Though many of the Hebrews were given to idolatry and were ignorant of God, still the lamp of divine truth was kept burning in the heart of a woman. That woman was Huldah.
To a high degree, Huldah possessed two great qualities, righteousness and prophetic insight, and because she possessed the former she was able to use the latter wisely. This prophetic power, never trusted to the undeserving, was given to her because she loved God with all her heart.
Evidently Huldah was known in the kingdom of Judah far and wide or she would never have been sought out by King Josiah, who sent five of his own personal messengers to her with the Book of the Law, which had been recently discovered during repairs in the Temple at Jerusalem. He had faith in Huldah's spiritual powers and he wanted her to tell him whether the book was genuine or not. Here is a clue to Huldah's intellectual and spiritual perception.
The Scriptures give us no graphic description of this early Hebrew prophetess, except to say that she was the wife of Shallum, whose family had been singled out as keepers of the wardrobe, meaning either the priest's or the king's wardrobe, probably the latter. At least this would place her close to life inside the palace and Temple.
The King James Version says that Huldah "dwelt in Jerusalem in the college - but the Revised Standard Version says "she dwelt in the Second Quarter'' (II Kings 22:14), indicating the area of Jerusalem in which she lived. On some maps the Second Quarter is shown to be the section in front of the Temple. Jewish tradition has it that Huldah taught publicly in a school. Other tradition has it that she taught and preached to women.
We can justly infer that she was a woman of distinction. Among the messengers that King Josiah sent to her were his high priest, Hilkiah, who had found hidden away this amazing roll of manuscript, the lost Book of the Law, the brilliant work of a group of prophets and priests who had recorded the Yahwistic spiritual ideals. Another messenger was Shaphan, the scribe in the temple, to whom Hilkiah had first taken the lost book. Parts of this book are still found in Deuteronomy. It is now thought to be the first book of the Bible that was canonized.
Only a deeply devout woman, one of real intellectual attainments, would have been sought out by a king and a priest to give her opinion as to whether or not this scroll was indeed the word of the Lord. It turned out to be one of the most important scrolls in the history of Israel.
Huldah not only confirmed its authenticity but also prophesied concerning the future, saying that the Lord would bring evil upon Judah, because the people had forsaken Him and had turned instead to images. As a reward for Josiah's humility and tender heart, Huldah prophesied that he would be gathered unto his fathers before this terrible doom came upon Israel.
Commentators have questioned why King Josiah sent his personal messengers to consult a woman. Why were they not sent to a man? Josiah, who had come to rule at age eight, doubtless had learned to rely a great deal on his mother Jedidah as queen-mother.
We know little about her, but we do know that Josiah's father Amon was murdered in his own palace by his servants because of his idolatry. But King Josiah centralized religion at Jerusalem, exalted the Levites, threw out the shrines of the false gods, and led his people to new spiritual heights. We naturally assume that the godly Josiah had a godly mother. Because of her, he would have a sympathetic appreciation of a woman as righteous and as spiritually discerning as Huldah?
Noteworthy it is that in the short account of Huldah's prophecy the scribe repeated four times her phrase, "Thus saith the Lord'' making us know that Huldah did not think of herself as an oracle, but only as a channel through which God's word came.
Huldah's prophecy gave King Josiah greater courage to put into action the laws written in the Book of the Law, which had been sent to her for verification. After this, Josiah had the scroll read in the house of the Lord and made a covenant to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments. And because of it, he fought evil in Judah more zealously.
High regard he had for Huldah's prophecy when he acted so promptly, and when he also sought to make himself more worthy of the promised forbearance of God, though he knew the threatened evil to his country and his people could not be averted.
Only a woman who studied immutable spiritual laws and who prayed unceasingly could have been given insight into the mystery of the future. But Huldah was a woman who could throw back the veil of Israel's future because she had lived so close to God.
Sunday, January 9, 2022
Huldah, "Thus Saith the Lord"
Jesus Only
Description of Clip Art: simply framed poem "Jesus Only" by W. H. Griffith Thomas, black and white text
Jesus Only
The Light of heaven is the face of Jesus.
The Joy of heaven is the presence of Jesus.
The Melody of heaven is the name of Jesus.
The Harmony of heaven is the praise of
Jesus.
The Theme of heaven is the work of Jesus.
The Employment of heaven is the service of
Jesus.
The Fullness of heaven is Jesus Himself.
In all preaching the Son of god is the substance,
the Word of God is the instrument,
the Spirit of God is the power, the Man of
God is the channel, the salvation of God is
the result, and the glory of God is the end.
by W. H. Griffith Thomas.
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Saturday, January 8, 2022
"Do this in remembrance of me."
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Christian Martyrs Burned Alive in Nero's Court
Description of Illustration: Nero's Torches, also known as Candlesticks of Christianity. Insane Roman emperor who burned Christian martyrs alive at his garden parties.
