July 10 – Hezekiah’s healing

I haven’t blogged in a while but was recently encouraged to keep at it. I hope you are up-to-date in your daily chronological Bible readings. We are about halfway through Isaiah at this point. I guess you have noticed that Isaiah is not necessarily in chronological order which is why our editor, F. LaGard Smith moves from one chapter to a previous chapter.

Today’s reading also includes two miracles which comes from the book of 2 Kings 20. Isaiah tells King Hezekiah that he about to die, evidently from an infected boil. Never one to mince words, Isaiah is very forthright about this to his king, which must have taken a lot of courage.

Upon hearing this Hezekiah immediately prays and begs God to heal him and not let him die. God answers his prayer immediately by telling Isaiah before he leaves the palace that He will heal the king. Isaiah turns around and goes back to see Hezekiah with the news. The king then asks for a sign from God to verify his future healing (which occured three days later).

Neither Isaiah nor the Lord were disturbed by the request for a sign. Remember Isaiah told King Ahaz to ask for a sign in Isaiah 7:12 which Ahab refused to do, which angered the prophet. This request by Hezekiah pleased Isaiah and the Lord since it was a proof of God’s mighty power.

Isaiah gave the king a choice of either speeding up time or making it go backward, Hezekiah chose the latter. God then performed the miracle of making time go backward which is similar to the miracle of Joshua asking God to make the sun stand still during a battle thereby prolonging the Jews’ victory.

April 19 – Proverbs 16

Many wise and mature Christians say we should read a Proverb each day for the rest of our lives. One way is to read the chapter which corresponds to that particular day of the month. So on May 19 we would read Proverbs 19 and so forth. That is good advice although it may be hard when we are trying to read the whole Bible through in one year!

I wanted to briefly comment on two verses that jumped off the page at me today; Proverbs 16:2 and 16:6. The two seem to go hand in hand.

“All a man’s way seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord” 16:2

“Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil” 16:6

The point of verse 6 seems to be that man can justify any behavior he does as right, but God judges a man’s motives. This is especially appropriate in today’s culture, whose mantra is “there are no absolute rights and wrongs”. So if I can somehow justify my actions then I am OK. Solomon says that is not how God views man. Rather he judges their hearts.

Verse 6 tells us how we can find atonement for our sin. It is only through love and forgiveness. That sounds like the apostle Paul’s theology which says that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for our sins.” (Rom. 5:8) Forgiveness came at the cross and is what everyone is desperately seeking. They may try to justify their sinful actions and go through life oblivious to sin’s consequences but the Bible says that we are all guilty and we sense our guilt but thanks be to God He has loved us unconditionally and forgiven all our sins.

May 15 – King Solomon

Today’s reading tells of Solomon’s great building projects (beyond the temple) and of his great wealth and renown. Three themes have emerged from the verses we have been reading in these past two days:  First, the nearness of God. God is near and He dwells in the temple which Solomon has built. He has also shown His presence by entering into covenant relationships with His people. Second, is the importance of human worship, (praise, confession, petition and humility). Even though God is all-powerful He is still approachable. And thirdly, leadership is stressed. God is the model leader in these passages. He is faithful, consistent and just.

I also wanted to briefly comment on Solomon’s unusual gift of 20 towns to his friend, King Hiram of Tyre. This pagan king had become a good friend and supplier of logs for the construction of the temple. Solomon’s workers in turn were excellent shipbuilders so Hiram supplied the raw material (lumber) while Solomon built the ships and sold them to Hiram who plied them throughout the Mediterranean Ocean bringing trade and riches to both himself and Solomon. However, after 20 years of friendship and cooperation, Solomon gave Hiram 20 worthless (“worthless” is the translation for the Hebrew word, “cabul”) cities as payment. Even though Hiram was clearly disappointed with this gift he continued to work with Solomon perhaps because of the symbiotic relationship which the two enjoyed especially in the shipbuilding arena.    

Tomorrow we begin reading The Proverbs of Solomon. I Kings tells us that he spoke 3,000 proverbs during his lifetime. The word “proverb” means “comparison drawn from life”. God was certainly faithful to Solomon to make him the wisest man who ever lived.  Isn’t the Queen of Sheba’s visit an interesting account of how wise Solomon was> She probably had accumulated many questions and riddles for Solomon to try to stump him but she went away amazed at his wisdom of his answers.

