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In this reflective episode 43 of the Who's Who in the Bible series, Fr. Joseph Royan, C.Ss.R., examines the human struggles and moral failures of King David, a central figure in Scripture. The video focuses on David's sin with Bathsheba and his orchestration of Uriah the Hittite's death, highlighting the contrast between David's wrongdoing and Uriah's integrity, loyalty, and sense of duty.The prophet Nathan's courageous confrontation, through the parable of the stolen lamb, becomes a turning point as David acknowledges his sin before God. Although his actions bring lasting consequences within his household, the episode emphasizes David's repentance and his openness to divine mercy, which preserve his identity as a “man after God's own heart.”The presentation concludes with a prayerful reflection on Psalm 51, inviting viewers to seek forgiveness, renewal, and a deeper relationship with God. Watch this powerful episode and explore the entire Who's Who in the Bible series for more inspiring biblical reflections.
A new masculinist movement has gone mainstream on the right. The prominent voices in this movement yearn for an earlier time, when men were men and women were women. Sometimes that time seems to be the 1950s, like when Tucker Carlson extols a world where men go to work and women stay at home. But sometimes it goes way farther back. The pastor Doug Wilson advocates household voting, in which men vote for their wives. And Costin Vlad Alamariu, better known as Bronze Age Pervert, harks back to the Bronze Age — specifically the ancient Hittite and Mitanni Empires. Helen Lewis wrote a recent cover story for The Atlantic about this new antifeminist backlash, which she calls “the single most important force holding together the American right.” So I wanted to have her on the show to talk about these ideas, the political program of this movement and how seriously we should take it. Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of “Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights” and “The Genius Myth.” This episode contains strong language. Mentioned: Difficult Women by Helen Lewis “What Is the Longhouse?” by L0m3z The Last Men by Charles Cornish-Dale Bronze Age Mindset by Bronze Age Pervert The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama “The Men — and Boys — Are Not Alright” with Richard Reeves, The Ezra Klein Show “Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?” with Helen Andrews and Leah Libresco Sargeant, Interesting Times with Ross Douthat “The Great Feminization” by Helen Andrews “The Women Leaving the New Right” by Sam Adler-Bell Book Recommendations: Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry by B.S. Johnson Madame de Pompadour by Nancy Mitford The Genius Factory by David Plotz Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris and Julie Beer. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones and Johnny Simon. Our recording engineer is Kyle Grandillo. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show's production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Shows is Annie-Rose Strasser. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Two is better than one, at least when it comes to coatings. You need a nice solid clear coat to protect your paint. And to keep that nice and safe, you should apply a nice sacrificial coating like wax. Our manga reviews are like that wax, our sacrifice for your entertainment. Going so far as to take on manga that's requested as well. First up is Tim with a request in Red River. It's a nineties manga and is it a blast from the past. It's about a Japanese high school girl with shojo legs who ends up in the past around the Hittite empire around the same time as … Continue reading "Manga Pulse 557: River of Shame"
On this special Memorial Day edition of Hope for the Caregiver, Peter Rosenberger reflects on sacrifice, remembrance, and the God who does not forget. Drawing from deeply personal memories of his father serving as a Navy chaplain during Vietnam-era casualty notifications, Peter explores the unseen burden carried by military chaplains who walked up to front doors carrying the worst news a family could receive. Why does Matthew's Gospel deliberately preserve the name of Uriah the Hittite in the genealogy of Christ? What does that reveal about honor, grief, and the faithfulness of God? And what can Memorial Day teach us about service, sacrifice, and the cost borne by military families across generations? This moving program also features excerpts from Peter's interview with retired Army Chaplain Lt. Col. Michael Frazier, who shares firsthand experiences conducting casualty notifications, military funerals, and ministering to grieving families in moments of profound loss. Featuring patriotic hymns, reflections on Scripture, the history of military chaplaincy, and a special closing performance of the National Anthem by Gracie Rosenberger. A powerful Memorial Day conversation about duty, grief, faith, patriotism, and the sacred work of remembering.
In this study we will take a look at the women within the Bible. We will look at each one of them and see how their story influences our lives today.As we continue our study in this fantastic insight of the Women of the Bible, this morning we will take a look at Rebekah.Rebecca – We can say that she is Ambitious Rebecca was the much-loved wife of Isaac. A woman of Godly character, but not without her human weaknesses. She had twin sons Esau and Jacob. Esau, born first, should have inherited the role of leader of the tribe, but Rebecca judged that Jacob would be better than his brother, so she and Jacob tricked the old man into giving the leadership to Jacob.Names in the Bible often says something about the person:Rebecca means 'ensnarer'Isaac means 'laughter', perhaps a reference to his mother Sarah's laughter when she heard she was to become pregnant in her old ageJacob means 'heel catcher' - either his brother's heel at the moment of birth, or his brother's inheritance later onEsau was nicknamed Edom, which meant 'red'; he was born with a ruddy complexion then spent most of his time outdoors in the sun, so his face and skin may have been unusually red. What her story is aboutThis story shows the gradual fulfillment of the promise made by Yahweh, that Sarah and Abraham would have many descendents, enough to become a nation. The story of Rebecca contains three different episodes: 1 the engagement and marriage of Rebecca(Genesis 24). Rebecca is introduced as a brave and resourceful young woman; she impressed all the people who met her. She was a good match for Isaac. 