Health Healing Science & the Bible: Proverbs 3:7-8

7: Be not wise in your own eyes fear YHWH and depart from evil 8: It shall be health to your flesh and marrow to your bones[1]

---

[1] Our bone marrow produces blood cells, called red blood cells, platelets, and white blood cells. Leviticus 17:11 tells us the life of the flesh is in the blood. Proverbs 3:7-8 is another example of science proving the Bible is true and also an amazing [conditional] promise of God’s healing provision for his children. 

John 4:1-18 Divorce and Co-Habitation

    1: When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Iesous made and baptized more disciples than John 2: Though Iesous himself baptized not but his disciples 3: He left Judaea and departed again into Galilee 4: And it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria[1] 5: Then came he to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph[2] 6: Now Jacob's well was there Iesous therefore being wearied with his journey[3] sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour 7: There came a woman of Samaria to draw water Iesous said to her Give me to drink 8: For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food 9: Then said the woman of Samaria unto him How is it that you being a Jew ask drink of me which am a woman of Samaria for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans 10: Iesous answered and said to her If you knew the gift ho Theos and who it is that says to you Give me to drink you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water 11: The woman said to him sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep from where then have you that living water 12: Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well[4] and drank of it himself and his children, and his cattle 13: Iesous answered and said to her Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again 14: But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give them shall never thirst but the water that I shall give them shall be in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life 15: The woman said to him Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come here to draw.[5] 16: Iesous said to her Go call your husband and come [back] here 17: The woman answered and said I have no husband Iesous said to her You have well said I have no husband[6] 18: For you have had five husbands and he who you now have is not your husband in that you answered honestly[7]

---

[1] There was a woman there he needed to see. He was going to reach out in love to a woman who was outcast and desperately lonely. 

[2] This fact must have come from spoken tradition as the Hebrew scriptures record the coat of many colors given to Joseph by his father, Jacob, and the jealousy of his brothers, but nothing about a parcel of land. The question is, was the land given to Joseph while he was still young, before he was sold into slavery by his brothers (at age 17), or was it bequeathed to him later while they were all still in Egypt?   

[3] Statements like this give us a glimpse into the humanity of Jesus. He had walked a long way. He was tired. His feet probably hurt. He was thirsty. He sat on the well. It felt good to sit down. God became just like us. He experienced everything we experience ^{Hebrews 5:15}.

[4] The Samaritans descended from Jacob through his grandson, Ephraim, one of the two sons of Joseph.

[5] This woman suffered so much from the treatment she received of others that she waited until she could be reasonably sure that no one else would be at the well when she arrived, so she came in the heat of the day to draw her water. This well was apparently not in the middle of town at a convenient location, so the walk to and from it was better made when the sun was not yet high. Yet here was this woman at high noon only just arriving at the well. The cruel treatment she received from others, who came to the well during the cooler times of the day, must have been unbearable for her. The town well also served a second purpose as a social hub for the women as they came together to draw water each morning (we see an example of this in the Book of Ruth, where the well was the place Naomi reunited with the town’s women when she returned to Bethlehem-Judah from her long sojourn into Moab). But it was not for this un-named Samaritan woman to enjoy a morning visit with other women who met together in the cool of each morning. She apparently had few friends among these women. She was not an accepted part of a crowd who no doubt snubbed or jabbed at her with painful, malicious remarks. She was a social reject. She likely felt rejected by God as well. But she wasn’t. And Jesus went out of his way, into territory hated and avoided by respectable Jews, to tell her this. It was to a woman who was outcast in her community that Jesus felt compelled to travel through Samaria to see.

[6] What would have happened if the woman had not been honest with Jesus about her marital status? Would she have run back to town to fetch her “husband” only to find no one at the well waiting for her when she returned? Jesus made the first move. He started the conversation that changed this woman’s life—If she could pass the honesty test. He reached out to her with full knowledge of the fact that she was living in sin with a man she was not married to. But before he would continue, he required honesty. She had to come clean in order for Jesus to reveal the truth that would set her free. 

