The Industrious Donkey

Even the animals—the donkey and the ox—know their owner and appreciate his care, but not my people Israel. No matter what I do for them, they still do not understand." Isa.1:3 NLT

Along with the horse, its stalwart relative, the donkey (ass, or in a variant breed, burro) has been a long-time friend, companion, hard worker, and passenger conveyer to humanity. Perhaps it is time to recognize it as also a noble creature.

Unlike their sometimes negative reputations, donkeys are friendly, loyal, eager to please, and affectionate. They have been known to warn their human comrades of danger and to rescue their human comrades from dangerous situations. On occasion, a male donkey may mate with a mare and produce a mule, an oddly hybrid creature that seems to exhibit the best characteristics of both animals, excepting perhaps the swiftness of a horse. (Donkeys and mules also seem less inclined than horses to charge into the fray of battle; some might see the horse as more valorous; others might be inclined to accord a degree of higher intelligence to the smaller equine).

However, donkeys and mules are sure-footed animals and can often traverse with confidence terrain that horses would rather shy away from. ... It is not true, as a general rule at least, that donkeys and mules are stubborn. In actuality, in most cases, they are industrious. Once they understand what is being asked of them, they will set about the task with diligence. ... In the biblical text, all of these characteristics are exhibited.

(Schwartz, Donald Ray. 2000. Noah's Ark: An Annotated Encyclopedia of Every Animal Species in the Hebrew Bible. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., pgs 90-91)

Ants Are Like People

The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; Prov. 30:25

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Proverbs 6:6

People are distinguished from all other creatures and are so called because of their superior creation, intelligence, wisdom, manner of living and method of labor. They are well organized and are able to understand each other. Their manner of communication, ability in providing for themselves and possessing foresight, excels that of all other creatures.

For these reasons the ants are called “a people,” because they possess like qualities. In all the natural qualities which human people possess, the ants come nearer in possessing them than any other creatures in all the world. The life of the ant is superior in intelligence to that of any insect or animal.

Men are called “people,” the ants are called “people.”

Men live in colonies and cities; the ants do the same.

Men have foresight, make plans and lay up for the future, but in this we have nothing over the ants.

Men carry on agriculture, plant seeds, cultivate crops, harvest and store up food and grain. All of these things are done by the ants.

Men build cities and in some they construct sky scrapers, making several stories underground and many above the ground, but even in this, they do nothing new for the ants do the same.

Men possess servants, house and feed them; the ants also do the same.

Men have cows, milk them, herd their cattle, feed them well and raise more, but strange to say, in this they do no better than the ants.

Men wash, brush and comb; the ants do also and that many times every day, for they are very particular in being clean.

When one man is not able to do some work he solicits the help of others to get it done and sometimes he cannot get the help he needs. If one ant cannot accomplish what she sees is possible she can immediately obtain all the help she solicits.

When men meet one another they generally speak and greet each other; again we learn the ants do the same.

Men practice courtesy and good manners, but the ants are far more courteous than men.

Men have cemeteries outside their cities where they bury their dead and the ants do too.

People build roads and tunnels and travel in these roads; the ants also make roads tunnels and bridges.

Men make war and subdue other tribes to be in subjection to them and the ants do the same.

Men manifest an interest and exercise a care over animals and plants. The dealings of ants with other insects and with plants, is above that of all lower creatures and in this they are “a people,” and like man.

Six thousand species of ants have been discovered and these have been classified by scientists into eight classes for the sake of convenience. Each of the different six thousand species possess their own regulations, habits, manner of living and working, and have individual characteristics; this is so with the human race.

There are hundreds of different tribes of people in the world. Some are red, others black, brown, yellow or white. Some are tall, others short and some are dwarfs. This distinction is manifest in the ant world. Men, too, as among the ants, possess different tribal habits, characteristic features, mode of living and doing things.

One of the remarkable and interesting characteristics of the ants, which is rarely found among other creatures, is the great love and care they manifest to their mothers. When we consider their relation, not merely that of parents and offspring, but that of attitude, conduct and deeds, we cannot help but acknowledge the wise design of an Almighty Creator. The worker ants take the best and kindest care of their queens or mother. They will escort her about from place to place, guide her and carefully guard her all the time. She is fed by them and that very bountifully. Never does she lack for any good thing. The workers daily wash her, brush her many times and bestow many caresses on her.

