Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 19, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 20.

[To Our Inquirers.— (1) The name and address of all who ask questions must accompany questions, not necessarily for publication, in token of good faith, and that we may reply by letter if thought best. All communications will be considered confidential if so desired, and no name will be published unless requested. But we have no time to give to anonymous or unsigned epistles or articles. (2) Let the questions be to the point. Do not say, “Explain Josh. 7:1-8,” but state the thing upon which help is desired. (3) Questions cannot be answered immediately in this department. Sometimes it will mean a month or more of waiting. We can not reply to the same question frequently. Read answers to other questions; you may find reply to yours. (4) Members of the Bible Band will kindly enclose stamp if answer is desired by letter. Others will please enclose ten cents. This does not begin to meet expenses oftentimes. (5) “Foolish . . . questions avoid.”]

2848.—“The Eighth Day, and So Forward.”

Please explain Eze. 33:27. What is the meaning of “the eighth day, and so forward”? J. N. W.

Our inquirer must mean Ezekiel 43 instead of Ezekiel 33, for there is no such expression in Ezekiel 33, while there is in Ezekiel 43. The verse reads: “And when those days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.” Ezekiel, chapters 40 to 48, are prophecies and promises of a new and larger city and temple than the children of Israel had yet known, if they would return to God. The sanctuary that was to be built is described in great detail, and the wonderful glory of God that would be manifest in connection with it is also portrayed; but the children of Israel refused to be ashamed of their iniquities. It is not a sanctuary yet to be built; it is not a sanctuary that ever was built. An inferior sanctuary was built under Ezra and Zerubbabel. If all God’s people with all their hearts had returned at that time, the temple which Ezekiel described would have been built. The last part of chapter 43 is a description of the dedication of the altar. The 20th verse tells us what shall be offered on the first day. The 22nd verse, on the second day, and the 25th verse indicates that for a whole week certain offerings should be made until the altar should be purged and purified, and then when those seven days of that purification were expired, upon the eighth day and from that time forward, of course, on every day, they were to offer the regular peace offerings and burnt offerings described in the law. It is an utter perversion of Scripture to speak of it as some have, the eighth day of the week. The Bible knows no such thing. It was the eighth day of a series of days in which the altar was to be purged. It has absolutely nothing to do with the Sabbath in any way.

2849.—Eating of Fat.

In question No. 2816 relating to the eating of animal fat, the questioner wishes to know if the Lord forbids its use. The question I deem important, and the answer misleading. Do you believe Neh. 8:10 refers to animal fats? If so, do you believe Neh. 9:35 refers to the same, or Gen. 49:20 has any reference whatsoever to animal fat? J. W. S.

Words have their figurative as well as their literal meaning. There can be no question regarding the last two passages as being figurative, denoting that which was rich and good. A fat land would be a land rich in fruits and produce, having an abundance; and so Gen. 49:20 speaks not of Ashur as an individual, but of Ashur as the tribe. He should have abundance of bread. But Neh. 8:10 does not seem to use the word in a figurative sense. “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet.” Of course it could include simply of the good things.

As regards the use of fats, of clean foods, there were fats and fats. What are called the fat pieces in oxen, sheep, and goats were prohibited. These were devoted to the altar, and no Israelite was permitted to eat them. See Lev. 3:17 and 7:25. These fats were first, the fat which covered the intestines, called the “net,” or “caul;” secondly, the fat upon the intestines; and third, the fat of the kidneys; and fourth, the fat tail or rump of certain sheep, which usually weighed from fifteen to fifty pounds. This was indicated as the “cheleb” or suet, the internal fat, the sweet fat. But fat mixed with lean, “mishman” or “sh’ameen,” seems to have been lawful to eat, and so also the “peder,” or fat of the burnt offering burned along with the flesh.

The reason evidently why these special fats were forbidden, was because they indicated the very best of the animal itself, and that was holy unto God. Then, too, it was not the most wholesome of the flesh. Yet an animal that would have no fat would evidently be in a sickly condition. All of the fats relating to the sacrifice which were forbidden, wherever the word “fat” occurs, from Ex. 23:18 to Lev. 17:6 inclusive, come from either cheleb or peder. The word in Gen. 49:20 comes from shaman, from the root meaning “to shine, to be greasy.”

Of course the two words expressing forbidden fat occur elsewhere, but in most cases other words are used. In the beginning no flesh foods were designed of God for His people. In the strictest sense, of course, butter is fat, and all oils from animals of any kind; and yet it would seem from the very best authorities and from an examination of the original words that the fats that were forbidden were the pure fats where they were in mass, so to speak, and indicated by the original words and the directions given in sacrifices.

