Podcast Summary: Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry

Episode: December 9 (Daniel 1; Psalm 129; Hebrews 7–8)

Date: December 9, 2025
Host: Crossway

Overview & Main Theme

This episode continues the journey through the ESV Bible in a year, providing daily readings from the Old Testament, Psalms, and the New Testament. The passages for today explore the faithfulness and distinctiveness of God’s people in exile (Daniel 1), a psalm of resilience and divine justice (Psalm 129), and urgent teaching on the person of Christ as the eternal high priest and mediator of a new and better covenant (Hebrews 7–8). The episode is focused on Scripture reading; there is no discussion or commentary, but rather an immersive experience in the biblical text itself.

Key Segments & Insights

1. Daniel 1 — Faithfulness in Exile

Timestamps: [00:01] – [02:49]

• Setting: Babylonian exile under King Nebuchadnezzar.
• Key Characters: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah (renamed Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego).
• Theme: Maintaining covenantal fidelity in a foreign land.
• Daniel and his friends, although selected for royal service and indoctrined into Babylonian culture, “resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine that he drank” (01:14).
• God honors their commitment, giving them knowledge, wisdom, and presenting them “ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters” (02:33).
• Notable Moment: The test with vegetables and water, resulting in superior health.

“At the end of ten days, it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king’s food.” — [01:57]

“And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.” — [02:44]

2. Psalm 129 — Endurance and Divine Justice

Timestamps: [02:49] – [03:31]

• Theme: The persistent suffering of Israel and the faithfulness of God.
• The psalm recounts the long-standing affliction of Israel: “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.” (02:56)
• There is a vivid image of suffering: “The ploughers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.” (03:04)
• Divine Response: God’s righteousness cuts “the cords of the wicked,” offering hope for deliverance.
• The psalm ends with a call for the enmity against Zion to be shamed and wither—a declaration that God’s justice will prevail.

“The Lord is righteous. He has cut the cords of the wicked.” — [03:07]

3. Hebrews 7–8 — Jesus, the Superior High Priest and the New Covenant

Timestamps: [03:31] – [end]

• Hebrews 7:

  • Focus on Melchizedek as a type of Christ—a priest superior to the Levitical order.
  • Jesus is “a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (04:22), distinct from priests descended from Levi and Aaron.
  • Christ’s priesthood is described as permanent and indestructible.
  • Jesus is the unique mediator—“able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (05:26)

  “For the law made nothing perfect. But on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” — [04:15]

  “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.” — [04:40]

• Hebrews 8:

  • Announces that the old covenant is obsolete and that Jesus establishes a heavenly, perfect ministry and a superior covenant.
  • The new covenant is internal: “I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (07:05)
  • Ends with God’s promise: “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (07:48)
  • The movement from shadow (old covenant) to reality (Christ’s ministry).

“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.” — [06:10]

“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete, and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” — [07:56]

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Faithfulness:
  “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine that he drank.” — Daniel 1:8 [01:14]

• On God’s Deliverance:
  “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.” — Psalm 129:2 [02:58]

• On the New Covenant:
  “This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.” — Hebrews 7:22 [04:40]
  “I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” — Hebrews 8:10 [07:05]
  “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” — Hebrews 8:12 [07:48]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Daniel 1: [00:01] – [02:49]
• Psalm 129: [02:49] – [03:31]
• Hebrews 7–8: [03:31] – [end (~08:00)]

Summary

This episode invites listeners into a focused time in Scripture, highlighting God's faithfulness to His exiled people, the endurance of His chosen nation, and the fulfillment of His promises through Christ. Across Daniel’s courageous distinctiveness, the psalmist’s cry for justice, and Hebrews’ weighty reasoning about Jesus’ eternal priesthood, the readings collectively call believers to trust God’s better promises and rest in the new covenant—where the shadow gives way to reality, and mercy triumphs in Christ.