I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     David fled from Saul into the wilderness. His relatives joined him there, since they knew that Saul would come after them when he could not get David directly. In addition, David was joined by other men, mostly troublemakers and other discontents, for a total of 400 men. After securing the protection of the king of Moab for his parents, David returned to Judah. When Saul heard that David had returned to Judah, he threw a fit in front of his men, accusing them of being disloyal and Jonathan of plotting with David to have Saul killed. When Doeg, the Edomite, heard Saul’s rant, he came forward and offered that he had seen David consult with the priest, Ahimelech, who gave David supplies.
     Saul sent for Ahimelech and his entire family of priests. When Ahimelech appeared before Saul, Saul accused him of plotting with David against him. Ahimelech replied that he had no reason to suspect that Saul’s son-in-law, the captain of Saul’s bodyguard was plotting against Saul. Saul would hear nothing of Ahimelech’s defense and ordered his bodyguards to kill him and his family. His bodyguards refused to kill priests of God. Saul then turned to Doeg and asked him to kill them. Doeg did so and then went to their home town and killed all of their relatives and livestock. Only Abiathar, Ahimelech’s son, escaped. He fled to David in the wilderness.
     When Abiathar joined David, David expressed deep regret that he had been the cause of he murder of Abiather’s family and promised to protect him with his life. Shortly after this the Philistines began raiding an Israelite town. David consulted the Lord and felt led to go defend the town. His men were afraid to go up against the Philistines, so David asked God for more direction. Once more David received guidance from God to defend that town. This time his men were convinced. David and his men slaughtered the Philistines raiding the town and rescued the people of the town. When Saul learned that David had gone there he mustered his army and headed out to trap David in the town. David learned of Saul’s plan and once more consulted God. He asked if Saul would indeed come after him there and if the people would betray him. God answered both questions in the affirmative. So David and his men, now up to about 600, left the town and returned to the wilderness.
     Jonathan came out to visit David in the wilderness and express his continued friendship. Shortly after Jonathan’s visit, some of the men of the region where David was hiding out went to Saul and told him where David was. Saul sent them back to track David more closely, then followed with his army. When David heard that Saul was bringing his army after him, he withdrew even further into the wilderness. Finally, as Saul was about to overtake David and bring him to battle, he received word that the Philistines were attacking. Saul withdrew his army to defend against the Philistines.
     Perhaps I am making too much of it, but throughout this passage I see a difference in how the two men chose their actions. Saul chose his actions, always looking for how it benefited himself and enhanced his power, factoring in worshiping the Lord as just one more political calculation. David on the other hand, sought the Lord’s guidance every step of the way. Which is the way that I approach life?

     Today’s passage is Jesus’ illustration of Himself as the good shepherd, who cares for the sheep. In it He contrasted Himself to those who taught contrary to what He taught. He compared those other teachers to thieves and robbers, who are out to slaughter the sheep. As opposed to a good shepherd who is willing to die to protect his sheep. In addition to referring to Himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus also compared Himself to the gate through which good shepherds come. Thieves and robbers come over the wall, but good shepherds come through the gate.
     So, we have two messages for us in one illustration. The first is the most obvious. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and laid down His life for us His sheep. He even tells us how we can tell if we, or someone else, is part of His flock. Those who are part of Jesus’ flock will listen to His voice and follow Him. Not all of those who were part of Jesus’ flock were Jews. But Jesus said that He would go, gather those other sheep and make one flock out of all of them. The second message is more subtle. Jesus tells us that He is the gate, any teacher or religious leader who does not come through Him is a thief and a robber, looking to use the sheep for his own benefit, no matter what the cost to the sheep. This gives us a guide to judge those who are proclaimed religious leaders. Do they come through Jesus? Do they suffer so that their sheep may live in comfort? Or do their sheep suffer so that they can live in comfort?

