Reading 1 – Neh 12:27-43

“At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres” (Neh 12:27).

Vv 27-43 describe a great procession and dedication service. One large choir mounted the city wall and walked around it counterclockwise, evidently beginning at the Valley Gate (vv 31-37). Another choir mounted it, probably at the same place, and proceeded in a clockwise direction (vv 38,39). They appear to have sung as they walked (v 42). The songs of thanksgiving which they sang probably included Psalms 48, 122, 127, 147, and 150.

The two groups met at the temple (vv 40-42). There the priests offered many sacrifices and the people rejoiced greatly (v 43). This was the same wall that Tobiah had earlier claimed would be so weak that even a fox walking on it would break it down (Neh 4:3)!

The final consummation of Nehemiah’s work had been reached. The city was protected by a wall and could resist any attempt of the neighboring nations to attack it. This was one of the main reasons for the joy. The other was that the people had demonstrated that they could perform a major task as a unit, and this proved to be a great stimulus to their morale.

Reading 2 – Amos 4:1-3

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!’ ” (Amos 4:1).

HEAR THIS WORD, YOU COWS OF BASHAN: Amos addressed the wealthy women of Samaria, calling them “cows of Bashan”. Bashan was a very luxuriant region of Transjordan east and northeast of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee) where cattle had plenty to eat and grew fat (cp Psa 22:12; Jer 50:19; Eze 39:18; Mic 7:14).

ON MOUNT SAMARIA: The mountain is mentioned, as though it afforded them some kind of security — which surely it didn’t.

YOU WOMEN WHO OPPRESS THE POOR AND CRUSH THE NEEDY: These women, by the silly and selfish demands they made upon their husbands, were in effect oppressing the poor and crushing the needy.

AND SAY TO YOUR HUSBANDS: There is a sharp irony here: the word “husbands” is “adonim” — LORDS, or MASTERS! But who were the “masters” in these households? Certainly not the men!

“BRING US SOME DRINKS!”: In the heights of laziness and self-indulgence, they were even ordering their husbands to wait on them and bring them drinks.

*****

“The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness: ‘The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks’ ” (v 2).

An enemy would cart them off as butchers carry beef with large meat hooks and as fishermen carry fish with hooks. They would become so much “meat on the hoof”! This description may imply that the enemy would tie them in lines with ropes and lead them away — since this is how fishermen strung their fish on lines. Alternatively it may mean that their bodies would be treated as nothing but “dead meat”!

*****

” ‘You will each go straight out through breaks in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon [or the “mountain of oppression”],’ declares the LORD” (v 3).

YOU WILL EACH GO STRAIGHT OUT THROUGH BREAKS IN THE WALL: The enemy would carry the bodies of these women (living or dead) off through breaches in Samaria’s walls. The women would be carried off without any complications; each one would go straight ahead to captivity or to burial through any one of the many passageways made through the broken walls.

TOWARD HARMON: There are two possibilities: (1) Mount Hermon, toward the north, the direction the Assyrians took the Israelite captives as they deported them to Assyria; or (2) Heb “harmon” signifies “oppression” — as though the mount of Samaria, in which they trusted (v 1), would instead be a mount of oppression for them!

Reading 3 – 2Ti 1:2

“To Timothy, my dear son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (2Ti 1:2).

Compare the same greeting in 1Ti 1:2; 2Jo 1:3.

Grace is for the worthless; it is God giving me what I don’t deserve. Mercy is for the helpless; it is God withholding from me what I do deserve. Peace is for the restless; it is the assurance that whatever happens to me will work out for God’s glory.

Reading 1 – Neh 8:10

“The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh 8:10).

“Perhaps what we should pray for most is to be taught how to enjoy God, for this is the foundation of all constructive life, and by nature we are so woefully lacking in even the realization of its existence. By nature we are coarse and ignorant and animal and worldly, and we naturally seek our ‘joy’ in coarse and ignorant and animal and worldly things. To give the name ‘joy’ to such is a desecration of the word. Joy must be the root of all action, not its goal. Joy must come first, flooding in upon us by the realization of the beauty and glory and love of God. The contemplation of beauty is a joyful thing. The personal, active, communing contemplation of the highest, fullest, love-radiating beauty is the most intense joy possible… Let us use that strength to the utmost” (GV Growcott).

Reading 2 – Joel, overview

Nothing is known for certainty about the ancestry of Joel, or about him personally. There is even some uncertainty as to the precise time when he prophesied, although the prophecy itself provides a number of clues, as shall be seen.

Literal Locusts?: Joel pictures an enormous locust invasion brought by God upon His land, as a punishment and a warning to His people (Joel 1:15; 2:11). The devastation wrought by the locusts brings the inevitable famine, and Joel chronicles the suffering of man and beast alike, in its wake (Joel 1:4,5,9-12,16-18).

Outline

1. The locust plague as a foretaste of the Day of the Lord: Joel 1:1 – 2:17

a) The calamity: Joel 1:1-20

b) The scourge as the forerunner of the judgment day: Joel 2:1-17

2. The averting of judgment and bestowal of blessings: Joel 2:18 – 3:21

a) The Lord’s restoration of Judah: Joel 2:18-27

b) The outpouring of the Holy Spirit: Joel 2:28-32

c) Judgment upon the nations: Joel 3:1-16

d) The blessings on God’s people: Joel 3:17-21

Historical Application: But Joel has more in mind than a literal plague of locusts. Whether there was, in Joel’s day, a real such infestation, or whether the prophet is presenting an idealized picture merely based on the well-known phenomenon of such plagues… either way, he definitely also has in mind a real army, of men, not insects (Joel 1:6,7; 2:1-7).

What was this army which Joel saw sweeping down upon the Land of Israel? Most likely the Assyrians of Sennacherib, who first devastated most of the north of Israel, and then turned upon the south of Judah, besieging and capturing most of its fortified cities (2Ki 17; 18; Isa 36; 37). Assyria was joined in its onslaught upon Judah and its capital Jerusalem by the Arab nations of Tyre and Zidon, Edom and Egypt (Joel 3:4,19). Egypt was the natural enemy of Assyria, but that did not stop the Egyptians from using Judah’s misfortune as a chance to ravage their share of Judah’s south. Would the Assyrian hordes also destroy Jerusalem, along with Temple of the LORD? Or would God at last spare His own city? The answer lay in Israel’s reaction to this great invasion of human “locusts” (Joel 2:12-14). True repentance and faith would save Jerusalem from the Assyrians. Led by their fine king, Hezekiah, the people did repent, and the Assyrian confederation was destroyed by the Angel of the LORD (2Ki 19; Isa 38): “Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people” (Joel 2:18). “And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls” (Joel 2:32; cp Joel 2:20; 3:16).

