Category Archives: Bible Study

Ephesians

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Welcome to my study on Ephesians. My objective as I study Ephesians is to learn some Greek as I explore the thoughts Paul gave to the church where he invested two-plus years of his life. I want to use the words and phrases to hear the loving advice that a father/pastor gave his children, and not just dogma and doctrine. What caught my attention were the Greek “one-use” and “limited use” words in the first chapter. God bless translators, but I want to personally restore study to a verb and not limit it to a noun. I studied this Book for months a looong time ago; now for a second look.

To study the Book of Ephesians well, we should start with an overview of the city in the corpus of the New Testament and in the life of Paul. It is possible that the first contact that Ephesus had with the Gospel came on the Day of Pentecost. There were visitors from Asia (Acts 2:9), which is where Ephesus was located. It was a port city and Paul used that during his second and third trips to preach the Gospel.

I believe that Paul used his traditions as a tool to strengthen his relationship with God. I do not believe they replaced his mission or fellowship with the Father and Jesus. Customs and traditions did not become fig leaves and bushes for Paul. The Holy Spirit used his heritage to bring him toward God and did not let them become a stopping point.

In Acts 18:18, Paul, Priscilla, and Aquila had sailed from Corinth and arrived at Ephesus. Paul continued his habit of going to the local synagogue and preaching. After a successful first contact with the people, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila there as he continued to Israel and Jerusalem to fulfill his vow.

Acts 19 is a series of vignettes of Paul’s two-plus years in Ephesus. Verse one reminds me that we do not have “perfect knowledge” of everything Paul did. Meticulous Luke gave us a vague timestamp that may imply this was associated with his trip back from Jerusalem/Israel or it was a “walk about” in the region of Ephesus. (Enough minutia.) Is this chapter an exemplar of Paul going into cities?

  1. Find people who are interested in the ways of God. John baptized to prepare people’s hearts for the coming of Jesus.
  2. Give them the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
  3. Teach publicly.
  4. Have signs and wonders witness to the spoken and taught Word.
  5. People attempt to imitate what the Holy Spirit is doing.
  6. A deep repentance followed by an outpouring of the Lord.
  7. Nonbelievers who are angry at God take it out on believers.

Acts 20 – Paul was in a hurry, and may not have wanted to start another riot, sails past Ephesus but sends for the elders of the church. This intense goodbye has elements that will be seen again in the Book to the Ephesians and the writing in Revelations.  

The Book of Ephesians

Like his farewell in Acts 20, Paul has prayers, reminders, and useful information in this Letter. As I look at my circles, highlights, and what I underlined Paul includes many references to God, Father, Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. That lets you know what and who he thought was important. He also mentions that he is a prisoner several times as a wakeup for the Church.

Jesus’ Statement in Revelations

The thoughts of the Spirit in this last mention of Ephesus are in agreement with Acts 20 and Paul’s Letter. There is no clear or easy segway from Paul to John when it comes to Ephesus. There are many dates out there as to when they showed up in the city and they will leave you confused. The Spirit decided to not give us those. From Priscilla and Aquila to Paul, and through John God worked and used Ephesus to spread His word in Asia/Turkey.

I know people love to go cryptic in this Book, but John wrote all of this with 1:19 in mind. I am not completely sure that we as later believers in Jesus were to know everything that Jesus referred to in His praises and warnings to this and the other churches.

Moses’ Psalms – Part 2

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In Part 2, I will look/focus on Moses’ Psalms or Songs outside of the Book of Psalms. I believe that Moses and his Chief Songwriter, the Holy Spirit, crafted these songs to help the people reflect where he and they had been and where they were going. In Part 1 I focused on his songs that were in Psalms.

One way to read the works of Moses (Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and his songs) is to see his personal growth, victories, and failures in his writings and songs. In the first third of his life, he knew his history but was trained in the ways of Egypt. In the second third of his life, he had the influence of a priest of Midian, so who knows what he heard. His final third starts off with a burning bush and a showdown with the Egyptian court that raised him; all of that in less than two years.

Exodus 15 – I have to wonder if lines and verses of this song started coming to him as soon as he got word from Pharoah to leave. Hear the joy in this song but do not miss his personal vindication as he shouts, “He is my God, and I will praise Him”.

