Good afternoon fellow saints, Well I am 10 days behind on devotionals as today is the last day of this year's challenge.  I plan to take a short break before beginning another trip through the Bible.  I will finish up writing devotionals so that when any future readers get here they may see that just as the plan started with 4 beginnings (creation, return of exiles, the first advent of Christ, the start of the church) it also has 4 endings (going into exile, end of God speaking to Israel and Judah, the end of the age and the end of the gospels). I am planning on doing a read through with the small group we will be leading starting some time in September. Blessings, Jeff Let your hands be strong... that the temple might be built.  The fact that the exiles (remnant) need to be encouraged to build the temple implies that they have become slothful in the task they had been given.  Ezra and Nehemiah tell of the various challenges that discouraged the people.  Makes me reflect on the bal

Good afternoon faithful readers, Today we see another example of what happens to a nation with the best moral foundation (The Ten Commandments) when they stray from the Lord. It is worth pondering how the gospel is the only hope for peace with God and restoration of peace between individuals and nations. Blessings, Jeff A Moabite and an Ammonite are the servants who assassinate a good king gone bad. What does this say about the Jews? These two conspired because of the blood of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest who had established Joash as king.  Why are these two foreigners offended by the bold of the priest who prophesied against Joash?  I am not a lawyer, but I have heard of the concept that a person has to have "standing" in order to sue.  Essentially, unless you actually suffered damages you cannot sue somebody.  So how were these two guys harmed by the fact that the king had murdered Zechariah?  It seems that the Jews were the offended party, but they did not see

Good afternoon friends, Hope you had a good Sabbath rest today.  It is hard to add anything to what Jonathan has said in his sermons in John.  The healing of this man born blind is the back drop for 2 chapters.  Really can't minimize its importance. Blessings, Jeff The man born blind seems to catch the Pharisees in a denial of reality.  The Pharisees did know where Jesus was from.  The gospels are full of accounts of Pharisees following him around.  They knew enough about Jesus to threaten anyone who confessed that he was the Christ to be put out of the synagogue.  Seems like they didn't want to admit the he had been born in Bethlehem.  They knew that God had spoken to Moses but apparently forgot that Moses said 15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— Deuteronomy 18:15 Isn't it interesting that this man is not named and neither he nor Pharisees name Jesus as the person who healed him.  H

Good afternoon fellow readers and doers of the Word, In the final two weeks of devotions.  You are doing a great job persevering to the end. I hope this devotional encourages you as we seek to understand some secrets of the kingdom. Blessings, Jeff This short chapter makes me wonder why God just doesn't come out and say what He means.  Instead He gives these visions that are memorable but not all that clear as to meaning.  But as I write this, I remember Jesus' explanation to the disciples about why he spoke in parables.   Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. Matthew 13:10-11 Of course, God does come right out and say what he means in the moral law.  Can't get much clearer than the 10 commandments.  So these are not "the secrets".  Everyone can read and clearly understand God's expectati

Good morning brothers and sisters, We have an interesting study in how kings respond to correction.  I think we can all learn from them. Blessings, Jeff Some kings go astray and then double down when their sins are unmasked.  But other kings are like Jehoshaphat. His cooperation with Ahab was almost fatal.  When he returns home, Jehu, the seer, confronts him.  In response, Jehoshaphat takes action to "bring the people back to the Lord".   He recognizes that his unfaithfulness has been a bad example to Judah.  He is responsible for the people being unfaithful. So he sends out judges throughout Judah to correct their behavior. Of course the better course would have been not to get involved with Ahab.  But God is gracious and provides opportunity to repent.  Perhaps he learned from his father Asa who did not repent.  In both cases God graciously provided a messenger to challenge the king.  We should be thankful that God is not a "one strike and your out" God.  He is ab

Good morning fellow exiles and sojourners, As we near the finish line for this year's challenge, I am reminded that this world is not our home.  We should live as exiles and sojourners, just passing through.  The returning exiles to Judah were probably thinking of permanent residence in the Promised Land.  Let us look to heaven as our permanent dwelling. Blessings, Jeff Joshua, the high priest, is subject of Zechariah's vision.  Another one of the many ways at many times Hebrews 1 Zechariah sees the angel addressing Joshua.  Zechariah is the one who writes it down and then tells Joshua what he saw. The angel is the one who says "Thus says the Lord...", not Zechariah. The post exile prophets generally have a positive or encouraging message.  If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge...  God is giving the same conditions to Joshua as He had given to the nation of Israel.  I think this is encouraging in that the failures of Israel and Judah are not held against the

