catching up

I have been behind, busy life but no excuses. Here's my chapter summaries, no commentary today. I'll post next 10 weeks this week.

Numbers
32 Gadites and Reubenites ask for separate land
33 summary of Egypt to Promised Land entry
34 borders of Canaan
35 cities of refuge

36 inheritance stays within tribes
Deut
1 Moses retells the journey
2 Moses retells the journey pt 2
3 Moses retells the journey pt 3

4 Moses’ final instructions begin
5 Moses’ reminds them of the Covenant (10 commandments)
6 the first and greatest commandment: love the LORD your God
7 driving out the nations and their culture of idolatry

8 do not forget the LORD when times are good
9 reminder of the Golden Calf
10 reminder of new tablet covenant reminders
11 be careful to obey God

12 foreshadow of the Temple in Jerusalem
13 don’t let others lead you to worship false gods
14 beginning of the summaries of all the laws (food/tithes)
15 setting apart debts/servants/animals

16 Feasts: Passover & others
17 penalty for false worshippers/court rulings/the King
18 offerings
19 cities of refuge

Baton to Joshua

We begin to see in these readings the transition from Moses to Joshua. God calls Moses to commission Joshua in chapter 27, and in chapter 31 we see Moses' last appointed task from the LORD, deal with the Midianites once and for all. I think it was John Maxwell who said (or stole): "There is no success without a successor."

Who is succeeding you? No doubt Moses was intentional about preparing Joshua to take his mantle of leadership after he was gone. Moses had to be a hard act to follow. I mean, come on, this guy stared down Pharaoh, saw the sea of Reeds parted, and lots of other crazy things. Yet he led with faithfulness.

Many people long for greatness. And if you look at his life, you can see where Joshua's greatness began. It began with his attitude and faith when he and Caleb were with the other 10 spies to check out Canaan. "Big" greatness always begins with "small" greatness. Sounds biblical, doesn't it? If you are entrusted with little, you will be entrusted with much.

Many people are impatient with starting small, but that's where it all begins for all of us. Be faithful with what you have today, no matter how big or small.

Numbers chapter summaries

24 Balaam's prophecy against Balak
25 some Israelites worship Baal and hook up w/ Moabite women
26 census of Israel
27 Moses commissions Joshua

28 instructions on offerings
29 instructions on feasts
30 instructions of vows
31 Moses' last task: defeat the Midianites

a talking donkey

This is one of those stories in the Bible that everyone talks about. I don't necessarily have any deep thoughts on it that I'll share, but one observation that is funny to me. Before we get to that...

This section of the story there are 3 movements of opposition to Moses and his leadership. (chapters 16, 20, 21) There's definitely something to be said for respect for those God has put in authority, especially when you see what happened to the people who complained!

This brings up an interesting point...how did Moses know he was following the wisdom and will of God when he faced all this opposition? There is a common thought today in the Western Church that if you are doing God's will that He will "open all the doors" for you and it will be smooth sailing. If that is always the case, Moses would have been one confused guy when facing all these people that were against him. Some people today believe that if God is for you, He will make all the opposition go away or it won't happen at all. And if it does happen that it probably wasn't God's will to begin with. To these people, opposition = not God's will. They would see favor as something that brings others in alignment, not opposition.

So how do we know?

As we can probably imagine, following God's will can bring hardship. After all, we have an enemy that opposes the good work on God through us. So, where is the line between knowing whether it's God or satan that is opposing us?

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer, no one really does. There is no litmus test for knowing. What we do know is what we learn from this passage that following where God is leading can be difficult, and even God's own people sometimes can oppose you. Eventually, a true follower knows the voice of their Shepherd (John 10) and can discern over time if opposition is truly from God or our enemy.

Back to Balaam...the funniest thing to me isn't just imagining a donkey talking, and even someone talking back. The funniest thing is how God speaks through the donkey to reason with Balaam. Check out the conversation:
Nu 22:30 The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"
"No," he said.

Balaam is reasoning with this animal, and the animal is right! This, to me, is funny.


Chapter summaries:

16 the opposition to Moses from the Levites
17 Aaron's staff buds
18 responsibilities of the priests and Levites
19 uncleanness and the water of cleansing

20 water from a rock/the death of Aaron
21 the bronze snake in the desert
22 Balaam's talking donkey
23 Balaam's first 2 prophecies to Balak

Still working on the chapter/book summaries I'm using. When I'm done, I'll post them. They will help those of you trying to remember each chapter from memory.

Groovy Moments in the Bible

When I was in college, we had a guys Bible study on our floor 1x a week. If someone forgot to prepare who was supposed to lead, we did something called "Groovy Moments in the Bible." We read odd or strange passages and laughed about them. Our reading today has one of them.

