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I fell behind again. Go figure
God’s message to me: It’s easy to lean on God when everything is going wrong and you feel you have no where else to turn. It’s also easy to forget where your loyalty should lie when everything is going right. When life is good and God’s blessings are overwhelming it is all the more important to remember Who provided your good life.
Promises: This portion describes all God did for Solomon. Solomon asked only for wisdom and because that is all he asked for he received wisdom greater than anyone before or since. He also received wealth and power as God had promised so that he was the richest and most powerful king in the world.
Commands: Do not turn from God. God had commanded that the Israelites not intermarry with the people of the surrounding nations and the nations that he was rejecting from the promised land because they would turn their hearts to false gods. Solomon took 700 wives and 300 concubines most of whom came from the nations they were not supposed to marry into.
To keep his wives happy he built temples and alters to the false gods they served and he worshiped those gods with them. This act against God resulted in the second half of God’s promise. The kingdom of Israel was divided after Solomon’s 40 year reign and those who David and his generals had put down were the ones who came back and took over the portion that was not under control of the house of David. For the sake of His promise to David and His promise to place his name in the temple Jerusalem and the territory it was in remained under control of David’s decedents.
Timeless principles: The greatest blessing can lead to the greatest fall. Solomon had it all, literally. He had more power, wealth and wisdom than anyone. He got to comfortable in it and turned from God who had given it to him. He sacrificed the future for the pleasures of today.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: “it’s not hurting anybody” is not an excuse. Doing the right thing is required even if the wrong thing doesn’t seem to do any harm. We answer to God in the end and He judges on whether we followed His law, not on whether others liked us, not on how successful we were and not on whether we did something that didn’t hurt anyone.
more to learn for in-depth study: The book of the acts of Solomon is yet another reference to a book that is not found in the bible. Many books of Jewish history are mentioned throughout scripture. They are not scripture but historical reference. Some can be found in the Talmud and other works of significance to the Jewish faith and might prove useful to historical interest. They should not; however, serve as a replacement to scriptures. The bible is the divinely inspired word of God and is meant to provide us with all we need to know in order to serve Him. While other books are of interest to learn of the times in which biblical events occurred they are merely historical reference and not religious guidance. The books of the Apocrypha found in the Catholic bible are such documents. The Rabbis who provided the original document later translated into our modern bibles specified that these books were not seen as or treated as scripture which is why the translators of bibles used by most of the protestant faiths did not include them. Following the tradition of separating scripture from reference they left these books out of the bible so that the bible would remain purely the word of God.
tomorrow: First Kings 12-13
Showing posts with label Apocrypha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apocrypha. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Joshua 10-11
God’s message to me: When God is for you, none can stand against you. This synopsis of the initial conquest of Canaan reads like the recent history of Israel. The enemy comes with overwhelming force and God protects His people so that they defeat their enemies quickly and with minimal loss ending with their possession of the enemies territory. The major difference between then and now is that Israel keeps bowing to international pressure to give back the territory which just gets used to attack them again.
Promises: God will never let you fail. So long as you stand with God, His name is with you and He will not allow others to overcome His name. No matter the odds you will win.
Commands: Don’t Back Down! You are a child of the King and He will not let you fail. As long as you are standing on the promises of God you are unable to fail. Claiming, in the name of God, that which is not yours will not work any more than it helped Achan when he took the spoils that were meant for the treasury. Claiming what God has promised, you cannot fail, just as the rest of the Israelites claimed the booty of Ai and so many other cities that were overcome afterward.
Timeless principles: God doesn’t lose face. Despite the efforts of so many to point out disasters and claim God failed, the facts of history do not bear them out. The miraculous victories of modern Israel, the defeat of the Taliban by American forces in months when the Soviets couldn’t even slow them down in 10 years of war. The survival of Christian missionaries in war zones, even after capture by Muslim extremists sworn to kill them. The miraculous survival of various evangelists in assassination attempts. God does not allow defeat for those who represent Him.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Read and learn the Bible. It is the guidebook to what you can claim. If God has promised it you can claim it and He will grant it that your joy may be full. This is the promise of God, repeated by Christ, and reiterated throughout the bible.
more to learn for in-depth study: The treaty with Gibeon was a mistake caused by not waiting for God’s opinion. As the people of Israel were ordered to offer peace to any city they came against it is likely they would have spared their lives anyway. Their fear of Israel would likely have resulted in immediate surrender without a fight. As it is, they became the bait in God’s trap for the Amorites. While the five kingdoms of the Amorites were intent on eliminating the Gibeon army, which they considered strong and didn’t want allied with Israel, The Israeli army ambushed them by surprise and routed them. God provided the mobile artillery as he pummeled the fleeing army with hailstones as they ran. More Amorites died from hail than were killed in direct battle.
This is one of the more unusual events in the bible. As the battle against the five armies began Joshua commanded the sun and moon to remain in place. God, fighting on the side of Israel, stopped the sun and the moon for about a day. Adding an extra 12-24 hours to the available fighting time.
The book of Jasher is mentioned here. You won’t find this book in the bible even if you use a Catholic bible with apocrypha. Jasher is a book of Hebrew history. It’s not of vital importance to your study but, like the Talmud (and it might be part of the Talmud for all I know) it could provide some historical perspective. For newer Christians, I encourage you to concentrate on scripture. The reason the Talmud and Apocrypha are not included in scripture is because they are books of history, including myth and legend, and not even the rabbi’s who passed them along consider them the inspired word of God.
