A Scientist of the Word

What do you think of when you hear the word scientist? You probably thought of a well- educated, intelligent person in a lab coat. That’s funny because that is what I thought of too. Now, let’s dig a bit deeper and ask the question, “What does the scientist do?” Well, the scientist is a person who experiments and studies the world around him. Now, think of what the media and popular knowledge shows us is the identity of a Christian. It definitely is not an image of a scientist, but, I feel, this is exactly how a Christian should be portrayed. Let me explain Minus the lab coat, Christians, as instructed in the Word, need to research and study the Word to understand the great and awesome magnitude of God’s love and plan toward those who believe. Like a scientist, Christians need to be intelligent researchers of the Word. Acts 17:11, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Obviously, the use of the word noble in the preceding passage in Acts seems to infer that God holds researching His scriptures in very high regard. Researching will eventually lead to knowledge of the subject being studied and we will take a look at just how important knowledge is to God.

Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Why were God’s people being destroyed? It was because they lacked knowledge. Was this an earthly knowledge? No, His people had plenty of that. The Israelites (His people at the time) were worshiping all sorts of idols and taking in many of pursuits of the pagan kingdoms around them. The type of knowledge His people lacked was knowledge of Him and His Word.

The record in 2 Kings 22 contains a great example of why this lack of Godly knowledge existed; but, before we get into the actual passage, a little background is needed. During this particular time in the kingdom of Judah, two kings (Manasseh and Amon) have steered the land into worshipping idols and practicing pagan rituals. It got so bad that the Judeans killed Amon in his own house. Afterward, Josiah, Amon’s son, was set up to rule Judah when he was just eight years old. This is where we’ll start out journey into the Word, starting with verse 3:

“And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of  Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of the LORD, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the LORD, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people: And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD: and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the LORD, to repair the breaches of the house, unto carpenters, and builders, and masons, and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Howbeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD. And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.”

Look at the priorities of the people at this particular time. The first thing mentioned to the king was the money collected from the temple followed by, “Oh, and we found this book.” They knew so little about the book of the Law the people didn’t even know what to call it. This, my friends, is not the way we should be when concerning the Word. We should hold the Word in high regard to the same and even greater degree to how a scientist views scientific ventures. And just as a scientist has to work hard to become knowledgeable in his field, we too must work hard to become knowledgeable in our field, the study of the Word.

God outlines this perfectly in His Word. 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Studying is work and much work is needed to fully understand God and His Word. As Christians, it is time we start viewing ourselves as men and women of higher learning and intelligence called according to His purpose. In a way, we should see ourselves as scientists of the Word of God.