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Free Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 2nd: Bible Meditation for Numbers 9Bible Readings for May 2nd
Numbers 9 | Psalm 45 | Song of Songs 7 | Hebrews 7
The observance of the Passover in Numbers 9 illustrates a principle we have seen throughout our study of Numbers. Yahweh is careful to protect his own holiness, so that he does not allow anyone who has become unclean through touching a dead body to participate in the Passover feast. He explicitly commands that the Israelites should keep the Passover “according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it” (Num. 9:3).
And as it happened, a few people had touched a dead...2025-05-0204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMay 1st: Bible Meditation for Numbers 8Bible Readings for May 1st
Numbers 8 | Psalm 44 | Song of Songs 6 | Hebrews 6
In Numbers 8, Yahweh prepares the Levites for their service by cleansing them. The first thing we see in Numbers 8 is that the Levites were actually cleansed during this process with sprinkled water of purification, the shaving of their bodies, and washed clothes (Num. 8:7). This was a spiritual process to qualify them for spiritual duties in the worship and service of Yahweh, but part of that process required a physical cleansing with water. In many ways, this cleansing foreshadows Christian baptism, where our physical washing...2025-05-0104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 30th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 7Bible Readings for April 30th
Numbers 7 | Psalms 42–43 | Song of Songs 5 | Hebrews 5
Yesterday, we looked at the non-priestly class of holy people in Israel: the Nazirites. Today’s reading in Numbers 7 addresses two other issues regarding holiness within Israel’s camp.
While priests and Nazirites were the only holy people, the tabernacle was filled with many holy things. Obviously, everything used in the tabernacle had to come from somewhere, and Numbers 7 is a record of how all of the tribes of Israel contributed their share in the consecration of the temple. The chapter is repeti...2025-04-3004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 29th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 6Bible Readings for April 29th
Numbers 6 | Psalms 40–41 | Song of Songs 4 | Hebrews 4
One major theological distinction that comes up repeatedly in the book of Numbers—and one that we are likely to miss unless we are looking for it—is the difference between clean and holy. The words are not interchangeable. We had talked about this distinction in our meditation from Leviticus 11–12, and the subject arises again in our reading today from Numbers 6.
For Yahweh to dwell in the midst of his people in his tabernacle at the center of the camp, he commands that eve...2025-04-2904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 28th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 5Bible Readings for April 28th
Numbers 5 | Psalm 39 | Song of Songs 3 | Hebrews 3
In Numbers 5, Yahweh continues to establish physical boundaries, instituting three new policies to keep his own holiness free from any contamination that the people of Israel might cause.
First, Yahweh commands that anyone with disease, discharge, or uncleanness from contact with the dead should be put outside the camp (Num. 5:1–4). While Yahweh had already commanded that the lepers dwell outside of the camp (Lev. 13:46), this is the first place we read that people with other kinds of uncleannesses were to be excluded fr...2025-04-2804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 27th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 4Bible Readings for April 27th
Numbers 4 | Psalm 38 | Song of Songs 2 | Hebrews 2
As we continue to read through the book of Numbers, we need to keep in mind that Israel is still encamped at Mount Sinai at this point, just as they have been since Exodus 19. The second half of the book of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and the first several chapters of Numbers together comprise one long scene in the Bible.
But by Numbers 10, Yahweh will instruct Israel to break camp. We see in Numbers 4, then, the instructions that God gives to his...2025-04-2704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 26th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 3Bible Readings for April 26th
Numbers 3 | Psalm 37 | Song of Songs 1 | Hebrews 1
Not all Levites were priests. A priest had to be a male descendent of Aaron, who was a Kohathite. The lineage of the priests looks like this (Ex. 6:16–25):
Levi —> Kohath —> Amram —> Aaron —> Priests
So, none of the Merarites or Gershonites were priests, and only some of the Kohathites were priests.
But, even if they weren’t all priests, the three clans within the tribe of Levi—Gershon, Kohath, and Merari—are given by Yahweh special work assignments not shared by any ot...2025-04-2605 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 25th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 2Bible Readings for April 25th
Numbers 2 | Psalm 36 | Ecclesiastes 12 | Philemon 1
Yesterday, we began to discuss the way God was at work arranging the physical space inside Israel’s camp in the book of Numbers. In Numbers 1:47–54, God laid out the basic seating chart: the Israelites were to set up their camp with the tabernacle at the very center of the camp, with the Levites directly surrounding the tabernacle to form a barrier between the tabernacle and the other tribes of Israel, “so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel” (Num. 1:5...2025-04-2504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 24th: Bible Meditation for Numbers 1Bible Readings for April 24th
Numbers 1 | Psalm 35 | Ecclesiastes 11 | Titus 3
Students in most any kind of classroom, if they pay careful attention, can learn a lot about the teacher within the first few minutes of the very first day of class. For example, some teachers allow students to sit anywhere they like, while others come prepared with a detailed seating chart for every person in their class. And if you have a seating-chart teacher, everyone intuitively understands right from the beginning that rules, structure, and order will play an important part of your relationship with your...2025-04-2404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 23rd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 27Bible Readings for April 23rd
Leviticus 27 | Psalm 34 | Ecclesiastes 10 | Titus 2
In context, the final chapter of Leviticus is a bit of a puzzle. Leviticus 26, yesterday’s reading, seems like a perfectly fitting close to a single book, with an overarching summary of the blessings and curses that Yahweh would give for obedience or for disobedience, respectively. Wouldn’t these laws about vows, then, fit better earlier in Leviticus?1 So, why would Yahweh inspire this material for the concluding chapter of Leviticus?
The first thing we should keep in mind is that Leviticus is not one...2025-04-2304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 22nd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 26Bible Readings for April 22nd
Leviticus 26 | Psalm 33 | Ecclesiastes 9 | Titus 1
The promises of the old covenant were a two-edged sword. On the one hand, Yahweh promised to establish paradise on earth for Israel if they obeyed all his statutes and commandments, but on the other hand, Yahweh promised hell on earth if his people refused to listen to him and spurned his laws. In Leviticus 26, Yahweh lays out the two paths that his people could take: blessings for obedience or curses for disobedience.
Yahweh promises specific material blessings side by side with their corresponding...2025-04-2204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 21st: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 25Bible Readings for April 21st
Leviticus 25 | Psalm 32 | Ecclesiastes 8 | 2 Timothy 4
Leviticus 25 introduces us to one of the more intriguing events that Yahweh mandated for his people: the Year of Jubilee. In part, the Year of Jubilee is fascinating as an economic model for restoring lost inheritance property to families who had to sell it away because of debt, but the Year of Jubilee is also a historical curiosity since the evidence we have suggests that Israel rarely, if ever, observed the Year of Jubilee. 1
The Year of Jubilee fell on the year following every...2025-04-2104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 20th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 24Bible Readings for April 20th
Leviticus 24 | Psalm 31 | Ecclesiastes 7 | 2 Timothy 3
In all of Leviticus, only two stories break up the statutes and legislation that otherwise fill up the book:1 one story comes in Leviticus 10, narrating how Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, had offered strange fire before Yahweh. The other story comes here in Leviticus 24:10–16, when the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man blasphemes “the Name” (Lev. 24:11). In both stories, the offenders are put to death—by Yahweh himself in the case of Nadab and Abihu and by the entire congregation of Israel i...2025-04-2004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 19th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 23Bible Readings for April 19th
Leviticus 23 | Psalm 30 | Ecclesiastes 6 | 2 Timothy 2
In Leviticus 23, Yahweh lays out the regular calendar of festivals for Israel. A large part of Israel’s worship was bound up in special feasts that Yahweh had commanded to commemorate something he had done in creation or in his work of redemption.
