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No.55.
Outside the Camp, contd. (12: 25 - 13: 17).
pp. 61 - 65
There are three passages of the O.T. in which appears the promise quoted in
Heb. 13: 5: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee". The first is Deut. 31: 6; the
second, Josh. 1: 5; the third I Chron. 28: 20. In the first Moses is addressing the
children of Israel, saying:
"The Lord thy God, He will go over before thee, and He will destroy these nations
from before thee, and thou shalt possess them; and Joshua, he shall go over before thee,
as the Lord hath said . . . . . Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of
them; for the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor
forsake thee" (Deut. 31: 3-6).
This is exactly in line with the theme of Hebrews, the pressing on into the land of
promise, and triumph over opposing forces, encouraged by the presence of the Lord
(Joshua here is a type of Christ, the true Captain of salvation).
The third passage deals with the building of the Temple by Solomon:
"And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear
not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not
fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the
house of the LORD" (I Chron. 28: 20).
This typifies the house built by Christ, "the Son", as contrasted with that in which
Moses was a servant (Heb. 3: 5, 6).
The reader may remember the line of the hymn: "I'll never, no never, no never,
forsake". This iteration and reiteration of negatives may be employed merely to meet the
demands of metre and rhythm, but even so, it is but an echo of the passage, "I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee", which contains in the original, no less than five negatives.
Literally rendered it reads:
"No. I will not leave thee; nor yet not by no means will I forsake thee."
This is the ground of contentment, the antidote for covetousness, the secret of
perseverance.
The great Leader (archegos, 2: 10; and 12: 2), the true Joshua, appointed others as
subordinates, who also are called "leaders", for the words "them which have the rule over
you" are literally "your leaders", in both verses 7 and 17 of Chapter 13: Let us observe
what is said of the leaders:
"Remember them which are your leaders, who have spoken unto you the Word of
God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, and today, and unto the ages" (literally).