2 the birth and youth of Esau and Jacob(Genesis 25:19-34). Rebecca gave birth to two sons with very different temperaments. The conflict between them would be the basis for conflict between later generations and nations.3 Rebecca and the blessing of Isaac(Genesis 27). Rebecca manipulated the situation so that the tribe would be led by an intelligent man rather than a popular but shallow man, so that decisions for the tribe would be based on wisdom rather than impulse or emotion. In this study we complete the story of Rebekah. The final scene in which Rebekah appears is another well-known biblical episode: Isaac blesses Jacob rather than Esau, the first to emerge from the womb and thus the expected recipient of the paternal blessing (Genesis 27). The designation of Jacob as heir to the ancestral lineage, which means he will be the forefather of all Israel, is orchestrated by Rebekah. She covers Jacob with animal skins so that when the vision-impaired Isaac touches Jacob, he thinks he is touching Esau, who is hairy (Gen 24:25). Isaac then gives his blessing to Jacob rather than first-born Esau. Through clever manipulation, whereby Isaac is deceived, she achieves her purpose and controls the family destiny. Moreover, in another ruse, she convinces Isaac to send Jacob to her family in Padan-Aram (in Mesopotamia) to preclude his marrying a Hittite woman when in fact she wants him to escape a vindictive Esau (Gen 27:41--46; 28:1–5). Rebekah will never see her beloved son again.In this chapter 27 we are informed, that Isaac, being old and dim sighted, sent for Esau to get him venison, that he might eat of it, and bless him before he died, Gen. 27:1; and that Rebekah hearing of this, formed a scheme for Jacob to get the blessing before him, which she communicated to Jacob, to which he at first objected, but afterwards complied, Gen. 27:5; and also how that Jacob succeeded in the attempt, and got the blessing from his brother, Gen. 27:18; and that this was confirmed to him by his father, even when his mistake was discovered upon Esau's coming, Gen. 27:30; which occasioned a most bitter cry in Esau, a severe reflection on his brother, and an earnest expostulation with his father for a blessing, which he obtained, Gen. 27:34; the consequence of this were hatred in Esau to Jacob, and an intention to kill him, which Rebekah hearing of, advised Jacob to flee to her brother Laban, Gen. 27:41; and to make it possible, complains to Isaac of Esau's wives, and suggests, that should Jacob marry among the same people, it would add to the distress of their lives; and therefore hints it to him, that it was necessary and proper he should go to her family for a wife, Gen. 27:46; and whether Isaac sent him, as the following chapter shows. We read within this Chapter 27 'Now Esau hated Jacob because of the Blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself "The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob". But the words of her elder son Esau were told to Rebecca.'Esau was enraged, as well he might be. He had been betrayed by his mother and his brother and lost the inheritance that was due to him, his birthright and the Blessing. He planned to kill Jacob as soon as his father died. Once again, Rebecca stepped in, helping Jacob to escape. She also maneuvered Isaac into arranging a marriage between Jacob and one of the daughters of Laban, the brother she had left so many years ago in Mesopotamia. It was Rebekah who pushed Jacob, her son, into deceiving his father and stealing his brothers blessing (Genesis 27:2-13). This resulted in great conflict in the home (Genesis 27:41-43). Isaac and Rebekah made the same mistake that many parents make; they chose favorites among their children. This is something that all parents should guide against. The results of such actions can cause conflicts in your home that can go on for many years. You have been warned!Join me as we go Chapter by Chapter, Verse by Verse, Unraveling the Words of Yahweh!Have any questions? Feel free to email me; keitner2024@outlook.com
Ramesses and Hattusili (Part 2). After the marriage to a Hittite princess in Year 34, Ramesses II had much to offer his northern family. A visit from the King of Hatti's son, seeking food supplies, may relate to repeated hunger crises in Syria and Hatti. Pharaoh's support brought the two kingdoms closer together, although we must wonder if the Bronze Age Collapse has now begun... Finally a text known as the Bentresh Stela offers a fairytale memory of Ramesses' relations with Hatti. Music: Keith Zizza. Music: Luke Chaos. == Select References - Hattusili and Ramesses Brand, P. J. (2023). Ramesses II: Egypt's Ultimate Pharaoh. Bryce, T. (2003). Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East: The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age. Bryce, T. (2005). The Kingdom of the Hittites (2nd ed.). Divon, S. A. (2008). A Survey of the Textual Evidence for “Food Shortage” from the Late Hittite Empire. In The City of Emar Among the Late Bronze Age Empires (pp. 101--109). Online. Drews, R. (1993). The End of the Bronze Age. Edel, E. (1994). Die ägyptisch-hethitische Korrespondenz aus Boghazköi in babylonischer und hethitischer Sprache I. Hoffner Jr., H. A. (2009). Letters from the Hittite Kingdom. Kaniewski, D., et al. (2020). Climate Change and Social Unrest: A 6,000‐Year Chronicle From the Eastern Mediterranean. Geophysical Research Letters, 47. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087496 Klengel, H. (1974). “Hungerjahre” in Hatti. Altorientalische Forschungen, 1, 165—174. Kuslu, Y., & Sahin, U. (2009). Water Structures in Anatolia from Past to Present. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 5, 2109--2116. Nougayrol, E., et al. (1968). Ugaritica V. Owen, D. I. (1981). An Akkadian Letter from Ugarit at Tel Aphek. Tel Aviv, 8, 1--17. Online. Singer, I. (2011). The Calm Before the Storm: Selected Writings of Itamar Singer on the Late Bronze Age in Anatolia and the Levant. Select References - The Bentresh Stela Erman, A. (1883). Die Bentreschstele. Zeitschrift Für Ägyptische Sprache Und Altertumskunde, 21, 54–60. Kitchen, K. A. (1975). Ramesside Inscriptions Historical and Biographical (Vol. 2). Kitchen, K. A. (1993a). Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Notes and Comments (Vol. 2). Kitchen, K. A. (1993b). Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations (Vol. 2). Posener, G. (1934). À propos de la stèle de Bentresh. Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 34, 75--81. https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bifao/34/ Spalinger, A. (1977). On the Bentresh stela and related problems. Journal of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, 8, 11--18. Online. Witthuhn, O., et al. (2015). Die Bentresch-Stele: Ein Quellen- und Lesebuch. Online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fr. Mike breaks down David's tragic downfall as he commits adultery with Bathsheba and kills her husband, Uriah the Hittite. We learn that David's road to grave sin began with small acts of disobedience and selfishness. Today's readings are 2 Samuel 11, 1 Chronicles 14-15, and Psalm 32. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Let our experts guide you through the mystical land of Turkey, as we bridge the gap between East and West and explore a nation of contrasts. From Roman ruins to Ottoman grandeur, discover why adventure travellers are seeking the cultural delights of Turkey far beyond the balloon-dotted skies and idyllic beaches most tourists seek. Wild Frontiers Director of Product & Operations, Marc Leaderman, traces the historical evolution of the region, from its ancient Hittite roots to its journey through empires. We dive into our Silk Road Turkey: Across The Anatolian Plateau to Istanbul itinerary, exploring how the ancient Silk trade route carved the borders and character of the nation we see today. Head of Marketing Michael Pullman shares fresh perspectives from his recent journey through the origins of civilisation on our Turkey: Eastern Borderlands trip, and Operations Manager Stacy Mallaby takes us through the classic landscapes and hidden gems of our Turkey: Istanbul to the Aegean Coast tour.Of course, an honourable mention for our epic 48-day The Great Silk Road Adventure: Xi'an to Istanbul that concludes in the perfectly fitting, historically and culturally significant city of Istanbul which bridges Asia and Europe. Listen along to discover which side of Türkiye calls to you— and where you should be planning your next adventure…. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.”Exodus 33:2 NKJVHappy new month to everyone!!
