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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 288

Oct15

Day 288 – Reading – Mark 4 – 5

Read and believe in Jesus!

Mark 4 and 5.

There are some repeated passages here from the other Gospels. I’ll just emphasize a couple of them.

“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, all the time.

Hide it under a bushel, No! I’m going to let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, No! I’m going to let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, all the time.”

This kids’ song is from Mark 4:21-25, and the “light” it refers to is a believer’s witness or testimony of the Lord dwelling in him. Don’t hide it under “a basket” or a bed, but put it on a lampstand. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Testify of the Lord Jesus Christ at home, and out in the world. Let your light shine!

Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.”

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(Mark 4:35-41)  Then, after Jesus was sitting in a boat and teaching the crowds at the shore of the Sea of Galilee, He turned to the disciples and said, “Let us go across to the other side.”  It was toward evening, so they might have hesitated, yet, at His word, they pushed off and began rowing.  Jesus made his way to the rear of the boat and lay down across the bench. Instantly, He was asleep.

Then one of those massive storms erupted on the Sea. “A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was filling!”

One of them staggered to the stern and shook Jesus, “Master, don’t you care that we are perishing?!”

Jesus awoke, and maybe (who knows) before even sitting up, called out to the wind and sea, “Peace!  Be still!”  Instantly, the wind ceased, and there was a great calm on the Sea.

Jesus perhaps sat up then and looked around at His disciples. “Why are you so afraid?  Have you no faith?”

The disciples were maybe lacking in faith, but they sure weren’t in fear.  “They were filled with GREAT fear and asked each other, “WHO THEN IS THIS??? That even the wind and the sea obey Him??”

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This incident reminds me of Philippians 4:6-7.

“Do not be anxious about anything.

But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,

Let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

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Then, after that awesome incident, they arrived on the other (Gentile) side of the Sea. (Mark 5:1-20)

Peter and Andrew jumped out of the boat to secure it with ropes.

Jesus barely had a sandaled foot on the sand when a wild, crazy man RUSHED AT HIM, screaming.  He’d been living in the tombs, and with his bleeding, scratched skin, ragged clothes, and wild, unkempt beard and hair, he looked terrifying!   

The fishermen were about to climb back into the boat and push off when the wild man fell down at Jesus’ feet.

“What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God. I beg you by God, do not torment me!” screamed the man.

While the man screamed this, Jesus commanded, “Come out of this man, you unclean spirit!”  (Whose voice do you think prevailed?)

When the screaming stopped, Jesus asked, “What is your name?”

The demon in the man answered, “My name is ‘Legion,’ for we are many. Oh, don’t send us out of the country!! Send us into those pigs!!“

Jesus looked at the massive herd of unclean swine and nodded.  Immediately, the herd – like a swarm of lemmings – plunged down the hill and off the cliff, falling into the Sea.

The herdsmen saw this and fled back to town, and people came out to see what had happened.  What they SAW was MORE amazing, although they didn’t acknowledge it.  No pigs were in sight, but the crazy man, the wild and dangerous demon-possessed man, who terrified them, was —

  • Sitting there calmly
  • Clothed
  • In his right mind.

“Go away, you Jesus!” they cried.

The disciples held the boat ready, and Jesus began to climb in.

“O Jesus,” the healed man begged. “Please let me go with You!“

Smiling, Jesus shook his head. He had a more important job than ‘disciple’ for this Gentile man.  “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” 

The ex-demoniac was to be a witness for Jesus and an evangelist.  And I can’t help but think that, like the town in Samaria that all came to the Lord at one shunned woman’s testimony, that THIS area (perhaps minus the pig owners) would do the same.  

He went away and began to proclaim in the cities of Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.  And everyone marveled.

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(O LORD, thank you for your mercy and gentleness. Truly, like You told the disciples, You are “gentle and lowly at heart.” But Lord, I also saw your great power in these verses too!  You calmed a raging wind and sea instantly.  Creation recognized its Master and instantly obeyed!  How I wish I would do the same!  I also saw Your extreme power when thousands of demons instantly fell at your feet and immediately obeyed your word.  What a strong God I have!) 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 285 and 286

Oct13

THE NEW TESTAMENT!

SUNDAY and MONDAY, posted on MONDAY

Day 285 – Reading – Matthew 11

Day 286 – Reading – Luke 11

Read and believe in Jesus!

SUNDAY – Matthew 11.

This chapter begins where we left off yesterday, with prisoner, John the Baptist, sending word to Jesus. “ARE you the One who has come, or shall we look for another?” Jesus answered him with both words  and actions which showed the fulfilling of Isaiah 29 and 35’s prophecies of the Messiah.  When John’s disciples returned with this message and what they saw, most assuredly John was encourage and comforted.

Jesus also praised the godly man who cleared the pathway so Jesus could begin His ministry, saying he was the greatest of “prophets,” and that John came in the spirit of Elijah.

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John’s message, like Jesus’, was generally not accepted by the people. Jesus looked around him and began to denounce the cities of Galilee, where He had done the most mighty works… because they did not repent.

Chorazin, Bethsaida, and the great Capernaum, which was the headquarter city of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. Their sin?  Indifference to Jesus, the Son of God, their Messiah.  If/when the people of these cities stand beside the pagans of Tyre, Sidon, and even Sodom(!!) on the day of judgment, the cities of Jesus’ time will be judged more severely!

(O LORD, I am often blasé about the wonderful works and words of Jesus that I read in the Word, thinking they are SO familiar….  Please help me to treasure the One that You sent to save my soul!!)

But Jesus’ heart goes out to the people around him; they are so needy. He came that people would NOT be judged for their sin.  He wants ALL to believe in Him and be saved. But for the most part, His own people “received Him not.

Then he looks at his disciples and sees them as little children, and He prays, ‘Thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; Yes, Father, for such was YOUR gracious will. NO ONE knows the Son except the Father, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

Looking at the seeking crowd around Him, He said, “COME TO ME, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  TAKE MY YOKE upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

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MONDAY, Luke 11.

Once again, we see the story of John the Baptist’s questions to Jesus from prison.  

Perhaps we should REMEMBER “this three-times-repeated-incident,” and take heed to Jesus’ words and actions, especially when we have doubts and need assurance..

Jesus showed John by healing many people of diseases and plagues, casting out demons, and restoring sight to the blind.  Then He pointed to the Isaiah passages that predicted the Messiah doing these very same things. John KNEW Isaiah, the very prophet who predicted his work for the Messiah.  But he needed reminding how Jesus is fulfilling these same things.  And…. how (from Isaiah 53) Jesus, the Messiah, would die a horrible death, as that very Lamb of God that John pointed out, and would so pay for the sins of all who would believe in Him.  YES. Jesus was “the One” he was looking for.