The first set of feasts began with the Passover, during which Israel remembered how Yahweh had brought Israel safely out of Egypt by passing over Israel to strike down every firstborn male in Egypt. The Passover was held on the fourteenth da...2025-04-1904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 18th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 22Bible Readings for April 18th
Leviticus 22 | Psalms 28–29 | Ecclesiastes 5 | 2 Timothy 1
Leviticus 22 continues the theme from Leviticus 21, which is that the priests were held to a higher standard of holiness because of the fact that they served in the tabernacle, the holy place where God himself dwelt. So, they were to take measures above and beyond what normal Israelites had to do in order to avoid coming into contact with anything at all that might render them unclean.
But in Leviticus 22:1–9, Yahweh lays out a few more provisions, and these provisions are no longer given in e...2025-04-1804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 17th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 21Bible Readings for April 17th
Leviticus 21 | Psalms 26–27 | Ecclesiastes 4 | 1 Timothy 6
If the last few chapters of Leviticus have focused on the personal holiness required of all Israelites, Leviticus 21–22 focuses specifically on the personal holiness of the priests, who were called to a higher standard of living. In fact, the priests faced a few requirements that we may find surprising or even shocking.
For example, why were priests forbidden from coming into contact with any dead person outside their blood relatives (Lev. 21:1)? And why was the chief priest not allowed to mourn at all by lett...2025-04-1704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 16th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 20Bible Readings for April 16th
Leviticus 20 | Psalm 25 | Ecclesiastes 3 | 1 Timothy 5
The majority of Leviticus 20 focuses on Yahweh’s prohibitions against four kinds of wickednesses: child sacrifice (Lev. 20:1–5), mediums and wizards (Lev. 20:6, 27), cursing one’s father or mother (Lev. 20:8), and sexual immorality (Lev. 20:10–21). These laws are set in the context of a larger section of laws in Leviticus 11–22 about how Israelites were to seek personal holiness.
Also, as Yahweh explained in Leviticus 18:3, 24–25, and 27–28, it is not that these abominations were theoretical possibilities of sin that might beset Israel; rather, the specific things that Yahweh forbids were standard...2025-04-1604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 15th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 19Bible Readings for April 15th
Leviticus 19 | Psalms 23–24 | Ecclesiastes 2 | 1 Timothy 4
Sandwiched between two sections of laws in Leviticus 19 that deal with matters of personal holiness (Lev. 19:1–8, 19–37) is a passage in which we find one of the most famous verses in the Bible: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Most of us are more familiar with this verse because Jesus quoted it along with Deuteronomy 6:5 (“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might”) to summarize the entire law (Matt. 22:34–40). Reading this verse in its original...2025-04-1504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 14th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 18Bible Readings for April 14th
Leviticus 18 | Psalm 22 | Ecclesiastes 1 | 1 Timothy 3
There is no getting around it—Leviticus 18 is an awkward chapter to read. Here, Yahweh details all the possible people a man was prohibited from approaching to uncover their nakedness—that is, to approach sexually. Nevertheless, this chapter has great significance today as we live in a culture obsessed with sexual relationships between anyone, in any context, and at any time. Leviticus 18 is one of the more explicit chapters for establishing a theology of human sexuality.
First, it is interesting that these laws would have...2025-04-1404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 13th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 17Bible Readings for April 13th
Leviticus 17 | Psalms 20–21 | Proverbs 31 | 1 Timothy 2
Leviticus 17 provides theological insight that not only undergirds the sacrificial system in Leviticus but also informs the theology of the rest of the Bible. The chief value of Leviticus 17 lies in its explanation of the theology of blood. The chapter itself is divided into two sections, the first to prohibit sacrificing animals in any place other than the tabernacle (Lev. 17:1–9) and the second to prohibit the eating of blood (Lev. 17:10–16). The rationale behind both sections is the same: the blood of animals is too precious to shed o...2025-04-1304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 12th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 16Bible Readings for April 12th
Leviticus 16 | Psalm 19 | Proverbs 30 | 1 Timothy 1
After a lengthy discussion about cleanness in Israel over the last several chapters, the focus in Leviticus 16 returns to priestly ministry—in fact, to the highest ministry entrusted to the priests: the Day of Atonement. On this day, once every year, the high priest (originally Aaron) would cleanse the tabernacle and the people of Israel from the defilements of Israel’s uncleannesses and sins (Lev. 16:16–19).
To begin, the high priest bathed in water and then dressed in only a coat, an undergarment, a sash, and a...2025-04-1204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 11th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 15Bible Readings for April 11th
Leviticus 15 | Psalm 18 | Proverbs 29 | 2 Thessalonians 3
Leviticus 15 underscores the fact that the theology of cleanness wasn’t always something to do with outright sinfulness, or even abnormal disease. In fact, there were routine ways in which all Israelites were counted to be unclean at regular intervals through normal—and even perfectly healthy—bodily functions.
So, in Leviticus 15, we see a range of possibilities for being rendered ceremonially unclean. Any man who had a discharge—that is, probably from some kind of infection (Lev. 15:2–3)—or an emission of semen, whether through a nocturnal...2025-04-1104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 10th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 14Bible Readings for April 10th
Leviticus 14 | Psalm 17 | Proverbs 28 | 2 Thessalonians 2
Because of the connection of leprosy to sin and death—as we discussed in yesterday’s meditation—anyone with a skin disease had to remain outside the camp of Israel until their condition was healed (Lev. 13:45–46). In Leviticus 14, Yahweh gives Moses instructions for how someone suffering from leprosy could be cleansed in order to be reconciled back into the camp of Israel.
First, the leprous person had to present himself or herself to a priest, who would examine the person’s skin to ensure that the d...2025-04-1004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 9th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 13Bible Readings for April 9th
Leviticus 13 | Psalms 15–16 | Proverbs 27 | 2 Thessalonians 1
Leprosy gets significant attention in the book of Leviticus, both in chapter 13 (our reading for today) and even through chapter 14, which we will look at tomorrow. It is important to note that the word for leprosy here does not necessarily refer to Hansen’s Disease, the proper name for the condition that we refer to as leprosy today, which causes severe nerve damage in the body’s extremities. Rather, this word should probably be translated more generically as “skin diseases.”1
The larger context surrounding the issue...2025-04-0904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 8th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 11–12Bible Readings for April 8th
Leviticus 11–12 | Psalms 13–14 | Proverbs 26 | 1 Thessalonians 5
Up to now, Leviticus has dealt largely with issues concerning the work and ministry of the Levites themselves—that is, the proper sacrifices to offer, the proper way to offer them, and the ordination of Aaron and his sons for priestly ministry. Beginning in Leviticus 11, the focus of our readings shifts toward the issues of holiness and cleanness in the camp where Yahweh made his dwelling place.
