Friday, November 1, 2013

The Bible Challenge: Day 305

The scriptures read are Hosea 5-6, Psalm 100 and Matthew 2.

Hosea 5. God puts the priests and royalty of Israel on notice for having exploited the people and taken their land. Judah, too. God will punish them for their corruption.

Hosea 6. God wants love, not rituals. There is bloodshed--and at the hands of the priests.

Psalm 100. I defy you to sit still during this energetic version of this psalm sung by this amazing youth choir.

Matthew 2. The Magi deceiving King Herod recalls the midwives deceiving Pharaoh when he wanted them to kill newborn Jewish males. As it is, Joseph, Mary and Jesus leaving Bethlehem by night recalls the Israelites leaving Egypt. Rachel was buried at Bethlehem, which may have suggested the passage from Jeremiah quoted here.

Then the holy family reenacts the Exodus leaving Egypt for Judea. Archelaus wasn't much better than his father and was a terrible ruler on top of it. The IVP Bible Background Commentary cites archaeological evidence that many people moved from the Bethlehem area to the Nazareth area so Joseph may have had friends and family there.

No comments:

Post a Comment