Category: Scripture Notes
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Sorrows forgot
It is telling that in the day the Lord honors His covenant after having left the people to the destruction of their chastening they will rejoice in Him and forget the pain of their crucible.
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Opposites
I’ve never noticed the symmetry before in the way that the reasons the Lord gives for abandoning Israel to the scourge of the Assyrian and the description of how Christ would act when He came—He will be everything that they failed to be to earn their chastisement.
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Without substance or value
It seems the description of the people being led into wickedness by leaders who teach lies to the point that the Lord allows their enemies to surround and consume them is a description of a people who have left no reason for the Lord to intervene on their behalf. They have abandoned everything of value…
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Dream patterns
There are patterns with the drama that Joseph interpreted. When the baker heard the interpretation of the butler’s dream he took hope, probably because he recognized the symbolism Joseph noted in the butler’s dream. I also now the key that Joseph noted in the dreams of Pharaoh, the fact that the symbolism was repeated in…
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What a lineage
I followed the footnotes and saw the posterity of Pharez, the firstborn son of Tamar who became pregnant from her father in law by playing the harlot when he refused to give her in marriage as required. I’m not trying to cast blame on her but to point out that this was a lineage that…
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Jacob and his sons
When Joseph told his dreams to his family I can’t decide what Jacob meant with his response. Was he offended that Joseph’s dream suggested he would bow down to his son? Was he concerned that Joseph’s dreams would drive s further wedge between him and his brothers? Did he think that Joseph was dreaming his…
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Refusing the waters of Shiloah
The Lord says that because the people refuse the clear stream that flows softly (Shiloah) he will instead give them the great rushing river. It seems to me that today we frequently refuse the soft flowing waters of good counsel and find ourselves in the midst of uncontrollable torrents where we are lucky if we…
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The larger perspective
When Israel was facing two nations in league together seeking to set up a puppet government for Israel the Lord said “fear not” and his reasoning was that within 65 years it wouldn’t matter because both kingdoms would be overrun by Assyria then. To men, 65 years is a long time and they would be…
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Make their ears fat
Sometimes we need to understand that the ways of the Lord must allow for things to get worse and worse, sometimes seeming to be beyond the point of no return, in order to allow the transformations that His with requires. I wonder if we are watching one of those times in eastern Europe with Putin’s…
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Not left alone
I have always wondered the meaning of “joining house to house.” I used to joke that it was an injunction against apartments. I know that’s not literally true but there are times I have wondered if it was metaphorically true. Today I considered the possibly meaning that people are not allowed to be independent—that they…