Last Days Application?: But this historical fulfillment is, as we have come to expect, only half the picture. The normal pattern of Bible prophecy, with few exceptions, is the presentation of a two-fold message:

a contemporary reference to events in or near the days of the prophet (necessary to confirm his credentials as a true prophet: Deu 18:20-22), and a Messianic application, having to do with the first Coming or the second Coming, or — quite often — both. In this, Joel does not disappoint us. Seen in a first century application, the apostle Peter cites Joel as an explanation for the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16-21). Peter used Joel’s prophecy as the basis for his appeal to the people to repent and be baptised, and so be saved (Acts 2:37-40). Seen in a Last Days perspective, every indication is that Joel envisions an attack by a great Arab confederacy upon a faithless nation of Israel. These Arab peoples were previously too weak, but now at last [because of continual arm supplies from the West, and/or from the former USSR?] they are finally strong enough to accomplish their goal (Joel 3:9,10). Such an attack will be initially successful (see Joel 3:1-7), destroying much of Israel’s livelihood and reducing God’s people to helplessness. It will then be only by a renewal of their faith, in the God of their fathers, that a remnant of Israel will be saved when — once again and to a far greater extent than ever before — “….the LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the sky will tremble. But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel” (Joel 3:16).

How do we know that this great alliance of the Last Days will be Arab? (a) In Hebrew, the words for “locust” (arbeh) and “Arab” (arbi) are practically identical. (b) The nations actually mentioned by Joel (the ones “on every side”: Joel 3:12) are Tyre and Zidon (Lebanon and Syria, in modern terms) and Philistia (exactly equivalent, linguistically, to the “Palestinians”!) in Joel 3:4; and Egypt and Edom (modern Jordan and/or Saudi Arabia) in Joel 3:19. In order to defeat Israel, these will line up with “Assyria” (modern equivalent: Iraq, or just possibly Syria, or even both). (c) The phrase “Prepare for [or make holy] war” (the literal meaning of Joel 3:9) suggests a jihad, or Moslem holy war. The first attack, in Joel’s day, by Assyria and its allies was seen by its leaders as a “holy war” — between Ashur the god of Nineveh and Jehovah (or Yahweh) the God of Israel (Joel 2:17; 2Ki 18:22,25,30-35; 19:14-19). And now, in our day, though the Arab “god” is called by a different name, the controversy is the same: whether “Allah” the god of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, et al is greater than Yahweh the God of Israel.

Temple Mount Controversy: The controversy of the Last Days, between Arab and Jew, is preeminently about:

Zion (Joel 2:1,15,23,32; 3:16,17,21), God’s holy mountain (Joel 2:1; 3:17), Jerusalem (Joel 2:32; 3:1,16,17,20), and the house of the LORD (Joel 3:18)….

…where, after Israel’s defeat and true repentance, a great Divine deliverance will come, and where the LORD God will dwell once again “in the midst of Israel… and my people shall never again be put to shame” (Joel 2:26,27).

A great deal of language in Joel (regarding sacrifices and services) suggests that the Last Days will see a resurgence of religion in Israel. It is possible that a revived Judaism will accelerate and exacerbate a controversy with the devotees of Islam — over their own “holy places” on Mount Zion, in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem. To what extent such Temple worship may develop before Christ returns (even to the removal or destruction of the ancient “Dome of the Rock” to provide the site for a modern Jewish Temple), one cannot be certain. But many other Last Days prophecies point to a controversy in or over God’s holy place or mountain or Temple — so many, in fact, that this possibility must loom large: Eze 25:3; 36:2,3; Psa 79:1-4; 83:12; Rev 11:1-3; 2Th 2:3,4; Isa 14:13,14; Oba 1:16,17; Mal 3:1; Dan 9:24-27; 11:31,45; 12:11; Mat 24:15; Mar 13:14; and Luk 21:20-24.

Revelation Parallels: There are numerous and striking correspondences between Joel 1,2 and Revelation 8,9:

Locusts (Joel 1:4; Rev 9:3) Like a nation? (Joel 1:6; Rev 9:4,7) Teeth like lions’ teeth (Joel 1:6; Rev 9:8) Trees, pasture burnt up (Joel 1:12-20; Rev 8:7) Destruction from God (Joel 1:15; Rev 9:11) Fire (Joel 1:19; 2:3,5; Rev 8:7; 9:17) Rivers of water dried up (Joel 1:20; Rev 8:10; 9:14) Blowing of trumpets (Joel 2:1,11,15; Rev 8:6) Darkness (Joel 2:2; Rev 9:2,18) Horses (Joel 2:4; Rev 9:7,9) Chariots (Joel 2:5; 9:9) Torment (Joel 2:6; Rev 9:6) Earthquake (Joel 2:10; Rev 8:5) Sun, moon, and stars are darkened (Joel 2:10,31; 3:15; Rev 8:12; 9:2) “Turn to me,” says God! (Joel 2:12; Rev 9:20,21) The “locusts” go back to the abyss (Joel 2:20; Rev 9:1) Day of Atonement (Joel 2:15-17; Rev 8:2-4) Deliverance for the faithful remnant (Joel 2:32; Rev 9:4)

It is reasonable to conclude that Joel and Rev 8; 9 describe the same events. Therefore it is possible to deduce a Last Days application: a battle for Jerusalem and its holy places, fought by Jew and Arab, which ends with Christ returning to Israel to save the faithful remnant who call upon him (Joel 2:32; 3:20). This interpretation is supported by the observation that the sounding of the first six trumpets (Rev. 8; 9), with their sense of immediacy and urgency, culminates in the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet (Rev 11:15-19) and “the time for the dead to be judged”. And so Joel contributes his share of details to the ever-changing (and sometimes mysterious) mosaic of future events, a challenge and consolation for every student of Bible prophecy.

Reading 3 – 2Th 3:6

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle [or ‘disorderly’: AV] and does not live according to the teaching you received from us” (2Th 3:6).

