2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

We skip a few chapters, but the context is about the sword not leaving the house of David, as was covered last week. Absalom is one of David's sons, and he has rebelled. Joab is his army commander. David sends them out to attack his son's army, but wants his son dealt with "gently". But it doesn't happen that way, Absalom gets hung up on a tree branch. The Cushite, bringing news from the battlefield is a little hard to understand, because he's trying to not come out and say what happened. Instead of "dead", he says, "be like that young man." David is really taken down by this. He has done quite a bit of killing and treachery but this one really affects him.

1 Kings 19:4-8

For some context, check out.

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

Couple of repeats this week.

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

This pseudo-Paul author actually has some decent advice this week. Taken out of context, you could twist these words to be a command to get angry or in the other way, to resolve your anger before going to bed, before the end of the day. Either of those would be bad advice and I think, not what he is saying. He's saying anger is an emotion that is natural and we can't suppress it. It's what we do with it that is important. You should not bury your emotions. You should not suppress them. You also shouldn't empower your anger. Pay attention to the words you are using when you are angry. It's impossible to be happy and sweet all the time, but it also takes work to hold on to anger. Forgiveness leads to kindness, staying bitter with anger leads to wrath.

John 6:35, 41-51

This passage is why the OT passages were repeated. Unlike the other gospels, John spends a lot of time directly explaining who Jesus is, that is, he has Jesus say who he is. He does this by explaining the earlier Bible stories and claiming they explain how to identify the messiah, that is, him. The earlier debates about Jesus existing, being anointed, born of a virgin, whatever, are getting settled by the time this is written. Not that they ever really are settled, but some sects are getting more powerful than others and writing gospels is one way they develop the liturgy that others will follow.