June 7th

First Reading

Judges 2 | Judges 3

Judges 2:7
And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.

Who were these elders who had (1) outlived Joshua and (2) had seen God’s ‘great work’ for Israel, when Numbers 14:29-30 seems to clearly state that Joshua and Caleb alone would enter the promised land out of all the men of Israel over 20 years old?  Is this a contradiction?

Well, actually no, it isn’t. 

A closer look at Numbers 14:29-30 will show no such contradiction –

…your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

As we can see, the parameters of this curse were upon those who were ’numbered’ in the ‘census’ who were ‘over twenty years old’ with the exception of two – Joshua and Caleb.   Do these parameters cover all of the men of the nation of Israel?  Can we know?

Certainly we can.

Let’s begin by asking the pertinent question…  ”What census is being spoken of here?”

Numbers 1:2-3
“Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head.  From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company.

This is the census being referred to in Numbers 14.  Now, we know that Caleb came from the tribe of Judah (Nu 13:6) and Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim (Nu 13:8, 16), both tribes of which were in the census.  However, there was one tribe that was not numbered in the census –

Nu 1:47-48
But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe.  For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,  “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel.

Nu 26:62-65
And those listed were 23,000, every male from a month old and upward. For they were not listed among the people of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them among the people of Israel.

These were those listed by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who listed the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. But among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had listed the people of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” Not one of them was left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

So, we see a distinction between the people of Israel and the tribe of Levi.  While Levi was indeed numbered as seen above, their number wasn’t of the census taken of “the people of Israel”. 

The conclusion then is that the ‘elders’ of Judges 2:7 were the Levites who crossed into the promised land with Joshua, Caleb, and the 2nd generation of Israelites.  That these elders were the Levites is reinforced in Moses’ final words to Israel before he died and they crossed the Jordan –

Dt 27:1
Now Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today.

Dt 27:9-10
Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God.  You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.”

Here we see the elders and priests are one and the same.  This links forward nicely to the mention of the elders in our opening verse.

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The story of Ehud is an interesting one –

Judges 3 –
12 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 13 He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms. 14 And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

15 Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. 16 And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes.

17 And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.

18 And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. 19 But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. 20 And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. 21 And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out.

23 Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

24 When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” 25 And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

26 Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah.

The Bible Review magazine published an excellent article on this subject back in December 1988.  Unfortunately, there are copyright laws in place so I cannot reproduce the article here.  However, if any are interested here is a link to join and receive access to the archives.

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*All scripture verses taken from the ESV.

 

March 6th

From the ESV… 

First Reading

Leviticus 12 | Leviticus 13

6 “‘And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, 7 and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female. 8 And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’”

This Law ordinance gives us a glimpse of the at least the early family circumstances of Joseph and Mary. When Mary had given birth to Jesus, we read this in Luke’s gospel in the second chapter…

22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

Second Reading

Psalm 113 | Psalm 114

 

Third Reading

2 Corinthians 5 | 2 Corinthians 6 | 2 Corinthians 7

March 5th

First Reading

Leviticus 11

Second Reading

Psalm 110 | Psalm 111 | Psalm 112

Third Reading

2 Corinthians 3 | 2 Corinthians 4

October 9th

First Reading

1 Chronicles 26

Second Reading

Ezekiel 35

Third Reading

Philippians 3 | Philippians 4

October 7th

First Reading

1 Chronicles 23

This chapter details King David’s dividing of the tribe of Levi into their service according to their lineage.  One common misunderstanding is that all the Levites were priests.  This is not the case.  The truth is that while all the priests were Levites but not all the Levites were priests.  In David’s dividing up of the tribe we see he did it by the sons of Levi –

v6 - And David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

They then were given tasks accordingly, with the whole of the tribe set aside “for the service of the house of the Lord” (v 24). 

 What of Aaron and Moses?  Well, Aaron’s sons were to carry on the priesthood (v 13) and Moses sons, being of the sons of Kohath, were folded back into the respective duties of those Levites.  So much for receiving any prestige or special privileges for being one of Moses’ kids.

 

 

Second Reading

Ezekiel 33

In this passage we have a good example of the goodness and severity of God in his promise to the faithful and wicked.  To the faithful, keep being faithful or perish.  To the wicked, turn from your ways or perish.  The point?  The faithful can take the place of the wicked and the wicked can take the place of the faithful.  God is no respector of persons. 

v 11 - “As I live!” declares the Lord God, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!”

 

 

Third Reading

Ephesians 5 | Ephesians 6

My two children know Ephesians 6:1 well; they can recite it from memory –

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

However, I should be more concerned with verse 4 –

…fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

How often to parents fulfil our responsibility to our children in this manner?  We demand obedience and mete out punishment for infractions to our “laws”, yet we often fail to teach our children in the way they should go. 

