Ryan: If you ever wanted to better understand the words of John in the gospel according to John 1:1-4, simply read and study Proverbs 8:22-31. In this passage, Solomon personifies Wisdom as being present before, during, and after creation. The commentator in my NIV Study Bible argues that this passage is not directly about Jesus, while Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary is very explicit in stating that it is. In my opinion, it is not explicitly about Jesus the man, but rather, as John refers to him–”the Word”, or Logos as it’s written in Greek. According to the NIV Study Bible, Greeks used the word logos to mean “reason…the rational principle that governs all things” (p. 1626). Proverbs 8:30 says, “I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence.” I would say there’s a fairly strong correlation between that and John 1:3-4, “Through him all things were made… In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” I like to think of this passage in Proverbs as Jesus before he was man, when he was a spiritual being, one third of the mysterious Trinity that is God Almighty. It is a beautiful picture of how, even though he is God, he also “rejoices in his presence.”

Samantha: The heart of an ancient city was near the “gate“, usually a massive multi-chambered doorway where people, animals, caravans, military and traders passed through. In addition to being the main entrance into a city, the gate was where court was held, where the gossips gathered and where city hall and the marketplace were located. This is where Wisdom took her place, front and center, to make her speech in Proverbs 1:20-21.

Interestingly, ancient cities were often built on a hill. I would like to think that Wisdom uses this geography like an amphitheater, where the speaker is at the bottom speaking to all the listeners and the sound carries upward. I picture this as Wisdom’s plea carrying through the city for all to hear.

Often, though, it is easier to follow what we see rather than what we’re told. Despite Wisdom’s best efforts, clever Folly uses the geography to her advantage by being situated “at the highest point in the city” (Proverbs 9:14), for all to see. Her enticing invitations to passersby are like the poisoned apple offered to Snow White, and all too often we go for the immediate gratification without thinking of the consequences; Folly leads people to their death.

Ryan: What gripped me the most in today’s reading was the description of Solomon’s throne room. From one perspective, we read this passage (1 Kings 10:14-21, et al.) and think about how magnificent the throne room was and imagine what it must have been like to walk amongst all the cedar and gold. We read that there were carved lions, and a throne of ivory and gold. As wonderful as all of that sounds, read the passage again (on p. 609 of the Daily Bible) and then immediately read the description of God’s throne room in heaven in the book of Revelation (Rev. 4:1-11). Solomon’s puny throne room pales in comparison. I believe that the Holy Spirit includes the description of both throne rooms so that we can understand the difference between man’s splendor and that of the Lord. Where Solomon’s throne room had only six steps (one short of the perfect seven), God’s throne had seven huge lampstands. Solomon had 12 stationary carved lions atop those six steps, but God had twenty-four elders with crowns who never stopped saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty” (Rev. 4:8). Solomon had pillars of cedar, but God had a sea that looked like glass, “clear as crystal.” Even Jesus himself referenced “Solomon in all his splendor,” but then proceeded to say how his (Solomon’s) splendor was nothing compared to even the lilies of the field. God and his creation will always be far superior to anything man can create.

Samantha: As much as I want to talk about the architecture of Solomon’s palace or his unbelievable riches or his fascinating breadth of knowledge (describing plant life? teaching about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish? wow!), a small, seemingly out-of-place verse cued my memory:

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14).

When I heard this verse I immediately remembered how, after Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 happened, several prominent “Christian” preachers spoke out saying that these disasters were a direct result of America’s sins against God. I was very angry with these men for taking scriptures such as this one out of context. It is true that in the Old Testament salvation depended on obedience; without obedience God said he really would withhold rain and send plagues. And he did, many times. However, God does not operate in this way under the new covenant. Because of Jesus, salvation comes from the grace of God and not from anything we have done to attain it (Eph. 2:8). In addition, when someone sinned in the OT it often affected the entire Israelite nation (the 10 spies, for example). In the new covenant, sin is now a personal issue between the sinner and God–not the entire nation. This may sound harsh, but the United States of America is not God’s chosen nation. That was Israel in the OT. Today, God’s chosen people are Christians, who belong to every nation on earth.

Ryan: Today, I was struck by 2 Chronicles 6:32-33 where Solomon prays for the foreigners. In my own words, Solomon prays that as the foreigners pray to a god they do not believe in (the God of Israel), to grant them their prayers so that their eyes would be opened to the power and glory of the one true God–”so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name” (2 Chron. 6:33). I believe that this should also be our prayer today. As God’s chosen people are no longer contained to a single geographic area, the “foreigners” are simply those who are not a part of the church. And as we know from 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 2 Corinthians 6:16, we (Christians) are also now the “house” that “bears [His] Name.” So our prayer should be that all those who are lost in the world today will pray to the God they do not know and that their prayers be answered in such a way that they know that this temple–the body of believers–bears the name of the one true God.

Samantha: Reading about the celebration that surrounded the temple dedication filled me with a sense of wonder over the magnitude of music, praise, sacrifices, and prayer. Not only was it a once-in-a-lifetime experience to move the ark of the covenant into the brand new temple, but they did it during the festival of trumpets (2 Chronicles 5:3, a.k.a., Rosh Hashanah) which added even more excitement and special meaning to the occasion (more on that festival later). After Solomon’s heartfelt prayer, I can imagine being completely overwhelmed as fire came down from heaven to consume the sacrifices and the glory of the King of the Universe so completely filling the temple that the priests couldn’t even complete their duties! While we don’t get to see God’s glory in a physical manifestation today, we can still take that same sense of wonder and awe at seeing how he works through us and the people around us each day. When you recognize His work, no matter the situation, take time to put your face on the ground and praise Him, for “He is good; his love endures forever” (2 Chronicles 7:3).

Ryan: Thanks to all “those miserable psalms,” it’s been a while since I’ve gotten to do a nice solid math post. Having gotten to read about Solomon’s building of the Temple of the Name of the Lord, we got another day of reading with lots of numbers. The one that struck me the most and made me want to dig a little deeper was “The Sea” (2 Chron. 4:2-5, 2 Chron. 4:10, 2 Chron. 4:6c). The Sea was a (very) large basin filled with water that was primarily used for the priests’ washings. It measured roughly 15 feet across and 7.5 feet deep; in other words, enough for an average U.S. male (6-feet tall) to stand in the water and still have 1.5 feet of water above him, and have 2.5 average males floating on the surface from edge to edge. The Bible account says the volume was “three thousand baths” (2 Chron. 4:5), which NIV converts to roughly 17,500 gallons. Other sources (and my own calculations) put it closer to 10,000 gallons. The weight of 10,000 gallons of water is approximately 42 tons. The bowl itself would have been (very) roughly 9.14 cubic meters of solid bronze, and weighed roughly 84.6 tons, for a grand total of 126.6 tons. That’s the weight of a little more than 37 Ford F-150s sitting atop the 12 cast bronze bulls’ behinds.

Samantha: If only they had cameras back in Solomon’s time! I’m sure the temple was even more magnificent in person than how we picture it from the description. There is a great site called the 3D Bible Project where they have 3D modeled Noah’s Ark, Moses’ tabernacle, and Solomon’s Temple. With a quick download of the viewer software, you can walk into the temple as if you were there and see the altar of sacrifice, the basin, the walls of gold, the beautiful curtain, and enormous cherubim guarding the ark of the covenant. If you’re a visual learner, this tool is an excellent way to get an idea of the scale and grandeur of the house of the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. Interestingly, what I found missing in the reading today was any indication from God on instructions for the temple. When Moses built the tabernacle, it was repeatedly instructed by God to, “Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you” (Exodus 25:9). In this case, God didn’t ask for a temple; in fact, at first God was opposed to it and told David that instead of David building a house for him, he would build up David’s house. God later gave permission for Solomon to build the temple, but not because he needed it! Our God was perfectly content to dwell in a tent so that he could move around with his people (2 Sam. 7).

Ryan: The imagery presented in Psalm 42 is so very powerful: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” Whether you believe in Jehovah God or not, it’s hard to deny that humans are hard-wired to have a need to worship something. From pagan sun gods to fertility gods to money gods, humankind has always had some innate desire to worship a deity more powerful than themselves. The existence of a multitude of gods, of course, has also led to conflict between the believers of different deities, almost in a childish “my dad can beat up your dad” kind of way. This conflict was as present before the common era as it is today, if not even more so. The Sons of Korah wrote, “My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3, emphasis added). Notice, though, that the only gods with lasting power are those that fulfill that longing that makes our soul thirst, that “satisfy with honey from the rock” (Psam 81). So many of the old gods are long since forgotten, but Yahweh remains; Jehovah Sabaoth – the LORD of hosts, El Elyon – The Highest One.

Samantha: I think Rube Goldberg machines are so cool. They are machines that solve a very simple task in a very complicated way (think of the game Mouse Trap). Leave it to humans to make simple things difficult! In a spiritual way, this is a great example of how God gives us simple commands to follow (love God, love others) and how we make them complicated. God started with 10 commandments in Exodus 20; the Jews added to them until there were 613 laws! Despite those laws the people still worshiped foreign gods, there were still civil wars amongst them and there was still social injustice. God made it easy, and thus laments that, “‘If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes!’” (Psalm 81:13-14). When we make life unnecessarily complicated we miss out on God’s blessings and help!

As another treat, here is a recording of Ryan and Samantha as part of a quartet singing As The Deer, as recorded by the Zoe Group:

Ryan: The heading in the chronological Bible for Psalm 12 is “Misuse of the gift of speech.” This brought to mind a tweet I saw on Twitter.com the other day: “‘God gave me two ears and one mouth, and I try to respect the ratio.’ -Charlie Crist” (cheeky_geeky). Another great quote is from Abraham Lincoln: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” We have a gift of speech here in this country that is increasingly being taken for granted. People don’t realize that just because they may have the freedom to say what is on their mind, it’s not always appropriate or constructive, or helpful for building others up. David wrote, “Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue” (Psalm 12:2-3). While I enjoy our freedom of speech, sometimes I also wish I had the freedom to cut off every boastful tongue and deceptive lip.

Samantha: When I was younger I had a habit of telling on myself whenever did something I wasn’t supposed to. I hated being in trouble so I guess I figured it was better to get the problem out in the open in the hopes of a less severe punishment. After reading Psalm 32 I’m glad I didn’t keep any sin hidden! David’s description of what guilt does to your body sounds awful: he felt like his body was wasting away and his energy was sapped. When he confessed God forgave him and removed his guilt. “Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him” (Psalm 32:2)!

Ryan: What beautiful music we read in our daily Bible reading today! Between the hymn that Samantha is writing about (below), the instrumental praise band in Psalm 150, and the countless contemporary Christian songs that use Psalm 139 as source material, we have enough music to bring glory to God for quite a while! In these four chapters, we read the word “praise” 33 times. All of our music should bring glory to our Father, no matter if it’s sung, played on instruments, or just thought in our heads. God loves to hear our songs, provided that we really are praising Him through them. It does not matter if you’re singing a cappella if you are singing for your own glory. In the same way, it does not matter if you’re playing a Bach hymn on the piano if in your heart you are bringing glory to the One who created you. As we’ve learned time and time again, it’s what is in our hearts that matters most to God, not rituals, laws, and sacrifices.

Samantha: As we read Psalm 148 I kept noticing phrases that reminded me of a song, but I couldn’t quite place it. Some of the phrases that stuck out were “all ye fruitful trees and cedars,” praise his name “young men and maidens, aged men and children small.” Figured it out yet? “Hallelujah Praise Jehovah“! There are a few translation differences, but this song follows Psalm 148 almost verbatim. I love, love, love this song not just because I enjoy the old-style harmony, but because the words call on everything to praise God: angels, sun and moon and stars, the heavens and seas, weather, mountains, animals, birds, kings, princes, aged men and children small. Look around at everything the Lord has created–it has all been created to give him praise! Every part of creation speaks (sings!) to his majesty and glory. “Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted” (Psalm 148:13).

Ryan: How cool is it that the longest chapter in the entire Bible is all about how wonderful is the word of God? If you search Psalm 119 in the King James Version for “Thy Word,” you’ll learn that the phrase occurs 39 times, or in approximately 22% of all the 176 verses in that chapter. Some highlights: “I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil” (Psalm 119:162 KJV), “Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it” (Psalm 119:140 NJKV), and of course, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105 KJV). There is a hymn that we sing today that was originally written by Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant that is based on that passage. An interesting sidebar of commonality with yesterday’s post: during some of the “darkest” times in my life, my cassette tapes of Amy Grant always found their way into my rotation, in between the “gangsta” rap and Seattle grunge alternative punk rock. It is truly amazing what power the Word of God has over all who hear it. Even those who try to reject it (as I did) are influenced by the grace, love, and forgiveness that is contained in the Word of the LORD, often without even realizing it.

