Don't Step in the Holes
Feel free to use this material in any way that supports His cause! This post is available as a paperback or Kindle book from our author page https://www.amazon.com/Bill-and-Roberta-Taylor/e/B09DTMSHT8/
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Introduction
The Old Testament tells how men and women managed their families and how priests, kings, and other leaders handled power. This book focuses on what God wants us to know about the choices people made and how their decisions worked out for them, their children, and their followers.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4
We hide God’s Word in our hearts (Ps. 119:11[1]) to avoid sin and to learn from others’ experiences:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure. Isaiah 33:6
Some people can learn by reading about what happened to other people, some by talking to others about their experiences, and some simply must grab the electric fence for themselves. Strive to learn the Fear of the Lord and the mind of God from the Word of God instead of having to repeat every mistake for yourself.
Learn from reading what God wrote instead of grabbing the electric fence! You will be judged on how well you received the Word of God so it’s important to learn as much as you can from it:
I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 47And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. John 12:46-48
This book focuses on how God wants to help us avoid holes and pitfalls along the path of our Christian walk. Page 81 explains how God’s ways of managing human history which are illustrated in the Old Testament show us how God’s Plan of Redemption affects parts of human history He didn’t write about.
The goal is to show how to apply God’s learning to families, so the book includes a series of Biblical lessons Drawing Closer to Each Other by Drawing Closer to God on page 93 which couples should study together.
God expects His people to edify one another (1 Thess. 5:11[2]). If you’ll mark up a copy with suggestions, I’ll send you a new one once I upload the corrections. Our other books are described on our Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Bill-and-Roberta-Taylor/e/B09DTMSHT8/
Cover design by outcastsolutions.us. Most of the material in the book is drawn from https://successful-marriage.blogspot.com Feel free to use this material in any way that serves His cause. 5/4/24
Copyright © 2022 Bill and Roberta Taylor All rights reserved.
ISBN: 9798847610858
Chapter 1 - What God Gave “For Our Learning”. 1
God’s Simple Plan of Salvation. 1
The Fundamentals of Christianity. 2
Chapter 2 - From Creation to the Flood. 3
The Six Days of Creation – Genesis 1-2. 3
The Garden of Eden and the Creation of Mankind. 4
The Fall of Man – Genesis 3. 5
The Rule and Responsibility of Husbands. 7
Cain Murdered Abel – Genesis 4:1-16. 8
Chapter 3 - From the Flood to the Patriarchs. 10
The Tower of Babel – Genesis 10, 11. 13
Chapter 4 - The Age of the Patriarchs. 13
Chapter 5 - From the Patriarchs to the Exodus. 27
Chapter 6 - From the Exodus to Crossing the Jordan. 31
Giving the Law – the Ten Commandments – Exodus 20:3-17, Deut. 5:6-21. 32
The Tabernacle – Exodus 35, 36. 33
The Seven Feasts – Leviticus 23. 33
Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea – Num. 13:26, Deu. 9:23. 33
The Death of Moses - Deuteronomy 32:48-52. 34
Chapter 7 - Crossing the Jordan to the Reign of Saul 35
Defeat at Ai – Joshua 7:1-6. 36
The Conquest of the Land of Canaan. 37
The Repeated Cycle in the Book of Judges. 37
Chapter 8 - The Book of Ruth – a Biblical Romance. 41
Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God (Mt. 6:33) 43
Go Where your Husband Goes. 43
Be Sure He Gives You Rest - Ruth 1:9. 44
Don’t Play Hard to Get, Be Hard to Get 44
Get Advice from a Godly Grandmother. 45
Make Sure He Opens His Heart to You. 45
Chapter 9 - The Reign of Saul ~ 1095 – 1055 BC. 46
Saul and Agag – 1 Samuel 15:8-23. 47
Saul and the Witch of Endor - 1 Samuel 28. 47
Chapter 10 - The Reign of David ~ 1055 – 1015 BC. 47
David and Goliath – 1st Samuel 17. 47
David, Jonathan, and Michael 48
David’s Sins and their Consequences. 50
Chapter 11 - The Reign of Solomon ~ 1015 – 975 BC. 53
Solomon Leads the Nation in Worship and Praise. 54
Solomon’s Frustrations in Marriage. 55
Overview of the Song of Solomon. 60
Chapter 12 - The Nation Divided: Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and Judah, the Southern. 61
Kings of Israel - Northern Kingdom: all bad – carried captive ~ 721 BC. 61
Kings of Judah - Southern Kingdom: 8 good – carried captive ~ 587 BC. 62
Chapter 13 - The Major Prophets. 66
God Leads His Dear Children Along. 66
God’s Warnings through Drought 67
Chapter 14 - The Minor Prophets. 73
Chapter 15 - God’s Plan of Redemption. 81
Why England Lost Her Empire. 82
The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians. 86
Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. 89
What Ended the British Empire?. 89
Chapter 16 - Drawing Closer to Each Other by Drawing Closer to God. 93
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it. Ephesians 5:29. 93
What Nature did God Give Women?. 98
My beloved is mine, and I am his - Song 2:16. 100
A Man’s Theological Error. 101
Whose Fault Was the Fall?. 125
Chapter 17 - The Church Abandoned Holy Matrimony. 127
Multiplying Fatherlessness. 128
Chapter 18 - The Church Led the Collapse of our Justice System.. 129
American Jurisprudence came from the Bible. 129
When Society Abandoned Justice. 130
How the Church Abandoned Justice. 130
Where Churches Went Wrong. 132
Chapter 1 - What God Gave “For Our Learning”
The paths we walk are full of rough spots where we can stumble and yawning holes such as drug abuse, alcohol addiction, pornography, anger, wrath, malice, or other sins that can destroy our lives. This book focuses on what God wanted us to know about choices people made and how their decisions worked out.
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; Proverbs 2:11-12
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4
There’s no honor in repeating old mistakes or stumbling into well-known holes along your path, but Christians keep making the same bad choices generation after generation. We’re told to hide God’s Word in our hearts (Ps. 119:11[3]) that we might not sin against Him and to learn from others’ experiences:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:4-5
Some people learn by reading about what happened to others, some by talking to others about trials and experiences, and some people simply must grab the electric fence. Strive to learn the Fear of the Lord and the mind of God from the Word of God as He intended without having to repeat every mistake for yourself.
God’s Simple Plan of Salvation
God is a person who cares how your life works out:
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:7
God loved us enough to send His Son to die to suffer the punishment for our sins. Rev. 13:8 speaks of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Jesus knew that Adam would sin and that He would have to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins before He created Adam, yet He loved all of us enough to create us anyway (John 1:3[4])! He died to save you, but you have to believe it and receive it (Jn. 1:12[5]).
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Acts 16:31
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Acts 17:30 see also Acts 21:21
Mothers risk death to give their children life. This illustrates Jesus loving us enough to die for us before we were even born. Before modern medicine, a woman had roughly 98.5% chance of surviving a pregnancy. Without birth control, women had so many pregnancies that 1 woman in 8 died in childbirth.
Every girl knew someone who had died in childbirth (Ge. 35:18[6], 1 Sam. 4:20[7]). Every girl knew that she would walk the valley of the shadow of death for every child, yet women wanted to marry and bear children (Gen.30:1[8], Luk. 1:25[9]) anyway. Mothers want children badly enough to risk death; Jesus wanted so badly to create us and save us so that we could spend eternity with Him that He chose certain death!
Why God Wrote the Bible
God inspired the Bible writers to teach us how to be saved and how to conduct our lives. You can hear God’s sorrow in having to punish His people when they won’t obey:
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! Deuteronomy 5:29
God gave us free will. What some call “individual soul liberty” and what American law calls “freedom of conscience” means that we are free to choose to go to Hell if we want to go to Hell. We are free to disobey God, but He holds us accountable for the choices we make:
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:15
Learn from reading what God wrote instead of grabbing the electric fence! We will all be judged on how well we receive the Word of God:
I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. 47And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. John 12:46-48
The Fundamentals of Christianity
“Christ” means “Savior of the World.” It’s a title, not a last name. Jesus should be known as “Jesus the Christ.” A Christian is a disciple of Jesus the Christ who yearns and learns to follow the Savior of the World.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24
We can’t worship God in spirit or in truth unless we understand who and what He is. We can’t worship Him with proper awe unless we understand that He created all things perfectly (Gen. 1:31[10]) and keeps the universe running (Col. 1:17[11]) by the power of His word (He. 1:3[12]). We approach Him in humility as we learn to honor Him properly (Mal 1:6[13]).
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
There is great wisdom concerning family relationships throughout the Bible, but the most direct passages are in the book of Malachi on page 79 of this book. The Jews wanted to know why God wasn’t blessing them and Malachi explained that they had dishonored their marriage vows which had been made to Him.
The Bible also shows what can happen when a man scorns and dishonors a woman, page 39.
Learning from Children
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-3
Jesus expects us to accept His Word with childlike faith because He doesn’t lie either to adults or to children. The Bible says much that a child can’t understand and much that adults must believe without understanding, but anything a child can understand is true as a child would understand it.
Consider “And the evening and the morning were the first day (Gen. 1:5[14]).” A child would understand that God made everything in six 24-hour days, each of which had an evening and a morning. God’s lessons on family leadership should be interpreted as literally and as simply as a child would.
Chapter 2 - From Creation to the Flood
God’s teachings start with lessons about God and about human nature in the Book of Genesis, also known as the book of beginnings or the book of origins. This period is sometimes identified with a covenant or with a dispensation. The Bible is neither covenantal nor dispensational, the Bible is Holy.
Thinking in terms of covenants and dispensations may help you understand some of Bible teachings, but remember that God wrote it all. The Bible includes covenants, dispensations, and much else. Forcing God’s Word to conform to any human-generated pattern that men find agreeable is a mistake.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. Isaiah 55:8
The Six Days of Creation – Genesis 1-2
God is a God of order, purpose, and plan (Isa. 14:26-27[15], 23:9[16], 43:13[17], 46:11[18], Jer. 4:28[19], Rom. 8:28[20]). Genesis 1 teaches that God made everything, and it teaches that if God said it, then it’s so. The pattern “and God said … and it was so” is repeated 9 times. Any child can understand that if God says something is so, it’s so. Can you? The fear, awe, respect, and love for the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pr. 9:10[21]).
And God
said, Let there be light and there was light. Genesis 1:3
And God said, Let there be a firmament[22]
… and it was so. Genesis 1:6
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered … and it was so. Genesis 1:9
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass … and it was so. Genesis 1:11
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven … and
it was so. Genesis 1:14
And God said, Let the waters bring forth … and God saw that
it was good. Genesis 1:20
And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature … and it was so. Genesis 1:24
God created all things out of nothing, and it was all very good (Gen. 1:31[23]). God gave us details about how it was done. He wrote “the evening and the morning, were the 1st day (Gen. 1:5)” and so on (Gen. 1:8, 1:13, 1:19. 1:31, 1:23). A child would understand that these were 24-hour days with no gaps between.
The Garden of Eden and the Creation of Mankind
The only thing in all creation that was “not good” near the end was Adam being alone (Gen. 2:18[24]). It was all “very good” after God formed Eve (Gen. 1:31). Children know that mommy is “very good.” They scream for mommy or run to mommy when anything goes wrong. Kids don’t need the Bible to teach them that daddy’s wife is a “good thing” or that she is a “favor from the Lord (Pr. 18:22).”
Genesis 2 is a flashback which gives more detail about God’s creation of mankind on the 6th day of creation (Genesis 1:26-30). God could have formed Eve earlier and let her name the animals with Adam, but He let Adam feel his loneliness before creating Eve so that Adam would understand her importance to him.
Adam claimed Eve and named Eve the moment he saw her:
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Genesis 2:23
How did he know that she was what he wanted? Can any man explain why he pursues one woman and not another? Did Adam ask Eve what she wanted to be called? Or did he name her to claim ownership of her as the Babylonians showed ownership of Daniel and his companions by naming them?
Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs[25] gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego. Daniel 1:7
Why did God make men so possessive? How does a man’s possessiveness bless his wife?
As with all of God’s gifts, a man’s possessiveness and strength can be misused to harm women, but encouraging a husband’s possessiveness makes him want to protect, nourish, and cherish his wife and the children she bears as her greatest gift to him.
It’s so simple to keep a man happy that older women can explain it in under a minute (Gen. 29:21[26]). There's no simple formula for a man to keep a woman happy. If, however, he opens his heart to her as sincerely, as deeply, as widely, as patiently, as attentively, as often, and as gladly as he expects her to open herself to him, they will belong to each other over time. By belonging to each other and serving God by serving each other (Gal. 5:13[27]), they can give each other a taste of the joys of Heaven, right here on earth.
A woman’s desire to talk can frustrate a man, but if he opens his heart to her (Pr. 31:11a[28]) and talks to her as much as God expects (1 Peter 3:7[29]), she will learn ways to please him that he would never imagine.
God gave Adam and Eve a perfect life of fellowship with Him with not much toil for food (Gen. 1:29[30]).
The Fall of Lucifer
Satan’s fall came from rebellion and pride. Lucifer was among the best of God’s angels, but he wanted to take over God’s role. He was fired for insubordination, disobedience, and wanting to take his boss’ job.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer[31], son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Isaiah 14:12-14
Paradise Lost is an 11,000 line poem by John Milton. He wrote about the consequences of rejecting God’s Laws. Line 263 has Satan say, “It is better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven” which summons up Satan’s prideful attitude of not wanting to serve God. Psalm 84:10 describes the opposite attitude, “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Every person chooses whether to walk the path of obedience to God or the prideful path of going our own way:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
You make the same choice at work: obey the boss or do it your way. When you take a job, you sell your boss the right to tell you what to do. He pays you to do his thing, not your thing. Strive to make your work more wonderful (1 Cor. 10:31[32]) to your boss than the money he pays you. That’s a challenge because most people think money is pretty wonderful. Being more wonderful than money is a condition of keeping a job.
In addition, your attitude and way of speaking (Pr. 4:24[33], 10:32[34]) must keep your boss happy to pay you. An unhappy boss may replace you even if you are more wonderful than the money you cost. If you want to get paid more, you have to figure out a way to make your work more wonderful to your boss.
The Fall of Man – Genesis 3
The fall of mankind contains many lessons about how human affairs work out today.
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 18And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help[35] meet for him. Genesis 2:15-18
God put Adam in the garden to dress it and to “keep it” which means to protect it. Eve was made to help him. Having been punished for trying to be equal with God, Satan tempted Eve with the same independence he had wanted. His first step was to throw doubt on the Word of God by asking Eve what God had really said:
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Genesis 3:1-3
Eve hadn’t been formed when God told Adam not to eat the fruit. Who added “don’t touch” to what God said? Many men blame Eve for adding to what Adam told her even though the Bible doesn’t say. Moses added “come not at your wives” to what God said (Exodus 19:14-15[36]). Did Adam add to what God told him? Asking a potential son-in-law whether Eve or Adam misquoted God reveals his attitude toward women.
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:4-5
Eve liked Satan’s lie “ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” If she knew the difference between good and evil, she could decide what to do for herself instead of obeying her husband and God. She didn’t realize that after she sinned by disobeying God, knowing the difference between good and evil didn’t guarantee that she would choose the good. How many of us do wrong while knowing it’s wrong when we do it?
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:6
For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. I Timothy 2:13-14
We’re told that Adam wasn’t deceived by Satan’s temptation of Eve so he must have heard it. Adam wasn’t fooled, he deliberately chose to sin. Adam was “with her” when she ate the fruit, why didn’t he stop her? He’d been told to protect the garden. Why didn’t Adam correct Eve when she misquoted God?
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Romans 5:12
Adam failed to protect the garden, sinned deliberately, then refused to take responsibility for his sin.
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12-13
Adam blamed Eve for tempting him and blamed God for giving her to him. Eve followed his example and blamed the serpent. To this day, many men blame women for just about everything that goes wrong. God punished Eve for being in the transgression:
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Genesis 3:16
God multiplied Eve’s sorrow by making her sensitive to criticism by men and by giving her a strong desire for a husband who would desire her (Song 7:10[37]) but who would rule her (Gen. 3:16[38]). Her sensitivity would help her bless her husband because she would see subtle ways to make him happy.
God punished Adam by cursing the ground. He had to work hard to get enough to eat.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Genesis 3:19
How would Eve eat? Women aren’t strong enough to hunt or farm without machinery; Eve ate by the sweat of Adam’s face. A woman had to persuade a man to feed her and her children or she’d starve.
Did depending on husbands for food give wives a reason to please their husbands (1 Cor. 7:34[39])? Women can now get jobs and feed themselves (1 Tim. 5:14[40]) instead of raising children. Is that OK with God?
Proverbs 19:13[41], 21:9[42], 21:19[43], 25:24[44], and 27:15[45] are warnings to a man not to make his wife unhappy. The Song of Solomon shows what happens when a man makes his wife happy. God wants men to nourish, appreciate, love, sanctify, and honor their wives as advised in Pr. 31:28-29[46] and taught in the Song.
The wife delights in her husband’s desire for her (Song 7:10[47]) and gets her mother’s advice how to stay married (Song 8:3[48]). She has more capacity than he. She can absorb all the energy God gives him which makes it hard for other women to attract his attention. If she lets him leave home loaded, he may be tempted by others and could be burned (Pr. 6:27[49]). He tells her and her friends how much he loves and values her. Being valued helps his wife enjoy his physical pursuit (Song 1:2[50]) and makes her like belonging to him.
There is no joy for a man this side of Heaven that compares with having his wife like belonging to him, but he must first convince her that he likes nourishing, cherishing, and providing for her for this to work.
The Rule and Responsibility of Husbands
God holds leaders accountable for how they lead. Adam led Eve in not confessing his sin; he caused the fall. Moses wasn’t punished when the people worshipped the Golden Calf. He struck the rock instead of speaking to it and was punished by being forbidden to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 27:12-14[51]).
One of Eve’s punishments was a husband who would rule her by supplying her food and through her desire to please him (1 Cor. 7:34[52]). The Bible puts leadership responsibility squarely on the man: 1 Cor. 11:3 explains, “the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man.”
Jesus commands leaders to rule as servants (Mk. 9:35[53], 10:44[54]). Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Mt. 11:30[55]), shouldn’t a man make his yoke easy and his burden as light on his wife as he can?
For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. I Corinthians 11:8-9
God created women for men. Most women badly want attention from a man and some men take advantage of this. The account of Samson’s temptation on page 39 shows how Samson betrayed Delilah by telling her he loved her and taking her without opening his heart to her as she expected. The Bible sums up the way God expects marriages to work in one verse which is discussed on page 19.
If women didn’t have an emotional desire to be with men, if they thought logically, they wouldn’t be with men at all. A woman’s desire for a husband is God’s gift to men. Whoever receives a gift from God is responsible for how it’s used. Was it the Promised Land’s fault that the Jews ignored God’s rules about giving the land rest? They were hauled off into captivity for 70 years and lost the blessing of God’s gift (Jer. 25:12[56]).
The Apostle Paul didn’t expect others to follow him into sin (1 Cor. 11:1[57]); neither should a husband.
Acts 5:1-11 tells how Ananias sold land and decided to lie and say that he’d donated the entire price to the church. He discussed his idea with his wife Sapphira and she agreed with his plan; this is common in marriage. Husband has an idea, they discuss it, she agrees. The Holy Spirit struck them dead for lying to the Holy Spirit.
And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Luke 12:47-48
God holds us accountable for what we know. Being struck dead takes Sapphira’s punishment out of the “few stripes” category; it shows that she knew better than to lie to the church. Sapphira should have warned her husband against lying instead of following him in his lie. Pilate’s wife tried to protect her husband:
When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. Matthew 27:19
Eating the fruit wasn’t Adam’s idea, Eve ate first, yet God blamed Adam. Lying was Ananias’ idea; he stepped in the hole and led his wife to lie with him. Sapphira failed in her duty to protect her husband from a bad idea as Adam failed his duty to protect his wife from the serpent. There are limits to a woman’s duty to obey her husband as there are limits to a man’s duty to obey government.
As Adam failed his responsibility to protect Eve and lead her in obeying God, as Ananias led his wife Sapphira into a sin unto death, most of what goes wrong in marriages is the husband’s failure in leadership. God doesn’t hold a husband accountable for how his family follows him; God holds a husband accountable for how he leads. He who would be first of all must be least of all and servant of all (Mk. 9:35[58], 10:44[59]).
Cain Murdered Abel – Genesis 4:1-16
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 8And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. Genesis 4:3-8
Cain was jealous of Abel who served God properly by sacrificing the “firstlings of his flock (4:4).” Cain was angry when God rejected his unacceptable sacrifice “of the fruit of the ground (4:3).”
Blood was the only acceptable sacrifice because Moses’ laws about flour, grain, oil, and other non-animal sacrifices hadn’t yet been given. God shed blood to atone for Adam and Eve’s sin when He killed animals to give them skins for clothing (Gen. 3:31[60]) and promised to shed Jesus’ blood to atone for the sins of all the world (Gen. 3:15[61]). The uniqueness and necessity of blood sacrifice to do away with sin was explained later:
without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9:22b
Cain had worked “by the sweat of his face” to grow what he gave. God knew that Cain knew that only a blood sacrifice could make up for his sins and said that Cain would be accepted if he obeyed (4:7).
Cain chose to commit murder instead of obeying (4:8).
God rebuked Cain, asking why Cain sinned by being angry (Mt. 5:22[62]) at God’s chastening (Heb. 12:8[63]), but promised that Cain would be accepted if he did well. The phrase “sin lieth at the door” refers to Cain choosing whether to honor God or not just as we all choose whether to obey God or not.
Consider verse 7b, “And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Abel was younger than Cain. Younger brothers generally look up to the oldest son and tend to want to be like him and follow him. In those days, the oldest son almost always received the family birthright which is why Rebecca used subterfuge to get Isaac to bless her younger son Jacob instead of her oldest son Esau.
Matthew Henry explained “rule over him:” “Unto thee shall be his desire, he shall continue his respect to thee as an elder brother, and thou, as the first-born, shalt rule over him as much as ever.”[64]
Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: Genesis 49:3
“The high distinction conferred by priority of birth is described (Ge. 27:29); and it was Cain's conviction, that this honor had been withdrawn from him, by the rejection of his sacrifice, and conferred on his younger brother-hence the secret flame of jealousy, which kindled into a settled hatred and fell revenge.”[65]
“If now thou do well: if thou repent of thy sin, reform thy heart and life, and bring thy sacrifice in a better manner; thou shalt yet be accepted. See how early the gospel was preached, and the benefit of it here offered even to one of the chief of sinners. He sets before him death and a curse; but, if not well - Seeing thou didst not do well, not offer in faith, and in a right manner, sin lieth at the door - That is, sin only hinders thy acceptance. All this considered, Cain had no reason to be angry with his brother, but at himself only. Unto thee shall be his desire - He shall continue in respect to thee as an elder brother, and thou, as the first-born, shall rule over him as much as ever. God's acceptance of Abel's offering did not transfer the birth-right to him, (which Cain was jealous of) nor put upon him that dignity, and power, which is said to belong to it, Genesis 49:3.” -- John Wesley
If Cain chose to obey God, righteous Abel (Mt. 23:35[66]) would desire to follow Cain as a woman desires to follow her husband, particularly if he serves God by serving her as Jesus commanded (Mk. 9:35[67], 10:44[68]). In both cases, the leader must value and support his followers for this to work well.
How often are we tempted to be angry when God doesn’t run the universe in the way we prefer?
Chapter 3 - From the Flood to the Patriarchs
This teaches us about fellowship with God and about human behavior. Abraham (2 Chr. 20:7[69], Is. 41:8[70]) and Moses (Ex. 33:11a[71]) chose to be God’s friends, but they both had to go through hard experiences before deciding to do things God’s way. Why not walk God’s path the easy way and avoid the holes?
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. I Corinthians 3:9
What could be a greater honor than laboring together with God as Abraham, Isaac, and Moses did?
Abram stayed in Haran until his father died instead of going directly to Canaan (Gen. 11:32-12:1[72]). Moses murdered an Egyptian when he tried to free his people from Egypt before God’s time (Ex. 2:11-15). God wants us to choose to be His friends and let Him direct our paths instead of going our own ways (Pr. 3:5-6[73]):
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. John 15:15
Jesus’ disciples were His friends because they had heard what His Father had told Him. Christians serve God, but we can be His friends. Are you willing to study God’s Word enough to be God’s friend by “knowing what your Lord doeth” and by letting Him direct your life?
You can stand at the border of His kingdom watching what goes on inside, you can stay out in the fields and come in from time to time to serve His table, or you can claim your seat at His table that He offers you.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: John 1:12
All believers get power, but you must choose to believe it, receive it, and claim it. God created mankind for the very few who would choose to accept His offer of salvation and to work out their salvation (Phil. 2:12[74]) well enough to choose to know Him, become His friends, and let Him direct their paths (Pro. 3:5-6[75]).
The choice is yours, and the choice you make shows everyone the place Christ occupies in your life.
Many prefer the form of Godliness without the power (2 Tim. 3:5[76]) and hate true Christians whose lives show that they really belong to God.
Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Isaiah 66:5
That’s why Paul wrote, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12[77]).” That promise is as unshakable as God’s promises of salvation and eternal life (Jn. 3:16-17[78]).
Noah – Genesis 6
Noah found grace in the eyes of God (Gen. 6:8[79]). He preached righteousness faithfully for 180 years (2 Peter 2:5[80]) and only his wife, his sons and their wives accepted his message (1 Peter 3:20[81]). His faithfulness in laboring with no result should inspire us to keep spreading the Gospel regardless of results we can see.
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. I Corinthians 3:9
What could be a greater honor than being asked to labor together with God?
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. II Corinthians 8:12
Noah and his sons were willing; God accepted their labor. God accepts you if you are willing regardless of how little you think that you can contribute to His cause.
The Bible says little of the wickedness Noah saw (Gen. 6:5[82]) but we know that pre-flood sins are repeated today. All possible sins were explored long ago; there aren’t any new sins, only new forms of old sins:
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9
The Ark – Genesis 7
The dimensions in the Bible have the Ark approximately 510 feet long. It would take nearly one and a half football fields to equal its length and the roof was more than 50 feet from the ground. It had the capacity of about 450 standard semi-trailers. A livestock trailer holds about 250 sheep, so the Ark could hold at least 120,000 sheep. The Ark was near the maximum size for a wooden vessel.[83]
Was it possible for four men to build a boat that big in 180 years? How many man-years did it take to build a clipper ship? Clippers were smaller but had more complicated shapes.
The Roman grain ship the Apostle Paul sailed in had 276 people on board (Acts 27:37[84]). Archeologists think that the biggest were close to 180 ft. long and could carry one thousand tons of grain or enough to feed an entire city for a year.[85] That’s much shorter than the Ark. The Bible is silent about feeding the animals, but if a much smaller ship could carry 276 people and 1,000 tons of grain, the Ark had plenty of room for food.
Naval architects know that the Ark’s size and shape make it extremely stable. How could it hold all the animals? Were some of them babies or eggs? Did some animals sleep as if they were hibernating? Did they have machinery to deal with cleaning the animal stalls?
Men lived for hundreds of years and knew about brass and iron (Ge. 4:22a[86]). Could they have invented power tools to help build the Ark? Old New England houses have square beams which show that a hand adz could square off 3 or 4 inches along the length of a log in one skilled stroke.
The Flood – Genesis 7, 8
God’s flood washed the world clean. The continents were rearranged and everything was utterly changed. The May 1980 explosion of Mt. St. Helens showed that trees can petrify vertically in a few years and that deep sediment layers can form in a few days.
The explosion of Mount St. Helens not only drastically changed the landscape of the Washington area in just a matter of months, it also dug deep holes in the idea that “millions of years” are needed for rock layer, canyon, and fossil formation. Mount St. Helens clearly testified that these things do not require long ages to form.[87]
In February, 2017, rainfall forced so much water through the Oroville, California dam spillway that:
“Overflow from the emergency spillway removed soil cover and caused significant bedrock incision in just one day [emphasis added]
This event of observed erosion provides the rare opportunity to analyze the formation of a canyon and test models used to account for large-scale erosional features of the landscape. After all, the idea is still widespread that deep river canyons (e.g., Grand Canyon of Colorado) formed over prolonged geologic time by slow and gradual fluvial incision; in contrast, there are observational data that suggest the possibility of canyon formation during high-energy and rapid erosive events.”[88]
The Nevada Fly Geyser suggests that natural processes may not take as long as scientists have assumed.
The inside of the mounds even contain quartz, according to Muñoz Saez, and this quartz is growing much more rapidly than any of the other geysers that she has studied in her career. Typically, quartz doesn't begin to grow for about 10,000 years within geysers, which makes the Fly Geyser even more of a marvel.[89]
The land had all been gathered together into one place (Gen. 1:9[90]); now the continents were separated by moving on the water flowing up from the “fountains of the deep (Gen. 7:11).” After the flood, God promised not to destroy the world with water ever again. He gave the rainbow which appears after rain as a sign of His promise (Gen. 9:13-17[91]). It is not a flag celebrating sexual perversion.
The Tower of Babel – Genesis 10, 11
Men rebelled against God’s command to populate the entire earth by staying in one place. When God changed their language, He changed not only the words, but the thought process behind their languages. This guaranteed that people would not understand each other well enough to build the tower.
Communication is the most difficult problem in all organizations from couples to families to tribes to nations. Even if two people have the same native language, misunderstandings are extremely common.
A man told his wife that he planned to give her diamonds for their anniversary. She said, “Nothing would please me more,” so he gave her nothing.
Then there was the fellow whose wife told him she wanted something that goes from zero to sixty in six seconds and he got her new scales. Even when a man listens, he often gets it wrong.
The Chinese migrated from the Middle East all the way to China. Their traditional character for “boat” shows eight people inside a box and their character for “sin” includes a snake. The atheistic Communist government has “simplified” the characters to eliminate these Biblical references, of course.
Chapter 4 - The Age of the Patriarchs
This is the period of the Palestinian covenant, the introduction of Moses’ law, and the Abrahamic covenant.
The Book of Job
Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people (Ecc. 8:11[92]). Life must be that way or people would be good based on sight rather than on faith. Satan watches us and learns our vulnerabilities. Satan is the accuser. The Book of Job illustrates three different worldly philosophies and wrong ideas about God. Intellect, reason, and faith are compared.
Job’s friends assumed that his suffering must be due to sin. This is a common mistake; few non-Christians understand that God sends trials to show the glory of God and to draw His servants closer to Him.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. John 9:2-3
He also sends trials to correct His people:
And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Hebrews 12:5-8
Job’s friends could not imagine God using Job’s sufferings to prove Job’s faith to glorify God:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: I Peter 1:7
Job knew about the coming of Jesus, the millennial reign, and the resurrection:
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Job 19:25-26
He also explained the inspiration that leads people to write books and poems and make new discoveries:
But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Job 32:8
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5
God gives inspiration such as Thomas Edison’s desire to create an electric light or Einstein’s desire to explain the movement of the planet Mercury. This is not the same as the inspiration of Scripture:
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. II Timothy 3:16-17
Peter explained the origin of the Bible:
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. II Peter 1:21
Job’s explanations of this other form of human inspiration were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The book ends with God reminding Job of the magnificent mysteries of His creation and reminded Job and his friends that bad things could happen to good people. Solomon wrote that in spite of God’s admonition to Job, people can be misled when evil seems to prosper:
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: Ecclesiastes 8:11-12
Job’s friends’ condemnation shows how people who strive to serve the Lord may be criticized or hated:
Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Isaiah 66:5
They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. John 16:2-3
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. II Timothy 3:12
Abram / Abraham
Abraham was a man of faith, his faith was counted to him for righteousness (Rom. 4:3[93], Gal. 3:6[94], Jam. 2:23[95]). Righteousness through faith is not for Abraham alone but for all people who share his faith in God.
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Romans 4:13
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29
The Abrahamic Covenant
God gave the Jews the “oracles of God (Ro. 3:2)” and put them in the Middle East where travelers from “all nations (De. 29:24)” would see what happened to them. God expected them to bless other nations (Gen. 18:18[96], 22:18[97]) by demonstrating the blessings of following God’s statutes:
Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Deuteronomy 4:5-8
They disobeyed God’s laws by worshiping idols and sacrificing their children to heathen gods. Instead of seeing God bless them, all nations saw their defeat and wondered at God’s anger (Deut. 29:24-28[98]).
During the Black Death plague in Europe from 1347 to 1351, Jewish laws about cleanliness protected them so well that their death rate was noticeably lower than among other groups in towns where they lived. The Jews hadn’t given God the glory or pointed out that everyone had access to their laws. They were accused of causing the plague because they seemed immune to it and were persecuted.
Although they never went back to idol worship after the captivity, Jews still don’t give God the glory. Would Jews be persecuted less if they said, “Of course we Jews do better than most people. God promised to take care of us, and He has. How else could Jews still be a people after so many centuries of persecution?”
God blessed “all nations” in spite of their disobedience by sending Jesus through Abraham’s family:
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. Galatians 3:8
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Galatians 3:14
Genesis 15 tells how God made a covenant with Abraham by passing a burning lamp between the pieces of the animals Abraham had killed for this purpose (Gen. 15:17[99]).
The English language doesn’t have a word like the Hebrew word berith which the inspired words of the Bible use to describe God’s covenants and marriage vows. “Covenant” is the best word we have in English, but in common use, “covenant” suggests that we can break the covenant if someone else breaks it first.
The Hebrew berith is one-sided just as God’s covenants are everlasting (1 Chr. 16:17[100], Is. 24:5[101]). Vine’s dictionary says berith came from a word that means “cut” or “divide” as Abraham divided his animals; it’s a promise by one person, not by two people.
It is the rendering of a Hebrew word meaning a “covenant” or agreement (from a verb signifying “to cut or divide,” in allusion to a sacrificial custom in connection with “covenant-making,” e.g., Gen. 15:10, “divided” Jer. 34:18-19). In contradistinction to the English word “covenant” (lit., “a coming together”), which signifies a mutual undertaking between two parties or more, each binding himself to fulfill obligations, it does not in itself contain the idea of joint obligation, it mostly signifies an obligation undertaken by a single person. … God enjoined upon Abraham the rite of circumcision, but His promise to Abraham, here called a “covenant,” was not conditional upon the observance of circumcision, though a penalty attached to its nonobservance. [emphasis added] Vine’s Dictionary
There are two points about berith. First, the party who made the promise would be cut in pieces if he didn’t keep the berith. Second, the berith was not based on what the other party did. In Genesis 15, Abraham accepted God’s offer of a berith and gave up his animals to provide blood to sanctify the promise. God walked between the pieces; that bound God to fulfill the berith even if Abraham or his descendants disobeyed God which is exactly what happened.
Marriage is based on the husband’s berith; he’s bound by his berith whatever she does. As Abraham, the weaker party, gave up his animals to provide the blood to seal his berith with God, the woman, as the weaker party (1 Pe. 3:7[102]), gives up her innocence to provide the blood to seal her husband’s berith with her.
Kids used to say, “Cross my heart and hope to die,” which meant we’d rather die than break our promise. Kids may be closer to the mind of God than adults are (Mk. 10:15[103]).
Sarah
Sarah obeyed her husband and called him “lord” in spite of his mistakes (I Peter 3:5-6[104]). Genesis 12:10-20 tells us that Sarah was so beautiful that Abraham told her to tell everyone she was his sister because he feared that men would murder him to have her when he traveled to Egypt during a famine. Sure enough,
The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. Genesis 12:15-16
It never occurred to Pharaoh to ask Sarah if she wanted to come into his house any more than Adam asked Eve whether she wanted to be called “woman (Gen. 2:23)” when he named her or anyone asked Esther whether she wanted to enter the beauty contest to see who would belong to King Ahasuerus (Est. 2:8[105]).
Pharaoh followed the custom of buying women from their owners when he “entreated Abram well for her sake.” Abraham’s servant gave Rebekah’s family “precious things (Gen. 24:53).” Jacob bought Rachel and Leah (Gen. 29:21[106]). Jesus taught that wives should be given to their husbands (Lk. 17:27[107]).
Is it a good idea for men to buy wives as if they were commercial products offered for sale to anyone? “Her price is far above rubies (Pr. 31:10b)” means that a man can’t pay; he must accept her as a gift.
Pharaoh expected his new wife to be a virgin and was upset when he realized he’d been cheated:
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? 19Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. Genesis 12:18-19, see also Genesis 20:2-18
This tells us a lot about the “natural man.” Pharaoh thought nothing of taking Sarah regardless of her wishes, the only thing wrong with his plan was that she was already married. Taking her would not have wronged her because a woman’s wishes meant nothing; the wrong would have been against her husband who owned her. The Hebrew word Ba-el translated “husband” in Pr. 31:11 can also mean “owner” or “Lord.”
Christianity is the only faith that teaches that rape is a crime against the woman. Rape is wrong in other cultures and faiths because it’s a property crime against the man who owns her and reduces the amount he can demand as a bride price when he sells her to a husband (Gen. 29:21[108]). Moses’ law treated rape as a property crime against the girl’s father as tradition required, but improved the outcome for her:
If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. Deuteronomy 22:28-29
Not only did the rapist have to marry her and provide for her, he lost his right to divorce her later as Moses’ law permitted for men (De. 24:1-4, Mk. 10:4[109]). Moses’ provision for a “bill of divorcement” also represented an improvement in a discarded wife’s situation. If a man just put her out, her status was ambiguous - no one else could marry her, and she might starve. If a man put away his wife, the “bill of divorcement” made her status clear so that she was free to find another husband as if her husband had died.
Divorce could only be declared by a man; there was never any notion of a wife divorcing her husband.
Abraham later had enough faith to start to sacrifice his long-awaited son Isaac to the Lord:
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. Hebrews 11:17-19
Abraham Promotes Hagar from Handmaid to Wife
God had promised Abraham a child by Sarah. If Abraham could believe that God would raise Isaac from the dead, could he have believed that God would protect him from jealous men instead of lying about his wife? His faith might not yet have been that strong nor when this happened again in Gerar (Gen 20:1-18) when the ruler showered him with wealth as Pharaoh had. Faith grows over time; we must be patient with others.
Hagar, Abraham’s Egyptian maid, was probably purchased on this visit to Egypt. When Sarai didn’t have a child, she asked Abraham to marry Hagar who quickly became pregnant.
