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Tag: Proverbs

A popular saying, regarded as conveying wisdom. Scripture records a great number of didactic proverbs and also preserves some popular sayings.

Proverbs – Biblehub.com Proverbs topical index

Hebrews 12-Grow Not Weary and Lose Heart
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:3 NASB

Endurance for the race

Life wears me out – daily and year to year. My faith fades into a fog of uncertainty as I wonder if the Lord has any use for me at all. I am weary of sin and sinners, my heart broken and soul suffering. How will I endure this marathon of mortal life?

Can you relate to that? Do your days run endlessly with all around you asking you to sprint to their end rather than endure the race of hope to finish?

It was no different for a persecuted church, yet in Christ we have found our Hope and Light to victory over death and the joy of the prize.

The author of Hebrews has just connected a genealogy of Jewish faith where ‘faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now he urges us to continue in Christ by faith.

Lay aside every burden

Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never allow the righteous to be shaken.
Psalm 55:22 CSB

Many know well the comfort of our Lord’s invitation to give to Him the great weights of our lives which hold us down.

At that time Jesus said,
“All things have been entrusted to me by my Father.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
excerpt from Matthew 11:25-28

The author of Hebrews has just shown us many witnesses who have gone before us in this long journey of faith. He has provided the evidence.

Hebrews 12:

Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us.

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.
Hebrews 12:1b-2a CSB

Clear imagery of our remaining days, as well as the persecuted lives of the early Christians to whom the author of Hebrews wrote his letter. We are not in the race alone, but have run it with Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, the many Prophets of God and all the others.

We have received a baton of hope from our forefathers, which we may place gently into the hand of our children by faith. Jesus, the Messiah is our hope of winning the prize joyfully awarded by our Heavenly Father.

Fix your eyes upon Jesus

It bears repeating: Jesus IS our pacesetter. He has run this same race of mortality before us.

Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

ἀφοράω – aphoraō
- to turn the eyes away from other things and fix them on something
He exhorts us to turn away from things that are not part of the race of eternity and fix our eyes on the finisher of our faith.

The once-familiar hymn based on this passage expresses the authors same desire.
```
 
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free.
 
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
  In the light of His glory and grace.
2
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conqu’rors we are!
3
His Word shall not fail you, He promised;
Believe Him and all will be well;
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell! 
```
Do not lose heart

These three verses appear as an introduction to Hebrews 12, but they comprise the heart of the author’s conclusion continuing in chapter 13.

3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.

Fix your eyes upon Jesus. Our race is not ended, but Christ our Redeemer assures our victory!

Striving against Sin

Have your forgotten the exhortation, the admonition and encouragement of scripture?

Proverbs 3:11 Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son,
and do not loathe his discipline;
12 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

Are you an obedient son or daughter of God our Father? The author of Hebrews continues with the example of earthly fathers. They discipline their child because the love them. It’s just for a few days, but God’s discipline to our holiness ‘yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.’

Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees…
Hebrews 12:12 CSB

Walk the straight and narrow so that your woundedness may be healed.

ἁγιασμός – Sanctification

We are all broken though perhaps we have not yet shed blood for the sake of God. Our lives, disjointed by the sin that surrounds, wander the paths of unrighteousness.

What is needed? How will a sinner like me ever get to the holiness required of heaven?

The writer of Hebrews will continue to chastise us as a loving father when we continue in chapter 12.

To be continued…
February 19, 2019
Hebrews – 2 – Pioneer of Perfect Salvation
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.
Hebrews 2:10 NIV

But we see Jesus… Hebrews 2:9a

The author begins his letter to his Jewish brothers stating that G_d’s final word is through the Son, not angels or prophets.

Previously the author of Hebrews has made a case through scripture that Jesus, the Son of God, is higher than the angels.

Heir of all things

Who has ascended into heaven and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name or His son’s name?
Surely you know!
Proverbs 30:4 NASB

Continuing in our study of Hebrews, a letter authored to first century Jews, we now continue the second chapter after what we covered previously in the beginning verses 1-9 in Hebrew 2 – Pay Attention.

Fitting and proper perfection

Are you a perfect Jew?

Or more to a personal point, am I a perfect Christian?

Of course not.

So how do we have any chutzpah outside of the Messiah Jesus to say that we may be accepted into eternal life by the Lord? This is the issue of salvation the writer of Hebrews takes on here.

