Bible in A Year: Episode 23

Intro • 00:00
Welcome to Read the Bible in a Year with Matt and Hannah, a weekly podcast from Fairfax Bible Church where we explore scripture together, uncovering its themes and design patterns. We’re glad you’re here. Now, here are your hosts, Matt and Hannah.

Matt • 00:15
All right, here we go. This is episode 23. Now, Hannah, I know you’re not a sports person. But the most famous sports person to ever come out or be involved or associated with the state of Illinois, war number twenty-three, who am I talking about?

Hannah • 00:32
Michael Jordan, we already talked about this.

Matt • 00:34
Oh, okay.

Hannah • 00:35
Remember I was like, I only know one person’s number on their jersey. And uh this is like a uh maybe a month ago or something.

Matt • 00:45
Okay, well we finally got there. We finally got to an episode where you’re gonna know the in this case not so random player whose name I drop in there Welcome everyone. Read the Bible with Matt and Hannah. I am Matt. She is Hannah. We are part of an outreach, a ministry, a something of the people of Fairfax Bible Church. If you’ve not come to worship with us at Fairfax Bible Church, what are you waiting for? Like we’re fun. We’re awesome. We talk about God’s word, and it’s a good time, so you should come see us. Yeah. And if you are part of us at Fairfax Bible Church, thank you for going on this journey with us. Uh thank you for all the fun questions and feedback and adventures. Um, it’s been exciting. So we’re almost halfway through, not quite, but we’re getting close to being halfway through this run, and it’s been cool. So all right, so Hannah. Uh we are almost done with the minor prophets. That’s true.

Hannah • 01:42
Well we’re just talking about them.

Matt • 01:43
Yeah, we’re talking about them now, but yes, we have completed our reading of the minor prophets or as as they’re referred to in the Hebrew scriptures. Is it the twelve? Is that right?

Hannah • 01:52
Yeah. Yeah. The book of the twelve.

Matt • 01:55
The book of the twelve. Because th those are all on one scroll.

Hannah • 01:57
Yeah.

Matt • 01:58
So you would read them like all together.

Hannah • 02:01
Yeah, that’s the idea.

Matt • 02:02
Okay, not chunked up like we’ve done.

Hannah • 02:05
Well, we’ve read it all together. We just didn’t do it in one sitting.

Matt • 02:09
Okay.

Hannah • 02:09
Yeah.

Matt • 02:10
All right. Um, so one of the things that I like about the minor prophets is it’s sort of like a little arc. through the whole Hebrew Bible, but sort of condensed. You get it in bite size. So we had some pre-exile, we had a little bit of exile. Now we’re sort of on the other side. Now we’re sort of post exile. Is that right?

Hannah • 02:28
Yeah.

Matt • 02:29
Yeah.

Hannah • 02:29
Yeah, the Haggai and Zechariah ha are right at the end of that seventy years of the Babylonian exile. And then Malachi is probably um might estimate around a hundred years later or something.

Matt • 02:45
Oh, okay. I didn’t realize that it was that late.

Hannah • 02:47
Yes, uh I’m sure the dates vary depending on which scholar you ask, but Yeah. At least a a couple generations later.

Matt • 02:55
Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. And I think the temptation uh might be if you were kind of reading along and not knowing better, is like this is where you want there to be a happy ending. Like we’ve been on the exile, we’re gonna come back now. Things are gonna be good. We learned our lessons. Things are gonna be awesome now. And in some ways they kind of are. In some ways that kind of good. And in some ways it’s like, oh, we’re we’re kind of on the verge of some of the same old patterns.

Hannah • 03:25
Yeah, right. Yeah. With such a Tragic um like the exile was was a should have been a very strong wake-up call.

Matt • 03:38
Yeah.

Hannah • 03:38
You know? So you you would think and you you’re hoping like, okay, we’ve heard all this restoration on the other side of exile, here it is. uh but we come back to a lot of you know these prophets still need to come and preach repentance.

Matt • 03:54
Yeah.

Hannah • 03:54
Yeah.

Matt • 03:54
Well why don’t we just get into it? So the first book we want to look at this week is Hagi Haggai. Now I learned it as Haggai.

Hannah • 04:02
Yeah.

Matt • 04:03
I think that’s how I say it. Hacky. So I was uh so when I was however old, six years old, seven years old, learning the books of the Bible. I really like this section of the minor prophets because it’s got like a little bit of a beat and a rhyme to it, like a little rhythm. So Zephaniah Hagai Zachariah Malachi. So I like the rhyme scheme there. So I’ve always been able to remember the sequence there. So I thought that was pretty cool. But yeah, Hagee. Haggai, Haggai, Haggai. Let’s go with that.

