Tag Archive | Bible Study

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 15

Jan15

Day 15. Reading in Job 40 – 42. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

Job 40.

.This is a terrifying moment for Job.  He’s been calling to God to answer his questions, to come and hear his case, but now it is God asking the questions. And now, God faces Job directly with severity.

“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?  He who argues with God, let him answer.“

Can you see the fear in Job’s eyes as he begins to speak? Perhaps he cleared his throat and swallowed hard.  “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

  • Yes, our God loves us and is patient with His children. But sometimes, I just think I NEED to see Him as the Eternal, Almighty God of the Universe, who holds the whisper of my life in His hands. I need to tremble sometimes. 

Then, beginning again as He did in chapter 38, God speaks out of a whirlwind and tells Job to stand up straight and answer.  He asks Job if he thinks he’s like God, “Have you an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like God?”  I can picture Job, his hand still across his mouth, wide-eyed, shaking his head.

Job 41.

God then showcases two magnificent creatures He’s made, the Behemoth and the Leviathan.  They truly ARE wonders that probably (thankfully) don’t exist today. 

The grass-eating Behemoth, with iron-like legs and cedar-like tail, bones like bronze, must be a dinosaur of some kind, maybe a brontosaurus. (You know, the beasts with long, thin necks chomping on treetops and a massive body with a huge muscular tail.)  It could “swallow” the Jordan River with no problem, God says!!  He also states it was the foremost (biggest) of His works. 

Next, God reminds Job of Leviathan, another of His massive creatures, only this one “plays in the sea.”  With the descriptions, you really must consider it a fire-breathing, scaled sea serpent dragon. Tell me what YOU think.

No fisherman or whaler could harpoon this creature. “His back is made from rows of shields, tightly fit together.” “His “sneezings” flash forth light.”  “Out of its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils come forth smoke as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.”  WOW!

“Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.”  (Arrows, stones, and clubs are like stubble.)  God says there was none like Leviathan on earth, a creature without fear.

SO GLAD these creatures do not exist now, but God must have had fun making them!

Job 42.

Job is genuinely shaken and put in his place, and he voices his contrition. “I know that YOU can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (You are Sovereign.)  “I have uttered what I did not understand.”

  • Job says, “I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my “eyes” see You; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.“
  • God has been so patient with me when I’ve cried out (okay, demanded) answers to my questions, but as I review these scenes in Job, I tremble at my gall.  Wow.  HE IS God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.  How dared I?  I, too, repent and confess my sin.

Job had not sinned in the ways Satan or his “friends” had accused him.  But he HAD sinned in presuming on God, accusing Him of unfairness, and demanding that He come and answer him.  At this realization, Job hated himself and confessed profoundly and honestly.  He had a “broken and contrite heart,” and God will not “despise” these. 

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THEN, GOD TURNS TO Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.  (Ah-oh!)  “My anger burns against you, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

He tells them to take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer up a burnt offering (sin offering) for themselves.  “My servant Job will pray for you. I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly.  You have not spoken of Me what was right.” 

They obeyed, Job prayed, and God accepted Job’s prayer.

  • (Father, please keep me from speaking about You wrongly, here in these studies, or anytime in my life.)

Job never discovers WHY he experienced such suffering, pain, loss, and verbal abuse. He never found out what WE know from the first chapters of how Satan was “allowed” to afflict him for a purpose.  He had held steadfast in his faith in God’s character.  

Now, God restored Job’s fortunes – the ones Satan was allowed to strip from him.  The LORD gave Job twice what he had before in possessions.

All his family came to him again and fellowshipped with him. They (NOW) showed him sympathy and comforted him. And – perhaps out of guilt that they had not supported him before – each gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. (Huh!)

God gave Job twice as many sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys as before.  God blessed Job with his once complaining wife, by giving him SEVEN sons and THREE daughters.  Also, HIGHLY UNUSUAL is the fact that he NAMES his three beautiful daughters – Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch – and gives them each an inheritance along with their brothers. 

Job lived 140 more years and saw his grandchildren and great-grandchildren for four generations.  Then he died, old and full of days.  Did he EVER imagine all this in those weeks of sorrow and pain?

 

It’s a bit of a picture of our devilish struggles on Earth and then our future home and joy in Heaven. 

