Tag: bsf lesson 28 day 2

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BSF Study Questions Exile & Return: A Time to Build Lesson 28, Day 2: Malachi 1:1-5

by atozmom, posted in BSF Exile & Return: A Time to Build 2025/2026

Summary of Malachi 1:1-5

God declares His love for Israel, but Israel doubts God’s love for them, but God says He loves them and will defend them from their enemies.

BSF Study Questions Exile & Return: A Time to Build Lesson 28, Day 2: Malachi 1:1-5

3) A series of disputations unfolds: God declares His love, but cynical Israel argues back, questioning His faithfulness and offering only half-hearted worship.

4a) “A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.” He probably started this way to indicate to all that the following are the words of the Lord Himself and not his words.

b) Israel asks God how He has loved them. God points out that He has loved Jacob (their ancestors) and not Esaua nd has ensured that the descendants of Esau shall not harm Israel.

c) Israel is God’s chosen people, the descendants of Jacob, so He will defend them and love them forever.

5) In every way possible. His grace and hands are on all aspects of my life, and I would be nothing without Him!

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Exile & Return: A Time to Build Lesson 28, Day 2: Malachi 1:1-5

I love how fickle humans are. Great reminder that God does not just bless the present, but He has blessed the past and will bless the future.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Exile & Return: A Time to Build Lesson 28, Day 2: Malachi 1:1-5

Malachi was a prophet who either lived during the time of Nehemiah or right afterwards. The temple was already built.

Israel was discouraged because life after exile was still hard.

Everyone can relate to the question the people asked, as we often ask God this ourselves, especially when tragedy strikes. “God, if you loved me, then why this happen? etc?”

We will see in the book of Malachi 7 questions that the people ask God, all doubting Him.

7 Questions of Malachi

  1. In what way have You loved us? (Malachi 1:2)
  2. In what way have we despised Your name? (Malachi 1:6)
  3. In what way have we defiled You? (Malachi 1:7)
  4. In what way have we wearied Him? (Malachi 2:17)
  5. In what way shall we return? (Malachi 3:7)
  6. In what way have we robbed You? (Malachi 3:8)
  7. In what way have we spoken against You? (Malachi 3:13)
  8. “Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17) (this question is often not included in this list, but BSF includes it, so here it is)

God answers by assuring the people that they were chosen and would forever be His people.

We should not read “hate” as the meaning we have of it today. It more means “loved less” or “rejected” rather than hate.

The fact that we are chosen by God should comfort us. He does not choose on a whim. Everything is in God’s plans.

Words matter; final words matter.

Fun Fact: Malachi’s name means “my messenger.”

God chose to love us.

END NOTES SUMMARIZED

The Interpretation: The Argument for Love

Malachi opens with a direct confrontation between God and His weary people.

  • The Doubt (v. 2): God starts with a foundational declaration: “I have loved you.” The people, cynical after years of economic hardship and disappointment, fire back: “How have you loved us?” They don’t see current prosperity, so they question God’s affection.

  • The Evidence (vv. 2–3): God doesn’t point to their current bank accounts or feelings. He points to history and election: “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Though Esau was the older brother (and entitled to the birthright), God chose Jacob. This wasn’t based on merit, but on God’s sovereign choice to bless the line of Israel.

  • The Proof of Judgment (vv. 3–5): God contrasts Israel’s restoration with Edom’s (Esau’s descendants) destruction. While Israel has returned to rebuild, God declares that if Edom tries to rebuild, He will tear it down again. The fact that Israel still exists is the ultimate proof of His covenant love.

Conclusion

This passage challenges the human tendency to measure God’s love by our immediate circumstances. Malachi establishes that God’s love is sovereign and enduring, demonstrated not by a lack of suffering, but by His faithful preservation of His people when others (like Edom) have vanished.

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BSF Study Questions John’s Gospel: The Truth Lesson 28, Day 2: John 21:1-14

by atozmom, posted in BSF John's Gospel: The Truth 2023/2024

Summary of John 21:1-14

Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples went fishing. They caught nothing. Then, Jesus appeared, told them to throw out their net, and they hauled in a ton of fish. John recognized Jesus, and Peter jumped out to swim to him. When they landed, Jesus was cooking fish for them. This was the third time Jesus appeared to them after his death.

BSF Study Questions John’s Gospel: The Truth Lesson 28, Day 2: John 21:1-14

3) They caught no fish when fishing on their own. When Jesus appeared to them while they were fishing, he told them to throw out their net, whereby they caught fish.

