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BIBLE ADVENTURES 1 - OLD TESTAMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
(1) Introduction
Jump down to
introduction
a.) what Bible Adventures is about
(2) JUDGES
from Othneil to Samson
Chapter 1 - Othniel
Jump down to chapter 1
Chapter 2 - Gideon
Jump down to chapter 2
Chapter 3 - Samson
Jump down to chapter 3
(3) Song OF Solomon
King Solomon and the Shulamite woman he could not win (now also see
the 3-Act Play on Bible Playhouse)
Chapter 1 - Shulamite woman
Jump down to chapter 1
Chapter 2 - Shulamite woman saw a
magnificent chariot coming down the road
Jump down
to chapter 2
Chapter 3 - Her audience with King
Solomon
Jump down to chapter 3
Chapter 4 - "As my eyes look upon
your beauty"
Jump down to chapter
4
Chapter 5 - Their mother said, "I
raised her as a proper girl!"
Jump down to
chapter 5
(4) Kings of Israel & Judah
from Rehoboam to Josiah
Chapter 1 - Rehoboam
Jump down to chapter 1
Chapter 2 - Jeroboam
Jump down to chapter 2
Chapter 3 - Asa, Ahab, Jehoshaphat &
Jehoram
Jump down to chapter 3
Chapter 4 - Joash
Jump down to chapter 4
Chapter 5 - Hezekiah
Jump down to chapter 5
Chapter 6 - Manasseh
Jump down to chapter 6
Chapter 7 - Josiah
Jump down to chapter 7
(5) DANIEL and King Nebuchadnezzar
interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams which foretell events to
come
Chapter 1
Jump down to chapter 1
a. Nebichadnezzar
b. Attacked Jerusalem
Chapter 2 - Dream
Jump down to chapter 2
Chapter 3
Jump down to chapter 3
a. Interpretation
b. The LORD answered their prayers
Chapter 4 - Fiery furnace
Jump down to chapter 4
Chapter 5 - Dream two
Jump down to chapter 5
Chapter 6 - Judgment
Jump down to chapter 6
Conclusion
Jump down to conclusion
(7) DANIEL and King Belshazzar
the writing on the wall and its significance
Jump down to part 7
(8) DANIEL and King Darius -
Daniel in the lion's den and his deliverance by the Lord
Jump down to part 8
(9) ABRAHAM, The "FRIEND OF GOD"
Jump down to Abraham
(10) ISAAC, the Son of Promise
Jump down to Isaac
a.) Isaac's great test of faith
b.) A bride for Isaac
c.) Isaac's twins ... Esau and Jacob
d.) Jacob steals his brother's
birthright
(11) THERE'S NO ESCAPE! (Jonah)
Jump down to
Jonah
a. Jonah's disobedience
b. God's discipline for Jonah
c. Jonah' learns his lesson and
confesses his sin. God's grace to Nineveh and Jonah's reaction to it.
INTRODUCTION
All young people seem to have a curious mind, and they enjoy a good
adventure story! How do I know? Well, I, too, was once a young person
with a mind full of curiosity and a love for adventure!
Some of the greatest adventures ever told are found in the Bible.
Many of the characters stand out distinctly on the pages of the Word
of God in a spectacular way, while others are more obscure but still
important. Some of those people were honorable, godly individuals, and
some were really scoundrels, but they all had one thing in common.
They all had a sinful nature just like we have!
Our adventures are going to focus on a period of time when God gave
Judges the power to deliver [his people, Israel, from their enemies
after they had entered the land He had promised them.
After Moses and Joshua died, the Children of Israel forgot much of
what they had been taught and began to worship the false gods of the
people in the land. The Lord disciplined them by sending enemy armies
against them. When they cried out to Him for mercy, He raised up
Judges to deliver them. Over a period of about 300 years and involving
several generations, the Lord gave the Israelites ten different Judges
to help them. After each one of those Judges died, the people went
back to worshiping idols again.
Let's take a closer look at some those Judges as we begin our
journey into BIBLE ADVENTURES.
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CHAPTER 1 - JUDGES, OTHNIEL
The first Judge in the land was a man by the name of Othniel. He
was a very godly man, and the Lord gave the people forty years of
peace while Othniel lived. When he died, the Children of Israel again
did evil in the sight of the Lord, therefore, the Lord strengthened
the hand of their enemy, Eglon, the king of Moab. Eglon gathered the
armies of Ammon and Amalek together with his own men, and they fought
against the Israelites and defeated them. As a result, the Israelites
were made to serve them for eighteen years.
Then Israel cried unto the Lord, and He provided a Judge named Ehud.
He was a left-handed man, and one of his first acts as Judge was to
take a gift to King Eglon. The gift was an 18" dagger which had two
sharp edges. Ehud hid the dagger on his right thigh under his cloak
and went to see Eglon.
Eglon was a very fat man, and he was sitting in his summer house
which was his private quarters. When he heard that Ehud had come to
give him a present, he invited him into his house. Ehud had dismissed
the men who came with him on this errand.
Ehud said to Eglon, "I have a secret errand unto you, 0 king!"
Excitedly, Eglon sent everyone out of the house so that he and Ehud
were alone.
As Ehud approached the king, he said, "I have a message from God
for you."
Eglon got up out of his chair with anticipation for the gift, but
as Ehud drew closer, he took the dagger from his right thigh and
plunged it into Eglon's belly. The fat in his body enclosed both the
handle and the blade, so that Ehud was not able to pull it out again.
He made a hasty exit by way of the porch and locked the doors behind
him.
After several hours, Eglon' s servants came to see if everything
was all right. When they found the doors locked, they assumed that the
king was taking a nap, so they left. Much later, when the servants had
still heard nothing from the king, they came again with a key and
opened the doors. To their dismay, they found that the king was dead!
Meanwhile, Ehud had escaped, and he went back home to get his army.
The Israelite army attacked Moab, and they killed about 10,000 men.
Following that great victory, Israel obeyed the Lord, and there was
peace in the land for 80 years.
When Ehud died, the Children of Israel did evil again in the sight
of the Lord. This time the Lord sent Jabin, king of Canaan, against
them. The captain of Canaan's army was a man named, Sisera, who
troubled and threatened Israel with his command of 900 chariots for 20
years. Once more, Israel cried out for help, and this time the Lord
sent them two Judges, Deborah and Barak. Barak took 10,000 men to
fight against the Canaanites, and they were victorious. However,
Sisera ran away on foot during the battle and escaped.
Sisera found his way to the tent of Heber, the Kenite, who had
separated himself from the Canaanites. Sisera thought he could hide
there in safety. Heber' 5 wife, Jael, was in the tent, and she came
out to meet Sisera.
She said to him, "Turn in her, my lord. Don't be afraid"
He went into her tent, and she covered him with a shawl.
Sisera pleaded, "I am very thirsty. Please give me a drink of
water!"
Jael brought him water and another warm garment.
Then Sisera instructed Jael, "Stand in the tent door, and if anyone
comes to inquire if you have seen a stranger today, tell him NO!"
Then Sisera fell into a deep sleep.
Jael knew that Sisera was an enemy of Israel. While he slept, she
took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand and entered the tent quietly
without disturbing him. Before he could awaken, she drove the peg
through his temples and into the ground, and Sisera died.
Meanwhile, the Judge, Barak, had looked everywhere for Sisera on
horseback. As he came closer to Jael's tent, he saw her standing in
the doorway.
Barak leaned toward her and shouted, "Has any stranger passed this
way today?"
Without any hesitation, Jael answered, "Come inside my tent, and I
will show you the man for whom you are searching!"
Barak dismounted from his horse and ran into the tent. There he
found the body of his enemy, Sisera, lying on the ground with a tent
peg driven through his temples!
That is how the Lord delivered Israel from the Canaanites that day
by means of this woman named Jael.
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CHAPTER 2
- JUDGES, GIDEON
Israel enjoyed peace for forty years after Barak defeated the
Moabites, but then they did evil again in the sight of the Lord. He
delivered them into the hand of the Midianites, another enemy of the
Israelites. The Midianites oppressed the Jews for seven years, and
then God's people cried out for deliverance.
This time, the Lord sent a prophet to them with this message from
Him:
"Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought your forefathers up
from Egypt and delivered you from the hand of your enemies who
troubled you! I drove them out and gave you their land! Also, I said,
I am the Lord your God! Do not trust in the gods of the heathen in
whose land you dwell, but YOU DID NOT OBEY MY VOICE!" (Judges 6:8-10)
After saying that, the Lord was gracious to His people and chose
another man to be Judge over them. The man's name was Gideon. When we
first meet him, he is trying to hide some wheat that he is threshing
in a very secluded place so the Midianites wouldn't find it.
Suddenly, the Angel of the Lord appeared, sitting under an oak tree
nearby, and He said to Gideon, "Hello there, hero! The Lord is with
you!"
Gideon looked around behind him to see who this man was talking to,
because he knew he wasn't a brave man or a hero.
Seeing he was the only one standing there, Gideon said, "If the
Lord is really with us, why has all this misery come upon my people?
Why doesn't the Lord perform a miracle for us as He did for our
fathers when they were delivered from slavery in Egypt? I'm convinced
that He has forsaken us and has given us to the Midianites!" (Judges
6:12,1
(At this point in time, Gideon did not realize that he was actually
talking with God the Son. In the Old Testament, before Jesus came into
the world as a baby in a manger, He appeared to some people as The
Angel of the Lord. You can easily identify Him as Deity by the context
in the scriptures. God the Son is the only revealed member of the
Trinity.)
The Lord looked steadily at Gideon and said, "Haven't I commanded
you to do this? Go and do as I tell you. I will save Israel from the
Midianites, and I will tell you what you must do to accomplish their
deliverance!"
Still not sure about the Person to whom he was speaking, Gideon
responded, "If I have found grace in your sight, show me a sign that
it is really You giving me this command. Stay here while I prepare a
sacrifice to set before you."
The Lord replied, "I will wait for you here."
Gideon made preparation for a sacrifice, and he presented it to the
Lord. The Lord told him to place it on a rock, and then He took His
staff and touched it. Fire came out of the rock and consumed the
sacrifice.
After witnessing that, Gideon knew it was truly the Lord who was
speaking with him, and he fell down and worshiped Him.
The Lord said, "Don't be afraid, Gideon, you will not die because
you have seen me face to face."
Gideon was speechless, and as he looked on in amazement, the Lord
disappeared out of his sight. (Judges 6:14-23)
The Lord did not appear personally to Gideon again but spoke to him
by direct conversation or in dreams. The Lord told Gideon to destroy
the altar of Baal, a false god, which his father had built and replace
it with an altar where the people could come and worship the Lord God
only. Gideon obeyed. Under cover of darkness, he took ten men from the
city and tore down the altar of Baal.
When the men of the city arose the next morning and saw that the
altar of Baal was destroyed, they were furious. They demanded to know
who was responsible, and when they learned it was Gideon, they ordered
his father to bring Gideon to them so they could execute him.
Gideon's father said, "Why do you want to kill my son and defend
Baal? If Baal is truly a god, let him defend himself."
When the men heard that, they kept silent.
The Lord put His Spirit upon Gideon to empower him to deliver the
people as He had promised. Gideon sent messengers throughout the land
and gathered a great army to fight against their enemy, but he still
had doubts about his own personal role in leading the men to victory.
He made a request of the Lord and said, "Lord, if you will save
Israel under my leadership as you have said, please let it be proved
to me one more time. I will put some wool on the doorstep outdoors
tonight, and if; when I arise in the morning, the ground is dry and
the wool is wet, I will know that you mean to keep your promise."
The Lord agreed. When Gideon got up the following morning, he took
the wool in his hands and wrung a bowlful of water out of it, but the
ground around it was dry. Still, Gideon wasn't satisfied. Once more he
put God to the test.
"Please don't be angry with me, Lord," he said, "But I have one
more request to make. I wish to try the same experiment tonight, and
then I will be sure you mean to keep your promise. This time if the
wool is dry and the ground is wet, I will believe You."
The Lord graciously agreed again, and in the morning, the ground
was wet and the wool was absolutely dry. At last, Gideon was content!
Early the next morning, Gideon took his army and positioned his men
near the enemy lines.
Then the Lord told Gideon in a dream, "There are far too many men
with you, Gideon. If they defeat the Midianites and their allies, they
will be proud of their own achievement and say that they alone have
done it. They will not give Me the glory. Therefore, go and tell your
men that if any of them are afraid, they should go home."
When Gideon made this offer, 22,000 men decided to leave and just
10,000 were left.
Then the Lord told Gideon, "There are still too many men here! We
must eliminate some of them, and I will tell you what to do. Take all
of the men to the river bank. Those who get down on their hands and
knees to lap water like a dog will not go with you, but those who
remain on their feet and take water in their hand to drink are the men
who are prepared to go into battle with you."
Only 300 men drank from their hand. Then the Lord instructed Gideon
and said, "By these 300 men will I deliver Israel. Send the rest of
the men home."
When Gideon awoke from his dream, he knew that the Lord did indeed
mean to keep His promise, and Gideon worshiped the Lord.
He told his men, "Let's go! The Lord has delivered our enemies into
our hands."
They were victorious that day, because the Lord fought for them.
Another forty years of peace followed that great victory
After Gideon died, the people who had witnessed all the things the
Lord did for them still went back to their idolatry and worshiped
Baal. They forgot how God had delivered them and how gracious the Lord
had been to them while Gideon lived.
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CHAPTER 3 - JUDGES, SAMSON
During the forty years following the death of Gideon, there were
five more Judges for short periods of time, and then, because of the
Israelite's idolatry, the Lord delivered them into the hands of the
Philistines. During the time of the Philistine conquest when Israel
was forced to served them, a young man named Samson was born, and the
Lord prepared him to lead the people against the Philistines.
Samson is, no doubt, one of the most colorful of all the Judges,
and the Lord used him in some very spectacular ways. Because he was to
be God's instrument against the Philistines, the Holy Spirit came upon
Samson in order to enable him to perform great feats of strength.
Unfortunately, Samson had a weakness for beautiful women, and
eventually that weakness became his downfall. The first recorded
incident involving him with a woman took place when he saw a very
lovely Philistine woman and asked his parents to arrange for her to be
his wife.
Samson's parents were angry with him and replied, "Why do you want
a wife who worships idols? There are plenty of attractive Jewish girls
here that you could choose."
Samson ignored their answer and insisted on having his own way.
While traveling to see the Philistine woman, he passed through a
vineyard. Suddenly, a young lion roared out and challenged him. The
Holy Spirit came upon Samson, and he killed the lion with his bare
hands. He told no one about the incident and went on his way.
The Philistine woman whom he loved agreed to marry him. After a
while, Samson went home to make preparations for the wedding feast. On
the way home, Samson went through the vineyard again and looked to see
if the lion's body was still where he had left it. By this time, the
body had dried and become a carcass. A swarm of bees had made honey in
it. He took honey in both his hands and ate until he was satisfied.
When Samson arrived home, he said nothing to his mother and father
about the lion, because he knew the commandment God had given to the
Jews that they were not to approach any dead body.
Not long after that, Samson and his father went back to the home of
the bride-to-be for the customary wedding feast. The woman's friends
came to the celebration and brought thirty of their own friends with
them.
Samson thought it might be fun to tease them a little, so he said,
"Here's a riddle for you. If you are able to untangle it within seven
days, I will give each of you thirty changes of clothing; but if you
are not able to explain it to me, you shall give me thirty changes of
garments."
The men agreed to take the challenge.
Samson said, "Here's the riddle: Out of the eater came meat, and
out of the strong came sweetness."
After three days, the men still had been unable to figure out the
riddle, so they cornered Samson's wife and threatened her.
"Find out the meaning of this puzzle for us," they demanded, "Or we
will burn you and your father's household to the ground."
Fearing for her father's life as well as her own, she wept in
Samson's arms night after night until he finally relented and
explained the riddle to her. She, in turn, gave the men the answer.
On the seventh day, they came to Samson and said, "What is sweeter
than honey, and what is stronger than a lion.”
Samson knew at once how they had gotten the right answer and said,
"If you had not put pressure on my wife to get the answer, you never
would have been able to know it."
Angrily, Samson left and went down to Ashkelon where he found
thirty men wearing beautiful garments. The Holy Spirit came upon him,
and Samson killed the men, took their clothing, then brought it back
to the Philistines to pay his wager. That done, he stormed out of
their presence and went home.
Doubting that Samson would ever return, the woman's father arranged
for her to marry another man. Time passed, and Samson's anger
subsided. He decided to go back and claim his wife and took along a
nice gift for her.
When her father saw him, he said, "I thought you hated my daughter
for betraying you, so I gave her to another man."
Samson was furious, for he had loved the woman. Determined to have
revenge, he caught three hundred foxes, tied their tails together with
a firebrand between each fox and sent them through the Philistine's
cornfields. When they saw that their crops had been burned, the
Philistines sought the one responsible. They were told it was Samson
who had done it, because his wife had been given to one of their
friends.
They set fire to household of the woman's father. When Samson
learned that the men had killed his wife, he went away to be alone.
While he was gone, the Philistines gathered a small army and
positioned themselves against the Israelites.