  • Lord, thank You once again for this study in the Book of Job. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 14

Jan14

Day 14. Reading in Job 38 – 39. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

 

Job 38.

.The LORD answers Job. 

This is both a relief and a fear.  It’s a relief because I’m tired of Job’s pompous friends spouting so-called truths about God and Job when they don’t even know what they are talking about.  I’m not sure they are doing it out of concern for Job, or to make themselves look good.

And it’s a fear because wouldn’t YOU be afraid if God showed up in the middle of a heated conversation/argument you were having with a group of friends?  Even if you had repeatedly asked (demanded?) that God come and answer you, wouldn’t His actual voice scare you to death? Notice that everyone is silent now. 

A mighty whirlwind blows between the men, and Yaweh’s voice speaks. “WHO IS THIS who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”  Gulp!  “Dress for action like a man,” God says to Job. “I will question YOU, and you make it known to ME.” 

Court is in session, and the prosecutor is questioning the man in the witness chair. But the accused has no voice. He cannot answer God’s questions. 

“Where were YOU when I laid the foundation of the earth?”  

“Did you separate the land from the waters and make borders for them? Did you cause the earth to rotate and establish dawn and darkness? Do you know where I keep the snow, the hail, or the rain?  Can you make lightning or ice?  Can you move the constellations around in the night sky? 

“Do you know who has put intelligence in a man’s mind?”

“Did you teach the lion to hunt?  Or the raven?”

Job 39.

(It’s just a chapter break, but I can imagine a moment or two of silence in the courtroom while Job remains mute. 

Like an attorney, God then presents items to be entered as evidence.  He lists the unique skills and characteristics He has given to various animals; the mountain goat, the wild donkey, the wild ox, the ostrich, the horse, and the hawk. (All are fearfully and wonderfully made and adapted.)

To the Ostrich God has given a tiny brain (she lays her eggs on the open ground, then forgets about them). But He’s given her beautiful feathers and legs swifter than a horse’s (When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and rider.)   Who would have thought to create such a creature?

Could Job ever have created the intelligence, strength, and fierce eye-sight of the hawk or eagle, and trained them where to build their nests so their young would be safe? 

  • I can’t imagine being on the stand in any court, let alone where God is the prosecutor AND judge. I would be scared to speak too.  I am SO thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ is my Advocate, my Defense Attorney. He speaks for me. He intercedes and pleads my case. Though I am guilty, He holds out the evidence of His own blood to show my crimes have been paid for.  My sentence has been served. Oh, Hallelujah!

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 12 & 13

Jan13

Days 12 & 13. Reading in Job 32 – 34 and 35 – 37. (Posted on Monday.)

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what you found meaningful. We can encourage each other.

.Job 32.

There’s a new guy on the block. Elihu has been there the whole time, but as the youngest, he’s kept quiet until now. His views differ from the three “wise” old men who spoke before him.

“I am young in years, and you are aged. Therefore, I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you.”  “It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.  Therefore, listen to ME. Let ME also declare my opinion.“

He says he’s about to burst from waiting to answer! “I MUST speak, that I may find relief; I MUST open my lips and answer. I will not use flattery toward ANY person.”

Oh, dear. I’m not sure I want to hear what this young whippersnapper will say.

  • Lord, help me remember that wisdom comes from YOU. You are the only wise God. Help me not to disdain either the aged or the young enthusiast or to center my whole life on the words of one person/group. May I always look to You and your Word with help from the Holy Spirit.

Job 33. 

Right off, Elihu puts Job at ease, identifying with him as one also is “pinched off from the piece of clay.”  He’s human, fallible. He assures Job he has no need to fear him as his words will not be heavy on him. But he tells Job he’s wrong in saying God does not answer him.

Elihu lists two ways that God speaks to man. 1) in dreams or visions, God warns man. 2) in pain, God rebukes man.  Hmmm.

He tells Job that God allows suffering to bring a person to Himself and for spiritual benefit. (This seems true, at least in my own life.) Then Elihu offers Job a chance to speak. If not, Elihu tells Job to listen, “for I will teach you wisdom.”

Job 34.

Elihu then goes on with HIS speech to both Job and the other three men.  He gets a lot correct, but there are some parts he mis-remembers, attributing to Job what his other “comforters” said. (For example, Job said he was sinless, which he did not claim.)  However, Elihu does mention some pretty awesome truths about God in his speech, saying He is just, holy, impartial, and omniscient.

