Cyrus

The start of Ezra is the same as the end of 2 Chronicles. I like that segway. Also, Cyrus seems to be very kind to Israel, letting them return to their land. I hope he is blessed for that.

Dude, step down

Josiah seems to be a good King. He seems to want to please God and obey him. He did a lot of good things in Israel. But what he doesn't seem to know is he has to pick his battles.

20 After all this, when Josiah had set the temple in order, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched out to meet him in battle. 21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, "What quarrel is there between you and me, O king of Judah? It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you."

22 Josiah, however, would not turn away from him, but disguised himself to engage him in battle. He would not listen to what Neco had said at God's command but went to fight him on the plain of Megiddo.

23 Archers shot King Josiah, and he told his officers, "Take me away; I am badly wounded."

This unfortunately, leads to the death of Josiah and a very bad downward spiral for Judah, who all seem to shortly thereafter be taken captive by opposing communities.

Book of the Law

In 2 Chronicles 34 when they are renovating the Temple, they find the book of the law. And they read it and realize all the things that have been done wrong in the past. So King Josiah asks someone to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord tells the prophetess that disaster is coming because the Law has not been obeyed, but He will delay it because Josiah was humbled by the reading, so that it will not occur in his lifetime.

Stories of the Kings

As I continued reading in Chronicles about more Kings and what were the defining moments in their lives, I thought about why it is recorded so. That it is important that we hear other people's stories, to learn from their defining moments.

Under attack

In 2 Chronicles 32 Hezekiah feels a threat from Sennacherib. His course of action:
1) Make his area look less appealing (they go and stop up the water supplies)
2) Fortify his defences
3) Tells his military guys to remember that the Lord helps us and fights our battles.
Then Sennacherib lays seige to the area, an outright threat. He delivers a campaign of intimidation and mocking of God. It is interesting that he begins with a mental terrorist campaign instead of a physical one.
Hezekiah's new course of action:
1) Pray
Hezekiah did everything he could do to prepare. Then he prays and God delivered his country/area.

Restoration

The chapters about Hezekiah show restoration. He restores the Temple, the passover celebration, the practice of tithing. Idol worship is cut down. Resoration is a healing thing.

Hezekiah

Hezekiah seems like a good dude. He restored the Temple. He sends an invitation out to the people to come and celebrate the passover. Some people scorned this idea, some people humbles themselves.

12 Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had ordered, following the word of the LORD.

Praying for unity

Uzziah

2 Chronicles 26 talks about King Uzziah's reign. This is the same Uzziah that Isaiah refers to in Isaiah 6, I believe.

5 He (Uzziah) sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.
...
16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall.

He decided he wanted to burn incense in the temple, which apparently he was not permitted to do, even though he was the King. Which he probably thought, because he was the King, he could do what he liked. But it was pride. The priests who went to tell him it was wrong, he 'raged' at. He likely KNEW it was wrong, and knew they were right, thus the eruption in rage. He was struck with leprosy. The priests hurried away. 20...Indeed, he himself was eager to leave... Indeed.

money

2 Chronicles 25:6 He (Amaziah) also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

7 But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the LORD is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. 8 Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow."

9 Amaziah asked the man of God, "But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?"
The man of God replied, "The LORD can give you much more than that."

10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a great rage.

In times of economic crises, it is good to remember that though money may be lost, God can restore.

The child shall be King

In 2 Chronicles 23 the head priest (who has been hiding away the only royal heir who was not killed by Athaliah) organizes a coup and a seven year old is installed as King. James is almost 7 and while I'm sure he would love to be king, I am not sure he would have the actual capacity to do the kingly things. So this boy was more of a figurehead. I think the priest did most of the thinking for him. And that priest stayed with him and kept him on track for the whole of the priests life. But when the priest died, the king ran it off in a ditch. Apparently he was influenced as deeply for good as I'm sure his mentor would have liked.

Wife of Jehoram

These 2 were a match made somewhere. After Jehoram died Ahaziah becomes king. He walks in the ways of Ahab. Jehu kills him within a year.
When the mother of Ahaziah (widow of Jehoram) finds out he is dead, she goes and kills all the other royals, so that she can rule the land. It sounds like these people were so filled with desire for power, they forgot about the people. She didn't even know how many royal princes there were, so she didn't know that one had been hidden away.

Jehoram

Jehoram was the eldest son of Jehoshaphat and when his father died and left him the kingdom, he killed all his brothers. How does a person grow up with so little regard for human life, only regard for himself?
When he died 2 Chronicles 21:20 says He passed away, to no one's regret
Sounds like his winning ways did not garner much respect among the people.

You will not have to fight this battle

In 2 Chronicles 20 and army comes against Jehoshaphat and he prays a great prayer that ends with

For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.2 Chronicles 20:12

I seems to be back with the desperation again.
God answers by a prophecy through Jahaziel that ends with

17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.'

A lot of times Israel did have to fight the battle, but for this one, they didn't. The enemies killed each other before Israel got there and so God had delivered them. Sometimes we have to fight for deliverance and sometimes it's all God's work.

Understanding

I have read 2 Chronicles 18 a lot because I love the plot on it. So going in to the chapter I prayed that I would get out of the chapter what God wanted me to get. Since I read it a lot, how much more would there be to get? But seriously, the Bible is kind of a living organism. You keep poking and you'll discover something you haven't seen before!

So the summary is that Ahab and Jehoshaphat (A and J for the rest of this post!) are planning on going out to war together and J says that they had better ask God first. So A brings out 400 guys who say that everything is going to go well. Then J asks for a prophet of the Lord. Apparently, J could see that the spirit of the Lord was not with these people. That they just wanted to make A happy and say what he wanted to hear, not necessarily what the Lord wanted to say. Then A says there is one, but he hates him because he always prophesies bad stuff. They bring him and at first he says it will all go well. But we don't really know with what tone he said that. Was it mocking? Because they say to him, he needs to tell the truth. And so he does.

16 Then Micaiah answered, "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, 'These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.' "

17 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?"

18 Micaiah continued, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD : I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the host of heaven standing on his right and on his left. 19 And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?'
"One suggested this, and another that. 20 Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, 'I will entice him.'
" 'By what means?' the LORD asked.

21 " 'I will go and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said.
" 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD. 'Go and do it.'

22 "So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you."

Now I hadn't paid a lot of mind to this part before, because it probably didn't seem to fit in with my God is good and knows no move but good in your direction theology. It seemed a little odd that God wanted A to die. But did he really? Did he really hope that A would listen to the prophet and turn back to Him? Was it really a way for reconciliation?

What are the enticing spirits of today? Drugs, alcohol, video games? There are many things that pull us away from God. But I think he's always hoping that we will turn from the enticing spirits and run to Him.

Teaching

Jehoshaphat seems to be a pretty good dude. I like how he makes sure that the people are taught. 2 Chronicles 17:7-9

God is always there

In 2 Chronicles 16 Asa changes from relying on God to relying on another earthly king to keep him safe. When one is desperate, sometimes it is easier to rely on God than when things are going well. When you've got a friend who has a great earthly army. When you are sitting pretty. Maybe you can rely on earthly things.

But then Asa gets a disease in his feet and

Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.(2 Chron 16:11)

I can see God waiting, hoping that Asa will call on Him.

Oh God, help us rely on you in good times and in bad.

Prophecy

In 2 Chronicles 15 Azariah gives a prophecy. The resultant action is

8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of [a] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD's temple.

Prophecy is not meant (in my opinion) as a 'feel good time'. If is comes from God, it has a purpose. There should be some result from prophecy either in the physical world (as above- the prophecy spurred Asa into action) or in a heart (prophecy can bring healing) or in the spiritual realm.