Hannah • 04:31
I think it’s Haggai, yeah.

Matt • 04:32
Okay. Sometimes people say haggai

Hannah • 04:35
Yeah.

Matt • 04:35
I don’t know where they get that from. Hmm.

Hannah • 04:37
I don’t know. They want to pronounce both vowels separately.

Matt • 04:41
Oh, okay. In the wrong order though.

Hannah • 04:44
Oh, you think?

Matt • 04:45
I’m getting losing the plot here. Okay, so Haggai. So when we meet Haggai, or Haggai comes into the story here, it is getting close to if not the end of the 70 year exile. The Jewish people and particularly the people of Judah, so the southern kingdom, are starting to trickle back. And they’re starting to trickle back to Jerusalem. That’s that’s where we’re hanging out. And this maybe is good. This this could be good. Hagai doesn’t seem so confident though.

Hannah • 05:16
Yeah. Well, ’cause at the start, uh they’re the priority of the Israelites doesn’t seem to be in the right place of rebuilding. So they’re rebuilding their own houses and prioritizing that instead of rebuilding the temple, you know, to invite God’s presence back in with them to dwell among them.

Matt • 05:37
Yeah. Uh I gotta say though, in a sense though, that seems to make sense to me because I need a place to sleep. I need a place to rest. So what’s what’s really the problem here? Why why is it a problem if I want to build a place for me to live rather than focus on building a building a temple? I’m just playing devil’s advocate here.

Hannah • 06:00
Yeah. I I mean I agree with you.

Matt • 06:02
Yeah.

Hannah • 06:03
I don’t know. I don’t know the situation.

Matt • 06:06
Well God seems a little uh put out by this, and so Haggai the prophet says something. I I guess, I mean, I’m I’m I’m using my imagination here, but I wonder if uh there’s a sense of like they just go straight to it. There’s not even sort of a collective plan. It’s like, okay, hey, let’s sort of get some basic security in place, basic shelter in place, then we’ll sort of get to the house of the Lord and then we’ll come back and do the or ornamental stuff. But it seems like they sort of they’re like, oh hey, cool. Let’s build things up and oh, oh yeah, maybe we should Build Yahweh’s house again. Maybe it’s a little bit of an afterthought to them. I think that’s what Haggai’s getting getting at here.

Hannah • 06:45
Yeah.

Matt • 06:47
Yeah.

Hannah • 06:47
Yeah, I mean if you don’t invite the presence of the Lord back into their city, then you know the your your labor is going to be in vain anyway to build your own house. Yeah.

Matt • 07:01
Yeah, that’s a good word. That’s a really good way to say it. It’s a little bit like um I mean I know it’s to the point of uh maybe roteness sometimes, but even something like before we say a meal or every gathering that we have, or we’ll just say it with a brief word of prayer, just like, hey, Lord, we acknowledge that you’re here. I don’t know, that can get a little bit um maybe I don’t even know like sort of roteness. But I do think there’s some honorable intent there. It’s like, yeah, hey, we’re having a business meeting or we’re having dinner here. I think it’s it’s a nice little thing to just sort of note like, hey God, you’re here and we’re asking you to bless us as we go about this. But yeah, it does doesn’t seem like that’s where the minds at or the heart’s at of the the people that Haggai’s talking about.

Hannah • 07:44
Yeah.

Matt • 07:45
So he actually throws in some references to Deuteronomy twenty-eight. Did you pick up on that?

Hannah • 07:54
The blessing and the curse. Oh, uh-huh.

Matt • 07:56
Yeah, because he says, where is it? I flipped my page here. See Hackey is such a short book. I turn it over sometimes. But um we’ll look at yeah so when he’s saying pick up in verse what’s I think it’s uh see, I can’t read, so I gotta pick this up. Uh verse nine. You looked for much and behold it came to little, and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, declares the Lord of hosts? because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has with withheld its produce And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors. It’s a little hyperlink back to Deuteronomy 28 when when Moses was saying, hey, choose life, listen and obey. Listen to Yahweh, and he’ll bring you good. And if you don’t listen, he’s gonna bring you bad things or you’ll experience bad things. So it seems like it’s a little bit of a callback to that moment.

Hannah • 09:00
Yeah.

Matt • 09:01
Yeah.

Hannah • 09:02
Yeah, we see a lot of these uh judgments and promises for restoration be rooted in those that original promise in Deuteronomy.

Matt • 09:13
Yeah. And they they kinda repent?

Hannah • 09:19
They at least seem to start building the temple. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt • 09:24
And then we get a couple chapters about sort of how the Lord is going to fill up this temple with his glory again. I don’t know that we get like a full picture of that, but we’re told that it’s coming.

