Offense Defense > Farrell's Bible Notes

Day 331: Ezekiel 30-32

.Ezekiel 30:1 (Nov.26.2012) | John 1:1,14

.Ezekiel 30:7 (Nov.26.2012) | "...desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate..."

.Ezekiel 30:9 (Nov.26.2012) | formidable messengers to the careless Ethiopia. This verse doesn't say that they will necessarily be afraid of the messengers, but is probably trying to say that Ethiopia didn't have worries and cares, but will be delivered a message that would give them something to be concerned about.

.Ezekiel 30:15 (Nov.26.2012) | According to this verse, sin was the strength of Egypt.

.Ezekiel 30:15-16 (Nov.26.2012) | The wording here makes it sounds like sin is a people or a place.

.Ezekiel 30:18 (Nov.26.2012) | In this verse, God says He will "break the yokes of Egypt" and "the pomp of her strength shall cease..." Remember that Egypt's strength is sin, as we were told in verse 15.

.Ezekiel 31:1 (Nov.26.2012) | John 1:1,14

.Ezekiel 31:9-11 (Nov.26.2012) | Even if God exalts you, you aren't permitted to exalt yourself.

.Ezekiel 31:16 (Nov.26.2012) | I've heard it said that Hell is never mentioned in the Old Testament, however, we see that God actually mentions Hell here by name, saying "I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Hell with them that descend into the pit..." In the end of this verse, God says "...all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the Earth." If "the nether parts of the Earth" means Hell, I don't know exactly why He uses the word "comforted," because I don't think there's going to be much comfort in Hell. Maybe comfort is all relative, like Hell's version of comfort would be the moments when you're not being poked in the eye by a pitchfork (not that there will necessarily be pitchforks in Hell). Maybe God is just being sarcastic. Looking at 32:18, it sounds like the nether parts of the earth is Hell.

.Ezekiel 31:18 (Nov.26.2012) | These nether parts are mentioned again in 32:18.

.Ezekiel 32:1 (Nov.26.2012) | John 1:1,14

.Ezekiel 32:7 (Nov.26.2012) | "...the moon shall not give her light..." Lord willing, I'd like to come back to this verse later when I have a bit more time, and explore the relationship between the sun, earth, and moon and the relationship between light and matter in regards to light's travels and manifestations by absorptions, refractions and reflections (or lack thereof).

.Ezekiel 31:8 (Nov.26.2012) | In the Bible, the term "heaven" is used in different ways, meaning different things. In this instance, it is a reference to what we call outer space.

.Ezekiel 31:10 (Nov.26.2012) | "...I shall brandish my sword..." Okay, when I read this I just thought the movie Crocodile Dundee, when someone pulls out a knife on him and he says "that's not a knife, this is a knife," pulling out his big huge knife. You don't want God to brandish His sword. For today's homework, look up the word "brandish."

Day 332: Ezekiel 33-34

.Ezekiel 33:1 (Nov.27.2012) | John 1:1,14

.Ezekiel 33:2-5 (Nov.27.2012) | (highlighted)

.Ezekiel 33:11 (Nov.27.2012) | God says here that he never has pleasure in the death of the wicked. But He would have pleasure in the wicked if they turned away from their wicked ways and were no more wicked, and could live. Remember this when you hear of God destroying a people or nation because of their wickedness. Don't say, "Oh, God is mean!" Because the truth of the matter is that God has more of a heart for those people than you do. It hurts God when that happens. The only one it hurts more than God is the wicked people who are being destroyed. There's a point when the wicked must absolutely be stopped, and God knows that point, whether it's one wicked person, or a group of wicked people.

.Ezekiel 33:11-33 (Nov.27.2012) | God's righteous judgement.

.Ezekiel 33:12-13 (Nov.27.2012) | Remember, this is not a deposit system, where you have a balance or savings. Yes, this is the Old Testament, but even here, people are not judged by the sum of their bad or good deeds with disregard to their current state of being. You don't get to indulge in a night of sin, just because you've done righteous things for twenty years. We see a similar type of thing in the New Testament with regard to being saved, as well, in Hebrews 10:26 which says, "if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." Something along similar lines is also said in Romans 11:20-24.

.Ezekiel 33:16 (Nov.27.2012) | God says when the wicked turns from his wickedness "none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him..."

.Ezekiel 33:20 (Nov.27.2012) | Don't get it twisted, God will still judge people after their ways.

.Ezekiel 33:31 (Nov.27.2012) | This is what we call "lip service," when someone praises you with their lips, but their heart is far from you. Jesus says people do this same thing to Him in Matthew 15:8, "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me."

.Ezekiel 33:32 (Nov.27.2012) | What God has to say about the general impact of good music, even gospel music. People tend to listen to it, say it's great, and continue doing whatever they want to do. But that's not always true, and the fault is not in the music, but in the people. In this instance, the fault is so much in the people, that they are even treating the prophet like he's just a nice song. We also see this happen to John the Baptist by King Herod, who heard John gladly, we are told in Mark 6:20... before he killed John. Some people treat Jesus and the Bible like this as well. I mentioned the Bible/Jesus to one of my neighbors once and she said that it was "a nice story." A couple of days ago, they all started putting up pretty Christmas decorations after just taking down the wicked witches from Halloween decorations... Next year they plan to do the same thing.

.Ezekiel 34 (Nov.27.2012) | This chapter expounds on much of what is said in Psalms 23.

.Ezekiel 34:1 (Nov.27.2012) | John 1:1,14

.Ezekiel 34:2 (Nov.27.2012) | Zech 11:8? Zech 10:13

.Ezekiel 34:3 (Nov.27.2012) | Lev 3:17; 7:23

.Ezekiel 34:8 (Nov.27.2012) | Ps 23:1

.Ezekiel 34:13 (Nov.27.2012) | Sometimes when you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself, right God? "...by the rivers..."

.Ezekiel 34:14 (Nov.27.2012) | "...in a good pasture.... a good fold... a fat pasture..." John 10:16; Ps 23:5

.Ezekiel 34:15 (Nov.27.2012) | "...and I will cause them to lie down..."

.Ezekiel 34:23 (Nov.27.2012) | Ps 23; Ezekiel 37:24

.Ezekiel 34:25 (Nov.27.2012) | 37:26; Zech 11:10

.Ezekiel 34:26 (Nov.27.2012) | Zech 10:1; Ps 23:5

.Ezekiel 34:25 (Nov.27.2012) | "...broken the bands..." Zech 11:7; Ps 107:14; Jer 48:17; Lev 26:13

.Ezekiel 34:28 (Nov.27.2012) | Ps 23:4

.Ezekiel 34:29 (Nov.27.2012) | Ps 23:1

.Ezekiel 34:30 (Nov.27.2012) | Ps 23:4

.Ezekiel 34:31 (Nov.27.2012) | Ps 23:6

Day 333: Ezekiel 35-36

.Ezekiel 35:1 (Nov.28.2012) | John 1:1,14

.Ezekiel 35:5,9 (Nov.28.2012) | God uses the word "perpetual" here and also in verse 9, saying "Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and has shed the blood or the children of Israel by the force of the sword.... I will make thee perpetual desolations...." Perpetual means ongoing, and never stopping. The seasons for example would be perpetual. After spring, summer, autumn, and winter, comes spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the cycle continues and would never end unless something or someone were to stop them. What we see here, is God stepping in and putting a stop to something perpetual. Otherwise, it's never going to end, and God has already seen enough of it. Side note: Whenever I leave a "...." (four dots) when I'm quoting something, it means there is at least one whole sentence left out of my quote where the four dots are. If I use "..." three dots, then I've only left out part of a sentence.

.Ezekiel 36:11 (Nov.28.2012) | Remember that God is talking to the mountains of Israel here when He says "ye shall know that I am the Lord." He began talking to the mountains in verse 8.

.Ezekiel 36:16 (Nov.28.2012) | John 1:1,14

.Ezekiel 36:20 (Nov.28.2012) | Likewise, when we claim Christ, and then act otherwise, we profane His name.

.Ezekiel 36:22 (Nov.28.2012) | God clarifies that He is doing this for His Holy Name's sake, not for their sakes.

.Ezekiel 36:25 (Nov.28.2012) | Perhaps this is the latter rain, spoken of in Zechariah 10:1.

.Ezekiel 36:22-25 (Nov.28.2012) | This is probably where people get the concept of sprinkling from. It does not say that this is a baptism, however. A baptism is the image of being buried and raised again, which is shown by immersion in water.

.Ezekiel 36:22-27 (Nov.28.2012) | This corresponds with Psalms 23:3.

.Ezekiel 36:26 (Nov.28.2012) | This corresponds with Psalms 51:10, and is a foreshadow of what we see in 2 Corinthians 5:17, becoming a new creature in Christ.

.Ezekiel 36:27 (Nov.28.2012) | God says "I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes..." He says it's something that He will do, and that He will cause to happen. The people just need to let it happen; Go with God's flow and let nature take its course... their new nature. Sounds to me like God is talking about putting His Holy Spirit in people.

