For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    I like the NIV a little better here. Merchants and tradesmen who use honest measuring devices serve God. When we carefully measure so as to deliver as much as we told people they were paying for, it is as if God Himself made our tools.

    I will not let evil-doers distract me from keeping God’s commands. Those who stray from God’s commands are fooling themselves, true joy only comes from following God. I turn to God for sustenance. Let us turn to God for discernment so that we can understand His instructions. Let us live as servants of God, so that we may experience His unfailing love. As we obey His commands, He will teach us ever more how to live according to His will. His commands are more valuable than anything we can imagine or desire. They will provide us with a better life than any amount of wealth.

    When the religious leaders brought Jesus to Pilate, Pilate asked them what they charged Him with. Rather than answering his question, they replied by saying that they would not have brought Jesus to Pilate if He was not guilty of something. When the religious leaders would not tell him what they were accusing Jesus of, he questioned Jesus directly. Let us take a lesson from Jesus, when the opponents of Christianity have accused us of non-specific wrong doing, we should not testify against ourselves. When Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king, Jesus replied by asking Pilate if that was his own idea, or did someone else suggest it to him. Jesus responded that His kingdom was not of this world. He had no intention of mounting a revolution and violently overthrowing the political order of the day.
    Pilate then asked the natural question, if Jesus did not intend to overthrow the political order, why did the local political leaders desire His death? Jesus’ answer was that He came to testify to the truth. The implication here is that the powers-that-be are threatened by the truth. Pilate then stated the question so many ask when they desire to dismiss their own wrong-doing, “What is truth?” I follow Christ and believe that there is objective truth to be learned. It is not that I believe that I know that truth in its entirety, but I know that such truth exists and desire to learn it. Those who wish to justify their own actions will often deny that there is such a thing as objective truth. Let us never fall for that deception and continue to seek to know God’s Truth.

    As David fled Jerusalem ahead of his son Absalom’s army, he was cursed by Shimei, who was from the same clan as Saul. When one of David’s men sought to strike Shimei down, David prevented him. From later passages it seems that Shimei played some important role in the Kingdom of Israel. David was unwilling to damage the running of the Kingdom in order as part of his struggle for power with Absalom. He did not strike down Shimei, even though Shimei was opposing him, when doing so would not advance his position in his struggle with Absalom.

     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.

     The people of the city cried that David was fleeing. The priests and Levites accompanied David with the Ark of the Covenant. They set the Ark down at the edge of the city and Abiathar offered sacrifices as David’s people passed by. David instructed Zadok and Abiathar to take the Ark back into the city. In addition, David told them he would wait at the shallows of the Jordan River for a report from them that they could send by way of their sons. When David heard that his adviser Ahithophel was backing Absalom, David prayed to God that Ahithophel give Absalom bad advice. As David fled he was met by Hushai, another of his advisers. David told Hushai to return to Jerusalem and offer his services to Absalom. By doing so, Hushai could frustrate the advice of Ahithophel and pass on word of Absalom’s plans to Zadok and Abiathar.
     As David went he was met by Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth. Ziba had a string of saddled donkeys and food supplies for David and his people. When David asked where Mephibosheth was, Ziba told him that he was staying in Jerusalem because he thought that the people would give him back his grandfather Saul’s kingdom. (Later, Mephibosheth gives a different account of his actions). David at this moment grants Ziba all of the property that he had previously given to Mephibosheth.
     A short while later, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, from Saul’s clan, named Shimei comes out and starts throwing stones at David and his men while cursing them. Joab’s brother Abishai complained to David about Shimei cursing David, the king, and requested permission to go over and cut off Shimei’s head. David angrily denied Abishai permission to harm Shimei, saying that since his own son was seeking his life, perhaps God had told Shimei to curse him as well. David and his people continued on. However, by the time they got to the Jordan River, they were tired and stopped to rest (as David had known would happen when he sent Abiathar and Zadok back into the city).
     Meanwhile Absalom and the army of Israel that backed him had arrived in the city of Jerusalem. Hushai immediately approached Absalom and cried out “Long live the king!” Absalom asked him why he was not with his friend David? Why he had not accompanied David? Hushai’s answer was basically that he wanted to be on the winning side and now that Absalom was winning he would advise him just as he had David in the past. Absalom then turned to Ahithophel and asked what he should do next. Ahithophel told Absalom that he should sleep with David’s concubines that he had left behind to tend the palace to make clear to the people of Israel that reconciliation was not possible between David and Absalom. Absalom took this advice, fulfilling yet another piece of Nathan’s prophecy to David.

