Through the Bible in a Year: Joshua 16-20

Posted on 04/12/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Thursday’s) Bible reading is Joshua 16-20.
Friday, April 13: Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Joshua 16

A lot of today’s reading is just a description of the land allotted to each of the tribes. It’s best read with a map handy.

Here is a simple colored map of the tribal areas.

Here is an interactive map with city names.

Joshua 17

17:3-4 has the story of a family with no sons whose daughters were assigned land.

The descendants of Joseph got a double portion because his sons Manasseh and Ephraim each ended up with a tribe. Not satisfied with this double portion, they ask for more. Joshua gives it to them, but only if they go conquer the land themselves.

It’s surprising to me that they are willing to complain that this extra allotment might be too difficult to conquer because the inhabitants had chariots with iron wheels. After the entire congregation had wandered in the wilderness for over 38 extra years because of the fearful report of the spies, you would think that these sons of Joseph would be more frightened of God’s reaction than of the iron-wheeled chariots! Especially when they’re addressing Joshua, one of the two believing spies!

Joshua 18

The Tent of Meeting is set up at Shiloh, and Shiloh is an important city for a while. Keep in mind that there was no temple. That would have to wait four hundred years for Solomon. God still met Israel at the tabernacle the Israelites had made in the wilderness.

Thus, in a sense, Shiloh was the first capitol of Israel. Jerusalem would not be the capitol until King David, some 350 years later.

Joshua 19

Chapter 19 describes the land given to six of the tribes and Joshua. It may not be exciting to read all the city names when you don’t know where those cities are, but you should at least skim the chapter. There are always little tidbits hidden among the more "boring" stuff.

By the way, for advanced Bible students, there are sometimes amazing messages hidden in the names of the cities. If you get a computer Bible—I use the Online Bible, which is not online, but downloaded free to my computer—you can just click on the city name and see its translation. It’s very fast!

One of the tidbits in this chapter is that Judah’s land was too big for them. Thus, Simeon’s land was taken from Judah’s.

What’s interesting is that despite the fact that Simeon’s land was taken from the south of Judah, when the kingdom split under Rehoboam, ten tribes went with Israel, including Simeon. It was Judah and Benjamin that remained under the rule of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son.

Another interesting tidbit is that Dan was unable to capture their assigned lot. They were given the northern area of the Philistines, but when they failed, they moved completely across Israel to the north, winding up with a tiny portion of northernmost Israel. It’s only major city was Dan itself. (Look at the simple, colored map to see where those were.)

Joshua 20

Six cities were set aside as cities of refuge. A look at the map will show that they are well-spaced, one in the north, one central, and one in the south. Where you can’t find the specific city on the map, you can see where the tribal area was.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Joshua 11-15

Posted on 04/11/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Wednesday’s) Bible reading is Joshua 11-15.
Thursday, April 12: Joshua 16-20.
Friday, April 13: Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Joshua 11

Joshua 11 describes more of Israel’s conquests. Towards the end of the chapter, the "Anakim" are mentioned. They are mentioned because they were giants (Num. 13:33; Deut. 2:10-11).

The Anakim were destroyed in the land, but they were left in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod, which are Philistine cities. They were southwest of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean coast. It is likely that Goliath was a descendant of Anak.

The capture of the land of Canaan and the destruction of its inhabitants typifies deliverance from sin in our lives as Christians. The Canaanites that were left after Joshua’s campaigns led the children of Israel astray with the worship of false gods. In the same way, we must not leave any remnants of sin in ourselves. We must purge our own land so that sin, deceptive as it is (Heb. 3:13), does not creep back into our lives.

The term I’ve heard is that we must be "thorough" with ourselves, letting the Lord deal with every part of us.

Joshua 12

King Og of Bashan is said to be one of the few remaining Rephaites (v. 4). This is another race of giants. In fact, in most cases, the Hebrew word Rapha is simply translated "giant," though sometimes Bible translations leave it as Rapha or Rephaim (plural).

The Rephaim are mentioned along with the "Emim" in Genesis 14:5. The Emim are described as giants along with the Anakim in Deut. 2:10-11.

Joshua 13

It seems as though we’ve been told that Joshua has conquered all the land, but this chapter begins by telling us that much of the land remains to be conquered. Again, beware of taking all-inclusive language too literally.

Keep in mind that the Israelites were primarily taking possession of the narrow strip of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. God had promised them, however, all the land from the Euphrates to the Nile. Such an expansive kingdom would not happen until the time of David and Solomon and then never again.

This chapter gives the land divisions on the east of the Jordan, which Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh had asked for. Once the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean had been conquered for the remaining tribes, the men of those two-and-a-half tribes were free to return to their inheritance on the other side of the Jordan.

Joshua 14 and 15

Caleb was one of the two faithful spies—Joshua was the other—who went into the land when Moses first led the Israelites to Canaan. The people didn’t listen to Caleb and Joshua, so they were banished to the wilderness for 40 years until all the men over 20 died … except Caleb and Joshua.