Samantha: Psalm 119 is certainly the acrostic of all acrostics! I’m not much of a creative writer (as demonstrated by my factual–and mostly dry–blog posts), but I am good at finding patterns and formulas. Reading the Hebrew-English version at Mechon-Mamre is really neat because you can see that every line of this psalm starts with each successive  letter of the alphabet. The entire psalm is built around a central theme of, “Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart” (Psalm 119:2). Just thinking through how the psalm is constructed amazes me: the longest chapter in God’s word is organized overall by the alphabet, where the stanzas of each section start with that section’s letter, and then multiple verses inside the section are written about the same topic/theme but in different ways. If I were writing this psalm I would have had it nailed in one sentence, but that would be boring and missing the point. Psalms are expressive ways that make you think deeply about how a topic makes you feel, and I was moved at how God’s word is living and active and how this psalm is applicable to us today even though it was written 3,000 years ago. Therefore, “My heart is set on keeping [his] decrees to the very end” (Psalm 119:112).

Ryan: Today marks an important event in the year-long daily Bible blogging experiment: the first YouTube video from the movie Godspell. If you were living under a rock in the 1970′s (or weren’t born yet) and have not yet heard/watched Godspell, you owe it to yourself and to your children and your children’s children to go watch it. I believe that Godspell played a larger role than did any one person in my eventual decision to follow Christ. How can I make such a bold statement, you ask? I will tell you a story (and try to keep it short). It’s Fall of 1992. I’m a freshman in high school. I’m infatuated with a girl in the junior class who was a musician. The school drama department produces Godspell, and said girl plays in the pit orchestra. Naturally, I go to all four performances. Four times I watch as Jesus gathers his disciples. Four times I listen as Jesus teaches them about the New covenant. Four times, Jesus is betrayed by Judas, and four times he is crucified. I buy the original broadway cast soundtrack, and listen to it no less than once a day for the next month, and then no less than once a month for the next eight years. When I meet my future wife, she is amazed at my knowledge of the book of Matthew even though the rest of my Bible knowledge is lacking. Long story long, God imparted His Word on my heart through the music of a broadway musical. In a manner of speaking, you could say that I was saved through the Godspell of Stephen Schwartz. So what does that have to do with today’s reading? Psalm 103 is one of the songs sung in the musical…read the King James Version and watch the embedded video below.

Samantha: Psalm 104 paints a majestic picture of God riding on his chariot of clouds, looking over his vast creation. The psalm praises God for creating the world and everything in it: the heavens, seas, earth, the animals, and food. It so beautifully describes what the Lord has provided to us here on earth, and how everything has a place and a purpose. I love nature and learning how the world around me operates; this psalm describes specific animals, natural processes like water, oceans, and springs, and how the sun and moon set seasons. I praise God almost everyday for the natural world–for the butterfly that floated past me as I was at a stoplight, for the birds I see gathering worms, for the crops and gardens growing that provide us with food. “How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all” (Psalm 104:24).

Ryan: Since all of us today have grown up in the modern era where most, if not all, “nations” on the earth are technically “states,” it’s very easy for us to get confused while reading the nationalistic parts of the Old Testament. Generally, a nation is defined by culture and ethnicity, while a state is political and/or geographical. You’ve probably heard the term “nation-state” before; this term is used to describe a situation where those two definitions are present simultaneously (Japan is a nation-state). With the definitions behind us, let’s look more accurately at the Scriptures: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance” (Psalm 33:12). So, not to step on any toes here, folks, but the United States of America is NOT the nation that is referenced in Psalm 33. The nation referenced here was initially Jews, but has now expanded to Christians: “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9, emphasis added). Regardless of who is in the Oval Office, or what party is in control of the Congress, the “holy nation” will remain intact, as it knows no borders. With around 2 billion people who proclaim some belief in Jesus Christ worldwide, the holy nation is independent from any one political state on the earth (Praise be to the LORD).

Samantha: I loved the vivid imagery of God’s voice in Psalm 29. We talk about how powerful God is, but we don’t always think about the power in his voice alone. We’ve recently had some thunderstorms in our area, but they pale in comparison to God’s voice, which is described in this psalm as thundering over the waters and like flashes of lightning. We also live in tornado alley and have seen some pretty horendous damage from tornadoes, namely how they can uproot massive trees. God’s voice alone is so powerful it can shatter the cedar trees of Lebanon and twist mighty oak trees. His voice can make mountains skip! Now we see why David says, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name” (Psalm 29:2)!

Ryan: Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, “‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” Gimli (Lord of the Rings) said, “I have looked last upon that which is fairest. Henceforth I will call nothing fair unless it be her gift to me.” And the Sons of Korah write in Psalm 84, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” The running theme here is that when you encounter the epitome of something, all else is pale in comparison. We can get a glimpse of what it’s like to spend one day in the court of the LORD our God by reading the awesome book of Revelation, as John was given only the images he needed relate to the churches to whom the letter is addressed. And as for an application for our daily lives, for you Christians who have felt and witnessed the power, glory, and majesty of God, how can you ever give that up for the fleeting things of this world that “though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered” (Psalm 90:6)?

Samantha: One of my favorite ways to worship God is to sing to him when I’m by myself. Sure, singing a capella in a congregation of 700 is amazing, but I have to admit that when I sing in church I’m not really worshiping. Likewise, when I sing a solo or sing with a group, my training as an instrumentalist kicks in and I only think about the music and performing. The only way I can truly worship God in song is when I’ve let go of the sheet music, the rhythms, performance anxiety, and the people around me. It is then that I can let my true emotions out, which is normally hard for me to do! The car is a great place to sing, although one time I must have been a little loud, judging by the strange looks a pedestrian gave me. There have been many times where something great happened that day and I sang praise all the way home. There was a time I was in so much pain that I sang-shouted at God all the way home. “I sing for joy at the works of your hands” (Psalm 92). When I can spot God in everyday life, I’m filled with praise, awe, and joy at what our God has done, and it makes my heart want to sing! (Can you spot the songs I’ve referenced in this post?)

Ryan: Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, “through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12). I take that to mean, in one sense, that with the greater faith that we have, the more confidence we can approach God in our prayers. If that is true, then David’s faith must be out of this world. I think to the prayers that I often pray (”if it be Your will…,” “please, LORD…,” “I’d love it if…,” etc.) and how weak, or timid, they are in terms of the language I use. I then think of the words that David offers up: “Rescue me…,” “Deliver me…,” “Do not forsake me…,” etc. These are bold, direct imperative commands, as opposed to my grammatically conditional prayers. I understand cognitively what Paul told the Ephesians, but David “gets it” in his heart. We should all take a lesson from the man “after God’s own heart” and realize that we are not small, insignificant beings unworthy of God’s time and attention, but rather, his “valued possession” (Exo. 19:5) worthy to bring to him direct requests and commands.

Samantha: David is in anguish in many of these psalms. He’s been chased, falsely accused, plotted against, and scorned. Any normal person might cave in under such pressure, but David retains hope by recalling the Lord’s power and might over all the evil in the world:

“I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph” (Psalm 77:11-15).

The God we worship today in 2010 is the very same God that parted the Red Sea, the same God who forgave David, and the same God who created the earth. Wow! It is easy for earthly things to distract us and make us feel overwhelmed (Satan is good at his job!), but following David’s example of dwelling on God’s mighty deeds will quickly put things back in perspective.

Ryan: When I attended the Presbyterian church when I was younger, they had a big colorful banner that hung from the ceiling that read, “Be still, and know that I am God.” I used to stare at that banner during the sermons (instead of listening), and meditate on a God that not only had the power to calm the tumultuous seas (Matthew 8:27), but also our tumultuous inner emotions and thoughts. Later in life, I studied Taoism and it, along with Zen, had a profound impact on my ability to cope with stress in my life. Then coming full circle, when I started attending the church of Christ, I was introduced to the hymn called “Be Still and Know.” Those that know me know that I am a pretty laid back person, and it takes quite a bit to get me stressed out. My secret should be plainly obvious by now. At all times, I am still, and know that He is God, and I am not.

Samantha: Our world is filled with problems. We’ve seen lots of natural disasters recently: typhoons, earthquakes, erupting volcanoes. We’ve seen lots of political turmoil: communism in North Korea, US republicans versus democrats, nuclear weapon concerns in Iran. Then there’s ethical concerns with companies like Monsanto patenting plant genes, or how four companies control the US food supply. There are people in our own country who go to bed hungry, people around the world who don’t have clean drinking water, and people who have disabilities. Don’t forget the religious conflict between Israel and Palestine or the Catholic church scandals. Everywhere we turn there are serious problems in our world. What silver lining shines through these problems? God is the Master of the Universe. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging…The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:1-3, Psalm 46:11).

Ryan: In reading the psalms in which David prays for deliverance from enemies and deliverance from oppression, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons to some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speeches. In particular, from Psalm 6:3-4, “How long, O LORD, how long? Turn, O LORD, and deliver me.” A deep study of the Psalms, in my opinion, gives you such a greater understanding of the emotions that were ever-present, ever-boiling during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960′s. Take this section from MLK’s speech entitled, “Our God is Marching On”:

“‘How long will justice be crucified, and truth bear it?’…. How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice…. How long? Not long, because: ‘Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;’”

The feelings of oppression and downtroddenness that were felt by the African American community for well over 200 years are similar to those of David, a righteous man living in a nation of people who rebel against God. I realize that the pre-Civil Rights era was a “different time”, but to think that people who called themselves followers of Christ could treat other human beings the way they did (and often, sadly, in “the name of God”) is repugnant in God’s sight. But “You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more” (Psalm 10:17-18).

Samantha: A week or so ago a friend posted a comment on Facebook about how he has a hard time dealing with injustice. Other people replied about various injustices that bothered them. What I thought was interesting is that many people think we have to deal with it on our own, in this life. I pointed out that our God is “the God who sees” (Genesis 16:13), and he says “it is mine to avenge; I will repay” (Deut. 32:35). It may bother us now, but it bothers God more! Beth Moore pointed out in her study on Daniel that the Lord is the Ancient of Days–he’s the judge from the first day until the last day, he’s seen every injustice that’s ever taken place, and he’ll be the final judge of it all. There will never be an unsolved murder in God’s court, no suspects get away, no guilty set free. David’s psalm today echoes those thoughts:

“The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD is on his heavenly throne.
He observes the sons of men;
his eyes examine them…
For the LORD is righteous,
he loves justice;
upright men will see his face” (Psalm 11:4, 7).

Ryan: The story of David bringing Mephibosheth into his house and having him sit at his table every night, and restoring all of Saul’s land to him and his family is a wonderfully touching story. I feel that it greatly mirrors our own relationship with God. During those days, if you were offspring of a former (ousted) king, you would most likely be put to death so that you would never be able to attempt to reclaim the throne. So in one sense, Mephibosheth “deserved” to die, simply for being offspring of David’s enemy. However, because he was Jonathan’s son–and David loved Jonathan as he loved himself–Mephibosheth was not only spared, but treated as family. In the same way, if it were not for Jesus, we would also deserve to die for being slaves to sin. But, because of God’s love for His Son, we are not only spared for his sake, but we are also given the promise of a share in the most prime real estate in the universe.

Samantha: Ever since the Garden, God has been trying to get back in touch with and dwell among men. He accomplished that through the tabernacle, the portable tent that contained the ark of the covenant. When David presents the idea of building a permanent dwelling, the Lord responds, “I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling” (2 Sam 7:6). I love how the Lord pursues us, wants to be with us, and fights in the trenches with us. He is active in our lives and dwells inside us today as the Holy Spirit. He is with us wherever we go and we are never alone.

Ryan: My comments today are more reflective of the Daily Bible itself, rather than today’s content. In the middle of today’s reading, the editor of this chronological study Bible inserted the entirety of Psalm 59, in which “David prays for God’s strength” (p. 411). Most of the time when we read the Psalms, we tend to lump them together as a cohesive book, instead of what it actually is: a songbook of lyrics to songs written over the course of many years. Even though we cognitively understand that David wrote most of the psalms, we (read: I) have a tendency to just picture David sitting down by candlelight writing psalm after psalm, instead of writing a song by campfire (for example) as he is on the lam from Saul (1 Samuel 19:18). To my knowledge, there is no definitive proof that this is the exact time when David wrote Psalm 59 (there were several times when David was running from Saul), but given some of the stanzas, it fits well. “Deliver me from evildoers and save me from bloodthirsty men….for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble” (Psalm 59:2, Psalm 59:16).