.Ezekiel 36:31 (Nov.28.2012) | This word "lothe" is the same as the word "loathe." It's just spelled differently. So if you ever get marked down on your spelling test in school for spelling this word wrong, you might just be able to point to this verse and redeem yourself.

.Ezekiel 36:32 (Nov.28.2012) | As He just said in verse 22, so says He again, that God did this for His own sake. So remember, God can bless you for His own sake. Just because you see people being blessed, doesn't mean that they are worthy of the blessings or that it's something they earned and have nothing to be ashamed of. It may not be the case, and this for your own life too. I'll stop here. Zechariah 10:5 sounds like a similar thing.

.Ezekiel 36:35-36 (Nov.28.2012) | Land resurrection. It doesn't get any better than the Garden of Eden. Imagine what the food out of that garden tasted like. Most of the fruit we find in the grocery stores today is so bland that some of us only eat it because we're told that it's a healthy option. We've forgotten what real fruit, with real natural flavor tasted like. It tastes better than anything you can put together in a kitchen. Everything tastes better than anything I can put together in a kitchen, but I'm talking about you who know what you're doing, of course.

Day 334: Ezekiel 37-39

.Ezekiel 37:6 (Nov.29.2012) | Sinews are tendons. I know you've seen cartoons with skeletons that can walk around, but I have news for you. No set of bones is going to move a muscle without having tendons. "A tendon (or sinew) is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone and is capable of withstanding tension" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendon 11/29/2012). That thing that connects the back of your heel to the bottom of your leg is a tendon. That little rubbery thing attached to the meat on the bottom of that chicken leg you're eating... yep, you guessed it. That's a tendon (a sinew). So next time you see a skeleton hanging around, and it doesn't have any tendons, you can rest assured that it will never be able to make it's way across the room to come get you, Scooby-Doo. Well, unless it's Old Man Johnson wearing a costume. Beware!

.Ezekiel 37:9 (Nov.29.2012) | "...breathe upon these slain..." lets us know that these dry bones were people who were killed.

.Ezekiel 37:13 (Nov.29.2012) | a mass resurrection

.Ezekiel 37:15-25 (Nov.29.2012) | We see God making two into one, taking away their differences that separate them. In Zechariah 11:10,14 we see a possible reference to this stick, which may be called a staff in regard to Judah and Israel, in regard to breaking their brotherhood.

.Ezekiel 37:16 (Nov.29.2012) | One stick for Judah, and one for Ephraim, but notice that both sticks are for the children (or house) of Israel. Both Judah and Ephraim are children of Israel (formerly known as Jacob), but Ephraim was really the child of one of Israel's children (Joseph). However, Ephraim and Manasseh (the other son) were usually the one's mentioned instead of their dad, Joseph.

.Ezekiel 37:17 (Nov.29.2012) | There is a similar type of thing we see in Ephesians 2:16 when God joins the believing Gentiles with the believing Israelites by the work of Christ.

.Ezekiel 37:24 (Nov.29.2012) | Looking at Ezekiel 34:23, it very much appears that this is calling David that one shepherd, which may be a foreshadow of the work of Jesus Christ that we see in John 10:11. The wording used in these verses in Ezekiel could possibly be used as a double entendre reference to Jesus Christ.

.Ezekiel 37:25 (Nov.29.2012) | "...My servant David shall be their prince for ever."

.Ezekiel 37:23 (Nov.29.2012) | This speaks of a "covenant of peace," which I believe is different than a covenant of salvation which later comes by Christ. We heard about this covenant of peace and were given a little more information about it in Ezekiel 34:25.

.Ezekiel 38:3,16 (Nov.29.2012) | God says here that He is against Gog, so we know that when He says in verse 16 that He shall be sanctified in Gog, He's not saying that He will be sanctified by Gog. It sounds to me as if He's saying that the people of Israel will sanctify Him in the midst of the heathen of Gog, who will see it, and thereby know (become aware of or acquainted with) God. Read also Ezekiel 39:1-5 concerning this.

.Ezekiel 39:1-5 (Nov.29.2012) | Read Ezekiel 38:3,16 concerning this.

.Ezekiel 39:5 (Nov.29.2012) | God says "I have spoken it," which He did by His prophet Ezekiel, who prophesies against Gog (see verse 1).

.Ezekiel 39:8 (Nov.29.2012) | When God speaks it, it's done before it happens.

.Ezekiel 39:17 (Nov.29.2012) | Wow! He prophesied to and instructed animals. We also see in this verse that God tells the animals to drink blood, letting us know that God sets different rules for different creatures, since He previously commanded the people to NOT drink blood in Leviticus 7:26-27.

.Ezekiel 39:19 (Nov.29.2012) | Here again, we see God commands the animals differently than the people. He tells the animals to eat fat, but He told the people in Leviticus 7:23-27 not to eat fat.

.Ezekiel 39:23 (Nov.29.2012) | This is speaking of when the house of Israel was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, which was one of the four consequences mentioned in Jeremiah 15:2, which we see in Ezekiel 1:2 and other passages of scripture. God made an example out of them for the heathen to know that God is no joke. Or like they said on In Living Color, "Homey don't play that!" Let that be an example to all the rest of you. Fly straight or end up in the wrong place.

Day 335: Ezekiel 40-41

.Ezekiel 40:2 (Nov.30.2012) | "...the frame of a city..." probably just means he saw a cityscape or the city's skyline from afar.

.Ezekiel 40:3 (Nov.30.2012) | The reasons why I think this man is the Word of God, n.k.a. (now known as) Jesus:

We know from John 1:1,14 The word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, as Jesus, the only begotten son of God. And from the beginning of Ezekiel, he keeps saying "the word of the Lord came unto me saying" (or something like that) as he tells how he received his prophecies.
Ezekiel says here that his appearance was like the appearance of brass, and in Revelation 2:18 John says that His feet are like fine brass. We know this person described in Rev 2:18 is the same as in Revelation 1:14-15, because he has the same description, which is feet like fine brass, and His eyes looked like a flame of fire. In Revelation 19:12-13, it also says "his eyes were as a flame of fire" and "His name is called The Word of God." Again in, Rev 1:18 He also says about Himself "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore," which we know is Jesus, who was alive, died and rose again, and ascended to Heaven and now lives forever. Again, this also lines up with John 1:1,14 which says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." And in John 16:28, Jesus says of Himself "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." And in John 17:5, He says "And now, o Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." which lines up with John 1:1,14, concerning His preexistence and His glory.
Ezekiel says here that he had a line of flax in his hand. This line of flax was used for measuring, but lines of flax is also what linen is made of, which holy garments were made of for the priests to wear. We know that Jesus was a high priest (Hebrews 3:1 and 5:5-6), which is why He was able to offer Himself as a sacrifice, and that He wore linen clothes, as He left them behind in the tomb He was buried in (John 20:5). Jesus was also a carpenter (Mark 6:3), which does exactly what this man does, which is going around measuring things. Habakkuk 3:3,6 also speaks about God and a Holy One measuring the earth. In Zechariah 1:16 God says "My house shall be built in it [Jerusalem]... and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem." This coincides with Zechariah 1:1-2, when Zechariah (another prophet) says he saw "a man with a measuring line in his hand." He asked the man where he was going, and the man answered "to measure Jerusalem to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof." Jesus spent His last days in Jerusalem (http://www.jesusinjerusalem.com 11/30/2012). For one last word about flax, "the word 'line' is from the Latin word for flax [Linum]." "The scientific name of flax is Linum usitatissimum. Usitatissimum means "most useful," a suitable appellation for a plant used for both food and fiber" and measuring (http://ww2.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/bible/flax.php 11/30/2012).
The man has a measuring reed in his hand, and in Matthew 27:29 they put a reed in Jesus' hand to mock Him before they crucified Him.
Jesus says that He existed before He was born as Jesus, a son of man, when someone enquired about His age and how He saw Abraham, being that He wasn't even fifty years old. Jesus replied and said "before Abraham was, I am" in John 8:58, which can be a double entendre, meaning that He was present (existed) before Abraham, but also that He was the I Am (Exodus 3:14; Revelation 1:8 and 1:17-18).
In the next verse (Ezekiel 40:4), the man calls Ezekiel "Son of man," which is a term Jesus often used and called Himself (Matthew 16:13). The word of the Lord also called Ezekiel this several times before, as well (Ezekiel 2:1; 2:6; 3:3; 3:4 and other verses).
Ezekiel says he met this man in the mountain. I know I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one, but Jesus regularly went to the mountains to pray, and Jesus also had a very different but similar experience in Matthew 17:1-3 when Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking to Jesus.

.Ezekiel 40:5 (Nov.30.2012) | He begins measuring, probably just like a carpenter would do.

.Ezekiel 40:26 (Nov.30.2012) | Sounds like artificial sculpted (or hand carved) palm trees to me.

