Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 3726 to 3750 of 4942 results

3726. The Passover and Unleavened Bread

Leviticus 23:4-8

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

The Festival Calendar: Worship and the tabernacle were located at the center of ancient Israel’s life. Chapter 23 articulates the calendar of special worship events. Exodus 23:14–17 and 34:17–26 prefigure this more detailed description, and Numbers 28–29 and Deuteronomy 16:1–17 also treat the issues. No doubt the historical development of this calendar is long and complex. Certainly early agricultural festivals underlie the festivals described in this chapter, as do practices from the Jerusalem temple. ...

3727. A Blasphemer Stoned

Leviticus 24:10-23

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

Chapter 24 now switches from instruction to a narrative describing an incident that leads to legislation on blasphemy. The text begins with the story of a man who commits blasphemy and continues with a series of related penalties. This story corresponds to several others in the book of Numbers, stories that raise a legal question and move toward resolution. They have a midrashic quality about them, as they illustrate a principle and its operation. The issue raised here is blasphemy, probably in the ...

3728. Redeeming What is the Lord's

Leviticus 27:1-34

Understanding Series

W. H. Bellinger, Jr.

Redemption and Vows: This final chapter of Leviticus is a kind of appendix, treating the matter of redemption which was covered in chapter 25, but here concentrating on the redemption of vows. The chapter is of a piece with the book of Leviticus but supplements the instruction. It may be that in chapter 26, with the articulation of consequences of obedience or disobedience, we see the kinds of settings in which people make vows and so this instruction follows. Or perhaps the divine promises in chapter 26 ...

3729. The Kohathites

Numbers 4:1-20

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

The Service of the Levites: Chapter 4 builds on chapter 3 in detailing the duties of the three Levitical groups (Gershon, Kohath, and Merari), who care for the tabernacle under the priests’ supervision. 4:1–3 The chapter begins with a divine instruction to Moses and Aaron: Take a census of the Kohathite group. The census is of men between thirty and fifty years of age, the time of service in caring for the tabernacle. The purpose of all this numbering is again to organize the people, especially for the ...

3730. The Nazirite

Numbers 6:1-21

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

Vows and Blessings: Purity and holiness and God’s presence with the people continue to underscore the text. Chapter 6 begins with a description of the Nazirites, a group that exemplifies a special holiness by way of a vow and so is a symbol of Israel’s holiness. The chapter concludes with God’s blessing upon the people. All of these rites fall under the supervision of the priests. 6:1–8 The first part of the Nazirite vow (vv. 1–4) is to abstain from wine and other fermented drink. The description of the ...

3731. Setting Up the Lamps

Num 8:1-26

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

Lamps and Levites: Emphasis on the tabernacle continues in this narrative flashback section (7:1–10:10). The community prepares to depart in a kind of promise and fulfillment motif. The concluding note of chapter 7 on the Most Holy Place leads to a comment on the lamps in the sanctuary. 8:1–4 Further revelation comes through Moses to Aaron concerning the lamps and lampstand. These verses refer to the instructions in Exodus 25:31–40 and 37:17–24. The seven lamps are to be set up so they will light the area ...

3732. The Silver Trumpets

Numbers 10:1-10

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

The Departure: Preparations for the journey from Sinai are almost complete. Chapter 10 concludes the first section of Numbers with final attention to the exact means of breaking camp and the departure. 10:1–7 This first part of the chapter deals with the human side of leading the journey. The signals of the silver trumpets complement the divine leadership of the tabernacle cloud. According to verse 2, the trumpets function both as a way to gather the community and as a signal to break camp. The whole ...

3733. Fire from the Lord

Numbers 11:1-3

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

The Beginnings of Rebellion: The journey has begun after the long and careful preparations. Now suddenly the reader is thrown into the rebellions that punctuate this journey. We have seen that the first ten chapters of the book prefigure this turn of events, but the overall positive tone and constant obedience of the people in those chapters are shattered by a sudden dominance of disobedience beginning immediately with chapter 11. From the theme of the right ordering of life as God’s people, we move to ...

