July 3, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 13-18. Background: Ezekiel 7-12. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 13 Speaking for God when He did not speak: Ezekiel is sent by the Lord with an oracle against the prophets of Isreal in this chapter, because the prophets were speaking lies, telling of false visions. They would said “Declares the…
Tag: destruction
I Kings 19-22: Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel.
June 30, 2015. Daily Reading: I Kings 19-22. Background: I Kings 14-18. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 19 When a man of God is afraid: After his bold stance against Ahab and the hundreds of prophets of Baal and the Asherah, here we read of one woman who was able to make Elijah turn and run…
Ezekiel 7-12: Oracles of destruction.
June 26, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 7-12. Background: Ezekiel 1-6. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 7 Prophecy of the Lord’s wrath: Chapter seven opens with a message from the Lord to the land of Israel: the wrath of the Lord has come upon you. The people of God had been judged for their abominations and the…
Ezekiel 1-6: Visual prophecy.
June 19, 2015. Daily Reading: Ezekiel 1-6. Background: Ezekiel was a priest who was called to be a prophet of the Lord as an exile of Babylon. Judah, just as her sister Israel had been taken captive by the Assyrians years before, had fallen into the hand of the Babylonians under the rule of King…
Lamentations 1-5: Hope in the midst of lament.
June 12, 2015. Daily Reading: Lamentations 1-5. Background: The book of Lamentations is a collection of five poems (corresponding to the five chapters) that are traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah, though there is no textual evidence that states this claim outright. The first four poems are acrostics, with each verse beginning with a successive letter of…
Jeremiah 42-46: Further disobedience and judgment.
May 29, 2015 Daily Reading: Jeremiah 42-46. Background: Jeremiah 37-41. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 42 God’s warning: At the beginning of this chapter, there is a sense that the children of Israel, or at least the remnant that was left in the land of Judah, were finally starting to come around and realize that the words…
Jeremiah 32-36: Problems in Judah.
May 15, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 32-36. Background: Jeremiah 27-31. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 32 Jeremiah buys a field: As we begin this chapter, we find Jeremiah imprisoned by the court guard because of the negative prophecies he has made against Judah and King Zedekiah. Though the word was from the Lord, the king and the…
Jeremiah 17-21: Prophecy and persecution.
April 24, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 17-21. Background: Jeremiah 12-16. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 17 1. The deceptive heart: This chapter begins with an oracle against Judah for their sin, implying that their seen had left a permanent mark on their heart, etched with diamond, so that they would not consider repenting. The main reason for…
Jeremiah 12-16: Famine, sword and pestilence.
April 17, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 12-16. Background: Jeremiah 7-11. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 12 Jeremiah’s complaint and the Lord’s answer: Jeremiah looks out on the people in the land and sees the great evil that the leaders are involved in and complains to the Lord, asking why the wicked prosper and why the treacherous thrive. He…
Jeremiah 7-11: No balm in Gilead.
April 10, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 7-11. Background: Jeremiah 1-6. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 7 1. False hope: In this chapter, Jeremiah beings a discourse that would last through the end of chapter 10, proclaiming the judgment and lament of God on His people for the transgressions they were committing against Him. It is not…
Jeremiah 1-6: The word of the Lord through Jeremiah.
April 3, 2015. Daily Reading: Jeremiah 1-6. Background: The book of Jeremiah is a compilation of the word of the Lord though the prophet Jeremiah that spans almost the full time of the prophet’s life. Jeremiah is called as a youth to be a prophet of the Lord, delivering a very unappealing message to the people….
Isaiah 45-50: Prophecy of Babylon’s fall and the call of the Lord’s people.
March 6, 2015. Daily Reading: Isaiah 45-50. Background: Isaiah 40-44. Concepts and Connections. Chapter 45 1. God uses who He will: As the people are in Babylonian captivity, the Lord as raise up a king, according to His plan from the days of old, to concur Babylon and deliver the children of Israel. This king was…
Twenty Eight Eighteen 