Author: Charlie Garrett

Chester Alan Arthur, Vermont Capitol.

Sunday, 1 January 2023

“And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. Acts 13:21

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)

You can also read this commentary, with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

In the previous verse, Paul mentioned the giving of judges to Israel for about four hundred and fifty years. With the time of the judges ending, the time of the kings began. Paul explains that beginning with the words, “And afterward.”

Samuel was the final judge of Israel. Israel was a theocracy with the Lord as their King at this time. The judge was appointed to lead the people under the authority of the Lord. However, Israel desired a change in this arrangement, and so after this time of judges, “they asked for a king.”

To anyone who knew the recorded account of this act, it would be a reminder of the people’s rejection of the Lord. For Paul to bring this up is not a lesson in the right attitude of the people. Rather, it is a reminder of exactly the opposite –

“Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, ⁵ and said to him, ‘Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.’
⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, ‘Give us a king to judge us.’ So Samuel prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. ⁸ According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. ⁹ Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.’” 1 Samuel 8:4-9

After this, Samuel instructed the people on the additional burdens they would face with a king over them, warning them. And yet, the record says –

“Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, ‘No, but we will have a king over us, ²⁰ that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.’
²¹ And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. ²² So the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Heed their voice, and make them a king.’” 1 Samuel 8:19-22

With that remembered, Paul next says, “so God gave them Saul the son of Kish.” The name Saul means “Asked for.” It is thus a biblical pun. The people asked for a king and the Lord gave them a king as they had asked for. His father was Kish. The name comes from qosh, a snare. Hence, his name means Snaring. This very well may be a pun as well. Israel had ensnared itself in asking for a king.

After Saul’s initial conquests, Samuel called to renew the kingship (1 Samuel 11:14), and so the people were called together at Gilgal. During this coronation, Samuel reminded them of their wickedness in asking for a king. This was acknowledged by the people –

“Now therefore, stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes: ¹⁷ Is today not the wheat harvest? I will call to the Lord, and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking a king for yourselves.”
¹⁸ So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.
¹⁹ And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.” 1 Samuel 12:16-19

This is what Paul is implicitly reminding those gathered in the synagogue. Though not apparent yet, he will tie all of this in with the people’s rejection of Jesus. For now, he continues this verse with, “a man of the tribe of Benjamin.”

This is to be implicitly understood as a mark of the Lord’s disfavor if for no other reason than that the Messiah was promised to come through Judah, not Benjamin (Genesis 49:10). Benjamin’s blessing by Jacob was that he was a ravenous wolf that devours the prey and divides the spoil. It is not at all unlike the reign of Saul. But more, Benjamin was the smallest tribe, having been almost utterly wiped out by the other tribes for its defense of the horrifying actions of the people of Gibeah as is recorded in Judges 19 and 20. With that, Paul finishes the verse with “for forty years.”

This is not recorded in the Old Testament, although Paul’s stating it means that it was understood to be so. Various chronologies have been provided and explanations have been made to justify Paul’s words. One explanation is that the times of Samuel and Saul have been combined. Hence the words of the previous verse “until Samuel the prophet” mean that the reigns of Samuel and Saul are combined into forty years. Others have developed timelines showing how Saul could have reigned forty years. In the end, Paul has stated a literal time that was accepted within the synagogue as factual.

Life application: The Bible records actual events from Israel’s past to reveal God’s purposes and intent for the time of the New Covenant. The time of the judges was one of constant apostasy and then turning back to the Lord. The people’s asking for a king that would rule over them was to be taken as a rejection of the Lord as well.

And yet, some judges and kings directed the people to the Lord, exalting Him above their own reigns. Others turned from the Lord in varying degrees. Each of these stories is given as a lesson for us to see something about Israel’s need for the Messiah to come and rule. Without knowing what is recorded in the Old Testament, we have a void in our understanding of why we need the Lord as our Head. The proclivities of man necessitate it and the biblical stories of the Old Testament highlight this fact.