Group Guide Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptAll right, so I said earlier, my name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're gonna be in second Samuel chapter 12 today and want to announce just a little bit of a change in one of the ways we're doing things. So if you look in and around you, there are hardback black ASV Bibles. So we're making a little bit of a shift here. So those are going to be what we use for the primary reading of the text that we're walking through. So we've had in the past, we've had text on the screen, we'll still have some of that. But we wanted to move a little bit more towards what we kind of used to do, which is to really read out of a physical Bible. So we've actually made the investment. We bought some nicer kind of hardback Bibles to use in during worship. So if you go to page 300, that's where it will be. We would invite you A couple things. We invite you to, if you have a Bible that you regularly use to actually bring that on Sundays that we use the esv. If you have a different version, that's fine. We're blessed in the English language to have so many wonderful translations. People who get in just knife wars over translations, it just drives me nuts sometimes some are not great. The majority are quite good. Then it's very possible that you have a very good one. So if you have one, bring it and bring that regularly. Write in the margins of the Bible, take notes during the sermons, like really engage there. If you don't ever have one, if you don't actually. Let me say this, if you don't have a Bible at home, a physical copy, please take that one. That is our gift to you. We want you to have a Bible that you can read at home. But if you didn't forget to bring your Bible on a Sunday, pick one of those up, engage with it. The text, the main part of the text will not be on the screen. Or we would like to discourage being on our phones. That is something that we're actually making a shift towards. I'm not going to like stare at you in the middle of the sermon and just start pointing. Not going to do that. But one of the things we've realized is, is that when we are on our phones and we read the Bible from the phone, sometimes we get distracted. I felt this all of a sudden, a text message comes through, an email comes through, and we want to try to minimize that distraction as much as possible. So you Know, again, I'm not going to be angry from the pulpit if you're on your phone, but we would like to discourage that as much as possible and actually be in the text. So going forward, we'll kind of make this announcement a few different times, but that's the shift we're going to make. And the hope will be, is as we're reading a physical Bible, it's going to come to life in some new and better ways. It's a little more active than kind of passively looking up at the screen. So we're going to be in Second Samuel, verses 1 through 13, which is on page 300 in those Bibles. And we'll get to that text in a moment.There are times where. Where I am, where I've sinned, and I'm being confronted in my sin. Now, most of the time that happens with my wife, because I don't know if you know this. If you're married, the person you sin against the most is. Is your spouse. Vice versa. You know why? Because you're living in close proximity with your spouse and she's a sinner and you're a sinner, and this is what happens. So you should expect sin to happen in marriage, which should result in conflict resolution, all the things that we do and we encourage. But what happens sometimes is that when my wife confronts me in my sin, there's such a clear crossroads. Like, there's just two paths. And the first path is Christ exalting, humble consideration of her words, of myself and my own sin. And then, like, time to really reflect and think and consider. That's path one. Then there's the second path, which is I'm not going down without a fight. I'm going to argue my way through this. First off, I reject the premise of your argument. Second, do we need to get to your stuff? Like, I mean, all the terrible ways, And I'll be honest, this way is pretty appealing and it's pretty easy at first. The other way is quite difficult at first to actually do the work of humility and to consider your own sin and be open to confrontation and to like. Like, that's hard on the front end. Way easier in the back end over here. Way easy in the front end because I got to do what my flesh desires, which is not consider my own faults, not consider my own sin. I get to do what I like to do, which is talk. So let's go for it. But the back end is way worse. And there are just times where I see the crossroads in front of Me. And it's like, oof. The desires of the flesh and the spirit at work in ways where, you know, sometimes by God's grace, I choose what is good, and sometimes I choose what is evil, and it results in good. But I think I'm going to guess I'm not alone in this, that many of us feel that, that with spouses and friends and co workers and family members and et cetera, you feel that you're at the crossroads when someone does the work of confronting you. And that's where we see David today. David is about to be confronted in his sin, and we're going to see what comes out of that and how we should think about that as Christians.So let me pray for us, and then we'll walk through this together. Lord, we thank you that you are patient with us in our sin and that you have incredible hope held out to us. God, I pray that that would be clearly seen in a way that changes the very way that we operate and live our lives. This morning we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.Okay, so summary summarizing. Last week, Chet walked us through what is the lowest point of David's reign. The David who's supposed to be on the battlefield leading his people as their king. He's back home. And then temptation comes. He's out. And then he sees Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers, and he inquires of who this is. And then he takes her. And then, attempting to deal with the consequences of his sin, deceives, lies, plots, and then ultimately sends Uriah to the front lines to be killed by the Ammonites, which he is. So David, committing adultery, deception, murder, comes out looking like the good guy. I'll take Bathsheba, she'll be my wife. And he thinks that he's moving forward and his tracks are covered. But God sees everything. The eyes of the Lord see everything. And he sends Nathan, one of his prophets, to confront David in his sin.> And the LORD sent Nathan to David.> He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a city, the one rich and the other poor.> The rich man had very many flocks and herds,> but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought.> And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.> Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him,> but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. (2 Samuel 12:1–6 ESV)So Nathan is a prophet. And this is what God does to his kings. We saw this with Samuel and Saul. We're seeing it here with Nathan and David. You keep reading. You're seeing this with Elijah and Ahab. This is what God does. He sends his prophets to correct the people and especially the kings, in their sin. So Lord sent to Nathan to David, and what he's about to tell David is a parable. But David doesn't know it's a parable. David hears this as an actual thing that has Happened.Okay, let's consider the details of this parable. This is the classic evil rich man versus lowly poor man story. This rich man has an abundance. He has more lambs than he can count. He has flocks upon flocks upon flocks, herds upon herds upon herds. He has an abundance. But then there's the poor man. The poor man doesn't have any. And eventually he gets enough money just to have one little ewe lamb, and that's it. Seemingly all he can ever afford. And then you get into the relationship of that this poor man has with his lamb, and it's like the family pet. I mean, you consider the details, that he raises this lamb, that this lamb grew up with his children. We have a family dog. Her name is Piper, and she is the same age as my middle child, my son. And there are pictures. I can go through a photo show, just the puppy and my son growing up together. That's our family dog, and we love our dog. And that's what this is. This is the family lamb. They love this lamb. This lamb comes to the table and they feed her morsels from the table. Yes, you can have some of this. That lamb drinks out of his own cup, which is kind of gross, just being