Hello :)
This year I've decided to read the entire bible because well, it would be nice to have a bigger picture view of it all and if you ever read any book from cover to cover, it should be this one. This blog will contain interesting bits and pieces I note along the way. Feel free to join me in this journey and read along :) Comments welcome.
Day 1 Readings:
Genesis 1
Matthew 1
Psalm 1
Proverbs 1
Interestings...
Genesis 1v29-30 (Written by Moses)
"And God said, "Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so."
- It would appear that we, and every other 'living' thing on earth were originally vegetarian. Only after the flood did God say to Noah and his sons, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." Find it hard to believe that lion-like creatures could have been made to live on grass alone? The righthand photo is of a vegetarian musk deer with teeth that could have been assumed to have been made for meat. The top left one is of a magazine article about a long-lived lion that refused to eat any meat.
Matthew 1v17 (Written by Matthew)
"So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations."
- Not only are there three lots of fourteen and we all know Jesus was risen after three days but also, the Jewish passover is celebrated after dusk on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan. The passover celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people by God from slavery in Egypt, Jesus came to deliver us from slavery to sin. (" knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Romans 6v6). It struck me as absolutely beautiful that 14 is the amount of years Jacob worked to gain Rachel as his bride, how much more did Jesus do to gain his bride?
Psalm 1 (Written by David)
"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away."
- The description of both the wicked and the righteous involve wood (tree and chaff) which shows how we are both human but the verse makes clear what is clear in reality also, that those of Christ and those of the world are very different.
Proverbs 1 (Written by Solomon)
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction."
- Great knowledge is being able to put facts in context. Everything is related to God and if you know enough about God to put things in relation to him mentally, then you probably quite easily come to the conclusion that he is to be respected/feared. A wonderful analogy I once heard refers to how snipers focus on the target in their scope and by doing so the relation between everything else and this target (wind speed and direction, other moving objects) becomes clear.
End of day 1.
