I know I've said a lot (too much?) about St.
Pat's Day, but the reason for this is to have a motivational point to look
forward to. Use things like dates and events to help motivate yourself to do
something, lose a pound or keep up with reading The One Year Bible. Set
your own goals; find dates that are meaningful to you and not so far off and
celebrate when you get there. Celebrate when you finish any and every book of
the Bible. It is no small thing to be reading through the Word of God. It is
the most important thing any person could ever do, and very few people, even
Christians, will ever do it. But the real goal in this is to sit with the Lord,
to hear Him and learn to understand Him.
Numbers 24-25
One of the little evidences of the truth of
God's Word is that if it were simply the national literature of Israel, they
would never have included these stories. National literature doesn't air a
people's darkest details to this degree. If, on the other hand, the Bible is
the record of God dealing with man to bring him redemption, this all makes sense.
Israel is given the distinction of becoming a picture of mankind, of every man
and woman. They will later be honored for this; but until then, we see, through
them, how we would all respond to God. We who know Him are only different,
because we were redeemed out of death by the blood of Christ and have been
given the Spirit to break the power of sin. Still, even with the Lord and the
Spirit, we struggle. Without them, we'd be toast, like Israel.
Numbers 24
Vs. 1-2 It seems that Balaam's intent was to
look at Israel to find signs that would lead him to curse them. When he
realized now that God would only bless them and understood God's love for
Israel, apparently, his heart opened and the Spirit came upon him. This doesn't
mean Balaam was a believer or following God any more than when this happened to
King Saul, Caiaphas, or the donkey.
Vs. 3-9 From Balaam's vantage, high above the
plain, the camp of Israel must have looked impressive. These seem to be the
words of God. Notice in them the affection of God for Israel. Notice too in v.
9 that this is part of the blessing spoken to Abraham. Although the people were
under the covenant with Moses, even above that was God's promise to Abraham for
the blessing of all nations, and above that was the promise to Adam and Eve
that there would be a redeemer.
Somewhere, too, we should remember that
Israel had been camped out and living in the desert for 40 years at this point.
This means they were a well-known people group and some of their history might
have been known.
Vs. 10-11 Balak finally loses it and tries to
rub it in that God has kept Balaam from getting rich. At this point Balaam
still looks like a nice guy, but he hasn't given up on cashing in. He still has
an ace to play.
Vs. 12-24 At v. 14, Balaam gives an overview
of what will eventually happen in the future. The star and scepter of v. 17
could be David, in the nearer future, but eventually this will be Jesus at His
second advent. The ships of Kittim are often thought to be from Rome and are
mentioned again in Daniel, almost certainly meaning the growing Roman Empire.
V. 25 Balaam went home and the job was done.
He passes out of the narrative, but you'll be surprised where he turns up.
Numbers 25
Vs. 1-5 To some part of the camp, the locals
came and said, "Hey, let's get to know each other. Let's have a grill
party!" Finally, something other than manna. During the meal it was
apparent that it was a feast to another god, and not just any god. It was Baal,
the god that, among other things, brought fertility to people and to the
fields. When you bowed down to Baal it was sexual. They used male and female
cult prostitutes. To "yoke" themselves was to engage sexually in Baal
worship. Apparently the men were easy and willing targets.
Vs. 4-5 show the extreme measures that Moses
took. At first this looks simply like punishing the guilty who participated in
this religious orgy. You notice that there were prominent men involved. But
actually these measures by Moses were meant to stop the growing plague of death
that began sweeping through the camp. Balaam couldn't curse the people, but
these Midianites found a way to entice the people to bring themselves under
God's wrath. It was working.
Vs. 6-15 Even though they had killed some of
the leaders involved in this worship, who were consequently responsible for the
plague that was sweeping the camp, the plague went on; and Moses, the priests
and the elders were stunned and didn't know what to do. They were gathered at
the entrance of the tent of meeting,
but they were helpless. Then they all see a guy take a woman of Midian into his
tent. They weren't going to have coffee together. Everyone sees this bold
defiance, but no one moves. Suddenly, Phinehas sees the connection between the
growing cry of death in the camp and this man and woman. He grabs a spear and
sprints through the camp to this tent, and in one stroke he impales them both
into the floor of the tent.
The plague instantly stopped. In those hours
of sin and confusion, 23,000 died (Paul says 23,000 fell in a single day), and
in the next days, another thousand died. Somehow there were scars or some sort
of visible disease that was connected to this that Phinehas will refer to at
the end of the book of Joshua.
Vs. 10-13 God makes a perpetual covenant with
Phinehas. Here is the deal. Phinehas saw the connection between the sin and the
death it was bringing, and he took action that brought peace. Therefore, it is
a covenant of peace. The ministry of
the priest was to bring peace between the people and God. I like what God says,
he was jealous with my jealousy.
Vs. 16-18 God promises a fight, though it
doesn't happen until chapter 31. If you want to look over chapter 31, you'll
find Balaam's name at least twice. Notice here, the mention of wiles and beguiled in v. 18. There was careful, intentional planning that
went on here. In chapter 31 we'll see that this plan came from Balaam.
Back to Phinehas. I really like this guy. As
disciples, we do this in a similar way. We are to be passionate with Christ's
passion, living as He lived, willing to die as He died, to bring the message of
salvation to lost people. King Josiah had this passion for his people who were
about to be taken into exile. Because
your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the LORD, when you
heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they
should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept
before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD. (2 Kings 22:19)
God has promised to bless our work in the
harvest, but we need to be passionate with His passion and compassion. Jesus is
our Lord and He is our model. We are His disciples to be like Him and to follow
Him.
