{"id":2705,"date":"2025-11-07T09:03:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/?p=2705"},"modified":"2025-11-07T09:03:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T15:03:48","slug":"november-7-november-14-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/2025\/11\/07\/november-7-november-14-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"November 7 – November 14, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Friday, November 7<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalms 21 (Greek & Latin 20): The voice of the Church herself the voice of this psalm, glorifying the Father for the Son\u2019s paschal victory over sin, death, and hell. The proper sense of Psalm 21 may be summarized as: \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. . . . In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace\u201d (Eph. 1:3, 7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psalm begins then, \u201cO Lord, the King will rejoice in Your strength, and greatly will He exult in Your salvation.\u201d This is the rejoicing of \u201cJesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God\u201d (Heb. 12:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paschal victory is God\u2019s response to Christ\u2019s own prayer: \u201cYou have given Him His heart\u2019s desire, nor have You denied Him the request of His lips.\u201d The Gospels themselves suggest that the passing hours of our Lord\u2019s suffering were a period of His intense prayer, indicated by His several audible prayers that were recorded during that time (cf. Matt. 26:39, 42, 44; 27:46; Luke 23:34, 46). With respect to this prayer of Jesus during His sufferings we are told that \u201cHe was heard because of His godly fear\u201d (Heb. 5:7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for what did Jesus pray during His Passion? \u201cHe asked life<\/em> of You,\u201d answers our psalm. And what sort of life? The mere survival of his earthly body? Hardly. The object of Jesus\u2019 prayer was, rather, the total life that stands forever victorious over death, the irruption of the divine life into the world by reason of His own passage through death to glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The true eternal<\/em> life is not a simple continuation of man\u2019s earthly existence. It is something new altogether: \u201cHe asked life of You, and You gave Him length of days unto ages of ages.\u201d This is the divine life given in the Resurrection, of which Jesus said: \u201cAmen, Amen, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself\u201d (John 5:25, 26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This eternal life is joy forever in God\u2019s presence, \u201cwhere the forerunner has entered for us\u201d (Heb. 6:20): \u201cGreat is His glory in Your salvation; You will bestow glory and majesty upon Him. Blessing will You give Him forever and ever; You will gladden Him with joy in Your presence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By reason of His Resurrection, says this psalm, Jesus reigns as King, the very title that Pilate, in God\u2019s providential irony, affixed to the Cross itself: \u201cO Lord, the King<\/em> will rejoice in Your strength.\u201d And because He is King, He is crowned: \u201cFor You have poured upon Him the blessings of goodness. A crown of precious stones have You placed upon His head.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, this was the glorification for which Jesus prayed as He commenced the unfolding of His Passion: \u201cFather, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. . . . And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was\u201d (John 17:1, 5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many lines of this psalm (pretty much its entire second half) are devoted to the enemies of Christ, who are enemies of Christ precisely because they are the enemies of man. That enemy called sin, overcome by the atoning grace of His blood. That enemy called death, which He trampled down by His own death. That enemy called hell, which found itself unable to hold the Author of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 21 thus celebrates the victory of Him who proclaims: \u201cDo not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death\u201d (Rev. 1:17, 18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, November 8<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Chronicles 16: The latter part of Asa\u2019s rule was not up to the mark set by his earlier days. He waxed lazy in his later years, and the present chapter describes his decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is an historical problem with the present text. If we understand verse 1 strictly, the date appears to be 875. However, according to 1 Kings 16:6-8, Baasha had died ten years earlier! Some exegetes, in hopes of removing this problem, suggest that a copyist\u2019s error has introduced a mistake into the Sacred Text. While this suggestion is possible, it is not the only solution to the problem. It may be that verse 1, in referring to the thirty-sixth year of Asa, is employing a shorthand formula to mean the thirty-sixth year of Asa\u2019s kingdom, that is, the divided kingdom that followed the reign of Solomon. If this interpretation is correct, then the year of reference would be 986, which accords well with the sequence given in Kings. It also seems better to fit the Chronicler\u2019s assertion that \u00c5sa\u2019s early reign enjoyed ten years of peace (14:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Asa\u2019s response to Baasha\u2019s invasion we discern already his decline. Instead of going to meet