Good afternoon fellow saints, Our first look at the last book.  One of the things that I appreciated about Salem church is the We Believe statement in the bulletin.  And one of the items in particular. We believe in the Second Coming of Christ according to the Scriptures.  There is much wisdom here.  There are many ways of understanding "the end times" but we are not going to divide over these understandings.  Jesus will return bodily and everyone will see it.  We long for that day.  That is what keeps us together. Blessings, Jeff The sixth of seven seals that only the Lamb is able to open. Ushers in the great day of the wrath of the Lamb. Sun goes dark, moon becomes like blood, stars fall to earth and the sky vanishes like a scroll being rolled up.  But there are still people on earth trying to hide from the Lamb. And there is one more seal and seven trumpets and bowls to go. So what is going on here? ESV study bible notes point out that the answer to the question "Who

Good afternoon brothers and sisters, One of the verses I have memorized in 16:9 under the topic Presence of God.  The context puts this truth in a little different light.  God uses a lack of trust by King Asa to illustrate this truth.  While Prov 15:3 is similar and Asa should have know it, his lack of trust shows it has to be in the heart, not just in the head. Blessings, Jeff   The poor sad finish of a king who started so well. Thirty five good years ended by six bad years. The author wants to use each king's story as an example to the returning exiles. We are told in  1 Corinthians 10:6  Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. While Paul was using the Exodus story, the principle applies to the whole Old Testament. The author of Chronicles is doing the same thing for the Jews returning from exile.  So what are the lessons to be learned from King Asa? God can and does use disease as discipline for sinful actions and attitudes. Fai

Good evening friends, Seems that God is always asking if we will be encouraged today by things that are far in the future.  The exiles were trying to rebuild Jerusalem and were looking for hope "right now".  If they put all their trust in immediate restoration of kingdom, they would be disappointed. Blessings, Jeff Zerubbabel - "sown or born in Babylon".  The Messianic line of David continues through Zerubbabel.  He is in Matthew's genealogy of Joseph.  But the line from Zerubbabel is only there.  The 400 year inter-testament period is silent.  So the record of the line of David was apparently documented but was not recorded in Scripture until Matthew. Certainly seems that God's promise is imminent. I am about to shake... I am about to destroy... and specific to him I will take you Zerubbabel.  The intent seems to be to encourage the exiles.  The fact that the signs and the Messiah were still centuries in the future would not be a comfort to those who walk b

Another catch up for the day.  A difficult subject in many ways.  Divisions with God's chosen people of the OT are written as examples for us so that we don't make same mistakes.  While the division between the kingdoms was God's correction for Solomon's turning away, each nation retained moral responsibility for their actions.  When divisions in the Church occur over truth and error, the same accountability still exists. Blessings, Jeff Part of King Abijah's speech to Jeroboam and the army of Israel.  Outnumbered 2 to 1, Abijah warns Israel not to fight against the Lord, the God of their fathers.  True to form, Israel doesn't listen and is soundly defeated not be the army of Judah but by God himself.  The first part of his speech had been a denigration of the apostasy of Israel since the division.  This part claims the ceremonial purity of Judah.  Makes me wonder about the division between Israel and Judah in light of NT passages such as And no creature is hidd

As you will see, almost a continuation of the one from earlier today. I thought of today's passage as a parallel with yesterday"s passage. David was willing to take in men who were ethnic and social outsiders like the Cherethites.  Today, Nathanael is certain that nothing good can come from Galilee at the cost of rejecting Jesus. But then Jesus takes in this man who has made himself an outsider.  Nathanael shows that he is mistaken and he repents. Another similarity that might be a bit of a stretch.  David surrounded himself with a physical bodyguard to protect him.  Jesus (the better David) surrounds himself with disciples to protect them.   When I chose these two passages about two weeks ago, I had not really thought about them being similar in any way.  Writing the devotional on the same day brought things out that I had not thought of before.  Just another example of what I like about the MCheyne reading plan.  Linkage between OT and NT passages.

