As Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament says, the adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd and Leader.
The word אלהים (gods) here, as in Psalm 96:4., Psalm 97:7, Psalm 97:9, and frequently, indicates the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and call kings (sucy as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), however, all stand under the lordship of Jahve, who is
infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god (Psalm 96:4; Psalm 97:9).
The supposition that תּועפות הרים denotes the pit-works (μέταλλα) of the mountains (Bφttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is intended to be the antithesis to מחקרי־ארץ, the shafts of the earth.
The derivation from ועף (יעף), κάμνειν, κοπιᾶν, also does not suit תועפות in Numbers 23:22; Numbers 24:8, for "fatigues" and "indefatigableness" are notions that lie very wide apart.
The כּסף תּועפות of Job 22:25 might more readily be explained according to this "silver of fatigues," i.e., silver that the fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and תועפות הרים in the passage before us, with Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo ascendunt, prop. ascendings equals summits of the mountains, after which כסף תועפות, Job 22:25, might also signify "silver of the mountain-heights."
But the lxx, which renders δόξα in the passages in Numbers and τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων in the passage before us, leads one to a more correct track. The verb יעף (ועף), transposed from יפע (ופע), goes back to the root יף, וף, to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which תועפות equals תופעות signifies eminentiae, i.e., towerings equals summits, or prominences equals high (the highest) perfection (vid., on Job 22:25).
In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic mı̂fan, mı̂fâtun, pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfâ equals יפע, prop. instrumentally: a means of rising above, viz., by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf' (after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve is the Owner (cf. 1 Samuel 2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is Jahve's creation, viz., the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the call or invitation, השׁתּחוה signifies to stretch one's self out full length upon the ground, the proper attitude of adoration; כּרע, to curtsey, to totter; and בּרך, Arabic baraka, starting from the radical signification flectere, to kneel down, in genua (πρόχνυ, pronum equals procnum) procumbere, 2 Chronicles 6:13 (cf. Hlemann, Bibelstudien, i. 135f.). Beside עם מרעיתו, people of His pasture, צאן ידו is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine: ipse gratiâ suâ nos oves fecit), but, after Genesis 30:35, the flock under His protection, the flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Butcher renders: flock of His charge; but יד in this sense (Jeremiah 6:3) signifies only a place, and "flock of His place" would be poetry and prose in one figure.
Geneva Study BibleFor the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all {b} gods.
(b) Even the angels (who in respect to men are thought as gods) are nothing in his sight, much less the idols, which man's brain invents.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
For the Lord is a great God - For Yahweh is a great God. The object is to exalt Jehovah, the true God, as distinguished from all who were worshipped as gods. The first idea is that he is "great;" that he is exalted over all the universe; that he rules over all, and that he is to be worshipped as such.
And a great King above all gods - This does not mean that he is a great ruler of all other gods, as if they had a real existence, but that he is king or ruler far above all that were worshipped as gods, or to whom homage was paid. Whoever, or whatever was worshipped as God, Yahweh was supreme over all things. He occupied the throne; and all others must be beneath him, and under his dominion. If the sun, the moon, or the stars were worshipped - if the mountains or the rivers - if angels good or bad - yet Yahweh was above all these. If imaginary beings were worshipped, yet Yahweh in his perfections was exalted far above all that was ascribed to them, for He was the true God, and the Ruler of the universe, while they were beings of the imagination only.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleFor the Lord is a great God,.... Christ is truly and properly God, wherefore divine service is to be performed unto him; particularly singing psalms, setting forth therein his greatness and glory: and he is a great one; great in power, wisdom, justice, truth, mercy, and grace; greatness is to be ascribed unto him, and worship given him, because of his greatness, Titus 2:13.
and a great King over all gods; he is King of the whole world; his kingdom ruleth over all; he is King of kings, and Lord of lords; he is King of saints, the government of the whole church is upon his shoulders, which he exercises in the most wise, powerful, and righteous manner imaginable; he is above all that are called gods, all the nominal and fictitious deities of the Heathens; above all civil magistrates, who are gods by office; and above the angels, who have this name, 1 Peter 3:22. Eben Ezra interprets it of angels.
Psalm 48:1 A song. A psalm of the Sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.
