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COMMENT: This word is translated as “ordained” in the ASV of Psalm 139
and as “planned” in 2 Kings 19:25. It is used about the shaping of an object,
as in Isaiah 44:9-10 where an idol is pictured as being shaped by hammers.
In 2 Kings 9:25; Isaiah 37:26; 46:11 it is shown to be used of YEHOVAH
God’s pre-ordained purposes. What happened in a mother’s womb was
ordained and planned before the child was born. The child was shaped by
DNA hammers!

2. How is the word for “fashioned” used in the New Testament? Romans
9:21.

COMMENT: The root word for “fashioned” is used of YEHOVAH’s formation
of the nation of Israel in the sense of bringing it into existence, in the same
way a Potter uses clay to make different vessels for different purposes. Israel
is made for a purpose that is not shared by other races. This is not imme-
diately evident in the verse quoted, unless we note that Paul was referring to
the Old Testament text and that this was in the context of the two Houses of
Israel.

3. The principle of fashioning is detailed in Isaiah 51:1-2 -- notice!

COMMENT: The fashioning already has taken place in the mother’s womb,
and thus is not a function of a belief factor in the thing fashioned. The belief
factor comes later in the vessel formed. In other words, Israel was fashioned
in Sarah’s womb. The individual application and the national application are
really very little different. All this too is something churches will not subscribe
to.

The Word “PRECIOUS”

1. What are we told in the Bible regarding the word “precious”? Lamenta-
tions 4:2.

COMMENT: There are 65 usages we could look at that tell us that this word
conveys the idea of “heavy”, “honor” and “dignity”, and is about something
which is considered valuable because of its intrinsic worth and separateness.
But can this “preciousness” be lost or destroyed?

2. Yes, it can according to Proverbs 6:26.

COMMENT: What a foreign (“strange” = nokriy) prostitute takes from an Isra-
elite man is his precious life (soul). This is what sexual relations with this par-
ticular foreigner also does to the soul (life). The “None that go unto her re-
turn again, neither take they hold of the paths of life”, indicates that an Is-
raelite man can lose his precious life by having a sexual relationship with a

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