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The book of Micah

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Apparently (quoted in Longman’s Introduction to the Old Testament) Martin Luther said, “the prophets have a queer way of talking, like people who instead of proceeding in a orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next so that you cannot make head or tail of them or see what they are getting at”. Micah is a culprit of this. The last few verses of Micah summarise its message: “he will tread our iniquities under foot, he does not retain his anger forever, he delights in steadfast love and will show faithfulness” (7:18-20). Micah teaches Judah that God hates sin. He hates it so much that when he cannot put up with its presence any longer he gets rid of it. He warns and warns that he hates sin, and then deals with it. God deals with Judah’s sin.

Micah is the prophet alive in Judah when Assyria sweeps in and levels Israel brutally. Micah has a message for Judah (chap. 1-2) – God is not asleep, he sees what is going on and is about to sort it out powerfully (1:2-16). He sees the sins of the people and proves it by naming even secret things (2:1-11). God is holding the leaders who are supposed to be keeping the nation for God responsible for sin they too are committing (chapter 3). The Lord immediately promises hope in the coming of the Messiah who will rule perfectly. And the people of Judah listen! The book closes out (6:6-7:20) telling them what they are to do in returning to the Lord and making things right. The answer is as simple as it is strong – this is how you return to the Lord: “Wait for the mercy of the Lord” (7); live rightly with people; walk with God (6:8) and trust in his faithfulness to restore you (7:18-20).

Pic: John Singer Sargent, “Micah, Haggai, Malacchi, and Zechariah” from The Triumph of Religion, Boston Public Library (Photo: Bill Kipp & BPL)

The book of Isaiah

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As you embark on reading Isaiah you are about to read through arguably the most magisterial and beautiful of all the Old Testament books.

Isaiah’s name means Jehovah saves. Isaiah was a prophet to Judah, the southern kingdom, and lived at the time when the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria. Isaiah’s voice saved the kingdom of Judah in these trying hours.

The book has two distinct emphases – so much so that some scholars argue that there are actually two authors of Isaiah. Actually, the structure of Isaiah is quite amazing. It is like a ‘mini bible’. Isaiah has 66 books, divided into two parts with chapters the same as Old and New Testament books. The first 39 chapters summarise the message of the Old Testament’s 39 books and the last 27 chapters summarise the messages of the New Testament’s 27 books.

In the first part (1-39) he is addressing Judah. He preaches through the times of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. In the second part (40-66) Isaiah reveals Jesus bearing the load of sin and then exalted and glorified.

Under Uzziah and Jotham (1-6)

Isaiah received his commission in the year king Uzziah died. Uzziah had a long and glorious reign of fifty-two years. For the last four years of his ministry he suffered from leprosy and was banished from the business of state. The message was punishment to come as God had been long-suffering in patience.

Under Ahaz (7-14)

Ahaz was a terrible king. He was a shameless and open idolater. These chapters of Isaiah can be confusing. Keep in mind God’s message to Isaiah is filled with thoughts of the present and back then. Because of Ahaz’s poor leadership God will allow Assyria and others to attack but ultimately a saviour will come that will establish a lasting glory for ever.

Under Hezekiah (15-39)

Hezekiah was a king who followed God. He lived at possibly the most crucial time in the history of Israel and Judah. The Assyrian armies have gathered strength and sweep in from the North to take Israel in 722 B.C. But their hunger is for more than Israel. They invade Judah over a period of four years. Hezekiah strips the temple of its riches and attempts to purchase help from Egypt that Isaiah denounces (31:1). Finally Assyria have encamped Jerusalem and demand surrender, but they are miraculously slain (37:6-8).

Isaiah prophesies many things during the reigns of these kings. He deals with God being the God of the nations and has words for foreign invaders. His constant themes are disobedience, disaster, discipline, despair; then faith, return, reign leading to rejoicing.

In the second part (40-66) Isaiah reveals God. God the god of all nations, the god who saves, the god who sends the servant, the god who rules, the god who will send a ruler whose kingdom will never end. The book ends with rejoicing in God’s great work of restoration and salvation.

Hopefully this background contains enough detail to orientate you. If that is not the case there are numerous introduction and background books to help you with more detail. Just ask the elders for recommendations!

Painting: Isaiah (1838) by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier.

The book of Jonah

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According to extra-biblical sources, Jonah was a disciple of Elisha and was his successor. His mother was possibly the widow of Sarepta, which Elijah brought to life, and he grew up in a town called Gath-hepeher, about a half and hour walk from Nazareth.

Jonah was a famous statesman who lived at the time of Jeroboam II of Israel and helped to make it powerful and prosperous.

