Archives for 2011

The Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13, Read Through the Bible Project

Van Gogh The Sower

There is nothing more powerful than a story–than a parable. It grows with the reader, and we continue filling in the gaps with out own life experience.

This, one of Jesus’s five major discourses is called The Parabolic Discourse, because of its collection of parables. The English word parable comes from the Greek parabole, which means “a placing beside” and thus is a comparison or illustration. The synoptic Gospels have 30 parables, John none at all.

This is a rich and fabulous parable.

Matthew 13

¹ That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.
Sitting was the normal position for teachers. His parables use a narrative analogy to teach a moral or spiritual lesson. They produce different results–hiding truth from those not eager or ready for it, communicating truth to the disciples.

³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
One of Jesus’s favourite sources of parables was the natural world, which he created.

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

The secrets of the Kingdom, of how to live happily, of the knowledge of God, are not squandered but given to those who are willing to seek for them, and treasure them–like the first disciples were.

¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

Those who have and treasure spiritual truth will receive even more. But those who do not treasure and live it–even the little truth they have will be taken from them.

¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

   “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
   you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
   they hardly hear with their ears,
   and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
   hear with their ears,
   understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

God will heal those who truly try to see and hear and understand spiritual truth.
A hard heart will stand in the way of seeing and understanding spiritual truth.

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Jesus seldom interpreted his parables, but here he does so, because his disciples asked him to!! We see the power of the request again.

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.

Distraction works upon incomprehension.

²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

Shallow roots, which means the word heard with joy is forgotten in a time of persecution.

²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.

The word choked by hassles, worries, and giving too much importance to wealth. And who would have supposed that this text is 21 centuries old!!

²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

But when the word is fruitful, its yield is exponential.
Typical agricultural yields were fivefold to fifteen fold, with a tenfold return considered a good yield.

How Strange to Think of Giving up all Ambition!

By Anita Mathias

Our Aylesbury ducks, Buttercup and Daisy who HAVE given up all ambition

   How strange to think of giving up all ambition!
          Suddenly I see with such clear eyes
          The white flake of snow
          That has just fallen in the horse’s mane!

‘Watering the Horse’  by Robert Bly

     Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
         Asleep on the black trunk,
         Blowing like a leaf in green shadow.

         Down the ravine behind the empty house,
         The cowbells follow one another
         Into the distances of the afternoon.

         To my right,
         In a field of sunlight between two pines,
         The droppings of last year’s horses
         Blaze up into golden stones.

         I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
         A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
         I have wasted my life.

‘Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota’ by James Wright

Robert Bly, and James Wright, two ambitious and successful American poets have a moment of just being, and “see with such clear eyes” “The white flake of snow,” “the bronze butterfly,” the chicken hawk floating over. Wright looks back at his life of anxiety and toil and ambition, and, in this moment of stillness, feels that he has wasted it!

Ambition, according to Milton was “the last infirmity of noble minds.” Shakespeare, no stranger to ambition, one presumes, makes his dying Wolsey regret it.

Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by it?
O Cromwell, Cromwell!
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age.

I have been thinking about ambition since reading Amy Chua’s piece on the fierce ambition instilled in her by her Chinese parents, which she has, in turn, fiercely instilled in her children.
Here are my musings on it:
On Tiger Mothers, Distracted Mothers, and Just About Good Enough Mothers

Both Roy and I were brought up to be ambitious, Roy, by a tiger mother, as I have mentioned in the post, I, by a father, who desperately wanted me not to waste my life, but to do something he could be proud of.

Around last Christmas, I think we decided that enough was enough, and like Bly thought about giving up all ambition–and, what’s more: Roy did it.

He was quite a high-powered mathematician, and he took early retirement, which, of course, was the biggest change in our family’s life. Sometimes, we can hardly believe we’ve actually done it!!

