321 Give ear, O heavens, to my voice; let the earth take note of the words of my mouth: 2 My teaching is dropping like rain, coming down like dew on the fields; like rain on the young grass and showers on the garden plants: 3 For I will give honour to the name of the Lord: let our God be named great. 4 He is the Rock, complete is his work; for all his ways are righteousness: a God without evil who keeps faith, true and upright is he. 5 They have become false, they are not his children, the mark of sin is on them; they are an evil and hard-hearted generation. 6 Is this your answer to the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is he not your father who has given you life? He has made you and given you your place.
7 Keep in mind the days of the past, give thought to the years of generations gone by: go to your father and he will make it clear to you, to the old men and they will give you the story. 8 When the Most High gave the nations their heritage, separating into groups the children of men, he had the limits of the peoples marked out, keeping in mind the number of the children of Israel. 9 For the Lord's wealth is his people; Jacob is the land of his heritage. 10 He came to him in the waste land, in the unpeopled waste of sand: putting his arms round him and caring for him, he kept him as the light of his eye. 11 As an eagle, teaching her young to make their flight, with her wings outstretched over them, takes them up on her strong feathers: 12 So the Lord only was his guide, no other god was with him. 13 He put him on the high places of the earth, his food was the increase of the field; honey he gave him out of the rock and oil out of the hard rock; 14 Butter from his cows and milk from his sheep, with fat of lambs and sheep of Bashan, and goats, and the heart of the grain; and for your drink, wine from the blood of the grape.
15 But Jeshurun became fat and would not be controlled: you have become fat, you are thick and full of food: then he was untrue to the God who made him, giving no honour to the Rock of his salvation. 16 The honour which was his they gave to strange gods; by their disgusting ways he was moved to wrath. 17 They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers. 18 You have no thought for the Rock, your father, you have no memory of the God who gave you birth.
19 And the Lord saw with disgust the evil-doing of his sons and daughters. 20 And he said, My face will be veiled from them, I will see what their end will be: for they are an uncontrolled generation, children in whom is no faith. 21 They have given my honour to that which is not God, moving me to wrath with their false worship: I will give their honour to those who are not a people, moving them to wrath by a foolish nation, 22 For my wrath is a flaming fire, burning to the deep parts of the underworld, burning up the earth with her increase, and firing the deep roots of the mountains. 23 I will send a rain of troubles on them, my arrows will be showered on them. 24 They will be wasted from need of food, and overcome by burning heat and bitter destruction; and the teeth of beasts I will send on them, with the poison of the worms of the dust. 25 Outside they will be cut off by the sword, and in the inner rooms by fear; death will take the young man and the virgin, the baby at the breast and the grey-haired man.
26 I said I would send them wandering far away, I would make all memory of them go from the minds of men: 27 But for the fear that their haters, uplifted in their pride, might say, Our hand is strong, the Lord has not done all this. 28 For they are a nation without wisdom; there is no sense in them. 29 If only they were wise, if only this was clear to them, and they would give thought to their future! 30 How would it be possible for one to overcome a thousand, and two to send ten thousand in flight, if their rock had not let them go, if the Lord had not given them up? 31 For their rock is not like our Rock, even our haters themselves being judges. 32 For their vine is the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are the grapes of evil, and the berries are bitter: 33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, the cruel poison of snakes. 34 Is not this among my secrets, kept safe in my store-house? 35 Punishment is mine and reward, at the time of the slipping of their feet: for the day of their downfall is near, sudden will be their fate. 36 For the Lord will be judge of his people, he will have pity for his servants; when he sees that their power is gone, there is no one, shut up or free. 37 And he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they put their faith? 38 Who took the fat of their offerings, and the wine of their drink offering? Let them now come to your help, let them be your salvation.
39 See now, I myself am he; there is no other god but me: giver of death and life, wounding and making well: and no one has power to make you free from my hand. 40 For lifting up my hand to heaven I say, By my unending life, 41 If I make sharp my shining sword, and my hand is outstretched for judging, I will give punishment to those who are against me, and their right reward to my haters. 42 I will make my arrows red with blood, my sword will be feasting on flesh, with the blood of the dead and the prisoners, of the long-haired heads of my haters. 43 Be glad, O you his people, over the nations; for he will take payment for the blood of his servants, and will give punishment to his haters, and take away the sin of his land, for his people.
44 So Moses said all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea, the son of Nun. 45 And after saying all this to the people, 46 Moses said to them, Let the words which I have said to you today go deep into your hearts, and give orders to your children to do every word of this law. 47 And this is no small thing for you, but it is your life, and through this you may make your days long in the land which you are going over Jordan to take for your heritage.
