SAMUEL, KINGS AND CHRONICLES The Two Kingdoms – How do you build a healthy faithful team, family, or nation?

SAMUEL’S BIRTH
1 Samuel 1:26 - 28 (NRSV) 26And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. 27For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me the petition that I made to him. 28Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD.” She left him there for the LORD.
WHAT OTHER STORIES DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF?

SAMUEL’S CALL
1 Samuel 3:7 - 12 (NRSV) 7Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. 9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 11Then the LORD said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. 12On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.
WHY DIDN’T SAMUEL RECOGNIZE GOD’S VOICE?

SAMUEL’S LEADERSHIP
1 Samuel 7:3 - 6 (NRSV) 3Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you. Direct your heart to the LORD, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4So Israel put away the Baals and the Astartes, and they served the LORD only. 5Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” 6So they gathered at Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD. They fasted that day, and said, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.
WHAT IS SAMUEL TRYING TO TEACH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL?

THE PEOPLE ASK FOR A KING
1Samuel 8:4 - 19 (NRSV) 4Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the LORD, 7and the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 10So Samuel reported all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 18And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”
19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
WHY DOESN’T SAMUEL WANT THE PEOPLE TO HAVE A KING?
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW THEM A KING?

SAUL SELECTED TO BE THE FIRST KING
1 Samuel 9:15 - 21 (NRSV) 15Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed to Samuel: 16“Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of my people, because their outcry has come to me.” 17When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall rule over my people.” 18Then Saul approached Samuel inside the gate, and said, “Tell me, please, where is the house of the seer?” 19Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer; go up before me to the shrine, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. 20As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, give no further thought to them, for they have been found. And on whom is all Israel’s desire fixed, if not on you and on all your ancestral house?” 21Saul answered, “I am only a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel, and my family is the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”
WHAT DOES THIS TELL YOU ABOUT THE CHARACTHER OF SAUL

MIXED FEELINGS ABOUT A KING
1 Samuel 10:17 - 27 (NRSV) 17Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah 18and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said, ‘No! but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and by your clans.” 20Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man, and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22So they inquired again of the LORD, “Did the man come here?” and the LORD said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.” 23Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them. 24Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the LORD has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” 25Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship; and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people back to their homes. 26Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went warriors whose hearts God had touched. 27But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace. Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.
NAME THE DIVERSE REACTIONS TO A KING.

SAUL’S ERROR IN JUDGEMENT
1 Samuel 13:5 - 15 (NRSV) 5The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. 6When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. 7Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 8He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul. 9So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the offerings of well-being.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived; and Saul went out to meet him and salute him. 11Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the people were slipping away from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were mustering at Michmash, 12I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the LORD’; so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you. The LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, 14but now your kingdom will not continue; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart; and the LORD has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” 15And Samuel left and went on his way from Gilgal. The rest of the people followed Saul to join the army; they went up from Gilgal toward Gibeah of Benjamin.
WHAT DOES THIS TELL YOU ABOUT SAUL’S CHARACTHER?
WHY IS SAMUEL UPSET?

A NEW KING IS TO BE CHOSEN
1 Samuel 16:1 - 7 (NRSV) 1The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ 3Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” 4Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. 6When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’S anointed is now before the LORD.” 7But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
WHAT CRITERIA DO YOU THINK GOD USES TO CHOOSE LEADERS?

1 Samuel Chap 21-31: David gains and Saul diminishes
WHY COULDN’T SAUL LET GO OF LEADERSHIP AND HAND IT OVER TO DAVID?

2 Samuel Chap 21-31: David become king
· Eliminates the old order
· Unites north and south
· Moves capital to Jerusalem; a strategic military and social location
· Battles and subdues neighbors

DAVIDS ERROR
2 Samuel 11:1 – 11, 14 (NRSV) 1In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. 3David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. 5The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” 6So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. 8Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. 9But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” 11Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.”
14In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”
CONTRAST THE CHARACTER OF DAVID, BATHSHEBA AND URIAH.
WHAT DOES THIS TELL YOU ABOUT HUMAN NATURE?