Sarai and Hagar clawed each other so bitterly that she asked Abraham to fix the situation (Gen. 16:5[110]). The strife was so intense that it took an angel of the Lord to bring peace to their home (Gen. 16:9[111]). Even then, peace did not last after Sarah had a child and Ishmael was no longer Abraham’s heir (Gen 21:8-15). Polygamy may sound fine for a man, but in no case in the Bible did it work out well for the husband.
Lot – Genesis 13:10
He went down to the wicked cities of the plain (Gen. 13:10[112]), he had visited Egypt and could not get Egyptian ways out of his heart. If he were not called “just Lot” in the New Testament, we’d doubt his salvation.
And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; 7And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) II Peter 2:6-8
His sons in law mocked him when he warned that God was going to destroy the city (Gen. 19:14[113]) – it seems that he had never testified to them about his knowledge of God as Naomi won Ruth to God.
Ishmael
He was the result of Sarah’s plan of the flesh; Abraham let his wife persuade him to marry Hagar to have a child by her. God recognized Ishmael because he was Abraham’s child by a woman whom he had married (Gen. 17:20[114]) as God recognized Keturah’s children (Gen. 25:1[115]).
We don’t know how a marriage was sealed at that time, but we do know that Abraham promoted Keturah from concubine (1 Chr. 1:32[116]) to wife. Gen. 25:6[117] tells us that at least two other women had Abraham’s children who aren’t even named. Abraham, the friend of God, sent them away instead of marrying them. Why does any woman think a man will marry her if she has his baby (Gen 29:31-35)?
And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; Genesis 25:9
Ishmael and Isaac were able to cooperate to bury their father, but their reconciliation did not pass to their descendants. Jealousies and hatreds between Jews and Palestinians which originated in the troubles between Sarah and Hagar persist to this day. We should never try to fulfil God’s will before God’s time. If we try too early, nothing can make it happen. When God’s time arrives, nothing can stop it.
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalm 27:14
Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. Psalm 37:34
Sodom and Gomorrah – Genesis 18
Abraham asked “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right (Gen. 18:25[118])?” Gen. 18:23-32 teaches us to mention God’s Word, God’s nature, or His promises when we pray.
Lot didn’t want to leave the city; his sons in law would not leave. His wife turned back and died. His righteous soul was vexed by the sins of the city (2 Peter 2:7[119]), but he won no one to the Lord’s service.
Life of Isaac
He was born long after his mother was too old to bear children (Gen. 18:11[120]). The experience with Hagar showed both Abraham and Sarah that it is never a good idea to try to get ahead of God’s schedule. They had finally learned to let God direct their path. Mt. Moriah where God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering, God provided a ram for the sacrifice as Abraham had promised Isaac (Gen. 22:8[121]).
Abraham didn’t want Isaac to marry a local woman. He sent his servant to find a wife from Abraham’s family. Had he learned the disadvantages of marrying an Egyptian who was not of God’s people?
Rebekah agreed to marry Isaac without meeting him (Gev. 24:58[122]). Giving herself to a man humbles a woman (De. 21:14, 22:29, Ez. 22:10-11). This can cause such powerful emotional reactions that losing her independence can be very frightening, particularly if she hasn’t been warned.
Rebekah veiled herself before meeting Isaac (Gen. 24:64-65[123]). It wasn’t the custom to veil or Isaac wouldn’t have told her to say she was his sister (Gen. 26:7[124]). Why did she put on the veil? She suspected that Isaac had plans and that his agenda would have a powerful effect on her. She wanted a little space.
Rebekah was engaged to marry when she left Padan Aram to go to Canaan to marry Isaac but they hadn’t met so they weren’t tempted. He took her to wife a few hours after they met (Gen. 24:67[125]). When David sent messengers to Abigail to “take her to wife,” she “hasted” after David’s messengers and “became his wife” (I Samuel 25:42[126]). It didn't occur to Boaz to marry Ruth, but when she gave him the idea, he thought it was such a good idea that he rushed out the very next morning and married her (Ruth 4:1-12).
The Bible teaches short engagements. Why do we ask our children to burn for months before they marry? We’re supposed to let them marry when they can’t contain (1 Cor. 7:9[127]), making them wait several years when they’re in the same college or are able to get together easily is against the Word of God (Acts 15:10[128])! Protecting them is their parents’ job. No college can do this for students and few parents are able to teach their children to withstand youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2:22[129]). American sex-saturated culture is no help.
Biblical Marriage Explained in One Verse
God ordained both salvation and marriage. If we try to go to Heaven in our own way, we go to Hell when we die. If we try to do marriage our own way, we can make life Hell on earth, but done God’s way, a couple can give each other a taste of the joys of Heaven. Isaac’s marriage shows how God-ordained marriage works:
And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Genesis 24:67
· Isaac supplied the tent. If a man’s offer to a woman doesn’t include food, clothing and shelter for her and her children, it isn’t Biblical.
· Isaac took her to wife instead of as a concubine by committing himself to her before he took her.
· Marriage requires a vow and a taking. Isaac promised to marry whomever Abraham’s servant brought back and Rebekah promised to marry Isaac. They were married when he took her to wife.
· Isaac convinced Rebekah that he loved her and then she comforted him. God made women to be of great comfort to their husbands, but a wife cannot comfort her husband as God expects unless he first convinces her that he loves her as God taught in the Song of Solomon and Proverbs 31:28-29[130].
How to Convince a Wife
Every wife knows that caring for her is a lot of work for her husband. She needs to rest in the certainty that he finds her price to be so far above rubies (Pr. 31:10[131]) that it wouldn’t occur to him not to nourish her.
Appreciating her is the best way for a husband to get this idea across. Moses warned that the Jews would lose everything they had unless they loved God with grateful hearts with thanks for everything He gave them:
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. Deuteronomy 28:47-48
God’s People didn’t appreciate the blessings He gave them, so He took everything away. They were in want of “all things.” We often take His gifts for granted. “We never miss the water ‘til the well runs dry.”
A woman who depends on her husband for food is concerned that her relationship to him is strong. Comforting a man humbles her (De. 21:14, 22:29, Eze. 22:10-11) and reminds her how dependent she is. She won’t like being reminded how much she belongs to him unless she finds rest in the relationship.
Having her husband praise her by thanking God for her, by thanking her for belonging to him, and telling others how much he values her (Pr. 31:31[132]) gives her confidence to let herself belong to him. If he doesn’t appreciate her, or complains, she won’t want to belong to him and won’t be able to comfort as he expects. He will lose the blessing of marriage God intended for him if he doesn’t show appreciation for God’s gift to him.
Naomi tried to send Ruth and Orpah back to their families to find rest with new husbands:
The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept. Ruth 1:9
A wife takes upon herself the yoke of pleasing her husband. If he praises her and opens his heart to her enough to dwell with her according to knowledge (1 Pe. 3:7[133]) as God expects of him, she’ll learn enough of his ways to rest in confidence that he’s pleased with her (1 Cor. 7:34[134]).
A woman can’t comfort a man as he desires unless he gives her the same rest in him we have in Christ.
Laboring Together with God in Prayer
And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. Genesis 25:21
Isaac had to pray that God would allow his wife to become pregnant even though God had promised Abraham that Isaac’s child would carry Abraham’s family line (Gen. 21:12b[135]). God had promised that Isaac’s wife would extend Abraham’s family, so why did Isaac have to pray?
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. I Corinthians 3:9
God has chosen to have us work with Him in order to accomplish His purposes. What an honor! God had promised Eve that her descendants would include a Savior who would bruise Satan’s head. Isaac was part of that promise. God required Isaac to labor together with God in prayer to bring God’s promise about.
Isaac’s Lack of Faith? Or Seeking Profit?
Like his father Abraham, Isaac traveled to Gerar to escape a famine and feared that he would be killed for Rebekah’s sake. The local ruler wasn’t any happier about this deception than Pharaoh had been:
And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. Genesis 26:10
Raping an unmarried woman would have been a light moment of pleasure because she had no right to her own body. Rebekah was married, so her rapist would have been guilty of a crime against her husband.
When Isaac asked his father about the lamb for the burnt offering, Abraham told him that God would provide (Gen. 22:8a[136]). Isaac knew that God’s promise was to be fulfilled through Rebekah his wife. Could it be that he knew that God would protect Rebekah as God had protected Sarah from Pharaoh? Did he expect to gain from the transaction as Abraham had gained? Or was this simply lack of faith?
Lessons for Today
A woman has to understand that although there are exceptions, a man will tend to take sex with her very lightly unless he becomes emotionally involved with her, commits himself to her, and marries her before taking her. If she lets him have her before marrying, he tends not to value her as much as she wants him to. If he can have her without marrying her, what would marriage give him that he doesn’t already have?
After Ruth asked Boaz to marry her, Naomi gave Ruth the best advice on getting married there is:
Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day. Ruth 3:18
A man will marry if he wants a woman badly enough and marriage is the only way he can have her.
And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. Genesis 29:21
Giving a man rest outside of marriage is risky. Genesis 34 tells how Shechem raped Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, when she wandered away from home but fell in love with her and wanted very much to marry her.
On the other hand, 2 Samuel 13 tells how David’s son Amnon raped David’s daughter Tamar but hated her afterward and wanted nothing to do with her. Although David was angry and Moses law required that Amnon marry Tamar (Deu. 22:28-29[137]), David did nothing about it. Absalom later murdered Amnon, and David did nothing about that. Having multiple wives gave David more children than he had time to bring up in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).” (Pr. 13:24[138], 19:18[139], 22:15[140], 23:13-14[141], 29:15[142])
Jacob
God said that Jacob would continue the seed promise. God chose Jacob over his older brother Esau while they were both in the womb (Mal. 1:2[143], Rom. 9:13[144]). They fought before they were born (Ge. 25:22[145]).
Bought the birthright
Esau did not value his birthright so Jacob bought it (Ge. 25:29-34). God had promised it to Jacob, but Jacob did not trust God to just give it to him and tried to get it through lying cleverness. This showed lack of faith on his part and on his mother’s part.
Steals his father’s blessing from his brother Esau
Instead of learning from the trouble Abraham brought on himself by having a son by another wife, Isaac favored Esau even though God had told him Jacob was the chosen son. Rebekah favored Jacob (Gen. 25:28[146]). Favoring one child over the other is a good way to get them to hate each other.
Rebekah didn’t trust God enough to speak with her husband about blessing Jacob as God had said or to let God remind Isaac that God had chosen Jacob. She decided to “help” God by helping Jacob steal the blessing through lies. She told Jacob she would accept blame for whatever happened (Gen. 27:13[147]).
What should she have done? Just prayed? If she prayed, should she have reminded God about His promise as Abraham reminded God of God’s concern for justice when arguing against destroying Sodom (Gen. 18:25[148])? Should she have talked to her husband about what God had said as Sapphira should have reminded her husband that lying to God wasn’t a good idea (Acts 5)?
Abraham and Sarah didn’t trust God for an heir, Hagar’s descendants have fought with Abraham’s descendants ever since. Rebekah’s scheme to steal the blessing worked in that Isaac blessed Jacob and God fulfilled His promise that His chosen people would come through Jacob, but Rebekah never saw her son again after he left to keep Esau from murdering him and Esau’s descendants fought Jacob’s descendants until Esau’s line died out. What should Rebekah have done?
This is a common dilemma –when do we leave things to God and when do we put “feet to our prayers” by taking action? God counts on His people to spread the Gospel so we are involved in advancing His program, but we must do it as He commands. If we can’t find people who will listen to the Gospel, shouldn’t we remind God that Jesus told us that the fields are white unto the harvest (Jn. 4:35[149]), and ask Him to direct us to people who are ready to hear what God has given us to say about Him?
Jacob with Laban
Jacob meets his match in trickery:
And it came to pass, that in the morning [after he thought he had married Rachel], behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? Genesis 29:25
Should Jacob have been content with taking Leah to wife? Leah was buried in the family tomb (Gen. 49:31[150]); Rachel was buried along the road (Ge. 35:19[151]). Whose life demonstrated faith in God, Leah (Gen. 29:32-35[152]) or Rachel (Ge. 31:34[153])? Did God make a mistake in letting Laban trick Jacob? Or did God know the character of the two sisters and know which woman would make the best wife for Jacob?
How did getting what he wanted work out for Jacob?
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:15
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
God doesn’t always direct our paths in the way we want Him to direct. Jacob got the woman he wanted, but Genesis 29:30 shows how Jacob “loved also Rachel more than Leah.” Did having 4 wives and favoring one of them over the others lead to peace and harmony in Jacob’s home?
God protected him from Laban’s trickery and changing his wages (Gen. 31:7-9[154]). God later protected him by telling Laban to leave him alone (Gen. 31:29[155]). Shouldn’t Jacob have trusted God to choose his wife? Shouldn’t a woman who wants to marry ask God to choose her husband?
Jacob believes in Jehovah
Jacob wrestles with God (Ge. 32:24-32). This made him more willing to let God direct his path than before.
Jacob meets with Esau
Returning home brought Jacob fearful situations – he was afraid that Esau would want to murder him with his 400 men (Gen. 32:6[156]). He sent presents and his wives ahead of him. God protected Jacob. He knew God would protect him from his wrestling match before meeting Esau and from God protecting him from Laban. Did Jacob sending all those presents to Esau to calm him show lack of faith? Or was it a good idea? Was he trying to return some of what he had stolen from Esau?
Although Esau said he was glad to see Jacob and they got along well enough to bury their father Isaac later (Gen. 35:29[157]), Jacob seems not to have trusted Esau completely. Instead of living near Esau, he went to Succoth instead (Gen. 33:17[158]). Esau didn’t tell his family to make up with his brother Jacob – bitter enmity ran on for generations (Num. 20:14-21) until Esau’s family line died out.
Joseph
Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Isaac didn’t get along and Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob didn’t get along. God gave us more detail about the conflicts between Joseph and his brothers. God wants us to have “peaceable lives (1 Tim. 2:1-2).” The Bible tells many ways to stir up family conflict; we should avoid them.
These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. 3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. 4And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. Genesis 37:2-4
Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob’s favorite wife. His brothers were jealous of the way his father favored him and did not appreciate his criticizing them to their father. Any grandmother will tell you that favoring one of your children over the others is a good way to get all of them hating each other, sometimes to the point of murder.
Joseph’s Dream of Ruling his Family – Genesis 37:5-11
Joseph’s actions didn’t improve matters. Genesis 37:5-11 tells how Joseph dreamed that his brothers and parents would bow down to him and that he would rule them. When he told about his dream, his brothers were angrier and envied him yet more particularly when their father took it seriously (Gen. 37:11[159]).
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19
Mothers enjoy talking about their children. Imagine the stories Mary could have told about her firstborn son Jesus! She was wise enough not to talk about it. There are times to speak about our dreams and plans for the future and times not to speak. As Solomon put it,
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; Ecclesiastes 3:7b
Joseph Sold by his Brothers – Genesis 37:18-36
Being sold into slavery taught Joseph how to deal with betrayal and he may have figured out how his behavior had added to his brothers’ jealousy. Jacob didn’t learn from the mistake his father Isaac made in favoring Esau over Jacob and his mother favoring him. God wrote details like this “for our learning (Ro. 15:4).”
Joseph didn’t learn from the hatred his brothers showed toward him. When his brothers brought Benjamin when they came to Egypt to buy food the second time and Joseph let them know who he was,
To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. Genesis 45:22
Having suffered from his brothers’ anger caused by Jacob favoring him, Joseph favored his brother Benjamin over the rest. Some say he was testing them, but they knew that Joseph would rule them when they came to Egypt. They would know to hide their fury in their hearts and not to do anything about it.
Joseph Flees from the Sin of Adultery – Genesis 39:7-20
Children have to be taught to work faithfully and hard; Joseph’s parents must have taught him to be a good worker. Learning how to manage Potiphar’s household helped prepare him to manage the kingdom. Joseph shows how to handle temptation (2 Tim. 2:22[160]). Fleeing temptation makes tempters angry, which often leads to criticism and lies about you (Is. 66:5[161]). Blessed are ye when men shall revile you,…. (Mt. 5:11)
Joseph in Prison – Genesis 39:20-23
The jailer turned management of the jail over to Joseph; this continued his education in managing Egyptian affairs. God prepared him for his eventual post. He did right in the prison and the results were still bad. The men he helped forgot him (Gen. 40:23[162]); this shows that we must be patient when faced with the ingratitude of men. God remembered him; it was not yet God’s time for Joseph to get out of jail.
Joseph as Prime Minister
Humble yourself before God and He will lift you up (Lk. 14:11[163]). If Joseph had been bitter when he spoke to Pharaoh, would he have been promoted? Pharaoh probably got a good report from the jailer.
And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Genesis 41:45
Pharaoh named Joseph to demonstrate his authority over Joseph and gave him a wife to tie him to the establishment. Kings routinely give women to be wives of people with whom they seek alliances or whom they want to bind to the regime.
And Hadad found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. I Kings 11:19
Asenath gave Joseph two sons Manasseh and Ephraim before the famine years. Manasseh was the older of the two, yet when Jacob blessed his grandsons just before he died, he “set Ephraim before Manasseh.”
And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. Genesis 48:20
Pharaoh Bought Everyone during the Years of Famine
Joseph filled Pharaoh’s grain storehouses by collecting food from the farmers who grew it. During the famine, he sold it back to them and enslaved them as the property of Pharaoh when their money ran out.
And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 14And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. 15And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth. 16And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 17And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. 18When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: 19Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. 20And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's. Genesis 47:13-20
Joseph’s strategy ended up with Pharaoh owning all the land which had been owned by the people who grew all the grain. Did Joseph arranging for Pharaoh to own all the land, all the animals, and all the people make it easier for Egyptians to think in terms of enslaving the Jews a few generations later (Ex. 1:8-14)?
When the people asked for a king, Samuel warned them of the cost:
And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 15And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 18And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. 19Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; I Samuel 8:11-19
Solomon’s taxes were so high that the kingdom split when his son Rehoboam wouldn’t cut taxes.
Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. I Kings 12:18
After the kingdom split, prophets often criticized kings and powerful priests for exploiting the poor (Jer. 34:8-22). That was one reason for their 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Did they learn anything?
Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards Nehemiah 5:3-4
Nehemiah wrote after the Jews returned from captivity. Nehemiah 5:1-13 tells how people borrowed money to pay taxes and buy food during a famine. Levitical law said that such loans had to be forgiven after 7 years. When someone went broke, he or she had to work for someone else to avoid starvation. At the end of 7 years, the person went out free and had to be given enough resources to start a household.
Rulers should have remembered the prophets’ messages, but Nehemiah had to criticize rulers who hadn’t forgiven the loans and force them to promise to do so. Has anything in government changed?
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. I Timothy 6:10
Joseph’s Brothers come for Food
The famine spread to the land of Canaan where Joseph’s family lived (Gen. 41:56-57[164]) and Jacob sent his ten sons to Egypt to buy food (Gen. 42). Joseph recognized his brothers. His brothers did not recognize Joseph and did not know that this Egyptian ruler understood Hebrew. Joseph tested them to see if they’d repented of the way they’d treated him by seeing how they dealt with his threat to imprison Benjamin. He told them they would not receive any food the next time unless they brought their youngest brother with them.
Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers
The Bible describes the family reunion (Gen. 45:4[165])).
Joseph meets Jacob
His brothers didn’t believe that Joseph had really forgiven them and were afraid of what he might do to them after their father Jacob died (Gen. 50:15-21).
God brought them all down to Egypt for the start of a 400-year refining period for His people (Gen. 15:13[166]). They multiplied from 70 (Gen. 46:26[167]) to over a million during that time.
Chapter 5 - From the Patriarchs to the Exodus
The Jews endured many generations of slavery in Egypt (Ex. 1:11[168]). God had said He would call His people out from Egypt (Hosea 11:1[169]). They multiplied greatly which made the Egyptians afraid of them (Ex. 1:9-12). When God blesses us, other people may become jealous and often accuse us of cheating. Giving God the glory instead of taking credit for our success may help. Would Jews suffer less persecution if they said, “Of course we’re doing well. God promised to take care of us, and He has. We still exist….”
Egyptian Bondage
Egypt is a picture of bondage of Sin and a picture of the deliverance of redemption through faith in Christ. God told Abraham that his descendants would be afflicted for generations before returning to Canaan:
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Genesis 15:13-16
Did Jacob know of this warning God had given his grandfather? Is that why God told him to travel to Egypt (Gen 45:28-32)? God gave Abraham’s descendants such a rapid population increase that the Egyptians feared them. In order to reduce the number of Jews, Pharaoh ordered that all boy babies should be killed.
But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. 18And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? 19And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. 20Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. Exodus 1:17-20
Romans 13:3-4[170] tells Christians to obey government authorities because they are ministers of God, but we are to obey God instead of government when they are in conflict. God honored the midwives who refused to kill boy babies, Pharaoh’s daughter disobeyed her father in saving Moses (Ex. 2:6-7[171]), Rahab lied to the government authorities about the Jewish spies (James 2:25[172]), and the Apostles refused to obey their rulers when ordered not to proclaim Jesus’ gospel of salvation (Acts 4:19[173]).
The Rise of Moses
His mother hid him as long as she could, then put him into a basket in the Nile River (Ex. 2:3-4[174]). Moses was taken into Pharaoh’s house, raised with his children, and given the best education of the time to prepare him to write the Pentateuch. Pharaoh’s daughter knowingly disobeyed her father in saving Moses’ life. We don’t know whether she was married or not, but she involved herself with this infant.
Moses could have stayed an Egyptian, but when he was 40, he took the side of his people, murdered an Egyptian, and fled for his life (Ex. 2:12-15[175]). It wasn’t God’s time yet. Why did he try then?
Moses’ Preparation for Leadership
Moses spent the next 40 years tending sheep (Ex. 3:1[176]). Is managing sheep easier than managing people? Moses knew he would lead his people out of Egypt (Acts 7:23[177]), but he tried to start before God was ready. If he had waited, he might have been permitted to stay in Egyptian luxury instead of tending sheep. Perhaps his years of tending taught him not to yearn for Egyptian food as his people did when they got out in the desert (Num. 11:5-6[178]). Leading sheep taught both David and Moses how difficult leadership can be.
Jesus is called the “Good Shepherd,” and pastors are called under-shepherds.
Nobody likes waiting, but before God’s time, nothing can make it happen. When God’s time comes, nothing can stop it. God offers rewards for waiting:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
Eagles soar without flapping their wings very much. They can’t just go wherever or whenever they want; they must wait to ride the winds God sends. There are few joys that match riding God’s winds when His time comes after years and years of faith-driven preparation!
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12
Moses at the Burning Bush - Exodus 3, 4:1-17
Moses heard the call of God, but he gave many excuses why he couldn’t obey. His time in the wilderness tending sheep had taken away the zeal for his people that had led him to murder the Egyptian.
God said that Moses would be as God to Aaron (Ex. 4:15-16[179]). This helped Moses, but there was a terrible price. When he delayed coming down from the mountain, Aaron lost confidence and made the golden calf (Ex. 32:4[180]). If Aaron had had his own relationship directly with God, he might not have done that.
If you belong to God and God wants you to do something, it saves time and trouble if you just do it. Many people won’t commit their lives to serving God out of fear that God will send them to an unpleasant place, but Moses found that he was far better off getting with God’s program than he had been while tending sheep.
Moses Returns to Egypt – Exodus 4:19-31
Moses surrendered to God’s call and then went to face his own people. He was afraid that they would not accept him. The Egyptians who knew he had murdered were dead, but his people would remember.
The Plagues – Exodus 5-12
The plagues were the judgement of God. Pharaoh could have been a vessel of God’s blessing if he had obeyed but he resisted for too long.
And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. Exodus 9:34
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Isaiah 55:6
Once Pharaoh had chosen to harden his own heart often enough to go beyond the limit God had set, he could no longer find God.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. James 1:13-14
After Pharaoh had passed the limit, God hardened his heart and he became a vessel of God’s wrath. Christians must remember that now is the accepted time (2 Cor. 6:2[181]).
Each plague shamed a different Egyptian god, showing that our God is the only true God and that He has power over all of the gods which the Egyptians worshipped.
The Passover – Exodus 13
The Passover lamb was a symbol of the coming of the perfect lamb of sacrifice. The angel spared everyone in the house because of the shed blood on the door. Compare this symbol, which had to be repeated every year, to Christ, whose sacrifice ended the need of further sacrifices (Heb. 9:28[182], 10:10[183]).
Leaving Egypt – Exodus 12, 14
After the last plague of killing all the firstborn, the Egyptians thrust them out (Ex. 12:31-33[184]).
And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. Exodus 12:36
This is an example of God using wicked nations to correct His people.
For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. Jeremiah 30:11
Abraham appealed to God’s justice in asking Him to spare Sodom for the sake of 10 righteous people. Moses appealed to the value God places on His name in asking God not to kill the Israelites for worshipping the golden calf (Ex. 32:10-14[185]). Our prayers should include appeals to God’s nature and to His promises.
Moses’ Helpers
Moses couldn’t judge all the disputes and quarrels in the congregation of Israel. Num. 11:16-17[186], 24-25[187] tells how God put the same Spirit He had put on Moses onto 70 men who would help him.
But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. 27And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. 28And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. 29And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! Numbers 11:26-29
The 70 were officially recognized, but God also put His spirit on Eldad and Medad. Moses knew the Mind of God well enough to see God’s Spirit in them – he knew by their fruits (Mt. 7:16-20[188], 1 Tim. 3:6[189]). We have an advantage over Israel; the Holy Spirit enters each of us as we accept salvation and stays. We should follow Moses’ example and recognize God’s leading in supporting those who want to serve Him.
Moses’ Sin of Disobedience
Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 12And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. Numbers 20:8-12
God commanded Moses to speak to the rock. Moses was angry at the people and struck the rock instead of speaking to it. God punished him by not letting him go into the Promised Land. God didn’t punish Moses for Israel’s sin of worshipping the golden calf; God punished Moses for Moses’ disobedience. God doesn’t blame leaders for their followers’ actions; God holds leaders accountable for how they lead and followers for how they follow. Moses acting in anger instead of obeying set a very poor example.
Moses’ Reward
And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Deuteronomy 34:7
God didn’t let Moses enter the Promised Land, but God did give him a great reward – most men lose their natural force when they’re far younger than 120.
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? Genesis 18:12
Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born (Ge. 21:5[190]); Sarah said his natural force was gone.
Chapter 6 - From the Exodus to Crossing the Jordan
After leaving Egypt, they spent the next 40 years wandering in the wilderness. How did God feed and water so many people? Logistics experts have calculated how much water and food were needed.
The Red Sea to Sinai
Egyptian pursuit, fear, crossing the Red Sea, praise, complaining, the mount troubled (Ex. 19). Look at what happened when God sent Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. God rolled back the sea, they crossed, God let the sea come back and drowned the Egyptians. God gave them water to drink and manna to eat, and spoke to them out of the fire. What happened then? Moses went up Mt. Sinai to get the 10 commandments that were “written with the finger of God (Ex. 31:18).”
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. Exodus 32:1
Did they give God the glory? Did they want to relate to God? No, they said, “this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt.” Moses was away, but was God gone? No, God is everywhere, God was with them, but they couldn’t see God’s man, so they thought God had left them. Were they worshipping Moses? They asked Aaron to make an idol, Aaron did, and they worshipped the golden calf.
God’s people later decided not to talk to God. Sometime later, Moses reviewed what had happened:
And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth. Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shalt say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it and do it. Deuteronomy 5:24-27
They asked “who has heard the voice of God and lived?” How silly! They had heard the voice of God and lived, but they’d sinned in worshiping the golden calf. Like Adam, they could’ve asked God’s forgiveness for worshiping the idol. They wouldn’t humble themselves; God couldn’t lift them up, so they were afraid to talk to God. They told Moses to talk to God and tell them what God said. This continued until Jesus tore the temple veil (Mt 27:51[191], Mk. 15:38[192]) to show that ordinary people could now approach God.
Giving the Law – the Ten Commandments – Exodus 20:3-17, Deut. 5:6-21
The first 2 of the 10 commandments are the greatest. Christians are no longer under the law, but all 10 except for Saturday as the day of rest are commanded in the New Testament. Finding them is a good exercise.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Colossians 2:16
This verse frees Christians from dietary laws, festivals, using the lunar calendar, or treating Saturday as the day of rest. You shouldn’t let people judge you in these matters, and you shouldn’t judge anyone else. If we try to live under Moses’ law or try to force others to follow it, we lose the benefits of belonging to Christ.
But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. Titus 3:9
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Galatians 5:4
Many Christians want the 10 commandments to be taught in schools. Is it a good idea to teach everyone, “thou shalt not kill?” The 10 commandments are the basis of civilization; no tribe or family can live without these laws: don’t kill each other, don’t take each other’s stuff, don’t mess with each other’s women, don’t lie about each other. No group can live in peace without these laws.
The Tabernacle – Exodus 35, 36
God can give extremely detailed commands when He finds it necessary.
The Seven Feasts – Leviticus 23
There were four feasts in the spring and three in the fall. God knows how easily we forget and commanded these feasts to remind people of what He had done for them. Christians celebrate the Lord’s Supper because He commanded “this do in remembrance of me (Luk. 22:19[193], 1 Cor. 11:24[194]) so we won’t forget.
God’s desire for His people to remember everything He told us doesn’t change, but He commands different ways to remind us at different times:
Pesach or Passover, the 14th day of the first month, to remember God delivering His people from slavery in Egypt. The death of the lamb reminded them of the blood price that must be paid for sin.
Matza or Unleavened Bread, the 15th day of the first month, to remember the hasty escape from Egypt and His provision of food for them as they traveled.
Yom Habikkurim or First Fruits, 15th day of the first month, to celebrate God’s gift of the harvest.
Pentecost or Feast of Weeks, 50 days after Passover, to give thanks for the end of the harvest and to remember receiving Moses’ law.
Rosh Hashana or Trumpets, 1st day of the 7th month. It celebrates the beginning of the religious year, and helps prepare for God’s judgment.
Yom Kippur or Atonement 10th day of the 7th month. This was a day for the nation to seek forgiveness.
Sukkoth or Feast of Tabernacles 15th day of the 7th month. People were to build booths to sleep in to remind themselves of the years of wandering in the wilderness.
The Offerings
The people were commanded to offer the best that they had to God. These sacrifices did not offer a permanent cure for sin (Heb. 10:4[195]). The cure came with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
Because the sacrifices were burned, people were tempted to offer damaged animals instead of their best.
A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? 7Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. 8And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. Malachi 1:6-8
Whatever we offer God has to be of our very best. This principle gives us a preview of God demanding a perfect sacrifice to pay the price for our sins.
Sinai to Kadesh-Barnea – Num. 13:26, Deu. 9:23
Complaince (Ex. 16:8, 12[196], 17:3[197]), unbelief, fear, and rejection of God’s promise to give them the victory. Rebellion when God said they had to wander in the wilderness, failure to conquer without God’s help.
Forty Years of Wandering
The punishment for unbelief was wandering in the desert until all the men of 20 years or older had died and been replaced (Num. 14:29[198]). Biblical figures for population size show that about 300 babies were born each day during those 40 years. How could they have so many babies when they were wandering?
Generosity Commanded
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. Deuteronomy 15:11
For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. Mark 14:7
The Death of Moses - Deuteronomy 32:48-52
A man of God goes home, Satan and Michael fought over his body, he paid heavily for not obeying God precisely (De. 34:4[199]) but God had preserved his health throughout his life (De. 34:7[200]). God gave him much and expected obedience in detail. God told Moses to “smite the rock” the first time the people needed water:
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Exodus 17:6
God later told Moses to speak to a rock. Moses was angry at the people and hit the rock instead:
Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. Numbers 20:8-11
No matter how hard a time we have or how frustrated we get, God expects us to obey Him in detail. He expects us to keep our tempers and rule our emotions no matter what:
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. Proverbs 25:28
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; II Timothy 2:24-25
No Christian should ever hurl angry words at anyone – words can damage relationships beyond repair. It’s OK to disagree. Disagreement is very common between husband, wife, and children because we think so differently, but it should never escalate to conflict.
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36
The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on: not all thy Piety nor Wit shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. – Omar Khayyám
Parents should teach their children self-control and tongue-control by age 3 at the latest.
Chapter 7 - Crossing the Jordan to the Reign of Saul
Joshua 1 and Joshua 24:15[201] show Joshua served God his entire life, but his faithfulness wasn’t passed on.
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. Judges 2:10
Joshua’s successors didn’t remind their children as God expected:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Deuteronomy 6:7
God created feasts to remind them of His blessings but they forgot anyway. Did they worship at the feasts, or just party? Once they had land, houses, and flocks, did they remember the God who had given them all these things? Are we any better at remembering God’s generosity to us?
Moses warned that the Jews would be carried into captivity unless they loved God with grateful hearts with thanks for everything He gave them:
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. Deuteronomy 28:47-48
God’s People didn’t appreciate the blessings He had given them, so He took everything away. We often take His gifts for granted. “We never miss the water ‘til the well runs dry.” Strive for an Attitude of gratitude!
Jericho – Joshua 2, 6
Rahab told Joshua’s spies that everyone knew that God had blessed the Jews and given them the victory over the Egyptians (Jos. 2:9-11[202]). Was this like God putting fear into Laban so that he would not hurt Jacob?
How did Rahab know what God had done in Egypt 40 years before? There were no newspapers and no printing presses. How did God keep the memory alive?
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 25Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? James 2:24-25
Like the midwives who disobeyed the command of Pharaoh (Ex. 1:17-20), Rahab disobeyed her government by hiding Joshua’s spies and lying about it. God dealt well with the midwives. Rahab married Salmon, the father of Boaz, and joined the family line of Christ (Mt. 1:5[203]).
God makes sure that everyone knows whatever He wants them to know. The Philistines knew what happened in Egypt ~ 340 years after the event (1 Sam. 6:6[204]). How did God keep the memory alive that long?
The walls of Jericho came tumbling down (Jos. 6:5[205]). Achan was punished for taking what belonged to God (Jos. 7:1[206]) and his sin led the Israelites to defeat. As Paul said in Romans 12:5 [207]and Ephesians 4:25[208], “we are members one of another.”
Individualistic Americans are unaccustomed to thinking in terms of collective responsibility, but that is taught by the prayers of Daniel (Dan. 9:4-19), Ezra (Ezra 9), and Nehemiah (Neh. 1:5-11) who confessed their own personal part in all the sins of all the earlier generations. We’re all in it together.
For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. 25That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. I Corinthians 12:24-26
Defeat at Ai – Joshua 7:1-6
Their first attack failed due to not asking God’s help and because of sin in the camp. They suffered from overconfidence in their own strength instead of relying on God, just as Moses failed when he tried to free his people in his own strength without involving God and tried to get water out of the rock in his own strength.
Balaam – Numbers 22-24
The Moabites feared the Jews as Rahab had said and hired Balaam the son of Beor to curse the Jews.
And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. Numbers 24:10
God wouldn’t let Balaam curse Israel, so Balaam suggested that Balak tempt the Israelites to sin against God by worshiping Balak’s idols and marrying or sinning with Balak’s women. This damaged the Jews:
And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. Numbers 25:2-3
Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Numbers 31:16
Christians are subject to this sort of temptation today – the ways of the world still seem very attractive.
The Conquest of the Land of Canaan
They enjoyed a victorious life when they obeyed and suffered defeat when they did not. Did they conquer all of the land? Ever?
The Repeated Cycle in the Book of Judges
God inspired Deu. 28-31:6 to show how His principles always work toward His final goal. The book of Judges shows how God’s people went through repeated cycles of sin, defeat, slavery, supplication, salvation, then forgetting God and going back into idol worship just as He had predicted. Those who saw God giving victory after they turned back to Him died without teaching their children to continue in the Lord. The usual period of rest was 40 years, or two generations (Judges 3:11[209], 5:31[210], 8:28[211], 13:1[212]). God summed up the period:
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25
Gideon – Judges 7, 8
Gideon was afraid when God approached him and argued against serving God as Moses had. He persisted in unbelief in spite of a victory over Baal (Jud. 6:30-32[213]). He put out a fleece to test God (Jud. 6:36-40[214]) not once, but twice. He had not learned that willingness is all that God requires of His servants:
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. I Chronicles 28:9
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. II Corinthians 8:12
How many Christians fail to start doing something for God because they don’t think they have everything needed for success? If there first be a willing mind…
Don’t worry about what you don’t have; put out a fleece by starting. If you can’t think of something to do, find someone who is serving God and help. If it’s God’s will, God will give you what you need to get the job done as with Gideon, but you can’t do it in your own strength. You must give God the glory every step of the way and follow His leading or it won’t work. He is the head of the church and of your family.
Gideon was weak at first but God could use him once he was willing to serve God:
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; I Corinthians 1:27
God had him send away most of his army and kept only 300 men to show that God can give victory even to very few of His people. Although it is comforting to have others have the same desires we do, God doesn’t need vast numbers to answer our prayers. One man and God make a majority:
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. James 5:16b-17
Each of Gideon’s 300 men had 2 pitchers which concealed torches. They broke the pitchers to show their torches and gave a mighty shout in the night. Torches and the shout made the enemy think of many men. They thought they were surrounded by a larger army and ran away.
Some tribes were jealous of Gideon’s victory, but his soft words turned away their anger (Jud. 8:1-3[215]).
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs 15:1
“It’s amazing how much you get done if you don’t care who gets credit” expresses the same sentiment.
Judges 9 tells us that Abimelech, Gideon’s son by a maidservant, conspired with his mother’s kinsmen to become king (Jud. 9:6[216]). Abimelech’s relatives funded his conspiracy from their temple treasury:
And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baalberith, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons, which followed him. Judges 9:4
Machiavelli said, “Gold can’t always get your good soldiers, but good soldiers can always get you gold.” Abimelech’s hirelings were good enough soldiers to kill all but one of Gideon’s sons who could have challenged his rule. Abimelech’s actions illustrate the evil of a love of power or money:
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. I Timothy 6:10
Power and money are interchangeable. Having hired soldiers to help him gain power, Abimelech had access to more money after becoming king. The rest of Judges 9 tells how his rule worked out.
Proverbs 31:3[217] is Mrs. Lemuel’s advice to her son not to mess with women. Getting Hagar pregnant brought conflict to Abraham’s house (Gen. 16:4-5[218]). Gideon’s maidservant (Jud. 9:18[219]) gave him a son who murdered 69 of Gideon’s other sons. European history has many plots involving royal family members who could claim to b the rightful ruler. Queen Elisabeth I had her cousin Mary Queen of Scots executed to keep conspirators from murdering Elisabeth to put Mary on the throne.