I am going to REMEMBER this incident (finally, after reading it three times), that when I have doubts, when I need assurance, when I am discouraged, I should turn to God’s words.  READ them, see how many have been fulfilled.  Meditate on the WORDS of Jesus and apply it all to my heart. Then trust in them, in Him, and BELIEVE.

(O LORD, thank you for finally getting the POINT of John’s lesson into my head and heart. When I’m low, and doubting.  When I’m discouraged and need assurance, I need to….

  1. Go to Jesus and ask for help.
  2. Read the precious Word of God, slowly and engaged.  (Maybe read the passage THREE TIMES!)
  3. Meditate on what it says. Refer to other parts of scripture, if needed.
  4. Pray for wisdom. Submit to what I’ve read.  Offer thanksgiving, 

Thank You, LORD, for pounding this truth of Bible Reading into my thick skull!.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 273

Sep30

Day 273 – Reading –  Malachi  1 – 4

Malachi is the last prophetic word from God until John the Baptist comes to announce the “Lamb of God/Messiah”; a long 400 years. (Although in the earlier Jewish Bible, Nehemiah was the last book, as it finishes Israel’s history.) 

Malachi’s prophecy was most likely written during the time Nehemiah temporarily returned to Persia after completing and dedicating the wall of Jerusalem.  Remember how angry the cupbearer was when he heard all the ways the Jews had slipped back into their old ways? (Nehemiah 13).

He hurried back to Jerusalem to try and correct the corrupt priests, the failure to support the Temple work by tithing, their working and selling on the Sabbath, and their intermarriage with pagans, even among the priests. Also, their earlier injustice towards the poor.

Malachi also addresses these sins.

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Malachi 1.

“The word of the LORD  to Israel.” And n insightful conversation with them.

The LORD: “I have loved you.”

People: “How have you loved us?”

The LORD: “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother, and I hated Esau.”  See all the ways I have judged and destroyed Esau’s people. I will be angry with THEM forever. But you, O Jacob, I have loved, even in judgment.

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Then God zooms down on the corrupt PRIESTS.

The LORD: “Where is My honor, My fear, O priests who despise My name?”

Priests: “How have we despised Your name?”

The LORD: “By offering polluted food on My altar.”

Priests: “How have we polluted you?”

The LORD: “When you offer blind animals as sacrifice. You offer the lame and sick. I have no pleasure in you, and I will not accept the offering from your hand.  My Name will be great among the NATIONS, and in every place incense and a pure offering will be offered in My Name.”

Priests: “Snort! What a weariness this is.”

The LORD: “Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.”

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Malachi 2.

MORE judgment comes onto the corrupt priests. God gives these men (who are supposed to represent God to the people) a choice – Listen and obey, OR “I will send the curse upon you and will curse your blessings.  I will rebuke your offspring. I will spread dung on your faces and on your offerings. (WHOA!) “And you will be taken away as the waste of the sacrifices is carried outside the camp and burned.”

Originally, God’s covenant with the Levite priests was “one of life and peace.”  As they feared God and stood in awe of His Name, “true instruction was in their mouths.”  They “walked with God in peace and uprightness, and they turned many from iniquities.“

(This is what our church leaders should do today as well.)

Then the LORD blasts those corrupt priests again.  “But YOU have turned aside from the way. YOU have caused many to stumble by your instruction. YOU have corrupted the covenant of Levi.  And so, I will make YOU despised and abased before the people.”

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Then the people of Judah get into the conversation again. It’s about the foreign women again.

People: “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us all? Then why do You say we are faithless and profane the covenant of our fathers?

The LORD: “You have been faithless, and abomination has been committed. You have profaned the sanctuary of the LORD, which I love, and have married the daughter of a foreign god.  May any descendant of Jacob who does this be cut off from my people.”

People: “Why don’t you regard our offerings or accept them? Don’t you see our weeping and groaning?

The LORD: “Because I see the wives of your youth, to whom you have been faithless.  Did I not make you ONE, with a portion of the Spirit in your union?  I desired godly offspring.  The man who does not love his wife but divorces her (and marries a pagan woman), covers his garment with violence. GUARD YOURSELVES IN YOUR SPIRIT AND DO NOT BE FAITHLESS.”

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And then it seems God has had enough.

The LORD: “You have wearied the LORD with your words.”

People and priests: “How have we wearied Him?

Answer:  “By saying that, everyone who does evil (inferior offerings, pagan wives), is ‘good’ in the sight of the LORD because He ‘delights’ in them.”

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Malachi 3.

Then, one of the familiar passages in the book, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.  And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple;  and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, Behold, He is coming, says the LORD of Hosts.

He is like a refiner’s FIRE and like fullers’ SOAP. He will refine and purify the sons of Levi as silver and gold, so they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD.”

Notice the TWO MESSENGERS that God promises to send. 

  1. The messenger who will prepare the way…. (John the Baptist).
  2.  The Messenger of the Covenant will suddenly come to his temple. He will refine and purify… (Jesus, in both his first and second comings, refining the remnant).

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Then comes more of their rebellious conversation with God.

The LORD: “I, the LORD, do not change, therefore YOU, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.  As of old, you have not kept my statutes.  RETURN TO ME, AND I WILL RETURN TO YOU.  But you will ask how to return.  Will a man rob God?  YOU are robbing me!

The people:  “How have we robbed you? 

The LORD: “In your tithes and contributions. The whole nation of you are ROBBING ME!

Again, another very familiar passage of God telling them (and us) that we can “test Him” on this. 

The LORD: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. PUT ME TO THE TEST, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

(I have done this – I have tested the Lord by giving a regular, full tithe.  And He proved more than faithful and delightful in His blessings to me. You won’t believe how he can stretch the amount that is left from the tithe!  We couldn’t see how it happened, but it did.  God was faithful.  He delighted in proving Himself in this test.  PRAISE HIM!)

Next, the whining people of the God of Israel bring up another point.  They say that “God is not fair. We serve Him by walking in His laws, and we are chastised, whereas evildoers do what they want and prosper.  They defy God and escape. It’s not fair!”

Malachi now mentions the “book of remembrance,” to counter the people’s complaint that the evildoers always prosper.  In that book are all the names of those who fear the LORD and esteem His Name. 

“THEY are mine!” says the LORD. “In the day of judgment, I will spare them. And you will see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does NOT serve Him.”