Samantha: If there is one thing in this world that hurts my feelings it is being wrongfully accused when I’m innocent, or more accurately, being told I’m wrong when I know I’m in the right. With all my training in debate and data analysis I can use facts and numbers to prove that I’m right, but being told I’m wrong still stings because I tend to take it personally. I can feel the desperation of David’s anguish when he says, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to take my life?” (1 Sam. 20:1). David had the numbers to prove that he only brought good to Saul’s life (even if Saul didn’t see it that way). When this happens to us today we should think about Peter’s encouragement to, “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12). 

Ryan: Who doesn’t know the story of David and Goliath? And what could I possibly write about that hasn’t already been written before? Even people who have next to no Bible knowledge whatsoever are very familiar with David and Goliath. So what makes this one story so great that it crosses into the human collective consciousness? It is the account of the ultimate underdog–a nine-foot tall seasoned warrior is bested by a young shepherd with no armor and only a slingshot and a stone for a weapon. At some point in our lives, we all feel like “a David”, who is underexperienced and undergeared, so pretty much 100% of the human population can identify with David in this story. [There was also a movie a couple years ago called Facing the Giants, that drew heavily on this emotion as source.] The only thing that we can do  when we are in that situation is the exact same thing that David did: put our faith in God and God alone to save us. “All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:47).

Samantha: In the Digging for the Truth episode called The Search for King David (iTunes link), Josh Bernstein looks at the story of David and Goliath and how a mere slingshot brought down the giant. An expert is brought in to demonstrate how to use a slingshot like David’s and shows the audience how even a little skill with this weapon can be deadly. The boy David no doubt practiced with his slingshot and honed his skill, which came in handy when he had to fight off the lion and bear attacking his sheep (1 Sam. 17:34-37). I always like to think that every experience we have in life prepares us for the next thing–to me this is the case with David and his slingshot. God provided the experiences and training necessary for David to be successful!

“David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him” (1 Sam. 17:48-50).

[Side note: this is also a great physics lesson in conservation of energy: "If you were David, how would you maximize the kinetic energy and speed of the stone? Would you use a heavy or a light stone, and strong or weak elastic bands?" I think I would have understood physics better if we had gotten to play with slingshots in our lab!]

Ryan: Now that we’ve seen it happen several times now, I am amazed at how often the sons of the spiritual leaders of Israel go astray. We saw it happen in today’s reading with Samuel (1 Samuel 8:3), just yesterday with Eli and his two sons, and we also witnessed two of Aaron’s sons being destroyed by fire. There are many other examples (Jacob, Noah, etc.), but what gets me is how, when this kind of thing happens today, we react completely opposite of God. More often than not, if an elder’s children become a little rebellious or stop going to the same congregation, that elder’s flock will try to find a way to remove him as an elder because he suddenly doesn’t meet up with the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:4. Now I realize there are too many variables to say that it’s wrong in every case to remove an elder for this reason, but you don’t see God punishing Noah, Jacob, Aaron, Eli, or Samuel for the sins of their sons. If a man is a good spiritual leader of an entire flock, but one of his own children is the wayward sheep, do you get rid of the shepherd? Or, do you realize, as God does, that every person makes his own decisions and has the free will to disobey God regardless of how strong of a leader his/her father is?

Samantha: I must be in a spy movie mood today because when I read Samuel’s instructions I immediately thought it sounded like a top-secret mission: “Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there. One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin of wine. They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them” (1 Samuel 10:3-4). This reminded me a funny Failbooking post that you should read sometime. But seriously, I was astonished at how the Lord had this entire scenario planned out before it even happened. What a non-coincidence that Saul just happened to go looking for lost donkeys and then his servant suggests going to see Samuel. Around the same time God spoke to Samuel saying, “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him leader over my people Israel.” And then when Saul and Samuel met on the road, “the LORD said to [Samuel], ‘This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people’” (1 Samuel 9:16-17). The Lord has a plan and will always put the right people in the right place at the right time to carry out his purpose.

Ryan: Today’s five chapters of reading provides enough material to spend at least a week’s worth of blog posts discussing. I’d like to look briefly at 1 Samuel 4:3-5. The Israelites, following a devastating defeat at the hand of the Philistines, have an “Aha!” moment and realize that the reason they were defeated was because they did not have the Ark of the Covenant going before them in battle (or so they believed). They went to Shiloh, got the ark, went back to battle and not only lost the battle again, but also lost possession of the ark. So what happened? The Israelites had been victorious in countless battles when the ark was going before them, why didn’t it work this time? I believe it was because the Israelites were trying to use the ark as a trinket–a sort of “good luck charm”–without having the faith necessary to back it up. In all those previous battles, it wasn’t the ark that won the battles, but the LORD. “For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory” (Deut. 20:4). I believe we do the exact same thing today; we will wear a crucifix necklace or put a “Jesus fish” (Ichthys) on the back of our car and think that we are protected. Like the Israelites, no trinket or good luck charm will help us. Only through a faith in our LORD will we be saved: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…” (Ephesians 2:8).

Samantha: I was amazed at the Philistines’ reaction to the Israelites bringing the Ark to battle. “When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. ‘A god has come into the camp,’ they said. ‘We’re in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert’” (1 Sam. 5:6-8). It has been about 350 years since the plagues, and yet the Philistines knew what God had done to the Egyptians and feared the same would happen to them. What does that say about our God when even our enemies know of his deeds and fear him? What does that say about us who constantly doubt and disbelieve his promises to us?

Ryan: Gideon is one of the great Bible characters that are easier to relate to–he’s just a God-fearing believer in a pagan world who struggles with his own faith. Three times in Judges 6 Gideon asked for a sign from God. All three times, God obliged with a response. God knew that receiving these signs was what it was going to take to get Gideon to do what He needed him to do. Three lessons I learned from this part of Gideon’s story: first, that it’s okay to question God and ask Him for confirmation/affirmation of our course of action. Second, God will make sure that we have what we need in order to do His will. Lastly, God is patient, loving, and forgiving. If He were not, He would not have been so willing to entertain Gideon’s requests, and would have at best found someone else to take Gideon’s place, and at worst, struck Gideon dead instantly for questioning the Almighty. There are many other lessons to draw from the account of Gideon, such as God using the weak to shame the strong, and that God only needs a spark to reignite His people’s love for Him.

Samantha: Now we’ve officially entered the Israelite cycle: obedience, falling away, captivity, repentance, back to obedience. In my brain I have always associated Israel’s falling away with them completely forgetting how to serve God. I have always assumed that because the majority of Israelites were doing evil (serving false gods) that it meant everyone had stopped sacrificing and serving God. I was amazed to read that when the angel of the Lord visited Gideon that he asked the angel to wait while he went and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread as a sacrifice to God (Judges 6:19-24). He remembered how to sacrifice! It is easy to generalize and say that because most people have fallen away it means that no one is left that remembers or serves the Lord. We need to remember that our Lord always leaves a remnant to serve him. I know we’re not there yet, but remember Elijah’s comment that he was the only one left who served God? Even though he felt that way, the Lord said there were 7,000 others who were still faithful to Him (1 Kings 19:9-18, Romans 11). Even when you feel like you’re the only one left, rest assured that you’re not alone.

Ryan: While the Israelite community was very patriarchal in nature, the matriarchs of the household were also pivotal in all spiritual matters, not just in the home. Women were certainly excluded from almost all business dealings, but when it came to God and home, mothers were more involved than we may think. The mother of the house has a very large part of the Passover seder, and they even got to offer certain sacrifices, as we read just a few weeks ago. In today’s Bible reading, however, we see the first instance of a woman being placed in charge of men. Deborah was not a single woman–she had a husband, named Lappidoth–and yet she was not only above her husband, but also above the entire nation of Israelites. She was the chief justice and the commander in chief, so to speak, as she presided over court disputes and gave orders to the commander Israelite army, Barak. In today’s times, we might think that she climbed and clawed her way to the top of the “corporate ladder,” stepping on people on her way up. However, as we learned yesterday in Judges 2:16-19, the LORD hand-selected each judge and raised them up, guiding them all along the way. After reading this passage, it’s a little hard for many modern Christian denominations to justify relegating women to the pews while men to all the spiritual work. An old “joke” circulates now and then about how we allow women to pass Communion trays side-to-side, but not front-to-back. After seeing how God raised up Deborah, do you really think that’s where God wants women in His church?

Samantha: Deborah’s prophecy that “the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman” turned out quite unexpectedly in my opinion (Judges 4:9). For one, the woman, Jael, was a member of the family descended from Moses’ brother-in-law. Her husband and their clan had left their alliance with the Israelites and joined forces with Jabin, a king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor. After the Israelite attack of Jabin’s army, only the commander Sisera was left. He escaped to the tent of Jael, who he thought would care for and hide him (Joshua 4:17). She initially follows the rules of hospitality and offers him something to drink and provides him a place to rest. Once he’s asleep, she turns on him and kills him with a tent peg through the temple. The Archaeological Study Bible notes that ancient readers would have been horrified at Jael’s killing of Sisera because she violated their peace treaty and violated the rules of hospitality (p.351). In light of the last 76 days of reading I now see her actions not as a crime, but as her obedience to the Lord. Even though her family had pledged allegiance to the enemy, I loosely compare Jael’s actions to those of Rahab, who believed and had faith in the one true God and committed treason by hiding the Israelite spies. Why else would Jael have gone out to meet the commander of the Israelite army and say, “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for” (Judges 4:22)? While we’re not told that she did this to serve the Lord, I would like to believe that she was. A takeaway for women from this story is that even though Jael was just a housewife in a family who had left the Lord–she was not a judge like Deborah, or a military leader like Barak, or even an Israelite warrior–she still was obedient to the Lord in the ways that she could be.

Ryan: One thing that reading through The Daily Bible: In Chronological Order day by day does for you is give you more of the feeling that the Bible is one big book that tells one big story, instead of 66 books that are disconnected and independent stories. That being said, I view the “literary” Bible as a work in three parts (not unlike Lord of the Rings). Today’s reading is the climax of “book one”, with the denouement taking place tomorrow plus the first three verses of March 16 (the death of Joshua and Eleazar, and the burial of Joseph’s bones). What makes this the climax of the first part of the trilogy? It’s the fulfillment of the patriarchal promises we read about in Genesis, way back on January 6. Everything promised to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is getting wrapped up right here in the end of the book of Joshua. Thanks to all the blood, sweat, and tears that Moses, Aaron, and now Joshua have shed, the Israelites have claimed their inheritance and have established a formal relationship with Jehovah, God of gods. “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” (Josh. 21:45). Book Two of our trilogy will focus on what happens when man interferes with God’s plan–judges, kings, and prophets. And the final exciting conclusion of the trilogy? The New Covenant, of course.

Samantha: In one of my engineering classes in high school I learned how draw a cut and fill map. That type of map shows the measurements and topography of an area to determine which hills to “cut” and which valleys to “fill” in order to make a flat road surface. Drawing the map was easy; learning how to survey the land was hard and required precise surveying tools as well as geometry, physics, and calculus. Joshua didn’t have the Israelites do any earthmoving, but he did have them survey the land of Canaan to map out the area like a cartographer would. He called for three men from each tribe, and, “As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua instructed them, ‘Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it’” (Joshua 18:8). These men went out Lewis and Clark style, making notes of cities, landscapes, resources, cultures, and made maps. I wondered how the Israelites did it, especially since calculus hadn’t been invented yet and they didn’t have modern surveying equipment. If you read about the ancient Egyptian builders they used a technique called rope stretching, where they had a rope with knots at intervals and they would stretch it out to determine length. They applied basic geometry and voila!, they had perfect squares and straight lines. They used this method to survey the land for the pyramids and to reset boundary lines after annual Nile flooding. I imagine the Israelites used similar methods to mark out their boundary lines.

Ryan: There’s a very interesting dichotomy in today’s reading if you were paying attention. At first, God says, “Be strong and courageous…The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid” (Deut. 31:7-8). But then, almost the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 32 is devoted to God explaining how they (the Israelites) were going to mess up and how He would punish them and “hide [His] face from them” (Deut. 32:20). This is seemingly incongruous behavior on God’s part, but mostly due to our misunderstanding of what it means to “forsake.” The act of forsaking something is permanent–the end, forever. In ancient times, it usually meant death (Jesus exclaimed, “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 KJV). Contrary to that, the act of “hiding” something is usually temporary, and also implies that something or someone is in the process of or in need of seeking the hidden thing. To put it in parenting terms, we all know what Hide-and-Seek is, and the child understands (when old enough) that you’re playing a game, and that you’re not gone forever, just hiding. However, when a mother puts her baby in a bassinet on the steps to Notre Dame, she’s not coming back…ever. That mother has forsaken her child. So, while it is true that God will never forsake us permanently, He will (and has) occasionally hide His face from us in order to create in us that desire to seek Him.

