Category Archives: Bible Study

Bear Fruit – Lift Up or Cut Off

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As I pondered about working on this post- Bear Fruit – Lift Up or Cut Off, I read Proverbs 30. It is addressed to King Lemuel and called an oracle (NIV); it had a footnote. The note said it could be “Lemuel king of Massa”. Massa and Nasa were words from the post Bear Fruit. So, I started on this post today. It may help to read Massa | The amazing name Massa: meaning and etymology. In Bear Fruit I studied John 15:2 about the idea of lifting branches up or cutting them off in the context of bearing fruit. In Hebrew nasa means to lift up.

Topics, words, and ideas that branched out from this study:

  • Hebrews 5:13,14 to 6:1,2.
  • Good Fruit verses Bad Fruit
  • Are you producing enough fruit?
  • Who do you let tell you about your fruit production?
  • Cut off verses pruning, especially in Greek.
  • Verses with cut down or lift up in them. Use your favorite Bible app and its wordsearch function. It could give you a great Bible study.

John 15:2, John 15:2 Greek Text Analysis , uses the word prune. Any gardener will tell you that means cutting something off, usually to improve it. So, it is important and possibly gave context to the idea of “cutting off” in the first part of the verse, but the word kathairō is used once in the New Testament. Strong’s Greek: 2508. καθαίρω (kathairó) — To cleanse, to purify, to prune. There is a related Greek word that is used many times for “clean”. Strong’s Greek: 2513. καθαρός (katharos) — Clean, pure, clear. The word that started this study is Strong’s Greek: 142. αἴρω (airó) — To lift, to take up, to raise, to remove, to carry away. I hope you see the connection in the root word.

God removing someone (or many people) or things is seen with Noah. The words or phrases may change but the fact does not. A few teachings from John the Baptist and Jesus may help.

John – Matthew 3:10 is John talking to Pharisees and Sadducees about the axe at the root of the tree. “Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Jesus – Matthew 7:19 repeats that thought for false prophets. If good fruit is not being produced, trees are cut down and burned.

Luke 13:6 – A fig tree has been planted. The owner has been looking for fruit for three years and has found none, he orders it cut down. Why use up the soil? A worker asked for one more year, he will give it special attention. (Ask the Father to send laborers into the field.) This parable is connected to Leviticus 19:23 and the planting and eating of fruit from trees you plant. For the first three years the fruit is holy.

Why Hebrews? 6:1,2 is the framework for many beginning classes in Christianity. These are the six foundational stones that you may be presented. Foundations are important, they need to be strong because your very spiritual life is setting on them. I have watched many things get built and I know that before you put down the foundation the soil underneath it has to be prepared correctly or the foundation may have problems. 5:13,14 is the preparation for laying a foundation. Righteousness and knowing good from evil are the soil your foundation is sitting on. If these are off, there will be problems. Then comes the question of what has been built on top of the foundation?

Please, consider Job and his three friends. It seems that they had shared experiences and had seen similar things in their lifetime. The dialogue is strong and the comments serious, but in the end the Lord prunes Job so he can produce more fruit and lifts the friends up to know Him better.

There are other questions about fruit that must be address. Who are you listening to about the fruit you are producing? Is it good or bad, how much is needed, is it coming fast enough, you should be doing more are things you may hear about your fruit. Who are those people helping; the Father, you, or themselves?

Lift up, prune, or cut off; yes, the Father does all three because He wants good fruit. So, how is your relationship with the Father?

The Lord’s Prayer – Two Additions to the Study

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Job 23:12 and Proverbs 30:8 have a phrase that caught my attention – Daily bread. When Jesus taught the Prayer, provisions was the first petition after acknowledging God and praising Him. In Matthew and Luke, the Greek word is epiousios. It was translated daily bread, but since that was the first time it was used in Greek the exact meaning is vague. I was surprised to find the phrase daily bread was not used that many times in the Bible. The Hebrew gives you the idea of a legal amount and that is enough to cover you for that day. Strong’s Hebrew: 2706. חֹק (choq) — Statute, decree, ordinance, law, regulation

As leaders of the government Nehemiah and Solomon had daily food allotments. There are many times that food, supplies, and provisions are given to and for people going on trips or to war. Use those as search words; be flexible as those terms change with translators and when they were writing. My take-away is simple, God is interested in your wellbeing and wants to take care of you.

