Tidbits

One great reason to read the Bible all the way through is to gather the tasty tidbits you will find scattered throughout. These are Scriptures that never make their way into typical devotionals, but offer us deep insight and clues that help bring these ancient stories to life. Often, they stand out as a side note, or afterthought by the writer of that passage, but they are certainly a gift from God to remind us these were real people in real situations.

My daily Scripture reading brought me to one of these tidbits today in the Exodus story of the plagues on Egypt as the Israelites tried to leave. Seventh of the ten plagues was hail- Immense hail. In between the warnings from God and threats from Pharaoh, is Exodus 9:31-32:

The flax and barley were destroyed 

because the barley was ripe and the flax was budding, 

but the wheat and spelt were not destroyed 

because they are later crops.

This gives us a few interesting details. First, it gives us a time frame. This plague occurred around the end of February or first of March. (See multiple commentaries here.) We do know that the Passover was established with the last plague and the Jewish year told to begin then with the month of Nisan (Exodus 12), but having this verse about the crops shows us that the plagues were in fairly quick succession. Second, we are told just what crops were important and were grown almost four thousand years ago! As people have excavated throughout the last few hundred years, they have time and again proven the validity of the Bible by matching up what it says by what they have "uncovered". Proof and comfort once again that God really does know what He's doing, and the Bible really is His Word.

As you read your Bible be on the look out for these tasty nuggets of seemingly random information. They give us greater clues into God's Word, His character, and His concern for us to know certain details. Who knows? Perhaps finding them in Scripture is good practice for those He plants in our daily lives!