This psalm begins with David’s desire to build the temple. When he became king he built a beautiful palace, but it troubled him that the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence among his people, remained in a tent. The opening verses tell of David’s intention to build a …
Sadly, Nebuchadnezzar did not take the prophet’s advice to turn from his evil ways. It seems almost incredible that the king would refuse to heed Daniel’s pleading and yet that is exactly what happened. The heart of man has not changed since that historic event. With all the preaching of …
This prophecy includes three sections, each of which closes with the words seen so often in Ezekiel, “then they will know that I am the Lord” (vv. 6a, 9, 16). This first of seven prophecies against Egypt was given almost a year after the siege of Jerusalem began …
Some Bible scholars think Psalm 90 is one of the oldest pieces of writing in the Bible. It probably was written by Moses in the wilderness on the way from Egypt to Canaan. Perhaps Moses had already written Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and parts of Numbers, but these works were not …
In this chapter the prophet extends his message to Tyre, which is Israel’s neighboring nation to the northeastern Mediterranean coastal kingdom (v. 1). Ships making their way eastward from Tarshish (probably in Spain) would stop in Cyprus before going on to Tyre and Sidon which w …
This chapter concludes Moses’ review of Israel’s wilderness journey. Moses stops talking about Israel’s past and emphasizes the present. He wanted to make sure that the people did not soon forget all they had seen God do. At the same time, he wanted Israel to know the importance of …
Solomon began to build the temple at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah is just north of the old Jebusite city of Ophel, and on the spot marked by the threshing floor of Araunah, an important place. This was the place designated by the Lord and purchased by David as a site for …
Shimei first appeared in Scripture throwing rocks and cursing as David’s army was fleeing from Absalom. David’s men wanted to kill him on the spot (II Sam. 16:5-13) but his execution was delayed, probably because of all that David was facing at the moment in view of Absalom’s …
The Judaizers thought they had Paul backed into a cor?ner. If salvation does not involve the law, then why was the law given in the first place. Our faith is a logical faith and can be defended on rational grounds. Paul uses a logical argument that the law cannot change the p …
No God-directed ministry is small or unimportant. We do not measure the fulfillment of a ministry only on the basis of statistics, or on what people see. To be “watchful and endure afflictions” (v. 5) means to keep cool when the circumstances of life are pressing in o …