honest. But some of you let your dog lick your face. So same. They just have this. You can see him just give him some of the cup and then scooping up the lamb and just running it just in circles. Montage. Just, just absolutely. Just this brushing the wool. His sweet little ewe lamb says he treated her like a daughter. You. So once you're attached to the lamb narrative, it shifts back to the rich man. And the rich man has a guest coming to town, and he wants to prepare lamb chops for his guest. You could see him scanning the fields and thinking Thoughtlessly about which one he's going to have one of his people, one of his servants grab. And who. Who. Who's going to. And then he sees the poor man's lamb and the. And he says, oh, no, I'll have that one. And it feels like a. Like a. Like a movie, as you like. You just imagine him sending his goons to, like, just go in and just forcibly take the lamb. And the children are crying, and the man can't do anything because he's the lowly poor man. This is the rich man in town. He has all the power with the sheriff and has all the power with. And he's got all the money. He can't do anything. Or maybe he comes in the middle of the night and his goons come in and sweep and take the lamb. And then all of a sudden, the next day, they're looking, calling for her, wondering where she is. And then all of a sudden, they hear that she's been slaughtered and cooked and served at the table of the rich man. And when you hear the details of the story, you want Liam Neeson, with his particular set of skills, to team up with John Wick and just absolutely destroy this man. And if you feel that kind of angry at the story, I want you to imagine how David felt. Because David was a shepherd. He. He knows what it's like to love the flock, to take care of these lamps. And he is furious again, he doesn't know it's a story. He's furious at this.> Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die,> and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” (2 Samuel 12:5 ESV)David is furious. And as a man of great passion, he responds to Nathan. He invokes the name of the Lord, and he says, this man deserves to die for what he has done. We are going to make this right. He's going to pay back fourfold what he did. Because this man was cruel. He had no pity. He was a savage. He was brutal. He was an evil man of wealth and power. He deserves judgment. And what's wild is that David can't see it. He can't see it. He so clearly can see this man's sin, but he can't see his own sin. And if you're honest, we've been there. You've been there, where it's so easy to see the sin of others. It's so easy to Point out all the ways that they have failed. So blind to our own reality, the plank so lodged in the eyes we can't see. That's David. He just can't see it. And Nathan just has him exactly where he wants him.> Nathan said to David, “You are the man. Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.> And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.> Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.> Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.> Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.> For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.'” (2 Samuel 12:7–10 ESV)And now the deeds are coming into the light. Because God sees it all. Every thought, every action, and this life for the next will be exposed. And he exposes it for all to see. He saw when temptation came upon him. When he saw Bathsheba, he saw him take her. He saw him scramble to cover up the Pregnancy. He saw him murder him with the sword of the Ammonites, which pause for a moment. Those of us who sometimes have seared consciences and are like, well, I didn't really do the thing. They did the thing. I didn't really participate. They participated. But you were actively in the background doing things. It's a lesson in morality that if you're the first domino, you're responsible, that you might not brought the sword down, but you are culpable. You, you murdered. He says all of that. He sees it, it's exposed. Then God pronounces judgment, verse 10. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And ye shall lie with your wives in the sight of this Son, for you did it secretly. But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Son. So the judgment is that strife is about to come upon David's house. It will not be the same, but strife will come upon his house because he despised God, despised his commands. And notice it didn't say he took Bathsheba. You took the wife of Uriah. The sting here of the rich man taking the poor man's lamb because of what you did and the evil that you brought upon this man and the evil you've done against me. Now evil will come out of your own house. And the very things that you have done in the secret and the dark will be done before the sun, out in the open, which we are going to see come to fruition in just a few chapters as this house is torn to pieces. And this is the tragedy that awaits David and the judgment that is given to him.And now is a pivotal moment for David because Nathan just called him out publicly. All of the nation is going to hear about this. And then all of God's people for the next 3,000 years are going to hear about this. What is he going to do? He is the king. And kings in history typically don't respond well to public shaming. They don't respond well to being dressed down in the Bible. Kings typically don't respond well to being called out by prophets. So what is he going to do? Is he going to put them in jail like Jeremiah was put in jail? Is he going to threaten his life like Elijah was threatened? What is he going to do to the prophet who has openly just dressed him down for all to see.> David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”> And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” (2 Samuel 12:13 ESV)And we're going to stop there, and we're going to pick up next week in the second half of that verse and finish off the chapter. At the crossroads of confrontation, David repents. He repents. He acknowledges who this sin was primarily against. I have sinned against the Lord, the God who took me, who chose me, who made me king, who blessed me with blessings I could never earn. I've sinned against him. And then in the same breath, Nathan delivers the message from the Lord. The Lord has put away your sin, and you shall not die. David is given forgiveness, which is massive, y', all, because if you understand the Old Testament law, what David did actually merits death. And the Jewish law, that's the death penalty for what he's done. But he's given forgiveness, and his repentance is genuine. You might could read this and go, okay, does he really. He does. And what we read earlier in Psalm 51 for our liturgy this morning is the. Is the window into his soul, because he wrote Psalm 51, David did, in the midst of. In the aftermath of this sin, really fleshing out repentance in his soul.So what I want to do is I want to go to Psalm 51, which that is on page 554 in that black Bible, and I want us to look at Psalm 51 and to consider really, the elements of repentance. We're not going to get into all of it because we don't have the space to look at every single verse. But I want to just. I want to look at this to consider some of the elements of repentance that are happening here in Psalm 51, on page 544, starting in verse one, David says,> Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. (Psalm 51:1 ESV)You see, there's a. There's a neediness in his repentance. He's in a humble state. He says, have mercy on me. Have mercy. Now, why would he need to have mercy? Because he sinned against a holy and perfect and righteous God who brings wrath towards sin. Have mercy on me according to your steadfast love. He says, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out my transgressions. Remove them. There's this deep desire for repentance, and he's not sorry for what awaits him in the discipline of the Lord. He's sorry because he sinned against God. That's important for us because Spurgeon was quoted as saying this once, that if I hate sin because of the punishment for sin, I've not repented of sin. I merely regret that God is just. So if we. If we just hate sin because we don't like the punishment, which is the wages of sin is death, which is hell. If that's why we hate sin, then it's like we're not understanding whom we've sinned against. Actually, we're just more concerned with the judgment of God. And if he's just or not. David is like, I've sinned against you, God. You. You see the. You see this. This