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Answers to Prayer
Answers to Prayer
Our Savior in the garden wept,
And thrice he prayed to God;
And while his tired disciples slept,
He sweat great drops of blood.
But through the cup his Father gave
Must never pass him by,
Yet strength to bear and power to save
Are sent him from on high.
His servant prayed that God would take
The piercing thorn away;
Yet, though he prayed for Jesus' sake,
The thorn must with him stay.
And yet in answer to his prayer,
A heavenly grace was sent,
To help its agony to bear,
Until his life was spent.
A child is bearing in his hands
A little pack of ware,
But by his side his father stands,
And guards his child with care.
So while the father stands so near,
To shield from rude alarms,
His child, when faint or filled with fear
He gathers in his arms.
'Tis thus our heavenly Father cares
For those who love his name;
He hears their oft-repeated prayers,
And loves them just the same.
And those who have some thorn or load
That seems too hard to bear,
He guards them all along the road
With a more watchful care.
"All the earth doth worship thee the Father.."
Description of Illumination: Illuminated hymn text "All the earth doth worship thee the Father everlasting." The "Te Deum is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. The illumination consists of a diamond-shaped centre upon a crossed pattern or diaper of Egyptian origin, which was extensively used for glass painting.
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Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Fishing for people...
Description of Clip Art: mosaic of fisherman and fish, scripture "Jesus called out to them, 'Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.' Matthew 4:19
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4 Verses about the Holy Spirit at work...
1.) His witness with us of Sonship.
"Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and me fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. Greet Amplias my beloved in the Lord." Romans 16: 7-8 (KJV)
2.) His testimony through us to the world.
"But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away.
Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will
send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned." John 16:7-11 (NIV)
3.) His guidance of us into Truth.
"But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you recieved from Him abides (permanently) in you; (so) then you have no need that anyone should instruct you." 1 John 2: 27 (TAB)
"But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message (on His own authority): but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him), and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future). He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (recieve, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you." John 16: 13-14 (TAB)
4.) His leadership of us in service.
" And when they fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia and from thence they sailed to Cyprus." Acts 13: 3-4 (KJV)
Blank Ribbon Title
Description of Clip Art: black and white scroll work, ribbons, superimpose your own words, lettering, give your work, writing, index a fancy title graphic...
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Buried in his books...
Description of Illustration: An old scholar searches through his stacks of books. A very cluttered library of thoughts, facts, and imaginings..., black and white illustration of a bibliophile
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Only Waiting . . .
Only Waiting...
Only waiting till the shadows
Are a little longer grown;
Only waiting till the glimmer
Of the day's last breath is flown.
Till the night of earth is faded
From the heart once full of day;
Till the stars of heaven are breaking
Through the twilight soft and gray.
Only waiting till the reapers
Have the last sheaf gathered home;
For the summer time is faded,
And the autumn winds have come.
Quickly, reapers! gather quickly
The last ripe hours of my heart,
For the bloom of life is withered,
And I hasten to depart.
Only waiting till the angels
Open wide the mystic gate,
By whose side I long have lingered,
Weary, poor and desolate.
Even now I hear their footsteps,
And their voices far away;
If they call me, I am waiting,
Only waiting to obey.
Only waiting till the shadows
Are a little longer grown;
Only waiting till the glimmer
Of the day's last beam is flown;
Till from out the gathering darkness
Holy, deathless stars shall rise,
By whose light my soul shall gladly
Tread its pathway to the skies.
Who were the 400 outstanding wives in the book of Judges?
Four hundred young virgins from Jabesh-Gilead (Judg. 21:12-23) were brought into the camp at Shiloh and given as wives to the defeated Benjamites. This incident followed the war started over the Ephraim Levite s concubine, who had been ill-treated by the wicked Sons of Benjamin, who had no wives.
Grieved that the tribe of Benjamites was now nearly destroyed, the Israelites received them into their favor and found them wives from among their own daughters. After the Benjamites received the four hundred young virgins as wives, they went and repaired their cities and dwelt in them.
Here is a striking example of how good wives can be the civilizers of men, thus influencing them away from evil into that which is good.
Who was Machir's wife?
Machir's wife (I Chron. 7:15) was in the line of Zelophehad, who had the five distinguished daughters who declared their property rights.
"Makir took a wife from among the Huppites and Shuppites. His sister’s
name was Maakah. Another descendant was named Zelophehad, who had only
daughters." 1 Chronicles 7:15
Who was Artaxerxes' Queen?
The queen who sat beside Artaxerxes (Neh. 2:6) is only briefly mentioned when Nehemiah came before the king to ask for the commission to build again the wall of Jerusalem.
"Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long
will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king
to send me; so I set a time." Nehemiah 2:6
Who was Job's wife?
