The Dutch hoped there existed a water route across America to the Pacific, and they sent Henry Hudson to find it. Although he was unsuccessful, he did lay claim to the land along the Hudson River, so named for him. There the Dutch West India Company founded the colony of New Netherlands, receiving their charter this day, June 3, 1621. The Dutch leader, called the "Staten Generaal," after which Staten Island was named, gave the regulation: "[Colonists] shall…by their Christian life and conduct, lead Indians… to the knowledge of God and His Word, without, however, persecuting anyone because of his faith."

American Minute

Just as Christians should not be constantly feeling the pulse of their spiritual life,
so too the Christian community has not been given to us by God
for us to be continually taking its temperature.

The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us,
the more assuredly and consistently
will community increase and grow from day to day as God pleases.
--- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 5)

It was indispensable that God should be just in justifying the ungodly, but He does not thereby cease to be gracious, inasmuch as it was He who provided the ransom by which the objects of his love are redeemed from the curse of the law and the power of sin.
--- Charles Hodge
Systematic Theology

As you emphasize your life, you must localize and define it... you cannot do everything.
--- Phillips Brooks
Phillips Brooks Year Book: Selections from the Writings of the Rt. Rev. Phillips Brooks

A lot of people are willing to give God credit, but so few ever give Him cash.
--- Robert E. Harris
So You're A Christian, Who Knew?

     In the King James Bible, the first verse of the Shema is translated, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is One.”

     That translation grates on the ear of the contemporary English speaker. Why is the divine Name, conventionally translated in English as “Lord,” repeated? The simple answer is that in Hebrew, the copulative verb is understood. Translators must supply it in their own vernaculars. Thus, “Y-H-V-H Elohenu” is more accurately rendered, “The Lord is our God.”

     But precisely what does that mean? And what is the difference between these two divine Names?

     The Tetragrammaton (the four Hebrew letters Y-H-V-H) is ineffable; it is never pronounced as it is written. Indeed, the Talmud held that the proper pronunciation was known only to the priests (kohanim) of the Temple in Jerusalem, where the High Priest enunciated it only on one day of the year, Yom Kippur, during the solemn service, as the choir of priests chanted so as to make it impossible for non-priests to hear the Name as it was uttered by the High Priest. The original pronunciation of the Name is lost to us. For liturgical purposes, therefore, the Name is pronounced as if it was written Adonai, which means, “my Lord.” Because of the sanctity of the Tetragrammaton, we do not even pronounce or write Adonai except for liturgical or pedagogical purposes; otherwise, we substitute for it yet another euphemism, Hashem, which means nothing more than “the Name.” It is that term, Hashem, that we shall be using in discussing the Shema.

(2)     The difference between these two Names—the Tetragrammaton and Elohim (translated as “God”)—is normally explained in the Jewish tradition as the difference between middat ha-din and middat ha-raḥamim, the attribute of divine judgment (strict justice, wrath, demanding) and that of compassion (love, kindness, forgiving); Hashem implies the latter, Elohim the former.1

     For this reason, although we prefer to translate the key verse of the Shema as “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One,” it would be wrong to dismiss the King James translation—“… the Lord our God the Lord is One”—as simple-minded. That is so because if indeed Hashem, “the Lord,” represents the personal, relational aspect of Divinity, as opposed to Elohim, “God,” then the Name designating this divine-human intimacy should be capable of being cast in the possessive case: my or our Lord, etc. Yet it is only Elohim that exists in this form (Elohenu, Elohekhem, etc.), not Hashem, “the Lord.” Therefore, the only way Moses could express the possessive of Hashem—the Jewish God, as it were, in the sense of personality, intimacy, and involvement in the divine-human dialogue—is by linking it to Elohim; hence the compound Hashem Elohenu, “the Lord our God.” Nevertheless, we prefer—for a variety of reasons—the translation, “the Lord is our God.”

     Of course, these two terms do not represent the measure of God. Other divine attributes coexist with them. Rather, din and raḥamim are emblematic of other pairs of attributes that exist in dialectical relation with each other. Taken together, these pairs of polar opposites give us deeper insight into the comprehensive nature of yiḥud Hashem, the unity of God.

     The two Names point to God as seen in Nature versus God as experienced in History. On the one hand, Elohim is the Creator, the Master of the cosmos, who both creates and continues to direct the vast symphony of all creation, from the most massive of the galaxies to the tiniest constituent particles of the atom, where matter begins to shade into energy. Thus, the Torah opens: “In the beginning God (Elohim) created heaven and earth.”

     The Name Hashem, on the other hand, stands for God as He is revealed in the course of human events. Hashem is the Lord of History. As it is written, “And the Lord (Hashem) came down upon Mount Sinai” (Exod. 19:20). When Hashem “comes down” and involves Himself in human affairs, especially those of Israel, His “peculiar treasure” (am segula) chosen for the benefit of all humankind, He does so under the Name Hashem, the Lord.2

     At the most elementary level, Elohim is the aspect that God shares with the gods of most of the pagan world as well as with earthly sovereigns, namely, that of (presumed) power or authority. That is why this name as it appears in Scripture is sometimes considered sacred (and hence must not be destroyed or treated with disrespect) and sometimes profane. When it refers to “the Jewish God,” it is sacred; when it refers to idols, other deities, or powerful human agencies—that is, to generic aspects of divinity—it is, of course, profane.

