Through the Bible in a Year: Proverbs 1-4

Posted on 04/25/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Monday, April 23: Ruth 1-4 (whole book)
Tuesday, April 24: Psalm 21-25
Wednesday, April 25: Proverbs 1-4
Thursday, April 26: Proverbs 5-7
Friday, April 27: Proverbs 8-10

Next week we will read Galatians, James, and Romans, which is a lot for one week, but the following week we will go back over Romans chapter by chapter, comparing James and Galatians (and the Gospels).

The overall year’s plan is here.

Proverbs Introduction

There is a section of Proverbs (chs. 11-29) that is just devoted to proverbs. The first ten chapters, however, are sort of an introduction to the list of proverbs, emphasizing the importance of wisdom … or perhaps I should write Wisdom because wisdom is personified throughout the first ten chapters.

So much of what is written about Wisdom reminds us of Christ (esp. 8:22-31), but Americans are very slow to identify Wisdom with the pre-incarnate Son of God because Wisdom is referred to as "she" throughout.

Let me explain why Wisdom is treated as a woman.

In Hebrew, as in almost all other western languages besides English, every noun has gender. It is not only you and your dog that can be male or female, but in Hebrew, Greek, German, Spanish and many other languages your coffee cup, the coffee in it, and the table you set it on are all male, female, or possible neuter.

Wisdom in Hebrew is a feminine word. Thus, when you discuss Wisdom, you will use feminine pronouns and refer to her as a woman.

The early Christians, who spoke Greek and used gender for their nouns like the Hebrews did, universally understood Proverbs 8:22-31 to apply to Christ. They were not thrown by the gender issue like we English speakers are.

We will not reach Proverbs 8 today, but we will see Wisdom personified even in Proverbs 1. I want us to be able to realize that Christ, just as he is the Word, is Wisdom, and he is the one crying out on the street corners for the Israelites to repent and listen (cf. Matt. 22:37).

Proverbs 1

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. All other knowledge is useless if not on that foundation.

Many Christians are fooled into thinking that wisdom involves having insight into theological issues such as soteriology, eschatology, and ecclesiology. All knowledge must begin with the fear of the Lord, so the very first instruction that is given is not to join in with sinners! In fact, choosing the Lord’s ways over the ways of sinners is the center of all Wisdom’s instructions in these introductory chapters.

We see something similar in Titus chapter two, where the apostle Paul gives the Bible’s only official description of sound doctrine. It is not systematic theology, but a call to live like Christians in our houses and workplaces.

Refusal to hear these admonitions from Wisdom will ensure that you will not be heard when you cry out to God in your time of trouble (v. 20-33).

Proverbs 2

Wisdom is something to be pursued. Though she cries on the street corner, we are to "seek her like silver."

If we pursue wisdom and understanding, we will obtain them, but notice their purpose:

To deliver you from the way of evil,
From the man who speaks perverse things;
From those who leave the paths of uprightness
To walk in the ways of darkness. (v. 12-13)

And:

So you will walk in the way of good men
And keep to the paths of the righteous. (v. 20)

We must beware of accumulating knowledge that is not life-changing. The apostle Paul writes:

The goal of the commandment is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith, from which some have turned aside to useless talking. (1 Tim. 1:5-6)

He also says:

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. (1 Cor. 8:1)

Finally, this chapter gives us our first exhortation to avoid the adulterous woman. Much of chapters five through seven discusses the danger of being enticed by loose women.

Our culture loves to exalt the enticement of loose women. Advertising is replete with it and not just on TV. We see it on billboards and in public places. We need to pray for our country because "the wicked walk on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men" (Ps. 12:8).

Proverbs 3

Proverbs 3:5-6 is in everyone’s promise box. It is one of the most memorized Bible passages … for good reason. We should always ask ourselves whether we have only memorized the verse or whether we are actually diligently pursuing acknowledging the Lord in all things and turning from our own ways.

This whole chapter emphasizes the overarching importance of wisdom. Get wisdom, and everything else will go smoothly. Wisdom is more important than riches, and her rewards are better than the rewards obtained by treasure. In fact, "Nothing you desire compares with her" (v. 15).

This chapter also continues the emphasis on living uprightly. There is nothing in these chapters about great insights into theology. These chapters emphasize things like not withholding good from your neighbor (v. 27-28).

Finally, there are two verses I want to point out.

Verse 19 has more meaning than the Hebrews ever could have realized. The Lord founded the earth by Wisdom. This says more than that the Lord was wise when he built the earth, but he made all things through his Son, Jesus Christ (cf. Prov. 8:22-31), though that would not be revealed until New Covenant times.

Verse 32 says that the Lord is intimate with the upright. Can there be any better reward for obtaining wisdom than intimacy with God?

Note: In verse 32, the notes of the New English Translation (NET Bible) say that the Hebrew is literally "with the upright is his intimate counsel."

Proverbs 4

I’ve always loved the wording of Proverbs 4:7 in the King James Version:

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And with all your getting get understanding.

Wisdom is the principal thing, and that has a double meaning when we realize that Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God personified here in Proverbs (and cf. 1 Cor. 1:30). The very purpose of God from the beginning is to bring everything together under Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:10), so he most certainly is the "principal thing."

(The wording I like is not "principal thing," though, but "in all your getting get understanding." Memorable.)

Verse 18 is worth noting as well. The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn; it just keeps getting brighter and brighter until it reaches a full day.

