I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

     Today’s passage deals with what happened among the Philistines while they had the Ark of the Covenant. They placed it in the temple of Dagon. Dagon was their chief deity. It is likely that they viewed Yahweh as merely being another name for Dagon and so place the Ark next to the statue of Dagon in the temple as a way of reinforcing that equivalence. The symbolism of the statue of Dagon falling on its face in front of the Ark of the Covenant would have been unmistakable to the worshipers if Dagon, especially when it happened two days in a row. After this the people of the city of Ashdod and the surrounding area begin to suffer from an illness that is likely to be the bubonic plague. They tried moving the Ark to another town, but the plague struck that town as well. When they attempted to move it to a third town, the people of that town refused to accept the Ark. The Philistines decide to return the Ark to the Israelites. They took two cows which had just given birth to calves and penned the calves up away from the cows. These cows had never been used as draft animals. They hooked the cows up to the cart in which they had placed the Ark of the Covenant. I do not have first hand experience with this, but I have been told that the normal reaction of cows in this situation is to try and get to their calves. If they do not know where the calves are, they will tend to wander in random directions attempting to locate them. In this case, the cows went straight down the road towards a town of the Israelites. When it arrived, the people of the town were over-joyed and held a celebration with many sacrifices to God. Initially, they treated the Ark properly. Men from the tribe of Levi moved the Ark from the cart to a large rock.
     However, this attitude of respect did not last. We are told that seventy of the men of this town died because they looked inside the Ark of the Covenant. We are not told how the men died, whether it was from a plague like that which struck the Philistines or from something else. The result of this was that the people of this town wanted to send the Ark elsewhere. They sent word of the Ark to another town and told them to come and get it. The second town did so and the Ark was moved to that town where it stayed for twenty years.
     What I find interesting about this is that despite the power that God displayed, the Philistines did not change their worship from Dagon to Yahweh. They merely sent the symbol of God’s presence from among them. In addition, we find in the next section of today’s reading that the Israelites continued to worship foreign gods alongside their worship of Yahweh for another twenty years after witnessing these powerful acts. It is only after Samuel reaches his full maturity some twenty years after the death of Eli that he is able to convince the Israelites to give up worship of other gods. It makes me wonder, in what ways am I guilty of worshiping other things alongside of my worship of God? What pleasures do I pursue when I should be seeking to serve God? It is not just pleasures, there are other areas/things that we can elevate above following God’s commands and leading for our lives.

     Here we have the story of the feeding of the 5000. It never struck me before, but the boy with the loaves and fishes was probably there intending to sell those in order to make some money. I think that looking at it from that perspective tells us something about how we should approach providing help to those in need. Jesus could have produced the food to feed the five thousand out of nothing, but he did not. He made use of the locally available resources in order to provide for the people. One of the things I have seen talked about over the last few years is that often times when western charities go into an area suffering a famine, they make things worse in the long run. The charities bring in food and provide it to the locals. This seems like a good thing, but it undercuts the prices for the locals who were producing food. When the crisis is over, there are even fewer people producing food in the region because they were put out of business by the inexpensive food brought from outside and distributed either for free or below cost. Jesus dealt with that issue here by purchasing all of the locally available food.
     The other thing I see in this passage is that Jesus sought out alone time away from the crowds. The story starts with Jesus going off into an isolated area with His disciples to spend some time with them away from the crowds. Before long, He sees the crowds following after looking to see another miracle. After He feeds them, they want to start the revolution against Rome that many in that day thought the Messiah would come and lead. So, Jesus slips away by Himself. Other Gospel accounts suggest that He spent this time praying. At dusk, Jesus has not returned, so the disciples get in the boat and start back to Capernaum. While they are crossing, the sea grew rough. Jesus walks out to them on the water and they are frightened. Jesus tells them not to be afraid. The various translations word it as Him saying that He is there, or “It is I.” However, the Greek is just “I am”. I am pretty certain that John used “I am” to indicate that Jesus was making a statement about God. To me, Jesus was saying two things when He said that. The first and the surface thing the disciples would have heard was, “Don’t be afraid, trust God.” The second and slightly deeper meaning would have been that Jesus was associating Himself with God.

