Scripture Exercise, Nos. 2 & 3
The Sunday at Home (1035, February 28, 1874). Click to enlarge.
Both of the following Scripture Exercises are from The Sunday at Home: A Family Magazine for Sabbath Reading, (issue no. 1035—February 28, 1874). In the comments thread, give me a good, solid paragraph on why you don’t have time to look up the examples these exercises request. 😉 Or just click “Like” to let me know you’re reading these, and want to see more, comments or no comments. Thanks! The answers will be posted next week.
Scripture Exercise, No. 2
There is an emphatic way of speaking observable in Scripture, not altogether unknown to our own languages. When anything may be done from two motives, or when two effects are mentioned as proceeding from one cause, if one of them is of much less importance than the other, it is spoken of as though it did not exist. Thus when Jehoshaphat urges his magistrates to judge justly, he says, “For ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah” (2 Chron. 14:6); whereas, a righteous judge should be actuated by the desire of doing his duty towards both. When there is a comparison between two degrees of liking or love, the lesser degree is sometimes called “hate.” Thus Jacob had two wives, one of whom is said in one place to be “hated,” but in another to be “loved less.” In Deut. 21 is found a similar case. Young students of Scripture may exercise their powers of observation in finding some examples of this usage in Scripture language. The word “hate” also often means, “act as though you hated.” There is occasionally a similar use of the word “love.” Give some examples.
Scripture Exercise, No. 3
The Scripture phrases, “the fear of the Lord,” to “fear the Lord,” “your fear,” etc., must not always be understood as implying “dread,” “terror.” They signify the service of God, practical religion, including fear, love, hope, and obedience. In the Hebrews it is called “reverence and godly fear.” David says, “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those who hope in his mercy,” where the last clause explains the first. Solomon says, “In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence.”
David undertakes to explain what is the nature and the advantages of the fear of the Lord in Psalm 34:11, etc. Proverbs 13 also gives a shorter definition. Give some other examples.
Scripture Exercise, No. 1
The following is from The Sunday at Home: A Family Magazine for Sabbath Reading (No. 1030–January 24, 1874).
When the Israelites went into idolatry, we find that they worshipped their new gods on the tops of hills and under trees. In consequence of this, the expression the “hills,” the “high hills,” came often to mean “false gods.” Thus Jeremiah says, in chap. 3:23:
“Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.”
The marginal reading of Psalm 121:1 is explained in the same manner:
“Shall I lift up my eyes to the hills? Whence should my help come? My help cometh from Jehovah, who made heaven and earth.”
Find out passages where the words, “hill,” “hills,” “high hills,” are thus used.
Answers:
1 Kings 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem.
1 Kings 14:23 “For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree”
2 Kings 16:4 “And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.”
2 Kings 17:10 “They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree”
Isaiah 65:7 “‘both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together, says the LORD; because they made offerings on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their bosom payment for their former deeds.'”
Jeremiah 3:23 “Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.”
Jeremiah 17:2 “while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills”
Ezekiel 6:13 “And you shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols.”
Hosea 4:13 “They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery.”
Other “Head Knowledge Helpers” like this one are categorized under the heading “The Sunday at Home“.
The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge 