Other comments on this day's readings can be found here.
Reading 1 - Ezr 5; 6
"The unexpected opposition to the work of God discouraged the
people. If any of the wall had been set up (Ezr 4:2), it had now been broken
down (Ezr 2:17; Nah 2:17). The foundations of the temple if built (Ezr 3:10) had
to be again restored for building (Hag 2:18). The people had dispersed to the
cities (Ezr 2:70), claiming the time had not come for building (Hag 1:4). A
spirit of gross materialism set in. Houses were built and glamorised (Hag 1:4),
and every effort was made to build up personal wealth (Hag 1:6), but there was
no true prosperity (Zec 8:9-18). A succession of bad seasons left the people
impoverished (Hag 1:10,11) and completely dispirited. Haggai's message was
'Consider your ways!' But in Ezr 5, the work is resumed. The two chapters in
Ezra combine the faithful actions of the people (Ezr 5), and the authoritative
commands of the Persian monarch (Ezr 6).
"It is a type of the latter-day restoration of Israel and the
government of the multitudinous Christ. The conclusion of Ezr 6 is a most
delightful report of the nation in harmony with their God. Ezr 6:22 concludes
the first portion of the book, with the temple built and the people rejoicing in
the accomplishment of their hands. A great passover was held, as it will again
be conducted in the millennial temple. The priests and the people were
ceremonially purified (Ezr 6:20), typical of the saints, and through whom all
the 'children of the captivity' were separated from the 'filthiness' of the
nations (Ezr 6:21). It was a wonderful time, only to be eclipsed by the glory of
the Age to come" (GE Mansfield).
Reading 2 - Hos 7:8
"Ephraim is a flat cake not turned over" (Hos 7:8).
"In the East it is the custom to heat the hearth, then sweep
carefully the portion heated, put the cake upon it, and cover it with ashes and
embers. In a little time the cake is turned. It is then covered again, and this
process is continued several times, until the cake is found to be sufficiently
baked. Ephraim has many representatives at this hour:
The man who lives for pleasure alone is a cake not turned. One side of his
nature is unduly baked, the other is entirely neglected. Pleasure has its uses,
but pleasure as a business is a very poor business indeed. There are many such
persons, both in the lower and in the higher grades of society. The man who
lives for pleasure is dead while he liveth. He is a wretched parasite; he is a
reproach to his species. One side of his nature is burnt to a crust by the fires
of unholy desire; the other side of his nature is raw dough. Both are
worthless.
The man who lives for business alone is a cake not turned.
Business is good. Even though it be honourable, and the methods of its pursuit
unobjectionable, the man who lives for this life alone loses this life as well
as the life that is to come. The man to whom this world is a god is a wretched
idolater. This life is never truly lived except it is used for the good of
others and for the glory of God. If a man lives for business alone, one side of
his nature is scorched by the friction of the world's cares, and the other is
raw dough.
A man who lives for culture alone is a cake not turned. No man
can claim the honours of culture, portions of whose nature lie fallow. A true
culture sweeps across every faculty. Man has earthward, manward, and Godward
relations. If lacking in any of these directions, it is a partial, defective,
and unauthoritative culture. Tried by this true standard many claimants for the
honour of culture will be found wanting. That is not true culture which fails to
cultivate the nobler, the Diviner elements of the soul.
A man who is
half-hearted in religion is a cake not turned. Ephraim, though proud and haughty
as a tribe, had been lacking in moral backbone, in loyalty, in consecration, in
the service of God. There are such professors of religion today. A half-and-half
man is a failure always and everywhere. Today Jesus Christ calls for men with
one heart, and that heart on fire with His love. We want no unturned cakes. We
want men with convictions. It is said of some men that they are very pious
Godward, and very crooked manward. That is a severe criticism when it is true.
That is not Christ's model man. He is symmetrical: he is baked through and
through. Christ alone can make such men" (Biblical
Illustrator).
Reading 3 - Acts 26:14
In this chapter Paul reveals details of his conversion
experience on the road to Damascus which were not mentioned in the historical
account of Acts 9:
"We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me
in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick
against the goads' " (Acts 26:14).
This last statement of the Lord is very interesting; its
meaning turns on the precise definitions of two words:
"Kick" is "laktizo": literally, it means "to lift up the heel": the Greek
word occurs only here and Acts 9:5. (The Acts 9:5 word occurs only in KJV, but
not NIV and other translations: it is probably an interpolation, or borrowing,
from Acts 26:14.)
"Goads" is literally "pricks" (Greek "kentron": a point, a
sting). It occurs elsewhere in the NT: 1Co 15:55,56; Rev
9:10.
Thus, taken together, the statement might be translated: "It
is hard for you to lift up your heel against the sting of the serpent!" Now this
may be seen as an obvious allusion to Gen 3:15. The Pharisee Saul of Tarsus,
zealous for the Law, had sought to conquer the sin-power through personal
effort, but inevitably he failed -- as all men must! Only the Lord Jesus Christ
could successfully destroy the serpent-power of sin (Gen 3:15), either for
himself or for others!
Such an allusion, from Christ, implies that the young man Saul
must have felt, for some time, an uneasiness in attacking Christianity -- having
realized that he had not been able to, nor could he ever by his own strength,
resist the power of sin successfully... but that this man Jesus had done what he
could not.
'How long, Saul, will you resist my appeal to repent of your
own pride and self-righteousness, and find true peace in me?'