Bible In A Year: December
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Devoted to Destruction
Deuteronomy 7-9 Why did God choose the Israelites as his “treasured possession?” In Deuteronomy 7:6-8 we hear the comforting word of God’s promise to the Hebrew children, but the reasons behind the promise are a little deflating. God did not choose the Israelites because they were great in number or because of their strength, their […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Thou Shalt Love…?
Deuteronomy 10-13 “Love me.” The intonation of the libretto flattens when love is demanded. How exactly is love required? Moreover, is such a command effective? The very notion of demanded love is the material of despots and totalitarian regimes where repression, not affection, is the aim. Or put it in more pedestrian terms, a spouse […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: His Treasured Possession
Deuteronomy 14-16 The first lines of these chapters lifted themselves off the page as I read them. “You are the sons of the Lord your God. … [and] you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Direct Access vs. Mediation
Deuteronomy 17-19 We find ourselves in the part of Deuteronomy where we run into a lot of “you shalls” and “you shall nots.” And though we might groan a little, the people of Israel initially had cried out for such “boundaries.” Moses reminds them that God would raise up another prophet, “just as you desired […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Laws of Warfare, Unsolved Murders, and Cross-dressing
Deuteronomy 20-22 We may feel that we are far removed from Moses and the children of Israel as they prepare to cross into the promised land, but under a few layers of technology we are not so different. For us, as for our forebearers, the question stands: how do we live as a people of […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Three O’Clock in the Morning
Deuteronomy 23-25 The law convicts us of sin. It shows us that we are, all of us, judged; that we are, all of us, found wanting. But the law also convicts us by a second device. Law paints the lines on the savage playing field of our sin: what the law condemns, it first describes. […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Reversals
Deuteronomy 26-28 The longer we live, the more we see reversals in our lives. Roles are reversed when we become the parent instead of the child or the teacher instead of the student, or when we find ourselves caring for those who once cared for us. Today in Deuteronomy we hear a whisper of a […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: But the Lord Keeps Coming Back
Deuteronomy 29-31 In Deuteronomy, we’re standing with the people of Israel on the far side of the Jordan, listening to sermons from Moses. He’s speaking to the second generation out of Egypt, the children of those who were delivered out of Egypt but who fearfully and faithlessly refused to enter the Promised Land. Moses has […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Death of Moses
Deuteronomy 32-34 [above: Death of Moses, Alexandre Cabanel, c. 1851, click picture for larger image] The days of Moses draw to an end and a new day begins for the people of Israel. Moses shares God’s words of blessing to his people and the baton of leadership is passed to Joshua, the son of Nun. […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: A Quaint Little B&B in Jericho
Joshua 1-3 When we read the book of Exodus, we read Part 1 of God’s great Old Testament redemption narrative: the rescue of the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt. The central figure God uses in that stage of the rescue is Moses. Now we enter the book of Joshua, which tells Part 2 […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Walls Came a-Tumblin’ Down
Joshua 4-6 Israel is a weak and tired people, hungry after all their wanderings, but hopeful as they cross the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land under the new leadership of Joshua, Moses’ assistant. Through the parting of the Jordan, the Lord reminds the Israelites of his past faithfulness, when he intervened to part […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Achan’s Sin and the Gibeonite Deception
Joshua 7-9 Very few preachers—I would bet none—would look at this text with excitement. If given a choice between Joshua 7-9 and any other passage from the Bible to preach on, the latter would win out every time. For me, it is my only choice and it is good for us to wrestle with this […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Good Reading for Boys
Joshua 10-12 Joshua 10-12 is good reading for boys. It has a lot of fighting, conquering, toughness, and a little bit of the supernatural thrown in (the sun stands still in the sky for a day). It is not a passage for the squeamish or for those who wish to see a little more compassion […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Closing the Deal – Mostly…
Joshua 13-15 Most of the text in these three chapters is about real estate, and it documents the inheritance of specific parcels of the promised land to the individual tribes of Israel and Judah. There are two additional narratives that are much more personal in nature, along with a rather understated but very poignant last […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: A Golden Era?
Joshua 16-18 Deuteronomy and Joshua are divided along canonical lines. Though the narrative of Israel’s wilderness wanderings continues into Joshua’s provenance, a significant theological and canonical caesura exists between Deuteronomy and Joshua. The former is in the Torah. While the latter is located in the section of the Hebrew Scriptures properly identified as the Nevi’im […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Who’d You Get?