Luke 2:1-35
One thing not to lose sight of is that in the
words of both Mary and Zechariah, the promise to Abraham is spoken of. This is
not an "Israel" thing going on, although for purposes of heralding
the message, Israel was chosen. This is world redemption going on, beginning with
Adam and Eve. Abraham would have had firsthand knowledge of the promise since
he probably knew Noah or Shem and Noah's father knew Adam. When I was working
on a freight dock, this guy asked me why God was a Jew. The answer is simple.
God chose a man, not a nation or ethnic group. Today, Abraham would have been
an Iraqi. God made a nation to herald the truth. They failed once, but they'll
get it right next time. In the meantime, we're on.
Vs. 1-7 No one pinpoints dates like Luke
does. This would have had a lot of meaning to Theophilus and the other Gentiles
who read this. Luke's detail here and in Acts adds a ton of credibility to what
he is writing.
V. 4 It is interesting to think that a Roman
king would have such a harebrained idea to make everyone go to the city that
their ancestors came from. But he did and God used it. Sometimes it's good just
to obey and trust that God is working in the confusion.
V. 5 Luke identifies Mary as Joseph's
betrothed, although Matthew says wife. They had not consummated the
relationship, so though they were legally married, the relationship hadn't been
"formally" begun. Luke may have been coming from a more Gentile
perspective. He would have gotten all this information from Mary.
During this time of registering, the city would
have been full. We'll see in a few verses that Joe and Mary were not alone, and
although they were in the stable, it may have been that the innkeepers were
taking care of all of their guests, including their guests, and the baby, in
the stable.
Vs. 8-14 There is much debate about the time
of Jesus' birth. We really don't know, but you can't use the argument that in
winter they didn't have flocks around Bethlehem and Jerusalem. We know from the
OT that there were morning and evening sacrifices every day and there were
plenty of sacrifices in between. They would have kept large flocks around
Jerusalem all year round. Bethlehem was only about 7.5 miles from Jerusalem and
it was a popular place to keep flocks.
Vs. 15-20 It is interesting that Mary usually
gets first billing. Matthew says more about Joseph being spoken to in dreams.
Probably because Mary was still alive at the time of this writing and known in
the church, she is given prominence. And besides, she was Jesus' mum.
V. 18 Notice that there were others present.
We often picture the stable as being a lonely dark place, but I think this
stable was being used for many guests. I doubt that there was a little kid with
a drum.
Notice that Mary kept rolling these things
through her mind and heart. That worked out good for Luke. And the shepherds
went back rejoicing.
Vs. 22-24 We have read about these laws in
the OT. Cool, huh? Notice that Joseph and Mary offer the sacrifice for poor
people, but not the extremely poor. They hadn't yet been visited by the wise
men, who brought gifts that made the poor couple fairly well-to-do and financed
their escape and stay in Egypt.
Vs. 25-35 Simeon is a great guy. Notice the
references to the Spirit. Notice also the mention of salvation to the Gentiles.
This would have been an important verse in the early church. Luke, again, would
have gotten this from Mary.
Notice that Jesus will be a sign that is opposed….so that thoughts
from many hearts may be revealed. A person's response to Jesus reveals
their hearts. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, But thanks be to God, who in Christ always
leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the
knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those
who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from
death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient
for these things?
As disciples we have to be willing to get the
Word out there to give people the chance to respond. How they respond is not up
to us. What we don't want is to be afraid of identifying with our Lord and
having the sword pass through our own souls. I know my own fear, and Paul had
to tell Timothy not to be afraid.
Psalm 59
This is sort of funny. "Hey, guys, what
melody should I use for this song?" "I don't know. Why don't we go
with "Do Not Destroy"? I wonder if it had heavy percussion.
It is hard for us in the Western world to
really grasp having a powerful enemy. How do you get trained in focusing on the
Lord, other than being so overwhelmed by oppression and threat that you learn
to bend your mind and heart to the Lord. Look at v. 16. The flow of this psalm
is very reminiscent of the flow of Psalm 119, David's masterpiece.
The Psalms are an easy place for you to train
your mind to look for the changing of thoughts and seeing how the Spirit and
the psalmist are laying out this plea for help and praise of God.
Vs. 1-5 David cries for help against these
enemies and asks God to look at the situation and to judge. The
"selah" isn't always there, but it does give you an idea here where
the thought breaks.
Vs. 6-7 This is an "artsy" sort of
refrain.
Vs. 8-10 This is David's confidence and trust
in the Lord. My heart latches on to these references to God being our fortress and being met by his steadfast
love.
Vs. 11-13 This is an interesting wrinkle in
asking for God's judgment. David wanted God to judge them in such a way that
the people would see that King Saul and his leaders were wrong. This is exactly
what happened. As Saul chased David and rejected God, the nation went down the
tubes. Saul's life was not happy and his legacy was horrible.
Vs. 14-15 This is the repeating of the
refrain from above. It sounds better in German, but it would sound similar in
English if it were written, "howling like the hounds."
Vs. 16-17 And again, David's confidence is in
God, who hides him in His fortress
and shows David His faithful, steadfast
love.
Proverbs 11:14
The Lord is telling us to stay connected to
lots of counselors at all times,
assuming the counselors love the Lord.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://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 complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
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 to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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