Category Archives: Bible Study

Hope and LORD God

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This study is going to cover several things; it started out as a look at the word “hope” and then I noticed the differences in Lord God. So I had fun comparing the passage in different translations.

I set Psalm 71 in 1 Samuel 30:6 (see psalm position), this passage is where Ziklag was burned, because it sounds like someone trying to encourage them self in the Lord.

Hope in verse 5 is tiqvah #8615 (Strong’s Concordance, 2001) and means a cord or attachment, it is used 34x; other usages are expectancy and line. While in verse 14 it is yachal #3176 and means wait and to be patient, it is used 42x; other usages are tarry, trusted, and variant. If I am really exploring a word I will look up all the usages of the word and how they are set in the passages.

Other Old Testament (King James) words that are translated as hope are:

  1. #983/982/986 – batach –refuge, security, trust ex. –Ps. 16:9, 22:9, Eccl. 9:4
  2. #2342 – chuwl – twist, whirl, dance, writhe (in pain), figurative-to wait ex. – Lam. 3:26
  3. #2620 – chacah – to flee (for protection), to confide in  “It is often used where God is compared to a rock, shield or one with protective wings. ex. –Prov.14:32
  4. #2976 – yaash – to despond (no hope) ex. – Jer.2:25
  5. #3689 – kecel – fatness, silliness, (in a good sense) trust ex. – Job 31:24
  6. #4009 – mibtach – from 982 refuge, security, assurance ex. – Jer. 17:7
  7. #4723 – miqvah – something waited for, confidence, collection (of something) ex. – Ezra 10:2
  8. #7663/7664 – sabar –to scrutinize, to expect ex. – Is. 38:18, Ps. 119:116
  9. #8431 – towcheleth – expectation ex. – Job 41:9                                        Interesting note – in the KJV I do not see a reference for “hope” until the Book of Ruth.

The New Testament (KJV) really only has one word for hope but according to Vine’s Dictionary it has several definitions (Vine’s is in my concordance).

# 1680/1679 – Elpis (noun and verb) to anticipate (with pleasure), expectation, confidence

Hope is not a fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22; if you look at the list of things to add to your faith in 2 Peter 1:5+6 you will notice it is not there either. I feel it is because if you get those things they are what allows you to have HOPE.

Notice the variations from Lord God, Lord Jehovah, Sovereign Lord to just repeating Lord twice. I have seen people pick a verse like this to use as a comparison when they are shopping for a new Bible.

Psalm 71

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)              5 For you are my hope, Adonai Elohim, in whom I have trusted since I was young.

New American Standard Bible (NASB) 5 For You are my hope; O Lord [c] God, You are my confidence from my youth. [c] Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord

Darby Translation (DARBY)                   5 For thou art my hope, O Lord Jehovah, my confidence from my youth.

New International Version 1984            5 For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)5 For You are my hope, Lord God, my confidence from my youth.

King James Version (KJV)                    5 For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.

New King James Version (NKJV)        5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD; You are my trust from my youth.

Wycliffe Bible (WYC)                           5 For thou, Lord, art my patience (For thou, Lord, art whom I put my trust in); Lord, thou art mine hope from my youth.

Amplified Bible (AMP)                          5 For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my trust from my youth and the source of my confidence.

Psalm 70

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA) 5 For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth;

All of the references came from: www.biblegateway.com (each has their own publishing company) Use the parallel function at the right side of the page after you have gotten your scripture on the screen.

 

 

 

TEST,TEST,TEST

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Since school has just finished and I end the year giving all kinds of “test” when I read Psalm 66 I had to reopen the idea of being tested. This verse follows a section that refers to when Israel was in Egypt and came out of there.

Psalm 66

10 For You, God, tested us; You refined us like silver. 
11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance.

Testing here is bahan (# 1043 Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance, 2 Edition – all my definitions for this study will be taken from here), which means to try, probe or examine to learn the genuineness of an object like testing for the purity of the metal. And we think we get tested – prison, burdens, rode over (a sign of derision), fire and water. Some of you have endured these things but most of us are clueless about this level of testing. But look where it will bring you “a place of abundance.”

This passage led me to Deuteronomy and several passages where Moses is describing/reminding the children and grandchildren of the people who came out of Egypt what had happened for them.

Deuteronomy

4:34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

Testings here is nasa (# 5814) (don’t you love Hebrew into English) and refers to proving character or faithfulness; if it is done toward God it implies lack of confidence in Him (a sin).

Signs– ot #253 sign, mark or symbol that communicates a supernatural. NIV translators changed it from signs to miraculous signs over the years.

Wonders– mopet #4603 wonder, sign, miracle, portent, symbol

War–milhama #4878 fighting, battle, war and many other words like soldiers, warrior, etc.

Mighty hand–mighty- hazaq #2617 powerful, strong, hard, physical and internal strength, (negative) hardness of heart; hand –yad #3338 hand, arm, finger, figuratively control, power, strength, direction, care. It is added to other words for many meanings. If you exchange words it takes on many great meanings. It is the same phrase for the rest of the verses.

Outstretched arm– outstretched –nata #5742 to spread out, be extended; arm – zeroa #2432 arm, forearm, shoulder, power, strength, force

Great and awesome deeds– awesome deeds- mora #4616 fear, terror, respect, reverence, awesome deeds; great- gadol #1524 large, much, more, this can refer to physical size, quantity, degree, and social status

I think the testings were for Israel (the first three plagues) then the others were for Egypt and showed how serious God was about letting them go. The Lord was educating His people and showing them His concern and intent toward them. 

7:17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out? ” 18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. 

