Posts from October 2024

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…

The author of the longest book in the library of the Minor Prophets is identified in the first book of his prophecy as “the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo” (1:1). Only Zephaniah’s lineage is more exhaustively traced than Zechariah’s. His name means “God remembers,” and this takes on significance when the message of the book is considered. Studying Ezra and Nehemiah, one can deduce that Zechariah is of a priestly lineage (Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Neh. 12:4,16). Matthew 23:35 reveals…

Little is known about the prophet Habakkuk, whose name is only mentioned twice in Scripture (Hab. 1:1 and 3:1) and of whom no biographical information is given. His prophecy, set shortly before the time of the Babylonian captivity, is unique and interesting in that it includes a questioning of God and also a song in its final chapter. The book opens in chapter 1 with Habakkuk questioning God: “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?…

The name “Nahum” means comfort, compassion, or consolation. No doubt, the ancient Ninevites would find that ironic. Nahum has been called “The Single Minded Prophet” because his one topic was the destruction of the Assyrian capital, Nineveh. No comfort or consolation for them could be found in that message. Nahum wrote just before the destruction of Nineveh at the hand of the Medes and Persians in 612 BC. He was a contemporary with Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk. Ironically, Nahum was…

Dark times prevail, spiritually speaking, when God’s people allow themselves to become distracted and preoccupied with economic prosperity and political maneuvering.  Goals and priorities become increasingly temporal in nature—tied to this present life and all the circumstantial trappings of it.  Mix in military threats from surrounding enemies, and God’s people can be tempted to take matters in their own hands and forget about the power of their God.  Such was the case in Micah’s day. The Assyrian Empire was the…