Day 60 (Leviticus 5:14-7:10 | Mark 10:32-52 | Proverbs 6:12-19)

Day 60
Leviticus 5:14-7:10
(5:14-17 | 6 | 7:1-10)

God reveals to Moses the guilt offering. I'm sure there is a distinction between the guilt and sin offerings, and the nature of the transgressions that necessitate the offerings, but I'm not sure what that distinction is. God then tells Moses how the priests are to go about performing these offerings.

Day 56 (Exodus 37-38 | Mark 8:14-21 | Proverbs 6:1-11)

Day 56
Exodus 37-38
(37 | 38)

This passage describes the construction of more of what God ordered built.

As I've mentioned before, I find this a little boring to read. There's little going on, and the language is very repetitive. All this makes what actually happens even more amazing!

Day 52 (Exodus 29-30 | Mark 6:6b - 29 | Proverbs 5:15-23)

So, you might have noticed the distinct lack of blog action here since the middle of August. This happened for various reasons which I won't go into here. But the further behind I got, the harder it became for me to start it all back up again. So I've decided not to bother trying to catch up with where I should be. This is now day 52, and I'm continuing as usual from here. Hope that's okay with everyone, 'cause I'm doing it anyway.

---

Day 52
Exodus 29-30
(29 - 30)

God lays down the method for consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests; this consecration process might seem wasteful, ritualistic and barbaric to our modern sensibilities, but not so for the Israelites, who were used to the idea of making sacrifices. Apart from anything else, this whole thing is about obedience to the LORD; doing it because God wants you to, and because you want to draw close to him.

Day 48 (Exodus 21-22 | Mark 2:18-3:30 | Proverbs 5:1-14)

Day 48
Exodus 21:1-22:31
(21 | 22)

These two chapters here cover social laws for the Israelites. A great deal of them don't sit very well with me. The law about what happens if you strike a slave, for example. (For the record, as long as they're able to walk after a day or two, it's fine.) Of course, a lot of the laws written here are only relevant in context, and wouldn't seem to apply any more.

Day 44 (Exodus 13-14 | Matthew 27:45-66 | Proverbs 4:20-27)

Day 44
Exodus 13:1-14:31
(13 | 14)

The passage starts with God laying claim to every firstborn male - whether human or animal. Moses explains that every firstborn male must be redeemed before the LORD because of what God did in Egypt; every firstborn male throughout Egypt was struck down as he passed through Egypt. It was because of this that Pharaoh finally allowed the Israelites to leave. Moses gives the Israelites an outline of how they are to commemorate their coming out of Egypt every year.

Day 40 (Exodus 4:1-6:12 | Matthew 26:31-46 | Proverbs 4:10-19)

Day 40
Exodus 4:1-6:12
(4 | 5 | 6:1-12)

Moses is concerned that the people won't believe him, and that they won't listen to God's message because of this. So God gives Moses various signs to perform in front of the people; in the first, Moses's staff is turned into a snake; in the second Moses's hand is made leprous, and then healed again. A third sign, only to be used in the event that the first two are not believed, involves water from the Nile turning into blood when it is poured on the ground. Moses has another problem; he's not a very good speaker. So God recruits Moses's brother, Aaron, to speak for Moses.

Day 36 (Job 35:1-37:24 | Matthew 24:1-31 | Proverbs 4:1-9)

Day 36
Job 35:1-37:24
(35 | 36 | 37)


Elihu claims God ignores the wicked when they cry out because of their arrogance. Elihu further claims that God is more likely to ignore Job because he reckons he can't see God move, nor does he think God takes any action against the wicked. Elihu goes on to say that God doesn't hate men, and that actually the reason Job doesn't see what God is doing is because he has the wrong perspective; God isn't keeping the wicked alive, rather he preserves the rights of those afflicted by the wicked.

Day 32 (Job 22-24 | Matthew 21:18-32 | Proverbs 3:21-35)

Day 32
Job 22:1-24:25
(22 | 23 | 24)

Eliphaz pipes up with another deeply unhelpful contribution. First, he questions whether or not it actually genuinely makes a difference to God whether or not our walks are righteous - does it actually benefit him, does he gain anything? Eliphaz then does what none of Job's friends have done up to now - he outright accuses Job of sinning. He also tells Job how to get back into God's good books:

"Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you" (22:21)
"If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored" (22:23)

Day 28 (Job 8-10 | Matthew 19:16-30 | Proverbs 3:11-20)

Day 28
Job 8:1-10:22
(8 | 9 | 10)

Another of Job's friends, Bildad the Shuhite, seizes the opportunity to speak. Bildad's argument seems to be that Job must somehow deserve what he is going through:

"Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?" (8:3) 

Bildad's advice is this; plead your case with God. If you're truly blameless, God will come in on your side. After all, "God does not reject a blameless man" (v. 20).

