Tuesday, March 16

Whoops. So Monday was actually Mach 15, so I skipped a day - so today I will do the entry from yesterday. Here we go

Reading for March 15
Numbers 22:21-23:30
The majority of this story is about Balaam meeting an angel and being spoken to by the angel through his donkey. It's pretty interesting - Balaam is set to go and curse the Israelites on Balak's request, but since God doesn't want this to happen, he sends this angel to stop him. While Balaam is on the road to his destination, the angel appears, but Balaam cannot see him. Three times the angel appears, and three times Balaam does not see him - but his donkey does. Each time the angel appears, the donkey gets scared and turns and runs in the opposite direction. Balaam just thinks that she is being a bad donkey and beats her each time.

Finally, it says that the angel "opened the donkey's mouth" and she spoke to Balaam. Eventually, he is able to see the angel and receives a message to give to Balak. Balak brings Balaam to three different places to curse the Israelites, but three times Balaam blesses them. Not only blesses them, but builds seven altars and sacrifices seven bulls and seven rams across the seven altars. Each time, Balak is angry that Balaam blesses the Israelites instead of cursing them, and each time Balaam says,

“I will speak only the message that the Lord puts in my mouth.”

I saw this in yesterday's reading, too. The conviction he has is remarkable, but then again, he was spoken to by a donkey and saw an angel on a road. I suppose I would be pretty convicted too if that's what I saw. 

Luke 1:57-80
The Birth of John the Baptist

This entire section focuses on the birth of John, with some really interesting details surrounding it. When John's father, Zecharia was told that his wife was pregnant he did not believe it because his wife was so old - sounds similar to old Abraham, no? Well because of his disbelief, God punishes Zecharia by making him unable to speak until the baby is born.

Once John is born, all of their friends and family say that he should be named Zecharia after his father - which is somewhat weird because in all the Bibilcal history I've read so far, I haven't seen a single son named after his father. Anyway, John's mother Elizabeth jumps in and says "No! His name is John!" as the Angel told them to name him. Confused, the crowd asked Zecharia what he should be named. Still mute, Zecharia wrote on a tablet, "His name is John" and instantly he was able to speak again.

Zecharia was then filled with the Holy Spirit and busted out a prophecy. In it, he basically says that this baby is the first sign of things changing. He says, "⁶⁹ He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David, ⁷⁰ just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago." Remember that Jesus had not yet been born at this point.

⁷⁸ Because of God’s tender mercy,
      the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us

This verse is particularly poignant. Up until this point, God's people have rebelled and there has been this constant struggle between the people and God. The morning light, obviously representing Jesus, I think also means "a new day" for the Israelites. A new beginning where this struggle does not have to take place, and we can live in peace, safe from the wrath of an angry God.

Psalm 58:1-11
This psalm is extremely directed at one specific group of people. It's not clear exactly who, but David has obviously been wronged by one or more people from this group, which he classifies as "rulers" - which I guess would mean kings and queens and stuff.

Proverbs 11:12-13
Sensible Advice
 ¹² It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor;
      a sensible person keeps quiet.
 ¹³ A gossip goes around telling secrets,
      but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

Alright that will do it for me. Later.