Whole Bible Plan - Day 2
Todays Reading
Proverbs 7
Genesis 4
Genesis 5
Genesis 6
Matthew 2
Proverbs 7
Looking at Proverbs, we read of the crafty harlot. This chapter begins by emphasizing keeping the law and storing it in our hearts. This aligns perfectly with Jesus's central commandment—to love our neighbor as ourselves. That's our fundamental calling. This law should always reside in our hearts: loving people genuinely and loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might, alongside loving our neighbors.
The crafty harlot narrative really addresses lust. I believe this represents a key point King Solomon wanted to emphasize when writing these proverbs—warning us not to be led astray by our fleshly desires, whether chasing after women or worldly things. Instead, we should remain steadfast in God's laws and commands. That's why this follows the commands as a "therefore": therefore, resist giving in to your flesh's desires. The verse that stood out to me most was "Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray onto her paths."
Genesis 4
In Genesis, following mankind's fall, we move to the story of Cain and Abel. To summarize briefly, the brothers brought different offerings before the Lord. Cain, being a farmer, brought fruit offerings, while Abel brought the firstborn of his flock—which is significant. This connects directly to our understanding of tithes and offerings to the church. Abel specifically offered his firstborn to the Lord, whereas Cain merely brought some fruit. God respected Abel's offering and blessed it, but He didn't regard Cain's offering the same way. This teaches us an important lesson: when giving to the Lord, we can't offer just anything—it should be our first and best, representing a true offering. Tragically, Cain's jealousy ultimately drove him to murder Abel.
And then we are here again, the Lord speaking to Cain, though He already knew everything that had happened. He's maintaining a relationship with us. He asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" Cain doesn't confess; he simply replies, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?" God becomes really angry. "What have you done?" He lays a curse on Cain, who then complains that the punishment is too great to bear. God listens and responds, "Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken upon him sevenfold."
We then read of Cain's genealogy and discover that his offspring are remarkably skillful. They became the ones who played the harp and flute and mastered many crafts in bronze and iron, which is fascinating because we don't read about these skills through Noah's line, but through Cain's. We also see that Cain's line becomes a very wicked generation, which connects to the idea of Satan falling like lightning—he was the angel of music and worship. You might think that through Cain's line, that's where the musical influence originated. The harp and flute aren't inherently bad—they were originally used to worship God—but who knows what they were using them for? The same applies to bronze and iron; they were becoming highly skilled and prideful. These skills themselves aren't bad, it's just about their origin and purpose.
We also read about their wickedness. We see this clearly with Lamech. He took two wives, the first recorded instance of someone taking multiple wives. It's very lustful—after all, what's the point of having two wives? Then we read that he sang to his wives Ada and Zillah, "Hear my voice, wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold." He's essentially mocking God, suggesting that if vengeance for Cain is sevenfold, then vengeance for him should be seventy-sevenfold. This shows his foolishness and disrespect toward God.
Genesis 5 & 6
Then we follow the line of Adam again. We see that they had Seth, and then we read of that and go forward, reflecting on everything said so far. We trace the lineage from Adam all the way to Noah. Noah, it was said, was the only righteous man that walked the earth. God was upset. He looked upon His creation and wanted to destroy it. He was ready to give up on everything because everything He saw was wicked. We know that a third of the angels fell and they inhabited the earth.
When we read chapter six, it says the sons of God saw the daughters of men, noticed their beauty, and took wives for themselves. What this means is that the fallen angels—the sons of God—saw these earthly women, were attracted to their beauty, and slept with them. From these unions, they produced giants, massive men and women who essentially ruled the earth. These were the Nephilim—half-angel, half-human beings. They bore these enormous children, and God saw the wickedness of man covering the earth, every intention corrupt, and He wanted to destroy it all. He deeply regretted creating them.
But He found grace, righteousness, and favor in Noah, for Noah did no wrong. We read that Noah was simply a faithful man who walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Because of Noah's faithfulness, God instructed him to build an ark, as God regretted everything He had created. His plan was to place all His creation on a boat with the faithful ones to save them and essentially start over.
I found it particularly interesting when God said, "Behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth to destroy from under heaven all flesh which has the breath of life, and everything that is on this earth shall die." The fact that He acknowledges He breathed life into these men and women, yet they were corrupting His creation and causing massive sin to spread across the earth, is profound. And then you have these fallen angels doing corrupt things with the women of God—it's absolutely mind-blowing.
Matthew 2
Lastly, we read in Matthew about the birth of Jesus. One thing I find really interesting is that we read of the wise men who came from the east. What's truly fascinating and profound is what research and Bible history have revealed - it's believed these wise men actually came from China. There's even Chinese literature that confirms that at the time of Jesus's birth, there was indeed a special star in the sky.
These wise men, who were likely astrologers or star-studiers, noticed this unusual star that seemed to appear out of nowhere. They followed this star to the land where it led them. Upon arriving, they asked, "Where is the one who is born king of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him?"
They must have been gathering information as they traveled, going from person to person asking about the star. People probably connected their questions to the prophecy that when the king of the Jews was born, there would be a star in the sky. The wise men were intrigued and thought, "We want to meet this king of kings, this king of the Jews."
As they inquired everywhere about this newborn king, it caused quite a stir. Everyone became upset, especially King Herod, who was extremely prideful and wanted to rule over everything. When the rumors spread and people directed the wise men to Bethlehem, this fulfilled the prophecy spoken by the prophet Micah.
Anyways, so Herod's clearly upset, and he calls a secret meeting with the wise men, and you know that evil things happen in secret because God doesn't do things in secret. Yes, he talks to us in the secret place, but he doesn't conceptualize ideas behind people's backs. So Herod called them in secret and said, "Go find the child, tell me where he is, and then bring back word to me so that I may also come and worship him," even though he actually intended to kill Jesus.
When they saw the great star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. They came into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, fell down, and worshiped him. They opened their treasures and presented gifts. Now, theologians point out it actually took a year or so for them to reach Jesus. So, Jesus was more of a toddler when this all happened. We hear the Christmas story every year with wise men bowing at baby Jesus in the manger. But in reality, by the time the wise men spotted the star and reached Jesus, he was already a toddler. That's one fascinating detail.
After their visit, in a divine dream, they were warned not to return to Herod, so they departed to their own country by another route. Then, after they left, Joseph encountered an angel in a dream again, telling him to flee to Egypt. When he woke up—literally in the middle of the night after having this dream—he took the child and his mother, and they departed under the cover of darkness.
You might wonder why they traveled at night. It was actually common practice to navigate by night, just as the wise men had navigated by stars to find where the star was guiding them. In the creation account, we read that stars were created for navigation. The same principle applied here—they navigated by night to Egypt. Later, when Herod realized the wise men hadn't reported back to him after about two or three years, he concluded they had deceived him. In his rage, he ordered all the young children killed, not just the firstborns, which was truly a tragic event.
We then read that Jesus was to return to Israel after Egypt. However, Joseph heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of Herod. It was said that Archelaus was actually twice as cruel as his father. So Joseph, being warned by God in another dream, decided to turn toward the region of Galilee instead. That's where they settled in Nazareth, which is why Jesus came to be called a Nazarene.
So, that's where we'll end today. It's a bit shorter than the other day, but I pray this brought some new revelation to you.
Published using