4a) A miracle took place. Jesus had provided them with fish before while they were fishing.

b) With excitement, enthusiasm, and faith. John testified it was Jesus, and Peter jumped in to get to Jesus. I love Peter’s love and devotion for the Lord and willingness to do anything to be near him. He does not have a care in the world. John is always the first to speak out.

c) With enthusiasm,, devotion, and carefreeness. With faith. With gratitude.

5a) He provided for their physical, spiritual, and mental needs. He fed them. He reappeared to them, strengthening their faith in him. He helped them fish after a long day of frustration.

b) With a flexible job to go and be able to do doctor’s appointments for my kids. He met my physical, spiritual, and mental needs, too.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions John’s Gospel: The Truth Lesson 28, Day 2: John 21:1-14

Love this lesson on how Jesus always knows exactly what we need, when we need it.

End Notes BSF Study Questions John’s Gospel: The Truth Lesson 28, Day 2: John 21:1-14

Here, Jesus appears to his disciples after his death at the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee. Jesus had told them to return to Galilee (Matthew 28:7, 28:10).

Bible scholars speculate as to why the disciples went back to their former occupations. To me, they were still waiting for Jesus’ timing.

Note the disciples obeyed who they thought was a stranger. God uses others for His purposes. He blesses doers.

Note Jesus had food for the disciples before they landed with their catch. Jesus was prepared.

Scholars believe 153 fish would weigh 300 lbs. Peter pulled this himself. Scholars debate the number 153, but we will never know its significance or if it even had one.

Jesus again serves others, his disciples. Jesus always invites us to him: to see, to learn, to rest, to eat.

Everyone knew it was the Lord; none questioned it.

Jesus ate with his disciples.

This is the third time that John recorded Jesus appearing after his resurrection. There were doubtless many others.

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BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 28, Day 2: Habakkuk 1:1-11

by atozmom, posted in BSF People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided 2022/2023

SUMMARY OF HABAKKUK 1:1-11

Habakkuk cries out to the Lord, but says He is not listening as the wicked people pervert justice and there’s wrongdoing all around him.

The Lord answers by saying He will raise up the Babylonians who are ruthless people to seize dwellings across the world.

BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 28, Day 2: Habakkuk 1:1-11

3a) Habakkuk cries out to the Lord, but says He is not listening as the wicked people pervert justice all around him.

b) The questions we have today are exactly the same as the ones we had back then. Why does God allow bad to happen to people?

4a) Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.

b) He is going to raise up the Babylonians who are ruthless people to seize dwellings across the world.

5) God is working silently in the background. He is always with us, even when we can’t see, feel, or understand Him.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 28, Day 2: Habakkuk 1:1-11

Many of the prophets we’ve studied this year have wondered how God could allow such atrocities against mankind and they have asked him about it. So must we.

End Notes BSF Study Questions People of the Promise: Kingdom Divided Lesson 28, Day 2: Habakkuk 1:1-11

We know very little about the prophet Habakkuk, as he is not mentioned in other books of the Bible. Bible scholars believe he preached during the reign of King Jehoiakim around 600 B.C. and the book was written before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. His name means “embrace” in Hebrew and him being called a prophet is rare in the Bible. He lived in the last days before Judah’s exile and is the last of the preexilic prophets. His book encourages the righteous to remain faithful despite the horrors and evil around them.

This is the 8th book of the Minor Prophets.

Paul quotes Habakkuk 1:5 in Acts 13:41 urging the people not to let complacency keep them from accepting Jesus.

Habakkuk wanted judgment on those who were doing evil in the world.

Seeing evil makes us realize that we ourselves are evil, too.

God answers by saying He will use the Babylonians for judgment.

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BSF Study Questions Matthew Lesson 28, Day 2: Matthew 27:32-37

by atozmom, posted in BSF Matthew 2021/2022

SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 27:32-37

A man named Simon from Cyrene carried Jesus’s cross because he could not. At Golgotha (meaning The Place of the Skull), the Roman soldiers offered Jesus wine to drink that was mixed with gall. Jesus taste it, but refused to drink more. They crucified him and divided up his clothes by casting lots. They waited for Jesus to die. They placed the sign “This is Jesus, King of the Jews” above his head.

BSF Study Questions Matthew Lesson 28, Day 2: Matthew 27:32-37

3a) He saw Christ as the walking dead, too weak to carry Jesus’s cross. He probably heard the crowds and the soldiers, perhaps still mocking Jesus. He may have heard Jesus praying.

b) To fulfill prophecy. Leviticus 4:12, 21 describes how the sin offering is offered outside the city in a place that is ceremonially clean. The sin offering is burned. Hebrews 13:11-13 describes how traditionally the high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy thorugh his own blood.

