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.
JUNE 8
1 Kings 3:4-4:34
It will take us
several chapters to get to the sobering part of Solomon’s story, but the final
verse from yesterday says that Solomon really loved the Lord. That is not to be
doubted. Yet, that love can fade or get out of tune. Jesus gave us a tuning
fork to keep our love for Him always at the right pitch. - Whoever
has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me
will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him (John 14:21). As we
read of Solomon’s life, we’ll see that the wisest man on earth wasn’t very
alert to keeping God’s commandments. When we read Solomon’s final journal
entries regarding life on earth, Ecclesiastes, we’ll see that although God gave
Solomon wisdom, Solomon didn’t know God well at all.
1 Kings 3
Vs. 4-14 This is a very famous portion of Scripture.
V. 4 Notice that Solomon offered sacrifices on this high place. How do
you process the fact that it was forbidden in the law to sacrifice anywhere
other than at the tabernacle, which was in Jerusalem at this time?
It seems to me that God was willing to show a lot of grace and
forgiveness in encouraging people to approach Him. Just so we all understand
it, this is still a violation of the law; and this violation, sacrificing in
places other than the tabernacle (and later, the temple), will lead the people
into such idolatry that Israel will be thrown out of the land into exile. I’m
sure it was allowed by the kings because the sacrifices were to God, but it
seems to me, particularly following Christ in this world in this time, it is
utterly dangerous for us to disobey and then say we’re doing it for God. God’s
silence doesn’t always mean He approves.
V. 6 As you think of what you've read and know about David, and then
read the statements you see here regarding David's faithfulness, righteousness
and uprightness in heart, how do you understand God's grace and kindness to us?
What does God really want? Apparently, He received that from David.
V. 7 Solomon was between 20 and 24 when this happened.
V. 12 This seems like an unconditional promise. Solomon would be the
wisest, most discerning person that ever walked the planet, other than Jesus.
If you know the story of Solomon’s life, that’s pretty sobering news. Knowing
wisdom doesn't mean acting wisely, but more on that later. The sin within us
can make fools of the best of us.
V. 15 It's interesting that after God spoke to him in the dream,
Solomon made an offering to the Lord in the tabernacle in Jerusalem. It may be
that God's kindness inspired Solomon to obedience.
Vs. 16-28 This is a cool story and Solomon was probably the only one
who could have pulled this off. He must have seen something in the women that
told him this "ploy" would work. We can see that God brought this
situation about, so that He could make Solomon's wisdom known.
1 Kings 4
This chapter is kind of a general summary of the good years of
Solomon's reign. It not only shows the blessing of God on Solomon and Israel,
but it shows the effects of the wisdom God gave Solomon. We'll see in 1
Chronicles that David did a lot of organizing too, but Solomon's wisdom wasn't
just in poems and proverbs, he was a master of organization. We'll see this
again with some other kings. A sign of God's blessing was that He gave them the
ability to order the land and the worship of the people.
Vs. 1-28 The grandeur of Solomon's kingdom is not judged or commented
on as being wrong. It was allowed by God. However, Solomon did some things
wrong here, even within this description. The point, I believe, is to show that
Solomon, humanly speaking, could have made an empire. What he actually chooses
to do is something no great king would have called his crowning achievement.
V. 8 A famous movie is hiding here. "Ben" meant "the son
of."
Vs. 29-34 God's wisdom in Solomon was becoming a witness to the world,
and that wisdom would draw many nations to Israel.
Acts 6
When thinking about the decisions the Jewish
leaders made, and particularly the words of Gamaliel in the last chapter, it is
interesting to wonder where Luke got his information, especially when he is
quoting what went on behind closed doors.
First, Paul had been a Pharisee and may have
been in some of these meetings.
Second, many Pharisees and priests came to
Christ. Also, many Roman officials came to Christ. Paul mentions a guy at the
end of Romans, Erastus, the city treasurer of Corinth. In this case now, in
Jerusalem, with so many people coming to Christ, there weren't too many closed
doors to talk behind any more.
Third, the Holy Spirit was also there,
listening through the keyhole.
Vs. 1-6 Growth brings challenges. So where did the widows come from?
According to Robinson's Word Pictures it worked like this:
First, you had two types of Jews: Jews who were more conservative and
Hebrew in background and Jews who grew up in other lands and were more tolerant
of other cultures. Those Jews in Israel and in deeply conservative circles
spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. Those Jews, like Barnabas and Stephen, who lived
outside of Israel, though they followed the law and didn't live like pagans,
spoke their home language and Greek. Greek was the common language of the Roman
Empire. There was friction between these different types of Jews.