Allen Ross gives this helpful explanation of these fundamental concepts of holiness and cleanness in his commentary on Lev...2025-04-0804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 7th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 10Bible Readings for April 7th
Leviticus 10 | Psalms 11–12 | Proverbs 25 | 1 Thessalonians 4
The holiness of God is awful and terrible—not in the sense of being “bad,” but in the sense of commanding great fear, dread, and reverence. One of the great sins of modern Christians is that we take the holiness of God too lightly, over-emphasizing God’s grace and love to the point that his holiness vanishes altogether.
In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu offer up some kind of unauthorized fire on the altar of God, possibly after imbibing wine or strong drink (Lev. 10:9). This defilement...2025-04-0704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 6th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 9Bible Readings for April 6th
Leviticus 9 | Psalm 10 | Proverbs 24 | 1 Thessalonians 3
At the end of Leviticus 8, after Moses had washed Aaron and his sons, dressed them in their priestly garments, offered all the necessary sacrifices, smeared sacrificial blood on their bodies, and sprinkled them with holy anointing oil to consecrate (i.e., to make holy) Aaron and his sons in strict observance of the instructions of Yahweh, the priests-to-be had to wait seven days until their ordination could be completed (Lev. 8:32).
At the end of this period of waiting, on the eighth day, Moses calls...2025-04-0604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 5th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 8Bible Readings for April 5th
Leviticus 8 | Psalm 9 | Proverbs 23 | 1 Thessalonians 2
Leviticus 8 marks the official ordination of Aaron and his sons to serve as priests before Yahweh, a pivotal moment for Israel. We saw the leadership of Israel expanded beyond Moses alone in Exodus 18 when Moses appointed a hierarchy of judges to help him give justice to the people, but now Aaron and his sons step into the role of priests to help meditate between Yahweh and Israel.
The Levitical priests were called out of Israel and set apart from the rest of the nation—an...2025-04-0504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 4th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 7Bible Readings for April 4th
Leviticus 7 | Psalms 7–8 | Proverbs 22 | 1 Thessalonians 1
Being a Levite carried with it a few unique provisions—and sometimes even drawbacks. For example, the Levites were not counted in the census to be eligible for military service with the rest of Israel (Num. 1:47–54), and additionally, only the tribe of Levi went without receiving an inheritance in the Promised Land (Josh. 13:33).
The reason for the peculiar treatment of Levi was simple: God had given them greater privileges than military service or property ownership because he had given them himself. Joshua 13:33 puts it this w...2025-04-0404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 3rd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 6Bible Readings for April 3rd
Leviticus 6 | Psalms 5–6 | Proverbs 21 | Colossians 4
In Leviticus 5–6, we read about the final type of sacrifice under the old covenant Levitical priesthood: the guilt offering. The guilt offering was similar to the sin offering in two ways. First, the guilt offering, like the sin offering, was offered to make atonement for a specific sin, rather than being a general offering for sins like the burnt offering. Second, both the guilt offering and the sin offering were only available for sins that were committed unintentionally (Lev. 5:14, 17), not for sins committed with a “high hand,”...2025-04-0304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 2nd: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 5Bible Readings for April 2nd
Leviticus 5 | Psalm 3–4 | Proverbs 20 | Colossians 3
In the Levitical sacrificial system, the offerings worshipers brought were, by design, costly. In the ancient world, wealth wasn’t measured as much by the number of dollars in a bank account but more often by the amount of livestock a person owned. So, when God says, “For every beast in the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills” (Ps. 50:10), he is making a claim that he possesses all the wealth in the entire world, as measured by animals—not only domesticated livestock (cattle), but even t...2025-04-0204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastApril 1st: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 4Bible Readings for April 1st
Leviticus 4 | Psalms 1–2 | Proverbs 19 | Colossians 2
Yahweh’s instructions for presenting a sin offering stretch across Leviticus 4 and 5, and as we study these rules, remember that the sin offering was not the primary sacrifice offered to make atonement for sins. As we discussed yesterday, the burnt offering—in which the entire sacrifice was burnt up on the altar to symbolize the worshiper’s complete surrender to Yahweh, as well as Yahweh’s complete acceptance of the worshiper—was the sacrifice that Israelites routinely made to atone for sins (Lev. 2).
The sin offering...2025-04-0104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 31st: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 2–3Bible Readings for March 31st
Leviticus 2–3 | John 21 | Proverbs 18 | Colossians 1
The grain offering (Lev. 2) and the peace offering (Lev. 3) were sacrifices of praise, not atonement. They were made to remember and celebrate something that Yahweh had done for the worshiper.
So, the grain offering was often made as a way to honor Yahweh with the firstfruits of a harvest (Lev. 2:14–16)—God’s regular, ongoing provision in the life of his people. The “memorial portion” (Lev. 2:2, 9, 16) was burned up on the altar to remember God’s faithfulness in the harvest, and Yahweh gave the rest of the offerin...2025-03-3104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 30th: Bible Meditation for Leviticus 1Bible Readings for March 30th
Leviticus 1 | John 20 | Proverbs 17 | Philippians 4
Christians sometimes have a difficult time reading Leviticus. We tend to see Leviticus as a long book of rules that are entirely irrelevant to our lives, and then it becomes difficult to focus as we read yet another set of instructions on how to offer a sacrifice or seek purification for leprosy. If those rules don’t apply directly to Christians, why should we slog through this book?
The book of Leviticus actually has profound implications for understanding biblical theology. As we have seen th...2025-03-3004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 29th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 40Bible Readings for March 29th
Exodus 40 | John 19 | Proverbs 16 | Philippians 3
Now that all the tabernacle’s construction is finished, the final steps are to anoint the priests to prepare them to minister before Yahweh, to set up the tabernacle, and to consecrate the tabernacle to make it a holy place for Yahweh’s glory to dwell. In Exodus 40:1–33, we read about every careful task that Moses completes to ensure that this vitally important work is done correctly.
And when Moses finishes the work, we read that the cloud of the glory of Yahweh fills the ta...2025-03-2904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 28th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 39Bible Readings for March 28th
Exodus 39 | John 18 | Proverbs 15 | Philippians 2
With the construction of the priestly garments, all the plans Yahweh gave Moses were brought to completion. Yahweh had established a tabernacle in the midst of Israel where he could dwell. In Exodus 39:32–43, we read a final survey of all that was built and constructed, recording that the work was totally complete, just as Yahweh himself had commanded.
