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 31
We've made it a quarter of a year! Don't worry about getting behind,
just keep toning those "read the Bible every day" muscles. Eventually
it will get a lot easier. Remember, put the Bible somewhere where you can see
it and just read a page or two in passing. Some days it might not work, but
some days I’ve done this and have been able to catch up a day.
This also means that you've read about a quarter of the Bible. That's
something to celebrate. I'd suggest taking your Bible (and favorite friend) and
going out to McDonalds, getting a Senior Coffee © and their Cinnamon Melts ©J and enjoying
today's reading.
Deuteronomy 16-17
Deuteronomy 16
These are the feasts again. Thanks to Laura, I'm seeing at the place (He) will choose, all over
the place. I never saw that before. Remember, these feasts and festivals were
meant to focus their hearts on God and His love and deliverance. This was not
just for their celebration and joy, but also for their protection. This was a
way for God to be sure they would always remember what He had done for them.
What also stands out to me more and more is how God keeps mentioning
that He brought them out of Egypt and their slavery and made them the most
honored nation under heaven.
Vs. 1-8 Israel was to celebrate the night God delivered them. This
would launch them into the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, reminding them
how God led them out of bondage. The final day was to be a Sabbath celebration.
This feast was to have been attended by all the men, and it could only be
attended in the place where the Lord made His name dwell. That would be at the
tabernacle. It would be a national gathering.
Vs. 9-12 The Feast of Weeks was
the Feast of Firstfruits and took place seven weeks and a day from the Sabbath
celebration that ended the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This was a celebration of
God giving them fruit and blessing. This was Pentecost and a day to remember
the freedom God had given. In the New Testament, this was also the day the
church was born and the Holy Spirit began to indwell those who believed in
Christ.
Vs. 13-15 This feast called the Feast
of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles began with the Day of Atonement. For
seven days the people lived in tents, remembering the years in the wilderness
when God fed them and made them a nation. Remember Nehemiah 8:17. The people
never celebrated this feast after Joshua died.
Vs. 16-17 This would have taken a lot of faith for all the men to take
their families, leave home and spend a week in Jerusalem. But, it would have
been their salvation, and the thought of their salvation would have been fresh
in their minds.
Vs. 18-20 The mention here of the judges and officials seems logical
since these guys would be models of obedience to the community and they would
make sure that the people held to these feasts. You could imagine someone
giving a judge a bribe to let him stay at home, instead of going to the feast
and wasting his time.
Vs. 21-22 These things were not only planted or put up near altars but
they were everywhere. The judges would see that this didn’t happen. It didn't
matter how artistic and beautiful the poles were; Israel was not to imitate the
Canaanites.
Deuteronomy 17
V. 1 Since God was giving the best to Israel, they were to be bold and
liberal in giving the best in return.
Vs. 2-7 To understand this section, we need to remember that for the
past 38 years, Israel has been averaging 400 funerals a day. Why? Because someone
rebelled against the Lord and many were swept with them into bitterness and
sin. This wasn't an open license to conduct "witch hunts," but rather
this was a way of keeping the nation pure. If any Israelite wanted to live in
another country, and eat pork chops, and worship other gods, and not hold the
Sabbath, all they had to do was leave and they were free. It was a big world
and Israel was only a small piece of real estate. No one had to live in Israel.
Notice that vs. 4 and 6 indicate that there was a process. This wasn’t
to happen quickly; in fact, if it did happen it was to be a testimony to the
nation to obey the Lord.
Vs. 8-13 If the situation was beyond them and they needed an answer,
they just had to go to the place the Lord chose to set up the tabernacle and
ask the priest. What was so special about the priest? He had a special pouch on
his ephod (bib apron) where he had the Urim and Thummim, remember? Amazingly,
you never hear of Israel using this except on a couple of occasions. Probably,
they didn't believe it, or didn't want God's answer, and didn't want the hassle
of having to travel all the way to the tabernacle.
Vs. 14-15 God knew the people would need a king someday. In fact,
Jacob’s blessing of Judah in Genesis 49 shows that the kings would come through
Judah.
Vs. 16-17 Solomon, the wisest man in the world, broke all of these. In
fact, the first thing Solomon did was make a marriage alliance with the Pharaoh
of Egypt. Building an army showed a lack of confidence in God and pride in
one’s own leadership. And, as it says here, to get horses, you had to go back
to Egypt. Gathering wives was also forbidden and Solomon had them in excess.
When Solomon grew older, his wives influenced him to build altars to their gods
and sacrifice there. Just think of that. Solomon built the temple to Yahweh as
a young man.
Vs. 18-20 When it says "law," it is probably referring to the
five books of Moses, or maybe only Deuteronomy. Under the supervision of the
Levites, the king was to make his own copy of the law and he was to read from
it every day of his life. I doubt that the wisest man in the world did that. I
would say that David definitely did this when he was king in Hebron for seven
years, and that Psalm 119 was a byproduct. I would also bet that Josiah made a
copy of Deuteronomy.
So what would writing out and reading the first five books of the Bible
do for a king? At this point, we can ask that of ourselves. What does it give
you? You get creation, the fall, and the redemptive plan of God working though
Noah, to Abraham, to Israel. It gives you a perspective of life and this world,
and it fills you with mission. More than everything else you see God's love in
working to free men from sin and death.