The Lord Jesus made the book of Jonah very important. When he was asked for a sign to prove his claims he said that only the sign of Jonah would be given (Matthew 12:38-40). Interestingly, the internal evidence of the book suggests that our Sunday School teachers should be teaching that Jonah died. It says he sank to the bottom of the sea and weeds entangled him. This would also be the reason Jonah was Jesus’ sign – it points to death and resurrection.

Unfortunately, the last few years have been riddled with scientists trying to understand what kind of fish could have swallowed Jonah. We don’t need science to prove this story, however. Instead we need to hear God talking with us through the timeless teaching found here. There are many important lessons in the book. As with all of our Old Testament books, knowledge of the background makes the account come alive and helps us extract the teaching.

We are told that Jonah is told to go to Nineveh and call them to repent. Jonah flees. Nineveh was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. It was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The sheer scale and magnificence of it was only dwarfed by the extent of its wickedness and lust for power and wealth. It was surrounded by immense walls  twelve kilometres in length, thirty meters high and fifteen meters thick enough for four chariots abreast. Every eighteen meters stood a monumental gateway. It was filled with palaces and beautiful gardens with seventy halls decorated in alabaster and sculpture.

Jonah flees to Tarshish. We are told why Jonah flees in chapter 4:2. Assyria was Israel’s dreaded enemy and it appears that at this point in time they were weakened in power. Jonah doesn’t want to go to Nineveh and call them to repent because they may be spared destruction. He wants Nineveh to be destroyed to protect his people of Israel from Assyria’s future attacks. He is thinking of his nation’s benefit. But he was wrong. This also explains his otherwise puzzling depressing thoughts at the end of the prose. Jonah didn’t think mercy triumphed over judgement.

God didn’t let Jonah go. Through a series of circumstances Jonah finds himself preaching in the streets of Nineveh. The common people turn first and then the nobles. It is like Johannesburg turning to God because of the preaching of one person! It was a sheer miracle.

We learn in the book about God’s compassion towards non-believers. God’s interaction with Jonah is filled with a sense of God’s long-suffering and willingness to persevere with mere people.

Apply the principles of interpretation to dig into Jonah. Dig, ask questions, ask what is the teaching here? Why is this book in the Bible? What lessons did Jonah learn? What does this mean about God and about me?

Elijah

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Elijah. A man like us. A call like ours.

We’ve launched a new series on Elijah, who you can read about in Kings 1 and 2. Elijah was a normal person just like the rest of us and had a call just like we do. The Church is called to be God’s voice in this world. His name in Hebrew means “My God is Yahweh”. At one of Israel’s darkest hours, he comes to declare exactly what his name means, calling Israel back to their true God from idolatry.

There are many things we can learn from this man’s life that show us what God’s call is and how we can live it out. But the biblical narrative never leaves out the humanity and weaknesses of this prophet, which is also a great encouragement for us.

Download the Elijah messages

The book of Obadiah

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You may be wondering why this little book, tucked in the back of the Old Testament, comes next in our reading plan. This is because the internal evidence of the book suggests that it was written in the sixth century B.C., although there are seven schools of thought on exactly when it was written.

The book is an oracle against Edom for rejoicing in Jerusalem’s fall at the hands of the Babylonians and possible attacks at that vulnerable time. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau. They inhabited a large piece of land south of Israel and south and south east of Judah.

Relations between God’s people and the Edomites were always antagonistic and violent. Edom refused to let Israel move through their territory along the King’s Highway when they left Egypt (Numbers 20:14-21). King Saul fought the Edomites. David conquered Edom with considerable force. He planted garrisons in Edom sending Joab there for six months until ‘he had cut off every male in Edom’ (1 Kings). It must be that all the men weren’t killed as the Edomites join with the Ammonites and the Moabites to attack Judah under Jehoshaphat’s rule (2 Chronicles 20:1).

There was a time when Judah and Edom formed a coalition, but the Edomites rebelled and could not be subdued for forty years (2 Kings 8:20-22). After Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians, Edom rejoiced and planned small raids and attacks to gain more land. In the third century the Edomites were taken over by the Nabateans (famous for their buildings at Petra). Some Edomites settled in southern Judah and became known as Idumeans. Interestingly, the Herods of the New Testament were Idumeans.

Obadiah is unknown to us other than his name means ‘servant of Yahweh’. He wrote for us the shortest of the Old Testament books. There are two mains parts to the letter – the future doom of Edom (v.1-16) and the sure deliverance of God’s true people (v. 17-21). We see here that Yahweh is indisputably the God of every nation in the world, no matter which god they take as theirs. We can assume that Obadiah actually went to Edom and read to them the word from the Lord. It seems they didn’t listen at all. Further, Yahweh is a God who keeps his promises. Abraham was promised a land and in due time neither Edom nor Babylon will keep them out of it.

