| Author |
Message |
Patallen
Registered user
Username: Patallen
Post Number: 174
Registered: 7-2010
| | Posted on Friday, November 19, 2010 - 10:20 am: |     |
A while back I read Exodus 32:15...
quote:15 And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
I couldn't figure what was written on the back side. This morning I was reading from my NLT Study Bible Notes regarding the same and I wanted to share it:
quote:Normally each party to a covenant received a written copy of the terms of the covenant. So it may be that the two stone tablets were identical, one being God's copy and one being the other people's copy to be kept together in the Ark of the Covenant.
I don't know if this has been discussed before. The Ten Commendmants are always presented with four or five on one tablet and remainder on the other tablet. Any comments?
Pat |
Indy4now
Registered user
Username: Indy4now
Post Number: 921
Registered: 2-2008
| | Posted on Friday, November 19, 2010 - 12:23 pm: | |
Hi Pat,
I've heard that same explanation. I've also read from some sources that the tablets were stamped through to both sides so that they could be read on both sides. The Hebrew letters that had centers supposedly hung in place mysteriously. Some say that the tablets were blue. Jews believe there were 5 commandments on each tablet.
I thought we should refer back to an authoritative source of truth to really know what it looked like.
quote:In the ark was the golden pot of manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of stone which folded together like a book. Jesus opened them, and I saw the ten comandments written on them with the finger of God. On one table were four, and on the other six." p. 32, EW by egw
;)
vivian |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 11997
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, November 19, 2010 - 4:27 pm: | |
Yes, I've also read that the tablets were written on both sides. I can't put my hands on the source right now, and I don't have time to look further right now, but yes--that's correct.
Colleen |
Skeeter
Registered user
Username: Skeeter
Post Number: 1157
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Friday, November 19, 2010 - 11:03 pm: | |
Yes, they were written on both sides, and the first set was thrown down and broken by Moses... so he went back on the mountain and God gave him the second set like the first.... So much for the SDA teaching that since they were written by the finger of God on stone they are eternal and can not be destroyed.
Is there any information about what ever happened to the ark of the covenant ? I have heard rumors that it was taken up to heaven, and also have heard it was stolen by some group of people and they still have it hidden somewhere. |
Hec
Registered user
Username: Hec
Post Number: 1506
Registered: 3-2009
| | Posted on Saturday, November 20, 2010 - 2:07 pm: | |
Written on both sides: Exo. 32:15 "Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written."
Hec |
Flyinglady
Registered user
Username: Flyinglady
Post Number: 8789
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, November 20, 2010 - 2:31 pm: | |
I have a video about the ark. It is supposed to be in Ethopia where a priest has been caring for it with a succession of priests since it was taken there many years ago.
Diana L |
Dennis
Registered user
Username: Dennis
Post Number: 2147
Registered: 4-2000
| | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2010 - 1:09 pm: | |
The ark of the covenant disappeared at the time of the Babylonian Exile. It is likely that the Babylonians destroyed it or some zealous Jews hid it somewhere hard to find. Thus, in Jesus' day, the original tablets were not present in the Most Holy Place. Interestingly, during the 500 years of the Second Temple, it never had the original tablets of stone. In biblical times, they often utilized white plaster molds or white plaster painted on stone with writings on them. Some people speculate that the stone tablets were replaced with simple replicas in stone and/or plaster-covered stone in the Most Holy Place.
History records that many Jewish women audibly wept at the inferiority of the Second Temple in comparison to the gleaming First Temple. Our Dispensationalist friends are eagerly hoping to find the tablets of stone as an incentive or catylst to jump start building the Third Temple. However, without the beaming shekinah glory, it would not radiate God's majesty and presence anyway (a far cry from Solomon's Temple). In other words, a Third Temple would be as incomplete as the Second Temple was. Would the American tax payers approve and fund a Third Jewish Temple? Perhaps the Third Temple funding could be taken out of the generous American foreign aid fund. Theoretically, this would bestow upon American Dispensationalists a sense of ownership and pride in somehow restoring the Levitical system.
Dennis Fischer |
Jody
Registered user
Username: Jody
Post Number: 96
Registered: 7-2007
| | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2010 - 4:19 pm: | |
Dennis, I assume you are mocking dispensationalism and think it is ludicrous?
