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This is a Partial Response to Atonement's and Quath's Debate

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Num 23:18-19 And he took up his parable, and said ... God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Jamieson, Faussett and Brown Commentary on the Bible on Num 23:18-19
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Rise up  As Balak was already standing (Num_23:17), this expression is
equivalent to “now attend to me.†The counsels and promises of God respecting Israel are unchangeable; and no attempt to prevail on Him to reverse them will succeed, as they may with a man.

From Bullingers Commentary on the Bible
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A "Figure of speech" relates to the form in which the words are used. It consists in the fact that a word or words are used out of their ordinary sense, or place, or manner, for the purpose of attracting our attention to what is thus said. A Figure of speech is a designed and legitimate departure from the laws of language, in order to emphasise what is said. Hence in such Figures we have the Holy Spirit's own marking, so to speak, of His own words. This peculiar form or unusual manner may not be true, or so true, to the literal meaning of the words; but it is more true to their real sense, and truer to the truth. Figures are never used but for the sake of emphasis. They can never, therefore, be ignored. Ignorance of Figures of speech has led to the grossest errors, which have been caused either from taking literally what is figurative, or from taking figuratively what is literal.

Er'-o-te-sis; or, Interrogating (Genesis 13:9. Psalm 35:10).
The asking of questions, not for information, or for an answer. Such questions may be asked
(1) in positive affirmation, (2) in negative affirmation, (3) in afffirmative negation, (4) in demonstration, (5) in wonder and admiration, (6) in rapture, (7) in wishes, (8) in refusals and denials, (9) in doubts, (10) in admonition, (11), in expostulation, (12) in prohibition or dissuasion, (13) in pity and commiseration, (14) in disparagement, (15) in reproaches, (16) in lamentation, (17) in indignation, (18) in absurdities and impossibilities, (19) double questions.

Without knowing the context of the text (which spans several chapters), a christian (would have a hard time), let alone someone such as Quath, COULD NOT POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND THIS, let alone draw immediate conclusions. Seeing as this occurs more than once in the Bible, each and every individual case would have to be ascertained. And since the word of God is read as a whole, well you get the drift!
 
As Jeremiah 18 says,

At the Potter's House

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 2 "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message." 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.


As Isaiah put it,
"God is the Potter & we are the clay: it is not for the clay to say, 'Why did you make me like this?' "

As 1 Corinthians 1:18-27 puts it

18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."[a]

20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,

23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,

24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.

27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Footnotes:

1 Corinthians 1:19 Isaiah 29:14

Ian
 

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