Monthly Archives: May 2019

Daily Bible Study

May 12, 2018 Bible Study — King David Begins To Reign

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.

The writer takes up his historical account with the death of King Saul. The writer clearly expects that his reader is familiar with King Saul and his rule. The description of King Saul’s final battle and death is basically a setup for the writer to begin telling the story of David. However, he makes sure to make the point that God turned the Kingdom over to David because Saul had failed to faithfully obey God and seek His guidance. While this is an oversimplification of Saul’s career, it is not inaccurate.

As I have already noted, this book was compiled after the Exile. It seems to me that it was based on documents which the Exiles brought back with them and documents which they found as they rebuilt Jerusalem. I reach the conclusion that the writer was compiling information from other documents from the disjointed timeline in today’s passage. The writer tells us that all of Israel came to David at Hebron to ask him to be their king after Saul’s death. Then he goes on to write about David’s Mighty Men, The Three and The Thirty. From there he goes on to write about the men who came to support David while Saul was still king. However, he does not put them in any particular order. The first group he talks about are men from the same clan as Saul (or perhaps just from Saul’s tribe of Benjamin, the wording is not clear to me). This group joined David while he was in Ziklag under the protection of the Philistine king of Gath. The next group the writer talks about joined David before this when he was in the wilderness of Judah. In addition to a warband from Gad who joined David at this time, there were men from Benjamin and Judah who joined David while he was hiding in the wilderness of Judah. Then the writer skips ahead and writes about a group of warriors who defected from Sail’s army to join David when David and his men were marching with the Philistine army to fight against Saul. The writer points out that these men did not end up fighting against Saul because the Philistines were afraid to have them in their battle lines. Finally, the author lists some warriors who joined David after the death of King Saul. We see from all of this that the writer based what he wrote in this book on documents he had from other sources. It seems likely that he had access to 1 & 2 Kings as well as other historical records. Or perhaps, this was compiled at about the same time as 1 & 2 Kings and was based on some of the same records.

Daily Bible Study

May 11, 2019 Bible Study — Tidbits From 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.

I have mentioned before that I do not like reading these genealogies and do not get much out of them. However, others find more in them than I do, and I have heard sermons and read messages which show how they sometimes teach us important lessons. I found a couple of interesting things as I read today. This account was written sometime after the Exiles returned, since it lists some of those who returned. However, the writer had access to records from when David was king. He specifically tells us that one of his number of descendants of Issachar was from the time of David (I would suspect it was from the census David took). The writer does not say, but I believe that the other numbers of fighting men he lists as descended from one or another of Jacob’s sons come from the same source. I wonder whether those records were preserved by the Exiles and brought back with them, or were they uncovered while the Returned Exiles were rebuilding Jerusalem? We know from other passages that some of the information contained here could have come from documents the Returned Exiles brought back with them.

I find it interesting that this account tells us that two of Ephraim’s sons died on a cattle raid near Gath. Now we know that Ephraim was born to Joseph in Egypt and his sons would have lived in Egypt. From this we can conclude that in the early period while the Israelites were in Egypt they went on raids to the land of Canaan. In the same portion we are told that one of Ephraim’s granddaughters founded two towns in what became Israel. These two things suggest that in the early years after Jacob’s family went to Egypt they still were active in the Land of Canaan.

Daily Bible Study

May 10, 2019 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 1 Chronicles 5-6.

Today’s passage gives an example of why it is useful to read and re-read passages with which we think we are familiar. I do not believe that I have ever noticed before today what this passage says about the tribes of Reuben, Judah, and the two tribes of Joseph. Even though Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn son, the rulers of Israel did not come from his tribe, and his tribe did not have the largest territory. The writer here tells us that this was the case because Reuben had slept with his father’s concubine (something mentioned in Genesis 35:22). Now, in Jacob’s farewell address to his sons we read that Jacob had prophesied/declared that Reuben had lost his position as first because of his act and that a descendant of Judah would rule over the people of Israel. However, this is the first and only place to suggest that the reason Manasseh and Ephraim (Joseph’s two sons) were both counted as tribes was because Joseph received the double share of the inheritance which had been Reuben’s as firstborn son. I never really thought about the fact that Joseph got a double portion of inheritance from Jacob before today. Nor did I think about the fact that by the standards of the day that double portion should have gone to Reuben. I am unsure what significance there is in that it happened, but going forward it will influence my thinking as I read.