To me this is one of the funniest and most ironic verses in the Bible, it's found in Numbers 12:3 3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) If you didn't know already, Moses was the author of this book, and most likely the overwhelming majority of the first 5 books of Scripture. So here Moses is saying that he's the most humble man in all the earth...and seems proud of it. How ironic. I'm not sure this made it in our college study, but it could have. (I still have a list I collect of other groovy moments throughout Scripture, there are some doozies)

Now we head into Numbers, the fourth book of the Law/Pentateuch. Numbers is a turning point in the Exodus account (the Israelites leaving Egypt for the Promised land Canaan) because it begins the saga of Joshua, and the fork in the road the report of the 12 spies bring back to the people and Moses in chapter 13.

I'm hoping to review all the summaries for this weekend and show you how I'm breaking down the sections into blocks in order to help memorize them. I need to make some updates so I hope I'll have that done.


27 dedication and redemption of people and things
Numbers
1 census of Israel
2 tribal camp arrangements
3 Levites set aside as priests

4 Levite clan assignments
5 jealousy test
6 Nazirite vows
7 offerings for dedication of tabernacle

8 dedication ceremony of the Levites
9 Passover instructions
10 Israel finally leaves Sinai
11 meat from the Maker

12 Aaron and Miriam doubt Moses and are punished
13 twelve men explore Canaan and report
14 God and Moses discuss the people's rebellion
15 instruction on offerings in the new homeland

Why so serious?

I stole this line from the movie Dark Knight, I'll admit.

Ever read one of those passages in the Bible that seems to portray God in a way that doesn't make sense at all?

In chapter 24 when a young man is stoned to death because he curses "the Name" of God, it can seem pretty harsh for a small infraction. Shouldn't the punishment fit the crime? Why such a harsh judgment on something that seems so small? This is one of those OT passages that skeptics use to paint out God to be a cruel tyrant of a God.

Are they true? How could a loving God endorse such a cruel thing such as this? This is a valid question to ask of the situation.

Knowing the cultural context and also the Scriptural background leading up to this event helps. Going back to previous posts, God made a covenant (something like a modern day contract) with the people of Israel. Part of that covenant were strict guidelines to be followed, as was customary in that time when two parties entered into an agreement. Much of the covenant agreement is found surrounding the 10 'Words'.

God made it abundantly clear to all the people that were certain things that crossed the line and were totally out of bounds for people. LIke a parent who is fair, the definition of the transgression along with the punishment were crystal clear up front. One thing we know for sure from the entirety of Scripture is the justice and fairness of God. Knowing this, we approach texts like this understanding that God is not a Deity who is flying off the handle about something illogical that no one understands.

This person who cursed the Name, was fully aware of the decision he made to do what he did. This is probably why this is included in Scripture, because someone knowing full well the consequences, kamikazeed himself in this way. The fact that he cursed God was an indictment upon himself. He was making a statement that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with God and made this known in a very brazen way.

Therefore, we know that the punishment fit the crime, God is never unjust.

Chapter summaries

23 calendar of sacred assemblies/feasts
24 blasphemer stoned
25 Sabbath and Jubilee instructions
26 covenant reward & punishments

Abortion is our modern Molech/Leviticus 15-22

Leviticus chapter summaries

15 bodily discharge regulations
16 the Day of Atonement
17 blood and eating***
18 sacred sexual relations

19 various laws including the 10 Words
20 punishments for sin ****
21 instructions for priests
22 instructions for priests

***Blood is a major theme in Scripture, because in a sense it is the source of life for all living things. From early in the OT through to the atonement made through Jesus Christ for our sins, God reminds us through Scripture of the importance of blood. God instructs that any time blood is spilled, it is a sacred thing. Here in chapter 17 it is in reference to animals, but this shows how important God takes the spilling of blood, even if it is just for eating. No innocent blood can be spilled without a price that is paid.

Also, God instructs that the people 'do not follow the customs' they were used to…they were still used to the old ways of the Egyptians. God is calling them to a new and Holy standard.

****One of the punishments for sin mentioned in Leviticus 20 is in reference to Molech. Molech was a false god that people would commonly offer their infants to sacrifice before this god by burning them to death. Sounds pretty gruesome. It also sounds like something that is completely disconnected from our modern world. While very few cultures still practice rituals of this sort, there is a more direct link to modern society than you might think.

Interestingly enough, parents would sacrifice their children to Molech in hopes of material and financial blessing. The hope was that Molech would take this most sacred of sacrifices and bless the ones who offered it to him.

Often in Scripture there is a dichotomy of those who want something, but do the exact opposite action needed in an attempt to achieve a desired result. This is exactly what the sinful nature did to us when it entered humanity through Adam and Eve, it made us believe that what was good for us in all actuality destroys us.

God says over and over to 'choose life.' What happens when parents kill their children in favor of benefiting themselves? Abortion is our modern day Molech. Around 98% of abortions are for birth control purposes and you boil the reason down it basically comes down to money. People say they can't afford a child, they want a more affluent lifestyle that they couldn't afford with an extra child, etc.

Think about it, when you multiply the effects of many parents eliminating their children for their own financial gain within a culture that culture dies off and eventually ceases to exist. So ironically, the opposite effect happens...those who want a better life end up damning the future culture that dies off because of selfishness.

