Bible Study on Acts 12, verses 1 to 4, King Herod makes a political calculation

 

Acts 12:1 ¶  Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. 2  And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3  And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 4  And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

 

Herod, called Herod the Great, who finished the second temple, is reported to have died back in Matthew 2. This must be Herod the Tetrarch, who beheaded John the Baptist. He murders or orders murdered John’s brother James.

 

Matthew 4:21a  And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother…

 

Peter is arrested in the days of unleavened bread, the Passover celebration.

 

Luke 22:1  Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover…7  Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.

 

We know from the gospels that this is when Jesus was crucified and rose again. So, this is the anniversary of Easter as well. Herod has several possible good reasons for not wanting to put him in front of the people, the rabble that demanded the crucifixion of Jesus until after these events. There is the danger of a riot demanding he be killed, first and foremost, for the Jews of this time needed very little reason to cause a civil disturbance. The anniversary of Christ’s death and resurrection was something that Herod wanted to put behind him before displaying his captive. Herod has authority over Galilee as per Luke 3 and Peter is a Galilean as per Mark 14:70 and other verses. Christianity was considered a sect that started in Galilee. Read Luke 23 and other passages regarding Jesus’ works in Galilee.

 

But verse 11 will show us that the concern is for the Jews and their reaction to Peter’s arrest.

 

A quaternion of soldiers were four soldiers with four of them being sixteen with each group of four taking a watch of the night and day as their turn possibly. Herod seriously was worried that either Christians would try to free Peter or a Jewish mob would attempt to murder him.

Bible Study on Exodus 18, verses 7 to 12, a happy reunion

 

Exodus 18:7 ¶  And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent. 8  And Moses told his father in law all that the LORD had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the LORD delivered them. 9  And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10  And Jethro said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11  Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them. 12  And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father in law before God.

Here we have some Near Eastern customs. Moses honors his father-in-law with honor and a kiss and polite conversation. There are cultures on earth today where it is not uncommon for men to great each other with a kiss on the cheek. Paul references such a greeting even though it is not customary in America, as we prefer a handshake. A chaste and non-sexual kiss is a form of greeting.

Romans 16:16  Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

1Corinthians 16:20  All the brethren greet you. Greet ye one another with an holy kiss.

2Corinthians 13:12  Greet one another with an holy kiss.

1Thessalonians 5:26  Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.

Let that be a warning to you not to let cultural customs in the Bible become spiritual dogma. I doubt a young man would ever get married if he insisted on waiting for a young woman to water his camels, as in Genesis 24, as a sign that God had sent her to him. Nor does a hair-style determine a woman’s relationship to God as an out-of-context reading of 1Corinthians 11 might suggest to the fundamentalist of today.

Moses did something for his father-in-law that the children of Israel failed to do for their children. He related what God had done for the children of Israel. This was something that the children of Israel did not do.

Judges 2:10  And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

Here Jethro worships and honors Jehovah God as greater than all gods. This is the key element of Hebrew and Christian worship and understanding, and all of the monotheistic religions. It is a belief that the adherent is worshipping the supreme God of all. Then, the difference comes to arguments over His nature, His revelation of Himself, and His expectations of the obedient man or woman. But, here, even the pagan Jethro acknowledges that the God of the Hebrews is actually THE God. He has vanquished the gods of the Egyptians who had no power to withstand Him. In fact, He conquered not only any efforts they could have made, if they really existed, but He conquered the idea of gods, the concept of unseen theoretical entities that allow things to have mass or substitute dead particles such as photons for God’s Light, and all the vain imaginations of mankind.

Jehovah, the LORD, all capitals, whom Strong’s translates as, “the existing one,” is greater than all spiritual beings and all things real or imagined by men and women.

 1Kings 8:60  That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.

Isaiah 45:5  I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: 6  That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

We learned earlier that God simply is, and that is His name, I AM THAT I AM, or simply I AM. Science requires that if you put forth a proposition, a statement of presumed fact, that you should be able to make certain predictions from it. Genesis 1:1 says that God created the universe. So, one could logically assume that since an intelligent entity created everything that a certain degree of design and order must be present in it as in our experience order does not come from disorder without intelligent guidance. This is, indeed, the case. Physicists are looking for a unifying “theory of everything.” Well, it is right here in front of us. He is the God of the Bible. His existence explains everything.

Who is God? He is the uncreated person and entity who created all that is. He simply is, as He said Himself, I AM THAT I AM.