Caleb was given Hebron, which was not just a city, but an area as well. We’ve already read that the city of Hebron was captured (10:36-37). Now we’re told that Caleb attacked Debir, but Debir had been already captured and destroyed as well (10:38-39).

My conclusion is that in chapter 10, we are reading an overview of the conquest of Canaan. Chapters 14 and 15 bring up Caleb’s part in that, and it was Caleb who led the capture of the cities of Hebron and Debir that we read about in chapter 10.

Chapter 15 begins a listing of the cities that were in Judah’s territories. In tomorrow’s reading, we’ll get the divisions given to the other tribes.

Obviously, these cities are unfamiliar to almost all of us. Reading through those cities is not going to be the most interesting reading, since you don’t know where hardly any of them are.

I recommend using a map. The internet has a real simple colored list of the tribal areas that can help give an overview, and then there’s an interactive map with lots of city names.

You don’t need to know all the cities, but it will be helpful to have an idea where Jerusalem is, as well as the five major Philistine cities: Ashdod, Gath, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron. They are major factors when we read about King David. You also should know the location of Samaria, the future capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. Finally, take a look at Dan (far, far north), Bethel, and Shiloh, which are commonly mentioned cities throughout the histories we will read. Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, put golden calves in Dan and Bethel. Knowing where those cities are helps us understand why he chose those cities.

It wouldn’t hurt to note Mt. Hermon, considered the northern tip of Israel and mentioned throughout the Psalms, and Mt. Carmel (in the north on the coast), where Elijah has his famous battle with the priests of Baal.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Joshua 6-10

Posted on 04/10/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Tuesday’s) Bible reading is Joshua 6-10.
Wednesday’s is Joshua 11-15.
Thursday’s is Joshua 16-20.
Friday’s is Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Temporary New Bible Translation

Someone referred me to a Bible called the NET Bible. I haven’t had a chance to review it much, but I’m going to use it for this blog for a while.

I thought I’d give you the link in case you wanted to look at it, though.

What I liked about it, and the reason that someone recommended it to me, is that it actually lets you know that the Seraphim in Isaiah 6 are serpents. I have a page explaining why it’s a problem that most translations refer to these creatures as Seraphim in Isaiah 6, but then translate the word "seraphim" as serpents or snakes everywhere else it occurs in the Bible.

Joshua 6

This is the story of the conquest of Jericho.

Some interesting points:

  • The priests blew ram’s horns all the way around the city, but the people were required to be silent until the final lap around the city on the seventh day.
  • Israel actually walked around Jericho a total of thirteen times. One time each for six days, then seven times on the seventh day.
  • The whole wall fell down. The warriors were all told to run straight ahead into the city. The exception was the portion of the wall where Rahab lived.
  • Ancient Jericho was about 10 acres. It looks like it was about 3/4 of a mile around the city at the wall. Adding some distance to stay out of sling or bow shot from the wall would make the march at least a mile. So Israel attacked Jericho after walking at least 7 miles on the seventh day. There’s some interesting information here.
  • Apparently, they marched on the Sabbath, too.

Rahab and her family were not only spared, but Rahab turned out to be King David’s great great grandmother (Matt. 1:5).

Joshua pronounced a curse on the site of Jericho, lest it be rebuilt (v. 26). This curse came to pass on a man named Hiel, from Bethel (1 Kings 16:34).

Joshua 7

Achan didn’t take the Lord’s warnings seriously concerning laying hands on Jericho’s riches. We’d do well to heed this, as one day we will all be judged by Jesus Christ. The great King is not an American, and merciful though he is, he will judge according to his word, not change it out of leniency.

It appears as well that the spies who spied out Ai hadn’t learned that strength is in the Lord, either. They decided that only 2 or 3,000 men were needed to take Ai. What they found is that no amount of people is enough when the Lord is against you.

That truth is worth meditating on. What are we able to do? Everything when Christ is with us (Php. 4:13), but apart from him we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5).

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit." You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. You ought to say instead, "If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (Jam. 4:13-16, NET Bible).

Joshua 8

Notice that God disagrees with the spies of chapter 7. He thinks the Israelites need 30,000 warriors, including 5,000 in ambush, to defeat the city of Ai.

It’s good to consult the Lord before you decide something is easy to do.

Joshua also has the people complete the ceremony of blessing and curses on Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim that Moses had mentioned in Deut. 27. (I misread Deut. 27 … and have misread it for 30 years! I thought the pronouncing of blessings and curses happened there in Deut. 27.)

Joshua 9

Joshua 9 drives home the point that we ought to consult the Lord in everything and not just trust what our eyes see.

Joshua 10

This chapter describes Joshua’s conquest of the rest of the land. Apparently, it wasn’t every city in the land because, as we will see tomorrow, there are more battles and more cities to take.

