Day 33
Job 25:1-29:25
(25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29)
Bildad continues the trend of being deeply unhelpful by essentially saying God is so powerful and awesome that man surely has no chance of being righteous in God's eyes. Job calls him out on this with his beautifully sarcastic reply in 26:2-4. Job goes on to list some of the works of God, saying they're only on the fringes of his works. Who can truly understand God and his power?
Job speaks against for the first time; Job says God has denied him justice. Even now though, Job goes on to say that as long as he has "the breath of God within me", he will never admit that his friends are right and that he has somehow sinned against God. As long as he lives, he will maintain his innocence.
Job then goes off on one about the fate of the wicked, saying he hopes his enemies are like the wicked and unjust. I think by this he may mean he hopes they suffer the same fate. Job then starts talking about discoveries made by man. He says that men can see the value of these things, but not the value of wisdom or understanding, which he describes thus: "The fear of the Lord - that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding."
In chapter 29, Job seems to be trying his best to refute the accusations levelled at him by Eliphaz in chapter 22. He seems to have something of an elevated opinion of himself - although it may well be accurate for all I know - describing himself as a "king among his troops".
Matthew 21:33-22:14
(21:33-46 | 22:1-14)
Jesus manages to wind up the priests and Pharisees with the first of two parables in this passage. In this parable, a man has a vineyard and hires some tenants to tend it. The owner sends some servants to collect his share of the harvest. The tenants beat and kill them. More servants, and eventually the servants own son are sent to collect the harvest, but the tenants kill them all. Of course, this results in incurring the full wrath of the owner, and they're removed and replaced with other tenants who will give the owner his share at harvest time. The servants are God's prophets who the Pharisees and priests ignored, culminating with John the Baptist. The son is Jesus. Jesus explains the parable to the priests, saying the kingdom of God will be taken from them, and given to those capable of producing fruit. Jesus clearly doesn't have a particularly high opinion of the priests and Pharisees, nor do they of him. They want to try to get rid of him, but they don't act for fear of the crowd - they think of Jesus as a prophet, and the Pharisees don't want to upset the crowd.
So Jesus goes on with another parable. This time, it's likening the kingdom of God to a wedding banquet. The king invites loads of guests, but none turn up. So the king sends his servants out to invite anybody and everybody from the street. When the king turns up to the banquet, he sees a man not wearing wedding clothes, so he has him thrown out. "For many are invited, but few are chosen." Lots of people are invited to relationship with God. The children of Israel, the original guests, reject him. So he throws the whole thing open to the Gentiles too, that is the second set of people out on the street. I'm not sure who the man thrown out signifies; perhaps the people who are invited into relationship with Jesus, accept, but then do nothing about it.
Psalm 18:7-15
(18:7-15)
This passage is a somewhat fantastical description of God rebuking his enemies. At the start of the psalm, David uses the present tense to say he's calling on the LORD for deliverance now. But here, David is recounting how God responded in the past, perhaps as a reminder to himself of God's faithfulness and power.
Job 25:1-29:25
(25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29)
Bildad continues the trend of being deeply unhelpful by essentially saying God is so powerful and awesome that man surely has no chance of being righteous in God's eyes. Job calls him out on this with his beautifully sarcastic reply in 26:2-4. Job goes on to list some of the works of God, saying they're only on the fringes of his works. Who can truly understand God and his power?
Job speaks against for the first time; Job says God has denied him justice. Even now though, Job goes on to say that as long as he has "the breath of God within me", he will never admit that his friends are right and that he has somehow sinned against God. As long as he lives, he will maintain his innocence.
Job then goes off on one about the fate of the wicked, saying he hopes his enemies are like the wicked and unjust. I think by this he may mean he hopes they suffer the same fate. Job then starts talking about discoveries made by man. He says that men can see the value of these things, but not the value of wisdom or understanding, which he describes thus: "The fear of the Lord - that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding."
In chapter 29, Job seems to be trying his best to refute the accusations levelled at him by Eliphaz in chapter 22. He seems to have something of an elevated opinion of himself - although it may well be accurate for all I know - describing himself as a "king among his troops".
Matthew 21:33-22:14
(21:33-46 | 22:1-14)
Jesus manages to wind up the priests and Pharisees with the first of two parables in this passage. In this parable, a man has a vineyard and hires some tenants to tend it. The owner sends some servants to collect his share of the harvest. The tenants beat and kill them. More servants, and eventually the servants own son are sent to collect the harvest, but the tenants kill them all. Of course, this results in incurring the full wrath of the owner, and they're removed and replaced with other tenants who will give the owner his share at harvest time. The servants are God's prophets who the Pharisees and priests ignored, culminating with John the Baptist. The son is Jesus. Jesus explains the parable to the priests, saying the kingdom of God will be taken from them, and given to those capable of producing fruit. Jesus clearly doesn't have a particularly high opinion of the priests and Pharisees, nor do they of him. They want to try to get rid of him, but they don't act for fear of the crowd - they think of Jesus as a prophet, and the Pharisees don't want to upset the crowd.
So Jesus goes on with another parable. This time, it's likening the kingdom of God to a wedding banquet. The king invites loads of guests, but none turn up. So the king sends his servants out to invite anybody and everybody from the street. When the king turns up to the banquet, he sees a man not wearing wedding clothes, so he has him thrown out. "For many are invited, but few are chosen." Lots of people are invited to relationship with God. The children of Israel, the original guests, reject him. So he throws the whole thing open to the Gentiles too, that is the second set of people out on the street. I'm not sure who the man thrown out signifies; perhaps the people who are invited into relationship with Jesus, accept, but then do nothing about it.
Psalm 18:7-15
(18:7-15)
This passage is a somewhat fantastical description of God rebuking his enemies. At the start of the psalm, David uses the present tense to say he's calling on the LORD for deliverance now. But here, David is recounting how God responded in the past, perhaps as a reminder to himself of God's faithfulness and power.
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