291 Ascribe to Jehovah, ye sons of the mighty, Ascribe to Jehovah honour and strength. 2 Ascribe to Jehovah the honour of His name, Bow yourselves to Jehovah, In the beauty of holiness. 3 The voice of Jehovah 'is' on the waters, The God of glory hath thundered, Jehovah 'is' on many waters. 4 The voice of Jehovah 'is' with power, The voice of Jehovah 'is' with majesty, 5 The voice of Jehovah 'is' shivering cedars, Yea, Jehovah shivers the cedars of Lebanon. 6 And He causeth them to skip as a calf, Lebanon and Sirion as a son of Reems, 7 The voice of Jehovah is hewing fiery flames, 8 The voice of Jehovah paineth a wilderness, Jehovah paineth the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of Jehovah paineth the oaks, And maketh bare the forests, And in His temple every one saith, 'Glory.' 10 Jehovah on the deluge hath sat, And Jehovah sitteth king—to the age, 11 Jehovah strength to his people giveth, Jehovah blesseth His people with peace!
301 I exalt Thee, O Jehovah, For Thou hast drawn me up, and hast not let mine enemies rejoice over me. 2 Jehovah my God, I have cried to Thee, And Thou dost heal me. 3 Jehovah, Thou hast brought up from Sheol my soul, Thou hast kept me alive, From going down 'to' the pit. 4 Sing praise to Jehovah, ye His saints, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness, 5 For—a moment 'is' in His anger, Life 'is' in His good-will, At even remaineth weeping, and at morn singing.
6 And I—I have said in mine ease, 'I am not moved—to the age. 7 O Jehovah, in Thy good pleasure, Thou hast caused strength to remain for my mountain,' Thou hast hidden Thy face—I have been troubled. 8 Unto Thee, O Jehovah, I call, And unto Jehovah I make supplication. 9 'What gain 'is' in my blood? In my going down unto corruption? Doth dust thank Thee? doth it declare Thy truth? 10 Hear, O Jehovah, and favour me, O Jehovah, be a helper to me.' 11 Thou hast turned my mourning to dancing for me, Thou hast loosed my sackcloth, And girdest me 'with' joy. 12 So that honour doth praise Thee, and is not silent, O Jehovah, my God, to the age I thank Thee!
231 And Paul having earnestly beheld the sanhedrim, said, 'Men, brethren, I in all good conscience have lived to God unto this day;' 2 and the chief priest Ananias commanded those standing by him to smite him on the mouth, 3 then Paul said unto him, 'God is about to smite thee, thou whitewashed wall, and thou—thou dost sit judging me according to the law, and, violating law, dost order me to be smitten!' 4 And those who stood by said, 'The chief priest of God dost thou revile?' 5 and Paul said, 'I did not know, brethren, that he is chief priest: for it hath been written, Of the ruler of thy people thou shalt not speak evil;'
6 and Paul having known that the one part are Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrim, 'Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee—son of a Pharisee—concerning hope and rising again of dead men I am judged.' 7 And he having spoken this, there came a dissension of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and the crowd was divided, 8 for Sadducees, indeed, say there is no rising again, nor messenger, nor spirit, but Pharisees confess both. 9 And there came a great cry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' part having arisen, were striving, saying, 'No evil do we find in this man; and if a spirit spake to him, or a messenger, we may not fight against God;' 10 and a great dissension having come, the chief captain having been afraid lest Paul may be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiery, having gone down, to take him by force out of the midst of them, and to bring 'him' to the castle. 11 And on the following night, the Lord having stood by him, said, 'Take courage, Paul, for as thou didst fully testify the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so it behoveth thee also at Rome to testify.'
12 And day having come, certain of the Jews having made a concourse, did anathematize themselves, saying neither to eat nor to drink till they may kill Paul; 13 and they were more than forty who made this conspiracy by oath, 14 who having come near to the chief priests and to the elders said, 'With an anathema we did anathematize ourselves—to taste nothing till we have killed Paul; 15 now, therefore, ye, signify ye to the chief captain, with the sanhedrim, that to-morrow he may bring him down unto you, as being about to know more exactly the things concerning him; and we, before his coming nigh, are ready to put him to death.'
(Read Acts 23:1-5)
See here the character of an honest man. He sets God before him, and lives as in his sight. He makes conscience of what he says and does, and, according to the best of his knowledge, he keeps from whatever is evil, and cleaves to what is good. He is conscientious in all his words and conduct. Those who thus live before God, may, like Paul, have confidence both toward God and man. Though the answer of Paul contained a just rebuke and prediction, he seems to have been too angry at the treatment he received in uttering them. Great men may be told of their faults, and public complaints may be made in a proper manner; but the law of God requires respect for those in authority.
(Read Acts 23:6-11)
The Pharisees were correct in the faith of the Jewish church. The Sadducees were no friends to the Scripture or Divine revelation; they denied a future state; they had neither hope of eternal happiness, nor dread of eternal misery. When called in question for his being a Christian, Paul might truly say he was called in question for the hope of the resurrection of the dead. It was justifiable in him, by this profession of his opinion on that disputed point, to draw off the Pharisees from persecuting him, and to lead them to protect him from this unlawful violence. How easily can God defend his own cause! Though the Jews seemed to be perfectly agreed in their conspiracy against religion, yet they were influenced by very different motives. There is no true friendship among the wicked, and in a moment, and with the utmost ease, God can turn their union into open enmity. Divine consolations stood Paul in the most stead; the chief captain rescued him out of the hands of cruel men, but the event he could not tell. Whoever is against us, we need not fear, if the Lord stand by us. It is the will of Christ, that his servants who are faithful, should be always cheerful. He might think he should never see Rome; but God tells him, even in that he should be gratified, since he desired to go there only for the honour of Christ, and to do good.
(Read Acts 23:12-24)
False religious principles, adopted by carnal men, urge on to such wickedness, as human nature would hardly be supposed capable of. Yet the Lord readily disappoints the best concerted schemes of iniquity. Paul knew that the Divine providence acts by reasonable and prudent means; and that, if he neglected to use the means in his power, he could not expect God's providence to work on his behalf. He who will not help himself according to his means and power, has neither reason nor revelation to assure him that he shall receive help from God. Believing in the Lord, we and ours shall be kept from every evil work, and kept to his kingdom. Heavenly Father, give us by thy Holy Spirit, for Christ's sake, this precious faith.
