August 23 ▪ Day 235

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 22:1
Joshua 11–12
Mark 15
Psalms 51

Verse Focus (Proverbs 22:1)

A good name is more desirable than great riches;
     to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Meditation

Our verse focus today is Proverbs 22:1. The verse says, in the NIV, “A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” This is Biblical wisdom. Your reputation and how you are regarded is more important than wealth. Yet wealth can be confused with honor and self-worth. How much of the drive to acquire riches comes from a misplaced desire to be well-regarded? Riches are a pathway to power and thus they are one way to be seen as important. Our books and stories tell us that insecurity is often the core that drives someone to excel and to achieve. Yet having a good name and being esteemed is the real prize for someone who is insecure.

The ESV translation of this verse gives a slightly different slant to the proverb. It says, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” Not that a good name is more desirable, but that it should be chosen. The ESV translation is actually very close to the literal Hebrew. To say that a good name is to be chosen implies that it is the right choice, the best choice — and perhaps also the desirable choice. The ESV also says “favor” rather than “to be esteemed.” The Hebrew word here can mean either favor with men, or favor with God. I suspect the proverb refers to both. Having favor with God certainly strikes me as being better than silver or gold! Having favor with men — well, to some degree, that’s what being esteemed is. But I think of “esteem” as more intangible — how people think and feel about you. Favor, on the other hand, may be entirely practical and tangible. The one who is favored gets the assignment, or the bonus.

So why is a good name so important? It’s all about integrity and trust. A good name is about what kind of character you have, and whether your character is dependable. If you are flighty or changeable, you probably won’t have that good of a reputation. But those who can be counted on, who consistently react in ways that are honorable and predictable — those are the people we value. They are the ones we want in our corner.

Father God, having a good name comes down to character. And character comes from godliness — from being transformed into the image of Christ. Please help us to develop integrity and trust. Let us be well-regarded, esteemed, and favored — by your grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

In Joshua 11, the Israelites face and conquer the kings in northern Canaan. As the southern kings had banded together, so the northern kings also join forces to fight against Israel. But God reassures Joshua and tells them not to fear. And there is a great battle at the waters of Merom. Joshua pursues the kings, and destroys the cities of the various rulers. They follow Moses’ commands, killing all the Canaanite men, women, and children. They also cut off the Anakim — the giants. And so the Israelites take over the land of Canaan.

Verse 18 tells us that the war against all these kings took “a long time.” Commentators calculate that it was between five and seven years (based on Caleb’s age as reported in Joshua chapter 14). But Joshua followed his mission. Verse 15 says, “He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.” The chapter ends with the comment that Joshua took the whole land and gave it as an inheritance to the tribes. “And the land had rest from war,” says verse 23.

Chapter 12 lists all the different kings that were defeated by the Israelites. Two Amorite kings were defeated under Moses — Sihon and Og. Their territory, on the eastern side of the Jordan River, was given to the Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. And in the land of Canaan, Joshua and the Israelites defeated 31 different kings. (I am grateful that the Scripture does not give us blow-by-blow accounts of every single battle!) 31 different kingdoms — wow!

Mark chapter 15 records the final events in Jesus’ life — his sentence under Pilate, his mocking by the soldiers, the crucifixion, and his death and burial. As Jesus is being taken to Golgotha, verse 21 tells us that the soldiers compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross. I’ve always wondered a bit about that.

However, I recently learned a bit of lore about Roman history related to Jesus’ command in Matthew 5:41 to go a second mile for the person who compels you to go one mile. The custom actually has its roots with the Persians and their messenger system. Their laws allowed for a messenger to requisition whatever might be needed to get the message on its way. If the messenger’s horse was weary, the messenger was allowed to take your horse instead. You were not allowed to refuse the messenger; you had to contribute to the king’s service. In Roman times (so says the lore, although I didn’t find a specific law that could be referenced in my quick search), citizens and military personnel could compel a passerby — a non-citizen, presumably — to carry their bag or their load for one Roman mile, but no longer than that. After that, if the soldier wanted his load carried he would have to compel someone else. The custom of compelling service was universally hated by the Jews, so Jesus’ instruction to willingly go two miles is a shocking response to the Roman occupation. I can’t help thinking, however, that today’s mask mandates and vaccine requirements are like a modern version of being compelled to carry burdens for the Romans.

