Prof Zebulon No E229

N) Archaeology (Ras Shamra Texts)

The ancient city of Ugarit, now known as Ras Shamra, Lebanon was a great religious and commercial center which lay on the coast forty miles southwest of Antioch, opposite the island of Cyprus. One of the most important discoveries of the 20^th century was the recovery of hundreds of clay tablets which had been housed in a library between two temples – one dedicated to Baal and the other to Dagon.

These tablets turned out to be written in a literary style very similar to Hebrew. Here is a text in this language that resembles a passage in the Psalms: “Behold thy enemies, O Baal; Behold thine enemies shalt thou crush; Behold thou shalt smite thy foes”. In Psalm 92:9 we read, “For, behold thine enemies O Lord; For behold thy enemies will perish; All who do iniquity will perish.”

By far the most important contribution of these religious texts from Ras Shamra (Ugarit) is in giving the background material for the study of the Old Testament. The texts speak of the Canaanite deity and how they were degenerate. In Genesis 15:16, when the Lord declared to Abraham “…for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full”, He was speaking about this degenerate Canaanite deity. When Joshua and his army entered the Promised Land 400 years later, this iniquity had reached its height and had to be eradicated. Exterminating the Canaanites was not a question of destroying innocent people. Archaeology helps us to see this in an entirely different light and that God’s destruction of this irreligious people was warranted.

W) Prayer (Confession)

We have looked at a few aspects of the believer’s prayer and now we will examine a very important and practical facet of prayer – confession. For the true believer who has been cleansed by the blood of Christ once and for all, daily confession is a must. I believe that the more we get to know God and His Word, the more we perceive our sinful nature. It is not guilt that pushes us towards confession but rather regret. We are assured, in the Bible that our sins – past, present and future have been forgiven, so why confess them? Well for starters, the Bible encourages us to do so “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9. This text is addressed to believers.

Also, when we become convicted of our sin, we lose our joy. When David sinned with Bath Sheba, he was convicted in his soul and he immediately confessed his sin to God – in Psalm 51, we read “ For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (vs 3,4). His plea to God was “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation” (v 12). True Christians are the only people who really have something to be joyful about – our eternal salvation. So loss of joy is not loss of salvation but it is rather a hindrance to our witness and an impediment to our zeal.

When we accept personal responsibility for our sin, we are on the road to Christian maturity; we haven’t arrived but are on the right road. In heaven, we will thank God eternally for having provided us a way in which we can know for sure that we are forgiven.