Issue 42> 11 Sept 2002
  This site is updated weekly Tue, 17 September, 2002 8:06 AM
The Names of God - YHVH Rohi

The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want - Psalms 23: 1. Most of us know this Bible verse almost by rote; some even have posters, bookmarks, screen-savers and computer wallpapers with pictures of a shepherd and his sheep. So the concept of a shepherd is not new even to city folks in Singapore. But what exact does the Psalmist mean when he penned the Shepherd Psalm and declared YHVH Rohi - the LORD is my Shepherd?

Sure, the shepherd tends his sheep. We are only too familiar with the modern day shepherd tending hundreds of sheep with his trusted sheep-dog friend or friends. There is the sense of professionalism in whatever he and his dogs are doing. All that the shepherd is interested in such sheep farms is the harvest of good wool and possibly the succulent juicy mutton.


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7 " I tell you that in the
same way, there will be
more joy in heaven over
one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine
righteous persons who
need no repentance.
Luke 15:7 NKJV

13 " For the Lord has
comforted His people,
And will have mercy
on His afflicted."
Isaiah 49 : 13b NKJV
Hard Sayings of the Bible ( IVP Press)

Hebrews 12:15: What Is the Bitter Root?

We all know the truth that "suffering produces perseverance" and other Christian virtues (Rom 5:3), but at the same time we know people who have experienced suffering or sickness (which are treated as quite different categories in Scripture) and have become bitter rather than better due to the experience. Bitterness, to be sure, is no Christian virtue, even if it is at times overlooked in people of faith (see Ruth 1:20-21 for the example of Naomi). It is not addressed directly in Scripture, except possibly in this one verse, Hebrews 12:15. Yet this text still raises a number of issues. What is a "bitter root"? Does it have anything to do with the vice of bitterness? Why is it connected to missing "the grace of God"? And how does it "defile many"?

A frequent interpretation of this verse is that it simply warns against bitterness or "bitter root judgments." Since the term "bitter" appears in the verse and all of us know individuals who have for one reason or another become bitter, such an interpretation sounds reasonable. The verse, then, would rightly point out that such attitudes (and the judgments of others that flow from them, like poison seeping out of a festering wound) can injure those who hold them, blocking these people from the many good things God has for them. In addition, it can injure the whole Christian community, infecting it with a fractious negativity and smearing the character of its leaders. Such observations have been made by most pastoral leaders. The question is whether the author has these observations in mind....

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A Little More on the Land of Israel (coming soon!)


 
All references taken from RBC, Pat Robertson, Ron Rhodes, Kenneth/Gloria Copeland, Charles Slagle, Smith Wigglesworth, Selwyn Hughes, Charles Spurgeon, Manners and Customs of Bible Times, The Complete Bible Handbook, The Spirit Filled Bible(NKJV), The NIV Bible, God's Promises for your every Need, Idiot's Guide to Bible Mysteries, Hard Sayings of The Bible, Articles courtesy of Mr Andrew L W Lee.