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February
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Reading 1 - Exodus 5 & 6
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Peter Cresswell
5 v.4 - I don't know about you, but I tend to forget that Moses and Aaron were not leaders at this time and that therefore they risked the wrath of Pharaoh on every visit to him because they had left their work as slaves. Here Pharaoh sends them back to their burdens, which they had just like the other Israelites.
Peter Cresswell
EXODUS
CHAPTER 6 - quotations from
Genesis 15 & 17
v.2
I am the LORD Genesis
15:7
v.3
God Almighty Genesis
17:1
v.4
established my covenant Genesis
17:7
v.4
the land of Canaan Genesis
17:8
v.4
land ... strangers Genesis
17:8
v.8
I am the LORD Genesis
15:7
The language of this chapter draws heavily on the language of Genesis
17 in which God promises the land of Canaan to Abraham and his seed.
God is showing that the return from Egypt is a fulfilment - though not
the complete fulfilment of some of the promises to Abraham.
This area of Exodus draws heavily on the Genesis 15 & 17 area.
The matter of Moses not circumcising his son and the actions and words
of Zipporah make far more sense against this background use of Genesis.
Peter
Forbes
Peter Forbes
5:2 Moses could be forgiven for thinking that Israel would not believe him because they did not believe that he was the deliverer when he slew the Egyptian 40 years earlier - see Acts 7:25.
Chapter
6 - Genesis
15:16 said that Israel would 'come out' in the fourth generation.
The exodus was a fulfilment of those words so we should not be surprised
to realise that Moses was the fourth generation
1 Levi
2 Kohath
3 Amram
4 Moses
Peter
Forbes
They say that the night is always darkest just before the dawn. It was like that for Israel when Moses arrived back in Egypt ready to deliver them. They had been in slavery for as long as they could remember and at last the time had come when they were about to be made free and taken to the promised land. No doubt spirits were lifted as the news got around and they thought that they were about to walk free.
But instead of things getting better, they got worse. Pharaoh got angry and they were forced to make the same amount of bricks in the same amount of time but they also had to provide their own straw. Their anticipation turned to bitterness and anger against Moses. But nothing happens without God allowing it to happen. I wonder if it was to make them appreciate their escape even more than if they had just got up and gone from their "normal" slavery. The blacker the night, the brighter the day seems to be.
It may be that our trials serve the same purpose. When things go from bad to worse we can rejoice in the fact that when our trials are over or when the kingdom comes, the day will be truly bright.
Robert Prins
Exodus
6:3 - "but by my name" - The Treasury of
Scriptural Knowledge has the following comment on this verse... "If Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, did not know the name Jehovah, then Moses must have
used it in Genesis by prolepsis, or anticipation. Mr. Locke and others
read it interrogatively, for the negative particle,
"not," has frequently this power in Hebrew: "I appeared unto Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, and by my name Jehovah
[Yahweh] was I not also made known unto them?"
Both Rotherham's and Webster's translations also support this rendering
of this verse. The name of God [Yahweh] was, it seems, known and used
by the Patriarchs - e.g.. Genesis
15:2,7,
- but the full purpose of the name is only here revealed. Though
they may have known and used the name Yahweh, the patriarchs were more
familiar with the title of God - "Ail Shaddai" - 'the power that nourishes
and/or destroys.'
Cliff
York
Reading 2 - Psalms 58 & 59
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59v.8
- The concept of God's derisive laughter seems odd to us, but we need
to try to strip away our human thinking about the motivation for such
an outburst from God's righteous reasoning. It is a common idea - Ps.2:4,
37:13, Prov.1:26.
Peter Cresswell
58 v.3 - We read a lot about those that are chosen being known from birth, but this is also true of those who are not. Each of our decisions, and therefore our ultimate destiny, is known to God who lives in eternity and is not bounded as we are by time. He therefore cannot help but know what each of us, good or evil, will do with our lives. This doesn't alter the fact that we don't know, so it does not remove our free will in determining our own lives.
Peter Cresswell
Psalm
59 - When it is realised that this Psalm relates to the events of
1
Samuel 19:11 the use of the word 'evening :6,
14 takes on quite a specific significance for this was the time when
Saul's servants were around David's house seeking to catch him.
