Joshua 1:12-18 - But to the Reubenites

1:12-15

The Reubenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh were the tribes that were allowed to stay on the other side of the Jordan, as long as they helped the other tribes conquer the land of Canaan. This is showing that the agreement was still valid and was fulfilled. Only after the conquest was completed could the fighting men of these tribes go back to occupy their own land.

1:16-18

The people then agree to abide by Joshua’s commands. They are giving him the same allegiance as they gave to Moses. In all honesty, that wasn’t much! “Just as we fully obeyed Moses, we will obey you.” This demonstrates a rather rose-tinted spectacles view of their obedience to Moses. They want the Lord to be with Joshua as he was with Moses, and they then say anyone who rebels against Joshua’s word should be put to death. The chapter finishes with the people urging Joshua to be “strong and courageous”.

Acts 2:36,37 - What shall we do?

2:36

Peter’s sermon then reaches its dramatic conclusion, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah”. When it says “God has made” we should not think that this means that until the resurrection there was somehow some doubt about whether He would be “Lord and Messiah”. Peter is simply making the point that Jesus is the Lord and Messiah. He also highlights again the fact that we crucified this same Jesus.

2:37

The people were “cut to the heart”. Biblical preaching should cut people to the heart, it should have an effect. This happens when the preaching is Biblically based and because of the work of the Holy Spirit. In this case we clearly see that the preaching was effective. The people’s response was “Brothers, what shall we do”. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict of sin, righteousness and judgement (John 16:8), and that is what happened here. The gospel demands a response, it is not a set of interesting ideas.

Joshua 1:9-11 - Have I not commanded you?

1:9

Yet another “be strong and courageous”.  Conversely, he was not to be afraid nor discouraged. Fear and discouragement try to come into all of our lives, almost constantly. We need to resist this. Yet, how can we resist? Because the Lord is with us all the time. In Phil 4:6,7 Paul tells us to be  anxious for nothing, and that God will guard our hearts and minds. As with most things in the Bible, we have a part to play, but it is God who achieves the results.

1:10,11

Joshua knows that it is now time to enter the Promised Land. The death of Moses was sad and a great loss, but the next stage of God’s plans could not be fulfilled until Moses had died. This is not to decry Moses in any way, and throughout the Bible Moses receives greater honour than Joshua. But there is a time when change is needed, when it is part of God’s purposes. So Joshua tells the officers to go throughout the camp to prepare the people for the next stage.

Acts 2:33-35 - Exalted to the right hand of God

2:33

The split between the eastern Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic church nominally occurred over the filioque clause, whether the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father alone, or also from the Son, though there were other political factors that were probably the real reason. The argument itself is incredibly stupid and of zero theological or practical significance. This verse here seems to show quite clearly that the Son is heavily involved. Anyway, Peter was concerned with more important matters, namely that the Holy Spirit was being poured out. 

2:34,35

Peter now quotes from Psalm 110:1, Psalm 110 is perhaps the most messianic of the Psalms. Jesus quoted this verse Himself, in trying to get the Pharisees to realise that their thinking was inadequate (Matt 22:44). Here Peter is again making the point that David was looking ahead to something, someone much greater than he.

Joshua 1:7,8 - Be strong and very courageous

1:7

The instruction to “Be strong and very courageous” appears again, as it will one more time in this chapter. Why such an emphasis on this? Serving as the first lieutenant and serving as the leader are very different things. Joshua needed to step up, and he needed to know that God was with him, and it was God’s plans, not Moses’ plans that were being fulfilled, and that he had a part in achieving. As well as being “strong and courageous” he needed to keep the law that Moses had given. The commands of the Law were not Moses’ commands, but God’s commands.

1:8

How was Joshua to keep the Law? By doing it, obviously, but also by keeping it close to his heart. As it says in Ps 119:11, “I have hidden your law within my heart, that I might not sin against you”. So the law was to be on his lips, i.e. he was to talk about it and speak it out, and he was to meditate on it constantly. If he did this then he would “be prosperous and successful”.

Acts 2:31,32 - God raised this Jesus to life

2:31

So David knew that he was a prophet and was speaking of what was to come, so he was speaking of the resurrection of the Messiah, the One who would not be held by death and would not see decay. All the things that were prophesied will be fulfilled. Some have already been fulfilled, some are in the process of being fulfilled, or are continually being fulfilled, and some will be fulfilled.

2:32

“God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.” The resurrection is a physical fact, it is no mere “spiritual resurrection”. And the disciples were witnessed to the resurrection, they had met the resurrected Jesus. As religion has declined in the West, the notion of a merely “spiritual resurrection” is perhaps less common in the church. There is now no value in being part of the church, indeed there is risk associated with it, unless the gospel is actually true (which it is!).