This is a product of grace (v. 9), and grace comes through Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:17), who is Wisdom incarnate.

Healing and the Word of God

I shouldn’t skip verse 22. The words of God are indeed life to those who find them, but also health to all their body. I believe many charismatic churches have taken the Scriptures way too far, claiming divine healing for everyone in every circumstance based on the Bible. None of them has ever been successful doing this.

But I also know that the Word of God is powerful. I remember spending time with a missionary once who was discouraged and needing uplifting. He was diabetic, and after several days with us, he marveled, "I have not needed insulin the entire time I’ve been with you. My blood sugar has been fine, and there’s nothing in the way I’ve been eating to account for that."

I had friends who used to go into another friend’s ICU room and read the Scriptures to him. They talked about how his vital signs would level out as they read to him, and he seemed to rouse. (He eventually fully recovered.)

And let’s not miss the obvious. When Jesus, the living Word of God, walked the earth, he healed everyone around him, sometimes even when he didn’t realize it was happening! (Mark 5:24-34).

The last phrase of Proverbs 4 sums up today’s reading well. "Turn your foot from evil." This is what Wisdom teaches us to do (both under the Old Covenant and the New Covenant—Tit. 2:11-14).

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Through the Bible in a Year: Psalm 21-25

Posted on 04/24/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Monday, April 23: Ruth 1-4 (whole book)
Tuesday, April 24: Psalm 21-25
Wednesday, April 25: Proverbs 1-4
Thursday, April 26: Proverbs 5-7
Friday, April 27: Proverbs 8-10

Next week we will read Galatians, James, and Romans, which is a lot for one week, but the following week we will go back over Romans chapter by chapter, comparing James and Galatians (and the Gospels).

The overall year’s plan is here.

Psalm 21

I don’t think this psalm needs any clarification. We can use the encouragement of psalms like this, lest we forget the Lord’s favor to us.

Psalms are songs. They are meant to be sung over and over, reminding us of what God has done for us. All of us grow weak without exhortation and fellowship (Heb. 3:12-14; Heb. 10:24-25). It is not just our children who need to hear the deeds of the Lord recounted! (Deut. 6).

Psalm 22:1-24

This is a Messianic psalm, one that prophesies about Christ. It was instrumental in my conversion.

I had read once (in a book called How We Got Our Bible and Why We Believe It Is God’s Word) that one of the strongest arguments for the divine inspiration of the Bible was fulfilled prophecy, especially concerning Jesus. One particular prophecy stood out to me in this psalm.

As a teenager, a Catholic priest had told me that the Nazis had actually crucified people and done "scientific" studies on how they died. They discovered that a crucified person died of suffocation after their arms and chest muscles cramped so badly that they could no longer take a breath. That is why the Romans would break the legs of the victim if they needed him to die faster. By pushing up with his legs, the victim could take pressure off his arms. Breaking their legs prevented this and reduced the time it took to die from up to three days down to one.

They pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
They divide my garments among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots. (v. 16-18)

There was no crucifixion in King David’s day. Why would he talk about his hands and feet being pierced, and being able to count all his bones? A crucified person would be able to count all his bones in the agony of dangling from his arms, but how would David know that? A crucified person’s hands and feet would be pierced, but that never happened to David!

Somehow, when I read that passage 30 years ago, I was sure that the priest’s sermon, the book—which I had ran across in a library—and this passage from Psalms were all purposely dropped in my path by Almighty God. When several other similar messages dropped in my path over a couple months, it was not long until I gave my life to Jesus Christ.

Not all of this Psalm is necessarily pure prophecy. I don’t believe Jesus ever prayed, "Oh my God, I cry by day, and you do not answer" (v. 2).

I picture it this way, though I have no authority for this except my own experience with God and God’s people: King David, being a prophet and a psalmist, was moved by the Spirit to feel himself in the place of Jesus so many centuries in the future. Filled with the feelings that Jesus experienced from Gethsemane to the cross, he wrote words to express those feelings, and we find them in Psalm 22.

Even verse 22 is quoted in Hebrews as spoken from Christ. In Hebrews 2:11-12 it is cited as proof that Jesus is willing to call us brothers (see also Rom. 8:29).

Psalm 22:25-31

This is a deep passage of triumph, explaining in somewhat figurative terms what Jesus accomplished by his death. Verse 29 even prophesies Jesus’ descent into Hades to preach to "the dead" (4:6) and "the spirits in prison" (1 Pet. 3:19).

Verse 31 mentions "a people who will be born." Jesus does not only make a new creation out of us individually (2 Cor. 5:17), but he is creating a new people (Heb. 12:22-24), a family for God (1 Tim. 3:15). Old tribal and national affiliations die, and we become a new nation with a citizenship from heaven (Php. 3:20; Gal. 3:27-29; Rom. 2:28-29).

The whole tenor of these seven verses also describes how Jesus’ death caused the kingdom of God to reach to the ends of the earth.

This is more important than we usually realize. Two thousand years have passed, and we are used to the idea that the Gospel goes to the end of the earth, but it was not always so. Before the new covenant, the Word of God was limited to Israel and those influenced by Israel, assuming that Israel was living holy enough to influence anyone for good. For the rest of us, "You were without Christ, being foreigners from the state of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12).

One of the greatest attributes of the New Covenant is what Paul says next, and what is described at the end of Psalm 22: "But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away are made near by the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13).

