Day 272

Zephaniah 1:1-3:20, Philippians 1:1-26, Proverbs 23:29-24:4

“Context, context, context!” Or should that be “location, location, location”? Well both really. As we start two new books today I think it is important to revisit some of the stuff highlighted when we started this mammoth journey – context is everything. It is very important to pick up a commentary and try and understand what was being said, where, when, and why? Understanding what God was saying then can have a huge impact on what he is trying to say to you now.

Take Zephaniah (now that’s a name and a half) for example. He was probably a member of the Royal family and so what he was saying will have been listened to in a very different way to a sycamore dresser! It also tells us that he will have heard of the other prophets and probably read their works. With some of the dates that scholars have put on this we know that it is likely that the invasion the prophet predicts is close at hand.

And what about Philippians. First off we see that the letter is from Paul and Timothy although in all honesty it is probably more Paul than Timothy!  Philippi was a major Roman colony and so the people were very closely linked to Rome and a good number were ex military. When you look the letter as a whole this is actually one of Paul’s calmer letters where he is not doing to much telling off, his only warnings are against the legalists and also to try and achieve unity. He is mainly writing to thank them and let them know how he is doing.

Paul can be very strict and stern in his writing and you may start to read Philippians waiting for him to find fault. Yet when we know the context of the letter we can read it differently. When he talks of wishing for his own death and the desire to see Christ, he is not trying to criticise them for their own lack of faith, but encourage them to seek the Lord in all things.

The Bible is never confined to the 2 dimensions of a page. The Bible has a living context and when we embrace the context to understand the past, we get a 3D image of the Bible. We get an idea if the places and people involved, of what the people of Philippi might have been like. A far more exciting thing to read.