.

33  And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where [is] he that hath taken venison, and brought [it] me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, [and] he shall be blessed.

34  And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, [even] me also, O my father.

35  And he said, Thy brother came with subtlety, and hath taken away thy blessing.

36  And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

37  And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?

38  And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father?  bless me, [even] me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

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Hebrews 12:16-17

16  ...Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.


Hebrews 12:17

Why repentance with tears was unavailing

There is no instance in the Bible of genuine repentance being unavailing.  The meaning of this passage is that Esau found no way to change his father's purpose, though he sought the lost blessing with tears (Genesis 27:30-38).

Esau who had sacrificed his birthright could not undo the past with tears.  This is all that is in question.

The Good News Bible makes it simpler to understand: "Afterward, you know, he [Esau] wanted to receive his father's blessing; but he was turned back, because he could not find any way to change what he had done, even though in tears he tried to get the blessing."

That which Esau sought in tears was "the blessing" of his father, not repentance.  Esau was not seeking repentance, but to change his father's mind.

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Hebrews 6:18

That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:


Intnl. Bible Students Assoc.

For those who associate the International Bible Students Association with the Russellites/Jehovah's Witnesses, a few words are in order:

1) Benjamin Wilson was not a Russellite.  The copyright and printing plates to the Emphatic Diaglot were purchased by an anonymous buyer from the publisher who then in turn donated them as a gift (unfortunately) to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses).

2) The author of Puzzling Passages is not a Jehovah's Witness.   This disclaimer is for those who are too quick to label others based upon association.  Although the Emphatic Diaglot has some errors (e.g., John 1:1), it can still be a useful Bible study tool.


Isa. 53:9

Isaiah 53

9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither [was any] deceit in his mouth.


Isaiah 1:6

Isaiah 1

6  From the sole of the foot even unto the head [there is] no soundness in it; [but] wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.


Isaiah 53:9

He had done no violence?

A lot of Jewish apologists object to the fact that Isaiah 53:9 says that "The suffering servant has done no violence."  Others who object to Jesus as the Messiah question, "How can Jesus Christ be the Messiah because verse 9, specifically says He has done "no violence" yet he went into the temple and scourged the money changers or drove them out?" (see John 2:13-16). Obviously, there was violence.  How do we answer that?

The answer is that Jesus did "no violence" in the sense that he committed no crime worthy of death.  The only thing that He did in the temple was what should have been done - chase away those who had made God's house into a house of merchandise - that's not violence. "Violence" indicates an unjust havoc, an unrighteous act of aggression or evil.  What was done by Jesus in the temple is what should have been done.

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JAH

"JAH" or "YAH" is derived from "Yahweh", the divine Hebrew name of God.  The Jews considered God's name so holy that they avoided using it, substituting in its place "Adonai" (Lord).


James 1:14

Anointing the sick with oil

Oil is used medicinally in the Scripture (Isaiah 1:6, Luke 10:34) and it was the practice of the disciples in curing illness, to "anoint them with oil" (Mark 6:13).  However, it would appear that James is using it in a more symbolic sense as oil became regarded as a symbol of the spirit of God (Compare Acts 10:38 with Psalm 89:20).  Oil was used for blessing and consecration.  It was also used in the leper's purification (Leviticus 14:10-18).  Note that in the cleansing of these evil diseases of leprosy that oil must touch part of the leper's body.  Oil is used as a symbol of nourishment, comfort and prosperity (Deuteronomy 32:13).

John Martin

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James 1:14_

James 1

14  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.


James 1:6-8

6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8  A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways


John 12:1

Mark 14

1 After two days was [the feast of] the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put [him] to death.

2 But they said, Not on the feast [day], lest there be an uproar of the people.

3 And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured [it] on his head.

John 12

1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

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John 12:1-3

Mark 14:1-3 contradicts John 12:1-3?

At first glance there would appear to be a discrepancy between the narratives in Mark 14:1-3 and John 12:1-3.  When Jesus was anointed at the supper at Bethany, was it two days or six days before the Passover?

