p. 455 | Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 21, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 29.

Question Corner

“Enquire and make search and ask diligently.”

833. G. M. S.—2 Sam. 12:7, 8 simply shows that God gave David all power in the kingdom, so that as king he could have taken other wives, Saul’s wives, according to the custom of those times, permitted of God because of hardness of men’s hearts, instead of robbing a poor man and then causing his death. It does not show that God approved polygamy. 1 Kings 15:5 mentions one lapse of duty, yet the numbering of Israel was wrong. See 2 Samuel 24. In his great sin toward Uriah David’s heart was turned aside; but elsewise his heart was to do right, tho he made many mistakes. God’s idea of marriage is one of each sex. “The twain [not the three or four or more] shall be one flesh.” “In the beginning God made them,” not male and females, plural, but “male and female,” singular. God’s wish respecting the king was that he should not “multiply wives to himself.” See Deut. 17:14–20. If David and Solomon had heeded these lessons, we would not have seen the sad strife among David’s sons, and Solomon would not have been turned to idols by his many wives.

834. W. H. G.—The battle of Armageddon will be fought under the sixth and seventh plagues, just before Christ comes. Rev. 16:12–20; Rev. 19:19–21. It is called Armageddon from Mount Megiddo, in Palestine. See article in Missions department. This will be in a way typical of the great battle at the end of the thousand years. Rev. 20:9.

835. H. W.—Isa. 11:5–9; 35:5–10; 65:17–25 are the strongest figurative descriptions of the abundance of peace which will exist in the new earth, but this does not necessarily imply that the details of Isaiah 11, for instance, will all be literally fulfilled. But if all these now wild, ferocious, and venomous beasts and reptiles were there, they would not harm even the little child; for man, the king, is again at peace with God, and all is peace in the creatures below him.

836. H. W.—Isa. 35:9 refers to ravenous beasts, to beasts with the nature which they now possess. When man is restored, all creatures below him will be changed in nature and disposition. Isa. 65:20 refers not to the new earth, but to the wicked who die previous to that new-earth state. After the thousand years there will be a period of time when Satan holds sway over the wicked. This period, it seems evident to us, is the hundred years of Isa. 65:20. At the end of that time begins the ultimate purification of the earth. From that time, when sin is forever blotted out, “there shall be no more curse.”

837. 1 Tim. 2:11, 12.

PLEASE explain 1 Tim. 2:11, 12. Is it right for a woman to teach in the church? P. I.

It all depends on the who, the how, and the why. If there are no men to teach, or capable of teaching, and the Lord has laid a burden upon a woman, let her teach. In all ordinary affairs of the church, the text expresses the rule. Where there are men to teach, let not women put themselves forward or usurp authority over the men. Learning, waiting, serving in all modesty, is a greater power for good in women than all the assumption of authority which they can put on. Deborah taught; Anna prophesied; Philip’s four daughters prophesied; Priscilla instructed Apollos. See 1 Cor. 11:6.