I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Judges 15-16:31

     The stories of Samson do not reflect well on his character. After his wife betrayed him in the story from yesterday, he went off in a funk. His funk was understandable, but his reaction shows a lack of maturity. Today’s reading starts off with him returning to his wife, only to discover that his father-in-law had given her to another man in marriage because he thought that Samson did not want her anymore. Her father offers Samson another of his daughters, but Samson throws a temper tantrum and destroyed a large portion of Philistine crops. In response, the Philistines demonstrate that the threat that the men of Samson’s wedding party made against his bride was not an idle one. They take his former bride and her father and burn them to death. This proves to be no wiser an action than that of Samson, as Samson’s response is to go out and kill a large number of Philistines. The Philistines decide that since they cannot capture Samson themselves, they will get his own people to do so. Samson agrees to surrender himself to his countrymen, as long as they promise to turn him over alive to the Philistines. They do so. When they turn him over to the Philistines, Samson breaks his bonds and, once again, kills a large number of Philistines.
     Then we have the story of Samson with Delilah, and once again Samson demonstrates his poor judgment when it comes to women. The Philistines convince Delilah to find out the secret of Samson’s strength. So, she pesters him until he tells her. Except that he lies to her about it. She finds out his lie because she tries to use the “secret” he told her to bind him and it does not work. So, she pesters him some more and he tells her another lie. She tries this one and it does not work. This repeated yet again. Finally, he tells her the truth. I would ask what would lead him to do this after she has demonstrated three times that she will use his secret against him as soon as he tells her, except that I know the answer. Men often suffer lapses in judgment when it comes to women. I am no exception to this. We men must be aware of this weakness and avoid women who will use it to get us to make bad decisions. I do not know if all men suffer this weakness, but most do. There are good women, who being aware of this weakness in their men, are careful to test his reasons before trying to change his mind about things. Unfortunately, there are also women who, like Delilah, will use this weakness against the men in their lives.

John 2:1-25

     Here we have the story of Jesus at the wedding in Cana. This story carries a couple of meanings to me. The first is that Jesus respected the institution of marriage because He celebrated it with this couple. The second is that He honored His mother. He did not see it as something that involved Him and He felt that it was not yet time for Him to begin His ministry of miracles. Yet, when His mother told the servants to follow His instructions, with the implication that He would do something about the problem, He took action to resolve it. The final thing in the story is that Jesus had no problem with the use of alcohol (although other New Testament scripture tells us that we should only do so in moderation). How do I come to this conclusion? Because not only does Jesus make wine out of water, according to the master of ceremonies it was better than the wine originally served. Now from what I know of wine from that time, which is admittedly limited, and, also, of people in general, when the master of ceremonies said the wine was “better” he was likely saying that it was stronger. So, not only did Jesus make wine, but he made better, probably stronger, wine.
     Here John recounts Jesus clearing the Temple of merchants. In an earlier study I discussed Luke’s account of Jesus clearing the Temple shortly before His crucifixion. In addition to the corruption and abuse that the practices Jesus disrupted represented they, also, were a distraction from worshiping God. While it is likely that the merchant stalls originated as a convenience for those coming to worship who needed the items available there for their sacrifices and offerings, they had gone beyond that and become a major source of distraction. It is interesting that although He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and drove the sheep and the cattle out of the Temple, he merely went to the dove merchants and told them to get their doves out of the Temple. If you think about it, the moneychangers could gather their coins off of the ground and the livestock merchants could easily round up their livestock once it was outside of the Temple but if Jesus had released the doves they would have flown off and the merchants would have been unable to retrieve them (or at least most of them). This shows that Jesus had respect for their property rights. I don’t think you can build an entire economic philosophy from this, but it contributes to understanding Jesus view of economics.

Psalm 103:1-22

     This is a psalm of praise. It reminds us that God does not punish us to the extent that our sin deserves. That God loves us and cares for us as a good father loves and cares for his children. “Let all that I am praise the Lord.” Lord, let this be my prayer today and every day.

Proverbs 14:17-19

     This proverb reminds us that if we do things in the heat of anger, we will often later regret our actions. It, also, tells us that those who scheme will be hated.