This verse describes not false teachers, but those whose way of life is contrary to the apostolic norm. The “disorderly” meant the idlers, or loafers, who rapidly turned into “busybodies” (2Th 3:7,10,11). The word translated “disorderly” (“idle” in NIV) here is also translated “unruly” in 1Th 5:14. It is actually a military term for those “out of step” when marching, and thus “insubordinate”. This lack of discipline in the case of the Thessalonian ecclesia was manifested in a refusal to work (vv 8,10,12), perhaps because of a misguided belief that Christ’s imminent return rendered labor unnecessary.

Reading 1 – Neh 11:1,2

“Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem” (Neh 11:1,2).

When the exiles returned to the Promised Land, living in Jerusalem was not an attractive prospect because the city lay in ruins. However, with the rebuilding of the temple and the walls, the capital became a more desirable place to live. Nehemiah as governor saw the wisdom of populating Jerusalem with pure-blooded Jews, and set about to encourage the people to live within the city walls. Some citizens of Jerusalem were chosen by lot (v 1), while others volunteered to move there (v 2).

After the resettlement, the population of the city itself would have been between 5,000 and 10,000.

Reading 2 – Amos 3:3

“Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” (Amos 3:3).

The verse is used to suggest the notion that only when there is perfect agreement among brethren can they “walk together” in the bonds of fellowship. In the first place such a blanket assertion is not true, and in the second place such a usage of the verse is entirely beside the point.

It is certainly wrong to state as a matter of fact or principle that two men cannot cooperate unless they are perfectly agreed in every particular. In actual practice, nothing is further from the truth. Two men or a group can work together quite well on a common project by agreeing beforehand to submerge their differences in matters of secondary importance. If in their minds there is the same major goal, then minor considerations are modestly set aside so that their full energies may be directed toward its achievement. Such a policy is wise, and Scriptural! Peter’s “Be ye subject one to another” (1Pe 5:5) surely expresses such a spirit of “compromise” in the best sense, as does Paul’s exhortation to the strife-prone Corinthians: “There should be no schism in the body… the members should have the same care one for another” (1Co 12:25).

What then is the point of Amos 3:3? Perhaps the RSV rendering here would be helpful: “Do two walk together, unless they have made an appointment?” Or, as the Hebrew: ‘unless they have met together?’ This sounds very much like the thoughts expressed above: Two men can and do walk together IF they have agreed beforehand to walk together; it is as simple as that.

However, a consideration of the prophet’s message in the broader sense indicates that the two who must agree in order to walk together are God and man. God knew Israel in the sense that to Israel He had committed His laws (v 2; Psa 147:19,20). This knowledge placed upon Israel the burden of responsibility to obey God, to agree to walk with Him; else Israel would be punished above all the nations for her transgressions. But, responsibilities aside, there are also great privileges in such a close association with the Almighty: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

Man must walk in communion and harmony of heart and purpose with God. In doing so his blessings will be many, but if he deserts such a partnership then he may expect fiery judgment. God is saying, ‘Can you think to ignore My advice and still claim to be My friend?’

The very first thing God asks us to agree with Him about is that we are sinners, not that we are as perfect as He is. An awareness of our weaknesses before God should make us considerably more sympathetic toward the weaknesses of our brethren. The goal of all is that we learn day by day to walk more and more in conformity with God’s will. In the awesome shadow cast by our Father, we are all no better than toddlers, and our petty quarrels with His other babes are just so much futility, and are due to our limited horizons. The Lord of all creation has condescended to grasp each of us by the hand; like a natural father, He has shortened His pace so that we may be helped and guided in our first faltering steps upward toward manhood. Let us set our attentions upon His standard and strive to conform to it; let us walk with God (Gen 5:22; 6:9; 17:1), and not be so concerned to scrutinize the faltering steps of our brothers.

One final thought: Today divorce has become a widespread practice in the world around us, so much so that many young people enter marriages fully intending to terminate them at the first sign of trouble, on such flimsy grounds as “incompatibility”. It is as if they are saying, ‘We can no longer walk together, because we do not agree on such-and-such.’ There are few in the brotherhood who would not deplore such a childish disregard for the marriage bond. And yet how often do brethren put forward this same excuse for “divorcing” themselves from a bond just as sacred — the tie that binds (or should bind) all Christ’s brethren together! They thus put asunder in the spiritual realm what they would never think of dissolving on the domestic level; and this means a debris of broken homes and lingering recriminations. And all because they will not apply the same restraint and reasonableness and patience and understanding in the ecclesial family that every husband and wife knows is essential in the natural family.

Reading 3 – 1Ti 6:7

“For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1Ti 6:7).

“The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away: blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). Compare the parable of Luke 12:20,21. Compare also Psa 49:17 and Ecc 5:15 (“As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.” This picture runs throughout the book of the Preacher. The grave is the ash heap of mankind — in it there is no hope.)

Paul’s line of reasoning is obvious. If we could, at death, take our possessions with us into a future state, then there would be at once an end to the “contentment” (v 6) with whatever position we occupy now. This is because the possessions of the future would then in some way be dependent upon this present existence, and what we might eke out of the earth by the sweat of our brow.

Ignorant and superstitious men have believed this fallacy from primitive times. Nearly all ancient cultures bury their dead with the best provisions possible for their trip into the unknown. But those who know the Truth realize man’s state in all its stark reality — of poverty and blindness and weakness. What God gives him now is only a provision for his journey through this life, to be dispensed with (just like a used bus ticket) when the “destination” of death is reached. We are even more helpless at death than we were when we came into the world. Without the hope of resurrection to life man is no better than the animals. Thank God we have hope!

Reading 1 – Neh 5:14,17

“Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I [Nehemiah] was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year — twelve years — neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor” (Neh 5:14).

This provision would have been Nehemiah’s by right and law, since he was the royally-appointed governor of the land. Note the comparison between Nehemiah and Paul (1Co 9): both had the right to be supported by their brethren, but neither exercised that right. It was Paul who wrote, “And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so” (2Co 11:9). Notice that Paul, like Nehemiah, had personal enemies who sought to harm him.

“Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations” (v 17).

Nehemiah kept an “open house”, at his own personal expense. In all his work, and his generosity, and his support of others, Nehemiah showed beforehand the work and attitude of the apostle Paul. Consider the following passages:

“Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality” (Rom 12:13). “Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches” (2Co 11:28). “I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ ” (Acts 20:33-35). “Nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you” (2Th 3:8).

Reading 2 – Joel 1:3

“Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation” (Joel 1:3).

