Knowing God by J I Packer

[Child of JC]

I'm reading this amazing book for the second time.
I found a phrase that I'm hoping someone can explain to me.

"All four of course were beavers of the bible."

What is a bible beaver? What is he saying here exactly? Why use the word "beaver"? Why call a scholar a beaver? I don't get the reference.

John Owen and John Calvin knew more theology than John Bunyan or Billy Bray, but who would deny that the latter pair knew their God ever bit as well as the former? (All four, of course, were beavers for the Bible, which counts for far more anyway than a formal theological training.) If the decisive factor was notional correctness, then obviously the most learned biblical scholars would know God better than anyone else. But it is not; you can have all the right notions in your head without ever tasting in your heart the realities to which they refer; and a simple Bible reader and sermon hearer who is full of the Holy Spirit will develop a far deeper acquaintance with his God and Savior than a more learned scholar who is content with being theologically correct. The reason is that the former will deal with God regarding the practical application of truth to his life, whereas the latter will not. (J.I. Packer, Knowing God)

 

[ZaidaBoBaida]

I think he meant believers and it's a misprint.

 

[Clare73]

I'm reading this amazing book for the second time.
I found a phrase that I'm hoping someone can explain to me.

"All four of course were beavers of the bible."

What is a bible beaver? What is he saying here exactly? Why use the word "beaver"? Why call a scholar a beaver? I don't get the reference.

J. I. is English, and that is an English expression which from the context seems to mean pursuers of.

If there were only one book I could recommend to anyone, that would be it.

I read it twice a year for several years after my conversion.

In the faith,
Clare

 

[Tomyris]

I read it as hard working, industrious students, digging into it with all their teeth and paws, so to speak. Beavers are proverbially hard-working and industrious, cutting down trees, building dams and pooling streams, building houses, storing food for the future. Admirable creatures, in other words. Anyway that is the sense that I get out of it.

 

[Cribstyl]

I read it as hard working, industrious students, digging into it with all their teeth and paws, so to speak. Beavers are proverbially hard-working and industrious, cutting down trees, building dams and pooling streams, building houses, storing food for the future. Admirable creatures, in other words. Anyway that is the sense that I get out of it.

Beavers are able to create a dam so the whole river will pass through thier filters.

 

[Child of JC]

Beavers are able to create a dam so the whole river will pass through thier filters.

Beavers for the bible..they let the Word flow through them?