PERSEVERANCE IN the face of opposition is one of the lessons from our reading today. The Samaritans, Ammonites, and Arabs in Nehemiah’s day tried to discourage the Jews through threats, political pressure, and even a conspiracy to assassinate Nehemiah.
NEARLY ONE hundred years after Cyrus issued his decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem, the walls of the Holy City still had not been rebuilt.
THE SECOND group to return from Babylon to Jerusalem was led by Ezra the priest in 458 B.C. It was a four-month journey, which the Jews undertook without an armed guard — something that was unheard of in that day.Continue Reading
AN ASTUTE listener pointed out that we skipped chapter 9 of Deuteronomy way back between studies #44 and #45, so we begin this week by correcting that oversight.
THE STORY of Esther, a Jewish woman who became queen of Persia, is the origin of the Purim holiday, celebrating the salvation of the Jewish people from Human, a key advisor to Xerxes, the king.Continue Reading
APOCALYPTIC PROPHECIES of the coming Day of the Lord are the focus of the last three chapters of Zechariah. Today we discuss the prophet’s vision of the final battle of the age and compare it to Armageddon and the war of Gog and Magog.
We also talk about the aftermath, the millennial reign (although Zechariah doesn’t call it that), and the final world order, when God rules and reigns over the entire world from Jerusalem.Continue Reading
GOD PROMISED that the tears and fasting of the Jews who’d returned to Jerusalem would be turned to joyous feasting. Then we turn to prophecies of God’s judgment against the unrepentant nations on the Day of Yahweh.Continue Reading
A FLYING SCROLL, a woman named Wickedness, other women with wings like storks, and four chariots pulled by red, black white, and dappled horses continue the fascinating vision of the prophet Zechariah.Continue Reading
WE OPEN 2019 with a study of two of the shorter prophetic chapters of the Old Testament, but they are rich with multiple layers of meaning.Continue Reading
NOT SURPRISINGLY, the exiles who returned to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. got discouraged pretty quickly and left off rebuilding the Temple. Thankfully, God sent a couple of prophets to encourage them to get back to work.Continue Reading