I am so sorry it's been so long. We are in the process of moving (if you didn't hear) which is taking up a lot of my evenings. I am also in the process of planning a 4 hour training for this Saturday. Anyone want to crawl into my brain and take out this creative idea that I KNOW is stuck in there that I just can't fish out?
Unfortunately, that means I haven't been updating the Bible readings here. I have been reading, but I haven't gotten a chance to post on them. So, who wants to start with a recap and some thoughts? Anyone? Please, talk amongst yourselves.
February 17, 2010
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March 18, 2010 please forgive me for being a presumptuous in assuming that we all have reached the Book of Joshua. If you have not reached this book forgive me for forging ahead. I would like to share however some of this Book with all of you perhaps you can use this as a warm up to what lie ahead. First off the Book of Joshua derives its name from the successor of Moses, with whose deeds it is principally concerned. The purpose of this book is to demonstrate God’s fidelity in giving to the Israelites the land he had promised them for an inheritance (Gn 15, 18ff; Jos 1, 2ff; 21, 41ff; 23, 14ff).
ReplyDeleteIt is important to note that the Book of Joshua like the books that precede it were built up by a long and complex process of editing traditional materials. Both Jewish and Christian believers have always regarded it as inspired.
The Book of Joshua is divided into 3 parts which break down into 24 chapters if you’re reading the New American Bible.
The first book is called The Conquest of Canaan:
Chapter 1 opens with God giving Joshua motivational talk building him up to lead the chosen people across the Jordan into the promise land. God reminds Joshua to take heed of God’s laws and if he follows God’s orders faithfully then God will not forsake them or him. God also tells Joshua to make sure the people are made aware to continue to follow God’s laws as well. We see Joshua delegating authority to his officers as to what God wants from them. In Chapter 3 Joshua and the Israelites cross the Jordan and once they had all made it across God instructed Joshua to gather 12 men one from each tribe and he instructed them each to pick up 12 stones and place them where they were to make camp that night. These stones in short will become the “Memorial Stones” in which the Israelites will be able to show future generation where they crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. To close with chapter 5 we read about the Rites at Gilgal in which God had all of Israel circumcised again prior to the attack on the City of Jericho which closes the last half of chapter 5 and 6. From what I have read this book of Joshua is technical in terms of how God wants things done a certain way and how all the people must work together to accomplish God’s will and to trust in God that he will be with them especially during these battles in which they are beginning to embark on starting with Jericho.
Thank you SO MUCH! I keep making attempts to get back on the ball and am SO far behind! Maybe this weekend I'll get my feet back under me and get a decent post up. I really don't want to give up.
ReplyDeleteToday’s reading of Joshua Chapter 6 read more about the siege at Jericho. God sends and angel to Joshua to help him with the ensuing battle. I love the angels reply to Joshua the Angel says I am the Captain of the host of the Lord and have arrived! Joshua prostrated to the ground in worship. As a former Marine this Angel would be the Ultimate Ally you would want on your side in combat! What totally blows me away about this siege of Jericho is God tells Joshua you won the battle before it even starts and all you have to do is surround the city and follow my exact instructions and then watch the walls crumble before you. I see this as God giving a sign or reminder to his chosen people of his Ultimate power and how he can use it to get his will done. To prove my point I quote chapter 6 v 20: “The Wall Collapsed”: by the miraculous intervention of God. The Blowing of the horns and the shouting of the people was a customary feature of ancient warfare, here intended by God as a test of the people’s obedience and of their faith in his promise; cf Heb 11, 30. Chapter 7 sees a couple greedy guys who go against God’s ban on the spoils of war. So God lets them get defeated at Ai. Now Joshua has to plead with God s forgiveness and mercy. God hears the cries and forgives however the makes an example of the war criminals and wipes that family out with fire and Achan and his family was led out to the edge of town with all the stolen goods and stoned to death after all the punishments were handed out the anger of the Lord relented. As a result of the events that took place there and how God forgave the place is called Achor* to this day. God then sends Joshua and his 3,000 men not 30,000 men to capture Ai. Chapter 8 v 3: “Thirty Thousand Warriors is considered the first as we know it a Typo or in their day a Copyo the figure is really believed to be between 3,000 to 5,000 Warriors with a heavy lean on the 5,000.” Chapter 8 closes with Joshua building an altar to God on Mount Ebal. The ceremonies that took place were prescribed in Dt 11, 19 and Dt 27, 2-26. I must confess that I really enjoy reading about all the battles that take place in the bible for many reasons. The most important is it makes me see that my own military service was for the good of God and what he wanted our Country to do when I served.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thank you so much for keeping us on track! I'm hoping by April I will be back on track and then after Pascha services I'll be roaring to go! I so much appreciate the time and effort you have put into this!