his opponent in battle, as he had earlier done in the case of Zerah, Asa decided to pay someone else to assume the task. He employed money to influence international politics (verses 2-5). Thereby conceding part of the Land of Promise to a foreign power, Asa paid the Syrians to invade the territory of Baasha. Over the next couple of centuries Asa\u2019s successors on the throne would have to deal with Syrian interference in the politics of the Holy Land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To reprimand this sin, the Lord sent to Asa the prophetic word of Hanani (verses 7-09), the father of yet another prophet named Jehu (1 Kings 16:17). This prophetic word, found only in the Chronicler, serves to advance the latter\u2019s sense of history–namely, the conviction that \u201cthe eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him\u201d (verse 9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asa, in response, punishes the prophet, unlike his grandfather Rehoboam, who had humbled his mind before the prophetic word (12:6). Asa thus became the first king of Judah to raise his hand against the prophets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In turn the Lord punished Asa three years later (verse 12). He lived five years more (verse 13). The great failure of Asa\u2019s life, according to the Chronicler, came from following his disinclination to put his trust in God (verses 7,12).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday, November 9<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Chronicles 17: None of the material in this chapter is found outside of Chronicles. Most of it introduces the reign of Jehoshaphat (870-848, with a co-regency from 873) (verses 1-6,10-19). Our suggestion of three years of co-regency would explain why Jehoshaphat undertook these new initiatives in \u201cthe third year of his reign\u201d (verse 1). It also stands consonant with the assertion of Jehoshaphat\u2019s reign of twenty-five years (20:31).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps dearest to the Chronicler\u2019s heart are the few verses that he devotes to the ministry of the teaching Levites. When the king sent these Levites out \u201cto teach in the cities of Judah,\u201d he took care that everyone would know of their official credentials. He accomplished this by sending with them certain \u201cprinces\u201d (sarim<\/em>) accredited to speak in the king\u2019s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the success of this mission, which will remind Christian readers of the seventy disciples sent out by Jesus, Josephus comments: \u201cNow, in the third year of this reign, he called together the rulers of the country, and the priests, and commanded them to go round the land, and teach all the people that were under him, city by city, the laws of Moses, and to keep them, and to be diligent in the worship of God. With this the whole multitude was so pleased, that they were not so eagerly set upon or affected with anything so much as the observation of the laws\u201d (Antiquities<\/em> 8.15.2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The greater authority of these teaching Levites, however, was not derived from the delegation of the king but from the text on which their teaching was based, \u201cthe book of the Law of the Lord\u201d (verse 9). Is this book to be identified with the scroll later discovered in the Temple during the reign of Josiah? There are two reasons for thinking this to be the case. First, exactly the same words describe the text in both instances, <i>sepher Torat Adonai<\/i> (verse 9; 34:14). Second, in each context the book of the Law of the Lord appears in the context of the ministries of the Levites (verse 8; 34:12-13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chronicler will return to this teaching ministry of the Levites, with particular attention to the Law of the Lord, when he comes to the post-exilic period and the mission of Ezra (cf. Nehemiah 8). The Chronicler\u2019s view of the Levitical ministry was clearly comprehensive. These versatile men not only functioned on behalf of the liturgical rites, the general decorum, and especially the sacred music of the Temple. They were also Israel\u2019s teachers in all matters pertinent of the Law given through Moses. In this latter capacity, of course, they were obliged to be literate, so it is not surprising that scribes and accountants should come from their number (34:9-10). In general, these Levites included men who were competent \u201cin any kind of service\u201d (34:13). We Christian readers also bear in mind that the early Church regarded the order of deacon as a sort of equivalent to the Levitical office (cf. Clement of Rome, To the Corinthians<\/em> 32.2; 40.5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday, November 10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Chronicles 18: After an entire chapter that had no parallels in 1 Kings, the Chronicler now gives us a chapter that comes almost entirely (except for verses 1-3) from 1 Kings 22. In fact, this is the only instance where the Chronicler simply repeats a long section from the Books of Kings. The occasion prompts us to inquire why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The obvious reason is found in the nature of the material itself, which these two authors do not look at in the same way. For the author of Kings, this was a story about Micaiah and Ahab, whereas for the Chronicler it is, rather, a story about Micaiah and Jehoshaphat. Indeed, the Chronicler is only incidentally interested in Ahab, who is not even mentioned again after his death in verse 34 (contrast with 1 Kings 