The Israelites asked why they had come to threaten them, and they
answered, "We have come to find and kill Samson for what he had done
to us." Immediately, 3,000 Israelites set out in search of Samson, and
when they found him, they asked, "Why have you put us in this great
danger by your actions?
Samson replied, "I was just paying them back for what they did to
me."
Then the men said, "We have come here to tie you up and deliver you
to the Philistines.
"If you promise not to kill me yourselves," Samson said, "I will
let you bind me and turn me over to the Philistines."
The enemy shouted victoriously when they saw Samson being delivered
to them, but the Holy Spirit empowered him, and he broke the cords
that bound him as if they were a piece of string. Looking about him,
he found a new jawbone of an ass and fought against them, killing
1,000 of them that day.
Unfortunately, Samson had not learned his lesson regarding women.
He met another beautiful Philistine woman who lived in the valley of
Sorek. Her name was Delilah.
When the men in her city noticed Samson's interest in her, they
approached her and said, "Find out where his great strength comes from
so we can capture him, and we will give you a great deal of money."
Delilah wanted the reward they offered, so she asked Samson to
reveal the secret of his strength to her.
He answered, "If they tie me with seven new willow twigs that are
still green and strong, I will be as weak as any other man."
While Samson slept, Delilah tied his hands and feet and then called
the Philistine leaders. When they came, Delilah woke Samson by
shouting, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" Samson got up
quickly and snapped the ties about him, and the men ran away. Still
determined to get the promised reward, Delilah kept asking Samson
about his strength and said to him, "You are making fun of me. You
lied to me about your great strength. You don't really love me or you
wouldn't lie about it."
Twice more after that Samson gave her the wrong answers, but
finally he grew weary of her constant questioning.
He told her, "I am a Nazarite, and my long hair is a symbol of my
obedience to the Lord God. If I allow it to be cut, I would be
disobeying my God and be as weak as any other man.
This time Delilah was sure he was telling her the truth, so that
night when Samson was sleeping soundly, she called one of the
Philistines to cut his hair.
Then Delilah shouted, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!"
Unaware that his hair had been cut, Samson awoke and faced his
enemies confidently, but this time he wasn't able to protect himself
against them. It took Samson a moment to realize that the Holy Spirit
was not with him. Delilah accepted her reward. The Philistines took
him prisoner. In revenge, they blinded him, bound him with brass
chains, and forced him grind grain in their prison.
While Samson labored in their prison, the Philistine leaders
decided to hold a celebration in the house of their god, Dagon, in
honor of their victory over Samson. When their hearts were merry with
wine, they sent for blind and chained Samson to have him entertain the
crowd. They didn't realize that Samson's hair had grown again during
the imprisonment, and when he was brought to them, they stood him in
the auditorium between two pillars which held up the balcony of the
temple. That day, the temple was filled with 3,000 men and women plus
all the leaders of the Philistines who had come to watch Samson and to
make fun of him.
Samson said to the lad who led him by the hand, "Take me to the
pillars and place my hands on both of them."
The boy did as he asked. Then Samson bowed his head and prayed to
the Lord saying, "0 Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen
me, I pray thee, only this once, 0 God, so that I may be avenged of
the Philistines because they blinded me."
Samson then took a firm grip on the two pillars and made one more
request of the Lord saying, "Let me die with the Philistines."
Samson gathered his strength and pushed against the pillars with
all his might. The temple collapsed and fell upon all the people
there. The dead in the temple that day numbered more than all the
Philistines Samson had previously destroyed during his lifetime. The
Lord's purpose to defeat the Philistines was accomplished.
Samson died that day along with the Philistines, as he requested.
He had been a Judge in Israel for twenty years.
End of JUDGES
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SONG
OF SOLOMON
CHAPTER 1
No doubt, every young woman has dreamed that one day she would meet
her own "prince charming". He would be her ideal companion for life.
He would also be attractive to her in every way, and he would take her
to his "castle" where they would live happily everafter. Well, life
doesn't always progress the way we imagine it will perhaps you have
discovered that for yourself just as the heroine of our story did.
Let's begin by introducing the author of our story . . .King
Solomon. He tells us about a beautiful young woman to whom he was
attracted, but lost, in his rendition of "SONG OF SOLOMON" in the
Bible. Even though he had all of the qualifications that any woman
could ever hope to find in a man, Solomon failed to win the love of
this lovely Shulamite woman about whom he writes. Solomon doesn't give
any proper names to the characters in this story, but he simply
identifies each one with descriptive words so I will do the same.
As our story unfolds, we find a young Shulamite woman in the harem
of the wealthiest, most intelligent and most handsome young king who
has ever lived, and she definitely did not want to be there. You may
be thinking that she was a very foolish woman for not being the
happiest and most fortunate woman in existence, but perhaps, when you
hear her story, you will understand.
Before our heroine was brought to the palace, she had found her
"prince". He was a shepherd who was caretaker of a flock of sheep near
her home not far from Jerusalem. They grew to love each other and
vowed they would marry. Joyfully, she took him to her home where she
supposed he would be accepted by her widowed mother and her brothers.
Instead, her brothers were very upset and said she was much too young
for marriage. They forced the shepherd to leave and made their sister
work in the vineyards of Baal-hamon, which the brothers leased from
Solomon. Her duties were to keep the foxes away from the fruit on the
vines.
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CHAPTER 2
While working in the vineyards one day, the Shulamite woman saw a
magnificent chariot coming down the road. As it came closer, she
noticed that the air was filled with the scents of myrrh and
frankincense. Also, some beautifully-scented powders were being thrown
up into the air, and the sight resembled great pillars of smoke. She
knew immediately that the chariot must belong to King Solomon. There
were a great many soldiers accompanying the chariot as the king toured
the countryside to check on the land he had leased to farmers in the
area.
Oddly, our heroine had the feeling she was being watched, and when
the chariot came closer, it stopped, and several of the soldiers
approached her. They said the king was the man in the chariot, and he
was attracted to her. They asked if she would accompany them to the
palace where he could talk with her. She was very anxious to leave her
duties as caretaker of the vines, and she thought perhaps she would be
better able to find her betrothed shepherd if she was with other
people who may know of his whereabouts. With that in mind, she
accompanied the men to the palace.
The king did not place her in the harem with his wives, but she was
taken to the house where the servants lived. In our story, they are
referred to as "the virgins of the harem" or "the daughters of
Jerusalem".
The virgins of the harem bathed and perfumed the Shulamite woman's
body and dressed her in beautiful clothing to prepare her to be
presented to the king. They also told her that the king's plan for her
was to attempt to persuade her to become one of his queens.
It was common knowledge among all of the people in the kingdom that
King Solomon had many wives ... in fact, he had 700 of them! They were
all princesses who had been presented to Solomon by their fathers when
a peace treaty was signed with Israel
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CHAPTER 3
While she was being made ready for her audience with King Solomon,
the Shulamite woman told the virgins about her wonderful shepherd and
how he alone filled her thoughts. Her one desire was that he would
find her and take her away from the palace. As she spoke about her
lover, the ladies also wanted to see him. They said, if she were to
leave, they would follow her. Also, they told her they were curious
and very puzzled as to why she had agreed to come to the palace if she
was so much in love with her shepherd.
Our heroine related the whole story to them and said, "While living
at home, I desperately wanted to find my lover. I dressed and went out
into the streets in the middle of the night to look for him, so I
could take him to my mother and my brothers to ask their permission
for us to marry. I was unable to find him and my search was
interrupted by a policeman who stopped me and questioned why I was out
in the street in the middle of the night. It was not proper for a
respectable young woman to be wandering about alone the way I was. The
officer listened politely to my explanation and then took me home.
When my brothers heard that I had been arrested and the reason for the
arrest, they were very angry with me. They sent me away to work in
their vineyards, and that is where the king saw me."
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CHAPTER 4
As the Shulamite woman was telling her story, the doors of the room
suddenly burst open, and King Solomon appeared in all of his glory! It
was truly a breathtaking sight to behold as he approached her and
kissed her hand! Then he stepped back a little, and said very
dramatically, "As my eyes look upon your beauty, my love, I can only
compare your person with the very magnificent horses in Pharoah's
chariots!"
When she heard that. she drew back while attempting to free her
hand and said to him, "Please don't even look upon me, your majesty,
because I am very unattractive . . . my skin has been blackened by the
sun, and it is like the tents of Kedar!" (Kedar was a black-skinned
son of Ishmael ) The Daughters of Jerusalem who were with her answered
in a chorus, "Oh, No! We would compare your skin to the beautiful and
delicate white curtains of Solomon!"
Not to be outdone by the flattering words of the virgins, Solomon
passionately began to use many other descriptive words with which to
describe how beautiful she was. Our heroine felt a little sick by all
of those words, and she interrupted the king saying, "I am formally
engaged to another man! Please do not force your attentions upon me.
No matter how hard she tried Solomon was not about to be distracted
by her words, and he tried to win her favor with more flattery. He was
very sure that she would not be able to resist his advance.
In desperation, the Shulamite woman said, "I am feeling a little
faint! Please allow me to go out into your beautiful gardens for a
breath of fresh air!"
Reluctantly, Solomon gave his consent, but he watched her eagerly
from the window as she ran down the pathway to the gardens. Also, as
he watched, Solomon was mentally planning the next strategy he would
use when she returned, but his thoughts were suddenly distracted by a
familiar voice saying to him, "What do you see in this Shulamite?"
Solomon quickly turned away from the window and saw that it was one
of his favorite queens who was standing there addressing him.
He said politely, "My dear, how long have you been listening and
watching?"
The jealous queen answered, "Long enough to know that this woman
presents no competition for me, your majesty. Just watch me now as I
dance for you!"
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CHAPTER 5
Meanwhile, in the garden, the Shulamite woman thought she heard the
voice of her beloved shepherd. She ran to the gate and called his
name. He answered and climbed over the wall near the gate, swept her
up in his arms, and they sped away quickly in his humble chariot to
her home.
The brothers were watching them come down the road and called their
mother. The chariot approached in a cloud of dust, and the brothers
said to one another, "It is our sister and her shepherd lover in that
chariot! If she is undefiled, we will build them a beautiful house;
but if she has been defiled, we will lock her up and keep her away
from this shepherd whom she loves."
Their mother said, "I raised her as a proper girl!"
By this time, the couple had arrived and had overheard what was
said about them. In response, the Shulamite woman said, "I am
undefiled, even though I was in Solomon's palace for a brief moment!
My love is only for my shepherd, and for that reason I remained pure
and undefiled just for him!"
After hearing that, the brothers and their mother gave their
permission for the two lovers to marry.
The End of Song of Solomon
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KINGS OF ISRAEL & JUDAH
CHAPTER 1
During the years following the reigns of David and of Solomon, two
young men appeared on the scene in Israel.
One of them is Rehoboam, the son of Solomon and the rightful heir
to the throne, and the other is a man called Jeroboam who was a very
promising young man who had been given a position of rulership over
the tribe of Joseph.
While Solomon still lived, Jeroboam was traveling outside of
Jerusalem one day, and the Lord sent the prophet Ahijah to give him a
message. When Ahijah met Jeroboam, they were alone in a field.
The prophet took his own new cloak, ripped it into twelve pieces,
and gave ten of them to the young man and said, "This is God's message
to you, Jeroboam. Because my people were involved in idolatry during
Solomon's later years, I will divide the kingdom. Solomon's son will
still rule over two tribes, because of my promise to David, and you
will be king over ten tribes. If you will obey me as David did, your
sons will rule after you."
When Solomon heard about that, he attempted to kill Jeroboam, but
Jeroboam fled into Egypt and was safe there until word came to him
that Solomon had died, and his friends brought him back to Jerusalem.
Rehoboam became king over the whole nation after his father's
death, and the leaders of the people along with Jeroboam, came to the
king and said to him, "Your father put a heavy tax burden upon us and
made our lives very difficult. If you will lighten our tax load and
treat us kindly, we will serve you well."
Rehoboam answered, "Let me think it over. Come back here in three
days while I consider what I will do about the matter."
His arrogance combined with poor judgment caused the young king to
accept the bad advice given to him by the young men with whom he had
grown up rather than to follow the good advice given him by the older
men who had been with his father for forty years, so after three days
when the people returned for his answer, Rehoboam spoke roughly to
them and said, "You think my father was severe with you? Well, I will
make your tax burdens heavier than he ever did!"
Many of the men became very angry at that reply from their king,
and they went to their homes to plan what they would do. Only the
tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained in Jerusalem with Rehoboam.
Soon after that, all Israel learned that Jeroboam had returned from
Egypt. They called him before the leaders of the people and made him
king over the Northern Kingdom known now as Israel.
When Rehoboam sent his chief tax collector among them, they stoned
him to death!
Rehoboam gathered 180,000 of his chosen warriors to attack, but the
Lord sent a prophet to the king saying, "You shall not fight against
your brethren, because I am using them to discipline you!" The
soldiers listened and obeyed the Word of God.
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CHAPTER 2
The priests and the Levites who were scattered throughout the
kingdom fled to Judah because Jeroboam had replaced them with prophets
whom he chose. Also, the people in the land who wanted to worship the
Lord God of their fathers rather than idols, went to Judah also.
Jeroboam had made two golden calves for his nation to worship, and
placed them in two very strategic places: one in Dan, which was at the
northern part of the kingdom, and the other one in Beersheba, which
was in the southern part of the kingdom.
Then he said to the people, "Here are your gods, Israel! There is
no need for you to go to Jerusalem to worship anymore!"
Jeroboam knew very well that only priests were authorized to make
sacrifices, but, because of his pride, he decided to offer one
himself. While he was in the process of doing so, the Lord sent a
prophet from Judah to warn Jeroboam of his wrongdoing.
The prophet did not speak directly to Jeroboam but instead he
addressed the altar with God's message. He said, "Altar, altar, thus
saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born in the line of David by
the name of Josiah, and upon thee shall he offer the priests who burn
incense to the false gods which Jeroboam has set up. You will know
that the Lord has spoken when this altar is broken and all the ashes
pour out!"
Hearing those words, Jeroboam drew his hand back from the altar and
pointed to the prophet saying, "Arrest that man!" Immediately his hand
dried up and he was unable to use it!
Then Jeroboam pleaded with the prophet to pray to God that his hand
be restored again. The prophet did so, and the king's hand became
normal once more.
Then the king said to the prophet, "Come home with me and refresh
yourself after your long journey, and I will reward you!"
The man of God answered, "Even if you would give me half your
kingdom, I would not go with you or eat bread and drink water in this
place, because the Lord gave. that command to me!"
After saying that to the king, he turned away from him and left
another way to return to Judah.
An old prophet who lived in Bethel where Jeroboam was, heard about
the things done that day by a prophet who had come from Judah, and he
wanted to see him and speak with him. He called his sons and had them
saddle his mule, and then he went out to look for the man of God.
He soon found him sitting under an oak tree just a short distance
from Bethel.
The old prophet asked him, "Are you the prophet that God sent here
from Judah?"
The prophet looked up and said, "I am that one."
The old prophet said, "Come home with me and dine with me!"
his answer was the same for this man as it had been given to the
king. "The Lord has forbidden me to eat or drink in this place. Also,
I was told not to go back the same way I came here."
Then the old prophet lied to him and said, "I too am a prophet of
the Lord, and the Lord told me I should take you to my house and give
you food and drink!"
The man of God believed him, and accompanied him to his house.
While they were eating, God spoke to the older man and gave him
this message: "The prophet whom I sent from Judah has disobeyed me.
Now, tell him that because he did not do as I commanded, he will die
and his body will not be buried with his forefathers."
When he heard God's message, the prophet from Judah left there and
went on his way. A short way down the road, a lion attacked him and
killed him. The lion did not eat his body, but stood by it. When some
people came by and saw the lion standing there and the man's body
lying alongside the road, they went to Bethel and told the old prophet
what they saw.
He answered them, "I know it is the body of the man of God who was
here today. The Lord delivered him to the lion because he did not obey
the Word of God."
Then he went to find the body, and he buried it in his own tomb. He
told his sons that he wished to be buried beside the man of God after
his death.
After these things, Jeroboam continued his evil ways, and he took
the worst people in the land and made them priests. God's judgment
came upon him and the people of Israel as well because of their
idolatry.
First of all, Jeroboam's son became very ill, and Jeroboam told his
wife to disguise herself and go to the prophet Ahijah who had
annointed him king over Israel, and ask him to heal their son.
Ahijah was very old, and he was unable to see. The Lord spoke to
him and said, "The wife of Jeroboam is at the door. The woman will
pretend to be someone else, and she will ask you to heal the king's
son who is dying."
As soon as Ahijah heard her footsteps outside his door, he said,
"Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why do you pretend to be someone else? The
Lord gave me a message which you can deliver to your husband”
The message was: "Jeroboam, I took you from among the people of
Israel and I promoted you to be king over the ten tribes which I took
away from Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, because he did not follow me
with all his heart as David had done before him! Therefore, your son
will die and none of your offspring will rule over the nation."
Jeroboam ruled Israel for twenty-two years, and then he died. All
Israel suffered discipline because of their idolatrous practices which
were introduced by Jeroboam.
Back in Judah, Rehoboam had become strong, and he, as well as his
people, walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years. After
they were a powerful nation, they forsook the Lord and began to
worship idols. The Lord sent Shishak, the king of Egypt, against them,
and he took away all the treasures in the temple which King Solomon
had stored, and he also took Rehoboam's personal treasures.
