SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/12/2020
10:34 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Pharisees”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 3:7a
Message of the
verses: “But when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism”
I mentioned in our last SD that the main-section that we
are looking at is “The Congregation,” speaking of who came to see John the
Baptist while he was teaching and preaching in the wilderness, and those whom
Matthew tells us that came were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I have stated that there two sub-sections in
this main section, the first is the Pharisees which we will begin to look at
this evening and Lord willing we will finish looking at them in the
morning. I also mentioned that in this
evenings SD will be the last quotation from “Love in Action” as we will look at
“The Ten Commandments of Friendship.”
We also looked at the Essenes’s in our last SD, and when
we compare them to the Pharisees there is a great contrast between the two
groups. The Pharisees were equally, if
not more, exclusive, but were found for the most part in the larger cities such
as Jerusalem. The Pharisees were an association very much in the mainstream of
Jewish life and they made a point of being noticed and admired. Jesus exposed them by saying that what they
were doing was only to be noticed by men as they loved the place of honor at
banquets, and they also loved the chief seats in the synagogues, and also in
respectful greetings in the market places, and they loved being called by men “Rabbi.” This was a loose translation of Matthew
23:5-7.
John MacArthur writes “We have no specific documentation
as to exactly how or when the Pharisee sect began, but it is likely that it
developed out of the former group called the Hasidim, whose name means ‘pious
ones’ or ‘saints.’ The Hasidim came into
being in the second century B. C…, during the interestamental period. Palestine had been under the Hellenistic
(Greek) rule of the Seleucid Syrian kings for many years. Jewish patriots, under the leadership of
Judas Maccabaeus, revolted when Antiochus Epiphanes tried to force his pagan
culture and religion on the Jews. The
despicable tyrant even profaned the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar
and forcing the sacrificed meat down the throats of the priests—a double
abomination to the Jews, because the law of Moses forbade them to eat pork
(Lev. 11:4-8; Deut. 14:7-8). The Hasidim
were among the strongest supporters of the revolt, until its leaders began to
become worldly and politicized.”
Lord willing we will look at some more background of the
Pharisees as we begin the next SD in the morning.
Last Quotation from “Love
in Action:” “The Ten Commandments of
Friendship.”
1.
Speak to
people.
2.
Smile at
people.
3.
Call people by
name.
4.
Be friendly and
helpful.
5.
Be cordial.
6.
Be genuinely
interested in people.
7.
Be generous
with praise, cautious, with criticism.
8.
Be considerate
of the feelings of others.
9.
Be thoughtful
of the opinions of others.
10. Be alert to give service.
1/12/2020 10:57 PM
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