In one of my previous posts I noted that Maacah had a favored spot. In this chapter, Maacah is not so favored:

16 King Asa also deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole.

The favor of man (humans) can come and go. It is the favor of God we should be interested in obtaining.

Help me to look for favor from You and not from the world

Desperate

2 Chronicles 14:11 "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you."

God seems to stick close to the desperate. Maybe that's why Rustle seems close to his heart.

2 to 1

In 2 Chronicles 13 Abijah and Jeroboam are going to war. Jeroboam's troops outnumber Abijah 2 to 1. Abijah starts out the battle declaring the they are the team committed to God. Jeroboam plans an ambush. Abijah calls out to God. Abijah wins.

a day late

After patting myself on the back a couple of days ago. I didn't post yesterday. I did write the post in my head, it just never made it to the computer, so I don't feel too bad :)

In this next chapter Rehoboam goes into offensive mode and takes some cities. Then a prophet comes to tell him because he abandoned God, so that now God is abandoning him. Then the leaders and the king humbled themselves.

2 Chronicles 12:12 Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD's anger turned from him, and he was not totally destroyed. Indeed, there was some good in Judah.

God is always open for us to humble ourselves no matter how far we have fallen.

Food, olive oil and wine

I have to say, I am rather pleased about my determination to post every day for advent and am quite enjoying it.

At the start of 2 Chronicles 11, Rehoboam is about to set out to war against Israel. But God said no. And they obeyed.

Then Rehoboam goes in defensive mode (if you aren't offensive, I guess having a good defense is good) and fortifies his cities. He also stocks up on supplies of food, olive oil and wine. I thought that was an interesting list of most important life commodities of the time.

Then the chapter goes on to discuss Rehoboams' wives and one interesting snippet is:

21 Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines.

A note that if you have more than one wife, you probably don't love them all the same. Also probably her children are more favored than the other wives...

When You say No, help me to respond in obedience.

Key Decisions

In 2 Chronicles 10 Rehoboam had a big decision to make. He knew it was a big decision as he asked for 3 days to think about the answer. He was a young king. This would set the stage for his reign. How would he treat the people? He consulted the elders who served with his (wise) father. They said be kind to the people. He consulted his friends, also young men. The young men saw it as a power trip- to show how strong a king he was. That he would not listen to the people. That he would make their lives harder. It was his friends he listened to. Probably their advice appealed to his ego more. The result was that the people revolted.
Key decisions need wisdom.

Sheba

It is one thing to hear about something. It is another thing to see it yourself.

2 Chronicles 9:3 When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, 4 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed.
5 She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 6 But I did not believe what they said until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told me; you have far exceeded the report I heard.

Sometimes we just have to experience things. See it, breathe it, feel it.

reasoning

Here's a verse I didn't quite get the reasoning on:

2 Chronicles 8:11 Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, "My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy."

-wasn't she living in the palace of David when he brought her up?
-wouldn't that make her feel bad knowing that she could not go to holy places? why did he marry her if that was going to be a problem? wouldn't you feel bad being told that you would defile a place?
-am I missing something?

Time

After Solomon prays the prayer in 2 Chr. 6 "the glory of the LORD filled the temple". There was some sort of physical presence of God on Earth. The priests could not enter the temple because of this. Then the people take about 8 days to sacrifice and celebrate. 8 days! That's a long time. But God must have been pleased with the dedication as He speaks to Solomon and part of it is this:

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land

Which, while I knew the verse before, I hadn't seen it as an echo to what Solomon prayed earlier until now.

Hear from heaven

I really enjoyed 2 Chronicles 6, especially Solomon's prayer of dedication. This part gets repeated a number of times, looking at different situations, but the same idea:

21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.

If we turn to Him, He can hear from heaven and forgive. And oh, how we need that so much.

Lord, hear our prayers and forgive us.

Equality

In 1 Chronicles there are lots of lists of families. Lots of honourable families. I found this verse interesting at the end of 1 Chronicles 24

The families of the oldest brother were treated the same as those of the youngest.

This is referring to the casting of lots. That each family had equal opportunity to be pulled for any lot. And whatever lot you got, that was it. It was all equal. You got your shot, now sit in your lot. (though I think the lots were for jobs)

There is another comment about the census in chapter 27:

23 David did not take the number of the men twenty years old or less, because the LORD had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky. 24 Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. Wrath came on Israel on account of this numbering, and the number was not entered in the book of the annals of King David.

So Joab put all that work into the census and they all got punished for it and the work was all in vain, because it wasn't what God wanted them to be doing.

Census

I'm sure this verse gets lots of discussion. After David does a whole bunch of battles and settles down, this happens:

1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.

Now a census doesn't seem like a bad thing, but evidently it is some sort of bad thing as when David tells Joab to do it, Joab is like- what are you doing buddy? Joab knew it was wrong. For what reason it was wrong I don't know. Maybe counting your troops makes you think you can accomplishing things in your own strength so they weren't allowed to count them.
But Joab does the census because David insisted and Israel gets punished, though David takes responsibility, At the end:

1 Chronicles 21:29 The tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Because he did something wrong, it caused a block in his relationship with God.

Chronicling

I'm about half way through 1 Chronicles. I thought I had written a post on it earlier but I guess not.
Some things that stuck out
-Tamar, Judah's daughter in law that he slept with when she pretended to be a prostitute is in Jesus' family tree
-Joab, Asahel and Amasa that were in the story of David back a few books, were his (David's) cousins. I don't think I had grasped that before.
-in 1 Chronicles 12 the fighting men come "fully determined to make David king over Israel" (v.38) and they do and they have a party and the result is "joy in Israel" (v. 40). Looks like unity brings joy.

We pray for unity in our Church and homes that we may have the joy You desire us to have in You.

Wrapping up 2 Kings

Looking back at 2 Kings there was one description of each king that was black and white. Either the king did things that were pleasing to the Lord or they did not. I think this description says more about the heart of the particular king. Either he wanted to please God, or he didn't care. Because I don't see any way that a human could do everything pleasing to God!

In the last couple of chapters Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has invaded the land. He takes the king at the time (Jehoiachin) prisoner. Nebu installs the kings uncle (also a young man- 21) as king in his stead. This is a bit puzzling, because why wouldn't Nebu himself be king? But say he couldn't or wouldn't- at least he gets to pick who gets on the throne. So, Nebu must have liked and trusted this new king. But after 9 years this new king rebelled against Nebu as well. This resulted in all of Judah being taken into captivity. Sometimes when you rebel against opression, things get worse!

Eventually, Evil-Merodach becomes king of Bablylon and takes a shine to the prisoner king Jehoiachin. So 2 Kings 25 ends with this picture:

29 So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table.

That's like a picture of what God does for us- he takes us out of our prison baggage and seats us at His table with Him. If we are willing to accept Him.

Help us to know when to fight the oppression.

A picture of a community

2 Kings 17 gives a picture of Israel that sounds a lot like the world today. As I read it, I thought- how little things change, really. The bold part of the scripture below, I thought was interestingly written:

15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the LORD had forbidden them to do.

Do you follow something of worth or something worthless? What you follow determines your worth.

Then some dudes came and overran Israel and took over Samaria. But they kept getting eaten by lions, so they went and retrieved one of the Israeli priests to teach them how to worship the God of the Place. But that didn't really work out. Why? Maybe because the only reason they wanted to worship this God is so they wouldn't get eaten by lions. Which isn't a terrible reason. Butter than not worshiping Him at all. But it was on a very surface level. And God ultimately wants to go deeper, to go right to your heart.

Lord help us to let go of worthless things and let your worth fill us from the center of our being.

