Patriachs and Prophets

Appendix 697 His covenant with Abraham until the law was promulgated at Sinai. [760] Paul seems to refer to the first promise made by God to Abraham when he was called to leave Haran. Genesis 12:1-3. At that time the 430 years began, when Abraham was seventy-five years old (chapter 12:4), while the 400 years of the prophecy of Genesis 15:13 began thirty years later, when Abraham was 105 and his son Isaac five years old (Chapter 21:5). At that time Ishmael, who “was born after the flesh persecuted him [Isaac] that was born after the Spirit” (Galatians 4:29; Genesis 21:9-11), beginning a time of affliction of Abraham’s seed which intermittently would be continued until the time of the Exodus. Isaac had not only troubles with his half brother Ishmael, but also with the Philistines (Genesis 26:15, 20, 21); Jacob fled for his life from Esau (Genesis 27:41-43), and later from Laban (Genesis 31:21), and then was again in jeopardy from Esau (Genesis 32:8); Joseph was sold into slavery by his brethren (Genesis 37:28), and the children of Israel were oppressed by the Egyptians for many decades (Exodus 1:14). The time from Abraham’s call to Jacob’s entry into Egypt was 215 years, being the total of (1) twenty-five years lying between Abraham’s call and the birth of Isaac (Genesis 12:4; Genesis 21:5), (2) sixty years lying between Isaac’s birth and Jacob’s birth (Genesis 25:26), and (3) the age of Jacob at the time of his migration into Egypt (Genesis 47:9). This leaves the remaining 215 years of the 430 as the actual time the Hebrews spent in Egypt. Hence the 430 years of Exodus 12:40 includes the sojourn of the patriarchs in Canaan as well as their stay in Egypt. Since in the time of Moses, Palestine was part of the Egyptian empire, it is not strange to find an author of that period including Canaan in the term “Egypt.” The translators of the Septuagint, knowing that the 430 years included the sojourn of the patriarchs in Canaan, made this point clear in their rendering of this passage: “And the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was four hundred and thirty years.” An additional corroboration of the interpretation of the 430 years given above is found in the prophecy that the fourth generation of those who had entered Egypt would leave it (Genesis 15:16), and its recorded fulfillment in Exodus 6:16-20.

698 Patriarchs and Prophets [761] Note 4. Page 316. The Israelites, in their adoration of the golden calf, professed to be worshiping God. Thus Aaron, when inaugurating the worship of the idol, proclaimed, “Tomorrow is a feast unto Jehovah.” They proposed to worship God, as the Egyptians worshiped Osiris, under the semblance of the image. But God could not accept the service. Though offered in His name, the sun god, and not Jehovah, was the real object of their adoration. The worship of Apis was accompanied with the grossest licen- tiousness, and the Scripture record indicates that the calf worship by the Israelites was attended with all the license usual in heathen worship. We read: “They rose up early on the morrow, and of- fered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” Exodus 32:6. The Hebrew word rendered “to play” signifies playing with leaping, singing, and dancing. This dancing, especially among the Egyptians, was sensual and indecent. The word rendered “corrupted” in the next verse, where it is said, “thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves,” is the same that is used in Genesis 6:11, 12, where we read that the earth was corrupt, “for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” This explains the terrible anger of the Lord, and why He desired to consume the people at once. Note 5. Page 329. The Ten Commandments were the “covenant” to which the Lord referred when, in proposing a covenant with Israel, He said, “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant,” etc. Exodus 19:5. The ten commandments were termed God’s “covenant” before the covenant was made with Israel. They were not an agreement made, but something which God commanded them to perform. Thus the Ten Commandments—God’s covenant— became the basis of the covenant made between Him and Israel. The Ten Commandments in all their details are “all these words,” concerning which the covenant was made. See Exodus 24:8. Note 6. Page 354. When a sin offering was presented for a priest or for the whole congregation, the blood was carried into the holy place and sprinkled before the veil and placed upon the horns of the Golden Altar. The fat was consumed upon the altar of burnt offering in the court, but the body of the victim was burned without the camp. See Leviticus 4:1-21.

Appendix 699 When, however, the offering was for a ruler or for one of the [762] people, the blood was not taken into the holy place, but the flesh was to be eaten by the priest, as the Lord directed Moses: “The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: In a holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting.” Leviticus 6:26, R.V. See also Leviticus 4:22-35. Note 7. Page 366. That the One who spoke the law, who called Moses into the mount and talked with him, was our Lord Jesus Christ, is evident from the following considerations: Christ is the One through whom God has at all times revealed Himself to man. “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.” 1 Corinthians 8:6. “This is he [Moses], that was in the church in the wilderness with the Angel which spake to him in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us.” Acts 7:38. This Angel was the Angel of God’s presence (Isaiah 63:9), the Angel in whom was the name of the great Jehovah (Exodus 23:20-23). The expression can refer to no other than the Son of God. Again: Christ is called the Word of God. John 1:1-3. He is so called because God gave His revelations to man in all ages through Christ. It was His Spirit that inspired the prophets. 1 Peter 1:10, 11. He was revealed to them as the Angel of Jehovah, the Captain of the Lord’s host, Michael the Archangel. Note 8. Page 603. The question has been raised, and is now much agitated, if a theocracy was good in the time of Israel, why would not a theocratical form of government be equally good for this time? The answer is easy: A theocracy is a government which derives its power immedi- ately from God. The government of Israel was a true theocracy. That was really a government of God. At the burning bush, God commissioned Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. By signs and wonders and mighty miracles multiplied, God delivered Israel from Egypt and led them through the wilderness and finally into the Promised Land. There He ruled them by judges “until Samuel the prophet,” to whom, when he was a child, God spoke, and by whom He made known His will. In the days of Samuel the people asked that they might have a king. This was allowed, and God chose Saul,

