Category: Joy, Peace, and Hope Through the Bible

How the Bible empowers us to become people of joy, peace, and hope through the virtues of faith, hope, and love

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Don’t Be Too Righteous

Ecclesiastes 7:16 contains a statement one would not expect to find in the Bible: “Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself?”

How can you be too righteous or wise?

I was reflecting on this passage in connection with the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling. There he tells us, “[If you can be] lied about and yet don’t deal in lies or being hated, don’t give way to hating . . .” In other words, don’t let the wrongs other people do pull you into wrongdoing.

At the same time, Kipling adds, “and yet don’t look to good, or act to wise . . .” This is virtually a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 7:16. He explains the concept by using the word “look,” which reminds us of Jesus’ warnings in Matthew 6 not to do our good deeds to be seen by men.

The verse in Ecclesiastes is a bit stronger. “Don’t be too righteous.” How are we to understand this? Matthew Henry in his commentary on the whole Bible provides a very full and helpful explanation.

“Be not righteous overmuch,” Ecclesiastes 7:16.

In the acts of righteousness govern thyself by the rules of prudence, and be not transported, no, not by a zeal for God, into any intemperate heats or passions, or any practices unbecoming thy character or dangerous to thy interests.

Note, There may be over-doing in well-doing. Self-denial and mortification of the flesh are good but if we prejudice our health by them, and unfit ourselves for the service of God, we are righteous overmuch. To reprove those that offend is good, but to cast that pearl before swine, who will turn again and rend us, is to be righteous overmuch.

“Make not thyself over-wise.”

Be not opinionative, and conceited of thy own abilities. Set not up for a dictator, nor pretend to give law to, and give judgment upon, all about thee. Set not up for a critic, to find fault with every thing that is said and done, nor busy thyself in other men’s matters, as if thou knewest every thing and couldst do any thing.

Why shouldst thou destroy thyself, as fools often do by meddling with strife that belongs not to them? Why shouldst thou provoke authority, and run thyself into the briers, by needless contradictions, and by going out of thy sphere to correct what is amiss? Be wise as serpents, beware of men.

I think this is a warning that I, as a conservative religious person, need. It’s happened to me over and over again in my life. I make some progress in life or in understanding, and it goes to my head. It becomes a tool of my own conceit.

For those who seek after an authentic moral and religious life in God, it’s good to remember: “Don’t be overly righteous or be overly wise.”

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The Glory of the High Priest

This week, I have been studying the high priest in Exodus 28. In some ways, it is so simple. The high priest went before God on behalf of the people in the temple of the Lord.

On the other side, the detailed garments and activities call for serious reflection. As the 17th century Dutch theologian Wilhelmus à Brakel said: “The entire priesthood, and particularly the high priest, was a glorious type of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the apostle subsequently shows us in his letter to the Hebrews. Furthermore, each particular matter had its specific meaning.” He found what I have found: “meditation thereon [is] a sweet work.”

The high priest teaches us much about God, the world, humans as God created them, Jesus, and the restored humanity in Christ. All of this is worth reflecting on in detail.

Here let me just point out one of my favorites. On the shoulder straps, the priest would have onyx stones, and on those onyx stones, an engraver would engrave the names of the tribes of Israel. Thus, “[The high priest] is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the Lord” (Ex. 28:12).

The high priest would not only wear the names of Israel on his shoulders. He would wear them over his heart. On the breastplate, he bore 12 different types of stone that each represented the tribes of Israel. The workers would engrave the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on the stones. In this way, “[w]henever [the high priest] enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord” (Ex. 28:29).

What is the significance of this? I think this is especially fulfilled in Christ. He is our great high priest who carries the names of His people on His heart before His Father. We should think of Jesus as the One who has us on His heart and written on His hands: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . .” (Is. 49:16). As the author of Hebrews writes: “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25).

This should afford us tremendous comfort and joy. We have an advocate before the very throne of God who will not fail to pray for us and seek our good, Jesus! A colonial New England Pastor, Samuel Mather, captured this beautifully:

How should faith triumph in this? Is not our High Priest in the Sanctuary? Is He not clothed with garments of righteousness and salvation? And doth He not bear the names of His people upon his shoulders and upon his breasts before the Lord? Thy particular concerns (if thou are a believer) are written upon His heart with the pen of a diamond, in such lasting letters of loving-kindness as shall never be blotted out.

