Tag Archives: read the Bible in a year Bible study

March 3, 2025 Bible Study — If We Faithfully Obey God, the Land Will Prosper

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 11-13.

I am not sure if I will be able to find the words to properly express the idea I find in today’s passage, but I’m going to try.  As I read today’s passage I was struck that God wants us to take care of our environment, but not the ways which most people approach doing so are counterproductive.  These words from Deuteronomy 11:13-15 really struck me on that: So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”  Our care for the environment follows from doing what God commands, not from devotion to nature.  Moses makes sure the Israelites understand this because he follows that up by saying that they need to be careful to not be enticed away to follow other gods.  The people of the land they were entering worshipped gods whose worship they claimed was vital to preserving the environment in which they lived, but, through Moses, God warns us that their tactics will fail.  If we begin worshiping the gods of this world, the land will stop producing crops and become a dried out desert.  If we look at some places in this country we can see examples of this.  There are places which had been productive and beautiful, but the people living in those areas gave power to those who worshiped the gods of nature.  Those people began enforcing laws to “protect nature” and the lands became dry and/or uninhabitable.  I thought of giving specific examples of this, but instead I want to focus on the lesson.  If we worship God and follow His commands, the lands we live in will provide us with abundant resources to live, prosper, and serve Him.  If we worship other gods, even the “gods of nature”, and attempt to serve them, the lands we live in will become places where nothing will prosper.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

March 2, 2025 Bible Study — Obey the Lord’s Commands Which Are Given to You for Your Own Good

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 8-10.

Today’s passage begins with Moses telling the Israelites to follow the commands he is giving them so that they might live and increase.  Then towards the end of the passage he asks them a rhetorical question about what God asks of them.  The answer to the question was that God asks only that they fear Him, love Him with all of their heart and all of their soul, and obey the commands which He gave them for their own good.  These things apply to us as well.  God has given us commands and instructions which are for our own good.  It reminds me of the difference between well-behaved children and children which are out of control.  I have noticed that well-behaved children are convinced that their parents enforce their rules because their parents believe those rules are in the best interest of the children.  While out of control children act as they do because they do not believe that about their parent’s rules.  Well behaved children believe that they will suffer negative consequences for breaking their parents’ rules whether or not they are caught.  Out of control children believe that there are no negative consequences for breaking the rules as long as they do not get caught.  If we believe that God is like a good parent, who establishes rules for His children for their own good, then we will understand that He does not punish us because He is offended that we disobeyed Him.  Rather, He punishes us to teach us not to do things which will have even worse consequences for us than the punishment He inflicts.

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

March 1, 2025 Bible Study — We Will Listen and Obey

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 5-7.

Today’s passage begins with the Ten Commandments, or the Ten Sayings.  It ends with Moses telling the Israelites not to fear the people living in the land which God was giving them.  He told them that if they paid attention to God’s commands and kept them, He would drive those peoples out before them.  Moses backed up his claim that the Israelites did not need to fear by reminding them that they had already seen God’s power.  If God had done all they had already seen, they should know that nothing and no one could prevent Him from doing more for them.  The same is true for us.  We have seen God’s great power, so we need have no fear of anything.  We should not covet the good things which others have, for God will give us that which brings us greater joy than those things could.  We should not worship other “gods” because God can do for us all that they can and more.  Remember what God has done for us.  And when He speaks to us today let us listen and obey for that will bring us greater joy than any other course of action.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

February 28, 2025 Bible Study — Remember the Day You Stood Before the Lord Your God

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 3-4.

I started reading this and my first thought was that this was going to be another passage where I write something with more academic interest than devotional content.  Then I came to this verse “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”  The very next says, “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God…”  If you have put your faith in Jesus and allowed the Holy Spirit to come into your life, then at some point you have stood before the Lord and listened to Him speak to you,  Or, more likely you did not stand, at some point most of us have lain prostrate before Him.  Do not forget that day and why you were there and what God has done for you since.  We must remember these things because we were shown them so that we “might know that the Lord is God, and besides Him there is no other.”  If we do as He commands, it will go well with us and with those who follow after us.  Which leads to the other part about why we were shown God’s power so that we tell others about it.  So that we tell those who need God how to come to Him and receive His grace.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

February 27, 2025 Bible Study — Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and Caphtorites

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 1-2.

Today’s passage consists of Moses giving a recap of the Israelites journey through the wilderness from the time they left Mount Sinai until they arrived on the east bank of the Jordan River, preparing to cross into the Promised Land.  The first thing I thought about (and think about every time I read this passage) is the different interpretation of events than the way they were recorded in the earlier books.  Considering that this is a review of events for people who had experienced many of these events as they happened, and whose parents had experienced the rest, this difference in interpretation makes sense. The passage skips over the incident and fight with the Canaanites in the Negev.