Fixing your hair does not cover evil

In 2 Kings 9 Jehu has been annointed king and killed Joram, the son of Ahab and Jezebel. Jehu arrives at Jezreel, where Jezebel is. I am not sure what Jezebel knew- if she knew that Jehu had killed Joram or not, but she does know that Jehu is arriving. So she painted her eyes, arranged her hair and looked out of a window (v.30). I guess she thought if she looked pretty, things would go better for her. But no amount of makeup and no amount of hair brushing can cover evil. God looks at our inside, not the outside.
O God please help us to see that the surface of our physical form is not who we really are. Help us to focus on keeping the inside good, on doing good and on loving you.

Not the way you expected

The theme of the stories of Elisha in 2 Kings seem to be that God does things in not the way that we humans would expect.
- at the start of 2 Kings 6 a metal axe head (assumed heavy metal) is made to float
- in 2 Kings 6 the Arameans who come to kill Elisha are struck with a sort of blindness that allows Elisha to guide them into Samaria where the king of Israel was. And instead of killing them, he gives them a meal. This also stops the Aram bandits raids on Israel
- in 2 Kings 7 the seige against Samaria is broken as 4 lepers go towards the opposing camp and the people who are seiging think is it another army. This story is one of my favorites in the Bible because it is such a great picture to me. You've got these 4 guys who are sick and starving. They are pretty desperate. They realize if they stay where they are, they will die. They have to move. So they decide to try surrendering to the opposing army. Their intent is not to scare away the opposing army, but to ask for mercy. So they head out and as they walk, God transforms the situation. Sometimes we just have to walk.

Expectations

Too often God does not move as we expect him to. Namaan (commander of an army) in 2 Kings was a leper who wanted to be healed and went to Elisha, the prophet in Israel:

2 Kings 5:9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.

The man of God didn't behave as he expected. Maybe he was used to grand ceremonies and wanted something like that for his healing. But wasn't he missing the point here? The point was the healing, not the method. God doesn't need drama to heal your life, He just needs obedience. When Namaan saw the truth of this and went and washed 7 times in obedience, he was healed.

Idolatry

I started 2 Kings today and it starts with Ahaziah falling down and wanting to know if he is going to get better. So he sends some dudes out to consult Baal-Zebub and God sends Elijah to tell A. that he will die because he sent to ask B-Z instead of God. Now you or I probably wouldn't go running to ask B-Z any questions, but there are so many things in this life that act as a B-Z. When we want to know something significant do we go to God first? When we want to do something significant do we go to God first? Are there things that come first in our lives ahead of God?
Thank you God, for being jealous after our hearts. Even though it might feel demanding and though you are taking things we want away from us, you know and want what is best for us. Help us to listen to your heart for us.

listening

1 Kings 22 is such a good picture of how we often listen that it cracks me up. The king wants to know if he should go to war. So he decides to ask the prophets.

6 So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, "Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?"
"Go," they answered, "for the Lord will give it into the king's hand."

7 But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?"

8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah."

Jehoshaphat seems to be a good sort of dude and he seems to recognize that the 400 prophets are not prophets of the Lord. Now, how he knew that I don't know. Maybe intuition?
Anyway then the king of Israel (Ahab) says that there is one but he hates him because he never prophesies anything good for Ahab. Interesting how he blames the prophet and does not take the blame himself. He does not recognize or repent of his sin. It is like he is hardened to it. But he does seem to recognize the Micaiah is a true prophet of the Lord.

So they decide to go get Micaiah:

13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, "Look, as one man the other prophets are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably."

14 But Micaiah said, "As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me."

15 When he arrived, the king asked him, "Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?"
"Attack and be victorious," he answered, "for the LORD will give it into the king's hand."

16 The king said to him, "How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD ?"

17 Then Micaiah answered, "I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, 'These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.' "

18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good about me, but only bad?"

So, they go get M. and the messenger counsels him to say good things to the king. He says he won't, but then he does. So he prophesied the good that Ahab said he wouldn't and then Ahab doesn't believe him! So Ahab is being a bit complex here- he wants him to say good things, but then doesn't believe him when he does. Then when M. does tell the truth, Ahab doesn't like it. It's pretty much lose-lose for M. and Abah sounds like he's deceiving himself pretty much!

How often do we do that? Only listen to what we want to hear. And when we hear bad things, and KNOW it's God, we blame someone else.

1 Kings

I haven't updated here recently, not because I haven't been reading and thinking, but with my work, I just haven't had time to post! I am very passionate about reading at least one chapter a day. I think it's good for me :)

In 1 Kings 1 there's an interesting comment on parenting. One of David's sons- Adonijah - starts to run amuck and in verse 6 there is this comment:
His father had never interfered with him by asking, "Why do you behave as you do?"
Our actions or inactions in parenting can have an affect on how the child is raised.

Extravagance can get God's attention. In 1 Kings 3:4 Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. Why would you offer so much? Solomon must have been really desperate to hear from God there. It was shortly after that that God asked him what he wanted and he asked for wisdom and God was pleased. I think that is one reason God hangs close to Rustle. We are really desperate people!

A number of chapters in 1 Kings are about the building of the temple. This sounds like a lot of work and dedication. There was so much that went into it. So much care. So much investment. And yet later Solomon goes adrift from the way of the Lord. Staying with the Lord is a continual thing that you have to do day by day. Just because you build a big temple for him one day, doesn't mean you are guaranteed to stay with Him the next day. (He will never leave you, but we can leave Him)

2 Samuel 20=Crazy stuff!

Right, reading this chapter made me think- wow this is a crazy chapter!

3 When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace and put them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but did not lie with them. They were kept in confinement till the day of their death, living as widows.

Ok, I'm guessing he did this because his son slept with them publicly. Maybe he didn't like them so much, so that's why he left them behind when he left the palace. You'd think if they were important to him, he's have brought them with him?
Why put them under guard? Why confine them? If he doesn't like them anymore, why not let them go? I mean it's nice he provided their material needs, but what kind of a life was it, to be confined for something you really had no control over?

Then David sends Amasa out to generate an army and gives him 3 days, because they want to go after a dude named Sheba. But he takes too long, so David tells Abishai to go out with an army. Then at some point Amasa catches up to the other army and Joab assassinates him. Apparently Joab festered some resentment at Amasa being put in charge in Chapter 17. When people who are on the same team treat each other like this, what does that say about the team? We are all so flawed.

When things go wrong

David had a lot of good things in his life but he also had a lot of things go wrong. He spent time on the run from Saul and then later on the run from his own son Absalom. That's a lot of time on the run.
His first son with Bathsheba dies. While the son is sick and dying he fasted and wept, pleading for the life of his son. Hoping that "the Lord might be gracious to me and let the child live"(2 Samuel 12:22)
On the second time on the run, some guy (Shimei) comes out and curses David. Members of his party want to kill Shimei (that would silence him!) but David's attitude is that God told Shimei to curse him, so he needs to take it and "It may be that the Lord will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today" (2 Samuel 16:12)
So when bad things happen, he does not retaliate, just takes it on the chin and hopes that God will dole out the justice for him. Often we think we need to take justice into our own hands, but that was not David's attitude.

A gift that David receives while on the run the second time is that Ziba (a servant of Saul's grandson, who has seen David be good to the grandson) brings him a "string of donkeys saddled and loaded with 200 loaves of bread, 100 cakes of raisins, 100 cakes of figs and a skin of wine" (2 Samuel 16:1) This would have been a lot of time, effort and expense for Ziba. Are we willing to put time, effort and expense into people like he was?

The quote that I am pondering after this weeks' reading is from 2 Samuel 14:14:

14 Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.

Peace

In 2 Samuel 2 there is conflict between the house of David and the house of Saul. One day there was a fierce battle between the 2. Asahel was chasing Abner. Abner keeps telling him to stop, that he (Abner) doesn't want to hurt him. But he doesn't stop and Abner ends up killing him.
Then Asahel's brothers pursue Abner and Abner again strikes out for peace.

