April 15 / 1 Chronicles 1-9

1 & 2 Chronicles gives us a different perspective on the story of Israel so far. It is written by an exiled priest, possibly Ezra, who will be one of the first to return to the land after 70 years of exile. “Ezra” recollects and reflects theologically on the events of Israel’s life, seeking to identify God’s sovereign hand at work in it all.

1 Chronicles is mostly about King David, Israel’s greatest king. You’ll remember that despite his great heroics, like slaying the giant Goliath, David committed the sins of adultery and murder. He was far from a perfect man. Yet David loved the Lord and showed sincere sorrow for his sins. In addition, he did not lead Israel into idolatry like so many other kings of Israel. God showed him grace and honored him by choosing his family line (the tribe of Judah) to be the family line of the Messiah, Jesus.

Chapters 1-9 serves as an introduction and is all about roots. King David’s story, like the story of the whole human race, begins with Adam, and moves forward to the story of Noah and the flood judgment because of universal human sin. From there we come to the people at the forefront of God’s promise of redemption–Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob’s twelve sons eventually become the tribes that make up the nation and finally the Kingdom of Israel.

Genealogies for the twelve tribes are then presented, beginning–not surprisingly–with Judah, King David’s tribe. Next the genealogy for the priestly tribe of Levi is featured, followed by the others.

In chapter 9, the writer takes us to the exile, focusing on the Kingdom of Judah, and then to the time when some of the exiles are permitted to go back to homes in Jerusalem, and to the little that remained of the destroyed Temple.

“The first of the exiles to return to their property in their former towns were priests, Levites, Temple servants and other Israelites.” (1 Chronicles 9:2)

It is from their perspective that the story of King David, and what follows, is to be told.

Yes, it is boring reading, so what’s the point? We’ve seen that the heart of the story of God and his creation is his desire to have a relationship with you and me, a relationship that God faithfully pursues despite our continued rebellion and idolatry. We run from God, seeking other gods of our own making, and he runs after us. His gracious plan to make things right involves God making promises to individuals, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David, who will (imperfectly) become his agents of redemption.

By keeping track of all these people, we are reminded of how faithful God has been to keep his promises, even when we could have cared less. How amazing that God will not let us go!

Prayer: Lord, there are so many facets to the events of our lives, and many possible interpretations. But though we don’t always understand what is going on because we can’t see the big picture of your plan, we are grateful that you faithfully keep after us, offering your presence, granting us blessings, and taking us to a glorious future with you in the New Creation. Amen!

April 9 / 2 Kings 4-8

These chapters continue the stories of Elisha, a great and faithful prophet of God through whom he works nine miracles.

Through these miracles, both Elijah, and Elisha his successor, highlight aspects of God’s power—his control over nature, care for the helpless, power over sickness and death and supremacy over mere idols like Baal.

The prophets show that the Lord is not merely one religious option among many, but is the one and only God, with absolute power. Human events are under his control. He is the judge of people and nations, yet his covenant love is extended to non-Israelites as well, including a poor woman who is rescued from poverty through a miracle of multiplication, and from infertility by pregnancy. Later, when her child dies, he is restored to life through Elisha’s prayer.

In addition, a foreigner named Naaman is cured of leprosy and he bears witness to the Lord: “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel…From now on I will never again offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to any other god, except the Lord.” (2 Kings 5:12,17)

It is ironic that a pagan outsider should bear witness to the one true God, when the Israelites themselves are breaking God’s commandment by worshipping pagan idols. Already, we begin to see more evidence of God’s promise to bless the nations through Abraham coming true.

Prayer: Lord, your love for the whole world amazes us, for we tend to love only those who are like us and agree with us. Help us to see the world through your eyes so that we may be willing to share the blessing of the gospel with everyone. Amen.

March 5 / Joshua 18-21

Imagine the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel standing in a circle singing: “This land is your land, this land is my land, from Gath-rimmon to Shaalabbin…from Gibbethon to the land of El-te-keh, this land is made for you and me!”

Ok, that probably didn’t happen. But chapters 18-21 do review the regions and towns assigned to each of the tribes of Israel. Mind numbing to us, but exciting to the Israelites. Here is our land, at last!

Special arrangements are made for Joshua, for the Levites (who care for the Tabernacle) and for providing cities of refuge in each tribal region (Joshua 20). You may remember that cities of refuge allowed those who accidently kill others to be protected from irate family members seeking revenge. It is a wise provision given our emotional impulses, giving time for angry families to calm down, and do their grieving, before making the situation worse by committing homicide!

It is interesting to note that 600 years have passed since God first gave the promise of land and a great nation to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3). Why so long? Because God chooses to work through time, space and historical process. More importantly, God is pleased to use humans who trust him as his agents to bring about his purposes.

This is quite an honor! As followers of Jesus, we are called to help grow the kingdom of God by taking the gospel to the nations (Matthew 28:9-10) and by being partners with Christ in his sufferings (1 Peter 4:13). It seems also that we will reign with Christ in the New Creation: “If we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him.” (2 Timothy 2:11-12).

