Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
HOSEA 11-12:In yesterday’s reading, as the Lord was pleading with Israel and using agricultural metaphors, He said, Hos. 10:12-13 NLT … ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ 13 “But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies— trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe. PROVERBS 25a:Today’s highlighted...
info_outlineDaily Bible Reading Phil Fields
HOSEA 9-10:I like how the GNT translates the first paragraph of chapter 6 as being the words of the people of Israel. Hosea 6:1-4 GNT:1 The people say, “Let's return to the LORD! He has hurt us, but he will be sure to heal us; he has wounded us, but he will bandage our wounds, won't he?2 In two or three days he will revive us, and we will live in his presence.3 Let us try to know the LORD. He will come to us as surely as the day dawns, as surely as the spring rains fall upon the earth.” 4 But the LORD says, “Israel and Judah, what am I going to do with you? Your love for me disappears as...
info_outlineDaily Bible Reading Phil Fields
HOSEA 6-8:In yesterday’s reading, Hosea bought back his wife from prostitution. And the Lord drew analogies in his speech to Israel. PROVERBS 24a:Favorite verses: Pro. 24:5 NLT The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger. 6 So don’t go to war without wise guidance; victory depends on having many advisers. MATTHEW 5b:Yesterday we read the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, including the famous and memorizable Beatitudes. We also heard the first instance of “You have heard it said… but I say …” NLT Translation notes:Pro. 24:15 Don’t...
info_outlineDaily Bible Reading Phil Fields
HOSEA 3-5:Beautifully interwoven word plays or metaphors were constructed using the names of Hosea’s three children. And verses of yesterday’s reading, are quoted in Romans 9 and 1Peter 2. The last verse ended: Hos. 2:23 NLT “I will show loveto those I called ‘Not loved.’And to those I called ‘Not my people,’I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’” PROVERBS 23b:As you may have noticed yesterday, this chapter is much more thematic than chapters 10 through 22. The second half of chapter 23 is the words of a father to his son. This...
info_outlineDaily Bible Reading Phil Fields
HOSEA 1-2:We have already heard that God considers the sin of idolatry to be parallel and just as offensive as a wife being unfaithful to her husband. Hosea is told by God to actually live out this situation. He is told to marry Gomer, a prostitute. Through Hosea, God shows just how ready He is to restore and be reconciled with His wayward people. Hosea prophesied to the Northern kingdom during the same time that Amos, Isaiah, and Micah were prophesying in the Southern kingdom. This was during the reign of Jeroboam the 2nd. Hosea was not a professional prophet trained in a school for prophets,...
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1CHRONICLES 29:Yesterday we heard of the military commanders and officials under David, and the leaders of 13 tribes. Then we heard David’s instructions to Solomon. And it is always amazing to me the detail with which David planned for the temple, and also his generosity. PROVERBS 22b:Halfway through this chapter we begin a section where more of the proverbs are arranged in short paragraphs. That section begins at verse 17, just three verses after we begin today’s reading. Verse 20 introduces 30 sayings that follow MATTHEW 3:Yesterday we heard of the coming of the learned men from...
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1CHRONICLES 27-28:Yesterday we heard of the assignments of Levites as musicians, judges, and temple gate keepers. PROVERBS 22a:Our highlighted verse for today: 14 The mouth of an immoral woman is a dangerous trap;those who make the LORD angry will fall into it. (NLT) MATTHEW 2:For today’s intro to Matthew 2, I have a correction from what I said in this episode 251 before 2022. For this information, I am relying on Leon Morris’ commentary. How come the genealogies of Matthew and Luke are different? I have often heard it said that Matthew gives the genealogy of Joseph (the legal father) and...
info_outlineDaily Bible Reading Phil Fields
1CHRONICLES 25-26:There was a rather important shift in Israel’s religious life that happened with David and his plans for temple worship rather than the older pattern of worship at the Tabernacle: It was that the priests and Levites were re-organized into groups appropriate to the new state of affairs, introducing divisions on top of the old system which was based on family lines. This reordering was still in effect at the beginning of the New Testament, where we read that Zechariah was a member of the priestly division of Abijah. So we have precedent for not always ‘doing it’ the way...