THE TRADGEDY AND TRIUMPH OF DAVID
2 Samuel Chapters 12 – 24
· A New Prophet, Nathan, condemns David
· The child dies
· David’s son leads a rebellion against David
· David consolidates power externally while losing it internally
· Absalom killed in battle
· 1 Kings 1:1 (NRSV) 1King David was old and advanced in years; and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm.
· Solomon “appointed” to succeed David over his siblings protests and schemes
DAVID IS CONSIDERED ISRAEL’S GREATEST KING…WHY?
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE WAY SOLOMON BECOMES KING?

SOLOMON ASKS FOR WISDOM
1 Kings 3:3 - 14 (NRSV) 3Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. 4The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” 6And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” 10It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. 13I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. 14If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”
WHAT WOULD YOU ASK OF GOD IF YOU RECEIVED THIS OFFER?

SOLOMON’S REIGN
1 Kings Chapters 2-10
· Consolidates wealth
· Forms alliances
· Builds temple and palace
· Establishes and flourishing kingdom based on his wisdom
· Kingdom is based on power, wealth and information
IN WHAT WAYS CAN POWER, WEALTH AND INFORMATION BECOME THE TRIAD OF DEATH?

SOLOMON’S ERROR AND THE PATTERN FOR ISRAEL’S KINGS
1 Kings 11:4 - 13 (NRSV) 4For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. 5For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not completely follow the LORD, as his father David had done. 7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods. 9Then the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10and had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD commanded. 11Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. 12Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13I will not, however, tear away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
HOW DO WE EXEMPLIFY THIS ERROR IN OUR LIVES AND WORLD TODAY?

THE KINGDOM SPLITS
1 Kings 12:3 - 16 (NRSV) 3And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you.” 5He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away. 6Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” 7They answered him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8But he disregarded the advice that the older men gave him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and now attended him. 9He said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” 10The young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus you should say to this people who spoke to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must lighten it for us’; thus you should say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. 11Now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’” 12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had said, “Come to me again the third day.” 13The king answered the people harshly. He disregarded the advice that the older men had given him 14and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15So the king did not listen to the people, because it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat. 16When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David.” So Israel went away to their tents.
WHERE DO YOU FIND PARALLELS TO THIS IN HUMAN HISTORY AND TODAY?

KINGS COME AND GO:
1 Kings Chapters 13 – 16
WHAT MAKES A KING GOOD OR BAD?

ELIJAH AND ELISHA WRESTLE WITH THE RULERS TO MAKE ISRAEL RIGHTEOUS
1 Kings 17 TO 2 Kings 13
· Elijah and the starving widow (17)
· Elijah on Carmel triumphs over priests of Baal (18)
· Elijah flees and encounters God in the ‘voice of sheer silence’ (19)
· Swing Low Sweet Chariot: Elijah taken to heaven, Elisha receives mantel (2 Kings 1)
· A succession of Kings
· Elisha does his own miracles (2 Kings 2-5)
WHAT DOES A PROPHET NEED TO ENDURE TO SERVE GOD?

MORE KINGS:
2 Kings Chap 13 – 16

ASSYRIA TAKES CHARGE
2 Kings Chap 17 – 19
WHAT ARE THE POLICIES OF ASSYRIA IN RELATION TO THEIR CAPTIVES?

BABYLON EMERGES
2 Kings Chap 20 - 25
HOW IS BABYLON DIFFERENT FROM ASSYRIA?