Psalm 96:4 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
Psalm 97:9 For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
Psalm 135:5 I know that the LORD is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods.
Psalm 138:1 Of David. I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise.
Psalm 145:3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
Chapter 23.—That the Name of Gods is Falsely Given to the Gods of the Gentiles, Though Scripture Applies It Both to the Holy Angels and Just Men.
If the Platonists prefer to call these angels gods rather than demons, and to reckon them with those whom Plato, their founder and master, maintains were created by the supreme God, [362] they are welcome to do so, for I will not spend strength in fighting about words. For if they say that these beings are immortal, and yet created by the supreme God, blessed but by cleaving to their Creator and not by their own power, they say what we say, whatever name they call these beings by. And that this is the opinion either of all or the best of the Platonists can be ascertained by their writings. And regarding the name itself, if they see fit to call such blessed and immortal creatures gods, this need not give rise to any serious discussion between us, since in our own Scriptures we read, "The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken;" [363] and again, "Confess to the God of gods;" [364] and again, "He is a great King above all gods." [365] And where it is said, "He is to be feared above all gods," the reason is forthwith added, for it follows, "for all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens." [366] He said, "above all gods," but added, "of the nations;" that is to say, above all those whom the nations count gods, in other words, demons. By them He is to be feared with that terror in which they cried to the Lord, "Hast Thou come to destroy us?" But where it is said, "the God of gods," it cannot be understood as the god of the demons; and far be it from us to say that "great King above all gods" means "great King above all demons." But the same Scripture also calls men who belong to God's people "gods:" "I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you children of the Most High." [367] Accordingly, when God is styled God of gods, this may be understood of these gods; and so, too, when He is styled a great King above all gods.
We need not, therefore, laboriously contend about the name, since the reality is so obvious as to admit of no shadow of doubt. That which we say, that the angels who are sent to announce the will of God to men belong to the order of blessed immortals, does not satisfy the Platonists, because they believe that this ministry is discharged, not by those whom they call gods, in other words, not by blessed immortals, but by demons, whom they dare not affirm to be blessed, but only immortal, or if they do rank them among the blessed immortals, yet only as good demons, and not as gods who dwell in the heaven of heavens remote from all human contact. But, though it may seem mere wrangling about a name, yet the name of demon is so detestable that we cannot bear in any sense to apply it to the holy angels. Now, therefore, let us close this book in the assurance that, whatever we call these immortal and blessed spirits, who yet are only creatures, they do not act as mediators to introduce to everlasting felicity miserable mortals, from whom they are severed by a twofold distinction. And those others who are mediators, in so far as they have immortality in common with their superiors, and misery in common with their inferiors (for they are justly miserable in punishment of their wickedness), cannot bestow upon us, but rather grudge that we should possess, the blessedness from which they themselves are excluded. And so the friends of the demons have nothing considerable to allege why we should rather worship them as our helpers than avoid them as traitors to our interests. As for those spirits who are good, and who are therefore not only immortal but also blessed, and to whom they suppose we should give the title of gods, and offer worship and sacrifices for the sake of inheriting a future life, we shall, by God's help, endeavor in the following book to show that these spirits, call them by what name, and ascribe to them what nature you will, desire that religious worship be paid to God alone, by whom they were created, and by whose communications of Himself to them they are blessed.
Footnotes:[362] Timæus.
[363] Psalm 50:1.
[364] Psalm 136:2.
[365] Psalm 95:3.
[366] Psalm 96:5, 6.
[367] Psalm 82:6.
[368] 1 Corinthians 8:5, 6.
Other Gods here
Solomon
We look more deeply at aspects of the gods, at the one named for their folly, Solomon, but the causal factors in the giant complex of religious and political intrigue are both blinds. That is, religiously, the sons of god are not really after women, they want to destroy life, and politically, the magic rituals of this disorder do not actually come from Solomon. Even though the sons of god saw that the daughters of men were beautiful they did not go in to them solely from their beauty or lust, but for bestial/human chimeric incarnation. Neither do the Lesser Keys of Solomon design a political architectural construct of any kind, but to erect a building inhabited by devils.
