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. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     Josiah called the people of Israel to celebrate the Passover. He provided a large number of sacrifices for the Passover. In addition, his officials provided even more. The priests and Levites prepared the Passover lambs and gave them to the heads of the family divisions. After they provided for the people, they prepared them for all the priests and Levites in such a manner that those whose duties were otherwise (musicians, gatekeepers, etc) did not have to leave their posts in order to celebrate the Passover. This whole thing was an example of the leadership taking an attitude of service.
     Josiah’s reign ended when Neco, the king of Egypt, marched to battle against Babylon in support of the remnants of the Assyrian Empire. Josiah went out to prevent Neco from marching through his lands (the only practical way to get from Egypt to where the Egyptians were planning to confront the Babylonians) despite Neco telling him that he had no interest in fighting him. Josiah was killed in the battle. Josiah’s son, Jehoahaz succeeded him. However, Neco took him captive on his return from his defeat by the Babylonians and placed his brother, Eliakim (who was renamed Jehoiakim) on the throne. Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years, until Nebuchadnezzar took him captive and placed his son, Jehoiachin, on the throne. However, the following spring, Nebuchadnezzar sent for Jehoiachin to come to Babylon and replaced him on the throne with his uncle Zedekiah. We are told that during this time period the people did progressively more evil, turning to worship of other gods led by the kings that reigned during this time. Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar came and took the remaining populace into captivity.

     Paul begins his letter to the Corinthian church by telling them that they have been called by God to be a holy people. Not only did God call us to be a holy people, He made us holy through Jesus. Paul tells us that God did this for the Corinthian believers and for those who call on the name of Jesus everywhere. Paul tells them that God has given the Church in Corinth many gifts, including eloquent words and knowledge. He says that God will keep them strong until the end. I believe that Paul is being genuine here, despite the rebukes he writes this letter to give them. Paul is telling them that they are doing well, before going on to tell them that they have areas that need improvement.
     Paul then gets to the first issue that he wants to confront them about, their divisiveness. He condemns them for dividing into groups and justifying their arguments on the basis of, “Paul taught this.” “Oh yeah, well Apollos taught us to do it this way.” “Well, you’re both wrong, Peter taught it differently.” “Well, I don’t follow any man-made rules. I just follow Jesus.” Does that sound familiar? While I think right now the Church in the U.S. is not as bad in its divisiveness as at sometimes in the past. However, I find it interesting the number of people who use this passage to justify their hostility to denominations who never notice that they are doing the same thing. Paul is not particularly attacking denominations (although denominations came to be partially out of what Paul is condemning). Paul is talking here about the human tendency to set up our way as the only right way and to try to say, “You don’t do it right. That makes me better than you.” Paul is telling us here that we should strive to live in unity with one another and recognize that we are all equally sinners before God. However, he, also, points out that some of the people crying “Unity, unity,” are just as divisive as anybody else.

     This is a psalm for us to remember in times when we are tempted to fear. While the psalm reads as the expression of a confident person, I sense a bit of “whistling past the graveyard” in it. I think the psalmist was looking at what was going on around him and felt fear. But he thought about it and said, “I trust God, what is there to fear?” In the face of his fears, he reviewed his belief in the power of God. As he did so, his fears diminished and his joy in serving God increased. The same can happen for us. If, when fear begins to rise in us, we remind ourselves of God’s great power and His promises to care for and protect us, we will find our fears receding. If we praise God and strive to serve Him in the face of our fears, those fears will be pushed aside and we will realize the joy of serving God.

     The New Living Translation says that if you insult your parents your light will be put out. Other translations say that if you curse your parents. I think either way this is hard to get at the way we use words today. This is talking about calling down evil upon your parents. It is curse as in wishing that something nasty happen to them. And from looking at the various translations, I think the sense of what will happen is a descent into metaphorical darkness as if your eyes had been put out. The result will be like trying to find your way in a cave with no light source.
     The second of today’s proverbs tells us that those who receive wealth at a young age will likely fail to learn important life lessons.