Psalm 23

Is there any psalm more well-known than Psalm 23, the Shepherd’s Psalm? It is one of the most comforting passages in the Bible, but it also calls us to a faith that many of us don’t have. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, do we really not fear? Do we believe that goodness and mercy will follow us all our days? Do we believe that Jesus is the Good Shepherd? Do we believe that God sent his Son out of love to deliver us from our sins, or do we believe that he is full of anger, needing his wrath appeased on a daily basis by the blood of Jesus?

God is our loving Father, and he leads us on paths of righteousness for his own Name’s sake. He loves, and he wants good for us, and that is why he sent Jesus to die.

If we are to be like David, then we will need to believe, like David, that God is for us, that he is abundant to pardon, and that he will shepherd us through all our trials.

Psalm 24

This psalm, like Psalm 15, discusses who may enter the holy hill of the Lord. It is not just an old covenant thought that only the righteous will be able enter God’s kingdom. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven" (Matt. 7:21). The apostle Paul says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived" (1 Cor. 6:9). The apostle Peter writes:

Be diligent to make your calling and election sure because if you do these things you will never stumble. In this way an entrance shall be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Pet. 1:10-11)

We also see that there is a difference between striving on our own and obtaining the grace of God. According to verse 5 and 6, God will bestow righteousness upon those who seek him. They are not already righteous, despite "clean hands and a pure heart," but they must receive vindication from the God of vindication.

Next week we will start on Romans, Galatians, and James and discuss the tension between faith and works that has been a source of division between denominations and between individual Christians. I wanted to touch on it here to help prepare our thinking for next week. Let me add this statement, which I believe to be true, from a fifth-century Christian who lived an ascetic life, but argued that salvation is not by works:

Some without fulfilling the commandments think that they possess true faith. Others fulfil the commandments and then expect the kingdom as a reward due to them. Both are mistaken. (Mark the Ascetic, On Those Who Think They Are Made Righteous by Works 18)

Psalm 25

Having gotten on the subject of the tension between faith and works, what an excellent psalm this is!

The Lord is both kind and fair;
that is why he teaches sinners the right way to live.
May he show the humble what is right!
May he teach the humble his way!
The Lord always proves faithful and reliable
to those who follow the demands of his covenant.
For the sake of your reputation, O Lord,
forgive my sin, because it is great.
The Lord shows his faithful followers
the way they should live.
They experience his favor;
their descendants inherit the land.
The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance,
and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. (Ps. 25:8-14, New English Translation)

The tension is so well-illustrated here. The Lord shows his faithful followers the way they should live; they don’t have to find it on their own. They experience his favor.

All of this applies to David, who can say, "Forgive my sin because it is great." Yet, despite that great sin, David points out that the Lord is faithful and reliable to those who follow the demands of his covenant, not to those who forsake it.

Whenever I bring this topic up, I am usually asked, "Where’s the line? When have I sinned too much? How will I be judged? What is enough righteousness to pass the test?"

We cannot object to being judged, nor to being frightened by the fact that we will be judged. Not only do the Scriptures tell us we will be judged, but they command a certain amount of fear because of it (1 Pet. 1:17; 2 Cor. 5:10-11).

Perhaps the most helpful verse, though is Galatians 6:7, "God is not mocked." There are those crying out for mercy, striving to find the grace of God, and they will find God abundant to pardon, doing everything for those persons that we read about in Psalm 25. And then there are those who in their laziness are not "diligent to make their calling and election sure" (2 Pet. 1:10), and they will find that they do not reap the rewards of this psalm nor the mercy of God.

Let’s finish with another quote from Psalm 25, reaffirming that we can trust in the mercy of God when we pursue him:

Turn toward me and have mercy on me,
for I am alone and oppressed!
Deliver me from my distress;
rescue me from my suffering!
See my pain and suffering!
Forgive all my sins! (v. 16-18)

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Through the Bible in a Year: Ruth

Posted on 04/23/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Monday, April 23: Ruth 1-4 (whole book)
Tuesday, April 24: Psalm 21-25
Wednesday, April 25: Proverbs 1-4
Thursday, April 26: Proverbs 5-7
Friday, April 27: Proverbs 8-10

Next week we will read Galatians, James, and Romans, which is a lot for one week, but the following week we will go back over Romans chapter by chapter, comparing James and Galatians (and the Gospels).

The overall year’s plan is here.

Ruth 1

It’s not a coincidence that this story is about a family from Bethlehem. Ruth was King David’s great grandmother and thus a direct ancestor of Jesus.

Ruth’s faithfulness to her mother-in-law is often used as an inspiration for Christian women. It is remarked upon several times throughout the book, but we’ll discuss that more in chapter 2.

Ruth 2

Leaving what was missed during harvest for the poor and widows to glean was a law in Israel (Lev. 19:9-10). At this point in history, it appears that Israel was still familiar with the Law of Moses or else certain cultural laws had become set in place as tradition because everything that happens in this book can be found in the Law of Moses (unlike Judges, which we just finished).

Well, there’s at least one exception. No Moabite was to enter the congregation of the Lord (Deut. 23:3). It is possible that prohibition only applied to men or families, as the Israelites were allowed to marry women who had been captured in war.

