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August
1
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Reading
1 - 2Samuel 18
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here to Listen
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v.33
- The abject grief and emotion caused by this incident (which continues
in the next chapter) is very worthy of our quiet reflection and meditation.
Even though David's experiences generally were far bigger than ours ever
will be, even so we can find great comfort in the fact that his emotions
are recorded for us so graphically, so that we can relate to his situations.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.10
- It seems that often when we hear a person described as 'a certain man'
or 'a certain woman' then this is a person that is doing God's will, or
at least standing for good in his or her actions. Maybe this is always the
case. I haven't checked. This man, whose name is not disclosed here, would
not lift his hand against the king's son, or more specifically against the
King's decree. Joab, however, did not share his scruples.
Peter
Cresswell |
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v.18
- Even though this part of the record says that Absalom had no children
we know [2
Samuel 14:27]
that he had 'three
sons and one daughter'.
Peter Forbes |
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In the way that David had commanded his men not to harm Absalom (2
Samuel 18:5) he created a terrible problem for them. He was the cause
of all the trouble. So one man listened to David's request and left Absalom
hanging in the tree. Another - Joab - disregarded the command of the king.
He was a military man who knew the implications of Absalom's uprising. Maybe
they should have left things for God to deal with?
Peter Forbes |
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:21-30
Ahimaaz's desire was to minimise the trauma to David about the death of
Absalom. Cushi, on the other hand, simply passed on the message. Both were
able to give a message but Ahimaaz thought about how to give the message
in the kindest way. This is a lesson for us. It is not only what we say
that is important. The way that we say things is equally important.
Peter Forbes |
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Reading
2 - Jeremiah 22
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here to Listen
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v.4
- right to the end, God continues to offer salvation to these people under
the covenant relationship that they had with him, if only they would keep
their side of the covenant. Time after time the prophets (especially Jeremiah)
bring these warnings and time after time they are ignored. We see this trait
of human nature so clearly in others, so let us look carefully to ourselves.
Are there ways in which we continually ignore the warnings God gives us?
Isa.28:16,
Mark 16:16, Luke 8:12, John 3:15-18,36.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.5
- Scripture is full of these sworn guarantees from God of the consequences
of wrongdoing before Him, and yet throughout the ages mankind has never
learnt. We need to remember this before we start thinking of ourselves as
above these things. We are cast in the same mould as all of the wrongdoers
in the past and need to take heed.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.24
- 'as
... I live saith the LORD' is a mark of the certainty of Yahweh acting
on his own behalf. [Numbers
14:28 Isaiah 49:18 Jeremiah 22:24 Zephaniah 2:9]
Peter Forbes |
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22:2,
4, 30 The threefold mention of the throne of David should have caused
the king to realise that he had a responsibility to reign that there would
always be a man on David's throne. The warning of the prophet was that if
he did not reign properly he would die childless (22:30)
and so the line of kings sitting on David's throne would cease.
Peter Forbes |
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:11
'Shallum' is in fact 'Jehoahaz' - see RV margin. He was taken captive by
Pharaoh Neco (Ezekiel
19:4 2 Chronicles 36:4)
Peter Forbes |
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Reading
3 - Romans 9
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here to Listen
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| Summary
of the Book Old
Testament References |
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v.7
- There would be likely to be those who claimed covenant relationship with
God via Abraham but not through Isaac amongst his readership. His message
to them is that although they were not part of the chosen people then, they,
along with the whole of the rest of the world, are now able to become part
of the new (and better) covenant. This is the ultimate fulfilment of the
promise made to the seed of Ishmael in Gen.12:3.
See also Gen21:12,
Heb11:18.
Peter Cresswell |
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v.33
- As it is written, "Behold, I lay in Sion A STUMBLING STONE
AND ROCK OF OFFENCE: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
Draws on the following passages: Isaiah
8:14, 28:16
The UPPER CASE text is from Isaiah 8, as the integration below shows.
Romans
9:33 Behold,
I lay in Sion
Isaiah
28:16 Behold,
I lay in Zion
Romans
9:33 a stumblingstone
and rock of offence:
Isaiah
8:14 a stone
of stumbling and for a rock of offence
Romans
9:33 and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Isaiah
28:16 he that
believeth shall not make haste.
Thus
we can gain an insight into how two areas of Isaiah speak, prophetically,
of the same event. This use in Romans allows us to conclude that the two
passages in Isaiah are, indeed, related to each other. This will help
us in our studies in Isaiah.
Peter Forbes
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9:7
A recurring problem that the Jews had was that they thought that simply
being Abraham's descendants guaranteed salvation and God's approval . Jesus
had to reprove this view John
8:39. The use of Genesis
21:12 shows that it is those who are of the promise who are the seed,
not the ones of the flesh. Notice how Paul :8
speaks of the children of the flesh - again he is reminding us of the point
we saw in chapter 7.
Peter Forbes |
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The
force of this chapter is that 'election' not right marks the way to God.
Israel thought their 'election' was by right. In reality they, like the
gentiles have no inherent rights before God. God confers benefits on both
Jew and gentile.
Peter Forbes |
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