If you don't
have a One Year Bible or prefer something online, this link will take you to
the day's reading, http://oneyearbibleonline.com/daily-oyb/. This
site allows you to select from several languages and several English
translations.
MARCH 2
Leviticus 25:47-27:13
Although the subjects of these remaining chapters in Leviticus seem
kind of random, you'll notice that the year of jubilee ties them together.
These are rules of redemption of persons from servitude, and the redemption of
vowed people or property is explained now in terms of the special condition of
the year of jubilee. Chapter 26 might seem out of place, until you notice the
references to the Sabbatical year. This year is very connected to the year of
jubilee. Not only was the Sabbatical year the way to determine the year of
jubilee (7 Sabbatical years + 1), but it was the basis for gauging the faith
and obedience of the people.
The weekly Sabbath and the Sabbatical year were an incredible way to
see if the leaders and people truly understood the love and power of God. If
you didn't have faith in the Lord and understand His love, you didn't have the
freedom of heart to rest on the Sabbath and celebrate Him. If you didn't have
faith in the Lord and understand His love, thereby having the freedom of heart
to rest on the Sabbath and celebrate Him, there was no way you would celebrate
the Sabbatical year. How could you depend on God and celebrate Him for an
entire year? If you didn't have this kind of faith and love and joy in God, the
year of jubilee would make no sense whatsoever. This required incredible faith
in God and dependence on Him. As far as we know, Israel never celebrated a
Sabbatical year, and we have no mention of them ever celebrating the year of
jubilee.
I was thinking yesterday how hard it is to convince people to read
their Bibles every day. It is even harder to make a requirement for people in a
church to hold to a set of standards. For example, what if every leader in a
church (besides having to maintain the standards in 1 Tim. 3) had to read their
Bible every day and pray, if they had to be doing something to reach out to
their neighbors, if they had to be in a home group, if they had to be in a
discipleship cell where they were mentored and they had to lead a discipleship
cell where they were making disciples? Some of these are really personal things
for the Lord, having nothing to do with the church per se, and three of these
are "church" things. If you had these as requirements, you probably
wouldn't have any leaders. Even if you could justify these in terms of what
disciples should be doing in a church or following the Lord in the harvest,
there would be an outcry regarding forcing people to follow these. Who has the
time for all of this? Who has the right to make this a requirement? No leader
or pastor would be so silly as to require
people to do these. (See Luke 14:25-35.)
Now imagine that you are a king in Israel, even King David, and you're
coming up to a Sabbatical year where you will legislate and enforce allowing
the land, the nation, to rest for an entire year. Even though it was written in
the Word, it seems that no one had the guts to require it and enforce it. There
would have been abuse and rebellion. Yet, the entire nation drifted into
disobedience, and the warning given in chapter 26 came to pass. There is a cost
to following Christ as a disciple in the harvest, but no one wants to require
it. I was reading this morning, If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone
should rise from the dead. (Luke 16:31)
Leviticus 25:47-55
Vs. 47-54 If a man had to "sell" himself to serve another
because of poverty, he could be redeemed or ransomed by others or by himself.
The basis of this ransom price would be calculated according to the year of
jubilee. This law was a benefit to those in debt or who were very poor.
V. 55 The basis for the redemption and freedom of the people was that
all of the people belonged to God and were to have been His servants.
Think about Jesus being our Redeemer, saving us from our slavery to sin
and judgment. He Himself is our Redeemer and our ransom price. Oddly enough,
we'll see this in the NT today.
Leviticus 26
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 then the consequences of not obeying.
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 longer 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.
Vs. 1-2 This might seem random, but these commands focus on the nature
of God and the people's worship and dependence on Him. Since He saved them out
of Egypt with such might, feeding them in the desert, this shouldn't inspire
fear, but rather faith and love.
Vs. 3-13 These verses are the promises of blessing if they obeyed. The
covenant God made with them with Moses was conditioned on their obedience.
Notice the promise of vs. 11-13.
Vs. 14-33 These verses are the promise of judgment if they disobeyed.
Notice that God will bring judgment in degrees, hoping they will repent, and
then if they don't He will increase the judgment. Look for this structure
throughout this section. Verse 18 is the first of these increases. Notice the if…you…sevenfold scheme of this. God is
really trying to show the people mercy. This judgment of the people of Israel in
the land ends with their exile.
Vs. 34-39 Now the importance of the Sabbatical years comes to light.
God is telling them how important this faith and obedience (or lack of it) will
be. The Sabbath and the Sabbatical year were a gauge to measure their true
faith and love. Even after the exile, God would pursue and chasten them. In
fact, the 70 years of exile were because of the number of Sabbatical years they
had missed in the 490 years they were in the land, organized and led by a king.
Vs. 40-46 God is already making provision for Israel to return from
exile. Read Daniel's prayer in Daniel 9, and it is obvious, for a couple of
reasons, that he had read v. 40 and the rest of this section. We'll talk about
this verse when we get to Daniel's prayer.
