The book of Judges bustles with colorful characters.
Ehud, a left-handed political assassin who cleverly dispatches a corpulent king.
Deborah, a bold prophet and matriarch of Israel who musters tribes to war.
Samson, a Rambo-like warrior who dallies with women and annihilates Philistines in a temple of doom.
To … Read more…
The book of Malachi fittingly sits in Christian Bibles as the last book of the Old Testament, which it assumes, summarizes and applies. Yet it also looks forward to the New Testament with its promises of the coming reign of God.
A striking feature of the book is the way in which every word of God is contradicted or questioned by his people… Read more…
"Affluence, exploitation and the profit motive were the most notable features of the society which Amos observed and in which he worked . . .
"Standards had gone to pot. Authority and the rule of law were despised, and national leadership, while reeling in the publicity and dignity of position . . . Seemed to be contributing to the comple… Read more…
A replacement volume in the Bible Speaks Today Old Testament commentary series, Dale Ralph Davis's The Message of Daniel offers a reliable exposition of the visionary book of Daniel for pastors and lay commentary readers.
About the Bible Speaks Today (BST) Series:
Edited by J.A. Motyer and the late John R. W. Stott, … Read more…
The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BC is the likely setting for the book of Lamentations. This was the most traumatic event in the whole of Old Testament history, with its extreme human suffering, devastation of the ancient city, national humiliation, and the undermining of all that was thought to be theologically guaranteed like the Davi… Read more…
The prophet Jeremiah addressed the people of Judah and Jerusalem over a forty-year period leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. The book of Jeremiah addresses the exiles, especially those in Babylon, in the years after the catastrophe.
Here we encounter Jeremiah the prophet who, from his youth to old age, delivered the wor… Read more…
Ever since Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth, Christians have gravitated to this great prophecy as the interpretive center of the Old Testament. Here the story of Israel, scourged by judgment and exile and hopeful of restoration, is framed by its witnesses, heaven and earth. How will Israel be brought through its school of suf… Read more…
At first reading the Song of Songs appears to be an unabashed celebration of the deeply rooted urges of physical attraction, mutual love and sexual consummation between a man and a woman.
Tom Gledhill maintains that the Song of Songs is in fact just that--a literary, poetic exploration of human love that strongly affirms loyalty, beauty an… Read more…
By any assessment, Esther is a rather strange book to find in the Bible. Not only is it, along with Daniel, the only book of the Bible to be set entirely outside of the Promised Land, it also shows no interest in that land. More than that, Esther is the only book in the Bible which definitely does not mention God. None of this should be taken as meaning that… Read more…
Ezra is rarely if ever preached on. Haggai gets even shorter shrift: if anything, Haggai 1 is pressed into service to encourage a reluctant congregation to give to an ailing fabric fund. But the message of these books, and their emphasis on building for God and the need of obedience to his Word and openness to his Spirit, is one which needs to be heard clear… Read more…
Michael Wilcock sees Chronicles as first and foremost a sermon; its object -- to foster a right relationship between God and his people. The Chronicler finds in the records of Israel the "great overall pattern" of God's hand in history. The Lord's constant mercy, love and faithfulness shine through. With great perception, the Chronicler first selects… Read more…
Ezekiel comes to us as a stranger from a distant time and land. Who is this priest who, on his thirtieth birthday, has a dazzling vision of God on a wheeled throne? Who is this odd prophet who engages in outlandish street theater and speaks for God on international affairs? Who is this seer who paints murals of apocalyptic doom and then of a restored temple … Read more…
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