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Aaron was the elder brother of Moses, and after the incident at which God spoke to Moses from the ‘burning bush (Ex 3), Aaron teamed up with him to be his ‘speaker’, the one who was to address Pharaoh and perform acts of wonder. In fact, there is little more said about Aaron in the stories of the Exodus until he acted as a leader of the people when Moses disappeared on the mountain top for 40 days receiving the Ten Commandments (Ex 32f.) He made a golden calf from the gold acquired from the Israelites, and this caused Moses to go into a rage when he came down the mountain! Nevertheless, it was God’s will that Aaron should be set aside as a ‘high priest’ to serve all Israel, and this was reflected in the special robes made for him (Ex 39f.) and the special priestly duties he had to perform in the ‘Tabernacle’. The role of high priest continued through Aaron’s descendants to the time of Christ. Paul H Ashby - 31/10/08 |
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Abiathar was a senior priest and relative of Aaron who lived during the reign of Saul and David. He escaped the wrath of Saul which erupted when David was thrown out of the court and went to join David in internal exile (1 Sam 22:20f. 23:6f.). He was with David when he needed help prior to the attack on the Amalekites (1 Sam 30), and when David was crowned King he was joint ‘High Priest’ with Zadok (2 Sam 8:17f.). Both were ‘guardians of the Ark of the Covenant’. However, when David’s elder son Adonijah claimed the throne as King David grew elderly, Abiathar supported the young upstart, so when King Solomon came to the throne, he was demoted and spared rom death only because Solomon promised that he would kill someone who had ‘guarded the Ark’ (1 Kings 1,2 f.)
Paul H Ashby - 22/08/08 |
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There are two characters called Abimelech (meaning ‘God is my father’, or ‘My God is Father’) in the Old Testament. The first Abimelech was a king from the stories of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis. He was a righteous man from Philistia, and was deceived by Abraham and nearly took Sarah to be his wife (Genesis 20:1-18). After this situation was rectified, Abraham and Abimelech clarified their relationship with a Covenant (21:22f.) in which Abraham promised not to be deceptive, and also gained lands rights through access to a well at Beersheba. He should not be confused with the ‘Philistines’ who lived in the area centuries later and caused great trouble to Israel in the time of the Judges, Saul and David. Secondly, one of the Judges was called ‘Abimelech’. He was a son of Gideon by a prostitute who created havoc in Israel as the only ‘anti-hero’ type of Judge in Israel’s history (Judges 9). Paul H Ashby - 17/08/08 |
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Abner was Saul’s Commander in Chief and his right-hand man. He was also his cousin, and was utterly loyal to Saul throughout his troubled reign. This caused David to greatly admire a man who was his enemy for all the years he was on the run. When Saul was killed in battle against the Philistines, Abner sought to advance the interests of Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, as king of the northern tribes of Israel. Ishbosheth turned out to be a weak man, and eventually Abner sought to make peace with David and made moves to create a united Israel under King David (who became king of Judah after Saul’s death). Unfortunately, David’s own Commander, Joab, hated Abner fiercely and set up a trap which enable him to kill Abner. David was mortified at the injustice of Abner’s death (see 1 Sam 14:50f., 17:55f., 26:13f., 2 Sam 2:8 to 3:39)
Paul H Ashby - 8/08/08 |
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Abram, later renamed Abraham (‘father of nations’) by God, was the Father of the nation of Israel. God chose Abram and led him on a journey by which his faith in God grew and he learned obedience and trust in God. God made a Covenant promise to Abraham and his descendants for ever; that they would become a ‘great’ nation, that they would possess a ‘Promised Land’ and that through them, all nations would be blessed (Gen 12:2,3). The story of Genesis tell us how this worked in Abraham’s life; the Old Testament tells us how this worked our for his descendants the Israelites, and the New Testament tells us how this Covenant promise is renewed through Jesus and Abraham’s descendants by faith. They are now a great ‘nation’, the Church, they inhabit the ‘Promised Land’ of the Kingdom of God, and the world is blessed by its message of God’s Love contained in the Gospel. Paul H Ashby - 29/07/08 |
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Absalom was the third in line of David’s sons and the story of his relationship with his father is complex. It begins with the story of the rape of his sister Tamar by his older (half) brother Amnon, an act for which he had Amnon killed. David threw Absalom out of Jerusalem as a consequence, but he loved Absalom, and the emotional ties made the situation complex. Eventually, Absalom played on his father’s weakness and took advantage of his position, eventually throwing David out of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15), and disgracing his wives and concubines in the city. When David finally managed to gather himself together and fight his son for the kingdom, Absalom was killed in a stray accident during the battle, and David was heartbroken. It is a strange and unhappy story, but part of the penalty David bore for his adultery with Bathsheba, as prophesied by Nathan (2 Samuel 12:11) Paul H Ashby - 5/12/08 |
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King Achish of Gath was the king used by David in his various exploits whilst living in exile from Saul. Firstly, David fled to Gath, one of the five Philistine city states, as a means of getting away from Saul, but his guise as a madman did not work and he soon left (1 Samuel 21:10f.) Later on, after David made unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation with Saul, he decided to escape Saul by formally ‘changing sides’ and joining the Philistines (see 1 Samuel 27:1f.) This time, David played the part of a loyal servant of the Philistine King, becoming his bodyguard. However, when it came to war, the four other Philistine kings were not happy at David’s attachment to Achish and forbade David from fighting with them against Saul. This may well have been what David wanted because it meant that he had nothing to do with the infamous battle in which Saul and his son Jonathan died (see 1 Samuel 29:2f.). Paul H Ashby - 9/08/08 |
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The Amalekites were one of the groups of people who lived in the region of Canaan before the invasion by Israel, and they were also a nomadic group who travelled in the region to wherever they could gain the best grazing and living. They harassed Israel during the desert wanderings (Exodus 17:8-16), and later during the reign of King Saul, they were the people that the Lord instructed Saul to exterminate because of their offence against God (of which we do not know). Saul’s failure to do this (1 Sam 15) was the source of division between Saul and Samuel. They were also the nomadic group who took off David’s family and those of his warriors when David was away from base (1 Sam 30), and David was responsible for re-capturing his family and his people and possessions from them in an infamous battle.
Paul H Ashby - 22/08/08 |
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The Ammonites were a group of people descended from the sons of the daughters of Lot born by incest (Gen 19:30f.) after Lot lost everything in the destruction of Sodom. Later generations of Ammonites lived to the east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Though there were periods of peace between Israel and Ammon, the Ammonites were noted in the Old Testament for their cruelty (Judges 11:1f., 1 Sam 11:1f. and 2 Sam 12:26 etc.). They were defeated by the Judge Jephthah and later King David, but played a role even in later Israelite history (see Nehemiah 4:7,8).
