Psalm 111

This psalm begins with a call to praise God and a declaration of intent to praise God by the psalmist. What follows after is the very praise already discussed.

Matthew 5

Yeah, so, I could blame the delay in writing this on the fact that it's a very meaty chapter and my brain kept glazing over and reading on without stopping to think about it. But that would only be part of the truth. The rest is that I'm just a recovering world-addict with a serious relapse problem. Obviously. Moving on to the important part.

5
Ahh, the sermon on the mount. Starting with The Beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." I think it reads more clearly as blessed in spirit are the poor. Surely those that are poor in spirit, or spiritually weak, aren't particularly blessed? Unless I'm reading something wrong. So, the poor are blessed (or happy) in the spirit. Simple enough, and more true than your average American is willing to admit. Logically, their kingdom is heaven, they are less attached to this world by their belongings and can look forward more clearly to the day the Lord comes. Or perhaps, can see more clearly because they aren't hiding behind a pile of stuff, which is wonderful imagery that I'm going to have to try to remember for later use.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." The last part suggests to me more than just human symathy. Which is where the blessing comes in, of course, but it further suggests that one should bring one's mourning before God to receive His comfort. Which only makees sense, but it's the sort of thing you forget when you need it most. Which is probably one reason why Jesus makes it the second thing he says in this very important sermon.

"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth." Pretty straightforward. Though one assumes that 'gentle' is more of a path than a destination, given humanity. At least, I sincerely pray so since gentle isn't exactly what I'm known for. My wife is much better at that.

I think I need to move swiftly through some of these. Any words which Jesus spoke recorded in the Bible are undoubtedly packed down and overflowing with meaning and valuable insight. But if I sit here and write a great long paragraph for each and every sentence... well I know me a little bit. I'll never get out of this chapter and this will never get posted because I'll get discouraged by my own lack of 'progress.' It's silly and incorrect, but true. So, moving past the Beatitudes let me touch breifly on verse 13. "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men." Wow. So, my study bible has one short line for this. Salt preserves, creates thirst, and cleanses. All true. And if we Christians aren't doing these things then the only thing we're good for is... could that be a reference to martyrdom? Getting ourselves persecuted for the cause? Or is that a simple and straighforward "I will spit you out of My mouth" (REV 3:16) sort of statement? (And I just noticed an interesting numeric coincidence to JNO 3:16.) Hard to say, but based on the 'how can it be made salty again' the throwing out may be an answer to His own question. Suffering has a way of bringing us face to face with God, and that would be sort of a prerequisite to being properly salty. Moving on...

Verse 19 implicitly states that there will be a heirarchy in heaven by comparing those who offer false teachings of the Law ('called least in the kingdom of heaven') with those who keep and teach the commandements ('called great in the kingdom of heaven'). I've thought about this before, simply because we are forgiven doesn't mean that (as an example) not keeping the proper Sabbath isn't a sin. In other words, sin is the same A.D. as it was B.C. So, should we all be keeping the Law as best we can because it is sin to do otherwise? That would require a careful study of Jewish history, culture, tradition, etc to determine how much of that religion is based on God's word and how much is built up from the religious organization and social tradition. In short, how much is God's and how much is man's. But to do that would be mind bogglingly difficult and the mere thought paralyzes me with uncertainty and fear. So, perhaps Jesus will call me sinfully lazy when I stand before Him, but I think he'll understand just the same. I must accept that I will inadvertently (and in some cases knowingly, since the Jewish Sabbath is Saturday as I recall) sin over and over again, but being human and knowing that Jesus counts even the thought as sin it's plain that sin is purely unavoidable anyway and if I can't accept Jesus' absolute forgiveness at face value and get on with it then the whole gift might as well have been in vain for me.

So now that I've pounded out I-don't-know-how-many words on that one verse... I think I'm just going to have to split chapter 5 over 2 posts. I'm about 6 verses short of half way through, but it's after 1AM right now and if I don't post this and go to bed it's liable to languish for another week. I've got to develop a habit here, and not posting simply because I can't absorb the material fast enough is simply not acceptable. So, a-posting I will go, and I've got to try and finish tomorrow.

Psalm 110

Short and to the point. The first verse indicates in no uncertain terms, even for the OT, one member of the Trinity talking to another. That or it presumes that God talks to Himself, which is technically I suppose the same thing, but without the Trinity you'd have a pretty bizarre image of God having a little fireside chat with a hand mirror. Which makes me wonder what the Israelites make of this one, then and now.