There are a couple of points out of the rest of this passage which I want to highlight. I do not currently know if these points have any significance, but think they are things to note as I read the rest of the Bible. The tribes who settled east of the Jordan River functioned as a third political division of the people of Israel. There was the Southern portion, which became the Kingdom of Judah. There was the Northern portion, which became the Kingdom of Israel after the Kingdom divided. Finally there was the portion east of the Jordan. This portion was where Abner set up Saul’s son Ishbosheth as king after Saul’s death. It was where King David fled from and based his resistance to Absalom’s revolt. Then here in today’s passage we get a hint that the Israelites east of the Jordan went into exile some time before the fall of Samaria. This is also mentioned in 2 Kings at one point. Another point of minor significance is that it says here that only descendants of Aaron served as priests, yet in the books previous to this there are numerous mentions of others who served as priests from time to time and place to place. There are two possible ways to reconcile this. The first is that only Aaron’s descendants were supposed to function as priests. The second is that only Aaron’s descendants served as priests at the official altar of God. Again, this will be something I will need to keep in mid as I read the rest of the Bible to see how it colors the meaning of other passages.

Daily Bible Study

May 9, 2019 Bible Study — The Generations Before David

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.

This is a passage that I would never spend any time on if I was not writing this blog. One thing which struck me initially is that the number of generations listed here from Judah to David does not seem to fill the time between them. In particular, there does not seem to be enough generations to fill both the time spent in Egypt and the time from when they left Egypt until David rules. Part of the reason for this was that I was under the impression that the Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years )approximately). However, as I did a little research I discovered that the 400 years was approximately the time from Abraham’s feast when Isaac was five years old until Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. This shortens the time in Egypt to a little more than 200 years. While it still seems to me like a few generations are missing from this genealogy, that change in timing means that perhaps not.

Daily Bible Study

May 8, 2019 Bible Study — The Descendants of Noah

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.

I always struggle with what to make of this chapter because genealogies have never been of great importance to me. That being said, today’s passage tells us how the Israelites viewed their relationship with the peoples with whom they had some interaction. The people of western Asia and Europe were the descendants of Japheth. The peoples of Africa and living around them were descendants of Ham. And the people living in Mesopotamia were descended from Shem. I am not sure why the writers of this book thought that was important, but the fact that they did reveals something about how they thought. In addition, this breakdown of the peoples of the world does not divide up according to the way we divide people up into races even though the origins of the way we view races today came from how people reading their own biases back into this passage. This should remind us to be careful about reading our own biases into the Scripture.

Daily Bible Study

May 7, 2019 Bible Study — Josiah Leads a Revival

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.

Josiah took the throne at eight years old when his father was assassinated. Despite the fact that his father and grandfather were evil men, Josiah was a godly king. We do not know who inspired Josiah in his love for God, but the record here is clear. As soon as he was old enough to begin taking action as king without requiring the approval of his advisers/regents Josiah ordered the repair and cleansing of the Temple. As soon as the priests began clearing the Temple they found a copy of the Law of Moses, which they brought to Josiah. Josiah was horrified to learn how badly the people had been violating their covenant with God. His response was to seek God’s guidance on what they should do. The message from God was that the curses for breaking God’s covenant with the people could not be avoided, but because Josiah had humbled himself and sought to do God’s will God would delay them until after his death.