It is fun to imagine what this will involve, but needless to say it will be great. God’s gift of the Promised Land to inherit and occupy suggests that we are people made for the earth. It also points us to the expectation that our destiny is to spend eternity on a renewed earth, doing all the things we associate with a rich and satisfying life on this earth, except without sin and death

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the hope of eternal life as resurrected people in a new heavens and earth. Israel’s dwelling in the Promised Land, with you in their midst, excites our imagination about what is to come on that great day when we share your glory! Amen.

February 4 / Leviticus 11-15

In this section of Leviticus God directs Moses to give the people laws regarding cleanness and uncleanness. On one level, these laws regarding personal diet, hygiene and medical treatment might be regarded as Hebrew Health Department standards. Disease control was certainly a byproduct.

We can appreciate this. Our culture is obsessed with health and fitness. But the laws point beyond mere health to holiness. The key interpretive verse is Leviticus 11:45, “For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.

We should understand the personal, social and ceremonial cleanliness required here as a symbol of holiness.

As we all know cleanliness is next to godliness, right? Well, actually that is not in the Bible, but cleanliness does preserve social unity and wholeness. To put it bluntly, there is a reason why we practice personal hygiene and change baby’s dirty diapers—it’s for our sake and everyone else’s as well!

One scholar argues that the purity laws helped Israel grasp the unity and perfection of God’s creation, which in turn led to a shared worldview and common sense of purpose that set Israel apart from her neighbors.

So the rules benefit Israel in many ways, but the chief benefit is God’s presence among them. Observing these laws protects Israel from falling into the practices of polytheistic religion around them. In this way God creates a people who will fulfill the promises made to Abraham by standing against the sin and personal dissolution that mark a sinful world, and by modeling reverence for the one true God.

As you read through the laws, you’ll be fascinated, puzzled, creeped out and amused. I was relieved to discover, for example, that, “If a man loses his hair and his head becomes bald, he is still ceremonially clean!” (Leviticus 13:40).

Perhaps you are offended by the number, specificity and seriousness of these (at least to our thinking) odd rules. But in their cultural context they expressed a personal and corporate discipline worthy of Marines at boot camp. It created identity, unity and (as we note above) a sense of purpose that set Israel apart from her neighbors.

And being “set apart,” is the meaning of holiness.

Prayer: Lord, help us keep the disciplines of faith which, today, under the New Covenant and guided by the Holy Spirit, keep us close to you, undefiled by the world, and in alignment with your will. More than anything, we want to enjoy your presence in our lives and serve you faithfully in the world. Amen.

January 17 / Genesis 48-50

The story of Genesis concludes by recounting the last days of Jacob and Joseph in Egypt. The next phase of the Promise has begun. As God told Abraham long ago (Genesis 15:13), his descendants would live as foreigners in Egypt for 400 years and eventually become slaves. But during these years they are spared from devastation in the terrible famine and will live in an area, Goshen, perfectly suited to their rapid growth as a people.

Meanwhile, as Jacob is dying, Joseph comes to see him. Once again, a generation is passing away. So Jacob reminds Joseph of God’s Promise:

“God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful, and I will multiply your descendants. I will make you a multitude of nations. And I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 48:3-4)

Jacob blesses Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, but as his father Isaac did with him and his brother Esau, Jacob blesses his grandchildren in the wrong order, saying that the younger brother Ephraim will be a greater nation than Manasseh. Once again, we see events moving contrary to culture and convention. But God’s divine election in matters great and small insure that his purpose to redeem the world will come about despite challenge after challenge.

In chapter 49, Jacob blesses his other 12 sons, and then “…breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death.” He is taken back to Canaan for burial as he requested. But now that their father is dead, Joseph’s brothers fear he will show his anger and pay them back for all the wrong they did to him. But suffering has made Joseph wise, not angry:

“Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so that I could save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:19-20) And then he assured them: “Soon I will die, but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob” (Genesis 50:24)

Much has occurred in the book of Genesis. It has introduced the one, true God, Creator of the heavens and earth. It has revealed that human beings are unique because they are created in His image. It has explained why human life has become chaotic, broken and sinful, ending in death. It has introduced God’s plan to redeem the world, beginning with a Promise to Abraham and his descendants that they will become a great nation with their own land.

They are becoming a nation. What remains is taking possession of the Promised Land.

Prayer: Lord, you are awesome in knowledge and power—beyond human reason and imagination. You also loving and gracious, pursuing us when we rebelled against you. For reasons we cannot understand, it pleases you to share life with us forever. What more can we say, except we praise your holy name! Amen.

January 11 / Genesis 27-31

Having tricked his brother into giving him his birthright, and his father into giving him the blessing of the firstborn son, Jacob gets what he wants but earns the hatred of his twin brother Esau, who plans to kill him. Tipped off by his co-conspiring mother, Jacob flees to uncle Laban until everything cools down.

Clearly, Jacob has a long way to go before he becomes a man of faith and character. But God begins working on him by both revelation and renewal of the Promise. God reveals himself to Jacob in a dream of a “stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.” (Genesis 28:12)

In the dream, Jacob sees God at the top of the stairway. He identifies himself as “the Lord, the God your grandfather, Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac.” The third generation of the Promise has begun, and accordingly, God renews his covenant promise with Jacob. Jacob learns by this unusual dream, and by the covenant renewal, that God is always working on earth to bring about his Promise to bless the nations.