Boaz shows Ruth favor, and he says he has heard of Ruth’s kindness toward her mother-in-law. Naomi was old, by her own testimony, and it’s possible that she was not able to do the gleaning that Ruth was doing. Either way, Ruth was serving Naomi, worshiping Yahweh rather than the gods of Moab, and ensuring that an elderly widow was not alone.

Boaz calls this favor he’s showing her "wages from the LORD" (v. 12). God notices the kindnesses we do. They do not go unrewarded.

Ruth 3

While we don’t live in the same culture Ruth and Boaz did, it is obvious that the point of Ruth’s visit to Boaz’ threshing floor was to get him to marry her.

This is more than just a daring proposal. When a man died childless in Israel, the Law of Moses made it the responsibility of his brother to take the widow as a wife and have a child which would be considered the deceased brother’s descendant (Deut. 25:5-10). Apparently "brother" is meant in its wider meaning of "relative" because the law is being applied to men that are not Mahlon’s brothers.

Thus, Boaz and the unnamed closer relative bore a certain responsibility to Ruth, though it seems obvious that Boaz was interested in Ruth from the moment he saw her.

Ruth 4:1-15

Boaz finds the closest relative, and he gathers the elders of the city. This is all specified in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Even the removal of the shoe is mentioned there. However, the unwillingness to raise up children for a deceased brother was considered shameful enough that Deuteronomy 25 says that the widow is also to spit in the face of the relative that refused to do it.

Notice, though, that the removal of the shoe in Ruth 4 is over the land, not over Ruth, and it is attributed to custom, not to the Law. It is very likely that all the Law-keeping in the book of Ruth, even the allowing of the widows to glean, was the product of custom, not a knowledge of the Law.

Why do I say that? Because a knowledge of the Law is noticeably lacking from all of Israel’s history in the Scriptures, though there are a few exceptions.

Also, what Mark Twain said is true:

Laws are sand, customs are rock. Laws can be evaded and punishment escaped, but an openly transgressed custom brings sure punishment. The penalty may be unfair, unrighteous, illogical, and a cruelty; no matter, it will be inflicted, just the same. (The Gorky Incident, cited by twainquotes.com)

This is a sad truth, but it is a truth. Mark Twain was simply observing exactly what Jesus had said was true among the Pharisees, which is that tradition was held higher than the Word of God (Mark 7:9).

It is a danger to every one of us. And you can be certain that if you choose to stand on the Word of God over tradition, you will be punished by the majority for whom "customs are rock."

Ruth 4:16-22: Hebrew Genealogies

I referred to Ruth as King David’s great grandmother in my comments on chapter one, but that may not be true. Hebrew histories tend to skip generations, and the genealogy given at the end of chapter four certainly skips numerous generations.

How do we know this? Salmon is said to Boaz’ father. Boaz’ mother, however, was Rahab, the harlot from Jericho, according to Matthew 1:5. Some 400 years passed between the fall of Jericho and the beginning of King David’s reign. That is far too much time to allow Rahab to be King David’s great great grandmother. That’s 100 years per generation, and we are no longer in the first 11 chapters of Genesis where the lifespans were so long.

The same thing is true of the previous 400 years, when Israel was in Egypt. Pharez or Perez (v. 18, which spelling will depend on which translation you’re using) was the son of Judah who was the son of Jacob. That only allows 5 generations from Perez to Salmon, which is still too few to span 400 years.

It seems clear that the Israelites did not keep a good genealogy during their time in Egypt because there are even fewer generations between Levi and Moses to span those 400 years. Numbers 26:59 makes Moses to be Levi’s grandson! (See also Ex. 6:18-20.)

Kinsman Redeemer (Advanced)

Boaz is often spoken of as a type of Christ as "kinsman redeemer." In other words, a relative who redeems us from slavery.

I looked at a few web sites, and all of them referred me back to Leviticus 25 rather than Deuteronomy 25 for the law of the kinsman redeemer. Leviticus 25, especially verses 47-55, talks about a brother that goes into slavery, not one that dies and leaves a widow.

Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer. He did redeem us from slavery, and he did it with something much more precious than money. He did it with his own divine blood.

Boaz, however, was not filling the role of kinsman redeemer, but was marrying Ruth under the laws of Deuteronomy 25, so he could raise up a child for the name of Mahlon (Ruth 4:10). I really feel this is more a wonderful story of Ruth’s faithfulness, Boaz’ kindness, and the Lord’s providence in the ancestry of Jesus than a type of Jesus as our Kinsman Redeemer, even though Jesus most certainly is our Kinsman Redeemer. (This ought to startle us, that God would send his Son to redeem us and make us his children and Christ’s brothers—1 Jn. 3:1; Rom. 8:29; Rom. 5:8.)

If I’m missing something, feel free to point it out to me in the comment section.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Judges 17-21

Posted on 04/20/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Friday’s) Bible Reading is Judges 17-21

Next week we will read Ruth, then spend some time in Psalms and Proverbs.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Judges 17

Judges 17:3 is one of the most contradictory verses in the Bible. Micah’s mother dedicates 200 pieces of silver to Yahweh so that her son can make a graven image, a direct violation of the third commandment.

Verse 6 says that there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Worse than no king, there was obviously no law in Israel. Even the ten commandments were forgotten.

Verse 13 is further evidence of the Israelites’ confusion in those days: "Now I know that the LORD will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as a priest."

