Good afternoon fellow English majors OK, I am not an English major.  But this passage makes me ponder how God uses extreme statements to prove a point.   Blessings, Jeff The word hyperbole, from a Greek word meaning “excess,” is a figure of speech that uses extreme exaggeration to make a point or show emphasis.  Hebrew had hyperbole before the Greeks came along with a word for it.  Four disasters, each so severe that Noah, Daniel and Job would only save themselves.  Reformation Study Bible note:"Noah, Daniel (not the prophet), and Job" would then designate non-Israelite figures from remote times known for their uprightness. They could not save the world in their own day and even together could not save the city of Jerusalem Ezekiel 14:14 The three most righteous men in OT history together would only save themselves.  Think back to the judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham bargains with the angel of the Lord to preserve these two cities if a cer...

Good evening friends, I Cor 15 is one of the chapters that make sense out of all the other events.  We really need to have our minds transformed by the truth of this chapter.  I hope this short devotional encourages you to spend time pondering what God breathed out for  Paul to tell us. Blessings, Jeff It is really hard to understand how the theory that Jesus really didn't die and therefore the resurrection didn't occur either got started.  Without the death and resurrection, Christianity cannot be true. You are probably tired of my references to Genesis 3:15 as the start of the plan of salvation.  But, I think that looking at 1 Cor 15 really affirms that the rest of scripture is a footnote that explains how the promise will be fulfilled.  The seed of women is to crush the serpents head.  If Jesus died but was not resurrected, death would have been victorious.  The serpent would have won.  When we see what Jesus actually did, it makes the int...

A few short thoughts about the challenges David had to address following becoming king of Judah but not of all Israel. The other day, David was mourning Saul and Jonathan.  Today, he is morning Abner, Saul's leading general.   Contrasts Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle.  Abner was murdered by Joab and his brother Abishai to avenge the death of their other brother Asahel. The Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul was executed by David.  The brothers are cursed by David but not executed immediately.  However, David tells Solomon to have Joab executed when he become king. Mourning for Saul and Jonathan was purely personal.  Mourning for Abner has a political aspect.  David was in no way responsible for Saul's death.  However, Joab and his brothers are David's nephews.  Zeruiah is David's sister.  Typically "son of" implies the named person is the father.  However, here it is the mother.  David is interesting in uni...

Trying to catch up a little.  Today is a day off from the grands. Observations: What do we learn about the Lord?  He knows what the people of Israel/Judah thought.   He brings what they fear (the sword) upon them. He gives them into the hands of foreigners and executes judgments on them He does these things so that they will know that he is the LORD. Applications: What do these things teach us about Israel/Judah?  Essentially the opposites of truth about God. They had forgotten that God knows the secrets of the heart to the point that their thoughts were demonstrated by acts (multiplying the slain in the streets).   They had forgotten to fear the Lord.  They were focused on assuring themselves that the Babylonians would not capture the city. They had forgotten that God is the judge of all the earth.  The political and military explanations for events were more important than the moral explanations. They had forgotten that God is the LORD....

Good morning fellow soldiers of the cross, He we are marching into 2 Samuel.  Of course Samuel didn't write this history as he has died.  But the history of the first and second kings of Israel are center stage.  As I thought about the emotions in this passage, I encourage you not to skip over people's responses in scripture.  I hope these thought help in that way. Blessings, Jeff David's response to the news of Saul and Jonathan's deaths and defeat of Israel.  Here is the man who has known he was the next king for many years weeping and fasting over the death of his enemy.  In fact, in God's eyes he was the legitimate king since the day he was anointed by Samuel.  Essentially a king living in exile.   How does this event move toward the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15?  Why is it necessary to see David weeping over the death of the man who sought to kill him? Observations David's emotions appear to be real.  If you have ever seen a Mid...

Good morning friends, Some thoughts on the city of God and the cities of man. Blessings, Jeff What is the difference between Jerusalem and every other great city?  It seems that everyone from a "great city" boasts about the city for its culture, sports, education,  architecture, etc. But only the Jews could boast that Jerusalem is the city of the Great King, the city of our God, the city that God will establish forever.  So the difference seems to be that other cities boast about what man has done while Jews boasted about the God who dwelled there. The occasion of this psalm is some great deliverance of Jerusalem from some foreign armies.  The author rightly gives credit to God.  However, eventually, there was a transfer of credit from God to the Jews themselves.  They started to see themselves as a great people because of Jerusalem, not because of the God who took up residence there or because of their obedience to God's law.  While the modern Israel ...

Good evening friends, Writing from a cold and rainy Madison.  48F on May 27.  This is like March.  Another passage about the serious nature of idolatry.  We can't escape God's presence by doing things in secret.  God's presence is a great comfort to believers, but it is a terror to those who deceive themselves and others. Blessings, Jeff The image of jealousy. Refers back to Deuteronomy 4 and the expanded version of second commandment.  Every idol stirs up God's jealousy for His own name.  So "image of jealousy" isn't an image that looks like jealousy, but the idols of Judah that provoked God to jealousy. Ezekiel is physically in Babylon but he was "lifted up" by the Spirit and given visions of what was happening in Jerusalem.  Despite many people already going into exile, those still in Jerusalem refuse to change their ways. Great abominations that drive God from his sanctuary.  The vision of the "four living creatures" and  "whee...