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 good since 1 and 3 are both narrative chapters. However there is some controversy as to whether these two chapters relate one incident or two, that Hosea went to the harlots and bought Gomer to be his wife (chapter 3) and the mother of his three children (chapter 1)? Or is chapter 3 a second incident between Hosea and Gomer, that after birthing three children Gomer went back to harlotry, then Hosea went back for her, bought her and brought her “home”? And, since no name is given to the harlot in chapter 3, is that harlot Gomer or another person? Finally, in verse 1:3 Gomer “bore him a son”. The word “him” is absent in the birth of the other two children, suggesting possibly that Hosea was not their father, but that Gomer had resumed harlotry even while married to Hosea. Confusions. However, I get the sense that both tradition and scholarship see two incidents and one harlot, Gomer.

Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days. (v. 3:5) Two comments here. “Return.” My Study Bible noted that “return” is a major theme for the book of Hosea. “Latter days.” (Or “last days” in the NASB and many other translations.) Together with the reference to “David their king”, many scholars see “last days” as a Messianic prophecy.

Hosea. Whatever the confusions in these two chapters, the truth that we need to embrace is God’s love for His children, Israel – in spite of their many sins. A lesson today for us also…

Blessings!

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 judgment. But the worst of God’s judgment is the people seeking Him and Him shutting Himself off from them: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.” (vv. 8:11-12) Sometimes I wonder (briefly) if God hears my prayers, but I quickly catch myself and remind myself of words that I’ve often heard from my friends at Freedom Road, “God is God and you are not.” He may be silent (from my perspective), but He hears every word and acts when and where He chooses.

A quick note: “Those who … say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’ and, ‘As the Way of Beersheba lives,’ they shall fall, and never rise again.” (v. 8:14) Dan, the city, was in the far north of the Promised Land and Beersheba was in the far south. So when we read “from Dan to Beersheba” in the Old Testament, the writer is referring to the whole of Israel, all the people in both the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.

Amos 9:8 provides a summary statement for the book of Amos: “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD. God will judge their evil deeds and their false worship; both Israel and Judah will go into captivity, in 722 and 586 BC, respectively, but God will save a remnant of the house of Jacob. He will not “utterly destroy” them. Clearly Hitler did not understand the ways of God!

Restoration, redemption in Amos 9:11-15. Amos, the end.

Blessings!

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 to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. (v. 7:1) We are reminded that Israel and its neighbors were, basically, agricultural peoples. My father once told me that hay mowings occurred around the three holidays – Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Each successive mowing was less abundant than the earlier ones. In Israel, however, there was only the first mowing, the highest yield, the harvest of which went to the king. After that the land became pasture for animals and a lesser crop for the people. So the Lord’s locusts would be eating this lesser crop, what the common people needed to survive.

God has plans for destruction, Amos intercedes (Amos 7:3, 6) and God relents. We’ve already seen other cases where God listened to His people’s prayers (Abraham, Moses). Here He listens to Amos. Archbishop (Emeritus) Beach, on numerous occasions asked us to pray for our country. Today, the Fourth is the day that this message regularly went out from Him. So here I offer you our own prayer for the Fourth, from our Book of Common Prayer:

A Prayer for Independence Day

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Blessings!

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 I remember: I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. A couple of short phrases stand out in my mind, what I recall as “I hate, I hate…” and “…the noise of your songs…”. And I ponder where we are today. Does the Lord hate what we do in our “solemn assemblies”? Is our worship noise to Him?

“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:24) This verse was cited by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. In the American psyche it has become almost synonymous with the Civil Rights movement. As I went online to verify the statements that I just made, one website had (in my mind) the perfect statement for what we are reading today: “Throughout Amos 5-6, the prophet lashes out against those who have become rich at the expense of the poor and against public—but hollow—displays of piety.” https://www.bibleodyssey.net/articles/let-justice-roll-down-like-waters/ And again I think about how “rich” we are in the United States and whether our public worship is “hollow”. I don’t think so, but I do wonder…

Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory … anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph … they shall now be the first of those who go into exile… (vv. 6:4-7). Those who are the most comfortable will be the first ones taken. I wonder if that might apply to our church leaders today? Or, again, to us…??

Blessings!

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See also: June 5 (2023) / Amos 5:16-9:15

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 read in The Chronological Bible. Amos was sent to prophecy to the Northern Kingdom and it was the first to fall, in 722 BC. So in our chronological study we read Amos in the context of our historical readings of II Chronicles and II Kings.

After blasting neighboring nations in chapter 1 and the first part of chapter 2, God (through Amos) now continues His judgment on Judah and Israel. We see that Judah is included in His judgments today as we see Him speaking to the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt… (v. 3:1) Much of what Amos writes includes God’s concerns for inequality, for greed, for the rich subjugating the poor: …the oppressed in her midst… (v. 3:9); …those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds… (v. 3:10); …you cows …on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy… (v. 4:1)

But God also has judgment against their “religion”. Here He is speaking sarcastically: Come to Bethel, and transgress… (continued in Amos 4:4-5). My Study Bible speaks well of the Northern Kingdom’s mix of religious ritual and human inequality: “They loved the forms and rituals of religion but did not love what God loves – goodness, mercy, kindness, justice.” We’ll see more of this mix as we continue in Amos.

Finally in Amos 4:6-13 God speaks of His “smaller” judgments against Israel – His goodness to them alongside difficulties that He has brought upon them. And His clear message to them is from His heart, His longing for them: “Yet you did not return to Me…”, spoken four times (Amos 4:6, 9, 10, 11). I think there’s a message there for us today – return to Him!

Blessings!

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 and Hosea. So a bit of OT history might be helpful.

