The Lord said to me…”I will test my people with a
Plumbline, Amos 7:8 (TLB) The Plumbline is a blog to bring
hope and encourage to the Body of Christ.
Sovereign
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| Clayt Sheridan, II |
God’s
Sovereignty means He posses supreme authority and power. Deuteronomy 4:39
(NKJV) Therefore
know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in
heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. This was an extraordinary thing,
that a whole nation of people, consisting of upwards of 600,000 effective men,
in addition to women and children, should, without striking a blow, be brought
out of the midst of a very powerful nation, to the political welfare of which
their services were so essential; that they should be brought out in so open
and public a manner; that the sea itself should be supernaturally divided to
afford this mighty host a passage; and that, in a desert utterly unfriendly to
human life, they should be sustained for forty years. These were such instances
of the almighty power and goodness of God as never could be forgotten.
In these verses Moses enumerates
seven different means used by the Almighty in effecting Israel's deliverance; Check this passage Deuteronomy 4:32-39 (NKJV) 32 "For ask now concerning
the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created
man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any
great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. 33 Did
any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as
you have heard, and live? 34 Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a
nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by
war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according
to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you
it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none
other besides Him. 36 Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct
you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the
midst of the fire. 37 And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose
their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His
Presence, with His mighty power, 38 driving out from before you nations greater
and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an
inheritance, as it is this day. 39 Therefore know this day, and consider it in
your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth
beneath; there is no other.
1.
TEMPTATIONS,
to try or prove; the miracles, which God wrought to try the faith and prove the
obedience of the children of Israel.
2.
SIGNS,
to come near; such signs as God gave them of his continual presence and
especial providence, particularly the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire,
keeping near to them night and day, and always directing their journeys,
showing them when and where to pitch their tents, etc., etc.
3.
WONDERS,
to persuade; persuasive facts and events, says Parkhurst, whether strictly
miraculous, and exceeding the powers of nature, as Exodus 7:9; 11:9, 10; or
not, as Isaiah 20:3; Ezekiel 12:6, 11. It probably means typical
representations: in this signification the word is used, Zechariah 3:8. Joshua,
the high priest, and his companions were typical men, raised up by God as types
of Christ, and proofs that God would bring his servant THE BRANCH. All the
dealings of God with this people, and even the people themselves, were
types—present significators of distant facts and future occurrences.
4.
WAR,
hostile engagements; such as those with the Amalekites, the Amorites, and the
Bashanites, in which the hand of God was seen rather than the hand of man.
5.
A
MIGHTY HAND; one that is strong to deal its blows, irresistible in its
operations, and grasps its enemies hard, so that they cannot escape, and
protects its friends so powerfully that they cannot be injured. Neither
stratagem nor policy was used in this business, but the openly displayed power
of God.
6.
A
STRETCHED-OUT ARM; a series of almighty operations, following each other in
quick astonishing succession. Let it be noted that in the Scriptures,
a) The finger of God denotes any
manifestation of the Divine power, where effects are produced beyond the power
of art or nature.
b) The hand of God signifies the same
power, but put forth in a more signal manner.
c) The arm of God, the Divine
omnipotence manifested in the most stupendous miracles.
d) The arm of God stretched out, this
same omnipotence exerted in a continuation of stupendous miracles, both in the
way of judgment and mercy. In this latter sense it appears to be taken in the
text: the judgments were poured out on the Egyptians; the mercies wrought in
favor of the Israelites.
7.
GREAT
TERRORS; such terror, dismay, and consternation as were produced by the ten
plagues, to which probably the inspired penman here alludes: or, as the
Septuagint has it, with great or portentous sights; such as that when God
looked out of the cloud upon the Egyptians, and their chariot wheels were taken
off, Exodus 14:24, 25. More awful displays of God's judgments, power, and
might, were never witnessed by man.
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Adapted from A Commentary and Critical Notes.
