S1: The mailbag questions have piled up. So we're going to
S1: empty the inbox today. That's right. It's an all mailbag,
S1: all the time episode of Open Line. We've got the
S1: questions you've sent us about the Bible, God and the
S1: spiritual life, and we're getting ready to address them. So
S1: hang tight. We're going to get into those in just
S1: a moment. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Open Line with Michael
S1: Ray Moody Radio's Bible Study Across America. My name is
S1: Michael Ray. I'm professor of Jewish studies and Bible at
S1: Moody Bible Institute, also the academic dean here. I'm here
S1: today and every Saturday to do my best to answer
S1: your questions about the scriptures. Normally, the bulk of this
S1: program is your phone calls and your questions. It's still
S1: your questions, but no phone calls today. Today it's all
S1: mailbag all the time. The best way to be in
S1: touch with us is via our website openline. radio.org. That's
S1: Openline radio.org. That page has links to anything you might need,
S1: whether it's email or Facebook, whatever you're looking for, it's
S1: right there. There's even something really significant. It says Ask
S1: Michael a question. You click on that, fill out the
S1: form and you can post a question for future mailbags.
S1: Joining me today in person is the person I turn
S1: to when I have a question about the scriptures. She's
S1: my favorite Bible teacher, my favorite Bible student, my favorite
S1: colleague on the faculty of MBI, a contributor to the
S1: Moody Bible Commentary. And she is also happens. She also
S1: happens to be my wife, Eva. Right? Delnické Eva. So
S1: glad we're studying together today.
S2: Michael. It's so fun to be here. Yeah, I'm glad
S2: you're here. It's great.
S1: Uh, also joining us is the producer of Open Line.
S1: The person who makes everything happen and the one who
S1: put together the mailbag for today. Tricia McMillan. Hey, Tricia.
S2: Hello.
S1: Wow. Here we are. This is the famous threesome. Here
S1: we are. The three of us together, studying the Bible together.
S1: I think that's just so much fun. Yeah, it's a
S1: great way to start.
S2: Great way to start the day. Just a little Bible study.
S1: And it's also fun. You know, I was out a
S1: little bit. And so, uh, a number of things have
S1: come up. Questions have happened, people sent them in. We
S1: might as well deal with it and try and, you know,
S1: get the spindle reduced a little bit or empty the
S1: inbox a little bit, don't you think? Absolutely. So many,
S1: so many questions. Tricia, how do you keep up with
S1: all these?
S2: Not as well as I should. Or as well as
S2: I wish, I wish I would.
S1: Wow. Well, you know, these are fun. And they're really.
S1: Some of them are very unique questions we've never seen before.
S2: Yeah. I was excited to see some of these and
S2: the questions that I read them. And I said that's
S2: a great question. Yeah. That's great. That is that I
S2: don't know. I can't wait to find out the answer.
S1: Well, good. I'm so glad. Let's. Let's get started.
S2: All right. Okay. We're gonna go right to questions. Our
S2: first question is from David in Idaho. He listens to
S2: me and says, I know that repentance is very important,
S2: but if we return to our sinful behavior just once
S2: and even briefly, in spite of our efforts, that doesn't
S2: seem like genuine repentance. Can you please address this? Because
S2: there are some sinful habits that are hard to break?
S1: Uh, seems to me that it's not just habit that, uh,
S1: we've seen the enemy, and the enemy is us, that
S1: there's something called the flesh. And that's why we keep
S1: going back to sinful patterns. And that's how the sinful
S1: patterns start. I don't think we can measure repentance by
S1: whether or not we go back to sin. Uh, now,
S1: I've watched Eva with our kids when they were babies.
S1: I bet you were like this, too. Tricia, what do
S1: you do? Uh, when your baby messes up? You know,
S1: you change that diaper. But what happens if they mess
S1: the diaper again?
S2: You change it again. You just keep changing it until
S2: they're potty trained. Even then, you know, there's something else. Well,
S2: there's a few mess ups potentially there, too, while they learn.
S1: Well, that's what strikes me in Scripture. Is there a
S1: scripture that you point to people?
S2: Well, it seems like.
S3: That we need to remember that if we confess our sins,
S3: he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
S3: and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is not this
S3: is not a salvation verse so much as it is
S3: a daily life verse.
S1: It's a fellowship.
S3: Verse. It's a fellowship verse. Right? And there's a difference.
S3: I think that we need to be aware, to be
S3: keep in mind between our salvation, which is permanent and unchangeable,
S3: and our fellowship with God, which is prone to to
S3: change depending on our behavior. Not because he changes, but
S3: because we change.
S1: Yeah. So confession the verse that you cited. First John one.
S3: First John one nine.
S1: Uh, the Greek word there for confess is homologeo. And
S1: what that means is to say the same thing. It
S1: means to agree. And if we agree with God about
S1: our sin, he will cleanse us so that we can
S1: restore fellowship with him. Uh, that's sort of like the
S1: spiritual diaper change that we need. However, when we sin again,
S1: it's not like we sin with a high hand, demanding
S1: God's grace. As Romans six says, we should not do. However,
S1: God knows we're but dust. He realizes how frail we are.
S1: He paid an infinite price to redeem us. The blood
S1: of the Messiah, Jesus. And he will cleanse us from
S1: all sin and restore fellowship with us. That's the thing
S1: that we need to remember. I think when we see
S1: the word repentance, by the way, so often repentance is
S1: really something that has to do with coming to know Jesus.