ONE MORE THOUGHT: How interesting that although most in the US wouldn't consider ourselves a "Christian" nation that compared to a region like the Middle East, dominantly Muslim, we in the US have a much, much lower birthrate in families compared the the typical Islamic family. Do the numbers and you'll see that eventually a people/culture/society that doesn't value children enough to bring them into society ends up going the way of the Do-Do bird.

Funky rashes and funky animals

It's been a few days since I posted. I'm posting way more this week. If you haven't noticed by now, I typically only post when I have some commentary to add to the Text. Honestly, I wondered if I'd have much to offer to much of the law/Levitical type sections of the Bible. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, I realized that I had many thoughts of each day last week. (at least this makes me feel like it's worth posting for other people to read)

So I'm posting Monday and Tuesday of last week today, and hopefully I'll catch up by Friday:)

Leviticus chapter summaries first:

7 offering instructions
8 Aaron and his sons become priests
9 the Levitical priesthood begins*
10 Aaron’s 2 sons die because of disobedience

11 clean and unclean animals
12 birth regulations
13 skin disease/mildew regulations
14 cleansing from skin diseases/mildew**

*Leviticus 10:8-11 God says to distinguish yourselves between the common and uncommon, distinguished by food intake. Do we do the same? This goes back to the former post. I wonder how much different we should view and treat our bodies as followers of Christ. God calls causes to be different, and we are to reflect this difference in our behaviors and actions.

**Skin rashes, mildew? Are these significant enough to include in the Holy Words of God? It doesn't seem to fit, does it? And at best it's doesn't seem that exciting. All the instructions may seem silly to us today, but these were literal life and death issues for the people of Israel. God gave these instructions through Moses as a protection for His people. Obviously, back in the days it was written the Bible spoke of physical instructions of cleanliness that foreshadowed many discoveries of modern science. These passages about physical ailments show us the Heart of a loving God, just as a parent takes care of their sick child.

Nothing has changed today, God’s instructions to us are for our protection, not just because. All Scripture teaches us about God, no matter how much it may seem irrelevant.

Taking care of your temple

Exodus has left the building. We are moving on to book #4 in our year.

Think about how precise God instructed Moses when it came to the construction of the tabernacle. The tabernacle wasn't even permanent, it was a movable sanctuary that the Israelites used during their desert wandering period. In the Old Testament, God's presence was much more centralized around a certain geographical area. Scripture often gives us accounts where His Spirit would fill a room or a certain place, such as Exodus 40:35.

Now, however, the New Testament tells us that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We who know this often think of our spirits being filled with His Spirit. This is true, but I also believe that Scripture teaches that our physical bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit as well. I Corinthians 6:19-20 says "19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Just a thought: as followers of Christ who are walking temples shouldn't we be known as people who take care of our physical bodies? Are we careful what food we intake, what mental input we subject ourselves to, how much sleep we get? Or do we abuse our body for the sake of being 'spiritual'? I believe taking care of our physical bodies is an obedience issue.

Exodus
35 How to make the tabernacle
36 Making the tabernacle
37 making the tabernacle furniture
38 making the tabernacle/outside fixtures

39 what the priests are to wear
40 setting up the tabernacle/the Glory of YHWH
Lev
1 burnt offering instructions
2 grain offering instructions

3 fellowship offering instructions
4 sin offering instructions
5 sin offering instructions
6 priestly instructions for the offering

Leviticus 4 tells us in verses 13 & 14 that if a community of people unintentionally sins against the LORD, they are guilty. One of the interesting things about Scripture is GENERATIONAL SIN. On a personal note, one of the things that drives me to unite a generation in prayer in the US is to confess and repent the sins of our nation.

WHERE DID THEY GET THE GOLD?

So...here the Israelites are, on the run, in the middle of the desert. Moses goes up on the mountain of God, and the people get restless. Chapter 32 is the infamous 'golden calf' episode in the Exodus account. They pool their gold together (mainly earrings, 32:2) and Aaron melds it together into the shape of a calf that they worship.

But remember, they were slaves to the Egyptians for 430 years. Where did they get enough gold to make this calf, and why a calf? Remember Exodus 11... "Now the LORD had said to Moses... 2 Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold." 3 (The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.)" Other passages God mentions to Moses that they will plunder the Egyptians on the way out.

Mmmm...so God blesses the Israelites through the giving of the Egyptians, and then they turn it around and worship a man-made god in the form of a calf, which harkens back to the Egyptian religious culture they were previously immersed within. But it's worse than that. Aaron in v. 5 says to the people, "When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, 'Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.'"

So not only did they worship another god, but they mixed their Egyptian theological influence with the true God, YHWH.

What's happening right now economically in the US is a reminder that for followers of Christ our blessings, if turned against God, hurt ourselves more than anything else. When you are financially blessed it is easy to mix faith in finances and also the Giver of all things.

Today is Ash Wednesday, a day of repentance and sorrow. Today I'm repenting for the sins of our nation financially, but most importantly my own sinfulness in this area of trusting in the gifts rather than the Giver.