Judges 9:21[220] tells how Jotham, Gideon’s surviving son, fled into exile “for fear of Abimelech his brother.” American politics doesn’t often lead to bloodshed, but greed, lust for power, and wickedness haven’t changed. When Solomon heard that the prophet Ahijah had told Jeroboam that God planned to take part of the kingdom away from David’s family, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam who fled to Egypt (1 Kings 11:26-40). Pursuing Jeroboam didn’t help Solomon any more than pursuing David helped Saul. Why not?
Immediately after Gideon died, Judges 8:33[221] says that the Israelites turned away from God and worshipped Baalim and Baalberith. This was one more example of God’s people turning away from God during periods of prosperity that come after a revival. Has anything changed?
Samson – Judges 13
Samson won victories for God but was led astray by the lusts of his flesh.
God may choose to speak to a woman instead of to her husband! Judges 13 tells how an angel told Manoah’s barren wife that she would bear a son who would be a dedicated Nazarite from birth. That meant he shouldn’t cut his hair. The angel also told her that her son would free Israel from the Philistines.
The angel came again while her husband Manoah wasn’t with her. She told her husband, who came and asked the angel what they were supposed to do. The angel reminded Manoah that he’d told his wife:
And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. 14She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. Judges 13:13-14
Pilate’s wife tried to warn him about a vision God sent her:
When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. Matthew 27:19
Have men become any better at listening when women speak of what God has told them?
Samson was Tempted and Stepped in a Hole
Every few years, a high school football or basketball star leads his team to victory and becomes a local hero. Cheerleaders compete to see which of them can encourage him the most, and one of them catches his eye.
And he [Samson] came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. 3Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. Judges 14:2-3
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? II Corinthians 6:14
The Japanese say that one hair of a woman’s head pulls harder than 10 yoke of oxen. The Chinese say a man in love rides a wild horse. When a young man tells a girl he loves her, he wants her to open her body to him. A girl who hasn’t been instructed by older women thinks “love” means he wants to open his heart to her, belong to her (Song 2:16[222], 6:3[223]), and spend the rest of his life taking care of her and their children.
Satan’s servants promote confusion by saying that men and women have exactly the same feelings, wants, and needs. The drama of the sports hero and the cheerleader doesn’t end well for the girl.
The book "Unprotected" by Psychiatrist Miriam Grossman explains biological reasons why sex outside marriage is so damaging to women. Having treated more than 2,000 students for depression and other psychological problems at one of America's most prestigious universities, she described her observations that a woman can become very depressed when she realizes that her boyfriend had no interest in her beyond sex. She published the first edition anonymously because claiming that men and women have different emotions and different reactions to sex was so Politically Incorrect that she feared for her job.
Samson’s involvement with his Philistine wife cost him a great deal of grief. She persuaded him to tell her his riddle (Judges 14:16-17[224]) and God gave him strength to kill 30 men (Judges 14:19[225]) to pay the wager.
When he later told Delilah that he loved her, she gave herself to him, but he didn’t open his heart to her. Who betrayed whom first? Delilah learned his secret by accusing him of not opening his heart.
And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. 16And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; 17That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. Judges 16:15-17
Samson told Delilah that he loved her but didn’t open his heart to her. He said he loved her, he took her, but he wasn’t hers, he betrayed her and defrauded her. Many women have the same experience:
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. Proverbs 23:7
A man can buy food for a woman and take her physically without giving his heart. The story of the sports hero and the cheerleader happens every few years in American high schools.
Having taken Delilah, Samson scorned her by refusing to open his heart to her even after taking her. There’s a saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” we know what she did about it. Given that Samson wouldn’t belong to her, what good was he to her? Why not make some money selling him to the Philistines and become a national heroine by helping them conquer their worst enemy?
And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. Judges 16:18
A woman wants a man to want to open his heart out of love for her. Doing it after being vexed to death doesn’t count. A woman can see into a man’s heart if she looks. God gave “female intuition” to protect women from bigger, stronger men. Many women are afraid to look for fear of having to end it and end up in unfortunate marriages or worse relationships. Delilah should have looked before giving herself.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23
Many songs urge “stand by your man.” Would Delilah have betrayed Samson if he’d been hers? She wasn’t virtuous (Pr. 31:11-12[226]), what she did wasn’t nice, but which of them betrayed the other first?
The promises of Proverbs 31 are for a virtuous woman, not for someone who’s given away her virtue.
Intimacy without commitment is like icing without the cake. It can be sweet, but it's going to end up making you sick. The rewards of Proverbs 31 are for a virtuous woman, not the other kind. God forgives sexual sins if a woman repents, but the emotional damage takes time to heal.
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10
A woman sets her price by what she does. If her price is a few dinners or movies, she isn't worth much. If her price is that he dedicate his life to taking care of her before having her, she can be a priceless treasure.
Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. Proverbs 18:22
What a woman does shouts so loudly that a man can’t hear what she says about wanting marriage. If he can have her without marrying her, what would marrying give him that he doesn’t already have?
A man will marry if he wants her badly enough and marriage is the only way he can have her.
God expects a man to honor a woman enough to set her apart from all other women by marrying her before having her. If a man doesn’t value her enough to do that, it’s going to be hard to persuade him to value her that much after having her for nothing while she pays “her share” of the rent.
That makes it very hard for him to be willing to accept responsibility by marrying. A woman who decides to push for marriage must realize that she could lose him entirely.
Lovingly but firmly, she must say, “Unmarried sex is wrong before God and before man. You know that as well as I. I love you and want to give my life to you, but I will no longer give you my body outside marriage. Marry me, and I solemnly promise that I will belong to you. I will live on your income and follow your leadership. As my husband, I’ll try to give myself willingly whenever you want me even when I don’t want you, but without marriage, you may no longer have me at all.” Say that and separate herself from him sexually!
This is difficult to do unless she walks out the door. Walking out is hard, particularly if she has no place to go. Her body is used to attention and cutting off sex is difficult, especially if she loves the man. Women don’t particularly want touching until after they’ve been taken, then they want it badly from time to time.
If she yields herself again after saying that, he’ll feel she’s using sex for manipulation and won’t honor her.
Samuel – I Samuel
He was a prophet of God. His mother asked him of the Lord (1 Sam. 1:10-17). God spoke to him from his youth. He saw the example of Eli, but his sons did not follow God any better than Eli’s sons had.
I Samuel 1:1-7 tells us his father Elkanah had two wives, Peninnah who had children and Hannah who did not. Elkanah loved Hannah and gave her more and better food than he gave Peninnah. Peninnah gave Hannah so much grief about being childless that Hannah wouldn’t eat. How peaceful was that house?
Hannah’s frustration made her prayers for a son so intense that Eli thought she was drunk (1 Sam. 1:13[227]). God answered her prayer, and she dedicated her son Samuel to the service of the Lord as she had promised.
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Ecclesiastes 5:4
Chapter 8 - The Book of Ruth – a Biblical Romance
Many sermons present Boaz as a type of Christ who redeemed Ruth into the body of believers. Boaz had nothing to do with Ruth joining God’s people; Ruth chose to follow God before she met him:
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Ruth 1:16
Ruth accepted God in the New Testament manner; salvation is always by grace through faith:
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:10
Ruth not only talked the talk of following God, she walked the walk from Moab to Israel. Boaz wasn’t involved in her salvation or redemption; she chose to follow God. Scripture tells us what faith is:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Faith is based on what we can’t see, it’s not fact until we look back and see what God did in caring for us.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Psalm 126:5 That happened when Ruth’s husband died.
Women aren’t strong enough to farm without machinery. The only way Ruth could eat was by having a man feed her. It took great faith for Ruth to leave Moab for Israel when she’d been told she wouldn’t find a husband. They arrived at the beginning of the harvest, Ruth went out to glean, that is, pick up grain that had been dropped. Ruth 2:3 tells us “her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz.”
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 Something that seems bad can be a real test of faith.
By “hap,” scripture tells us that there was no logical reason Ruth could see to choose Boaz’s field. Boaz offered her food and water when he found out who she was. When Ruth asked why, Boaz told her that he knew she’d left home and came to Israel looking for God. What a testimony in the town! He said:
The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Ruth 2:12
Boaz saw that Ruth’s faith in God was strong enough to overcome fear of rejection or starvation. When Naomi told Ruth who Boaz was, Ruth could see that God had guided her. That made her faith factual. We follow God in faith that obeying Him will work out, then we look back and see how He made it happen.
Rahab the Harlot believed in God and is another foreign woman who became part of the line of Christ. God accepts all who call on Him:
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6
Naaman the Syrian swore allegiance to the LORD and sought Him through “two mules' burden of earth”:
And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the LORD. II Kings 5:17
Ruth chose to follow God based on Naomi’s testimony. Naaman was harder to convince – he rejected Elisha’s instructions to bathe in the Jordan until his servants persuaded him:
And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? I I Kings 5:13
Naaman would gladly have done “some great thing;” works-based salvation comes naturally to fallen people. Salvation through faith and faith alone is hard to accept because like Naaman, most people would rather earn their way into heaven than admit that they can’t be good enough to satisfy God.
Naaman didn’t fully understand God’s free gift of salvation, of course. When Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, sought to profit by asking Naaman for a gift, Naaman thought that he was buying Elisha’s services in curing him (2 Kings 5:23[228]). We don’t know whether Naaman learned that Gehazi was stricken with leprosy (2 Kings 5:27[229]) as punishment for selling God’s services, but it was written down for our learning.
With Ruth as the main character, the Book reads as a romance novel - poverty stricken widow goes to a strange land to draw nigh to God (Jam. 4:8[230]), works hard, marries a rich guy, becomes the great-grandmother of King David, and is listed in the genealogy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Mt. 1:5[231]).
Ruth’s book also explains how an older woman instructed Ruth to help her get into a sound marriage. Naomi’s advice how to get married takes up a major part of the book whereas the older woman’s advice to her daughter how to stay married takes only one verse (Song 8:3[232]).
Naomi gave the woman’s view of marriage as she told her daughters to go back to their families:
The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Ruth 1:9a
Women can’t farm or hunt without machinery. For generations, wives depended on husbands for food. Naomi wanted her daughters to have food, clothing, and shelter, but she also wanted them to find comfort, rest, contentment, and security in knowing that they were valued and appreciated by their husbands as taught in the Song of Solomon. Many women experience this instead:
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. Proverbs 23:7
A man can buy food for a woman without giving his heart to her. Naomi wanted her daughters to find appreciative husbands who liked nourishing and cherishing them.
Experience shows that 80-90% of how a marriage works depends on how a man treats his wife, but 80% of that depends on how she sets her value by her conduct before marriage (Pr. 31:10[233]). A man who thinks he might want to marry a good woman should think about how Boaz honored Ruth so that she wanted to marry him. A woman who wants to marry should consider Ruth’s Rules for marriage:
Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God (Mt. 6:33)
Naomi’s testimony convinced Ruth that it was better to have God and no husband than a husband and no God (Mt. 6:33[234]). Ruth had no family in Israel, not having a husband risked starvation – there was no guarantee that Naomi’s relatives would feed Ruth because of her marriage to a Jew. Ruth’s faith was strong.
Go Where your Husband Goes
This is what Ruth said when Naomi told her to go back to her parents:
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. Ruth 1:16-17
When Rebekah’s family asked if she would travel far from home to be Isaac’s wife, she said, “I will go (Gen. 24:58[235]).” This can be difficult. The Burmese have a saying – “Men will go wherever women go, but women won’t always go where men want to go.”
A woman should look in a mirror and watch herself say Ruth’s vow over and over while thinking about him. If she can’t promise it from the bottom of her heart, if she isn’t eager to be the tail on his kite, if his kite has no string, or if she isn’t eager to follow him wherever he goes all her days, don’t marry him.
How many wives wanted to spend 6 months heading west in a covered wagon? Reading their diaries suggests that very few wanted to go, but they went with their men. God expects you to go where your husband goes, so it’s on you to wait for a man who will lead you gently where God wants you to go.
Be Sure He Gives You Rest - Ruth 1:9
Boaz gave Ruth rest the day they met. He fed her, gave her water when told that Ruth was a hard worker, and opened his heart to tell her that he honored her walk with God:
Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? Ruth 2:8-10
Boaz was kind, he told other men to leave Ruth alone, and she asked why. When a man’s nice to a woman, it’s a good idea to find out why, particularly when he tells other men to stay away. Ruth needed to know Boaz’s plans, so she asked. Instead of ignoring her as men often do, he opened his heart, he told her why:
And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. Ruth 2:11-12
Boaz cared for Ruth because she had shown salvation by trusting God enough to travel to a strange land where she had no hope of marrying. He respected her character; he valued her trust in God. That’s Biblical:
Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:30
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
Why did Ruth go with Naomi after being told she wouldn’t find a husband? Ruth sought the kingdom of God first; it’s no surprise that all these things were added unto her.
Don’t Play Hard to Get, Be Hard to Get
When Ruth told her about the party (Ru. 3:16[236]), Naomi gave the best advice ever on getting married:
Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day. Ruth 3:18
Men haven’t changed since Boaz or Adam. There’s a saying, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that zing!” What’s the zing that makes marriage? He can’t rest. If he has rest, why marry? If he can have her without marrying, what would marriage give him that he doesn’t have? Why be responsible if he doesn’t have to?
A woman must say, “Not unless we’re married, and I won’t marry you unless you grow up and get a job.” A man will marry if he wants her badly enough and marriage is the only way he can have her.
Some say that Ruth and Boaz were naughty out in the field in the dark (Ru. 3:14[237]). That’s silly. If she’d given him rest, Boaz would have had no reason to run out the next morning and marry her (Ruth 4:10[238]).
Get Advice from a Godly Grandmother
Ruth had been married, she knew what men were all about, but she still took Naomi’s advice. Naomi told Ruth when to plant, that is, glean with Boaz; Naomi told Ruth when to pluck up that which was planted by crashing the party and asking for marriage. Women need advice about men; they often mess up on their own.
When Naomi told Ruth to go to Boaz’ party without an invitation, Naomi told Ruth to dress up:
Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, Ruth 3:3a
Boaz showed that he respected Ruth the day they met, then it was OK for Ruth to look her best. Girls, it’s a bad idea to do anything special to attract a man’s attention at the beginning. Suppose it works, then what? What’ll you do when you’re too busy, or too tired, or too pregnant to do whatever attracted him? Unless a man comes after you the way God made you, God may not want to give you to him.
If you worry too much about your looks, a man can win your heart by saying you look good. Don’t we talk about a man “feeding her a line?” Seek to put on a meek and quiet spirit. A meek and quiet spirit is of great price in the eyes of God (I Peter 3:4[239]), and the right man treasures it too.
Make Sure He Opens His Heart to You
It’s so frightening for a man to open his heart that God wrote that it’s safe if he finds a virtuous woman:
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:11-12
When Boaz opened his heart to Ruth and praised her Godliness, Ruth knew he respected and valued her. He told other men not to touch her, he protected her, he gave her water and lunch, he provided for her; she rested near him. He liked her wanting him to keep her warm when she knew winter was coming:
And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. 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. Ruth 3:10
Boaz was glad she wanted him to marry her. Why? For her virtue, her character, everybody knew she was a virtuous woman. Boaz was wealthy; were other women interested in him? Boaz knew Ruth “followedst not young men” she wasn’t dating around. Boaz knew Ruth sought God. God made women for men. Boaz knew that a woman who works hard, acts modestly, and seeks God makes a very good wife.
It didn’t occur to Boaz to marry Ruth, but when she gave him the idea, he thought it was such a good idea that he did it the very next day as Naomi had said. You should tell a man that you want to marry and get him to agree that the reason to be together is to decide whether you and he will marry before the first date.
If a man won‘t agree to consider marrying a woman who tells him she wants to be God’s treasure for her husband, why date him? Why risk the right man seeing you occupied with a loser and not pursue you?
Chapter 9 - The Reign of Saul ~ 1095 – 1055 BC
God’s people wanted a king so they could be like the other nations and rejected God’s rule (1 Sam. 8:7[240]). They had a point in that neither Eli’s sons nor Samuel’s sons had become good judges, but they didn’t realize that a king might be no better at training his sons to rule than Samuel or Eli were. Indeed, Solomon didn’t train his son Rehoboam and Hezekiah didn’t train his son Manasseh very well.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 6But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. 7And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. I Samuel 8:4-7
The people wanted a king in spite of Samuel warning them of the burdens they would bear (1 Sam. 8:11-18). The costs of having a king sound like the costs of our government. Samuel ended on a sour note:
And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. I Samuel 8:18
Is our government any better in terms of taking away our labor and our liberties? This is an example of God allowing people to choose to go their own way, but as always, they had to bear the consequences:
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:15
Saul Becomes King
He was a handsome man of great potential (1 Sam. 9:2[241]). The spirit of God was upon him and he prophesied (1 Sam. 10:11-12[242]). Num. 11:26[243] tells us that God put His spirit on people as it pleased him.
Saul’s Rejection as King
Saul rejected the word of God so God rejected him. If he had obeyed, God would have established his line instead of David’s. There are consequences for disobedience. Do we pay for our sins?
And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. I Samuel 13:13
Saul and Agag – 1 Samuel 15:8-23
Saul did not follow God’s command. Samuel had told Saul that God wanted Saul to kill Agag and he did not. That moment of unrepentant disobedience was when Saul was finally rejected. The kingly line would have stayed with his family if he had obeyed. This conditional “Saulic covenant” did not come to pass.
And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: 19And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: 20That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. Deuteronomy 17:18-20
Saul should have written out his own copy of the law to remind him of the conditions God had set for his family keeping the kingdom. Moses foretold this: Saul’s heart was lifted above his brethren, he disobeyed God, and God took the kingdom from him. Moses said in chapter 28 that staying in the land depended on their obedience to the law. God had Samuel repeat the warning before giving them a king:
But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king. I Samuel 12:25
Saul and the Witch of Endor - 1 Samuel 28
Exodus 22:18 commands, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” 1 Sam. 28 tells us how Saul found a witch who called up Samuel after he promised not to kill her. Samuel told Saul that he and his sons would die in the coming battle. Saul was distressed. 1 Samuel 28:22-25 tells how the witch fixed food and urged him to eat.
When women stop talking about a bad situation and start to fix food, the situation often gets better.
Chapter 10 - The Reign of David ~ 1055 – 1015 BC
Knowing that God had rejected him in favor of David, Saul was jealous of David and tried to kill him. Could Saul have overcome God’s purpose with respect to David once God had made up His mind?
David and Goliath – 1st Samuel 17
This story is usually told as an account of a young man winning a battle through faith in God and better tactics, but it also offers other lessons. Consider this note about organizational politics:
And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp of thy brethren; 18And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. I Samuel 17:17-18
Jesse wanted David to give 10 cheeses to the “captain of their thousand,” which would be a Lieutenant Colonel in the American army. Jesse wants his sons to get in good with their commanding officer. Do people play politics and schmooze the boss today? Jesse sendt along some home cooking because he suspects that Army chow isn’t very good. Where would he get that idea?
It can also be read as a story in family interaction and sibling rivalry. His older brother was angry that David came to the camp even though their father had told him to leave the sheep:
And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 29And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? I Samuel 17:28-29
When Samuel came to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be King, he thought that Eliab was God’s chosen, but God had rejected Eliab (1 Sam. 16:7[244]). Eliab had seen Samuel reject all of the older brothers and anoint David to be king (1 Sam. 16:13[245]). What was Eliab thinking? If you knew that your younger brother was going to be King, President, or Prime Minister, wouldn’t you treat him better than that?
It can also be read as a story of interaction between an army and a civilian who completed a contract for the Government. David wanted to know the reward for killing the giant:
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 27And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. I Samuel 17:26-27
David convinced Saul that he was a qualified bidder and rejected Saul’s offer of weapons. Having rejected Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE) and entered into the contract, David used only one of the 5 stones he’d picked up. He performed on time, under budget, and he didn’t get paid. David was told that the king would give his daughter to anyone who killed Goliath (I Samuel 17:25[246]). David did marry King Saul’s daughter Michael later, but wasn’t given a wife for killing Goliath.
Relations between Armies and civilians have been difficult throughout history. Has human nature changed? Only the technology. There couldn’t be much paperwork when writing by hand on clay tablets or parchments, but in a modern army, David would need a stack of paperwork at least as tall as Goliath, and even then, he might not get paid.
Joshua 15:16[247] and Judges 1:12-13[248] tell of Caleb offering his daughter Achsah in marriage to any man who did something difficult. Is this a good deal for the girl?
Suppose some guy runs off and does the heroic deed. If her father’s honest, if her father honors his offer to the hero, he tells her, “You’re marrying this guy tomorrow.” A girl couldn’t eat unless some man fed her because there was no welfare and women weren’t strong enough to farm or hunt without machinery.
Although women did an immense amount of work guiding the house and preparing and preserving food, there were no paying jobs by which women could support themselves. She marries the guy sight unseen or she’ll starve when her father dies and can’t feed her any more. The hero is probably strong enough and healthy enough to live the 20 years it will take her children to be ready to leave home and care for themselves.
David, Jonathan, and Michael
This shows friendship, fidelity, and conspiring against Jonathan’s father as Pharaoh’s daughter conspired against hers. Jonathan’s sister Michael fell in love with David and wanted to marry him. Saul told David that he could marry her if he brought him trophies from 100 dead Philistines. David brought him trophies from 200 dead Philistines and married Michael (1 Sam. 18:25-28[249]). David did eventually get to marry the king’s daughter but he had to do another heroic deed in addition to killing Golaith.
Does having a man earn a wife make him feel like she’s a product like a farm implement he’s bought?
David on the Run
David did not kill Saul when he had two opportunities (1 Sam. 24:2-22). Saul said that David was a better man than he and swore that he would stop trying to kill David. David didn’t trust him and stayed in hiding; God gave him another chance to kill Saul which he also rejected (1 Sam. 26:5-25).
David knew that God had chosen Saul to be king and that God had abandoned Saul because of his sin, but David also knew that God didn’t need help clearing Saul out of the way so that David could be king. God taught David extremely valuable lessons during his time of running from Saul. We must wait for God’s time:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
Eagles soar without having to flap their wings much, but an eagle must wait for God to send a wind in the right direction. Moses didn’t want to wait to free his people so he murdered an Egyptian. Instead of waiting 40 years in the luxury of Egypt, Moses waited 40 years tending sheep on the back side of the desert.
Nothing can make it happen before God’s time. When God’s time comes, nothing can stop it. There are few joys that compare with soaring on God’s wind when we’ve waited many years in preparation.
David would have murdered Nabal while hiding from Saul except for Abigail, Nabal’s wife (1 Sam. 25). She criticized her husband so sweetly that David married Abigail as soon as he had the opportunity.
Saul took Michael, David’s wife, and gave her to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim (1 Sam. 25:44[250]). She had 5 sons whom David later killed (2 Sam. 21:1-10). Politics was a blood sport – choosing the wrong side was usually fatal. Are we any more civilized today?
David as King
He conquered Jerusalem and became king there. He didn’t offer his daughter in marriage to Joab who took the city (2 Sam. 5:8a[251], 1 Chr. 11:6[252]). He probably didn’t have any daughters who were old enough to marry.
David moved the Ark of God without asking God how to do it and Uzza died (2 Sam. 6:1-10). He later moved it properly. As with Moses, God expects His people to study so that we know how to obey in detail.
Although David accumulated gold and other materials to build the temple in Jerusalem, God did not let him build the temple because he was a man of war (1 Chronicles 17:4-12).
David’s Sins and their Consequences
David committed serous sins, but because he confessed and asked forgiveness, God said repeatedly that David was a man after God’s own heart. God forgives our sins completely if we confess. David’s family kept the kingdom because David confessed his sin and did his best to obey. There are mysteries about David’s life:
Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. I Kings 15:5
And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. II Samuel 24:10
“there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men (2 Sam. 24:15)” when God sent a plague to punish David for numbering the people. God’s thoughts are certainly not ours!
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
God forgives completely; He forgets your sins (Ps. 103:12[253], Is. 43:25[254], Heb. 10:17[255]). Ephesians 4:31-32[256] tells Christians to forgive each other as God forgives. When God washes away your sins (Heb. 9:14[257]), what’s left is perfect. Ephesians 5:1 commands, “Be ye therefore followers of God.” God treats you as perfect, so you must follow God and treat your spouse as perfect.
God doesn’t change (Mal. 3:6[258]) so His offer to forgive confessed sins and clean us from “all iniquity (Hos. 14:2[259])” has always been available. What would have happened if Adam had confessed his sin instead of blaming Eve? How did that work out? Do men still tend to blame their wives when things go wrong?
Adultery and Murder – II Samuel 11
David should have been with the army. He saw an attractive woman, got her pregnant, and murdered her husband to keep the secret, but God knew.
David knew he was wrong to commit adultery and get Bathsheba pregnant. God preserved the story for our learning and told Nathan the prophet about it. Nathan threw the sin in David’s face:
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. II Samuel 12:13
The Davidic covenant was as conditional as the Saulic covenant. If David had not confessed, Nathan’s “thou shalt not die” meant that God would have given the kingdom to someone else (II Sam. 12:13[260]). Some scholars believe that the Davidic covenant was unconditional because of this earlier passage:
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 16And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. II Samuel 7:12-16
That sounds unconditional, but God knew that David would humble himself enough to repent his sin and confess to God and to Nathan. God’s statement meant that David had fulfilled the conditions of the covenant. How many Christians fulfil God’s conditions of salvation or marriage?
David’s rule was interrupted during the captivity, but it will be restored when Christ, who was born from David’s line, returns and rules the nations with a rod of iron (Ps. 2:9[261], Rev. 2:27[262], 12:5[263], 19:15[264]).
And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. I Kings 15:3
David’s heart was perfect with the Lord his God in that he never worshipped anything else. Husband and wife must take to keep their hearts perfect with each other and never look at anyone else.
Numbering the People – 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21
David wanted to know how the size, and thus the military power, of his kingdom compared to the nations round about. His men told him not to count the population, but he ignored their advice, unlike the time he had consulted his leaders about moving the ark. Satan manipulating David is like Peter being sifted (Luk. 22:31[265]). Be not ignorant of Satan’s devices!
God offered David a choice of punishments; he chose to be punished by God instead of being punished by other nations. Many died so his count was no longer worth anything. God brings our efforts to naught whenever what we try to do is against His purposes.
David and Absalom
David was too busy being King to be any better at fathering children than Samuel or Eli had been. His oldest son Amnon (2 Sam. 3:2[266]) raped Absolom’s sister Tamar (2 Sam. 13) and David did nothing, even though Moses’ law required Amnon to marry Tamar and care for her because he had raped her (Deu. 22:28-29[267]).
A woman’s only protection was the men of a rape victim’s family avenging the attack on her by killing the rapist (Gen. 34:25-31). The command in Moses law for the rapist to marry the girl instead of being killed was a step toward reducing violence in society (Deu. 22:28-29).
As both king and as father of the rape victim, David should have forced Amnon to marry Tamar. He ignored the matter as Jacob would have preferred to ignore the rape of his daughter Dinah (Gen. 34:30[268]).
When David did nothing, the duty of revenge fell to Absalom as revenging Dinah’s rape had fallen to her brothers. Absalom murdered Amnon and David treated it lightly (2 Sam. 13:32[269]).
David’s Inaction
There may be another reason for David’s inaction besides being too busy to be an active father. David had committed adultery with Bathsheeba and murdered her husband to have her. If he criticized Amnon for raping Tamar or Absalom for murdering Amnon, his sons would throw his own crimes in his face.
How many Christian parents fail to warn their children about sins they committed? This appears to be particularly common with sexual sins, but parental silence makes it likely that their iniquities will be visited upon their children (Exo. 20:5[270], 34:7[271], Num. 14:18[272], Deu. 5:9[273]). “Visiting the iniquity” doesn’t mean punish – God commands that each person be punished for his own sin (Deu. 24:16[274]). A parent’s iniquity affects children badly. The visiting rooms in many prisons have play areas. I’ve watched inmates play with their children during vising hours. Not having a father at home harms those children badly as their father’s iniquity is visited upon them.
We must confess our failures as parents and as a society with respect to sexual morality. Daniel (Dan. 9:4-19) and Nehemiah (Neh. 1:5-11) show how it’s done – they confessed their own personal part in all the sins of all the earlier generations which had caused the captivity.
After murdering Amnon was treated lightly, Absalom worked to get people on his side against David and David did nothing (2 Sam. 15). Sin grows, particularly when governors, pastors, or fathers ignore it.
David’s Foreign Wife
David had never rebuked his son Adonijah, who tried to steal the kingdom from Solomon (1 Kings 1).
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. 6And 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. I Kings 1:5-6
David didn’t correct his sons. He didn’t teach Adnoijah and did nothing when Amnon raped Tamar.
What did Absalom’s mother Maacah, the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur (2 Sam. 3:3[275]), teach her son? Should David have married a woman who was not of God’s people? Her son didn’t turn out well. Relating to a non-Jew had been treated as a capital crime in the days of Moses:
And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; 8And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. Numbers 25:6-8
We criticize Solomon for marrying foreign wives, but his father David set him an example of doing it:
For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. I Kings 11:4
Are modern Christians any better at keeping marriages pure?
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? II Corinthians 6:14
David did give his son Solomon good advice:
And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. I Chronicles 28:9
There is a lesson in David’s advice to Solomon for all of us:
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. II Corinthians 8:12
No matter how strongly your parents, teachers, pastors, or bosses yearn for you to learn, they can’t teach you unless you’re willing to put a lot of your own effort into learning. It’s a waste of time for them to want you to have knowledge or salvation more than you want it for yourself.
If you’re willing to serve God, don’t worry about what you don’t have, just start! Find someone who is serving God and help him or her. God will accept what you have and give you more as you show yourself to be a worthy steward of what God gave you at the beginning:
Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. I Corinthians 4:2
Serve God faithfully with what you have, and God will give you more.
Chapter 11 - The Reign of Solomon ~ 1015 – 975 BC
Solomon’s obedience brought the peak of Israel’s wealth but his extravagance and idolatry split the kingdom.
Solomon’s Good Beginning:
Solomon asked for wisdom instead of asking for wealth or power; God gave him a double measure of both.
Now, O LORD God, let thy promise unto David my father be established: for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. 10Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great? 11And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king: II Chronicles 1:9-11
God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. I Kings 4:29
We should all ask God for wisdom to better serve Him:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
Solomon Builds the Temple
Lily work (1 Kings 7:19, 22[276]) meant doing a good job even when people will never see it, doing as unto the Lord regardless of men. These carvings were so high up in the wall that nobody could see them without a ladder, but the workers knew that God could see them and would be pleased.
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. Psalm 118:22
God arranged that the builders didn’t recognize the cornerstone the masons sent from the quarry to the temple site. This let Jesus remind the religious leaders that important matters could be overlooked:
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Matthew 21:42
Solomon spent 7 years building the temple (1 Kings 6:37-38[277]) and 13 years building his own house (1 Kings 7:1[278]). His extravagances eventually bankrupted his kingdom.
Solomon Leads the Nation in Worship and Praise
Solomon spoke of the importance of worship and of obeying God. After he finished building the temple, God appeared to Solomon “by night” and gave him God’s unchanging formula how a nation must feel the punishment of God strongly enough to repent from falling away from God to return to His path:
And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
II Chronicles 7:13-14
Revival has nothing to do with lost people, it’s up to God’s people to repent of their sins, accept guilt for sins which have spread through society, and start obeying God. Lost people will see Christians sharing God’s grace and forgiveness and want some of His grace for themselves. We must tell them how to get it, of course.
We claim to be Christians, which literally means, “Follower of the Savior of the World.” Have we mourned sin in our nation? Have we admitted our part in it because we haven’t warned our neighbors strongly enough? Have we begged God to show mercy on our land for our sake? We must pray for our leaders:
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. I Timothy 2:1-2
This is important because wicked leaders damage a nation:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12
We have been praying for more than 50 years that god will reveal spiritual wickedness in high places. Over the last few years, God has revealed immense wickedness in governments all over the world.
Pray that God will reveal the wickedness and that people will care enough about it to take action.
Solomon’s Frustrations in Marriage
A man shows his wife that he belongs to her by opening his heart to her. Opening himself frightens a man as much as opening herself to a man frightens a woman, but the Bible teaches that it’s safe for him to do so:
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10-12
This applies to a virtuous, Godly woman. An unsaved wife may do her husband harm instead of good. There’s a saying, “If a man loves a woman’s soul, one woman is all he needs, but if he sees only her face or figure, all the women in the world won’t satisfy him.” That was Solomon’s mistake:
Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account: which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. Ecclesiastes 7:27-28
Solomon found joy with the wife of his youth (Song). In his old age, he was bitterly frustrated by his thousand wives (I Kings 11:3[279]). Why? What went wrong? Solomon knew it should have been good:
Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. Proverbs 5:18-19
Solomon knew he should have been able to rejoice in marriage, but he mourned, “a woman among all those have I not found.” Why? Why was his soul vexed and empty when he had so many women?
Men usually say, “Women are unmanageable,” few admit it was Solomon’s fault. What didn’t he know?
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Song of Solomon 2:16
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. Song of Solomon 6:3
I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Song of Solomon 7:10
The Song, particularly 8:2-3[280], shows that she liked belonging to her husband because he was hers. If a wife doesn’t like belonging to her husband, his soul is as empty as Solomon’s soul was empty.
Solomon didn’t realize he should belong to one wife and be hers even though Deu. 17:17[281] told him not to “multiply wives” because having a lot of wives would turn him away from God. That happened to Solomon, but having so many women also made his life empty. He said, “my soul seeketh, but I find not.”
Solomon should have known that a woman must have a man belong to her for her to enjoy belonging to him. Solomon had life and death power over his wives but they didn’t like belonging to him. A man may own a woman, he may be able to command her, but he can’t make her like it. If she doesn’t like belonging to him, he’ll miss the joy and glory God intended that she bring into his life.
Proverbs warns (Pr. 19:13, 21:9, 21:19, 25:24, 27:15) that living with an unhappy woman is hard. Opening his heart to a woman takes so much time that a man can’t belong to more than one. Solomon didn’t belong to any of his wives; he had 1,000 frustrated, unhappy women under his roof. No wonder his soul was empty!
Solomon Wasn’t King Lemuel
The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. Proverbs 31:1
Pr. 31 was written to men, not to women. There’s a Jewish tradition that Lemuel is another name for Solomon which would mean that Proverbs 31 came from Bathsheba. The Bible gives reasons to doubt that.
The first 10 verses of Proverbs 31 show that Mrs. Lemuel was very smart politically; Bathsheba wasn’t. Politics was dangerous - the phrase “smote him” appears 8 times in 1 and 2 Kings when a king was murdered.
Gen. 40:22[282] tells how Pharaoh hanged his chief baker. Esther 6 tells how King Ahasuerus rewarded Mordecai for warning him about an assassination plot. Nehemiah 2:2[283] tells how he was “very sore afraid” when King Artaxerxes noticed his unhappiness. Kings had to be sensitive to the attitudes of people close to them. Nehemiah would be killed if Artaxerxes thought he was unhappy enough to start a plot.
Bathsheba didn’t notice Adonijah claiming to be king as David was dying until Nathan the prophet warned her to ask David to make Solomon king (1 Kings 1). Having fled with David when Absalom rebelled, Bathsheba knew that being on the wrong side was fatal, yet she wasn’t paying attention. David’s counselor Ahithophel could have been Bathsheba’s grandfather. 2 Sam. 23:34 tells us of “Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite.” David was told “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam. 11:3)?”
If Ahithophel was grandfather-in-law to Uriah whom David murdered, that could explain why “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom (2 Sam. 15:31).” If so, it’s another example of David’s sins causing him trouble. If her grandfather hanged himself when he saw that Absalom’s rebellion would fail, Bathsheba must have been really naïve not to notice Adonijah’s plot to seize the throne. People knew that David wanted Solomon to rule. Adonijah would have killed both Solomon and Bathsheba to secure his position.
Adonijah asked Bathsheba to ask Solomon to let him marry Abishag the Shunammite who had warmed David when he “gat no heat (1 Kings 1:1-4).” She passed on the request, and Solomon killed Adonijah. Mrs. Lemuel would have told Adonijah not to be so stupid. Bathsheba wasn’t as aware as Mrs. Lemuel.
Pr. 31 was written to men, not to women. Most of proverbs is father to son, this is mother to son. God felt that mothers are better qualified to teach their sons how to nourish and cherish future wives than fathers. A mother who works outside the home doesn’t have enough time or emotional energy to civilize her son.
King Lemuel’s mother taught him how to lead a kingdom, a business, a church, or a family:
· Don’t mess with women (Pr. 31:3[284]).
· Don’t abuse mind-altering substances (Pr. 31:4-5[285]).
· Take care of your people when they’re hurting (Pr. 31:6-7[286]).
· Treat your people fairly (Pr. 31:8-9[287]).
He can’t fulfil the last two without building open, loving relationships. How else can he distinguish between the needy and the lazy, the good and the glib? Her wisdom will help him in any path he walks.
She also told her son what to expect from a virtuous wife:
· She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life (Pr. 31:12[288]). He must explain what he regards as good so she can follow him. That’s another reason for him to open his heart to her (1 Pe. 3:7[289]).
· The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her (Pr. 31:11[290], Pr. 12:4[291]). Many men won’t admit their emotions even to themselves for fear of being hurt. Jesus had to force the Apostle Peter to admit that Peter loved Christ above all else (Jn. 15:21-27). Will he not only admit his love for his wife to himself, but communicate it daily to her? It’s easier for a woman to follow a man when she knows he loves her.
· She openeth up her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness (Pr.31:26[292]). God expects her words to always be health to him (Pr. 12:18[293]) so he’ll want to hear what she has to say.
Mrs. Lemuel then outlined God’s terms and conditions so that her son could receive the blessing:
· Teach his children, by telling them and by showing them, to praise and appreciate her every action and her never-ending labor on behalf of her home (Pr. 31:28[294]).
· Praise her as a uniquely wonderful wife who “excelleth them all” (Pr. 31:29[295]). The Song shows how.
· She works mostly ar home, so he must praise her in the gates (Pr. 31:31[296]), at home, and at church.
Overview of Ecclesiastes
Solomon described the vanity of human philosophies and the worthlessness of human works when compared with God’s plans and the Good Works God expects of His people (Eph. 2:10[297]).
