M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
28 Then it came time for the Philistines to gather their forces to go to war against the people of Israel, and Achish spoke to David.
Achish: Of course you and your men will join us in the coming fight.
David: 2 Good. You will see what your servant can do in battle.
Achish: Excellent. You will be my bodyguard as long as I live.
3 Remember, Samuel had died some time previously and had been mourned by all of Israel. He was buried in his hometown of Ramah, and his wisdom died with him.
Another important thing to know: Saul had ordered all of the mediums and any others who claimed to speak to the dead thrown out of Israel.
4 The Philistines gathered for war, and they made their camp at Shunem. Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul looked out over the forces of the Philistines, he was filled with fear and lost his confidence. 6 Saul asked the Eternal for guidance, but He did not give him an answer, neither in dreams nor by consulting the Urim nor through prophecy.
This is simultaneously one of Saul’s greatest offenses against God and one of the times when he is a sympathetic character. As he comes to battle the Philistines, he has been cut off from any contact with God. It must seem as though everyone conspires against him, that he is all alone in the world; so, against his own decree forbidding such a thing, he consults a medium who can speak to the dead, a dark practice according to Hebrew law.
Saul (to his servants): 7 Find me a woman, a spiritual medium—someone I can ask for guidance.
Servants: A spiritual medium lives in En-dor.
8 So Saul disguised himself in different clothes, and taking two men with him, he went to see this woman in the dark of night.
Saul: I need you to call up someone from the grave—I’ll tell you who—so I can ask him questions.
Medium of En-dor: 9 Don’t you know what Saul has decreed? You should know that he has thrown all the mediums and all others who speak for the dead out of Israel. Why are you asking me to risk my life?
Saul (swearing by the Lord): 10 Nothing bad will happen to you. I promise.
Medium of En-dor: 11 Whom do you want me to bring up from the dead for you?
Saul: I need to speak with the prophet Samuel.
12 The medium began her rituals, but when she began to see Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, realizing that her customer was Saul.
Medium of En-dor: Why have you lied to me? You’re really Saul!
Saul: 13 Don’t be frightened. Nothing will happen to you. Just tell me, what do you see?
Medium of En-dor: I see someone who looks like a divine being rising out of the ground!
Saul: 14 Describe him for me.
Medium of En-dor: An old man is coming, wrapped in a robe.
Saul knew this was Samuel, and he dropped to the ground, putting his face to the floor.
Samuel (to Saul): 15 Why have you disturbed me by calling me up from the land of the dead?
Saul: I don’t know what to do! The Philistines have gathered against us, and the True God has turned His back on me. He won’t answer me in dreams or by prophecy, so I’ve summoned you for advice.
Samuel: 16 Saul, why do you ask me what to do since you know the Eternal One has turned against you and is now your enemy? 17 He has done to you exactly as He told you through me, for He has wrestled the kingdom away from you in order to give it to your neighbor, David. 18 You did not obey the Eternal One’s orders to be an agent of His wrath on Amalek. That is why He has brought these circumstances upon you today. 19 And that is not all. He will hand you and your kingdom over to the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be where I am. The Eternal One will hand your entire army over to the Philistines.
20 When Saul heard Samuel’s words, he collapsed to the ground in terror and weakness, for he had not eaten all day and all night. 21 The woman came to him, and she saw that he was filled with fear.
Medium of En-dor: Your servant has done what you asked. I have risked my life to do it. 22 Now, please, listen to your servant. Have something to eat before you go. Eat what I offer you, so you can leave with some strength.
Saul: 23 No, I won’t eat anything.
His servants joined her in urging the king to eat, and at last he listened to them. He rose from the ground and sat on the bed. 24 The woman took a fatted calf, slaughtered it, and prepared it. She took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread. 25 When the food was ready, she served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate it before they departed that night.
Meat left over from pagan temple sacrifices was sold daily in the market. It was about the only option available for those who didn’t raise their own livestock. Paul knows that idols are nothing really because there is only one God, but another brother thinks he is engaging in a heinous act and supporting a pagan temple by eating food that comes from a pagan sacrifice. So what is a believer to do? Well, it is not a matter of knowledge: Who’s right? Who’s wrong? It’s a matter of love. Paul says that he has the right to eat the meat, but that he gladly gives up that right for the sake of the other brother. Paul limits his freedom out of love for the Corinthians.
9 Am I not truly free? Am I not an emissary[a] of the Liberating King? Have I not personally encountered Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work, my mission in the Lord? 2 Even if others don’t recognize that I am His emissary,[b] at least you do because you are the seal, the living proof that the Lord commissioned me to be His representative.
3 Let me speak in my own defense against those keeping themselves busy picking me apart. 4 Have we lost the right to eat and drink? 5 Have we lost the right to bring along our wives, our sisters in Jesus? Other emissaries travel with their wives, and so do the brothers of our Lord, not to mention Cephas. 6 Is it just Barnabas and I who have lost the right to earn a living? 7 Is a soldier in combat required to pay his own salary? Who would plant a vineyard and not enjoy one grape from it? Who would care for and nurture a flock but never taste the fresh milk?
