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, and Judah, said God, had been whoring with other gods for free.
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Gilbert House Fellowship #193: Ezekiel 15-18
Filed under Bible Study, Old Testament
Gilbert House Fellowship #55: Judges 1-5
WE BEGIN our study of the second of the Historical Books of the Bible. Judges is named for the twelve leaders who were raised up by Yahweh at critical points in Israel’s history from the late 13th century to the mid-11th century B.C., and it chronicles Israel’s slide into apostasy and chaos, showing the need for a godly king to lead them.
Today, we look at the first five judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar (who may have been a devotee of the Canaanite goddess of war), Barak, and Deborah.
We also discuss a few interesting aspects of the Song of Deborah (Judges 5), especially the curse by the Angel of Yahweh (Jesus, if you’ve just joined us) against Meroz. According to a Jewish tradition, Meroz was a group of supernatural inhabitants of the second heaven who refused to fight for Yahweh against the Canaanites.
Filed under Bible Study, Old Testament
Gilbert House Fellowship #16: Genesis 23-26
The death of Sarah
THE PROMISE of God to Abraham was fulfilled through Isaac and Jacob. That is made clear in the chapters we studied this week, Genesis 23 through 26.
This week, we look at the death of Sarah, the faithfulness of the servant of Abraham (possibly Eliezer of Damascus) who traveled more than 500 miles on camelback to Aram-Naharaim to find a wife for Isaac. We examine the place and the people where Abraham purchased land for a burial tomb, Esau’s disposition of his birthright, and another example of the anxieties those chosen by God to bring forth His plans as Isaac repeats the lie of his father, calling his wife his “sister” while living in the land of Abimelech, the king of Gerar.
Click to enlarge – map by Logos Bible Software
The map at left shows the routes traveled by Abraham (we subscribe to the Northern Route theory, marked in red), his servant, and Jacob as they traveled to and from Abraham’s ancestral homeland in what is today southeastern Turkey.
Filed under Bible Study, Old Testament
