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.
The Philistines first took the ark of God to the city of Ashdod and put it in their temple to Dagon. When they entered the temple the following morning the idol of Dagon had fallen face down in front of the ark of God. They set the idol back up. The following morning it had once more fallen face down before the Ark, however this time the head and hands had broken off. Then the city of Ashdod and surrounding villages began to experience a plague of tumors. The people of Ashdod called on the rulers of Philistia to move the ark of God. It was decided to send it to Gath. When the Ark arrived in Gath, the plague began to break out there as well. So the people of Gath sent the Ark to Ekron. The people of Ekron by now had heard about the tumors and demanded that the rulers of Philistia send the Ark away.
The Philistines put the Ark on a cart, along with a chest containing five gold “tumors” (golden objects made to look like the tumors caused by the plague) and five gold rats. They hitched two cows which had recently calved to the cart, while penning the calves up away from the cows. The cows went straight up the road from Philistia towards Beth Shemesh. The people of Beth Shemesh rejoiced when they saw the Ark arrive. Levites took the Ark off of the cart and set it on a large rock. They offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to God for the return of the Ark. However, seventy of the people of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark and were struck down (the passage does not say how they were struck down, but it reads to me that they may have been struck by the same plague that had struck the Philistines). So, the people of Beth Shemesh sent and asked the people of Kiriath-jearim to come and get the Ark (which they did).
The people of Israel heard the stories about what happened with the Ark when it was in Philistine hands and how it was returned (my interpretation) and turned back to God. Samuel told them that if they were truly turning back to God they needed to get rid of their foreign gods and Ashtoreths and worship God alone. The Israelites followed Samuel’s advice, got rid of their idols and worshiped God alone.
Samuel then assembled the Israelites at Mizpah for a time of worship and repentance. When the Philistines learned that they had assembled at Mizpah they mustered their forces to attack them. The people of Israel were in great fear and asked Samuel to continue crying out to the Lord for them. Samuel took a lamb and offered it as a burnt offering. While Samuel was offering the Philistines prepared to launch their attack. However, as they launched their attack loud thunder came forth and threw them into confusion and panic. The Israelites rushed out in a counterattack driving the Philistines from the field. For the rest of the time that Samuel served as leader of Israel, they had the upper hand over the Philistines.
There is a lot going on in this passage about the power of God and how He reveals Himself even to unbelievers. The thing that especially struck me on this reading was the foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrificial death in Samuel sacrificing a lamb as part of his crying out to God for the Israelites rescue from the Philistines.
Jesus went to the far side of the Sea of Galilee and a crowd followed Him there. He was on a hill with His disciples when the crowd caught up to Him. As the crowd approached, Jesus asked Philip where they should buy bread for these people? Philip answered that it would cost about a half year’s wages to feed all of these people. Andrew pointed out a boy with five loaves and two fish, but asked what good that would do with so many people? Jesus had His disciples get the people to sit down. Then He took the food that the boy had, gave thanks for it and distributed it to the people (around 5,000). When everyone had enough to eat, Jesus had His disciples gather up the leftover bread so that it would not be wasted. They gathered twelve baskets full of bread. The people who were there began to say that Jesus must be the Prophet and were preparing to make Him king by force (the passage is not clear whether they intended to force Jesus to become king or to use force against those who opposed that idea). To prevent that Jesus withdrew by Himself to the mountain.
As evening approached Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore of the lake, got into a boat and began to cross over to Capernaum. A strong wind came up and the waters became very rough. After they had rowed a distance of several miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water. The disciples were frightened until Jesus told them not to be afraid and said, “I am.” When He said that the disciples were willing to take Him into the boat, at which point they arrived at their destination.
When Jesus used the phrase, “I am,” it would have been taken as a declaration of identification with God by His disciples. In Exodus 3, when Moses asked God who he should tell the Israelites had sent him, God responded, “I am who I am. Say this to the people of Israel: I Am has sent me to you.” So the use of the phrase “I am” was close to declaring that one was God (depending on the context). There was something very comforting to the disciples when they heard Jesus say, “I am”. Perhaps we would all do well to remember that the phrase “I am” was used by God to identify Himself. I know that I am going to strive to think about the fact that I am made in the image of God every time I use the phrase, “I am”.
Yesterday’s portion of this psalm talked about how God rescued the people of Israel from Egypt despite their sins against Him. This caused the people of Israel to believe His promises and praise His name. Today’s portion tells us that they quickly forgot what God had done for them and turned away from Him. God’s anger burned against them and He brought judgment against them for their sins. They ignored His commands about right living and each time they suffered for it. But the passage tells us something else as well. On two occasions, when God had reached His limit and was prepared to destroy Israel for their sins, when their sins had reached the point just shy of no return, righteous men stood up and intervened so that the people were saved. “But Phinehas had the courage to intervene, and the plague was stopped.” Do I have the courage to stand up and intervene? Am I willing to risk myself in order to stop the plagues among us today that come from our sin and lawlessness? Am I willing to call those around me away from sin, even though I will be called a hater and intolerant for doing so, for caring enough to point out the consequences of people’s choices?
When disaster comes the wicked will suffer, but even in death the righteous have a safe place with God. For the second proverb I prefer the NIV and other translations which stick with the Hebrew rather than using the Syriac and Septuagint to base their take on this passage. All agree that the first part says that wisdom rests in the hearts of the understanding. However, the NIV translates this as saying that even fools have access to wisdom, if only they would pay attention.