The most important, most necessary, and most profitable information to study thoroughly and discuss thoroughly about any subject is whatever Scripture says about the subject, whether directly or by way of principle or by way of necessary and legitimate inference.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
The love of a mother for her children is a very special kind of love. Second Samuel 21 provides an account that instructively reveals to us the glory of one mother’s love for her children.
Because Saul had slain the Gibeonites, God informed David that He had afflicted the land with a famine (2 Sam. 21:1). David inquired of the Gibeonites about what they would have him do to atone for Saul’s grievous sin (2 Sam. 21:2-3).
The Gibeonites told David that they wanted him to deliver seven descendants of Saul to them so that they could “hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah” (2 Sam. 21:4-6). David complied with their request by giving them two sons of Rizpah that she bore to Saul and five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul (2 Sam. 21:7-9a).
The Gibeonites “hanged them in the hill before the LORD” at the beginning of the barley harvest:
2 Samuel 21:9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.
What Rizpah then did after the execution of her sons reveals something special about her love for them as their mother.
Even though her sons were dead, Rizpah continued to protect their dead bodies for an extended time:
2 Samuel 21:10 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.
Out of her ongoing love for her children, she did not allow either the birds or the beasts of the field to prey on their dead bodies. One wonders what all it must have entailed for her especially to be able to keep wild beasts from devouring their dead bodies by night!
She displayed the glory of her love as a mother by all that she did to protect the dead bodies of her sons.
Even though the spirits had long departed from the dead bodies of her sons, Rizpah lovingly protected their bodies from scavengers. Her actions show that she certainly did not believe that the dead bodies of her sons were merely empty shells of very little or no worth.
Her actions teach us that we must understand that the dead bodies of our loved ones are still special and worthy of loving treatment and protection. They are not essentially worthless, empty shells to be disposed of by whatever means are most convenient for us.
Learning from what Rizpah did for the dead bodies of her sons out of her glorious love for them, we should reject all means of the disposing of the dead bodies of our loved ones that unnaturally destroy those bodies. Cremation and other manmade destructive means of the disposing of human bodies after death have no legitimate place in the lives of those who continue to love their own after their loved ones have died.
Instead, we should choose to bury the dead bodies of our loved ones as a display of our love of loyalty to them even after they have died.
See also Three Reasons Why Cremation is Unbiblical
The Biblical Importance of a Proper Burial
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Is it important to study the Bible in its original languages? An examination of James 3:2 in both English and Greek provides a clear example that answers this question decisively.
James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
A normal, natural reading of the beginning of this verse in English would lead one to believe that James teaches that in many things we offend all people, that is, we offend everybody, everyone etc. That reading regards “all” as the direct object of the verb “offend,” which is what a proper understanding of normal English grammar and syntax would indicate for that phrasing.
An examination of the original text, however, shows that this is a wrong understanding of what James teaches. Regardless of which Greek manuscript families we look at (BGT, BYZ, or SCR), the original reading is the same—the Greek word (ἅπαντες) that is rendered “all” in the verse is in a Greek case (the nominative case) that is *never* the direct object of a verb.
BGT James 3:2 πολλὰ γὰρ πταίομεν ἅπαντες. εἴ τις ἐν λόγῳ οὐ πταίει, οὗτος τέλειος ἀνὴρ δυνατὸς χαλιναγωγῆσαι καὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα.
BYZ James 3:2 Πολλὰ γὰρ πταίομεν ἅπαντες. Εἴ τις ἐν λόγῳ οὐ πταίει, οὗτος τέλειος ἀνήρ, δυνατὸς χαλιναγωγῆσαι καὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα.
SCR James 3:2 πολλὰ γὰρ πταίομεν ἅπαντες. εἴ τις ἐν λόγῳ οὐ πταίει, οὗτος τέλειος ἀνήρ, δυνατὸς χαλιναγωγῆσαι καὶ ὅλον τὸ σῶμα.
The correct understanding of the first part of James 3:2, therefore, is that we all offend in many things—it is not that we offend all people, everyone, etc.
