8 v.2 - 6 That the past had to be remembered by those who were to enter into the land shows that we can learn from the failings of others. This generation watched their parents die in the wilderness. They had to blend their own experiences - manna clothes etc.: - with what they had seen happen to their elders. This is how chastening worked for them. That they had to keep the commandments shows that the experiences of life have to be measured against the word. That it was to 'prove' them is an idea which Jesus uses when speaking to Phillip. [John 6:6] at the time of the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus knew what he would do [John 6:6] so the questions about bread was for Phillip's benefit. He needed to realise that he had to learn. Israel were in that position in the wilderness. It is also our position during our 'wilderness journey' now. We should see the book of Deuteronomy in this light - a reminder of our life's experience and God's involvement.

9 v.14 The seeming all embracing phrase 'under heaven' has a quite specific use in Scripture. The following references demonstrate the universality of Yahweh's judgement. Genesis 6:17 Exodus 17:14 Deuteronomy 7:24 here 25:19 29:20 2 Kings 14:27 Not that it always speaks of the whole world as a place but rather that the judgement that is to come is complete. Thus the use in Ecclesiastes 1:13 extends this principle to speak of those things which are happening in His domain. The two New Testament references Acts 4:12 Colossians 1:23 expand the theme to show that the Father is indeed concerned with salvation for those who will see that life without Christ is vanity.

8:8 The land is described in terms of the produce of the ground is described. This is what God was going to give them. This contrasts markedly with what Israel hankered after in Egypt (Numbers 11:5)
Whereas the 6 items of Numbers 11:5 are not sufficient for life the 7 listen in Deuteronomy 8:8 clearly are.

9:5 Yet another reminder of Joseph's words (Genesis 50:24)
9:25 We learn something new here. The historical account of the turning back into the wilderness (Numbers 13-14) does not indicate that Moses prayed for the people for 40 days. This gives a further insight into Moses' care for the people.

8:16 And so we see again the experiences that Israel benefited from were for there good. Of course it would require them to think about what was happening if they were to benefit (Hebrews 12:11)

ch 9 - By the time that Moses spoke the words recorded in Deuteronomy Moses knew that he was not able to enter the land. So his warnings (:21, 25) take on greater significance. Moses, who had prayed for them in their sin, was not going to be able to pray for them when they were in the land.

8:3 We doubtless are familiar with the fact that Jesus quoted the latter part of this verse (Matt 4:1 Luke 4:4)  during his temptations. However the context of this passage matches Jesus'.

8:2 Forty   Matt 4:1
8:3 hunger Matt 4:2

9:1 In saying that the cities were 'fenced up to heaven' Moses is summarising how their fathers spoke of the land (Num 13:33) when they first spied it out.

In today's chapter Moses told the people that it was not through their own righteousness, but because of the wickedness of the Canaanites, God was giving Israel their land (Deut 9:1-6).  When they were IN their land, Moses said, you must never think these wicked thoughts.  Wasn't this wise advice?  He didn't wait until they had started to think like this, he warned them beforehand.  So we should equip
ourselves with God's words BEFORE we start thinking evil.

The Israelites were to change from meagre circumstances in the wilderness (8:3,16) to prosperity in the land (8:9).  It is easier in many ways to be closer to God in humble circumstances compared to being surrounded with plenty.  Hence, this is a warning to the Israelites (and ourselves) not to let prosperity distance us from God (8:11-14).

Moses shows himself a type of Christ as he intercedes for his people (9:18-20, 24-26).

8:5         In telling Israel to ‘consider in thine heart’ the people were being instructed that things to do with God and His purpose require more than a fleeting consideration. This is because the only ones who benefit from chastening are those who are ‘exercised thereby’ Heb 11:11.

9:9-11 - Moses fasted for 40 days and received the two stone tablets. This reminds us of how Christ fulfilled or made complete the law (Matt 5:17), was tempted and fasted for 40 days (Matt 4:1-2), how the law is to be written on our hearts 2Cor 3:3. When Christ returns as a rock he will enter in a new era of  peace and a new millenial sabbath day of rest Dan 2:44-45.

