Reading from Wednesday, April 21

Hey hey. Feelin much better. Got my speech written for Benny's wedding on Friday, I'm all packed up. Work is...well work is gonna have to wait I guess. It's gonna be a ball storm when I get back. Ball storm.

Reading from April 21
Joshua 22:21-23:16
OK - so to finish the story about the people who built a new altar inside the land. Apparently they weren't building it for another God, but as a testimony to future generations about the closeness of man and God at that time. They were at peace and wanted a reminder for their descendants to see that there was peace if it ever got bad again...at least that's how I see it.

Chapter 23 focuses on Joshua sort of retiring from his position as leader. The Bible says he's very old at this point and is about to "go the way of all the earth" - which I suppose means "die." Just as Moses did, Joshua closes his time with the Israelites with a reminder to keep the laws of Moses and to faithfully worship and obey God. He reminds them that every single promise God had made so far had been fulfilled because they remained faithful - although just barely from where I'm sitting. Joshua also reminds his people of the consequences for not following God:

¹⁵ But just as every good promise of the LORD your God has come true, so the LORD will bring on you all the evil he has threatened, until he has destroyed you from this good land he has given you. ¹⁶If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you."

Again, Israel was God's chosen nation, but they weren't immune from the wrath dished out on other nations. I suppose he was more patient with Israel, but if they stepped out of line, judgment was a-comin.

Luke 20:27-47
An interesting look at the idea of resurrection: (Jesus speaking)

³⁷But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'^{[a] 38}He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

So, is it possible that Jesus' resurrection isn't exactly a resurrection of his physical form? Is that what he's alluding to here? Jesus resurrection, if taken as fact, is possibly one of the greatest mysteries of all time. I think Jesus knew how mind boggling it would be and tried to explain it in human terms, but I'm not getting it. I'm sure some theologian out there knows exactly what JCs talkin about here...

Psalm 89:14-37
This psalm beautifully describes the duality of God's perfect love and perfect justice. The opening line sums it up perfectly:

 ¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
       love and faithfulness go before you.
 ¹⁵ Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,
       who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

Then, towards the end, the psalmist does a great job explaining the internal battle of love and justice within God. 

³⁰ "If his sons forsake my law
       and do not follow my statutes,
 ³¹ if they violate my decrees
       and fail to keep my commands,
 ³² I will punish their sin with the rod,
       their iniquity with flogging;
 ³³ but I will not take my love from him,
       nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
 ³⁴ I will not violate my covenant
       or alter what my lips have uttered.

This caught my attention for two reasons, and both are in verse 33. First, seeing the language about fulfilling covenants and promises is relevant because of what I just read in Joshua, and second is the idea that even while the stuff like the Midianites was happening, God still loved his people. "I will not take my love from him." I guess with God, a loving but stern spanking results in millions killed.

Proverbs 13:17-19
 ¹⁷ A wicked messenger falls into trouble,
       but a trustworthy envoy brings healing.
 ¹⁸ He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame,
       but whoever heeds correction is honored.
 ¹⁹ A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,
       but fools detest turning from evil.

Verse 19 there seems to be the antithesis of the one we read a few days ago: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." So the opposite would be "A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul". I suppose God's longing to be with man was a hope that was derferred for a long time. But with Jesus' sacrifice, it was fulfilled and sweet to the soul of God.

Boom.

Joshua Study Guide

Hey friends. My friend, Chris posted this in the comments -
http://www.esvstudybible.org/sb/objects/introduction-to-joshua.html

It's an in-depth look at the book of Joshua and the middle-ish of the webpage has a nice long discussion about the genocides committed by the Israelites in the time of the OT. I haven't gotten a chance to look at it in too much depth, but from what I've read, there are some great answers there. Check it out.

I've also started to think about how this blog will continue next year. I want to draw my own conclusions similar to what you see in the link above. I want to go all out with the maps and the in depth study of the Bible, where this year is just about getting a high level understanding of the Bible as a whole.