     Hashem, the Lord, however, is a different matter altogether. This Name belongs to the God known to Jews, who has a special relationship with the Children of Israel. This is the One whom the Jews have chosen to worship as their very own, who has revealed Himself to them and chosen them as His people—the ones who would bear witness to Him and His unity in the world. Thus, the phrase Hashem Elohenu, “the Lord is our God,” means: just as other peoples have their gods, so do we have ours, personal as well as powerful, intimate as well as sovereign; the One who goes by the Name written as the Tetragrammaton, Y-H-V-H, but pronounced only as Hashem, “the Lord,” literally “the Name,” because the correct pronunciation is unknown to us.

     At another level, the double name, Hashem Elohenu, represents another significant dyad: God’s universal as opposed to His national or particularistic aspect. Elohim refers to God’s universal dimension; Hashem, to His very special and particular relation to Israel as the people to whom He has chosen to reveal Himself. Thus, in Scripture, other peoples and their leaders know Israel’s God as Elohim, whereas Jews (when not estranged from Him, i.e., not under the attribute of din, judgment) know God as Hashem. Thus, Pharaoh and (more problematically) Balaam, when they refer to Him, or in the rare instances when they encounter Him, speak of Elohim (as does the Bible in describing the situation); the only time they use the Name Hashem is when they specifically identify “the God of the Jews,” without, however, accepting His exclusive authority.

  The Shema: Spirituality and Law in Judaism

     CHAPTER 12.

     Phasaelus Is Too Hard For Felix; Herod Also Overcomes Antigonus In Rattle; And The Jews Accuse Both Herod And Phasaelus But Antonius Acquits Them, And Makes Them Tetrarchs.

     1. When Cassius was gone out of Syria, another sedition arose at Jerusalem, wherein Felix assaulted Phasaelus with an army, that he might revenge the death of Malichus upon Herod, by falling upon his brother. Now Herod happened then to be with Fabius, the governor of Damascus, and as he was going to his brother's assistance, he was detained by sickness; in the mean time, Phasaelus was by himself too hard for Felix, and reproached Hyrcanus on account of his ingratitude, both for what assistance he had afforded Malichus, and for overlooking Malichus's brother, when he possessed himself of the fortresses; for he had gotten a great many of them already, and among them the strongest of them all, Masada.

     2. However, nothing could be sufficient for him against the force of Herod, who, as soon as he was recovered, took the other fortresses again, and drove him out of Masada in the posture of a supplicant; he also drove away Marion, the tyrant of the Tyrians, out of Galilee, when he had already possessed himself of three fortified places; but as to those Tyrians whom he had caught, he preserved them all alive; nay, some of them he gave presents to, and so sent them away, and thereby procured good-will to himself from the city, and hatred to the tyrant. Marion had indeed obtained that tyrannical power of Cassius, who set tyrants over all Syria 16 and out of hatred to Herod it was that he assisted Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, and principally on Fabius's account, whom Antigonus had made his assistant by money, and had him accordingly on his side when he made his descent; but it was Ptolemy, the kinsman of Antigonus, that supplied all that he wanted.

     3. When Herod had fought against these in the avenues of Judea, he was conqueror in the battle, and drove away Antigonus, and returned to Jerusalem, beloved by every body for the glorious action he had done; for those who did not before favor him did join themselves to him now, because of his marriage into the family of Hyrcanus; for as he had formerly married a wife out of his own country of no ignoble blood, who was called Doris, of whom he begat Antipater; so did he now marry Mariamne, the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, and the granddaughter of Hyrcanus, and was become thereby a relation of the king.

     4. But when Caesar and Antony had slain Cassius near Philippi, and Caesar was gone to Italy, and Antony to Asia, amongst the rest of the cities which sent ambassadors to Antony unto Bithynia, the great men of the Jews came also, and accused Phasaelus and Herod, that they kept the government by force, and that Hyrcanus had no more than an honorable name. Herod appeared ready to answer this accusation; and having made Antony his friend by the large sums of money which he gave him, he brought him to such a temper as not to hear the others speak against him; and thus did they part at this time.

     5. However, after this, there came a hundred of the principal men among the Jews to Daphne by Antioch to Antony, who was already in love with Cleopatra to the degree of slavery; these Jews put those men that were the most potent, both in dignity and eloquence, foremost, and accused the brethren. 17 But Messala opposed them, and defended the brethren, and that while Hyrcanus stood by him, on account of his relation to them. When Antony had heard both sides, he asked Hyrcanus which party was the fittest to govern, who replied that Herod and his party were the fittest. Antony was glad of that answer, for he had been formerly treated in an hospitable and obliging manner by his father Antipater, when he marched into Judea with Gabinius; so he constituted the brethren tetrarchs, and committed to them the government of Judea.

