Thursday, August 16, 2007

"By faith they [the Israelites] passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days" (Hebrews 11:29-30).

IDEA: What the writer of the letter to the Hebrews does NOT say may be as significant as what he says.

PURPOSE: To help listeners know that without faith, we may live but not really live at all.

Do you think there is such a thing as an argument from silence?

What do you mean by “an argument from silence”?

What are the dangers of using an argument from silence?

Do you think it is possible to gain some insight from what someone does not say as well as from what someone does say?

I. Why do you think the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, after talking about the people going through the Red Sea, skips the next 40 years and talks about the walls of Jericho?

What happened to the people of Israel during those 40 years?

They turned a 3-day journey into a 40-year hike.

Why do you think that happened?

Why do you think that period (which represents a significant part of the first five books of the Old Testament) is not mentioned at all?

II. The people chose to disbelieve God.

What does that have to do with the silence of the writer of the letter to the Hebrews?

There is a sense in which the people who lived the 39 years in the wilderness did not really live at all.