"The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits,' the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it." According to the larger cubit, the length of the ark was 547.2 feet; breadth 91.2 feet, height 54.72 feet, which would be nearly three times the size of a first rate man of war in the British navy.3 3 Speaking of the "window," Dr. Talmage says: "The original" "means window course, a whole range of light." Says Taylor's Calmet: Literally-"a transparency." "Some critics render the word . . . thus: even to the support shalt thou extend it, from the rising,' or 'from the elevations;' meaning perhaps, it shall extend from end to end of the ark."" § 740. "God is Angry." "God judgeth the right We read in the seventh Psalm: eous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.' The 1 The cubit contains 21 inches and 888 of an inch. Some allow but 18 1000 inches. words—"with the wicked" were supplied by the translators, not being found in the original. The Vulgate reads: "God is a judge, righteous, strong, and patient; will he be angry every day?" The Septuagint reads: "God is a righteous judge, and strong, and patient; not inflicting vengeance every day." The Arabic is the same. The Ethiopic reads: "God is a just judge, and strong, and long-suffering; he will not bring forth tribulation daily." These renderings correspond with the following: "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy." The Syriac reads: "God is the judge of the righteous; he is not angry every day." Dr. Adam Clarke says: "The mass of evidence supports the latter reading." This takes a club out of the hands of the scoffer, when he quotes another text, which reads: "Anger resteth in the bosom of fools," and then says to the Christians: "According to the Bible, your God is a fool." 2 § 741. God Unseen. 13 The Bible says: "No man hath seen God at any time." The Savior says: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Says John, the Revelator: "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God.": These last two texts show that the time is coming when God will be seen literally by his children. There are certain passages in the Old Testament which are thought to teach that God was repeatedly seen in the days of Moses; and therefore the Old Testament is contradicted by the New, when it says: "No man hath seen God at any time." careful examination of the Bible will remove all the seeming contradictions. When the children of Israel were about leaving Egypt for Canaan, God said: "Behold, I send an angel before A 1 Ps. 145 8. 2 Eccl. 7:9. 3 John 1: 18, and 1 John 4: 12. 4 Matt. 5 Rev. 21 3. 5: 8. thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey his voice, ... for my name is in him. . . . If thou shalt obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies." Elohim is the Hebrew word for God. This word was applied to the angel; hence he was frequently called "God." God spake through him to Moses and the children of Israel. Moses said to him: "I beseech thee show me thy glory." "And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock; and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft in the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by; and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my face shall not be seen.' Moses said to the king of Edom: "Our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers; and when we cried unto the Lord, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt; and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border."3 § 742. Angel in the Bush. The first interview of God with Moses was through the angel at the burning bush. We read: "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. . . . He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." Referring to this event, Stephen said: "And when forty years were expired, there appeared to 1 Ex. 33: 18. 2 Ex. 33: 21-23. 3 Num. 20: 15, 16. 4 Ex. 3: 2−6. him [Moses] in the wilderness of Mount Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight; and as he drew near to behold it, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying, I am the God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Then Moses trembled and durst not behold. Then said the Lord to him, . . . I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send thee unto Egypt. This Moses . . . did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.' $743. Angel on Mount Sinai. Stephen goes on to say: "This is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear. This is he, 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. Other examples might be given, showing that in all cases, where Moses or others were said to have seen God, it was his angel who was his representative, and spoke words for him. § 744. Fews' Wailing Place. The following are the very words used by the Jews at their wailing place at the foot of the great wall built by Solomon. Their special meeting is Friday afternoon. These words are sung and recited in chorus between the Rabbi and the people: Rabbi.-"For the palace that has been laid waste, 1 Acts 7: 30-36. 2 Acts 7: 37, 38. People.-We have remained solitary and weep. Rabbi.- Hasten, oh hasten, Savior of Zion. People. Speak in favor of Zion. Rabbi. May beauty and majesty encompass Zion. Rabbi.- May royalty soon be established in Zion. $ 745. Bible Variations. Says Phillip Schaff: "Only about four hundred of the one hundred thousand or one hundred and fifty thousand variations materially affect the sense. Of these, again, not more than about fifty are really important for some reason or other; and even of these fifty not one article of faith or a precept of duty which is not abundantly sustained by other and undoubted passages, or by the whole tenor of the Scripture teaching." "2 § 746. Says Prof. Moses Stuart: "Out of some eight hundred thousand various readings of the Bible that have been collated, about seven hundred and ninety-five thousand are of just about as much importance to the Greek and Hebrew 1 From Israel's Watchman. 2 Companion to the Greek Testament, p. 177 |