After that, Rehoboam humbled himself before the Lord, and things
went well again in Judah. Rehoboam ruled in Jerusalem for seventeen
years, and then he died.
NOTE: Beginning with Rehoboam and Jeroboam, the nation Israel was
divided into two separate nations with each having their own king.
Judah, which had the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and Israel, which
was composed of the remaining ten tribes of the Children of Israel.
Kings ruled in both nations for fourteen generations. Some of their
kings were faithful, God-fearing men, and some were idolatrous and
wicked. The length of time during which they ruled varied according to
the will of God.
We will study some of those kings, particularly those of Judah, but
for the purpose of seeing the sin nature at its worst, we will also
look at one or two of the kings of Israel.
The line of kings from which the KING OF KINGS, THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST will come, go through the line of David, Solomon, Rehoboam,
etc. The last of these kings was so evil that the Lord said no son of
his would sit on the throne of Judah.
After the last king, there were four hundred silent years in which
no prophecy was given to the Jews. During that time, many man-made
traditions replaced the Word of God. Then we see John the Baptist and
Jesus Christ, the annointed Son of God, appearing on the scene of
history.
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CHAPTER 3
Two kings followed Rehoboam who can give us an excellent object
lesson on what can happen when people make wrong decisions about
choosing friends. The first king we want to look at was the grandson
of Rehoboam. His name was Asa. He pleased the Lord in all of his ways,
and he destroyed the idols which had been set up during his father's
three-year reign. For thirty-five years, Asa and his people trusted
the Lord, and they were delivered from all of their enemies. Then Asa
took his eyes off the Lord and made an alliance with the king of Syria
and asked him to help in Judah's fight against the king of Israel.
The Lord sent a prophet to Asa with this message, "You have done
foolishly, because you relied on the king of Syria rather than asking
help of Me! Therefore, you shall have wars for the rest of your life!"
When he heard those words, Asa was furious with the prophet and put
him in prison. Following that act of wrong-doing against God's Word
and God's prophet, Asa was out of fellowship with the Lord for four
years. In discipline, to turn Asa back to obedience, the Lord
inflicted him with a terrible disease in his feet, but Asa still would
not turn to the Lord and confess his sin. Two years later, Asa died,
and his son, Jehoshaphat, ruled in his place.
Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he
ruled over Judah for forty-one years. He was faithful in all of his
ways, and the Lord blessed him with riches and honor, but in the 25th
year of his reign, Jehoshaphat decided to make friends with a very
evil man ... Ahab, king of Israel.
Jehoshaphat should have listened to the words of his great
grandfather, Solomon, when he wrote, "Confidence in an unfaithful man
in time of trouble is like having a broken tooth or a foot which is
out of joint." (Proverbs 25:18)
Ahab was worse than all the kings of Israel who had gone before
him. Not only did he encourage his people to worship idols, but he
also chose as his queen, a beautiful princess by the name of Jezebel
who brought her false prophets and her idols into Israel.
Ahab wanted to regain a portion of the land which had been taken
from them years before by the king of Syria. That land was known as
Ramoth-Giliad. He sent word to Jehoshaphat and asked him for help in
fighting the Syrians.
Instead of refusing, Jehoshaphat said, "Why not! We are all Jews,
and we must stand together against our common enemies. I'll help you,
Ahab!"
The capitol and palace of Ahab was the city called Samaria, and
when Jehoshaphat arrived there and greeted Ahab, he said, "Let's get
direction from the Lord on how we should proceed against the Syrians."
Ahab summoned four-hundred of his false prophets to appear before
him and questioned, "Shall we go and fight the Syrians in
Ramoth-Gilead or not?" They all agreed on an answer and said, "Go into
battle! The Lord will deliver your enemies into your hand!"
Jehoshaphat, knowing that the prophets were not of God's choosing,
said to Ahab, "Don't you have one of the Lord's prophets here so that
we may ask his advice?"
Reluctantly, Ahab answered, "Well, yes, there is one man, but I
hate him! He never gives me good news, but he always has a message of
doom for me from the Lord."
Jehoshaphat answered, "You shouldn't be so disrespectful of one of
the Lord's prophets!"
After that rebuke, Ahab ordered, "Bring Micaiah from the prison so
we may ask him what we should do!"
The two kings were seated on thrones, dressed in their royal robes
watching as Ahab's soldiers brought Micaiah in.
When one of the chief false prophets by the name of Zedekiah
observed what was happening, he took some iron horns which he had made
and used them to demonstrate his message and said to the king, "This
is the word of the Lord – you shall fight the Syrians until they are
destroyed!"
The other false prophets who were with him spoke as they had before
and said, "Go into battle. The Lord will deliver your enemy into your
hands!"
A soldier standing with Micaiah turned to him and said, "See how
all of these prophets are encouraging the kings. Be in agreement with
them when you speak!"
Micaiah answered, "I can only speak the words which the Lord gives
me!"However, when he stood before the thrones and heard Ahab command,
"Micaiah, shall we fight against the Syrians and reclaim Ramoth-Gilead
or not?”
Micaiah replied, "Yes. Go there, and you will be victorious over
the Syrians!"
Ahab stood up and said angrily, "How many times have I told you not
to lie to me, Micaiah?"
Micaiah then answered truthfully, "This is what the Lord has told
me regarding the matter. The army of Israel will be destroyed if they
go against Syria!"
Ahab turned from him in disgust and said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I
tell you this man would prophesy evil against me?"
Micaiah again spoke and said, "In a vision, the Lord showed me that
His armies in heaven stood around His throne, and He questioned them
saying, 'Who will go and convince Ahab that he should go against Syria
and be defeated in war and die on the battlefield?'
One of God's fighting angels replied, 'I will go and put a lying
spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets.' God has done so today!"
Ahab pointed to Micaiah and shouted, "Take this fellow back to
prison and feed him moldy bread and stale water until I return
victorious!"
As he was being dragged away, Micaiah turned and said to the king,
"If you return from the battle, the Lord has not spoken by me!"
Ahab took a deep breath and sat down once more and spoke to
Jehoshaphat. "Let's have a little fun today! Let's deceive the Syrian
army by disguising ourselves! You put my robes on, and I'll wear
yours. Then they won't know who to pursue on the battlefield!"
Jehoshaphat foolishly agreed to that scheme.
When they were on the field of battle, the Syrian soldiers said,
"There's the king of Israel, Let's capture him!"
When they surrounded Jehoshaphat, he cried out to the Lord for
help, and the Syrians spared his life.
Meanwhile, one of the Syrian soldiers took a chance and aimed an
arrow at one of Israel's men, not knowing it was Ahab who was the
target. Ahab was badly wounded, but he asked his men to prop him up in
his chariot so as not to embarrass himself. He stayed there the rest
of the day, and they took him back to camp where he died.
Jehoshaphat returned, unharmed, to his home in Jerusalem, and the
Lord sent a prophet to him with a stern message saying, "Should you
help the ungodly, and love those who hate the Lord? The Lord is angry
with you because of your actions, Jehoshaphat!"
After that, Jehoshaphat encouraged the people to be obedient to the
Word of God, and he himself was humbled for a long while. However, he
again did evil by making friends with the king who ruled after Ahab,
and they made ships to gather merchandise from a far land together.
The Lord destroyed their building efforts, and Jehoshaphat died, and
his son, Jehoram ruled in his place.
Jehoram was not a good king, and only reigned for eight years
before his death. As a result of his father's friendship with Ahab,
Jehoram had met and married the beautiful daughter of Jezebel and
Ahab, and more idolatry was brought into the land of Judah through his
queen, Athaliah.
Jehoram was the next king over Judah. He followed the idolatrous
practices of his father, and he died of an incurable disease. When his
mother, Athaliah, saw that her son was dead, she ordered the death of
all of the royal sons of Jehoram, and she herself ruled over the land
of Judah for about seven years. She did not know that one of the sons
of Jehoram escaped the slaughter authorized by her, and was hidden for
six years in the home of Jehoida, the priest. The young boy's name was
Joash.
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CHAPTER 4
Certainly, a 7-year old boy cannot make adult decisions, so Jehoida,
the priest, raised him during the years when Athaliah reigned as
queen.
When Joash was seven years old, Jehoida gathered a small army of
men who were leaders in Judah, and they decided it was time to put
Joash on the throne.
He divided the men into three groups and positioned them in
strategic areas around the temple. Some were armed bodyguards and
protected Joash from any possible danger. When all the preparations
were completed, they brought Joash into the temple where they put a
crown on his head. Then all those who were present for the occasion
shouted, "God save the king!!"
Athaliah heard the noise, so she hurried into the House of the Lord
to investigate what was causing the big commotion. When she saw the
young king in the temple, she shouted, "TREASON! – TREASON!”
Jehoida gave the order, "Take that woman outside, away from the
temple area, and execute her!"
Athaliah's death was just the beginning of the removal of idolatry
from the land. The people went into the house of Baal, broke down the
altars and the images and slew the priest who ministered there. After
that, Jehoida made a covenant with the king and all of the people in
the land that they would serve the Lord God only, and once again there
was peace in Judah.
Things went well while Jehoida, the priest, was alive, but when he
died, Joash took advice from the younger men who served him, and they
went back into idolatry again.
In grace, the Lord sent prophets to warn them of discipline if they
did not obey His Word, but they refused to listen! The Lord sent a
small group of Syrians into the land, and many Jews were killed in the
battle. Joash survived the Syrian attack, but he was left with a
terrible disease. Then some of his own men killed him as he lay in his
sickbed.
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CHAPTER 5
Several more kings sat on the throne in Jerusalem after Joash died,
and a man by the name of Hezekiah appeared on the scene as king in
Judah. Hezekiah is a valuable illustration to us of how a man can be
great for many years and then fail miserably because of pride and
human viewpoint rather than Divine Viewpoint.
Hezekiah was a good ruler, and he set a wonderful example for his
people regarding their trust in the Lord. He was their king for
twenty-nine years.
In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, a very evil and
powerful man became ruler over Assyria. His name was Sennacherib. For
several years he had been forcefully acquiring some of the nations
around him, and he decided to attack Judah. He took all of the fenced
cities in the land of Judah and was attempting to capture Lachish,
which was one of Judah's main fortresses situated about thirty miles
from Jerusalem.
Hezekiah became frightened and sent a message to Sennacherib asking
him what they could give him so he wouldn't attack Jerusalem.
Sennacherib demanded much gold and silver, so Hezekiah gave him all of
the treasure that was in the temple and his own silver and gold as
well.
Instead of pacifying Sennacherib with silver and gold, he was still
bound to attack Jerusalem, and he sent three of his best men from the
battlefield in Lachish for the purpose of frightening the people so
they would surrender.
The main spokesman of the three sent by Sennacherib was a man by
the name of Rabshakeh, and when he saw the people on the wall which
surrounded Jerusalem, he shouted to them in their own language. He
called for Hezekiah to come out, but Hezekiah sent three of his best
men to hear what the enemy had to say and report back to him.
Rabshakeh said, "Go to Hezekiah and ask him in whom he is trusting.
If he says he is relying on his God to deliver the city, ask him why
he destroyed the altars! The Lord told us to destroy your land!"
Hezekiah's men answered, "Please don't speak to the people in the
Jew's language. Speak to them in the Assyrian language which only we
can understand!"
Rabshakeh ignored their request and shouted even louder to the
people saying, "Don't let Hezekiah deceive you when he tells you that
the Lord will deliver you! Instead, make friends with us, and we will
take you away to a beautiful land which is like your own country. Then
you may live and not die! None of the gods of the nations around you
have delivered them from the hand of our great king, Sennachareb."
The people didn't say a word, because the king had commanded them
to be silent.
Hezekiah's men reported the words spoken by Rabshakeh, and when
Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his robe and went into the House of
the Lord. Then he sent the men to Isaiah, the prophet, for a word from
God about their plight.
When they told Isaiah about the Assyrian army's threats, he said,
“Go and tell Hezekiah 'Thus saith the Lord: Be not afraid of the words
spoken by the men of Assyria. Sennacherib will hear a rumor which will
make him return to his own land, and there he shall fall by the
sword!'”
While fighting at Lachish, Sennacherib heard news which made him
leave his troops, and he took a few of his men with him back to
Nineveh. While he was worshipping in the house of his god, two of
Sennacherib's sons killed him with a sword, and then they fled to the
land of Armenia.
Also, the night Sennacherib left for Ninevah, the Lord struck the
Assyrian troops, and when the Jews arose to fight the next morning,
they saw 185,000 Assyrians lying dead on the battlefield! The Lord had
given them a great victory over their enemies!
Then Hezekiah became very ill and was dying. He turned his face to
the wall and asked the Lord to heal him. He wept bitterly and said,
"Lord, all my life I have walked before you, and I have done many good
things in your sight. Please let me live!"
The Lord sent a message to the king by way of Isaiah, saying, "Tell
Hezekiah I will heal him, and in three days he will be well enough to
go into the temple again. Also, I will add fifteen years to his life."
During that fifteen year period, Hezekiah accumulated an abundance
of riches and honor, and the Lord prospered him in all that he did.
News of Hezekiah's illness spread throughout the known world, and
people sent many precious gifts of silver and gold to him. The king of
Babylon wrote letters to Hezekiah and sent him a gift.
Hezekiah was so pleased and grateful that he invited the king of
Babylon to Jerusalem and showed him all of the riches he had
accumulated.
Immediately after the Babylonian king's visit, Isaiah came to
Hezekiah and asked him, "Who were those men who came to see you, and
why did they come here?"
Hezekiah answered happily, "0, those men came from Babylon, a far
away country. They came to see me, and I have shown them all of the
treasures in my house!"
Then Isaiah rebuked him and said, "You have acted foolishly! The
day will come when all these things shall be carried away into
Babylon. Furthermore, your sons will be taken there in chains and will
serve the king of Babylon!"
Proudly, Hezekiah replied, "The Word from God is good in my ears.
At least there will be peace and truth during my lifetime!"
Then Hezekiah became very proud and boasted about his riches and
his victories.
The Lord was very angry with him because of his pride.
When Hezekiah realized that he had displeased the Lord, he
confessed his sin of pride, and things went well with him and with the
people in the land of Judah.
The Lord extended the life of Hezekiah in order that he might
understand his sinful nature.
(II Chronicles 32:31b)
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CHAPTER 6
Hezekiah's son, Manasseh, was born during the fifteen extended
years that the Lord granted to Hezekiah. Because of Hezekiah's
wrong-thinking and pride, perhaps he didn't give his son the proper
training and discipline, because when the young man came to the throne
at the age of twelve, he did much evil in the sight of the Lord. He
set up the heathen altars which his father had torn down, and he
placed an idol in the House of God. He also practiced witchcraft, and
caused the people in Judah to do worse than the heathen whom the Lord
had cast out before the Children of Israel.
The Lord sent prophets to speak to Manasseh and to his people, but
they refused to listen! Therefore, the Lord sent the captain of the
armies of Assyria to bind Manasseh with chains, and they took him to
Babylon. Finally, when he was in great affliction, Manasseh prayed to
the Lord his God and humbled himself before Him.
The Lord answered Manasseh's prayer for deliverance and returned
him to Jerusalem and restored his kingdom to him.
After that, Manasseh knew that the Lord God was the only true God,
and he took away the idols from the land of Judah, and things went
well for him and the people as well. He reigned in Jerusalem for
fifty-five years and then he died.
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CHAPTER 7
Manasseh's grandson, Josiah, became king when he was eight years
old, and he ruled for thirty one years over the nation of Judah. He
pleased the Lord and walked in the ways of David and Solomon all of
his life. When he reached the age of twenty-four, Josiah ordered the
removal of all of the altars and images of idols in the land and
ground them to powder. He personally went throughout the land and
observed that destruction.
Do you remember in our study of Jeroboam how God sent a prophet
from Judah to Bethel where Jeroboam was offering a sacrifice to his
god? The prophet disobeyed the Lord, and a lion killed him. Then an
old prophet who lived in Samaria buried the man's body in his own tomb
and asked his sons to bury him beside the disobedient prophet. Well,
it is interesting to take note that when Jeroboam's altar in Bethel
was found and destroyed, they also saw a tomb nearby with an engraving
on it. Josiah asked whose bones were in the tomb. The men of the city
told him the story of the two prophets, and Josiah did not burn their
bones like he had done with all the others.
After cleansing the land of idols, Josiah decided to repair the
temple, because it had been neglected for many years. He called a
scribe, a recorder and the governor of the city and asked them to find
some skilled workmen to do the repairs.
The three men went to Hilkiah, the priest, who ministered in the
House of God. They asked him to use any money he could find in the
temple which had been given by the people, and use it to pay for the
repairs.
When Hilkiah looked for the money, he also found a copy of a book
of the law and gave it to Shaphan, the scribe, who was able to read
it. (a "book of the law" would be one of the first five books of the
Bible ... possibly it was the book of Deuteronomy because of what was
said in the book as it was read to the king)
When the king heard the words which the scribe read, he tore his
robe and said, "Great is the wrath of the Lord that is going to be
poured out upon us because our fathers have not kept the Word of the
Lord to do all that is written in this book!"