You can’t ever assume that all-inclusive language ("all the land"; v. 40, NASB) is all inclusive, as I’ve pointed out before. Very often, all-inclusive language concerns things that are just generally true.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Joshua 1-5

Posted on 04/09/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s (Monday’s) Bible Reading is Joshua 1-5.
Tuesday’s is Joshua 6-10.
Wednesday’s is Joshua 11-15.
Thursday’s is Joshua 16-20.
Friday’s is Joshua 21-24.

Next week we will read Judges.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Joshua 1

The Book of Joshua is the story of the conquest of the land God promised to Israel. In this book and during the travels to the land of Canaan, it is primarily the land of Canaan, between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, with which the Israelites were concerned. But notice in verse 4 that God has actually promised the Israelites all the land from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean.

That kind of expansion is for later, but it was reached under David and Solomon, when God was pleased with Israel and its leaders.

Joshua 1:8 is one of the more popular memory verses, and for good reason.

Joshua 2

This is the story of the 2 spies and Rahab. This is a prophecy that modern Christians do not miss, but know about. The spies have Rahab tie a scarlet cord in her window, which marks salvation not just for her, but for her whole houses.

The scarlet cord represents the blood of Christ, of course, and Rahab’s family will only be saved if they are in the room marked by the scarlet cord.

Joshua 3

Israel miraculously crosses the Jordan directly across from Jericho.

Imagine the faith it must have taken to send the Ark of the Covenant marching into the flooding Jordan River. Only someone with experience with God and the Word of God would have that kind of faith.

God promises Joshua that he will support him just as he supported Moses, and the Jordan River splits like the Red Sea did when the feet of the Levites hit the water.

Note, too, that the priests were standing on dry ground, not muddy ground, and the rest of the Israelite camp crossed on dry ground as well. This was a notable miracle performed by God.

Joshua 4

The Israelites set up an altar at their camp site after crossing the Jordan, and Joshua also set up stones in the middle of the Jordan at the priest’s feet. God has always been a God of memorials, wanting to continually remind his people of the things he has done.

Today, we have the Lord’s Supper to bring the work of Christ before our remembrance.

Gilgal is a name you will want to remember. It comes up often. Sometimes it’s difficult to picture where all these places are. Gilgal, as we see, is at the east edge of Jericho.

Joshua 5

It seems odd that the Israelites did not circumcise their children during their travels in the wilderness, but they didn’t. So Joshua takes care of that now before they begin their conquest of the land of Canaan.

At the end of this chapter, we find one more appearance of the Word and Son of God. He appears to Joshua as "the Captain of the army of Yahweh." Joshua recognizes him as lord, and the Captain tells Joshua to take of his shoes because the ground is holy. This seals the Captain’s identity as the same God that appeared to Moses some 40 years earlier, not too far away on the other side of the Jordan, in the burning bush.

Again, the Scriptures tell us that no man has seen God at any time (Jn. 1:18), which is a reference to the fact that it is not the Father, but the Son, who appears on earth to men.

No Man Has Seen God

What almost no one realizes anymore is that while it is true that the Son of God is Divine, our modern use of the word God to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the same time is not Scriptural. When the apostles writings (the New Testament) use the term "God," it is almost always a reference to the Father only, not the Father, Son, and Spirit together.

Yes, the Son is called God, a number of times (e.g., Rom. 9:5; Tit. 2:13), in the apostles writings, but on such occasions the Son is always clearly being referred to, and apart from the Father. Whenever the Father and Son are referred to together, or God is used by itself, it is clear that "God" is applied to the Father and "Lord" to the Son (e.g., Jn. 17:3; 1 Tim. 2:5; and the greeting of all Paul’s letters).

1 Corinthians 8:6 says, "For us there is but one God, the Father … and one Lord, Jesus Christ."

The Nicene and Apostles Creed, repeated in both Protestant and Catholic churches on a weekly basis and considered the standard of orthodoxy by most denominations, says, "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty … and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God."

The reason this is important is in verses like John 1:18. John 1:18 is not saying that no one has seen any of the divine persons. It is saying that no one has seen the Father, who is "invisible" (1 Tim. 1:17).

For a more complete coverage of the apostolic and early Christian understanding of the Trinity, which is very accurately outlined in the Apostles Creed (even though modern Christians, except the Eastern Orthodox churches, no longer understand it) see http://www.christian-history.org/the-trinity.html.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Psalm 16-20

Posted on 04/06/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Today’s Bible Reading is Psalm 16-20.

Next week we will read Joshua, beginning with Joshua 1-5 on Monday.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Psalm 16

What a delightful Psalm this is! I have a lot of favorite passages in this Psalm. (Quotes are from NASB.)

Verses 2-3: For the Christian, these two verses describe everything we need. The Lord is our only good, and the saints are "the majestic ones," who are all our delight.

Verses 5-6: At this point David is living in the blessing of the Lord, having trusted him when things were bad (as we saw in earlier Psalms), and he is rejoicing in his good circumstances.

Verses 7-9: The Lord counsels me. My mind instructs me in the night. I’m always looking at him. As a result, I’m filled with gladness and rejoicing, and I won’t be shaken.