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Malachi 4.

Malachi continues the thought of the differences between the evildoer and the faithful.

  1. “The day of the LORD is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, set ablaze till nothing is left. 
  2. “But for those who fear God’s name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.  They will walk all over the wicked for they will be ashes under their feet.

So, God’s final word to the arguing, complaining people of His Name?  “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and the rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.”

(Israel was still obligated to keep the Law……. until their Messiah came as the Lamb of God, sacrificed for their sin (fulfilling the Law).   

  • That time was coming! 
  • The saving Messiah was coming. 
  • Watch out for the herald who will announce Him! 
  • Watch and be ready!

 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.  And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers …………. lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

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John the Baptist was a “type” of Elijah, “preparing the way” of Jesus, in His first coming.

Elijah and Moses both appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Maybe it is Elijah and Moses as the two witnesses in the Great Tribulation.

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Okay, now.  It will be 400 years before they again hear the voice of God.  It comes in the form of Gabriel the angel, speaking to the priest Zacharias. 

“Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you shall call his name John.  And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord.  And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, AND GO BEFORE HIM IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIJAH … to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

WOW.  Tomorrow’s study will be 400 years later than todays!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 271 & 272

Sep29

Day 271 – Reading – Nehemiah  8 – 10

Day 272 – Reading Nehemiah 11 – 13, and Psalm 126

Today’s reading tells of the people weeping, experiencing “the joy of the LORD,” celebrating and rejoicing, and a deep and long confession of their sin and the sins of their ancestors, ending in a solemn commitment in writing to obey God.  All this … because they heard God’s Word read and explained.

(****Oh, LORD, may my reading and study of Your word elicit weeping, confession of sin, then joy & celebration with a commitment to love and obey You…from my heart.)

Day 271 – Nehemiah 8.

It was the first of the seventh month, usually when the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated.  The people gathered as one to hear the Law of Moses read.  A wooden platform was built to elevate Ezra and 14 other priests who would help to read and explain the law. This was set up in the large area facing the Water Gate, south of the Temple Mount. 

Ezra opened the scroll, and all the people stood.  He blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people said, “Amen, amen.” 

While the people stood in their places, they read from the book of The Law of God, clearly, and gave the sense (meaning) so the people understood.  They read from early morning until midday, about six hours or more…. all standing.  And all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law.

Nehemiah and Ezra said to the people. “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  They told the people to go their way, eat and drink sweet wine, and send food to those who had nothing ready. It was a holy day to the LORD.  So there was great rejoicing.

The next day, all the heads of fathers’ houses, with the priests and Levites, came together to Ezra to study the words of the Law. They found it written that the people should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, and that they should publish it in the surrounding area. “Go out to the hills and bring branches and make booths.” 

So they obeyed and set up booths everywhere, living in them for the week. And day by day, they read from the Book of the Law of God.  They celebrated for seven days, and on the eighth day, there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.

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Nehemiah 9.

And so, in the spirit of the solemn Day of Atonement, the people of Israel assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and earth thrown on their heads (a sign of deep contrition). 

They STOOD and CONFESSED their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. 

They stood and read the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of a day. For another quarter of the day, they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God.

On the stairs, the high priest Jeshua and other priests cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God.

Then Jeshua and the others told the people to stand up and bless the LORD their God.

“From everlasting to everlasting, Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. YOU are the LORD, YOU alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve all of them, and the host of heaven worships You. You are the LORD, the God who chose Abraham….  And You have kept Your promise, for You are righteous.

And throughout the day, they recited the history of how God dealt with His chosen people, Israel.

  • “You are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love … and you did not forsake them….. even when they made a golden calf…
  • “You in your great mercy did not forsake them in the wilderness…”
  • “You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna…. and gave them water… sustaining them for forty years.
  • “You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner.”
  • “You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven…”
  • “So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in Your great goodness.”

They confessed the sin and rebellion of their fathers.

  • “But they were disobedient and rebelled and cast your law behind them….
  • “You gave them to their enemies who made them suffer…
  • “But when they cried out to You, You heard from heaven and sent saviors….
  • “Yet they turned again away from You and did evil… so You sent their enemies again.
  • “Many times You delivered them according to Your mercies.
  • “Many years You bore with them and warned them, yet they would not listen.
  • “Nevertheless, in Your great mercies, You did not make an end of them or forsake them, for YOU are a gracious and merciful God.

Now, they confess their own sins, and acknowledge that where they are, is because of their sin. 

  • “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, You have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.
  • “Our kings, princes, priests and fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to Your commandments and warnings, they did not serve You or turn from their wicked ways…..
  • And now, behold, WE ARE SLAVES THIS DAY, in this land You gave our fathers to enjoy.  WE ARE SLAVES, and the land’s rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins.  They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in distress.

And so they wrote and signed a “firm covenant” to obey God and not repeat the sins of their fathers. 

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Nehemiah 10.

The people who signed the Covenant are listed in detail at the top of this chapter. Nehemiah, the Governor, is first. Then, all the leaders and nobles, priests, Levites, temple workers, and of the laity, those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the land to the Law of God, with their wives and children. They enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses, and to do all the commandments of the LORD.   They also pledged to give the yearly Temple tax to support the religious workers, and the regular required offerings. 

“We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our ground and of all fruit trees, year by year, to the house of the LORD.  Also, the firstborn of our sons, our cattle, herds, and flocks.”

“We will not neglect the house of our God.”

(These are bold and righteous commitments.  Can they keep them? (If they were like me and the people today, probably not, sadly.)

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Day 272 – Nehemiah 11

The leaders of the people lived INSIDE Jerusalem, while the rest of the people lived outside the walls in their towns and villages.   So the people cast lots to bring ONE OUT OF TEN to live inside the city walls.  Nehemiah did this to hurry up the reestablishment of homes and businesses in Jerusalem.  Names of people and places are listed in this chapter.

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Nehemiah 12.

Before the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, there were 24 courses of priests, each course serving in the temple for a period of two weeks per year. (King David set up the schedule.)

Sadly, only FOUR of the 24 courses returned from Babylon.  These were now divided into 24 courses. 

  • (Only 22 are mentioned here, perhaps because these priestly families died out with no sons to follow at the time Zerubbabel originally named them.)

Next, the finished wall around Jerusalem was dedicated.   All the Levites were called in to celebrate the dedications with GLADNESS, THANKSGIVINGS, and SINGING.

The Priests and Levites first purified themselves, and then they purified the people and the gates and the wall.