9:26-27 - Moses by interceding demonstrates love for his enemies just as Christ did on the cross (Luke 23:34), as Stephen did when he was stoned (Acts 7:59-60) and as we are to do Matt 5:43-47. It is not sufficient to academically worship (1Cor 8:1) the Lord in truth, we are also to worship Him in the correct spirit John 4:24; 1Cor 13:2,3,4,5,6,7,8,12,13.

8:3 In telling Israel that God ‘suffered thee to hunger’ we realise that the absence of food was not an oversight on God’s part that had to be quickly resolved. Rather He planned it that way that Israel might learn to trust Him.

9:3     Israel were told to ‘understand’ that God would go before them. Understanding is more powerful than ‘knowing’. The one who understands has applied his knowledge of God to the information about what God has said He will do.

8:15 The reminder of the deliverance from Egypt through the wilderness of drought is used alter – Hos 13:5 – as an exhortation to faithfulness against the background of God’s continuing care for His people.

8:5 Chasteneth comes from the Hebrew word yasar which can mean instruct, reform, or punish.  Yahweh is prepared to do all those things to His people.

8:17 Pride can creep in and easily divert one from serving Yahweh. Today, riches and power make it difficult for one to accept Christ and follow His ways.  We should pray for just enough (Prov 30:8).

9:3,4 Remember that Yahweh does not accept us because of any righteousness we possess.  Even if we have been baptized into Christ, we are still sinners in need of forgiveness.  It is the righteousness of Jesus that covers our sins.  And, it is because of Him that Yahweh accepts us.

9:10 The tablets were engraved by the finger of God.  When a Category 5 hurricane (the most powerful kind) inscribes a pathway across the landscape, it is called the finger of God by the weather scientists.

8:10 The command to ‘bless the Lord’ is a command which is echoed by the Psalmist – for example in Psa 103:2, 104:1 and in the time of the return – Neh 9:5

3:17,18  'I said in my heart' is a recurring phrase up to this point Ecc 2:1,15, 3:17,19. Solomon's conclusions were not just academic. They were born out of experience. How often we discard advice thinking it is just words. I suppose we are more willing to listen to the one who has made the same mistake because such an one is speaking from the heart.

Jesus, 'for the joy that was set before him Heb 12:2 was willing to suffer. His attitude is not theory - but how willing are we to accept his experience and make it real in our minds?

Man's pompous scientific postulates try to explain how things came into being.  They are ridiculed by the Creator (v.11; Rom 11:33).

All creatures are animated by God's spirit (breath).  All suffer the same fate at death as God removes His spirit (breath) which is returned to Him (vs.19-21; 12:7).

3:14 God does things ‘forever’ because what he is doing in our transient lives is for the benefit of eternity - ‘forever’.

V.12  A time to rejoice; Man cannot fully relate to the works of God or fully understand them, but he must joyfully receive gifts from God, he must do good with them, not only to himself, but to others. We are reminded of the second greatest commandment. (Matt 22:39) This is never out of season. (Gal 6:9-10) 

3:11  In telling us that because the ‘world’ is set in mans heart he cannot ‘find out’ the work of God we are being taught a fundamental lesson. Our humanity precludes us being able to work out how God does things. His ways are not our ways – Isa 55:8.

3:12    In saying that ‘there is no good thing’ Solomon is speaking about a life without God. He has in the previous two chapters highlighted that the cyclical nature of life is ‘vanity’ except that it provides the environment for developing a Godly character.

3:10,19 The fact that creation is in ‘travail’ and dies – ‘that which befalleth ...’ highlights, says Paul, - Rom 8:19-22 – that all of the events of this life are to point to the need for Christ who actually did overcome – made subject – the things of this world.

V.11 Yahweh has allowed man to understand nature to the point that it witnesses about Him (Rom 1:19,20).  However, man is limited in understanding the totality of Yahweh (Isa 55:9).

V.15 Everything in life is revolutionary: birth, maturity, death; spring, summer, fall, winter etc.  What goes around comes around as the saying goes. What is important to remember is that Eden will come around again in the Kingdom.