Then the king asked a prophet to ask the Lord what He intended to
do with the nation.
The Lord replied that He would bring all the curses listed in the
book upon the people of Judah, but He would not do it until the next
generation, because Josiah had been faithful in obeying Him.
After Josiah died, the kings and the people went back into idolatry
again.
The Lord had compassion upon them for awhile, and He sent prophets
to them.
They laughed at the messengers of God and they despised the words
they spoke to them until there was no longer any remedy for God's
wrath.
The Lord delivered the people into the hands of the Babylonians,
and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem, burned the palaces there,
and killed many people. Those who escaped the sword were carried away
to Babylon where they served King Nebuchadnezzar and his sons for
seventy years.
What happened to the Jews after that seventy-year captivity? Well,
that's another interesting adventure which introduces us to great men
like Daniel. We'll learn about him in another episode of BIBLE
ADVENTURES.
The End of Kings of Israel & Judah
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DANIEL and King
Nebuchadnezzar
CHAPTER 1
Imagine that you are a teenage prince suddenly finding yourself
forcefully taken from your home and placed in the distant palace of a
powerful king who wanted to prepare you to serve him.
All your life you had been well-trained in the Word of God by your
parents and others with whom you grew up, and you were confident that
God had a purpose for your life. With all your heart you believed the
promises of God and trusted Him as King David did when he said, "It is
better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."
The prophet Daniel found himself in that kind of situation, and
because of his faith in the Lord God, he lived a long, happy life.
After many testings, Daniel was placed in positions of high authority
by several great kings whom he served, beginning with King
Nebuchadnezzar.
When Nebuchadnezzar took his armies and attacked Jerusalem, he took
the king of Judah and thousands of people to Babylon. Also, he removed
all of the silver and gold from Jerusalem and placed it in the house
of his own god in Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar knew that some of the prisoners were of royal blood,
so he ordered one of his high officials to select some of the princes
and prepare them to serve in the palace. They were to be isolated from
their own people and taught the language and the ways of the Chaldeans.
(by doing that, Nebuchadnezzar would isolate them from the Word of God
and from other Jewish believers) The young men who were selected were
given a special diet of the same food that the king ate and the wine
which he drank, and that was to be done for three years. After that,
they were to be presented to the king.
Daniel and three of his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
were among those chosen for that special privilege, and they were
given into the custody of Melzar, who was the prince of the eunuchs in
the king's personal service. Their names were changed to Chaldean
names such as, Daniel was changed to Belteshazzar; Hananiah was called
Shadrack; and Azariah's name became Abednego.
God brought Daniel into special favor with Melzar, and when Daniel
asked that he and his three friends be given a diet of cereal and
water rather than the food and wine specified by the king.
Melzar listened to his request and then said, "I'm afraid to
disobey the king's order! If he sees the four of you looking worse
than the other young men, I'll be in danger of losing my head!"
To that, Daniel replied, "Please let us try it for ten days, and
then compare our appearance with those who have eaten the king's
food."
Melzar agreed, and at the end of ten days he observed that Daniel
and his friends looked so much better than the others did, he allowed
them to continue their diet of cereal and water for the remainder of
the three-year period.
Nebuchadnezzar called for all the young men who had been in the
training period with Melzar, and as he spoke with Daniel and his three
companions, he found that they pleased him more than all of the
others. In fact, in matters that called for wisdom and understanding,
the king found them to be ten times superior to all of the wise men in
his realm, so they were chosen to serve him.
CHAPTER 2
In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's rule, he had dreams which
troubled him greatly, and he commanded all the wise men, the magicians
and the sorcerers to be brought before him. He made a decree and said,
"I insist that you give me the interpretation of my dream!
Furthermore, I have sent for you to tell me what I dreamed as well as
the meaning of it!"
The men looked at each other in amazement and answered, "0 King,
live forever! Please tell us your dream and we will give you the
interpretation of it!"
Impatiently, the king spoke again, "If you don't tell me what the
dream is and what it means, you will be cut in pieces and everything
you own will be destroyed! On the other hand, if your answer pleases
me, you will be rewarded handsomely! That is my decree!"
Then they said again, "How can we tell you what your dream is?
The king replied, "I know you are just stalling for time! You are
preparing lies and corrupt words to speak before me until the decree
will no longer be in effect!"
The Chaldeans tried to reason with the king by saying, "There isn't
a man on this earth who can answer you. Only the gods can do that,
your majesty!"
Then Nebuchadnezzar became furious, and when he commanded that all
of the wise men in Babylon were to be slain, a search was made for
Daniel and his three friends.
CHAPTER 3
When Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, came to take him,
Daniel asked, "Why is the king's order so urgent that you have come to
arrest me?"
After Arioch explained what had taken place regarding the king's
dream, Daniel requested that he be allowed to consider the situation
so he would have an answer for the king.
Arioch agreed not to arrest Daniel until the next morning.
Immediately after that, Daniel searched for his three friends, and
they earnestly prayed that the Lord would reveal the king's dream to
them and also give them the interpretation of it.
The Lord answered their prayers, and in a night vision the answer
was revealed to Daniel, and he praised the Lord saying, "Blessed be
the name of God forever and ever! Wisdom and strength are His! He
alone changes the times and the seasons! He sets up and removes kings!
He gives wisdom to the wise and adds knowledge to those who have
understanding! He reveals the deep and secret things! I thank thee, 0
God of my fathers, for giving me wisdom and strength and for revealing
the matter of the king's dream to us."
The next morning when Arioch came to Daniel, Daniel said, "Do not
destroy the wise men of Babylon, Arioch, because I have the answer for
the king."
Arioch took Daniel into the king's presence and said, "Your
majesty, I have brought one of the Jewish captives to you, and he will
interpret your dream!"
Nebuchadnezzar looked directly at Daniel and questioned, “Can you
truly tell me what my dream was and interpret it as well?"
Daniel replied, "Your majesty, it is not because your wise men or I
have any unusual wisdom, but there is a God in heaven who is able to
reveal all hidden things, and He has done this so that you may know
what future events are going to occur during your lifetime and
beyond."
By this time, the king and those who stood near him were absolutely
speechless, and they were listening intently to Daniel's words as he
continued, "0 king, in your dream you saw a gigantic and brilliant
statue which greatly frightened you. The head of the statue was pure
gold, and the breast and arms were silver. The thighs and belly were
brass, and the legs were iron. The feet and toes were a mixture of
iron and clay."
Then Daniel continued and said, "As you observed this image, a
large stone suddenly appeared and rolled against the feet of the
image, breaking it into so many pieces that it became powder which the
wind blew away. After that, the stone which destroyed the image became
a great mountain which filled the whole earth!"
Nebuchadnessar was listening intently as he waited for the
interpretation of the dream.
Daniel said, "Here's the interpretation of your dream, your
majesty. You are the head of gold. The God of heaven has given you a
magnificent kingdom along with power and strength and glory. You rule
over many nations, but after you will come another kingdom which will
not be as glorious as yours. That is represented by the silver section
of the image. Then, the iron legs of the image show the strength of
the fourth kingdom. It will be powerful and cruel to those whom it
controls. The two legs and feet tell us that this fourth empire will
be divided. The ten toes represent ten nations which will be a part of
that empire. Those ten nations will not always be in total agreement
with each other, and they will be easily destroyed when the God of
heaven replaces all the kingdoms of men and sets up His own kingdom
over which He will personally reign.
Nebuchadnezzar interrupted and said, "Why would the Most High God
tell us these things?"
Daniel replied, "God has made these events known to you,
Nebuchadnezzar, so that you may know His plans which will surely come
to pass!"
Daniel's answers so pleased the king that he gave him many gifts.
He promoted Daniel to be ruler over the entire province of Babylon and
made him chief of the governors in charge of all of the wise men in
Babylon.
Daniel accepted the honors bestowed upon him by the king, and asked
that favor also be shown to his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednigo.
Nebuchadnezzar set each of those three men over the internal
affairs of the province.
CHAPTER 4
Nebuchadnezzar began thinking about the image and his kingdom being
the head of gold, and he became very proud.
He ordered the construction of a solid gold image which was to be
ninety feet high and nine feet wide. It was built in the plain of Dura
where it could be seen for miles in all directions.
When the image was completed, Nebuchadnezzar sent for all of the
rulers in the provinces to come to the dedication of his idol. He also
ordered musicians to bring as many musical instruments as could be
found.
Hundreds of people arrived for the ceremony, and at the proper
time, a herald shouted loudly, "To you it is commanded, 0 people of
all nations and languages assembled here, that you are to fall down
and worship the idol when you hear the sound of the music. If you
refuse to do so, you will be cast into a fiery furnace where
lawbreakers are executed!"
When the music was played, everyone present fell on their knees to
worship the image as ordered except three officials: Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednigo.
Certain Chaldeans who were jealous of those three because they had
been promoted above them, went to report their act of disobedience to
the king.
They went into the king's presence and bowed before him and said,
"Your majesty, there are certain Jews whom you have placed over the
affairs of the province of Babylon who have refused to worship the
golden idol which you have set up"
Nebuchadnezzar became very angry when he heard that, and he sent
for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo to question them.
The king said, "Is it true that you are refusing to bow down and
worship the golden image which I have set up?"
Then without waiting for their answer, he continued, "I'll give you
another chance! When you hear the sound of the music, you will fall
down and worship the idol! If you refuse to do so, you shall surely be
cast into the middle of the burning, fiery furnace! There is no god
who can deliver you out of my hands!"
The three were not afraid, and they replied, "0, king, our God whom
we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace if He chooses to
do so. But, even if He does not protect us, we will not serve your
gods nor will we worship the idol you have set up!"
Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious, and his attitude was changed
toward them. He commanded that his servants should heat the furnace
seven times more hot than usual. He called for the strongest men in
his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo and had them cast the
three prisoners into the fire.
The furnace was enormous, and it had an opening at the top where
certain prisoners were taken and then dropped into the fire below.
There was a stairway leading up to the opening, and there was a window
at the bottom of the furnace where observation could be made.
Then, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace was
extremely hot, the flames killed the soldiers as they deposited the
three men into the opening.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo fell down bound into the middle of
the fire.
Nebechadnezzar was observing all of this activity very carefully
and then said to his counsellors, "Didn't we cast three men who were
securely bound into the fire?"
They answered, "That's true, your majesty!"
The king said, "If that's true, why is it that I see four men who
are not tied walking in the middle of the fire? The fourth one must be
an angel sent by their God!"
After saying that, Nebuchadnezzar walked near the mouth of the
furnace and spoke to those inside saying, "Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednigo, you servants of the most high God, come out here at once!"
The three men came out of the furnace, and all the king's officials
standing by saw with their own eyes that the fire had not even singed
one hair on their head! Their clothing was not damaged in any way. and
not even the smell of fire could be detected on them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke to all those who were assembled and said,
"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo, who has
protected them because they trusted in Him. He also has changed the
king's word! These men offered their bodies to be burned rather than
to worship any other god than their own God!"
After that exclamation by the king, he made a decree which stated
that all of the people of the nations in his kingdom who would speak
against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo should be cut into
pieces and their property would be made a garbage dump.
Then the king promoted the three men to higher positions than they
had held before.
CHAPTER 5
Some time passed, and Nebuchadnezzar had another dream which
troubled him. Again, he sent for all his wise men of Babylon and asked
them to interpret his dream. After he described the dream, his men
were not able to tell him what it meant.
Finally, Daniel was sent for and brought before the king.
Nebuchadnezzar said, "0, Daniel, I know there is no secret hidden from
you, so here is my dream: I beheld a gigantic tree in the midst of the
earth. As I looked at it, the tree grew so tall that it reached up
into heaven! The leaves were healthy, and the branches were so broad
that all of the birds and beasts of the earth found shelter in and
under its branches. The fruit which the tree bore was so plentiful
that the whole earth was fed from its production!"
Nebuchadnezzar watched Daniel's expression for a moment and then
continued, "Suddenly, an angel came down from heaven and shouted
loudly for all to hear, 'Cut the tree down and destroy the branches
and the fruit, but leave the stump with its roots in the earth! Let
the stump be wet with the dew from heaven, and let him live as an
animal and eat the grass of the earth. Then let him think as a beast
does for seven years! This is the decree of God! His purpose is to
show all mankind that He alone rules in the kingdoms of men, and He
gives ruling power to whomever He wishes. Also, let it be known that
He chooses the basest of men to rule on the earth!'"
After that, the king said to Daniel, "The wise men of my kingdom
were not able to interpret this dream, but I know you are able to do
it, Daniel, because your God has given you the ability to do it."
Daniel was so upset by Nebuchadnezzar's dream that he didn't speak
to anyone for an hour!
Nebuchadnezzar tried to comfort him and said, "Daniel, don't let
the dream or the interpretation of it upset you so!"
Daniel replied sadly, "My lord, let the dream be for those who hate
you and the interpretation of it be for your enemies!"
Then Daniel told the king what the dream meant as he said, "The
huge tree which you saw that reached unto heaven and which protected
and fed all creatures on the earth is you, your majesty! The greatness
of your kingdom has extended throughout the earth! When you saw an
angel from heaven and heard him say, 'Cut the tree down and leave the
stump banded with iron and brass on the earth; let it be wet with the
dew from heaven; and let his portion be with the beasts of the field
for seven years', that was a decree from the Lord God of heaven."
Daniel continued, "These things will happen to you, 0 king! You
will be driven from men and live with the beasts of the field. You
will eat grass like the ox, and the dew from heaven will cover your
body. All of this will come to pass and will continue for seven years.
After that, you will know that the Lord rules over the kingdoms of men
and gives power to whomever He pleases!"
Daniel observed that Nebuchadnezzar was listening intently, so he
went on to say, "The command which was given to leave the stump and
the roots of the tree was for you to know that your kingdom will be
taken from you, but it will be returned to you after you humble
yourself before the Lord! I now implore you to accept my counsel and
change your ways, your majesty. If you show mercy to your people, the
Lord may extend the peace you now enjoy!"
CHAPTER 6
Twelve months later, Nebuchadnezzar walked through his palace and
his beautiful gardens and boasted, "Isn't this great Babylon which I
have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and
for the honor of my majesty?" (The beautiful hanging gardens outside
the palace were one of the seven wonders of the world at that time.
Nebuchadnezzar had planted them for his wife, according to historians)
While those proud words were still in his mouth, the king heard a
voice from heaven saying, "0 King Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom is taken
from you. Now you will be driven out from men and sent into the field
to live like an animal for seven years. After that time has passed,
you will know that the God of heaven rules over the kingdoms of men
and gives power to rule to whoever He pleases!"
That very hour, the king was driven from men to eat grass like an
ox. Also, his body was wet with the dew of heaven for seven years. His
hair grew like eagles' feathers and his nails looked like birds'
claws.
When the seven years ended, Nebuchadnezzar's sanity returned to
him. He looked up and praised and honored the Lord, and his position
as king, along with his honor and glory, were restored to him.
Then Nebuchadnezzar wrote a declaration to all the people and
nations in his kingdom which stated: "There is one God which lives and
abides forever! His kingdom is an everlasting one which reigns from
generation to generation! No man can question His wisdom or His
purpose! His works are absolute truth, and His ways are just, and
those who walk in pride, He is able to bring low!”
CONCLUSION
Because Daniel went into captivity and was taken to Babylon in the
first deportation of the Jews in Judah in 604 BC and in the first year
of King Nebuchadnezzar's reign, he held important positions during the
reign of three ancient kings. Those kings were Nebuchadnezzar,
Belshazzar and Darius. Their reigns covered a period of approximately
seventy years.
In 555 BC, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson Belshazzar became ruler and
ruled for nine years. He was the last ruler over the Babylonian
Empire.
When Babylon fell in 539 BC, Darius, the Mede, was made king over
the province of Babylon by the conqueror Cyrus, the Persian.
The Medes and Persians ruled together for two-hundred years, with
Persia being the stronger of the two.
In 330 BC, Alexander the Great of Greece conquered the Persian
Empire.
The Roman Empire followed the reign of Alexander the Great, and
still controlled most of the known world at the time when Jesus Christ
came into the world.
To our readers: There are more interesting adventures involving
Daniel when Belshazzar and Darius were kings, and we will cover them
in another of our exciting BIBLE ADVENTURES.
The End of DANIEL and King Nebuchadnezzar
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DANIEL
and King Belshazzar (the hand writing on the wall and its
significance)
“DANIEL! DANIEL! HURRY! The king is calling for you and wants you
to come immediately!”
Daniel was sleeping soundly in his private quarters in the palace,
but he was jolted out of sleep by the shouting and pounding on the
door of his apartment.
He reached for his robe and sandals and opened the door. Seeing
several of the king's servants standing there, Daniel asked, "For what
purpose have you come to me in the middle of the night?”
One of the men quickly replied, "Oh Daniel, nothing like this has
ever happened before, and the king and his lords are frightened out of
their wits!"
Then Daniel said, "Come in and tell me what has happened while I
make myself presentable to report to the king."
They all began to speak at once, and Daniel interrupted saying,
"Just a moment! Let me hear one of you at a time!”
He selected the man who was the least excited and said to him, "I'd
like to hear you tell me about the events from the beginning."
