Tag Archives: Read the Bible in a year

August 25, 2021 Bible Study — Are We Like The False Prophets Who Failed To Call Out the Sins of Jerusalem?

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

The prophet mourns over the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of her people.  I am unsure what lessons we should take from this passage.  The passage laments the prophets who made false and misleading prophecies, who failed to expose the sins of the people of Jerusalem.  Those prophets were accessories in the guilt of bringing this suffering on to the people of Jerusalem.  Let us not be complicit in the sins of the people around us, and the suffering they will experience because of them, in a similar manner.  Certainly, there are many “prophets” today who not only refuse to expose the sins of our society, but encourage people to commit them.  God will not overlook the sins of such prophets, let us faithfully call people to worship and obey God.

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

August 24, 2021 Bible Study — Lessons From The Fall Of Babylon

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 51-52.

It is worth noting that Jeremiah prophesied the fall of Babylon before Babylon had reached the peak of its power.  At the time, everyone thought that Babylon was a power which could not be challenged and would be never be held accountable.  Here Jeremiah tells us that God will hold them accountable for their sins, despite the fact that he had also prophesied that God was using them to punish other nations. In particular, God would hold them accountable for their mistreatment of the people of Israel.  Again, this was despite the fact that God had used them to punish the people of Israel for their sins.  One lesson of this passage is playing out on the world stage today.  In Afghanistan some people have learned that putting your trust in an earthly power will lead to heartbreak and suffering.  While the United States is not, at least, not yet, suffering the fate prophesied here for Babylon, those who put their trust in her, rather than in God, are paying the price for that.  There are other lessons in this passage which the current masters of Afghanistan should heed: those who inflict suffering on God’s people, even if God has mandated that suffering for His people, will themselves experience suffering in God’s time.  And one lesson for all those who think their power will last: God will bring down all earthly powers at the time of His choosing.

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

August 22, 2021 Bible Study — Do Not Seek Greatness When The World Is Falling Apart

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 45-48.

Baruch acted as a scribe and assistant for Jeremiah and we learn here that he desired to accomplish great things.  It appears that around the time that he wrote down Jeremiah’s prophecies to read on the Temple he realized that he would never accomplish the great things of which he dreamed.  Jeremiah tells him that he should not be upset by this because God was about to destroy all of the accomplishments of great men.  Instead Jeremiah told Baruch that God would reward him for his service by allowing him to escape with his life when destruction arrived at each of the places to which he would go.  This prophecy to Baruch always seems slightly out of place to me.  While there is the message for us to be satisfied with the level of accomplishment to which God calls us, there always seems to be a little more to it than that.  It occurred to me today that its presence here may be related to another passage concerning Baruch which always seemed strange: in yesterday’s passage, the leaders of the Israelites after the death of Gedaliah accused Jeremiah of lying at the behest of Baruch when Jeremiah told them God had said for them not to go to Egypt.    I have never read anything that adequately explains why they thought Baruch would benefit from the people staying in Judah, nor why they would think that Jeremiah was influenced by Baruch.

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

August 21, 2021 Bible Study — Do Not Ask God For Guidance After You Have Made Up Your Mind

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 42-44.

After the assassination of the governor appointed over Judah by the Babylonians, the people remaining in Judah were afraid that the Babylonian army would return to punish them for it. So, they decided to flee to Egypt.  However, first they went to Jeremiah to ask him to pray to God for guidance as to what they should do.  They phrased their request to Jeremiah as if they had not already decided what to do. The passage does not make clear why they requested God’s guidance, but the response which God gave through Jeremiah makes clear that neither God nor Jeremiah expected them to follow it.  In fact, the reply Jeremiah gave them from God seems to suggest that if they had gone to Egypt without asking for God’s guidance things would have gone better for them there.  I see two lessons for us here.  The more important one being: Ask God for guidance before you decide what to do, and then wait for His answer before deciding.  The second one being: do not ask God for guidance after you have already made up your mind as to what you are going to do.

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

August 20, 2021 Bible Study — Do Not Let Fear Keep Us From Doing As God Directs Us

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 39-41.

First, I want to point out that in this passage we have a confirmation of what I mentioned yesterday: God sends word through Jeremiah to Ebed-Melek, the man who rescued Jeremiah from the attempt to kill him, that he (Ebed-Melek) would be saved during the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem.  Then we see that Jeremiah’s prophecy to Zedekiah was also fulfilled.  Zedekiah was afraid to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, despite Jeremiah’s assurances that God had promised no harm would come to him if he did so.  Instead, King Zedekiah held out until the end and was captured.  The Babylonians killed his sons in front of him, then put out his eyes.  There is an important lesson in the fate of Zedekiah.  He was too afraid to do as God instructed him, and as a result suffered an outcome at least as bad as the one he feared.  Let us not make the same mistake of refusing to do God’s will out of fear.

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

August 19, 2021 Bible Study — Seek To Bring Individuals To God, Not Society

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 36-38.

