Monthly Archives: April 2023

Daily Bible Study

April 21, 2023 Bible Study –Invite “Foreigners” To Join Us By Confessing And Turning From Our Sins

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 8.

In the Book of Exodus we were told that Moses placed the tablets containing God’s law, a jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff in the ark of the covenant.  This passage tells us that when Solomon had the ark moved into the temple, it contained only the two tablets.  I am unsure if there is any significance to the fact that the jar of manna and Aaron’s staff were lost between the time of Moses and the time of Solomon, but I believe that the writer intended for us to be aware that they were indeed lost at that time.  I want to note that I am writing about this even though I do not see any spiritual significance to it, because it is a detail which I have never given much thought that strikes me today as something which may have spiritual significance.  I am hoping that by writing this in my blog today will make it something I remember if I come across another passage which gives it significance.

However, I want to focus on Solomon’s prayer dedicating the temple, as I do most years when I read this passage.  I want to comment on three aspects of his prayer.  First, Solomon acknowledges that God will not, and cannot, be contained within the temple, or any other structure or even geographical region.  God’s power to hear us and act extends to wherever we may find ourselves.  The second aspect is actually three part.  Solomon acknowledges that all of us will sin.  Solomon then asks God to forgive anyone who confesses their sin, turns away from it, and prays to God for forgiveness.  Solomon does not ask God to forgive those who refuse to admit that they have sinned, or even those who admit their sin but refuse to give it up.  No, in order to be forgiven, and healed, by God we must do three things:

  • We must admit that we have sinned
  • We must turn from that sin
  • We must ask God for forgiveness

The same is true for when we have sinned against our fellows.  Finally, I want to note that Solomon asks God to extend His love and welcome into His family anyone who seeks Him.  I may be overstating what Solomon was asking, but he did indeed ask that God act so that all the people of the earth would know and fear Him as the people of Israel already did.  So, let us turn to God from our sin and call out to Him for forgiveness and let us recognize that God wishes to extend His love to those who have not yet met Him (and act so that they choose to turn to Him along with us).

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

Daily Bible Study

April 20, 2023 Bible Study — Getting Our Priorities Straight And Using Beauty To Worship God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 7.

The first thing we are told in today’s passage is that Solomon spent thirteen years building his palace, one year less than twice as long as he took to have the Temple built.  Every time I read that it causes me to wonder if Solomon put more time and effort into his own interests as he did in to praising and serving God.  However, I realized today that it took Solomon thirteen years o build at least two buildings, and perhaps a third, whereas the Temple was a single building.  So, “Solomon’s Palace” was the Hall of Justice, where Solomon presided over his court making judgements in cases brought before him and, probably, holding audiences for visiting dignitaries, and the palace where he lived.  In addition, the writer may have included the time it took to build a palace for Pharoah’s daughter, whom Solomon had wed.  It would naturally take longer to build these two or three buildings than it took to build the one building of the Temple.

I planned to make the main focus of today’s entry about the flourishes in the decorations of the Temple furnishings, but I am not sure it will be of much note.  When I read this passage looking for what to read, I took note of the fact that the bronze sea (kind of a very large basin for water) that Huram made for Solomon’s Temple rested on twelve bronze bulls.  This reminded me of the golden calf which Aaron made for the Israelites to worship while Moses was on Mount Sinai, and the two calves which Jeroboam made for the Israelites to worship after he rebelled against Rehoboam.  I am confident that the calf which Aaron made and those made by Jeroboam were both related to the same aspect of Hebrew mythology, but I suspect that the bulls which the sea rested upon had a completely unrelated symbology.  In an effort to see why the supports for the sea were shaped to resemble bulls, I looked at the other flourishes on the furnishings made for the Temple.  So, there were bronze pomegranates decorating the network of chains around the tops of the pillars.  The capitals on the tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies.  There were movable stands with side panels decorated with bulls, lion, and cherubim.  In addition, the supports for these stands had lions, cherubim, and palm trees engraved upon them.  All of this leads me to believe that the bulls were included as a symbol of strength, as were the lions, while the other things were beautiful embellishments intended to increase the sense of wonder and joy experienced by those who worshiped in the Temple.

pomegranates, lilies, bulls, lion, cherubim, floral work

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

Daily Bible Study

April 19, 2023 Bible Study — Let Us Strive To Live Peacefully Under Our Own “Vine and Fig Tree”

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 4-6.