V. 42 Even though Israel would break the Mosaic Covenant, God was still
bound to them by the covenant He made with Abraham. The true object of faith in
God, even under the Mosaic Covenant, was God's promise of redemption as given
in the promise to Abraham. Paul says this in Romans, chapter 4. It is because
of God's promise to Abe that Israel will be restored and will fulfill their
destiny as a witness to the nations.
V. 43 Notice again how important the Sabbatical year was as a gauge of
the peoples' hearts toward God.
V. 45 This again is the promise to Abraham.
Leviticus 27:1-13
Vs. 1-8 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.
Vs. 9-13 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, like donkeys or horses, 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.
When this continues tomorrow, we'll see that this redemption price was also
geared to the year of jubilee.
The symbolism that God was building into Israel with all of these laws,
regarding the year of jubilee and redemption, is all pointing to Jesus.
Mark 10:32-52
Vs. 32-34 The threats against Jesus were so real that the Twelve feared
every step toward Jerusalem and were amazed at Jesus' resolve. Note 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.
Vs. 35-40 In the request of James and John, notice that Mark fails to
mention that their mother, Salome, was with them when this request was made.
Tradition has it that Jesus' mother and the mother of James and John were
sisters. They might have thought they had an "in" because they were
related. Notice that Jesus mentioned suffering and that James and John were
ready to suffer. James would be the first of the Twelve who would die and John,
according to tradition, was the last.
Vs. 41-45 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 in Mark 10:45, For even the Son
of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for
many.
The model for discipleship was Jesus, in His serving, in His suffering,
and in giving His life as a ransom for others.
What Jesus is saying here is directly connected to what we read in
Leviticus today. Jesus is that redeemer, that ransom price and that substitute,
all rolled into one.
Vs. 46-52 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.
V. 47 Whenever you hear someone calling Jesus the Son of David, it means they had great faith.
V. 50 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 blind.
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 that when we disciples are done with our work in the harvest,
there will be this huge party called the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is
where the church, the bride of Christ, will be eternally joined to Christ.
It'll be a great party and feast, and I'll be off my diet on that day.
V. 1 Apparently the king and queen were married and were taking their
thrones for the first time.
Vs. 2-9 The description of the king grows from a human king, perhaps
David, to the Son of Man, the eternal, human son of David. Notice that both vs.
6 and 7 apply to Jesus.
Vs. 10-17 This bride would be the church, but as typology goes, it
could apply to Israel or to all the redeemed. Notice that in v. 17 the name of
this bride is honored by all peoples through all generations. Israel will certainly
be honored forever for how God has used them as a tool, an object lesson, and a
vehicle for bringing salvation to all mankind. On the other hand, it is the
church right now that is being used to hold back the night and work in the
harvest until Israel is ready to fulfill their destiny. If I had to vote, I'd
say the bride is the church.
Proverbs 10:22
There seems to be something bad or stressful to be found in everything.
I think the idea here is 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 the
absence of irritants.
Now just for fun, the German Bible has a variant reading, hinted at in
the ESV. In German it says,
Der
Segen des HERRN allein macht reich, und nichts tut eigene Mühe hinzu. (LUT Proverbs 10:22)
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.
Please Read
the Following Disclaimer
I'm writing the Reading Notes to and
for those who are following a One Year Bible and are 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, that is, 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 and important discipleship manual we have and it is the 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, or whom we are to be following. 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, as disciples, 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, 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 (BKC).
I read the BKC in doing background for the Reading Notes and refer to it quite
often. I also make reference to maps or charts in the BKC, though I will only
note where those resources can be found. Often you can do a search for these
and find them in Google books. Buying both volumes of the Bible Knowledge
Commentary would be a good idea.
I am not endorsing any particular One
Year Bible translation; in fact, I read something you probably don't, Die
Revidierte Lutherbibel, 1984. Unless noted, all Scripture quotes are from the
ESV Bible.
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. Often there is a breadth of opinion on certain events, both
historical and prophetic. Many of my views come from my church background,
theological training and my personal study.
I'm
doing this with discipleship in mind, meaning, I'm writing out thoughts that
will keep discipleship and our growth as disciples applied to what we are
reading. Remember, the real focus of the Reading Notes is to be a
supplement, a disciple’s commentary, giving motivation and insight so that we
will keep following our Lord in the harvest, reaching the lost and making
disciples, who make disciples. Being in
the Word every day, sitting at Jesus’ feet, learning directly from Him, is the
essential essence of being and making disciples.
May the Lord bless you as you follow Him in the
harvest, reaching the lost and making disciples, who make disciples. Dan
If you would like documents
containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
If you would like a full
presentation of discipleship read Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples.
Or if you are struggling with
insomnia and would like a long boring dissertation on disciple making, these
can both be found on https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes.
Reading Notes ©, Dan Kachikis
2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
The One Year Bible © by
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton Illinois 60189
The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version® (ESV®) Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.
All charts/graphics/outlines
from the Bible Knowledge Commentary are used with the permission of David C.
Cook.
© 1983, 2001 John F Walvoord and Roy B Zuck.
The Bible Knowledge Commentary is published by David C Cook.
All rights reserved. Publisher permission
required to reproduce.
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