Reading 1 – Jos 15

“Judah was the imperial tribe, and it was fitting that he should be planted in a conspicuous territory. Even if the republic had not been destined to give place to the monarchy, some preeminence was due to the tribe which had inherited the patriarchal blessing, and from which he was to come in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed. Judah and the sons of Joseph seem to have obtained their settlements not only before the other tribes, but in a different manner. They did not obtain them by lot, but apparently by their own choice and by early possession. Judah was not planted in the heart of the country. That position was gained by Ephraim and Manasseh, the children of Joseph, while Judah obtained the southern section. In this position his influence was not so commanding at first as it would have been had he occupied the centre. The portion taken possession of by Judah had belonged to the first batch of kings that Joshua subdued, the kings that came up to take vengeance on the Gibeonites. What was first assigned to Judah was too large, and the tribe of Simeon got accommodation within his lot (Jos 19:9). Dan also obtained several cities that had first been given to Judah (compare Jos 15:21-62; 19:40-46). In point of fact, Judah ere long swallowed up a great part of Simeon and Dan, and Benjamin was so hemmed in between him and Ephraim that, while Jerusalem was situated within the limits of Benjamin, it was, for all practical purposes, a city of Judah” (Expositor’s Bible).

Reading 2 – Isa 21

Isa 21 is a very difficult prophecy, but it appears to be about an especially significant Passover deliverance — and this accords well with the great destruction of the Assyrian army (described in Isa 36; 37) which is at the heart of the whole prophecy.

“The twilight I longed for” (Isa 21:4), or “the night of my pleasure” (AV), looks like an allusion to Passover, the only holy observance kept at nighttime, and the time of the overthrow of Sennacherib’s Assyrian army (Isa 31:5; 30:29; 29:1; 26:20; 33:20; 52:12).

In v 5, there are other Passover allusions: the setting of the tables, the eating and drinking. The command to “oil the shields” (or “anoint the shield”: AV) MIGHT be translated, as does the Septuagint, “anoint the doorposts”, referring to the smearing of the blood of the Lamb on the door frames of faithful Jews in Egypt (Exo 12:22). Likewise, the lookouts — watching at night (vv 6,8) — suggest the nighttime vigil of Passover: a waiting both for destruction of one’s enemies, and for deliverance.

The word that finally comes, about the fall of “Babylon”, could be a reference to the devastation of the Assyrian army outside Jerusalem — because at the time of Hezekiah the two names, Assyria and Babylon, seem to have been used interchangeably for the same basic power (Assyria had previously conquered and controlled the city of Babylon, and Assyrian kings were quite proud of this accomplishment.)

So also, the called-out question of v 11, “Watchman, what is left of the night?”, suggests a high anxiety in a time of distress: the Passover night of fear and death, culminating in the morning of deliverance (Isa 37:36).

Reading 3 – Phm

“The little letter to Philemon introduces us to two men. One is the writer, an old man in chains. Contrary to all outward appearance and though in prison, he was really free. Once, in his youth, he thought he was free, but he was really in chains to the law of sin. But when Christ came into his life he threw away his chains. Then, though in bonds, his spirit was as free as the winds of heaven. He was free to rejoice, and he was at peace. The other man is Onesimus. As a runaway slave, he escaped in the hope of finding freedom. He learned that the world was not as he imagined. His experience of earthly freedom was bitter: Rome’s streets were not gold, and the cobblestones were hard. Disillusioned, with empty pockets, in rags, he sought out the ecclesia in Rome. And where did he find true freedom? In the prison cell, from an old man in chains! He found help, sympathy, love and the Truth. From Paul the prisoner he found true freedom!” (Walter Draper)

Reading 1 – Deu 13:1-3

“If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not known) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deu 13:1-3).

“In the book of Deuteronomy it was laid down what the attitude of the people of Israel should be to those who claimed to speak with the authority of God’s Holy Spirit.

“First, does the prophet utter prophecies which are proved to be true by their fulfilment? ‘If the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken, the prophet has spoken it presumptuously’, ie, without God’s authority (Deu 18:22). But there was always the possibility that the ‘prophet’ might succeed, by means of a bit of clever guesswork, in deceiving his hearers. So then a further test: ‘If a prophet arises among you… and the sign or wonder which he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, “Let us go after other gods”… you shall not listen to the words of that prophet’ (Deu 13:1,2).

“In other words, a prophecy or a sign or a wonder does not guarantee that the Holy Spirit is at work. The final and certain test is whether the teaching is good and true and right” (Harry Whittaker, “Gifts of the Holy Spirit”).

Reading 2 – Ecc 6:9

“Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Ecc 6:9).

It is better to enjoy what one has than to desire the unattainable. The thoughts of the heart are only evil continually, and ought to be curbed, not indulged (Gen 6:5). “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1Ti 6:9,10).

Man must learn to be content with what he has, so long as he has the promises of God (Heb 13:5,6), to be content whatever the circumstances, because he knows that his God can supply every need (Phi 4:11-13; Mat 6:25-33).

We do not find happiness OUTSIDE of ourselves; we find happiness INSIDE ourselves.

It may be said there are two ways to find happiness:

“Get everything you want” — but, given man’s inherent lustful nature, this is impossible: there will always be more to desire! Or… “Enjoy — and be thankful for — what you have” — this EVERYONE can do!

