Category: Bible Insights

Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.

The Error of the Pharisees

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date February 1, 2011

In The Error of the Sadducees and Pharisees, it was noted that the Pharisees’ mistake was adding to the Bible and then esteeming their additions as more important.

Jesus notes that they break God’s commands in order to keep their own, man-made traditions (that is, the religious rules they added to the Bible). He then gives an example and quotes Isaiah, deeming it as worthless worship.

While most God-loving people would shutter at the thought of doing this, their actions often belie their intentions.

Consider being fixated on what a certain scholar says about the Bible and knowing his or her work better than the Bible or jumping on the bandwagon of the latest “hot” author, pouring over his or her writings with great fervor, while relegating the Bible to second-class status.

Studying scholars and writers who point us to God can be a positive and helpful thing, which should not be dismissed.

However, giving them undo importance, or diminishing God and what the Bible says about him in the process, is never good.

It is the error of the Pharisees.

[Matthew 15:3-9, Mark 7:5-13, and Isaiah 29:13.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

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Tags Jesus, Pharisee, tradition

Bible Insights

The Error of the Sadducees and Pharisees

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 29, 2011

Two thousand years ago, the Jewish religious scene was comprised of two major factions, the Sadducees and Pharisees.

Although their respective theologies about God were quite different, these two camps did coexist—albeit not harmoniously—within the same religion.

The reason for their different perspectives of the same God, likely comes from how they treated the Bible.

The short version is that the Sadducees took away from the Bible, considering only the Law of Moses (the first five book of the Bible) as their holy canon. This gave them a partial and incomplete view of God.

The Pharisees did the opposite. They greatly added to the Bible, introducing thousands of their own laws and rules.

Although their intension in doing so was to aid them in holy living, their legalistic additions where elevated in importance to the point of surpassing the Bible as their guide.

The error of the Sadducees was to take away from the Bible, while the error of the Pharisees was to add to it.

Both are errors that we need to carefully avoid.

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Tags Jew, Law of Moses

Bible Insights

Seeking God’s Favor

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 27, 2011

There are several places in the Bible that talk about seeking God’s favor. In reading these sections it becomes clear that when people seek God’s favor, good things result; when they don’t, bad things result.

For example, Hezekiah sought God’s favor and disaster was averted, whereas the Jewish people did not seek God’s favor and spent 70 years in captivity.

What isn’t readily apparent is how one goes about seeking God’s favor, but Daniel provides the answer. It is simply by stop doing bad things and acknowledging his truth.

Seeking God’s favor isn’t hard, but it’s not often done.

[Jeremiah 26:19, Daniel 9:13]

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Tags Daniel, God, Hezekiah

Bible Insights

God Thinks Highly of Us

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 22, 2011

Are You Highly Esteemed?

Do you ever wonder what God thinks of you? Unfortunately, I suspect that most people who consider such a question reach the wrong conclusion.

But what if an angel were to show up and provide a supernatural perspective about you?

It’s happened:

An angel tells Daniel that he is “highly esteemed.” This doesn’t just happen once, but is said three times on two different occasions. As a result of being highly esteemed, great insight about the future is revealed to Daniel.

A few centuries later, an angel tells a young girl that she is “highly favored.” Her name is Mary. As a result of being highly favored, Jesus is born and the world is forever changed.

Although we can’t earn our salvation, we apparently can be esteemed and favored by God for our actions and dedication; implicitly, the opposite must also be true.

While we may never have an angel visit us to say what God thinks of us, the Bible does reveal this truth. But to find out, you can’t read it as a legal document or an instruction manual.

Embrace the Bible as a narrative, God’s narrative to you.

[Daniel 9:23 and 10:11&19, Luke 1:28]

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Tags angel, Daniel, Jesus, supernatural

Bible Insights

God is the Best of the Best

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 18, 2011

The God who is revealed in the Bible is number one. Consider these explanations of who he is in comparison to all else:

He is the King of kings.
He is the Lord of lords
He is the Prince of princes
He is the God of gods

Quite simply, God is over all and above all. He is numero uno. He is the Best of the best.

So what should be our response?

