Bible Studies, Inspired by Faith and Science

And now, at last, we get to Jonah. But there's been a long gap, so we'll start with a quick recap: (9) Jonah Starting with History: In Judah, King Joash was the lone survivor of a coup against the house of David. Joash's father was caught up in General Jehu's coup against Ahab's descendants who governed Israel. Joash's grandmother Athalia, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, then attempted to eliminate the whole house of David in order to gain control of Judah. Meanwhile Jehu became king of Israel. Does this remind you of world history, recent history, modern history, fiction, fantasy...? Why? Joash, rescued and brought up by priests, was a good and holy king until his mentor died. The prophet Zechariah tried to keep him on track, but Joash ignored warnings, lost a major battle with the Syrians, and was assassinated. Unlike in Israel, assassination in Judah led to another Davidic king taking the throne - Joash's son Amaziah. Why didn’t someone other than ...

We ended up splitting this study into two parts as well, so here's part 1, replacing the original longer study. We're heading for the prophet Jonah, but we meet another character called Zechariah along the way. (8) Good King gone bad, and the Prophet Zechariah Israel and Judah were in a state of war for years after Jehu’s assassination of Judah’s king Ahaziah, and after Athalia’s attempt to destroy the house of David. But one son of David remained in Judah to hold the throne: Read 2 Chronicles 24:1-3. Joash’s mother is from Beer-sheba. Jewish readers, familiar with all their history, would immediately think of Beersheba’s history as soon as they read it. We often skip over place names as irrelevant, but today, let’s look at what other things happened in Beersheba. 1.        Genesis 21:14 Did God care for Hagar in the desert? What deserts has he cared for us in? 2.        Genesis 21:30-33, 22:19 Oaths were sworn, bo...

A fought B, then C allied with D, then A killed E, then F prophesied... Sometimes racing through a book as big as the Bible can feel a bit like that. One of our group told me she's getting confused in our studies, so here's a very rough attempt at getting those timelines straight in readiness for our next study. approx. Dates Kings Prophets/Judges General Enemies Major Events 1175BC none many Tribes even fight each other Philistines (Sea Peoples) in southern Canaan coast. Egypt is powerful 1125BC Deborah Tribes beginning to unite 1075BC Assyria less important, Egypt is splitting up. Philistines have iron. 1050BC Saul Samuel Philistines Saul unites tribes into a country. Egypt loses control of Southern Canaan. Aram (Syria, Damascus) is more powerful 1000...

After glancing through Elijah's miracles last week, it must be time to take a look at Elisha's as well. This week's session covers tons of history, and just a few prophets, so it's kind of a fleeting visit to Old Testament politics. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it: We studied it in our group today and it took too long, so we're going to split the study into two. Below is the revised, two-lesson version: (6) Elijah and Elishah Do you remember what Ruth said to her mother-in-law ( Ruth 1:16 )? Read 1 Kings 22:4-5. Does the phrasing sound familiar? Jehoshaphat doesn’t say “my God is your God” but perhaps it’s assumed. Do we have any similar prayer styles, repeated on different occasions? Read 2 Chronicles 18:1-3. This is another version of the same story, and explains why Jehoshaphat (Asa’s son, who succeeded him as King of the Southern Kingdom) is in the North. The Southern king asks the Northern King to “enquire of the Lord.” Given that South if faithful and No...