> General Discussions
When and how did chapter and verse teaching get started?
hillsbororiver:
--- Quote from: hillsbororiver on January 27, 2009, 06:20:20 AM ---
Here are a few early examples of OT prophets referring to earlier writings to drive home a point or teaching;
Jos 8:31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lifted up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.
1Ki 2:3 And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments and his judgments and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:
2Ki 23:21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
Ezr 3:2 Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
--- End quote ---
Reading through this thread I am not really sure that the initial motive was inspired by a honest quest for an answer or for instigating another carnal debate. There have been many sincere answers/observations that have been overlooked in favor of nitpicking over why one word or phrase was highlighted or emboldened rather than what the essence of the message might be.
Perhaps if we all were schooled in memorizing the entire bible since we were able to talk there would be no need to have this book, this gift from God categorized into chapters and verses. Is it beyond reason to consider that in God's infinite wisdom and in accordance with His ultimate plan and purpose that this work of standardizing access to where a particular message or phrase can be located and verified by even the most ignorant, uneducated or naive seeker with relative ease? Can you imagine what a task it would be to verify where exactly it was written when one was quoted a phrase from scripture if we did not have chapter and verse to check and see if indeed it was a true quote?
Stop, look and meditate on the few examples listed above, tell me right away where exactly these words are written (or even if it was truly scriptural) without any chapter and verse references, I can tell you with all honesty I would take hours if not days to find just these few, I am sure I would have plenty of company in my search. Unless someone was schooled and tested in Old Testament scholarship they would have to accept the words of a man without the verification of scripture.
Why would any of us find this easy access to verification undesirable? Of course there will be (and are) wolves and vultures out there who attempt to manipulate the scriptures to suit their own purpose but just imagine how difficult it would be to sort through it all without references. It is not a pretty sight or thought.
Getting back to the schooling or memorizing portion of this post we all have our areas of expertise, mine happens to be in the building and troubleshooting of houses, I do not need a step by step categorization of what goes where and when in the proper order of building a house, without consulting a check list or an owners maintenance manual I can also diagnose where a particular problem stems from (with a high degree of accuracy) without actually going to the house. If an accurate evaluation of the stage of building or an existing problem is presented I can almost automatically tell you the steps that must be taken without having to reference chapter and verse of where this information can be found. On the other hand when a customer demands verification I am also capable of providing this information to help them understand the reasoning behind my decision/opinion/evaluation.
If in fact this is a humble search for wisdom perhaps it would be prudent to research the education process for the ancient Jews, the history of how their young were schooled in learning and memorizing the Torah and other writings, once that is understood perhaps we would all appreciate the divinely influenced work of categorizing the bible into an easier format for research and verification.
Joe
WhoAmI:
--- Quote from: hillsbororiver on January 27, 2009, 05:02:23 PM ---
--- Quote from: hillsbororiver on January 27, 2009, 06:20:20 AM ---
Here are a few early examples of OT prophets referring to earlier writings to drive home a point or teaching;
Jos 8:31 As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lifted up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings.
1Ki 2:3 And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments and his judgments and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:
2Ki 23:21 And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.
Ezr 3:2 Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brethren the priests and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brethren and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
--- End quote ---
Reading through this thread I am not really sure that the initial motive was inspired by a honest quest for an answer or for instigating another carnal debate. There have been many sincere answers/observations that have been overlooked in favor of nitpicking over why one word or phrase was highlighted or emboldened rather than what the essence of the message might be.
Perhaps if we all were schooled in memorizing the entire bible since we were able to talk there would be no need to have this book, this gift from God categorized into chapters and verses. Is it beyond reason to consider that in God's infinite wisdom and in accordance with His ultimate plan and purpose that this work of standardizing access to where a particular message or phrase can be located and verified by even the most ignorant, uneducated or naive seeker with relative ease? Can you imagine what a task it would be to verify where exactly it was written when one was quoted a phrase from scripture if we did not have chapter and verse to check and see if indeed it was a true quote?
Stop, look and meditate on the few examples listed above, tell me right away where exactly these words are written (or even if it was truly scriptural) without any chapter and verse references, I can tell you with all honesty I would take hours if not days to find just these few, I am sure I would have plenty of company in my search. Unless someone was schooled and tested in Old Testament scholarship they would have to accept the words of a man without the verification of scripture.
Why would any of us find this easy access to verification undesirable? Of course there will be (and are) wolves and vultures out there who attempt to manipulate the scriptures to suit their own purpose but just imagine how difficult it would be to sort through it all without references. It is not a pretty sight or thought.
Getting back to the schooling or memorizing portion of this post we all have our areas of expertise, mine happens to be in the building and troubleshooting of houses, I do not need a step by step categorization of what goes where and when in the proper order of building a house, without consulting a check list or an owners maintenance manual I can also diagnose where a particular problem stems from (with a high degree of accuracy) without actually going to the house. If an accurate evaluation of the stage of building or an existing problem is presented I can almost automatically tell you the steps that must be taken without having to reference chapter and verse of where this information can be found. On the other hand when a customer demands verification I am also capable of providing this information to help them understand the reasoning behind my decision/opinion/evaluation.
If in fact this is a humble search for wisdom perhaps it would be prudent to research the education process for the ancient Jews, the history of how their young were schooled in learning and memorizing the Torah and other writings, once that is understood perhaps we would all appreciate the divinely influenced work of categorizing the bible into an easier format for research and verification.
Joe
--- End quote ---
What a shame. But if that is how you want to view it, go right ahead. Sorry I don't fit into your fixed idea of how a person should respond or ask questions.
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