Hannah • 09:37
Well, there is a sense that this new temple was way less impressive than the first one. Right? So part of the promise of the New Jerusalem, Haggai is trying to inspire hope That, you know, it looks kind of sad now, but the the new Jerusalem is gonna have God’s presence in full and a much better temple

Matt • 10:07
Yeah, and there’s some language here that I think um the New Testament writers pull on a lot in chapter two where it says Um, you know, it’s not my not by might, not by power. No, that’s a different chapter. What am I looking at here? Ch uh N Haggai Chapter 2. Where he says, Be strong, all you people of the land, declare the Lord. Work for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit remains in your midst. Fear not For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in. And I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. I think the writer of Hebrews uh picks up on that theme and uses that a lot. Yeah, and I think in in Hebrews he’s talking about how Jesus is the fulfillment of that verse, that the person of Jesus is the one who’s actually sort of the one the what what God uses to shake the earth. And this is not a shake like a shake rattle and roll. It’s like likely you’re you’re sort of shaking things out of a piece of clothes to like get all the things out of it before you wash it or put it away. So he’s like, I’m gonna bring everything that belongs to me, everything that brings me glory. I’m gonna make sure gets uh gets shaken out of this garment, this thing, so that it it belongs to me. So yeah. Yeah, so that’s high guys, short book. Kind of a cool book, but kinda and this is a theme we’re gonna see a little bit, um a little bit there’s not this sort of like okay Happy ending. They’re all gonna live happily ever after. It’s a little bit like, okay, yeah, this is sort of not awesome, but a better day’s gonna come. And then it just sort of leaves us hanging.

Hannah • 11:50
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I felt like that uh with both Haggai and Zechariah. The ends of those books just leave you hanging.

Matt • 11:57
Yeah. Yeah. Well speaking of Zechariah, um this is a this is a crazy book.

Hannah • 12:03
Yeah.

Matt • 12:04
Lot of crazy dreams.

Hannah • 12:06
I was pretty lost. Yes. Yeah.

Matt • 12:10
I think without the Bible project video, I wouldn’t really have an idea of what’s going on.

Hannah • 12:15
No.

Matt • 12:16
Um yeah, so we got we got stork women. We have people in baskets. Uh we have lampstands.

Hannah • 12:27
Yeah.

Matt • 12:28
Yeah, it’s um I’ve never really gotten too much into like dreamology, or I don’t know if the if that’s even a word, but like like This the meaning behind dreams. Have you ever looked at one of these things? I guess there’s like you can go in like certain restaurants and they have all this. Have you ever looked into any of that?

Hannah • 12:44
Yeah, I actually did like a research project in middle school About about this concept of how people assign meaning to like different items in your dreams.

Matt • 12:58
Okay.

Hannah • 12:59
Yeah.

Matt • 12:59
What did you learn that’s useful to us?

Hannah • 13:01
Oh, I don’t know if I remember much, but I remember that there are a certain set of items that like a lot of people have dreams about. Like a lot of people have dreams about their teeth. Either like falling out or like something about your teeth. Like that’s a really common dream to have.

Matt • 13:19
Wow, really? I’m fascinated by this now.

Hannah • 13:22
Have you ever had a dream about your teeth like falling out or I don’t break Really?

Matt • 13:29
I don’t really remember my dreams.

Hannah • 13:32
Yes. That was also part of my research project. Is that most people don’t remember their dreams.

Matt • 13:38
There’s a few that I remember, but I don’t remember So I have no memory of having to dream about my teeth, which doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

Hannah • 13:45
I’ve had multiple dreams about like feeling like my teeth were falling out. Wow I don’t remember what that was supposed to mean though.

Matt • 13:52
Okay. Yeah. Wow. Oh, that’s really interesting. Now, uh one thing I do think is interesting, you know, in the culture that you and I are part of, so the United States, 21st century Uh I you know, I don’t think that dreams we don’t really talk about dreams. Um, but in lots of parts of the world, yeah, dreams are very meaningful. Um and there’s even, you know, when I every year I go through the 30 days of prayer for the Muslim world um uh that oh I’m blanking on the organization that hosts that. And they talk a lot about how there’s many, many testimonies of people who were formerly involved in Islam and they actually have a dream. Where someone that they perceive to be the Lord Jesus says, Hey, I I want you to start following me. Like this is pretty common in especially the Muslim world and other parts of the world. So It’s one of those things where I I try not to carry a little cultural arrogance around with this one ’cause it’s just not part of the way that I think about going through life or the way that I even really think about experiencing prayer or community with God, I I think of it as a little bit sort of um, I don’t know, old fashioned or archaic or something like that. But in a lot of parts of the world it’s still a very meaningful uh experience for people.

