John 12:19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.; . Hermans Note; The Pharisees are here saying that the whole world is going after Jesus. Ironicly, most of the people of that area did not believe in Jesus. The point was that a lot of people were following Jesus. Therefore, the whole world is an intentional exaggeration in order to promote emphasis.;" -------------------------------------- Matthew 3:5-6 5  Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6  And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.; . Hermans Note; Did everyone in Judae and Jordan come to be baptized by John. The total was probably less than half. Nevertheless, the crowd was a great crowd relative to the normal traffic through the area. We sometimes say all means all. What part of all don't you understand. The answer is, the part that is a hyperbole.;" ----------------------------------------- Deuteronomy 1:28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.; . Hermans Note; They did not even have skyscrapers in those days. Therefore, to say that the cities are walled up to heaven is an intentional exageration in order to promote emphisis.; ------------------------------- Luke14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.; . Hermans Note; Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. Jesus intended to impress on the people their need to examine their resolve to follow Him. He was on His way to die on the cross. Ultimately everyone did desert Him when He was alone in the garden and then arrested and put on trial. To emphasize that discipleship is difficult, Jesus said that one must hate his own family and even his own life in order to be His disciple. Literally hating one's family would have been a violation of the Law. Since Jesus on several occasions admonished others to fulfill the Law, He must not have meant here that one should literally hate his family. The stress here is on the priority of love (Matthew 10:37). One's loyalty to Jesus must come before his loyalty to his family or even to life itself. Indeed, those who did follow Jesus against their families' desires were probably thought of as hating their families.;" ------------------------------- Judges 20:16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred chosen men who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. (NIV); . Hermans Note; These men were very accurate. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that all of them were that good from any reasonable distance.; . 1 Samuel1 5:8, 33 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. . . 33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.; . Hermans Note; These Amalekites showed up later in 1 Samel 27:8 recking havoc. 1 Samuel 27:8 And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. 1 Samuel 30:1-2 1 And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; 2  And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. 1 Samuel 30:18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. 1 Chronicles 4:40 And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt there unto this day.;" ------------------------------ Acts 8:10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.; . Hermans Note; It is highly unlikely that everyone without exception, in the city of Samaria, believed that Simon the Sorcer was the Great man of God. Babies, the mentally ill and certain others probably had no opion on the matter or even knew who Simon was.; --------------------------------- Jonah 3:5-5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.; . Hermans Note; Did everone without exception put on sackcloth and participate in the fast, the ederly, sick and hospitalized, mentally ill and even babies. Relative to the point of the story does it really matter. Was God's movement to the action of sparing the city contingent upon 100 percent cooperation.; --------------------------------------- Jeremiah 44:12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.; . Hermans Note; God would bring disaster on the remnant in Egypt for their sin just as He had the nation of Judah. They would perish by both sword and famine (Jeremiah 42:22). This judgment would include nearly everyone. Those living in Egypt would experience the same judgments God used when He punished Jerusalem. Though these fugitives hoped to return home someday, God vowed that none would return to the land of Judah. All those who had fled to Egypt in violation of God's command would die there, except for a few fugitives whom God would allow to return. Who were these few? Does the exception to the rule negate the rule? 2 Samuel 19:3 And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. The city referred to here is Mahanaim which is a sanctuary for important fugitives (Joshua 21:38; 2 Samuel 18:2). Joshua 21:38 And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Mahanaim with her suburbs, Mahanaim was the place where they desired to go to sojourn and the place where a few crept back into Judah from. Jeremiah 42:22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.;" ------------------------------------------ Jeremiah 42:1-2 1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, 2  And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:); . Hermans Note; Did everyone show up to Listen to Jeremiah speak or did a large percentage of the whole show up, for he said unto them. And they said unto Jeremiah the prophet. They would represent from the least of them to the greatest of them or all that that were there to hear him.;" ----------------------------------------- Jeremiah 42:8-9 8 Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9  And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him; . Hermans Note;Did everyone show up to Listen to Jeremiah speak or did a large percentage of the whole show up, for he said unto them. Them would represent from the least of them to the greatest of them.;"