So as of right now, next year I'm going to try to do just the Old Testament in a year, but going much further in depth with everything. Charts and maps and all that. I will sit down and actually read through the genealogies and trace their progress. That's exciting, no?

Reading from Tuesday, April 20

Hey-O. Today was freaking insane. I had meetings all day along with other various production work I needed to complete. Plus I have other things that need to get done before my best friend's wedding this weekend. PLUS - I got a notice from the tax office that I owed them a thousand dollars - which I don't - so I had to work that out, too. When I get home I have cleaning the entire apartment to look forward to as well as finishing the work I couldn't do during the day because I was in freaking meetings.

Reading for April 20
Joshua 21:1-22:20
Wow. That sneaky land distribution. I forgot about the Levites. Chapter 21 is all about the distribution of land to the Levites, and once again, it's boring to a maddening degree. However, the end of this chapter does give a nice breath of fresh air to the book of Joshua - check it:

 ⁴³ So the LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. ⁴⁴ The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD handed all their enemies over to them. ⁴⁵ Not one of all the LORD's good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.

The reason all of this text about the distribution of land exists is to show that God always delivers on his promises, as summarized here in the last few verses. So this is kinda 'the end justifies the means' I guess - God promised a certain piece of land to the Israelites, so to deliver on that promise he had them murder a large number of other people. Obviously from my point of view, the end does not justify the means. I know a few of you commented some new thoughts about the genocides which I haven't had a chance to look at and digest yet, but its obviously not something that has an easy answer.

Either way - this last paragraph sounds like a "OK - now you can rest. You have inherited the promised land, enjoy!" But - the very next chapter it shows a group of Israelites building an altar to another god right in the promised land! After all of the reminders to avoid this very thing, after multiple smites from God for people doing the same thing, after being told over and over and over to worship only God or they will be hell to pay - this group of morons goes ahead and sets up an altar to another God.

God either doesn't see it right away or simply doesn't react to it right away, but the entire nation of Israel comes to this group of people saying "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?! DIDN'T YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED LAST TIME SOMEONE DID THIS??! BOOM! DEAD TOWN! THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED, DUMMIES!!"

Unfortunately, this is where the chapter ends, so we'll see what happens to them in the next reading.

Luke 20:1-26
Jesus was an extremely smooth talker. There's a scene that appears in the other Gospels, where the teachers of the law try to trick Jesus into saying that people shouldn't pay taxes. Here's how it played out:

²¹So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²²Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
 ²³He saw through their duplicity and said to them, ²⁴"Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"
 ²⁵"Caesar's," they replied.
      He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
 ²⁶They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

Boom. Jesus'd. 

Psalm 89:1-13
This psalm is incredibly positive toward God. A complete psalm full of praising God for his goodness and love of humanity. It talks about his power and majesty over the entire earth. Where other psalms are full of despair and asking God where he is and hey he had abandoned the psalmist. Or sometimes, especially in the psalms of David, it starts with a statement of despair and then a turn towards praise. It's just nice to see a full psalm with all positive language about God and about life.

Proverbs 13:15-16
 ¹⁵ Good understanding wins favor,
       but the way of the unfaithful is hard. ^[a]
 16 Every prudent man acts out of knowledge,
       but a fool exposes his folly.

OK Great. I'm almost caught up. Sweet sweetness. 

 

Reading from Monday, April 19

OK - I'm still awake. Let's do another one.

Reading for April 19
Joshua 19:1-20:9
This section finishes up (thankfully) the allotment of land schtick. It concludes however, with revisiting the idea of the "refuge cities". These were planned for and mentioned many times by God in Leviticus and Deuteronomy when instructing Moses about the promised land - and again, these are in place for people who accidentally kill another person. They can flee to these cities so they are not killed by the "avenger of the victim" - and will have a chance to stand trial.