     This psalm is a reminder of what we should desire when we cry out to God for Him to rescue us and/or bless us. We do not call out to God for rescue so that we might live a life of ease, but rather so that God may be glorified. Let us seek blessings from God, not for ourselves, but so that we may use them to benefit others to the glory of God.

     There are two ways to look at today’s proverbs. The first is to consider them as advice, and they are good advice. If we allow our temper to get the better of us, we will start fights and stir up conflict. On the other hand, if we are patient and calm we will be able to soothe conflict and bring peace to those around us. If we are lazy, we will constantly find obstacles blocking our path to doing what is right. On the other hand, if we are upright and righteous, our path will be clear.
     The second way to look at this proverb is as a way to judge our own behaviors. Are we always surrounded by conflicts and getting into fights? Then we are hot-tempered. On the other hand, do we find ourselves soothing and calming those who are angry and bringing peace to those around us? Then we are cool-tempered and patient. Do we see obstacles in our path whenever we try to do the right thing? Perhaps the problem is not the obstacles, but our own laziness. On the other hand, if doing the right thing always seems obvious and almost easy, perhaps it reflects that we are truly dedicated to following God. This really challenges me, because I have been seeing obstacles whenever I try to do what I think that God is leading me to do.

     I want to say up front that today was a challenging day for me to complete this blog. I had a lot of things that I needed to get done and was not able to dedicate the amount of time to this as I believe today’s passages deserve. I am going to need to work on how I prioritize my day so as to give my writing on here the effort it deserves.
     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     Samuel delivered a message to Saul in which he told Saul that God wanted him to destroy the Amalekites. Samuel told Saul that he was to destroy all of the Amalekites and all of their livestock. In response to this command from God through Samuel Saul mustered the armies of Israel. Before beginning his attack on the Amalekites, Saul sent word to the Kenites living among them warning them to move away from the Amalekites. The passage tells us that the Kenites packed up and left. Saul then attacked the Amalekites and killed all of them, except that he took their king captive. In addition, rather than destroying all of their livestock, the Israelite army spared the best of the Amalekites livestock. They only destroyed those animals which were undesirable.
     After Saul’s victory, Samuel received word from God that Saul had not obeyed the command that he had been given. Samuel went looking for Saul. When Samuel found Saul the first thing Saul said to Samuel was to claim to have followed the command from God that Samuel had given him. When Saul said that, Samuel said, “If that’s true, why do I hear the sounds of livestock?” Saul responded, “Oh, we only kept the best of the livestock in order to offer them as a sacrifice to God, but we destroyed all the rest.”
     Samuel pointed out to Saul that at one time Saul was humble but God made him leader and king over Israel. Now Samuel asked Saul why he had failed to obey God’s command to completely destroy the Amalekites and their livestock. Rather than at that moment confessing his sin and begging for forgiveness, Saul claimed that he had followed God’s commands and his troops had only kept the best of the livestock in order to offer them as a sacrifice to God at Gilgal. Notice the deflection of blame; Saul said that he hadn’t done anything wrong and if it was wrong not to destroy the livestock it was his men who did it, not him. And they only did it in order to offer sacrifices to God.
     Samuel rejected Saul’s defense of his actions and told Saul that God had rejected him as king. And at this point we begin to see Saul’s error more clearly. Only now when Samuel refused to accept Saul’s attempts to justify his actions does Saul admit that he had done wrong. But even now, he attempted to blame others for his own shortcomings, Saul claimed that he only did it because he was afraid of the men and gave in to them. Saul asked Samuel to forgive him and come back with him to the victory celebration. Samuel initially refused and began to leave. Saul grabbed Samuel and begged him to come back. Saul asked Samuel to honor him before the elders and people of Israel. In this passage we see summed up the error that Saul made throughout his reign. Throughout his reign, Saul first consideration was the politically expedient. Saul’s remorse was not because he had sinned, but because Samuel would no longer lend him his support. Saul judged actions on the basis of what would increase his hold on power, rather than on the basis of what was the right thing to do.