Joshua 1:5,6 - No-one will be able to stand against you

1:5

These words are specifically for Joshua. God will be with Joshua in the same way that He was with Moses. There would be those who would oppose him, but they would not succeed. Why? Because God would be with him. He would “never leave nor forsake” him. In Heb 13:5 this promise is applied to all of us. We may often fear that God is going to abandon us, or already has abandoned us. We can be confident that this is never the case.

1:6

“Be strong and courageous”. This command is repeated several times in this chapter, and is a motif for the life of Joshua. In the New Testament the equivalent is the command to be “strong in the Lord”, Eph 6:10 tells us to “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power”. What are the grounds for Joshua to “be strong and courageous”? It is because he will lead these people to inherit the land that God swore to give to their ancestors. We need to be strong and courageous in the tasks that God gives to us, for the tasks are the fulfilment of God’s purposes.

Acts 2:29,30 - He was a prophet

2:29

Peter then makes the obvious point that the words in Psalm 16 were not fulfilled in David. He was dead and buried, and they knew where his tomb was. However, this is a very important point in interpreting the Old Testament. So many of the promises in the Old Testament had clearly not been fulfilled, so there must be more to come. Now, in Christ many of them have been fulfilled, but there is still more to come, more to be fulfilled in Christ.

2:30

The fact that the promise in Psalm 16 did not mean that God was unfaithful, but that there was One to come in whom it would be fulfilled. Note also that David is referred to as a prophet. It is not just the Elijah’s, the Isaiah's and the Daniels who were prophets. The likes of Moses and David were also prophets. The One who was to come would be placed on the throne. Jesus is the true king of Israel.

Joshua 1:2-4 - Moses my servant is dead

1:2

“Moses my servant is dead”. This seems a rather obvious statement, but the key thing is that God is speaking to Joshua. From Exodus onwards there is great emphasis on the fact that God spoke to Mosed (and no one else). Now He is speaking to Joshua, illustrating that Joshua is now God’s servant. While Joshua is God’s servant, the land is being given to all the people of Israel. Joshua is to lead under God’s guidance, but he is leading so that God’s plans for all the people are fulfilled.

1:3,4

“I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” Joshua is continuing what was begun with Moses. The extent of the land being given to the Israelites is outlined here. Although the land is being given to them by the Lord, and indeed that is the only grounds whatsoever on which they could claim the land, they are still involved in the process. There are no puppets in the kingdom of God.

Acts 2:24-28 - But God raised Him from the dead

2:24

“But God raised Him from the dead”. There are many sermons on “But God ...” Men think they are in control of events, but it is God who is in control. He demonstrated this in a very clear way with the resurrection.  He did something that no one was expecting. Jesus was “freed from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him”. The reality and awfulness of death is witnessed to here, but also the fact that death has been defeated.

2:25-28

Peter now quotes from Psalm 16:8-11, the Septuagint version, which is the one most would be familiar with. Peter puts these words in the mouth of Jesus. Why could Jesus go through all that He did go through? Because he kept His eyes on the Lord, this is what gave Him strength. Likewise we are urged to fix our eyes on Jesus. So even in the midst of the most terrible circumstances His “heart was glad and His tongue rejoiced”. The key reason that Peter quotes this Psalm is 2:27, “you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay”.

Joshua 1:1 - After the death of Moses

1:1

There is a close connection between Joshua and Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy was concerned with Moses preparing the people to enter and live in the Promised Land, and with the death of Moses. In Deuteronomy Moses dies, because he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, and Joshua is his anointed successor. We essentially have a repeat of that here, with Moses described as “the servant of the Lord”, and Joshua as his assistant. From the Exodus to the edge of the Promised Land there is one leader who walks with God, with a small number of faithful men and women of God. The majority of the Hebrews are a fairly fickle bunch, rebelling at every opportunity. In Joshua we have a similar pattern, with Joshua as the faithful leader. In the Pentacheuch and Joshua the emphasis is on the faithful leader, in Judges the emphasis is more on the faithlessness of the people.

Acts 2:22,23 - A man accredited by God

2:22

Peter now speaks about Jesus. It is through Jesus that all the prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled. Peter refers to Jesus as “a man accredited by God”. God appointed Jesus, so any contrary views we may have are worthless. How did God demonstrate that Jesus was His appointed agent? By the miracles, signs and wonders. Part of the purpose of miracles etc are to demonstrate that God is doing something significant. The people had seen the miracles, the life of Jesus was not a mystery to them, for He had carried out His ministry, including the miracles, in public.

2:23

It is clear in the gospels, especially John’s gospel, that the religious leaders were the main instigators of the crucifixion of Jesus.  Here Peter says “This man was handed over to you ...” So all the people bore some responsibility. Peter also says that this was “by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge”. These events did not take God by surprise, and they were also part of the plan. We also see something of how predestination works. Men were responsible for their actions, but it was God’s plan that was being carried out. “With the help of wicked men”. This probably refers to Israelites who weren’t Jews (i.e. not followers of the religion, just scoundrels) and the Romans. We put Jesus “to death by nailing Him to the cross”. 