However, Moses does mention that God told them not to harass, or provoke, the Moabites, which is not mentioned in the earlier accounts.  Here we find a clear editorial insertion by someone after the original compiler of this account.  That later writer tells us that the Moabites displaced the Emites, and tells us a bit about the Emites.  He transitions from the Emites being displaced by the Moabites to the Horites being displaced by the Edmites.  One might think that was just editorial comment by the original writer, except he finishes this parenthetical part by saying that the Edomites had destroyed the Horites in the same way that the Israelites had destroyed the people in the land which God gave them.  A few verses later, when the prohibition against provoking the Ammonites is mentioned, a similar editorial insertion is made concerning the people whom the Ammonites displaced.  In that sidenote, the editor repeats that the Edomites displaced the Horites, then mentions that the Caphtorites drove the Avites out of Gaza and surrounding territory.  Caphtorites is probably an alternative name for the Philistines.

If the Caphtorites were indeed the Philistines, that would put the compilation of this account sometime during the period of the Judges.  I say that because by the time of David, the Israelites referred to them as Philistines, and anyone writing that late would have used that term for them.  Additionally, it has to be after Joshua because the Philistines appeared in the historical record a few hundred years after Joshua.  I consider this important because there are those who contend that the Old Testament was written by post Babylonian Exile Jews to justify their control over the land around Jerusalem (and others who claim that Deuteronomy was written at the time of Josiah).  However, those writing at those later dates would have referred to the Philistines, not the Caphtorites.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

February 26, 2025 Bible Study — God Puts a High Value on Human Life

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 34-36.

Today’s passage contains the provision for the establishment of cities of refuge in Israel once the Israelites conquer the land God had promised to their ancestors.  When we talk about this we often pay limited attention to what it says and think that cities of refuge were a place for anyone who killed another person to flee to avoid being killed in revenge.  However, if we read closely we discover that the cities of refuge were only for people who accidentally killed someone else…and accidentally is defined to exclude circumstances where you should have known there was a significant risk of killing them.  So, if you hit someone with a deadly weapon intending to hurt them, even if you did not mean to kill them, the cities of refuge would not be a refuge.  This passage called for you to be put to death.  Which means that if you accidentally killed someone you could flee to a city of refuge and stay there until the high priest died, or you could stay where you were and risk being killed by your victim’s nearest relative.  In either case, you paid a pretty steep price for taking someone’s life, even though it was completely an accident.  The message here is that every human life is valuable and there is a price to be paid for taking it, even if we didn’t mean to do so.  Take care of where you throw that dangerous object.  Pay attention to what is downrange when you are taking target practice.  Know what’s below when you drop a heavy object off of a building, or other high place.  Otherwise, you may have to pay a heavy price.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

February 25, 2025 Bible Study — The Stages of the Israelites Journey in the Wilderness

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 32-33.

Initially, I was going to write about the Reubenites and Gadites interaction with Moses when they requested to settle east of the Jordan River, but I have written about that just about every time I read this passage.  So, I was looking for something new to think about and write about in today’s passage.  Which led me to look at the list of the stages of their journey through the wilderness, but it’s just a list of places.  Then I noticed this sentence, “At the Lord’s command Moses recorded the stages in their journey. ”  This list isn’t here because some writer thought it would be nice to have such a list here.  It is here because God told Moses to record it.  That means it is important.  I am not sure why it was important, but the thought that comes to mind is the fact that secular historians claim that the Exodus never happened.  However, this list reminds me of Luke’s geographic descriptions in his gospel and the Book of Acts.  At one time historians were sure that the geographical details given by Luke were nonsense, but today archeologists know those details accurately reflect the travels which people would have taken in the first century.  In the same way, the list of the stages of Israel’s journey through the wilderness allowed the people of ancient Israel track where the people went.  I also suspect that at some point it will provide a template which will provide confirmation that something like the Exodus happened.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

February 24, 2025 Bible Study — Vows and Oaths

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 30-31.