LINEAGE
1 Chronicles chap 1-8
From Adam to Saul
WHY IS LINEAGE IMPORTANT? WHAT DOES YOUR LINEAGE SAY ABOUT YOU?
From Bible Query: http://www.muslimhope.com/BibleAnswers/1chr.htm
Q: What is the difference in emphasis between the books of Chronicles and Kings? A: There are a number of differences between these two writings. Time: Chronicles was written later, during the exile. It emphasizes the genealogies, which would be important for the returning Jews. Numbers: Chronicles is the most number-oriented book in the Bible, with the size of armies, and numbers of priests and descendants. References: Kings mentions the Book/Annals of Kings of Israel, the Book/Annals of Kings of Judah, and the Book/Annals of Kings of Israel and Judah in 32 verses. Chronicles mentions books of various kings only 12 times, and it never mentions "the Book/Annals of the Kings of Judah" without mentioning Israel too. Kingdom vs. Temple: Nehemiah as well as 1 and 2 Kings emphasize the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Chronicles and Ezra also mention those, but they have a greater emphasis on the Temple. International Affairs: Kings focuses on battles and alliances with Aram, Edom, Moab, and nearby kingdoms, including Egypt. Chronicles focuses on trading alliances with Hiram of Tyre, the Queen of Sheba, and Egypt. Consequences of Wickedness vs. Repentance: Kings focuses more on the results of the sins of the kings, while Chronicles tells of their personal walk with God. David: Chronicles does not tell us much about David, except that he wanted to build the Temple. Kings tells us almost nothing about David, since David was covered in 1 and 2 Samuel. Solomon: Chronicles tells us little about Solomon, except as it related to building the temple and his wealth. With the exception of Pharaoh’s daughter, only Kings tell of the serious moral compromises Solomon made. Manasseh’s repentance, which had no political impact, is mentioned only in Chronicles. Manasseh removed many idol altars, but his repentance had almost no effect on the kingdom. Jehoiakim is given more attention in 2 Chronicles 36 than in 2 Kings 24. Geography: Between the time of the Divided Kingdom and Hezekiah, Chronicles, being concerned with the Temple, has a southern emphasis on Judah, while Kings discusses both kingdoms at length. Consequently, Chronicles provides no dates or lengths of reign of the kings of Israel, while Kings provides information on both Judah and Israel. Kings also has more material on Elijah and Elisha. Time Written: Chronicles was written later, and likely presumed the reader had a knowledge of Kings. Chronicles and not kings tells of the return of the Jews under the reign of Cyrus of Persia.

1 Chronicles chap 9: Saul
1 Chronicles chap 10 – 29; David
1 Chronicles chap 23 - 2 Chronicles chap 9: Solomon and the Temple
2 Chronicles chap 10 – 31 Stories of Kings with focus on their relationship and obedience to God
1 Chronicles chap 31 – 35: Assyria rises and falls
1 Chronicles chap 36: Babylon arises

WHAT DIFFERENCES DO YOU SEE IN THE HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS AND PERSPECTIVES BETWEEN KINGS AND CHRONICLES?

NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES: Finding a New Beginning

Joshua takes over from Moses…
Joshua 1:2 - 8 (NRSVA) 2“My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. 3Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. 4From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. 5No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. 8This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful.

Spies sent ahead into Canaan
Crossing the Jordan as they had the Red Sea…on dry land because priests stood with the ark in the middle of the River.
God now travels with them in the presence in the Ark.
Jericho falls at the sound of the priests.
Battle is waged by the army and the priesthood.
When they occupy the land they renew their commitment to God by recording and reading the Laws Moses had written.
As they spread throughout the land, they divide it up among the 12 tribes of Israel; descendents of the 12 children of Israel.

Joshua 23:1 - 13 (NRSVA) 1A long time afterward, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, 2Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders and heads, their judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years; 3and you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the LORD your God who has fought for you. 5The LORD your God will push them back before you, and drive them out of your sight; and you shall possess their land, as the LORD your God promised you. 6Therefore be very steadfast to observe and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right nor to the left, 7so that you may not be mixed with these nations left here among you, or make mention of the names of their gods, or swear by them, or serve them, or bow yourselves down to them, 8but hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. 11Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. 12For if you turn back, and join the survivors of these nations left here among you, and intermarry with them, so that you marry their women and they yours, 13know assuredly that the LORD your God will not continue to drive out these nations before you; but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a scourge on your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you. 16If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he enjoined on you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land that he has given to you.”
Joshua 24:14 - 21 (NRSVA) 14“Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” 16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; 18and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.” 19But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” 21And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!”