If one reads the account in John 12:1-3 closely, one will see that John did not write that the supper took place on the sixth day before the Passover, but rather Jesus "came to Bethany" six days before the Passover.  From John's words, the supper could have occurred at any time after Jesus arrived at Bethany, the same day, two days later, or 4 days later.  When John wrote "six days before the Passover" he was not stating the day when Jesus was anointed at supper, but rather he was referring to when Jesus arrived at Bethany.  John in verse 2 then states that it was "there they made him a supper".  John did not say when the supper occurred.  The date of Jesus' arrival and the time of the supper do not necessarily have to coincide.  It was sometime during his stay at Bethany that Jesus was anointed.  Mark states that the supper occured two days before the Passover.  Therefore there is no contradiction.

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John 1:32-36

John 1

32  And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

33  And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

34  And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

35  Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;

36  And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

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John 2:13-16

John 2

13  And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,

14  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

15  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;

16  And said to them that sold doves, Take these things away; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

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Joshua 10:24

Joshua 10

24  And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.

25  And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.


Joshua 21:13-17

Joshua 21

13 Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, [to be] a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,

14 And Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs,

15 And Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs,

16 And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, [and] Bethshemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes.

17 And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with her suburbs, Geba with her suburbs,

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Lamsa's translation of Matthew 10:23

An interesting translation of this passage is presented in the Aramaic Peshitta by Lamsa:

"For truly I say to you that you shall not finish converting all the cities of the house of Israel, until the Son of man returns."


Leviticus 14:10-18

Leviticus 14

10  And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour [for] a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.

11  And the priest that maketh [him] clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, [at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

17  And of the rest of the oil that [is] in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:

18  And the remnant of the oil that [is] in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.

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Leviticus 19:19

19 Ye shall keep My statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.


Leviticus 2:13

Leviticus 2

13  And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.


Luke 10:34

Luke 10

33  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion [on him],

34  And went to [him], and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.


Luke 14:26

Did Jesus teach us to hate our own father and mother?

Luke 14

26 If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Let us consider the Biblical use of the words love and hate in order to understand what Jesus meant.  When the Hebrew uses these words, it may mean what we mean, i.e., Affection and Detestation.  But it may be merely an expression of preference.  Where we would say, "I prefer A to B," the Hebrew says, "I love A and hate B."

For example, Genesis 29:30 records, "Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah." The next verse records, "The Lord saw that Leah was hated." These two forms of expression are interchangeable.  "Hate" is clearly intended in verse 31 to mean, "to love less."  The same idiom is found here in Jesus' teaching.

This interpretation of the word "hate" is without a question correct, for comparing Luke 14:26 with a parallel passage in Matthew 10:37 we read: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."

Jesus is not advocating the abandonment of family ties or the promotion of suicide, but he is demanding that where there is a clash between the claims of family or business and the claims of discipleship, the service of the Kingdom shall come first.

We see this in Jesus' warning that "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24).

Jesus did not mean that "No man can be the slave of two masters."  It is a question of priorities.  All of us have at least two "masters" - one is God, and the other is the Necessity for Making a Living.  If preferential time and treatment is given to the latter, then our service in the Vineyard suffers, and vice versa.  The question is, which "Master" do we love more and which do we love less?

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Luke 2:1

All the world should be taxed?

There has been some difficulty respecting this passage, from the fact that no such taxing of all the world is mentioned by any ancient secular writers.  The phrase "all the world" should have been translated "the whole land" - that is, the whole land of Palestine.

The Diaglott translates this phrase as "all the habitable" and notes concerning the Greek word translated "habitable" that it "literally means the inhabited earth, and is applied by some recent translators, to the Roman Empire.  But as no historian mentions a general census at this time, the meaning of the word must be restricted to the land of Judea, where this employment took place." Wilson

"Oikoumenee" (the original Greek word here for "world") is used by Luke in Acts 11:28 and is applied there in this more restricted sense.

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Luke 2:1-3

Luke 2

1  And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

2  ([And] this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

3  And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.


Luke 3:1-2

Luke 3

1  Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

2  Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.


Luke 3:2

Two high priests in Israel?

