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B u s i n e s s
May 1930
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Word is settled in heaven,” declares the Psalmist. This every godly mother believes. Critics may analyze, dissect, and seek to eliminate God’s Word, but with unfaltering trust, a mother builds her hope upon thè Rock of Ages. More than that—she not only maintains unbroken faith in her Lord, but also in her children and their future great ness, and in so doing, leads them to believe in themselves and urges them to ascend the ladder of success. We are told that when Oliver Cromwell was a lad, he came in from the, fields one day and threw himself upon his bed. The light of day was all about him. Sud denly an angel appeared to him and told him that some day he would be the greatest man in England. When he told the vision to his family his father upbraided him, but his mother believed in him. Her faith in him was not in vain. When Oliver Cromwell' was made Lord Protector of England, his aged mother was the first to rise up and do him obeisance.
wise Egyptian tutors, he owed still more to his mother, the devout Jochebed. She, more than anyone else, except God, made him ultimately the liberator of his enslaved people. Abraham Lincoln studied law and in due time was recognized as one of our country’s best jurists, and was finally honored with the Presidency, but he never forgot the debt which he owed to Nancy Hanks, his precious pioneer mother. Whatever is good in you or in me we owe very largely to the patient, loving teaching which was given us by our mothers under divine direction. H er F aith Finally, in seeking to measure a mother’s influence we dare not overlook her faith. Her soul is anchored in the eternal .God and in His Word. “Forever, 0 Lord, Thy
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A New In te rp re ta tion of Colossians 2 :16 B y E rnest G ordon
I N The Bible League Quarterly for June, 1928, is an important article by Dr. W. L. Baxter on The Sabbath as a Divine Institute. The section dealing with Col. 2 :16 is summarized below. This text, so often used by those who would abrogate the Sabbath, does not in fact refer to the day of rest. . . • ■ The usual Greek word for “week,” hebdomas, is not to be found in the New Testament. What takes its place? The word for Sabbath occurs in Scripture in both singular and plural form and with two distinct meanings, namely, a single day ; the seventh day, or day of rest ; and a week of seven days, that is, the complete Sabbatic period (six days of work and one of rest). “Upon the first day of the week,” wrote Paul, “let every one of you lay in store” (1 Cor. 16 :2 ). The Greek is, “on the first day of the Sabbaths” ( sabbata ). “I fast twice in the week,” said the Pharisee in the parable (Luke 18:12). The Greek is, “twice in the Sabbath” ( to sab- baton). In the Resurrection story (Matt. 28:1) it reads, “In the end of the sabbath as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.” In both cases the word used is sabbaton, and the meaning, “In the end of the week as it began to dawn toward the first [day] of the [next] week.” The Fourth Commandment deals not with a single day exclusively but with a whole week. “Six days shalt thou labor: on the seventh thou shalt not do any work.” The seven days are treated as a unit—a full Sabbatic period. The Lord of the Sabbath is Lord of the entire week, work days as well a$ rest day. Thèses facts-have an important bearing on the much- controverted 16th verse of Col. 2, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath.” Dr. Bagster translates this verse preferably as follows: “Let not any one, therefore, judge you in meat or in drink, either in a portion ( meros ) for a feast, or for a new moon, or for a Sabbatic period.”
To what does the verse refer? Meat and drink refer, obviously, to the meat offerings and drink offerings pre scribed for various Jewish sacrifices. A Jew’s ordinary meat and drink were no “shadow of good things to come.” It is only the sacrificial meats and drinks which were such a’ foreshadowing. The 28th and 29th chapters of Numbers deal at length with Israel’s sacrificial meats and drinks and with the periods in which they were to be offered. These periods were a week, a new moon, a feast. There are no others mentioned, and the whole 71 verses deal with the meats and drinks appropriate to each. First comes the week, or full Sabbatic period. The meat offerings and drink offerings appropriate for each of its seven successive days are enumerated in Num. 28: 1-10. Then comes the new moon with its meat and drink offerings (Num. 28:11-15). Then come the feasts; Passover, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, with exact assignment of meat and drink offerings to each. Is it possible to avoid the conclusion that this enumeration of all the seasons for Israel’s “meats” and “drinks” was in the Apostle’s mind when writing Col. 2:16? The sea sons are exhaustively spread out in Numbers and they are tersely and comprehensively summed up in Colossians. There is absolute coincidence save that the order is reversed. gfe Biola in China Chas. A. Roberts writes as follows of the Institute in Hunan, China: We are very happy to write that at the beginning. ®£/this new semester our regular'student body has been increased by a few more students and a very fine class of nearly seventy men and women has been enrolled for our Spring Short Term Course which runs for six weeks. This course closes at the end of this month'. With conditions as they are in China at the present moment we consider this large number of men and women com ing to study the Word of God as most encouraging and indica tive of greater things for the future. Then I am glad too to say that the general political outlook is somewhat brighter, for which we give thanks to God.
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