beginning, this restoration in his heart of just understanding this relationship that he's had with God that he's gone wayward from. Have mercy.And then he says in verse two,> Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! (Psalm 51:2 ESV)Like he just feels the stain of sin on him every now and then. I get to take my kids, we go camping and go camping for a few days, and at the end of it all, we haven't showered, haven't. I've got sweat and bug spray and sunscreen and dirt and grime and marshmallow residue and, like, the works. It just. And I'm like. And when we get in the car to go home, it's just like, I'm really, really looking forward to getting in the shower because I just want to. I just am so ready to just get rid of all of the filth. And David just. He's. He sees it. He finally has eyes to see, and he sees all of the sin and everything that was involved and the plot and the murder and the. And the lust of the heart. He sees all of it, and he's just like, God just washed me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleansed me from my sin. I don't want to be stained like this anymore. God, would you wash me? Would you cleanse me?Verse 3 says,> For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. (Psalm 51:3 ESV)He has this knowledge now. Like, I know my transgressions are before me, and I know you see it. And I've done what's evil in your sight, which if you just think about it for a moment, you just see, this is. This is the human heart on display before God, because very Logically, God is actually not the only person he sinned against. Right, Uriah. He sinned against him grievously. Had him murdered. All the lying and deception. So there's sin that affects the community and all around, but he sees whom he's primarily sinned against and it's the Lord better. Sin first and foremost is against the Lord. He just. He sees it so clearly. I've sinned against you. I've done what's evil in your sight.Go skip down to verse seven.> Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7 ESV)It's like he just. Would you purge me with the hyssop branch? Would you cleanse me so I can be clean? I want to be righteous before you again, God. Go down to verse nine.> Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. (Psalm 51:9 ESV)Just God, I want a clean record. I don't want the iniquities to be counted against me. Hide your face, Lord, from my sins. I don't want it counted against me.In verse 10, he says,> Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10 ESV)So he understands so clearly that his heart has been wayward. And he understands this is really helpful, y'. All. He understands it's not just the actions, it's the inner heart. It's the human. It's the inner being. And he says, I need to be made new. I need you'd to create a new heart within me. I need you to renew the right spirit within me. I need. I need to love you and delight in you and follow you again. I just. I lost my way and I just. I need you to cleanse my inner self so that I can be right with you again.In verse 11, he says,> Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. (Psalm 51:11 ESV)Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. The reality is that there are folks who will harden their heart towards their sin and will pursue it and will pursue it and will pursue it. And their heart becomes cold and callous and. And distant. And yes, God hides his lovely face from his people. Sometimes you can't read the rest of the Psalms and not see that. That's why the old Hin says, when darkness see, when darkness hides his lovely face, I rest on his amazing grace. There are times where God hides his unique presence from us. And that's not a place you want to. He says, I don't want to Be away from your presence. I want to remember. I want to restore to me God the joy of your salvation and walking with you. I want to feel your presence and your redemption yet again. God, don't abandon me.And then you skip down to verse 17, says> The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:17 ESV)What's so helpful there is that David understands that it's more than just going to the tent of meeting and offering sacrifices, which he would have absolutely done in accordance with the law. It's more than that. Because what God ultimately desires is not the outward action. It's the inward, broken, contrite heart. He wants contrition in our hearts. A broken, sorrowful, remorseful heart that sees I've sinned against you, God, to feel sorrow over sin. And through tears and anguish, with remorse for his adultery and his murder and his deception, he feels all of that against the Lord.Now take a step back from Psalm 51 and you observe his repentance. Summarize some of the elements of what we see. He's desperate. He gives pleas for mercy. He desires to be cleansed. He gives an acknowledgment of who he's primarily sinned against. He has a desire for his presence. He has a plea for his sins to not be counted against him. He has a longing for joy and his salvation again. And he has a confessed reality of contrition and sorrow over his sin. That's what repentance looks like. Which begs the question, does our repentance look like that? Does our repentance and the way that we consider sin mirror this? Because this is what repentance is.Years ago, many of you know this. I was, for years I was bivocational, doing real estate and pastoring. And then I went full time years ago. And every now and then I'm doing some real estate here or there. But years ago I was doing. I was doing a deal and I was. It was me directly with a seller on a property and we were in negotiations and this property needed a lot of work and it got to the end of it all and then went through some inspections and when the H VAC unit, the air conditioning unit came back, I was like, yeah, I don't. I don't know. Like, I just. And there's a lot of trust between this person. This person loved God and I love God. And we're just trying to figure this out. But I just, at the very end of it all, just, I don't know, I think. I think I have to drop the price by 2000 because this. This unit, I think it's about to go. And then she did. And then the years that followed. A couple things came to reality. First, that that H VAC unit actually was a tank. That thing was. It just kept going. Just needed a little maintenance. But I got four solid more years out of that thing. But in evaluating my own heart, and I just realized I was like. That was done from a place of greed and a place of fear. It was done from a place of taking advantage of someone else. And I just. When that finally sunk in, I just. I felt this. I felt like just, lord, what have I done? And rejecting your ways and rejecting your desire and loving money over people. And I just. I felt the overwhelming weight of sin. And I just. I can't. I can't move forward like this. This. This can't be. And I just. I talked to my wife, and we kept thinking and praying through. I talked to the pastors. I kept thinking and praying through it, and I just finally came to the conclusion I just can't stand. I'm not gonna stand before the Lord and this sin. So I. In repentance, I finally. I reached out. I just said, hey, listen, I wrote a letter. I just said, I. I think. I think. I think I did wrong in this. I think you're owed $2,000. I want you to take this check and I want you to cash it. Please, please, please do not send this back. And thankfully, God in his providence in allowing me to be in sin for a period of time, this person actually needed that exact amount at the exact time. But I just. I felt this. That happens, y'. All. We have these. These moments where we're tempted and we're lured and enticed, and the sin grows within us, and we choose wickedness. And this is needed. This. Psalm 51. This contrite, broken heart, this desire to be. Desire to. To be obedient to what God desires for us is so desperately needed in us. And David feels that. He feels a sorrow over his sin, a longing and a hope for God. He. He feels this, and then he's given forgiveness, and his sin is not counted against him. And he spared the judgment of death. And next week we'll see consequences for sin. Because even though sometimes we don't face eternal consequences for sin, there are eternal punishment for sin, there are earthly consequences, and we'll get to that. But for the moment, this week, I wanted to pause and to consider that David's sin is not held against him. He spared the judgment of death.And here's the deal. The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we are like David, more so. We are like David, more so because we, knowing the gospel, choose to deliberately, intentionally, flagrantly, grievously, sometimes joyfully sin against God, reject his ways in favor of wickedness, in favor of selfishness and self centeredness. And we choose to do this over and over and over again as we break his commands. And what I want us to hear so clearly this morning is that sin is costly, that sin costs. For the wages of sin is death. And God looks at us just as he looked at David. And he looked at David and he said, the Lord has put away your sin. You shall not die. And the reason that's true for us is because the Lord has put away our sin, because Jesus Christ died. Because we get to look to Jesus Christ who dies in the place of sinners, using some of the same language put away in Hebrews 9:26.