The king's servant took a deep breath and then answered Daniel
saying, "Your excellency, you must surely be aware that our king,
Belshazzar, enjoys a good feast. Well, early last evening the king
held a banquet and invited a thousand of his lords to attend."
Daniel said, "I was sleeping so soundly that I heard none of the
activities that took place."
The servant continued and said, "The best wine had been brought in,
and when the king tasted it, he ordered the waiters to bring in the
golden and silver cups which his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken
out of the temple in Jerusalem."
"The king, his princes, his wives and his concubines drank wine
from those gold and silver cups, and as they were doing that, they
praised their gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood and stone."
"That very hour, the fingers of a man's hand mysteriously appeared
where all could see, and the fingers began to write words on the wall.
"The king's eyes were glued upon those fingers, and as he looked at
them, he became extremely pale! Of course, he was not able to
understand the strange phenomena, and he became so frightened that his
knees began to knock against each other."
"Belshazzar shouted loudly and called for all of his wise men to be
brought in before him. When they stood at his feet, the king said to
them, "Whoever is able to read this writing and interpret it for me
shall be clothed with scarlet and be given a chain of gold to wear
about his neck. Also, I will appoint him to be the third highest ruler
in my kingdom!"
"While the wise men discussed the writing on the wall among
themselves, the king's lords were astonished to see that the king was
so greatly troubled that his face became distorted."
"Then the king's mother, who was the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar,
came to king Belshazzar and said to him, "Don't look so worried and
frightened my son! There is a man by the name of Daniel in the palace,
whom your grandfather made governor over the wise men in the empire.
Call for him, and he will interpret this writing on the wall for you!"
“After hearing his mother's words, the king sent us to you, your
excellency! Will you come with us now?"
Daniel was ready and agreed to accompany the men, and they
presented Daniel to the king.
Belshazzar said to Daniel, "Are you the very same Daniel who was
brought from Judah by my grandfather Nebuchadnezzar? I have heard
about you from people who have told me that you have understanding and
wisdom above that which my wise men and astrologers do not possess.
Now, tell me the meaning of this handwriting on the wall, and I will
give you scarlet robes, a gold chain to wear about your neck, and I
will make you the third highest ruler in my kingdom!"
To that, Daniel replied, "Keep your gifts for yourself, your
majesty, and give the rewards to another. I will read the writing and
give you the interpretation of those words."
Daniel continued, "The most high God gave your grandfather,
Nebuchadnezzar, this kingdom along with much glory and honor. He ruled
over all people, nations of every language and did according to his
own will regarding them. However, when he became proud of all this
power given to him, the most high God removed him from his throne and
he was made to live like an animal for seven years until he recognized
that God rules in the kingdoms of men, and that He sets up over them
whoever He desires!"
While the king considered Daniel's words, Daniel went on to say,
"You, Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself before God, although you
have known these things! Instead, you have set yourself up above the
Lord God of heaven! You have brought the vessels of the Lord's house
to use in your drunken banquet! You have also praised the gods of
silver, gold, brass, iron and wood which cannot see nor hear nor
reason, and you have refused to give glory to the God who has given
you your very life!"
"Because of all your disregard for the Lord, He has sent this
message in writing to you. The words which you see on the wall are
MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of those
words: (1) your kingdom has come to an end! (2) your life has come to
an end! (3) you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting!
(4) your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians!"
When Belshazzar heard the interpretation of the handwriting on the
wall, he commanded his servants to clothe Daniel with scarlet and put
a gold chain about his neck. Then the king proclaimed to those who
were present that Daniel was promoted to being the third highest ruler
in the kingdom.
Belshazzar was a very proud and immoral man who apparently had not
profited from the lesson his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had learned
regarding the results of pride and how it can destroy both a man and a
nation.
That very night, Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain, and
Darius, the Mede, took the kingdom of the Chaldeans.
The End of DANIEL and King
Belshazzar
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DANIEL and King Darius - Daniel in
the lion's den and his deliverance by the Lord
The Medes and the Persians combined forces and became the second
world empire which is referred to by historians as the Media-Persian
Empire. The Persians were the stronger of the two with Cyrus the Great
being the leader of the Persians and Darius the Mede the leader of the
Medes.
Cyrus appointed Darius to be king over the conquered Chaldeans.
Darius set 120 princes to rule over the kingdom, and he chose three
presidents to direct those princes.
Daniel was chosen as one of the three presidents, and when Darius
saw that Daniel excelled above the others, he considered putting
Daniel in charge of the whole kingdom.
This preference for Daniel shown by Darius caused much envy and
jealousy among the other leaders, and they planned to find some way to
discredit him.
Daniel was faithful to the Lord, and he was also trustworthy in his
position of authority, so it was very difficult for his adversaries to
find any fault in him.
The other presidents and the princes combined their ideas of how to
get rid of Daniel. They decided that the only thing they could think
of to accuse him would be in the matter of his faithfulness to his
God. They conceived an idea, and a group of them went to Darius and
said to him, “King Darius, ALL of your presidents, governors,
councilors and captains in your kingdom have agreed on an idea which
may please you. If you would establish a royal statute and make a firm
decree that whoever would ask a petition of any God or any man for
thirty days except from you, your majesty, that person would be cast
into the den of lions."
The Persians used a lions' den to execute capital punishment upon
convicted criminals, and disobeying the king's decree would be a just
cause to eliminate such a lawbreaker.
While the king thought about the idea presented to him, the men
continued and said, "If you would make such a decree, your majesty,
and if you would personally seal it with your official ring, you
surely know that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians,
that decree could not be altered for any offender."
The idea pleased Darius and appealed to his ego, so without further
thought about who might be endangered by such an act, he signed the
writing, and the decree became law for thirty days.
Of course, Daniel was not included in this ingenious plan, but he
heard about the decree. He went on about his business in the usual
way. It was his daily custom to pray and give thanks to the Lord three
times a day, and Daniel went into his house, opened. the windows and
kneeled down in prayer where all could see.
The men who accused him, saw Daniel on his knees praying to his
God, and they scurried off to tell the king about it.
When they stood before the king, they asked him, "Didn't you just
sign a decree which forbids anyone in your kingdom to petition any God
or any man other than you, your majesty?"
Darius responded, "Yes, I did! That decree cannot be altered
according to the law of the Medes and the Persians! Why have you come
here concerning the matter?"
Then the men reported, "Well, your majesty, that Daniel, who was
brought here as a captive from Judah some years ago, has shown no
respect for you or the decree which you have signed! He still prays to
his God three times a day as he did before your decree became law!"
When Darius realized that Daniel was being accused, he was very
displeased with himself for allowing his pride interfere with good,
solid judgment! The rest of that day and all through the night, Darius
set his mind to deliver Daniel, but he was unable to find a solution.
The king was forced to order his servants to cast Daniel into the den
of lions. Also, he ordered a stone to be placed at the entrance of the
den, and the king and his lords put a seal upon the stone which stated
that the execution must be carried out!
Darius approached the den and said to Daniel, "Your God, whom you
serve continually, will certainly deliver you, Daniel!"
After that, the king went to his palace. He was so upset that he
was unable to eat or sleep! He arose very early the next morning and
rushed over to the lions' den and cried sadly, "0 Daniel, servant of
the living God, has your God whom you serve constantly been able to
deliver you from the lions?"
Daniel answered, "Yes, your majesty! My God sent His angel to shut
the mouths of these lions! Because I have been found innocent in the
eyes of the Lord, and because I have done nothing against Him or
against you, the lions were prevented from harming me in any way!"
When Darius heard Daniel's reply, he was extremely happy, and he
commanded that Daniel be removed from the lions' den. Daniel was found
to be completely unharmed because he trusted in his God!
Then the king's anger was against Daniel's accusers, and he ordered
them to be cast into the lions' den. The lions attacked and destroyed
those men as soon as they were cast into the den.
All these things resulted in Darius personally trusting in the
Lord, and he sent a written message throughout his kingdom which said,
"I make a decree that in every corner of my kingdom men should tremble
and fear before the God of Daniel, because He is the living God!"
Daniel lived a long and prosperous life during the reign of King
Darius and also of King Cyrus of Persia.
The End of DANIEL and King Darius
TOP OF
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ABRAHAM, The "FRIEND OF GOD"
More than two-thousand years before Christ and nine generations
after Shem, who was one of Noah's three sons, a man by the name of
Abram appeared on the pages of the Word of God. This man became known
as Abraham, the "friend of God", and we will see how he was given that
great honor as our story unfolds.
Abraham believed in the Lord. He lived in a city called UR in
southern Babylonia. The city of UR was not only very famous for its
wealth and culture, but it was also a place of much idolatry.
When Abraham was seventy-five years old, the Lord called him and
said to him, "Abram! Get out of your country and away from your
relation and your father's household! I will make of you a great
nation. Also, I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a
blessing to all the families of the earth. Furthermore, I will bless
those nations that bless you, and I will curse those nations who
persecute your people."
Abram was willing to go wherever the Lord would lead him, and
leaving his own country was the first of four great challenges that
would be given to him before he would be called God's friend.
Abram had a father whose name was Terah. When God called Abram,
Terah was about two-hundred years old, and we are told in Joshua 24:2
that Terah was an idolater. Being the oldest member of his family,
Terah was also the authority. Terah decided to take Abram and the
entire family to the land of Canaan, which covered all Palestine west
of the Jordan River. (see Numbers 34:3-12) That area formed a
geographical bridge between two pagan civilizations.
Abram's family took the busy caravan road on which merchants
travelled to various prospering cities with their goods. Terah decided
that they should stop in the city of Haran for awhile.
Haran was a city that was well-known to~be a center for a religious
cult -which worshipped the moon, and it may have attracted Terah for
that reason.
They all remained in Haran for five years, and then Terah died.
After Terah's death, the Lord spoke to Abram and once more
instructed him to leave his family and go to the land which He would
show him.
This time, Abram obeyed the Lord, and he left Haran with his wife
Sarai, his nephew Lot, and about three-hundred servants which the
family had acquired over the years in ER. Abram's brother Nahor and
his family remained in Haran.
Abram's incomplete obedience in taking Lot with him would cause
problems for Abram later on, but God had a purpose for allowing Lot to
go with Abram.
When they reached the plain of Moreh in the land of Canaan, they
camped there. This time the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "Abram!
Unto your seed will I give this land!"
Abram believed God, and when he had travelled a short distance to a
place called Bethel, he pitched his tents there and built an altar
unto the Lord and worshipped Him.
Shortly after that, there was a famine in the land of Canaan, so
Abram picked up his belongings and journeyed down to Egypt.
As they were entering the land of Egypt, Abram said to Sarai, "Look
now, Sarai. I know that you are a very beautiful woman, and when the
Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife'. Then they will
kill me and save you alive!"
Sarai listened carefully to her husband, and she agreed to follow
his words when he said, "When the Egyptians stop us, let's tell them
that you are my sister. Then I will be safe in their hands!"
Just as Abram was afraid might happen, the Egyptians did take
special notice of Sarai and saw that she was very beautiful. They told
Pharoah about her, and she was taken into Pharoah's house.
Believing that Abram was Sarai's brother, Pharoah treated Abram
with every kindness. However, the Lord greatly troubled Pharoah's
household because of Sarai. Pharoah investigated the household
problems and then he sent for Abram for questioning. He said to Abram,
"What is the meaning of lying to me? Why didn't you tell me that this
woman was your wife? You could have prevented all of this difficulty
in my house! Now, TAKE YOUR WIFE AND GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
Abram left Egypt after that and took all those who were travelling
with him and went back to Bethel where he had built the altar unto the
Lord.
PART 2 - Abram surveyed the land of Canaan and saw that there wasn't enough
pasture land to accommodate his own flocks and also those which
belonged to his nephew Lot. The cowboys belonging to each of them
began to quarrel among themselves, so Abram knew they would have to
separate.
Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have a big argument about this! The
whole land is out there before us! Choose the portion you want for
yourself, and I will take what is left.
Lot looked at the beautiful plain along the Jordan River, and he
chose that spot for himself. When they separated, Abram dwelt in the
land of Canaan and Lot pitched his tent in the plain just outside of
the city of Sodom. The men of Sodom were extremely wicked in the eyes
of the Lord, and they appointed Lot to be a judge in their city.
After his separation from Lot, the Lord spoke to Abram and said,
"Look around you, Abram! Look in every direction, for all the land
which you see I will give to you and to your seed forever. Also,
Abram, I will multiply your descendants as the dust of the earth in
number. Now, get up and walk through this land and know that I have
given it to you!"
Abraham believed that promise from God. He removed his tents, and
settled in the plain of Manre, which is in Hebron. There he built an
altar and worshipped the Lord.
PART 3 - In the beautiful valley where Lot settled, five powerful kings from
Babylonia descended with their armies to fight against the kings of
Sodom, Gomorrah and Zoar. The Babylonian army was victorious, and they
took Lot and all of the possessions of the kings in the valley and
headed back toward Babylonia.
One man had escaped the slaughter, and he went to Abram to report
that Lot had been taken prisoner by the Babylonian army.
Immediately, Abram armed his three-hundred eighteen servants, and
they pursued the enemy to the border of Babylonia. They rescued Lot
and also recovered all of the goods which had been taken during the
battle.
As Abram was returning home victoriously, the king of Sodom and the
other kings who had fought with him went out to meet Abram. They
rewarded the men who had fought with Abram.
PART 4 - After his great victory, Abram became discouraged and worried. God
had promised to give him many descendants, but he didn't even have a
son of his own. Abram decided that perhaps he could make his servant
Eheazer his heir, but God spoke to Abram in a vision and said, "I am
your shield and your exceedingly great reward!
Abram asked, "Lord God, I am childless, because you have not given
me a son. Couldn't my servant Eheazer be my heir?"
The Lord replied, "No, Abram! He shall not be your heir! I will
give you a son of your own body, and he will be your heir!"
After saying that to Abram, the Lord took Abram out of his tent and
said to him, "Look up into the heavens, Abram, and see if you can
count the stars. If you were able to count them, you would know the
number of descendants you will have!"
Abram was silent after that, and in the night the Lord spoke to him
in a dream and said, "Know for sure what I am saying to you, Abram!
Your descendants will be slaves in a land that is not theirs. They
will serve those people four-hundred years. After four
generations, your people will be delivered from their slavery. Then
they will come out with great wealth. After that, I will judge those
who afflicted them. Furthermore, I will bless those who honor you, and
I will curse those who curse you!"
Several years passed and Abram still had no child of his own. Sarai
spoke to him and said, "The Lord has not given me the ability to bear
a child for you. Take my Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, for your wife, and
perhaps we can have a child through her."
It was not an uncommon thing to do in the ancient world when a wife
was unable to bear children, so Abram listened to the voice of his
wife, and took Hagar as his wife.
When Hagar became pregnant, she despised her mistress, Sarai!
Sarai became very upset at Hagar's attitude toward her, so she
complained to Abram and said, "It's all your fault that there is
trouble in our household because of my handmaid! The Lord can judge
whether it is you or me who is to blame for all of this turmoil!"
Abram replied, "Hagar is your servant! Do with her as you think
best!"
Sarai scolded Hagar severely, and Hagar ran away.
The angel of the Lord found Hagar by a fountain on the road to
Egypt and said to her, "Hagar, Sarai's maid, why have you come here,
and where are you going?"
Hagar replied, "I am running away from my mistress, Sarai!"
Then the Lord said, "Return to your mistress and submit yourself to
her! You will bear a son and you shall call his name Ishmael. He will
be a trouble-maker, and others will cause much trouble for him. I will
multiply his seed greatly, so that his descendants will not be
numbered for multitude."
Hagar obeyed the Lord and returned to Sarai and bore Abram's son.
After that, there was peace in Abram's household once more.
PART 5 - Thirteen years passed, and when Abram was ninety-nine years old,
the Lord appeared to him again and said, "I am the almighty God. Walk
before Me and be perfect. I will make a sure promise between Me and
you, and I will multiply your seed exceedingly!"
Abram fell down before God and the Lord talked with him saying,
"Behold, my sure promise is with you, and you shall be a father of
many nations. Your name will now be Abraham. Nations and kings will
come from you. I will establish my covenant between us with all of the
generations that follow you. I will give your children all the land of
Canaan in which you are now a stranger. That land will be an
everlasting possession for them, and I will be their God!"
Abraham was listening very carefully to what the Lord was saying,
but he kept silent.
Then the Lord continued and said, "As for Sarai, your wife, you
shall call her Sarah. I will bless her and she shall bear your son."
Abraham laughed within himself and thought, "Shall a child be born
to a man and woman who are both past the child-bearing age? I am
nearly one-hundred years old, and Sarah is ninety!"
Then Abraham asked, "0 that Ishmael might be the heir you have
promised me."
The Lord answered, "No! Sarah, your wife, shall certainly bear a
son for you, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my
covenant with him and with all the generations that follow him. As for
Ishmael, I have heard your prayers concerning him, and I will multiply
him also. He shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make of
him a great nation, but My covenant will be established with Isaac
whom Sarah shall bear unto you at a set time next year."
After those words to Abraham, the Lord left him for awhile.
PART 6 - One hot summer day, not long after God renewed his promise to
Abraham, Abraham was sitting in the doorway of his tent. He looked
down the road, and suddenly noticed that three men were approaching,
so he ran to meet them. Abraham bowed down graciously to the three men
and said, "Please come into my tent and refresh yourselves before you
continue your journey. You are welcome to relax under this tree while
we prepare a little food for you."
