Second Bible Read Thread

SarahsKnight said:

The Psalms for today are written by Asaph. I was wondering who Asaph was, but according to Wikipedia, this is he:

"In Chronicles, it is said that Asaph was a descendant of Gershom the son of Levi and he is identified as a member of the Levites. He is also known as one of the three Levites commissioned by David to be in charge of singing in the house of Yahweh (see below)."

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Neato!
I always wondered how their music/singing sounded like back in those days...really cool that David is into music.

SarahsKnight said:

I had wondered why in verse 22 Amminadab is mentioned as a son of Kohath (son of Levi, one of the twelve patriarchs of Israel), when earlier in the chapter he was not listed among the sons of Kohath (in verse 2 it says the sons of Kohath are only Izhar, Hebron, Uzziel, and Amram.

Bibehub.com appears to clear this up:

"Amminadab is not mentioned as a son of Kohath in the Pentateuch or elsewhere. Korah, here called son of Amminadab, is called son of Izhar, son of Kohath, Exodus 6:21. (See 1Chronicles 6:18, supra, and 1Chronicles 6:38, infra.) Some assume that Amminadab is a "by-name" of Izhar (so Margin). It is more likely that the name Izhar has dropped out of the text of 1Chronicles 6:22."

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Interesting, so it's sort of a nameception thing going on. Wow, the list is very long lol, to be honest, I was starting to get crosseyed. But pretty cool to see the priestly lineage. I wonder where are their descendants now, would be cool to hear their stories.

for those who are more visual learners

Psalm 81...made me ponder of the whole human condition of unfaithfulness, I'm also guilty of times when I put "idols" ahead of God. It need not to be a graven image, idols come in many forms, anything that you prioritize more than God. We have the tendency to forget God's goodness and replace Him for something flashy or things we think might satisfy based on the lies of others.

Psalm 88....woah....full blown emo mode...especially towards the last part about having no one to understand the grief...i think we can all relate to this...moments where God seem silent and darkness seem to build up around...

Psalm 92...spoke about the cedar trees...did a quick google search on it, looks like cedar trees are "Attractive and normally trouble free...they grow fast". They make good windbreakers too. Trusting in God, makes us grow like a cedar tree I think is what this scripture is saying, strong and well grounded despite the attack of enemies. I think our main battles have more to do with principalities in the high places, and occasionally there are people too who act out as enemies. But sure glad it's not like the time of David, where actual enemies wanted to kill him. Although we must always be on alert too because Satan and his minions are working 24/7 looking for ways to stumble us. Important to wear battle gear, get our spells ready (the scriptures and prayer lol- it's an epic battle). But very important to always remember this, "Satan is afraid of you. Never be afraid of him." Something my mom told me the other day. It's quite true, Jesus did mention about giving us authority. Never forget we are the sons and daughters of the King of Kings.

k....enough musings...for now lol

SarahsKnight said:

Chapter 10 retells the great loss Israel experienced in battle with the Philistines when both Saul and all of his sons were slain, Saul killing himself in dishonor, unfortunately.

I noticed that only three sons were mentioned as having been killed by Philistines that day, but in the previous chapter it mentions four sons of Saul:
39 And Ner begat Kish; and Kish begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

Eshbaal is not mentioned as having been one of the sons lost in chapter 10. What was his fate, I wonder?

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sad fate...

Psalm 102:10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: For thou hast taken me up, and cast me away.

...made me wonder, what made David say this? Did he do something wrong when he wrote this Psalm? But I guess, it's always better to come to God in humility, who knows we could have sinned and not known we've sinned, so it's better to approach God's throne with caution, repentance, then praise, worship, and prayer.

Psalm 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, So Jehovah pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are as grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
Today, I was off work, went to church, the Ptr. spoke about how time flies so fast. He is so right, it's gonna be June soon then before you know it Christmas! Lol was whining to my parents today..."I'm almost 30 and I don't feel like it!" Heh, it just feels weird, I still feel like I'm 20 or 25, all these responsibilities I'm not fully ready to accept. But it is comforting to know that God understands our frame, and He loves us just the same. Sometimes, we want to speed up or slow down certain processes that God requires for us to show diligence in. The clock is ticking, we have to really redeem the time, and make sure we know God's seasons in our lives so we don't miss out on his grand plans.

Psalm 104
Beautiful, how David looked into God's creation and sees how there is order and balanced, the sceneries, mysteries, God's faithfulness on a day to day basis. I watched a documentary once about what would happen if the sun would suddenly stop burning, how it would affect the planet, it was scary to see how quickly life would deteriorate, how dependent and reliant earth is to the sun and how awe strucking it is that the sun is just the right distance away from earth close enough to give life and far away enough so not to destroy it. The pastor at church, mentioned that our generation is without excuse when we stand before God, he said if we were to stand alongside Moses for example, Moses would be holding the 2 stone tablets, while we have our celphone or tablet or laptop, we can tell Moses, "I could fit a thousand stone tablet informations here in my little device, and I can read the Word in multiple translations, even in Hebrew." Truly, we are of no excuse to be grateful for all we have and the sheer information we can so easily gather to understand the universe and truly see God's work.

This part of 2 Sam 5 kinda confused me, tge part about the blind and lame, but Benson's Commetary cleared it up...
Thou shalt not come hither, for the blind and the lame resist, or, have resisted, thee, saying, That David shall not come hither. They confided in the strength of their fortifications, which they thought so impregnable that the blind and the lame were sufficient to defend them against the most powerful assailant. And probably they appointed a number of blind and lame people, invalids, or maimed soldiers, to make their appearance on the wall, in contempt of David and his men. There is another interpretation of these words which Dr. Delaney and many others prefer, namely, that they imagined their fortress to be impregnable and secure under the protection of their gods, whom the Israelites were wont to despise, and to call them gods who had eyes, but saw not; feet, but walked not. As if they had said, Our gods, whom you call blind and lame, shall defend us, and you must overcome them before you overcome us. “These blind and lame,” says a learned writer, “were the idols of the Jebusites, which, to irritate David, they set upon their walls, as their patrons and defenders. And they as good as said, Thou dost not fight with us, but with our gods, who will easily repel thee.” source:
2 Samuel 5:6 Commentaries: Now the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, and they said to David, "You shall not come in here, but the blind and lame will turn you away"; thinking, "David cannot enter here."

11 And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the thirty; he lifted up his spear against three hundred and slew them at one time.

I just thought this was pretty cool. Can imagine the fighting skills David's chiefs had.