For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I am starting to feel better and, God willing, should experience steady improvement to full recovery in a little over a week. I thank those of you have been praying for me.
A friend is always loyal, but that does not mean that they will not tell you when you are wrong. I have three brothers and I can attest that they have been a help to me at various points in my life. This proverb is a good reminder that, since I am a brother, part of my purpose on this earth is to be a help to my siblings in their time of need, whenever that might be.
This psalm reminds me to give thanks to God for the many wonderful things He has done for me. His promises are backed by the honor of His name. When I pray He answers me immediately (although it usually takes me quite a bit of time to hear). Whenever I face trouble too great for me to bear, He provides me either the strength to bear up, or relief from my trouble. God has been good to me all of my life. I thank Him and praise Him every day (although not nearly as much as He deserves).
I decided to start today’s reading from Acts a couple of verses earlier than where One Year Bible Online does because otherwise my first thoughts don’t make sense. It was after Saul’s confrontation with Elymas that Luke began referring to him as Paul. In addition, it was at this point that Luke began listing them as “Paul and Barnabas” rather than “Barnabas and Saul”. From this point forward, Paul is the primary focus of most of the activities of these two men. Something happened to Paul in his confrontation with Elymas which changed him.
To follow up on this change it is Paul who stands up when he and Barnabas are asked to address the synagogue. His sermon is very similar to the one Stephen gave before the Sanhedrin, which led to his killing. It is interesting that one of the differences from Stephen’s message is the reference to John the Baptist. This suggests that the Jews of Cyprus were familiar with John the Baptist and his teachings. As Paul wraps up his message he offers an indirect invitation to his listeners to accept Jesus, followed by a direct warning not to ignore the Gospel which he had just preached.
King Ahab has been at peace with the Arameans for three years when King Jehoshaphat of Judah paid him a visit. This suggests there is more to Ahab’s decision to go to war than just, “Hey, that town belongs to us. We should go to war to get it back.” It suggests that something which Jehoshaphat said encouraged Ahab to decide to go to war. That being said, I find it much more interesting that when Jehoshaphat asked Ahab to consult God before going to war, Ahab summoned 400 prophets (the same number as the prophets of Baal at Mt.Carmel). Instead of accepting the prophecies of the prophets Ahab produced when he asked to consult God, Jehoshaphat asks if there isn’t a prophet who can consult God for them. Jehoshaphat does not consider the prophets whom Ahab produced to be prophets of God, although Ahab does.
From time to time I read about historians and others who say that the pre-Exile Israelites were not monotheistic, that monotheism was a later development. Reading passages like this reminds me that while they are not wrong, they are also not correct. Ahab was not a monotheist, and he probably thought that he worshiped God. However, Ahab also worshiped other gods and appears to have considered Baal and God to be the same. However, Jehoshaphat did not consider Baal to be the same as God, and appears to have only worshiped God. He was somewhat tolerant of those who worshiped other gods (after all he married his son to Ahab’s daughter). This suggests to me that while there were many Israelites, and probably members of the tribe of Judah, who worshiped multiple gods and thought of God as the Supreme God over a pantheon, there were also those who recognized that God alone was divine and the gods others worshiped were mere idols.