ReplyDeleteMay 22, 2010 Sorry I have not been posting since April like so many of you just been caught up in the daily grind of life. Thanks for the congrats on my baptism Jenny I just saw it. Well shall we see what Joshua is up to? Chapter 8 through 11 find Joshua doing as God has instructed by engaging in battles and defeating the enemies and gaining land for the Israelites. Joshua also built an altar on Mount Ebal as the Law of Moses stated. Joshua took time to read the Law of Moses to all the people who were standing around the Ark of the Covenant. The Gibeonites pulled a fast one on Joshua in Chapter 9 they lied to save themselves from destruction at the hands of the Israelites. There was an agreement made and Joshua found out they lied he told them because they lied they would forever be slaves. In chapter 10 Joshua wipes out all of the Amorite kings. Chapter 13 God tells Joshua who is advanced in years now that some more land needs to be taken and also we see the division of land by tribes. Eastern Tribes Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. Chapter 14 The Western Tribes get their share to include Caleb’s portion. Chapter 15 the boundaries of Judah were established. The next chapter is basically land grabs and disputes over which tribe gets what and why. In Chapter 21 we see specific cities are set up. Levitical Cities, cities of the Priests, Cities of Asylum, Cities of other Kohathites, Cities of the Gershonites and Cities of the Merarites. Chapter 22 Joshua calls a meeting of all the Transjordan Tribes and bids farewell. We read that Joshua tells them what the Lord wants and reminds them again of the laws of Moses. Once again the Eastern Tribes build and altar beside the Jordan once the Western Tribes find this out a huge fight breaks out between them again. Chapter 23 Joshua makes a final plea he again gathers all of the Israelites together and again lays down the law and then the people renew the covenant with God and the Chapter ends with Joshua’s death.
ReplyDeleteMay 26, 2010 We have at this point reached The Book Of Judges.
ReplyDeleteThis book of Judges derives its title from the 12 heroes of Israel whose deeds it records. They were not magistrates, but military leaders sent by God to aid and to relieve his people in time of external danger. They exercised their activities in the interval of time between the death of Joshua and the institution of the monarchy of Israel. The purpose of the book is to show that the fortunes of Israel depended upon obedience or disobedience of the people to God’s law. Whenever they rebelled against him, they were oppressed by pagan nations; when they repented, he raised up judges to deliver them (cf Jgs 2, 10-23).
“Palestine after the death of Joshua” Chapter 1 Pagan survivors in Palestine.
This chapter summarizes events most of which occurred shortly after the death of Joshua. Perhaps because they were planned and inaugurated by him they are also attributed to him in the last half of the preceding book (Jos 14-22). Chapter 2 Infidelities of the Israelites.
Here we see the Israelites didn’t take long to disobey God and made a pact with the pagans. So God send an angel to give a good reprimand and make some threats on what will happen to them if they don’t repent! This scared them good and they quickly repented. However the next generation who did not know the Lord and all the good things He had done for Israel so they began to worship Baal and the Ashtaroth the Lord got angry and delivered them over to plunders who despoiled them he allowed them to fall into the power of their enemies. He also made sure whatever they undertook met with disaster as he swore he would do to them. Even when the Lord raised up judges to deliver them from the power of the despoilers, they did not listen to their judges, but abandoned themselves to worship other gods. They were quick to stray from the way of their fathers had taken and did not follow their example of obedience to the commandments of the Lord.
June 9, 2010 Book of Judges. Today we look at Chapter 3 which is the Stories of The Judges.