“In this simple way, by God’s grace, a living testimony for truth is always to be kept alive in the land — the beloved of the Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next descendants. This is our first duty, we are to begin at the family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord’s arrangements. To teach our children is a personal duty; we cannot delegate it to Sunday School teachers, or other friendly aids; these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental teaching is a natural duty — who so fit to look to the child’s well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being?” (CH Spurgeon).

“The remembering of the outstanding acts of God on behalf of His people, or in furthering their discipline, must be carried on faithfully from generation to generation. From earliest days Moses had striven to establish this tradition: ‘Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb’ (Deu 4:9,10). If these exhortations of Joel and Moses had been heeded, would the day of Babylonian invasion some five generations later have ever happened?…

“You are to establish a tradition in your families, urges the prophet. From father to son to grandson this cherished message must be faithfully handed on. How many generations are involved here? Is it five or six? And how many generations of the Truth faithfully preserved are there in these Last Days, all of them scanning the horizon eagerly for the dawn yet to be seen rising over the Mount of Olives?

“In modern times the five generations of the New Israel, having such a Word, as others do not know and with its fulfilment so nigh unto them are yet content to set their children and their grandchildren a mediocre characterless example of diluted enthusiasm.

“Remember! Remember! Teach! Teach! These should be welcome duties. Yet Moses had learned that neglect might overtake them. Specially pointed and valuable is this precept: ‘Teach them thy sons AND THY SONS’ SONS!’

“Yet how often it happens that grandparents treat ‘their sons’ sons’ as though they were a box of chocolates — a luxury to be enjoyed now and then — and not at all as a holy commission entrusted to their care; [vessels] to be filled with precious jewels of Truth.

“Alas, it is so much more comfortable to write Joel off as out-of-date and incomprehensible, and to bequeath THAT tradition to those whose future is one’s own special responsibility!” (Harry Whittaker, “Joel”).

This is true, in general, but here the special emphasis is — not upon the goodness of God’s arrangements — but upon the judgments that Joel is about to describe. So terrible are these that four or five generations cannot remember anything that compares.

Reading 3 – 1Th 5:5

“You are all sons of the light” (1Th 5:5).

The “all” gives reassurance that none need be excluded from the blessings implied; even those with uncertainties about the details of Christ’s coming (1Th 4:11,12) or those who are “weak” (1Th 5:14) may take heart.

In Hebrew idiom, to be the “child” or “son” of a certain characteristic or quality means to exemplify it. A “child of light” is one who has experienced a complete transformation through the “light.” In this way is the phrase used elsewhere: “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light” (John 12:36); “for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8); “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8).

The condition of being in Christ is continually associated with light (Mat 5:14,16; John 3:21; 8:12; Acts 26:18; Col 1:12; 1Pe 2:9, 1Jo 1:7).

The true followers of Christ are “sons of the day” — even though the “day” has not officially arrived! That “day of the Lord” has cast its radiance ahead with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, and especially with his sacrificial work. We must remember, and endeavor, to live in that “day”, and to exemplify all its qualities, EVEN NOW. In no other way may a people ever become prepared to enter into the glories of that future inheritance, when it does indeed arrive!

Reading 1 – Job’s “satan”

Job’s “satan”: an angel of evil?

Job’s “satan” comes into the presence of God, and is in conversation with Him, among the “sons of God” (Job 1:6). Elsewhere in Job the sons of God are plainly His angels (Job 38:4-7). True, “sons of God” can refer to human believers (as in 1Jo 3:2), but Job should interpret Job first! Job’s affliction is consistently attributed to God (Job 4:9; 5:17; 6:4; 7:20; 11:6; 19:21; and esp Job 42:11).

Difficulties?

Why is an angel of God called “Satan” (or “satan”)? Because this designation well described his actions here — he was Job’s “adversary” (cp also Num 22:22). Isn’t there a wicked or sinful mind behind his words (Job 1:9-11; 2:5)? Answer: The words CAN be read that way, but they do not HAVE to be read that way. Although “angels of God” are immortal, they can be limited both in their personal knowledge and in their personal powers. (Consider Mat 24:36; 1Pe 1:12; Dan 10:13; 8:13; Gen 22:12; 32:24-28; Exo 31:1,7 compared with Exo 23:12). So it is possible to read the words of this angelic “satan” as expressing his assessment of the life of Job… distorted a bit by his own limited knowledge.

I would suggest that in all that this “satan” says of Job there is no sign of wickedness, only limited understanding seeking clarification. He declares his unwillingness to believe that Job’s “righteousness” is anything but self-serving:

“Then Satan answered the LORD, Does Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face” (Job 1:9-11).

As if to say, ‘All my experience of this race of humans tells me that when they serve God they do so only for selfish reasons. Let us see how he reacts to severe trials.’

And so God gives over to this “angel” the testing of Job:

“Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand” (v 12).

Now compare this v 12 with v 21: “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Who was it that took away Job’s health, wealth, and family?

And with Job 2:10: “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

And also with Job 19:21, where Job says: “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!” Doesn’t this equate the “satan” with “the hand of God”?

And so, all through Job 2, “Satan” continues to hold out for his own assessment of things, while God agrees to bring more and yet more trial upon Job… until, eventually, it may be assumed, “Satan” is finally satisfied with the integrity of Job.

Is this fair? Is this the way God acts? Of course. The NT is filled with discussions of the trials brought by God on His faithful ones, to perfect or purify their faith.

And from his trials, extreme though they were, Job emerges as a man of tested and perfected faith… a fitting type of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was to come, and who would himself suffer “unfairly” and “unjustly” as a way of showing (to men… and to angels?) the way into the most holy place of the Father.

Also, please note 1Pe 1:6-12:

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls. The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”

In this passage (and, compared with Job) we see:

severe trials by which the faith of the believer is purified. the prophets (OT writers?) who saw, faintly perhaps, the sufferings of Christ mirrored in the lives of OT men (like Job?). the sufferings were followed by subsequent glory. … AND… “into these things (sufferings, trials, perfecting of faith, of righteous men who pointed forward to the Messiah) ANGELS LONGED TO LOOK!”

Reading 2 – Jon 3:4,5

“On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.’ The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” (Jon 3:4,5).