Remember this is to the children of the original group who actually saw these things. God is willing to repeat these test and signs to get them into the land. Look at the teaching – recall a lesson learned and project to a new situation.

11:1 Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws, and his commands always. 2 Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3 the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country… 5 It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram… 7 But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.

The reason for the testing is verse 1 so that they can take strength in what they saw and the previous lessons learned. But now it was their turn to teach this to their children.

27:7 Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8 So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey… 11 Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

With the test came the promise in Psalm 66 and then a new lesson in vs.11. It is also a reteach time as all of these verses have been.

New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The images were found in Google Images.

WEAK LINKS

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You’ve heard the old adage about a team/chain is only as strong as its weakest member/link?  That simile or metaphor, depending how you use it, finally got to me and I had to think about it instead of just accepting it. That is when I realized that as a business or team model a chain is not how I wanted any organization to be run. Then I noticed that paradigms can come from our metaphors so “Life and Death is a power of the tongue” took on a whole new meaning.  After all when compared to a chain who wants to be the weak link and fail the whole team and cause everything to be ruined! No, pressure there right and what group after that simile has been laid on you has not looked around and started to predict who would be the first to break. Or have a bad day or week and see if that label ever leaves. And since this is a Bible Study blog I wondered about chains in the Bible.

Now an organization being pictured as a bunch of links working together is a valid image but not in a linear chain rather as chainmail. If a church or group is setup as a linear chain then the adage is true and the pressure is unbelievable on all of the links and it will eventually break.  A lesson that I learned in the book Good to Great is pick your team so that the “bus” can keep running in good or bad times.  Chainmail is a better model because in it every link is connected to someone, so even if one piece is hit it’s connected links will support it and the whole team does not break.

Here are thoughts on the adage of a linear link chain:

–        all the links look the same at the beginning

–        links fail due to stress but the strong links are incapable of helping the weak one

–       enough stress in a bind and any link can fail

–       links may fail because of external forces that eat away at it

–       links may fail because of an imperfection or an impurity in the metal

–       if a chain fails it cannot put itself back together, it takes a repairman to put in a replacement link

–       don’t mismatch links when making a chain

Now even in chainmail a link may fail and have to be replaced but the whole piece does not have to fall apart because of one piece.

CHAINS IN THE BIBLE

Using my Strong’s Concordance I counted nineteen different words that are translated “chains.” One of those words, aboth, is translated also as rope and cord.  Before this study my first thought of  “chain” was a linear set of links used to restrain or link things together. This is a use of chains in the Bible especially in Judges 16:21 when the Philistines finally used chain instead of rope to bind Samson. But many of the references of chain are in connection with decorations especially things for human wear like necklaces, earrings and chainmail collars. The Old Testament has the most uses of the word chain and again many of those are for decorations; while in the Roman Empire controlled world of the New Testament the three words for chains all seem to reflect binding and restricting human movement and freedom.

Ropes and cords probably were used more than metal chains to bind people simply because cord was easier to make and less expensive.

Photos of chains are from http://www.stockvault.net/c/industrial/locks-and-chains/?p=2,  Photo of Egyptian chainmail http://www.flickr.com/photos/waltercallens/3465622123/

Judas in the Old Testament

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Finding foreshadowing of the New Testament hidden in the Old Testament has been a study I always enjoy. This year I marked out months just for that in my study plan so here is the first. What I would attribute to Judas being like is found in several Psalms. I will mention the Psalm but also where I think the inspiration for that Psalm came from in scripture and who was the shadow of Judas.

Psalm 52 – David was writing this about Doeg the Edomite from 1 Samuel 22. He was the instrument of destruction for an entire branch of the priestly family; this was part of the sentence handed down from the Lord because of Eli and his wicked sons in 1 Samuel 2.  The final part of the story is found in 1 Kings 2:27.  Psalm 52:1 – 4 gives a look at what I think he was like: boasted of evil, practiced deceit, loved evil and spoke harmful words. Verses 5 -7 talks of his downfall and how he is remembered: in everlasting ruin, uprooted from the living, destroyed others.

Psalm 55 – Verses 12 – 14, 20 and 21 also talks about Judas’ character. “My companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked to the house of God”, Psalm 55:13,14 (NIV). And in verse 20 +21, “My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.”  A possible point when this was birthed is 1 Samuel 22:3 when David is hiding his parents from King Saul.  But as I thought about it, it could be referring to his cousin Joab the commander of the army and a consistent problem for David or even his son Absalom.

Psalm 41:9 Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. This verse is quoted in John 13:18.

Psalm 109:1 – 20 – verse 8 is quoted in Acts 1:20 May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership. (Matthias) I think this Psalm was written because of Nabal in 1Samuel 25:35. The reason for this is in vs. 16 – 20 and describes both Nabal and Judas – never thought of doing a kindness, hounded the poor, needy and broken hearted, loved to pronounce curses and wore them like a garment.

Psalm 69:25 is also quoted in Acts 1:20 “let there be no one to dwell in their tents.”

Zechariah 11:12 – If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not keep it. So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. (Matt. 26:15)

So as expected Judas has some of the worst guys in the Bible providing his foreshadowing: Doeg the Edomite (priest killer), Nabal (the selfish fool) and possibly Joab (under minding cousin) and Absalom (son with ambition).

Where/When I Think Psalms Were Written

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I think David and the other writers of Psalms wrote as a reaction to what was going on in their life. Even though my list is very subjective (and not complete) it has helped me to locate psalms with other scriptures. I had to save this as a picture because of how I typed it many years ago, so please click here to view my list, I hope it will be a blessing and a help in your Bible studies.  psalm position  This is also in David the Writer.