Verse 10: This verse is quoted by Peter in Acts 2 as a prophecy that the Messiah would have to die and rise again.

Verse 11: If we will remain in the Lord’s presence, we can have fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Truly, he can be everything for us, and the more we seek him, the more true this is.

Psalm 17

This is another Psalm that it is good to pray as well as study.

There are several important things to note in this Psalm.

Verses 2-5: David is not afraid to put himself in front of God for judgment. He does not just ask for mercy, but he points out that he has made choices to follow God, and he asks for rewards for his good choices.

God is a merciful God, and we are dependent on his mercy. Nonetheless, it is also true that "the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (Jam. 5:16). A righteous man is not a wicked man who is depending on God to overlook his sin. A righteous man is someone who actually practices righteousness (1 Jn. 3:7).

This will not be the only Psalm we run across where David appeals to his own righteousness. This is not because David thinks he is a good person in his own righteousness, but because he expects that obeying God brings rewards. Therefore, he points out that he has obeyed God.

We need to beware of being so humble that we make God’s promises of no effect and give ourselves no motivation to obey God.

Verse 14: The "men of this world" are those who have their portion in this life and worry about leaving an inheritance to their children. We should not be so, but as Psalm 16 has described so well, our portion is the Lord himself, who brings fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore.

Verse 15: David says he will be satisfied with God’s likeness when he awakes. His portion is not in this life, but in God (compare 1 Jn. 2:15-17).

Psalm 18

This is another of my favorite Psalms. When David cries out to the Lord, he is not simply rescued. There is a glorious description of God rising up on his behalf to destroy his enemies. On the other hand, when his enemies called out to God, there was no one to save them (v. 41).

This is another example of what we talked about in Psalm 17. David says he was repaid according to his righteousness and the cleanness of his hands (v. 24). He then goes on to explain that is true for everyone. God is pure to the pure, but those who are crooked will find God crooked with them as well (vv. 25-26).

David doesn’t say this because he is under the Old Covenant and confused about where real righteousness lies. He knows that he is righteous by grace (v. 32-36) and not in his own strength. Nonetheless, each of us has a choice whether to stand in grace, be good stewards of grace, and obey God through grace. There is a reward for choosing the blameless life, and there are consequences for not choosing it, even—and perhaps especially—under the New Covenant (compare 1 Pet. 1:13-19).

Psalm 19

What a treasure trove of Psalms we have run across today!

This Psalm is a celebration both of the works and the words of God. His creation speaks to us, and the Scripture speaks to us. I have heard them called the two Bibles.

As someone who has read and enjoyed the early writings of the church, I know that the primitive churches understood the first Bible, God’s creation, better than we did. They produced lesson after lesson from what they saw in creation.

For example, each winter we watch the earth slowly die, but each spring it rises again to new life. To the primitive Christians, God did this to testify that there is a resurrection and that we should believe.

Others pointed out that man is the only creature whose face points to the sky. We walk upright, with our eyes toward heaven, because we are made to look to the heavens and worship God.

Finally, there is a glorious description of David’s delight in the Law of God. I can’t add to his words, which are a joy to read over and over again. The praise group Maranatha made a song from the last half of this Psalm back in the 70’s or 80’s.

Psalm 20

My guess was that this Psalm was to be sung before going to war. It is both a prayer and a celebration of victory.

Again, this is a Psalm worth praying or singing as much as it is worth studying.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Psalm 11-15

Posted on 04/05/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Thursday’s (today’s) Bible Reading is Psalm 11-15
Friday, April 6: Psalm 16-20

Next week we will read Joshua.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Psalm 11

"How can you say to my soul, ‘Flee as a bird to your mountain’?" (v. 1, NASB).

Psalm 11 answers that question. Our trust seems futile if we look at circumstances and at the wicked who succeed, but the Lord is our refuge, and we will be safe trusting in him.

Again, this is a Psalm from David, who spent months fleeing from King Saul, living in the wilderness. David had a lot of reason to be hopeless, but he maintained his trust in God.

Psalm 12

In verses 1-5 we see a situation similar to what western society faces today. Personally, I think I’ve seen signs of a revival of committed Christianity. There are churches making a difference in society by helping the poor and the hopeless both with physical and spiritual needs, trusting God’s power to make their ministries effective. There are teachers speaking straight words of obedience to Jesus Christ. Those things are wonderful to behold.

Overall, though, I think we all have to admit western society no longer honors the righteousness of God.

David considers this a war, and his prayers are strong, calling on God to cut off the opposition.

I take it as a warning to myself to never buckle in my stand for Christ and his righteousness, making no place for a philosophy that human beings are okay on their own, apart from Christ. Let us be steadfast representatives of the power, peace, and joy of the righteousness of Christ, and defenders of his resurrection and his status as Judge of all the earth.

