4296 — THE NETHINIMS AND PORTERS
Who were the Nethinims, and what was their work? also the porters? and was their pay given from the tithes? Neh. 10:28. The Nethinims were servants of the temple. Ezra 8:20. They were probably prisoners taken in war, and were appointed to this service on their embracing the worship of Jehovah. They succeeded the Gibeonites as "hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar." Being servants of the temple, they were probably supported from the tithes; for "they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple." 1 Cor. 9:13. The porters were gatekeepers. Read 1 Chron. 9:21-29 for a full understanding of their work. 4297 — HE THAT IS BORN OF GOD CAN NOT SIN
Will you please explain 1 John 3:9? I thought Paul said he converted himself anew every day, and from that I get the idea that we are apt to sin at any time. It is true that Paul was converted daily. "I die daily," he said; and it was by thus being converted daily that he was kept from sin. For man in his carnal nature, sin is natural. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." But when a man crucifies the flesh, and dies to self, then the Spirit of God becomes the actuating power in his life, and for him to obey God is natural. His higher nature, as one born, or begotten, of God, does not sin; for his seed (the living word of God, made by the Holy Spirit the seed in him of a new life, and the continual means of sanctification) abides in him, and he can not sin. He does not wilfully do anything that he knows to be sin. He does not plan to sin. He may make mistakes; but as long as it is in his heart to obey God, sin is not imputed to him. As long as the seed abides in him, he does not sin. Sin has no place in his life. The principle within his heart is at utter variance with it. The regenerate life is incompatible with sin, and gives the believer a hatred for it in every shape, and an unceasing desire to resist it. As expressed by Luther, "The child of God, in this conflict, receives indeed wounds daily, but never throws away his arms or makes peace with his deadly foe." Sin is ever active, but no longer reigns. The believer's energies are constantly directed against sin, and the law of God after the inward man is the ruling principle of his true self, though the old nature, not yet fully deadened, may rebel and sin. He who has perfect faith in God, lives the victorious life constantly, hourly, and "Satan can not overcome him whose mind is thus stayed upon God." He will hear the voice behind him saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it," when he turns to the right hand and to the left. And while all this is true — that God has provided a plan by which we may live a victorious life — yet "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust" (Ps. 103:14); and therefore He knows that through the weakness of the flesh, in unguarded moments, we may give way to sin. But that we might not sink in discouragement under these conditions, He has also given us these words: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2:1, 2. Our divine Father desires that we should learn to walk without stumbling; but when we do stumble and fall, He lifts us up and encourages us to press forward. The word "beasts" is more properly translated in the Revised Version, "living creatures." These living creatures were undoubtedly companies of angels who assumed the form of these various animals,—the lion symbolical of great power and majesty; the ox, of patience and perseverance; the man, of intelligence and reason; and the eagle, of swiftness and glory. These represent the standards under which the twelve tribes were ranged,—the lion, the standard of Judah; the ox, the standard of Ephraim; the eagle, the standard of Dan; and the man, the standard of Reuben. These living creatures were engaged in continually singing praises to God, ever ascribing to Him glory and honor and power for His love and majesty and righteousness. The same living creatures are referred to in other parts of Revelation, as for instance, Rev. 4:6-9; 5:6, 14; 6:1; 7:11; 14:3; etc. "Daniel and the Revelation," by the late Uriah Smith, gives some splendid help on these verses. Matt. 17:12 reads: "But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them." John 1:21: "And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No." There seems to be a denial, by John, of what Christ had said; but the teaching of Christ's words is that John the Baptist was Elijah in the work that he did, he was Elijah in the sense that he did a work similar to that of Elijah. The prophecy of the angel to Zacharias before the birth of John was that he should "go before Him [Christ] in the spirit and power of Elias," and that is what the Saviour referred to in Matt. 17:12. John was sent to an apostate nation with a message of reproof and warning, to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. Mal. 4:5, 6; Luke 1:17. But he was not the literal Elijah, as he himself said in John 1:21. He was an Elijah in the work that he did, but not the Elijah who had once lived upon the earth. The Bible can not be made to teach the heathen doctrine of the reincarnation of souls. 4300 — THE SHEPHERD'S ROD AND STAFF
In psalm 23 it says, "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." What is God's rod and staff? The psalmist begins this psalm by saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd"; and since he speaks of the Lord as his Shepherd, he naturally refers to things a shepherd uses. The shepherd's rod and staff are used for the defense of his flock. In the midst of the dark valley, or a wild, uninhabited wilderness, or when entering the shadow of death, the wanderer is without fear while guided and supported by the rod and staff of his protecting Shepherd. In Zech. 11:7 the shepherd has two staves,—one to lead the flock, and the other to defend it. So the protecting shepherd here may be described,—the rod to kill wild animals that attacked the flock, and the staff to draw back the sheep from dangerous places in the mountains that abounded in precipices and dangerous cliffs. The language itself would show that the rod spoken of in this twenty-third psalm is not the rod that Solomon refers to in the Proverbs, that should be wisely and properly used in the correction of children. On this subject of the "rod of correction," spoken of by Solomon, see the article entitled "Everlasting Punishment in the Home," by Mrs. Loper, in our issue of March 17, page 158.