Paul H Ashby - 12/08/08 |
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Amnon was David’s firstborn son by Ahinoam of Jezreel. According to the laws of the day he stood in line for succession to the throne of his father, and scripture therefore reports what happened to him as part of the saga of David’s succession. In 2 Samuel 13, Amnon rapes his half sister Tamar. However, Tamar’s brother was Absalom, one of the next in line for the throne. Absalom was incensed at the rape of his sister and plotted to have Amnon killed. His plot succeeded but David was furious and threw Absalom out of Jerusalem. The court intrigue that followed led to a complex relationship between David and Absalom and led to Absalom’s revolt in which he took the throne from his father (2 Sam 14,15).
Paul H Ashby - 5/12/08 |
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The word ‘apostle’ means ‘sent’, and it is a word which comes from Greek. The Latin for the same word is ‘missio’ from which we get the words ‘mission’, and ‘missionary’. The Bible always uses the word ‘Apostle’ to refer to the twelve apostles, that is the disciples who were commissioned by Jesus to ‘go into all the world (Matthew 28:19) or to Paul, who was commissioned an apostle in Acts 9 by Jesus, personally. When the Bible places ‘Apostles’ at the head of a list of spiritual gifts for example, it refers to the special spiritual gifts given to the twelve apostles and Paul for the setting up of the church after Pentecost and the preaching of the Gospel. The church has never used the word ‘Apostle’ for any other people in its history.
Paul H Ashby - 21/08/08 |
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In the Old Testament, the people of Canaan worshipped a god called ’Ba’al’. This word means ‘Lord’, so there was plenty of scope for misunderstanding when the God of Israel (JHWH) was also called ‘Lord’ in Hebrew (Adonai). The Ba’als were gods of fertility who were worshipped to obtain good crops, and many Israelites succumbed to the worship of Ba’al when there was drought. This was the background of Elijah’s great confrontation with the prophets of Ba’al on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). Ba’al was a male god and he was believed to have a female consort called ‘Asherah’ (and other names), and some worship practices involved sex which was believed to stimulate fertility in the land; hence there were ‘Temple prostitutes’ who engaged in this; Hosea’s wife Gomer was a Temple prostitute. It was the worship of Ba’al gods at ‘high places’ which brought God’s judgement on Israel and Judah. |
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Bathsheba’s entry into the Old Testament is certainly dramatic, as 2 Samuel 11 records David’s adultery with her and his consequent despicable slaughter of her husband, Uriah, so that he could marry her. The whole incident is an important part of David’s life, but as far as Bathsheba is concerned, she lost the son born to her through adultery, but later bore another son to David, being Solomon. It is only in later life, as King David lay dying and power was slipping away from him that we see something of Bathsheba’s wit and skill. She manoeuvred David and the Jerusalem court to ensure that her son Solomon would be the next King (1 Kings 1,2), and in so doing played an important role in establishing the dynasty God required for Kingship in Jerusalem.
Paul H Ashby - 8/11/08 |
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Benjamin was the younger brother of Joseph, and the two boys were the favoured sons of Jacob, born of Rachel, Jacob’s first love. In later years, the tribe of Benjamin appears to be a highly independent tribe, and its tribal lands were situated between Judah in the south and the larger ‘northern tribes’ of Israel. In addition, they were close to Jerusalem, and David was careful to include Benjamin in his plans for the establishment of a united Israel because Saul, the first King of Israel, had come from the tribe of Benjamin. One other famous ‘son’ of Benjamin is the apostle Paul.
Paul H Ashby - 31/10/08 |
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This word is used by the Old Testament to refer to all the people who lived in the region of the Promised Land, before the Lord gave it to the people of Israel. The word covered many groups of people, some of whom were nomadic, and other were more settled. In Genesis, they are often called ‘the canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Girgishites, the Amorites and the Jebusites. They are regarded as peoples who were descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham who was one of Noah’s three sons (Gen 10:15f.) When the land was conquered and became the territory of Israel and Judah, many of these people were wiped out, but by no means all. Many became the ‘resident aliens’ who lived in Israel and although not Israelite by birth, worshipped the Lord and kept the laws of Moses.
Paul H Ashby - 18/7/08 |
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The chief priests in Jesus’ day were the most senior Jewish family in Judaism, and as religious rulers of the Temple, they had an important part to play in the affairs of Judea, religious and political. They had a difficult relationship with the ‘Herods’ who governed various parts of what we call Israel, and also with the Roman governor, appointed by Rome as the effective head of state for Judea and Israel. In Jesus’ day the senior figure in this family was Caiaphas, son of Annas. The family was said to descend from the famous priest Zadok, who anointed Solomon king (2 Kings 1,2), and through him to Aaron, the brother of Moses, and descendant of Levi, the third son of Jacob.
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The name ‘Christ’ is the Greek word ‘Christos’ which means ‘the Anointed One’. This itself is a translation of the Hebrew ‘Messiah’. This means that the name by which we address Jesus; ‘Jesus Christ’ means ‘Jesus the Anointed One’. So when we use the word ‘Christ’, we are making a statement of faith, because it was the earliest belief of the disciples that Jesus was the the Messiah, the Anointed One of God, come to offer salvation to all people. Peter said at Caesarea Philippi ‘You are the Messiah (Christ), the Son of the Living God’ (Matt 16:16). The name Christ is not like a ‘surname’, it tells us who Jesus is.
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The name ‘Christian’ for someone who follows Jesus Christ is not a name which is found very often in the New Testament. Luke tells us that it was at Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas taught before they embarked on their first missionary journeys, that ‘disciples were first called Christians’ (Acts 11:26). It is probable that this happened because Paul was brilliant at persuading people that Jesus was the Messiah, the ‘Christ’, and so other people named the disciples ‘followers of Christ’, or, ‘Christians’. The name has stuck as a general term, and is still important to many people as a definition of those who accept Jesus Christ as God’s Son and Saviour, and Lord.