4) It tasted bad, and it would have done more harm than good. Jesus did not want his senses dulled for the most important moment in all of history.

5a)

Romans 5:6-8: God sent Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners.

2 Corinthians 5:21: Jesus took on our sin so that we may become righteous before God.

1 Peter 1:18-19: You were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect instead of being redeemed with perishable things

1 Peter 2:24: We have been healed by Jesus’s wounds as he bore our sins in his body on a tree so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.

1 John 4:10-11: God loved us so much that He sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Thus, we should love one another.

b) I love how we should love others because God loved us so much.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Matthew Lesson 28, Day 2: Matthew 27:32-37

Hard passage to read, but an important one so we can begin to understand the depth of love God has for us.

Great read!

End Notes BSF Study Questions Matthew Lesson 28, Day 2: Matthew 27:32-37

map of cyrene in north africa www.atozmomm.comCyrene was a place in North Africa about 800 miles away. The man, Simon, was probably visiting Jerusalem for Passover and was recruited to carry Christ’s cross. Probably the man did not want to carry the cross, but since the man was an obvious foreigner, he had no choice in the matter. Many Bible scholars suggest that his sons became leaders among the early Christians based on Biblical passages (Mark 15:21 and Romans 16:13).

Golgotha

Golgotha (or Calvary in Latin) was the place outside of the city walls where crucifixions were held. It was called the Place of a Skull.

The wine was to dull the pain and the mind — a drug if you will. Jesus declines, wishing to be in full mind and spirit for this sacrifice.

Death by Crucifixion

Suffice it to say, crucifixion was a terrifying tortuous death that Jesus endured. He was scouraged, and then nails where physically hammered into his hands. He then hung on a cross from these wounds. It was extremely hard to breathe on the cross as gravity worked to pull the body down. The victim would have to physically lift their body in order to breathe, which would have been difficult after the torture.

The cause of death on the cross could have been many things:

  • Suffocation
  • Shock
  • Dehydration
  • Heart attack

Sometimes, the Roman soldiers would break the victim’s legs so that the victim could not push themselves up to breathe, so they would suffocate and die faster.

Roman citizens could not be crucified so horrible of a death this was. We get our work excruciating from crucifixion, meaning “out of the cross.”

Jesus was crucified naked.

He was in total control of the events. Jesus was both our sacrificial lamb and our scapegoat — the goat that symbolically carried Israel’s sins on its back as it was sent into the wilderness to die.

Jesus refused the sedative so he chould instead take the cup of full suffering and God’s wrath on himself.

Roman soldiers watched over Jesus so no one could rescue him.

Someone would carry the written crime as the victim was led to be crucified as a warning to others. Then, someone would hang the charge over their head on the cross.

John  John 19:21  tells us how the religious leaders did not like this title since they did not believe it. Yet, Pilate let it stand.  (John 19:22).

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BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 28, Day 2: Genesis 47:13-27

by atozmom, posted in BSF Genesis 2020/2021

Summary of Genesis 47:13-27:

Egypt and Canaan spent all of their money to buy food. When they ran out of money, they asked Joseph what they should do. He said to bring their livestock in exchange for food. The people brought their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. This lasted for one year.

When the people ran out of livestock, all they had left was their land and themselves, so they sold their land and themselves as slaves to Pharaoh in exchange for food. The priests kept their land because they received a regular allotment of food from Pharaoh.

Jospeh gave the people seed so they could grow food, but since the land was Pharaoh’s now, they had to give one-fifth to Pharaoh as payment for use of the land. The Israelites settled in Egypt in Goshen. They acquired property and grew in prosperity and number.

BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 28, Day 2: Genesis 47:13-27

3) Sell food for money, sell food for livestock, sell food for servitude

4a) They obeyed and were grateful for Joseph saving their lives.

b) He saved people’s lives and the lives of his family. The Israelites settled in Egypt in Goshen. They acquired property and grew in prosperity and number.

5) They actually grew, prospered, and acquired land, while everyone else was selling everything they had to survive.

6a) Joseph had to make the tough decisions to save people’s lives and do what was right for Pharaoh.

b) To make the tough decisions to do what is right for the people.

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 28, Day 2: Genesis 47:13-27

I had forgotten that this was how the Israelites became slaves; by selling themselves for food.

End Notes BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 28, Day 2: Genesis 47:13-27

Joseph did his job faithfully.

Pharaoh grew very, very rich because of the famine. Effectively, he controlled most of the known supply of money. He now owned all of the land, which must now have been overflowing with all the livestock he just purchased. This often happens in times of crisis; the government becomes richer while the common man becomes poorer and struggles to survive.

