The Israelites had been camped in the plains of Moab, across from Jericho. From this position they were ready to enter the Promised Land. The tribes of Reuben and Gad went to Moses and tried to assure him they had no desire to shirk their responsibility of conquering the land wes …
The Lord challenged Pharaoh and his armies to learn a lesson from history. Assyria, the mightiest empire in the Near East from 745-626 B.C., had once been like a mighty cedar of Lebanon. It was well nourished and grew tall. Birds lodged in its branches, and animals sought …
It is a serious matter when Christians follow the world in dishonest business methods of the day. The Lord hates dishonest scales and is pleased with accurate weights (v. 1). During these Old Testament times many merchants used two sets of stone weights when weighing mercha …
At this time, Daniel was an old man, nearing ninety years of age. He had served through many changes of dynasty in the kingdom of Babylon, having been the prime minister of the kingdom under three successive kings. As the account tells us in the opening verses, he is readin …
The Feast of Purim was not established by the Mosaic Law. It was commanded by Mordecai (vv. 20-28) and by Esther (vv. 29-32). These two feast days were for remembering the goodness of God working through circumstances to protect His people from extinction. This feast was called …
God had commanded Joshua in verse 9 and now in this passage the newly appointed leader, Joshua speaks to the people and the people respond to support him. Joshua first told the leaders what God had told him, then the leaders quickly passed the message to their people. There was p …
Some days afterward Jesus again comes to Capernaum, possibly at Peter’s house and the crowd gathered to hear Him preach and to see Him heal. So many came that the crowd filled the house and began to crowd around the house. In fact some of these were official reli?gious …
Another warning came to Paul from a man named Agabus, who was a prophet from Judea (v. 10). He had prophesied that a widespread famine would affect the world (Acts 11:27-28) and his prophecy came true. He bound himself with Paul’s belt, using it as an object lesson, showing that …
All during Jesus’ public ministry, He exposed the self-righteousness and unbelief of the Pharisees (v. 9). This happens again in the case in this parable. The people who lived near Jerusalem often went to the temple to pray. The temple was their center of worship. On this …
As this chapter opens, we find Abraham on the move. We are not told why he is moving but we find him rounding up his flocks and moving southward along the same road that has once taken him to Egypt (v. 1). Since God seems to be silent in this situation Abraham may have been acting …