It may seem strange that Luke assigns the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry to the high priesthood not only of Caiaphas but "of Annas and Caiaphas."  Critics may accuse Luke of making a mistake in his gospel narrative, since the Old Testament specificially states that there was to be only one high priest, not two!

Annas was high priest from A.D. 7-14, and had therefore, by the time John the Baptist began his ministry, been deposed for at least 15 years.  The fourth high priest since his deposition was his son-in-law Joseph Caiaphas.  That Luke assign the beginning of John's ministry to the high priesthood of Caiaphas we can understand, but why that of Annas?

The answer is that by Mosaic Law the high priesthood was held for life (Numbers 35:25), and since Annas had only been deposed by the arbitrary whim of a Roman official he would still be legally and religiously regarded as high priest by the Jews.

The high priests of this time were mere puppets of the Roman civil power, which appointed and deposed them at will in rapid succession, so that the title "high priest" was used in a looser sense than in Old Testament days.  The high priesthood was in fact at this time in the hands of a clique of some half-dozen Herodian, Sadducaean and alien families, whose ambition it was to bear the title for a time without facing the burden of the necessary duties.

Luke is therefore in strict accordance with the facts of the case in attributing the high priesthood at this epoch rather to a caste than to a person.

Josephus who talks of "one of the high priests" and the Talmud which speaks of "the sons of the high priests" use the same sort of language.  There had been no less than 28 of these phantom high priests in 107 years.

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Luke 8:26

26  And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee.

27  And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in [any] house, but in the tombs.


Malachi 3:1

1  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.


Mark 6:13

Mark 6

13  And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed [them].


Mat. 6:31 vs 1 Tim. 5:8

Matthew 6:31, 34

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

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

1 Timothy 5:8

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

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Matthew 10:23

Gone over the cities of Israel before the Son of Man returns.

Matthew 10

23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

In the context of this verse, Jesus is giving his disciples instructions to go out to the cities of the Jews and preach the message of the kingdom of God (see Matthew 10:5-23.  It was not just a command for that particular moment, but also a part of the great commission that was to be carried out after his ascension, for the disciples were to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19).

After Jesus rose into heaven, after his resurrection, the disciples spread the gospel throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria and beyond.  The question then arises, what did Jesus mean when he stated they "shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come"?

Most commentators admit some difficulty on arriving at the meaning of "till the Son of man be come" - when was it that this event or "coming" was to occur?  Although many theories have been advanced, the most obvious is that Jesus was referring to his return to this earth at the end of times.  The phrase "the Son of man be come" can be found in many other gospel passages, and refers to the day of Jesus' return to earth in judgment.  There are a few exceptions, such as at Jesus' transfiguration (Matthew 16:28), and also in Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:15-28), both of which are referred to as "his coming".  But these are exceptions.

A problem also arises when we read in the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's letters that the apostles had indeed preached the message of the kingdom throughout Judaea and beyond.

The best we can do as to a solution to this passage is to state that the disciples of Jesus had a mission to perform.  They were to preach and teach the nations, baptizing into Christ those who were being called out of this present darkness.  Their mission was not a short term one, but rather was to be carried out full-time, even up to the day of their deaths.  This is confirmed as we later read in the Acts of the Apostles, for the apostles' dedication to their calling was evident.  Here Jesus is pointing out that they will not have completed their mission until the day of his coming, whatever day in reference that may be.  By not giving a definite ending period for their work, Jesus' was saying to his disciplies that they were being sent on a full-time mission, and that they were not to stop preaching under any circumstances.  As Jesus said, "He that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 10:22).

Also see Lamsa's translation of Matthew 10:23.

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Matthew 10:5-23

Matthew 10

5  These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into [any] city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

6  But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

7  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

8  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

9  Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,

10  Nor scrip for [your] journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.

11  And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.

12  And when ye come into an house, salute it.

13  And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.

14  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

15  Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak:  for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

20  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against [their] parents, and cause them to be put to death.

22  And ye shall be hated of all [men] for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

23  But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

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Matthew 11:7

John - a reed shaken with the wind?