8 These ideas aren’t based on merely human notions; the law says these same things. 9 In Moses’ law, it is written: “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out your grain.”[c] Is God’s concern here limited to oxen, 10 or does He speak here ultimately for our benefit? These things were written for us, so as the plowman plows and the worker gathers, they can labor with the hopeful expectation that they, too, will share in the good harvest. 11 The same principle applies here: Is it too much to ask that we would be compensated materially for planting life- and world-changing spiritual realities? 12 If you have rightfully supported others, shouldn’t we deserve your support even more?
But we have never insisted on this right; instead, we would rather put up with anything than to put some obstacle in the way that prevents even one person from experiencing the good news of the Anointed One. 13 Perhaps it has escaped your notice that leaders and priests of the temple make their livings off the temple and that those who tend the altar eat their dinners from part of the sacrifices. 14 So it shouldn’t be a stretch that the Lord has arranged for preachers of the gospel to make a living by those who have embraced and been liberated by the gospel.
Paul works hard. He travels the known world starting new churches and writes letters instructing other churches. Simultaneously, he makes and sells tents to fund his basic needs and missionary travels. Would Paul’s time be better spent training young pastors or preaching to a group of church leaders rather than making tents? By giving his churches his service for free, is he doing a disservice to those who will serve these churches in the future and have families to care for?
15 Despite what I’ve said here, I have never staked a claim for such things, and I have no intention to start now; that’s not why I’m writing. I would rather die than have anyone (including me) invalidate my right to boast. 16 You see, if I preach the good news, it’s nothing to brag about. This urgency, this necessity has been laid on me. In fact, if I were to stop sharing this good news, I’d be in big trouble. 17 You see, my story is different. I didn’t volunteer for this. Had I volunteered to preach the good news, then I would deserve a wage, a reward, or something. But I didn’t choose this. God chose me and entrusted me with this mission. 18 You’re looking for the catch. I know you’re wondering, “What reward is he talking about?” My reward, besides being with you and knowing you, is sharing the good news of the Anointed One with you free and clear. That means I don’t insist on all my rights for support in the good news; 19 that also means that I am free of obligations to all people. And, even though no one (except Jesus) owns me, I have become a slave by my own free will to everyone in hopes that I would gather more believers. 20 When around Jews, I emphasize my Jewishness in order to win them over. When around those who live strictly under the law, I live by its regulations—even though I have a different perspective on the law now—in order to win them over. 21 In the same way, I’ve made a life outside the law to gather those who live outside the law (although I personally abide by and live under the Anointed One’s law). 22 I’ve been broken, lost, depressed, oppressed, and weak that I might find favor and gain the weak. I’m flexible, adaptable, and able to do and be whatever is needed for all kinds of people so that in the end I can use every means at my disposal to offer them salvation. 23 I do it all for the gospel and for the hope that I may participate with everyone who is blessed by the proclamation of the good news.
24 We all know that when there’s a race, all the runners bolt for the finish line, but only one will take the prize. When you run, run for the prize! 25 Athletes in training are very strict with themselves, exercising self-control over desires, and for what? For a wreath that soon withers or is crushed or simply forgotten. That is not our race. We run for the crown that we will wear for eternity. 26 So I don’t run aimlessly. I don’t let my eyes drift off the finish line. When I box, I don’t throw punches in the air. 27 I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after all this, after I have brought the gospel to others, I will still be qualified to win the prize.
After such visual and visceral displays as representing Jerusalem on a brick and prophesying against it; lying on his side for over a year; and taking his own cut hair, burning it, and scattering it with a sword; Ezekiel must have acquired quite a reputation. His very life becomes an object lesson and a teaching display for the Judean exiles.
God is concerned about the glory of His name, so He must punish Jerusalem and the Judean population for their adulterous rebellion. Ironically, it is in the very places where God desires to have sweet and unhindered fellowship with His people that all types of lewd, profane acts of worship transpire. If there is any confusion as to what the Eternal is planning to do, then one need look no further than Ezekiel’s daily behavior.
7 The word of the Eternal came to me.
2 Eternal One: Son of man, this is what I, the Eternal Lord, have to say to the land of Israel:
The end! The end has arrived
for the four corners of the land and everyone in it.
3 The end is upon you,
and I will release My wrath against you.
I will judge you according to your ways,
and I will repay you for all your shocking actions.
4 I will not look on you with pity or spare you—
I will fully repay you for your shocking behavior and despicable deeds.
Then you will know I am the Eternal One.
5 This is what I, the Eternal Lord, have to say:
Wave after wave of evil is coming!
6 The end has arrived! The end has arrived!
It has awakened against you! It has arrived!
7 Doomsday has come for all who live in this land.
The time has arrived; the day is near;
There is no joy upon the mountains—
only shouts of alarm and horrifying terror.
8 It won’t be long now until I pour out My wrath on you,
until I unleash My fierce anger against you;
I will judge you according to your ways
and repay you for all your shocking actions.
9 I will not look on you with pity or spare you.
I will fully repay you for your shocking behavior and despicable deeds.
Then you will know it is I, the Eternal, who have crushed you.
