The people of Judah were faced with many difficult decisions as the Babylonians gathered outside the gates of Jerusalem. Their existence had been threatened before by the Assyrians and God had saved them before. But this time seemed different. The city of Jerusalem is corrupt and dirty and the people of Judah are unfaithful and misguided. The help of God which destroyed the much larger Assyrian army will not be so forthcoming this time. As the people search for a solution, they are presented with various opinions and predictions from different people. There are prophets, priests, and kings who all claim to know the truth and claim to be the help that the people of Judah so desire. The Judahites need to navigate all of these predictions and all of the forecasts. They can let history be their guide, they can participate in critical arguments, and they can consider each point carefully. But in the end each Judahite must decide where their allegiance will lie and if it will help keep them alive. In the game, there were resolutions proposed to determine who to listen to and which story was most agreeable. Each voting member of the Judahite community was faced with a few basic questions. Were the prophets really sending a truthful message of God, or are they doomsayers looking for attention? Were the priests examples of piety and righteous life, or do they take advantage of their position for material gain? Was the king all powerful and inviolable as a descendent of David, or
Point 1 - Israel’s reestablishment - is a historic reality. In Ezekiel 37 God gives a most vivid however inauspicious prophetic vision of how He will reverse the pain and destruction caused by Nebuchadnezzar by incrementally bringing the very dead and scattered Jewish people back to life, make them an exceedingly great army, and place them back in the land he promised to Abram some four centuries ago. The author Jimmy DeYoung in his book Sound the Trumpets chronicles some of the details fulfilling God’s prophecies given to Ezekiel.
Jerusalem has been controlled by the enemy for ninety-one years, during which time God received nothing from us here in the way of adoration... Now God has reserved the merit of its recovery for one house... In order to unite all hearts..." The excerpt shows another uses religion as another pull factor for men to fight in the Crusades by stating that God received no praise since the enemy (the Franks) have been in Jerusalem. Saladin is using his religion to try and recruit men to take back the holy land from the Franks, by saying they are the enemy of God himself, and he also gives his men hope that they can succeed by hinting at the fact that God will give them the strength to fight their great
Reflect on several ways in which the contemporary nation state of Israel may be viewed by various Christian communities.
Religious spaces, characterized by Thomas Tweed, are “differentiated,” “interrelated,” and “kinetic.” As a sacred city with spiritual significance in three major religions, Jerusalem is depicted thoroughly in the Hebrew Bible and illustrated as one of the spaces Tweed defines. The Bible emphasizes that Jerusalem was chosen by God and honored by Israelites, which differentiates it as a special, singular space; the description of Solomon’s Temple shows that the Holy City was interrelated to economic power and involved in the judgment of civil cases. Moreover, the conquest, development and destruction of Jerusalem illustrate the city as a kinetic space, reflecting the unsettled history of the Iron Age. These characteristics all make Jerusalem a religious and political center from the ancient Near East time to present day, guiding the footsteps of believers around the world.
Desperate to escape the despotic government, many people from Judah turned to false gods and idolatry.6 Pleading to God for rescue from such an immoral, faithless place, Habakkuk learned that the situation of Judah would be rectified in time.7 God said that He had prepared a chastising rod and that Babylon would be the avenging instrument of the just Judeans.8 After the Babylonians expelled Jehoiakim from the throne, God emancipated the Judeans and relieved the heinous social situation. In the end, Habakkuk knew that the just Israelite would not perish from the calamities of the Babylonian attacks;9 he knew that righteousness and faith would prevail. Instead of rectifying the situation at once, the Chaldean empire took control and continued to treat the Judeans harshly. Furthermore, Habakkuk became angry and questioned God again. Nevertheless, he heeded to the previous words of God and kept his faith. Before humanity lost faithfulness, Habakkuk needed to spread this message throughout the empire to save the Judeans. Habakkuk had to extend the word of God to all oppressed people, so he wrote in a style the Israelites could grasp.
