For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    A ruler who wants stability will detest wrongdoing and build his rule on justice. When those who govern a society do not honour those who speak honestly, that society will suffer.

    I want to have the same passion for God’s word that the psalmist had. I want to pant with expectation as I long for God’s commands. I want the Holy Spirit to guide my steps so that I will not be overcome with evil. I am insignificant, nobody of any importance, but I will follow God’s instructions. By acting according to God’s will, I will improve the world around me, even if only by a small amount. I ask God to give me understanding of His laws so that I may live.

    While Jesus was hanging on the cross, He saw His mother standing next to John. He told John to take care of His mother in His place and told His mother to treat John as her son. Then, having settled His affairs on this earth, He cried out, “It is finished” and gave up His life. He did not fear death, so He was able to recognize that the time had come and surrender to God’s will. We, also, have no need to fear death, because in Jesus we have victory over death. It is my goal to face death in the manner which Jesus did.
    John points out the various ways in which prophecies were fulfilled in the events surrounding Jesus’ death. In addition, it is important to John that when the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side blood and water poured out. I am not sure if John’s emphasis on this is because it is sure proof that Jesus was dead, or if there is theological significance to it. Considering that some people try to explain away the Resurrection by claiming that Jesus never actually died, the former is certainly distinctly possible. Further, when combined with Jesus’ comment about being thirsty just before He died, it gives us a complete picture into the cause of death that it is improbably that John would have been aware enough of to fabricate.

    One of David’s advisers, Ahithophel, had defected to Absalom. David had sent another, Hushai, to join Absalom’s advisers to offset the advice of the first one. Ahithophel advised Absalom to send him with troop of men after David at once. Hushai played on both Absalom’s fear of his father, emphasizing the fighting prowess of David and his men, and his ego, recommending that he lead the troops himself. Absalom chose to take the advice of Hushai. Ahithophel recognized that Absalom’s only chance of victory was to move quickly to defeat David before David had time to plan his campaign. When Ahithophel realized that Absalom would not follow that course of action, he put his affairs in order and took his own life. Ahithophel realized that David would be victorious.
    When I read this account, and Absalom’s response to the advice he was given, I see a lesson here for us. Absalom’s mistake grew out of the two key flaws in his personality. He respected his father for the wrong reasons. He saw only his father’s military prowess and did not recognize the role David’s faith in God played in his successes. Absalom’s other flaw was his desire to be loved and honoured without having to do the work to earn that love and honour.

     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 started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. 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.

     Ahithophel counseled Absalom to give him 12,000 men to immediately pursue David and his men. That way they could overtake them while they were tired and before they had a chance to organize their defense. David and his men would panic and many of the men would run away. Ahithophel would be able to kill only David and bring the rest of David’s people back to serve Absalom. Absalom and the men with him liked Ahithophel’s plan, but Absalom called for Hushai and asked what he thought of Ahithophel’s advice. Hushai told Absalom that Ahithophel was wrong. David and his men were mighty warriors and they would currently be enraged, which meant that they would fight with determination. In addition, David was an experienced soldier, so he would not be with the rest of his troops, but would be hiding apart from them with a small force. Hushai said that when Ahithophel’s force attacked the main force, David would emerge from hiding and attack them from the flank. Because everyone knew what mighty warriors David and his men were, as soon as they started inflicting casualties on Absalom’s troops panic would set in and even the bravest soldiers would be paralyzed with fear.
     Hushai advised that instead of sending a small force after David quickly under Ahithophel’s command, Absalom should muster the entire Israelite army and lead it into battle himself. Then he would have such an overwhelming force that they could easily wipe out David and his loyal supporters. In addition, if David should take up a defensive position in a town, Absalom would have the means to lay siege to the town and bring down its walls. Absalom and his men liked Hushai’s advice better than Ahithophel’s and chose to follow it. Hushai then told Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, the plans that had been discussed and told them to send word to David to not camp at the Jordan River, but to go into the wilderness on the other side. The priests’ sons had stayed in a town outside of Jerusalem to avoid being seen entering and leaving the city, so the priests sent word to them through a servant girl. However, a boy saw the two young men and took word to Absalom. The two young men left where they had been staying and went to another town where someone hid them in his well and put a cloth over it with grain scattered on top to dry in the sun. When Absalom’s men arrived looking for the priests’ sons, they were told that they had already departed. Absalom’s men went looking for them, but were unable to find them and returned to Jerusalem. As soon as Absalom’s men returned to Jerusalem, the priests’ sons went to David and gave him word.
     David and his men immediately crossed the Jordan and were on the other side by dawn. David and his men traveled to Mahanaim, the city out of which Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, had ruled over Israel for two years. He was greeted by three leaders of the city (or perhaps just wealthy men based on that side of the Jordan), who brought him and his men supplies. Ahithophel, when he realized that Absalom was not following his advice, returned to his home town, set all of his affairs in order and killed himself. In the meantime, Absalom mustered the Israelite army and crossed the Jordan in pursuit of David.

     John starts today’s passage by showing how the crucifixion was a fulfillment of Psalm 22 (as at some point do the other Gospel writers). While Jesus was on the cross, He saw His mother standing at the foot of the cross along with “the disciple he loved.” He asked the disciple to care for His mother and the account tells us that this disciple did so going forward. Jesus then stated that He was thirsty (another reference to Psalm 22). He was offered sponge soaked in sour wine. He tasted the wine, cried out that it was finished and died. This was a remarkably quick death for a crucifixion. Because it was the day before the Passover Sabbath, the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left hanging. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the prisoners broken to speed their deaths. Pilate ordered his men to do so. When they came to Jesus they found that He was already dead, so they did not break His legs (which fulfilled a prophecy that none of His bones would be broken). However, they drove a spear into His side to ensure that He was dead. This also fulfilled a prophecy regarding His death.
     After this Joseph of Arimathea got permission from Pilate to take down Jesus’ body and bury it. He and Nicodemus brought perfumed ointment and wrapped Jesus’ body with the ointment and linen according to Jewish custom. They then buried it in a new tomb near to the place of crucifixion.

     The psalmist makes a great point to which we must pay close attention, even the simple can understand God’s word if they try. It does not take a college degree, or study at a seminary to understand the message that God has given us. The psalmist instructs us to pray to God that He guide us with His word and teach us His decrees. It is a source of great sorrow to me that people choose to disobey God’s instructions because I know the suffering that comes from that choice. Those who disobey God’s commands always suffer as a result, and often inflict suffering on others as well. As Christians, we join the psalmist in mourning for this suffering.
     We may be insignificant and despised (I am certainly insignificant, I will leave it to others to determine if I am despised), but if we remember and follow God’s commands we can change the world. Trouble and anguish may find us, but we can find joy and relief in following God’s commands. If we pray with all of our hearts, God will answer our prayers and show us how to follow His will. Then it is up to us to do so. I will repeat that we do not need a seminary education to know God’s will, if we study His word and pray to Him, He will give us understanding of His will. God’s commands are true and they will last forever.

     A ruler who commits wicked acts is undermining his own rule. Those who wish to rule long and prosperously delights in those who speak righteousness and who speak to him with honesty. A ruler who surrounds himself with those who do evil and tell him only what he wants to hear is dooming himself to failure.