{"id":38,"date":"2010-12-07T14:52:03","date_gmt":"2010-12-07T22:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jrjax.com\/?page_id=38"},"modified":"2010-12-23T15:44:53","modified_gmt":"2010-12-23T23:44:53","slug":"bible-bob-answers-your-questions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/?page_id=38","title":{"rendered":"Bible Bob Answers Your Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"
Hey there Bible Bob,
\nToday I read all of Paslm 26 when I read chapter 13, God’s Variety.
\nPsalm 26
\nOf David.
\n\u00a01 Vindicate me, LORD,
\n\u00a0\u00a0 for I have led a blameless life;
\nI have trusted in the LORD
\n\u00a0\u00a0 and have not faltered.
\n2 Test me, LORD, and try me,
\n\u00a0\u00a0 examine my heart and my mind;
\n3 for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
\n\u00a0\u00a0 and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.<\/div>\n
How can David write verse one?\u00a0 And, If he DID live a “blamelesslife”, why would he need vindication?………………Sylvia<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Good question Sylvia. Very perceptive. By your question it is obvious you are a New Testament Christian, looking at David from this side of the Cross. You and Bible Bob both know we are all sinners by nature and by practice, and we sometimes hope God does not<\/span> judge us. (KJV is judge. Vindicate is a better word.). On the positive side, we are now perfect and sinless because we are “in Christ.” When I say I am now perfect and deserve heaven, you understand I am talking about my\u00a0standing in Christ, certainly not my state in reality! This knowledge should cause us to try harder to live up to that standing, since it is the “goodness of God that leads us to repentance.” Rom.2:4.\u00a0 Now about David, the writer of Psalm 26. There are at least two good possibilities, and BB will give the least likely one first. 1) David enjoyed perhaps the closest relationship with God than anyone ever has, except Jesus, God’s Son. As a boy and young man he lived in nature, tending sheep. Having neither a laptop, I pod or Gameboy, David mused and meditated constantly.\u00a0His musings were never far from his God and His wonderful works! God used David to write a huge chunk of the bible, and a phenomenal\u00a0numberof New Testament prophecies, mainly about Jesus’ life and death. It is not much of a stretch to think perhaps some early N.T doctrine was given to him concerning the Atonement\u00a0 and how Jesus would change\u00a0the way\u00a0we relate to God! Okay, idea #1 is<\/span> quite a stretch, but BB enjoys mental gymnastics.\u00a0 2)\u00a0 I believe David was referring to all the false accusations running around about him, and he knew he was blameless. He certainly didn’t claim sinlessness! In Ps 51, David says, ” I acknowledge my transgressions—I was born in sin–” etc. But in this instance,\u00a0he was referring to Saul’s accusation that he had usurped the throne, or was attempting to do so.\u00a0The gossips and paparazzi were having a field day with the chase taking place across the holy land. David knew he was blameless, and he knew that\u00a0God knew he was blameless.\u00a0\u00a0They both knew he had not used deceit or lies to claim the throne. Rebecca deceived\u00a0Isaac to “help” fulfill God’s will in favor of Jacob. This was unbelief! David refused to kill\u00a0his enemy\u00a0in the cave, nor did he allow his men-at-arms to do so when\u00a0his enemy\u00a0slept unguarded on the plain. He allowed God to work out His own way. The difference in belief and unbelief! David’s conscience was clear so he could righteously say, “:Vindicate me for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted in the Lord.”\u00a0 A clear conscience sings in the soul as surely as a guilty conscience constantly screams “liar” or “faker” at us. Remember, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart” 1 Sam 16:7 \u00a0David saw in himself what God saw in him. Anyone who has suffered false accusations will identify with this. Isn’t that one main reason God gave us these psalms?<\/div>\n

Dear Bible Bob,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Genesis 9:25 God cursed Canaan.\u00a0 Ham had several children so why was the curse on Canaan only?<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (signed) Perplexed<\/p>\n