Deuteronomy: Introduction From The Message
Deuteronomy is a sermon—actually a series of sermons. It is the longest sermon in the Bible and maybe the longest sermon ever. Deuteronomy presents Moses, standing on the Plains of Moab with all Israel assembled before him, preaching. It is his last sermon. When he completes it, he will leave his pulpit on the plains, climb a mountain, and die.

The setting is stirring and emotion-packed. Moses had entered the biblical story of salvation as a little baby born in Egypt under a death threat. Now, 120 years later, eyesight sharp as ever and walking with “a spring in his step,” he preaches this immense sermon and dies, still brimming with words and life.

This sermon does what all sermons are intended to do: Take God’s words, written and spoken in the past, take the human experience, ancestral and personal, of the listening congregation, then reproduce the words and experience as a single event right now, in this present moment. No word that God has spoken is a mere literary artifact to be studied; no human experience is dead history merely to be regretted or admired. The continuous and insistent Mosaic repetitions of “today” and “this day” throughout these sermons keep attentions taut and responsive. The complete range of human experience is brought to life and salvation by the full revelation of God: Live this! Now!

The Plains of Moab are the last stop on the forty-year journey from Egyptian slavery to Promised Land freedom. The People of Israel have experienced a lot as a congregation: deliverance, wanderings, rebellions, wars, providence, worship, guidance. The People of Israel have heard a lot from God: commandments, covenant conditions, sacrificial procedures. And now, poised at the River Jordan, ready to cross over and possess the new land, Moses, preaching his great Plains of Moab sermon, makes sure that they don’t leave any of it behind, not so much as one detail of their experience or God’s revelation: He puts their entire experience of salvation and providence into the present tense (chapters 1–11); he puts the entire revelation of commandment and covenant into the present tense (chapters 12–28); and then he wraps it all up in a charge and a song and a blessing to launch them into today’s obedience and believing (chapters 29–34).

Deuteronomy 6: The heart of the book and the heart of Scripture
Deuteronomy 9 and 10: The Ten Commandments – Part two

COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT VOL. 1: PENTATEUCH
By C.F. Keil & F. Delitzsch
NUMBERS:
The First part, which extends from ch. 1-10:10, contains the preparations for departing from Sinai, arranged in four groups:—viz.,
(1) the outward arrangement and classification of the tribes in the camp and on their march, or the numbering and grouping of the twelve tribes around the sanctuary of their God (ch. 1 and 2), and the appointment of the Levites in the place of the first-born of the nation to act as servants of the priests in the sanctuary (ch. 3 and 4);
(2) the internal or moral and spiritual organization of the nation as the congregation of the Lord, by laws relating to the maintenance of the cleanliness of the camp, restitution for trespasses, conjugal fidelity, the fulfilment of the vow of the Nazarite, and the priestly blessing (ch. 5 and 6);
(3) the closing events at Sinai, viz., the presentation of dedicatory offerings on the part of the tribe princes for the transport of the tabernacle and the altar service (ch. 7), the consecration of the Levites (ch. 8), and the feast of Passover, with an arrangement for a supplementary Passover (ch. 9:1-14);
(4) the appointment of signs and signals for the march in the desert (ch. 9:5-10:10).