Solomon’s work was vanity and chasing after wind because he did it for himself: “I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards (Ecc. 2:4).” Work is not vain when a man supports wife, children, and church. Caring for others validates work. Nothing straightens up a man like having a woman lean on him.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
There is no new thing under the sun (Ecc. 1:9)
God made the mating instinct very strong to hold couples together. Abimalech was upset when he found that Isaac had lied in saying that Rebekah was his sister and reminded us that men can be casual about sex:
And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. Genesis 26:10
If she wasn't married, there’d be nothing wrong in raping her; it would bring a moment of pleasure. Rebekah was married, though, so raping her would be a property crime against her husband.
God reserves sex for marriage. A man will tend to take sex lightly regardless of the woman’s wishes unless he's been taught to honor both marriage and women, starting with his mother. In Pr. 31:28-29, King Lemuel's mother taught her son to teach her grandchildren to respect and honor their mother.
If a father teaches his children to value, praise, appreciate, honor, and respect their mother by his example and by commanding it, they can learn from her. His sons can learn to nourish, cherish, respect, and honor their future wives and his daughters can learn to insist on respect from suitors.
If a father doesn't demand and teach respect for his wife, his sons grow up without respect for women and see no reason not to follow their mating urges. His daughters will want to hang around with men because God made women for men, but without seeing their father respect their mother, they won't know to demand respect and honor from men. This teaches them to act like toys. In the flesh, men and boys are happy to play with toys and throw them away in favor of younger, flashier toys that come along.
Leaders Help Parents Teach Their Children
The mating instinct is strong in both men and women; it's hard for young people to keep these desires under control. Parents have trouble teaching this if spiritual leaders' and teachers' examples don't reinforce the message. American culture has so devalued marriage that many couples live together without marrying at all.
Ezra 10 tells how Jewish leaders ignored God’s commands about marriage. Their example made it hard for ordinary people to take marriage seriously. Malachi tried to help Ezra clean up the situation.
As Solomon said, there is no new thing under the sun, we keep recycling the same old sins. How many men raised in Christian homes have "lightly lien" with women outside marriage? Why don’t they respect women enough not to do that? Have we learned anything from the repeated errors, omissions, suffering, repentance, and restoration of God’s people as described in the Old Testament?
These Old Testament accounts were written “for our learning,” but they also give us hope:
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4
We have hope because throughout the Old Testament, God tells us of His people falling into sin, repenting, and being delivered. The Book of Zachariah tells us that God will draw all of the Jews back to Him in the fullness of time. The fact that He has not written off His people in spite of their many sins gives us hope that He will keep us as His own in spite of our sins.
Vanity in the Next Generation
1 Kings 12 tells us how Solomon’s son Rehoboam spoke harshly to the people after Solomon died so that they rebelled. Solomon had written that his son’s rule might not turn out well:
Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. 19And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity. Ecclesiastes 2:18-19
How many hard-working parents build up prosperous businesses only to have them fall apart when passed to the next generation? This, too, is vanity and chasing after wind.
The Perils of Pride
What was the difference between Solomon and Nebuchadnezzar? Daniel quotes Nebuchadnezzar:
Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 2I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. 3How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. Daniel 4:1-3
Nebuchadnezzar told everyone how much he appreciated what God had given. The rest of the chapter tells how he dreamed of a tree that would be cut down and its stump be bound with a band of brass.
Daniel explained that the dream meant that Nebuchadnezzar would be driven out into the field and eat grass for seven years before his mind and his kingdom would be given back to him unless he repented. A year later, he didn’t give God thanks for what he had been able to do:
At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. 30The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? Daniel 4:29-30
He spent the next seven years eating grass, but he did learn the lesson God wanted to teach him:
And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: Daniel 4:34
Solomon wrote of all the wonderful works he had done in Ecclesiastes 2:4[298]. Did Solomon give God the glory for letting him build the temple? He called his works “vanity and chasing after wind,” but was he also expressing pride in what he had done? God doesn’t appreciate pride:
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4:6
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. I Peter 5:5
Workmen found a copy of God’s Law which had been hidden for many years when King Josiah repaired Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. Josiah was grieved that God’s Word had been neglected. God rewarded him for humbling himself and urging everyone to remember what they had forgotten from God’s Word:
And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the LORD, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; 27Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD. II Chronicles 34:26-27
Did Solomon give glory to God for what God had allowed him to do? Why didn’t God punish Solomon for his pride? Did God show Solomon mercy for the sake of David his father and split the kingdom later?
How often do we thank God for giving us opportunities to labor together with Him (1 Cor. 3:9)? We must work hard to be good stewards of whatever He gives, but we must always remember that God gives the increase in home, businesses, or church (1 Cor. 3:7[299]). The lesson of Nebuchadnezzar is that God isn’t pleased when we human beings claim credit for accomplishments that He brings about through us.
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. I Peter 4:10
Overview of the Song of Solomon
Scholars debate whether the Song of Songs is literal or spiritual. The Old Testament repeatedly uses marriage to illustrate God’s relationship to His people and uses God’s relationship to His people to describe marriage (Is. 1:2[300]1, Jer. 2:2[301], 3:6–12, Eze. 16, 23, Hos. 2).
In the New Testament, the same allegory is used for Christ and His bride, the Church. The Song cannot describe God's permanent, loving, joyful, and exclusive relationship with His people without also describing the pattern for a permanent, loving, joyful, and exclusive human marriage. It is both literal and spiritual.
1) The Song begins with the wife praising her husband (Song 1:2[302]). Men don't seem to understand women very well; maybe having a wife praise her husband teaches him how to praise her in a way that she appreciates? Could praising her husband make a wife less likely to focus on what she doesn’t like? Feeling appreciated by his wife makes a man want to take care of her and appreciate her.
2) There is no criticism at all in the Song, only praise in mind-numbing detail. The man and wife are constantly looking for little things about each other to praise and appreciate. Their praise sounds odd to us, but teaches that married people need constant praise, support, and affirmation from each other in detail. Praising God takes our minds off our problems; praising your spouse helps you forget day-to-day annoyances.
3) The husband is totally involved with his wife. He tells everyone that she's uniquely perfect:
My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Song 6:9
He's so focused on her that he doesn't see other women as women, only as people.
4) The wife is secure in knowing that her husband belongs to her:
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Song 2:16
I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. Song 6:3
What convinces a wife that her husband is hers? He opens his heart to her when she needs to talk.
5) The wife recognizes and encourages her husband's desire for her:
I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Song 7:10
As Ruth accepted Naomi’s advice how to get married (Ru. 3:18), this wife followed her mother’s advice how to stay married (Song 8:2-3[303]). Her mother points out that she has far more sexual capacity than he; she can drain off all his sexual energy no matter how much God gives him. This convinces him that she belongs to him and makes it hard for other women to get his attention. If she sends him off to work loaded, on the other hand, he'll be tempted by other women and they might both be burned (Pr. 5:20[304], 6:27[305]).
The entire Song deals with our human need to be appreciated. A man can't praise his wife in such detail without paying close attention to her. Marriages are based on communication; a woman communicates heart-to-heart, a man communicates belly-to-belly. She thinks he wants to do the same old thing over and over; he thinks she wants to talk about the same old thing over and over.
How many marriages would fail if husband and wife never, not ever, criticized each other and always looked for things to appreciate instead? That’s the essence of the Song.
Chapter 12 - The Nation Divided: Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and Judah, the Southern
A kingdom divided cannot stand (Mt. 12:25[306], Lk. 11:17[307]). The northern tribes rebelled because Solomon spent too much money on buildings and did not take care of his people. His son ignored the older men’s advice to speak softly to the people and spoke of raising their taxes instead (1 Kings 12:13-16[308]). The rebels murdered the man Solomon had put in charge of collecting taxes (1 Kings 12:18[309]). All the northern kings were evil in spite of many warnings from God’s prophets.
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Psalm 127:1
The Northern kingdom survived for hundreds of years after it split off from the Southern kingdom. God was extremely patient with them and sent many prophets to warn them. Eventually, however, God’s patience ran out, the kingdom was destroyed, and they were taken into captivity.
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Isaiah 55:6
God is patient and longsuffering, but there is a limit to His patience. You don’t want to go there.
Kings of Israel - Northern Kingdom: all bad – carried captive ~ 721 BC
Jeroboam, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, was so evil that he became a proverb. The phrase “Jeroboam the son of Nebat” coupled with “made Israel to sin” appears 12 times in First and Second Kings.
They worshiped other gods, especially the golden calves Jeroboam had set up. The kings committed murder, theft, and ignored God’s law. Most of them were compared with Jeroboam. Studying the verses that remind us of Jeroboam’s wickedness would be a good place to understand their sins: (1 Kings 16:26[310], 21:22[311], 22:52[312], 2 Kings 3:3[313], 10:29[314], 13:2[315], 14:24[316], 15:9[317], 15:18[318], 15:24[319], 15:28[320]). This also shows how the sins of fathers and other leaders are visited upon their followers as discussed on page 52.
1 Kings 18-19 shows how Elijah was so exhausted after preaching a revival sermon on Mt. Carmel that he, like Jonah, was suicidal. God didn’t criticize him for being discouraged. God fed him, visited him, gave him a simple task he could do, and told him he wasn’t alone. What amazing lessons in servant leadership!
2 Kings 1 tells how King Ahaziah was injured and asked a prophet of Baalzebub whether he would recover. When Elijah sent a message saying he wouldn’t recover because he hadn‘t asked God, the king sent 50 men to bring Elijah to him. God sent fire and burned up the 50. The king sent a second 50 who were also burned. The captain of the 3rd 50 begged Elijah to spare him. Elijah went and told the King he’d die.
King Hezikiah’s repentance gave him and extra 15 years of life (Isa. 38:5[321]). Having seen the power of God, Ahaziah could have repented, but chose not to. Luke 16:19-31 also shows reluctance to repent.
2 Kings 3:14[322] shows that God may take care of lost people for the sake of His people who are near them.
2 Kings 4:42-44[323] shows a gift to a man of God multiplying as Jesus multiplied 5 loaves and 2 fishes.
2 Kings 5:11-12[324] shows a man wanting to earn a gift from God instead of just receiving God’s favor.
Kings of Judah - Southern Kingdom: 8 good – carried captive ~ 587 BC
Ponder the 8 good kings, what they did that pleased God, and where they fell short. Think about how they revived the nation and put off God’s punishment. It’s good to learn from people who tried to do right. Be sure to learn from what they did right and from their mistakes. Several of these kings became proud when God blessed their righteous efforts. The Apostle Paul understood where credit belonged:
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. I Corinthians 3:6
King Asa (2 Chr. 14-16) 911-870 BC
And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God: 3For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: 4And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. II Chronicles 14:2-4
Although Asa did well, God seeks whole-hearted dedication (2 Chr. 16:9[325]). He sent a prophet to criticize Asa for relying on the king of Syria instead of relying on God (2 Chr. 16:7[326]). Partial commitment to God is no commitment at all! (Luke 9:57-62; 14:25-33).
King Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 17-20) 870-848 BC
And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; 4But sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. II Chronicles 17:3-4
He started well, but entered into a military alliance with Israel (2 Chr. 18:1[327]). His son Jehoram married Athaliah the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel. The marriage offered opportunities for cross-border trade, but turned out to be the moral equivalent of poison (2 Chr. 22:10-12[328]).
King Joash (2 Chr. 24) 835-796 BC
And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest. II Chronicles 24:2
When Jehoida died, Joash turned to idolatry (2 Chr. 24:15-27). Joash was willing to be led in doing good but when left to his own devices, he led in doing evil. He had a form of godliness while Jehoida lived, but he lacked the power thereof (2 Tim. 3:5[329]). When people who claim to be God’s people don’t show Godly fruits (Mt. 7:16[330], 7:20[331]), we have grounds to wonder whether they belong to God at all.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
Joash did well under Jehoida’s guidance, but is Joash in Heaven? Aren’t you glad it isn’t up to you?
King Amaziah (2 Chr. 25, 2 Ki. 14:1-20) 796-781 BC
This passage is the key to the partial success of his reign:
And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did. II Kings 14:3.
His father Joash was good under the leadership of Jehoida but wasn’t good on his own. It’s unfortunate that Jehoida failed to teach either Joash or his son Amaziah how to relate to God themselves after he died. They increased while he decreased, but hadn’t been taught to carry on.
God blessed Amaziah when he did right, but his success made him proud. He started an unnecessary fight with Joash, a wicked king of Israel, who was the grandson of Jehu, another wicked king of Israel. He was defeated (2 Chr. 25:17-24).
King Uzziah (2 Chr. 26) 781-740 BC
Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 4And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. II Chronicles 26:3-4
His mother was a Jew, not a foreigner. Your spouse’s character has a profound effect on your children.
Uzziah certainly had a heart to seek God; how many 16-year-olds could withstand all the temptations of kingly power in a wicked nation? Those who seek God are blessed, (2 Chr. 7:14[332], Ps. 34:10[333], Jer. 29:13[334], Mt. 7:7[335], Rom. 3:10[336], Col. 3:1[337], Heb. 11:6[338]).
Unfortunately, the prosperity and blessing God gave him because of his obedience made him proud: (2 Chr. 26:16[339]). He forgot the lesson of King Saul (1 Sam. 13:13[340]) and tried to enter the temple to take over the priest’s office (2 Chr. 26:19-21) and was stricken with leprosy.
King Hezekiah (2 Chr. 29-32) 716-687 BC
Hezekiah’s reign came just after the Assyrians defeated Israel around 722 BC and took many of its inhabitants into exile.
Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. II Chronicles 29:1-2
The rest of the chapter tells how he repaired and consecrated the temple, told the priests to consecrate themselves, renewed the sacrificial system, and drew the people back into worship. This shows how a determined leader can bring about revival.
He forgot the lesson of Joshua (Josh. 9:3-14) which ends “and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD.” He didn’t ask God before showing the Babylonian envoys all his treasures (2 Kings 20:12-19). About 115 years later, the Babylonians returned and destroyed Jerusalem!
Babylonians kept good records – Ezra 4:9-22 tells how people who opposed Ezra’s efforts to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple suggested that if King Artaxerxes searched the files, he would find that Jerusalem had once been a very powerful city and would stop paying taxes to him if they rebuilt the walls. The search was made, records of Solomon’s power were found, and Artaxerxes ordered work to stop.
Biblical dates are inexact, but Solomon seems to have reigned from 970-930 BC and Ezra’s time was around 400 BC. The Babylonians kept records of Solomon’s reign for ~ 500 years! It’s easy to imagine bean counters checking the list of treasures taken from Jerusalem against an inventory only 100 years old.
Thinking about managing and searching such large archives kept on clay tablets in the absence of paper or printing makes your head hurt. Bureaucracy is ever with us!
King Manasseh (2 Chr. 33:1-20) 697-642 BC
Manasseh was one of the most evil kings, but he’s listed here because he repented near the end of his life.
And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God. II Chronicles 33:12-13
When a sinner reforms and is cleansed as described in 1 John 1:9[341], their actions change visibly:
And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. 16And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel. 17Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high places, yet unto the LORD their God only. II Chronicles 33:15-17
He didn't live long enough to draw people back to temple worship from worshiping in the high places and wasn’t able to teach his son Amon, the next king, to do right. It’s comforting to see that God accepts any sinner who’s humble enough to beg forgiveness. God can tell the difference even if we can’t.
King Josiah (2 Chr. 34-35) 640-609 BC
And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left. 3For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. II Chronicles 34:2-3
He started strong by putting away idols (2 Kings 23:15[342]), restoring the temple, and drawing the people back to following God's Word, but he was killed in a battle he didn’t have to fight:
After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Charchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. II Chronicles 35:20
God would have warned Josiah not to get into that fight if he’d asked. He was such a loss that “Jeremiah lamented for Josiah (2 Chr. 35:25[343]).” His reign was the last chance for the people to repent – all later kings were bad until God’s patience ran out and Judah was carried into captivity.
How often do we proceed with our own plans without asking God? How often do our mistakes tarnish the witness we could have had? How many blessings have we lost from ignoring God’s warnings?
The Ministry of Elisha
He asked for a double portion of the blessing of Elijah (2 Kings 2:9-10[344]). He “took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him (2 Kings 2:13).” Elisha had a willing mind and a pure heart to serve God. God accepted what he had (1 Chron. 28:9[345], 2 Cor. 8:12[346]) and added to him whatever else he needed to do God’s will.
Chapter 13 - The Major Prophets
All the prophets warned about spiritual decline. They urged people to repent to avoid God’s wrath. Judah had revivals, but both nations fell into idolatry and were carried into captivity. God’s patience has limits.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Exodus 34:6
The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Numbers 14:18
As explained on page 52, God doesn’t punish children for the sins of their parents but parents’ sins affect their children. Some prisons have visiting areas with play spaces. I’ve watched fathers play with children during jail visits and mourned for how the absence of a father’s influence will harm the children.
We’ve seen on page 52 how David’s neglect of his sons by a foreign wife let them fall into sin which caused David a great deal of trouble. A father’s neglect due to imprisonment doesn’t do his children any good either.
God created us with the ability to choose our actions, but He holds us accountable for the results:
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:15
To help avoid the electric fence of life, Ezekiel explained a specific sin that contributed to the Jews being taken into captivity, page 70. The same sin is becoming common in America. Ezekiel also explained why we must spread God’s message – He will hold us accountable for people going to Hell if we don’t, page 72.
God Leads His Dear Children Along
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Isaiah 5:1-6
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. I Corinthians 3:9
God compared the way He dealt with His people to an owner who tended His vineyard as carefully as possible. He expected the vineyard to work with Him in response to His care for it, but the vineyard grew wild grapes instead of useful fruit. Israel had not brought the fruit God expected in terms of showing other nations the advantages of living under God’s laws. He planned to take away the wall He had put up around Israel and have them led away captive.
Three Gospels tell of Jesus reminding the Scribes and Pharisees of this when He spoke of wicked men killing the son of the vineyard owner when He sent His Son to seek His portion of fruit (Mt. 21:33-41, Mk. 12:1-9, Lk. 20:9-16). Jesus had told them He was the Son of God; they knew He was criticizing them.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Psalm 128:3
Each plant requires different amounts of sun, water, and soil. Dealing with children according to their “several abilities (Mt. 25:15)” can be a real challenge.
God’s Warnings through Drought
Many prophets spoke of God using His control of weather to send trials to bring His people to repentance. There are many references to God’s control of the climate in the Old Testament:
He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; Psalm 107:33
I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. Isaiah 42:15
Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. Isaiah 50:2
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. 20The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. Joel 1:10, 20
And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it. Ezekiel 30:12
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. Nahum 1:4
And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away. Zechariah 10:11
God brought a three-year drought when Elijah, an ordinary man except for his earnest faith, prayed:
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. James 5:17-18
Elias’ experience shows us the power of faith as well as God’s control of the weather. As of 2022, God is reminding everyone that He controls climate and weather. The BBC reports:[347]
Rivers and lakes have dried, causing major problems for shipping and other vessels. The receding water levels have also revealed some usually-buried treasures.
The most ominous of these are "hunger stones", engraved at the waterline of rivers during previous droughts as a warning to future generations that when the stones are above water, hardship lies ahead.
One stone, which was first carved as far back as the 15th Century, also surfaced in 1616, when locals inscribed into it the words "if you see me, cry."
Europeans have been recording periods of drought since the 1400s. How many have turned to God?
We know of many ways God affects earth’s climate and weather, but there is much we don’t know. In the 1920s, Serbian geophysicist and astronomer Milutin Milanković theorized that changes in the shape of the earth’s orbit, changes in the tilt of the earth’s spin axis relative to the sun and wobble in the earth’s spin would cause the earth to absorb different amounts of heat from the sun by changing which parts of the earth received the most direct sunlight. Recent data from ice cores and lake sediments support the broad outlines of Milanković’s cycles, but there are many climate changes that aren’t explained by Milanković’s theory.
As instruments improved, we learned that the sun’s output varies more than had been thought. The amount of heat the sun puts out also affects earth’s climate, but it’s difficult to predict its long-term effect. The sun’s output variation seems to have an 11-year cycle, but we haven’t collected accurate data long enough to know whether it also has longer cycles. In addition, it’s not clear how changes in solar output affects climate because different colors of light affect clouds and our atmosphere differently.
The more scientists study the works of God with respect to climate, the more complicated it becomes.
Isaiah
Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He told Hezekiah that God said he would recover from sickness to live 15 more years and would be delivered from the Assyrians. Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, one of the worst kings of Judah, during the 15 extra years God gave him. “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem (2 Kings 21:1).”
Isaiah chapter 6 gives Isaiah’s vision of heaven. Isaiah 1-39 tells us God’s judgement of sinful men. Judah has sinned, nearby nations have sinned, and “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (Ro. 8:22).” Other nations knew enough about God’s commands to be punished for disobeying them. God can’t allow sin to go unpunished forever, so judgement must come to Israel.
Isaiah (40-66) gives hope; a Savior will come for all mankind. Isaiah predicts Christ’s coming (7:14[348]), His mission (9:6-7[349]), the peaceful outcome (11:6[350]), His suffering (50:6-8[351]), His victory (32:1-3[352], 42:1-4[353]), the grace of God (53:1-10), and the lake of fire (34:9[354]). He gives God’s conditions for picking us up:
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Isaiah 57:15
Isaiah declares God’s uniqueness, (45:5-6[355], 45:14[356], 45:18[357], 45:21-22[358], 46:9[359], 47:8, 10[360]).
Comfort Ye
It’s fascinating to see how God changed Isaiah’s message from condemnation to encouragement:
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Isaiah 40:1
God is a God of love and holiness (Eph. 6:4[361]). His love makes Him want to comfort and nourish us (De. 5:29[362]); His holiness means that He cannot tolerate sin. God made mothers love their children to illustrate His love and He made fathers more inclined to correct children than mothers are. God doesn’t tell mothers not to love their children too much, but He warns fathers not to correct too harshly:
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Colossians 3:21
Balancing nurturing through love and admonition through correction for each follower is one of the most difficult parts of being a parent, pastor, or leader. Some churches preach the “buddy god” who loves everybody so much he’d never send anyone to Hell - repentance and turning from sin aren’t needed. A love-only message is meaningless because it doesn’t define sin or tell people that God hates sin (Ps. 7:11b[363]). How can people seek forgiveness without being shown how much God hates their sins (Ro. 3:10[364])?
Others preach the “bully god” by hammering away on God’s holiness without emphasizing His love. The bully god wrote rules in the Bible which leaders interpret and extend. The bully god watches every thought, word, and deed so he can whack you with the pastor’s help. No forgiveness for you, miserable miscreant!
Holiness without love becomes repugnant. Sinners won’t hear holiness without love because they don’t want to feel hopelessly bad about themselves. God’s love gives hope and helps sinners accept God’s holiness. Sinners can’t understand why Jesus died on the cross unless they’re taught to cling to His love.
Without feeling God’s love, people can’t feel confident of His care for us (1 Pe. 5:7[365]) or of His promise never to leave us (He. 13:5). Jesus love for us keeps us following Him because we want Him to be pleased with us (2 Cor. 5:14a[366]). We submit to His holiness because we love Him. You can’t have one without the other.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Isaiah 40:1
Having switched from admonishing to nurturing, God added advice to His encouragement:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
Eagles fly without flapping their wings a lot; they soar on air currents from God. They can't go any time they want; they have to wait for the wind to blow so they can ride it. If we wait for God to show us the right direction and go where His wind is blowing, we get more done with less effort. There are few experiences in the Christian walk as wonderful as riding God’s wind when we go in the direction He desires.
Chapter 61:3 gives us God’s offer: His beauty for our ashes, His joy for our mourning, if only we ask.
Isaiah said that captivity would not be forever (10:20[367]), but it was left to Jeremiah to say how long it would be. He used marriage to describe the relationship between God and His people (Rom. 7:4[368]):
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. Isaiah 62:4
He also encouraged His people who were rejected by “idol shepherds (Zec. 11:17)” who demand that people worship them instead of God:
Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Isaiah 66:5
Jeremiah
Jeremiah is the “weeping prophet” because he was so broken up by God’s coming judgment. Jeremiah gave his name to the “Jeremiad,” which means “A literary work or speech expressing a bitter lament or a righteous prophecy of doom.” Jeremiah spent 40 years proclaiming doom to a stubborn people. He ministered from the 13th year of the rule of Josiah, the last good king, and into the captivity.
Like Jesus, Jeremiah was rejected by almost everyone and urged a new covenant in the heart. He foretold backsliding, captivity, and restoration of God’s people. Because of the personal nature of his book, we know more about Jeremiah as a person than about any other prophet. Most of his preaching was directed at Judah although some messages were directed at other nations. He criticized both government and religious leaders. After Jerusalem was destroyed, Jeremiah chose to stay with the few who were left in the land.
After Gedeliah, the regent appointed by the Babylonians, was murdered, the remnant chose to go to Egypt and took Jeremiah with them in spite of his telling them not to go (41:7ff). He told them they would live if they stayed where the Babylonians had left them but they would die when the Babylonians invaded Egypt.
His message about the “queen of heaven” (44:17-21) show that women bear responsibility for their actions even when they are following their husbands. This amplifies the lesson of Ananias and Sapphira on page 8 in teaching that women should not obey their husbands in doing wrong any more than Christians should obey government in doing wrong.
Ezekiel
Ezekiel ministered to Jewish captives in Babylon. He was carried there in the second deportation before the destruction of Jerusalem. Part of his ministry foretold the end of the city to the captives who were in Babylon.
Ezekiel used many images to dramatize his message; these provide lessons to preachers of today. He served as a spiritual watchman, telling the people of their spiritual apostasy. He was critical of religious or secular false shepherds who muddy the waters so that weak sheep cannot drink (Eze. 34:2-23).
Community leaders often visited his home to find out what God was saying to him; this may have started the custom of gathering at synagogues. While condemning the sins of both Judah and the surrounding nations, Ezekiel prophesized that the people would return to their land.
The phrase “Thus saith the Lord GOD” appears 122 times and the phrase “son of man” 94 times out of the 206 times it’s found in the Bible in 20 different books. In contrast to Jeremiah, the material in Ezekiel is arranged in chronological order as the Lord gave it to him. His reminded the exiles of the sins that had brought them so low and to sustain their faith that God would restore their nation.
Chapters 16 and 23 are explicit erotic connotations to describe the permanent relationship of God with his people to the permanent marriage relationship between husband and wife. Chapter 16 reviews all the undeserved blessings God had given His people and showed their ingratitude. Chapter 38 presents the vision of a valley full of dry bones coming to life to speak of revival of God’s people.
Why They Were Taken Into Captivity
Ezekiel’s congregation had a burning desire to know “Why.” Every Jew in captivity knew that God had promised the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants forever. They were descendants of Abraham, yet they had been dragged away from Canaan and were living among wicked people. Why?
Ezekiel’s people were like us; they remembered God’s promise but forgot God’s “if.” Ezekiel reminded everyone that God’s promise had an “if” as God’s promises do. God said they would dwell in the land
... if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments ... Deuteronomy 28:1
Ezekiel preached many sermons about how the people failed to hearken and failed to do, and explaining that that was why God took them away for the same sins that are damaging us. Although sodomy is a terrible abomination, sodomy itself is not destroying our nation; sodomy is a symptom of a deeper, subtler sin that contributes to the destruction of our nation.
Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. Ezekiel 16:45
and he goes on to say that the women of Israel were sisters in conduct to the women of Sodom.
These women loathed their husbands and their children as the women of Sodom had loathed theirs. “Loathe” means “to cast away, reject with aversion, have disgust for, abhor, hate very much.”
Read the messages of women’s liberation, Ms. Magazine, the National Organization of Women. All of them proclaim that men are “too macho,” they are “too possessive,” their desires are “disgusting.” So many single women who want nothing to do with men are choosing to have children on their own either by fornication or by artificial insemination that it no longer makes the news.
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. I Timothy 5:14
God wants women to bear children, yet “liberation” organizations teach that children are “confining” and that women should find fulfillment by leaving home and having a career!
Could you imagine a better example of loathing children than mothers leaving home for “fulfillment”? Some women are forced away from their children to take jobs due to overwhelming poverty, but could anything be a better example of loathing children than pursuing a career instead of motherhood?
There is one worse way of loathing: abortion. Abandoning children to grow up unsupervised is bad enough (Pr. 19:26[369]), but millions of American women hate their unborn children enough to kill them by having abortions. We’re becoming a nation of women who loathe their husbands and loathe their children.
We Must Spread God’s Message
Ezekiel reminds us that God has wants His people to spread His Word and that He imposes a penalty when we don’t warn people against their sins:
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul. Ezekiel 3:18-21
Daniel
The book of Daniel is called an apocalypse, or “unveiling,” like Isaiah 24-27. These revelations were given at times when wickedness seemed to have conquered; the purpose was to encourage the people to sustain their faith in God. Daniel was taken captivity in the first deportation around 605 BC.
Like Moses, Daniel was highly educated in the language and science of the ruling class even though he was a foreigner. The major theme of Daniel is the sovereignty of God over all of history including all nations and individuals as developed further on page 81. 9 of the 12 chapters of Daniel deal with interpreting dreams.
In addition to laying out the course of the tribulation and other events in the end times, Daniel told the Jews that they would return to the Promised Land. He named the number of years that had to pass before they could return. Because of its discussions of the end times, Daniel is a companion book to Revelation.
Daniel was given the name Belteshazzar when he arrived in Babylon; this demonstrated to Daniel that the Babylonians had power over him just as Adam demonstrated that he had power over Eve by naming her. His wisdom and contributions to the kingdom were so notable, however, that the Babylonians often referred to him by his original name of Daniel. He was put to work learning how to work in the king’s administration.
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. Daniel 1:8
Even though he had seen the Babylonians kill many people as they took him into captivity, Daniel decided to follow God’s food laws even at the risk of his life. God had given him wisdom to achieve his goal:
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. Colossians 4:6
Instead of angrily rejecting the food given him, Daniel asked for a different diet and asked his boss to test him and his three companions to see how the diet they preferred would affect their health. When their health improved compared to the rest (Dan.1:15[370]), they were allowed to follow God’s dietary laws.
Daniel may have known that God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called, but you must be willing. He then accepts your service to Him no matter what you have or do not have:
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. II Corinthians 8:12
Never worry about what you do not have. Serve God with all you do have. Once you show Him that you are faithful with whatever little He has given you, He will give you more so you can serve Him better.
We’re told Daniel’s status when he was recruited into the Babylonian College of Bureaucracy:
And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; 4Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. Daniel 1:3-4
Daniel showed himself to be well educated and polite before being recruited into the king’s service. Having shown themselves to have “willing minds” to serve God even at the risk of their lives and having sought the Kingdom of God by following God’s dietary laws, God gave them more so they could serve Him better:
As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 18Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. 19And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. Daniel 1:17-19
Chapter 14 - The Minor Prophets
The Minor Prophets are “minor” because their books are shorter than the books of the Major Prophets. All of them spoke against specific sins the Jews were committing and some spoke of the sins of other nations. All of them urged the people to repent and get back to obeying the commands God had given them so long ago.
Modern revivals generally occur when God’s people remember something from the Word of God that had been forgotten. In modern America, for example, the idea of marriage is so “outdated” that many couples simply live together without marrying at all.
Hosea
Hosea ministered to the Northern Kingdom during a time of outward economic prosperity which masked spiritual decay and moral corruption. People who feel wealthy have trouble admitting their need for God.
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. Hosea 1:2
God directed Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer whose adultery was an illustration of the nation’s spiritual adultery in worshiping other gods. Gomer left her husband after bearing 3 children and ended up in a slave market. He redeemed her and she became a faithful wife to him. His message is that God abhors sin, destruction is inevitable, but God’s love and loyalty stand firm. He was a contemporary of Amos who ministered in Israel and of Isaiah and Micah who ministered in Judah.
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. Hosea 14:4
Chapter 14 describes the great benefits of repentance and drawing back to God.
Joel
We don’t know when Joel preached; he doesn’t mention any kings. Joel spoke after a swarm of locusts had eaten the crops. God sent the natural disaster to bring His people to repent, but they would not. Joel proclaimed that His future judgements using heathen armies would make locusts seem trivial by comparison.
Joel tried to persuade the people to repent in preparation for the “Day of the Lord,” the future time when God will pour out His wrath against heathen nations because of their abuses of the Jews. Joel emphasizes the sovereignty of God and promises redemption after God’s punishment. 1:10-20 describes a drought.
Amos
Amos prophesized to the Northern Kingdom during the same time of prosperity as Hosea. He was not of a priestly line; he had been a shepherd before God called him. This reminds us that God can call whomever he chooses as long as the person is willing.
Amos spoke judgement against many foreign nations as well as against Israel. Since the nation was prosperous, he spoke of personal accountability and responsibility while promising future reconciliation. In contrast to Hosea, who was crushed by a sense of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God, Amos was outraged at their violence, injustice, and perversion of the righteousness of God to the point of being accused of treason:
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. Amos 7:10
Securing equal justice for all without respect of persons is part of true piety. “But let justice run down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (5:24)
Obadiah
Obadiah announces God’s judgement against the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, because they participated in attacking Judah. They refused Israel passage (Nu. 20:14-21) and rejoiced over the destruction of Jerusalem (Ps. 137:7). He promises eventual victory for God’s people. Verses 17-21 describes Edom’s doom. The date is uncertain, but it appears to have been written after the destruction of Jerusalem.
Jonah
During the time of Jeroboam II (II Ki. 14:25[371]), God told Jonah to preach that Nineveh would be destroyed unless the people repented; Jonah refused and fled in the opposite direction. Knowing that Nineveh would destroy his own people in the future, Jonah did not want to preach to them because he knew that if he did, they would repent and God would be merciful to them instead of destroying them.
God drew him to Nineveh where he preached a great revival; he was a successful missionary. The book is filled with miracles: the fish, the storm, and the gourd; understanding them requires faith, not explanation. Jesus confirmed the account of Jonah being in the whale’s belly (Mt. 12:39-41[372], Lk. 11:29-30[373]).
Jonah’s experience teaches that God hears us if we cry to Him no matter where we may be:
And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Jonah 2:2
Knowing what Nineveh would do, Jonah was unhappy when they repented. Knowing the love of Christ should make every Christian want maximize God’s honor and glory. Jonah knew that it would glorify God for Nineveh to destroy Israel, and he knew that it would glorify God when the city repented. When God calls a man to do something, it’s a good idea to get with God’s program even if you don’t think you’ll like the result.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
God told Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him and his descendants (Gen. 18:18[374], 22:18[375], 26:4[376]). Although Jonah was explicitly called to preach in a foreign land, his ministry wasn’t unique because God has always expected all of His people to make others want to know about God.
Lot didn’t win his sons-in-law for God. Naomi taught Ruth enough about God that Ruth wanted to return to Israel to be with God’s people even though she’d been told she wouldn’t find a husband there. The Jews weren’t supposed to win others by preaching, they were supposed to demonstrate the benefits of following God’s laws so that other nations would want to learn about God (Deut. 4:6-8[377]). The Queen of Sheba was attracted strongly enough by Solomon’s God-given glory to want to visit him.
The Jews didn’t follow God’s statutes, so they were hauled off into captivity. Instead of seeing God bless His people and wanting to learn about His statutes, other nations wondered at God’s anger (Deut. 29:21-28).
Christians aren’t supposed to attract others only by sharing whatever gifts God has given us as the Jews were; we’re also supposed to tell others about Jesus. Are we doing any better than the Jews did? Are we giving God the glory when we share whatever God has given us?
If our garden yields in abundance, do we share the blessings of Christ with people round about as a means of giving the gospel? Do we share cuttings from our plants to beautify the neighborhood while talking of the wonders of God’s creation? Do we speak of His blessings on social media and at work if someone asks how you were able to do something? Do we share God’s gifts such as sewing, cooking, carpentry, knitting, car repair, teaching, and others when others need help whether saved or unsaved?
We go to church and sing, but are we praising or performing? Do we spread His word?
Micah
Micah preached against the abuse of the poor by the rulers in Jerusalem. He spoke mainly to poor people and always on their behalf. One third of the book defines the people’s sins, one third describes God’s retribution, and one third promises eventual reconciliation. Jeremiah mentioned Micah by name (Je. 26:18[378]).
He defined true religion “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (6:8[379]), announced the birthplace of Christ (5:2[380]), and promises that God forgets the sins of believers (7:18-19[381]). Restoration comes in two phases: 1) after the captivity and 2) in the millennium.
Nahum
100 years after Jonah preached revival to Nineveh, Nahum predicted the downfall of the city because they had gone back to wickedness. As a result, Babylon would destroy the city so that no trace would remain. This message would comfort the people of Israel who had recently been ravaged by Assyria.
The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 3The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 4He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. Nahum 1:1-4
Telling everyone that God “will not at all acquit the wicked” tells us that wicked people will not be declared innocent at the day of judgment as believers will. The message about drying up rivers refers to periodic changes in rainfall of the sort we experience today. God brings drought as it pleases Him (page 67). People pray and turn to God when rivers run dry, but then forget Him when He brings rain again.
This is an old problem. Moses warned that the Jews would lose everything they had unless they loved God with grateful hearts with thanks for everything He gave them:
Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; 48Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. Deuteronomy 28:47-48
God’s People didn’t appreciate the blessings He gave them, so He took everything away. They were in want of “all things.” We often take His gifts for granted. “We never miss the water ‘til the well runs dry.”
Habakkuk
Habakkuk ministered during the final death throes of his nation. He predicted the coming invasion of the Chaldeans (1:6[382]). The moral and spiritual decline he saw is confirmed in II Kings 21-22.
O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! 3Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. 4Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Habbakuk 1:2-4
Habakkuk, like so many before and after him was frustrated to see God allowing so much evil.
His statement that the just shall live by faith (2:4b[383]) is quoted in Ro. 1:17[384], Gal. 3:11[385], and Heb. 10:38[386]. He warns Judah of the coming judgement and comforts them by saying that God will judge Babylon. 2:14[387] says that the earth shall be filled with the glory of God; 2:20[388] says that the Lord is in His holy temple.
God has always expected His people to operate by faith.
And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:6
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Ephesians 3:21
Zephaniah
Zephaniah was the great great grandson of King Hezekiah. He spoke during the reign of King Josiah, the last good king of Judah. He prepared for the day of the Lord and for revival under Josiah. This revival produced outward change but did not fully remove the inward heart of corruption. He predicts that God will judge both Judah (1:1-2:3) and the surrounding nations (2:4-3:7), and then restore His people (3:8-20).