The mighty Egyptian army was crushed by the very thing that saved the people, the Red Sea. Moses stresses God’s mighty right hand and His arm, both symbols of strength. He is given a prophetic element in verses 14 and 15 against the people they are going to conquer. This song ends with a vision of the good land to come.

Miriam, his older sister, quickly grabs a small part of the song and turns it into a catchy dance tune.  

Numbers 21:17-18

17 Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, well—sing to it!
18 The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out
with a scepter and with their staffs. (HCSB)

I am giving Moses credit for this song. You will need to give some leeway on this song and the “well”. Either there was an unrecorded water source, or this is the water from Exodus 17:6. If it is Exodus 17, verse 18 has a lot of imagery and imagination in comparison to what we think happened. I have a feeling that it was sung every time they came to a water source.

This is near the end of the years of wandering. Moses had just made the bronze snake and the defeat of Sihon and Og was about to take place, followed by a huge test that was orchestrated by Balaam and the Midianites.    

Psalm 111

Before you rush to write a “wait a minute” comment, please let me explain. Book V in Psalms (107-150) was possibly assembled to reflect Moses’ fifth book – Deuteronomy. It has songs of ascent (121 to 134), the longest Psalm (119), and the shortest Psalm (117), some are read during Passover (113 – 118), and many have no author. A footnote in the NIV has Psalms 98 and 111 as being quoted in the Song of Moses and the Lamb in Revelation.

Read this Psalm; you can hear Moses singing this to teach Israel about its God. (See Part 1.) He uses many ideals past and future to strengthen the people’s faith in their God. It is an acrostic psalm, which is another excellent way to teach people.     

Deuteronomy 32

I believe this is Moses’ opus reflecting on the last forty years of his time with Israel and his time in the physical presence of his Rock. You can’t help but hear the regret in this song about him not speaking to the rock.

Before you read Chapter 32 it would do you good to read 31:19-22. Moses wrote this song as a testament against Israel in the future. These are not a “light” read but the song has plenty of God’s thoughts for and about His people.

Revelation 15:3 and 4

3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. 4 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. (KJV)

Phrases in this song are drawn from Psalm 111:2,3; Deut. 32:4; Jer. 10:7; Psalms 86:9; 98:2. All of the verse below are from the NIV. The footnote is in Revelation 15 in Bible Gateway.

Psalm 111: 2 Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. 3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever.

 Deut. 32:4  He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
    and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
    upright and just is he.

Jer. 10:7  Who should not fear you,
    King of the nations?
    This is your due.
Among all the wise leaders of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms,
    there is no one like you.

Psalms 86:9  All the nations you have made
    will come and worship before you, Lord;
    they will bring glory to your name.

Psalms 98:2  The Lord has made his salvation known
    and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

The placement of this song in Chapter 15 is interesting. The people who sing it have conquered the beast and his image. After they have sung the song, the Tabernacle of the Testimony is opened, and the final seven plagues will be released. (This Tabernacle is what Moses saw to make his copy for Israel.)

The Number Twenty-four in the Bible

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This collection of the number twenty-four in the Bible covers a large time span and a variety of things.

  • Numbers 7:88 – The leaders of the twelve tribes brought two oxen apiece (24 total) as an offering to dedicate the altar.
  • Numbers 25:9 – 24,000 Israelites died in the plague that came from the men indulging in immorality with the women of Moab and Midian. Balaam had suggested this to nullify God’s banner of protection over the People when he could not openly curse the nation.
  • 1 Chronicles 20:6 and 2 Samuel 21:20 – A giant, a descendant of Rapha, who was killed by David’s nephew, had 24 fingers and toes.
  • 1 Chronicles 27:1 – David had twelve divisions of his army that were on duty one month out of the year. Each division had 24,000 men for a total of 288,000.
  • 1 Kings 15:33 – Baasha King of Israel reigned for 24 years. He killed Nadab son of Jeroboam and the entire family of Jeroboam to gain power. He continued the sin of Jeroboam, having priests who were not from the family of Aaron.
  • 1 Chronicles 24:18 and 25:31 mark the 24th person on a list.