Hebrews 2:

For it was bekavod (fitting, proper) for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing banim rabbim (many sons) to kavod, to bring to shleimut (perfection, completion) the Rosh (Head) and Mekhonen (Founder) of their Yeshua’at Hashem through yissurim (suffering).
Hebrews 2:10 Orthodox Jewish Bible

Most Christians lack a full understanding of many terms of Hebrew origin like perfection, author, purification and redemption. I am neither a Torah trained Rabbi nor Messianic Jew, but further readings of Paul‘s letters will help you to understand an academic Jewish approach to some of these terms.

10 – It was fitting for Him

Various translations of πρέπω read: it became Him, it was bekavod, it was fitting, it was entirely appropriate – the concept that God does what is right and perfect. Jews and Christians must agree that man has a tendency to weigh perfection incorrectly.

כָּֽל־דֶּרֶךְ־אִישׁ יָשָׁר בְּעֵינָיו וְתֹכֵן לִבֹּות יְהוָֽה׃
עֲשֹׂה צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט נִבְחָר לַיהוָה מִזָּֽבַח׃
Proverbs 21:2,3

in bringing many sons

“Many sons – πολύς υἱός speaks of multitudes and not specifically men (as opposed to women) or of a specific son. Think of the beneficiary as humanity, rather than all creation or even the Creator Himself. And what is the benefit – what is our reward?

unto glory

“εἰςδόξα – eis doxa – To glory or toward glory.

Gloria Patri

Now glory means many things to different people, so let’s be clear in our completed understanding of doxa, as in ‘doxology.’ Yes, praise of God or of a man.

Glory becomes a Biblical description of the brightness of God, or of the sun, moon, stars, angels or an object; implying magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace and majesty.

God is unsurpassed glory! A higher indescribable brightness. Yet the glory of God has a contrasting glory of which we seldom speak.

Doxa in Greek translates as an opinion, judgment, view; therefore our human opinion or estimate of someone or something, whether good or bad, is a glory or judgement – Biblically of God, a Most High Glory.

to perfect

τελειόω – to complete (perfect), to bring to the end (goal) proposed, to accomplish or bring to a close, a fulfillment by event of the prophecies of the scriptures.

לָכֵן אֲחַלֶּק־לֹו בָרַבִּים וְאֶת־עֲצוּמִים יְחַלֵּק שָׁלָל תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱרָה לַמָּוֶת נַפְשֹׁו וְאֶת־פֹּשְׁעִים נִמְנָה וְהוּא חֵטְא־רַבִּים נָשָׂא וְלַפֹּשְׁעִים יַפְגִּֽיעַ׃ ס
Isaiah 53:12

their head and founder

We must, at some point in our lives, confess that some have authority over us. (This is assumed in a Biblical-based Hebrew culture.) Current authority, previous authority and a succession of authority all come into play.

Abraham, Israel, Moses, David and family patriarchs may all be mentioned as a head or founding father of Jews. The Lord granted both His Authority and succession through them. Here the author of Hebrews points to their Higher Authority.

ἀρχηγός – archēgos implies one that takes the lead in any thing and thus affords an example, a predecessor in a matter, pioneer. Jesus, therefore, becomes a captain or founder, a chief leader or Prince over these who followed.

Within the same verse His origin was established as ‘Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things’… or other translations read: ‘God—for whom and through whom all things exist—...’ Clearly, the Son of God IS God! Jesus IS before all founders and over all authority.

of their salvation

Two questions come immediately to mind:
1. What is salvation?
2. Whose salvation? (Or who can be saved?)
σωτηρία sōtēria –Salvation, in Greek, the common language of first century Judea and much of the Roman Empire, refers to deliverance, preservation, safety, even from molestation by one’s enemies. A Roman understanding of sōtēria could have viewed a “savior” as a threat to their own authority.

In an ethical sense, that which concludes to the soul’s safety, of Messianic salvation.

יָשַׁע – yasha` is the Hebrew concept. Isaiah asks,

פָּגַ֤עְתָּ אֶת־שָׂשׂ֙ וְעֹ֣שֵׂה צֶ֔דֶק בִּדְרָכֶ֖יךָ יִזְכְּר֑וּךָ הֵן־אַתָּ֤ה קָצַ֨פְתָּ֙ וַֽנֶּחֱטָ֔א בָּהֶ֥ם עֹולָ֖ם וְנִוָּשֵֽׁעַ׃

How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?
Isaiah 64:5 CSB

The question of who can be saved is one of some debate, which we will not take on today. Since the writer of Hebrews refers to the Son, the Messiah, as God in this introductory passage, we will briefly examine His own answer to this question.