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Bible Insights

Did Daniel Need to Ask God to Rescue the People?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 16, 2011

Another Thought about Predestination

Another curious thing with Daniel’s prayer is that he may not have even needed to make it.

After all, God, through Jeremiah, foretold that the nation would be in captivity for 70 years and then return. The seventy years are about up; it is time to go home.

God decreed it, so there’s no need to pray. Yet Daniel prays anyway, asking God to do what he already said he would do.

Could there be causality?

Is Daniel’s prayer needed for God’s intention to come to fruition?

Or perhaps God’s decree is given with the foreknowledge that in 70 years Daniel will pray for deliverance.

Was it predestined that the people would be repatriated after 70 years or was it predestined that Daniel would pray, resulting in their return?

In another wonderful God paradox, the answer is yes!

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Daniel 7-9, and today’s post is on Daniel 9:2.]

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Tags Daniel, paradox, predestination

Bible Insights

A Curious Prayer by Daniel

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 15, 2011

The ninth chapter of Daniel records a curious prayer of Daniel.

One thing that is strange is Daniel confesses things he never did. He personally accepts the errors of former generations, identifying with the wayward actions of his country.

It is as if Daniel, though innocent in this regard, takes on himself the faults and failures of an entire nation, personally confessing them and seeking God’s deliverance on their behalf.

If that sounds a bit familiar, Jesus did the same thing, but on a much grander scale and with universal and everlasting impact.

Daniel’s humble prayer foreshadows Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice.

[Daniel 9:1-19; also check out 2 Corinthians 5:21]

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Tags Daniel, Jesus

Bible Insights

Free Will and Predestination

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 11, 2011

Embrace the Paradox of Choice versus Destiny

A theological conundrum is the concept of free will versus predestination. While the Bible teaches that we have the ability to make our own choices (we have free will), it also says that things are predetermined (predestined).

Which is it?

It is both, presenting us with a delightful paradox. Though my mind somewhat grasps this as a holistic, unified truth, I am woefully unable to articulate it.

It helps a little to consider that one understanding of “predestined” is to “foreknow.” Another helpful consideration is to realize that God —who created time-space, exists outside of time—likely seeing the past, present, and future as a singular reality.

However, it is the book of Daniel that gives me the most help.

A prophecy is given about evil king Nebuchadnezzar. Because of his prideful arrogance, he will be struck with insanity until he acknowledges God (free will) and for seven years (predestination).

Free will and predestination are not mutually exclusive concepts, but opposite sides of the same coin.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Daniel 4-6, and today’s post is on Daniel 4:25.]

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Tags Daniel, free will, paradox, predestination, space-time

Bible Insights

Where’s Daniel?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date January 9, 2011

You may know about Daniel, the guy noted for spending the night with a bunch of hungry lions and emerging the next morning unscathed.

The bigger story is that as a youth he was captured by an invading army, forcibly relocated to Babylon, stripped of his culture, indoctrinated with new philosophies, and forced to work for the king.

Through all this, he put God first and acquitted himself well, serving four kings from two kingdoms.

There’s a curious verse about Daniel: “Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.”

If he’s not there, where is he?

A clue is that, also occurring during the first year of Cyrus’s reign, some of the exiles are permitted to return to their homeland. Daniel would have been in his eighties at the time, but he could have made the journey.

In fact, both Ezra and Nehemiah list a “Daniel” making the return trip.

Perhaps after years of faithful service to both God and king, Daniel is finally able to go home.

[Daniel 1:21, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23, Ezra 1:1-2, Ezra 8:2, Nehemiah 10:6]

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Tags Daniel, faithful, youth

Bible Insights

Posts about the Minor Prophets

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date December 27, 2010

For the past several months, most of the ABibleADay posts have been about the minor prophets. Recall that they are called minor not because their prophecy is insignificant, but because their books are short!

Though more posts may be added in the future, there are no more planned at this time. See all posts about the twelve Minor Prophets:

Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s book, Return to Me: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope from the Minor Prophets

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Tags Amos, Habakkuk, Haggai, Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Malachi, Micah, Nahum, Obadiah, prophets, Zechariah, Zephaniah