“The transformation that took place was breathtaking in its magnitude and comprehensive character. But it is not unlikely that the impact of the message of such an extraordinary man as Jonah would be reinforced by the considerable reputation of those other notable prophets of the Lord, Elijah and Elisha. It may be, too, that Jonah’s campaign went on for all the forty day period which was Nineveh’s time of grace. However it happened, the transformation in those Ninevites far surpassed the effect produced by John the Baptist in Jewry, and of all the prophets there was none greater than he (Mat 11: 11). And after John the Baptist, Jesus was to hold up to the same people the example of this city’s repentance: ‘The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here’ (Mat 12: 41). The message of John was: ‘Yet forty YEARS and Jerusalem shall be overthrown!’ (AD 30-70). Those Ninevites changed their lives so dramatically because they were led by the good example of their ruler. What a lesson was held out here to Judah and Israel, with their sequence, rarely interrupted, of unworthy kings, so often downright wicked. The narrative here is careful to specify ‘the high and the low’, appropriately reversing the phrase: ‘both small and great’ (Jer 31: 34), this latter form being more usual because God has greater regard for the humble than for the proud” (Harry Whittaker, “Jonah”).

“God delights to do the impossible, and never more so than in turning men to Himself. Instead, then, of denying on the grounds of its ‘human’ impossibility the repentance that swept over Nineveh, let us see it as an evidence of divine power. For this, not the episode of the sea monster, is the greatest miracle in the book” (Frank Gaebelein).

Reading 3 – Heb 9:12

“He [Christ] did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12).

The AV adds, in italics, “for us”, at the end of this verse — as if to say that there was no salvation required for Christ at all.

This is manifestly untrue. Christ obtained redemption for himself, as well as for others — for us! Our redemption is bound up in his. “[Christ] obtained eternal redemption” (the words “for us” — italicized in the AV, are omitted in various other versions, including RV, RSV, and NIV; Jesus obtained redemption FOR HIMSELF AND for others).

“He [Jesus] was a sufferer from the hereditary effects of sin; for these effects are physical effects. Death is a physical law in our members implanted there through sin ages ago, and handed down from generation to generation. Consequently, partaking of our physical nature, he partook of this, and his own deliverance (as ‘Christ the first fruits’) was as necessary as that of his brethren. In fact, if Christ had not first been saved from death (Heb 5:7), if he had not first obtained eternal redemption (Heb 9:12), there would have been no hope for us, for we obtain salvation only through what he has accomplished in himself…” (Robert Roberts).

Reading 1 – Ezr 10:1

“While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites — men, women and children — gathered around him. They too wept bitterly” (Ezra 10:1).

“Human life is a river which flows evenly along from day to day; but it is a river like the Zambesi or the Congo, not without its rapids and its falls. Usually it flows silently, but sometimes it dashes along with impetuosity and uproar. So is it with our Christian life, with our religious course. There are things exceptional as well as things ordinary and regular, for which room must be made by ourselves and allowance by other people. There may be, as here at this juncture in the life of Ezra and the returned Jews, a time of exceptional exhibition of feeling. Ezra ‘wept’, ie, made lamentation, audible and visible, in presence of all the people, and instead of standing or kneeling he cast himself down, and lay prostrate in the temple court, in order to impress on the multitude the strength of his feeling, and the critical character of the present emergency. And his example proved contagious, for all the people ‘wept very sore’, and there was a great and general outpouring of emotion. Ordinarily our feelings are wisely kept under control. In this country we are, indeed, apt to press this a few points too far, and let self-control pass into a chill or cold reserve. But self-control gives force and dignity to character, and almost anything is better than habitually giving way to tempestuous feeling. Men that are constantly violent in their expression of feeling are disregarded if not despised; they lose all influence over others; they expend themselves in trifles, and have nothing in reserve for large occasions. But there are times when feeling may be freely poured forth; when, as in Ezra’s case, there is urgent reason for exciting others to feel as we do; or when, as in the case of the people, there is general fervour in which it would be unsympathising or unpatriotic not to share. It is a very noble sight when a whole people mourns with an honourable repentance, or arises in holy indignation, or braces itself up to a generous struggle, or rejoices with a pure and holy joy. Then let feeling swell to its highest tide; let it pour itself forth as ‘the mighty waves of the sea’ ” (Pulpit Commentary).

Reading 2 – Hos 11:1

The flight of Joseph’s family into Egypt, and their return after the death of the king, are shown by Matthew to be a fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy: “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Mat 2:15; quoting from Hos 11:1).

God’s Son in the Old Testament was a national, plural “son” (Exo 4:22,23), but in the New Testament the prophecy is given a definitely singular emphasis. The reason is not difficult to grasp. “Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Rom 2:28; 9:6), and only those with the faith of Abraham are fit to be called his “children” (Rom 4:11-13; Gal 3:8,9; Mat 3:8,9; John 8:33,39). According to the apostle Paul, Jesus was the singular seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16); he proved his claim to that family inheritance by perfectly obeying the will of God. In doing so he became the “hope of Israel”, the singular and only-begotten Son, through whom others might become “sons”, associated with the promises to the fathers of Israel. Like Moses before him, but in a fuller and richer sense, Jesus will bring “Israel” out of “Egypt” (symbolic of sin and death, Rev 11:8) by the blood, not of a passover lamb, but of himself, the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and the true passover (1Co 5:7; Heb 13:20).

The exodus from Egypt is a parable, then, of our redemption in Christ, and a foreshadowing of Christ’s role as the true passover for the true Israel. How appropriate then that in the life of him who is the “Israel” — the “prince with God” (cp Isa 49:3) — there should be a physical coming out of Egypt as a preview of the greater salvation which is the keynote of our Lord’s mission!

The allegory is even more firmly grounded in Scripture. The first acts of Christ after reaching maturity, as a prelude to entering upon his life’s work, also follow the “Egypt-pass-over” pattern. His baptism echoes the “baptism” of God’s national son in the Red Sea (1Co 10:1,2). His 40-day wilderness temptation likewise finishes the 40-year wilderness trial of the children of Israel. Where the nation in the wilderness grumbled and failed, the Son in the wilderness brings Scripture to bear upon his temptations, resists them in faith, and succeeds!

The theme of Hosea

“Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos 11:1; quoted in Mat 2:15).

Matthew does not quote Hosea as an isolated phrase that “sounds good”. It should never be supposed that Bible quotations are mere verbal “echoes” without substance. There are definite themes throughout the book of Hosea which find confirmation and fulfillment in the life of Christ, of which Hos 11:1 is but one example.

Two consistent threads run through the whole of Hosea’s prophecy:

God’s continuing love for His people; Israel’s continuing rejection of that love.

