Monthly Archives: May 2022

Daily Bible Study

May 12, 2022 Bible Study — Details About How David Built His Influence To Become King

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

A couple of things which become clear from this passage which are otherwise somewhat murky.  Here it explains how Joab became commander of the army for David.  Elsewhere we see various lists of David’s mighty men and, aside from being commander of the army, Joab does not otherwise rank particularly high among them.  Even his brother Abishai comes out in those lists as a more major figure.  However, here we learn that Joab became commander of the army for David by leading the attack to conquer Jerusalem.  Further, Joab played a major role in building Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (here it says that David built up part of the city and Joab restored the rest).  Another thing we learn here, although there is some reference to it elsewhere, is that while David was on the run from King Saul warriors from many different tribes defected from Saul’s army and joined David.  Perhaps the most significant of these were the warriors of the tribe of Benjamin, which was Saul’s tribe.  These defections show us that David developed a following among all of the tribes, even while Saul was still king.  They became the basis for David becoming king over all of Israel.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 11, 2022 Bible Study — More Genealogies And What They Tell Us

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

The genealogies continue today and once again I noticed a couple of things only because I had to find something to write about this passage.

Note: I am not saying that these things are only worth noticing because I need something to write, only that I would not have noticed them if I did not need something to write.

First, the passage mentions that two of Ephraim’s sons were killed when they raided livestock from Gath.  One might easily pass that by, after all Gath is more or less part of the Land of Canaan and most of Jacob’s sons and grandsons grew up near there.  However, Ephraim was born in Egypt and never lived in Canaan.  This is not an important thing, but it tells us that the Israelites raided into Canaan after Jacob’s family moved to Egypt.  Second, I noticed that the writer tells us that complete genealogies were kept in the records of the kings of Israel and Judah.   Or, at least, that is how I read chapter 9 verse 1.  At some point I may look into whether Hebrew scholars agree with my understanding of what is written here.  The other thing I noticed was that after listing genealogies for all of the tribes, the writer writes about those who first resettled in the land after the Exile.  This tells us that the Books of Chronicles were compiled after the Israelites returned from Exile.  I know some people who conclude from this that ALL of the Old Testament was compiled after the Exile.  However, that does not follow and we have portions of the Torah from before the Exile.  The fragile nature of paper and parchment makes it somewhat surprising we have even that.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 10, 2022 Bible Study — Reuben Lost His Birthright And The Genealogy Of The Levites

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

And today we have another passage of genealogies.  The writer makes a point that Reuben lost his rights of first born because he slept with one of Jacob’s wives.  Interestingly, the writer thought it important to point out that even though Judah was the strongest of Reuben’s brothers and that the ruler came from the tribe of Judah, it was Joseph who received the rights of first born after Reuben lost them.  Was this included to explain how the Kingdom of Israel divided?  Or, does it serve some other purpose?  I find it interesting that the writer listed the places to which the Assyrians exiled the tribes who had lived east of the Jordan River.  After writing about the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, the writer goes on to outline the genealogy of the tribe of Levi.  The writer goes on to write about those who King David assigned musical duties around the Ark of the Covenant after he brought it to Jerusalem.  All of these genealogies had great significance to those who returned to Jerusalem and the land of Israel after the Exile.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 9, 2022 Bible Study — Things To Be Learned From Reading The Genealogies In The Bible

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

I have written time and again that I get little out of the genealogies in the Bible, nevertheless I believe they have value and seek to find it each time I come to them.  Today, reading this passage I received confirmation of something that had gradually been rising in my awareness.  The family of Jesse, King David’s father, was prominent in the tribe of Judah, and thus in all of Israel, before David rose to prominence.  Jesse was descended from Boaz, who was descended from Nahshon.  Nahshon was the leader of the tribe of Judah during the Exodus.  That fact is not terribly important, but it does help us understand why King David’s nephews (Joab, Amasa, and a few others) kept cropping up in the accounts of his reign as people he had to negotiate with rather than just command.  Again this demonstrates the value of reading and re-reading the Bible, even the “boring parts”.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 8, 2022 Bible Study — When Did The Divisions Begin, And Why Are Those People So Different From Us?