Job's wife (Job 2:9; 19:17; 31:10) has been called everything from the "adjutant of the devil" (St. Augustine) to the "faithful attendant upon her husband's misery" (William Blake). She is introduced after Job, one of the richest and greatest men of his time, has been bereft of his cattle, flocks, camels, and all his children. Moreover, he is suffering from a loathsome disease, probably leprosy.
As he sat on an ash heap outside the city walls, Job still did not blame God. His wife, probably not so faithful and certainly not so patient, cried out, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die." Job 2:9 No doubt Job's wife regarded a quick death as better than long-drawn-out suffering. In those days sudden death was supposed to result from cursing God.
In this statement we see Job's wife as an ordinary, normal woman. Though a dutiful wife, she probably failed to suffer with her husband in his hour of agony and consequently failed to share with him the marvelous victory of trusting God in spite of not understanding Him.
There is another side, however, to Job's wife. She had endured her husband's affliction, even the loss of all their children and all their material possessions, and had survived these trials. Like her husband, she was bewildered amid so much calamity. Such a piece of advice as she gave him in his affliction could have been inspired by sympathy and love. Probably she would rather have seen him die than endure such great suffering.
In the next scene where she is depicted, we find her turning from her husband (Job 19:17), because his breath is so offensive on account of the disease from which he suffered.
Though Job's wife is not mentioned in the closing chapters, we learn in 42:14 that three daughters, Jemima, Kezia, and Keren-hap-puch, as well as sons, were later born to him. Probably Job's wife arose to new joy, just as he did, and regretted her own lack of faith when she had advised him to "curse God, and die."
Who was Ezekiel's wife?
Ezekiel s wife (Ezek. 24:16, 17, 18) is referred to as the desire of his eyes. The wife of this prophet-priest of the sixth century B. C. was taken quite suddenly with a stroke. Ezekiel was warned that this would happen but was forbidden to perform the customary mourning rites.
He restrained his tears and went forth to preach, probably the morning after he had been told that he would lose his wife. In the evening she died. But that morning he spoke to his people on the coming destruction of Jerusalem, when they also would lose loved ones, but he told them that they too must abstain from any outward signs of mourning. Ezekiel's own great grief, only a few hours away, enabled him to speak with greater conviction to those who looked to him for spiritual guidance.
Doubtless Ezekiel's wife was a godly woman who had helped him serve his small, remote congregation. Their home was a little mud-brick house in a colony of exiles at Tel-abib on the Chebar, an important canal in the Euphrates irrigation system (Ezek. 3:15).
Who were the wives that burned incense to false gods?
Wives who burned incense to other gods (Jet. 44:15) were Hebrew women who had left Judah and had fled to Pathros, a province of the land of Egypt. They were rebuked by Jeremiah for their idolatrous worship. He forewarned them of the dreadful evils that would befall them if they persisted in their false worship.
These women presumptuously declared it was their intention to continue in the same course, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, as their fathers had done before them. They saw no evil in such a practice (Jer. 44:19).
Who is the unbelieving wife?
The unbelieving wife (I Cor. 7:14), says Paul to the Corinthians, is sanctified by her husband. Though he is a Christian and she is not, his belief sanctifies the union. Paul goes on to say that the faith of one Christian parent gives to the children a near relationship to the Church, just as if both parents were Christians. The children are regarded not as aliens to the Christian faith but as sharers in it. Paul presumed that the believing parent will rear the child in the Christian principles.
He makes the same point in regard to husbands, saying that "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife." I Corinthians 7:14
Who was the wife that was to be sold for a debt?
The wife who was to be sold for debt (Matt. 18:25) appears in Jesus' parable of the unforgiving servant and illustrates the principle of the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.''
Here Jesus is comparing our heavenly Father to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. One was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents (approximately ten million dollars). When the servant could not pay, the king ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had. The servant begged the king to have patience with him, and the king, moved with compassion, loosed his servant and let him go.
But the servant went forth and cast into prison a fellow servant who owed him a very small debt. Then the king called back the servant he had forgiven of his large debt and asked why he had not showed the same compassion to his fellow servant that had been shown to him. The man was then jailed until he should pay all that he owed.
Jesus, concluding the parable, said, "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." Matthew 18:35
The Old Testament tells of selling people into slavery to pay a debt (Amos 2:6; 8:6; Neh. 5:4, 5), but this is the only reference of a woman's being sold, along with her children, to pay a debt.
Did the apostle Peter have a wife?
Peter's wife (Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38; I Cor. 9:5) no doubt witnessed her mother's healing. Since Jesus probably used Peter's home as headquarters when in Capernaum his wife must have seen Jesus often. She is referred to as Simon's or Cephas' wife. She traveled with him as did the wives of other apostles.
Naaman's wife and her little Israelite maid...