What we are supposed to recognize at this point is that Yahweh has given Israel a thorough and complete set of instructions for establishing pure worship. Ya...2025-03-2804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 27th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 38Bible Readings for March 27th
Exodus 38 | John 17 | Proverbs 14 | Philippians 1
The court in Exodus 38 looked like a large yard with linen hangings all around it. On the west side of the court was the tabernacle, so that worshipers entered into the court with their sacrificial animals on the east side of the enclosed yard, facing the entrance to the tabernacle across the yard, since the entrance to the Garden of Eden was also from the east (Gen. 3:24).1
Between them and the tabernacle, they would see two fixtures: the bronze altar where the priests offered...2025-03-2704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 26th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 37Bible Readings for March 26th
Exodus 37 | John 16 | Proverbs 13 | Ephesians 6
In Exodus 37, we read about the construction of four pieces of furniture for the tabernacle: the ark of the covenant, the table, the lampstand, and the altar of incense. Today, we will explore the significance of the first three of these pieces of furniture. (For more on the altar of incense, see the meditation from Exodus 30.)
The ark of the covenant featured a cover called the mercy seat (Ex. 37:6) on which two golden cherubim sat. For this reason, the ark of the covenant was...2025-03-2604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 25th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 36Bible Readings for March 25th
Exodus 36 | John 15 | Proverbs 12 | Ephesians 5
Exodus 36 is written to describe the work of constructing the tabernacle, but this passage is also rich with insights about church leadership and ministry in the context of the new covenant church of Jesus Christ.
First, the text makes it clear that not only do Bezalel and Oholiab have significant skill, intelligence, knowledge, and craftsmanship to do everything needed for the construction of the entire tabernacle—working gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood (Ex. 35:31–33)—but also that Yahweh had filled these two with the Spirit...2025-03-2504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 24th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 35Bible Readings for March 24th
Exodus 35 | John 14 | Proverbs 11 | Ephesians 4
Throughout Exodus, we have seen Yahweh drawing clear boundaries that separate his holiness from everything that is common: to a high degree from the wider world, but also from different groups of Israelites in varying degrees. Only the priests are set apart for holy ministry, but Yahweh also calls the rest of Israel to enter into his holiness in two specific ways, which he lays out in Exodus 35.
First, the Sabbath day was a day that was holy to Yahweh (Ex. 35:1–3). Just as the sp...2025-03-2404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 23rd: Bible Meditation for Exodus 34Bible Readings for March 23rd
Exodus 34 | John 13 | Proverbs 10 | Ephesians 3
At the very end of Exodus 33, Moses had gone for broke. In the face of Yahweh’s threat to abandon Israel by withdrawing his own personal presence from their midst, Moses pleaded for Yahweh to go up to the Promised Land with them, and Yahweh had granted Moses’s request (Ex. 33:17). But then, Moses made another, greater request: “Please show me your glory” (Ex. 33:18). While Yahweh told Moses that no man could see his face and live, he nevertheless granted Moses’s request in part, agreeing to place M...2025-03-2304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 22nd: Bible Meditation for Exodus 33Bible Readings for March 22nd
Exodus 33 | John 12 | Proverbs 9 | Ephesians 2
In Exodus 32 we saw the first part of the wrath of God against Israel’s monstrous idolatry, when they fashioned for themselves a golden calf to worship and then dared to call that golden calf Yahweh. In response, Yahweh sent the Levites through the camp to kill their fellow Israelites, and then he sent a plague against Israel. Still, Yahweh relented from wiping out Israel altogether.
In today’s reading, however, the other shoe drops. At first, things sound promising: Yahweh tells Moses to depa...2025-03-2204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 21st: Bible Meditation for Exodus 32Bible Readings for March 21st
Exodus 32 | John 11 | Proverbs 8 | Ephesians 1
Exodus 32 includes one of the most famous—and most tragic—stories from the history of Israel, the scene where God’s people make for themselves a golden calf to worship while Moses is receiving the law from Yahweh on top of Mount Sinai.
To understand the full significance of this story, we must recognize that Aaron does not technically encourage the people of Israel to worship different gods. Rather, after he fashions the molten gold into the image of a calf, he identifies the calf a...2025-03-2104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 20th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 31Bible Readings for March 20th
Exodus 31 | John 10 | Proverbs 7 | Galatians 6
In Exodus 31, we find some of the clearest teaching in all the Bible about the purpose and importance of the Sabbath. In recent history, the fourth commandment to keep the Sabbath holy has been largely forgotten among Christians. A lot of this is not willful disobedience but instead has to do with confusion surrounding the nature of the Sabbath under the new covenant. Jesus often corrected the Pharisees for their misguided views about the Sabbath, but what can we glean today from the Old Testament that...2025-03-2004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 19th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 30Bible Readings for March 19th
Exodus 30 | John 9 | Proverbs 6 | Galatians 5
Much of Exodus 30 is focused on an important aspect of tabernacle worship: the altar of incense (Ex. 30:1–10) and the recipe for the incense that would be burned on the altar (Ex. 30:34–38). After teaching the law and offering sacrifices, burning incense was the most important aspect of a priest’s duties before Yahweh and on behalf of the people of Israel (Deut. 33:10).
The Altar of Incense was placed in the Holy Place, just in front of the veil that would lead to the Most Holy Place...2025-03-1904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 18th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 29Bible Readings for March 18th
Exodus 29 | John 8 | Proverbs 5 | Galatians 4
In Exodus 29, we read about three distinct processes to prepare priests to be set apart for ministry, each with a unique and important theological value. The priests were to be washed with water (Ex. 29:4), anointed with oil (Ex. 29:7), and sprinkled with the blood of a sacrifice (Ex. 29:21).
To start, the washing of water signified cleansing from all worldly defilement,1 a process that underlies the theology of baptism in the New Testament. Peter is the most explicit about this, suggesting in 1 Peter 3:21 that baptism symbolizes...2025-03-1804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 17th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 28Bible Readings for March 17th
Exodus 28 | John 7 | Proverbs 4 | Galatians 3
The garments described in Exodus 28 are holy garments (Ex. 28:2) for a holy priesthood, even down to the plate that they wore on their turbans with the inscription “Holy to the LORD” (Ex. 28:36). The purpose of these garments was “for glory and for beauty” (Ex. 28:2, 40)—that is, they were created to reveal something about the glory and beauty of Yahweh and also of his covenant relationship to his people.
First, these garments reveal that the priests served as the representatives of Israel before Yahweh. So, their epho...2025-03-1704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 16th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 27Bible Readings for March 16th
Exodus 27 | John 6 | Proverbs 3 | Galatians 2
Despite the fact that normal Israelites were not allowed into the holy places, the tabernacle was nevertheless supposed to be the place where Yahweh dwelt in the midst of all his people. So in Exodus 27, Yahweh made a provision for his people to approach his tabernacle in a very specific way: the Israelites would bring sacrifices to the tabernacle to offer on the bronze altar in the court of the tabernacle, outside of the holy places.
The court was built to accommodate hundreds of...2025-03-1604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 15th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 26Bible Readings for March 15th
Exodus 26 | John 5 | Proverbs 2 | Galatians 1
In Exodus 26, Yahweh describes the two different places in the tabernacle where his holiness would dwell most fully on earth: the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Those two places would be separated only by a veil made out of blue, purple, and scarlet fabrics, with figures of cherubim skillfully embroidered into it, with the mercy seat and the ark of the covenant alone residing inside the Most Holy Place (Ex. 26:33–34).