ReplyDeleteThese are the names of the Judges God sent to put the Israelites back on track. 1. Othniel 2. Ehud 3. Deborah and Barak. 4.Gideon 5. Abimelech 6.Tola.7. Jephthah 8. Elon. 9. Abdon. 10. Samson .
Othniel was the first judge appointed by God because the Israelites had offended the Lord by forgetting the Lord, their God, and serving the Baals and the Asherahs, the Lord flared up against them, and he allowed them to fall into the power of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, whom they served for 8 years.
Baals: the chief god of the Canaanites and the Phoenicians was called “Baal”, a word meaning “lord”. He was honored by various titles, hence the plural from here, equivalent to “the pagan gods”.
Asherahs: were “sacred poles”. Also can mean the word “goddess”.
To sum up Chapter 3 to Chapter 13 the birth of Samson. We basically see how many of the Israelites jumped on the “band wagon” so to speak by worshiping all these false Gods. Sounds a lot like us today. Today we see people worship money, fame, beauty and just about everything someone can dream up! I can’t but wonder what God is going to do with us! I personally feel this world is gone way too far and become so sick and perverted that the only real choice is to wipe the slate clean and start over! Perversion and Sin is so accepted in our culture today that you even see sexual overtones in kids movies! Insane! We as Christians seem to be fighting a losing battle to maintain some type of moral fiber in our world today.
I have found reading the bible that we are no different than the Israelites the only difference is all the technology but people are still people.
Chapter 13 The Birth of Samson:
Reading the beginning of the Chapter and angel appears to the wife of Manoh and tells her she will conceive and have a child! She was barren and never had children before. Sound familiar.
We read that this Angel returns and gives strict orders to the parents about eating and drinking and abstaining we come across the word Consecrated in 13,5 which in Hebrew means, nazir. Samson therefore was for life to be under the nazirite vow, which obliged him to abstain from drinking wine or having his hair cut. Cf Nm 6 2-8.
Chapter 14 Marriage of Samson:
I think it was pretty safe to assume that all Marriages were arranged and when Samson told his parents that he wanted to marry a Philistine woman from Timnah his parents were not too pleased with his plan. In fact here is a foot note on Marriage. Marriages were arranged by the parents of the bridegroom as well as of the bride cf Gn 24 2-8 34 3-6. The Mosaic law specified only seven pagan nations, not including the Philistines, in prohibition against mixed marriages; cf Dt 7 1-4 but national and religious sentiment was against any marriage with a non-Israelite; Gn 28 1f; Kngs 11 1-10. Amazing to think this stuff still goes on in many countries in our world today even our own.
June 15 2010.
ReplyDeleteGood day bible bloggers I hope you are all doing well. I am not sure if anyone is still following this blog however I will continue to make an effort to post. I noticed as our reading schedule I am behind as far as postings. I am currently into the book of Psalms 3,4,5, and I jumped way ahead and read all of Revelation something just told me to perhaps it is because all these natural disasters, wars and oil spills. Anyhow I get back to Judges we left off on Chapter 15.
Chapter 15 Samson defeats the Philistines. Chapter 16 Samson and Delilah I think it is safe to say we all know that Samson was a hardcore dude he was undefeatable because no one knew he was sent by and protected by God. I think Samson’s weakness was women hence Delilah.
This brings us to Chapter 17 and two more Judges Micah and the Levite.
