Leviticus 25:47-27:13
Lev. 25:47-55
This is a continuation of yesterday. God gave the general commands earlier in the chapter regarding the year of Jubilee and setting people and property free. Now, He was giving some "what if" situations that the people could use to make judgments on other unexpected situations.
Leviticus 26 is a very interesting chapter. The book is almost at an end. Much has been laid out as a foundation to understanding what is "holy and common" and "clean and unclean." There will be many more laws to come to govern different situations, but God is saying in Leviticus that the people should behave differently because they know God's care and love and power.
Now the Lord is giving them the positives of walking as they have been told to walk and negatives of not walking as they have been told to walk.
In terms of Bible study, a guy named Traina came up with a "law of proportion." What he means is that it is good to notice the proportion of text given to something. For example, in Genesis, in the last words to his sons, Jacob gives much bigger blessings to Judah and Joseph. You notice the size or proportion of text given to them in comparison to the other brothers. (In Numbers, you will see a surprising event that you can link back to Jacob's words to Judah and Joseph.) In this case, in chapter 26, we have the blessings given for obedience and curses given for disobedience. Notice the proportion.
Notice in v.34 that God is already anticipating that they will not honor the sabbatical year and that this Sabbath for the land will have something to do with their punishment. In fact, the 70 years of exile were because of the number of sabbatical years they had missed.
Notice in v. 40 that God is already making provision for Israel to return from exile. When you read Daniel's prayer in Daniel 10, it is obvious, for a couple of reasons, that he had read verse 40 and the rest of this section.
Lev. 27:1-13
I don't know if we want to try this in church, but who knows, it could be a hit.
People could dedicate other people or animals to the service of the temple. For example, Samuel's mother dedicated him to the Lord. People could be given to the Lord for service. This is also how some of us try to get Jephthah off the hook in Judges 11, when he says he will dedicate or sacrifice the first person who runs out to meet him when he comes home. He was hoping it would be a servant, but it was his only child, his daughter. Since human sacrifice was forbidden, it is hard to imagine he sacrificed his daughter. But in this chapter, it is saying that those "given" to the Lord, could be redeemed, bought back. He could have gotten his daughter back for a mere 10 shekels, pocket change. If she wasn't sacrificed, it means that the strength of his vow was, in his own eyes, irrevocable.
Regarding the animals, the Levites still needed to eat something more than the sacrifices. The Levities also farmed the land around the cities they lived in and needed animals to bear burdens and plow fields. People could donate or vow an animal to their use. If it was vowed, they could "redeem" it, unless it was for sacrifice.
Mark 10:32-52
Note in this section that Jesus was always aware of His disciples and ready to give them His time. When He saw they were terrified about what was waiting for them in Jerusalem, He took them aside and told them again of His coming death and resurrection.
In the request of James and John, notice that Mark fails to mention that their mother was with them when this request was made. Tradition has it that Mark's mother was related to the mother of James and John.
Notice here that when Jesus sees that the other disciples are upset, He teaches the disciples. There is no rebuke, but positive, forward teaching. And out of this we get one of the greatest verses in the NT for the disciple, Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Here we have the story of Bartimaeus again. Remember that there was an old and new Jericho connected by a two mile road filled with beggars and merchants.
Notice that the blind man throws off his cloak. A cloak was a very important possession to a beggar. In fact, in Deuteronomy, God will give official legislation regarding the cloak of a poor man. For Bartimaeus to cast off his cloak was risky business, unless he fully believed he was about to talk with the Son of David, who would rule Israel and heal its poor.
Psalm 45
I've got to admit that I do better with "crying out" psalms than I do with this one. Is this one of David's marriages or is it one of Solomon's? No clue.
If you are given to typology, that is, an event or person in the past, suggesting another event or person in the future, you could imagine this might have something to do with Christ and His bride, the church. I say this because if you read the first chapter of Hebrews, where the Son is being described as the ultimate message from God, right in the middle of this, you find Psalm 45:6. (Heb 1:8). I don't know how many lines of correspondence you can draw, but I do know this, when we disciples are done with our work in the harvest, there will be this huge party called the marriage supper of the Lamb, where the church, the bride of Christ, will be eternally joined to Christ. I'll be a great party and feast and I'll be off my diet on that day.
Proverbs 10:22
There seems to be something bad or stressful to be found in everything. I take the idea here as learning to be totally immersed in God as our love and our life. In those brief moments I've had where I've understood this, there was no sorrow and I felt rich. I think our closeness to the Lord is the goal, not absence of irritants.
Now just for fun, the German Bible has a variant reading, hinted at in the ESV. In German it says:
LUT Proverbs 10:22 Der Segen des HERRN allein macht reich, und nichts tut eigene Mühe hinzu.
Isn't that interesting? Oh, sorry - The blessing of the Lord alone makes one rich, and nothing you do yourself brings this or adds to it.
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 who are following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the harvest.
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, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is 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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