When God created us, He “created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27, emphasis added). He then initiated the first marriage (2:24) and the family (4:1-2). At our creation, God also included a command: “…Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth…” (1:28). Have we forgotten?

Japan made news recently when its government initiated a dating and marriage app to create couples. Why? The number of marriages and the birth rate are at an all-time low. In fact, the current birth rate of 1.2 per woman is well below that which is needed (2.1) to sustain the population. The Japanese government realizes that history indicates that if not corrected, they are a nation in decline. 

A heart giving thanks at any given moment is the real test of the extent to which we love God. Love must carry with it a ‘thank you’ to God. –Francis Schaeffer 

How is your contentment this Thanksgiving? 

A Hebrew word for praise is “halal” from which we get the “Hallel Psalms” (113-118). It is instructive to note that “thanks” occurs there as frequently, or even more than the word “praise,” especially in Psalm 118. Furthermore, our praise word “hallelujah” combines “halal” and “Yah” [the shortened form of God’s name Yahweh) meaning “Let us praise YAH.” This is retained by the KJV and Jerusalem translations of Psalm 68:4: “Sing to God, sing praises to His name…by His name YAH, and rejoice before Him.” Most other translations miss this hallelujah connection by substituting “Lord” for YAH. 

The sacrifice we are to offer God this Thanksgiving is not an ox or a bull (or a “turkey”!) on a temple altar, but “the fruit of our lips” (Hosea 14:2; “our lips as bulls” in the Masoretic Text, the authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible). The Psalmist says, “…magnify Him with thanksgiving, and it will please the Lord better than an ox” (Psalm 78:30-31).  

There are several species of wild goats of the genus Capra living in Israel and in the mountainous regions of Europe, Southwest Asia, and Northeast Africa (French “bouquetin”; Italian “stambecco”; and Alpine “steinbock”). The ibex is translated as “mountain goats” in the Bible, but it is not to be confused with the North American and Alaskan wild variety which is in a different genus Oreamnos.