Samantha: There was a point, when my arthritis was at its worst, that I stopped reading God’s word. Instead of depending on it to help me to my feet emotionally, I stopped. I stayed in my “pit” for a few years before coming out (and most people had no idea because I was good at hiding it). Knowing that there would be times when the Israelites would face trials and fall away, Moses encouraged the people to, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day…they are not just idle words for you—they are your life” (Deut. 32:46-47). Looking back from my perspective now I realize what a huge missed opportunity that was for me. After doing a few Beth Moore studies and now this daily Bible reading I’ve experienced how the words in this book aren’t just historical records–they are living words that can bring even the most hurt soul back to life. When you realize that God speaks to you through His word in the Bible and through the Word, His son Jesus, you’re given a completely different perspective on this life, why we’re here, and why our lives are meaningful. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). God will heal you if you let Him, through His word.

Ryan: I’m sure almost everyone reading this blog has been on a diet at some point in his/her life, whether for weight loss, medical tests/procedures, or even an abstention for religious reasons (a la “Lent”). Anyone who has been on a diet knows that the things you crave the most are the things that are prohibited! I can’t imagine being an Israelite listening to Moses declare the laws to the people and hearing the incredibly long list of all the animals, fish, birds, insects, etc. that I can’t eat. I almost think it would have taken less ink and paper if God had just told Moses what the Israelites can eat. However, it would probably be wise for most of us today to abstain from many of the foods prohibited to the Israelites, simply because you know that God’s dietary laws are going to be way more accurate than that of any fad diet author.

Samantha: I actually enjoyed reading through the listing of animals, unclean and clean. Ravens, white owls, katydid, monitor lizard, chameleon. I guess I’ve never really thought about how these same animals that we have now are generally the same ones they had 5,000 years ago. It is neat to think that Moses got to see a gecko without ever seeing the Geico commercials. But really, God did just create these creatures back in Genesis so by this point their species are not that old (only around 500 years between Moses and Abraham, for example). I wonder how difficult it was for the translators to figure out which animals were which? No doubt there were animals that have become extinct since that time, so scholars and translators in our time had to figure out what it meant, such as the “coney,” which a footnote says is like a hyrax or rock badger (Lev. 11:5).

Ryan: There is one rather famous and iconic relic in the United States that is inscribed with a verse from today’s daily bible reading. The Liberty Bell that hangs in Philadelphia is inscribed, “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV X / By Order of the ASSEMBLY of the Province of Pensylvania for the State House in Philad / Pass and Stow / Philad / MDCCCLIII” (Lev. 25:10 KJV). The verse is referring to the Year of Jubilee which happened every 50 years in which slaves were freed, and land and homes were returned to their original owners (if sold out of poverty). Since the bell was cast prior to the Declaration of Independence, the “Independence Bell,” as it was originally known, was seen as a symbol of hope for the time in which the colonists would be freed from the tyranny of the British monarchy. During the 19th century, the bell was renamed the “Liberty Bell” by anti-slavery supporters who were now using the verse to support their argument for the liberation of African-American slaves. Once again, history shows how indelibly linked is the founding of our nation to the Bible.

Samantha: My dad is a crop farmer who no-tills (see no-till infographic), so I am familiar with crop rotation, soil composition, plant nutrients, planting and harvest. I was pleasantly surprised to read that God commanded the Israelites to leave their fields empty every seventh year (Lev. 25:1-7). When the surface of a field is not disturbed and is left alone, the plant matter that was there before starts to decompose and drop to the ground, covering the topsoil. My dad purposefully leaves the corn stalks in the field after the fall corn harvest and then plants wheat over the top of the corn stalks. The corn stalks decompose and provide a layer of organic matter over the soil to protect it from the elements. This is important because when the soil in a farmer’s field is bare and it rains, water easily carries off the top layer of soil which washes away the nutrients. By covering the topsoil with old plant matter it prevents rain from washing the soil and nutrients away. As the plant matter decomposes it continues to provide nutrients to the soil by way of the earthworms. Earthworms are crucial to the health of the soil–they eat the plant matter, mix the soil around, and naturally aerate the soil when they dig their tunnels. When the soil is continuously tilled (turned over) it kills the earthworms and prevents them from making the soil more nutritious. In my opinion, by instructing the people to leave the fields bare every seventh year God is teaching them soil conservation and responsible farming practices. The best part of the story is where God tells the Israelites, “You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in” (Lev. 25:18-22).

Ryan: For the second day in a row, we get to combine judicial law (which, of course, derives much of its origins from biblical principles) with Levitical law. During the first part of today’s reading, we see laws regarding sins of omission, sins of commission, and fraud or theft. In each of these three cases, the guilty party is ordered to not only pay restitution, but also to add a fifth of the value of the restitution (Lev. 5:14-19, Lev. 6:1-7). In modern judicial language, this is called law of compensation. If you steal someone’s donkey, paying restitution would be giving the donkey back, or paying the owner for the value of the donkey. The law of compensation says that you not only give the donkey back or pay for it, but also add to it any loss the owner has suffered, whether it be damages or lost earnings, etc. In this case, God demanded that the amount of the compensation always be 20% regardless of the value of the item or sin. It never ceases to amaze me how citizens of this country want to “separate church and state” without realizing exactly how entwined the two have always been and are likely to always be. So many of our laws and ordinances either come straight from the Bible or have been adapted from the Bible through thousands of years of civil societies.

Samantha: I adore the musical seven-fold amen, which is most often attached at the end of a song we sing at church called The Lord Bless You and Keep You. I had never heard it growing up, and what a shame I didn’t! It is such a beautiful benediction that the priests spoke over the people. The Lord said His purpose for the blessing was to “put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them” (Numbers 6:22-27). The Lord Bless You and Keep You and accompanying sevenfold amen that we sing today was written in 1900 by Peter C. Lutkin. He was an orphan who grew up in Chicago and became the first Dean of the Northwestern University School of Music. He was a church organist, composer, and he helped popularize a cappella music in the United States by starting the Northwestern A Cappella Choir in 1906. This song was originally called “Farewell Anthem with Sevenfold Amen” and was sung at the conclusion of the worship service. Another interesting non-musical sevenfold amen in the Bible: Revelation 7:12 (count the items in between the first and last ‘amen’).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWbRorPZDXE

Samantha: Have you ever looked at your wall calendar and seen something called “Yom Kippur” or “Rosh Hashanah”? If you did your daily bible reading with us today, you read about the seven feasts God established for His people. To keep it simple I’ll divide it into two sections: spring feasts and fall feasts. The first spring feast is called Passover, which we read about in Exodus when God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt; this feast celebrates that deliverance. Even though it is celebrated around March or April of our calendar, this feast starts the Jewish religious year. The day after Passover is when the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins, which recalls the haste in which the Israelites made their bread during the Exodus and left out the yeast. This is celebrated for one week. On the second day of this feast is when the third feast begins: the Feast of Firstfruits. This celebrated the first harvest of the barley in the spring. Count out fifty days later and you’re at the Feast of Weeks. In the New Testament, its Greek name is Pentecost. On your wall calendar it appears in Hebrew as Shavout. This feast celebrates the wheat harvest. That concludes the description of the four spring feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and the Feast of Weeks. Now to the fall feasts: The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) which is now used to indicate the Jewish new calendar year; the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), where a scapegoat was used for atonement; and the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), where the people dwelled in huts to remember the housing during the wilderness wanderings. I once heard a well-known preacher say from the pulpit “Sukkot? Whatever that means.” Now you know! I cannot wait until we get to the life of Jesus so that I can show you how Jesus has already fulfilled the four spring feasts and what that means for Christians today. The fact that there are still three unfulfilled feasts gives me goosebumps. God always tells us what He’s going to do before He does it, and I can’t wait for you to see it!

Exodus 23:14-17 (Ex. 34:23), Deut. 16:16-17, Ex. 34:24, Deut. 16:1-7 (Ex. 34:18), Num. 9:13-14, Lev. 23:4-8 (Num. 28:16-17, Deut. 16:8), Num. 28:18-25, Deut. 16:9-12. Lev. 23:9-21 (Ex. 34:22), Num. 28:26-31, Num. 29:1-6 (Lev. 23:23-25), Lev. 16, Lev. 23:26-32, Num. 29:7-11, Lev. 23:33-36, Lev. 23:39-43, Num. 29:12-38, Deut. 16:13-15, Lev. 23:37-38 Lev. 23:44 (Num. 29:39-40)

Ryan: Under the heading, “Laws against false spiritualists,” there was an interesting passage about prophets whose prophecies come true but then suggest following “other gods”. It reads,

“If a prophet…announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’…you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you” (Deut. 13:1-3).

This passage lends a deeper understanding of the position of the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. If you were a Pharisee or teacher of the Law, you would know these laws inside and out. A verse like this would be ever-present in your mind. So here is Jesus, performing all kinds of signs and wonders, and saying, “follow me.” Is it really any wonder at all that they did not trust him? I’m terribly afraid that I myself would have sided with the Pharisees on this particular topic. (Granted, they were way off base on most other issues.) What do you think? If a parent tells you to not accept candy from strangers and get in their car, but then turns around and sends someone to get you who offers you candy and asks you to get in the car, would you do it? Would YOU believe the stranger if he said your parents sent him?

Samantha: Growing up on a farm, planting and harvest times were always the most stressful for our family. The weather was always unpredictable, the equipment unreliable, and more land than my Dad and Grandpa could manage. They both would be up before dawn, and not return until it had been dark for several hours. This would happen every day, seven days a week. On Sundays, Grandpa would go to church while Dad kept working, and then Grandpa would come home from church and go out to the fields to work with him. Today we read that, “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest” (Exodus 34:21). Had we lived during Moses’ time, we would not have been allowed to continue working on the Sabbath. In farming, you have to work when the weather permits, or else the harvest or planting doesn’t get done. For the Israelites to stop farming required total reliance on God the provider (Jehovah-Jireh). Having a day of rest is a big stress reliever, and so is knowing that God will care for you, even if you are not working for 15% of your week. God knows that farming is dependent on the weather, and yet He still asks you to not work one day out of seven; don’t you think that He who controls the weather will tend your fields while you’re resting?

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (Lev. 19:26, Lev. 19:31, Lev. 20:6-8), Ex. 22:18, Lev. 20:27, Deut. 13:1-5, Deut. 18:15-22, Deut. 5:11, Ex. 22:28, Lev. 24:10-16, Lev. 24:23, Ex. 22:29-30, Ex. 34:19-20, Ex. 22:29, Ex. 23:19 (Ex. 34:26), Deut. 15:19-23, Deut. 18:1-8, Deut. 14:22-29, Deut. 26:1-15, Lev. 19:23-25, Deut. 5:12-15 (Ex. 23:12, Ex. 35:1-2, Lev. 19:3), Ex. 31:16-17, Lev. 19:30 (Lev. 26:2), Lev. 23:1-3, Ex. 35:3, Ex. 34:21, Ex. 31:12-15, Num. 15:32-36

Ryan: It was only five days ago (February 8) that we read of God’s vow that none of the Israelites over the age of 20 would get to enter the promised land, save for Caleb and Joshua. Now that day has come, and after reading through the long listing of the second census (through  which we learned that there are about 1,800 fewer men now than 40 years ago), we’re rewarded with the evidence that God’s promise has been fulfilled. Numbers 26:64 records, “Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai [except Joshua and Caleb].” Of course Moses is still around at this point, but if you remember, God promised him that he won’t get to go into the promised land either. We serve a God who keeps his promises–Hallelujah for that!

Samantha: What a jump in the timeline today! After the plague, God had Moses and Eleazar take another census of the men 20 years old or more for the purpose of dividing up the land (26:52-56). So where did the 40 years go? The Israelites had just celebrated their first Passover after leaving Egypt (Numbers 9:1-5), and now we’re already talking about events 40 years later? So far we’ve read about the Israelites’ escape from Egypt, their trek down to and time at Mt. Sinai, and their wanderings up to Kadesh (Numbers 20:1). It turns out that only two years or so of their journey are recorded, and for the remaining 37 years, all we know is what is recorded in Numbers 33.

Ryan: I was struck by Moses’s comment in Numbers 11:29, “I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” I’m sure that Moses is now–while in heaven–both overjoyed and dismayed because he actually got his wish, but it didn’t seem to help much. Of course, he didn’t get his wish while he was on the earth, but over a thousand years later at the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:32, 38, & 43). All people today receive the gift of the Holy Spirit when they are baptized, and He gives us daily whatever gifts we need to prophesy (teach) in His name. We also have the gift of free will, so sadly we are also free to disobey and do whatever it is that we wish to do. So, even though we now live in a time when all of the Lord’s people are prophets and have received the Holy Spirit, we still manage to bicker, complain, fight, and sin. I’m sure that’s not quite what Moses had in mind when he made that wish.

