Leviticus 19-21: Holiness.

August 17, 2015. Daily Reading: Leviticus 19-21. Background: Leviticus 16-18. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 19 1. Holiness: The beginning of this chapter, which will be somewhat of a list of things for the children of Israel to abide by, begins with a discussion on holiness. The children of Israel were called to be Holy, just…

Exodus 32-36: Sin and renewal.

June 1, 2015. Daily Reading: Exodus 32-36. Background: Exodus 29-31. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 32 The golden calf: The account of the golden calf that Aaron and the people of Israel made when they thought Moses was not going to come back down from the mountain is a well known story in both Judaism and…

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…

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…

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…

Mark 9-10: Teachings of Jesus.

April 18, 2015. Daily Reading: Mark 9-10. Background: Mark 7-8. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 9 1. Times to come: Upon two occasions in the chapter, Jesus speaks of certain things that are to come. The first is about the kingdom of God, which would come with power before that generation died, which was fulfilled in Acts…

Genesis 36-39: The early life of Joseph and his brothers.

March 9, 2015. Daily Reading: Genesis 36-39. Background: Genesis 32-35. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 36 Esau’s (Edom) descendants: The lineage of Esau is full of many names that likely sound unfamiliar and do not have detailed stories about the lives of those named, as the plan of God was to be fulfilled through Jacob and…

I Corinthians 4-6: Judgement and love.

March 1, 2015. Daily Reading: I Corinthians 4-6. Background: I Corinthians 1-3. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 4 1. Stewards and judgment: In the previous chapters, Paul addresses the Corinthian church’s problem with forming factions and elevating certain men, like himself and Apollos, above others and following them in pride as opposed to seeking the unity of…

Psalm 21-23: The Lord and the Christ.

February 25, 2015. Daily Reading: Psalm 21-23. Background: Psalm 18-20. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 21 1. Rejoicing in the Lord: King David often writes psalms of praise when the Lord has delivered him from his enemies or out of a bad situation and he is apt to give all the gory to God. We know that…

Judges 11-16: Jephthah and Samson.

February 24, 2015. Daily Reading: Judges 11-16. Background: Judges 6-10. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 11 1. You are not the sin of your parents: The story of Jephthah is a rather peculiar one that some might find even hard to read though. When you consider that it is in the context of the bible, it…

Judges 6-10: The cycle continues through Gideon.

February 17, 2015. Daily Reading: Judges 6-10. Background: Judges 1-5. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 6 1. The charge of the Lord: At the beginning of this chapter, we see that the vicious cycle that would occur time and again in Israel during the time of the judges has once again begun with the people forsaking…

Genesis 20-23: Abraham’s example.

February 9, 2015. Daily Reading: Genesis 20-23. Background: Genesis 15-19. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 20 1. A sin in ignorance is still a sin: As Abraham traveled in the land of Canaan, an interesting story is recorded about his interaction with Abimelech king of Gerar. Out of fear, Abraham does the same thing that he did in…