Genesis 22/23 - Nehemiah 11/12 - Matthew 21/22 - Acts 21/22

Genesis 22/23
- The symbolism between Abraham being willing to sacrifice his only son mirrors God send Jesus to die for the sins of those who would believe.
- Abraham who kept lying about Sarah's relationship to him, had no hesitation in following the Lord's instructions to take Isaac to the mountain and to offer his only son as a burnt offering, even after Isaac ask him about it. Abraham's only reply was the Lord will provide an offering.
- This was a test to see if Abraham really feared the Lord, and when he had tied up Isaac and drew his knife to sacrifice his son, the angel appeared and told him to stop.
- God provided a ram stuck in a bush to sacrifice.
- I have heard it said that Abraham's faith was so strong that he assumed that God would raise him from the dead after he killed Isaac because God had made a covenant with Abraham.
- This test sealed the fact that Abraham's descendants would be blessed.
- Abraham's brother Nahor bore 8 sons, one of whom was Bethuel who would father Rebekah.
(Ch. 23)
- Sarah died at 127 years old in the land of the Hittites.
- Kiriath-Arba and Mamre are both referred to as Hebron
- The Hittites saw Abraham as a "prince of God" and wanted to give him the field with the cave to bury his wife, but he bowed before them and asked to pay for it. He paid 400 shekels (4400 grams) of silver.
- Why didn't Abraham accept the field as a gift from the Hittities?

Nehemiah 11/ 12
- 1 out of 10 people volunteered to live in Jerusalem while other people lived in the surrounding towns.
- There were 3,044 people who volunteered to live in Jerusalem which means 27,396 people lived in the surrounding towns.
- Each group of men living in Jerusalem had an overseer
- Names which stuck out were Asaph and Joel (Was this the man who write the OT book?)
- Pethahiah was by the king's side concerning the Israelites
- Some people were encamped in Beersheba which was where Abraham lived after Sarah died.
(Ch. 12)
- Names which stood out were Zerubbabel, Joiakim, Zechariah
- The Levites gave thanks on every watch as David had commanded in his day.
- They dedicated the wall with 2 great choirs, one led by Ezra to the south and one led by Nehemiah to the north. There was great rejoicing and sacrifices by everyone there.
- Men were appointed to gather tithes and portions for Levites required by Law.
- The Levites served as they did in the days of David and Aaron.

Matthew 21/22
- Jesus sent His disciples to get a donkey on which He would enter Jerusalem. This fulfilled an OT prophecy about "humbly entering on a donkey"
- The people celebrated Jesus' arrival.
- Jesus entered the temple and drove out everyone who was selling goods there because the temple was a "house of worship" not a place to sell goods.
- Jesus preached and healed people in the temple, but lodged at Bethany
- A fig tree which did not have fruit Jesus told to wither up and it did. This amazed the disciples and Jesus told them that if they had enough faith they could tell a mountain to throw itself into the sea and it would do so.
- Chief priests again tried to trick Jesus by asking Him where He got His authority to heal people and He asked them where John got his authority. The priests could not come up with an answer that was good so Jesus denied them their answer.
- Parable of 2 sons shows one son who says he didn't want to do what his father asked but eventually did it, where as the 2nd son said he would do it but did not. All agreed that the 1st son had done the right thing.
- The parable of the tenants showed that the tenants would not give the owner the fruit of the land and killed the servants that he sent.
- The owner sent his son, whom the tenants killed thinking this would win them the inheritance, but all those listening agreed that the owner would come and destroy those tenants. (This parable foreshadows what will happen to Jesus, the son, whom God has sent)
- The Pharisees wanted to arrest Jesus but they feared what the crowd would do.
(Ch.22)
- This chapter is all about the Pharisees and Sadducees trying to trick Jesus in His words.
- Jesus begins with a parable about a king who invited guests to his sons wedding reception and everyone he invited denied his invitation, so he destroyed them.
- Then the king sent servants to gather people from the street, and one man was tied up and thrown out because he was not dressed for the occasion.
- If these people were poor and from the street would they have had nice wedding clothes?
- It seems that this parable is directed at the Jews since they were God's chosen people, but because they rejected Him, He turned to the Gentiles.
- The "weeping and gnashing of teeth" usually means they are in hell.
- The Pharisees asked Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar. He said that since Caesar's image was on the coin, people should pay Caesar their taxes, but also give to God what is God's. (It would seem that Jesus is saying we should obey our governments laws as well as God's)
- Sadducees asked Jesus about the resurrection (which they did NOT believe in) saying a woman marrying seven brothers in turn as they died, who does she belong to at the resurrection.
- Who are the Sadducees?
- Jesus' response was that she belongs to no one because there is no marriage in heaven. People will be like the angels.
- The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and the 2nd most important is to love your neighbor as yourself. (If you love God you will try not to sin to honor Him and you will not act unkindly toward others if you're treating them like yourself)
- Jesus asked whose son the Christ was and they replied David, but Jesus countered that if that were true David would not have called Him Lord.
- This series of amazing answers stopped any further questions from being asked. (If we're informed of scripture and God's desires, we will be able to meet any tough questions people may ask)
- The responses to Jesus' answers were astonishment, marvel, and speechlessness.

Acts 21/22
- Paul and Luke headed toward Tyre on their way to Jerusalem
- Through the Spirit people were telling Paul not to go into the city
- Why would Paul NOT listen to the Spirit talking?
- Agabus, a prophet, tied himself up with a belt and told Paul this would happen to him in Jerusalem and he'd be handed over to the Gentiles.
- Paul told the people to stop weeping and breaking his heart, but he still went to Jerusalem.
-James warmed Paul that some Jews were against him because they saw his preaching as being against Moses.
- Why does James seem to tell Paul to go against what the counsel had decided for the Gentile believers when addressing Jews believers?
- Paul went into the temple and gave an offering, but Jews from Asia saw Paul and incited a riot against him. They began beating him (so bad he couldn't walk to the barrack) and the authorities there came and broke up the conflict.
- They said Paul had defiled the holy temple by bringing Trophimus, the Ephesian there. It doesn't actually say if this was true or not.
- The tribune thought Paul was an Egyptian who had led an rebel army, but found out this was NOT true and Paul, being weak and beaten, asked to address the crowd
- Why does this chapter end so abruptly?
(Ch. 22)
- Paul addresses the crowd in Hebrew (Paul also knew Greek)
- Paul recounts his conversion story to the people, starting with the fact that he too was persecuting the people following "The Way" until Jesus appeared to him and struck him blind.
- The crowd listened quietly and didn't say a word until Paul said that Jesus had said to him to take this Word to the Gentiles.
- At this they began shouting and rioting. They wanted to kill him.
- The tribune took Paul to flog the truth out of him and he asked how they could do this because Paul was a Roman citizen. The centurion was upset at this and told the tribune.
- What were the laws about Roman citizens?
- How did Paul become a native born Roman citizen?
- The member of the tribune had bought with roman citizenship for a large sum of money.
- The counsel called in the Jews the next day to find out why they were so angry at Paul.