II Samuel 8-9 Dear RTB’ers, Today we see two sides of David’s life – his military prowess and his compassion. First, his military victories: And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. (v. 8:6b, repeated verbatim in 14b) In chapter 8 we see the height of David’s geographic power, to the north, with …
Author Archives: Fred
August 4 / II Samuel 7
II Samuel 7 Dear RTB’ers, King David is living in his cedar house and he looks over and sees the Ark of God residing in a tent. So he resolves to build a “house” for a dwelling place for the Ark. A nice thought. He even has his prophet’s approval. However, God is not interested …
August 2025 Readings
Date Readings Verses 01-Aug II Samuel 2-3 71 02-Aug II Samuel 4:1-5:16 28 03-Aug II Samuel 5:17-6:23 32 04-Aug II Samuel 7 29 05-Aug II Samuel 8-9 31 06-Aug II Samuel 10-11 46 07-Aug II Samuel 12:1-13:37 68 08-Aug II Samuel 13:38-14:33 35 09-Aug II Samuel 15:1-16:14 51 10-Aug II Samuel 16:15-17:29 38 11-Aug II …
July 29 / Psalm 50
Psalm 50 Dear RTB’ers, God addressing the Israelis – first His people (vv. 7-15), then the wicked (vv. 16-22). To His people He talks of their sacrifices. Although not rejecting those sacrifices, He seems to be suggesting that their hearts may not be right, but that their devotion to Him would be more important to …
July 28 / Psalm 49
Psalms 49 Dear RTB’ers, Today’s Psalm 49 reads more like a Proverb than a Psalm: Let’s not fret over the wealthy, the powerful and what they can do to us; death awaits them, just like anyone else. Even the wise and the foolish die and leave their wealth to others. Be not afraid when a …
July 27 / Psalms 46-48
Psalms 46-48 Dear RTB’ers, No doubt, thousand of scholars (possibly hundreds of thousands) have studied the Psalms through the years. I am not one of them. The Psalms are difficult for me. Maybe it’s poetry, in general? Maybe it’s an unknown context for which a particular psalm was written? Maybe it’s a metaphorical tool used …
July 26 / Psalm 45
Psalm 45 Dear RTB’ers, Psalm 45 is … confusing. Not “strange”, but certainly confusing. Is this Psalm about a royal marriage or is it Messianic? Go online and type “Is Psalm 45 Messianic?” and see for yourself. Many scholars, both Christian and Jewish read this Psalm as Messianic. For me that was quickly an issue …
July 25 / Psalm 44
Psalm 44 Folks, Today’s Psalm 44 is strange – to me. In the first eight verses the psalmist praises God and thanks Him for His deliverance of Israel in the days of old (v. 1) and current distresses (v. 5). It’s all about Him, summed up in verses 6 and 7: For not in my …
July 24 / Psalms 42-43
Psalms 42-43 Dear RTB’ers, Back to the Psalms for a bit. It was around Thanksgiving last year when we last read the Psalms, when we closed Book 1 with Psalm 41. Today we begin Book 2 with two psalms that apparently (according to my Study Bible) are actually one psalm, somehow split into two along …
July 23 / Job 1-42; Review
Job 1-42 Today’s STS reading list calls for a review of the book of Job. I suggest, as I have all along, that there’s no better place to start than John’s posts from 2022 (one chapter at a time) and 2023 (multiple chapters daily). His posts are deep, insightful, and challenging to our faith and …