Sadly, Elihu starts to echo the three who went before him, “Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight. I would that Job was tried to the end because he answers like a wicked man. He adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”  (Sigh.)

(Three more chapters of Elihu tomorrow.)

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Job 35.

“Shame on you, Job.” is basically what Elihu says (in his wisdom). He tells Job that it doesn’t matter if he sinned or not because God is ‘too high’ to be affected by them. “If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?”

He tells Job why God does not answer his prayers and questions. It’s because of pride (vs. 35:12), a wrong motive, and he’s not patient enough.  Oh, Elihu, you are not so wise as you say. YOU don’t know much about Job’s condition either. It’s your own “human” understanding. 

  • Lord, I am like Elihu sometimes, if only in my thoughts. I think I can figure out “the mind of God” by my own human reasoning. “SURLY, this must mean that!” I say.  Humble me, Lord. Your ways and thoughts are so much higher than mine.  Teach me not to judge. Teach me to wait. Help me see my own needs.

Job 36.

Now that Elihu has leveled Job to the ground, he presumes to instruct Job about God’s opinion. (“I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.”) He now seems no different from the three older gentlemen before him. THEN he adds the words that make me choke. “For truly, my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.”   What???  Poor Job.

But Elihu does say something new in verse 15. “He (God) delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.” 

  • Suffering, trials, and persecution do make us more open to God’s words. Sometimes, that’s the only time I will listen. A gentle tap on the shoulder will go unnoticed, but a “slap up alongside my head” will get my attention.  Illness, sorrow, or a rebuke from a loved one will undoubtedly send me to prayer and His word. Why is this so? Oh, Lord, soften my heart!

Job 37.

Elihu then “waxes eloquent” about the majesty of God in creation. This is wonderful to read. All creation does reveal God like Psalm 8 says,  “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens.” (vss. 1-2)  “When I look at Your heavens the work of Your fingers, the moon, and stars, which You have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” (vss.3-4)  

Elihu reminded Job (and us) that all the mighty things God does in the heavens and with weather are for a purpose. “Whether for correction or for His land, or for love, He causes it to happen.” (vs. 13)

  • Wow. I had to stop and think about this. Yes, I believe God is totally sovereign in all things. Yes, there is always a purpose to what He does (His glory and our good, according to Romans 8:28), although, like Job, we may never know (can’t even begin to comprehend) what that is. 
  • Just now (January 2025), I’m thinking of the total disasters that wind and fires have brought to Los Angeles County in the last week.  God is sovereign. This fiery “apocalypse” was NOT out of His control. Many do and will ask, “Why?” (And many will gladly place the “blame” on anyone.) It is a “wake-up” call, whether to the hearts of believers and unbelievers or merely to earthly officials and their responsibilities.
  • Job didn’t know the reason for his suffering (or for his friends’ badgering, for that matter). But we get a glimpse of the purpose in the first chapters. That in Heaven, before the evil one, GOD GETS GLORY for Job’s faith in his suffering. 

Thank you, God, for using Elihu to say this one thing, if nothing else. 

And it’s good that this young, wise “kid” ends his speech by pointing Job (and us) to God and His Majesty because God stands ready to speak in the next four chapters.  ARE WE READY TO HEAR?

 

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 11

Jan11

Day 11. Reading in Job 29 – 31. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

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Job 29.

In this whole chapter, Job remembers how “it used to be…”  when God’s “lamp shone on my head….”  when ” the friendship of God was upon my tent… when the almighty was yet with me… when my children were all around me.” He remembers sitting at the gate and both young men and nobles respected him and called him “blessed.”  He helped all in need; the blind, lame, poor, and persecuted.  Men listened to him and waited in silence for his counsel. “I chose their way and sat as chief.”

  • Lord, I have been there too. I’ve gone through periods when I would reminisce “how it used to be.” and long for those ‘good old days.’  I feel like such a “fair weather friend” sometimes, receiving blessing as if it was my due, and bemoaning when tough times come.
  • It’s good for me to remember Your blessings, Lord, and be thankful. But do You love and care for me any less in times of sorrow or pain? No, I’m the one who looks away from You. I hope I can remember Psalm 23:4. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me…”

Job 30.