> For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26 ESV)In the back part of that verse it says, but as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, that if he belonged to Jesus Christ, your sin was put away because of his sacrifice on the cross. Because somebody has to pay the penalty for sin, because we don't sin against a holy and perfect God and reject his ways without a cost. And Jesus Christ lovingly went and paid that penalty for us. And in paying that penalty, he has better things held out for us.> He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24 ESV)That Jesus Christ takes our sins, he bore them on the tree, the cross, that we might hear this, die to sin and live to righteousness. There are those of us who belong to Jesus Christ who have trusted in the finished work that he did on the cross, that his atonement has covered our sin. He does that so that we might die to sin, not, not living it. That we might see sin be put to death in our lives. I mean, goodness, y', all, we should take the call to repentance seriously, like David did. You should understand the cost of sin. It's the blood of God. You should understand the precious gift that was given for us because of our sin. We should take sin seriously.The puritan Thomas Watson once said that Christ is never loved until sin is loathed. You cannot love Christ if we do not hate sin. Those go hand in hand. There's no way that you can love a God who loved you so much that he gave up his only Son to be crucified for our rebellion against Him. And then us just wink and nod at sin as if it's the. Not a big deal. No, the only logical conclusion to a love that great is a hatred that is that great, too. And that hatred is towards our sin. We must hate sin. We must feel the reality of sin and deal with it seriously, which means considering it, grieving the offense, repenting of it, and running towards Christ.Listen, if we can stare at our sin and have the general posture of our hearts, well, good thing I'm forgiven. Good thing God's a God of grace, right? It's like, whoa, are we. If we can be flippant about what our sin cost and just treat grace like it's a cheap gift, then maybe we've misunderstood grace entirely. And maybe we need to be reoriented with the reality of sin. Listen, we don't have to beat ourselves up after we've repented. I'm not wallowing in the sin of greed from years ago. I find joy in Jesus Christ because what he has done. But we don't skip the work to get there. And some of us skip the work, myself included. We don't do the work of repentance. And we need to. We should be. Listen, we should be terrified at the possibility that we could sin repeatedly in a way that our heart could grow cold and our love could be dim to where we don't sense the presence of God. That's a terrifying place to be.To summarize, Thomas Watson in another place, he says we either must drown our sin in the tears of repentance or our sin will be drowned in the judgment of hell. And that should weigh upon us, and we get to face that reality right here as we have the opportunity to come to the table, invite Christy up to take the Lord's Supper and to play for us in a moment.> “When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.'” (1 Corinthians 11:24 ESV)> “In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'” (1 Corinthians 11:25 ESV)On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body that was broken for you. And that's the. That's the physical reminder that Jesus gave up his body. And then Jesus took the cup, which is the cup of the new covenant. He said, this is my blood that was shed for you. And it's the reminder of the blood that flowed down from Jesus Christ that covers our sins. And as we consider that until Jesus Christ returns, one of the ways we do this in taking seriously the Lord's Supper, is we consider our sin in repentance. So we're going to sit in silence for a few moments. And if you belong to Jesus Christ, I want you to ask God to reveal, just as he sent Nathan the prophet to reveal his sin, may you ask God to send the Spirit upon our hearts to awaken within us the reality of our own sin. And I want you to sit in that for a moment. And once you've considered the ways in which you've sinned, I'm going to pray, I'm going to invite you to the table, and I want you to come being reminded of the seriousness of sin. I want you to take the Lord's Supper and return. And then I want you to worship him. Enjoy.Now, attached to some of this, maybe. Maybe you've got some work left to do when you leave here. And maybe you need to make a phone call and maybe you need to have a conversation and maybe a group this week, you need to finally walk in the light. Which brothers and sisters, be reminded, undoubtedly, with the size of this room, there, there's some. There are folks in here who are just hiding their sin, who aren't being honest and open, who aren't actually being real about the reality of sin in their life. And I want to make this clear to you. That's a terrible place to be. Don't hide your sin. There's freedom that's found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe that God doesn't want you to walk in darkness. He wants you to walk in light and in power and in victory. And you will not have victory over sin and if it remains in darkness. So part of what needs to happen coming out of this, this week is in your group, is you need to confess your sin. You need to confess it to God first and then one another. But don't choose the path of darkness time and time again. Don't presume upon the kindness of God that's meant to lead us to repentance. But as Christians, we need to come to the table after we've prayed, and we need to walk this out in repentance. If you. For some of you, some of you have never done this. You've never seriously considered your sin. You've never seriously considered the Savior. And the table is not for you, but Jesus Christ is. You have a God that loves you so deeply that he, though he absolutely could, he could have brought judgment down upon you for repeatedly rejecting his will and his desire for you. But he loved you so much that he sent Jesus Christ to die for you, to capture you, to set you apart into eternity. And there's so much joy that's found in that, but it doesn't happen unless you believe. So right now, as we sit in silence, you need to pray and you need to plead for God to blot out your sin, maybe look at Psalm 51 and see Jesus in it and just pray it and ask God to have mercy on you as a sinner and to believe and trust in him. And then come talk to me. Come talk to a person who brought you. But don't come to the table. Come to Jesus Christ. We're going to sit in silence for a few moments, and then I'll close in prayer and invite you to the table.So bow your heads with me, Sam. Heavenly father, We are so thankful for the blood of Jesus Christ. May the wonderful reality of your work compel us to faith. May it move us to beautiful repentance. As we consider your death, your body, and your blood. For those of us that need to do a thing, need to have a conversation, that need to put sin to death, need to throw out something from their house, need to confess their sin. And group this week, they need to walk in freedom. May you help them do it. May you help us do it. And as we come to the table and return to our seats, may we stand and may we sing joyfully that our sins are not counted against us. Amen.
