Like other callings upon a person’s life, God prepares men and women for marriage. Obviously, God prepares the heart, but He also prepares other areas in order to provide for a strong home. When God created Adam, He could have immediately created Eve, but He chose to allow Adam to experience the sense of being alone. Perhaps there are other reasons, but God may have thought it wise to prepare Adam for marriage. He needed to experience life without Eve. Adam needed to come to the place where he desired companionship. He needed to be alone before he could truly appreciate a wife. In addition to the preparation of Adam’s heart, the Lord gave him a job, a means by which he could provide for Eve (Genesis 2:8-9, 15). All of these preparations were necessary for a strong marriage relationship.
Today’s study begins by considering how the Bible defines words and specifically how it defines this week’s subject: endurance. Scriptural interpretation and Bible definitions are often found by dividing passages into their component parts. Today’s verse contains four parts: (1) “The hypocrite shall lean upon his house,” (2) “but it shall not stand:” (3) “he shall hold it fast,” (4) “but it shall not endure.” The next step begins by associating the various phrases together to gain insight into how the Bible interprets itself and defines words. Combining the first section with the third section and the second section with the fourth section reveals the intent of the passage along with the definitions and context of the word endure. In this passage, the hypocrite leaning upon his house is analogous to him holding it fast. Secondly, the fact that it does not stand means that it does not endure. Psalm 102:26 offers further confirmation by revealing that endure is the opposite of perish. Based upon the scripture, one can deduce that the word endure means to remain firmly in the present condition. This technique allows the Bible student to study scripture independent of dictionaries and commentaries that frequently contain man’s philosophies and wisdom.