Paul H Ashby - 21/08/08 |
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Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire, the remnants of which are modern day Iran. He rules from 548-529 BC and conquered Babylon in 539 BC, thus extending his empire as far as the Mediterranean Sea, Israel and Judah. Whereas the Babylonians tried to enforce their empire by cruelty, Cyrus employed the principle of liberty to all his peoples provided they toed the line and accepted overall Persian control. He therefore allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem, a fact recorded at the end of Chronicles and the beginning of Ezra (2 Chron 36:23, Ezra 1:1). He was therefore regarded as someone who was ‘like’ a Messiah and was called the Lord’s ‘anointed’ by Isaiah (Isaiah 45:1). Part of Daniel’s life was lived during the reign of Cyrus (Dan 6:28) though it is uncertain whether the ‘Darius’ mentioned by Daniel is in fact Cyrus (kings often had more than one court name ). Paul H Ashby - 2/09/08 |
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The extraordinary story of David is one of the greatest stories in the Old testament together with that of Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. David was the youngest son of Jesse, from Bethlehem, and was anointed king of all Israel by Samuel while Saul still reigned, because Samuel sought a better king than the disobedient Saul. The great story of David’s life which occupies half of 1 Samuel and all of 2 Samuel tells of David’s success in rebuilding Israel and Judah and one nation after the tragedy of Saul’s reign, his capturing of Jerusalem and his securing of the Kingdom for 33 years. It also tells us of his failures, in adultery with Bathsheba and in raising a son to be his successor. Throughout, David is portrayed as someone in whom people saw the spirit of God, and his life was thought to point towards the ‘Messiah’ - the idealised descendant of David who would bring in God’s rule. Paul H Ashby - 18/7/08 |
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The demons are regarded in the New Testament as angelic beings who fell from grace along with Satan and are therefore used by Him for evil purposes within the world. As agents of Satan or the devil, they appeared before Jesus in the form of the various sicknesses and bondages with which they held people; Jesus dismissed these demons and cast them out usually by means of a word of authority. Sometimes, the demons did not want to leave and made a fuss by way of what we call a ‘manifestation’; foaming at the mouth, cursing or swearing. Jesus was never impressed by such things and in an short while, all the demons were obedient to Him. This was because He had a higher authority than Satan. In Christ, therefore, no Christian need fear the power or manifestation of any demon because we have total authority over them in Christ.
Paul H Ashby - 8/08/08 |
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The devil is a word used 36 times (in the New Testament only) to describe the one who is either in charge of the demonic hoards, or personally represents them as the focus of all evil. In many ways, the term ‘devil’ is equivalent to the word ‘Satan’. It is interesting that the majority of references to the devil are found in the temptations of Jesus, where he is addressed by Jesus as ‘Satan’. In Jesus’ day there was much dispute about the name and identity of the source of all evil, but whereas today the debate is largely to do with whether we should use a personal name for evil such as ‘devil’ or ‘satan’, in those days, the debate was which name was the right one! For this reason you will find that evil is described in a variety of ways; and Jesus uses them all. The devil is associated particularly with death, and is stated as the one destroyed along with death at the end in a ‘lake of fire’ (Rev 20:10). Paul H Ashby - 8/08/08 |
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The word ‘disciple’ means ‘leaner’ or ‘pupil’. In Jesus’ day, teachers and rabbis had disciples who followed them, as did John the Baptist. Matthew, Mark and Luke all give lists of 12 disciples chosen by Jesus; Simon (Peter), Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Thaddeus, Simon and Judas (note that Luke lists James as ‘Judas son of James’, and also John mentions a disciple called Nathaniel). After the death of Judas, one named ‘Matthias’ was chosen from others who had been present with the other disciples ‘since the beginning’ (Luke 1:21). These twelve are referred to as the 12 ‘apostles’ because of their unique testimony to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Even in the days of the early church, those who followed Jesus were also called ‘disciples’, and in this sense all who follow Jesus even today can be called ‘disciples’. Paul H Ashby - 15/08/08 |
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The early Christian church was founded on the day of Pentecost, and grew rapidly against the background of the Roman Empire for around 300 years until the Roman Emperor Constantine was converted in 312AD. Most of the time, the empire paid little attention to Christians, but in some towns and at certain times there was considerable anti-Christian feeling because Christians would not accept the Emperor as a god or perform civic duties that meant accepting this. Occasionally, this spilled over into large scale persecution, as when Nero killed many Christians with lions in Rome (around AD64, only 30 years or so after Jesus died!)
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This famous name of God appears in Genesis (17:1, 28:3, 35:11, 43:14, 48:3, 49:25, Exodus 6:3). One of the names used for God in Hebrew is ‘El’ and often in the form of either ‘Elohim’, or of ‘El - ‘ in which the word El was attached to some characteristic of God. Here, the name El Shaddai means ‘God Almighty’. The word ‘Shaddai’ appears frequently in the Psalms, Job and Ezekiel as a name of God in its own right, normally translated ‘The Almighty’. The Hebrew word ‘shaddai’ translates into the Latin ‘omnipotense’ hence the expression ‘Omnipotent God’. It is interesting that in Exodus 6:3, the author of Exodus clearly believes that the original name of Yahweh (the sacred name of God written JHWH) was ‘El-Shaddai’. The first revelation of God’s name as ‘El Shaddai’ comes in Genesis 17 where God reveals Himself as a Covenant God who is faithful. Paul H Ashby - 30/07/08 |
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Galatia is the central region of what Paul called ‘Asia’ but we call ‘Turkey’. Paul’s first missionary journey with Barnabas was largely around this region (Acts 13,14), and the churches mentioned are those at Antioch (in Pisidium), Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. Paul visited these churches on his second missionary journey with Silas (Acts 16) before going on further to Macedonia (Acts 16:9f.). as the first fruits of Paul’s missionary enterprise, he was particularly upset that Judaisers upset the churches in that region by preaching that a Christian was not only saved by Christ, but had to obey the laws of Moses and also be circumcised if they were to be acceptable to God. Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians in order to counter this teaching.
