Job 34-36 - Elihu

Elihu Answers That God Will Be Just

Elihu Answers Job

Elihu Says God Gives the Afflicted Justice

Job 36:2 LSB - [2] "Wait for me a little, and I will show you That there is yet more to be said in God's behalf.

iii. “I admire Elihu’s attempt at brevity; I call it an attempt, for I am not quite sure that he succeeded, for he filled two chapters more. Yet he said, ‘Suffer me a little’; and thereby promised to make his oration as short as he could. Some lengthy divines, with their many divisions, their ‘Finallies,’ and ‘Lastlies,’ and concluding observations, spin and spin, and cause their congregations to suffer, and that not a little, but exceeding much. It is well when we have anything good to say to use as few words as possible, for if brevity be not the garment of grace it is the soul of wit, and all our wits should be set to work to put gospel teaching into such a form that it will be the better received. Assuredly, short and pointed addresses are more likely to reach the heart than long and dreary sermons.” (Spurgeon)

Job 36:5 LSB - [5] "Behold, God is mighty but does not reject; [He is] mighty in the power of [His] heart.

ii. “If God were little, he might despise the little; if he were weak he would disdain the weak; if he were untrue he would be supercilious to those about him; but, seeing he is none of these, but is God over all blessed for ever, the only wise God, we have to deal with one who, though he be high, hath respect unto the lowly; who, though he humbleth himself even to observe the things which are done in heaven, yet despiseth not the cry of the humble. The magnanimity of God is the reason why he despiseth not any.” (Spurgeon)

Job 31-33 - Covenant with My Eyes

Job Proclaims His Purity and Innocence

Job 31:1 LSB - [1] "I have cut a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin?

Psa 119:37 LSB - [37] Cause my eyes to turn away from looking at worthlessness, And revive me in Your ways.

Mat 5:28 LSB - [28] but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Job 31:15 LSB - [15] "Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?

Elihu Answers in Anger

Job 32:1-3 LSB - [1] Then these three men ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. [2] But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned; against Job his anger burned because he was proving himself righteous before God. [3] And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

Job 32:8 LSB - [8] "But it is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding.

Elihu Asks Job to Hear and Respond

Job 33:19 LSB - [19] "Man is also reproved with pain on his bed, And with unceasing contention in his bones,

i. “The chastisement of sickness and the flagellation of pain whip the sinner back to him who alone can save him. These are the black dogs of the Great Shepherd wherewith he brings back wandering sheep till they come again under his crook, and he leads them into green pastures.”

(Spurgeon)

Job 33:26-28 LSB -
[26] Then he will entreat God, and He will accept him,
And he will see His face with joyful shouts,
And He may restore His righteousness to man.
[27] "He will sing to men and say, 'I have sinned and perverted what is right,
But He has not done what is due to me.
[28] 'He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit,
And my life shall see the light.'

Job 28-30 - Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

Job 28:20 LSB - 

[20] "Where then does wisdom come from? 

And where is the place of understanding?

Job 28:21 LSB - 

[21] "Thus it is hidden from the eyes of all living 

And concealed from the birds of the sky.

ii. “He seems to say that, though men should explore the deep places of the earth with all the diligence of miners seeking gold and silver, though they should exert all their mental force, as miners use all their muscular vigor, and though they should employ all the machinery within their reach, as men do who pierce through the rocks in search of precious treasure yet it is not within the range of human labor and skill to attain unto wisdom. That can only be found by another and a higher method; it must come to us by revelation from God, for we cannot find it by our own efforts.” (Spurgeon)

Job 28:23 LSB - 

[23] "God understands its way, 

And He knows its place.

Job 28:28 LSB - 

[28] "So He said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; 

And to turn away from evil is understanding.'"

Job Continues His Discourse

Job 29:2-5 LSB - [2] "Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God kept me, [3] When His lamp shone over my head, [And] by His light I walked through darkness, [4] As I was in the prime of my days, When the [intimate] counsel with God [was] over my tent, [5] When the Almighty was yet with me, [And] my children were around me,

Job 30:23 LSB - [23] "For I know that You will bring me to death And to the house of meeting for all living.

“Under depression of spirit he felt sure that he must very soon die; he feared that God would not relax the blows of his hand until his body became a ruin, and then he would have rest. But he did not die at that time. He was fully recovered, and God gave him twice as much as he had before. A life of usefulness, and happiness, and honor lay before him; and yet he had set up his own tombstone, and reckoned himself a dead man.” (Spurgeon)

Job 30:25 LSB - [25] "Have I not wept for the one whose life is hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

ii. The sensitive soul of Job was another demonstration of his godliness, and appropriate for any servant of God. “I know that a man in the ministry who cannot feel had much better resign his office. We have heard some hold forth the doctrines of grace, as if they were a nauseous medicine, and men were to be forced to drink thereof by hard words and violent abuse. We have always thought that such men did more hurt than good, for while seeking to vindicate the letter, they evidently missed the spirit of the faith once delivered unto the saints. Cold and impassive are some of our divines; they utter truth as though it were no concern of theirs whether men received it or not. To such men heaven and hell, death and eternity, are mere themes for oratory, but not subjects for emotion.” (Spurgeon)

 

 

Job 25-27 - I Hold Fast My Righteousness

Bildad Asks, Can Man Be Right with God?

Job 25:4-6 LSB - [4] "How then can mortal man be right with God? Or how can he be pure who is born of woman? [5] "Behold even the moon has no brightness, And the stars are not pure in His sight; [6] How much less mortal man, [that] maggot, And the son of man, [that] worm!"

Original and actual Sin confessed

Author: Isaac Watts

1 Lord, we are vile, and full of sin,

We're born unholy and unclean;

Spring from the man whose guilty fall

Corrupts his race, and taints us all.

2 Soon as we draw our infant breath

The seeds of sin grow up for death;

Thy law demands a perfect heart,

But we're defiled in every part.

3 Behold, we fall before thy face;

Our only refuge is thy grace:

No outward forms can make us clean;

The leprosy lies deep within.

4 Nor bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast,

Nor hyssop branch, nor earthly priest,

Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea,

Can wash the dismal stain away.

5 Jesus, thy blood, thy blood alone,

Hath power sufficient to atone;

Thy blood can make us white as snow;

No other tide can cleanse us so.

Who Can Understand God?