Hannah • 15:04
Yeah. Yeah. And I I believe that the Lord will speak through things like dreams, particularly to groups of people that don’t have access to his special revelation in the scriptures. So, you know, in the Old Testament we see God revealing Himself in dreams and visions and burning bushes. Yeah. Uh, you know, when they didn’t have the scriptures before them. So yeah, I believe that’s definitely a thing.

Matt • 15:32
Yeah. So uh I don’t want to parse uh Zachariah out too much right now because there’s a lot of Zachariah that gets repeated in the book of Revelation. Some of it almost word for word.

Hannah • 15:46
Yeah, yeah. John in the book of Revelation is definitely drawing on a lot of these images here and other prophets that talk about um the day of the Lord or these like um yeah, cosmic um decreation and recreation ideas. Yeah.

Matt • 16:08
Yeah, and even things like the two lampstands and so so a lot of the imagery that John uh pulls on in Revelation I mean Zachariah I think is one of his primary sources. He’s pulling a lot from Ezekiel and and uh Daniel certainly and and Isaiah and Jeremiah, but I think this is another one that was heavy on his mind. So I think one I want to save that for the end of the story because I want to pull those links together when we get there. So I won’t belabor all the dreams and things like that in Zechariah, but I will say if you have a little extra time. Across the next couple weeks. Maybe just kind of read through Revelation and then flip back to Zechariah and look at how many places they connect to each other. And I think you’ll be surprised. It’s really interesting.

Hannah • 16:50
Yeah.

Matt • 16:51
So we’ll save the heavy lifting for when we get to Revelation uh toward the end of the year. But uh I think you’re gonna be not you, Hannah. Well maybe you, but uh other people. I think you’re gonna be uh you’re gonna be surprised at how many connections are there. So But there is one idea that we want to uh noodle on a little bit, because this was something I learned, but maybe you already knew this, Hannah, but Uh, I think the Bible project video for Zachariah pointed something out to me. I I think when I have been reading prophecy before and I see a phrase in the scripture like the day of the Lord. I guess without even really thinking about it, I always associated that with like kind of one single day uh in the far future and what still be would be my future. And they were all sort of waiting for the day of the Lord to come. I think they made a compelling case in the video that what the writers of scripture, when they talk about the day of the Lord, They they do it’s not that they don’t mean that, but they also mean a day now ish, or at least in the a more short-term future than we would have in mind, where the Lord will bring about justice and correction of sin and sort of pull back those decreation moments. I thought that was really interesting. Did you did you pick up on that too?

Hannah • 18:03
Yeah. Yeah, this is something that I’ve, you know, studied a little bit. in the past. But the Bible project video specifically on the theme of the Day of the Lord, uh, which w uh we just watched a couple days ago, uh does a really good job of rooting it in describing how From the Israelite perspective, the very first day of the Lord was God’s deliverance and liberation of his people from slavery in Egypt, where it’s a day where God brings justice upon the evil of Pharaoh and Egypt. And um there’s, you know, a couple other similar days, and then when Israel becomes their own evil nation, you know, filled with idolatry and injustice and corruption, then God brings a day of the Lord upon Israel itself not just on its uh evil neighboring nations. So the exiles are described as a day of the Lord, which is what a lot of the prophets who we read already who were prophesying before or during those exiles were referring to in the immediate future. But these prophetic books also talk about, like you said, that future day or a cosmic day of the Lord, where there’ll be a final ultimate um w day where the Lord brings justice to evil and restores all things.

Matt • 19:36
Yeah, so it it kind of means both.

Hannah • 19:39
Yeah.

Matt • 19:39
I think it does mean both. It means, you know, the relatively short term day of the Lord that we might experience. Today, tomorrow, next week, but also that final day in the future. We were trying to research if there’s like a theological term for this where it means this thing, but it also means that thing. And it means them at the same time. The best week and Hannah has a master’s degree in this, but I’m just a regular person, so uh uh If if you have a theology degree, don’t mock us about this. But uh the best term we could figure out is prophetic telescoping. Yeah, we were looking at some other terms that didn’t quite uh quite match. And we’re not even sure this is a hundred percent match, but we think this is the closest thing to what we what we think we mean.

Hannah • 20:21
Yeah, our very initial uh ask to ChatGPT pointed us in this direction.

Matt • 20:27
Prophecy expert chat GPT.

Hannah • 20:30
Yeah. So, I mean, I think the term itself kind of is helpful, prophetic telescoping. Like if you’re looking through a telescope, you’re standing in one place, but you’re also looking forward to wherever you’re pointing your telescope. So referring to both the here and the now, something that’s coming right in front of you and a future day. So I don’t know if uh that’s a hundred percent the right term, but this brief description that we read made it sound right.

