Category Archives: Bible Study

WHAT TYPE OF METAL ARE YOU? Part 5

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Silver in Bible times was a metal for money, art, and jewelry. Many items in the Tabernacle were made of silver such as curtain hooks, hooks to hold up the curtain rods, and sockets to hold the floor to together.  This symbolizes the importance of silver to God as an element to hold His Church together.  Ezekiel 22:20 speaks about silver’s refining and how tin, lead, copper, and iron were the dross that had to be burned away.  This refining process was done with great heat and by pouring the metal into an earthen vessel and then blowing a lot of air into that vessel.

Silver represents the religious activities of our lives, which can be useful to God, and things of beauty. “Silver things”, however, need to be imported into our earthen vessels, and heat and wind (the Holy Spirit) will have to refine the silver to get rid of the dross so it will be acceptable to God.  “Silver” with the dross in it would be all the religious things we do to act righteous, make ourselves feel good, and to show off before men; giving money to impress people, reading the Bible for the wrong reasons, volunteering to be seen by man.  “Pure silver” (religion God wants) according to James 1:27 is taking care of widows and orphans and not being polluted by the world.

Gold also had to be imported into Israel and has always been a standard of wealth.  Copper and silver can be added to gold to harden it and change its color, this is how we get white gold or 14-karat gold.  Metal workers have known for ages that gold can be hammered into very thin sheets and used to cover things, like the work done on the Ark of the Covenant.  The Ark was a box made of a common wood overlaid with gold so that it would be lighter to carry.

The “gold” in our lives are the things most precious to God, but we need to know that the “copper” and “silver” must be removed so that only pure gold will be left.  If the “copper” of our good works or the “tarnished silver” of religiousness is in our gold it is not acceptable to God. “Gold” can be spread over some of the “common areas” of our life and become something of great value just like the Ark.   Jesus in dealing with the woman taken in adultery showed us pure “gold”; He accepted her where she was, did not condemn her, and gave her the chance of freedom from her sins.

To view part 4 – copper.

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/what-type-of-m…are-you-part-4

WHAT TYPE OF METAL ARE YOU? Part 4

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Now that we are getting things “ironed out” we can go on to the “valuable” metals.

Copper, like iron, is native to Israel and is an interesting and useful metal.  It is in the same chemical family as silver and gold.  Copper was used in making everyday items and it was used in the making of the Tabernacle.  Pots, forks, utensils, fire grates, and bases for the tent and curtain poles were some of the items that were made of copper in the Tabernacle.  In the Bible, the same word is used for copper and bronze/brass.  Bronze is copper with tin or lead added.  So, we know alloys and metallurgy appeared very early in Israel’s history.

The “copper” in our lives may be natural character traits and habits, but these personal qualities may be what God wants to use in developing our ministry.  Our “copper” may have fears and other people’s expectations added to it just as bronze is combined with tin or lead.  I have found that these additions may be either good or bad.  In Genesis 37 we read of the dreams God gave Joseph.  Joseph had natural qualities that God wanted to use, but the way the story plays out it would seem that he had to add patience and humility and his pride and arrogance had to be removed before his “copper” was ready for use before God and man.

See “iron” in part three.

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/what-type-of-m…are-you-part-3

Your Bible Study for 2012

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Plan vs. resolution

Clicking on these two sites took me out of the blog so please be aware of that.

http://www.1828-dictionary.com/d/search/word,resolution 6. Fixed purpose or determination of mind; as a resolution to reform our lives; a resolution to undertake an expedition.

http://www.1828-dictionary.com/d/search/word,plan  2. A scheme devised; a project; the form of something to be done existing in the mind, with the several parts adjusted in idea, expressed in words or committed to writing; as the plan of a constitution of government; the plan of a treaty; the plan of an expedition. (noun)

PLAN, v.t. To form a draught or representation of any intended work.  1. To scheme; to devise; to form in design; as, to plan the conquest of a country; to plan a reduction of taxes or of the national debt.

