If you’ve just started reading with us, especially if you’re a Greek, welcome. We are reading through a One Year Bible and I’m adding some comments to keep us focused on growing in and following our Lord, as His disciples in the harvest. At the end of this entry you’ll find a link to an online One Year ESV Bible. If you’re really curious, in the archives of this blog, you’ll find all sorts of interesting stuff, including a 25 chapter story written for teen guys.
Exodus 39-40
Ex. 39:1-31
Now we learn that God is into fashion. The thing that stands out to me here is the ephod, or bib apron that Aaron wore. It had the names of the tribes of Israel on it in the rows of stones, reminding him that he always represented them before God.
The big thing about the ephod was that there were two….dice-like thingies in it, the Urim and the Thummim. These were used for determining God’s will or judgment.
When Gideon later makes his own ephod, it was probably in rebellion to using the corrupt priest and levitical system. His bad. This way he could seek God’s will without consulting priest or Tabernacle. You never rebel against God’s order. You can work to reform it, but God wanted them to submit to Him and His way. Gideon led the nation into idolizing his ephod.
Even later, when David is on the run, “Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.” The importance wasn’t the ephod, it was what was in it, the Urim and Thummim. David made use of these on several occasions to find God’s will and it saved him more than once.
What made David a real model for us as disciples, was that during his younger years, he constantly sought the Lord. The priest was to constantly seek the Lord on behalf of the people. He was not to do what he thought, but was to follow what the Lord said and so lead the people before God. For us as disciples, our prayer life and our reading, our life closely following our Savior in the harvest, is the true measure of our ability to lead others into deeper discipleship.
Ex. 39:32-40:38
A couple things stand out to me in this section.
First, the time notation in 40:1 is important. It gives you an idea of how long this took. It was definitely a major community project. The people left Egypt a year earlier in the first month.
Second, in v. 34 you have the glory of the Lord filling the Tabernacle. It was the same cloud that went before them and became a pillar of fire in the night. It gives you an idea of how remarkable that cloud was if it represented the physical presence of the Lord. God was pleased with the work.
Just like the people of Israel, we are prone to see manifestations of God’s glory and see them as common place. So what kind of daily manifestations are you prone to forget or take for granted?
Mark 1:1-28
I love this gospel for a couple of reasons. Mark was the Kaffeine King of disciples. His short, quick account of the Gospel of Christ was the first Gospel, written to get the believers in Rome up to speed with some accurate information.
The second thing I love is that this Gospel depicts Jesus as the “Suffering Servant,” written by John Mark, the failed servant. What a discipleship lesson in itself. Mark, the well-to-do, true-blue-Jew, city boy went with Uncle Barnabas and Paul on the first missionary journey and washed out in the first month. Defeated and broken, Barnabas nurtured him back into service, but Paul wouldn’t have it and Barnabas and Paul split. This “failure” became our first Gospel writer and, when Paul was about to die, Paul tells Timothy to bring Mark into this very dangerous spot to help him.
So, notice how selective Mark is. Mark hits all the big events. John the Baptist fulfilling the OT promise, the baptism (anointing of Christ) of Jesus, the duel with the devil, the selection of His big 3, His skyrocketing to ministry and fame. And all of this in 28 verses.
Psalm 35:1-16
Verses 11-14 remind me of Job. When he was down, those whom he helped scorned him. Sometimes it takes the opposition of men and of friends, to push us to the place of understanding that only the Lord can truly help us and lift us up.
Proverbs 9:11-12
Verse 11 is easy to understand. I think the first part of 12 means that if you are wise, it brings benefit to your own life; but if you are a scoffer, it will be something that you add to your life that weighs you down.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link Every Day in the Word. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those at New Song who are following a One Year Bible and involved in a discipleship cell. We're meeting weekly and discussing the texts, not necessarily my comments. We're growing together, learning to become and make disciples who make disciples. We will all be leading others in this process and training them to do likewise.
The comments I'm writing are in no way exhaustive, but meant to give some leading thoughts on how the text applies to us as disciples and to encourage and stimulate our growth in reading the Bible, with the effect that we will grow as disciples and encourage the growth of others as disciples growing in the word. If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is, the commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible, in fact, no one in our church reads the version I do, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
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