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| Naaman's Little Maid. |
Naaman's wife (II Kings 5:2) had waiting on her a little Israelite maid, who had been captured in a border skirmish. Though Naaman was the successful commander-in-chief of Ben-hadad and had received many military honors and known much good fortune, he was now afflicted with leprosy. Through the maid's sympathetic interest in Naaman's condition he learned of Elisha's healing power. She probably told Naaman's wife, who carried the information to her husband, after which he went to Elisha, and was healed, and accepted the God of Israel as the "only God in all the earth."
Though Naaman's wife is the background figure in the incident, at least she became a channel for God's healing, because she had the faith to listen to a little maid in her household, insignificant though she was.
Who was Jeroboam's wife?
Jeroboam's wife (I Kings 14:2, 4, 5, 6, 17) was the queen who went to the prophet Ahijah to inquire whether her sick son would recover. Her husband, Jeroboam, first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, was an apostate who had led his people away from the faith and worship of their fathers. He had calf shrines built for heathen worship, but when his son became ill, he longed for help in his son's healing.
Guilty because of his treatment of the priests of the Lord, Jeroboam told his wife to disguise herself in the dress of an ordinary woman when she went to see the prophet. Jeroboam also directed his wife to take the sort of gifts that an ordinary woman might offer, such as ten loaves and cracknels (crisp biscuits and pork crisply fried) and a cruse of honey, for it was customary to take a gift, however small, when advice or God's word was sought from a. prophet.
The queen did disguise herself, as her husband had advised, and went to Shiloh, but when she arrived there, the aged and blind prophet, forewarned by the Lord of her coming, said, "Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? For I am sent to thee with heavy tidings." I Kings 14:6 He then proceeded to tell her to go back and tell her husband that, because he had made other gods and molten images, he had provoked God, and his house would be visited with evil.
The prophet further prophesied to Jeroboam's wife that when she returned home her child would die, but all Israel would mourn him. Her child would be the only one of the house, however, to be laid in a grave, because there was some good "toward the Lord." in him. Others of the house of Jeroboam would be eaten by dogs or by fowls of the air. Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and when she came to her threshold her child died, and they buried him, and all Israel mourned.
Tahpenes' sister was Hadad's wife...
The sister of Tahpenes (I Kings 11:19, 20) was the wife of Hadad, son of the king of Edom. Tahpenes was queen consort of Pharaoh of Egypt and a contemporary of Solomon, king of Israel. Scripture tells us that when David and Joab were at Edom, every male Edomite was slain except a youth named Hadad and some of his father's servants. The young Hadad fled to Egypt, where he was favorably received by Pharaoh, who gave him the sister of his wife in marriage. She gave birth to Genubath, who was brought up by Tahpenes among Pharaoh's children. It might be inferred that this sister died in childbirth.
Monday, January 3, 2022
Athaliah, only woman ever to rule over Judah...
"Women are ever extreme; they are better or they are worse than men." history has often testified. Athaliah, the only woman ever to sit on the throne of David and rule, was the extreme in wickedness.
Evil ran in her veins. She was the granddaughter of Omri, who waded through slaughter to a throne he never inherited. She was the daughter of Ahab, the legitimate successor of his unscrupulous father, and of Jezebel, whose name is synonymous with wickedness. Reared in the northern kingdom of Israel, at Samaria, where the palace of her parents was surrounded by groves and idols of Baal worship, Athaliah grew up in an atmosphere that completely denied the one God. Because of the lewd cult worship of Baal, introduced by her mother, the kingdom was swept by immorality and godlessness.
Athaliah, probably for political expediency, was married to Jehoram, eldest son of the pious Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. She went with him to Jerusalem, capital of the southern kingdom. When he was thirty-two years old, he came to the throne, and Athaliah sat beside him. Just as her mother had done when she came to Samaria from Tyre, Athaliah promoted her Baal worship among the people. Because her husband's brothers were loyal to the faith of their nation. King Jehoram had them murdered. Athaliah, much more determined in character than her husband was, probably instigated these murders.
Jehoram reigned eight years and died unmourned of an incurable disease foretold by Elijah. The Philistines had captured all his secondary wives and sons, except Ahaziah, Athaliah's own son, who now came to the throne. As queen-mother, Athaliah was more powerful than ever. Her son was young and she had had the experience of dictating through her husband. We have the record that Ahaziah "walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly" II Chronicles 22:3
Within a year Athaliah's son was wounded in his chariot by Jehu, commissioned by Elijah to overthrow the dynasty of Athaliah's father. Her son escaped to Megiddo, where he died. Athaliah seized the throne and resolved to destroy "all the seed royal" her own blood relations, among whom were her own grandchildren. Had one of these young princes become king, her place as queen-mother would have been usurped. She also knew that if she had the power of chief ruler she could further promote her Baal worship.
