Day 256, September 13: Bible reading & prayer
Joel 1-3 (chronological); Proverbs 23-24, 2 Corinthians 5 (OT/NT)
We finished Ezekiel yesterday and today we read Joel. Joel was a prophet in Israel who prophesied some of the events that occurred during the time of Ezekiel (namely the invasion and destruction of Israel), but also, like Ezekiel, prophesied about events that will occur in the latter days. Though our chronological plan places him after Ezekiel, he likely prophesied much earlier, even as early as the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah.
I usually summarize the previous day’s reading, so I will finish the summary of what we read in Ezekiel over the last four days. They were visions given to Ezekiel in the twenty-fifth year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, to Babylon, fourteen years after Jerusalem was taken. They would seem to give hope for those in exile regarding the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple. The LORD brought Ezekiel in the visions of God to the land of Israel and set him on a very high mountain. A man was there whose appearance was like bronze and who had a measuring rod in his hand. Ezekiel was told to, “Declare to the house of Israel all that you see.” He showed him the plan of the temple, demonstrating and measuring the wall around it that divides “the holy and the profane”; its outer court which is for the people; its inner court which is for those who minister before the LORD; its chambers for the priests, Levites, and singers, and for the changing of the priest’s clothes, and for the priests’ eating of holy sacrifices; the sanctuary surrounded by a three-story structure of galleries, the nave or “most holy place,” and the altar, or “table that is before the LORD.”
He then showed Ezekiel the glory of the God of Israel coming from the way of the east (the same way it went out when the city was destroyed, Day 241) and filling the house of the LORD, and declared, “this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, which I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.” He told Ezekiel later that this outer eastern gate shall remain shut “for the LORD God of Israel has entered by it.”
Ezekiel was instructed to “describe the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the plan. If they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the house…And write it in their sight, so that they may observe its whole design and all its statutes and do them. This is the law of the house; its entire area on top of the mountain all around shall be most holy.”
Ezekiel then received detailed instructions that bring to mind similar detailed instructions that the LORD gave Moses, regarding priests and Levites and garments and offerings and feasts. These instructions are not incompatible with the instructions given to Moses. They complement them and seem to be instructions for worship in a new temple that will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, given that the temple built by Solomon has been destroyed. He does make specific that “the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to minister to Me,” but “the Levites who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who went astray from Me after their idols, shall bear the punishment for their iniquity….they shall not come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things….Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the house, of all its service and of all that shall be done in it.” He also gave Ezekiel instructions for allotments in the city for the temple, priests, Levites, prince, and people of the city.
Yesterday, The Lord GOD gave Ezekiel great detail about the worship of the prince and the people at the gate of the inner court facing east. It shall be shut the six working days, but open on the sabbath and on the day of the new moon until evening. The prince shall enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside; stand by the post of the gate to offer his burnt offering (six lambs and a ram without blemish, with an ephah of grain with the ram and as much grain as he can give with the lambs, and a hin of oil on the sabbath, and the same offering plus a young bull without blemish on the new moon), peace offering, or freewill offering; and then go out the same way he went in. The people will either enter by the north or south gate, but worship at the doorway of the east gate before the LORD on sabbaths and the new moon, and then go out the opposite gate they came in. There shall be a daily burnt offering of a year old lamb without blemish and a grain offering of a sixth of an ephah of fine floor moistened with a third of a hin of oil every morning by perpetual ordinance. The prince can give of his inheritance to his sons, but he cannot take from the people’s inheritance. If he gives of his inheritance to any of his servants, it is returned in the year of liberty. Then Ezekiel was shown a place at the extreme rear, toward the west, of the holy chambers for the priests which faced north where they should boil the guilt and sin offerings and bake the grain offering, “that they may not bring them out into the outer court to transmit holiness to the people.” Then he was shown a small court in each of the four corners of the outer court “where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people.”
Ezekiel was then brought back to the door of the house and water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, “for the house faced east,” from south of the altar. He was brought out the north gate and brought around to the gate that faces east and water was trickling from the south side. The man went toward the east successively measuring the depth of the water until it was a river that could not be forded, deep enough to swim in. There were trees on each bank of the river. The man said, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh,” with fish living in them, but “its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt.” As for the trees on the banks, their “leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (See if you notice the imagery of this river being mentioned in Joel today.)