3734. The Budding of Aaron's Staff

Numbers 17:1-13

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

Aaron’s Rod: Despite the outcome of the rebellions in chapter 16 and the role of Aaron in staying the plague, chapter 17 addresses lingering opposition to Aaron and his sons in the established priesthood. Chapter 18, also, will attend to priesthood issues. 17:1–7 With the challenge of the censers in chapter 16, Moses proposed a test to see who would serve at the tabernacle. That test demonstrated the danger of holiness in the camp with the dramatic outbreak of fire, earthquake, plague, and death. Here ...

3735. Duties of Priests and Levites

Numbers 18:1-7

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

Duties and Rights of Priests and Levites: Chapter 18 responds to the panic of the people over the danger of holiness in the tabernacle at the center of the camp (17:12–13) and solidifies for the community the duties and rights of the sanctuary establishment. The events of the two preceding chapters have made clear to the people the necessity of the priests’ organization. Apparently the situation of the Priestly tradents also included the need to clarify the roles of priests and Levites. Because this ...

3736. Vengeance on the Midianites

Numbers 31:1-24

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

War with the Midianites: 31:1–2 Chapter 31 alludes to the end of chapter 25 and some unfinished business for the people of Israel. There the Midianites were declared enemies for their part in leading Israel into idolatry and immorality at Peor. The current chapter begins with the divine command to Moses, Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. This act is the last military exercise for Moses, who will soon die. So the new generation’s first military action is Moses’ last. The new generation ...

3737. Towns for the Levites

Numbers 35:1-5

Understanding Series

W.H. Bellinger, Jr.

Special Cities for the Levites and for Refuge: 35:1–8 The issue of the distribution of the land to the tribes continues in the first part of chapter 35 with provision for the Levites. This pattern of attending to the tribes first and then the Levites is familiar from the census counts in Numbers. The instruction, which comes in a divine command on the plains of Moab, is to give the Levites towns to live in and pasturelands around the towns. They will need pasture because the Levites receive offerings of ...

3738. The Birth of Samuel

1 Samuel 1:1-20

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

1 & 2 Samuel - One Book: Biblical commentaries by their nature tend to concentrate on the meaning and significance of individual sections. However, it is important that we also see what are essentially close-up or limited-range pictures in their wider context. In order to understand and appreciate the details of the individual stories we need to know something of the nature and structure of the book as a whole as well as its place in the canon of Scripture. There is no doubt that 1 and 2 Samuel should be ...

3739. Eli’s Wicked Sons

1 Samuel 2:12-26

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

Eli’s Successor: Eli’s sons come back into the picture in verses 12 and 17, another inclusio emphasizing that they misused their position and, in contrast to Hannah, had no regard for either the power or the judgment of God. The sons showed contempt for God, his offerings, the people who brought those offerings, and their own calling. As priests, they had power and misused it. 2:12–17 Priests had a right to a portion of certain offerings. Leviticus 7:28–36, for example, speaks about the share of the ...

3740. Samuel Rebukes Saul

1 Samuel 13:1-15

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

Saul’s Initial Problems: The relationship between chapters 10 and 11 and what is described in chapters 13 through 15 is obscure. First Samuel 13:8 appears to indicate that these events are related to Samuel’s call to Saul to meet him at Gilgal (10:8). But if this is seen as an imminent appointment, it is hard to connect it with the events in the second half of chapter 10, the battle and further ceremony described in chapter 11, or the military activity found in 13:1–7a. The problem is solved if there was a ...

3741. The Lord Rejects Saul as King

1 Samuel 15:1-35

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

Saul Is Rejected: 15:1–3 Verse 1 recalls Samuel’s previous influence in Saul’s life. Whether there is discord between them or in spite of any criticism he may have made since, Samuel reminds Saul that he had been appointed to anoint Saul as king. Now Samuel has a further task from God for Saul to carry out. He is to be entrusted with the punitive destruction of the Amalekites in a holy war. The reason given for this severe treatment is the Amalekites’ attacks on the vulnerable Israelites coming out of ...

3742. Samuel Anoints David

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

Introducing David: The focus again moves, this time from Saul to David. Saul remains in the picture up to 2 Samuel 1, and his influence is felt after that in the ongoing tensions between the north and the south in Israel. But from this point Saul is a secondary character. Samuel, who had resigned his commission as national leader (ch. 12), is recalled to anoint David. Samuel’s return underlines the portrayal of Saul’s reign as being a pause before the genuine new age arose in Israel with David’s ...