The Sabbath is the Sign

(Just so you know, if you are on track Wednesday February 17th you are reading Exodus 35-38.)

When reading the Bible, especially the Old Testament, it's easy to misunderstand the context of the story and wonder why something seems so important that comes out of nowhere. The Sabbath can be like this. God can seem unusually harsh in His punishment for not obeying the Sabbath.

But when you understand the covenant agreement that He made with Israel, you can easily understand why. A covenant, which was a standard practice in the Ancient Near East (ANE), is somewhat parallel to our modern day contract, but with much more weight behind it. A covenant came with several ritualistic components, which we don't have the time here to get into. Dr. Jim Garlow has a great book on the meaning of this ancient practice and it's foreshadowing of Christ's new covenant in his death and resurrection. I highly recommend it. It's called 'The Covenant.'

But when you read through this section that we are in you realize that the Sabbath is the sign of the covenant. (read 31:13) In other words, God offered to fulfill His end of the bargain, and the primary way in which the Israelites upheld their end of the deal was by obeying the Sabbath. It seems rather odd, because God's command to the people was in essence was to do nothing.

However, when you sit back and think about it, the Sabbath is one of the things that set the Jews apart from everyone else in the ANE. For example, the Sabbath and 7 day week was revolutionary at the time because they were the only ones who practiced this rhythm of the calendar. And taking a day off really set them apart. For them it is no different for us today, taking a day off every 6 days reminds us that we can't do it all. it's a weekly reminder that God needs to be in control of our lives.

So this Sabbath component to the covenant agreement makes sense because God is acclimating them to a different culture, a culture that is completely different than the one that surrounded them in Egypt. Instead, God is establishing at the beginning of their new relationship with Him that as His people they are to be 'set apart', or holy unto God in all they do. He is establishing this in their cultural practices.

***By the way, the 2 tablets didn't contain 5 commandments each on them, as movies would have us believe. Instead, on each tablet were all 10 words of God. Why? Because in the ANE it was standard that when a covenant was established between 2 parties, there would exist a copy of the agreement for each. So the 2 tablets had the entire copy on them, one for the Israelites, one for YHWH.

Chapter summaries:
Exodus
23 various laws/God's angel
24 the people confirm the Covenant with God
25 Tabernacle instructions (furniture)
26 Tabernacle specifications

27 rules for inside the Tabernacle
28 priestly garments
29 ordaining the priests
30 Tabernacle instructions (atonement money)

31 the Sabbath is the sign
32 Golden Calf
33 Moses' tent of meeting
34 New Tablets and Moses' radiant face

Tomorrow I will talk about something you may never have thought about before in the familiar story of the Golden Calf.

God on the mountain

Exodus 19 is one of the most mysterious passages in the Bible. I wish I was able to more fully understand it. I mentioned in a previous post (back in Exodus 3) about being challenged by a professor in college on what I would choose as my 10 most important chapters in the Bible. Chapter 20 would definitely be in that list, as it is God's "ten words" as the Hebrews call them.

We begin to get into a mixture of law and history/narrative woven together throughout the rest of Exodus. We've reached a turning point in which the Israelites are free physically from the Egyptians, and are being led by God. They are about to face many challenges and tests. Many times I've noticed that when God does a great work in our lives it is followed by a time of struggle and testing. Many times we will hear (as we have already heard) the people of God wanting to go back to the comfort of living in Egypt. The same can be for us, although it's not as tangible.

We can easily revert back to ways of living and thinking that are unbiblical and ungodly, but God wants us to live as free people, with no 'shackles' of bondage that hold us back. Whatever you may be going through right now, remember that if your life is surrendered to Him, you will always heading towards better days.


Exodus
19 God on the mountain
20 The 10 Words
21 Laws for the people
22 Laws for the people (property and social)

Moses goes from prophet to leader

When reading these passages, I saw something new this time. In Exodus 11:3 the text tells us that Moses was highly regarded by Pharaoh's officials and the Egyptian people. This is an interesting insight and changes my previous view of the story. I had thought that all of the Egyptians held Moses in contempt, but rather they held him in high regard. Funny then how one man, Pharaoh, held Moses and his people hostage and all the Egyptians had to suffer because of his poor leadership.

A lot of interesting things happen in this part of the Exodus, one of them being the contrast in leadership that we see between Pharaoh and Moses. At the end of today's reading we see Moses' father-in-law help Moses go from being a prophet to being a leader, a delegator. John Maxwell, a guru on leadership says that Exodus 18 is "the day Moses became a leader".

God gave Moses a message, and then He provided those around him that helped Moses to govern and lead the people. Chapter 18 shows us a template with which to help people delegate to lead large groups of people in an orderly fashion.

You may also have noticed the small emphasis given to the way God used the Egyptians to financially bless the Israelites on their way out of the land. More about that in the near future. But don't forget that important fact, it becomes something important in the story later.

