Reading from Friday, November 5

I'm so excited. As is the custom in the Murray household, Jilly and I usually can't wait to give each other our Christmas gifts. Well Jilly went super early this year and gave me my present this evening. I'm typing on it right now. It's a glistening new 13" MacBook Pro. Oh yeah. So killer.

Reading for November 5
Ezekiel 12:1-14:11
There is a great deal of talk about destruction in this reading but there is also a great deal of hope. Within the prophecies of doom for Jerusalem, there is also a strong sense of God wanting this to be the lesson that sticks. Wanting this punishment to be the one that really gets through to his people so he and his people can be reunited. It's similar to the send-your-kid-to-boarding-school move. A last ditch effort to set the human race on the right track. And again, it didn't work. The only thing that worked was God himself dying for us.

Hebrews 7:1-17
This reading concerns the idea of becoming a priest back in the OT. Most priests were descendants of the tribe of Levi, but there was also this other dude named Melchizedek who was a priest during Abraham's time and was considered very great in the history of Israel. Paul makes a connection between Melchizedek and Jesus that I don't quite understand and it doesn't feel like it would be super relevant so I'ma skip this one.

Psalm 105:37-45
Ah ah ah...this is glossing over some facts here:

³⁹ He spread out a cloud as a covering,
   and a fire to give light at night.
⁴⁰ They asked, and he brought them quail;
   he fed them well with the bread of heaven.
⁴¹ He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
   it flowed like a river in the desert.

Remember that story from Exodus? God had provided water and manna for the Israelites to eat while they were wandering the desert, but they wanted meat. They complained and complained and God finally gave in and brought forth hundreds and thousands of quail for them to eat, but everyone who even touched it to their lips was struck dead with a plague. You can reread that post here.

Proverbs 27:3
 ³ Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
   but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.

Yes yes.