DAILY BIBLE READING
Jul 12: Amos 6-9
Jul 13: 2Chron 27; Is 9-12
Jul 14: Micah
Jul 15: 2Chron 28; 2King 16-17
Jul 16: Is 13-17
Jul 17: Is 18-22
Jul 18: Is 23-27
Jul 19: 2King 18:1-8; 2Chron 29-31; Ps 48
NOTES FOR THIS WEEK’S READINGS
· Someone has already commented to me, “I never knew much about Amos until I started reading it.” He’s just one of many “minor prophets” you will read in the next few weeks. They are called “minor” not because they are less important, but because they are shorter than the “major prophets” like Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.
· Nothing else really new this week in terms of background. We continue reading about the Assyrian crisis which led to Israel’s fall in 722 B.C. (See devotions below.) Amos, Micah, and Isaiah all spoke God’s word into this crisis. If you’re looking for feel-good Scripture passages to read, this is not your week. These prophets are foretelling doom – not only on Israel but on her neighbors who are participating in or gloating over her downfall.
· One interesting exercise might be to keep a notebook of all the “sins” the prophets condemn this week – and ask yourself which of those the prophets might condemn in you!
· When we turn the corner into next week’s reading, we will see how the Assyrian crisis affected the southern kingdom of Judah. Their king during Assyria’s assault was a godly man who restored worship in Jerusalem.
DEVOTIONS
I have been “tweeting” one Bible verse a day since mid-June from our “chronological Bible reading.” I wish I had started in January. Some days it’s a challenge to find a meaningful verse of fewer than 140 characters that I can post on my Twitter account. Other days I have to choose among several really great options.
My tweets are automatically posted to Facebook, which has a “Like” option. (People don’t have to comment – just say they “like” whatever you post.) When I tweet the Scripture above on Thursday of this week, I don’t think anyone will “like” it.
2 Kings 17 is one of the saddest chapters in the whole Bible. It’s the story of the end of Israel as a nation – Israel being the “northern kingdom” of ten tribes.
Here’s an excerpt from the indictment against Israel recorded in 2 Kings 17 – “They took up with other gods, fell in with the ways of life of the pagan nations God had chased off, and went along with whatever their kings did. They did all kinds of things on the sly, things offensive to their God, then openly and shamelessly built local sex-and-religion shrines at every available site. … God was fed up, fed up with their persistent worship of gods carved out of deadwood or shaped out of clay, even though God had plainly said, “Don’t do this—ever!” (The Message)
What resulted from this judgment was what Jewish people have endured every since – the Diaspora (dispersion). Only the 20th century saw the opportunity for Jews to re-enter their homeland.
The lesson from 2 Kings, however, is the same lesson as that which emerged from King David’s first year after his initial liaison with Bathsheba. Never assume that just because God doesn’t judge immediately he’s looking the other way. The day of reckoning will come.