The other addition to the study is a precursor to the Lord’s Prayer. I grew-up in a denominational church that included the afterthought to Luke’s version of the prayer in all of its writings and study helps.  1 Chronicles 29:11 is a prayer from David when he was rejoicing that the people were giving to the building of the temple. It sounded like the beginning and the end of the prayer I grew-up with.

1 Chronicles 29:11 Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. (KJV)

Bible 911 – 2 Samuel

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2 Samuel 9:11 Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king’s sons. (KJV)

Ziba

If I was writing a biblical fiction story, Ziba would be the servant that went on the donkey hunt with Saul in 1 Samuel 9. (We are never told if he gave up that little bit of silver.) He is identified in 2 Samuel as the chief steward over Saul’s personal household. He is a main character in 2 Samuel 9, 16, and 19.

I like looking up names and including them in studies, when I can. Ziba is a good example of why you need to study. Meanings for this name varies depending on what website you look at. Many of them seem to focus on “good qualities”, and he is made out to be a great servant. I am giving the link to Abarim Publications, because they actually sight possible root words for the meaning they give. Ziba | The amazing name Ziba: meaning and etymology I may be negative here, but the buttering up of David and the story he tells on Mephibosheth in Chapter 16 cast some serious shade on his loyalty in Chapter 9.

It is a good assumption that Ziba had done his job for a long time. He had many years where there was no male heir to Saul’s property because Mephibosheth seemed to be in hiding in Lo Debar. Michal was with David, interesting he did not ask his wife about other heirs. Merab had a husband and several sons. So, Ziba was living the good life with his fifteen sons and twenty servants, and all of Saul’s property with no one to watch over him. I may watch to many dramas, but the giving up of Mephibosheth in Chapter 9 seems to me to be a good way of getting rid of the last rightful heir to Saul’s holdings. He may have assumed that Mephibosheth would be killed by David. That seemed to be the way things were done, especially in the Northern Kingdom of Israel; get rid of all of the family and servants. See Judges 9.

I believe Ziba was a loyal servant to King Saul, but would he have been as good to Jonathan and the other children. It looks like he followed his master’s behavior, Saul started out good, but power and wealth changed him. Given his job and possible importance in Benjamin, and the small army of his family he could have had his own thoughts of claiming the throne. So, I will not vote for Ziba to be Servant of the Year, but he did get to the river crossing very fast (both times).

The popular belief that Lo Debar was a dump and Mephibosheth crawled around in the dirt begging are two ideas I do not agree with. This is a good example of names not telling the whole story, you need to check non-concordance Bible reference works. Lo Debar was a guard city for Gilead on the Jordan River valley, and its main industry was pottery. Part of its pastureland would have been the steep side of the valley wall.

Makir was possibly a family member, and he had enough clout to help take care of David and all who fled from Absalom. Because of where Makir lived I will say he was an important person in Lo Debar. See Joshua 17:3 for his possible connection in Gilead. Zelophehad from Numbers 36 may have been a grandfather.

Mephibosheth:

  • Was the grandson of the king and would have been heir to the throne of Israel.
  • Jonathan would have made a plan to take care of his child.
  • He had a wife and a son when David called for him. See 1 Chronicles 8:34 and 9:35 – 44 for his family tree, he will be listed as Merib-Baal in verse 40.
  • Jonathan may not have broadcast the covenant he had with David, because Saul was crazy.
  • Who and where was his mother?
  • David had lost track of his friend and had no idea the Jonathan had a son.

There is no doubt in my mind that Mephibosheth had lived in fear and in the shadows for most of his life; because he did not know the truth about David. To go from fear to feasting is always amazing, but this came with stories of his father and a faithful friend who would protect him.

The relationship of David (the Messiah figure) and Benjamin (Jacob’s only child born in the Land) will get looked at. (This is a study not an answer.) There are “types and shadows” here that have connections into the Christian Church. My bullet points are not put in any order as this is a study.

