Bible In One Year Day 236 (Jeremiah 16-17, Ezekiel 45-46, Proverbs 15:17-20)

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Day 236: Rich In Love

Agape Bible Study 
Jeremiah 16 - 17 

Chapter 16: The Symbolic Nature of Jeremiah's Life and the Reason for the Exile

Yahweh's prophets often spoke symbolically and performed symbolic actions to reinforce their preaching (see Is 8:18; Ez 24:15-24; Hos 1:3). In Jeremiah's case, his very life became a symbol and a sign.

Jeremiah 16:1-9 ~ Yahweh Commands Jeremiah to Remain Celibate and Separate from the Normal Life of the People

Chapter 16 begins a collection of Jeremiah's oracles that continues through 17:18. Chapter 16:1-18 is in prose, and 16:19-17:18 is in the poetic form. Chapter 16:1-9 is divided into three oracles preceded by divine commands telling Jeremiah what he may not do:

1. No wife, no children (verses 1-4)
2. No mourning feasts (verses 5-7)
3. No other feasts (verses 8-9)

These are three symbolic non-actions Jeremiah is commanded to observe. Each command is followed by a divine oracle giving the absence of the action an interpretation. The first is that he must not marry or have children in verse 1 and the reason for the command is given in verses 2-4.
Question: What is the reason for the first command?
Answer: Sons and daughters and their parents who are born in Jerusalem and Judah are destined for death from war, famine, and the diseases of war.

Disease and famine suggest Jerusalem is under a prolonged siege, while the sword symbolizes death as a direct result of war in the country of Judah. The large numbers of the dead described in the oracle that will not be lamented or buried but left as carrion suggests the ravages of war. Under such conditions, God tells his prophet, he must not marry or have children and face such sorrows. 

The second command prohibits Jeremiah from attending mourning feasts. He is not to lament the dead or console the bereaved families.
Question: What reason is given for this prohibition?
Answer: God has taken away His peace/shalom from His people and also His covenant love and compassion. As a result, all the people are under the covenant curse-judgment that predicts they will die unburied and unlamented.

Funeral rites that offered respect for the dead were very important, and the absence of a proper burial was regarded as a frightful curse (Jer 22:18-19; 1 Kng 14:11; Ez 29:5). The shocking nature of this command will undoubtedly make people ask why Jeremiah is behaving in this disrespectful manner, giving Jeremiah another reason to share his oracle.

6b there will be no gashing, no shaving of the head for them.
Such funeral rites as cutting the flesh and shaving off one's hair were pagan and forbidden by the Law (Lev 19:27-28; Dt 14:1). However, this prohibition suggests that, along with other pagan rituals, these funeral rites were practiced in Judah (Jer 7:29; 41:5).

7 No bread will be broken for the mourner to comfort him for the dead; no cup of consolation will be offered him for his father or his mother.
This verse refers to the customary communal meal eaten by family and friends after the burial.

The third command prohibits Jeremiah from entering houses where feasting is taking place.
Question: What is the reason given for this prohibition?
Answer: Yahweh is bringing an end to all joy for a people who rejected Yahweh and His gift of joy and well-being.

At the end we are reminded of the joy Jeremiah will not experience as the bridegroom of the bride denied him; there will be no joyful wedding sounds or feasts for him either (verse 9).

Siege of Jerusalem 

Jeremiah 16:10-13 ~ The Explanation Jeremiah is to give for the Disaster of the Invasion

King Josiah gave the answer to the people's question in 16:10 at the covenant renewal ceremony in 622 BC when he read from the Book of the Law in the section of the covenant curse-judgments for apostasy from the Sinai Covenant: And all the nations will exclaim, "Why has Yahweh treated this country like this? Why this great blaze of anger?" And people will say, "Because they deserted the covenant of Yahweh, God of their ancestors, the covenant which he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt; because they went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods hitherto unknown to them, gods that were no part of their heritage from him: this is why Yahweh's anger has blazed against this country, afflicting it with all the curses written in this book (Dt 29:24-26).

Question: What list of wrongs is Jeremiah to use in 16:11-13 in answering the question in verse 10 that repeats the curse-judgment in Deuteronomy 29:24-26? Into what two parts is his answer divided? What is Yahweh's final judgment and how is it related to the curse-judgment in Deuteronomy 28:47-48.
Answer:

Part I lists the accumulation of the sins of their ancestors:

1. The ancestors of the Judahites abandoned their belief in Yahweh.
2. They taught the people to follow other gods and to serve and worship them.
3. They abandoned Yahweh's covenant and therefore His Law.