The three men replied, "Yes, we will rest here awhile, and thank
you for your hospitality."
Abraham hurried into the tent and said to his wife, "Sarah, we have
been honored with three guests today. Have the servants prepare bread
and meat for them right away!"
Then Abraham returned to his guests and stood by them under the
tree while they waited for the food. One of the men addressed Abraham
and said, "Where is Sarai, your wife?"
Abraham answered, "Oh, she's inside the tent preparing food for
you."
The man said, "I will return to you at the appointed time when
Sarah shall bear a son for you."
Then Abraham realized that it was the Lord who was speaking to him,
and the other two were angels who had accompanied the Lord.
Sarah was listening to the conversation between the men, but she
was hiding behind the flap of the tent door so she wouldn't be seen.
She laughed inwardly at the words she heard! She could not imagine how
she and Abraham could have a son in their old age!
The Lord knew her thoughts and said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah
laugh when I told you she would have a son? This will certainly come
to pass! Is anything too hard for the Lord?"
Sarah cautiously came from behind the tent flap which concealed her
presence. Now she was afraid, and she denied the accusation and said,
"I did not laugh!"
The Lord said, "Oh yes you did laugh, Sarah! The son you will bear
will be called Isaac, which means laughter, and you will never forget
that you did not believe my promise."
After that scolding by the Lord, Sarah went back into the tent.
When the men finished eating, they got up to leave. Abraham
accompanied them as they walked down the road. Their attention was
firmly fixed in the direction of Sodom.
They stopped for a moment, and the Lord said to the two angels, "I
won't hide My plans for Sodom from Abraham, because I have determined
that he will be a blessing to the whole earth." Then the Lord turned
to Abraham and said, "We have come here to destroy Sodom and Gommorah,
because the people there have committed grevious sins!"
The Lord continued speaking with Abraham, and the two angels turned
away from them and walked down the road to Sodom.
Abraham feared for the lives of Lot and his family, because they
lived in Sodom. Abraham drew close to the Lord and asked, "Will you
destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose you find fifty
believers in the city? I know you will spare them because you are a
righteous judge!"
The Lord replied, "If I find that there are fifty believers in
Sodom, I will not destroy the city."
Abraham was encouraged to speak again, and he said, "I have no
right to ask you further, but suppose you find that there are
forty-five righteous people there? Will you spare the city?"
The Lord answered, "I will not destroy Sodom if I find that there
are forty-five righteous people there."
Abraham still continued to bargain with the Lord, because he
assumed that Lot and all of his family were believers. He swallowed
hard and then said, "Lord, please don't be angry with me for asking,
but if there are ten righteous people there, will you spare the city?"
The Lord replied, "Yes, I will spare the city if I find that there
are ten righteous people there."
Then Abraham was satisfied that the city would not be destroyed. He
knew that Lot was a believer, and he assumed that Lot's wife, two
unmarried daughters, three married daughters and their husbands made a
total of ten people who were righteous in Sodom.
After that, the Lord was finished speaking with Abraham, and
Abraham went back into his tent for a good night's rest.
PART 7 - Lot was a judge in Sodom, which meant that he sat in the gate of
the city and handled legal problems that the citizens of Sodom would
bring before him. At dusk, Lot was sitting in the gate and he saw the
two men walking toward him. As he hurried to meet them, he bowed in
reverence to the two strangers and said, "Sirs, it will soon be dark.
Please come to my house and refresh yourselves. Then you will be ready
to continue your journey in the morning."
They answered, "No, thank you! We will remain in the street all
night!
When Lot continued to urge them to stay, they finally accepted his
hospitality. They went into Lot's house, and he made a great feast for
them. Just before they were ready to retire for the night, the men of
Sodom, young and old alike, came from every section of the city and
surrounded Lot's house. They called out to Lot saying, "Where are the
two men who came into your house tonight, Lot? Send them out here to
us!"
Knowing that the men of Sodom were very wicked in the eyes of the
Lord, Lot came out of the door of his house and closed it tightly
behind him. Then he spoke to the men of Sodom and said, "Please do not
insult or mistreat my guests! These men have come into my house, and I
must protect them! I have two unmarried daughters, and I will send
them out to you instead of the men who are my guests!"
In answer to that, the men of Sodom shouted angrily, "Stand away
from the door, Lot! You have come into our city to judge us and to be
critical of us! Now we'll just see about what you want us to do!"
After saying those words, they violently pushed Lot out of the way
and were about to force their way into his house without Lot's
permission. However, the angels prevented their entrance, and they
afflicted the men of Sodorn with blindness, and they were unable to
find the door. After that ordeal, the two strangers asked Lot, "Do you
have any other family members living here in Sodom? If so, find them
at once and take them out of this city! The Lord has sent us here to
destroy Sodom because of the wickedness of the people here!"
Instantly, Lot went out to look for his married daughters and their
husbands. When he found them he said, "Get ready to leave Sodom
immediately! The Lord is going to destroy this city as soon as we
leave!"
Lot's sons-in -law just laughed when they heard his words and
replied to him, "That's very funny! We don't believe what you are
telling us! Since when have you taken the Word of God seriously?"
Lot was very discouraged at their attitude, and he returned to his
house.
The angels said, "Take your wife and your two unmarried daughters
with you and get out of this place at once!"
Lot hesitated to obey, so the angels took hold of Lot, his wife and
his two unmarried daughters and set them outside the city of Sodom.
Then the Lord spoke to Lot and said, "Run for your lives now, and
don't look back! Don't remain in this valley, but flee to the
mountains!"
Lot argued and said, "Please, Lord! If I have found grace in your
sight, and you are preserving my life, let me go into that little city
of Zoar over there to hide from the destruction you are about to bring
upon Sodom. I just know I'll die if I go into the mountains for
protection!"
The Lord replied, "Alright, Lot! Go into Zoar, and I will not
destroy it,. but don't look back at Sodom as you go!"
By this time, the sun was shining brightly upon the earth, and the
Lord sent fire and brimstone from heaven and poured it upon Sodom and
the neighboring city of Gomorrah. All of the inhabitants and
everything that grew upon the ground were destroyed!
Lot's wife lagged behind the others, and she turned and looked back
longingly at Sodom. The vapour from the fire and brimstone which the
Lord was raining down upon Sodom and Gomorrah filled the air like a
fog. Also, the substance of the combination became like a crust of
salt. It killed Lot's wife as it enveloped her body, giving it the
appearance of a pillar of salt.
Lot kept running and took his two daughters up into a mountain
above Zoar.
PART 8 - Abraham rose up early the next morning and stood in the place where
the Lord had talked with him. He looked across the plain toward Sodom
and Gomorrah, and the sight was like that of a smoking furnace!
Abraham never saw Lot again, but he was confident that the Lord had
spared his nephew's life. After that, Abraham decided to travel to the
Philistine city of Gerar. Their king, Abimelech, saw how beautiful
Sarah was, and he sent men to capture Abraham and his party.
Just as he had done in Egypt when he feared for his own life,
Abraham said, "Sarah is my sister!"
Then when Sarah was questioned, she said, "He is my brother!"
Abimelech took Sarah into his house and intended to make her one of
his wives. However, God spoke to Abinelech in a dream and said, "You
are about to die, because the woman you have taken into your house is
the man's wife!"
Abimelech answered the Lord and said, "Lord! Will you destroy this
righteous nation because of my actions? The man told me she was his
sister, and she also said he was her brother! I am innocent in this
matter!"
The Lord replied, "Yes, I know you weren't responsible. That's why
I did not allow you to take the woman as your wife. Now, return her to
her husband! The man is a prophet, and he will pray for you. If you
refuse to restore his wife to him, you and your people will surely
die!"
Abimelech got up early that morning and called his men into
conference. He told them what the Lord had said to him, and they were
very frightened!
Then Abimelech called Abraham to him and said, "What have you done
to us? Have I done something to offend you that you would bring this
great sin upon me and my people? Those things should not have been
done!"
Abraham answered, "I did not know you and your people believed in
the Lord, and I was afraid you would take my wife and kill me. I asked
Sarah to protect me by saying that she was my sister!"
Then Abimelech gave Abraham sheep, oxen and servants, and he also
gave Abraham's his wife to him and said, "Look out there at my land,
Abraham, and choose a place where you wish to pitch your tents, and
leave me and my people in peace!"
After that well-deserved scolding by Abimelech, Abraham went on his
way.
PART 9 - When Abraham was one-hundred years old, Sarah bore their son, just
as the Lord had promised. They called his name Isaac.
When Isaac was about two years old, Abraham made a great feast to
honor his young son. At that celebration, Isaac was the center of
attention, and during the festivities, Sarah suddenly noticed that
Ishmael was making fun of her little boy!
Ishmael was now about seventeen by that time, and he was laughing
and pointing his finger at Isaac. When someone asked him why he was
laughing, Ishmael said, "His name means laughter, and I think that is
very funny!"
Well, it certainly wasn't funny to Sarah! She was furious and
complained to her husband about Ishmael's actions.
Abraham was grieved to see how Ishmael acted toward Isaac, so early
the next morning Abraham gathered food and water for a long journey
for Hagar and Ishmael and sent them away into the wilderness of
Beer-sheba. Soon their water was gone, and Hagar said to Ishmael, "Go
and rest in the shade nearby. We have no more water, and we will both
die here in the desert!"
Then Hagar sat down under some bushes near her son, but she turned
her eyes away from him so she wouldn't have to witness his death. Then
she wept bitterly!
The Lord spoke to Hagar and said, "What's wrong with you Hagar?
Don't be afraid! I have heard the lad's prayers! I have prepared a
well for you and your son to draw water, so lift him up now, because I
will make a great nation of him."
They filled their water jug, and Hagar and Ishmael went on their
way strengthened and refreshed. Apparently, Hagar was in the process
of taking Ishmael back to her home in Egypt, but God's plan for him
was to stay in the desert. Hagar found an Egyptian wife for Ishmael,
and he became the father of twelve sons.
Isaac and Ishmael did not see one another again until seventy-five
years later when Abraham died. They buried their father in a cave in
Hebron.
PART 10 - From the time when Abraham was first called by the Lord and told
that there was a special purpose for his life, about forty years had
passed. During those years, Abraham experienced four great crisis.
During each crisis, he was asked to surrender something that was very
special to him. After he passed each one of those tremendous tests, he
became the father of many nations as the Lord had promised.
Abraham's first big test was when the Lord told him to leave his
own country and his family and go to a place which the Lord would show
him. His second test was to separate from his nephew Lot who was a
fellow-believer and his possible heir. The third challenge was to
accept the Lord's reason for not allowing his son Ishmael to be his
heir. Ishmael was not the son that God promised him, so he could not
be Abraham's heir. Then the final test came. It was the most difficult
one of all, because the Lord asked him to take his son Isaac and offer
him as a burnt offering.
Abraham didn't argue with the Lord, but obeyed His command and made
preparations to carry it out.
Why did Abraham obey? Because he knew, without any doubt at all,
that if Isaac died, God was able to raise him up from the dead! He
understood that through Isaac, the promised son, would come a people
which would be so great in number, they could not be counted, so Isaac
had to live!
This greatest of all tests came to Abraham after all of the human
props were taken from him. This time he had to rely on the Lord God
and no one else! Finally, the day came for this great testing, and God
said to Abraham, "Abraham! Take your son Isaac whom you love dearly,
and go into the land of Moriah. There you will offer him as a burnt
offering to Me upon one of the mountains which I will show you."
Abraham rose up early the next morning, probably before Sarah
awoke, and he took two of his servants and Isaac, his son, and made
ready for the journey to the land of Moriah. Abraham saddled his
donkey, cut wood for the burnt offering and placed the wood upon the
donkey. He followed the Lord's directions, and on the third day,
Abraham looked up and saw the place where the Lord wanted them to go.
He turned to his two servants and said, "You men stay here with the
donkey and wait while the lad and I go up on this mountain to worship
the Lord. After we worship, Isaac and I will return to you again."
Abraham took the wood for the offering and laid it upon Isaac's
shoulders. Then he took a torch in his hand for the fire and a knife
for the sacrifice, and the two of them began to ascend the slope.
Isaac was a strong young man and was probably about seventeen years
old at that time, so it was the logical thing for him to carry the
load.
Suddenly Isaac looked around and said, "Father!"
Abraham replied, "Yes, my son?"
Isaac said, "I see that we have brought all of the necessary things
for the sacrifice, but where is the lamb for the offering?"
Abraham answered, "My son, God will provide a lamb for the burnt
offering!
After that, they both continued up the slope to the place of
sacrifice which the Lord had chosen. Abraham built an altar and laid
the wood upon it. Then he bound Isaac and laid him on the wood. Isaac
did not question his father, but was obedient to his instructions.
As Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his
son, God called to him out of heaven saying, "Abraham, Abraham!"
Abraham stopped and answered, "Here I am, Lord!"
The Lord said, "Do not harm your son! Now I know that you trust me
with all your heart, because you were willing to sacrifice your son
without questioning My purpose!"
Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in a thicket by its
horns behind him. He knew that the Lord had substituted the ram for
the sacrifice instead of Isaac, and Abraham offered the ram as a burnt
offering to the Lord.
God's purpose in asking Abraham to sacrifice his son was not for
the outward act, but it was to see Abraham's mental attitude of
complete trust and his willingness to obey God without questioning
Him. This testing of Abraham also serves as an illustration of how God
the Father sacrificed His Son, Jesus Christ on the cross as a
substitute for you and for me.
Sarah died when she was one-hundred twenty-seven years old, and
after her death, Abraham married a woman by the name of Keturah who
bore him six sons. However, it would be through Isaac, the son of
promise, that the Saviour would eventually come into the world
four-thousand years later. Before he died, Abraham willed all of his
possessions to Isaac. He gave presents to Ishmael and to the sons of
Keturah and sent them into the east country we know now as Arabia.
Abraham, the friend of God, lived to be one-hundred seventy-five
years old, and then he died. Through his son Isaac, his grandson Jacob
and his twelve sons, the nation of Israel was born, and through that
nation came the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ in true humanity and
perfect deity as the only sacrifice for our sins.
The End of ABRAHAM
TOP OF
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"ISAAC, the SON OF PROMISE"
PART 1 - Isaac was the son which God promised to Abraham, and the covenant
God made with Abraham was passed down to him.
When Isaac was about seventeen years old, Abraham awakened him very
early one morning and said, "My son, we are going on a three-day
journey to the land of Moriah to worship the Lord with a burnt
offering." (Isaac did not know that he was about to play a very
important part in the final big test for Abraham. That test would
involve both he and his father)
Abraham took Isaac and two of his trusted servants, and they
selected a donkey from their flocks to carry the necessary food and
water for the trip. They also took a large bundle of wood for the
burnt offering and placed it on the back of the animal.
After travelling for three days, Abraham looked up and pointed to
one of the mountains ahead and said, "There is the place where God
wants me to make a sacrifice to Him!"
When they reached the foot of the mountain, Abraham turned to his
servants saying, "You two men wait here while I and the lad go up into
the mountain to worship the Lord, and afterward, we will come back
again to you!"
Then Abraham took the bundle of wood from the animal's back and
placed it on Isaac's shoulders, and the two of them began to ascend
the slope together.
Suddenly as they walked, Isaac turned to his father and said,
"Father, I see that you have a knife and the fire for the sacrifice,
but where is the lamb for the offering?"
Abraham took a deep breath and then replied, "My son, God will
provide a lamb for the offering!
Abraham began to explain further to Isaac, "My son, your birth was
a great miracle from the Lord, because your mother and I were long
past the child-bearing age when you were conceived. God told me when I
left my home in Haran that He would give me a son by my wife Sarah,
but it took me twenty-five years to really believe that promise! When
I finally did believe that He would give us a son, even though we were
ninety-nine and one-hundred years old, you were born. God always keeps
His Word! Don't ever forget that!"
Isaac thought about that for awhile and then asked, "But what has
that to do with not having a lamb for the sacrifice today, father?"
Abraham could have made up a fancy excuse, but instead of doing
that, he gave a truthful answer to Isaac and said, "My son, the Lord
has asked me to use you, my only true son, for the burnt offering! I
know that if I kill you with this sacrificial knife, God is able to
raise you from the dead! He has promised me that my seed will be
multiplied and become a great nation! I have no doubt at all that you
will live!"
Naturally, Isaac was frightened by the idea that he was to be the
sacrifice, but when he understood what his father was saying, and he
saw the unwavering faith of Abraham, he was willing to be bound and
placed on the altar.
As Abraham raised the knife to kill his son, the Lord spoke to him
from heaven and said, "Abraham! Do not harm your son! I know now that
you trust me with all your heart, because you are willing to obey me
even if it means the death of your son Isaac."
As soon as God spoke to Abraham, he and Isaac heard a rustling in
the bushes nearby. They looked up and saw a ram which was caught in
the thicket by its horns. Now they both understood that the ram was
the Lord's provision for the burnt offering.
Isaac was set free, and the ram was tied and placed on the altar
and used as an offering to the Lord instead of Isaac.
After that great ordeal, Abraham and Isaac went back down the
slope, and all of the men returned to their home.