At any rate, this is apparently what was happening with Jesus’ crucifixion. After being beaten and scourged, Jesus was likely too weak to carry the cross the entire way to Golgotha. So the soldiers impressed Simon of Cyrene into service. Perhaps the soldiers selected Simon to carry the cross because he was “coming in from the country (v. 21).” It would likely have caused less strife than compelling a local man to carry the cross. Although I wonder if Simon’s being in the vicinity of the crucifixion had more to do with a belief in Jesus Christ than mere happenstance. Simon’s son Rufus is also mentioned in Romans 16:13; thus it implies that the entire family were believers. Whether that happened before or after the crucifixion is not known.

When Jesus is on the cross, he quotes from the beginning of Psalm 22 — however, he apparently speaks in Aramaic and/or Hebrew. (The words “Eloi, Eloi” from verse 34 — “my God, my God” — appear to be in Aramaic, as Mark tells the story; in Matthew 27:46, the words are “Eli, Eli,” which is in Hebrew. The rest of the phrase, however, in both Mark and Matthew, is in Hebrew.) I’ve always thought it curious that the bystanders did not recognize the Hebrew words. As verse 35 says, “And some of the bystanders hearing it said, ‘Behold, he is calling Elijah.’ ” One even went so far as to offer Jesus a drink on a sponge, saying in verse 36, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.”

Of course, Passover was the time when people would gather from wherever they lived to celebrate the feast. Many of the Hellenistic Jews who lived outside of Israel may not have spoken Hebrew. Additionally, Jesus had followers from other cultures — we know that there were Canaanites, SyroPhoenicians, and Roman officials who petitioned Jesus during his ministry.

There is also a simpler explanation. It may be that those who stood at a greater distance from the cross simply didn’t hear Jesus as clearly. So they caught a little of what he said, but not all. So they started wondering if Elijah would come to save Jesus. For them to wonder this, however, it implies that they believed Jesus was righteous and worthy of being saved by one of the great heroes of Jewish faith.

But Elijah did not come to the crucifixion. Instead, Jesus died. Verse 44 tells us that Pilate was surprised to find out that Jesus had already died. After all, Roman crucifixion was designed to keep someone in agony as long as possible before succumbing to death. It was not uncommon for it to take days. Another gospel tells us that the Romans wished to speed things along so that the bodies would not be hanging through the Sabbath — which is why they intended to break the legs of the victims. If they could not support their body weight with their legs then they would soon die of suffocation. But it was not necessary to do that for Jesus since he had already died. Did you ever think that God was merciful to Jesus in the timing of his death? In cutting short the length of the crucifixion? Matthew 27:50 tells us that Jesus “yielded up his spirit,” so perhaps Jesus had control over when he would die. Still, I see God’s mercy for Jesus in the crucifixion. Usually I only see God’s mercy in the crucifixion for those of us who are redeemed, but of course God will also have mercy on His Son.

Again, we read David’s prayer for forgiveness in Psalm 51. As I noted the last time we read this psalm, David speaks only of the relationship between himself and God. The psalm does not consider David’s sins against other people. But the prayer is poignant. The details of our sins may be quite different from David’s sins; however, we too have transgressed against our Holy God. David’s plea in verse 11 always resonates: “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.”

The psalm makes it clear that renewal involves more than just a right relationship with God. Forgiveness and mercy should result in testimony. David will teach and sing about what God has done for him. He will show other sinners the path to redemption: “a broken and contrite heart (v. 17).”

Father God, help us to be honest and vulnerable with others about the ways that you have forgiven our transgressions. The point is not to go into detail about sin, but to show how your mercy restores us to a healthy and vibrant relationship with you. Thank you that you do pardon our sins. Thank you that you wash us and cleanse us and restore us. Please help us to reconsider our attitudes towards those who force us to do things contrary to our own wills. Show us how to respond like Jesus. Thank you for sending Jesus to teach us and to die for our redemption. Thank you also for shepherding the Israelites and teaching them your ways. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, through Christ our Lord. Amen.