May 12 – Solomon Consolidates His Kingdom

Our reading has brought us through the Psalms and we are now learning about his son, King Solomon. In today’s reading Solomon once installed as king quickly moves to consolidate his kingdom by eliminating the enemies of his father. While not necessarily calling for the death of these men, David made it clear to Solomon before his death that he didn’t want them to enjoy a long, peaceful life.

Solomon’s actions seem rather harsh but should be weighed against the treachery and lies of David’s enemies. One of David’s sons, Adonijah briefly declared himself king when he heard that David was on his death bed. Later when Solomon is actually made king, Adonijah makes a seemingly innocent request through Solomon’s mother Bathseba, which is to marry David’s newest concubine the young woman who warmed his bed each night.

Bathseba agrees to ask Solomon on his behalf. Immediately Solomon sees the motive for the request (control of the king’s harem) and knows that the next step will be to challenge the authority of the king. Consequently, Solomon orders the death penalty for Adonijah.

I also wanted to briefly comment on the last section in today’s reading regarding Solomon’s request for wisdom and discernment. This request by the king appears to greatly please the king of heaven. I think his petition would be a wise request for us today as well, “Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong”. As Christians living in a secular culture, which does not know the Biblical standards of right from wrong we would do well to make the same request each and every day in our quiet time before we enter the non-Christian world.

May 8 – Psalm 146

As we come to the end of the Psalms (tomorrow), I thought I would briefly blog about Psalm 146. John Phillips says the last 5 psalms (146 – 150) are a sort of benediction to the book of Psalms and their origin roughly approximates the completion of the second Jerusalem temple in 518 B.C. The Septuagint names the prophets Haggai and Zechariah as the authors of these psalms.

These 5 psalms were probably sung at the dedication of the second temple which is mentioned both in Ezra and Zechariah. The opening line and final in Psalm 146 and each of the 5 concluding psalms is, “Praise the Lord”. The Hebrew word for that expression is “Hallelujah”, which how it is translated in many versions. That word ends with “jah” which is a shortened version of “Yahweh” or “Jehovah”. One other interesting fact is that “hallelujah” is used 49 times in the Old Testament, which is 7 x 7. Seven is the perfect number in the Bible and so forty nine is the utmost of perfection.

May 6 – Psalm 32

I thought I would blog today about Psalm 32. This is the first of 13 teaching psalms called “maschils”. They are both a sermon and a song. Following David’s adultery and murder of his mistress’ husband, Nathan confronted the king almost a year later. I can only imagine David’s emotions of guilt and fear of discovery during that year. David’s experience may have prompted the early Christian theologian Augustine to write, “The beginning of knowledge is to know  thyself to be a sinner”.

I know that David felt like a great weight had been lifted after he admitted his mistake and confessed it to God. Coming face to face with his sin caused David to write Psalm 51, which is an amazing confessional. In that psalm David says he will “teach transgressors God’s ways”. Psalm 32 does just that.

In this psalm, verses 1-7 discuss how sin is seen by the sinner, while verses 8-11 view sin as seen by the Lord. At the outset David expresses the blessings we receive when sin is cleansed (vss. 1,2). He then recounts the penalty we face when sin is concealed (vss. 3,4) and finally he rejoices in the pardon we find when sin is confessed (vs. 5).

I hope you will find the same comfort and blessing of forgiveness when you confess your sin and are reminded of God’s forgiveness as David did.

May 1 – Notes on Psalms 98 and 100

I was reading commentators on Psalms 98 and 100 and found some interesting notes that I thought I would share. Psalm 98 appears to be the underlying text for Mary’s (the mother of Jesus) Magnificant found in Luke 1:46 – 55. Try reading Psalm 98, then read Mary’s song of praise in Luke and then re-read Psalm 98. The similarities are amazing. 

Psalm 100 has always been one of my favorite psalms. I guess the author’s excitement about worshipping the Lord is contagious. John Phillips outlines this psalm in a helpful way for me.

I.      Approaching God vss. 1,2

II.    Apprehending God vs. 3 (His person, power and purpose)

III.  Appreciating God vss. 4,5 (Coming to Him – thankfully and Communing with Him -          Thoughtfully

I thought these brief comments might shed some light on today’s reading for some.

Psalm 8 – A Prophetic Psalm

According to scholars Psalm 8 was written by David soon after his defeat of Goliath. They believe this because the title in Psalm 9 “To the chief musician upon Muthlabben” is actually a footnote or a note attached to the end of Psalm 8. The word “Muthlabben” (in the title of Psalm) is not found in our Chronological Bible but it is in my regular Bible.