Reading 3 – Acts 3:6

“Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk’ ” (Acts 3:6).

There were gates of gold and silver, and an exceedingly Beautiful Gate (Acts 3:2) — enormous wealth was concentrated in the Temple of the Jews, but none of it did any good for the poor lame man, who sat year after year in its shadow; none of it could deliver him from his affliction. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1Pe 1:18,19).

Also compare Exo 20:23,24: “Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it… Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.” The temple — with all its gold and silver — though it was practically worshiped as a “god” by the devout Jews, could not bring deliverance, or salvation, to the lame man. What could deliver him was recourse to the simple “altar” of “earth” (human nature), which was Jesus Christ. This plain and unadorned “altar” of flesh honored the name of his Father and thus brought a blessing unattainable elsewhere!

The apostles had apparently provided no redemption money for the Day of Atonement (Exo 30:12-14); they knew that their redemption — even as the healing of the lame man — was in and through the precious blood of Christ.

Reading 1 – Jos 1:6

“Be strong and courageous” (Jos 1:6).

“Two incidents happened recently that seemed irrelevant. Both combined, however, to impress a command. A young father called for some reason, bringing his two small children for a ride. The boy, sweet toddler, was into everything — poker, tongs and cupboards. Finally, he climbed on to a window-seat, fingered my Bible, leaving it open, got down, and raised a protest about having to go home.

“Next day we found a robin in the garden, half stunned, balancing on quivering legs. One side of its head was terribly injured and blinded, though the other bright eye regarded me with no fear. The bird … allowed itself to be picked up, put in a basket, and brought indoors.

“What could be done? If healed in part and later released it would become prey to cat or hawk. But it must now be tended. In a few hours it pecked at food, flew to the window, and even managed to chirrup. What unconscious courage shone from the one bright eye as it clung to my finger! I dared not look at the other side. But the Father who knows when a sparrow falls would hear a prayer for a robin. I asked God just to bless it — and He did. The brave little bird lay next morning with stiff legs pointing to the ceiling.

“I tidied the room. The Bible lay open as the toddler had left it, and there shone forth the words from Jos 1: ‘Be strong, and of a good courage…’

“If a tiny bird, unconscious of its Creator, could show courage worthy of a human hero, then the courage that our Heavenly Father commands His children, who profess faith in Him, should be the source of their greatest consolation of trust. ‘Be strong, and of a good courage… Have not I commanded thee?’ Surely in the smallness of our own puny affairs we must obey that command.

“O Lord, help us to hold fast to this Thy command — ‘until the day break, and the shadows flee away’ ” (Catherine Morgan, “Think on These Things” 43,44).

[This story reminds me of the lines from a poem by DH Lawrence, entitled “Self-Pity”:

“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself.”]

Reading 2 – Isa 7:14

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isa 7:14).

Other Old Testament prophecies of the “virgin birth” are to be found in Isa 41:9; 43:1; 44:2,24; 45:4; 46:3; 49:1; Psa 22:9,10; 71:6; 89:26,27; 110:1,3; 132:11; Gen 3:15; Mic 5:2; 2 Sam 7:14; Gen 49:25; Jer 31:22; Pro 30:4.

The first express prophecy in the Old Testament is Gen 3:15, the seed of the woman (but not the man) who would destroy the power of sin symbolized by the serpent. And the first express fulfillment of prophecy in the New Testament is Mat 1:23. How was this prophecy of Isaiah to be fulfilled? Over the centuries this has become a Jewish controversy, and even a Christian controversy, as witnessed by some modern versions that translate the Hebrew “alma” or the Greek “parthenos” by “young woman” or the like, instead of “virgin”. Of one thing there can be no doubt: no matter what the best translation of the original words, both Matthew and Luke agree that Mary had had no relations with any man when Jesus was conceived. God has clearly shown how Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled despite whatever minor arguments may revolve around the precise words used.

The Hebrew “alma” and its related words are derived from a root signifying to cover or conceal. One common suggestion is that it refers to the practice of keeping unmarried girls in seclusion in their parents’ homes. This explanation would favor virginity as the meaning of “alma”, but would not prove it absolutely. However, a more meaningful aspect comes into view when the antonym is considered; it means “to uncover”. “To uncover the nakedness” (so translated, literally, by the KJV) of another is a Hebrew euphemism for having sexual intercourse (Lev 20:11,17-21). So one who is “covered” — an “alma” — is then specifically one who has not engaged in sexual intercourse.

Reading 3 – 1Th 1:9

“They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1Th 1:9).

Some of the Gentile converts in Thessalonica were “devout Greeks” (Acts 17:4), who had presumably already abandoned the idols of their fathers so as to worship, if only in a secondary way, the God of Israel. But many others must have had little or no connection with the synagogue, since only at the call of the gospel did they turn from their idols. That 1 Thessalonians is written to a predominantly Gentile group is suggested by:

No direct references to the Law of Moses; A scarcity of direct references to other parts of the Old Testament; This v 9, regarding “turning from idols”; and The serious call to sexual purity which is reminiscent of the Jerusalem decree sent to Gentile believers (Acts 15:19,20,28,29), and which in any case should have been unnecessary for those brought up under the Law.