I am following and I greatly appreciate the input you have given. I am so far behind and am playing catch up...I think I just need to dedicate a weekend to nothing but reading...thank you! Your insight and input is greatly appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the acknowledgement Jen. I was determined to keep posting but life sometimes slows me down a bit plus I was not sure where everyone was at with their readings and I didn’t want to get so far ahead and leave everyone in the dust so to speak. Today we look at some more chapters of Judges. Chapter 18 we have the migration of the Danites. It seems the 18:1 The tribe of Dan had been assigned a territory with definite limits in central Palestine. However they were unable to gain possession of their land so (Jgs 1,34) so they now seek territory elsewhere in Palestine. We also learn Nm 18, 1-7 only those Levites who were descended from Aaron could be consecrated as priests. Chapter 19 the Levite from Ephraim. Here we see a Levite had taken a concubine who at some point runs away from the Levite and goes back to her father’s house. The Levite gives chase and arrives at the fathers house here is where the story gets a bit rough they are traveling and end up in the City of Gibeah . Upon reaching Gibeah they were befriended by an old man returning from work who was originally from Ephraim. This old man invited them into his home for the night. Once at the man’s home they basically had a party of sorts and then trouble came knocking literally on the old man’s door. These men from the city were corrupt they demanded the male guest whom they wished to abuse! The old man said no instead he offered his own daughter or the concubine instead. To back up a tad “The Men who were corrupt literally “sons of Belial”, indicating extreme perversion; Gn 19, 4-8. This crime and its punishment made the name Gibeah proverbial as a place of shameful wickedness; cf Hos 9, 9; 10, 9. “ The men did not want the women however the husband of the concubine grabbed her and tossed her out the door anyway. The men who were corrupt settled to abuse the woman all night long! Somehow the woman survived and reached the house at day break and collapsed on the door step. Her husband tried to make her get up to leave “Nice Guy Right”. But he soon realized she was dead so he took her body and when he got home cut her up into 12 pieces and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. If you ask me this guy had some serious issues! In Chapter 20 we see he did this to bring together all the tribes so he could recount what happened so they would make war on Gibeah we also learn the men of Gibeah are the tribe of Benjamin since Benjamin never showed up to the war council. So they went to war with Benjamin which was not an easy war but they did prevail thanks to God and laid waste to the town of Gibeah. Chapter 21 and the book of Judges closes with another group of people being put to the sword as punishment and the 400 virgin wives that were taken as captives who were given to the Benjaminnites but these were not enough so the Benjaminites were told to go and take girls from Shiloh then they went back and rebuilt their towns and cities.
ReplyDeleteNow we have come to the Book of Ruth.
ReplyDeleteThe book of Ruth is named after a Moabite woman who was joined to the Israelite people by marriage with the influential Boaz of Bethlem.
The book contains a beautiful example of filial piety, pleasing to the Hebrews especially because of its connection with King David, and useful both to Hebrews and to the Gentiles. Its aim is to demonstrate the divine reward for such piety even when practiced by a stranger. Ruth’s piety (2, 11), her spirit of self- sacrifice, and her moral integrity were favored by God with the gift of faith and an illustrious marriage whereby she became the ancestress of David and of Christ. In this the universality of the messianic salvation is foreshadowed. In the Greek and Latin canons the Book of Ruth is placed just after Judges, to which it is closely related because of the time of its action, and just before Samuel, for which it is an excellent introduction, since it traces the ancestry of the Davidic dynasty. One might characterize the literary form of this book as dramatic, since about two- thirds of it is in dialogue. Yet there is every indication that, as tradition has always held, it contains true history. There is no certainty about the author of the book. It was written long after the events had passed (Ru 4,7), which took place “in the time of judges” (Ru 1, 1).
A quick foot note before we get into Chapter 1. 1f In the time of Judges: three generations before the end of the period of Judges; cf Ru 4,21f. Bethlehem of Judah: to distinguish it from the town of the same name in the tribe of Zebulun (Jos 19, 15). Ephrathites from Bethlehem: belonging to a Judean clan which settled in Bethlehem; cf Sm 17, 21 12; 1 Chr 2 50f; 4, 4.
Chapter 1 Naomi in Moab:
We quickly see that there was a famine going on and soon Naomi becomes a widow not only losing her husband but her 2 sons. So he decides to go back to Moab because she heard God had visited the people and gave them food. Naomi and her 2 daughter in laws departed but Naomi told them to leave her and go back to their mother’s house “a woman’s place of a dwelling”. Naomi told the woman to leave her so that they may find new husbands since she was too old to remarry and could no longer bear children. “Which the law at that time meant the women would have had to marry Nomais other sons if she had them”. Now one woman choose to leave her name was Orpah but Ruth wanted to stay with Naomi. We also hear Naomi say the Lord has extended his hand against me. To sum it up for me it seems Ruth felt a loyalty to Naomi and a desire to know God. We see upon arriving in Bethlehem when people greeted her Naomi told them to call her Mara which means the Lord has made it very bitter for me. Naomi seems to feel God is very angry with her as we read on a bit more. Chapter 2 The Meeting:
Ruth asked Naomi’s permission to go and gather grain during which Ruth met Boaz who was a kinsman of Naomi’s. Long and short of it is a courtship begins between Ruth and Boaz with Naomi’s permission which eventually led Boaz marrying Ruth in Chapter 4.
