II Samuel 10-13: Problems in the house of David.

May 12,  2015. Daily Reading: II Samuel 10-13. Background: II Samuel 5-9. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 10 Think twice before you shame someone: In this chapter, we read about an interesting story in which an act of kindness spirals into all out war. The king of the Ammonites has died and David sent messengers to…

Exodus 21-24: Practical laws of the covenant.

May 11, 2015. Daily Reading: Exodus 21-24. Background: Exodus 17-20. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 21 Practical laws: After giving the ten commandments that are well known, the Lord continues His law, giving the children of Israel a basis for rule and government as they now would become their own people without the oversight of another nation….

II Corinthians 11-13: Paul’s concern and warnings.

May 10, 2015. Daily Reading: II Corinthians 11-13. Background: II Corinthians 10. Chapter 11 Apostles, true and false: Here, Paul has to once again defend himself to the Corinthians as an apostle and a minister of the gospel, as there were some in their number who did not like what Paul had to say and wanted…

Mark 15-16: The death, burial and resurrection.

May 9, 2015. Daily Reading: Mark 15-16. Background: Mark 13-14. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 15 1. Jesus before Pilate: After Jesus was betrayed in the garden, He is brought before Pilate here, with His disciples all scattered, facing a mob that has been stirred by the chief priests and elders. The only answer He gives to…

Jeremiah 27-31: Judah goes into captivity.

May 8, 2014. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 27-31. Background: Jeremiah 22-26. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 27 Submit to Nebuchadnezzar: At the beginning of this chapter, we get an interesting command given to Jeremiah that doesn’t happen all that often in prophecy. He is told to send word to the nations around Judah and give them a warning….

Job 38-39: God answers Job.

May 7, 2015. Daily Reading: Job 38-39. Background: Job 35-37. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 38 God speaks out of the whirlwind: After a long collection of dialog back and forth between Job and his friends, Job finally gets his wish: and audience with God. The old adage might be fitting here, however, as Job really…

Psalm 51-53: Repentance, trust and the Messiah.

May 6, 2015. Daily Reading: Psalm 51-53. Background: Psalm 48-50. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 51 “Create in me a clean heart”: Psalm 51 is perhaps one of the most well known psalms of David. It was written by the man after God’s own heart after he had been confronted by Nathan the prophet for committing adultery…

II Samuel 5-9: The rise of David.

May 5, 2015. Daily Reading: II Samuel 5-9. Background: II Samuel 1-4. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 5 David crowned king over all Israel and Judah: In the opening chapters of II Samuel, we saw that there was a lot of confusion and civil war that broke out after the death of King Saul and his sons….

Exodus 17-20: Encounters with God.

May 4, 2015. Daily Reading: Exodus 17-20. Background: Exodus 13-16. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 17 God delivers twice more: Just as they have done in times passed, when the children of Israel ran into a hardship they immediately start to grumble and complain against Moses, saying that he brought them out of the land of Egypt…

Mark 13-14: The near future.

May 2, 2015. Daily Reading: Mark 13-14. Background: Mark 11-12. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 13 Talks about the future: The entire chapter of Mark 13 is essentially devoted to prophecy of the future made by Jesus to His disciples (see Matthew 24 for a good parallel to this chapter). He begins with the foretelling of the destruction…

Jeremiah 22-26: The people against the prophet

May 1, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 22-26. Background: Jeremiah 17-21. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 22 1. Judah given a choice: The Lord sends Jeremiah on a mission to go speak to the king of Judah and give him a choice, an opportunity to turn things around that the Lord might relent from His wrath that He…

Job 35-37: Elihu finishes.

April 30, 2015. Daily Reading: Job 35-37. Background: Job 32-34. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 35 Who is man in relation to God? As Elihu continues his discourse, he turns to Job and starts to define man’s relationship to the Almighty. From here to the end of his argument, Elihu will basically be telling of the glory…