Apparently, people were accidentally killed a lot if God needed to set up a special provision for that...

Luke 19:28-48
The Triumphal Entry


So this is when Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem. He does so on a donkey and in a very "low budget" kind of way. This emphasizes his humility, but also the others' dissonance in their expectations and what they actually got - at least from the Pharisees. Many of Christ's followers were following him into the city and calling out praise for him. The Pharisees told Jesus to silence his people - here's how he responds:

 ⁴⁰"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

A God who needs to be praised.

Then he went on to say this:

 ⁴¹As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it ⁴²and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. ⁴⁴They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."

Clearly a God who once again loves his creation and laments over its demise - the same thing we saw way back in Genesis before he got all vengeful and angry. 


Psalm 88:1-18
This psalm is pretty dark and un-hopeful. It's all about how the psalmist (not sure who it is this time) feels that God took away his friends and now he is all alone.

⁸ You have taken from me my closest friends
       and have made me repulsive to them.
       I am confined and cannot escape;

On the other hand, isn't it possible that this guy just acted like a jerk and lost a bunch of friends and it has nothing to do with God? I don't think assigning God to every action/reaction in this world is a realistic way to live. Plus then you get into all sorts of big spiritual dilemmas asking why God had you step in poo on the way out the door this morning. Does that make sense?

Proverbs 13:12-14
 ¹² Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
       but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. 

This verse was used in the Easter sermon at my church, Outreach Red Bank.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick. That's a great one.

Reading from Sunday, April 18

So as I mentioned, I'm watching hockey again after a long hiatus. It's a weird kind of thing that goes on when you're invested in a team. If I wasn't watching these games I would have no dissapointment when the Devils lost, but on the other hand, I wouldn't have any excitement when they won. Unfortunately they've been losing a lot lately and it's been giving me this horrible anger and stress during the games that I wouldn't have had if I wasn't following it. Anyway - it's Bible time.

Reading for April 18
Joshua 16:1-18:28
So this continues the chronicling of the allotment of land to the Israelites. It is extremely boring. There is one little bit in here though that caught my attention. The Manassites were given a number of areas to occupy, but here's what happened:

¹² Yet the Manassites were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region. ¹³ However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor but did not drive them out completely.

Instituting the ol' slave labor when the Israelites themselves were slaves - in fact many of the people there were alive when they were in Egypt as slaves - so they know what its like. It doesn't say how they treated the the Canaanites while they were enslaved, but it was probably not great - see that word "forced" up there? That means "against one's will".

Well, then again - this is when "an eye for an eye" was the MO of most actions.

Luke 19:1-27
There is a large emphasis on the tax collectors in Luke. Here in this text we see the story of Zacchaeus. A short little tax man who was interested in what Jesus was doing. He followed Jesus' teachings and gave away half of what he owned, and promised to pay back 4X any money he was dishonest with. Jesus says that he is redeemed and good to go!

The big deal about this, again, is that the tax collectors were among the most hated people of that time - universally despised among all people and religions. So when Jesus started hanging out with these people, others - especially the Pharisees - were offended that Jesus would even acknowledge them, much less hang out with them. It's almost like in high school - the risk of social suicide of sitting with the fat, foreign kid at lunch.

Psalm 87:1-7

Asaph references Zion here a bunch of times, which I always thought was another word for heaven, or the second coming of Christ. Turns out it's just another word for Jerusalem and Israel in general.

Proverbs 13:11
 ¹¹ Dishonest money dwindles away,
       but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.


Have that. Good night.
 

Reading from Saturday, April 17

Hey now. I'm drowning in work. It's out of control. And I'm behind on this. Crazy. Ugh. Bible time.

