Day 204, July 23: Bible reading & prayer
Isaiah 31-34 (chronological); Psalms 38-40, Acts 23:12-35 (OT/NT)
We are in the era of the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel, as recounted in 1 & 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. During this era, we’ve read the prophetic books of Obadiah, Jonah, Amos, Micah, and Hosea. We are currently reading prophecies Isaiah spoke during the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah.
In yesterday’s reading, the Lord warned that Ephraim (Israel) would be taken captive by a foreign people and that the priests and prophets who spoke differently were telling lies, that He will bring distress to Jerusalem but He will also eventually destroy her enemies, that Israel should not trust in other nations like Egypt, and that Assyria would be punished after they are used to punish Israel. He also declared that the house of Jacob will return to the Lord. In the midst of these specific prophesies, there is truth, wisdom, and admonishment to be mined that is applicable to our daily lives. For example, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15b).
I’ve found that Isaiah takes some discipline to persevere through, but there is so much to be learned through it. If you are struggling, what I learned about the book of Isaiah might help.
Reminder of historical background: as a consequence for Solomon’s disobedience, ten tribes were torn from the Kingdom of Judah, under Solomon’s son Rehoboam, and given to Jeroboam, to form the Kingdom of Israel. Judah’s kings, influenced by the legacy of faithful David, vary between good and evil. Israel’s kings, influenced by the legacy of rebellious Jeroboam, go from bad to worse. The books of the Kings cover both kingdoms, while the Chronicles tend to focus on the kingdom of Judah. I’ve attempted to summarize relevant details in the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel.
An overview of our yearly Bible reading plan, with all summaries so far, can be found here. My appeal for the resolution to read your Bibles is here.
July 23 chronological reading: Isaiah 31-34
Isaiah 31
v1-3 “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
And rely on horses,
And trust in chariots because they are many
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!
Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster
And does not retract His words,
But will arise against the house of evildoers
And against the help of the workers of iniquity.
Now the Egyptians are men and not God,
And their horses are flesh and not spirit;
So the LORD will stretch out His hand,
And he who helps will stumble
And he who is helped will fall,
And all of them will come to an end together.
v4-5 “For thus says the LORD to me,
‘As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey,
Against which a band of shepherds is called out,
And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise,
So will the LORD of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.’
Like flying birds so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
He will pass over and rescue it.
v6-9 “Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel. For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin.
And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,
And a sword not of man will devour him.
So he will not escape the sword,
And his young men will become forced laborers.
‘His rock will pass away because of panic,
And his princes will be terrified at the standard,’
Declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 32
v1-6 “Behold, a king will reign righteously
And princes will rule justly.
Each will be like a refuge from the wind
And a shelter from the storm,
Like streams of water in a dry country,
Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.
Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
The mind of the hasty will discern the truth,
And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.
No longer will the fool be called noble,
Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.
For a fool speaks nonsense,
And his heart inclines toward wickedness:
To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,
To keep the hungry person unsatisfied
And to withhold drink from the thirsty.
v7-8 “As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He devises wicked schemes
To destroy the afflicted with slander,
Even though the needy one speaks what is right.
But the noble man devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.
v9-20 “Rise up, you women who are at ease,
And hear my voice;
Give ear to my word,
You complacent daughters.
Within a year and a few days
You will be troubled, O complacent daughters;
For the vintage is ended,
And the fruit gathering will not come.
Tremble, you women who are at ease;
Be troubled, you complacent daughters;
Strip, undress and put sackcloth on your waist,
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up;
Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city.
Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.
Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever,
A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;
Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
And the fertile field is considered as a forest.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness
And righteousness will abide in the fertile field.
And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,
And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places;
And it will hail when the forest comes down,
And the city will be utterly laid low.
How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,
Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.”
Isaiah 33
v1 “Woe to you, O destroyer,
While you were not destroyed;
And he who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him.
As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed;
As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will deal treacherously with you.
v2-6 “O LORD, be gracious to us; we have waited for You.
Be their strength every morning,
Our salvation also in the time of distress.
At the sound of the tumult peoples flee;
At the lifting up of Yourself nations disperse.
Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.
The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
And He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the LORD is his treasure.
v7-9 “Behold, their brave men cry in the streets,
The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
The highways are desolate, the traveler has ceased,
He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities,
He has no regard for man.
The land mourns and pines away,
Lebanon is shamed and withers;
Sharon is like a desert plain,
And Bashan and Carmel lose their foliage.
v10-13 “‘Now I will arise,’ says the LORD,
‘Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up.
You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble;
My breath will consume you like a fire.
The peoples will be burned to lime,
Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire.
You who are far away, hear what I have done;
And you who are near, acknowledge My might.’
v14-24 “Sinners in Zion are terrified;
Trembling has seized the godless.
‘Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with continual burning?’
He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity,
He who rejects unjust gain
And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;
He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed
And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;
He will dwell on the heights,
His refuge will be the impregnable rock;
His bread will be given him,
His water will be sure.
v17-24 “Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
They will behold a far-distant land.
Your heart will meditate on terror:
‘Where is he who counts?
Where is he who weighs?
Where is he who counts the towers?’