Part II summarizes the sins of the current generation in which each person follows his own inclinations regardless of the Law, repeating all the sins of their ancestors.
The judgment is exactly what Yahweh warned would happen for apostasy from the covenant: the withdrawal of His divine protection and exile into a foreign land.

Question: What does Jesus pronounce as a generational curse-judgment against the citizens of Jerusalem in Matthew 24:33-36, during His last week in Jerusalem?
Answer: During His last week in Jerusalem, Jesus pronounced a curse-judgment against the citizens of Jerusalem that His generation will reap for all the righteous prophets killed by their ancestors. The judgment extends from the murder of Abel, son of Adam, to the prophet Zechariah. And, as inferred, to include their unjust condemnation and death of Jesus, God's Supreme Prophet.

The judgment Jesus pronounced will be the same judgment that Yahweh pronounced on the Jerusalem of Jeremiah's day: the destruction of the city and its Temple by a foreign army followed by captivity and exile. The historical fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy took place on the 9^th of Ab, 70 AD, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Romans. It was the same day when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple on the 9^th of Ab in 587 BC.

Jeremiah 16:14-15 ~ The New Exodus

Jeremiah 16:14-21 contains three prophetic oracles:

1. The new Exodus and new oath (16:14-15)
2. No refuge for the wicked (16:16-18)
3. Jeremiah professes his faith in Yahweh (16:19-20) and the conversion of the Gentile nations (16:21)

Question: The first oracle is delivered to an audience facing exile. What do these people no longer acknowledge concerning their relationship with Yahweh?
Answer: They no longer acknowledge Yahweh as the God who delivered them from bondage in Egypt.

The seven annual feasts of the covenant people's entire liturgical calendar were based on reliving the greatest event in their history that was their ancestors' deliverance from bondage in Egypt and their creation as a free people and God's holy nation at Mt. Sinai (i.e., Ex 13:3-16). When a people forget their history, they lose their national identity, their moral compass, and their unity as a nation.

Jeremiah is told to use the Exodus liberation as an example of a historical precedent for God's promise of restoration to the land of Israel after their exile. Notice that "As Yahweh lives" is an oath formula that is repeated twice in verses 14 and 15. "As Yahweh lives" is an oath formula containing the central confession of Israel's faith in remembering Yahweh's deliverance of Israel from Egypt (verse 14). It will be replaced by a new oath confessing the covenant people's belief in Yahweh in verse 15.

15 but, As Yahweh lives who brought the Israelites back from the land of the north and all the countries to which he had driven them.' I shall bring them back to the very soil I gave their ancestors."
The people will profess a new oath of allegiance to Yahweh in a promised restoration to their ancestral Promised Land when God delivers them from their captivity and exile from "the land of the north." The reference to deliverance probably refers to the return of the Israelite exiles from Assyria and Babylon.

Once again in Scripture, there is the promise of salvation and restoration in the midst of divine judgment and destruction.

Jeremiah 16:16-18 ~ No Refuge for the Wicked

Horrors and Abominations refer to pagan gods. The fishing metaphor is used to describe catching people as a fisherman uses hooks and nets to catch fish (see the same imagery in Amos 4:2; Hab 1:14-15; Eccl 9:12). Jesus will use the same metaphor for His Galilean disciples who He says will become "fishers of men/people" (Mk 1:17, 20; Lk 5:10). The hunter metaphor comes from an organized hunt where hunters drive the game into traps (see Lam 4:19; Ez 19:1-9), just as the army of the Babylonians will hunt down and trap the citizens of Judah.

In verses 16b-18, the warning is that there will be no place to hide from the enemy just as there is no way to hide their guilt from Yahweh. The double payment for their sins in verse 18 recalls Isaiah 40:2, and in 17:18 Jeremiah calls for a "twice over" destruction upon his enemies. There is a judgment of a double payment in Exodus 22:8/9 where the guilty party must make a double reimbursement to the one who suffers loss. Revelation 18:6 also calls for "double the amount" of judgment.

Jeremiah 16:19-21 ~ Jeremiah's Profession of Faith in Yahweh and the Conversions of the Nations

The third oracle is more an antiphonal hymn in which Jeremiah sings the praise of Yahweh in verses 19-20, and Yahweh responds in verse 21. Jeremiah professes his belief that Yahweh is his personal strength and refuge in times of trouble. His profession of faith in verse 19 recalls Davidic Psalm 37, verses 39-40. His confession of faith and trust shows that he has repented his accusation against Yahweh in 15:18. Jeremiah also confesses the sins of Judah's ancestors who worshipped false gods without life or power.