None of these keys originate with Solomon. The sons of god, nephilim and giants, come into the discussion of Solomon's Temple in this wise, the lore of giants and their cohabiting friends, whatever you call them, express the wisdom of Babylon before Solomon, and after and before Babylon. Solomon informs the workings of the dimensions of the temple so that its revival in all subsequent builders of adytum who want to build it in themselves and in the world has a thousand names among Rosicrucians, boeta, goetia of divinations and schemes.
Hubris
Building the Temple
Solomon in all his glory is no plain dresser. These are big doings, not small. Like the prayer of a charismatic, it's a toss up in the prayer of Dedication of the Temple whether Solomon or God is more mentioned (II Chron. 6.10).
Solomon "I's" himself 4 times. The furnishings are ornate enough and the Temple itself, for a place to sacrifice. Solomon says the heavens cannot contain him (2.6). Excess, 22,000 cattle. But "were you not just doing it for yourselves" (Zech 7.5f)? 120,000 sheep and goats, and since it is said He does not dwell in house made with hands, what is the meaning of Solomon's glory when as "a wise son" (2 Chron. 2.12) he "made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones" (1.15).
"A temple for the Name of the Lord and a royal palace for himself" (2.1). These are not symbolic but actual. The principle is that one sacrifice will not do if there can be many. And it is built of the labor of aliens (2.17).
Whether God would dwell " in a dark cloud" or in the place of Solomon's desiring "forever" (6.2), the politics was not sustained. This was put down "with his hands" "what was "promised with his mouth" (6.4). Humanized as Solomon's hands, it is a political moment. What do you believe about Obama at his temple?
Solomon kneels on the platform, spreads his hands and invokes the conditions of the foundation promise, of "sons careful in all they do to walk" (6.16). In the very next breath he begins what he later completes in his 1000 wives; he disqualifies himself. He says doubtfully, "will God really dwell on earth with men" (6.18)? As though addressed to the audience he commands 7 acts of mercy, a formality, with the invites, "come to your resting place" (6.41). When they see the fire come down to consume the sacrifice and the glory (cloud, smoke) they chant as they had. (5.13).
Gold and Baboons
God
confirms the day but with the greater promise being to “uproot Israel”
“if you turn away” (7.20,19). This took twenty years (8.1). Did Solomon
imbibe a lust from his conception that contributed to his uprooting?
When Sheba came to “test him with hard questions” (9.1) and he answered
them all, doesn't it prove how corrupt a man can be and very wise at the
same time? This is shown also in his trading ships that every three
years brought in “gold and baboons” (9.21). I kid you not.
The
story is complete. At the fall of Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar "carried to
Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small.
They set fire to God's temple and broke down the wall. This is what
Cyrus, king of Persia said:
The LORD, the God of
heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed
me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people
among you--may the LORD his God be with him, let him go up." (2 Ch
36.23). Now Cyrus builds the temple.
Maybe there are correspondences between the Novus Ordo
in the American seal and Judah. The question would be, if Solomon's
Temple was destroyed because it was truth that lived a lie, what is done
to the lie?
To say the Name of the King Above All Gods is illustrated in the Semitic order of writing, reversed from the Indo European as right to left.. The name is read right to left, or to imagine the vocal apparatus with the lips on the left and the throat on the right, opposite the illustration here, the word comes from the throat and is spoken by the lips and tongue as HEW HAY, AUHS HAY, YAH, or rather HAY, being first. It is as if breath were exhaled without sound, the point of origin being breath, coming from in, then up and out. The way to show this in writing suggests the order right to left, which utterly vocalic openness opposes the end stopped feeling of the written where the words seem to go into the mouth from the outside, left to right, as if they were swallowed. But we are not eating when praising so the direction is opposite, praise comes out of the mouth in the breath inside. This looks backward to the Indo European eye on the page, but that is the difference between reading and speaking. Speaking is what matters, out the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained praise. Breath from the diaphragm enters the throat and exits over the tongue and the lips. The very word is breath as in 1 Cor. 1:2, Call upon the name of the Lord Jesus
- 1 Kings 18:24, "And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of [YHWH]: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God."
- 1 Kings 18:37-38, "Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD [YHWH] God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. 38Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench."
- Psalm 116:4, "Then called I upon the name of the LORD [YHWH] ; O LORD [YHWH], I beseech thee, deliver my soul."
No comments:
Post a Comment