The 1st missionary journey of Apostle Paul

Thursday 2021.07.29

Expelled at Antioch Pisidia, fled from Iconium, stoned at Lystra

Today I read chapters eleven through fourteen of the Acts of the Apostles. The passage in Acts 13:4 - 14:26 records the account of the First Missionary Journey of the Apostle Paul accompanied by Barnabas.

Upon being sent out by the assembly at Antioch, Paul and Barnabas made their way to the nearby port of Seleucia Pieria bringing John Mark along with them. From Seleucia, they sailed to the city of Salamis on the island of Cyprus, crossed the entire length of Cyprus to the southern city of Paphos, then sailed northward to Perga in Pamphylia.

John Mark left them at Perga and returned to Jerusalem:

Acts 31:13 KJV
Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.

From Perga, Paul and Barnabas travelled northwards by land to Antioch in Pisidia where after preaching to many people, they were expelled by devout and honourable women and chief men of the city who were stirred up by the Jews (Acts 13:50).

Paul and Barnabas went on to Iconium where some Gentiles and Jews plotted to capture and stone them, making them flee from Iconium to Lystra.

At Lystra, after Paul had healed a cripple, both of Paul and Barnabas were mistaken by the locals for being pagan gods who had come to visit them. Eventually a group of Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They stirred up the people to stone Paul and to drag him out of the city, leaving him for dead. (14:19)

However, Paul recovered and continued his journey with Barnabas to Derbe, then returned to Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, and finally back to Perga in Pamphylia, preaching the gospel and ordaining elders in every assembly (Acts 14:23). From Perga they visited one more city, Attalia in Pamphylia, before they sailed all the way back to Antioch.

Growing in favour with God and Man

Monday 2021.07.26 12:44 GMT+8

Two verses in the Bible talk about growing in stature, in favour with God and with men.

In the NT, a verse often heard in sermons and in bible studies describes the manner in which our Lord Iesous grew up

Luke 2:52
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

In the OT, a similar description is made of the young boy Samuel who was to become a renowned prophet of the LORD

1 Samuel 2:26 NIV
And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favour with the LORD and with men.

Pouring out your soul to the LORD

Monday 2021.07.26 12:35 hrs GMT+8

In olden days in Israel, it was a custom to pray aloud. That day, however, Hannah was in deep anguish at the temple. She prayed silently. Eli the priest saw her lips move but could not hear her voice. He thought she was drunk.

About two months ago, I wrote briefly on the practice of praying aloud. You can read my posts here:

The Power of Spoken Words

and

Praying with one voice

Eli didn't know that Hannah was pouring out her soul to the LORD in her anguish at not having a child for many years. She was praying silently out of grief.

1 Samuel 1:9 - 16 NIV
9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

The Three "I Am"s

Thursday 2021.07.22

My NT reading today covers John chapters ten and eleven. This passage includes an account of our Lord telling his audience three "I Am"s about himself.

Firstly, he told the Pharisees in 10:7 that he is the Door by which anyone who enters will be saved.

John 10:7 - 9 KJV
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Secondly, in 10:11 that he told them that he is the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep.

John 10:11 - 16 KJV
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

And thirdly, in 11:25 the Lord told Martha whose brother Lazarus had died and was buried four days earlier, "I am the Resurrection and the Life".

John 11:25 - 26 KJV
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

The Covenant Renewed at Shechem

Wednesday 2021.07.21

This afternoon I read the final three chapters of the book of Joshua, containing the account of the return of Reuben, Gad and half tribe of Manasseh from Shiloh on the west of the Jordan to Gilead and Bashan on the east.

Joshua 22:7 - 9 NIV
7 (To the half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given land in Bashan, and to the other half of the tribe Joshua gave land on the west side of the Jordan along with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them,
8 saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth—with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing—and divide the plunder from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.”
9 So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan to return to Gilead, their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the Lord through Moses.

The last two chapters also contain an account of Joshua giving his final instructions, reminders, and warnings to the children of Israel to hold fast to worshipping Yehovah, to obey all His commandments, and not to turn to idolatry.

Before he died at the age of 110 years, Joshua led the Israelites to renew their covenant with Yehovah at Shechem (Joshua 24:25 - 27), a covenant which was first given through Moses at Sinai in the land of Horeb (Exodus 19 - 24), then renewed in the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 28 - 31) before Moses passed away.

Joshua 24:25 - 27 NIV
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.
26 And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.
27 “See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”

Allocation of cities for refuge and for Levi

Tuesday 2021.07.20

Today I read from Joshua chapters twenty and twenty-one about the designation of six cities of refuge for those who have unintentionally taken the life of a neighbour to hide from the "avenger of death".

Three cities were chosen from the west side of R.Jordan
• Kadesh, Napthali
• Shechem, Ephraim
• Kiriath Arba, Judah

And three cities from the east side
• Bezer, Reuben
• Ramoth Gilead, Gad
• Golan Bashan, half tribe of Manasseh

Joshua 20:7 - 8 NIV
7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
8 East of the Jordan (on the other side from Jericho) they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh.