Joshua - Introduction

Introduction

The book of Joshua describes the conquest of the land of Canaan, following on from Moses taking them to the edge of the Promised Land. There are three main “characters” in the book. One is obviously Joshua. Originally he was called Hoshea (Num 13:8,16), but Moses later called him Joshua . Hoshea means “salvation”, whereas Joshua means “The Lord saves”. Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua. A second “character” is Israel itself, the people of Israel. Finally, and most importantly, there is God! In our English Bibles this book, along with Judges, Samuel and Kings are known as history books, but in the Hebrew Bible they are called the “Former Prophets”. This distinction is important, for while they are delineating history, events which occurred, they are far more than that. They give understanding to the events in the light of God’s will and purpose, and provide pointers for the future fulfilment of God’s plans.

In terms of the three “characters” God is clearly the most important! He has His purpose, and His standards. Joshua is leading the people to live in line with God’s ways and to carry out His purposes. Then we have the people who are, to say the least, somewhat fickle.

One of the aspects of this book is warfare and conquest, and some people are greatly offended by this. What the book is not is a “pro Israel” book, nor is the Old Testament “pro Israel”. For the Bible makes abundantly clear that Israel is a sinful people (as is the whole human race). The Canaanites were cast out of the land because of their sin. They were not a nice simple peace loving people, and so they were evicted from the land. Exactly the same standard was applied to Israel. They too would eventually be evicted from the land because of their sin.

We are not told who wrote the book. The book is variously dated from about 800 years after the events, to dates much nearer the events. The events themselves occurred either around 1400 BC or 1250 BC, depending on the date of the Exodus. There is archaeological evidence to support many of the names and details mentioned in the book.

Bibliography

TOTC Joshua, Richard Hess (1996)

Acts 2:19-21 - Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord

2:19

Now at this time there were not signs in the heavens, at least not on anything like a literal realisation of this verse. I would say that there are two things we need to be aware of. One is not to take a purely literal interpretation of verses such as these, that can limit the application and meaning of the verse. The other is that we are still looking ahead. The realisation of Joel’s prophecy had now started, but it is still ongoing.

2:20,21

There are more cosmic signs and an explicit pointing towards the “great and glorious day of the Lord”. The beginning of Acts had referred to the return of Christ, and the whole of the New Testament is founded on the principle that Jesus Christ will return as Lord of All to judge the world. There is one way to be saved, and that is by calling on the name of the Lord. I.e. putting our trust in the name of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 34:9-12 - Joshua succeeds Moses

34:9-12
The baton was now passed on to Joshua. Moses had laid his hands on Joshua, signifying the passing on the leadership anointing. Joshua was “full of the spirit of wisdom”. Moses is highlighted as being unique as a prophet, with no one like him since. Deut 18:15-19 shows that Moses knew that eventually one “like him” but also far greater would one day arise, and that prophet was Jesus (who was, of course, more than a prophet). This part of Deuteronomy was added by someone other than Moses, it would be interesting to know the date at which this part was added.  Moses met with God face to face (though he wasn’t actually allowed to see the face of God, but he met with God in ways that the rest of the people did not). He also carried out many signs and wonders. 

Acts 2:17,18 - I will pour out my Spirit

2:17

Peter now quotes from Joel 2:28-32. So the most fundamental thing that was happening was that the Spirit of the Lord was being poured out, and it was being poured out on all people. The relationship between God and man was becoming much closer and deeper, and much more widespread. The Law was in a sense a man-centred scheme. Now, it came from God, and it expressed the heart of God, so don’t misunderstand what I mean. When I say it was “man-centred” I mean man had to do it. The Law worked if man obeyed the Law. The gospel is an utterly God-centred scheme. The Law was more complicated, and was dependent upon priests. The gospel has one great high priest, Jesus, and is an awful lot simpler. So on the “inclusive” nature it applies to sons and daughters, to young and old.

2:18

It applies to God’s servants. As 2:17 mentioned “sons and daughters”, here it highlights “men and women”. This does not mean men and women are the same, but they are equal, and they are equally blessed. In both this verse and the previous one there is an emphasis on prophecy, and in later instances of the Spirit being poured out a common element is that they prophesy. There are some cessationists who argue that the purpose of the gifts was to endorse the apostles. Now that was part of the purpose, but there is no Biblical evidence that it was the whole or even the primary purpose. In these last two verses it is the generality of prophecy that is emphasised.

Deuteronomy 34:1-8 - The death of Moses

34:1-4
The book now comes to an end, as does the time of Moses. Moses went up to Mount Nebo and was shown the Promised Land. He was shown various aspects of the land. God reminds him that this was the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and  Jacob. Moses is also reminded that he will never go to the land itself. God, of course, had a much greater “Promised Land” in view, and Moses would indeed occupy that land.

