One of the biggest surprises in the Bible is the kind of Messiah God sent to save Israel. Jews expected a warrior. Someone like King David, only better. A leader who would free them from oppressors. restore Israel’s lost glory, and even create heaven on earth.
Continue reading DEAD SAVIOR
When contemporary hikers traveling the backcountry encounter places where the well-worn path gives way to solid rock, they often find cairns to guide their footsteps on an otherwise invisible path. Cairns are made from natural stones that have been stacked on top of one another in an unnatural way to catch the hiker’s eye. The ancient world had something similar, but it had nothing to do with hiking.
Continue reading EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE BIBLE TIMES (SACRED STONE “TO SET UP OR TO DESTORY” PT1)
1.Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (PSALM 78 1-10 “GOD’S KINDNESS TO REBELLOUS ISRAEL”)
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)
In the Bible an orphan was a boy or girl, Israelite or non-Israelite, who was unmarried and had lost one or both parents. The circumstances of such children are best understood when compared to the perceived ideal family living situation in Israel. The ideal was a father, mother, and their sons and daughters who owned farmland inherited from the father’s family. The land allowed them to grow their food and graze their animals with the support of and under the protection of the extended family.
Continue reading EVERYDAY LIFE IN BIBLE TIME (ORPHAN PT1)
Jerusalem was not Israel’s first capital. Shiloh was-for at least a century.
A high plains village nearly half a mile above sea level and thirty miles north of Jerusalem, in Israel’s hill country, Shiloh was where Joshua and the Israelites pitched the tent of God, or the worship center called the tabernacle. This is where the Israelites came to offer sacrifices to God and to celebrate religious holidays.
Continue reading A LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT (SHILOH)
Naomi’s deceased husband. Elimelech, had some land in Bethlehem that she had been forced to sell because of her poverty conditions (Ruth 4:3). Elimelech had a relative who, as his next of kin, had the right to buy back or redeem this property to keep it in the family.
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS & CURIOSITIES (SIGN OF THE SHOE)
One theme rings throughout this unique Bible book: Falling head over heels in love is fantastic! The pleasure of sexual intercourse is celebrated here in language that leaves no doubt. This book has been interpreted by some as an allegory, devaluing the erotic element in favor of a more vertical meaning (God’s love of Israel, for example). But the plan language of the book is devoted powerfully to celebrating God’s gift of love to a man and woman. So, let’s face it-if you’re going to meet and fall in love, do it this way.
Continue reading IS EROTIC LOVE OKAY?
In the beginning, Eve was not her name.
Eve wasn’t even second choice for the name of humanity’s mother. It was third. Adam came up with it only as they were leaving the Garden of Eden, forced out of God.
Continue reading A LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT (EVE)
Jacob entered the world grasping-literally. The secondborn of twin boys, Jacob started his life journey by grasping his brother Esau’s heel. The symbolism is difficult to ignore. Jacob wanted what was his-and then some.
Continue reading MEN OF THE BIBLE (JACOB “THE QUEST FOR RECONCILIATION”)