I Samuel 4:1b-22 Dear RTB’ers, Israel goes to battle with the Philistines and is defeated, so they figure that they need to bring the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh to the battlefield so that they will gain an advantage – not recognizing that the Ark and God are not the same. The Ark is …
Author Archives: Fred
June 6 / I Samuel 3:1-4:1a
I Samuel 3:1-4:1a Dear RTB’ers, Today we meet Samuel, beyond what we have already read of his birth. It’s an interesting story of the Lord calling three times and Samuel going to Eli each time, with Eli recognizing on the third call that it must be the Lord. So then the Lord speaks words regarding …
June 5 / I Samuel 2:12-36, 3:11-14
I Samuel 2:12-36, 3:11-14 Dear RTB’ers, We met Samuel yesterday, but he has not yet risen to the place where he will become Israel’s “leader”, the last of the judges, if you will. So we are still dealing with “Every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Hophni and Phineas are certainly doing …
June 4 / I Samuel 2:1-11
I Samuel 2:1-11 Dear RTB’ers, I suspect that many Bible readers are familiar with “Hannah’s prayer” primarily because of it being cited in relation to Mary’s prayer, “the Magnificat” in Luke 1:46-55 (as our STS note mentions). That result is not unexpected, in that most of us spend more time in the New Testament than …
June 3 / I Samuel 1
I Samuel 1 Dear RTB’ers, Today as we begin I Samuel, we are beginning that period of Israeli history known as the monarchy. We’ll meet Israel’s first kings, Saul and David; Solomon and others will come later. But first, the books known as I and II Samuel naturally begin with Samuel. I’m impressed with Hannah. …
June 2 / Ruth 3-4
Ruth 3-4 Dear RTB’ers, Today we finish Ruth, only one day after we began. We had a great discussion of Ruth at yesterday’s RTB gathering. The clear, central topic in Ruth is redemption – Boaz’s redemption of Naomi’s land and his taking Ruth as his wife, all of which led to King David as Boaz’s …
June 1 / Ruth 1-2
Ruth 1-2 Dear RTB’ers, If this is your first time reading the book of Ruth, I would not be surprised to learn that you continued on to read the last two chapters also. It would be hard not to go on and to see the final, complete redemption of the tragedies that fell on Naomi. …
June 2025 Readings
Date Readings Verses 01-Jun Ruth 1-2 45 02-Jun Ruth 3-4 40 03-Jun I Samuel 1 28 04-Jun I Samuel 2:1-11 11 05-Jun I Samuel 2:12-36, 3:11-14 29 06-Jun I Samuel 3:1-4:1a 22 07-Jun I Samuel 4:1b-22 22 08-Jun I Samuel 5:1-7:2 35 09-Jun I Samuel 7:3-8:22 37 10-Jun I Samuel 9:1-10:16 43 11-Jun I Samuel …
May 31 / I Peter 5
I Peter 5 Dear RTB’ers, Today we end 1 Peter, closing with a number of exhortations, all directed to the building up of the body of Christ. Elders, …shepherd the flock of God… (v. 2). You who are younger, …be subject to the elders. (v. 5a) All of you, Clothe yourselves…with humility toward one another… …
May 30 / I Peter 4:7-19
I Peter 4:7-19 Dear RTB’ers, Suffering… The word “suffer” (and its endings) occurs once in I Peter 1, four times in I Peter 2, three times in I Peter 3, six times in I Peter 4, and three times in I Peter 5. We know from the book of Acts that Paul and his fellow …