Monthly Archives: September 2019

Daily Bible Study

September 21, 2019 Bible Study — Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hosea 8-14.

Hosea writes here about those who reject God and that which is good, then cry out to God for help.  He tells us that those who plant the wind will reap the whirlwind.  I find that an interesting metaphor because almost everyone can understand it even though it does not reference something which is physically possible.  For any of my readers who do not know what it means, it references when people encourage rules or laws to be ignored when those rules or laws interfere with their goals.  When you do that rules and laws will not be able to protect your interests later.  If you encourage chaos and confusion to further your own ends at the expense of others (and ultimately, that is the only reason to do so), do not be surprised when everything becomes confused and chaotic.

 

Later Hosea writes that God calls for us to plant the good seeds of righteousness.  Initially I viewed that as a separate message from his reference to sewing the wind and reaping the whirlwind, but as I started to compose my thoughts on this part I realized they are closely connected.  In fact, Hosea holds planting the seeds of righteousness in direct contrast to cultivating wickedness and sewing the wind.  Now is the time to plow up the hard ground of our hearts and seek the Lord.  If we plant the seeds of righteousness we will harvest a crop of love.  Using lies and power to get your way will not generate anything good.  Let us do what is right so that we can spread God’s love to all and sundry.

Daily Bible Study

September 20, 2019 Bible Study — Don’t Point The Finger At Someone Else

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

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

There are two ways to read the account of Hosea marrying a prostitute.  One way is to believe that God told Hosea to find a prostitute who would marry him.  The other is to believe that Hosea sought God’s guidance in choosing a wife and the woman he thus chose became a prostitute (or, maybe was a prostitute but Hosea was unaware of it when he married her).  The second makes more sense to me, and fits with the way I have seen God communicate his message to people.  Hosea’s experience in his marriage thus influenced his ministry.  Hosea separated from his wife because of her infidelity.  Then at some time later, he bought her back and made her his wife once more.  But he did not just buy her back, he won her back, just as God wishes to do with us. This suggests that she had fallen on hard times and been sold into slavery.  I believe that Hosea truly loved his wife and God used the pain he felt over her unfaithfulness to show people how God felt about their unfaithfulness.

 

The whole of today’s passage is a condemnation of society.  Hosea condemns a society where people break their vows, kill, steal, and commit adultery.  Instead of leading the people to do what is right and good, the leaders, both religious and secular, encourage them to be selfish and do wrong because they, the leaders, profit from the wrongdoing of the people.  This reminds me of today where most, if not all, of our political and religious leaders encourage people to focus their attention on their own desires rather than on the good of all, dividing people rather than uniting.  However, the most important part of Hosea’s lesson in today’s passage is in chapter four, verse four: 

Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame!

All too many of us try to blame what we see as wrong with society as someone else’s fault.  Don’t blame someone else for what is wrong in your life, not your parents, not your pastor, not the governor, not the president, nor anyone else.  Recognize that what is wrong in your life is a result of your sins and turn to God for forgiveness and change.

Daily Bible Study

September 19, 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 Daniel 11-12.

The account which the messenger from yesterday’s passage gave Daniel matches up loosely to the interactions between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires.  I have read accounts which state that there are significant discrepancies between the historical record and what is recorded here.  However, every time I have tried to compare this with what happened as historians know it, I get lost in the weeds.  As part of my preparations for writing this I read a blog which compares the passage to history.  It does a good job of showing how this passage matches up with actual history.  I tend to believe that the linked blog reflects the conclusion I would reach from a closer examination because the things I have read which claim this account cannot be reconciled with history also hold that it was written after the events it purports to prophecy.  My personal belief is that there are probably discrepancies between this passage and the historical record which a historian would consider major, but which from the perspective of those living through it would be of no significance.  In fact, that those living through it would consider the historical record to miss the point of what was going on while this passage hit the mark.  

The most important part of this passage comes at the end.  The messenger tells Daniel that those whose names are written in the book will be rescued.  The wise will shine brightly and those who lead others to righteousness will shine like stars.  In troubled times let us seek to be wise and to lead others to righteousness.

Daily Bible Study

September 18, 2019 Bible Study — Praying For God’s Mercy

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 9-10.

When Daniel read that Jeremiah had prophesied that Jerusalem would lie in ruins for seventy years and that those seventy years were almost up, he began to fast and  pray for Jerusalem’s restoration.  In his prayer, Daniel focused on the sins of his people, on their failure to obey God’s commands.  However, he did not list specific sins of which they were guilty.  Instead, he prayed for God’s mercy despite their sins.  His prayer was an acknowledgement that Jerusalem’s restoration would not occur because the Jewish people deserved it, but rather would be because God was merciful.  God does not bless us because we deserve it.  He blesses us in order to bring honor to His name.  If we live our lives in order to bring glory to God, He will bless us.  That last statement is an absolute truth.  However, those blessings may not be the type which those who preach “prosperity gospel” would recognize.  As an example, Jim Elliot was blessed by God (if you do not know who Jim Elliot was, look him up).

