22–28 May 2016. Judges 7–8 (click to read). In Judges 7 and 8 we read about the Israelites’ trouble with the Midianites. Back in those days, the Midianites were a powerful group. They attacked and oppressed the Israelites, took their food and possessions, controlled their lands, and forced them into lives of misery. In ancient times, people […]
15–21 May 2016. Joshua 22 (click to read). One day I got an email advertising holidays to the “holy land”. Of course, what the travel agent meant was that they were selling trips to Israel. Sometimes we still hear people talking about “the holy land”, but it’s really quite a strange expression. What makes land […]
8–14 May 2016. Joshua 13 (click to read). What’s going on in Joshua 13? In chapter 11:23, we just read how Joshua conquered the whole land, gave it to the Israelites, and how “the land finally had rest from war.” But now we open chapter 13 and find God worried because Joshua is an old man […]
1–7 May 2016. Joshua 3–4 (click to read). The ancient Romans used to tell a story about the way their empire began. Twin baby boys, Romulus and Remus, were abandoned by their father, but were then saved by a female wolf. This wolf fed them with her own milk, cared for them, and helped them grow strong […]
Bonus April 2016 Text. Deuteronomy 28 (click here to read). Deuteronomy 28 is such a frightening text! Moses’s death is coming, and he wants to make sure that after he is gone the people never forget to obey God. So he stands before them and gives them a choice: do good and be blessed, or […]
24–30 April 2016. Deuteronomy 19 (click to read). Deuteronomy 19 talks again about cities of refuge, an idea we saw back in Numbers 35. But unlike in Numbers, this chapter is special because it includes the “lex talionis“, the famous Jewish law of revenge. In verse 21 this law demands “life for life, eye for […]
17–23 April 2016. Deuteronomy 8–9 (click to read). In English we have the expression “a self-made man”. Originally this described someone who became rich and wealthy through their own hard work, rather than by inheriting lots of money from their family. But these days this expression is not always a positive one. That’s because the mentality […]
10–16 April 2016. Numbers 35–36 (click to read). Today, when terrible crimes are committed in Taiwan, we see how quickly the newspapers and media are to start shouting for revenge. Instead of trying to find out the truth of what happened and to report that, the media instead do their best to build up hate […]
3–9 April 2016. Numbers 26 (click to read). Numbers 26 begins by mentioning the plague in chapter 25 that killed off the last of the old generation of Israelites. God had threatened them before that none of the generation that left Egypt would enter the promised land. This was their punishment for all the ways […]
Bonus March 2016 Text. Numbers 17–18 (click to read). In Numbers 17 we have a very late story about power – not God’s power but the power and authority claimed by Israel’s priests. At times in Israel’s past, people questioned the authority and even the need for priests. So Bible scholars tell us that in […]