Peter
Forbes
58:1-2 David is criticising a group of individuals who appear to be giving right judgement but in reality are deceitful. This is a great danger that we should avoid. It is so easy to say things to please men but in reality we have another agenda.
59:16
In speaking about singing in the morning we can see that this Psalm was
written after David had time to reflect on the way in which God had delivered
him from those who compassed the house to kill him.
Peter
Forbes
Psalm 58 - The superscription and proper beginning of this Psalm begins "Altaschith, Michtam of David, " - Al-taschith means "do not destroy."
Psalm 58:11 - "Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth" - Or, 'Truly there is a God that judges in the earth.' In other words, the course of things demonstrates that the affairs of the world are not left to chance, to fate, or to mere physical laws. There are results of human conduct which show that there is a "Mind" that presides over all; that there is One who has a purpose and plan of his own; that there is One who "administers" government, ultimately rewarding the good, and punishing the wicked. There is a clear proof of divine interposition in those affairs, and a clear proof that, on the whole, and in the final result, that interposition is favourable to righteousness and opposed to sin. No man, in other words, can take the "facts" which occur on the earth, and explain them satisfactorily, except on the supposition that there is a God. A further interesting thought, revolves around the fact that the word "God" is in the plural, "Gods" or 'Elohim' - not in the sense of a Trinity, but confirming what the apostle Paul reveals in 1 Corinthians 6:2 - that we shall administer the affairs that the angels now minister, in the age to come - Hebrews 2:5.
Psalm 59 - The superscription and proper beginning of this Psalm begins "Altaschith, Michtam of David, when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him" - 1 Samuel 19:10-12.
v11
- "slay them not" - This appears to contradict v13,
"consume them in wrath" - but the problem disappears
when it is realised that the word "slay" should be rendered
"pity." Like Jesus, David was continually hounded by
those who wished to see him dead - though a man after God's own heart,
many of his countrymen would not see the desirableness of having this
one reign over them. If Christ, or David, were walking among us today
- would we be of those who support them... or would we be among those
who hound them?? I wonder!
Cliff
York
Reading 3 - Romans 10 & 11
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Peter Cresswell
10:12
'there is no difference' marks the unity of believers into the
body of Christ. This theme of unity between Jew and gentile is all pervading
in the letters - see in particular Ephesians. The absence of unity is
the worst scourge that we can bring upon ourselves.
11:3
'I am left alone ...' was the cry of Elijah. However he was ignorant of
the 7000 who were holding fast to the truth as well. A warning that we
should not get despondent if we feel that we are plowing a lonely furrow
in preaching. God knows about all those who 'fear the Lord' [Malachi
3:16]
Peter Forbes
ch.10 - A key word in this chapter is 'righteousness' As you read the chapter underline the word and it's related words. This will help you to understand the structure of the chapter.
In asking
the question 11:1
'Hath God cast off His people
' Paul is pre empting a gentile who
might wish to dismiss the Jew on the basis of what Paul has demonstrated
that the Old Testament says about them.
Peter Forbes
Derek Palmer
Romans 11 - The apostle having spoken of the calling of the Gentiles, and given a hint of the perverseness of the Jews in slighting the Gospel, proceeds in this chapter to treat of their rejection; in which he shows, that it was not universal, and then points at the end and design of God in the casting them off; and exhorts the Gentiles not to insult them, but to learn to be humble and cautious by what was done to them. He foretells the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, which will be general, so that their rejection is not final; and highlights the whole dispensation of God, both with respect to Jews and Gentiles, into the unsearchable wisdom and sovereign will of God.
v22 - What a blessing it is to know that the God who has called us to become part of His Divine Family here on earth, is so perfectly balanced in all that He is and does. No wonder Paul's breath is taken away in v33-36 as he considers our God and sums up this brilliant exposition of Israel's part in God's supreme purpose.
The
Golden Thread:- God's purpose and character are bound
up in His great name of Yahweh Elohim of Israel [He who will become
the Mighty Ones of those who have power over God]. Because God is a
Father first to His children, He hears the prayers of those who He deems
the righteous and those who are His by calling - first the nation in Exodus
6:5, then the man of God in Psalm
59:16, and finally the chosen in Romans
11:26.
Cliff
York