This means that when we read Scripture, we are reading the very words of God. Timothy tells us in Timothy 3:16 that “All scripture is breathed out by God.” When we open our Bibles to read and study, we are not opening any other old, traditional book but rather a book that has been collated by the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe the answer to our question is held in the first sentence of this verse, which states: “The word of God is Alive and Active.” Isn’t that an important thing to note as we share Scripture? That we need to do so with love. It is important that the wielder is careful, as these swords can bounce back and cut the person wielding them. However, it is worth noting that these swords also come with a warning attached. The thought is that the double-edged sword is more dangerous to the wielder because they are sharp on both sides, making it easier to cut. Swords have been a common weapon since 3,000 B.C., but it wasn’t until the middle ages that double-edged swords were common. The writer in Hebrews here is telling us that God’s Word is sharper than any double-edged sword. I find it incredible that the almighty God would make his word so accessible to us. We can glean from it whenever we wish, and we can share those words with others around us. Isn’t it so wonderful that we can literally hold the Word of God in our hands and read it whenever we can? The Word of God is Scripture, our Holy Bible. By definition, we would say, even in secular dictionaries, that the Word of God is a collection of “sacred writings of the Christian religions” or the “message and gospel of Christ. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart ( Hebrews 4:12).īefore we jump into this passage of Scripture, let us first look at what the Word of God is. It is made to imitate the sword Fudo Myōō holds in his right hand, and the hilt is in the shape of a vajra, a Buddhist altar tool.For the word of God is alive and active. One of the most famous tsurugi is the one made in the Heian period (794-1185) owned by Kongō-ji and stored by Kyoto National Museum. For a long time, tsurugi were made as weapons or for religious services, but before the 10th century, they completely disappeared as weapons and came to be made only as offerings to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. However, the iron tsurugi were usually forged from the 5th century ( Kofun period) to the 9th century ( Heian period).įrom the 10th century, the development of the curved tachi began, from which the katana emerged. The Yayoi period was the transition period from bronze to iron. Bronze tsurugi of this period were mainly used for religious services. in the Yayoi period were excavated from several sites, and it is thought that tsurugi were mass-produced in Japan in this period. A large number of bronze tsurugi made around 200 B.C. The oldest bronze sword excavated in Japan is a Chinese style dagger from around 800 BC in the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD). It is a sword, which means that this weapon has two edges, one on each side of its blade, unlike the tachi, katana, wakizashi or odachi, which have only one cutting edge, on one of the two sides of the blade. The term tsurugi (剣) designates a straight, double-edged, bladed weapon from Japan. In Japanese the term tsurugi or ken ( ja:剣) is used as a term for all sorts of international long, double-edged swords. The word is used in the West to refer to a specific type of Japanese straight, double-edged sword used in antiquity (as opposed to curved, single-edged swords such as the katana). A tsurugi double-edged straight sword from the Kofun period (5th century)Ī tsurugi ( 剣) or ken ( 剣) is a Japanese sword.
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