NL-Day334 Esther 5-6; Isaiah 41:8-29; 2 Thessalonians 2
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
ESTHER 5-6: In Esther 3-4 Haman cast lots (purim) to find out that March 7 was the lucky date to exterminate the Jews. Mordecai requested that Esther intercede directly to the king. And since she hadn’t been called for, the only way to do that would endanger Esther herself, since no one was allowed to approach the king in the inner court uninvited. ISAIAH 41b: Did you notice in yesterday’s reading, we heard a description of a king that sounded similar to one described in the book of Daniel? Isaiah 41:2-4 NLT: 2 “Who has stirred up this king from the east, rightly calling him to God’s...
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NL-Day333 Esther 3-4; Isaiah 41:1-20; 2 Thessalonians 1
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
ESTHER 3-4: Yesterday we heard how Esther became the queen, and how she continued to keep her Jewish background a secret. We also heard how Mordecai, her uncle, was promoted to a palace official after uncovering a plot to assassinate king Xerxes. Today we are introduced to the villain of the story— Haman. The Jews always read the book of Esther in the celebration of Purim. Whenever Haman’s name is read they boo and shake rattles or noisemakers to drown out his name. ISAIAH 41a: The shift to such beautiful poetry that occurs in chapter 40 of Isaiah is one of the things that has made people...
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NL-Day332 Esther 1-2; Isaiah 40:15-31; Philemon 1
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
ESTHER 1-2:In the final two chapters of Nehemiah, we heard of the culmination of Nehemiah’s work— the ceremony for the dedication of the wall. The people proved that the wall could stand up to more than just a fox walking on it. Then Nehemiah went back to Babylon. When he came back to Jerusalem, he needed to right several wrongs, as the people had allowed a deterioration in the temple worship. We now turn to the book of Esther, which may have been written by Mordecai (a major character in the book), or by Ezra or Nehemiah, who would have known this story. The king Xerxes was defeated in a...
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NL-Day331 Nehemiah 12-13; Isaiah 40:1-17; Colossians 4
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
NEHEMIAH 12-13 In yesterday’s chapters in Nehemiah, we heard the names of the various religious and civil leaders who signed the statement of commitment to follow Moses’ Law, which was almost certainly penned by Ezra. Then there was a listing of the various leaders and clans that volunteered or were chosen by lot to live in Jerusalem. ISAIAH 40a: I am always very disappointed with Hezekiah when he does not pray and ask the Lord to not allow Jerusalem to be conquered by Babylon and not to allow his sons to become eunuchs in Babylon’s palace. God had already responded amazingly to him in...
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NL-Day330 Nehemiah 10-11; Isaiah 39; Colossians 2:13-3:25
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
NEHEMIAH 10-11: The returned exiles showed how sincere they were in following the Lord! They gathered together for the express purpose of hearing the Law. By this time their language had changed so much that they needed 13 Levites to explain what was said in the readings. The people wept because they realized how far they were from obeying the Law of Moses, and also for joy in hearing it. One month later, the leaders gathered to explore the Law in more detail, and they found that Israel had always neglected celebrating the Festival of Shelters. They did that for the prescribed week with great...
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NL-Day329 Nehemiah 8-9; Isaiah 38; Colossians 2
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
NEHEMIAH 8-9: Nehemiah 7 dealt with listing the various families and temple workers who came back after exile. The last phrase of verse 73 in that chapter is the transition to the next events in chapter 8. 7:73 NLT So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Temple servants, and some of the common people settled near Jerusalem. The rest of the people returned to their own towns throughout Israel. Ezra Reads the Law In October, when the Israelites had settled in their towns, 8:1 all the people assembled with a unified purpose at the square just...
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NL-Day328 Nehemiah 7; Isaiah 37; Colossians 1
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
NEHEMIAH 7:Yesterday we read how Nehemiah stood up for all the common people in their financial difficulty. The nobles were rich, but everyone else was suffering— some even having no option but to sell their own children into slavery. Amazingly, he succeeded in convincing the nobles to forgive debts, and forced them take a solemn oath about that. The wall was finished in just 52 days, but Nehemiah was getting more and more threats from Sanballat and his cronies. ISAIAH 37: We heard the challenge and mocking of the Assyrian chief of staff— who brought the Assyrian King’s message to...