22:38-40). The Chronicler\u2019s concern here is very different. He is interested in Jehoshaphat, not Ahab. After all, it was the King of Judah, not Ahab, who wanted to consult with Micaiah (verses 6-7), and the Chronicler inserts the account for the simple reason that it strengthens a steady motif dear to his heart\u2014namely, the Lord\u2019s prophetic word to the kings of Judah (cf. 12:5-6; 15:1-7; 16:7-9; 19:2-3; 20:13-17; 24:20; 25:7-9,15-16; 28:9-11; 33:10; 34:22-28). This story is one more in that thematic series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chronicler is not interested in the extensive prophetic activity in the Northern Kingdom, for the simple reason that he is not interested, in se<\/em>, in anything<\/em> that transpired in the Northern Kingdom. Indeed, the only time he mentions a prophetic intervention of the greatest of the northern prophets, Elijah, it is in connection with a letter that that prophet wrote to a king of Judah, not Israel (21:12-15).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chronicler\u2019s sole interest in the present story, then, has to do with the current holder of the Davidic throne, Jehoshaphat, and this story serves the Chronicler\u2019s purpose of introducing the latter\u2019s dangerous coalition with the Northern Kingdom. If Asa\u2019s great mistake was an unwise league with Syria, Jehoshaphat\u2019s was an unwise alliance with Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this alliance, as we shall see during the ensuing chapters, the Davidic throne was nearly lost. The marriage of Jehoshaphat\u2019s son to Ahab\u2019s daughter would introduce into the Kingdom of Judah the full force of Phoenician idolatry and evil. Over the next several chapters the solemn prophetic promise made to David would be endangered as never before. During the next several generations there will be, at several given times, only a single direct male descendent of David on the face of the earth. Jehoshaphat\u2019s son, Jehoram, will kill all his brothers (21:4). Then, all but one of Jehoram\u2019s own sons will be slain (21:17). When that remaining son (22:1) is killed, there is \u201cno one to assume power over the kingdom\u201d (22:9). Of Jehoram\u2019s grandsons, all will be murdered except the infant Joash (22:1-12). All of this danger and evil will flow from Jehoshaphat\u2019s alliance with the Northern Kingdom. Better warfare, thought the Chronicler, than this sort of peace!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, November 11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Chronicles 19: The material in the present chapter, which is also unique to the Chronicler, includes Jehoshaphat\u2019s meeting with the prophet Jehu (verses 1-3) and his subsequent judicial reforms (verses 4-11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Jehoshaphat failed to learn from the moral example given in the previous chapter, Jehu the prophet is determined to make the king take a closer look. He warns Jehoshaphat of the danger inherent in this recent political and military alliance with a man justly described as an enemy of God. Even though Jehoshaphat has set his heart on the Lord, the divine wrath will visit his house because of his collusion with an evil man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chronicler does not record Jehoshaphat\u2019s reaction to this prophetic warning, but Josephus believed that his later reforms were inspired by it. He wrote, \u201cWhereupon the king betook himself to thanksgivings and sacrifices to God; after which he presently went over all that country which he ruled round about, and taught the people, as well the laws which God gave them by Moses, as that religious worship that was due to him\u201d (Antiquities<\/em> 9.1.1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the present writer this is not so obvious. For reasons best known to himself, Jehoshaphat seems not to have broken off his alliance with the Northern Kingdom, which alliance was the very point made by the prophet. Too bad. The king had now twice been warned that he has thrown in his lot with a loser. The Chronicler was not obliged to inform his readers, including ourselves, about the fate soon to befall the house of Ahab. The facts were already well known from the Books of Kings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile Jehoshaphat went about reforming the nation\u2019s judicial system (verses 4-7). In this reform we observe what appears to be a pattern from Deuteronomy 16:18-20; 17:8-13. If as we suggested earlier (relative to 17:9), the teaching of the Levites was modeled on the same document later discovered in the Temple during Josiah\u2019s time, this affinity with Deuteronomy is not surprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Jerusalem itself the judicial task was partly handed over to the Levites (verse 8), under the supervision of the \u201cchief priest\u201d–<i>kohen har\u2019osh<\/i> (verse 11). This is one more in a growing number of tasks with which the versatile Levites are entrusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday, November 12<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Chronicles 20: The material in this chapter, which is mainly proper to the Chronicler and with scant parallel in 1 Kings (verses 21-24 being the exception), may for analysis be divided into five parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, there are introductory verses that set the stage by describing the threat made to Judah by some of the local enemies to the east of the Jordan (verses 1-2). (In verse 2 it is likely that the reference to \u201cSyria\u201d in both the Hebrew and Greek texts