My chapter summaries:

Exodus

11 the firstborn die in Egypt
12 God establishes the Passover/Israel leaves Egypt
13 Israel crosses the sea of Reeds
14 Israel crosses the sea of Reeds
15 all Israel praises God through a song
16 God provides daily bread (manna & quail)
17 God provides water & victory over the Amalekites
18 Jethro teaches Moses to delegate

Heading into Exodus

Sorry it's been a few days since I posted on the readings. Life has been a little hectic the last week or so, but I'm still hanging in there. I hope you are too. But remember, if you are behind, it's not that hard to catch up because of the weekly set up with the weekend giving you time to catch up and review.

We head out of Joseph's life, leaving Genesis, and moving into Exodus.


Genesis
47 Joseph rescues Epypt
48 Joseph's sons become Jacob's
49 Jacob blesses his sons/Jacob dies
50 Joseph reminds his brothers he loves them/Joseph dies

Exodus
1 God's people become slaves in Epypt
2 introducing Moses
3 Moses is called by God (burning bush)
4 Moses is given a sign and a mouthpiece, his brother Aaron
5 Moses confronts Pharaoh, things get worse
6 God reassures His promise of deliverance
7 The plagues begin: blood
8 frogs gnats and flies o my
9 animals, boils, hail
10 locusts and darkness

Exodus 3 could possibly be in my top 10 chapters in the Bible. I remember one of my professors asking us as students to pretend we could only have 10 chapters of the Bible, and to rationalize which ones would we choose. It was a great exercise and forced us to think what times in Scripture stand out as extraordinary. This episode in Scripture is pretty spectacular, and God reveals Himself in a new way to Moses and as a result to humanity. By the way, this is one of the most studied and written about chapters in all of the Bible.

Maybe you've heard it said, but burning bushes weren't uncommon in this time and geography. What is different is that Moses pauses long enough to notice some that is ordinary (a burning bush) and common become uncommon and holy (God's presence in the ordinary).

Perhaps you've been there, on an ordinary day you see an ordinary moment become supernatural and set apart by God. 'Holy ground' moments are to be treasured. But sadly, many times they are missed because we are too busy looking or waiting for the extraordinary rather than the ordinary.

Even the plagues, believe it or not, can be attributed to natural geographical occurrences in the region of Egypt, according to many scholars. (the main exception of course, is the last plague of the firstborn death). Those in tune with the Holy Spirit today can see the unseen movements of God in and around their lives in the common things and sometimes peculiar timing of the twists and turns of life.

Joseph

Gen
39 Joseph is framed by Potiphar's wife
40 Joseph interprets dreams while in prison
41 Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream and becomes 2nd in command of Egypt
42 Joseph reunites with his brothers
43 Joseph's brothers return to Egypt
44 Joseph tests his brothers
45 Joseph reveals himself
46 Jacob reunites with his favorite son

Biblical accounts will often thread a concept or idea in a story or emphasis. I don't think it's a coincidence that Joseph's cloak is a centerpiece of his story. At his introduction in Genesis, we learn that he was given a very valuable and significant gift from his father Israel in the form of a coat. His brothers were envious and later used it against him. And in Gen 39 we see Potiphar's wife taking his cloak and using it against him. Then later, Pharaoh gives Joseph robes of fine linen. (Gen 41:42)

In the Ancient Near East, your robe or cloak represented a lot of your identity. Remember, people didn't have numerous coats like most people have today. Each coat or cloak was original and different, and its owner sort of formed an identity with this piece of clothing, and it came to represent that person. It was customary in fact that when two people entered into a covenant (an ancient form of agreement) they would exchange coats as a symbol of exchanging or taking on the other person's identity.

So Joseph's identity changed in his story in Scripture between receiving his coat from his father, to it being taken by Potiphar's wife, and then given by the most powerful person in the land. These first two 'setbacks' involving his coat/identity were set ups for something greater later on in his life.

Joseph in chapter 45 tells his brothers that it wasn't them who had sent him away, but rather God. Others may be mistreating you, but remember you never know how God might be working through any circumstance in life.

Genesis 31-38

What I love about the Bible is that the various authors go out of their way to make sure that they give the entire story about the characters, both positive and negative, righteous and sinful.  It can be tempting to tell a story about someone and only give the good parts to paint the person in the best light possible.  But the Bible is full of humanness, as we’ve seen from this weeks reading.

Gen

31 Jacob parts from Laban

32 Jacob wrestles and is renamed

33 Jacob and Esau reunite

34 Dinah and her brother’s revenge

35 Jacob goes back to his roots

36 Esau’s lineage

37 Joseph has dreams and is betrayed by his brothers

38 Judah gets Tamar pregnant

As Jacob's World Turns

Jacob's life is a soap opera. Wow, this guy has a story. And to think this guy is the man who became Israel, the nation of God.

Gen
27: Jacob steals Esau's blessing
28: Jacob's dream at Bethel
29: Jacob marries Leah and Rachel and has children
30: Jacob tricks his father-in-law and becomes prosperous

There are some fascinating things going on in the original language of much of this text of Scripture. If you are interested in a unique read, check out The Uncensored Bible, which is written by 2 theology profs and contains 2 chapters in their book from the 4 chapters we read today. It's a fun way to learn how the Bible was written.

