February 23, 2022: Day 41 – Deuteronomy 1-4 and Mark 1-2

We begin two new books of the Bible in Deuteronomy and Luke.  We see an interesting side of Moses in chapter 3:25 where he asks God: “Let me cross over to see the good land beyond the Jordan.”  But God had said no previously.  We aren’t used to seeing Moses asking God to change his mind so that he can enter the promised land even though God had said that Moses and all those who had disobeyed would not enter, only their children would enter.  Joshua is once again mentioned as the one who will be taking the people into the promised land.  

We do see that they begin to take over some lands that God had promised they would, and God starts to fight on their side.  There are some nation states that God tells them not to bother because God had already given them that land, but then there are others that God tells them to conquer and that it is the beginning of the people seeing the might of the Lord through the Israelites.  

Moses does give a warning to the people that a time will come when the generations will forget the commandments of the Lord and will turn to worshiping idols.  Even in the midst of their unfaithfulness, Moses states, that God will not forget them and will turn them back to his presence over time.  

In the Gospel of Mark we find him starting the life of Christ not with his birth, but with his baptism and eventual time in the wilderness.  After this he calls his disciples including Simon and Andrew when he states that he will make them fishers of men.  What a great verse.  Notice that Capernaum is considered the town of Jesus, if you look at 2:1 it is called his “home”.  From Bethlehem to Nazareth and now Capernaum.  Some great Bible stories are contained in these first two chapters of Mark.  But we do need to look at 2:27 where Jesus states that “the sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the sabbath.”  Great verse.