And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil. Zephaniah 1:12
He condemned people who saw God allowing evil and concluded that God would not involve Himself in human affairs. Historical evidence for God’s involvement outside the Biblical record is discussed on page 81.
Haggai
Haggai gave 4 messages: 1) get the people to get back to work on the temple (1:1-15), 2) remind the people that God was with them and that their temple would have more glory than Solomon’s (2:1-9), 3) affirm the blessings of Jehovah (2:10-19), and 4) anticipate a glorious future (2:20-23).
Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 4Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts: Haggai 2:3-4
They had to build the temple because God’s blessings were contingent upon obedience. ~ 50,000 Jews had returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel ~ 535 BC and started building the temple, but work had stopped for about 10 years. Haggai criticized those who spread discouragement because the temple they were building would not be as magnificent as Solomon’s. As God had called Joshua to be strong, Haggai called on the rulers to be strong in the work (2:4[389]), saying that God would be with them as they built the new temple.
Zechariah
Zechariah encouraged the Jews to rebuild the temple, but instead of harsh rebuke, Zechariah encouraged them gently. He also provides details of the last times. He predicts the 2nd coming of Christ, His reign, His priesthood, His kingship, His humanity, His deity, His bringing peace, His rejection and betrayal for 30 pieces of silver (11:12-13[390]), His return to Israel as the crucified one, and His being smitten by the Lord.
Some Jews seem to have understood this prophecy but for the wrong reason:
Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 48If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. 49And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, 50Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. 51And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. John 11:47-52
The Jewish leaders did not accept Jesus as their Messiah. Thus, when Caiaphas said that it was expedient that “one man should die for the people,” he meant that Jesus had to die to save their power and to keep the Romans from suspecting rebellion and destroying their nation. God had planned, however, that Jesus would indeed die for all the people, not only for the Jews, but also for the Romans and every tongue and nation that had been, was then, and would ever be.
Zechariah summed up one of the most important lessons we must learn:
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Zechariah 4:6
Israel was a small nation God had put between great powers: Babylon and Egypt. As these powers rose and fell over the centuries, their armies marched through the Holy Land. God was reminding His rulers that the only way they could survive the constant ebb and flow of larger nations was through God’s protection. Given the many generations during which Satan’s servants have tried to eliminate the Jews, the fact that Jews still exist at all is proof of God’s protection, to say nothing of their being able to defend their nation Israel.
Most of the prophets were very harsh in criticism of the king and other rulers or the religious authorities.
Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened. Zechariah 11:17
Note the use of “idol shepherd.” How many religious leaders draw worship to themselves so that they become idols? An idol is anyone or anything we value more than we value God. A leader who draws worship to himself or herself becomes an idol.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; Zechariah 12:10-13
Zechariah explained how God will draw His chosen people back to Him. Jews will realize that Jesus was the Messiah and will mourn for having killed him. The wounds in His hands will be recognized for what they are.
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Zechariah 13:6
This shows that God hasn’t finished dealing with the Jews and that the church hasn’t replaced Israel.
The Apostle Paul wrote that the Gospel would be “unto the Jews a stumblingblock (1 Cor. 1:23)” because they would have to admit that they had missed Messiah’s coming and because they’d have to admit that lifetimes of following Moses’ law had done them no good. Peter said “Not so, Lord: (Acts 11:8)” when God told him to eat animals which were unclean to Jews. Giving up the Law was very hard for observant Jews.
Many Christians would rather follow a set of rules instead of being guided by the Holy Spirit. They are tempted to impose the rules they prefer onto neighbors or other church members.
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Galatians 5:1
Paul advised Christians not to let others impose rules on them which God did not, but enjoying the liberty which Christ promises requires that we take responsibility for our actions.
Malachi
Malachi preached to the Jews who had returned to Israel from Babylon when Cyrus let them return (Ezra 1). Although the Jews had learned some of what God was trying to teach them and never entered into explicit idolatry again, Malachi describes many of their sins which are common among Christians to this day. Even though He had liberated them from Babylonian captivity and brought them back, the Jews doubted His love and believed that there was no point in serving Him:
Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? 14Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? Malachi 3:13-14
They despised His name as so many do today by using it as a swear word. Do we give our best to God or give Him our castoffs? Are we careful to always honor His name? They defiled God’s covenant with them and with their wives. They scorned His law by ignoring it and doubted His punishment to the point that God would no longer accept their offerings.
And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. 14Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. Malachi 2:13-16
Although the Jews practiced many sins, Malachi’s strongest condemnation was of the breaking of marriage covenants as so many Christians do today. His message reminds us that God’s plan for getting servants is for His servants to bear children and bring them up as a “Godly seed” to serve Him.
The message of Malachi closes with promises to the faithful:
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. 4Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Malachi 4:1-6
This is the revival that we expect in the last days.
I feel sorry for Jews whenever I read through the Old Testament. The accounts of the Northern and Southern kings and the prophets’ messages are pessimistic. The Old Testament predicts a suffering Messiah (Ps. 22:18[391], 69:21[392], Is. 50:6[393], 52:14[394], 53:1-10, Dan. 9:26[395], Ze. 11:12[396], 12:10[397], 13:7[398]), but Jews do not have the message of hope which Jesus offers to all who believe in Him because they do not respect the New Testament.
Chapter 15 - God’s Plan of Redemption
God has a plan for our future (Isaiah 14:26-27[399], 23:9[400], 46:10-11[401], Jer. 4:28[402], Ro. 8:28[403]). He inspired Deuteronomy 28:1-31:6 to show us how His actions throughout history work toward His goal.
God founded the Nation of Israel. Jews are “the apple of His eye (De. 32:10[404]).” They’re descended from Isaac, the 2nd son of Abraham who believed God (Gal. 3:6[405]). Other nations matter not at all:
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. Isaiah 40:15
The land of Canaan where God put Abraham is always at war. Egyptian, Babylonian, Syrian, Greek, Roman, Muslim and Crusaders marched through Canaan on their way to conquer each other. Extra trouble came when Sarah persuaded Abraham to marry Hagar who gave birth to Ishmael (Gal. 4:22-23[406]). Muslims claim Abraham as their father because they’re descended from Ishmael. Conflict started before Ishmael’s birth:
And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. 6But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. Genesis 16:5-6
How often does a man tell his wife “Do whatever you want” when she’s in a cat fight? Abraham had wanted an heir for decades. How bad was it for him to let his wife drive his other wife, who was pregnant with a child who might be his only heir, out into the desert to die? Hagar nearly died. It took an angel from the Lord to persuade her to go back to Sarah, what chance has mere human diplomacy to calm this ongoing family fight? After commanding a temporary truce, the angel told her about her child:
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 11And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. 12And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. Genesis 16:10-12
Prophecy doesn’t get any more accurate than that. “Against every man” and “every man's hand against him.” Do Muslims get along with people of other faiths anywhere in the world? Muslims and Jews live together in the Middle East and still don’t get along any better than God’s angel predicted.
God uses lost nations to punish Jews who get out of line, but nations who harm His people suffer:
And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. Deuteronomy 30:7
Muslims aren’t the only group who’ve had trouble with Jews. Within living memory, Germany gave Jews a hard time. Germany was flattened during WWII and split between East and West. Will Hamas do any better?
The only reason Jews have survived centuries of gentiles trying to exterminate them is because they are the apple of God’s eye. The Old Testament tells how God used the Persian, Babylonian, Syrian, Philistine, and Egyptian empires to attack Israel but doesn’t tell much about them. Records found in the Middle East give hints how God worked outside Israel, but everything archeologists dig up must be checked against the Bible.
Why England Lost Her Empire
Standard explanations why the British Empire collapsed didn’t consider the mind of God. The Empire started in 1600 when Queen Elizabeth I chartered the East India Company to trade overseas. The British took over many countries over the next few centuries: Gibraltar, Crete, Malta, Canada, Australia, India including Pakistan and most of Afghanistan, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Fiji, not to mention America. The British never made much headway in South America because the Spanish and Portuguese got there first thanks to Christopher Columbus, but they grabbed the Falkland Islands near Argentina.
The Union Jack flew over so many lands that people said, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” This was true, but some said that not even God could trust the English in the dark. This was because their sharp-nosed traders and smooth cooperation between global conglomerates like the British East India Company and the British military gave Britain the most cost-effective empire the world had ever known.
The fiction was, “Trade follows the flag.” Lawmakers approved the military budget because wherever the military established peaceful conditions, businesses could buy, sell, and pay taxes. Vast amounts of goods were exported from all over Britain, creating jobs and tax revenue.
Truth was subtler. Trading firms like Hudson's Bay Company entered unknown lands ahead of the military. If a new territory had nothing of value, merchants moved on. If there were valuables, they'd try to trade. If the natives traded, fine. If not, the military would teach the Worthy Oriental Gentlemen (WOGs) how business should be done. Trade began, either with the original leaders or with their heirs.
Cecil Rhodes founded what became Zambia and Zimbabwe and owned the DeBeers mines which once produced 90% of the world's diamonds. The British military protected his holdings so he could pay taxes.
Similarly, the East India Company's desire to sell opium in China led to the Opium Wars and British ownership of Hong Kong, where vast profits have been earned ever since. In reality, the flag followed trade; there was no point in sending the Royal Marines unless there was money to be made. Without profits, there'd be no taxes to fund the military.
It wasn’t all business – the Empire did a lot of good. The British brought public health through plumbing and sewers, the rule of law, better schools, roads, railroads, industry, electricity, and manners.
Sir Charles Napier was the British commander in India in the early 19th century. Told that sacrificing widows on husband’s funeral pyres was a cherished custom, Napier said: “Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”
The Empire ran into a “spot of bother” with Napoleon and with American colonists, but by and large, their Empire had it their way for more than three centuries. Now it’s gone. What happened?
Harold MacMillan was Prime Minister of England from 1957 until 1963. He visited America in 1963 and spoke on TV. “We sold our empire to you Americans to pay for WW I. We earned it back, and sold it again for WW II. After that, we couldn’t do it again.” That sounds plausible, but what about Winston Churchill?
Sir Winston thundered, “If women vote, we’ll lose the empire.” Women got the vote; they lost the empire. During the Victorian era when the Empire peaked, there was a saying, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.” Everyone knew that British mothers were raising their sons to rule the world. Having got the vote, women voted for welfare systems which produce fatherless children and have wanted careers more than they want to raise children. This has affected British character for the worse.
Greek mothers taught their sons, ”Come hone carrying your shield or on it.” If a soldier died, he was carried home on his shield. If he ran, he threw it away. A nation can’t survive when mothers stop teaching their sons why it may be necessary to risk their lives to protect their women.
God in the Affairs of Men
Let’s see which might be true. What’s history about? What’s God doing? God will draw everyone to Himself.
For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Romans 14:11 see also Isaiah 45:23
In the end, everyone will declare the glory and majesty of God and of Jesus His Son. In the meantime, God expects His people to spread His word. That’s His command to us. That’s been His command from the moment God separated His people from all the nations by telling Abraham to move to Canaan.
And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:18
Abraham obeyed God so God could use him to spread the word. God said it again:
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Genesis 26:4
Keep therefore and do them [God’s laws]; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Deuteronomy 4:6-8
God expected Abraham’s descendants to bless all nations by preserving God’s Word (Ro. 3:2[407]), bearing the Messiah, and by showing everyone the advantages of following God’s statutes. He commanded them to be an example of the benefits of following Him so that other nations would want to learn about God.
God’s Patterns
For I am the LORD, I change not; Malachi 3:6a
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9
Solomon saw from Deu. 28-31:6 that God doesn’t use new patterns in working out His will. By the time Solomon wrote, God had the Egyptians oppress Israel for 400 years, punished the Egyptians when He freed the Jews (Ex. 12:36[408], 15:4[409]), and repeatedly had them conquered until they turned back to Him (Judges).
God wants His people to spread His Word! The Jews were supposed to do this by example. After Jesus began the church, He expected Christians not only to set examples, but to actively seek converts:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:18-20
Jews are told to set examples. Christians are told to proclaim His Word, teach, and bless the Jews.
The Japanese decided we won WW II because God was on our side. Their Emperor was descended from the sun god. Their gods abandoned them as we called down the power of the sun to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They wanted to learn about our God because they saw our victory as our reward for serving Him.
God stopped writing the Bible long ago so there is no way to be sure how He guided recent history, but the Bible teaches that God is intimately involved in the affairs of men in order to work out His plans:
By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. Proverbs 8:15-16
The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. Proverbs 21:1 see also Daniel 4:17b
This matter [Nebuchadrezzar eating grass outdoors for 7 years] is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. Daniel 4:17
God told Abraham about the coming Egyptian bondage described on page 27 and He told Jeremiah how He planned to bring disaster on Israel around 760 BC:
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Jeremiah 25:9
God’s servant Nebuchadnezzar would come against Israel and carry everyone off. God would have His servant Cyrus send them back and pay to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem 70 years later:
That [the LORD] saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. Isaiah 44:28
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; 2I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. Isaiah 45:1-3
Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus were God’s servants! Cyrus is the only non-Jew whom the Bible calls “His anointed.” Romans 6:16-20 teaches that people who don’t serve God are ruled by Satan. We’re also taught that God lets people decide what to do. These men didn’t belong to God. How could God get them to do what He wanted while giving them free will? Did Daniel tell Cyrus what God had said about him?
We can’t reconcile God’s power and His sovereignty with God giving us free will and letting us make our own decisions (Jos. 24:15[410], Eze. 18:32[411], 33:11[412]), but that’s what the Bible teaches. Nebuchadnezzar worshipped God after eating grass for seven years (Dan. 4) but that was after God used him to punish Israel.
Romans 13:1 teaches that governments are ordained by God, it is He who raises up and He who casts down. Jesus told Pilate, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:11). God told the Jews that God would punish the nations which He used to punish them:
And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. Jeremiah 25:12
For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished. Jeremiah 30:11
God uses lost nations to punish Jews who get out of line, but nations who afflict His people suffer.
And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. Deuteronomy 30:7
What nation recently afflicted Jews the most? Nazi Germany. The Nazi’s didn’t just murder Jews, they murdered Slavs, Poles, and Ukrainians, anybody who wasn’t Nordic. What happened?
Germany was utterly destroyed in WW II. It was divided. East Germans lived under Communism for 40 years. Was Germany punished? Yes, the entire nation suffered, German Christians along with everyone else.
God didn’t send prophets to tell what European Jews were doing to bring this calamity upon themselves; they should have known from what He wrote in His Word. Was that the way God wanted this to happen? The prophet Zachariah revealed that God would draw the Jews back to the land of Israel and Israel became a Jewish state after WW II. Was that the way God wanted the State of Israel to come into being?
We can’t think as God thinks (Isa. 55:8-9[413]). Jesus’ disciples asked whether the man who had been born blind had sinned, or his parents (John 9:2). Jesus told them that the man had been born blind so Jesus could heal him to show the glory of God (John 9:3). Jesus told Peter that Peter’s death would glorify God (Jn. 21:19) but He didn’t explain how.
How did WW II glorify God? His thoughts are not our thoughts (Is. 55:8-9), but we can see God moving in history to glorify Himself before and after the history described in the Bible. God helps base leaders (Dan. 4:17[414]) raise up empires to serve Him, preserves them as long as they fulfill His plans, and then lets them go.
Ethiopia
Around 1,000 BC, King Solomon’s glory was so famous that the Queen of Sheba came to hear his wisdom (I Kings 10). Most scholars say Sheba was Ethiopia. In Acts 8, we read of Philip finding an Ethiopian eunuch who’d visited Jerusalem to worship and was reading the Old Testament. Philip told him about Christ. The eunuch accepted Christ and went home rejoicing.
The Ethiopian church is very old. God drew the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem to hear about God from Solomon. The Bible doesn’t say this, but many say that the Queen’s experience finding God in Jerusalem led the eunuch to visit 1,000 years later, just as God wants His church to be a “light to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:47). The eunuch went back to Ethiopia and founded a church that’s still there. God’s “light to the Gentiles” shone for 3,000 years in Ethiopia, all the way from Solomon to the present day.
Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that all that we do is vanity. Kings gather wise men around them. Pharaoh had magicians, Babylon had magicians, and Solomon had wise men. They debated philosophy – no TV, they had to do something. Ecclesiastes shows that all of man’s wisdom is vain. It ends with:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
What could be a clearer light to the Gentiles? Solomon taught, “Respect God and do what He tells you.”
The Jewish nation wandered away from God after Solomon’s idolatry (1 Kings 11:4[415]). The Old Testament prophets listed their sins – idolatry, adultery, injustice, ingratitude, a long list – but also reminded them that they were supposed to pass on God’s message:
I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; Isaiah 42:6
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Isaiah 49:6
“Light to the Gentiles.” That’s our mission. God doesn’t change, but the nation of Israel did. When they got away from His program, when they were no longer a light to the nations, when nobody could see the difference between God’s people and anybody else, God had them hauled off to Babylon for 70 years.
God chose 70 years because they were told to let fields, orchards, and vineyards rest for a year every 7 years. Farmers can’t grow the same crop on a field year after year so they rotate different crops to renew the soil. God’s people refused to give the land “her Sabbaths” for 490 years! God is patient.
And them that had escaped from the sword carried he [the king of the Chaldees] away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 21To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. II Chronicles 36:20-21
The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians
These three empires rose and fell in succession across a broad area of the Middle East from India to Ethiopia (Esther 1:1[416]). 1 Kings 17 tells how Shalmaneser king of Assyria conquered Samaria:
For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; 23Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. 24And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. II Kings 17:22-24
The Assyrians and Babylonians secured their rule by replacing conquered populations with other people.
How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? Psalm 137:4
Archaeological research shows that the Assyrians and Babylonians took conquered idols and temple furnishings back to their capital to demonstrate their power over whatever the conquered people worshipped. Palaces where they entertained diplomats had carvings showing captives impaled on poles to show visitors the advantages of cooperation. Cruelty may have been a calculated tactic to discourage rebellion. They’d run hooks into a captive’s chin and out his mouth to make it easy to lead him (Eze. 29:4[417], 38:4[418]), for example.
Having conquered Samaria ~ 721 BC, the Assyrians planned to attack Jerusalem. II Kings 18 tells how the king sent an army to threaten King Hezekiah. The king’s ambassador Rabshakeh boasted of all the nations they’d conquered and ridiculed their trust in God:
Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? II Kings 18:33
II Kings 19 shows how Isaiah encouraged Hezekiah not to yield to the Assyrians.
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 36So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. II Kings 19:35-36
Plagues were so common throughout history particularly in unsanitary army camps that scholars who don’t want to believe that God has a hand in history are able to believe that God had nothing to do with this plague. God preserved Jerusalem from Sennacherib, but Judah’s sins continued until they were conquered by the Babylonians ~ 587 BC after the Babylonians conquered the Assyrians ~ 625.
And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. II Chronicles 36:18
In the first year of his [Nebuchadnezzar] reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Daniel 9:2
The Assyrians and Babylonians expected everyone to melt into their culture and use their language. Daniel knew that Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t likely to send people back to their original homes for fear they’d rebel, but he was sure that God would fulfill His promise.
Daniel 5 tells how Nebuchadnezzar’s son Belteshazzar held a feast where he had everyone drink out of the cups his father had taken from Solomon’s temple. A hand wrote on the wall. None of Belteshazzar’s advisors could read it. The queen suggested that he call Daniel. Daniel criticized Belteshazzar for his pride in abusing God’s temple vessels and said that his kingdom had been found wanting and would end.
That night, Darius the Median conquered Babylon, killed Belteshazzar, and made Daniel first among 3 “presidents” who reported to Darius (Dan. 5:30-6:2). Daniel prospered during Darius’ reign and lived into the reign of Cyrus (Daniel 6:28) who allowed Israelite captives to return to the Promised Land around 535 BC.
In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; 4With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house: 5And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God. Ezra 6:3-5
The archeological record suggests details which God choose not to give us. Scholars believe that Cyrus started from nothing and ended up calling himself “King of Kings” because every ruler from India to Ethiopia (Esther 1:1[419]) served at his pleasure.
As his empire expanded, Cyrus promised people that if they helped him conquer their part of the previous empire, he’d let them return to their original homes. They were encouraged to take back their idols and temple furnishings and he would pay the costs of rebuilding their places of worship. They had to pay taxes to someone, why not pay taxes to him and get back to living their lives as they preferred instead of watching their children be assimilated into Babylonian culture?
Scholars wonder why Cyrus acted so differently from earlier rulers. God had promised to punish the king of Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans (Jer. 25:12[420]). What better method than to inspire (Job 32:8[421]) Cyrus to conquer them using the idea of sending people back to their homelands to make conquest easier?
So many cities and nations marched into the interior of Assyria and Babylon and disappeared from history that some rank Cyrus among the 100 most influential men of history. The 10 northern tribes are thought to have been lost from having been conquered 150 years earlier. By letting the Jews return, Cyrus kept them from being assimilated and preserved their culture. Both Christianity and Islam have Jewish roots, so in preserving the Jews, Cyrus really was one of the most influential men in history. Who guided him?
The Bible doesn’t mention other groups whom Cyrus permitted to return. The Book of Esther which is dated ~ 520 BC, a bit before Cyrus let the Jews return, speaks of King Ahasuerus’ empire stretching from India to Ethiopia (Esther 1:1) and speaks of his commands being translated for “every people after their language (Esther 1:22)” in all 127 of his provinces. This suggests that the Persian government was more liberal about multiple languages than the Babylonians had been. Was this an early experiment in multiculturalism?
The Biblical account confirms parts of scholarly history. God used the Assyrians to punish the northern kingdom and had the Babylonians conquer the Assyrians. Darius the Mede conquered Babylon and killed Belteshazzar. His successor Cyrus sent the Jews back to the Promised Land, right on time.
The Medio-Persian Empire lasted until Alexander the Great conquered it around 330 BC. Instead of having dozens of languages throughout the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire, Greek became the common language of business, philosophy, and science. Alexander died before he could even father an heir. He prepared the way for spreading the Gospel in Greek, which was all that God required of him.
Rome
In the centuries before Jesus was born, the Middle East was wracked by war as Jewish factions strove for power. The Romans took over and brought peace. The Romans built the roads by which Christianity spread in the early church age and their legal system enforced the pax Romana which made travel possible.
As Christians gained political power, the Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, at least nominally, around 312 AD. The church joined the government so tightly over time that it was hard to separate the two.
Joining church and government always corrupts both. When the Roman church became so corrupt that the Roman Empire no longer spread the gospel, God was done with Rome and the city fell.
Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire
God works in Asia, too. For thousands of years, Chinese foreign policy revolved around one idea – never let the steppe nomads unite. The Chinese became skilled at using bribery, lies, assassination, and other maneuvers to keep the tribes so divided that they couldn’t attack walled Chinese cities.
They noticed Genghis Khan’s tribe gaining power and persuaded one of their client tribes to fight Genghis. To their shock and dismay, Genghis won and united the tribes in 1206. Instead of slaughtering defeated tribesmen as was customary, he persuaded them to join his tribe by offering them shares in the loot.
Co-opting his enemies instead of killing them was a major strategic innovation. Genghis’ policy of accepting anyone who could fight well, even a general who had wounded Genghis with an arrow, and rewarding them from the vast amounts of plunder from his conquests became so well known that several Chinese generals defected to Genghis’ side with their entire armies. For three generations, Genghis’ empire wrought havoc on the Chinese, Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Iranians, and any other place they bordered.
Genghis’ grandson Kublai conquered he rest of China and received Marco Polo.
Genghis Khan’s sons and grandchildren conquered an empire which by ~ 1,250 AD ran from Vladivostok to Vienna. Enough records of their military techniques have come to light that most serious military historians rank Genghis’ army in the top 10 military forces of all time, and many put them in the top 5. Some historians believe that Genghis’ mounted bowmen could have defeated Napoleon’s forces because it took them so little time to switch from marching to being ready to fight.
The Russians were subject to Mongol attack for centuries. A lot of what they learned from fighting Mongols ended up in the Russian army tactical manuals. Czar Nicholas of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany were cousins, having been descended from Queen Victoria’s children. In the years before WW I, their armies got along well enough that most German tactics such as blitzkrieg which were used during both WW I and WW II were based on Genghis’ strategic and tactical innovations.
The Mongol empire established a system of safe, secure roads as the Romans had. Like the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Mongols believed in using extreme cruelty to keep order. It was said that a woman could carry a basket of gold on her head the length and breadth of their empire without being touched – the penalties for theft were so severe that it wasn’t worth it. The use of extreme punishment spread far enough that the American constitution bans “cruel and unusual punishments” as the Mongols had practiced them.
Having lived close to nature, the Mongols were a spiritual people. Like Solomon, they wanted to learn whatever wisdom they could. They invited Muslim, Catholic, Buddhist, and Hindu scholars to teach them.
The Mongols manufactured paper in large quantities and used early printing technology to multiply books. This increased literacy and learning. They were ready to spread the Word of God. Their roads would have made it possible to spread the gospel as in Roman days.
They invited Christians to bring them the Bible and could have adopted it. They didn’t, partly because Genghis had noticed that the Byzantine empire was in decline. Although one of his granddaughters adopted Nestorian Christianity, Genghis had no interest in the religion of an empire which was growing weaker. His view was confirmed when the Muslims sacked Constantinople in 1453.
God waited 3 or 4 generations for them to decide to spread His Word, but the Mongols chose Islam and attacked Christians. They didn’t spread the Word when God gave them the chance. From 1346 to 1353, the Black Death killed close to one third of the population in parts of Asia and the Mongol empire collapsed.
What Ended the British Empire?
We can see God working in the affairs of men and of nations as the Bible teaches. Gutenberg printed 200 Bibles in 1455. The East India Company began in 1600. The King James Bible appeared in 1611, and in 1654, Parliament approved a law encouraging Jews to move to England. The British spread across the globe and carried low-cost English Bibles everywhere. Jews prospered along with the English. American missionaries got support in America, but traveled on English ships that spanned the world as Roman and Mongol roads had.
As the British took over India, wars between the Indian states were bad for business. Like the Romans before them, the British enforced peace and built roads and railroads to make money and collect taxes.
India had many languages; the British ruled in English. To this day, most administration in India and Pakistan is in English. I have an Indian friend whose employees speak more than 50 languages; the business uses English. Couples who meet at work marry in English and can’t communicate with either set of in-laws.
As ambitious natives learned English to advance their careers, they read the King James Bibles the British had brought. Mahatma Gandhi, the lawyer who was the major leader negotiating Indian independence from England in 1947, trained as a lawyer in England. All his life, he was fascinated by the Bible.
Gandhi said, “If it weren’t for Christians, I’d be a Christian.” Another young Indian caught a scrap out of his father’s funeral pyre and read, “for God so loved… that he gave…”
The young man was fascinated. The gods he knew, Hindu, Buddhism and the rest, all those gods were haters who took from men, they didn’t love or give. He wanted to learn about this God of love who gave. He found a Christian who taught him the gospel; he was saved to serve his Savior and founded a ministry in India.
Why didn’t Gandhi accept Christ as this young man had? A missionary who plants churches in Bangalore told us that God once drew Gandhi powerfully to church. When he arrived, the ushers stopped him.
“Why can’t I come in,” he asked, holding up his Bible, “I want to learn about your God.”
“We’re sorry, sir,” he was told, “This church is only for white people.”
“Only for white people.” We can believe that. Racial prejudices and class prejudices run deep. That is not of Christ. The Bible teaches that God accepts all who seek to call on His name as Gandhi was seeking Him. God had drawn Gandhi to seek God (Jn. 6:44[422]) and “God’s people” turned him away.
Christian Exclusiveness
Christians can shut people whom God draws out of the kingdom of God. My wife arrived late at a service and sat in back. God drew a woman to come in after the ushers were seated. My wife shared her hymnbook and they sat down to enjoy the sermon. The speaker gave a sermon from Philemon about God’s inclusiveness. God wanted everyone to accept salvation. There was no sin He couldn’t forgive, it didn’t matter what you’d done, God would welcome you into His family. You could be saved to serve the Savior!
The visitor was absorbed. She leaned forward with her eyes wide open, drinking in every word. After the service, she told my wife she’d found a tract in a phone booth. She read it, and was bothered enough to tell God, “I want this.” That afternoon, she’d argued with her relatives and gone home to sulk. She’d seen our church, and the Holy Spirit told her “Go there!” She rushed, not bothering to change her skimpy tennis dress.
As she was telling the joy of her new-found place in Christ, the speaker walked up to her. He didn’t approve of her revealing clothing. He looked her up and down sternly as men do when they want to signal unhappiness to a woman. My wife was afraid she’d run away, but she was too caught up in God to see his disapproval. All she could feel was gratitude for his message of salvation which completely changed her life.
She came back to the next service, and the next. She later told my wife that she knew her dress was inappropriate, but she felt such a strong pull to go to church that she didn’t have time to change. My wife finally asked her about the speaker’s disapproval. “I didn’t see that,” she said. “It’s a good thing, too. If I’d noticed, I’d probably have left and not come back.” We plant and water. God gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6-7[423]). We must never harm God’s increase no matter how feeble, delicate, or timid it may be.
Gandhi’s Rejection of the Gospel
Gandhi labored to unite Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians; the whole rich stew of India. Many of his ideas came from the Bible, but he wrote, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ” and “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.”
Many people think of Gandhi as a saint, but as far as we know, he died without Christ and went to Hell. Gandhi knew Christ’s teachings, but could not accept the sins that are all too evident among Christians. God drew Gandhi to Himself but Christians’ rejection repelled him.
Was this Gandhi’s fault? A little. Gandhi was sensitive enough to God’s call to seek a church to learn more. When “Christians” rejected him, he walked away. Not knowing Christ, he didn’t know any better. The Christians should have welcomed his wanting to hear the Word of God. They rejected a sinner who was seeking Christ. They bear great blame like Hophni and Phinehas whose sin “was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD” (I Samuel 2:17).
Without the power of Christ in his life, Gandhi couldn’t hold India together. A Hindu nationalist who wanted Muslims to move to their own country murdered him. Enraged Hindus started attacking Muslims, who fought back. The nation split violently into India and Pakistan; estimates of loss of life range from several hundred thousand to a million or more.
Of All the Words of Tongue and Pen, the Saddest Are, ‘It might have been.’
The British brought the Bible to India and taught Gandhi English so he could read it. The wealth that sent him to England to study, the peace and railroad system that let him travel all over India organizing were made possible by the British Empire’s unifying around English. What if he’d spread Christ instead of politics?
Gandhi was born into an influential family; his descendants ruled India for three generations. What if he’d accepted Christ? Would Gandhi have chosen to accept Christ if that church had let him in?
Whether they knew it or not, the British were spreading the Word of God, but when they barred the church doors to Gandhi, they drove away a man whom God was drawing to Himself. English churches are empty. The Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England, has said that the triumph of Muslim sharia law in England is inevitable. He’s given up on the Word of God and on God’s promises to His people.
The British and Israel
Jeremiah 25:12[424] tells us how God punished the Babylonians for their wickedness after He had used them to punish the Jews. The British not only stopped spreading the Word of God, they broke a promise to the Jews.
During WW I, the British army and navy ran short of gunpowder. Sir Winston Churchill asked Chaim Weizmann, a celebrated Jewish chemist, for help. Mr. Weismann learned how to ferment glucose to produce 30,000 tons of synthetic acetone which was needed to make cordite gunpowder. When Mr. Churchill asked what he wanted in return, he said, “I want a national home for my people.”
In 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration[425] which promised the Jews a homeland in Israel. The land of Israel belonged to Turkey, which had been on the losing side of WW I. The British took control in 1923.
Instead of favoring Jews, British politicians gave Arabs the best parts of the land. Jewish immigration was slowed to a trickle[426] and eventually stopped. When Hitler started killing Jews, the British wouldn’t let them flee to Palestine. Many who were turned back died during the holocaust. God shut down the British Empire when it no longer served His plan of caring for Jews and spreading His word.
Russia
Russian rulers have always abused Jews. Many Jews were killed in pogroms throughout the reign of the Czars. During WW I Germany fought a two-front war against Russia in the east and France, Britain and their allies in the west. The Germans allowed Vladimir Lenin to return to Russia, hoping that his revolutionary ideas would make it impossible for Czar Nicholas’ government to continue fighting against Germany. It did, but having Russia become communist worked out for Germany about as well as infecting your neighbor’s family with measles to keep them off your grass. Lenin’s Bolsheviks came to rule Russia, and continued persecuting Jews.
The economic ideas of Karl Marx, a Jew who hated other Jews, led to Russia being far weaker economically than it could have been. Any Jews who were permitted to leave did so, and those trapped behind the Iron Curtain suffered. The Soviet Union collapsed economically and has been a lesser power ever since.
What of America?
God made America wealthy so we could afford to spread His Word while supporting the nation of Israel and so that other nations would look at us to learn about God as the Japanese did after WW II. Our churches are emptying. Older missionaries aren’t being replaced as they retire, and many of our politicians have turned against Israel. God casts any nation or person aside who loses focus on His program:
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. I Corinthians 9:27
As Americans stop serving God’s plan, we could end up in the dustbin of history with the Romans, British, and so many others before us. God wants us to “send the light” but we’re sending fewer people overseas and support for Israel is weakening. Is God bringing Muslims to America so we can evangelize them here? Or has He given up on us and is preparing to take us down?
Spread the word! It’s our job! That’s why God has left us here on earth.
Chapter 16 - Drawing Closer to Each Other by Drawing Closer to God
Christians and the lost have the same divorce rate even though God hates divorce (Mal. 2:14-16[427]). Lost people see that we can’t handle this life, why should they care what we say about the life to come? Harmony between husband and wife should be a picture of the relationship between God and His people (Ro. 7:4[428]). We should show Christ in our lives; divorce mars our picture, wrecks our testimony, and dishonors Christ.
Divorce often comes through ignorance. If a man hasn’t learned to sanctify, nourish, and cherish his wife, he won’t know how to make her feel safe enough to open her body to him. If his wife won’t open herself to him, a husband becomes very frustrated and is unlikely to open his heart to his wife. If her husband won’t open his heart to her, a wife becomes extremely frustrated, and so goes the downward spiral.
Modern Christians have forgotten how God wants marriage to work. We base marriages on what men think; the divorce rate shows that human ideas such as dating and the notion that men and women are the same or should be equal do not work. The Bible teaches us to do things God’s way instead of our way:
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 16:25
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it. Ephesians 5:29
This devotional explores what the Bible teaches husbands about nourishing and cherishing wives so that you can teach other men how to be blessed in marriage. Like salvation, marriage is a way of life; many things become new in marriage. A man must hear what God tells him about marriage and do it (Matthew 7:25-26[429]). Exploring these passages together brings husband and wife into “one accord.” Being one in mind with your wife prepares you to help other men and families learn how to operate their marriages in God’s way.
Many reject the plan of salvation. When you try to teach how to find God’s blessing in marriage, many reject it. We must pass on the grace God gave us (I Pe. 4:10[430]). As we find grace in marriage, we should pass God’s grace on to others, even if some won’t hear it. You can’t give the gospel without knowing Jesus’ words and His works; you can’t help with marriage issues without knowing how God planned marriage to work.
Be careful to explain that there’s no shame in a man not knowing how to nourish and cherish his wife. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived; he was confused and frustrated by women. God wants love between husband and wife to be wonderful, listen to Solomon praising the wife of his youth:
Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Song of Solomon 4:9-10
In his youth, Solomon belonged to his wife; his affections were on her alone:
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Song 6:8-9
This wife was “but one” to him, he possessed her in honor and sanctification. He didn’t even see other women. He later forgot the lessons of his youth and lost all the joy of marriage:
Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one, to find out the account: which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman among all those have I not found. Ecclesiastes 7:27-28
Solomon found joy with the wife of his youth. In his old age, he was bitterly disappointed in women, even though he had a thousand. Why? What went wrong? Solomon knew it should have been good:
Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9
There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid. Proverbs 30:18-19
Solomon knew he should have been able to rejoice in marriage, but he mourned, “a woman among all those have I not found.” Why? I’ve asked many men, “Why was his soul vexed and empty when he had so many women?” They usually say, “Well, women are unmanageable,” few see that the fault lay with Solomon. Why was Solomon, the wisest and richest man who ever lived, so frustrated? What didn’t he know?
Solomon didn’t realize that he had to treat one woman as his only wife and belong to her. He didn’t limit himself to one wife and belong to her even though God told him not to “multiply wives.”
Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. Deuteronomy 17:17
And [Jesus] said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matthew 19:5-6
Marriage is two people, not a mixed multitude as with Solomon or serial polygamy as Americans do today. A woman hates belonging to a man who refuses to belong to her. It can make a woman so unhappy that we can see death in her eyes even in photographs. Solomon had 1,000 very unhappy women running around the palace. Having multiple wives made his soul empty, “which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not.”
He should have known the solution. His “Song of Solomon” teaches that a woman enjoys belonging to her husband and enjoys his desire for her if he belongs to her (Song 8:2-3[431]). He wrote it, but he didn’t know it. He should have focused his attention on one wife and been hers. Opening his heart and treating her as God’s perfect gift to him as he had valued the wife of his youth (Song 4:7-10[432], 6:9[433]) would have brought him joy.
Belonging to a man is a heavy physical and emotional burden; a woman can’t handle the burden if a man isn’t hers. There’s a Biblical example on page 39.
Solomon didn’t belong to any of his wives, so they felt like toys, pets, or objects. A man can drop a toy to play with another and the toy won’t mind, but women don’t appreciate that. Solomon’s wives didn’t like belonging to him; that made him unhappy. A man may be able to command a woman, but he can’t make her like it. If she doesn’t like belonging to him, he’ll miss the joy and glory God intended that she add to his life.
A man can’t own his wife. Deu. 21:10-14[434] says that if a man marries a woman slave, she’s no longer a slave (Gen. 16:3[435]). A wife is not property no matter what men may think. Treating a woman slave as a wife meant that she couldn’t be sold, she wasn’t property, and he had to set her free if he didn’t want her any more. Taking her changed what she was, set her apart, humbled her, and sanctified her in the eyes of God.
Wives are not property even though I Cor. 11:9 says that a woman is made for a man. God made a woman to want to belong to a man and to give her life serving him and her family (Gen 3:16[436]), but it won’t work unless he knows how to belong to her. It’s his life for her life, or not at all. Most men don’t know how to belong to their wives. Solomon knew but he forgot; not belonging to any of his wives made him miserable.