34:5-8
So Moses died “according to the word of the Lord”. Everything, even death, is in the hand of the Lord and occurs according to His plan and purpose. Moses was 120 years old. His life was in three forty year chunks (the forty years for each one may be a rounded figure, and not exact). There was his birth and time in the palace of Pharaoh, his time on the run, and then his time of leading Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Moses maintained his health throughout this period. The people mourned for thirty days.

Acts 2:14-16 - These people are not drunk

2:14

Peter stands up to address the crowd. Luke says “Peter stood up with the Eleven”, it is possibly significant that he refers to “the Eleven” rather than the “twelve”, maybe indicating that the earlier selection of a replacement for Judas had been something of a waste of time. Note that it is a mere seven weeks or so since Peter was denying Jesus before a servant girl,and that previously he understood very little and misunderstood much. Now he is speaking to the crowds and explaining what was really going on.

2:15,16

Peter starts by dealing with the ludicrous accusation of the sceptics that they were all drunk. Peter points out that it was only nine o’clock in the morning, so it was hardly possible for them all to be drunk! Far from being drunk, what was happening was a fulfilment of the words spoken by the prophet Joel.

Deuteronomy 33:23-29 - Naphtali and Asher

33:23

Naphtali’s blessing is a little longer, and makes a little more sense. He is abounding with favour from the Lord, and so is full of blessing. This is what we are to be like. 

33:24,25

Asher gets a couple of verses. The mention of “let him dip his foot in oil” means let him be wealthy. Olive oil was a symbol of wealth. So the blessing is for him to be wealthy and strong.

33:26-29

The chapter finishes with a general blessing for Israel. It starts with Moses extolling the virtues of God. The greatness of God is the foundation for any good things that we might have. Jeshurun means Israel, and Israel is urged to remember who the Lord is, something they manifestly failed to do. He was their dwelling place, He was the One who provided safety and defeated their enemies. So it is for us. We must never forget this, and Israel’s repeated forgetting of this was the root cause of their downfall.

If only Israel had stuck with the Lord their future would have been so different. Instead we will see repeated failure after failure, defeat after defeat. These are interspersed with periods when they turned to God, or had a good leader, and then they saw the benefits of God, but these periods never lasted long.

Acts 2:6-13 - What does this mean?

2:6-11

The disciple speaking in all sorts of languages made a loud noise and the people heard that something was going on. The languages they heard were their own languages, and this caused amazement among the people. Moreover, the disciples were not a group of people who were highly skilled in foreign languages! They were Galileans, a group of people who were not generally held in high regard! We then get a list of the languages they heard, and an idea of the extent of the lands represented by the visitors. Moreover, the disciples were declaring the wonders of God, not just babbling random words.

2:12,13

Here we get two reactions. On the one hand there are those who were “amazed and perplexed”. They knew something different was happening. Something significant even, but they didn’t know what it meant. On the other hand there were those who mocked, claiming that the disciples were drunk. When God does something there will always be those who mock, no matter what God does.

Deuteronomy 33:20-22 - Gad and Dan

33:20,21
Gad is seen as a warrior, enlarging his domain. He also carries out the will of the Lord. We see a great variety of blessings and characteristics in all these blessings. As a totality, Israel was meant to represent all these characteristics to the world, and a demonstration of the character of God. We know that in reality she failed miserably, representing quite different characteristics. In Christ the blessings spoken of here will be fulfilled. Note that the church is meant to function as a body. It is only as a body that we represent the fulness of Christ.

33:22
Dan gets a very short piece, “Dan is a lion's cub , springing out of Bashan”. Well that’s all very nice, but what does it mean? The short answer is I haven’t a clue. The commentary by Woods does make some suggestions, but I don’t find them particularly convincing. Dan is omitted from the list of tribes in Rev 7:5-8, possibly because of her idolatry. So where does that leave us? If we take these blessings as only being fulfilled in and through Christ, then we could take it as we lion cubs, i.e. we are offspring of the Lion. This may be a bit speculative, but it is the best I’ve got!

Acts 2:4,5 - Filled with the Holy Spirit

2:4

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”. It is probably a mistake to draw a fine distinction between being filled with the Holy Spirit, and being baptised in the Spirit. We will see that by chapter 4 that the disciples have already been filled with the Spirit on three occasions. We are born again by the Spirit, and He continues having an effect on our lives. This includes both His ongoing work within us, the provision of gifts, and sometimes in dramatic ways. Here they all spoke in tongues. In 1 Cor 14 the tongues are languages that cannot, without a special gift, be understood. Here they are specific known languages.

2:5

As mentioned earlier (2:1), this was a major festival in the Jewish calendar, which is why there were numerous visitors to Jerusalem from a wide variety of nations. They are depicted as people who were serious about their Judaism, hence adding credibility to the rest of the account.  Note that it says “every nation under heaven”. Now clearly they were not literally from every nation, what it means is that there were people from most of the nations in Asia Minor and parts of Europe. We should recognise when it is a mistake to treat the Bible over-literally.