Be sure to read the Old Testament as well as the New. In it, you will find the state of man in need of God’s Messiah. In His coming, we see how Jesus fulfills each and every need.

Lord God, thank You for the giving of Your Son so that we can have an eternal Leader who can reveal to us the extent of Your greatness for all ages to come. In Him, we have all of who You are in a form that we can see and understand. Yes, thank You for the sending of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Calvin Coolidge, Vermont State Capitol.

Saturday, 31 December 2022

“After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. Acts 13:20

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)

You can also read this commentary, with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

The previous verse referred to the subduing of the land where the seven nations were destroyed and then the division of the land by allotment. Paul’s next words say, “After that.” There is a rather large difficulty in reckoning the number four hundred and fifty found in this verse. For now, an evaluation will be made based on the text of the NKJV.

As for the meaning of the words “After that,” it would have to mean, “After the time of warfare to remove the inhabitants and division of the land.” It is after that time that “He gave them judges.”

Although Joshua is not called a judge, his role certainly fits that position. Regardless of that, the period of the judges is carefully recorded in the book of Judges, beginning with Othniel and ending in the book of 1 Samuel with Samuel the prophet being the final judge of Israel before the time of the kings. From there, Paul’s words continue with, “for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.”

This counting causes difficulty because of what it says in 1 Kings 6:1 –

“And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.”

The two numbers, that of Paul and that of the record in 1 Kings 6:1, do not seem to match. From the exodus until entry into Canaan was forty years. It took about another seven years to subdue the land. It was at this time the divisions of the land were made.

If it was four hundred and fifty years from the land division to the time of Samuel, and then you add on the forty years in the wilderness, the seven years until the land division, the time of Saul’s reign (forty years – Acts 13:21) and the time of David’s reign (forty years – 1 Kings 2:11), and then the building of the temple commencing in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, it is about five hundred and ninety years from the exodus until the time of the building of the temple.

Because of the difficulty, some translations make the period inclusive of what Paul has said since verse 17 where it spoke of Abraham. As such, the translations read –

“All this took about 450 years. After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet.” BSB

In other words, the period is not speaking of the time from the division of the land until the time of Samuel, but of the time from Abraham to the time of the judges, which then went from Othniel to Samuel. The problem with that is that Paul does not mention the making of the covenant, just that the fathers were chosen. Also, the time interval would have to begin with Isaac, not Abraham. However, Isaac was never even mentioned by Paul.

A seemingly reasonable explanation, which includes the extrabiblical note of the time of Joshua’s rule, comes from Jamieson-Faucet-Brown –

“But taking the sense to be as in our version, that it was the period of the judges itself which lasted about four hundred fifty years, this statement also will appear historically correct, if we include in it the interval of subjection to foreign powers which occurred during the period of the judges, and understand it to describe the whole period from the settlement of the tribes in Canaan to the establishment of royalty. Thus, from the Exodus to the building of the temple were five hundred ninety-two years [Josephus, Antiquities, 8.3.1]; deduct forty years in the wilderness; twenty-five years of Joshua’s rule [Josephus, Antiquities, 5.1.29]; forty years of Saul’s reign (Ac 13:2); forty of David’s and the first four years of Solomon’s reign (1Ki 6:1), and there remain, just four hundred forty-three years; or, in round numbers, ‘about four hundred fifty years.’”

This would align with Paul’s statement, made in a general manner to his audience. However, it still bears a conflict with the dating of 1 Kings 6:1, unless that date is only speaking of the time when Israel was not under foreign rule. And more, it should be unnecessary to include the writings of Josephus to conclude what Paul is referring to because his words are now included in the Bible.

The resolution to the problem comes by taking the timeframe in relation to the expressly stated years of servitude and peace as is recorded in the book of Judges. When this is done, the period is exacting. Those timeframes are listed in verses such as that found in Judges 3:14, which says, “So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.”

In a paper published by Floyd Nolen Jones in 2007, he adds up all such periods and they come out to four hundred and fifty years.

Life application: Study the Bible enough and you can bet a resolution to difficulties in the Bible will eventually be realized.

