Lev. 18:19-30, What is an abomination to the LORD? (1)

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.

The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
But He loves him who follows righteousness. (Prov. 15:8-9)

This is a study I should have done many years ago, in the process of developing a healthy “fear of the LORD.”  What is an abomination to Him?  This will not be an exhaustive word study because the Hebrew terms involved are too many.  The noun in these passages from Proverbs is used 118x in 112 verses (17x in Deut. and 22x in Proverbs).  The root word, a verb, occurs 22x in 20 verses.  Let’s first consider the first use of the verb because the verse includes both terms:

Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing. (Deut. 7:26).

The abomination in this passage is an “idol,” which we know from v25:

You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

We won’t quote all the verses, but this one helps us see the extent of “abhorring” necessary when something is an “abomination.”  “Don’t even coven the silver or gold that was put on these wooden carved images, lest you be snared by it.”  It’s not the metal but the possibility of being ensnared in the sin connected with it.

So now, for the most part, let’s just consider/meditate on the question: “What is an abomination to the LORD?”  And along the way, what is not an abomination?

·       Gen. 43:32: “Shepherds” were an abomination to the Egyptians, but not to God!  I.e. everything the world abhors is not necessarily to be abhorred by God’s people.

·       Lev. 18:22 (20:13): To “lie with a male as with a woman” is an abomination.  This is from today’s passage which deals with abominations that were part of the cultures of those who lived in the land before Israel.

·       Deut. 12:29-32: The way worshiped God is the issue here.  The previous nations in the land did abominable things, two of which are mentioned: inquiring of (dumb) idols and sacrificing your children to idols.  Israel’s approach to the “how” of worship was not to be: how did/does the world do it?

·       Deut. 14:3: Just so you know, Israel’s dietary laws involved “detestable” (i.e. abominable, same word) things.  I’m not spending time on this as Jesus dealt with the dietary laws in my view.

·       Deut. 17:1-4: Bringing an offering that was blemished to the LORD.  This was an issue in Malachi 1.  This dishonors God, of course.  Also, it denigrates the Lamb of God who would come to take away the sin of the world!!!

Matt. 4:18-22, You Need To Have Your Nets Mended

Let’s do a study of katartizō (verb, to perfect, mend, make perfect), a special term related to the maturing of believers.  The key to unlock the study is in Matt. 4:21: James and John were “mending” their nets.  They didn’t need new nets.  They only needed to mend the nets they had.  And why did they need mending?  Because they had been used in fishing.  The pressure of an amazing catch of fish might create larger spaces in the net whereby fish would fall out and never make it to the boat.  It means the nets were restored so that they could accomplish the purpose they were intended to fulfill.  Keep that in mind as you meditate on the other uses of this term.

·       Matt. 21:16: God has perfected (prepared) praise out of the mouths of babes.  An infant might not know exactly how best to praise the Savior, but God could fix their words, so to speak, to praise Him perfectly.

·       Lk. 6:40: Everyone who is perfect (prepared, fully trained) shall be as his teacher.

·       Rom. 9:22: God endured the vessels of wrath that were fitted for destruction.

·       1 Cor. 1:10: We need to be made complete in the same mind, judgment.

·       2 Cor. 13:11: In his farewell Paul says to be perfected.

·       Gal. 6:1: We are called to restore the fallen brother, in meekness.

·       1 Th. 3:10: Paul wanted to perfect what was lacking in their faith.

·       Heb. 10:5: Christ’s body was prepared as a sacrifice for sin. 

·       Heb. 11:3: By faith we understand worlds were framed by the word of God.

·       Heb. 13:21: Prayer: “May the God of peace make you perfect in all good works.”

·       1 Pt. 5:10: Prayer: “May the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle (you).”  It appears that the last 3 terms tell us what is involved in the “mending:” make you stand, give you strength, give you a solid foundation.

·       katartisis (fem noun) 2 Cor. 13:9: Prayer: for their perfection.

·       katartismos (masc. noun) Eph. 4:12: Christ’s gifts to the church (apostles, prophets, etc.) given for the equipping of the saints.

Vincent: to adjust, “put it right.”  Vine: to make fit, equip, prepare.  Bruce: to equip, adjust.  Jesus called fishermen to become fishers of men.  As with their fishing for fish, so in fishing for men, we must give Him access to mend our nets.

