Reading for March 8th

 Read Zechariah 3.1-10. In 3.1-10: The fourth vision: Joshua's installation as high priest. This vision may have been a later addition to the vision sequence; it does not open with the question and answer exchange between Zechariah and the interpreting angel that begins the other visions. In verse 1: The term Satan dos not refer to the prince of evil familiar from early Christian writings. It is a common noun, not a name, in Hebrew and means "adversary" or "accuser," that member of God's heavenly court designated to bring cases against individuals (Job 1.6). In verse 2; A brand plucked from the fire refers to someone who has survived God's judgment of Israel and Judah (Am 4.11). In verses 3-5: The reclothing of Joshua symbolizes his sanctification for priestly office 9Lev 8.6-9) In verse 7; My house is the Temple in Jerusalem. In verse 8: My servant and the Branch are royal titles used of the Davidic dynasty (2 Sam 7.5; Jer 23.5) and may be used here of Zerubbabel (4.6-10a; Jer 23.5), governor of Judah and a member of the Davidic family. In verse 9:  The seven faceted stone and its inscription are images or royalty (2 Sam 12.30; 2 Kings 11.12). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 7th

 Read Zechariah 2.6-13. In 2.6-13: A Charge to the exiles. A brief speech, urging Judah's exiles to return from exile in Babylon, interrupts the sequence of visions. In verse 7: Babylon is the city to which the majority of Judah's exiles were deported (2 Kings 24.14-15; 25.11-12). In verse 10: Daughter Zion is Jerusalem. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 6th

  Read Zechariah 2.1-5. In 2.1-5: the third vision: The measuring line and Jerusalem's resettlement. In verse 1: The man with a measuring line is a surveyor making preparations for rebuilding Jerusalem. In verse 5: God, not its walls (v. 4) will protect Jerusalem. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 5th

 Read Zechariah 1.18-21. In 18-21: The second vision: The four horns and Judah's security. In verse 18: The horn, a symbol of power (Ps 18.2), represents the strength of the nations that have conquered and exiled the Israelite people. The number four probably represents totality rather than specific countries. In verses 20-21: The four blacksmiths strike off the horns, thus putting an end to the power of the nations to dominate Judah. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 4th

 Read Zechariah 1.7-17. In 1.7-17: The first vision: The heavenly horsemen and God's plans for Jerusalem.  This is the first of eight visions that make up the core of Zechariah's prophecy. In verse 7: The chronological notice dates the entire vision complex three months later than Zechariah's opening speech, or early in 519 BCE. In verse 8: These horsemen are God's heavenly patrol, keeping watch over the world's affairs (v. 10). The significance of the horses' colors uncertain, but the number four represents totality. In verse 11: peace in this case is undesirable, since the plight of Jerusalem remains unchanged. In verse 12: The Babylonian exile lasted only 50 years (587-538 BCE) not seventy, but Jeremiah mentions a 70-year period of servitude to Babylon (Jer 25.11-12), to which Zechariah may be referring. In verse 16: The rebuilding of the Temple is the central concern of Zechariah's contemporary Haggai. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 3rd

 Read Zechariah 1.1-6. In 1.1-6: Zechariah's opening speech. Zechariah's visions (1.7-6.8) are introduced and concluded (chs. 7-8) by speeches in which Zechariah urges his listeners to embrace the social responsibilities and just behavior preached by the prophets before him. In verse 1; Zechariah's opening and closing speeches 1.1; 7.1), together with his vision (1.70, are dated. the second year of Darius (522-486 BCE) is 520 BCE, the same year in which Haggai preached ((Hag 1.1; 2.1, 10). In verse 4: The former prophets are Zechariah's predecessors who preached before the fall of Jerusalem. Zechariah quotes words similar to Jeremiah's (Jer 25.5). Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 2nd

 Read Haggai 2.20-3. In 2.20-23: The promise to Zerubbabel. The focus shifts from the reconstruction of the Temple to the installation of Zerubbabel as Judah's leader In verses 21-22: Descriptions of Judah's restoration are often accompanied by references to the conquest of other nations. (Joel 3), While Zerubbabel is only a governor of Judah (1.1; 2.21) under Persian authority, he is a member of the Davidic family that had ruled Jerusalem (see comment on 1.1), and Haggai me be announcing a greater role for him. Both my servant (2 Sam 7.5) and signet ring (Jer 22.24) maybe royal images anticipating a revival of the Davidic dynasty. Comments or Questions..