This is the paper as submitted by Dr. Jones:

—————————–

450 or 480 years – Acts 13:20 and 1 Kings 6:1

The most bothersome “contradiction” in Scripture is that of the presumed conflict between the 450 years of Acts 13:20 with the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1. However, such is a mirage – the two actually have nothing to do with one another. Acts 13:20 concerning the length of the period from the judges until Samuel the prophet is no more than Paul’s affirming of the Hebrew Scriptures. He is merely giving a summary total, without any regard to overlap, of all the years of servitude and peace as recorded in the Book of Judges (as well as Eli’s judgeship, for it says “until Samuel the prophet”), thus:

8+40+18+80+20+40+7+40+3+23+22+18+6+7+10+8+40+20 + 40 for Eli in 1 Sam. 4:18 = exactly 450

As already explained (Chronology, pp. 72-76), each period of oppression was overlapped by the time of peace that followed Israel’s deliverance by a judge. The relevant passages in Acts 13 reads:

Acts 13:17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.
18 And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
19 And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot.
20 And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred & fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.
21 And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.
22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

Although these verses are given in the historic chronological order, verse 19 gives neither the length for the span of the war with the Canaanites nor the time required for the distribution of the land among the 12 tribes. Thus, when taken alone, it is of no actual chronological value. Even verse 21, which gives the span of Saul’s reign as 40 years, does not tell us the length of time covering from when Samuel actually became established as a prophet until the people desired a king. Indeed, verse 22 does not give the number of years for the reign of David.

From these observations, as well as the context of Acts 13:14-43, it becomes obvious that the main purpose of Acts 13:17-22 is not that of furnishing chronological data. Moreover, the giving of Saul’s reign as being 40 years is probably because it is not recorded in the Old Testament (although it can be determined: see footnote 2, page xiii in my Chronology).

This straightforward solution to the conundrum reveals that the 450 years have no chronological significance and has no bearing whatsoever on 1 Kings 6:1. The problem between the two passages never actually existed and was always only a matter of perception – or the lack thereof.

Floyd Nolen Jones, Th.D., Ph.D. – 2007

—————————–

This information was obtained from:

https://www.floydnolenjonesministries.com/files/130648941.pdf

When facing difficulties in the Bible, study the Bible more. It is a self-validating treasure of marvel and wonder.

Lord God, we can know Your word is true through a careful study of it. Although there are things we may not understand, we can still have faith that those things that are difficult do have a suitable resolution, even if we have not yet found it. Thank You for Your precious word. Help us to contemplate it all our days and to grow in our knowledge of You through it. Amen.

This one looks like a horseshoe. Interesting blemish in tile at Vermont capitol.

Friday, 30 December 2022 

“And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment. Acts 13:19

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)

You can also read this commentary, with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

The previous verse said that God put up with Israel for about forty years in the wilderness. With that, it next says, “And when He had destroyed seven nations.”

Israel was given the land by God. And more, they were instructed to go in and subdue it, eradicating every breathing soul. The reason for this was clearly stated several times and in several ways. And detailed instructions concerning this task were provided. As for the number of nations in the land, the number and naming of the listed nations vary several times in the biblical record. Paul is making a note of the list as it is recorded in Deuteronomy 7. There, along with the charge to destroy them is given –

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, ² and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.  ³ Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. ⁴ For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. ⁵ But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.” Deuteronomy 7:1-5

Those seven nations were, as Paul next says, “in the land of Canaan.” This is the promised inheritance. It is a promise made at the time of Abraham, and it was repeated to Isaac and then again to Jacob –

To Abraham: “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’” Genesis 13:7

To Isaac: “Then the Lord appeared to him and said: ‘Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. ³ Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.’” Genesis 26:2, 3

To Jacob: “And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: ‘I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.’” Genesis 28:13

It is this land that was subsequently destroyed, meaning its inhabitants, at the time of Joshua –

“So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.” Joshua 11:23

After that time, Paul notes that “He distributed their land to them.”