Paul’s description of the Thessalonians’ conversion echoes his preaching in Lystra (“ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God” — Acts 14:15-17), and Athens (“I perceive that in all things [their many idols] ye are too superstitious… the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent” — Acts 17:22,30).

In Greek “idol” literally means a “shadow” or a “phantom.” By Paul’s preaching the “idols” were discredited as mere imaginations of enfeebled, philosophical minds. They were, in Paul’s robust and blunt words, “nothing” — or more literally, “no-gods” (1Co 8:4-6). They simply did not exist. The images of wood and stone had unseeing eyes and unhearing ears, and mouths out of which no speech would ever come (Psa 115:4-7). Some of the most exquisite irony and sarcasm in the Old Testament is reserved for the “no-gods” and those who trust in them (1Ki 18:27; Isa 44:9-20).

Reading 1 – Deu 15:2

“This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed” (Deu 15:2).

It was the LORD’s time because it was “appointed and commanded by him, and was for his honour and glory, as a God gracious and merciful to the poor, and beneficent to those creditors; and which was proclaimed in his name, by the civil magistrate, according to his order… Now this was typical of a release of debts, or of forgiveness of sins, which is an act of God’s grace through Christ, and for his sake. Sins are called debts [because] men are debtors to fulfil the law, and in case of failure, or a breach of it, are bound to the debt of punishment; and these debts are very numerous, and men are incapable of paying them: and by a release of these is meant not a liberty of sinning, nor a freedom from the being or bondage of sin, but from the guilt of it, and from obligation to punishment for it; and is properly the forgiveness of sin, which is expressed by various phrases, as a non-imputation, a non-remembrance, a covering, blotting out, and removing of sin, and here typically a release of debts (see Mat 6:12), and God only can make it; he is the creditor, sin is committed against him, and he only can forgive it, which he does freely, fully, and at once (see Luke 7:41,42)” (John Gill).

Reading 2 – Ecc 7:10

“Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions” (Ecc 7:10).

This seems to refer to the “privilege” and tendency of the older to look back and pine for the way things were done (Job does something similar in Job 29:2-5, although he had perhaps more reason). The memory is very selective and only remembers the nice things, and forgets the difficulties. We are dealing with the matter of discontent. Looking back to “the good old days”, is pouring scorn on the present and implying, quite wrongly, that there is no hope for the future. There is always hope for the present and the future, because God is in control! “People have always looked back to the good old days. ‘If only we had lived then,’ they say, ‘we might have done better!’ Even Christians sometimes overestimate the early church, the Reformation, or periods of revival. Wise people certainly learn from the past, but they live in the present with all its opportunities. Overmuch dwelling on the past can prevent us from overcoming the world, which often seems so much more wicked today than ever before” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).

Of course, there may have been an immediate context in which this principle was stated — something in the days of Solomon (or Uzziah, or Hezekiah — other candidates for authorship of Ecclesiastes) that caused men to think this way. Perhaps comparable to Paul’s “present distress” (or ‘present crisis’) in 1Co 7:26 — whatever that might have been.

“There is no weight nor truth in it; but men use it to excuse their crimes, and the folly of their conduct. ‘In former times,’ say they, ‘men might be more religious, use more self-denial, be more exemplary.’ This is all false. In former days men were wicked as they are now, and religion was unfashionable: God also is the same now as he was then; as just, as merciful, as ready to help: and there is no depravity in the age that will excuse your crimes, your follies, and your carelessness” (Adam Clarke, who wrote almost 200 years ago!).

“It is folly to complain of the badness of our own times when we have more reason to complain of the badness of our own hearts (if men’s hearts were better, the times would mend) and when we have more reason to be thankful that they are not worse, but that even in the worst of times we enjoy many mercies, which help to make them not only tolerable, but comfortable. It is folly to talk up the goodness of former times, so as to derogate from the mercy of God to us in our own times; as if former ages had not the same things to complain of that we have, or if perhaps, in some respects, they had not, yet as if God had been unjust and unkind to us in casting our lot in an iron age, compared with the golden ages that went before us; this arises from nothing but fretfulness and discontent, and an aptness to pick quarrels with God himself. We are not to think there is any universal decay in nature, or degeneracy in morals. God has been always good, and men always bad; and if, in some respects, the times are now worse than they have been, perhaps in other respects they are better” (Matthew Henry, who wrote about 350 years ago!).

Have things been in an absolute decline for 3,000 years — every successive generation a little bit worse than the previous one? Or does it merely appear that way when we look back with a nostalgic eye to the (more or less) immediate past? Or… is our age, right now, really worse to a very considerable degree than 25 or 50 or 75 years ago… because we are truly living in the Last Days? 1Ti 4 and 2Ti 3, and so forth. Maybe so. But the funny thing (or not so funny!) is that Bible expositors of 200 or 350 years ago (and Bible authors of as much as 3,000 years ago) were writing that men in their own days thought the same thing — and pointing out that it was not wise to dwell on that too much.

Reading 3 – Acts 5:2

“With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet” (Act 5:2).