.Ezekiel 41:2 (Nov.30.2012) | Ten cubits is very thick. According to Wikipedia, one cubit was about 18 inches (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubit 11/30/2012).

.Ezekiel 41:4 (Nov.30.2012) | "This is the most holy place."

.Ezekiel 41:25 (Nov.30.2012) | Not real palms. I don't think they could fit real palm trees on a door. What do you think? I also don't think the palms in 40:26 were real palm trees either, but I could be wrong about that one.

.Ezekiel 41:26 (Nov.30.2012) | Remember, all of this (in detail) was seen in a vision (Ezekiel 40:2). By the way, a vision is not a hallucination, in case you were wondering. As a child, I had a hallucination from an over the counter medicine (which I still have not forgotten, by the way), and God has also shown me visions before. I can tell you, they are not the same thing at all. But I'm pretty sure there are different types of hallucinations and different visions. And I'll tell you what... you can keep your hallucinations, because I don't want them.

Day 336: Ezekiel 42-44

.Ezekiel 42:1,3,14 (Dec.1.2012) | The term "utter court" is mentioned in these three verses, and probably means outer court, which we see used in Ezekiel 10:5.

.Ezekiel 43:2 (Dec.1.2012) | We hear this same description of God's voice sounding like many waters in Revelation 1:15, except in Revelation it specifies that it's Jesus.

.Ezekiel 43:3 (Dec.1.2012) | He references his vision that he told us about in Ezekiel 1:1.

.Ezekiel 44:25 (Dec.1.2012) | "Come at no dead person" here means not to come near a dead person.

Day 337: Ezekiel 45-46

.Ezekiel 45:19 (Dec.3.2012) | God is talking about the passover here. He says so specifically in verse 21.

.Ezekiel 45:21 (Dec.3.2012) | Passover on the first month in the fourteenth day of the month (feast of seven days unleavened bread)

.Ezekiel 45:25 (Dec.3.2012) | I'm not sure exactly what God means at the end of this verse when He says "according to the oil." I don't remember there being an "oil offering" and He doesn't say "oil offering" here. I think certain types of offerings were prepared using oil. Perhaps that's what He's talking about.

.Ezekiel 46:5 (Dec.3.2012) | Even here, one's ability to give is considered, as God says "...offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give..." Concerning New Testament giving (not the same as tithing), we see a similar thing mentioned in 2 Corinthians 8:12. It is not required for one to give if they are unable to. It says here "if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not."

.Ezekiel 46:22 (Dec.3.2012) | "...these four corners were of one measure." This means they were all the same size.

Day 338: Ezekiel 47-48

.Ezekiel 47:3 (Dec.4.2012) | Remember, this is the man with the line of flax from 40:3. In 40:2, we see that this is all a vision that God gives to Ezekiel. Even this now being spoken is still all from a vision. The word "ancles" at the end of this verse is the same word we spell now as "ankles." I suppose somewhere along the line, the people who determine what the correct English spelling is (whoever they are) determined that this word should be spelled with a "k" now instead of a "c". And who am I to disagree. Besides, it's hard to argue with them if you don't know who they are (just a little food for thought).

.Ezekiel 47:8 (Dec.4.2012) | In light of what's said in verse 11, what's said here, "...the waters shall be healed" probably means the waters shall be unsalted or purified.

.Ezekiel 47:19 (Dec.4.2012) | This may be named after Er & Judah's Tamar, who we learn about in Genesis 38:6.

.Ezekiel 47:20 (Dec.4.2012) | What? Did you think California was the first place to represent the "West Side?" I think not.

.Ezekiel 48:6 (Dec.4.2012) | Horizontal strips of land.

.Ezekiel 48:35 (Dec.4.2012) | I like how the last words of the book of Ezekiel are "The Lord is there." I suspect that this may be the translated name of this place, but that it was actually called Jehovah-(something), like in Genesis 22:14 when Abraham named that place Jehovah-jireh because God provided, or in Exodus 17:15 when Moses named the altar Jehovah-nissi. By the way, please note that God's name is not Jehovah-jireh or Jehovah-nissi. I don't care who wrote a song saying that or who's pastor said it and how many people repeat it. They got it wrong. That's not what the Bible says. You can say God's name is Jehovah or Jah, as said in the Bible, but Jehovah-jireh is the name of a place and Jehovah-nissi is the name of an altar. And those names were named by man, and man does not have dominion over God that he may name Him like in Genesis 1:26 and 2:19-20.

Day 339: Daniel 1-2

.Daniel 1:1-2 (Dec.2.2012) | Nebuchadnezzar is similar to Satan in his relationship to God, looking at the role he plays.

.Daniel 1:3 (Dec.2.2012) | The eunuchs had a master.

.Daniel 1:4 (Dec.2.2012) | "...understanding science..."

.Daniel 1:6 (Dec.2.2012) | As we see in verse 4, these four are among these children of Judah, and they also all understand science. Contrary to what some modern day scientists and scholars try to proclaim, God's people in the Bible (and now) did not ignore science, and did not misunderstand it. Furthermore, God and science are not against each other. God created science, and science does not contradict Him and is not His enemy. Some of what people call science today, which they use to try to oppose God, is not actually science, but something else. Also what we see here in verse 6, and after, is that Daniel is spoken of from a third person perspective, leading us to question whether this portion, at least, was actually written by Daniel himself. (May.18.2014) However, it is possible that Daniel spoke of himself from a third person perspective as did Jesus and others, which I pointed out before.

.Daniel 1:7 (Dec.2.2012) | Not only were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah renamed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego by the prince of the eunuchs (yes, the eunuchs had a prince), Daniel was also renamed o Belteshazzar. Seeing that we don't call Daniel by the name Belteshazzar, we should probably not continue to call these others by their assigned names as well. We see in verse 11, the writer still calls them by their original names. I'm so accustomed to calling them Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that it would take me some time to remember their original names, but it's probably something I should do. We see in Daniel 4:8 that Nebuchadnezzar still calls Daniel by the name Belteshazzar, which he says has something to do with the name of his (Nebuchadnezzar's) God. This is likely related to Nebuchadnezzar's name also since they both end in "zzar."

.Daniel 1:8 (Dec.2.2012) | It says here "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself..." No matter whether it's eating something that may in some way go against you or God, or doing something that you should not do, sometimes you have to purpose things in your heart. You can't just go with the flow. It doesn't say that Daniel said within himself, "I hope that they don't offer me the king's meat." No, he made up his own mind that he wasn't going to do it. Not only that, he took it one step further to ask permission not to defile himself. I'm not suggesting that you need to go around asking everyone for permission not to defile yourself, but if you see that you are going to be put in a position to defile yourself in some way, and you are not at liberty to disassociate yourself before it happens, then it may cause less of a problem if you let your dilemma be known and ask ahead of time, instead of possibly causing a shocking scene. Now although Daniel did ask, I have reason to believe (because of the other three) that he would have still not defiled himself, even if he was not granted permission. This was not an unimportant thing he was asking either. It was such a big deal that the prince of the eunuchs was afraid of possibly being beheaded by the king if he granted Daniel that request. I conclude that from what he says at the end of verse 10.

.Daniel 1:11 (Dec.2.2012) | Notice here, that whoever is writing, still calls Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah by their original names, not the names given by the prince of the eunuchs in verse 7. However, we do see that in verse 2:49 they (except Daniel) are called by the new names they have been given.

.Daniel 1:17,20 (Dec.5.2012) | In verse 17, we find out that "God gave them their knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom," which was ten times better than the magicians and astrologers, verse 20 says. What was God-given was ten times better, not five times better or twice as good, but 10 times. In other words, there's no contest. In Daniel 9:21-22, Daniel speaks of how God used Gabriel to give him skill and understanding. In verse 20, it says he was ten times better than those in all his realm. Daniel 9:1 may clarify what is meant by "realm" when it says "realm of the Chaldeans." However, we see in 2:2 that the Chaldeans were just one of the groups mentioned, so Daniel's realm is probably larger and encompassed the Chaldeans also, along with the astrologers, magicians, etc.

.Daniel 2:2 (Dec.2.2012) | Why did the king call on them when he had the four gifted (Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah)? He probably saw them as all being equal, just like world leaders today treat the members of the body of Christ like they are in the same bucket as all of the counterfeit religions.

.Daniel 2:3-11 (Dec.2.2012) | (highlighted)

.Daniel 2:3-5 (Dec.2.2012) | The king required that they tell him what his own dream was, because he said he couldn't remember it, and so he couldn't even give them anything to interpret. If they had been making up lies before now, it won't work this time, because if they say "you dreamed (this)" and the king knows he didn't dream that, it would be obvious that they were lying.

.Daniel 2:6 (Dec.2.2012) | (highlighted)

.Daniel 2:7-8 (Dec.2.2012) | Knowing that they couldn't guess what he dreamed, they asked again, and he didn't tell them. In verse 36, however, we see that Daniel was able to rise to meet this challenge.