Babylon had survived five destructions before Sennacherib tried to erase it for good. Why did Assyria's most bookish king — a man who loved Babylonian scholarship — finally flood the city and smash its temples in 689 BCE?This is Oldest Stories, a biweekly deep dive into ancient Mesopotamia. Online at oldeststories.netIn this episode we trace Babylon's strange immortality: a city founded around 1894 BCE that claimed six thousand years of history by borrowing it from Eridu, the first city of the gods. We walk through each of Babylon's "deaths":Death 1: the ritual transfer from dying Eridu to Babylon under Hammurabi's successors, making Babylon the heir to pre-Flood kingshipDeath 2: the Hittite sack of 1595 BCE and decades of abandonmentThe Kassite revival, when Babylon became the world's university town, exporting doctors and diviners instead of armiesThe humiliations under Tukulti-Ninurta I, the Elamite sack that stole Marduk, and Nebuchadnezzar I's brief martial comebackThe long grind with Assyria: Merodach-Baladan's revolts, Sennacherib's first campaign at Cutha and Kish in 703 BCE, the puppet kings Bel-ibni and Assur-nadin-shumi, the 694 BCE boat raid on Elam, the Elamite counterstroke in 693, and the bloodbath at Halule in 691We end with the two-year siege of Babylon, Sennacherib's decision to dig a canal through the city, and what the destruction meant for cuneiform civilization. If Babylon had stayed dead, would Mesopotamian culture have lasted longer?This episode continues our Sennacherib series. For the rise of Sargon II, Tiglath-Pileser III, and the earlier Assyrian-Babylonian wars, see the playlist.Music from the show: oldeststories.net/music (or search "Oldest Stories Music")Support the show:Books: https://a.co/d/7Wn4jhSDonate: oldeststories.netPatreon / YouTube members get bonus episodes: patreon.com/JamesBleckleyNo-AI readings of ancient texts: youtube.com/@osnightreading
2026년 성경통독 시리즈 (Bible Reading Plan Series) 16 2026년 4월 19일 레븐교회 주일예배 설교 (박기범 목사) Text: 열왕기상 (1 Kings) 11:1-13 Title: "세왕 이야기 속 믿음 (4): 순종의 예배 Faith in the Stories of Three Kings (4): Worship of Obedience" 열왕기상 (1 Kings) 11:1-13 [새번역/ESV] 1 솔로몬 왕은 외국 여자들을 좋아하였다. 이집트의 바로의 딸 말고도, 모압 사람과 암몬 사람과 에돔 사람과 시돈 사람과 헷 사람에게서, 많은 외국 여자를 후궁으로 맞아들였다. Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 주님께서 일찍이 이 여러 민족을 두고, 이스라엘 자손에게 경고하신 일이 있다. "너희는 그들과 결혼을 하고자 해서도 안 되고, 그들이 청혼하여 오더라도 받아들여서는 안 된다. 분명히 그들은 너희의 마음을, 그들이 믿는 신에게로 기울어지게 할 것이다" 하고 말씀하셨다. 그런데도 솔로몬은 외국 여자들을 좋아하였으므로, 마음을 돌리지 못하였다. from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 그는 자그마치 칠백 명의 후궁과 삼백 명의 첩을 두었는데, 그 아내들이 그의 마음을 사로잡았다. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 솔로몬이 늙으니, 그 아내들이 솔로몬을 꾀어서, 다른 신들을 따르게 하였다. 그래서 솔로몬은, 자기의 주 하나님께 그의 아버지 다윗만큼은 완전하지 못하였다. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 솔로몬이 시돈 사람의 여신 아스다롯과 암몬 사람의 우상 밀곰을 따라가서, For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 주님 앞에서 악행을 하였다. 그의 아버지 다윗은 주님께 충성을 다하였으나, 솔로몬은 그러하지 못하였다. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. 7 솔로몬은 예루살렘 동쪽 산에 모압의 혐오스러운 우상 그모스를 섬기는 산당을 짓고, 암몬 자손의 혐오스러운 우상 몰렉을 섬기는 산당도 지었는데, Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. 8 그는 그의 외국인 아내들이 하자는 대로, 그들의 신들에게 향을 피우며, 제사를 지냈다. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. 9 이와 같이, 솔로몬의 마음이 주 이스라엘의 하나님을 떠났으므로, 주님께서 솔로몬에게 진노하셨다. 주님께서는 두 번씩이나 솔로몬에게 나타나셔서, And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 다른 신들을 따라가지 말라고 당부하셨지만, 솔로몬은 주님께서 하신 말씀에 순종하지 않았다. and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. 11 그러므로 주님께서 솔로몬에게 이렇게 말씀하셨다. "네가 이러한 일을 하였고, 내 언약과 내가 너에게 명령한 내 법규를 지키지 아니하였으니, 내가 반드시 네게서 왕국을 떼어서, 네 신하에게 주겠다. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. 12 다만 네가 사는 날 동안에는, 네 아버지 다윗을 보아서 그렇게 하지 않겠지만, 네 아들 대에 이르러서는, 내가 이 나라를 갈라 놓겠다. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 그러나 이 나라를 갈라서, 다 남에게 내주지는 않고, 나의 종 다윗과 내가 선택한 예루살렘을 생각해서, 한 지파만은 네 아들에게 주겠다." However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”
To become a follower of Jesus, visit: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Jesus ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ ⇒ BECOME A MONTHLY PARTNER: (not tax-deductible) You can find out how to become a monthly partner including how to receive your "thank you" gift - our bonus podcast called "Digging Deeper." God t: https://mm-gfk-partners.supercast.com/ ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 11:1–8 - Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, [2] from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. [3] He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. [4] For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. [5] For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. [6] So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. [7] Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. [8] And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. (ESV) ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ FINANCIALLY SUPPORT THE MORNING MINDSET: (not tax-deductible) -- Become a monthly partner: https://mm-gfk-partners.supercast.com/ -- Support a daily episode: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/daily-sponsor/ -- Give one-time: https://give.cornerstone.cc/careygreen -- Venmo: https://venmo.com/CareyNGreen ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ NON-ENGLISH VERSIONS OF THIS PODCAST: SPANISH version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Spanish CHINESE version: https://MorningMindsetMedia.com/Chinese ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ CONTACT: Carey@careygreen.com ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ THEME MUSIC: “King’s Trailer” – Creative Commons 0 | Provided by https://freepd.com/
LONDINIUM CHRONICLES. 3. Gaius and Germanicus explore the 14th-century BC Amarna letters to illustrate the timeless, manipulative nature of imperial diplomacy. These clay tablets record correspondence between Egyptian Pharaohs and their Canaanite vassal kings. The letters reveal a persistent pattern where weak clients would "whine" and act helpless to demand gold, horses, and soldiers from the Pharaoh. They successfully utilized "negative leverage," threatening to defect to the rival Hittite kingdom if their specific demands were not met. (5)The speakers apply this ancient "light motif" to modern relations, noting that client states like Israel and Ukraine are currently very aggressive in leveraging the United States for resources. These vassals have awakened to a strategic truth: the patron often needs the stability of the client's territory more than the client needs the patron, granting the smaller state outsized influence. Germanicus posits that the health of an empire is measured specifically by its ability to effectively "tamp down" or manage these demanding client states. Currently, the U.S. is viewed as weak because it has been "sucked into" strategic liabilities and allowed vassals to "twist its arm," resulting in a significant loss of world authority. This historical parallel highlights that imperial power is rarely about direct colonial control and more about the complex, often manipulative relationship between patron and client. The conversation ends with a critique of the modern emperor's tendency to "double down" on failing strategies. (6)1849
Married before first sight. In regnal year 34 (1259 BCE) Ramesses welcomed a princess of Hatti. Sent by her father Hattusili and mother Puduhepa, the (anonymous) princess came to Egypt and took up the rank of King's Great Wife. Today, she is known by her Egyptian name, MAAT-HOR-NEFERURA "She Who Sees Horus, the Perfection of Ra." This enigmatic woman sits at the centre of a fascinating letter archive and commemorative text. Ramesses celebrated his new bride in grand style... Music by Luke Chaos Extended version of this episode available at www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast Sources Beckman, G. (1999). Hittite Diplomatic Texts (2nd ed.). Brand, P. J. (2023). Ramesses II: Egypt's Ultimate Pharaoh. Bryce, T. (2003). Letters of the Great Kings of the Ancient Near East: The Royal Correspondence of the Late Bronze Age. Archive.org. Edel, E. (1994). Die ägyptisch-hethitische Korrespondenz aus Boghazköi in babylonischer und hethitischer Sprache I: Umschriften und Übersetzungen. Fisher, M. M. (2013). A Diplomatic Marriage in the Ramesside Period: Maathorneferure, Daughter of the Great Ruler of Hatti. In B. J. Collins & P. Michalowski (Eds.), Beyond Hatti: A Tribute to Gary Beckman (pp. 75—119). Jung, C. (2007). Rain in ancient Egypt: A linguistic approach. In H.-P. Wotzka, O. Bubenzer, M. Bollig, & R. Vogelsang (Eds.), Aridity, change and conflict in Africa (pp. 331–344). Available in Open Access pdf at Koeln. Kitchen, K. A. (1975). Ramesside Inscriptions Historical and Biographical (Vol. 2). Kitchen, K. A. (1996). Ramesside Inscriptions : Translations (Vol. 2). Kitchen, K. A. (1999). Ramesside Inscriptions: Notes and Comments (Vol. 2). Mieroop, M. van de. (2016). A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. Polo, S. S. (2016, January 11). Inside One of Egypt's Biggest Royal Weddings. National Geographic History. Wong, J. (2020). Have you ever seen the rain? Comments on an underrepresented phenomenon. Nile Magazine, 28, 24—35. Available at Academia.