Upon hearing this message King josiah could have limited himself to worshiping God and doing God’s will himself, leaving the people to continue in their sin. However, he did not do this. Instead, he led a revival among his people. He called a convocation of the people and renewed their covenant with God. He launched a crusade to cleanse the land of idolatry, and not just the land of Judah, but all of the land which God had given the people of Israel. King Josiah systematically destroyed all of the idolatrous shrines throughout the land. He even got people to destroy their own personal shrines and household gods and to give up their “harmless” consultations with psychics and mediums. The writer tells us that King Josiah called the people to celebrate the Passover in a way which had not been done since before there were kings in Israel. The reforms King Josiah implemented could not have been executed purely as a top down reformation. He must have had the support of the people in order to accomplish all of this. Josiah’s enthusiasm for God was contagious and the people followed his lead. Unfortunately, he did not pass his love for God on to his sons or grandson. If we are enthusiastic about our love of God, others will follow us. But, lasting change will only happen if people do more than just follow a charismatic leader. They need to enter into a relationship with God themselves.

Daily Bible Study

May 6, 2019 Bible Study — Let God Defeat Those Who Defy Him

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.

Now we read how King Hezekiah responded to the King of Assyria’s demands and threats. He did not arrogantly reply to the Assyrians that the God he worshiped was more powerful than they knew, or that God would show them His power. No, Hezekiah sent word to the prophet Isaiah asking for Isaiah to pray to God for them and to find out what God would say that they should do. Through Isaiah God’s answer was, “I will take care of the Assyrians.” The Assyrian emissaries needed to return to the main army, but before they left they sent Hezekiah one more message, doubling down on their claim to be more powerful than God, declaring that they had defeated other peoples and none of their gods had been able to stop them. Therefore, neither would God be able to stop them.

Once again Hezekiah turned to God. This time he took the Assyrian letter and laid it before God. He declared his faith in God. He did not deny the reality of the situation he was in. The Assyrians had indeed defeated all of those other nations, but those nations relied on idols, on gods that were not God. Once more God replied through Isaiah. God’s answer was that yes indeed the Assyrians had marched their armies where they willed and conquered all who stood against them. They were the mightiest nation on earth and no nation could stand against them. But now they had declared that God, the Creator, could not stand against them. What they failed to understand was that their power and conquest was all according to God’s plan. Now God would show the world His power and, despite his boasting, the King of Assyria would return to his land without conquering Jerusalem, without even beseiging it. And here is the lesson for us. King Hezekiah did not defeat the Assyrians, by force of arms or any other means, but God protected him and his kingdom. A plague struck the Assyrian army, killing such a large number that the King of Assyria was forced to return home and regroup. He died before he was able to threaten Judah again, and the Assyrian Empire fell without ever marching against Jerusalem. We do not need to defeat our enemies, not with money, not with violence, not at the ballot box. We need to pray to God and do His will. Let Him defeat our enemies.

Daily Bible Study

May 5, 2019 Bible Study — The World Promises That If We Just Worship It, Things Will Be Just As Good Tomorrow As They Are Today

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.

In Judah, Hezekiah ascended to the throne. The writer tells us that King Hezekiah was fully devoted to God in everything that he did. He went beyond any of his predecessors by destroying the pagan shrines at which the people worshiped, leaving the Temple in Jerusalem as the only place of worship in the land. I wonder if King Hezekiah recognized the importance of a centralized, unified worship of God from what happened to his north after the fall of Samaria. Or, perhaps, King Hezekiah did this because he desired the people to worship God fully and completely. Certainly everything the Bible tells us about King Hezekiah tells us that he put his faith fully in God.

King Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria at about the same time as King Hoshea of the Northern Kingdom did. Perhaps Hezekiah’s rebellion was what inspired King Hoshea to rebel. In any case, King Hezekiah was able to extend his control over what we now know as the Gaza strip. I must add that the passage does not make clear that King Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria around the same time as King Hoshea. That is just the conclusion I reach from where in the passage it tells that he did and that he would have been unlikely to do so after the fall of Samaria. In any case, several years after taking the people of the Northern Kingdom into exile, the King of Assyria decided to re-exert his authority over Judah. When the King of Assyria invaded Judah King Hezekiah gave him a large payment and offered to resume paying tribute.