Other furniture—furniture that Yahweh described in Exodus 25 and that we will read...2025-03-1504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 14th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 25Bible Readings for March 14th
Exodus 25 | John 4 | Proverbs 1 | 2 Corinthians 13
For modern readers, the detailed instructions that Yahweh gives for the construction of the tabernacle can become a bit tedious—something like reading a complex instruction manual without any pictures. This is our problem, though, and not the text’s. If we pay careful attention to what is written here, there is a huge theological payoff.1
To understand the theology of the tabernacle, we must recognize that Yahweh is explicitly rebuilding the Garden of Eden here. Consider each element of the tabernacle that we read...2025-03-1404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 13th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 24Bible Readings for March 13th
Exodus 24 | John 3 | Job 42 | 2 Corinthians 12
Exodus 24 is a covenant renewal worship ceremony. Because we also meet weekly on the Lord’s Day to renew the one new covenant that Jesus himself inaugurated through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension—and not to inaugurate new covenants each week—Exodus 24 is uniquely valuable to serve as a pattern for us. Here, we see three principles that ought to shape our own weekly worship.
First, the word of Yahweh must be at the center of our corporate worship. Notice how Moses read and pr...2025-03-1304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 12th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 23Bible Readings for March 12th
Exodus 23 | John 2 | Job 41 | 2 Corinthians 11
At its core, the law functions on the principle “Do this and live.” So when God gives the law to Israel, he promises them that they will receive either blessings or curses—blessings if they obey all that God instructs them to do in his law and curses if they fail to obey what God has instructed them to do.
Along those lines, God promises that he will send to Israel an angel to go with them on their way and into the Promised Land...2025-03-1204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 11th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 22Bible Readings for March 11th
Exodus 22 | John 1 | Job 40 | 2 Corinthians 10
Exodus 22:31 might be the most interesting verse in the whole chapter: “You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.” It is sometimes difficult to imagine why Yahweh places such an emphasis on the food that Israel ate—not to mention several other eyebrow-raising emphases in the law—but here we get an explanation: eating defiled food defiles the one eating it. And since Israel is consecrated (holy) to...2025-03-1104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 10th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 21Bible Readings for March 10th
Exodus 21 | Luke 24 | Job 39 | 2 Corinthians 9
Our society may not have a more intellectually lazy cliché than “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” The phrase itself is clever, vividly portraying one eye put out after another in an unending, bloodthirsty, universal quest. But is unrestrained vengeance really how the law teaches us to love our neighbor as ourself?
Not in the least. In fact, unlimited vengeance is exactly what the “eye for an eye” laws forbid.
Before these laws, people would retaliate for crimes committed...2025-03-1003 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 9th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 20Bible Readings for March 9th
Exodus 20 | Luke 23 | Job 38 | 2 Corinthians 8
When a lawyer asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment, Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, explaining that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. He then said, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:40).
What that means is that those two commandments—that we must love God and love our neighbor as we love o...2025-03-0904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 8th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 19Bible Readings for March 8th
Exodus 19 | Luke 22 | Job 37 | 2 Corinthians 7
Exodus 19 is a pivotal chapter in the Bible. At this point, Yahweh tells his people to stop at Mount Sinai, where he will meet with them and take them to himself as his people through covenant and by giving them his law, beginning with the Ten Commandments in the next chapter.
To understand what is happening in this chapter, it’s important to keep in mind that grace came first. Yahweh is about to give his law to Israel, but it isn’t as thou...2025-03-0804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 7th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 18Bible Readings for March 7th
Exodus 18 | Luke 21 | Job 36 | 2 Corinthians 6
We know almost nothing of Jethro’s faith until we come to Exodus 18, when Moses tells Jethro all that Yahweh had done to redeem Israel from Egypt (Ex. 18:8). We read that, in response to the news, Jethro rejoiced at what Yahweh had done for Israel (Ex. 18:9–10), and then he said this: “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people” (Ex. 18:11). From there, Jethro brought sacrifices to God and ate with Moses, Aaron, and the elde...2025-03-0704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 6th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 17Bible Readings for March 6th
Exodus 17 | Luke 20 | Job 35 | 2 Corinthians 5
A terrible pattern is emerging as Israel follows Yahweh through the wilderness toward Mount Sinai. It goes like this: Yahweh accomplishes some great act of redemption for his people, but whenever a crisis emerges, Israel acts as though Yahweh has never done anything other than abandon and neglect them. Rather than meeting every new problem with confidence that Yahweh will continue to act faithfully—just as he has always done—Israel reverts to distrust of Yahweh at every turn.
So, when Israel arrives at a ne...2025-03-0604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 5th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 16Bible Readings for March 5th
Exodus 16 | Luke 19 | Job 34 | 2 Corinthians 4
Obviously, providing for the basic needs of Israel in the wilderness would be no small task, yet the entire Exodus would be for nothing if God’s people did not survive long enough to enter into their inheritance. So, God provided water for his people to drink in Exodus 15, and in Exodus 16, God begins to provide food for his people to eat.
Out of sheer grace toward the Israelites, who had grumbled and complained and wished out loud that they had instead died in Eg...2025-03-0504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 4th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 15Bible Readings for March 4th
Exodus 15 | Luke 18 | Job 33 | 2 Corinthians 3
The song of Moses in Exodus 15 provides one of the richest overall descriptions of who Yahweh is for his people that we find in the entire Bible—and as such, Exodus 15 is an instructive chapter on what our own worship should sound like.
To begin, Moses sings that Yahweh is the strength, song, and salvation of his people (Ex. 15:2a)—and in fact, not only is Yahweh the God of his people today but he was also our father’s God (Ex. 15:2b). Therefore, Moses...2025-03-0404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 3rd: Bible Meditation for Exodus 14Bible Readings for March 3rd
Exodus 14 | Luke 17 | Job 32 | 2 Corinthians 2
Although we might have thought Israel was finished forever with Egypt, neither Yahweh nor the Egyptians are done fighting over the possession of Israel. Yahweh again hardens Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 14:4) so that Pharaoh and his servants wonder how they could have been so foolish as to let the Israelites go (Ex. 14:5). Accordingly, Pharaoh decides to send all his chariots and armies in pursuit of Israel to get their slaves back (Ex. 14:6–9).
Exodus 14 is a magnificent study in the foolishness of humanity. On the one...2025-03-0304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 2nd: Bible Meditation for Exodus 13Bible Readings for March 2nd
Exodus 13 | Luke 16 | Job 31 | 2 Corinthians 1
It is important to recognize that Yahweh liberates Israel not to give them total freedom but so that Israel could be Yahweh’s people and so that Yahweh could be Israel’s God. In other words, Yahweh redeemed Israel. The word redeem means to purchase something back for oneself, and Yahweh had acted to reclaim Israel from Egypt’s unlawful possession of them.