The passage begins with regulations concerning vows.  I find it interesting that Moses delivers these instructions between when God told the Israelites to treat the Midianites as enemies and when they actually launched their attack on the Midianites associated with Baal-Peor.  The first part is plain and straightforward: if a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to do something, he is obligated to keep that oath.  The second part regarding women requires a little more thought.  In order to understand what Moses tells them about women taking oaths we need to be aware of the nature of their society.  In that society a father or husband of a woman would have had the power to prevent a woman from keeping a vow or oath which she made, whether the law allowed for him to do so or not.  The rule which Moses gave here limited that power in a very interesting way.  The rule was that when a woman’s father (if she was not married and thus still under his authority) or her husband (if she was married) had to confirm or nullify any vow or oath she had made as soon as he learned of it.  However, confirming it was the default.  If he did not immediately nullify it, it was confirmed.  If he later prevented her from keeping the vow or oath, it was as if he had failed to keep a vow or oath which he himself had made.  If a woman’s husband learned that she had made a vow or taken an oath and did not immediately forbid her from keeping it, he was obligated to help her keep that vow or oath.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

February 23, 2025 Bible Study — Understanding What Happened Involves More Than Just Knowing About the Battles and Their Outcomes

Today, I am reading and commenting on Numbers 27-29.

I’m not sure where I am going with this, but I find the order of narrative here interesting.  We would not recount the events this way.  So, you understand what I mean I am going to summarize what the writers tell us over the last few and next several chapters.  At the end of chapter 25, we were told that God told the Israelites to treat the Midianites as enemies.  In chapter 26, we were told that Moses and Eleazar, Aaron’s son, conducted a second census of the Israelite men who were 20 years old or older.  So far that makes sense, if you are about to go to war you need to now how many fighting men you have. Then at the end of the census we learn that everyone who had been counted in the first census had died, except for Caleb and Joshua (Moses and Eleazar were alive during that first census, but they were Levites and were not counted).  The census leads to the daughters of Zelophehad bringing up what should happen with their father’s inheritance in the land since he had no sons.  Since the ruling about what should happen with a man’s property if he did not have a son was important, and the incident which led to it being addressed happened here, we would have likely included it here, but we would have made it more parenthetical.   After that Moses asks God to appoint someone to take over leadership of the Israelites since he will soon die.  That also makes sense here, since such a leader should lead the Israelites into battle while Moses is still alive and they are about to enter into battle against the Midianites.  Finally, Moses restates the offerings to be made throughout the year with a bit more detail than in the previous descriptions.

It’s that last bit that we today would have done differently.  In our imagination of the correct way to tell the account, we would have either said something about how Moses gave these other commands before they went into battler.  Or, more likely, we would think that the account of the battle against the Midianites should be explained first.  Then after telling about the battle and its outcome, write that before the battle Moses told them about these sacrifices and festivals.  We might have even chosen to put the details of the census and Joshua being named as Moses’ successor after the battle as well.  All of that is because we view the battle and its outcome as being more important than the other elements of what happened.  The instructions concerning the sacrifices was necessary here and now because the Israelites who were about to go into battle had been too young when they were given the last time to have really paid attention.  We need to recognize that understanding the proper ways to worship God are every bit as important as battles and their aftermaths in understanding what is going on.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

February 22, 2025 Bible Study — Allowing Our Lusts to Lead Us Into Idolatry

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 25-26.

The account given here of the incident involving the Baal of Peor can be confusing.  In particular, at the beginning of the account we are told that Israelite men indulged in sexual immorality with Moabite women and joined them in worshiping the Baal of Peor.  Then at the end of this particular incident we are told that God instructed Moses to treat the Midianites as enemies because they deceived them.  The confusion can be further compounded by the fact that Moses’ father-in-law was a Midianite.  As I explored why that happened the first thing I came across was another fact that might lead to confusion.  It is not clear if the word Peor here is used as a place name, or as a descriptive.  The word Peor means Opening, which means that Baal-Peor means “the Lord of the Opening”.  That meaning is somewhat suggestive considering the nature of Israel’s in here.  Whether or not Peor was a place name it seems likely to me that the worshipers of Baal-Peor took delight in the implications of that meaning.

As I was thinking and writing about the above I was hoping it would draw a connection between the meaning of Baal-Peor and the Moabite/Midianite crossover, but that it is not where I ended up.  Instead, I once again saw the important lesson about how sexual temptation often leads us into idolatry.  Here the Israelites had no intention of worshiping Baal, they just thought they could indulge their lust without compromising their fellowship with their people, the people of God.  We see here that Zimri, the son of a leader in Simeon, thought that he could indulge himself right in front of the people with no concern for consequences.  Many other Israelite men were acting likewise, perhaps a bit more discreetly, but also with the idea that they would suffer no consequences for their actions.  We see the same thing today in so many ways where people of faith think they can sample sins without suffering any consequences.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.