Monthly Archives: May 2021

Daily Bible Study

May 13, 2021 Bible Study David Consolidates His Power by Unifying the People of Israel In Their Worship of God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Chronicles 13-16.

Today’s passage describes how David established himself as king of Israel.  Actually, the writer started the process of laying out the steps which David took to consolidate power under himself.  As I noted yesterday, David’s approach contrasted with that of Saul.  As yesterday’s passage noted, David started by conquering Jerusalem and making that his capital.  Jerusalem was not a traditional base of power for any of the tribes, so it could be perceived as belonging to all of Israel, not just one tribe.  Today’s passage starts with David getting the consent of the leaders of all of Israel to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  At first, that goes badly and David gives the Ark into the care of a Philistine living nearby, who was apparently loyal to David.  After two attacks by the Philistine armies, each of which David defeated decisively, David decides to finish moving the Ark to Jerusalem. Once the Ark is established in Jerusalem, David instituted regular worship before the Ark in Jerusalem and at the Tabernacle in Gibeon.  By doing this David unified the people of Israel in their worship of God.  Unifying the people of Israel had the effect of consolidating David’s power.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 12, 2021 Bible Study King David Saw Himself As A Member Of The Nation Of Israel, Not Just As A Member Of The Tribe Of Judah

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

The passage starts with an account of the death of King Saul.  This account echoes that given at the end of 1 Samuel.  It goes on to describe David becoming king over all Israel and the warriors who followed him.  This account shows us that David had a significant number of followers from tribes other than Judah even while Saul was king.  In fact, this passage suggests that warriors from the tribe of Benjamin formed a larger part of David’s war band than those from the tribe of Judah.  The fact that significant numbers of the tribe of Benjamin, which was King Saul’s tribe, defected to David tells us quite a bit about both King Saul and David.  I wonder if perhaps the fact that David had as much loyalty to all of Israel as he did to the tribe of Judah played a role in his animosity towards Joab and his brothers.  I have not previously noticed that Joab and his brothers put more emphasis on the interests of the tribe of Judah than other tribes, but I have not thought to look for it previously.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 11, 2021 Bible Study Thoughts On What We Can Learn From These Genealogies

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

Today’s passage is more genealogies and a large part of why I am writing this blog.  If I was not writing this blog, this passage would be where my “reading the Bible in a year” would come to an end, if it hadn’t yesterday.  However, there are some useful names mentioned here which are mentioned elsewhere.  While I do not get much out of reading this passage, there is value in cross referencing to here from the other passages where these people are mentioned.  We also get a little bit more of an understanding about the early days in Egypt from this passage.  It mentions that two of Ephraim’s sons were killed when they went on a cattle raid against men born in Gath.  The other relevant thing which we learn from this passage is that this book was compiled after the return from Exile from other sources, sources which were still available for some time after this book was compiled.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 10, 2021 Bible Study Random Thoughts On Today’s Passage

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

Once again I am unsure what to make of this passage.  So, I will just comment on the random thoughts I had while reading it.  In the list of Reuben’s descendants it lists four sons of Reuben, then it lists out descendants of Joel.  But it never tells us who Joel’s father was.  A little later the passage tells us that “All these were entered in the genealogical records during the reigns of Jotham king of Judah and Jeroboam king of Israel.”  What is not clear is if that refers to the names listed, or to the paragraph which follows about the 44,000+ men ready for military service (or both).  Further on it lists the descendants of Levi.  It gives two separate lists of those descendants.  A first glance suggests that the first list followed one line of descent while the second list follows another.  Without doing a detailed look carefully comparing the two lists, they do not seem to contain any conflicts.

As I said, random thoughts.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 9, 2021 Bible Study Understanding Old Testament Genealogies

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

Today’s passage consists of more genealogies.  One thing we learn about the genealogies in the Old Testament is that we need to be careful about interpreting the number of generations between “father” and “son”.  This is not to dismiss these genealogies.  For example, it tells us that Achar (an alternate spelling of Achan) was the son of Kami, the son of Judah.  Assuming this is the Achan mentioned in the Book of Joshua, which is probable, we know he was more generations from Judah than his grandson.  This genealogy also tells us that Caleb was Judah’s great grandson, but we know that Caleb was more generations removed from Judah than that.  Now, the key here is that we know that the Hebrew words used to indicate that Caleb was the  son of Hezron and that Achar was the son of Karmi, can also just mean that they are descended from them.  We need to remember that Ancient Hebrew had very few words when compared to modern languages.  But even in modern English, we sometimes use the expression “child of” to indicate that someone descended from that person rather than to indicate that they are the following generation.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 8, 2021 Bible Study Genealogy

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

I have little to write about today’s passage.  I do find it interesting that this passage lists the sons of Abraham as Ishmael and Isaac, but then it lists the sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine.  So, why is it phrased this way?  Perhaps because, Ishmael is Abraham’s eldest son and Isaac is the son of God’s promise to Abraham, while Keturah’s children were all born after the death of Sarah (or, at least, that is the way that the Genesis account reads).

