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THE HARSHEST criticism of Israel we’ve encountered so far is the focus of this week’s study. God calls the people of Judah a prostitute — except that prostitutes get paid.Continue Reading

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THE SOJOURN in Egypt was such a defining moment in the history of Israel and Judah that you would think the last thing Judeans would want is to go back there. You would be wrong.Continue Reading

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SPEAKING TRUTH can be dangerous. The last days of Judah’s independence before the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar are chronicled in this week’s study of the book of Jeremiah.Continue Reading

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YOU’D THINK that prophets of Yahweh during the reign of good king Josiah would have been a little more upbeat. Not so much.Continue Reading

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JOSIAH IS remembered as one of the best kings of the House of David. But even though his reforms brought Judah back to the Lord, the sins of his grandfather, Manasseh, had been so great that God only delayed His punishment on the kingdom of Judah until after Josiah’s death.Continue Reading

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This week, we read Hosea’s prophecy against the northern kingdom of Israel, a final warning that was fulfilled when Assyria destroyed Samaria in 722 B.C.Continue Reading

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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.Continue Reading

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THE FUTURES of Damascus, Moab, Egypt, and a mysterious foreign superpower — possibly the USA — are the meat of our Old Testament study this week.Continue Reading

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THE DIVISION of the kingdom of Israel is the focus of our Old Testament study this week. Rehoboam, son of Solomon, gets bad advice from his young friends, not just rejecting the request of the northern tribes for tax relief, but doing so with a rather crude euphemism.Continue Reading

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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.Continue Reading