     As Jesus was taken from Annas to Caiaphas, Peter remained warming himself by the fire. One of those present asked him if he was one of Jesus’ disciples to which Peter replied, “No, I am not.” A relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off said that he was sure he had seen Peter in the garden when they arrested Jesus, but Peter once more denied any connection. At that moment the rooster crowed.
     In the early morning hours the Jewish leaders took Jesus to Pilate’s palace. However, the Jewish leaders would not go in because if they did, they would be ceremonially unclean to eat the Passover. Pilate came out to them and asked them what charges they were bringing against Jesus. Their reply was interesting. The Jewish religious leaders did not give Pilate a list of charges, they merely insisted that if Jesus was not a criminal they would not have handed Him over to Pilate. Pilate then told them that they should try Him themselves, to which they replied that they were not allowed to execute anyone. Pilate then went back inside and questioned Jesus. Pilate first asked Jesus if He was the king of the Jews, to which Jesus replied by asking Pilate if that was his question or if someone else had given it to him (suggesting to Pilate that he was being used). Pilate responds by saying that he is not a Jew and that it was Jewish leaders who had turned Jesus over to him for trial. Pilate then asks Jesus what He had done to cause them to do so.
     Jesus answered Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world, which was why His followers did not fight to keep Him from being taken prisoner by the Jewish leaders. I have always felt that Jesus was making an important point here. He did not and does not intend for His followers to take over the government. We are not to focus our efforts on the kingdoms of this world. Rather we are to focus our efforts on bringing people into the Kingdom of God. The Church is not the army of God assigned the task of conquering the kingdoms of this world and making them part of the Kingdom of God. The Church is composed of the ambassadors of God whose purpose is to communicate God’s message to the kingdoms of this world and to provide information to the citizens of this world as to how to emigrate to the Kingdom of God (and since the Kingdom of God is open to all comers to encourage people to do so).
     Pilate however missed Jesus’ point and said, “Aha, so you ARE a king?” Jesus replied to this by saying that it was Pilate who was saying that He was a king. Jesus did not deny being a king, but He made it clear that whether He was was not an important part of His ministry. What was important was the He had come to testify to the truth and that those who love the truth listened to His teaching. Pilate then demonstrates that post-modernism is also pre-modernism by asking “What is truth?” Pilate was stating a basic concept of post-modernism that truth is either relative or unknowable. As a Christian I believe that truth is both absolute and knowable. I may not know the truth, but I could know the truth. Additionally, while it is important for me to always keep in mind that what I believe to be the truth may not actually be the truth. If it turns out that what I believe to be the truth is not the truth, that does not mean that truth is unknowable, or that the truth is relative, only that I was wrong.
     Pilate brought Jesus out before the crowd of the religious leaders and their followers where he told them that he found no guilt in Jesus that justified His crucifixion. The crowd called out for His crucifixion. Once more Pilate told them that he found Jesus not guilty. The religious leaders said that by Jewish law He should die because He said that He was the Son of God. Pilate then questioned Jesus some more, but Jesus did not answer him. Finally Pilate asked Him if He realized that Pilate had the power of life and death over Him. Jesus answered Pilate that he only had power over Him because it had been given to him from above. Pilate continued to try and find a way to release Jesus, but the crowd kept getting more riotous until finally Pilate asked the crowd if they wanted him to crucify their king. The chief priests responded that they had no king but Caesar. This was a very significant statement by these religious leaders. By saying this the religious leaders were doing what Samuel accused the Jews who first demanded that he anoint a king for them before he anointed Saul. They were rejecting God as their king and embracing Caesar in his place. This was even worse than those who chose Saul, Saul at least was an Israelite.
     At this point, Pilate gave in the Jewish religious leaders and ordered Jesus crucified. However, he had the sign over His head read, in multiple languages, that Jesus was being crucified for being the King of the Jews. The religious leaders asked that Pilate change it to say that He claimed to be the King of the Jews, but Pilate refused their request, making a clear statement that anyone who was given the title King of the Jews was in rebellion against Caesar, the rightful ruler of the Jews (as the chief priests had acknowledged when they said that they had no king buy Caesar).

     The psalmist gives us much to think on. He tells us that he hates those with divided loyalties. This phrasing reminds me of Jesus’ teaching that we cannot serve both God and Mammon. He goes on to warn that those who stray from God’s decrees are fooling themselves. I have seen this for myself, how people create complicated justifications for doing that which they know is wrong. I pray with the psalmist that God will give me discernment to understand His laws. I pray that God will use me to bring many to His salvation and I wish that all would do so. However, I must agree with the psalmist when he says:

     The first proverb tells us that rulers speak with divine wisdom, but it is a betrayal of God’s honor when they pervert justice. Those who do business with honesty and fairness are serving the Lord, God does indeed judge us according to our business practices.