October - Reading 25

Good afternoon -

Our final Scriptures for the month of October are:

John 7:25-36

1 Peter 5:8-14

Song of Solomon 8:8-14

Lamentations 4-5

May God bless you as you read from His Word.

 

Good evening -

I took advantage of the fact that yesterday was the final day of the month to procrastinate my comments on the passages.

In the final chapters of Lamentations we see more of the horrors and misery that accompanied the two and a half year seige of Jerusalem. This why the poet says in 4:6 that the punishment of Jerusalem exceeds the punishment of Sodom. Sodom was destroyed in a day and never had to witness the atrocities such as the cannibalism mentioned in verse 10. The author does recognize that these punishments were brought on by the Jewish people themselves but it does not diminish the anguish he feels for his people.

In the Gospel of John we read about Christ addressing the doubt the people felt because they knew Him. The Jews believed that the origin of the Messiah would not be known by any man. Christ sets this into perspective that He was actually from Heaven, and indeed, none of His audience knew it.

1Peter ends with the advice to remain self-controlled and alert. This may have been inspired by Peter's own failures in Gathsemane and in the courtyard outside of the trial (Matthew 27:36-45; 69-75).

May God bless you

- Clint

 

Somg of Songs

Song of Songs 8:8-12 The Worth of Love

The maiden tells her peers in the harem how she got to this point. Her brothers had done everything in their power to protect her chastity, metaphorically, made her a wall. They had done so not to increase her wealth, but their own. They would build battlements of silver on her wall of chastity. When they found that she was a door, they walled her in in order to protect their opportunity. The plan all along had been to capitalize on her beauty.

It worked for a while. She was a wall. But when she matured she became as “one who brings peace” to the shepherd, that is, she surrendered herself to him.

The maiden then declares that for anyone else, even Solomon, she is a wall. He already had many vineyards. Her vineyard, her body, was hers. She had not had her experiences with the shepherd because of a lack of scruples or wanton desire. She had experienced them because she loved him.

Song of Songs 8:13-14 The Maiden Awaits the Shepherd.

The poem ends as it began in verse 1:14. One can almost see the maiden sitting in splendor looking longingly out a palace window hoping that once again the poor shepherd will come for her.

 

When our schedule resumes on November 1, our Scriptures will be:

John 7:37-44

2 Peter 1:1-11

Job 1

Ezekiel 1-3

 

When our schedule resumes on November 1, our Scriptures will be:

John 7:37-44

2 Peter 1:1-11

Job 1

Ezekiel 1-3

 

When our schedule resumes on November 1, our Scriptures will be:

John 7:37-44

2 Peter 1:1-11

Job 1

Ezekiel 1-3

 

When our schedule resumes on November 1, our Scriptures will be:

John 7:37-44

2 Peter 1:1-11

Job 1

Ezekiel 1-3

 

When our schedule resumes on November 1, our Scriptures will be:

John 7:37-44

2 Peter 1:1-11

Job 1

Ezekiel 1-3