One of my favorite Bible characters is Jehu.
In 2 Kings 9, he is anointed king by a prophet in a closed room.
When his buddies as him about it, he's just like - you know the guy and the sort of things he says.
His friends don't buy it and he tells them about the anointing.
I like that he's a jokester even when something super serious happened to him.
I also like his determination to do what was right by God. Eliminating Jezebel. Tricking the prophets of Baal by pretending to be one of them but instead to kill them all.
He must have been quite a character!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Seeing with God's eyes
2 Kings 8: 7 Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Aram was ill. When the king was told, “The man of God has come all the way up here,” 8 he said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the LORD through him; ask him, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
9 Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
10 Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly recover.’ Nevertheless,the LORD has revealed to me that he will in fact die.” 11 He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael was embarrassed. Then the man of God began to weep.
12 “Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael.
“Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,” he answered. “You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women.”
13 Hazael said, “How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?”
“The LORD has shown me that you will become king of Aram,” answered Elisha.
Elisha is seeing with God's eyes what will happen with Hazael. And he was right. Was it destined to be that way when he saw it - que sera sera- or was there still option to change. Or was Elisha seeing the character of Hazael and that could not be changed. Knowing that if he told him he would be king would result in him killing the current king? Are some human choices predestined by who we are?
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Daily provisions
1 Kings 4:22 Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl.
That is a lot of meat! He must have been providing for a lot of people. And had a lot of cooks! Interesting that it differentiates between stall-fed and pasture-fed cattle.
That is a lot of meat! He must have been providing for a lot of people. And had a lot of cooks! Interesting that it differentiates between stall-fed and pasture-fed cattle.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Turn on a dime
With a functional computer again I thought I could get back to regularly posting here again.
I read Joshua 22 today and thought I would write on that. But I did a search on what I wrote before in 2008 and found this post http://bibletree.blogspot.com/2008/07/understanding.html. And I thought that that was better than what I was planning on writing today :)
From the chapter we learn that people you think you know, if you don't keep up open communication with them, maybe you don't know them as well as you think.
Think the best of everyone, not the worst.
I read Joshua 22 today and thought I would write on that. But I did a search on what I wrote before in 2008 and found this post http://bibletree.blogspot.com/2008/07/understanding.html. And I thought that that was better than what I was planning on writing today :)
From the chapter we learn that people you think you know, if you don't keep up open communication with them, maybe you don't know them as well as you think.
Think the best of everyone, not the worst.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
census
Last night I read Numbers 1-2, which is basically a census of the Israelite people. There were 603,550 males above the age of 20. So these people who came out of Egypt- this was a massive undertaking to have so many people travel!
Not only that but to perform a census on so many people with no computer and probably not much in the form of paper- the administration of it all boggles my mind!
Not only that but to perform a census on so many people with no computer and probably not much in the form of paper- the administration of it all boggles my mind!
Friday, February 4, 2011
update
My computer has been wonky for 1/2 of January so I have not been able to update as much as I have wanted to.
I have completed all of Genesis and Exodus and reading larger chunks of it (rather than one chapter at a time) gives a good overview of what is going on.
I am working on finding a listing of the Bible in Chronological order that matches what this book is working from because now that the first 2 book are done, there is some disagreement among scholars about the chronology of the rest of it :)
I have completed all of Genesis and Exodus and reading larger chunks of it (rather than one chapter at a time) gives a good overview of what is going on.
I am working on finding a listing of the Bible in Chronological order that matches what this book is working from because now that the first 2 book are done, there is some disagreement among scholars about the chronology of the rest of it :)
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Barren
In the readings I have now covered the Isaac/Rebekah story.
I thought it was a neat "God-moment" how the servant found Rebekah.
And how Rebekah reacted like Mary (or rather Mary reacted like Rebekah, lol) when told God's purpose for her.
I found in interesting that both Sarah and Rebekah were barren for parts of their lives. Isaac had to pray to get Rebekah to bear children. Jacob's wife Rachel will also be barren for a time. That's 3 generations of barrenness! I wonder what that means. Was it a spiritual curse?