Reading for March 1st

 Read Haggai 2.10-19. In 2.10-19: The promise of agricultural bounty. Haggai announces that God will bless the people's work on the Temple by granting them good harvests. In verse 12: The point of this priestly decision is that holiness cannot be transferred (consecrated meat carried home to eat; Lev 6.26-27; 7.16-17). In verse 13: The point of this priestly decision is that uncleanness can be transferred (from a "corpse" through a person to other objects; Num 5.1-4). In verse 14: Both of these previous questions (vv. 12-13) simply set up Haggai's point in this verse: Without a proper worship space, uncleanness has tainted all that the people have done. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 28th

 Read Haggai 1.15b-2.9. In 1.15b-2.9: The vision of the new Temple's glory. Haggai encourages those whose first efforts at reconstruction of the Temple seem insignificant. In 2.3: Its former glory recalls the splendor of Solomon's Temple (1 Kings 6), which was destroyed when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 587 BCE (2 Kings 25.9, 13-17). In verse 4: The people of the land may refer to those who had remained in Judah after its conquest by Babylon. In verse 5: Haggai reminds the people that God delivered them from slavery in Egypt (Ex 1-15). In verses 6-7: Descriptions of Judah restoration are often accomplished by images of the cosmos in disarray (Isa 51.6) and of the nations bringing tribute to Jerusalem (Isa 45.14). Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 27th

 Read Haggai 1.1-15a. In 1.1-15a: The charge to rebuild the Temple.  Haggai's first speech directs those who have returned to Jerusalem from exile to begin reconstruction of the Temple. In verse 1: King Darius (522-486) is the third monarch of the Persian empire, of which Judah became a province when the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylon in 538 BCE. The second year of Darius' reign in 520 BCE Zerubbabel, grandson of Jehoiachin ("Jeconiah"; 1 Chr 3.16-19), the king of Judah exiled to Babylon in 597 BCE (2 Kings 24.8-17; 25.27-30), had returned to Judah with other exiles (Ezra 2.1-2). Joshua's grandfather Seriah, chief priest of Jerusalem, was killed when Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians (2 King 25.18-21), and Joshua's father Jehozadak, was deported to Babylon (1 Chr 6.14-15). In verse 12: The remnant of the people refers to those who had returned to Judah from Babylonian exile (Jer 43.5). Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 26th

 Read Philippians 4.21-23. In 4.21-23: Closing. Mutual greetings (compare 1 Cor 16.19-21.; I Thess 5.26-27) and a blessing (compare Philemon). In verse 22: The emperor's household, the slaves of the emperor in Rome or the colonies. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 25th

 Read Philippians 4.8-20. In 4.8-20: A call for consistency in all situations. A brief, poetic passage commends right thinking and right action (vv. 8-9) and notes the proper attitude toward changing circumstances (vv. 10-20). In verses 8-9: The whatever statements indicate a series of attitudes for living that can help the community face any difficulty. In verse 10: Revived your concern, the Philippians maintained concern for Paul even when they could not express it. In verses 10-13: Paul's attitude resembles Cynic and Stoic discussions of his time, but he does not see the source of endurance in himself. Paul challenges the Philippians to learn the value of "humiliations," shunned by conventional society but reinforced elsewhere in the letter (2.3, 8; 3.21). In verses 15-19: The community never lacked concern for him (v. 10), even though he neither needed or sought it. They reward is from God. In verse 16: Paul never accepted gifts from a church while he was with them (see 1 Cor 9.1; 1 Thess 2.9; 2 Cor 8.1-5). In verse 18: On sacrifice, see 2.17. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 24th

