I am trying something different. Previously, I have always placed my comments on the passage in the order Old Testament passage, New Testament passage, Psalm, Proverb. For the near future I am going to post them in the order in which I prepare the comments. This is likely to be the reverse of how I was doing it, but I foresee changing it up depending on what strikes me first. Please let me know what you think of this change.
I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day, or more. in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
I read today’s passage from proverbs several times because I was bothered by the emphasis on the woman leading the man astray which the proverb writer seems to emphasize a lot. Then I noticed something, the proverb writer points out that the young man lacked sense. He then described how the young man walked in the direction of “her house”. While the woman came out to meet him and seduced him, he went looking for her in the first place. This is like so many of our sins, we blame the source of temptation, even though we intentionally put ourselves in a position to be tempted.
The psalmist calls on heavenly beings to honor the Lord for His glory and His power. The psalmist reminds us that the mere voice of the Lord has power.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is majestic.
It was by His voice that He created the Universe.
As Jesus left the Temple He told His disciples that the time was coming when the Temple would be completely torn down. When they were alone with Jesus they asked Him when that would happen. Jesus answered their question by telling them that many would come claiming to be the Messiah. He also told them that their would be wars and rumors of wars. Then He told them (and us) not to be alarmed. He tells them (and us) that many trials and tribulations will come. His followers will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. False prophets will arise and deceive many. Most importantly, the Gospel will be preached to all parts of the world. There will be false prophets and false messiahs who perform great signs which will deceive even some who are among God’s elect (the implication is that the deception of God’s elect will be short-lived). Jesus warns us that when He returns there will be no mistaking it, everyone will know.
I believe that much of what Jesus is talking about in this passage applies to what happened leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D.. However, I, also, believe that significant portions of it apply to us up until the time when Jesus returns. If we remain faithful we will face persecution. There will be many who will attempt to deceive us (and others) into believing things contrary to what Jesus taught. Most importantly, there will be no question in anyone’s mind when Jesus returns, we do not need to fear that He returned and we missed it.
When God gave commands to the people of Israel concerning justice in their courts, He emphasized the importance of not favoring someone just because they are poor. He warns them against slanting their testimony in favor of the poor. In the same section He commanded them not to be swayed by the crowd to twist justice. It is only after commanding us to return even our enemies property that we find mislaid (or wandered off in the case of animals) and to help when we see someone whose animal is overburdened (this command seems to me to extend to helping someone whose car has broken down) that He commands us to be sure to give justice to the poor in lawsuits. All in all these commands emphasize the importance of the law being applied with an even hand to both the rich and poor, to the powerful and to the helpless.
- Do not spread false reports
- Do not lie on the witness stand
- Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong
- Do not twist your testimony in order to side with the crowd
- Do not show favoritism to the poor
- If you see your enemy having problems, help him/her
- Do not deny the poor justice
- Avoid false charges
- Do not take bribes
- Do not oppress the foreigner
There is a thread about how the law should be the same for everyone running through these commands.