Judah had six years of unrighteous government under Athaliah. From II Chronicles 24:7 we can assume that she even had a portion of the Temple of Jehovah pulled down. And she used the material in the building of a temple of Baal.
Fortunately for the kingdom of Judah, Jehosheba, her step-daughter, had rescued Joash, one of the royal infants, from her bloody massacre at the time she came to the throne. Jehosheba had hidden the child for six years, and at the proper time her husband, the high priest Jehoiada, brought forth the lad, now seven years of age. With the aid of mighty men, he proclaimed him king.
When Queen Athaliah heard the people celebrating the young king's accession in the temple, she went there and screamed, "Treason, Treason "II Chron. 23:13 The high priest ordered that she be slain, not in the house of the Lord, but after she had left it. She was therefore slain as she was entering the horses' gate by the palace, close by the Temple.
The horses trampled over her body where she lay dead at the gates. In her miserable end, Athaliah bore a singular resemblance to her mother Jezebel, who was abandoned to the dogs. Athaliah was left in a horse-path, to be trampled upon. Like her mother she died a queen, but without a hand to help her or an eye to pity her.
The final Biblical record alludes to Athaliah as "that wicked woman" II Chron. 24:7 Jean Baptiste Racine's tragedy Athalie, written at the instigation of Madame de Maintenon and first performed at Versailles in 1690, is based on the life of this wicked queen, who lived the latter part of the eighth century before Christ.
How many wives did King David have?
King David had seven recorded wives in the Bible; six of these are listed in II Samuel: Abital, Ahinoam, Abigail, Maach, Haggith, and Eglah. Bath-sheba, David's seventh and last official wife had a particularly infamous beginning that most people know about. All seven of his wives were alive during King David's marriages to each of them because at that time, many Israelites practiced polygamy. Many people believe that King David had eight wives because Michal was called by two names. Her nickname given to her by David when she was still a child was in fact, Eglah.
- Michal - was daughter of King Saul, David's first wife and one of two
daughters belonging to King Saul. Her nickname was Eglah which is an
affectionate term for "calf." She had no children of her own, but raised
the five sons of her sister, Merab, after her sister's death in childbirth.
- Abital - was wife to David, mother of Shephatiah, who was born in Hebron.
- Ahinoam - a Jezreelitess, who was David's second wife and mother to Amnon.
- Abigail - was the widow of the drunkard Nabal. She has Chileab (also called Daniel) with King David.
- Maach - was the mother of Tamar and Absalom, wife to David. Also known as Maachah.
- Haggith - mother to Adonijah. More about Haggith.
- Bath-sheba - was the mother to future king, Solomon.
King David also had many concubines and one of those that was given to him in his old age was called Abishag. Edith Deen says that sometimes she is listed as a wife to King David. However, the confusion about the number of King David's wives is primarily based upon the fact that Michal is called by two different names in I and II Samuel, not because this former concubine was considered a wife to David.
Sunday, January 2, 2022
Who was Abiah mentioned in 1 Chronicles 2:24?
Abiah (I Chron. 2:24), wife of Hezron, who was a grandson of Judah and Tamar and founder of the family of Hezronites. She also was the mother of Ashur and the grandmother of Tekoa, neither of whom bore any special distinction. Probably Abiah's name is mentioned (I Chron. 2:24) largely because of the importance of the Judah-Tamar line, from which Christ is descended.
Zipporah, Wife of Moses, the Great Lawgiver
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| Zipporah, wife of Moses. |
Though her name means "bird" not even that gives us any indication of her character. She came from a Midian background (Exod. 2:16). Her father Jethro was a priest. What god Jethro worshiped we can only conjecture. We have reason to believe that he later became a believer in Moses' Jehovah, for Jethro later professed to Moses, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods." Exodus 18:11 We have no such expression of faith from his daughter Zipporah.
She was one of seven daughters and met Moses in the land of Midian soon after he fled there because he had slain an Egyptian who was smiting a Hebrew, one of his own brethren (Exod. 2:11). Zipporah and her sisters, who had been tending their father's sheep, had come with their flocks to draw water at the well. Other shepherds drove the flocks of the seven sisters away, but Moses was a courteous shepherd. He gave water to the sisters' sheep.
And they went and told their father, who offered Moses the hospitality of his house. Zipporah's marriage to Moses after that is recorded briefly in seven words (Exod. 2:21). The romantic element found in the wooing of both Isaac and Jacob is not there. Soon afterward we find Moses engrossed in the woes of his people. His wife does not seem to play a part in either his lofty plans or his tremendous hardships.
From Zipporah's brief record, we know that she had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. And when Moses started back from Midian to the Land of Egypt, his wife and his sons set forth with him, they on an ass and Moses walking, his rod in his hand, A picture this is of a humble family, whose head was destined to become Israel's great prophet, lawgiver, and leader.
