June 27, 2014

JUNE 27

Today's Reading in the ESV One-Year Bible

2 Kings 10:32-12:21

2 Kings 10:32-36

What strikes me in this summary of Jehu is the length of time he was king. If he had been a godly king, it would have made all the difference in the world. But that's not to say Jehu was a "bad" king. He might have been a great administrator and good for the people. But, godliness is an entirely different element in a person, and its absence in Jehu and Israel affected God's working in and for Israel. Israel was shrinking.

2 Kings 11

Vs. 1-3 Now we flash back to what happened when Jehu killed Ahaziah the king of Judah. Athaliah was the wife of Joram of Judah and the mother of Ahaziah. She was also the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Jehoshaphat, the godly king of Judah, had apparently made a marriage covenant with Ahab. Although Jehoshaphat was dead and gone, the curse he brought upon Judah, by joining with Israel and its ungodly rulers, kept on rolling. In effect, all the good Jehoshaphat had done in Judah was now undone.

Jehosheba was a daughter of Joram, but by another wife. He apparently had more wives than Athaliah, just as Ahab had other wives than Jezebel. Here, Athaliah was killing all the children of all of those wives and possibly her own children. The point is that she wanted to rule without any rival to the throne.

Jehosheba was married to the high priest Jehoiada. It seems that the temple was a good hiding place, since Athaliah worshipped elsewhere. On p. 559 of the Bible Knowledge Commentary-OT, you find the “Genealogical Table of Queen Athaliah.” (You can find this chart at the end of this document.) By looking here you can see the relationships, and especially the family ties between Zechariah and Joash. This will become meaningful later.

Vs. 4-21 It took all six years of work to wrestle the power away from Athaliah. Jehoiada the priest is the hero here. The entire action of the rebellion seems easy as we read it, but I think that is just because God allowed the rebellion to go easy at this point. Jehoiada was ready for a fight, but Judah was ready for a change.

V. 14 Notice the contrast between the people and Athaliah. I hope she did up her eyes like her mother had when she met Jehu.

V. 17 Jehoiada was a very godly priest and made sure Jehoash's (Joash's) reign began with a commitment from him and the people to follow the Lord.

2 Kings 12

Now this story is pretty straightforward except for a couple of strange things.

V. 1 Notice how long Joash ruled. How old was he when he became king? This should raise some questions. It means he died when he was 47. That's pretty young and pretty unusual.

V. 2 If you read this verse in another version you'll notice the because is not there. It should read, Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. (2 Kings 12:2, NIV)

Do you see the different sense of the verse? It suggests that as long as Jehoiada was alive, Joash followed the Lord. We'll revisit this later.

V. 3 This is a constant refrain revealing a very deep weakness in the culture of the people and worship of God. As disciples this should tell us that if we do everything right, except one very vital and important thing, we can build ruin into what we are accomplishing for Christ in the harvest.

Vs. 4-8 I wonder why they didn't do the repair on the temple all of those years. It could be that the times were hard and it took a lot of money to support the Levites and priests.

Vs. 9-16 This was a good idea. It is the first time I know of where a collection box of any kind was associated with the temple. I wonder if this idea developed into what we find in Mark 12:42 and the widow's mite.

Between vs. 16 and 17, the writer of Kings leaves out some very important events.

Vs. 17-18 It is interesting that Joash was willing to give this all away to keep the peace. In 2 Chronicles 24, we'll find out that this came as a result of God's judgment on Joash. Judgment for what? Wait for 2 Chronicles, or sneak a peek.

V. 20 Joash died by assassination. The examples of kings we have met who were assassinated should raise some questions here. We won't find out why he died like this until we read about him in 2 Chronicles 24. What is interesting is that this account in 2 Kings makes him seem like a good guy. 2 Chronicles 24 will help you understand why v. 2 is a very conditional verse. The death of Christ and the guilt of the generation that killed Jesus is seen in something Joash did.

As it was, Joash was a rat. He was good as long as someone was there to make him good. In our work in the harvest we meet people like this too, disciples who follow as long as there are people there to "make" them follow. Their devotion is more social than spiritual. It is dependent on the acceptance and opinions of people and not upon walking with God alone, following Christ in love.

Acts 18:1-22

The church at Corinth was an important church. Corinth was the leading city of Greece financially and politically. It was a very international center of commerce in that world. The canal was a major shortcut between the Aegean and Adriatic Seas. Corinth also had a big Jewish community and it is one of the few cities where God spoke to Paul and told him to stay and work. We also get two pretty good books of the Bible from this church. Finally, this church was almost entirely Jewish. In the book of Romans, Paul addresses the Jewish believers in some places and the Gentile believers in other places. In 1 Corinthians, Paul never makes a distinction and talks to the leaders as though they were fully Jewish and understood the law, 1 Corinthians 10:1, for example.

