S C R I B N E R ' S M A G A Z I N E Important ... - Rparchives.org

August 20, 1913.
A KA.MILV
PAPER.
word Jehovah was used. What is the explanation?
The Bible student will remember that at the
period in the history of the Israelites referred
to in Ex. 6:3 a crisis bad arrived. Moses
liad made his request of Pharaoh that the
people be allowed to go into the Wilderness
to sacrifice to (jod and Pharaoh's answer was
to increase the tasks which the Israelites must
perform. The people lay their complaint before
Moses and he takes it to God.
It will be remembered tbat when Moses had
received his first commission to deliver his
people he had asked what name he should
present to show his authority and was told
to say, "I am hath sent me unto you." Now
when the greater need has come the larger
powers must be granted, "I appeared unto
Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the
name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah
was I not revealed to them." Note
the change in translation which is borne out
by the Hebrew and is significant. Long before
this had he been known by tbe name of
Jehovah, but had not revealed himself directly.
The explanation here is simple when it is
once suggested. Among primitive peoples
names had a larger meaning than among
more cultured races. "Barbaric man believes
that his name is a vital part of himself, and
therefore that the names of other men and
of superhuman beings are also vital parts
of themselves. He further beKeves that to
know the name is to put the owner, whether
'he be deity, ghost, or mortal, in the power of
another, involving risk of harm or destruction
to the named. He therefore takes all
kinds of precautions to conceal bis name, often
from his friend, always from his foe."
"Na Warma will not tell his name, though
lie dots not object to being addressed by it."
Those who have been at our Indian Mission
long enough to get acquainted with the
people will have remarked, even among the
children, a dislike to giving their own names,
It is very common for visitors there to try
to open up a talk wth the boys, or girls, by
asking for their names and they may have
noticed that the conversation stopped at that
point. If another child was standing by he
might bridge over this period by giving the
mme asked for, otherwise the visitor was
left to believe that the child did not understand,
or was stubborn. Whether the Indians
could give a reason for this refusal to tell
in extent and in this confidence he went on
'his desperate mission to the court of the
greatest monarch of the world and as Jehovah's
champion he humbled the gods of
Egypt and the pride of Egypt's king. That
seems to settle Ex. 6:3. From the time of
Astruc, more than two centuries ago, the
chief dependence of the critics for proof of
the documentary theory has been the use of
the names of God. As claimed by the critics,
one document uses the name Elohim and
anothei^ the name Jehovah and tbe Pentateuch
is separated into different fragments
according to the use of the names. Wiener
has demolished this argument entirely by
showing that there is no significance in the use
of the divine names, that the terms are used
interchangeably as a writer today would use
"The President" and "Wilson." He set
forth that while in tbe text which furnished
the basis for our authorized version the name
Jehovah occurs 148 times between Gen. 4:1
and Ex. 3:7, other texts than the Massoretic
use Elohim, or a combination of these
terms, 118 times. In what is called the E
document, taking in those sections of tbis
portion of Scripture where Elohim occurs
179 times, other texts bave Jehovah in 59
instances and in 47 other places the combination
Jehovah Elohim. The publishing of this
proof, which is open to every student of the
original texts, does not leave the critics of
the Mosaic authorship a, leg on which to
stan3.
Why have the critics during the last two
centuries ignored all texts except'the Massoretic
in making their argument against Mosaic
authorship? Either they were lacking in
scholarship, which few would dare to suggest,
or else they have been too careless of
the facts to deserve consideration, How-
Moses would enjoy the confusion of the critics,
if they should ever meet him!
"THE INFALLIBLE BOOK."*
By the Rev. S. J. Crowe, D. D.
Writers and preachers and members of all
churches ought without any hesitation to
accept the infallible Scriptures of the Old and
New Testament as the only rule of faith and
practise Where else in all tbe worid can
we go for a true portraiture of God? Not
to any man or any angel, because it is forever
true that only the infinite can portray
the infinite. God must speak for himself.
This divine portraiture of the infinite God
is found only in the word of God revealed
by Jesus Christ, who is the revelation of God
to rnen in the Old and New Testament Scrip-
their names I do not know.
This idea was probaU;ly lal common one
among the Israelites and will explain the 'Tost wondrous book; bright candle of the Lord:
language at this point. In the days of Abraham
and before, God had been known by his -i:;7appolntm.nt of ^he Newc-tle, Ja.,^ Mlni-
Star of eternity: the only star
name Jehovah, but he had not so directly revealed
himself to any as he did to Moses 'rttatcftfTK church edifice had been se-
•sterial Association Dr^ ^^^^^ g^ptt^t Church
in his supreme contest with Pharaoh. ^ Moses of that city, i ^.^ members of the
imderstood wben God gave him this new riously f^7^J^^,f/tion purchased a magnificent
name that it was a grant of power unlimited
"''''' of the Tme ^an revised version and deslgcopy
of the Ame
resent it to the pastor
^n?'pe°ople expres^^ng sympathy on account of
their loss by fire.
By which the bark of man could navigate
The Sea of life; and gain the coast of bliss
securely."
—Pollock, Course of Time.
"Within that awful volume lies
The mystery of mysteries:
Happiest they of human race,
To whom God has granted grace
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,
To lift the latch, and force the way:
And better had they ne'er been born,
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn."
—Scott.
"Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor
of your liberties; write its precepts in
your hearts, and practise them in your lives:
to the influence of this book we are indebted
for all the progress made in true civilization,
and to this book we must look as our guide
in the future. Righteousness exalteth a nation;
but sin is a reproach to any people."
—U. S. Grant.
"The Bible is a book of faith, and a book
of doctrine, and a book of religion, of especial
revelation from God."—Daniel Webster.
Holy men of God, spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. God after having
communicated the law to Moses on
Mount Sinai and in the Tabernacle communes
with him as a friend with friend, and
Moses writes all tbe words of this law in
a book—Deut. 25:58; 31:24. Then Moses
really became the pen of God. When God
speaks to the" prophets, "Behold I put my
words in thy mouth, and all the words that
thou hearest thou shalt say to the people," then
these prophets become the very mouth of
God. When Christ appears to John on Patmos,
and says to the angel of the church
write tbese things, this is an instance of verbal
dictation. It is a book of infinite recording
infinite power, wisdom, holiness, justice,
goodness, love, and truth, and removes men's
guilt by the revelation of an infinite atonement.
Just before his martyrdom, Paul said
to Timothy: "Preach the word." Paul also
said to the CoUossians: "Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.''
One of the saddest sights in the Church of
Christ is tbe yielding to this spirit of pride
on the part of the ordained preachers of the
word. Many modern Timothys use the pulpit
for discourses on art and literature; others
take the opportunity for the display of
rhetoric and oratory, others preach a small
part of the Bible and condemn all the rest.
Others proclaim an ethics of expediency;
while still others seek only to tickle the ears
of an audience that desires to be amused. In
all this you look in vain for the (Gospel. Such
churches will decline into the form of Godliness
and deny its power. The Lord Jesus
stands by His Cross on which He offered up
a perfect sacrifice for sin, and points backward
to the Old Testament and says search
the scriptures of the New Testament. He