48 That same day the Lord said to Moses, 49 Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo in the land of Moab opposite Jericho; there you may see the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel for their heritage: 50 And let death come to you on the mountain where you are going, and be put to rest with your people; as death came to Aaron, your brother, on Mount Hor, where he was put to rest with his people: 51 Because of your sin against me before the children of Israel at the waters of Meribath Kadesh in the waste land of Zin; because you did not keep my name holy among the children of Israel. 52 So you will see the land before you, but you will not go into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.
331 Now this is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, gave to the children of Israel before his death. 2 He said, The Lord came from Sinai, dawning on them from Seir; shining out from Mount Paran, coming from Meribath Kadesh: from his right hand went flames of fire: his wrath made waste the peoples. 3 All his holy ones are at his hand; they go at his feet; they are lifted up on his wings. 4 Moses gave us a law, a heritage for the people of Jacob. 5 And there was a king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel came together.
6 Let life not death be Reuben's, let not the number of his men be small. 7 And this is the blessing of Judah: he said, Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of Judah and make him one with his people: let your hands take up his cause, and be his help against his attackers.
8 And of Levi he said, Give your Thummim to Levi and let the Urim be with your loved one, whom you put to the test at Massah, with whom you were angry at the waters of Meribah; 9 Who said of his father, Who is he? and of his mother, I have not seen her; he kept himself separate from his brothers and had no knowledge of his children: for they have given ear to your word and kept your agreement. 10 They will be the teachers of your decisions to Jacob and of your law to Israel: the burning of perfumes before you will be their right, and the ordering of burned offerings on your altar. 11 Let your blessing, O Lord, be on his substance, may the work of his hands be pleasing to you: may those who take up arms against him and all who have hate for him, be wounded through the heart, never to be lifted up again.
12 And of Benjamin he said, Benjamin is the loved one of the Lord, he will be kept safe at all times; he will be covered by the Most High, resting between his arms. 13 And of Joseph he said, Let the blessing of the Lord be on his land; for the good things of heaven on high, and the deep waters flowing under the earth, 14 And the good things of the fruits of the sun, and the good things of the growth of the moons, 15 And the chief things of the oldest mountains, and the good things of the eternal hills, 16 The good things of the earth and all its wealth, the good pleasure of him who was seen in the burning tree: may they come on the head of Joseph, on the head of him who was prince among his brothers. 17 He is a young ox, glory is his; his horns are the horns of the mountain ox, with which all peoples will be wounded, even to the ends of the earth: they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.
18 And of Zebulun he said, Be glad, Zebulun, in your going out; and, Issachar, in your tents. 19 They will send out the word for the people to come to the mountain, taking there the offerings of righteousness: for the store of the seas will be theirs, and the secret wealth of the sand. 20 Of Gad he said, A blessing be on him who makes wide the limits of Gad: he takes his rest like a she-lion, taking for himself the arm and the crown of the head. 21 He kept for himself the first part, for his was the ruler's right: he put in force the righteousness of the Lord, and his decisions for Israel.
22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a young lion, springing out from Bashan. 23 And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, made glad with grace and full of the blessing of the Lord: the sea and its fishes will be his. 24 And of Asher he said, Let Asher have the blessing of children; may he be pleasing to his brothers, and let his foot be wet with oil. 25 Your shoes will be iron and brass; and as your days, so may your work be.
26 No other is like the God of Jeshurun, coming on the heavens to your help, and letting his glory be seen in the skies. 27 The God of your fathers is your safe resting-place, and under you are his eternal arms: driving out the forces of your haters from before you, he said, Let destruction overtake them. 28 And Israel is living in peace, the fountain of Jacob by himself, in a land of grain and wine, with dew dropping from the heavens. 29 Happy are you, O Israel: who is like you, a people whose saviour is the Lord, whose help is your cover, whose sword is your strength! All those who are against you will put themselves under your rule, and your feet will be planted on their high places.
341 And Moses went up from the table-lands of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah which is facing Jericho. And the Lord let him see all the land, the land of Gilead as far as Dan; 2 And all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, as far as the Great Sea of the west; 3 And the South, and the circle of the valley of Jericho, the town of palm-trees, as far as Zoar. 4 And the Lord said to him, This is the land about which I made an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your seed: now I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not go in there.
5 So death came to Moses, the servant of the Lord, there in the land of Moab, as the Lord had said. 6 And the Lord put him to rest in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor: but no man has knowledge of his resting-place to this day. 7 And Moses at his death was a hundred and twenty years old: his eye had not become clouded, or his natural force become feeble. 8 For thirty days the children of Israel were weeping for Moses in the table-lands of Moab, till the days of weeping and sorrow for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had put his hands on him: and the children of Israel gave ear to him, and did as the Lord had given orders to Moses. 10 There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord had knowledge of face to face; 11 In all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and all his land; 12 And in all the acts of power and fear which Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.