In the context of these verses, Jesus had just sent the disciples of John the Baptizer back to John with the message that would dispel any doubts about Jesus' identity.  John's disciples had inquired of Jesus, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?"  John knew perfectly well that Jesus whom he had baptized, whom he had seen the Spirit of God descend upon, was the Christ (John 1:32-36).  Even though John's disciples were sent to Jesus with this important question (which John had directed them to ask), there can be no question that John clearly knew Jesus' identity.  There was no lapse of faith on John's part.  This dispatch of John's disciples to Jesus was for the benefit of his disciples - that they might learn that Jesus was the one whom they were to follow.

Should there have been any question in the minds of those who were present when John's disciples had come seeking an answer, Jesus sets the record straight.  He elevates John as a prophet, stating that John was not a reed along the water bank blown back and forth by the wind.

The region of country in which John preached, being overflowed annually by the Jordan River, produced great quantities of reeds or canes, of a light fragile nature, easily shaken by the wind.  The reeds therefore were an image of a light, changing, unsteady man (see also James 1:6-8) John's sending to Christ to inquire his character might have led some to suppose that his faith was now wavering, as John waited in prison and was soon to face death.  Jesus declared that this was not the character of John.  Jesus affirmed John as a prophet of God - and not just any prophet at that!  John was that prophet/messenger who God had foretold would herald the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 3:1).  Jesus continued, also stating that, "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist" (verse 11).

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Matthew 11:7-10

Matthew 11:7-11

7  And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

8  But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft [clothing] are in kings' houses.

9  But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.

10  For this is [he], of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.

11  Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

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Matthew 16:28

Matthew 16

28  Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.


Matthew 1:1

Matthew 1

1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.


Matthew 23:34-35

Matthew 23

34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and [some] of them ye shall kill and crucify; and [some] of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute [them] from city to city:

35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.


Matthew 23:35

Which Zechariah was Jesus referring to?

In this N.T. passage, Jesus informs us that Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, was murdered between the Temple and the altar.   2 Chronicles 24:20-21, however, appears to tell a different story.  In 2 Chronicles it was Zechariah, the son of Jehoida, who was slain by the altar in the days of the Judean king Joash.  There is no indication that the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah (Zechariah 1:1), was similarly slain.  Did Jesus make a mistake?

The following is one solution.  Both these individuals have the same name (Zechariah), and their fathers have the same first name.  2 Chronicles 24 lists the Zechariah that was killed with the name of his GRANDFATHER, the famous Jehoiada.  This reference to one's grandfather, or greater distant forefather, was a practice that was occasionally done in the Old Testament and New Testament (see Matthew 1:1).

There are two other explanations, although I do not recommend them.  One is that the minor prophet Zechariah (whose father is mentioned as Berechiah) died a similar death as the Zechariah of 2 Chronicles 24.  Unfortunately, the scriptures do not mention how the minor prophet Zechariah died, and it would be unusual that two different Zechariahs died in identically the same manner.  Lastly, some scholars believe Jesus was prophesying of a future Zechariah, who would suffer a martyrdom on the temple grounds.

Why I suggest that Jesus was referring to the Zechariah mentioned in 2 Chronicles is because Jesus was stating that the murders of all the righteous prophets, from the beginning to the end, would fall upon that generation of Jews living in the first century.  Jesus mentions Abel as the first, and Zechariah as the last.  We all know that Abel makes his appearance in the book of Genesis.  What few Gentiles realize is that 2 Chronicles is the last book in the Hebrew Tanach (what Gentiles often refer to as the Old Testament).  The Hebrew order of O.T. books is different from the Christian order.  We have Malachi as the last book in our Old Testament.  The Jews' Tanach (Hebrew Bible) has 2 Chronicles at its end.

Therefore Abel at the beginning, and Zechariah in 2 Chronicles, would represent the first and last prophets to be slain for righteousness sake.  This would be in accord with Jesus point, "That upon you may come ALL the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar."  Jesus in effect was giving us an "alpha-omega", from the first to the last, of all these murders in Hebrew Bible.

