The prophet Amos closes his book on a note of hope, describing a rebirth for the nation of Israel (vv. 11- 15). God had promised to judge His people, but He did not intend to destroy them. In the future He would “restore David’s fallen tent,†“repair its broken places,†“restore its ruins,†and …
Exactly who were “the sons of God” and “the daughters of men” (vv. 1-4)? Here are two common views: (1) The sons of God were the godly line of Seth, and the daughters of men were descendants of Cain. (2) The sons of God were rulers controlled by fallen angels who intermarried with wicked …
Babylon conquered Assyria and became the new world power. In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar marched against Jerusalem and surrounded it (vv. 1-3). After 18 months of siege the Babylonians broke through the wall and completely destroyed the city. Zedekiah and …
Governor Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai, and their advisors carefully obeyed King Darius (v. 13). With great success the Jewish leaders continued working on the temple, while Haggai and Zechariah encouraged them by their preaching (v. 14). And so, the temple was completed at the comma …
As you can imagine, the temple guards were perplexed upon finding the empty prison cells (v. 24). They were soon informed, however, that their prisoners were already back in the temple, preaching as though nothing had happened (v. 25). The guards once again arrested the apostles, but they did …
Remember what this book is about. The land of Israel is being overrun by hungry locusts. The crops are destroyed. There is nothing left. And it’s because of God’s punishment upon them for leaving their first love. These people have deserved to lose God’s blessing on t …
The prophet now turns his attention to the land of Ethiopia (Cush). Cush is a land that included modern Ethiopia, the Sudan and Somalia.? the land shadowed with buzzing wings possibly refers to locusts and probably pictures the armies of Ethiopia. The king of Ethiopia had he …
Church history would indicate that this Psalm was written to commemorate the defeat of Sennacherib and the powerful Assyrian army. In his pride and ambition, he had thought the conquest of Jerusalem was a foregone conclusion. However, he had failed to take into account that he was …
Some have said that Leviticus is the most boring book of the Bible. This is easy to think unless you see how Christ is on every page of Leviticus. Like no Old Testament Book, Leviticus is filled with pictures of Christ. In Genesis, we see humanity ruined by the fall. In Exodus we …
In this passage we find, that in the future, nations and peoples will be banded together under the leadership of Gog (vv. 1-9 & Rev. 20:6) and come down from the North to invade Israel which will culminate in the battle of Armageddon. Gog seems to represent the military …