This passage begins with God instructing Jeremiah to write down all of the prophecies which God had given him and having them read to the people.  The purpose of this exercise was that, perhaps, when they heard the disasters God planned to inflict on them, the people would individually turn from their sins and obey God.  God promised that He would forgive those who did so.  The unspoken corollary was that if enough of them individually turned from their sins, God might relent on the disasters He planned to inflict on Jerusalem.  And even if He did not, those who repented would experience His salvation from those disasters.  Unfortunately, for the most part the people of Jerusalem refused to heed Jeremiah’s warning.  However, we have one example of in this passage of someone who did show faithfulness to God and who was rewarded for it during the downfall of Jerusalem.

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

August 18, 2021 Bible Study — God Wants Genuine Repentance, Not Just Going Through The Motions

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 33-35.

Under the threat of Babylonian conquest, King Zedekiah convinced the people of Jerusalem made a covenant with God and with each other to free all of their Hebrew slaves.  I will note that the impetus behind this command was the fact that they had not been keeping the requirement from the Law of Moses to free Hebrew slaves after seven years.  However, the elites of Jerusalem only entered into this covenant as a public relations move and as soon as they thought no one was looking they re-enslaved those they had freed.  This was the worst of the three things this covenant could have been.  The best option would have been for those who held slaves to recognize that they had done wrong and repent of their wrong doing by releasing their slaves and seeking other ways in which they could serve God.  Second best would have been for those who held slaves to recognize that freeing the slaves good press and do so, going on with their lives without those slaves.  In the first case, God would likely have forestalled the judgement He was in the process of pouring out on the people of Jerusalem.  In the second case, I think that God might have done the same.  However, the elites of Jerusalem chose a third option: release the slaves as a public relations move to appear righteous, but re-enslave them as soon as the general public was no longer paying attention.  If you watch, you see that this is often the choice made by the elites of society.  When public opinion turns against a particular practice, they make a very public show of distancing themselves from that practice.  However, as soon as the attention of the crowd moves on to some other issue they resume the practice which they had loudly condemned just a short time earlier.

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

August 17, 2021 Bible Study — God Promises To Make A New Covenant

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 31-32.

For all of his prophecies concerning the doom coming to the people of Judah, today’s passage contains some very positive thoughts for them.  He tells them that God will give them a new covenant.  A covenant for which He will put His laws in their minds and write them upon their hearts.  I believe that this was the covenant which He introduced through Jesus Christ, one in which He forgives our wickedness.  There is one aspect of Jeremiah’s prophecy here which I am not quite sure how it applies: “No longer will they teach their neighbor,  or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’”  There are still many people in this world who need to be taught about God.  Perhaps that part of this prophecy is still to come to pass.  Or, perhaps it refers to the fact that anyone can understand God’s will by reading the Bible.  It does not require advanced study, or becoming an adherent to a select group to whom special revelations are made.  Anyone who wishes can learn and understand God’s will if they so desire.

Jeremiah included another positive thought for his listeners.  Through him, God promised that the nation of Israel would never cease to exist.  In this context “nation” means primarily “a people” and only secondarily “aa country”.  So, when Jeremiah writes that Israel will never cease to be a nation before God, he means that the Jewish people will never cease to exist.  But, he also means that God will restore control over the land of Israel to them as well (as indeed He has done in this day and age).   As confirmation of this promise, Jeremiah buys title to a plot of land, and preserves that title so that his claim to that title could be confirmed in the distant future (say, about 70 years).

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

August 16, 2021 Bible Study — God Has Plans For His People To Prosper

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 28-30 .

I want to focus on Jeremiah’s message to the Exiles already in Babylon before the destruction of Jerusalem.  They were foreigners there, but Jeremiah tells them to settle in.  He tells them to pray for Babylon, and the Babylonians, because the prosperity of that land would be their prosperity as well.  He tells them to become a part of the land in which they live, but he does not tell them to be assimilated.  They are to remain God’s people and faithful to God. This message applies to us as well.  We should live as foreigners in the societies in which we dwell, but we should seek the best for those among whom we live.  Jeremiah goes on to tell them that God has plans for them, another message which I am convinced applies to us today.  God has plans for us to prosper, but those plans require us to call on Him and willingly serve Him.  Finally, Jeremiah gives them a message which I believe applies to everyone.  Those who seek God with all of their heart will find Him.  They will discover that He has plans for them to prosper as well.  We need to seek Him.

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

August 15, 2021 Bible Study — Even Up Until The Very End, God Was Willing To Hold Off The Worst

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Jeremiah 26-27.

When Jehoiakim (who was placed on the throne by the Pharoah to replace his brother 3 months after the death of his father) was King of Judah, Jeremiah prophesied that there was still time for the people to turn from their evil ways and avoid the coming disaster.  Then later, when Zedekiah was king, Jeremiah prophesied that if Zedekiah submitted to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, God would permit the people of Jerusalem and Judah to remain in the land, but if he did not, the people (including the ruling class) would suffer death or exile.  So, we see that up until the very end, if the people had turned away from their evil practices, they could have averted the worst of the disaster which God was bringing upon them.  As bad as things seem in our society today, we should follow the command which God gave Jeremiah…and take to heart the hope which God gave Jeremiah:
Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.”                                                                                                 If we consistently speak God’s word, perhaps those around us whom we love will turn from the wicked ways of our society and follow God.  And perhaps enough of them will do so in order to transform society, but even if not, those we love who listen will be rescued by God.

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