Isaiah 42:1-9 The Book of Isaiah is a composite of writings from three distinct periods in Israel’s history. Chapters 1-39 are called “First Isaiah” and were written in the 20 years before Jerusalem was under direct siege by the Assyrians in 701 BCE. “Second Isaiah” is Chapters 40 to 55 and brings hope to the […]
Numbers 6:22-27 Numbers is the fourth book of the Torah (Hebrew meaning “teaching” or “Law”)/the Pentateuch (Greek meaning “Five Books”). It describes the time of the Israelites in the Wilderness before entering the Promised Land. If the time in the Wilderness is historical (no archeological evidence has ever been found to support it), this would […]
Isaiah 52:7-10 The Book of Isaiah is a composite of writings from three distinct periods in Israel’s history. Chapters 1-39 are called “First Isaiah” and were mostly written in the 30 years before Jerusalem was under direct siege by the Assyrians in 701 BCE. “Second Isaiah” is Chapters 40 to 55 and brings hope to […]
Isaiah 7:10-16 After Solomon’s death in 930 BCE, the Unified Monarchy split in two: Israel consisting of the 10 Northern Tribes and Judea consisting of the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Ahaz was of the House of David (v.13) and the King of Judea around 730 BCE – when the Assyrian Empire was threatening both […]
Isaiah 35: 1-10 The Book of Isaiah is a composite of writings from three distinct periods in Israel’s history. Chapters 1-39 are called “First Isaiah” and were mostly written in the 30 years before Jerusalem was under direct siege by the Assyrians in 701 BCE. “Second Isaiah” is Chapters 40 to 55 and brings hope […]
Isaiah 11: 1-10 The Book of Isaiah is a composite of writings from three distinct periods in Israel’s history. Chapters 1-39 are called “First Isaiah” and were mostly written in the 30 years before Jerusalem was under direct siege by the Assyrians in 701 BCE. “Second Isaiah” is Chapters 40 to 55 and brings hope […]
Isaiah 2: 1-5 The Book of Isaiah is a composite of writings from three distinct periods in Israel’s history. Chapters 1-39 are called “First Isaiah” and were written in the 30 years before Jerusalem was under direct siege by the Assyrians in 701 BCE. “Second Isaiah” is Chapters 40 to 55 and brings hope to […]
Jeremiah 23:1-6 After the righteous King Josiah was killed in battle in 609 BCE, the fortunes of Judea took a sharp downward turn. Babylon threatened Judea’s existence, and Judea had hapless kings from 609 until 586 BCE when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Judean leaders to Babylon. Jeremiah’s prophesy (i.e. speaking for Yahweh) […]
Malachi 4: 1-2a The Book of Malachi is the last book of the 12 “Minor” Prophets – so called because these 12 books are much shorter than the three “Major” Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel). His name literally means “my messenger” and the book appears to be written in the 5th Century BCE, after the […]
Job 19:23-27a The Book of Job was written by multiple authors (collectively called “Poet Job”) from the 7th Century to the 4th Century BCE. Except for the Prologue and Epilogue, it is written in poetic form and raises difficult questions such as Why do bad things happen to good people? and will humans continue to […]