Job 26:2-3 LSB - [2] "What a help you are to the one without power! How you have saved the arm without strength! [3] "What counsel you have given to [one] without wisdom! What sound wisdom you have abundantly made known!

Job 26:7 LSB - [7] "He stretches out the north over what is formless And hangs the earth on nothing.

Job 26:14 LSB - [14] "Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; And how [only with] a whisper of a word do we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?"

Psa 139:1-5 LSB - [1] For the choir director. Of David. A Psalm. O Yahweh, You have searched me and known [me]. [2] You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. [3] You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. [4] Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Yahweh, You know it all. [5] You have enclosed me behind and before, And You have put Your hand upon me.

Psa 139:6 LSB - [6] [Such] knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is [too] high, I cannot attain to it.

 

I Hold Fast My Righteousness

Job 27:2-4 LSB - [2] "As God lives, who has removed my justice, And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul, [3] For as long as breath is in me, And the spirit from God is in my nostrils, [4] My lips certainly will not speak unrighteousness, Nor will my tongue utter deceit.

Job 27:6 LSB - [6] "I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. My heart does not reproach any of my days.

Job 22-24 - Delight in the Almighty

Eliphaz Says Job Must Repent

Job 22:26 LSB - [26] "For then you will delight in the Almighty And lift up your face to God.

Psa 37:4 LSB - [4] Delight yourself in Yahweh; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

In a sermon titled Delight in the Almighty, Charles Spurgeon explained what this means.

• It means to have joy in God. “When a man hangs his head down he is unhappy: it is the attitude of misery; but oh, when our thoughts of God are changed, and our relationship to God is different, we lift up our faces and sun our countenances in the light of God’s favor.”
• It means to have guilt put away. “Guilt makes a man hang his head. “Conscience doth make cowards of us all”; but oh, my brothers, when the atoning sacrifice has come with all its power to us, when we are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and we are clean every whit, then we lift up our face unto God.”
• It means to be free from fear. “Fear covers her face, and would fain hide herself altogether, even though to accomplish concealment the rocks must fall upon her.”
• It means to have expectation. “Oh, to lift one’s face toward God, looking for deliverance, safety, and rest, and expecting both grace and glory from his right hand!”

Where Is God?

Job 23:3 LSB - [3] "Oh that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!

ii. This not only tells us of Job’s sense of the loss of the presence of God, but of his longing to have it back. “Good men are washed towards God even by the rough waves of their grief; and when their sorrows are deepest, their highest desire is not to escape from them, but to get at their God.” (Spurgeon)

iii. “In Job’s uttermost extremity he cried after the Lord. The longing desire of an afflicted child of God is once more to see his Father’s face. His first prayer is not, ‘Oh that I might be healed of the disease which now festers in every part of my body!’ nor even, ‘Oh that I might see my children restored from the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from the hand of the spoiler!’ but the first and uppermost cry is, ‘Oh that I knew where I might find HIM — who is my God! that I might come even to his seat!’” (Spurgeon)

Job 23:10 LSB - [10] "But He knows the way I take; [When] He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

iii. “It looks very hard to believe that a child of God should be tried by the loss of his Father’s presence, and yet should come forth uninjured by the trial. Yet no gold is ever injured in the fire. Stoke the furnace as much as you may, let the blast be as strong as you will, thrust the ingot into the very center of the white heat, let it lie in the very heart of the flame; pile on more fuel, let another blast torment the coals till they become most vehement with heat, yet the gold is losing nothing, it may even be gaining.” (Spurgeon)

v. “I shall ask four questions of every man within reach of my voice. God knoweth the way that you take. I will ask you first: Do you know your own way? Secondly: Is it a comfort to you that God knows your way? Thirdly: Are you tried in the way? And, if so, fourthly: Have you confidence in God as to the result of that trial? Can you say with Job, ‘When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold?’” (Spurgeon)

Who Can Prove Me a Liar?

Job 19-21 - I Know That My Redeemer Lives

My Redeemer Lives

Job 19:2 LSB - [2] "How long will you torment my soul And crush me with words?

Job 19:25-27 LSB - [25] "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will rise up over the dust [of this world]. [26] "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall behold God, [27] Whom I myself shall behold, And whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Author: Samuel Medley (1775)

1 I know that my Redeemer lives;

what comfort this sweet sentence gives!

He lives, He lives, who once was dead;

He lives, my everlasting Head.

2 He lives triumphant from the grave,

He lives eternally to save,

He lives all-glorious in the sky,

He lives exalted there on high.

3 He lives to bless me with His love,

He lives to plead for me above,

He lives my hungry soul to feed,

He lives to help in time of need.

4 He lives to grant me rich supply,

He lives to guide me with His eye,

He lives to comfort me when faint,

He live to hear my soul's complaint.

5 He lives to silence all my fears,

He lives to wipe away my tears,

He lives to calm my troubled heart,

He lives all blessings to impart.

6 He lives, my kind, wise, heav'nly Friend,

He lives and loves me to the end;

He lives, and while He lives, I'll sing;

He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.

7 He lives and grants me daily breath;

He lives and I shall conquer death;

He lives my mansion to prepare;

He lives to bring me safely there.

8 He lives, all glory to His name!

He lives, my Jesus, still the same.

Oh, the sweet joy this sentence gives,

"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

Zophar Says the Joy of the Wicked Is Short

God Does Not Punish the Wicked

Job 16-18 - Troublesome Comforters

Troublesome Comforters

Job 16:2 LSB - [2] "I have heard many such things; Troublesome comforters are you all.

Job 16:19-20 LSB - [19] "Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, And my advocate is on high. [20] "My friends are my scoffers; My eye weeps to God.

Job Seeks Hope

Job 17:1 LSB - [1] "My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; The grave is [ready] for me.

Job 17:6 LSB - [6] "But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am one at whom men spit.

Bildad Speaks of the Downfall of the Wicked

Job 13-15 - Though He slay me

I Will Be Declared Righteous

Job 13:4-5 LSB - [4] "But you cover me with lies; You are all worthless physicians. [5] "O that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom!