     6. But when the ambassadors had indignation at this procedure, Antony took fifteen of them, and put them into custody, whom he was also going to kill presently, and the rest he drove away with disgrace; on which occasion a still greater tumult arose at Jerusalem; so they sent again a thousand ambassadors to Tyre, where Antony now abode, as he was marching to Jerusalem; upon these men who made a clamor he sent out the governor of Tyre, and ordered him to punish all that he could catch of them, and to settle those in the administration whom he had made tetrarchs.

     7. But before this, Herod and Hyrcanus went out upon the sea-shore, and earnestly desired of these ambassadors that they would neither bring ruin upon themselves, nor war upon their native country, by their rash contentions; and when they grew still more outrageous, Antony sent out armed men, and slew a great many, and wounded more of them; of whom those that were slain were buried by Hyrcanus, as were the wounded put under the care of physicians by him; yet would not those that had escaped be quiet still, but put the affairs of the city into such disorder, and so provoked Antony, that he slew those whom he had in bonds also.

          The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wars of the Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem, by Flavius Josephus Translator: William Whiston

The War of the Jews: The History of the Destruction of Jerusalem (complete edition, 7 books)

                The secret of the Lord

     The secret (friendship R.V.) of the Lord is with them that fear Him. --- Psalm 25:14.

     What is the sign of a friend? That he tells you secret sorrows? No, that he tells you secret joys. Many will confide to you their secret sorrows, but the last mark of intimacy is to confide secret joys. Have we ever let God tell us any of His joys, or are we telling God our secrets so continually that we leave no room for Him to talk to us? At the beginning of our Christian life we are full of requests to God, then we find that God wants to get us into relationship with Himself, to get us in touch with His purposes. Are we so wedded to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer—“Thy will be done”—that we catch the secrets of God? The things that make God dear to us are not so much His great big blessings as the tiny things, because they show His amazing intimacy with us; He knows every detail of our individual lives.

     “… him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose.” At first we want the consciousness of being guided by God, then as we go on we live so much in the consciousness of God that we do not need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing any other will never occur to us. If we are saved and sanctified God guides us by our ordinary choices, and if we are going to choose what He does not want, He will check, and we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never reason it out and say—‘I wonder why I shouldn’t?’ God instructs us in what we choose, that is, He guides our common sense, and we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually saying—‘Now, Lord, what is Thy will?’

My Utmost for His Highest

     D’RASH

     The words of Rav Yosef and Rabbi Elazar, cynical as they may sound, are nonetheless a good reminder not to let the amazing go unnoticed. How many wondrous things have we let slip by? How many events have we only later said, "Wow, that was a miracle!"? Yet, the exposition can also be seen as a more general reminder not to overlook the extraordinary and the positive in events as they are happening. Undoubtedly, each of us has been guilty of this at one time or another.

     Imagine that we are driving down the street, trying to get somewhere in a hurry. We are running late, and then we get stuck at a corner while a man, slowly and meticulously, crosses the street. Our first reaction may be, "Why me? Why now? Why couldn't this slow-poke choose to cross somewhere else? I'm going to be late because he's taking forever!" Just as we are about to lose our cool, we see that this man is blind, and we begin to reevaluate the situation. Thank God, we have our eyesight. We are capable of driving here and there, even rushing around, even if we are a bit late at times. The situation really isn't as bad as we assumed it was a few minutes ago. In fact, on second thought, we are extraordinarily lucky just having the ability to see. In perspective, being late turns out to be a minor inconvenience.

     Psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman, in his book Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life , asserts that people who are optimistic, who see the best in every situation, are ultimately more successful. Seligman proposes that we look at every situation critically, thinking of alternative ways of interpreting events. Does it have to be as negative as we initially thought? Is there only the one way of looking at it? Finding the optimistic and optimal way of construing situations is, according to Seligman, in our own best interest, leading to greater happiness and a fuller, richer life.

     Centuries ago, Rav Yosef and Rabbi Elazar were trying to get us to look optimistically at the world and be thankful for what we have. They knew how difficult it is for us to appreciate the miracles around us. Their words remind us to acknowledge the many positives in life. We are required, by Jewish tradition, to thank God three times every day for "Your miracles which daily attend us." We begin to realize that our lives are really quite amazing and that we have a great deal for which to be thankful. We understand that the splitting of the sea was a monumental miracle long ago; however, there are miracles all around us every single day—the birth of a baby, the constant beating of our hearts, the daily renewal of nature, and even the ability to awaken and experience all of these. For some of us, this may be an acquired skill. For all of us, this appreciation makes life so much richer.

     Mitzvot will be annulled in the World-to-Come.