     Today’s passage begins with the story of the woman caught in adultery. This story is not in the oldest manuscript copies of John that we have, which suggests that it was a later addition (although not necessarily). Nevertheless the story is to my eyes consistent with the rest of the book of John. In this story, when the religious leaders brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus for Him to pass judgment, Jesus does not ask, if they caught her in adultery, where is the man she was having adultery with? No, he points out their hypocrisy in an even more personal way. When they first ask Him whether He agrees with the Mosaic Law command that she be stoned, He does not answer. Jesus merely stooped down and wrote something in the dust. They kept demanding an answer, so finally Jesus told them, “Sure, go ahead, but the one of you who has not broken the Mosaic Law goes first.” Then He stooped down and wrote something else in the dust. We don’t know what Jesus wrote in the dust, but I imagine He was writing references to the Laws of Moses. One by one those who had come to accuse the woman (and to trap Jesus) slipped away. Jesus then turned to the woman, asked her where her accusers were and then told her that He would not accuse her either. But He did not give her a free pass, He told her to go and sin no more. This very definitely applies to each of us. Jesus tells us that He does not accuse us, but He also tells us to go and sin no more. Jesus calls us to repent of our sins and turn from them.
     I was not going to touch on the next section. However, I felt the need to touch on Jesus’ statement, “I am the light of the world.” He tells us that if we follow Him, we will not be walking in the darkness, rather we will be working in the light. If you want to have a clear light on how to know right from wrong, follow Jesus.

     This psalm is a clear Messianic prophecy. Everyone will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. Those who refuse to accept His Lordship willingly will be subdued by the force of God’s glory.

     Today’s proverbs warn us that God despises those who think they can do wrong and then later make restitution. If we wish to be righteous, we must seek after righteousness. We cannot excuse our bad behavior by saying, “Well, yes, I know that is wrong, but I give to the Church (or whatever other ‘good’ thing we think offsets our sin).”

     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     While Saul was camped with his vastly outnumbered force not far from the Philistine army, Jonathan secretly slipped out of the camp with his armor bearer. Jonathan suggested to his armor bearer that the Lord was with them, they could defeat the Philistines. The Lord could defeat the Philistines, whether He had a large force or a small one to work with. Jonathan and his armor bearer approached the Philistine camp. When they got close, Jonathan suggested they show themselves. He asked God for a sign as to whether he and his armor bearer should attack. If the Philistines called out to them to keep their distance, or they would kill them, Jonathan would know that God did not want them to attack. If, on the other hand, the Philistines called out for them to come up to them to fight, he would know that God was with them and would give them victory.
     When Jonathan showed himself, the Philistines called out for him to come up to them. So Jonathan climbed up the cliff face to them and attacked the small outpost of the Philistines that was at the top of the cliff. Jonathan and his armor bearer killed about twenty men. As the sound of battle and word of what was happening (apparently a confused version) spread throughout the Philistine army, panic set in. As the confusion set in an earthquake struck, terrifying the entire Philistine army. When Saul first heard the confusion in the Philistine camp, he called for the priest to bring the ephod in order to consult what action he should take. However, by the time the priest got to him, the confusion in the Philistine camp had become so pronounced that Saul ordered the attack without a divination of God’s will. The Hebrews who had previously joined the Philistine army revolted and fought with Saul and the rest of the Israelites. In addition, those Israelites who had been hiding in the hill country came down and joined the pursuit of the Philistine army.
     This passage shows Jonathan’s faith and gives an example how a single individual who is willing to step out in faith can make a large difference. Jonathan did not worry that it was only himself and his armor bearer against the entire Philistine army. He knew that God could bring victory, even from so small of a force. Do I have similar faith to act when God calls me forth? When God gives me the sign I have asked for, do I step forth in faith, despite the risks?