26..."Must the sword devour forever? Don't you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their brothers?"

This actually works and they stop fighting. But the anger of Asahel's brothers' festers.

In 2 Samuel 3, it tells us that in Hebron David has 6 sons by 6 different women. I guess as king, that's the sort of thing you do.

Then Saul's son accuses Abner of sleeping with Saul's concubine. Now I don't really see what the problem was as Saul was dead, but there must have been some rules and things about who gets whose concubine, or whatever. But the accusation offends Abner and he goes and makes peace with David.

But Asahel's brothers get mad that David has made peace with Abner and they go off and murder him. Either their pain must have been deeper than David's and they were not able to forgive or David had more grace for forgiveness.

Medium

1 Samuel 28 is certainly an interesting chapter. It deals with methods of consulting spirits.

3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.

Now is Saul's expulsion of the mediums a good thing or a bad thing? Was he doing it to honour God?

Then the Philistines come up. (again)

6 He (Saul) inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 7 Saul then said to his attendants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her."

So first he expels the mediums. Then when God doesn't answer in the manner that He had been when you asked him a question, he says to find a medium. Saul seems a bit on the confused side. Does he want mediums in his country or not?

So then it gets even wonkier as Saul dresses down, goes to the medium and has her 'conjure' up Samuel. As soon as she does, she knows he is Saul. Then Saul asks her what the spirit looks like and she says an old man with a robe and he knew it was Samuel. Well, ok then.

Samuel tells him that the reason that God wasn't answering by the other methods is because He had turned away from Saul. Now, that's not a good place to be in! Then Samuel tells Saul that he's going to lose the battle and die.

Saul is, of course, upset by this! But he still goes into battle and dies. It might have been he had no other options left but to fight. I don't know- I might have tried to create some more options!

Trust

In 1 Samuel 27, we have moved on to the story of David. He had opportunity to kill Saul but would not take the opportunities. So, he finds himself on the run as Saul seems to be very unstable in relation to David and David (rightfully) feels a bit scared. So David goes to live with the Philistines. So he joined up with a Phil named Achish. And David goes out and raids some people (the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites) but he tells Achish that he raids different people. He is playing Achish a bit here to get his trust. When he does his raids, he is careful to kill everyone in the area so none can report back to Achish. And this goes well and Achish trusts him.
But what I thought of in this story is how David must trust his men. He has 600 guys, anyone of whom could tell Achish what was going on, but none do. He had unity and trust in his men and it was well founded.

Music

1 Samuel 16:23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

Biblical precedent that music is healing :)

Saul

I'm in 1 Samuel now and my goodness a lot went on with Saul. Before he's appointed king he seems kind of lowly- from a small tribe. Not much pride. It talks about his heart and how it changed so he could prophesy. How he hides when Samuel wants to anoint him. How he doesn't brag to his uncle when he could.

Then he's appointed king and what happens?
First, some people grumble about it.
How does this make Saul feel? Some people taking an obvious dislike to him. 1 Samuel 10:27 says he kept silent, but it must have hurt.
In 1 Samuel 11 Saul brings unity to the battle and rescues the city of Jabesh.

The first problem with Saul shows up in 1 Samuel 13. The battle against the Philistines is not going well. The troops are "quaking with fear". Saul is waiting for Samuel, and waiting, and waiting. He waited 7 days and then he offers the burnt offering himself. Samuel arrives and rebukes him.

I feel for Saul here. He was in a bad situation. It's hard to be patient in a good situation, let alone in a situation where you are living in dirt and quaking with fear. God sets the bar high. You can do this. You can hang on. You can wait. You don't need to do it your way, you can wait and do it His way.

Saul also seems to make weird 'rules' that everybody has to follow, even though logically, they make no sense.

Later, Samuel gives Saul a mission to destroy the Amelkites and he does 95% but spares 5% or so. Now, to me 95% is an A. But it was not obedience to God's word.

22"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has rejected you as king."

I haven't finished the whole story of Saul yet, but I recall he does some crazy stuff to David. What happened that led to this? Did he become prideful in being the new king? Was it a mental illness? Was his heart changed again? Is it because the king has so much more responsibility, so much more is required?

Drama

I just finished the story of Samson and boy he has a lot of drama!

After the angel of the Lord tells the parents of Samson about his impending birth, I was amused at the reaction:

Judges 13:22 "We are doomed to die!" he (Samsons to-be dad) said to his wife. "We have seen God!"

23 But his wife answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this."

Samson's to be dad has a very emotional response, and the wife a very logical one.

Samson's first wife (not Delilah) gets an answer to a riddle/bet out of Samson and so it turns out that Samson loses the bet and owes 30 outfits of clothing. To pay this debt he kills 30 guys and takes their clothing. Don't mind the bloodstains. I think if he's asked, he probably could have gotten the clothes without killing the people, but that's just the way he went.
The first wife gets given away to one of Samson's friends and when Samson evidently gets over the treachery and goes back for her he's not too impressed that she was given away, because as we see later, he can forgive the treachery of a woman. So he burns the crops of the Philistines using foxes. Then the Philistines burn the first wife and her father for causing Samson to be angry.
And this fiery man is the leader of Israel. There's something to be said for fiery.
Then he 'fell in love' with Delilah. What does this mean? She evidently didn't feel the same for him, as she just wants to get his secret out.

She uses her womanly ways on him:

Judges 16:15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.

17 So he told her everything.

He made a fool out of HER? Surely it was her making a fool out of HIM. Interesting how she turns it around.

After the battle

In Judges 12, Jephthah has returned from winning the battle against the Ammonites. Yay. The Israelites should be happy right?
Not.
The men of Ephraim come over looking for a fight because Jephthah allegedly didn't invite them to the battle with them. (Jephthah disagreed with them- he said he did call for them)
All the fuss over what sounds like minor things (though it probably felt major to them)
And they fought. Again.

Gideon

Judges 6 starts the story of Gideon. The land is oppressed by the Midianites and so Gideon is hiding away in a winepress threshing wheat and an angel of the Lord says to him "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior" and Gideon's response is- if the Lord is with us, why are things so bad for us? An appropriate response to seeing an angel of the Lord? I'm not sure. The Lord might have been smacking himself of the head after that. So what does the angel do? He tells Gideon that Gideon is going to save Israel! Something about stop whining about the problem when YOU are the solution goes through my head.
Gideon then asks God for a number of signs, which God gives him, and he finally goes off and trounces the Midiantes in a battle that truly belonged to the Lord as he took only 300 men to fight thousands.
He gets some gold from the plunder which he makes into an ephod but unfortunately "it became a snare to Gideon and his family"(Judges 8:27). So even though there can be a great God-time, you can't live there- you have to watch for snares all the time!

I'll just end with a side note about Abimelech, the guy who uses money to hire "reckless adventurers"(Judges 9:4) and then gets a millstone dropped on his head by a woman. This line cracked me up Judges 9:55 When the Israelites saw that Abimelech was dead. they went home . That's it, they just went home!

Turning

After Joshua died, there seem to be a series of judges that led Israel.

19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.

It seems that the people needed a more stable leadership. They were not able to stay committed to the Lord on their own.

Don't stay on your own. Be committed.

Understanding

Joshua 22 is a very crazy chapter, but I think it is something that plays out often.

The Israelites have pretty much taken all the land that they set out to take, so they send home the 3 tribes from over the Jordan, who fought faithfully with them as they had promised.
On their was home they build an 'imposing altar' by the Jordan.
This completely freaks the rest of Israel out and they prepare to go to war against these 3 tribes.
Wow, they were fighting side by side for weeks, months before and now they build an altar and they aren't friends anymore?
Luckily, before they head to war, they send a group to talk to the 'rebelling' tribes. Only to find that they weren't rebelling at all.
Now that's not to say that the altar building was God-inspired even though they use some talk about how it is an altar to commemorate Him. They do indicate that it was fear-inspired. Fear of the other tribes leading them astray.