Second, you had all sorts of people coming to Christ, including
different types of Jews and widows. Widows were usually given financial help
from the temple offerings. Now that these widows claimed Christ, they had lost
their social security. Suddenly the church was thrust into the role of helping
these new believing widows, because their new faith in Christ had caused them
to lose financial support.
This situation was a ticking bomb. Believe it or not, the Jews back
then were deeply nationalistic. If you mentioned the word "Gentile"
in the wrong setting, they went ballistic. Look at Acts 22:21-23. Believe it or
not, the believing Jews were almost as bad. Nationalism dies a slow death even
among believers, and we will see this in Acts. In fact, this prejudice on the
part of the Hebrew Christians will be important to observe.
V. 2 Note that there was no teaching on gifts yet. Notice too that the
apostles had been helping in the distribution.
V. 3 This seems to be the official beginning of the office of deacon.
V. 5 Note that they all had Greek names.
V. 7 You can imagine that if the growth caused challenges in the church
because of the need to feed widows, then having a priest come to Christ would
also create some challenges. They would no longer have jobs or income. And,
they would come fully loaded with a lot of religious baggage. But back to the
good news, they were now followers of Jesus.
Vs. 8-15 Miracles had become a major aggravation to the Jewish leaders,
but up until now, the only signs that had been done were by Hebrew Christians,
the Apostles. The Jewish leadership was already struggling with that. Now,
signs are being done by a Hellenistic (Greek) Jewish Christian. O Weh!
V. 9 Some think this was Saul of Tarsus' synagogue. Saul (Paul) may
have been one of those who tried to argue with Stephen.
V. 12 This is the first time in Acts that Luke mentions the people
being mad at Christians. It is interesting that it was directed toward a
Hellenistic Jewish Christian. There is a tone of nationalism in this.
V. 15 The council would have
been the Sanhedrin. This was the same group that ordered the death of Jesus.
Nick and Joe belonged to, or had belonged to, this group. Some think that Saul
the Pharisee was part of this group. Obviously, as this story proceeds, we know
that Saul was present.
So, what does the face of an
angel look like? That sounds impressive, but in three days they will be
throwing stones at him. This young Hellenistic believer was about to become the
first person who was killed for his testimony for Jesus. Figuratively speaking,
he is standing in the harvest proclaiming Christ, bearing an invisible cross on
his shoulder. He was willing to die to follow Christ in the harvest.
Psalm 126
This psalm was apparently written by one of the worship leaders after
the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon. It was a slow rebuilding process
with many dangers and challenges. Some of this rebuilding, and the emotion
thereof, is recorded in Ezra 3:8-15. It might have been during that time that
this psalm was written as an inspiration and comfort for the people to look to
the future.
Vs. 1-3 This was like phase one of God's blessing. He had brought them
back from captivity. That was something almost unheard of in that ancient
world, and as we'll see, it was a great work of grace on God's part.
Vs. 4-6 Now they prayed for God to turn the fortunes of the people. The
empty riverbeds of the people's lives were to be restored to freshness like the
empty riverbeds in the desert after a rain. There were tears that would be
replaced by joy, and the one who sowed in the empty land would rejoice with a
great harvest. I'm sure the writer meant this both literally and figuratively.
Proverbs 16:26-27
Laura and I were talking this morning how it seems that all of us would
look and live a lot better, if God dumped us into a place where the need was
desperate, where we had to care for others, where living the mission as
disciples caused us sacrifice and hunger. Our bodies and our minds would be
more toned and ready for action.
The reality for us as disciples is that we don't have to be thrown into
the ghettos and jungles of the third world to find desperation. We live among
it; the harvest is here. But it takes walking by the Spirit to see it.
Unfortunately, because it is so easy to live a life focused on comfort and the
flesh, as opposed to the spirit, we struggle to see the need around us and we
struggle even more to live a focused life.
This worthless person, in
contrast to the one who is forced to act because of his need, doesn't have an
urging that commands his time and energy and drive. Instead, his lack of focus
tends to run downhill into trouble.
God has given us this mission for our health too. Blessed are those
disciples who hunger now. That hunger is a choice to be focused on following
Christ in the harvest. Once we have that hunger, we can make it work for us;
and Jesus promises that if that hunger drives us, we will be satisfied.
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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