May 19 ▪ Day 139

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 17:27
Ezekiel 29–30
John 1
Psalms 139

Verse Focus (Proverbs 17:27)

The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint,
     and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.

Meditation

Today’s verse focus, Proverbs 17:27, tells us, in the NIV, “The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.” The ESV gives me a slightly different perspective, even though it is extremely similar: “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.”

I’m tempted not to write any more — to use an English proverb, “the less said, the better” — right? Of course, “restraint” doesn’t necessarily mean keeping your mouth shut — although tomorrow’s proverb celebrates that very behavior. Rather, to restrain or be restrained speaks about something being under control. Deliberate use of words. Intentional speech.

I like how the ESV talks about a “cool spirit.” This contrasts against someone who is hot-tempered. Patience. Being able to keep your emotions in control as well as your speech. This is what characterizes a person of understanding.

Father God, we desire knowledge and understanding. Help us to control our hearts and tongues and to be deliberate and intentional people through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In Ezekiel 29 and 30, the prophet gives four different prophecies against Egypt, one of which is a lament. It is obvious now that these prophecies against other countries have been collected from Ezekiel’s entire ministry; however, the prophecies are not given in chronological order. The first prophecy in Ezekiel 29 comes on “the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day (v. 1).” This is prior to the last prophecy against Tyre that was in Ezekiel 26 (that is, it occurred before the fall of Jerusalem), but after the last prophecy he had for the people of Israel when his wife died. The next prophecy, given later in chapter 29, occurs on “the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day (v. 17).” Chapter 30 begins with Ezekiel prophesying a lament for Egypt, but then gives another prophecy which jumps back in time to “the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day (v. 20)” — after the first prophecy against Egypt but before the second prophecy against Egypt.

In Ezekiel 29, in the first prophecy against Egypt, we see that one of the charges the LORD has against Egypt is that they failed Judah when the Israelites tried to rely on their help. Even though the LORD also criticized Judah for turning to Egypt rather than listening to God, I find it interesting that He still holds Egypt accountable for their failure to support Judah against Nebuchadnezzar. As verse 7 says, “When they leaned on you, you broke.” In this prophecy we learn that the land “shall be uninhabited forty years (v. 11).” God also promises to scatter the Egyptians among the nations (v. 12), but then He promises to re-gather them. However, the LORD says in verse 15, “I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations.” As always, the LORD declares that when He carries out these punishments, then “all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD (v. 6).”

In the next prophecy, which occurs in the 27th year in 570 BC — 16 years after the fall of Jerusalem, and 3 years after the fall of Tyre — God promises to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as a consolation prize. Nebuchadnezzar had taken Tyre, but, as verse 18 says, “neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her.” So Nebuchadnezzar will get the wealth of Egypt instead (v. 19). The chapter ends, however, with a Messianic prophecy and a reference to Israel’s restoration.

As Ezekiel laments for Egypt in chapter 30, what strikes me is that it is not just Egypt that is being brought down, but the entire alliance. Cush (Ethiopia), Put, Lud, Arabia, and Libya shall also fall “by the sword (v. 5).” Some scholars believe this lament refers to the Battle of Carchemish in about 605 BC, in which the Babylonians, allied with the Medes, Persians, and Scythians, defeated Pharaoh Neco of Egypt and his allies. This interpretation does not seem right to me, considering that this would have happened 13 years before Ezekiel even started prophesying. There were continuing clashes between Egypt and Babylonia after the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC up until Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt in about 567 BC.

The final prophecy in Ezekiel 30 occurs in “the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day (v. 20).” The timing of this prophecy is only a few months before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. God refers to Pharaoh’s “broken arm” — presumably the defeat that had happened in 605 BC — but says that He will break both of Pharaoh’s arms, and the Egyptians will be scattered throughout all the countries.

Today we begin reading the Gospel of John. This is my favorite of the four gospels, probably because it is the one that is different. It follows a different structure than the three Synoptic gospels, and includes different stories and parables. It begins with a deliberate parallel to the creation story in Genesis, and is structured with a number of “sevens”: seven signs that Jesus performed, and seven “I AM” statements. As you recall, in Jewish thought the number seven signifies wholeness and completeness.

The gospel does not identify its author other than to refer to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 21:7).” By Christian tradition, this is the apostle John, who also wrote several letters and the book of Revelation. John was the brother of James, and they were some of Jesus’ first disciples. They were both fishermen, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus called John and his brother James the “Sons of Thunder.” A lesser known detail is that, according to some Christian traditions, Zebedee’s wife was Salome, the sister of Mary — and thus James and John were Jesus’ first cousins. John was thought to be the youngest of the apostles. Most believe he died of old age in Ephesus, around 100 AD.

The gospel begins by defining Jesus Christ as “the Word” — Scripture, communication, thought, reasoning, speech, command, instruction, and more. The meaning of the Greek word is multi-layered. The Word was “in the beginning” and it was through the Word that all things were created. Indeed, we know from the creation story in Genesis that God spoke, and things came into existence. Christ is that speech. As verse 3 says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

John writes of the incarnation — “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (v. 14)” — but he tells us that, despite having created the world, the world “did not know him (v. 10).” Worse, “his own people did not receive him (v. 11).”

After this more theological beginning, John’s narrative becomes a bit more traditional as he writes of John the Baptist’s testimony and the calling of the first disciples. I was struck by how the disciples immediately went to tell someone else of having found the Messiah. Andrew and an unnamed disciple were followers of John the Baptist. But when John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (v. 29),” Andrew and the other disciples followed Jesus instead. And then Andrew went to tell his brother Simon Peter. The next day, Jesus was planning to leave Bethany across the Jordan and return to Galilee. The Scripture tells us in verse 43, “He found Phillip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ ” But then Phillip finds Nathanael.

Nathanael scoffs at the idea that anything good can come out of Nazareth, but is challenged to come see for himself. But then Nathanael makes a profession of faith after Jesus tells him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” We can only speculate what was going through Nathanael’s mind when he was under the fig tree. Perhaps a crisis of faith of some kind. Extremity of emotion. I have always interpreted this incident as some kind of divine knowledge, although, of course, it’s equally plausible that Jesus literally did see Nathanael. But whether you interpret this incident as perceptive observation or metaphysical encounter, it is certainly symbolic of how God sees us. God knows us intimately, knowing when we sit, when we rise, and everything we think, do, or say.

Psalm 139, written by David, is precisely the psalm that celebrates just how deeply and intimately God knows us. David declares in verse 3, “You… are acquainted with all my ways.” Indeed, David goes on to consider next if there is any place that we can go where we might not be seen by God. And the answer, of course, is that there is no place so distant or dark where we can hide from the Spirit. Not even death hides us. I take comfort in verse 12, where David says, “Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”

Psalm 139 also celebrates the wonder of our own creation. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made,” says verse 14. God created us for a purpose and for good. Verse 16 proclaims, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Such omniscience and sovereignty is almost more than we can comprehend! David closes the psalm with a prayer to “lead me in the way everlasting.”

Father God, we thank you and praise you for how you have created us and how you love us. You know us deeply and intimately — in more ways than we realize. Thank you, that you have purpose in what you create, and that you have plans for us. We do pray for you to lead us in the way everlasting. Fill us with your “grace upon grace.” In the name of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.