David goes on to say that the Lord’s words are pure, and they will last forever. The message of Christ is not growing old, nor losing its power. Our society may not honor God’s righteousness as it has in the past, but that is a fault of society. God’s righteousness, as explained in his Word, is pure and will last forever. It is not corrupted.

The final verse warns us what will happen if we do not stand, but instead allow vileness to be exalted.

Psalm 13

David was honest in his Psalms. Psalm 13 is another one, which again ends in trust in God.

Some Psalms are best sung or prayed when we share the feelings of the psalmist. They have lessons to teach us, too, but to be able to come read the Psalm, pray it, and identify with it can give us strength when we feel as the psalmist did.

Psalm 14

Psalm 14 is almost exactly the same as Psalm 53.

The start of this Psalm is quoted in Romans 3, where Paul is pointing out that everyone is under sin; no one is excepted.

David wonders if these people realize the danger they are in. He wonders if they realize that God will judge in the end. The truth, David says, is that God is with the righteous generation. In other words, judgment is coming, and the wicked will not succeed.

It’s probably worth pointing out that all-inclusive language in Scripture is often not completely inclusive. David says there are none good, not even one, nor even one who seeks after God. Yet these unrighteous people are persecuting "my people" (v. 4). We have to assume that "my people" are not among those who don’t seek after God. Also in verse 5, God is with the righteous generation, and we have to assume as well that these righteous are not among the "none good, not even one."

That kind of speaking is common in our language. When I say, "Everyone has heard of Joe DiMaggio," I don’t actually imagine that there’s no one anywhere who hasn’t. It’s apparent that Scripture speaks the same way, and I’ll point that out as we run across other passages like this.

Keep in mind that I am not disagreeing with Romans 3’s assessment that we all need salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus told the rich, young ruler that only God is good (Matt. 19:17). But we cannot imagine that there was no one at all in David’s day that was seeking God. At the very least there was David, who was writing the Psalm!

Psalm 15

This Psalm, too, is repeated almost word for word, in Psalm 24.

I like to go back and look at both Psalm 15 and Psalm 24 and read the lines there, asking myself whether they are true of me.

One that is hard for me is verse 4, "In whose eyes a reprobate is despised" (NASB). This calls my courage into question. Am I willing to take a stand against the stand of the reprobate, refusing to justify him, and instead taking a consistent stand for righteousness?

I am certain there is a spiritual, loving way to do this, but I am also certain that treating everyone like they are a good person is a coward’s way to live.

You may find other lines in this Psalm more difficult. I recommend going back over this Psalm and other passages like it (Matthew 5-7, for example, the Sermon on the Mount) on a regular basis to keep ourselves serious about our commitment to Christ.

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Through the Bible in a Year: Psalm 6-10

Posted on 04/04/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Wednesday’s (today’s) Bible Reading is Psalm 6-10
Thursday, April 5: Psalm 11-15
Friday, April 6: Psalm 16-20

Next week we will read Joshua.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Psalm 6

The Psalms were actual songs, and many were written by David during times of great hardship. All of them can teach us something, but sometimes it is more important to be able to sing or pray the Psalm the way David did in his anguish than to look for some other spiritual lesson.

Psalm 6 is such a Psalm. Yes, there’s despair and tears, but the end of crying out to God is a faith that fills the heart, gives us the power to forsake evildoers, and is confident that God will forgive us and bless us.

Psalm 7

This Psalm begins with David in trouble, apparently about to lose a battle to his enemies. The whole Psalm, however, is about how God is the righteous Judge and ultimate determiner of victory. He will redeem the righteous, and he will sharpen his sword and prepare his weapons against those who do not repent.

This is perhaps the most common theme in David’s Psalms: complete trust in God. No matter what the circumstances, it is God who determines victory.

That kind of trust is also the most common theme among all the great men of faith. They never lost sight of the fact that God is in control and no circumstances are so great that God cannot rescue us from them.

Psalm 8

A Psalm of praise.

In v. 5, the word translated "angels" in the KJV and "God" in the NASB is Elohim. Usually, that is the Hebrew word for God, but it can also be translated "mighty ones." The Septuagint—the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures—says that man was made "a little less than the angels." That is also the wording used when Psalm 8:5 is quote in Hebrews 2:7.

Verse 6 says that he made us to rule over the works of his hands. This has special application today when our activities make such a big impact on the planet. God gave this earth to us, and we should feel some responsibility towards it.

But it is not just the earth, but the riches of the kingdom of God that he has turned over to us. He is the King from the parable that went away, leaving his servants with treasure to invest until he comes back. Let us be busy doing good with the wealth he has entrusted to us!

Psalm 9

This Psalm, too, is written by David, the prophet, and it goes far into the future, foreseeing the final judgment of the nations. It also begins and ends with personal judgment, a call for God to ‘maintain David’s just cause,’ and also a call to rise up on behalf of the afflicted. All of it is written in confidence that God, the just Judge will and has executed just judgment on behalf of the oppressed and the righteous.

Notice verse 14 as well. Zion is representative of the gathered people of God. David does not only want to tell the praises of God, he wants to tell those praises to God’s people so that he can rejoice together with them in the salvation of God.

