April 29, 2017
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Reading along with us in Genesis? Here’s today’s reading:
Genesis 49 (ESV)
Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.
2 “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,
listen to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,
preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4 Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
because you went up to your father’s bed;
then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons of violence are their swords.
6 Let my soul come not into their council;
O my glory, be not joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel… Continue Reading
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Kind of a bummer that on his fathers dearh bed Reuben is told he is unstable as water….
I read 1 Peter 2 and 3 this morning. Now that we have been redeemed by God, only by His grace through our faith in the resurrected Christ, Peter emphasizes our obedience to God in both our outward and inward lives — before all people, and no matter how we are treated — and ties our inward and outward holiness to who we ARE. Our identity is in Christ, not in ourselves, and certainly not in who we were.
Peter says that we are:
1) Newborn babies in need of the “pure milk of the word” (see the NASB) to grow (1 Peter 2:2)
2) Living stones being “built up into a spiritual house” for a royal priesthood, with Jesus as the cornerstone of that house (1 Peter 2:5-6)
3) A chosen race (1 Peter 2:9)
4) A royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9)
5) A holy nation (1 Peter 2:9)
6) A people for God’s own possession (1 Peter 2:9)
7) The people of God (1 Peter 2:10)
8) A people who have received mercy (1 Peter 2:10)
9) Aliens and strangers (NASB) in this world (1 Peter 2:11)
10) Free men who must never use our freedom to “cover up” evil (1 Peter 2:16)
11) Bondslaves (NASB) of God (1 Peter 2:16)
12) Called to follow Christ’s sinless (!) example and follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21-23)
13) Dead to sin (1 Peter 2:24)
14) Alive to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24)
15) Healed by Jesus’ wounds (1 Peter 2:24)
16) Straying sheep who have been returned to our Shepherd (1 Peter 2:25)
17) Heirs of the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7)
In keeping with obedience and godly living, Peter addresses baptism at the end of Chapter 3 (1 Peter 3:21), tells us that baptism is directly tied to salvation, and uses the picture of Noah (counted as righteous by God before the flood) and his family being saved (“brought safely through the water”) while the rest of humanity is destroyed (1 Peter 3:18-20). So this is water baptism Peter is talking about (see Acts 8:35-38 and Acts 10:44-48). I’m thankful for Noah’s obedience, which HAD to be according to his faith in God. If Noah had not believed God, he would’ve disobeyed God’s instructions to build the ark, and he and his family would’ve been destroyed along with everyone else. I’m thinking about this today, how faith and obedience are absolutely intertwined.
Jacob giving out blessings on his sons, though for some it was more a curse, sadly.
Reading Daily – Posting weekly – Now reading in Mark
I’ve been struck by the number of times Jesus was criticized and by whom:
Mark 2:17 – Pharisees – Questioned him for eating with sinners. “Why does he eat with sinners and tax collectors.”
Mark 2:23 – Pharisees – Criticized Jesus for picking grains of corn. “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
Mark 3:21 – Criticized by his own family, “They went to take charge of him, for they said, He is out of his mind.”
Mark 3:22 – Teachers of the Law – “He is possessed by Beelzebub!” Accused of being of the devil.
Mark 5:16- The people who witnessed the demons cast out. They were afraid and (angry?) maybe about the pigs. “Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.”
Mark 5:40 – Mourners – Jesus told them the child as asleep. “But they laughed at Him.”
Mark 6:2 – People at the synagogue – marveled by his miracles and wisdom. “They took offense at him.”
Mark 7:2 Teachers of the Law – Criticized for eating with unwashed hands.
Mark 14:4 People at the feast – Critical of woman “wasting” perfume on Jesus when it could be sold for the poor. I wonder if it was Judas, the keeper of the purse. In verse 10 Judas left and went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them for money.
Each time Jesus taught that keeping rules without a relationship with God leads ultimately to rebellion; holding to the form of religion yet denying its power.
Catching up on posting here in Genesis…anyone else struck by the fact that many of the blessings that Jacob bestows on his sons are negative? Also interesting to consider how much of this is based on God’s revelation or Jacob’s understanding of his sons….
That was a bit disturbing for me, Peter! Seems like curses for more than a few of them!