This is a clear example that shows how reading the Bible in the original languages can greatly help us to interpret it correctly!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
We live in a day when more and more believers are choosing cremation instead of burial. Scripture, however, provides abundant revelation that shows that burial and not cremation is the right choice for every believer to make.
This post treats a premier reason for choosing burial instead of cremation. It does so by applying Micah 6:8 to what Scripture reveals about the importance of burial in 2 Samuel 2:4-6.
When the men of Jabeshgilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul and to his sons, they acted at great personal cost (“went all night”) to ensure that Saul and his sons would be buried:
1 Samuel 31:11 And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; 12 All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. 13 And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
Later, king David was informed of what these men had done:
2 Samuel 2:4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabeshgilead were they that buried Saul.
When David learned of what they had done, David declared that what they had done to bury1 Saul showed kindness (Heb. hesed) to Saul:
2 Samuel 2:5 And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabeshgilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the LORD, that ye have shewed this kindness [hesed] unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him. 6 And now the LORD shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing.
Holladay defines hesed as ‘loyalty’ (A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 111). We thus learn from Scripture that burying a deceased person is how we show our loyalty to him.
One of the most famous passages in Scripture teaches us that God requires us to love mercy (hesed):
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy [hesed], and to walk humbly with thy God?
This passage that instructs believers to love hesed shows us that God requires that we love loyalty.
God has instructed us that He requires that we love loyalty (Micah 6:8). He has also revealed that loyalty to a deceased person is shown by burying that person (2 Sam. 2:4-6).
In obedience to God, therefore, believers should show that they love loyalty by burying a deceased person. Burial—not cremation—is the right thing for all believers to do for a deceased person.
Let us choose burial to display our love of loyalty to a deceased person.
1 See my post Three Reasons for Why Cremation Is Unbiblical for an explanation of why the account in 1 Samuel 31:11-13 does not support cremation at all.
Picture Credit: M. Shires
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Nehemiah was an exemplary leader of God’s people. He was a devoted servant of God who repeatedly asked God to remember him for good because of what he had done for the sake of the things of God.
Two statements that Nehemiah made in his requests to King Artaxerxes when he requested permission of him to rebuild Jerusalem stress for us the importance of burial in a way that many may have overlooked:
Neh. 2:3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
Neh. 2:5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
Jerusalem was the place where God’s house was. Surely, Nehemiah regarded the place of God’s house to be of surpassing importance.
Nonetheless, Nehemiah did not say that he was sad because the city, the place of God’s house, lay waste and had its gates consumed with fire. Nor did Nehemiah request permission from the king to build the city because it was the city of his God’s house.
Remarkably, instead, he said that he was sad that Jerusalem lay waste with its gates consumed with fire—and he sought the king’s permission to build the city—because it was the place of his fathers’ sepulchers! For Nehemiah, what made Jerusalem of special importance was not just that God’s house was there—it was that Jerusalem was the place where his forefathers were buried in their tombs!
He later implicitly stresses the same point for the readers of Nehemiah by writing about what another Nehemiah repaired:
Neh. 3:16 After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Bethzur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, and to the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty.
By mentioning explicitly “the place over against the sepulchres of David” in this statement, Nehemiah made known whose sepulchres were of special importance to him.
Nehemiah’s heart for the place where his fathers were buried instructs us that such places of biblical burial is what godly people should choose for themselves and for their own.
Honoring our loved ones by burying them is the right thing to do.
See also The Biblical Importance of a Proper Burial
Three Reasons Why Cremation is Unbiblical
Picture Credit: M. Shires
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
I have been thinking a lot lately about what Scripture teaches about Christians, the world, and worldliness (see the discussion that I recently started on Sharper Iron). This is a subject that I have never studied in-depth.
Based on Pastor Minnick’s four messages so far in his series, “Out of, Not of, Into the World,” and on my own recent study, I have come up with the following working understanding concerning worldliness:
1 Here are some key passages that have helped shape my present thinking about this subject: John 17; Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 1:13; James 4:1-12; 2 Peter 2:19-20; and 1 John 2:15-17.
