Ulangan 4:20

4:20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, ¹  to be his special people ²  as you are today.

Ulangan 4:1

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ³  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ⁴  is giving you.

Kisah Para Rasul 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ⁵  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ⁶  persecution began ⁷  against the church in Jerusalem, ⁸  and all ⁹  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ¹⁰  of Judea and Samaria.

Yesaya 48:10

48:10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have purified you ¹¹  in the furnace of misery.

[4:20]  ¹ tn A כּוּר (kur) was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19); cf. NAB “that iron foundry, Egypt.” The term is a metaphor for intense heat. Here it refers to the oppression and suffering Israel endured in Egypt. Since a crucible was used to burn away impurities, it is possible that the metaphor views Egypt as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.

[4:20]  ² tn Heb “to be his people of inheritance.” The Lord compares his people to valued property inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants.

[4:1]  ³ tn These technical Hebrew terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) occur repeatedly throughout the Book of Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word חֻקִּים derives from the verb חֹק (khoq, “to inscribe; to carve”) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) from שָׁפַט (shafat, “to judge”). They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.

[4:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[8:1]  ⁵ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ⁶ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ⁹ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “countryside.”

[48:10]  ¹¹ tc The Hebrew text has בְּחַרְתִּיךָ (bÿkhartikha, “I have chosen you”), but the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads correctly בחנתיכה (“I have tested you”). The metallurgical background of the imagery suggests that purification through testing is the idea.