Biblical Extracts Part 7

BARNABAS AND PAUL.

207. And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them, to the work. _And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from another_; and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed into Cyprus. And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of G.o.d. Acts xv. 36 to 40.

JOHN.

208. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, _receive him not into your house, neither bid him G.o.d speed._ 2 John i. 10.

GENERAL.

209. So shall the king of a.s.syria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, _even with their b.u.t.tocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt_. Isaiah xx. 4.

210. And it came to pa.s.s through the lightness of her wh.o.r.edom, that she denied the land, _and committed adultery with stones and stocks_. Jer.

iii. 9.

211. Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the mill-stones and grind meal, uncover thy locks, _make-bare thy leg, uncover the thigh,_ pa.s.s over the rivers. _Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen_; I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. Isaiah xlvii. 1, 2, 3.

212. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child?

Wherefore do I see _every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail_, and all faces are turned into paleness % Jer. x.x.x. 6.

213. Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. Isaiah xxvi. 17.

214. Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip ye and make ye bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. Isaiah x.x.xii. 11.

215. Thus saith the Lord G.o.d, Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large; thou shalt be laughed to scorn, and had in derision; it containeth much. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria. Ezek. xxiii. 32, 33.

216 He that is unjust, _let him be unjust still_; and he which is filthy, _let him be filthy still_; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still. Bevel, xxii..11.

217. And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. And every garment and every skin whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even. The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even. And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation; she shall be unclean. This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith; and of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her which is unclean. Leviticus xv. 16, 17, 18, 24, 25, 32 33.

218. Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity, unto the elders of the city in the gate. But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel; then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her with stones that she die; because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the wh.o.r.e in her father's house; so shalt thou put evil away from among you. Deut. xxii. 15, 20, 21.

219. Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, _and spit in his face_, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house. Deut. xxv. 9.

220 For this cause G.o.d gave them up unto vile affections; _for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature_; and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the women, _burned in their l.u.s.t one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly_, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. Romans i. 26, 27.

221. Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this Sun. 2 Samuel xii. 11.

222. And there appeared a great wonder _in heaven_, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she _being with child, cried travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered_. And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. _And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven,_ and did cast them to the earth; _and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered,_ for to devour her child as soon as it was born. _And she brought forth a man-child_, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto G.o.d, and to his throne. Eev. xii. 1 to 5.

223. And there was war _in heaven_; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. Eev. xii. 7.

224. And he was clothed with a vesture _dipped in blood;_ and his name is called, The Word of G.o.d. _And the armies which were in heaven_ followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Eev. xix. 13, 14.

Pa.s.sAGES ABSURD AND UNNATURAL.

225. Then spake Joshua to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, _Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon,_ and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon. _And the sun stood still_, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hastened not to go down about a whole day. Joshua x. 12, 13.

226. _The sun and moon stood still_ in their habitations; at the light of thine arrows _they went_, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

Habbakukiii. 11.

227. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, _and made the sea dry land_, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the _waters were a wall_ unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Exodus xiv.

21, 22. .

228. And Moses answered and said. But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? and he said, _A rod._ And he said, Cast it on the ground: _and it became a serpent_; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail: and he put forth his hand and caught it, _and it became a rod in his hand._ Exodus iv. 1 to 4.

229. And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, _and it became lice in man and in beast_: all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not; so there were lice upon man and upon beast. Exodus viii. 16 to 18.

230. Make thee an ark of gopher-wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of; 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 shall 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. And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark; thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, _two of every sort_ shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee: they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind; two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive. _And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten_, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that G.o.d commanded him, _so did he_. Gen. vi. 14 to 22.

231. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.

And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven, were covered. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the _mountains_ were covered. Gen. vii. 17 to 20.

232. Elias was a man subject to like pa.s.sions as we are, and prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the s.p.a.ce of _three years and six months_. James v. 17.

233. And the Lord G.o.d formed man _of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life_; and man became _a living soul_. Gen. ii. 7.

234. And the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.

And the _rib_ which the Lord G.o.d had taken from man, _made he a woman_, and brought her unto the man. Gen. ii. 21, 2.

235. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven: and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his (Lot's) wife _looked back from behind him_ and she became a _pillar of salt_. Gen. xix. 24 to 26.

236. And he (Jacob) dreamed, and behold, _a lad-der_ set upon the earth, and the top of it _reached to heaven_; and behold, _the angels of G.o.d ascending and descending_ on it. And behold, _the Lord stood above it,_ and said, I am the Lord G.o.d of Abraham thy father, and the G.o.d of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest to thee will I give it, and to thy seed.

Gen. xxviii. 12, 13.

237. And It came to pa.s.s, as they still went on and talked, that behold, there appeared _a chariot of fire, and horses of fire_, and parted them both asunder; and _Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven_. 2 Kings ii. 11.

238. Now the Lord had prepared a _great fish_ (which Christ tells us in Matt. xii. 40, was _a whale_.) to swallow up Jonah. _And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights_. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his G.o.d _out of the fish's belly_: and the Lord spake unto the fish, and _it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land._ Jonah i. 17, and ii. 1, 10.

239. And he found a new _jaw bone of an a.s.s_, and put forth his hand and took it, and _and slew a thousand men therewith_. And Samson said, With the jaw bone of an a.s.s have I slain a thousand men. Judges xv. 15, 16.

240. And it came to pa.s.s, when she (Delilah) pressed him (Samson) daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; that he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite unto G.o.d from my mother's womb; _If I be shaven then my strength will go from me,_ and I shall become weak, and like any other man. The story then proceeds to represent Delilah as betraying Samson into the hands of the Philistines, who shave off the hair from his head, and afterwards put out his eyes and imprison him. In course of time his hair begins to grow again, when his strength returns. The Philistines then take him to their temple that he may make sport for them, and Samson then says unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. _And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars, upon which the house stood_, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand and of the other with his left; and Samson said. Let me die with the Philistines, _and he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords_, and upon all the people that were therein; so the dead which he slew at his death, were more than they which he slew in his life. Judges xvi. 16 to 30.

241. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, _fell down bound in the midst of the fiery burning furnace_. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the fiery burning furnace, and spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high G.o.d, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men _upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had pa.s.sed on them_. Daniel iii. 23, 26, 27.

242. Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy G.o.d whom thou servest continually he will deliver thee. Then the king arose Very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living G.o.d, is thy G.o.d whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions. Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. _My G.o.d hath sent his angel and hath shut the lions' mouths that they have not hurt me_: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee. O king, have I done no hurt, Daniel vi. 16, 19, 20, 21, 22.