Rev. 17:7-18, Telos, The End of the Word of God

There is a family of words in the NT for “fulfill.”  The NKJV in Rev. 17:17 translates, until the words of God are fulfilled.  That’s fine: all God has said and planned concerning the arrangement of the nations and governments and armies and economy will be fulfilled.  But if you are wondering, this word is not “fulfilled” but is one of the family of NT words meaning “to complete, finish” (Greek: telos).  Literally, until the words of God are finished.  Maybe no big deal, but I thought you might like to know.  And it led me to consider a few other significant passages with “telos.”  Here they are for your meditation.

·       Mt. 26:1: When Jesus finished all these words, of the Olivet Discourse, prophetic words, He then turned His attention to Passover and His upcoming crucifixion.

·       Lk. 18:31: One of Jesus’ announcements that they are going to Jerusalem, and at that time all things prophesied concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.

·       Lk. 22:37: Telos is twice here.  First, quoting Isa. 53:12 about being numbered with the transgressors, Jesus says this must be accomplished (NKJV has a note suggesting fulfilled).  But then Jesus said, For the things concerning Me have an end.  That’s the second use.  What a simple, powerful statement!  There’s a point to it all.  Be patient; it will come!

·       Jn. 19:28,30: Jesus, after the darkness and the fullness of suffering, knew all things were not accomplished (noun), that the Scriptures might be fulfilled (finished, verb), said, ‘I thirst.’  Earlier He refused the wine with myrrh; but now He can satisfy thirst, and then says: It is finished (verb; perfect: an action which is viewed as having been completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated;  passive, done to Him, i.e. the Father’s work done via the cross, or in the next passage, it was the work of evil men; indicative: a statement of fact).  Hallelujah!

·       Ac. 13:29: Paul at Pisidian Antioch, when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. 

·       Rev. 10:7 (mystery of God finished); 11:7 (testimony of two witnesses finished); 15:1 (the wrath of God is complete); 15:8 (no one could enter heaven until the seven plagues completed); 17:17 (see above); 20:3,5,7 (Satan bound, dead not raised again, and then Satan released, all when the thousand years were finished or were expired).

And now, here are a couple for application:

·       Gal. 5:16: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

·       2 Tim. 4:7: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

 God has an end goal in mind, with various sub-goals along the way.  He has revealed this in His word.  The "end" of God's word will come.  Let us also have a fitting "end" to our lives, one that glorifies God. 

Psalm 85; 32:1-5, More on the Flood and Atonement

In my recent reading I discovered a couple of things in this Psalm relative to God’s plan of salvation.  First, in 85:2, having been brought back from captivity, the Psalmist notes that the LORD had forgiven and covered the sin of the people.  These same two truths are found in Ps. 32:1 where David extols the blessedness of the one whose sins are forgiven and covered. 

There is apparently a “play on words” in that the two Hebrew words are nasa and kasa.  To forgive is to carry the sins away.  To cover is to hide them from God’s sight.  And in Ps. 32:5 David declares that he, David, has not hidden (kasa) his sins, because that does not hide them from God.  Rather he has confessed or acknowledged them, so it is left for God to cover them.

We have mentioned before the idea of “atonement” in the Bible, that it has this idea of “covering” them.  The word often translated “atonement” in the OT is kephar.  This word has its roots in Noah’s ark where Noah was told by God to cover the outside of the ark with pitch, kephar.  In other words, for Noah to be safe from God’s judgment there would need to be something that would guarantee that the ark would not allow water to seep in from the outside.  Thus, as Peter said, a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water (1 Pt. 3:20).  The water carried the ark and kept them all afloat no matter how violent were the things happening outside.

But here is another interesting fact.  The roots of kasa (to hide something by covering it) are also in the flood.  In Gen. 7:18,20 (the first uses of this term) we see that the water covered all the high hills and mountains.  So, inside the ark was salvation; outside the ark was judgment for sin.  Through His judgment the LORD covered all the sinful earth/earthlings.  The LORD had seen that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth (Gen. 6:5-6).  I’m sorry if you have soothed your view of God by proposing a flood that was not over all the earth.  It just doesn’t fit.