“Kept back” is, literally, to hide away, that is, “to embezzle”. The same word is “steal” in Tit 2:10. It is used also of Achan (Jos 7:1, LXX). Compare the incident of Elisha and Gehazi (2Ki 5:25). We have sold our “old man” and laid the proceeds at Christ’s feet. Did we keep back part of the price? It is a question we can ask ourselves every day.

“If the current of our mind is not continuously in God, then our profession is hypocrisy, and our performance is sham. It is just a sometime thing. It is not solid and permanent and real. If we truly have the Truth, it will possess us totally. It will be a continuous ringing in our minds and fire in our bones. Don’t be a half anything — and certainly not in things pertaining to God and eternity. Be total. Go all the way. Give it everything. In the other way lies frustration and unhappiness, and — at last — dreadful, inescapable remorse. Why jeopardize eternity with half-ways?” (GV Growcott).

Indeed, why barter away eternal life for 30 pieces of silver?

Reading 1 – Deu 24:19

“When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands” (Deu 24:19).

“What a delightful peek at the right way of life is prescribed by God’s beautiful law. Here are no ‘thrifty’ scrapings to the last straw, but an open-handed liberality that leaves handfuls for the poor. No one could starve under such a system: no one sink to the despairing depths we see yawning around us in modern times. Of course it cannot be — now. But it ought to be, and it will be, when we have God’s Kingdom back among us, to ‘judge for the poor and the needy, and break in pieces the oppressors.’ We wait God’s hand in the matter; and He says, ‘They shall not be ashamed that wait for me’ ” (Robert Roberts).

“Boaz ordered handfuls of corn to be left on purpose for Ruth [Rth 2:16], and God blessed him. All that is left is not lost” (Matthew Henry).

Reading 2 – Song 4:7

“All beautiful you are, my darling; there is no flaw in you” (Song 4:7).

This is cited by Paul as the description of the Bride of Christ: “Not having spot or wrinkle” (Eph 5:27). Now all fair, she has — like Esther — completed her time of purification (Est 2:12). It is the work of Christ the husband to cleanse (Eph 5:26) the “bride” by giving himself for her (Eph 5:25; Tit 2:13,14). Thus the Bride is made “like him” (1Jo 3:2) — this is the greatest “wedding present”!

“Are we part of the Bride? Is it our utmost and constant effort to be WORTHY to be so, to the exclusion of everything else? If not, why not? Where is wisdom? Where is plain ordinary common sense? There IS a Bride, and she IS ever spotless. She was made white and pure in the blood of the Lamb, and she is kept spotless by dedicated, loving obedience; and striving, and repentance, and prayer. The wise will give their whole lives and energies to becoming and being part of this glorious and joyous community. That is what manifests that they are the wise. All who do not are the foolish. ‘He sanctifieth and cleanseth it by the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Ecclesia, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:26,27). ‘Keep yourselves in the love of God… Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy’ (Jud 1:21-24)” (GVG).

“As if the thought occurred to the Bridegroom that the carping world would insinuate that he had only mentioned her comely parts, and had purposely omitted those features which were deformed or defiled, he sums up all by declaring her universally and entirely fair, and utterly devoid of stain. A spot may soon be removed, and is the very least thing that can disfigure beauty, but even from this little blemish the believer is delivered in his Lord’s sight. If he had said there is no hideous scar, no horrible deformity, no deadly ulcer, we might even then have marvelled; but when he testifies that she is free from the slightest spot, all these other forms of defilement are included, and the depth of wonder is increased. If he had but promised to remove all spots by-and-by, we should have had eternal reason for joy; but when he speaks of it as already done, who can restrain the most intense emotions of satisfaction and delight?” (CH Spurgeon).

Reading 3 – Acts 18:2,3

“Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them” (Acts 18:2,3).

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So many of God’s faithful servants have been shepherds: Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David, to name but a few. In NT times, the vocation of fisherman was prominent among the Lord’s followers. Both these secular occupations well fitted such men for the spiritual work they would do — as “shepherds” of the flock of God, and “fishers of men”. The connections in Scripture between the literal and the typical in these cases are plentiful indeed, and rich in spiritual instruction.

Taking our lead from such obvious patterns, what then should we make of the livelihoods of God’s two most prominent servants: Jesus the carpenter (Mat 13:55; Mar 6:3) and Paul the tentmaker (Act 18:3)?

The thread starts in Exodus, where the LORD God commanded Moses to build Him a tabernacle, “according to the pattern showed you in the mount” (Exo 25:40; Heb 8:5). For this work, the LORD called and inspired Bezaleel and his assistant Aholiab to be “cunning” workmen in metal and timber and fabric.

“Bezaleel” signifies “in the shadow (under the protection) of El”. He was of the tribe of Judah; the son of Uri (“light”; the plural is “Urim”); the grandson of Hur (“whiteness”, “splendor”). He was definitely the “artisan-in-charge”: Aholiab was “given with him” (Exo 31:6; cp Exo 38:23), “to help him” (NIV).

Apparently Bezaleel was especially skilled in metal and stone and wood, whereas his assistant Aholiab (the name itself signifies “the tent of his father”) was more adept in the working of fabrics and skins. The distinction is borne out by a careful reading of Exo 35:30-35; 38:23. Together, they carried forward the word of building the tabernacle.