     Text / The Rabbis taught: "A garment in which kilayim was lost should not be sold to an idolater or made into a saddlecloth, but it can be made into a shroud for the dead." Rav Yosef said: "This proves that mitzvot will be annulled in the World-to-Come." Abaye (and some say Rav Dimi) said to him: "Didn't Rabbi Manni say in the name of Rabbi Yannai: 'This [that we can use kilayim] was taught only to lament him, but to bury him, it is prohibited'?!" He [Rav Yosef] said: "But wasn't it taught that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: 'Even to bury him'? And Rabbi Yoḥanan is consistent, for Rabbi Yoḥanan said: 'What does it mean when it is written: "free among the dead" [Psalms 88:6, author's translation]? As soon as he dies, a man becomes free from the mitzvot.' "

     Context / You shall observe My laws.You shall not let your cattle mate with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; you shall not put on cloth from a mixture [kilayim] of two kinds of material.
--- Leviticus 19:19

     You shall not wear cloth combining wool and linen.
--- Deuteronomy 22:11

     I am numbered with those who go down to the Pit;
     I am a helpless man abandoned among the dead,
     like bodies lying in the grave of whom You are mindful no more,
     and who are cut off from Your care.
     --- Psalms 88:5–6      The Torah specifically prohibits certain mixtures called kilayim—different types of animals while plowing, different types of seeds while sowing a field, and wool and linen in cloth (called sha'atnez in Deuteronomy). This Gemara discusses the case of a garment that may have become prohibited by having both wool and linen in it. This piece of cloth is only possibly kilayim, since a thread of wool may have been woven into a linen garment—"lost"—or a thread of linen in a woolen garment. The thread cannot be found and removed from the cloth. The opening of this Gemara deals with the case of such a piece of cloth.

     The Rabbis taught that it should not be sold to a non-Jew who, while not subject to the laws of kilayim, might nonetheless inadvertently sell that cloth back to a Jew. Neither should the cloth be made into a garment which, while not worn, will still be sat upon (a "saddle-cloth") and used by a Jew. However, the Rabbis teach it may be made into a shroud. From this, Rav Yosef deduces that the mitzvot are no longer incumbent on those who have died; its use as a shroud proves that the dead no longer have to observe the mitzvah of kilayim and, hence, all the mitzvot. However, Abaye (or Rav Dimi) argues that there is a tradition that teaches us that we can use kilayim only during the mourning process, but for the burial, we are prohibited from using this cloth. Rav Yosef answers this objection with another tradition from Rabbi Yoḥanan: He taught that this cloth with kilayim is allowed even to bury a person in. Rabbi Yoḥanan finds proof in a verse from Psalm 88. The psalmist uses the expression ḥofshi which can be translated as either "free/released" or "abandoned" ["among the dead"]. Rabbi Yoḥanan understands the verse to mean that the person among the dead is "freed" from the worries and responsibilities of this world, specifically the mitzvot.

Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday Living

     1 Chronicles 4:1 has recorded descendants from Adam to Jacob's sons (1:1-2:2). The tribe of Judah is emphasized because they were the line of David (2:3-3:24). Now, in the third main section of the family trees in 1 Chr. 1-9, the chronicler records some of the ancestry of the other tribes of Israel. In keeping with its emphasis on the southern kingdom and David, 1 Chr. considers the tribe of Judah first (4:1-23), though Judah was the fourth son of Jacob. In its accounting of the ancestry of the tribes of Israel, Zebulun and Dan are not specifically mentioned. However, the genealogies of the two tribes arising through Joseph—Manasseh and Ephraim—are mentioned (5:23-26; 7:14-29). The tribe of Benjamin is mentioned twice (7:6-12; 8:1-40) to show its significance as the line of King Saul. But the tribe that is given special attention in this section is Levi. More space is given to discussing the Levites than to any other tribe (6:1-81) because 1 Chr. repeatedly accents the temple and worship. The life and times of all these people can be found in Gen. 29-2 Kin. 25, and the Levites are given special attention in the Book of Leviticus.

New Spirit-Filled Life Bible:
Kingdom Equipping
Through the Power of the Word (Bible Nkjv)

     The families of the tribe of Gad, and their dwelling-places.—V. 11. In connection with the preceding statement as to the dwelling-places of the Reubenites, the enumeration of the families of Gad begins with a statement as to their dwelling-places: "Over against them (the Reubenites) dwelt the Gadites in Bashan unto Salcah." Bashan is used here in its wider signification of the dominion of King Og, which embraced the northern half of Gilead, i.e., the part of that district which lay on the north side of the Jabbok, and the whole district of Bashan; cf. on Deut. 3:10. Salcah formed the boundary towards the east, and is now Szalchad, about six hours eastward from Bosra (see on Deut. 3:10).


Commentary on the Old Testament

     Sin's outcome in judgment. As the race multiplied and spread across the earth, the expressions of sin we read of in Genesis 4 and 5 multiplied too. Then, when "every inclination of the thoughts of [man's] heart was only evil all the time" (Gen. 6:5), God acted to bring the judgment of the Flood on the human race (Gen. 6–9). Represented in the genealogies by Noah, this cataclysm communicated the fact that sin not only twists human experience, but also incurs guilt. And guilt forces a holy God to judge.

     One family, Noah's, was borne over the waters and planted in a renewed world. Mankind was given a fresh start by a man who had enough faith in God to obey His instructions to build a boat.

     History repeats itself. The next names in the genealogy, and Genesis 10 and 11, pick up the history of the race after the Flood. Again man disobeyed God. Rather than scattering to accept God-given dominion over creation (see 1:28), the postdiluvian people attempted to build a society without the Lord. So God scattered them Himself, confusing their language.