Matt • 21:01
I’m gonna go with it for now. I’m open to learning more and I will be reading about this more because I I nerd about things like this Uh but I’m open to that. I I do kind of like that idea, like yes, it has relevance for this thing, but it’s also connected to that thing. And I think leaning into understanding how those things are connected to each other serves us well as Bible readers and serves us well as people who want to know more about God and his character.

Hannah • 21:27
Yeah. Yeah, a ton of what the prophets are doing is pointing forward to that ultimate day. Um, but they’re also addressing current situations and current problems. So I see how this could be um relevant. Particularly I think with the the theme of the day of the Lord is the thing that is the most clear with that.

Matt • 21:51
Yeah, and sort of like we were talking about with Haggai or Haggai is and Zachariah does the same thing where like, okay, you’re back from the exile. It’s uh you know, you’re not you know enslaved anymore, you’re not exiled anymore, but it’s still not awesome. But it is gonna get better if you’re faithful. Um, you know, God’s gonna be faithful to you. You can be faithful to him and it’s gonna get better, but we don’t see it yet. It’s kind of the message that Haggai works and that Zachariah is working. Just sort of like, hang in there. It’s gonna get better one day.

Hannah • 22:25
Yeah. Yeah, and we see this final day of the Lord inaugurated already because of Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection. That final defeat of evil has already been guaranteed, you know, so that day has kind of started, but like the ultimate day is still coming.

Matt • 22:47
Yeah. So we kind of live in like the next chapter, so to speak

Hannah • 22:51
Yes, a lot of people call it the now and not yet.

Matt • 22:54
Yeah.

Hannah • 22:55
Yeah.

Matt • 22:55
Yeah. So same kind of experience, although we have a little bit more information to work with and a little bit more perspective to work with because Jesus has come and we know what he did and we have his death and his resurrection and the testimony of his early followers. So we’ve got a little bit more to work with, but I think we’re called to faith in the same way that the people of Haggai and Zechariah would have been as well.

Hannah • 23:16
Yeah.

Matt • 23:18
Prophetic telescoping. What a gift. What a gift. That’s awesome. Uh let’s do Malachi. Malachi’s a little interesting. Uh uh well I mean they’re all interesting. But I think Malachi distinguishes itself for one thing, as you shared, it’s sort of fast forwarding in the story a little bit. So we’re moving forward. Seventy years, a hundred years, some meaningful period of time. So the it’s we’re a couple generations after the exile now, people are resettled in the land. And also he used so we got a different perspective, uh, but also he uses a really interesting literary device. He’s sort of doing this QA, this question response, or this call in response. Almost a little bit like um almost like a trial. Like sort of like it sort of feels like he’s putting the people on trial, but the people kind of want to put him on trial. But he’s like, No, no, no, you’re not putting me on trial. Yeah, I I don’t get put in the box here. I I do I do the judicating here. So it’s it’s a really interesting structure, I think.

Hannah • 24:20
Yeah. Yeah, there’s six disputes and scholars call them disputations for some reason, which I don’t know if that’s a real word or not.

Matt • 24:29
Disputations?

Hannah • 24:30
I feel like dispute is just a better word.

Matt • 24:33
Disputation.

Hannah • 24:34
Yeah, that’s what I don’t know why they call it disputations.

Matt • 24:39
So it’s a dispute, but it’s a conversation?

Hannah • 24:42
Oh maybe. I don’t know if that’s what the combination is. Yeah.

Matt • 24:46
Because they’re not really conversations the way they’re related to us in Alakai.

Hannah • 24:50
No, yeah. It’s uh how each one works is God makes a claim. Israel disputes that claim and then God shows as evidence of why he was right.

Matt • 25:00
Yeah.

Hannah • 25:01
And there’s six of those that happen throughout Malachi.

Matt • 25:04
Yeah. Um I will say God is like remarkably patient. I mean for somebody who is always right, because it’s part of his character, that he’s he’s just right about things, he actually is kind of like, look, I’ll listen to you. If like we’re dialoguing here, we’re disputating I don’t think I did that right. Or dispute. So yeah, make your claim. I’ll listen to you. I mean, I’m gonna get the last word. I don’t give the last word to anybody else, but I’ll listen to you. I’ll let you participate in the conversation here. He doesn’t have to do that.

Hannah • 25:38
Yeah. And I don’t know, they’re not really even involved in this conversation. It’s like God is saying something and then he will say, but you say this. So like they’re not really even in this conversation actively, but Clearly they’ve made some complaints before, and so yeah, it’s an interesting um structure.

