Home > Reading > Daily Reading – October 25, 2018

Job 29 (ESV)

Job’s Summary Defense

29 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
when his lamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
as I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my children were all around me,
when my steps were washed with butter,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
the princes refrained from talking
and laid their hand on their mouth;
10  the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11  When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12  because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13  The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
15  I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16  I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
17  I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
18  Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
19  my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches,
20  my glory fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.’

21  “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
22  After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them.
23  They waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24  I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my face they did not cast down.
25  I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.

Psalm 109:21–31 (ESV)

21  But you, O God my Lord,
deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!

22  For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is stricken within me.

23  I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.

24  My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt, with no fat.

25  I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they wag their heads.

26  Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love!

27  Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O Lord, have done it!

28  Let them curse, but you will bless!
They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!

29  May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!

30  With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.

31  For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.

Luke 16:14–31 (ESV)

The Law and the Kingdom of God

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

Divorce and Remarriage

18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

That Luther was not ready to admit that there were errors even in the numerical statements of the Bible we see in his exposition of Genesis 11:27, 28: “ is passage is among the most obscure statements of the Old Testament that has caused us many questions, which a diligent reader will encounter here and there in the older and more recent writers.— There is added another fault, that vain spirits hold it very praiseworthy if they can pass unrestricted judgments concerning the difficult and dark statements of Scripture and then can obstinately maintain their opinions. is is a disease of our nature against which an exegete of Holy Scripture should carefully guard himself.” Then he discusses the question as to what, in his opinion, makes these passages so difficult: “The second question is still more difficult, though neither Lyra nor the other teachers have paid attention to it. That in connection with Abraham sixty years are lost for us. For the reckoning the text brings with itself is easy. Terah was seventy years when he begot Abraham, now Abraham, when he was seventy five years old, left Haran, where Terah had died. If you add these together you will have 145 years. But when the account reckons together the years of Terah, it shows clearly that when he died he had lived 205 years. The question is, therefore, as to how we can account for these years. It would be unfitting to follow the example of audacious people who, when they arrive at such difficulties, immediately dare to correct books written by others. For my part I do not know how I should correctly solve the questions though I have carefully reckoned together the years of the world. So with a humble and proper confession of ignorance (for it is the Holy Ghost who alone knows and understands all things) I conclude that God, because of a certain plan of His own, caused seventy years to be lost out of Abraham’s life so that no one would venture from the exact computation of the years of the world to presume to predict something certain concerning the end of the world.” This hypothesis (because Luther does not express his opinion) may appear even absurd to us moderns, but it will not seem so absurd if we recall that at that time it was customary to place the age of the world at six thousand years, but Luther risks this hypothetical reckoning rather than to admit an error in the Biblical figure. He does not even consider the possibility of such an error. (52)

–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures

This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.

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