26 And the statement of his crime was put in writing on the cross, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 And they put two thieves on crosses with him, one on his right side, and one on his left. 28 [] 29 And those who went by made sport of him, shaking their heads, and saying, Ha! you who give the Temple to destruction, and put it up again in three days, 30 Keep yourself from death, and come down from the cross. 31 In the same way the chief priests, laughing at him among themselves with the scribes, said, A saviour of others, he has no salvation for himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and have belief. And those who were put on crosses with him said evil things against him.
33 And when the sixth hour had come, it was dark over all the land till the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour, Jesus said in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, My God, my God, why are you turned away from me? 35 And some of those who were near, hearing it, said, See, he is crying to Elijah. 36 And one of them went quickly and, getting a sponge full of bitter wine, put it on a rod, and gave it to him for drink, saying, Let be; let us see if Elijah will come to take him down. 37 And Jesus gave a loud cry, and gave up his spirit. 38 And the curtain of the Temple was parted in two from end to end. 39 And when the captain, who was near, saw how he gave up his spirit, he said, Truly this man was a son of God. 40 And there were women watching from a distance: among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome, 41 Who went with him when he was in Galilee and took care of him; and a number of other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
42 And when it was evening, because it was the time of getting ready, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 There came Joseph of Arimathaea, a responsible man in high honour, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God; and he went in to Pilate without fear, and made a request for the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate was surprised that he was dead; and, sending for the captain, he put a question to see if he had been dead for long. 45 And when he had news of it from the captain, he let Joseph have the body. 46 And he got a linen cloth and, taking him down, put the linen cloth round him, and put him in a place for the dead which had been cut out of a rock; and a stone was rolled against the door. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw where he was put.
(Read Mark 15:22-32)
The place where our Lord Jesus was crucified, was called the place of a scull; it was the common place of execution; for he was in all respects numbered with the transgressors. Whenever we look unto Christ crucified, we must remember what was written over his head; he is a King, and we must give up ourselves to be his subjects, as Israelites indeed. They crucified two thieves with him, and him in the midst; they thereby intended him great dishonour. But it was foretold that he should be numbered with the transgressors, because he was made sin for us. Even those who passed by railed at him. They told him to come down from the cross, and they would believe; but they did not believe, though he gave them a more convincing sign when he came up from the grave. With what earnestness will the man who firmly believes the truth, as made known by the sufferings of Christ, seek for salvation! With what gratitude will he receive the dawning hope of forgiveness and eternal life, as purchased for him by the sufferings and death of the Son of God! and with what godly sorrow will he mourn over the sins which crucified the Lord of glory!
(Read Mark 15:33-41)
There was a thick darkness over the land, from noon until three in the afternoon. The Jews were doing their utmost to extinguish the Sun of Righteousness. The darkness signified the cloud which the human soul of Christ was under, when he was making it an offering for sin. He did not complain that his disciples forsook him, but that his Father forsook him. In this especially he was made sin for us. When Paul was to be offered as a sacrifice for the service saints, he could joy and rejoice, Philippians 2:17; but it is another thing to be offered as a sacrifice for the sin of sinners. At the same instant that Jesus died, the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom. This spake terror to the unbelieving Jews, and was a sign of the destruction of their church and nation. It speaks comfort to all believing Christians, for it signified the laying open a new and living way into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The confidence with which Christ had openly addressed God as his Father, and committed his soul into his hands, seems greatly to have affected the centurion. Right views of Christ crucified will reconcile the believer to the thought of death; he longs to behold, love, and praise, as he ought, that Saviour who was wounded and pierced to save him from the wrath to come.
(Read Mark 15:42-47)
We are here attending the burial of our Lord Jesus. Oh that we may by grace be planted in the likeness of it! Joseph of Arimathea was one who waited for the kingdom of God. Those who hope for a share in its privileges, must own Christ's cause, when it seems to be crushed. This man God raised up for his service. There was a special providence, that Pilate should be so strict in his inquiry, that there might be no pretence to say Jesus was alive. Pilate gave Joseph leave to take down the body, and do what he pleased with it. Some of the women beheld where Jesus was laid, that they might come after the sabbath to anoint the dead body, because they had not time to do it before. Special notice was taken of Christ's sepulchre, because he was to rise again. And he will not forsake those who trust in him, and call upon him. Death, deprived of its sting, will soon end the believer's sorrows, as it ended those of the Saviour.