The reading today was about how Esau gave up his birthright for a bowl of stew. How it is important that we think things through before making rash decisions.
I thought it was a neat "God-moment" how the servant found Rebekah.
And how Rebekah reacted like Mary (or rather Mary reacted like Rebekah, lol) when told God's purpose for her.
I found in interesting that both Sarah and Rebekah were barren for parts of their lives. Isaac had to pray to get Rebekah to bear children. Jacob's wife Rachel will also be barren for a time. That's 3 generations of barrenness! I wonder what that means. Was it a spiritual curse?
The reading today was about how Esau gave up his birthright for a bowl of stew. How it is important that we think things through before making rash decisions.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Ram
Today's reading covered Abraham's attempted sacrifice of Isaac. God provided a ram for him to sacrifice instead after he saw that he would not withhold anything from God.
The devotional book that I am reading suggested that now WE are the rams. We are God's hands and feet in the world. We need to be instruments of peace and healing in the world. The world seems to need it!
A song to go with this is Michael Franti's "Hey World (Don't give up)"
The devotional book that I am reading suggested that now WE are the rams. We are God's hands and feet in the world. We need to be instruments of peace and healing in the world. The world seems to need it!
A song to go with this is Michael Franti's "Hey World (Don't give up)"
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Isolation
In Genesis 19 God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah but saves Lot, his wife and 2 daughters.
Though his wife looks back, though the angels told her not to and she becomes a pillar of salt and is out of the story.
Originally, when the angels tell Lot to flee, they tell him to go to the mountains. But he negotiates to go to the small city of Zoar. The angels agree and only destroy Sodom and Gommorah after Lot arrives in Zoar.
However, after going through this trauma, Lot starts to make decisions based on fear and decided instead he should live in the mountains. Maybe he thought he shouldn't have bargained with God as God knows best. Though it is not clear that God wanted him to spend a lifetime in the mountains, just to go there for safety during the sulphur dispersal.
But he does go live in a cave in the mountains with his daughters. And the next bit goes on to show the dangers of isolation. The daughters get Lot drunk and get themselves impregnated by him.
I think Lot's story shows us that it is not good to move in fear and also that it is good to live in community.
In Genesis 20 Abraham pulls the same half-truth that he used earlier in Genesis that got him in some trouble- that Sarah was his sister and not his wife. It was fear driving this decision as well.
The devotional book that I am reading along with indicated this as a moral failure on Abraham's part. It also suggests that the lie was easier for Abraham to do the second time as he had already convinced himself that it was true.
It does suggest why repeated sins occur. One reason is they are probably our weak point. The other is that we tend to rationalize things and if we've done them once (even with a bad consequence) we may be more prone to doing it again.
May we be driven by love and not fear in our decisions
Though his wife looks back, though the angels told her not to and she becomes a pillar of salt and is out of the story.
Originally, when the angels tell Lot to flee, they tell him to go to the mountains. But he negotiates to go to the small city of Zoar. The angels agree and only destroy Sodom and Gommorah after Lot arrives in Zoar.
However, after going through this trauma, Lot starts to make decisions based on fear and decided instead he should live in the mountains. Maybe he thought he shouldn't have bargained with God as God knows best. Though it is not clear that God wanted him to spend a lifetime in the mountains, just to go there for safety during the sulphur dispersal.
But he does go live in a cave in the mountains with his daughters. And the next bit goes on to show the dangers of isolation. The daughters get Lot drunk and get themselves impregnated by him.
I think Lot's story shows us that it is not good to move in fear and also that it is good to live in community.
In Genesis 20 Abraham pulls the same half-truth that he used earlier in Genesis that got him in some trouble- that Sarah was his sister and not his wife. It was fear driving this decision as well.
The devotional book that I am reading along with indicated this as a moral failure on Abraham's part. It also suggests that the lie was easier for Abraham to do the second time as he had already convinced himself that it was true.
It does suggest why repeated sins occur. One reason is they are probably our weak point. The other is that we tend to rationalize things and if we've done them once (even with a bad consequence) we may be more prone to doing it again.