info_outlineDaily Bible Reading Phil Fields
1CHRONICLES 23-24:Yesterday we heard a rather odd story about how “Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census.” But in 2Samuel 24:1 we read that “Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.’” So who was it— Satan or the Lord? And if the problem was caused by someone else, why was David and all Israel punished?! I think, in a place like this, we have to go back to what we learned in Job. God brought up a topic to Satan, Satan responds predictably, and God gives...
info_outlineDaily Bible Reading Phil Fields
1CHRONICLES 21-22:Yesterday we heard the part where the writer of Chronicles skated over where David had his affair with Bathsheba. But we heard of the military victories and especially the misunderstanding that became the reason for the war with the Ammonites. PROVERBS 20b:Our highlighted verse for today: Pro. 20:24 NLT The Lord directs our steps,so why try to understand everything along the way? Another proverb with deep significance is: 27 The Lord’s light penetrates the human spirit,exposing every hidden motive. TITUS 2:A major theme of this book is literally ‘healthy faith’ and...
info_outlineEXODUS 1:
Yesterday we wrapped up Genesis with Jacob's very prophetic blessings for each of his sons. Then we heard of the conclusion after Jacob was buried and finally Joseph died.
Exodus is clearly a continuation of the story of Genesis, since the first word in the Hebrew text is ‘And’. Tradition holds that Moses is the author. The name Exodus derives from the name that was given by the Septuagint translators— which is the translation of the OT into classical Greek made three hundred years before Christ.
Here are two perceptive summary statements about Exodus— quotes by Durham (from Constable’s Notes):
“No other biblical book surfaces elsewhere in the OT as frequently as the Book of Exodus does; in the NT only the Books of Psalms and Isaiah are cited more, and that for the fairly obvious reasons of liturgy and messianism.”
“The story of the first half of Exodus, in broad summary, is Rescue. The story of the second half, in equally broad summary, is Response, both immediate response and continuing response. And binding together and undergirding both Rescue and Response is Presence, the Presence of Yahweh from whom both Rescue and Response ultimately derive.”
Here is a quote by J. Daniel Hays:
“The deliverance of Israel out of Egypt by Yahweh in the Old Testament is parallel in importance to the resurrection of Christ in the New Testament. The historicity of these events is a critical foundation for a proper understanding of the rest of the Bible.”
And finally, Henrietta Mears in her handbooks says this:
“Exodus is connected to Genesis in much the same way that the New Testament is connected to the Old Testament. Genesis tells of humanity’s failure under every test and in every condition. Exodus is the thrilling epic of God rushing to the rescue. It tells of the redeeming work of a sovereign God.”
JOB 31:
In the NLT, this is Job's sixth chapter of his long speech, and in the GNT it is his third. No matter how you divide the discourse, it is the final chapter of this long speech, in which he makes his final protest that he is innocent. After this, Elihu struts his stuff.
1PETER 5:
Peter finished chapter 4 talking about proudly bearing the name of ‘Christ’— which is part of the word ‘Christian’, and being patient under suffering, if that is included in God's will for you.
GNT Translation notes:
Gen. 2:11 When Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his people, the Hebrews, and he saw how they were forced to do hard labour. He even saw an Egyptian [strike//beating//attaching//kill] a Hebrew, one of Moses' own people.
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Job 31:12 [Such a sin//It] would be like a destructive, hellish fire,
consuming everything I have.
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1Ptr. 5:9 Be firm in [fully believing in Christ//your faith] and resist him, because you know that your fellow-believers in all the world are going through the same kind of sufferings.
NLT Translation notes:
1Ptr. 5:5 In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for [the Scriptures say,] “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your [fully believing in Christ//faith]. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.