Psalms 25 - 27 (with 1 topic)

In John 8:44 we find: He (Satan) is both a liar & the father (originator, generator) of lies. A simple example of lying is when Satan lied to Eve (disguised as a serpent-- Eve presumed the serpent was part of God's creation). Satan generated the lie; Eve passed it on to Adam. We can simply pass on a lie, but by living it we can provoke others to anger or confusion, followed by error (speech, stubborn presumptions or actions). Some examples of those that were provoked:

  A. Moses (anger, then action):

1. 1st he threw & broke the 2 tablets with the 10 Commandments after coming down from Mt. Sinai & seeing the golden calf (Exo 32:19-20)-- necessitating him to fast & pray 40 days & 40 nights before again going up Mt. Sinai (this time bearing 2 stone tablets that he had fashioned himself), God wrote the 10 Commandments with HIS Finger on the stone;
2. later he struck the rock twice (Num 20:11) in the Desert of Zin (well NE of Mt. Sinai, but south of Kadesh, from which the spies went into Canaan); he had been told to just speak to it-- not to be confused with the incident before Mt. Sinai, when he indeed was told to strike the rock (Exo 17:6).

   B. Job (confusion, then speech & presumption)- notice that GOD declared him (Job 1:8; 2:3) to be blameless & upright (twice-- until then, guilty of nothing). Job was rich: he had many possessions, a wife, 7 sons & 3 daughters. God allowed Satan to test him, but spare His life [i.e., before the 2nd test (Job 2:6)-- before the 1st test Satan had been told do not lay a finger on him (Job 1:12)]. Job lost all his possessions & children (his wife presumably remained). Through Job 2:10 Job did not sin in what He said (some maintain that this applies to the whole book-- that idea is preposterous, for we shall see below that he argued self-righteously with his friends for many chapters, saying things like: I will surely defend my ways to HIS Face (Job 13:15); Who denounces his conduct to HIS Face? (Job 21:31) & ...till I die, I will not deny my integrity. I will maintain my righteousness & never let go of it  (Job 27:6). But significantly, after all this He repented-- if he had not sinned by maintaining the presumption of righteousness, why did he then have need of repentance); after this God blessed him more:

• Before I continue, let me emphasize that God had a purpose in allowing Satan to tempt him-- to convince him that his holding to this presumption of righteousness was wrong, that he needed to put his trust in God. We shall see much later in Reve that many Jews, though the redemption via Jesus' blood was not yet available, that a significant # of them are right now (or will be) in Heaven via this trust.
• But in Job's case much "patience of God" was required-- & repentance on Job's part followed.
• We have the 1st 2 chapters before the testing; then we have for:
  • 29 chapters (Job 3-31): Satan, using 3 of Job's friends (Eliphaz, Bildad & Zophar), attempted, & succeeded to some extent, to provoke Job-- 1st that he would blame God for his misfortunes, then that he would stubbornly presume himself righteous;
  • 6 chapters (Job 32-37): a young bystander (Elihu) took up where the 3 gave up-- being angry with the 3 because they had found no way to refute Job; gradually appeasing Job, Elihu 1st introduced that he had not been born righteous, nor could he attain unto righteousness by good works; then praying that if there is (& of course there was!) an angel on His side as a mediator, to say 'I have found a ransom for Him (Job 33:23-24);' See PART I, D D.7.;
  • 4 chapters (Job 38-41) God spoke to Job of his errors;
  • 1 chapter (Job 42) Job repented (vv. 1-6); God 1st spoke to the 3 friends (vv. 7-9), telling them to seek Job's forgiveness (assuring them that this was the only way they would find forgiveness, which they did-- but note that God expressed HIS anger to them for 3 verses, after speaking to Job for 4 chapters); & in vv. 10-16 we see that: Job's siblings & all the other former friends & acquaintances visited him; that Job was made twice as rich (possessions) as originally; that he again had 7 sons & 3 daughters (the 3 daughters were more beautiful than all women in the land); that Job lived 140 more years-- & saw His descendants to the 4th generation: children - grandchildren - great grandchildren - great, great grandchildren.
• BTW: I found no evidece that Job got a new wife-- recall that the wife originally advised Job to curse GOD & die. He did repeatedly blame GOD for His problems-- but also He repented in sackcloth & ashes (KJV). A common question these days is 'Who would you be quick to want to see'-- well 1 of them would be Job (expecting also to see that wife, I might add).