     I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

Judges 13-14:20
     Here we have the story of Samson’s parents and God’s messenger appearing to them to tell them that his mother would conceive. The first thing that struck me was that the angel instructed Samson’s mother to not drink any wine or other alcoholic beverage or to eat any forbidden food. What struck me about this is that it seemed a lot like the instructions given pregnant women today, especially those who have difficult pregnancies. Another thing that struck me was the response of Samson’s father. When he asked the messenger what kind of rules should govern their raising of the boy he said, “When your words come true…”. Most of us (certainly that is my inclination) would say, “If your words come true…”. How can I learn to react to God’s direction with that kind of faith?
     This story is followed by a story showing Samson’s poor judgment in women. Samson falls for a Philistine woman and asks his parents to arrange for him to marry her. Samson poses a riddle for the men who have been chosen by his wife’s parents to be part of his wedding party as a bet. When they were unable to solve the riddle, they turned to Samson’s bride for the answer. They threatened to to burn down her father’s house with her in it if she did not get the answer for them (a threat that later actions suggest was not an idle one). She then cajoles Samson for the answer. She does not tell him about the threat. She nags him for the answer, crying each time he refuses to answer, until he finally gives in and tells her. When the men of his wedding party answer his riddle, Samson is furious because he knows where they got the answer and feels betrayed by his wife, with some justification. If she had told him why she was so desperate to know the answer, things would have turned out differently, but probably not much better for those Philistines responsible for oppressing the Israelites.

John 1:29-51

     Here we have John’s account of Jesus calling His first disciples. As John the Baptist is standing with two of his disciples, Jesus walks by. John the Baptist declares, “Look! There is the Lamb of God.” The two disciples approach Jesus and ask where He is staying. He invites them back with Him and they spend the rest of the day with Him. We don’t know what they talked about, but they were obviously impressed. One of the two, Andrew, goes and gets his brother, Simon. Andrew tells Simon that they have found the Messiah and brings Simon to meet Jesus. Jesus looks at Simon, tells him his name and that he will be called “Rock” (Cephas in Aramaic, Peter in Greek).
     The next day, Jesus decides to go to Galilee. He finds Philip, who is from the same town as Andrew and Peter, and tells him to follow Him. The passage does not say, but I infer from this that Philip was the second of John’s two disciples who had approached Jesus the previous day. Philip goes and finds Nathaniel and tells him that they had found the Messiah and that He was from Nazareth. Nathaniel is skeptical, but Philip tells him to check it out for himself. Jesus tells Nathaniel that he is a man of integrity. We might be tempted to think that Nathaniel was convinced because Jesus flattered him by calling him a “man of integrity”, but Nathaniel remains skeptical. It is only when Jesus reveals that He knows where Nathaniel was when Philip found him that he is convinced. Jesus tells him that he will see greater wonders than that.
     I would love to know what Jesus and the two disciples talked about that first afternoon. It obviously impressed both of them intensely because they each sought out someone close to them to tell that they had found the Messiah. Are we that impressed with Jesus that we seek out those closest to us to tell them that we have found the Messiah, the anointed one of God? This question changes for those of us raised by Christian parents because it is likely that we came to know Jesus those closest to us already knew Him. But what about when we become close to others throughout our lives? Do we make sure that they know we view Jesus as central? Are we brave enough to risk this new relationship with the revelation that we are “one of those”?

Psalm 102

     Today’s psalm is one where the psalmist is crying out in desperation to the Lord. He pours out his problems before the Lord and speaks from utter depression about himself. Yet even so, the psalmist praises the Lord and speaks of His faithfulness and power. Can I so the same? Can I praise the Lord, even as my life appears to be collapsing around me? I hope so, but, I also hope to never find out. My greatest fear is that I will be tested as Job was tested.

Proverbs 14:15-16

     The two proverbs today are very closely related. Simpletons believe everything they are told, fools rush ahead. While the prudent carefully consider their actions and the wise are cautious and avoid danger. I have learned to apply two rules when evaluating what someone tells me. The first thing I consider is this, does my source have first hand knowledge of the subject and are they a good judge of what actually happened? The second is related to that, if they do not have first hand knowledge, do they use good judgment in evaluating their sources as I do? I have learned that some people are very reliable when telling about something they experienced themselves, but too readily accept the judgment of others about situations they have not experienced themselves.