  • Benjamin is the second born son of Rachel, who was Jacob’s favorite. He would have been given the double blessing if Joseph had not been found.
  • Judah was given the blessing of being the ruler, and Joseph got the double portion blessing. Joshua was the leader after Moses, and Manasseh did get two portions of land (Lo Debar may have been in the East Bank portion). Samuel, an Ephraimite, anointed both Saul (Benjamin) and David (Judah). My personal belief is that Samuel and David are members of the Order of Melchizedek.
  • The tribe of Benjamin stayed with Judah when the nation split in two. If you read 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles you will see that members of the other ten tribes did move south to continue worshipping Yahweh at the Temple. Jerusalem was actual in the portion given to Benjamin. I do wonder about the Tribe of Simeon because its portion was in the middle of Judah. I tend to forget that the Tribe of Levi stayed with the Temple, so many of them had to move also.
  • David and Jonathan’s friendship sets the pattern for what happened in 2 Kings 12.
  • Saul, the king, tried to cleanse Israel of the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21) his grandsons paid for that. Saul, the Pharisee who was from Benjamin, tried to cleanse Israel of Christians. He gave up his life for Jesus (Judah).
  • King Saul did religious things like fasting, seeking God through the priest, and following the food laws. David went further than these by actively bring the Ark to Jerusalem and praising God in song and dance. David also had prophets, seers, and priest on his staff.
  • The appointed feast found in Leviticus 23 are seldom mentioned, and you never see about The Year of Jubilee, Leviticus 25. I know there are lost books that may have told about these events. Hezekiah is noted as one who observed Passover, but it is about 250 years after Solomon.
  • I am reading through 2 Chronicles as I write this post and the attitudes and actions of the people (Judah, Benjamin, Levi, and some from the other ten) in the southern kingdom towards God and David’s family is interesting. They seem to be all over the place but for better or for worst they do keep a descendent of David on the throne.
  • This story is a good picture of Grace.
  • See below for David’s return to Jerusalem and the Tribe of Benjamin.

Verse 8

We look at some things very differently than the ancients. Dogs are one of those things. The Bible has many references to dogs; the NIV has about 40. Add in some archology finds and you get a decent picture of dogs in the Iron Age. They were part of the Hebrew society. There are references for them herding and guarding, and they managed to be around the dinner table. Yes, there is a fair amount of distain for them and some of their behavior is used for a very figurative description in Deuteronomy.  Oldest-Ever Evidence of Canines Proves Israel’s Canaan Dogs Roamed Mideast 9,000 Years Ago – Israel365 News

Verse 8 is one of the three times the term “dead dog” is used in the NIV. I found it interesting that David and Benjaminite’s have a connection to all three.

  1. 1 Samuel 24:14 – David compares himself to a dead dog when talking to King Saul.
  2. 2 Samuel 9:8 – Mephibosheth, a Benjaminite and Saul’s grandson uses the phrase when he questions David as to why he was summonsed.
  3. 2 Samuel 16:9 – Shimei, a Benjaminite, is described as that when Abishai (Judah) wants to kill him for cursing David.

Yes, they were an unclean animal, but so was the camel, the horse, and the donkey.

David’s Return and Bemjamin

2 Samuel 19 -21 have several narratives that center on David and the Tribe of Benjamin. In one respect parts of this section are foundation stones for 1 Kings 12 where God moves Benjamin to stay with Judah when the nation divides. There are a few new characters – Sheba son of Bicri (Chapter 20) and Rizpah the daughter of Saul’s concubine. The others are in this list:

  • The people arguing with each other, 19:9.
  • Judah standing with the king.
  • Shimei (Chapter 16), going with Judah, leading 1,000 Benjaminite’s to get David at the Jordan.
  • Ziba
  • Mephibosheth, who is unkept, making accusations against Ziba.
  • Sheba (20:1), who leads a rebellion and separates the kingdom.
  • Gibeonites (Joshua 9:15) who have a problem with the dead King Saul.
  • Rizpah (21:8) and her sons and Merab’s sons who are killed to pay the blood debit to the Gibeonites.

Gilgal at the Jordan is where Joshua and the Children crossed. It is also where many of the men were circumcised. This assembly was no less crazy with all of the arguing and Sheba taking off with most of the people in rebellion.

With Rizpah and Merab son’s being killed, that ended Saul’s family line outside of Mephibosheth who is extended grace because of Jonathan’s covenant with David. The final story with the Tribe of Benjamin is the story of Esther.

Gold of the Temple

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In Matthew 23:16+17 Jesus is giving the leaders of the Jews a lesson on gold and the temple. He is at the end of His forty months of ministry and will be on the cross in a few days. Early in His ministry was The Sermon on the Mount, now He is delivering a sermon on the Temple Mount and will give one on the Mount of Olives. In preparing for this part of the first sermon He has turned over tables of gold coins and answered about paying money to Ceaser. As this teaching unfolds, He gives the Pharisees “seven woes”; in this woe He ask them which is greater the gold in the temple or the temple that makes it holy?