Deuteronomy 33:13-19 - Joseph and Zebulun

33:13-17
Now comes Joseph. Joseph is the one who had been sold into slavery and ended up as “prime minister” of Egypt, and this had resulted in Israel going to Egypt. Originally they enjoyed much favour, but then were subject to severe slavery. In this blessing he is seen as greatly blessed and powerful, and Ephraim and Manasseh are included in this blessing. What are we to make of all these blessings? For in the immediate future while there were some partial fulfilments of aspect so the blessings, the overall result is one of failure. It is only in Christ that we find complete fulfilment, and then in what God is making of us in Christ.

33:18,19
Zebulun and Issachar were the sons of Leah and are often lumped together. “In your going out ... in your tents”. This signifies blessing in the whole of life. Deut 28:6 talks about being blessed when you go out and when you come in. The “going out” is associated with Zebulun and the “coming in” with Issachar. They would summon people to “offer sacrifices of the righteous”. It speaks of peace and blessing.

Acts 2:1-3 - The day of Pentecost

2:1

Pentecost occurred seven weeks after Passover. It had various names in the Old Testament, “the feast of the harvest” (Ex 23:16), “the feast of weeks” (Ex 34:22; Num 28:26; Deut 16:9,10) and “day of the first fruits (Ex 34:22; Num 28:26). The immediate significance is that it was one of the great festivals when many Jews and converts to Judaism would travel to Jerusalem for the festival. The disciples were all gathered in one place.

2:2

At this point the Holy Spirit came upon them. A noticeable point in Acts is that when people are filled or baptised in the Spirit there are physical signs of this. Here there is a sound like “the blowing of a violent wind”, it somehow filled the whole house. The Holy Spirit and His associated acts are not  a nice, quiet theological event!

2:3

There were tongues of fire appearing on each of the disciples, or at least that is what it looked like. John the Baptist had said that Jesus would baptise them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Also in both Greek and Hebrew the same word can mean wind, spirit or breath. 

Deuteronomy 33:9-12 - Levi and Benjamin

33:9-11
The Levites are seen as being devoted to the Lord above their families. Jesus said we must love Him more than our families. And Jesus’ brothers effectively disowned Him on occasion. However, after the resurrection they did believe in Him, most notably James. 
The Levites were to teach the Law to Israel, and were to make fragrant offerings at the altar. Jesus’ sacrifice was the most fragrant offering to God, covering our sins once for all. He also told us to teach all nations His commands. The blessing finishes with a call for God to bless the work of his hands, and to crush his enemies. This can all be applied to Christ.

33:12
Benjamin is another one verser, providing a gap between Levi and Joseph, the two largest blessings. This is a very gentle blessing, calling on Benjamin to rest secure in the Lord, for the Lord “shields him all day long”. The part about resting “between His shoulders” is somewhat reminiscent of John 13:23,25; 21:20.

Acts 1:20-26 - May another take his place

1:20

Peter quotes two verses of Scripture, the first being from Ps 69:25, and the second from Ps 109:8. His purpose is first to show that the presence of a traitor had not been a threat to God’s plan, but was part of the plan. The second is to justify the appointment of a replacement for Judas.

1:21-26

We now come to the choosing of the replacement. First we get the appointment criteria, which were that the person must have been with them from the beginning, and that they had been a direct witness to the resurrection. This demonstrates the absolute centrality of the resurrection to the gospel. Two men were found that met the criteria. Lots were then used to choose the appointee. Proverbs 16:33 says “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord”, so they were not “trusting to luck”, but were putting the decision in God’s hands. Matthias was chosen. This is the last record of lots being used in the Bible, but perhaps that is reading too much into it. It is also noteworthy that Matthias is never mentioned again.  It could be that they needn’t have bothered choosing a twelfth apostle. We do know that later on Paul was appointed an apostle, and he receives quite a few mentions! The principle could be that it is God who chooses apostles, not man, even if we try to follow godly criteria.

Deuteronomy 33:7,8 - About Judah and Levi

33:7
Judah also gets only one verse worth of blessing, though it is a slightly longer verse. The blessing is a bit more substantial. Jesus was, humanly speaking, from the tribe of Judah. Judah is to be brought to his people, implying that he was isolated, and then for God to assist him against his foes. If we see this as pointing to Christ, then Christ was isolated from His people, i.e. in the crucifixion. But Christ will return, and Israel will repent and return to Christ.

33:8
Levi is the big winner in the blessing stakes from Moses. “Give to Levi” in the NIV is absent in the ESV, as it is in the Masoretic text. The priestly tribe is seen of increasing importance. In the same way, Christ is vital as our great high priest.  The Thummim was a negative response, and the Urim a positive one. These were used in giving decisions. In neither Exodus nor Numbers is there specific mention of Levi in the incidents referenced here. 