Great detail is provided in the book of Joshua concerning the division of the land. It includes notes about the borders, the names of the cities within those borders, etc. At the end of this land division, it then says –

“These were the inheritances which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel divided as an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So they made an end of dividing the country.” Joshua 19:51

Finally, Paul notes that this process was “by allotment.” This is a word found only this one time in Scripture, katakléronomeó. It is derived from words signifying “according to” and “assign by lot.” HELPS Word Studies says, “to arrive at (get down to) God’s will, through the prayerful use of lots.”

Some manuscripts have a single letter change in this word which would then signify “he gave as an inheritance.” And it is true that the Lord gave the land as an inheritance to Israel, but this was accomplished through the use of lots. Either way, the land was promised to the fathers, it was again promised to the nation, and they entered and possessed the land. The actual division by lots is noted in Joshua 18:10 –

“Then Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord, and there Joshua divided the land to the children of Israel according to their divisions.”

Life application: In Numbers 14, the people rebelled against the word of the Lord and set their hearts back on the land of Egypt. In this, the Lord sent them into exile in the wilderness. He could have simply destroyed them and gone in a new direction, but He had covenanted with them, and He is not like man. He remained faithful while they were faithless.

Eventually, their set time of punishment ended, and they entered the land. That entire process, from Numbers 14 until Joshua 3 was a typological picture of Israel’s rejection of Jesus (the Lord) when He came. The Lord could have destroyed them and gone in a new direction (replacement theology), but He had covenanted with them, and He is not like a man. Again, He remained faithful while they were faithless.

The church is not a new direction. It is the acceptable continuance of God’s direction, based upon the cutting of a New Covenant. That covenant was promised in Jeremiah 31, and it was promised to Israel and Judah. The Gentiles are grafted in by faith, but the covenant parameters were set. As such, replacement theology isn’t just wrong, it is a woefully inept doctrine that fails to understand the nature of God and of His interactions with humanity.

We may not be happy with the Jews for whatever reason is floating around in our minds, and the Lord is certainly not happy with them as they continue to reject His offer of Jesus. But this does not negate His faithfulness to the covenant made with them. Having that set and understood in our minds will keep us on the proper path of what He is doing in this beautifully laid out redemptive plan.

O God, thank You for Your faithfulness to us, even when we are unfaithful to You. If we have come to You through the New Covenant, we are saved. It is “deal done” because You are the One who set forth the parameters. How blessed we are to know that You do not change, and by this, we know that we are saved forever! Amen.

Another fun tile pattern. Vermont Capitol.

Thursday, 29 December 2022

“Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. Acts 13:18

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)

You can also read this commentary, with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

In the preceding verses, Paul was asked to address the synagogue they were visiting. He agreed and immediately began speaking about the history of Israel. In the previous verse he noted their being brought out of Egypt by the Lord. Now, he turns to a sad, but continuously repeated part of their history, that of burdening the Lord, beginning with, “Now for a time of about forty years.”

It is referring to the time in the wilderness when Israel almost constantly complained and rebelled against the Lord. Those forty years cover everything from Exodus 12:37 where they began their departure from Egypt until they were set to cross over the Jordan in Joshua 3:14.

Paul notes this was about forty years. Some events are precisely dated such as the departure from Sinai after spending about a year in that location (Numbers 10:11). Other events are recorded without specific dating, but even then very exacting inferences can be made. The account of this period is carefully and methodically detailed in Scripture. One central theme of the entire period is that “He put up with their ways in the wilderness.”

Here is a word found only once in Scripture, tropophoreó. It signifies enduring or putting up with, and thus to bear their ways. It comes from tropos, signifying a manner or way, and phoreó, signifying “to have a burden, i.e. (by analogy) to wear as clothing or a constant accompaniment — bear, wear” (Strong’s).