When we left Exodus, we had the Israelites escaping from Egypt into the Wilderness of Sinai and receiving the Ten Commandments from the Lord. They stayed in that Wilderness for forty years before they entered the Promised Land. After conquering most of the Canaanite people they ran through a period of some 400 years of various “judges” leading the people through trials and tribulations. Soon the people demanded a king – someone like the kings that they saw in their neighboring pagan nations. So God gave them Saul, then David, then Solomon, then Solomon’s son Rehoboam. During Rehoboam’s reign the Kingdom split north (Israel) and south (Judah / Judea). In the south Jerusalem and its temple were the center of worship for faithful Israelites. However the people in the Northern Kingdom rebelled against the Southern leadership and formed their own center of worship in Bethel. Here’s where we pick up today, with Uzziah as the king of Judah and Jeroboam II as the king of Israel (Amos 1:1), probably sometime relatively early in the 8^th century BC.

Amos begins with the Lord’s judgments against Israel’s neighbors (Amos 1:3–2:3): Damascus, Gaza (and three other Philistine cities), Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. Each of these “nations” has a long history with the Israelites, both friendly and hostile and including some family relationships. [NOTE: Gilead, another name that is twice mentioned (Amos 1:3,13) is land east of the Jordan River that is occupied by the Israelites, with three of their twelve tribes living there. Note also that the Gaza mentioned in Amos 1:6-8 is the same “Gaza Strip” where Israel and Hamas are fighting today.]

Then the Lord turns his anger toward Judah and Israel (Amos 2:4-16). He does not hold back! Judah’s sins are noted in Amos 2:4, with Israel’s sins listed in Amos 2:6-8,12. Then the Lord recounts His own grace in bringing the Israelites as His own people (Amos 2:9-11) and pronounces His judgment against them (Amos 2:13-16).

Enough for today! If you don’t own a Study Bible, you might consider buying one!

Blessings!

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See also: June 4 (2023) / Amos 1-5:15

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 per day and, in terms of verses are 14% through the 31,000+ verses in the Bible. So we’ve come far, but we’ve still got a long way to go.

How to summarize what we’ve read thus far? I’ll leave you with four words that encapsulate where we’ve gone: Creation, Deliverance, Redemption, and Sanctification. I’ll leave discussion of those four words to our gathering later this morning. Maybe you can bring your own four words? See you soon!

Blessings!

Acts 28:17-31

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul in Rome. So today we finish the Book of Acts. What a wonderful journey it has been with Paul’s traveling, preaching, and teaching. But we’re not through with Paul just yet; we’ve got thirteen of his Epistles to read over the next two-and-one-half years. We’ve got Paul in Rome now, at least for his next two years (v. 30). Many scholars argue that Paul left Rome after some time and traveled to Spain, Asia Minor, Crete and Greece. We’ll cover more on this claim of Paul’s “Fourth Missionary Journey” when we read I Timothy.

I am surprised that the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem had not sent word forward of Paul’s coming to Rome. Here are the Jews from Rome speaking: And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you.” (v. 21) Since they did not have a predisposition to hate or harm Paul, they seemed to be open to listening to him, much like other Jews in synagogues had been during Paul’s missionary journeys. In fact, verse 23 tells us that Paul spoke, From morning till evening… What a change that must have been for Paul, to be allowed to preach without hindrance!

And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, having much dispute among themselves. (v.29) This verse may not be in the translation that you are reading. The NASB has it, but the ESV does not. The ESV indicates in a footnote that “some manuscripts” add this verse. But, to the verse itself… Paul has been speaking all day to these Jews who clearly have been open to what he has been saying, even to the point of arguing among themselves – very likely to the possible truth of what Paul has been preaching. We have often heard it said that God’s word never goes out void. Here is the cited Scripture verse: …so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11) So yeah, the Jews went out arguing among themselves. And there’s truth in that verse for us. If we’ve been sharing Jesus with an unbeliever, we have not wasted our words. Whatever we have said can be turned over and over in the mind of those who have listened to us – even something as simple as an invitation to church!

Paul appears to be under house arrest: …it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain. (v. 20b), but he also seems to have quite a bit of freedom. He was allowed to have visitors (vv. 17, 23, 30) and was living in a rented house instead of a jail cell, and he is allowed to continue his preaching and teaching. Verse 31 is especially clear about Paul’s relative freedom: …proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. I daresay that we all could preach and teach “without hindrance”, but most of us lack Paul’s “all boldness”. We need more Holy Spirit fire!

Blessings!

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See also: December 17 (2023) / Acts 25-28

Acts 28:1-16

Dear RTB’ers,

Paul on Malta and continuing on his way to Rome. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand … He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. (vv. 3, 5) In our local news we often read about snake-handling in parts of Kentucky and West Virginia. Mostly we read of this practice when someone has died. But snake-handling churches do exist and they draw their Scriptural justification from Acts 28.

Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. (v. 7) I wonder who the “us” is in this sentence. Was it only Paul and Luke and Julius? …or the soldiers and the sailors also? …or all 276 men from the ship? Already the natives were thinking of Paul as a god. Maybe it was Paul who was being honored by Publius and he brought along whomever he wanted? Wondering…

…and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. (vv. 13b-14a) Puteoli was on the Bay of Naples on the mainland of Italy and (according to my Study Bible) the chief port for Rome, some 75 miles to the north. From Puteoli Paul and his companions and guards could walk to Rome – no more sailing! And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. (v. 15a) In our chronological study we had read Paul’s epistle to the Romans while Paul was staying those 18 months in Corinth on his second missionary journey. So for today’s reading, it has been three years or more since Paul wrote Romans. So there has been plenty of time for the epistle to the Romans to have circulated through the entire area around Rome and the believers in that area have come to know one another. So for Paul, coming to Rome is like a homecoming; he has many friends there even though he’s never been there himself!

Blessings!