August 4, Reading Notes

2 Chronicles 35-36

Believe it or not, Ezra is wrapping up 2 Chronicles. You look at the amount of space he is giving Josiah and how little he will give the kings after Josiah and realize that Ezra is trying to make an important point to the people reading this history.

2 Chr. 35

V. 3 In putting the worship of Israel in order, notice that Josiah had given the Levites the task of teaching all of Israel, as God had meant them to do.

Vs. 7-9 Josiah led by example and others willingly followed.

V. 15 Just as David had designed, Josiah had the singers and gatekeepers participating in worship.

V. 18 The sincerity and power of this Passover is expressed here. Imagine this, no other king, not David or Solomon or Hezekiah, honored God this way.

Vs. 20-27 Ezra is skipping ahead now 13 years later to continue the story and get Josiah killed. Ezra's point in the book has now been made regarding leadership and regarding God's grace to this nation. Now it's time to end the story. This morning I was reading about John the Baptist and it made me think the same thing about Josiah. God just wanted him out of the way so He could continue His plan.

V. 21 In a way this was unnecessary. Josiah was not a fighting king. As the Egyptian army went through his land they would have looted and pillaged the towns along the way. It must have been that Josiah had seen so much of God's blessing of his work that he thought he would be blessed by God in fighting Egypt.

I wonder if he asked God about this.

V. 22 How would Josiah have known? I guess he should have asked a prophet. Also, it wasn't a good idea to imitate Ahab's trick, especially since it didn't work for Ahab.

Vs. 26-27 Josiah doesn't have anything said negatively about him. In reading this, I think his time was over, he had done what God put him on the earth to do and now it was time for God to retire Josiah and bring judgment on Judah. As an act of grace, although the kings who follow Josiah are bad kings, during Josiah's revival of Israel, God was making a way to save Israel during their exile in Babylon.

2 Chr. 36

Vs. 5-8 This began the Babylonian exile when Daniel and his friends were taken. This is the first deportation.

Vs. 9-10 This was the second deportation when Ezekiel was taken along with 12,000 skilled workers. Now there was no tech support in Israel.

Vs. 11-14 Zedekiah was the final king of Judah and because of this rebellion, the city and temple were destroyed.

Vs. 15-16 This is Ezra's commentary.

V. 21 Apparently no king of Israel ever gave the land its sabbatical seventh year when there would be no sowing or reaping. The 70 years of the exile were designated by God for every Sabbath year that was missed. This means that Israel had gone 490 years without giving the land its Sabbath. They had never obeyed God in this.

Vs. 22-23 Years before this Isaiah had predicted that a king named Cyrus would send the people back to Israel out of exile. This is great grace on God's part to preserve His people during their exile.

After 2 Chronicles the Hebrew Bible has the books that naturally follow the end of the exile, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. All three of these people lived after the return of the people and during the Persian empire.

But what Ezra doesn't mention here is the event that happened just before Cyrus told the Jews they could go home. It's the Purrrrfect kid's story and much deeper than anyone realizes.

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Back in my first year of marriage with Beth, sometime before Easter, she came up with the idea to memorize 1 Corinthians 15:51-58 so that by Easter of 1979 we would have it memorized and could say it to each other. You do lots of crazy things your first year of marriage. During that time, I was driving from Waukegan to Kenosha every day for school, 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back. This was in the days before smart phones and texting. So I memorized. I really enjoyed those few verses and so I set a goal to memorize all of 1 Cor. 15 by Easter. And I did it. Now, I was becoming a junkie and I still had that long drive every day, so by the time I graduated from Parkside in May 1981, I had memorized all of 1 Corinthians. What a blessing that has been in my ministry and personal life. That was over 30 years ago and now Beth has been with the Lord for almost 9 years, yet every couple of weeks when I go over 1 Corinthians I think that this was all because of the suggestion and encouragement of the girl God gave me who was my dearest friend on earth. Thanks Beth.

V. 1 Notice Sosthenes. Last time we saw him was in Acts 17 as an unbeliever getting beaten up. Now he is a brother, and it is important that Paul is mentioning his name here because he was a respected person and could validate the issues mentioned in this letter. Some of the people, when they heard his name, probably said, "oh, oh."

V. 2 "all those in everyplace who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" is a an important message and connection for this very "elite" church. Paul will use words like this to bring them back to earth several times. Paul will show them that “they” are out of step and that he didn’t give them some “harder” instructions that he didn’t give others.

Vs. 4-9 This church burst into life with all sorts of manifestations of the Spirit. In chapters 12-14 Paul will "minister" to them to give the right perspective on these gifts, especially tongues. The main church in Corinth was directly next door to the synagogue, and I think this accounts for the outpouring of tongues and the other sign gifts.

Vs. 10-16 The problem Paul begins to address here will continue until the end of chapter 4.

V.11 Chloe's people probably signifies a church that met at this person's house. Chloe's people were "snitches." Sosthenes might have been a part of that group or he was the messenger telling of issues in the church. He also brought with him a list of questions the leaders/people had for Paul.

V. 17 It is hard to read this verse and think, as some people do, that baptism is necessary for salvation. Paul didn't think it was. It is the preaching of the Gospel that is vital for salvation. Baptism is a sign of devotion to Christ and is important, but not vital to salvation.

Psalm 27:1-6

Laura already had the last verse of Psalm 27 memorized, so she encouraged me to memorize the whole thing with her and we did. Surprisingly, this has been a major blessing and help in a very crucial time of our lives. Once again, I’ve been blessed by the suggestion and encouragement of the girl God has given me to be my dearest friend on earth. Thanks Laura.

If you're going to memorize this, look at a couple different translations. We memorized it in the KJV and I like the sense of the psalm better there, particularly the last verse, than in the ESV. It's too bad they split the psalm over today and tomorrow because David driving toward the proclamation at the end….Wait on the Lord. I'd suggest reading the entire psalm today and tomorrow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eioDr_mDYE0

Proverbs 20:20-21

V. 20 I'm sure there are different ways to understand what "lamp" means, but if it is "understanding" then I think I get this. Jesus said, "the eye is the lamp of the body so if your eye is sound, then your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is not sound, then your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness." Jesus was talking about our ability to understand.

So many people are taught to blame and "curse" their parents without ever noticing that we are on a dying planet where every one of us is diseased and dying. I recently had to go back through some photos of my grandparents and great grandparents and even beyond. It is all so sad. One lost generation being lost with the next lost generation. Someone who is dear to me in all of that mess began cursing those around her early in life and you could say, her light went out a long time ago. Understanding God's Word and his compassion for a dying world gives us compassion and understanding and keeps our lamp seeing clearly.

V. 21 This is another one of those "understanding" kinds of proverbs. Just like those who curse their parents, they don't have enough understanding to know that what comes to us too easily won't be appreciated.

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.