10 Look, the day is here! It has arrived!
Your doom has erupted.
The rod has budded; conceit has blossomed!
11 The consequence—violence—has grown up into a rod to punish the wicked;
no one will be left, not one of the many!
No wealth, no valuables will be left from this doomsday.
12 The time has arrived; the day is now.
Buyer, don’t celebrate; seller, don’t grieve,
for My anger will come to burn all of you!
13 The seller won’t regain his treasures while they both live;
for the vision has to do with everyone, and no one will escape My wrath!
Because of each person’s iniquity,
no one will be able to hold onto his life.
14 Though the trumpet will sound to get everything ready,
no troops will march into battle
because My wrath is against all the people of Jerusalem.
15 The sword falls on anyone outside the city;
disease and famine ravage those who remain inside.
Those in the open will die by the sword;
those inside the city walls will be consumed by famine and disease.
16 The survivors will run for the mountains
and moan like doves because of their sins.
17 Every hand will go weak and limp;
every knee will turn to water.
18 They will dress in sackcloth,
and horror will cover them.
Their faces will be plastered with shame,
and their heads will be shaved.
19 They will throw their silver into the streets
and treat their gold as impure, worthless,
Once they discover their silver and gold cannot rescue them
on the day the Eternal ignites His fierce anger.
They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their bellies with their riches,
for their earthly riches are what made them stumble into sin.
20 They took pride in their attractive jewelry
and constructed breathless idols and disgusting images with it.
Therefore, I will make their riches impure and disgusting to them.
21 I will give their religious rubbish away to strangers
as the wicked marauders of the earth loot and defile their treasures.
22 I will turn My head
so they may desecrate My treasured place;
Pillagers will enter into it, profane it, and vandalize it.
23 Forge a chain,
for the land is soaked in blood and violence,
And the city is brimming with brutality!
24 I will stir up the very worst of the nations
to take possession of their houses.
I will put an end to the strong ones’ pride,
and their most sacred sites will be desecrated.
25 When the horror of My wrath comes, they will look for a calm place,
but there will be nothing but torrential terror.
26 One disaster after another will hit them;
one bad report after another will come to them.
Then they will seek a vision from any prophet,
but no instruction in the law from the priest
and no wise counsel from the elders will be found.
27 The king will grieve,
the prince will wrap himself in despair,
and the hands of the common people will tremble.
I will deal with them according to the way they dealt with others;
I will judge them according to way they judged others.
Then they will know I am the Eternal One.
Psalm 45
For the worship leader. A contemplative song[a] of the sons of Korah to the tune “The Lilies.”[b] A love song.
1 My heart is bursting with a new song;
lyrics to my king erupt like a spring
for my king, to my king;
my tongue is the pen of a poet, ready and willing.
2 Better by far are you than all others, my king;
gracious words flow from your lips;
indeed, God has blessed you forever.
Psalm 45 describes the beauty, power, and influence of God’s anointed king and may have been composed in honor of a royal wedding.
Whether we realize it or not, the overall well-being of a nation is tied directly to its leaders. When the leaders are just and make good decisions, then the welfare of a nation is secure. But when leaders are unjust and make poor decisions, and they pursue personal agendas rather than the public good, then nations suffer. This is why Scripture instructs those of faith to pray for all people everywhere, especially that those in authority would lead the world to dignity and peace (1 Timothy 2:1-3).
Psalm 45 celebrates that rare breed, a godly king who pursues truth and justice. It anticipates a joyful union and future children who will one day follow in the steps of their father. May the world witness a new breed of leader, fashioned in the image of this psalm.
3 With your sword at your side,
you are glorious, majestic,
a mighty warrior.
4 Ride on in splendor; ride into battle victorious,
for the sake of truth, humility, and justice.
Perform awesome acts, trained by your powerful right hand.
5 Razor-sharp arrows leap from your bow
to pierce the heart of the king’s foes;
they lie, defeated, before you.
6 O God, Your throne is eternal;
You will rule your kingdom with a scepter of justice.
7 You have loved what is right and hated what is evil.
That is why God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness and lifted you above your companions.[c]
8 All of your clothing is drenched in the rich scent of myrrh, aloes, and cassia;
In palaces decked out with ivory, beautiful stringed instruments play for your pleasure.
9 At a royal wedding with the daughters of kings among the guests of honor,
your bride-queen stands at your right, adorned in gold from Ophir.
10 Hear this, daughter; pay close attention to what I am about to say:
you must forget your people and even your father’s house.
11 Because the king yearns for your beauty,
humble yourself before him, for he is now your lord.
12 The daughter of Tyre arrives with a gift;
the wealthy will bow and plead for your favor.
13 A stunning bride, the king’s daughter waits within;
her clothing is skillfully woven with gold.
14 She, in her richly embroidered gown, is carried to the king,
her virgin companions following close behind.
15 They walk in a spirit of celebration and gratefulness.
In delight, they enter the palace of the king.
16 O king, in this place where your ancestors reigned, you will have sons;
you will make them princes throughout all the land.
17 I will make sure your name is remembered by all future generations
so that the people will offer you thanks and praise now and forever.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.