True Christian Religion # 264
264. XII. Before the time of the Word which we have in the world to-day, there was another Word, now lost.
It can be established from what is recorded in the books of Moses, that before the time of the Word, which was given to the Israelite nation by means of Moses and the Prophets, worship by sacrifices was well known, and that prophecies were given from the mouth of Jehovah. The following passages show that worship by sacrifices was known. It was commanded that the Children of Israel should overturn the altars of the gentiles, break in pieces their statues, and cut down their sacred groves (Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3.) Israel in Shittim began to wanton with the daughters of Moab; they invited the people to the sacrifices offered to their gods, and the people ate of them (Numbers 25:1-3). Balaam, who came from Syria, had altars built and sacrificed cattle and sheep (Numbers 22:40; 23:1-2, 14, 29-30). He also prophesied about the Lord, saying that a star should arise from Jacob and a sceptre from Israel (Numbers 24:17). And he gave prophecies from the mouth of Jehovah (Numbers 22:13, 18; 23:3, 5, 8, 16, 26; 24:1, 13). It is plain from these passages that the gentiles had Divine worship almost exactly like that established for the Israelite nation through Moses. Some words in the books of Moses show clearly that it existed even before the time of Abraham (Deuteronomy 32:7-8); but it is even more obvious from the case of Melchizedek, king of Salem:
He brought out bread and wine, and blessed Abram; and Abram gave him tithes of everything, Genesis 14:18-20.
Melchizedeck represented the Lord, for he is called the priest of God Most High (Genesis 14:18); and it is said of the Lord in the Psalms of David:
You are priest for ever, after the fashion of Melchizedek, Psalms 110:4.
That was why Melchizedek brought out bread and wine, as being the most holy things of the church, just as they are the holy things in the Holy Supper. Apart from these there are extant many indications that there was a Word before the Israelite Word, which was the source of such revelations.
Deuteronomy 7
1
When Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you;
2
and when Yahweh your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them: you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them;
3
neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
4
For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so the anger of Yahweh would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
5
But you shall deal with them like this: you shall break down their altars, and dash their pillars in pieces, and cut down their Asherim, and burn their engraved images with fire.
6
For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God: Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
7
Yahweh didn't set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:
8
but because Yahweh loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, has Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9
Know therefore that Yahweh your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,
10
and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him who hates him, he will repay him to his face.
11
You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them.
12
It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers:
13
and he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.
14
You shall be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock.
15
Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, he will put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
16
You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you.
17
If you shall say in your heart, "These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?"
18
you shall not be afraid of them: you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt;
19
the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out: so shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
20
Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you.
21
You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a great and awesome God.
22
Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you by little and little: you may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you.
23
But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they be destroyed.
24
He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under the sky: no man shall be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.
25
You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
26
You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