TIME FOR IMPORTANT THINGS

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." (Ecc 3:1) The teacher then goes on to describe the sorts of activities we all end up involved in at some time or another. Our lives and our days all show that what the teacher said is still true. We all have a time to be born and a time to die, to weep and laugh, to keep and throw away, to love and to hate. But in all our doing and in all the events life dishes out to us, there are some things that are much more important to make time for than others.

Time for our families is one of those important things that needs to be found in our busy lives. Without the appropriate time invested in our families, we may well wake up one morning to discover our children have grown up without us, or that our relationship with our partner has deteriorated to such an extent that everything has fallen apart.

Time for God is the other important aspect. We need to make time to build our relationship with God so that we will be the sort of person he wants to spend eternity with, and that we are sure we want to spend eternity with him.

Time for both family and God is easy to overlook, but we only have a certain amount of time to spend. So let's make sure we don't short change either God or our families so that their time is taken up with something else.

20 v.28 My Lord and my God. Thomas, on this appearance of Jesus to the disciples when Thomas was present, appreciates that the others were correct when they had claimed that they had seen the risen Lord. Therefore he exclaims 'my Lord and my God.' How are we to understand that phrase? The context is that of the risen Lord. The other disciples had not just said that they had seen Jesus alive but doubtless they would also have explained the significance of the resurrection to Thomas also. Against this background the following passage is helpful. Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:54 shows us that this passage speaks of the resurrection of Jesus and the victory that he achieved through it. The passage in Isaiah continues:- Isaiah 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Notice 'this is our GOD' 'he will SAVE US' 'this is the LORD' Thomas, in his exclamation, 'My Lord and my God' is expressing the sentiments and teaching of the passage in Isaiah and attaching the fulfilment to the risen Jesus. The phrase 'He will save us' catches the meaning of the work of Jesus as it is explained in:- Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. The passage in Isaiah 25:9 continues 'we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation'. We notice that on the first occasion when Jesus appeared to the disciples and they knew who he was:- John 20:20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Whereas we might think that 'glad' is a rather inadequate word to describe the feelings of the disciples on that occasion John is, by the spirit, drawing our attention to Isaiah 25:9 'glad'. Thus we see that on these two occasions when Jesus appeared to the disciples, the second time with Thomas present, Isaiah 25 is seen to be fulfilled. Thomas' exclamation is a demonstration that he understood this.

21 v.3 We should not assume apathy on the part of Peter when he says he is going fishing. The disciples had been told to go to Galilee and Jesus would appear to them there [Matthew 21:7] so whilst they were waiting for him to appear they did not sit about idle. Remember by this time they had spent a lot of time with Jesus in Jerusalem for they remained there for almost two weeks.

20:19 There s a powerful contrast between the 'evening' here and 'the cool of the day' (Genesis 3:8) which was doubtless the evening On that occasion Adam and Eve hid because they were afraid of God. Here the disciples are hiding for fear of the Jews but God is manifest n their midst in the person of Jesus. Whereas Adam and Eve were afraid of the voice of God the disciples were 'glad'.

21:7 What do we think actually happened when Peter realised the stranger was Jesus. His fisher's coat would have been heavy to keep out the cold night winds. Would you put on a heavy overcoat before swimming? There was another occasion when Peter was in a boat and he saw Jesus. On that occasion he climbed out of the boat and walked on the water.

20:30-31 Shows us that the details of at least John's gospel were written for a very specific reason. Me must read the gospel with this reason in mind.

21:8, 11 Whilst it required two boats to bring the fish to shore Peter was able, on his own, to drag the net out of the water. Now the nets full of fishes would have been lighter when in the water than when on dry land. What is happening here?

Further to the links between this chapter and Isaiah  25 notice the 'doors being shut'(20:26) answers toIsa 26:20 where the people of God are called to 'shut thy doors'.

21:8 On learning that whilst some of the disciples were fishing and others were on the shore we have to conclude that this fishing trip was not some trivial time passing event. Rather it was serious fishing with all the disciples present.

20:17 seems to suggest an injunction to Mary not to touch Jesus.  He rose and was immortalized - what harm could that do?  Rather, I think He is anxious to go to His Father and wished not to be delayed.  Thus, touch = hold on to = delay.  Notice, also, that Jesus wanted to go to His God. This negates any idea of the Trinity that He was God, which some claim v.28 to indicate.

21:15-17 answers to Peter's three-time denial of Jesus (Matt 26:34).

20:3   In saying ‘Peter therefore went …’ we conclude that even though Peter had denied his lord three times he had not lost his love and concerned for Jesus, even though he was now, in Peter’s mind, dead and buried.  Peter had not allowed his great failing to shut him off from the rest of the disciples. We do well to take notice of that when we maybe think we have done something so bad that we cannot face our brethren and sisters.

20:5-6 The way in which John arrived at the tomb and did not go in but Peter ran up and went straight in is a little detail which fits with the way that Peter is seen as the impetuous disciple. A little ‘undersigned coincidence’ which lends credibility to the Bible narrative.

v 11: 153 fish. The number 153 has reference to the people who are called out by God because the Gematria (value of the Hebrew or Greek letters) of "Sons of God" in Gen 6:2 is exactly 153. Notice that these people who were called out by God were mixing with the rest of the population and this was one of the contributory factors for the flood taking place. (These words "Sons of God" appear in exactly the same form in Gen 6:4; Job 1:6; Job 2:1). Again, "Joint-heirs" in Rom 8:17 has a gematria of 1071 = 153 x 7. These are Joint heirs with Christ, in other words called out by God to be His. No wonder Peter was called to be a fisher of men (Mark 1:17) so he should not be catching fish but upon Christ's foundation he should be building the ecclesia (Matt 16:18).

20:9 In saying that they ‘knew not the scripture’ we have to conclude that what we are being told is that they were ignorant of the significance of the Scripture which spoke of Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus had already told them, more than once, that he would rise from the dead the third day. So we need to be careful that we not only ‘know’ what Scripture says but that we also understand the Scriptures that we know. This only comes from regular reading and thinking about Scripture.

20:7 Would anyone who stole a body from a tomb neatly wrap the linen head cloth and put it in a separate place? (See Matt 28:12,13).  The Lord had anticipated the elders and had made nonsense of their claim by placing the cloth so.

20:27 Jesus could show the marks of His crucifixion to prove to doubters like Thomas that he was the risen Christ. Perhaps Jesus will also display the marks to the Jews when he returns (Zech 12:10).

Making a great song and dance

James and John, the sons of zebedee, had been at odds with Peter. They vied with him for the  position to be nearest to Jesus. This can be seen in Mark 10:35-45 and other scriptures. But how uncouth that the subject of their own greatness was uppermost in their minds at the last supper (Luke 22:14-24)  so that Jesus had to take the opportunity to teach them humility by washing their feet, on the same night in which he would suffer so much! Here again, at his resurrection, how out of keeping it is with his example of meekness that Peter and John made a competition of the race to be first at the tomb (20:3-8). And can you imagine being in a small boat, struggling to keep it afloat and to pull in to shore a catch far too great, with all hands straining under the effort, suddenly to have your fishing partner leap overboard and abandon you in favour of being first to greet Jesus? (21:6-8) And how would you feel when, inches from the shore, with all the hard work done, he claims the credit by strolling over and pulling in the catch himself (21:11)?

Jesus patiently looked on as these incongruous events unfolded. And so he once again tackled Peter's misplaced zeal. "Peter, do you love me more than these?" in other words "Peter, why did you leave your brethren in the lurch when they needed you most, just to be the first to get to shore and be with me?" and "Why, when I personally asked them to bring some fish to shore, did you suddenly remember your duty, and make a great song and dance about serving me?"

Jesus was teaching Peter, and the others, the lesson that to serve one another was the same as serving him. He would rather see them look after one another than abandon each other in a race to serve him. And so for all of us. We can't impress Jesus by long prayers or being the first to run to him when he appears, but we can gain a place in his heart by serving his followers. Many who make themselves first shall be last, and those who appear to be last, first.

20:18-19 There is a significant time gap between these two verses into which we must fit the rest of the events of the day, including the meeting of Jesus with Peter – Luke 24:34 - and the between Jesus and Cleophas and another on the road to Emmaus – Luke 24:13-33