First, I want to note that this passage lists “Shimei son of Ela” as one of King Solomon’s governors.  So, perhaps the Shimei who failed to support Adonijah’s attempt for the throne was this Shimei rather than Shimei son of Gera, or perhaps that was a third Shimei.  I usually look at Solomon’s preparations for and then building the temple, but today I want to look at some other things in this passage.  The writer makes the point that everyone in Israel lived safely under their own vine and fig tree.  The phrase “everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree” seems to me likely to be an idiom.  Considering the context, I think it would be an idiom for safety and peace.  In fact, this expression is used twice more in the Old Testament: once in Micah and another time in Zechariah.

I think the writer is contrasting life for Israelites under Solomon to what things were like under the Judges and even under King Saul.  In those earlier times there was a lot more raiding between the various peoples of the region (take a look at the account of how David and his men lived while they were among the Philistines in Ziklag, and even what happened to Ziklag when David and his men went with the Philistine army).  Further, it gives us an idea about why David conquered the neighbors he did while remaining peaceful with the Phoenicians (or, more accurately as it is understood today, the Canaanites of the Tyre and Sidon regions).  The other areas around Israel spent a lot of time raiding their neighbors, while those we now know as the Phoenicians were more interested in trade with those they encountered.  Solomon’s borders were the Hittite empire to the north, the Egyptian empire to the south, basically desert to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east, except for the areas controlled by Tyre and Byblos (I believe that Tyre controlled Sidon at this time, while Byblos is mentioned as a separate entity in this passage) which were on the northern part of his eastern border.  We can learn from this that peoples prosper when they live by their own efforts and trade peacefully with those around them.

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

Daily Bible Study

April 18, 2023 Bible Study — Be A Man, Walk In Obedience To God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 2-3.

I like reviewing the pragmatic, and fair, way in which Solomon dealt with issues he had left over from the situation surrounding his taking the throne.  However, today I want to write about the first part of David’s instructions to Solomon as Solomon took the throne.  In particular, David tells Solomon to “be strong, act like a man.”  I do believe that David meant that being strong was part of what it meant to act like a man, or to make this lesson more general being strong is part of what it means to act like an adult.  We should all strive to act like adults.  David goes on to tell Solomon to observe what God requires and walk in obedience to Him.  This was also part of what it meant to act like a man, or like an adult.  David tells Solomon that if he does these things, he will prosper in whatever he does and wherever he goes.  While there was a materialistic element to what David meant by prosper, I believe that plays a minor part in the message which God has for us here.  If we choose to be strong, observe what God requires and walk in obedience to Him, we will prosper in all that we do.  We may not obtain material wealth, but we will succeed in what we do.  As for what it means to prosper in all that we do, I heard a story recently:

A man felt compelled by the Spirit to witness to an atheist friend and co-worker, who he knew was not receptive to the Gospel. He tried to dismiss it, but he felt compelled to invite the man to upcoming Easter Services. So, he yielded to the Spirit and did so. As he had expected his atheist friend turned him down, after the man had once again made the case for Christ and the Resurrection. The man went about his way, thinking he had not succeeded on that day. Some years later, he ran into a former co-worker who had worked with in the same building. This co-worker extended his sincerest thanks to the man. It turns out that while the man was trying to convince his atheist friend to come to services with him on Easter, this other co-worker was beneath another desk in the same office, connecting wires and overheard the conversation. Having heard the case made by the man for Christ and the Resurrection, the co-worker went home and told his wife they should go to services that Easter morning. A year later the co-worker and his wife gave their lives to the Lord. So, the original man thought that he had failed, but he was mistaken. He had instead prospered in what he did because he walked in obedience to God.

