29 v.39 The repetition of the details of the feasts in different parts of the law forces the point that the detail and correct observance of the feasts were critical to Israel. Consider why different feasts are mentioned in different groupings. Here we have no Passover, for example.

30 v.3 - 8 The way that the vow of the woman who is 'under' a man is dealt with is instructive. Her father, if she is at home, or her husband, if she is married, can disannul her vow because he is her 'head'. A pattern of Christ and the bride. Of course just as the bride of Christ should know the mind of the groom well enough not to make a 'rash' Ecclesiastes 5:2 vow which he would not approve the wife should behave so in her marriage.

ch.29 - This chapter continues the list of elements of the law to be observed
:1 Blowing of trumpets
:7 Day of atonement
:12 Tabernacles
(with details for each day :13, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35)

30:1,2 Provides the basis for (Ecclesiastes 5:4) When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

29:40 So even though Moses knows that he will not enter the land he continues to prepare Israel for the time when they will be in the land. Such is the selflessness of the man Moses. A pattern for us. What we do for God should not be based on self interest. It should be based on pleasing God.

30:9 That a widow or divorced woman could not have her vow disanulled show how that the married woman is not independent from her husband - she is 'an help' (Genesis 2:18)

29:40 We may think that as Moses had already received the details of the sacrifices and ordinances from God that he could just repeat them to the people. However it appears that at this time Moses was commanded by God to repeat the details.

30:1 Notice that this issue is presented to the 'heads of the tribes' the inference being that the heads of the tribes would teach the people and then ensure that the injunction was followed by those in their tribe.

 30:4,7  The vow of a woman was only disallowed, if her father, (if unmarried) or her husband disallowed it. She had no choice once the father or husband held his peace or disallowed the vow. The man by holding his peace was also making a vow that the woman would fulfill her commitment.

Control, over wives and daughters, is generally not in effect in the politically correct societies of the west.  However, it still does exist in other cultures and other parts of the world.

Num. 30: A wife's vow could be annulled by the husband, and the daughter's by the father. But a man's vow would stand even if it affected someone else. Take the case of Jephthah's daughter (Judg 11:30,31,34,35).

Num. 29:  It is easy not to appreciate the physically hard work in which the priests were engaged, particularly during feast times which demanded much sacrifice.

29:12    The number of bullocks reduces on a daily basis from 13. The 8^th day differs from the other days in that the way in which the sacrifice is described does not maths the reducing order of bullocks. Totalling the bullocks offered by the time we get to the end of the reducing number is 70 – one for each of the nations – as based on the family tree in Gen 10.

30:2The matter of vows is introduced here because vows had been mentioned in the previous chapter – 29:32 – but not developed there.

30:2-3 The man cannot  change his vow but can change the vow of his daughter. There is an interesting reversal of this with Jephthah’s daughter. Jephthah wanted to change his vow but his daughter told him that he should not – Judg 11:31, :35-36

29:12-38 This detailed listing of all the animals that were to be offered in the week of the Feast of Tabernacles amplifies the details in Lev 23:34 This is relevant as this fest was designed to be kept when they were in the land to remind them of the wilderness experience.

30:16  The whole of the chapter deals with the way a woman made vows, and in particular the way the woman’s vow is contingent upon the wishes of the husband is because of the principle which Paul later lays out. The husband is the head – Eph 5:23

“The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will”,
(Dan 4:25).  God not only gives the throne to whomsoever He will, (and that is one reason why we don’t vote, lest we fight against God), but He also rules in the kingdoms, as Prov 21:1.  Politics and Christianity do not mix.

21:1 A fundamental truth is spoken here. The Most High rules in the kingdom of Men – Dan 4:17

V.25-26 The sluggard lives in a dream world. He wants what he dreams about, but he is so lazy that his hands refuse to work. So his wishful thinking ruins him, not only materially, but also spiritually. he is so imprisoned by his desires that he can neither command himself, or escape from his laziness. In V.24 we read an excellent example of the pride of life, while in this proverb we can clearly see both the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes. Desire in V.25 and Greedily in V.26 are the same Hebrew word TAAVAH (8378). It is also translate as Lust (Psa 78:30)  

21:10 The behaviour of the ‘wicked’ violates the commandment ‘thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ – Lev 19:18

21:12 The way in which the ‘wise man’ considers the wicked is not an inquisitive desire to see what he is missing. Rather it is a reflection on the ways of the wicked compared with the ways of God. It is all too easy to consider a life in Christ as a life of deprivation – we are not allowed to do … - but this is unwise. The only value in reflecting on the ways of the wicked is so that we can appreciate the value of the freedom that is available in Christ.

V.2  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes. The word right comes from the Hebrew yashar.

The Book of Jasher (yashar) is mentioned in two places in scripture (Josh 10:13; 2Sam 1:18).

I don’t think that there was a specific Book of Jasher. Rather, I think it a reference to the scriptures in general, which are the writings of uprightness.

21:9 Here and in Prov 21:19 and 25:24 the contentious and brawling woman is to be avoided. The ‘woman’ should represent the believers and so it is we who are being described and the husband (Jesus) will not abide with us if we are like the woman described in these three passages

21:2 This is the second time – Prov 16:2 – that Solomon has made this point. It is hard to remember that whilst we might think we are right that there may well be a better way of viewing things.