Samantha: I am so impressed by how God is teaching the Israelites organizational skills. First he divided them up by tribe, then he placed specific tribes at each side of the tabernacle, then He divided up the work of setting up and tearing down the tabernacle, and now he’s teaching them bugle calls for various instructions (10:1-7). Our own military uses bugle calls; even going back to Roman times militaries used bugles to relay commands and signal scheduled events. There’s a specific call for each daily duty: mail call, mess call, or attention. There are also signals during battles such as the call to charge, change directions, fire, etc. Captain Von Trapp even had a specific call for each of his children! God is slowly teaching the Israelites to respond to specific signals to assemble the leaders and give marching orders to move out. He’s training them to be an army!

Ryan: I know for me personally, when I visualize the Israelites, I see a mental image in my head of a rag-tag group of people maybe five to six thousand people strong. I understand cognitively that the number is larger than that (or at least I have for 5+ years now), but for some reason, I just can’t picture it. So, after reading the census in today’s passage, I did some research to put it into perspective. Numbers 2:32-34 indicates that the total number of men was 603,550. But that wasn’t all men, that was just 20 year-old men or greater who were able-bodied enough to fight in the army, and it also did not include the Levites. So, if you assume one grown woman for every man, you’re up to 1.2 million people. Then, add in girls and boys from infants to 19 years old, the old men who are not capable of fighting, and all the Levites and their families. I think even 1.5 million people is a very conservative estimate of the total number of Israelites. So here’s the perspective part: the U.S. city that has a roughly equivalent population is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2008 US Census). That’s the 6th largest city in the United States, home to the Liberty Bell, the first Continental Congress, and one of the first capitals of the country. Can you possibly imagine the entire population of modern-day Philadelphia camping around the outside of an 11,250 square foot temporary/movable tent?!

Samantha: Using the census numbers (which counted men of fighting age only), the tribes on the east side (Judah) had 186,400 men, the south (Reuben) had 151,450 men, the west (Ephraim) had 108,100 men, and the north (Dan) had 157,600 men. The Levites, who were not counted, were situated all around the tabernacle (Numbers 1). Notice how the north and south sides are around the same number, the west side is much smaller, and the east side is the largest? Think of it like a marching band; on the ground it doesn’t look like much, but from the stands you can see the patterns the musicians make. In Session 4 of A Woman’s Heart, Beth Moore points out that from God’s bird’s eye view, the entire assembly with the tabernacle in the middle looks like a giant sideways (to us) cross! Talk about foreshadowing!

Ryan: We read today about Nadab and Abihu who “offered unauthorized fire” to the Lord, and died at the hand of the Lord for doing so (10:1-2). A lot of non-Christians and what I will call “secular Christians” point at this verse and say that God’s reaction was way too harsh, and that they wouldn’t want to worship a God who does things like that. Even faithful Christians will try to use this story to scare each other into making sure that their order of worship on Sunday mornings never changes for fear of being consumed by the fire of the Lord. As with almost all things, the truth lies somewhere in the middle of those two sentiments. Most historians agree that what Nadab and Abihu most likely were doing was using some powders/chemicals they had obtained from the Egyptians when they plundered them. These reagents were used in the pagan worship of the Egyptian gods–some would turn the fire different colors, some would make it sparkle, etc.–mainly for the purpose of inducing a reaction from the worshipers. It is my opinion, then, that God primarily struck down Nadab and Abihu for attempting to worship Yahweh with articles that had previously been associated with pagan gods. I have to say that would have offended me too. However, I think our friend and reader Kelly T. hit the nail on the head about the true lesson of this story when she commented on our Day 29 post:

Something that struck me from these readings was how God continued to talk about sanctifying Nadab and Abihu, even though he knew that they were going to turn around and end up being fools. He is always trying to give us chance after chance, hoping we will turn to Him!

Samantha: I am amazed at the sheer volume and frequency that the priests sacrificed to keep the people’s sins atoned. The daily sacrifice routine is so detailed and specific (and bloody!): certain offerings for certain sins, some can be eaten and some can’t, etc. Why go to such lengths? God told Moses that he wouldn’t go with them for fear of destroying them (Exodus 33:5). They made those sacrifices so that God would continue to dwell among them. Praise be to God that he has sent one sacrifice for all, his son Jesus, so that our sins can be forgiven and he can dwell in our hearts (Hebrews 10)!

Ryan: There is so much in today’s reading that we could talk about: The Ten Commandments (there’s at least 10 days’ worth of posts right there), the Israelites’ promises to obey and be faithful to God (let’s see how long that lasts), Moses getting to be the only one to meet with God face-to-face (when not even the consecrated priests got to do that). The thing that caught my eye and required some more attention was Exodus 23:20-22, where God tells Moses that he is sending “an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way” (King James version). In the NIV, it says that “he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.” The fact that these were capitalized made me stop and do some research. Apparently, the word for “angel”–Mal’ak in Hebrew–means “messenger” or “one who is sent.” This is different than the Spirit of God, who is not necessarily a messenger sent with a purpose. Whenever Mal’ak is used as a proper noun (i.e. capitalized), it is referring to Jesus as an angel, prior to his incarnation (see David Guzik’s commentary on Exodus). Jesus himself alluded to this instance of he himself being sent when he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). It is so truly amazing and comforting to me to know that Jesus was with the Israelites in the desert to guide and protect them almost 1,500 years before he was sent to earth to become “the way” for all of mankind.

Samantha: Ever since I read Bruce Feiler’s Walking the Bible, I have dreamed of walking the same paths as Abraham, Joseph, and the Israelites. Mt. Sinai is at the top of my list of places to see. The Bedouin call it Jabal Musa, “Moses’ Mountain.” I hope that I can stay at the base of the mountain at St. Catherine’s monastery (Greek Orthodox), the oldest working Christian monastery in the world. I want to visit their vast library, meet Father Justin from Texas, and read from the oldest copy of the New Testament in the world, the Codex Sinaiticus. It is reported that the large bush inside the monastery is the very same burning bush that Moses saw; the fire extinguisher next to it, not so much. Outside the monastery walls are two paths to the summit, where there is a cave that is thought to be the one where Moses waited for the commandments. I’ll have to start working out now to be prepared for the over 3,000 stair climb to the top!

Ryan: In today’s reading, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brings Moses’ wife and kids to the Sinai Peninsula for a visit. Now, the Bible states that Jethro was “the priest of Midian” (18:1). It does not go into any more detail than that, but it helps to learn that Midian was a region to the east of Sinai (map) that worshipped a multitude of pagan gods. Since the Bible says he was “the” priest, and not just “a” priest, we can safely infer that he was at least pretty important in the pagan “church” (for lack of a better word). So now the amazing part: Jethro “was delighted” to learn about how the Lord had rescued the Israelites from Egypt, and even offered up a burnt offering to Yahweh, and acknowledged that He is “greater than all other gods” (18:11).

So the question I leave you with today is: if Moses, Aaron, and the elders can sit and break bread with a pagan priest who acknowledges the sovereignty of Jehovah, how is it that Christian denominations–who all purport to worship the same God–can’t even fellowship with each other over such trivial matters as instrumental music or whether or not church buildings can have a kitchen?

Samantha: God uses the daily gathering of food to train the Israelites to rely on Him for all their needs. What I found interesting was the quantity of manna each person was to gather each day–as much as each person needed. “The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed” (Exodus 16:17-18). God gave each person exactly what he needed for that day, and it was consistently there for the entire 40 years (16:35). God does the same thing for us today, which Ryan and I are finding out first hand through our daily Bible blogging! Each day we “gather” His word and are spiritually nourished by it, but each of us gets different things out of the reading. God gives us exactly what we need for each day. I loved the quote from Beth Moore’s A Woman’s Heart: “How deeply our Provider wants us to recognize that He is our daily provision. Our lives could never be sustained on a once-a-week meal; yet we often expect a hearty Sunday serving to be enough to sustain spiritual growth” (p. 43). If we only read His word on Sundays, we could starve spiritually!

Ryan: Samantha loves watching documentary-style shows on the History Channel, Discovery, TLC, PBS, etc. I remember seeing one such show with her once that was talking about Bible stories, and this one episode in particular was talking about the parting of the Red Sea. They had many “experts” on trying to explain how, at this one particular point in the Sinai Peninsula, if there was a great earthquake somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea, it would cause the waters to recede which would allow for passage through the sea for maybe 20-30 minutes. Apparently, these “experts” never actually read the Bible, because it clearly states that the Israelites had “walls of water” on both sides (14:22). Not to mention that if the water had simply “receded,” the ground would most likely not be dry ground, but a muddy, soggy mess. And let’s not forget how many people we’re talking about–Exodus 12:37 recounts that there were six hundred thousand men plus women and children. Many scholars estimated anywhere from 1.25 to 2 million human beings that were involved in the exodus. I’m sure it would have taken much more than 20-30 minutes to cross the sea with that many folks. Being that the Bible is the only historical account of this event, it would behoove them to take it at its word, whether they can come up with a modern explanation for it or not.

On another note, in today’s reading, we also get the world’s first documented case of a cover song. You’ll note that Miriam’s song (15:21) is simply the first verse of Moses’ song (15:1). I wonder if she purchased the copyrights to do that?? For more on cover songs, visit Coverville.com.

Samantha: When we picture the Exodus we think of it as a serious drama film (think Ten Commandments), where the humble Israelites are in a life or death struggle against strong and powerful Egypt. We can imagine the fright and panic of the Israelites as they see Pharaoh’s army rapidly approaching. We can even hear the thunderous hoof beats of the hundreds of horses ready to overtake the helpless people. When Moses comforts the people he tells them that “the LORD will fight for you” (14:14). Yes, we know that God parted the Red Sea, but we often overlook the part where God made the wheels of the Egyptian’s chariots fall off! This serious drama has now morphed into a Keystone Kops film in my mind. I picture the film being sped up showing the Egyptians running around in mass confusion, running into each other, falling down, wheels rolling down the hills, all the while the goofy music is playing in the background. I can’t stop giggling–it cracks me up! I told Ryan that’s how I pictured it and he gave me a confused look (he was thinking it was more like Gladiator or Lord of the Rings style). I can’t help it. I think it is hilarious! Of all the things God could have done, he made the wheels of their chariots fall off. Sometimes it is the unexpected things that make you praise God even more.

Ryan: When I was younger, I attended and participated at a Presbyterian church for about 4 years. This was my first “real,” organized church experience, so I only knew what they taught me and their traditions. One of their traditions was to take communion about once a month (or was it a quarter?). For this ceremony, they would pass around a loaf of white bread (not like “Wonder Bread”, but a really nice, crusty, round loaf of bread) for each person to break off a piece of their own and pass along. Then, when I started attending the church of Christ, they only used unleavened bread (which seemed to me a lot more like saltine crackers). At first I thought this was very peculiar, but the more I learned about it, the more I understood. To God, leavening (be it yeast, baking soda, etc.) symbolizes sin (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). This is why God commands the Israelites to eat only bread made without yeast for Passover (Exodus 12:8). At the “Last Supper” (most likely a Passover feast), Jesus would have been using unleavened bread, because he claimed that “this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). He would not have made that claim had he been holding bread with yeast, because of its connection with sin. I say all that now to say that, I have come to realize that when people use leavened bread to take communion, you’re essentially saying that Jesus had sin in his life, which is obviously not true. Now, I’m not going to make the claim that “those people” are “wrong” and are therefore “heathens” or anything like that, but I do think that it does show a lack of solid understanding about the Bible, and an opportunity to help them through good, sound Bible study. (I’m sure we’ll come back to unleavened bread again before the year’s out.)

Samantha: Even though we had other animals on the farm, I vividly remember the time I got to choose my very own puppy–a beautiful border collie we named Duke. For the first few days my sisters and I played with her and cared for her from dawn until dusk. Duke would follow us everywhere on the farm, and we quickly grew attached to her. When I read about the preparations for the Passover in today’s reading I thought about the lamb that each family had to pick out. I can imagine the kids’ excitement as they helped Dad to pick out the perfect lamb; no spots or defects, and just the right size. The parents knew the purpose of the lamb, but I wonder how much they told the kids. I can see the kids treating it like a family pet: playing with it, petting its wool coat, feeding it. They got to live with the lamb for five days, during which time I’m sure the whole family got to know the lamb and its mannerisms. At twilight on that last day, the whole community got together to sacrifice the lambs (Exodus 12:6). How heartbreaking to have to kill an innocent lamb so that you would be “passed over” and not killed in the plague. Now take that thought and turn it to Jesus. He is called our Passover Lamb; he lived among us for 33 years, during which time we learned what the Father in heaven is like by observing His Son. Crowds gathered by the thousands to hear him teach, the blind were given sight, the lame healed, the dead brought back to life. Jesus loved mankind and (most) everyone loved him in return. Then before we were ready to let go he was on the cross shedding his blood to atone for our sins. The knowledge that someone innocent died for us stings even more when we know that person intimately.