Don't build altars based on fear of what might happen in the future.
Don't make judgments about other people's actions.
Don't get angry. Hear the full story.

Cities of Refuge

In Joshua 20 cities of refuge are set up so that if you accidentally killed someone, you would have a safe place to go. A protection from the 'avenger of blood'. (presumably relatives of the dead person?)

In the next chapter, cities are doled out to the Levites because they got no inheritance of land because they were the priests. Within the cities they received, they managed to land pretty much all of the cities of refuge. I'm not sure if this would have made them happy or not. It would make some sense as these were cities that probably were a lot of work as well as would not have as great ties to the surrounding land.

Know your inheritance

In Joshua 14, Caleb asks for land promised him when he was one of the spies (that brought a good report)

10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."

He's kinda old but still ready to fight and take what he was promised.

Fighting others' battles

In Joshua 9, the Israelites make some unwanted friends. The Gibeonites were scared about how the Israelites were taking the country, so they made a 'spiritual' lie. They said they were from far away and the God had sent them to the Israelites to make a treaty with them. They showed mouldy bread and old shoes. But really they were from close by. The Israelites did not inquire of the Lord and became friends with them, then they found out the truth. Maybe they were flattered by what the Gibeonites had said.

So they were friends on false pretences.

Then some of the other kings in the area heard about the Gibeonites becoming friends with the Israelites and they went to attack the Gibeonites. And the Israelites went to protect the Gibeonites. Even though they had been lied to by these 'friends' to become friends, the commitment of the friendship went so far. These days are we so comitted to our friends?

All

In Joshua 7 some dude steals some of the holy things of the Lord and hid them under his tent. The result is that Israel looses a battle and the people all get discouraged, then God says to Joshua in v. 11 "Israel has sinned". Not just the one silly dude, but the whole country gets the blame! Because the people of God are a body, an organism, what one member does affects all the rest.

ETA: Fred noted that the rest of Israel was not so lily white. Probably the guy centered out was not the only dude stealing. But also, some people must have known this was going on and turned a blind eye to it.

Ready to cross

Deuteronomy ends with the death of Moses. Before he goes he sings a song that seems very critical of how ungrateful Israel is. Probably because he felt frustrated a lot of the time! Not sure how good of a song this would make, but I find it interesting that it DID come out as a song.
After that he blesses Israel. First criticism, then blessing, then death.

Curses

In Deuteronomy 27 the instructions for on crossing the Jordan are that 6 tribes are to go to one mountain and pronounce the blessings. The other 6 tribes are to go to a different mountain and pronounce the curses. I skidded to a halt here- that half the tribes are going to pronounce curses? That didn't sound very life giving. But it was. The 'curses' they refer to are really just their rules for living well in community.

Family of the Unsandaled

In Deuteronomy 25 there is this interesting passage:

5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

7 However, if a man does not want to marry his brother's wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me." 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, "I do not want to marry her," 9 his brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line." 10 That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

This was not an easy story to understand in todays context of life, for being called the 'family of the unsandaled' would probably not cause too much grief now, but then, it probably was a big shame. One's name and place in the tribe was probably pretty important to them in the context that they were living in.

So if you were a brother, you'd probably want to make sure your sibling married someone you liked as if he died without producing an offspring, she would become your wife. But what if you didn't like her? What if she was mean? What if you didn't have the money to support another mouth to feed? Well, then you got spit in the face and called the family of the unsandaled!

His treasured possession

In Deuteronomy 12 Moses makes some notes about locations to sacrifice.

8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit...13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please.

As humans we tend to want to do what we want, where we want and when we want. For some things that is ok. When we are wandering in the desert, maybe that is ok. But there are some things that God wants to do His way.

In Deuteronomy 13:5 it states:

You must purge the evil from among you.

Now in the time it was written, it meant that any person who led people away from God had to be put to death. But what does that mean in todays context? Because in the old testament Jesus had not yet died and paid the price for our soul, that no evil can take away.

I like how it later says:

14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly

to make sure people don't jump to conclusions and make rash judgments on people's lives.

I also liked Deuteronomy 14:2

the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

to explain why they should be careful in what they eat. To live like a child of the King, as His treasured possesion.

Choices

I read Deut. 11 tonight and found it a rich chapter and full of choices.

Moses says a couple of times something like:

2Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;

Remember that your experience is not what others have experienced and you need to share what you know and have seen.

I liked this verse

8 Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess

because God knows that we need the strength to go on.

I thought this verse was a beautiful picture:

12 It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

This

16 Be careful

is a choice. We can chose to proceed carefully with our eyes open, or we can close them and rush into things recklessly.

18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds

another choice. We can chose to dwell on God's words or not.

26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-

And another choice, albeit it should not be much of a choice- if you have a choice between blessing and curse, when put THAT way, would you choose curse?

remember

It is good to remember where we have been and how God pulled us through. It is good to remember our mistakes so we don't keep repeating them. - these ideas seem central to the first chapters of Deuteronomy.

One thing that struck me was how applicable this is to present day:

Deut 8:17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

Sometimes it is easy to remember God when things are easy and don't look so good and you don't have anywhere else to turn. But harder to remember God when things are going well and you seem to be in control and taking care of yourself.

No form

I finished off Numbers and started Deuteronomy. Deut starts with Moses giving a review of what has gone on with the Israelites during his lifetime (I think he'll die at the end of the review!)

A sentence that stuck out to me was in Deut. 4

11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.

(emphasis mine)

It seems God is very careful to show them no form. Why? Because we humans get stuck in that. He didn't want them to make a idol out of what He looked like. The Israelites seemed to get stuck in idols quite a bit. While in our society today we probably don't have so much problem with wooden idols of different gods, there are many other options to distract us from God.

A worse day for Balaam

In Numbers 24 we see Balaam going home. In Numbers 25 we see Moab seducing Israel. At the end of Numbers 24, I thought Balaam's story was done! Evidently not- in Numbers 31 they kill Balaam and then when they come back from the battle Moses asks them:

15 "Have you allowed all the women to live?" he asked them. 16 "They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and were the means of turning the Israelites away from the LORD in what happened at Peor, so that a plague struck the LORD's people.

then in Revelation 2 it refers to more of Balaam's legacy:

14Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.

So, he seems to have been behind a lot of troubling things, even though most of Num. 22-24 focuses on how he cannot curse Israel, which seems to have been a positive thing. But was this showing that Balaam really wanted to curse Israel and God had to do a strong job of holding him back or was he just one of those laid back guys who goes with whatever the flow is for the moment?

Voice

In Numbers 27 there is an interesting note about a woman's voice.

There must have been lots of cases that went before Moses, but it interesting that this one was written down. Probably because it was pretty unique and it was a legal precident. There was a family that only had girls in it. In the society of the time, having a male heir was pretty important (important to kings in England still many, many years after this- this being fresh in my brian from just finishing reading 'The other Boleyn Girl') and with no male heir, you got no inheritance. And so the sisters asked for an inheritance. And Moses brought the case before the Lord and the Lord said that the sisters were right, that they should get an inheritance. One small step for womankind.

A bad day for Balaam

In Num 22 Balak wants to curse Israel because he feels threatened by them. So he goes to Balaam. Balaam seems to be some kind of spiritual guy who lives off somewhere in solitude. I picture the proverbial wise man in the cave. He doesn't seem to be an Israelite (why would Balak ask an Isrealite to curse Israel? so probably a no here) but he does seem to have a special ability to hear God.

When Balak's men come to him the first time, Balaam has no trouble at all telling the men that he will not go. I would say that if this was a test for Balaam that he passed with flying colours. A good day.

