Al's Devotional

If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.  Exo 22:5    I am reading in Exodus at this time.  Israel has been delivered mightily from Egypt and are now at the foot of Sinai receiving the Law at the voice of Yahweh thundering forth from the smoke enveloping the mountain.   The thing that occurs to me is that at this point in time, the Law is only potential.  An example is the law stated above.  At the time that the Law was given, no Israelite owned any vineyards.  The Law was given in anticipation of Israel entering into the Promised Land.   In just a short time from when the Law was pronounced audibly by Yahweh, Moses went up the mountain to receive the tablets with the Decalogue—the Ten Commandments, engraved b...

PSALM 23, HEBREW MEANINGS EXPLAINED   Psalm 23 is well known and well loved. And with good reason. There are a few words in Hebrew however, which don't come through in their fulness when expressed in English. I'd like to tell you a bit about what I see in those words.   א    מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד :    יְהוָה רֹעִי , לֹא אֶחְסָר .   First of all, the song is written by King David, who changed career from being a shepherd to a king, with a good few years as a wandering fugitive in between. David's life was in constant danger as the previous king, Saul, burned with envy against him and wanted him dead. David was a wanted man on the run, ducking and diving through the Judean hills and deserts, in search of escape, and safety. So that's the important context. The first two Hebrew words sum this up:  "Mizmor l'David"  – a psalm (song) of David. The next two words tell u...

This is from One For Israel, THE DOUBLE MEANING OF MESSIANIC PROPHECY There is a lot of biblical prophecy that speaks about Jesus. But I think it's fair to say most people are blind to the double meaning in those passages. Many believers would cite Isaiah 53 as an obvious example of a biblical prophet speaking of the promised Messiah. We could also talk about the numerous other prophecies concerning His birth and early life, matters over which the man Jesus of Nazareth could have no control: The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) He would be from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10) He could come out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1) He would be called a Nazarene (Isaiah 11:1) Then there are all the impossible miracles he would perform during His lifetime: He would heal lepers, open the eyes of the blind, and the lame would leap for joy as foretold...

And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest . Exo 33:14   God's presence realized   Since God is everywhere, in what sacred and peculiar sense is He present to the believing heart? "Lord, how is it that Thou dost manifest Thyself to us, as Thou dost not unto the world?" The principle on which He does so is illustrated by some of the common facts of life. A man is present to his friend, as he is not to a stranger, though he may be at the same moment speaking to both. The light which floods the landscape with a deluge of beauty is present to him who sees it, as it is not to the blind man walking at his side. Music, though it may ripple round the deafened ear, is only present to him who hears .  T he discourse of the naturalist on his experiments, of the scholar on his books, of the mathematician who is talking with raptures on the beauties of a theorem, will bring things into the presence of initiat...

Thomas Watson on the Preface to the Ten Commandments The preface I. I begin with the first, the preface to the preface: " God spake all these words, saying ," etc. This is like the sounding of a trumpet before a solemn proclamation, " God spake "; other parts of the Bible are said to be uttered by the mouth of the holy prophets, but here God spake in His own Person. 1. The Lawgiver: " God spake ." There are two things requisite in a lawgiver. (1) Wisdom. Laws are founded upon reason; and he must be wise that makes laws. God, in this respect, is most fit to be a lawgiver: " He is wise in heart "; He hath a monopoly of wisdom: " the only wise God ." (2) Authority. God hath the supreme power in His hand; and He who gives men their lives hath most right to give them their laws. 2. The Law itself: " all these words "; that is, all the words of the ...

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Co 2:14    For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace:  because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be:  and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Rom 8:6 -8    (ASV)     Two things can be said of the natural man and the things of the Spirit of God. Firstly, he does not receive them : secondly, he cannot know them. In this double assertion, we learn firstly that the power to receive spiritual things is denied [to] the natural man (Rom 8:7). He cannot receive them because they are spiritually discerned. We learn secondly that the natural man willingly rejects them. This is implied in...

Exo dus 17:8 -13   Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.  And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.  So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.      Fighting and praying   " Then ca...