I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
This passage starts with Jonathan taking a calculated risk, but demonstrating his faith in God. He tells his armor bearer that God can win the battle no matter the number of men on either side. As he approaches the Philistine camp, he illustrates his calculation. He tells his armor bearer that if the Philistines told them to stay where they were or be killed, they would stop and withdraw, but if the Philistines tell them to come on up and fight, they would fight. The first answer would indicate that the Philistines were cautious and would attack them as they approached. The second one would indicate that the Philistines were over confident and would allow them to close with them. The Philistines gave the second answer and allowed Jonathan and his armor bearer to close with them. Jonathan and his armor bearer were able to wipe out twenty men in a short period of time. This led to panic among the Philistines. The panic was amplified by an earthquake that struck at that moment. King Saul witnessed the disarray in the Philistine camp and as soon as he determined that it was caused by Jonathan, he launched an attack. At this point, the story tells us that some Hebrews had joined the Philistines, but at this point they switched sides. In addition, many Israelites who had been in hiding out of fear of the Philistines came out and joined the assault.
King Saul illustrates his foolishness twice. First, he places his men under oath not to eat anything until evening. Jonathan does not hear this oath and when he comes upon some wild honey, he eats it and refreshes himself. When Jonathan hears of his father’s command, he tells the men that such a command only hurts the Israelites because it does not allow them to refresh themselves with captured food and thus kill even more Philistines. At the end of the day, King Saul gathered the plundered animals and has them killed according to kosher practice (or at least something close to kosher) and prepares food for the men. Saul proposes pursuing the Philistines all night, but the priest suggests that they ask God first. Saul agrees, but God makes no answer. Saul then vows to kill whoever has acted so as to cause God to not answer, even if it is his son Jonathan (his second foolish act of the day). When Saul discovers that it was indeed his son, he prepares to carry out his oath, but the men of the army refuse to allow Saul to kill Jonathan because Jonathan was the hero of the day. Saul’s actions illustrate the dangers of making decisions in the heat of the moment.
Many people began to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. This led the Jewish leaders to send the Temple guards to arrest Jesus. In response to this Jesus said that He would only be with them for a short time and then He would return to the One who sent Him. That they would search for Him and be unable to find Him. The religious leaders were puzzled by this statement and rightly so, without the context of what happens later, it is not possible to understand what He meant. I don’t know if this is a correct interpretation of this passage, but I think that perhaps there is a message for us today. Perhaps there is only a short period of time in each of our lives when we can choose to follow Jesus. After that, we can search for Him but will be unable to find Him. If that is so, it is because once we have rejected Him, we will not re-examine our conclusion and truly consider Him again. Certainly my experience is that many people think they know that following Christ is not the answer to the spiritual questions they are asking, but when you question them closely you discover that their understanding of what following Christ means is faulty and Christ actually offers the answers to the core of what they are seeking.
The crowds listening to Jesus were divided, much as society’s opinion of Him today. There were some who thought He was a prophet who foretold the coming of the Messiah. (“He’s a great teacher, but nothing more than a man.”) There were some who thought He was the Messiah. (Those who believe that He is God and the only way to salvation and eternal life.) There were those who rejected Him because they were sure that they understood what the Messiah would be like and what He would teach (“The Bible is inconsistent, Matthew says there was one man at the tomb, Luke says it was two. That stuff is all nonsense.”) Finally, there were those who thought He was evil and should be arrested. (“All the worst things people have done have been done in the name if religion.”) I am firmly in the second group. Jesus is the Son of God and is one with God.
When the Temple guards returned to the Jewish leaders they said that they did not arrest Jesus because they found His teaching compelling. The leaders did not show how any of Jesus’ teachings were wrong, they merely belittled those who believed them and appealed to authority; “His teachings must be wrong. None of us believe in him. Look at all of the foolish people who believe in him.” At this point Nicodemus speaks up and points out that they should give Jesus a hearing before they convict Him and reject His teachings. To which the other leaders reply by insinuating that Nicodemus must be biased (“Are you from Galilee too?”) and lacking in knowledge (“…no prophet ever comes from Galilee.”). When you face such arguments you know that you are dealing with someone who has no interest in actually determining the truth of the situation. They merely wish to reinforce the conclusion they have already come to. It is time to stop arguing and pray for them. A lesson I must remember. Too often I continue to try and convince people who are not listening.
Here the psalmist talks about how often times those who seek selfish ends accuse good people of doing the very things that the accusers are guilty of. The psalmist tells us that if we continue in doing good, it will be our accusers who are disgraced. Even as they attack us, we should do as the psalmist says:
even as I am praying for them!
They repay evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
We should go right on doing good, even in the face of false accusations because God will defend us.
Save me because of your unfailing love.
Let them see that this is your doing,
that you yourself have done it, Lord.
Then let them curse me if they like,
but you will bless me!
When they attack me, they will be disgraced!
But I, your servant, will go right on rejoicing!
When others attack us and malign us, we should continue to do good and praise God. We do not need to attack them in return. God will be our defender. Others will see what we do and know the truth.
Ok, so the clipart I used today has nothing to do with the proverbs in today’s passage :-). The three proverbs we have today appear to have little to do with one another, however, I think I see a connection. The first tells us that we are foolish to despise correction and discipline. The second tells us that wealth obtained wickedly will bring trouble. The third that the wise give good advice and fools don’t even see a reason why you need it. The connection is this. Fools do not listen to correction and thus never learn that wealth obtained through evil means brings nothing but trouble…they fail to learn this from their own experience. I have known people who time and again faced trouble as a result of their own actions, but always, they blamed something outside of their control. They refused to acknowledge that they could have avoided the trouble if they had behaved differently. I do not know about anybody else, but I know that I am guilty of doing this myself sometimes. I continue to work at acknowledging how my failings and sin are responsible for when things go wrong for me. The final proverb comes in when someone else with problems turns to these people for advice. They have none to give because, to them, all of what went wrong was the product of other people’s actions and none of their own responsibility.