S1: And the Bible calls us to have faith in him
S1: and to repent from our old path, to change our mind.
S1: That's the word for repentance in in the book of acts,
S1: and usually in the context there, there are two sides
S1: of one coin. We change our mind about Jesus. That's repentance,
S1: and turn and put our trust in him. We stop
S1: trusting what we used to trust, and we've changed our
S1: mind about Jesus. And now we've put our trust in him.
S1: And so then to put that into the first John
S1: one nine category of fellowship, forgiveness, I think that that's
S1: what messes us up.
S2: So how do we not get discouraged if you feel
S2: like I'm just doing this same sin over and over.
S1: I would keep reading verses about how God restores us
S1: as far as the East is from the West. Uh,
S1: you know what what God does is when he forgives us,
S1: he forgives us completely. When he restores fellowship, he restores
S1: fellowship completely. And not that God can actually forget because
S1: he knows everything, but what he does is that every
S1: time we sin, even though we keep remembering that we
S1: sinned this way before, it's it's a fresh start with God.
S1: It's a new thing.
S3: So it's and I think that part of it is,
S3: is practicing our spiritual disciplines for fellowship. It's like practicing
S3: the piano or any instrument or an exercise regime. You
S3: may think, well, I just I keep at this and
S3: I don't see any change and I'm still making the
S3: same mistakes. Well, quitting doesn't make you better. What you
S3: need to do is to keep on practicing, keep on exercising,
S3: keep on playing, and then you really will get better.
S3: And that's keep on repenting of whatever it is that
S3: you've is, you're struggling with and also and then move
S3: forward toward obedience.
S1: I think crucial I think spiritual disciplines are. I'm glad
S1: you mentioned that. Reading the Bible. Praying. Uh, other spiritual
S1: disciplines as well. Uh, sometimes choosing not to speak at
S1: a certain setting all the time.
S3: Turning off Facebook.
S1: Yeah. These are disciplines that we might follow. God uses
S1: disciplines to grow us in those areas. Not discipline, but
S1: spiritual disciplines, spiritual practices that we don't read the Bible
S1: because we get brownie points with God. We read the
S1: Bible because we want to walk closer with him. That's
S1: an important discipline. And what will happen? For example, it
S1: might be a discipline if there's a particular area of sin.
S1: Go find every verse of Scripture about that sin and
S1: memorize them and work on them. And you know what?
S1: God's going to enable us through the power of His Word,
S1: to be transformed so that sin becomes less prevalent, so
S1: that the the turnaround that we wanted is, is going
S1: to actually come about because God's empowering us through those,
S1: those spiritual disciplines.
S2: Okay. All right. Thank you. I hope that's encouraging. If
S2: you're out there wondering, you know, thinking, I just don't
S2: see any change. I hope that's encouraging for you and
S2: gives you some practical steps on things that you can
S2: do to continue to grow in your faith in Jesus. Uh,
S2: next question. We'll go into, like, creation stuff. Um, Jamie
S2: wrote on Facebook and says, I'm currently studying Genesis. And
S2: as I reread Adam and Eve's story, the question I
S2: had was, Did God create Eve to be Adam's wife
S2: or was she created? Um, I guess just as a helper.
S2: And then she became Adam's wife. Or was it a
S2: little of both?
S1: I'm going to just go right to the text, because
S1: when it tells the story of the creation of the woman,
S1: it says that God brought all the animals, uh, before
S1: him and Adam. And he named him. Right. Uh, which
S1: always makes me think of the old Bob Dylan song
S1: God Gave names. Adam. The man gave name to all
S1: the animals, right? Yes, yes. But but the the reason
S1: for it is the Lord God said to start that
S1: whole process. It's not good for the man to be alone.
S1: I will make a helper to him as his complement,
S1: someone that's fitting for him. That sounds to me like
S1: God is saying he needs a spouse, a wife, a
S1: full partner. And then there's no one found. No helper
S1: was found among the animals as his complement. I think
S1: that may have been to show the man. Yeah, it's
S1: not enough to get a pet, you know. Right. You
S1: actually need an equal, a full complement, a full partner,
S1: and then he creates the woman as that partner. Um,
S1: and it says when it says helper. Uh, that's one
S1: of the things that I think people misunderstand, don't you think, Eva?
S3: Yeah. People get all fuzzed up about this saying, oh,
S3: that means, you know, the Bible is anti-woman and it
S3: makes women less than men and blah, blah, blah, and
S3: they get all mad. Obviously, they're getting all mad because
S3: they really haven't read the Bible because the I mean,
S3: they're camping on one verse here, but the.
S1: Word helper, I.
S3: Mean, well, listen, what it's if you read the scriptures,
S3: who is our helper, really? What is the main way
S3: that the word helper is used?
S1: Lord is our helper in the Lord. Yes. Psalm 46 one.
S3: Right. Is our helper right? I mean, the predominant way
S3: the word helper is used is in relation to God's
S3: relationship to us. Yeah. And so I think for women
S3: to be called to be, you know, given that role,
S3: doesn't mean that you're inferior, but it means that you're
S3: made exactly to need.
S1: Yeah. It's the one who comes to our.
S3: Aid when he.
S1: Comes to when we need it most, when.
S3: We need it most.