It’s now the seventh month of his ambition free life, and we love it. It takes a while to get adjusted to life without adrenalin, stress, the pressing weight of papers to write, papers to referee, books to read, and books to write–and to realize that one now actually has time to do all the things one would do if one had time. It takes a while to realize that you now have time to do the fun creative healthy things that were a waste of time before–fresh pressed juices, gourmet cooking, bits of interior decoration. And it takes time for one’s pulse to return to a slow beat–but we are enjoying the process!!
* * *

And for me, I still love writing, write, and want to write. But somehow–I don’t quite know how–after years of trying to slay the idol of writing ambition, I have done it. I am writing for the joy of writing, hoping to find readers, but am content if I do, content if I don’t. I haven’t quite reached the level of surrender mentioned in this blogger’s prayer, but you know what, I am getting there.

What helped was taking a 3.5 year break from reading and writing to establish a publishing company. And when I came back, I wrote in a different style, more transparent and easy to write compared to the pretzel like, contorted style of my earlier writing (see essays at anitamathias.com). I am wondering if those desert, wilderness years broke the idol of ambition, and returned my writing to me as pure joy, as it was in the beginning, in the land before ambition.

You alone are my portion and cup Psalm 16, Day 38, Feb 7th,

By Anita Mathias

Eleven lines, but so much balm. I have heard the Psalms all my life (a cradle Catholic) and have been reading them myself for 4 decades, since my teens.

This is one of those Psalms which instantly calms me, the words themselves, even before the meaning penetrates my consciousness. Without meaning to sound mystical, it’s like a bell summoning me to another realm.

NIV–A prayer for safekeeping, and a Psalm of trust. Along with Psalm 23, it underscores faith/trust along with conformity to God’s law as the essential characteristics of those who bring their prayers to God.

Psalm 16

¹ Keep me safe, my God,

for in you I take refuge.

² I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing.”

Moses refused to enter the promised Land without God, “unless your presence goes with us.” I am with him. I don’t think I would enjoy even the things I most want unless I could enjoy them with the consciousness of God’s presence, the waterfall of his blessings pouring down on me.

³ I say of the holy people who are in the land,

“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”

⁴ Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.

I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods

or take up their names on my lips.

⁵ LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
The Lord himself is our reward.
   you make my lot secure.
⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
As they have for me, though in the fourth decade of life
   surely I have a delightful inheritance.
The inheritance of faith, of being in the long line of those who have tasted of God, and found him good.
⁷ I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
   even at night my heart instructs me.
It is one of the better times to have a rendezvous with God, and hear from him. Long hours of insomnia!!, no distractions.
⁸ I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
   With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
At my right hand, as sustainer and protector. God will help us to stand firm through all the shakings of this world.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

ESV The path of life. A master metaphor of the Bible. The covenant provides a path by which one walks to life in all its fullness.

The pleasures the Psalmist has begun to enjoy in this life will continue in the life to come.

You alone are my portion and cup Psalm 16, Day 38, Feb 7th,

By Anita Mathias

Eleven lines, but so much balm. I have heard the Psalms all my life (a cradle Catholic) and have been reading them myself for 4 decades, since my teens.

This is one of those Psalms which instantly calms me, the words themselves, even before the meaning penetrates my consciousness. Without meaning to sound mystical, it’s like a bell summoning me to another realm.

NIV–A prayer for safekeeping, and a Psalm of trust. Along with Psalm 23, it underscores faith/trust along with conformity to God’s law as the essential characteristics of those who bring their prayers to God.

Psalm 16

¹ Keep me safe, my God,

for in you I take refuge.

² I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing.”

³ I say of the holy people who are in the land,

“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”

⁴ Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.

I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods

or take up their names on my lips.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

ESV The path of life. A master metaphor of the Bible. The covenant provides a path by which one walks to life in all its fullness.

The pleasures the Psalmist has begun to enjoy in this life will continue in the life to come.

The strange fulfillment of dreams, Genesis 37, 38. Day 37, Feb 6th

By Anita Mathias

NIV Notes–Jacob represented Israel–as a people who struggled with both God and human beings and overcame, and as a source of blessing to the nations.