Notice too that the king was to read from his copy of the Word every
day of his life. We know of no kings who actually did this, even David. My
personal guess would be that Josiah read every day. Still, in what we will read
we will see the incredible drifting of the nation under the kings. This
drifting might have been stopped if they had read the Word every day. Simply
said, if it was important for the kings of Israel to have been in the Word
every day, how much more important is it for us as disciples of our Lord to
meet with Him, at His feet, in His Word, every day. That is how we continually
grow in love for Jesus throughout our lives. And this is how the Holy Spirit
gives us the joy of heart and the strength of heart to get up and keep
following, every day.
As I was reading this morning, I thought of how important it is for us
as disciples to be in the harvest and remember that God has rescued us. The
further we get from the harvest, the less we remember what it was that God
freed us from. Our salvation seems like a dusty trophy on a shelf. In
Deuteronomy God constantly reminds Israel that He is the Lord their God who led
them out of slavery. The same is true for us, as Jesus tells Simon the
Pharisee, he who is forgiven little, loves little (Luke 7:47). How do we
remember the value of our own salvation and where we were? By making disciples
of lost people, we are constantly reminded of what it was that God freed us
from and how needy we are of His grace and help.
Israel needed to go to the feasts to remember they were saved. As
disciples, we need to be led by the Lord to the foot of Calvary (the Lord’s
Supper) and to follow Him into the harvest.
Luke 9:7-27
As you read all of this section, you can see how the parts fit
together.
Vs. 7-9 Herod's question shows that everyone was wondering who Jesus
was. Especially now with the Twelve going out and working miracles, there was
more questioning. Eventually this will lead Jesus to pop the question to the
disciples regarding His identity.
Vs. 10-11 The disciples returned exhausted and Jesus took them on a
trip to a lonely place. Apparently they stayed too near to the shore and the
crowds saw Jesus and ran there before them.
Vs. 12-17 This is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. What
you miss in Matthew, Mark, and Luke is that immediately after Jesus fed the
5000, the people and many disciples left Him as mentioned in John 6:60-71. As
the crowds and many of His disciples were turning away from Him, at that moment
in John 6, Jesus asked the Twelve if they were going to leave too. Peter came
up big in John 6:68-69.
Vs. 18-20 Notice that Luke mentions that before Jesus questioned His
disciples, He was praying. Only Luke mentions that. When it says Jesus was
praying alone, but the disciples were with Him, it probably means that because
of the proximity of the crowd, Jesus was very near to the disciples as He was
praying alone. I think Jesus usually found a quiet, private place, but this
time the crowd prevented that. Jesus asks the disciples directly, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"
Peter shines again and Jesus makes him the pope (JUST KIDDING!!!).
John doesn't have this specific questioning of the Twelve, "Who do
men say that I am?" that Matthew, Mark, and Luke have.
Vs. 21-22 Notice that Luke leaves out Jesus' words of blessing to Peter
in Matthew 16:18-19. Believe it or not, in Acts, there is a lot of tension in
the Christian church, especially coming out of Jerusalem. You see this in Acts
11, 15:1, and in Galatians 2:12. It might be that because Luke hung with Paul,
and Paul was being constantly hounded by Christians from the "circumcision
party," that Luke didn't want to confuse his Gentile readers with Peter
being the "big boss" and Jerusalem being the center of the world.
Vs. 23-27 Just before these words, Peter rebuked Jesus and Jesus
rebuked him back. Luke left that out too. Since Jesus had just lost many
disciples, these words to the Twelve would have taken on more meaning. There
was a price in following Jesus. There would be glory; but they, like us, would
always be tempted to stand out of harm’s way and fail to announce their
allegiance to Jesus and to His words.
We are always tempted to keep quiet, but our joy in our salvation can
get us past that. It says that perfect love casts out all fear. If we are alive
in the love of our Savior, who can we fear?
Psalm 72
This psalm is supposedly from Solomon. If so, it sounds like Solomon
was having a good day. Some think that this psalm has a prophetic element
looking at Jesus' millennial reign because of the absolute language used that
couldn't be referring to Solomon.
Since so much is said that would be self-aggrandizing if written by
Solomon, I wonder if it wasn’t written by David, perhaps the final thing David
wrote, to make sure that the people would accept Solomon as their king. There
was a great deal of tension and political intrigue when Solomon became king.
Notice that it mentions kings of Sheba, not a queen. And it does say that
this psalm was the last of the prayers of David.
V. 1 Looks like this could be David asking God to bless his son.
Vs. 2-11 Look at all the requests for blessing that begin with the word
May.
Vs. 12-14 Israel and her king were to show compassion for the needy
based on their slavery and God’s grace to them.
Vs. 15-17 This sounds like Deuteronomy. As a result, the people and the
king would live long and be blessed.
Vs. 18-20 Again, this sounds like David to me. The Lord is to be
blessed and glorified in all the earth.
Proverbs 12:8-9
In some versions, v. 9 is expressed differently, indicating that
there's something in the Hebrew that isn't clear. There seems to be a wordplay being made on
the word despised in v. 8, so that it is immediately reflected in the
word for lowly in v. 9. Also, it isn't clear if the good man in v. 9 has
a servant or is, himself, a despised common worker.
The proverb might look like this;
8A man is commended according to
his good sense,
but one of twisted mind is despised.
but one of twisted mind is despised.
9Better to be despised as a
lowly servant and do your work
than to play the great man and lack bread.
than to play the great man and lack bread.
It seems
that it is better to be despised for being humble, having good sense and doing
your work well, as opposed to looking like a big man, saying things that are
foolish and being secretly poor.
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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