Tag Archive | Israel

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 116

Apr25

    Day 116—We have been reading the Bible daily for a third of the year.   What have you learned about God? About yourself?

Day 116 – Psalms 73, 77, 78. (Psalms of Asaph)

Psalm 73 – Asaph begins by acknowledging that God is truly good to Israel, to all who are pure in heart. But then he admits that in his own heart there is envy for the prosperity of the wicked. But when his heart turns to God, his attitude changes.

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Psalm 77 – Asaph again begins writing about the day of his trouble, how he prays and weeps all night, but there is no comfort. But again his attitude changes when his thoughts turn to God.

“Then my spirit made a diligent search: Will the LORD spurn forever, and never again be favorable?  Has his steadfast love forever ceased?  Are His promises at an end for all time?”  “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes I will remember Your wonders of old. I will ponder all Your work and meditate on Your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?”

Psalm 78 has 72 verses and describes God’s wonderful love and care for Israel and what Israel should tell the coming generations about Him.

“I will utter puzzling sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD and His might and the wonders that He has done…. that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.”

Then, Asaph writes about the glorious (and horrible) history of God and Israel. He tells how God gloriously rescued and provided for Israel repeatedly, how Israel sinned, doubted, complained, tested, and rebelled, provoking God’s righteous judgments on them. Over and over Israel spurned the Holy God.

“Yet He, being compassionate atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; He restrained His anger often and did not stir up all His wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh.”

Asaph tells about God rejecting Israel during the turbulent times of the Judges when they looked to pagan idols and their enemies battled with them continuously.  And he tells of God choosing Judah and setting His presence in Zion.

“He chose David, his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; for following the nursing ewes He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, Israel his inheritance. With an upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand.“

(Oh for leaders like that today!)

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 98 & 99

Apr8

    Day 98 & 99 —  We have been reading the Bible daily for a quarter of the year, and today, we begin the tenth book. Praise God! What have you learned about God? About yourself?  (Note: SUNDAY’s readings are combined with MONDAY’s)

   Day 98 – 1 Samuel 1 – 3 (Hannah, Samuel’s birth & call)

In Chapters 1 & 2, Hannah, the much-loved but barren wife of a Levite named Elkanah, prays for a son, promising to give him back to God all the days of his life. God hears and answers her prayer and Samuel is born. Like Samson, he is born under the Nazarite vow. But that is the only similarity.

After Hannah weans him, she takes the very young Samuel to the Tabernacle and gives him under the care of Eli, the priest. Every year, she visits him to bring new clothes. After fulfilling her promise, God gives Hannah five more children.

Samuel grew and ministered before the LORD in the presence of the old, fat, lazy priest, Eli, and his worthless, wicked sons. Hophni and Phinehas treated the offerings of the LORD with contempt and were very great sinners in His eyes. Eli mildly scolded them, but they continued in their sin, so God rejected the house of Eli.

In Chapter 3, the LORD calls Samuel. It seemed like Eli was calling the boy, so in obedience, he went to the old man three times. Finally, Eli realized God was calling him and told Samuel to answer, “Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.” And indeed, the LORD speaks to Samuel, prophesying the judgment on the house of Eli for his sons’ blasphemous behavior and his not correcting them.  Samuel is afraid to tell Eli the word of the LORD, but the old man insists, and after hearing the judgement, acquiesces.

After that, Samuel grew, and all the words God spoke to/through him came to pass. Everyone – from Dan to Beersheba – knew he was established as a prophet of the LORD.

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Day 99 – 1 Samuel 4 – 8 (Philistines, the ARK, Eli, Samuel,)

In Chapter 4, Israel goes to battle against the Philistines and they lose. The elders ask why, but before God can answer, they bring out “the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim” from Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was set up. When the people see it, all of Israel gives a thunderous shout so loud the Philistines are afraid.  They think the ARK is a god, like their carved images, instead of the earthly “throne” or dwelling place of Almighty God. They pump themselves up with “Take courage and be men and fight!”

They do, Israel loses, and the Ark of God is captured. Eli’s two sons are killed in battle. When Eli hears the news, he faints backward, breaks his neck, and dies. Phinehas’s wife goes into labor and also dies. The baby is named Ichabod, meaning, “The Glory has departed” from Israel.