Of this word, Ellicott notes, “The Greek word so rendered differs by a single letter only from one which signifies “to nurse, to carry, as a father carries his child.” Many of the better MSS. versions and early writers give the latter reading, and it obviously falls in far better with the conciliatory drift of St. Paul’s teaching than one which implied reproach. The word is found in the Greek of Deuteronomy 1:31 (“bare thee, as a man doth bear his son”), where also some MSS. give the other word, and suggests the inference, already mentioned, that this chapter, as well as Isaiah 1, had been read as one of the lessons for the day.”

Other scholars mention this as well. Barnes says, “It is furthermore not probable that Paul would have commenced a discourse by reminding them of the obstinacy and wickedness of the nation. Such a course would rather tend to exasperate than to conciliate; but by reminding them of the mercies of God to them, and showing them that He had been their protector, he was better fitting them for his main purpose – that of showing them the kindness of the God of their fathers in sending to them a Saviour.”

Rather, this is exactly what Paul is doing. Moses, after almost forty years, noted to the people that they had been borne by the Lord despite their rebellion. He went on in Deuteronomy to carefully detail Israel’s future rejection of the Lord and the punishments they would suffer because of it. Paul is not attempting to conciliate. Nor is he attempting to exasperate. He is simply laying out the facts that Israel, to this day, refuses to acknowledge. He will carefully and methodically follow this line of thought until he concludes.

It is in the use of this word that Paul is reminding them of their constant turning from Moses and from the Lord who chose Moses to lead them. It is a theme he will weave into his words, demonstrating that they have repetitively done the wrong thing in relation to the Lord’s will. As such, he is hinting that they are prone to do the wrong thing now and turn from the offering of the Lord Jesus as their Messiah.

Life application: The history of Israel is a snapshot of our own lives before the Lord. We have strayed from Him, we have done wrong and turned away, and yet the Lord is ever faithful to keep His covenant. Despite being under the curses of the Old Covenant, the Lord has maintained Israel to this day, just as He promised.

While they have been unfaithful, He remains faithful. The theology that says that God is through with Israel and that the church has replaced them is a failed theology because it looks at what is happening from a human perspective. The sense is, “Israel failed, they rejected the Lord, and He has rejected them. They got just what they deserve.” If this was true, it would mean that His word cannot be trusted because He covenanted with them and spoke out promises that would have then failed.

It is from this perverse thinking that one would then say, “Israel was rejected by the Lord, and so we too can lose our salvation.” That puts the onus, the responsibility, and the work on us, not on God who has sent Jesus. If a person can lose his salvation, at any time after being saved, then he was never truly saved. God simply gave them an offer of eternal insecurity and essentially said, “Work hard, maybe you will make it. It is, after all, up to you to do so.”

This is a complete misunderstanding or twisting of numerous points of theology in order to make “self” the central message of salvation. It is a shunning of the full, final, and forever work of Jesus on the cross, and it is to be rejected. When God speaks out salvation, it is an eternal decree. God cannot lie. He has spoken. Israel the nation has been kept for its own day of salvation, and if you have called on Jesus, you have been saved for your day of glorification – despite yourself.

Glorious Heavenly Father, how can we be so perverse as to think that what You offer by grace is up to us to merit once it has been bestowed? Help us to think clearly about what You have done and to consider the eternal nature of what You have decreed. And then, Lord, help us to hold fast to this and rejoice in what You have done, are doing, and will continue to do in our lives. Great are You, O God. Amen.

Funny marking in marble tile. Vermont capitol building.

Wednesday, 28 December 2022

“The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. Acts 13:17

Note: You can listen to today’s commentary courtesy of our friends at “Bible in Ten” podcast. (Click Here to listen)

You can also read this commentary, with music, courtesy of our friends at “Discern the Bible” on YouTube. (Click Here to listen), or at Rumble (Click Here to listen).

Paul had just given his opening greetings to those gathered in the synagogue. With that complete, he now begins his discourse on what was read in the law and the prophets, beginning with, “The God of this people Israel.”

