stretching out the hand

(In Zeph 1:4 God says He'll stretch out His hand to bring judgement. Stretching out the hand means coming with more than usual power)......"The same concept appears in the NT when Christ works a miracle of healing by stretching out his hand ( Matt . 8 : 3 ; Mark 1 : 41 ; Luke 5 : 13 ). Elsewhere Jesus interprets his supernatural interventions as the work of the " finger of God " manifesting the arrival of the kingdom of God on the earth ( Luke 11 : 20 ). His interpretation of these events suggests that the " stretching forth " of his hand was probably intended not merely as a means of making physical contact but as a means of symbolizing a direct connec- tion with those ancient occasions in which God stretched out his hand in sal- vation . This gracious character of these new covenant interventions displays the extent of God ' s mercy toward the undeserving in Jesus ' day , but does not nullify the ultimate fulfillment of the judgment motif involved in this symbolism as anticipated by Zephaniah . "

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
O. Palmer Robertson. The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990). Page 262.




COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
O. Palmer Robertson. The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990). Page 261.