Yahweh and His name are one. Yahweh means "I AM who I AM" (Ex 3:14), and the expression "Yahweh is my name" is the same as saying "I AM Yahweh!" The prophecy is that all nations of the earth will acknowledge Yahweh as the One True God and will petition Him by His divine Name, as God told Moses in Exodus 3:15b, This is my name for all time, and thus I am to be invoked for all generations to come.

Chapter 17

The collection of Jeremiah's oracles that began in Chapter 16 continues through 17:18. The oracles in 17:1-18 are poetic, with the exception of verses 1c-3a that are in prose. The sin of Judah's citizens is indelible, written with an iron pen with a diamond point (verse 1), and their downfall due to their sins is inevitable. Yet the promise is made again: if only they will return to Yahweh and their covenant obligations, Jerusalem will remain forever (17:24-25).

Jeremiah 17:1-4 ~ Judah Forfeits her Heritage because of Idol Worship

17:1-4 are missing from the Septuagint text. There is a link between 16:18, I shall requite their guilt and their sin twice over, since they have polluted my country with the carcasses of their Horrors, and filled my heritage with their Abominations (underlining added) and 17:1 and 4: The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, engraved with a diamond point on the tablet of their heart ... and, You will relinquish your heritage which I gave you ...

Question: What does the condition of the people's communal heart tell us if this kind of tool is needed to record their sins? What does their condition have to do with their reception of Jeremiah's oracles?
Answer: That a tool of this description is needed to write the people's collective sin on the "tablet of their heart" indicates the extreme hardness of the people of Judah's communal heart. It is the reason they will not listen to Jeremiah's oracles that warn to repent before the day of Yahweh's wrathful judgment.

The covenant people are to observe God's commandments and continually teach them to their children at all times!

Question: If the covenant people had kept the commands in Deuteronomy 6:5-7 and 11:18-19 to love Yahweh with all their heart and to teach their children, what would have been the result?
Answer: Their hearts wouldn't have become hardened by sin, they would have taught their children to love God, and their children wouldn't be worshipping false gods on the hills.

Jeremiah 17:5-11 ~ Curses, Blessings, and Wisdom Sayings

Jeremiah 17:5-18 is composed of a number of brief teachings/sayings all of which are in the poetic form. Together with verse 1, these verses are linked by the key words "heart" and "fruit." Notice the underlined words in the passage above.

Question: What two kinds of people are contrasted in verses 5-8?
Answer: The contrast is between the cursed and the blessed:

1. The cursed in verses 5-6 are those who:
   • trust in human beings
   • turn their heart from Yahweh
   • possess a spiritually parched soul that cannot continue in faith during hardship
2. The blessed in verses 7-8 are those who:
   • trust in Yahweh
   • are protected in times of distress
   • bear the good fruit of righteousness

Jeremiah 17:12-13 ~ Praise for the Temple

"Our Holy Place" refers to the Jerusalem Temple. Jeremiah uses two honorific names for the Temple and two for Yahweh. He calls the Jerusalem Temple:

1. "a glorious throne"
2. "our Holy Place"

Notice the contrast between God's throne "on high" and those who abandon Yahweh who are consigned to the underworld where their names are written in Sheol, the abode of the dead. The reference to "glorious throne" and "on high from the beginning" probably refers not only to the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple's Holy of Holies that is God's earthly throne and sometimes referred to as "God's footstool," but to God's heavenly throne from the "beginning" as a focus of worship in humanity's relationship with Yahweh.

The two honorific titles Jeremiah gives Yahweh are:

1. "hope of Israel" and
2. "fountain of living waters."

Jeremiah 17:14-18 ~ Jeremiah's Third Confession

This poetic passage is the third of Jeremiah's five confessions (see the previous two confessions in 11:18-12:6 and 15:10-21) and contains two prayers: one for personal healing and salvation (verse 14-16a) and the second for protection from Yahweh's divine anger but to unleash a full measure of His anger on Jeremiah's enemies (verses 16b-18). In his second confession, a sorrowful and bitter Jeremiah poured out his heart to Yahweh (especially in 15:15-18), and he received Yahweh's answer, promising him protection and deliverance if he repented/"turned back" and continued his mission (15:19-21). Here, in his third confession, Jeremiah once again pours out his heart, but this time it is in faith and confidence of Yahweh's protection and the justness of God's indictment against Judah.

