In Israel’s early history, God’s relationship with the nation was compared to a father relating to his son (Exodus 4:22-23). God gently led His “children” out of Egyptian bondage, down to Sinai, and eventually into the promised Land.
Continue reading MATTHEW QUOTES A VERSE FROM HOSEA 11:1, WHAT IS THE CONNECTION?
The evaluation at times took a decidedly negative tone. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was the first to have his reign characterized in a more negative way due to the first that Judah “step up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree” (1 Kings 14:23). This was clearly a case of hyperbole; nevertheless a land that appeared full of what God had forbidden characterized Rehoboam’s rule as less than it needed to be.
Continue reading EVERYDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIMES (SACRED STONES PT4)
In times of trouble, Israel had a habit of turning to foreign nations for help and protection. Instead of relying on God, the nation would form alliances with world powers like Assyria or Egypt. The point of a “half-baked cake” was to
Continue reading WHAT’S THE MEANING OF HOSEA’S REFERENCE TO “HALF-BAKED CAKE”?
Go and marry a prostitute, so some of her children will be born to your from other men” (Hosea 1:2).
Continue reading A LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT (GOMER)
“Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise” (Jeremiah 17:14).
When our bodies are injured, we know to go to the nearest hospital for help. When our souls are sick, where do we go? We will find no help at the Regional Medical Center. Only God can help the soul and His hospital for the sin-sick is the church. Eugene Peterson was right when he said, “The Sunday morning congregation is a hospital” (Hos. 6:1; Mk. 2:17; Lk. 4:18). How is the church like a hospital?
Continue reading GOD’S HOSPITAL
A yoke was a wooden collar placed on the neck of an ox to which plows and other farming implements were attached (Hosea 11:4). Jesus used the yoke in this passage as a metaphor for commitment to Him and His teachings.
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS & CURIOSITIES (AN EASY YOKE)
From an early age we are taught to respect the belongings of others even if our size and strength make it possible to take them by force. In order to understand the actions of the people of the ancient Near East, we need to make a major adjustment in this thinking. Within the cultural construct of this world, the expectation was that those who were victorious in battle had the right to seize the personal property of those defeated and even enslave the owners of that property. This practice of plundering is mentioned repeatedly in the literature of the ancient world peatedly in the literature of the ancient world and illustrated in the art of the empires that rose to power during the Old Testament era.
Continue reading EVERYDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIMES (PLUNDER)
General term for religions marked by rites that reenact a myth accounting for the orderly change of the seasons and the earth’s fruitfulness. Such myths often involve a great mother-goddess as a symbol of fertility and a male deity, usually her consort but sometimes a son, who like vegetation dies and returns to life again. In Mesopotamia the divine couple was Ishtar and Tammuz (who is mourned in Ezek 8:14); in Egypt, Isis and her sons Osiris: in Asia Minor, Cybele and Attis. In Syria the Ugaritic myths of the second millennium B.C. pictured Baal-Hadad, the storm god, as the dying and rising god. (A local manifestation of this god is mourned in Zech
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (FERTILITY CULT PT1)
Engaging in sexual intercourse prior to marriage. The Song of Songs is an extended poem extolling the virtue of sexual fidelity between a king and his chosen bride. Sexual desire runs strong throughout the song as the king and his beloved anticipate their union together. At intervals the poet repeats a refrain counseling sexual restraint: “Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you, by the gazelles and the wild does of the field; do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time” (Song 2:7 HCSB; 3:5; 8:4). To the church in Corinth, a city well-known for
Continue reading BIBLE DEFINITION OF THE DAY (PREMARITAL SEX)
During Bible times, the Holy Land was still occupied by lions. These majestic animals, then as now, do not typically prey on humans, though older or disabled lions sometimes see people as easy food to capture. Observable lion behavior lies behind the comparisons that we find in the Scriptures. Their roaring tends to provoke fear (Amos 3:8), so Peter can write, “Keep your mind clear, and be alert. Your opponent the devil is prowling