Flesh, like grass, can be glorious, glorious like a flower, but it does not last. What lasts? The word of God. The Covenant He made with humanity, that is what lasts. These bodies we have are like flowers, pretty, but mortal. Immortality is for our spirit; it is for those who trust in the word of YHWH.
Testimony of YHWH's Word
Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,
In other words, the redactor of 34:1-4, by adding that these tablets were meant to replace the previous set, is connecting two unrelated stories. In one, Moses goes up the mountain, receives tablets from God with writing upon them, but smashes them. In the other, Moses goes up the mountain with tablets that he carved, inscribes the Cultic Decalogue upon them, and returns with these tablets.
These are questions many students of the Torah end up asking at some point, just what are the differences here? In order to answer these questions, we must first go back to the original Hebrew, and in some cases all of the way back to their root word to really understand what is meant. We have discovered that statutes and ordinances are essentially the same thing; they are decrees, requirements, or boundaries set by the Creator. Judgments instruct us in what to do in a situation, and commandments are orders, or charges, given to be followed. How did we come to this conclusion? Just your average, every day word study.
The paper attempts to establish through exegetical analysis of the Hebrew text a plausible literary framework for Psalm 19. A careful study of the psalm suggests that the psalmist draws on the basic concepts of seeing and hearing in the construction of this poem. In a skillful reversal of roles, visual terminology conveys verbal ideas while verbal vocabulary describes visual phenomena. As a result, the visual and verbal revelation of Yahweh are at once contrasted and compared in the text. Together they sustain a complementary relationship, comprising one complete revelation of Yahweh. Furthermore, the interplay of seeing and hearing may account for the wisdom features present in the psalm. The Ancient Near East traditionally viewed wisdom as derived from the observation of the natural world. The superior nature of genuine wisdom, appropriated by Israel however, comes from Yahweh's verbal revelation. Wisdom acquired through visual testimony becomes assimilated under the auspices of wisdom as defined by Torah. Yahweh's word provides the only source of wisdom for interpreting the witness of the external world properly. Ultimately, both Yahweh's works and words testify to the glory of the Creator.
The entire Protestant canon of scripture is considered the inspired, inerrant word of God.[154] Jehovah's Witnesses consider the Bible to be scientifically and historically accurate and reliable[155] and interpret much of it literally, but accept parts of it as symbolic.[156] They consider the Bible to be the final authority for all their beliefs.[157] Sociologist Andrew Holden's ethnographic study of the group concluded that pronouncements of the Governing Body, through Watch Tower Society publications, carry almost as much weight as the Bible.[158]
Watch Tower Society publications have claimed that God has used Jehovah's Witnesses (and formerly, the International Bible Students) to declare his will[392][393] and has provided advance knowledge about Armageddon and the establishment of God's kingdom.[394][395][396] Some publications also claimed that God has used Jehovah's Witnesses and the International Bible Students as a modern-day prophet.[en 5] George D. Chryssides stated, "while prediction may be part of a biblical prophet's role, the root meaning of prophecy is that of proclaiming God's word." He went on to say that, "Jehovah's Witnesses ... are the recipients of prophecy, who regard themselves as invested with the interpretation of biblical writings."[397][en 6] With these interpretations, Jehovah's Witnesses' publications have made various predictions about world events they believe were prophesied in the Bible.[398][399] Failed predictions have led to the alteration or abandonment of some doctrines.[400][401] Some failed predictions had been presented as "beyond doubt" or "approved by God".[402]
The Watch Tower Society rejects accusations that it is a false prophet,[403] stating that its interpretations are not inspired or infallible,[404][405][406] and that it has not claimed its predictions were "the words of Jehovah."[403] Chryssides has suggested that with the exception of statements about 1914, 1925 and 1975, the changing views and dates of the Jehovah's Witnesses are largely attributable to changed understandings of biblical chronology rather than to failed predictions. Chryssides further states, "it is therefore simplistic and naïve to view the Witnesses as a group that continues to set a single end-date that fails and then devise a new one, as many counter-cultists do."[407] However, sociologist Andrew Holden states that since the foundation of the movement around 140 years ago, "Witnesses have maintained that we are living on the precipice of the end of time."[408]
The biblical words most often translated "covenant" are berit [tyir.B] in the Old Testament (appearing about 280 times) and diatheke [diaqhvkh] in the New Testament (at least 33 times). The origin of the Old Testament word has been debated; some have said it comes from a custom of eating together ( Gen 26:30 ; 31:54 ); others have emphasized the idea of cutting an animal (an animal was cut in half [ 15:18 ]); still others have seen the ideas of perceiving or determining as root concepts. The preferred meaning of this Old Testament word is bond; a covenant refers to two or more parties bound together. This idea of bond will be explicated more fully.
The New Testament word for covenant has usually been translated as covenant, but testimony and testament have also been used. This Greek word basically means to order or dispose for oneself or another. The though of the inequality of the parties is latent.
The Old Testament. The Hebrew word for covenant does not appear in Genesis 1-5. Some scholars say that this is evidence that there was no covenant in humankind's earliest history. Some say that the idea of covenant arose initially in the minds of the Israelites after they had been at Mount Sinai. To account for references to the covenant in the Noahic and patriarchal accounts, scholars have incorrectly said that later editors of Genesis inserted the idea of covenant to give historical evidence and credence to what Israel later believed. Other scholars, who accept Genesis as a record of Yahweh's revelation, also have difficulty accepting that God established his covenant when he created the cosmos mainly because of the lack of direct verbal reference to it.
Biblical testimony points to the fact that God covenanted when he created. Hosea ( 6:7 ) refers to Adam breaking the covenant. Jeremiah spoke of the covenant of the day and the night that no one can alter ( 33:19-20 ); this covenant is understood to have been initiated in creation when God separated light from darkness and gave the sun and moon their appointed place and role ( Genesis 1:3-5 Genesis 1:14 ). When Yahweh God first spoke to Noah, he said he was going to wipe humankind from the face of the earth ( Gen 6:7 ). But he assured Noah he would uphold and cause his covenant to continue. Hence Noah did not have to fear that God's plan for and method of administering his cosmic kingdom would be different after the flood. But why, if God covenanted when he created, is the word "covenant" not in Genesis 1-2? Those who wish to speak of only the covenant of grace, referred to briefly and indirectly in the Noahic account (Gen. 6-9), believe that some of the basic elements of the covenant of grace were enunciated when Yahweh God promised victory through the woman's seed ( Gen 3:14-16 ). When Yahweh God covenanted with David, according to 2 Samuel 7, the term "covenant" does not appear but when David referred to what Yahweh had said and done, he said, "Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant?" ( 2 Sam 23:5 ; cf. Psalm 89:3 ). As the elements included in covenant were present in the account of the covenanting with David ( 2 Sam 7 ), so the elements constituting covenant are recorded in Genesis 1-2.
Yahweh God did more; he spoke of assured blessings. God blessed Adam and Eve; he thus gave them ability and authority to serve as his covenant agents. He provided for their sustenance ( Gen 1:28-30 ). He also spoke of the possibility of disobedience, if they ate of the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil ( Gen 2:17 ). The ideas of blessing (life) and curse (death) thus were also included. The forbidding of eating has been referred to as the probationary command but also as the integral aspect of "the covenant of works." An increasing number of biblical students and scholars have come to consider, on the basis of biblical testimony, that it is preferable to speak of the covenant of creation and that what was considered to constitute the "covenant of works" is but an integral part of the covenant of creation. 2ff7e9595c
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