关于美国人信仰的英语论文
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发布时间：2022-04-30 01:36
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热心网友
时间：2022-06-28 04:41
What alternative to a 20-year sojourn in Haran does the Bible offer? Genesis 29:18-30, clearly indicates that Jacob worked the first fourteen years as payment for Rachel and Leah. Genesis 30:25-32 indicates that following Joseph's birth, Jacob made a contract with Laban to work in return for keeping as his own spotted and speckled sheep. Genesis 31:41 summarizes his work for Rachel and Leah and indicates that he worked for a period of six years for his flocks. Genesis 31:41:
Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.
Since Jacob left Haran immediately after he had obtained his flocks, the only time ring his Haran sojourn which could have added to the twenty years named in Genesis 31:41 would be the time between his contract to obtain Rachel and Leah and his contract to obtain his flocks. In other words, he must have worked for wages of some kind for a period of time following the expiration of his second seven year agreement to obtain Rachel. During this wage-earning period his family continued to grow until Joseph was born. Then he wished to leave but was inced to stay in Haran in return for obtaining as his own all the oddly marked sheep.
How long was this wage-earning period? The only clue the Bible offers is the notice of Genesis 31:38-39:
This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and they she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.
Since twenty years is also named here as a time span, some would conclude this is the identical period named in verse 41 of the same chapter. But this cannot be for, as we have seen, we must assume his total stay was more than 20 years. Moreover, that there were different 20-year periods is suggested by the language of verse 39 where the Bible indicates that Jacob had to pay for animals stolen or killed by beasts, and of verse 38 which implies he had to pay for any animals killed for his own food. These conditions may have been a part of his contract with Laban when he acquired Rachel and Leah, but the Bible gives no indication of this. These are not the kind of conditions that one would expect as a part of a contract for a man's daughter. They would be too petty and would tend to demean the value of the daughters. On the other hand, they would be very logical clauses in a contract in which money is paid for services rendered. [The phrase “thou hast changed my wages ten times” in verse 41 clearly has reference to the last six years when Jacob received his flocks (see Genesis 31:7-8), and therefore, does not relate to any other time except this six-year period. These six years followed the twenty years recorded in Genesis 31:38-39].
Therefore, we must conclude that the twenty years of Genesis 31:38 were in addition to the twenty years of Genesis 31:41, making a total of forty years in all. They followed the second seven year contract for Rachel and ended with the beginning of the new six-year contract for the speckled sheep.
Returning to Levi, we remember that he could not have been less than four years Joseph's senior, but with this added 20 year period he may have been as many as 24 years his senior.
The Bible does appear to indicate that Joseph was probably closer to 24 years younger than Levi than to four years younger. According to Genesis 29:31-35, Leah bore four children without ceasing to bear. Thus Levi, the third child, could well have been born in the third year after Jacob's marriage or the tenth year after Jacob arrived in Haran.
If his birth was not in the third year, it probably was very close to it. Joseph, on the other hand, was born in the year just prior to the last six years (Genesis 30:25) or at most, a few years earlier than the last six years.
The book of Maccabees is not inspired by God and is not a part of the Bible. But it does give some historical information. In the Book of Maccabees (7:27) it suggests a child was weaned at the age of three years. In II Chronicles 31:16, we read that the age of three was the minimum age for males to enter the house of the Lord for service. In I Samuel 1:22-24 we read that Hannah brought young Samuel to the house of the Lord immediately following his weaning. Thus, by relating these two passages, we receive the impression that weaning took place at the age of three, indicating the reliability of the Maccabees account on this point. Therefore, it is possible and indeed quite probable that Joseph was weaned at three years. Jacob was then ready to leave Haran. It was at this time that he began his last six years with Laban.
In summary, we must conclude that the period between the births of Levi and Joseph could not have been more than 24 years. Moreover, it seems likely that this period could not have been less than a few years short of 24 years. A 21-year age differential between Levi and Joseph is most probable. This is the result of assuming that Levi was born in the tenth year after Jacob arrived in Haran, and that Joseph was born nine years before Jacob left Haran, at the age of 91. Since he lived in Haran for 40 years, he would have arrived there when he was 60 years old, 31 years before Joseph's birth. This conclusion establishes the following sequence of events:
Jacob arrives in Haran at the age of 60
He works seven years for Rachel and is then married to Rachel and Leah. He is then 67
Reuben is born to Leah the following year when Jacob is 68
Simeon is born next to Leah when Jacob is 69
Levi is born next to Leah when Jacob 70
Jacob finishes his second seven-year contract for Rachel when he is 74
He works for wages for 20 years. In the 17th year of this period Joseph is born. Jacob is 91
At the end of this 20 year period Joseph is weaned and Jacob wishes to leave Haran. He is 94
He works six years longer for his flocks and leaves Haran at age 100
Interestingly, there is a bit of circumstantial evidence that gives further credence to the possibility of Jacob being 60 years of age when he arrived in Haran. The situation that precipitated Jacob's leaving for Haran was the threat that his brother Esau would kill him for stealing the blessing (Genesis 27:41). The blessing was given at this time because undoubtedly father Isaac feared he would soon die.
Isaac's own words indicate this in Genesis 27:2:
And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death.
If Jacob was 60 years old at this time, Isaac was 120 because Jacob and Esau were born when Isaac was 60 years old (Genesis 25:26). Isaac lived to the ripe old age of 180 years (Genesis 35:28). Therefore, he was a long way from being near death when be wanted to give the blessing. What could have inced him to do this so many years before he actually died? Let us recall that God made a significant statement to Noah before the flood. He said in Genesis 6:3:
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
Could it not have been that faithful Isaac, fully aware of this notice to Noah, decided in his 120th year that it was time to straighten out his affairs? Therefore, he immediately set into motion the events that ended with Jacob's flight to Haran. This is at least a possibility and it fits into the chronological timetable.
Returning to our timetable, we see that all of the Biblical conditions are met if we consider that Levi was 21 years older than Joseph. While the Bible does not give exact information that points to a 21-year age differential between Levi and Joseph, we know that it cannot be more than two or three years in error. The circumstantial evidence based on the weaning of a child at three years and the reasons for Jacob's flight to Haran as outlined above, point to 21 years as a logical and Biblical answer.
热心网友
时间：2022-06-28 04:41
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
These verses are especially focusing on God’s salvation plan. Throughout the church age, the dominant teaching of most Biblical churches was to tell the brothers and sisters of the congregations how they might be sure they are saved or how they might become saved. A careful analysis of the teachings of these denominations invariably shows that they include the requirement that some contribution be made by the indivial seeking salvation. These contributions could include actions such as water baptism, public profession of faith, the act of accepting Christ, the partaking of the Eucharist or communion table, or praying a certain kind of prayer. In virtually every case, there was a definite violation of the law of God, which clearly stipulates that all the work of saving a person was done by Christ, long before that person was born.
In Hebrews 8:10-11, quoted above, God emphasizes that once the full revelation of the Bible occurs, the teaching on salvation in the world will be altogether Biblical. Mankind will not be taught how they might become saved, but rather that salvation is entirely the work of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). God will saving a great multitude who actually may understand very little of the Bible.
