In a recent online discussion about what is sound doctrine concerning the doctrinal importance of narratives in Scripture, I presented the following six examples from Scripture concerning deriving prescriptive statements from narrative passages.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #1

Jesus used information that is given to us in a narrative passage to issue a prescriptive statement based on that information:

Genesis 19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

Luke 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife.

The information about what happened to Lot’s wife is given to us in a passage that is a historical narrative of God’s judging Sodom and Gomorrah and delivering Lot and his two daughters from that judgment.

That statement reveals and describes what happened to her, but Jesus issued a command to His disciples that they must learn from that narrative information, keep recalling to their minds what happened to her, and by way of legitimate and necessary implication, not do as she did.

Obviously, it was not very likely that His disciples (or we) would face a situation that was exactly the same as she was in or even closely parallel to it. Nonetheless, Jesus commanded them to profit from that narrative information.

When Jesus issued the command to remember Lot’s wife (Lk. 17:32), He took “descriptive” information from a narrative account in Scripture in Gen. 19:17-26 and used it to utter a prescriptive statement in Lk. 17:32.

Gen. 19:17-26 —> Lk. 17:32 is a biblical example of how something that is given in a “descriptive” passage was legitimately used by Jesus to utter a prescriptive statement.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #2

In 1 Corinthians 10:6, the Apostle Paul uses information provided to us in a narrative passage in Numbers 11 to provide prescriptive teaching to Christians:

1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

Numbers 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

Because of their lusting after evil things, God judged the Israelites fiercely. It’s important to keep in mind that God has not recorded (as far as I can tell from Scripture) that He had previously provided specific warnings to the Israelites not to do what they did on that occasion. Nevertheless, when they sinned in that manner, they experienced intense divine judgment at the hand of God.

From Paul’s stating that example was provided as an example to us with the intent that we would not lust after evil things, as they did, we see clearly that descriptive information from a historical narrative passage was used in apostolic prescriptive teaching to all Christians.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #3

In 1 Corinthians 10:7, the Apostle Paul cited information from a historical narrative passage to forcefully issue an apostolic command:

1 Corinthians 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

In support of this apostolic command, Paul quoted from the end of a narrative statement in Exodus 32:

Exodus 32:6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

Paul’s use of a descriptive statement about the sinfulness of the Israelites on a particular occasion in a prescriptive command to all Christians plainly shows the use of information from a historical narrative to issue a prescriptive statement to all Christians.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #4

In 1 Corinthians 10:8, the Apostle Paul issued an apostolic mutual exhortation to instruct believers not to be immoral:

1 Corinthians 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

He used information from a historical narrative passage as support for his exhortation:

Numbers 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. . . . 9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

Paul’s use of narrative information (about the sinfulness of the Israelites on a particular occasion and God’s judgment of them for doing so) in a negative exhortation to all Christians teaches us that he used information from a historical narrative in Scripture to issue authoritative instruction to all Christians.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #5

In 1 Corinthians 10:9, Paul instructed believers by issuing an apostolic mutual exhortation not to tempt Christ:

1 Corinthians 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.

He based his exhortation on a historical narrative passage:

Exodus 17:2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? . . . 7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?

As in 1 Cor. 10:8, Paul’s use of narrative information (about the sinfulness of the Israelites on a particular occasion and God’s judgment of them for doing so) in a negative exhortation to all Christians in 1 Cor. 10:9 teaches us that he used information from a historical narrative in Scripture to issue authoritative instruction to all Christians.

Descriptive—>Prescriptive #6

In 1 Corinthians 10:10, Paul commanded believers not to murmur:

1 Corinthians 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

He supported his command to all believers by referring to information provided to us in some historical narrative passages:

Numbers 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

Numbers 14:36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,

Numbers 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?

Numbers 16:32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.

Numbers 16:41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord.

42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

43 And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.

44 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

45 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun.

47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.

48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

49 Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.

Paul’s issuing a prescriptive statement to all believers that has as its basis biblical revelation provided in various descriptive passages shows the use of information from historical narrative passages to issue a prescriptive statement to all Christians.

Analysis and application of #1-#6

All 6 of these biblical examples of descriptive—->prescriptive have in common divine judgment against human sinfulness, and that judgment was recorded within the narrative passages themselves.

This analysis supports going to other narrative passages that speak explicitly of divine judgment against human sinfulness and issuing prescriptive statements to Christians not to sin in those same ways. Other factors must also be considered in formulating such prescriptive statements from such narrative passages, such as explicit NT teaching that would indicate that making such prescriptive statements to Christians would not be legitimate.

The ultimate justification for formulating such prescriptive statements comes directly from explicit teaching by Scripture about itself that all Scripture is profitable not just for doctrine but also for reproof (convicting us of sinfulness), correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Scripture profoundly teaches us about the worldwide supremacy of the Law of God:

Deuteronomy 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

All the Law that God gave Israel was more righteous than any laws of any other nation!

Moreover, all of God’s Law was uniquely glorious in other ways as well:

Nehemiah 9:13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:

Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

The Law of God that He gave to Israel was right, true, good, holy, and just! There was not any nation in the world whose laws could even begin to compare to the Law of God.