The problem is that Balak doesn't give up. He doesn't go and ask someone else to do the cursing despite the relative unsuccessfulness of the first mission. Balak sends another (better) crew to ask Balaam again. And it looks to me that Balaam is going to turn them down again. Certainly, he knew that what God told him the first time probably wouldn't change. But he goes off to hear what 'else' God might have to say.

Now here is where the story takes a wonky turn!

When Balaam asks a second time God tells him to go, but only do what He tells him. But when Balaam tries to go with the men, God gets angry with him. So, what happened? Did God want him to go or not? Was God's first command the one he wanted him to stick with? Was Balaam not hearing clearly the second time? So, even though it seems like God tells Balaam to go, God sends an angel to block Balaam's way. The donkey Balaam is on keeps him from getting killed by the angel but Balaam does not know this and so gets mad at the donkey. Then the donkey talks to Balaam! Very strange indeed. Balaam seems pretty ready to please telling the angel that he has sinned and that he was quite happy to go back.

But what isn't clear is HOW he sinned. If God told him to go and he went, well, that's not a sin. Maybe he;s talking about the past- it indicates in Num 24:1 that he practiced sorcery in the past, but he was not doing it now.

So he tells the angel he's willing to go back and the Lord (who seemed to send the angel to kill him for going) says go, but say what I(God) tell you.

He goes. Balak goes to meet him. And Balak doesn't seem too happy with him either. Balak seems upset that Balaam didn't come the first time he asked. Balaam doesn't seem to be able to please anybody here!

Then Balak takes Balaam to curse Israel and of course Balaam can't, as he warned them he couldn't because he's promised God to say what He tells him to. And Balak is even less pleased than before. But probably God was pleased and hopefully didn't send anymore angels to kill him.

Numbers

I've been having a bit of technical difficulties updating this because I generally do my reading in the evening and I make little notes, but because Myron is on the computer all evening, I don't get a chance to put them here, so today there will be a glut of notes from the last week. But my solution to the problem is to start a new book that I can take to work with me and do the updates during my lunch hour like I do with my other blog!

Numbers 15 talks about the different restitution for intentional sin and unintentional sin. I found this interesting because sin is sin, whatever the motivation behind it. Is it worse if you are deliberately rebellious?

Numbers 16:3 has the people saying something like everyone is holy, why are you treating some people (Moses/Aaron) as special. This upsets God. Maybe because the people are not trusting the way He set things up. This is the way He did it, don't complain about it or put your own spin on it, it just IS.

Then God gets angry at these people and decides to off them and we see Aaron intercede:

Numbers 16:46 Then Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started." 47 So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. 48 He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, for the plague had stopped.

Then God again shows the people how he has chosen Aaron by having his rod bud. This is the way He shows. This is How I am doing this. And then the people get overly dramatic, swinging the other way:

Numbers 17:12 The Israelites said to Moses, "We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! 13 Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?"

I wonder if God thinks: get a grip people! Listen to what I am saying. I am trying to help you not hurt you. I am trying to show you something. I am trying to help you understand.

In Numbers 18 God moves on to explain what the priests need to do and I just loved this line:

I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift.(Numbers 18:7)

Your job is a gift. What you are to do is a gift from God to the people.

In Numbers 19 the water of cleansing is explained. I thought it was interesting that it talks about how you can chose to be cleansed by the water or not. You can stay unclean if you want. The same choice still applies today.

Repetition

In Numbers 7, the writer list the gifts that the leaders of the tribes brought for the dedication of the Tabernacle.
I read the gifts that the first leader brought on the first day.
Then I read the gifts that the second leader brought on the second day.
And it was exactly the same as what the first leader brought!
And I was like- hey- couldn't he think of his own gift? But then I read all 12 and each of the 12 brought EXACTLY the same gift! Lack of originality, but high consistency!
Then I thought - why write out what the gifts were when they were exactly the same for each guy? Why not just write a list of the dudes and then the gift once? Because every gift we bring to God is precious. Maybe it's the same as what someone else is bringing, but it's still special to Him.

Blessing

I read this in Numbers 6 last night:

22 The LORD said to Moses, 23 "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
24 " ' "The LORD bless you
and keep you;

25 the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

26 the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace." '

27 "So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them."

It is a simple blessing, but such a good one!
I used it in my prayer time today, subtituting the 'you' with the person I was praying for.

Leviticus

I finished Leviticus on Friday. I think my overall impression of that book is that it is really important to God what we do. Specifically in keeping ourselves holy. Also in keeping ourselves obedient. I started Numbers last night. There is a disclaimed at the start of Numbers in my Bible that says that a lot of people don't want to read the book of Numbers BECAUSE it is called the book of Numbers. And numbers sounds scary. So they suggest if this is a problem for you to call it by it's alternate name "Desert".

Year of Jubilee

Leviticus 25 talks about the Year of Jubilee that the Israelites were to observe once every 50 years. This year was such an important one that parts of the economy reveloved around it. You would calculate payment for some things based on how far or near you were to the Year of Jubilee.
This would only happen once or twice in your lifetime.
It is hard to imagine a year as important as that, but some years are more important in our lives than others. Maybe not as important as the year of Jubilee, but still...

Clean and unclean

Leviticus talks a lot about what is clean and what is unclean. While Exodus pointed to the fact that God is holy, Leviticus is concerned with how the Israelites can keep themselves holy.

There are rules for purification, rules for skin diseases, rules for mould. Rules so that the people would see that there is a difference between clean and unclean. Some of it was quite sensible and helpful in that it would keep contagious diseases out of the community. A few things didn't make much sense to me.

One interesting note was about the scape goat. In Leviticus 16, on the Day of Atonement:

6 "Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. 7 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. 9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering. 10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.

There is a lot of sacrifice with blood spoken of in these early books. Looking forward to Jesus, we can see that Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice.
So one goat plays the sacrifice role, and one escapes the sacrifice and one is removed to the desert, never to be seen again. So there is the sacrifice and the removal of sins. Not a happy day for either goat though, I would think!

There is a lot of talk about blood, as I mentioned. One rule is that you can't eat the blood.

Leviticus 17:10 " 'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood—I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. 11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. 12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood."

I'm not very keen on eating blood myself, and don't think I would need to be told! But it says a number of times that the life of a creature is in the blood. Now, obviously, if we don't have blood, we don't have life. But is there more than that?

Another line that caught my eye was in Leviticus 19:

14 " 'Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.

For those that are already down, those that are already weak, don't make things worse for them. We should always be seeking to lift up, not push down.

What if noone sinned?

The start of Leviticus is the rules for the priests how to do the different offerings. It is a bit complicated and would probably take some time to figure out how it all worked the first few times! God provides for the priests in that they get to eat from some of the offerings. Live in Leviticus 7:

9 Every grain offering baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who offers it, 10 and every grain offering, whether mixed with oil or dry, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.

Which occurs, I think, because the priests don't have their own land, so can't have livestock or grow grain. So God provides for them out of the offerings. But what if noone sinned? The priests would grow very hungry and probably be very bored!
However, I'm guessing that the priests were very well fed and very busy!

Exodus from Exodus

I finished reading Exodus!

I liked how it ended with

34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.(Exodus 40)

God is Holy. It incredible to try to picture this.

In the end portion of Exodus, God gives a lot of direction to Moses with respect to how to set things up and how to do things. Sometimes, it would be easier if God were that specific these days! But again, the relationship is different and how He chooses to guide us is different.

Relationship

Hi David- thanks for reading!

I realize in reading Exodus that it has been quite a while since I read it. Previously, I think I read it trying to understand God and what he did. This time, I'm trying to FEEL what the people I am reading about felt. I am trying to put myself in their shoes and see through their eyes. And in reading this way, I think it is touching me deeper than before.