Ryan: Having grown up in the city, I’m very much accustomed to what is known as “light pollution.” I remember once as a boy visiting a farm that belonged to a friend of my brother. At night, there was no light except that which was provided by the moon and stars, and it was both amazing and terrifying to me. Even today, when I get a chance to visit my in-laws’ farm, I marvel at the amount of stars I can see in the night sky. What amazes me though, is that in Exodus 10:21-23, there was no light. It wasn’t just dark, so that given enough time, your eyes would adjust and you could see some shapes. No, there was zero visible light–a “darkness that can be felt” (10:21). I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a true zero-light condition, but let me attest that even after spending more than 30 minutes in the photography darkroom, the darkness indeed begins to be “felt.” It’s oppressive. It begins to weigh on your chest, play tricks on your mind, and your eyes begin to see things. I can’t imagine having to endure three entire days of such nothingness. Light deprivation has even been outlawed as an inhumane treatment of war criminals. I also draw another parallel, in that God is light (1 John 1:5) and that the body of Christ is light (Matt. 5:14), so spending three days in total utter darkness is like spending three days as far away from God as you can possibly get–definitely something I don’t want to experience. Me and my city-boy self will stay in the very well-lit areas, thank you very much. There’s no such thing as “dusk” in the city.

Samantha: The Grasshopper Plague of 1874 affected the Plains states from Texas to the Dakotas, including Kansas. The grasshoppers were so thick they blocked out the sun and ate everything in sight, even the wool off live sheep! They are still very much active today, still affecting around 20% of the world’s land; just last year a swarm over three miles long destroyed crops in Australia. Scientific American reported on a grasshopper study last year by the journal Science. Scientists discovered that it takes only a few hours before the brain chemical serotonin “morphs timid grasshoppers into voracious locusts.” They are using this new knowledge to create ways to control locust swarms and turn them back into solitary grasshoppers. This wouldn’t have helped the Egyptians in today’s reading, though; it took one day for the east wind to carry them as a massive swarm to Egypt, and I imagine even less time to devour everything that was left after the hail plague. Pharaoh’s officials said that the country was already “in ruins” even before the locusts arrived (10:7). The sheer devastation is incomprehensible to us today, but was enough for Pharaoh to “quickly summon” Moses to ask forgiveness and for the plague to be lifted (10:16-17).

Ryan: Having come to a firm belief in God in my adult years, I always love reading accounts of people who resist God time after time, and then finally relent and acknowledge the fact that God exists, and that He wants to be involved in their lives. It happens many times in the Bible; the instances that come to mind are the centurion who crucified Jesus (Matt. 27:54), Saul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9), and even the people of Ninevah who were prophesied to by Jonah (Jonah 3:5). Here in the early part of Exodus, we see Pharaoh’s “magicians” replicate the staves turning into snakes, the plague of turning water to blood, and the plague of frogs. However, when they unsuccessfully try to replicate the plague of gnats, they realize that it truly is the hand of God that is responsible (8:19). There is a world out there filled with people who know about God, but are resisting him at every step. There will come a time when every single one of them will acknowledge that God reigns. The only question is, will it only be after the first or second plague, or will they wait until the death of the firstborn?

Samantha: Reading about the plague of gnats I was reminded of the day I went to my high school biology class right after someone in the genetics class the hour before dropped their fruit fly jar. Needless to say, class was dismissed until all fruit flies were captured. In that situation, we were able to just leave the room and go somewhere else. That is not the case in my current office space. No, I’m not breeding fruit flies, but my palm plant is harboring gnats. I’ve tried cleaning the leaves and stems with Ivory soap, setting out a bowl of lemon juice with soap mixed in, and other home remedies. They have worked for the most part, but there are still a few lingering gnats. They particularly like the air space around my face (or the faces of those who step into my office), and will circle just out of reach. Occasionally I’ll catch them with a quick clasp of my hand, a few have been inhaled, and one swallowed. Even just having one gnat in the vicinity annoys me to no end. That said, I cannot even fathom what the Egyptians and Israelites felt like with an entire plague of gnats! Exodus 8:17 says that, “All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.” They were everywhere, and I imagine they were so thick that it was like having dense fog hanging in the air. No doubt Pharaoh was even more annoyed that his own magicians couldn’t replicate the plague like they had the previous ones; even the magicians were convinced that the gnats were “the finger of God” (8:19).

Ryan: Today marks the first of many days that we will be learning about the life of Moses. From his humble beginnings in a basket in the Nile (2:3) to receiving the law and the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, to his death in Moab, just outside the promised land, Moses is irrefutably the most important man in Jewish history. By extension, then, he is likely the second most important man in Christian history. It is fitting, therefore, that we get to start off our journey with Moses by watching him fail, sin, and doubt. If such an important man in our history can be just as feeble as us, it gives us great hope in the redemption we have through our faith in the God of Moses, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. We worship a God who is able, a God who loves, and a God who is. He is the great “I AM.”

Samantha: What do asphalt, tarmacs, roofing, and baby Moses’ basket have in common? They all used bitumen, a tar-like mixture of organic liquids that made fantastic waterproofing. I didn’t make the connection until reading the footnotes in the Archaeological Study Bible, that bitumen was also used to waterproof Noah’s Ark (Gen. 6:14) and for mortar in the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:3). Genesis 14:10 mentions that the “Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits.” That valley is at the southern end of the Dead Sea, where asphalt deposits can be seen floating in the Sea even today. The Greek historian Heroditus described the Babylonians using bitumen as mortar in their walls. Bitumen is still widely used today in pavement and roofing applications, and has also been used by early photographers and painters. Praise the Lord our God who gave us on the earth all that we need.

Ryan: I believe that God made the right choice in bringing up His son through the line of Judah (oh I’m sure He’s relieved that I think so). Of all of Joseph’s eleven brothers, Judah not once, but twice showed love for his brother. Granted, Reuben had the better idea to go back and rescue Joseph after putting him in the pit (37:22), but Judah’s plan of selling Joseph into slavery at least pretty much guaranteed that he would live, whereas even under Reuben’s plan there was the possibility of getting killed. Then we read in today’s reading that Judah shows such love for his brother Benjamin and his father that he offers himself as a self-sacrifice. He was willing to be placed into servitude for the rest of his life rather than let Benjamin suffer that fate (44:33). Because of this act, Judah not only redeemed himself, but also all of his brothers, including Benjamin and Reuben. In the same way, Jesus was willing to take our place in death and by offering himself as a sinless sacrifice, he redeems us before our Lord (Galatians 3:13).

Samantha: I don’t know from experience, but I would imagine that anyone whose siblings hate him enough to sell him into slavery would hold a grudge and carry around some emotional baggage. I’m sure that all those years in prison gave Joseph some time to think and sort things out, but we can see that some baggage was still there even after he became second in command of Egypt. Those feelings manifested in the names he gave his children: Manassah means “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household,” and Ephraim means “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering” (41:51-52). When we’re going through tough times it is hard to look beyond the pain and think about the bigger reason for the situation. When I was first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis all I could think about was “why me? what did I do to deserve this?” It wasn’t until later that I was able to see possible reasons for it–God used my experience to help others. In Joseph’s case, it isn’t until his brothers arrive that he puts all the pieces together and sees the reason for his sufferings: “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (45:7).

Ryan: What I love most about the story of Jacob and Esau is not so much the deception where Jacob gets his name (although that’s amusing too), but rather the whole “David and Goliath” aspect of the story. Esau was the big, burly, “manly man,” who was into game hunting (and probably spitting and stuff too), while Jacob was a “momma’s boy” who was into cooking (and probably sewing and stuff too). Speaking as a little brother myself, I love stories where the little brother out-smarts the bigger and stronger older brother. There’s no way that Jacob could have ever out-ran, out-shot, or out-hunted Esau, but when it came to getting Esau to hand over the birthright, Jacob used the only skills he knew… cooking and deception. As we go through this year-long study of the Bible, we will see again and again how God uses the weak to shame the strong and the foolish things of the earth to shame the wise (1 Cor. 1:27).

Samantha: Come on, seriously? Did Isaac just lie to Abimelech just like his father Abraham did (26:7)? I wonder what Abimelech thought as he looked out the window and saw Isaac and Rebekah together–did he get a flashback of Abraham and Sarah? At first I expected Abimelech to bring up the past and say “you’re just like your father” but he didn’t; like Ryan pointed out in his post on January 8, Abimelech was a God-fearing man and acted more righteously than Isaac. Did you notice how Abimelech didn’t accuse Isaac of being a liar, or go off on him? He certainly had a right to do so. Instead, he treated Isaac better than Isaac deserved to be treated, just like he did with Abraham.

Ryan: While a very uncomfortable topic, one of the more interesting segments from today’s reading regards the institution of circumcision as man’s sign of entering into the covenant with God (his “signature,” so to speak). Any man who was circumcised in Abraham’s household was a part of the covenant, anyone who was not was exiled. There is no more permanent reminder to a man that he has made an oath to God than to see the scars daily. While circumcision was not necessarily a new thing, it was definitely not the norm for the region they were in. Today, people circumcise their sons more for sanitation and to reduce the risk of infection, but in Abraham’s day, it was (according to God) more of a “branding.” What is very interesting to note is that studies done in the mid-20th century revealed first that Jewish women had a significantly lower occurrence of cervical cancer (which was attributed to having circumcised husbands), and second, that infants have a certain blood-clotting agent called prothrombin that reaches its highest levels in the body on the eighth day of life, which just so happens is the exact day that God commanded them to perform the ritual (17:12). In my opinion, God was not only instituting a permanent bond between Himself and man, but also was putting into place hygienic practices built on solid science that would give His people an advantage on this earth.

Samantha: One thing I love about God is that He begins with the end in mind and tells us about it every step of the way. In today’s reading He told Abraham what would happen with his descendants; they would be enslaved for 400 years in a foreign country, God would punish their oppressors, and the people would come out with great possessions (15:12-16). This passage is foreshadowing the Israelites captivity in Egypt, which we read in the next book, Exodus. Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph is the one who gets the rest of the family to Egypt (during a famine, no less). When the new Pharaoh (who doesn’t know Joseph) takes power he takes advantage of the Israelites, who are very large in number by this point, and forces them to become his workers to build cities. God punished Egypt through the 10 plagues and freed His people, who were essentially paid by the Egyptians to leave and take their plagues with them. They left Egypt 430 years to the day that they arrived, and returned to the promised land (Exodus 12:40-41). All this happened just like God said it would over 600 years earlier.

Ryan: Like most men, what strikes me most about the story of Noah and the flood has to be figuring out the logistics. According to the dimensions for the ark given by God in Genesis 6:15, the ark would have been roughly 1.5 million cubic feet in volume. To put that in perspective, that’s less than 25% of the new Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita. In other words, you could fit more than four of Noah’s arks inside our new tiny small-town arena that was too puny to win the bid for the men’s NCAA tournament. The only light (and air) source inside this 1.5 million cubic foot, three-story wooden box filled with thousands of animals was a small slit in the wood 18 inches from the top of the ark. Oh, and by the way, they were on this boat for over a year! Not exactly my idea of a pleasure cruise.

Samantha: My mom and Ryan’s mom are great at knitting, and I’ve enjoyed watching their projects start from a ball of yarn and become beautiful scarves, afghans, and more. I am easily impressed because I’ve tried knitting and I am terrible–I’ll get one row done only to find I can’t count or I missed a loop or two, which makes me very upset because then I have to take it apart and start over. “Why does my dishrag look like Swiss cheese?? Argh! I give up!” I wonder if that’s how God felt when he saw “how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become” (v. 5). God had made a beautiful creation, but because sin found its way in, mankind was missing a few loops and had some holes. Clearly frustrated and saddened, God said “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth–men and animals…for I am grieved that I have made them” (v. 7). Unraveling the stitches, our merciful God kept the original (cast on) row, that he would later use to start mankind over again. Noah and his family were righteous before God and were given the privilege to re-fill the earth. (P.S. – you can now eat meat, 9:3)

Ryan: What spoke to me most from today’s passage comes from Genesis 3, verse 6-7. When we think about the event with Eve eating the “fruit” from the forbidden tree, we often think about her off by herself, being independently tempted by the serpent. Notice that it reads, “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” This is often quoted by women to show that the man messed up equally as bad as the woman. I’m afraid I disagree–he messed up worse. Having now been married for 6.5 years, it has slowly (too slowly) dawned on me that it is my duty to make sure that my wife stays pure to her promise to God and to keep her holy. I would like to think that if I were Adam, I would have had the intelligence and wherewithal to stop my wife from directly disobeying God. So, it would have been good if he had not eaten the fruit, but it would have been eternally better if he had stood between the serpent and his wife and prevented her from ever being tempted in the first place.