Chapter 4 Ruth and Boaz were married and had a son who was named Obed he would become the father of Jesse, the father of David.
No
Stayed tuned for the Books of Samuel
ReplyDeleteJune 24, 2010 Good Morning Bloggers! Today we crack open the Books Of Samuel.
ReplyDeleteOriginally but one book, the scroll of Samuel was early divided into two. The Greek translators called these the first and second Books of Kingdoms, a title St. Jerome later modified to “Kings”. The Hebrew title, “Samuel”, alludes to the leading figure in the first book, who was responsible for the enthronement of David. It is David’s history that the second book recounts. This sacred work thus comprises the history of about a century, describing the close of the age of Judges and the beginnings of monarchy in Israel under Saul and David. It is not a complete and continuous history, nor a systematic account of the period , but rather a series of episodes centered around the persons of Samuel, Saul and David, the principal figures leading up to the establishment of the royal dynasty of David.
Chapter 1 History of the last Judges Eli and Samuel:
We see that Hannah who was barren prayed to the Lord for have a son which she promised to God and we find out that God blesses her with a son who she named Samuel and whom she presented to God once he was weaned. We see in the last part of Chapter 1 the Hannah turned over her son Samuel to the priest Eli. In Chapter 2 we see that Eli also had son’s who were wicked the broke the customs and demanded raw meat from those who were there to sacrifice to the Lord. If the men refused them they would threaten them with violence, meanwhile Samuel served the Lord and when Hannah would visit she would bring a garment for Samuel and Eli would bless her in the name of the Lord that she may bear more children. We see the Lord did bless Hannah with more children. Now as Chapter 2 closes Eli warns his son’s to stop sinning against the Lord, however Eli’s sons pay no mind to their father and go about sinning. Then one day a man appears before Eli and tells him God is angry with Eli and his son’s so he will no longer let the men in Eli’s family see old age and that his two sons shall die on the same day. In Chapter 3 Samuel is called by God and acknowledged as a prophet.
In Chapter 4 we read that the Philistines defeat the Israelites and take the Ark. We also read here about the death of Eli who after being told about the defeat of the Israelites and the death of his son’s and the loss of the Ark he fell back in his chair and died. In Chapter 5 we see the Philistines put the Ark in the temple of Dagon, in this temple God flexes his power and breaks up Dagon and his him laying on the floor before the Ark. God was not pleased with the people of Ashdod so he dealt harshly with them he afflicted them and the city with hemorrhoids which were a plague of mice and rats and a serve epidemic of the bubonic plague. The Philistines decided since God was punishing them to give the Ark back so they placed the Ark on a cart pulled by 2 cows that made their way to Beth-shemesh. Now the people of Beth-shemesh seeing the Ark coming back to them rejoiced and shouted in happiness. The Levites took charge of the Ark and the box of golden articles. The Philistines split back to whence they came from. We learn the box of golden articles from the Philistines were a guilt offering. Then we see Chapter 6 close with the punishment of Jeconiah did not come to join in the celebration of the Arks return so God rose up and killed 70 of them. Chapter 7 we see the Ark is taken to the house of Abinadab were it remained for 20 years, it is also during this time the Israelites turned back to the Lord and here we see the appearance of Samuel who says to them “If you wish to return to the Lord get rid of all your foreign gods and worship the one true God alone. Chapter 7 closes with the defeat of the Philistines with the help of God. Now God continued to punish the Philistines as long as Samuel lived. Chapter 8 is the establishment of the monarchy of Israel.
Chapter 8 is the establishment of the monarchy of Israel. Samuel is now and old man who had son’s of his own who did bad things like Eli’s sons. The Israelites demanded a king to rule them and poor Samuel had to go to God and ask God what to do since the Israelites would not heed Samuels warnings. God tells Samuel to grant their requests! God tells Samuel it is not him who they reject but it is God they once again reject. In Chapter 9 we are introduced to Saul who God tells Samuel that Saul will be the King the Israelites requested.
ReplyDelete