Acts 1:15-19 - Peter stood up

1:15-17

Peter seems to be taking the leading role. We know that he had always been (too) ready to speak up, and then had denied Jesus three times. However, Jesus had restored him (Jn 21:15-23) and told him to feed His sheep. So that is maybe why Peter is taking the lead role here. Peter tells them that Judas being a traitor was foretold in Scripture “through David”, i.e. in the Psalms. Judas had served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus. Judas had been one of the twelve and had shared in all that they did.

1:18,19

Matt 27:1-10 tells us that Judas hung himself. That is not necessarily at odds with 1:18 here. After he was cut down from being hanged his intestines may have burst out. Luke says that knowledge of this was widespread and the place was called Akeldama. These two verses are an aside included by Luke as part of his commitment to the accuracy of his account, and the testability.

Deuteronomy 33:5,6 - He was king over Jeshurun

33:5
Israel is again referred to as Jeshurun, meaning “upright one”.  God was Israel’s true king. Later in the days of Samuel they would demand a king like the other nations. This was a rejection of God. However, the ultimate king of Israel is Jesus, the Son of God. God will be king of Israel, her true king. The rest of the verse is referring to the leaders and people assembling to hear Moses give the Law to them.

33:6
Reuben was the eldest son, hence his being listed first. To be honest the blessing does not amount to much! There is a wish for the tribe to continue to exist, but to be few in number. Though the latter point is dependent upon the translation. ESV has few in number, NIV has “nor his people be few”, but then has “but let his people be few” in the margin. The great in number version is from the LXX.

Acts 1:9-14 - He was taken up

1:9-11

Jesus was then “taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight”. This is the only account of the ascension in the Bible. The disciples were looking up into the sky when two men dressed in white appeared alongside them. I think it is safe to assume that these were angels. They tell the disciples that Jesus will one day return in the same way. In the meantime they had work to do!

1:12-14

A “Sabbath day’s walk” was a little under a kilometre, 2000 cubits to be exact. Jesus had ascended at the Mount of Olives. They had a place in Jerusalem where they were staying, and all the apostles were there. Luke names all of them, so there are eleven of them. I wonder why he names all of them here. Maybe to emphasise that all of them, except Judas Iscariot, remained as Jesus’ followers. So Jesus’ words in Jn 17:12 are shown to be true, where Jesus kept all of them, except the “son of destruction”. They committed themselves to prayer. They were also joined by Mary and Jesus’ brothers. This is the last mention of Mary in the Bible. During His ministry Jesus’ brothers had been, to say the least, somewhat sceptical, to downright opposed to Jesus. However, the events of the cross and the resurrection have changed their minds. Most of us have family members who do not believe, we should never lose hope.

Deuteronomy 33:1-4 - The blessings of Moses

33:1
Moses now gives a blessing on each of the tribes of Israel. There are some parallels with Jacob’s blessings to his sons at the end of his life. With Moses the tribe of Levi receives special attention, this is in keeping with the whole tenor of Deuteronomy.

33:2
Moses’ blessings begin with God. Without God and what He has done, what He does and what He will do there is no basis for any blessing whatsoever. This is the only direct mention of Sinai in the book of Deuteronomy, elsewhere it is called Horeb. Seir is Edom, which is where Mount Sinai is. The holy ones are angels. The Jewish tradition is that the law was mediated to Moses via angels, and this may be part of the basis for that tradition.

33:3,4
God loved Israel, which is why the nation existed at all, it is why He brought them out of captivity in Egypt, and why He led them to the Promised Land. Holy ones here refers to the people of Israel. NIV says they fell down at God’s feet, while ESV has “followed”. They received instruction from the Lord. This was the Law that Moses gave them. It is described as a possession for the “assembly of Jacob”. The Law should have been valued, similarly we should value the gospel, and not corrupt it.

Acts 1:7,8 - You will receive power

1:7

In response to the apostles’ question Jesus told them “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority”. This is a little like Jesus’ response in the Olivet discourse (Matt 24:36). The disciples needed to focus on something much more important, as will become clear in the next verse. We do have a tendency to become obsessed with things that we do not need to be obsessed by. Such matters serve only as a distraction from the important things that we should be doing. Also note that it says “the Father has set by His own authority”. When we become obsessed by certain things we can easily end up effectively thinking we have the authority to decide how things should be done.

1:8

We now come to the matters that the apostles should be concerned about. They had no authority nor power to decide then the end would come. However, they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. When we obsess about things that should be no concern of ours we end up being powerless. When we walk in step with the Spirit we find that we do actually have power because we are doing what God has commanded us to do. They were to be Christ’s witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”. It has often been pointed out that this is a template for the book of Acts. The action begins in Jerusalem, then moves out to Samaria, and then to the rest of the world.

