Reading for Today:
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Joshua 7:1
Chapter 7 1 But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the devoted thing: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel.
–8:35
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Psalms 43:1-5
Chapter 43 1 Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: Oh deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. 2 For thou art the God of my strength; why hast thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 3 Oh send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me: Let them bring me unto thy holy hill, And to thy tabernacles. 4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, Unto God my exceeding joy; And upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God. 5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him, `Who is' the help of my countenance, and my God. Psalm 44 For the Chief Musician. `A Psalm' of the sons of Korah. Maschil.
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Proverbs 13:22-23
22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children; And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous. 23 Much food `is in' the tillage of the poor; But there is that is destroyed by reason of injustice.
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Luke 9:37-62
37 And it came to pass, on the next day, when they were come down from the mountain, a great multitude met him. 38 And behold, a man from the multitude cried, saying, Teacher, I beseech thee to look upon my son; for he is mine only child: 39 and behold, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth, and it hardly departeth from him, bruising him sorely. 40 And I besought thy disciples to cast it out; and they could not. 41 And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and bear with you? bring hither thy son. 42 And as he was yet a coming, the demon dashed him down, and tare `him' grievously. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And they were all astonished at the majesty of God. But while all were marvelling at all the things which he did, he said unto his disciples, 44 Let these words sink into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered up into the hands of men. 45 But they understood not this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying. 46 And there arose a reasoning among them, which of them was the greatest. 47 But when Jesus saw the reasoning of their heart, he took a little child, and set him by his side, 48 and said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this little child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same is great. 49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out demons in thy name; and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us. 50 But Jesus said unto him, Forbid `him' not: for he that is not against you is for you. 51 And it came to pass, when the days were well-nigh come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 53 And they did not receive him, because his face was `as though he were' going to Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw `this', they said, Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven, and consume them? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them. 56 And they went to another village. 57 And as they went on the way, a certain man said unto him, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus said unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven `have' nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 But he said unto him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but go thou and publish abroad the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, I will follow thee, Lord; but first suffer me to bid farewell to them that are at my house. 62 But Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
Notes:
Joshua 7:9 what will You do for Your great name? The main issue is the glory and honor of God (see Daniel’s prayer in Dan. 9:16–19).
Psalm 43:3 Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me. These are bold personifications for divine guidance. The psalmist desired that these “messenger-attributes” divinely direct (see such “leading” and “guiding” in Gen. 24:48; Pss. 78:14, 53, 72; 107:30; Is. 57:18) so as to bring him successfully to his destination, i.e., Israel’s designated place for worship.
Luke 9:51 steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. This begins a major section of Luke’s Gospel. From here to 19:27, Christ’s face was set toward Jerusalem, and Luke’s narrative is a travelogue of that long journey to the Cross. This was a dramatic turning point in Christ’s ministry. After this, Galilee was no longer His base of operation. Although 17:11–37 describes a return visit to Galilee, Luke included everything between this point and that short Galilean sojourn as part of the journey to Jerusalem. We know from a comparison of the Gospels that, during this period of Christ’s ministry, He made short visits to Jerusalem to celebrate feasts. Nonetheless, those brief visits were only interludes in this period of ministry that would culminate in a final journey to Jerusalem for the purpose of dying there. Thus Luke underscored this turning point in Christ’s ministry more dramatically than any of the other Gospels, by showing Christ’s determination to complete His mission of going to the Cross.
DAY 9: How should we respond to all forms of religious persecution?
Luke 9:51
51 And it came to pass, when the days were well-nigh come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
–56 show us Jesus’ response to persecution. The Samaritans were descendants of Jewish mixed marriages from the days of captivity. They were rivals of the Jewish nation and had devised their own worship, a hybrid of Judaism and paganism, with a temple of their own on Mt. Gerizim. They were considered unclean by the Jews and were so hated that most Jewish travelers from Galilee to Judah took the longer route east of the Jordan to avoid traveling through Samaria.
The fact that Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem for worship implied rejection of the temple on Mt. Gerizim and a contempt for Samaritan worship. This was a strong point of contention between Jews and Samaritans (see
John 4:20
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
–22), and the Samaritan village would not take Him in (v. 53). James and John, whom Jesus nicknamed the “Sons of Thunder” (
Mark 3:17
17 and James the `son' of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and them he surnamed Boanerges, which is, Sons of thunder:
), then suggested they call down fire from heaven as Elijah once did (v. 54). To which Christ “rebuked them” (v. 55).
Christ’s response to the Samaritans exemplifies the attitude the church ought to have with regard to all forms of religious persecution. The Samaritans’ worship was pagan at heart, plainly wrong. Compounding that was their intolerance. Yet, the Lord would not retaliate with force against them. Nor did He even revile them verbally. He had come to save, not to destroy, and so His response was grace rather than destructive fury (v. 56). Nonetheless, Christ’s words of disapproval here must not be taken as condemnation of Elijah’s actions in
1 Kings 18:38
38 Then the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
–40 or
2 Kings 1:10
10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
–12. Elijah was commissioned to a special ministry as prophet in a theocracy, and it was his God-ordained task to confront an evil monarch (Ahab) who was attempting to usurp God’s authority. Elijah acted with an authority comparable to that of modern civil authorities (see Rom. 13:4)—not in a capacity that parallels that of ministers of the gospel.
From The MacArthur Daily Bible Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson Bibles, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, TN 37214, www.thomasnelson.com.
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