When the disciples heard this, they were utterly astonished and asked, “Then who can be saved? ”
Matthew 19:25 CSB

The Jewish Apostle and tax collector relates consecutive stories about money, the rich and salvation, asking the Messiah who can be saved. Hear His answer:

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26 CSB

Not even an Apostle or rich ruler can earn salvation or buy perfection. Yet God the Father has made a way for the completion of sinful man.

through sufferings.

διά dia πάθημα pathēma

We hesitate here, even that the Messiah must suffer, let alone that we must in death. Yet the meaning is clear: that which one suffers or has suffered. We shrink from some of the descriptions of sufferings: misfortune, calamity, evil, affliction.

Many of us have experienced some of the afflictions which Christians must undergo. And we know we cannot endure that with the Messiah suffered for our sins as a Sacrifice painfully crucified on the Cross.

Hebrews and gentiles know that in perfection a price must be paid for sin.

Sanctification – ἁγιάζω

To sanctify is to purify, separating from the profane and dedicating or consecrating to a Holy God.

How can a sinner be consecrated to the Lord God?

The author of Hebrews continues by assuring us that the Messiah Jesus completed our sanctification and He, the crucified Son of Man calls us brothers (or sisters). What undue grace and love of those of the world. And grace for both Jew and gentile, grace for those of the first century and sinners of this twenty-first century.

Once again the writer of Hebrews quotes familiar scripture, even the very song
from Psalm 22 יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Yĕhowshuwa` cried out from the cross! He also quotes the historical record of Samuel and the prophet Isaiah.

Again, I will trust in him. And again, Here I am with the children God gave me.
Hebrews 2:13 CSB

The Lord God has become a personal God on the Cross!

וְה֥וּא כֹהֵ֖ן לְאֵ֥ל עֶלְיֹֽון׃

a Priest of G_d Most High

The writer of Hebrews closes this section about Jesus becoming our Pioneer of Perfection with explanation why the Son of Man became a High Priest for us.

