Monthly Archives: May 2018

Daily Bible Study

May 12, 2018 Bible Study — Another Perspective On What We Just Finished Reading

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 10-12.

    From here to the end of 2 Chronicles this book (the evidence is that 1 and 2 Chronicles were written as one book and later divided, probably to facilitate making copies) mirrors the accounts recorded in 1 and 2 Kings. While there is overlap between these stories and those stories, the Chronicles tell some different stories, or information about the same stories not contained in the Books of Kings. As an example, of that the Books of Kings contained stories about the fighting men who followed David before and after he took the throne, but today’s passage contains some information not in those stories.

    Yesterday, I mentioned that it was curious that so many members of Saul’s clan lived in Jerusalem and suggested a couple of ideas about how that happened. In today’s passage, we are told that while David was in Ziklag under the protection of the King Achish of Gath (a Philistine), a group of warriors related to King Saul joined him there. So, while King Saul was pursuing David to kill him members of Saul’s clan went over to David’s side. In addition to these relatives of Saul, other members of Saul’s army deserted him and went to serve under David. Some even did so while David was preparing to march with the Philistine army against King Saul. Further it tells us that after Saul’s death, when David set up his capital in Hebron many warriors joined him desiring for him to become king over Israel. This suggests that one of the reasons that Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, and that of Saul’s son Ishbosheth, negotiated with David was because David’s forces were becoming progressively stronger. Basically, we are told that David did not become king over Israel by conquest. Rather he became king because the fighting men of Israel supported him as king.

Daily Bible Study

May 11, 2018 Bible Study — Historical Tidbits Mixed In Among the Genealogies

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 7-9.

    In today’s passage we come to the reason why these extensive genealogical lists are included, the list of the families of those who returned from Exile. The genealogical lists contained up to here were designed to establish the connection of the returning Exiles to the people who lived in the land before the Exile. However, in addition to these genealogies we learn a few interesting things.

    The passage mentions that two of Ephraim’s sons were killed while on a livestock raid near Gath. Ephraim was the son of Joseph and lived his entire life in Egypt. Yet two of his sons went on a livestock raid up near Gath. This tells us that the Israelites did some far ranging raiding from their base in Egypt, at least in the early days. There is no hint of this in either Genesis or Exodus, but it explains why the Pharaoh got nervous about this numerous people living in his land. This mention provides evidence that the Israelites living in Egypt were a warrior people before being enslaved by the Pharaoh.

    Later in this passage, when it lists Saul’s family it mentions that the members of Saul’s clan all lived close to each other in Jerusalem. This intrigues me because we are led to believe that the Israelites did not control Jerusalem until David conquered the city after Saul’s death. This raises a couple of questions about when the members of Saul’s clan moved to Jerusalem. One possibility is that they moved there after the death of Saul but before David conquered the city. We know that Shimei, a member of Saul’s clan, was a politically influential person in Jerusalem by the time Absalom rebelled against David. It seems strange that David would allow members of Saul’s clan to rise to such prominence in his capital city. However, perhaps they were already living there and had some prominence when he captured it?

Daily Bible Study

May 10, 2018 Bible Study — Putting Our Trust In God

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 5-6.

    We don’t typically think about the tribes which lived east of the Jordan River when we think about ancient Israel. Yet, they played significant roles in the history we have. Saul established his kingship over all of Israel by coming to the defense of a city on the east side of the Jordan River. David fled to the east side of the Jordan River and made his stand against Absalom from there. I think there are several other important mentions of them as well, but I cannot think of them at the moment. In today’s passage we learn that they gained control over the land they lived in because they put their trust in God, but they eventually went into exile because they were unfaithful to God. If we put our trust in God, He will provide us with success (by His measure of success). But if we do not remain faithful to Him, He will bring trouble upon us.

Daily Bible Study

May 9, 2018 Bible Study — It Is Possible to Overcome Our Past

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 2-4.

