When Paul got to Jerusalem he met with the leaders of the Church there and gave them a detailed report of what God was doing among the Gentiles to whom he had ministered. The leaders of the Jerusalem Church were blessed to hear Paul’s account. However, they were also concerned because of the rumours which had been spreading about Paul. There were people who were spreading the word that Paul was teaching Jews to abandon the Law of Moses. The leaders of the Jerusalem Church wanted to defuse the tension which had been created by those who opposed Gentiles becoming believers. So they asked Paul to join four men who were going to the Temple to complete their Nazarite vows (a type of vow described in the Torah). They believed that by doing so Paul would prove to everyone that he continued to faithfully follow the Law.
However, their plan backfired. Rather than defuse some of the tension Paul’s visit to the Temple was interpreted as a provocation by those opposed to his teachings about Jesus. There is an important lesson for us here. Those who are trying to divide people will spin everything we do into the worst possible light in order to further their agenda. There are those who are determined to be hostile to the Gospel message, there is nothing we can do to change that. It is only by the intercession of the Holy Spirit that such people will change.
When Isaiah told Hezekiah that the king of Babylon would conquer and sack Jerusalem after his death, Hezekiah was pleased because it meant that he would not live to see it happen. I think this to some degree reveals to us why Hezekiah’s son, Mannaseh was an evil king. I struggle with how to express my thoughts on this. Overall, Hezekiah was a good king and a good man. However, his reaction to Isaiah’s prophecy reveals a certain selfishness, or perhaps lack of love for his children, that I believe his son sensed. I suspect that Mannaseh’s behavior as king was, in part, an attempt to get back at his father.
Someone who completes a task lazily can be as damaging as someone who intentionally destroys things. Lazy work leaves results which will fail spectacularly at the worst time.
God’s very name is a strong protection. Those who do His will can run to it and find safety.
Let us praise the Lord with every means at our disposal. The psalmist calls on us to praise God loudly and boisterously. Let us make sure that there is no doubt that we worship and praise the God of Heaven, who created both heaven and earth.
When Paul spoke with the elders of the Church in Jerusalem, they were concerned with the rumours which were spreading about his teaching. There were many Jews who were both followers of Jesus and dedicated to following the laws of Moses. The Church leaders were afraid that the rumours that Paul was teaching Jewish believers to abandon the Law of Moses would damage their faith. So they asked Paul to demonstrate that he still followed Jewish law. Paul agreed to their request.
I suspect that to some degrees the leaders of the Jerusalem Church and Paul were hoping that Paul’s demonstration of faithfulness to the Law of Moses would reach some of those Jews who, so far, had refused to accept the teachings of Jesus. However, the actual result was different. What we see happen is that some Jews who were vaguely familiar with Paul’s missionary work assumed to worst about his actions in Jerusalem. They claimed that Paul had brought Gentiles into parts of the Temple where non-Jews were prohibited. This whole story should serve as a reminder to take the way non-believers characterize the actions of Christians with a certain amount of skepticism. Non-believers are likely to interpret the actions of Christians in the most unflattering light imaginable. Before we believe what they say, we should investigate what actually happened carefully.
We were told in an earlier passage that Hezekiah did what was right in the sight of God. In today’s passage, when Hezekiah was deathly ill and Isaiah told him that God had said that he would die, Hezekiah turned from everything and prayed to God, begging God to heal him. God listened to Hezekiah’s prayer and sent Isaiah back to heal him. After his recovery, the king of Babylon sent envoys with gifts and letters of concern. Hezekiah gave them a guided tour of Jerusalem, showing them all of the treasures of his kingdom. Isaiah came to Hezekiah after the envoys left and told Hezekiah that the Babylonians would come and take all of the treasure which Hezekiah had shown the envoys. I had always understood Isaiah to be criticizing Hezekiah for being welcoming to the envoys, but I am not sure that is the case. Perhaps Isaiah was just telling Hezekiah what would be. Certainly, Hezekiah was not disturbed by Isaiah’s prophecy since Isaiah said that this would not happen in Hezekiah’s lifetime.