Job 13:15 LSB - [15] "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.

iii. “It is well worthy of observation that in these words Job answered both the accusations of Satan and the charges of his friends. Though I do not know that Job was aware that the devil had said, ‘Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not set a hedge about him and all that he hath?’ Yet he answered that base suggestion in the ablest possible manner, for he did in effect say, ‘Though God should pull down my hedge, and lay me bare as the wilderness itself, yet will I cling to him in firmest faith.’” (Spurgeon)

iv. “There are three things in the text: a terrible supposition — “though he slay me”; a noble resolution, “yet will I trust in him”; and, thirdly, a secret appropriateness. This last will require a little looking into, but I hope to make it clear that there is a great appropriateness in our trusting while God is slaying us — the two things go well together, though it may not so appear.” (Spurgeon)

v. Charles Spurgeon listed several reasons why he thought that “slaying times” were good times.

• Such times show us that we are really His sons and daughters because He only chastens His children.
• Such times — slaying times — are when real faith is created.
• Such times are when God tests and affirms our faith.
• Such times are when we can grow in faith.
• Such times allow the child of God to prove that he is not a mercenary professor of faith.

vi. “Once more, the grim supposition of the text, if ever it was realized by anybody it was realized by our Lord Jesus. Our great covenant Head knows to the full what his members suffer. God did slay him, and glory be to his blessed name, he trusted God while he was being slain.” (Spurgeon)

Job 13:20-23 LSB - [20] "Only two things do not do to me, Then I will not hide from Your face: [21] Move Your hand far from me, And let not the dread of You terrify me. [22] "Then call, and I will answer; Or let me speak, then respond to me. [23] "How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my transgression and my sin.

If a Man Dies, Will He Live Again?

Job 14:1-2 LSB - [1] "Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil. [2] "Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not stand.

Job 14:13-14 LSB - [13] "Oh that You would conceal me in Sheol, That You would hide me until Your anger returns [to You], That You would set a limit for me and remember me! [14] "If a man dies, will he live [again]? All the days of my labor I will wait Until my change comes.

Eliphaz Says Job’s Lips Answer Against Him

Job 15:4 LSB - [4] "Indeed, you annul [reverent] fear And cut off musing before God.

Job 15:4 ESV - [4] But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God.

Job 15:4 NKJV - [4] Yes, you cast off fear, And restrain prayer before God.

i. Nevertheless, certainly some people do restrain prayer before God. Spurgeon considered ways that some do this.

• Some restrain prayer before God because they do not pray often or regularly.
• Some restrain prayer before God because they do not prepare their hearts properly to pray. They do not consider who they are praying to, the way their prayer should be made, that they are sinners, what they should ask of God, and thankful for what He has done in the past.
• Some restrain prayer before God because they pray in such a formal, strict manner that they never really pour out their heart before God.
• Some restrain prayer before God because they pray with little faith and much unbelief.

Job 15:11 LSB - [11] "Are the consolations of God too small for you, Even the word [spoken] gently with you?

i. “However wrong Eliphaz may have been in reference to Job and in reference to him his remarks were grossly unjust-yet many of them are correct in themselves, and may usefully be applied to our own hearts. Inasmuch as Eliphaz, in this verse, teaches no doctrine, but only asks two searching questions, he cannot mislead us; but he may do us good service.” (Spurgeon)

ii. Spurgeon suggested what some of the consolations of God are that are considered by some to be too small and neglected or rejected:

• The consolations of God are applied by the Holy Spirit, who is the Comforter.
• Jesus is the substance of these consolations, for He is called “The Consolation of Israel”
• (Luke 2:25)
• The consolations of God deal with our problem of sin; its guilt and stain and power.
• The consolations of God assure us of a new heart and nature.
• The consolations of God reveal a reason for sorrow that remains.
• The consolations of God show us One who suffers with us; Jesus Christ.
• The consolations of God compensate us for all trials and sufferings.
• The consolations of God tell us of our heavenly destination and hope.

Job 15:14 LSB - [14] "What is man, that he should be pure, Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

Job 10-12 - Job Cries Out to God

Job Cries Out to God

Job 10:2 LSB - [2] "I will say to God, 'Do not account me as wicked; Let me know why You contend with me.

iv. The tried saint may ask as Job did, “Show me why You contend with me.” Spurgeon suggested several answers:

It may be that God is contending with you to show you His power to uphold you.

It may be that God is contending with you to develop your graces.

It may be that God is contending with you because you have some secret sin that is doing you great damage.

It may be that God is contending with you because He wants you to enter the fellowship of His sufferings.

It may be that God is contending with you to humble you.

v. The seeking sinner might also ask as Job did, “Show me why You contend with me.” Spurgeon suggested several answers to the seeking sinner:

It may be that God is contending with you because you are not yet thoroughly awakened to your lost condition.

It may be that God is contending with you in order to test your earnestness.

It may be that God is contending with you because you are harboring one sin that you will not turn over to Him.

It may be that God is contending with you because you do not yet thoroughly understand the plan of salvation.

vi. Though it was not the case with Job, it is true that God often contends with both saints and sinners to deal with their sin. “Trials often discover sins — sins we should never have found out if it had not been for them. We know that the houses in Russia are very greatly infested with rats and mice. Perhaps a stranger would scarcely notice them at first, but the time when you discover them is when the house is on fire; then they pour out in multitudes. And so doth God sometimes burn up our comforts to make our hidden sins run out; and then he enables us to knock them on the head and get rid of them.” (Spurgeon)

Job 10:9-12 LSB - [9] 'Remember now, that You have made me as clay; And would You turn me into dust again? [10] 'Did You not pour me out like milk And curdle me like cheese, [11] Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews? [12] 'You have made alongside me life and lovingkindness; And Your care has kept my spirit.

Zophar Asks, Can You Find the Depths of God?

Job 11:16 LSB - [16] "For you would forget [your] trouble, As waters that pass by, so you would remember [it].

ii. “We seem to lie all broken in pieces, with our thoughts like a case of knives cutting into our spirit; and we say to ourselves, ‘We never shall forget this terrible experience.’ And yet, by-and-by, God turns towards us the palm of his hand, and we see that it is full of mercy, we are restored to health, or uplifted from depression of spirit, and we wonder that we ever made so much of our former suffering or depression.” (Spurgeon)

iii. “We remember it no more, except as a thing that has passed and gone, to be recollected with gratitude that we have been delivered from it, but not to be remembered so as to leave any scar upon our spirit, or to cause us any painful reflection whatsoever. ‘Thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away.’” (Spurgeon)

 

Job Answers

Job 12:4 LSB - [4] "I am a laughingstock to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The righteous [and] blameless [man] is a laughingstock.

