Psalm 7:6-17 A Righteous God Must Judge For The Righteous
10 My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge, yes, a God who has indignation every day. 12 If a man doesn’t repent, He will sharpen his sword; He has bent and strung His bow. 13 He has also prepared for Himself the instruments of death. He makes ready His flaming arrows. 14 Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. 15 He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made. 16 The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head. 17 I will give thanks to Yahweh according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most High."
Observations: 7:1-9 See yesterday's post for vv 1-5, in which David, unjustly attacked, asks the God of justice for help. He appeals on the basis of his innocence and righteousness (a plea we should be able to make). The righteous Judge establishes the righteous, and brings an end to the wicked. But He determines who is righteous by searching the minds and hearts (the thoughts and decisions) of people.
7:10-17 David describes how the God he trusts, His shield/protection, saves the upright in heart (which God just searched). God is prepared to judge on the behalf of the righteous, by bringing the consequences of wicked's actions upon themselves. In bringing the evil they had planned for other upon them, God demonstrates His righteousness, for which David praises.
Application: A righteous God has to judge righteously; therefore those who are righteous, can look forward to His protection and vindication.
Prayer: God of Justice, may I live righteously and uprightly so You can delight in delivering me; may I see your judgment poured out on those who unrighteously afflict me. Amen.
Proverbs 2:18-22 Doubly Delivered and Delighted
2:18 “(6 For Yahweh gives wisdom 11 Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you, 12 to deliver you from the way of evil from the men...13 who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 16 To deliver you from the adulterous woman...17 who...forgets the covenant of her God) 18 for her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead. 19 None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life: 20 that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it. 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it“
Observations: 2:18-22 The beginning of this proverb advocates accepting wisdom and seeking after it, because guides us to good and guards us from evil through it. The last half demonstrates two ways wisdom delivers us: from evil men, who have forsaken the light to slither in the dark; from evil women who have forsaken their covenant to stab the unsuspecting to death. Verse 18 elaborates that her house declines to death, and her paths to the shades or ghosts of hell (9:18), who are awaiting more punishment. There are two words for paths: the one to her house is a one way gutter or ditch to death; the paths of the righteous is a highway to happiness. Those who take the highway (the upright and perfect) will dwell in the land of promise and enjoy its blessings (happily ever after). The wicked who reject wisdom will be cut off from blessings (cursed), and the covenant breakers who lack understanding will be rooted out of the land like a noxious weed.
Application: Wisdom will guard you and guide you to the good life; wickedness has its own reward.
Prayer: God, thanks for giving wisdom to protect and guide me to the blessings You intend for me; don't let me miss them. Amen.
Genesis 35–38 Purity, Passion, Plots and Promises
Genesis 35 New Beginnings
35:1 "God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and live there. Make there an altar to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother." 2 Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments. 3 Let us arise, and go up to Bethel. I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went." 4 They gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5 They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn't pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel)...7 He built an altar there, and called the place El Beth El; because there God was revealed to him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan Aram, and blessed him. 11 God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will come out of your body. 12 The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and to your seed after you will I give the land." 17 When Rachel was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid, for now you will have another son."18 It happened, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.
22 It happened, while Israel lived in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 28 The days of Isaac were one hundred eighty years. 29 Isaac expired and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him."
Observations: 35:1 Jacob gains a little more confidence in God, who moves him back to Bethel, in part as a reminder of God's past protection. God helps out a little in 35:5 by putting the fear of God in potential pursuers.
35:2 Separation and sanctification (holiness) are necessary for blessing, so it can be clearly seen that God is blessing His people.
35:11 Blessing to Abe is reiterated.
35:18 Rachel bears Israel's twelfth son and dies.
35:22 Undisciplined Reuben blows his blessing by usurping his father's authority.
Application: Obedience keeps us in the place of protection. Purity helps too.
Prayer: God, thanks that I can trust You to protect and bless me. Amen.
Genesis 36 Lots of Hard Names
36:1 "Now this is the history of the generations of Esau... 6...went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their travels couldn't bear them because of their livestock. 8 Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom."
Genesis 37 Joseph Dreams and Gets Sold
37:1 "Jacob lived in the land of his father's travels, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old...brought an evil report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. 4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn't speak peaceably to him.