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Matthew 23:5

Matthew 23

5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,


Matthew 24:15-28

Matthew 24

14  And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:

18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

19  And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:

21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

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

24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

25  Behold, I have told you before.

26  Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it] not.

27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

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Matthew 27:9

Did Matthew confuse Jeremiah with Zechariah?

It is often asked, "Where in Jeremiah's prophecies does Jeremiah speak of 30 pieces of silver, as Matthew claims?  Was not Matthew in fact confusing Jeremiah with Zechariah 11:12-13?

It is a fact that the Old Testament scrolls were bound together in the 1st century under the names of the major prophets - JEREMIAH heading the grouping, and the minor prophets being bound with them, (so that the scrolls were referred to by the name of the major prophet).  Since Zechariah was a "minor prophet", the book (scroll) of Zechariah was bound together with the book (scroll) of Jeremiah.  Therefore it would not be incorrect in the 1st century to refer to a particular passage in Zechariah (such as 11:12-13) as being found in the book (scroll) of Jeremiah.

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Matthew 27:9-10

Matthew 27

9  Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;

10  And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.


Matthew 8:28

Country of the Gergesenes or Gadarenes?

It is claimed by some Bible critics that these parallel passages in Matthew and Mark contradict each other - Matthew stating the event took place in the country of the Gergesenes, whereas Mark states the location as the country of the Gadarenes.  To make matters even more confusing, modern translations render the passage in Mark as "the country of the Gerasenes" (Revised Standard) as in (Luke 8:26).

For those unfamiliar with the geography of this region, the following is a brief summary of the cities and regions in question (also see map below):

Gadara was a city of the Decapolis approximately 6 miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee, now known as Umm Qeis, south of the Yarmuk River. Looking at a map, it is very easy to see how the southeastern shore of the lake of Galilee can be described as being in the region of Gadara.

Gergesa is located midway along the east bank of the Sea of Galilee.

Gerasa was a prominent city 40-50 miles southeast of the lake of Galilee, although it is possible another city by this same name existed at the time of Christ along the shores of the lake.

In comparing the ancient manuscripts, and between the three narrative accounts in Matthew, Mark & Luke, it is obvious that there are variations in the locations given.  With the addition of possible scribal errors in their attempt to resolve an apparent contradiction, it is impossible to arrive at a correct reading with certainty.

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Matthew 8:28&Mark 5:1-3

Matthew 8

28  And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

Mark 5

1  And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

2  And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

3  Who had [his] dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

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Mules

A mule is a sterile hybrid of a male ass and a female horse.


Nehemiah 13:23

Nehemiah 13

23  In those days also saw I Jews [that] had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, [and] of Moab:

24  And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people.

25  And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, [saying], Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.


Numbers 18:19

19  All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it [is] a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.


Numbers 35:25

Numbers 35

24  Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments:

25  And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil.


Psalm 110:1

Enemies become a footstool?

Psalm 110

1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at My right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

To make the enemies a "footstool" is an ancient Near Eastern metaphor for absolute control.  Originally a victorious king placed his feet on the necks of his vanquished foe (see Joshua 10:24 and 1 Kings 5:3).  From this practice arose the idiom to make one's enemy one's footstool.

In this Psalm God promises to His Anointed One (the Messiah) the full authority over the earth.

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Psalm 89:3,34; 132:11

Psalm 89

3  I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

4  Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.

34  My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

35  Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

36  His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

37  It shall be established for ever as the moon, and [as] a faithful witness in heaven.

Psalm 132

11  The LORD hath sworn [in] truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.

12  If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore.

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Romans 1:28

Romans 1

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;


Rut. 4:6

Ruth 4:1-6

1  Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.

2  And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here.  And they sat down.

3  And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which [was] our brother Elimelech's:

4  And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy [it] before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem [it], redeem [it]: but if thou wilt not redeem [it, then] tell me, that I may know: for [there is] none to redeem [it] beside thee; and I [am] after thee. And he said, I will redeem [it].

5  Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy [it] also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.

6  And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem [it] for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem [it].

