February 5

Genesis 38; Mark 8

Daily Catechism

QUESTION 12: HOW DOES GOD EXECUTE HIS DECREES?
Answer: God executes his decrees in the works of creation and providence.
Scripture: Genesis 1:1; Revelation 4:11; Matthew 5:45; 6:26; Acts 14:17: Proverbs 16:9, 33; 19:21; 20:24; 21:1, 31.
 
Comment: Instead of “execute” you can say “perform” or “accomplish” or “bring about”. The word “providence” will be taken up in a later question. For now it refers to the way God preserves and governs all his creatures and all their actions (like the fall of a bird or the election of a president). It refers to God’s general rule over the world he has created.

Genesis 38

Ready:
Yesterday I saw Joseph traded for some cash by his brothers who were fed up with him.  Not all of the brothers participated but in the end all of them but perhaps Benjamin were keeping a secret from Jacob…Joseph is alive (maybe)…and this continues for 20+ years.

Reading thoughts:
This chapter presents more family drama and it focuses on Judah, the fourth child of Jacob.  The bulk of the account pertains to his dealing with his daughter-in-law after her husband, Er, dies mysteriously.

Key Verses:
Gen 38:1-3, 6-7, 8, 10-11, 12, 14, 24, 26, 28-29

I see the theme as- Man’s sins does not stop God from accomplishing his purposes and the promised offspring (Jesus) will surely be provided by God.

Rumination thoughts:
    v1.  It seems that Judah was not getting along with his brothers, no doubt they all carried quite a burden in hiding the truth of their actions from Jacob.
    v2-5.  Here Judah does not follow the tradition of his Isaac and Jacob but he takes a wife from Canaan.  It also seems like he may not be very devoted to this woman since we are not given her name and then he is not around when Judah is born.  Judah has three boys by his unnamed wife.
    v6-11.  Judah found a wife for Er, probably a Canaanite as well, but then Er died when God put him to death for his wickedness.  This is interesting because there has been plenty of wicked things done and God did not slay Cain or Lamech (the bad one) or others.  Maybe since this is the line of Judah there is a different way of discipline here by God.  Or perhaps Er’s wickedness is profound here and is better I don’t even know.  Enough weirdness happens in this chapter that it seems odd Moses would hold back the detail about Er but let the secret things remain with God.  In this section Judah directs his second son to provide another offspring for Tamar according to what will become a formal expectation called the “levirate marriage” where a brother provides offspring to a childless widow in order to continue the dead brother’s family line.  Significant in this case is the fact that Tamar was the mother of Judah’s first born and this act of replacing the first born would give the new child the rights of Judah’s first born.  This means that Onan would be giving up the chance for his children by his own wife to take this blessing.  It sounds like Onan was probably already married and was not interested in having a child by Tamar.  He selfishly and deceitfully buses Tamar by only pretending to fulfill his obligation.  This is called wicked and like Er, God puts Onan to death.  Now Jacob leaves Tamar out in the cold because he fears that he may lose his only remaining boy if he also messes up and grieves the Lord.  He sends Tamar to her Father’s house and promises that when Shelah grows up he will give him to Tamar in marriage…so he buys some time.
    v12-19.  Here Judah is tricked by Tamar because she seems quite upset that he never followed through and gave her Shelah as a husband to give her a child.  Rightfully upset he comes up with a funky plan to fix her trouble.  Judah ends up fathering twins by Tamar when she pretends to be a prostitute and this ends up leading to the birth of Perez (who will carry the bloodline and royal legal line to Jesus).
    v20-26.  Here Tamar is suspected of immorality and then she reveals that it is Judah himself who is responsible for her pregnancy.  Judah realizes that is was his fault for holding his son back from her and he acknowledges his guilt and contends that she is righteous.  I can’t take a lesson from specific actions or even opinions of the characters here because this is a narrative history and not a lesson on how to live.
    v27-30.  Here is the interesting wrestling match between Perez and Zerah.  Perez seems to pull Zerah back in and he claims the birth right, setting himself up with some unique expectation of lineage…which is fulfilled.  There are interesting parallels here since Perez is a replacement child, like Seth was for Eve when Abel was killed by Cain.  And how Perez takes the birth right from Zerah compares to how Jacob took it from Esau.  Judah is tricked into fathering Perez like Jacob was tricked into marrying Leah (who gave him Judah).  The family (led by Simeon and Levi) kills a whole people group over their disdain for their sister being treated like a prostitute and now Judah puts the lineage to Jesus through a “supposed” prostitute by the deception of Tamar.

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    1.  I hear a message that the lineage to the promised offspring of Eve is nothing that man could have planned and it is not a pretty story.  God deals in real life and he deals in problems and he deals in unraveling our sin.  God demonstrates his sovereign rule by accomplishing his will despite our sinful ways.  God does not drop our savior from the sky upon us but he delivers him in a much more amazing way.  God demonstrates a valuing of family and inheritance and relationships.  The implication for today would be that he is still in control and he still values family and relationships.  The significance for me is that I need to seek to lead my family to honor God but I also need to leave room for God to work through my errors and their errors and our messy lives.  I can’t lose heart when things don’t go as planned (by me).  This is because they are always working according to God’s plan.  

Response:
“Private”

Reaction:
“Private”

Mark 8

Ready:
Yesterday was another look at he Canaanite woman and the idea of where defilement comes from.