In the Second part (ch. 10:11-21), the history of the journey is given in the three stages of its progress from Sinai to the heights of Pisgah, near to the Jordan, viz.,
(1) from their departure from the desert of Sinai (ch. 10:11-36) to their arrival at the desert of Paran, at Kadesh, including the occurrences at Tabeerah, at the graves of lust, and at Hazeroth (ch. 11 and 12), and the events at Kadesh which led God to condemn the people who had revolted against Him to wander in the wilderness for forty years, until the older generation that came out of Egypt had all died (ch. 13 and 14);
(2) all that is related of the execution of this divine judgment, extending from the end of the second year to the reassembling of the congregation at Kadesh at the beginning of the fortieth year, is the history of the rebellion and destruction of Korah (ch. 16-17:15), which is preceded by laws relating to the offering of sacrifices after entering Canaan, to the punishment of blasphemers, and to mementos upon the clothes (ch. 15), and followed by the divine institution of the Aaronic priesthood (ch.17:16-28), with directions as to the duties and rights of the priests and Levites (ch. 18), and the law concerning purification from uncleanness arising from contact with the dead (ch. 19);
(3) the journey of Israel in the fortieth year from Kadesh to Mount Hor, round Mount Seir, past Moab, and through the territory of the Amorites to the heights of Pisgah, with the defeat of the kings of the Amorites, Sihon and Og, and the conquest of their kingdoms in Gilead and Bashan (ch. 20 and 21).

In the Third part (ch. 22-36), the events which occurred in the steppes of Moab, on the eastern side of the plain of Jordan, are gathered into five groups, with the laws that were given there, viz.,
(1) the attempts of the Moabites and Midianites to destroy the people of Israel, first by the force of Balaam’s curse, which was turned against his will into a blessing (ch. 22-24), and then by the seduction of the Israelites to idolatry (ch. 25);
(2) the fresh numbering of the people according to their families (ch. 26), together with a rule for the inheritance of landed property by daughters (ch. 27:1-11), and the appointment of Joshua as the successor of Moses (ch. 27:12-23);
(3) laws relating to the sacrifices to be offered by the congregation on the Sabbath and feast days, and to the binding character of vows made by dependent persons (ch. 28-30);
(4) the defeat of the Midianites (ch. 31), the division of the land that had been conquered on the other side of the Jordan among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh (ch. 32), and the list of the halting-places (ch. 33:1-49);
(5) directions as to the expulsion of the Canaanites, the conquest of Canaan and division of it among the tribes of Israel, the Levites and free cities, and the marriage of heiresses (ch. 33:50-36).

ADAM CLARKE’S COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT
By Adam Clarke, LL.D., F.S.A., etc.

Preface to the Book of Judges
The persons called Judges, Shophetim, from, shaphat, to judge, discern regulate, and direct, were the heads or chiefs of the Israelites who governed the Hebrew republic from the days of Moses and Joshua till the time of Saul. The word judge is not to be taken here in its usual signification, i.e., one who determines controversies, and denounces the judgment of the law in criminal cases, but one who directs and rules a state or nation with sovereign power, administers justice, makes peace or war, and leads the armies of the people over whom he presides.

Judges 2:11 - 23 (NRSVA) 11Then the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and worshiped the Baals; 12and they abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; they followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were all around them, and bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger. 13They abandoned the LORD, and worshiped Baal and the Astartes. 14So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the power of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. 15Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them to bring misfortune, as the LORD had warned them and sworn to them; and they were in great distress. 16Then the LORD raised up judges, who delivered them out of the power of those who plundered them. 17Yet they did not listen even to their judges; for they lusted after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their ancestors had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD; they did not follow their example. 18Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the LORD would be moved to pity by their groaning because of those who persecuted and oppressed them. 19But whenever the judge died, they would relapse and behave worse than their ancestors, following other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them. They would not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. 20So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel; and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors, and have not obeyed my voice, 21I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died.” 22In order to test Israel, whether or not they would take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their ancestors did, 23the LORD had left those nations, not driving them out at once, and had not handed them over to Joshua.

Chapter 3 - 4: Deborah
Chapter 6-9: Gideon
Chapter 12-16: Sampson

EXODUS: The Wilderness Journeys - How Do You Get Through Dry Times?

Exodus is one of the central stories of scripture and of the formation and identity of Israel. They go from loose knit slaves in Egypt through a time of wilderness wanderings where they learn to trust God to the arrival as a new nation in the promised land. It is also the story of every person, family, group that goes through a fundamental change of direction, vision and identity in their lives.