When they halted at an inn for the night, Moses became very ill. The narrative here is obscure, but something was troubling him. He became so ill that his life was in danger. Though records do not furnish actual historical details, again we can only conjecture that he was troubled because his wife, a Midianite, had refused to allow the circumcision of their sons, a symbol of the covenant between God and His people. And Moses, now called by God to the leadership of his people, was troubled because he had neglected the sacred duty of circumcision, which was not practiced by his wife's people.
We can assume that the delay in circumcision was due to Zipporah's prejudices. When she saw her husband so violently ill, she doubtless believed God was angered with him because he had not circumcised his son. She then seized a piece of flint and circumcised her son herself. Which son that was and how old he was, there is no record. Jewish tradition says it was the second son Eliezer.
Though there are difficulties with this primitive story in its present form, one point seems quite clear. Moses and Zipporah were not congenial companions. No doubt their disagreement was due to the fact that she was a Midianite and he a Hebrew, and they had different views.
After the circumcision incident Zipporah becomes a nonentity. What part she played in Moses' life, again, we cannot be sure. She had so little in common with her husband that at the most trying and noble period of his life, on his mission to Pharaoh, he probably had to send her back home. However, it may be that she and her sons did accompany Moses to Egypt and remain with him there, and after the Exodus, when Moses' people were slowly approaching Mount Sinai, Zipporah and her sons may have been sent ahead to visit Jethro and tell of all that God had done for Moses and the Israelites.
Zipporah is mentioned for the last time when she and her sons and father Jethro have joined Moses at Mount Horeb (Exod. 18:5). Jethro acts as spokesman for the entire family. Most of the text centers around him, while Zipporah is only among those present.
Later we find Miriam and Aaron taking issue with their brother Moses because of his Cushite wife. The text of Numbers 12:1 would lead us to believe Zipporah had died and Moses had married a second time. Some scholars, however, believe that Zipporah and the Cushite were the same person. A phrase in Habakkuk 3:7 indicates that this could be true.
Though interpretations regarding incidents of Zipporah's life vary, there is one conclusion we may quite confidently draw from all of them. Zipporah seems to have been a woman who was prejudiced and rebellious. To neither her husband nor her sons did she leave a legacy of spiritual riches.
Miriam, "Sing Unto the Lord"
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| Miriam watches over baby Moses. |
The portrait of Miriam, brilliant, courageous sister of Moses, is drawn in a few graphically real strokes. We have the first picture of her in Exodus 2:4, 7 when she was a little girl. Here she is not named, but is referred to only as Moses' sister. Her courage at this time gives an indication of the kind of woman she was to become.
As she stood guarding her baby brother in the ark made by their mother Jochebed, she exhibited a fearlessness and self-possession unusual in a little girl. She was then probably about seven years old. Though she was awaiting the coming of a powerful princess, the daughter of a hostile tyrant who had decreed that all male babies should be destroyed, Miriam showed poise, intelligence, and finesse. When the daughter of Pharaoh came down with her maidens to the banks of the Nile to bathe and found the little Moses lying there in his ark, Miriam approached her quietly, asking if she would like her to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby.
Never disclosing by look or word her own relationship to the child, she brought her mother Jochebed to Pharaoh's daughter. The child Moses was safe at last behind palace walls, with his own mother as his nurse.
Through the years that passed, while Moses was in Pharaoh's house, and during the subsequent period when he had left the scene of courtly splendor to live some forty years in Midian, the Bible gives us no record of Miriam. There is also no record of her during Moses' long pleadings with Pharaoh to release his people, so that they might return to the land of their fathers.
Through the long oppression of the Israelites by hard taskmasters, we can be sure that Miriam was ministering to her people and that she was reverenced as the honored sister of Moses and Aaron, who were to lead the Hebrews out of bondage and form a new nation. The prophet Micah attests to this when he says, "For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." Mic. 6:4
The second scene in Miriam's life opens when Israel's deliverance is at hand. Wondrous miracles attesting to the mighty mission of her illustrious brothers had unfolded, and thousands of Hebrew people
were departing from Egypt.
Miriam now occupied a unique place among the Hebrew women, that of prophetess. The Hebrew word "prophetess - means a woman who is inspired to teach the will of God. It is also used for wife of a prophet, and is sometimes applied to a singer of hymns. The first meaning must be applied to Miriam because the Bible gives no record that she was ever married. Tradition has it that she became the wife of Hur, who with Aaron held up the hands of Moses, but we have no warrant whatever in Scripture, by direct word or inference, to confirm this tradition.
