Bad news is bad news, and often we don’t want to hear it, or we want to rationalize it away. Such was the case here in Judah with Jeremiah and the yoke that he bore, an unmistakable message of warning to the people. The amazement of the assembled council of nations knew no bounds when … Continue reading –>
Read Jeremiah 27:1-18. What is the message of the Lord to the people? Why would this seem treasonous to many who heard it? The yoke Jeremiah had to put on his body was an unmistakable sign of the humiliation that the nation suffered; it’s what we call a military occupation. (In Deuteronomy 28:48 and 1 … Continue reading –>
No question, Jeremiah’s lot in life wasn’t an easy one (he would be the first to admit it too!). Things, though, were even harder than we might have imagined. Read Jeremiah 16:1-13. What was the Lord’s message to Jeremiah here? However harsh, in what ways would it have been a blessing to the prophet? (Compare … Continue reading –>
Read for This Week’s Study: Jer. 16:1-13; Hos. 1:1-3; Jer. 27:1-18; Dan. 4:25; Jeremiah 28:1-17; 2 Tim. 4:3-4. Memory Text: And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (Luke 9:23). As we have already seen, God’s prophets … Continue reading –>
Wesley Banda pastored several villages in Malawi. The family lived in a two-room house. Because the area had no electricity, Mrs. Banda prepared the family meals outside over an open fire. One evening after dinner Mrs. Banda returned to her fire to prepare the morning meal of sadza (a thick porridge of cornmeal). Her husband … Continue reading –>
As the lesson stated, the depth of corruption that had befallen Israel can be seen in the kind of reforms that Josiah had to undertake. How, though, could the nation have fallen so far? In one sense, the answer is easy: it’s because humanity has fallen so far. Just how far humanity has degraded was … Continue reading –>
Despite the forewarning of doom, Josiah was still determined to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Maybe disaster couldn’t be averted, but in announcing the retributive judgments of Heaven, the Lord had not withdrawn opportunity for repentance and reformation; and Josiah, discerning in this a willingness on the part of God … Continue reading –>
The renovation of the sanctuary, long the center of Israelite worship, was important, but renovation of a building wasn’t all that was needed. The most beautiful and elaborate structure, though designed to help worshipers sense something of the power and grandeur of the Lord, in and of itself isn’t enough to evoke piety among the … Continue reading –>
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and … Continue reading –>
A preacher once said, Be careful what you pray for. You just might get it. Israel had asked for and longed for a king, just like the nations around them. They got what they asked for, and so much of Israelite history after the era of the judges was the story of how these kings … Continue reading –>