These are the pivot point verses from the Exodus story.Exodus 1:5 - 10 (NRSV) 6Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation. 7But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. 8Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

Worked hard… Male infants killed
Moses hidden and rescued by daughter of pharaoh
Exodus 2:10 - 12 (NRSV) 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” 11One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsfolk. 12He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Moses flees
Exodus 2:23 - 25 (NRSV) 23After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. 24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

Exodus 3:1 - 8 (NRSV) 1Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

Exodus 3:13 - 15 (NRSV) 13But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” (Or I am what I am or I will be what I will be) He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
Exodus 4:9 - 17 (NRSV) 9If they will not believe even these two signs or heed you, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” 10But Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11Then the LORD said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” 13But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” 14Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. 15You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. 16He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. 17Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”
Exodus 5:1 + (NRSV) 1Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’” 2But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
15Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look how your servants are beaten! You are unjust to your own people.” 17He said, “You are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ 18Go now, and work; for no straw shall be given you, but you shall still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You shall not lessen your daily number of bricks.” 20As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron who were waiting to meet them. 21They said to them, “The LORD look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

The 10 Plagues: Water Turned to Blood, Frogs, Gnats, Flies, Livestock diseased, Boils, Thunder and hail, Locusts, Darkness, Death of the First born

Passover: Lambs blood, On Doorpost… Unleavened Bread
Exodus 13:3 - 6 (NRSV) 3Moses said to the people, “Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the LORD brought you out from there by strength of hand; no leavened bread shall be eaten. 4Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. 5When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this observance in this month. 6Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival to the LORD.
Exodus 13:17 - 22 (NRSV) 17When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt prepared for battle. 19And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph who had required a solemn oath of the Israelites, saying, “God will surely take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones with you from here.” 20They set out from Succoth, and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21The LORD went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. 22Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

EXODUS 14: Crossing the Red Sea

Exodus 15:22 - 26 (NRSV) 22Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah. 24And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25He cried out to the LORD; and the LORD showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance and there he put them to the test. 26He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”
Exodus 16:8 - 15 (NRSV) 8And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the LORD has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the LORD.” 9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.’” 10And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11The LORD spoke to Moses and said, 12“I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’” 13In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.

Exodus 17:1 - 7 (NRSV) 1From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” 3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The LORD said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

Exodus 18:13 - 23 (NRSV) 13The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening. 14When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?” 15Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make known to them the statutes and instructions of God.” 17Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God; 20teach them the statutes and instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the things they are to do. 21You should also look for able men among all the people, men who fear God, are trustworthy, and hate dishonest gain; set such men over them as officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22Let them sit as judges for the people at all times; let them bring every important case to you, but decide every minor case themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23If you do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will go to their home in peace.”

Exodus 20:1 - 20 (NRSV) TEN COMMANDMENTS: 1Then God spoke all these words: 2I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3you shall have no other gods before me. 4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13You shall not murder. 14You shall not commit adultery. 15You shall not steal. 16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 18When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance,

On The Mountain -- Exodus 20-31: Laws: Concerning the Altar, Slaves, Violence, Property, Restitution, Social and Religious Laws, Justice for All, Sabbatical year and Sabbath day, Annual festivals, Appointments for the Tabernacle, Religious rituals,

Exodus 32:1 (NRSV) 1When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

Exodus 33:12 - 21 (NRSV) 12Moses said to the LORD, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. 16For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.” 17The LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” 19And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The LORD’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” 21And the LORD continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock;

Exodus 34:11 - 16 (NRSV) 11Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. 13You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles 14(for you shall worship no other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God). 15You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice. 16And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods.

Exodus 34-39 Creating the Tablernacle

Exodus 40:34 - 38 (NRSV) 34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; 37but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.

LEVITICUS: The Holiness Code

Leviticus come from the name Levite. Levi was one of the sons of Jacob/Israel. When the promised land was divided up, 11 sons received portions of the land kept in perpetuity for the family/clan. The 12th son was to be the priestly family. They received no land, but were given the task of attending to the temple and offering religious services, rituals, teachings in every clan as well as the court. Leviticus is the rules for how to keep the nation, the temple, the people, and the individual ‘HOLY’ before God. Holiness is what made you worthy and safe enough to come into the presence of the Lord.

