TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
Judges 17:1-18:31
John 3:1-21
Psalm 104:1-23
Proverbs 14:20-21
Judges 17:3 — What commandment was violated? The second – “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” Interestingly, this commandment was repeated 8 additional times in the Torah. No wonder God told His people to read the Word (Joshua 1:8, Deuteronomy 17:19, Deuteronomy 29:9)!
Judges 17:10 — Paris Reidhead preached a famous message entitled “Ten Shekels and a Shirt.”
Judges 17:13 — Welcome to modern pluralism! We have a house of gods (Judges 17:5) and are glad to add some Christianity so we don’t offend the LORD of the Bible!
Judges 18:20 — A Levite who should know the Law is delighted by tribal affinity but not horrified by violating God’s Law. Interestingly, the next time the word “teraphim” is used in the Bible is Hosea 3:4 where God compares Gomer’s adultery to the actions of this Levite.
John 3:1 — The Gospels have little good to say about the Pharisees. However, in Luke 11:37 and Luke 14:1 we see the Pharisees inviting Jesus for a meal. Here, though, we see a Pharisee coming to Jesus to learn. While we wonder at the fear of Nicodemus that led him to come to Jesus by night (sounds like Gideon), we need to recognize that Jesus was letting Nicodemus know a secret, not of His doctrine (John 18:20), but of his identity (Matthew 9:30, Matthew 16:20, Mark 1:34, Mark 1:43-44, Mark 4:10-12, Mark 5:43, Mark 7:36, Luke 5:14). If He was to be publicly identified as the Messiah before He had fulfilled the prophecies of Messiah, He would be rightly condemned as a blasphemer. Thus, He couldn’t tell His identity to more than one potential adversary (Deuteronomy 19:15), until the hour was come (John 12:23).
John 3:16 — From Hal Leonard, the choral version of John 3:16:
John 3:18 — From Earl Martin:
Psalm 104:2 — ”Almighty, Unchangeable God” is a “meditation” on the theme of Psalm 104. From the Herbsters:
Proverbs 14:21 — An interesting application of the observation of Proverbs 14:20.
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