 Read Philippians 4.2-7. In 4.2-7: Exhortations to overcome disunity and opposition. In verse 2: Be of the same mind: The point of disagreement is unknown, but a number of the letter's key expressions (same mind, struggled side by side, work of the gospel) come together here. Book of Life, see Ex 32,32; Ps 69.28; Dan 12,1. In verses 4-7: Brief exhortations to develop the right attitude; guard, a military term, descries God's peace. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 23rd

 Read Philippians 3.1b--4.1. In 3.1b-4.1: The example of Paul. A transition (v. 1) and warning (v. 2) lead into Paul's renunciation of his advantages to counter any tendencies to arrogance (vv. 3-11). He commends perfection but notes, in a play on words, how perfect people (relatively speaking) know they have not reached perfection (vv. 12-16). Finally while enemies of the cross have an earthly orientation, Paul commends a heavenly citizenship in which the believers await glorification in the future (3.17-4.1). In verse 1: To write the same things. probably about disunity; Paul positions the words he writes about his own life as a safeguard for the community's problems. In verse 2: beware, repeated three times, or "watch out for" warns about a possibility, not what already exists. Verses 2 and 18-19 likely refer to practices in the community, rather than actual opponents, that breed disunity. dogs in ancient writing were examples of shameless greed. In verse 3: Circumcision, metaphorically, God's people. In verse 7: Regard echoes 2.3, which commends church-members "to regard others better then themselves," and 2.6 which asserts that Jesus did not "regard equality with God as something to be exploited." In verse 10: becoming like ("symmorphizomennos") Jesus, a link to 2.7, in which Jesus took on the "forms ("morphen") of a slave. In verses 13-14: The image is of running a race. in verse 17: Imitation, see 1 Cor 4.16; 11.1; 1 Thess 1.6. In verse 20: Citizenship, not political but heavenly. See Gal 4.26. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 22nd

 Read Philippians 2.19-3.1a. In 2.19-3.1a: Timothy and Epaphroditus: examples of unselfishness.  Timothy(2.19-30), and Epaphroditus (2.25-30), examples of unselfishness concerned with the whole church. In verse 22: Timothy, see Acts 16.1-3; 1 Cor 16.10-11; 1 Thess 3.1-6. In verse 25: Epaphroditus, see 4.18; Col 1.7; Philem23. In verses 29-30: Honor such people, Paul continues to redefine honor: Honor those who risk their lives for Christ (2.30). In 3.1a: Finally, a transition (also 4.8). Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 21st

 Read Philippians 2.12-18. In 2.12-18: Applying the hymn to life. Based on the honor of being a slave who brings glory to God, Paul commends the day of Christ, for God began and would continue the work among the Philippians until it was completed on that day (1.6). In verse 12: Work out or "work forth" (that is demonstrate) salvation, a work that is not yet complete. In verse 15: Crooked and perverse generation (Deut 32.5), in contrast to God's blameless children who shine like the stars. In verse 16: Labor, Paul's efforts in proclaiming the gospel, oriented to the day of Christ on which he can boast if his church holds fast. In verse 17: Being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice, Paul's present suffering for the gospel. Later, he views the Philippians' gift as a "sacrifice," that is, a financial hardship on behalf of the gospel (4.18). Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 20th

EXAMPLES OF THE GOSPEL'S RECONFIGURATION OF HONOR In 2.1-4.7: Specific examples of Jesus (2.6-11), Timothy and Epaphroditus (2.19-3.1a) and Paul himself (3.1b-4.1a) express the frame of mind Paul commends before he exhorts the Philippians toward unity in the church (4.1b-7).