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Ruth 4:13-17

13  So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son.

14  And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed [be] the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.

15  And he shall be unto thee a restorer of [thy] life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him.

16  And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.

17  And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he [is] the father of Jesse, the father of David.


Ruth 4:6

The kinsman's refusal to marry Ruth on fear of marring his own inheritance.  How would his inheritance become marred?

Remember the story of Ruth, who found herself a widow at a young age when her Israelite husband died in the land of Moab.  Although she was a Moabite and foreigner to the house of Israel she decided to join her mother-in-law and make her new home in Bethlehem of Judea.

Being a virtuous woman, Ruth found favor in the eyes of Boaz, a relative to Ruth's former husband.  According to the Mosaic Law, a male relative had the responsibility to continue the family name of the deceased should the woman be childless at the time of her husband's death (Deuteronomy 25:6).  This arrangement was commonly known as a levirate marriage.  Since Ruth's husband had left her childless, Boaz desired to fulfill this duty by marrying Ruth.  However, there was a nearer-kinsman to Ruth's former husband, and this nearer-kinsman had the right over Boaz to purchase the deceased's property and marry Ruth.

Being an upright man, Boaz confronted the near-kinsman and reminded him of his responsibility to Ruth.  Although the near-kinsman wanted to buy the land Ruth's husband had owned, he refused to take Ruth as his wife.  The kinsman said, "I cannot redeem [it] for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance"

How would purchasing the property of the deceased and marrying Ruth "mar" (ruin) the near-kinsman's own inheritance?

Probably the near-kinsman felt he would gain very little by marrying Ruth, since the land he would purchase would eventually be forfeited at his death and given to Ruth's son, whom the near-kinsman was obligated to provide Ruth with.  If he was to give Ruth a son, the son would not be given the family name of the near-kinsman, but rather the family name of Ruth's former husband.  This is why the levirate marriage was legislated in the first place - to continue the name and family line of the deceased.  And at the near-kinsman's death, the property he would have just purchased would be inherited by this son.  Yet the property would no longer be in the possession of the near-kinsman's family, but passed on to Ruth's son and his future descendants.  It would, therefore, be like mortgaging one's own estate, and that for the benefit of another.  The near-kinsman, therefore, decided that marrying Ruth was not to his best interest.  This left Boaz with the opportunity to take Ruth to wife, which he did.

From the joining of Boaz and Ruth in marriage, a son Obed was born (Ruth 4:13-17).  And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat (King) David, through whom Jesus of Nazareth descended.  Therefore what would appear to many readers as a boring, archaic legal transaction between relatives is in fact an important link in the birth of the promised Messiah.

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Ruth was in character a true Israelite

Ruth 3

9  And he said, Who [art] thou? And she answered, I [am] Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou [art] a near kinsman.

10  And he said, Blessed [be] thou of the LORD, my daughter: [for] thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou  followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.

11  And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou [art] a virtuous woman.


Table of Contents

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Genesis 22:13 - Was Abraham a thief?

Exodus 4:24 - Why did God seek to kill Moses?

Deuteronomy 23:3 - Moabites forbidden to worship Yahweh, yet David was of Moabite descent.

Ruth 4:6 - The kinsman's refusal to marry Ruth on fear of marring his own inheritance.  How would his inheritance become marred?

1 Samuel 24:4 - Why did David cut off the skirt of Saul's robe?

2 Samuel 22:1-9 - Why were Saul's sons put to death?

1 Kings 1:33 - Why did kings ride on mules?

1 Kings 1:50 - The significance of taking hold on the horns of the altar.

1 Kings 2:19-23 - Adonijah's request for a wife cost him his life.  Why?

1 Kings 2:36-38 - Shimei commanded not to cross the brook Kidron.  Why?

1 Kings 15:1 - Was the king's name Abijam or Abijah, or both?

1 Kings 22 - Did God cause the prophets to lie?

2 Chronicles 13:5 - What was a covenant of salt?

Psalm 110:1 - Enemies become a footstool?

Isaiah 53:9 - He had done no violence?

Matthew 8:28 - Country of the Gergesenes or Gadarenes?