Matt • 25:59
Yeah. I mean, there’s certainly things like this could be a very modern book. I mean you if if if somebody were sort of recast a version of this and it was set in like 2026, like it would play. You change a little of the bit of the vernacular because we use nouns and verbs a little bit different way, but When people are like, Hey God, you don’t love me. I mean, I hear people say that. If if if God’s supposed to be so full of love, why is this happening? Why is that happening? Why does my life look like this? Uh God, you’re so hard to please. You I can never please you by anything that I do. You know. And God’s like, You’re not even trying, right? So I mean I I hear this, you know, a God who is sort of insatiable or unsatisfied uh with our devotion to him. I hear that as well. Or, you know Yeah, God, what have you ever done for us? That’s one thing. I mean, I hear people say that. What’s God’s ever done for me? And that’s like literally right there in the text. So it’s in a way it’s a very contemporary, I at least I experienced it. It’s a very contemporary book.

Hannah • 27:00
Yeah.

Matt • 27:02
Um and again, not a happy ending. A little bit weren’t wearant at the end. Yeah. But you picked up there’s a couple pretty interesting verbal pictures there.

Hannah • 27:14
Yeah, the very end of Malachi is pretty cool. I think, you know, the the Bible project video of like the overview of the structure makes a good point that um the last like three verses, so Malachi four, four through six, seem to be kind of um like a editorial note at the very end of the whole uh Neviam, the the prophets altogether as a structural kind of addition. But even the the verses before that, like uh 316 through four, three, are really nice summary of culminating images of that um day of the Lord again we get that image of the day of the Lord and these images of restoration. And um a couple images that I wanted to talk about. So 317 uses this term treasured possession. So it’s talking about uh those the r the righteous remnant. So after um God judges and refines brings his refining judgment to Israel, there will be this righteous remnant. And those are the ones who fear the Lord. And so verse 17 says, they shall be mine, those who fear the Lord. says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. So that term treasured possession is a pretty unique term in uh the scriptures and so it’s used that same exact phrase is used a few times so in Exodus 195, Deuteronomy 7. 6 and Deuteronomy 142 referring specifically to God’s chosen covenant people that he’s, you know, chosen to bless and work through out of all of the nations of the world. And so this is a special privilege that’s given to this nation. And um I think it’s really interesting that this specific term is transferred Uh it’s used in the New Testament a couple times.

Matt • 29:39
Okay.

Hannah • 29:39
Specifically First Peter 2. 9.

Matt • 29:42
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hannah • 29:44
uses this term of treasured possession to refer to the the church now those who belong to Christ So I think it’s really significant that Peter is using this term that specifically refers to the covenant people of Israel and now applying it to those who are brought into the family of God through Jesus. Um I really like that term. Like treasure possession is such a intimate relational term. Like it’s a r it’s um It’s cool that it’s used of the church too.

Matt • 30:18
Yeah, you know, it strikes me as I’m looking at this now, you know, I’m looking at verse, is it 16, where it says, those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and the book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord. and esteemed his name. You can start to see kind of what the church is gonna become even before the work of Jesus. Smaller, relatively small groups of people who are dedicated to him. They’re writing things down, and the Lord is among them, and he esteems them and he listens to them. That’s a little picture of what what we’re gonna see in the New Testament, what you and I get to be a part of in a way.

Hannah • 31:02
Yeah Yeah, totally. Yeah, and we kind of get a more explicit again in this this last section here for verse two. um uses this term Son of Righteousness, which is probably well known only because of that one Christmas song.

Matt • 31:21
Oh yeah. Heart the Herald Angel sing?

Hannah • 31:24
Yeah.

Matt • 31:24
I think that’s in the second verse.

Hannah • 31:26
Okay.

Matt • 31:27
So not the one that’s on Charlie Brown Christmas special.

Hannah • 31:30
Yeah.

Matt • 31:30
Um but yeah, risen with healing in his wings. I think that’s the thing that caught the Son of Righteousness, I feel like you expect to read that in the Bible. But then when I well, at least the I’m just telling you my thinking here. When I see the term son of righteousness, I’m like, okay, well yeah, that’s that’s like a Bible term. Of course that’s gonna be there. But when then I saw the risen with healing in his wings. I was like, Oh wait a minute, I’ve heard that before. Oh yeah, that’s in Heart the Herald Angel Sing. That’s a that Christmas carol. Yeah. Gotcha.