The original thought for this post came as I read through the Books of Kings and Chronicles. David, Solomon, and the people gave tons of gold for building the Temple of God. Like Moses, David had gotten the plans from God. David gave his to Solomon. I believe this Temple, like the Tabernacle are representations of the Temple/Throne Room of God in Heaven. Everything was gold, or covered in gold, even the wall coverings; except the curtain that shielded the Ark. That golden apple proved tempting for many enemies. Several kings of Judah conveniently used the temple’s treasures to buy off those enemies. Maybe that gold was not as important as the Pharisees and Sadducees made it out to be.

The Initial Deposit

 The deposit slips and the final delivers are spread through several chapters in Kings and Chronicles. Between the temple and Solomon’s house the quantities are impressive. Please read 1 Kings 6, 7, and 10; 1 Chronicles 9, 22, 28, and 29; 2 Chronicles 2, 3, and 4 have a glimpse of the final products; that much gold and silver had to get every greedy king’s attention.                                                                                                                                                    The First Withdraw

Rehoboam’s pride and foolishness provided the door for judgment on Solomon’s sin the matters of his wives and their gods. Solomon’s first wife was an Egyptian royal, which he should not have married, he also had business dealings with the country. So, Egypt had a good knowledge of the treasures in Jerusalem.

Shishak king of Egypt, 2 Chronicles 12:9 and 1 Kings 14:26, made a significant withdrawal. I read or heard that an archeologist commented on the amount of gold work done in Egypt around his time of rule.

Asa a Revolving Door

Asa was a “good” king, who developed an attitude, it happens. He ruled for forty-one years, the last years of his rule his son, Jehoshaphat ran things. In 1 Kings 15:15 and 2 Chronicles 15:18, Asa is bringing gold and silver into the temple. Baasha, king of Israel, starts to bother Judah; so, Asa takes the gold and silver and sends it to Ben-Hadad of Aram – Kings 15:18 and 2 Chronicles 16:2. God rebukes him for his lack of faith in the power of God. By extension, the gold is what bought Asa relief.

Jehoram

2 Chronicles 21:16 and 17 tell of the Philistines attacking Jerusalem and looting the palace but not the temple. I think they learned their lesson back in the time of Samuel. The other interesting point in the story is Jehoram received a letter from Elijah.

Joash

Joash was another “good” king, who also developed an attitude. He repaired the temple by collecting money from the people – 2 Chronicles 24:14 and 2 Kings 12. Either the priests were just “sitting” on the money or possible misusing it is unclear, but they were not repairing the temple. The accounts of the withdrawal are slightly different but Hazael of Aram attacked and Joash sent the sacred objects to Hazael to leave. 2 Kings 12:18 says a stockpile of objects from Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah, the kings of Judah, was part of what was sent.

The Northern Kingdom Takes a Share

Jehoash, King of Israel, attacked Judah (Amaziah) broke down the city wall and took treasures from the temple and hostages – 2 Kings 14:14 and 2 Chronicles 25:24. Chronicles mention what was entrusted to Obed-Edom; this is a thought from the time of David and Solomon.

Ahaz and Assyria

Assyria, the enemy we forget about, is coming to power. Ahaz, a bad king, is being attacked by Aram and Israel, so he bribes Pul of Assyria to attack his attackers – 2 Kings 16:8 and 2 Chronicles 28:21. 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles 28 tell the story of Ahaz but share very different facts. Ahaz goes to see Pul and does things in the temple to please the foreign king.

Hezekiah and Sennacherib

Hezekiah tries to buy peace from Assyria, 2 Kings 18:15 + 16. Sennacherib takes the money and keeps coming, it does not really work out well for him. Hezekiah must have recovered the doors with gold because it mentions he stripped them to get the gold. Sennacherib blasphemed God so, what gold could not do God did with rats. Israel (north) was deported at this time. I am still studying, but the Nineveh that is described by Jonah is the one Sennacherib created. A prophecy comes after Hezekiah’s illness because he has shown envoys from Babylon everything in his treasury.

Babylon Cleans the Bank

Well, before Nebuchadnezzar takes all Neco king of Egypt fines Judah because Josiah fought with him – 2 Kings 23:35. Nebuchadnezzar actually has several times when he takes goods and people from Judah – 2 Kings 24 and 25; Jeremiah 52; and 2 Chronicles 36 tell the story.

