Category: Bible (Page 64 of 355)

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Paul took advantage of the fissures in his audience. Earlier he angered the ruling council of Jerusalem with his teachings about Jesus and the resurrection. Now hauled before the court, the high priest ordered Paul struck across the face, and there was no promise things would get better from there.

Paul thought quickly and called out: “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.) There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously.

The conflict became so violent that the Roman commander feared Paul would be torn to pieces, so he ordered the troops to take him away. Thus Paul escaped the clutches of the high priest. Of course, Paul remained in the clutches of the Romans, and eventually Nero, but his cleverness got him out of this jam and several others.

Paul used his mind for teaching, preaching, writing, and confounding his opponents. We enjoy the fruit as we read his letters in the New Testament and learn from his life as recorded in the book of Acts. The Lord may not have made us clever, but he gifted each of us with a mind and it honors him when we put it to use.

Acts 23 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Neil Thomas

My wife and I have lived in three different cities during our married life—Manhattan, Kansas; Springfield, Missouri; and Erie, Colorado. I enjoyed the first two, and now happily reside in the third. We are not alone in our moving. One estimate says Americans move on average 12 times during their adult lives, whether is be from house to house or city to city.

When David became king he moved into Jerusalem. David refreshed the city and built it into a great capital. He loved his new town and through his son Solomon, constructed a great temple to the Lord at its center. David encouraged his fellow citizens to:

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.” For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity.

I must admit that while I enjoy where I live, I rarely pray for my adopted hometown. In contrast, David prayed for peace and security for everyone living within the reaches of Jerusalem. He sought the prosperity of the city so all might understand the goodness of the Lord.

This morning I prayed for my city: Peace be within you, Erie, Colorado. Lord, I pray your peace would infuse those who most need it and prosperity will spread, so that all may enjoy your goodness and move closer to you.

Perhaps you’d like to do the same? Prayer blesses our neighbors whether they know it or not. Then as God blesses our fellow citizens, he blesses us as well.

Psalm 122 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Alex K

You wouldn’t think a hot-blooded killer would be immortalized in the Psalms. But one writer, recounting the history of Israel and the ways they disobeyed the Lord, added this story:

They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them. But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.

Phinehas intervened and stopped the plague by killing an Israelite man and his Midianite lover. Despite God’s stark warnings against sexual acts with the locals, this couple paraded arm in arm in front of Moses and all the people who were begging God to stop a deadly illness sweeping the camp.

The paramours, either oblivious or brazen or stupid, found a tent and closed the flap. A moment later Phinehas stepped in and drove a spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach, killing them both.

I am not making this up. The Bible contains some crazy stories, and a priest harpooning two people having sex in order to quell the Lord’s anger is one of the craziest.

Sounds like harsh justice, but what does this story tell us about the Lord? At that time in history, Israel enjoyed a special relationship with God. A chosen nation, the Lord protected them with a cloud by day and fire by night. He delivered them from Egypt, parted the Red Sea, and even fed them with manna from heaven.

God stayed very, very close, and God is very, very holy.

To thumb one’s nose at God in that situation resulted in dire repercussions. Don’t forget that people were suffering and dying all around. Justice was served by those two perishing instead of thousands more.

Still, it’s hard to wrap my mind around this vignette. But it reminds me that God is holy, and he does not look away from those who flaunt his ways or harm his people.

Psalm 106 & Numbers 25 in Through the Bible in 2024

The picture is from a 9th-century manuscript depicting Phinehas killing Zimri and Cozbi

The ash outside my window sprouted new leaves over the last couple of weeks. As the leaves enlarge, my view of dog walkers headed up the street to the park slowly disappears. Spring brings a fresh perspective on a tired view through an empty tree.

An ancient writer, thought to be David, wrote a few lines bringing a fresh perspective into a tired world:

For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.

David contrasts the idols of those nations surrounding him, pieces of wood and stone, to the Living God. The Lord created with a word the very materials craftsmen scrounged to form those idols. A ludicrous juxtaposition, this ridiculous difference between the Creator and the created. A vast gulf separates the two and David acknowledged the difference.

I enjoy the creation in the spring, when flowers pop and trees bud. David’s words remind me to especially enjoy the Creator of the creation, who is great and most worthy of praise.

Psalm 96 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Bob Chisholm