1 Kings 19:4-8 The authors of the Book of Kings were also the authors of the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and Samuel. These books were given their final form around 550 BCE – long after the events they described. The authors used the stories in these books to demonstrate that it was the failures […]
Exodus 16: 2-4, 9-15 The Book of Exodus is the second book of the Bible and covers the period from the slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh (around 1250 BCE), the Exodus itself, and the early months in the Wilderness. In today’s reading, the Israelites have not yet reached Sinai, and are complaining (once again) to […]
2 Kings 4:42-44 Elijah and his successor, Elisha, were two of the great prophets (speakers for YHWH) in Jewish History. They opposed the (mostly) Baal-worshiping kings in Northern Israel for 90 years (from approximately 873 to 784 BCE), and their stories comprise about 40% of the Book of Kings. The authors of the Book of […]
Jeremiah 23:1-6 After the good King Josiah was killed in battle in 609 BCE at Megiddo (the Greek name for which is Armageddon), the fortunes of Judea took a sharp downward turn. Babylon threatened Judea’s existence, and Judea had a series of hapless kings from 609 BCE until Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians in […]
Amos 7:7-15 After Solomon died in 930 BCE, the Kingdom of Israel split into two parts, the North (called Israel) and the South (called Judea). The reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel (788 to 747 BCE) was very prosperous but was a time of great inequality between rich and poor. Amos was a cattle […]
Ezekiel 2:1-5 Ezekiel is one of the three “Major” Prophets – so called because of the length of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a Zadokite priest (descended from the High Priest Zadok in the time of David and Solomon) and was among the first group of persons deported by the Babylonians […]
Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24 The Book of Wisdom, also known as “The Wisdom of Solomon,” is not part of the “Canon” (accepted books) of the Hebrew Bible. It is, however, included as part of the Hebrew Scriptures in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church Bibles as “deutero-canonical” – part of a “second” Canon. In Protestant Bibles, Wisdom […]
Job 38:1-11 The Book of Job is a unique poetic story in the Hebrew Scriptures. Job is a righteous person (in right relation with God and others) and is presented as a non-Jew living in the land of Uz (somewhere in what is now Saudi Arabia). Satan (the “adversary” – not the post-First Century name […]
Ezekiel 17:22-24 Ezekiel is one of the three “Major” Prophets – so called because of the length of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a priest who was among the first group of persons deported by the Babylonians when they captured Jerusalem in 597 BCE. The Book of Ezekiel is in three […]
Genesis 3:8-15 Genesis is the first book of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). The Torah also called the Pentateuch (five books) in Greek. Genesis covers the period from Creation to the deaths of Jacob and his 11th son, Joseph, in about 1,650 BCE, if the accounts are historical. The Book of Genesis […]