We should note at the outset that in the era before clocks and precise record keeping, numbers were often an estimation. Three and five signified a little, and forty a lot more. That is not to say that forty was never an accurate number, only that precision was not the intent of biblical authors. Continue reading BIBLE SIGNS & SYMBOLS (FORTY)
FOOL, FOOLISHNESS- A stupid person or a senseless act. In the Bible, the most foolish person of all is one who denies the reality of God the Father: “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God” (Ps 14:1; 53:1). Like the Book of Proverbs, where “fool” denotes a person
ZECHARIAH 12 The city of Megiddo (“Map 6”) controlled the pass between the Valley of Jezreel and the Sharon plain. Routes that traveled northwest to the Phoenician coast and east to Damascus were also controlled by this city Many critical battles took place at Megiddo, one of the most strategic cities in the region now called Palestine. An archaeological excavation of Tell el-Mutesellim during the first decade of the twentieth century located the city, including numerous layers of occupation. Megiddo was first inhabited during the Neolithic Age. The Megiddo of the Early Bronze I period boasted the largest known temple in the Levant (Syria-Palestine) for that time period. Excavation
The number five, with its immediate connection to the fingers of one hand, often represents a small amount in the Bible. The idea expressed in modern terms is “just a handful.” When faced with the hunger of five thousand, all Jesus’ disciples could come up with was a child’s lunch of five loaves and two fish (John 6:9). Yet Jesus had no problem multiplying that small gift into abundance for the meal. Isaiah mentions five Egyptian cities that will be unusual as a foreign remnant from that land and that will “swear
Some people quit partway through a candy sale. Some students finish only half their homework. When it comes to bedrooms, some kids give up before everything’s cleansed up. What about digging into the Bible? Isn’t “halfway” good enough for such a big book? Continue reading HOW TO LOVE GOD’S WORD
Trumpets in Bible times were made of metal or bone and formed into an instrument at least two feet long. They had a high sound that could be regulated to some degree, but they were used more for signaling than for making music. Rams’ horns, also called shofar, were signaling instruments used to assemble the army (Judg 3:27; 1Sam 13:3) or sound an alarm (Job 39:24-25; Jer 6:1; Amos 3:6). They are the most commonly mentioned instrument in the Bible, with seventy-two references.
Continue reading SIGNS & SYMBOLS OF THE BIBLE (TRUMPET/SHOFAR)
In the Bible honey was the sweet syrup produced by bees, either wild (1 Sam 14:25-26) or domesticated (2 Chron 31:5). it was a delicacy rather than a necessity of life, a sign of luxury and abundance. Occasionally it is referred to as a medicine: “Pleasant words are like honey from a honeycomb-sweet to the spirit and healthy for the body” (Prov 16:24), Continue reading SIGNS & SYMBOLS OF THE BIBLE (HONEY)
The number 144,000 is used in only one book of the Bible: Revelation. The number relates to a group mentioned in Revelation 7:4-8 made up of twelve thousand people from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. The significance of twelve is heightened by using twelve times twelve as a number. This large, exact number is immediately followed by an even larger and more expansive number in verse 9 (“a large crowd from every
Continue reading BIBLE SIGNS & SYMBOLS (ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND)
Creation starts the Bible, in the book of Genesis
The end of the world finishes it, in Revelation. That could lead us to think the Bible is printed in chronological order. But it’s not. If it were, Job would likely come after Genesis. That’s because Job seems to have lived in about the time of Abraham, whose story appears in Genesis. Instead, Job’s story comes after Esther, though this Persian queen wasn’t born for at least 1,500 years after Abraham and Job. The Bible is a library of 66 books written in many genres and over a span of more than a thousand years. How
Most people in Bible times go up early, before the sun was up, so that they could make the most of the hours of daylight and allows for the extreme heat at midday in the summer. Abraham got up early to obey God’s command to sacrifice (Genesis 22:3); Moses got up early in the morning to meet God on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:4); Job offered worship early in the morning (Job 1:5); Jesus prayed before sunrise (Mark 1:35).
Continue reading MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF THE BIBLE (DOMESTIC ACTIVITIES)