PART 2 - Twenty years went by after Abraham's great test of faith. Sarah
died very suddenly, and Abraham buried her in a cave in Hebron which
he purchased as a burying place for his descendants who would inherit
God's covenant promises.
Shortly after that, Abraham called his eldest servant, Eliezer, and
said to him, "I'm going to send you to Haran to find a bride for my
son Isaac. I do not want him to marry a woman of the Canaanites in
this land, so before you leave, I insist that you swear to me by the
Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will go to my people in
Haran and bring back a wife for Isaac."
Eliezer replied, "Suppose the woman I find will not be willing to
come back here with me? Must I return to Canaan and take your son to
Haran?"
Abraham answered, "No! My son must never go back to that country
again! The Lord has forbidden it, but He will send His angel before
you, and you will find a wife for my son. If the woman will not return
with you, you will be free from your oath!"
Eliezer agreed to go. He took some men, food supplies and gifts for
Abraham's family and travelled to the city of Haran where Abraham's
brother Nahor lived. After many weary days of travelling, Eliezer
reached the outskirts of the city of Haran, and he stopped by a well.
He made his camels kneel down to rest while he waited to see what the
Lord would do.
It was early evening, and Eliezer prayed to the Lord saying, "Lord,
please show kindness to my master Abraham today. When the women come
from the city to draw water from this well, let the one from whom I
request a drink be the one you have chosen for Isaac."
As he prayed, Eliezer saw a beautiful young woman coming toward him
with a water pitcher on her shoulder. She filled her jug at the well,
and then Eliezer approached her and asked, "Please give me a drink of
water from your pitcher."
She looked at Eliezer and then set her pitcher down and said, "Rest
here, and I will draw water for all of you and also for your camels."
When the camels had their fill, Eliezer gave the young woman a
golden earring, two gold bracelets and a small bag of gold. Then he
asked her, "Whose daughter are you?"
She replied, "My name is Rebekah, and I am the daughter of Bethuel,
the son of Nahor."
Eliezer was excited when he heard her reply, and then he asked, "Is
there room in your father's house to accommodate us for the night?"
Rebekah responded quickly and emphatically, "Yes! We have plenty of
room and food also for all of you and a place for your camels as
well!"
Eliezer bowed his head and worshipped the Lord for His provision.
Then he said, "The Lord has truly blessed my master Abraham today. He
has led me to the house of Nahor, Abraham's brother!" Then he
accompanied Rebekah to her house.
Rebekah ran ahead of the others, and went into the house to tell
her family what had happened. She showed them the beautiful gifts
Eliezer had given to her, and when Rebekah's brother Laban saw the
earring and the bracelets, he hurried outside to greet Eliezer and
said, "Come in! Don't stand here outside the house! We have plenty of
room for all of you, and we also have a place in our stables for your
camels. This is the house of my father Bethuel. Our grandfather Nahor
is no longer living."
Eliezer and the men who were with him accepted Laban's hospitality,
and they entered the house where they met Laban's mother and father.
After they were refreshed from their long journey, a wonderful meal
was set before them, but before they would eat, Eliezer said, "I will
not partake of this food until I have told you my reason for coming
here."
Laban and Bethuel responded, "Please tell us your purpose in coming
so far to see us."
Eliezer answered, "I am Abraham's servant. You both know that
Abraham is the brother of your father Nahor. The Lord has blessed my
master with much wealth as well as numerous flocks and herds of
animals and also many servants. The Lord has also blessed Abraham with
a son when he and Sarah were way past the child-bearing ages. His
son's name is Isaac, and to him has been given all that belongs to
Abraham."
Everyone at the table was listening intently as Eliezer told his
story. Then Eliezer continued and said, "My master has sent me here to
find a wife for his son from your family, and I believe that the Lord
has brought me to you in order that I might take your daughter Rebekah
back to Isaac. If you will permit her to accompany us, and if she is
willing to leave you, we will be happy to take her to my master's
house as a bride for Isaac."
Bethuel responded, "If this is the Lord's will that you should take
Rebekah, we have no objections! Take her with you if she is willing."
Then Eliezer brought forth jewels of silver and gold as well as
some beautiful garments and gave them to Rebekah. After that, he and
his men enjoyed the food which was provided for them.
When they rose up to leave the following morning, Eliezer said,
"Let me go now and take Rebekah back to my master Abraham."
Rebekah's mother and brother objected and said, "Please let Rebekah
stay with us for ten days or so, and then she may go with you!"
Eliezer replied emphatically, "Don't try to detain me any longer!
The Lord has prospered our journey, so permit us to leave without any
further delay!"
Rebekah's mother called her and asked, "Are you willing to go with
these men?"
Rebekah replied, "Yes, I will go with them!"
After that, the family members said, "Go then, and leave here with
our blessing upon you!"
Rebekah said goodbye to her family, and she made preparations to
leave. Some of the ladies who attended to her personal needs
accompanied her. They rode on the camels which Eliezer had brought
with him, and began their long journey to the land of Canaan.
PART 3 - When the caravan drew near to the place where Isaac was waiting, it
was nearly sunset. Daily, Isaac had come there, meditating about how
his life would be changed when Eliezer returned and presented a wife
to him. Suddenly, he looked down the road and saw the camels coming.
He immediately ran in their direction to welcome those in the caravan.
Rebekah also noticed that a man was coming to meet them, and she
asked Eliezer, "Who is this man who approaches us?"
Eliezer replied, "It is Isaac, my master's son!"
Then Eliezer assisted Rebekah as she descended from the camel, and
he introduced her to Isaac. He told Isaac all the things that had
happened to them on their journey from Haran.
Isaac loved Rebekah, and he took her into his mother's tent, and
she became his wife.
Many years passed, and Isaac and Rebekah had no children. Isaac
earnestly prayed to the Lord and asked Him for a son. Nineteen years
later, Rebekah became pregnant.
During her pregnancy, Rebekah noticed an apparent struggle within
her body, so she asked the Lord, "If it is your will that I should
have a son for Isaac, why am I having such a problem carrying this
child?"
The Lord replied, "Twin sons will come from your womb. One will be
stronger than the other, and the firstborn will serve the younger."
Isaac was sixty years old when the boys were born. At birth, the
first twin was red and hairy, so they named him Esau, which means red.
After he was delivered, his brother was born with his hand holding
Esau's heel. They gave him the name Jacob, which means "heel-catcher".
As the twins were growing up, Esau became an excellent hunter,
while Jacob preferred the life of a shepherd. Isaac showed his
preference for Esau, because he enjoyed the venison which Esau
prepared and gave him, but Rebekah favored Jacob.
One day Esau was out hunting, and he became extremely tired and
hungry. He managed to find his way to Jacob's tent just at the time
Jacob was preparing some lentil soup for himself. Esau said, "Jacob!
I'm exhausted and about ready to faint from lack of food! Please give
me some of that lentil soup before I die of starvation!"
Jacob replied thoughtfully, "Of course, Esau, but first you must
swear that you will sell your birthright to me!"
Esau reached for the bowl of soup and said, "Look here, Jacob! I
need food! What good is my birthright to me if I die?
Jacob restrained Esau and said, "Not so fast, brother! Swear to me
that you will give me your birthright this very day!"
In exasperation, Esau said, "Alright! I will swear! Give the food
to me at once!"
Jacob gave bread and soup to his brother, and Esau ate and drank
until he was satisfied. Then he went on his way, not caring that he
had sold his birthright to Jacob for a morsel of food!
(In Jewish culture at that time, a birthright involved some very
important things regarding advantage, privilege and responsibility
among the descendants of Abraham. The firstborn was given a double
portion of his father's estate, while the other sons were given
equally divided smaller portions. Then, the firstborn son was given
authority over his younger brothers. He was also designated as the one
to provide food, clothing and shelter for his mother and for his
unmarried sisters as well. In addition to those benefits, the most
important of all of the blessings given to the firstborn was the
covenant with God, which was awarded to the firstborn and handed down
from Abraham, to Isaac and then to Jacob and his sons.)
Later on, when Esau realized what he had done, he despised Jacob
and stayed away from him for a very long period of time.
PART 4 - Because of a famine in the land, Isaac took Rebekah, his servants
and his flocks to the land of the Philistines, but Esau and Jacob
remained in Canaan. Isaac camped in the area of Gerar for some time,
because it was a prosperous town located on the border between Egypt
and Philistia.
One night the Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down into
Egypt, but stay here for awhile. I will bless you and confirm my
covenant with you as I promised your father Abraham."
Isaac obeyed the Lord, and he remained in Gerar for a number of
years.. They dug many wells in that place, and with an ample water
supply, their flocks increased in number. So great was Isaac's
prosperity that the Philistines became envious, and their herdmen
began fighting with Isaac's men. In fact, the problem became so great
that Isaac was forced to leave Philistia and go to Beer-sheba, which
was the place his father Abraham always enjoyed.
While Isaac and Rebekah were in Gerar, Esau married two Canaanite
women. His wives caused much grief for Rebekah, because the Canaanite
people worshipped the gods of Egypt and Babylonia and not the Lord God
of Abraham.
PART 5 - When Isaac was old, his eyesight became so bad that he could barely
see. He called his eldest son, Esau, and said to him, "Son, I am old
and feeble now, and I do not know how much longer I will live. Before
my death, I want to bless you as the firstborn son." (apparently,
Isaac had forgotten what the Lord told him before the twins were born
that the younger would inherit the firstborn blessings)
Isaac continued saying to Esau, "Please go and get a deer and
prepare a nice venison meal for me. You know how much I enjoy the way
you prepare venison!"
Esau replied, "I'll go right away, father!"
Rebekah overheard the conversation between Isaac and Esau, so she
quickly sent for Jacob and said to him, "My son, I just overheard your
father tell Esau to go hunting for a deer and prepare a fine venison
dinner for him before his death. Then he would bestow the blessings of
the firstborn upon him! Now, before Esau returns from the hunt, I want
you to listen carefully and obey my instructions!"
Jacob replied, "I'll do whatever you say, mother!"
Rebekah said, "Your brother will be away for a few days, so in the
meantime I want you to bring two small goats to me, and I will make a
savory stew for your father. Then you will serve him what I have
prepared, and he will bless you instead of Esau"'
Jacob interrupted and said, "My father will surely know me because
I am a smooth-skinned man and my brother is a very hairy man! I'll
never be able to deceive my father!"
Rebekah replied, "Let me bear the responsibility in this matter, my
son! Go now and do as I asked you to do!"
Jacob obeyed his mother, and she made a delicious meal for Jacob to
take to Isaac. Rebekah also put some of Esau's garments on Jacob, and
then she took the skins of the goats and put them on Jacob's hands and
on the back of his neck so that Isaac would think that Jacob was Esau.
After all of the preparation was accomplished, Jacob took the meat
and bread to his father. He approached his father and said, "Father, I
have brought you a fine meal as you requested."
Isaac said, "I'm right here, my son, but who are you?"
Jacob replied, "I am Esau, your firstborn! I have done as you asked
me to do. Now please eat this venison that I have prepared for you.
After you have had your fill, I will be ready to receive your blessing
upon me."
Then Isaac questioned, "How could you have done all of this so
soon, my son?"
Jacob answered, "Because the Lord provided it for me!"
Then Isaac said, "Come closer to me, and let me feel your hands, my
son. I want to make sure you are Esau before I give you the firstborn
blessings."
Jacob went near to his father, and Isaac felt Jacob's hands and
said, "The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are the hands of Esau!"
Then he asked again, "Are you truly my son Esau?"
Jacob continued to lie and answered, "Yes, I am truly your son
Esau!"
Then Isaac said, "Bring the food to me, and after I enjoy this
venison, I will bless you!"
Jacob sat nearby watching as his father ate the food which Rebekah
had prepared, and after that, Isaac blessed him, and Jacob left the
house.
Meanwhile, Esau had returned from his hunting trip and had cooked
the venison for his father. He came into the house just moments after
Jacob had gone, and he went to his father and said, "Father, here is
the venison which you requested of me. Get up and eat it, and then
bless me as you promised."
When Isaac heard those words, he was very disturbed and asked, "Who
are you?"
Esau replied, "I am your firstborn son, Esau!"
Isaac trembled and said, "Who? Where is he who brought me the
venison which I did eat before you came to me? I have bestowed upon
him all of the blessings of the firstborn!"
When Esau heard how Jacob had deceived his father, he wept bitterly
and then said, "Bless me also, father!"
Isaac replied, "I cannot, my son! Your brother came to me in
disguise and deceived me! Now he has taken your blessing from you!"
Through his tears, Esau said, "My brother has been successful in
deceiving me twice! First he took my birthright away from me, and now
he has stolen my blessing for himself!"
Isaac said, "My son, I have made Jacob Lord over you, and I cannot
change what has been done. Now you will live by the sword in the
wilderness!"
When Esau heard those words, he hated Jacob even more, and he began
to plan how he would kill Jacob after their father was dead.
Esau also knew that his parents were displeased with the wives he
had chosen from the Canaanite people, so in an attempt to please Isaac
and Rebekah, Esau married a woman who was descended from Ishmael, the
son of Abraham.
PART 6 - Rebekah soon learned about Esau's plan to kill Jacob, so she sent
for Jacob and said to him, "Your brother is very angry and means to
find a way to kill you! I will speak to your father and ask him if we
can send you away to stay with my brother Laban for awhile. Perhaps
Esau will forget about how we deceived him, and you will be able to
return to us again."
Jacob replied, "I am willing to go to Laban if my father permits me
to leave."
Then Rebekah spoke to Isaac and said, "I am weary of my life
because of the Canaanite women our son Esau has married! If Jacob also
marries one of these women in the land, I won't care about living
anymore! Would you permit him to go to my brother's family to look for
a wife?"
Isaac called Jacob to him and said, "You must NOT marry any of the
women in the land of Canaan! Make ready to leave this place at once,
and I will send you to Haran, to the house of your mother's father
Bethuel. There you may choose a wife from one of Laban's daughters!
May the Lord God bless you and multiply your seed exceedingly! May the
Lord give you the blessing of Abraham so that you may inherit this
land in which we have been strangers."
After hearing his father's instructions, Jacob left and went to
Haran to see Bethuel and Laban.
On his long journey to Haran, Jacob stopped one night when the sun
was just going down. He took a stone to use as a pillow for his head,
and then he lay down to sleep. During the night, Jacob had a dream in
which he saw a ladder that reached up into the heavens. The Lord was
standing at the top of the ladder, and angels were ascending and
descending on it.
The Lord spoke to Jacob and said, "I AM THE LORD GOD OF ABRAHAM AND
ISAAC! I will give the land on which you lie to you and to your seed
after you. Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth in
multitude, and they shall spread abroad to the west, to the east, to
the north and to the south, and all of the families of the earth shall
be blessed because of them! I am with you, Jacob, and I will protect
you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land of Canaan, and
I will not leave you until I have accomplished all of the things I
have told you!"
After that, Jacob awoke from his sleep, rubbed his eyes and said to
himself, "Surely, the Lord is here, and I was not aware of His
presence!"
As Jacob considered the dream, he became afraid and said to
himself, "It is very frightening to know that God has spoken to me
here!"
Then Jacob took the stone which he had used for a pillow and put
oil upon it to mark it to remind himself that it was the place where
God had spoken to him and confirmed His covenant to him. He called
that place Bethel, which means "THE HOUSE OF GOD".
PART 7 - Jacob continued his journey eastward and noticed a well in the
distance. As he drew closer to it, he saw that a large stone was
covering the well, and three flocks of sheep were lying around the
well with their shepherds tending them.
Jacob greeted the shepherds and then watched them as they rolled
the stone away from the mouth of the well to water their sheep. After
the sheep had their fill, the men rolled the stone back over the well.
Jacob asked the shepherds, "Who are you men, and from where do you
come?"
The shepherds replied, "We are from Haran."
Then Jacob asked, "Do you happen to know Laban, the grandson of
Nahor, the brother of Abraham?"
They replied, "Yes! We know Laban!"
Then Jacob questioned further saying, "Is Laban in good health?"
The men answered, "Yes, he is well. Look up the hill! Laban's
daughter Rachel is coming here with her father's sheep."
Jacob looked up quickly and saw Rachel. He ran to the well and
rolled the stone away. Then he watered the sheep for Rachel and
replaced the stone. After that, Jacob greeted Rachel with a kiss and
told her he was the son of Rebekah, her father's sister.
When Rachel received that news, she left her sheep with Jacob and
ran to tell her father.
As soon as Laban heard Rebekah's news, he went to meet Jacob and
brought him into the house. Jacob told Laban all about his family and
why they had sent him to Haran. Laban said, "Stay with us and work for
me! What will you ask as payment for your work?" (Laban had two
daughters, Leah and Rachel. Leah was the older sister, but Jacob loved
Rachel the moment he first saw her)
Jacob replied to Laban, "I will serve you for seven years if you
will give Rachel to me as my wife!"
Laban answered, "It is better that I should give Rachel to you
rather than to some other man! Stay with me, and you shall have Rachel
for your wife!"
Jacob worked hard for the next seven years, and those years seemed
like a few days to him, because he had so much love for Rachel. Then
Jacob said to Laban, "Please give me my wife as you promised. The
seven years have expired, and I'm ready to receive Rachel as my
wages."