Samantha: What really stuck out to me in today’s reading was Genesis 1:26-30. Through our raw food research we’ve been learning about the importance of dark leafy greens in the human diet; greens have nearly all of the nutrients we need to stay healthy, including protein. God created “all the green plants for food” for Adam, Eve, and all the animals to eat. Even in the curse given to Adam God tells him the he “will eat the plants of the field.” At this point there is no mention of cooking, and animals weren’t domesticated for milk until after the Garden. This tells me that God created greens and plant food to be sufficient for our bodies. I’ve been eating man-made processed “food” long enough; time for me to get back to eating greens, the food God created for me!

Sidenote:

According to Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, it was very common for rabbis (teachers) of the day to wander the countryside followed by disciples; it was the most common form of teaching apart from formal temple training. However, it would have been unusual that a rabbi would be followed by even more than a hundred disciples, let alone thousands.

I knew it would happen eventually. Thanks to my new work schedule, I unfortunately allowed myself to let my Bible blogging lapse. If you read my Introduction Post, though, you’ll know that I’m not going to try to get caught up with what I’ve missed. That would take forever now, being that I’ve missed about 28 days worth. I might try to get caught up eventually, but for now, I’m just going to pick up where I would have been had I never stopped.

Here we are again (already!) at the crucifixion of Jesus at Golgotha (the place of the skull). We read Matthew’s account of this in Matthew 27 (February 15-16). There is really nothing that Mark records that Matthew did not, and much of it is word for word the same. There are some in the Bible scholar community who believe that Matthew had actually already read Mark’s account when he was writing his own, and therefore copied some of the same stuff, but then just expanded on it. Others believe the other way around–that Mark read Matthew’s account first, then more or less “summarized” it for a different audience. Either way, the content is the same and having two (or more) accounts that agree speaks to the validity of that content.

So here we are again, Jesus is dying upon the cross while priests and citizens heap insults on him. They tease him that though he saved other people he couldn’t even save himself. Seeing the chief priests behave in this manner simply proves all of the things that Jesus was condemning them for in regards to their hardened hearts. One would think that a priest, of all people, would have compassion for a person dying on the cross. But not these priests. They felt that he had mocked their religion and traditions, and blasphemed “their” God. I guess they felt justified to be returning the favor on him. Jesus cried out and died. After the earth shook and temple curtain was torn, all the lookers-on finally realized what they had just done. “Surely this man was the Son of God!” one of the centurions who had placed Jesus on the cross exclaimed (v. 39).

Key Verse: Mark 15:31 – “In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. ‘He saved others,’ they said, ‘but he can’t save himself!’” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: The point that all these priests and teachers did not understand (due mostly to a lack of insight from the scriptures), was that Jesus was perfectly capable to save himself from the death on the cross. However, He was unwilling. Jesus came to earth to save mankind from its own wretched death in sin. If He chose to save himself, He therefore would have condemned all men to an eternity separated from God. He would have been putting Himself before us. All of the examples that He gave to us about putting others first and serving each other would have been completely irrelevant if He had chosen at the last minute to put Himself above all others and called twelve legions of angels to rescue Him and punish his persecutors. His church would never have been established, and God’s will on earth would not have been done.

Sunday morning, Mary Magdalen and “the other Mary” (assumably Jesus’ mother) went to the tomb to do their duties in preparing Jesus’ body. When they got there, however, there was another earthquake, and angel appears. He rolls back the stone and sits on it while he tells the women to go tell Jesus’ disciples that He has risen and to meet Him in Galilee. So the women run to tell the disciples, and along the way, they run into Jesus! He again tells the women to go tell His disciples to meet him in Galilee.

Meanwhile, the guards who had been at Jesus’ tomb when the angel arrived were reporting back to the chief priests. The priests and elders decided to bribe the soldiers with “a large sum of money” to lie to the people about what had happened (v. 13).

The eleven remaining apostles (remember Judas hanged himself a couple days ago) went to Galilee and met Jesus on the hillside. Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (v. 18), which essentially means that He accomplished what He had been sent to earth to do, and because of that, He is back sitting at God’s right hand. He then issues a directive which has come to be known as “The Great Commission”: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (v. 19-20).

Key Verse: Matthew 28:6 – “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: Before Jesus came to earth, God told us (through His prophets) that the Christ will be resurrected. Jesus himself told us that He will resurrected. Since his resurrection, eye-witnesses have told us that Jesus was resurrected. It is woeful that people still don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth, called the Christ, was able to overcome death.

Please watch this short cartoon about the resurrection provided by Christiancliparts.net. It says “happy Easter” at the end… but just ignore that part, since it’s only February.

Yesterday, we saw Jesus arrested and taken to stand trial before the Sanhedrin–the Jewish court system. The High Priest, Caiaphas, persuaded them to condemn Jesus to death for blasphemy. When Judas saw that the judges had condemned Jesus to death, he tried desperately to give back the thirty pieces of silver he had received as payment for handing Jesus over to them. He admitted that he had betrayed an innocent man, but the high priests just said, “Why should we care? That’s your problem” (v. 4). Overwrought with guilt, Judas threw the silver in the temple and went out and hung himself. But the chief priests took the silver and bought a piece of land with it as a cemetery for foreigners. Even this fulfilled a prophecy from Zechariah (Zechariah 11:12-13).

Since the Sanhedrin had no authority over Roman citizens to put someone to death, they took Jesus before the Roman governor in charge of Jerusalem at the time, Pilate. When he arrived, Pilate asks him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Again, Jesus replies simply, “It is as you say” (v. 11, NIV). Pilate was amazed when Jesus remained silent, not answering to any charge with which the priests accused him. His wife sent him a note and told him not to having anything to do with Jesus (“this innocent man”) because of some bad dreams she’d just had about him (v. 19). But, Pilate was bound by his Roman law. Fortunately, Pilate saw a way out–typically on this feast day, he would release one prisoner (v. 15). But, he asked the crowd whether they’d rather have Jesus released, or Barabbas, a murderer. Not surprisingly, the people voted for Barabbas to be released and told Pilate to crucify Jesus. So, Pilate’s choice was between putting an innocent man to death or face more deadly riots which had wracked Jerusalem for days. Pilate, having found no cause by which to put Jesus to death, literally washed his hands of his responsibility in the matter and told the crowd that Jesus’ death would be on their shoulders. “All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” (v. 25). Pilate released Barabbas and handed Jesus over to his guards to be flogged before the crucifixion.

[I'd like to take a quick moment to debunk some of the wild media attention that has centered on a recently unearthed document known as "The Gospel of Judas." The document was so-called because Judas is the subject of the article, not the author. The author's name in unknown, but the document was made by a cult known as the Gnostics. Unlike the traditionally accepted gospel accounts, Judas was written probably around 400-500 A.D., and absolutely no earlier than 300 A.D. Its authors were not eye-witnesses, and therefore are not reliable sources. One of its primary tenets says that Jesus instructed Judas to betray him so that the scriptures would be fulfilled, and if he did so he would be told the "real" mysteries of the kingdom and he would be the only apostles who knew the "truth." Let's assume briefly that this is true. From a logical standpoint, why would Judas have killed himself? Not only would he have been forgiven for his actions, but he stood to inherit the truth and be blessed among the apostles. Everything in the so-called "gospel" is anti-Christian and even anti-Semitic. We should put this document right up there with anything written by David Koresh or Jim Jones.]

Key Verse: Matthew 27:14 – “But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: There’s no way I can put my thoughts any better than the prophet Isaiah wrote nearly 800 years before the events described in today’s reading:

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.

Isaiah 53:6-8

If you’re just joining us…
On a night that is usually filled with joyful celebration of the exodus from Egypt, Jesus instituted the “Lord’s Supper” (as we now call it), was betrayed by Judas with a kiss, and is now being arrested by the high priests (these are the events we’ve looked at the past two days). Now, one of Jesus’ apostles stands with sword drawn ready for battle (Peter, according to the other gospel accounts). With sword in hand, stubborn Petros slices off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants, Malchus (v. 51). Jesus rebukes Peter and tells him to put his sword away – “all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (v. 52). He asks Peter, don’t you think I could have asked God to send twelve legions of angels to set me free? But then the scriptures could not be fulfilled as they are supposed to (v. 53-54).

Jesus is taken before Caiaphas, the high priest, and the Sanhedrin, a group of 23 judges that presided over Jewish law. They tried to find reasons to condemn him to death, but couldn’t find any. Finally, two men approached and said that Jesus had blasphemed because he said “I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days” (v. 61). Jesus chose not to respond to the mens’ charges. So the high priest asks him more directly, are you the Messiah? Jesus responds simply, “it is as you say” (v. 64, NIV). So Caiaphas asks the Sanhedrin for a judgment, and they proclaim “He is worthy of death” (v. 66). Blasphemy was a capital offense under Jewish law, but the Sanhedrin had no authority over Roman citizens, so it did not have the power to put someone to death–they would need the help of the Roman governor to do that. And the mob began hitting Jesus, spitting on him, and mocking him.

Peter, who had been watching all this in the shadows, was approached by a girl and said “aren’t you a follower of Jesus?” Peter denies it. He’s approached by a second girl who says basically the same thing, and he more adamantly denies it. He’s approached by another group of people that again accuses him of being a follower of Jesus, and Peter vehemently denies it; and immediately after, a rooster crowed in the distance. Upon hearing that, Peter realized what he had just done, and he walked outside and began to cry what I can only imagine to be heaving sobs of grief.

Key Verse: Matthew 26:56a – “But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: As angry as it makes us sometimes to think of these Jews condemning our Lord to death and crucifying him, it had to happen. We all had to be freed from the bondage of the Law and from our slavery to sin. The hymn by Ray Overholt says it best:

They bound the hands of Jesus in the garden where He prayed;
They led Him thro’ the streets in shame.
They spat upon the Savior so pure and free from sin;
They said, “Crucify Him; He’s to blame.”

He could have called ten thousand angels
To destroy the world and set Him free.
He could have called ten thousand angels,
But He died alone, for you and me.

The twenty-first chapter of the book of Matthew marks the beginning of the end, so to speak. We find Jesus, his apostles, and the ubiquitous throng of followers coming into the vicinity of Jerusalem. Jesus sends two of his apostles ahead to fetch a donkey and her colt, so that he will fulfill the prophecy from Zechariah 9:9 (NIV) that says,

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

All the followers spread their cloaks and grabbed branches from the trees to spread out on the road ahead of Jesus (v. 8), which produces a mental image in my mind of a 1st-century red carpet scene. If this were happening today, there would be hordes of paparazzi trying to catch “the” picture of the triumphal entry of the King of the Jews. All of his followers went ahead of him proclaiming, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (v. 9).

Jesus lets slip his righteous anger when he enters the temple courts and sees the money-changers set up there. In those days, when you wanted to give an offering, you could only do so using a very specific coin. You would bring in your local currency or even hard goods and exchange them for a proper coin. The money-changers, however, would take a fairly substantial “commission” for the exchange. So Jesus walks in, overturns all the changers’ tables, and calls them all a “den of robbers” (v. 13), quoting Jeremiah 7:11. Then, to add insult to injury, Jesus began healing blind and crippled people right there in the temple, to which children began praising him as the Messiah (v. 15). This infuriated the priests. Jesus left and went to spend the night in Bethany (Google Earth bookmark).

The next morning, Jesus was returning to Jerusalem and was looking for some breakfast and he spied a fig tree near the road. When he inspected the tree and found no fruit on it, he cursed it and it promptly withered (v. 19). His disciples were amazed to see a tree wither so quickly and asked how that was possible. Jesus then reminds them that if one has faith, all he has to do is ask for it in prayer and he will receive it. (Remember the mustard seed? January 26.)

Key Verse: Matthew 21:10 – “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: If you have been reading my blog or have stumbled across it while doing Google searches, you may be thinking to yourself, “Who is this Jesus guy?” This Jesus guy, the one we see entering Jerusalem on a small donkey (not a great white steed), is the King of the Jews–the very king that all of the Old Testament prophets wrote about. He is the Son of the living God, almighty creator of the universe. But, fortunately, you don’t have to take my word for it. Just read who these little children said he was, or maybe who a fisherman named Peter said he was, or maybe who God himself said Jesus was.

