Modern archaeological science is revealing startling things about the role of Petra in the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and may have pinpointed the location of the biblical city of Sodom.
THE ROLE and responsibility of a watchman opens this week’s study. But there is a deeper sense of the word, a meaning rooted in the similarity of the Aramaic and Hebrew words for “Watcher” and “city.”
Ezekiel’s lament over Tyre wasn’t a simple proclamation against a pagan neighbor of the Israelites, but an already-but-not-yet prophecy that will ultimately be fulfilled just before Armageddon.
PROPHECIES AGAINST Ammon, Edom, and Babylon are the focus of this week’s study. Again, by looking closely, we see references to rebellious supernatural entities.
ISAIAH PROPHESIED the fall of Babylon before it had risen. At the time of the prophesies we read this week, Assyria was still the dominant power in the ancient Near East, but the phrase, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon,” was revealed to the prophet anyway.
GOD HAS a council that carries out His commands, and this week we get one of the few glimpses into its workings recorded in the Bible. It’s the story of Ahab’s demise in battle against the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead, where the king of Israel is enticed by lying spirits to go to his doom.
ENTANGLEMENTS WITH cares of the world, whether it’s business, politics, or personal relationships, can distract us from what we’re called to do by God. This week, we see the fall of Solomon, whose wives draw him into the worship of pagan gods.
