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.

     When Jehoshaphat died, his son Jehoram succeeded him. Jehoshaphat had given his other sons gifts of gold and fortified towns in Judah. However, Jehoshaphat had gotten a daughter of Ahab as a wife for Jehoram. When Jehoram became king he killed his brothers and some other leaders of Judah. In addition Jehoram reintroduced pagan worship into the Kingdom of Judah. His power was much reduced from that of his father. An alliance of neighboring peoples invaded Judah and killed all but Jehoram’s youngest son. When Jehoram died, the passage says that no one was sorry to see him die and he was not buried in the royal cemetery.
     Jehoram’s youngest son, Ahaziah, succeeded him on the throne. Ahaziah was no better than his father. Ahaziah joined the King of Israel, his uncle on his mother’s side, in a war. When the King of Israel was wounded in battle, Ahaziah went with him to his place of convalescence. While there, Ahaziah was caught up by a revolt against the King of Israel and killed along with him. Upon Ahaziah’s death, none of his sons were old enough to rule. Ahaziah’s mother, Athaliah, seized the throne. She was the daughter of King Ahab of Israel. Athaliah set out to kill all of the remaining royal family. However, Ahaziah’s sister, Jehosheba, took Ahaziah’s infant son, Joash, and hid him in the Temple. Jehosheba was married to the high priest Jehoiada.
     Joiada raised Joash. In the seventh year of Athaliah’s reign, Jehoiada staged a revolt and place Joash on the throne. Once Jehoiada had placed the crown on Joash’s head, he led the people in religious reform. They tore down the temple of Baal in Jerusalem and killed the priest of Baal. Jehoida re-established the burnt offerings called for in the Law of Moses.

     Paul here tells us that the rejection of God’s good news by the children of Israel led to salvation being preached to the Gentiles. He goes on to say that if their rejection led to salvation for the Gentiles, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. Paul says that God broke off the branches of Abraham’s family tree that rejected His gospel and grafted those Gentiles who accepted it in their place. If God was willing to graft wild branches on to His cultivated tree, won’t he be eager to graft the original branches back on? Paul seems to me to have two purposes here. The first is to once again remind all believers that they have no basis for pride in themselves over others. The second is to combat a feeling of hostility among Gentile believers against Jews. He is telling them that they have no basis for seeing themselves as better than Jewish non believers. Paul says that even though the Jews have rejected Christ now, the time will come when they will turn to God and accept His Gospel. He finishes today’s passage by reminding us that we can never know enough to judge God’s decisions and, since everything we have comes from God, we can never place God in our debt.

     Today we have the first half of Psalm 22. This psalm is one that is heavily associated with Jesus crucifixion and death by the writers of the New Testament. Jesus Himself references it when He cries out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” just before He died. The Gospel writers and other New Testament writers reference Psalm 22 as a prophecy concerning Jesus’ death and it certainly contains imagery that closely resembles that of the crucifixion. The psalmist talks about the piercing of hands and feet, dividing the garments among them. Today we see the depth of depression that was the crucifixion experience, but we must remember that by rabbinical tradition of the day to quote the first line of a Scripture was to call for the entire passage. Tomorrow we will see the rest of Psalm 22 which Christ referenced just before His death.

     This proverb tells us that the godly walk with integrity. I often have to ask myself if I live up to this. I know that I try to, and I know many who think that I do, but I know that I do not always succeed. I often wonder how many people have rejected the Gospel because of my failure to live my faith with integrity? How many more might the Spirit been able to reach if I had lived my faith with greater integrity? Or to put it another way, who have I failed because they saw me failing to live according to what I say I believe? I can only pray for God’s Spirit to strengthen me and make it so I live more faithfully in the future. I cannot change the past.