What will we find as we read from Exodus, John, and Proverbs this week?
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is March 17, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is a preview of what we’re going to read this week. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Spring Break has come to an end here in Louisville, but spring has just begun! I hope you’re enjoying some beautiful weather wherever you are.
This week, we’ve got some great chapters of Scripture to read. We’ll be looking at:
- Exodus 28–34
- John 7–13
- Proverbs 4–10
Let’s talk about what we can expect to learn this week.
Let’s start with our readings in Exodus. This week, we’ll be reading Exodus 28–34. The chapters are an interesting mix of components of the law and more stories about Israel as they are at the foot on Mt. Sinai waiting for Moses to come back down the mountain. In chapters 28 and 29, we read more about priests. There is a lot about their garments and their duties. One thing to pay attention to is in chapter 28, which we’ll read today. Notice how two different accessories that the priests wear have something to do with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. In verses 6–14, we’ll read how the high priest will take two stones of onyx and inscribe the names of six of the tribes of Israel on one stone and six on the other, and those two stones will be mounted on the shoulders of ephod, which is sort of like a vest that goes on over his robe. Next, in verses 15–30, he will also have a breastplate with twelve valuable stones set in rows and each stone will have one of the names of one of the tribes engraved on it.
The point of all this is that every time the priest goes in to serve before the Lord, it is as if he is bringing all Israel in with him. The high priest represents all of Israel before the Lord; when the Lord sees the high priest and accepts a sacrifice from him, it is as if he is accepting it for all of Israel. This will be really important to remember when we get to the book of Hebrews and it says in Hebrews 4:14 that Jesus is our great high priest.
We’re also going to read on Friday about the whole mess with the golden calf in Exodus 32, Moses’ intervention with God in chapter 33 when Moses convinces God not to abandon Israel, and then on Sunday, the great chapter 34, where God reveals himself to Moses and renews the covenant with him. If you don’t have Exodus 34:6–7 memorized yet, it’s time to get those verses in you!
6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Next, we’re also going to read John 7–13. These chapters make up the real heart of Jesus’ ministry in John’s gospel, because John 13 is the start of what is known as the Farewell Discourse. We’ll talk more about that next week. We’ve got plenty to think about here: these are some of the most iconic and beloved chapters in our Bibles. Today, we read that Jesus is the light of the world. Tomorrow, we’ll read in chapter 9 one of my favorite stories, about Jesus healing the man born blind. It’s full of irony and more than a little humor. On Thursday, we’ll read chapter 10, when Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd. On Friday, in chapter 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. And on Saturday, the Triumphal Entry and Jesus’ famous prediction, “when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”
As you’re reading these chapters in John’s gospel, I want you to notice how much interaction Jesus has with individuals or small groups of people. There are two things to notice here: first, pay careful attention to what Jesus says. Notice what he says about himself and the directions that he gives to others. You will get the sense that Jesus is fully in control, that he is full of love and compassion for others, and that he knows he is destined for the cross.
Secondly, also pay attention to how people react to Jesus and what he does. There are some really dramatic interactions here, from the anger of the Pharisees to Martha’s almost-accusation of Jesus to Mary anointing Jesus, to the crowds’ desire to kill him. People and their reaction to Jesus is a major theme in John’s gospel and there is a lot we can learn here.
Finally, we’re also going to be reading from Proverbs 4–10. Most of these chapters are still in the introductory section of Proverbs, which is chapters 1–9. You could call this section “instruction,” while chapters 10–31 is about “sayings.” Most of the chapters we’re looking at this week are warnings to Solomon’s sons. Solomon is trying to prepare his son—and by extension every one of us—for life in a dangerous world.
One of the things to pay attention to here is how Solomon is always pointing his son to the “end of the matter.” What is the outcome of a certain action or activity? That’s the fundamental deceit of sin: it leaves you thinking that you can sin without consequences. As I have told my kids many times, “you can choose your sin, but you can’t choose your consequences.”
That actually reminds me of something I’ve heard CJ Mahaney say about the book of Proverbs. He points out that all wisdom literature highlights the connection between character, conduct, and consequences. The idea there is that our conduct arises from our character. We do what we do because of who we are. And our conduct leads to consequences. God has set up the world that sin has consequences and even if you can get away with sin for a short period of time, the consequences of sin will eventually catch up to you. So as you are reading, look for the connection between character, conduct, and consequences.
Finally, on Sunday, we’ll get to chapter 10, which is the first chapter in the “sayings” portion of Proverbs. Chapters 10–31 of Proverbs is almost entirely these pithy little sayings. We’ll talk more about this next week, but for now, it’s good to know that most of these Proverbs are marked by a Hebrew literary feature known as parallelism. Each Proverb is made up of two lines and the second line elaborates on or sheds light upon the first line in some way. It might repeat and reinforce the first line, it may say the negative of the first line, or maybe it just builds on it in some kind of loosely related way. As a reader, you can think about: what is the relationship between these two lines of Hebrew poetry? A good example is Proverbs 10:5, “He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.” Do you see how these two lines are really saying the same thing? The second line is just the inverse of the first: a son who sleeps in harvest is the opposite of one who gathers in summer, so naturally he is a son who brings shame rather than a prudent son. We’ve just learned one lesson in two different ways. There is a lot more where that came from!
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This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!