Good rainy windy morning beloved, Henri seems to have stayed to the right of expected track, so we are now on the wet side and not the windy side.  Mildly optimistic about keeping power on or at least quick restoration.  In any case, opportunity to catch up on devotionals as church was cancelled. This passage illustrates the principle that nothing in scripture is inconsequential.  It isi there for a reason. Blessings Jeff This passage made me wonder about the Cherethites.  The prophet is pronouncing woe upon them just before Judah goes into exile, but they had been a group of foreign mercenary soldiers serving as a bodyguard for king David; also executioners.  How did David come to have mercenaries as bodyguards? How did they go from the inner circle to just another bunch of pagans condemned by God? Obviously, there is no clear explanation in Scripture, so it not really necessary to understand the how and why.  However, David did seem to collect to himself men who were not natural alli

Good afternoon friends, Writing on the day before Henri comes to visit.  Since we are supposed to have "historic" loss of power here, it may be a while before I post again.  But I will keep writing and get them up as soon as I can. Blessings Jeff Queen of Sheba comes to visit.  Have you ever gone some place and had that "I wouldn't believe it unless I had seen it" response.  Sometimes it is natural splendor like the Grand Canyon.  Sometimes it is man made like Versailles or the Pyramids.  You can read about it and see pictures, but until you see it for yourself, you really don't appreciate it.  While the queen is impressed by the physical aspects, it is the wisdom of Solomon that  has this effect on her.   Makes me wonder if there are any truly wise men in our day?  We might be awed by the surroundings of powerful people, is anyone awed by their wisdom?  The queen calls his servants blessed because they get to listen to his wisdom all the time.  Everything h

Good morning fellow saints in Christ, Good old Habukkuk!  He goes from "how long O Lord" in chapter 1 to a prayer full of confidence in an answer in "the midst of years".  Encourages me to be faithful in prayer. Blessings, Jeff A prayer for God to revive His work in the midst of the years. A prayer for God to do what He has promised to do. A prayer for God to remember mercy In His wrath.  In other words, it is God's work and only He can revive it. The work that needs to be revived is Israel. Israel cannot revive itself.  God is rightfully full of wrath toward His work which has rejected Him and died. That wrath cannot be ignored or forgotten. God must have mercy if Israel is to be revived. Habakkuk doesn't know how or when it is going to happen, but he knows that wrath is not going away on its own. He then describes the works that he has heard about in terms of seeing them. Telling God what He has done is a wonderful act of worship. The creature acknowledges

Good morning those whom I love in truth Just as we have the "minor prophets" in the OT, we have these short letters at the end of the NT.  But there is nothing minor in what they have to say.   Blessings, Jeff Just wondering how a letter like this gets delivered?  Certainly not like modern mail. The elect lady is pretty vague. Seems like the courier would have to have specific verbal directions and provide additional personal news.  Thinking about how letter writing has gone out of style. Cell phone makes a letter obsolete.  I remember getting my parents getting letters from relatives in New York and California.  As a little kid, I thought it was pretty special to get a multi-page letter from so far away.  Now we just text. How much more significant are the letters recorded in the Bible.  We get to listen in on a one way conversation to someone who was very important to apostle John.  So close that names are not necessary. We get to see what was important in their relationshi

Good morning friends, I am so thankful for the prayers recorded in the Old Testament.  As I have been wrestling with the many facets of the "Lord's prayer" over the last year, seeing the evolution of prayer has been helpful.  WSC Q 100 says that the whole of scripture is of use for our direction in prayer but that rule of prayer that Christ taught his disciples is the "special rule". Blessings, Jeff Part of Solomon's prayer of dedication for the temple. Addresses plagues, pestilence and other calamities associated with not walking in all of God's ways.  Deuteronomy 28:22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. thoughts/observations: Prayer toward the temple wIth knowledge of guilt or at least  their afflictions is required.  Solomon seems to recognize that the curses in Deut 28 will eventually show up because of ind

Good morning fellow sheep of His pasture, Its probably been awhile since you were greeted as a sheep.  But writing this devotional this morning made me thankful for our Good Shepherd above and beyond the world political stage. Blessings, Jeff Interesting that Israel and Judah are not the only ones who were afflicted with bad shepherds.  Jonathan's look at John 10 and the Good Shepherd is the background for thoughts today. Nahum's pronouncement of woes to Nineveh are really shocking to me.  Assyria had destroyed northern kingdom. Judah was on the decline. Yet here is a prophet telling the king of Assyria, the most powerful empire of the day, that the men looking out for the empire are asleep at their posts.  The curse of perceived invincibility - when a nation has been successful in conquering others, leaders can become convinced that they can do no wrong. That whatever they do will preserve the empire. They stop being attentive to the true condition of their people. They fall a

