Well, I am past my one year mark on this blog. I have not yet noticed that I remember what I thought about these passages last year. I am excited about discovering what God has in store for me as I begin blogging about the passages a second time through. I hope that my writing has improved as I have gone along. I pray that God’s Spirit continues to move in me as I write this. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. The last few days the Spirit has really moved in my heart as I wrote my blog entries. I pray that He continues to do so and that I can take what the Spirit has been saying to me and put it into practice. Please pray for me on that score.
     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 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.

     Today’s passage describes what land was allocated to the remaining tribes of Israel. After land was allocated to all of the tribes, Joshua and the leaders of the Israelites designated cities of refuge. These were cities to which someone who accidentally killed someone could flee for safety. The local assembly of the city of refuge would try such an individual, if they found that he had indeed killed the person accidentally, to remain safe he would need to remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest who was serving when the accident happened (if they found that it was not an accident they would turn him over to those seeking his death). Three cities of refuge were designated west of the Jordan and additional three cities were designated in territory settled east of the Jordan.

     As Jesus approached Jerusalem, He sent two of His disciples into a nearby village to get a donkey for Him to ride. There are two ways to read this. One way is that Jesus knew through supernatural means that the donkey was there and that the owners would approve of Him borrowing it. The other is that Jesus had prearranged with the owners for the donkey to be there for Him to use it on this day. I see no reason to argue in favor of one reading over the other, either is consistent with what I believe about Jesus.
     Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem. The crowds gathered and turned this into a sort of parade of triumph. When they started to enter Jerusalem, Jesus’ followers began to loudly praise God and proclaim that Jesus was a king coming in the name of the Lord. The Pharisees asked Jesus to rebuke His followers. Jesus replied that if they were quiet the stones would cry out. There are a couple of things worth noting about this situation. The first is that Jesus chose to ride in on a donkey. By doing this, He was intentionally presenting the imagery from the prophets of a victorious king. He did not come in as a king preparing to go to war, rather He rode in as a king returning victorious from war. This is not new and is something many others have commented on. The second is something I have never seen mentioned before and it has never occurred to me before. The Pharisees told Jesus to quiet the crowds because they believed that the crowds were on the edge of boiling over into violent revolt against Rome (historical evidence suggest they were correct) and that this parade could easily push them over the edge. But the fact that they asked Jesus to quiet the crowd suggests that they also believed that Jesus was not planning to lead a violent revolt against Rome. This suggests that perhaps the Pharisees had heard and understood parts of Jesus’ message that most (or all) of His followers had missed. I believe that most of Jesus’ followers (including most of His close disciples) believed, at this point, that Jesus was going to overthrow Roman rule shortly (although not necessarily with military might).
     When Jesus got to the Temple, He began to drive out the merchants who were selling in the courtyard. This was a space that was supposed to be reserved for people to come and pray to God. In particular it was a place where Gentiles could come and pray, since they were not allowed to enter the Temple any further. Not only had this area been turned into a market, but it was a market where the merchants charged exorbitant fees if for no other reason than they were convenient if you needed to buy something for a sacrifice. One thing this passage suggests to me is that we must be careful to not make taking part in our worship services depend upon the financial status of those who come to take part.

     I had to read through this psalm three times before it stopped utterly depressing me. The psalmist who wrote this was suffering from deep despair and a sense of hopelessness. He had suffered much in his life. He tells us that he had suffered from various afflictions from his youth. Yet despite all of the troubles he has faced in his life, he still has faith in God and cries out to God in his current despair. Even though he has struggled all of his life, he continues to call out to God in his time of need. I pray to God that no matter how bad things get, I will continue to cry out to Him in my time of need, that I will remember that all good things come from Him.

     When planning for the future and making promises to those around us, this proverb includes some good advice. When something we had hoped for does not happen when we expected but is put off until another day, it will often make us heartsick. On the other hand, when something we long for happens it brings us much joy, especially when it happens unexpectedly.
     Those who ignore instructions given by those in authority will suffer, while those who follow instructions will be rewarded. Wise advice will show people how to avoid danger, more than that, if it is truly delivered in a wise manner, people will be more likely to listen to it and turn from a dangerous course of action.