I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
One of Jeroboam’s sons became very sick. Jeroboam convinced his wife to disguise herself and approach the prophet Ahijah, the man who had prophesied that Jeroboam would become king over the ten northern tribes. Jeroboam’s wife did as he asked. However, as she approached the prophet’s door, he called out to her by name because God had told him she was coming. Ahijah then told her that God was angry with Jeroboam because of his failure to follow God’s commands and the evil Jeroboam had done. He told her that God was going to destroy Jeroboam and his entire house because of his evil. Ahijah finished by telling her that she should go home and her son would die when she got there. God was going to raise up a king over Israel who would destroy Jeroboam’s family. She returned home and as she entered her house, her son died. Jeroboam reigned for 22 years and when he died his son, Nadab, became king.
In the meantime, Rehoboam was ruling over Judah. The people of Judah also did evil in God’s sight. They set up shrines and Asherah poles in the high places and under “spreading trees”. They went so far as to have shrine prostitutes throughout the land. They chose to follow the practices of the people whom God had driven out of the land to make room for them. As a result of their sin, the king of Egypt came up, attacked and sacked Jerusalem. Rehoboam ruled from Jerusalem for seventeen years and was succeeded by his son, Abijam.
Abijam ruled for three years and committed the same sins as his father. He was at war with Jeroboam for his entire reign. The passage makes note that Abijam’s mother was Maacah, the daughter of Absalom. When he died, he was succeeded by his son, Asa. Asa ruled for forty-one years and did what was pleasing to the Lord. Asa banished the shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of the idols which his ancestors had made. He even deposed his grandmother from the role of queen mother because she had made an Asherah pole. He cut down his grandmother’s Asherah pole and burned it. Although he failed to destroy the shrines at the high places, Asa’s heart was dedicated to the Lord.
Throughout Asa’s reign he was at war with King Baasha of Israel. King Baasha had the upper hand in their conflicts, conquered Ramah and began fortifying it. So, Asa sent the gold and silver remaining in his treasuries to Ben-hadad who was ruling Aram from Damascus asking him to break his treaty with King Baasha. Ben-hadad did as Asa requested and attacked the towns of Israel. King Baasha withdrew from Ramah in order to meet the attack from Ben-hadad. King Asa had his workers remove the materials which King Baasha was using to fortify Ramah and used them to fortify other towns. Asa was succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat.
While Peter was staying in Joppa, an angel of God appeared to Cornelius, a Roman centurion stationed at Caesarea. Cornelius was terrified. However, the angel quickly reassured him and told him that his gifts to the poor and devotion to God had been noted. The angel instructed Cornelius to send for Peter who was staying in Joppa. Cornelius did so at once.
The next day, as Cornelius’ messengers were approaching Joppa, Peter went up onto the roof to pray. It was approaching lunch time and Peter was hungry. While the meal was being prepared, Peter fell into a trance. While in the trance Peter had a vision of a large sheet being lowered out of heaven. On the sheet were all kinds of animals, including many that were not kosher. A voice came out of heaven telling Peter to get up and eat. Peter replied that he had never eaten anything unclean or impure. The voice then told Peter not to call anything unclean which God had made clean. This was repeated three times. Peter was still pondering what this vision might mean (if anything) when the men from Cornelius arrived outside of the gate.
They called out asking if Simon Peter was staying at this house. The Holy Spirit told Peter that some men were looking for him. Peter was to go with them without worrying because God had sent them (the passage makes it clear that Peter received this message in the context of thinking about the vision he had just had). Peter went down and told the men that he was the man they were looking for. They told Peter that Cornelius had sent them. They went on to tell Peter that Cornelius was a God-fearing man. They further told Peter that an angel had told Cornelius to summon Peter so that Cornelius might hear Peter’s message. Peter invited the men to stay the night. In the morning, Peter accompanied the men back to Cornelius’ house. Several other believers went with Peter.
Today’s psalm talks about how wonderful it is when God’s people live together in peace and harmony. This is a goal that Christians find harder to attain than we should.
Today’s first proverb tells us that a fool (godless fool according to the NIV) who is eloquent is a bad thing, but a lying ruler is even worse. I realized as I was reading this that this proverb was telling us that someone who eloquently makes the argument for foolish action will lead many people to destruction, but however bad that is, when those who have government authority lie to the people it is much worse.
The second proverb has greater depth than is at first apparent. I prefer the NIV translation for this because it makes clear the point of the proverb in ways that the other translations obscure. A bribe is like a lucky charm. Those who give them are convinced that they make their life better, but just as the effectiveness of lucky charms are dubious, so too are the effectiveness of bribes.