At the age of 7, Joash became king of Judah. He ruled for 40 years (v. 1). While Jehoiada the priest was alive, Joash obeyed the Lord (v. 2). He repaired the temple (v. 4), organizing the priests and Levites to collect the annual temple tax (v. 5), placing a collection’s box at the temple gate (v. 8), …
In yesterdays passage we shared with you four of the six reasons given in the first 22 verses of this chapter that can cause us to become dissatisfied with our relationship with God. Below you will find the last two reasons:We become dissatisfied with God when He doesn’t jump thr …
In this passage we find Israel acknowledging that they are unable to deal with God directly and needed a mediator which was Moses (vv. 18-21). The people that gathered before the mountain were full of fear and awe (Exodus 19:16). They wanted to hear from God through Moses and not …
Many People are painfully aware that things would be far better in their lives if they had made wiser decisions. It is especially frustrating to realize what they are going through now is the result of one poor decision in our lives. This is such a time in the life of Israel.When …
The scene now switches temporarily from Elijah to an account of Ahab’s reign. This chapter begins with the first of three battles over Samaria. These are between Ahab and Ben-hadad, king of Israel’s northern neighbor. This Syrian leader, Ben-hadad, was greedy for lan …
In this chapter we face the need for a standard, a measuring stick by which we can distinguish between things which are harmful and those which are harmless, between right and wrong and good and evil. That is not easy to do, as you well know. This section reveals the realism of S …
The Lord makes the grass and food for the animals to grow (vv. 14-15). He provides dwelling places for animals and birds (vv. 16-18). To all of this, He brought in the orderly cycles of life. He has added the sun and moon to rule the times when various creatures on the earth are …
Pilate tried a new approach: sympathy. If Jesus was scourged (beaten with a whip, knotted and weighted with pieces of metal or bone) perhaps they would be satisfied. Certainly, the sight of Jesus, scourged and humiliated, would arouse some pity in their hearts. He ordered that Jesus be …
The Jewish religious leaders tried to set a trap for Jesus by bringing a woman to Him caught in adultery (v. 3). “What do you say?” they asked (vv. 4-6). Roman law forbid stoning, but the law of Moses required it in the case of adultery (Deut. 22:24). However, the dishonest intent of the …
A man became envious of his friends because they had larger and more luxurious homes. So he listed his house with a real estate firm, planning to sell it and to purchase a more impressive home. Shortly afterward, as he was reading the classified section of the newspaper, he saw a …