In Chapter 5, the Philistines discover that having the Ark of the God of Israel is not such a great thing.  First, the statue of their god, Dagon, falls before the Ark in a pose of worship. Then it is completely decapitated. Then, the men of the five cities of Philistia begin dying of a weird, horrendous disease as they pass the Ark from one town to another. Eek! Get rid of the thing, they cry.

In Chapter 6, they devise a plan to send it back to Israel, making it a test to see if “God” really is causing all their problems. They load it on a cart pulled by two milk cows who have young calves. No mama cow will leave her crying babies and pull a cart miles away, but they do, so Philistia knows that it is Israel’s God who is afflicting them. They also send some golden tumors and mice (???) to appease Israel’s God.

Chapter 7 describes how the Ark is kept in Abinadab’s house. His son Eleazar is consecrated (as a priest) to be in charge of it. And it remains there—twenty years!!  NOTE: The Ark of the Covenant is there until King David brings it to Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6. 

Samuel chastises them and tells them to put away foreign gods, return to the LORD, and serve only Him. Samuel prays for them as they begin to repent. Suddenly, the Philistines come up against them, and they panic. But Samuel goes before the Lord and intercedes, and the LORD roars against the Philistines, who fled away. In memorial to this miracle, Samuel sets up a stone named Ebenezer, which means “Till now the LORD has helped us.” Peace comes to Israel, and Samuel judges them for all the days of his life.

Chapter 8 tells how Samuel gets old (60) and makes his sons, Joel and Abijah Judges over Israel.  But they, like Eli’s sons, do not walk in the ways of the LORD but begin to take bribes and pervert justice.  The elders see this and cry out for a king to judge them.  Feeling rejected, Samuel prays to God, who tells him that Israel hasn’t rejected Samuel but they have rejected the LORD Himself.  God tells Samuel to give them what they want…but to warn them how a king will reign over them.

Samuel warns them with a long list of how an earthly king will not be the same as their righteous King of Kings has been.  He will conscript their sons for his army and take their daughters for his cooks and bakers. He will take the best of their crops, servants, and animals. And they will become his “slaves,”

Israel does not heed Samuel’s warnings but cries out, “No, there SHALL be a king over us that we may be like all the nations. Our king will judge us, go before us, and fight out battles.”

And God says, “Give them a king.”

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 86

Mar26

    Day 86 —  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 86 – Joshua 16 – 18 (Ephraim & Manasseh, Complaints, Benjamin)

In Chapters 16 & 17, Joshua and the men continue to divide up the land of Canaan for each tribe, small or super large. Joseph’s tribe is split into Ephraim and Manasseh. Half of the Manasseh tribe had already inherited land on the EAST side of the Jordan, but on the WEST, the other half was lumped together with Ephraim. They did not like that.  Joshua let these tribes figure it out between themselves. And so the WEST half-tribe seems to have gotten a very large area, running from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Sadly, all the Canaanite people were NOT driven out for both Ephraim and the two halves of Manasseh. (These Canaanites were very strong and had iron chariots.)  They remained a source of pagan influence, even though the tribes forced them to do forced labor.

In Chapter 18, Joshua and Israel set up the Tabernacle at Shiloh before the remaining land was allotted.  Joshua was annoyed with the remaining tribes. “How long will you put off going in to take possession of the Land, which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?”  He told them to take three men from each tribe and spy out the remaining land. Joshua would then allot those places to the remaining seven tribes.

So the men went “up and down in the land” and wrote descriptions.  Then they returned, and Joshua used the “lot” to determine who should go where. Benjamin was between Judah (in the South) and Ephraim/Manasseh in the North, bordering on the North side of Jerusalem. (Judah had the South side.)

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(We will see tomorrow that Simeon—a very small tribe—was also allotted their portion within Judah, whose allotment was too large for them, at that time.)

Much later in Israel’s history, we will see these tribes facing off against each other in a kind of Civil War when Solomon’s son tore the kingdom in two. (The 9 in the North were called Ephraim or Israel, and the 3 in the South were called Judah.)

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 38

Feb7

    Day 38—  We are in the second month! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.