Even though Laban had agreed to give Rachel to Jacob, on the
wedding night he took his older daughter and placed her in Jacob's
tent. It was very dark, and Jacob did not know that the woman was Leah
until the next morning.
Jacob went to Laban and demanded, "Didn't I keep my bargain with
you? I agreed to work for you for seven years to have Rachel for my
wife! What do you mean by giving Leah to me instead of Rachel?"
Laban replied, "According to the custom in our country, the eldest
daughter must marry before the younger does. It would have been wrong
for me to give you my youngest daughter first. If you will stay and
work for me another seven years, I will give you Rachel also."
Jacob agreed, and Rachel was given to him as his wife. Then Jacob
worked an additional seven years for Laban. Jacob loved Rachel more
than he loved Leah, and the Lord gave Leah a son, but withheld Rachel
from bearing children.
Leah's first son was named Reuben. Then she conceived again and
bore another son whom they called Simeon. Leah said to herself,
"Surely my husband will now love me more than my sister, and she bore
a third son for Jacob, and they named him Levi. The following year
Leah had one more son and named him Judah, and then she stopped
bearing children for awhile.
Rachel became very envious of her sister, and she complained
bitterly to Jacob and said, "Give me children or I'll die!"
Jacob became very angry and replied, "Am I responsible for what God
has prevented?
Rachel said, "Well, take my handmaid Bilhah then, and perhaps I can
have a son through her!"
Jacob agreed, and Bilhah bore a son whom they named Dan. She
conceived a second time and had a son and called him Naphtali. After
that, she had no more children for Jacob.
When Leah saw what Rachel did, she took her own handmaid, Zilpah,
and gave her to Jacob as his wife. Zilpah bore two sons for Jacob. The
first one was called Gad, and the second was named Asher.
After that, Leah bore two more sons for Jacob. They were called
Issachar and Zebulun. Last of all, Leah bore a daughter for Jacob, and
she was called Dinah.
After many years of praying for a son of her own, Rachel was
blessed with a son, and he was named Joseph.
During the fourteen years that Jacob served Laban, he became very
prosperous. By now, he had four wives and eleven sons, so he went to
Laban and said, "Send me away now to my own country, and let me take
my wives and my children with me. You know that I have worked very
hard for you all these years!"
Laban replied, "I know that the Lord has prospered me because of my
association with you, Jacob! What more can I pay you in wages for all
you have done for me?"
Jacob replied, "When I came to you, your flocks were few in number,
and now there are hundreds of them. It's time for me to provide for my
own family.
Laban said, "Yes, what you say is true, but what shall I give you
in return for shepherding my flocks for the past fourteen years?"
Jacob answered, "Separate your cattle, sheep and goats, and give me
the ones that are speckled and spotted and grisled, and give the good
ones to your sons to care for. I'll stay for a few more years and care
for the animals you leave in my care. When they produce better looking
young ones, I'll give those to you, and the others will be my wages."
That idea appealed to Laban, and that same day he instructed his
sons to separate the animals and take the good flocks to another area,
a three-day journey from the animals left in Jacob's care.
Jacob stayed six more years tending those flocks, and with the
Lord's help, the marked animals increased more rapidly than the
good-looking ones. Laban's sons went to their father and said,
"Father! Jacob has taken away all that belonged to you! Now he has
greater wealth than we have!"
When Laban heard his son's report, his attitude changed toward
Jacob, and his face showed that he was angry and unfriendly toward
him. Jacob saw that Laban was no longer pleased with him, so he sent
for Rachel and Leah and said to them, "Your father is very displeased
with me, but the Lord God of my fathers has been with me all through
the years in which I have worked for him. Laban has deceived me many
times, but God prevented him from harming me in any way. Now the Lord
has given me most of your father's flocks, and He has told me to leave
this place and return to the land of Canaan."
Rachel and Leah replied, "Our father has deprived us of our
rightful inheritance by his unfairness to you, and we are both willing
to leave our father and go with you to Canaan!"
Then, without telling Laban they were leaving, Jacob gathered all
the people and the flocks which belonged to him and began his journey
back to Canaan. Three days later, Laban received word that Jacob had
fled, so he took some men and went after Jacob. However, the Lord
spoke to Laban in a dream and said, "Be sure that you do not harm
Jacob in any way!"
Laban and his men soon overtook Jacob, and Laban said to him, "Why
have you left me secretly, Jacob? I would have enjoyed honoring you
with a celebration before you went away! You didn't even give me a
chance to kiss my daughters and grandchildren goodbye! You have acted
foolishly, and now my men and I have the power to harm you, but God
has warned me in a dream not to do so!"
Jacob said, "I didn't tell you we were leaving, because I was
afraid that you would take your daughters from me by force!"
Laban answered angrily, "I can understand your concern about my
daughters, but why have you taken my household gods?"
Surprised, Jacob replied, "I know nothing about your gods, Laban!
If you find them or any of your possessions with one of my men, that
man will die'"
(Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household gods which
belonged to her father. Those gods were known as Teraphim1 and they
were the possession of the man who was the head of the family. By
taking them, a married daughter could make sure that her husband would
inherit her father's property, even though she had brothers who would
normally be the rightful heirs. By her action, Rachel demonstrated
that she was not entirely free from the idolatry and the superstition
of the land from which she came)
Laban first went to Jacob's tent to search, and then he went to the
tents belonging to the two maidservants, but he found nothing which
had been stolen from his house. Next, Laban went to search Leah's tent
and found nothing. Last of all, he entered Rachel's tent. Rachel had
put the images under the saddle and blankets which she used on her
camel when they travelled, and she lay down on them. She did not rise
when her father entered, and she said to him, "Please don't be angry
because I do not rise up to greet you, Father, but I'm not feeling
well, and I must rest."
Laban replied, "That's alright, my child. I'm not going to disturb
you!"
Laban searched everywhere except where Rachel was resting, and he
did not find the household gods.
Jacob became very angry with Laban after that, and he said to him,
"What made you pursue me? You have searched all my household goods,
and what have you found? If you found anything of yours, set it before
me and my men!"
Laban was silent, and then Jacob continued, "I served you for
twenty years, Laban, and you changed my wages ten times! Surely you
would have sent me away with nothing, but the Lord has prospered me,
and He has rebuked you, Laban!"
Laban replied, "Oh, let's not part enemies because of this matter!
Instead, I suggest that we make a contract of peace between us in this
place and then go our separate ways with the Lord's blessing upon our
agreement!"
The two men shook hands, and early the next morning, Laban arose
and kissed his daughters and grandchildren, and went back to his home
in Haran. Jacob also arose and began his journey back to Canaan.
PART 8 - While traveling back to Canaan, Jacob decided to go through Seir
where his brother Esau lived. He called some of his men to him and
said, "Go and find my brother Esau, and tell him that since we last
saw one another I have been in Haran with Laban. Then tell him also
that the Lord has multiplied my flocks and my servants, and that I
wish to present some of this wealth to him."
The messengers found Esau and then returned to Jacob saying, "Your
brother is coming to meet you with four-hundred of his men!"
When he heard that, Jacob was afraid. He prayed to the Lord saying,
"0 God of my fathers, I am not worthy of the least of your mercies,
but you have prospered me and told me to return to Canaan. Please
deliver me from the hand of my brother, Esau, because I fear him very
much!"
That night, Jacob gathered about three-hundred goats, sheep, cattle
and camels as a present for Esau. Then he ordered his men to take the
animals and go ahead of the caravan to meet Esau. He instructed them
to say to Esau, "Your brother Jacob is coming to meet you!" Then he
said, "Tell him you are my servants and that you have brought the
animals to him as a gift from me."
Jacob sent his men on their way to meet Esau, and he stayed back
with the caravan. That night, Jacob divided the women with their
children into two companies and sent them over the brook Jabbok which
was always passable on foot, and it emptied into the Jordan River.
Jacob stayed alone nearby.
That night Jacob prayed for guidance. The Angel of the Lord came to
him and wrestled with him until dawn. Neither one was subdued in the
struggle, so the Angel of the Lord touched the hollow of Jacob's
thigh, causing it to become out of joint. Jacob limped on that leg for
the rest of his life.
Then the Angel of the Lord said to Jacob, "You will no longer be
called Jacob, but your name is now Israel, because, as a prince you
have power with God and with man!"
Jacob asked, "Please tell me your name."
The Angel of the Lord replied, "Why do you ask my name? I will
bless you in this place!"
Jacob called the name of that place Peniel. He said, "I have seen
God face-to-face, and my life has been preserved!"
(in the Old Testament, there were a number of instances in which
our Lord became visible in a body in order to deal personally with
certain individuals. We can know if it was an angel or truly the Lord
Himself by the context of the words which are recorded in the
scriptures. Jacob knew he was speaking to the Lord at that meeting!)
When Jacob rose up the next morning, he saw that Esau and his men
could be seen in the distance, so he separated the women with their
children into four groups. He placed Rachel and her son Joseph at the
end of the line to protect them in case Esau wanted to harm them.
Jacob ran to meet Esau and bowed down in respect to him. Esau also
greeted Jacob in a friendly manner and then asked, "Who are all these
women and children with you?"
Jacob replied, "These are my wives and my children whom the Lord
has given to me so graciously." Then he presented them to Esau.
Esau questioned, "Why have you sent these flocks to me?" Jacob
said, "I sent them as a gift to you!"
Esau responded, "I have enough of my own! Keep these for yourself,
Jacob!"
However, Jacob urged his brother and said, "It would please me very
much if you would accept this gift from me!" Then Esau accepted his
brother's generosity.
After that, Esau suggested, "Let my men and I go before your
caravan to guide you on your way to Canaan."
Jacob responded, "Thank you, but we must travel slowly, because the
women and children are tender. The flocks also have young ones who
cannot travel fast."
The two brothers said goodbye. and Esau went back to Seir in Edom,
and Jacob proceeded to journey to the ancient town of Succoth where he
build a house for his family and erected shelters for his flocks. The
two brothers did not see one another again until their father Isaac
died, and they buried him in the cave of Machpelah where his father
Abraham was buried.
The End of ISAAC
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THERE'S NO ESCAPE" (the story of Jonah)
PART 1 - "In what strange prison do I find myself? Lord! What am I doing
here in this terrible place? There's no escape!"
Those words were the pathetic cry of God's prophet Jonah who lived
seven hundred years before Jesus Christ came into the world.
The Lord answered Jonah saying, "Jonah! You know how you refused to
go to Nineveh with my message of salvation, and because of your
disobedience, I have brought you here to think about your sinful
decision. You have been here for the past three days and nights."
Jonah was frightened out of his wits but still able to think
clearly, so he replied, "Yes, Lord, I do remember you telling me to
take your message of salvation to the people of Nineveh. I didn't want
to go, because I knew you would save them if they believed your words!
You know, Lord, how extremely cruel those people are, and how they
have killed many of my people in Israel! I didn't want them to be
saved, so I ran away!"
Then the Lord asked, "Do you remember what you did instead of
obeying me, Jonah?"
Jonah answered, "Yes, Lord! As soon as I heard your commission for
me to go to Nineveh, I decided to go to Joppa instead. I bought
passage on a ship that was bound for Tarshish, and when we got there,
I boarded a merchant ship which I hoped would take me as far away as
possible from Nineveh!"
The Lord said, "You had your own way, Jonah, but now I have brought
you here to give you an opportunity to change your mind! Do you
remember that sea voyage?"
Jonah replied, "Yes, Lord, I do remember. I boarded that cargo
ship, and it sailed for Tarshish. I looked for a quiet, secluded place
to rest, and I found one below deck. I fell fast asleep, and suddenly
I thought I was surely having a nightmare! The ship was being tossed
violently on the sea, and I could hear the fierce wind blowing and
bringing waves over the sides of the upper deck. I shook myself out of
that sound sleep when I heard the captain shout to his crew, 'Start
throwing the cargo over the sides to lighten the ship!'"
"The sailors began to drag the cargo to the railing and were
throwing it into the raging waters. Through all the noise and
confusion on the deck, I heard the captain shout, 'Is anyone down in
the hold?' The answer came back, 'Just the passenger who came aboard
at Joppa, sir!'"
Jonah took a deep breath and then continued, "Just as I was about
to get on my feet, the captain came down to me and shook me as he
demanded, 'Who are you, and who is your god? My men have been praying
to their gods, but no help has come! Now we are beginning to suspect
that it may be your fault that this storm has come upon us!'"
"The captain hauled me up to the main deck, and one of the sailors
demanded of me, 'Stranger, where do you come from, and who are your
people?'"
"I clung desperately to the rail, and I observed the boiling sea as
I answered carefully, 'I am a Hebrew prophet, and I fear the Lord, the
God of heaven and earth! My name is Jonah!'"
"Another seaman yelled, 'Your god must be very angry with you,
Jonah! What terrible thing did you do to displease him and bring this
destruction upon us?'"
"I answered sadly, 'The Lord told me to go to Nineveh and preach
His message of salvation to the people living there, but I refused to
obey! I didn't want to help them in any way, because of the way they
have treated my people in Israel. Now I see that no matter how hard I
try, I cannot escape the presence of my Lord and Saviour.' "
"Another sailor said to me, ' I've heard about the power of the God
of the Hebrew people. What shall we do with you in order to appease
his anger? ' "
"I replied, 'Throw me into the sea, and it will stop raging! This
storm was sent because of me! ' "
"When the captain heard that, he shook his head and said to the
crew, 'We can't deliberately throw this man overboard! Row hard and
try to reach the shore!"
"The mariners rowed until they collapsed from exhaustion on the
deck. Again they cried to their gods for deliverance, but some prayed
to Jonah's God and said, ' O, Lord! Don't let us die because of this
man's sin! Please don't blame us for what we must do with him! ' "
"After praying those words to the Lord, the men picked me up and
threw me into the sea! "
"My body sunk down so deeply into the water that I could see the
bottoms of the mountains. Giant weeds wrapped themselves about my
head, and I thought my ears would burst! Then I saw an extremely large
fish approaching me, and the next thing I knew, I was alive and inside
the belly of this great fish."
"I know, Lord, that you directed this fish to swallow me in order
to punish me, and to preserve my life as well! Now I acknowledge my
sin of disobedience, and call upon you for mercy."
As soon as Jonah's confession of sin was out of his mouth, the Lord
spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
PART 2 - Two shepherds were tending their flocks near the spot where Jonah
was coughed up onto dry land. In great amazement, one of them said to
the other, "I wouldn't have believed that if I hadn't seen it with my
own eyes! Did you see what happened?"
The other shepherd responded, "Yes, I did, and it's hard to
believe! Let's go to him and see if he needs our help! "
The two men walked over where Jonah lay, and when they saw that he
was breathing, they asked him, "Who are you, stranger, and what
circumstances brought you to Assyria?"
Jonah sat up, rubbed his eyes, and then replied, "I am a Hebrew
prophet of God!"
One of the men said, "Which god are you talking about? We worship
many gods here! "
Jonah replied, "The God who created the heavens and the earth is
the one whom I serve! Tell me, what is the name of the nearest city!"
They answered, "We're just outside of the great city of Nineveh!"
Jonah rose to his feet when he heard that, and then said, "This is
exactly where I should be! Please direct me to Nineveh! "
Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. The Lord
said, "Arise, Jonah, and go into this great city of Nineveh to preach
my Word of salvation to the people!" This time when Jonah heard those
words, he obeyed the Lord. He went into the city of Nineveh and walked
for three days from one end of the city to the other saying to the
people, "In forty days the Lord God of the universe will destroy
Nineveh!"
Great fear came upon all who heard Jonah's message! Some came to
Jonah and said, "What can we do to escape the wrath of your God?"
Jonah replied, "You must believe in Him and turn from your gods of
wood and stone and from the evil that is in your hearts!"
Jonah's message was heard by everyone in Nineveh. Even the king
himself heard the bad news regarding the city, and he arose from his
throne, removed his royal garments, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.
(sitting in ashes and wearing sackcloth indicated true humility)
Then the king called his scribe and said, " I'm going to issue a
proclamation to my people, and I want you to take it down and
distribute it to everyone in Nineveh. Write the following words: ' Let
no man or beast, herd or flock eat or drink, but let them all be
covered with sackcloth. Then give up your evil ways and your violence,
and call upon the God of heaven! Perhaps God will turn from his fierce
anger against us, and we will be spared."
The people heard the king's message and obeyed. God saw their faith
when they called upon Him, and He changed His attitude toward the
people of Nineveh and did not destroy them. However, when Jonah saw
that God had mercy upon the Ninevites, he became very angry and went
outside the city to sulk!
Then the Lord said, "You had pity on the vine which you did not
plant or water, and it came up in a night and perished in a night! Why
can't you show pity for the people of Nineveh, that great city in
which there are 120,000 little children who do not yet know the
difference between right and wrong, and also their cattle?"
The Bible does not tell us if Jonah confessed his sin, so he may
have died on that hill outside the city of Nineveh in Assyria.
TO OUR READERS: This story of the prophet Jonah is set forth to
glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 12:40
that this true story of Jonah was an illustration of His own death,
burial and resurrection.
It is our hope that the readers of this story will now have a
better understanding and picture of the book of Jonah as it is set
forth in the Holy scriptures.
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