The Lord God then explained all the geographic boundaries of the land to the north, east, south, and west, telling Ezekiel, “you shall divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions….for I swore to give it to your forefathers, and this land shall fall to you as an inheritance….You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And in the tribe with which the alien stays, there you shall give him his inheritance.”
The geographical borders of the land allotted to each tribe were then described, with Dan to the north, moving progressively south with allotments from east to west for Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and Judah. Then there is the allotment to the Lord, with specific allotments for the temple, priests, Levites, prince, and people of the city. The common use area shall be cultivated by the people of the city, from all the tribes. South of the city is the allotment for Benjamin, from east to west, and then, continuing to move south, allotments for Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad. There will be three gates of the city on each side, named for the tribes of Israel. On the north: Reuben, Judah, and Levi. On the east: Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan. On the south: Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun. On the west: Gad, Asher, and Naphtali. “The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The LORD is there.’”
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.
September 13 chronological reading: Joel 1-3
Joel 1
v1 “The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
v2-3 “Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days?
Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.
v4-7 “What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.
Awake, drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is cut off from your mouth.
For a nation has invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.
It has made my vine a waste
And my fig tree splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.
v8-12 “Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.
The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
From the house of the LORD.
The priests mourn,
The ministers of the LORD.
The field is ruined,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails.
Be ashamed, O farmers,
Wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
The vine dries up And the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up From the sons of men.
v13 “Gird yourselves with sackcloth
And lament, O priests;
Wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth
O ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
v14-20 “Consecrate a fast,
Proclaim a solemn assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD.
Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near,
And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Has not food been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and joy from the house of our God?
The seeds shrivel under their clods;
The storehouses are desolate,
The barns are torn down,
For the grain is dried up.
How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them; Even the flocks of sheep suffer.
To You, O LORD, I cry;
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
Even the beasts of the field pant for You; For the water brooks are dried up And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.”
Joel 2
v1-10 “Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near,
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
As the dawn is spread over the mountains,
So there is a great and mighty people;
There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.
A fire consumes before them And behind them a flame burns.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them.
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like war horses, so they run.
With a noise as of chariots
They leap on the tops of the mountains,
Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble,
Like a mighty people arranged for battle.
Before them the people are in anguish;
All faces turn pale.
They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like soldiers;
And they each march in line,
Nor do they deviate from their paths.
They do not crowd each other,
They march everyone in his path;
When they burst through the defenses,
They do not break ranks.
They rush on the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They enter through the windows like a thief.
Before them the earth quakes,
The heavens tremble,
The sun and the moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
v11-14 “The LORD utters His voice before His army;
Surely His camp is very great,
For strong is he who carries out His word.
The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome,
And who can endure it?
‘Yet even now,’ declares the LORD,
‘Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
And rend your heart and not your garments.’
Now return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.
Who knows whether He will not turn and relent
And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering
For the LORD your God?
v15-17 “Blow a trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out of his room
And the bride out of her bridal chamber.
Let the priests, the LORD’S ministers,
Weep between the porch and the altar,
And let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O LORD,
And do not make Your inheritance a reproach,
A byword among the nations.
Why should they among the peoples say,
“Where is their God?”’
v18-20 “Then the LORD will be zealous for His land
And will have pity on His people.
The LORD will answer and say to His people,
‘Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine and oil,
And you will be satisfied in full with them; And I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.
But I will remove the northern army far from you, And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,
And its vanguard into the eastern sea,
And its rear guard into the western sea.
And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up, For it has done great things.’
v21-27 “Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad,
For the LORD has done great things.
Do not fear, beasts of the field,
For the pastures of the wilderness have turned green,
For the tree has borne its fruit,
The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full.
So rejoice, O sons of Zion,
And be glad in the LORD your God;
For He has given you the early rain for your vindication.
And He has poured down for you the rain,
The early and latter rain as before.
The threshing floors will be full of grain,
And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.
‘Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.
You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied
And praise the name of the LORD your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame.
Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel,
And that I am the LORD your God,
And there is no other;
And My people will never be put to shame.
v28-29 ‘It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
v30-32 ‘I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Will be delivered;
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
There will be those who escape,
As the LORD has said,
Even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.’”
