349
June 1928
T h e . . K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
through the inspired Word. Why should you spend your time asking God to give you special revelation when He has given you full revelation in the Bible? What you want is not more truth, but more power to live the truth you have. That comes of studying the Word that is in stinctive,’ with power. Peter had been with Christ' for three years and then; for forty days.'' You study again that first sermon in the book of Acts. It is saturated with Old Testament. Then the book is no substitute for God. Seek Him. Have definite times of appointment with Him. Step aside from the world, and commune with God. The best part o f my life when I was a boy was when I
petitioned for things I thought I needed. .When J became a man, it was communion with my Father. The best thing about prayer is communion, not petition. Be much with God, and then be with man. Be much with men who aré of the same spiritual life as yotifs.' ‘ Seek thrills, yes, but not on the lower plane, or yet on the mental plane, but on the spiritual plane. Seek service in the Word of God, in communion with God, in com munion with one another, in the service o f humanity in the name of God. (From Dr. Gifford’s new book:. “ The Shadow o f the Rock.” )
That Bear Story of 2 Kings 2: 23, 24. B y R ev .’G. R eid , P h .D.', ( 1 Spokane, Wash.)
f UR “ Liberal” friends,—not to say those openly Si and_ avowedly antagonistic to the Bible, or, at I least,’ to the . Old Testament— pever tire” of * “ rolling as a sweèt thor'sel under their tongues'” “ that horrible sidry o f Thé'ihdéféffsibjé cruelty displayed by ‘the old '’god), of ; thè Hebrews’’'in thè wanton slaughter o f forty-two innocent little children by bears because they, in a spirit of childish fün arid mis chief, twitted the prophet upon his being' bald.” ' “ The old god o f the Hebrews,”- “ the God o f Abra ham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,” who also is “ The God and Father o f Our Lord Jesus Christ,” needs no defense. He has always shown Himself abundantly able to take care of. Himself, and to deal effectively with His traducers when, in His judgment, it seemed necessary to do so, or calculated to redound to the good of all concerned. But there is a justifiable satisfaction in puncturing the over-swollen pomposity with which these critics persist in displaying their unbelief . Only- the blindness of extreme prejudice eagerly catching at -any straw to justify their assaults upon the Old Testament and the Bible, can ac count for such unfounded mis-statements, Let us look at the record o f the facts. LA-First—-and fundamentally— they were NOT “ inno cent little children.” The blame for this must be charged largely to the translators o f our King James’ Version for their -mistaken rendering of the Hebrew words. Nor can I wholly exonerate the Revisers of 1881, or The American Revision Committee o f 1898, for not correcting this slan der upon the God of the Bible. It is really inexplicable that in so careful a revision by the American Committee such a blunder could be perpetuated, ; •The word translated “little children” in verse -23 is NAAR , which means “ a youth,” “ a young man,” and in 124 out of the 174dimes that it appears it is (properly) so rendered. It is the word used in 1 Sam. 17:35,— “ Thou art not able to go against this Philistine, fo r thou art but a youth.” In verse 5$,—¿ ‘Abner, whose son is this youth?” ] and in verse 5S,WfWhose son art thou, Young Manf” In Ruth 2:9, 15,. 21, it designates t h e “ young men” who were reaping the field of Boaz. •In 1 Sam. 25:5-12, it is used o f the young men in David’s “ band.” In Isa. 40:30, “ Evert the youths shall faint and bè'w eà fy, and the young men 'shall Utterly fall.” Many other passages might be cited.
W hat D o T he . W ords M ean ? :■ In- the majority o f cases it mes.hs“ y o'ungmen” iff our accepted Usage o f that term—old enough to bear ariris. The passages where it refers to a young child" are sff 'very few as to be almost negligible. There is no question but that in this passage it should have been rendered'“ youths” or “young men.” :. ; - The rendering'of the word “ YELED ” ' in verse 2 4 ^ “ children ” -^-has ffiore to justify it, for that word does mean a èhild ; but not necessarily a “ little child.” Rather it is '“ child” in thé broad sense o f “ progeny” without'desig- riatiffg the age—with equal accuracy rendered “ boy” or “lad.” In Dan. 1 :4-17 it is used five times to describe Dan iel and his companions, who certainly were not “ little chil dren.” Why, in the face Of all this, the American Commit tee' retained the mistranslation is beyond my comprehen sion. All the more because long before'they essayed revision and correction of what had seemed to them errors in the Revision of 1881, this misleading rendering had been used by the enemies of the Bible, or the unfriendly critics; to say the least, o f the Old Testament, to the dis paragement o f the Bible, and o f the God of the Bible. • Beyond dispute, then, thèse wère “ lads” ,of from fif teen to twenty' years of age, such as are familiar in every town, in every country, in every age. Half-grown “ boys” who delight in pranks and practical jokes, often wanton— against whom we are ever on our guard lest they be “ up to some devilment” ; the torment o f proctors and con stables in our college towns; the despair of the police at “ Hallowe’en” ; comprising what we should now desig nate as “ hoodlums,” (“ rowdies,” if not “ young toughs” ; certainly' NOT “ irinocefft little children” as emphasized in these distorted misrepresentations. I I — 'These young scamps “mocked” the prophet. The Word is “ jeered,” “ scoffed.” . There is no hint that they “ twitted him on account of his baldness.” Elisha, whom they probably all knew as the personal body-servant, (valet) o f Elijah, the stern, austere anchorite, was now posing as" the successor to the prophetic office. The con trast between the two men was so great that they could not resist the temptation to “ josh” him. They stood in no especial awe o f “ Elijah’s valet.” All Jericho, doubtless, had by this time heard the story of Elijah’s “ going up to heaven in. a chariot of fire’’^ 1 largely, it may bè, from the report o f those fifty “ sons of
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