[7] There a few things to note about Jesus’ answer. The gentleness with which Jesus confronted her sin is an example we should learn to emulate. Her honest answer about her marital status wasn’t a confession really, but she did not pretend to be a respectably married woman when she wasn’t. Even had she offered the details of her sin, she would not have been condemned for it—as we know from the rest of the discourse.

It is commonly asserted that this woman had been divorced. There is no basis to assume whether that was the case or not. She could have been. Assuming that she was a divorced woman—as is almost always asserted—it is important to note that Jesus acknowledged each of her five marriages as legitimate by saying she had, had five husbands. He did not suggest that she had anything to ask forgiveness for regarding any of her five marriages. This does not suggest she had never been divorced, but if she had been divorced, then Christians need to ask themselves why one of their most common words of “comfort” to divorced brethren are, “God forgives divorce” when Jesus said no such thing to this woman who had been married five times. Whether she had ever been divorced or not, most Christians have been taught that the woman at the well was a divorced woman. It is important to understand that all divorce is not sin. There are scriptural grounds for divorce, and it is an erroneous and smug position to assume that divorce is always sin when dealing with Christians who have experienced the pain (and undeserved shame heaped on them by other Christians) of it.  

The woman at the well could very well have been widowed five times and been considered anathema as a wife. She could have been “put away” by her last husband, and therefore unmarriageable due to the fact that, though he cast her off, refused to legally divorce her in order to avoid paying a divorce settlement. This was a common practice in those days and before. God had harsh things to say through the prophet Malachi about men who dealt treacherously with wives they grew tired of by casting them off. Many Jewish wives were put away but never set free from the marriage by a legal divorce. This forced them to either live in limbo for the rest of their lives, or to marry again, anyway, bringing the label of adulteress on themselves, or to live with a man without being married to him. Regardless of what the case was with the woman at the well, the scriptures do not say “God hates divorce.” It is written that God hates shalach^H7971 the putting away (sending away or casting off). Shalach (casting off) without a bill of keriythuwth^H3748 (bill of divorce) is not the same as a divorce. The prophet Jeremiah^3:8 wrote that God himself cast off Israel and gave her a bill of divorce for adultery against him. The salient points in this verse are 1.) Jesus confronted the woman’s sin but complemented her honesty and dealt gently with her 2.) The scriptures do not record whether her previous marital status was divorced or widowed. It is commonly taught that the woman at the well had been divorced at least once but perhaps multiple times, yet Jesus acknowledged the legitimacy of each of her five marriages and demanded no repentance from her on the issue of adultery/divorce. 

Special Features of the HHBC

1.       The main body of scripture text in this commentary is based on the Received Text (Textus Receptus) of the NT and the Ben Chayyim Masoretic text of the OT as found in the Original *Strong’s Concordance, 1894, by James Strong, and compared diligently with the work of respected scholars.

2.       Archaic language is updated in most cases, but The AV is followed unchanged where the language and sense of the translation is clear to the modern reader.

3.       Where a Hebrew or Greek word has no good English equivalent, the original word is left untranslated, in italics, and, in some cases but not all, with the *Strong’s Greek [G] or Hebrew [H] reference number notated beside it (see list of untranslated words below).

4.       Where the Old Covenant is quoted in the New Testament, the Hebrew words may be used and left untranslated

5.       In New Testament quotes of Old Testament that include the word “Lord” in referring to Jehovah [YHWH], the word LORD will be capitalized

6.       Proper names and the names of God are often left untranslated

7.       The names and titles of God are in bold print

8.       The words of Jesus are in bold print

9.       Scripture cross-references are noted in line with the text

10.    There is little punctuation used in the main body of the scripture-commentary text

11.    Brackets [ ] indicate alternate rendering or short commentary

12.    Longer commentary is located in footnotes

*20^th Century editions of this work, such as, The New Updated Strong’s, and, The Strongest Strong’s, are not referenced in the HHBC as they do not correspond to the Textus Receptus or the Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text this commentary is based upon.