Why Focus on Men?
We can address men instead of dealing with husbands and wives together because men are supposed to lead their families. This goes back to how male and female were created:
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 2:15-17
“Keep” meant to protect from harm. God delegated authority for tending and protecting the garden to Adam and told him not to eat of a certain tree before Eve was formed out of Adam’s body. As keeper of the garden, Adam had to tell Eve God’s rules and make sure that God’s commands were carried out. Adam failed:
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:6
“Adam was not deceived (1 Tim. 2:14).” In order not to have been deceived, Adam had to have heard Satan’s lie. Adam was with Eve the whole time, why didn’t he correct her when she misquoted God or warn her about the serpent? Having sinned, Adam blamed Eve for his sin instead of confessing:
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12
Some political writers say, “It isn’t the act, it’s the cover-up.” When Samuel pointed out Saul’s sin in I Samuel 15:16-26, Saul blamed the people instead of confessing. Saul lost his job as King as Adam lost his job keeping the garden. Unlike Saul, David confessed when Nathan pointed out that he had murdered Uriah the Hittite in II Samuel 12:7-15. David kept his position as king. Adam, the man, caused the fall:
For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. I Timothy 2:13-14
Sin is passed from generation to generation through men (Gen. 5:3[437]). That is why when Mary was “with child of the Holy Ghost (Mt.1:18, 23[438]),” Jesus could be born without original sin. Although Eve was “in the transgression,” the Bible blames Adam because he sinned deliberately:
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Romans 5:12
Adam failed in his duty to keep the garden. Gen 3:16 punishes Eve for not following God’s perfect leadership by placing her under her husband’s imperfect leadership. Men are supposed to lead their families.
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. I Corinthians 11:3
Ephesians 5:21-24[439] command Christians to submit “yourselves one to another” to bring harmony in the church and tells wives to submit to their husbands. This devotional focuses on men because they’re in charge.
There’s another reason for focusing on men. The Bible teaches that we can explore the mind of God either through reading His Word or by studying His works:
But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Job 12:7
God explained Himself to Job in chapters 40 and 41 by calling attention to His works, so we can learn by watching how He orders societies. Experience shows that if a husband accepts salvation, his family is 7 times more likely to follow than if the wife comes first. Husbands tend to lead, even in unsaved homes.
We hope that men will take the lead in discussing these Biblical topics with their wives and with their children. Exploring these passages will help any man learn about his wife to dwell with her according to knowledge. A wife can be greatly frustrated when her husband won’t lead; this will help him lead.
That’s why this document is addressed mainly to men to discuss with their wives.
How to Lead
Men may need hints on how to lead. There are two fundamentally different leadership styles discussed in the US today – top-down, hierarchical command and control or consensus management.
A leader’s behavior effects the harmony, happiness, and efficiency of the workplace. For decades, management books have argued that Japanese “consensus leadership” is a better way to manage than “top-down” command. When a decision is needed, a Japanese manager gets his people together to explore alternatives. Each person generates suggestions with no criticism allowed. Then they discuss them. Exploring advantages and disadvantages of each idea ensures that everyone understands the constraints and the goal. Once the decision is made, everyone knows how it affects his or her area, they know why it has to be that way, and they know what to do to make it work. They get started right away because they know the plan.
This requires a great deal of trust. The manager has to believe that his people act in good faith and that they won’t spread details of their thoughts before the plans are ready for a wider audience. A manager who doesn’t trust his people tends to lead by command instead of getting their agreement.
If subordinates resent the decision, they may be tempted to engage in “malicious obedience” by following orders even when they know it won’t work. “Not my fault, that’s what I was told to do.” Does this help?
When King Rehoboam inherited the kingdom from his father Solomon, I Kings 11-12 tells how the people asked him to cut taxes. His older advisers recommended that he treat the people gently; his young friends recommended that he raise taxes. Instead of getting consensus, he followed the young men. The people rebelled and stoned the head tax-collector to death instead of paying. He blew it through bad leadership.
Japanese organizations make decisions more slowly than Americans can, getting going after the decision is made takes longer in America. The plan must be explained after the decision; the Japanese team knows the plan. The time to start work is about the same. Group discussion leads to better decisions because everyone knows something nobody else knows. It leads to better implementations because people feel that their views were heard and they understand why it has to be that way. There’s a complaint in top-down organizations:
Ours not to reason why, / Ours but to comply!
Does being told to do something when you don’t understand how it fits into the Big Picture frustrate you? Don’t people do a better job if they know how their work serves the greater goal? A manager who doesn’t use all possible input is a fool. Let’s shift from the Big Picture of how businesses operate to look at small groups.
You’ve all had bosses; you know how poor leadership affects mood and morale. Let’s consider problems that happen in work teams when the boss isn’t leading properly:
the contentions of a co-worker are a continual dropping.
It’s better to dwell in a tiny cubicle than with a quarrelsome colleague in a prestigious office.
It’s better to dwell in the warehouse than with a contentious and angry office manager.
A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a hostile colleague are alike.
We’ve all had quarrelsome, angry co-workers who rain on our parade. A large office may indicate prestige, but it can be difficult to share it with someone who’s always picking a fight with you. Who wants to be anywhere near an angry office manager? Don’t people hide when they know the boss has lost it?
When I worked at IBM, being quarrelsome or giving anyone a hard time was a wonderful way to get fired. It usually turned out that quarrelsome people had issues with their direct manager or with his boss. In those cases, IBM worked hard to get the boss to clean up his act because bad leadership has many costs beyond making people unhappy, employee turnover being but one. Let’s read those again from the Word of God:
the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. Proverbs 19:13b
It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Proverbs 21:9
It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman. Proverbs 21:19
It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house. Proverbs 25:24
A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. Proverbs 27:15
These passages are not criticisms of women; they’re warnings to men to lead properly! The Bible teaches that women are made for men, the Bible teaches that wives seek to please their husbands, why is she contentious? When we’re at work, we’re supposed to do our best as unto the Lord regardless of the boss:
Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. I Peter 2:18
IBM found that a forward boss is expensive – unhappy workers spend so much time being miserable that they can’t work well. Husbands should lead, wives should follow. As in a work situation, a wife’s unhappiness is often due to bad leadership. Why should a man be froward to his wife? Shouldn’t he try to make it easy and pleasant for her to follow him? That’s just good sense. God made his wife so that she can give him a taste of the joys of Heaven, but she can’t make him any happier than he makes her (Ecc. 9:9[440]).
God held Adam accountable for bringing sin into the world; he didn’t lead his wife properly. God holds a man accountable for how he leads. God holds her accountable for how she responds to his leadership.
God warns that a man’s prayers are hindered unless he knows his wife and acts on knowledge of her:
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. I Peter 3:7
“according to knowledge” doesn’t mean “obey,” it means learn about her and take it into consideration. That’s another way to describe “consensus management” – it’s based on knowing what your people can do and how your decisions affect them, and getting them involved in working out plans for the future.
If a man doesn’t do that, his prayers may bounce off the ceiling. Many men are praying for our nation. If they aren't dwelling with their wives as God commands, however, their prayers are hindered. Obeying or not obeying this passage may affect the future of our land. That’s another reason to start with men.
An older woman told my wife how her husband rebuilt her kitchen while she was in the hospital giving birth. When she got home with her newborn, her treasured wood stove had been replaced by a modern electric stove. She divorced him. This was the first thing she told my wife the day they met 20 years later.
Her husband didn’t realize that in order to guide a house as the Bible commands, a woman must have a secure place in the house. This woman had spent decades learning where to put the wood in her stove to cook things just right. To have to learn a totally new stove while caring for a newborn was too much.
She was an “off the grid” person who loved old ways. She cooked with wood stoves, she was a “woodie.” He wanted everything modern. He was convinced that his friends laughed at his old-fashioned home. He loved electricity; he was a “griddie.” The more his house moved to the grid, the happier he was.
He dug up her root cellar, paved it over, and gave her an electric refrigerator which she hated. Losing her wonderful stove when she was fighting depression from giving birth was the last straw. She walked out.
Should a man buy an engagement ring he expects his wife to wear for the rest of her life without letting her choose one she likes or express preferences? Should a man buy a vacation home or a travel trailer which she’ll have to clean without talking to her? Some women love surprises, some don’t, and he has to know.
What Nature did God Give Women?
A manager has trouble using consensus management unless he trusts his people. Similarly, a husband has trouble leading his wife by serving her if he doesn’t trust her. There are two views of women: “last in creation, first in the fall” or “last at the cross, first at the tomb.” The first blames women for the fall; men who believe that think that everything that goes wrong is a woman’s fault. Adam blamed both Eve and God for his sin:
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12
A man who blames women thinks he’d be OK if his wife didn’t lure him into sin. The nicer she tries to be, the subtler he thinks Satan is and the harder he resists her. A woman who marries such a man dies inside. She yearns to please her husband and she can’t, her bones dry and you see death in her eyes. But it’s a lie!
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Proverbs 17:22
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. Genesis 5:1-2
For Adam was first formed, then Eve… I Timothy 2:13
Eve wasn’t last in creation; they were created on the same day as one creature. They stayed one creature while Adam named the animals. God then separated Eve out of Adam’s body into her own form.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: … For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Romans 5:12, 19
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. I Timothy 2:14
Eve didn’t cause the fall, “one man” did. The fall came after they were separated into a man and a woman. Eve didn’t sin deliberately because Satan fooled her. Adam wasn’t fooled, he caused the fall through deliberate, knowing sin and through bad leadership. The 1st view of women is false. The 2nd view is Biblical, women were last at the cross and first at the tomb. The Bible teaches that a man should trust a virtuous wife:
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:11-12
A man who has trouble believing that probably thinks that God’s a bully who’s just looking for chances to smack him. God created him to be lonely and to want a woman so that the woman could ensnare him. This view is often found in fundamentalism. The other view is that God so loves us that it’s OK to sin and it’s OK not to obey Him because He understands. It’s hard to balance God’s holiness with His love:
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
We need both, but nurture, that is, God’s love, comes first. The Word of God is quite clear:
Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. Proverbs 18:22
If a man won’t adopt a positive view of his wife, there’s very little anyone can do to improve his marriage.
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. Proverbs 23:7
A man can feed and house a woman without opening his heart to her. If a man thinks ill of his wife, it comes out in his speech, in his body language, in his facial expressions, and in every way he communicates, particularly in the way he leads her. Not being trusted or appreciated makes his wife unhappy, and an unhappy wife makes him cranky, just ask Solomon. When you try to help a man fix his marriage, you start with his theology, that is, his view of God, and then with his view of his wife.
I Cor. 7:34 promises, “she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” A man either believes the Bible and acts on that belief or he doesn’t.
Before we met, we both knew that I Cor. 7:32-34[441] teaches that married people want to please each other. I was surprised, however, to find out how much I enjoyed making her happy and how much I liked it when she made me happy. That’s one reason we wanted to marry.
We thought we understood those verses, but we were wrong. She found that giving herself to me greatly strengthened her desire to make me happy and turned it into a need. Opening herself to me makes her far more concerned with keeping me happy until the feeling wears off a few hours or days later.
It's pretty clear that wives care more about pleasing their husbands than husbands care about pleasing their wives. If a husband starts appreciating his wife and letting her know how she makes him happy, that will generally make her happy, and the marriage improves.
My beloved is mine, and I am his - Song 2:16
Older women must instruct younger women how to love their husbands. This works because men are enough alike that what pleased the older woman’s husband will probably please the younger woman’s.
Women are much less alike than men. God commands a husband to live with his wife according to knowledge of the Bible and of her (I Pe 3:7[442]); the best way to get this knowledge is by talking about the Bible with her. An older woman can give a younger woman the formula for loving her husband, but there’s no simple formula for loving a wife.
By talking openly with his wife, a man can discover the formula for loving her. Talking with other women gives a woman a formula for loving her husband, talking with his wife gives the formula for loving her.
A man belongs to his wife as he opens his heart to her. God expects a husband to belong to his wife and He expects him to know her well enough to set her apart from all other women (Song 6:9[443], I Thes. 4:4[444]). One of the best ways for husband and wife to grow closer and belong to each other is discussing the Word of God together so that each of them can learn what God says to the other. That’s the goal of this chapter.
Men and women have different styles of talking and thinking; discussing God’s Word shows how your spouse thinks. Talking about her husband’s work helps bind a wife to him but doesn’t bind him to her, for example. This is because men become close through experiencing high-pressure situations together, unlike women who draw close by sharing their deepest secrets and can share experiences by talking about them.
When a band of hunters sets out to kill an elephant with arrows and spears, each man wants to know that his teammates will stand and shoot when the beast charges. Warriors and hunters die or starve when another man runs instead of doing his duty. Athletes taste defeat when a teammate goofs up; you can count on a “clutch player” when he’s needed. Once a man earns his team’s trust, they’re bonded for life because a man’s life often depends on the fidelity and loyalty of those around him.
Knowing whom he can trust and whom he can’t is all the relationship a man expects, but that’s not what a woman means by “relationship.” Each wife must teach her husband the joys of having a woman-style relationship with her. Unless he’ll rely on God’s promise that it’s safe to open his heart to her (Pr. 31:11-12[445]), however, she can’t begin until she’s built enough man-style trust that he’s willing to open his heart.
War veterans get together because the bonds of having been shot at together, while nearly unbreakable, need maintenance. It’s difficult for women to share such bonds, however, because a woman isn’t satisfied by a report of how the men were shot at, she wants to know how they felt about it. Men don’t care how they felt, they care who stood and fought instead of running when the shooting started. Men don’t believe that talking about a war, a hunt, or a game can build trust, “You just had to be there,” as men put it.
Men report experiences, but the purpose isn’t to build rapport as with women. Men tell “duty” stories to teach others how to behave, women tell “feeling” stories to build harmony and rapport. Women feel that heroic stories are unrealistic; men feel that rapport stories are pointless. The Bible tells about real people which combine both duty and feeling, but men and women interpret them differently.
Men like the David and Goliath story because the little guy triumphed through bravery and a secret weapon. A David-type sling is difficult to use accurately, but a long sling with the right-sized rock can deliver a major fraction of the punch of a .38. Men love such high-tech detail. Women identify with the picture of family friction in God’s account of how David’s older brothers ridiculed him and how Saul didn’t give him the promised reward. David’s courage and cleverness appeal to men; David’s faith that God would help him conquer appeals to women who like knowing that God uses weaker vessels for His glory.
The best way for husband and wife to draw closer together is to study the Word of God together. This draws each of them closer to God, so they also move closer to each other at the same time.
This devotional gives a point of view on many Bible verses that relate to marriage. Husband and wife should discuss them so that he understands her better and becomes comfortable in belonging to her. This helps her become comfortable and find rest in belonging to him (Ruth 1:9a[446]). Exploring what God said about how married people ought to relate draws you closer to your spouse and to God at the same time. Talking also helps the man know enough about his wife to find the formula for dwelling in rest with her.
A husband must convince his wife that it’s OK for her to express opinions that differ from his. This sounds obvious, but many wives don’t want to discuss their views with their husbands for fear of criticism. Some husbands feel that a wife who asks questions is rebelling. Furthermore, assuming that he’s such a perfect communicator that no questions are ever needed is pure pride. Asking questions and offering ideas are the fundamentals of conversation. If a wife doesn’t feel free to ask, she can’t help her husband, and he’ll lose a major part of the blessing God intended him to receive through her desire to help him.
It’s so easy to criticize other people’s thoughts that engineers have a formal process called “brainstorming.” This seeks to get all possible ideas listed, no matter how far-fetched or silly. Criticism is totally forbidden! After the ideas are listed, people start exploring the good and bad points of each idea.
Experience shows that absence of criticism produces lots of ideas which are unworkable, but discussing them and the reasons why they won’t work sheds light on the problem. Tying unexpected interpretations back to other passages in the Bible increases understanding. Each heading in this devotional lists Bible verses. Discussing them as a couple should help you understand each other better and prepare you for helping others heal their marriages or prepare for marriage.
A Man’s Theological Error
Some men say that when God told Eve “thy desire shall be to thy husband (Ge. 3:16)” He meant that a wife would desire to thwart her husband’s plans and escape his authority. This argument that husbands and wives are enemies draws on the use of the same Hebrew word תְּשׁוּקָה used for Eve’s desire in Genesis 4:7 where God reminded Cain of Satan’s desire to conquer Cain:
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Genesis 4:6-7
They say that the “his” of “his desire” refers to sin or to Satan. Commentators of this view draw parallels between sin’s desire to rule Cain and a woman’s desire to rule her husband.
There’s a better way to read the passage. God rebuked Cain, asking why Cain sinned by being angry (Mt. 5:22[447]) at God’s chastening (Heb. 12:8[448]), but promised that Cain would be accepted if he did well. The phrase “sin lieth at the door” refers to Cain choosing whether to honor God or not.
Consider verse 7b, “And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.” Abel was younger than Cain. Younger brothers generally look up to the oldest sibling and tend to want to be like him and follow him. In those days, the oldest son almost always received the family birthright which is why Rebecca used subterfuge to get Isaac to bless her younger son Jacob instead of her oldest son Esau.
God made it clear that if Cain chose to obey God, righteous Abel (Mt. 23:35[449]) would desire to follow Cain as a woman desires to follow her husband, particularly if he serves God by serving her as Jesus commanded (Mk. 9:35[450], 10:44[451]). Cain would rule Abel as younger brothers generally desire to follow the oldest and women generally desire to belong to their husbands and follow them.
Solomon said It’s same old sins, over and over (Ecc. 1:9[452]). How many men raised in “Christian” homes have "lightly lien" with women without marriage because they’ve been told women seek to betray their husbands as Delilah betrayed Samson or that it’s OK because everyone does it?
Why would a woman who could get a job and support herself want to marry if she thinks that men have been taught that wives can’t be trusted? A woman’s emotions tend to place her under the authority of men. If a woman feels damaged, not valued, or disrespected by her human father or husband, how can she honor and submit to God as her Heavenly Father? If a father acts like women can’t be trusted, how can his daughter feel that Jesus valued her or loved her enough to die to take away the punishment for her sins?
If he refuses to hear her side, if his habit is not listening (Jas. 1:19-20[453]), how can she believe that God hears her prayers? If she won’t open herself to God in prayer, won’t she hear, “I never knew you (Mt. 7:23)?” Is that her fault or the fault of the men who taught her that she would never be heard?
Men must take the responsibility God gave and appreciate their wives as God-given gifts, preserve their purity, and teach their children to follow these God-given principles. How many women who were raised in “Christian” homes let men take them without marriage because they haven’t been taught to fear God’s judgment or to value their purity? How can a woman love God without being shown that God loves her by being convinced that she is loved by the men in her life?
Can a leader who doesn’t listen to his wife, children, or followers expect Jesus to listen to him? If he doesn’t open his heart to Jesus, will he hear, “I never knew you (Mt. 7:23[454])?”
Devotional Topics
The following sections list verses which husbands and wives may see from different points of view. Although women very much want attention from men, getting married doesn’t fulfill all of a woman’s desires. Women generally want children more than they want husbands; one of the reasons women want attention is to help them get children. What, women want children more than they want a man? Yes, this is true. Rachael told Jacob, “Give me children or else I die.” (Genesis 30:1). Consider Hannah, the mother of Samuel,
Now there was a certain man ... and his name was Elkanah ... And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ... But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb. And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am I not better to thee than ten sons? And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. I Samuel 1:1-10
Hannah’s husband loved her, he took good care of her, he gave her a worthy portion, but she craved children above all else. His love and devotion were not enough for her; she wouldn’t eat because she had no children. Can you imagine a girl not eating because she had no boyfriend?
Children aren’t all a woman wants, consider what Ruth desired from Boaz:
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. Ruth 3:9
Spread his skirt over her? That word refers to what we now call a cloak, Ruth was telling Boaz that she wanted him to throw his coat over her and keep her warm. How many girls have borrowed a coat or sweater from a guy to see if he will keep her warm? Ruth’s request also meant “place me under your protection.” Christ wanted to protect Jerusalem like a hen covers her young (Mt. 23:37[455]).
Being warm and protected wasn’t all Ruth wanted but few wives have words to explain their needs. A woman becomes frustrated when she knows she needs something she isn’t getting but can’t explain what it is. Discussing the Bible helps husband and wife understand each other. Fulfilling a wife’s needs makes her happy. There is no joy this side of heaven for a man that compares to having a woman like belonging to him.
Present – a wife is a present from God (Pro 18:22, Mt. 7:11, I Cor 11:9, James 1:17)
A groom must know in his bones that his wife is an undeserved present from God who made her for him (I Cor. 11:9[456]). A bride adorns herself for her husband (Is. 61:10[457], Rev 21:2[458]); he unwraps his gift and takes her to wife. God was a special guest at our wedding, and the gift I remember best is my wife, the gift God gave me.
Salvation is an undeserved gift of God’s grace, nobody deserves salvation. Men don’t deserve wives either; a wife is an undeserved gift of God’s grace. Would you want to do all the things your wife does to support and care for her home and for you? God made her heart to want to do that; you can’t make her do it.
Few men think of their wives as gifts from God. Many scoff, “Some present she is,” but that’s what the Bible says. Proverbs 18:22 says that a wife is a favor from God, Matthew 7:11 says that God gives good gifts to His children, and James 1:17 says that God gives good and perfect gifts. God expects a man to treat his wife as a good and perfect gift from Him. Proverbs warns five times that an unhappy wife is a hardship (19:13, 21:9, 21:19, 25:24, and 27:15). If she’s made for her husband, if she’s God’s gift to him, why is she unhappy?
My wife and I know many unhappy wives. A woman can be in sin, of course, but the problem often lies in how her husband leads her. If a man doesn’t lead his wife as God expects, if he makes it hard for her to follow, the entire family suffers. If she can’t or won’t submit to him, her children follow her example and don’t submit to anyone. “A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame,” (Pro 29:15). A daughter is likely to rebel if her mother doesn’t belong to her father. “As is the mother, so is her daughter,” (Eze. 16:44).
Most unhappy husbands refuse to accept any responsibility for how their marriage turned out. I’ve heard preachers thunder that marriages would be OK if only women would submit, as if husbands had no part in it at all! Who was the first man to blame his wife when he did wrong?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12
Adam knew that Eve was a present from God and that God gave her to be his companion, partner, and participant in his life, not a slave. Eve was a gift from God so he blamed Eve and God when he sinned.
When a man won’t take responsibility, he’s a helpless victim. If it’s all her fault, there’s nothing he can do! Just say, “Sure, she does wrong, but work at it, you’ll find something to do to make it better; she may follow.”
Has your boss said to his boss, “The people you gave me are so bad I can’t do my job”? If he didn’t get fired, he’d hear, “Change how you lead them.” Maybe your boss doesn’t know how to lead? The company gave you to your boss; leading you properly is a condition of being boss. If he can’t lead you, he’s gone.
God’s presents come with conditions. I’ve heard parents say, “You left your bike in the rain, you can’t ride for a week.” The child loses the blessing of the gift by misusing it; we lose the blessings of God’s presents if we misuse His gifts. We can’t lose salvation, but Psalm 51:12 says, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;” we can lose our joy in God’s gift of salvation. Many men lose their joy in God’s gift of marriage.
I Cor. 11:3[459] says that you should lead your wife, but Mark 10:44[460] says that you must lead her by serving her. This benefits you greatly – serving your wife with gladness and delighting in being hers makes her delight in belonging to you. There’s no joy this side of heaven that can equal having a woman delight in being yours.
You must know your wife’s needs in order to serve her properly. Older women are told to teach younger women about men. This works because men are pretty much alike. If my wife tells your wife what makes me happy, it’ll probably make you happy. But if I tell you what makes my wife happy, it does you no good at all.
Women are more different from each other than men; the only way you can learn how to serve your wife is to talk with her. We’ll be discussing a number of ideas. A man must take time to discuss these ideas with his wife. Even long-married couples generally find that their views were more different than they’d thought.
The Bible gives couples a framework for talking about feelings they couldn’t explain before. The better they know each other, the better the marriage goes. You can’t tell a man how to make his wife happy, but you can show him Biblical principles that will help him talk with her enough to figure out how to lead his family so that his wife is happy to belong to him. God wants wives to like belonging to their husbands.
Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. I Corinthians 11:9
I Corinthians 7:4 teaches, “she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” A woman cares deeply that her husband be happy with her. His happiness with her makes her happy. If she’s happy, it’s simple for her to give him a taste of the joys of heaven, but she can’t make him any happier than he makes her. How happy does he want to be?
I saw this while dating. My wife enjoyed making me happy and I enjoyed making her happy. That’s one reason I married her. We thought we understood those verses, but we didn’t. Shortly after we married, she found that her desire to please me suddenly became far stronger. Giving herself to me made her want to please me far more than she’d expected. I’m continually amazed and grateful that God made her that way.
She belongs to me. That’s all I want so it’s hard for her to give me Christmas presents. One day she was in a store praying that God would give her an idea of something I’d want. That’s how much she wants to please me. She saw a coffee variety she recognized. 15 years before, a wealthy friend had taken me to dinner and introduced me to that variety. I liked it very much, but it cost $50 per pound. This blend was only $8 per pound. We could afford that so she bought some. It’s really the only coffee blend I like; I drink other kinds for medicinal reasons. Every time I drink her blend, I’m reminded that God gave her so much desire to please me that she prayed to find something that I’d enjoy. That’s God’s gift to me and her gift to me!
One of my goals in leading her is to make sure I don’t damage or blunt her desire to make me happy. God will hold me accountable if I damage the desire to serve me which He designed into her as His gift to me. Jesus told men how to lead families and churches:
If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all Mark 9:35
But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Mark 10:42-45
Jesus came to earth to serve. Women generally minister to their families as Christ ministers to His people. You can serve your family at mealtimes by giving them the best of what’s available and taking your food last. If you get a bonus at work, do you buy what you want or something she wants? Do you lead by commanding or do you lead by serving? The Bible teaches that whatever you do to your wife, you do to Christ:
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Mathew 25:40
The wife is the least in your marriage. If you fuss at your wife, or treat her harshly, you treat Jesus harshly. If you honor your wife, if you praise, appreciate, and glorify her, you praise, honor, and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. God designed women so that your wife multiplies whatever you give her and gives it back to you.
Think about making babies. You give your wife one tiny cell. She nourishes what you give her within herself and gives you a baby with billions of cells. Every cell of that baby has your mark in it (Gen. 5:3[461]). If you give her a boy cell, she makes a boy, if you give her a girl cell, she makes a girl. We reap what we sow:
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7
God gave women sensitive emotions (Gen. 3:16[462]) so that your wife wants you to be pleased with her, so she can figure out what makes you happy, and so that she can tell whether you’re pleased or not. Her emotions make her into a mirror; she’s not a light. If you give her anger, criticism, unhappiness, she’ll be tempted to use her power to vex your soul to death (Jud. 16:16[463]), multiply your unhappiness, and give all your unhappiness back to you. If you give her praise, appreciation, and love, she’ll multiply all the happiness you give her and fill your house with your joy in her. You reap what you sow to your wife, very quickly.
The way you feel about her determines how she fills your house. Sow a boy cell, reap a boy. Sow a cell of love; reap a house full of love. The secret of happiness in marriage is to be happy with your wife so she can multiply your happiness and reflect it back to you.
Some men say, “Sure, she follows me in wrong,” as if husbands were blameless, but God told Eve in Gen. 3:16 that her husband would rule her. One of the ways you rule your wife is that God made her so that she has an extremely strong tendency to follow your example in whatever you do. Women can fight this, to be sure, and don’t always follow their husbands into sin, but shouldn’t you give her the best example you can?
One definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect the result to be different. If there’s trouble in a marriage, someone must change, just as with salvation. The man’s supposed to lead. If he wants things to get better, he has to take the lead in changing himself. And change starts with prayer.
Prayer – marriage runs on prayer; prayer brings wisdom (I Thess. 5:17-18, Psalm 127:1, James 1:5)
Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I Thessalonians 5:17-18
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: Psalm 127:1
No matter how hopeless the situation seems, God promises a way out, but we have to ask:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. I Corinthians 10:13
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5
A man who’s in the habit of being negative may not know how to give grace to his wife. God can change a man’s heart to make him the husband God wants him to be but he must humble himself, pray for wisdom, and ask God to change him. He can ask his wife to tell him when she thinks he’s being negative to help him change. A man needs God’s and his wife’s help to clean his heart of what unsettles his family. It’s humbling to change.
God wants everybody to go to Heaven, but a sinner goes to Hell unless he admits he can’t save himself and asks Jesus to save him. Similarly, God wants all married people to experience a taste of the joys of Heaven, but unless a man leads his family in God’s way, he’ll often create his very own Hell right here on earth.
When a man asks Jesus to forgive his sins, he must mean it, or he’ll go to Hell. Similarly, a man can tell his wife he wants to change to make their marriage better, but unless he means it, it won’t work. When a good girl goes wrong with a bad guy, we say, “He must have fed her a line.” A man can fool a woman by telling her what she wants to hear, but a wife figures her husband out pretty fast. If he talks about change without meaning it, she’ll be angry when she finds out he’s lying, but if he tries to improve, a woman generally cuts him some slack and helps him change. That’s why a man should pray that God will change his heart to make him the husband God wants him to be and ask his wife to pray with him to help him be a better husband.
There is a danger. Suppose a man comes to you with a troubled marriage, you walk him through this material, and he tells his wife he plans to do better. She may give him a hard time just to be sure he means it. An insecure person often hurts you on purpose to see if you care. If his wife’s insecure, and if he knows the marriage is in trouble, she’s probably insecure, she’s likely to hurt him to make sure he still cares about her. When a man tries to change, things may get worse as his wife tests him. If he lasts through that, if he’s able to keep trying to treat her better even while she’s hurting him, she’ll eventually catch on that he’s trying to make her happy and treat him better. But it takes time.
A man should ask God to help him understand how to treat his wife as God’s perfect present to him. If a man discusses these topics with his wife and starts to treat her as God’s perfect present, she may start to act like God’s perfect present. There are few activities that draw a man and wife closer than looking into God’s Word to find what God says about making their marriage work better. Having a man appreciate his wife as God’s perfect gift to him and having her act as God’s perfect gift to him builds any marriage.
Love your wife as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25-28)
Men must decide to love their wives sacrificially; it’s something every husband is commanded to do. It’s interesting that wives are commanded to submit to their husbands, God didn’t command them to love their husbands. That may be because God made women so that their nature is to serve their husbands and families. If you lead your wife decently, honorably, and respecting her needs, she’ll cut you a lot of slack and serve you, but it works better if you love her as God tells you to.
Love doesn’t do her any good unless she knows you love her. Let’s see how to show love to your wife.
Praise – God tells you to appreciate your wife and praise her (Pr. 31:28-29)
Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Proverbs 31:28-29
A man should tell his wife that she blesses him by being the best wife he knows. Solomon’s Song teaches men how to do that. The husband praises his wife in mind-numbing detail. When you praise little details about your wife, she knows you’ve been paying attention to her, this shows you’re pleased with her. If you don’t praise her, she feels that she’s failed. Nowhere in the Bible does a man criticize his wife. Job’s wife told him to curse God. He didn’t criticize her; he rebuked her sin while loving the sinner (Job 2:9-10[464]).
Giving money to the church out of gratitude to God is worship; giving money to the church so God will give you something in return is idolatry. Praising husband or wife out of genuine gratitude that God set you in a family builds your marriage, saying nice things with the idea of manipulating or getting something turns the marriage into a business deal, which is whoredom.
The basic difference between flattery and praise is that you have to know your wife pretty well to praise her in a way that means something to her. In the Song of Solomon, the husband praises his wife in mind-numbing detail. He praises her lips, her breasts, and her nose, everything about her. Being praised in detail convinces your wife that you’re paying attention to her, which makes her happy.
Some say that a wife shouldn’t need praise or respect from her husband and that she should look to God for appreciation and help. A woman should rely on the Lord, but men must understand God’s hierarchy:
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. I Corinthians 11:3
God is Christ’s head; when we look towards God, we see Christ. That’s all right - Christ obeyed His father so well and takes such good care of the people God gives Him that when we see Christ, we see the Father.
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? John 14:9
When a wife looks toward God, she sees her husband, then Christ, then God. Jesus reflects God perfectly, so we see God when we look to Jesus. A husband must love his wife as Christ loved the Church (Eph. 5:25[465]); when a wife sees her husband, she should see the image of Christ reflected in her husband’s love for her. As Christ appreciates, loves, and nourishes the people God gives Him, a husband should appreciate, love, and nourish the wife God gives him. It’s hard for a wife to feel God’s love unless she feels her husband’s love.
What you say about your wife shows her your heart:
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Luke 6:45
Women care what you say about them because your words show your heart. The army teaches soldiers to say, “Yes sir!” as a sign of obedience. Saying, “Yes sir!” works on the heart and makes men more willing to obey. Similarly, thinking about how your wife benefits you, thanking God for giving her to you, and thanking her for being yours works on your heart and makes you appreciate her more. This makes both of you happy.
The Bible teaches that a virtuous wife should receive praise:
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:30-31
A wife used to receive the fruits of her hands. Farm wives managed the kitchen garden and the hens. Any money she made selling eggs beyond what her family needed belonged to her without question.
“Gates” is where all the town business happened – Boaz went to the gate to publicly record his marriage to Ruth (Ruth 4:1[466]), a king was trampled in the gate (II Kings 18-20[467]). She can’t praise herself, of course:
Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. Proverbs 27:2
A wife shouldn’t praise herself, so her husband has to praise her publicly. Some of her works are visible to all, however. “Goodwife” was an honorable title awarded to a woman who made her husband happy with her, everyone could see that. This title had to be awarded by common consent, it could not be claimed, but everybody knew that the community should honor a virtuous wife. Have we forgotten?
Pride – you must take pride in having her as your wife and let her know it (I Cor 11:7, Deu. 28:47-48)
the woman is the glory of the man. I Corinthians 11:7b
Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. Proverbs 31:23
Your wife wants you to think she’s beautiful and to tell her that she’s attractive, but doesn’t want you to exhibit her. Many men want their wives to dress immodestly to show them off to other men. Esther 1:10-12[468] tells how king Ahasuerus told his wife Vashti to come to his drunken stag party to show herself. She didn’t want to be exhibited and wouldn’t come. The king was right to appreciate her beauty; he was wrong to show her off to his friends. Your wife wants you to appreciate her other gifts as well as her looks.
It’s easy to fall into sin through pride even if we’re being proud of someone else. Proverbs 31:31 says that a wife’s works should praise her, perhaps it would be better to say that your wife expects you to glory in her gifts and in the work she does; this shows her that you’re pleased with her and glad that she’s yours.
Psalm 84:11a[469] promises us grace and glory. You get grace through salvation; you get glory through your wife. A wife can’t glorify her husband unless she glories in belonging to him. This is a matter of leadership and making her feel appreciated from your heart, not just your head, a woman can tell the difference.
Ephesians 5:27 speaks of Christ drawing a “glorious church” to Himself. A man should love his wife the same way Christ loves the church and sanctify his wife to himself as a “glorious wife without spot or wrinkle.” As Jesus develops His people by having us “work out your own salvation,” a man should develop his wife by helping her and encouraging her to develop her talents and skills. She’s his main source of glory in this life. We’ll get glory in Heaven for people whom we point to Christ and Paul said that he gloried in the churches he founded. A man should take care not to miss the glory that God planned should come through his wife.
Pleased – she needs to know you’re pleased with her (Pr. 5:18-19, I Cor 7:34, 11:9)
A woman is made for a man, it’s important to her that her husband convince her that he’s pleased with her:
Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. I Corinthians 11:9
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. Proverbs 5:18-19
There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I Corinthians 7:34
God expects you to rejoice with your wife (Ecc. 9:9), this includes telling her that you’re rejoicing with her and because of her. Rejoicing with her helps your fountain be blessed. It’s hard for a woman to bless her husband’s fountain unless he convinces her that he’s extremely pleased with her.
If you don’t meet her need for talk, it’s difficult for her to meet your physical needs. As your need is measured in times per day, her need to have you open your heart to her is measured in hours per day of open, intimate, meaningful, heart-to-heart talk. This means asking questions until you understand, listening as if your life depended on understanding her, appreciating her ideas, and taking her words into your heart so that knowledge or her (1 Pe. 3:7) affects your behavior. You must supply at least 1/3 of the words.
It’s hard for men to understand how much women need appreciation. I knew a pastor’s wife whom I’ll call Mary. Mary served her husband’s ministry for years, but her husband criticized her so much that she didn’t feel that he appreciated her. She felt so inadequate because of his criticism that she was tempted to leave him. She prayed that God would do “whatever it took” to show her whether her husband loved her or not.
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Proverbs 17:22
When you ask God to do “whatever it takes,” He may answer in ways you don’t expect. Mary was diagnosed with cancer. She thought her husband would leave her, but he took early retirement. He cleaned up when she threw up after chemotherapy; he nursed her and cared for her. He’d been so critical of her for so long and had dried her bones so thoroughly that it took more than two years for her to be convinced that he truly loved her. By the time she decided she wanted to live, the cancer was too far along, and she died.
Feeling appreciated was worth Mary’s life. I don’t think any man can understand the importance of appreciation to a woman, but men need appreciation too, that’s why God tells wives to call their husbands “lord” (Eph. 5:33[470], I Pe. 3:6[471]) When Mary died, he was alone. Without the axle on which the wheel of his life turned, he was dying slowly until God had mercy and gave him another wife. It is not good for a man to be alone, but a man must appreciate the wife God gives him or he’ll end up alone emotionally if not physically.
Peace – she expects you to treat her gently (Deu. 28:56a, Ruth 1:9a, Mt. 11:28-29)
Carl Sandburg described Abraham Lincoln as a “man of steel and velvet.” A woman wants her husband to be steel enough to cling to the Word of God and to walk the correct path in spite of temptations, yet velvet enough and soft enough to lead her and her children gently.
The word “gentleman” comes from two words, “gentle” and “man.” Your wife wants you to be man enough to lead her, gently. She wants you to be a gentleman; this gives her peace in your house.