One-fifth of the land is a 20% tax land. Not bad considering the amount of taxes people pay around the world.

BSF Study Questions Genesis Lesson 28, Day 2: Genesis 41

by atozmom, posted in BSF Genesis 2012/2013

Summary of passage:  Two years after Joseph interpreted the cupbearer and the baker’s dreams, Pharaoh had a dream where 7 cows emerged from the Nile River that were fat and then 7 gaunt cows emerged from the Nile and ate up the fat cows.  He had a second dream where 7 heads of healthy grain grew on a stalk.  After them 7 thin grains sprouted and ate up the healthy grains.

No one could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.  At this point the cupbearer finally remembered Joseph and told Pharaoh how he had successfully interpreted their dreams. Pharaoh sent for Joseph and after cleaning up, he was presented to him.

Pharaoh told Joseph he had heard he could interpret dreams.  Joseph immediately said he couldn’t but God could.

Pharaoh repeated his dreams to Joseph who told Pharaoh that God had revealed to him what He was about to do.  The 7 good cows and the 7 good grains represent 7 years and the 7 lean cows and 7 worthless grain are 7 years as well.  They represent 7 years of good crops and then 7 years of famine.  God gave Pharaoh the dreams for the matter has been firmly decided by God and it will happen soon.

Joseph told Pharaoh to look for a discerning and wise man to be in charge of the land of Egypt.  Take a fifth of Egypt’s harvest during the good years and store up the grain for the bad years so that the country will not be ruined by the famine.

Pharaoh appoints Joseph as this man who is discerning and wise and Godly to be second in command of Egypt and in charge of all the land.  He gives Joseph his ring, dresses him in fine linen and gives him a gold chain.  He rode in Pharaoh’s chariot as his second-in-command to announce it to the people.

No one will lift hand or foot without Joseph’s word.  He gives him the Egyptian name of Zaphenath-Paneah and an Egyptian wife named Asenath.

Joseph was 30 years old when this happened.  Joseph traveled all over Egypt, collecting the grain that was so much Joseph stopped keeping records.

Joseph had 2 sons named Manasseh (forget) and Ephraim (fruitful).

The 7 years of famine began but Egypt had food and Joseph opened the warehouses and distributed the food.  The famine was severe in all the world so many foreigners came to Egypt to buy grain as well.

Questions:

3)  Christ made himself nothing, served others selfishly, became obedient to God’s will and death.  Joseph served Potiphar and the jail.  He was nothing in their eyes, a Hebrew slave.  He acted selflessly by refusing to sleep with Potiphar’s wife and take any advantage of his master.  He gave God the credit for it all.  He interpreted the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker according to God’s will and noticed they were down.  He asked to interpret.  He showed compassion.

4)  He noticed the cupbearer and the baker were sad and asked them why.  Then he interpreted their dreams, asking only that they remember him.  Eventually, the cupbearer did remember Joseph and recommended him to Pharaoh to interpret his dreams.

5)  That the thin cows ate up the fat cows but did not change their appearance (verse 21).  They were still thin.

6)  Even before he interpreted the dreams, Joseph told Pharaoh that he could not interpret the dreams but God could and He will give Pharaoh the answer he is seeking (verse 16).  Throughout the interpretation, Joseph says repeatedly that God has revealed His will to Pharaoh (verse 25, 28) and that God has firmly decided the matter (verse 32).

Conclusions:  Didn’t like the Philippians verses (which we’ve looked at before in this study).  Felt it didn’t add anything and that this passage is rich enough.  The verses were too limiting.  Christ and Joseph have dozens of similarities but we are restricted to only a few mentioned in Philippians.  Would have liked to have seen a general question so we could come up with our own.

The best part is watching Joseph give God ALL the credit, which is rare these days.  No one hardly ever mentions God even when they are talking let alone giving Him the glory for everything in their lives (I would say Tim Tebow is the best known exception to this). It’s refreshing to see and gives us a great, great example to live up to.

When God’s timing is right, events happen quickly.  Joseph’s whole life changes in a matter of hours and he is now the second most powerful man in the known world.  God uses the times when we imagine nothing is happening in our lives to prepare us for these moments when EVERYTHING happens.

Compare this Joseph with 17 year-old Joseph who comes running blindly to his brothers about a dream he has had.  He never mentions God when he is bragging about these dreams.  Here, it is all God–from God, by God, and for God.

Gifts and talent take time to develop as does character.  Here, we can see the difference between these two Josephs.

Fun Fact:  This is the first mention in the Bible of the Holy Spirit being in a man.