List of Untranslated Words used in this passage of the HHBC

Ho G3588 definite article corresponding to: the; this; that. Other usages include: of; etc.; who; which

Iesous _{pronounced Ee-ay-soos} G2424 translated Jesus: Yeshua is the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is “Joshua.” Iesous is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is “Jesus.” Thus, the names “Joshua” and “Jesus” are essentially the same; both are English pronunciations of the Hebrew and Greek names for our Lord. For examples of how the two names are interchangeable, see Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8 in the KJV. In both cases, the word Iesous refers to the Old Testament character Joshua

https://gotquestions.org/Yeshua-Jesus.html

Theos G2316 Deity; god; The reason the word, Theos, is largely left untranslated in this commentary, is to put to rest erroneous teaching that the word must be prefaced by the definite article, “ho,” in order to be referring to Yahweh. In fact, most New Testament scripture references to Theos are not introduced using the definite article, “ho,” but even so, it cannot be argued when the Almighty is being referenced—especially in the case of John 1:1, where John, a Jew who would never commit blasphemy by following anyone who was called “A” god, calls Jesus God. John was specifically stating that Jesus is YHWH [Yahweh].

John Chapter 3: Jesus is not the only Son of God

 

 

    1: There was a man of the Pharisees named Nikodemos a [prince] ruler of the Jews 2: The same came to Iesous _{pronounced E-ay-soos} by night and said to him Rabbi we know that you are a teacher come from Theos for none can do these miracles that you do except Ho Theos be with him 3: Iesous answered and said to him Amen, amen I say to you Except anyone be born anew [they] cannot see the kingdom of Theos 4: Nicodemus said to him How can anthropos be born being old can [they] enter the second time into [the] mother's womb and be born 5: Jesus answered Amen, amen I say to you Except one be born of water and of the Pneuma they cannot enter into the kingdom of God 6: That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Pneuma is pneuma 7: Marvel not that I said to you Ye must be born anew 8: The wind blows where it wills and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell from where it comes or where it goes so is every one that is born of Ho Pneuma 9: Nicodemus answered and said to him How can these things be 10: Jesus answered and said to him Are you a teacher of Israel and know not these things 11: Amen, amen I say to you We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness 12: If I have told you earthly things and you believe not how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things 13: And none has ascended up to heaven but [the one] that came down from heaven ^{Hebrews 1:6} [only] the Son of Anthropos who was in heaven 14: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Anthropos be lifted up 15: That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life 16: For Ho Theos so loved the world that he gave his only Monogenes [begotten][1] Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life 17: For Ho Theos sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved 18: [They who] believe on him are not condemned but [they who] believe not are condemned already because [they] have not believed in the name of the only Monogenes Son Ho Theos 19: And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and anthropos loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil 20: For every one that does evil hates the light neither comes to the light lest their deeds should be reproved 21: But [they] who practice truth come to the light that their deeds may be made manifest that they are exercised in Theos 22: After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea and there he tarried with them and baptized 23: And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim because there was much water there and they came and were baptized 24: For John was not yet cast into prison 25: Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying 26: And they came to John and said to him Rabbi he that was with you beyond Jordan to whom you bore witness behold the same baptizes and all come to him 27: John answered and said anthropos can receive nothing except it be given them from heaven 28: You yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not Ho Christos but that I am sent before him 29: He that hath the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice this my joy therefore is fulfilled 30: He must increase but I must decrease 31: He that comes from above is above all ^{Isaiah 9:6 & 44:6, Micah 5:2} [They] who are of the earth are earthly and speak of the earth he that comes from heaven is above all 32: And what he has seen and heard that he testifies and none receives his testimony 33: They who have received his testimony [also] attest that Ho Theos is true 34: For he whom Ho Theos has sent speaks the words Ho Theos: for Ho Theos gives not Ho Pneuma in a limited portion to him 35: The Father loves the Son and all things are surrendered into his hand 36: [They that] believe on the Son have everlasting life and [they that] believe not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on them

---

[1] Jesus is not the only son of God, but he is the only begotten [monogenes] son of God. Excepting Jesus, all the other children of God (Angels and all Believers) could not be included in the begats (begotten). They were not begotten. They are either created or adopted. There is a vast difference between created, adopted, and begotten. Bible texts [Greek] that call Jesus God’s only son and leave out the word, begotten, should not be trusted.

Additional commentary pending for this chapter. Questions and comments are welcome.