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Where Heaven and Earth Meet

More than 3,000 years ago, God instructed His people to build a tent where His presence would dwell and heaven and earth would meet together.

Eventually, King Solomon replaced the tent with a permanent temple. Then, the temple was replaced with a non-geographic, portable worship in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18 20). Nonetheless, reflection on this tent and its contents is a very pleasant thing. It teaches us about God, the world, human beings, Christ, worship, and the church. It’s not always easy to discern the exact meaning of every detail in it, but it is pleasant to think about. As the 17th century Dutch theologian Wilhelmus à Brakel said speaking of the high priest but equally applicable to the tent and the temple:

The entire priesthood, and particularly the high priest, was a glorious type of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the apostle subsequently shows us in his letter to the Hebrews. Furthermore, each particular matter had its specific meaning. However, we do not presume to be an expositor of each particular. We do indeed have our thoughts concerning this subject, and find meditation thereon a sweet work, but as we cannot speak about it with certainty, we shall remain silent, leaving everyone free in his thoughts concerning this. I wish to neither concur nor contradict, since we would not be able to agree with others in all things.

I think Brakel’s caution is helpful, but I believe we can share with each other our ideas that will help each other reflect on the meaning of the tent of God for us today.

To begin with, here is an overview of the structure of the tent with its furniture:

Here are a few suggestions for thinking about this structure:

  1. The tent is constructed as a picture of the universe. Earth is the outer court. The holy place is the heavens. The holy of holies is the highest heaven, the throne room of God (see the helpful discussion of this in Mitchell Kim and G.K. Beale’s excellent book on the temple, God Dwells Among Us).
  2. The ark represents God’s throne and law that is over the world. Note that the tablets of the Ten Commandments were in the ark.
  3. The altar of incense represents the prayers of the people by which they commune with God.
  4. The bronze altar and basin in the outer court represent the cleansing that sinners need and that God provides in order for them to come into His presence.
  5. The seven lights on the candlestick represent the seven visible lights in the sky and the light that God gives to the world through His Word.

As you think about the tent of God or the temple, one can conceive of a variety of ways in which the tent points to other realities in God’s revelation beyond the tent itself.

  1. The tent points to Jesus who is the One in whom heaven and earth meet (John 1:1, 14).
  2. The tent points to the work of Christ who is our great High Priest (Heb. 2:14 18), where earth and heaven meet in His atoning sacrifice.
  3. The tent points to the worship of the church because in it heaven and earth meet together (Heb. 12:22 24).
  4. The tent points to us, for with God’s Spirit dwelling in us, we become a place where heaven and earth meet together.
  5. The tent points to the new heavens and new earth when heaven and earth are finally and fully united together (Rev. 21:23).

There are innumerable other connections that one can draw. I find that these images help me see aspects of God and His work with us that I would not see as clearly otherwise. The Old Testament represents jewels just below the surface; the New has them on the surface. Both provide riches for our growth in grace and knowledge.

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The Blood of the Covenant & the Ten Commandments

The law of God is holy, righteous, and good. The law of God is glorious. God presented it in an audible voice to the people of Israel (see Exodus 19) in a dramatic way. The law presents the divine will for our lives. If we could live according to God’s law, we would fulfill our destiny as human beings and reflect the divine glory like a mirror reflecting the glory of the sun.

The law is holy, righteous, and good, but I am sold under sin. That’s also what the Apostle Paul and our experience teaches us. When we hear what God is telling us to do, sin is right there with us.  We take the good thing God commands, and we so often go in the opposite direction. This is what the Israelites experienced. They heard God speaking to them, and they immediately built a golden calf as an image of Jehovah in direct contradiction to God’s commandment.

And that’s why we need grace. We need the grace of forgiveness. We also need the grace of God to empower us to obey His commandments. That is the truth that God presents in the Old and the New Testaments.

After the giving of the law, Moses built an altar and offered sacrifices on it. Then, he took the blood and put it in bowls. He took part of the blood and splashed it on the altar. What did he do with the other half? “Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you . . .'” (Ex. 24:8).

