-
1 Kings 14
Boy, that didn’t take long. If you’ve never squandered a perfectly useful hour watching the Redbull tandem coaster challenge, you don’t know what you’re missing. Israel is off the rails into such deep idolatry that Yahweh is already saying that He will uproot them from the land and send them into captivity. The Northern Kingdom…
-
1 Kings 12-13
We open a new chapter on Israel’s history: The Divided Kingdom. How typical of a spoiled rich kid to reject the wisdom of his elders and instead listen to the stupid ideas of his frat bros. That was Solomon’s son Rehoboam. And it’s no surprise that the people weren’t keen on heavier taxes. This whole…
-
Proverbs 31
Ahh, the infamous much lauded intimidating fabulous Proverbs 31 Woman… As I mentioned in the last post, many scholars believe that “Lemuel” was a nickname for Solomon. If it is, then the text of this final chapter of Proverbs was given by God through Bathsheba. It’s one of the few places in scripture where God…
-
Proverbs 30
The opening verse of Proverbs 30 is a little odd. The Hebrew names – Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, and Ucal can also be understood as words and not names. Agur (aw-goor) means “collector” or “to gather.” It could be a title rather than a name – like, the guy who collected these lists of wise observations.…
-
2nd Chronicles 9
SOLOMON’S WEALTH The interesting tidbit about the special wood used for making instruments caught my attention. So I did a little digging into it. “Moreover, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum wood and precious stones. And the king made from the algum wood supports for…
-
1st Kings 10-11
The Queen of Sheba is a figure that is rather like King Arthur. A real person from the past whose life is basically mythical. The Quran has a story about her but she is called Bilqis. And among Arabs there rose many legends about her. One of these legends says that King Solomon had a…
-
Ecclesiastes 10-12
In general, I really enjoy the New Living Translation for the poetic books and wisdom literature. There are many idioms used in these books and the NLT’s thought-for-thought translation really excels with those. But – I take issue with the choice of word for translating the Hebrew word hebel. It’s often translated as “vanity.” The…
-
Ecclesiastes 7-9
If Solomon could watch the Pixar film Inside Out, he would definitely be on “Team Sadness.” “Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies— so the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us.”Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 NLT In my…
-
Ecclesiastes 4-6
Solomon, had he lived today, might’ve been a YouTube “influencer.” Since I don’t have tv of any kind and almost never go to a movie, my main form of screen-entertainment is YouTube. (I’m currently on a kick of watching people turn vans into campers.) 🌳🌳……🚐….🌳 Some channels seem to specialize in “what’s wrong” in politics,…
-
Ecclesiastes 2-3
Chapter 2 outlines the 3 “tests” of Solomon. These must have taken him years to accomplish. TEST 1 – POSSESSIONS & PLEASURE (v1-11) It can be rather tempting to think, “If I just had as much money as I could want, life would be better.” “If I could just have more fun, more excitement…” “If…
-
Proverbs 28-29 & Ecclesiastes 1
Many of the proverbs in these chapters are about a person’s relationship to money. We see 2 kinds of people who have plenty: We also see 2 kinds of poor: The financial coach Dave Ramsey says that money is like an amplifier. It doesn’t change the nature of a person. It just exposes and amplifies…
-
Proverbs 25-27
Imagine if someone found a previously unknown cache of documents by one of America’s Founding Fathers; like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. It would cause quite a stir! About 200 years after Solomon, court officials under King Hezekiah compiled this collection of additional proverbs by Solomon. 📜 It’s possible they were “lost” in the royal…
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
To The Reader 