When I read the portion of today’s passage about Daniel’s vision of the messenger I read the translation notes.  It strikes me that the attempt by the translators to make the passage make sense leads us to fail to realize just how confusing the entire vision really was.  In particular chapter 10 verse 13, which reads in the New Living Translation as:

But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.

This is an example of where the King James Version actually contains a much better translation:

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Notice how in the KJV it refers to the one who blocked the messenger merely as “the prince” of the kingdom of Persia, not the “spirit prince”.  It refers to Michael a “one of the chief princes”.  And finally, even after Michael arrived the messenger remained with the “kings of Persia”.  If the messenger remained with the kings of Persia, how did he come to speak with Daniel?  More importantly, the KJV translation allows us to see that Michael is a superior version of the same sort of being who initially blocked the messenger from coming to speak with Daniel.  There is another important fact we learn from the end of Chapter 10.  Michael, one of the chief princes, is prince of Israel in much the same way that there is a prince of Persian and prince of Greece.  All of this takes us into interpretations and ideas which go way beyond the scope of this daily Bible study.

Daily Bible Study

September 17, 2019 Bible Study — Daniel’s Visions

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 7-8.

I have from time to time tried to interpret what today’s passage means about the times which were the future for Daniel.  All but the end of the second vision is pretty clear because Gabriel’s explanation fits well into history as we know it.  The Persian Empire dominated that part of the world until the rise of Alexander the Great.  Alexander the Great replaced them and exerted even greater dominance.  Upon his sudden death, his empire was split into four parts.  Many of those who have read this vision have believed that the “small horn whose paoer grew very great” was Antiochus Epiphanes.  However, the record of his reign is not entirely consistent with the way I read the description given in this vision of that king.  And I have not heard any explanation which, in my mind, matches up the “2,300 evenings and mornings” described at the end of the vision.

I have even less understanding about how the first vision fits into history, but I do believe it represents events which happened between Daniel’s time and our own (although I would not be shocked to discover that I was mistaken).  Even the explanation of the vision which Daniel is given fails to add much clarity.  The four beasts represent four kingdoms, the last to arise being the most powerful.  Part of what makes it difficult for me to fit into history is that the first three kingdoms have their authority taken away, but remain alive after that for some amount of time.  The only part of the visions whose meaning is clear to me is that the “son of man” will be given authority over all of the nations of the world.

Daily Bible Study

September 16, 2019 Bible Study — It Doesn’t Matter If You Can Read The Writing On The Wall, By The Time It Appears It Is Too Late

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

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

As I get older I see more and more things to be learned from the story about the writing on the wall.  We get from this story the expression, “I can read the writing on the wall.”   In many ways that expression misses the point of this story that by the time the writing appears on the wall it is too late to avoid the coming disaster.  There is, in my opinion, an important codicil to that; if the men in the room had been able to read the writing that appeared on the wall, they would not have done the things which led to the disaster the writing foretold.

Now let us look a little closer at what the story tells us.  King Belshazzar calling for the cups taken from the Temple in Jerusalem to be used at his feast represents a clear belittling of the God to whom they were dedicated.  This was not just an act of careless disregard for the holiness of these items.  No, it was a deliberate act of contempt towards the God to whom they were dedicated.  When Daniel interpreted the writing for Belshazzar he told him the story of how Nebuchadnezzar came to humble himself before God.  A story with which Daniel states that Belshazzar would have been familiar.  This story negatively contrasts Belshazzar’s attitude towards God with that of Nebuchadnezzar before him and Darius after him.  Both Nebuchadnezzar and Darius worshiped other gods, but both came to give respect and honor to God.  Belshazzar, on the other hand, held God in contempt and felt that he could belittle those who worshiped Him for the amusement of his friends.  Generally, I expect political leaders to worship something other than God (even most of those who claim to be Christian).  However, when they begin to hold God in contempt and believe that they can belittle those who genuinely do worship God the nation will soon see disaster strike.  Similar things hold true at all levels of society.

Daily Bible Study

September 15, 2019 Bible Study — Sometimes We Must Decide If We Will Stand Up For Our Faith

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Daniel 3-4.

The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace is another one of my favorites.  One of the things I have wondered about this story for years; where was Daniel when this happened?  I do not have an answer to that question and it does not really matter to the story.  More interesting to me is the picture I always had of this, which I realized today does not actually reflect what is described.  I have always pictured this as a great plaza with the statue in the middle with a great crowd gathered around.  The musical instruments sound and everybody in the crowd bows down, except for three men who can be seen standing amongst all of the bowing people.  Except that is not what is described.  When I read it today, I realized that Daniel’s three friends probably avoided the gathering altogether.  They likely thought, “Who’s going to notice that we stayed away?”  So, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego may well have tried to be low key and not make a scene about their unwillingness to worship anyone but God, in fact I think it likely that they did.  But when they were called out on it, they stood up for their beliefs.  There is a time and a place to quietly keep your beliefs to yourself and there is a time and a place to clearly state them.