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NL-Day327 Nehemiah 5-6; Isaiah 36; Philippians 4
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
NEHEMIAH 5-6: Yesterday Nehemiah gave a listing of the people who rebuilt the wall. This included Shallum and his daughters, and two named goldsmiths, merchants, priests and Levites. The residents of the land opposed to the construction were threatening violence, so the people armed themselves and had men on guard at all times. Nehemiah and his men stayed fully armed at all times, and in the last verse of chapter 4 NLT says ‘even when they went for water’— which I take as a euphemism for going potty. That little phrase is very obscure in Hebrew, and GNT translates it in a different way....
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NL-Day326 Nehemiah 3-4; Isaiah 35; Philippians 3
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
NEHEMIAH 3-4:After Nehemiah’s wonderful prayer for Jerusalem, more than three months went by before the king noticed him looking sad. He says he had never before looked sad, so he must have waited. God must have been in the timing, because the king wonderfully agreed to help Nehemiah in every way. And the leaders in Jerusalem also were enthusiastic in their acceptance of his proposal to rebuild the walls. ISAIAH 35:Yesterday we heard that the land of Edom would become an eternal wasteland and a home for owls and other creatures. The land of Edom is in modern-day Jordan, and GoogleMaps shows...
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NL-Day325 Nehemiah 1-2; Isaiah 34; Philippians 2
Daily Bible Reading Phil Fields
NEHEMIAH 1:Yesterday we heard how the returned exiles responded to Ezra’s shock and demonstration of his sorrow, and his prayer of repentance. The book ended with the names of those who were found guilty of forbidden marriages. Note that these are not just names of the guilty, but names of those who repented and sacrificed to God. They are the names of the forgiven. In some ways— and not all, this shows the kind of seriousness with which church discipline spoken of in the New Testament should be conducted. (Matthew 18, 1 & 2 Corinthians) As I said just a few days ago, the book of...
info_outlineGENESIS 24:
In Genesis 22, Isaac asked, “I see that you have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide one.”
It is amazing to me that Moses adds the proverb, “even today people say, “On the Lord's mountain he provides.” In our time, we easily see how this points to the provision of the Lamb of God on the mountain called Calvary.
JOB 13:
As we saw in chapter 12, Job by now is pretty ticked off, starting off with,
“Yes, you are the voice of the people.
When you die, wisdom will die with you.
Note the irony Job points out:
4 Even my friends laugh at me now;
they laugh, although I am righteous and blameless;
but there was a time when God answered my prayers.
5 You have no troubles, and yet you make fun of me;
you hit someone who is about to fall.
6 But thieves and godless people live in peace,
though their only god is their own strength.
MARK 8b:
In yesterday's reading, Jesus fed the 4,000, and then the Pharisees demand a miraculous sign ‘showing God’s approval’— literally a sign ‘from heaven’. The reading yesterday ended with the disciples not understanding what Jesus meant by
15 “Take care,” Jesus warned them, “and be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.”
NLT Translation notes:
Mrk. 8:23 Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, [applying his own spit to//spitting on] the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?”
[The Greek does actually say that Jesus 'spit' in the man's eyes, but to spit in someone's face is so objectionable that more than one translation softens this a bit!]
27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “[What do people say as to the position/role I am assuming?”//Who do people say I am?”]
[Normally in our language if Jesus said, “Who do people say I am,” the answer would be “Jesus”. Jesus was not asking about his name, so we need a different question opener than “Who”.]
28 “Well,” they replied, “some say [you are taking the position of] John the Baptist, some say [you are replacing] Elijah, and others say you are [filling the role of] one of the other prophets.”
29 Then he asked them, “[But in your opinion, whose position am I taking?”//But who do you say I am?”]
…
31 Then Jesus began to tell them that [he— as] the Son of Man, must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He [said, “I will be] killed, but three days later [I will/he would] rise from the dead.
[The changes in this paragraph are made to show that Jesus is not talking about some third person named the Son of Man, but about himself. Even in English, a man seldom talks about himself using the pronoun 'he'.]
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.