should be changed to \u201cEdom,\u201d as the RSV does. In Hebrew the two words look much more alike than in English, and copyists often confused them. In the present case the mention of the city of Engedi, on the coast of the Dead Sea, makes \u201cEdom\u201d the more probable reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the nation gathers to pray (verses 3-12). In Jehoshaphat\u2019s intercession (verses 5-12) we observe a striking likeness to Solomon\u2019s prayer at the consecration of the Temple (6:12-40). Indeed, the Chronicler notes that two prayers are made in exactly the same place (verse 5; 6:13; cf. 4:9). We should regard Jehoshaphat\u2019s prayer as an extension and application of the prayer earlier made by Solomon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This prayer especially \u201creminds\u201d the Lord that the nations now threatening His Temple are the very enemies that the Lord had earlier forbidden Israel to destroy (verses 10-11; cf. Numbers 20:21; Deuteronomy 2:1,4,5,8,19). That is to say, this prayer \u201cmakes a case\u201d for being heard!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, by way of response to this petition of Jehoshaphat, the Lord\u2019s Spirit is poured out on the Levite Jahaziel for prophetic utterance (verse 13-17). His message is the kind of \u201cliturgical prophecy\u201d of which the Book of Revelation is full. Jehoshaphat and the nation are prophetically reminded, within the place and context of communal worship, that the Lord, who remains ever the Ruler of History, will give His people victory on the morrow. They need only show up for the battle; there will be no need to fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth comes the fulfillment of Jehaziel\u2019s prophetic message (verses 18-30), which takes place when the Levites march in religious procession in front of the army of Judah. Their worship in song and praise takes the place of the combat, as the enemies unaccountably turn on one another. This is apparently the Lord\u2019s \u201cambush\u201d of them. Once again, history is influenced by worship. History is not something closed off from intervention from on high, and \u201con high\u201d is not closed off from prayers offered on the earth. When God\u2019s people pray, the Lord intervenes on the earth, and new things start to happen (Revelation 8:3-6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifth, there follows a summary of the importance of Jehoshaphat\u2019s reign (verses31-34), followed by a final mention of another alliance of this king with the Northern Kingdom. This alliance too is disastrous. This final section provides the chapter\u2019s only parallel to 1 Kings (22:42-48).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, November 13<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Chronicles 21: The reign of Jehoram (849-841) was what one might expect from a son-in-law of Ahab and Jezebel (verses 1-6). Inasmuch, however, as this reign will lead to the hour of greatest danger for the house of David, the Chronicler once more explicitly reminds his readers of the divine promise that guaranteed the stability of that dynasty (verse 7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Judah\u2019s southwest the Edomites, subdued by Jehoshaphat in the previous chapter, rose again in rebellion, this time successfully (verses 8-10). Things are looking bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter sent to Jehoram from the prophet Elijah (verses 11-15) is our first example of \u201cliterary prophecy,\u201d a full century before the writings of Amos and Isaiah. As it happens, an historical problem connected with this letter raises an intriguing question. Since 2 Kings (chapters 1\u20143) seems to imply that Elijah disappeared in his fiery chariot before<\/em> the death of Jehoshaphat, how do we now find him writing a letter to Jehoshaphat\u2019s successor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ah, this is the sort of problem that invites imagination. Did Elijah actually write the letter to Jehoshaphat but it only arrived after Jehoshaphat\u2019s death? An interesting suggestion this, if only for what it indicates of mail delivery in the ancient Holy Land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or did Elijah write the letter to Jehoram ahead a time, knowing by prophecy the sort of king Jehoram would be? This suggestion, accepted by some of the ancient rabbis, has the merit of honoring Elijah\u2019s knowledge of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or is it the case that Elijah, having gone up to heaven in his fiery chariot, returned to the earth for a short while to take care of his unfinished correspondence? Now there\u2019s a thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if so, might not this same earthly solicitude of the prophet\u2019s part argue that Elijah has in mind to make other return trips in the future? In fact, we know that the prophet Malachi (4:5) believed this to be the case, nor was he the last (Matthew 11:14; 17:11-13). Indeed, the angel Gabriel, who by the time in question had shared the heavenly company of Elijah for nearly a thousand years, dropped a remark on this subject when speaking to our Blessed Lady (Luke 1:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever, then, the circumstances of Elijah\u2019s letter to Jehoram, the present writer suspects that this incident, like most things touching that famous Tishbite, is not open to ordinary analysis. When we are dealing with Elijah, <i>anything<\/i> may happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, then, came the Philistines and their friends, leaving the royal