In Exodus there seems to be a lot of God threatening to kill people, so I have found it a bit unsettling as the God of the New Testament seems to be a much more compassionate God. I had a hard time putting the 2 together. Did God change? I don't think so, I think his relationship with people changed. When we come to God and are united with Christ, instead of seeing us as a still-necked people (like he saw the people in Exodus- have we really changed?) he sees us through His son's blood. This is just such an awesome thought that it is a bit overwhelming! Wow.

On the shoulders

I am still working on Exodus. It's longer than I thought.

I thought the picture that Exodus 28: 9-12 gives is an excellent picture of what prayer looks like:

9 "Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel 10 in the order of their birth—six names on one stone and the remaining six on the other. 11 Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings 12 and fasten them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the LORD.

That we hold the people on our shoulders before the Lord.

God spends a long time giving Moses all the details of the plan for what He wants to do. Tonight I am set to read Exodus 32 where the people get impatient with this. I am reminded that there is a lot for us to learn and it takes God a while for us to listen. Be patient.

God is holy

My overall impression from reading Exodus so far is that God is holy. I see it on the mountain, in the plagues and in the rules he puts down.

Some random thoughts from Exodus:
In Exodus 12 the Israelites are protected by the blood of the lamb from the death of their firstborn. Now we are protected by the blood of the lamb of God (Jesus)

In Exodus 13:17-18 God picks the route for the Israelites out of Egypt based on the Israelites weakness. I wonder if He picks the route for our lives based on our weaknesses as well?

In Exodus 18 I like how Jethro tells Moses he's doing too much and suggests a solution to help him. Sometimes you need fresh eyes on a situation.

Last night I read Exodus 23: 28-30

27 "I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. 28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

That seems to be the same way with us too. If He cleansed us and made everything perfect in one day it would probably be too much for us. We have to work day by day and little by little to grow in our souls.

Rest

I read Exodus 16 at the start of my busy week.

21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.' "

24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."

27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out." 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Vs. 27 stuck with me during this week where I had so much to do each day that I would rarely have time for lunch, or a break or anything. I was submerged in work! But God thinks it is important that we rest. That He rests. (not that I think considering the current state of the world that He gets time to rest!)

That we are such creatures of habit, that even if there is nothing to do, we want to do something!

The pace that I kept this past week will not continue. A number of the sections of my course are complete. My copycheck work is complete. I still have a lot of work with the marks, but I'm hoping to gear down for next week :)

Plagues

I just finished reading about the different plagues that occurred in Exodus as Moses asked Pharoah to release the people. Each time he said he would and each time he didn't and then something else bad happened. And it happened so many times! But it does show that when things are bad, we often want relief, not real change.
I am pretty impressed with Moses' patience with Pharoah as Pharoah kept deceiving him and Moses just kept on with the plagues. I would have been pretty annoyed with Pharoah and probably given him a piece of my mind!

What the...?

Sometimes when reading the Bible I get stopped by a what the... verse. This one is pretty odd. It's in Exodus 4. The background is that God tells Moses to go to Egypt and talk to pharoah. Moses is a bit reluctant but he goes to his father in law and asks for permission to go to Egypt and then takes his wife and kids and is on the way when verse 24 happens:

24Along the way at a [resting-] place, the Lord met [Moses] and sought to kill him [made him acutely and almost fatally ill].

25[Now apparently he had failed to circumcise one of his sons, his wife being opposed to it; but seeing his life in such danger] Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it to touch [Moses'] feet, and said, Surely a husband of blood you are to me!

This was the least puzzling translation that I read, but it's still pretty puzzling. If God had issues with Moses, why didn't He discuss them with Moses when He was talking to him about other things?

ETA: I found an interesting answer at http://www.gotquestions.org/kill-Moses.html
Question: "Why was God going to kill Moses in Exodus 4:24-26?"

Answer: The sin of Moses in Exodus 4:24-26 is not stated explicitly, but the surrounding events give substantial clues as to the nature of Moses’ transgression. God had instructed his messenger to warn Pharaoh to free Israel, or risk losing his firstborn son (Exodus 4:21-24). Moses had been specially groomed by God for eighty years for this mission, and now the time for action had come.

Moses was to lead his people out of Egypt, and to be an example to Pharaoh’s house, to the nation of Egypt, and to all the nations that heard of those happenings (Exodus 18:10-11; Joshua 2:10-11). Accordingly, Moses’ personal life had to be in order before he could direct the spiritual lives of the Hebrew people. It seems that Moses had neglected to administer the sacred rite of circumcision, the act that symbolized the Almighty’s covenant with His chosen people.

Perhaps this was the result of pressure from his surrogate Midianite tribe. It is also possible that he was persuaded by Zipporah not to circumcise his son, since she apparently found the practice revolting (4:25). This would explain her violent outburst; she felt that she had saved her husband from death by shedding the blood of her son. Whatever the cause, Moses’ outstanding sin made him unfit to serve as a spiritual leader, and the situation had to be rectified before he could carry out his mission effectively. Indeed, as soon as Zipporah performed the act, the Lord “let him go.” In summary, God was going to kill Moses because Moses was supposed to teach the Israelites God's Law - yet Moses was not obeying God's Law himself.

End

I finished Genesis last night. It ended with the death of Jacob and Joseph. And I was impressed with the time that they gave their mourning. For Jacob, it took 40 days to embalm him, then they mourned him for 70 days, then they travelled to Canaan to bury him. While in Canaan they observed a 7 day period of mourning with loud and bitter lamentations. Then they travelled back to Egypt.

Joseph

I am now finished the story of Joseph. I am also reading a book about Joseph (have been for a few months now!) called 'God meant it for good' by Kendall. It's been a good book, so far. In a way I didn't feel like writing anything about Joseph here because the book is so good, and what more could I write? But I really like Joseph, so I thought I'd write a bit. The Bible really allows you to see his progression from a teenager with crazy dreams, to a dream interpreter, to the ruler of Egypt (second only to Pharoah).
As a teenager he has the crazy dreams about his family bowing down to him. Which did turn out to be prophetically true. And while Joseph seems to get a kick out of it as a teenager, when he grows up and it actually happens, I don't think it was as fun as he thought it was going to be! It actually caused him a lot of turmoil. And not only does he have the dreams, but he tells his family the dreams. And they (obviously) don't like what the dreams seem to be saying, so it creates turmoil there too.
I relate to this because I have a lot of crazy dreams. Though most of them are not as easy to interpret as Joseph's first dreams. I do get where Jopeph is coming from because when you have a "God dream", it's pretty exciting/scary and it tends to stick with you all the time. I do understand why he told his family. He probably couldn't keep it in.
I try to carefully analyze who I should share my dreams with. Well, I do post pretty much all of them on my dream blog, but it's a pretty crazy blog that I don't really think that many people read. I think Bob and my mom read it! But I feel that the people who read it are safe people. And there are safe people (like Al) that if I had a dream about him/his family/Rustle that I have no problem sharing. If I get a dream about a specific person, I try to analyse- am I just supposed to pray about this, or tell the person. Like last night I had a dream about someone and I don't really understand what it means and the person is not someone who I've ever talked about dreams with before. So right now, I just pray about it. It may be that the person would understand the dream if I told them, but I would just wait and see in conversation if there is a way to bring it up in a non-threatening manner or not!

The next phase for Joseph is where God helps him interpret dreams. And Joseph does give the glory to God, where as a teenager, he wanted it for himself.
When I read about the interpretation, it makes me think that over the years he had a lot of dreams himself and God was teaching him to interpret that way.