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

Daily Bible Study

April 17, 2023 Bible Study — Adonijah Miscalculates His Support

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

There is a meme going around social media (and it has been going around off and on for awhile) that goes, “Tell me you are … without telling me you are …”  This book starts off with something about which I would say, “Tell me that David was no longer able to rule without telling me that David was no longer able to rule.”  The writer told us that David’s attendants got him a young woman to lie in his bed and keep him warm and that he did not have sexual relations with her, which was his way of saying that David was no longer able to truly do his job as king, that his various attendants were doing the things which really should be done by the king.  Which led his eldest surviving son, Adonijah, to decide to crown himself as king.  But, he knew he could not do so on his own, that he needed the support of, at least some, David’s inner circle.  It appears to me that he spoke to all of those mentioned and Joab, commander of the army, and Abiathar, the co-high priest, threw their support behind him, while that Zadok, the other high priest, Benaiah, the commander of David’s bodyguards, Nathan the prophet, and Shimei and Rei (we have no further identification of these last two, but I have always assumed that this Shimei was the same Shimei as the one who cursed David when he fled from Absalom).  Having obtained what he believed was sufficient support from David’s inner circle, Adonijah proceeded to crown himself as king.  I find it telling that Adonijah invited all of David’s other surviving sons, except Solomon, and all of the royal officials except Nathan and Benaiah to his coronation feast.

When Nathan learned that Adonijah was going through with making himself king, he went to Bathsheba and got her to go to David and ask him why Adonijah was being made king when David had promised her that Solomon would be king after him.  Now, I always wonder if David had actually made this promise, since there is no mention of it before this point in time.  However, I realized today that even if David had never made such a promise, the fact that Solomon was the only one of David’s other sons whom Adonijah had not invited to his coronation feast indicates that Solomon was known as David’s choice to take the throne after his death.  David’s response to the news that Adonijah was attempting to make himself king was to send Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah, along with David’s bodyguard to make Solomon king.  Before today I never noticed that David’s bodyguard was composed on non-Hebrews, Kerethites and Pelethites.  As best scholars can determine, these two ethnic groups were either Philistines, or closely associated with Philistines (the best explanation I can see is that Pelethite was a word for Philistines who allied with Israel and Kerethites were a closely related ethnic group who did likewise).  This made me realize that a good bit of David’s success came from his willingness to incorporate those who were not Hebrews into his forces and the administration of his kingdom.  If we look at David’s mighty men, and at the accounts of those who followed him we see that from the beginning, David welcomed any who chose to loyally follow him.  And to a large degree, Adonijah’s failure resulted from his thinking that he did not need the non-Israelites in David’s court on his side.

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

Daily Bible Study

April 16, 2023 Bible Study — A Leader Should Seek To Keep Those He Leads From Suffering For His Mistakes

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Samuel 23-24.

Today’s passage starts with what it says are David’s last words.  I do not think they mean that he spoke this on his death bed.  Rather, I think this was a psalm he put together when he realized that he would soon die which was intended to be his last message to the people of Israel, sort of like the farewell speech a President might give as he leaves office.  Then the passage gives us a list of the men whose exploits led to so much of David’s success.  Finally, we have the account of David’s census and the plague which resulted from it, leading to David selecting the spot where the Temple would be built.  Again, we see Joab try to talk David out of this bad idea (although the passage does not explain why it was a bad idea), which is yet another example of the complex relationship between David and Joab.  According to this passage, when David received the results of this census he realized that he had sinned against God by having this census taken.  As I said, the passage does not explain what sin David had committed here.  Perhaps it was his failure to collect the “census tax” which God had commanded Moses to collect, or, perhaps it was because David felt the need to know the number of fighting men he could muster rather than relying on God that there would be enough for whatever wars God led him into.