A bit more about Bezaleel: Clearly, he stands in the narrative as a type of Christ:

He was a “carpenter”. This is a Hebrew word, according to most authorities, which signifies an artisan in metal and stone as well as wood (as does its Greek equivalent, applied to Joseph and Jesus). His name (“in the shadow of El”) calls to mind Psa 57:1; 63:7; and especially Psa 91:1. Likewise, Jesus was and is “under the protection of El”, as Isa 49:1,2 and Joh 1:18 imply: “In the shadow of His hand hath He hid me…” “The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father…” He was of Judah! He was the son of Uri (“light”) and Hur (“splendor”). Likewise, Jesus was the son of “Light” (1Jo 1:5), and himself “the Light of the world” (Joh 9:5), being the “brightness” of his Father’s glory (Heb 1:3)!

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The Mosaic tabernacle, with all that pertained to it, was a “figure” (Greek “parable”) of the “greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” (Heb 9:9,11). This spiritual “tabernacle”, or temple, is of course the ecclesia, built upon Jesus Christ the “foundation” (Eph 2:20-22; 1Co 3:16; 1Pe 2:5-7) and chief corner-stone (Psa 118:22,23). As Bezaleel labored to build the literal tabernacle, so Jesus labored to build the spiritual. As Aholiab assisted the “master builder”, so Paul assisted Christ (cp 1Co 3:9-15; 2Co 6:1).

The secular occupations of Jesus and Paul beautifully fill out this picture: Jesus, like Bezaleel, the “artisan” in wood and stone and metal, built the framework and foundation of the spiritual tabernacle — the “center pole” of his work being the cross of wood erected at Golgotha. He also “worked” in metal — the spikes with which he was nailed to the cross.

Afterward, Paul — the New Testament “Aholiab” — was chiefly responsible for the “stitching together” of the skins and fabrics (the individual ecclesias?) into whole coverings, to overlay the wooden framework. Building up and binding together individuals into ecclesias, and ecclesias into the One Body of Christ.

The “carpenter” and the “tentmaker” working together, according to the pattern of the more perfect tabernacle!

Reading 1 – Deu 29

“The principles of the Covenant, including the benefits of obeying and the penalties of breaking it, have been already set forth by Moses to the ecclesia as it stood on the eve of entering their promised inheritance. There only remains the formal endorsement of it by the people. It is that act, and the accompaniments to it, that are the subject of Deu 29; 30. Its leading elements are thus repeated in brief: (a) Deu 29:1-9 answers to the historical prologue in Deu 1:6; 4:49. (b) Deu 29:16-29 answers to the sanctions of Deu 28:1-68. (c) Deu 30:8,10-14 alludes to the stipulations of the covenant embodied in Deu 5:1 to Deu 26:19. (d) Finally, Deu 30:15-20 contains the summons to the oath of confirmation and the invocation of witnesses.

“The covenant contains strong exhortatory appeal. Thus Deu 29 can be analysed as follows:

Introduction to sealing the covenant: v 1. The people exhorted to keep the covenant on the grounds of personal experience: vv 2-9. All of Israel of every age involved: vv 10-13. It extends even to the unborn: vv 14-15. Punishment resulting from breaking the covenants: vv 16-29.

“The Mosaic Covenant was designed to prepare the nation for the greater Covenant established in Yahshua, and provides the basis for individual spiritual development” (GE Mansfield).

Reading 2 – Isa 1:11

“The multitude of your sacrifices — what are they to me?” says the LORD. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats” (Isa 1:11).

“The people of God are come to a sorry pass when they have a mind to give more attention to the forms of their religion than its inner meaning. The multitude of sacrifices had ceased to be rejoiced in as a medium by which God’s merciful forgiveness was received. Instead, they had become a kind of bribe to the Almighty as a way of bespeaking His favour and help in emergency” (Harry Whittaker, “Isaiah” 95).

Reading 3 – Acts 27:27

“On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land” (Act 27:27).

“The long talk of the Lord’s coming will end in the event itself, and that end is close upon us, though how close we cannot exactly say. The great prophetic periods are nearly all elapsed; and the tokens are visible on every hand to the eyes able to see, but the exact place in the latter-day programme at which the Lord appears to His house is unknown. We are like a ship at the end of a long voyage. We have travelled the great ocean for many months, letting the months stand for centuries that have passed since Christ’s departure. We know by the general reckonings that we are not far from land; and our conclusion on this head is confirmed by the altered appearance of the sea, the shallowness of the soundings, the land-mists on the horizon, and certain other tokens in the shape of birds, seaweed, etc. But exactly how many miles we are from port, we do not know. We know we are sufficiently near that the pilots may come in sight at any moment” (Robert Roberts).

Reading 1 – Deu 30:19

“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deu 30:19).

“Keep in direct contact with God at all times. Keep the communication line open. This is our lifeline. When this is broken or neglected, we are dead. Reading the Word, meditating on the Word — these strengthen the line, tighten all the connections, clear away the impediment, keep the channel clear, and the power flowing. Pray without ceasing: it has limitless, measureless power. These divine things are real and actual: more so than what we can handle and see” (GV Growcott).

Reading 2 – Isa 2:1

“This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem” (Isa 2:1).

