For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
If you search for good, you will find it and people will like you. If you search for evil, you will find that as well, or to be more precise, evil will find you. The former is pleasant, the latter, not so much.
If I ever need to give a toast at some event, I hope I remember the first verse of this psalm:
May his face smile with favor on us.
It also works as a great closing prayer for a small group or Bible study group. In fact, the entire psalm would make a great invocation for a meeting which focuses on evangelism or mission work.
This passage contains what we refer to as the “Golden Rule”. I have heard many takes on this rule:
- “Them as have the gold make the rules.”
- “Do to others before they do to you.”
- “Do to others what they do to you.”
That is nowhere close to what Jesus taught.
This sounds closer, but isn’t really.
This is the philosophy most people live by and one which Jesus tells us is not very praise worthy.
Unlike those, Jesus teaches us “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” He tells us to love our enemies. If we love those who love us, well, even the most evil people in history loved those who loved them. If we do good to those who do good to us, even Mafia bosses do that. We are to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who hurt us. All in all, this is a tough command to follow. We are not just to do good things for the poor and powerless (feed the hungry, clothe the naked). We are to do what good we can for the rich and powerful. We are to show love to those who mistreat and oppress us.
Moses continued his speech recounting the travels of the Israelites from the time they turned away from the Promised Land until that moment in time. He described how God had forbidden them to make war on, or cause trouble for, the Edomites, the descendants of Abraham through Esau. Nor were they allowed to make war on the Moabites and the Ammonites, descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. However, the Amorites, who were not related to Abraham at all, not only refused the Israelites permission to pass through their land, the mobilized their armies and attacked them. In response the Israelites completed destroyed two Amorite kingdoms.
Having conquered a foothold on the east side of the Jordan, the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan and take control of the land there. Moses delegated control over the Israelite fighting force to Joshua and made it clear that Joshua would lead the attack into the Promised Land. God had forbidden Moses to enter into that land, despite Moses’ desperate pleading for the opportunity to cross over and see the land. However, God did send Moses up onto a high mountain and gave him a view over the land He was giving to the Israelites. In some ways, this was a foreshadowing of how the various Old Testament prophets would look forward to the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.