These are all days when words and visions were given to the prophets. They all are given after Cyrus gave the orders to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.

  • Daniel 10:4 – On the 24th day of the first month in the third year of Cyrus King of Persia Daniel was fasting and had a vision. I find it hard to think that Daniel would have fasted through Passover, but this would have been at the end of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It could be the first month of the civil calendar, which would put it at the time of the Day of Atonement. This was near the end of Daniel’s life and close to the time of Ezra.
  • Haggai 1:15 – The 24th day of the sixth month of the second year of King Darius the Great. (This is not the Darius that was in Daniel, and there are several timestamps in Haggai and Zechariah that are very close together.) This is when work started on the Second Temple; it was incorporated into Herod’s Temple that Jesus visited.
  • Haggai 2:10 and 18 – These are the 24th day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius. The foundation of the Temple was laid, and God had Haggai ask the priest a question. The point of the first words from the Lord on this day was to have the people consider carefully how things changed when they finally started building the Temple.
  • Haggai 2:20 – This is a separate message that was given on the same day. This was a word of encouragement to Zerubbabel, who is a forefather of Jesus.
  • Zechariah 1:7 – On the 24th day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat in the second year of Darius a word came to Zechariah. (This is the religious calendar.)
  • Nehemiah 9:1 – This is the 24th day of the seventh month, which is after the Day of Atonement. (religious calendar) This should match the day that Daniel had his vision.  

Hebrew Jewish Months in the Old Testament – Bible History (bible-history.com)

The Elders in the Book of Revelation

  • Revelation 4:4 and 10, 5:8, 11:16, and 19:4 are all references to the 24 elders who worship God before His throne.

Purpose or Prothesis

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My Purpose or agenda is to encourage people to study their Bible readings and the sermons they listen to during the week. I will get to the term “purpose” in the New Testament because that is where my study, this morning, landed. My study did not start out there and to be honest, it went all over the place, but it was good, and I had great takeaways.

Because I have used the word purpose in this post, I feel it is important for you to believe Exodus 34:5-7. Knowing and believing He is a good God has to be your foundation. Having questions and problems is part of our journey in the Way. God said all of these things to Moses after he messed up big time. In a moment of anger, he literally broke all of the commandments at one time. (That is a little Mark humor.) it is about two years since the burning bush and Moses is still learning God and His ways. God invited Moses back up the mountain, anger and all, to teach him about Himself and reissue the Law to the Community.

My study, this morning, started with the word pagan. A person said it came from the phrase “the people of the country” or those who lived outside the cities. I found that pagan, heathen, and Gentile in the New Testament are the same word and that translators change the word ethnikos and ethnos to fit their writing. God bless translators who are trying to do right. Not every Christian likes to think they were a pagan or a heathen at one time in their life. (Take away #1.)

That led to the thought there may be agendas attached to writing, translations, and sermons. So, I looked up the word agenda in Bible Gateway. I did not find it except in the Amplified version, and they seemed to be in the commentaries they like to add. But that brought me to purpose.

Purpose (one of several words for that idea) in the First Testament is H 6098, in Strong’s, and is translated as counsel, plan, or purpose. Take some time to study that word, you won’t be sorry.

In the Gospels and the Epistles, the Greek word prothesis and its various forms are translated as purpose and shewbread. That is the twelve loaves that are associated with the Tabernacle. The number is G 4286 and use this as a reference: πρόθεσις | billmounce.com. That word looks like prosthesis or artificial joints and limbs, I am not sure of the etymology and if they are related.

Shewbread and God’s purpose for my life being related is my second and big takeaway. Those loaves in the Tabernacle, that were eaten by the priest, were there to keep the Tribes before God. My Strong’s/Vine’s concordance draws a conclusion about it representing God’s plan for our daily bread. I appreciate that thought, but mine goes in a different direction. My purpose, like those loaves, is always before the Father. He has a plan for me and will see it to completion, Amen and Amen.

The Gospels and Hebrews are the books with the shewbread, and Paul’s Epistles and Acts use the word purpose.