Read Philippians 2.1- 11.In 2.1-4: the proper mind. The Philippians must seek true honor, not their own glory. In verse 1; If there is any encouragement in Christ ... not an expression of doubt but a call for consideration. In verse 2: Make my joy complete, that is, more joy than he already has despite difficult circumstances; an appeal based on the common benefits he and his audience share as believers. In verse 3: Self-centered ambition seeks to elevate one's own status (1.15, 17); conceit, "empty glorying" is an improper motive when the goal of life is the "glory" of God (1.11; see 4.20). In verses 6-11: A hymn on Jesus' unselfish disposition. It is unclear whether Paul composed this hymn himself or is quoting it. the example of Jesus is central to the message he brings the Philippians, Just as Jesus is described as a slave (v. 7), so are Paul and Timothy (1.1; 2.22). Just as Jesus summitted to the point of death (v. 8), so Epaphroditus moved "close to death" (2.30) for the sake of others and to God's glory redefines conventional views of honor which persons compete fiercely to gain more favor than their peers. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 19th

 Read Philippians 1.27-30. In1.27-30: Living worthy of the gospel. In verse 27: Live your life, literally "conduct life as a citizen" of heaven (3.20). Worthy of the Gospel of Christ, that is, in a manner that does not seek one's own elevation above another (2.6-11). In verse 29: Paul suffers for the gospel to show that suffering is part of grace. In verses 27-30: A series of athletic or military images includes striving side by side (compare 4.3), struggle (the contest of defending the gospel to outsiders), and even standing firm. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 18th

 Read Philippians 1.12-26. In 1.12-26: Suffering for the gospel. Spread (v. 12) and progress (v. 25) are the same word in Greek, unifying the two parts of the passage: Paul's joy in proclaiming Christ despite his imprisonment (1.12-18a); and his joy in the exaltation of Christ in his body whether he lives or dies (1.18b-26). Everything  else -love, envy, life, or death-is relative to this joy. Imprisonment (1.12-26) is an example of placing the needs of to hers above personal concerns. In verse 12: Spread or "progress," cleaning (literally "cutting") a path for an army; see v. 25. In verse 13; Whole imperial guard in Rome, "praetorium" is the emperor's elite soldiers in Asia Minor, it is the provincial residence of any Roman administrator. In verse 16: Defense of the gospel, the effort to convince outsiders of the gospel's values. In verse 20: Put to shame, made ashamed because of the paradox of the good news about the shameful death of Jesus. Paul will not be ashamed because his circumstances exalt Christ whether he lives or dies. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 17th

 Read Philippians 1.3-11. In 1.3-11: Thanksgiving. Preview of the letter's themes. In verse 6: The work extends through life, emanating from God until consummation of the new age. the day of Jesus Christ (compare Amos 5.20; Zeph 1.15) refers to the return of Jesus (see 2 Cor 1.8). In verse 7: Think (2.2, 5; 3.15, 19; 4.2, 10), moral reasoning or correct disposition of the mind. heart, one's inner life, not simply feelings. NRSV share is actually a noun, "partnership" between Paul and his audience. This is one of several compound words (1.17, 27; 2.2, 17-18, 25; 3.2; 4.3, 14) with a syn-prefix (meaning "with"), emphasizing unity. Confirmation, establishing the gospel in believers. in verse 8: Compassion, affection. In verse 9: Knowledge through experience of what really matters so that conduct brings glory and praise to God. In verse 11: Harvest  of righteousness, apocalyptic imagery that places present-day problems in the  setting of the end-time. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 16th

 Read Philippians 1.1-2. In 1.1-2: Opening. In verse 1: Servants, literally "slaves" ("douloi"), anticipates 2.7, "slave" ("doulou"), the form Jesus took in becoming a human being, and 2.22, Timothy "slaved" (edouleusen") for the gospel. In verse 2; Bishops and deacons, leadership titles, either functions ("overseers" and "servers") or specific offices like clergy today. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 15th