In God’s eyes Israel is an unfaithful wife as well as a wayward, rebellious child. Israel the unfaithful wife never quite puts away her adulteries, yet Yahweh, her Husband and Lord, is patient and full of mercy. Israel the wayward child never quite “grows up”, yet Yahweh gently takes him by the hand and with “ties of love” leads him out of danger (Hos 11:3,4). Though Israel backslides and falls away again and again, still the Father will not forget His “son”: “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?” (v 8).

In counterpoint to God’s abiding love there is Israel’s stubborn rebellion and rejection. Israel rejects God, rejects God’s Son, and finally is rejected by God, whose longsuffering can be stretched no further. This reciprocal rejection is the constant theme of the last sections of Hosea’s prophecy, and is especially evident in the verses preceding Hos 11:1:

Hos 9:7: “The days of punishment [literally, visitation] are coming” — The “King”, Jesus, visits his city and is rejected. “They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:44). Hos 9:9: “The days of Gibeah” — an echo of “Gabbatha” (John 19:13), the judgment seat where the King was at last and conclusively rejected. Hos 9:10: “The early fruit on the fig tree” — “nothing on it except leaves” (Mat 21:19), and the “fig tree” nation of Israel is cursed by Jesus. Hos 9:12: “Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one” — an evident similarity to Jer 31:15, the slaughter of the Bethlehem children. Hos 9:14: “Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry” — Because Israel rejected God in crucifying His Son, they would themselves be rejected: “Jesus turned and said to them, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, “Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!” ‘ ” (Luke 23:28,29). Hos 9:15: “All their wickedness (is) in Gilgal” — a possible reference to “Golgotha”. “I will drive them out of my house” — the cleansing of the temple, not once, but twice (John 2:13-17; Mat 21:12, 13). “Look, your house is left to you desolate” (Mat 23:38). Hos 9:17: “They will be wanderers among the nations.” Hos 10:3: “Then they will say, ‘We have no king’ ” — that is, no king but Caesar (John 19:15). Hos 10:5: “Its splendor, because it is taken from them into exile” — “For I tell you, you will not see me again…” (Mat 23: 39). Hos 10:8: “Thorns and thistles will grow up and cover their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us!’ ” — This is cited explicitly in Luke 23:30. Hos 10:15: “When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.”

Hosea sees the cutting off of Israel’s king as the nation’s final break with its God. Israel will now suffer at God’s hands and be rejected — for a long age at least — while God’s love is transferred to a new Son, Jesus the spiritual “Israel”. Through him a new nation, a new “Israel”, will be created.

“Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them” (Hos 14 9).

Matthew and the rejection of the king

Against this backdrop of Hosea, then, Matthew, and his reference to Hos 11:1, may be seen in perspective. Matthew’s is the Gospel that particularly portrays Jesus as the king of Israel: he is born to be a king, announced by a heavenly sign, worshiped by Gentile “kings” who lay their treasures at his feet. He preaches the coming of the Kingdom in his own person, and its final establishment in his return in royal power and authority, as portrayed in many parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto…”

As with Hosea, however, there is a darker side to the picture of God’s love shown toward and through His Son. There is the familiar two-fold rejection: Israel’s rejection of God’s King, and God’s consequent rejection of Israel. Even in the beginning, Christ is hunted by the murderous Herod, “King of the Jews”, who will allow no one to rule over him, and thus the family must flee to Egypt (Mat 2:13-15; Hos 11:1). As Matthew’s Gospel unfolds, the kingly parables give way to more forbidding ones — like those of the vineyard, and the sheep and the goats — which speak of rejection and judgment. Israel’s destiny is sealed when, in a fateful morning, they utterly cut off their king. “We will not have this man to reign over us,” they say, but at the end they will find themselves rejected with “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.

In view of the foregoing, Hos 11:1 may be seen not as an isolated verbal link, but as part of a continuous theme found both in the prophet and the Gospel.

Reading 3 – Col 2:19

“…The Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow” (Col 2:19).

“The ecclesia is the body of Christ, who is its Head. All the members look to him for guidance, all actively accept his call for service to him and to all the rest of his body. Harmony between the members in their work and life in the Faith is obtained only secondarily by considering working arrangements with one another. Primarily it is secured by looking to and listening to the Head, obedience to whose counsels brings peace to all ecclesias of saints. Jesus and the spirit of Jesus were all that mattered to the first century brethren. The rest followed naturally. The apostles did not preach themselves or their arrangements; they preached Christ Jesus the Lord. Their knowledge was only of Jesus Christ and of him crucified, their glorying not in the ecclesial organization they were building up, but in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. All things but him were loss. The Truth was not primarily a set of doctrines; the Truth was Jesus. The Life was not essentially a series of injunctions and prohibitions, the Life was Jesus. They were all brethren of Jesus, believers in Jesus, called out (ecclesia) and set apart (saints) by and for Jesus” (JB Norris, “First Century Ecclesia” 164,165).

Reading 1 – Ezr 4:24

“Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia” (Ezr 4:24).

Through the opposition of the adversaries the wonderful work that had commenced with the returning exiles stopped. The work was stopped for abut 16 years. It was this stopping of the work which caused some to say, “The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built” (Hag 1:2). Opposition should not cause us to slack the work and make excuses for our inactivity.

Reading 2 – Hos 6:6

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hos 6:6).

“God is not setting up mercy and sacrifice as opposites. He is not condemning the offering of sacrifices, but He is exposing their attitude of mind in the offering thereof. Their worship was hollow, without heart. They were, as Malachi so clearly stated, guilty of robbing God whilst in the very act of offering sacrifices to him (Mal 3:7-12). They were going through the motions of seeking forgiveness, for God had given them the blood of animals ‘upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls’ (Lev 17:11), but there was no appreciation of His mercy and consequently no spilling over of that mercy from their own lives. There was no knowledge of God, no fear of His presence; their lives were filled with self.

“This is a searching exhortation: to be exposed to the possibility of incurring condemnation whilst in the act of performing that which was designed to save. Is this not the Old Testament counterpart of, ‘Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body’ (1Co 11:27-29). How important it is, then, that we should have a ‘knowledge’ of God, a knowledge of His redeeming mercy and of His searching truth, and that these should be discerned along with the Lord’s body in the emblems given for that purpose” (Cyril Tennant, “Hosea” 47,48).

Reading 3 – Acts 24:25

“As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, ‘That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you’ ” (Acts 24:25).