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The Hebrew word ‘goy’ means ‘nations’ or ‘Gentiles’. Gentiles were people other than of Israel or Judah, and although the word itself is used in a non-discriminatory way in scripture, by the time of Christ, the Jews had separated themselves so much from other peoples that the word ‘Gentiles’ became almost dismissive. A Jew would not normally be happy to be seen doing business with or sharing food with a Gentile, for example. When God gave Abraham a promise that his descendants would be a blessing to many ‘nations’ (Gentiles), this aspect of God’s Covenant promise was largely forgotten by Israel and Judah. It was only after the life and death of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit that God’s Covenant promises for the Gentiles were fulfilled by Jesus through the work and ministry of the early church. It was Paul who led the missionary work to enable the Gospel to be made available to the Gentiles. |
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In the N.T., there is one Greek word, as in English, for God (‘theos’), and the traditional term ‘the Lord’ generally refers to God or to Jesus. In the O.T. the picture is far more complex. A general name for God is ‘El’, meaning any form of ‘god’ which might be worshipped. In ways we do not fully understand, the plural of ‘El’, which is ‘Elohim’ came to used as a more regular name for Israel’s God. Also in celebration of special events and circumstances in their history, God was given attributes which were added to His name, for example ‘El-Shaddai’ means ‘Almighty God’. The distinctive feature of Israel however is God’s self revelation, and the name JHWH revealed first to Abraham and then to Moses (Exodus 3). Ancient Hebrew has no vowels, so we do not know how this was pronounced. Moreover, the Israelites regarded this name as too holy to speak, and used the word ‘Lord’ (‘adonai’) instead. Paul H Ashby - 11/09/08 |
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The Greek Empire became the largest in the world under the General Alexander the Great in the 330’s BC. His invasion of the known world was largely benign and spread Greek culture and language rapidly everywhere around the Mediterranean Sea and far beyond. There is little mention of Greek people in the Bible, but the influence of the Greek empire is everywhere. In particular, the language of Greek in which New Testament is written. At the time of Jesus, it was the ‘common language’ of the Roman Empire, and Latin was the language of Rome itself. This was because the Roman Empire was itself built upon the previous Greek Empire. The word ‘Greek’ was also the name for ‘nations’ or ‘pagans’, because the people of Israel objected very strongly to Greek culture as being ungodly. It was the genius of Paul to break down this barrier and make the Gospel available to ‘Greeks and Jews alike’ (Rom 1:16f.) Paul H Ashby - 18/7/08 |
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Hagar was the Egyptian slave girl of Sarah the wife of Abraham. She was given to Abraham by Sarah to bear a child for him which Sarah would have claimed as her own, but the family upheaval created over the whole incident indicates that it was not God’s will for Abraham and Sarah; they had to learn their lessons of faith from this failure. However, Hagar was left pregnant, and bore a child named Ishmael. Hagar fled from her mistress (Sarai) once when she was pregnant (Gen 16:6) and later she was dismissed from Abraham’s household and wandered in the desert. Famously, she left her child at a distance so she would not see him die (Gen 21:8f.), but the Lord saved both Hagar and her son because of His promise to Abraham, and after all, Ishmael was Abraham’s son even if he was not the son of Covenant.
Paul H Ashby - 29/07/08 |
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The large family of the Herods were an Idumean family who ruled in Palestine under the gereal authority of the Romans for around 150 years including the time of Christ. They were not Jewish but claimed to accept Jewish beliefs and tradition, and were circumcised. The most significant of these rulers was Herod the Great. He ruled with the title King from 37BC to 4BC. He sought favour by rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem using a magnificent new Greek design, and was barely completed when it was sacked by the Romans in 70AD (it was unfinished in Jesus’ day). He built the city of Caesarea and was commonly regarded as a vicious ruler and tyrant. His rule was marked by cruelty (see the stories of ‘slaughter of the innocents (Matt 2) and also high taxation (for the building of the Temple.
Paul H Ashby - 24/11/08 |
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Herod Antipas was a son of Herod the Great by a Samaritan woman, and was therefore not a Jew. He was the Herod called ‘a fox’ by Jesus (Luke 13:32). He was the ruler of a part of the area previously ruled by Herod the Great, covering Galilee and the surrounding area. He was responsible for building the city of Tiberius on Lake Galilee in honour of the Emperor Tiberius. Herod Antipas divorce his wife and married his niece, who had also been the wife of his half brother. This is what gave rise to the hatred against him amongst the general population, and John the Baptist severely criticised him for this. Eventually, Herod Antipas had John beheaded in circumstances that were somewhat salacious. At Jesus’ trial, Pilate sent Him to Herod because he heard that Jesus was a Galilean, but Herod simply mocked him.
Paul H Ashby - 24/11/08 |
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The Herodians were a group of leading Jews who believed it was in the interests of Jewish people to maintain the ruling dynasty of the Herods. They felt that this secured a degree of Jewish autonomy not enjoyed by other parts of the Roman Empire, even though the Herods themselves were not Jews. They appear as a group of people who challenged Jesus together with their opponent the Pharisees (Matthew 22).
Paul H Ashby 24/11/08 |
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The Spirit of God appears in Genesis 1 as the ‘breath’ of God (Hebrew ‘ruach’) responsible for Creation; this same ‘breath’ makes a human soul out of the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7). In the O.T. the Holy Spirit also comes on prophets or Kings to do some special task (e.g. Isaiah 11:2, 61:1). So the Holy Spirit is the active part of God which does His will in the world. In the N.T. the Holy Spirit appears in anointing power to baptise Jesus (Matt 3:13-17) in order to begin His ministry. The most significant discussions about the Spirit are found in John’s Gospel, in which Jesus talks about spiritual baptism (John 3:5f.) and promises that He will send the Holy Spirit to His disciples as a ‘helper’ (John 14:17,26). This is fulfilled when the resurrected Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on His disciples (John 20:23), and comes in power on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit gives God’s gifts to enable the Church to grow. Paul H Ashby - 26/07/08 |
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Immanuel is a name which means ‘with us is God’. Isaiah prophesied (Is. 7:14) that a young woman would conceive and bear a child and call his name ‘Immanuel’. The Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament (the ‘Septuagint’) describes a ‘virgin’ who conceived instead of a ‘young woman’ (pointing forward to the ‘Virgin birth’ of Jesus). Isaiah’s prophecy is the first of many revelations of child born to be king (Isaiah 9:2f., 11:1f. etc.) who would become a servant of God who would do His will. Isaiah foresaw that ‘Immanuel’ would fulfil what God required by being a ‘suffering servant’ (Is. 53). These prophecies were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus (Matt 1:23f.) and in His life and death for all people on the Cross. Isaiah’s prophecy does not just point forward to Christ, it is the first glimpse of the Old Testament’s anticipation of a ‘Messiah’, and as such, it is a very important prophecy. Paul H Ashby - 29/07/08 |
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Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah, born to them in their old age. Isaac was a much loved son who had the sole duty to pass on the Covenant promises first made to his father (Gen. 12:2,3, 17:9-14 etc). In the famous incident on Mount Moriah, Abraham’s faith was tested, when in obedience he took Isaac to be a sacrifice to Almighty God (Genesis 22). Abraham faithfully listened to the Lord, spared Isaac from death and then an angel of the Lord prophetically spoke the words of the Covenant over Isaac. In order to protect the purity of the line of his own people, Abraham made one of his servants return to Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac from his extended family who still lived there. Isaac’s marriage to Rebecca was a great success and resulted in the birth of twins, Jacob and Esau. Eventually, despite Isaac’s favouritism, the Covenant was passed on through the line of Jacob (Gen 28f.) Paul H Ashby - 15/08/08 |
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Ishbaal was Saul’s son, that is, the only one who was left of his sons after Saul and most of his family had been killed in the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa (1 Sam 31). Ishbaal’s name is confusingly called Ishbosheth later on in scripture, and it appears that later generations were ashamed of the fact that someone with a name designated to Ba’al was a king of Israel; they must have changed it to Ishbosheth. Ishbaal was a weak king propped up by Abner, the commander of Israel’s armies. Abner gave up on Ishbaal after an argument with him over one of Saul’s concubines, and sought reconciliation between Israel and David. Whilst attempting to arrange this, Abner was killed by David’s army commander, Joab, in revenge for the death of his brother, Asahel (2 Sam 2). Others then killed Ishbosheth and brought his head to David, and he expressed great unease at this bloodshed. Paul H Ashby - 14/09/08 |
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Ishmael is the first son of Abraham born to Hagar, Abraham’s wife’s servant girl. Abraham’s wife Sarai gave her maid to Abraham to bear a child for her because she was barren and this was proving to be a problem as Abraham and Sarah became older. The birth of Ishmael was not God’s will for Abraham and Sarah, and created many problems. Sarah mistreated Hagar and Ishmael and Hagar fled Abraham’s house (Genesis 16), but later returned. When the real son of promise was born to Abraham and Sarah (Isaac), Ishmael was something of an embarrassment. However, God had promised to bless all those who were his sons, so although Ishmael was not a son of Covenant promise, God blessed him when he was evicted from Abraham’s house (Genesis 21).
