Psalms 92-93

Dear RTB’ers,

The righteous flourish like the palm tree… They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright… (vv. 92:12a, 14-15a) I daresay that most of us reading in RTB together would count ourselves in (or nearing) that “old age” category to which the psalmist refers. When I look around in our church, I see many of our fellow parishioners in that category. And I see them flourishing, bearing fruit. Come to Avanza sometime. Look for a younger person among the tutors. Not many. Look at the many committees and teams at church – not a lot of younger people. We’re getting there, with more and more young couples and younger families. I’m doing Truth Seekers this coming Sunday; Carol is doing Godly Play. It’s what us “old age” people do, pouring ourselves into the lives of the young among us. We pray, O Lord, help us all to flourish!!

Blessings.

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See also:

• August 17 (2022) / Psalm 92
• August 18 (2022) / Psalm 93

Psalm 91

Dear RTB’ers,

Today, a Psalm of God’s protection over those who seek Him. The psalmist lists dangers and difficulties from a variety of sources, including war, disease, pestilence, and animal attacks. STS has a sentence that speaks to the variety of these troubles: “The evils refer to all kinds of adversity, insidious and hidden, or open and visible, explicable or inexplicable.”

A couple of comments… The author uses all three pronoun cases in these sixteen verses. He begins in the first person in the first two verses; then switches to the second person in the next eleven verses; then closes in the third person in the final three verse. An unusual mix of pronouns for such a short Psalm.

Verse 12b struck me, literally: …lest you strike your foot against a stone. Just over a month ago I was coming out of a public swimming poos and stubbed my little toe on a decorative rock. I found myself limping for two full weeks – I even had it x-rayed, but nothing was broken. It still pains me slightly even today. Evidently I had not sought God’s promise of His angels protecting me against these cosmetic forces!

Finally, When he calls to Me, I will answer him… (v. 15a) I was immediately drawn to Jeremiah 33:3, God’s “phone number”: Call to Me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

I like the bird metaphor in Ps. 91:3-4. Have a great day under His wings.

Blessings.

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See also: August 16 (2022) / Psalm 91.

Psalm 90

Dear RTB’ers,

Today starts almost two weeks in the Psalms, beginning with Psalm 90, the first psalm in Book 4 (of 5). The Psalm is ascribed to Moses, the only Psalm of the 150 that is directly ascribed to him. It’s not difficult to imagine Moses writing this Psalm during Israel’s wilderness wanderings. Much of the Psalm is bleak, dismal even. It speaks of God’s anger, His knowledge of even our “secret sins”, and our years of seventy or eighty being nothing …but toil and trouble… (v. 10b).

Moses’ mood changes beginning in verse 12, sounding almost repentant from here to the end of the Psalm, but still with an edge to previous misfortune. Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. (v. 14-15) Moses’ closing is one that we can all appreciate: Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (v. 17)

So, what work will your hands be doing today?

Blessings.

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See also: August 15 (2022) / Psalm 90.

Nehemiah 13

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we finish Nehemiah – actually, Ezra-Nehemiah – and we leave the post-Exile Jews in an unfortunate condition that we have seen before. Nehemiah has returned to his Babylonian king, and having been gone for twelve years he comes back to find that his countrymen have again backslidden into their old ways.

The first (and biggest?) issue to Nehemiah was the high priest preparing a chamber for the outsider, Tobiah, the Ammonite. We remember Tobiah as one of those foreigners who tried to stop Nehemiah from building the wall. (See Neh. 2:10, 19; 4:3, 7; 6:1, 12, 14, 17-19) Nehemiah is livid; he throws out the household furniture and orders the chamber to be purified. Then he finds that the Levites have not been given their portions; that people were working and trading on the Sabbath; and that some Jews had married foreign women.

We shake our collective heads – won’t they ever learn! Then Jesus’ words echo in our ears: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7b)

Blessings.

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See also: October 1 (2023) / Nehemiah 13; Psalm 92.