In both the Taylor Prism of Sennacherib and 2 Kings 18-19, the event of Judah attacked by Sennacherib is described. However, as both are compared Sennacherib’s story is more boastful and feels to be less truthful because of its boastful nature. They do share components and allow the study of the people, but both stories differ as well. The one thing that could help decide the truthfulness of each story is to know what really happened that night.
and “Judah is a lion’s whelp.as a lion, who dares rouse him up?” (v.9, NASB) Verse emphasizes the coming role of Judah as the royal leader over all the tribes of Israel, and possibility foreign nations. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
A leader’s personal traits will without doubt have a profound impact on the organization he/she has the opportunity to serve. Therefore, prior to developing or espousing a mission or vision statement, it is imperative to know what you stand for personally. This is what leadership expert Bill George has opined is discovering one’s “true north ” and it revolves around the topic of authenticity. It is also echoed in One Piece of Paper; “Leading yourself: what motivates you and what are your rules of personal conduct?” The value of authentic leadership is something I learned from a prior commanding officer with whom I conducted the leadership interview. My goal was to understand how he intertwined his leadership traits with his mission
The first part of the book focuses on providing the reader with an overview of Palestine under Roman rule, a land filled with turmoil and false messianic figures. Aslan gives specific examples of failed self-proclaimed messiahs, such as Judas the Galilean and “the Samaritan”, who attempted to overthrow Roman rule but eventually were
Bipolar disorder is an affliction that affects many Americans. Children who live with parents who have this disorder often are neglected. Children are often not able to have a voice within their homes. The quality of life, emotional stability and childhood necessities are impacted by children raised by bipolar parents.
The second event, concurrent actions on all fronts Nehemiah speaks of a new vision for the city of Jerusalem, where the people could create the foundation for change if they commit to achieving the results. Nehemiah organizes work crews, sustains opposition from those who oppose the rebuilding, and reforms the court system. Furthermore, Nehemiah purifies the religious practices and aligns the religious teachings with God’s scriptures. Using concurrent actions as Nehemiah demonstrates, builds momentum, and shows the commitment of the people participating in the rebuilding process.
God’s goodness and mercy far transcends the comprehension of the most brilliant human mind! He “who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth”(Psalm 113:6).Yet in His infinite love for us He stoops down to reveal Himself to us by a multitude of illustration, types, and shadows, so that we may learn to know him. This paper will describe what is meant by the Kingdom of God; examine the religious philosophy of the various sects of Judaism during the Second Temple period: Pharisee, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots, describe the religious philosophy and political philosophy of each sects, it will also describe how the Messianic expectation differ from the Messianic role that Jesus presented, and include an exegesis of
I think there is the author’s certain bias in favor of the Southern Kingdom, Judah, because it lasted longer as an independent kingdom. Judah was more faithful, so the God helped
This paper will address these biblical passages in Isaiah 52 and 53, which describes a “suffering servant” to the Lord God. There has been a debate as to whether these passages where describing the Messiah who would come to restore Israel as God’s chosen people or if the passage was describing the nation of Israel as the “suffering servant”. Christian scholars and clergy view these passages as describing Jesus who they affirm as the Messiah. The text is written in a poetic form and flows from one subject to another, however, many view these passages as being extremely detailed prophecy about the Messiah to come. I will point out key passages and explain how these passages provide clarity about whom the writer was speaking. This paper will point out why Jesus is the “suffering servant”, who is mentioned in Isaiah and explain why the “suffering servant” is not the nation of Israel as others propose.
Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. Located in between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, It is the main destination for those tourists that have a desire of getting a grasp of the Western East Countries, and for many, a unique religious experience. However, Jerusalem: also called the "Holy Land" has by its name a very controversial meaning: " The City of Peace". Once ago in this place, according to the Hebrew Bible (The Tanakh), the Temple of Solomon was built. According to the Muslim Bible (The Quran), also the location of the Dome of the Rock. From the Christian point of view and The Bible, It was once the place where the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus took place. This series of religious events have brought up along with it a conflict in between Middle Eastern Countries for more than 50 years long with one main question on the plate: Who fairly and ethically deserves to live in the Holy Land?