Vs. 2-4 Paul's meeting of this very important couple pinpoints the date of Paul's arrival in Corinth to around 49 or 50 A.D. We know this because of the Jews being thrown out of Rome. This is now about 20 years after the resurrection. Jesus was actually crucified in about 30 A.D.

Aquila and Priscilla will be very important in the spread of the gospel and will become lifelong friends of Paul.

Vs. 5-11 As usual, Paul worked with the Jews until they kicked him out. In this case, he left the synagogue with a group of people and he didn't go far.

V. 7 This will be important. Notice where the church in Corinth began. It is next door to the synagogue. In many countries, the houses have open gardens and courtyards in the back, separated only by a wall. That means that if the church met outside in that courtyard, the voices would go over the wall. This, I believe, is why the gift of tongues was so pronounced in Corinth (did you catch the pun?).

V. 8 The leader of the synagogue came to faith. Paul says in 1 Corinthians that he personally baptized him. In Romans we'll find out that the city treasurer was also a believer.

Vs. 9-10 God lets Paul know this is an important place for him to work. I'm sure Paul needed the encouragement. It is interesting to note that in both of Paul's letters to the Corinthians, he had to defend himself and he became very emotional. I think this was a very hard assignment for him. He didn't get beaten, but you can become worn out many different ways in the harvest.

Vs. 12-17 This is actually very important. A Roman proconsul officially and publicly declared that Christianity was no threat to Rome or to Roman life and worship.

V. 17 The frustrated crowd had to beat someone. Sosthenes, the new ruler of the synagogue, was welcomed to office. Read 1 Corinthians 1:1 to see what became of poor old beaten Sosthenes. Apparently they beat the heck out of him. Actually, I'll bet the church reached out to him.

Vs. 18-21 In all of these verses there are some interesting things. First, Paul apparently made a vow, like a Nazirite vow, during his time in Corinth. Cenchreae was one of Corinth's ports. In Romans 16:1 Paul introduces Phoebe to the Roman church as a deaconess of the church at Cenchreae. Apparently there was more than one church in Corinth. Also, Aquila and Priscilla followed Paul to Ephesus and remained there. Paul spoke at the synagogue and then left, and no mention is made of founding a church. When you read the letter to the Ephesians you realize that this church was planted without Paul. Aquila and Priscilla were the ones who were instrumental to founding the church in Ephesus.

V. 22 When Paul returned to Israel he landed at Caesarea, where Philip and Cornelius lived, which apparently had a thriving church. Then he went "up." All roads to Jerusalem went up. Then he left Jerusalem and went "down." All roads from Jerusalem went down. Finally he arrived home to Antioch, concluding his second missionary journey.

Psalm 145

They say that the good part of being beaten over the head with a baseball bat is the sense of relief when it's over.

From our reading, we know David was pursued and that it was a long time, over a decade, before he had peace. This outpouring of David's heart must have been after the running had stopped and all of God's promises had been fulfilled. For us as disciples, the simple truth is that in order for us to sing this psalm as David wrote it, we have to go through our own trials and valleys too. Then our praise will sound like this.

Again today, look for words or phrases that are repeated. Often you can see a change in the structure or theme in a psalm by finding this repetition.

Vs. 1-3 Notice that David promises to praise the Lord forever. Verse 3 gives you the sense that David had experienced some small glimpse into God's unsearchable plan as it unfolded in his life through all the distresses and blessings.

Vs. 4-7 That David saw God's works over generations of men gives the sense that he understood that God was working his plan of redemption and that he himself was some part of it. God's awesome deeds have a purpose for the redemption of man, not just in showing mankind how big He is.

Vs. 8-9 This sounds like how God revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 20. Maybe David had made his copy of the law by this time and understood that what God was doing in the history of redeeming man was also taking place in his own life. In David's personal experience with God, he had discovered something of God's character and love.

Vs. 10-13 The scope of what David says here sounds like a message to all mankind. This message was supposed to go out through God's people, Israel, to draw all mankind to the Lord. Someday it will.

Vs. 14-21 Yet on the personal side of life, even while directing the redemption of mankind, the Lord personally cares for those who seek Him and cry out to Him. He proves Himself strong not only in creation, but in leading and protecting those who have come to Him for refuge. David testified that he would praise the Lord and that all mankind would eventually bless His name forever. Notice the way "the Lord" structures this section.

Proverbs 18:1

I wonder if the Lord had the age of computers in mind when He wrote this. This is as true today as it was then. We enjoy sinning privately, and even when we know we're doing wrong, we still do it against all sanity and reason.

If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this linkhttp://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't work, go tohttp://www.esvbible.org/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. Send comments or feedback todgkachikis@gmail.com.

If you would like documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go tohttps://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to print.