Second Bible Read Thread

SarahsKnight said:

Day 121: May 29

Psalms 133

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the beard part, got me laughing a bit...cause i have a strong imagination, so i literally saw a jewish man with a beard with copious amounts of oil being poured on...okay....back to topic...lol...so curiousity strikes, what did this strange oil pouring thing mean?

2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, That ran down upon the beard, Even Aaron's beard; That came down upon the skirt of his garments;

Barnes' Notes on the Bible: It was not merely the head, but the beard, the raiment, the entire person, that partook of the fragrance of the anointing oil. Thus love in a Christian community is so abundant - so overflowing - that it spreads over all the spiritual body, the church; the same sweet and holy influence, represented by the oil of anointing, pervades all, and combines all in one.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
It is like the precious ointment upon the head,.... The composition which Moses was ordered to make of the principal spices, and therefore called precious; and which was poured on the heads of kings and priests, when they were anointed with it, Exodus 30:23;
that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; this was put upon the head of Aaron when he was anointed, and so on any other high priest, and trickled down to his beard; see Exodus 29:7. The reasons Kimchi and Ben Melech give, why the anointing of Aaron and other priests is mentioned, and not the anointing of a king, or of David himself, are, because the anointing of Aaron was first, and also more public and better known by the people;

that went down to the skirts of his garments; or, "the mouth" or "opening of his garments" (a); not the extremity of them, as our version inclines to; for not so great a quantity of oil was poured upon him; nor would it have been decent to have his clothes thus greased from top to bottom: but the upper part of his garment, the top of the coat, on which the beard lay, as Jarchi; the neck or collar of it, as Kimchi and Ben Melech; the hole in which the head went through when it was put on, about which there was a band, that it might not be rent, Exodus 28:32; where the Septuagint use the same word as here. Suidas (b) says, David means the superior aperture of the garment, that which we call the neck or collar band; and so Theodoret: and the Arabic version renders it, the "aperture", or opening of it; and hitherto the ointment came. This was typical of the grace of the Spirit, the unction from the Holy One; which has been poured on Christ, the head of the church, without measure; and with which he has been anointed above his fellows; and from him it is communicated to all his members; to every one of which is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ; and who from his fulness receive, and grace for grace: and particularly brotherly love is compared to this ointment; because of the preciousness of it, which is true of every grace; and because of the extensiveness of it, reaching to head and members, to Christ and all his saints, the meanest and lowest of them; and because of its fragrancy and sweet odour to all that are sensible of it; and because of its delightful, cheering, and refreshing nature; like ointment and perfume it rejoices the heart; yea, the worst things said, or reproofs given, in brotherly love, are like oil, pleasant and useful, Proverbs 27:9; and is as necessary for the saints, who are all priests unto God, to offer up their spiritual sacrifices; particularly that of prayer, which should be "without wrath", as well as without doubting; and to do all other duties of religion, which should spring from charity or love; as the anointing oil was to Aaron and his sons, in order to their officiating in the priest's office.

Psalm 133:2 Commentaries: It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, Even Aaron's beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes.

SarahsKnight said:

Day 123: May 31

2 Samuel 5:11 through 6:23
1 Chronicles 13 through 16

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2 Sam...woah just woah...spoke about spies, treachery, and the part that got me was how evil Absalom was, and just how David's sin brought about this messed up curse. There was this "oracle" named Ahithophel, I'm speculating is not really a prophet of God, giving messed up advise to both David and Absalom, specially to Absalom to do such a sick thing. Sin really ruins everything (this all began with David's sin with Batsheba and murder of Uriah), bringing about a generational curse...

I also found it interesting that in 1 Chronicles 15:29, it mentioned about Michal...seeing David dancing and playing..."she despised him in her heart"...quite odd, being that not long ago this same Michal loved David, made me wonder what made her hate him was it the bad dance moves or something deeper?

Another verse that got me curious was in 1 Chron. 13:11...the breach, was Uzza one of the Levite priests? Anyways, God is super strict when it comes to the ark, looked like Uzza took it lightly. Makes me thankful for what Jesus did, imagine the gravity of God's presence without the blood of Jesus, we probably would be dead by now.

whew, long read!
In 2 Samuel 7, I noticed how David received God's Word. After God revealed His message to Nathan, King David "...sat before the Lord..." - 2 Samuel 7:18, and David showed his thankfulness to God and repeated the promises and acknowledge them and claimed them. This caught my attention, I guess, it just shows how David was really receptive to God and this is a good example for us to follow. And 1 Chronicles 17...is just a repeat of 2 Samuel 7 lols I thought I was rereading the same thing.

In Psalm 25:21 - Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.

Integrity -
1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility
2 : an unimpaired condition : soundness
3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : completeness

Uprightness -
: marked by strong moral rectitude
(According to Merriam Webster Dictionary)
This got my attention...This is opposite of what the world teaches, many take shortcuts and do unpleasant things to get what they want, cheat, lie, and steal, etc. But there's truth in David's words that integrity and uprightness will preserve us, so hang in there and wait for God to rescue you.

In Psalm 33:18 - "Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy." - very encouraging!

Psalm 36, Don Moen wrote a song using this scripture...(it's really catchy)

THIS: "Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Se'-lah". Psalm 39:5...really resounds in my spirit, totally relate with David, not getting younger, life goes by so fast...and it's all really vanity, and "And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee" - Psalm 39:7. Yes, ultimately the only meaningful thing in this life is God. I pray that we never lose sight of Him, especially as we age. Some days ago, I held the hand of a 90+ year old woman with Alzheimer's, I talked with her to keep her from feeling lonely, and she kept telling me, "I have to leave now, and go to work". At that moment, I realized how frail life is, and how quick it comes by, here she still thought she needed to work but she can no longer even stand or remember the events of the day. Truly, it's so important to redeem the time, and really build that relationship with God, because it lasts forever unlike our bodies and mind that are deteriorating as the years swing by. Lol, sorry if this sounded depressing, but it's just the truth, time is moving so fast. But the good thing is we are nearing to be with Him and He changes us from glory to glory.

SarahsKnight said:

Day 128: June 5

2 Samuel 8 and 9
1 Chronicles 18

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Amazing how God was with David...to best visualize how much 22,000 looks like...here's a pic...

Psalm 20:7 Some [trust] in chariots, and some in horses; But we will make mention of the name of Jehovah our God.

Man, back then, there was so much unrest and war. But despite all that, God was with David. Lol I was trying to find an online war simulation that could populate 30-40k troops just to see how epic it would have been. Found one but it only populates to probably in the hundreds, was pretty cool! lol Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

Psalm 69:3-4, picture the stress David was in, and here is a man who was once just a Shepherd boy, now is a King. And back then there wasn't any social media, but slander was common. He was so much in distress that in Psalm 69:8-11, he expressed the abandonment he felt, the feelings of loneliness at that moment. I saw the word "sackcloth", kinda interesting that back then, it was more for token for mourning and in the past worn by the prophets too to symbolize submission. They basically had to match their emotions with the clothes they wore. Lol and we think we are fashionable nowadays. I'm glad God allowed the Psalms, just shows how humanity longs for God and for his help. In Psalm 69:17, isn't it a similar prayer we also often pray "Hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily".

SarahsKnight said:

I wonder if in Psalms 65:3 David himself was hinting of the coming Messiah.

He did say, after all: For our iniquities, You atone.

... Is this not what Christ did at the cross? We did not have to atone through the shedding of blood. He did it for us.

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True, I wonder how David's perception was about the messiah. Did Jesus meet his expectations? Or was his expectations more like how the disciples thought that Jesus was gonna overthrow the Roman gov. lol