For all of his good points, Hezekiah failed to raise a son who would serve the Lord after him. We are told that when his son Manasseh took the throne, he did evil in the sight of God, rebuilding the shrines on the high places which Hezekiah had destroyed and instituting pagan worship practices throughout the land. In addition to his idol worship, Manasseh killed many innocent people who stood in his way (or perhaps he killed them for his own entertainment, the passage does not explain why he killed them). Hezekiah’s grandson was no better when he was king. Yet, for all of that, Josiah, the great grandson of Hezekiah, returned to the worship of the Lord. As I read through the passages about the kings of Judah, I see how each generation must decide for themselves whether or not they will serve the Lord. A good father might have an evil son and an evil father might have a good son. It is up to each of us to decide whether or not we will serve the Lord.
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.
Hezekiah became very sick and Isaiah told him to set his affairs in order because God has said he was going to die. Hezekiah cried out to God for healing. Before Isaiah had left the palace, God told him to return to the king and tell him that he would recover. Shortly after Hezekiah’s recovery the king of Babylon sent emissaries to him with a letter and gifts. Isaiah came to Hezekiah and asked him who the emissaries were and what they had seen. Hezekiah told Isaiah that they were from Babylon and had seen all of the treasures of Jerusalem. Isaiah told Hezekiah that the day would come when all of those treasures would be carried off to Babylon and that Hezekiah’s descendants would be taken there as captives. Hezekiah greeted this prophecy as good news, since it meant that there would be peace and prosperity for the rest of his lifetime.
Unfortunately, Hezekiah’s son turned to idolatry when he became king in Hezekiah’s place. Manasseh rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah had destroyed. He built altars to Baal and an Asherah pole. Manasseh built altars to “the starry hosts”(probably a reference to worshiping various astronomical phenomena) in God’s Temple. He practiced sorcery and divination. He even went so far as to sacrifice his own son in the fire. In addition to his idolatry, Manasseh was an oppressive, unjust ruler. He murdered many innocent people, filling Jerusalem with the blood of the innocent. It was during Manasseh’s reign that the prophets began predicting that destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the people of Judah.
Manasseh’s son, Amon, was as evil as his father. His own officials conspired against him and assassinated him. However, the people rose up against the conspirators and killed them, placing Amon’s son Josiah on the throne. We are told that Josiah served God and did what was pleasing in His sight. Josiah did not turn from doing what was right.
When Paul arrived in Jerusalem he met with James and the other elders of the Jerusalem Church. Paul recounted his ministry among the Gentiles and the Church leaders were overjoyed. However, they were concerned about the rumors among Jewish believers in Jerusalem that Paul taught Jews living among Gentiles to abandon Jewish law. They asked Paul to join four men who had just taken a vow and pay for their purification rites. This would demonstrate that Paul still followed Jewish law. Paul agreed to this and went to the Temple the next day.
The next day, Paul showed one of his Gentile traveling companions around the city before joining the four men at the Temple. A group of Jews from Asia who had seen Paul in the city earlier accused him of defiling the Temple by bringing a Gentile into it. By doing so, they started a riot. The rioters grabbed Paul, drug him out of the Temple and attempted to kill him. The commander of the Roman garrison received news that the city was in an uproar and brought his troops out to quell the disturbance. When the mob saw the Roman soldiers they stopped beating Paul. The commander arrested Paul and asked the crowd what he had done. The crowd gave conflicting answers. As a result, the commander ordered that Paul be taken back to the fortress. As they started up the stairs to the fortress the crowd became so violent that the soldiers had to lift Paul to their shoulders to protect him.
This is a short psalm and a reminder that we should praise the Lord and call on everyone to do so as well. Read the psalm. Let us praise the Lord with every means at our disposal.
Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!
Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
Butterfly Bush up close
The first of today’s proverbs was a bit of a challenge for me until I read the NIV translation. The NLT says that a lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things. I have always thought of myself as lazy. However, the NIV says something very similar, but slightly different. The NIV says “One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.” While I think of myself as lazy–I never work any harder than I need to, I also think of myself as one who, if the job needs doing, puts out the effort to do it right. There is a fine line between my self-perception and the laziness referred to in this passage and I do not always remain on the godly side of it, but there is nothing inherently wrong with making a job as easy as possible.
The second proverb tells us that if we are in doubt about the dangers we face in this life, turn to the name of God and He will guard us.
