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June 23

Reading 1 - 1Samuel 2

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v.1-10 - Notice that Hannah's prayer is entirely one of praise. How often do you pray in this way? I don't. My prayers always move on to an expression of my desires. There is a lot to learn from this woman's prayer.
Peter Cresswell
v.3 - Here is a great insight into our nature. We do indeed talk proudly and with great arrogance. We judge our fellow men by the standards we know to be right but we don't judge ourselves because we lack knowledge of our own failings in the arrogance of thinking that we are getting it right. We do well to remember these words of prayerful Hannah to keep our thinking in perspective. It is God that judges at all times. He is the only one with the knowledge to do so.
Peter Cresswell

v.5 The idea of the hungry being fed is seen as:- 'he hath filled the hungry with good things' [Luke 1:53] The idea 'borne seven' is picked up [Jeremiah 15:9] to show the desolation of the priesthood at the time of the captivity. Remember that Jeremiah was a priest.
v.6 The Lord kills and makes alive is a quotation from [Deuteronomy 32:39]
v.31 The sons of Eli were evil, therefore Yahweh promises that he will replace the sons of Eli [Levi] with a faithful priesthood. In fact this turns out to be Zadok as explained in [1 Kings 2:27 - 35]
The genealogy is thus:

The removal of Abiathar is the fulfilment of 1 Samuel 2:31
Peter Forbes
2:9 He will keep the feet is quoted in Ecclesiastes 5:1 indicating the sense of the phrase. Samuel was to be a faithful priest who ordered the way that the people walked.
Peter Forbes
:1 'my heart … Lord' is quoted by Mary (Luke 1:46)
Peter Forbes

Reading 2 - Isaiah 48

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v. 21 - The concept of streams in the desert is quite common in Isaiah [30:25, 35:6,7, 41:17-18, 43:19,20, 49:10], but this passage relates it clearly back to the care that God had for his people in the Wilderness. The implications of this for us as we go through this wilderness of our lives in preparation for entry into his promised kingdom are quite clear.
Peter Cresswell
v.10 - Having pointed out the pride and vanity of their lives, God now tells them that He has chosen them in the furnace of affliction. Here is the fire by which our faith is tried - the fire of chastening, which can either build and purify or destroy, depending on our reaction. It is the bad things in our lives that have the greatest potential to humble us and therefore the greatest effect on our standing before God, but only if we let them build us.
Peter Cresswell
v.1 truth and righteousness were not seen in Israel in the days of Isaiah. However Zechariah, contrasting the times of Isaiah, promises a time when this will be reversed. [Zechariah 8:8] further developing the way in which Isaiah's words have been fulfilled at the time of the return from Babylon. We made a similar point in Isaiah 40:2.
Peter Forbes
Here is another link with Zechariah's prophecy

48:10 I have refined Zechariah 13:9
Peter Forbes

:16 Against the background of Israel's sinfulness Isaiah says that his words (God's words) have not been spoken in secret. Jesus makes the same claim (John 18:20) before his accusers - sinful rebellious leaders.
Peter Forbes

Reading 3 - Revelation 5 & 6

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5 v. 2 - Is this a reference back to Isa. 29:11,12? It makes no difference whether man is learned or not - he only has access to the book of God through Christ, the Lamb that was (and is) worthy to open the book of life for us.
Peter Cresswell

5 v.10 The redeemed sing a new song because they have been made 'kings and priests'. This is our calling. As such our life now is the training ground for priesthood. The priest in Israel was able to understand the needs of the offerer because he was human as the offer [see Hebrews 5:1-2]. Thus as we learn how to deal with our own weakness now we will be able to succour the mortal population in the Millennium. So our chastening and our weaknesses are not just 'chance happenings' They are ordained by our Father that we will be able to minister in the age to come.

6 v.15-17 During the sixth seal, when 'the wrath of the lamb' is seen the 'important' men on the earth try to hide from that wrath. On the other hand the servants of God are invited to hide until the indignation be overpast [Isaiah 26:20] showing that Yahweh's judgements are not indiscriminate. He cares for His children.
Peter Forbes

lion of ... Judah
Gen 49:9
root of
Isa 11:1
four beasts
Eze 1:5
lamb as it had been slain
Isa 53:7


The way in which these four passages have been drawn together by the Spirit in Revelation 5 is most interesting.

The blessings of Jacob are linked with the promise of the righteous king (Isaiah 11) who is a manifestation of the glory of God (Ezekiel 1) who has this wonderful exalted position because he has been raised from the dead (Isaiah 53)

and I saw ... white horse
Zech 1:8 6:3
horse that was red
Zech 1:8 6:2
a black horse
Zech 6:2
a pale horse
Zech 1:8 6:3


The cluster of quotations from Zechariah focuses our attention on the horsemen of Zechariah. Consequently, if we understand the horsemen of Zechariah we will appreciate the significance of the horses in Revelation 6. Zechariah explains what each one is to do.
Peter Forbes

5:13-14 So the elders again state their adoration of the risen Jesus as we saw in Chapter 4.

6:10 Do we regularly echo this cry? Are we longing for the return of Christ - or is life too comfortable and are there so many tings we want to do that the coming of Christ is of secondary importance to us?
Peter Forbes