“Felix was a naturally violent and headstrong man, used to exercising power, and getting his own way. If men revolted against his authority, he destroyed them. If the High Priest remonstrated with him, he had him put to death. If he fancied another man’s wife, he took her. But if he wanted to be a Christian, he would have to get down off his high horse and learn to control his passions. ‘Except a man be converted, and become as a little child’, the founder of Christianity had laid down, ‘he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven.’ And neither Felix or anybody else is exempted. There is no place for people on hand-made pedestals in the Kingdom of Christ, and of God” (Len Richardson).

“The bloated slave sitting on the seat of judgment and power, representing all the worst vices of Roman degeneracy; the heads of the sinking Jewish commonwealth, blinded by history and mad with hate, forgetting for the moment their abhorrence of their Roman masters and their deeper detestation of the apostle Paul; the hired advocate with his fulsome praise and false charges. And the great apostle with his inimitable skill in debate, pure-minded, upright, fearless, pleading his own cause with consummate force and dignity, and overawing his heathen judge by the majesty of his character. A graphic description of a noble scene” (AC Hervey, cited in “Story of the Bible” 14:85).

Reading 1 – Ezr 9:5-7

“Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the LORD my God and prayed: ‘O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today’ ” (Ezr 9:5-7).

Where the prophets of Israel witnessed against the spiritual abuses among their contemporaries they did so while still continuing full fellowship with those whom they denounced. More than this, the examples of Moses (Exo 32:30-33), Daniel (Dan 9:5-14), Nehemiah (Neh 1:6,7), Jeremiah (Jer 3:25; 9:1), and Ezra (Ezr 9:6,7,13) show these men intimately associated with the people whom they reprimanded, even so far as confessing the sins of the nation as though they were their own. Here is the spirit of true fellowship, or sharing, by which those most exercised against error bear the burdens of their brethren, and strive with them as partners — not outsiders — to defeat the enervating effects of sin.

“It is amazing that even though Ezra had clearly no idea until God revealed it to him of the extent of the sin of the people, straightaway he takes responsibility for it. It seems quite common for worthy men of God to behave this way (as Moses did). Perhaps we should look at this and see what it means for us and our attitudes. Maybe we should feel some responsibility to God — or at least shame before Him — for our brother’s sins?” (Peter Cresswell).

Reading 2 – Hos 10:12

“Break up your unplowed ground” (Hos 10:12).

“Our nature at its largest is but a small farm, and we had need to get a harvest out of every acre of it, for our needs are great. Have we left any part of our small allotment uncultivated? If so, it is time to look into the matter and see if we cannot improve this wasteful state of things. What part of our small allotment have we left fallow? We should think very poorly of a farmer who for many years allowed the best and the richest part of his farm to lie altogether neglected and untilled. An occasional fallow has its benefits in the world of nature; but if the proprietor of rich and fruitful land allowed the soil to continue fallow year after year we should judge him to be out of his wits. The wasted acres ought to be taken from him and given to another husbandman who would worthily cherish the generous fields and encourage them to yield their harvests.

“Bad is the man who neglects to cultivate his farm, but what shall be said of the sluggard who fails to cultivate himself? If it be wrong to leave untended a part of our estate, how much worse must it be to disregard a portion of ourselves! Now, there is a part of our nature which many allow to lie fallow. It is not often that they neglect the clay soil of their outward frame. They dress that field which is called the body with sufficient care; and truly I would not that they should be careless about it, for it is worthy to be kept in due order and culture. Albeit that it is a very secondary part of our nature, yet it is so interwoven with the higher that it is most important that the body should not be neglected. See ye well to that field, and by temperance, cleanliness, and obedience to the rules of health let it be as a garden… Few need to be exhorted to pay attention to their bodies… The fault is not that they care for the body, but that it takes an undue share of consideration, and usurps a higher place than it can claim.

“There is another field in man’s self-farm… The soil where true religion should flourish in the furrows is left by many to produce the deadly nightshade of superstition, the hemlock of error, or the thistle of doubt… Your hearts, your innermost natures, have been neglected, and from the finest part of your being the Lord has derived neither rent nor revenue. Your best acres lie fallow — fallow when you have good need to cultivate every inch of the ground.

“Do you know what happens to a fallow field? how it becomes caked and baked hard as though it were a brick? All the fragile qualities seem to depart, and it hardens as it lies caked and unbroken; I mean, of course, if year succeed year, and the fallow remains untouched. And then the weeds! If a man will not sow wheat, he shall have a crop for all that, for the weeds will spring up, and they will, seed themselves, and in due time the multiplication table will be worked out to a very wonderful extent; for these seeds, multiplying a hundred-fold, as evil usually does, will increase, and increase, and increase again till the fallow field shall become a wilderness of thorns and briars, and a thicket of nettle and thistle” (CH Spurgeon).

Reading 3 – Col 1:13,14

“…The Son he loves, in whom we have redemption [some mss add: ‘through his blood’], the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13,14).

The simple truth of the transaction of “redemption”, as described in the New Testament, is contained in the key passages that equate redemption with the forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7; Col 1:14). What has been forgiven cannot also be paid for. The sacrifice of Christ, the culmination of a life of perfect obedience and dedication, was the price paid for our salvation. That is to say, it was necessary that Christ give himself as a suitable basis for the declaring of God’s righteousness in offering mercy to sinners. But God’s offer requires a corresponding “payment” on the part of those who would accept it. Since they are to be redeemed out of death they must repudiate that which brought death, which is the world and sin (Rom 6:1-7, for example). They must live sober and godly lives, repudiating all iniquity, as a special people belonging exclusively to God (Tit 2:14).

Reading 1 – Est 1

“It is indeed a derisive eye that our narrator has cast upon the royal court he describes: A king who rules the whole known world spends his time giving lavish banquets!…

“From the satirical depiction of the grandiose and lavishly excessive lifestyle of the Persian court, our narrator turns to undisguised farce: the king who rules the whole world cannot bend his own wife to his will!…

“But its [the first chapter’s] mockery has also a sinister side. It reveals a society fraught with danger, for it is ruled by the pride and pomposity of buffoons whose tender egos can marshal the state’s legislative and administrative machinery for the furtherance of selfish and childish causes. Indeed, in such a setting, it will not seem incongruous to find this same machinery of state mobilized to effect the slaughter of one of its own minorities, or to find that this is an end that the king can both blissfully contemplate and cavalierly condone” (FW Bush, “Ruth, Esther” 354, 355).