In chapter twenty-one, an account is also given of forty-eight cities being set aside for the tribe of Levi to cultivate crops and raise livestock:

• Kohathite descendants of Aaron: 13 towns (from Judah, Simeon, Benjamin)
• Kohathite not descendants of Aaron: 10 towns (from Ephraim, Dan, half Manasseh)
• Gershonites: 13 towns (from Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, half Manasseh in Bashan)
• Merarites: 12 towns (from Reuben, Gad, Zebulun)

Joshua 21
4 The first lot came out for the Kohathites, according to their clans. The Levites who were descendants of Aaron the priest were allotted thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin.
5 The rest of Kohath’s descendants were allotted ten towns from the clans of the tribes of Ephraim, Dan and half of Manasseh.
6 The descendants of Gershon were allotted thirteen towns from the clans of the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7 The descendants of Merari, according to their clans, received twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.

Dividing the Promised Land

Monday 2021.07.19

My OT reading for today covers Joshua chapters twelve through nineteen, recording the account of Joshua allocating to each of the twelve tribes (excluding the Levites, with Joseph having two tribes through his descendants Ephraim and Manasseh) a clearly demarcated portion of the Promised Land, with two and a half tribes remaining on the east side of River Jordan, while the majority nine and a half tribes on the west.

By the time we reach the account in Joshua chapter eighteen, we read that only five tribes had successfully conquered and settled in the land alloted to them.

They were:
• Reuben (east of R.Jordan)
• Gad (east of R.Jordan)
• Half tribe Manasseh (east of R.Jordan)
• The other half of Manasseh (west of R.Jordan)
• Ephraim (west of R.Jordan) and
• Judah (west of R.Jordan)

There remaining seven tribes had not conquered any land on the west side of River Jordan, and Joshua was not happy with the situation.

These seven tribes were:
• Benjamin
• Simeon
• Zebulun
• Issachar
• Asher
• Naphthali and
• Dan

In Joshua 18:3 - 5, Joshua reproved these seven tribes for their slackness in possessing the land and ordered each tribe to appoint three representatives to survey the unconquered land and to divide it into seven portions.

Joshua 18:3 - 5 ASV
3 And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go in to possess the land, which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, hath given you?
4 Appoint for you three men of each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall arise, and walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance; and they shall come unto me.
5 And they shall divide it into seven portions: Judah shall abide in his border on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their border on the north.
6 And ye shall describe the land into seven portions, and bring the description hither to me; and I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah our God.

The Twelve sons of Jacob

These notes were first written on Sat 2021.06.19 12:56 hrs GMT+8
Reading from Genesis chapter 35

Genesis 35:23 - 26 NIV records that Jacob had twelve sons, and lists them in the following order:

1. Sons of Leah:
   • Reuben (firstborn of Jacob)
   • Simeon
   • Levi
   • Judah
   • Issachar
   • Zebulun
2. Sons of Rachel:
   • Joseph
     (father of Manasseh and Ephraim, who were later adopted by Jacob to share in the inheritance equally, Genesis 48:5)
   • Benjamin
3. Sons of Rachel's maidservant Bilhah:
   • Dan
   • Naphtali
4. Sons of Leah's maidservant Zilpah:
   • Gad
   • Asher

The above order was largely reflected in the way the twelve tribes of Israel camped around the Tabernacle during their wandering in the wilderness (Numbers 2:1-34, 3:14-39)

See my blog post on "The twelve tribes of Israel in the wilderness" written eight years ago:

https://theancientswisdom.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel-in.html
Date: 2013.12.31

The Counting of the Levites

Wednesday 2021.07.07

Initially, I wrote this post on my daily Bible Reading log. After that, I thought it is useful knowledge to be posted here under Wisdom of the Ancients blog too.

This morning I began reading the book of Numbers. Etymologically, the title "Numbers" came from a word that means "a listing". The first three chapters list the number of fighting men twenty years old and above, a total of about 603,000 in all the Twelve Tribes (descendants of eleven children of Jacob, not counting Levi, with Joseph represented by his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh).

Also listed are the numbers of the three clans of Levites: Gershon, Kohath and Merari, a total of 22,000. The Levites were not counted as part the tribes of Israel but instead were set apart, consecrated to serve the LORD in the setting up, the operation, and the dismantling of the Tabernacle.

Interestingly, each Levite represent a first born son of the Twelve Tribes. In other words, each life of the Levite is the redemption price "paid" from the Twelve Tribes to redeem their first born sons, all of whom belong to the LORD

After counting the 22,000 Levites from the clans of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, a count of all the first-born among the Twelve Tribes was commanded by the LORD. It came to 22,273 in total, i.e. there were 273 first-borns more than there were Levites serving the LORD. The excess number of first-borns were redeemed by collecting five shekels of silver from each of the "extra" first-borns, amounting to 1,365 shekels of silver, and giving the silver to the Levites.