The tender and delicate woman among you … Deuteronomy 28:56a
Women are tender and delicate. In Genesis 3:15, God told Eve that he would multiply her sorrow. God multiplies sorrow to women by giving them sensitive emotions. Her sensitivity helps you, of course, because it helps her see your needs and meet them, but sensitivity causes her great pain if you aren’t careful of her feelings. If you’re gentle with her, however, she can find peaceful rest in belonging to you:
The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Ruth 1:9a
A wife needs food and shelter of course, but she also needs rest. Opening your heart to her to help her learn your thoughts about everything especially your thoughts about her and your children gives your wife rest if your thoughts toward her are as favorable as Jesus' thoughts are favorable to His people:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matt. 11:28-29
Your wife wants you to be happy with her (I Cor. 7:34b[472]). Marrying took on the yoke of pleasing you and the yoke of serving you because of the desires God put into her. You must help her learn your wants and desires so that she can be confident she’s pleasing you. That makes your yoke easy and your burden light.
God commands that you dwell with her according to knowledge, which means modifying your behavior based on what she tells you about her requests, her needs, and her feelings. God gave her to you as His gift to help you become what He wants you to be. That means you must listen to her and act on it.
If you read a manual telling how to use a device you've just bought, do you ignore the manual because you think it's unreasonable for it to work that way? Won't ignoring the manual take away the blessing you expected? You might even break your toy. That’s another reason to talk with your wife and to praise her.
God knows this is hard to do, so He gave this command:
Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Colossians 3:19
As men do lots of things that drive women crazy, women do lots of things that bewilder and infuriate men. As wives are commanded to honor husbands, husbands are commanded not to be bitter, no matter what!
Protection – protect her from your passions and from her emotions (Heb. 13:6, Pr. 25:28)
So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Hebrews 13:6
God made women smaller and weaker than men so your wife tends to look to you for protection. God gave her strong emotions to bind her to you, and you’ll need to support her and uphold her when her emotions give her a hard time. She expects you to manage your passions by avoiding sex until after marriage.
You also have to protect her after marriage. If she says, “Ouch,” you should stop. It’s a bad idea to give your wife the idea that you don’t care about hurting her when you touch or take her. You must rule yourself:
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. Pro. 25:28
You must protect your wife from jokes. A woman’s humor is generally different from a man’s, “If a wife laughs at her husband’s jokes, is he funny, or is she smart?” Women seldom agree with men about what’s funny; your wife may please you by laughing at what you think is funny even if she’s hurt by what you said.
It’s a particularly bad idea to tease her. The Bible says that you shouldn’t tease people at all:
As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport? Proverbs 26:18-19
Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. Ephesians 5:4
The Bible says that when you have to say, “just kidding,” you can be like a madman who scatters death.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: Proverbs 18:21a
There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. Pro 12:18
If your words are a sword to your wife, is she going to want to hear what you have to say? Your words should protect your wife’s feelings and emotions by being health to her.
Provision – she expects food, clothing, and shelter for her and for her children (I Tim 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. I Timothy 5:8
The most precious gift she can give her children is to live on your income so your children have a mother. The most precious gift a woman can give her children is to belong to their father so they belong to him too.
It may take considerable discussion to distinguish between what you want and what you actually need:
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philip. 4:19
You may have trouble telling the difference between wants and needs, but God doesn’t.
Sanctify your wife (Song of Solomon 6:9, I Thessalonians 4:4)
“Sanctify” means to set apart for a special purpose, generally a holy purpose. Marriage is holy to God, so sanctifying your wife means setting her apart for a holy purpose.
Your wife expects you to set her apart from all other women. She expects you to give up your right to chase all the women in the world and focus your attention on her and on her alone. It is hard for your wife to belong to you unless she’s convinced that she’s the only woman in your life.
This is more important than a man can know. Men get so intense about making love that it’s easy for her to think that any woman would do. She may have heard, “all cats are gray in the dark.” Feeling that women are alike is based on lust instead of love. It’s the opposite of what God commands:
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: I Thessalonians 4:3-5
God commands a man to set his wife apart from all the other women in the world. Is your wife going to be glad to open her body to you if you make her feel like an interchangeable sexual appliance? Appreciating everything she does for you and for your family and praising her in detail reassures her that you’re possessing her and not just anybody. I Timothy 5:2[473] says we’re supposed to treat other women as sisters and mothers. If you have trouble looking at other women, if you’re attracted to other women, if you can’t sanctify her by setting her apart from all other women, you haven’t spent enough time talking to your wife.
The first step in sanctifying a woman is marrying her before taking her.
God tells us to be a “peculiar people” unto Him (Deu. 14:2[474], 26:18a[475], Titus 2:14[476], I Peter 2:9[477]) and expects you to be peculiar as a couple. Your wife expects to be a “peculiar wife” unto you so that you avoid pornography, don’t look at or comment on other women, and everybody sees that you belong to her. You should be “peculiar people” together unto God so that everybody knows you belong to each other and to God.
No wife can complete with the artificial perfection of women in pornographic videos or magazines. Looking at or admiring younger women may damage your wife’s confidence that you really do belong to her. This can be particularly dangerous if your daughter grows up to be a younger version of her mother. A wife can become jealous of her own daughter if her husband isn’t careful to reassure her of his focus on her.
Part – make her a vital part of your life (Ge. 2:18, 22-23, I Cor 11:8-9, Mark 10:8, Eph. 5:28)
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Genesis 2:22-23
For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. I Corinthians 11:8-9
And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. Mark 10:8
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. Eph. 5:28
God created your wife to help you and to become part of you. God expects you to treat her as an important part of your life; you’re to love her as you love yourself. She’s to be the axle on which the wheel of your life turns. She’s the tail on your kite, she holds steady while you soar, but you’d better have a string. If you’re a kite without a string, you’ll drag her along the ground and she’ll get all muddy.
Passion – you should desire her alone (Song 6:9a, 7:10, 8:2-3, Pr. 5:18-19, I Cor 7:5)
The wife in the Song of Solomon understands what belonging to a man is all about:
I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Song of Solomon 7:10
I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. Song of Solomon 8:2-3
She wants her mother to teach her how to love her husband, but she already understands quite a bit. What does a woman have one of that interests a man? She wants to bless his fountain:
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. Proverbs 5:18-19
Why is she happy to give herself to her husband? Because he’s hers, she’s the only woman he sees and she delights in his delight in receiving her as God’s gift to him:
My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. Song of Solomon 6:9a
Her husband has sanctified her; he’s set her apart from all other women, so she likes being his.
Even if your wife is eager to make love whenever you’re able to take her, God gave you unlimited desire but limited capacity. You can’t ever make love as often as you’d like unless you take drugs which may shorten your life. Your wife can never satisfy you in the sense of your not wanting her any more, but she can accept all the seed you can make. God gave you unlimited desire so that you’d come home to be with her; He gave you limited capacity so that you and she could do other things such as caring for the house and raising children.
Your wife likes talking to you. Is it possible to open your heart to her so much that she doesn’t want to talk anymore? You can talk with her until she’s exhausted and falls asleep, you can communicate until she has to do something else, but is it possible to talk so much that she doesn’t want any more talk from you?
The Bible warns that you and she should satisfy each other’s desires:
Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. I Corinthians 7:5
It’s not her fault if you still want her after making love, that’s how God made you. On the other hand, she’s taking a risk if she lets you leave home when you have any seed in you. If she absorbs all of your desire for her, it’s a lot harder for other women to get your attention. If you leave home loaded, on the other hand, you’ll be much more vulnerable to being burned by temptation:
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Proverbs 6:27
That works both ways, of course. You defraud her if you don’t try hard to satisfy her need for talk.
Gen 3:16 says that a woman’s desire is to her husband and that she’ll be ruled by her desire for her husband to be happy with her. The difference between a husband and other men in a virtuous woman’s life is that her husband is the only one who makes love to her. Making love makes a woman more sensitive to the man who took her. If you’re pleased with your wife, being more sensitive to you after making love lets her see your joy in her more clearly; she likes that. If you’re unhappy with her, however, being made more sensitive helps her see your anger and frustration. Will she like that? Will she want to make love again any time soon?
Making love makes a wife feel dependent. God wants children to have fathers, making women cling to men who take them helps children have fathers. It generally takes a woman a while to feel independent again after making love. If you’re away, she runs the house independently. When you come back, you make love to her again, she loses her feeling of independence, and you’re back in charge.
The difficulty is that she doesn’t like feeling dependent unless she trusts you to take care of her. If she doesn’t find rest and security in belonging to you, she won’t want to give up her independence by making love. If you’re unhappy with her, she won’t want to feel your unhappiness more keenly when she makes love.
Women generally interpret what men say more negatively than men intend. A wife can perceive criticism in a look, a facial expression, a tone of voice, or other body language. That’s why the Song of Solomon teaches that a man should praise his wife repeatedly in detail and tell others how much he appreciates her.
The happier you are with your wife, the more easily you can convince her you’re happy, and the happier she’ll be to belong to you. The happier she is with you, the happier you’ll be. The best way for a husband to be happy is simply to be happy with his wife. She multiplies his happiness and gives it back to him. Whatever a man gives his wife, be it seed, love, anger, whatever, he always gets back far more than he gives.
There’s another issue with making love. God made women so that most of them want children:
… There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: the grave; and the barren womb; Proverbs 30:15-16
Men don’t generally marry in order to talk or in order to have babies. A man talks during courtship because he enjoys her company, but he marries so that he can have her:
And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. Genesis 29:21
Once he’s married, making love expresses a man’s possessiveness:
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. Psalm 19:5
This man has just taken his bride to wife. How does he feel? He feels strong, he feels like superman, he’s ready to leap tall buildings at a single bound. How does his wife feel? She’s been taken, she feels humbled (Deu 21:14, Eze 22:11). Leaving your seed inside your wife marks her as your own. She may not understand this in her head well enough to talk about it, but she knows it in her heart. Whenever you take your wife, you remind her that it’s you who rule her and you remind her how much she cares about pleasing you.
Women associate lovemaking with making babies. A wife who wants children thinks of her children as the most precious gift that she can possibly give you. Many a girl thinks her boyfriend will marry her if she has his child even though Abraham, who was a friend of God, didn’t marry all the women who had his children (Gen. 25:6[478]). If your wife wants a baby and submits to you by taking birth control, she’ll feel your rejection of her child every time you make love. Will that make her enjoy being yours (Pr. 13:12[479])?
Pursuit – your wife expects you to chase her (Pr. 18:22, Song 8:2)
I Cor. 11:9 says that God made women for men. One way this shows itself is that women like men to come after them, to chase them, to pursue them. There’s an old saying, “faint heart ne’er won fair lady.” In her heart, a woman wants to belong to a man (Song 2:16, 6:3, 8:3). Your wife may not fully understand your physical drive, but she’ll probably feel that you don’t care about her if you stop pursuing her.
Pursuit is physical. Looking at your wife arouses you (Job 31:1[480]); your touch arouses her (I Cor. 7:1-2[481]). If you touch her and compliment her and build her up when you look at her, she and you are aroused equally. Grab her in the garage and fondle her in the foyer. Hug her in the hall. Pounce on her in the pantry and kiss her in the kitchen. Doing this all day reminds her of your love so that you can bounce on her in the bedroom.
Kissing in the kitchen is important because that’s where she prepares food; wives often have attachment to kitchens. If you grab her there, she’ll likely protest that dinner will be ruined. Turn off the burner, tell her you’d rather have her than dinner, and drag her off. This doesn’t work as well once you have children, of course, mothers want children in bed on time.
She may squawk but she’ll be happier afterward. She can lie there thinking, “He wants me! I’m much more important than food; look at the grief I put him through to get me!” Women don’t think in such explicit terms, but a man might understand this way of putting it.
You must convince her that she’s so important to you that you don’t see other women. Unless you’ve sanctified her so that she knows she’s “but one,” pursuit makes her worry that you’ll pursue other women. Pursuit comes after you’ve made it clear that she’s the only woman in your life (Song 6:9). One way to sanctify her is to remind her what a good idea marrying her was and how happy you are that God gave her to you (Pr. 18:22[482]). Why wouldn’t you pursue God’s gift? God’s good and perfect gifts are worth pursuit.
Peculiarity – you should delight in how God made her prudence different (Pr. 19:14b, I Pe. 3:7, I Thess. 4:3-5)
a prudent wife is from the LORD. Proverbs 19:14
“Prudence” means thinking ahead, the way your wife’s mind works is of God. If you don’t understand how the way she thinks benefits you, that’s your problem, not God’s. You need to appreciate her ideas and her thoughts, appreciating her is part of opening your heart to her and belonging to her. After all, you want her, you pursue her, and you talk to her because she’s the only woman in the world for you. She’s peculiar!
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. I Peter 3:7
God expects you to live with your wife based on knowledge of her. The only way to do that is to talk with her. God says it’s hard for Him to hear your prayers if you don’t hear your wife, but this passage clinches it:
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: I Thessalonians 4:3-5
Some Bible teachers hold that the word vessel refers to a man’s body, not to his wife. A man should care for his body, but a man doesn’t possess his body, he is his body. Vessel refers to the wife in I Peter 3:7. This makes sense: a vessel contains something. The husband’s body gives and the wife’s body contains. Vessel refers to the wife, so you must know how to possess your wife in honor and sanctification by making her feel valued and special. Jesus said that “they are no more twian, but one flesh,” so there’s only one body anyway.
God made men and women think differently. Men’s brains are structured so that they tend to focus more strongly than women who have to be better able to switch from one task to another. This makes sense – if a man’s squatting beside a game trail, he may get a one-second chance to shoot a deer. If he’s not paying attention when the deer goes by, he won’t eat that day. When a woman’s busy at home, she must pay attention to what her children are doing. If a baby chokes, she better hear and help or the baby may die.
Proverbs 31:28-29[483] shows that a husband must teach his children to respect and honor their mother so they can learn from her. Proverbs 31:1 describes the chapter as “the prophecy that his mother taught him.” Why did King Lemuel pay attention to his mother’s words? Because his father taught him to honor her.
Pleasure – she expects physical pleasure from the relationship (Song 1:2, 8:2-3, Gen. 18:22)
The Song of Solomon starts with the woman wanting her husband to give her physical pleasure. Gen. 18:12[484] shows that when Sarah was promised a child when her husband was 90, she was concerned that he was no longer able to give her the pleasures of marriage to which she had become accustomed. Women aren’t generally as driven towards physical interaction as men are, but they do appreciate it (Song 8:2-3[485]).
Perfection – she’s your good and perfect gift from God (Pr. 18:22, Ja. 1:17, Song 4:7, Eph 5:27-28)
Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. Proverbs 18:22
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17
Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. Song of Solomon 4:7
God expects you to treat your wife as a good, holy, perfect, and unique gift from Him:
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. Ephesians 5:27-28
God treats His people as if we were perfect. As Christ treats His people as perfect, you should treat your wife as perfect. This means telling her she’s perfect for you and thanking her and thanking God for giving her to you, this helps her know you’re pleased with her. Nowhere in the Bible does a man criticize his wife.
Possession – God expects you to be hers (Song 2:16, 6:3, Jud. 16:15a, Pr. 31:11)
Older women should have taught your wife that both you and God expected her to belong to you before she married you, but regardless of what she does, God expects you to belong to her after you marry:
My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Song of Solomon 2:16
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. Song of Solomon 6:3
His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. Song of Solomon 8:3
This woman likes belonging to her husband. Why? Because he belongs to her, she starts by saying, “my beloved is mine.” Your wife expects you to belong to her; it’s hard for her to give herself to you if you don’t.
We know what it means for your wife to be yours – it means you can have her several times per day, but what does it mean for you to belong to her? Let’s look at a case where it didn’t happen:
And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Jud. 16:15a
Samson said he loved her but didn’t open his heart to her. He wasn’t hers. He said he loved her, he took her, but he wasn’t hers, he betrayed her. Having taken her, he scorned her by not opening his heart to her. There’s a saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” we all know what she did after he scorned her. There are songs about “stand by your man.” Would Delilah have betrayed Samson if he’d been hers?
If you don’t open your heart to your wife, if you don’t treasure her speech, she won’t feel that you belong to her. You don’t feel loved if your wife won’t open her body to you; she won’t feel loved if you won’t open your heart to her. You expect her to receive your seed whenever you want her, she expects you to receive her speech whenever she wants to talk. Her speech is as important to her as your seed is important to you.
It’s hard for a man to understand how difficult it is for a woman to belong to him. The Bible says that being taken by her husband “humbles” a woman (De. 21:14, 22:29, Eze. 22:10-11), that’s one of many issues in her belonging to you. It’s hard enough being humbled, but being taken by a man who doesn’t belong to her is humiliating. It’s as frightening for a woman to belong to a man as for a man to belong to a woman. Opening your heart to her frightens you, but God says it’s safe to open your heart to your wife:
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Proverbs 31:11
Warning! If a man’s needs are met, he generally thinks everything’s fine. By the time a man tells about trouble in his marriage, he’s pretty frustrated. A wife expects her husband to open his heart to her in talk. If he hasn’t talked to her in a while, it may take a lot of talking – days or weeks, even – before she believes he belongs to her and feels safe opening herself to him. A man who’s trying to win his wife back by meeting her need for talk learns what “longsuffering” is – wives dream of talking to husbands for hours per day, but the more he talks to her the more he wants her! He’ll have to be patient until she trusts him enough to be his.
A man possesses his wife physically; a woman possesses her husband by talking with him, not to him. It doesn’t count if she does the talking and he comments now and then. He must interest himself in her talk, respond to her ideas, contribute his own thoughts, and supply at least 1/3 of the words. Women can tell whether a man’s mind is engaged when he talks; a wife wants his mind and his heart. He wants to be one physically; she wants to be one emotionally and in planning daily activities no matter how long it takes. God expects husband and wife to become one (Mt. 19:6[486], Mk. 10:8[487]). Both parties change over time to become closer to the other’s views. Becoming one in thought, word, and deed takes a great deal of communication.
All that talk may seem boring, time consuming, and frightening, but that’s how you belong to your wife as God expects. If you aren’t hers, how can you expect her to be yours? It’s your life for her life or not at all.
God made men very possessive. God brought Eve to Adam who declared, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Adam named her and claimed her on the spot, that’s possessive. This works to a woman’s advantage if she encourages and supports his possessiveness. If he believes she’s his, he’ll be much more willing to take care of her. If she belongs to him, her happiness is his, too. In that case, spending money making the house nicer will make her happy, and he will find that making her happy makes him much happier than anything he could buy for himself.
Everything Solomon did was vanity and chasing after wind because he did it for himself. My work is not vain because I do it to take care of my wife. Her relying on me and belonging to me validates my work. A woman said, “You have cat tracks on your car.” She was clearly asking a question, so I said, “They're my wife's cats.” Her questioning look got deeper, so I said, “Long ago, she made a conscious decision to belong to me. She's mine, her cats make her happy, so her cats are mine.” Her face cleared, she nodded, and walked away.
No matter how much biological knowledge is in a man's head, down in his heart, where it really matters, men don't believe they have anything to do with making babies. The child is clearly his wife’s, she had it last. If she belongs to him, then both her happiness and her children belong to him too.
If her happiness belongs to him, he’ll find that making her happy makes him far happier than anything he can do for himself. The only way to give children a father, that is, a man who has a powerful emotional, financial, and psychological drive to furthering the child's well-being is for the mother to belong to him so he has a strong emotional, financial, and psychological drive to further her well-being before they're conceived.
That said, belonging to a man is emotionally draining on a woman. She can’t keep it up very long unless her emotional needs which are described in the other topics in this devotional are met.
Purity – value and guard her purity before and after marriage (Pr. 31:10, Heb. 13:4)
A woman who’s been taught that God expects her not to have sex until after she’s married is a treasure:
Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10
Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Hebrews 13:4
Both God and your wife expect you to protect her purity during courtship and then to uphold the purity of your marriage covenant. As you’re dating, you’ll want her, but she won’t want you because women aren’t as driven by sex as men are. If you touch her at the wrong time, however, her passions can rule her and you’ll have to supply the control for both of you. She expects you to protect her from her desires at such times. That’s why God says it’s better not to touch her so as to arouse her until after you’re married:
It is good for a man not to touch a woman. I Corinthians 7:1b
History confirms the biblical importance of purity. Dr. Unwin has studied more than eighty former civilizations; all societies which became sexually permissive collapsed.[488]
Honor your wife (I Thessalonians 4:4, I Peter 3:7)
Honoring your wife means showing her over and over that you respect her. Having respect for her is different from loving her. Wives need respect from husbands as much as you need respect from your wife. There are many ways to show your wife respect.
Participation – involve her in decisions
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18
There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I Corinthians 7:34
Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. I Corinthians 11:9
God created your wife to help you and gave her a desire to please you. She can’t help you unless you tell her your goals and plans. It frustrates her terribly if you won’t let her use her gifts to serve you. She needs a place to live, and she needs a place in your life. This is another reason to talk with her, she needs to know what’s going on so she can help you. If she understands why you make decisions, if she knows she’s been heard and that you’re taking her views into consideration, it’s easier for her to follow you.
Your wife can obey you without knowing why, but being left out of your plan makes her feel used. Suppose you give her things to do but don’t tell her why. Without knowing your plan, she won’t be able to feel pleased when the plan succeeds. If a woman works on a project but doesn’t know enough about it to receive joy when it works, she’ll feel like a lesser being and it will be hard for her to keep working at her best.
Plan – explain where you’re going so she can follow (I Co. 11:3, Pro 29:18a)
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. I Corinthians 11:3
Where there is no vision, the people perish: Proverbs 29:18a
Men often get frustrated when their wives ask questions, but your wife can’t read your mind. This is an area where many men go wrong in leading wives. In Gen. 3:16, God told Eve that He would multiply her sorrow; I Cor. 11:8-9 says that women are made for men. In multiplying women’s sorrow and in making them for men, God gave most women more sensitive feelings than most men have. The result is that women generally understand men better than men understand women. Men call this “female intuition.”
The problem is that a wife’s intuition extends only to her husband’s feelings. She can read his heart to know when he’s pleased with her and when he’s frustrated, but she can’t read his mind. A man may say, “You know me, you know what I want, just do it,” but she can’t read his mind well enough to understand his plans. A husband must explain what he wants in detail, taking enough time to understand her thoughts, answer all her questions, and have her tell him what he said so that he knows she’s heard what he has to say.
How else can your wife understand your plans well enough to follow you? Your thoughts are not her thoughts. Women live on details, you have to explain in detail or she can’t follow. Helping her understand the plan is part of giving her a place in your life. It’s unfair to blame her for not following you when she doesn’t understand what you want. If you’ve ever had a boss who told you to do something without telling you how to do it and was upset when you did it “wrong,” you’ll understand how your wife feels.
For example, if a husband says, “Let’s go on a picnic,” his wife’s mind fills with questions. She wants to know where they’re going and what she’ll find there. Are there bathrooms? Is there a playground? How long will we be gone? How many diapers will we need? How many meals? Should we bring swimsuits?
Have you ever had a boss who got angry when you asked questions, then blamed you for not doing the job the way he wanted it done? Followers need details. When an army travels, soldiers carry rifles, but they aren’t given bullets until time to fight. Loaded weapons are trouble; the Army doesn’t want bullets lying around. Can you imagine an officer saying, “Why don’t you have bullets?” He’s responsible for issuing ammo, it’s his fault if his troops run out, but I’ve heard husbands complain, “Why didn’t you bring enough diapers?” You have to tell your wife how long you’ll be gone so she can pack enough diapers. Your wife can’t follow your vision unless you tell her what it is, and without a vision, the family perishes (Pr. 29:18[489]).
There’ve been scandals where billions of dollars were stolen. The boss said he didn’t know his people were stealing. The juries decided it didn’t matter, he should have known; he went to jail. You should know what goes on in your family - they perish if the husband won’t lead. Few women want to grab the flag and run with it, but your wife will pick up the flag and try to lead when you won’t, but that’s not God’s way.
It’s not that simple, your wife must lead when you’re away from home. How does this work? How does she switch from following when you’re there to leading when you’re gone? God provided for that. Opening her body to you as often as you want her takes away her independence. God wanted children to have fathers. He designed women so that a woman clings to the man who takes her. That’s why a lot of wives avoid making love – it’s frightening to lose her independence to a man she doesn’t trust.
When you’re around, making love to you takes away her independence and she can follow you if you lead. When you’re away, you stop making love, her independence comes back, and she can lead. When you get back, she must deliberately decide to give up her independence once again and submit to you. She makes the same choice every month. Her period is usually long enough for independence to come back, but when it’s over, she once again gives up her independence.
In the old days, judges gave children to the husband during a divorce so that they grew up seeing a man lead, but now, children usually go to the mother. Children of divorce grow up seeing a woman lead. This makes it hard to follow the husband’s leadership when they marry.
Persuasion – she expects you to persuade her (Ro. 14:5b, 14:23b, II Cor. 5:11, Phi. 1:9a)
Persuasion instead of commanding is another way to show honor. Trying to persuade your wife tells her that you value her opinion, her experience, and her agreement. Persuasion is not only effective, it’s Biblical:
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Romans 14:5b
for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Romans 14:23b
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; II Corinthians 5:11a
Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, Philemon 1:9a
Every Christian should be “fully persuaded.” You make your wife sin if you command or coerce her so that she obeys without being convinced that God wants what you want. Even with heaven or hell in the balance, Paul said, “we persuade men.” When Paul wanted Philemon to forgive Onesimus, he could have used his apostolic authority to command, but instead, he begged Philemon for love’s sake. Persuading takes longer than commanding, it’s part of longsuffering. That’s where giving grace comes in.
As you seek to persuade your wife, she’ll appreciate hearing your reasons why you want to do what you want to do. God gave her a different point of view so that she could help you; she may think of possibilities you didn’t. The more information, thought, Bible research, and prayer you and she put into decisions, the better decisions you’ll make. You’re in charge, you have the tie-breaking vote if you and she can’t agree, but if you can’t agree, it’s best to put off the decision as long as possible. When it’s not necessary to decide, it’s necessary not to decide. Get all the facts before making decisions.
Persuading your wife is a good time to tell her other things about your plans; letting her in on what you’re trying to do makes her your friend instead of your servant.
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. John 15:15
Jesus tells us what God wants through the Bible and through the Holy Spirit. If you do not share your heart or your plans with your wife, you’re in effect treating her as a servant who does what she’s told without being persuaded or even knowing why. Women are inclined to go along with their men; you’ll find that the more you explain your reasoning, the more she’ll agree with you and the more easily she can follow you.
Passivity – she wants you to stay out of household details except when she wants your opinion or help
A wife wants you to care about everything she does so that you can appreciate it, but she wants you to leave details to her. If she decides that she wants your opinion, it frustrates her if you don’t care. I don’t have food preferences. My wife is happy to fix what she wants to eat. Once in a while, she doesn’t know what she wants and it frustrates her that I don’t care enough to decide.
When I’m making plans, she wants me to work out the details in discussion with her, but when she’s doing something, she wants me to leave the details to her unless she wants me to decide for her. Working out the right combination of planning and passivity requires that you talk with her each day. God gives the formula for husband and wife working together:
For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. I Cor 3:9
Today’s couples seem to have forgotten that we’re supposed to be working together with God in building our homes. Most couples seem to set apart separate areas - the wife doesn’t concern herself with the husband’s turf and vice versa. God expects husband and wife to become a one-flesh unit and to work together. The wife may do most of the work of guiding the house and the husband may do most of the work outside the home, but both parties should know what’s going on in all areas.
Praise (Proverbs 31:29)
She has to be convinced that you’re convinced that she’s the best wife in the entire world.[490]
How marriage functions (Proverbs 31:28-29, Song of Solomon, I Corinthians 7, 11)
Now let’s talk a bit about how a marriage operates.
Place – she expects a place to live and a place in your life (Gen. 24:67, Ruth 4:12a)
And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. Genesis 24:67
And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman. Ruth 4:12
Isaac supplied the tent. Boaz had a house. If your offer to a woman doesn’t include food, clothing, and shelter, it’s not Biblical. It’s wrong for a man to involve a woman’s emotions before he can support her. Letting her emotions get caught up in him when he can’t marry her and take care of her is emotional fornication; they either fall into sin or break up. This makes it harder for her to give herself to her husband later on. God gave most women stronger emotions; it’s the man who must control the situation.
He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. Proverbs 25:28
The man who replaced his wife’s prized stove without talking to her about it took her place away. A woman can’t guide the house as God requires without a well-defined place which all parties respect.
He did more than replace her stove. He paved over her root cellar and given her a refrigerator which she hated because the butter was too hard to spread. The root cellar had kept it just right. She loved the old-fashioned ways; he was ashamed of her when his modern friends came to visit. She had no place in his life.
Procreation – appreciate her children as her finest gift to you (Ps 127:3, 128:3, Mal. 2:15)
There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; … Proverbs 30:15B-16a
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Psalm 128:3
Genesis 30:1 has Rachel telling Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” I Samuel 1:1-8 tells us that even though she knew her husband loved her, Hannah desired children so badly that she wouldn’t eat. Proverbs 30:15-16[491] declares that the empty womb is never satisfied.
Given birth control, would there be babies unless women wanted them? Many say that babies are a burden and that women should concentrate on careers, but most women eventually want children. God wants children; why else did God institute marriage?
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Psalm 127:3
And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. Malachi 2:15
Malachi explains that God made marriage so that His servants would raise children to serve Him. God warns you against treating your wife poorly. The story of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 shows that God expects an increase when he gives a woman to be His gift to a man. Birth control lets men and women come together without expecting children. 100 years ago, there would be children so they took it seriously. Many women marry thinking they don’t want children only to realize in their 30’s that they do want babies.
A woman puts her life on the line to give her child life. If a husband doesn’t value his wife’s gift of a child, she’s going to find it hard to believe that he values her.
Partnership – you must work together to guide your children (Pr. 2, 5, Pr. 31:1[492])
Pr. 2 and 5 are a father writing to his son about non-virtuous women; Pr. 31 is a mother writing to her son. Why did King Lemuel value his mother’s wisdom enough to write it down? His father taught him to honor, respect, and obey his mother. God gives different gifts to husband and wife; they must work together to teach their children effectively. Christians emphasize her teaching about virtuous wives, but her principles of leadership in Pr. 31:2-9[493] cover the basic principles of leadership, both at work and in the home.
· Don’t mess around with women, don’t let women run your life, don’t take bad advice 31:3
· Don’t abuse mind-altering substances 31:4-5
· Take care of your people when they’re hurting 31:6-7
· Treat everybody fairly 31:8-9
Mrs. Lemuel didn’t teach about having a vision, but that’s taught elsewhere: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: (Pr. 29:18).” Just about every management principle goes back to Mrs. Lemuel.
Position – you must give a position of authority to her (Pr. 1:8[494], 6:20[495], 15:20[496], 19:26[497], 20:20[498], 23:22[499])
A father must teach his children to respect their mother, both by precept and by example. He must listen to her ideas and show his children that he both heeds and honors her thoughts and her knowledge.
Home schooling won’t work unless fathers create a strong enough position of authority for their wives. A woman who’s not respected can’t teach her children very much or get them to finish their lessons.
Paternity – she expects you to be emotionally, financially, and logically involved in raising her children (Pr. 19:18[500], 23:13-14[501], Heb. 12:7-9[502], Gal. 4:1-2[503], Eph. 6:4[504])
Your wife guides your house, but you set overall policy for bringing up your children. In God’s eyes, you’re the prime contractor for training up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Many subcontract education and child care to hirelings rather than doing it themselves.
The Bible expresses concern for the fatherless more often than for orphans who have no parents. After risking her life to give them life, the greatest gifts a mother can give her children is belonging to their father so they also belong to him and living on his income so she can stay home and be their mother.
In all human societies, the father is regarded by tradition as indispensable ... no child should be brought into the world without a man—and one man at that—assuming the role of sociological father, that is, guardian and protector, the male link between the child and the rest of the community.[505]
‘I know of few other bodies of data in which the weight of the evidence is so decisively on one side of the issue. ... two-parent families are preferable. ’[506]
Perception – you must make it clear that you see and value her gifts (Pr. 18:22, 19:14b, James 1:17)
God gives each of His people gifts as it pleases Him. When you marry, you are not only responsible for developing your own talents and using them in the service of God, you’re responsible for helping your wife develop her gifts so that you and she together can use all your gifts to glorify God.
Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. Proverbs 18:22
and a prudent wife is from the LORD. Proverbs 19:14b
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17
Your wife and your children know she’s a “good thing,” she expects you to tell her that she’s a good and perfect gift from God. God gave her a unique combination of emotions and logic that determines how she thinks. She expects you to enjoy the way she expresses her thoughts. Men can be clueless about women; she expects you to talk with her enough to hone your perception so that you can understand what she’s saying and know how she can help you. Once you understand her thoughts, she expects you to value her ideas.
Patience – she expects you to talk until you understand her (I Pe. 3:7, Phil 2:4)
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. I Peter 3:7
Your wife thinks she’d like you to understand her, but that’s not realistic. God doesn’t expect a man to understand his wife, He expects him to know her, and there’s a difference. We have a quilt on our bed. My wife believes that the quilt isn’t square and the flowers have to be right side up instead of sideways or upside-down. She gets out of bed and turns or flips the quilt to get it right, then she turns the quilt above it and so on. She can’t sleep if the quilt’s on the bed wrong because, she says, it doesn’t cover her completely when I’m in the bed. I say it’s king-size and she’s a small woman, it’s wide enough either way, but she doesn’t agree.
There are 7 wrong ways to put a quilt on a bed but only one right way. For years, she was frustrated because I’d put the quilt on the bed wrong when I tried to help her. She could’ve been like the women who say, “If he loved me, he’d know how I want the quilt,” but she knew I loved her. She finally decided I really couldn’t tell which way was up. Then she noticed a tag on the quilt and told me to put the tag in my corner.
Do I understand this? I do not. But I know it; I know where she wants the tag, so I put the tag where she wants it. This makes her feel loved because she knows it makes no sense to me, she knows I don’t care; she knows I do it just for her. When you do something just to make your wife happy, she likes it, it makes her feel loved, which, done many times per day, makes her glad to belong to you even if you don’t understand her.
This took patience. I see no difference between the top and bottom of the quilt, but the tag, I can find. She had to be patient while she figured out how to communicate so that I could meet her needs. I figured out other areas like putting toilet seats down and rinsing the sink after I brush my teeth.
Some say I’m demeaning my wife by telling others that she cares so much about an unimportant quilt. God gave marriage because He wants children. It does God no good for a child to be born if it dies because someone overlooks some detail in taking care of the child. Women generally worry about a huge number of details that aren’t on a man’s radar. A man thinks the quilt’s just as warm no matter how it goes on the bed, but women agree that there’s one right way to lay a quilt, the other 7 ways are wrong.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Philippians 2:4
My wife manages many details of guiding our home and children, I’m glad I don’t have to. I concentrate on the Big Picture, but when something matters to my wife, it had better matter to me. If I don’t care about whatever matters to her, if I don’t look on her things, she thinks she doesn’t matter to me.
People say, “Whatever floats your boat.” In marriage, you float your wife’s boat and she floats yours. A woman can talk to herself and a man can touch himself, but that doesn’t satisfy. If you and she don’t float each other’s boats, your boats won’t float. It takes patience to learn to float your wife’s boat.
Pleasure – delight in opening your heart to her (Jud. 16:15[507], Pr. 31:11[508])
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath power not of his body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one another, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again lest Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. I Corinthians 7:2-5
Husband and wife owe each other grace; it’s fraud if they don’t give themselves to each other as God’s gifts. God says that the husband’s body belongs to his wife and the wife’s body belongs to her husband. The husband knows exactly what “due benevolence” he’d like to give his wife, but giving his wife benevolence doesn’t mean meeting his needs, it means meeting her needs. The dictionary defines “benevolence” as “a gift given out of generosity.” A gift costs the giver something, it’s something the receiver appreciates or wants. Meeting a man’s sexual needs is his wife’s benevolence to him because he’s generally more interested in sex than she is. What sort of “due benevolence” does a woman want from her husband?
God created women so that men wouldn’t be alone. God gave women a drive to talk to help them keep babies alive, to help them learn how to care for husbands, and to keep husbands from being alone. A woman builds relationships every day by talking about whatever’s important to her for hours at a time. If a man doesn’t enjoy receiving his wife’s words, she feels unloved.
It’s a sacrifice to open your heart about topics that interest your wife, but it’s a sacrifice for her to submit to you. When you and she become one flesh, each of you must die to self in favor of your family. Many couples think the man loses if they do what she wants and she loses if they do what he wants. Talking enough usually finds something neither of you thought of at first that’s best for the family. Basing discussions on win-lose makes both of you unhappy. If you take time to find a win-win, things go better.
My wife has been talking to me since March of 1971; we’ve been making love since August 21, 1971. As we’ve gotten older, God has reduced my ability to take her. Ever since age 50 or 55, I’ve been shootin’ pool with a rope. This is frustrating; I desire her as much as ever but I am not able to take her as often as I used to. God has not diminished her ability to talk. As she gets older, it seems that she has more to say.
This suggests that my talking to her is more important to God than my taking her.
I’ve met wives whose parents were divorced; they didn’t talk much to their parents, so they didn’t learn how to build relationships through talk. In such cases, the husband not only has to learn to open his heart to his wife, he has to teach her to open her heart and body to him. This is difficult, but I’ve seen it done.
Privacy – keep the innermost thoughts of her heart to yourself (Pr. 11:13[509], 19:11[510], 20:19a[511])
The Bible praises discretion, which basically means not saying what you shouldn’t say. From a man’s point of view, women appear to talk about so many different topics that it’s hard to believe that there are some things your wife won’t want you to talk about. When my wife became pregnant, she didn’t want me to tell anybody. Your wife has some list of topics she doesn’t want you telling other people. You should find out what’s private to her and honor her list of secrets. She should do the same for you, of course.
Peer – the world says that men and women are the same; the Bible says not (Mt. 19:4[512], Mk. 10:6[513])
Your wife may have been told that men and women have the same needs and desires. The Word of God refers to “male and female” to indicate that men and women have different wants and needs, words and deeds. You and she are not equal. Talking to your wife shows how her needs differ from yours and what she means by what she says. Women who haven’t been taught how men think can be frustrated when men don’t think the way they do. Finding and exploring such differences requires a great deal of talk.
Potential – she expects you to better yourself all your life (II Tim 2:15[514])
She’ll want you to continue in Bible study so that you can lead your family properly. She’ll want you to improve your skills and knowledge so that you can advance in your job. If she helps you advance she can usually bring in more money than having a job herself. Having a wife work gets her used to getting praise and appreciation from her boss rather from you and makes her feel independent because she’s bringing in money. No woman can serve two masters, she can’t serve both her home and money (Mt. 6:24[515], Luk. 16:13[516]).