[Note: The website below has the longer talk and would make an excellent topic for homeschool]

(http://wesley.nnu.edu/wesleyctr/books/0701-0800/HDM0704.PDF)

Gehenna, or Hell-fire

I think it is useful to know the historical background of commonly held perceptions.

Charles Welch wrote:

Gehenna is translated “hell” and “hell-fire” in Matthew as follows:

“shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matt. 5:22)

“Thy whole body should be cast into hell” (Matt. 5:29,30).

“Able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).

“Having two eyes to be cast into hell fire” (Matt. 18:9).

“Twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matt. 23:15).

“How can ye escape the damnation of hell?”(Matt. 23:33).

It is evident that gehenna is not an English word, and before we can rightly understand any of these references to it we must have some knowledge of the place intended.

Gehenna is the name of the “valley of the son of Hinnom” that lay W. and S.W. of Jerusalem. We learn from 2 Kings 23:10 that Josiah: “defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech”.

Speaking of this awful practice the Lord said: “And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My heart” (Jer. 7:31).

In passing, we might note the strong figure used by the Lord, “neither came it into My heart”, and also realize that the teaching concerning the eternal conscious suffering of human beings necessarily places in the heart of God something infinitely more terrible. Tophet, however, means destruction, as a reference to Isaiah 30:33 will show, and the statement that “the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it”, links it with 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9, which results in “everlasting destruction” and not “everlasting torment”.

In order to stop the abominable rites of Molech, Josiah “defiled Tophet” by “filling it with the bones of men” (2 Kings 23:14). From that time forward it became the common cesspool and rubbish heap of the city. Into this valley were cast the carcasses of animals, and of criminals who had been denied burial. Fires were kept burning to prevent pestilence from spreading, and what escaped the destruction of fire and brimstone was eaten of worms. To this the prophet Isaiah refers in 66:24 : “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh”.

Charles H. Welch Hell or Pure From The Blood Of All Men THE BEREAN PUBLISHING TRUST 1928 London

Keepers At Home

[To be] discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Titus 2:5


Charis Hart writes:

"In Titus 2, Paul instructs the elder women to teach the young women to be “keepers at home”. What does this mean? The Greek word translated “keepers at home” (KJV) or “homemakers” (NKJV) is oikouros. This compound word is from oikos- house, household, family; and ouros a guard, guardian, a watcher, a warden.

Let this thought sink in for a moment: the word oikouros translated “keepers at home” carries the meaning of “watching the house, of a watchdog”

The commission to “keep” was first given by God to Adam in Genesis 2:15: “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” In this case, we are looking at the Old Testament and a Hebrew word.

The Hebrew word in Gen 2:15 (Adam’s assignment) is shamar, translated as keep , observe, heed, preserve, beware, watchman, wait, watch, regard, save. The next occurrence of the word shamar is in Genesis 3:24 where “Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

Can you see similarity in meaning of the Hebrew word shamar translated “keep” and the Greek word “ouros” translated “keeper”? The “keep” commission of Gen 2:15 and Titus 2:5 are about protecting, watching, guarding.

From what danger do you suppose Adam was supposed to “keep” the garden? (Remember, he was given this assignment before the fall: before thorns, weeds, thistles and decay.) Is this “keep” directed to Adam a mere calling to domestic servitude as a gardener? The Titus 2 admonition to be “keepers at home” is no more a reference to domestic servitude than was God’s "KEEP" commission to Adam.

Fulfilling God’s commission to “keep” is a way in which male and female reflect the image of God who is referred to in scripture by a Greek word which means “keep above all”.

1 Peter 1:5 in several versions:

“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” KJV

“who, in the power of God are being guarded, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time” YLT

“who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” NIV

“who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” NAS

The Greek word for each of the highlighted translations above is a conjugation of phroureo: oureo=watcher/keeper ; phr= before; above"

*(http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgibin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3D%2323920)

Speaking of Context....

[Miles Coverdale was a 16th-century Bible translator who produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English.]