Job 12:7-10 LSB - [7] "But now ask the beasts, and let them instruct you; And the birds of the sky, and let them tell you. [8] "Or muse to the earth, and let it instruct you; And let the fish of the sea recount [it] to you. [9] "Who among all these does not know That the hand of Yahweh has done this, [10] In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all the flesh of man?

Job Speaks of God’s Strength

Job 12:13 LSB - [13] "With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and discernment.

Job 12:24-25 LSB - [24] "He removes the heart [of wisdom] from the heads of the earth's people And makes them wander in a pathless waste. [25] "They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them wander about like a drunken man.

Job 7-9 - One Mediator between God and Men

Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope

Job 7:17 LSB - [17] "What is man that You magnify him, And that You set Your heart on him,

Psa 8:4 LSB - [4] What is man that You remember him, And the son of man that You care for him?

Job 7:20 LSB - [20] "Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself?

iii. Once more, we benefit from knowing the story-behind-the-story, which Job and his friends do not know at this point in the narrative. Job believed that God was against him and was punishing him, but it wasn’t true. “Job was not being punished; he was being honored. God was giving to him a name like that of the great ones of the earth. The Lord was lifting him up, promoting him, putting him into the front rank, making a great saint of him, causing him to become one of the fathers and patterns in the ancient Church of God. He was really doing for Job such extraordinarily good things that you or I, in looking back upon his whole history, might well say, ‘I would be quite content to take Job’s afflictions if I might also have Job’s grace, and Job’s place in the Church of God.’” (Spurgeon)

 

Bildad Claims God Rewards the Good

Job 8:7 LSB - [7] "Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly.

i. He was wrong in that he assumed that because Job was not currently in prosperity and abundance, it proved that Job had not made supplication and was not pure and upright. “He wished to prove that Job could not possibly be an upright man, for if he were so, he here affirms that his prosperity would increase continually.” (Spurgeon)

ii. He was right in that Job, in the end of it, did increase abundantly. “It is true, as indeed the facts of the book of Job prove: for Job did greatly increase in his latter end. His beginning was small: he was brought down to poverty! To the potsherd and to the dunghill he had many graves, but no children; he had had many losses, he had now nothing left to lose; and yet God did awake for him; his righteousness came out from the darkness which had eclipsed it; he shone in sevenfold prosperity so that the words of Bildad were prophetic, though he knew it not; God put into his mouth language which did come true, after all.”

 

Job Replies There Is No Adjudicator

Job 9:2 LSB - [2] "In truth I know that this is so; But how can a man be in the right before God?

Job 9:14-15 LSB - [14] "How then can I answer Him, [And] choose my words before Him? [15] "For though I were right, I could not answer; I would have to plead for the grace of my judge.

Job 9:20 LSB - [20] "Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; Though I am blameless, He will declare me perverse.

i. “Years ago, there was, an old man, in Wiltshire, who according to his own statement, was a hundred and three years of age, he had never neglected his parish church, he had brought up eleven children, and had no help from the parish, and he expected that, by-and-by, he should go home to God, for ‘he had never done anything wrong in his life that he knowed about.’ ‘But,’ said someone to him, ‘you are a sinner, you know.’ ‘I know I ain’t,’ he said. ‘Well, but God says that you are.’ And what, think you, did that old man reply? He said, ‘God may say what he likes, but I know I ain’t.’ So, you see, he even contradicted God himself, and is not that a great sin for anybody to commit?” (Spurgeon)

Rom 8:33-34 LSB - [33] Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; [34] who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Job 9:31 LSB - [31] Yet You would plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes would abhor me.

ii. “When the Lord, the Holy Spirit, convinces a man of sin, the words of Job are none too strong: ‘Mine own clothes shall abhor me.’ You may sometimes have abhorred your clothes because they were so dirty that you were ashamed to be seen in them: but, you must be dirty indeed when your very clothes seem ashamed to hang upon you. This is what the convinced sinner feels — that he is so foul that his very clothes seem to be ashamed of him, as if they would rather have been on anybody else’s back than on the back of such a filthy sinner as he is.” (Spurgeon)

Job 9:33 LSB - [33] "There is no adjudicator between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both.

1Ti 2:5 LSB - [5] For there is one God, [and] one mediator also between God and men, [the] man Christ Jesus, 

iv. Job began this chapter with the language of the law-court (If one wished to contend with Him, Job 9:3), and here he ends with the picture of a mediator to end a dispute. The end of Job’s dispute will not come until later, but the end of our dispute with God is available now in Jesus Christ. “But, what is more and more wonderful still, both parties have gained in the suit. Did you ever hear of such a law-suit as this before? No, never in the courts of man.” (Spurgeon)

 

Job 4-6 - Come to the Grave in Full Vigor

Eliphaz Says the Innocent Do Not Suffer

The Discipline of the Almighty

Job 5:13 LSB - [13] "He catches the wise by their own craftiness, And the counsel of the twisted is quickly thwarted.

1Co 1:19-20 LSB - [19] For it is written, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE." [20] Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Job 5:26 LSB - [26] "You will come to the grave in full vigor, Like the stacking of grain in its season.

The Death of the Christian

Charles Haddon Spurgeon September 9, 1855

ii. Spurgeon preached this sermon on the words “You shall come to the grave at a full age, as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season.” These were his points of development regarding the death of a Christian:

• Death is inevitable (You shall come).
• Death is acceptable (You shall come).
• Death is timely (at a full age).
• Death is honorable (as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season).

iii. “Even as the color of the wheat is golden, so that it looks more beauteous than when the greenness of its verdure is on it, so the gray-headed man has a crown of glory on his head. He is glorious in his weakness, more than the young man in his strength, or the maiden in her beauty. Is not a shock of corn a beautiful picture of the state of man, moreover, because very soon it must be taken home? The reaper is coming.” (Spurgeon)

 

Job Answers Eliphaz

Job 6:10 LSB - [10] "But it is still my comfort, And I rejoice in unsparing pain, That I have not [at all] hidden away the words of the Holy One.