Nowadays, we think of Christianity as an individual religion a lot, but the very testimony of ourselves as Christians and Jesus as the Christ hinges on the love and unity shared among those who share salvation through Christ (Jn. 13:34-35; 17:20-23).

Psalm 10

Psalm 10 deals with the reality of life we all face. God is the just Judge, and in the end righteousness triumphs. But along the way?

Along the way, we see boastful, powerful, evil men who oppress and torture other men while living in luxury and scoffing at divine judgment. There are Hitlers and less famous leaders like him throughout history, committing atrocities, and seemingly getting away with it. Psalm 10 cries out for God to respond.

We know that on the final day God will judge all things. He will set all things right. Nonetheless, we long for justice on this earth, and like the Psalmist, we can cry out to see it. God hears prayer, both of the afflicted and of those who pray for the afflicted and for the leaders of nations (James 5:16-18).

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Through the Bible in a Year: Acts 25 – 28

Posted on 04/03/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Tuesday’s (today’s) Bible Reading is Acts 25-28
Wednesday, April 4: Psalm 6-10
Thursday, April 5: Psalm 11-15
Friday, April 6: Psalm 16-20

Next week we will read Joshua.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Acts 25:1-5

It’s amazing that after two years, Paul is still on the mind of the Jews in Jerusalem. Some had sworn not to eat or drink until he died, and those men either died of thirst or broke their vow. Either they, or replacements, were still ready to ambush him if he could be brought back to Jerusalem.

But they have no better luck with Festus than they did with Felix.

Acts 25:10-12

Paul appeals to Caesar, which ends all the attempts to get him to Jerusalem.

Festus grants his appeal. The Holman Bible Dictionary suggests that while such an appeal was usually granted to Roman citizens, it did not have to be.

Acts 25:13-27

Paul is now to appear before Herod Agrippa.

I think it’s worth looking at this case from the Roman point of view, which has been mentioned several times in the narrative. To the Romans, it simply looks like a religious dispute. To Festus, it’s a question of whether some man named Jesus is alive.

Festus must truly have had difficulty writing a charge! Could he have written: "This man claims that Jesus of Nazareth is alive, while the Jews believe he is dead"?

That would have gone nowhere in a court of Law.

Acts 26:12-23

I’ve mentioned paying attention to summations of the Gospel. There are three of them here:

… to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. (v. 18, NASB)

I … kept declaring … that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance. (v. 20, NASB)

The Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of his resurrection from the dead he would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. (v. 23, NASB)

The first and third of these are things we might repeat, but would our modern version of "faith alone" allow us to describe our Gospel like Paul does in the second quote here?

If not, maybe we should re-examine what we’re teaching.

Acts 27:9-10

It would be easy to believe that Paul knew that the ship was in danger because he was an apostle and prophet. It is true that Paul was an apostle and prophet, but I am convinced that we live our lives far more out of control and out of the knowledge of God’s will than we have to. Paul was always looking for the guidance of God, and God provided it a lot.

It has been my experience that God has much to say to us if we will follow in Paul’s footsteps, even if our lives are not as powerful or renowned as the life of the great apostle.

Acts 27:21-26

Paul promises the whole crew they will be spared. The angel has told him that he will be spared, and the rest of the crew is spared as a gift to Paul; not for their own sakes, but for Paul’s sake.

I found that very interesting.

Acts 27:33-38

Note that by this point in the story, the entire crew and the soldiers have complete faith in Paul’s words to them.

Acts 28:1-10

While the very heart of the New Covenant suggests that our lives ought to be marked by the ability to hear the voice of God and know the will of God (Acts 2:17,18; Jn. 10:3-5,27), miracles like we read about here happened among the apostles, other evangelists (e.g., Philip), and those especially gifted (1 Cor. 12:4-11).

Acts 28:11-31

Acts ends with Paul in prison in Rome, awaiting trial, but having seemingly unlimited freedom to preach the Gospel.

No one knows for certain what happened after those two years, but early Christian tradition holds that Paul was released and went west to preach the Gospel in Spain and perhaps even Britain before returning to be martyred in Rome.

Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance [i.e., martyrdom], after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience. (Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 5, A.D. 96)

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Through the Bible in a Year: Acts 21 – 24

Posted on 04/02/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Monday’s (today’s) Bible Reading is Acts 21-24.
Tuesday, April 3: Acts 25-28
Wednesday, April 4: Psalm 6-10
Thursday, April 5: Psalm 11-15
Friday, April 6: Psalm 16-20

Next week we will read Joshua.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Acts 21:4

The Holy Spirit has been testifying to Paul that chains await him in Jerusalem. That hasn’t moved Paul, but this verse tells us the disciples told Paul "through the Spirit" not to go to Jerusalem.

Was Paul being disobedient to God when he ignored this? I’ve always wondered about the wording of that verse. What’s sure is that God stood by Paul and used him despite the massive tribulations that arose in and after Jerusalem.

