(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

No comments today; just keeping with the program.

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

Is it just me, or does this Proverb:

A truthful witness gives honest testimony,
       but a false witness tells lies.

scream DUH!

++ Lord, may we receive; may we find; and may the door be opened. ++

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

Nothing to say about today’s readings… except, "Ouch."

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

More similarities from Torah to the NT. This time we begin here:

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father
and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town.
They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and
rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard."
[NAS renders this as "a glutton and a drunkard"] Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge
the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

and wind up here:

"The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners !’

This accusation toward Jesus was a bit more than a matter or social acceptance. This was an accusation that merited death.

Speaking of death, I think we can all see the connection here:

If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree,
you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him
that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s
curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you
as an inheritance.

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

Torah brings us these words:

One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or
offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the
testimony of two or three witnesses.

Which are remarkably similar to these words of Jesus:

"But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. "Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."

This raises an interesting question of context. Most of us use this last bit from Jesus – the "two or three gathered" part – when speaking about church in general. Jesus seems to have a more specific context in mind. Would you agree? Also, does his more narrow context necessarily negate the broader application we tend to make?

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

Again, from Torah:

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for
himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the
LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

From what I remember of David, Soloman and others, this portion of Torah must have been misplaced. Especially when we follow up with our royal Psalm, replete with requests for honor, power and wealth.

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

These words from Torah:

At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.
This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he
has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his
fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD’s time for canceling
debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you.
However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD
your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly
bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.
For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will
lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many
nations but none will rule over you.

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the
land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or
tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.
Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: "The seventh year, the
year for canceling debts, is near," so that you do not show ill will
toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to
the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.
Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because
of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in
everything you put your hand to.
There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you
to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in
your land.

strike a note today. As Christians we are no longer under law and the obligation to cancel the debts of anyone. No, we are free to live in accordance with the higher calling of grace. We are free to give without expectation of repayment, not only to the Church, but also to all neighbors, including our enemies. How might the landscape of society change if this were our practice?

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

Proverbs reminds us, "A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown."

++ Lord, thank you for Kerri ++

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

And on the heals of yesterday’s Torah, comes today’s:

To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and
he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God,
mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.
Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now
the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

showing great concern for the orphan, the widow, and the alien; concerns that feature prominantly in the New Testament.

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(One Year Bible Blog post & readings)

From today’s Torah:

When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to
possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites,
Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites,
seven nations larger and stronger than you- and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other
gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly
destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire.
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has
chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his
people, his treasured possession.

I’m sensing that this inward, protective mentality has been transformed in Christ. Israel were to withdraw to the Promised Land; the Church is to go forth into the whole world. Israel were to show no mercy; the Church is to lavish grace. Israel were to destroy the foreigners; the Church is to redeem them.

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