Paul H Ashby - 15/08/08 |
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Israel is the name of God’s people. It was given to Jacob when he ‘wrestled’ with God (Gen. 32:28). The meaning of the name is either ‘the one who strives with God’, or ‘God strives’; and represents that on-going struggle of the Covenant relationship between God and His people in the O.T., the spiritual heritage of the forefathers of Israel. The twelve sons of Jacob formed the twelve tribes of Israel. The tribe of Levi was set aside for God’s priestly service, and from early years the tribe of Joseph was divided between his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. For this reason, most lists of the ‘twelve tribes’ leave out Levi, but include both Ephraim and Manasseh. Significantly, after the time of David, the Kingdom of Israel split between ‘Judah’ (the tribes of Judah (and parts of Benjamin and Simeon), and ‘Israel’ (the other tribes, notably Ephraim). Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, but Samaria the capital of Israel. Paul H Ashby - 16/08/08 |
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The disciple James was one of the first to be called to follow Jesus together with his brother John. Jesus gave James and John the nickname ‘sons of thunder’ (‘Boanerges’). Together with Peter and John, James appears to have been the ‘inner circle’ of Jesus’ disciples, and he was therefore one who was present at the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, at the Transfiguration, and at the Garden of Gethsemane. James was one of the first disciples to die, when Herod had him killed (see Acts 12:2), and is counted as one of the first martyrs alone with Stephen. It was an event which clearly shocked the early church.
Paul H Ashby - 10/11/08 |
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James the brother of Jesus is barely mentioned in the Gospels(Matt 13:55, Mark 6:3), but appears to be one of his family brothers who believed in Jesus and went on to become an important figure in the church at Jerusalem (see Acts 12:17, 15:13, 21:18, 1 Cor. 15:7, Galatians 1:19f.). He was chairman of the Jerusalem Council which declared on the important issue of whether the Gentiles should be circumcised or not. The decision of the Council that they need not be circumcised was of historic proportions, and the wise letter sent to the Gentile churches by the Jerusalem church is accepted as a masterpiece of church governance. According to the manner of the day, it would have been James himself who heard the debates and ruled on what he believed to be the prevailing manner of the meeting. It is possible that this JAmes was the author of our ‘letter of James’. Paul H Ashby - 10/11/08 |
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The name of Jesus is of course very important to Christian people all over the world, but we must start by accepting that in his day, Jesus’ name was a common name, such as ‘John’ or ‘David’ today. Jesus of Nazareth was a man who lived at the beginning of the first century BC, whose life, ministry and death powerfully affected his disciples; then when He rose from the dead, His disciples came to realise the truth of His teaching and their belief that He was indeed the ‘Son of God’, the ‘Messiah’. The gift of the Holy Spirit in power at Pentecost completed their conviction that Jesus was the means of God’s plan of salvation for al people, and the Christian church was born from those who responded to the preaching of those disciples who were witnesses to Jesus’ life, ministry, death and resurrection. God’s people now realise that He is God revealed as a man, and is present with us now in Spirit. Paul H Ashby - 16/08/08 |
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Joab was the commander of David's armies and his right hand man almost throughout his reign after the death of Saul. His actions at the taking of Jerusalem sealed His place as a leader, and he was involved in crucial actions to secure the border of the nation of Israel (2 Sam 10). At the time of the civil war between Israel and Judah, Joab was the leader of Judah’s armies and Abner the leader of Israel’s armies. During this war Abner killed Joab’s brother Asahel (2 Sam 2:13), an action of vengeance which delayed the reunification of Israel for many years. As David grew older, Joab fought for David, and he remained loyal throughout the rebellion of Absolom against David. When David came close to death, however, Joab supported Adonijah to be king in David’s place, but David appointed Solomon. David also instructed Solomon to kill Joab because of his bloody vengeance against Abner. Paul H Ashby - 20/09/08 |
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John was one of the first disciples to be called by Jesus, and together with his brother James, who were given the nickname ‘Boanerges’ (‘sons of thunder’). John was part of Jesus’ inner circle, who were with Him at the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, at the Transfiguration, and at the Garden of Gethsemane. It is also likely that John’s Gospel was written by John in his old age (according to church tradition) and is therefore the ‘beloved disciple’ mentioned in that Gospel and present at the ‘Last Supper’. John figures also in the stories of the early church, in the ‘Acts of the Apostles’. It was Peter and John who healed the lame man at the Temple gate and were consequently arrested by the temple authorities (Acts 3:1f., 4:13f.). Paul describes John as a ‘pillar of the church’ (Gal 2:9)
Paul H Ashby - 10/11/08 |
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John the Baptist is described at the beginning of each of the Gospels, where he is the great prophet who announced Jesus’ coming, and was believed therefore to be the ‘returned Elijah’ who would come before the Messiah; ‘a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord!’ Luke records stories of his miraculous conception and birth alongside that of Jesus, and relates them as cousins. According to all the Gospels John preached a message of repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and spoke sharply to address the religious hypocrisy observable in his day. He baptised Jesus and testified that He was ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’. John’s preaching made him a threat to Herod Antipas, and he was arrested and held at the terrible fortress of Machaerus. At some point he was beheaded on Herod’s orders at the behest of his wife and daughter. Paul H Ashby - 30/08/08 |
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Jonathan was the son of Israel’s first King, King Saul. He was also a close friend and confidante of David. Jonathan is renowned as a man of valour and a great warrior, who was responsible for many of Saul’s battle victories. There is a tragic story in 1 Samuel of Saul’s rash oath by which he forbade his troops to eat during the day of battle as an act of religious devotion, on pain of death. Jonathan was unaware of the oath, and ate some honey (1 Sam 14:25), and thus incurred his father’s wrath, though he was not killed. The ensuing division between Saul and Jonathan made it impossible for Jonathan to receive the crown after Saul, and recognising this, Jonathan ‘gave’ this right of inheritance to David, his dear friend. In the end, he died in the same battle at Mount Gilboa in which his father died, fighting the Philistines. He had a son names Mephibosheth, who was lamed in the panic after this battle. Paul H Ashby - 31/10/08 |
