Bible Characters for your weekly Bible study — March 28 – April 3, 2011
Weekly Bible Study Resources
Bible Characters for Your Weekly Bible Study
Compiled by Lt Gen C. Norman Wood, USAF (Ret), Burke, VA 22015
For week of March 28 – April 3, 2011
SUBJECT: UNREALITY
Wickersham, Mrs. Elizabeth C. (CS), “Reality versus Unreality,” Sentinel, Vol. 7 (12 November 1904), p. 164.
--SCIENCE AND HEALTH, page 275, states that "To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God, as the divine Principle of all that really is."
--Principle means source, cause, foundation, that from which everything proceeds, that which underlies all true phenomena.
• Thus Principle or Mind being the infinite Creator, its creations, or ideas, must express the nature and perfection of their cause, and this cause and its effects constitute the realities of being, and are eternal.
---When, therefore, we speak of anything as real, it must have emanated from divine Mind, and must manifest all the qualities of this Mind.
--The distinctive difference between Christian Science and all other forms of religion, philosophy, or ethics is found in the fact that the latter are based upon the asserted reality of both good and evil, Life and death, Spirit and matter, Truth and error, health and disease: while Christian Science teaches that since God and His manifestation is real and eternal, the opposite must be unreal and temporal, though it seems ever so real to material sense.
SECTION II:
Abram/Abraham
[Ā’bră hăm] (Heb. “father is exalted”)
“ABRAHAM. Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the eternal Principle
of being.
This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create trust in good,
and showed the life-preserving power of spiritual understanding.” (S&H 579: 10-14)
(Abbreviated)
Abraham was the first patriarch and was founder of the Hebrew nation. He is “the earliest biblical character who is delineated clearly enough to be correlated, to a limited extent, within world history. His homeland on the Fertile Crescent (possibly at Haran) and movements southeast toward Chaldean Ur, then west to Canaan and Egypt, corresponded to known Amorite migratory and commercial routes.” (Oxford Guide to People & Places) In Jewish, Christian, and Moslem tradition, he emerges as a father-figure— dignified, firm in his faith, humane, respected by the local rulers wherever he went. He moves slowly and majestically across the Near Eastern world of nearly four-thousand years ago, from Mesopotamia [Iraq] to Egypt. The main setting for his story is the central hill country in the Land of Canaan [Israel] promised to him and his seed by God.
Abram (as he was first called) came originally from “Ur of the Chaldeans,” a Sumerian city in the Euphrates valley, near the head of the Persian Gulf. With his father, Terah, his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot, he moved up the river till they came to rest in Haran, a trading center in northern Aram [as Syria was then called]. The family settled in this area, and here Terah died.
“When Abram was seventy-five years old, God spoke to him and commanded him to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household, and go to a new land that he would give him (Gen 11:31ff).” (All the People in the Bible) The Lord appeared to Abram and told him to leave “for the land I will show you,” where he would make of Abram “a great nation.” Thirteen years elapsed, during which Abram still dwelt in Hebron, when the covenant was renewed, and the rite of circumcision established as its sign…..
“Abraham is second only to Moses among New Testament mentions of biblical heroes.” (Oxford Guide to People and Places) “The name Abraham, while occurring nowhere else in the Johannine writings, is found ten times in John 8:31-59.” (Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels)….
THREE PROMISES (Covenants) FROM GOD
“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:” (Gen 12: 2)
“And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land:” (Gen 12: 7 to:)
“And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.” (Gen 15: 4)
Leishman, Thomas L., “Abram: Loyal, Generous, and Brave,” THE CONTINUITY OF THE BIBLE, Journal (July 1963), p. 374.
--When in response to God’s command, Abram set out from Haran on the final stage of his long journey toward Canaan, he found that this would involve his traveling at least three hundred miles before he reached the center of the land; whereas the nature of the terrain to be traversed would probably require his covering a far greater distance.
--With him came his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and a considerable retinue of servants, who tended his numerous flocks and herds.
• His arrival at Shechem (spelled Sichem in Gen. 12:6) was marked by a further revelation from God, who assured him that the land would belong to him and to his descendants.
--…even before he received his significant name of Abraham, Abram proved his generosity, loyalty, bravery, and trust in God.
Abram told to leave his country (Gen 12: 1, 4 [to;])
RELATED SCRIPTURE: Gen 11:31; Acts 7: 2-4
TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: Ascribed to Moses, written after the Exodus (c. 1445 BC). The event occurred earlier c. 1850 BC in Ur.
Abram was still living in Ur located in Mesopotamia before moving to Haran, about 600 miles NW of Ur and 400 miles NE of Canaan.
"In what manner the call came to Abraham, whether through some outward incident which he recognized as the prompting of Providence, or through the suggestions of the Divine Spirit in his inmost soul, we do not know. Anyhow he regarded it as divine and authoritative, and it was too definite to be misunderstood." (Dummelow Commentary)
H., O.F., “Preparation,” Journal, Vol. 16 (October 1898), p. 464.
--WHEN God said to Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee," we read that "Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him," and when the promise came to him that all the land of Canaan should be given to his descendants, he believed, and there he "builded an altar to the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord."
• Following his history, we see that when he was prospered, and his nephew, Lot, was also prospered, a strife arose between their herdmen.
---Then Abram manifested that peaceable and wise spirit, which should make him an example for all, and generously gave Lot the choice of all the territory, and begged that there should be no strife between them, "for," said he, "we be brethren."
--After this the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."
• Thus it was that Abram began his acts of faithfulness to the voice of Truth as it came to him, which were the preparation for his future faith in God,….
