Hi all,
This is a fun series about verses and passages you thought you understood, but maybe didn’t understand in context. When put in culture of first century Judaism, a whole new meaning appears.
This is the day the Lord has made; Psalm 118:24
I got to know the Father and the Lord in the 1970’s, and ‘This is the day the Lord has made’, was a popular song back then.
Besides singing it, I’ve also heard it said when something goes wrong: “Oh well, this is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it (anyway).”
The context of the verse is Psalm 118, a prophetic Psalm about the Messiah. In v17 He says; “I will not die, but will live and declare the works of the Lord.”
Then in v22-24: “The stone which the builders refused has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech you O Lord. O Lord I beseech you, send now prosperity (let it and us be a success). Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord…”
This Psalm 118: 22-26 passage is quoted in Mark 11: 8-10 on what we call Palm Sunday. It’s when the people laid their garments and branches along the road way welcoming their King into the city. The phrase in Psalm 118: 25, ‘Save now I beseech you’ is one word in the Aramaic: Hosanna. (Literally, ‘save me please!’)
All these years singing and saying ‘hosanna’, did you know it meant ‘Save me now I beg you’ or ‘Save me now (urgently) please’?
As Jesus entered the city that Palm Sunday, the people were quoting Psalm 118: “Save us now we beg you, Save us now we beg you, Send salvation, let it and us be a success (in this)! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
The context is about the Lord headed to His death for us. THAT is the day the Lord made, for us, that we might be blessed in every area. In context, it isn’t talking about any day in our time, it is about THE day the Lord went to His death for us, and became the cornerstone of salvation. THIS is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Don’t feel bad if you have one of those days where you shrug your shoulders and say, “Oh well, this is the day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it” – that works too.
But the context is what adds depth, that the people in Mark 11: 9-10 were crying out, begging, for their salvation. The trouble was, it didn’t come like they expected. They expected Jesus to use His miracle power to kick the Romans out and make Israel great again. When that didn’t happen, they turned against Him and crucified Him.
What He wrote in the dust
John 7:2 tells us the Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. It is the last of the festivals God gave to Israel, and celebrates God living with man. It is going to be celebrated annually in the Millennium for Jesus will be living with mankind as King of the earth. Zechariah 14: 16-20
The Feast of Tabernacles has another name, ‘The Feast of Living Waters’ and involved a ‘water drawing’ ceremony called ‘Living Waters’.
It is during this feast, on the last day of the feast, that Jesus stood up and cried out v37 says: “If anyone thirsts let him come to me and drink. He that believes in me will as scripture says, have living water flowing out of his belly. This He spoke of the Spirit, which those who believe on Him would later receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given to man for He was not yet glorified.)”
Chapter 8:1-2 tells us the next morning…
…the day after the 7 day feast, the 8th day, is when Jesus met the woman caught in the act of adultery.
The significance of it being the day after the Feast is that this was called ‘the 8th day’ and is celebrated to our time. It is called ‘shemini atzeret’. Shemini means ‘eighth’ and ‘atzeret’ means ‘to close or pause’. The 8th day was known as ‘the celebration of the Word’. The final reading of passages that had been read all week long were read for one last time.
The oral law of adultery required both the man and woman be brought to the temple to the Nicanor Gate (east side of the city which led to the ‘court of the women’) to determine if adultery had actually taken place. They did it so they could test Jesus.
Technically,
They would have brought the man and woman to the temple to a priest to be accused. There had to be 2 eye witnesses as well. Then the priest would write in the dust on the floor the sins committed with the names of the accused, as their accusers listed their sins one by one.
Most likely, following the custom of the day but with a twist, Jesus wasn’t writing the woman’s name and sins, but the sins and names of the men standing there accusing her.
The custom is based on Jeremiah 17:13: “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be ashamed, and those who have departed from you will have their names written in the dust of the earth, for they have rejected the Fountain of Living Waters.”
I personally believe
Jesus was writing their names (and sins) in the earth, for they were convicted and left John 8: 9 tells us, the oldest first, then the youngest. Considering the oldest men would have had the most experience and would have heard Jeremiah 17:13 read at the festival for decades, it seems reasonable.
Why written in dust? Because the dust represented the temporary nature of sin before a loving and gracious God, who would with one request for forgiveness, wipe away sin as a man would clear the dust with a wipe of his hand.
The men could have asked forgiveness, but they walked away. The woman was forgiven, but commanded to break it off with the man: “Go, and sin no more.” The dust was wiped clean. What a lesson for that woman to see! What a lesson for the men!
There is so much to contemplate in these 2 examples I’ll leave it there. More next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