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

Daily Bible Study

May 7, 2021 Bible Study King Josiah Calls His People To Obey God

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

I have always admired King Josiah’s faith.  When he heard what was written in the Book of the Law and realized how badly the people of Israel had failed to follow God’s commands his first response was to tear his clothes in grief and send messengers to inquire of God what he should do.  Then, after learning that nothing he could do would turn aside God’s judgement against Judah, he called the people to rededicate themselves to worshiping God.  He followed that up by systematically destroying the idols, and places of idol worship, throughout both the Kingdom of Judah and the lands which had been part of the Kingdom of Israel.  Finally, he called the people of Israel to celebrate the Passover in full accordance with God’s commands.  The writer tells us that this celebration was unlike any previous Passover celebration in the Land of Israel.  Throughout his life, King Josiah strove to bring the people back to God.  Unfortunately, it was not enough and as soon as he died the people returned to their idolatry.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 6, 2021 Bible Study Sennacherib Thought He Was Greater Than God

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

When Hezekiah received Sennacherib’s letter, he read it then took it to the Temple and laid it before God.  When he did so he made a statement of faith.  Sennacherib had stated that Hezekiah should not rely on God to save Jerusalem because the gods of other nations had failed to save them.  Hezekiah stated that of course the Assyrians were able to throw those gods into the fire because those gods were not actually gods at all.  He then went on to beg God to show the nations that He alone was God by saving Jerusalem.

Which brings me to Isaiah’s prophecy in response to Sennacherib’s letter.  Isaiah reminds us that it was not Hezekiah whom Sennacherib was ridiculing in his message.  Rather it was God.  In the same way, when people today make fun of us, or criticize us, for following God’s commands, let us remember who they are actually deriding.  Sennacherib thought that his successes proved that he was greater than any god.  God responded by telling him that all of his success was just part of the plans which God had laid out long ago.  Sennacherib claimed that he would besiege Jerusalem and make it fall before his armies.  God told him that He would send him back the way that he came and that his armies would never stand before Jerusalem.  Sennacherib’s claim proved false, but God’s proclamation came true.  Let us not fear those with power because whatever power they have comes from God.  Let us fear God, and serve Him.  Then He will protect us from those who seek to direct their power against us.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 5, 2021 Bible Study They Followed Worthless Idols And Themselves Became Worthless

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

We are told that Hoshea, the last king of Israel, did evil in the sight of the Lord, but was not as bad as his predecessors.  Nevertheless, the sins of the people of Israel had reached the point where God had had enough and He sent them into exile.  The writer suggests that the sins of the people of Israel were worse than any were aware of until after the fact.  He writes that they secretly against the Lord that were not right.  This suggests to me that the people of Israel were not aware of how prevalent the sins they themselves were committing were among their countrymen.

The writer lists out the reasons that God sent the nation of Israel into exile.  He tells us that they worshiped idols and rejected God’s decrees.  They made idols for themselves and set up an Asherah pole.  They bowed down to the starry host and worshipped Baal.  They sacrificed their sons and daughters.  They imitated the nations around them.  All of this strikes me as a warning we should take to heart today.  I think the line which should be our greatest warning is the one I used to title today’s blog: “They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless.”  All human beings have value, but that value derives from our being made in the image of God.  If we stop trying to reflect his image and instead reflect the image of an idol, we will become worthless.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 4, 2021 Bible Study Does The King Answer To God’s Representatives, Or Do God’s Representatives Answer To The King

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

I don’t know about you, but my perception of the kings of Israel was that they were universally Baal, some of whom gave lip service to worshiping God.  And my perception of the kings of Judah was that they were mostly idolators, with the occasional good king who tried to bring the people back to God.  However, over the last few years as I read through the books of Kings and Chronicles I have come to realize that these books tell us that most of the kings of Judah did what was right in the eyes of God.  And, while most of the kings of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of God, most of them chose to follow in the steps of Jeroboam, who attempted to worship God in the form of the golden calves which he had made.  In fact, it occurred to me today that most of the kings of Judah recognized that they were answerable to God and needed to follow the dictates of the religious practices which He had laid down, while most, if not all, of the kings of Israel felt that the religious leaders should be answerable to them.

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