Joel 3
v1-3 “‘For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land.
They have also cast lots for My people,
Traded a boy for a harlot
And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
v4-8 ‘Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head. Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples, and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory, behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head. Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,’ for the LORD has spoken.
v9-17 “Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!
Beat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, ‘I am a mighty man.’
Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there.
Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones.
Let the nations be aroused
And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
For there I will sit to judge
All the surrounding nations.
Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread, for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
The sun and moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
The LORD roars from Zion
And utters His voice from Jerusalem,
And the heavens and the earth tremble.
But the LORD is a refuge for His people
And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
Then you will know that I am the LORD your God,
Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.
So Jerusalem will be holy,
And strangers will pass through it no more.
v18-21 “And in that day
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
And the hills will flow with milk,
And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water;
And a spring will go out from the house of the LORD
To water the valley of Shittim.
Egypt will become a waste,
And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,
Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah,
In whose land they have shed innocent blood.
But Judah will be inhabited forever
And Jerusalem for all generations.
And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged,
For the LORD dwells in Zion.”
September 13 OT/NT readings: Proverbs 23-24, 2 Corinthians 5
We are reading Proverbs in the Old Testament reading plan. We first read Proverbs 23 & 24 in the chronological reading plan on Day 161.
We are reading the apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians in the New Testament reading plan. Paul went to Corinth during his second missionary journey (see timeline of the book of Acts). It was the first place he remained for any length of time (18 months) until a disturbance was formed against him and he moved on. He had met Romans Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth, and he took them with him to Ephesus and left them there while he returned to Antioch. He returned to Ephesus at the beginning of his third missionary journey, staying over 2 years. He wrote what we know as the first letter to the Corinthians from Ephesus. 1 Corinthians 5:9 refers to a previous letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians and 1 Corinthians 7:1 refers to their writing a letter in return, containing questions he addresses in this letter.
During his time in Ephesus, when he wrote what we know as his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul resolved to travel through Macedonia and Greece to take a contribution to the saints in Jerusalem. He spoke about this collection in the last chapter of 1 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians was written during these travels at the end of his third missionary journey. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:1, “This is the third time I am coming to you,” so there was another visit by Paul to Corinth about which we don’t have details.
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians reprimanding them for divisions in the church, immorality, and incorrect handling of communion. He knows the reprimand of his letter caused sorrow. As I mentioned above, we get clues from his letter that he visited Corinth after he wrote it, with more reprimand causing further sorrow. He refers to the persecution he and those with him in Asia (Ephesus) endured, such that they despaired “even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:18), sealing his plan to leave Ephesus to travel through Macedonia and Greece. He had planned to go to Corinth (Greece) first, but decided not to return again and cause the Corinthians further sorrow. He is able to see a purpose in both his sorrow and theirs, declaring that the comfort we receive from God in our afflictions helps us comfort others in their afflictions. He explains the Corinthians should forgive the now repentant person who inspired his rebuke. He testifies of victory even in trying circumstances during his travels, making sure credit does not go to himself, but to the triune God. He explains that the ministry of the New Covenant, enabled by the Holy Spirit, is more glorious than the Old, and gives hope and boldness. He reminds that we can have confidence in a clear explanation of the gospel and should not veil it in any way.
In chapter 4 yesterday, Paul continued on the concept of the ministry of the New Covenant giving hope and boldness, and confidence to not shy away from clear presentation of the gospel. If people do not understand the gospel, it is because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” It is God “who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Our human weakness demonstrates God’s strength in us: “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.” We have the same spirit of faith that caused the Psalmist to write Psalm 116: “we also believe, therefore we also speak…we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 5
v1-5 “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.
v6-10 “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
v11-15 “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
v16-19 “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
v20-21 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Dear Lord,
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
And rend your heart and not your garments.”
Now return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
And relenting of evil.
Who knows whether He will not turn and relent
And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering
For the LORD your God?
You warn so that we can repent. Oh, may we repent. Perhaps You will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind You.
we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him
Yes, Lord, help us to live lives that are pleasing to You.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
"Yes, Lord, help us to live lives that are pleasing to You." Amen. Thank you Dr. Milhoan. Peace.