.Daniel 2:9 (Dec.2.2012) | They couldn't even make up a lie here, because the challenge was much greater than simply making up a story to go along with a dream, but to actually tell him what he dreamed without him giving them any hint. They could not simply make up a dream, saying "you dreamed this" if he had not dreamed that, because he would know. The king says here that if they can tell him what his dream was, then he'll know for sure that they can truly interpret it for him.

.Daniel 2:10-11 (Dec.2.2012) | Do you see how people think that if they don't know something, then nobody else can possibly know. Then they make matter-of-fact statements like "nobody knows the truth about God for sure," just because they don't know, and they think they're the best and wisest. These people here say it's impossible to do, but it's not.

.Daniel 2:12-13 (Dec.2.2012) | Unfortunately, when people make statements like this in verses 10-11, it is often believed. The king, although he doesn't fully trust them, still believes that they are telling the truth about it being impossible to do. And since they couldn't do it, then they were to be killed, including Daniel and his three (friends/brethren) who didn't even know about the dream. In fact, they were not just going to be slain, but to be cut in pieces, as said in verse 5.

.Daniel 2:15 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel just finds out about the dream here.

.Daniel 2:16 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel said he could do it before he even got any revelation from God. That shows great faith in God.

.Daniel 2:17 (Dec.2.2012) | It sounds like they all lived together.

.Daniel 2:18-19 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel asks his companions to pray for this revelation, motivated by their desire to save their own lives. It says here in verse 18 that they were trying not to perish along with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. In verse 24, they have somewhat of a different mindset, because then they also seek to save the lives of the wise men as well.

.Daniel 2:24 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel went from trying to not to be destroyed with them (verse 18) to demanding that even they be not destroyed. Once he received the revelation in verse 19, I suppose it lifted some of the burden off of him and gave him a little more comfort, confidence, and leverage to demand something greater than just him and his companions being saved.

.Daniel 2:26 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel was named Belteshazzar in Daniel 1:7.

.Daniel 2:27-28 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel uses the opportunity to preach about God, telling the king that the wise men, astrologers, magicians and soothsayers can't help him, but God in heaven is the one who reveals secrets.

.Daniel 2:29 (Dec.2.2012) | "He that revealeth secrets" we know from verse 28 is God.

.Daniel 2:30 (Dec.2.2012) | In other words, "you need God to reveal to you the thoughts of your own heart."

.Daniel 2:31-35 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel tells the dream.

.Daniel 2:36 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel tells the king what his dream was, contrary to those in verse 7 who asked the king to tell them what the dream was.

.Daniel 2:37 (Dec.2.2012) | Nebuchadnezzar is called a king of kings. We see in Jeremiah 37:1 that he had the power to appoint other kings.

.Daniel 2:38 (Dec.2.2012) | "Thou art this head of gold." This is a reference to the image in the dream. In verse 32, we see that the figure had a head of gold.

.Daniel 2:43-44 (Dec.2.2012) | The only kingdom I know that fits this description is the kingdom of God where Jesus Christ, the rock, the chief cornerstone, also sits on the throne. In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus said "the Kingdom of God is within you."

.Daniel 2:45 (Dec.2.2012) | From this whole scenario, we also see that God is able to give revelatory dreams to anyone if He needs to, in order to accomplish His purpose. He says "the dream was certain, and the interpretation thereof sure."

.Daniel 2:46 (Dec.2.2012) | Daniel probably stood there in shock.

.Daniel 2:47 (Dec.2.2012) | It's halfway good that Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges God, but acknowledgement isn't enough. We see from the fact that he says "your God" that Nebuchadnezzar still doesn't take God to be his own God. He also says "a God of gods," showing that he doesn't believe that Daniel's God alone is the almighty supreme, one and only. In 3:5, he's back to demanding people to do dumb stuff like worshipping his little idol.

.Daniel 2:49 (Dec.2.2012) | For some reason, we see that they are being called by the names the prince of the eunuchs gave them in Ezekiel 1:7, although they were not called by these names in 1:11. (May.18.2014) Were these four eunuchs?

Day 340: Daniel 3-4

.Daniel 3:1-6 | This is kind of like the beast does with his image in Revelation 13:15;

.Daniel 3:12 | This is also like the image of the Beast in spiritual Babylon.

.Daniel 3:18 | This is how we should respond to the image of the beast as well if we should find ourselves in this situation during our lifetime.

.Daniel 3:19,27 | It doesn't matter how many times hotter they heat the furnace, if God's going to protect them, He's going to protect them. In Verse 27, not even one hair on their head was singed.

.Daniel 3:22 | gives us an idea of just how hot it was.

.Daniel 3:23 | notice that it says they were bound when they fell into the midst of the fiery furnace.

.Daniel 3:24-25 | Three miracles: they were no longer bound; one like the Son of God was seen walking among them as well; It's also interesting to note that they who didn't even follow God were fully aware of the Son of God, way before He even came. I'm sure this is one of the scriptures that Jesus pointed out in Luke 24:27.

.Daniel 4:1-3 | Nebuchadnezzar is here sounding all God-fearing and honoring to God, but see how he flips in verses 29-31. Here in Verse 3 he says how Great God's signs are, and God's wonders and how God's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, etc. but in verse 30, Nebuchadnezzar is all about what he himself has done, saying "I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my own power," giving no honor to God.

.Daniel 4:13-14 | This talk about trees being hewn down and branches being cut off is common in the Bible, and has very significant meaning. See Matthew 3:10 and 7:19; Also Isaiah 9:14 and 10:17; Romans 11:16-24 also speaks along similar lines (you may have to read a few verses before, to understand the context)

Day 341: Daniel 5-7

.Daniel 5:7 | If we look at verse 11, we see magicians also mentioned, but not wise men. In verse 7, we see wise men mentioned but not magicians. A wizard is a person who practices magic. The word "wizard" originates from the word "wise," so from this we can conclude that the wise men mentioned here were actually magicians (including the astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers). Soothsayers were fortune tellers.

.Daniel 5:8-9 | The things they worked with were real. If they were fakers, they would have faked here and lied. I'm pretty sure the word "astonied" here means astonished.

.Daniel 5:11 | Notice that they didn't exactly understand Daniel and the power (our God) that he was empowered by. They instead said that Daniel had the "spirit of the holy gods" in him, which was inaccurate. Also, Daniel was placed in the position of being the master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, although he himself wasn't really one of them, and he didn't pretend to be. They just didn't have the discernment to tell the difference. They just knew that Daniel's power was greater.

.Daniel 5:14 | They say the "spirit of the gods" thing again here.

.Daniel 5:17 | Yeah, Daniel! I thought this was great that Daniel let him know that he wasn't doing this for gifts and rewards, as the others may have been known to be motivated by, but that he was operating out of of deeper calling.

.Daniel 5:19 | "the majesty that he gave him" | This is contrary to 4:30, where the king claims that it was all by his own might.

.Daniel 6:2-3 | I never realized before that there were presidents mentioned in those day, but here it mentions them, and Daniel was the first among three, and preferred above them. Being that there were three presidents and they were under a king, I'm sure the position was much different than what we see today with the American presidents.

.Daniel 6:10 | Daniel prayed three times a day. Also, it says his windows were open toward Jerusalem. It's odd that it mentions this too, since this is before Christ was born.

.Daniel 7 | relates to the book of Revelation. Check Revelation and see what cross-references you find.

.Daniel 7:4 | first beast. A man's heart was given to it.

.Daniel 7:5 | second beast (note to self)

.Daniel 7:6 | third beast

.Daniel 7:7 | fourth beast had great iron teeth. This is expounded upon in verse 19.

.Daniel 7:8 | an eleventh horn

.Daniel 7:11 | "the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame."

.Daniel 7:12 | what happens to the rest of the beasts

.Daniel 7:17 | This starts the interpretation of what was mentioned before v.17

.Daniel 7:20 | ten horns mentioned and the 11th horn. "whose look was more stout than his fellows" begins to give us some physical description of this beast.

.Daniel 7:21 | "made war with the saints and prevailed against them" | Rev 13:17

.Daniel 7:23 | "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms"

.Daniel 7:25 | an interesting and revealing verse. Also note "A time times and the dividing of time" may be what's mentioned in 12:7 "a time, times and an half" and could relate to the thousand two hundred and ninety days. As a reminder, I'm just sharing the notes I'd previously written in my Bible. At the present moment, I'm not thoroughly reading and studying over it in depth, so please read this closely for yourself, while praying for any necessary understanding.

Day 342: Daniel 8-10

.Daniel 8:1 (Dec.5.2012) | Unlike in Daniel 1, we can clearly see that this is Daniel speaking/writing here.

.Daniel 8:2 (Dec.5.2012) | This river Ulai is mentioned again in verse 16.

.Daniel 8:3 (Dec.5.2012) | These two horns are broken in verse 7, and revealed in verse 20.

.Daniel 8:4 (Dec.5.2012) | "...neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand..." this ram later finds himself, in verse 7, in this same situation that he has others in, when the goat comes.