To try and get a big picture grasp on where we are big picture in Genesis, look at it this way:

Gen 1-12 Creation-Fall-Flood
13-50 The Patriarchs (Abraham-Isaac-Jacob-Joseph)

Tmrw Gen 31-34

Back to Genesis

Genesis chapter reviews:

23: Sarah dies and is buried
24: Isaac meets and marries Rebekah
25: Abraham dies/Jacob and Esau are born
26: God's hand is upon Isaac

There was an interesting reference 24:45. Abraham's servant says that when he was "praying in my heart" is the moment he saw Rebekah. I thought this was interesting because it shows us from the beginning of Scripture that silent prayer, much like we practice today, was defined as 'prayer' in the Bible. There are other references to prayer as it is practiced in other numerous ways in the Bible, but we see here that silent prayer is included in the Bible's definition of prayer.

The next few days will be readings focused on the life of Jacob, Isaac's younger twin son.

I will be writing a review quiz that I will be posting this weekend.

Finishing up Job

Today, if you're on track with week #4, you'll be finishing up Job today. Job ends with a direct interaction between God and Job. Even though Job is a unique book and sometimes hard to track with, I'm hoping you will sense God speaking to you through the message of the book.

Job
39-41: the LORD continues His response
42: Job's response/epilogue of Job's life

Tmrw we're back to Genesis starting in chapter 23.

THOUGHTS ON JOB

If you've never read it before, Job is quite a fascinating book. There's a lot of mystery to it, like the date it was written, the meaning of the book, was it a real event or a parable. I hesitated on whether or not to state this, but I'll tell you my thoughts on this last one. I lean toward the opinion that the account of Job is a parable, and not a real event. Scholars much smarter than me disagree and believe that the book of Job captures a literal person and the events were real. Other scholars take it as more parable-like in nature. Job is considered 'Wisdom' literature in biblical genre, and is similar to writings of its kind from the Ancient Near East. Many of these writings included the same theme of understanding the meaning of life in the face of suffering. (like the Egyptian piece "A Dispute Over Suicide", sounds like a fun read, doesn't it?)

Don't think that because it might not reflect real events that it is irrelevant.

On the contrary, either view doesn't lessen what this book can teach us. Job probes deep into the soul of why suffering exists. I can't help but think that as we've been reading this book one of the greatest tragedies of our time occurred with the earthquake in Haiti. The estimation is that 200,000 lives were lost in the devastation. It's hard to understand why this would happen. The timing of reading Job in all of this is something that we should think about.

Let me say, if you're going through tough stuff right now, don't be afraid to dialogue with God and others about it. I spoke with a high school student at a retreat I taught at last weekend and this young person has been through some incredible things. This student questioned me because I said that God can take anything that happens in life and turn it into a blessing. They wondered and seriously questioned this, and still need to work this out with God. I have another married friend who has had a physical injury that has put them out of commission from 'normal' life for the last 7 weeks. God is at work in this couple's life in cool ways because of this, and they recognize it.

I can attest personally right now that God has me in the most vulnerable position I've ever been in in my entire life. If I don't have Him right now, I'm lost. But thank God I can rely on knowing that He is at work in ALL things. We can all take rest in that.

But sometimes it's easy to see God working, and other times it's not at all.

Why do things tragic or challenging things happen to us? Only God knows the answer, I believe that rings true in the book of Job. But remember, God has the ultimate authority and He is in control.

Job 19:25 in a way can summarize the entire book: I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end will stand upon the earth. God hasten the day!

PS. So, do you recall my goal in this journey? (to remember the theme of each chapter) To remember Job, and all of our reading, it's best to know the overview of the entire writing. Think of the book this way:

Job 1-2 prologue/events in the story
3-32 Job and his three friends dialogue on the reason for suffering
33-37 Elihu, a new and younger character speaks
38-41 God speaks and reminds Job He is in control of all things
42 Job's response/epilogue in the story

READ ON!

JOB 27-38, and a preview of what's ahead

My chapter summaries catching up to today, followed tmrw by info about the book of Job, since we are about to move on in our reading and back to Genesis. The summary I post tmrw of Job will help you get the big picture of the book, I encourage you to go over it on the weekend before we go on to week #4.

27-31: Job responds part 2/maintains his righteousness
32: introducing Ehilu...
33-37: Ehilu speaks condemning Job and his 3 friends while exalting God's justice and righteousness
38: God breaks His silence in the discussion (a turning point in the book)

Are You still hanging?

This is the point where a lot of New Year's resolutions begin to fall apart for most people. But you're not that person, are you? I have tried resolutions many times, and most of the time I'll admit I didn't see them through. But I've learned if you have others traveling with you it is much easier and it will happen.

I'm hoping you are still with me. It helps me to know people are serious about seeing this through. Don't give up. I know we're all busy, but I read something today that said we have on average as Americans about 5 hours of free time a day. We watch TV, mess around on the internet, and then say we're busy. Don't be that person. Put your time to good use.