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Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, but came to be regarded as the leader amongst his brothers. The eldest, Reuben, insulted his father by attempting to sleep with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and therefore received a curse from his father on his death bed (Gen 35:22,49:4), Simeon and Levi, the 2nd and 3rd in line were cursed because of their slaughter of the citizens of Shechem (Gen 34:25f.), leaving Judah to be the leader. The tribe of Judah took the lead in conquering the promised Land (see Judges 1, for example) and was the tribe of David, the king who united all Israel. In the course of time, the tribe of Judah and its capital Jerusalem formed the southern nation of God’s people, whilst (most of) the rest formed ‘Israel’ in the north. The Judeans who returned to Jerusalem after the Exile formed the beginning of a new nation of Israel which came to be called the ‘Jewish’ people. Paul H Ashby - 16/08/08 |
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The Israelites asked Samuel to anoint a King because of the disastrous fragmentation of Israel under the Judges. Samuel warned that a King might try to take the place of God (1 Sam 8), but he went ahead and Saul was anointed the first King. He broke the rules of Kingship (1 Sam 13), so Samuel anointed David, although it was many years before he was able to reign over a united Kingdom of Israel and Judah. His son Solomon built the Temple (1 Kings 6,8) but fell from grace by abusing his position. After this, his belligerent son Rehoboam forced the northern tribes to secede, creating a new Kingdom of Israel ruled over by a series of military dynasties until the Assyrian invasion in 721BC. In Jerusalem a surviving ‘son of David’ ruled over Judah until the Babylonian invasion of 597BC. When the line of David died out, Israel’s hopes were ‘spiritualised’ into the expectation of a Messiah. |
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Although from the time of Samuel and Saul, Israel and Judah were ruled by kings, Samuel set down guidelines for this kingship which acknowledged the Lord God as the supreme King over all Israel; a fact that had to be accepted by the earthly kings and was ‘enforced’ by vigilance by the prophets (Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Elijah etc.). The imagery of Kingship was then applied to the Lord God, creating titles such as ‘King of Kings’. To talk about the Lord as King acknowledged the authority of God, and in this sense the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were a preview of the ‘Kingdom of God’ announced by Jesus in the New Testament. In New Testament times we continue to use the title ‘King’ because it expresses the nature of absolute authority which God has in His Creation and in His Church. Few countries in the world today are ruled by King, but it remains an important model for our understanding of God. |
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Lot was Abraham’s nephew. He travelled with Abraham into Canaan until the family group became too large. Abraham and Lot famously split (Genesis 13) with Abraham giving the prior and ‘best’ land to his nephew. Lot chose to live in the Jordan Valley which appeared to be better for his growing livestock and wealth he then possessed. In reality, Lot gravitated towards the cities of the lower Jordan region, particularly Sodom (see Genesis 14 and 18). Abraham saved Lot when nearby kings gathered to conquer the region (Genesis 14), and he saved Lot a second time by pleading for him when the Lord sent angels/messengers to destroy Sodom (Genesis 18,19). Lot was saved, by only as a shadow of his former self, hankering after city life, but having lost his wealth. In fear that his lineage would die out, his daughters slept with him to produce children who became the ancestors of the Moabites. Paul H Ashby - 8/08/08 |
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Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul. As such, he was a direct descendant of King Saul, and after the death of Saul when political intrigue was at its height, he was hidden away in case either David found him and had him slaughtered as a potential rival to the throne, or Saul’s supporters might see an opportunity to claim the throne of Israel for Mephibosheth as the only descendant of the Saul dynasty. IN a famous story in 2 Samuel 9, David discovers the whereabouts of Mephibosheth and treats him with covenant loyalty because of his friendship with Jonathan, his father. We also learn from this story that Mephibosheth was lame because of a fall in his childhood after the battle at Mount Gilboa (at which Jonathan his father died). It is therefore unlikely that he would ever have been accepted as a king of Israel. David favoured him at court for the rest of his life. Paul H Ashby - 31/10/08 |
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The Messiah is the name given to God’s anointed servant by Jewish people in the centuries before the coming of Jesus. They believed that the Messiah would come and save the people of Israel from their enemies. The work ‘Messiah’ means ‘anointed one’, which in Greek is ‘Christos’. So when we say ‘Jesus Christ’, it is the same as saying ‘Jesus the Messiah’. In general, Jesus did not call Himself the ‘Messiah’, but He accepted this title from the lips of others (such as Peter at Caesarea Philippi - Mark 8:27f). However, Jesus fully fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies and hope for a Messiah, but not in a way which the people of His day understood. This is probably why Christians do not generally talk about Jesus as their ‘Messiah’, but we accept this as an important Biblical title of our Lord.
Paul H Ashby - 18/7/08 |
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The Moabites were the descendants of the children of the daughters of Lot by incest (Genesis 19:30f.). Later generations of Moabites lived directly to the East of the Red Sea. Moses, for example, saw the ‘Promised Land’ from Mount Nebo in the land of Moab (Deut 32:49, 34:1,5). Moses attempted to negotiate safe passage through Moab to the land of Canaan, but the Moabite King Balak bought the services of the prophet Balaam to curse Israel - which served only to bless God’s people! (Numbers 22-24). Both Saul and David fought with the Moabites (see 1 Sam 14:47, 2 Sam 8:2), though an earlier incident had brought Ruth, a Moabitess into Canaan and by marriage into the line of David, and hence Jesus. During the eight century Moabite culture was overcome by the Assyrians.