Genesis 37

Joseph’s Dreams

¹ Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

² This is the account of Jacob’s family line.

Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

Though Joseph generally seemed the sinned-against one, this is the first indication of why he might have been disliked.

Joseph’s action implies that his behaviour is more righteous than theirs, something largely borne out by future events.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. ⁴ When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Parental favouritism sadly sows the seeds of wrath. Joseph is Jacob’s second youngest son. But his father bestows on him privileges normally reserved for the first-born. His royal dreams further infuriate his brothers who cannot accept that he will reign over them.

⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

ESV Joseph’s brothers intuitively interpret Joseph’s first dream as indicating that he will reign over them, later fulfilled.

⁹ Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

In Genesis, dreams are normally associated with divine revelations.

Joseph has an authentic gift–hearing from God in dreaming. This later develops into the gift of interpreting dreams. His gift is spot-on–however, there is no point in sharing it with his brothers. Sharing such a thing is not likely to make him popular with them. But does Joseph care?

Joseph Sold by His Brothers

Their jealousy turns deadly.

¹² Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, ¹³ and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”

“Very well,” he replied.

¹⁴ So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, ¹⁵ a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

¹⁶ He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”

¹⁷ “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. ¹⁸ But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

¹⁹ “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. ²⁰ “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. ²² “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.

Judah tries to save his brother’s life, and thereby becomes the one in the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob–an ancestor of the Messiah.

²⁸ So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels^[b] of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. ³⁰ He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”

³¹ Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³² They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

As Jacob deceived his father with a slaughtered goat, so too he is deceived.

The brothers careless and callous cruelty involves them in a web of lies.

³³ He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”

The deception of Jacob by his sons, using Joseph’s coat and a slaughtered goat, mirrors his own deception of Isaac, using Esau’s clock and two goatskins.

³⁴ Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.

³⁶ Meanwhile, the Midianites^[c] sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

Genesis 38

Judah and Tamar

¹ At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah. ² There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her; ³ she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. ⁴ She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. ⁵ She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him. ⁶ Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷ But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death.

⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.” ⁹ But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. ¹⁰What he did was wicked in the LORD’s sight; so the LORD put him to death also.

His son would have been considered his brother’s son and heir, and would have had equal inheritance rights with himself.

¹¹ Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.

¹² After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.

¹³ When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,” ¹⁴ she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.

¹⁵ When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶ Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.”

“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.

¹⁷ “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said.

“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.

¹⁸ He said, “What pledge should I give you?”

“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him. ¹⁹ After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.

²⁰ Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her. ²¹ He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.

²² So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’”

²³ Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”

²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.”

Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”

²⁵ As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”

²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.

This acknowledgement that Tamar was more righteous marks a turning point for Judah, and accounts for a remarkable transformation in his life which comes through in the remaining episodes of the Joseph story.

²⁷ When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. ²⁸ As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” ²⁹ But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.^[a] ³⁰ Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah.

And Perez, in keeping with the preference in Genesis for younger sons, will one day be the ancestor of Jesus.

The Perils of Stubborn Unbelief, Matthew 12, Day 35, Feb 5th

By Anita Mathias

The Pharisees Question Jesus, Tissot

Matthew 12

Jesus and Beelzebul

²² Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³ All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
The simple people are wowed by the undoubted demonstration of power. The professionals however are threatened.Jealous and insecurity can make people say and do strange things.
ESV The amazement of the crowd suggests that Jesus’s casting out demons without a word was unprecedented.

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts
The mark of the Pharisee, they think their thoughts quietly to themselves. Their thoughts do not become words.

and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?
ESV–Satan would not work against himself by exorcising a demon which was part of his attempt to control the world.

²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
ESV–Jesus’ amazing power over demons was due to the power of the Holy Spirit working through him.

²⁹ “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
ESV notes–Jesus was able to expel demons because he had bound Satan. Beginning with Jesus’ victory over Satan during the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus demonstrated that Satan was powerless to prevent him from proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and demonstrating the reality of its presence through his work and words.

