I have been studying 1 Kings, and it has been very interesting to read about the construction of the temple, especially after having studied the construction of the tabernacle in the book of Exodus. Sometimes the details feel a bit dry, but other times the details can bring out themes that can be seen throughout… Read More »
Babylon took Israel captive “until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths… seventy years,” a promise made “by the mouth of Jeremiah” (2 Chronicles 36:21; cf. Ezra 1:1). What was Jeremiah’s prophecy, and what were these Sabbaths that were equivalent to seventy years? Jeremiah 25:11–12 states, “This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste,… Read More »
Any church or Christian organization can feel somewhat lost when a pastor or leader steps down, especially if he does so suddenly or resigns because of sin. In the absence of his leadership, there is a time of limbo for God’s people while they search to fill the previous leader’s shoes, or, even if an… Read More »
In our final look at the life of David, we see that David successfully transitioned the kingdom to Solomon. By the end of his kingdom, David had well-organized nation, including those who served in the temple (1 Chron 23–26), treasury caretakers and those overseeing external duties (i.e., overseeing labor) (1 Chron 26:20–32), the military (1… Read More »
One of the themes in David’s life was that David had a heart to build the temple.The background of the temple is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, what precipitated God’s promise of a house to David (i.e., a dynasty) was David’s intense desire to build a house for the Lord (i.e., a permanent,… Read More »
While David was a great king in many ways, we have seen that David was not perfect and that his sins affected his kingdom for the worse. One of the punishments for his sin with Bathsheba was that David would have evil against him in his house. In carrying out this theme further from last… Read More »
The life of David is covered in 1 Sam 16–31, 2 Sam 1–24, 1 Kgs 1–2, and 1 Chron 11–29, 61 chapters in all, which is over 5% of the Bible’s 1,189 chapters. Add his 73 psalms to this number (now 134 chapters), and David is the author or focus of 11.3% of the Bible’s… Read More »
A Focus on 1 & 2 Kings These books were originally one and were broken into two for the sake of having two, manageable scrolls. They are named for their primary characters, the kings of Israel. These books trace the history of Israel from the kingship of David (approximately 960–920 B.C.) to Jehoiachin, whose release… Read More »