For those already familiar with the scriptures and interested in learning more, I recommend consulting a Hebrew scholar. Rabbi’s are a good start, I would try and find someone who is a Messianic Jew as this provides you with common ground from which to begin. There are several websites dedicated to education by Messianic Jewish organizations which could prove useful.
After defeating the 5 armies of the Amorites, Joshua led the attack on the other kingdoms of the region. The Israeli army conquered the armies and the cities they came from that had allied against it. Joshua conquered the mountain country and the Negev region, the lowlands and wilderness and all the kings and kingdoms in that region from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and all the country of Goshen as far as Gibeon. All of this territory was conquered in one continous assault because God was with them in battle and they could accomplish it all in a short time with minimal effort.
When the conquest was done the Israelites camped in peace until another coalition force came against them. This coalition of many kingdoms came to their camp seeking to eliminate the threat but, God was with the Israelites and they defeated the attack force the next morning. Moving on they eliminated the rest of those armies, killed their kings and destroyed their capital cities keeping the lesser cities and the soils of war and livestock for themselves. The war was long but fruitful and the Israelites grew rich from the spoils and gained both land and the livestock to raise on it, not to mention the houses they didn’t build and the gardens they didn’t plant, just as God had promised. They even cut off the giants and killed off all of the giants who
remained in their lands.
tomorrow: Joshua 12-15
Promises: God will never let you fail. So long as you stand with God, His name is with you and He will not allow others to overcome His name. No matter the odds you will win.
Commands: Don’t Back Down! You are a child of the King and He will not let you fail. As long as you are standing on the promises of God you are unable to fail. Claiming, in the name of God, that which is not yours will not work any more than it helped Achan when he took the spoils that were meant for the treasury. Claiming what God has promised, you cannot fail, just as the rest of the Israelites claimed the booty of Ai and so many other cities that were overcome afterward.
Timeless principles: God doesn’t lose face. Despite the efforts of so many to point out disasters and claim God failed, the facts of history do not bear them out. The miraculous victories of modern Israel, the defeat of the Taliban by American forces in months when the Soviets couldn’t even slow them down in 10 years of war. The survival of Christian missionaries in war zones, even after capture by Muslim extremists sworn to kill them. The miraculous survival of various evangelists in assassination attempts. God does not allow defeat for those who represent Him.
How can I apply what I’ve learned: Read and learn the Bible. It is the guidebook to what you can claim. If God has promised it you can claim it and He will grant it that your joy may be full. This is the promise of God, repeated by Christ, and reiterated throughout the bible.
more to learn for in-depth study: The treaty with Gibeon was a mistake caused by not waiting for God’s opinion. As the people of Israel were ordered to offer peace to any city they came against it is likely they would have spared their lives anyway. Their fear of Israel would likely have resulted in immediate surrender without a fight. As it is, they became the bait in God’s trap for the Amorites. While the five kingdoms of the Amorites were intent on eliminating the Gibeon army, which they considered strong and didn’t want allied with Israel, The Israeli army ambushed them by surprise and routed them. God provided the mobile artillery as he pummeled the fleeing army with hailstones as they ran. More Amorites died from hail than were killed in direct battle.
This is one of the more unusual events in the bible. As the battle against the five armies began Joshua commanded the sun and moon to remain in place. God, fighting on the side of Israel, stopped the sun and the moon for about a day. Adding an extra 12-24 hours to the available fighting time.
The book of Jasher is mentioned here. You won’t find this book in the bible even if you use a Catholic bible with apocrypha. Jasher is a book of Hebrew history. It’s not of vital importance to your study but, like the Talmud (and it might be part of the Talmud for all I know) it could provide some historical perspective. For newer Christians, I encourage you to concentrate on scripture. The reason the Talmud and Apocrypha are not included in scripture is because they are books of history, including myth and legend, and not even the rabbi’s who passed them along consider them the inspired word of God.
For those already familiar with the scriptures and interested in learning more, I recommend consulting a Hebrew scholar. Rabbi’s are a good start, I would try and find someone who is a Messianic Jew as this provides you with common ground from which to begin. There are several websites dedicated to education by Messianic Jewish organizations which could prove useful.
After defeating the 5 armies of the Amorites, Joshua led the attack on the other kingdoms of the region. The Israeli army conquered the armies and the cities they came from that had allied against it. Joshua conquered the mountain country and the Negev region, the lowlands and wilderness and all the kings and kingdoms in that region from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza and all the country of Goshen as far as Gibeon. All of this territory was conquered in one continous assault because God was with them in battle and they could accomplish it all in a short time with minimal effort.
When the conquest was done the Israelites camped in peace until another coalition force came against them. This coalition of many kingdoms came to their camp seeking to eliminate the threat but, God was with the Israelites and they defeated the attack force the next morning. Moving on they eliminated the rest of those armies, killed their kings and destroyed their capital cities keeping the lesser cities and the soils of war and livestock for themselves. The war was long but fruitful and the Israelites grew rich from the spoils and gained both land and the livestock to raise on it, not to mention the houses they didn’t build and the gardens they didn’t plant, just as God had promised. They even cut off the giants and killed off all of the giants who
remained in their lands.
tomorrow: Joshua 12-15
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