Paul immediately identifies his thoughts with the God of Israel. Everything he says will be in accord with that. This is important because when he proclaims Jesus later in verse 23, his words will be in line with what was presented already in Scripture by their God. It would make no sense for Paul to come in and start talking about Krishna. Nor would it make any sense to begin with the God of Israel, but then proclaim Him in a manner that is not in accord with Scripture.

Therefore, Paul begins by acknowledging the God of Israel, and then he will continue speaking about things that are in accord with the Scriptures that testify to their God. This is seen in his next words. The God of Israel “chose our fathers.”

Paul gives a brief summary of the history of the establishment of Israel as a people. This is similar to the approach that Stephen took in Acts 7. As both men were being guided by the Spirit in their utterances, it shows that this is an important way of communicating the gospel to the Jewish people. To take them back in their own history, and to then weave together events that ultimately point to Christ, is a sound method of proving the truth of Jesus as being their Messiah.

In this case, the choosing of the fathers is certainly referring to the call of Abraham, the selection of Isaac over Ishmael as the son of promise, and the continued defining of the line as being through Jacob and not Esau. From there, history continued with Israel sojourning in Egypt.

Any Jew would be intimately familiar with these things, and their minds would fill in all of the unstated blanks as Paul continued. It is next from the time in Egypt that Paul continues, saying,
“and exalted the people.”

Immediately, the mind of his audience would skip to the time of affliction while in Egypt. Joseph died and another ruler came up who treated them harshly and with cruelty. It is during this time that God promised he would attend to their plight and give them the relief He had promised would come. That promise was made centuries earlier at the time of Abraham. This was “when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt.”

The thought of the promise made by the Lord to Abraham would come right into the minds of those hearing Paul speak –

“Then He said to Abram: ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.’” Genesis 15:13, 14

This is the time that Paul is referring to in his words to the people. And at that set time, known already to the Lord, he then exalted the people, “and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it.”

Using anthropomorphism, Paul’s words speak of the power of the Lord. It is as if the arm of the Lord was used to brush aside every obstacle that stood in their way as they were safely brought forth behind them. This was promised before the Exodus by the Lord –

“Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.’” Exodus 6:6

Paul is taking Israel’s own history, a history carefully recorded in their sacred writings, and he is using them to tie their history into what was to come in Christ Jesus.

Life application: Jehovah’s Witnesses claim to follow the same God as that presented in Scripture, using those Scriptures and claiming His name to proclaim their religion. But, as stated above, it makes no sense to claim to follow the God of Israel (Jehovah), but then proclaim Him in a manner that is not in accord with Scripture.

The God of Israel is the One who led the people out of Egypt with an outstretched arm. He did it personally, accomplishing everything necessary to save the people. No other god was with Him in His exalted work –

“So the Lord alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.” Deuteronomy 32:12

Acknowledging that their redemption was the work of the Lord alone is seen again and again in Scripture. The same is true with the coming salvation of the people through Christ. The Lord promises that He alone will bring it about –

“I, even I, am the Lord,
And besides Me there is no savior.” Isaiah 44:1

Again, this thought is expressed again and again in Scripture. The Lord alone will accomplish the work. And then, according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, He creates a being who does all the work for Him. It is both illogical and it is perverse. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is the only possible fulfillment of these types, pictures, patterns, and prophecies.

The Lord God of Israel came in human flesh and accomplished the work for His people. But the only way one can be certain of this and not be led astray by falsity is to check these things out. And the only place where one can do that is in the word.

As this is so, there are two possibilities to getting this right: 1) learn after something is heard, or 2) know what is right before a claim is made. Either way, the place to learn whether a claim is true or not is Scripture.

As this is so, it is best to at least be familiar with the Bible in advance. Then when something complicated comes up, it will be easier to begin a more in-depth study. Hence, you are implored to read your Bible daily, check out claims that are made concerning it, and hold fast to that which is clearly presented by the Lord.

Lord God, thank You that we have access to the word that tells us of You and of Your great workings in human history on our behalf. We can know what is right and what is wrong by simply checking things out. So, Lord, give us wisdom to do just that. Help us to be responsible in our lives in this manner. To Your glory, we pray, Amen.