And if you wonder about this kasa word, the next use of the term is in Gen. 9:23 where Shem and Japheth walked backwards with a blanket to cover their father’s nakedness.  Again, there is a covering for sin and shame.  We should not be surprised that the flood provides the backdrop for such powerful and blessed and gracious understandings of our salvation.  Not only do we have a secure salvation in Christ; we have one that has totally dealt with our sin that separated us from God.  Praise His holy name!

Psalm 104

We are in a section of the Psalms where the worthiness of God to receive praise is derived from the world around us, both in creation and history.  If you desire to praise God for His attributes clearly seen in creation (Rom. 1:20) so you can glorify and thank Him for His goodness (Rom. 1:21) Psalm 104 is for you.  When Paul told the Athenians God gives life, breath, and all things to mankind (Acts 17:25) this is what he was talking about. Paul must have had Psalm 104 in mind when he told the idolaters of Lystra that God did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14:17).  We all see the truth of this Psalm daily.  Consider the contents of this great Hymn!

·         104:1-2: Bless the Lord, the great Creator.  He stretched out the heavens (v2), a phrase that perfectly fits our ever expanding universe. Scientists even used this term "stretching" to describe the amazing thing that's happening. This phrase appears 17 times in the Old Testament.

·         104:3-9: He is the Creator …

o   Of the heavens (v3-4).  Note that He is sovereign, and uses the heavens and heavenly beings for His purposes.

o   Of the earth (v5-9).  This paragraph has in mind Gen. 1 where the waters were above and on the earth and Gen. 6-8 when the waters of the flood settled back into the valleys of the Earth, no longer to cover the earth.

·         104:10-26: He is the Sustainer …

o   Refreshing the earth with springs (v10-12) and rain (v13).

o   Causing the earth to produce all that is needed for man’s enjoyment and the needs of all living beings (v14-18).

o   Appointing the sun and moon so that there would be both seasons and day/night for the earth to be the perfect place to sustain life (v19-23).

o   Providing all the blessings that come from the oceans both with what grows there and how it enables man to move about and share the abundant resources from near and distant shores (v24-26).

§  In v24 such things as the law of gravity or laws of the harvest and all laws of nature are God’s creative wisdom.  It works and keeps on working because of His wisdom. One of the things that space exploration does for modern man is to show him that there is no other planet anywhere that is so perfectly fit for life as this earth. Everything in this Psalm is explained by this verse: it's all evidence of the wisdom of God! In recent days the climate alarmists have finally acknowledged their lies, that we are not about to destroy ourselves on this earth. But we knew this all along: the God Who created it is the God of all wisdom!

§  In v26 Leviathan is a large sea creature, perhaps dragon-like or similar to a crocodile or the extinct plesiosaurus.

·         104:27-30: Everything waits for God, i.e. depends on Him from day to day. Verse 30 contains another amazing truth. Not only is God the Creator, but he has made the earth to renew or repair itself. This is His work as the Sustainer of all things.

·         104:31-32: May all He has made bring Him glory, joy and reverent worship. What other response to all of this makes any sense at all? The One who made it all should get joy from what He has made.

·         104:33-35: As one of His works I will praise Him as long as I have the life He has given me.  And my prayer is that those who refuse to so honor Him will be consumed from the earth so that the Creator receives the complete, unified praise of all the earth!

Bless the Lord, O my soul!  Praise the Lord!!!

Judges 5:1-18, Decrees and Those Who Write Them (3)

Albert Barnes had a somewhat lengthy note on those who write decrees.

Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees - To those who frame statutes that are oppressive and iniquitous. The prophet here refers, doubtless, to the rulers and judges of the land of Judea. A similar description he had before given; Isaiah 1:10, (my note: he likens Israel’s rulers to those of Sodom and Gomorrah) Isaiah 1:23,(my note: the rulers of Israel are thieves, open for bribes) ...

Here, it evidently refers to the judges who declared oppressive and unjust sentences, and caused them to be recorded. It does not refer to the mere scribes, or recorders of the judicial opinions, but to the judges themselves, who pronounced the sentence, and caused it to be recorded. The manner of making Eastern decrees differs from ours: they are first written, and then the magistrate authenticates them, or annuls them. This, I remember, is the Arab manner, according to D'Arvieux. When an Arab wanted a favor of the emir, the way was to apply to the secretary, who drew up a decree according to the request of the party; if the emir granted the favor, he printed his seal upon it; if not, he returned it torn to the petitioner.