The next scene depicts Miriam in all her triumph. A strong wind had backed up the waters of the Sea of Reeds, and Miriam led the Hebrew women across the dry sea bottom. Following hard upon them came Pharaoh's detachments of chariots and horsemen. But the sea came flooding back and they were swallowed up in the water. We can see Miriam as a commanding figure, her face radiant in this hour of her people's deliverance. She and the women following behind her moved forward on dry ground through the midst of the sea when the waters were a wall on their right hand and on their left. Miriam played on a timbrel and danced joyfully as she led the song: "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." Exodus 15:21
This Song of Deliverance, sometimes referred to as the Song of Miriam and Moses, is one of the earliest songs in Hebrew literature, and one of the finest. What part Miriam had in the composition of this national anthem, the oldest on record, is not known, but in weaving it into the conscious life of her people she had an equal share with Moses and Aaron.
Miriam is the first woman singer on record. The wonder of it is that she sang unto the Lord, using her great gift for the elevation of her people. With her they exulted over their escape from their enemies. And with freedom came a newly discovered faith and confidence in God. This was Miriam's great hour. She was the new Israel's most renowned woman, and her people held her in high regard. She had filled an important role in the founding of the Hebrew commonwealth.
The third scene in Miriam's life offers a sharp contrast to this one, and occurs some time later. Some chronologists believe it took place only one year after the passage across the Sea of Reeds, but this period seems hardly long enough for Miriam's character to have changed so completely. Miriam has had a spiritual fall - and over what we would least expect. She has spoken against her brother Moses.
The limitations in Miriam's character come into clear focus in this third dramatic scene in her life. No longer does she stand on the summit as she did in her triumphant hour. She is still an exalted person, but no longer a leader in exultation. This time she is a leader in jealousy and bitterness. Probably she had become rebellious because her place was secondary to that of her brother Moses.
With Aaron, we hear her murmuring, "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it." Numbers 12:2 In this delineation of the envious, bitter side of Miriam's character, following so soon after the courageous, inspiring scene of the woman who had sung to God so joyfully, we have one of the most perfect examples in the Bible of woman's mixed nature of good and evil.
Another reason for Miriam's conflict with her brother Moses had arisen. He had married again. His first wife Zipporah, a Midianite, had died. His second wife was a Cushite (Ethiopian), a dark-skinned woman from the African country bordering on Egypt. Opinions vary about this woman. Some scholars think that Moses married only once.
It is probable that Miriam, older than Moses by about seven years, had expressed herself quite freely against her brother's wife from an idolatrous country. That an Ethiopian should be raised above herself, who was a daughter of Israel, was, to one of her evidently proud spirit, unendurable. Because she had such pride in her own race, she may have told Moses that he should have chosen his wife from among his own people. Her great mistake was that she made her complaint public. It tended to break down the authority of Moses and to imperil the hope of the Israelites.
On the other hand, she rang a warning bell to others who might follow Moses' lead. When a man's wife is opposed to the religion of his country, especially the wife of a man occupying the lofty position of Moses, his cause is in peril. And Miriam evidently feared this. She was not alone in her thinking. Aaron was a partner in the complaint, but Miriam's name was placed first. Probably it was she who brought up the matter to Aaron and influenced his thinking. There is a peculiar analogy between Miriam's sin and her punishment. The foul vice of envy had spread over her whole character, like the loathsome disease which had overtaken her. Her sharp words made more real the words James spoke many centuries later: "And the tongue is a fire, ... it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature.'' James 3:6
Leprosy, the pale plague of Egypt regarded as providential punishment for slander, had smitten Miriam down. She had become a leper "white as snow." Numbers 12:10 "And "Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee." Numbers 12:13 Though she had held a grudge against him, Moses acted toward her in a spirit of love. Probably when he saw his sister leprous, he remembered that he had once been stricken with leprosy, too. (Exodus 4:6)
We can assume that the heart of Miriam was touched by her brother's love. Though she was shut out of camp for seven days, in accordance with the regulations of the Israelites (Num. 12:15), she was not shut out of the hearts of those she had led in their triumphant hour. Though wearied from their long wanderings and impatient at every delay in reaching the Promised Land, "the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again." Numbers 12:15 Doubtless the leprosy of Miriam's mind departed with the leprosy of her body.
The fourth and final scene in Miriam's story takes place at Kadesh, probably in the Wilderness of Zin, some seventy miles south of Hebron. Tradition tells us that after her death her funeral was celebrated in the most solemn manner for thirty days. Like her brothers Aaron and Moses, Miriam did not reach the Promised Land but died in the wilderness; however, her cry of exultation, "Sing unto the Lord" which had signified freedom for the newborn Israel, could not die.
Saturday, January 1, 2022
Jephthah's Daughter, Example of Noble Submission
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| Jephthah's daughter dedicated to the temple as celibate servant. |
The daughter had such a sublime reverence for a promise made to God that she was even willing to lay down her life for it. The father, Jephthah, described as "a mighty man of valor" (Judges 11:1 was the son of a distinguished Hebrew named Gilead, who lived in a territory of that name. His mother was a stranger to the tribe, an inferior woman described as a harlot (Judges 11:1, 2). Despite his mother's foreign blood and the heathen qualities of many of his tribesmen, Jephthah became a great commander and a believer in the one God.
