Judges 15, Acts 19, Jeremiah 28, Mark 14

DateVersionReading Plan
@August 1, 2024ESV (2016)M’Cheyne Plan 2024

Judges 15

Judges 15:4–6 (ESV) 4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

Avenging his father-in-law’s refusal to let Samson take his wife, Samson paired 300 foxes, tied their tails, placed a lit torch between their tails and released them into the grain fields and olive orchards. In this incredibly unique means of retaliation, one can only imagine how the foxes would have run around terrified, quickly setting fire to the fields. Then, learning that it was Samson who had done this and that it was because his wife was given to his companion, the Philistines burned his wife and her father. This bizarre and cruel sequence of events showcase the building tension between Samson and the Philistines that would lead to the death many of the Philistines at the hands of Samson in his time as judge of Israel. By this, we also see the LORD’s plan for judgement on the Philistines unfold as He had sought an opportunity against them for their oppression of Israel (Judges 14:4).

Acts 19

Acts 19:24–27 (ESV) 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. 25 These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

Concerned about the threat Paul and his companions posed to their business and to their pagan God, Artemis, a silversmith named Demetrius gathered together the craftsmen and workmen to spur a resistance. According to the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, Artemis was the “Greek goddess of the moon, wild animals, and hunting. The cult of Artemis at Ephesus, where she is called Diana by the Romans (Acts 19:23–41), regarded her especially as a fertility goddess.” The disrepute that Demetrius feared would come to Artemis as a result of Paul’s teaching of the one, true God ended up coming to fruition. Worship of Artemis fell away along with the pantheon of other gods of antiquity. It is the triune God alone who reigns supreme through the ages and of whom our exclusive worship is properly placed. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Jeremiah 28

Jeremiah 28:10–13 (ESV) 10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. 11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way. 12 Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 13 “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron.

The false prophet Hananiah broke the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah and spoke in the presence of the people that the LORD would also break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from the neck of all the nations within two years. Jeremiah then went his way and sometime later the LORD came to Jeremiah with what he was to say to Hananiah regarding his false prophecy. It is interesting that Jeremiah’s response to Hananiah’s false prophecy was not immediate but instead came later. The BBC provides a quote from Kelly’s commentary on Jeremiah’s self-restraint:

The servant of the Lord shall not strive. The same man, Jeremiah, who had been like a brazen wall, who had resisted kings and prophets and priests to the face, now refuses to contend with the prophet Hananiah. The reason for his conduct is plain. Jeremiah did remonstrate and warn while there was hope of repentance or when long-suffering grace called for it, but where there was no conscience at work, where there was a false pretence of the name of the Lord, he simply goes his way. He leaves God to judge between prophet and prophet. If Jeremiah was true, Hananiah was false.

Mark 14

Mark 14:26 (ESV) 26 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Directly following the Passover meal, the disciples sang a hymn and then went out the Mount of Olives. According to the FSB Notes, the singing of the hymn “Refers to the conclusion of the Passover celebration. Jewish writings of the Second Temple period attest that Jews sang hymns after the meal (Jubilees 49:6; Philo, The Special Laws, 2.148), specifically Pss 113–118—the portion of the Psalter dedicated to the praise of God (Mishnah Pesah 10.6–7).” As with the disciples, we are to continue in this blessed tradition of singing hymns of praise and remembrance of our God. Eph. 5:18b-21 says that we are to “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

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