     It was probably at the end of this period, around the time of Abraham, that Job lived. A godly man in an unnamed culture, Job illustrates early faith in God, and the loss of knowledge of God which came as the generations passed. God still cares for and deals with individuals, but sin has twisted the course of the race into unfruitful paths.

     Abraham's call. Then comes a great name in the genealogical hall. With the introduction of Abram in Genesis 12, history took a new direction. God spoke to this pagan from Ur, and Abram responded. To Abram God gave a series of great promises, in a covenant explained in Genesis 12, 15, and 17. God announced the course of history ahead of time, as well as the purpose He would fulfill as history moves toward its intended culmination.

     God announced that He would no longer work with man as a whole, but would work for all mankind through Abraham and his descendants. To these descendants God promised a specific land, Palestine. He also promised great blessings, and a special relationship with Him. God also promised that through this people would come One in whom the whole human race would be blessed.

     From that time on, Abraham, his children, and his grandchildren began to view themselves as God's chosen people. God's purposes in history are to be worked out through them. These people are the key to understanding the past and the future; to understanding what has been, and what must surely be.

     Captivity in Egypt. As the focus in the genealogies shifts to the sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, so the geographical location also shifts.

     After three generations Abraham's descendants moved from Palestine, the land of covenant promise, to Egypt. There the people of Israel, named now for Abraham's grandson, waited for the next step in God's plan to unfold.

     At first the Israelites were guests in Egypt. Then a series of political changes transformed their status, and they became slaves. As slaves, God's people suffered under harsh taskmasters. Because they multiplied so quickly, the Egyptians even initiated a policy of killing their male children when they were born.

     Israel remembered the old stories of the God who spoke to their forefathers and who made great promises. But under the harsh reality of their immediate circumstances, the past they recalled and the future they dreamed of must have seemed tragically unreal.

     Over generations of slavery, the people of Israel were humbled and crushed. They discovered through their suffering that there was no inherent strength in themselves that could win them freedom. Release could only come through the intervention of God.

     Deliverance. God did intervene. Exodus tells us how God sent Moses to confront Pharaoh, Egypt's ruler. God's first demands that Pharaoh let His people go were refused. This brought a series of terrible judgments on the Egyptian people. Finally God struck down the oldest son in each Egyptian family. In terror, the Egyptians thrust Israel out of their country.

     The redemption of Israel from Egypt by God's direct and personal intervention is a symbol of all redemption. What man cannot do to free himself from sin's slavery, God can do.

     The redemption from Egypt also reaffirmed to Israel the faithfulness of God. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, and acted to keep His promises.

     In order that Israel might always remember their need for God's intervention, the Passover feast was instituted. This annual time of remembering deliverance was designed to remind Israel that God is the source of their freedom.

     In a series of continuing miracles, including the opening of the Red Sea for Israel and its closing to destroy a pursuing Egyptian army, God demonstrated His firm intention to free His people forever from the slavery under which they had suffered.

     The Law. The name of Moses is forever linked with Law. Israel's redemption from Egypt freed God's people from external tyranny. But events soon demonstrated that this people was in bondage to an inner tyranny that was even more destructive. Sin sinks its roots deep into the personalities of even redeemed men and women. Once out of Egypt, God's people murmured and complained. They forgot His commitment to them, and they began to doubt and resist Moses at every turn.

     God guided His people to Sinai. There God gave Israel a Law to set standards that revealed the Lord's own character, and showed them the way He expected His people to live. As told in Exodus 19—24, at Sinai God gave His people the Mosaic Law. This Law not only established moral standards, but also defined the distinctive lifestyle which God was to hold His people to, both for their benefit and as a testimony.

     But, again, the Law provided an external standard. It did not change Israel within. The continuing story of the redeemed generation shows their inability to trust God, and the subsequent disobedience. Commanded to enter the Promised Land, Israel refused. The people were condemned to 38 years of wandering in the wilderness, until the generation that had known God's deliverance from Egypt died. Because of unbelief they were unable to enter into the promised rest.

     The new generation. The men and women who had seen God's mighty acts in Egypt, but had refused to trust Him, died. Their children now stood poised on the edge of the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy, we hear Moses restate the Law and sketch again the lifestyle of trust to which God called His people. In Joshua we see the new generation respond to God and follow their new leader to victory.

     The Promised Land was taken in a series of swift military moves, with God making His presence known on the side of His people at Jericho and in other actions.

     With opposition of the people of the land rendered ineffective, the people of God settled into their promised rest.

     Sin reappears again. Even though Israel moved into an ideal environment, in a social system designed by God to bless His people, the ancient specter of sin again appeared. The generations that followed drifted away from God and were marked by growing disobedience. Over the decades, the lifestyle of Israel deteriorated. God judged sin with the removal of His protection, and Israel's enemies gained ascendancy over the 12 tribes. Yet, when Israel turned to God, He sent deliverers or "judges" to free the people from their enemies and lead them back to His ways.