Act 20:27 LSB - [27] "For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

Psa 40:9-10 LSB - [9] I proclaim good news of righteousness in the great assembly; Behold, I do not restrain my lips, O Yahweh, You know. [10] I do not conceal Your righteousness within my heart; I speak of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I do not hide Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.

iii. If Job sensed a responsibility to not deny or conceal the words of the Holy One, we have an even greater responsibility. “Did you listen to that splendid sermon? What rhetoric! What oratory! But those poor people in the aisles did not understand a word, or if they did they only comprehended disconnected sentences, and lost the soul of the discourse. Is this right? Is this according to the Scriptural idea of preaching?... If the next generation should become more wicked than the present, and still more ignorant of the gospel, the fact will be chargeable upon those who conceal the words of God today.” (Spurgeon)

 

Job 1-3 - Blameless, Upright, Fearing God, and Turning Away from Evil

Job Was Greatest of the Sons of the East

Job 1:1 LSB - [1] There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil.

Job 1:5 LSB - [5] Now it happened when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, that Job would send and set them apart as holy. And he would rise up early in the morning and offer burnt offerings [according to] the number of them all; for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.

All Job Has Is in Satan’s Hand

Job 1:6 LSB - [6] Now it was the day that the sons of God came to stand before Yahweh, and Satan also came among them.

Job 1:7 LSB - [7] And Yahweh said to Satan, "From where do you come?" Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it."

1Pe 5:8 LSB - [8] Be of sober [spirit], be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Job 1:8 LSB - [8] Then Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you set your heart upon My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil."

Job 1:12 LSB - [12] Then Yahweh said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand, only do not send forth your hand toward him." So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.

Messengers Speak of the Fire of God

Job 1:20-22 LSB - [20] Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. [21] And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh." [22] Through all this Job did not sin, nor did he give offense to God.

Luk 12:15 LSB - [15] Then He said to them, "Watch out and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not [even] when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."

 

Satan Strikes Job’s Flesh

Job 2:3 LSB - [3] And Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you set your heart upon My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity. So you incited Me against him to swallow him up in vain."

Job 2:10 LSB - [10] But he said to her, "You speak as one of the wickedly foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept calamity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job’s Three Friends

Job 2:11 LSB - [11] Then Job's three friends heard of all this calamity that had come upon him. So they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to console him and comfort him.

Job 2:13 LSB - [13] Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that [his] pain was very great.

Job Curses the Day of His Birth

Job 3:23 LSB - [23] "[Why is light given] to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in?

Job 1:10 LSB - [10] "Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

Philippians 1-4 - Pressing On Toward the Goal

Thanksgiving

Phl 1:3-5 LSB - [3] I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, [4] always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, [5] because of your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.

Phl 1:6-7 LSB - [6] [For I am] confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. [7] For it is only right for me to think this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are fellow partakers with me in this grace.

The Progress of the Gospel

Phl 1:20 LSB - [20] according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but [that] with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

To Live Is Christ

Phl 1:21 LSB - [21] For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Phl 1:29-30 LSB - [29] For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, [30] having the same struggle which you saw in me, and now hear [to be] in me.

Christ’s Humility and Exaltation

Phl 2:5-7 LSB - [5] Have this [way of] thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, [6] who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men.

Phl 2:8-11 LSB - [8] Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, [10] so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and that EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

Phl 2:14-16 LSB - [14] Do all things without grumbling or disputing, [15] so that you will be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, [16] holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to boast because I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

Timothy and Epaphroditus Sent

Phl 2:19 LSB - [19] But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be in good spirits when I learn of your circumstances.

Phl 2:22 LSB - [22] But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child [serving] his father.

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

Phl 3:8-11 LSB - [8] More than that, I count all things to be loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ [9] and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own which is from [the] Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which [is] from God upon faith, [10] that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, [11] in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing On Toward the Goal

Phl 3:12-14 LSB - [12] Not that I have already obtained [it] or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. [13] Brothers, I do not consider myself as having laid hold of [it] yet, but one thing [I do]: forgetting what [lies] behind and reaching forward to what [lies] ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Phl 3:20-21 LSB - [20] For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, [21] who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself.

Rejoice in the Lord Always

Phl 4:4 LSB - [4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Phl 4:6-7 LSB - [6] Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God Will Fill Your Needs

Phl 4:12-13 LSB - [12] I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in abundance; in any and all things I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. [13] I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Deuteronomy 31-34

Be Strong and Courageous

Deu 31:7-8 LSB - [7] Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which Yahweh has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. [8] "And Yahweh is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

Deu 31:10-11 LSB - [10] Then Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of [every] seven years, at the time of the year of the remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, [11] when all Israel comes to appear before Yahweh your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing.

Yahweh Has Moses Write a Song

Deu 31:19-21 LSB - [19] "So now, write this song for yourselves and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. [20] "For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them and spurn Me and break My covenant. [21] "Then it will be, when many evils and troubles have found them, that this song will answer them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouths of their seed); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore."

Joshua Is Commissioned

Deu 31:23 LSB - [23] Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you."

The Song of Moses

Deu 32:4 LSB - [4] "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

Deu 32:10-11 LSB - [10] "He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him; He cared for him; He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. [11] "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them; He carried them on His pinions.

Deu 32:39 LSB - [39] 'See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded, and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

Deu 32:47 LSB - [47] "For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."

Moses to Go Up Mount Nebo

Deu 32:50-51 LSB - [50] "Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, [51] because you [both] acted unfaithfully with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you [both] did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.

The Blessing of Moses

Deu 33:26-27 LSB - [26] "There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty. [27] "The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, 'Destroy!'

The Death of Moses

Deu 34:4 LSB - [4] Then Yahweh said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your seed'; I have let you see [it] with your eyes, but you shall not go over there."

Deu 34:6 LSB - [6] And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.

Deuteronomy 28-30 - THE WORD IS NEAR YOU

Blessings for Keeping the Commandments

Deu 28:2 LSB - [2] "And all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God:

Curses for Not Keeping the Commandments

Deu 28:15 LSB - [15] "But it will be, if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep [and] to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

Deu 28:20 LSB - [20] "Yahweh will send upon you the curse, confusion, and rebuke, in all that you send forth your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me.

Deu 28:47-48 LSB - [47] "Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with gladness and a merry heart--because of the abundance of all things, [48] therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

Deu 28:66-67 LSB - [66] "So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day and shall not have [any] faith in your life. [67] "In the morning you shall say, 'Would that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Would that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and because of the sight of your eyes which you will see.

