THE LORD SPOKE (February 09)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Old Testament: Leviticus 1-3

Liberal scholars have long claimed that Moses did not write, or at least, did not write much of the Pentateuch. For over 100 years they have trotted out an explanation known as the JEDP Theory. Without one single shred of manuscript evidence to back up their theory, they claim that multiple authors composed various strands of manuscripts which were eventually woven together by anonymous priests during or after the Exile in Babylon.

Let them answer these questions:

1) Where is your objective evidence? We have thousands of pieces of manuscript evidence - some fragments, some partial, some whole. Show me even one Yahwehist or Elohist manuscript, one document that shows the deuteronomist’s editing hand, or one book that indisputably betrays the priestly cutting and pasting. This is science? This is honest?

2) How do you deal with the claims of the books themselves? Give me a good answer to explain away the internal evidence. In Leviticus alone there are more than fifty places where it says the Lord spoke to Moses. What good is a book that lies on such a fundamental level as that? We’re all wasting our time studying it, if what you say is true.

3) Are you saying that the whole of Jewish tradition regarding Mosaic authorship is false? The Jewish people, who preserved these writings in the first place, just made it up? The whole thing is a grand hoax? What basis do you have for making up such a miserable lie?

4) Did Jesus and Paul lie too? Or were they just deluded to believe the common, mistaken notions of their day? Jesus said, “Moses...wrote of me” (Jn. 5:46). Paul said, “Moses describes in this way [followed by a quote from Lev. 18:5]” (Rom. 10:5).

If you’re going to call it a scientific theory you’re going to have to come up with something better than that. In the meantime, I’m going to stake my life on God’s Word.

The Bible stands like a rock undaunted
'Mid the raging storms of time;
Its pages burn with the truth eternal,
And they glow with a light sublime.

The Bible stands though the hills may tumble,
It will firmly stand when the earth shall crumble;
I will plant my feet on its firm foundation,
For the Bible stands.

The Bible stands like a mountain towering
Far above the works of men;
Its truth by none ever was refuted,
And destroy it they never can.

Haldor Lillenas


New Testament: Mark 12

They were coming at Him from every side. Large crowds “listened to Him with delight” (vs. 37). Ever since the tumult in the Temple, the chief priests and the teachers of the law had been looking for a way to put Him away (vs. 12). Each group “tried to catch him in his words” (vs. 13) but it got to the point where “no one dared ask him any more questions” (vs. 34). Besides the priests and Levites, there were the Pharisees and Herodians (vs. 13), followed by the Sadducees (vs. 28). They all left licking their wounds.

So the teachers of the law thought they saw a good opportunity to jump in again. This was like the toughest question they could think of. They often debated it among themselves. Others couldn’t trap Him in sticky issues like politics (vs. 14-17) or divorce (vs. 18-27) so let’s get Him on His own turf. He just said all the answers are found in the Scriptures (vs. 24) so why don’t you tell us, “which part of the Bible is the most important of all?” (vs 28).

For them, saying any one part was “most important was a put-down on the rest. They themselves identified “heavy” and “light” (Heb. qal v’homer) commandments but the question of what was the most important was an on-going debate among them. Jesus’ answer cut straight to the heart of the issue and straight to the heart of the one asking the question. As spokesman for the group, he was the best legal expert they had. He was probably their best debater but he was reduced to saying, “Well said, teacher” (vs. 32).

But Jesus didn’t stop there. He went over to the attack and moved from a defensive to an offensive position. In front of the crowd (vs. 35), He quizzes the teachers of the law on what the Scriptures say about the Messiah and then, turning back to the crowd (vs. 37), He warns them about teachers who don’t shoot straight. If you use crooked bullets and shoot from behind crooked barricades, the results are inevitable - more crookedness!

But still it doesn’t stop. There’s one more paragraph in the chapter. Before the day ends, the Lord points out a godly example of genuine devotion. A dirt-poor widow slips up to the offering box and slips in her humble contribution and then slips out past the ostentatious donors who have been tooting their tin horns before her. No doubt she was embarrassed by the whole scene. Actually, there’s nothing in the text to indicate that she was even aware of Jesus using her as an example. She was quite content to come and go unnoticed.

Now tell me something. If you were in that spot, what would be your first thought? “My offering is so insignificant. Why even give it? These rich people can easily cover all the Temple budget. My two bits won’t even make a difference.”

And you’d be just like the teachers of the law. They too thought the Scriptures applied to someone else.