John the Baptist had been put into prison by Herod because he said that it was unlawful for Herod to “have” his brother’s wife, Herodias. Now, Herod actually respected John and so he obeyed (according to the other gospel accounts), but it was Herodias herself that wanted to kill John, although Herod kept John alive in prison instead. However, Herod soon got word of all the miraculous things that Jesus was doing, and he assumed that it was because John had been kept alive that Jesus had all this power. At her birthday party, he asked his niece (Herodias’ daughter) what she wanted for her birthday. Being prompted by her mother, she replied she wanted John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Having already promised the girl whatever she wanted, Herod complied and had John beheaded (v. 10).

When Jesus heard about this, he went off to be by himself in a boat. However, his followers followed him on foot and stayed on the shore and waited for him to come back. When he finally did come back to shore, it was evening, and all of the followers were still there; Jesus felt compassion for them and healed the sick among them (v. 14). His disciples urged Jesus to let the people go back to town, since it was getting late and they needed to eat. Jesus said, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat” (v. 16), but they only had 5 loaves of bread and two fish. Now, this group of followers was not just a small clique of people–there were five thousand men, plus women and children (v. 21). However, Jesus told the people to sit down and then he gave thanks to God in prayer for the food, broke the bread and gave it to the disciples. They then proceeded to feed all of the thousands of people (not just the 5,000 men), and then had 12 baskets of leftover food after everyone was full (v. 20).

Key Verse: Matthew 14:13a – “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: We so often think about Jesus as God incarnate, with the power to calm storms, walk on water, raise the dead, heal the blind, and conquer demons. We often fail to think of Jesus as a man, with emotions like any other man. John had a special place in Jesus’ heart, since he was the one who prepared the people of the area for Jesus’ arrival. When he was killed, Jesus was sorrowful; and like any other man with emotion, he withdrew to be by himself. John Gray, author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, called this reaction of a man “going into his cave.” It is so reassuring to know that even God, the creator of the universe, will have the same emotional response as all the rest of us. If it’s okay for God to have these emotions, it’s okay for us “manly men” also.

For the new year of 2007, we are going to be going through the entire New Testament and we begin with the first chapter of Matthew. The book of Matthew was written in between 50 and 70 A.D. by an eye-witness: Matthew, a tax collector, called by Jesus to be an apostle.

The first 17 verses are a genealogy proving that Jesus was born in the lineage of the patriarchs of the Jewish people, thus fulfilling prophecy about the lineage of the Messiah. Matthew’s genealogy traces Jesus’s line from oldest to youngest through Joseph (Jesus’s adopted father). The key verses in the genealogy are verse 2 (Abraham->Isaac->Jacob->Judah), verse 6 (Jesse->David->Solomon), and verse 16 (Jacob->Joseph->Jesus). The entire line can be summed up with verse 1 and verse 17: “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham” (v. 1); “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah” (v. 17). Often people who try to prove the Bible is false by having “inconsistencies” will look at verse 1 and say “look! It says Jesus was the son of David, when everyone knows it was Joseph.” In Greek, the word “υιου” (huios) can mean either “son” as we use it in English, or also just “descendant.” When one finds discrepancies in the Bible, it is important to verify the meanings of words before drawing assumptions based on personal bias.

Verses 18-24 discuss how Joseph learns of Mary’s pregnancy and about his son’s destiny. When Joseph found out his fiancée was pregnant, he planned to divorce her. But an angel came to him explaining what had happened and instructing him to wed Mary as planned and to call the baby “Jesus” which means “God saves.” The angel tells Joseph that Jesus will be called “Immanuel” and will fulfill the prophecies told about the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14). After this encounter with the angel, Joseph married Mary and waited until after Jesus was born to consummate the marriage.

In my opinion, the fact that Joseph decided not to divorce Mary is one of the strongest testimonies about the divine nature of Jesus’s birth. From a man’s perspective, I know that if my fiancée became pregnant by another man, I would probably plan to divorce her also. And during that time period and in that culture, it would have been even more important for the man to distance himself from her. Joseph had the legal and moral right to divorce Mary, but something made him change his mind. That something is what Christians call the truth.

Key Verse: Matthew 1:21 – “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: One of the most difficult precepts of Christianity that is difficult for non-believers to accept is the virgin birth. People want to apply man’s limitations to God and say that it’s physically impossible for a virgin to get pregnant, and even more so pregnant by some mystical Spirit. If our God is capable of creating space, our earth, and life, then getting one young woman pregnant 2,000 years ago would be a breeze. Many people like to take the “smorgasboard” approach to Christianity and pick and choose the parts they think are true. However, if one or several aspects are true, on what evidence (other than personal bias) can one say that the other parts are false?

One of the most widely recognized pieces of “classical” music known to man gets its roots from Revelation chapter 19. George F. Handel wrote a piece called Messiah and the last movement of its second part is a chorus entitled “Hallelujah.” Its first and last stanzas come from Revelation 19, and the middle stanza is taken from Revelation 11.

“HALLELUJAH! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” (v. 6)
“The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15)
“KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS, HALLELUJAH!” (v. 16)

Chapter 19 of the book of Revelation begins the telling of the most wonderful message in the Bible–Christ’s triumph over Satan. During the first six verses, everyone in heaven praises God for the destruction of Babylon. In this vision Babylon represents Rome and all its wickedness. The Christians during this time were suffering because of the Roman empire and its caesar. Caesars would kill Christians for sport in the Coliseum and use them as torches in their gardens. Christians during this time (early 90′s A.D.) were used to having their friends and family members slaughtered and were living in terror. When John brought them the message that Rome will be destroyed by God, their rejoicing must have been very similar to the chorus that rings out in Revelation 19.

After this celebration, a wedding ceremony begins–Christ is claiming his bride. “For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear” (v. 7-8). The bride is Christ’s church; and verse 8 clears up any mystery in case we don’t catch the symbolism: “(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s people.)” [I wish that all of the Da Vinci Code followers would read and comprehend this part of the Bible. If Jesus had taken a wife on earth, he would be committing adultery, since his bride is the church. He would have broken one of his own commandments.] When Jesus offers a blessing to all those who are called to the marriage ceremony, John falls at his feet to worship him, but Jesus tells him not to because it is God who should be worshiped “For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy” (v. 10).

At this, John sees a prophetic vision of Christ coming on a white horse with an angelic army. He’s wearing robes dipped in blood and many crowns, and he has a sword coming out of his mouth “with which to strike down the nations” (v. 15). And that he does, because an angel appears in the sun who tells all the birds to feast on the dead carrion of all the men who did not align themselves with Christ. The armies of “the beast” (Rome, for this audience) led by the false prophet gather to fight the on-coming Christ, but they are simply cast off into a lake of fire (no battle of armageddon here, folks!).

Key Verse: Revelation 19:7 – “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: Hallelujah! Christ is Born! Christ is dead, and he has risen again! Christ ascended into heaven and is now sitting at the right hand of God and he will return for us. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage of the Lamb. Only those with spotless garments will be invited and the only way to get out those toughest stains is to completely wash them with the blood of the Lamb.

Looking around the throne room, John spots a scroll that is in the right hand of God that is sealed with seven seals. An angel asks if anyone is worthy to open the scroll, but no one responds immediately, so John begins to weep. But then an elder says to John, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals” (v. 5).

Just then, John “saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center before the throne” (v. 6). He then describes the appearance of Lamb as having “seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God.” [As a personal note, I find it interesting that every time it mentions God's Spirit, it describes it as having seven parts (torches/flames, eyes, etc.). It is consoling to think that God has one part of his Spirit dedicated to each of the seven continents (this isn't from the bible, of course, just my imagination).] This Lamb walks to the throne in the center and picks up the scroll (but He doesn’t open it quite yet… wait for chapter six).

At this point, the rest of the chapter is dedicated to the singing of songs in praise of the Lamb, who was found worthy to open the scroll. First, the creatures and the elders sing a song that praises the establishment of His kingdom. Next, a multitude of angels join in to exalt His “power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise” (v. 12). Finally, every created thing on earth and in heaven sings “blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever” (v. 13). At this, the creatures say “Amen” and the elders bow down and worship.

Key Verse: Revelation 5:9 – “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God members of every tribe and language and people and nation.’” (TNIV)

Seed Thought: Jesus became sin on the cross so that our debt to God for our own sins would be forgiven. Every person on earth–living, dead, or unborn–was purchased with the high price of Jesus’ blood. Even though our debt was paid, however, we are still soiled from that sin and the only way to cleanse ourselves is to be baptized into Christ’s death so that we may live a new life, and be found worthy to sing the “new song” with the angels in heaven.

Having completed dictating letters to the seven churches in Asia, Jesus then invites John to see “what must take place after this” (v. 1), meaning after the things mentioned in the letters. John was gathered to the Spirit and brought to see the throne of God.

The description of the throne, whether it is literal or symbolic, is meant to inspire awe and wonder of God’s power and might. Many colors of green and red swirled around the one almighty throne which itself was surrounded by twenty-four other thrones. Thunder and lightning emanated from the throne while the seven torches of God’s Spirit burned brightly in front of a crystal clear sea.

There were also four creatures around the throne, all having different appearances: lion, ox, man, and eagle. “Each of the four creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes” (v. 8). Creatures very similar to these, called cherubs and seraphs, were also seen in visions given to the Old Testament prophets Ezekiel (Ezekiel 10:15) and Isaiah (Isaiah 6:2-3), as well as on top of the Ark of the Covenant. According to the Archaeological Study Bible (2005), the function of these creatures was to “guard the heavenly throne and to lead in the worship and adoration of God” (p. 2052).

The creatures gave glory to God in song, and the twenty-four elders all bowed and praised the Almighty. It is important to note that even though the twenty-four had been given a special seat in the throne room of God, they bowed to His glory like everything else.

Key Verse: Revelation 4:8b – “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’”

Seed Thought: No matter your eternal destination; no matter if you’re a coal miner, a Fortune 500 CEO, a school teacher, a movie star, an atheist, or a Buddhist; you will be saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty” at the day of judgment. If the one true God made the earth, sky, stars, animals, and mankind, then He is worthy “to receive glory and honor and power” (v. 11), and “every knee shall bow to [Him], and every tongue shall confess to God” (Romans 14:11).

The book begins with the author–the apostle John–giving a brief introduction as to the content of the book and issues a special blessing to all who read, hear, and obey the words of the book. John then continues by explaining his situation and how he came to receive the Revelation from God. God came to John while he was praying/worshiping on “the Lord’s day.” This is the term used by early Christians for the first day of the week when they got together to take communion and worship and pray. God instructs him to write down the visions he will see and send them to seven specific churches in western Asia, in what is modern-day Turkey. It is important to note that these seven churches were real churches in areas where Christian persecution was at its apex.

When John turned to see who walking talking to him, he saw seven golden lamp stands. (Not, as the King James Version says, candlesticks. These were seven free-standing golden stands that held an oil lamp on top.) Jesus reveals to John (in v. 20) that these lamp stands represented the seven churches to whom this Revelation is addressed. Standing in the middle of these lamp stands was who John recognized to be Jesus, though he looked much different than the last time he saw him (almost 60 years ago!). Jesus was dressed as royalty in a full-length robe with a golden belt (some translations say “sash”). His hair and beard had turned pure white and his eyes “were as a flame of fire” (v. 14). The white hair is obviously a reference to wisdom/age and purity, but the eyes is a bit more difficult. In my opinion, the eyes as flame is indicative of Jesus’ anger regarding the persecution of his people. The early Christians were crying to God for help, and His judgment was coming very soon to those persecutors (v. 1).

In his hand, Jesus held seven stars that are later identified as being the angels of the seven churches (v. 20). It is unclear if it is meant that there is literally one angel watching over each church, or if he is referring to the leader of that particular church. I prefer to think of it as the first of those two. Coming out of Jesus’ mouth was a double-edged sword. This sword represents the Word by which all will be judged (Ephesians 6:17, Matthew 10:34). John fell on his face in fear, but Jesus lays his hand on him and tells him not to be afraid.

“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” (v. 17b-18)

In other words, “See? I’ve conquered death just like I said I would. So now you don’t have to be afraid of death either.”

Key Verse: Revelation 1:18 — “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.” (NIV)

Seed Thought: Even though Revelation is a mysterious book in its use of imagery, Christians should not fear what it contains. First, most of what is in the book was written to first-century Christians, not all Christians. Second, if we are baptized into Christ’s death, so too will be resurrected with He who holds the keys to death (Romans 6:3-4). Those who should fear the final judgment (or, second death) should be those without Christ in their life. Even more, however, is that since we as Christians know what fate will befall those whose name is not written in the Book of life (Revelation 20:15), we should have no other concern than rescuing as many souls as we possibly can.