Dear Perplexed,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are so many issues involved with this question, it is hard to know where to begin!\u00a0 First, we should emphasize that this was a prophecy by Noah of how God would deal with the descendents of the three sons.\u00a0 We should not think that Noah had supernatural power to call down curses or blessing.\u00a0 Bible Bob doesn\u2019t believe, as in commonly taught, that Noah was using alcohol for the first time.\u00a0 If that were the case, he could hardly be at fault for his drunken stupor as the passage suggests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Noah had brought agricultural savvy with him from before the flood.\u00a0 Cain, was the first farmer after creation and Noah was the first after the flood.\u00a0 The time frame is not given in Genesis 9, but it looks to me like Noah\u2019s first official act out of the ark was to build an altar and worship the God of Salvation.\u00a0 His next recorded act was to get drunk and dishonor God.\u00a0 Both of those qualities were in Adam, and were carefully illustrated in Noah, so we would not be shocked when they appear in others and ourselves.<\/p>\n

God makes it clear that two of Noah\u2019s three sons chose the higher path, but Ham gravitated to the baser.\u00a0 Ham didn\u2019t \u201csee\u201d his father\u2019s nakedness but he\u201dlooked\u201d at his father\u2019s nakedness!\u00a0 One commentator says the Hebrew suggests \u201clooked with delight\u201d which would introduce the possibility of a homosexual bent in Ham.\u00a0 Ham then told his brothers, not in sorrow or pity, but gleefully in a “scornful, deriding manner” (Matthew Henry).\u00a0 Ham might have been drunk before this, and Noah might have scolded him as a father would.\u00a0 In that case, Ham would be delighted to see his righteous, but aged dad stumble.\u00a0 However innocently Noah might have sinned, Ham’s sin was deliberate and brazen.<\/p>\n

Now why was Canaan singled out for the \u201ccurse ?”\u00a0 Why not Cush, Mizraim, or Put (yes, Put is his name.\u00a0 What greater curse could be put on Put than the name Put?).\u00a0 Strangely, 9:18 calls Ham the father of Canaan<\/span>, the youngest son.\u00a0 Unless there are exceptions I have not seen, the common Bible formula uses the oldest son, not the youngest.\u00a0 I believe verse 18 refers to Ham as the father of Canaan the people, not the individual, i.e. the Canaanites.<\/p>\n

Abraham was \u201cthe father of many nations.\u201d\u00a0 Ham was the progenitor of the Canaanites or father of Canaan.\u00a0 The prophecy then was that the Canaaites would be slaves to the Hebrews.\u00a0 This was fulfilled several times in History (see Joshua 9:23 and Judges 1:28).\u00a0 The Canaanites were the epitome of evil, drunkenness, and debauchery.\u00a0 That lifestyle dooms one to slavery of many kinds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is my point: The same tendencies in Noah, whom the New Testament called \u201crighteous in his generation\u201d were intensified in his sons.\u00a0 The inclination to righteousness was evidenced in Shem and Japheth.\u00a0 The bent toward the unclean was intensified in Ham, then even moreso in Canaan.\u00a0 Since Genesis repeats that Ham is the father of Canaan, it seems to point to a kinship of mind between the two.\u00a0 We have all seen this in families, haven\u2019t we?\u00a0 Boy, he is his father\u2019s son!\u00a0 The fruit doesn\u2019t fall far from the tree, etc.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s review.\u00a0 In this opinion, the curse is not a curse, but a prophecy.\u00a0 Canaan is not the person, but the nation (like Israel).\u00a0 The Canaanite lifestyle was easy to predict.\u00a0 Yes, I know there is much more involved here, but God didn\u2019t devote much of the Bible to explaining it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No Baptist could leave this topic without a comment about alcohol and intoxication.\u00a0 Walvoord, of Dallas Seminary, sums it up best: \u201cthough wine is said to cheer the heart (Judges 9:13 and Psalm 104:15) and alleviate the pain (Proverbs 31:6) it is also clear that it has disturbing effects.\u00a0 Noah lay drunk<\/span> and naked<\/span> in his tent.\u00a0 Intoxication and sexual looseness are hallmarks of pagans, and both are traced back to this even in Noah\u2019s life.\u00a0 Man had not changed at all; with the opportunity to start a \u2018new creation,\u2019 Noah acted like a pagan (cf. Genesis 6:5 and 8:21).\u201d\u00a0 Who hasn\u2019t?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey there Bible Bob, Today I read all of Paslm 26 when I read chapter 13, God’s Variety. Psalm 26 Of David. \u00a01 Vindicate me, LORD, \u00a0\u00a0 for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the LORD … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-38","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-travelers-companion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}