S1: That's a, that's a that's what a helper is. And
S1: so I like it's the idea of a partner in help. Anyway,
S1: so I think it's pretty clear that that's the creation
S1: of marriage, because then it says at the end of it,
S1: the the writer. I think that's Moses who writes here.
S1: I believe it's Moses. But at the end, the narrator
S1: jumps in and describes the creation of marriage. This is
S1: why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds
S1: with his wife, and they become one flesh. Both man
S1: and his wife were naked and yet felt no shame.
S1: So this clearly is the creation of marriage. That's right
S1: here in Genesis 224 as the culmination of the story.
S1: So the answer is pretty simple. Uh, why did God
S1: create Eve? Yes, to be Adam's wife. That was the intention.
S1: And it becomes the paradigm, the role model for humanity
S1: for the rest of time. All right.
S2: Great. Thank you. Thanks for that question, Jamie.
S1: Yep. Uh, we're going to take a break here. And
S1: when we come back, we're going to, uh, take more
S1: of your questions that you've sent in. Tricia did a
S1: great job. We've got about 9000 email questions right here,
S1: and maybe a few less, but a lot of them.
S1: So we're going to do our best to get through them.
S1: These are your questions about the Bible God and the
S1: spiritual life. I'm Michael Ray Dolnick. Tricia McMillan is with me.
S1: Everyday is with me. We're going to be right back
S1: with more of your questions in just a moment. Did
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S1: back to this special all mailbag, All the time edition
S1: of Open Line. No calls today. We're just taking the
S1: questions you've sent in with me today. I'm Michael Melnick.
S1: With me today is Tricia McMillan. She's the producer of
S1: Open Line. She's put the mailbag together. Eva melnick is
S1: here with me. She's a professor at Moody Bible Institute
S1: teaching there and also a contributor to the Moody Bible
S1: Commentary and the Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy. But most importantly,
S1: she's my favorite Bible teacher. We study the Bible together. Now,
S1: how do we do it? Every day when we read
S1: the Bible? Eva.
S3: So it's probably not as formal as some people might
S3: be picturing. We're sitting around the counter in our kitchen
S3: drinking coffee, and we're each reading our Bible or whatever
S3: we're studying at the time. Like, I just finished Second
S3: Chronicles and you're reading whatever. And then as I read
S3: and I have some question or something, you know.
S1: Isaiah, whatever.
S3: You're reading Isaiah.
S2: You're reading something different. Yeah, that's what I'm.
S1: Doing right now.
S3: And then I'll say, oh, look at this verse or
S3: what do you think about this? Or sometimes I'll say,
S3: hey Bible answer guy, what does this mean? So yeah,
S3: that's how we study. But we do it every day.
S1: Yeah. Or I'll say, oh, look at this. This is
S1: kind of interesting. This verse has never been in the
S1: Bible before. Right.
S2: How how long? Out of curiosity, how long do you
S2: guys sit there and study together?
S1: Oh, it depends on the day.
S3: Depends on the day. Sometimes.
S2: Busy day?
S1: Yeah. Busy day. About an.
S3: Hour. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
S2: And you just work that in in the morning before
S2: you do everything.
S3: First thing you do before you open your mail or
S3: check your messages or anything. Because you know what? Once
S3: you open your mail or you check your messages, it
S3: just becomes rabbit trails here and there and here and there.
S3: And pretty soon you go, oh, look, it's 9:00. I
S3: haven't gotten anything read.
S1: Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, the thing that I discovered, like,
S1: for today, we had early morning meetings, and I had
S1: to get up really early to make that happen. So
S1: we were up at about five today. Okay. So that
S1: we could.
S3: It's like our friend.
S1: We could have our time. Our friend, our friend.
S3: Larry says, work it back in order to have to
S3: know when you need to get up to read the
S3: Bible every day. So you think about where you have
S3: to leave the house, then work back to what time
S3: you need to have. Yeah.
S2: It takes to make coffee. Yeah. I need this much
S2: time to study. And so that's what time I need
S2: to get up. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Okay. So the reason I wanted to talk about
S1: that is that's the question. It's not. It's not on
S1: your list of questions. But when I do live audiences, um,
S1: with them asking the questions, I often will take some questions,
S1: just people will ask personal questions before the program.
S2: Right off the air. Yeah, off the air.
S1: And that's one of the main questions that I get
S1: is when do you and Eva study together? And I
S1: think that's kind of interesting that that people want to know. Okay.
S1: You keep talking about reading the Bible with Eva in
S1: the morning. We want to know about how you do that. Right. Okay.
S1: So there you have it. Well, let's let's go back
S1: to Bible questions.
S2: All right. Our next question is from Karina on Facebook.
S2: Did God create other people or did we all descend
S2: from Adam and Eve? I had a friend who said Cain,
S2: Abel and Seth did not marry their siblings to procreate.
S3: Well, well, does the Bible, from what the document says,
S3: which is, I think, our best, our best documentation.
S1: That's Eva. Oh, show me the document.
S3: Show me the document. It says there is no mention
S3: of creating other people besides Adam and Eve. So I
S3: would pretty much go with that idea that those are
S3: the people and, uh, but but they did have other children,
S3: and I think some of those other children would have
S3: been ultimately the wives of of the sons that are named.
S3: And it's not the same as it is today in
S3: the sense that at that time there was no genetic
S3: problems from marrying within the family. But later on we
S3: see that, God forbid that to happen.