I really like the way in which these three men answered when threatened.  They clearly and unequivocally stated their belief that God could and would save them from the danger they faced.  But they went further than that, they stated that their faithfulness to God did not rest upon their confidence that He would save them.  They stated that even if they knew that God would allow them to suffer and die, they would not worship false gods.  Let us strive to have a similar attitude; bring your struggles and difficulties to God with the knowledge that He can resolve them, but determined to remain faithful to Him even if He chooses to allow our suffering to continue.

Daily Bible Study

September 14, 2019 Bible Study — Being Willing to Stand Out From the Crowd

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

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

I have always liked the story of the four friends described here.  I am sure that part of that comes from the fact that I was taught this story from a young age and that these four young men were held up as examples for me to emulate.  And they are indeed people whom young people should be taught to emulate.   We have here four young men who were yanked out of their comfortable lives as the future leaders of their nation and taken to live out their lives in a foreign land.  In this foreign land, they were set up, along with many of their peers who were brought from their homeland with them, in a life of luxury, but with high expectations upon them.  They could have joined with their fellow ex-patriots and enjoyed the luxurious food and drink offered to them.  After all, there is safety in numbers.  Instead these four chose to be faithful to God and stand out from the rest.  We should do likewise.

In the second chapter, King Nebuchadnezzar believed that his advisers, who claimed extraordinary powers, were scamming him.  So, he required them to not only interpret his dream, but to tell him what it was.  They told him, accurately, that only the divine could answer his request.  For whatever reason, Daniel and his friends were not part of those to whom Nebuchadnezzar made his request, but were part of the group who Nebuchadnezzar planned to execute for their failure.   There is much to be learned from Daniel’s interpretation of the king’s dreams, but I want to focus on the way in which Daniel handled this circumstance.  Daniel asked his friends to ask God to tell them the answer to Nebuchadnezzar’s demand. Then, when God had given him the answer, he praised God.  Daniel gave all of the credit to God as the repository of all wisdom and all knowledge.  Daniel made clear to Nebuchadnezzar that his ability to tell Nebuchadnezzar what his dream was and to interpret it was not because he, Daniel, was somehow better than others.  Our willingness to trust God’s grace does not make us superior to others, just more blessed, a state which others can have by accepting the gift of God’s grace.

Daily Bible Study

September 13, 2019 Bible Study — The River of God’s Love

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 46-48.

As I read the rules Ezekiel gave concerning the gateways to the Temple they came across as very meaningful, but I do not understand the meaning.  On certain days the prince will enter the east gateway, worship God from the entry room, then leave the way he came in.  However, the common people will enter through either the north or south gateway and leave through the gateway opposite the one they entered.  All of that reads as spiritually very significant to me, but I do not understand the significance.

However, I think that I do understand part of the significance of the River of Life which Ezekiel describes as flowing out from God’s presence in the Temple.  Ezekiel describes the river as getting progressively deeper as it flows away from the Temple, but without any other sources.  I suspect there is a meaning here besides what I see, but to me Ezekiel is describing God’s love and how He expects us to respond to it.  There is a story I heard many years ago which sums this up.  I do not know if the story was true and I no longer accurately remember the details, but I am going to tell it as I remember it because it sums up the river which Ezekiel describes.  There was a woman in a small town who never married, but who taught Sunday School her whole life.  She touched the lives of perhaps a few hundred people, but one of those people grew up to be an evangelist.  That evangelist brought tens of thousands of people to the Lord.  One of those who came to serve God through that evangelist was Billy Graham, who went on to bring tens of millions of people to know and serve God.  Whether or not that story is true, it reflects the message of the River of Life which Ezekiel describes.  Each of us is God’s Temple and His love flows out from us.  Perhaps we have little direct impact on the world, but if we show God’s love to the people around us, God will change their lives.  Some of them will show God’s love to many more people and the river which is God’s love will get deeper, bringing life to all who encounter it.

Daily Bible Study

September 12, 2019 Bible Study — Do Not Abuse a Position of Trust

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 44-45.

As has been the case for most of Ezekiel’s description of the rebuilt Temple and now of the worship practices of restored Israel, I struggle with what to make of today’s passage.  I was however struck by the instructions regarding the priests.  They were to be supported by the offerings of the people, but they were not to have any property or land.  I think That this fits in well with what Paul writes regarding the support of those who manage and oversee the Church.  Those whom God has called to care for the spiritual well-being of His people should not profit from that calling, but should nevertheless be well-cared for by God’s people.

In a similar fashion, Ezekiel had strong words for the secular leaders of God’s people.  While those leaders were entitled to collect taxes from the people for their own well-being, they were not to abuse their position to take advantage of people.  They were to obtain wealth honestly, not by using their position to dispossess people and not by cheating in their dealings.  We see the sort of thing Ezekiel was crying out against in the fact that many government officials today become extremely wealthy while only earning a modest income.  Some of those government officials may have gained their wealth honestly, but the fact that practically all of them become wealthy suggests that many of them are abusing their position of trust.