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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Today’s passage begins with an account of David becoming king of all Israel. It then speaks of his conquest of Jerusalem. This account tells us that David made Joab the commander of his armies because Joab led the attack to take Jerusalem. We then have a list of the elite groups of fighting men who followed David. There is the Three and the Thirty. It is interesting that there were more than thirty members of the Thirty. Whether this is because some were promoted to fill ranks left by the deaths of others or because for some reason David added men to the ranks of the Thirty without changing the name of the group we do not know. I find it noteworthy that Uriah, who David later has killed over his wife Bathsheba, was one of the Thirty.
One thing I had never noticed before is that while David was on the run from King Saul, a force of warriors from the tribe of Benjamin, who were related to Saul, joined him. The passage also mentions some warriors from the tribe of Gad who joined him. Something I found noteworthy in this passage is that when it starts introducing David’s mighty men it says that they decided to make David their king, along with all of Israel. The phrasing suggests that the decision of these mighty men to make David king is to some degree more important than that of the other people of Israel.
Once ashore after the shipwreck they discovered that they were on the island of Malta. The locals welcomed them and treated them well. The locals built them a fire on the beach. While Paul was feeding some sticks to the fire a snake bit him. At first the locals were convinced that this indicated that he was some kind of horrible criminal whom the gods were punishing. When he was not harmed, they decided he must be a god. Shortly after this Paul healed the father of a local official and this led the people to bring all of the sick to him, Paul healed them as well. After three months they boarded another ship and continued their journey to Rome.
When Paul arrived in Rome he was greeted by the believers there. Paul was allowed to take up a private residence in Rome although a soldier was stationed there to guard him. As soon as Paul was settled he called together the local Jewish leaders to explain to them why he was in Rome awaiting trial. They informed him that they had heard nothing from Jerusalem about him. They said that they were interested in hearing what he believed because they knew nothing about it except that it was denounced everywhere. Paul arranged a time for them to come and hear his testimony. Paul spent a day arguing from the Law and the prophets that Jesus was the Messiah. Some were persuaded by Paul and became believers, but many did not. Paul concluded the day by quoting from Isaiah a passage where the prophet said that the people’s hearts were hardened against God so that they would not turn to Him to be healed. I think that even today we need to be careful not to become like them and fail to see the ways that God is working in the world around us and to hear the word of God that is being spoken to us.
The psalmist proclaims that he will tell of the marvelous things that God has done. The psalmist tells us that the cities of the wicked will lie in ruins. God cares for the helpless and listens to the cries of those who suffer. I will praise the name of the Lord because He brings me joy and judges all on this earth with justice.
We have three proverbs today. The first tells us that honesty is better than dishonesty, even if it means being poor. The second tells us that being enthusiastic about a task when you do not know what you are doing will lead to mistakes. That it is better to take your time and understand what you are doing than to rush in a hurry the project to completion before you know what it is you should be doing. The final one tells us that people often blame others, including God, for problems that they themselves created.