Many women work just to get out of the house. It’s up to you to make your house a pleasant place for your wife by appreciating her and sharing your work with her so that she can find rest in helping you.
Whose Fault Was the Fall?
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 18And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help[517] meet for him. Genesis 2:15-18
God put Adam in charge of caring for the garden and to “keep it” which means to protect it. God then made Eve to help him.
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. Genesis 3:3
Eve wasn’t formed when God told Adam not to eat the fruit. Who added “don’t touch” to what God said? Most men blame Eve for adding to what Adam told her even though a) the Bible doesn’t say and b) Heb. 12:20 repeats what God told Moses. We know that Moses added to what God said in Exodus 19:10-15. Did Adam?
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Genesis 3:6
1 Tim. 2:14 says that Adam was not deceived; in order not to be fooled, he had to have heard Satan’s lie. Adam was there “with her” the whole time, why didn’t he correct her, warn her about the snake, or tell her not to eat the fruit? It was, after all, his responsibility to keep her.
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Genesis 3:12-13
Instead of confessing his sin and asking forgiveness, Adam blamed Eve. She followed his example and blamed the serpent. To this day, many men blame women for just about everything that goes wrong.
Conclusion
God said a great deal about how a husband should lead his wife because it’s important to God. God made your wife so that she’s inclined to follow you, but if you make it difficult or impossible for her to follow; your children won’t follow either of you.
The basic idea of leading your wife is to treat her as a good and perfect gift of God. You don’t deserve her submission; it’s a gift of God. You know her faults, so the only way you can treat her as perfect is to give her the same undeserved grace that God gave you when He saved you. She knows your faults, too. The only way she can call you “lord” from her heart, the only way she can reverence you honestly, is to give you the same grace God gave her when he saved her.
The best way to show your wife that you appreciate her is to spend time talking to her. One way to deal with all this information is to discuss this talk section by section with your wife. Few women understand their own needs well enough to explain them; these ideas may help your wife find the words to tell you how to meet her needs. And the happier she is with you, the easier it is for you to treat her with the grace of God.
When lost people see you treating each other with the grace of God, they’ll want God’s grace for themselves. When they see Christians divorcing, however, they think that we can’t handle this life any better than they can and won’t care what we say about the life to come.
Your best opportunities to spread the Gospel of Christ come when people see you giving your wife the grace of God. Marriage prospers when you treat your wife as God’s perfect gift to you and she acts as God’s gift to you. Lost people see it, and ask you how you do it. This gives you a chance to tell them of God’s grace.
There’s a children’s song, “If you’re saved and you know it, then your life will surely show it, if you’re saved and you know it, pass it on.”
Chapter 17 - The Church Abandoned Holy Matrimony
Christians divorce at the same rate as the lost even though Mal. 2:14-16 says that God hates divorce. We show Christ by the way we live; divorce wrecks our testimony and dishonors Christ. Lost people see that we can’t handle this life any better than they can; why should they care what we say about the life to come?
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; II Thessalonians 2:3
American society is falling further and further away from the Word of God. As marriages fell apart and casual sex became normal, churches seemed to be 20 to 25 years behind society in abandoning Holy Matrimony. In reality, the Church led the way in tearing down both sexual morality and our legal system.
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Romans 7:2-3
The word “divorce” means ending a marriage bond by some person of authority. When Jesus said “let not man put asunder (Mt. 19:6[518], Mk. 10:9[519]),” He meant that no man has the authority to end Holy Matrimony. Once married in the eyes of God, a person cannot have sex with a third party without being in adultery.
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. I Corinthians 7:11
Although a woman may have to initiate a divorce according to the laws of man before asking a judge for a restraining order to keep an abusive husband from harming her, God says that she can’t marry anyone else.
Collapse of Morality
The church’s deliberate destruction of Bible-based marriage is described on pp 251-263 of The Confucian Cycle - China’s Sage and America’s Decline, William A. Taylor and Ken Taylor. To summarize, the Presbyterian Church started re-examining divorce in the 1930’s. The church decided to permit divorce for the “moral equivalent of adultery” and changed the Westminster Confession to permit remarriage “when sufficient penitence for sin and failure is evident, and a firm purpose of and endeavor after Christian marriage is manifested.” In other words, you can remarry if you’re sorry and promise to try harder next time.
In 9181, Presbyterians wrote, “The primary purpose of marriage was no longer the benefit of society but the benefit of the people entering the marriage covenant.”[520] [emphasis added]
Marriage changed from duty to delight. Holy Matrimony is based on duty. Divorce is impossible – duty lasts until death. If marriage is for delight, you can get an easy divorce any time you aren’t delighted.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. II Thessalonians 2:7
The word “let” meant “prevent” when the Bible was translated. John Adams observed, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The Holy Spirit in Christians prevents some evil. Abandoning Holy Matrimony has loosed great evil in our land.
The state of California passed the first no-fault divorce law in 1970, twenty years behind the church. No-fault divorce makes it easier to get out of marriage than to get out of paying for a refrigerator. Our “hookup culture” came from teaching young men and women that marriage needn’t come before delight.
Temporary hookups hurt women. The book "Unprotected" by Psychiatrist Miriam Grossman explains biological reasons why sex outside marriage is so damaging. Having treated more than 2,000 women for depression and other psychological problems at a prestigious American university, she found that a woman can become very depressed when she realizes her boyfriend had no interest in her beyond sex.
Many women are sensible enough not to assume the burdens of pregnancy or the duties of motherhood unless a man assumes the long-term duties of fatherhood. The pill shows that many women want a man in their lives badly enough to live with a man without marriage, but they find it hard to find a committed husband if they decide they want a child. Birth rates among educated, productive women are falling while welfare family sizes are increasing – the more babies a welfare recipient has, the bigger her payment.
Multiplying Fatherlessness
The future belongs to those who show up for it. Only those who are born are allowed to participate. We know for observing the welfare system for the last 50 years that that will be the less educated. This has NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE!
“Downfall of a Decent Clan”[521] shows how families fall apart when welfare pays a woman's costs:
“Karen Matthews is a striking figurehead for this generation. She has never been in regular work yet receives £400 a week benefits, having had seven children by five different men.” [emphasis added]
These men take no responsibility; her children are largely raising themselves. Here’s another example:
“Tennessee Deadbeat Dads”[522] tells of three men who fathered 81 children by 46 different welfare mothers and provide no fatherly influence or child support at all.
In addition to taking duty out of marriage, churches lobbied for the creation of the welfare system. The Bible commands that every person should help the poor. People are tempted to mooch, so it says:
For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. II Thessalonians 3:10
Fatherlessness exploded when the church changed the principles of marriage and favored turning poverty programs over to the government. This has gone on long enough that we now know that fatherlessness is an excellent predictor of poverty and a life of crime, and the church led the way back in 1950!
Marriage rests on God having created male and female. He expects men and women to enter into permanent faithful relationships to create safe spaces where they can raise their children. God also expected churches and governments to uphold sound families.
Given the church’s lead in destroying marriage, is there any wonder that Satan has been able to confuse the definitions, first of marriage to include sodomites, and then the definitions of men and women? This will not end well, and the deliberate destruction of Holy Matrimony started in the church.
Chapter 18 - The Church Led the Collapse of our Justice System
The Bible gives the church responsibility for defining the practice of justice throughout society:
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? I Peter 4:17
“Judgment” applies to finding out whether wrong has been done, who did it, and finding the appropriate response. This should include repentance and might include punishment.
The Bible warns of spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12[523]). We have prayed for more than 50 years that God would reveal the wickedness. We’ve been shocked and amazed at how few people care about all the wickedness that’s leaking out in spite of coordinated media attempts at censorship.
American Jurisprudence came from the Bible
American due process– innocent until proven guilty, equality before the law, rules of evidence, guilt beyond reasonable doubt, a citizen grand jury to decide if a crime has been committed, a citizen jury to determine guilt or innocence – comes from the Biblical formula for handling offenses justly:
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Matthew 18:15-17
The decision is not made by church leaders. Authority to judge guilt or innocence is given to the entire church after every word about what was done and why it was done is heard from both sides. As Nicodemus put it, “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth (John 7:50-51)?
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? I Corinthians 6:2-3
The Bible places a very high value on truth:
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Ephesians 4:25
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. I Timothy 3:15
The church body is the pillar and ground of the truth, not the leadership. Satan’s servants lie freely:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. John 8:44
And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. 4Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. 5And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Jeremiah 9:3-5
Abandoning truth was one reason God dragged Israel into captivity. Diligent search for truth is necessary for doing justice given that false witnesses and political influence on courts are to be expected:
And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; 19Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. Deuteronomy 19:18-19
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. Leviticus 19:15
The Bible states that false witnesses must be punished and that everyone should be treated equally. Over the last decade or so, there have been no consequences for government employees who lied for political purposes. The way our “justice” system treats liberals differently from conservatives – innocent until proven Democrat - shows that political power governs our judicial system instead of the rule of law.
When Society Abandoned Justice
We first realized that our society had abandoned due process in 1989 when our friends were falsely accused of child abuse. Child Protection Service workers lied in court and the judge merely “corrected the record” when they were caught because the law gave them complete immunity from any liability.
Hearsay evidence was permitted and our friends were not permitted to cross-examine their accusers. The trials were held in secret and our friends were forbidden to tell anyone what was going on. History tells us that secrecy and immunity are the traditional tools of tyranny.
This travesty of justice came from the “Mondale Act” of 1974. 40 years later, Faith and reason wrote
“it is almost impossible to fully insulate one’s family from the threat of a system that on very little pretense can simply reach into the home and take away one’s offspring. The massive incidence of false abuse/neglect allegations shows that current law and public policy on child abuse and neglect and the routine actions of the CPS are a major threat to the American family today.”[524]
There is more detail about CPS in The Confucian Cycle - China’s Sage and America’s Decline cited above.
Knowing that a fish rots from the head and having seen injustice in lower courts, we weren’t surprised to see federal injustice. The Obama administration’s “Dear colleague” letter declared that accusations of sexual misbehavior by any man were true by definition without due process. This was a logical extension of the Mondale Act’s declaration that accusations against parents were true by definition without due process.
“A Legal System Corrupted”[525] documents many recent injustices by the American government:
· The FBI’s hidden and far-too-tardy acknowledgment that the Bernie Sanders supporter who tried to murder the Republican House leadership in 2017 was a domestic terrorist.
· The continued mistreatment (overcharging and continued solitary confinement) of several of the January 6 Capitol demonstrators compounded by the officials’ lies about it and the Department of Justice’s refusal to make available to the public the government videos of that event.
· A claim by a defendant in the George Floyd case that a key witness in the Chauvin trial had been improperly coerced to change his testimony and the prosecution (the Minnesota attorney general’s office) did nothing to inform the defense of the interactions the defendant asserts were coercive.
How the Church Abandoned Justice
About 25 years ago, we were thrown out of a church which did not follow the Matthew 18:15-17 process. We were told we’d be thrown out at the next service and that we wouldn’t be allowed to speak. How can “every word be established (Mt. 18:16)” if we can’t speak? How can we “hear the church (Mt. 18:17)” if the pastor announces the verdict beforehand? The abusive pattern of ignoring the Biblical formula for truth by hearing both sides and through “diligent inquisition” in favor of pastors ruling by decree had become common enough to support an entire “spiritual abuse” publishing niche.
We’re slow learners. We didn’t connect the decline of justice in the church with unjust court proceedings against parents or the weaponizing of government agencies which began with President Kennedy and have intensified ever since. Societal injustice followed judicial malpractice within churches just as moral decay followed the church’s redefinition of marriage.
The Bible teaches that blame falls on every individual Christian to a greater or lesser degree. First, the Bible teaches that church members rise or fall together:
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. I Corinthians 12:25-26
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Hebrews 13:3
Second, Daniel and Nehemiah both acknowledged the destruction that abandoning God’s laws had brought on God’s people, accepted their own responsibility for those sins, and confessed their part in them.
And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; 5We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: Daniel 9:4-5
Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned. 7We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. Nehemiah 1:6-7
God hasn’t changed (Mal. 3:6[526]). God expects us to understand our responsibility to influence society. God wants us to be a light to the nations (Mt. 28:19[527], Phi. 2:15[528]). When we let our light go out, evil magnifies itself. If you think it unrealistic to place responsibility for our ongoing societal collapse on the church’s failures, remember that the Bible teaches:
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. II Thessalonians 2:7
When the King James Bible was published in 1611, the word “let” meant “prevent,” which is why some legal documents use the phrase “without let or hindrance” meaning that one party isn’t supposed to prevent or get in the way of the other party from doing something mentioned in the contract. The Holy Spirit which indwells Christians “letteth,” that is prevents, some evil in our society. Just our presence has positive impact.
Judgment begins in the church and flows out to the rest of society by example. That is how we got the American legal system which had so many protections for people who’re falsely accused.
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? I Peter 4:16-17
“Spiritual abuse” based on false accusations is becoming more and more common (Is. 66:5[529]). Our political system shows the same perverted justice based on the same loss of protection for citizens who fall out of favor with the hierarchy that churches have taught. Why are we surprised that so many young people leave the church? Jesus warned us that churches are worthless without salt (Mt. 5:13[530], Luk. 14:34[531]).
Leading the way as our justice system discards protections of unpopular individuals will let Satan’s forces attack churches – pastors are being arrested in Canada; martyrdom is coming unless we repent.
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Luke 18:7-8
Where Churches Went Wrong
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; II Corinthians 5:10-11a
Even with Heaven or Hell in the balance for our child’s soul, we persuade, we can’t command. Young people can’t live on our convictions; they need their own. We have from birth until they leave home to persuade them and convince them that our ways are best, or they’ll do something else when they leave.
Some churches preach the “buddy god” who loves everybody so much he’d never send anyone to Hell. A love-only message is useless because it doesn’t tell people that God hates sin (Ps. 7:11b[532]). How can people recognize personal failure before a Holy God, admit that they can’t save themselves, repent, and seek forgiveness without knowing how God hates all sins, even theirs (Is. 64:6[533], Ro. 3:10[534])?
Others preach the “bully god” by hammering away on God’s holiness without emphasizing His love. The bully god wrote a bunch of rules in the Bible which the leadership interprets and extends. The bully god watches your every thought, word, and deed to whack you with the pastor’s help when you get out of line.
Holiness without love is repugnant because it’s too harsh. Sinners don’t want to hear about holiness alone because they don’t want to feel hopelessly bad about themselves. Love gives hope and helps sinners accept God’s holiness. Sinners can’t understand why Jesus had to die on the cross unless they’re taught to cling to His love as they learn to follow His path of holiness (1 Pe. 1:16[535]).
Without knowing God’s love, people can’t feel confident of His care for us (1 Pe. 5:7[536]) or of His promise never to leave us (He. 13:5[537]). Jesus love for us keeps us following Him because we want Him to be pleased with us (2 Cor. 5:14a[538]). We follow His holiness out of love for Him. We can’t have one without the other.
The Bible sets a high standard for the balanced persuasion without which Christians cannot grow:
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: Ephesians 4:15
Some churches hammer away at truth, particularly the parts about obeying those that have the rule over you (He. 13:7[539], 13:17[540], 13:24[541]). Other churches preach only love. Weaving God’s truth and God’s love together is extremely difficult. Fathers are commanded to bring up children in both love and holiness:
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
Finding the right balance between God’s nurture and God’s admonition is the most difficult part of being a parent, pastor, or leader. Persuading children while clearing away misunderstandings about word meanings and of past events instead of commanding or punishing takes a great deal of time and patience.
As we’ve stopped showing young believers God’s concern for justice by treating them unjustly, we’ve failed to persuade them. Do we take the time to persuade, explain, encourage, discuss the Bible, and spend the hours needed to thoroughly understand their side? If not, they walk away, carrying the message of our abandonment of God’s standard of justice out into society at large. We see the results everywhere.
[1] Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11
[2] Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. I Thessalonians 5:11
[3] Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11
[4] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3
[5] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: John 1:12
[6] And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. Genesis 35:18
[7] And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. I Samuel 4:20
[8] And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. Genesis 30:1
[9] Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men. Luke 1:25
[10] And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 1:31
[11] And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:17
[12] Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: Hebrews 1:3
[13] A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Malachi 1:6
[14] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5
[15] This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 27For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Isaiah 14:26-27
[16] The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth. Isaiah 23:9
[17] Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? Isaiah 43:13 Note: the word “let”meant “prevent” in 1611 when the KJB was published.
[18] Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Isaiah 46:11
[19] For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. Jeremiah 4:28
[20] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
[21] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10
[22] The region of the air; the sky or heavens; the great arch or expanse over our heads, in which are placed the atmosphere and the clouds.
[23] And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Genesis 1:31
[24] And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Genesis 2:18
[25] Daniel reported to the “prince of the eunuchs.” Conquerors “recruited” captives into their bureaucracies. Family loyalties can be strong; it was prudent to deny captives the ability to form families so their loyalty would be to the administrative deep state.
[26] And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. Genesis 29:21
[27] For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Galatians 5:13
[28] The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, Proverbs 31:11a
[29] Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. I Peter 3:7
[30] And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. Genesis 1:29
[31] When the KJB was written, “Lucifer” was the longstanding name for Venus, the morning star. The passage refers to the morning star, so Lucifer was an accurate translation. Lucifer became another name for Satan because of this passage in the KJB. Satan wants to be equal to Jesus so it’s no surprise that he would claim Jesus’ title “the bright and morning star (Rev. 22:16).”
[32] Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31
[33] Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Proverbs 4:24
[34] The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness. Proverbs 10:32
[35] The Hebrew word for “help” is ezer used in “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my ezer (Psalm 121:1).“ God helps us when we cry. Is a “help” inferior? “Meet” means suitable. A wife is a suitable help for her husband. We used to say, “Behind every successful man there’s a woman” because of the value of a wife’s contributions to her husband’s success.
[36] And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. 15And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives. Exodus 19:14-15
[37] I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Song of Solomon 7:10
[38] Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Genesis 3:16
[39] There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I Corinthians 7:34
[40] I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. I Timothy 5:14
[41] A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. Proverbs 19:13
[42] It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Proverbs 21:9
[43] It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman. Proverbs 21:19
[44] It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house. Proverbs 25:24
[45] A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. Proverbs 27:15
[46] Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Proverbs 31:28-29
[47] I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Song of Solomon 7:10
[48] His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. Song of Solomon 8:3
[49] Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Proverbs 6:27
[50] Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Song of Solomon 1:2
[51] And the LORD said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. 13And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered. 14For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. Numbers 27:12-14
[52] There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I Corinthians 7:34
[53] And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. Mark 9:35
[54] And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Mark 10:44
[55] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:30
[56] And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. Jeremiah 25:12
[57] Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. I Corinthians 11:1
[58] And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. Mark 9:35
[59] And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Mark 10:44
[60] If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. Genesis 3:31
[61] And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15
[62] But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Matthew 5:22
[63] But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Hebrews 12:8
[64] Matthew Henry, “Commentary of Genesis 4”
[65] Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, “Commentary on Genesis 4”
[66] 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
[67] And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. Mark 9:35
[68] And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Mark 10:44
[69] Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? II Chronicles 20:7
[70] But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. Isaiah 41:8
[71] And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. Exodus 33:11a
[72] And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. 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 11:32-12:1
[73] Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
[74] Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12
[75] Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
[76] Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:5
[77] Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. II Timothy 3:12
[78] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:16-17
[79] But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:8
[80] And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; II Peter 2:5
[81] Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. I Peter 3:20
[82] And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5
[83] https://arkencounter.com/noahs-ark/size/
[84] And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. Acts 27:37
[85] https://www.vita-romae.com/roman-ships.html
[86] And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: Genesis 4:22a
[87] https://answersingenesis.org/geology/mount-st-helens/
[88] https://www.grisda.org/rapid-bedrock-incision-by-water-stream-outburst-the-case-of-the-oroville-dam-california-usa-1
[89] https://www.visitrenotahoe.com/things-to-do/fly-geyser-one-of-nevadas-little-surprises/
[90] And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. Genesis 1:9
[91] I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. Genesis 9:13-17
[92] Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Ecclesiastes 8:11
[93] For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Romans 4:3
[94] Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Galatians 3:6
[95] And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. James 2:23
[96] Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? Genesis 18:18
[97] And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:18
[98] Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? 25Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: 26For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: 27And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: 28And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 29:24-28
[99] And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. Genesis 15:17
[100] And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, I Chronicles 16:17
[101] The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Isaiah 24:5
[102] Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. I Peter 3:7
[103] Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10:15
[104] For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: 6Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. I Peter 3:5-6
[105] So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. Esther 2:8
[106] And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. Genesis 29:21
[107] They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Luke 17:27
[108] And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. Genesis 29:21
[109] And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. Mark 10:4
[110] And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. Genesis 16:5
[111] And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. Genesis 16:9
[112] And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Genesis 13:10
[113] And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. Genesis 19:14
[114] And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. Genesis 17:20
[115] Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. Genesis 25:1
[116] Now the sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bare Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan; Sheba, and Dedan. I Chronicles 1:32
[117] But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. Genesis 25:6
[118] That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25
[119] And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: II Peter 2:7
[120] Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Genesis 18:11
[121] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. Genesis 22:8
[122] And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. Genesis 24:58
[123] And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. 65For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. Genesis 24:64-65
[124] And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon. Genesis 26:7
[125] And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death. Genesis 24:67
[126] And Abigail hasted, and arose and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. I Samuel 25:42
[127] But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn. I Corinthians 7:9
[128] Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Acts 15:10
[129] Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. II Timothy 2:22
[130] Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Proverbs 31:28-29
[131] Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10
[132] Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:31
[133] Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. I Peter 3:7
[134] There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I Corinthians 7:34
[135] And God said unto Abraham, … for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Genesis 21:12b
[136] And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering : Genesis 22:8a
[137] If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. Deuteronomy 22:28-29
[138] He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. Proverbs 13:24
[139] Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. Proverbs 19:18
[140] Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Proverbs 22:15
[141] 3Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Proverbs 23:13-14
[142] The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. Proverbs 29:15
[143] I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, Malachi 1:2
[144] As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Romans 9:13
[145] And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. Genesis 25:22
[146] And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. Genesis 25:28
[147] And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. Genesis 27:13
[148] That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25
[149] Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. John 4:35
[150] There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. Genesis 49:31
[151] And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. Genesis 35:19
[152] And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me. 33And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon. 34And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi. 35And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing. Genesis 29:32-35
[153] Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. Genesis 31:34
[154] And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. 8If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked. 9Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. Genesis 31:7-9
[155] It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. Genesis 31:29
[156] And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. Genesis 32:6
[157] And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Genesis 35:29
[158] And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. Genesis 33:17
[159] And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying. Genesis 37:11
[160] Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. II Timothy 2:22
[161] Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Isaiah 66:5
[162] Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him. Genesis 40:23
[163] For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 14:11
[164] And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. 57And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands. Genesis 41:56-57
[165] And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Genesis 45:4
[166] And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; Genesis 15:13
[167] All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were threescore and six; Genesis 46:26
[168] Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Exodus 1:11
[169] When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. Hosea 11:1
[170] For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Romans 13:3-4
[171] And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. 7Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? Exodus 2:6-7
[172] Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? James 2:25
[173] But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. Acts 4:19
[174] And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. 4And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. Exodus 2:3-4
[175] And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 14And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. 15Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. Exodus 2:12-15
[176] Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. Exodus 3:1
[177] And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. Acts 7:23
[178] We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: 6But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes. Numbers 11:5-6
[179] And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 16And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. Exodus 4:15-16
[180] And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Exodus 32:4
[181] (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) II Corinthians 6:2
[182] So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Hebrews 9:28
[183] By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:10
[184] And he [Pharaoh] called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. 32Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. 33And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. Exodus 12:31-33
[185] Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 11And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. Exodus 32:10-14
[186] And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. 17And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone. Numbers 11:16-17
[187] And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle. 25And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease. Numbers 11:24-25
[188] Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:16-20
[189] Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. I Timothy 3:6
[190] And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. Genesis 21:5
[191] And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; Matthew 27:51
[192] And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Mark 15:38
[193] And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Luke 22:19
[194] And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. I Corinthians 11:24
[195] For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Hebrews 10:4
[196] And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD. 12I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God. Exodus 16:8, 12
[197] And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? Exodus 17:3
[198] Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me. Numbers 14:29
[199] And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. Deuteronomy 34:4
[200] And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Deuteronomy 34:7
[201] And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15
[202] And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. 10For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 11And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath. Joshua 2:9-11
[203] And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; Matthew 1:5
[204] Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? I Samuel 6:6
[205] And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. Joshua 6:5
[206] But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel. Joshua 7:1
[207] So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Romans 12:5
[208] Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Ephesians 4:25
[209] And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. Judges 3:11
[210] So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years. Judges 5:31
[211] Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon. Judges 8:28
[212] And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. Judges 13:1
[213] Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. 31And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. 32Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar. Judges 6:30-32
[214] And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, 37Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. 38And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. 40And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. Judges 6:36-40
[215] And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply. 2And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? 3God hath delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what was I able to do in comparison of you? Then their anger was abated toward him, when he had said that. Judges 8:1-3
[216] And all the men of Shechem gathered together, and all the house of Millo, and went, and made Abimelech king, by the plain of the pillar that was in Shechem. Judges 9:6
[217] Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. Proverbs 31:3
[218] And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. 5And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. Genesis 16:4-5
[219] And ye are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, threescore and ten persons, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother;) Judges 9:18
[220] And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. Judges 9:21
[221] And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god. Judges 8:33
[222] My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Song of Solomon 2:16
[223] I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. Song of Solomon 6:3
[224] And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? 17And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people. Judges 14:16-17
[225] And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. Judges 14:19
[226] The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:11-12
[227] Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. I Samuel 1:13
[228] And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him. II Kings 5:23
[229] The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow. II Kings 5:27
[230] Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. James 4:8
[231] And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; Matthew 1:5
[232] His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. Song of Solomon 8:3
[233] Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10
[234] But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33
[235] And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. Genesis 24:58
[236] And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. Ruth 3:16
[237] And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor. Ruth 3:14
[238] Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. Ruth 4:10
[239] But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. I Peter 3:4
[240] And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. I Samuel 8:7
[241] And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. I Samuel 9:2
[242] And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? 12And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? I Samuel 10:11-12
[243] But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. Numbers 11:26
[244] But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. I Samuel 16:7
[245] Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. I Samuel 16:13
[246] And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. I Samuel 17:25
[247] And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. Joshua 15:16
[248] And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. 13And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. Judges 1:12-13
[249] And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son in law: and the days were not expired. 27Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife. 28And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him. I Samuel 18:25-28
[250] But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Gallim. I Samuel 25:44
[251] And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. II Samuel 5:8a
[252] And David said, Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. I Chronicles 11:6
[253] As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12
[254] I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Isaiah 43:25
[255] And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 10:17
[256] Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Ephesians 4:31-32
[257] How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:14
[258] For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Malachi 3:6
[259] Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Hosea 14:2
[260] And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. II Samuel 12:13
[261] Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Psalm 2:9
[262] And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. Revelation 2:27
[263] And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. Revelation 12:5
[264] And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Revelation 19:15
[265] And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: Luke 22:31
[266] And unto David were sons born in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; II Samuel 3:2
[267] If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; 29Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. Deuteronomy 22:28-29
[268] And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. Genesis 34:30
[269] And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother, answered and said, Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead: for by the appointment of Absalom this hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. II Samuel 13:32
[270] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to 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; Exodus 20:5
[271] Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Exodus 34:7
[272] The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Numbers 14:1
[273] 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 5:9
[274] The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. Deuteronomy 24:16
[275] And his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; II Samuel 3:3
[276] And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work in the porch, four cubits. 22And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished. I Kings 7:19, 22
[277] In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif: 38And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it. I Kings 6:37-38
[278] In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif: 38And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it. I Kings 6:37-38
[279] And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. I Kings 11:3
[280] I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. 3His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. Song 8:2-3
[281] Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. Deuteronomy 17:17
[282] But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. Genesis 40:22
[283] Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, Nehemiah 2:2
[284] Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. Proverbs 31:3
[285] It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Proverbs 31:4-5
[286] Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. Proverbs 31:6-7
[287] 8Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. 9Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9
[288] She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:12
[289] Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. I Peter 3:7
[290] The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Proverbs 31:11
[291] A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones. Proverbs 12:4
[292] She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. Proverbs 31:26
[293] There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. Proverbs 12:18
[294] Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Proverbs 31:28
[295] Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Proverbs 31:29
[296] Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates. Proverbs 31:31
[297] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
[298] I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: Ecclesiastes 2:4
[299] So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. I Corinthians 3:7
[300] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. Isaiah 1:2
[301] Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Jeremiah 2:2
[302] Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Song of Solomon 1:2
[303] I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. 3His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. Song 8:2-3
[304] And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? Proverbs 5:20
[305] Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Proverbs 6:27
[306] And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: Matthew 12:25
[307] But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. Luke 11:17
[308] And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him; 14And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. 15Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 16So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. I Kings 12:13-16
[309] Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. I Kings 12:18
[310] For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities. I Kings 16:26
[311] And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin. I Kings 21:22
[312] And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin: I Kings 22:52
[313] Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. II Kings 3:3
[314] Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. II Kings 10:29
[315] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin; he departed not therefrom. II Kings 13:2
[316] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. II Kings 14:24
[317] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. II Kings 15:9
[318] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. II Kings 15:18
[319] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. II Kings 15:24
[320] And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. II Kings 15:28
[321] Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. Isaiah 38:5
[322] And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. II Kings 3:14
[323] And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people, that they may eat. 43And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof. 44So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD. II Kings 4:42-44
[324] But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. II Kings 5:11-12
[325] For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. II Chronicles 16:9
[326] And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. II Chronicles 16:7
[327] Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab. II Chronicles 18:1
[328] But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah. 11But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. 12And he was with them hid in the house of God six years: and Athaliah reigned over the land. II Chronicles 22:10-12
[329] Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:5
[330] Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Matthew 7:16
[331] Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:20
[332] If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14
[333] The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing. Psalm 34:10
[334] And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13
[335] Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Matthew 7:7
[336] As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:10
[337] If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1
[338] But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6
[339] But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. II Chronicles 26:16
[340] And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. I Samuel 13:13
[341] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9
[342] Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. II Kings 23:15
[343] And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. II Chronicles 35:25
[344] And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 10And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. II Kings 2:9-10
[345] And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. I Chronicles 28:9
[346] For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. II Corinthians 8:12
[347] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62619397
[348] Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14
[349] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6-7
[350] The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. Isaiah 11:6
[351] I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. 8He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Isaiah 50:6-8
[352] Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. 2And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. 3And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. Isaiah 32:1-3
[353] Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. 4He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. Isaiah 42:1-4
[354] And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. Isaiah 34:9
[355] I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. Isaiah 45:5-6
[356] Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God. Isaiah 45:14
[357] For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else. Isaiah 45:18
[358] Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. Isaiah 45:21-22
[359] Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Isaiah 46:9
[360] Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 10For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Isaiah 47:8, 10
[361] And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
[362] O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! Deuteronomy 5:29
[363] God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 7:1b
[364] As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:10
[365] Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:7
[366] For the love of Christ constraineth us; II Corinthians 5:14a
[367] And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. Isaiah 10:2
[368] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Romans 7:4
[369] He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach. Proverbs 19:26
[370] And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. Daniel 1:15
[371] He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher. II Kings 14:25
[372] But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. Matthew 12:39-41
[373] And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. Luke 11:29-30
[374] Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? Genesis 18:18
[375] And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:18
[376] And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Genesis 26:4
[377] Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Deuteronomy 4:6-8
[378] Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. Jeremiah 26:18
[379] He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8
[380] But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Micah 5:2
[381] Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:18-19
[382] For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their's. Habbakuk 1:6
[383] but the just shall live by his faith. Habbakuk 2:4b
[384] For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. Romans 1:17
[385] But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. Galatians 3:11
[386] Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Hebrews 10:38
[387] For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Habbakuk 2:14
[388] But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. Habbakuk 2:20
[389] Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts: Haggai 2:4
[391] They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. Psalm 22:18
[392] They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Psalm 69:21
[393] I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Isaiah 50:6
[394] As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: Isaiah 52:14
[395] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Daniel 9:26
[396] 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. Zechariah 11:12
[397] And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Zechariah 12:10
[398] Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. Zechariah 13:7
[399] This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. 27For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Isaiah 14:26-27
[400] The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth. Isaiah 23:9
[401] Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. Isaiah 46:10-11
[402] For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. Jeremiah 4:28
[403] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
[404] He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Deuteronomy 32:10
[405] Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Galatians 3:6
[406] For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Galatians 4:22-23
[407] Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. Romans 3:2
[408] And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians. Exodus 12:36
[409] Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. Exodus 15:4
[410] And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15
[411] For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Ezekiel 18:32
[412] Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Ezekiel 33:11
[413] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
[414] This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. Daniel 4:17
[415] For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. I Kings 11:4
[416] Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:) Esther 1:1
[417] But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. Ezekiel 29:4
[418] And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Ezekiel 38:4
[419] Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:) Esther 1:1
[420] And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. Jeremiah 25:12
[421] But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. Job 32:8
[422] No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6:44
[423] I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. I Corinthians 3:6-7
[424] And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. Jeremiah 25:12
[425] https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/balfour-declaration
[426] https://www.britannica.com/event/Balfour-Declaration
[427] Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. 15And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. 16For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. Malachi 2:14-16
[428] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Romans 7:4
[429] And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: Matthew 7:25-26
[430] As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. I Peter 4:10
[431] I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. 3His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. Song 8:2-3
[432] Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. 8Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. 9Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 10How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Song 4:7-10
[433] My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Song of Solomon 6:9
[434] When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, 11And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; 12Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; 13And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. 14And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. Deuteronomy 21:10-14
[435] And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. Genesis 16:3
[436] Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Genesis 3:16
[437] And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth: Genesis 5:3
[438] Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 23Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Matthew 1:18, 23
[439] Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Ephesians 5:21-24
[440] Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ecclesiastes 9:9
[441] But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: 33But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. 34There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I Corinthians 7:32-34
[442] Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. I Peter 3:7
[443] My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Song of Solomon 6:9
[444] That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; I Thessalonians 4:4
[445] The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:11-12
[446] The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Ruth 1:9a
[447] But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Matthew 5:22
[448] But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Hebrews 12:8
[449] 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
[450] And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. Mark 9:35
[451] And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Mark 10:44
[452] The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9
[453] Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20
[454] And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:23
[455] O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Matthew 23:37
[456] Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. I Corinthians 11:9
[457] I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10
[458] And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2
[459] But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. I Corinthians 11:3
[460] And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Mark 10:44
[461] And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth: Genesis 5:3
[462] Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Genesis 3:16
[463] And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; Judges 16:16
[464] Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 10But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. Job 2:9-10
[465] Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Ephesians 5:25
[466] 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. Ruth 4:1
[467] And so it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died. II Kings 7:20
[468] On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, 11To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. 12But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. Esther 1:10-12
[469] For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: Psalm 84:11a
[470] Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Ephesians 5:33
[471] Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. I Peter 3:6
[472] she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I Corinthians 7:34b
[473] The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. I Timothy 5:2
[474] For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. Deuteronomy 14:2
[475] And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, Deuteronomy 26:18a
[476] Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:14
[477] But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light; I Peter 2:9
[478] But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. Genesis 25:6
[479] Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12
[480] I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? Job 31:1
[481] Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. I Corinthians 7:1-2
[482] Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. Proverbs 18:22
[483] Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Proverbs 31:28-29
[484] Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? Genesis 18:12
[485] I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. 3His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. Song 8:2-3
[486] Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matthew 19:6
[487] And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. Mark 10:8
[488] Sexual Relations and Cultural Behavior, by J. D. Unwin (Frank M. Darrow 1969)
[489] Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Proverbs 29:18
[490] Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Proverbs 31:29
[491] The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: 16The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough. Proverbs 30:15-16
[492] The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. Proverbs 31:1
[493] Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. 4It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: 5Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. 6Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. 7Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more. 8Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. 9Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:3-9
[494] My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Proverbs 1:8
[495] My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Proverbs 6:20
[496] A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man despiseth his mother. Proverbs 15:20
[497] He that wasteth his father, and chaseth away his mother, is a son that causeth shame, and bringeth reproach. Proverbs 19:26
[498] Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Proverbs 20:20
[499] Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Proverbs 23:22
[500] Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. Proverbs 19:18
[501] Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Proverbs 23:13-14
[502] If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? Hebrews 12:7-9
[503] Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Galatians 4:1-2
[504] And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4
[505] Anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski quoted in Daniel Patrick Moynihan Family and Nation, (San Diego CA: Harcourt Brace, 1986) pp. 169-170.
[506] David Popenoe, “The Controversial Truth”, New York Times December 26, 1992, A-24.
[507] And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Judges 16:15
[508] The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Proverbs 31:11
[509] A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Proverbs 11:13
[510] The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. Proverbs 19:11
[511] He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: Proverbs 20:19a
[512] And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, Matthew 19:4
[513] But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. Mark 10:6
[514] Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15
[515] 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24
[516] No servant 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. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13
[517] The Hebrew word for “help” is ezer used in “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help (Psalm 121:1)?“ God helps us when we cry. Is a “help” inferior? “Meet” means suitable. A wife is a suitable help for her husband. We used to say, “Behind every successful man there’s a woman” because of the value of a wife’s contributions.
[518] Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Matthew 19:6
[519] What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Mark 10:9
[520] Mount, Jr., Eric and Bos, Johanna W. H. “Scripture on Sexuality, Shifting Authority,” Journal of Presbyterian History 59 no. 2, (Summer 1981): 224
[521] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-559949/Downfall-decent-clan-What-Shannon-family-tree-reveals-social-breakdown-Britain.html
[522] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159476/Tennessees-deadbeat-dads-The-men-81-children-46-different-women--theyre-paying-child-support-them.html
[523] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12
[524] https://www.faithandreason.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Mondale-Act-After-Forty-Years_-True.pdf
[525] https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2021/05/a_legal_system_corrupted.html
[526] For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Malachi 3:6
[527] Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Matthew 28:19
[528] That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Philippians 2:15
[529] Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. Isaiah 66:5
[530] Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5:13
[531] Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? Luke 14:34
[532] God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 7:11b
[533] But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6
[534] As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: Romans 3:10
[535] Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. I Peter 1:16
[536] Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:7
[537]Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5
[538] For the love of Christ constraineth us; II Corinthians 5:14a
[539] Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Hebrews 13:7
[540] Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Hebrews 13:17
[541] Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. Hebrews 13:24
posted by Bill Taylor at 12:13 PM
1 Comments:
Very well said. You covered a lot of territory in a single blog post. I especially liked where you quoted Scripture and showed the same verse but in other translations which showed the exact opposite meaning.
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