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

I have written this before, but I struggle with writing anything about the passages of genealogies.  For the most part, genealogies just do not interest me very much.  Sometimes I get fascinated by looking at my own in order to see how I may be related to someone else, or even how two other people are related to each other.  Which brings us to what I think is the main point of this genealogy being here: to show the people of Israel how they were related to the peoples living around them.  To a degree, this served to explain the similarities and differences between the peoples around the Israelites: “These people are very different from you because their ancestors separated from your ancestors a long time ago, while these people are not as different from you because they shared a common ancestor with you more recently.”  Now I want to write about the first thing which stood out to me today.  The writer tells us that Peleg was named that because in his time the earth was divided.   Some sources I have found say that the Hebrew word translated as “earth” can also be translated as “nations”.    Those sources, and some others, also suggest that perhaps the passage means that the division of languages which occurred at the Tower of Babel happened during Peleg’s lifetime.  However, that raises the question as to why it is important that the earth was divided in Peleg’s lifetime?  Wouldn’t that have also been his brother Joktan’s lifetime? And at least some of the other people mentioned here?  The answer to that question is that Peleg was Abraham’s ancestor.  Tracking back the ancestors of the Israelites, it was in Peleg’s time that the “earth” was divided.  So, those whose common ancestor was before Peleg might not be any more different from each other than anybody whose common ancestor was contemporary with Peleg.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 7, 2022 Bible Study — Even If It Is Too Late For The Nation,, We Can Still Inspire People To Serve God

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

Josiah may be my favorite king of Judah.  He used the power of his office to turn the people of Israel away from idol worship and evil practices and towards God.  He did this not for political power or for wealth, but because it was the right thing to do.  Josiah shows us that just because someone has evil parents, does not mean they will be evil (to be fair, perhaps Josiah’s mother was a good woman and contributed to his dedication to God).  Josiah’s father had been an evil king, perhaps the worst of the kings over any of Israel and Judah.  However, this passage also shows us that having a righteous ruler is not enough to save a people.  While evil rulers led the people to sin, and good rulers led them to serve God, the people still need to choose for themselves who they will serve.  As soon as Josiah had died he was succeeded by his sons and grandsons, none of whom followed in his footsteps.  Josiah knew that his actions would not be enough, but he still did the best that he could and strove to lead people to God.  Let us strive to do likewise.  It is never too late for people to turn to God, even if it is too late for the nation to do so.  I am not saying that it is too late for any nation today to turn to God, but even if it is, we should still make the effort to get people to turn to Him.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 6, 2022 Bible Study — Are We Willing To Accept The Proof God Offers Of His Existence?

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

I have always loved the account of King Sennacherib’s threat to Jerusalem and  what followed.  Sennacherib, like many conquerors before and after him, became convinced that not even God could stand against him.  He declared that since the gods of other nations had failed to rescue their people from the armies of his predecessors, God would be unable to deliver Judah from him.  Yet, shortly after making this declaration, Sennacherib was forced to turn aside against a powerful foe and then returned to his capital without even besieging Jerusalem.  I am quite confident that Sennacherib died without ever realizing that he had been proven wrong, that God had indeed rescued King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from his hand.  Those who choose to reject God will never see His hand in action.  This reminds me of a story I hear from time to time that goes like this.

An atheist professor was in front of his classroom telling his students that there is no God and he would prove it to them. He stood up on his desk, looked up at the ceiling, and shouted, “God, if you exist, knock me off of this desk right now.” He then stood there for a few minutes then looked at the students and said, “See, there is no God, but maybe you think I did not give him long enough.” He looked back at the ceiling and shouted once more, “God, if you exist, knock me off of this desk. If you cannot knock me off of this desk, then you clearly do not exist.” The professor stood there a few more minutes looking at the ceiling. Then just as he looked down and opened his mouth to speak again, a student from the back of the classroom tackled him and knocked him off of the desk.

The story as I heard it contains a bit more, but that is all the further we need go to illustrate the point I want to make.  Many people would say that the professor’s point was made, but was it?  He said that if God existed He should knock him off the desk, and the professor was indeed knocked off of the desk.  Some might argue that the student knocked him off the desk, not God, but how do we know that God did not move the student to act?  No, this story, if it really happened, does not prove that God exists, but if you told me that you had been the professor, I would advise you to be careful about what challenges you lay before God in the future.  Actually, Even if you are not that professor, I will advise you to be careful about what challenges you lay before God.  If you are going to challenge God’s power and existence, please do so in a way where proof of his power and existence brings you benefit, not harm.

