After Abimelech, Tola arose to rescue Israel (vv. 1-2). We know little about this sixth judge. He was a member of the tribe of Issachar and his regime lasted 23 years. Apparently, nothing outstanding occurred during his reign. Jair was the seventh judge who apparently was wealthy …
Zophar is the last man to speak in this round. I suppose today we would say that Zophar has the scientific mind. He thinks you pour life into the test tube and it will always come out a certain way. Ignoring Job’s plea for pity, Zophar merely reacts against what he considers…
Chapter 16 covers the seven bowl judgments. These are an expansion of the seventh trumpet judgement, just as the seven trumpet judgments are an expansion of the breaking of the seventh seal judgment. John introduces the seven angels to pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the …
Following His public baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days (v. 1). The wilderness of Judea is a hot, barren and desolate area that lays between the Dead Sea and Jerusalem and is approximately thirty-five miles long and fifteen miles wide. Following this period Satan put Him through three major tests …
In these verses the girl recalls a dream that caused her concern for her lover’s whereabouts. She rose in the middle of the night to search for him (vv. 1-3). Her search was rewarded as her lover was found and brought lovingly to the home of the bride (v. 4). Verse five ends the courtship …
Amos saw a basket of summer fruit gathered, and ready to be eaten, which signified, that the people were ripe for judgment, that the year of God’s patience was drawing towards a conclusion (vv. 1-3). Like this fruit Israel was ripe for judgment (v. 2). God had appointed a day of judgment for …
Throughout Israel people had erected altars to worship pagan gods. The Lord was about to destroy these altars and liter the pagan shrines with the carcasses and bones of those who worshiped there. Ezekiel addressed the mountains of Israel because it was there the “h …
Men are always building monuments to memorialize the achievements of man. But where are the monuments to display the goodness and greatness of God? In this passage we find just such a memorial as it points to the crossing of the multitudes of Israelites as they passed over the dry …
Paul’s conscience was clear, and he simply stated the facts. His enemies and the real culprits were the troublemakers who had followed him from Asia Minor and had spread false rumors about him (vv. 17-19). Why weren’t his real accusers present at this trial? Further Paul pointed out that the …
Here we see very vividly both the enemy’s attack and the Christian defense. It says that the Sanhedrin regarded Peter and John as unlearned and ignorant men (v. 13). The word translated “unlearned†means that they had no kind of technical education. The word translated “ignorant†…