Jeremiah 17:19-27 ~ Salvation in the Sabbath Observance

The key word in this passage is "Sabbath," repeated seven times. The Hebrew word is from the root "to cease" or "to rest" that is first found in Scripture in Genesis 2:3, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on that day he rested after all his work of creating.

Agape Bible Study 
Ezekiel 45 - 46 

Chapter 45: The Division of the Land

The regulations in 44:28-48:20 define the patrimony of the chief priests:

1. The chief priests have no land that they can call their own; their patrimony is Yahweh Himself (44:28).
2. The chief priests may build their houses on the land reserved for Yahweh in an area set apart as sacred (45:1-5).
3. The allotments of the chief priests will surround the Sanctuary, and the Levitical lesser ministers' allotments will surround those of the chief priests. However, ownership of all this territory remains Yahweh's (48:8-20).

Ezekiel 45:1-6 ~ Yahweh's Instructions Concerning the Division of the Land after the Return from Exile

When the conquest of Canaan was complete, Yahweh commanded the division of the land among the tribes of Israel according to the drawing of lots (Num 26:53-56; 33:54; 34:13; 36:2-3). Joshua fulfilled the command (Josh 18:6-10). The use of lots reflects the conviction that God controls events, and, as the owner of the land, He has the authority to distribute it as He desires. Unlike the lot drawings after the conquest, God sets aside an allotment for Himself that is reserved in advance, the location of which will remain undisclosed until Chapter 48.

The allocation of land set aside for Yahweh is cut in half lengthwise to form two strips 25.000 cubits long by 10,000 cubits wide. There was a strip of land reserved for the Sanctuary and the homes of the chief priests.

The second strip of land in verses 5-6 will be reserved for the lesser Levitical ministers. The regulation anticipates that the Levitical tract of land will have cities (Ezra 2:70).

Ezekiel 45:7-12 ~ The Portion for the Prince

Verses 7-8 focus on the Davidic prince who will receive a special grant: two large tracts of land on either side (east and west) of the sacred reserved portion for Yahweh. With this gift of land, Yahweh challenges the future rulers to no longer oppress His people who will occupy the rest of the land (verses 8-9).

In verses 9-12, Yahweh commands fair treatment for His people concerning taxation and setting standard measurements associated with trade. Merchants were tempted to cheat their customers by falsifying balances and measurements by using improper weights (shekels) or adding false bottoms and other ways of altering the size of vessels. An ephah is a solid measure (1.25 bushels or 45 liters). A bat is a liquid measure (12 gallons US and 10 gallons UK or 45 liters. The homer (omer) and kor (45:14) are the same. They are the largest of dry measures, containing about 8 bushels or 10 ephah (Lev 27:16; Num 11:32).

Ezekiel 45:13-17 ~ Offerings for Worship

Levies on produce and animals, and a Temple tax helped to support the Levitical priests, lesser ministers, and the Temple. Rich and poor alike from the age of twenty and over made a contribution ( Ex 13:12; 30:13-16; 34:19; Lev 1:1; 2:1; 3:1; Num 18:8-32). Under Mosaic Law, everyone twenty years and above must pay half a shekel, reckoning by the Sanctuary shekel: twenty gerah to the shekel. This half-shekel will be set aside for Yahweh (Num 30:13; also see Jesus' payment of the Temple tax in Mt 17:24-27).

Verses 16 to 17 make the prince responsible for collecting and distributing the resources to support the priests and Levites and the all the communal sacrifices for the Temple like the twice daily Tamid whole burnt offering, the annual, monthly, and Sabbath feast sacrifices (Num 28-29).

Ezekiel 45:18-25 ~Expiation for the Temple and the Feasts of the Passover and the Shelters

Yahweh's reference is obviously to the Liturgical Calendar that ordains the Feast of Passover in the first month. This reference suggests that the disputed date when Ezekiel's fourth vision began was also the beginning of the year in the first month of the Liturgical Calendar (Ez 40:1).

To prepare the Temple for the celebration of the annual feasts, on the first day of the first month, the priests must offer a sacrifice of expiation to cleanse the Temple:

• a young, unblemished bull offered in sacrifice followed by a blood ritual
• the blood of sacrifice applied to the doorposts of the Temple, the four horns of the altar, and the doorposts of the gate to the inner court
• the ritual repeats in the seventh month

This new command is not in the Mosaic laws associated with the annual feasts. However, the ritual is reminiscent of when Moses erected and consecrated the desert Sanctuary on the first day of the first month in Exodus 40:1, and when he consecrated Aaron and his sons to serve at the altar with the sin sacrifice of a bull after which he took the blood and put some of it on the horns of the corners of the altar to purify the altar. He then poured the rest of the blood at the foot of the altar, which he consecrated by performing the rite of expiation over it (Lev 8:15).