Nebuchadnezzar first took Jehoiachin and treasures and people. Later because Zedekiah had not learned he came back to clean house and tore down the temple. Both of these times temple articles were cut up and carried away. He did leave the poor in the land to take care of things.

The Ark with the Mercy Seat

According to John in Revelations the real Ark is in heaven, remember Moses made a copy of what he saw. What happened to the one Moses made? Who knows. The favorite theory is Jeremiah, who was a priest, got some Levities together and hid it. Many things are not mentioned by name, but you think that would have been; it was not returned with the first wave of people who returned to Jerusalem.

In all of those withdrawals it never mentions the Ark. It makes you think that the Philistines experience was well known, and no one wanted any part of it.

Redeposit  

Nebuchadnezzar did something unusual with some of the gold and silver (treasures) they took from the temple. He put it in the temple of their god (Ezra 1:7). David also put some of the things he captured into his treasuries for the temple, but it would seem most nations just used what they took. Was this a way of taunting the Jews? I do not know.

Babylon lost control to the Medes and Persians (Daniel 5:30,31). After the seventy years predicted by Jeremiah, the Persians let Israel go back to the Land and sent the temple treasures back with them (Ezra 1:9-11). That was the first wave of people to return.

Ezra was the second wave of people to return; his king ordered a large amount of goods to be given to him for temple use. See Ezra 7:22. Then in 8:25 – 27, is another load of donated goods for the temple.

A Thought

Shiny things get peoples’ attention, they are nice to look at, and we put a high value on them. Solomon built a temple for the Name of the Lord and put the Ark in it. No expense was spared, and it must have been amazing to look at and worship in. But, when it is all said the treasures were taken, and the stonewalls knocked flat, and the wooden roof and the room panels were burned with fire, twice. That makes me think that the two things that were left was what was really important – the Land and the People.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Bear Fruit

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I recently viewed the movie Jesus & His Times by Questar Studios, released in 2009. There are many good ideals, scenes, and scenery in this movie, I watched it through Prime Video. One hour into the film they talk about grapevines and wine, with connections to various aspects of first century Jewish life. In this section they address John 15:2, my focus of this post. With all of that said I will state this is a STUDY not an ANSWER.

The earthly kingdom of God and our Lord Christ Jesus is built around being connected to the Vine and bearing fruit. The management of the branches and fruit are the core of this verse and the section that includes loving God and fellow members of the kingdom and mankind. The movie questions the phrase “cuts off”. They assert that the practice Jesus knew would have been to “lift up” the branch and place it on a rock to keep it from making its own roots and allowing it to produce fruit. Okay, that could be good for several sermons in itself. For me it was a challenge to think through how I view the Father and His dealings with us. To demystify that sentence, will God pick you up to help produce fruit or just cut you off? The movie writers assert that there is a misinterpretation of the word αἴρω (airō) Strong: G142. This is the study.

It is important to see how God reveals His glory to Moses, Exodus 34:5-7.

Start with these:

Please look at the cultural context sections and the corresponding Hebrew words, Nasa and Massa.

An important fact about concordances, they list root words. So, many words we search for are a variation of the word you find in the concordance. The actual word in John 15:2 is Greek Concordance: αἴρει (airei) — 8 Occurrences. (God bless translators.) You should read through those eight verses putting them in context.

  • Matthew 9:16, Mark 2:21. The question to Jesus was about fasting and He answers with examples of a wedding ceremony, patches, and wineskins.
  • Mark 4:15, Luke 8:12. Jesus is explaining the Parable of the Sower to His disciples. This is where the seed hits the path, and Satan takes the Word right away.
  • Luke 11:22. Jesus was driving out a mute demon and was accused of doing it with power from the lord of the flies. Our word is in one of the four comments He made in response to their unbelief.
  • John 10:18. Jesus is talking about Himself and His mission after He healed the man who was born blind in John 9. He has found the man and the Pharisees are running mouth.
  • John 15:2. This part of Jesus’ last meal with His disciples before He goes to the first garden.
  • John 16:22. This also is part of the last fellowship Jesus had with His disciples; He is talking about their joy. Judas Iscariot has been gone from the dinner since Chapter 13.

Cuts off or lifts up, you may have to go back each time airei is used and reread inserting the phrases. I hope you can see why this is a study and not an answer. Another study to help this one is BibleGateway – Keyword Search: bear fruit.