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