My son and I are taking up this challenge: to read through the Psalms each week. It's not as hard as it might sound! I've included the approximate times for the readings, too.

Sunday morning: Psalms 9-24 (24 min.)
Sunday evening: Psalm 119 (14 min.)
Monday morning: Psalms 25-37 (25 min.)
Monday evening: Psalms 38-46 (15 min.)
Tuesday morning: Psalms 47-64 (26 min.)
Tuesday evening: Psalms 65-70 (12 min.)
Wednesday morning: Psalms 71-85 (30 min.)
Wednesday evening: Psalms 86-91 (13 min.)
Thursday morning: Psalms 92-105 (23 min.)
Thursday evening: Psalms 106-109 (12 min.)
Friday morning: Psalms 135-150 (22 min.)
Friday evening: Psalms 120-134 (10 min.)
Saturday morning: Psalms 110-119 (25 min.)
Saturday evening: Psalms 1-8 (8 min.)

Testimony of Peter:

"Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know-- Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death... God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Acts 2:22-23, 36

"the Holy One and the Just"
Acts 3:14

"the Prince of life"
Acts 3:15

"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."
Acts 10:38

"Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead."
Acts 10:40-42

Testimony of James:
"our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory"
James 2:1

Testimony of Jude:
"the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ"
Jude 4

Testimony of Paul:
"His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name."
Romans 1:3-5

"Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God"
1 Corinthians 1:24

"The last Adam became a life-giving spirit"
1 Corinthians 15:45

"the Spirit of the Lord"
2 Corinthians 3:18

"Christ, who is the image of God"
2 Corinthians 4:4

"the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
Ephesians 1:19-23

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2:5-11

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."
Colossians 1:15-18

"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"
Colossians 2:9

Testimony of John:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
John 1:1-4

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
John 1:14

Testimony of the Epistle to the Hebrews:
"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."
Hebrews 1:1-4

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."
Hebrews 4:15

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Hebrews 13:8

Testimony of the Revelation of John:
"Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth."
Revelation 1:5

"I am the First and the Last."
Revelation 1:17

"I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore."
Revelation 1:18

"the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God"
Revelation 3:14

"Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David"
Revelation 5:5

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"
Revelation 5:12

"His name is called The Word of God"
Revelation 19:13

"KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS"
Revelation 19:16

"the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple... for the very glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light."
Revelation 21:22, 23

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Sion. For behold, I am coming and will tent in your midst, says the Lord. And many nations shall flee to the Lord for refuge on that day and shall become a people to him, and they will tent in your midst. And you shall recognize that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. And the Lord will inherit Ioudas, his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Ierousalem.
Let all flesh be cautious before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy clouds.
Zacharias 2:10-13, LXX

520 years before Christ would be born, the Israelites were just returning from Babylon. They faced many dangers, but were told to "rejoice and be glad." 2,000 years after Christ was born, died, and rose again we have much cause for joy and singing. We have been redeemed!

The Lord will tent in your midst! What beautiful imagery.

When Nehemiah fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, he said, "Remember now the word that you commanded your servant Moyses, saying, 'You, if you are faithless, I will scatter you among the peoples, and if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, if your dispersion is to the farthest skies, from there I will gather them and lead them to the place where I have chosen my name to encamp there.'" (2 Esdras 11:9, 10, LXX; Nehemiah 1:9, 10, MT)

David sang:


Many Gentiles did come from many nations and filled the population of physical Israel. But what a greater blessing when many nations "flee to the Lord for refuge" in Christ and fill the numbers of True (Spiritual) Israel, the Church. Daughter Sion, rejoice! The angels in heaven rejoice with you!

They will tent in your midst. Is this not what Christ taught:
Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches." (Matthew 13:31-32) Yes, the word nest is actually this same word for encamp or tent. It's the same in Luke 13:18-22.

How beautiful that Christ has come and tents with us, drawing from every nation into His tent.

He came from heaven (from his holy clouds), to redeem His people, and to silence the enemies of His Church (let all flesh be cautious before the Lord). He has roused himself and will not sit down until all is accomplished!

Mr. Tumnus: "He is not a tame lion."
Lucy: "No, but he's good."

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In Exodus 30, the Lord told Moses, "When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the LORD. Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves. And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves."

Notice. "The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less." That rules out our current progressive tax. So, the US tax code runs contrary to the Law of God.

But also notice, the Biblical tax code is not a percentage. God takes the first 10% as a tithe to the Church. In 1 Samuel 8, He warns Israel that a king would "take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants," (v. 15) and "take a tenth of your sheep" (v. 17). If you are an American, married filing jointly, and your taxable income is between $16,050 and $65,100 then your tax rate is 15%. That's 50% worse than what God warned of a king. The next higher bracket pays a 25% tax rate, and it becomes progressively worse.

So, everyone who was 20 years old and above paid the same amount each year: a half-shekel. Now, He is very careful to define a shekel as 20 gerahs. A gerah weighed 5/12 of a gram. So, a shekel weighed 0.29 ounces. A half-shekel, then, weighed only 0.14 ounces. Silver is about $9.50 an ounce currently. So, a half-shekel today would be worth approximately $1.40.

Think about that. Everyone, rich or poor, would pay exactly $1.40 to the government each year.

According to the 2000 census, there were approximately 200 million Americans 20 years old and older. So, the government would have a $380 million budget.

Several programs would have to be cut. But that's okay, because in Romans 13:1-7, there is no mention of universal health care, public education, or welfare. The government has the sole responsibility of administering justice.

Does that mean that God does not care about those things? Of course, not. But they are individual matters, for families, not the government to control. You see, there was another tithe. We never hear about it anymore, I suppose because it is in Leviticus, chapter 27 to be exact:
"And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD's. It is holy to the LORD. If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one-fifth to it. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the LORD. He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed."

It is repeated in Numbers 18:
"Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Hereafter the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levites shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever, throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to the LORD, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, "Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance."

This money went to the Levites, who were responsible for the health and education of the community. Looking at some statistics again, the average American makes around $26,000 a year. So this 10% would amount to $523 billion going toward the health and education of the community. Of course, some of that must be for administrative purposes, the Levites were a type of middleman, but that's still a hefty sum. For comparison, the U.S. Department of Education currently has about a $68.6 billion annual budget and the Department of Health and Human Services around $715 billion.

The poor was an even more individual responsibility. There was no middle man here. Everyone was expected to tithe 10% every three years for the poor (Deuteronomy 15). That would come to over $174 billion donated directly to the poor each year. No wonder the Lord could speak of a time "when there may be no poor among you" (v. 4).

God's ways are always best. And I, for one, much prefer a $1.40 tax.