I don’t know about you but I like the “plan” better, it will allow me to make changes if needed but will still give me a stable base of where I want to go. The website above is for the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary – it is interesting to check our current word usage against the usage when we thought of our self as a “Christian Nation” and did not worry about being politically correct.

Have you “planned” what and how you are going to study through out the New Year?  Here are some possibilities.

1. Read the Bible through in a year, there are a lot of great plans that you can follow.

2. Get another translation and read it through in a year.

3. Pick a topic (actually pick twelve of them) and study it out.  Try people, places, things or events.

4. Focus on either the New or the Old Testament.

This year I am going to alternate reading Proverbs and Psalms every month.

After much thought on the subject I think I am going to do #3 which will be new for me, usually I do #1, 2 or 4.

1. A topic that will run for most of the year will be “The Gospel According to the Old Testament.”

2. Blessed

3. Acts 4: 29 a) speaking the word    b)with great boldness

4. Acts 4: 30 healing, miraculous signs and wonders

5. Waiting on God and times of refreshing

6. Putting 1& 2 Samuel together with 1 Chronicles.

7. Finish some work that I started in Psalms.

8. Body parts and how they are discussed/shadowed in Scripture

9. Fruit and nuts especially the fig and the almond

10. Write four sermons from the ideas above

Yeah, I know I said pick 12 but I have a feeling that these 10 will keep me busy for the whole year, if not then I can add to my plan as I go.

Amalekites: An enemy from Moses to Mordecai to_______! Part 1

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We are not finished with Esau and his descendants and the trouble they are going to be to Jacob’s side of the family. Esau had Eliphaz, by Adah his first wife, who had a concubine named Timna who had Amalek (Gen. 36:12). She is attributed to Adah (a true wife in the genealogy) but is listed last. For Timna see 1 Chronicles 1:36-39.

The Amalekites are cursed, and the Israelites are to be fighting them from generation to generation because they attacked the Israel column (Exodus 17:8-15) as they headed to the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 25:17 – 19 is a serious statement to the Israelites about that incident; it is that commission that King Saul is trying to accomplish in I Samuel 14 and 15.

Josephus 2.1.2 assigns Amalek to the country of Idumea; this is where King Herod came from. Davis Dictionary of the Bible says the Idumeans had circumcision forced on them after being conquered by John Hyrcanus a Maccabean ruler. This is why the Jews hated Herod so much, he was not a Jew and very possibly an Edomite and he could have even been an Amalekite.

A side thought on this – there was always some kind of contention within Abraham’s family; Ishmael and Esau did not seem like contented brothers and uncles, but their genealogies made it into the Bible so that tells me that some communication did exist between parts of the family.  Since Moses is credited with writing Genesis and parts of Esau’s history was definitely happening while they were in Egypt there was communication.  Moses may have gotten some of the information while he was in Midian.

Other references to Esau/Edom/Amalek being destroyed or facing the judgment of God.

Jeremiah 2:

Ezekiel 35

Obadiah

Malachi 1:2-5

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/ishmael-and-es…and-foe-part-2

Moabites and Ammonites: Family and Foe – Part 3

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https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/ishmael-and-es…and-foe-part-1

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/ishmael-and-es…and-foe-part-2/

I find it unsettling that four of Israel’s major enemies are “family.”  Now at times, they were civil towards one another and we have to remember that Ruth, David’s and Jesus’ grandmother, was a Moabitess.  But Edom, Moab, and Ammon are frequently mentioned together as joining forces to fight Israel and in many of the Prophetic Books, they are together when the Lord is handing out judgment.

It should also be noted that God warns Moses and the Israelites about fighting with them on the way back to the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy 2:5,9,19 it is stated that each of them had been given that land by the Lord and Israel was not to start trouble.

Lot is the father of Moab and Ammon (see Timeline) by his daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:30 – 38). Now a question that has been asked is whether they should have ever been there, to begin with!  Abraham was to leave his country and family and go to the Promised Land but there is Lot with his uncle as he leaves the rest of the family.