This chapter can’t be a chronological continuation of Judges. Jephthah said 300 years had passed since Moses. Chapters 17-21 not only describe Dan’s conquest of their northern territory, which happened much closer to the time of Moses, but 20:28 says that Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, was high priest at the time.

Judges 18

Now we find the story of the tribe of Dan and how they ended up on the north end of Israel when their assigned land was in the south, near Philistia. It also provides an explanation for why they were unable to conquer the Philistines. There had lost all trust in and worship of God.

Notice that their idolatry continues all the way to the time of exile (v. 30). The first king of northern Israel, after the division of Judah and Israel, would set up a golden calf in Dan that would also stay there until Israel was exiled by the Assyrians.

Israel split into two nations, ten tribes in the north and two in the south, under Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. The northern kingdom, consisting of the ten tribes, was captured and exiled by the Assyrians. They never had a king that the Bible describes as good.

The southern kingdom, which became known as Judah rather than Israel (and from which the word "Jews" comes) had a king, Hezekiah, who repelled the Assyrians out of faith in God. Later, Judah would go into captivity under the Babylonians. The Babylonian captivity was temporary, lasting 70 years. There is no indication the northern tribes ever returned from their Assyrian exile, and they are still called "The Ten Lost Tribes."

When the Assyrians captured northern Israel, they left some Israelites there, but they brought Assyrians to settle the land as well. This Assyrian-Israelite mixture is the race known as the Samaritans in the Gospels.

Judges 19

There is a reason for laws! Judges 19 describes such a height of wickedness that we had our 10-year-old daughter skip this section of Judges.

This was not unusual behavior for Gibeah, it appears. The old man warned them that they would not be able to stay in town square. I’m sure he knew the citizens could not be trusted.

Psalm 12:8 says that the wicked walk on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men. The lack of law, and the evil behavior of the Israelites, including all their idolatry, led to ever more corrupt behavior. It’s a pattern the apostle Paul describes in Romans 1 as well (v. 18-32).

Judges 20

Israel loses 40,000 men in the process of reducing the tribe of Benjamin to 600 men. It seems probable that despite the fact that Israel called on the LORD for help, their idea of Yahweh was as warped as Micah and his mother’s (ch. 16). Then it would be no surprise that he was slow to answer them, since they had forgotten his Law and gone to the worship of idols.

Judges 21

Israel resolves the problem of destroying the tribe of Benjamin in a rather shocking manner. Perhaps the best explanation for all of this is, "Each man did what was right in his own eyes," which is the very last phrase in the book of Judges.

Perhaps we should compare the stories we read about under Moses and under Joshua, where they lived in daily trust in God, with the story in Judges where there was not that kind of clear faith. The Lord’s victories are complete and clean under Moses and Joshua, without grievous loss. In the time of the judges, everything is sloppy, the Law is lost, idolatry is rampant, and there is grievous loss and heartache everywhere, even after they call on Yahweh.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Judges 13-16

Posted on 04/19/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Thursday’s) Bible Reading is Judges 13-16
Friday, April 20: Judges 17-21

Next week we will read Ruth, then spend some time in Psalms and Proverbs.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Judges 13

Judges 13 begins the story of Samson, as unusual a judge as any we will read about. What makes him unusual is that there’s nothing about him that seems "holy" except his lifetime Nazarite vow (Num. 6). He didn’t drink wine, eat grapes, or cut his hair.

His mother also could not drink wine or beer or eat grapes. This may only have applied while she was pregnant with Samson (see v. 14, where only Samson’s mother, not his father, must follow these rules).

Once again we see that the Angel of the LORD is treated as divine. He receives sacrifices, and he ascends into heaven on the smoke of the sacrifice. Also note that he refuses to give a name to Manoah when he asks (v. 17-18). God doesn’t need a name. He is who he is. When he does use a name, it is for our benefit, to express some aspect of his nature to us. No name is adequate to encompass the nature of Almighty God, so there is no specific name that is "the Name."

Zorah and Eshtaol, where Samson was from, were west of Jerusalem and east of the major Philistine cities.

Judges 14

There is an excellent lesson in verse two about trusting God. Samson is not doing something righteous in being bent on marrying this Philistine woman. In fact, the whole wedding is a disaster, and he never ends up married to her at all.

Nonetheless, it was God who was guiding all this mess, and guiding this wild man named Samson, in order to bring about the overthrow of the Philistines.

It is good to seek the Lord and do his will. We can’t use Samson as an excuse to disobey God. However, when we find that things are out of control, we can turn to God and trust him to work all things for good for us if we love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:29). This is why it is so important to fight to live for the purposes of God. We want God fighting on our side, but that will only happen if we join what he’s doing. He is not going to join what we are doing.

But note that what God is doing always has a role for us, a role we were specifically made for. He is, after all, the Creator.

Finally, Timnah is west of Zorah, just on the edge of Philistine territory, still east of the major Philistine cities. (Those cities are Gaza, Gath, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron … see map; and this map has Timnah.)

Judges 15

Note that Samson is never concerned about delivering Israel. His actions against the Philistines are always motivated by anger and revenge.

That’s not something we’d expect God to bless. Again, we need to be humble in our confident conclusions about what God thinks. You can see from this chapter that God is not only with Samson, but he’s with him completely, even providing water for him miraculously in the wilderness.

Judges 16

There are few stories more famous than Samson and Delilah. For the second time, he is nagged into giving away a secret that will harm him, though this time it costs him his eyes, not just 30 sets of clothes.