In Exodus 13, then, Yahweh instructs Israel to consecrate all their firstborn, whether human or animal (Ex. 13:2). Israel would sacrifice to Yahweh every...2025-03-0204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastMarch 1st: Bible Meditation for Exodus 12Bible Readings for March 1st
Exodus 12 | Luke 15 | Job 30 | 1 Corinthians 16
By the time Pharaoh lets Israel go out of Egypt, his country has come to great ruin. As a result of Yahweh’s terrible plagues, fish from the Nile have died (Ex. 7:21); a legion of frogs has come, died, and stank (Ex. 8:14); the livestock has died (Ex. 9:4); all Egypt has been afflicted with boils and sores (Ex. 9:10); and all the crops have been decimated through hail (Ex. 9:25) and locusts (Ex. 10:12).
And in the tenth and final plague, Yahweh leaves all Egypt mourning the deaths of...2025-03-0104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 28th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 11Bible Readings for February 28th
Exodus 11 | Luke 14 | Job 29 | 1 Corinthians 15
Exodus 11–12:21 narrates the final showdown between Yahweh and Pharaoh. Again and again, Pharaoh has hardened his heart against Yahweh, exalting himself against the God of the Hebrews, and in today’s reading, Yahweh finally brings this story to a close.
Despite Moses’s warning that Yahweh himself will go out into the midst of Egypt to strike down every firstborn in the nation—including even the firstborn of Pharaoh himself—Pharaoh does not listen. Yahweh again hardens Pharaoh’s heart so that Yahweh’s “wonders may be m...2025-02-2804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 27th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 10Bible Readings for February 27th
Exodus 10 | Luke 13 | Job 28 | 1 Corinthians 14
Although we are not quite to the end of the war between Yahweh and Pharaoh, there are several indicators in Exodus 10 that the battles are moving increasingly in one direction. Yahweh’s glory continues to shine brighter in the face of the false gods of Egypt, and Pharaoh seems to be wearying of fighting God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth.
At the beginning of Exodus 10, Yahweh insists once again that he himself is hardening the heart of Pharaoh so that Pharaoh will no...2025-02-2704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 26th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 9Bible Readings for February 26th
Exodus 9 | Luke 12 | Job 27 | 1 Corinthians 13
As the plagues keep coming in Exodus 9, Moses continues to preach the word of Yahweh to Pharaoh. Every time they meet, Moses gives a bit more of Yahweh’s word, and in Exodus 9 we come upon one of the more interesting speeches that Yahweh makes through Moses when he explains why he is sending the plagues:
“For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. But...2025-02-2604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 25th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 8Bible Readings for February 25
Exodus 8 | Luke 11 | Job 25–26 | 1 Corinthians 12
In yesterday’s reading from Exodus 7, we encountered the first plague, when God turned the water of the Nile into blood. For today’s meditation, we will explore what God is doing through these plagues, which are at the heart of the theology of Exodus.
To start, we should recognize that God’s plagues all demonstrate his own superiority over the gods of Egypt. Allen Ross writes this:
The plagues all undermine the religion of Egypt. The Nile was venerated as the source of life...2025-02-2504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 24th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 7Bible Readings for February 24th
Exodus 7 | Luke 10 | Job 24 | 1 Corinthians 11
As Yahweh helps Moses regroup before confronting Pharaoh again, Yahweh repeats a strange promise from Exodus 4:21, saying, “But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen to you” (Ex. 7:3–4). Yahweh’s promise to harden Pharaoh’s heart raises multiple questions that profoundly affect biblical theology.
To begin, we should note that the meaning of “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” is straightforward. Yahweh is speaking plainly: he will cause Pharaoh to stiffen...2025-02-2404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 23rd: Bible Meditation for Exodus 6Bible Readings for February 23rd
Exodus 6 | Luke 9 | Job 23 | 1 Corinthians 10
In Exodus 5, we saw that the pressure of leadership was beginning to get to Moses. In frustration, Moses asks why Yahweh has done evil to Israel by sending him, since Pharaoh had only increased his cruelty since Moses had come. While Yahweh’s response in Exodus 6 doesn’t immediately resolve the conflict with Pharaoh, Yahweh nevertheless answers Moses’s prayer by giving him all the assurance that he was seeking—and more.
Yahweh insists that he will absolutely send his people out of the land of...2025-02-2304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 22nd: Bible Meditation for Exodus 5Bible Readings for February 22nd
Exodus 5 | Luke 8 | Job 22 | 1 Corinthians 9
When Moses proclaims to Israel all that Yahweh has called him to do to lead Israel out of Egypt, we read that “the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped” (Ex. 4:31). Moses had accomplished the hardest part of his task by getting the people of Israel on board with the mission, right?
Not quite.
Moses, you see, did know that Pharaoh woul...2025-02-2204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 21st: Bible Meditation for Exodus 4Bible Readings for February 21st
Exodus 4 | Luke 7 | Job 21 | 1 Corinthians 8
We should not judge Moses too harshly for his fear of confronting Pharaoh to declare God’s word. Moses makes up a variety of excuses in Exodus 4:10 about being less than eloquent and slow of speech, but even when Yahweh reminds Moses that he himself is the one who created the mouth in the first place, Moses finally pleads simply, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else” (Ex. 4:13).
Yahweh refuses Moses’s request, but we should recognize from this story that the fear of inadequa...2025-02-2104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 20th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 3Bible Readings for February 20th
Exodus 3 | Luke 6 | Job 20 | 1 Corinthians 7
Exodus 3 is a critical passage for understanding how God’s holiness and his love fit together. In this encounter, God both approaches Moses and tells Moses to keep his distance. So, when Moses turns aside to see how a bush could burn but yet not be consumed, God calls out to Moses, warning him, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are a standing is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5).
This scene raises a question: If God’s presen...2025-02-2004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 19th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 2Bible Readings for February 19th
Exodus 2 | Luke 5 | Job 19 | 1 Corinthians 6
The early life of Moses includes both high drama during his first forty years and then quiet obscurity for the next forty. He escapes being executed as a male Hebrew infant through a basket (literally, an “ark,” the same word that is used for the ark that had rescued Noah) floating in the Nile River. When Pharaoh’s daughter discovers him, she adopts him and pays Moses’s mother to nurse him (Ex. 2:6–10).
But we also aren’t given an idealized, sanitized version of Moses’s stor...2025-02-1904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 18th: Bible Meditation for Exodus 1Bible Readings for February 18th
Exodus 1 | Luke 4 | Job 18 | 1 Corinthians 5
Exodus 1 explains the transition between the story of Joseph and the story of Moses. When Joseph died at the end of Genesis 50, he was the second most powerful man on the planet, a man seated at the right hand of the pharaoh of Egypt himself. As such, Joseph’s brothers and their families (the entire nation of Israel at the time) received preferential treatment in the Egyptian kingdom.
But Exodus 1:8 tells the story of how this special place in Egypt fell apart: “Now there aros...2025-02-1804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 17th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 50Bible Readings for February 17th
Genesis 50 | Luke 3 | Job 16–17 | 1 Corinthians 4
As we talked about in the meditation for Genesis 45, Joseph evaluates the suffering he endured in his lifetime in a surprising way. Rather than seeing himself as a victim of thoroughly unfair treatment (which he certainly was), Joseph understood that God had sovereignly orchestrated the events in his life in order to put Joseph in charge of helping Egypt to survive through the seven-year famine, going so far as to say to his brothers, “So it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen. 45:8).