S1: Now, it's interesting in Romans five when, uh, Paul addresses
S1: the issue of our sinfulness. He says it's through one
S1: man that sin entered the world. And he seems to
S1: indicate that, uh, we are all related to Adam. Uh,
S1: in Romans five, uh, just as sin entered the world
S1: through one man and death through sin. In this way,
S1: death spread to all men, because all sinned, we all
S1: sinned in Adam. Now some people say he was just
S1: our representative, but it was because he was our father,
S1: that that we're all descended from him. And that's why
S1: we all sinned. And therefore death reigned from Adam to
S1: Moses and so forth. Uh, but he becomes the prototype
S1: of the coming one. Uh, our we are, as we're
S1: related to the Messiah. We have new life. Uh, but, uh, nevertheless, uh,
S1: what we have here is, I think the idea that
S1: Adam and Eve were the first parents. God created them. Uh,
S1: then that leads to the problem of. Wait a minute. Uh,
S1: where did Cain get his wife? Right. Uh, why was
S1: Cain worried that people would kill him wherever he goes?
S1: Who are those other people? Well, look at.
S3: Look at Genesis five four. And then the days of Adam,
S3: after he became the father of Seth, were 800 years.
S3: And he had other sons and daughters. Yeah.
S1: So it seems to me that Cain, he was He
S1: was concerned about younger siblings coming after him because we
S1: don't know when this happened or other siblings. Uh, that
S1: would have been distressed about what Cain did to his
S1: brother Abel. So I think that's that one. Where did
S1: Cain find his wife? One of his siblings. Wait, wait,
S1: what are you saying? That's incest. If if if it's
S1: one of his siblings. His wife. One of his sisters. Uh,
S1: I would say that the Bible is pretty clear that
S1: incest is wrong. You can see that in the book
S1: of Leviticus. Uh, nevertheless, I would say when you're the
S1: only ones on Earth that's, uh, there's no other option.
S1: And there wasn't the kind of genetic disorders that would
S1: make that problematic. Exactly. Because they're so new. And then
S1: one other aspect is they need not have been the same,
S1: exact same age because they if Adam lived that long
S1: and Eve lived long, then the result would be that
S1: they would probably from, you know, different ages and would
S1: not have been raised together as as brother and sister.
S3: We even see that in really large families in our
S3: own times. Sometimes families have not incest, but age differences.
S3: If there's 14 kids in the family and the oldest
S3: child is 40 years old and the.
S1: Youngest is 20.
S3: And and or and or, the youngest is younger than that.
S3: You know, so they're not even growing up really in
S3: the same time frame? Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Would there be to the incest question, would there
S2: be that that it was not considered incest until it
S2: was made a law in the law, or was the
S2: law more things that were already understood to be wrong,
S2: that were established or kind of a mix of both?
S1: I don't I don't know. Okay. I think that by
S1: the time you have people spreading over the earth, it
S1: became considered inappropriate, wrong or sinful to marry a sibling. Uh,
S1: but on the other hand, when you're the only ones there,
S1: you know. Now, that's not the case with Noah and
S1: his sons, because they already had three families. And so.
S1: But they would be, you know, their children, that Noah's
S1: sons children would have probably been marrying cousins. Right. But,
S1: but but what else have you got?
S2: But the command that God had given Adam and Eve
S2: was to.
S1: Be fruitful.
S2: And multiply and multiply.
S1: Yeah, yeah.
S2: And so that was their command that they were working with.
S1: They had to do it. Yeah. Okay. Uh, and the
S1: same command is given to Noah after the flood. Be
S1: fruitful and multiply. Mm. Uh. Same command. And when you
S1: look at the laws in Leviticus, uh, the in chapter,
S1: I believe it's chapter 19 or 18. Uh, yeah. Chapter 18. Uh,
S1: there are all sorts of law laws opposed to incest. Um,
S1: and and I think that that very clearly, uh, says, no,
S1: don't do that. Uh, and that's because I think in
S1: the ancient world it was not unusual. Uh, in the
S1: pagan practices of Canaan, it was incest was normative. So
S1: this is.
S2: Another way that they're being set apart.
S3: Yes, yes. And it's if you have a minute, some
S3: time to, to look at, at Leviticus 18, it really
S3: gives a lot of different scenarios of don't do this
S3: with this person and don't do it with that person
S3: and with the other person and with her or with her.
S1: Interestingly, I think there must have even, you know, when
S1: Moses collected the laws, but we don't have every single
S1: law that Moses received. He gave sampling laws in the Pentateuch.
S1: And I think it's interesting that there shouldn't be incest
S1: with a grandparent. But there's nothing said about a father,
S1: does that mean that with a father, it's okay. But
S1: of course it's not okay. It's wrong. But Moses, he
S1: was giving a sampling. And so all incest is forbidden. Is.
S1: Is what what the point of those laws are. Okay.
S2: Yeah. All right. Thank you. That kind of went afield.
S2: A little of your question, Karina, but I was.
S1: Anticipating the follow.
S2: Up. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Next question is
S2: from Catherine, also on Facebook. Do you think that Cain
S2: was forgiven and that the mark was, um, given and
S2: suffered the consequences of his sin by being sent from
S2: the presence of God?