The Holiness Code includes prescriptions for social behavior, ritual acts, temple rites, holy days, and health and wellness.

Everyone chooses a chapter from the list below and explored and shared insights from verses.

Here are the chapter topics:
1) Burnt Offerings
2) Grain Offerings
3) Offerings of Well Being
4 & 5) Sin Offerings
6) Offerings with Restitution
7) Instructions concerning sacrifices
8 - 10) Rites and instructions for priesthood
11 -12) Clean and unclean food and animals
12) Purification of Women after childbirth
13-14) Leprosy
15) Concerning Bodily Discharge
16) The Day of Atonement
17) The slaughter of animals
18) Prohibitions around blood
18) Sexual Relations regulations and prohibitions
19) Ritual and Moral Holiness
20) Penalties for Holiness violations
21) The Holiness of Priests
22) The Use of Holy Offerings
23) Acceptable Offerings and Festivals
24) High Holy Days and regulations
25) Bread for the Tabernacle, Blasphemy, The Sabbatical Year
26) The Jubilee Year, Rewards for Obedience
27) Penalties for Disobedience, Votive Offerings

GENESIS: The Call and the Covenant

Humanity as a whole has not learned to trust God and is choosing to force others to love and serve them instead of offering the love and service to God and others. Now God’s plan moves from all of humanity to two people who will form a nation that will be God’s ambassadors to the world

Genesis 12:1 - 9 (NRSVA)
1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and invoked the name of the LORD. 9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Genesis 13:14 - 18 (NRSVA) 14The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; 15for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the LORD.

THE PROMISE of God is to provide offspring and land to form a nation. The role of the nation is to be representatives of God’s love (God’s Blessing) to all the nations.

Flaws: All the people God chooses to bring the plan to fulfillment are inherently flawed
Genesis 3:1+ Adam, Eve and Serpent
Genesis 4:1+ Cain and Abel
Genesis 9 18+ Noah’s drunk
Genesis 12:10+ Abram and Sarah in Egypt
Genesis 21:1 + Ishmael
Genesis 25:29+ Esau and Birthright
Genesis 27:1 + Jacob gets blessing
Genesis 37:11+ Joseph sold

Abraham
Isaac and Ishmael (Israel and Arab)
Jacob and Esau (Esau marries a daughter of Ishmael)

Jacob Narrative Genesis 23 – 36
Jacob, the Grandson of Abraham, through a long epic journey transforms and becomes “Israel”

Joseph Narrative Genesis 37 – 50
Joseph gets sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. This begins another epic journey where he becomes the second in command of Egypt opening the way for his family (Israel) to move into the safety of Egypt during a time of famine.

GENESIS: The Creation

Creating God, you continue to make new life, a new world, and a new community. Let these ancient stories be occasions for wonder rather than reasons for argument. Let them proclaim you creative and renewing power, and let our hearts and minds respond in awe. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Genesis is not a book of history or science, it is an explanation of God’s plan and relationship between humans and God, nature and each other.

“What is the literary genre of this text? [Genesis 2 – 3} Clearly it is not an eyewitness account, nor is it instruction in history of geography. Rather, it is the reflection of wise ones whoa re raising the great human questions. Where do we come from” Where are we going? What is the reason for life, suffering death? Why the mysterious attraction between the sexes? What is the relationship between us and God, us and rather, us and the persons around us?

To try to reply to these questions, the author(s) relies on personal reflections, but also on those of the wise ones of other civilizations. Above all, the starting point for reflection is faith: believers before had already meditated on the Exodus and the entry into Canaan; in these events they discovered something of the aspect of their God. And it is above all in terms of what he already knows about God in this way that the author tries to respond.” Etienne Charpentier How to Read the Old Testament

FIVE AFFIRMATIONS REVEALED IN GENESIS
ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND CREATION
God creates creation and has a specific purpose for it.
The relationship between God and creation develops through speaking and listening.
God’s word to creation is a sovereign call, but it is the kind of call which invites obedience rather than demanding allegiance.
God loves creation, but creation refuses to let God be God.
The relationship between God and creation is marked by tension between God’s purposes and creation’s resistance to God’s purposes.