     Many among the crowds listening to Jesus in the Temple began to believe that He was the Messiah, telling each other, “What more would the Messiah do than this man has done?” When the Pharisees heard that the people were saying such things, they sent the Temple guards to arrest Jesus. When the Temple guards came to arrest Him Jesus told the crowds that He would only be with them a little longer and then He would return to Him who sent Him. They would search for Him, but be unable to find Him. He told them that they would be unable to go where He was going. The Jewish leaders were puzzled by this statement and wondered if He was going to go teach among the Gentiles.
     On the last day of the Festival, Jesus stood in the Temple and cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” (This is another time where I prefer the NIV for this passage.) He continued by saying that whoever believes in Him would have rivers of living water flowing from their heart. After He said this the crowd was divided. Some thought He was the Prophet who Moses said God would send, others thought He was the Messiah. Both of these groups felt that Jesus was a messenger from God, announcing His coming kingdom. However, others felt that Jesus could not be either of those because they knew where He came from and that place was Galilee. They did not believe that God would call a Redeemer for Israel from Galilee.
     When the Temple guards failed to arrest Jesus as they had been instructed, the Jewish religious leaders demanded an explanation. The Temple guards responded that they had never heard anyone preach like Jesus did. The religious leaders mocked the guards, asking them if any of the religious leaders believed in Him? Telling them that only fools would believe in Him, only those who were ignorant of the law. At this point Nicodemus spoke up, pointing out that it was against the Law to convict a man without giving him a hearing. At which point the rest of the religious leaders turned on Nicodemus and belittled him. Notice how the religious leaders did not argue against the substance of Jesus’ teachings. They merely called those who believed in Him fools and declared that He could not be sent from God because He was from Galilee. As Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians, the message from God is considered foolishness by those this world considers wise. But always remember, for all of their supposed wisdom, they have no answer to the teachings of Jesus.

     The psalmist calls on God to bring misfortune to those who repay good with evil and friendship with hatred. The psalmist tells us that there are people who never think of doing kindness for others, who hound the poor to death. The psalmist says that those who love to curse others will have those curses visited upon themselves. Let us rather be the opposite of that, repaying evil with good and looking all of time to how we can do kindness for others. Rather than cursing those around us, let us strive to bless them. IF we stand beside the poor and needy, we will be standing beside God. If on the other hand, we stand against the poor and needy, we will be standing against God, and that is a losing proposition.

     It is foolish to despise discipline. We gain wisdom by learning from correction. The wise give good advice, while a fool has no advice to give.

     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     The Philistines first took the ark of God to the city of Ashdod and put it in their temple to Dagon. When they entered the temple the following morning the idol of Dagon had fallen face down in front of the ark of God. They set the idol back up. The following morning it had once more fallen face down before the Ark, however this time the head and hands had broken off. Then the city of Ashdod and surrounding villages began to experience a plague of tumors. The people of Ashdod called on the rulers of Philistia to move the ark of God. It was decided to send it to Gath. When the Ark arrived in Gath, the plague began to break out there as well. So the people of Gath sent the Ark to Ekron. The people of Ekron by now had heard about the tumors and demanded that the rulers of Philistia send the Ark away.
     The Philistines put the Ark on a cart, along with a chest containing five gold “tumors” (golden objects made to look like the tumors caused by the plague) and five gold rats. They hitched two cows which had recently calved to the cart, while penning the calves up away from the cows. The cows went straight up the road from Philistia towards Beth Shemesh. The people of Beth Shemesh rejoiced when they saw the Ark arrive. Levites took the Ark off of the cart and set it on a large rock. They offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to God for the return of the Ark. However, seventy of the people of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark and were struck down (the passage does not say how they were struck down, but it reads to me that they may have been struck by the same plague that had struck the Philistines). So, the people of Beth Shemesh sent and asked the people of Kiriath-jearim to come and get the Ark (which they did).
     The people of Israel heard the stories about what happened with the Ark when it was in Philistine hands and how it was returned (my interpretation) and turned back to God. Samuel told them that if they were truly turning back to God they needed to get rid of their foreign gods and Ashtoreths and worship God alone. The Israelites followed Samuel’s advice, got rid of their idols and worshiped God alone.
     Samuel then assembled the Israelites at Mizpah for a time of worship and repentance. When the Philistines learned that they had assembled at Mizpah they mustered their forces to attack them. The people of Israel were in great fear and asked Samuel to continue crying out to the Lord for them. Samuel took a lamb and offered it as a burnt offering. While Samuel was offering the Philistines prepared to launch their attack. However, as they launched their attack loud thunder came forth and threw them into confusion and panic. The Israelites rushed out in a counterattack driving the Philistines from the field. For the rest of the time that Samuel served as leader of Israel, they had the upper hand over the Philistines.
     There is a lot going on in this passage about the power of God and how He reveals Himself even to unbelievers. The thing that especially struck me on this reading was the foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrificial death in Samuel sacrificing a lamb as part of his crying out to God for the Israelites rescue from the Philistines.