The Covenant in Moab

Deu 29:2-4 LSB - [2] And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "You have seen all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; [3] the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. [4] "Yet to this day Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.

Isa 6:10 LSB - [10] "Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their hearts, And return and be healed."

Mat 13:13-14 LSB - [13] "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. [14] "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; 

Deu 29:29 LSB - [29] "The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Open My Eyes, That I May See

Author: Clara H. Scott (1895)

1 Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key,
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for Thee,
ready, my God, Thy will to see;
open my eyes, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

2 Open my ears, that I may hear
voices of truth Thou sendest clear;
and while the wave-notes fall on my ear,
ev’rything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for Thee,
ready, my God, Thy will to see;
open my ears, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

3 Open my mouth, and let me bear
gladly the warm truth ev’rywhere;
Open my heart, and let me prepare
love with Thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for Thee,
ready, my God, Thy will to see;
open my mouth, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

Yahweh Will Take You Back

Deu 30:1-3 LSB - [1] "So it will be, when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you cause [these things] to return to your heart in all the nations where Yahweh your God has banished you, [2] and you return to Yahweh your God and listen to His voice with all your heart and soul according to all that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, [3] then Yahweh your God will return you from captivity and return [His] compassion on you, and He will gather you again from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.

Deu 30:11-14 LSB - [11] "For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far [from you]. [12] "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us and make us hear it, that we may do it?' [13] "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and make us hear it, that we may do it?' [14] "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Rom 10:6-10 LSB - [6] But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL GO UP INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down), [7] or 'WHO WILL GO DOWN INTO THE ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." [8] But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, [9] that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; [10] for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.

 

Choose Life

Deu 30:15-16 LSB - [15] "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and calamity; [16] in that I am commanding you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

Deuteronomy 25-27 - Curses on Mount Ebal

Laws of Social Responsibility

Deu 25:3 LSB - [3] "He may strike him forty times [but] no more, lest he strike him with many more stripes than these and your brother be dishonored in your eyes.

2Co 11:24 LSB - [24] Five times I received from the Jews forty [lashes] less one.

 Deu 25:4 LSB - [4] "You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.

Marriage Duty of the Surviving Brother

Deu 25:6 LSB - [6] "And it will be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

Deu 25:19 LSB - [19] "Therefore it will be, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.

Bringing First Fruits and Tithes

Deu 26:16-19 LSB - [16] "This day Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and judgments. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. [17] "You have today declared Yahweh to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and listen to His voice. [18] "And Yahweh has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; [19] and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, a name, and beauty; and that you shall be a holy people to Yahweh your God, as He has spoken."

Curses on Mount Ebal

Deu 27:12-14 LSB - [12] "When you cross the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. [13] "For the curse, these shall stand on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. [14] "The Levites shall then answer and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

Deuteronomy 22-24 - Remember You Were Slaves in Egypt

Various Statutes

Deuteronomy 22:5 LSB — “A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

Deuteronomy 22:12 LSB — “You shall make yourself tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.

Numbers 15:39 LSB — “And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of Yahweh, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot,

Statutes About Sexual Immorality

Those Who May Not Enter the Assembly

Deuteronomy 23:21-22 LSB — “When you make a vow to Yahweh your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; and it will be a sin in you. “However, if you refrain from vowing, it will not be a sin in you.

Deuteronomy 23:25 LSB — “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.

Statutes About Divorce

Remember You Were Slaves in Egypt

Deuteronomy 24:12-13 LSB — “Now if he is an afflicted man, you shall not sleep with his deposit. “When the sun goes down you shall surely return the deposit to him, that he may sleep in his cloak and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before Yahweh your God.

Deuteronomy 24:16 LSB — “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; each shall be put to death for his own sin.

2 Kings 14:5-6 LSB — Now it happened as soon as the kingdom was strong in his hand, that he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. But the sons of those who struck him down he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the Law of Moses, which Yahweh commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor sons be put to death for their fathers; but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”

Deuteronomy 23:19 LSB — “You shall not charge interest to your brother: interest on money, food, or anything that may be loaned at interest.

Deuteronomy 24:19-22 LSB — “When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the sojourner, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. “When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs after you finish; it shall be for the sojourner, for the orphan, and for the widow. “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it after you finish; it shall be for the sojourner, for the orphan, and for the widow. “And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.

Deuteronomy 19-21 - A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed

Statutes About Cities of Refuge

Deuteronomy 19:10 LSB — “So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.

Statutes About Boundaries and Witnesses

Deuteronomy 19:21 LSB — “Thus your eye shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Statutes About Warfare

Deuteronomy 20:4 LSB — for Yahweh your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

Deuteronomy 20:8 LSB — “Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘Who is the man that is afraid and whose heart is faint? Let him go and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.’

Atonement for Innocent Blood

Deuteronomy 21:9 LSB — “So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

Statutes About Domestic Relations

Deuteronomy 21:17 LSB — “But he shall recognize the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the first of his vigor; the legal judgment for the firstborn belongs to him.

A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 LSB — “And if a man has committed a sin, the judgment of which is death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (because cursed of God is he who is hanged), so that you do not make unclean your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance.

Deuteronomy 16-18 - Yahweh Will Raise Up a Prophet

The Passover

Deu 16:2 LSB - [2] "And you shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where Yahweh chooses for His name to dwell.

The Feast of Weeks

Deu 16:10-12 LSB - [10] "Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as Yahweh your God blesses you; [11] and you shall be glad before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female slaves and the Levite who is within your gates and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where Yahweh your God chooses for His name to dwell. [12] "And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.

The Feast of Booths

Deu 16:13-14 LSB - [13] "You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths seven days after you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; [14] and you shall be glad in your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female slaves and the Levite and the sojourner and the orphan and the widow who are within your gates.

Deu 16:16 LSB - [16] "Three times in a year all your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before Yahweh empty-handed.

Do Not Distort Justice

Deu 16:20 LSB - [20] "Righteousness! Righteousness, you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which Yahweh your God is giving you.

Deu 17:7 LSB - [7] "The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Judging Cases

Deu 17:12 LSB - [12] "And the man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to minister to Yahweh your God, or to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.