Verse 14 commands the observance of the Feasts of Passover on the 14^th and Unleavened Bread from the 15^th to the 21^st (see Lev 23:5-8; Num 28:16-25). The prescribed sacrifices for the feast commemorating the first Passover on the 14^th of the first month was a single lamb or goat-kid for every group of Israelites numbering from ten to twenty people (Ex 12:3-7; Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 6.9.3 [423]). The Feast of Unleavened Bread lasted for seven days with prescribed sacrifices (Num 28:18-25). It is extremely odd that it is the prince and not the high priest who offers the sacrifices for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and for other feasts:

Sacrifices for Unleavened Bread Numbers 28:18-23	The Prince's Sacrifices for Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Shelters Ezekiel 45:8-24
	A bull as a sin sacrifice for himself and the people
Two unblemished young bull as a burnt offering	Seven unblemished bulls each day for a week
One unblemished ram as a burnt offering	Seven unblemished rams each day for a week
Seven unblemished yearling lambs as a burnt offering	Seven he-goats, one each day for a week as a sin sacrifice
Three-tenths of an ephah of flour mixed with oil with the bull	One ephah (flour?) with a hin of oil with each bull
Two-tenths of flour mixed with oil for the ram	One ephah (flour?) with a hin of oil with each ram
One-tenth of flour mixed with oil for each of the seven lambs
One goat as a sin sacrifice

 

The Feast of Shelters according to Mosaic Law required eight days of sacrifices in Numbers 29:12-39, and none of those sacrifices are like those listed in Ezekiel 45:18-24.

Whole burnt offerings were completely consumed in the altar fire. However, for sin sacrifices, only the fat was burned and the blood poured out on the altar. The priests ate the animal's boiled flesh in a sacred meal (Lev 6:17-22). The required sin sacrifice for the community was an unblemished young bull, and for a ruler, it was an unblemished he-goat (Lev 4:22-23). The requirements listed in this passage are completely different from Mosaic Law and apparently were not initiated after the return from exile when the exiles returned to the normal pattern (Ezra 6:19-22).

Notice that verse 20 limits expiation to anyone who has sinned through inadvertence or ignorance. At that point in salvation history, there wasn't a sacrifice holy enough to offer expiation for intentional sin (also see Num 15:22-31). It is the great gift of God's grace that Jesus' unblemished sacrifice atones for intentional and unintentional sin.

For Christians, Ezekiel's Torah foreshadows a glorious Gospel of God's grace:

1. Yahweh did not return to enjoy a magnificent sanctuary fortress. The days of His wrath are forgotten, and He returned to expiate sins and to have fellowship with His people.
2. Yahweh provides a way to fellowship through liturgical worship. The Torah of Moses provided guidance for a relationship with the Divine through a system of moral, civil, and cultic laws. Through the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, it isn't just the people reaching out to God but God reaching out to His people who are sinners in need of divine grace.
3. Even in the new order, defilement and moral impurity threatened fellowship with God. If the sacred precincts must receive cleansing, how much more do sinful mortals need cleaning to have a continuing relationship with God?

Chapter 46: Miscellaneous Regulations

These last three chapters address:

• Additional liturgical regulations (46:1-24)
• The river flowing out through the Temple (47:1-12)
• The division of the land (47:13-48:29)
• The gates of the city (48:30-35)

Ezekiel 46:1-7 ~ Liturgical Obligations of the People and the Prince

This passage proposes Sabbath and New Moon regulations of sacrifices and grain offerings required by the prince. These rules are different from those prescribed according to Mosaic Law that did not require the ruler to offer Sabbath sacrifices in addition to the regular Sabbath sacrifice of two lambs (one in the morning liturgical service and the second in the afternoon) in addition to the Tamid sacrifice in Numbers 28:9-10. They are also different from the New Moon sacrifices in Numbers 28:11-15. The Feast of the New Moon marked the beginning of a new lunar month.

