One Year Bible Readings and Commentary for Friday, July 8th
The Tribes East of the Jordan
The Army of God cried out to the Lord in battle showing their trust in Him.
As these men of Gad did what God called them to do, they trusted in Him in the midst of the battle. Because they put their trust in Him, God delivered them in the battle. Guzik
These original settlers of the eastern tribe of Manasseh were godly and bold men. Their desire to settle east of the Jordan River did not reflect an ungodly desire on their part.
Unfortunately this generation, though it had a good start, were unfaithful to the Lord and God allowed the king of Assyria to invade the land and take the people away as exiled prisoners.
Chapter 6 The Priestly Line
This chapter describes the descendants of Levi and Aaron. The entire tribe of Levi had a special place in Israel, given over to the service of God generally. Within the tribe of Levi was a special priestly family descended from Aaron. All priests were therefore Levites, but not all Levites were priests.
Generally speaking the priests were the ones who went before God in the tabernacle to offer sacrifices to make atonement for the sins of the people. The Levites had lots of other roles in the temple like maintaining it.
The Temple Musicians
We remember how much David loved music, which is reflected in many of his psalms. Whis soul was downcast music was played which greatly. We know music has played a great role in the people of God throughout the last 2,000 years.
For instance when Martin Luther wrote the hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God", it was set to a tune played in a local tavern. He was fond of saying, "Why sould the devil get all the good music". The reason we like music is because the arts are given by God to bless our soul.
The fact that David appointed these men over the service of song shows that the musical worship of God is important, it is worthy of attention, and should be organized. In fact, it is specifically said they served in their office according to their order.
It could perhaps be said that the artistic temperament resists organization, and it is certainly possible to be too ordered and too rigid, refusing to allow proper flexibility in the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, organization and order remain part of a good music ministry.
They were ministering with music: Their ministry was music. It was sacred service before the LORD, worthy of their dedication and hard work.
Aaron’s Descendants
Only Aaron and his sons served in the priestly line. Only an authorized priest could make atonement. Though Jesus was not descended from Aaron, He was nevertheless an authorized priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron (Hebrews 7).
Territory for the Levites
According to Numbers 18:20-24, the tribe of Levi had no province of land as the other tribes did. Their inheritance was the LORD Himself and the tithes that the people of God brought to them.
They gave them Hebron in the land of Judah, with its surrounding common-lands: After this pattern, the Levites were “sprinkled” throughout the land of Israel by giving them cities in the different tribal provinces, cities together with surrounding common-lands (Numbers 35:1-8). - Guzik
Apparently Agrippa was very well acquainted with the Jewish customs, which made Paul glad he was hearing his case. Paul recounted his Jewish upbringing and training, which was the best any young Jewish boy could have. When the Christian movement started Paul was a zealot, who persecuted Christians and agreed with their deaths. He chased them down in foreign cities and tortured them to the point where he would try to get them to curse Jesus.
So, what else would explain the complete turnaround in his life from hating and persecuting Christians to preaching in Jesus' name. And, in fact, what he was preaching? He was preaching Jesus crucified and on the third day he was raised from the dead. This was the fulfillment of the of the scriptures the Jewish people purported to believe in. He ends with a great question,
Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead?
His argument is very logical. If Jesus was God death could not keep him in the grave. Would you believe in a God who would die and stay dead? Would you believe in a God who could not do supernatural things like creating the heavens and the earth? Why would you believe in a God who could do nothing more than humans do?
Paul then describes his specific experience on the road to Damascus, when Jesus said to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me!" Then, Paul received his calling to preach the gospel first in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and finally to the Gentiles. But at one point it was too much for Festus and he interrupted Paul saying,
"Paul you are insane, your study has made you crazy."
Paul ignored Festus and turned back to Agrippa, who was more familiar with the Jewish teachings on the Messiah. He asked him, "You believe in the prophets don't you?"
Agrippa responded, "Do you think you can persuade me to be a Christian so quickly?" I love Paul's response,
“Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.”
I love Paul's boldness. He knew God had brought him safely to this stage in order to preach the gospel, he had been appointed to preach. He was bold because he knew it was God's will for him to do this.
When we rely on God and obey his promptings we can do anything He wants us to do? We can do things we never thought we could do? I have experienced this in my own life. There are times when I have been preaching, teaching, or sharing the Gospel knowing this was totally coming from God and not me. I was merely being a vessel for him. It is a great feeling!
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