Good afternoon fellow workers for Christ, Managed to miss yesterday's devotional and opportunity to catch up for previous misses.  Woke up early this morning and will try to get a second in later today. Blessings, Jeff Well how about that for coincidence?  The place where Abraham was to offer Isaac and where David encountered the angel about to destroy Jerusalem following the unauthorized census are the same. The place where God provides.  Its almost like God planned to have them in the same place.  Of course, this is not coincidence and God did plan these events.   Indeed, Jesus dies on another hill in the same area.  I remember Dr Sproul talking about this. God intervenes to stop Abraham from offering his son. Likewise, David's sacrifice appeases God's judgment.  However, the death of God's Son is not prevented.  Brings me back to Genesis 3:15 promise. God is always carrying out the promise to provide a seed of the woman who will crush the head of Satan. Man may not s

Good evening friends, Recovering from a busy day in the CCC kitchen for Cruise for a Cause.  Great teamwork to serve others.  But it is physically exhausting.  Maybe I'm just not as young as I used to be.  Jesus probes the toughts and intents of my heart with these verses about His return. Blessings, Jeff This has section has always been confusing to me. The examples of Lot and Noah are clear.  Lot and immediate family get out but his wife turn back.  Noah and his immediate family are only survivors.  So this seems to indicate that few will be saved.  But the people Jesus talks about are individuals or just two women grinding or two people in a bed.  There is nothing about the multitudes of wicked around them who are judged.  Nobody drinking, buying and selling, oblivious to impending destruction.  There is nothing explicit about faith in Christ being the determining factor.  Why would one sleeping person be taken away to judgment and the other left.?  I think I get the guy on the

Good afternoon fellow strangers and exiles, As we finish another one of the minor prophets, we must never think of them as insignificant.  I hope you are encouraged to use reference material in your reading, especially in the prophets. Blessings, Jeff From Reformation Study Bible notes: 7:8-20. This concluding hymn consists of four stanzas: (a) Lady Jerusalem in her fallen status confesses her sin and her faith in the Lord (vv. 8-10); (b) the prophet promises that she will become a sheepfold offering salvation to the world under judgment (vv. 11-13); (c) Micah prays that the Lord will again miraculously shepherd His people (v. 14), which the Lord promises to do (v. 15), and Micah then prophesies that the unbelieving enemy will be conquered (vv. 16, 17); and (d) the people celebrate God’s forgiveness and faithfulness with a hymn of praise (vv. 18-20).  I think I have mentioned that one of the challenges of reading prophetic literature is that it is sometime hard to tell who is speaking

Good afternoon friends, Well here we are at the end of 1 Chronicles.  David is passing from the scene and Solomon is entering.  2 Chronicles takes us through the rest of the kings of Judah. Author seems to put a lot of value into David and not so much on the line that follows.   Since I am behind in writing, it is worth noting that we have 30 more days in the reading plan.  You are in the home stretch.  Keep going. Blessings, Jeff A talent weighed approximately 75 lbs according to Complete Word Study Bible dictionary and ESV notes.  That's 187.5 tons of gold, 375 tons of silver that the tribal leaders gave.  Well you get the picture. Presumably, they didn't give all that they had.  As close as I can figure there are 5,100 tons of gold in Fort Knox.  All that gold just sits there for financial security  The Israelites put theirs inside the temple to honor the God who provided it to them. This is beyond extravagant.  This is just for the "meetinghouse".  Then there are

Good morning saints in the Lord, The word is still is a two edged sword.  This chapter is famous for the prophecy that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of one to be ruler in Israel.  When the wise men show up, this is the answer to their question.  But the promise of a restored remnant is another wonderful promise. Blessings, Jeff Before either kingdom is destroyed, the Lord speaks through Micah to promise a restoration.  However, the restored remnant will not be allowed to be like Israel and Judah before the exile. The prophet is forced to use the language and images that are meaningful to his audience.  Not have horses and chariots doesn't really have much meaning to us modern readers.  But it would to ancient Israel and Judah.  Horses and chariots were the symbol of military might and protection from enemies.  However, Israel was supposed to trust in the name of the Lord.  Looking back at their history, they could not deny that they had put more trust in horses and chariots.  T