Deuteronomy 32:39-52 - Time to die

32:39-42
Then they would realise that the Lord is the only God. He is the One who gives life and takes it away. He is the one who wounds and heals. “No one can deliver out of my hand”, see also John 17:12. Israel would suffer judgement for a time, but those who attacked Israel would also suffer the wrath of God.

32:43-47
“Rejoice, you nations, with His people” Why should the nations rejoice? They could either fight the Lord or share in His salvation. This is still the choice for all peoples on earth. The Lord would “take vengeance on His enemies”, and “make atonement for His land and people”. It is only in the light of the New Testament that we can begin to fully understand the Old Testament.
Moses spoke all these words to the people, they were to learn the words of this song. They were not just words, but life. The word of the Lord gives life.

32:48-52
Moses is now about to die, but is allowed to see the land of Canaan. So God tells him to go up Mount Nebo. There he would die, but not before viewing Canaan. God also reminds Moses of the reason that he is not being allowed to enter the Promised Land.

Acts 1:5,6 - You will be baptised with the Holy Spirit

1:5

Jesus now compares baptism in the Holy Spirit to John’s baptism. John the Baptist said that one would come after him who would baptise in the Spirit and with fire (Lk 3:16). It is interesting that Jesus taught them “through the Holy Spirit” (1:2) before they had been baptised in the Spirit. They were not even to contemplate starting their mission until they had been baptised in the Spirit.

1:6

“Are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” There was a general feeling in Israel of hoping for a time when Israel would be fully restored, and a belief that God would one day do this. This was a hope for a time when they would be free of outside oppressors (such as the Roman Empire), a restoration of the Davidic kingship, and a restoration of the temple. Although a temple had been rebuilt there was a sense that it could not possibly be the final thing, for so many of God’s promises given through the prophets had clearly not been fulfilled at this point.

Deuteronomy 32:34-38 - It is mine to avenge

32:34,35
While the onslaught against Israel would be great, it would not last forever. For God had plans kept in reserve, sealed in His vaults. In Rom 9-11 Paul describes it as God’s mystery, beyond human comprehension. This was God’s plan of salvation. There would be a day of vengeance against those who attacked Israel.

32:36-38
The wrath of the Lord against Israel will not last forever, the Lord will vindicate His people. “When He sees that their strength is gone”. Why wait so long? The purpose is not just to “rescue” them, but to change them. So he lets them get to a point where they finally realise that the gods they trusted in were useless. Likewise, the gospel is not just about “not going to hell”, it is about making us like Christ. They had offered all sorts of things to the gods, but to no avail.

Acts 1:3,4 - After His suffering

1:3

“After His suffering ...” refers, of course, to the cross. Perhaps Luke is also alluding to the suffering that the apostles themselves would soon have to endure. However, the key point here is that Jesus demonstrated to them that He really was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, and spoke about the kingdom of God. When Jesus started His ministry went around teaching that the kingdom of God was near. We can have no proper concept of the kingdom of God unless we see Jesus at the centre of it all.

1:4

“While He was eating with them” is a throwaway remark, but emphasises the reality of the resurrection. Jesus was different after the resurrection, but still had a physical body. The disciples were told not to leave Jerusalem until they had received  the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts makes no sense without the Holy Spirit. “The gift my Father promised” refers back to verse like Joel 2:28-32.

Deuteronomy 32:23-33 - I will heap calamities on them

32:23-27
We now get a graphic description of how this will work out. There will be calamities, war, famine and pestilence, along with wild animals and vipers. We should note that these things happened to Israel and Judah. However, at the end of this we get a ray of hope, “I dreaded the taunt of the enemy”. God would not completely destroy, for the sake of His Name. Now some might say that this is egotistical on God’s part, but consider the way that God has dealt with the problem of sin. He sent His own Son to die on the cross for us.

32:28-33
We now get another poetic description of the state of Israel, and indeed of all mankind. We are a people without sense or discernment. Israel had seen how God had miraculously provided for them, and protected them. Setting them free from Egypt, taking them through the Red Sea. This happened to no other people. So the disasters that would come upon them could only come if God had turned against them. The people attacking them were like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Acts 1:1,2 - In my former book

1:1

“In my former book, Theophilus ...” Like His gospel (Lk 1:3), the book is dedicated to Theophilus, and his gospel is “my former book”.  In the gospel Luke “wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach”. This is significant, for it is clear that Luke did not think that the ministry of Jesus ended with the cross, resurrection and ascension. It was not merely that the disciples sought to continue the memory and teachings of Jesus after His death, but that Jesus continued His ministry through the church.

1:2

“After giving instructions through the Holy Spirit”. Jn 14:26 says that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things, and remind them of what Jesus taught them. It is interesting that it says that Jesus gave instructions through the Holy Spirit, for Jesus taught them personally. He was with them in the time up until the Ascension. So why does it say “through the Holy Spirit”? Remember how slow the disciples were to grasp anything that Jesus taught them in the gospels, and they often missed the point altogether. They needed the Holy Spirit in order to understand anything. The same is true for us today. We need to remember this both for ourselves, and for those we teach and preach to. We must preach and teach, but the Holy Spirit must also bear witness.