Job showed us his “glory” in the previous chapter. Now he shows us what his life has become (at least, from his perspective).  “NOW they laugh at me, men who are younger than I.”  “Now I have become their (jeering) song; I am a byword to them. They abhor me; they keep aloof from me…..they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.”  WOW.

He describes what his favored life in the sunshine has become. “NOW my soul in poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me. The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.”  He feels he’s been thrown into the mirey clay and become like the mud, dust, and ashes he lies in.

And NOW, the worst of it. Job feels God has deserted him. “I cry to You for help and You do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.”

  • It takes a very dark time of depression and despondency for a believer to feel that God has truly deserted him.  I mean, where can you go if God is silent?  Many times it’s here that the devil comes to cause further doubt and fear. “Has God really said that He loves you…?  How can a sinful, despicable person like you think that God has saved you…?  God’s has turned His back on you. You’ve sinned one too many times. YOU ARE LOST!” 
  • What to do in times like this?  Praise God, we have His Word. A tiny spark of faith in all that darkness can be whipped into flame by his powerful, living Word.  Pick it up, read it aloud, pray it, meditate on it.  You can speak it back to that taunting devil…just as Jesus did in the dessert.  Resist Satan with the WORD. (It is a sword, after all.) Read gospel passages. Pray them. Believe them.  God does not lie. “Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.” Romans 10:17  Doubts and the devil must FLEE God’s word.

Job didn’t have the written Word of God, but when his soul rises in faith, it’s when he proclaims God’s promises.  “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (13:15)  “For I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last He will stand upon the earth….and in my flesh I shall see God.” (19:25-26) “But He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”  “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my portion of food.”  (23:10, 12)

Job 31.

Job is now more bold as if he stands in court to proclaim his integrity.  Notice the many “if… then let” statements he makes. If I’ve sinned in this way… then let punishment come. 

Example:  “If I have raised my hand against the fatherless…. then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.”  

Or, “If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together, if I have eaten its yield WITHOUT PAYMENT and made its owners breathe their last…..let thorns grow instead of wheat and foul weeds instead of barley.”

And so, “The words of Job are ended.”

 

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Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 4

Jan4

Day 4. Reading in Job 1 – 5. 

I’m rereading God’s Word this year. And I hope to blog about it differently. Instead of writing only an overview of the text, I want it to be more personal.

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what you found meaningful. We can encourage each other.

 

Job 1.

Our pastor once said that Job’s first and last chapters are great, but everything in the middle is foolishness. He said that because none of Job’s friends speak God’s wisdom.  However, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “ALL scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness,”  So let’s look for that during these dozen days in the book of Job.

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In chapter one, we see what Job never sees or understands, which can be a great comfort to us in our suffering. We may never know why bad things happen to US, but we CAN know that God is in perfect control. He is sovereign. He ALLOWED Satan to hurt and torment Job “for His glory.”  Job’s statement in 1:21 shows total dependence and faith in his God.  This glorifies God. 

  • Shortly after reading through Job last year, I went through a scary time of breast cancer, surgery, and radiation treatment. Throughout those months, I often thought of Job. His declaration of God’s sovereignty, his emotional ups and downs, and his questions and despairs helped me when I was at my lowest.  UNLIKE Job, I was surrounded by friends who held me up in prayer, comforted, encouraged, and helped me practically in so many ways. They kept me looking to God throughout the trial, and I am very grateful.  So now, I’m reading this book from a different perspective.

We know the story.  Job was as blameless and upright as Noah before him, who feared God and turned away from evil.  God chose righteous Noah to go through a great disaster unharmed to bring Him glory. God chose His righteous servant, Job, to endure a great trial with much suffering, bringing Him praise from Job’s own lips. (Job 42). (And, might I say, a slam to Satan.)

As Job lost all his animals (wealth), his children, and even his own health, he “did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

(Well, it WASN’T God who did any wrong to him, but Satan, with God’s permission, who caused all that destruction, death, and pain, just as that old Serpent had done in the beginning in the garden of Eden. Death and pain are his specialties.)  Job was unaware of how God showcased him, or he probably would have felt pride.

