2003 – Volume 14
Solomon by Solomon
The Bible is notable for recording the faults along with the virtues of the characters that cross its pages. Rather than portraits of black and white, people of the Bible are sketched in various shades of gray. Few of its actors are more mottled in gray than Solomon, son of David, king of Israel at the zenith of its power. He was infamous for [...]
Numbering Israel
“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be; but, my [...]
The Breastplate’s Jewels
“Thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel ... And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial ... Thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment [...]
Twenty-Four Courses
To King David was accorded the privilege of assembling the materials for the Temple. To his son, Solomon, was accorded the privilege of construction, dedication and ordering of the Temple and its services. One of David’s last executive acts was to assemble the Levites and designate their appointment for the Temple services. The record begins in 1 Chronicles 23. This is the principle means [...]
Salt and its Lost Savor
Salt is one of the main products of tears and is essential to life. Its amazing properties captured the imagination of early scientific inquiry into the laws of God’s nature. While salt remains unchanged by the flame of a fire, one drop of water accomplishes the dissolution of the salt that the fire for all of its power cannot achieve. By the time of [...]
David’s Prayer for Forgiveness
Overview, Psalm 51. “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba” (Psalm 51, Title). David’s prayer for forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba is rightly considered a model expression of repentance and plea for forgiveness. It is noteworthy that this Psalm is assigned to the chief musician — as a [...]
Priests and Levites
“And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 66:21). The context of the above verse places it in the time when all nations “shall come, and see my glory” (Isaiah 66:18). It describes the aftermath of the battle commonly called “Jacob’s Trouble” which is detailed in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Here we find the saga of [...]
Mt. Musa, Jabal al-Lawz (The Search for the Real Mt. Sinai)
TESTIMONY OF ADVENTURERS AND SCHOLARS ON MOUNT SINAI For centuries now, Bible scholars have been puzzled as to where the real Mt. Sinai is located. Most people are unaware that little evidence supports that what is called “Mt. Sinai” in the Sinai Peninsula — where the monastery of St. Catharine sits — is indeed the famed mountain of Exodus. Biblical scholars have suggested several [...]
Parables of Jeremiah (Continued from Previous Issue)
POTTER AND CLAY The next parable of the earthen vessels, that of the potter and the clay, is in Jeremiah 18:1-10. Jeremiah is first directed to learn a lesson as he watched the potter at his wheel. Pottery making was a familiar industry throughout the Near East and one that Jeremiah had witnessed many times. What impressed Jeremiah the most was the absolute dominance [...]
The Letter to the Church in Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13)
Philadelphia stood about 28 miles southeast from Sardis in the plains of Hermus, and about midway between the river of that name and the termination of Mount Smolus. It was a city of commercial importance conveniently located as the gateway to the high central plateau of Asia in Asia Minor. The name means “brotherly love” and commemorated the loyalty and devotion of Attalus II [...]
A Divine Ladder — Which End is Up?
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8:29, 30). Most students of the Bible concur that these verses [...]
It Came to Pass
Once at a testimony meeting the leader asked each one to quote a favorite Bible verse. One brother simply quoted the words, “And it came to pass.” This surprised everybody because it is not even a verse. Yet he insisted that the phrase “and it came to pass” was the one most meaningful to him. “Why?” asked the leader. The brother explained that in [...]
Thanksgiving in our Hearts
Is there a method for cultivating mindfulness? The one we may choose is gratefulness, which can be practiced, cultivated, learned. And as we grow in gratefulness, we grow in mindfulness. With our waking thoughts and prayers, as our eyes greet the morning, we may remind ourselves that we have eyes to see while millions of our human brothers and sisters are blind in their [...]
Psalm 119
This psalm is all about the Word of God. It is unique in several ways. It is the longest of all the psalms; in fact it is the longest chapter in the Bible, with 176 verses. These verses are not the divisions of an editor — they are inherent in the original. There are precisely 22 parts to this psalm, each containing 8 verses. [...]