     The psalmist here refers to how the people time and again turned away from God and chose to worship other things rather than worship and serve God. He also talks about how God brought punishment upon the people because of their sinfulness. The psalmist recounts how from time to time, one righteous man intervened with God and was able to turn aside the fullness of God’s judgement. I read this and think that once again God is calling on righteous men and women to intercede for the people. I look around me and I see trying times coming to the peoples of western nations because they have chosen to follow other priorities other than those of God. I believe that He is calling on those who still honor Him to pray for revival around them. To many times I hear Christians saying, “We should vote for people who support this policy,” or, “We should pressure our elected officials to institute that law.” That is not what God wants from us. God does not desire that we pass the correct laws. God desires that we pray for our neighbors and that we witness to them, so that they may turn to Him and be saved. We as Christians are not called upon to pass laws to make sure that people live according to God’s will. We are called upon to witness to them so that they choose to live according to God’s will, regardless of what the law says.

     I used the English Standard Version today because I did not like how the New Living Translation chose to translate the second of these two proverbs. The first of these two proverbs points out that the undoing of the wicked is a product of their own actions. Sooner or later, wicked actions will lead to the destruction of those who take those actions. The second half of this proverb tells us that the righteous will find refuge in death. I know that many talk about how the righteous will be rewarded after death and that they find refuge in God after death. While those are true, I think that this proverb is much simpler than that. I remember many years ago I had a conversation with someone about my belief in non-resistance. He believed that we needed to be willing to fight back against those who would do evil. He used the following example. “I come along and point a gun at your head and tell you to lick the mud off of my boots or I will kill you. What will you do?”
My response was, “No.”
He then said, “Then I would shoot you.”
To which I replied, “You lost. You wanted me to lick your boots. I did not want to lick your boots. A dead man is not going to lick anyone’s boots.”
     He was baffled by my position, but he agreed that I was correct, in that scenario, he lost because he did not get what he wanted. I do not know if the response I suggested I would take in that scenario is the one that Christians should take (as a matter of fact, I am pretty sure it isn’t), but it illustrates the point of this proverb. The righteous cannot be forced to do evil, because they would rather die.
     Now we come to the second proverb and why I prefer another translation to the New Living Translation for this verse. The first half is basically the same in every translation. That is that wisdom forms a center piece in the heart of those with understanding. However, the New Living Translation has the second half read, “wisdom is not[a] found among fools.” While the English Standard Version translates the second half as, “…but it makes itself known even in the midst of fools.” I like the second much better. Wisdom can be found by any who are looking for it, no matter where they find themselves. If someone who has been living foolishly has a change of heart and starts to seek wisdom, God will reveal it to them,even if they are currently in the midst of fools. There is not circumstance you can find yourself in where God will not allow you to find wisdom if you suddenly start to seek Him and it.

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

     This passage tells us that Eli was very old, but nevertheless, he was aware of his sons sins. He spoke with his sons and reprimanded them for their evil actions, but took no effort to discipline them for it. The passage tells us that Eli’s sons failed to respond to Eli’s reprimand because God was already planning to put them to death. From this passage we learn that if we continue to sin, God will no longer offer us the opportunity to repent and change our ways. I believe there is a simple way to tell if there is still time to repent. That is if you feel an impulse to turn away from your sin, there is still time to do so. Once God has decided to bring about your end because of your sin, you will no longer have any thought whatsoever of ceasing your sinning.
     First, God tells Eli what He will do to his family, then He sends a message to Samuel about what it to come. When God calls out to Samuel, Samuel believes that it is Eli and goes to him. We learn from this passage that, although his sons were very sinful, Eli still respects and honors God (even though he fails to follow God’s commands and discipline his sons). Eli tells Samuel that it is God calling him and instructs Samuel in how to reply. In the morning when Samuel rises, he is afraid to tell Eli the message that God has given to him because it is such a judgement on Eli’s family. Eli insists that Samuel tell him what God had said. When Eli hears the message, Eli accepts it with an attitude of submission to God.
     We then have the story of the end of Eli’s sons and of Eli’s death. The Israelites go into battle against the Philistines and are defeated. They ask why God allowed them to be defeated by the Philistines. Rather than answer that question, they attempt to force God’s hand by bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the battle. God refuses to be coerced and once again the Israelites are defeated, but this time the Ark is captured by the Philistines and Eli’s sons are killed. When word of the capture of the Ark is brought to Eli, he falls out of his chair and dies. The children of Israel lost the Ark of the Covenant here because they attempted to force God to act according to their will rather than they acting according to God’s will.

