Tag Archives: Daily Bible Study

Daily Bible Study

March 2, 2019 Bible Study — Remembering What God Has Done For Us

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 8-10.

Today’s passage could easily be divided up into a couple of different themes, but they all seem to be tied together.  Moses starts by reminding the people, and us, to remember what God has done for us.  After all, that was why he had rehashed the story of their journey before getting to this point.  However, Moses warns us not to forget God when we become successful.   We have a tendency to think that we succeed because we deserve success, especially when others seem to suffer at the same time.  Moses wants us to understand that our success and their suffering is not because we are better, more deserving people.  If we stop giving God credit for our success and stop recognizing the need to do His will, even if we seem to be successful, everything will turn to dry dust in our mouths.  If we have success in this life, let us give thanks to God for His grace, and not begin to think that we deserve it.

Moses reminds us to never forget that if God gives us success He does so in order that we may do His will.  God wishes for us to love Him and live in a way that pleases Him.  How do we know what pleases God?  Moses gives us a few examples.  God ensures that widows and orphans receive justice.  He loves the foreigners who live among us, giving them food and clothing.  We should do likewise, ensuring that widows and orphans receive justice and showing love to the foreigners who live among us.  **I want to make a note that this has little to do with the current debate on immigration going on in the U.S..  The current immigration debate is about which foreigners should be allowed to live among us.**

Daily Bible Study

March 1, 2019 Bible Study — Do God’s Will With All Of Your Being

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 5-7.

Moses made a second presentation to the Israelites where he laid out the specifics of the covenant which he called on them to keep in his first address. He starts off by restating the Ten Commandments, or the Ten Statements. He reminds the people that God has spoken these Words directly to the people of Israel at Mt Sinai. I was struck by a different understanding of one of them than how I had previously understood it. The one I am referring to I learned as, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,…” However, in the NLT it reads, “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” I learned the first one to mean that you should not use God’s name as an expletive. The second reads to me as a warning against using God to promote our own self-interest. When you use the name of God, or a quote from the Bible, to support the position you took on an issue you are running a significant risk of violating this command. When tempted to use the Bible, or your religious beliefs, to bolster your arguments, ask yourself this, “Did I come to my belief because of that Bible passage? Or, do I understand that Bible passage that way because of my belief?” If the former, then the passage is possibly relevant to the discussion. If the latter, use the passage with extreme caution.

Moses goes on to say that we must love God with all of our being. We should commit ourselves to him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength, with every ounce of what we are. I cannot emphasize enough the value of what Moses says here:

And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The point of all of the above is that we should go overboard to make sure we know and remember God’s commands. Actually, it tells us that there is no such thing as going overboard in the attempt to know and remember God’s commands. By going back again and again and reading, reciting, learning what God has told us of His will we learn how to not misuse His name. Of course it is not enough to know God’s commands backwards and forwards. We must also desire to DO His will.

Finally for today, Moses reminded the Israelites that God did not choose them because of anything they were or had done. God chose them because He loved them. They did not deserve God’s love, just as we do not deserve God’s love. God loved them because He chose to love them, just as He chooses to love us. Because He loves us, He has told us what we must do to be blessed, but if we reject Him and His instructions He will not hesitate to bring down the full consequences of our actions upon us. The Bible contains account after account of those who suffered the consequences of rejecting God.

Daily Bible Study

February 25, 2019 Bible Study — Working Through Misunderstandings

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 32-33.

As the people of Israel prepared to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad realized that the land which they had just conquered east of the Jordan was perfect for their livestock.  So, they asked Moses if they could have that land as their inheritance, rather than land on the other side of the Jordan River.  Moses was concerned that their request was based on the same fear that had led the previous generation to resist entering the Promised Land.  Rather than be offended by Moses’ assumption that they were trying to shirk their duty to their countrymen, the representatives of Reuben and Gad explained their thinking.  They made it clear that they intended to assist the other tribes in conquering the land west of the Jordan River.  They recognized that Moses’ questions were a valid conclusion from their request and addressed his concerns.  Both sides of this handled the misunderstanding correctly.  Moses explained why he was concerned with their request, then listened when they clarified.  The tribes heard Moses concern and understood why he thought that, explaining that was not what they wished.