    Today’s passage continues tracking the genealogy of the people of Israel. In particular it tracks some of the descendants of Judah. Even more specifically it tracks the ancestry of King David and his descendants through Solomon. It is likely that the genealogy contained here was placed here to provide a base for those who returned from Exile to trace themselves back to Jacob. Of course, this genealogies were almost certainly based on that of some of those who returned from the Exile. I have read through this several times this year, and in previous years, but am unable to see a lesson here for us to learn from.
    In the middle of this passage (1 Chronicles 3:9-10) we have the mention of Jabez and his prayer. What I find interesting is that Jabez is mentioned in the middle of a genealogy, but no mention is made of who is father was, nor of any children he may have sired. Jabez’ appearance here reminds me of when an author offers up being mentioned in his next novel at a charity auction. Others have made a big deal out of his prayer and what that means for us. However, as I was looking up information on him I cam across a comment which I think is more important than God’s answer to his prayer. Jabez was given that name because his mother experienced extreme pain giving him birth. Such a name would have marked him as someone who life was stacked against. Despite that fact, Jabez was honorable and faithful in serving God. Jabez overcame his childhood.

Daily Bible Study

May 8, 2018 Bible Study — Keeping Track of Our Past

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 1.

    Every time I read today’s passage I struggle to understand why it is here. If nothing else, it serves the purpose of reminding the Jewish people that they are related to the people around them; that they and everyone else are all descended from Noah. It serves as a similar reminder today, everyone alive today is a descendant of Noah, and through him a descendant of Adam. In other words, all of us are descended from the man whom God created in His own image. We were all created by God to serve Him.
    However, this genealogy can serve another purpose. It shows us how the stories in Genesis were passed down from father to son. This genealogy shows us a line that was keeping track of these stories as other lineages lost track of their past.

Daily Bible Study

May 7, 2018 Bible Study

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 22-25.

    We tend to think of Hezekiah as being the most godly of the kings of Judah after David, but Josiah appears to have led the people of Judah to their highest level of faithfulness to God’s law. Upon discovering the Book of the Law during Temple renovations, King Josiah immediately recognized how badly the people of Israel had broken God’s Covenant with them. He lamented their failure to be faithful and sought God’s guidance. Despite receiving word that it was too late to avoid the coming disaster, Josiah led religious reform throughout the land, including in areas previously controlled by the Northern Tribes. Unlike his predecessors, including Hezekiah, he destroyed all of the pagan shrines throughout the land, including shrines built by King Solomon. He even celebrated the Passover for the first time since the founding of the Kingdom. Unfortunately, Josiah’s heirs did not share his dedication to serving God.

Daily Bible Study

May 6, 2018 Bible Study — God Is the Lord of History

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 19-21.

    The story of the Assyrian invasion of Judah and King hezekiah’s response to it tells us a lot about how God controls history. The Assyrians were sure that nothing could stop them from conquering Jerusalem. Certainly, Hezekiah’s military could not do so. The Assyrians had been successful in conquering the peoples and powers of the Middle East. Some of those peoples had been sure that their gods would defend them against the Assyrians, but each had fallen. Now, once again, the Assyrians marched into a land whose people thought that their god could protect them. King Hezekiah knew that he could not stand against the might of the Assyrian army. He may have even been considering surrender. However, when the Assyrians told him that God could not stop them, surrender came off the table. By warning Hezekiah that God could not stop them, the Assyrians had made surrendering a sign that Hezekiah did not have faith in God. In response, God told Hezekiah, through a prophet, that the Assyrians would not only fail to take Jerusalem, but would never even besiege it.

    The Assyrians had gone too far. They challenged God. God’s response was that not only would the Assyrian army not attack Jerusalem, it would return to Assyria the way it had come. It would not turn aside from Jerusalem to attack some other land. Before their withdrawal, the Assyrian army fought and defeated the army which the Egyptian Pharaoh had raised to relieve the siege of Jerusalem. Sennacherib returned to Nineveh and never marched against Jerusalem again. His death at the hands of his sons marked the beginning of the end of the Assyrian Empire. Some historians look at the records kept in Assyria and suggest that Hezekiah submitted to the Assyrians. However, it is worth noting that those same historians recognize that the Assyrians believed that they had a divine mandate to conquer the world, but the expansion of the Assyrian Empire ended with the withdrawal of their army from Judah. In fact, the prophet Isaiah acknowledges that the Assyrians had a Divine mandate for their conquests. A mandate which God withdrew because they had defied Him.

