Aug 4, 2022
JEREMIAH 28-29:
In
yesterday's reading we moved from more poetic content to the story
of Jeremiah being opposed by priests, other prophets, and royal
officials. Remember that God has promised that he will protect
Jeremiah in the face of opposition, and this certainly was put to
the test. At the end of yesterday's reading, we heard how Jeremiah
prophesied that more valuable articles would be taken away from the
Temple, and that they would be brought back eventually. When we
read the book of Ezra, we will hear that this prophecy was
fulfilled.
PROVERBS 2:
Yesterday's reading in Proverbs contained the
first speech of Lady Wisdom, the personification of God's wisdom.
Just as an incidental point and because we have 1-2 Indonesian
listeners, I would like to explain: Because personification is
shown by ‘she’ and ‘her’ in English, these portions come out poorly
when translated literally into Indonesian, which doesn't keep track
of masculine/feminine gender. An added problem is that the
Indonesian language seems to never use personification. But even in
English, it does seem weird when the abstract noun Wisdom builds a
house, calls out to people who pass by and does other human
actions.
1CORINTHIANS 9:
In 1
Corinthians 8, Paul began his explanation about whether Christians
can eat food left over from sacrifices to idols. To me, it is
another sign of inspiration and God-given wisdom that Paul did not
just give the rule to answer this question.
GNT Translation notes:
Jer. 28:15 [After telling
Hananiah that, I added,//Then I told Hananiah this, and added,]
“Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you, and you are making
these people believe a lie.
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1Cor. 9:22 Among the weak [0?//in faith] I
become weak like one of them, in order to win them. So I become all
things to all people, that I may save some of them by whatever
means are possible.
[Greek lacks the words ‘in faith’ here. The
meaning seems to be weak in regard to believing the full
implications of how Christ fulfilled the Jewish law for those who
are joined as one with him.]