Daily Bible Study

February 24, 2019 Bible Study — Get Advice Before Making a Commitment

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 30-31.

While we today have a problem with the command here that when a woman makes a vow it can be canceled by her father if she still lives in his household, or by her husband if she is married, there is a lesson to be learned from this.  First, if the father or husband does not see a problem with the vow when they first hear it, they lose the right to cancel it later.  Second,, we should all take the time and effort to run a commitment we are considering past at least one other person before we make it.  If you are married,  I strongly recommend running a commitment past your spouse before you make it.  If you are single, running it past your parents if they are still around (especially the one of the opposite sex to yourself) would be wise, or someone else whose judgment you trust if your parents are not an option.

One thing that struck me was the way that a bunch of laws and other instructions were placed in this account between when God told Moses to destroy the Midianites for seducing the Israelites to idolatry and the account of them doing so.  I think the writer did this to give us the sense that the laws Moses gave the people were spelled out in response to circumstances which arose as they traveled through the wilderness.  I think that the laws recorded in Exodus through Deuteronomy represented Moses’ rulings as cases were brought before him which the previously expressed law did not clearly address.  However, the writer recognized that recording all of those cases would make it too hard to follow what was a command and what was a description of the case brought before Moses.  I do not believe that all of these laws were strictly in response to the specific cases, more a matter of a case illustrated that there were areas where what had already been recorded did not give adequate guidance to resolve an issue.

Daily Bible Study

February 23, 2019 Bible Study — Leaders Must Train Their Successors

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 27-29.

When Moses realized that he would soon die he asked God to appoint a successor to take over leadership of the people.   God told Moses to appoint Joshua to that role.  However, we know that Moses did not wait until he foresaw that he would soon no longer be able to lead the people.  Moses selected Joshua as his aid and assistant some time before the Israelites reached Mt Sinai.  Joshua appears time and again throughout Exodus as Moses’ assistant.  We even have an example of Moses teaching Joshua when they were on Mt Sinai while the people worshiped the gold calf.  Joshua thought the noises coming from the camp sounded like the sound of war.  Moses pointed out that it was neither the sound of battle, nor of victory or defeat.  While this is not a very detailed thing, it indicates that Moses taught Joshua how to use his judgment.

Daily Bible Study

February 20, 2019 Bible Study — Worship God, Not the Dead

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 19-21.

When the Israelites arrived at Kadesh, Miriam died and was buried.  However, a short time later after they had left Kadesh and arrived at Mt. Hor, Aaron died and was not buried.  When Aaron was dying Moses and Aaron’s son, Eleazar, accompanied Aaron to the top of Mt. Hor, where Aaron died.  We are not told why God told Moses to take Aaron to the top of Mt. Hor with only Eleazar to accompany them, but I believe that it was to prevent the Israelites from turning his grave into a shrine.  Throughout history people have turned the graves of great leaders into shrines where they in essence worship the deceased.  The Israelites were to worship God, not their deceased leaders or ancestors.

Daily Bible Study

February 19, 2019 Bible Study — The Israelites Rebel Against Moses Because He Would Not Follow The “Crowd”

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 16-18.

After their devastating loss when they entered the Promised Land against Moses’ and God’s command, the people were dissatisfied by Moses’ leadership.  A Levite by the name of Korah lead a rebellion to replace Moses as spokesperson for God.  He and three leaders from the tribe of Reuben led a rebellion against Moses.  It appears that the core of Korah’s rebellion was that he demanded that he and 250 of his followers be allowed to function as priests.  Perhaps Korah was also calling for all of the people of Israel to be acknowledged as able to function as priests. 