S1: Well, the mark of Cain, whether he was forgiven or not,
S1: was the mercy of God, wouldn't you say, Eva?
S3: Yeah, because. Because he. Really. Can you imagine the outrage
S3: of the of the siblings that they that he killed Abel,
S3: who must have been the nicest guy in the family.
S2: Right. You killed our favorite brother.
S3: He killed our favorite brother. That's right. Yeah.
S1: Now, the strange thing about this is I don't think
S1: the question is, was he forgiven? Was the real question
S1: we should be asking? Was he penitent? And because if
S1: he wasn't, then we know he wasn't forgiven. If he
S1: had been penitent, I believe he would have been forgiven.
S3: Are there clues?
S1: There are clues. The clue to me is that he
S1: was not penitent. And here's why. When God disciplines him,
S1: he says, uh, that you are to wander the earth. Okay.
S1: That's what he tells him to do. He's supposed to
S1: wander the earth. And this is all in Genesis four.
S1: And he says, I want to kill me. So he
S1: put the, uh, the mark of Cain on him, and
S1: he went out from the Lord's presence and lived in
S1: the land of nod, East of Eden. And then what
S1: did he do? Cain became the builder of a city
S1: and named the city Enoch after his son. Uh, and
S1: it says that he went eastward and And he went
S1: to the East of Eden. Why is this important? Because,
S1: first of all, he built a city. He didn't wander,
S1: so he didn't obey the command. And secondly, he went eastward.
S1: And every time in the early chapters of Genesis, when
S1: someone goes eastward, they're acting in rebellion to God, like
S1: in Genesis 11, they go eastward and build the Tower
S1: of Babel. So he did not repent, and so therefore
S1: he was not forgiven. We'll be back with more of
S1: your questions in just a moment. You're listening to Open
S1: Line with Michael Ray Melnick, Eva Ray Melnick, and Tricia McMillan.
S1: We're so glad that Febc partners with Open Line with
S1: Doctor Michael Ray, bringing the Febc mailbag every week. Learn
S1: how Far East Broadcasting Company is taking Christ to the
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S1: have heard with Ed Cannon. You'll hear stories of lives
S1: changed by Messiah all across the globe. Again, you can
S1: hear the podcast when you visit febc. That's febc.org. Welcome
S1: back to the special all mailbag all the time edition
S1: of Open Line. Everyday Dolnick is here with me. So
S1: is Tricia McMillan. And we're going through the questions you've
S1: sent in. You know, I love this because this is teamwork.
S1: You know Trish put the questions together. Part of the
S1: team was the people who sent in questions. I love
S1: that teamwork. Uh, Tricia, you. How many hours does it
S1: take for you to put.
S2: This whole thing? I don't know. A long.
S1: Time. That's teamwork, though. I appreciate it so much that
S1: I don't have to do it. Uh, and then, of course, Eva.
S1: She's the one that tells me what the answers are.
S1: And so that's teamwork, too. Even when I do. Mailbag.
S1: When you're not with me. Eva, I know you've looked
S1: at them first and said, this is how you should
S1: answer this one, and this is what you should. But
S1: and I'm part of the team too. And everyone that's
S1: listening is part of the team. I really appreciate that.
S1: But there's special team members that I think are crucial,
S1: and those are our kitchen table partners. They're the people
S1: who give monthly to open line so we can be
S1: on the air answering people's questions weekly. It's it's just
S1: such a I'm so grateful to them, I guess I
S1: would say for that. And one of the things that
S1: we want to do to say thank you is we
S1: send you a Bible study moment every other week. If
S1: you're a kitchen table partner, that Bible study moment is
S1: a brief Bible study, audio Bible study that I've prepared
S1: especially for our kitchen table partners. And then they get
S1: it in the email. They click on it and they
S1: get to hear it for a few minutes. And I'm
S1: so glad we get some great feedback about that, and
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S1: becoming a kitchen table partner, becoming a part of the team,
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S2: All right. Our next question is from Andrew in Minnesota.
S2: Listens to Ktis. Why did God choose the Jewish people
S2: as his chosen people? Weren't there other nations around at
S2: the same time?
S1: Yeah. You know, uh, it seems like one of the
S1: problems that the other nations had is that they were
S1: running away from God. You know, I mean, you just
S1: look at it. When does the choice of Israel actually begin?
S1: It begins with Abraham. And what do you have? That's
S1: in chapter 12, Genesis of Genesis. And in chapter 11,
S1: what you have are the nations refusing to obey God
S1: and spread across the earth. So they go to the
S1: plain of Shinar, which is in Babylon, the great rebellious city.
S1: That's the beginning of it. They build the city of
S1: Babylon with its tower, and they are saying, we're just
S1: not going to listen to God about spreading over the earth.
S1: So what does he do? He confuses their language, sends
S1: them all out. That's Babylon. And then in Genesis 12,
S1: what happens with Moses? With Abraham, he, uh, he calls
S1: him out of ur of the chaldees, which is in Babylonia,
S1: and brings him to the land of Israel, Zion, and says,
S1: this is the nation I'm going to build from. And
S1: then Isaac and Jacob. And that's where the Jewish people
S1: come from. So what he was trying to do was
S1: choose one nation that was not going to shake their
S1: fist at God and instead. Now, unfortunately, we Jewish people,
S1: we recognize we haven't done a great job, but the
S1: idea was to take the the light of God and
S1: bring it to the nations through the descendants of Abraham, Isaac,
S1: and Jacob. But in.
