Read Psalm 11 at Bible Gateway.
The LORD is in His holy temple,
The LORD’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
The LORD tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Psa 11:4-5
Test is in Hebrew, bachan, Strong’s H974, bet – chet – nun. This word is in a family of words that come from the two letters bet – chet, the house or family, and the fence, so also to divide, or outside. It means to slaughter, as this task was always performed outside the house.
One of the words related to bet – chet is chosen, as in, the Chosen People. This is because the sacrificial animal was carefully chosen, as sacrifices were to be without blemish. Our word, bachan, means to examine, as the chosen sacrifice had to be examined to see if it was the choicest animal, without blemish.
Examination, testing, brings out the truth, and allows the true nature to show forth. This is why a witness on the witness stand is cross examined – to show forth the truth of his testimony.
The LORD tests the righteous, to show forth that they are of the few that are chosen out of the many that are called.
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