     The more than 330 years that the Judges ruled were days of repeated ups and downs for Israel. But the trend of history was downward. The days of the Judges were dark days, days during which sin's dreadful dominion was demonstrated even under the divinely ordained system of government, the theocracy, which was potentially the best man has ever known.

     The kingdom. Finally Israel demanded a new system of government. Israel's first king, Saul, demonstrated once again that the root of the sin problem is in man, not in society. But then God gave Israel a godly king, David. David led Israel to a foreshadowing of that glory which God told His people to expect.

     It is here that the 1 Chronicles' genealogies end. "Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the Word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse" (1 Chron. 10:13–14).

The Teacher's Commentary

     Numbers

     Scholars were generally slow in digesting and accepting that new evidence from 4QpaleoExodm, but the most extensively preserved scroll of the book of Numbers provided confirmatory evidence with a profile similar to that of the Exodus scroll. 4QNumb, written in the Jewish script and dating from the latter half of the first century B.C.E., also exhibits agreement with the additions in the SP beyond the traditional text as in the MT and LXX. But like 4QpaleoExodm, it does not have the specifically Samaritan readings. It thus confirms the pattern seen in Exodus, that Palestinian Judaism knew at least two editions of the book of Numbers, and that the Samaritans used the secondary, already expanded Jewish tradition exemplified in 4QNumb. Again, both editions of Numbers were apparently in use by Jews in the late Second Temple period.

     Joshua

     The oldest manuscript of Joshua also provided a surprise, but in a different direction. 4QJosha, from the latter half of the second or the first half of the first century B.C.E., presented a sequence of important episodes that was strikingly at variance with the order of events in the traditional MT. In the scroll, Joshua evidently builds the first altar in the newly entered land at Gilgal, immediately after he has traversed the River Jordan and led all the people safely across. That is, the episode occurs at the end of chapter 4, thus prior to the circumcision and then the ensuing conquest. The scroll’s sequence seems natural and logical, and one might expect that the sanctification of the land—by the building of the first altar, the recitation of the Torah, and the rite of circumcision—would be the inaugural episode of the occupation of the promised land. In contrast, the MT locates the building of the first altar at the end of chapter 8, placing it on Mt. Ebal, which causes numerous problems. Commentators have had to struggle with that odd location, for it requires a march of twenty miles from Ai up to Ebal, the construction of the altar, then a return march south, back to Gilgal. Meanwhile, Joshua would have left that important altar abandoned in enemy territory, and, whereas Gilgal remained an important shrine (1 Sam. 11:14–15; 2 Kings 2:1), Mt. Ebal is otherwise insignificant. The problem is worsened since Josh. 9:1 logically and syntactically follows 8:29, not 8:35, suggesting that the insertion of vv. 30–35 at the end of chapter 8 is secondary. Moreover, the LXX presents yet a slightly different order, though it is in basic agreement with the MT regarding the location of the altar. But perhaps the strongest confirmation of the sequence in 4QJosha is provided by Josephus, who also places the altar at Gilgal (Ant.5.20) and who must have used as his source a biblical text that agreed with the Qumran scroll. He even adds further support (Ant. 5.45–57) insofar as he does not narrate a building of the altar where the MT places it, between the conquest of Ai (8:1–29) and the Gibeonites’ ruse (Joshua 9). An additional piece of the puzzle is provided by the SP, which reads “Mount Gerizim,” in agreement with the Old Latin, which reads “Garzin,” at Deut. 27:4, the command that is the basis for this episode in Joshua. Thus 4QJosha evidently provides a more original form of the narrative. The placement of that first altar in the land has serious consequences, of course, and the most plausible reading of the textual evidence is that 4QJosha has the earliest sequence and that a northern faction (Samarians or Samaritans) secondarily rearranged the location of the altar at their sacred shrine on Mt. Gerizim. At a third stage, in counterreaction, southerners (Judeans or rabbis), due to religious polemics, simply changed the name of the mountain from Gerizim to Ebal, despite the anomaly created.

The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism

     “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
--- John 1:42. NKJV

     When the disciples found that miraculous draught of fishes enclosed in their nets, it was only on Peter’s soul that there flashed a new sense of the holiness and majesty of Christ, and of the whole apostolic company he was the only one to fall at Christ’s feet and cry, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Classic RS Thomas on the Apostle Peter (Kregel Classic RS Thomas Series) ) When after those hard sayings in Capernaum the crowds were deserting Jesus Christ, he turned to his disciples with the pathetic, heartbreaking question, “Do you also want to go away?” (NKJV). It was to Peter’s generous and loving soul that there came the great and immortal answer, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” And when again, in Ceasarea, Christ made that wistful inquiry, “Who do you say I am?” it was the inspired Peter who made that high reply, “The Christ of God.”

     Yes, when I read of the incident on the lake and the answer in Capernaum and the confession in Caesarea, I do not wonder that the first place among the Twelve was given to a man of such insight and vision and rapture as this.

