Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 15, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 27.

“IF YE WILL INQUIRE, INQUIRE YE.”

This Inquirer's Department is conducted for the purpose of helping those who are studying the Bible. The answers are oftentimes only suggestive. They are never to be considered infallible, only as they agree with the infallible Word. The writer who may answer these questions does not consider that his opinion is infallible. He will simply give the best that he has, and plead with the inquirer to search the Word. Such questions only will be answered as, to the editors, seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. We can not answer repeatedly in the same volume questions upon the same scripture. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. No letters are answered which do not contain the name of the writer. It is well always to enclose stamp for reply.

4124 — The Birthright

Please explain 1 Chron. 5:1. What is the birthright given to Ephraim, and when was this blessing taken from him? In connection with this, Ps. 78:60, 68; Jer. 7:15. D.

The birthright consisted of three things anciently: the double portion of the inheritance, the rulership, and the priesthood. Normally, these all went to the eldest son. If there were any reason, however, why this was not proper, another was chosen. To Reuben belonged the birthright among Jacob's sons. 1 Chron. 5:1. He lost the birthright and the birthright was divided among three others. The rulership went to Judah. He prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the Prince. 1 Chron. 5:2. The double portion went to Joseph; that is, his two sons were adopted as sons of Jacob, giving him two portions in the inheritance instead of one. And the priesthood went to Levi. Of Joseph's two sons, according to Jacob's prophecy, the latter should serve the younger. Gen. 48:19, 20. Consequently the two sons of Joseph were united in Ephraim. After the death of Solomon the kingdom was divided between Judah and the ten tribes, and these ten tribes were ranged under the tribe of Ephraim, the youngest son of Joseph. Therefore Ephraim is spoken of as having the birthright, or that part of it. For this division see 2 Chron. 10:16-19. God cast off Ephraim when the ten tribes utterly turned away from God. See 2 Kings 17:20-26. The union of all God's children will come again when they are united in the Lord Jesus Christ. The old tribes will not be restored according to the flesh. All Israel that will be saved will be spiritual Israel, those who have faith in Jesus. This is clearly shown in Romans 9, and the apostle proves this by quoting from the Old Testament, especially the books of Hosea and Isaiah. The eleventh chapter makes this perhaps clearer still, in which the Lord shows that the ancient tribes according to the flesh were broken off as unfruitful branches, on account of unbelief, and yet the stock of the branch remains, and in each stock of these ancient tribes the children of faith are grafted in through Christ, so that in God's numbering the tribes remain, tho not visible here. Compare Rev. 22:14; 21:12. All the prophecies which will be fulfilled in the last days will be fulfilled according to the conditions of the last days, that is, in Christ Jesus. See Eph. 3:3-6. And the true Israel, of course, in the very close of time, will be a Sabbath-keeping people. See Rev. 14:12.

4125 — The Rod and the Staff

Kindly explain the words, “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me,” in Psalm 23:4. What does the rod mean? and what does the staff mean? A. P.

The “Companion Bible” has this comforting little note on the “rod” and the “staff.” It tells us that they are equivalent to the club and the crook, the only two things carried by the shepherd, the former for defense, the latter for help: the club for the sheep's enemies, and the crook for the sheep's defense. The crook, we are told, was often used to guide the straying sheep into the path. These implements are really the tokens of God's sovereignty. When we know that His rod is used for our protection, is designed to drive away our enemies, surely we can take comfort from it; and if we ourselves are rebellious, then we may need the strokes of His rod, but even then there is comfort in that, for “whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” But the special thought here is that just as the shepherd who loves his flock uses the rod and the staff for the keeping and care and protection of that flock, so God's power, thus represented, is a comfort to His children. No, the staff is not used as something for the sheep to lean upon, for the psalmist here represents himself as one of the flock. Its use was by the shepherd in defending and guiding the sheep. The “valley of the shadow of death” is not death. There is peril there, without question. The psalmist does not indicate that there will not be cause for fear, but the child of God will not fear. The shadow can not hurt, the shadow can not kill, the shadow can not destroy. The fear might, but trusting in the great Jehovah, even the fear is taken away, tho the shadow of death hangs black and evil.

