For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If a nation’s leaders are not wise, that nation is doomed. On the other hand, a leader who listens to many advisers, and knows how to decide which of their advice to take, is guaranteed to lead the nation to safety. When deciding whether to follow a leader, consider not just their wisdom, but the wisdom of their advisers.

    This psalm contrasts the actions and thoughts of those who are evil with the actions and thoughts of those who serve God. Those who are evil come out at night. They speak cutting words. Most importantly, they believe that they will never be held accountable for their sins. Those who serve God praise Him in the morning. They sing with joy about God’s unfailing love. Most importantly, they recognize that it is God who keeps them safe and protects them from their enemies.

    One of the most significant parts of this passage is the fact that the angels made their announcement to the shepherds. I have trouble imagining what group today would be the equivalent. The closest I can come is migrant farm workers, or perhaps carnies (the people who work the traveling carnivals). Few people from the rest of society interacted with shepherds and most people could never imagine doing that job if they had any other choice. Those were the people to whom God chose to send the angels to announce the birth of the Messiah.
    I want to point out their reaction to the announcement. When the angels were finished, the shepherds said, “Let’s see this thing that has happened.” Would we have reacted the same way? Or would we have said, “That’s neat, but I have to get some sleep?” As I write this I am reminded of how I react to stories about strange events. If I did not witness the actual event, I am cautious in what I say about it. This is appropriate. Many people are easily fooled by scam artists into thinking something amazing happened when it was merely a trick of some sort.
    However, when we hear that God is doing wonderful things, we should take time to check it out. We should find out if it is really God doing wonderful things…or is it just a scam artist preying on the gullible? Let us go, see for ourselves, and, if it is indeed God doing wonderful things, tell everyone what it is that we have seen.

    The passage tells us that when Balaam realized that God was going to insist on blessing Israel, he did not use his normal methods for discovering God’s will. That sounds to me like Balaam was going to attempt to make up a curse on his own. However, the Holy Spirit came over him anyway and caused him to speak yet another blessing. The Moabites had failed to gain victory over the Israelites by having them cursed, so they turned to other tactics.
    After the failure of Balak’s attempt to have the Israelites cursed by Balaam, the Moabites tried a different strategy. They began to try to assimilate the Israelites. Some of the Israelite men found some of the Moabite women attractive and began having sexual relations with them. The Moabite women encouraged the Israelite men to join them in the sacrifices and worship rituals to the Moabite god. As a result of this activity a plague began to spread among the Israelites.
    I am a strong believer that we as Christians need to be involved with the society around us. However, this passage is a reminder of the dangers of doing so. As we become involved with the society around us it is all too easy to allow that society to draw us away from serving God and from doing His will. We can become seduced into worshiping the gods of those around us rather than converting them to worship our God.

    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. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day, or more. in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

    A nation which does not have leaders wise enough to take good advice will fall. The same holds true of companies and organizations. No one person can know enough to make the decisions needed to guide a large group of people without a multitude of wise advisers.

    The psalmist asks God to rescue him from his enemies, but he requests that God not kill them. He asks that God trap them with their sins and the evil things that they say. The psalmist asks God to cause them to be captured by their pride and their lies so that the entire world can see and learn from their fate. The wicked say evil things at night when they think that no one who might hold them to account can hear. Yet God hears them and will hold them to account. I will not be like those who speak evil and despise God. I will sing about God’s power every morning (well, perhaps the word “sing” is inappropriate for the sounds I make, but I will praise God every morning). He has been my refuge (and still is) when troubles have arisen.

    At the beginning of chapter 2 we have a statement by Luke that is both problematic and indicative of his attention to detail. Many biblical scholars find Luke’s reference to the census that occurred during the time that Quirinus was governor of Syria to be a problem because the other records we have indicate that Quirinus was not governor during the reign of Herod the Great. I will not go into the full set of arguments that can be used to deal with this problem. I will merely point out that the word used by Luke which is translated “governor” is elsewhere used to refer to several positions. There is another point I want to make. Later in this letter and in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke makes detailed descriptions of places and travel between places which many scholars used to believe were fictional or impractical. As time went on and more was learned about the time period, it was discovered that Luke’s account of those details was accurate after all. So, while I will not rule out that Luke got his facts wrong (this did happen before he would have been old enough to actually know what was going on and he had to rely on other sources), I tend to believe that he was more likely correct than our alternate sources who suggest that he was wrong.
    I have always been a fan of the story of the angels announcing the birth to the shepherds for various reasons (not least being the fact that my father read the story every Christmas Eve before we began opening our presents). I love these words spoken by the angel, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”(NIV) That is the message we have to spread today. It is good news and a source of great joy to those who heed it, no matter who they are or where they live. I need to be reminded of this on a regular basis. When I a book, or a TV show, or a movie, or…well you get the idea…that gives me joy, I can’t wait to tell others about it, especially when I think they will get pleasure and/or joy from it as well. Yet, all too often I am reluctant to share the Gospel with those whom I know need to hear it.
    God, please forgive me for my lack of enthusiasm for telling others of your wondrous grace and give me the courage to do so more going forward.

    Yesterday I discussed the first two times Balaam looked out over the Israelites in order to attempt to curse them for Balak, the king of Moab. Balak took Balaam to a third place to try to find a curse for Israel from there. Balaam had realized by now that God would not allow him to curse Israel. So, this time Balaam did not bother with conducting his normal divination routine. Nevertheless the Spirit of God came upon him and gave him a message for Balak. Balaam warned Balak that those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. Balak was furious with Balaam, but Balaam reminded him that he had warned Balak that he could only speak the words which God gave him.
    While the Israelites were still camped at this location, some of the Israelite men began sleeping with Moabite women. The women invited them to the sacrifices which they had to their pagan gods, and these men went with them. This passage is a reminder about the dangers of getting into a sexual relationship with someone who does not share your belief in God (whether it is a marital relationship or otherwise). It is all too easy to allow our sexual desires to lead us away from worshiping God.