Where in the Bible is the phrase four score and ten located?

Answer

I believe you're referring to the Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, which begins "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

Answer

Genesis 16:16 And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

Genesis 35:28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

Exodus 7:7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

Numbers 2:9 All that were numbered in the camp of Judah were an hundred thousand and fourscore thousand and six thousand and four hundred, throughout their armies. These shall first set forth.

Numbers 4:48 Even those that were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five hundred and fourscore,

Joshua 14:10 And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.

Judges 3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest fourscore years.

1 Samuel 22:18 And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.

2 Samuel 19:32 Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man.

2 Samuel 19:35 I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?

Answer

The phrase "fourscore and ten" does not appear in any translation of the Bible that I've been able to find. The American Standard Version and the King James Version do use the archaic term "score" to refer to a variety of different numbers.

Psalms 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Lincoln was drawing an analogy between the life of a nation and the life of a man, using language his Bible literate audience understood.

Answer

Beginning with the now-iconic phrase "Four score and seven years ago," Lincoln referred to the events of the American Revolution and described the ceremony at Gettysburg as an opportunity not only to dedicate the grounds of a cemetery, but also to consecrate the living in the struggle to ensure that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

BTW, Abe Lincoln was an Atheist.. Surprised?

From: "A.W. Furches" To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org> Sent: January 10, 2002 1:02 PM Subject: Lincoln

Hello --

I was just goofing off on the internet and found your page of Abraham Lincoln quotes; I thought you might be interested in some info the Abraham Lincoln Org. sent me a while back. I am a Christian, and I myself have also been sore tempted to claim Lincoln as "one of us." He's such a great guy, I think even a Hindu might feel the same to a degree.

The truth is, nobody knows what Lincoln's religious beliefs were the day he died. I wrote the Abraham Lincoln organization a while back about this, and I saved their response. I thought you might enjoy reading what they wrote (it's the paragraph below). It is certain that Lincoln was an atheist for the great majority of his life, there's no doubt about that, but I think we do history a great disservice by trying to paint him up as we want him to appear; that is, your page of evidence leads one to believe that Lincoln died a committed atheist.

There is some striking evidence for a change of heart at the end of his life, just as much as there is evidence that he didn't change; it is a gray area, and I don't think it is our place to judge this man. So here's what the ALO wrote to me

Lincoln did have a close friend who was, like Lincoln, a skeptic when both were young men. His name was Joshua Speed. Speed later published a small volume called Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln (available at the restored Speed home called "Farmington" in Louisville, Kentucky). Here's a story Speed relates from 1864 when he visited Lincoln in Washington:

"I have often been asked what were Mr. Lincoln's religious opinions. When I knew him, in early life, he was a skeptic. He had tried hard to be a believer, but his reason could not grasp and solve the great problem of redemption as taught. He was very cautious never to give expression to any thought or sentiment that would grate harshly upon a Christian's ear. For a sincere Christian he had great respect. He often said that the most ambitious man might live to see every hope fail; but, no Christian could live to see his fail, because fulfillment could only come when life ended. But this was a subject we never discussed.

"The only evidence I have of any change, was in the summer before he was killed. I was invited out to the Soldier's Home to spend the night. As I entered the room, near night, he was sitting near a window intently reading his Bible.

"Approaching him I said, 'I am glad to see you so profitably engaged.'

"'Yes,' said he, 'I am profitably engaged.'

"'Well,' said I, 'If you have recovered from your skepticism, I am sorry to say that I have not.'

"Looking me earnestly in the face, and placing his hand on my shoulder, he said, 'You are wrong Speed, take all of this book upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier and better man.'"

Lincoln's faith is still a matter of controversy among scholars, but this incident is about as revealing as the notoriously private Lincoln would allow.

Hope it is of some help to you.

Rhoda Sneller ALO Editor

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