Our advice to all of our readers always is that fat food is unwholesome to a large degree, and all flesh foods are to a greater or less degree, whether fat or lean. There is better food.

2850.—Gift of Tongues.

Please explain Acts 2:1-4. O. H. K.

The account is simply the story of what occurred on the Day of Pentecost, fifty days after the crucifixion of our Lord. That was the outpouring of the Spirit which Jesus had told His disciples to expect. See Acts 1:8. During the ten days from His ascension to Pentecost they had been praying for that Spirit, and when the Day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place and were all of one accord, and then came the outpouring of the Spirit upon them. In that outpouring of the Spirit there were appearances of cloven tongues, like as of fire, indicating the penetrating power of the Spirit, and the words which they would speak, in the bestowal of the gift of other tongues, to fit them for giving the Gospel to other nations. The story which follows showed that they spoke to people of other tongues who were gathered at that time at Jerusalem. Tongues was simply one of the gifts that were there manifest. It was one of the gifts that were set in the church. See 1 Cor. 12:11-14.

None of these gifts are of the choosing of the believer, however. It is not for him to say that God shall give him this gift or that gift. It is his business to yield himself to God and then “all these,” that is all these gifts, “worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will.” 1 Cor. 12:11. Note that it is not according as the believer will, it is according as God wills through His Spirit.

Note another thing, and that is that just as soon as an individual determines that he shall have this gift or that gift regardless of God’s will in the matter, he places himself in that position where Satan can work with him, where Satan can come to him as an angel of light and substitute that which is evil for that which is good. We find more or less of that in this movement of speaking with tongues. Individuals have been led to believe that they spoke Chinese or Japanese, or some Indian dialect, and have taken a journey of thousands of miles to find themselves among natives who could no more understand their jargon than the home people understood it.

Note, secondly, that the speaking of tongues is not among the important gifts. God gives as His church needs. Read the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, where the apostle Paul clearly indicates that speaking with tongues is really an unimportant thing unless there is some one to interpret and make it very clear what is meant by the one who speaks in the foreign tongue. “He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself; and he that prophesieth [teacheth, speaking for God] edifieth the church.” The apostle was willing that they should all speak with tongues, “but rather that ye should prophesy.” “Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.” Study the whole of the chapter.

Let us say in conclusion to this inquirer, and to all others, that the one thing of all things else which will bring the true gifts of the Spirit of God to every believer, is for that believer to yield himself to God to be cleansed for service wholly, and then God will bestow according to His will just the gift or gifts which that believer can use. There is no other way. To seek any other way, to determine that we shall have this gift or that gift, to demand it of God, is to place ourselves in the position where Satan can deceive us with his substitutes.

2851.—Daniel 11:45.

Will you please explain Dan. 11:45? Is Turkey referred to? Also the twelfth chapter and second verse; are some of the wicked raised? J. M. D.

It is impossible to give any adequate explanation of the last verse of a chapter like the eleventh of Daniel without considering the whole chapter. There are those who hold that the pronoun “he” refers to the Turk; there are others who just as strongly hold that it refers to the Papacy, or to Rome. There are some who contend that the Turk will be driven out of Europe and immediately he will plant his capital at Jerusalem and immediately come to his end. Yet the prophecy does not state that. Even admitting the application to be true, the words of the prophecy do not necessarily intimate that immediately the end shall follow. The Revised Version reads: “He shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” That is to say that notwithstanding the fact that he located himself so favorably, that would not save him; but there is nothing in the language that would necessarily imply immediate destruction.

Josiah Litch, an eminent prophetic student of fifty years ago, contended that the king of the north was Napoleon, and that there would be no other great character in the north after him. The next great character to rule the world would be Christ. While he felt the time would be short, yet he did not consider that there was anything immediate. It seems to us that the prophecy is worth studying from this view-point. The true King of the North is God; the pseudo-king of the north is the one who usurps the place of God. See Isa. 14:12-14, where Lucifer is determined to reign on the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. The earthly king of the north would be that power used by the false king of the north, or Satan’s strongest agency. It is against this power that we are warned in the great world-wide message of Revelation 14. Studying the prophecy from this view-point, it takes on a far larger meaning than the mere application to a power in the waning condition in which Turkey is at present. There may be tremendous danger in a false application just now.

The second verse of Daniel 12 would indicate that there would be a resurrection of some of the righteous and some of the wicked. We do not see how the language could be well understood otherwise. Many of each class shall be raised from the dead at the time that Michael shall stand up to reign. It is at that time that probation will close; while it would seem from this scripture there are certain individuals for reasons clear to the inscrutable mind of God, who are raised to witness the manifestation of His power in the closing scenes of earth’s history.