The term Sabbath come from the Hebrew word for “case.” This day of stopping normal activity and work was to serve as a reminder of God’s rest after the work of creation (Gen 2:2-3). God set aside this day as holy and blessed it as a gift to humankind. Continue reading SIGNS AND SYMBOLS OF THE BIBLE (SABBATH)
Gift, Giving- The act of bestowing a favor or an item on another person without expecting anything in return. The purpose of a gift may be to honor (2 Sam 8:2; Dan 2:48), celebrate (Rev 11:10), or simply to bestow favor or help (Esth 9:22). God is the giver of every good and perfect gift (Matt 7:11; James 1:5, 17), including eternal life (Rom 6:23), salvation (Eph 2:8), the necessities of life (Matt 6:11), ability to work (Ecc 3:13; 5:19; Deut 8:18), the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; 5:32), spiritual abilities (1 Cor 12:4), and above all His indescribable gift (2 Cor 9:15), His Son (John 3:16). Continue reading DEFINITIONS OF (GIFT, GIVING, HOMOSEXUALITY, KISH)
The harvest and preparation of grain for use as food requires the separation of the kernels from the stalks on which they grow. Because most harvesting today is done mechanically, the significance of a threshing floor and its usefulness as a symbol is somewhat lost to us. A threshing floor was a large, open, hard surface, so threshing floors were often located on hilltops. After bundles of stalks were laid on the surface of the Continue reading SIGNS & SYMBOLS OF THE BIBLE ( THRESHING FLOOR)
Even in Bible times deer were game animals, and they were permitted in the Israelite diet because they chew the cud and “divide the hoof.” They are admired for their agility and grace, even in difficult terrain, and when they sense danger they are able to run swiftly. As the sole caretakers for fawns, does are gentle. In an arid environment like that of Israel, deer would have had to travel long distances to find water. Beautiful, graceful, swift, and sure-footed, deer were often used by the writers of Scripture to portray personal and spiritual qualities.
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)
