Day 290

Jeremiah 35:1-37:21, 1 Timothy 2:1-15, Psalms 119:49-56

I’ll be very honest, I struggled with these passages, nothing really jumped out at me other than the non-alcoholic family and Paul and women.

There is probably a great deal that we can learn from the Recabite family, in that the message they gave to other people was so strong because they had stuck to their principles unlike the rest of the nation. We should never underestimate the power of the message that we give when we stick to our Christian beliefs and let them rule the way that we live.

With regard to Paul, it is always difficult when we come across these passages, which seem quite clear and yet seem at odds to our understanding of the rest of the New Testament. For starters we only have to look at other areas of the early church, and Paul’s own letters to see that there were women in positions of responsibility. It is quite possible that Paul was writing this letter to Timothy when Timothy was in a particular time and place, where there was a problem with a particular group in a certain church and Paul was addressing that problem, he certainly didn’t seem to have a problem with women teaching in other places.

When we look at some of the Biblical women, we might find, that like the Recabite family, the way that they lived, following what the Lord has said, they are actually giving a pretty good example that we would do well to follow.