For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    The writer reminds us to keep our eyes on wisdom and understanding. Let us strive to preserve our sound judgment and discretion. These are the tools which will help us to walk a straight path and avoid stumbling. If we remember to act according to wisdom and understand, sound judgment and discretion we will not fear when we lie down on our beds to sleep.

    I love this psalm. It gives us a nice checklist of things ways to behave in order to please God:

• Lead blameless lives
• Do what is right
• Speak the truth from the heart
• Do not speak slander
• Do no wrong to a neighbor
• cast no slur on another
• Despise the vile
• Honor those who fear the Lord
• Keep our promises, even when it hurts
• Lend money to the poor without interest
• do not accept bribes against the innocent

These are things for which no one can be condemned. If we do all of them we will be able to stand firm even when the ground around us collapses.

    We have two stories in today’s passage which give us insight into the limits of rules used to guide behavior. In the first story, Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of breaking the law because they casually broke off heads of grain and ate them on the Sabbath. The Pharisees said they were harvesting on the Sabbath. In response, Jesus’ points out exceptions to the Law found in scripture. He then quotes Hosea 6:6 to them to show that God does not desire slavish obedience to the letter of the Law. God does not desire our sacrifices, He desires us to show mercy and love.
    The second story occurs in the synagogue of these same Pharisees. When He entered the synagogue, Jesus took notice of a man with a crippled hand. The Pharisees asked Him if the law allowed someone to heal on the Sabbath, with the implication that healing was work (and the Law banned working on the Sabbath). Jesus then asks a rhetorical question. If one of your animals fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you work to get it out? Jesus then answers the question by telling them that, of course, they would. They would neither let the animal suffer, nor risk the loss of their asset, in order to wait for the end of the Sabbath. To sum up His teaching: it is never wrong to do good.

    After the confrontation with the people of Schechem over the rape of Jacob’s daughter Dinah, Jacob moves to Bethel. Jacob was worried about the people of the area around Schechem mustering and attacking him and his family in response to his sons taking revenge on the people of Schechem for his daughter’s rape. God appeared to him and told him to move to Bethel and build an altar. In response to God’s direction, Jacob tells his family and servants to purify themselves and get rid of all of their pagan idols. As a result they gave him all of their idols and their earrings, which Jacob then buried under an oak at Schechem. I find it interesting that they gave Jacob both their idols and their earrings. I don’t know what the significance is of that, but I find it interesting. The more interesting thing is that rather than destroy the idols, Jacob buried them under a tree which could be used to find them again later.
    Bethel was the place where Jacob had had the vision of the staircase to heaven while he was fleeing Esau many years earlier. His return here is symbolic, intentionally so on his part. He has returned to reaffirm his dedication to serving God. He was reminded at Schechem of the promises which God had made to him those many years ago, and of his promise in return. Getting rid of the idols in his household was part of keeping those promises he had made those many years ago as he rededicates himself and his household to 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. My work schedule has recently changed, meaning that I may not have time every day to complete these. As a result, I am trying to get several days ahead. I hope this does not negatively impact the quality of these posts (if that is possible). If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     I had never really noticed before that Jacob moved back to Bethel just after his sons Simeon and Levi had slaughtered all of the men of the town of Shechem because the son of the ruler had raped their sister. When Jacob learned what they had done, he was afraid that the people of the region would join together to take revenge on them by wiping out his entire family. God reminded Jacob that he had appeared to him once before when he was afraid for his life. Jacob packed up his family and moved to where God had appeared to him on that occasion.
     Jacob gathered his family and ordered them to make a clean breast of things. They were to get rid of all of their idols and all of their objects of worship of gods other than God. He took all of these goods and buried them under a tree near Shechem then they all traveled to Bethel. When they arrived, Jacob built an altar and renewed his relationship with God. Sometimes we need to do things like this. Put aside all of the things which distract us from God and go to a place where God had appeared to us before so that we can renew our relationship with Him. Jacob had named the town where he saw the stairway to heaven “Bethel”, which means the House of God. Where is the place that you think of as the House of God? Is it time for you to visit there once more?

     In this passage Jesus quotes Hosea, “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.” This was in response to an accusation that His disciples had broken Sabbath Laws. This is followed by a story where the religious leaders are angry because Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath. The point of the two stories in today’s passage about the Sabbath is that God’s Laws are meant to encourage us to do good to those around us not to prevent us from meeting our own basic needs or caring for those in need.
     As an example of how I apply this passage: I avoid shopping on Sundays because I realized a few years ago that the only reason I did so was because I found it convenient to do so. There were times when I did not get my shopping done on Saturday because I figured I could do it on Sunday and there were other things (sometimes just being lazy) that I wanted to do on Saturday. I realized that this took away from my ability to do things related to worshiping God on Sunday, so I made the decision to stop doing so. I do not make this a rule I cannot break. I just plan my week so that I can get my shopping done on the other six days. This is a decision which I have reached and I recognize that others have schedules and needs which may make it necessary for them to shop on Sunday.

     The psalmist gives us a list of characteristics we should desire to make ours:

• live blamelessly

This means not to do the wrong thing.

• do what is right

However, not doing the wrong thing is not enough, we need to do the right thing.

• speak the truth

This is more than just “don’t lie.”

• refuse to gossip

This is often more difficult than it sounds.

• refuse to harm our neighbor

Considering what Jesus says about who are neighbors are, this is pretty comprehensive.

• refuse to speak evil of friends

I don’t think I need to elaborate on this.

• despise vile persons

These are the people who revel in doing nasty things to others

• honour the faithful

This is the flip side of the previous one. All too many despise the faithful and honour the vile.

• keep promises, even when it hurts

Sometimes it is inconvenient to do what you said you would do, do it anyway.

• lend to the poor for no gain

Helping the poor without making them dependent

• refuse bribes to tell lies

It is interesting that it does not just say “refuse bribes.” It appears to suggest that it is OK to accept a bribe to be honest and upright.

     If you want to live a life without fear, always think about what is the wise course of action and seek to understand what is going on around you. As we keep our eyes on God’s wisdom we will not be afraid of sudden disaster, nor ruin. As we seek course that reflects God’s wisdom, we will find ourselves under God’s protection.