5 Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. 7 ... we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf." 8 His brothers said to him, "Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?" They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. 9..."Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me." 17...Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 18...they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer comes. 20 Come now therefore, and let's kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, 'An evil animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his dreams." 21 Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, "Let's not take his life." 22 Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him"--that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 26 Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him. 28...sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt. 35 All his (Israel's) sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning." His father wept for him. 36 The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, the captain of the guard."
Question: There are more chapters devoted to Joseph than Abraham!!! or Isaac, or any other topic in Genesis. Why the emphasis? (Hint: Book of Job occurs during this period as well.)
Answer: See tomorrow's post.
Observations: 37:1 This Chapter begins the final section of Genesis, getting the Chosen People to Egypt as God promised Abe back in Genesis 15.
Once again we have undisciplined kids causing pain to prosperous parents who didn't do their job of parenting and played favorites. Of course that would never happen today...
37:2 A truthful but unfavorable report about his brothers could cause hostility.
37:5 By now we and the brothers should know that God gives promises in dreams. Their hatred of their brother blinds them to God's revelation.
37:5 By now we and the brothers should know that God gives promises in dreams. Their hatred of their brother blinds them to God's revelation.
37:22 Reuben, as the oldest would have been ultimately responsible.
37:28 Twenty pieces of silver (which secure the salvation of the Chosen People) will show up again in the NT. The family tradition of deception will continue as well.
Application: People who are secure in their worth and value don't grudge the success of others.
Prayer: God may I rejoice in the success of others, knowing that You are the One who ultimately blesses. Amen.
Genesis 38 Passion, Pain, and Plots
38:2 "Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her, and went in to her. 3 She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er. 4 She conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan. 5 She yet again bore a son...6 Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh. Yahweh killed him. 8 Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother." 9 Onan knew that the seed wouldn't be his; and it happened, whenever he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. 10 The thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and he killed him also. 11 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up"; for he said, "Lest he also die, like his brothers." Tamar went and lived in her father's house.13 It was told Tamar, saying,"Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep." 14 She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn't given to him as a wife. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her by the way, and said, "Please come, let me come in to you," for he didn't know that she was his daughter-in-law.She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?" 17 He said, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She said, "Will you give me a pledge, until you send it?" 18 He said, "What pledge will I give you?" She said, "Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 She arose, and went away 20 Judah sent the young goat to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, but he didn't find her...24 It happened about three months later, that it was told Judah, saying, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute; and moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution." Judah said, "Bring her out, and let her be burnt." 25...she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man, whose these are, I am with child." Please discern whose are these--the signet, and the cords, and the staff." 26 Judah acknowledged them, and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I didn't give her to Shelah, my son." He knew her again no more. 27 It happened in the time of her travail, that behold, twins were in her womb. 28 When she travailed, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This came out first." 29 It happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out, and she said, "Why have you made a breach for yourself?" Therefore his name was called Perez. 30 Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah."
Observation: It is painfully obvious that the Patriarchs were bad parents. If only they had personal self-control and Proverbs. Judah turns out beastly, and his sons were so bad God had to kill them to maintain some level of separation from the very people the Israelites were to judge.
38:2 Judah, the greedy guy who thought of selling Joseph, saw and took, (just like Shechem did Dinah) and married a pagan Canaanite. He blamed his daughter-in-law, Tamar, for the death of his wicked sons rather than himself. He wronged her, by failing to honor his word to ensure her heir; slept with her thinking she was a prostitute, and then wanted to burn her for becoming pregnant. Out of that union came an ancestor of Christ. At least he recognized her relative righteousness, but in that family it was easy to be more righteousness than the others.
38:9 Onan knew that impregnating Tamar, the wife of his older brother, would mean loss of his inheritance, to the heir of the firstborn, so he refused to obey and do his duty. God didn't think that was a good idea.
38:13 Tamar readily adopted the family tradition of deception, and gets blessed with a couple of children very parallel to Jacob and Esau.
Application: Taking the easy road of irresponsibility to avoid pain, often causes us to crash into it.
Prayer: Father, help me know, desire and do all that You desire. Amen.
Digging Deeper:
God in a nutshell: God blesses, but is serious about His people being holy and righteous; He will discipline them with death when necessary; He allows tragedy and pain into the lives of His chosen ones, as part of His perfect plan; He watches out for dreamers and widows.
Us in a nutshell: We don't know how God's perfect plan will unfold, so we need to exercise faith and obedience. Knowing the tendencies of our fellow planet-mates, discretion isn't a bad idea either.