700 Patriarchs and Prophets and Samuel anointed him king of Israel. Saul failed to do the will of God; and as he rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord rejected him from being king and sent Samuel to anoint David king of Israel; and David’s throne God established forevermore. When Solomon succeeded to the kingdom in the place of David his father, the record is: “Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father.” 1 Chronicles 29:23. David’s throne was the throne of the Lord, and Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king over the earthly kingdom of God. The succession to the throne descended in David’s line to Zedekiah, who was made subject to the king of Babylon, and who entered into a solemn covenant before God that he would loyally render allegiance to the king of Babylon. But Zedekiah broke his covenant, and then God said to him: “Thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God; remove the diadem, and take off the crown: This shall not be the same: Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: And it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it him.” Ezekiel 21:25-27. See also chapter 17:1-21. The kingdom was then subject to Babylon. When Babylon fell, and Medo-Persia succeeded, it was overturned the first time. When Medo-Persia fell and was succeeded by Greece, it was overturned the second time. When the Greek empire gave way to Rome, it was overturned the third time. And then says the word, “It shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.” Who is He whose right it is? “Thou ... Shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:31-33. And while He was here as “that Prophet,” a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, the night in which He was betrayed He Himself declared, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Thus the throne of the Lord has been removed from this world and will “be no more, until He come whose right it is,” and then it will be given Him. And that time is the end of this world, and the beginning of “the world to come.” To the twelve apostles the Saviour said, “I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me; that ye may eat and

Appendix 701 drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the [763] twelve tribes of Israel.” Luke 22:29, 30. From Matthew’s account of Christ’s promise to the twelve we learn when it will be fulfilled; “in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matthew 19:28. In the parable of the talents, Christ represents Himself under the figure of a nobleman who “went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.” Luke 19:12. And He Himself has told us when He will sit upon the throne of His glory: “When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And before Him shall be gathered all nations.” Matthew 25:31, 32. To this time the revelator looks forward when he says, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever.” Revelation 11:15. The context clearly shows when this will take place: “The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” Verse 18. It is at the time of the final judgment, the reward of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked that the kingdom of Christ will be set up. When all who oppose the sovereignty of Christ have been destroyed, the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Then Christ will reign, “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Reve- lation 19:16. “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” And “the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Daniel 7:27, 18. Until that time the kingdom of Christ cannot be established on the earth. His kingdom is not of this world. His followers are to account themselves “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Paul says, “Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Hebrews 11:13; Philippians 3:20, R.V.

702 Patriarchs and Prophets [764] Since the kingdom of Israel passed away, God has never dele- gated authority to any man or body of men to execute His laws as such. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Romans 12:19. Civil governments have to do with the relations of man with man; but they have nothing whatever to do with the duties that grow out of man’s relation to God. Except the kingdom of Israel, no government has ever existed on the earth in which God by inspired men directed the affairs of state. Whenever men have endeavored to form such a government as that of Israel, they have, of necessity, taken it upon themselves to interpret and enforce the law of God. They have assumed the right to control the conscience, and thus have usurped the prerogative of God. In the former dispensation, while sins against God were vis- ited with temporal penalties, the judgments executed were not only by divine sanction, but under His direct control, and by His com- mand. Sorcerers were to be put to death. Idolaters were to be slain. Profanity and sacrilege were punished with death. Whole nations of idolaters were to be exterminated. But the infliction of these penalties was directed by Him who reads the hearts of men, who knows the measure of their guilt, and who deals with His creatures in wisdom and mercy. When men, with human frailties and passions, undertake to do this work, it needs no argument to show that the door is opened to unrestrained injustice and cruelty. The most inhuman crimes will be perpetrated, and all in the sacred name of Christ. From the laws of Israel, which punished offenses against God, arguments have been drawn to prove the duty of punishing similar sins in this age. All persecutors have employed them to justify their deeds. The principle that God has delegated to human authority the right to control the conscience is the very foundation of religious tyranny and persecution. But all who reason thus lose sight of the fact that we are now living in a different dispensation, under conditions wholly different from those of Israel; that the kingdom of Israel was a type of the kingdom of Christ, which will not be set up until His second coming; and that the duties which pertain to man’s relation to God are not to be regulated or enforced by human authority.

Appendix 703 Note 9. Page 608. Concerning the identity of the Ramah of Samuel with the Ramah of Benjamin, Dr. Edersheim says: “These two points seem established: Saul’s residence was at Gibeah, and he first met Samuel in Ramah. But if so, it seems impossible, in view of 1 Samuel 10:2, to identify the Ramah of Samuel with the Ramah of Benjamin, or to regard it as the modern Neby Samuel, four miles northwest of Jerusalem.”