Exodus 3:13  And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

It is a nonsensical question to ask who created God. Such a question is a philosophical absurdity. It is like asking; could God create a rock so heavy He could not lift it? Such questions are the pure gibberish of the skeptic whose mind is blinded by the god of this world, Satan.

God is the source of all reality; seen and unseen. In Job God states that everything from dust forming into a clod of dirt in a farmer’s field to lions catching their prey, with the movements of distant galaxies to rain happening in places on earth where there is no man are all direct results of His direct actions. Read Job, chapter 38. God is not a watchmaker winding up the clock and walking away or standing to admire His work. He makes the hands move and the tick-tock sound is part of His second-by-second control of all events. So, Modernism, even with Christians since Isaac Newton, by reducing God to the ultimate first cause without an active role in every moment of our existence, is just simply one of the things that is in error about man’s thinking. Nothing happens by itself without direction, meaningless and pointless, a result of blind chance. Absolutely nothing.

Bible Study on Acts 11, verses 27 to 30, a famine in Judea

 

Acts 11:27 ¶  And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. 28  And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. 29  Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea: 30  Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

 

Roman writer Dio Cassius does refer to a severe famine in Claudius’ reign as much of the necessary foodstuff for Rome had to be imported, with Egypt being an important contributor of wheat. A general famine was devastating all around. Josephus, the Jewish general who allied himself with Roman general and future emperor, Titus, wrote of a famine in Judea in his Antiquities of the Jews. Claudius Caesar reigned from AD41 to 54, according to sources I read, although it is not an exact science lining up alleged dates in ancient history.

 

Here then is an example of churches helping each other which is an important practice for the New Testament church. Barnabas and Saul are sent to deliver this offering to the suffering Christians in Judea where the famine was particularly bad.

Bible Study on Exodus 18, verses 1 to 6, the priest of Midian and the Druze

 

Exodus 18:1 ¶  When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt; 2  Then Jethro, Moses’ father in law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, 3  And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land: 4  And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh: 5  And Jethro, Moses’ father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God: 6  And he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

Again, we get a bearing on where the Hebrews might be at this point. If you recall I suggested that Midian partly lay in what is now Tabuk province in Saudi Arabia, bordering the Gulf of Aqaba arm of the Red Sea. Eziongeber was on that arm of the Red Sea.

1Kings 9:26  And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.

            Jethro, Moses father-in-law, takes Moses’ wife and two sons, who had been sent home earlier apparently, to meet Moses and this vast assembly.

Jethro is not only the priest of Midian but he is a Kenite in tribal ethnicity.

Judges 1:16  And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.

            He is considered the spiritual leader and chief prophet of the Druze religion of the Middle East and the Druze claim ancestry from him. The Druze religion is sort of a mixture of Islam, Greek philosophy, Hinduism, and Gnostic Christianity, which was a sort of occultic Christian philosophy. Of course, this definition oversimplifies it. They believe in reincarnation and the transmigration of the soul. They do not revere Christ as God in the flesh or believe in His resurrection so they are not Christians. However, Druze in Israel have been great supporters of the country and have risen to top positions in politics and public service. Many of them are known as Druze Zionists.

They come to Moses who is encamped at the mount of God. This is Horeb or Sinai.

1Kings 19:8  And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.

Sinai was the name of the area.

Exodus 19:1  In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. 2  For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

So, Sinai and Horeb will be used interchangeably for the name of this mountain.

1Kings 8:9  There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

Exodus 31:18  And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God…32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Psalm 106:19  They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.

Malachi 4:4 ¶  Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Bible Study on Acts 11, verses 19 to 26, the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch

 

Acts 11:19 ¶  Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. 20  And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21  And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. 22  Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 23  Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. 24  For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. 25  Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: 26  And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

 

The phrase scattered abroad appears to be a reference to the Jews and Jewish Christians that were dispersed by persecution in various diasporas. It is used in John 11:52; Acts 8:1,4; and in James 1:1 although the phrase is also used in the Old Testament regarding the building of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:4, the Hebrews having to collect stubble for straw in Exodus 5:12, but also referring to the Jews in Esther 3:8.

 

Phenice was located on the island of Crete. Here it is not Phoenicia located in the vicinity of modern-day Lebanon although that has the same name. See chapter 15. The context is important.

 

Acts 27:12  And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west.

 

Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean. Cyrene was, according to most commentators, was located in North Africa in the northern part of present-day Libya.

 

The Christian community is growing now due to God’s work and Barnabas, extolled as a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and faith is sent by the elders at Jerusalem to Antioch. It is here that Christians are first called as such. God uses Barnabas to add much people to the Lord.

