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.
Upon returning to Jerusalem after the bulk of Israel rejected him as king, Rehoboam mustered the fighting men of Judah and Benjamin to attempt to reclaim control over all of Israel. God sends word telling Rehoboam and the people of Judah and Benjamin not to war against the rest of Israel. They listened to this command from God and Rehoboam did not attempt to regain control of the rest of Israel by force.
In the meantime, Jeroboam consolidates his control over Israel. He becomes concerned that if the people of Israel go to Jerusalem to the Temple to worship, they will switch their loyalty back to Rehoboam. To prevent that from happening, he had two golden calves made, one in the south of his kingdom and one in the north. He, also, built shrines in various high places and ordained priests who were not descended from the tribe of Levi. Jeroboam then compounded this by establishing a religious festival that was not one of those given by God in the Law where he himself offered the sacrifices. While Jeroboam is offering the sacrifices God sends a prophet to condemn his actions. When Jeroboam directs his men to seize the prophet, the hand he uses to point at the prophet becomes paralyzed.
Jeroboam, in an attempt to consolidate his power, set up a new religion completely under his control. He established new holidays and ordained his own priests. Jeroboam made the same basic mistake as Saul. He made pragmatic decisions to shore up his power base but did not focus on obeying the will of God. The passage tells us that Jeroboam made anyone who wanted to be a priest a priest. It reminds me of what has happened to the Church in the U.S., or at least the denomination that I am part of. When I was very young, my denomination selected pastors by a method called the lot. When a congregation needed a new pastor, the members would nominate from among its members those they thought might make good pastors. Then they prayed for God’s guidance and used a random system to select which of those nominated should be the next pastor. In this way, the congregation called a pastor with guidance from God. There were flaws in the system and not all congregations executed it in a manner that was truly faithful to the leading of God, but the principle was there. Sometime when I was young, congregations began hiring young men who had gone to seminary as a career choice as pastors when they needed a new pastor. This became a matter of making into pastors those who wanted the job. For a while, those who entered the pastorate were those who in high school or college decided to pursue that as a career. The Church was not doing a good job of calling men to the pastorate, it was merely hiring from among those who chose that career. The system is not as bad as the way I described it makes it sound, just as the system it displaced was not as good as my description may make it sound. The current system has those who are truly called to the ministry, just as the previous system had those who ended up in the pastorate who had not been so called. I believe that there are others besides myself who have noticed the shortcoming of the current system and are working at seeking God’s guidance for calling people to the ministry.
When Saul fled from Damascus he returned to Jerusalem where he tried to meet with the believers. The believers were afraid of him, not believing that he had truly converted. However, Barnabas knew the story of his conversion on the road to Damascus and his preaching there. Barnabas took Saul and introduced him to the apostles and told the story of what had happened to him in Damascus. After his introduction, Saul stayed with the apostles and traveled around Jerusalem with them preaching boldly. At one point he got into a heated argument with some Greek speaking Jews which led them to try and kill him. When the believers heard about this they got him out of Jerusalem and sent him to his home town of Tarsus.
We do not pay as much attention to Barnabas as we should. The scriptures do not tell us a lot about him, but he was clearly a very influential man in the early Church. The first mention we have of him is when he sold some property and gave the money to the apostles to distribute to the poor among the believers. Now we have him taking Saul in hand and introducing him to the apostles. Later he goes on several missions trips. What do we know about Barnabas? He was generous. He gave people the benefit of the doubt. He listened to the direction of the Holy Spirit.
Meanwhile, we are told that Peter traveled around Judea, in particular he visited Lydda and Joppa. In Lydda, Peter healed a man who had been paralyzed for eight years, leading to many coming to believe. Shortly thereafter, Dorcas (also known as Tabitha), a believer, died in Joppa. The believers in Joppa sent for Peter, who came and raised her from the dead. Again the news spread throughout the town leading many to believe. Dorcas was noted for doing kind things for others and for helping the poor. If we died today, would people say that we did kind things for others and that we helped the poor?
let us worship at the footstool of his throne.”
This was the prayer of the psalmist. While the Temple of God is now in our hearts, there is still something to be said for gathering with the believers to worship God. It is as important today as it was in the psalmist’s day to get together with others who share our faith whenever possible. The imagery here of worshiping at the footstool of God’s throne is that of prostrating ourselves before God. Recognizing that we are unworthy to be in His presence.
This proverb tells us that grandchildren are the glory of their grandparents. If you have ever met a grandparent, you probably know how true that is. It further tells us that children should be proud of their parents. There is certainly something to both aspects of that.