  • I wonder…  As Christians, when we experience suffering, maybe we should remember that others are looking at us to see how WE respond.  Are we trusting in our God no matter what happens?  Can we give Him glory by our attitude?  In a way, these words of Jesus apply, “Let your LIGHT so shine before men, that they may see your good works (attitude in suffering), and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) 
  • For me, I often complain loudly when things go wrong. ‘Why is this happening to me?’ I fume.  It’s good that I’m rereading this book of Job.

Job’s wife DID blame God. “Oh, husband, why don’t you just curse God and die!”  Wow. A loving wife she was not. (She will get her due, having to bear ten more children in her latter years! Ha!)

Job 2.

Job is now suffering painfully, with masses of boils erupting all over his body. He uses pieces of broken pottery in the trash heap to scrape off the swollen heads and allow the pus to run out.  To his disgusted wife, he says, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”

  • I wonder…did she sponge off his hurting body with cool water sometimes?  Did she apply salve to the open sores?  Did she bring and feed him a healing broth?  Somehow, I think not.

But a few of Job’s friends came to comfort him. His increasing pain was so great that, in distress for him, they wept, tore their robes, and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then, they sat silently with him in compassion for seven days and nights.

Job 3 – 5.

Then, the “foolishness” begins.

Of course, Job had the right to curse the day he was born. (I think David or King Solomon did this, too.) “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb, and expire?” he moans (or wails).  It’s understandable, of course, him being in so much pain.

It stirs one of his friends to speak, “Who, that was innocent, ever perished?  As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble…reap the same.”  Thanks, Eliphaz, that really wasn’t comforting.  You’re saying I’m suffering because I sinned against God?

Eliphaz continues ‘laying it on’.  “Affliction does not come from dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.  As for ‘me,’ I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause...”  And then, in what seems a self-righteous attitude, he tells Job, “Blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.” 

This is true enough, but Eliphaz doesn’t know what we know. Job’s suffering isn’t discipline!  It is proof that God loves him, knows the faithfulness of his heart, and is willing for Satan to do his worst to reveal that man CAN serve God fully. 

 

 

 

 

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 1

Jan1

Day 1. Beginning with the five books of Moses, the Torah, in Genesis 1 – 3. 

I’m reading through God’s Word again this year, but I’ll write/blog about it differently. Instead of an overview of the text, I want it to be more personal. 

I invite you to read the scripture for the day and write “in the comments” what was meaningful to YOU. We can encourage each other in Him.

Genesis 1.

I keep thinking about how the Book of Revelation ended, with God living among His redeemed people on a new, pure earth without sin or sorrow.  It began that way in Genesis 1. I’m so glad it ends that way in Revelation 21 because this journey I’m starting to read today will involve some pretty ugly, sinful things.

  • O God of creation, create in me a new heart and restore a right spirit within me. (Psalm 31:10) 

Genesis 2.

After creating a perfect place for mankind to live, God created Adam and then Eve. They were made in His triune image with three parts, body, living soul, and spirit. Adam was made from elements of God’s good earth and received God’s breath/spirit of life.  Eve also, but with a rib taken from Adam’s side.  That left an empty space in him that only she could fill.  

“This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” he said of Eve.

The garden God put them into was beautiful and perfect, with fruit-bearing trees and a river of water flowing out of it.  Revelation says that the new Jerusalem will also have the River of Life flowing from it and the Tree of Life growing along its banks, bearing a different fruit each month.

But there was one tree in Eden that is not in the new heaven and earth because “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9). The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was in the garden to test Adam and Eve, to see if they would “love the Lord their God with all their hearts, souls, and minds.” 

Genesis 3.

I don’t know how long Adam and Eve lived in Eden before the serpent tempted Eve. It must have been a while because they were used to walking with God in the cool of the day.

But it appeared, accused God of lying, of not loving them, and of withholding some good thing from them. Eve believed him and disobeyed God. And then Adam did too.

  • Oh, how often I believe the lies the “world” spins for me.  “Money makes you happy. Be proud of what you accomplish. Have fun and do whatever you like because God is love, and He won’t mind. Reading the Bible is a waste of time. 

O God, sometimes I believe those lies. I sin. Forgive me as you promised, for Jesus’ sake. (1 John 1:9)

God does not lie. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, death began its ugly takeover of their lives. Accusations, shame, fear, quarrels, hardship, and expulsion from the garden.

BUT!!!  God said that He would send “The Seed of the Woman,” who would crush the seed of the serpent (Satan). He would be injured in the process but would ultimately prevail. 

