SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2020 9:22 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Teaching of the Old Testament”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
5:43b
Message of the
verse: “You shall love your neighbor.”
This statement was first seen in Leviticus 19:18 “’You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against
the sons of your people, but
you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.” This command was then seen also in the
NT: (Matt. 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31;
Luke 10:27; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8).
“Love for others, shown in sympathetic concern and actual care for them,
had always been God’s standard for human relations” writes John MacArthur. I have to say that at times this is hard to
understand and harder to do and I suppose the reason has to do with the old
nature, and also perhaps the way people were brought up while living at home.
We
are told in Deuteronomy that the children of Israel were to take care of a lost
animal until the owner came to recover it.
Likewise, a countryman was to be helped with an animal when it fell down
as seen in Deut. 22:1-4. Now we want to
look at Exodus 23:4-5 for info on what is to be done with an enemy: “4 “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey
wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. 5 "If you see the
donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall
refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.”
John
MacArthur writes “As in all the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is
speaking here about personal standards of righteousness, not civil law. The ‘enemy’ spoken of in Exodus 23 is not the
enemy soldier met on the battlefield, but an individual—whether fellow
countryman or foreigner—who in some way or another is antagonistic. God has never had a double standard of
righteousness. His ‘commandment is
exceedingly broad’ (Ps. 119:96), and in the fullest sense an Israelite’s ‘neighbor’
was anyone in need whom he might come across in his daily living.” The answer to the question of who is my
neighbor is seen in Luke 10:30-37, a familiar passage to most who even read the
Scriptures in a casual way.
Job tells us the following in Job 31:29-30 “29 “Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy, Or exulted when evil befell him? 30 “No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin By asking for his life in a curse.” Job did nothing when he heard of an enemy of his dying, nothing at all. He was neutral and did nothing. Job did more than simply refrain from doing others harm; Job gave them help as seen in verses 31-32 “31 "Have the men of my tent not said, ’Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat’? 32 “The alien has not lodged outside, For I have opened my doors to the traveler.”
It
is good to remember the time when most experts believe that Job lived in and
that was during the time o the patriarchal period. Job certainly had not seen any of the Law of
God that was given by Moses and yet Job lived a life that one could say came
under the laws of God and as we read Job 1:1 we see that “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and
that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Lord willing we will look at some of the
things from the life of David as we begin our next SD.
9/25/2020 9:47 AM
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