Clearly, there was something wrong in Israel that the ark
remained at Kiriath-jearim for twenty years.
Had the Lord said this was His chosen place of worship? Apparently there was no understanding of the
word of God and no particular desire for true worship. It seems that after twenty years the people
began longing for the old religion.
Samuel was very clear, if you want the old, true religion you have to
get rid of everything else, and they did.
Just as the people are re-consecrating themselves and renewing the
covenant at Mizpah, the Philistines hear of this gathering and decide now is
the time to destroy the nation completely.
The people fear, Samuel offers prayer and sacrifice and the Lord fights
for them and puts the Philistines to flight.
Just when the Philistines thought they had total victory, they lost
everything for the duration of Samuel’s reign as judge. The timing of the nation’s return to
monotheism and the worship of Yahweh was perfect.
This had to be an incredibly confusing evening for the
disciples. Jesus says, “I have earnestly
desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” What can He possibly mean by saying any of
that? It starts out sounding like it is
a wonderful thing, I earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you… The last
three words, “before I suffer” don’t fit where anyone thought this was
headed. When Jesus reinterprets the
Passover symbols of bread and wine to mean His body and blood and then says His
betrayer is at this very table, no one could possibly have imagined what was
going to happen in the next few hours, beginning very soon. We never know what an action will bring in
results and sometimes we try and determine the meaning of things before all the
data is in to evaluate. We need to be
patient, even when things are going badly, in reacting to events.
What were the qualifications for the first deacons? They were to choose “men of good repute, full
of the Spirit and of wisdom” whose role was to serve tables, to ensure
equitable distribution among Jews and non-Jews alike. What was Stephen doing? He was doing two things: great wonders and
signs among the people and speaking with great wisdom. No one, no matter what their “job” in the
kingdom, should do that job only and neglect the study and sharing of the Word
of God. The role for which Stephen was
“ordained” had nothing at all to do with preaching, he was, in fact, ordained
so that others could tend to that work, but we all have a responsibility for
sharing the Good News. The leaders were
jealous of this new man, not one of the apostles, and they quickly determined
to cook up charges against him since they had no luck doing so with the
apostles. This will be a severe test for
the nascent church.
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