Jesus, God with us, our Savior, came in the flesh to die in our place and end sin and death. Then, as Revelation promised, He will rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that serpent will spend forever and ever in the lake of fire.

  • O God Almighty, You made us, loved us, saved us, and promised we will be with You forever. Hallelujah! I love You!

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 82

Mar22

    Day 82—  Now that we’ve passed Day 66, we have established a “habit.” So CELEBRATE our habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the THIRD month so far! Praise God!

   Day 82 – Joshua 1 – 4  (Commissioning & command of Joshua, Spies & Rahab, Crossing the Jordan, Memorial stones)

Today we begin the 7th book so far, and move from the Torah (& Job) to the Historical books. In the First Chapter, God commissions Joshua to take over the leadership of Israel. He encourages him by telling Joshua that;

  • 1) his campaign to conquer will be successful,
  • 2) that He, Himself will be with Joshua and will not forsake him.
  • 3)  that this success and prosperity will come as he meditates day and night in the Law of the LORD, and obeys everything he reads.

God commands him to “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua’s first order is for the people to prepare to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land in three days.  He reminds the Eastern-settling 2.5 tribes, of their promise to fight and conquer the land WITH their brothers.

In Chapter 2, Joshua sends two spies out to “view the land, especially Jericho.”  They obey (and as God led them) entered the house of Rahab. She was a prostitute, but also possibly a “hotel” owner. Her house was on the wall that surrounded the city and was accessible.  She hides the two Israeli spies when the king’s men come looking for them, and sends those soldiers on a “wild goose chase,” while sending the spies on a different route.

Why? Why would this female, pagan prostitute help enemy spies? Verses 8-12 explains that she KNOWS that the LORD has given the land to Israel. Everyone is in terror because of them. They’ve all heard about Israel’s miraculous crossing of the Red Sea and their successes with Kings Sihon and Og and their hearts are melting.  Then her proclamation of faith: “The LORD your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.”  

She then requests, that for her helping them to escape, that they will save her and her family when they attack.  The spies agree, with one caveat. She and all of hers must stay within the house, and she must hang a red rope from her window down the outside of the wall.  When Israel sees that red cord, they will pass over her house, and save her and hers alive.

The spies report back to Joshua that the LORD has indeed given all the land into their hands. And the hearts of all the inhabitants “melt away because of us.”

In Chapter 3, Israel crosses the Jordan River into Canaan, much like they crossed the Red Sea out of Egypt. Except, it is the action of the Levitical priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, who step into the water, that God  uses it to stop it flowing and open a way through. So, as the “soles of the feet” of the priests carrying the Ark stepped into the water, it bunched up in a heap. The priests/Ark stood in the middle of the dry river bed until ALL OF ISRAEL passed over into the land.

Chapter 4 describes how Joshua, at God’s command, had a representative from each tribe take twelve stones from the river bed, and carry them to Gilgal where they were to camp and laid them down. Joshua set them up as a memorial, something these people would tell their children about in years to come.

When the priests & the Ark followed the people out of the river bed, all the water came rushing back again.  And it was the first day of the preparation for Passover.  (Fitting, huh?)

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 80

Mar20

    Day 80 —  Now that we’ve passed Day 66, we have established a “habit.” So CELEBRATE our habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the THIRD month so far! Praise God!

   Day 80 – Deuteronomy 30 – 31 (Repentance & hope, Choose life, Joshua commissioned, Command to read, a song written)

Moses’s life is winding down. He’s “mopping up” his leadership and readying himself and Joshua to pass the baton. Moses has been with these millions of people for over 40 years. He’s all the leader that some of them have ever know. What will it be like without him?

At 120 years old, Moses is ready to brush his hands of this people and “go home.”

In chapter 30, he tells the people he knows they will fail in all the commands and love toward God. He knows they will experience the really hard discipline of God, but  if/when they repent, return to the LORD, and obey his voice with all their heart and soul…. the gracious, long-suffering, and merciful LORD their God will have compassion on them and restore them.  And at that time, He will “circumcise their HEARTS so they will love him with heart and soul and LIVE.

Moses challenges them, saying, “But the word is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart so you CAN do it!”  Moses sets before them life and death, blessing and curse. “Choose life, that you and your offspring may LIVE, loving the LORD your God, obeying His voice, and holding fast to him…..for He IS your life.”