17 Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

More about atonement and our need for this Priest in Hebrews 3.
```
To be continued...
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January 16, 2019
A River of Redemption Flowing from Eden – 7 – Upstream in History

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” – John 1:45 ESV

What does it mean to look upstream in history? Those seeking eternal truth look back through the eyes of scripture.

A Basis of Law and Justice

Looking back on the source of law somewhat resembles our search for Eden and the basis of life. We move from the still waters of a river with visible bottom to swim upstream against torrents of the unseen. How can we see justice and redemption, so distant to our own existence?

The answers of justice rest not in the law, but in the Lawgiver and relationship of the redeemed.

Before the incarnation of the Messiah, yet long after the fall of Jerusalem the Prophet Isaiah [יְשַׁעְיָה] had proclaimed: 1:27 צִיֹּון בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה וְשָׁבֶיהָ בִּצְדָקָֽה׃

Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed. – Isaiah 1:27-28

Even Isaiah had looked back upstream through the torrent of sin, just as Moses had warned in Genesis.

9 If the Lord of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.

10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!

These warnings to obedience refer not to the law, but a broken relationship with the Lord and sinful relationships with other men. Law has basis in the relationships of men and women to each other; but above all, law requires a relationship to the commands of the Living God.

Do godless men and evil women desire judgment?

Their contempt for authority reflects the darkness of a mortal life lacking fear of The Almighty God. They neglect, trespass and try to circumvent the law.

Evil men and godless women rebel against righteousness, without regard of consequence for others or their own inevitable punishment when convicted. Do you rebel against righteousness?

Justice fails when licentiousness claims all sin as freedom.

Though we tend towards lawlessness, we are free to choose obedience to the Lord. A humble sinner desires mercy and the repentant law-breaker wants restoration of relationship with the Lord. And this in addition to redemption with a community of loved-ones.

Returning to Joseph, further upstream

Moses, giver of the Law, was educated in Egypt and instructed by the Lord. In our previous look at these two men we learned that Joseph was educated by Israel in Canaan, but also apprenticed under Potiphar and Pharaoh in Egypt.

GENESIS 41:

28 “It is just as I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do…

… all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will devastate the land… the matter has been determined by God, and he will carry it out soon.

34 Let Pharaoh do this: Let him appoint overseers over the land and take a fifth of the harvest of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

Does anyone note the 20% tax here? It allows the administration of government to help its citizens in the seven years of struggle ahead. Of course, the tithe (tenth) to the Lord was long established.

Even in Egypt the King may have just required a double-portion to balance the years ahead when major markets would fail. No crops, therefore no income for the country. In addition, the people would need help or they would perish.

We cannot think of law separate of its authority, intent and righteousness.

Joseph, with God’s help, redeems not only Egypt, but also its struggling neighbors (for a small price). These would include his own brothers and father.

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. – Proverbs 29:18 KJV

Prince Zaphenath-paneah

41 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “See, I am placing you over all the land of Egypt.”

… 45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On. [Heliopolis] And Joseph went throughout [Joseph gained authority over] the land of Egypt…

50 Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On, bore them to him.

53 Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end, 54 and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every land, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food.

55 When the whole land of Egypt was stricken with famine, the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh told all Egypt, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

Moses and Pharaoh would have both spoken Egyptian (the language that became Coptic, not modern Egyptian Arabic). Moses would have almost certainly spoken Hebrew too. – source

As Moses looks upstream toward this time he reminds the Hebrew people, who have not yet entered the promised land of Joseph. It would be accurate in Hebrew to say this.

41:55 וַתִּרְעַב כָּל־אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וַיִּצְעַק הָעָם אֶל־פַּרְעֹה לַלָּחֶם וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה לְכָל־מִצְרַיִם לְכוּ אֶל־יֹוסֵף אֲשֶׁר־יֹאמַר לָכֶם תַּעֲשֽׂוּ׃

Yet in their native Egyptian language, now the fluent first language of Joseph, these God-spoken words through Pharaoh would have been heard and later told in all the land:

Pharaoh told all Egypt, “Go to Zaphenath-paneah and do whatever he tells you.”

A familiar Redeemer we do not understand

Later, Israel will send his other sons to Pharaoh to buy the grain they must have for survival of their animals and for food.

The ruler of Egypt they hear (actually, Joseph) speaks a different language. He looks different than these poor men who humbly raise sheep and trade for those things they require. This redeemer they hear speaks through others in a foreign language.

Genesis 42:

“Where do you come from?” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.

“You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land.”

“No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food,” they said.

17 So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.

18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God—do this and you will live.

Moses’ hearers knew the outcome of redemption as we do; but Israel’s other sons did not.

Read this reunion story again, as experienced from the fear of these men now humbled, hungry and imprisoned by a rich foreign ruler.

Their Redeemer Revealed

Time passes as Israel’s sons return to him in Canaan, but the famine continues and they again run out of food. No alternative but to return to Egypt, ruled by Zaphenath-paneah, whose word is law of the land.

Genesis 43:

But the men were afraid because they were taken to the house of Zaphenath-paneah. (Of course, Moses tells us his true identity even before this redeemer of Israel reveals the Lord’s purpose.)

… they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.

27 He asked if they were well, and he said, “How is your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive?”

28 They answered, “Your servant our father is well. He is still alive.” And they knelt low and paid homage to him.

32 They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is detestable to them.

Are you, poor sinner, detestable to the rich? Would they choose to disavow you because they do not know the God we serve?

Everyone leaves and they depart the next morning. Then yet another deceptive plot to bring them back once more.

Judah pleads: “My lord, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh. [44:18]

Genesis 45:

Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone away from me!”

No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers. 2 But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and also Pharaoh’s household heard it.

You know the rest, but have you weighed justice by the measure of the Lord’s purposes?

Do you truly believe that God provides a redeemer not only through your own sufferings, but through suffering and injustice to another?

‘Why does God allow evil?’ we ask.

The Redeemer of Israel gives us the Lord’s answer.

Moses tells a people who have endured forty years in the wilderness after the passing of a generation who turned against the Law, which they both heard from the Lord and read on tablets of stone from the finger of God:

Listen to Joseph’s words to his brothers of why this evil has happened.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please, come near me,” and they came near. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt.

7 God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. 8 Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God.

And consider the weight and Authority in Joseph’s next words about Providence:

He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

A ‘father‘ to Pharaoh; not only as Jacob is their father but also in authority, even loving authority, as God IS our Father.

Later Joseph will give the reason for their redemption:

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people[fn] should be kept alive, as they are today. – Genesis 50:20 ESV

22 Joseph and his father’s family remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years.

To be continued…

August 9, 2018