2025-02-1704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 16th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 49Bible Readings for February 16th
Genesis 49 | Luke 2 | Job 15 | 1 Corinthians 3
Genesis 49 records the final words of Jacob before the patriarch is gathered to his people in death, buried in the same cave as Jacob’s grandparents Abraham and Sarah, Jacob’s parents, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob’s wife Leah (Gen. 49:29–33). The bulk of Genesis 49, however, focuses on the blessing Jacob gives to each of his sons in verses 1 to 27.
Now, remember that this kind of blessing on his deathbed is more than kind wishes for the future success of his sons. When Isaac blessed...2025-02-1604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 15th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 48Bible Readings for February 15th
Genesis 48 | Luke 1:39–80 | Job 14 | 1 Corinthians 2
In Genesis 48:5–7, Jacob formally adopts Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. There is a solid, practical reason for Jacob to do so: by adopting Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob gives those sons direct portions of his own inheritance.
So, rather than giving Joseph’s family only one portion of Jacob’s inheritance (which would then be split in two for Ephraim and Manasseh), now both Ephraim and Manasseh command an equal share of the inheritance along with all the other brothers of Joseph. From this point forw...2025-02-1504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 14th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 47Bible Readings for February 14th
Genesis 47 | Luke 1:1–38 | Job 13 | 1 Corinthians 1
As we discussed yesterday, the last few chapters of Genesis are setting up the story we will read in Exodus—a story of God’s redemption of his people that lives at the heart of the rest of the Scriptures. Genesis 47 charts three key events that establish the foundation for the storyline we will encounter in Exodus.
First, God establishes his people in Goshen. Joseph displays his characteristic wisdom in leading Pharaoh to settle the nation of Israel into the land of Goshen, which was de...2025-02-1404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 13th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 46Bible Readings for February 13th
Genesis 46 | Mark 16 | Job 12 | Romans 16
What an incredible scene it must have been to see Jacob reunited with his son whom he had believed to be dead for so many years: “[Joseph] presented himself to [Jacob] and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while” (Gen. 46:29). This is very similar language to the way that Jacob’s reunion with Esau was described back in Genesis 33:4: “But Esau ran to meet [Jacob] and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” Jacob the prodigal b...2025-02-1304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 12th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 45Bible Readings for February 12th
Genesis 45 | Mark 15 | Job 11 | Romans 15
I love to imagine what must have been going through the minds of Joseph’s brothers when he revealed himself to them. All we are told directly is that “his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence” (Gen. 45:3). What could they possibly have been thinking when they discovered the brother they had wanted to kill—the brother they had sold into slavery—had become the second most powerful person in the world, seated at the right hand of Pharaoh himself?
But bef...2025-02-1204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 11th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 44Bible Readings for February 11th
Genesis 44 | Mark 14 | Job 10 | Romans 14
By Genesis 44, Joseph has spent considerable time with his brothers. He has interrogated them, imprisoned them, and feasted with them. It does not seem as though anything Joseph has done—even at the points when he treated them roughly—has happened out of malice but rather out of a sincere desire to reconcile with his brothers. But to reconcile well, Joseph needs to discover whether his brothers have changed at all since they sold him into slavery.
So, Joseph organizes a test. Like before, he p...2025-02-1104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 10th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 43Bible Readings for February 10th
Genesis 43 | Mark 13 | Job 9 | Romans 13
When the first measure of grain runs out for Jacob and his sons, Jacob instructs his sons to return again to Egypt to buy more grain. Judah not only reminds Jacob that Joseph had told them not to appear before him without Jacob’s youngest son, Benjamin, but Judah also pledges Benjamin’s safety to Jacob. We will look more at Judah’s willingness to sacrifice himself to secure the safety of Benjamin in tomorrow’s meditation.
Although Jacob is not thrilled to send his belo...2025-02-1004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 9th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 42Bible Readings for February 9th
Genesis 42 | Mark 12 | Job 8 | Romans 12
In Genesis 42, we read the first installment of how Joseph reconciles with his brothers after many years since they had sold him into slavery. Although the brothers do not recognize Joseph—how could they possibly imagine that their brother had ascended to the right hand of Pharaoh himself?—Joseph recognizes them, and he decides to test them to see if they have matured and changed since he last saw their faces.
But even though Joseph’s brothers don’t recognize him, they clearly remember what the...2025-02-0904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 8th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 41Bible Readings for February 8th
Genesis 41 | Mark 11 | Job 7 | Romans 11
Despite the fact that the cupbearer had promised Joseph he would remember him and work to free Joseph from prison, two entire years pass without anything happening to rescue Joseph. And once again, even though the cupbearer abandons Joseph (one more person in a long line of people who had mistreated him), God still does not abandon Joseph. By the hand of God, Pharaoh has a dream that deeply troubles him, forcing him to find someone–anyone—in his kingdom who has the ability to help with...2025-02-0804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 6th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 39Bible Readings for February 6th
Genesis 39 | Mark 9 | Job 5 | Romans 9
After the brief interlude in yesterday’s reading when we read about Judah and Tamar, Genesis 39 returns us to the story of Joseph. In this chapter, the narrator picks up where he left us at the end of Genesis 37, where we learned that Joseph had been sold to an Egyptian named Potiphar, a high-ranking captain of Pharaoh’s guard (Gen. 37:36).
In today’s reading, we find that Joseph has quickly gained favor with Potiphar, just as Joseph had enjoyed the favor of his father, Jacob...2025-02-0604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 5th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 38Bible Readings for February 5th
Genesis 38 | Mark 8 | Job 4 | Romans 8
Because Jacob was renamed Israel after wrestling with God in Genesis 32:28, the sons of Israel then served as the heads of the tribes of Israel. And of all the tribes in Israel, the tribe of Judah (named after the man whom we read about in Genesis 38) will end up playing an unusually important role in the history of God’s redemptive plan in this world.
For example, by the end of Genesis, we will learn that Judah is the tribe from whom kings wi...2025-02-0504 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 4th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 37Bible Readings for February 4th
Genesis 37 | Mark 7 | Job 3 | Romans 7
In Genesis 37, we meet Joseph, the final main figure of Genesis. Although Joseph will be misunderstood and hated and rejected by his brothers, he nevertheless plays a key role in bringing the chosen family to Egypt (which sets up the story of Moses and God’s redemption of Israel out of Egypt in Exodus), and it is through Joseph that God will preserve the entire world through one of the worst famines in all of history.