2 As God directs, I probably will be editing and adding to this post as I continue to study this subject.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Does the Bible teach that having a burial is important? Scripture has much to say about that issue, including a key statement by Solomon:
Ecclesiastes 6:3 If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
Although Ecclesiastes 6:3 speaks explicitly about not having a burial as a very bad thing, some believers today hold that the verse is not talking about having a burial per se. Rather, they hold that the verse is teaching about the importance of not having a funeral and not necessarily the importance of a person’s not being buried.
Examining the following passages that speak about burial shows us that this interpretation is wrong because all the passages distinguish lamenting and mourning for the dead loved one, which is typically a very important part of funerals, from burying that loved one:
Gen. 50:7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt . . . 10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days . . . 13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
1 Sam. 25:1 And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
1 Sam. 28:3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.
2 Sam. 3:32 And they buried Abner in Hebron: and the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner; and all the people wept.
2 Sam. 3:33 And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?
2 Chr. 35:24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
2 Chr. 35:25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah: and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations.
Acts 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.
Moreover, other passages clearly distinguish lamenting and mourning for dead people from burying them by revealing that none of these proper actions that are distinct from one another would be done for them:
Jer. 16:4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
Jer. 16:5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies. 6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
Jer. 25:33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Scripture plainly teaches us that burying someone is distinct from lamenting and mourning his death. Based on what all these passages teach, Ecclesiastes 6:3 does not speak (merely) of how bad it is for a person to not have a funeral—it greatly stresses just how bad it is for a person not in actuality to be buried!
See also my post Three Reasons Why Cremation Is Unbiblical
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
What did Paul testify when he evangelized both Jews and Gentiles? A careful examination of two passages instructs us plainly what Paul spoke when he ministered evangelistically to both groups.
Luke reveals to us what Paul testified as “the word of this salvation” in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia:
Acts 13:26 Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. 27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. 28 And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. 30 But God raised him from the dead: 31 And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.
Paul did not just testify (to the Jews and the Gentiles who were in the synagogue) of the death and resurrection of Christ—he also told them that Christ was buried and was seen many days by His witnesses.
Paul himself testifies to the gospel that he preached evangelistically to the Corinthians (who were Gentiles [cf. 1 Cor. 12:2]) so that they were saved:
1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
As he did to the Jews and Gentiles in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul spoke evangelistically to the Gentiles in Corinth of Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearances—he did not just testify to the death and resurrection of Christ.
The Spirit has inspired for our profit that Paul ministered evangelistically to both Jews and Gentiles by testifying to them of Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and appearances. Whenever it is at all possible, we should follow Paul in evangelism by doing the same.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
For many years, I have tried to teach people from Scripture the key truth that in interpreting evangelistic accounts in Scripture, “lack of mention is not proof of absence!” (I am quoting myself here—this is my own statement that I originated).
By carefully considering the biblical records of Paul’s initial discipleship experience, his initial evangelistic activity, and his later evangelistic testimony about his initial evangelistic activity, we plainly understand the importance of this truth.
Right after Paul had been saved, he was discipled by Ananias to understand what had happened to him and what he had been commissioned to do for Christ:
Acts 22:12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, 13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. 14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. 15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
Ananias revealed to Paul that he was commissioned to be Christ’s witness to all men to testify to them that he had seen and heard the risen Christ. For Paul, faithfulness in evangelism thus meant witnessing to everybody that he had seen and heard the risen Christ.
Given any opportunity, Paul would have always told people about Christ’s resurrection appearance to him.
After having further contact with disciples in Damascus, Paul engaged in Damascus in his initial evangelistic activity:
Acts 9:19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. 20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
According to some, the lack of mention in this account of Paul’s testifying to his seeing and hearing the risen Christ in His resurrection appearance to Paul proves that Paul did not testify to his being an eyewitness of the risen Christ when he preached Christ in these synagogues. If that approach were correct, we would have to believe that Paul began his evangelistic ministry by disobeying and disregarding what he had been plainly and very recently informed he was commissioned to do as Christ’s witness “unto all men” (see the treatment of Acts 22:14-15 above).