.Daniel 8:5 (Dec.5.2012) | This male goat is mentioned again in verse 21, and revealed, except instead of a "he goat" he's called a "rough goat." We find out more about this horn between his eyes in verses 8 and 21.

.Daniel 8:7 (Dec.5.2012) | One definition of this word "choler" is "anger" (Websters New Encyclopedic Dictionary, 2002). Nobody can deliver this ram out of the goat's hand, just like nobody could be delivered out of this ram's hand in verse 4.

.Daniel 8:8 (Dec.5.2012) | This horn was first mentioned in verse 5, and revealed in verse 21. The four horns are further explained in verse 22.

.Daniel 8:16 (Dec.5.2012) | Ulai is the river mentioned in verse 2.

.Daniel 8:17 (Dec.5.2012) |

.Daniel 8:18 (Dec.5.2012) |

.Daniel 8:19 (Dec.5.2012) |

.Daniel 8:20 (Dec.5.2012) |

.Daniel 8:21 (Dec.5.2012) | This is the goat mentioned in verses 3-8. Grecia may be Greece.

.Daniel 8:22 (Dec.5.2012) |

.Daniel 8:24-25 (Dec.5.2012) | This king of fierce countenance is said to be mighty, but not by his own power. Then it is said that by his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand..." It sounds like this person is an elected official or politician (hence the refence to "policy"). This may be a president. Regular kings are generally not removed from power, unless by physical force, but this guy is said to be broken without hand, which sounds like he'll be removed from power without having to be physically overthrown, captured, killed, etc.

.Daniel 8:26 (Dec.5.2012) |

.Daniel 8:27 (Dec.5.2012) | Notice that Daniel is not considered to be sinful or evil just because he got sick, contrary to the teaching of "Christian Scientists," as they call themselves. (May.18.2014) Please note: This name that they give themselves does not mean that they are Christians or scientists.

.Daniel 9:1-2 (Dec.5.2012) | Sounds like Daniel read the book of Jeremiah. Although Daniel was gifted by God to be ten times wiser than the astrologers and magicians, he still understood spiritual things by books. He didn't think he was too wise to pick up a book written by someone else to try to learn something. He didn't just wait for the answer to fall on him, he picked up a book and sought it out. That's how we must do with the Bible as well.

.Daniel 9:3 (Dec.5.2012) | He may have learned to do this from reading Jeremiah 6:26.

.Daniel 9:4-5 (Dec.5.2012) | Also like Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 6:15, we see Daniel here showing shame on behalf of the people, and in verse 5, joining himself to those that did wickedness to plead for mercy on behalf of the people. We know that Daniel wasn't doing wickedly.

.Daniel 9:13 (Dec.5.2012) | We know from Daniel 6:10 that Daniel was actually praying, but what he's saying here is to intercede on behalf of those who weren't praying.

.Daniel 9:18 (Dec.5.2012) | OMG (Oh My God) used properly here.

.Daniel 9:20 (Dec.5.2012) | Somewhere along the line, Daniel sinned too.

.Daniel 9:21 (Dec.5.2012) | Angels were sometimes called "men" too, like in Genesis 32:24 and Genesis 19:5.

.Daniel 9:22 (Dec.5.2012) | As we see here and in Daniel 1:17 that it is possible for skill to be a gift from God.

.Daniel 10:4 (Dec.5.2012) | Another Bible version said "Tigris" here instead of Hiddekel.

.Daniel 10:5 (Dec.5.2012) | This is real life here, not a dream night vision like Daniel 7:1.

.Daniel 10:6 (Dec.5.2012) | Rev 1:16; Rev 1:14,15; Rev 2:18. Jesus

.Daniel 10:13 (Dec.5.2012) | It sounds like this is Jesus helped by Michael, a chief, who is probably the angel Michael, because I don't think Michael is a Persian name. But I could be wrong. "Michael your prince" is also mentioned in verse 21.

.Daniel 10:14 (Dec.5.2012) | 8:17-19; "the vision is for many days" means it's going to be a long time from Daniel's day, we see from verse 1. In other words, it's many days later.

.Daniel 10:15 (Dec.5.2012) | He'd heard these words before in 8:18-19 and 8:26. The word "dumb" here means he couldn't speak. Today, many people use the word "dumb" in the wrong way, but this is what it's supposed to mean.

.Daniel 10:16 (Dec.5.2012) | Does he see Christ in a vision?

Day 343: Daniel 11-12

.Daniel 11:2 (Dec.6.2012) | These three kings of Persia are spoken of in 8:22, but first spoken of in 8:8-9.

.Daniel 11:3 (Dec.6.2012) | This "do according to his will" is mentioned in verse 16, and also back in 8:4, speaking of the ram.

.Daniel 11:11 (Dec.6.2012) | Remember in 8:7, it spoke of the ram being moved with choler. We found that one definition of "choler" is anger, which makes sense here.

.Daniel 11:16 (Dec.6.2012) | This "do according to his will" is mentioned in verse 3, and also back in 8:4, speaking of the ram.

.Daniel 11:17 (Dec.6.2012) | "...the daughter of women..."? I think this is the only place in the Bible I've seen this term used. We often hear "son of men" of "sons of men." I don't think we've ever heard the term "son of men" used in the Bible though, which would be closer to what this is saying here: "the daughter" (singular) "of women" (plural).

.Daniel 11:21 (Dec.6.2012) | (highlighted) and underlined the word "flatteries," which we see used again in verse 32. We hear more about this person in verse 24.

.Daniel 11:24 (Dec.6.2012) | see verse 21.

.Daniel 11:27 (Dec.6.2012) | "...they shall speak lies at one table..."

.Daniel 11:31 (Dec.6.2012) | We hear about this "abomination that maketh desolate" again in 12:11, and in other scriptures, I believe it is this same thing that is called "the abomination of desolation."

.Daniel 11:32 (Dec.6.2012) | Knowing God often keeps you from being fooled. "Flatteries" is used in verse 21 also. This is not only used by the woman in Proverbs 7:21.

.Daniel 11:33 (Dec.6.2012) | This sounds very much like a reference to those in Revelation 6:9.

.Daniel 11:34 (Dec.6.2012) | I wonder if this is a reference to what we now call "prosperity preachers," who are known for their use of flatteries and focus more on selling the hope of worldly prosperity to the people than the truth of Christ.

.Daniel 11:36 (Dec.6.2012) | Prosperity is not necessarily a result of righteousness. Here we see it said again that he shall do according to his will, likely speaking of him referenced in verse 3.

.Daniel 11:37 (Dec.6.2012) | "Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers" lets us know that "the God of forces" spoken of in verse 38 is not the God of his fathers. However, it also says here in v.37 "nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all." Or perhaps the key difference between what's said here in this verse and in the next verse (38), are the words "regard" and "honour." I personally believe that this verse is saying that he doesn't regard any entity previously recognized as a god when it says "nor regard any god," but that he regards a different person/being as god, not regarded as a god before, such as Revelation 13:13-15. We also see it said that he shall not regard "the desire of women," which may mean one of two things. Either he is a homosexual, or he just doesn't regard the demands of women in society, whatever one might call that.

.Daniel 11:38 (Dec.6.2012) | (highlighted)

Day 344: Hosea 1-4

.Hosea 1:2 (Dec.7.2012) | Did God just tell him to marry a whore? I believe so. "Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms..." But then God says "For the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord." In God's eyes, being a whore, adulterer is not just a physical thing, but also spiritual. We seem to make a big deal about people being physical whores with their bodies (although probably not as big a deal as we should), but we overlook the fact that it's still whoredom when people are in bed with every other so called "god" instead of God Almighty, who they are supposed to be with. Please listen to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41GPCKc1rmM (A Call To Anguish - David Wilkerson)

.Hosea 1:4 (Dec.7.2012) | For God to say that He will avenge his blood pretty much means that he's going to end up getting killed.

.Hosea 1:6 (Dec.7.2012) | Pay attention. I say this, because most women named are very significant, being that women are often not named in the Bible.

.Hosea 1:7 (Dec.7.2012) | At certain times in history, God saved people, but they still had to fight.

.Hosea 1:9 (Dec.7.2012) | We must pay close attention to God's words. We must listen to what He says, without hearing more than what He says. The way this sounds to us here is that He would never be their God. But that's not what God says. All He said was that He would not be their God. He didn't say never. God already knows the end of things, but according to verse 10, what He says in verse 9 is not the end of things. We see later in 2:23 that God will be their God.

.Hosea 1:10 (Dec.7.2012) | God says this also in Hosea 2:23.

.Hosea 1:11 (Dec.7.2012) | Although Judah is one of the children of Israel, we see that there is, at this point, separation between Judah and the rest of Israel. If we look at Zechariah 11:14, we see there is talk about the brotherhood between Israel and Judah being broken.

.Hosea 2:8-9 (Dec.7.2012) | She lost her blessing. At the end of verse 9, we see God says she had flax to cover her nakedness. Linen is made from flax, so she probably wore linen, which is also what priests wore.