Reading thoughts:
This section seems to be a new teaching some time later based on the wording of the first verse.  I see Jesus repeat a miracle that they failed to learn from the first time.  I see Jesus refuse a sign to “this generation” which sounds like the “adulterous and sinful generation” mentioned later in the chapter.  Jesus warns the disciples to not allow any of the teaching of the Pharisees to take root in them..which was a boasting in the law as their means of righteousness.  I see Jesus teach on discipleship and what it is to trust in him rather then in oneself or in the law (which is the same thing).  I see Jesus give a picture of his first and second advent, in the two-stage healing of the blind man, where we will see and know in part but in full once we are glorified in heaven.

Key Verses:
Mark 8:6, 8, 11-12, 15, 17, 23-25, 27, 29, 31, 34, 38

I see the theme as- Die to the law and self-accomplishment and self-merit.  Be untied to Jesus by trusting only in his identity and work as the Son of God come to earth as a man to redeem us... or else remain united to the law and face its judgement.

Rumination thoughts:
    v1-10.  Do you get it?  Toward helping the disciples get the picture, Jesus repeats the miracle of multiplying the bread and letting the disciples feed the people.  I think he give a message about them carrying his word to the people but the bigger point is how he evidences his omnipotence which is a deceleration of his identity as God in the flesh.
    v11-13.  All the Jews should have been watching for the bridegroom expectantly (Matt 25:1-2, Rev 19:7-8), like Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:25-35, 36-38)…not quizzing him and looking for grand shows while ignoring the star of David (Num 24:17, Matt 2:1-6) and the many signs already performed (Matt 11:2-6).  In Matthew we see that he did reference only the sign of his resurrection will remain (Matt 16:4) and they will need to decide what to do with that declaration of his identity (Rom 1:4).
    v14-21.  Do not let the Pharisaical teaching break into your thoughts.  I take this teaching with consideration of his comments later in the chapter in Mark 8:34-35, 38).  Do not misuse the law.  Trust in me and not the law.  Trust in me and not in your ability to keep the law.  Do not let this error enter your thinking.  Never think that Adam seas going to merit the favor of God by his performance of obedience.  He was to obey God out of a realizations that God already favored him by free grace and he was to obey by the obedience of faith…trusting God at his Word.  That is how it was and that is how it is and that is how always it will be…never think that your obedience merits God’s mercy or grace.  Your obedience is born by his mercy and grace!
    v22-26.  I see this message in the way Jesus healed the blind men and it explains why it is placed here in this section- Jesus will not take away all obscurity until his second coming.  To paraphrase, "Don’t expect all the information and full clarity as the Pharisees demand because this will not be so until I come again.”  I will give you partial vision when I come the first time and you will know by faith that God provides (Matt 16:16-17) but then you will know in full once you are with me in heaven (1 Cor 13:12-13).
    v27-30.  The identity of Christ.  "God will give you understanding without your discerning it by your own effort of examining evidence.  You will know my identity and my role as Messiah.”  I take this by harmonizing Matthew’s account where he tells Peter that God revealed this to him…not man…not Peter’s wise and educated seeing and discerning of evidences.
    v31-33.  The work of Christ.  "You will plainly see my work and I am telling you now what it will be because it has been determined from before time began.  I just told you what was going to happen Peter…didn’t you just acknowledge that I am the Son of God?  Do I not speak and it is?  Do I not command the waves and the wind and the bread?  I am truth Peter.  Do not try to rewrite what I am declaring to be.  You are treating me like I am only a man and not God."
    v34-38.  "Here is what it means to be my disciple.  Here is what is looks like to trust me instead of the law.  If you take the law (justice) over me (grace) then that is what you will get in return (judgement according to your works- justice).  Do not be left in care of the guardian eternally in the refusal to receive the bridegroom!”  I take this in light of the other statements he makes in this chapter and launch off into consideration of what it means to be "ashamed of me and my words” as Jesus says.  I take “me” to be his identity and “my words” to be his description in verse 31 about his suffering, death, and resurrection or summarized as his work.  So I take being “ashamed” of the identity and/or the work of Jesus to be warned against here.  Click the following link to see a fuller treatment of this conclusion: Not Ashamed (TO BE POSTED LATER), but the bottom line is that if I do not trust completely in Christ’s identity and work as the sole basis for my standing as righteous before God then I am left not in union with Christ but still under the care of the law (which was only a temporary guardian) and I will eternally be left with the only thing the law has power to do…condemn me to hell in perfect justice.  But if I trust in Jesus’ identity and work to be my sole merit of righteousness before God then I die to the law (self merit by obedience) and am united to the bridegroom and I receive the righteousness of God (Rom 10:3-4, Rom 3:22-24, 2 Cor 5:21, Rom 6:11)!

Meaning, Implications, and Significance
    1.  The message I hear is plainly stated above.  The implication is that even today we can use the law wrongly and think that we are to somehow merit God’s favor upon us unto salvation.  The significance for me is that though not everything is plainly visible, I know enough to trust Jesus and to deny any trust in myself.  I am to walk in obedience with joy because it is not for the sake of my salvation that I obey, but it is in celebration of the salvation that was already accomplished by Jesus!

Response:
“Private”

Reaction:
“Private”

Soli Deo Gloria!