Herod Agrippa II was only seventeen when his father, King Herod Agrippa I died, Emperor Claudius, a close friend of Herod’s father, wanted this young man educated in Rome to assume his father’s throne. But advisers convinced Claudius that the boy was too young. Six years later, in AD 50, Claudius give Herod some territory to rule in what is now Lebanon. Herod later traded that for regions in northern Israel and Syria.
Continue reading LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT (HEROD AGRIPPA II)
Paul (or Saul, as he was also known) was a zealot, a staunch defender of the Jewish faith. He was especially zealous about exposing and punishing offshoots of Judaism that threatened to obscure its message.
He targeted the disciple of a rabbi named Jesus of Nazareth who were attempting to keep his message alive even after the rabbi himself had been crucified. They spread stories about seeing him risen form the dead. They claimed he was the Son of God and the way to everlasting life.
Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (PAUL “THE UNLIKELIEST DISCIPLE”)
Some walled cities of Bible times had an inner wall and an outer wall for maximum protection (see note on 2 Samuel 18:24). To strengthen these walls, the space between them was filled with dirt and rubble at selected points. Houses were sometimes built right into the city wall by placing them on top of these piles of rubble. Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS AND CURIOSITIES (A HOUSE ON A WALL)
In the ancient world, towers were built to protect crops, roads, and cities. They were used both domestically to watch over a landowner’s fields and militarily in the defense of a city. Watchmen stood in towers, armed and ready to sound the alarm if enemies threatened their territory. The more towers a city had, the stronger it was thought to be (see Ps 48:12-14). The tower at the center of a city would have also served as a storehouse.
The apostle Paul was born in the city of Tarsus in the Roman province of Cilicia (in southern Turkey) and was named Saul. His father had Roman citizenship, so although he was a jew, Saul was born a Roman citizen. His Latin name was Paul. Saul was raised a Pharisee and as a young man went to Jerusalem to study under Gamaliel, a leading rabbi.