Then Nehemiah brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two “great choirs” to give thanks.  One half went all the way south along the wall, and the other went to the north to meet them, all surrounding the House of the LORD.

They sang, offered sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. “And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away!   For long ago in the days of David and Asaph, there were directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.” 

(Thank you, David.  And thanks to all our own music directors and leaders who lead congregations in praise in churches around the world!)

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Psalm 126.

“When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion,

We were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,

and our tongue with shouts of joy;

Then they said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them”

The LORD has done great things for us;

We are glad.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD,

like streams in the Negev!

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping,

bearing the seed for sowing,

shall come home wit shouts of joy,

bringing his sheaves with him.

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Nehemiah 13.

Now in the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah returned to Persia as he said he would.  He’d organized and led the people to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and they’d done it with God’s help and protection. The wall had been dedicated.  

But while he was back in Persia, bad things were happening again.  He (obviously) got news of it and asked permission from the king to return.

Problem #1. While they were reading from the Law of Moses each day in the annual cycle, they came on the portion (Deut. 23:3-6) that said “No Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the Assembly of God because of that event with Balaam cursing them as they approached the Promised Land.”

As soon as they heard that law, the people separated out those of foreign descent from the temple workers, but…..  before the reading and the doing of this law, something awful had happened.  One of the priests – Eliashib, whom Nehemiah had caught siding with the enemy earlier (Neh. 2:10) – had smuggled Tobiah into one of the storage rooms of the temple, and he was LIVING THERE!   THE NERVE!

(You remember Tobiah, right?  He and Sanballat were two of the main hindrances to Nehemiah’s wall work.)

SO…………  when Nehemiah got back, he was VERY ANGRY!  He threw out Tobiah and all his household furniture from the chamber. Then he gave orders for the chamber to be cleansed, and for the vessels of the House of God to be brought back in.

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Problem #2. And while he was at it, Nehemiah found that the portions of support had not been given to the Levites, so they had gone home to work in their fields. 

Nehemiah confronted the officials, gathered the Levites back to their stations, and got after the people until they brought their tithes of grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. He then appointed a reliable priest, a scribe, a Levite, and his assistant to fairly distribute to the Levites. 

Then Nehemiah prayed, “Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for His service.”

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Problem #3. Then our eagle-eyed Nehemiah spotted people working on the Sabbath. They were treading grapes in the winepresses, and bringing in heaps of grain and fruit and fish which they loaded and brought into Jerusalem to sell on the Sabbath!!!   

Nehemiah confronted the leaders about this broken law. “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?  Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city??? You are bringing MORE wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

Nehemiah began closing all the gates in the walls of Jerusalem as it started to get dark before the Sabbath.  He gave orders for them not to be opened until AFTER the Sabbath.  And he stationed his guards to make sure it happened. 

Problem #4. Sooo… the merchants simply unloaded all their stuff outside the wall and held a “market” there.  But Nehemiah got after them as well.  “If you do this again, I will lay hands on you!”

He then told the Levites that THEY should purify themselves and come guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day HOLY.

And Nehemiah prayed, “Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.”

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Problem #5. And….. AGAIN…… Nehemiah saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod (Philistia), Ammon, and Moab.  And half their children couldn’t even speak Hebrew.

Nehemiah confronted them.  And cursed them.   And beat some of them.  And pulled out their hair!

(I’d say he was pretty angry and zealous for the LORD!!)

And Nehemiah made them swear an oath NOT to give their daughters or take daughters to foreigners.

“Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin on account of such women???  Among the nations, there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel……. nevertheless, FOREIGN WOMEN made even him to sin!  Shall YOU now act treacherously against our God?

Nehemiah noticed that one of the sons of the high priest had married one of Sanballat’s daughters!!!  Nehemiah CHASED HIM AWAY!

And Nehemiah prayed, “Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

Problems #6+. Then Nehemiah cleansed them from everything foreign … and he established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work … and he provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for first fruits.

Wow.

And he prayed, “Remember me, O my God, for good.”

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(What a man and what a leader Nehemiah was!  He was strong and hard on sin.  He did not get distracted from his work. He honored his word.  He was honest and giving.  It seems he knew MORE of the law than even the priests and Levites knew.  He led the people in righteousness. And he prayed … again and again.

O LORD, for men in leadership like this today!  And I ask that some of Nehemiah’s “straight path” ways would be evident in me too.)

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 268

Sep25

Day 268 – Reading – Ezra 7 – 10

We are picking up the book of Ezra after studying the book of Esther in the Bible’s chronological order.  Now, in Ezra 7, it is about 60 years later than Ezra 6.  The current Persian king is Artaxerxes, who is Ahasuerus’s son and Esther’s stepson. (Perhaps the x-queen Vashti was his mother.)

The Temple of God has been finished under Zerubbabel’s leadership, and a second wave of exiles is about to return under the leadership of a 22-year-old Torah scholar (scribe), Ezra.  This young man traces his line back through a group of notable priests, including Zadok (in David’s time), Phinehas, Eleazar, and Aaron.  But Ezra is not a priest (at least not yet, not yet 30).

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Ezra 7.

Ezra had “set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel.”  King Artaxerxes had given him all he asked for, for the task (people and any funds or supplies he needed), “for the hand of the LORD his God was upon Ezra.”

This great crowd of Israelites, with some priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants, departed from Babylon with literally tons of money and supplies.  Four months later, they entered Jerusalem, having walked nearly 1,000 miles. 

Ezra carried a letter from the king, verifying their journey, with all the people, and all the money. (If they required anything else, it was available through his treasury.) Artaxerxes wanted to be sure the God of the Jews, “who lived in Jerusalem,” would be pleased with the king and his sons.  Ezra was also commissioned to appoint magistrates and judges to keep the law in this “province Beyond the River.”

Ezra praised God in all this, for he could see “the hand of the LORD his God” working for him.

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Ezra 8.

Again, we find a list of genealogies of the Jewish heads of houses with Ezra. If women and children are included, this wave of exiles numbered 7,000-8,000. (Still, so many Jews remained in Babylon. There would be one more wave returning under Nehemiah.) 

Before Ezra set out with all these people, he proclaimed a fast, “that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and our goods.”

Ezra was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect them on the way, since he had told the king that “the hand of our God is for good on all who seek Him, and the power of His wrath is against all who forsake Him.”  (Now, Ezra really had to trust God, and God listened to his prayer and “delivered them from ambushes on the way”.)

Ezra divided all the valuables among the priests to guard and keep them on the journey.  On arrival, all was safe, and the new returnees joined those who had rebuilt the temple and offered offerings to the God of Israel..