Paul H Ashby - 12/08/08 |
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Moses is one of the great figures of the O.T. His life is recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is written in the form of a speech by Moses which was delivered to the people of Israel just before they entered the Promised Land. The story of the early life of Moses is full of intrigue; his name is not classically ‘Hebrew’, and he was raised in the Egyptian court, yet God used all the circumstances of his life to make him into a great leader who challenged the might of Egypt and brought Israel out of Egypt. The great ‘Exodus’ was the one event that ‘made’ a nation out of God’s people. Moses is described as a prophet and a priest, and although he never claimed to be a king, he acted with all authority in Israel whilst he lived. His closeness to God is legendary and his receiving of the 10 commandments and the ‘Law’ mark him out as one of the greatest figures of the O.T. Paul H Ashby - 31/10/08 |
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The prophet Nathan is much underrated. Nathan was the senior prophet in Jerusalem after its foundation as the capital of Israel under David. David consulted Nathan about building a Temple, but Nathan’s vision informed David that he was not to do this; rather, David’s true inheritance would be a dynasty through which God would lead His people for ever (2 Sam 7). Nathan’s dream (2 Sam 7:12) contains an enigmatic reference to a possible Messiah from the line of David. Nathan is important for two other reasons. Firstly, he was the prophet God used to confront David with his adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12), where he used clever methods to reveal God’s will and chastise the great leader for his sin. Lastly, he was instrumental in the anointing of Solomon as king after David. (1 Kings 1,2). He knew the importance of this move at a time when other sons of David were competing for the throne. Paul H Ashby - 25/10/08 |
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Paul was a servant of God and the early church. He started life as a Pharisee (named Saul) in total opposition to Jesus, and after His death, persecuted Christians. The famous story of his conversion on the Damascus Road is one of the most famous conversion stories of all time (Acts 9:1f.). What happened after this is not easy to know, because we only glimpse the story in some of Paul’s letter (see Galatians 1 and 2); but during this time Paul had a personal experience of the risen Christ which was a call to ‘apostleship’. The rest of his life was given to the proclamation of the Gospel, principally to the Gentiles. In the story of the Acts of the Apostles, the narrative turns to Paul in chapter 13, and records three great missionary journeys in which he founded many churches. His unique and memorable teaching (as found in his letters) are some of the most remarkable texts ever written (e.g. 1 Corinthians 13). Paul H Ashby - 12/09/08 |
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Simon Peter was one of the first of the disciples to be found and called by Jesus, and as all the Gospel testify, quickly became their leader. When he died which tradition says happened in Rome in the second half of the first century, he had travelled a long way from Galilee, physically and spiritually. The highlights of his life include walking on water to Jesus (Matt 14:24-36), being the first to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah (Matt 16:16f.), following Jesus prior to His death (John 18:15f. etc.) witnessing the resurrection (John 20:2), receiving the Holy Spirit and preaching on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1f.), preaching in the Temple (Acts 3) being given the revelation that the Gospel was for the Gentiles (Acts 10,11). The letters of Peter are remarkable letters which some claim cannot have come from Peter. However, these and the Gospel of Mark are regarded as scripture by his authority. Paul H Ashby - 11/09/08 |
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The Pharisees were strict adherents to Judaism. In Jesus’ day they were a group of people within Judaism who studied and kept to ‘the Law’ with rigourous zeal in an attempt to come closer to God. Because they believed so completely that God’s revelation was bound up in the law, they formed a political ‘party’ within Judaism which was attempting to influence the way that Jewish faith was taught and practised. In Jesus’ day they were strong but not dominant, and after Jesus died and Christianity began, Pharisaic Judaism became the norm as a kind of reaction against Christianity. Saul was a Pharisee before Jesus met him on the Damascus Road and renamed him ‘Paul’, the greatest evangelist of all time.
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The Philistines were a group of people who occupied the strip of land we call the Gaza strip, to the south west of Israel and Judah adjacent to the Sea. Philistines are mentioned first in the stories of Abraham and Isaac (Gen 21:32, 26:1f.), but our knowledge of the movements of peoples in ancient times suggests that these peaceful people were later replaced by the more warlike people who resisted the occupation of Canaan and became a threat to Israel at the time of the Judges (see the story of Samson - Judges 13-16). They remained a threat to Israel until the time of King David, who despite some collaboration with them in earlier years (see 1 Sam 27), frequently defeated them in battle (2 Samuel 21:12f. 1 Chron 18:1). We do not hear a great deal about them after this.
Paul H Ashby - 18/7/08 |
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The Sadducees were a highly influential group of senior priestly Jews of Jesus’ day. By and large, they ran the Temple and its compounds, and the most senior Sadducee was the High Priest. The Sadducees differed from the Pharisees in not believing in the resurrection. As priests, they were concerned to keep the purity of Jewish practice and tradition, and in Jesus’ day, they were the conservative ‘traditionalists’, and they did not like the attempts of the Pharisees to dominate the life of Judaism with their legalistic way of interpreting Jewish faith. The one thing they held in common with the Pharisees was a strict belief in the laws of Moses as the only basis for the life of God’s people.
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Samuel is revered as one of the great spiritual characters of Israel. He was born to a barren woman (1 Samuel 1) and promised to God by his mother, Hannah. The story of his personal experience of God whilst a small boy looking after the Ark of the Covenant is one of the most famous stories of the Old Testament. In later life, Samuel played a major part in uniting the tribes of Israel against the marauding Philistines, and became the man used by God to anoint the first king of Israel, King Saul. When King Saul failed to the terms of his kingship, Saul was mortified, and in 1 Samuel 15, he abandoned Saul and subsequently anointed David to be king in his place. These actions set up the amazing stories of Saul and David (in 1 Samuel) and the subsequent kingship of David (2 Samuel) which defined Israel form almost four centuries. He was buried in his home town of Ramah. Paul H Ashby - 7/11/08. |
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The Sanhedrin is sometimes referred to in scripture as the ‘Council’. It was the governing body of Judaism in Jesus’ day, performing the function of interpreting and administering the Law; that is, the ancient laws of scripture which bound Jewish people together. The Sanhedrin did not have a governing role in Judea or Jerusalem because the country was ruled by Rome as represented by a Procurator (such as Pontius Pilate). The council was made up of seventy one members, including the High Priest and his family members and other leading priestly families. It also included scribes (we would call them scholars today) and members of significant religious groups, such as the Pharisees. In Jesus’ day, the Council, or Sanhedrin, was increasingly dominated by Pharisees. The Sanhedrin lost its authority and meeting place when Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans in 70AD. Paul H Ashby 17/07/08 |
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Sarai was Abram’s wife, and her name was change by God to Sarah (meaning princess) when God completed His Covenant with Abraham and made it clear that it could not be fulfilled without Sarai. She would have to bear a son for the great promises of God to Abram to be fulfilled. After many years, Abraham and Sarah did have a child in their ‘old age’, and on hearing the news, Sarah laughed (Gen 18:9f.). A derivation of the Hebrew word for laughter was used for the name of her child, ‘Isaac’. Sarah is a very important character in the story of Abraham, and the whole story of the Covenant promise is dependent upon her faithfulness as well as Abraham’s. She expresses faithfulness by the bearing of the son of promise, Isaac, and is therefore regarded by Jews and Christians as the ‘mother’ of God’s people in faith, just as Abraham is the ‘father’ of God’s people in faith. Paul H Ashby - 29/07/08 |
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The name ‘satan’ comes from a Hebrew word meaning ‘accuser’. We understand Satan to be the enemy of God, from the way Jesus describes him in the New Testament (for example, Matthew 12:22f.) Satan is only mentioned in three places in the Old Testament, in the famous first chapter of Job, in 1 Chron 21:1, and in Zechariah 3:1,2. For this reason, we must accept that the understanding we now have of Satan as God’s enemy is something which arose largely between the Old Testament and the New, but Jesus clearly endorsed this way of understanding how evil works in the world. Although Jesus describes evil and demons in a number of different ways in scripture, Satan himself represents all the kingdoms of evil, and is destroyed in the final ‘lake of fire’ at the last judgement (Revelation 20:2f.)