progeny at a single prince (verses 16-17). In the following chapter that prince too will perish and all his sons except one. Judah is about to enter a very, very dark hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday, November 14<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2 Chronicles 22: This chapter records one of the bloodiest, most distressing stories in the Bible. Athaliah, the gebirah<\/em> or queen mother of the slain King Ahaziah, seizes the throne of Judah in 841 B.C. and promptly orders the murder of her own grandchildren in order to guarantee her hold on that throne (verse 10). Holy Scripture simply narrates the event, without accounting for Athaliah\u2019s motive in this singular atrocity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although such savagery from a daughter of Jezebel might not be surprising, Athaliah\u2019s action was puzzling from a political perspective, nonetheless, and this in two respects. First, as the story\u2019s final outcome would prove, her dreadful deed rendered Athaliah extremely unpopular in the realm, and her possession of the crown, therefore, more precarious. Second, had she preserved the lives of her grandchildren, instead of killing them, Athaliah\u2019s real power in the kingdom would likely have been enhanced in due course, not lessened. As the gebirah<\/em>, she might have remained the de facto <\/em>ruler of Judah unto ripe old age. Just what, then, did this cruel woman have in mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question proved to be understandably fascinating to literary speculation. The historian Josephus, the first to ponder the matter, ascribed Athaliah\u2019s action to an inherited hatred of the Davidic house. It was her wish, said he, \u201cthat none of the house of David should be left alive, but that the entire family should be exterminated, that no king might arise from it later\u201d (Antiquities<\/em> 9.7.1). This explanation seems perfectly plausible. It would also explain why 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, both sources devoted to the study of David\u2019s house, found the story so intriguing and pertinent to their themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The playwright Racine developed this motive in his Athalie<\/em>, where the evil queen exclaims, \u201cDavid I abhor, and the sons of this king, though born of my blood, are strangers to me\u201d (2.7.729-730). Following Racine, this interpretation was taken up in Felix Mendelssohn\u2019s opera Athaliah<\/em>, which asserts that the vicious woman acted in order that \u201cno hand could reach out for her crown, nor king henceforth from David\u2019s line preserve again the service of Jehovah\u201d (First Declamation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Racine also ascribed to Athaliah a second motive, namely her sense of duty to protect the realm from the various enemies that surrounded it. Indeed, she boasts that her success in this effort was evidence of heaven\u2019s blessing on it (op. cit.<\/em> 2.5.465-484).  However, since it is unclear how the slaughter of her grandchildren contributed to the regional peace that Athaliah claimed as the fruit of her wisdom, this explanation is not so plausible as the first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third motive ascribed by Racine seems more reasonable and is certainly more interesting\u2014namely, that Athaliah acted out of vengeance for the recent killing of her mother and the rest of her own family. Deranged by wrath and loathing, she imagined that the slaughter of her posterity avenged the slaughter of her predecessors: \u201cYes, my just wrath, of which I am proud, has avenged my parents on my offspring\u201d (2.7.709-710). This explanation, which I believe to be correct, makes no rational sense, however, except on the supposition that Athaliah blamed Israel\u2019s God for what befell her own family. In attacking David\u2019s house, she thought to attack David\u2019s God, whom she accuses of \u201cimplacable vengeance\u201d (2.7.727). Since the Chronicler does not record the death of Jezebel and the rest of the family, however, this motive is a better explanation of the account in 1 Kings rather than 2 Chronicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, the third motive of Racine\u2019s Athaliah is the goal of the first. That is to say, the hateful queen seeks to destroy David\u2019s house in order to render void God\u2019s promises given through the prophets, especially the promise of the Messiah that would come from David\u2019s line, \u201cthat King promised to the nations, that Child of David, your hope, your expectation.\u201d The queen\u2019s vengeance, which later appears in Handel\u2019s oratorio Athalia<\/em>, correctly indicates the Christian meaning, the sensus plenior<\/em>, of the Old Testament story. Waging war on great David\u2019s greater Son, Athaliah foreshadowed yet another usurper of the Davidic throne, hateful King Herod, who likewise ordered a large massacre of little boys in a vain effort to retain the crown that did not belong to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, November 7 Psalms 21 (Greek & Latin 20): The voice of the Church herself the voice of this psalm, glorifying the Father for the Son\u2019s paschal victory over sin, death, and hell. The proper sense of Psalm 21 may be summarized as: \u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who … Continue reading November 7 – November 14, 2025<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2706,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2705\/revisions\/2706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}