.Hosea 2:8 (Dec.7.2012) | ? Sounds like they're not supposed to be calling Him Baali. It'd help if I knew what Ishi and Baali meant. Looking at verse 13, it sounds like they are worshipping other gods and calling God one of them. I'm guessing that Baalim, which we see in verses 13 and 17, may be the plural form of the word/title Baali, which obviously God does not like. I have more to learn here.

.Hosea 2:8 (Dec.7.2012) | We see that God's relationship with them here, finally is different than what we see in 1:9-10. These same words of God's are said in Romans 9:25.

.Hosea 4 (Dec.7.2012) | Amos 3:1

.Hosea 4:1-2 (Dec.7.2012) | These two verses are quoted in my poem "Is Christ Dead in vain?" along with verse 6.

.Hosea 4:2 (Dec.7.2012) | In Deuteronomy 28:30 we see adultery as a consequence.

.Hosea 4:6 (Dec.7.2012) | This verse was quoted in my poem "Is Christ Dead in vain?" along with verses 1-2. Similar to these words, the writer in Isaiah 5:13 says "my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge..." Here, God who knows says that the reason these people are "destroyed" for lack of knowledge is because they rejected knowledge. Job 33:22 speaks of destroyers. In Jeremiah 23:1, God says "woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" which still happens today. Colossians 3:10 speaks of putting on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after having put off the old man, a similar thing we see in Ephesians 4:20-24. 2 Peter 3:5 speaks of people being willingly ignorant, a thing which we ought not to be. In Jeremiah 13:10, God speaks about how evil people refuse to hear His words, and walk in the imagination of their own hearts and walk after other gods, serving and worshipping them, mentioned in Hosea 1:2 as being a type of whoredom.

.Hosea 4:6-10 (Dec.7.2012) | (highlighted)

.Hosea 4:9 (Dec.7.2012) | "Like people, like priest" is apparently a similar term to one we are more familiar with today, "like father, like son."

.Hosea 4:10 (Dec.7.2012) | "left off to take heed" means they stopped taking heed.

.Hosea 4:11-12 (Dec.7.2012) | There is a whore spirit that can cause man to err. Read James 1:14-16.

.Hosea 4:13-14 (Dec.7.2012) | God says "therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery..." This sounds like what they do is both a punishment and a natural consequence of Israel's adultery against God. When the women see the men who are supposed to be true to God, being adulterous against God, they learn this behavior and apply it to their lives, and do likewise. Some of this same behavior we see today because it is likewise taught, even if taught unintentionally. However, from reading 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, I don't believe women being adulterous will be overlooked and go unpunished as it is in this scripture; not at all. But I do believe that adultery against a faithful God is worse than adultery against an adulterous man.

.Hosea 4:16 (Dec.7.2012) | God mentions them being a "backsliding heifer." A heifer is a cow. So think about a cow backsliding and refusing to obey, resisting and rebelling. Now you can see somewhat what God is trying to deal with here. God speaks about this backsliding again in Hosea 11:7. Word to the wise, don't be a backslider! Learn the easy way. You think God is playing with you? God ain't playing with you, heifer.

Day 345: Hosea 5-8

.Hosea 5:5 (Dec.8.2012) | God will destroy people for being prideful or allow them to be destroyed. This made me wonder if this happened to Japan in 2011 with the tsunami and earthquake because of their Shintoism. I didn't wonder this because I want it to be the case; I wondered this because it was very tragic, and I don't want things like that to happen to people. It sure looked like the hand of God to me. And God has done and does do such things. Knowing what the scriptures say, and that God did send His truth to Asia long ago, which appears to have largely been rejected for such a long time, causes me concern for them. God does not desire for anybody to perish, and neither do I, no matter where they are. I wrote this note down about a year ago, but just now found this video here of someone else addressing this. It may be worth listening to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blC69ZMXjl0 (Did God Cause the Tsunami & Earthquake in Japan?). Although personally, I think the question would be better asked "Did Japan cause the Tsunami & Earthquake?" because historically God resists having these things happen, but certain groups of people in the Bible forced these things to come upon themselves. I know some of us think that the gospel message has not reached Asia, but the Bible speaks about Asia, and God sending His message there long ago.

.Hosea 5:6 (Dec.8.2012) | I'm sure the famous question "Where was God?" was asked much then.

.Hosea 5:7 (Dec.8.2012) | "Now shall a month devour them with their portions." Talk about time not being on your side.

.Hosea 5:10 (Dec.8.2012) | "I will pour out my wrath upon them like water." Think tsunami, not a glass of water, and this picture becomes clearer.

.Hosea 5:15 (Dec.8.2012) | It may help Japan, Haiti, USA, etc. to acknowledge our offences. It is loving to suggest this if it will help them, not mean.

.Hosea 6:6 (Dec.8.2012) | Part of this verse was quoted in my poem "Is Christ Dead in Vain?" Jesus says this also in Matthew 12:7.

.Hosea 6:8 (Dec.8.2012) | So why do churches name themselves "Mt. Gilead?"

.Hosea 7:2 (Dec.8.2012) | God doesn't forget after a little time goes by like man does. We can't afford to mistake God's silence, grace, and patience and think that He's okay with the things that are going on or that He is ignorant of it all.

.Hosea 7:4 (Dec.8.2012) | The word "leaven" is very significant in the Bible. Check a concordance for this word and see how it generally has a negative connotation and signified infectiously bad doctrine and things unpleasing to God, especially in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 1 Corinthians.

.Hosea 7:11 (Dec.8.2012) | Hosea 11:11 also mentions a dove.

.Hosea 8:1-4 (Dec.8.2012) | (highlighted)

.Hosea 8:2 (Dec.8.2012) | This sounds exactly like what Jesus mentioned in Matthew 7:21.

.Hosea 8:5 (Dec.8.2012) | I don't know how I seem to have missed it, but this word "ere" is used over ten times in the Bible, and it's pretty hard to guess what it means by just reading it in context. The simplest answer I could find was that the word "ere" means "before." I'm not citing the site I found that answer on because it has pop-ups and God knows what else that may manipulate your internet browser, so I don't want to send anyone to that site. The definition "before" does fit, but may be more accurately defined as meaning "until."

.Hosea 8:6 (Dec.8.2012) | "...the workman made it; therefore it is not God..." We all should already know that man can't make God with his hands, but I guess sometimes people can get so far off base that God needs to actually say it. In Exodus 32:4, we see the calf being made. I'm not sure if this is the same calf.

.Hosea 8:11-12 (Dec.8.2012) | It is seen in many places in the world, where God's law, and even the gospel of Christ is regarded as a strange thing, not just in Japan, and places who practice "eastern religion," wherever that term came from.

Day 346: Hosea 9-11

.Hosea 11:3 | God says "They knew not that I healed them." This tells us that God does heal people, regardless of whether they know it or not, and possibly whether or not they even regard God. An example of this is also in John 5:13, when Jesus healed the lame man, and the man didn't even know who it was that healed him. A sister in Christ, who was an ex-Muslim, likewise mentions that many Muslims win Christ when they experience a miracle in His name. There are some who may say the person being healed must have faith in Christ first, but this would say otherwise.

.Hosea 11:11 | Perhaps there's some relation to Isaiah 46:11's mention of a ravenous bird from the east.

Day 347: Hosea 12-14

.Hosea 12:1 | a reference to following winds is in Ephesians 4:14; (note to self)

.Hosea 12:5 | The Lord is his memorial, not a stone building or statue.

.Hosea 12:7 | This sounds like the same description as the US Treasury symbol, or the yin yang symbol.

Day 348: Joel 1-3

.Joel 2:28 | This is also mentioned in Acts 2:17-21. In fact, Acts is probably quoting Joel, since it says "God said" in Acts.

.Joel 3:3 | pimps

.Joel 3:19 | I'm highlighting the word "desolation" here. Daniel 12:11 also mentions desolation, and it's mentioned other places as well. Here, the desolation comes from bloodshed of the innocent.

Day 349: Amos 1-3

.Amos 2:6 | This verse says "they sold the righteous for silver." Zechariah 11:12 also mentions being sold (or sold out) for silver. And Matthew 26:15 mentions the thirty pieces of silver also (referring to Jesus). Also read Amos 5:12; Genesis 37:28 speaks of how Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver;

.Amos 2:8,12 | Jeremiah 35:2

.Amos 3:1 | Hosea 4:1 "Hear the word of the Lord..."

.Amos 3:2 | The Lord did punish people for their iniquities, and not because He didn't know them, but because He did know them. This would also tell us that He may not have punished those He didn't know.

.Amos 3:3 | "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" 2 Corinthians 6:14 says "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." Also read 1 Peter 3:8-9

.Amos 3:14 | "...in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him..." | In Galatians 2:18 when Paul says "if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor," he gives us a good idea of the definition of transgression.

Day 350: Amos 4-6

.Amos 5:8 | Still researching the meaning or significance of "the seven stars and Orion..."
"...the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth" sounds like the description of a hurricane.