3743. David at Nob

1 Samuel 21:1-9

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

David’s Flight – The Priests at Nob: 21:1–9 Having accepted that Saul’s enmity was fixed and that exile was the only option, David sought initial supplies from the priest at Nob. Ahimelech’s wariness on David’s arrival may have reflected an awareness of Saul’s antipathy toward David and a fear of getting involved in a power dispute. However, it is equally possible that Ahimelech’s expression of ignorance in 22:14–15 was the truth and his fear was that David would bring Philistine troops in his wake. David’ ...

3744. David, Nabal, Abigail

1 Samuel 25:1-44

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

David and Abigail: Sandwiched between the two parallel incidents in which David has the opportunity to destroy Saul but chooses to spare his life is this very different account of David’s activities during this period. At first sight it appears out of place in the overall schema of the books of Samuel, where the focus is on the question of power, primarily in national leadership. But here too power is a key motif, and there are several reasons the writers might consider this incident to be relevant. 25:1a ...

3745. David Again Spares Saul's Life

1 Samuel 26:1-25

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

Saul’s Second Escape: 26:1–3 The Ziphites, who nearly enabled Saul to find David once before, may have looked for a second chance. However, the wording in verse 1 is the same as that used on the previous occasion (23:19), which seems strange, even given the fact that David was likely to use the same hiding places on a number of occasions. Some scholars have concluded from this, from the similarity between the two occasions on which Saul’s life was spared, and from the fact that the second account makes no ...

3746. David Destroys the Amalekites

1 Samuel 30:1-31

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

Victory and Defeat: 30:1–5 Although a small group could have traveled more quickly, it took David’s army of about six hundred men three days to travel the fifty or so miles back to Ziklag. They almost certainly would have been away for at least a week, leaving plenty of time for the Amalekites to take advantage of their absence. David’s previous activities against groups including the Amalekites (27:8) must have been noted, but his policy of destruction meant that there was no evidence against him. This ...

3747. David Hears of Saul's Death

2 Samuel 1:1-16

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

Despite the fact that modern Bibles present 2 Samuel as a separate book, there is no clear break from what goes before. First and Second Samuel must be seen as a unit (see pp. 1, 2 of the introduction). 1:1–3 These verses clarify the timing of events. The opening phrase after the death of Saul is an editorial comment showing that a new section is beginning. Allowing for traveling time, the death of Saul in the north must, ironically, have taken place about the same time as David in the south was completing ...

3748. David's Lament for Saul and Jonathan

2 Samuel 1:17-27

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

David’s Lament: David’s grief over the deaths of Saul, who had once been like a father to him, and of his friend Jonathan, was heartfelt. He found an outlet for that grief in writing poetry, and this lament is the result. 1:17–18 The insistence that all the men of Judah learn the lament is likely to have been politically motivated. If the Judeans could be shown as paying proper respect to Saul’s memory, there was a much greater likelihood of the northern tribes transferring their loyalty to David, who was ...

3749. David Anointed King over Judah

2 Samuel 2:1-7

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

David’s Rise to Power Begins: Chronicles, which is primarily concerned with the history of the house of David, gives little detail about the reign of Saul. First Chronicles 10 records Saul’s death in the same form as 1 Samuel 31 but with the addition of a negative summary of Saul’s reign. Chapter 11 of 1 Chronicles then moves to the meeting of the whole nation with David at Hebron that is described in 2 Samuel 5:1. The pains and struggles that accompanied the birth of David’s reign and the role of Ish- ...

3750. The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

The Ark Comes to Jerusalem: 6:1–5 The story begins at Baalah of Judah, where the ark had been kept since its recovery from the Philistines twenty years before. To take a party of thirty thousand men for a ceremonial duty sounds excessive, and the accuracy of the text has been seriously questioned. It is possible that the “thousand” refers to a military grouping (cf. additional note on 1 Sam. 4:10). However, Baalah, although Judean territory, was still within the range of Philistine influence. Thus, by ...

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