S2: Uh, there's.
S4: A.
S3: There's a great verse, I think, that tells us why
S3: God chose the Jewish people. Yeah, it's in Deuteronomy. It's
S3: in verse seven. It says, the Lord did not set
S3: his love on you, nor choose you, because you were
S3: more in number than all the peoples. For you were
S3: the fewest of all the peoples. But because the Lord
S3: loved you, and kept his oath, which he swore to
S3: your forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Lord brought you
S3: out and and delivered you the Lord your God. He
S3: is God, faithful to his covenant. So why did he
S3: choose the Jewish people? Not because they were more or
S3: because they were better. It was because he loved them.
S3: It was his sovereign choice.
S2: What verses were those?
S3: Deuteronomy seven seven and eight.
S5: Okay.
S1: So Deuteronomy seven seven and eight. That's God's call of
S1: Israel after Egypt and his special.
S3: He's reviewing.
S1: He's reviewing. Reviewing. Yeah. So that's that's it. Uh, it's
S1: it's here's what it is. God's sovereign choice. God's grace.
S1: That's what it is.
S2: Yeah, yeah. Which is.
S1: Amazing.
S2: Kind of the same. Now, when he chooses those to
S2: follow him.
S1: Yeah. When if you become a believer, you know, we're saying, oh,
S1: whosoever will may come and we look at the, the
S1: sign over the, the door that says that we enter
S1: the door and it looks you look back at the
S1: door and it says chosen before the foundation of the
S1: world for salvation. And so those of us who know
S1: the Lord, whether Jewish or Gentile, if we've been chosen
S1: for salvation, we think we made the choice till we're in.
S1: Then we know it was God who made the choice.
S2: Yeah. Um, do does that mean Adam and Eve were
S2: not Jewish?
S1: Not Jewish, not Jewish.
S2: So Abraham was the first Jewish person?
S1: Yeah. Not Noah.
S3: Mhm. Huh.
S2: Okay. Yeah. You know, you just assume things as a kid,
S2: as a.
S3: Kid going to Sunday school, you think everybody was Jewish? Yeah.
S2: Yeah, yeah. If they're in the Bible, they were Jewish. Right, right.
S2: In the Old Testament.
S1: Adam and Eve, not Jewish. Noah not Jewish. You know,
S1: the Mel Brooks the comedian used to do the 2000
S1: year old man, and he would talk about being around
S1: with Noah, you know, and he'd use and he would
S1: talk with Noah. He'd use a Yiddish accent. Probably not accurate.
S1: Probably not.
S3: Accurate.
S2: Okay. All right. Well, thank you for that question, Andrew. Um,
S2: Francis wrote us on Facebook and wants to know when
S2: the Israelites were crossing the desert during the Exodus, were
S2: the Israelites covered by the cloud of God's presence?
S3: I think she must be concerned about sunburn. Why?
S1: I don't know.
S3: You know, it's hot walking in the desert. Maybe they
S3: should have the cloud of God's presence over them. But
S3: I think maybe she's thinking about something else. What is 14?
S1: Exodus 14.
S3: 1314 2122.
S1: Yeah. Okay. Exodus 13 and 14 both talk about it. Uh,
S1: the The the point of it is that, uh, it
S1: says they set out from Succoth and camped at, uh,
S1: Etam on the edge of the wilderness. Now, verse 21,
S1: the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of
S1: cloud to lead them on their way during the day,
S1: and in a pillar of fire, to give them light
S1: at night so they could travel day or night. The
S1: pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire
S1: by night never left its place in front of the people.
S1: So there wasn't a cloud cover. It was a cloud
S1: that led them. Okay. Not not not not covering them.
S2: Okay, so if the fire is, um, is giving them light,
S2: from what I understand, there were lots and lots of people.
S2: So is this fire really big? Is it really high
S2: in the sky, or is it really only giving light
S2: to those front ones who are, and the rest are
S2: just following in the dark? Do you know? I mean,
S2: I realize we don't know, but I'm trying to.
S1: Picture I think it was a, it was a, it
S1: was a sign in the sky. It was a pillar
S1: of fire. And and you could see it. You know.
S3: I kind of picture it like lightning. You have a
S3: big group of people. Everybody can see the lightning.
S2: Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
S3: Or like fireworks at a great big event? Yeah. You
S3: can all see the fireworks. It's kind of like that.
S3: And the point was, it was to show them which
S3: way they were. I think it was to show them
S3: which way they were supposed to go. Not to prevent
S3: them from falling over rocks and stones on the path.
S2: Right. It's more. You are going the right direction. Follow me. Right.
S2: And I'm going to lead you where you need to go.
S3: Exactly the same.
S2: Thing with the with.
S3: The cloud that.
S2: They would have all been able to see that they
S2: weren't just following the person wandering and following the person
S2: in front of them, but they also could see, oh, yeah,
S2: we're all going the right direction. Yeah.
S1: Which it really does negate the old, uh, joke that
S1: we make about Moses not willing being willing to ask
S1: for directions. So we ended up wandering the wilderness for
S1: 40 years. No, we knew where to go. It's just
S1: that our disobedience kept us from from entering. Right. Uh,
S1: and so but they when they wandered, they were wandering
S1: with God's direction. Right. So. Yeah. So anyway, we're going
S1: to take a break here. And when we come back,
S1: we'll take more of the questions that you've sent in.
