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express command, the gods of wood and stone that the heathen nations around them
bowed down to? She could, of course, be thinking about those idolatrous enemies of
Israel who continually raided the tribes of Israel in Canaan, and kept them in a state of
subjection and fear. The iron heel of the Philistines was hard pressed on the people at
this particular time.
No.3.
2: -3 - 2: 10.
pp. 73 - 80
The phrase in the latter half of this verse which reads "for the Lord is a God of
knowledge" actually reads in the Hebrew "A God of knowledge is the Lord". The
Talmud somewhat quaintly remarks, "Knowledge is of great price for it is placed
between the two Divine Names".
Speaking of Israel's enemies, Isaiah says:
". . . . . for it is a people of no understanding: therefore He that made them will not have
mercy upon them, and He that formed them will shew them no favour" (Isa. 27: 11).
In other words, they had a knowledge of God, but did not acknowledge Him in their
hearts and lives. Knowledge can be a head affair obtained from books, but if it does not
lead on to action it remains abortive. True knowledge affects the heart. The apostle Paul,
writing from his prison in Rome to the Ephesian believers, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus, prays for them, "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may
give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him . . . . ." (1: 17).
The word `knowledge' here is not the Greek noun gnosis, which is the usual word for the
knowledge which is acquired by learning, effort, or experience. It has the prefix epi
attached, epignosis, which implies "the acknowledgement" of Him.
Paul leaves us in no doubt as to what this acknowledgement meant to him. He had
suffered the loss of all things he once held dear. The traditions of his fathers, of his race.
He was an Israelite, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee who
would go to any length to obey, and to see that others obeyed, the tenets of that faith.
But he gave them all up, and why?--"that I might win Christ, and be found in Him"
(Phil. 3: 8, 9). This is the meaning of "acknowledgement". It is the canceling out of
self, and the enthronement of the Lord Jesus Christ in heart and life. Moreover, this was
the secret of Paul's strength: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me"
(Phil. 4: 13).
We now come to the next part of I Sam. 2: 3:
"For a God of knowledge is the Lord (literal), and by Him actions are weighed."