.Amos 5:10-11 | highlighted

.Amos 5:12 | Transgressions mentioned again (Amos 2:6; Gal 2:18). This says they "turn aside the poor in the gate from their right." This is a reference to how they handle the tithe. The poor (widow, fatherless, stranger, Levite) have a right to a certain portion of the tithe and it mentions in Deuteronomy 16:14 about the widow, and the Levite, stranger, and fatherless "within thy gates." These are keywords that you'll sometimes see mentioned in the Bible's text, though they may sound like just common words with not a whole lot of significance.

.Amos 5:26 | "The star of your god"

.Amos 5:27 | "...the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts." In another place in the scripture it also says "the Lord of hosts is his name." I'm not sure exactly what scripture that was, but I believe I mentioned it in previous Bible notes.

Day 351: Amos 7-9

.Amos 7:12-16 | This is similar to what we see now, when people say they don't want to hear anything about God. As he was told to go prophesy somewhere else, we are also told to go share God's word somewhere else. We see in verse 13 how man regards kings above the King of kings. Does Amos back down from doing what the Lord God tells him to do? No, he doesn't. Man commands him not to do the thing, but God commands him to do it, so he does it.

.Amos 7:14 | It's interesting how he says "neither was I a prophet's son." This gives us the idea that it probably customary for a prophet to pass his prophesies on to his child(ren), so they would not be forgotten. It's also interesting, because Amos, though he is a prophet here, says that he was once not a prophet. This is different than the testimony of God about Jeremiah. Amos says he himself was a herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit, but the Lord took him and used him to prophesy. Jeremiah, on the contrary, was sanctified and ordained by God as a prophet before he even came out of the womb, it says in Jeremiah 1:5.

.Amos 8:4-8 | "Surely I will never forget any of their works" God says. It is very obvious here and many other places recorded in scripture that God is very passionate about the poor. When people rob, deceive, or defraud the poor, it is never a lighthearted or small issue, and we should not treat it like it is. I've heard people say that defrauding the poor is a small issue and that we should all just focus on being united in Christ. But how can two unite in Christ, when one of them is in violation of His principles and abusing His loved ones? That is no small matter. If God is passionate about the injustice done to the poor, then we should be passionate about it too, whether they be poor lacking money or food, or poor lacking knowledge and wisdom.

.Amos 8:11-12 | This is a very important passage. While we chase bread and water, we must remember to also take advantage of the Word of the Lord while we still have a chance to. We have many church houses, and a lot of church programs, but as for the Word of the Lord being taught, there seems to be a shortage of it. Even these days, I've visited plenty of church houses only to find a dry morsel of spiritual bread being stretched out to try to feed the people, and I see many people walking around spiritually famished from receiving these meager meals if they should be called meals. I see too much smoke and mirrors, whooping and hollering, but not enough substance. And this is all that most Christians ever know. Most don't know that they are malnourished and being underfed, unless they somehow find themselves in a place where the spiritual food... the bread of life... the Word of God is plentiful. I met one young lady who had came to a church because she heard the pastor preaching on TV. She was about to walk out of that service unsaved that day, but from what I could see from my experience with her, she did not. She told me something sad. She said that she would watch TV ministries, even watched the church ministry we were at, but all she could ever get from the messages felt like little samples. She said she was frustrated with not being able to get a whole message from anywhere. When she said that, the image popped up in my mind of the food court in the mall that would have little Asian ladies passing out samples for everyone walking by, but if you want the whole meal, you have to pay. I'm not sure of what period in time God was speaking of here through Amos, but one thing we can take from this is a reminder to value the Word of God, and to take full advantage of being able to be hearers of it. Whenever we get the chance to be exposed to God's Word, we should be eating it up, not feeding it to the dog under the table to fool whoever is checking our plates. Let's cherish the Word, and eat well while we can so we do not one day pass by the mirror and find ourselves to be spiritually anorexic, nor fall victim to any famine.

.Amos 9:7 | Again, God mentions how He brought them out of Egypt. I've lost track of how many times God has mentioned this over the years. He's obviously disappointed at how they forgot (or devalued) what He did.

Day 352: Obadiah 1

.Obadiah 1 | I assume this may be the same Obadiah that was a porter who helped to keep the ward at the thresholds of the gates mentioned in Nehemiah 12:25.

.Obadiah 1:1 | Edom, is the name given to Esau in Genesis 25:30. His people become the Edomites. The account of the lives of Jacob and Esau (twins) begins in Genesis 25:22, when they were having power struggles in the womb.

Day 353: Jonah 1-4

.Jonah 1:3 | It's interesting how Jonah pays the fair to get on the ship to Tarshish. Jonah pays a fair (money) to run from God's will!

.Jonah 1:5 | People all cried to their gods... that must have been a funny scene. Well, either funny or sad.

.Jonah 1:6 | Notice how they tell him to call upon "thy God," but then just say "God" as if speaking of one specific God when saying "if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." Two things stand out to me about this. First, they all seemed confused, since they were all calling out to their gods, as if the more gods you pray to, the better your chances are of finding a real god that could do something about it. Secondly, they may have specifically recognized Jonah as a man of God for some reason. They were all so busy crying out to their gods, but someone stopped crying out and said within themselves, I might have a better chance turning to this guy (Jonah) over here and his God, instead of wasting more time crying out to my god who's obviously not doing anything. Perhaps they recognized Jonah, or perhaps he was wearing some identifiable clothing to show himself to be a man of God. I don't know.

.Jonah 1:7 | I thought what happened here was particularly interesting, because it appears that God will use casting lots to communicate with people. This made me think of how the eleven apostles cast lots to determine who would be the twelfth apostle after Judas fell (Acts 1:26). I'm not sure exactly what's done when "casting lots," but I know it's something similar to drawing straws or picking a number out of a hat. Perhaps it's just the general term for doing something like that. I'm not agreeing with how they chose a twelfth apostle, and for certain reasons, but I'll at least point out that it does seem pretty likely that God was okay with it, when looking at what happened here in Jonah.

.Jonah 1:9 | Umm, Jonah, Nobody asked you anything about the Lord. You must be feeling guilty to start testifying about God all of a sudden.

.Jonah 1:10 | Although it quotes what he said in verse 9, verse 10 just tells us that he told them how he fled from the Lord's presence (reminds me of Adam and Eve). This tells us that there was more to the dialogue or the message that he told him, but it's just not quoted here what else exactly Jonah said.

.Jonah 1:12 | At first, I thought he must have really had faith that God would save him from drowning. But then I thought, maybe not. Perhaps he figured that they would all drown anyway if they didn't throw him overboard, but this way, only he will be at the mercy of the sea, and they can at least be spared from it. Then I realized that, as he said in verse 9, he really does fear the Lord. He may not have feared the Lord that much when he boarded that ship, but he's scared of Him now. And I'm sure he's learned a valuable lesson: when God tells me to do something, I better do it. Maybe God should be like that with us more often, but I will not complain. On second thought, God was like that with me growing up. If I ever stole anything while younger, God gave me immediate unmistakable consequences. I even doubted that once and tested Him, and surely without fail, the expected consequence was waiting for me that same day. He may still be like this with me, but I just don't test Him anymore like that. That's what you call being God-fearing. You can leave me alone with a bank full of money and open vaults and I might play around with it a little bit, but I'm sure I'm going to walk out of those doors empty-handed.

.Jonah 1:13 | "Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not..." These men really didn't want to get rid of Jonah.

.Jonah 1:14 | Now, these men who all prayed to their own gods cried out to The Lord, the true God.

.Jonah 1:15 | Jonah inadvertently caused them to fear the Lord God and to do the Lord's will.

.Jonah 1:16 | I suppose a reference to Romans 8:28 would be proper here. This was something negative that Jonah did. He disobeyed God, but God was still able to use this and turn it into something good.

.Jonah 1:17 | Highlighting the fact that it says God "prepared" the great fish to swallow up Jonah. And although it says "great fish," I'm inclined to believe that that fish was probably a whale, being that whales breathe air, which might have given Jonah the air he needed to survive for three days and three nights.

.Jonah 2:1 | See, you can pray to God wherever you're at. Even in a fish's belly.

.Jonah 2:2-5 | I believe I heard this story when I was younger, but I had a very different (wrong) perception of the whole thing. I thought it was a sitting and waiting type of thing Jonah was going through. No, not at all. According to the scriptures here, it was a most horrible experience. I mean, this man was down there fighting for his life for three days and three nights. He wasn't sitting on a raft in a swimming pool. In that great fish there were floods all around him and billows and waves passing over him, telling us that he was fighting and gasping for enough air to breath. In verse 5, he even says he had weeds wrapped around his head. Not only would that just feel terrible and nasty, it might be easy to get suffocated or at least disoriented with wet weeds wrapped around your head. Whatever the case, it had to be a worse experience than whatever difficulty he would have faced if he had just went and did what God told him to do in the first place. (May.19.2014) I imagine it all would have caused him to vomit also and have

.Jonah 2:10 | "The Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." I'm curious as to how this big great fish got onto some dry land to spit Jonah out in the first place, but more intriguing than that is the fact that God spoke to the fish, and the fish obeyed him. This tells you that God has a direct relationship to animals also. We also have the last verse in the book of Psalms that says "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord." Of course, since animals have breath, and it didn't just say "all men," but all things, we can concede that animals do also praise the Lord. We might not see them do it or recognize how they do it, but that doesn't mean that they don't. The same goes with people. Some people may praise the Lord in a different way than you do, and you may not even recognize that they are praising the Lord, but that doesn't mean they're not doing it.