In any case, when the prophet Gad came to David the following morning offering David a choice of consequences, David chose to fall into the hands of God, rather than into the hands of men.  Then later, when David witnessed the people suffering, he asked God to not punish the people he led for his sin but instead to punish him directly.  Whenever my Dad spoke about this passage he always focused on David’s desire that God mete out the punishment for his sin directly.  God has great mercy, but we humans all too often want others to suffer more than called for by their misdeed.  I, always think about the importance of leaders taking responsibility for their mistakes and striving to keep those they lead from suffering for them.

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

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April 15, 2023 Bible Study — The Lord Lives! Exalted Be My God!

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 20-22.

Before I get to my main point I want to touch on what I talked about in yesterday’s blog.  In today’s passage, we have another instance where Joab killed someone whom David had appointed to take his place as commander over the army of Israel (although in this case, it was only the army of Judah at the time).  We also have another instance where Abishai acted to defend David.  Just further illustrations of the complicated relationship David had with these two brothers.

I want to write about the psalm of David included here as my primary focus.  First, as I have said about this psalm in the past, I love the imagery in it.  I wish I had the talent to draw the images which it evokes in my mind’s eye.  David describes the trouble he was in with language which conveys a visual image of that distress.  I picture a cloud of grey smoke which takes on a more tangible form as it wraps around him.  Then we have the cry which carries across vast differences until it is heard by God upon His throne.  God leaps up and an earthquake of immense proportion shakes everything.  Smoke pours out from God’s nose, and fire comes out of His mouth as He bellows in anger.  The next part brings to my mind the images sometimes used for Zeus: God mounted on a chariot (although that is not what David describes), surrounded by storm clouds to the point of almost being obscured, except for the brightness of His being and the lightning which bursts forth to sunder His enemies.  That brightness is where this differs from being a more majestic display of the cartoon images I remember of Zeus on his chariot.  I picture a brightness which does not allow His form to be made out.  Then, a hand reaches out from the brightness, and the dark clouds and grasps David and lifts him out of His troubles, the grey ropes of smoke being dissipated by God’s brightness and those who turned them on David cowering in fear.

Then comes the part of the psalm which both takes me some thought to interpret, and great hope for myself when I understand what I think it says.  David says that God has dealt with him according to his righteousness and that he has not turned away from God.  David continues to say that he is blameless before God.  Yet this is recorded here only a short ways after the writer had told us about David’s affair with Bathsheba and his plot to kill her husband in order to cover it up.  So, what are we to make of this?  Well, Nathan told David that God had taken away his sin.  In the same way, we are told that God has taken away our sin through our faith in Jesus.  So, we too can present ourselves as blameless before God, as can anyone, even the most heinous sinner*, who repents of their sin and puts their faith in Christ.  I want to go back to the beginning of the psalm for a moment: I am convinced that the distress which David expressed there was about his terrible sin, and that a portion of the great rescue he experienced was God taking that sin away.  So, once God has taken our sin away, as He did David’s, we can experience what David felt when he wrote:

The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior!

Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing the praises of your name.

*I want to go back and touch on that bit about the “heinous sinner”.  Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:15 that he is the worst of all sinners.  And I as I wrote this today it occurred to me that we too should think of ourselves as having been the worst of all sinners, saved only by God’s marvelous grace to become holy and blameless in His sight.

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

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April 14, 2023 Bible Study — David’s Complex Relationship With Joab And Abishai

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Samuel 18-19.

