.
• Gen 38:15 . .When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for
she had covered her face.
The particular kind of prostitute in this episode is from the Hebrew word
qedeshah (ked-ay-shaw') which isn't your typical working girl, but rather a
devotee raising money for an established religion (Gen 38:21) typically a
pagan kind of religion centered upon the worship of a goddess like Ashtoreth
(a.k.a. Astarte). So one might say that a qedeshah's services were for a
worthy cause.
• Gen 38:16-17 . . Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went
over to her by the roadside and said: Come now, let me sleep with you. And
what will you give me to sleep with you? she asked. I'll send you a young
goat from my flock; he said. Will you give me something as a pledge until
you send it? she asked.
The Hebrew word for "pledge" in that passage is 'arabown (ar-aw-bone')
which means property given as security-- viz: collateral --as in a pawn shop
or a bank loan. This is the very first place in the Bible where that word is
used. In the usury business, an 'arabown is forfeited if the borrower fails to
repay his loan; i.e. make good on his promise. This is a very important
element in the divine plan.
"In him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise, who is the pledge of our inheritance until the
redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." (Eph
1:13-14)
The Greek word for "pledge" in that passage is arrhabon (ar-hrab-ohn')
which means essentially the same as the Hebrew word 'arabown except that
the Greek word indicates a little something extra.
Real estate transactions usually involve a sum called the earnest money.
Although it may be applied towards the purchase price of property, earnest
money itself serves a specific purpose of its own in the real estate business.
In some quarters; this is also called good-faith money.
When the contract, and all the other necessary documents are submitted to
Escrow, the buyer is required to also submit a token amount of the purchase
price. It's usually a relatively small number of dollars compared to the full
price of the property. I think ours was just $1,000 back in 1988 on a
$74,000 home. When the buyer follows through on their intent to purchase
the property, the good-faith money (minus some Escrow fees of course)
goes towards the purchase.
However, if the buyer decides to renege, then they forfeit the good faith
money. No doubt that's done to discourage vacillating buyers from fiddling
around with other people's time and money.
So then, since God's Spirit is the earnest depicted in Eph 1:13-14; then,
according to the principles underlying the arrhabon, should God betray a
believer's trust by reneging on His promise to spare people who hear and
believe the gospel, then He forfeits; and the believer gets to keep the Spirit
regardless of their afterlife destiny.
But of course God won't renege because doing so would not only embarrass
Himself, but embarrass His son too as Jesus has given his word that
believers have nothing to fear.
"I assure you, those who heed my message, and believe in God who sent
me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they
have already passed from death into life." (John 5:24)
There are people who actually believe the Bible's God is capable of reneging
on His promises. A belief of that nature of course eo ipso insinuates that He
lacks integrity, i.e. the Bible's God isn't totally honest and can't be trusted to
make good on anything He says.
HADES UPDATE: 151 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 9,422,400
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_