.Jonah 3:3-4 | Okay, here's another miracle (possibly). We're told that it's a three days' journey, but in only a day he enters into the city. It's possible that I read that wrong though. I'd like to sound like a know-it-all about this stuff, but making absolute statements wouldn't make my statement absolutely true. I'd like to take a moment to talk about this more in a second. What I was going to say is that it's possible that what the writer meant here is that it would take three days in order to travel through the city, and while Jonah had traveled about one day's length into the city, he cried out. I'm actually leaning more toward believing that this is what the writer meant, since it says that the people of Ninevah believed, telling us that he must have been in the midst of the people. As I was saying before about appearing to be absolutely right, I've noticed among preachers and followers of Christ that some people prefer to give ear to those who speak with more confidence, simply for the fact that they sound more confident about what they're saying. There are some who will take a verse and say "what the writer is really saying is 'such and such'," yet they offer no reasoning or explanation as to why or how they came to that conclusion. Briefly, I just want to take advantage of this situation here to tell you not to esteem the value of someone's words based simply on how much confidence the person spoke with. There are some who will take guesses and speak them with confidence so they appear to be more credible and knowledgeable. Personally, I don't think it's wise to just assume that just because someone speaks with what appears to be authority that God has came to them and given them a grand revelation about the thing they speak about. If they say God did that, that's a different story, but just don't assume it simply because they speak authoritatively. Personally, I'd rather someone tell me how they came to their understanding, and to tell me if their understanding may possibly be incorrect. I respect that more than someone who just wants to sound right to impress me. Since that's how I'd rather others deal with me concerning their understanding of the scriptures, that's how I've dealt with you when sharing my understanding of the scriptures. I'd much rather allow you to determine the worth of my understanding as I share it with you, and to let the Spirit deal with you regarding it, than to accidentally mislead you. This is why I've used words such as "possibly, probably, perhaps, and maybe." I'm not afraid that doing such makes me any less than who God made me to be or that speaking in such a way makes my words worth less than those who speak their guesswork with absolute authority. I'd much rather be completely honest and humble and rely on the Holy Spirit to help guide your understanding.

.Jonah 3:10 - 4:5 | I started at 3:10 because just reading from 4:1 doesn't make a whole lot of sense and is out of context if you don't read 3:10. So basically, here's what happened. Jonah fled from God at first because he knew God would spare the people's lives of Ninevah if they became aware of their evil and repented, but Jonah held a grudge in his heart against them. And he wants God to carry out his threat to destroy them. He wants this so bad that even after he is compelled by God to go and speak to the people and realizes that God is not going to destroy them, he still goes and sits outside of the city and waits to see if God destroys them. And this is when he goes through even more affliction. He's probably not even supposed to be out there sitting and waiting in the first place. Some people wonder why God doesn't always just make us do what He wants us to do, even when we don't want to do it. This is probably the reason why. Jonah is speaking directly with the creator of the world, and knows it, yet is pouting and not even appreciative of this relationship. God wants a relationship with us, not simply to use us like tools. If that was not the case, then that would not be His first and greatest commandment, along with the second (Matthew 22:37-39).

.Jonah 4:6-9 | I thought this was so funny, even how he answered God in verse 9 when he knows that's not the right answer. I can't lie, I wouldn't probably been mad too about the gourd, and ready to cuss. It's a good thing God knows how to work with us, and how to help us rationalize correctly.

.Jonah 4:11 | God does have compassion for those who don't know better and lack in discernment. However, He doesn't deal with it by simply dismissing their way of living, but by sending someone to teach them the truth, at least in this case.

.Jonah 4:12 | There is no Jonah 4:12, but the last thing we heard about Jonah here was him being so mad that he wanted to die. I'd like to think that Jonah learned his lesson and later looked back at himself and laughed at his stubborn heart. Perhaps somewhere in some other book in the Bible, we're offered a conclusion of Jonah's life. As I continue to read, I'll keep my eyes open for it.

.Jonah | We'll read more about Ninevah in The Book of Nahum.

Day 354: Micah 1-3

.Micah | Micah may have been mentioned in Nehemiah 11:17. The name in Nehemiah is spelled "Micha" instead of "Micah." However, there are many instances of spelling differences in the Bible. Some of those may be due to different languages and phonetics of different peoples, or for a more significant reason, such as how Abram's name was changed to Abraham (Gen 17:5,15).

Day 355: Micah 4-5

.Micah 5:2 | sounds very much like it's talking about the Deity of Christ. In fact, I believe this was probably one of the scriptures that Jesus brought up in Luke 24:27.

.Micah 5:5 | "And this man shall be the peace..."

Day 356: Micah 6-7

.Micah 7:13 | Daniel 12:11

Day 357: Nahum 1-3

.Nahum 3 | Read Revelation chapters 17 & 18 and note any similarities to what's being said here.

Day 358: Habakkuk 1-3

.Habakkuk | If you don't know how to pronounce Habakkuk's name. Don't feel bad, you're not alone. I've heard plenty of people pronouncing it different ways. Most often, I've heard the accent placed on either the first or second "a," but I'm sure some people place the accent on the "u" or possibly on two of the vowels. However you say it, the person you're talking to will probably know what you're saying when you try to pronounce it because they've probably heard that pronunciation before. I don't know if there's any official pronunciation of it. Some of you are still questioning how to correctly pronounce my name. I have my preference (it rhymes with the "L"), but when I was a young boy, I asked my mom and she said either way is fine. Perhaps Habakkuk is the same way.

.Habakkuk 2:2 | I know I've heard this scripture quoted often. I never really hear the "upon tables" part, or the rest of it. It's likely that the Lord would like us to "write the vision and make it plain" if He gives us a vision, but this was what the Lord told Habakkuk to do. I can't say that I'm sure that He means this for us and every vision He may give us. He may give us a vision that's not meant for everybody else to know. The best thing we can do is to also pray that He, through the Holy Spirit, will instruct or guide us in how to handle the vision(s) He's given us.

.Habakkuk 2:5 | "He transgresseth by wine" | We are told in another scripture that drinking wine in and of itself is not bad, but if you're getting drunk, or if it's something that has a hold on you, or you cause someone else to stumble because they see you do it, then it is wrong for you to do. There are also some who are not free to drink wine at all. John the Baptist was one of them. To those people, of course, it would be wrong to drink also, but I'm sure you won't cause those people to stumble if you should have a glass of wine in front of them, such as you would if you were in the company of a recovering alcoholic (or an aspiring alcoholic). Also read Isaiah 5:11-14 about the negative effects of drinking and how it mentions Hell being enlarged, as Habakkuk 2:5 also mentions. 1 Corinthians 6:10 also refers to this as well. It seems from the way it's stated in Isaiah, that Hell is not necessarily the reward for getting drunk, but because of the things a person does (or does not do) as a result of being a drunkard. A famous actor and singer sings "blame it on the alcohol," but that's a lie and a trick straight from the Devil's playbook, because blaming it on the alcohol or drugs does not excuse anybody from their actions. Our actions are our responsibility no matter what frame of mind we choose to put ourselves in. I spoke with a young man in Atlanta who was having problems with his girlfriend because he spoke rudely to her when he was drunk, and he was (wrongly) upset with her because she would not accept his drunkenness as a valid excuse for his actions. But being drunk or high, is not and has never been a valid excuse for anything.

.Habakkuk 2:15 | This is being done to several people right now as you read this. And of course this would also refer to any date rape drugs that anyone slips in someone's drink to take advantage of them. Look what Lot's daughters did to him in Genesis 19:31-35. Of course he agreed to drink the wine too, one might add, but that still does not dismiss the actions of the daughters.

.Habakkuk 2:19 | I'll come back to this, give me a moment. I've got something for you on this

.Habakkuk 3:4 | God had horns coming out of his hand.

.Habakkuk 3:14 | We'll talk more about this in Malachi 3:5.

Day 359: Zephaniah 1-3

.Zephaniah 1:15-16 | "... a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers." This sounds like what happened in 9/11 when the ash and dust from the World Trade Center towers darkened the city.

.Zephaniah 3:6 | This also sounds like a description that fits the 9/11 terrorism attacks.

Day 360: Haggai 1-2

.Haggai 2:7 | "I will shake all the nations" highlighted

.Haggai 2:9 | highlighted

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