Other comments on this day's readings can be found here.
Reading 1 - 1Kings 4; 5
Solomon's reign, typical of Christ's reign:
Jerusalem the throne: 2Ch 9:30 (Jer 3:17).
One king and a united nation: 1Ki 4:20 (Eze 37:22).
Israel powerful: 1Ki 4:20 (Mic 4:7).
Israel chief to the nations: 1Ki 4:21 (Mic 4:8).
Gentiles bring tribute: 2Ch 9;23,24 (Isa 60:11).
Great fertility: 1Ki 4:22-28 (Isa 35:1,2).
Submissive nations: 1Ki 4:21 (Psa 72:8).
Security and peace: 1Ki 4:25 (Eze 34:28).
Jerusalem the center of wisdom: 1Ki 4:34 (Isa 2:2).
Jerusalem the center of worship: 2Ch 9:23 (Zec 14:16).
The temple built: 1Ki 6 (Zec 6:13).
Gentiles involved in its building: 2Ch 2:2 (Isa 60:10).
Zadok the priest: 1Ki 1:34 (Heb 7:11,12).
"Satan" to be bound: 1Ki 5:4 (Rev 20:2).
Israel to be a blessing to others: 2Ch 9:26 (Isa 19:25).
Reading 2 - Jeremiah 31:33
" 'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the LORD. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people' " (Jer 31:33).
"There is a repeated theme that Israel's entry into the New Covenant will be associated with God doing something to their hearts, confirming their own change of mind. In other words, the covenant is largely a matter of the mind. This new state of mind is in fact fundamentally part of being in covenant relationship with God... This leads us to the paramount need for us to develop genuine spiritual mindedness, the thinking, the breathing of God's Spirit in our minds. So God will act upon Israel's heart directly, using the medium of His word to do so. The initiative is God's; He will write His word upon their hearts. He is not passively offering people the opportunity to do it to themselves; He will do it to Israel. The same heart-swap operation is described in Eze 36:25,26: 'Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness... will I cleanse you (cp our baptism into the new covenant). A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you... I will put my spirit within you (note the double emphasis), and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.' Being in the new covenant is therefore characterized by having a new spirit, a new mind, and therefore a new way of life. And so Heb 10:20 calls the new covenant 'a new and living way', a new, living way of life. Jer 31:33 said that God would place His laws in Israel's heart; in Eze 36 we read that He will place His Spirit in their hearts. So the way in which God will give Israel a new heart will be through their response to the word" (Duncan Heaster, "Bible Basics").
Reading 3 - Mark 5
Mark 5 describes three similar incidents:
The lunatic, who desired to accompany Christ (v 18), is told to stay behind and preach (v 19).
The woman with the issue of blood, who desires anonymity, is brought into public eye (v 33).
Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, who desires notoriety, is told to remain silent for the present (v 43).
Lesson: We must learn to control natural tendencies, and serve in the capacity we are commanded, although this goes "against the grain".
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