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“… shall restore the lamb fourfold …” (2 Sam. 12:6). Debts were not to be left unpaid.
After providing the widow with the amount needed, Elisha directed her: “Go sell the oil,
and pay [
] thy debt …” (2 Kings 4:7). “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not
again …” (Ps. 37:21). A robber who has mended his ways “… give[s] again that he had
robbed …” (Ezek. 33:15).
National relationships were established on the basis of “complete” negotiations. Thus
cities and peoples “made peace with Israel” after they agreed to Joshua’s stipulations
(Josh. 10:1). War between the two kingdoms ended when Jehoshaphat “… made peace
with the king of Israel” (1 Kings 22:44).
B. Adjective.
(
, 8003), “perfect.” God demanded total obedience from His people:
“Let [their] heart therefore be perfect with the Lord our God, to walk in his statutes, and
to keep his commandments …” (1 Kings 8:61). Solomon failed to meet this requirement
because “… his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God” (1 Kings 11:4). Hezekiah,
on the other hand, protested: “… I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect
heart” (2 Kings 20:3).
In business transactions, the Israelites were required to “… have a perfect and just
weight, a perfect and just measure …” (Deut. 25:15).
TO CONFESS
(
$
, 3034), “to confess, praise, give thanks.” The root, translated “confess”
or “confession” about twenty times in the
KJV
, is also frequently rendered “praise” or
“give thanks.” At first glance, the meanings may appear unrelated. But upon closer
inspection, it becomes evident that each sense profoundly illumines and interprets the
other.
'
overlaps in meaning with a number of other Hebrew words implying “praise,”
such as
(whence
$
). Man is occasionally the object of
;
but far more
commonly, God is the object.
The usual context seems to be public worship, where the worshipers affirm and renew
their relationship with God. The subject is not primarily the isolated individual, but the
congregation. Especially in the hymns and thanksgivings of the Psalter, it is evident that
is a recital of, and thanksgiving for, Yahweh’s mighty acts of salvation.
An affirmation or confession of God’s undeserved kindness throws man’s
unworthiness into sharp relief. Hence, a confession of sin may be articulated in the same
breath as a confession of faith or praise and thanksgiving. The confession is not a
moralistic, autobiographical catalogue of sins—individual infractions of a legal code—
but a confession of the underlying sinfulness that engulfs all mankind and separates us
from the holy God. God is even to be praised for His judgments, by which He awakens
repentance (e.g., Ps. 51:4). So one is not surprised to find praises in penitential contexts,
and vice versa (1 Kings 8:33ff.; Neh. 9:2ff.; Dan. 9:4ff.). If praise inevitably entails
confession of sin, the reverse is also true: The sure word of forgiveness elicits praise and
thanksgiving on the confessor’s part. This wells up almost automatically from the new
being of the repentant person.