“We do not know anything of Isaiah’s family or of the details of his upbringing. He was a member of some family of Jerusalem, and in intimate relations with the Court. It has been believed that he was of royal blood, but it matters little whether this be true or not. A spirit so wise and masterful as his did not need social rank to fit it for that intimacy with princes which has doubtless suggested the legend of his royal descent. What does matter is Isaiah’s citizenship in Jerusalem, for this colours all his prophecy. More than Athens to Demosthenes, Rome to Juvenal, Florence to Dante, is Jerusalem to Isaiah. She is his immediate and ultimate regard, the centre and return of all his thoughts, the hinge of the history of his time, the one thing worth preserving amidst its disasters, the summit of those brilliant hopes with which he fills the future. He has traced for us the main features of her position and some of the lines of her construction, many of the great figures of her streets, the fashions of her women, the arrival of embassies, the effect of rumours. He has painted her aspect in triumph, in siege, in famine, and in earthquake; war filling her valleys with chariots, and again nature rolling tides of fruitfulness up to her gates; her moods of worship and panic and profligacy — till we see them all as clearly as the shadow following the sunshine, and the breeze the breeze, across the cornfields of our own summers.

“If he takes wider observation of mankind, Jerusalem is his watch-tower. It is for her defence he battles through fifty years of statesmanship, and all his prophecy may be said to travail in anguish for her new birth. He was never away from her walls, but not even the psalms of the captives by the rivers of Babylon, with the desire of exile upon them, exhibit more beauty and pathos than the lamentations which Isaiah poured upon Jerusalem’s sufferings or the visions in which he described her future solemnity and peace.

“It is not with surprise, therefore, that we find the first prophecies of Isaiah directed upon his mother city” (GA Smith, “Isaiah”).

Reading 3 – Acts 28:30

“For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him” (Acts 28:30).

Or “at his own expense” (RSV) welcoming all visitors, to whom he spoke of the Kingdom of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ “quite openly and unhindered” (RSV). Here (vv 30,31) is a clear testimony to the legality of Christianity: Paul, even while a prisoner, is allowed to preach it even in Rome!

“During this period he also wrote to the believers at Ephesus, Philippi and Colosse, and sent the letter to Philemon. Luke thus establishes that Paul bore witness in Rome to the resurrected Christ as the Lord had foretold, but there is no reference in Acts to Paul appearing before Caesar as the angel had foretold (Act 27:23,24); an event which Luke would surely have recorded if it had taken place when he wrote. It can be assumed then that Paul remained a prisoner chained to a Roman guard during the two years” (“Testimony” 50:71,72).

Reading 1 – Jdg 2:12,13

“They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths” (Jdg 2:12,13).

“The names are given as samples of the male and female deities Israel became prone to reverence — Baal (Lord, Master), an equivalent of Adonai, also means Husband, and thus the name served to emphasise the sexual character of the rites practised. Properly understood, the name could be used significantly of the God of Israel (eg, Jer 31:32). Yet the time came when this use of it was proscribed because of its evil associations (Hos 2:16,17)… ‘Ashtaroth’ (KJV) is the plural (or, rather, dual) form of the name Ishtar, Venus, with reference to the appearances of that bright shining planet as both morning and evening star. The fuller title Ashtaroth-Karnaim (of the two horns) suggests that even without telescopes they knew of the crescent appearance of Venus. This name Ashtaroth is not to be confused with the Asherah (plural: Asheroth), commonly translated ‘the groves’. These were phallic symbols of the kind which have survived as a feature of eastern architecture. The name means The Way to Happiness. It serves to illustrate that the modern glorification of sex is only a revival in more sophisticated form of the old nature religions, which rotted the nation life of Israel. When the records say that Israel ‘went a-whoring after other gods’, this is more than a mere figure of speech. ‘Ships sink not by being in the water, but by the water getting into them,’ writes Fausset trenchantly. God ‘of our pleasant vices makes instruments to scourge us’ ” (Harry Whittaker, “Judges”).

Reading 2 – Isa 31:5

“Like birds hovering overhead, the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem; he will shield it and deliver it, he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it” (Isa 31:5).

The only other occurrence of this verb is in Exo 12:13,23,27, where the LORD “passes over” (ie, ‘spares’) the Israelite households as he comes to judge their Egyptian oppressors. The noun for “Passover’ is derived from the verb. The use of the verb in Isa 31:5 is probably an intentional echo of the Exodus event. As in the days of Moses the LORD will spare his people as he comes to judge their enemies. Passover was the time of Sennacherib’s overthrow: Isa 30:29; 26:20,21; 29:1; 52:12; 37:36; Psa 102:13; Isa 36:10; Joel 2:23.

Reading 3 – James 1:27

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (Jam 1:27).

“Threskeia” = religion in its ceremonial observances — as to external acts or rituals. For James — the “ceremonial” observances of true religion have little if anything to do with what we might call the “act” of worship — sitting, standing, praying, singing, speaking, etc — and most or all to do with the practical faith of helping others! James is telling us: ‘Don’t go to the synagogue or temple or ecclesial meeting hall to look for pure religion… look for it in the simple deeds of everyday life!’