 Read Zephaniah 3.8-20. In 3.8-20 Judah is restored. A major shift occurs here in the book of Zephaniah from the criticism of Judah and the announcement of its destruction (1.2-2.3; 3.1-7) to the anticipation of its renewal. Either Zephaniah himself looked forward to anew era after Judah's fall, or this speech was added by Zephaniah's editor's after Judah's fall to provide hope to its exiles. The speech shares numerous images with literature composed during and after the Exile (after 587BCE). In verse 9: The expectation of the conversion of the nations is characteristic of exile literature (Isa 55.4-5; Mic 4.1-2). In verse 11: My holy mountain is the Temple mount in Jerusalem. In verses 19-20: The return of Judah's exiles, often pictured lame and outcast, was a widespread hope during the Exile and afterwards (Isa 35.5-10; Mic 4.6-8). Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 14th

 Read Zephaniah 3.1-7. In 3.1-7: Jerusalem in indicted. The sins listed here, together with those in 1.4-9, are the basis for the devastating judgment described in 1.2-23. In verse 1: The Oppessing city is Jerusalem, Judah's capital. In verse 3-4: While Zephaniah's first indictment of Judah's sins focuses on the worship of other gods (1.4-9), this indictment focuses as do those of Micah (4.6-8), on Judah's political and religious leadership. In verse 7: The city of Jerusalem. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 13th

 Read Zephaniah 2.4-15. In 2.4-15: The nations are judged. The lengthy speech describing Judah's judgment is followed by a collection of shorter speeches describing judgment on four of Judah's neighbors: Philistia (vv. 4-7), Moab and Ammon (vv. 8-11), Ethiopia (v. 12) and Assyria (vv. 13-15). Inverse 4 Gaze, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron are major cities of Philistia, Judah's neighbor on the Mediterranean coast. In verse 5: Cherethites is a synonym for, for or a subgroup of, the Philistines, who are associated with Crete, part of the larger Aegean area from which the Philistines came. In verse 8: Moab and Ammon are Judah's neighbors east of the Jordan river. In verse 9: Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God in a fierce firestorm (Gen 19.12-29) and there fore represent divine judgment. In verse 13: Assyria with its capital in Nineveh, is an ancient Near Easter superpower that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BCE and dominated the southern kingdom of Judah for a century before Zephaniah's career. In verse 15: The exultant city is Nineveh. The images of its fall mirror those in the speeches of Nahum. Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 12th

 Read Zephaniah 1.2-2.3. In 1.2-2.3: The day of the Lord: Judah is judged. Though Zephaniah does include in the speech an indictment of Judah's sins (1.4-9), as is customary in prophetic judgement speeches, he emphasizes the sentence, God's punishment on Judah, and its people. In 1.2-3 This is on of the most desolate images of judgment in prophetic literature (Jer 4.23-26). In verse 4: Jerusalem, the capital city of  Judah, is singled out for further criticism in 3.1-7. with this mention of Baal, the Canaanite god who is the major rival of Judah's God (Hos 2), Zephaniah begins the indictment of Judah's crimes, focusing on its rejection of Yahweh and its worship of other gods (vv. 4-9). In verse 5: The host of the heavens are the sun, moon, planets and stars, the worship of which became widespread in Judah under Assyrian influence (2 Kings 213-5), Milcorn is the god of the Ammonites (2.8; 2 Kings 23.13). In verse 7: Zephaniah introduces the theme of the day of the Lord for God's judgment on Judah, a theme that carries this judgment speech forward to its conclusion in 2.3.God's sacrifice is not the customary animal sacrifice but God's enemies (Jer 46.10), in this case the people of Judah themselves. In verse 9: Those who leap over the threshold may be priests practicing a ritual associated with the Philistine god Dagon (1 Sam 5.5). In verse 10: The Fish Gate is located in the north wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12.39). The Second Quarter is a district in Jerusalem near the Temple complex (2 Kings 22.14). In verse 11: The Mortar is Jerusalem's business district. In verse 12: The phrase "who thicken (or rest complacently) on the dregs" may be translated: who are as undisturbed as the sediment of wine." In verse 18: While the picture of destruction in this verse appears to include the entire world, Zephaniah's concern is Judah in particular, as the preceding and following verses show. In 2.1-3: Zephaniah's judgment speech concludes with an appeal to Judah (shameless nation, v. 1) to seek the Lord and reform in order to avert disaster (Am 5.6, 14-15). Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 11th

