Category Archives: Days and Times

Samuel – Food, Feast, and Fast

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Food and Meals

An unusual link that twists the stories in 1 and 2 Samuel together is food and meals.  Eating or abstaining from it are key ingredients in many of the stories in the lives of Samuel, Saul, and David.  The anointing of Saul and David are both served at sacrifices and their accompanying feast (probably New Moon Celebrations).  Fasting stirs the drama of stories with Jonathan and Saul.  The main course at several feasts was treachery, often served with someone dying.Challah_Bread_Six_Braid_1

1 Samuel starts with Elkanah giving Hannah a double portion at the sacrifice and ends with Saul breaking his fast with the fattened calf.  David also feeds a slave to find where the Amalekite raiding party that is feasting on their plunder.  2 Samuel opens with David feasting his enemy who is seeking peace, only to have his general kill him, and additional courses of treachery are added with Amnon and Absalom in chapter 13.  The feasting continues in 1 Kings with Adonijah giving a party to proclaim himself king.  Meals are included in many of the stories and show the importance of these times in the lives of the people.  It adds the touch of humanity to what could be just a history lesson.

Fasting

Several fast are also talked about in 1 Samuel; to show this use and possible abuse of a way to seek YHWH.  In chapter 7 Israel is fasting at Mizpah repenting before the LORD.  The Philistines attack and God responds with thunder and a rout of the enemy.  A rout and fasting are also in chapter 14, but this seems to be a very “religious thing” and almost cost Jonathan his life.  Saul may have been making amends for his foolishness in chapter 13.  Chapter 20 has Jonathan not eating at a New Moon Festival because he was grieved that his father was determined to kill David.  Saul is again fasting in chapter 18 because he hopes it will find favor with God or Samuel as he consults a witch.  Even though fasting is important it seems Saul did not understand his God and this method of seeking Him.

New Moon Festivals

Personally, the importance of this festival was lost to me until this post, it may become a post of its own in the future.  This was an important time every thirty days for the people of Israel.  The moon was the main timekeeping device Israel.  Special sacrifices (1 Samuel 20:29) and celebrations were planned at this time by the people.  The new moon is a reminder of “rebirth” and fresh starts with God.  The lunar calendar is important in the Bible and it is something to be aware of as we read Scripture.  I did a brief study of the full moon with a post on Passover.

Food, feast, or fast all find their way into the lives of Samuel, Saul, and David.  They are just as important to us today.  It may be time with friends and family, fellowship dinners, or cropped-dscf0348.jpgthe Lord’s Supper but all of us have strong memories preserved in the act of eating.

These sites were used for reference on the feast and New Moon celebrations.

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Rosh_Chodesh/rosh_chodesh.html

http://www.jewfaq.org/chodesh.htm , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Chodesh

http://www.beingjewish.com/yomtov/chodesh/newmoon.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challah

A Look at Holy Week

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The ancient Hebrews used a lunar calendar, this means that the 1st of the month was during the New Moon phase and that would make the 15th of the month the Full Moon phase.  It was fun to connect the days of Holy Week with the lunar calendar; it just shows the orderliness of our God.

Day of our week Day of the  lunar calendar Passover Holy Week events
Sunday 10th Choosing and prepping the lamb The ride into Jerusalem, people prepared the way
Monday 11th Jesus cursed the fig tree and cleared the Temple courts,
Tuesday 12th Explained the dead tree and taught the people
Wednesday 13th He was prepared for his burial at the dinner
Thursday 14th Lamb is slaughtered and prepared at twilight Room prepared, Passover observed, prayed in the Garden
Friday 15th Burned any leftover lamb Trials and crucifixion
Saturday 16th Jesus preaching to the spirits in Hell
Sunday 17th He rose and showed himself to select people

The first Passover, when the Lord kept watch to bring the People out, they started for Succoth.  The starting point was Rameses; the distance is about 30 miles so that was a long walk on very short notice.  Pharaoh actually ordered them to leave.  The celebration observes seven days of bread with no yeast because that is what happened on the first Passover.

I have been writing for several years on numbers in the Bible.

  • Thirteen was about how new things started in association with that number.
  • Fourteen actually started events.
  • Fifteen is linked with cleaning things up to celebrate.
  • Sixteen was that God kept His eye on things

I found the connections between those studies and the days of the month for Holy Week interesting.

I have other studies on the days of the Holy Week – Thursday, and post labeled Easter 2015,

Christmas – Two Questions

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Christmas – Two Questions

“How can I be sure of this?  I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” – Zechariah (Luke 1:18)

“How can this be, since I am­­ a virgin?” – Mary (Luke 1:34)

Two visits from the angel Gabriel, two “fear nots”, two explanations, two questions, and two different human responses are the start of the Christmas story.  The first chapter of Luke introduces us to Zechariah and Mary and how both got news about babies from the angel Gabriel.  Zechariah’s news comes as response from prayer, but you get the idea that it did not show up when he expected it too.  In fact it seems many years late according to Zechariah.  Mary’s news is completely unexpected, a little troubling, but received by a willing heart.

After some struggling with these two stories, some underlining, and looking up some words I am going to try and write this blog and what may seem an unfair situation. It took me a while to understand that Father God had His timetable and His will was carried out for both Zechariah and Mary.

Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth had prayed for a child, God had heard that prayer and was answering it, but not according to human thinking. (Mary was not ready, who knows she may not have even been born when they were praying for a child.)  Zechariah got the news of a lifetime, in the Holy of Holies, from an angel that startled and caused fear in the old man.  His response of unbelief is reflected in his question and probably in body language but it had to be in his heart as well.  So even though he was silenced for nine months Father God still used him and answered the pray. In my thinking Zechariah was treated unfairly until I studied Mary’s part of the story.

Both, Zechariah and Mary’s story are very similar.  Gabriel introduces himself and both Nativity_Scenes002get a “fear not.”  Both are told they will have a baby and are given some explanation, and then both ask their question.  The difference with Mary is that she gladly accepted the news (vs. 38).  The terms that help put light on this was “highly favored” (charitoo) and “favor” (charis).  According to my Strong’s/Vine’s Concordance favor is a gift from the “giver’ of the favor but needs to be received with thanksgiving.  I think it would have been a different story for Zechariah if he had praised and thanked God for the news before he asked his question.

The term charitoo is used only twice in the New Testament here with Mary and then again in Ephesians 1:6.  In Ephesians it is in connection with “us” being adopted as sons so that we can receive “every spiritual blessing.”  I find no mistake that charitoo is in the same verse as the words grace and praise.  Here it is translated as “freely given.”  The concordance adds an interesting note for the Ephesians verse; it says that “grace is a free gift” while “favor may be deserved or gained.”

My personal take away now is there is a big difference between answered prayer and favor.  I hope that I can be like Mary and Elizabeth (vs. 25) and praise God with a thankful heart for the things that show up in my life.

Pic.  http://clipart.christiansunite.com/

Joel 2: 30/Acts 2: 17

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Today is Pentecost Sunday, 2015 and I have been studying the term – Wonder. Ok, Pentecostthese connect because the Holy Spirit is causing the Church to speak in tongues, prophesy, see visions, and has promised to show wonders and signs. The Old Testament word is mopheth and the New Testament word is teras. In my Strong’s Concordance, teras is something “strange that causes wonder and causes you to marvel, it is always in the plural. Wonders appeal to the imagination.”

These things have been given to the Church so that mopheth pronounced “mo faith” can rise in us!

pic:  http://clipart.christiansunite.com/1402137661/Pentecost_Clipart/Pentecost004.jpg

Easter 2015 – Reflections – Priesthood

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Reflections on Jesus’ Priesthood and Melchizedek.

Several studies have come together this Easter to clear up and create more things to study: Salem or Sodom, Rehoboam, and Jeroboam, It Is Finished, and one of Hebrews. They deal with Jesus our High Priest, Melchizedek, and the things finished on the Cross combining the mysterious priesthood of Melchizedek, the natural priesthood of Aaron, and being settled in the supernatural priesthood of Jesus. Psalm 110 affirms the priesthood of Jesus but combines it with the victorious conqueror He will be in the Book of Revelations. Jesus finished the need for the work of Aaron and sacrifices while being added to the Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedekorder of Melchizedek. The link below has part of a Dead Sea Scroll which points to Melchizedek as a “leader of God’s armies.” In the study of Jeroboam and the rest of the kings of the Northern Tribes the “sin of Jeroboam” is mentioned frequently. I thought the main problem was the idols he had made but Hebrews 7:12 showed me the real sin. When Jeroboam changed the priesthood he changed the Law!

The list from Hebrews works through Jesus’ completion and right as Priest. The list from Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 are the different names and titles of God in those passages. Those names by extension show Melchizedek’s importance as God’s priest.

  • Hebrews 13:12 Jesus suffered outside of the city to make us holy through His blood.
  • Hebrews 7: 26 Jesus as a High Priest met our needs by being holy, pure, set apart, and exalted in the heavens.
  • Hebrews 7: 12 When the priesthood changes there is also a change in the Law!
  • Hebrews 8: 10 (Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34) God WILL put in our minds His laws and write His Laws on our hearts so we WILL be His people because He is our God.
  • Hebrews 5:6, 7:1 – 28 and other discussions of priest Chapter 8 and 13: 11

Genesis 14: 19, 20, 22

  • Elohim (God) a title used in combination with other names it is a title of majesty and power.
  • Elyon (Most High) is a title of God that focuses on supremacy in power.
  • Qana (Creator) to create or bring forth; the NIV footnote says it is Possessor.

Psalm 110

  • LORD or Jehovah – the Eternal
  • Lord or Adon – (vs. 1) supervisor or owner; Adonay – (vs. 5) a title of the one true God with a focus on majesty and authority or “Lord overall” and also carries the idea of Father or a Friend (see LORD vs. Lord)

http://ad2004.com/Biblecodes/Hebrewmatrix/melchizedek.html this has a translation of a Dead Sea Scroll that talks about Melchizedek. If you are interested it goes into Bible Codes which I have mixed feelings about.

Definitions are from Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance and from Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance

pic from http://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienA/Abraham.htm. or Dieric Bouts (circa 1420-1475) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMeeting_of_abraham_and_melchizadek.jpg