Acts 21:17-26

I suspect most Evangelicals don’t even know this passage is in the Bible. After Paul reports everything God has done among the Gentiles, James and the elders get right to the point concerning the Law. It’s okay for the Gentiles not to keep the Law, but you, Paul, need to prove that the rumors about you are not true. The Jewish believers, all zealous for the Law, want to know that you are walking orderly and keeping the Law yourself, not teaching Jewish believers to forsake Moses.

Paul agrees to "pay the expenses" for four men who are taking a Nazirite vow. This means he’ll be buying their sacrifices, too. He does this without complaint or argument. In fact, he "purifies" himself along with them.

Clearly, at this point neither the Jews nor even Paul have simply forsaken the Law. It has been established that the Gentiles do not need to be circumcised or keep the Law, but Jewish Christians were still "zealous for the Law."

As we’ve pointed out before, it took some time for the "that which was growing old" to finish vanishing (Heb. 8:13).

Jesus had already made it clear that the Law and the Prophets were until John the Baptist. Since then the kingdom of God, which is the fullness of the Law, is preached.

Acts 21:27-36

Paul’s act of peace does no good. Jews of Jerusalem make an assumption that he’s brought Trophimus the Ephesian into the temple, and they begin to beat him to death without verifying anything, much less providing a trial. Paul has to be rescued by the commander of the Roman cohort.

Acts 22:1-30

Paul tries to appease the Jews by speaking to them in Hebrew. He’s very honest, and he tells them exactly what happened to him.

They listen intently to him until he tells them that Jesus sent him to the Gentiles, when they immediately go back to calling for his death.

Paul spares himself a whipping by calling on his Roman citizenship, and then appears before the chief priests and the council the next day … but still in the custody of the Roman commander, who is simply trying to settle a riot.

Acts 23:1-5

Personally, I think we get a taste of the apostle Paul’s humanity here. We tend to think of him as "apostle," and not as a human being called to preach the Gospel. Paul had a temper and could be sharp-spoken. Throughout his letters, you will pick up other aspects of his personality as well.

Already, in Acts 20, we saw the way he cared for the members of the churches, warning and pleading with tears, constantly urging them forward, and working hard.

Acts 23:6-10

Paul brought up the resurrection of the dead because the Sadducees do not believe in a resurrection, while the Pharisees do. He purposely sent them into a doctrinal debate to divide their loyalties.

Acts 23:11

The Lord himself stood at Paul’s side at night to encourage him and let him know that he would go all the way to Rome to testify.

Acts 23:12-24:27

These stories speak for themselves. We leave chapter 24 today with Paul in Felix’ custody for two years, having much freedom to talk with friends, and Felix about to be replaced by Porcius Festus.

Acts 24:24-25

It’s worth paying attention to the Scripture’s little summations of the Gospel. Are they the same way we would sum up the Gospel?

Paul spoke of the faith of Jesus Christ with Felix, according to this passage, and the topics that Scripture uses to sum up faith in Jesus are "righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come" (NASB).

In Acts, you cannot miss the fact that when forgiveness of sins comes by believing in Jesus, it is incumbent upon repentance. It is followed by exhortations to continue in the faith and to enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations. It includes righteousness, and not just a legal righteousness that God confers upon you because Jesus died, but a righteousness that is the product of self-control and can be judged at the judgment to come.

As we go through the letters, we will see that those themes are not lost. Instead, to those themes are added, primarily by Paul, a thorough explanation of how this was accomplished through Jesus’ death, through the Spirit, through the resurrection, and how we are able, spiritually, to be made part of all that.

I tell you this because in reading Paul’s explanations of these spiritual mysteries, much of modern Christianity has lost sight of practical righteousness, of self-control, and of the judgment to come.

As we go through the letters of the apostles, I will be pointing out the repeated warnings not to lose sight of those things. There are many of them.

Little children, let no one deceive you. The one that practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil. (1 Jn. 3:7-8)

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Through the Bible in a Year: Acts 18-20

Posted on 03/30/2012 by Paul Pavao

This Week’s Reading Schedule

Friday’s (today’s) Bible Reading is Acts 18-20.

I’ve made one more shift so we can slow down a little. We’ll finish Acts on Monday (Acts 21-24) and Tuesday (25-28). We’ll finish the week with some more Psalms. The following week, we will return to the Hebrew Scriptures to read Joshua and Judges over a couple weeks.

The overall year’s plan is here.

Today’s Reading

I think I’ve been over-commenting on the stories. You can get the stories from the Bible text itself. If you have questions, feel free to use the comment section.

I’m going to work at just hitting points I want to emphasize. I’m not very good at that; I like to comment on everything, but that is not best for me or for you; not in this format.

Acts 18:9-11

Paul announces he’s giving up on the synagogue and going to the Gentiles, and he stays year and a half in Corinth.