³⁰ “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Neutrality is not possible. There is a saying “If Jesus is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all.”

³¹ And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

³³ “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. ³⁴ You brood of vipers,

Jesus just said what he thought. He did not mince words.

how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Speech is a good indicator of the person. Wicked words reveal evil within the heart.

³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶ But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgement for every empty word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Our words will be taken into particular account on the day of judgment!! ESV Words are an outward evidence of inner character.

The Sign of Jonah

³⁸ Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
Jesus is canny and careful. He thinks before he speaks. So he does not reflexively give a sign. Nor does he fall for their flattery.
He had already done many signs to confirm his Messianic identity. They were asking for a sign which they could use against him.

³⁹ He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign!
Lines worth considering for those who believe Jesus was always nice.
Adulterous–unfaithful to their spiritual husband, God.

But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. ⁴² The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.
His death and resurrection will be the sign.

⁴³ “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

⁴⁶ While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. ⁴⁷ Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”

⁴⁸ He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”
⁴⁹ Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Whoever does God’s will is the kin of Jesus!

El Shaddai, Genesis 35, Day 35, Feb 4th, Read Through the Bible Project

By Anita Mathias

El Shaddai, Genesis 35, Day 35, Feb 4th, Read Through the Bible Project

Genesis 35

ESV notes–Transformed by the experiences at Bethel and Peniel, Jacob now begins to assume the mantle of his father as the one through whom the divine promises to Abraham will be continued.

Jacob Returns to Bethel

¹ Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”
Jacob had settled at Shechem without any direction from God, and disaster followed–from which God preserved him. Now God gives him specific directions to go to Bethel where he had had his first experience of God.
He fulfils the promise he had earlier made to God at Bethel, and acknowledges that God has been faithful to him.

² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”

ESV–The present tense answers suggests that God has consistently responded to Jacob in every time of trouble.

⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. ⁵ Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

An act of consecration. They get rid of their idols and reconsecrated themselves. And God protects Jacob and his family on their way to Bethel, despite the execrable actions of his sons.

⁶ Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. ⁷ There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

⁸ Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak outside Bethel. So it was named Allon Bakuth.

⁹ After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. ¹⁰ God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

¹¹ And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants. ¹² The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” ¹³ Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.

God identifies himself to Jacob here as El-Shaddai (God Almighty). His words echo the original benediction pronounced on mankind in the beginning, and renewed after the flood.

¹⁴ Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. ¹⁵ Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

¹⁶ Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. ¹⁷ And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” ¹⁸ As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.
Rachel in sadness and bitterness calls Benjamin son of my trouble. Jacob however changes his name to son of my right hand.

¹⁹ So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁰ Over her tomb Jacob set up a pillar, and to this day that pillar marks Rachel’s tomb.

²¹ Israel moved on again and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Eder. ²² While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it.

His sons acted deceitfully towards him as he had acted deceitfully towards his father.

Jacob had twelve sons:

²³ The sons of Leah:
Reuben the firstborn of Jacob,
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel:
Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah:
Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶ The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah:
Gad and Asher.

These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

²⁷ Jacob came home to his father Isaac in Mamre, near Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had stayed. ²⁸ Isaac lived a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹ Then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of years. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Proverbs 3 19–22

By Anita Mathias

¹⁹ By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;
²⁰ by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
and the clouds let drop the dew.

²¹ My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
   preserve sound judgment and discretion;
²² they will be life for you,
   an ornament to grace your neck.
²³ Then you will go on your way in safety,
   and your foot will not stumble.
²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
   when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
²⁵ Have no fear of sudden disaster
   or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
²⁶ for the LORD will be at your side
   and will keep your foot from being snared.

²⁷ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
   when it is in your power to act.
²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor,
   “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
   when you already have it with you.
²⁹ Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
   who lives trustfully near you.
³⁰ Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
   when they have done you no harm.

³¹ Do not envy the violent
or choose any of their ways.

³² For the LORD detests the perverse
but takes the upright into his confidence. Pro