 

Antioch became known for its Christians’ literal interpretation of the Bible as opposed to Alexandria, Egypt’s Christian’s allegorical interpretation. One side says the Bible says what it says and the other side insists that what it says means something else. You decide which is a better bet.

 

Antioch will recommend Paul’s work among the Gentiles later. He spends a year here at Antioch teaching to the new Christians. What Bible classes they must have had!

Bible Study on Exodus 17, verses 8 to 16, Aaron and Hur lift up Moses hands

 

Exodus 17:8 ¶  Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9  And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. 10  So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11  And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12  But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13  And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. 14  And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. 15  And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: 16  For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

Verse 14 suggests that this may have been recorded in a book we don’t have unless the book of the wars of the LORD is the original name of Exodus.

Numbers 21:14  Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,

We’ve already seen how God placed power in Moses’ rod in several instances as God worked through Moses and the rod he held in his hand. Moses’ grew tired and Aaron and Hur gave him  a stone to sit on and held up his hands. Moses selected Joshua, first mentioned here, to lead the battle.

There are many possible sermons out of this passage. Lest Israel put faith in the sword, Moses’ rod seems to cause success or failure. The man called by God to lead can’t do it on his own and needs the help of faithful friends and followers for support. Joshua, a type of Christ, fights the battle directed by Moses, here a type of God the Father. There are many, many ideas for an exhortation that can be drawn from this passage, however imperfect they may be or how they fall apart at some point as types usually do is irrelevant. We can think of the things that God might be trying to open our minds to by reading this way. But, for now, let us look at the narrative.

Now, we have a better clue as to where the Hebrews are.

1Samuel 15:7  And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt.

1Samuel 27:8  And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.

So, the Amalekites lived between Egypt and Canaan in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula. The Hebrews were not far even then from the Promised Land.

Judges 12:15  And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.

Joshua 16:5 ¶  And the border of the children of Ephraim according to their families was thus: even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper; 6  And the border went out toward the sea to Michmethah on the north side; and the border went about eastward unto Taanathshiloh, and passed by it on the east to Janohah; 7  And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Naarath, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan. 8  The border went out from Tappuah westward unto the river Kanah; and the goings out thereof were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Ephraim by their families. 9  And the separate cities for the children of Ephraim were among the inheritance of the children of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. 10  And they drave not out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer: but the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites unto this day, and serve under tribute.

So, the Amalekites would have been in the way of getting into the land promised to the Hebrews by God. Amalekites play an important part in the Bible.

The Amalekites were descendants of Esau.

Genesis 36:12  And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau’s wife.

The Amalekites took the city of Ziklag and kidnapped David’s wives in 1Samuel 30. In 2Samuel, chapter 1, an Amalekite lied to him and said he killed King Saul, thus resulting in his own death. Agag, a later king of the Amalekites, will be the ancestor of the villain of the book of Esther, Haman.

1Samuel 15:8  And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

Esther 3:1  After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.

As the first people who opposed the children of Israel after leaving Egypt the Amalekites are a cursed lot. For the Lord to have war with Amalek from generation to generation it is clear they are going to be villains in God’s ministry of reconciling man to Himself.

Moses calls the altar he builds Jehovahnissi. Strong said that meant, “Jehovah is my

 banner.”

Bible Study on Acts 11, verses 1 to 18, what was I, that I could withstand God

 

Acts 11:1 ¶  And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2  And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, 3  Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. 4  But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, 5  I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: 6  Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 7  And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. 8  But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. 9  But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. 10  And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven. 11  And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. 12  And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house: 13  And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; 14  Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. 15  And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. 16  Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 17  Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? 18  When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

 

The news would have been a shock. The hated and despised Gentiles, regarded as spiritual inferiors, especially Roman occupiers, could receive the word of God? Peter thought over what had happened a few times (rehearsed the matter) to be able to tell them at Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders, of this new faith. He recalled something they would have remembered, how John the Baptist foretold about this baptism, not with water but being filled with the Holy Ghost recorded in Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; & Luke 3:16. He reinforces the validity of what He did with the Gentiles by pointing out that God did this so how could he have resisted or stood against what God had done. This reminds me of what Gamaliel said;

 

Acts 5:38  And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 39  But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

 

When God’s hand is involved it is useless to try to stand against His work. They were smart enough and filled with the Spirit of God so they accepted this work of Peter. So, the Gentiles could be saved, too, like the Jews. Interesting. Shocking, but interesting. Here the Christian church, once thought to be a mere sect of Judaism, takes a momentous turn in history.