“If our ‘religion’ does not move us powerfully to put away all selfishness, and create in us a great desire to ‘do good to all men,’ then it is not ‘pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father’. Truly, our conception of what constitutes ‘doing good’ must be enlightened and guided by spiritual wisdom and scriptural instruction; but the underlying motive force for all we do must be a zealous love for all, and a desire to help all, rooted in the love of God who points this out to us as the only possible Way of life” (GV Growcott).

TO LOOK AFTER ORPHANS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR DISTRESS: KJV has “to visit”, but the word plainly means much, much more than simply to ‘drop by to say hello’! In fact, James elsewhere disparages the attitude of merely speaking pleasant words while doing nothing, really, to help the one who is hungry or otherwise in need: “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (Jam 2:14-17).

The Greek is “episkeptomai” = to oversee: James is citing the words of Jesus in Mat 25:36,43: “[The King will say]… I was sick and you visited — or looked after (sw) — me.” The verb is related to the word for “bishop” (KJV) or “overseer” in Act 20:28; 1Ti 3:1,2; Tit 1:7; 1Pe 2:25; it signifies one who watches over — as a shepherd watches over his flock — with the connotations of protecting, feeding, and otherwise providing for. There are plainly both material and spiritual implications to this word:

Material, in the sense that “orphans and widows” signify those who may be in need of “feeding” and financial assistance, and God requires us to provide for them (Deu 10:18; 24:17,19-21; 26:12,13; etc) — the beautiful story of Ruth, a whole Book in the Bible, is primarily devoted to demonstrating how one may “visit” the widows; and Spiritual, in the sense that “orphans and widows” are those who have been deprived of fathers or husbands, and may need the guidance and instruction that such should provide. In short, the “shepherd” or “overseer” should provide natural food as well as spiritual “food”, as needed. It is instructive to note that in James’ exhortation there is no restricting of such duties to ecclesial “elders” or even to brothers: it is the duty of all believers to act as “overseers”, and to help those who are in need.

The word “visit” may also signify to preach the gospel — carrying the idea of spiritual instruction, mentioned above, back further: All the world are as “orphans” (they lack a real “Father”!) and “widows” (they lack a real “Husband”). The true practitioner of “religion” will “visit” them to show them the way of life. In Act 15:14 James (is it the same James?) says: “Simeon [Peter] hath declared how God at the first did visit (sw) the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.” Perhaps the ultimate act of pure religion is to help another in spiritual need find the Saviour! Why stop at giving a simple piece of bread when one can give another the One who is the Bread of Life? Why stop at “healing” a flu or virus when one can offer the dying man the ultimate “healing” of eternal life?

Reading 1 – Jos 2:1

“Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there” (Jos 2:1).

Possibly they met her at a well outside the city walls, entering the gate in her company so as not to arouse suspicion. Only later would they discover that she, of all Jericho, had faith in the God of Israel (Harry Whittaker, “Enjoying the Bible” 23).

Reading 2 – Isa 8:6

“This people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah” (Isa 8:6).

Through the sacred page flow two very different streams. The raging torrent, the seasonal river overflowing its banks, is used by Isaiah as a figure for the advancing Assyrians (Isa 8:7,8). The waters thereof roar and are troubled; proud billows and lashing waves, lofty as hills, sweep aside mountains in their path (Psa 46:3). But in their tumultuous course the wild waters come at last against the immovable height of Zion (Psa 125:1): “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11).

For here, beneath Zion’s hill, flows another stream which is the secret of her survival. It is not harsh and overpowering; its waters go softly (Isa 8:6) through the rock-hewn channels of Hezekiah’s conduit (2Ki 20:20) into the pool of Siloam (John 9:7). It brings life to thirsty watchmen on Zion’s walls. In its silent, unerring course it symbolizes the sure and certain purposes of God. Its whispering waters speak in a still, small voice of the blessings of faith in God. This is the river of life, the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the holy places of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; God shall help her; the Lord of Hosts is with us — here is the promise of Immanuel again (Psa 46:4,5,11). Let us drink of this stream; its quiet waters will restore our souls and bring us inward peace in the midst of stormy trials.

Reading 3 – 1Th 3:6-10

“But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith” (1Th 3:6,7).

There can be no question that Paul loved these people more than life itself. He prays for them continually, and desires more than anything to be with them. They have suffered together, and out of that shared experience of adversity they have developed an unshakeable bond of fellowship (1Th 1:6). Surely this is the “fellowship of his sufferings” to which Paul refers in Phi 3:10.

Although Paul is constantly moving about to preach in new areas, he never abandons the ecclesias he has established. Paul at Athens and at Corinth still feels obligated to the believers in Galatia and Thessalonica. All of his ministry is marked by such concern: although he is heavily involved in the concerns of the Gentile ecclesias of Europe, he nevertheless works hard at taking up an offering for the material needs of the Judaean brethren. Paul’s faith is a global faith, an international faith that ignores (or breaks down, if necessary) the cultural and ethnic barriers that exist in the Roman Empire.

Paul’s strategy takes risks with the newly established ecclesias. It leans heavily upon faith in and prayer to the Father through the Son, and that the Holy Spirit they control can work in ways unrecognized by men to strengthen and comfort believers. Paul cannot be everywhere and do everything himself; with a reasonable view of his own limitations, he instructs and trains (and then trusts!) his assistants in the work — young men like Timothy and Titus. This benevolent responsible attitude allows them in turn to grow to their full potential, and become more useful “fellow-laborers with God.”