Matthew 10:23 - Gone over the cities of Israel before the Son of Man returns.

Matthew 11:7 - John - a reed shaken with the wind?

Matthew 23:35 - Which Zechariah was Jesus referring to?

Matthew 27:9 - Did Matthew confuse Jeremiah with Zechariah?

Luke 2:1 - All the world should be taxed?

Luke 3:2 - Two high priests in Israel?

Luke 14:26 - Did Jesus teach us to hate our own father and mother?

John 12:1-3 - Was Jesus anointed two days or six days before the Passover?

Acts 7:4 - Did Stephen make a mistake?

Acts 26:6 - Why did Paul conclude his defense before King Agrippa with the resurrection?

1 Timothy 5:8 - Take no thought for the morrow?

Hebrews 12:17 - Why repentance with tears was unavailing.

James 1:14 - Anointing the sick with oil.

Bibliography and notes

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Title Page
Puzzling Passages TM

Volume 1

(C) Copyright 1990-96 compiled by

Philip Kapusta  406 Monroe Ave. Falmouth, Va. 22405

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Titus 1:2

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.


What is hypertext?

Hypertext provides you with a new and exciting way to read an electronic document.  Instead of the traditional method of reading a document line by line (sequentially), hypertext allows you to branch off and pursue a new or related sub-topic at any point in your reading.  Using highlighted key words dynamicaly linked to different portions of an electronic document, hypertext provides a quick and flexible method of reading only that information that is of interest to you.  When you have pursued a particular sub-topic to a certain level as far as it can go, you can quickly return to your previous topic by pressing the [B] key or click of the "Back" button at the top of your window.

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Zechariah 11:12-13?

Zechariah 11

12  And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.

13  And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.


Zechariah 1:1

Zechariah 1

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,


covenant of salt

Salt accompanied all cereal (grain) offerings to the LORD according to Moses' instructions (Leviticus 2:13).  Although some of these offerings were consumed by fire on the altar, a great number were for use by the priest for their own food.  Since the priests had no inheritance among their brethren by which to obtain food, they relied upon the gifts and offerings of their fellow Israelites for their daily provisions.  The Law made it clear that the Israelites were to provide for the Levites, stating that their offerings and gifts were to be a perpetual statute ("a statute for ever" - see Numbers 18:19).

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levirate marriage

"Levirate marriage" comes from the Latin word "levir" (meaning "a brother").  The law of the levirate marriage was designed to restore a family on the point of extinction.  In the case of a childless widow, the Law provided that a near relative of her dead husband, a brother of his own tribe of Israel, could take her to wife.  In such a case, the firstborn which she bears "will succeed in the name" of the dead husband, "that his name be not put out of Israel" (see Deuteronomy 25:6).  To "succeed" or to "rise up in the name of his brother which is dead" signifies to "build up the house" of the deceased by providing an heir to the family inheritance, (Mansfield).


repentance

Repentance:

A change of mind (from the Greek "metanoia").  To change one's

mind or purpose.


sacrificed his birthright

Genesis 25

29  And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he [was] faint:

30  And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [pottage]; for I [am] faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

32  And Esau said, Behold, I [am] at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised [his] birthright.

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The Son of man be come

Matthew 24

27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

37  But as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

44  Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Matthew 25

13  Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats.

Mark 8

38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

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their name and address

We would also need to know where you want the disk mailed to.  If this is a gift for a friend, but you want the disk mailed directly to you, then provide us with not only your friend's name and address, but your name and address.


throughout Judaea and beyond

Acts 8

40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.

Acts 10

36  The word which [God] sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)

37  That word, [I say], ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;

Acts 13

48  And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

49  And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

Acts 19

26  Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:

Acts 24

5  For we have found this man [a] pestilent [fellow], and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:

Acts 26

19  Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:

20  But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and [then] to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

Colossians 1

4  Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love [which ye have] to all the saints,

5  For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of  the gospel;

6  Which is come unto you, as [it is] in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as [it doth] also in you, since the day ye heard [of it], and knew the grace of God in truth:

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