Probably the greatest message for Christians and non-Christians is verse 3: “The pride of your heart has deceived you.” If we think that we could get along just fine without God we could never be more wrong. A day is near when this will be proved true.

The books of 1 & 2 Kings

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There is one book of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. Together they are a rich historical look at the kings of Israel and Judah from Saul to Zedekiah. Kings is history written for a distinct purpose and for a distinct people. Jeremiah is the strongest candidate for the author but authorship is open to question. The readers were supposed to read the history in these books and be moved by it. By focussing on the characters of the kings the book shows first-hand the purpose of God despite immense human failure. Most probably it was written to the exiles in Babylon to show them that God had not totally abandoned them.

Foremost on the minds of the original Hebrew readers would have been two promises from God: (1) that Jerusalem would be His dwelling place; (2) that David’s rule would last forever. In a place of exile the book seeks to restore faith to the nation by reminding the reader that God is faithful. Authors call it a theodicy – literature that seeks to justify God’s actions. In this case it shows that the exile was a result of Israel’s repeated disobedience.

The reader needs to note the history of the two kingdoms of Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Israel is made up of ten tribes and Judah of just two. Both Judah and Israel have 20 kings. Judah survives 140 years longer because of the good kings that reigned there.

Kings introduces us to some larger than life characters. Many of the kings are terribly wicked and some are wonderfully good. The book also introduces Elijah and Elisha to us. Elijah is on the stage of the rest of the Bible as a figure who represents the coming of the kingdom of God in victorious opposition to ruling wickedness. Ahab and Jezebel feature as figures of weakness and wickedness personified.

There are many lessons to learn in Kings for the individual and the church. Let the Holy Spirit show you these things.

What is Church.Life?

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1 Timothy 3:15

“…if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave [or how we should conduct ourselves] in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”

There are many aspects of our life as the people of God, which the Bible calls “the Church”. Some of these aspects include how we ‘ought to behave’ (ESV above) or how we ought to ‘conduct ourselves’ (NIV).

Our faith is not about legalism. God accepts us as we are. But the scriptures do not shy away from saying that once we come to faith in Jesus, we ought to ‘conduct ourselves’ or ‘behave’ according to the change God does (and is doing) within us. For example, we devote ourselves to the Apostles’ teaching, the breaking of bread, the fellowship and prayers (Acts 2:42). We also get involved with God’s apostolic call to the world. And so on.

This new five-part preaching series has to do with some of the ways in which we ought to behave in the Church, in particular our local church, which is “the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” Some of the examples above, and others, will be covered.

Download the recordings

The books of 1 & 2 Chronicles

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Just like 1 & 2 Samuel, the two books of Chronicles are one in the Hebrew Bible. If you found Leviticus hard to get through then Chronicles is second hardest. This is mostly because it starts with a nine-chapter genealogy from the beginning of time until the time of its writing.

The Hebrew name for Chronicles means ‘the events of the days’. The books are written long after the events of Israel’s exile. It covers events we see in the books of Kings but the angle is quite different. Chronicles is concerned with religious history, the southern kings and God’s divine faithfulness. It is a positive and optimistic book.

The Chronicler (we don’t know the author) is dealing with Israel at a time when they are asking questions about the past exile and wondering about their relationship to God. They are asking questions like, “Are we still the people of God?”, “Do God’s promises pass on beyond the exile?”, “How do we move forward with God?” The writer is addressing these questions while chronicling the history of Israel.

The books break up into three main sections: the genealogies (1 Chron. 1-9), unity under David and Solomon (1 Chron. 10- 2 Chron. 9), the divided kingdoms (2 Chron. 10-36).

The genealogies (1 Chron. 1-9)
If you wanted to know if “God has abandoned you” a genealogy that goes back to Adam will answer, “Of course not!” A genealogy would also have functioned practically for eligibility for kingship, social status, military obligations and tracing family lines. For the modern reader these may seem rather boring but just like the genealogy in Matthew there is benefit in studying these.

Unity under David and Solomon (1 Chron. 10- 2 Chron. 9)
Chronicles traces the same history as Kings but leaves out all the ‘messy and disobedient’ bits. The concern of Chronicles is more to demonstrate a big-picture view of Israel’s history from the perspective of events rather than the characters. Possibly the reason was to inspire hope in this: God would work out his plan despite the characters involved.

The divided kingdoms (2 Chron. 10-36)
In a wide thematic approach the Chronicler differs from Kings in that Kings describes the events of the split and leading up to exile from a ‘God point of view’. Kings mentions God’s disapproval many times. Chronicles, being written many years after, picks up the idea (2 Chron. 7:14 not mentioned in Kings) that if Israel respond and had responded correctly, some of the judgment could have been averted. Again hope is shown for the future, encouraging readers not to make the same mistake.