May 21st

First Reading

Joshua 7

Did Achan’s family die with him? I always thought the whole family was killed for Achan’s sin, but that seems to go against the Lord’s command in Dt 24:16 –

Fathers must not be put to death for what their children do, nor children for what their fathers do; each must be put to death for his own sin

The two verses in Joshua 7 that seem to imply that Achan’s family were condemned with him are v15 and v25. Some may cite v24 as well, but his family may have only been brought up as a witness of Achan’s judgment along with the rest of Israel. The parenthetical in v25 is questionable, per the NET notes –

tc Heb “and they burned them with fire and they stoned them with stones.” These words are somewhat parenthetical in nature and are omitted in the LXX; they may represent a later scribal addition.

Moving on to the reference to Achan in Joshua 22:20, there seems to be some disagreement as well over the translation of that passage. Here is the NET and ESV translations for reference –

When Achan son of Zerah disobeyed the command about the city’s riches, the entire Israelite community was judged, though only one man had sinned. He most certainly died for his sin!‘” Josh 22:20 NET

Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’ ” Josh 22:20 ESV

The KJV, NIV, NRSV, NAS95 also translate the above verse similarly to the ESV — all of which seem to contradict the NET.

The NET Notes –

tn The second half of the verse reads literally, “and he [was] one man, he did not die for his sin.” There are at least two possible ways to explain this statement: (1) One might interpret the statement to mean that Achan was not the only person who died for his sin. In this case it could be translated, “and he was not the only one to die because of his sin.” (2) Another option, the one reflected in the translation, is to take the words vÿhu’ ‘ish ekhad, (”and he [was] one man”) as a concessive clause and join it with what precedes. The remaining words (lo gava ba avono) must then be taken as a rhetorical question (”Did he not die for his sin?”). Taking the last sentence as interrogative is consistent with the first part of the verse, a rhetorical question introduced with the interrogative particle. The present translation has converted these rhetorical questions into affirmative statements to bring out more clearly the points they are emphasizing. For further discussion, see T. C. Butler, Joshua (WBC), 240.

So, the NET takes this verse and makes it a rhetorical question, which it translates into an affirmative statement.

If we take the translation of Josh 22:20 in the ESV, KJV, NIV, etc. over the NET, then we have to assume that Achan’s family were somehow involved in his transgression to bring judgment upon themselves. I don’t have a problem with that although I’m not convinced that is the case. I think maybe the Commentary of the Old Testament has a better explanation should we go with the translations other than the NET –

He finally reminded them of the sin of Achan, how that had brought the wrath of God upon the whole congregation (Josh. 7); and, moreover, Achan was not the only man who had perished on account of the sin, but thirty-six men had fallen on account of it at the first attack upon Ai (Josh. 7:5). The allusion to this fact is to be understood as an argument a minori ad majus, as Masius has shown. “If Achan did not perish alone when he committed sacrilege, but God was angry with the whole congregation, what think ye will be the consequence if ye, so great a number, commit so grievous a sin against God?” Keil, Carl Friedrich ; Delitzsch, Franz: Commentary on the Old Testament. Peabody, MA : Hendrickson, 2002, S. 2:160

So, perhaps Josh 22:20 is speaking of Achan and those 36 men who perished because God was angry at Israel for Achan’s transgression and not Achan’s family.

Thoughts?

 

 

Second Reading

Isaiah 11

 

 

Third Reading

2 Thessalonians 3

May 15th

First Reading

Deuteronomy 32

In the midst of this song is this truth…

“See now that I am he!” says the Lord, “and there is no other god besides me. I kill and give life, I smash and I heal, and none can resist my power…” v39

When we give other ‘gods’ this power (especially of death and mayhem), we are taking away from what God has in Himself solely.  Many don’t like to think God willing to ’smash’ and ‘kill’ and therefore have a supernatural fallen angel called ‘Satan’ do God’s dirty work.  However, that is attributing God’s soveriegn power to another ‘god.’  Is God pleased with this?  It is time to set aside bed-time, fairy-tale stories of what we believe God to be and look to the Bible.

 

 

Second Reading

Isaiah 5

Third Reading

Colossians 2

May 14th

First Reading

Deuteronomy 31

 ”Be strong and courageous”

 I see that phrase 3 times in the span of this one chapter.  It is certain from the context that Israel is at a threshold…they are being prepared to cross into their inheritance.  Moses is leaving, the Law in the hands of the Levites will become their mediator, Joshua will be the leader, and the surety of the nation’s coming corruption is foretold. 

 

 

Second Reading

Isaiah 3 | Isaiah 4

Third Reading

Colossians 1

May 13th

First Reading

Deuteronomy 30

“Therefore, choose life so that you and your descendents may live.” 

What a profound statement.  Life here is equated with blessing.  Death with cursing.  It hasn’t changed from then until now, though mainstream Christianity certainly has done a good job twisting it.  Death isn’t really death, and God won’t condemn or take away life from unfaithful believers.  Hmm.

 

 

Second Reading

Isaiah 2

Third Reading

Acts 28

May 12th

First Reading

Deuteronomy 29

Second Reading

Isaiah 1

Third Reading

Acts 27