     Here Jesus speaks of the judgement that is to come on both the living and the dead. That those who have chosen to accept God’s forgiveness and live according to God’s will will rise from death and be granted eternal life, but those who continued in evil will receive judgement. He goes on to speak of those sources of testimony about Him. He tells the Jewish leaders that John the Baptist testified of Him, that they initially were excited by John. He implies that they lost interest in John the Baptist when they found they could not turn his preaching to serve their ends. Jesus goes on to tell them that their scripture tells of Him, but that they, nevertheless refuse to accept His teachings. He tells them that even Moses, who is the basis for their hopes, testifies to His coming. Yet, they will not believe even that. We must not make the same mistake that they made, which was to twist the scripture to say what they wanted to hear rather than to learn God’s will from it.

     This snippet from today’s psalm contains so much truth. God’s love is faithful and it endures forever. There is no possible way that anyone could list all of God’s miracles and I do not have it within me to praise Him anywhere close to what He deserves. I have experienced the joy of doing what is right…and the loss of joy from not doing what is right. After saying this, the psalmist goes on to say:

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

     Here we have the story of how Samuel was born and how he came to be raised to serve God. Hannah, his mother, was desperate to have a child. She prayed to God and poured her whole heart into it, with no consideration of how she might appear to those witnessing her actions. She promises God that if he gives her a son, she will give him back to the Lord and dedicate him to God. In due time, God grants her request. The passage makes little reference to Samuel’s father, except to make clear that he loved his wife, Hannah. After Samuel is born, Hannah, with her husband’s assent, turns Samuel over to Eli to raise him as a servant of God. The scripture is clear that Eli had done a poor job in raising his own sons, that they had grown to be men who held God in contempt. The story tells us what a difference a mother who is dedicated to serving God and to raising a son dedicated to serving God can make. After bearing Samuel and dedicating him to God, God blessed Hannah with more children.
     Hannah’s prayer of praise contains an important lesson for us. It says that we should not hold the good things we have over those who do not have them, because those good things are a gift from God. It tells us that “no one will succeed by strength alone.” Whether we are rich or poor, it is as God has willed. We should take our lot in life and seek how we can use that to bring glory to God. If we faithfully seek to use what is in our life to bring glory to God, God will give us that which will bring us happiness. In part that is because as we seek to use what is in our life to bring glory to God, more and more that which brings the most glory to God becomes that which brings us the most happiness. But, nevertheless, as we seek to bring glory to God, God will bless us.

     In this story, Jesus tells the lame man to stand up, pick up his mat and walk. This is despite the fact that carrying his mat was a violation of Jewish rules against carrying a sleeping mat on the Sabbath. One thing this passage points out is that helping people is about empowering them to act independently. When Jesus asked this man if he wanted to be healed, he responded by saying that he had no one to help him get into the pool when it bubbled up and someone always beat him into the water when it had healing properties. Jesus’ answer is to tell him to get up and “get to work”(pick up his mat). This is not the heartless yelling at a beggar, “Get a job.” But rather it is the giving of a hand up and then encouraging the person to stand on their own and move forward.
     When confronted by the Jewish leaders over telling this man to “work” on the Sabbath, Jesus tells them that “Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” We are called on to be imitators of Christ, so we should strive to do whatever the Son does. In America, many Christians are afraid to ask God for miracles (I know that at times I am), we should work to overcome this fear and fully trust in the power of God. Jesus routinely performed miracles during His ministry on this earth, we should expect them to be a routine part of ours.

     This psalm tells us that God takes care of His people and remembers His promises. The people of Israel did not come out of Egypt on the basis of their own power, but because of the power of God. God brought them into the promised land and gave it to them so that they would obey His instructions. When we are blessed, it is for the same reason.

     The first of these two proverbs is one that those who favor zero population growth should consider. The second is the one that all of us must remember. Anger is not bad in and of itself, but when it is allowed to control us, rather than us controlling it, it leads to foolish actions.