Jehoram was the world’s best-known fratricidal maniac. He waited until power was solidly in his palm, then wiped out all possible bloodline competitors. The crime carried little strategic advantage, and alternatives, such as appointing brothers to cabinet posts, might have been more effective in securing Jehoram’s reputation and power.
Continue reading HOW COULD ANYONE BE SO CRUEL AS TO EXECUTE ALL HIS BROTHERS
The battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest three days in U.S. war history, saw about 100,000 men fall. The entire Vietnam war involved about 55,000 U.S. casualties. A half-million dead and injured in one day is a staggering sum, almost more violence then we can conceive an army enduring.
Continue reading HOW COULD ANCIENT ISRAEL SUSTAIN 500,000 WAR CASUALTIES IN A DAY?
Peter gives much the same advice that Paul did in letters he wrote to a pair of churches in the same area: Ephesus and Colosse. Most Bible experts say Paul was probably in Rome from about AD 60 to 62 awaiting trial when he wrote those two letters. Perhaps Peter visits him there, hears what’s happening in Turkey, and decides to add his advice in a separate letter to all churches in the region. Silas, the man who helps Peter write this letter, is also one of Paul’s associate ministers.
Continue reading SUBMIT TO PEOPLE IN CHARGE
Many, but not all, of the deities worshiped in the mysteries were originally associated with fertility. As such, their associated myths often referred to the natural cycle as it waxes and wanes (for instance, Demeter) or to the dying and rising of a god (Attis, Adonis, Osirs). Some scholars thing that the mysteries used this feature of the myth to give symbolic expression of rising to immorality with the deity. However, not all scholars agree; some deities venerated in mystery religions did not die or rise; moreover, the exact use of the myth in the mysteries is often unclear, though some concept of immorality seems to be implied.
Continue reading DEFINITION OF THE DAY (MYSTERY RELEIGIONS PT 2 OF 2)
Solomon’s list of times and “seasons” must be viewed within the larger context of life an history. He is not necessarily saying, “Hey, it’s twelve o’clock, time to kill-so go out and bump someone off.” Rather, Solomon insists that human life takes place within a larger framework of events that repeat down through history: laughter, tears, killing, healing, destruction, building, death, birth.
Continue reading AGAINST SO MANY BIBLICAL COMMANDS, HOW CAN SOLOMON ADVISE THAT THERE IS A TIME TO KILL, TO TEAR DOWN, AND TO HATE?
Ehud killed the king of Moab, Eglon, by plunging a sword into his stomach. However, Eglon’s death was a result of God’s punishment for oppressing the people of Israel for eighteen years. It is not a question of murder serving God’s will. Rather, God
Continue reading HOW DOES MURDER SERVE GOD’S WILL AND WIN GOD’S APPROVAL?
1.Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (HOSEA 4:1-19 “GOD’S CHARGE AGAINST ISRAEL”)
26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
Continue reading SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY (MATTHEW 10:26-31 “FEAR GOD”)
Two prostitute roommates had babies within three days of each other. While sleeping one night, one prostitute rolled over on her son and accidentally suffocated him. She quietly swapped sons with the other woman, and insisted it was her baby. The other woman knew better.
Two women and a baby showed up in Solomon’s court.
Continue reading SOLOMON AT HIS WISESET
This phrase from the Song of Deborah (read Judges 5:10) pictures Sisera’s mother wondering why her son had not returned from a battle with the Israelites. But Sisera would not return; he had been killed by a woman named Jael, who drove a tent peg through his head while he was sleep (Judges 4:21).
Continue reading BIBLE CUSTOMS & CURIOSITIES (A CRY FROM A WINDOW)