15 November 2015

Scriptures:

• John 9
• Isaiah 2
• 2 Kings 14:23-15:38
• Psalm 106

Observations:

In John, we see the healing of a blind man. A couple things about this passage, though:

1. Jesus addresses the prevailing misconception that a defect is punishment for sin, especially a congenital one
2. Jesus heals on the Sabbath
3. We see the pharisees struggling to make sense of this miracle, especially in context of point #2
1. A noteworthy point, though: part of the reason the pharisees are so enraged is that he is not one of them. That is, he is not part of the theocratic oligarchy , thereby having no official authority to speak and teach and has been making them look bad through his discussions and parables.
2. Additionally, as we will see in a couple of days, the pharisees decide, for the wellbeing of the nation, that permitting Jesus to continue and giving credence to his words might precipitate the actions of the Romans
3. From my understanding, The pharisees have also been presented with the following dilemma many times: Either acknowledge Jesus speaks the truth and face the vanity of their external religious actions, possibly losing face and/or power, or deny that he speaks the truth, clinging to their understandings and interpretations of scriptures - even where they seem to point to Jesus, keeping their power over the populace through their myriad of laws
4. We see the fear of the pharisees present in the everyday Jew
5. We see the dismissal of the once-blind man by the pharisees
1. It seems to be a rather angry and shallow dismissal, as though they would have preferred to not have to deal with it.

In Isaiah, we see a couple of things. First, we see a picture of a world at peace, united at Zion. Second, we see the description of Israel as being full of things not of God. Lastly, we see God speaking of a day in the future in which judgment will be dispensed, with the haughty being brought low and the whole world acknowledging him.

In 2 Kings, we see a blur of a sequence of kings, especially of Israel - they had a very unstable few years, all wicked, and a couple kings of Judah.

The psalm seems to pick up where yesterday's ended. The psalm is tracing Israel's journey from the red sea to the promised land