A Word Study of key words from the text:
1) Formless: From an unused root meaning to lie waste; a desolation (of surface), that is, desert; figuratively a worthless thing; adverbially in vain:—confusion, empty place, without form, nothing, (thing of) nought, vain, vanity, waste, wilderness.

Spirit/Wind: wind; by resemblance breath, that is, a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions):—air, anger, blast, breath, cool, courage, mind, spirit ([-ual]), tempest, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).

The earth was a formless void. God forms and orders the world out of existing, chaotic matter. The deep … the waters. In the mythology of Canaan and Mesopotamia the waters were the symbols of chaos which the more powerful beneficent deities had to bring under control.

God Called: A primitive root (rather identical with H7122 through the idea of accosting a person met); to call out to (that is, properly address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications):—bewray [self], that are bidden, call (for, forth, self, upon), cry (unto), (be) famous, guest, invite, mention, (give) name, preach, (make) proclaim (-ation), pronounce, publish, read, renowned, say. The power of God to achieve his purpose is evident when he speaks his intention and it is accomplished.
Light: llumination or (concretely) luminary (in every sense, including lightning, happiness, etc.):—bright, clear, + day, light (-ning), morning, sun.


God separated the light from the darkness. The ordering of light and darkness establishes the rhythm of time, with evening followed by morning, which is the principle of Israelite days beginning at sundown.

Dome: properly an expanse, that is, the firmament or (apparently) visible arch of the sky:—firmament.

And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning…

Genesis 1: the creation of the human being
26Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Dominion: A primitive root; to tread down, that is, subjugate; specifically to crumble off:—(come to, make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (bear, make to) rule, (-r, over), take.

Image: From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol:—image, vain shew.

2) “then the LORD God formed man

from the dust of the ground
and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life;
and the man became a living being.”

Breath; a puff, that is, wind, angry or vital breath, divine inspiration, intellect or (concretely) an animal:—blast, (that) breath (-eth), inspiration, soul, spirit. –Nephesh
Life; alive; hence raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively:— + age, alive, appetite, (wild) beast, company, congregation, life (-time), live (-ly), living (creature, thing), maintenance, + merry, multitude, + (be) old, quick, raw, running, springing, troop.

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it
Till: A primitive root; to work (in any sense); by implication to serve, till, (causatively) enslave, etc.:— X be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, + husbandman, keep, labour (-ing man), bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve (-ing, self), (be, become) servant (-s), do (use) service, till (-er), transgress [from margin], (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper.

Keep: A primitive root; properly to hedge about (as with thorns), that is, guard; generally to protect, attend to, etc.:—beware, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep (-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch (-man).

GOD’S PLAN IS REVEALED AT THE END OF CREATION. GOD HAD CREATED HUMANS TO LOVE AND SERVE AND LIVE IN COVENANT HARMONTY WITH EACH OTHER AND ALL OF CREATION. HUMANS WERE TO HAVE AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP OF PRAISE, LOVE AND OBEDIENCE TO GOD. BUT LOVE CAN ONLY BE REAL IF HUMANS HAVE CHOICE


THE FALL…Humanity breaks its relationship to God by choosing to disobey God’s limits

CAIN AND ABEL….Humanity breaks its relationship to each other. Cain and Abel also reflect Israel’s (Shepherds) competition and conflict with their neighbors (farmers)

THE FLOOD…Return to Chaos and Creation… God begins again.
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided;

BABEL…Humans try to create a stairway to Heaven to become God’s equals.

The central problem presented at the beginning of the Bible is that people do not trust God to take care of them…so instead of offering love and service to others they try to force others to love and serve them.