Ezra 9.

All joy and thanksgiving… then Ezra gets the bad news. The officials (leaders) came to him and said,

  • “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have NOT separated themselves from the people of the lands and their abominations. They have taken some of their daughters to be their wives and their sons’ wives … so that the “holy race” has mixed itself with the pagan.“

(You are kidding, right??)

When Ezra heard this, “he tore his garment and his cloak and pulled hair from his head and beard and sat appalled.”  (This is how it all started!  This was the root of why they were exiled!!)  Others, who “trembled at the words of the God of Israel because of this FAITHLESSNESS, sat with Ezra, appalled until the evening sacrifice..  Then Ezra fell to his knees, spread out his arms to God, and interceded.

  • “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.”
  • From the days of our fathers to this day, we have been in GREAT GUILT. 
  • For our INIQUITIES, we have gone to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame.

 

  • Now, for a brief moment, favor has been shown us by the LORD our God.  … to leave us a remnant and to give us a “secure hold” within His holy place.
  • We are slaves. But our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but extended to us His Steadfast Love before the kings of Persia to return us to this place.

 

  • AND NOW, O OUR GOD, WHAT SHALL WE SAY AFTER THIS?
  • For we have forsaken your commandments.
  • After all that has come upon us, You, our God, have not punished us less than our iniquities deserved.

 

  • Shall we break Your commandments again???
  • Would You not be angry with us until you consumed us?
  • O LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, YOU ARE JUST.  WE STAND BEFORE YOU IN OUR GUILT….”

(Wow, what a prayer. It reminds me of the prayer of confession of sin that Daniel prayed.)

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Ezra 10.

While Ezra wept bitterly before the LORD, a great assembly of men, women, and children gathered around him and also wept bitterly.

Then a representative confessed, “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women.  But even now, there is hope for Israel in spite of this.  Let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children according to the counsel of the commandment of our God, according to the Law.”

Ezra arose and made the leading priests, Levites, and all Israel take an oath that they would do as had been said.  Then he withdrew from before the Temple and spent the night fasting and mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles.

Then a proclamation went out that ALL the returning exiles should assemble at Jerusalem within three days.  If they didn’t, they would lose their property and be banned from the congregation.

WHOA!

All the men of Judah and Benjamin complied. All the people sat down in the square before the House of God.  They TREMBLED because of this matter.

(and because it was raining hard)

Ezra is now called a priest, although he has not yet been initiated. He has interceded for them before God and been recognized as the chief spiritual leader.

Ezra gave them the two essential parts of repentance:

  1. Confess your sin to the LORD your God, and
  2. Do His will. (Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, from foreign wives.)

It was recognized that the task was huge (and it was raining), so it was agreed that the priests would set up court dates for each unlawful marriage, when the participants would come and formally “be separated” and offer their sin offering.  

It took THREE MONTHS, but it was done. 

Think of the heartbreaks involved. (Husbands who loved their wives; children who needed their daddies.) Sin always has nasty, horrible results that can taint us for a lifetime.

(Appropriate provision was probably made for the divorced wives and any children.)  

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**** O LORD, there is so much to learn from Ezra. His absolute trust and dependence on God. His desire to be a spiritual teacher and leader. His intercessory prayer for the people and confession of sin. His determination to get rid of any sin “in the camp.” 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 232

Aug20

Day 232 – Reading – Habakkuk 1 – 3

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

Habakkuk 1.

This guy prophesied just before the coming of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army.  Good King Josiah had just died, and the prophet was seeing evil seep back into Judah through kings Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim and the wealthy. And now… the rumors of the approaching Babylonian army!

Habakkuk doesn’t speak “TO” the growing-more-wicked people & leaders of Judah, but his statements and complaints are laments TO GOD.  WHY hasn’t He punished these kings and the people???  Why will He let these cruel pagans devour His own people?

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Have you ever ranted against God for His seeming to ignore the injustice around you? Especially if it’s against YOU or a LOVED ONE?  Habakkuk does.

  • O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to You, “violence!” and you will not save?
  • Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
  • So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous: so justice goes forth perverted.”

God answers Habakkuk’s rant. He was sending … NOT REVIVAL … but the dreaded and fearsome judgment.

  • “Behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
  • They are dreaded and fearsome….  They all come for violence….. They gather captives like sand.
  • They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on…. their own might is their god!

Habakkuk is aghast!  NO!, he cries.

  • “Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my HOLY One? 
  • You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, WHY do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he??

Pretty brave, is our prophet, Habakkuk!

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Habakkuk 2.

Habakkuk really wants to know the answer to his “why?”.  He says he will – like Ezekiel (3:33) will go up on the wall of Jerusalem, and be as a watchman.  Habakkuk will wait and “see what He will say to me … and what I will answer.”

Habakkuk was to write down on a tablet the VISION God was going to give to him. But He cautions Habakkuk, “If it seems slow in coming, wait for it; it will surely come and not delay.” Then he speaks of the Chaldeans, and their fall to the Medes & Persians.

  • “HIS SOUL is puffed up, it is not upright within him, (but the righteous shall live by his faith.) 
  • Wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. 
  • His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death, he has never enough. He gathers FOR HIMSELF all nations and collects AS HIS OWN all peoples.
  • Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own…. 
  • Will not YOUR debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble?  Then YOU will be spoil for THEM… 
  • Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house …
  • Woe to him who builds a town with blood…
  • Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink and get drunk — in order to gaze at their nakedness…
  • Woe to him who says to a wooded think, Awake! and to a silent stone, Arise!…

And then God’s slight reprimand…  “But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!

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Habakkuk 3.

Our prophet seems rebuked.  His tone has changed. Now he switches from judgment on his fellow Judahites, to … mercy for them.

  • O LORD, I have heard the report of You, and Your work, O LORD, do I fear.  In wrath … remember MERCY.

He recalls all the mighty works God has done, and then, it seems the TRUTH hits him.  Whatever comes at HIS HAND, will for His people’s good, and His glory. They must experience judgment at the hands of evil men, but God will “take care” of them one day.

  • “Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.

And this glorious statement of TRUST, no matter what the circumstances.

  • “Though the fig tree should not blossom, 
  • nor fruit be on the vines,
  • the produce of the olive fall
  • and the fields yield no food,
  • the flock be cut off from the fold
  • and there be no heard in the stalls.
  • YET…
  • I will rejoice in the LORD,
  • I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 
  • God, the LORD, is my strength;
  • He makes my feet like the deer’s,
  • He makes me tread on my high places.”