You will no longer see a fierce people,
A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends,
Of a stammering tongue which no one understands.
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;
Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed habitation,
A tent which will not be folded;
Its stakes will never be pulled up,
Nor any of its cords be torn apart.
But there the majestic One, the LORD, will be for us
A place of rivers and wide canals
On which no boat with oars will go,
And on which no mighty ship will pass—
For the LORD is our judge,
The LORD is our lawgiver,
The LORD is our king;
He will save us—
Your tackle hangs slack;
It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly,
Nor spread out the sail.
Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided;
The lame will take the plunder.
And no resident will say, ‘I am sick’;
The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.”
Isaiah 34
v1-15 “Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!
Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to slaughter.
So their slain will be thrown out,
And their corpses will give off their stench,
And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
And all the host of heaven will wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
For My sword is satiated in heaven,
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom
And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.
The sword of the LORD is filled with blood,
It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
Wild oxen will also fall with them
And young bulls with strong ones;
Thus their land will be soaked with blood,
And their dust become greasy with fat.
For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
It will not be quenched night or day;
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation it will be desolate;
None will pass through it forever and ever.
But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the line of desolation
And the plumb line of emptiness.
Its nobles—there is no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its princes will be nothing.
Thorns will come up in its fortified towers,
Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of jackals
And an abode of ostriches.
The desert creatures will meet with the wolves,
The hairy goat also will cry to its kind;
Yes, the night monster will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its protection.
Yes, the hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.
v16-17 “Seek from the book of the LORD, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.”
July 23 OT/NT readings: Psalms 38-40, Acts 23:12-35
We are reading Psalms in the Old Testament reading plan. In this document, I list the Psalms in order of appearance, followed by author (if known), context of the Psalm’s writing (description of context that appear in the Biblical text before some Psalms are quoted), and the Old Testament reading it appears after. Here is that information for today’s Psalms:
Psalm 38, appears as 72nd/150 Psalms, authored by David, after God reveals His covenant with David to establish His kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7, 1 Chronicles 17), Day 128
Psalm 39, appears as 73rd/150 Psalms, authored by David, after God reveals His covenant with David to establish His kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7, 1 Chronicles 17), Day 128
Psalm 40, appears as 101st/150 Psalms, authored by David, after David was restored as king over Israel after the death of Absalom (2 Samuel 19-21), Day 140
We are in the book of Acts, written by Luke, and we are reading about the events that led to Paul’s arrest after his arrival in Jerusalem at the end of his third missionary journey. “Jews from Asia, upon seeing Paul in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, ‘Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.’” They were able to stir up the crowds, pull Paul out of the temple, and start beating him, but the commander of the Roman cohort, with some soldiers and centurions, rescued him. The commander allowed him to offer his defense to the Jews in Jerusalem. When he told them God had sent him to the Gentiles, “they raised their voices and said, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!’ The commander was going to have him examined by scourging until he found out he was a Roman citizen, so the next day he had Paul appear before the chief priests and the Council. Paul told the Council, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.” The high priest orders him struck, to which Paul answers, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” Paul then starts a disagreement between the Sadducees and the Pharisees by claiming, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!” As “a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks. But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, ‘Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.’”
Acts 23
v12-15 “When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who formed this plot. They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, ‘We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.’
v16-22 “But the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, and he came and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, ‘Lead this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him.’ So he took him and led him to the commander and said, ‘Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you.’ The commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, ‘What is it that you have to report to me?’ And he said, ‘The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to the Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him. So do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.’ So the commander let the young man go, instructing him, ‘Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.’
v23-25 “And he called to him two of the centurions and said, ‘Get two hundred soldiers ready by the third hour of the night to proceed to Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen.’ They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter having this form:
v26 ‘Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings.
v27 ‘When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, I came up to them with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.
v28-29 ‘And wanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their Council; and I found him to be accused over questions about their Law, but under no accusation deserving death or imprisonment.
v30 ‘When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing his accusers to bring charges against him before you.’
v31-35 “So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. But the next day, leaving the horsemen to go on with him, they returned to the barracks. When these had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. When he had read it, he asked from what province he was, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, ‘I will give you a hearing after your accusers arrive also,’ giving orders for him to be kept in Herod’s Praetorium.”
Dear Lord,
Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
The mind of the hasty will discern the truth,
And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.
No longer will the fool be called noble,
Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.
For a fool speaks nonsense,
And his heart inclines toward wickedness:
To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,
To keep the hungry person unsatisfied
And to withhold drink from the thirsty.
As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He devises wicked schemes
To destroy the afflicted with slander,
Even though the needy one speaks what is right.
But the noble man devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.
We pray for eyes that see and ears that hear. We pray for discernment to differentiate fools and rogues from the noble. We pray for righteous leaders.
I found him to be accused over questions about their Law, but under no accusation deserving death or imprisonment.
I so appreciate all this Roman commander did to protect Paul’s life, while the religious wanted him killed. Please help us to have regard for the lives of others, even when we disagree.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
"We pray for eyes that see and ears that hear. We pray for discernment to differentiate fools and rogues from the noble. We pray for righteous leaders." Amen. Thank you Dr. Milhoan. Peace.