Joshua 19-21 There is a great tradition at my daughter’s former school. On the Thursday afternoon in August prior to the first day of school, the list of teachers and their classes is posted in the school window. The Ice Cream Man comes, and all the families come, and kids crowd around the windows, straining […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Choose this day whom you will serve…
Joshua 22-24 Remember all you have seen the Lord do for your sake: It is the Lord your God who has fought for you. It is the Lord who has driven out great and strong nations before you. It is the Lord who fights for you as he promised you. Not one word has failed […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Lefty vs. Hefty
Judges 1-3 With the death of Joshua, God raises up judges to rule over Israel. He raises them up at just the right time in order to save Israel from their adversaries and from themselves. And, more often than not, he raises up the least likely of persons to deliver the people. He calls Ehud, […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Gideon (not exactly Heisman material)
Judges 4-6 God used Deborah, Barak, and (although not a judge) Jael, to slay an enemy king and to lead the people—not the mighty, but those thought of as weak. Gideon is no exception. The Lord calls Gideon while he is threshing wheat in the winepress in order to hide from the Midianites. Not only […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Gideon and the 300
Judges 7-9 The book of Judges describes Israel steadily bending further in upon itself—curvatus in se, writ large. Though there are occasional periods of faithfulness, the book is a steady regression, culminating in the haunting final line: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Some Good News about Jephthah’s Rash Vow
Judges 10-12 Do you ever make rash vows with God? The Lord knows I have. Particularly when I was a child. In desperation, I would look skyward and say, “God if you do X for me, I will do Y for you.” I wasn’t even sure I believed there was a God. But it seems intrinsic […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Samson
Judges 13-16 [Above: Victor Mature and Hedy Lamarr in Samson and Delilah (1949)] I don’t know about you, but I think the story of Samson is the most bizarre story in the Bible. Balaam’s talking donkey and Jonah’s nauseous whale have nothing on Samson. Twice we are told that Samson judged the people of Israel for twenty […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: The Downward Spiral Continues
Judges 17-19 Judges 17-21 delivers the final summary of the book in an upsetting portrait of the depraved conditions of the era. We are reminded several times that there is now no king (judge) in Israel and that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg.17:6). The dereliction of Israel is illustrated in […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: A Text of Terror
Judges 20-21 There is never an easy moment to turn to Judges 20-21. For there we encounter a Levite whose concubine is violated by a group of Benjaminites. Disturbingly, the Levite dismembers the concubine’s corpse to send to the other tribes of Israel as tokens bearing witness to his outrage. Part of the challenge of […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Possible Impossibility
Luke 1 Psalm 40 Have you ever seen a great artist embellish his work with a flourish? The best painters can mix colors and brushwork to depict beauty and truth on multiple levels. An Olympic figure skater can land the most difficult axels with both technical skill and deceptive ease. A jazz pianist starts improvising […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: A Marshmallow World
Luke 2 Psalm 41 On Christmas Day, this joyous day, the Word’s Incarnation and death’s long shadow are linked, hinged in the dark stable like the reality of God’s kingdom on the one hand and the fruit of our self-delusion on the other. Jesus was born, fully God and fully man, for one purpose only: […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Wreath vs. Wrath?
Luke 3-4 Psalm 42-43 During this Christmas season you have probably placed money in the red Salvation Army kettle. And in response, the bell ringer probably said – what? “God bless you and have a merry Christmas.” But what if he said, “Flee from the wrath that is to come!” It would be startling, an […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: La Pêche Miraculeuse
Luke 5-6 Psalm 44 In the beginning of Luke chapter 5 we are offered a glimpse of what it means to truly follow Christ. Up to this point Jesus has met the needs of many by healing their various ailments. Now we find Jesus on the Sea of Galilee with his disciples, who have had […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Uncaged
Luke 7-8 Psalm 45 It seems as if Jesus can’t help himself. More often than not, he puts the fox among the hens. Just when we expect him to act in a certain way, he surprises us again with the unconventional and unsettling. In Chapter 14 of Luke’s gospel, for example, a large crowd follows […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: Who Do You Say That I Am?
Luke 9-10 Psalm 46-47 Twice a year I lead a group of men from the church on a four day backpacking excursion. It is the single greatest format for a men’s retreat that I have encountered, and it is my favorite thing I get to be a part of in ministry. The pages of Scripture […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: O Zion, That Bringest Good Tidings!
Luke 11-12 Psalm 48-49 Psalm 48 is a song by the Sons of Korah. We know from accounts in Chronicles that these sons of Korah were the ministers of music established by King David (1 Chronicles 6:31,32). Psalm 48 is a song of praise to God that he has made himself known in Jerusalem, on […]
Advent Bible in a Year Blog: No Re-solutions!
Luke 13-14 Psalm 50 I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, if only for the simple fact that they are usually a recipe for ambivalence and disillusionment at best, and will often even tend towards disappointment and fantasy. It is a fantasy to believe that I can look inside of myself and muster the inner […]