Dispensationalism is almost as real as Santa Claus or as true as Adventism. Dont u think?
Jody |
Chris
Registered user
Username: Chris
Post Number: 1572
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2010 - 8:27 pm: | |
My daughter is on her H.S. debate team. They are assigned an assertion and required to study to accurately and forcefully present both the affirmative and negative arguments. This is exceedingly good practice for all. If you don't thoroughly understand the opposing view point then your own arguments will be uniformed and misguided. I repeatedly see people completely misstating an opposing position, then triumphantly critiquing it as if they actually knew or understood the issues involved. It's embarrassing to see Christians behaving that way. It's intellectually lazy and suggests to readers that we don't bother to understand our opponents true positions and are content to knock down misinformed characterizations of our own invention. It's okay to disagree with a position. It's okay to even STRONGLY disagree with a position. It's not okay to misrepresent someone else's position then attack it. I think this is very much bearing false witness against another to engage in this kind of thing. I realize that there is probably not malicious intent, just a lack of knowledge, but a lack of knowledge is no real excuse when it can be so easily remedied by reading some primary sources. |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 12009
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2010 - 9:18 pm: | |
Thank you, Chris.
Colleen |
Jody
Registered user
Username: Jody
Post Number: 98
Registered: 7-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 4:06 pm: | |
Not sure about where you are from but where I live most Christians default to a dispensationalist understanding of eschatology simply because they have seen or read "The Late Great Planet Earth" or "The Left Behind Series"
i am a big fan of Adrian Rogers,David Jeremiah, and John MacArthur,I have read them and listened to them preach. When i left Adventism i merged into Dispensationalism only because it was popular. It was after spending time in the Word and diggin into some Church history that I realised it could not be supported by scripture anymore then Adventism could.
I would not call those that cling to Dispensationalism as their understanding unbelievers but I would def strongly disagree with their posistion.This is definetely a secondary issue and I do realize that not all Dispensationalists are exactly alike in their understanding. We do have to be careful when we use labels as we tend to over stereotype.
Jody |
Dennis
Registered user
Username: Dennis
Post Number: 2148
Registered: 4-2000
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 6:50 pm: | |
Jody,
Several years ago, during the height of the "Left Behind" frenzy, I overheard a little boy and his grandmother chatting while shopping for children's books at Barnes and Noble. When the little boy appeared at the children's book section that depicted the Left Behind Series for kids, he very loudly yelled out to his grandmother and rolled on the floor in protest to her not having the same interest as he had in those books. Apparently, according to their conversation, the little boy's parents had strongly endoctrinated this little boy to the point of outright brainwashing, and he had no appreciation for any other children's books. My first reaction to this distracting episode was that it was very cultic at best. Of course, children typically have a far greater appreciation for books than only those written by Tim Lahaye. However, at that time, adults really didn't act much different in making sure that they read the very latest book in the Left Behind Series. In the end, the whole frenzy brought enormous wealth to the author and many lost dollars to hard-working people.
However, my wife and I didn't ignore those days, and we thoroughly researched Tim Lahaye's views. Admittedly, Tim Lahaye gained additional royalties from our investigation (smile). For 1800 long years, Christians were supposedly totally wrong about the end times (akin to the SDA stance). We soon discovered that the Dispensational view is not biblical in spite of all the public excitement about it. Some of my best friends and favorite writers are Dispensationalists, and they wholeheartedly agree that eschatology should never create a barrier or division among God's people. If God wanted us to precisely know all the details of last day events, He would have made it very clear in Scripture--like the Gospel. When it comes to eschatology, it my studied contention that we are ALL wrong in many ways. God's has many great surprises in store for His people. To me, it is most comforting to know that I don't have to know what exactly the future holds. I don't have to fear the future. Today is often crucified between two thieves, yesterday and tomorrow. In biblical Christianity, what really matters is what we are today ("know-so" instead of "hope-so" believers as the late Adrian Rogers used to say).
Dennis Fischer |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 12010
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 8:06 pm: | |
I agree, Dennis, that no one knows exactly how it will all happen. There is enough mystery that only as things unfold will they become clear.
Jody, John MacArthur if Reformed, but he holds modified dispensational views of eschatology.
It is enough for me that I know the future is secure; nobody's novels about the end times define them for us.
Colleen |
