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PAUSES
THAT REFRESH
Many times in normal conversation one pauses so
that the
importance of what was said might sink into the
mind of the one
listening, or even at a pause the purpose might be
to affect the
sense by a sudden silence. Such action is also
found in the Old
Testament, which the normal reader of the KJV or
any other for
the most part will not notice.
Exodus 32:31-32 reads in this manner: "And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet
now, if thou
wilt forgive their sin -; and if not blot me, I pray Thee
out of Thy book which Thou hast written."
The - (dash) is a period of
silence in the Hebrew. Moses was thinking of what he was going to say or offer to the Lord. We will never know what it was, but it could have been a promise to God that if God would forgive them, he (Moses)
might do
something for God. Who knows what Moses could have promised or what foolish idea crossed his mind. Even if there was a thought, Moses didn't utter it because he realized the weakness man trying to compromise with God. Today we might say: If you
will forgive
their sin I'll..." and let it trail off.
What man is there that can bargain with God ? Just
what was Moses going to do ? Was Moses was trying to come up with a reason to save the people? His love for them and concern for their well-being, even though they were wrong and
inconsiderate and misunderstood God, was truly gracious.
Or Moses paused so that God would really consider
what
Moses was going to say next. This is the a plausible
reason
for the pause. But then again, only Moses knows.
Luke 13:9 reads in this way:
"And if it bear fruit, WELL;
and if not, then after that thou
shall cut it down."
The "well" is added but is not found in the Greek.
The
implication is that if it bears fruit the tender of the
garden
will continue to take care
of it etc. Yet, it is not
stated
clearly, but implied.
Why speak of such things ? Because many times we fail to
catch the little thoughts
along the way while grasping the big
things. The thought is it will be cut down,
but do we consider
the idea that if it produces
it will be kept ? No. That is a
secondary thought and might even not be considered.
Genesis 3:22 reads:
"And now, lest he put
forth his hand and take also the tree of
life, and eat and life forever -"
Hear again there is a pregnant pause. A
time to consider the real consequences. Could you imagine Adam living forever in a state of corruption? Eternal life preserving you in the fallen nature? What a consequence. In fact, the idea of such is so repulsive that God doesn't even talk about it. There is no explanation. The next verse immediately goes on without
consideration of the consequences.
Pauses are important in the scriptures to consider as are
the italicized words.
Many times these words are
ADDED for
clarification and are not in the original but placed there for us to grasp the deeper thought. Careful, slow, consideration of
each word of
Scripture is very important.
I've always identified with Psalm 6 and verse 3.
" How
long O Lord ?" Not only
is this a question as well as a state-
ment, the Psalmist is also
trying to express the total frustra-
tion of the situation. How
long ? Have you not said the same at
one time or another ?
It is important to read the scriptures with inflection as if the people were talking themselves. These are not mono- tone words that drone on. But words that are alive and full of
meaning as the person actually said them.
SELAH The following verses consider the word SELAH. In Hebrew this word means: sit down and ponder that. In other words take the time to grasp the depth of the meaning of what was said. It occurs 74 times in the scriptures. Below
are the
scriptures. 2KI 14:7; PS 3:2; PS 3:4; PS 3:8 ; PS 4:2 ; PS 4:4; PS 7:5 PS 9:16; PS 20:3; PS 21:2; PS 24:6; PS 24:10; PS 32:4; PS 32:5; PS 32:7; PS 39:5; PS 39:11; PS 44:8; PS 46:3; PS 46:7; PS 47:4; PS 48:8; PS 49:13; PS 49:15; PS 50:6; PS 52:3; PS 52:5; PS 54:3; PS 55:7; PS 55:19; PS 57:3; PS 57:6; PS 59:5; PS 59:13; PS 60:4; PS 61:4 ; PS 62:4; PS 62:8; PS 66:4; PS 66:7; PS 66:15; PS 67:1; PS 67:4; PS 68:7; PS 68:19; PS 68:32; PS 75:3; PS 76:3; PS 76:9; PS 77:3; PS 77:15; PS 81:7; PS 82:2; PS 83:8; PS 84:4; PS 84:8; PS 85:2; PS 87:3; PS 87:6; PS 88:7; PS 88:10 PS 89:4; PS 89:37; PS 89:45; PS 89:48; PS 140:3
PS 140:5; PS 140:8; PS 143:6; HAB 3:9; HAB 3:13 |
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