Other comments on this day's readings can be found here.
Reading 1 - Deu 19
This chapter contains:
an order to separate three cities of refuge in the land of Canaan, for the
man who killed someone unawares to flee to, but to which those who were guilty
of purposeful murder were to have no benefit (vv 1-13; cp Num 35:6-34),
a
law against removing landmarks (Deu 19:14; cp Deu 27:17; Pro 22:28; 23:10);
and
laws concerning witnesses in legal cases, that there should be more than
one, that is, two or three (Deu 19:15; cp Mat 18:16; Joh 8:17; 2Co 13:1), and
that a false witness, on conviction, should be punished (Deu 19:16-21; cp Exo
23:1-7; Mark 14:55-59).
Reading 2 - Ecc 11:6
"Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your
hands be idle" (Ecc 11:6).
"The evening of life has also its calls. Life is so short that
a morning of manhood's vigour, and an evening of decay, make the whole of it. To
some it seems long, but a four-pence is a great sum of money to a poor man. Life
is so brief that no man can afford to lose a day. It has been well said that if
a great king should bring us a great heap of gold, and bid us take as much as we
could count in a day, we should make a long day of it; we should begin early in
the morning, and in the evening we should not withhold our hand... Age may
instruct the young, cheer the faint, and encourage the desponding; if eventide
has less of vigorous heat, it should have more of calm wisdom, therefore in the
evening I will not withhold my hand" (CH Spurgeon).
Reading 3 - Acts 10:5
"Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is
called Peter" (Acts 10:5).
The first prospective convert from among the Gentiles calls on
Peter (or Simon son of JONAH: Mat 16:17) at JOPPA, the very place where the
original Jonah had boarded a ship to run away from his call (Jon 1:3). This "son
of Jonah", though, does not ignore the call, and so the sign of Jonah (Mat
12:39-41) is finally and completely fulfilled in the repentance of the
Gentiles.