A City Of Refuge

From CULTURE WATCH:
 

Be Careful What You Ask For!

(THIS BLOG DOES NOT ENDORSE THE ESV TRANSLATION USED HERE)

Jun 27, 2020

We can learn much from the history of ancient Israel:

History is there to learn from. But what we are seeing with the destruction of statues and monuments by the radical secular left is a war on history. All tyrants know that by rewriting or obliterating the past they can control people now and in the future.

 Not surprisingly the Bible has a lot to say about the value of history, and the need to learn its lessons. The Judeo-Christian worldview is grounded in history; and calls to remember, and not forget, are found throughout the Bible. As a very quick exercise, I looked up how many times the word “remember” is used in the ESV. All up in its various forms it is used 234 times.
And then the term “remembrance” is found 25 times. Another key word, “forget,” is found 62 times, while “forgot” and “forgotten” are used another 51 times. So just these few terms alone are found 372 times all up. Obviously Scripture has a lot to say about the value of memory and not forgetting the past.
One classic New Testament passage on this is 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. It mentions ancient Israel – especially in its wilderness wanderings – as an example for believers today. Paul says this in verse 11: “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”
So we are to learn from what has happened in the past. A people ignorant of history and the past are doomed to keep making the same mistakes and repeating the same sins. In my reading through the Psalms I find this over and over again. Consider Psalms 105 and 106, sometimes referred to as “remembrance psalms”.
Psalm 106:13-15  KJV.
They soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel:
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.
He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.