Good morning fellow sojourners, It is remarkable how the letters in the New Testament can be different in style and format, but convey the same message.  Paul wrote to specific churches or individuals.  Peter writes "To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ 2 Peter 1:1.  Imagine getting a letter from one of the twelve and he tells you that you have a faith of equal standing as his.  You haven't experienced any of the things Peter did, but he considers every one who has been born again to have equal standing.  And the basis for this is the righteousness of God and Savior Jesus Christ.  Blessings, Jeff This is the proof text for the concept I picked up from an Alistair Begg sermon.  Or rather, it is the proof text Alistair Begg used for the principle that sermons should remind us of what we should not forget, not teach us something new.  Of course the underlying assumption is that each believer already

Good morning friends, Good foundations are important.  Our author turns to the religious life of the returning exiles. Blessings, Jeff We have seen the emphasis on the Davidic line in the  political life of Israel.  The other area of emphasis is the Aaronic priesthood and Levitical workers. In this passage we have a quick review of the somewhat sanitized picture of the start of Aaron's line.  The returning exiles would have known that Nadab and Abihu did not just "die before their father without children".  They rebelled against God by offering unauthorized fire and were themselves consumed by fire from the Lord. Leviticus 10.  The case of Abiathar  son of Ahitub son of Ahimelech, who was faithful to David, but later rebelled with Adonijah is also not mentioned. But the passage points to the importance of the Aaronic line to the rebuilding of the temple by the exiles.  The history of the northern kingdom which was without the Levites from the beginning could not be repeat

My catch up devotional for the day.  The graphic language of what James would later call being lured and enticed by passions and desires. The intro to Micah in ESV study bible points out that Micah wrote in a time of prosperity in Judah.  So this chapter with theme of "Woe to the Oppressors", probably didn't make him very popular.  But I guess popularity was never one of the goals of a prophet. So this is a warning to the people of Judah, not to a bunch of heathens.  These people have taken breaking the 8th (stealing) and 10th commandments to an art form.  Lie awake at night thinking about ways to steal, oppress or covet and before they even have breakfast, they go out and do it.  In theory, they should have learned the commandments as children.  In theory, they should have learned that the God of Israel knows the thoughts and intents of the heart.  In theory, they should know that what they were doing may be hidden from others, but it is not hidden from God.  And God bei

Good afternoon fellow pilgrims, Since it is a Sunday, this is first of at least two for the day. As you can probably tell, I have really been thinking about the original audience for this account of history of Israel. Blessings, Jeff The contrast between David (a man of blood and war) and "the son who will be to you and will be a man of rest. For his name shall be Solomon." rest is mnuchah; feminine of 4495; repose or (adverbially) peacefully; figuratively, consolation peace is šâlôm; or שָׁלֹם shalom; from 7999; safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace: Do you think that this is Genesis 3:15 in miniature?  There it is  seed who will crush the serpents head.  Here a son who will be a man of peace. There at unknown point in future.  Here born to you => near future. Of course David already has some sons, but none of them is named Solomon.  The one that David names Solomon before the child does anything will

Good morning fellow saints, As we walk along the way with Jesus are we ever drawn into "discussion" like Luke tells us about?  I wonder if the disciples had prayed "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" that morning. Blessings, Jeff A short time after Peter, James and John come down from the mount of transfiguration, an argument arose among the twelve..  KJV translates a "reasoning".  Sounds much more polite doesn't it?  We weren't arguing, we were reasoning. From the Greek, we get the word dialogue.  The same word is reasoning in v47. Remember that Luke is not an eye witness to the things he reports.  They are all reported to him as he  to write an orderly account for you Luke 1:3.  Presumably it was one of the twelve (who prefers to remain anonymous) told Luke about this after the crucifixion and resurrection.  Seems likely that each of them had a part in the reasoning.  Even Judas Iscariot may have given his reasons for why he w

Good afternoon friends, We now find Jonah at Nineveh and the Ninevites respond in faith to God's warning given by Jonah.  We have another "God changed his mind" situation to deal with. I would be happy to talk with you if you have a limited view of God's sovereignty.  Please make a comment if you do. Blessings Jeff Isn't it wonderful that pagans can get God to change his mind by just putting on sackcloth and ashes?  This is how some think about salvation.  If I just decide on my own to "turn from my evil ways" that God will not destroy me.  But let us probe this point of view a little. What prompted the people of Nineveh to change their ways?  If Jonah had not come and warned them, would they have done this?  Clearly not.  They were perfectly happy with "the violence that was in their hands".  The Assyrians were notoriously brutal and were dominant military power.  Their evil deeds were what got them to prominence. They would never have changed

Good morning friends, Just a very short passage today.  But it struck me as an interesting perspective. Blessings Jeff An amazingly short summary of David's reign from pollical and social aspect.  Other details are about military campaigns. When I think of the audience as the returning exiles, the author may be stating that this would be the standard for any future king.  All the intrigues of Amnon and Absalom are not even mentioned.  So this seems to be a highly sanitized version of history as an aspiration for the future.  But from this side of the first advent of the better David, King Jesus certainly administers justice and equity to all his people (the Church).  He is the only one who can live up to "ideal king".

