Those who have read any number of my essays may have noticed that I’ll often comment upon unusual or obscure passages of Scripture to tease out what may be the thinking behind what is written. Of course, I have no unique communication with the authors of old and must sometimes speculate what’s going on behind…
Posts Categorized: Israel
1 Kings 13:34 – Fruit of Bad Counsel
Counsel may come from men and be good or bad and have its consequences; when counsel comes from God and is ignored the outcome is disastrous. When Rehoboam became king in place of his father Solomon, he immediately had a choice to make as to how he would rule. The people of Israel came to…
1 Kings 10:5 – No Breath in Her
Imagine yourself a monarch – a king or queen – in the time of Solomon. The queen of Sheba was such a ruler. Because of Solomon’s fame, this queen heard about him from the distant land in which she lived. Sheba is considered to be the modern day country of Yemen, to the far south…
1 Kings 9:8 – Heap of Ruins
Solomon spent seven years building the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6:38). When he had finished, he dedicated the house to the Lord. In his prayers of dedication, Solomon acknowledged the natural inclination of the people to sin, and he pleaded with Yahweh to forgive them in their human failures. We see…
1 Kings 6:1 – Exodus Dating
If you’re like me, you’ve probably had no idea there is an ongoing dispute in scholarly circles as to the dating of the Exodus. In what is known as “The Academy”, Biblical scholars contend with each other regarding this important date. They go back and forth in their elite, peer-reviewed journals with one scholar citing…
1 Kings 3:1 – Foreshadowing
The Bible contains numerous instances of foreshadowing, where an event occurs that shows a hint of what will come in the future. Right off the bat in the account of Solomon’s reign, we see this situation. Solomon was the Lord’s anointed to continue as king over all Israel following the death of his father David….