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May 3

Reading 1 - Deuteronomy 20

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v. 5-8 - This is not so much God's mercy toward those who are fearful of the battle, but, as they have been told that God will fight for them and make them victorious, this weaning process, especially verse 8, is one of keeping only the faithful and upright before God - those who really believed God that he would fight for them. The lessons for us are pretty obvious really! Deut.1:28, Jud.7:3, Luke 9:62. Rev.21:8 condemns the fearful and unbelieving, amongst others, to the second death.
Peter Cresswell
v.3,4 - Whilst in the life of the people of the time this was a literal battle, these words are surely true for us in every battle that we face, whether it be against adversaries or simply against our own desires. If we act in faith at all times, God is there with us. If God be for us, who can be against us?
Peter Cresswell
v. 2-4 From a human point of view one might expect that the military officers and captains would give this exhortation but no, it was the job of the priests because the battles were Yahweh's.
Peter Forbes
20:5 - 9 However it is the officers who ensure that those who fulfil certain conditions leave the battle field. From a fleshly point of view one would expect the officers to be encouraging the faint hearted and preventing those with 'excuses' from deserting the battle.

20:8 The principle of the fearful being sent back is see here. (Judges 7:3)
Peter Forbes

:19 The prohibition on felling the trees in the land in a time of battle was disregarded by Jehoram (2 Kings 3:25).
Peter Forbes

Reading 2 - Ecclesiastes 12

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v.13 - The ultimate wisdom is so simple. This is truly the conclusion of the whole book - all other activities (as tested by Solomon for us) have proved to be vanity. Let us learn from this without having to find out for ourselves. ch.5:7. 8:12, Deut.10:12, Ps.111:10.
Peter Cresswell
v.8 - These words are repeated so many times. The constant cry of the wise man reminds us over and over again that our own pursuits are worthless, and yet we don't listen. The biggest problem we have with Solomon's words is that we don't listen to them and heed them and we still put our energies into that which is vanity.
Peter Cresswell

This chapter speaks, in parable form, about the demise of the nation of Israel.

v2 'sun moon stars' Joel 2:10
v3 'grinders cease' Jeremiah 25:10
v4 daughters of music Jeremiah 25:10
v5 afraid of that which is high Deuteronomy 28:43
v5 fears in the way Jeremiah 6:25
v7 dust return Genesis 3:19

The almond tree [v5] echoes Aaron's rod [Numbers 17:8. 'Flourished 05006 actually means 'provoked' see Numbers 16:30. This use in Ecclesiastes is the only place where the word is not translated in a way which indicates rebellion or displeasure. Thus linking the rebellion of the people against the authority of the house of Aaron and the way that the people provoked God with their sins.
Peter Forbes
Notice the way in which Solomon, by the Spirit, echoes the words from early Genesis regarding the way in which Eve and Adam were enticed by the serpent.
Wise
Genesis 3:6
Good evil
Genesis 3:9

The wisdom of God is contrasted with the wisdom of men. We saw a similar thing in Proverbs. Especially Chapters 5 and 7
Peter Forbes

:1 The implication is that in old age it is more difficult to appreciate why things are happening in our lives and by implication it is more difficult to understand God's chastening hand. (I speak from ignorance not being old) - if this analysis is correct then the message is clear. We should not delay taking note of the chastening hand of God in our lives.
Peter Forbes
THE CONCLUSION
Solomon's mission in Ecclesiasties was to find the meaning of life. Many have tried but few have truly found it. He searched out everything, good and bad and discovered that almost everything in life was meaningless. The AV. describes it as vanity, other versions say that that meaningless life if like chasing the wind. But it is the 'almost' that we should be interested in. There is one thing in life that is not meaningless and it is summed up in Solomon's concluding remarks. "...here is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."
Nothing in life is worth anything unless it is eternal. God is eternal. He lives and has lived for ever. It is to him we are responsible and by his standards we will be judged. At that judgement comes our eternal destiny. Will we be accepted into his kingdom or be thrown from it? Will; we live for ever in peace and righteousness or be separated from God eternally and face eternal death? This is what is important. "Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole of man. Everything else is meaningless.
Robert Prins

Reading 3 - Acts 11 & 12

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11 v.18 - The vision was given to Peter, but his expounding of it convinced the others of what God wanted them to realise. This type of openmindedness is essential when dealing with the things of God. ch.13:47,48, 14:27, 15:3.
Peter Cresswell

11 v.2 The contention of ‘those of the circumcision’ with Peter marks the continuing problem of the integration of the gentiles into he first century Christian community. The first rumblings are seen in the issue of the Grecian and Hebrew widows [Acts 6:1] and rumbles along throughout the whole of the Acts and is seen also in the letters.

12 v.4 ‘Easter’ is more correctly the Passover.

12 v.12 ‘The house of Mary’ may well have become a meeting place in Jerusalem during the early days of the first century ecclesia. During the time that Jesus was in the tomb it would appear that Peter and John, at least, were staying in a house in Jerusalem. Mary, after going to the tomb and finding it empty, told Peter and John who ‘ran’ to the tomb [John 20:1-4] implying that they were staying quite close by the tomb.
Peter Forbes

11:19 Even though the persecution of Saul had ceased the benefits of that persecution were still being seen. Here we see brethren who had travelled out of the land of Israel to escape the persecution.

12:11 That peter was delivered by the angel is like David's deliverance from Achish - see David's comment about this event Psalm 34:7. There are a number of similarities between the two events. Herod wanted to kill peter with the sword. David was trapped by the Philistines. Peter had already been in trouble because he used a sword in the garden of Gethsemane. David had Goliath's sword with him when he went to Achish. Rhoda was accused of being 'mad' because she asserted Peter was outside. David was 'mad' before Achish.
Peter Forbes

11:1 'they that were of the circumcision' is not speaking of the apostles. It is a name to describe a faction - like those who claimed to be 'of Apollos' (1 Corinthians 1:12). One wonders how this faction viewed the command of Jesus 'go ye into all the world and preach (Mark 16:15) and ' ye shall be witnesses ... unto the uttermost parts to the world' (Acts 1:8). Maybe the gave the restricted meaning 'land (of Israel)' to the word translated 'earth' indicating a narrow view of preaching. If we ever think to be restrictive in our preaching, being selective in whom we speak to for whatever reason we must remember that if the apostles had been restrictive in their preaching we would not be 'in Christ'.

12:4 That Peter was imprisoned at Passover - the same time of the year as Jesus' death, might have caused Peter to wonder about what Jesus had said of Peter's death (John 21:18-19).
Peter Forbes

PERSECUTION

Persecution is good for us. Persecution has been the savior of Christianity more than once. Persecution is good for Christians. There are a good many places around the world right now where Christians are facing persecution. Where I live there is no persecution, but others are facing torture, prison and death because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, those that stand in the face of persecution have strengthened their faith, and have a much stronger faith than those of us who have never faced the same trials. Persecution sorts out those who are committed from those who are not. God used it to spread the gospel, which is how the church in Antioch started. If believers hadn't fled Jerusalem because of persecution, Christianity might have been stuck there, but thanks to the spread of believers, Christ has been preached even to us. A much bigger danger to our faith than persecution, is apathy. Many people facing persecution for their faith do not have Bibles and they hunger for them. Many of us do have Bibles and cannot be bothered reading them. Let us not be apathetic, but make the most of any freedom we have to spread the gospel and strengthen faith.
Thank God for persecution!
Robert Prins