Hannah • 31:56
Yeah Yeah, so the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in its wings again for those who fear my name. And this is after, you know, verses one. uh or just verse one is saying that th this is talking about the day of the Lord that’s gonna come burning like an oven, which is an intense image. Yeah. When all the arrogant and the evildoers will become stubble. So they’ll they’ll be burnt or, you know, consumed in this fire of judgment. Um earlier in Malachi uh he talks about a refining fire. Um but here it’s really a destroying fire for those who haven’t been refined or haven’t um you know repented But for those who remain, those who fear his name, the Son of Righteousness, shall rise with healing in its wings. So uh wings is probably It’s in the ancient Near Eastern perspective, it was common to depict the sun’s rays as like the wings of a bird. Oh, okay. We see this in in the Psalms. Uh at least in Psalm 139, we see that image. So the this connection of healing is also uh relating to the imagery of a bird’s protective wings over like her chicks. Um We see that image in Deuteronomy specifically, Deuteronomy 32, with a bird’s protective wings, and then the rays of the sun spread light and warmth over the earth. um to bring healing and new life and strength to these this righteous remnant.

Matt • 33:42
I love it.

Hannah • 33:43
Yeah.

Matt • 33:43
Seems like maybe even a little bit of callback to Genesis one. Let there be light.

Hannah • 33:48
Yeah, sure. Yeah. Yeah, because God is described as light. Yep. And the giver of light.

Matt • 33:56
And there’s there’s another little Genesis reference tucked in there.

Hannah • 34:01
You mean in verse three?

Matt • 34:02
I I think you want to tell the people about this.

Hannah • 34:05
Yes. Yeah, my favorite, my favorite image. So verse three says, and you shall tread down the wicked.

Matt • 34:13
Okay.

Hannah • 34:14
For they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act. Which is an intense image again. But I think this is a reference back to Genesis 3, 15, I think, if I’m remembering my reference correctly. So this is the snake crusher. Right? We’ve talked about the snake crusher a lot. So the wicked will be crushed underfoot on this day of the Lord. Um so the serpent’s head being struck By the promised offspring of the woman in Genesis 3. And then this theme is brought to finality when evil is crushed at its source. And actually, um There’s a good verse in Romans 16, 20 that says, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Yeah. And that sounds like this kind of because it’s saying, your feet Uh and and hear not just like God’s own feet, Jesus’s feet, but like he’ll use his people to crush evil. Yeah, that’s interesting to me.

Matt • 35:23
Yeah. Yeah, like really interesting.

Hannah • 35:26
Yeah.

Matt • 35:26
Yeah. Uh and so Malachi entered and there’s a little bit of commentary where it says like, hey, remember the law. So remember the stuff Moses taught you, and we’re gonna send Elijah the prophet to come. So uh almost like a little to be continued. Remember the law, keep doing that, but also to be continued. And then Malachi ends the book there. And that’s That’s the end of the minor prophets. So it’s not the last bit of prophecy we’re gonna be we’re gonna read, uh, because we’re gonna go to I think we still have to do Daniel. And we have to do we’ll do Lamentations at some point.

Hannah • 35:57
So we’ve An Esra, Nehemiah.

Matt • 35:59
Yeah. So we’ve got some more of those that that work to do. But we’re at the end of the minor prophets. So I think the next section we’re going to do is is actually the wisdom literature. And we kick off with certainly one of my favorite books, I think one of yours too. We kick off with the book of Psalms.

Hannah • 36:14
Yeah.

Matt • 36:14
Yeah. So we’ve been doing Psalms every day as part of the reading plan. And then in the sort of the main line, as it were, we spend I think one day in Psalms and I think we’ll get to watch the video together and sort of anchors us in Psalm 1 and Psalm 2. And I know Psalm 1 is a favorite of yours, so I’ll let you share a little bit

Hannah • 36:32
Yeah. Yeah. So the last day of this uh week of reading gave us like one day to dedicate to the Psalms, which I was happy for. Yeah. Even though we’ve been reading one a day. But um the Psalms Video is really cool because the psalms actually have a literary design. Like they’re all in an intentional order.

Matt • 36:53
That’s relatively new information to me. I didn’t learn that until maybe two, three years ago.

Hannah • 36:58
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it’s not just a random collection of poems or or songs. Um and then Psalm 1 and 2 serve as kind of an introduction to the whole book. So um it wasn’t linked in the plan, but Bible Project has a visual commentary on Psalm 1, so you can find that. Um I highly recommend that video. I really love their visual commentaries because they will show you the verse, but it’s like a visual representation of how the verses and the images work together. So Um really cool. But I love Psalm One as really just like uh oh It we’re doing this thing where we’re reading the Bible every day and Psalm one is literally about that. You know. So um there’s this comparison between the blessed or the righteous one and the wicked. And the person who lives the blessed life is the one who delights in Yahweh’s Torah. or his his word. That could be a way to refer to all of the scriptures, not just the law or the first five books, but sometimes that word will be used to refer to all of God’s word. Um, so delighting in God’s word and meditating on it day and night. And those lines about delighting and meditating on the word of the Lord are parallel. So there’s like a interplay between delighting and meditating. You meditate on what you delight in and you delight in what you meditate on. Yeah. Uh so the more and more you read scripture, the more you’ll come to delight in it and that causes you to want to read and meditate more. Yeah. So there’s a a nice cycle there.