Once again, Samson’s purpose in taking down the temple is revenge (v. 28), though the Lord’s purpose is the deliverance of Israel.

If giving you the geography is helping any, the Valley of Sorek is just north of Timnah.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Judges 9-12

Posted on 04/18/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Wednesday’s) Bible Reading is Judges 9-12
Thursday, April 19: Judges 13-16
Friday, April 20: Judges 17-21

Next week we will read Ruth, then spend some time in Psalms and Proverbs.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Judges 9

This is a long chapter, but the story of Abimelech needs no commentary.

Judges 10

The Israelites experience peace under a couple judges, but when they returned to worshiping false gods, the true God was fed up with them. Even when they repented, he refused to listen to them. There is a warning about this in Proverbs 1:24-33:

Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention, since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you … Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will search for me, but won’t find me. Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear the LORD, were not interested in my counsel,and rejected all my correction, they will eat the fruit of their way and be glutted with their own schemes. (Prov. 1:24-26, 28-31, HCSB)

Of course, we see that God, being a merciful God, eventually relents and delivers them (v. 16).

Judges 11

Judges 11 is the shocking story of Jephthah, who led Israel against the Ammonites. It is not his victory that is shocking, but the promise he made that whatever came out of his house to greet him would be offered as a burnt sacrifice.

Why he did not suspect that his daughter or his wife would come out, we will never know. It seems safe to assume he expected an animal to be first.

Whatever the case, after giving his daughter two months to mourn her virginity, he followed through on his oath, and she willingly submitted to it.

It’s also worth noting that Jephthah says it’s been 300 years that the Israelites have been living in Canaan (v. 26). We’ve been reading through Joshua and Judges in two weeks, so it’s easy to forget that tens and forties of years are passing with each judge and with each span of disobedience without a judge.

Judges 12

The Ephraimites call the Gileadites refugees in Ephraim and Manasseh, but the Gileadites were part of the tribe of Manasseh (Num. 32:39-40).

The Shibboleth-Sibboleth test for the Ephraimites is interesting, but this is a sad moment in Israelite history.

There’s worse to come as we finish this book!

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Through the Bible in a Year: Judges 6-8

Posted on 04/17/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Tuesday’s) Bible Reading is Judges 6-8
Wednesday, April 18: Judges 9-12
Thursday, April 19: Judges 13-16
Friday, April 20: Judges 17-21

Next week we will read Ruth, then spend some time in Psalms and Proverbs.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Judges 6: The Angel of the LORD (Advanced)

We did not discuss "the Angel of the LORD" when he appeared in Judges 2:1, but we should discuss him here.

The Angel (or "Messenger" or "Visible Presence") of the Lord is an appearance of the Son of God in visible form. When he appears, he is worshiped, he receives sacrifices, and those who encounter him speak of seeing the face of God.

Gideon is no exception. In fact, v. 14 says, "The LORD looked at him and said … " (NASB; The NET Bible has "The Lord himself turned to him and said … "). When the Angel disappears, Gideon becomes frightened because he has seen the face of the Angel.

The reason for the fear of seeing the face of God comes from Exodus 34, where God informed Moses that no one can see his face and live (Ex. 33:20; it’s arguable that this is the one place where in some sense the glory of the Father rather than the Son was seen in the Hebrew Scriptures).

The notes on the NET Bible suggest that "the LORD" in v. 14 is God in heaven rather than the Angel, because Gideon hears the LORD speak after the angel disappears in vv. 22-23. I don’t think it’s possible to read v. 14 that way, but you can read it for yourself and see.

I am not arguing against two Yahwehs. Both the Father and the Son can be called Yahweh, and they are mentioned together in Gen. 19:24 and Zech. 2:8-11.

And I replied, "Now assuredly, Trypho, I shall show that, in the vision of Moses, this same One alone who is called an Angel, and who is God, appeared to and communed with Moses. For the Scripture says, "The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the bush; and he sees that the bush burns with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside and see this great sight, for the bush is not burnt.’ And when the Lord saw that he is turning aside to behold, the Lord called to him out of the bush." In the same manner, therefore, in which the Scripture calls him who appeared to Jacob in the dream an Angel, then [says] that the same Angel who appeared in the dream spoke to him, saying, "I am the God that appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother" … even so here, the Scripture, in announcing that the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses, and in afterwards declaring him to be Lord and God, speaks of the same One, whom it declares by the many testimonies already quoted to be minister to God, who is above the world, above whom there is no other. (Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 60, c. A.D. 150)

Judges 6: Gideon and Fear

God seems to be remarkably patient with Gideon. He gives him several signs, and he does not rebuke him when he complains about the LORD not being with Israel (v. 13).

I think the reason is that God knew there was a foundation of remarkable faith in Gideon. How many of us would have been willing to destroy our father’s altar to Baal and the town’s Asherah pole, even at night, at risk of our lives? Even Gideon’s father was brave, standing up to the townspeople and calling them to let Baal defend himself if he could.

Later, Gideon would do much more amazing things, including going into battle with just 300 people after sending thousands home.

Finally, if you’re following where this battle with the Midianites is going to take place and who will be fighting in it, the Abiezrites are one of the families of Manasseh (Josh. 17:2), and this map shows the Valley of Jezreel (see the list on the left under "Jezreel").