Daily Bible Study

May 5, 2018 Bible Study — The More We Study What Is True, the More We Learn of the Truth

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 17-18.

    When the Assyrians conquered they took a large number of the Israelites and settled them elsewhere. Then they brought in people whom they had conquered elsewhere and settled them in the land. This was, and is, a practice conquerors often use to minimize the risk of rebellion in conquered territories; break up the bonds among the people living in the conquered territory and introduce people with no loyalty to those living there. Like many of the people of the day, the Assyrians believed that many gods were local. So, when things went badly for the new settlers, they brought back some of the priests from exile to teach the settlers how to worship the god of this land, who happened to be God. The religion which these priests taught the settlers was the origin of the Samaritan religion. The settlers worshiped according to the teachings of these priests, but continued to also worship the gods of the lands they came from. Despite the differences between the practices of the people of Israel and the practices taught in the law of Moses, and the differences introduced by these foreign settlers, by the time of Christ the Samaritan religion had become a corrupted form of worship of the one true God. One which looked back to Moses and forward to the Messiah. The Samaritans were at least as receptive to Jesus’ teachings as the Jews.

    This evolution of the Samaritan religion reminds me of something which C.S. Lewis wrote in his “The Chronicles of Narnia” series. In the book, “The Last Battle” he wrote that no service which is vile can be done to Aslan (who is an analogy of Jesus and God) and no service which is not vile can be done for Tash (who is an analogy for Satan, and other idols). Which is another way of saying what Jesus said in the 2Sermon on the Mount, ” Keep on seeking, and you will find.” Those who seek God will eventually find Him. My observation is that, if the people who follow a false religion genuinely seek goodness, over time that false religion will begin to more and more resemble true Christianity. The Holy Spirit can, and will, use even the least smidgen of Truth to reveal more Truth to those who seek that Truth.

Daily Bible Study

May 4, 2018 Bible Study — What Happens When We Start Treating God’s Commands Like a Salad Bar

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 15-16.

    For the longest time my perception was that Judah had one or two good kings followed by one or two evil kings. I had a similar perception of the kings of Israel, except that the ratio was tilted towards evil kings. However, I realized reading today’s passage that this was not true. In actuality, most of the kings of Judah did what was pleasing to God. The only shortcoming of those kings was that they failed to convince the people to give up their worship at pagan shrines. On the other hand, the kings of Israel continued to encourage the people to worship the gold calves commissioned by Jeroboam and likely various pagan gods as well. We get this last from the account of King Ahaz of Judah. King Ahaz followed the example of the kings of Israel, going so far as to sacrifice his own son. That last bit suggests that when the kings of Israel encouraged their people to worship Jeroboam’s gold calves, they also encouraged them to adopt the worship practices of the surrounding peoples. When Jehu took the throne of Israel, the sect which worshiped the gold calves was similar in belief and practice to the one which worshiped in the Temple in Jerusalem. Over time it appears to have become more like the Baal worship which Jehu wiped out.

Daily Bible Study

May 3, 2018 Bible Study — Enthusiasm In the Small Stuff Impacts the Results We Receive In the Big Stuff

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Kings 13-14.

    King Jehu’ descendants who ruled over Israel continued to follow the practice of worshiping the gold calves created by Jeroboam. They also continued to allow the worship of Asherah, even though Jehu had wiped out the worship of her consort Baal. It is also noteworthy that both Jehu’s son and grandson were given names which referenced God. This continues to support the idea that those who worshiped the gold calves were attempting to worship God, even though they were doing so in a way which He had rejected. However, Jehu’s grandson visited Elisha on his deathbed and mourned his passing. The story of King Jehoash’s visit with Elijah gives us a lesson.
    Every time I read Jehoash’s response to Elisha’s command to strike the ground with the arrows I imagine him doing so 3 times in a half-hearted manner. The lesson here is that we should do the tasks we are given by God’s representatives with enthusiasm, even when they seem pointless. Elisha tells Jehoash that if he had been more enthusiastic about hitting the ground with the arrows, he would have completed defeated the Arameans, who were Isreal’s greatest enemy in Jehoash’s lifetime. While he would have success against his enemies, his lack of enthusiasm would result in it being only limited success. Enthusiasm in the small things God calls us to will yield positive results in the big tasks God has for us.