*****

“For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith” (1Th 3:8-10).

Until the wonderful news of vv 6,7, Paul was a dying man (perhaps even literally so). But now he has found a new lease of life. Like John, he could experience no greater joy than to learn that his “children” continued to walk in the Truth (3Jo 1:4).

“Life” (ie, v 8) and “death” take on new symbolic meanings for the believer. In his struggles against sin and human adversaries he expects to “die daily” (1Co 15:31) — for he bears about in his body “the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest” in that body (2Co 4:10-12). The believer is a continually changing compound of the old man, who is (or should be) dying, and the new man, who is continually being born or “created” (Eph 4:22-24; Col 3:8-10). And even as the physical body is wasting away day by day, so the inner man is being renewed (2Co 4:16).

The business of serving Christ intensifies the daily experiences of life. Literally everything about one’s life is now seen to hold the potential of affecting eternity. Thus we see Paul cast down and afflicted because of thoughts of problems of other people many miles away. And we then find him, in a moment, overjoyed at the good report about them. “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” So it must be small “deaths” and small “resurrections” each day — for one who takes upon himself the care of all the ecclesias (2Co 11:28,29). Is this a difficult way of life? Most assuredly. But can there be any other way for a true follower of Christ?

Reading 1 – Deu 8:2

“Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands” (Deu 8:2).

“This is the lesson of chastisement. Not forsaking but purifying, not casting down but building up. Had Israel but seen these things and turned to God instead of to mourning, murmuring and despair, then would she have blossomed in the wilderness, the Lord would have opened the windows of heaven for her and brought her early to the land. The Lord had withheld food and drink but not to starve and shrivel His people. He asked simply that they would know that ‘man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.’ Have we learned the lesson? In this affluent age have we been tempted to rely on the abundance of sustenance to be had by daily work, rather than the increase of faith which comes by daily prayer?” (Harry Tennant, “The Man David” 173).

Reading 2 – Ecc 3:11

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecc 3:11).

“Eternity” is the Hebrew “olahm” — the age, or the hidden time: in essence, the concept if not the hope of life everlasting. “If a man is not conscious of ‘eternity in his heart’, he ought to be” (LG Sargent). Although each person has at least the concept of eternity in his heart, only Christ can provide ultimate satisfaction, joy, and wisdom.

“Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be” (William Hazlitt, 1819).

This is something of the meaning, surely, of man being created in the “image” of God. Physically, he is nothing more than another beast (Ecc 3:18-21), but mentally and spiritually, he is a special creature, made in the “image” of God, and capable of understanding and appreciating eternal things!

Those men and women who are believers must live in the “border land” between what is and what will be! Seeing the day-to-day world for what it is — the place where daily bread must be found, where practical choices must be made, where ordinary life must be lived. But especially seeing the invisible world, the world which is hidden, but right around the corner, or just over the horizon — the “real” world of all hopes and aspirations, the world of “our better natures”, the world of the coming King. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2Co 4:17,18).

Reading 3 – John 20

“Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb” (John 20:10,11).

Now Mary, following behind the men, returned the second time to the tomb (still unaware of the angel’s appearance to the other women: Mar 16:2-7). There was no reason why she should linger here, except that this was the spot where she had last set eyes on her friend. In the past two days she had shed tears as never before, and now more than ever they refused to be restrained. If only she might be able to express her love in some last act of devotion to his poor dead body! But even this was denied her, for apparently his body had been stolen away. To this pathetic figure of sorrow and despair was soon to come one of the greatest privileges of all time: the first sight of the resurrected Lord! Within moments, the deepest despair was to give way forever to the greatest joy! (Cp with Song 3:2-4.)

*****

“…And saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot” (v 12).

The tomb of the risen Christ is the true mercy-seat, the true Most Holy Place. Here is the ark of the covenant, and the mercy-seat, flanked by the cherubim, where the blood of the one true sacrifice has been poured out.

*****

“They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ‘Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher)” (vv 13-16).

She seems to have expected no help nor comfort in response to her appeal, for she is already moving away when one spoken word (“Mary”) stops her in her tracks. Does not that voice have a strangely familiar ring? She turned around, stared in shock, and then in a moment was at his side — grasping for the evidence by which to turn the impossible into certainty, and all the while incoherent with joy. There was nothing to say except one exultant word of greeting and self-reproach: “Rabboni!” The silent road from which no traveler returns had yielded back the one whom she longed to see above all others, and how blind she had been not to recognize it sooner. A wild jumble of emotions rushed through her mind, and all the while she sought added assurance by the evidence of her senses.

“My Lord, who dead and buried lay, of late

Made void this tomb and stood before my face;

And I was first of all his ransomed race:

At first I knew him not! nor pondered there

By what strong means at that unseemly hour

The gard’ner should with some uncanny power

Have borne him hence beyond my reach.

But when he spoke, calling out my name,

And I beheld my Saviour standing there,

My heart did leap with sheer and utter joy;

‘Twas then, O Lord, that recognition came:

With tear-dimmed eyes my precious Lord to greet,

I knelt in the dust to grasp his feet.”