In our previous article under this heading, we referred to the words of the preacher in Ecclesiastes 1:9: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
This seems to he a very sweeping statement, but the more we consider it, the more we find that the things we think of as new are only refinements of what has been done for ages. According to one school of thought, the world and its inhabitants are getting better and better, and the millennium will be here when everyone reaches this higher degree of refinement. Wars will cease and there will be peace on earth and good will to men. Es this true? If there is steady progress in an upward direction, how do we explain the inhuman treatment of “heretics” during the days of the Inquisition, and more recently the gas ovens and torture camps? Six million Jews lost their lives in this way, and only the end of the war saved the remnant in Germany. If mankind is getting better all the time, why do these regressions take place? Human nature does not change. Circumstances change, but men and women react in the same way today as always.
One of the problems we have to cope with in these days is “alcoholism”, which is only now being recognized as the disease it is, and not being confused with plain drunkenness. Many “social drinkers” who start out with one or two drinks a day because it is “the thing to do,” find themselves needing more and more alcohol and unable to restrict themselves to the occasional drink that seemed perfectly harmless. I’m sure there were no tap rooms or bars, as we know them, when the book of Proverbs was written, but the problem must have been there just the same, for in the 23rd chapter, verses 31 and 32, we read the admonition: “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.”
Women’s fashions are “big business” today. Paris designers have their shows and set the styles for many countries for the season to come. Then the lesser garment makers jump in and copy what they can, making less expensive clothing for the wearers in the middle class. There were no fashion houses in the time of Jeremiah, but women were evidently interested in their clothing and adornments, because he questioned in the 2nd chapter, verse 32: “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? . . . “
Every mother of a teenager has heard countless times that “everybody does it..’ This is usually given as a good and sufficient reason for any course of conduct, regardless of its merits or disadvantages.
Youth seems to be the time when it is essential to do what everyone else does. But this feeling is not new, nor is it confined to teenagers. More than a thousand years before the Christian era the Israelites, who had been ruled directly by God through leaders appointed by Him, came to Samuel and requested: “. . . now make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1st Samuel 8:5). God gave them their desire, but first He instructed Samuel to explain to them the many disadvantages of having an earthly king. This he did (1st Samuel 8:9-18), but they were adamant and said: ” . . . Nay, but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations. (verses 19, 20).
Even some of our expressions come down through the centuries unchanged. Every school child in England is familiar with the song, “God Save the King.” When a new king comes to the throne, it is used frequently. When Saul was chosen king of Israel, at least three thousand years ago, the people shouted, “God Save the King.”
In every age there are famous people. Some are noted for one thing, some another, but all have one thing in common. As soon as they are removed from the public eye, they are lost in obscurity. Fame is an evanescent thing. Today’s hero is tomorrow’s forgotten man. Sometimes a person is a public idol for a while, then public opinion changes, and he is blamed for all kinds of things with which he had nothing to do. Former president, Herbert Hoover, was such a man. Elected by popular vote to the presidency, he was subsequently blamed for everything that went wrong in the country. In his case he lived long enough for public opinion to change again, and before he died he was well thought of generally. It was the same in the days of Paul. At Lystra, Paul healed a cripple, and the people thought he and Barnabas were gods. They called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, and wanted to sacrifice to them (Acts 14: 8-18). In the next verse, we find that some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came and persuaded the people against Paul, and they stoned him and left him for dead.
In acts 28:2-6, we have the opposite situation. Paul gathered sticks to put on a fire and a serpent bit him. The people watching decided Paul was a murderer, who would die of snake-bite. When he showed no ill effects, they decided he was a god. It doesn’t take much to change the mind of the public. We are all familiar with the best known example of all. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem the people spread their garments and branches of trees in the way, and cried: “Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” and would have made Him their King. The event is now remembered as Palm Sunday. Before the week was over, this same Jesus was tried and the people cried, “Crucify Him”.
Men’s reactions to a given set of circumstances vary little, whether they live in the twentieth century or lived thousands of years ago. When the twelve tribes of Israel split up into two nations, known as the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah) Jeroboam placed golden calves in Dan and Bethel for the people to worship, lest they should go to Jerusalem to worship, and perhaps not return. Some of the people in the northern kingdom did not like This arrangement and came down to live in the kingdom of Judah. Not wanting its subjects to go to Judah, the King of Israel ” . . . built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa, king of Judah” (2nd Chronicles 16:1). Those who built the Berlin wall merely followed the tactics of an earlier ruler, and for the same reason although they were unaware of the precedent.
On the lighter side, we note that Constantine, the first “Christian” emperor, had three sons and a daughter. He named the sons Constantine 2nd, Constantius and Constans; and the daughter, Constantia. He also changed the name of Byzantium to Constantinople. Our first family made use of the initials L.B.J. for all four members of the family. And what of Johnson City, Texas?
Without the restraining influences of a Supreme Being, to whom men are accountable, people feel free to live as they like. A number of people have freed themselves from all responsibility along these lines by proclaiming, “God is dead”. Thousands of years ago, the Psalmist recorded the words of a similar group who solved their problem by saying, “There is no God” (Psalms 53:1).
After the last war, many of the Allied powers, particularly Russia, rounded up the best minds in Germany and took them to their own countries so that they could benefit by their “know how”. In the first chapter of Daniel, we find Jerusalem conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who orders the master of his eunuchs to “. . . bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and of the princes; Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans” (verses 3 and 4). So the learned men of Israel went to Babylon, and the learned men of Germany went to the allied nations.
People seem very much the same today as they’ have always been, and we must not be misled by the fact that in these days the rank and file have the outer trappings of civilized society. What we wear, where we live, and the amount of money or schooling we have will not influence God’s judgement. ” . . . man looketh on the outword appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1st Samuel 16:7).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One