2 v. 12 Below is a list of the occasions when we are told that His family members came to see him. Matthew 12:46 Mark 3:32 Luke 8:19 here It is only in John that there is no indication of displeasure amongst them. The unbelief of his family must have been a great sorrow to Jesus - only removed at the time of his death when his mother was at the foot of the cross and after his resurrection when he appeared to James 1 Corinthians 15:7 This experience of Jesus should help us to put into perspective our own families reactions - or lack of response to the message of salvation.

Chapter 3

Jesus took the opportunity to preach to Nicodemus, seeing him in the audience in John 8. Clearly Nicodemus responded to the teaching of Jesus as he begged the body of Jesus [John 19:38-39]

2:13 This is the first Passover which John records.
So when Jesus cast out the money changers the temple would have been teeming with people who had come to Jerusalem for the feast from all over the Roman empire. They would be unfamiliar with the way that things were done in Jerusalem but doubtless were amazed at what Jesus did.

3:1 (2:25) In chapter 2:25 we learnt that Jesus knew what was in man. 3:1 introduces a man whose heart Jesus read.

2:23-24 In saying 'many believed' and 'did not commit ...' we find the same word used. So whilst many wanted to give themselves to Jesus he was not willing to compromise his position. He knew how fickle the human heart is.

3:8 'but canst not ... goeth' quotes Ecclesiastes 11:5. Look at that area of Ecclesiastes and see other similarities of ideas and language. Jesus is looking at the way that Eccl speaks of the purpose of life. That is what Nicodemus, at this time, did not understand.

2:13 Maybe the description of passover as 'the Jew's passover ...' indicates that the primary audience of the gospel of John were not Jews.

3:3,7 When Jesus says 'ye must be born again' he is using the word 509 which is elsewhere translated John 19:11 'above' or John 19:23 'top' or Acts 26:5 'beginning' so we can see how the translators gave us 'again' however it would be better to say that Nicodemus had to be born 'from above' as the RVmgn has it.  Nicodemus, even though he was 'master in Israel' (John 3:10) was 'of the earth' (John 3:31) - he was not spiritually minded - he did not think of things that are 'above' even though he was the 'master' in Israel.

Likewise we, just because we are in Christ, are not guaranteed to think of spiritual things. Being 'born again', in this sense, is a continual process and must be manifest in a certain state of mind.

Nevertheless, God gave Him His spirit without measure (v.34). By that means He could reveal His Father to us through His great knowledge and understanding of scripture and through miracles and wonders.

2:1      Cana of Galilee is only found in John’s gospel record John 2:11, 4:46, 21:2 – one of John’s ways of highlighting the work of Jesus in Galilee, even though many of the events he records took place in Jerusalem.

2:12 In saying that Jesus and his family went to Capernaum and ‘continued there’ we can infer that the family moved from Nazareth to Capernaum. The absence of Joseph’s name possibly indicates that he was now dead – maybe the reason for the move.

3:9     Nicodemus is ‘a teacher in Israel’ – John 3:10 – and yet he cannot understand Jesus’ words. His problem was not that he did not know what Scripture said. His problem was hat he came to the word with the wrong attitude. Isaiah  teaches us how we should approach Scripture – Isa 66:2

3:16 is probably the most often quoted Biblical passage. Most people take the verse on face value. They think that a simple confession in Jesus is all that is necessary for salvation. If that were the case, why did Yahweh go to all the trouble of having the Bible written? Belief in the Gospel (good news) and a commitment through baptism is necessary (Mark 16:16). But what is the Gospel? It is: the things concerning the kingdom God and the Name of Jesus Christ (Acts 8:12). In order to sufficiently understand the Gospel, one has to study the scriptures. A simple oral assent in Jesus is not enough.nam

2:5 The word translated ‘servants’ here <1249> Is elsewhere -1Tim 3:12 – for example, translated ‘deacons’ thus we see what a deacon was. He was a servant of the churches.

In 2:7-9 Jesus, by the Spirit, makes better wine than the previous wine. The master of the wedding feast says to the bridegroom "you have saved the best till last!" (2:10). What do those words imply about the previous wine? Even though it was good at the time, now it is called inferior. Later, John says of Jesus "the friend of the bridegroom rejoices greatly.. he must increase, and I must decrease" (3:29-30). This is confirmed when we hear that Jesus (or his disciples) baptised more men and women than John (4:1). So John's humility and meekness of character is shown here. Though people rejoiced in his light for a time, that light was now paltry in comparison to the light of the Christ (see 5:35-36) and that which was perceived to be good, was now inferior, but he didn't complain.

We all have tasks to carry out among the body of believers. We main gain praise for what we do. But when someone comes along more suited to that task, and they obtain more praise than we do, do we fade into the background as graciously as John did?

3:2 Nicodemus’ statement of the knowledge that the Pharisees had of Jesus – they knew he was from God – is the fist, and most indicting, comment that is made about their understanding. They were not ignorant of Jesus’ abilities and the origin of the power. They simply did not want to acknowledge it.