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WOW. This is a reminder to me.  Though the politics of my time, and the wonton actions of the people of this country make me want to plead for judgment …  I am thankful for God’s mercy and patience.  And I pray that as I wait for His Coming, I will be able to pray, or sing, this last refrain of Habakkuk’s. “Though the worst may happen, I will rejoice in the LORD.  He is my strength.

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 228

Aug16

Day 228 – Reading – Jeremiah 32 – 34

Read today’s Scriptures … ANYWHERE you find yourself this summer. Stay in the WORD!

 

Jeremiah 32.

The first three verses give the setting of this chapter. (Remember, the pieces of the book of Jeremiah jump around a bit – probably the way Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, put them together.)  It was …. 

  • During the 10th year of Zedekiah’s 11-year reign
  • During the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule
  • During Nebuchadnezzar’s 30-month siege of Jerusalem, about a year before his final takeover
  • While Jeremiah was shut up in prison for “preaching treason” (prophecy of the final siege & exile). 

In the prison cell, Jeremiah received a word from the LORD, saying his cousin Hanamel was going to ask him to buy his field at Anathoth (Jeremiah’s town, about 3 miles north of Jerusalem in the territory of Benjamin; a Levite city). Jeremiah was the closest relative to Hanamel and had the right to buy the field until Jubilee, when he would return it. It was a way to help out a family member in financial trouble.

And just like that, the man arrived with the offer, so Jeremiah knew it was from God and bought the field. (Yes, from prison, and yes, Jeremiah had the money to do so.)  Seeing it was only one year before Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people taken to Babylon, wouldn’t this seem like an unwise purchase?  Yes. But think of what Jeremiah knew.  The LORD would be returning the people to this land in 70 years.  This dispersion was not to be forever.

Baruch took the deed to the property in the presence of all who were around in the court who witnessed the purchase, and put them in an earthenware jug for safekeeping.  Jeremiah said aloud, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall AGAIN be bought in this land.”

Jeremiah then openly prayed to God.  First, he praised the “great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of Hosts, and listed the wonderful things He had done for His unworthy people. Then he got to the point.

“Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. What You spoke has come to pass, and You see it. YET, You, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses,” though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans!

And God confirmed it. “Yes, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, and he shall capture it. They shall come and set this city on fire and burn it.  This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight … because of all the evil the children of Israel and Judah have done. 

“But I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger … and bring them back to this place. They shall be my people and I will be their God.   

Behold, just as I have brought all this great disaster … so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.  FIELDS SHALL BE BOUGHT FOR MONEY AND DEEDS SHALL BE SIGNED AND SEALED AND WITNESSED in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Negev.  I will restore their fortunes,” declares the LORD.

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Jeremiah 33.

The LORD continues to declare His promises of good to the people (after the capture and exile).  Jeremiah is still in prison, the enemy is still at the gates, all the houses of the people of Jerusalem have been taken apart and stacked as defense against the enemy … and yet God’s word of hope comes to his prophet.

  • “Call to me and i will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil,  BU…
  • I will bring health and healing,
  • I will heal them and reveal an abundance of prosperity and security.
  • I will restore their fortunes,
  • I will rebuild them as they were,
  • I will cleans them from all the guilt of their sin against me,
  • I  will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me,
  • This city shall be to me a NAME OF JOY, A PRAISE, AND A GLORY before all the nations,
  • There again shall be heard the voice of mirth and gladness…
  • the voices of those who sing as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
  • I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
  • A righteous branch shall spring up for David and he shall execute justice and righteousness,
  • Judah will be saved; Jerusalem will dwell securely, being called “The LORD is Our Righteousness.”

And God swears to Jeremiah in two more visions, that He WILL DO what He has promised.

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Jeremiah 34.

In this chapter, Jeremiah goes directly to King Zedekiah with a direct word of God, outlining his future. 

  1. God is giving the city to the king of Babylon,
  2. He will burn it with fire.
  3. You, Zedekiah, shall not escape but be captured.
  4. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and face to face and speak to him.
  5. You will surely go to Babylon and die there.

Perhaps because of this (that he would die in peace), Zedekiah, all of a sudden, proclaimed that all the people of Jerusalem should let their Jewish slaves GO FREE. This was part of God’s law that had been neglected. They could only enslave a fellow Jew for six years, and on the 7th year, they must let them go.

Everyone obeyed. All the slaves were set free.  But before they could hardly get their belongings packed, the King reversed his decision.  All the slaves were subjected again to their masters.  HUH??

(This may have been when the Egyptian army approached and the forces of Babylon withdrew from Jerusalem temporarily, and the people of Jerusalem believed that the danger had passed. But this angered the LORD, and He brought the Babylonian army back to the city.  This time to stay till they conquered it.)

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(God is so good to His wayward children. Yes, He must discipline them (and us), but there is always His love present, and when the time is past, he will joyfully welcome them (us) back into the protection and joy of His arms.  Thank You, LORD, for your grace and mercy and the promises you give to us in Your Word!)

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 212

Jul31

Day 212 – Reading – Isaiah 59 – 63.

Read today’s Scriptures.  

Isaiah 59.

A little good news.

  • Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or His ear dull, that it cannot hear…

A lot of bad news.

  • But YOUR iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and YOUR sins have hidden His face from you so He does not hear.
  • YOUR hands are defiled with blood, YOUR fingers with iniquity; YOUR lips have spoken lies; YOUR tongue mutters wickedness. 
  • Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands.  Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and their is no justice in their paths.
  • Our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities; transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning back from following our God.

Israel (and we) cannot save ourselves.  So God took it upon Himself to step in.

  • The LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was NO ONE TO INTERCEDE.
  • Then HIS OWN ARM brought Him salvation, and HIS righteousness upheld him.
  • AND A REDEEMER WILL COME to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the LORD.

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Isaiah 60.

The future glories of Israel in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.

  • Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.  And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.  They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.

Isaiah continues to list all the glories that will come to the restored Zion and Israel in those 1,000 years.

  • And… Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?  For the coastlands (Gentile nations) shall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first TO BRING YOUR CHILDREN FROM AFAR,  their silver and gold with them for the name of the LORD your God, and for the HOLY ONE of Israel, BECAUSE He has made you beautiful!
  • Whereas you (Jerusalem), have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age. They shall call you the City of the LORD, and Zion, the Holy One of Israel.  And you shall KNOW that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer…”  “you shall call your walls, Salvation, and your gates, Praise.
  • I AM the LORD; in its time I will  hasten it.

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Isaiah 61.