Intro • 38:44
Yeah.

Matt • 38:45
I I love that. That’s certainly been my experience. You know, I think when I was younger I read the Bible because, well, I went to church and I was a Christian and Christians are supposed to read the Bible. And so I won’t say it was done entirely out of um duty. But it was certainly um it it the more I got into it, the more I was like, oh, this is actually this This is actually doing something to me. This is interesting and beautiful and challenging. And yet the more I’ve read it, the more I’ve delighted in it. Um and even, you know, gosh my what twenty-fifth time or twenty-sixth time I think whatever it is going through this, there’s still like Little nooks and crannies like, oh, I never noticed that before. Or wait a minute, there’s a little thing tucked in here. That’s like the same thing as this thing over here. That’s It’s just endlessly delightful to me. Yeah.

Hannah • 39:37
Yeah. My story definitely started with more discipline than delight. So yeah, uh forming that discipline first and meditating on the word. um brought me to delight. So I definitely can can relate to that. And there’s some really cool imagery about The tree here, which I obviously love. So this blessed one becomes like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. So definitely imagery from Genesis two and the tree of life in the garden. And this language is picked up in uh the end of Revelation, which describes the new tree of life in the new creation garden So I think this is a really beautiful idea because humans have been exiled from the Garden of Eden where there was direct access to the tree of life. which represents God’s own life and the ability to dwell in his presence. And so we’re awaiting the renewal or realization of that ideal, which we see promised in Revelation. So I th often it feels like we’re stuck in the middle of these two realities, like without ac current access to the tree of life. But here in Psalm 1, the psalmist is saying, not only do you have access to the tree of life, but you’ll actually become the tree of life.

Matt • 41:11
You are the tree.

Hannah • 41:12
Yeah.

Matt • 41:12
Yeah.

Hannah • 41:13
s by meditating and delighting on the word of the Lord, his wisdom, his instruction found in his scriptures. So we can have life and live in God’s presence even now in this stage that feels like we’re just in the in-between. But what a beautiful thing that we we have this this word that allows us to do that.

Matt • 41:37
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it’s wonderful. Yeah, awesome. Well, I think that’s everything we want to cover today. Uh a little bit of a preview. I think we’re gonna take a short interval uh in the week to come. Hannah’s gonna go on vacation. Well deserved. Uh and uh because the next session is largely in Proverbs, and we don’t need two episodes to talk about Proverbs. Um so we’ll catch you on the flip side. So uh if you’re listening to this in a delayed time, welcome. Hopefully you’re caught up now. Um we won’t tell you the day that we’re recording this. Uh we’ll just give you a hint, the World Cup is happening. No, uh we’re glad that you’re with us. But you have a week to catch up. Um and so we’ll get we’ll figure it out. Uh once she gets back from our trip, we’ll figure out the next recording section. But Hang in there if Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes is coming up. I know that’s the favorite of a lot of people. Some juicy stuff to talk about there. Um, so that’ll be exciting. So yeah, more to come. We finished the minor prophets. We’re getting close to halfway through, but Lots of good things to read coming up. So uh if you’re hanging in there with us, hope you are finding that Psalm 1 is coming true for you, that as you read God’s word and meditate on it, that it causes delight in you. And the more you delight in it, the more you want to read it and meditate on it. So I hope that’s not just something uh that you’re reading about, but just something that you’re experiencing as the spirit moves in you through the power of his word. So Hannah, can you pray for us?

Hannah • 43:02
Yeah. Lord, we just ask that that would be true of us, that we would learn to meditate and delight on your word. And we just thank you for the gift that it is to have your word, that we can dwell in your presence that we can experience your life-giving power and grace and um the joy and delight it is to um just be immersed in this text that reveals your wisdom and your truth and your vision, your um purposes for us, and reveals your son. That we are just so blessed to have a relationship with. And we pray that you would continue to shape us and form us by meditating on your word that you would Allow us to delight in your word and even more so delight in yourself and in your son and the person. um of Jesus Christ. And so we just praise you for this opportunity to do that together and to read together. And we pray that you would fill us with your spirit. for all understanding and wisdom that we would learn and meditate on your word day and night. And we pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Matt • 44:28
Amen. Thanks so much, Hannah.

Hannah • 44:30
Yeah, thank you