It takes a lifetime of experience with God to understand the 23d Psalm. “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want,”—He has all that we need to supply us. Not always do we lie down in green pastures, not always are we beside the still waters,—there are rough paths over which we are called to travel; there are turbulent waters, perhaps, that we must pass through. He will go with us in all these, and as we need, He will bring us to the pastures of plenty and the waters of rest. The weak soul will He restore, and the feet that are inclined to wander He will guide; and so we may fear no evil. But drink in of His richness, and let our cup run over for the benefit of others who are longing for blessing.

4126 — Meaning of the Lion and the Leopard

Russia is called the bear. Can you tell what other two kingdoms are called the lion and the leopard? I would like to know what three kingdoms will engage in war before Rome shall arise. T.

The mere calling of Russia the bear has nothing to do with the prophecy which speaks of the bear kingdom. We have the four great world monarchies delineated in Daniel 2 under the metals of gold and silver and brass and iron. We have the same four kingdoms represented in Daniel 7 as the lion, the bear, the leopard, and the great composite beast. Of course England is sometimes called the lion kingdom, but this lion of Daniel 7 refers to Babylon. See Jer. 4:7, 13. The bear represents the power which followed Babylon, Medo-Persia; the leopard, Grecia, the power which followed Medo-Persia, and the four heads the four divisions into which the Grecian kingdom was divided. We know that these are right representations also from Daniel 8, a prophecy given when Babylon had passed away, practically, in which Medo-Persia, represented by the bear in Daniel 7, is represented in Daniel 8 by a ram; and the Grecian kingdom, represented by the leopard in Daniel 7, is represented by a he-goat in Daniel 8; and we are expressly told that the ram represents the kingdoms of Media and Persia, and the rough goat the king of Grecia, and the four divisions of the heads of the leopard are indicated in Daniel 8 by the four horns. The prophecy gives no prediction of three powers which were to arise and have war before Rome comes upon the stage of action. Rome has been the one great central power of earth ever since she lorded it over the Grecian Empire and became dominant in 168 B. C. France, England, Germany, Italy, etc., are divisions of the ancient Roman Empire.

4127 — The Ephah

Please explain Zech. 5:5-11. A. A.

The ephah was a standard measure among the Jews, a measure of capacity. The talent was a standard of weight. A woman is a symbol of a church,—a pure woman of a true church (2 Cor. 11:2), a corrupt woman of a corrupt church (see Ezekiel 23). This was a corrupt woman, because we are told, “This is wickedness.” She was sitting in the midst of the ephah, showing that corruption would come in through her among the people of God. What this woman is, is indicated in verse 11: she was transported by the angel to the land of Shinar, and set in her own place; but Shinar is Chaldea, the center of which was Babylon. This is simply another representation of Babylon and her corruptions as set forth much more fully in Revelation 18.

4128 — Cain's Wife. Gen. 4:16, 17

When Cain went to the land of Nod, it is said he married a woman. Would it be possible he married his sister? Z.

Poor Cain's wife! She never knew how famous she would become, or how many inquiries would be made regarding her. We don't even know her name, how she looked, how tall she was, whether she was beautiful or ugly, industrious or lazy. We only know this, that the seed of Cain was perpetuated through her. The expression “Nod” means wandering. It was the land of wandering, and therefore says Cain, “I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond [better, a fugitive and a wanderer] in the earth.” So in the 12th verse the Lord said, “A fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth.” See American Revised Version. And so when he went out from the presence of Jehovah, or from Eden, he went out into a land of wandering. He had no settled abode, or home. We do not know how long this was after his birth. It might have been two or three hundred years or more, and by that time men and women had multiplied on the face of the earth. Therefore Cain either married his sister or one of Seth's children, before he began his wandering, perhaps. It is not inferred even that he found his wife in a different land.

4129 — A Tenth

What does it mean where it says to give one tenth of everything? Does one first pay hired help and expenses of running a farm, and then give one tenth? Please explain. S. I. C.

One deducts the necessary expenses of running the farm, aside from his own labor, pays his hired help, takes out his seed grain. If he is paying interest on the farm he takes out the interest on the mortgage, or the debt. But he does not take out his own labor or his own expenses. These come out of the income after it is tithed. If there are any other questions, we will answer them.

4130 — Age of Isaac

How old was Isaac when his father offered him as a burnt offering? S. I. C.

According to the best light that we have on the subject, he was about twenty years of age. Dimbleby's “Historical Bible” makes his age twenty-three. It is safe to say that he was from twenty to twenty-five years of age.