   Day 38 – Exodus 25 – 27  (Blueprints for the Tabernacle & it’s contents)

Moses has ascended Mt. Sinai, the “Mountain of God,” and will be gone 40 days and 40 nights. It will be glorious for him, a time of waiting for Joshua, and a time of testing for Israel.

We begin to see in detail the plans to build a “dwelling place” for Israel’s God among His people in Chapter 25. The materials – gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet yarns, fine twisted linen, goats’ hair, tanned ram’s skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil, spices, onyx and other precious stones – are to be GIVEN BY THE PEOPLE…. willingly.

Huh?  And where would two million slaves get all those things?  Remember in 12:35-36, “The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they PLUNDERED THE EGYPTIANS.”  Now… these things would be freely given to build a sanctuary for God.

This chapter also outlines building some the Tabernacle furniture; the Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat, the Table for Bread, the Golden Lampstand, and the Bronze Alter in the outer court. Beautiful in detail and meaning. (The Alter of Insense and the Bronze Basin are described in chapter 30.)

Chapters 26 – 27 cover the literal construction of the Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting with its outer court or “fence” – wood, material and skin coverings, clasps, posts, pegs, all either plain or beautifully embroidered.

For a picturesque you-tube video that shows how the Tabernacle and it’s furniture might have been constructed, check out this video –   The Tabernacle of Moses

     (Tomorrow we will see the details God shows Moses for the Levitical Priesthood)

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 23

Jan23

   Day 23 —  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 23 – Genesis 32 – 34 (Jacob goes home)

In yesterday’s reading we saw Jacob being confronted by his father-in-law. He will face more crises today.

Chapter 32. After leaving Laban and before he meets his supposedly blood-thirsty brother Esau, God sends a host of angels to encourage him. (He’s going to need that!)

He’s sent a message to Esau that he is returning home and hopes to find favor (not fury) in his brother’s eyes.  The message comes back that Esau is coming to meet him…… with 400 men. YIKES!  (Remember Abe’s 318 men who fought kings and rescued Lot?)

Jacob divides his camp in two, hoping to save some of them, and asks for help and deliverance from the God of his grandfather and his father (not his own yet). He remembers that God had promised to be with him and to make his offspring numerous as the sand.  Then, still trusting in his OWN methods, he sends Esau a humongous gift of animals to appease him. And then he waits.

That night, God, Himself meets and wrestles with Jacob. He changes his name to Israel (champion with God) and blesses him. He also cripples Jacob’s hip to remind him Who really got the upper hand. Jacob realizes he’s “seen” God for himself.

Chapter 33. Taking one more precaution against the Esau-crisis, Jacob arranges his family in preferance of who he loves most. The servant girls and their boys in front, Leah, her sons & daughter next, and his beloved wife Rachel and favorite son Joseph at the very back. Then he turns to face his “avenging” brother.

But miracle of miracles! Esau runs to meet his long lost sibling and embraces him (and there is no dagger in his hand!). Introductions are made all around, Jacob/Israel is humble towards Esau, and Esau is gracious towards his “cheater” brother. They both go their way in peace.

Whew. Crisis number two averted, by God hand, again.

Jacob/Israel and his huge (intact) family and still an abundance of animals, turn West, cross the Jordan River and re-enter the Promised Land. He settles in Shechem and buys some land, including a well from the local head honcho. (betware, Jacob!!)

In Chapter 34, a set of horrible disasters plays out. First Jacob & Leah’s daughter Dinah is raped. The man, and his father, the local king barter for her. (Lets all intermarry and be one happy family.)  Unfortunately, Jacob does not meet this crisis head on. It’s left to Simeon and Levi, full brothers to Dinah to revenge their sister’s defilement.  They murder not only the man and his father, but ALL the men in the town. They also plundered the city – all their wealth, all their little ones and wives, all that was in their houses.

Whoa. (Certainly not the ‘eye for an eye’ concept that God had set in place hundreds of years ago.)

Jacob is aghast and ashamed… and fearful. He thinks he’s doomed now, by the hands of all the surrounding Canaanites. “I stink in their sight,” he moans. And they hastily move on.

On his journey home, he’s had to deal with Laban, Esau, and now the pagans in the land that God promised his offspring.  He’s nearly 100 now, and responsible for so many people. He’s at a very low point.

But God meets him in the pit and raises him up. (tomorrow’s reading)