May we be driven by love and not fear in our decisions
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Pride
I noticed in the story about Noah that he found favor with God- and then he had an awful lot of work to do! But it was all worth it in the end.
Today I read Genesis 11. The comment in my devotional was that "human pride is at the very heart of all sin- elevating our will above his" (in relation to the Tower of Babel) That is indeed an interesting thought.
And I tried to follow some of the family lines. Terah had 3 boys- Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Nahor married Milcah who was Haran's daughter. That would be his niece then. Familial interbreeding was not such a taboo then.
Today I read Genesis 11. The comment in my devotional was that "human pride is at the very heart of all sin- elevating our will above his" (in relation to the Tower of Babel) That is indeed an interesting thought.
And I tried to follow some of the family lines. Terah had 3 boys- Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Nahor married Milcah who was Haran's daughter. That would be his niece then. Familial interbreeding was not such a taboo then.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
RErun
Apparently, the same verses tend to be of interest to me when reading the Bible.
I went back and read my entry from 2008 on Genesis 4 and I thought- that's exactly what I would say this time as well. So I thought I might as well not write it again, just link to it!
I also read my first entry from 2008 and thought that it was pretty neat- better than my first entry this time around anyway :)
The devotional for today also focused on the same passage that I wrote about in 2008:
Genesis 4:7 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 rule over it.
And it indicates there is a difference between doing what "feels good and what truly is good"- Cain may have felt that his offering was good, but there was something that was lacking to make it truly be good.
I know that when James doesn't really care about something, he can do the actions but it is very obvious that he doesn't care and he's just doing it so he can get on to something he is interested in. The attitude with which we do things can make a big difference.
If we are called to rule over sin, then we must have the ability to do this.
I went back and read my entry from 2008 on Genesis 4 and I thought- that's exactly what I would say this time as well. So I thought I might as well not write it again, just link to it!
I also read my first entry from 2008 and thought that it was pretty neat- better than my first entry this time around anyway :)
The devotional for today also focused on the same passage that I wrote about in 2008:
Genesis 4:7 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 rule over it.
And it indicates there is a difference between doing what "feels good and what truly is good"- Cain may have felt that his offering was good, but there was something that was lacking to make it truly be good.
I know that when James doesn't really care about something, he can do the actions but it is very obvious that he doesn't care and he's just doing it so he can get on to something he is interested in. The attitude with which we do things can make a big difference.
If we are called to rule over sin, then we must have the ability to do this.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Creative
Today is the first day of 2011 and so I begin my journey through "The Daily Bible Devotional" by F. LaGard Smith. If all goes well it will take me through the Bible in one year. (as a pose to the almost 3 years that it took me to read through it last time!)
Today I read Genesis 1-3 which looks at God being creative. The devotional suggested that if God is creative and we are created in His image, we too must be creative. This could be through writing, music, media, cooking, etc. God is also love so this creativity when used for good should increase love.
In Gen. 3 there are lots of trees in the garden of Eden but 2 special ones- The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The one they are not allowed to eat from is the latter. I don't know the first tree I might have a go at eating from before say the run of the mill apple or orange trees would be the tree of life. But evidently this was not high on Adam and Eve's to do list as after they ate from the forbidden tree, God sets up a guard so they can't eat from the tree of life. (and it seems to imply that they had not yet eaten from it)
Today I read Genesis 1-3 which looks at God being creative. The devotional suggested that if God is creative and we are created in His image, we too must be creative. This could be through writing, music, media, cooking, etc. God is also love so this creativity when used for good should increase love.
In Gen. 3 there are lots of trees in the garden of Eden but 2 special ones- The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The one they are not allowed to eat from is the latter. I don't know the first tree I might have a go at eating from before say the run of the mill apple or orange trees would be the tree of life. But evidently this was not high on Adam and Eve's to do list as after they ate from the forbidden tree, God sets up a guard so they can't eat from the tree of life. (and it seems to imply that they had not yet eaten from it)
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