(REFLECTIONS ON 2 Kings 1:1-18) When Ahaziah king of Israel became ill, he sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether he would recover from his sickness. However, Elijah, prophet of the Lord, by instruction from God, met the messengers on their way to inquire of Baal-zebub. 5 When the messengers returned to […]
24–30 June 2018. 2 Kings 25 (click to read). We all like stories with happy endings. But sadly the end of 2 Kings isn’t very happy at all. Earlier in the story of Judah, the Babylonian empire had attacked and defeated Jerusalem, taking many of its leaders and people into exile. But despite this defeat, […]
17–23 June 2018. 2 Kings 13–14 (click to read). Suddenly in 2 Kings 13, in the middle of a lot of fairly dry lists of all the different kings of Israel and Judah, we find a strange little story about the prophet Elisha. King Joash of Israel hears news that Elisha is about to die, […]
13–19 May 2018. Deuteronomy 28 (click to read). For a long time in ancient Israel, the text of Deuteronomy 28 was lost. 2 Kings 22 tells us that when it was rediscovered and read to King Josiah, the text was so shocking the king tore his clothes in despair. Even though this text doesn’t apply […]
11–17 September 2016. 2 Chronicles 31–32 (click to read). In Israel, the priests and Levites didn’t have any land of their own. That meant that many of them lived in terrible poverty, with no way to support themselves or their families. Of course, the other Israelites were supposed to give donations to the Levites, but […]
4–10 September 2106. 2 Chronicles 23–24 (click to read). In today’s Bible reading we find ourselves in the middle of an exciting story, a story we have already heard before back in 2 Kings 11. In the fight for power in Judah, Athaliah had seized the throne and made herself queen. Then to protect her […]
14–20 August 2016. 1 Chronicles 7–8 (click to read). In the New Testament we have four gospels which all tell us about Jesus but from different perspectives. Here now in the Old Testament we also see the same thing. The writers of Samuel and Kings gave us one version of Israel’s history, and now Chronicles talks about […]
7–13 August 2016. 2 Kings 23–24 (click to read). When people come to the English Ministry, they notice that during the service we have a special prayer: the Communal Confession. It’s a time when we admit that we haven’t always lived up to God’s expectations. We confess those failings together, and then hear God’s promise […]
31 July – 6 August 2016. 2 Kings 11–12 (click to read). In English, we say: “Time flies when you’re having fun!” When everything is going well, time goes by so fast. Of course the opposite is also true: a boring class (or sermon) seems to drag on forever! When we go through dark times […]
6–12 March 2016. Leviticus 9–10 (click to read). Back when we were children in Australia, we used to watch American TV shows and would see how some actors would have these really complicated handshakes. They would meet each other and do some special moves with their hands – and as kids we used to think […]