When Nehemiah left his post in the palace of Artaxerxes to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem after the exile, he knew that things in Israel were bad. The wall was broken down and burnt. The small number of people who had made the dangerous journey from Persia back home were living in extreme poverty and […]

We can hardly imagine anything good resulting from the story we read in 2 Kings 5. A young girl, forcibly taken from her home (most probably as people, including her father, were killed in mass) and taken to another country as a slave. It was a terrible situation, to say the least. God saw it […]

In Philippians 4:12, Paul wrote, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” The Shunammite woman, found in 2 Kings […]

The Law of First Mentions is the theological term that describes when something monumental happens in the Bible for the very first time and each one is significant. The story of the Widow of Zerephath, found in First Kings 17, has two of them and they are huge. First, when God sent the prophet Elijah […]

Jezebel. The very name makes us shudder! Jezebel was vindictive, manipulative and pure evil. (She had a man murdered over a vegetable garden for crying out loud!) When she left her palace home in Phoenicia to marry King Ahab of Israel, she had only one goal; she was going to stamp out Jehovah worship in […]

The Queen of Sheba is an exotic and mysterious character who has captured the imaginations of storytellers for thousands of years. An Ethiopian legend claims that after visiting Solomon she returned to her kingdom carrying his child, who later brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Ethiopia where it has been ever since. (Someone […]

For many, Bathsheba’s story begins and ends with her affair with King David. Graciously, God did not end her story there. Bathsheba wasn’t just another wife in the King’s haram, David respected her and listened to her. He even promised her that their son, Solomon, would follow him on the throne, though he was not […]

Bathsheba’s story is complicated, isn’t it? While there are many questions that we might like answered (was she David’s victim or accomplice in their adultery? How did she feel about her husband, Uriah? Uriah was listed as one of David’s famous “mighty men”. He was a close and loyal friend. How could David have done […]

The only ghost story in the Bible is enough to make us ask; “What in the world?” About this narrative, the famous story teller, Lord Byron, said, “I have always thought this the finest and most finished witch scene that ever was written or conceived, and you will be of my opinion if you consider […]

I read a lot about marriage from a Christian perspective. Books, articles, blog posts…I read them all. Nearly all advice to wives boils down to this- respect and submit, submit, submit to your husband and God will make your marriage a magical fairy tale. Ironically, I have never heard any teaching on marriage use Abigail […]