Pretty soon we'll be out of Job and back into Genesis. Stick with it.

Job 15-26

I've been out of internet connection when I could post, so here are my last 3 days of summaries:

Job
15: Eliphaz's accusation
16: Job responds and talks of God's role in his suffering part 1
17: part 2
18: Bildad's opinion on evil people
19: Job again defends himself
20: Zophar ties Job's riches to his woes
21: Job questions why the evil seem to prosper
22: Eliphaz: righteousness = prosperity
23: Job's response part 1
24: part 2
25: Bildad: men are 'maggots'
26: Job again responds part 1

You'll definitely begin to notice that each of the 3 friends of Job have their unique themes and nuances. For example, Eliphaz's typical response so far has been a pretty demeaning view of people.

Job 7-14

I love Job 8:8, "ask the former generations." This is why I have believe that working with young people is so important, because they need to hear from the former generations. I heard a quote once that went something like this, "Most people live their life as if history began the day they were born." This resonates with me, I see it in most people. We need to learn from the past through those who have lived it, ones that are alive while we are and those who have left truths of time for us in their writings.

Job 7: Job's response part deux
Job 8: Bildad's 1st speech (friend #2)
Job 9: Job responds to Bildad
Job 10: Job responds to Bildad
Job 11: Zophar's turn to talk (friend #3)
Job 12: Job responds to Zophar
Job 13: Job responds to Zophar
Job 14: Job responds to Zophar

Just so you know, I'm keeping a bird's eye view on the book with this model of study. I'm trying to catch the rhythm of the book and not get too bogged down in the smaller nuances as much as the megathemes of what's happening in the book. Remember, this is a somewhat of a poetic book (it's listed in the "Wisdom Literature" genre of Scripture) so I'm personally not too preoccupied with trying to remember lots of details, only the main themes.

+Did you notice Job 9:9? Job mentions the names of the constellations, names we still use today. Wow, from the most ancient of books thousands of years ago they had the stars mapped out and named. Very cool.

+9:13 mentions Rahab, who doesn't enter Scripture until the book of Joshua. This book is supposed to be one of the oldest books in the Bible, and I'm not sure how this reference snuck in there. Anyone have any idea?

+Job 14:5-6 chalk up a passage that seems to favor Calvinism

Today's exciting reading

Sarcasm, can you sense it?

This begins the section of dialogue that goes on for a while.

This week I'll be sharing some memory tips that I'm using to help me keep up on remember the story of Scripture. I'm not sure how you might be reading Scripture and if you have a specific goal in mind, but my focus is to work on remembering the general theme of each chapter and retain it in the big picture of the entire Bible. That's why I'm keeping my summaries short.

Job 3: Job's response to tragedy
Job 4/5: Eliphaz's response/rebuke
Job 6: Job's reply part 1

week 2

Only 48 more to go!

My summaries and then a word about the book of Job.

Gen 21: God has the last laugh: Isaac is born
Gen 22: Abraham is tested to sacrifice Isaac
Job 1: Job has everything...then loses it all, except his faith
Job 2: Job is physically afflicted (and has a gnarly wife)


Job is a fascinating book. We will be there for a while so it's good to get a heads up about what we are reading and where it goes. The first 2 chapters of Job look to be historical and record a series of quick events in the life of Job that cause pain and suffering. (though some scholars disagree and believe the entire book is a metaphor meant to teach a principle rather than actual events)

The next 40.5 chapters are a dialogue between Job, his 3 friends, and God.

The book is concluded by an historical epilogue.

PS
What's up with the guy named "Buz" in Gen 22? Wonder if he had a girlfriend? Woof. (reference for you Home Alone fans out there)

Quiz

Take this 8 question little quiz and see how you do. Make sure you do a quick review before hand. Questions are in chronological order.

1. What chapter was the 'fall of man' where Adam and Eve sinned?
2. What 3 chapters include Noah and the flood?
3. Chapter 11 introduces languages. What was the main event in this chapter?
4. Do you remember what chapter introduces Abram?
5. Gen 15 something important happens in Abram's life between him and God. What was it?
6. Gen 18 Abraham pleads with God. What happened?
7. What 2 cities were destroyed in Gen 19?
8. This chapter centers on Abraham's deception to King Abimilech.

How'd you do?

First 10 week schedule

Here is the first 10 weeks. Click on the chart to enlarge it and print it if necessary.

End of week 1: Abram/Abraham

Gen 17: signs of the covenant between Abram/Abraham and the LORD
Gen 18: God reminds and Abraham bargains
Gen 19: Sodom & Gomorrah destroyed/a crazy story about Lot and his daughters
Gen 20: Abraham lies again, but God still has his back (Abimelech)

I never noticed before that as soon as Abram sensed the call from God to confirm on his end the covenant with the LORD to be circumcised along with his whole entourage, he did it the SAME day. (17:23) That's a pretty big decision to make that quickly, it shows Abraham's heart and obedience to God.