 Read Zephaniah 1.1 In 1.1: Title. Josiah governed the southern kingdom of Judah during 640-609 BCE (2 Kings 22.1-23.30). Hezekiah, Zephaniah's great-great grandfather, maybe the earlier Judean king who governed from 715-687 ((2 Kings 18-20). Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 10th

 Read Habakkuk 3.1-19. In 3.1-19: A hymn praising God's rule. This hymn describes a theophany, a direct appearance of God (vv. 3-15), placed in a framework describing poet's response to it (v.. 2, 16-19). In verse 1: Though attributing the hymn to Habakkuk, the title contains a musical notation, according to Shigionoth (a Hebrew word no loner understood), which is found elsewhere only in Ps 7. Other features of ch. 3 found elsewhere only in the psalms-the term Selah (vv. 3,9, 13; a Hebrew word no longer understood) and the musical notation in v. 19-suggest that this hymn may once have existed as a psalm, independent of the prophetic book that it now concludes. In verse 2: The hymn's introduction and conclusion (vv. 16-19) are composed in the first-person perspective of the poet. In verses 3-115: The theophany describes God's march into battle (vv. 3-7) and conquest of his enemies (vv. 8-15. in verse 3: Teman and Mount Paran refer to a sacred mountain in the southern desert, perhaps to be identified with Mount Sinai (Horeb) and where God appeared to Moses and Israel (Ex 19; Deut 33.2-3). In verse 5: Pestilence and plague are divine figures in antiquity; they may be part of the heavenly armies God leads into battle. Inverse 7: Cushan and Midian are inhabitants of the southern desert where God's march begins. They are shaken together with nature (v. 6) when God appears. In verse 8: The forces of chaos that challenge God's rule of the world are personified in ancient mythology as Sea and River, as they may be here. By describing God's enemies here and in v.15 as sea and river, the poet claims that God conquers chaotic forces in both cosmic and historical realms. In verses 10-11: The sun and the moon are heavenly figures who are members of God's armies, like pestilence and plague (v. 5), or are simply startled by God's appearance together with the rest of nature. In verse 13: The anointed is Israel's military or political leader. It may also be understood as laying bare the body of the wicked (Sea/River) from buttocks to neck, thus describing God's defeat of the powers of cosmic chaos as well as Israel's historical enemies. In verses 16-19: The conclusion resumes the first-person perspective of the introduction (v.2), describing the poet's own awe at God's appearance (v. 16) and joy because of God's victory and rule ((vv. 18-19). Comments or Questions..

Reading for February 9th

 Read Habakkuk 2.5-20. In 2.5-20: Five proverbial sayings about the fall of tyrants. These sayings all claim that oppressors, like the Babylonians, will be suitably judged (1.17). In each saying, all of which except the last begin with "Alas," the tyrant experiences a reversal of fortune, as if imperial power has within it the seeds of its own destruction. In verse 5: The introduction to these sayings describes the insatiable greed of the tyrant. Sheol is the realm of the dead.. In verses 6-8: Stolen wealth will itself be stolen. The Hebrew tern: translated creditors may also mean "debtors," a double meaning intended here. In verses 9-11: Security will be lost in the very strongholds built to ensure it. In verses 12-14; The greatest efforts of tyrants are only fuel for the fire. In verses 15-17: Honor gained by shaming others will itself turn to shame. In verses 18-20: False gods will fall silent. Comments or Questions..