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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 5, 1878

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 52, No. 23.

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TO CORRESPONDENTS.

A. HALL: For a full discussion of the 49 weeks, the work of reformation by Nehemiah which marked their close, and proof that this was in the 15th of Darius Nothus, and that this was B. C. 408, see REVIEW of March 21, 1878, Vol. 51, No. 12. Darius Nothus was the third Persian king bearing the name of Darius, the first being Darius the uncle of Cyrus, B. C. 538; the second, Darius Hystaspes, B. C. 520; the third, Darius Nothus, B. C. 423; the fourth, Darius Codomannus, B. C. 335, who was the last Persian king, and was defeated by Alexander the Great at the battle of Arbela, B. C. 331.
How do you harmonize Gen. 49:10, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come,” with Eze. 21:27, which says that the kingdom should be overturned, overturned, &c., and the fact that it was overturned from the days of Babylon, Dan. 1:1, and onward?
C. C. W.
ANS. We understand that the coming of Shiloh, is the coming of the Messiah at his first advent, but do not understand that the declaration, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah” till that time, means that Judah, till then, should occupy a position absolutely independent of all other nations, but that it would still remain a nation and maintain its government, though it might be in subjection to other powers. And this was fulfilled in the maintenance of the Jewish nation as a distinct people, and separate government, with the complete preservation of their genealogy, till Christ came, since which time they have ceased to exist as a nation, and their genealogy has been hopelessly lost.
Dr. Clarke has the following instructive note on Gen. 49:10:—
“From Judah the scepter shall not depart] The Jews have a quibble on the word שבט shebet, which we translate scepter; they say it signifies a staff or rod, and that the meaning of it is, that ‘affliction’ shall not depart from the Jews till the Messiah comes; that they are still under affliction and therefore the Messiah is not come. This is a miserable shift to save a lost cause. Their chief Targumist, Onkelos, understood and translated the word nearly as we do; and the same meaning is adopted by the Jerusalem Targum, and by all the ancient versions, the Arabic excepted, which has kazeeh, a rod; but in a very ancient MS. of the Pentateuch in my own possession, the word sebet is used which signifies a tribe. Judah shall continue a distinct tribe till the Messiah shall come; and it did so; and after his coming it was confounded with the others, so that all distinction has been ever since lost.”
T. B. SNOW: In relation to Matt. 19:28, our view is that the part which the saints have to act in the Judgment pertains to their own generation only.
If the destiny of the righteous is fixed before Christ comes, how and when do you apply the Saviour’s words in Matt. 25:32: “And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats?”
A. FRIEND.
ANS. We apply the passage quoted to the time of Christ’s appearing, when the saints are taken from the earth. For though the cases of all are to be decided before that time, it is not till then that the bodily, final, and public separation between the righteous and the wicked takes place.
S. W. RANDALL: Paul, in Rom. 7, gives, as we view it, his experience. When fully converted, he was in the condition described in Rom. 8. There is where we want to be.
A “subscriber” asks how we prove the sin of common swearing in which the name of God is not used, by the third commandment.
We answer that any language which would imply irreverence toward God would come under that commandment; and no profane oath can be used without implying this.
A. BACHELDER: Answers to your queries on the Sabbath question, you will find in the excellent work of Eld. Andrews on the History of the Sabbath.
Is it improper to apply the title “Rev.” to man?
L. H. D.
ANS. We think it is. The word, though occurring but once in the English Bible, occurs many times in the original, and is rendered fear, afraid, fearful, and terrible. It is applied to things; but when it is applied to a person, it belongs only to God.
W. BRIGHAM: In high northern latitudes the sun for a portion of the year does not appear above the horizon, and during another corresponding portion it is above the horizon continuously; but in both these periods the revolution of the earth, and the hours corresponding to morning, noon, evening, and midnight can be marked just as accurately as in our own latitude. And this is all that is necessary in order to know when the Sabbath comes. For a person to say on this ground that it is impossible to keep the law of God is just as foolish as it would be for one to sit before a well-furnished table and starve to death on the plea that it was impossible for him to eat.
ANSWERED BY LETTER. I. D. Van Horn, O. M. Olds, E. J. Waggoner, S. B. Whitney, Elen L. Morse, E. P. Daniels, E. Lee, D. M. Canright, C. P. Whitford, D. Alway, A. M. Oyer.