Hi Vicki,
You have received some very sound reasoning about some of the difficult things in Scripture. ALL Scripture is for our benefit it some way or other.
2Tim 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
v. 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Remember Scripture does not only have a literal application, some of the hard things spoken of it Scripture are for spiritual eyes to discern. Not all Scripture is instruction on how to live righteously, there are many supposes for the Scripture.
Here is a little I pulled from 'How We Got The Bible.'
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php?action=printpage;topic=5815.0 -------
We are going to look at a couple of Scripture to see there is no question in the minds of the Jews as to what is meant by ‘the Scriptures.’ In Luke 24, here is 2 men on the road to Emmaus, Christ meets up with them and He later makes His identity known.
But we notice in verse 27 “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Did they have to say, excuse me Lord, what are you talking about ‘the Prophets’? What is that? The ‘Law of Moses’ what are You talking about? Is that a book or what? They knew exactly what ‘Moses’ and ‘the Prophets’ were. They knew! Everybody knew.
It doesn’t mention ‘the Psalms’ here and this is a point we want to learn. That ‘the Psalms’ were also Prophets/prophecies. It doesn’t need to repeat them, because David was a Prophet as well. Any time they were directed towards the scripture, there is no explanation needed.
Acts 17:2 “And according to Paul's custom, he went in to them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures…”
I don’t suppose he took his own Scriptures, I mean they had them right there in the Synagogues. So they knew what the Scriptures were.
Act 17:11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.
So they knew what the Scripture were, they had them everywhere. Jesus Christ said these are references to the Word of God - the Law of Moses - the Prophets - the Writings/Psalms. We don’t need to go back to Moses, Ezra or Nehemiah to know what constitutes the Old Testament Scripture, Jesus Christ Himself told us. This was common knowledge everywhere.
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He expounds that beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Moses was a Prophet. All writers of the Bible are called Prophets. David was a Prophet. Remember that many prophecies of Messiah are in the Psalms, written by David.
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Luke 24:27 And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself (being the Messiah).
Well many of the Scripture that pertain to Jesus Christ being the Messiah were found in the Psalms. Well guess what? They are prophecy! So we have a whole circle here of ideas, that all go together, because psalms can be prophecy. He showed me all the Scriptures of Christ being the Messiah, according to the Prophets, surely He showed him some of the Psalms. In fact most of the important places where we read about Christ is the Messiah, is in the Psalms. Then of course in a few places, Isaiah 53 and a few others places. But mostly in the Psalms. The Psalms are prophesies, they are considered prophets.
So Luke says any Scripture that pertaining to Christ, are written by prophets. That has to be Psalms, so Psalms are prophecy. When Asaph sang the 50th Psalms it’s called a prophecy.
II Tim. 3:16 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…”
ALL Scripture, okay.
One of the definitions of prophecy or prophesying is inspired teaching, singing and writing, it’s prophesying. If it is inspired, it’s prophesying. Prophesying does not mean solely predicting the future. Any inspired teaching, singing or writing is prophesying.
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mercy, peace and love
Kat