“Muthlabben” is a Hebrew word which means either ”death of a champion” or “death of the man who went forth between the camps”. You will recall that the “man who went between the camps” was Goliath. He would taunt Saul’s army every day as he strutted in the no man’s land between the opposing sides.

Psalm 8 is actually a prophecy which foresees the day when the anti Christ will taunt the people of God. In that day, Jesus (the Son of Man of verse 4) will be made ruler over all and will put everything under His feet. He will defeat all of God’s enemies. This psalm sounds a lot like Philippians 2:6-11, where Paul describes the greatness of the One who humbled Himself to become a man and whom God later exalted.

April 21 – David’s Integrity

Just a quick note about one of today’s Psalms (#41). Toward the end of Psalm 41, ((verse 12) David says, “in my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.” How can David speak of his integrity when he committed adultery and murder?

We must remember that David confessed his sin to the Lord and humbled himself before the Lord. The prophet Nathan said that “God had put away his sin.” David believed that God had truly forgiven him. John Phillips says it this way, “I have a wonderful God. He not only forgives my sin, He forgets my sin. He not only cancels it, He gives to me His own righteousness. I am not only a forgiven man, I am a justified man.”

This realization has caused David to realize that he now has integrity not because of what he has done but because of what God has done for him. With our confession and God’s forgiveness, we can truly become men and women of integrity. We can become free of our sin and troubled past!!

April 16 – David faces two crisises

Today’s reading recounts two disasters that beset David’s reign. The first was a famine, the second a plague. While occasional droughts were common in arid Israel, three successive years of drought , which brought severe famine conditions definitely captured King David attention. He quickly recognized that God was punishing Israel. When he inquired of God he discovered that it was because his predecessor, Saul had broken a centuries-old non-aggression treaty with the Gibeonites. You might remember that this treaty was made by Joshua (Joshua 15:9), who was tricked by the neighboring Gibeonites into making peace even though God had told him to annihilate all the surrounding peoples. Because of their treachery, Joshua allowed them to live but made them virtual slaves to the people of Israel.

When David discerned that God’s anger was because of Saul’s murderous rampage against the Gibeonites, he asked them what they wanted him to do about the breach of the treaty. Initially, they responded humbly saying that they were mere slaves and shouldn’t expect to have a say in the matter. When pressed by David they asked for the lives of seven of Saul’s descendants.

To our 21st  century minds this request seems totally unfair and heinous; why should grandsons die for the sin of the grandfather. However their request was completely consistent with the Law’s demand of an “eye for eye”.  In fact, they could have asked for many more lives but the request for the death of seven of Saul’s descendants seems to be a symbolic Gibeonite gesture to try to ”bury the hatchet”. In carrying out the punishment, David must have been torn because of his unwillingness to malign Saul in the past especially in light of his friendship with Jonathan. He specifically protects Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth who is lame and has been accorded special treatment in the king’s palace. David’s willingness listen to the Lord and to root out the cause of the drought and then punish the wrongdoers is to be commended because he averted a far worse disaster.

The second disaster (a plague which killed 70,000) in today’s reading seems harder to understand but is brought on by David’s command to conduct a census. The Bible says that David was incited by Satan although other manuscripts say God’s anger rose up against David to incite him to take a census. Either way God permitted this to happen. The point is that David was setting out on his own without seeking God’s will in the matter. The problem was not that censuses should not be taken In fact many previous censuses had been taken and even proscribed by the Torah. But this particular census was not customary and had no divine initiation. David even received strong counsel against this action but he stubbornly gave the go ahead.

There are two possible reasons why the census was wrong. First, David could have undertaken it to discover how many fighting men were in Israel so he could boast of his sizable army. The second and more probable reason for God’s displeasure was that it was not carried out according to God’s Word in the Torah concerning a census. Exodus says that every male above the age of 20 was supposed to pay a half-shekel ransom. Failure to pay would bring a plague (Exodus 30:12-16). As you recall, David had previously disobeyed the Law when he failed to transport the ark of the covenant according to God’s Law and a Levite was died as a result. So I believe this is the cause of God’s displeasure. God wanted His people (then and now) to fully obey Him in everything.

A final word must be said about the place in Jerusalem where David offered a sacrifice for this census sin. To his credit, he purchased the threshing floor rather than demanding it, which he could have done as king nor did he accept it as a gift from Araunah. He purchased it with his own funds because he wanted it to cost him something personally. This altar becomes the place of the glorious temple that Solomon would build soon after David’s death.