     But there are other passages in the Gospels that, when I read, I marvel that Peter was among the Twelve at all. When I come across those passages in which Peter begins to boast, when I read of his presuming to correct and rebuke the Christ, when I read about his sleeping in the garden, when I read of that terrible and shameful episode in the judgment hall, I marvel that instead of coming down to us as the prince and chief of the apostles, Peter, the denier and the blasphemer, did not make his bed with Judas the betrayer in the lowest hell.

     Is it possible, you say, for one to see the glory of the Lord on the mount and then to forsake him in the garden? Is it possible for one to confess Christ in Caesarea and then forswear him in the judgment hall? Yes, it is quite possible. Gaze steadily and bravely into that awful abyss, your own heart, and you will know it is quite possible. For in your own heart you will see both heaven and hell, aspirations and desires born of God and hideous lusts of foulnesses that issue from the pit. Yes, I will be very bold to say we can parallel Peter’s history by our own. Heaven and hell contended for the mastery in Peter’s heart long ago; heaven and hell are contending for the mastery in our divided and distracted souls today.
---J. D. Jones

Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

     If you often have trouble sleeping, try reading Psalms 3 and 4.

     David, running for his life and surrounded by Absalom’s rebellious army, wrote in Psalm 3:5, “I sleep and wake up refreshed because you, LORD, protect me.” Psalm 4:8 indicates the promises of God make good pillows for those who rest in him: “I can lie down and sleep soundly, because you, LORD, will keep me safe.”

     But not during the preacher’s RS Thomas.

     At least, not in early American church history.

     The Puritans of colonial New England appointed “tithingmen” to stroll among the pews on Sunday Mornings, alert for anyone nodding off during the long, sometimes ponderous RS Thomas. They carried long poles with feathers on one end and knobs or thorns on the other. Worshipers napped at their own peril, and the results were unpredictable—as noted by Obadiah Turner of Lynn, Massachusetts, in his journal for June 3, 1646:

     Allen Bridges hath bin chose to wake ye sleepers in meeting. And being much proude of his place, must needs have a fox taile fixed to ye ende of a long staff wherewith he may brush ye faces of them yt will have napps in time of discourse, likewise a sharpe thorne whereby he may pricke such as be most sound. On ye last Lord his day, as hee strutted about ye meetinghouse, he did spy Mr. Tomlins sleeping with much comfort, hys head kept steadie by being in ye corner, and his hand grasping ye rail. And soe spying, Allen did quickly thrust his staff behind Dame Ballard and give him a grievous prick upon ye hand. Whereupon Mr. Tomlins did spring vpp mch above ye floore, and with terrible force strike hys hand against ye wall; and also, to ye great wonder of all, prophanlie exclaim in a loud voice, curse ye wood-chuck, he dreaming so it seemed yt a wood-chuck had seized and bit his hand. But on coming to know where he was, and ye greate scandall he had committed, he seemed much abashed, but did not speak. And I think he will not soon again goe to sleepe in meeting.

     There are some who ask, “Who will be good to us?” Let your kindness, LORD, shine brightly on us. You brought me more happiness Than a rich harvest of grain and grapes. I can lie down and sleep soundly Because you, LORD, will keep me safe.
--- Psalm 4:6-8.

On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes

          Morning - June 3

     “These were potters, and those that dwelt among plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the king for his work.” --- 1 Chronicles 4:23.

     Potters were not the very highest grade of workers, but “the king” needed potters, and therefore they were in royal service, although the material upon which they worked was nothing but clay. We, too, may be engaged in the most menial part of the Lord’s work, but it is a great privilege to do anything for “the king”; and therefore we will abide in our calling, hoping that, “although we have lien among the pots, yet shall we be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” The text tells us of those who dwelt among plants and hedges, having rough, rustic, hedging and ditching work to do. They may have desired to live in the city, amid its life, society, and refinement, but they kept their appointed places, for they also were doing the king’s work. The place of our habitation is fixed, and we are not to remove from it out of whim and caprice, but seek to serve the Lord in it, by being a blessing to those among whom we reside. These potters and gardeners had royal company, for they dwelt “with the king” and although among hedges and plants, they dwelt with the king there. No lawful place, or gracious occupation, however mean, can debar us from communion with our divine Lord. In visiting hovels, swarming lodging-houses, workhouses, or jails, we may go with the king. In all works of faith we may count upon Jesus’ fellowship. It is when we are in his work that we may reckon upon his smile. Ye unknown workers who are occupied for your Lord amid the dirt and wretchedness of the lowest of the low, be of good cheer, for jewels have been found upon dunghills ere now, earthen pots have been filled with heavenly treasure, and ill weeds have been transformed into precious flowers. Dwell ye with the King for his work, and when he writes his chronicles your name shall be recorded.


          Evening - June 3

     “He humbled himself.” --- Philippians 2:8.