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Saul was the first King of a untied Israel and Judah. Samuel anointed Saul (1 Sam 10:1f.) after an elaborate story which describes the authority of God in deciding who will lead His people. Samuel did not want to anoint a King, but did as the Lord commanded (see 1 Sam 8) and as the people wished. Saul began well, but soon became disobedient and assumed authority which was not his in offering sacrifices before battle. This was significant because by definition, a King in Israel had to be subservient to God, and his authority expressed through the prophets and the priests. By taking this step, Saul claimed a closeness to God which was not his, and as a consequence, Samuel ‘tore’ (1 Sam 15) the kingdom from Saul and anointed a new King, David, in his place. Saul did not accede the throne, and many years of bitter rivalry ensued between Saul and David, and Saul dies in battle against the Philistines. Paul H Ashby - 1/08/08 |
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From the beginning God sought those who were humble in service of others and of Him; people who were ‘servants. Both Abraham and Moses, for example, are described as God’s ‘servants’, and Joseph and David both learned how to become great people through long years of service. The idea of servanthood reaches a climax in the Old Testament in the prophecies of Isaiah. From chapter 40 onwards, Isaiah describes the Lord’s ‘suffering servant’ ( Isaiah 53); a prophecy closely linked with Christ. In the New Testament, Jesus is revealed in Mark’s Gospel as a servant of humanity bringing salvation. In the light of this, Jesus called his own followers to be ‘servants’, and commissioned them to serve others (John 13:12-14). Paul took up this theme and frequently called Christians ‘servants’ or ‘slaves’ of God (e.g. Gal 1:10f.)
Paul H Ashby - 17/7/08 |
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King Solomon is well known because he was the King of all Israel who built the Temple (1 Kings 5,6). It was by no means certain that Solomon would take the throne after David. He was the second child of David and Bathsheba, the first died because of their adultery. David had many other sons who sought to claim the throne after him in different ways; Absolom and Adonijah, for example. On his death bed, David conceded to Bathsheba’s request that her so become king, and he had the crucially important support of Nathan the prophet (1 Kings 1,2) who anointed him, symbolising God’s blessing on his reign. Despite Solomon’s renowned wisdom and building of the Temple, he was led astray in later years by foreign wives who brought their gods to Israel (1 Kings 11:1f.), so despite his immense contribution to the history of God’s people, he is formally remembered with ambiguity (1 Kings 11:41-43) Paul H Ashby - 20/09/08 |
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Tamar was a daughter of David and sister of Absalom, one of the princes in line for the throne of David. She was raped by her half brother Amnon, the son of David directly in the line of the throne, and the story of her rape sets off a sequence of events that almost brought David’s kingdom to an end (2 Sam 13-16). The story of the rape of Tamar is recorded immediately after David’s affair with Bathsheba, and there is a sense of comparison between the two events in scripture. Certainly, the sequence of events following the rape appears to be part of the punishment of David for his own adultery (2 Sam 12:11); part of the ‘trouble within his own family’ as prophesied by Nathan.
Paul H Ashby - 5/12/08 |
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Timothy was a young man from Lystra in Asia Minor, and his name means ‘honourer of God’. Paul found him on his second missionary journey and he was already a disciple, being the son of Jewish woman and a Greek father. Paul had Timothy circumcised so that he could go into Jewish circles without creating problems, and then for a long time, Timothy appears to have been a companion of Paul’s travelling with his party on missions. Paul speaks of him affectionately, especially in his two famous letters, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. These show that Timothy was used by Paul as someone who could lead a congregation of God’s people with wisdom despite his youth, and was peceived to have special gifts in teaching.
Paul H Ashby - 9/09/08 |
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Titus was a close friend of Paul from the earliest days of his conversion (Gal 2:1f.). He was a Gentile, and Paul’s close connection with him may have influenced Paul in the early debates within the church about whether Gentiles should be circumcised or not (Acts 15). It seems that Paul used Titus as a trusted emissary on a number of occasions, including to Corinth (2 Cor 2:13, 7:6,13 etc.). Paul left Titus on Crete to establish the church there at some point in their journeys, and the letter to Titus is Paul’s subsequent instructions to encourage Titus in his task. He was one of the faithful Christians of the early church who were mightily used by God, and whose profile in the New Testament is small but significant.
Paul H Ashby - 21/11/08 |
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There are a number of characters in the Old Testament called Uriah, but the best known is the husband of Bathsheba. Uriah was a faithful man, but as a Hittite (2 Sam 11:3), he was technically speaking a ‘resident alien’ within Israel. This may have contributed to David’s dismissive attitude towards him. Nevertheless, he was a bodyguard to Joab, the commander of Israel’s armies under David, and whilst David was attempting to manoeuvre his way out of adultery, showed greater ‘faithfulness’ than David (2 Sam 11:6f.). David arranged with Joab to have him killed and then took Bathsheba as his own wife, and this is a very famous and important story in the Old Testament, demonstrating the darker side of David’s life.
Paul H Ashby - 15/11/08 |
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Zerubbabel was the grandson of the second last remaining King of Judah who reigned in Jerusalem briefly before the Exile (Jeconiah). It is difficult to track exactly what happened as the exiles returned from Babylon and various parts of the then Persian Empire, but it seems that Zerubbabel was in one of the first groups to return to Jerusalem (Ezra 2:2f.) after the edict of release from king Cyrus (Ezra 1:1f. Haggai 1:1f.). He is important for Jewish history because although he was the rightful descendant of David he was not proclaimed king in Jerusalem, and the Davidic line all but disappeared. However, e was one of the first people in the Bible to be called the Lord’s ‘anointed’, i.e. a ‘Messiah’. Zerubbabel was also involved in the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon (called the second Temple), which was later called Zerubbabel’s Temple.
Paul H Ashby - 4/11/08 |
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