Old Testament reading: Ezekiel 15-16
Ezekiel 15 is a brief parable foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem. In the parable Israel is compared to a vine, not in the sense of bearing fruit, but in the uselessness of its wood. Anyone who has ever worked in the woods knows how tough vine wood is. But it is worthless for the purpose of making anything useful, being unfit even to make a peg as a cup hanger (v 3). It is good for nothing but to be burned for fuel, and afterward has no value. God says He is going to burn Jerusalem as a vine, leaving the land desolate. In chapter 16 God compares Jerusalem to an abandoned infant whom He rescued from death, and whom He nurtured to maturity and clothed in beauty. Finally, God took Jerusalem as a loving husband takes a young bride, clothing her in the finest garments, adorning her with fine jewelry, providing her the finest pastries and food. But Jerusalem became filled with pride, trusting in her own beauty and forgetting the husband who had saved and exalted her. She took the blessings of her husband and played the harlot with every passing idol, unable to satisfy her wicked appetites (v 28). Ezekiel said Israel was worse than a harlot because no one solicited her and she accepted no payment for her harlotry (vv 31-34)!
Old Testament reading: Acts 1-2
A common misunderstanding of Acts 2:1-4 concerns the identification of who received the miraculous gift of tongues at Pentecost. Remember that chapter and verse divisions did not implemented until more than 1400 years after the inspired documents were originally penned. One rule of language is that a pronoun is identified by its nearest antecedent noun agreeing in person and number. Acts 2:1-4 contains 6 plural pronouns (e.g., “they” and “them”). The nearest antecedent plural noun is found in Acts 1:26, specifically, the “apostles.” Because the text is speaking of the appointment of Matthias as Judas’ replacement, the pronouns in question refer to the twelve apostles. Thus, the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-4 was given only to the apostles, and not to the 120 (cf Acts 1:15) as is sometimes supposed. This is confirmed again in Acts 2:14-15 where Peter stood up with the eleven others.
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