Aug 3, 2022
JEREMIAH
26-27:
In
yesterday’s reading, some important points were revealed: The
people the Lord was about to send into exile to the North would
return to Him wholeheartedly and God would bring them back to their
land. God would put it into their hearts to return to him! Those
remaining in the land at the point of exile and their king would be
scattered, cursed, and vanish. The exiles would come back after 70
years, and afterward Babylon would have its turn to be punished and
would remain a ruin forever— as in fact it is! That 70 year time
was important to the prophet Daniel when he discovered it when
reading this book!
PROVERBS 1:
In our poetry readings this year, we
started with Job, then Psalms, and now we enter the wisdom
literature with Proverbs. Solomon wrote and compiled these proverbs
around the year 950 BC, in the height of Israel’s golden age. We
will hear the theme statement of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes today in
verse 7 (NLT), “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true
knowledge.” There is a clear division in the organization of this
book. The first 9 chapters are highly thematic and are especially
directed to giving wisdom to Solomon’s sons. Then there are
proverbs giving every-day advice to everyone, followed by advice to
rulers. The very last chapter is the one that extols the
blessedness of having a wise wife.
I thank Kayla Gray for reading the parts of Lady Widsom throughout
the first part of Proverbs. Kayla and Austin Gray, with their five
children, are members of our church, and (currently in 2024) are
preparing for roles with Pioneer Bible Translators in
Dallas.
1CORINTHIANS 8:
Summarizing important points about our position
that we have heard in 1 Corinthians 6-7: Remember that we are
joined as one with Christ— as in the vine and branch metaphors. We
are ‘of one spirit with the Lord’. (6:17) We each have become the
‘temple of God's Spirit’. (6:19) We are in the humble yet honored
position of being ‘slaves’ of the Lord, the King of Kings. (7:22)
We are not our own. We have been bought with a high price. (6:20
and 7:23)
GNT Translation notes:
Jer. 27:16 Then I told the priests and the people [what//that] the Lord had said: “Do not listen to the prophets who say that the Temple treasures will soon be brought back from Babylonia. They are lying to you.
19 King Hezekiah and the people
of Judah did not put Micah to death. Instead, Hezekiah honored the
Lord and tried to win his favor. And the Lord changed his mind
about the disaster that he said he would bring on them. Now [if we
do what you say, we’ll//we are about to] bring a terrible disaster
on ourselves.”
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Prov. 1:28 Then you will call for [me,] wisdom,
but I will not answer. You may look for me everywhere, but you will
not find me.
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ICor. 8:9 Be careful, however, not to let your
freedom of action make those who are weak in [their belief in
Christ//the faith] fall into sin.
13
So then, if food makes a believer sin, I will never eat meat again,
so as not to make a [fellow] believer fall into
sin.