Statutes for the King

Deu 17:18-20 LSB - [18] "Now it will be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. [19] "And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to carefully observe all the words of this law and these statutes, [20] that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he may prolong [his] days in his kingdom, he and his sons in the midst of Israel.

The Portion of the Levites

Deu 18:6-7 LSB - [6] "Now if a Levite comes from any of your gates [of the towns] throughout Israel where he sojourns and comes whenever he desires to the place which Yahweh chooses, [7] then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God like all his brothers the Levites who stand there before Yahweh.

Do Not Imitate Abominations

Deu 18:13 LSB - [13] "You shall be blameless before Yahweh your God.

Yahweh Will Raise Up a Prophet

Deu 18:20-22 LSB - [20] 'But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' [21] "Now you may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?' [22] "When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

Deuteronomy 13-15 - Remission of Debt Every Seven Years

Stone Those Who Prophesy Against Yahweh

Deu 13:1-4 LSB - [1] "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, [2] and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us walk after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' [3] you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for Yahweh your God is testing you to find out if you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. [4] "You shall walk after Yahweh your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Deu 13:17-18 LSB - [17] "Now nothing from that which is devoted to destruction shall cling to your hand, in order that Yahweh may turn from His burning anger and grant compassion to you and show compassion to you and make you multiply, just as He has sworn to your fathers, [18] if you will listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of Yahweh your God.

Clean and Unclean Animals

Deu 14:6 LSB - [6] "And any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two [and] chews the cud, among the animals, that [one] you may eat.

Deu 14:22-23 LSB - [22] "You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. [23] "And you shall eat in the presence of Yahweh your God, at the place where He chooses for His name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God all [your] days.

Deu 14:26-27 LSB - [26] "And you may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of Yahweh your God and be glad, you and your household. [27] "Also you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

Remission of Debt Every Seven Years

Deu 15:7-8 LSB - [7] "If there is a needy one among you, one of your brothers, in any of your gates [of the towns] in your land which Yahweh your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand from your needy brother; [8] but you shall freely open your hand to him and shall generously lend him sufficient for his need [in] whatever he lacks.

Deu 15:10-11 LSB - [10] "You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you send forth your hand [to do]. [11] "For the needy will never cease [to be] in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your afflicted and needy in your land.'

Deu 15:12-15 LSB - [12] "If your brother, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall let him go [to be] free from you. [13] "When you let him go [to be] free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. [14] "You shall furnish him generously from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as Yahweh your God has blessed you. [15] "And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding you this today.

Deu 15:16-17 LSB - [16] "And it will be that, if he says to you, 'I will not go out from you,' because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; [17] then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant.

I love, I love my Master

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879)

1 I love, I love my Master,
I will not go out free,
For He is my Redeemer;
He paid the price for me.
I would not leave His service,
It is so sweet and blest;
And in the weariest moments
He gives the truest rest.

2 My Master shed His life-blood
My vassal life to win,
And save me from the bondage
Of tyrant self and sin.
He chose me for His service,
And gave me power to choose
That blessed, perfect freedom,
Which I shall never lose.

3 I would not halve my service,
His only it must be!
His only, who so loved me,
And gave Himself for me.
Rejoicing and adoring,
Henceforth my song shall be,
I love, I love my Master,
I will not go out free.

 

Deu 15:19-20 LSB - [19] "You shall set apart as holy to Yahweh your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd nor shear the firstborn of your flock. [20] "You and your household shall eat it every year before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh chooses.

Deuteronomy 10-12 - Yahweh’s Chosen Place of Worship

The Tablets Rewritten

Deu 10:1-2 LSB - [1] "At that time Yahweh said to me, 'Carve out for yourself two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself. [2] 'And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.'

Circumcise Your Heart

Deu 10:12-13 LSB - [12] "So now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God ask from you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, [13] [and] to keep the commandments of Yahweh and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

Deu 10:16 LSB - [16] "So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.

Rom 2:28-29 LSB - [28] For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. [29] But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

Col 2:11 LSB - [11] in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ,

Deu 10:19 LSB - [19] "So show love for the sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Deu 10:20-21 LSB - [20] "Yahweh your God you shall fear; Him you shall serve, and to Him you shall cling, and by His name you shall swear. [21] "He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done these great and fearsome things for you which your eyes have seen.

Love and Serve Yahweh

Deu 11:1 LSB - [1] "You shall therefore love Yahweh your God, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments all [your] days.

Deu 11:2, 7 LSB - [2] "So know this day that I [am] not [speaking] with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of Yahweh your God--His greatness, His strong hand and His outstretched arm, ... [7] but your own eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which He did.

1Jo 2:12-14 LSB -

[12] I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.

[13] I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father.

[14] I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Deu 11:18-20 LSB - [18] "You shall therefore place these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as phylacteries between your eyes. [19] "And you shall teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. [20] "And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

A Blessing and a Curse

Deu 11:29 LSB - [29] "And it will be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

Yahweh’s Chosen Place of Worship

Deu 12:5-6 LSB - [5] "But you shall seek [Yahweh] at the place which Yahweh your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. [6] "And there you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

Deu 12:11 LSB - [11] Then it will be that the place in which Yahweh your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I am commanding you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to Yahweh.

Deu 12:15 LSB - [15] "However, you may sacrifice and eat meat within any of your gates, whatever you desire, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and the deer.

Deuteronomy 7-9 - Do Not Forget Yahweh Your God

Devote the Nations to Destruction

Deu 7:5-6 LSB - [5] "But thus you shall do to them: you shall tear down their altars and shatter their [sacred] pillars and cut their Asherim in pieces and burn their graven images with fire. [6] "For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for His own treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Deu 7:7-8 LSB - [7] "Yahweh did not set His affection on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, [8] but because Yahweh loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your fathers, Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Yahweh’s Covenant Blessings

Deu 7:12-13 LSB - [12] "Then it will be, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your fathers. [13] "And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.

Do Not Forget Yahweh Your God

Deu 8:2 LSB - [2] "And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

Deu 8:3 LSB - [3] "And He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.

Deu 8:11-14 LSB - [11] "Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God by not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I am commanding you today; [12] lest you eat and are satisfied and build good houses and live [in them], [13] and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, [14] and your heart becomes lifted up and you forget Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Deu 8:18 LSB - [18] "But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as [it is] this day.