Day 24 (Genesis 47:13-48:22 | Matthew 16:21-17:13 | Proverbs 3:1-10)

Day 24
Genesis 47:13-48:22
(47:13-31 | 48)

The famine throughout Egypt and Canaan is so severe that the people have run out of money with which to buy grain from Joseph. It seemed a little mean to ask them to pay for the food in the first place, but that's not the point. The Egyptians then bring their livestock in exchange for food. When even that runs out, they sell their land and themselves to Pharaoh.  Joseph gives the people seeds so they can plant crops so that they won't die, and the land wouldn't become desolate. When doing so, he stipulates that the people had to give up a fifth of any harvest to the Pharaoh. So now all the land in Egypt and, presumably, Canaan belongs to Pharaoh, as do all of their respective peoples and livestock. With the exception, that is, of the priests, whom the Pharaoh provided for. Presumably, the Israelites are also exempt as Joseph had promised to provide for his family.

Day 20 (Genesis 40-41:40 | Matthew 14:1-21 | Proverbs 2:12-22)

Day 20
Genesis 40:1-41:40
(40 | 41:1-40)

Pharaoh throws a bit of a temper tantrum, and has his chief cup bearer and chief baker thrown in prison. They are placed under Joseph's care. After an unspecified amount of time, both men have dreams, and neither know what they mean. So Joseph interprets their dreams for them. He tells the cup bearer that Pharaoh will release and elevate him back to his previous position in three days. He tells the chief baker that Pharaoh will have him hanged in three days. Both of Joseph's interpretations turn out to be correct, but the cup bearer completely forgets about Joseph.

Day 16 (Genesis 32-33 | Matthew 12:22-45 | Proverbs 2:1-11)

Day 16
Genesis 32:1-33:20
(32 | 33)

When God tells Jacob to leave Laban and head back to his father's household, he's more than happy to obey. But there's one problem; his brother Esau who had sworn to kill him. Jacob sends a messenger ahead to Esau to try to placate him. When the messenger returns to Jacob with news that his brother is coming to greet him with 400 men, Jacob panics. He thinks that Esau is going to kill him, his wives and children, which is a legitimate concern. He decides the best way forward is to send servants ahead with herds of his cattle as a gift to pacify his brother. Jacob spends the night alone in the camp, sending everyone, including his wives and children ahead of him.

Day 12 (Genesis 25-26 | Matthew 10:1-31 | Proverbs 1:20-33)

Day 12
Genesis 25:1-26:35
(25 | 26)

Chapter 25 sees God's promises to Abraham start to be fulfilled. First of all, Keturah (Abraham's second wife) gives him several children. Some of their children are listed, and the descendants of one of his grandchildren, Dedan, are said to be three different tribes. Secondly, we see Ishmael has twelve children, all of whom become separate tribe leaders. Thirdly, we see Isaac has two sons - Esau and Jacob. Everyone knows you're not supposed to have favourite children, but Isaac and Rebekah did; Isaac favoured Esau, while Rebekah favoured Jacob. Interestingly, we see at this early stage that Jacob is being set up as a bit of a scoundrel. Esau asks Jacob for some food. Jacob agrees to give him food in exchange for his birthrights; this hardly seems fair, especially as they're brothers. But Esau agrees, and Jacob gets Esau's birthrights.

Day 8 (Genesis 17-18 | Matthew 6:25-7:23 | Proverbs 1:8-19)

Day 8

Today's passages speak a lot about God's promises, our trust in him, and our allegiance to him. In Genesis, Abraham is still learning to trust in God's promises. At his age, he's not sure if he believes God will come good on it, and Sarah certainly doesn't. In Matthew, Jesus is trying to teach us to walk in God's ways, and that when we do while trusting in God for provision, he will deliver. The proverb is a short and sweet promise about what will happen if you ally yourself with sinners instead of God.

Day 4 (Genesis 7:1-9:17 | Matthew 4:1-22 | Proverbs 1:1-7)

Day 4
Genesis 7:1-9:17
(7 | 8 | 9:1-17)

One of the most remarkable things about the story of Noah is the amount of time he has to collect all the creatures he has to put in the ark; 7 days. And it's not just 2 of each either. For some times of animal, it's 7. For birds, it's 7. For this reason, I imagine this is another one of those cases where professional theologians could argue for hours about whether or not this story actually happened. If it didn't, is it meant to simply be a tale of God's wrath in his wiping out of near enough all life he created, and of his mercy as he saves a small number of his creation and tasks them with starting over, and then of love as he promises to never wipe out all life again? I don't know the answer, and I don't know what I think the answer might be.