I'm reminded in chapter 18 when Abraham seems to 'bargain' with God about sparing a city the importance the role of believers are in geographical areas. A lot of times we Christians want to hang out together, and run in packs. There's an importance to be as Jesus said 'salt and light' to the world in which we live. If there would have been just 10 righteous, this episode would not be in Scripture. I think about our nation, and if God's people will plead to God for those who don't yet know Him, rather than condemn them.

The Lot thing...don't know what to say. Bizarre to say the least.

I plan on writing a quiz for myself each week to keep me fresh on trying and remembering the major theme(s) for each chapter. I'll post it, let me know how you do.

I hope you are still hanging in there if you are on this reading plan.

My plan is on days 6 and 7 is to review my reading from that week and work on retaining it.

Next week many reading plans insert Job into the chronological reading after Gen 22, towards the end of the story of Abraham. That's my plan. So my Monday looks like this: Gen 21-22/Job 1-2. And from there work through the book of Job.

Look for my quiz, and review/catch up this weekend. Also look for the most or all of the entire reading plan.

Genesis/Abram

Gen 13: continued story of Abram: he and Lot part ways
Gen 14: continued story of Abram: he rescues Lot
Gen 15: continued story of Abram: God makes a contract (covenant) w/ Abram
Gen 16: continued story of Abram: Hagar and birth of Ishmael

The splitting of the animals in Gen 15 was a covenant ritual when one was made between two people in a human 'contract'. Interesting how God uses an earthly ritual to show Abram how He will fulfill His promise. I can't help but jump to the modern day possibilities.

More from Genesis

You'll notice as you read particularly the OT the theme of "be fruitful and increase" in number. God has stated this several times in the Scripture up to this point, and we'll see it many more times in readings to come. It's interesting how God equates fruitfulness with blessing, particularly with children. God's ways are that children = blessing, and even many times favor.

Yet because of sin's curse and effect many people view children as an inconvenience, a hurdle to living a full 'life.' It's fascinating to me that even Christians can view having children in an unbiblical manner. It must sadden God to see people who have the opportunity to be blessed through the life of children and a family pass it by for 'better' things. (mainly more material possessions) I even heard someone say a few days ago in reference to someone else that this person 'can't stand the thought of having children.' How sad for that person and what a missed opportunity.

I could write a lot about this topic, but not now, maybe later:)

My summaries of today:

Gen 9: God's fulfillment of His covenant with Noah
Gen 10: the beginnings of nations
Gen 11: the tower of 'babble'
Gen 12: intro of Abram/Abram's deception in Egypt

Genesis reading

Gen 5: genealogy from Adam to Noah (Methuselah 969 years old)
Gen 6: Noah’s covenant with God and instructions for the ark
Gen 7: the Flood part 1
Gen 8: the Flood part 2

How'd you do today?

For those of you reading this, maybe you're taking this journey through Scripture with me. Today was week #1 day #1, Genesis 1-4. I'm taking time to summarize each chapter, and attempting to remember it. I'm not going to blog every day, but so far this is what I've got:

Gen 1: creation of all things
Gen 2: Adam and Eve
Gen 3: sin enters the picture and God has a plan
Gen 4: Cain and Abel and the effects of sin

I hope you will stick with this and learn Scripture like never before.

Day 2: Gen 5-8
Day 3: Gen 9-12
Day 4: Gen 13-16
Day 5: Gen 17-20
Day 6/7: review

An experiment in knowing the Bible...

One of my seminary profs said that one of his profs knew the Bible well enough that if someone mentioned a chapter, he could tell you what is was about. I've always remembered that, and it became my goal. I've wondered of a method to help me achieve this, and I came up with an idea.
There are a lot of 'read through the Bible' type plans, but I couldn't find any to help me achieve this particular goal. So here's what I came up with:
+read the Bible in chronological order
+read 4 chapters a day/5 days a week (20 chapters a week)
+summarize each chapter when reading it
+review (or catch up if needed) on days 6/7
+it will probably take about 30 minutes a day to do this
+read primarily the sections of the Bible that connect historically (basically, everything except most Wisdom LIterature)

With these parameters in mind, I figured I would read 5 days a week, 4 chapters a day 50 out of 52 weeks in 2010. Doing the math, this figures to be 1,000 chapters. For you Bible scholars, there are 1,189 chapters in the Old and New Testament. If you subtract Psalms, Proverbs and Song of Solomon it comes out at exactly 1,000 chapters.

So this is what I've decided to do in 2010 as somewhat of a new year's resolution. Forgive me, I'm still an optimist at heart and believe in new year's resolutions. (last year I went without soda for a year along with 2 of my daughters, so I know they work) I've found for me, and I think for most people, the key to keeping a commitment is a supportive/accountable community of people doing the same thing.

So, this is why I've started this blog. It will be simple, and it will be a method of accountability for me and hopefully for you too. Therefore I encourage you to not only consider doing this for yourself but also asking others you know to join you on the journey.

I'll be posting the reading schedule in the next few days. Easy enough, you can get started right at the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 1 starting Monday, January 4th.

Feel free to post your ideas and comments along the way.

Have a blessed 2010.

Jeff