Our first impression of Joseph is somewhat startling, be...2025-02-0404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 3rd: Bible Meditation for Genesis 35–36Bible Readings for February 3rd
Genesis 35–36 | Mark 6 | Job 2 | Romans 6
In everything we have read so far, Jacob has been in perpetual distress. From the beginning of his life, when he deceived his brother, Esau, and tricked his father, Isaac, Jacob has been on the run, the subject of mistreatment by his uncle, and living under the hanging cloud of uncertainty because of the Hivites. It seems like a long time ago that God had blessed Jacob in Genesis 32, changing his name to Israel. Indeed, we do not find Jacob being called Israel in Genesis 33 or 34....2025-02-0304 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 2nd: Bible Meditation for Genesis 34Bible Readings for February 2nd
Genesis 34 | Mark 5 | Job 1 | Romans 5
The chosen family does not come away from Genesis 34 looking very good. In the wake of a horrific tragedy—the rape of Dinah by Shechem the Hivite—Jacob and his sons respond poorly, but in different ways.
Simeon and Levi are rightfully outraged at the defiling of their sister, but they wrongly take matters into their own hands. Worse than simply bringing direct vengeance against Shechem, they extend their vengeance to the entire group of Hivites under Shechem’s father, Hamor, who had done nothin...2025-02-0204 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastFebruary 1st: Bible Meditation for Genesis 33Bible Readings for February 1st
Genesis 33 | Mark 4 | Esther 9–10 | Romans 4
We shouldn’t be surprised to see Jacob falter in his confident faith when he sees Esau coming from far off, even though Jacob had only just finished wrestling with God (Gen. 33:1). Of course, it didn’t help Jacob’s fear to see Esau coming with four hundred men, but even so, Jacob continues his pattern of favoritism by dividing up his entire household, putting the servants and their children up at the front to meet Esau first, then Leah with her children next, then Rachel and Jose...2025-02-0104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJanuary 31st: Bible Meditation for Genesis 32Bible Readings for January 31st
Genesis 32 | Mark 3 | Esther 8 | Romans 3
Up to this point, Jacob’s relationship with God has been fairly one-sided. God has made promises to Jacob, protected Jacob, and faithfully begun to lead Jacob back to the land of Canaan. Jacob, on the other hand, has tricked his brother, Esau, out of a birthright, schemed his father out of a blessing, and provoked rivalry between his two wives—and he never really seems terribly concerned with God except during the times when God appeared to him, once at Bethel (Gen. 28) and once when God...2025-01-3104 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJanuary 30th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 31Bible Readings for January 30th
Genesis 31 | Mark 2 | Esther 7 | Romans 2
Jacob’s time living with Laban has been a terrible experience. At every turn, Laban has lied to Jacob and cheated him out of what he promised to Jacob, first by giving Jacob Leah instead of Rachel as a wife and second by stealing Jacob’s wages of the striped, spotted, and mottled animals. Jacob had found a technique to breed more of those animals through peeling sticks in Genesis 30, and now, at the beginning of Genesis 31, we find that Laban’s sons have begun to turn a...2025-01-3004 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJanuary 29th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 30Bible Readings for January 29th
Genesis 30 | Mark 1 | Esther 6 | Romans 1
Genesis 30 contains two main stories. The first half of the chapter continues the tragic, unhappy narrative of sibling rivalry between Leah and Rachel that began in Genesis 29. In yesterday’s meditation, we noticed similarities between this story and the stories of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, and Isaac and Rebekah. In Genesis 30, we see yet another similarity to a previous story. Here, Rachel sends her servant Bilhah into her husband, Jacob, to conceive on her behalf (Gen. 30:3–8), just as Sarah had sent in Hagar to conceive a chil...2025-01-2904 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJanuary 28th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 29Bible Readings for January 28th
Genesis 29 | Matthew 28 | Esther 5 | Acts 28
As we discussed during the meditation for Genesis 24, it is a running theme in Scripture for God’s people to meet their future spouses at wells. Abraham’s servant met Isaac’s wife-to-be, Rebekah, at a well, and now Jacob meets his future wife Rachel at a well.
But after Jacob serves Rachel’s father, Laban, for seven years in order to marry Rachel, Laban gives Rachel’s older sister, Leah, to Jacob in marriage. Jacob, the younger brother who had shamelessly tricked his older brot...2025-01-2804 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJanuary 27th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 28Bible Readings for January 27th
Genesis 28 | Matthew 27 | Esther 4 | Acts 27
At the outset of Genesis 28, Jacob has come to an impasse. If he does not flee, he will certainly be murdered by his brother, Esau, from whom he stole their father Isaac’s blessing in Genesis 27. But if he does flee, it is unclear how he will receive the blessing of Abraham. Throughout Genesis there is a concern that if the true offspring of Abraham leaves the land of Canaan, they might in some way invalidate the promise that God had made to give the land to...2025-01-2704 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJanuary 26th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 27Bible Readings for January 26th
Genesis 27 | Matthew 26 | Esther 3 | Acts 26
The blessing that Isaac pronounces on Jacob—the blessing that he does not pronounce on Esau, despite his intentions to do so—was not a vague wish for his son’s well being. In fact, it was a prophesy that bore great weight and significance, so much so that Isaac had no blessing left to give to his son Esau, since Jacob had taken all of the best blessings. Jacob would receive abundance and wealth (Gen. 27:28) and the obedience of the nations (Gen. 27:29), while Esau would only r...2025-01-2604 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJanuary 24th: Bible Meditation for Genesis 25Bible Readings for January 24th
Genesis 25 | Matthew 24 | Esther 1 | Acts 24
Genesis 25 is a chapter of extreme transition in the unfolding story of God’s salvation in and through his people. In this chapter, we see God’s purposes in election across three generations.
First, we read in Genesis 25 about the death of Abraham at the age of 175. Abraham outlived his wife Sarah, even taking another wife named Keturah who bore him many children. Nevertheless, we read that “Abraham gave all he had to Isaac” (Gen. 25:5) because Abraham never forgot that God had named Isaac as the o...2025-01-2404 minFree Daily Bible Study PodcastJanuary 23rd: Bible Meditation for Genesis 24Bible Readings for January 23rd
Genesis 24 | Matthew 23 | Nehemiah 13 | Acts 23
Yesterday, in Genesis 23, we read about the death of Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Today, in Genesis 24, we see Abraham himself approaching death. He too will not live to see God’s promises fulfilled. So, Abraham makes plans to help his son Isaac continue to serve Yahweh faithfully after he dies.
First, Abraham refuses to allow his son Isaac to marry one of the daughters of the Canaanites (Gen. 24:3). Instead, he asks his servant to go back to his old country to find Isaac a wife...2025-01-2304 min
Gifts and GracesJacob D. Gerber | Parliamentary Procedures for Presbyters: An IntroductionOn this episode of Gifts and Graces we get to hear from Jacob D. Gerber on the biblical foundations and basic principles of parliamentary procedure. Jacob D. Gerber is a senior pastor at Harvest Community Church. This episode was originally recorded as a seminar delivered at the 2024 General Assembly. Let’s listen to Jacob as he shows us how to engage more confidently in the courts of Christ’s church.2024-08-1957 min
A Media OperatorScott Gerber on What Goes Into a Great Professional CommunityScott Gerber is the co-founder and CEO of Community.co, which partners with media companies to create high-priced professional communities. In this conversation, we discussed what goes into making a great community, why it has become such a big buzzword in the market today, and how people should think about growing. 2022-04-1147 min