Today’s passage once again shows us the contradictions in King David’s complicated relationship with the sons of Zeruiah, David’s sister, which makes them his nephews.  While fleeing Jerusalem ahead of Absalom, David had reprimanded Abishai for suggesting that Shimei should be killed for cursing David.  And in his reprimand David had expressed unhappiness with both Abishai and his brother Joab.  No sooner had David established himself in Mahanaim then he appointed Joab and Abishai as two of the three commanders over his army.  Then, after the victory of David’s army over Absalom’s army, and Absalom’s death, Joab confronts David over the way his mourning for Absalom is disheartening his army, and the threat that poses to David’s safety.  Finally, Abishai once more called on David to have Shimei killed as David re-establishes himself as king of Israel, a recommendation which David gets angry about.  Abishai’s argument for executing Shimei echoes David’s condemnation of wanting to kill King Saul when the two of them had  snuck into Saul’s camp, and David’s justification for ordering the execution of the Amalekite who claimed to have administered the coup-de-gras to King Saul.  I would struggle more to understand David’s hostility towards Joab and Abishai were it not for the two occasions where Joab killed the men David had attempted to replace Joab with as commander over his armies.  As I said on the 12th, I think David’s hostility has to do with Joab and Abishai only being concerned with what they perceived as best for themselves, David, or the kingdom rather than giving any thought to what was the right thing to do.

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

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April 13, 2023 Bible Study — Absalom Seeks Vengeance On His Father And Those Who Followed Him

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Samuel 16-17.

When Hushai presented himself to Absalom, Absalom was initially skeptical of Hushai.  However, when Ahithophel, who was generally considered to be a very wise advisor, advised Absalom to give him a small force to pursue David, Absalom sought Hushai’s advice before taking Ahithophel’s advice, and then chose Hushai’s advice over that of Ahithophel.  Let’s look at this a little closer.  Absalom followed Ahithophel’s advice to sleep with David’s concubines without question or delay.  But when Ahithophel advised Absalom to send a force under someone else’s command after David, he balked.    One of the things which Ahithophel advised was to only kill David and to welcome those of his followers who turned to follow Absalom after David’s death. While Hushai advised killing all of those who had chosen to follow David as he fled from Absalom.  I believe that this played almost as much of a role in Absalom heeding Hushai’s advice as the glory he felt he would receive as leader of the army which defeated David.  It seems likely that Absalom wanted to see those who did not abandon his father to follow him pay a price for their loyalty to David.  Perhaps Absalom blamed his father, and those who remained loyal to him, for Amnon raping his sister.  Or, perhaps he just wanted vengeance on them because they had not immediately come over to his side.  In either case, Absalom provides a case study in making bad decisions.  He rejected good advice in favor of bad advice which stroked his ego.

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

Daily Bible Study

April 12, 2023 Bible Study — Sometimes There Is More To Being A Loyal Friend Than Helping Someone To Get What They Want

Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Samuel 14-15.

We know from other passages that David would have liked to reduce Joab’s influence (and that of Joab’s brother) over his policies.  Yet, when I read this passage, and a couple of others which describe Joab’s actions, Joab appears to have acted in David’s interest (or, at least, what Joab perceived to be David’s interest) in every occasion but one (and in that one, Joab appears to have acted in what he believed to be the kingdom’s interest).  In this case, Joab recognized that David was saddened by Absalom being exiled.  So, Joab took action to convince David to end Absalom’s exile.  Every time I have read this passage I have wondered at David’s hostility towards Joab and his brothers.  Then today, as I was trying to put this together I realized the answer.   While Joab did what he thought was best for David and his kingdom, and sometimes got David to do what Joab knew he wanted to do, he did not seek God’s guidance in deciding what those things were.  Take this incident as an example, Joab convinced David to bring Absalom back from exile because he knew that David desired to do so.  And Joab got David to not only bring Absalom back from exile, but to recognize him as his son, and heir, once more.  These two things led to Absalom plotting to take the throne by force.  Perhaps it was this sort of encouragement by Joab which led David to sin with Bathsheba in the first place.  It was certainly Joab’s willingness to carry out David’s commands, even when they were wrong, which led to David killing Uriah.

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