This is a seriously faulty claim that no one should accept as true. The very brief record of his initial evangelistic activity provides zero biblical basis to hold that Paul did not witness for Christ in these synagogues in obedience to what he had just been instructed was his commission to do as Christ’s witness “unto all men.”
Rather, we have full biblical warrant from Acts 22:14-15 to hold that Paul certainly testified in his preaching in these synagogues that he himself had seen and heard the risen Christ. We also have full biblical warrant for holding this position by what Scripture reveals to us in a later account of Pauline evangelism.
Many years after he had been saved, Paul defended himself before king Agrippa by testifying to him about his evangelistic activities throughout his life as a Christian because of the experience that he had in seeing and hearing the risen Christ:
Acts 26:15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: 20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
In this evangelistic testimony about his lifetime of his evangelistic activities, Paul testified that he showed first to those at Damascus that they had to repent, turn to God, and do works fitting for repentance (Acts 26:20). Acts 9:20, however, does not say anything about Paul’s telling the people in those synagogues to repent, turn to God, and do works fitting for repentance.
When, therefore, we compare this direct testimony from Paul himself about his initial evangelistic activity in Damascus with the earlier record of that initial Pauline evangelistic activity, we learn that Paul preached in those synagogues much more than what is briefly recorded in Acts 9:20 (that Christ was the Son of God). Comparing Acts 26:19-20 with Acts 9:19-20 proves that we are not to take the lack of mention of testimony to a particular truth in the biblical record of an evangelistic encounter as proof of absence to any testimony to that truth in that encounter.
We must not hold that the lack of mention of testimony to a given truth in the biblical record of an apostolic evangelistic encounter proves that there was no testimony given to that truth in that encounter. “Lack of mention is not proof of absence!”
Note: In much of this post, I have adapted and used my own material that I have posted elsewhere in an online discussion concerning the teaching of Scripture about apostolic evangelism.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Acts is the premier book for us to learn what the apostles were commissioned to do in evangelism. Luke begins Acts by telling us that they were commissioned to be witnesses unto Christ:
Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
As witnesses unto Christ, they were commissioned to tell people what they themselves had seen and had heard concerning Christ. Luke plainly tells us that Christ Himself showed Himself alive to them repeatedly over a 40-day period in many appearances to them. Acts 1:1-8, therefore, indisputably teaches us that Christ commissioned the apostles to witness to people that they had seen Him alive in those appearances and heard Him speak to them.
Later in Acts 1, Luke informs us that the apostolic company fully understood that what was central in their evangelism was that they were to be witnesses of His resurrection:
Acts 1:21 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
No human being was an eyewitness of the actual Resurrection of Christ (the exact moment when Christ rose from the dead).
For the apostles, therefore, to be witnesses (people who tell others what they themselves have seen and heard), they had to tell people not just that Christ rose (something that none of them actually saw or heard in person), but also and especially, that they themselves in person saw and heard Him alive in the Resurrection appearances in which He repeatedly showed Himself to them in the 40-day period between the Resurrection and the Ascension.
The actual Resurrection was not what changed the apostles from their meeting in private to bold, continual witnesses of Christ. What transformed them was that they themselves saw and heard the risen Christ in His appearances to them. Acts 1:1-8 and 1:21-22 thus plainly teach us that testifying to the Resurrection appearances of Christ was central and essential for the apostles to be faithful witnesses to what Christ had commissioned them to do in their evangelism.
Furthermore, Luke provides further confirmation to us about what the apostles held that they had to do in fulfilling the commission that they had been given:
Acts 4:18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
This passage shows that the apostles had as their premier goal to speak what they themselves had seen and heard. We can be certain that their testifying to their eyewitness encounters with the risen Christ was the very center of their apostolic evangelism.
Whenever they possibly could, the apostolic company never just stated that Christ rose–they unendingly testified in addition that they had seen and heard Him in His resurrection appearances to them. Doing so was the essence of how they were commissioned to be witnesses of His Resurrection.
*This post uses extensively and is based on a series of comments that I myself posted elsewhere online concerning this subject.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Rajesh Gandhi holds a Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation from Bob Jones Seminary; he's a long-time member of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, SC.