Israel Provoked Yahweh

Deu 9:4 LSB - [4] "Do not say in your heart when Yahweh your God has driven them out before you, saying, 'Because of my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land,' but [it is] because of the wickedness of these nations [that] Yahweh is dispossessing them before you.

Deu 9:7 LSB - [7] "Remember, do not forget how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you went out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh.

Deuteronomy 4-6 - The Commandment to Love Yahweh

Keep the Commandments of Yahweh

Deu 4:2 LSB - [2] "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I am commanding you.

Rev 22:18-19 LSB - [18] I bear witness to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. [19] And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

Deu 4:3-4 LSB - [3] "Your eyes have seen what Yahweh has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who walked after Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from among you. [4] "But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you.

Deu 4:7 LSB - [7] "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is Yahweh our God whenever we call on Him?

Deu 4:10 LSB - [10] "[Remember] the day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may cause them to hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'

The Ten Commandments Repeated

Deu 5:2-5 LSB - [2] "Yahweh our God cut a covenant with us at Horeb. [3] "Yahweh did not cut this covenant with our fathers, but with us, [with] all those of us alive here today. [4] "Yahweh spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire. [5] I was standing between Yahweh and you at that time, to declare to you the word of Yahweh; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,

Deu 5:22 LSB - [22] "These words Yahweh spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, [of] the cloud and [of] the dense gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

The Commandment to Love Yahweh

Deu 6:1-2 LSB - [1] "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments, which Yahweh your God has commanded [me] to teach you, that you might do [it] in the land where you are going over to possess it, [2] so that you and your son and your grandson might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

Deu 6:4-5 LSB - [4] "Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one! [5] "You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deu 6:6-9 LSB - [6] "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. [7] "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. [8] "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as phylacteries between your eyes. [9] "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 1-3 - Wanderings in the Wilderness

John MacArthur Bible Introductions - Deuteronomy

Israel from Seir to Kadesh-barnea

Deu 1:2 LSB - [2] It is eleven days' [journey] from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.

Deu 1:5 LSB - [5] Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying,

Deu 1:34-36 LSB - [34] "Then Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and swore [an oath], saying, [35] 'Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, [36] except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed Yahweh fully.'

Deu 1:43-44 LSB - [43] "So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of Yahweh and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. [44] "And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out to meet you and pursued you as bees do and crushed you from Seir to Hormah.

Wanderings in the Wilderness

Deu 2:7 LSB - [7] "For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing."'

Deu 2:14-15 LSB - [14] "Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war came to an end from within the camp, as Yahweh had sworn to them. [15] "Moreover the hand of Yahweh was against them, to bring them into confusion from within the camp until they all came to an end.

Deu 2:30 LSB - [30] "But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land, for Yahweh your God stiffened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to give him over into your hand, as [he is] today.

I Want Jesus to Walk with Me

1. I want Jesus to walk with me.

I want Jesus to walk with me.

All along my pilgrim journey,

I want Jesus to walk with me.

2. In my trials, walk with me.

In my trials, walk with me.

When the shades of life are falling,

I want Jesus to walk with me.

3. In my sorrows, walk with me.

In my sorrows, walk with me.

When my heart within is aching.

I want Jesus to walk with me.

4. In my troubles, walk with me.

In my troubles, walk with me.

When my life becomes a burden,

I want Jesus to walk with me.

Israel Takes Possession of the Land

Deu 3:21-22 LSB - [21] "And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, 'Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; so Yahweh shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. [22] 'Do not fear them, for Yahweh your God is the one fighting for you.'

Moses Pleads to Cross the Jordan

Deu 3:24-26 LSB - [24] 'O Lord Yahweh, You have begun to show Your slave Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? [25] 'Let me, I pray, cross over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.' [26] "But Yahweh was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me; and Yahweh said to me, 'Enough! Speak to Me no more of this matter.

1 Thessalonians 1-5 - The Dead in Christ Will Rise

Thanksgiving

1Th 1:2-5 LSB -
[2] We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention [of you] in our prayers;
[3] remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father,
[4] knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election,
[5] for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full assurance; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

Entrusted with the Gospel

1Th 2:2 LSB - [2] but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much struggle.

1Th 2:13 LSB - [13] And for this reason we also thank God without ceasing that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted [it] not [as] the word of men, but [for] what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe.

Timothy’s Good Report

1Th 3:2 LSB - [2] and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith,

1Th 3:6-8 LSB - [6] But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always remember us kindly, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, [7] for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; [8] for now we [really] live, if you stand firm in the Lord.

1Th 3:9-10 LSB - [9] For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God because of you, [10] as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?

Sanctification and Love

1Th 4:7 LSB - [7] For God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification.

1Th 4:9-10 LSB - [9] Now concerning love of the brothers, you have no need for [anyone] to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, [10] for indeed you do practice it toward all the brothers who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel still more,

The Dead in Christ Will Rise

1Th 4:16-17 LSB - [16] For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. [17] Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Take comfort, Christians, when your friends in Jesus fall asleep;

John Logan (1748-1788)

Take comfort, Christians, when your friends
in Jesus fall asleep;
their better being never ends;
why then dejected weep?

Why inconsolable, as those
to whom no hope is giv’n?
Death is the messenger of peace,
and calls the soul to heav’n.

As Jesus dy’d, and rose again
victorious from the dead;
so his disciples rise, and reign
with their triumphant Head.

The time draws nigh, when from the clouds
Christ shall with shouts descend,
and the last trumpet’s awful voice
the heavens and earth shall rend.

Then they who live shall changed be,
and they who sleep shall wake;
the graves shall yield their ancient charge,
and earth’s foundations shake.

The saints of God, from death set free,
with joy shall mount on high;
the heav’nly hosts with praises loud
shall meet them in the sky,

Together to their Father’s house
with joyful hearts they go;
and dwell for ever with the Lord,
beyond the reach of woe.

A few short years of evil past,
we reach the happy shore,
where death-divided friends at last
shall meet, to part no more.

The Day of the Lord

1Th 5:2 LSB - [2] For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

1Th 5:8-10 LSB - 

[8] But since we are of [the] day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 

[9] For God has not appointed us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10] who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.

Admonishment and Instruction

1Th 5:16-19 LSB - [16] Rejoice always; [17] pray without ceasing; [18] in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. [19] Do not quench the Spirit;

1Th 5:23 LSB - [23] Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.