A place for you.

It is amazing what a little understanding of the textual background (history, context, and geography) can do to help us see the Word of God with more clarity. One example of this is found in the famous Old Testament passage of Joshua 24:15. “And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in…

Malachi is a post-exilic book (Mal. 1:3 cf. Jer. 49:7-22; Eze. 25:12-14).  The children of Israel have returned from captivity.  The temple has been rebuilt (Mal. 1:6-ff).  Time has passed, perhaps 100 years. Problems existed. Certain issues in this book seem to line up with the book of Nehemiah, e.g. marriage (Mal. 2:10-11, cf. Neh. 13:23ff), care of the poor (Mal. 3:5, cf. Neh. 5:1ff), and giving (Mal. 3:8; Neh. 10:32-39; 13:10ff). The book of Malachi is written to motivate…

As the short, two-chapter book of Haggai opens, we don’t read of God’s people being condemned for worshipping false gods. Nor do we read of them being given over to sexual deviance, intermarrying with foreign nations, or casually practicing divorce. Still yet, they aren’t found to be committing heinous crimes against one another, stealing from one another, or even so much as just being generally unkind to one another. No – after Cyrus, King of Persia, had declared that the…

The book of Zephaniah contains many Biblical principles that we should learn. The name Zephaniah means “Jehovah shall protect.” It comprises three chapters and only has fifty-three verses. Still, the power behind these few chapters and verses ought to shake the very foundations of one’s soul as you read about the Lord’s anger because of Judah’s unrighteousness. “That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of wasteness and desolation, A day of darkness…