Bible Lens—March 16–22, 2015
Subject: Matter
Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Exploring Bible Verses
from the Golden Text
Galatians 5:17
The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other.
For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other.
—New International Version
from Section 1
1 | Isaiah 45:9
Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.
One who argues with his Creator is in grave danger,
one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground!
—NET
Verse 9 begins by presenting the image of the Potter and His work, and the second half points out an additional “woe” that occurs when the potsherd (broken piece of pottery) contends with other potsherds, as well as with the Potter Himself.
from Section 2
7 | II Kings 2:19–22
So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.
This event occurs immediately following Elisha’s assumption of the mantle of Elijah. He learns the water at Jericho is bad (not potable) and causes the land to be desolate. The incident that follows is similar to Moses’ sweetening the water at Marah by throwing wood into it (see Exodus 15:23–25). However, Elisha not only sweetens the bitter waters, as Moses did, he recognizes and shares the news that God has healed the waters altogether, so that there shall be no “more death or barren land.”
from Section 4
12 | II Kings 5
In Section 3 of this Bible Lesson, Elisha ministers to a wealthy Shunammite woman. Now, Elisha ministers to a great man, Naaman, the chief military officer of the Aramean army, who is favored by the king of Aram (ancient Syria) because of his victory over Israel. In exile, a little girl, despite captivity and the defeat of Israel, is part of a greater good. Naaman suffers from leprosy, and the little maid brings hope to her Aramean captor. The Hebrew word order in this verse suggests that Naaman’s ego is wounded when Elisha doesn’t treat Naaman the way he thinks a person of his standing should be treated. He doesn’t understand why he needed to come to Elisha if all that was required for healing was to wash in a river. His servants point out that he would have willingly performed a difficult feat if Elisha had asked him; why not follow this simple instruction? Naaman accepts this advice and sets aside his pride, and as he humbly bathes in the Jordan River, he is healed.
from Section 5
17 | II Kings 6:1–7
Elisha’s prophetic disciples realize they’ve outgrown their meeting place (in Hebrew, literally “the place where they were sitting before him”). They decide to go to Jordan to cut down trees to build a new one. While they are working, an iron axe head slips off its handle and falls into the water. Elisha cuts a piece of wood and throws it into the water, causing the iron head to float and be easily retrieved. In ancient Israel, iron was scarce—used mostly for military purposes—and the axe head was borrowed. The members of Elisha’s company seem to have been quite poor. The man who lost the axe head is saved from incurring a debt that he probably couldn’t afford to pay. This incident expands the range of Elisha’s ministry to saving not only generals, great and wealthy people, kings, and nations, but ordinary individuals in their daily lives.
from Section 6
17 | Matthew 6:24
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in).
—Amplified Bible
Word Study
quickeneth (John 6:63) To give life or make alive; refers to the moment when a woman first feels the fetus move within her.
potsherd (Isaiah 45:9) A piece of broken, earthen pottery.
Abana and Pharpar (II Kings 5:12) Now identified as the Nahr Barada and the Nahr el-A’waj, these rivers of Damascus originated in the mountains and flowed clear and cool, whereas the Jordan River was turbid and discolored. Damascus is still famous for its wholesome water and the fertility of its plains.
What Mary Baker Eddy said about …
[Question:] Is Christian Science based on the facts of both Spirit and matter?
[Answer:] Christian Science is based on the facts of Spirit and its forms and representations, but these facts are the direct antipodes of the so-called facts of matter; and the eternal verities of Spirit assert themselves over their opposite, or matter, in the final destruction of all that is unlike Spirit.
Man knows that he can have one God only, when he regards God as the only Mind, Life, and substance. If God is Spirit, as the Scriptures declare, and All-in-all, matter is mythology, and its laws are mortal beliefs.
If Mind is in matter and beneath a skull bone, it is in something unlike Him; hence it is either a godless and material Mind, or it is God in matter, —which are theories of agnosticism and pantheism, the very antipodes of Christian Science.
Mary Baker Eddy
Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 55–56
Related Healing Ideas
The Woman of Shunem
Madelyn G. Cobham
From the February 1939 issue of The Christian Science Journal®
It was a clean, well-ordered house,
That dwelling of the Shunammite;
The proffered bread was fresh and sweet,
And warm the yellow candlelight,
When with the dusk Elisha came
Seeking a pillow for the night.
The Shunem wife perceived that he
Was sent of God. She quickly planned
A little chamber on the wall
’Gainst his return, her noble thought
To serve this good and holy man;
And, oh! the gift her kindness brought:
A son, a son, when long before
Her hope of any child had fled,
A son who grew, till on a day
She held him, still and seeming dead.
She called for servant, for an ass,
Then swiftly to Elisha sped
Over the hills, and all the way
Her poignant prayer, “It shall be well.”
Over the hills faith bore her on
Till at Elisha’s feet she fell;
And what her lips would not admit,
How eloquently grief did tell.
The prophet came, and raised the child.
But, ah, that mother raised him, too!
For while the awful hand of death
To human sense seemed starkly true,
She had seen God through man expressed,
And “all is well,” was what she knew.
For Further Study: Resources used in this issue
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