Moving on, it's basically the Father telling His Son, very breifly, about the content of Revelation, essentially. Jesus (not named) sits at God's right hand, will have no shortage of warriors in His coming dawn, will rule as priest and king (Melchizedek) and so forth. There's a bit of imagery, but for the most part it seems fairly straighforward.

Psalm 108

So I slipped. Sorry, at least I'm standing back up.

Anyway. I had quite the deep thought on the way home from work last night (this morning, actually). Unfortunately, it drifted away about the same time my head hit the pillow. I was too tired to mark it down so it's gone. That happens often enough to be quite aggravating. Well, if it was important God will bring it back to me. Or to someone else, it hardly matters.

On to the bread.

Psalm 108 makes me think of military marching chants. It starts with a call to sing and play instruments in praise of God. Then it praises a selection of the tribes of Israel (possibly just the tribes in Judah during the separation, but I haven't confirmed that) and denegrates some enemy nations. Finally it calls on God to assist in overcoming those enemies.

So, I see some real parrallels to "Sound off!" etc. I can imagine David's armies chanting this at the top of their lungs on the march to Edom, or wherever. I'm probably wrong, that's just the impression I get.

Now, I think I'll have to make Matthew wait until the kids are napping. I had enough trouble carving some peace out just to consider this small psalm, nevermind something substantial from the NT.

Psalm 107

A litany of horrible circumstances which God releived when man called out to Him. Ending with a call to be mindful of God's mercy and love. Beginning with a call to thank and glorify Him.

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary
And gathered from the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south." PSA 107:2-3

Matthew 1-3

1-
Primarily a recount of the genealogy of Jesus. Some of the interesting points:
~Bathsheba figures prominently (David's great sin).
~The way Matthew counts out the generations, 14 from Abraham to David, 14 from David to Babylon, and 14 from Babylon to Messiah. I'd draw a parallel to the Trinity here, but my meager knowledge isn't capable of backing it up.
~Joseph didn't consummate his marriage to Mary until after Jesus' birth.

2-
The visit of the magi, and Herod's conniving. Funny that Herod attempts to use the worship of Jesus against Him and fails. Ending with Joseph settling his family down in Nazareth.

3-
John the Baptist was baptising people to the Lord when, apparently, a pack of Pharisees and Sadducees show up. John seems to tell them that being of Abraham's line (Jewish by birth, in other words) is not enough to save them. That they must "bear fruit in keeping with repentance;" and carrying the fruit analogy further, informs them that "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." MAT 3:8 & 10. John mentions that "from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham." (9) which I find hard to translate but which may mean:
1 The line of Abaraham numbers greater than the stars in the sky (as promised), if God needs one of that line to do His work there is an abundance of material to choose from.
2 God can/will choose who is worthy of Abraham's inheritance and will raise to that status any who truly repent (the corollary would seem to be that if you don't repent then you won't be raised or perhaps might fall)
3 God can, if he chose, make a child of Abraham from the very stones of the ground, as in Genesis, so what benefit is it to claim that line?

The 3rd seems rather tenuous, and the 2nd seems to contravene some of what I've already been taught. However the first doesn't seem to fit with the context, so I'm at a loss. Carrying on then...

Jesus comes to be baptized by John, who initially refuses, apparently on the grounds that "I am not fit to remove His sandals;" (11) though Jesus insists and John accedes (who wouldn't?). As well as being the opening to the traditional affirmation by God of His Son, my Bible (a Ryrie study Bible) points out in the notes that the baptism of Christ identifies Him with the sinners who were baptized before him (presumably those after as well, though there's the added context of following in the Lord's steps there).


Enough for one day. Hopefully chapter 4 tomorrow. Make that prayerfully.

Psalm 106

The psalmist recounts the history of Israel, from Moses to the Judges(?). In this condensed form it's easy to see how closely the tribe of Israel resembles the life of a man. God has forever shown mercy on Israel, just as he continues to show mercy on me each and every time I've fallen. Some of his reminders have been less than gentle, but I certainly deserve worse.

Then He gave them into the hand of the nations,
And those who hated them ruled over them. PSA 106:41

Nevertheless He looked upon their distress
When He heard their cry;
And He remembered His covenant for their sake,
And relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness. PSA 106:44-45

Amen

Psalm 105

A recounting of God's dealings with Abraham and Israel, beginning with exhortations to thank, praise, seek, and remember Him.