S1: My name is Michael. I don't think that was ever
S1: I don't think also and Tricia McMillan. And it's an
S1: all mailbag, all the time program. So don't call. We're
S1: going to answer the questions you've sent us and hopefully
S1: turn you right back to the scriptures to see where
S1: the answers are coming from. This is open, and we'll
S1: be right back. Don't go away. Do you ever feel
S1: overwhelmed trying to see how all 27 books of the
S1: New Testament fit together? Well, I have the perfect resource
S1: for you. Survey of the New Testament by Paul Benware
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S1: you the big picture of God's grand story of redemption.
S1: Get your copy of this resource today. When you give
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S1: Open Line radio.org. Welcome back to our all mailbag All
S1: the Time program. We're clearing the spindle emptying the inbox.
S1: What other metaphor can I come up with. But that's
S1: that's what we're doing. You send on all these questions,
S1: we're answering them. Tricia McMillan is with me. Eva is
S1: with me. We're doing our best. Tricia, let's let's go
S1: right back to questions.
S2: All right. Next question is from Tim on Facebook. How
S2: should YHWH be pronounced? Is it Jehovah or Yahweh or
S2: something else?
S1: It's not supposed to be pronounced. It's the unpronounceable name
S1: of God, according to Jewish tradition. And that's why when
S1: those Hebrew letters vav were found, or why YHWH. Yeah.
S2: Say again.
S1: Hey, vav.
S2: Okay.
S1: Uh, when they're in Scripture, at the youngest age, I
S1: was taught to say Adonai, which means Lord. So when
S1: you see that, you just say Adonai, which is. And then.
S1: And then when you're reading Hebrew, unless you mean it,
S1: if you're just practicing when you see the word Adonai
S1: or udei vav, uh, you're you're just working on something,
S1: but you're not actually praying, then you're supposed to say, uh,
S1: something like Hashem.
S3: Which just means the name.
S1: The name. That's that's what you're supposed to do. Uh, and.
S5: Uh.
S1: Now, here's the thing. Uh, the the unpronounceable name of
S1: God vav. Many scholars today say it's pronounced Yahweh, and
S1: but we're not sure, because that presumes the vowels we're
S1: putting in and also the, the word, the w. That's
S1: actually just a transliteration of the Hebrew vav, which is
S1: really pronounced like a v, not a w. So maybe
S1: it would be yahveh, but we're not sure. And, uh,
S1: I guess I just like it that in most Bibles
S1: it has the Lord with, uh, caps. Small caps. Okay.
S1: When you see your baby.
S3: Okay. Like or like like all caps. L o r
S3: d that, you know, capitalized.
S1: Yes. They have l and then ored in small caps
S1: in most Bibles. Yeah.
S2: Okay. So so when we were talking about the Exodus, um,
S2: in the last segment, um, just flipping through these, um,
S2: pages of Exodus, it has Yahweh in various places all over, but.
S1: Also because you're looking at CSB.
S2: Bible, I am, I am, but it also has Lord
S2: with the capitals. Yeah, in the same section. So which
S2: of those is.
S3: The not so consistent, which.
S2: Is the is it both. Any use.
S1: Of. Let me just say this would be the only
S1: one that does. It is the.
S2: One that happened to be the one I brought today and.
S1: The CSB also. Okay. Doesn't do it as much when
S1: they revise it. And it's actually one of the things
S1: I was on the translation team and my friend and
S1: former professor and I mean very close friend, Edwin Bloom
S1: was the general editor of that translation, and he really
S1: wanted to make it all your way wherever it was.
S1: And there was some pushback. So it's mixed and it
S1: was very inconsistent. Sometimes it was if it talked about
S1: the name of God, it used Yahweh. Okay, uh, I'm
S1: telling you, I laughed with him quite a bit about
S1: saying I really disagree with this. I wanted it to be, uh.
S1: He says, oh, that's because you're Jewish, and that's how
S1: you were raised. And I said, yeah, but that's how
S1: Bibles have been done. It helps people understand.
S2: So if it says Yahweh or if it says Lord
S2: with the capitals, the small caps. Yeah, they are both, um,
S2: translating the same letters. Yeah, the four.
S1: Letters and a few places in the Bible. It'll have.
S1: It'll say the Lord, which is actually the word Adonai, God.
S1: You know where it says the Lord God. And what?
S1: That is the Lord Yahweh. And so God is pronounced
S1: is written g small caps o d o.
S3: And you might have an older translation that would then
S3: use the word Jehovah. Yeah. Okay. Where the word.
S2: So any of those, any of those that we see
S2: would be in place of the four letters? Yeah. Right.
S2: The YHWH. Okay.
S1: It's it's called the Tetragrammaton if you want to be. Oh, yeah.
S1: It always makes me think of when I was in seminary,
S1: there was a friend of ours, Bob Hicks, who one
S1: day I heard him walking down the hallway singing every
S1: day with the Tetragrammaton sweeter than the. And I just
S1: thought it was just so funny.
S3: Yeah. That's right.
S2: In the him.
S5: Yeah. That's right.
S2: That's right.
S3: And there is no J in Hebrew.
S2: So that Jehovah would not be.
S1: It would have to be a why? Okay.
