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"According to Exodus 24:9-
!Kt
11, God was seen by human
eyes. Therefore any words in the
Bible claiming otherwise are without
foundation . Right?"
R. E.,
Grand Rapids, Michigan
No doubt the words you
have in mind " claiming
otherwise" are such New Testa–
ment statements as John 5:37:
"And the Father who sent me has
himself borne witness to me. His
voice you have never heard, his
form you have never seen. ..." To
understand this passage, notice
that the Person who had never
been seen was God the
Father.
This verse does not say that the
second
Person of the God family
may not have manifested Himself
physically on many occasions. The
Bible, in fact, records many of His
appearances.
" God" in the Old Testament re–
fers almost invariably to the sec–
ond Person, the
Logos
(Greek for
"Spokesman" ) of the Godhead,
who spoke to and otherwise dealt
with mankind. The personal nature
of the Father was then generally
unknown. This is why Jesus spoke
of revealing Him: "AII things have
been delivered to me by my
Father; and .. . no one knows the
Father except the Son and any one
to whom the Son chooses to reveal
him" (Matt. 11 :27; also see Luke
10:22). Also, John wrote that " no
one has ever seen God; the only
Son, who is in the bosom of the
Father, he has made him known"
(John 1:18).
By contrast, this One who be–
carne the Son was fairly we l l
known to several individuals men–
tioned in the Old Testament. He
walked and talked with Adam,
Enoch (Gen. 5:22), Noah, Abra-
38
ham (Genesis 17 and 18 are espe–
cially plain), Isaac (Gen . 26:24),
Jacob (Gen . 32 :24-30) , Moses ,
Joshua (Josh. 1:1 , 5; 5:13-1'4),
and a whole series of prophets. He
is often called (interchangeably)
" God , " " the Lord " (Hebrew
YHVH, the " Eternal" or " Self-Exis–
tent " ), and "the angel [messenger]
of the Lord. " So when not only
Moses and Aaron , but all the chief
elders of Israel saw "the God of
Israel [standing on] .. . a pavement
of sapphire stone, like the very
heaven for clearness" (Ex. 24:1
O) ,
they saw the executive, spokes–
man God, but they did not see
God the Father. And what they
saw, of course, was only a physi–
cal manifestation , since God is
spirit and as such is inaccessible
to the human senses. For more on
this subject, write for the free
reprint article "Who-What–
Was Jesus Before His Human
Birth?"
"Joshua was commanded to
march around the city of Jeri–
cho for six days and on the seventh
day to march around seven times.
Since one of these days was obvi–
ously a Sabbath, why did God com–
mand them to break the Sabbath by
working-going to war-on that
day?"
Robert B. ,
Portland, Oregon
In'
lf God commands one to
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111
" work" on the Sabbath, it is
certainly not "breaking the Sab–
bath. " God commanded the priests
and the Levites to work on the
Sabbath in the Temple, offering up
the evening and morning sacrifices
and teaching the people. No one
would argue that a direct com–
mand from God would temporarily
supersede the overall principies
codified in the Ten Command–
ments.
m i
"lt has been said that the nu–
-
clear family as we know it in
America-a small and mobile unit,
cut off from the larger family and
community-is an unhealthy sub–
stitute for the more traditional ex–
tended family. For one thing , it
requires people to satisfy too many
of their most basic lite needs within
an excessively limited sphere. In
other words, in the nuclear family, it
is said, the marriage suffers an in–
ordinate pressure to provide more
support than it possibly can. How
does this view square with, 'There–
fore shall a man leave his father and
his mother, and shall cleave unto his
wife: and they shall be one flesh '
(Gen. 2:24)?"
Kent H.,
Corpus Christi , Texas
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" Leaving one's father and
~
mother'' does not necessarily
mean picking up stakes and mov–
ing across the country. One could
just as well fulfill this admonition
by moving into the house next
door. Although an "extended fam–
ily" (consisting of mother, father,
children, grandparents, aunts, un–
eles, etc.) might occupy one large
household, it is much more com–
mon to find such a group living in
the same general geograph ical
area or small town. In such a situ–
ation , the need for distance and
privacy must be balanced with the
need for closeness and emotional
support such a network of relatives
provides. lt is of course not wrong
for a fami ly to take in an elderly
father or mother who needs a
home and perhaps care in his or
her old age. Nevertheless, in sorne
instances such a close association
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 1978