I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. In order to make that possible I read the passages and write my thoughts a day in advance. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
This passage contains the account of original sin. A casual reading of the passage makes it easy to blame the woman, Eve, for this sin and give Adam a pass because “he only ate it because she gave it to him.” However, if we read the passage closely we discover that Adam was at her side while the serpent made the case for eating fruit from the tree which God had told him he must not eat. In the part of this account which we covered yesterday, we learned that Eve was not yet present when God told Adam that he must not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So, it was Adam who should have told the serpent that they must not eat that fruit. Instead, Adam allowed the woman to be convinced and then followed her into committing the sin. Rather than help his wife resist temptation, by not contradicting the serpent’s arguments Adam subtly encouraged her to accept them.
This passage also includes the story of Cain and Abel. In this story, we are told that God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s (or looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but did not look with favor on Cain and his offering). The passage does not make clear why God looked differently on their two offerings. One possibility is that while Cain offered “some” of his crops as a gift, Abel offered from the firstborn lambs of his flock. Nevertheless, we do not know what Cain did wrong, but the passages says that God told him that if he did what was right, he would be accepted. God warned Cain that he must not let sin control him. However, Cain did not listen. In his anger and jealousy, he asked his brother to join him out in the fields where he killed him. Rather than mend his ways and do what was right, Cain instead chose to murder his brother for “making him look bad.” How often do we blame others for our own shortcomings? I will take responsibility for my own actions and seek to change my ways when I discover that I have done wrong.
After the wise men left, an angel appeared to Joseph warning him to take Mary and the baby and flee to Egypt. Joseph left Bethlehem with Mary and the baby at once. Herod on the other hand proved that his words about worshiping the baby was a lie by ordering his troops to kill all of the baby boys in Bethlehem who were two years old or younger. I just realized that these two men, Joseph and Herod, demonstrate that believing is not enough. What is important is what actions our belief inspires us to take. Both Herod and Joseph believed that a new king of the Jews had been born in Bethlehem. Herod did everything in his power to make sure that king did not grow up to take His throne. Joseph did everything in his power, what little power he had, to give the baby a chance to grow up. It also tells us about doing as God instructs us, even when our chances seem to be nonexistent. Herod had a lot of power, and the ability to call on the Roman Empire for support. Joseph had only one thing going for him, he was doing God’s will. Yet in the end, it was Joseph who was successful and Herod who failed.
The psalmist asks why the people of the world rage against God and plot together against Him. The kings and rulers of this world join together in an attempt to overthrow God’s rules for living. Yet they rage in vain, the Lord will rebuke them and place His Chosen One on the throne over the earth. Those rulers who are wise will serve God and fear Him. They will see that freedom comes from listening to God, not from rebelling against Him.
The starting place to obtain knowledge and wisdom is fear of the Lord. Sinful fools reject wisdom and discipline. They believe that they can go against God’s instructions with no unpleasant consequences. Those who fear the Lord obey His instructions and learn how doing so makes things better than they could have imagined. If you want to do well in life, listen to your parent’s instructions. No matter how foolish they are, they have much more experience than you do.