Nehemiah 12

Dear RTB’ers,

More listings, the dedication of the wall, and service at the temple. It’s hard to follow the wall dedication text, but my Study Bible suggested that the two groups assembled and began at the same point on the wall and went in opposite directions (one clockwise, the other counter-clockwise) and met at the temple.

David is mentioned six times in today’s reading, twice noted as “the man of God”. It’s amazing the honor that they accord him, even though he lived more than five centuries before their time. Interesting…

Blessings.

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See also:

• September 25 (2023) / Nehemiah 11:1-12:30; Psalms 120-124
• September 26 (2023) / Psalms 125-134; Nehemiah 12:31-47

Nehemiah 11

Dear RTB’ers,

As we saw a few days ago, Jerusalem seems to be mostly uninhabited: And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. (v. 1b) To us, today, it might seem strange that people would rather live in the towns than in Jerusalem near the temple and the leaders. But then I tried to imagine their living situation. Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC – obliterated! The temple and the walls torn down and, presumably, houses ransacked and burned. Now we have read in Ezra and Nehemiah that the temple and the walls were rebuilt, but my sense is that most of the houses were still in ruins.

Look at what we see in Ukraine today – entire towns destroyed and peoples’ lives completely upended. Who would want to go back to that – unless there was a mass movement of people willing to rebuild. Again, imagine France or Germany after World War II. But there was, in fact, that mass movement of people in the late 1940’s and lives were rebuilt. It probably took decades, maybe centuries, but Jerusalem did rebuild, well before Jesus’ time.

But today in our reading Jerusalem is relatively uninhabited. And they had to cast lots to get “volunteers” to move back. Very strange to our way of thinking!!

Blessings.

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See also: Carol’s comment on September 25(2023) / Nehemiah 11:1-12:30; Psalms 120-124.

Nehemiah 9:38-10:39

Dear RTB’ers,

Today’s details are striking – first, the names of those who signed the document, then the details of what the signers agreed to. It was a nice touch that Nehemiah also includes The rest of the people … who have knowledge and understanding… (v. 28)

As to the details…

• Separating themselves from the peoples of the land
• A curse and an oath to walk in God’s law
• Not to buy goods or grain on the Sabbath
• To forgo the crops on the seventh year
• To forego the exaction of every debt in the seventh year
• To give yearly to the service of the temple
• To cast lots for bringing wood offerings to the temple
• To bring ground and tree firstfruits to the temple
• To bring the firstborn of our sons, cattle, herds and flocks
• To bring the firstfruits of dough, wine and oil

All these latter items to the commitment that

We will not neglect the house of our God. (v. 39b)

So, how are we doing up against these Old Testament standards?

Blessings.

Nehemiah 9:22-37

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we finish that short synopsis of Israel’s history. There was an item today that caught me by surprise: Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress. (vv. 36-37) We have been reading of a lot of successes for the Israelites in Ezra and Nehemiah – their return from exile; rebuilding the altar and the temple and the walls; debt forgiveness and return of landholdings to their original owners; and spiritual renewal, including their separation from foreign women and the reading of the Law. So it surprised me to realize that they are still “slaves” to Persia. And they remember their slavery going back almost three centuries, to the Assyrian invasion in 722 BC (Neh. 9:32). Yes, slaves.

Jesus pointed out to us a different kind of slavery: So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. (John 8:31-34) Yes, slaves.

Blessings.

Nehemiah 9:1-21

Dear RTB’ers,

Welcome to the second half of 2026! We are now 5/6 of the way through our three-year study in Search the Scriptures. Only six months to go!

Today’s 9^th chapter in Nehemiah is devoted to a national prayer reciting God’s greatness and goodness up against Israel’s constantly turning away from Him. Surprisingly, my Study Bible pointed out that the 9^th chapters in Ezra and Daniel (essentially contemporaries with Nehemiah) are also devoted to prayer and national confession. Today’s reading covers Israel’s history from Abraham to the end of the Wilderness wanderings. We continue with the rest of their history tomorrow.

A special verse, They refused to obey and… they stiffened their neck… But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. (v. 17b) He is the same God today, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Let’s not take His mercy and His love for granted.

Blessings.