Psalms 11-14, 16-17, 22 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 14:1 To whom do you listen? To the news media? To Hollywood? To social media? To celebrities or other “influencers”? To politicians? To scientists? To experts? And do they say — either explicitly or by the lives they lead — …
Author Archives: John S.
April 20 / Psalms 4-6, 9-10
Psalms 4-6, 9-10 We all know that David wrote a lot of psalms. We have already read those that are tied to specific events in David’s life. Now for the next several days, we get to read the rest of them, with just a couple of peeks back into Chronicles. So settle into the Psalms …
April 19 / I Kings 1-2
I Kings 1-2 OK, I confess. I am a little irritated at The Chronological Study Bible’s schedule of readings. Following their schedule, we today come to the end of David’s life and proceed a few years into the reign of David’s son, Solomon. But we are by no means done yet with David. We will …
April 18 / Psalm 60; I Chronicles 18:14-21:30; II Samuel 24
Psalm 60; I Chronicles 18:14-21:30; II Samuel 24 Today our readings in I Chronicles 18-20 replay what we’ve already seen in II Samuel, telling us lots of positive things about David and his reign. But Chronicles completely avoids any mention of David’s sin with Bathsheba and Absalom’s subsequent rebellion. Interesting. Then we get to I …
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April 17 / II Samuel 22-23; I Chronicles 18:1-13
II Samuel 22-23; I Chronicles 18:1-13 II Samuel 22 is nearly identical to Psalm 18, which we read on April 1. With the merciful you show yourself merciful;with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;with the purified you deal purely,and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. II Samuel 22:26-27 (cf. Psalm 18:25-26) God …
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April 16 / II Samuel 21
II Samuel 21 Remember the Gibeonites? They are the people who escaped the violent conquest of the Promised Land by dressing up in old rags and claiming to be from a far off country, tricking Joshua and the people of Israel into agreeing to spare them. (If you need a refresher, see Joshua 9 and …
April 15 / II Samuel 16:15-20:26
II Samuel 16:15-20:26 So what are we to make of Joab? On the one hand, Joab supports David as king more strongly than David himself. After all, it is Joab who eliminates Absalom as a threat to David’s kingdom, and it is Joab who rebukes David’s mourning of Absalom as a devaluation of his loyal …
April 14 / II Samuel 15:1-16:14; Psalms 3, 7
II Samuel 15; Psalm 3; II Samuel 16:1-14; Psalm 7 Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place. But if He says, ‘I …
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April 13 / II Samuel 12:15b-14:33
II Samuel 12:15b-14:33 Today we begin to see the disastrous consequences of David’s sin with Bathsheba. The first immediate consequence is the death of the son that is the product of David’s adultery. The longer term consequences, which play out over years, are the troubles within his family: the rape of his daughter Tamar by …
April 12 / I Chronicles 17; II Samuel 8-12:15a; Psalm 51
I Chronicles 17; II Samuel 8-12:15a; Psalm 51 In case you missed II Samuel 7 (and the April 3 post), I Chronicles 17 offers the replay, nearly quoting the Samuel passage. (But not quite — I’ll let you find the differences.) We then move back to II Samuel to pick up where we left off. …
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