Actually, there seems to be two elements to the rebellion.  Korah and the Levites who followed him wanted to be able to serve as priests (and probably wanted the authority that went with that).  While the Reubenite leaders appeared to want to reject Moses’ authority to lead.  When Moses summoned Korah and his followers to the Tabernacle for a contest to demonstrate who had divine approval, the Reubenite leaders refused to come and take part.  This suggests to me that they believed that Moses had rigged the contest.  Despite their unwillingness to go before Moses and God to make their case, they died for their rebellion along with the rest of Korah’s key followers.  The passage tells us that the death of Korah and his leadership cadre was not enough to settle the grumbling against Moses and Aaron.  It took a plague stopped by Aaron’s intervention and the miraculous blossoming of Aaron’s staff to settle the discontent among the people.

 

Daily Bible Study

February 17, 2019 Bible Study — One of the Israelite Leaders Was a Woman

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 11-13.

In yesterday’s passage we read about some people who were disappointed in not being able to celebrate the second Passover (and the solution which Moses gave them).  Today’s passage contains examples of how only a short time later the people began to complain about Moses’ leadership.  I was going to write about the people’s ungratefulness, but I realized that I want to focus on the lessons in leadership from this passage.  God told Moses to appoint 70 elders to assist with managing the people and their problems.  The passage gives us no idea how these 70 elders were chosen, but Moses summoned them to the Tabernacle.  Two of the 70, for reasons never disclosed, did not come to the Tabernacle.  Nevertheless, when God poured his Spirit out on the elders, those two received it along with those gathered at the Tabernacle and began prophesying.  Joshua, Moses’ assistant, wanted Moses to stop them.  Moses declined to do so.  What we learn is that these 70 elders had authority given to them from God, not from Moses.  Joshua wanted Moses to exert his authority to establish that these 70 were subordinate to him and were only acting on his authority.  Moses declined to attempt to supersede God’s authority by doing so.

Again I find myself going in a different direction from my original intention.  I had planned to connect the dispute between Moses and his sister and brother (Miriam and Aaron) to the above issues.  However, it struck me that this dispute gives us a lesson on women in leadership (although perhaps not the one you might think).  Miriam and Aaron were wrong in challenging Moses’ authority.  However, the important lesson is that Miriam, a woman, had sufficient authority in the first place to be able to challenge Moses.  Miriam was clearly one of the leaders of the people of Israel.  She had enough authority to challenge Moses for overall leadership of the people (although only with Aaron to act as her proxy).

As a side note, this is the second time where Aaron acted in a way which brought down God’s wrath where he did not directly suffer.  The first time was when he made the golden calf for the people to worship.

Daily Bible Study

February 16, 2019 Bible Study — The Second Passover

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 8-10.

When it came time to celebrate the Passover in remembrance of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt the first time (the first Passover was part of that deliverance), some of the Israelites were unclean and unable to partake.  They came to Moses to ask how they could celebrate this important occasion.  Moses recognized their sincere desire to worship God and celebrate His great power, so he told them to wait while he consulted with God.  The answer God gave Moses was that those who were unable to celebrate the Passover at its appointed time should do so one month later.  However, this special dispensation only applied to those who were truly unable to celebrate at the appointed time because they were ceremonially unclean, or were away on a trip.  It did not apply to those who found it inconvenient to celebrate the Passover at the appointed time. 

Daily Bible Study

February 15, 2019 Bible Study –Dedicating the Tabernacle

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 7.

The tribal leaders all gave gifts for the dedication of the Tabernacle and of the altar.  For the Tabernacle they banded together and gave six wagons and twelve oxen.  These were divided up among the Levite clans according to their duties regarding transporting the Tabernacle in order for them to transport their portion.  Those who were responsible for transporting the Ark of the Covenant and other sacred furnishings were not given any wagons because they were supposed to carry the items for which they were responsible. 

They all wanted to bring their offerings for the dedication of the altar at the same time (so that none of them were seen to have been lax in their giving).  However, because some of their offerings were going to be sacrificed on the altar, Moses instructed them each to bring their offerings on a separate day.  As a result, the dedication of the Tabernacle and its furnishings was a twelve day festival.