And here is the section of scripture (verses 1-2) that Jesus read and identified with in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry. (Luke 4:18-19)  He did NOT read the rest of the chapter, for that speaks of his SECOND COMING.

  • “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor, He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound….”

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Isaiah 62.

These are more promises of God for Jerusalem’s glory and the salvation and restoration of His people, Israel.

  • Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”  And they shall be called The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; and you (Jerusalem) shall be called Sought Out, a City NOT Forsaken.

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Isaiah 63.

The LORD is depicted as an avenging conqueror of Israel’s enemies, with clothes red and resembling having been drenched with wine. 

  • I have trodden the winepress alone… I trod them in My anger, and trampled them in My wrath.  For the day of vengeance was in My heart.  I trampled down the peoples (represented by Edom) in My anger; I made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.

Um… wow!

Isaiah then prays for Israel, confessing sin and praying for restoration.

  • “I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that He has granted them according to His compassion, according to the abundance of His steadfast love…”
  • “But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to be their enemy and Himself fought against them. 
  • “LOOK DOWN from heaven and see; from your holy and beautiful habitation.
  • “O LORD, why do you make us wander from Your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not:  RETURN for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage.
  • “Oh that You would rend the heavens and COME DOWN….

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O LORD, these passages go back and forth from joyful pictures of glory, back to sin and sorrow and judgment. We confess we are sinners. And You sent your Savior-Redeemer to rescue us. Now, my heart pleads, like Isaiah, for you to RETURN, to rend the heavens and COME DOWN!

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 208 and 209

Jul28

NOTE: Sunday and Monday studies are posted together on MONDAY.

Day 208 – Reading – Isaiah 44 – 48.

Day 209 – 2 Kings 19, Psalms 46, 80, and 135.

Read today’s Scriptures.  PRAY and SING them too!

SUNDAY,

Day 208 – Isaiah 44.

(We are still in the section (chapters 40-66) that addresses Judah AS IF they were already in the Babylonian captivity, which in reality is perhaps 70/80 years off.)

Isaiah’s words from the LORD about the millennial kingdom are meant to encourage Judah.

  • But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you. “Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun* whom I have chosen. “For I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.”

*Jeshurun is an honored name for Israel, whose root meaning is “right or straight,” the opposite of the meaning of Jacob, which is “deceiver.”

  •  Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts, “I AM the first and I AM the last; besides me there is no god.  WHO is like Me? Let him declare it.”  “Is there a God besides me? THERE IS NO ROCK; I KNOW NOT ANY!”

After that, the foolishness of idol worship is portrayed.  They are nothing!  “The carpenter cuts down a cedar, or cypress, or oak.  It becomes fuel to warm him, roast his meat, and bake his bread. He also makes an idol out of it and worships and prays to it, even though it falls down on its face.”

But the LORD, the LORD, is Israel’s Redeemer.

  • “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like a mist; RETURN TO ME, for I have redeemed you! 
  • Sing O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it.  FOR THE LORD HAS REDEEMED JACOB AND WILL BE GLORIFIED IN ISRAEL.”

And then the LORD speaks of the way future Persian king, Cyrus.  “He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose, saying. “Jerusalem shall be built, the Temple will have its foundation laid.”

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Isaiah 45.

The Lord continues about Cyrus, His anointed instrument.  God will use him to “subdue nations,” and “loose the belts of kings,” and “open doors and gates before him.”

God pledges to Cyrus, “I will go before you to level the exalted places, break in pieces the doors of bronze, cut through bars of iron, and give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places.”

WHY? 

For the sake of God’s servant Jacob, and Israel, His chosen.  AND… “That you may know that it is the LORD, the God of Israel, who called you by name.  And that the people will know that there is none beside me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.

“I have stirred him (Cyrus) up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free.”   Here Isaiah is telling about a Persian King who will come to destroy Babylon and release the Jewish captives….. and the captivity hasn’t even happened yet!

Many sections in this chapter are glorious statements and praises to the LORD God. Read them and let your heart swell. 

Verse 22:  “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

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Isaiah 46.

The useless idols of Babylon are compared to the One True God.  “Bel (Baal) bows down, and Nebo (the Phoenician chief god) stoops and bows down. They cannot save themselves, and go into captivity. 

But God, who bore Israel before their birth, carried them from the womb, and will even to their old age and gray hairs, HE will carry and save them…. for He is God, there is no other like Him.  He will put salvation in Zion, for Israel His glory.

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Isaiah 47.

Isaiah foretells the humiliation of Babylon.  “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne. For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers…. your disgrace shall be seen.  I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one. Our Redeemer — the LORD of hosts is his name — is the Holy One of ISRAEL.

“I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand (O daughter of the Chaldeans); you showed them no mercy; on the AGED you made your yoke EXCEEDINGLY HEAVY!!!

‘Now hear this …  “these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure in spite of your many sorceries…”  “…there is no one to save you.”

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Isaiah 48.

And now, a bit of harshness for Israel, for their good.  God speaks to the house of Israel, who swore by his name and confessed him, but didn’t do it in truth or righteousness. 

“Because I knew that you were obstinate, and your neck was an iron sinew, and your forehead brass… I declared things to you before they came to pass — so you wouldn’t say, “My idol told me. my carved and metal image commanded them.” 

And now “From this time forth I announce to you NEW things, hidden things that you have not known.”

God says he has refined them and tried them in the furnace of affliction – for His own name’s sake. 

  • “Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea……………..”
  • Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

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MONDAY,

Day 209 – 2 Kings 19.  

Back to some history. This section is a repeat of what we read in Isaiah 37. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and his commander, Rabshakeh, came to harass Jerusalem and King Hezekiah. They also mocked and reviled the Holy One of Israel.  Hezekiah brought the threats before the LORD and prayed for help.

The LORD promises to send Sennacherib home, where he will be killed. (It happens.)

The LORD promises He will “defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”  And that night, the angel of the LORD goes through the Assyrian camp and kills 185K soldiers.  In the morning, there were only dead bodies. 

This chapter also recounts Hezekiah’s terminal illness, his prayer, and God’s adding 15 years to his life. 

But before YOU decide to pray to live longer, like Hezekiah pleaded, remember what the king DID with those extra years.  He foolishly (pridefully?) showed some well-wishing Babylonian emissaries ALL the treasures in his house and his realm, including the silver, gold, (precious stones), (costly vessels), spices, precious oil, (stalls for all kinds of cattle and sheepfolds), the entire armory, and everything in his storehouses (grain and wine). 