The words of Miles Coverdale are much to the point here:

‘It shall greatly help ye to understand Scripture, if thou mark

not only what is spoken, or written,

but of whom,

and to whom,

with what words,

at what time,

where,

to what intent,

with what circumstance,

considering what goeth before,

and what followeth’.

Scriptural Number Symbolism

One of the Jewish rules for interpreting scripture is that if you want to know the highest definition of a word, you should pay attention to its first usage in the Torah. That is the rule that Bullinger is using here to understand the symbolic meaning of numbers.

One is associated with Deity (Gen 1:3,4). "God is light" (1 John 1:5).

Two is associated with Separation and Division (Gen 1:6-8), though afterwards it is associated with union in testimony (Deut 17:6; Rev 11:3).

Three is associated with resurrection in Genesis 1:9, when the earth rises up out of and above the waters; and fruit arises out of the earth.

Four is associated with the earth when (Gen 1:14-19) the Sun and Moon were established as light-holders, to "give light upon the Earth."

Five is associated with grace, in the gift of life, in the creation of living creatures; and in the production of life out of the waters of the great deep.

Six is associated with the creation of Man (Gen 1:26-31). Man was created on the sixth day; and hence six is man's "Hall-mark"; and, with its multiples, is stamped upon all that characterizes man as falling short of God; or in opposition to or defiance of God. Goliath was six cubits high; his spear's head weighed 600 shekels of iron; and he had six pieces of armour enumerated. Nebuchadnezzar was similarly marked. His image was 60 cubits high, and six cubits wide, while six instruments of music called for its universal worship. The Beast is marked by the threefold combination of 666 (Rev 13).

Seven is associated with Divine Blessing and Rest (Gen 2:1-3), and is thus the mark of the Spirit of God as "the author and giver of life," and blessing, and rest. Hence it is that this number is so frequent in Scripture, as being the "Hall-mark" of the Spirit's authorship of "the Word of life."

Eight is a new first and, like the Number Three, is associated with newness, especially in resurrection, which took place on "the first day of the week." It first occurs in Genesis 5:4 in the number of the years of Adam, the end of the first man. "The second man" began his resurrection life on the eighth day. Hence the association of the number with resurrection.

Nine occurs first in Leviticus 25:22, and is used of the end of full time. Inasmuch as the fulness of time issues in judgment for good or evil, so nine becomes the symbol or hall-mark of all that stands connected with judgment.

Ten is the great cardinal number, completing one order and commencing a new one. Hence it is used of ordinal perfection, and is so used in its first occurrence in Genesis 24:55.

Twelve is associated with service, rule, and Government. "Twelve years they served" (Gen 14:4). Henceforth we find 12 and its multiples connected with Government both in heaven and on earth. It is the factor in the heavenly Signs, Constellations, and Measurements. It is the factor in all earthly enumerations that have to do with government.

Thirteen first occurs in Genesis 14:4 also, "Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer and the thirteenth year they rebelled." So that ever after, in Scripture, the Number 13, and every multiple of it, is associated with rebellion, apostacy, and disintegration. It is universally a number of evil omen: but those who go back for the origin of anything never go back far enough. They go back, in their own imagination, to the Twelve Apostles and our Lord as making 13; but the first occurrence of the number takes us back to the Divine usage of the Word, Genesis 14:4.

Biblical Words That Have Gone Out of Use

In the English language certain words and expressions which were common in the seventeenth century have gone out of use altogether, and require explanation before they can be correctly interpreted. The following are examples of words and expressions which have become obsolete:—

All to brake (Judges 9:53) is the Anglo-Saxon tobrecan, which meant to smash. "All to brake," therefore, was used in the sense of to completely smash or break.

Away with (Isa 1:13), meant to tolerate.

Come at, meant to come near (Num 6:6).

Do to wit (2 Cor 8:1), meant make to know, to certify.

For to do, meant in order to do (Deut 4:1).

Full well (Mark 7:9), meant with full knowledge.

Go to (James 4:13), meant come now.

Trow (Luke 17:9), meant to suppose or imagine.

Wist (Luke 2:49; Mark 14:40), is the past tense of the Anglo-Saxon wit, to know.

Unwittingly (Josh 20:3), meant unknowingly.

Very (Gen 27:21; Prov 17:9; John 7:26, 8:4), meant true, real.