Hosea 4:1-5:14 Dear RTB’ers, Hosea, continued. God condemns Israel for their earthly sins (see Hosea 4:2) and for their worship of false gods (see Hosea 4:12-13). My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge… (4:6a), a well-known, oft-cited verse. Fundamentally, it’s what RTB is all about. From its beginning some 15 years ago RTB has …
Author Archives: Fred
July 7 / Hosea 2
Hosea 2 Dear RTB’ers, Hosea, the middle chapter. As I read chapter 2, especially the beginning, I don’t think I agree with the STS authors in having chapters 1 and 3 yesterday and chapter 2 today. To me chapter 2 falls nicely after chapter 1 and provides a nice lead-in for chapter 3. Yesterday I …
July 6 / Hosea 1,3
Hosea 1,3 Dear RTB’ers, Hosea. Like Amos, Hosea was prophesying to the Northern Kingdom, Israel. Unlike Amos (and unlike all the rest of the major and minor prophets), Hosea was from the north and was speaking to his kinsmen. STS has us reading chapters 1 and 3 today, skipping chapter 2 until tomorrow, which is …
July 5 / Amos 8:4-9:15
Amos 8:4-9:15 Dear RTB’ers, Amos, the end. Judgment and redemption. The whole of today’s reading is judgment, until we get to the last three verses. Amos repeats one of his central themes in today’s first three verses – greed, dishonesty, and subjugation of the poor by the wealthy, followed by the horrible extent of God’s …
July 4 / Amos 7:1-8:3
Amos 7:1-8:3 Dear RTB’ers, In contrast to previous days’ readings about judgments against Israel and Judah and their neighbors, today chapter 7 is relatively straightforward – visions of locusts (as happened to the Egyptians), fire, and a plumb line. (Of particular interest to me…) He was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning …
July 3 / Amos 5-6
Amos 5-6 Dear RTB’ers, The Lord continues to rail against Israel and Judah – Israel in chapter 5 and Judah in chapter 6. Actually in chapter 6 it’s difficult to see whether the Lord is speaking to Judah alone or to the combined twelve tribes of Israel. When I think of Amos, it’s 5:21-24 that …
July 2 / Amos 3-4
Amos 3-4 Dear RTB’ers, I hope you all read John’s comment yesterday pointing to a post from last year. He provides good background for our reading of the prophets, even clarifying some of what I wrote yesterday. Also, in reading his post I was reminded that Amos was the first of the prophets that we …
July 1 / Amos 1-2
Amos 1-2 Dear RTB’ers, Thus far in RTB 2024 we’ve been fairly “linear” in our readings – Genesis and Exodus in the Old Testament and a gospel (Luke) and Acts in the New Testament. Now the STS authors have us jumping around a bit, dropping us into the middle of the Old Testament with Amos …
July 2024 Readings
Date Reading(s) Verses 01-Jul Amos 1-2 31 02-Jul Amos 3-4 28 03-Jul Amos 5-6 41 04-Jul Amos 7:1-8:3 20 05-Jul Amos 8:4-9:15 25 06-Jul Hosea 1,3 16 07-Jul Hosea 2 23 08-Jul Hosea 4:1-5:14 33 09-Jul Hosea 5:15-8:14 42 10-Jul Hosea 9-10 32 11-Jul Hosea 11-12 26 12-Jul Hosea 13-14 25 13-Jul Psalms 13-14 13 …
June 30 / Acts 1-28
Acts 1-28 Dear RTB’ers, No additional reading for today, just time for a bit of reflection. Today we finish the sixth month in our three-year journey through the Bible. Thus far we have read through Genesis, half of Exodus, Luke and Acts and have touched lightly on the Psalms. We’ve averaged just over 24 verses …