Judges 7

God distills the Israelite army down to 300 people, and then he gives Gideon an amazing sign to build his faith yet more.

Gideon occasionally gets a bad rap as a fearful man because he needed all these signs, but he led 300 men against an army as thick as locusts!

It’s been suggested that the reason God chose the 300 men who lapped water like a dog, lifting the water to their mouth, is because those men were more vigilant. You can see around you when you drink that way, while kneeling down and putting your face to the water leaves you vulnerable to your enemies.

I don’t know if that’s the reason, but I thought I’d pass it on to you.

Judges 8

Gideon completes the conquest of the Midianites, and he returns to his home, though he continued to judge Israel for 40 years. He became rich from the war, and he took some of the gold to make an "ephod" that became a snare to Israel and even to his family.

An ephod is a priestly garment, usually used to hear from God. Rather than try to pass on further information about what an ephod is, I recommend you type "ephod" into Google’s search engine. There you will find articles on the ephod, but also pictures of various types of ephods.

Two notes:

Gideon refuses to "rule" over Israel because God is already their ruler (even though they don’t obey him). Judges did not rule. They judged, which means they only dealt with the people who came to them.

The false god that Israel devoted themselves to was named Baal-Berith, which means "Lord of the Covenant," rather an ironic name, considering that the Israelites were breaking their covenant with the true God.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Judges 1-5

Posted on 04/16/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Monday’s) Bible Reading is Judges 1-5.
Tuesday, April 17:Judges 6-8
Wednesday, April 18: Judges 9-12
Thursday, April 19: Judges 13-16
Friday, April 20: Judges 17-21

Next week we will read Ruth, then spend some time in Psalms and Proverbs.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Judges 1

Judges 1 recaps a lot of the events of Joshua. It also details the places where Israel was unable to conquer the Canaanites. A reason for their failure is given in chapter two.

Note that "the Negev" (v. 9) comes up often in the histories. It means "the South" and refers to all of Israel south of Judah and Simeon. It was a desert area. The "Wilderness of Zin" and the land of Edom.

Wilderness of Zin

Zin Valley in the Negev.
By Daniel Baranek, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Used with permission.

Judges 2

Judges 2 sums up what we’ll read about in the rest of Judges. The people worship the Lord while they’re judged by a strong leader, but they quickly turned to the false gods of the Canaanites as soon as he died.

Notice the problem at the heart of their falling away. A new generation rose up "that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done" (v. 10, NET). If we are going to see our own next generation serve the Lord, we are going to have to bring them into a personal experience of the Lord’s presence and let the see and experience answers to prayer.

At the end of the chapter, God says that he left some of the Canaanites in the land to test the Israelites and to teach them war.

Judges 3

Chapter 3 begins the cycle outlined in chapter 2. Othniel judges Israel, Israel falls away, then Ehud delivers them and judges Israel.

Shamgar is mentioned as the third judge, but there’s no indication as to how long he led. Chapter 4 begins by saying that the people fell away after Ehud died, so Shamgar is just a one-sentence note in Israel’s history.

Oddly enough Shamgar is mentioned in Deborah’s victory song in chapter 5 (v. 6). The song suggests that the Deborah and Barak’s victory over King Jabin and General Sisera happened during the days of Shamgar. Yet Deborah is said to have been leading Israel at the time (4:4).

Clarke’s Commentary makes the clever suggestion that Shamgar was judging Israel in the west, while Ehud was an eastern judge. The fact that we don’t hear anything about the Philistines during this portion of Judges is a sign that Shamgar doing a good job.

Judges 5:7-8, however, may indicate that Shamgar was simply an ineffective leader, as that passage says that Israel had no warriors until Deborah arose.

All of that is speculation. We only have two verses on our third judge.

Judges 4

Judges 4 is a great story. Stories like this captivate children, as do the stories of our Lord while he was on earth.

King Jabin was a Canaanite king, and the city of Hazor is in the main Israelite territory on the west side of the Jordan. This was not oppression from outside but from among the Canaanite people who were not conquered. (Way up north, south of Dan.)

Judges 5

This is Deborah and Barak’s song of triumph.

Again, I don’t think this needs any commentary. See you tomorrow!

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Jesus Paid the Price?

Posted on 04/14/2012 by Paul Pavao

You’d think that as often as songs mention how Jesus "paid the price" for our sins, that such terminology would be found in the Bible at least once.

Instead, the only price discussed in Scripture in reference to the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is our redemption … a "purchase" price. We were "purchased for God with [Jesus’] blood" (Rev. 5:9, NASB); The church of God was "purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28, NASB). We were "redeemed" with "precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless" (1 Pet. 1:18-19, NASB).

Usually, when we sing about how Jesus "paid the price," we mean that God was going to punish us with death and hell, but Jesus died in our place, paying a price to God in order to divert God’s wrath.

Scripture never uses such terminology.

We were purchased "for God" (Rev. 5:9). We were not purchased from God, nor from God’s wrath. We were "redeemed" (1 Pet. 1:18) and "ransomed" (Matt. 20:28).

I discuss my conclusions about this on my Christian history site at Substitutionary Atonement, but whether you agree with my conclusions or not, you have to acknowledge that what I’ve written above is true. It’s a simple fact that our very common use of "paid the price" or "paid the penalty" is never duplicated in Scripture.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Joshua 21-24

Posted on 04/13/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Friday’s) Bible reading is Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges, beginning with chapters 1 through 5 on Monday.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Joshua 21

Chapter 21 describes the assignment of cities to the Levites. Notice that the Levites are divided into three families: Kohathites, Gershonite, and Merarites.