(NOTE:  The Babylonians – always interested in the cosmos – had heard – perhaps even experienced – the sundial going back those degrees, and had come to investigate – and… bring Hezekiah presents.)

When Isaiah heard what Hezekiah had done, he rebuked him for his stupidity and prophesied that EVERYTHING he had shown TO the Babylonians would one day be carried away BY the Babylonians. They would also take some of Hezekiah’s descendants, who would be made into eunuchs in the foreign king’s palace. 

“Oh well,” Hezekiah said. “At least there will be peace and security in MY days.”  Wow. How selfish!

(This story about Sennacherib, Hezekiah’s letter before God, and God’s actions, as well as Hezekiah’s foolishness with the Babylonian visitors, AND some of his later great accomplishments, are also written in 2 Chronicles 32, with a few more details.)

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Psalm 46.

  • “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear…”
  • “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 
  • “He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the chariots with fire.
  • “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

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Psalm 80.

  • “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel … You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.” 
  • “… stir up Your might and come to save us!”
  •  “Restore us O LORD God of hosts! Let Your face shine, that we may be saved!”

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Psalm 135.

  • “Praise the LORD! Praise the name of the LORD, give praise, O servants of the LORD … Praise the LORD for the LORD is good; sing to His name, for it is pleasant!
  • “For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, he does..
  • “Your name, O LORD, endures forever, Your renown, O LORD throughout all ages.  For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants. 
  • “Blessed be the LORD from Zion, He who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the LORD!”

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 206

Jul25

Day 206 – Reading – Isaiah 37 – 39 and Psalm 76.

Read today’s Scriptures.  

Isaiah 37.

This chapter continues the story from yesterday.  Sennacherib, king of Assyria, has come up against Jerusalem. He’s sent his Commander/spokesman, Rabshakeh, to harass the people on the wall and King Hezekiah.  He called to them all sorts of things to intimidate them and cause them to give up.  Hezekiah’s spokesman told him to speak in Aramaic instead of Hebrew so the people wouldn’t understand, but the man refused and laughed.  They need to know! 

Then Rabshakeh continued to tell the people that NO PEOPLE OR GOD has prevailed against the Assyrians so far. And the God of Israel is no exception.

The people answer zero, as per Hezekiah’s instructions.  Eliakim, took the horrible news to Hezekiah.

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As soon as King Hezekiah heard the words, he tore his clothes (grief, repentance) and went to the Temple. He then sent Eliakim to Isaiah, telling him how the man mocked the living God and asking him to “PRAY for the remnant that is left.”

Isaiah encouraged him by saying Sennacherib would hear a rumor (from God) to return to his own land, and there he would be killed. But before that rumor hit his ears, the Assyrian King summarized the vile things that Rabshakeh said about the Living God and sent it in a letter to Hezekiah. “Do YOU think you shall be delivered???”

After Hezekiah got the letter and read it, he went back to the Temple and spread it out before the LORD. And he prayed. 

  • “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, YOU ALONE, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth.  Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open You eyes, O LORD, and see; all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent TO MOCK the Living God.
  • “Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and lands (around us) and their gods made by the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. And they were destroyed.
  • “So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, THAT ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH MAY KNOW THAT YOU ALONE ARE THE LORD.”

Isaiah sent to Hezekiah, “because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib… this is the what the LORD has spoken concerning him…..

Isaiah then proclaims in poetic form the fallacies and the destruction of the king of Assyria. Verses 22-29. Then…   “Because you have raged against Me and your complacency has come to My ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came.”

“He shall NOT come into this city or (even) shoot an arrow there …. ” declares the LORD. “For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

And then!!!  WOW!!!  “The angel of the LORD went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians.  And when the people (of Jerusalem) arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.

Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria departed and returned home to Nineveh. (As the LORD said.)  And while he was worshiping his god, his two sons struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And another of his sons reigned in his place.  (All according to the LORD’s words to Isaiah.)

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Isaiah 38.

Then comes Hezekiah’s “less great days.”

He became sick, and Isaiah told him to get his house in order because he was going to die.

Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness, and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.”  And he wept bitterly.

So Isaiah returned to Hezekiah with a new message from God. “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.”  WHOA!

Then he gave Hezekiah a sign to “prove” the LORD would do it.  He made the shadow on the sundial move BACKWARDS (!!) ten degrees. 

(This was like turning back time several hours!  Something like in Joshua’s days when the LORD made time stand still so Joshua could win the battle. Joshua 10:12-13  Hey, God created the sun and time. He can do anything!)

The rest of the chapter is Hezekiah telling his story in poetic form – about being consigned to die, praying, and then the LORD answering. And then his thanking God.

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Isaiah 39.

Ah-oh……  Here comes Hezekiah’s big mistake. (From arrogance or foolishness. Had the extra years or age made him diminished?)

The son of the king of Babylon sent “get well cards and a present” to Hezekiah because he’d heard Judah’s king was seriously ill, but recovered.  Hezekiah welcomed the envoy, showed them his treasure house, the silver, gold, spices, precious oil, his whole armory, and all that was in his storehouses.”

SERIOUSLY, HEZEKIAH!!!!  Was that hospitality, or stupidity, or…. arrogance?

Isaiah came to Hezekiah in anger. “What did these men say?  Where are they from?”

Hezekiah answered, “Oh, they are from some far country … Babylon.”

Isaiah, “What have they seen in your house?“

Hezekiah, “Everything. There’s nothing I did not show them.”

Isaiah, angry, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold the days are coming when ALL that is in your house … shall be carried to Babylon. NOTHING shall be left, says the LORD.  And furthermore, some of your own sons shall be taken away and made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Hezekiah:  “Oh, well, at least there will be peace and security in my days.”

REALLY, HEZEKIAH??  Maybe those last 15 years weren’t so good after all………

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Psalm 76.

Written by Asaph in David’s time, this psalm almost seems to point to the glorious salvation from the Assyrians in Hezekiah’s time.

In Judah, God is known: His name is great in Israel.
His abode has been established in (Jeru)Salem,
His dwelling place is in Zion.

There, He broke the flashing arrows,
the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.
Glorious are You, more majestic
than the mountains of prey.

The stout-hearted were stripped of their spoil;
they sank into sleep; all the men of war
were unable to use their hands.
At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider and horse lay stunned.

But You, You are to be feared!
Who can stand before You 
when once your anger is roused?

LORD, truly You are to be feared, worshipped, honored, and obeyed. Your power and majesty are to be praised. You see, You hear, You answer prayer. You do marvelous things for us, even when we are weak … or foolish.  Thank You for being in utmost control, O Sovereign LORD.