Notice that even Paul needs encouragement. The Lord comes to him in a vision and tells him not to be afraid. Don’t think that great men of God are great because they don’t have the fears you have. They are great men of God because they obey God even when they’re afraid.

I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my speech and preaching were not with enticing words of men’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. 2:3-5)

Acts 18:18

Paul has to leave Corinth. He takes Priscilla and Aquila with him. On the way, we read that he takes a vow.

This is almost certainly a Nazirite vow (Num. 6), a temporary vow of special devotion to God. Paul was not under the Law, and he was preaching the New Covenant, not the Law, but the Jews—and all the apostles were Jews—were still doing things that were not only part of the Law of Moses, but part of their culture as well.

As the writer of Hebrews put it, "When he said a ‘new covenant,’ he made the first old. Now that which is passing away and growing old is ready to disappear" (Heb. 8:13).

Acts 18:22-23

This return to Antioch marks the end of the "second missionary journey." Verse 23 is the third missionary journey all by itself. The specific cities of Phrygia and Galatia are not mentioned. You can see a map and description here. Click on the map there, and you have some options to make the map easier to understand. Iconium and Antioch, visited on the first missionary journey, are part of Galatian Phrygia.

Acts 18:24-28

Apollos is mentioned repeatedly in the letter to the Corinthians. This passage tells us who he is, an important figure in the early church.

Acts 19:1-6

Paul finds some disciples who had heard only John’s message. John’s baptism isn’t enough. Paul baptizes them in Jesus’ name. Then he laid hands on them and they spoke in other languages and prophesied.

Speaking in Tongues

To this point, I’ve avoided the Pentecostal controversy, but there are some things that are simply scriptural and historical that need to be admitted.

Scriptural Points:

  • Speaking in other languages happened. It seems obvious even in Acts that it was not always languages that someone understood. 1 Corinthians 14 specifically says that some speaking in tongues can’t be understood by any man (v. 2).
  • It was very common for apostolic converts to speak in tongues when apostles laid hands on them.
  • Despite that, 1 Cor. 12:30 makes it clear that not everyone speaks in tongues.
  • There’s restrictions to tongues in the assembly of the saints that are clearly outlined in 1 Cor. 14.
  • Despite the fact that we see baptism and laying on of hands in Acts, they are clearly meant to be one event, not two separate experiences.

Historical Points:

  • The early Christians writings speak of baptism followed by the laying on of hands, just as we see practiced by the apostles in Acts, but they never mention speaking in tongues or spiritual gifts in that context.
  • The only reference to speaking in tongues that can be found in the pre-Nicene writings of the church is in Irenaeus, around A.D. 185, who says that there were many in the churches—not in the church, but churches—who possessed prophetic gifts and spoke in "all kinds of languages." (Against Heresies V:6:1)
  • The modern tongues movement is about 100 years old. Outside of that tongues have been considered rare throughout church history.
  • I spent over a decade in Pentecostal and charismatic churches, and almost no one spontaneously speaks in tongues in such churches. Everyone is exhorted to do so and sometimes even trained to do so. Laying on of hands is often done not once, but many times before someone speaks in tongues. Without the emphasis on tongues, speaking in other languages would be as rare in those churches as it is in others. (Sorry, but that’s obviously true.)

You can make your own decisions about the pentecostal movement, but the things I’ve written above are all facts.

Acts 19:8-20

Don’t miss this section. The stories in it are unusual and interesting.

Can you imagine the opportunity to sit under Paul’s teaching daily for two years?

Acts 20:7-12

Paul has left Ephesus, went through Macedonia and Greece (where Corinth, Thessalonica, and Philippi are), and he is returning by way of Troas (across the Aegean sea on the way back to Antioch, though Paul is headed to Jerusalem).

He holds a meeting on the first day of the week on which they broke bread, and it lasts until midnight.

Is this evidence that the Christian churches were meeting on the first day of the week or having weekly communion/Eucharist? There’s really not enough information here to draw any conclusions. This could have been a weekly meeting, and it could have been a special meeting because Paul was in town.

Acts 20:17-38

Paul calls for the elders of Ephesus, and his speech to them is one of the fullest portions of Scripture.

  • Paul sums up his Gospel as "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 21). You can’t miss the emphasis on repentance in Acts.
  • The elders were the pastors of the early churches. We see that they are called overseers or bishops as well (v. 28, Gr. episkopos), and they shepherded the church of God.
  • Paul’s leadership was remarkably diligent. He warned the believers night and day with tears. He didn’t hold back anything profitable.
  • He provided his own needs without taking money from the Ephesians, and he did it as an example to the elders. What an interesting context, one rarely mentioned, to the saying, "It is more blessed to give than receive." Let’s see one of the prosperity teachers follow Paul’s example!
  • One of the greatest dangers to the church would be elders ("from among yourselves") drawing away disciples after themselves. Paul does not say how to prevent it; he simply tells them it will happen.
  • Paul was not living his life in darkness. The Holy Spirit was testifying to him through others, and he knew that his course involved arrest and chains.
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