In the early part of his life, because of his illegitimacy, he had been banished from his father's house and had taken up his residence in Tob, not far from Gilead. Here he became head of a warring tribe of freebooters who went raiding with him. When war broke out between the Ammonites and the Gileadites, the latter sought Jephthah as their commander. He consented only after a solemn covenant, ratified on both sides at Mizpeh, a strongly fortified frontier town of Gilead.
Here he established his residence temporarily and brought his daughter. After a fruitless appeal for peace to their leaders and for aid to the adjacent tribe of Ephraim, Jephthah, urged by the "spirit of the Lord" sped through the territories of Manasseh and his own Gilead, summoning the Israelites to arms.
It seems that his army represented a small minority compared to that of the enemy. In his perplexity to give fresh courage to his troops and to sustain his own confidence against such fearful odds, he made a vow publicly to the Lord. In that reckless vow he exhibited a rude and unenlightened piety typical of the wild mountaineer fighter that he was when he declared, "If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then shall it be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering" Judges 11:30-31.
What a contrast between Jephthah's vow and that of Hannah who had pledged to lend her child to God as long as he lived. What a contrast, also, to the simple and sublime trust of Deborah, who went against a fearful enemy strongly armed with faith in God. Not so strongly armed, Jephthah was willing to make any kind of promise to insure victory.
Jephthah routed the Ammonites, and twenty of their cities fell before him. Elated with his unexpected success, he hurried to Mizpeh, where he had left his daughter. The women and maidens had assembled to greet this victorious warrior with songs and dances. Who should be the first to come out from Jephthah's own doorway but his beloved daughter! Probably he had thought a servant or hound dog would precede her. Or maybe not until this moment had he stopped to realize how rash and cruel had been his vow. But now his shock was great and his distress poignant as he looked and saw his beautiful daughter standing there in front of his own doorway.
Let us visualize her in all the freshness of youth, with her luxuriant hair falling loosely over her shoulders, and with the wind blowing her hair and at the same time swaying her full-skirted and brightlycolored dress. Her red lips were probably parted in a radiant smile and her eyes were filled with joy as she beat a timbrel and sang. Her country was free again. The enemy had been annihilated, and her own father had been in command. Now he would be first in Israel.
She ran to embrace him. Had he not been all in ail to her? Born in exile, reared amid the wild scenes of desert life, she had known no other protection but her father's tent, no greater love than his. And we can be sure that, mighty warrior though he was, whose name had spread panic throughout all neighboring lands, he had been to his beloved daughter the tenderest kind of parent.
While the whole land echoed the triumphant shouts of freedom, all the glory died out for Jephthah as he embraced his daughter, only to cry loudly, "Alas, my daughter! thou has brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back." Judgea 11:35
With heroic courage Jephthah's daughter gave the answer that has become a classic: "My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon." Judges 11:36. His daughter's noble submission to his vow now made the consequence of it even harder for Jephthah to bear.
Pure of heart and unmindful of tragedy, Jephthah's daughter probably did not at first grasp her father's distressing predicament. Then she began to know that the life she had envisioned as a wife and mother, the hope of every woman in Israel, was gone. Let us imagine she needed spiritual strength to face such a crisis and so she asked her father for two months, so that she might go to the mountains with young friends and "bewail her virginity." Judges 11:38
Then it was she returned calmly and obediently to her father, who, the Scriptures say, "did with her according to his vow." Judges 11:39 A great many Bible commentators take this story literally, saying Jephthah did go forth and offer his daughter for a burnt offering. There is little argument for a different interpretation except in that earlier phrase, "shall surely be the Lord's." Judges 11:31, indicating he could have meant to offer her to the service of the sanctuary.
Some commentators make the point that while Jephthah's daughter was in the mountains for two months her father had time to weigh with himself the rashness of his promise. And, despite the turbulent times, there were in Israel many noble, God-fearing men and women who intelligently understood and practiced the wise and merciful system of Moses, that of not offering human beings as burnt sacrifices. If so, Jephthah's daughter gave her life to service in the tabernacle. The phrase "she knew no man." Judges 11:39 conveys the thought that she became a celibate. It has been suggested that what the daughters of Israel bewailed was not her death but her celibacy.
We are positive that she did not marry and bear children, and for an only child of a mighty warrior to die unmarried and leave a name in Israel extinguished was indeed a heavy judgment. But despite the seeming tragedy of this daughter of Israel, she lives on, even now, almost thirty-one centuries later, as the embodiment of a courageous young woman who was both meek in spirit and patient in suffering.