Deuteronomy 32:19-22 - The Lord saw this and rejected them

32:19-21
The people rejected God, so God rejected the people. This is the antithesis of the Biblical hope “they will be my people and I will be their God”. The people would then see what life was like without the Lord. But this was not a plan for eternal rejection, for in 32:21 it says “I will make them envious by a nation that has no understanding”. In Rom 10:19 Paul sees this as being fulfilled in God taking the gospel to the Gentiles. 

32:22
The wrath of God will be great. A common objection is “how can a God of love send people to hell”, or something along these lines. And a common response to this is to dispel the idea of hell. We should note that the Bible gives us no grounds whatsoever for this. We have to take the wrath of God seriously, otherwise we are not taking God seriously. We need to consider both the sternness and kindness of God (Rom 11:22).

Hebrews 13:21-25 Grace be with you all

13:21

He then prays for the Lord to equip us of everything good and for doing His will. God is our provider in every way. And He works in our lives to make us more and more like Jesus, this is what is pleasing to Him. And all this is done through Christ.

13:22-25

This may not seem like a brief letter to us! Indeed, it is one of the longest letters in the New Testament. Timothy was one of his co-workers. There are some who think that Paul was the author of this letter, and there are a number of points in the letter which may make us think that could be the case, though there are differences as well. Another theory is that Luke wrote it sort of on Paul’s behalf. There are many other theories, none can be proved so it is best not to worry too much about it! The letter closes with greetings to all the people and leaders, and with the common Pauline greeting of grace to all of them.

Deuteronomy 32:15-18 - Jeshrun grew fat and kicked

32:15
“Jeshurun” means “the upright one” and is probably an ironic reference to Israel. She was filled with all this good food and then thought that she could manage without God. Most of the West thinks that it can manage just fine without the Lord. So they abandoned God, the one who created them, and the one who was their saviour. This was a foolish thing to do, yet we do it all the time.

32:16-18
Having rejected the Lord, they turned to foreign worthless idols, and made the Lord jealous. They made sacrifices to these gods. This was utter foolishness, for these idols were worthless, totally unable to help Israel. Their ancestors (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) had not known these gods” So they deserted the Lord their God, the one they were actually totally dependent upon for everything.

Hebrews 13:18-20 - Pray for us

13:18,19

The writer asks for prayer for himself and his co-workers. It seems that they may have been the object of criticism or accusation, this is quite normal for godly leaders. The writer assures them that they have acted honourably, have a clear conscience, and seek only to please the Lord. The writer wants to be able to meet with his readers as soon as possible.

13:20

We now come to the final greetings and prayers. He starts by going to the blood of Jesus. God is referred to as the God of peace. God was against us because of our sin, but through Christ we now have peace with God. “Who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus”. How does this work? The implication is that if the death of Jesus had not been sufficient to clear our debt, our guilt, then Christ would not have been raised, indeed could not. Jesus was fully human, and His blood paid the price in full, so He was raised from the dead. His resurrection is proof that His sacrifice was sufficient.

Deuteronomy 32:10-14 - In a desert land He found him

32:10-12
This section describes how Israel came about. The Lord found them in a barren wasteland. This probably refers to Israel in captivity in Egypt, though I suppose it could refer to God first choosing Abraham. God looked after the people, protecting them. He did this as if they were the “apple of His eye”. We are precious to God. The Lord led them and protected them. No foreign god nor idol did this, yet Israel turned to idols, claiming they had set them free. The first example of this is the golden calf incident.

32:13,14
“He made him ride on the heights of the land”. This is describing Israel’s state before they rejected the Lord. The people were fed and nourished by the Lord, they were richly provided for. We often think that the Lord will not provide (though we probably won’t admit that that is what we are thinking). Our God is a God who provides, and does so richly. He is also an enabling God. We do not just receive provision from Him, but we receive capabilities.

Hebrews 13:16,17 - Have confidence in your leaders

13:16

Worshipping and praising God is also intensely practical. So here the writer urges his hearers to “do good”, and to “share with others”. The world can seek to suffocate us at times, we can forget to do good, and we can become so self-absorbed that we don’t think of others. This is not God’s way. He is pleased when we do good and do think of others, and act on this.

13:17

“Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority”. If we are led by godly men we can have confidence in them. Their leadership will go against the teachings of the world. If our leaders are teaching in the spirit of the world, then we can have no confidence in them at all, for they will lead us nowhere good. But if their leading is in line with God’s word we can trust them, even if this puts us against the world. They are then acting as God’s shepherds and we should submit to them. Their job is difficult, and we should not seek to make it any more difficult, but instead seek to make it a joy for them.