Reading for April 17
Joshua 15:1-63
This section continues the breakdown of the distribution of land among the Israelites - I'll be honest - it's incredibly boring. But looking a little deeper, this must have been incredibly rewarding for the Israelites. They were slaves, then they were nomads in the desert for forty years. During that time they suffered an immense amount of loss and struggles. Many of them were struck down by the hand of God for the unfaithfulness or disobedience. They were engaged in war after war where they were tasked with killing many people. I don't care who you are - killing people will mess you up. Now - finally they are at rest. And not only that, but they are being given immense tracts of land for their very own. God's grace finally poking its tiny little head out and making a brief appearance.

Luke 18:18-43
I just had an interesting thought. Jesus not only redeemed humanity through his life and death, but he also redeemed God himself. I guess, depending on how you look at it - you could say that it was God redeeming himself. Here is why I think this:

Jesus entered the city of Jericho as he was continuing his ministry. While he was in this city preaching the message, he healed a blind beggar who begged to be healed. If you remember, Jericho was one of the first cities that Joshua led an attack against when the Israelites inherited the promised land. Joshua led his people to brutally murder the people of Jericho so they could inhabit the land. Now here's Jesus coming back to this land and healing people and preaching a message of hope. Obviously, its not the same race of people living there, because they were all murdered, but the symbolism here I think is intentional. God is apologizing for his wrath against humanity. In a round about way I suppose...

Psalm 86:1-17

 ¹⁵ But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
       slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

You know, I've always heard that God is slow to anger, but I've never seen him be slow to anger. It always seems like he just reacts to disobedience fairly quickly. And his reactions are usually to murder everyone. Now eventually this got so bad that he had to take a different approach and sacrifice himself and his son to save everyone. Gettin sleepy...

Proverbs 13:9-10 
 ⁹ The light of the righteous shines brightly,
       but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
 ¹⁰ Pride only breeds quarrels,
       but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

Good. Night.

 

Reading from Friday, April 16

So I've been getting back into hockey. So far I've watched the first three games of the playoffs and the Devils are down 2 games to 1 against the Flyers. I am not a big sports guy - I hardly even watch the Super Bowl, but there's something about hockey playoffs that is unbelievably exciting. It's also great that Jilly is into it as well and we've really enjoyed watching the games together. Anyway...Bible.

Reading for April 16
Joshua 13:1-14:15
This is fairly uninteresting. God promises to drive out more and more nations as the Israelites continue to grow their land and territory - which probably means more genocides. So now at this point, its clear that God has no discretion as to who he orders the Israelites to kill - just people that live in the land that the Israelites want. Bad form, God. Bad form.

The rest of this reading just talks about how the land they already owned was divided amongst the various tribes. Bo-ring.

Luke 18:1-17
There's a great parable here of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Tax collectors were considered awful people during these times. They were basically hired by the Roman government to collect the taxes, but were given permission to take as much as they wanted for themselves from the people they collected from. So everyone dreaded seeing them as most took advantage of this dishonest practice.

So in this parable, there is a tax collector - the scum of the earth - and a Pharisee - a well-to-do religious figurehead. They both go out to the synagogue to pray and they each offer different prayers. Here is the Pharisee's prayer:

'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

Praising himself, mostly. Now here is the hated tax collector's prayer:

'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

Jesus says that the tax collector left the synagogue justified before God, but the Pharisee did not. And guess who the audience was when Jesus was telling this story? Pharisees. Boom.


Psalm 85:1-13
This is a very hopeful psalm after all the death and destruction I've read about. With lines like:

 ² You forgave the iniquity of your people
       and covered all their sins.
       Selah
 ³ You set aside all your wrath
       and turned from your fierce anger.

And...

 ¹⁰ Love and faithfulness meet together;
       righteousness and peace kiss each other.
 ¹¹ Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
       and righteousness looks down from heaven.

Now that's a Bible I can get behind.

Proverbs 13:7-8
 ⁷ One man pretends to be rich, yet has nothing;
       another pretends to be poor, yet has great wealth.
 ⁸ A man's riches may ransom his life,
       but a poor man hears no threat.

It's like my man Puff used to say, 'mo money mo problems.'