To encourage you – these are the writings God has given us. They will teach us about Him, ourselves, following Him and so much more. Please don’t let the genre or our distance and removal from the historical situation prevent your growing knowledge of God and his amazing word.

Picture: “Tissot The Flight of the Prisoners” by James Tissot – Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The books of 1 & 2 Samuel

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There is only one book called ‘Samuel’ in the Hebrew scriptures. The book was divided into two around the second century (in the first Greek translation). Samuel probably penned these books, with additions from the prophets Gad and Nathan.

The first book comprises a period of about a hundred years and nearly coincides with the life of Samuel. It contains the history of Eli (1-4); the history of Samuel (5-12); the history of Saul, and of David in exile (13-31).

The second book comprises a period of perhaps fifty years. It contains a history of the reign of David over Judah (1-4) and over all Israel (5-24), mainly in its political aspects. The last four chapters of 2 Samuel are a sort of appendix recording various events, but not in a chronological order.

These books do not contain complete histories. Their aim is to present a history of God’s people and God’s kingdom in its gradual development rather than the reigns of successive rulers. Samuel is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand God themselves, and the world better. You could read Samuel many times and every time see something you never saw before.

You can see the rich personal messages in the lives of the characters. We will see ourselves there. The stories display the strengths and weaknesses of its characters honestly and plainly. Or you could read Samuel with history in mind. David appears as a king who mirrors the forever-king Jesus.

Jewish ideas of a Messiah come in part from Samuel. Israel comes to experience the rule and peace of God that it longed for. God’s underlying justice and mercy are golden threads in the books (as with almost every book of the Bible). Continue to place yourself in the story as you read. Smell, feel and taste the situations and emotions. Learn about the way our great God is so committed to his people.

Here are some questions that have often come up with regards to these two books:

An evil spirit from the Lord?

Judges 9:23; 2 Samuel 12:11; 1 Samuel 18:10

Obviously, if God is good then it seems very odd that he sends an ‘evil spirit’ to anyone. The question will rise: God can be evil?

To find an answer to this we have to first categorically state that God is not evil – he detests and can not and never will be tempted by evil. Whatever meaning we ascribe to these verses cannot bring us to the conclusion that God is evil, that would be very wrong.

Can God use evil though? Yes. This is what these verses are teaching. God can use evil for his own purposes. But if and when he does this the outcome is for good and justice is always upheld. God can not and does not contradict his character. The responsibility for the evil done is completely on the shoulders of the doer (spirit or person). Thus we could say that “an evil spirit from the Lord” is saying the same as, “God allowed an evil spirit to do as it pleased” or “God let evil fulfil his good purposes”. God employs this more often than is at first obvious in Scripture. The greatest example of God allowing evil is the murdering of Jesus to save the world. You could say, “God allowed an evil spirit to use Judas to orchestrate the killing of Jesus.”

The conclusion is that God can and does use evil to bring about his purposes in the world. He is good and right in all he does and the evil done is always the person or spirit’s own idea and God turns it all for good.

The medium calls up Samuel?

1 Samuel 28: 3-25 relays the account of Saul, Samuel and a medium. You may need to refresh your memory of the story before reading further. It brings with it many questions. Is this normal? Does this still happen? What does this mean about the dead?

The account doesn’t answer all of these questions directly. The difficulty with the Old Testament is that it often leaves out what we would consider to be very important info today – quite regularly! But it was written in a specific time and place.

It would seem that this was something totally out of the ordinary. The medium is shocked and scared when Samuel himself appears – not a vision or appearance but the man Samuel (28:15). Why would she be shocked if this was normal? Well, because it wasn’t! Not even she expected this! Whatever she did expect we cannot know, but the account is peppered with clues that this is not normal and God decides when such a thing happens.  He seemed to have decided to do it to rebuke Saul. As far as we know it has never happened again. Therefore we can’t say this passage is teaching any principle about mediums, calling up people from the dead and the like. It was a very unique situation.

The “Power Of” miniseries

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“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” – Romans 1:16.

God’s gospel is powerful and cannot be shaken. His kingdom is everlasting. His reign is eternal. He is the beginning and the end. As we wrap up our My Heart // My Love series we will be looking at the powerful aspects of the gospel that change our hearts and challenge the hearts of all who hear it, bringing everlasting salvation to those who come to faith in Jesus.

The “Power Of” miniseries will culminate on Good Friday (3 April) and Resurrection Sunday (5 April) as we celebrate our Lord’s once-for-all victory over sin, death, and the devil.