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August 14

Reading 1 - 1Kings 9

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v.3 - Quite clearly it was not the physical building that would last for ever, but the kingdom and the power of God that was represented in the temple. This temple lasts for ever only through Christ, and through him we too are and will be part of its everlasting nature. Eph.2:21, 4:13-16.
Peter Cresswell
v.22 provides an interesting contrast to yesterday's Jeremiah comment
Peter Cresswell

v.25 - These are the passages where we are told that 'three times in a year' the males were to present themselves. Exodus 23:14,17 Deuteronomy 16:16. And we see the only occasion during the time of the kings when this is recorded as having happened. 1 Kings 9:25 2 Chronicles 8:13
Peter Forbes

9:7-9 In quoting Deuteronomy Solomon, by the Spirit, I showing Israel how that the words of Moses have been fulfilled in their lives because of their faithlessness. This, then became an exhortation and warning for the future.

Proverb and byword among all people
Deuteronomy 28:37
why hath the Lord done thus unto this land
Deuteronomy 29:24-26
because they forsook the Lord their God who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt
Deuteronomy 29:25

Peter Forbes

:4 In calling Solomon to 'walk before me' God is asking Solomon to be like Abraham (Genesis 17:1) Whilst Abraham walked through the land Solomon was settled in that same land. The 'walk' was not a physical walking through the land. It was a way of life.
Peter Forbes
1Ki 9:13 ‘Cabul’ we often too readily assume means something like ‘disgusting’. We should first remember Hiram’s character, he was ‘ever a lover of David’ and had worked for Solomon for 20yrs

(v1). See 2Sa 5:11, 1Ki 5:1-2, 7-8, 10. I suggest his unhappiness at these 20 cities (one for each year of his service to Solomon v1) was not because of any shortcoming in the cities but because he saw them as implying ‘payment for services rendered’, service which had been readily and freely given out of love for David and his God. Now see Ps 105:18 where the same Heb. word cabul’ [03525] is translated as ‘fetters’ [03521] which had been applied to Joseph when in Egypt.

Hiram sees these cities as ‘fetters’ binding him as a slave to Solomon. So, as you cannot refuse a gift of cities, he sends Solomon payment for them, he is no longer under obligation. For all Solomon’s wisdom he was not always good at ‘man-management’ and could cause offence. We must too learn to read peoples feelings and motives.
Derek Palmer

Reading 2 - Jeremiah 35

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v.14 - The Rechabites, who were Kenites, and therefore included into the Children of Israel because of their relation by marriage to Moses (Judges 1:16), were the descendants of Rechab who was the father of Jonadab. They were obviously a people with great regard to tradition and the like, as they had, for some generations, kept this vow of drinking no wine and being nomadic in their nature. They are then used as an example to the rest of Israel.
Peter Cresswell
v.8-10 tells us that these folk lived a very strict life - a life of discipline and self-denial.
Peter Cresswell
The way in which Yahweh uses the Rechabites to instruct the men of Judah is a powerful lesson for us. Would God be able to point us out as examples of obedience to the will of our Father for others to copy?
Peter Forbes
35:7-9 The way in which the Rechabites dwelt as strangers - for that is what is implied in being tent dwellers - shows that they held to their life style because, like Abraham, they realised they were strangers and pilgrims (Hebrews 11:13) which was a very pertinent point for those who did not want to go to Babylon.
Peter Forbes
In learning that Jeremiah is speaking in the time of Jehoiakim we have gone back in time from the previous chapters. Jeremiah's prophecy is not recorded in chronological order though obviously his message was delivered chronologically there must be a reason for the ordering of the chapters in the prophecy differently from the order in which the words were spoken. Whilst I have no explanation for this we would be better employed finding that reason rather than trying to 'organise' Jeremiah's prophecy into the 'correct' order.
Peter Forbes
OBEDIENCE
One of the qualities God looks for in his people, almost above all else, is obedience. Several times in the Bible we read quotes like, "To obey is better than sacrifice." In the time of Jeremiah there was just about no-one who obeyed God. But one family, the Recabites, were an exception to the rule.
Their Father had given them some instructions that they must not drink wine, build houses, plant vineyards, but always live as nomads in tents. The Recabites did exactly as they were commanded. When Jeremiah was told to test them and make them drink wine, they refused, choosing instead to obey their father.
So God lifted them up as an example to faithless Israel showing that the Recabites were commended and blessed for obeying their natural father, when the children of Israel wouldn't obey either their God or their natural parents. The Recabites were given the promise of serving God for ever because of their faithfulness.
Obedience is still that quality that God wants from us. So let us follow the example of the Recabites, to be committed, obedient and faithful for the rest of our lives.
Robert Prins

Reading 3 - Mark 9

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v.3 - 'shining' and 'white as snow' link us back to Psa.104:1,2 and Dan.7:9, and forward to the resurrected Christ in Matt.28:3, Paul's vision in Acts 9:3-5 and Cornelius' vision in Acts 10:30.
Peter Cresswell

In each gospel that speaks of it, the transfiguration immediately follows the promise of not tasting death before seeing the kingdom of the Son of man. And not only so, but Peter:- 2 Peter 1:16. When speaking of this scene, declared that it was a manifestation of the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He says that the word of prophecy was confirmed to them by the view of His majesty; so that they knew that whereof they spoke, in making known to them the power and the coming of Christ, having beheld His majesty. In fact it is precisely in this sense that the Lord speaks of it here... It was a sample of the glory in which He would come, given to confirm the faith of His disciples in the prospect of His death which He had just announced to them. 'The Son of man coming in His kingdom' is a reference to the vision of:- Daniel 7:13,14
Peter Forbes

:12 When Peter, James and John, said, speaking of Elijah, that he 'cometh first and restoreth all things' we have a phrase which is picked up in the early preaching of the apostles - [Acts 4:21] The 'restoration' spoken of the is the establishing again of the kingdom of God - this was the issue in the minds of Jesus after his resurrection [Acts 1:6]. That the kingdom is to be 'restored' of course, indicates that it used to exist, which it did when the kingdom of Israel was on the earth.
Peter Forbes
:4 There is only one other place in Scripture where Moses and Elijah are mentioned together (Malachi 4:4-5) which may well have fuelled the disciples questioning about the coming of Elijah (9:11)
Peter Forbes
What does Jesus mean about cutting off the hand, or the foot, or gouging out the eye? Here in verses 42-50 Jesus repeats the same symbol three times with different parts of the body, and each time quotes a passage from Isaiah 66v24 "Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched".

Jesus uses two symbols to demonstrate the destruction that will come upon someone who causes "one of these little ones to stumble". Being thrown into the water (v42), or being thrown into the fire (v43, 45, 47). Earlier in the chapter, we have a boy who had been thrown into the fire and water by an evil spirit to destroy him (v22).

The malady of the people of Israel, and the boy, was the same. The Israelites were going to be destroyed by the judgment that God was about to pour upon them for their sinfulness. We know this is the context, because Jesus quotes Isaiah 66 which speaks of this. Likewise, the boy was going to die at the hands of this spirit. Both of them desperately needed the intervention of Christ.
Robin de Jongh