The worldwide supremacy of the Law of God is a revelation that has profound implications and applications that go far beyond what many of God’s people may ever have understood!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Some Christians today believe that cremation is justified because they hold that burial in the OT was a Jewish cultural practice. Having that viewpoint about burial in the OT, they believe that we are free to follow what is culturally acceptable in our day.

Several lines of reasoning from Scripture show that these beliefs are not right.

Job and Eliphaz Did Not Follow Jewish Cultural Practices

Job and Eliphaz were God’s people, but Scripture never speaks of them as being Hebrews or Jews. Furthermore, we do not have any basis to hold that they ever had any contact with any people who were Jewish.

As such, what they believed and practiced attests to what God’s people who were not Jews, never under the Mosaic Law, and never had received that revelation believed and practiced. Because Job and Eliphaz spoke about burial in ways that either declare or imply its propriety, we know that burial by at least certain of the people of God in the OT was not a Jewish cultural practice.

Job

Job 3:22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

Job 10:19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.

Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

Job 21:32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

Job 27:15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.

Eliphaz

Job 5:26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.

Moreover, there are no passages in which Job or Eliphaz speak of the propriety of cremation.

Many Other Peoples Did Not Follow Jewish Cultural Practices

Scripture reveals that many other peoples that also were never Jews practiced burial. When they did so, they certainly were not following Jewish cultural practices of burying dead people.

Cananites

Gen. 23:6  Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

Egyptians

Num. 33:4  For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.

Babylonians

Isa. 14:19  But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.

Asshurites

Ezek. 32:22  Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword:

Elamites

Ezek. 32:24  There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.

People of Meshech and Tubal

Ezek. 32:26  There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.

Furthermore, Scripture never speaks of any of these peoples practicing cremation.

God Did Not Follow Jewish Cultural Practices

Scripture reveals in multiple ways that God did not follow Jewish cultural practices when He dealt with either His people or other peoples.

First, God commanded the Israelites that those who were hung had to be buried.

Deu 21:23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

He was not following a Jewish cultural practice when He issued that command.

Second, when God buried Moses, He did not do so because He was under any obligation to follow any so-called Jewish cultural practice.

Deuteronomy 34:6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

His choosing to bury Moses and to reveal that He did so shows that burial was not a Jewish cultural practice in the OT.

Third, God fiercely judged the Moabites for burning the bones of the king of Edom to powder. God was not judging the Moabites for their failure to follow a Jewish cultural practice.

Amos 2:1 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 2 But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD.

These passages show that divine actions pertaining to burial in the OT were not instances of God’s following Jewish cultural practices.

In addition, God never authorized or approved of cremation in the OT.

Conclusion

Scripture makes plain that burial in the OT was not a Jewish cultural practice. It also never speaks of the propriety of cremation.

Christians who support the use of cremation instead of burial cannot appeal to burial in the OT as being merely a Jewish cultural practice that can be set aside in favor of the cultural practices of their own time. They also do not have any passages in the OT that they can cite as support for cremation.

See also The Biblical Importance of a Proper Burial

The Vital Importance of a Divine Promise of Burial – Genesis 15:15

Picture Credit: M. Shires

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

I have been studying Psalm 1:1 intensively for many days now:

Ps. 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Tonight, I compiled 57 verses that help illumine our understanding of what God wants us to understand about “the counsel of the ungodly” that is spoken about in Psalm 1:1.

Num. 31:16  Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

2 Sam. 15:34  But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father’s servant hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant: then mayest thou for me defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.

2 Sam. 17:21  And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David, and said unto David, Arise, and pass quickly over the water: for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.

1 Ki. 12:14  And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

1 Ki. 12:28  Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

2 Ki. 6:8  Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.

1 Chr. 10:13  So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;

2 Chr. 22:3  He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.

2 Chr. 22:4  Wherefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab: for they were his counsellors after the death of his father to his destruction.

2 Chr. 22:5  He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramothgilead: and the Syrians smote Joram.

Ezr. 4:5  And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Neh. 4:15  And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.

Neh. 6:7  And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.

Job 5:13  He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

Job 10:3  Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

Job 18:7  The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

Job 21:16  Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Job 22:18  Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Job 38:2  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

Job 42:3  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

Ps. 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

Ps. 5:10  Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

Ps. 31:13  For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.

Ps. 33:10  The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

Ps. 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:

Ps. 71:10  For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,

Ps. 81:12  So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

Ps. 83:3  They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

Ps. 106:43  Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.

Prov. 12:5  The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

Isa. 7:5  Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,

Isa. 8:10  Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

Isa. 19:3  And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.

Isa. 29:15  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

Isa. 30:1  Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

Isa. 47:13  Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.

Jer. 7:24  But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

Jer. 18:23  Yet, LORD, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me: forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee; deal thus with them in the time of thine anger.

Jer. 19:7  And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

Jer. 49:30  Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.

Ezek. 11:2  Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:

Dan. 6:7 All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.

Hos. 4:12  My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

Hos. 10:6  It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel.

Hos. 11:6  And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.

Mic. 6:16  For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

Nah. 1:11  There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.

Matt. 22:15  Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk.

Matt. 27:1  When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:

Matt. 28:12  And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

Mk. 3:6  And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

Lk. 23:51  (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.

Jn. 11:53  Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

Acts 5:33  When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.

Acts 5:38  And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

Acts 9:23  And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him:

1 Cor. 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.