Reading 2 – Amos 6:4-6

“You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph” (Amos 6:4-6).

“The leaders of Israel… lie on ivory divans, sprawl on couches, feast of tender lamb and veal, amuse themselves by ‘babbling to the sound of the harp’ (the word ‘chant’ [AV; ‘improvise’ in NIV] is said to suggest a flow of trivial words in which the rhythm of words and music was everything and the sense nothing; the description has a modern sound). David had introduced instruments of music into the service of the temple, but these corrupt leaders debase them for their own amusement. The bowls in which they drink wine are really ewers, often translated ‘basons’ (AV) [‘bowlful’: NIV] as used in the service of the tabernacle. Silver bowls were dedicated to that service by the heads of the tribes (Num 7). The finest ointments may have been in imitation of, or in rivalry with, the holy ointment appointed by God and forbidden to be copied. Both these features suggest that the Israelites were using holy things for profane ends. They were intent upon their pleasures, but they did not grieve for the ‘breach of Joseph’ ” (Fred Pearce, “From Hosea to Zephaniah”).

The “ruin” or “breach” of Joseph is a reference is to Gen 37:25, where Joseph’s brothers sat down to enjoy their meal, while Joseph languished in the cistern, waiting to be sold into slavery.

Reading 3 – 2Ti 4:13

“When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments” (2Ti 4:13).

Such prisoners as Paul might well have been stripped virtually naked (as was Christ on the cross), and in a cavernous prison of cold and wet and rats, a cloak would have been no small comfort.

But is this just ANY cloak, or a SPECIAL cloak? Sometimes, in the Bible, garments have special significance: consider Joseph’s priestly garment (Gen 37:3); Jonathan’s robe which he gave to David (1Sa 18:4); Elijah’s mantle picked up by Elisha (2Ki 2:8,13). Or does Paul — knowing he will soon die — plan to bestow his own cloak upon Timothy as a token of his new “office”?

“When Timothy brought the cloak to Paul, Paul asked Timothy what he knew about the cloak. Timothy’s response may have been something like: ‘Paul, I remember that you were wearing that cloak when I first met you. You came to Lystra and you were stoned by the people. I had heard your preaching and became a believer in Christ, but then a short time later I watched as they dragged you out of town. And then, still wearing that cloak, dust and rips and all, you stood up. By the way, I have recently reflected upon that incident, just as you asked me to do in your epistle to me, and as I have traveled here with this cloak I have spent time reflecting on how much you and I and that cloak of yours has been through over the years. What do you want the cloak for?’ ‘To give to you. Timothy, I am about to be executed, and I want you to have this cloak because you of all people know how much I have labored to establish the ecclesias. And I want to give you this cloak so that you will be reminded of the responsibility that you now have to shepherd these people. Timothy, give them the scriptures. Encourage them to live by them and not to be deceived by all of the false and pernicious teaching that is being spoken even now in Christ’s name. For so many years now you have been like a beloved son to me, Timothy, but now I will no longer be able to give you advice and encouragement. So please, Timothy, take this cloak and be thereby reminded of the responsibility that you now have’ ” (Dean Brown).

Are these “parchments” — which Paul requests — the original manuscripts of his letters? Timothy was closely associated with the writing (1Th; 2Th; 2Co; Col; Phi; Rom 16:21; 1Co 4:17; Eph; Phm) or receiving (1Ti; 2Ti) of many of these letters. Possibly, in sending this message, Paul hopes to see that the whole of his body of inspired writings will be circulated around all the ecclesias after his death (as they were?).

Reading 1 – 2Ch 35:24,25

“So they took him out of his chariot, put him in the other chariot he had and brought him to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried in the tombs of his fathers, and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him. Jeremiah composed laments for Josiah, and to this day all the men and women singers commemorate Josiah in the laments” (2Ch 35:24,25).

Josiah was the most righteous and useful man of his age; yet he died at the age of thirty-nine, when — had he remained alive — he could have done so much good. This sort of thing can seem like such a mystery; yet it teaches us:

that the God of heaven is no respecter of persons; that death is remorseless and irresistible; that there is nothing and no one on this fleeting earth on which we should set our hearts, or put our trust; and that there must be a resurrection and life eternal for God’s faithful servants, for “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

And it teaches us one more thing besides: “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil” (Isa 57:1). Great evil and judgment was soon to fall upon the nation of Judah, but God’s faithful servant Josiah was to be taken away before the worst of it arrived. And so we learn that death — far from a punishment — can in fact be a real blessing; and that we should trust in God alone and recognize that, in all things, He knows what is best, and He does what is best for us.

Reading 2 – Hos 3:1

“Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes” (Hos 3:1).

“We are brought back to the current relationship of husbands to their wives, and as far as Hosea is concerned the outcome is a happy one. The first verse reveals the profound spirit of love, pity and forgiveness that is so characteristic of God. It made Him send the prophet to do what He Himself had done throughout history: to love and to seek the sinner in order to restore her to favour. It was not an easy task for Hosea, even though it may have been in his heart, because Gomer had destroyed his happiness and ruined his marriage. Nevertheless he obeyed the divine command… There is a consistent divine logic behind this command: I love the sinner, therefore you must love your wife who has sinned; I pity the wayward, hence you must pity your wife who has betrayed you; I forgive the disobedient, so you must forgive your wife who disobeyed the marriage covenant; I am compassionate to the weak, thus you must show compassion to the wife who yielded to temptation. This is the divine way of life” (John Marshall, “The Christadelphian” 117:6).

Reading 3 – Acts 19:19

“A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly” (Acts 19:19).

Were these disciples graduating from an imperfect to a more perfect faith? Or new converts renouncing their old ways? Or both?

“The Word of God has power in this wicked city, and the power must have been mighty, which would make them willing to destroy their property.

“From this instructive passage we may learn that: (1) True religion has the power to break the hold of unjust and dishonest means of living over sinners. (2) Those who have been engaged in an un-Christian and dishonorable practice will abandon it when they become Christians. (3) Their abhorrence of their former course ought to be expressed as publicly as was the offense. (4) The evil practice will be abandoned at any sacrifice, however great. The question is ‘what is right?’ Not ‘what will it cost?’

“If what they did when they were converted was right — and who can doubt it? — it sets forth a great principle on which new converts should act” (Albert Barnes).

*****

“When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas” (Acts 19:19b).

At a day’s wages per drachma (as per the NIV margin), the total value could be several million dollars in today’s terms.