TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
1 Chronicles 2:18-4:4
Acts 24:1-27
Psalm 4:1-8
Proverbs 18:16-18
1 Chronicles 3:10 — Now we’re back to familiar names. The kingly line of David going all the way to Josiah and his descendants that were wiped out by Nebuchadnezzar.
1 Chronicles 3:16 — Later we’ll read in Jeremiah 36:30-31 of the curse on the line of Jehoiakim. Jeconiah, his son, was further cursed (Jeremiah 22:30).
Acts 24:5 — By the way, we need a few more “ringleader(s) of the sect of the Nazarenes”!
Acts 24:14 — Yes! We have seen in the law where it talks of Jesus! The Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world!
Acts 24:16 — Like Paul, can you say that you have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man?
Psalm 4:4 — Speaking of a clean conscience, are we able to say we are free of unconfessed sin?
Psalm 4:8 — We can sleep because of safety in Him!
Proverbs 18:16 — Is Solomon talking about bribery? See the Pulpit Commentary:
Verse 16. – A man’s gift maketh room for him (comp. Proverbs 19:6). Mattam, “gift,” has been taken in different senses. Some consider it to mean a bribe offered for underhand or fraudulent purposes; but the context does not lead to this conclusion, and the parallel passage mentioned above makes against it … The term here signifies the present which duty or friendship offers to one whom one wishes to please. This paves a man’s way to a great person’s presence. Bringeth him before great men. The Oriental custom of offering suitable gifts to one in authority, when a favour or an audience is desired, is here alluded to (comp. 1 Samuel 10:27; 1 Kings 4:21; 1 Kings 10:25). So the Magi brought gifts so the newborn King at Bethlehem (Matthew 2:11). In a spiritual sense, the right use of riches opens the way to eternal life, evincing a man’s practical love of God and man; as Christ says (Luke 16:9), “Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles” (Revised Version).
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