  C. Jeremiah (anger only, thanks to God's intervention)- Notice in the cases of Moses & Job the initial anger or confusion was followed by action, speech or steadfast presumption, but Jeremiah just got angry (just asking, let Me see YOUR Vengeance). Jeremiah speaking (Jer 11:17-20; 18:18): The LORD Almighty has decreed (determined) disaster for You (Judah-- shortly thereafter Judah was taken captive to Babylon), because the house of Israel & the house of Judah have done evil & provoked Me to anger by burning incense to Baal. Because the LORD revealed their plot to Me, I knew it, for at that time HE showed Me what they were doing. I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against Me, saying: 'Let us destroy the tree & its fruit; let us cut Him off from the land of the living, that His name be remembered no more.' But, O LORD Almighty, YOU who judge righteously & test the heart & mind, let Me see YOUR Vengeance upon them, for to YOU I have committed My cause. They said, 'Come let's make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not be lost, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let's attack Him with our tongues, & pay no attention to anything He says.' God having Jeremiah buy a clay jar from a potter, & then break (smash) it (Jer 19:1,10-11) could have been God's way of appeasing his (Jeremiah's) anger, it could be chalked up as prophecy-- or both!

  D. Nehemiah (anger, then action)- This is not to be confused with Nehemiah's earlier real prayer (in quotes in the Bible)-- for the entirety of that prayer see PerspectivesC C.6.. Timeline: _______ Jer 11 ___(Judah's captivity)___ Neh 13 ________. Later Nehemiah, in effect, spoke to himself (Neh 13:14,23-27,30-31-- notice the lack of quotes in the Bible). 2x Nehemiah had a self-righteous attitude before he acted. {1} His attitude the 1st time was Remember Me for this, O My GOD, & do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of My GOD & its services. Perh. it's noteworthy also that he felt no need to pray, being involved in service. {2} The 2nd presumption of self-righteousness was Remember Me for this also, O My GOD, & show mercy to Me according to YOUR Great Love-- again it is not in quotes & was followed by this: Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon & Moab. Half of Their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, & did not know how to speak the language of Judah. I rebuked Them & called curses down on Them. I beat some of the men & pulled out Their hair. I made Them take an oath in GOD'S Name & said: 'You are not to give Your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are You to take their daughters in marriage for Your sons or for yourselves.' Even the usurping of free choice by mandating this oath was a sin. Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Solomon was hardly the 1st & last to suppose himself the instrument of God's timing-- which predicated any/all actions. Among the many nations there was no king like Him. He was loved by His GOD, & GOD made (anointed) Him king over all Israel, but even He was led into sin by foreign women. Must we hear now that You too are doing all this terrible wickedness & are being unfaithful to Our GOD by marrying foreign women?' So I purified the priests & the Levites of everything foreign. Remember Me with favor, O My GOD. Point is, we are not to take vengeance into are own hands-- & "lose it." John (1 of the 12 apostles/disciples; 1 of 2 brothers, Sons of Thunder-- see Mark 3:17) records (John 2:11-16) that after 1st turning the water into wine in Cana, Jesus, who alone was God-in-man, was so consumed with zeal (anger upon seeing the temple being used as a market in Capernaum-- a fulfilled prophecy of Psa 69:9) that He made a whip out of cords, & drove all from the temple area, both sheep & cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers & overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said.... Note he drove the animals out, but only spoke to the people selling-- but the time is coming when HE will act out HIS wrath upon the unrighteous people). In this final act of HIS, HE will once again deal with sin-- for God 1st made Him, who knew (had) no sin & cannot be tempted with evil, to be (bear) sin for Us (2ndCor 5:21; Jame 1:13), but in the end HE will deal directly with mankind's sin. Meanwhile, we are to be angry, but not sin (Ephe 4:26-- a quote of Psa 4:4, which in the KJV says, Stand in awe, & sin not; the NIV says, In Your anger do not sin).

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