Once upon a time, I questioned God’s existence.  I doubted that He was real and sought proof of His existence.  I found arguments which suggested that He might exist, but nothing rose to the level of proof.  Finally, I challenged God, but not as Sennacherib did.  Instead, I told God, “I am going to live as if You are real.  Prove to me that I am correct to do so.”   Within weeks of doing so, I had the proof I had been seeking for so long.  I cannot prove to you that God exists, but if you ask Him, and are willing to accept the proof He offers, He can.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 5, 2022 Bible Study — Israel’s Downfall Was Because They Wanted To Be Like Everyone Else

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

Hoshea became the last king of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.   The writer tells us that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not as bad as his predecessors.  Nevertheless, God had the Assyrians take the people of Israel into exile because of their sins.  God had told the Israelites to live holy lives and forbade them from imitating the nations around them.  Yet they did not listen and desired to be like those around them.   There are two different points I want to make here, maybe they will come together into one.  Initially the people of the Northern Kingdom made their own gods to worship, but kept most of the practices which God had commanded them.  But, over time they began to worship the gods of their neighbors.  First, those whose worship was somewhat similar to that which God commanded, but with sexual licentiousness.  Soon, they went on to gods whose worship called for them to kill their own children.   They had been called to live as an example to others, but they didn’t want to be different.  Rather than trust God to care for them, they tried to obtain success by being like the people around them.  This is a mistake that we make again and again, both as individuals and as nations.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 4, 2022 Bible Study — Unity Of Worship Leads To Unity Of The Nation

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

I have thought about this from time to time, but I do not think I have ever written about it.  Up through King David, and even early in the reign of King Solomon, the Bible references various people, including David and Solomon, offering sacrifices at various places throughout the land of Israel, and does so in a positive manner.  However, after King Solomon there are numerous kings of Judah about whom the Bible says  some variation of this, “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.  The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.”  The context seems to suggest that the writer considered that second sentence to reflect poorly on the king in question.  What changed?  Actually, the real question is, why weren’t the biblical writers as bothered by it in the times before King Solomon as they were after?

In Deuteronomy 12 Moses told the Israelites that they were to destroy all of the high places where the people they were dispossessing worshiped their gods and make their offerings at the place God will choose to put His name, and only there.   So, clearly, failing to get the people to stop worshiping at the high places violated that command.  But why was it not a problem for those leaders who preceded King Solomon?  The answer I think is twofold.  First the passage in Deuteronomy suggests that God would not choose that place until after He had given the Israelites peace.  Following up on that the writer of 2 Samuel clearly suggests when recounting David’s desire to build a Temple that this did not happen until Solomon was king (or, more precisely would not happen until David’s son was king, since that writer does not specify Solomon).  The second piece, which really is related to that first piece, is that while the Israelites worked together under Moses and Joshua, they were very much separate tribes until they started to truly become one nation under David.  The process actually started under King Saul and did not complete until Solomon was king (and then only lasted his lifetime).  The Temple represented the culmination of that unification and, of course, that was why Jeroboam felt it necessary to replace it with golden calves at both ends of the Northern Kingdom when he rebelled against Rehoboam.

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

Daily Bible Study

May 3, 2022 Bible Study — Don’t Expect God To Be On Our Side, Strive To Always Be On God’s Side

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

The writer tells us that Jehu’s son, grandson, and great grandson did evil in God’s sight by following the sins of Jeroboam.  However, we are told that Jehu’s grandson, Jehoash was stricken by grief over Elisha’s death.  In addition, Elisha blessed him by prophesying victory by him over Aram.  Further, God used Jehoash’s son, Jeroboam, to restore the borders of Israel and rescue the people of Israel from their suffering.  On the other hand, while Amaziah, king of Judah, did right in the eyes of God, he became cocky after his defeat of Edom and lost a war he instigated with Israel.  Which should serve to remind us that those who serve God do not have a carte blanche to go up against those who do not serve God.  Or, as Abraham Lincoln is supposed to have said, we should not be seeking to have God on our side, rather we should seek to do that which puts us on God’s side.  King Amaziah chose to go to war with Israel, thinking that God would be on his side, never considering that by doing so he might not be on God’s side.

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