Abram is assured of a great reward (Gen 15: 1, 6)
RELATED SCRIPTURE: Gen 22:17; Ps 7:10; 84:9; Rom 4:3,9,18,22; Gal 3:6; James 2:23
TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: Ascribed to Moses, written after the Exodus (c. 1445 BC.). The events occurred three centuries earlier.
“The covenant with Abraham exists in two versions, J in Gen. 15 and P in Gen. 17. Both versions of the covenant focus on God’s promise to Abraham that his heirs will be innumerable and that they will inherit the land of Canaan.” (Theological Bible Commentary)
"In response to God's encouragement and admonition (v.1), Abram showed what nagged at him….The question, "What [wilt thou] give me?" (v.2) became an accusation, "[Thou hast given no seed]! (v.3)." (MacArthur Bible Commentary)
By believing God regarding his heir [v.6], Abraham proved his trust in every promise God had given.
Welker, L. Will (CS), “Repentance and Faith,” Journal, Vol. 27 (January 1910), p. 610.
--The sense of the Hebrew word "faith" is trust in God's word, based on the oneness of God, "The Lord our God is one Lord."
• Its basis is God's promises.
---Paul makes this plain when he uses Abraham as a representative of confident, believing faith.
--As in repentance, so in faith it was necessary for the Hebrew idea of the word to be added to the Greek; yet in "believe" we find a large advance toward its broader meaning as used in the New Testament.
• Whereas "believe,"…is scarcely used in the Old Testament, it is about equally used with "faith" in the New Testament, though with a deeper meaning.
---In the first epistle of John, "believe in" sums up the whole Godward side of Christian duty; so that the statement in Genesis, "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness," is adduced in Romans and in James in the deep sense they bear in the Old Testament.
Abram’s name is changed to Abraham (Gen 17: 1, 5)
TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: Ascribed to Moses, written after the Exodus (c. 1445 BC). The events occurred almost three centuries before (c. 4000 BC).
"Genesis 17 is the P version of God's covenant with the patriarch, involving promises of a son and of the eternal possession of the land of Canaan." (HarperCollins Bible Commentary) “In the P account, the covenant is sealed by the circumcision of its male members, and any who are not circumcised are excluded from the covenant community (17:9-14).” (Theological Bible Commentary)
“17:1-8 begins with the Lord introducing himself as El Shaddai, God Almighty [v.1], the older name of God according to Exod 6:3.” (Eerdmans Commentary)
In verse 5, “the new name, meaning ‘father of many nations,’ reflected Abraham’s new relationship to God as well as his new identity based on God’s promise of seed. Cf. Romans 4:17.” (MacArthur Commentary)
McGuiness, Jeanette S., “’Be ye therefore perfect,’” Journal, Vol. 106 (December 1988), p. 4.
--Evidence of human response to the divine demand for perfection begins early in Biblical history.
• In Genesis we find the inspiring account of Abram’s recognition and total acceptance of the great revolutionary fact that he was to serve and obey one God, not many gods.
---Yielding in faith to this momentous revelation, Abram was transformed to such a degree that he was renamed Abraham.
• God spoke to him in these spiritually profound words: “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” [Gen 17:1]
--This story has great significance for us today.
• Like a pure ray of light, it illumines as it pierces the darkness of false, material concepts—concepts of imperfection that obdurately claim legitimate residence in human consciousness.
The faith of Abraham (Heb 11: 8, 10)
RELATED SCRIPTURE: Gen 11: 31; Ps 87:1; Isa 54: 11
TIME LINE ANDS AUTHOR: Although generally ascribed to Paul, the author of Hebrews is unknown, and was written 67-69 AD.
"The eleventh chapter is a moving account of faithful OT saints and given such titles as, 'The Saints' Hall of Fame,' 'The Honor Roll of Old Testament Saints,' and 'Heroes of Faith.' They all attest to the value of living by faith." (MacArthur Bible Commentary) “Christian writers from Benedict to John Bunyan have described the life of faith as a journey with a destination in another world, inspired in no small part by the portrait of Abraham as a wayfarer forfeiting the comforts of home and setting out for a land of promise in obedient response to God’s word (11:8-16).” (Theological Bible Commentary)
"The land of Canaan [into a place, v.8, was] far from Abraham's original home in Ur of the Chaldees (Gen.11:31). He went by faith." (MacArthur Bible Commentary)
“The city on ‘foundations’ [v.10] recalls scriptural images of Jerusalem (Isa 54:11; Ps 87:1).” (Oxford Bible Commentary)
Coulson, Lucia C., "Abraham the Faithful," Sentinel, Vol. 51 (8 January 1949), p. 45.
--At God’s command, which was in response to the longing for Truth in the very depths of his being, [Abram] left his country and his kindred.
• As it says in Hebrews (11:8,10), “He went out, not knowing whither he went,” but “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
---This sublime trust and faithful obedience is epitomized by Mary Baker Eddy in her definition of Abraham in the Glossary of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” which reads (p. 579): “Fidelity; faith in the divine Life and in the eternal Principle of being. This patriarch illustrated the purpose of Love to create trust in good, and showed the life-preserving power of spiritual understanding.”
--Well may we cherish the memory of this patriarch, Abraham, who gave deeply that he might seek and find the true God, who knew and practiced the Golden Rule in that dark age; Abraham, friend of God, communer with the infinite, who heard and recorded in those early days the command spoken centuries later by the Master, “Be thou perfect.”
SECTION III: David and Goliath (I Sam 17: 4, 8, 9, 11, 32, 33, 37, 40, 42 [to :], 45, 48-50)
RELATED SCRIPTURE: Deut 20: 1-5
TIME LINE AND AUTHOR: Jewish tradition ascribed the writing of Samuel to Samuel himself; however, Samuel could not be the writer because his death is described in I Sam 25:1. The book was written anonymously between 931-722 BC.