     Jesus went to the far side of the Sea of Galilee and a crowd followed Him there. He was on a hill with His disciples when the crowd caught up to Him. As the crowd approached, Jesus asked Philip where they should buy bread for these people? Philip answered that it would cost about a half year’s wages to feed all of these people. Andrew pointed out a boy with five loaves and two fish, but asked what good that would do with so many people? Jesus had His disciples get the people to sit down. Then He took the food that the boy had, gave thanks for it and distributed it to the people (around 5,000). When everyone had enough to eat, Jesus had His disciples gather up the leftover bread so that it would not be wasted. They gathered twelve baskets full of bread. The people who were there began to say that Jesus must be the Prophet and were preparing to make Him king by force (the passage is not clear whether they intended to force Jesus to become king or to use force against those who opposed that idea). To prevent that Jesus withdrew by Himself to the mountain.
     As evening approached Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore of the lake, got into a boat and began to cross over to Capernaum. A strong wind came up and the waters became very rough. After they had rowed a distance of several miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water. The disciples were frightened until Jesus told them not to be afraid and said, “I am.” When He said that the disciples were willing to take Him into the boat, at which point they arrived at their destination.
     When Jesus used the phrase, “I am,” it would have been taken as a declaration of identification with God by His disciples. In Exodus 3, when Moses asked God who he should tell the Israelites had sent him, God responded, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” So the use of the phrase “I am” was close to declaring that one was God (depending on the context). There was something very comforting to the disciples when they heard Jesus say, “I am”. Perhaps we would all do well to remember that the phrase “I am” was used by God to identify Himself. I know that I am going to strive to think about the fact that I am made in the image of God every time I use the phrase, “I am”.

     Yesterday’s portion of this psalm talked about how God rescued the people of Israel from Egypt despite their sins against Him. This caused the people of Israel to believe His promises and praise His name. Today’s portion tells us that they quickly forgot what God had done for them and turned away from Him. God’s anger burned against them and He brought judgment against them for their sins. They ignored His commands about right living and each time they suffered for it. But the passage tells us something else as well. On two occasions, when God had reached His limit and was prepared to destroy Israel for their sins, when their sins had reached the point just shy of no return, righteous men stood up and intervened so that the people were saved. “But Phinehas had the courage to intervene, and the plague was stopped.” Do I have the courage to stand up and intervene? Am I willing to risk myself in order to stop the plagues among us today that come from our sin and lawlessness? Am I willing to call those around me away from sin, even though I will be called a hater and intolerant for doing so, for caring enough to point out the consequences of people’s choices?

     When disaster comes the wicked will suffer, but even in death the righteous have a safe place with God. For the second proverb I prefer the NIV and other translations which stick with the Hebrew rather than using the Syriac and Septuagint to base their take on this passage. All agree that the first part says that wisdom rests in the hearts of the understanding. However, the NIV translates this as saying that even fools have access to wisdom, if only they would pay attention.