May I have a WORD with you?

Ep 051 (S3E7) Sticks and Stones

John Season 3 Episode 7

References:

  • Sticks and stones… words can be powerful
    • hapax legomenon - a word that appears only once within a document or corpus
    • The works of William Shakespeare — known for wide variety in his vocabulary — are estimated to contain more than 6,000 hapax legomena (the plural form).
      • Honorificabilitudinitatibus - "the state of being able to achieve honours"
      • Wm Shakespeare's “Love’s Labour’s Lost” - Act 5, Scene 1
  • David selected five smooth stones to fight Goliath. 1 Sam 17 Why five? Many people say because Goliath had four brothers. ??? Why smooth?
    • Wouldn’t a jagged or sharp edged stone be more lethal?
      • A smooth stone launched from a sling will fly truer than a jagged stone.
      • Sling hunters will tell you that blunt force well placed is the effectiveness of dropping game, not penetration.  
    • Smooth stones - חַלֻּק (khal-look') only used in 1 Sam 17:40
      • A Biblical hapax legomenon
    • From root חָלַק (khaw-lak') 
      • to divide, share, plunder, allot, apportion, assign
      • to be smooth, slippery, deceitful
        • Smooth Operator - Isa 41:7
        • Smooth Criminal - Ps 36:1-4 (esp v2)
  • Here are five “smooth” Biblical stones for fighting the giants of spiritual warfare
    • Thoughts
      • Mind, thoughts - νόημα (no'-ay-mah) Phil 4:7, 2 Cor 2:11, 10:5
    • Opportunities 
      • Occasion for acting - τόπος (top'-os) Eph 4:27
    • Rebuke 
      • Rebuke of the Lord - ἐπιτιμάω (ep-ee-tee-mah'-o) Jude 1:9
    • Fight
      • Resist, oppose - ἀνθίστημι (anth-is'-tay-mee) James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:9
    • Flee
      • Exit, way out - ἔκβασις (ek'-bas-is) 1 Cor 10:13