     Jesus is the great teacher of lowliness of heart. We need daily to learn of him. See the Master taking a towel and washing his disciples’ feet! Follower of Christ, wilt thou not humble thyself? See him as the Servant of servants, and surely thou canst not be proud! Is not this sentence the compendium of his biography, “He humbled himself”? Was he not on earth always stripping off first one robe of honour and then another, till, naked, he was fastened to the cross, and there did he not empty out his inmost self, pouring out his life-blood, giving up for all of us, till they laid him penniless in a borrowed grave? How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud? Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark his scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see hands and feet given up to the rough iron, and his whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in his outward frame; hear the thrilling shriek, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it: if you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus, you do not know him. You were so lost that nothing could save you but the sacrifice of God’s only begotten. Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you, bow yourself in lowliness at his feet. A sense of Christ’s amazing love to us has a greater tendency to humble us than even a consciousness of our own guilt. May the Lord bring us in contemplation to Calvary, then our position will no longer be that of the pompous man of pride, but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much because much has been forgiven him. Pride cannot live beneath the cross. Let us sit there and learn our lesson, and then rise and carry it into practice.

Morning and Evening

          AMAZING GRACE

     John Newton, 1725–1807 (verses 1-4), John P. Rees, 1828–1900 (verse 5)

     And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times … you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)

     Calling himself a “wretch” who was lost and blind, John Newton recalled leaving school at the age of 11 to begin life as a rough, debauched seaman. Eventually he engaged in the despicable practice of capturing natives from West Africa to be sold as slaves to markets around the world. But one day the grace of God put fear into the heart of this wicked slave trader through a fierce storm. Greatly alarmed and fearful of a shipwreck, Newton began to read The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. God used this book to lead him to a genuine conversion and a dramatic change in his way of life.

     Feeling a definite call to study for the ministry, Newton was encouraged and greatly influenced by John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. At the age of 39, John Newton became an ordained minister of the Anglican church at the little village of Olney, near Cambridge, England. To add further impact to his powerful preaching, Newton introduced simple heart-felt hymns rather than the usual Psalms in his services. When enough hymns could not be found, Newton began to write his own, often assisted by his close friend William Cowper. In 1779 their combined efforts produced the famous Olney Hymns hymnal. “Amazing Grace” was from that collection.

     Until the time of his death at the age of 82, John Newton never ceased to marvel at the grace of God that transformed him so completely. Shortly before his death he is quoted as proclaiming with a loud voice during a message, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior!” What amazing grace!

     Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.

     ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!

     Thru many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; ’tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

     The Lord has promised good to me; His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.

     When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.

     For Today: 1 Chronicles 17:16, 17; John 1:16, 17; Romans 5:20, 21.

     Ponder anew the magnitude of God’s grace. Sing this musical truth ---

Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions

     Sect. XLIV. — UPON the authority of Erasmus, then, “Free-will,” is a power of the human will, which can, of itself, will and not will to embrace the word and work of God, by which it is to be led to those things which are beyond its capacity and comprehension. If then, it can will and not will, it can also love and hate. And if it can love and hate, it can, to a certain degree, do the Law and believe the Gospel. For it is impossible, if you can will and not will, that you should not be able by that will to begin some kind of work, even though, from the hindering of another, you should not be able to perfect it. And therefore, as among the works of God which lead to salvation, death, the cross, and all the evils of the world are numbered, human will can will its own death and perdition. Nay, it can will all things while it can will the embracing of the word and work of God. For what is there that can be any where beneath, above, within, and without the word and work of God, but God Himself? And what is there here left to grace and the Holy Spirit? This is plainly to ascribe divinity to “Free-will.” For to will to embrace the Law and the Gospel, not to will sin, and to will death, belongs to the power of God alone: as Paul testifies in more places than one.

     Wherefore, no one, since the Pelagians, has written more rightly concerning “Free-will” than Erasmus. For I have said above, that “Free-will” is a divine term, and signifies a divine power. But no one hitherto, except the Pelagians, has ever assigned to it that power. Hence, Erasmus by far outstrips the Pelagians themselves: for they assign that divinity to the whole of “Free-will,” but Erasmus to the half of it only. They divide “Free-will” into two parts; the power of discerning, and the power of choosing; assigning the one to reason, and the other to will; and the Sophists do the same. But Erasmus, setting aside the power of discerning, exalts the power of choosing alone, and thus makes a lame, half-membered “Free-will,” God himself! What must we suppose then he would have done, had he set about describing the whole of “Free-will.”

     But, not contented with this, he outstrips even the philosophers. For it has never yet been settled among them, whether or not any thing can give motion to itself; and upon this point, the Platonics and Peripatetics are divided in the whole body of philosophy. But according to Erasmus, “Freewill” not only of its own power gives motion to itself, but ‘applies itself’ to those things which are eternal; that is, which are incomprehensible to itself! A new and unheard-of definer of “Freewill,” truly, who leaves the philosophers, the Pelagians, the Sophists, and all the rest of them, far behind him! Nor is this all. He does not even spare himself, but dissents from, and militates against himself, more than against all the rest together. For he had said before, that ‘the human will is utterly ineffective without grace:’ (unless perhaps this was said only in joke!) but here, where he gives a serious definition, he says, that ‘the human will has that power by which it can effectively apply itself to those things which pertain unto eternal salvation;’ that is, which are incomparably beyond that power. So that, in this part, Erasmus outstrips even himself!

The Bondage of the Will   or   Christian Classics Ethereal Library

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