The passage does not say so explicitly, but the King of Assyria appears to have decided to take at least some of the people of Judah and settle them elsewhere (and bring others in to replace them as he had in the Northern Kingdom). What exactly was his intention, he sent a large army to Jerusalem in support of his representatives whom he sent to confront King Hezekiah. The Assyrian emissaries initially presented their demands to Hezekiah’s representatives, but they did so in a way which was heard and understood by the people on the walls of Jerusalem. In these initial demands they were respectful of God, suggesting that King Hezekiah could not rely on God because he had insulted Him by tearing down the shrines throughout the land (side note: This suggests, as happens at a few other places in the Old Testament, that the worship at these shrines was not completely idolatrous).

However, when King Hezekiah’s representatives asked them to speak so that the people on the walls would not understand them, the Assyrian emissaries addressed the people of Jerusalem directly. This time they revealed their true attitude towards God. This second statement sounds a lot like the words of a prophet. The emissaries called on the people to choose life instead of death. They told the people that if they accepted the commands of the King of Assyria they would receive many good things. Then the emissaries told the people that God was not powerful enough to save them from the King of Assyria. They claimed dominion over all others for the King of Assyria. As I read this it reminded me of many secular promises of Utopia. When they promised good things for the people if they followed the commands from the King of Assyria (the government they would establish), they did not actually promise anything the people did not already have. They merely promised that after completely disrupting their lives they would make things just as good again. Then they used the fact that the King of Assyria could spare from his army more military supplies than King Hezekiah could field men to use to show how God could not stand against them. They used the argument that just look at the way things are, how could the King of Assyria fail at anything he tried to do. Tomorrow, we will read about how King Hezekiah responded and how that turned out.

Daily Bible Study

May 4, 2019 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 15-16.

In Judah, there were a series of kings who did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. As a result, when Joash was assassinated, his son Amaziah was made king. Then when Amaziah was assassinated, his son Uzziah was made king. On the other hand, in Israel, king after king did evil in God’s sight. There king after king was assassinated and the assassin was able to seize the throne. None of these kings of Israel turned from the evil done by their predecessors and none of them acknowledged God as sovereign. Each successive king was more interested in their own power and comfort than in doing what was best for the people over whom they ruled.

In Judah there were four successive kings who did what was pleasing in God’s sight, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, and Jotham. But all of them allowed the people to continue worshiping at pagan shrines throughout the land. Then came King Ahaz, who followed the example of the kings of Israel, even going to far as to sacrifice his own son. When Israel and Aram allied against him, King Ahaz bribed the king of Assyria to relieve the siege, making himself a vassal of the king of Assyria. Then King Ahaz replaced the altar in the Temple with one modeled after the altar used by the King of Assyria. King Ahaz further remodeled the Temple to symbolize his subordination to the King of Assyria.

Daily Bible Study

May 3, 2019 Bible Study — There Is More To Pleasing God Than Avoiding Idolatry

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.

Today’s passage mentions three descendants of Jehu who ruled over Israel, the Northern Kingdom. It says of each of them, “He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.” Immediately following this it says that they continued the sins which Jeroboam had led Israel to commit. I have traditionally seen this interpreted as an explanation of what they did which was evil, but I realized today that the writer said that Jehu had continued those sins, but did not say that he did what was evil in God’s sight. This made me realize that continuing the worship of the calves which Jeroboam had built was a separate, less serious charge against these kings than doing evil in the Lord’s sight. I now realize that when the writer refers to people, either individually or as a group, doing evil in the Lord’s sight he does not mean idolatry even though he generally mentions idolatry right before or right after writing that. Evil in the sight of the Lord is not just worshiping other gods. Worshiping other gods is merely the first step towards doing evil.

We see a similar thing when the passage discusses King Amaziah of Judah. The writer tells us that he did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight even though he did not tear down the pagan shrines and allowed the people to continue worshiping at them. Here the writer actually gives us an example of how Amaziah was a good ruler. When he was sufficiently established in power, he had the men who assassinated his father, King Joash, executed, but he did not otherwise punish their children because the Law of Moses said that people should only die for their own crimes. We have this contrast between the kings of Israel, who did evil in the Lord’s sight, and King Amaziah of Judah, who did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. Yet, when Amazaih initiated war against Jehoash, one of those evil kings of Israel, he lost.