CALENDAR:Feb. 16th to Mar. 15th
Daily Bible Reading,… .Feb. 16th, Ps. 25:Feb. 28th, Ps. 37;
Memory Work. . 2 Peter 1:15-2:10…. [Mar. 15th, Ps. 52
Good Reading,…… C. H. M.'s Miscellaneous Writ's., Vol. 3, From "Thoughts on Confirmation Vows" to end of "The Christian Priesthood."
Monthly Question:-What are some of the things " written in the Psalms" concerning the Lord (Luke 24:44).
Our Daily Bible Reading
In reading the Psalms, we see two great classes, morally, characterized as follows:(1) The righteous, faithful, humble, oppressed, fatherless, poor, needy, afflicted saints in the earth. In the main, they refer to the believing but sorely tried remnant of Israel. Nevertheless, many of the experiences voiced in these psalms furnish comfort and instruction for the saints of God at any period. The experiences and exercises described in some of the psalms are true of God's people at any time, especially when called to endure opposition and persecution.
(2) A prominent class is characterized as, The ungodly, wicked, proud, deceitful, grievous, corrupt, etc. We may also observe two great political classes which shows that many of the psalms have to do with the course of government on the earth, and God's purpose in it toward His chosen nation who, under the! Messiah, is to be at the head of all world-power. This! explains the difference of expressions, in many of the psalms, from what becomes the Christian whose hopes and blessings are heavenly. Our commonwealth is in heaven, our hope is laid up there, our continuing city is not here but beyond this scene. Because we are not of this world, and may have to experience the world's opposition to Christ, we may have a measure of experience in common with the earthly saints.
Let us note the two political classes afore mentioned.
(l) The nations ("the heathen") in their opposition to and hatred of Israel, and their rebellion against the Lord. (2) Israel, the vessel of God's government in the earth, is to be exalted and made supreme among the nations, with the Lord as their King, and the Ruler over all the earth. We may also trace, as we read this book, the threefold cause for the exercises of soul found in many of the psalms. (1) The power and prosperity of the wicked-the persecutors and haters of the righteous and godly, against whom they devise mischief. (2) The oppressed condition of the righteous, and the godly who trust in the Lord, that cry to Him. (3) The Lord's apparent delay in answering them-hiding from them, as it were, while they wait for Him in their exceeding great trials; it brings great exercises of soul, confession of sins, and pleading for forgiveness. Being unrighteously oppressed and persecuted by their enemies, and conscious of their own uprightness, they cry to God for judgment upon their persecutors as the means of their own deliverance.
While we mark these things which show the dispensational difference between the Christian and the saints who speak in these psalms, let it not obscure the precious instruction, and comfort and blessing which we may gather from this precious portion of God's Word, remembering Paul's exhortation to Timothy in 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.
Some Thoughts from our Memory Verses
In this portion of Scripture, we have obedience according to holiness founded upon redemption. Then purification through the Word and the Spirit. The food by which the new life is nourished; our priestly privilege and worship; the preciousness of Christ; the light into which we are brought through grace; finally, our responsibility to set forth the excellencies of Him who has thus blessed us.
FRAGMENT To what do we find our thoughts gladly turning when we have a few spare moments from the duties of the day ? Do they fly upward to Him who loves us and gave Himself for us ? When the pressure of the busy hour is over do we turn to Him as one who is our truest Friend and constant Companion? Better still, are our busy hours used as doing all unto Him ? If so, how sweet will our communion with Him be in the things made our own through grace-where He is seated in glory. To speak with Him in our hearts, to visualize Him with the eye of faith, to recount to Him the treasure we have found in His love, in His life, in His death, in His glory, this is life worth living.
" Thus while I journey on my Lord to meet,
My thoughts and meditations are so sweet-
Of Him on whom I lean, my Strength, my Stay-
I can forget the sorrows of the way."
Thus will the impress of His own image, and somewhat of His own moral perfectness be left upon us. Oh to be more like Him in inward thought and life and service!
The Question Box
Q. 28.-Does 1st Tim. 2; 12 teach that a woman is not even to teach other women ?
If so it would contradict Titus 2:3,4 where the elder women are instructed to be " teachers of good things" or "of what is right" (N. T.); and "that they may teach the younger women. The original has the force of " to impart, counsel, rebuke, give rules of conduct." In every reliable translation the passage is rendered, " That they may school the young women." The word here is the same as that used for " teach," teach the men (Eph. 4:11; 1 Tim. 4:11; 6:2; 2 Tim. 2:2), indicating that the same kind of work is thought of in connection with women. The same word is used where the apostle says, "I suffer not a woman to teach." The reconciliation of these passages lies in the sphere in which woman's work is to be performed. In Timothy the woman's place in relation to man is the subject. Headship and its attendant leadership, God has bestowed upon the man ; God's word insists upon this in various places. Public teaching implies authority, which is forbidden to the woman. In such case she is to " learn in silence with all subjection," and " not to usurp authority over the man."
For the use of this word and its cognates ("in silence, or quietness") compare the following passages:2 Thess 3:12, quietness; Acts 22 :2, silence (quiet, N. T.); 1 Pet 3:4, quiet; 1 Tim 2:2, peaceable (quiet, N. T.); 1 Thess 4:11, be quiet; Luke 23 :56, rested (remained quiet, N. T.); Luke 14:4; Acts 11:18; 21:14, silent (N. T.).
In 1 Cor. 14:34, where women are commanded to be silent, a different word is used which is connected with public utterance in the way of ministry to the assembly. Compare verses 28 (keep silence), 30 (hold his peace, be silent). This is further confirmed by the use of the word " speak " (vers. 34, 35); the original word here has reference simply to the fact of utterance. This scripture, then, clearly prohibits a woman from getting up to pray or to prophesy in public assemblies. Yet it seems also from 1 Cor 11:5, 13, that she may do both, and in some sense in public ; else what is the use of insisting upon her having a covering in acknowledgment of the headship of man, to which she is to own subjection ? 1 Tim. 2:3, 4 would intimate the sphere in which she might engage in both, but always in accord with the place given her according to God's order, hence the instruction of 1 Cor. 11 as to the sign of this. The exhortation of 1 Tim. 2:8, 9 therefore is not restricted to a place of public worship or assembly, but anywhere, even to one's abode; "In like manner," or likewise, links the injunctions as to prayer with what follows- the deportment and outward appearance of the Christian woman.
Correspondence for the Y. B. Dept., please address to Mr. John Bloore, care of Loizeaux Brothers.