Ezekiel 46:8-12 ~ Entering and Exiting the Temple and Prescribed Sacrifices

Verse 8 refers to the inner east gate and not the outer east gate that must remain closed (Ez 44:1-2). The regulation concerning entering and leaving by different gates may be because of crowd control, but it was not in Mosaic Law concerning the liturgical services on feast days. The commands for sacrifices on feast days are also different. See the list of sacrifices for the annual liturgical feasts in Numbers 28:16-29:39.

Ezekiel 46:13-15 ~ The Continual Sacrifice of the Tamid

That the nasi has assumed the duties of a high priest is evident in this passage since he is responsible for the most important sacrifice of the covenant people in the offering of the unblemished Tamid lamb. 

The single sacrifice of two lambs in a morning and afternoon (evening for the Jews) liturgical worship service was the most important sacrifice offered for the atonement of sin and sanctification of the covenant people. 

Tamid Regulations in Exodus 29:38-42	Ezekiel's Regulations in Ezekiel 46:13-15
Two yearling lambs each day in perpetuity. The first lamb you will offer at dawn, and the second at twilight* (Ex 29:34-39).	Every day he must offer an unblemished lamb one year old as a burnt offering to Yahweh; he must offer this every morning (Ez 46:13).
...and with the first lamb, one-tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with one quarter a hin of pounded olive oil... (Ex 29:40a)	Every morning in addition he must offer an oblation of one-sixth of an ephah and one-third of a hin of oil, for mixing with the flour Ez 46:14a).
...and for a libation, one-quarter of a hin of wine (Ex 29:40b).
The second lamb you will offer at twilight*, and do it with a similar cereal offering and libation as at dawn... (Ex 29:41)
... a perpetual burnt offering for all your generations to come... (Ex 29:42)	This is the oblation to Yahweh, a perpetual decree, fixed forever. The lamb, the oblation and the oil must be offered morning after morning forever (Ez 46:14b-15).
Michal E. Hunt Copyright ©2018

Ezekiel 46:16-18 ~ The Prince's Hereditary Portion

The "year of liberation" in verse 17 refers to the 50^th year Jubilee (Lev 25:8-22) and the redemption of the ancestral land when all land previously purchased or controlled by someone else returned to the original tribal family (Lev 25:23-34). This passage identifies the nasi as not a descendant of Aaron since priests and Levites did not receive ancestral property. Verse 18 warns that the nasi must not abuse his office by taking advantage of the common people.

Ezekiel 46:19-24 ~ The Rooms where the Priests ate Their Sacred Meals and the Kitchens

The "he" is the angelic guide. The boiled meat of slaughtered animals is the meat for the sacred meals of the sin sacrifices eaten by the priests and the communion sacrifices that the people consumed with a portion of the communion sacrifice that went to the priests (Lev 6:17-22/24-30; 7:1-8/6:31-36, 11-15/7:1-5, 28-34/18-24; some translations have slightly different verse assignments).

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A Daily Defense
DAY 236 The Witness of the Holy Spirit and Scripture

CHALLENGE: “We don’t need the Church to identify Scripture. The Holy Spirit witnesses to it.”

DEFENSE: The Holy Spirit does witness to Scripture, but it does this through the instrumentality of the Church.

Although some have argued that Scripture is “self-authenticating” (see Day 229), they don’t usually mean this and instead appeal to another form of authentication.

Thus, after proposing the Bible’s literary qualities as evidence of divine authorship, the Westminster Confession of Faith goes on to say, “notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts” (1:5). It is true that the Holy Spirit provides guidance about the canon of Scripture. The question is how this guidance is manifest to individuals or through the Church?

If we had a promise that the Holy Spirit would enable individuals to recognize the canon, then Mormons would be correct when they invite people to pray about whether the Book of Mormon is Scripture, promising them a “burning in the bosom” or similar “witness of the Holy Ghost” that it is true.

Most in the Protestant community have recognized that this is an unacceptably subjective and spiritually dangerous practice. It can easily cause a person to be led by his emotions rather than the Holy Spirit and invites the possibility of self-deception (cf. Jer. 17:9). The reason it is dangerous is that the Holy Spirit has not promised to guide individuals in this way.

Mormons may appeal to James 1:5 (“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him,” KJV), but this is a general promise that God will help people gain wisdom, not a promise to give them a private revelation concerning the canon of Scripture.

Thus Protestants do not typically encourage people to seek such a revelation but to rely on the Holy Spirit’s guidance of the Church in recognizing the canon of Scripture. 

The fact that Scripture does not promise us this kind of personal revelation is a theological claim, which makes it a problem for the view that we should get all of our theology from Scripture alone (sola scriptura).

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist