Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.
Our two readings today are from Exodus 37-38 and Matthew 23:23-39.
My goal with this podcast is not just to give you my thoughts and reflections on the bible, but I want to be able to point you in the right direction so that you can dig deeper in God’s word on your own. And so today I want to highlight my top two Bible reference books.
I was recommended these books as an 18 year old. They are big and thick and would take a longtime to read through! But just like a dictionary, they are not meant to be read through, but to be dipped in and out of depending on what you want to look up.
What are the books? Both of them are published by IVP and they are called:
They will cost you about $40 each. John Stott says: “I doubt if there is any better value for money today than the New Bible Dictionary and the New Bible Commentary. As basic books for every thinking Christian’s library they are indispensable.”
The New Bible Dictionary is a “comprehensive A – Z of Bible terms, place names, books, people and doctrines”. The New Bible Commentary is “a one-volume commentary on the whole Bible”.
I use them pretty much every week. The paper versions have more or less fallen apart, but I now also have a digital copy of both books. You could go to www.logos.com to download the digital, or order the paper ones online.
The New Bible Dictionary is very handy for this section of Exodus. You could look up “Tabernacle” or “Ark of the Covenant” and the dictionary helps to summarise what we are learning in Exodus as well how these topics come up in other parts of the bible.
The New Bible Commentary is excellent because it is brief and gets to the point with its overview of each section of the bible.
I personally found Exodus 37-38 tricky to read this morning. A few chapters ago God gave a whole bunch of instructions to Moses on how to build the tabernacle and so forth, and in today’s reading those details are acted upon.
What do we make of this?
I thought I’d read a short extract from the New Bible Commentary to help out.
“Most of this section parallels very closely earlier passages in Exodus. We find here an almost word-for-word record of the fulfilment of the instructions given by God to Moses during his first stay on the mountain (25:1–31:18; see table below). The similarity between the instructions and their fulfilment indicates that the people obeyed God ‘to the letter’. Everything was made just as Moses had been instructed. Occasionally the divine instruction (but rarely the fulfilment), contains additional material relating to the use of a particular object (e.g. 30:6–10, 30:18–21).”
“Apart from showing that everything was made according to God’s instructions, the repetition of these details highlights the importance of the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place. Repetition, which to some readers may seem boring, was the ancient author’s way of drawing attention to important matters.” (Alexander, T. D. (1994). Exodus. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 119). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.)
Super helpful insights, right?
I’d love to hear the things you have been learning, so feel free to reach out via social media .
Until tomorrow, keep trusting Jesus.
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