Reference links:
Old Testament
Gah, it’s late! So only highlights tonight.
Keep in mind that I am not talking now to your children, who have never experienced the discipline of the Lord your God or seen his greatness and his strong hand and powerful arm. They didn’t see the miraculous signs and wonders he performed in Egypt against Pharaoh and all his land. They didn’t see what the Lord did to the armies of Egypt and to their horses and chariots—how he drowned them in the Red Sea as they were chasing you. He destroyed them, and they have not recovered to this very day!
“Your children didn’t see how the Lord cared for you in the wilderness until you arrived here. They didn’t see what he did to Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab, a descendant of Reuben) when the earth opened its mouth in the Israelite camp and swallowed them, along with their households and tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But you have seen the Lord perform all these mighty deeds with your own eyes!
I suppose part of the population may have seen these things as children, but God’s sentence of 40 years wandering plus multiple killing sprees killed off most of the population that would have seen all these things.
Rather, the land you will soon take over is a land of hills and valleys with plenty of rain
Sadly, extensive droughts are a problem for modern Israel. I know that the climate has changed in that region over the times spanned by human civilization. I wonder if it was significantly different in the time of the ancient Israelites.
Your pattern of worship will change. Today all of you are doing as you please, because you have not yet arrived at the place of rest, … When he gives you rest from all your enemies and you’re living safely in the land, you must bring everything I command you … to the designated place of worship, the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored. … Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you like. You may do so only at the place the Lord will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.
This passage confuses me. Didn’t we read extensive passages in Exodus about the building of the Tabernacle? Wasn’t that supposed to be the place all the sacrifices were performed? That sure does not sound like sacrificing burnt offerings “anywhere you like”. I seem to even remember some passages to the effect that sacrifices could only be made by the priests at the altar, although I cannot remember them now.
New Testament
Jesus calms a storm. Jesus heals the man filled with many demons and sends them into a herd of pigs.
Psalms and Proverbs
Nothing of note in today’s psalm. However, we do learn from Proverbs:
A worthy wife is a crown for her husband,
but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones.
I somehow feel that “cancer” must be a pretty liberal translation of whatever the original Hebrew said. Seeing as, you know, its designation as such is fairly modern.