This all may seem strange, but it is not the first time people apply blood in the book of Exodus. At the first Passover, the Israelites applied the blood of the lamb to the doorposts so that the angel of death would pass over them and not strike their firstborn. They were saved by the blood of the lamb. They then ate and drank the Passover meal.

Something similar happens here. The elders of the Israel went up before the Lord, and they saw the God of Israel. Now note: “But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank” (v. 11).  They were saved by the blood of the covenant!

It is very important for us to see that God gives His law in this context. Grace is the context of the giving of the law in Exodus, and grace is consistent with the law. The goal of saving the people of Israel is so that they would be the virtuous, good, and obedient people who reflect God’s glory in their lives individually and collectively.

The next time we encounter the phrase “blood of the covenant” in Scripture is in Zechariah. There, God promises deliverance because of the blood of the covenant: “As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit” (9:11).

After that, the next time we encounter that phrase is the familiar words of Jesus Himself. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28). How striking that this phrase is pronounced at the Passover meal! The disciples ate and drank with Jesus just like at Mount Sinai and at the Passover. The blood of the covenant is presented to them as the foundation of their lives and peace with God.

Another possible parallel. The Israelites said they would obey God fully and then immediately disobeyed Him. In the same way, Peter and the Apostles all said that they will not abandon the Lord and then immediately go out and abandon Him.

But Jesus brings restoration. The blood of the covenant not their obedience is the foundation of the covenant. Jesus came to them after His resurrection with restoration and called them again to obedience and to teach obedience, “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (28:19).

The law of God presents to us a beautiful picture of what humanity should be. However, we have all sinned. We have broken this glorious law. The result should have been our death, but God intervened with the blood of the covenant. The blood of the covenant brings forgiveness and restores us to new obedience. That was true in Exodus and the Old Testament, and it is true in Matthew and the New Testament.

God bring this together beautifully in the benediction at the end of the book of Hebrews: “Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Heb. 13:20–21).

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The Glory of the Law

What is the best way for humans to live? How can we be truly happy?

People may not discuss these questions explicitly, but all around us, people give answers to those questions. They tell us that we will be happy if we have a full head of hair, white teeth, big homes, and new cars. That is the good life. That is real living. Commercials present this vision of the good life to us a thousand times every day.

People also have strong opinions about the right way for people to live. John Ortberg explains (here) that people talk about it every day. Just listen to their conversations. People have so many complaints about what other people have done to them. They believe that others haven’t lived how they were supposed to live. However, it’s clear from their own lives that they haven’t lived according to the human ideal either!

So, how should we live? What will give us true happiness?

What if God came down from heaven and told us exactly how to live to be truly human and happy?

Well, that’s what He’s done. The book of Exodus describes God coming down to Mount Sinai. There, He spoke audibly to the entire people of Israel. They heard God’s voice. There, He told them how to live. He gave the Ten Commandments.

What do you think of when you hear the word “law”? It’s easy to get a negative view of it. Many Christians speak of the law in a negative way.

This is in part based on some of the ways the Bible speaks. The Bible recognizes that the law can tell us what to do, but the law can’t help us when we have broken the law or give us power to fulfill the law. Only God can do that.

We must be very clear, however, that the law is not the problem. We are the problem. As the Apostle Paul said: “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. . . but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin” (Rom. 7:12, 14).

When we think of the law, we should not have a negative reaction. We should think like the Psalmist: “Oh how I love Thy law, it is my meditation all day long!” (Psalm 119:97).

When we think of the law, we should think of glory. It is a glorious thing that God has spoken to us and told us exactly and clearly how to live. It is a wondrous thing that God has given us His commandments.

The Apostle Paul says that though the law condemns us, this does not mean that the law is not glorious. Instead, we should think this way: “If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!” (2 Cor. 3:9).

The opinions of people and the message of the world present a way of living that will disappoint us and not lead us to the happiness we desire. Praise God that He has revealed to us the right way to live and be happy! Praise God that He has given us His commandments! Praise Him even more that He offer us His Spirit, who enables us to obey His commandments.

So, let it be our prayer: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” and “command what you want, O Lord, and give what you command!”

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