And then the last phase is as ruler of the land. He must have been a pretty likeable guy because Pharoah seems pretty pleased with the guy he pulled out of prison. And that Joseph is a pretty smooth financial operator. During the famine years he collected all the money, livestock and land from the people of Egypt. (and I think made them servants after that?) He took everything for Pharoah! That's some finacial management of a country!

The heart of man

Before I decided to have a go at the whole Bible, which I have done before- but it was over 10 years ago, the last time!- I mainly stuck with reading the New Testament and the Prophets like Isaiah. After getting through about 37 chapters of Genesis, I realize why- the old testament seems to show the heart of man- and it isn't very pretty. The New Testament seems more about God's heart.

But the OT has some puzzling entries. Maybe partly due to translation, partly due to it really being a puzzle. But that's what is fun about the OT.

Like Genesis 35:22

21 Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. 22 While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.

And that is the end of that account. But, what happened when Israel heard of it? We are left to imagine on our own.
I am not sure of the timeline as things seem to jump around a lot. Did this happen before or after the brothers sold Joseph?
In Genesis 37, Reuben doesn't seem to have been there when his brothers sold Joseph:

29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"

And he seems to be the only one concerned about what is going on with the situation. Concerned about Joseph. Maybe more concerned about his dad.
Maybe he was off with the concubine WHILE they were selling Joseph. Ha ha.
But it just seems odd that he seems to be the one with the most respect for his father and yet he also disrespects him.

Switching over to Esau's line in Genesis 36. I thought it was interesting how in vs. 10-14 it lists the sons and in vs. 15-18 it lists the chiefs and the lists are pretty close to identical. It reminded me that God sees us as his children, but also as his warriors.

Deception continued

As we move on we see Isaac use the same lie as his father:

7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister," because he was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful."

8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, "She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?"
Isaac answered him, "Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her." (Genesis 26)

Now, I'm thinking this is a different Abimelech than the one that Abraham lied to. If it was Abimelechs' son, that would be funny, as it would be history repeating itself with a younger generation!

Then in Genesis 31, Isaac's son Jacob wants to leave Laban, who he had been working for (who had also dealt deceitfully with Jacob- giving him Leah as a wife instead of Rachel whom he asked for):

19 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father's household gods. 20 Moreover, Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him he was running away. 21 So he fled with all he had, and crossing the River, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.

Is running away the best solution? Jacob had to travel with women and children, probably making him an easy target for Laban to catch up to (which he does- and likely only survives because God protects him).

But what is up with Rachel? Why would she steal the idols? That would seem to indicate that she did not have the same faith as Jacob? Maybe she felt an attachment to them from childhood.

There seems to be some measure of deception in everyone's life. That humans by nature are to some degree deceptive. That they can't 100% trust God. And yet God still loved them and chose them and redeemed them.

But then there is Genesis 22:12, where God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and he comes close, but God says:

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

I think that after all Abraham went through to get a son, he might have been more reluctant! Our children are gifts from God :)

The truth behind deception

Jordin noted in the comments on Deception that it is quite possible that Sarai was his half sister and so he was not technically lying when he told Pharoah that. But as he was not really giving Pharoah the whole picture, his sin may not have been technically 'lying' but a sin of omission. And then in Genesis 20, Abram repeats the same scenario, this time replacing Pharoah with Abimelech and God has to let Abimelech know the truth in a dream. As I said to Jordin today "Did he not learn the first time?", to which she said "And how many times do we not learn the first time?". I'd say my fair sister has a point. (to provide full disclosure in keeping with the post: Jordin is not my biological sister, but my sister in Christ:)

Deception

I found this interesting (from Genesis 12):

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."

14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

Abram is deceptive and says his wife is his sister. I wonder what Sarai thought of that! But he was right - they did treat him well- for a while. But then the Lord afflicted the house of Pharoah. And somehow Pharoah figures out why and then gives Abram the boot for this deception. After this, God still goes on to make a covenant with Abram and perform a miracle of giving him a child when he is very old. Even though Abram lied. Even though Abram probably made God look pretty bad to Pharoah.

Thank God for grace!

Unity

I had an email with Al and it remined me that I was going to write about Genesis 11. The tower of babel. Here was a project where you saw people united. And you would think that was a good thing! It is very difficult to keep people united on a project. Even of they are enthousiastic at first a few tend to go off willy-nilly and a few just get tired, etc. But I guess God was against the project because they were united for their own glory.

Last night I read Gen 13 and 14. Abram and Lot's entourages get too big and start snipping at each other. So, they separate. Was it God's will that they separate. We aren't told. Sure it looks like the most logical decision. What else could they do? But shortly thereafter Lot gets kidnapped by some guys. Is it better to make a decision to keep the peace or stay and work through the difficulty? Was there another solution that Abram and Lot missed?

God's heart

The story about Noah is one familiar to most with the rain and the animals, etc. This time when I read the story I saw that it really is about God's heart.

Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.

There are 2 parts to verse 5. The first was my understanding of the story previously that there was so much sin in the world that it causes God to bring the flood. And it makes sense in that you can quantify sin into actions. But the second part surprised me that even the thought of our hearts can cause pain. That is much harder to quantify!

But I think a lot of the time this story is seen as God being an angry God, but in light of verse 6, the story really needs to be read in light of a pained and hurt God. And that not only our actions can hurt him, but our thoughts as well.

Doing right

This quote comes after God rejects Cain's offering:

6Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."Genesis 4

I understand Cain's reaction at this point. It can be hard to hear we're not doing something right. My students sometimes they don't understand their grades when they put so much work into it. But you can put a lot of work into something and yet still not be doing it right!
It is not clear what Cain did to make the offering unacceptable, but I would guess there were directions that God had given him that were not followed. But God seems to be saying -do what is right next time.
I thought the bolded description of sin was interesting. The Lord seems to refer to sin as an active thing.
The Lord also still seems to be speaking to humanity directly here. But immediately after God says this to him, it seems he goes and kills his brother. And this one incident affects his lineage. His line is soiled. His great-great-great-grandson (or so) also kills a man (Genesis 4:23) and claims to be much worse than Cain (Gen 4:24). The sins of the father rest on the children and help shape their destiny. It is not Cain's lineage that brings forth Christ, but another son of Adam and Eve - Seth.

Today's society lives in the 'now' and often does not consider that the choices they make affect future generations for bad or for good.

Tree of life

I decided to start reading the Bible from the beginning, about a chapter or so a day because it's been quite a while since I read the whole shebang from start to end.
anyway, after reading the first 3 chapters of Genesis, what stuck in my head was the tree of life.

In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9

The second tree gets a lot of air time because that's the one that they weren't allowed to eat from. But they were allowed to eat from the tree of life.

22 And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side [a] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3

This is where I paused last night - could Adam have eaten the tree of life and did not???? I guess Adam and Eve missed it! Ack. Or was it that God did not want Adam to live forever in his fallen state? (that he had eaten of the tree of life when all was good, but the living forever was revoked when he disobeyed and entered a fallen state)

And then he puts a guard up so that Adam and Eve can't get back to that tree of life. But Adam and Eve didn't seem all that savvy to necessitate a 'flaming sword'. You would think a stick across the entrance would work just as well!

In proverbs the writer talks about the tree of life as wisdom, fruit of the righteous and a healing toungue. But the tree doesn't get mentioned again until Revelation

To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.(Rev 2:7)

Well, at least we know the tree hasn't moved, but God has- now he's willing to let people eat from the tree of life (because of the redemption that Jesus got for us?) But then in Rev 22 it has a glorious but puzzling picture:

1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

I'm not sure about the math in this. If it is 'the' tree of life how can it be on each side of the river. A bit puzzling, but maybe it is just the translation of participles. In any event the tree of life seems to figure prominently in the vision. Is it of heaven? It certainly is a beautiful healing picture. I think there are a lot of nations and peoples that need the leaves of the tree of life!