S2: So be Jehovah. Jehovah who? Okay. These are all those
S2: translation things that we don't know, and we just see
S2: them in our Bible and say, what is that? Yeah.
S2: But I will say as a little Bible study tip,
S2: usually this might be true, I think, across the board. But, um,
S2: at the beginning of the Bible, in those notes, at
S2: the very beginning, it explains, yes, we have translated this
S2: this way and this is what it means. And so
S2: often you will find those notes in the very beginning,
S2: if there are any, that.
S1: No one reads.
S2: Yeah, I.
S1: Have, but most people don't read.
S2: Those. I'm also the one who read a dictionary. As
S2: a child, I thought that was fun. I did too.
S3: I did too. Tricia. We're twins.
S2: Yes, yes. Okay, well, thank you for that thorough explanation
S2: that went beyond, um, so hopefully, Tim, you did say,
S2: can you dive into this? And we definitely did. So
S2: hopefully that answers your question. Um, next question is from
S2: Jeannie on Facebook. She is looking at a couple of
S2: psalms where David makes reference to the Lord's house or
S2: the temple. But it wasn't built until after David died.
S2: So what is he referring to? The specific one she
S2: mentions are Psalms five seven, where it says, but I
S2: enter your house by the abundance of your faithful love.
S2: I bow down toward your holy temple in reverential awe
S2: of you. In Psalm 23 six references I will dwell
S2: in the house of the Lord. So what is he
S2: referring to?
S1: Yeah, I believe it or not. I recently was reading,
S1: I think, Psalm 30, and it's a Psalm of David.
S1: Let's see if I can find it just so I can.
S1: This is not so unusual. Uh, let me see if
S1: I can find it real quick. Uh. Psalm 30. I'm
S1: turning pages. Turning pages. Here we go. It's a psalm.
S1: A dedication song for the house.
S2: Mhm. Is that referring to the house the prescription.
S1: And then it says.
S5: Davidic.
S1: Or of David. Okay. And so what house is he
S1: talking about? There's three possibilities. One, he's talking about the tabernacle. Two,
S1: he's speaking as a prophet that there will be a
S1: temple or something that he anticipates his son Solomon to build.
S1: And or the third possibility. And this is something that
S1: we have to understand. How do we get the book
S1: of Psalms? It's not like very often when people think
S1: of how the Book of Psalms came to be. It's
S1: sort of like when I was in high school, I
S1: came to faith, had a Bible study in my home,
S1: and we all thought we were songwriters. We went through
S1: the Psalms and everyone had guitars and we.
S2: All made up some.
S1: Tunes. Yeah, we made up some tunes, you know, blessed
S1: be the Lord God and all this. And what we
S1: would do is we would then, uh, what was that
S1: blue stuff called again? Uh, Mimeograph, mimeograph them, and we
S1: put them in these little binders we had and just
S1: add them. We would add the songs every week into
S1: it and like it was just as they were written,
S1: they were put in there. That's not how the songs
S1: came to be. Uh, for example, we have Psalms by Moses.
S1: Psalm 90. Right. We have Psalms by Solomon. Uh, Psalm 72.
S1: They're not in chronological order. Uh, no. Uh, there there
S1: are actually five books within five volumes within the Psalms
S1: to match the five volumes of the Torah. Uh, there
S1: was an editor, and now we know that the it
S1: was put together not gradually or chronologically, but they were
S1: it was edited and put together into a final book.
S1: After Israel's exile. The exile takes place in 586 BC.
S1: And this is Post-exilic. How do we know? One of
S1: the Psalms. Well, first of all, you've got exilic Psalms.
S5: Like.
S1: Psalm 137, about by the waters of Babylon. There we
S1: lay down and wept. For thee Zion. Right. So obviously
S1: that's the psalm that was written in, uh, in Babylon.
S1: And then you have Psalm 126, when the Lord brought
S1: back the captive ones to Zion, we were like those
S1: who dreamed. Right. So it's it's the return from captivity.
S1: What does this tell us? That the Psalms as a book,
S1: although David wrote 73 of them, it's marked the Psalms
S1: as a book is a book that was put together.
S1: It was like a hymn book put together after the exile.
S1: Why is this important? The editor of the Psalms will
S1: frequently have little, uh, adaptations, uh, things. Editorial comments. Someone
S1: might call it a gloss. Uh, whoever that biblical writer
S1: was after the exile who was putting the whole book
S1: of Psalms together. He's putting some things in. And so,
S1: like in Psalm 30, the one I just mentioned, uh,
S1: he says, oh, this is the psalm that was read.
S1: David wrote it, but it was read with a dedicated
S1: The temple. And so he puts that there in the superscript,
S1: sometimes even in the text, biblical explanations like that.
S2: Okay. So the house of the Lord was a, was a,
S2: the editor pointing toward.
S1: Could be in some cases sometimes it's David. Okay. So
S1: talking about the tabernacle okay.
S3: So could be tabernacle.
S1: All right. Well that's that's the first hour. I can't
S1: believe how fast it went. We're going to come back
S1: with a another hour of all questions all the time,
S1: all mailbag. We're going to come right back. Check out
S1: our mail. Our website. During the break. Open line radio.org.
S1: We're going to be right back. Keep keep your Bible
S1: open because we're going to study it. Open line with
S1: Doctor Michael Dolnick is a production of Moody Radio, a
S1: ministry of Moody Bible Institute.