Good morning saints in the Lord, We find ourselves visiting Jonah on the ship bound for Tarshish in the midst of the storm.  Any time a bunch of pagan sailors ask "What is this that you have done?", it is not a good sign. Having been in the Navy, I can attest that while not all sailors are great sinners, the reputation is not far from truth. So when these sailors recognize that Jonah is the cause of their problems, they know he has done something really bad.  But thanks be to God that he uses even this for good. Blessings, Jeff All part of the plan.  Even though Jonah goes outside of God's revealed will (Go to Nineveh), God's sovereign will is not frustrated.  In fact, if Jonah had not run away, he would not have wound up in the belly of the great fish for three days and nights.  If he had not wound up there, Jesus would not have had "the sign of Jonah" as a sign of death, burial and resurrection.  God's plan of salvation included using the disobedience

Good morning fellow aliens and exiles, I may have mentioned my practice of memorizing scripture.  When I did it years ago, it was the Navigator Topical Memory System.  One "pack" had 6 associated topics with 2 verses per topic.  Over the last 6 years or so, I have been using Fighter Verses app from Desiring God (John Piper's ministry.  It has both topics and extended verses.  Anyway, James is one of the books that I have memorized.  As Hebrews says, the Word is a very sharp sword. Blessings, Jeff James has a lot to say about wisdom. From Complete Word Study Bible Dictionary  Sophía stands for divine wisdom, the ability to regulate one's relationship with God, and is distinct from phrónēsis (G5428), prudence, the ability to know and deal with people (1 Cor. 12:8; Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:9: 2 Pet. 3:15). Specifically of insight imparted from God in respect to the divine counsels (1 Cor. 2:6, 7). Metonymically (a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of one thi

Good morning saints in the Lord, For those of us of a certain age, Paul Harvey's closing line "and now you know the rest of the story" brings back memories.  So today's single verse seems to fit into this idea.  A detail just kind of hanging there for us modern readers.  But the returning exiles would be familiar with this story.  So I used the Complete Word Study Bible notes to fill in the rest of the story for you. Blessings, Jeff Another twist in a "marriage made in heaven".  She is daughter of king Saul, sister of Jonathan (David's best friend), wife of king David,  given to David as wife for the bride price of 100 Philistine foreskins (plot by Saul for David to be killed by the Philistines); helps David escape from Saul with the "image in the bed" trick, while still married to David, her father gave her in marriage to another, Phaltiel; at the death of Saul, David forced her to return. Also adoptive mother of five sons of her sister Merab

A bonus for the day.  Still trying to catch up.   This is an interesting passage to me because it highlights the sound of different Hebrew words that are completely unrelated.  God gives Amos a vision of a basket of summer fruit.  Now God knows what He has shown Amos, so the question is to determine if Amos accurately sees what he has been shown.  I think that Amos was probably wondering why God showed him a basket of summer fruit.  It doesn't seem to have much application to his task as a prophet.  Strong's notes that word for summer fruit sounds like the word for end.  So when Amos sees the summer fruit he is seeing the end. Then the Lord explains that the end has come upon Israel.  Now the vision and the meaning are perfectly clear. Note that the prophet accurately sees the vision, but still needs God to explain what it means.  Reminds me of 2 Peter1:20-21 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy

Good afternoon brothers and sisters, Hope you are having a blessed Sabbath.  I am still about 2 weeks behind on writing devotionals, so I just want to comment on where we are on the reading schedule.  It is August 1 so we are now in the last month of this pass through the Word.  So wherever you are on the schedule you have another 30 days.  Keep up the good work and finish strrong. Blessings, Jeff As we saw in previous passage in 1 Chronicles, the author is reflecting back on how the history of David's kingship is a uniting of all the tribes.  During the return from exile in Babylon, unity between all those who return is important.  While other accounts make this process of David becoming king of all Israel longer, the point is that the other tribes come around to supporting him. Knowing that the kingdom later is divided under Rehoboam, David's grandson, it seems that it would have been easy for the author just to exclude the other tribes.  Seems like the author is looking to a