Aaron’s descendants, who were the priests, were part of the Kohathite family. It’s hard to see how his descendants needed 10 cities, since Aaron was only born 125 to 130 years earlier. Perhaps the priests had lots of servants or other Levites were with them as helpers to their work.

Note: You can find the location of the cities and territories at this map.

It’s also interesting to me that the priests received cities in Judah, Benjamin, and Simeon, while the rest of the Kohathites received cities in Ephraim. The Tabernacle had come to rest in Shiloh, which is in Ephraim, and it required service from priests for the daily sacrifices. Perhaps the priests had some sort of rotating schedule of service in Shiloh.

Joshua 21:43-45: All-Inclusive Language Revisited

I’ve been pointing out on a regular basis that all-inclusive language in the Scriptures is not always all inclusive. The reason I do this is because we as Christians often take confident stands on things that we ought not to be so certain about.

Verses 43 to 45 are an excellent example. We’re told that "none of their enemies could resist them" (v.44b, NET), yet we saw yesterday that the tribe of Dan couldn’t capture or dwell in their assigned territory. They wound up as far away from it as they could possibly get, in the northern tip of Israel, even though their assigned land was south of Judah! (This map shows both territories.)

Further, we’ve been reading about various people that the Israelites were not able to overcome (e.g., the Jebusites—Joshua 15:63).

So why does this passage say their enemies could not resist them? The reason is that it is generally true. The nation of Israel came straight out of the wilderness and destroyed all the nations of the Canaanites to take possession of the Promised Land in a few short years. They settled into it and grew in strength and power for centuries.

In other words, the Lord had provided for them exactly what he promised.

But!

But we need to beware that we don’t snatch a passage like Joshua 21:43-45 and hold to a literal meaning that doesn’t match the facts. Taking a stand on words like "all" and "every" is almost certain to lead you into error.

Joshua 22

Joshua 22 has an interesting story about the altar built by Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who had land on the east side of the Jordan.

There are two things I want to point out.

Notice that it is at Shiloh that all Israel gathered against their brothers. This is because the Tabernacle was at Shiloh (18:1).

Finally, this passage, especially as we head into Judges, 1 Samuel, and 2 Samuel, is another lesson about taking too strong a stand on what we think we know about Scripture. It is clear that all Israel took God’s command about only sacrificing at the Tabernacle very seriously. They were going to war with their brothers because they believed their brothers had set up an alternative altar to the one at the Tabernacle of the Lord in Shiloh.

As we read through the histories, however, we will find that when a man finds favor with God, he can flex the rules a bit. The prophet Samuel was offering sacrifices on a high place when he met Saul and anointed him the first king of Israel (1 Samuel 9). He built a separate altar for the Lord in his home town of Ramah (1 Sam. 7:17). King David offered sacrifices on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (one of the races Judah was unable to drive out) in order to stave off a plague of the Lord (2 Sam. 24). Neither of these men were Levites, much less priests, yet apparently they were guiltless before the Lord.

Joshua 23

At the end of his life, Joshua exhorts the Israelites to continue following God. It’s interesting to me that this was an emphasis of Paul and Barnabas when they returned to visit the churches they started (Acts 14:22). Scripture says we need to be encouraged "every day, as long as it is called today," to continue in God’s ways (Heb. 3:13).

Joshua 24

Joshua asks for a recommitment to the Lord from the tribes of Israel, and they give it. They only kept this commitment until Joshua and other elders who had seen the miracles of the Lord firsthand had died (v. 31).

Apparently, they weren’t good at teaching the Lord’s statutes "diligently to your children" and speaking of them "when you sit in the house, when you walk on the road, when you lay down, and when you get up" (Deut. 6:7).

It is horribly common for the Lord’s work to only last one generation because the saints are unable to pass real faith to their children. Do we speak of our faith in the house, on the road, as we go to bed, and beginning when we rise in the morning? Are we good examples of the faith we possess?

Finally, there’s some odd words in verses 25 and 26. Joshua, it says, gave the Israelites "a statute and an ordinance." That’s not odd, but the fact that he wrote it down in "the Law Scroll of God" is (v. 26, NET Bible). Did Joshua do some of the writing of the Law of Moses? Or is this merely a reference to the fact that Joshua 23 and 24, Joshua’s final exhortations to Israel, were written down and kept with the Law of Moses?

It’s also a little odd that there was a "sanctuary of the Lord" in Shechem (v.26, NASB). The NET Bible translates it as "the Lord’s shrine."

Joshua had gathered all the elders of Israel to Shechem, which might make us think the Tabernacle had been set up there. If that were the case, then that would explain "the sanctuary of the Lord." However, Judges 18:31 tells us that the "house of God" was still in Shiloh.

Hundreds of years passed between Joshua 18:1, when the Tabernacle was set up in Shiloh, and Judges 18:31, when it was still in Shiloh, so it’s not impossible that it was moved to Shechem, but there’s nothing about this passage in Joshua 24 to make us think that, other than the fact that "the sanctuary of the Lord" generally is a reference to the tabernacle. Obviously, the translators of the NET Bible felt that it’s not a reference to the Tabernacle because they chose to translate it as "shrine."

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