My morning study did not end there. Bread is H 3899 and is lechem. From another study I read Deuteronomy 29:6 which says the Children had eaten no bread in their wanderings around the desert. That word has many working meanings; I will go with the grain the bread is made from. Friendly dealings with neighbors were not happening, so how could they get grain? Manna could be the answer, it was boiled or baked. It is possible they may have grown it but that is iffy. I know the Law was for then and the future, so consider Exodus 25:30 and Leviticus 24:5. The bread of the Presence was to always be before God and the twelve loaves had to come from the finest flour.

My purpose for the prothesis is to ask your opinion. During the time of wandering did they use manna for those thirty-eight years, or trade, or grow grain to make those large, round loaves of bread?  

Finger of God

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What is the most powerful part of God? His fingers do miracles and cast out demons, His breath gave us life, His right hand and extended arm do battle for us, and His face will kill you. Okay, I am not going there just because. So, back to the title of this post – The Finger of God. (Yes, I left out a few like His heart and voice.)

This study is from my Deuteronomy 911 background research. With His finger, God wrote the commands, laws, and instructions on a pair of stone tablets for His people to live in a community as free people. There are two references to this story: Deuteronomy 9:10 and Exodus 31:18. The phrase “finger of God” is used in two other places; this is consistent through all of the translations I looked at. Altogether, I think, they tell an interesting story.

Exodus 8:19 – Pharaoh’s magicians told him that the plague of gnats was from the finger of God. I looked at several commentaries and stopped! The main thought was that the magicians of Egypt would not have said that or believed in Moses’ God. Why not? They had to go get new walking sticks because the rod of God had swallowed theirs. They maybe did turn water to blood, but a bowl full is not the Nile and they could not undo Moses’ act. (Personally, I am thinking red coloring, but we will stay with blood.) The Egyptians had a frog goddess, so, who knows what experiments they had done to get frogs out of the water? Once again, they could offer no relief to the people. As one commentary noted, the gnats required them to create life. Jannes and Jambes (2 Timothy 3:8) were not up to that task and they knew they had been beaten. (See Frogs, Yeast, Plagues, The Wonders that Plagued Egypt, and Reflections)

A very common thought about fingers in our reference materials and commentaries is they point or scratch, and they do. Another use for the finger, in ancient times, was a unit of measurement or etsba. This is the width of the finger and not the length. Etsba or Strong’s H676 is the Hebrew for finger, you will have to look to find the measurement part. My Strong’s reference table lists a finger as a unit of length but gives no Hebrew name, and the given length has to be a finger width.

So, what if they were acknowledging the power of God and also saying this may just be a small measurement of that power? I doubt they converted, but other Egyptians did believe and got their people and animals out of the fields before the hailstorm (9:20). The magicians lasted until Exodus 9:11 and are not heard from again.

After they made that statement, God started treating Israel and Egypt differently. This leads to my BIG TAKEAWAY from this post. The three times the finger of God is used He is working to start His kingdom of priests and the holy nation. This one is measuring the Egyptians as guilty of enslaving His people and He will free them.                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Exodus 31:18 and Deuteronomy 9:10

God used His extended finger to write on two stone tablets the rules His holy nation needed to live as free men and women. STOP! Think about that for a minute or two. The Father wrote for His people (twice) the commandments He had spoken to them. How do we know that God is everything He said He was in Exodus 34: 6+7? Moses broke all of the commandments at the same and God still loved and used him. If you want a good study, find the traditions and legends that surround those tablets.

Moses wrote a book; God wrote stone tablets. Why stone and not rock? Rock is unaltered and in its natural state. Stone has been shaped for man to use.

Luke 11:20

This verse says it all, the extended finger of God casting out demons by the power of God measures the Kingdom is nearby. Daktylos is the word for finger, Strong’s G1147, and it has Hebrew roots. Luke does not name the crowd in the passage, but they sound like the Pharisees. Because of that, I am sure that this is one of Jesus’ multilevel revelations for them. “Frogs” getting pushed out by the finger of God. The same powerful finger that wrote the Law is bringing in the kingdom of God. He is also claiming to have the power of the finger of God, even as He ignores their demand for a sign from Heaven. Yes, the Pharisees were not happy with that righteous reminder of the finger of God.