So we have an idea about these “lawmakers.”  What in Isaiah 10:1 what might have been their decrees?  The one other use of the noun (decrees) might help us.

·       Judges 5:15: Do you remember the leaders who offered themselves with their people in the fight against the King of Hazor?  In the case of Reuben, the leaders did not offer themselves but stayed with their sheep.  Thus, they had great “resolves” of heart.  Interesting use of the word.  What resolves?  I would assume they decided going to battle was not a good idea, too dangerous, something of that nature.  So, they decreed that their people not go.  In so doing they lost out on the joy of the LORD expressed in this Song.

Isa. 10:2 tells us the unrighteous decrees had the effect of robbing the poor, taking advantage of the widows and the fatherless.  Perhaps these decrees placed an undo burden on the poor and needy.  I think of the poor widow in Mark 12:41-44 who, in fear for her salvation, was compelled by the decrees of the leadership to give all her money into the offering.  The “corban” issue in Mk. 7:1-13 is another illustration of unrighteous decrees that made the lawmakers rich and the poor fearful.

In Isa. 10:3-4 it appears to me that the LORD responds with His own “decrees” that are meant to strike fear in the unrighteous lawgivers.  What will you do in the day of punishment, and in the desolation which will come from afar?  To whom will you flee for help?  And where will you leave your glory?  And, of course, the decrees of God are both just and true.  His is not a “made up” fear.

 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He (Deut. 32:4). Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!  Just and true are Your ways, O King of the Saints! (Rev. 15:3).

Isaiah 22:15-25, Decrees and Those Who Write Them (2)

We are considering “those who write decrees.”  We began in Isa. 10:1 and now move on from there.

·       Isa. 22:16: Shebna, a ruler of Jerusalem (he was a scribe, one who writes things, Isa. 36:3), had rejected God’s word through Isaiah.  He had hewn himself a grave, the grave of a rich and important man since it was hewn from rock.  Why did he “carve” a tomb (perhaps indicating he put his name on it; and this word “tomb” is miskan, a dwelling place; i.e. a fancy tomb to dwell in after he died) when the LORD said he would be die in a large country, having been driven from office by the LORD (read v15-19 for the whole story, and v20-25 for his replacement who was a man more worthy of the honor.)  Point: haqaq can be good or bad, and the LORD honors those who are good.

·       Isaiah 30:8: Isaiah is told to write on a tablet and “note” it on a scroll, that Judah is a rebellious people.  They sought help from Egypt instead of the LORD (30:1-7) and rejected the prophets of the LORD (v9-11).

·       Isaiah 33:22: For Israel, the LORD is their Judge (shawfat), Lawgiver and King (malak).  There are three areas of ruling seen in these terms.  Israel was a “mediatorial” kingdom, with God using men to carry out His will.  His authority was mediated.  Obeying the rulers was to be synonymous with obeying God.

·       Isa. 49:16: God comforts Judah.  They are “inscribed” (it’s official, a decree) on the palms of His hands.

·       Ezekiel 4:1: The prophet was told to “portray” Jerusalem on a clay tablet.

·       Ezekiel 23:14: Israel’s idolatry was evident in the “portrayal” of images of lusty Chaldeans on the wall.  These two from Ezekiel indicate pictures that have some significant meaning: Jerusalem Judah’s seat of government; Chaldeans the object of Judah’s harlotry/trust.

“Lawgivers” (haqaq) are important, a critical part of God’s plan for the nation.  They existed in the time when the Law of Moses was the law of the land.  Thus we would assume they wrote laws that helped carry out The Law.  The word is “decrees” which is not one of the terms in Deuteronomy which speaks of judgments, statutes and testimonies.  These lawmakers were to be honored.  Under ideal situations, you should neither ignore nor disobey them.  But it is possible that these lawgivers could be wicked, dishonest, open for a bribe or susceptible to working while drunk.  Then you have a problem.  Buksbazen, in his translation of Isa. 10:1, calls them “the writers who legislate trouble.”  Because their decrees are not from the LORD their “Lawgiver” they led the nation into grievous, oppressive or perverse situations, to quote from various English translations.  Pray for your “lawmakers.”

We will carry this over to another post.