January 10 / Genesis 25-26

In chapter 25, the torch is passed. The important second generation of the Promise begins: “Abraham lived for 175 years, and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long, satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death.” (Genesis 25:7)

We might wonder whether God chose Abraham from among his countryman because he was special in some way, yet we see no evidence of this. It is purely an act of divine election. God chooses Abraham in the same way God determines to create the heavens and earth: out the sheer freedom that comes from being Almighty God. It simply pleased him to do so! There is no reason to try and get into God’s mind, other than to accept to note that what God election is always an expression of his merciful kindness to the world.

There is a note written in my Bible beside Genesis 25:7. It says, “One of the great people of the Bible!” Abraham, with all his faults—and they were many—nevertheless becomes the iconic man of faith in the Bible: “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith” (Genesis 15:6)

The Apostle Paul will point to Abraham as justification for his ministry to the Gentiles, saying that anyone, Jew or Gentile, who has the faith of Abraham, can become a child of God (Galatians 3). So we pay our respects to Abraham, and move on to the story of Isaac and his wife, Rebekah.

 

The account of Isaac and Rebekah only covers a few chapters. The most significant event is the birth of twins, Jacob and Esau. In another act of election, God had already notified Rebekah, “…your older son will serve your younger son” (Genesis 25:23). This goes against tradition, which says that the first born son (the older) will be the son of inheritance. Again, we don’t know why God chooses Jacob over Esau. Perhaps he was exercising his authority over human culture and tradition. Or perhaps he regarded Jacob to be congenitally better suited to lead the third generation.

January 9 / Genesis 21-24

At long last, Abraham’s faith is rewarded and the tension is lifted: Chapter 21 begins, “The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac…And Sarah declared, ‘God has brought me laughter. All who hear about this will laugh with me.”

This time Sarah’s laughter is not the restrained laughter of cynicism but the full-throated laughter of amazement and joy. The angel was right, is anything too hard for God?

Perhaps one reason why God answers our prayers and tests our faith is to keep us engaged in his Big Promise—the plan of Redemption to make things right in heaven and earth.

In Genesis, God’s promise is given momentum by the birth of Isaac. The second generation of the promise will soon begin. Therefore, it’s important to see the priority of Isaac over Ishmael in the story. Isaac is the child of God’s promise to Abraham; Ishmael is the child of Abraham’s impatience and disobedience. So Hagar and Ishmael are sent away, which means, according to Ancient Near Eastern custom, that Ishmael has no legal claim of inheritance. Nevertheless, God will bless Ishmael (Genesis 21:11-21) but God’s promise will continue through Isaac.

January 8 / Genesis 18-20

In chapter 18, three visitors come to Abraham and Sarah. They are recognized by Abraham as being angels from God; perhaps God himself. They have come with three messages for Abraham: First, Sarah will bear a child by him next year; Second, God’s promise that Abraham will become a mighty nation is reaffirmed: Third, Sodom and Gomorrah (where Abraham’s nephew Lot and family are living) will be destroyed.

The first announcement is met with a laugh from Sarah: “So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” (Genesis 18:12)

Circumstances seem to make God’s promise impossible. But, let’s be honest, aren’t we all laughing with Sarah? It seems ridiculous. It simply “ain’t gonna happen!”

Once again we are challenged with the rationality of faith in God: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” the angel asks. (Genesis 18:14) We are left to decide.

The second announcement of the three men is yet another reaffirmation of God’s promise to Abraham (this is the 7th since chapter 12). “…Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations on earth will be blessed through him. I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just” (Genesis 18:17-19)

Clearly, Abraham and Sarah are being tested—tested until they giggle! But isn’t that the nature of faith? Until faith is tested, it really isn’t faith at all. Faith only develops when we are willing to trust God’s promises, in the absence of clear evidence, and continue moving forward doing what is right and just.

January 7 / Genesis 1-17

Genesis chapter 16 notes that after many years of waiting for the promise of God to be enacted, Abram still has no son by his wife Sarai. How can he possibly be the father of a great nation? So he decides to go to plan B. At the insistence of Sarai, and in accordance with Ancient Near Eastern practice, Abram is given a substitute wife, Hagar, and she bears him a son named Ishmael.

Yeah, Abram is pathetic, but I’m sympathetic. Time and disappointment can grind down even the most faithful. Abram wasn’t so much disobeying God as giving God a hand. After all, Abram is almost 100 years old, and Sarai is in her 90’s. Maybe God overreached in his promise? God helps them that help themselves, right?

Well, Abram helped himself to Hagar and, predictably, all kinds of bad things followed (Genesis 16).

In the meantime God reveals himself to Abraham once again, this time as El-Shaddai—God Almighty. By this self-revelation, God reminds Abram that he hasn’t forgotten his promise. Furthermore, if he was mighty enough to create the universe, he was certainly mighty enough to make Sarai pregnant. But Abram laughs at the ridiculous mental picture of a pregnant 90 year old. Awkward!