In Chapter 31, Moses calls aside Joshua and encourages him, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of THEM, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave or forsake you.” He then sets Joshua before the people and says the same thing.  This is your leader now. God will go before you and be with you and not forsake you.  Before all the people Moses officially commissions Joshua with the job, and the LORD, in a pillar of cloud, affirms it.

Moses finishes writing the words of the law in a book “to the very end.”  He commands that the Levites put it by the side of the ark of the covenant, and read the whole thing to the people every SEVEN YEARS, in the “year of release” when they all gather in the fall for the Festival of Booths/Harvest.

Then Moses (at God’s word) writes a song to teach to Israel, as a witness for God.  He wrote it in one day and taught it to the people of Israel.

(The song will be in tomorrow’s reading.)

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 75

Mar15

    Day 75 —  Now that we’ve passed Day 66, we have established a “habit.” So CELEBRATE our habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the THIRD month so far! Praise God!

   Day 75– Deuteronomy 14 – 16 (More reviews, Soft hearts, Main Feasts)

In Chapter 14, Moses reviews a few dietary laws of things they will face in the Promised Land, listing what is “clean” for Israel to eat. He reminds them “You are a people holy (set apart) to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. YOU shall not eat any abomination.” (14:2-3)

They are also reminded not to forget the Levites and giving their tithes which are to support them.

Chapter 15 goes over the Sabbatical Year, when all indentured “slaves” are to be released, and for the wealthy not to send them away empty, but with supplies. God warns them against a “hardened heart” toward the poor, and to give them freely what they need. Hasn’t God supplied all of them abundantly with more than they need?  “Open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor of the land,” says the LORD.

Chapter 16, reviews their obligation to keep (remember always) Passover, for it is when God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. (A “picture” of the deliverance Christians receive through the sacrifice of the ultimate Passover Lamb at the crucifixion of Jesus. We too are to Remember it.)  Details on the first harvest Festival of Weeks (First-fruits or Pentecost) and the Festival of Booths (Tabernacles) when Israel remembered their time living in tents in the Wilderness are also reviewed and encouraged.

The chapter ends with a caution about unrighteous judges, and a warning against forbidden objects or means of idol worship, for the LORD hates such things.

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 65

Mar5

    Day 65—  We have begun the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year! Praise God! I hope it’s become a GOOD habit that we will continue.

   Day 65 – Numbers 26 – 27 (A new census, Passing the baton)

Chapter 26 is maybe a bit tedious to read with all its names and numbers. But it was very important to Israel. They are now about to conquer the Promised Land, and it will be divided up among the 12 tribes according to their number; bigger areas to bigger tribes, etc.

This census was also to determine that ALL of those who rebelled against God 38 years earlier and refused to go into the Land were dead. Remember at this point, only Joshua and Caleb (in their 80’s now), and their families, plus Moses remained. (26:64-65)

In the count of tribes, SEVEN had grown in size, while FIVE had decreased. The total number of Israelites 20 years of age and older (suitable for the army) was 1,820 fewer than the tally in chapter one. The Levites, who would receive no land as inheritance since the LORD Himself was their inheritance, had increased in number by 1,000.

Chapter 27 begins with a new problem. Five women, daughters of one man, came to Moses saying that their father had no sons and had died in the wilderness.  Was their family to lose the rightful inheritance because there was no sons?  Moses inquired of the LORD, Who said that the daughters were correct and they were given their father’s inheritance.

Then a NEW LAW was written for Israel about the Land and the absence of male heirs. The inheritance would first be given to the daughters, or, if none, to the diseased man’s the brothers, and then uncles. If none of these were alive, the “nearest kinsmen” of the tribe would possess it.  (This very law will come up in the book of Ruth.)

Then, THAT time comes. God tells Moses to set apart Joshua to lead Israel in his place – because of his sin of “failing to uphold God as holy in the people’s eyes” at the waters of Meribah.  So Moses takes Joshua before the high priest, Eleazar in the presence of all the people, and lays his hands on him as a symbol of passing his authority and leadership. And so, in the eyes of God and the people, Joshua is officially commissioned to lead the people into the Land when the time came.

Moses was not to die yet, but the people had confidence that they would not be left without a leader when he did.