READING FOR JUNE 6, 2024: GENESIS 47, MARK 16, PSALM 50:12- 23 GENESIS 47 Joseph, skillful administrator that he was, kept his boss Pharaoh in the loop about his family’s status. In introducing five of his brothers to Pharaoh, the conversation went as Joseph predicted and the brothers said what Joseph prepared for them to say. Joseph had many personal and spiritual gifts, but he was also well prepared. God has blessed our church with gifted people, but all of us also need to exercise gifts with discipline: “For this reason, I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline” (2 Tim. 1:6-7).
Then Joseph introduced Jacob to Pharaoh. Jacob was surprisingly candid about his life. He complained about only having lived 130 years and experiencing an unpleasant life. Perhaps most of us think life goes by too quickly and that we have had more than our share of hardships. Unlike Jacob, though, we can always read the book of Philippians to cheer us up. Here is a sample: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:4-7).
Joseph was a tough but fair administrator. Due to the length and severity of the famine, the government (meaning Pharaoh) ended up owning all the livestock and most of the land in the country. Joseph also instituted an ongoing 20% flat tax. As we have seen with Jesus’s teaching, God seems to expect the government to tax its citizens to fund legitimate services.*Egyptians were happy with this arrangement because they knew they would have starved without government intervention. We will see even more complicated economic policy when we study Leviticus.
Apparently, Jacob (a.k.a. Israel) was in better health than he thought when he first saw Joseph in Egypt: “Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Now let me die’” (Gen. 46:30). Jacob lived another 17 years in Egypt. God controls our timetable. Jacob wisely extracted a promise from Joseph to take his body back to Canaan. Thus, during his last years in Egypt, he maintained his focus on God’s covenant originally forged with Abraham. Likewise, let’s not get too attached to this current life, but consider and live for our promised eternal home.
*For those really into this kind of issue, it is interesting to know that John Wesley had no sympathy for those in the American colonies who advocated for no taxation without representation: “If a freeman cannot be taxed without his own consent, neither can he be punished without it: for whatever holds with regard to taxation, holds with regard to all other laws.” Romans 13 and Jesus’s statements seem to support Wesley’s position. The many colonies of Rome at the time of the New Testament had no representation in the Senate.
READING FOR JUNE 6, 2024 CONTINUED: Mark 16, PSALM 50:12-23 MARK 16 Likely most of you know that no one presently has the original manuscripts of the New Testament. What we have are many thousands of hand-written manuscript copies in the original Greek. Because of modern technology, we do know the dates they were copied. There are many more thousands of early New Testament manuscript copies than any other document of ancient history. Thus, if the New Testament is not authentic, we could not possibly know if any other early person existed, including Julius Caesar, Alexandra the Great, and Plato. The section of Mark 16:9-20 does not exist in the earliest Greek manuscripts. Thus, this study will not include it in our discussion. The verses might be genuine, but why risk it?
In verse one, we again see the two Mary’s. Because they scouted out the burial on Friday, they now knew where to go to anoint the body on Sunday morning. Even though they brought their spices, they had reason to think the stone was still blocking the tomb’s entrance. They were women who didn’t let such barriers stop their devotion to Jesus. GREAT ROLE MODELS.
The “young man wearing a white robe” told them that Jesus of Nazareth (considered a lower-class place in John 1:46) who was crucified (considered a shameful death in Heb.12:2) had risen. His being risen or resurrected means more than what happened to Lazarus or Jarius’s daughter, Talitha. They were fully dead, but their old bodies were resuscitated. Jesus was given a glorified, resurrected body, which he continues to have. As believers, we also will have such a resurrected body: “It has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).
PSALM 50:12-23 What does God want from His people that He apparently is not receiving? He wants thanksgiving, our pleas to Him for help, and our honoring Him (vs. 14-15). What does God want us to stop doing? He wants us to stop quoting His word while not obeying it—being hypocritical. He wants us to stop associating in common cause with thieves and adulterers. He wants us to stop deceiving and slandering others. Perhaps most of all, we need to recast our understanding of who God is. He is not like us in all our sinful human limitations. He is totally holy/sinless, loving, wise, powerful, present, faithful, and eternal for starters. If we don’t remember who God is and who we are, God states, “I will tear you in pieces, and there will be no one to save you” (vs 22). Because of who we are, we need to be saved. Because of who He is, only He can save us (vs. 23). Let’s not make God in our own or our culture’s image but see Him as He has revealed Himself in His word. Then go to Him repentantly for salvation.