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2026년 성경통독 시리즈 (Bible Reading Plan Series) 15 2026년 4월 12일 레븐교회 주일예배 설교 (박기범 목사) Text: 사무엘하 (2 Samuel) 12:7-13 Title: "세왕 이야기 속 믿음 (3): 회개 Faith in the Stories of Three Kings (3): Repentance" 사무엘하 (2 Samuel) 12:7-13 [새번역/ESV] 7 나단이 다윗에게 말하였다. "임금님이 바로 그 사람입니다. 주 이스라엘의 하나님이 이렇게 말씀하십니다. '내가 너에게 기름을 부어서, 이스라엘의 왕으로 삼았고, 또 내가 사울의 손에서 너를 구하여 주었다. Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 나는 네 상전의 왕궁을 너에게 넘겨 주고, 네 상전의 아내들도 네 품에 안겨 주었고, 이스라엘 사람들과 유다 나라도 너에게 맡겼다. 그것으로도 부족하다면, 내가 네게 무엇이든지 더 주었을 것이다. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 그런데도 너는, 어찌하여 나 주의 말을 가볍게 여기고, 내가 악하게 여기는 일을 하였느냐? 너는 헷 사람 우리야를 전쟁터에서 죽이고 그의 아내를 빼앗아 네 아내로 삼았다. 너는 그를 암몬 사람의 칼에 맞아서 죽게 하였다. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 너는 이렇게 나를 무시하여 헷 사람 우리야의 아내를 빼앗아다가 네 아내로 삼았으므로, 이제부터는 영영 네 집안에서 칼부림이 떠나지 않을 것이다.' Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' 11 주님께서 또 이렇게 말씀하십니다. '내가 너의 집안에 재앙을 일으키고, 네가 보는 앞에서 내가 너의 아내들도 빼앗아 너와 가까운 사람에게 주어서, 그가 대낮에 너의 아내들을 욕보이게 하겠다. Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 너는 비록 몰래 그러한 일을 하였지만, 나는 대낮에 온 이스라엘이 바라보는 앞에서 이 일을 하겠다.'" For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.'” 13 그 때에 다윗이 나단에게 자백하였다. "내가 주님께 죄를 지었습니다." 나단이 다윗에게 말하였다. "주님께서 임금님의 죄를 용서해 주실 것입니다. 그러므로 임금님은 죽지는 않으실 것입니다. David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
Rabbi David Wolpe needs no introduction, but if you insist: He's a scholar in residence at the Maimonides Fund, Rabbi Emeritus at LA's Sinai Temple, and formerly a visiting scholar at the Harvard Divinity School (where, you know, Yael…never mind).This is a somewhat optimistic, thoughtful (well, at least Wolpe's part), conversation about why Jews are fine (when's the last time you saw a Hittite walking around?), whether the bible is true, how we can build stronger friendships with other communities, and if we should forgive Kanye….not to mention Mandy Patinkin.Happy Passover to our Jews, and Happy Easter to our Christians! Everyone else, have a wonderful and happy week, and thank you for listening!Also:* Jews like our clouds without silver lining.* Things are great! All things considered.* There's no such thing as a grown up.* The wrath of Jewish WhatsApp groups (you don't need to text him about every Swastika)* Wait, not everything in the bible is real?? A controversial sermon.* What makes the Exodus true? An interview with Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman (but finish listening to this first)* Is AI good for the Jews?* How Jewish do you need to be?* Why did you become a Rabbi?* What to say to a young Jew who wants out?* Recommended reading: Testament of a Jew from Saragossa, by Eli Wiesel.* We live in a society where victimhood is power.* We need you!* Where have all the Hittites gone?* Can Judaism survive without a Tzar?* Which Jews can we kick out though?* Does Rabbi Wolpe forgive Kanye?* Can't finish without Pharoah Mandy Patinkin.NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!We'll be off next week, but if you miss us and want to help us grow, consider going to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a five star rating and a nice review. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit askajew.substack.com/subscribe
Fear was the first enemy. Flesh is the second. If the Hittite spirit of terror does not stop you at the border of your inheritance, the Girgashite spirit of carnality will try to drag you down once you have entered.But God has made provision. The same Spirit who casts out fear also overcomes flesh. Walk in Him. Set your mind on His things. Follow His guidance. Receive His power. Submit to His will.Do this, and you shall not, you shall by no means, you shall never fulfill the lust of the flesh.It is time to drive out the Girgashites.---------SUBSCRIBE ▶️ Receive our latest videos:https://www.youtube.com/c/PastorSteve...ABOUTPastor, author and speaker Steve Berger is known for his straight talk in dealing with various hot-topic cultural issues that many pastors avoid. In 2021, he founded Ambassador Services International with his wife, Sarah. He serves on the Executive and Pastoral Advisory Boards for Promise Keepers International, and the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast Board, and is Pastor Emeritus of One Church Home in Fairview TN. Whether preaching or writing, in great joy or pain, Steve longs to be a proclaimer of the grace and hope that Jesus came to offer. Since June of 1987, he has been married to Sarah, the love of his life, and together, they have four beautiful children and five grandchildren.LEARN MORE
The Hittite spirit of fear must be the first enemy we conquer to enter the Promise Land because it is the enemy that prevents us from engaging all the others. Be strong and of good courage — the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.---------SUBSCRIBE ▶️ Receive our latest videos:https://www.youtube.com/c/PastorSteve...ABOUTPastor, author and speaker Steve Berger is known for his straight talk in dealing with various hot-topic cultural issues that many pastors avoid. In 2021, he founded Ambassador Services International with his wife, Sarah. He serves on the Executive and Pastoral Advisory Boards for Promise Keepers International, and the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast Board, and is Pastor Emeritus of One Church Home in Fairview TN. Whether preaching or writing, in great joy or pain, Steve longs to be a proclaimer of the grace and hope that Jesus came to offer. Since June of 1987, he has been married to Sarah, the love of his life, and together, they have four beautiful children and five grandchildren.LEARN MORE
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with K.R. Wilson about his novel, Stan on Guard (Guernica Editions, 2026). Ishtanu (call him Stan) is a Hittite immortal keeping his head down in Toronto and recounting some of his experiences. Tróán is an immortal Trojan princess who thought she'd killed Stan in post-war Berlin but who now knows he survived. Yes, technically Stan can die. He has just managed not to for 3200 years. As their stories braid together toward a final reckoning they take us through, among other things, a subversive retelling of the Odysseus story, the resistance of pagan Lithuania against Papal crusaders, the decline of Friedrich Nietzsche in a German clinic, the arts scene in belle epoque Paris, and the descent of Europe into the horrors of the Great War. Strap in. Stan On Guard is the follow-up to K. R. Wilson's tragical-comical-historical novel Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millennia, which was long-listed for the 2022 Leacock Medal for Humour. K. R. Wilson's novel An Idea About My Dead Uncle won the inaugural Guernica Prize in 2018, and his novel Call Me Stan was long-listed for the 2022 Leacock Medal. His work has appeared in various literary journals and the flash fiction anthology This Will Only Take a Minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with K.R. Wilson about his novel, Stan on Guard (Guernica Editions, 2026). Ishtanu (call him Stan) is a Hittite immortal keeping his head down in Toronto and recounting some of his experiences. Tróán is an immortal Trojan princess who thought she'd killed Stan in post-war Berlin but who now knows he survived. Yes, technically Stan can die. He has just managed not to for 3200 years. As their stories braid together toward a final reckoning they take us through, among other things, a subversive retelling of the Odysseus story, the resistance of pagan Lithuania against Papal crusaders, the decline of Friedrich Nietzsche in a German clinic, the arts scene in belle epoque Paris, and the descent of Europe into the horrors of the Great War. Strap in. Stan On Guard is the follow-up to K. R. Wilson's tragical-comical-historical novel Call Me Stan: A Tragedy in Three Millennia, which was long-listed for the 2022 Leacock Medal for Humour. K. R. Wilson's novel An Idea About My Dead Uncle won the inaugural Guernica Prize in 2018, and his novel Call Me Stan was long-listed for the 2022 Leacock Medal. His work has appeared in various literary journals and the flash fiction anthology This Will Only Take a Minute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
This episode reflects on King David as a contrasting “icon of repentance.” Though chosen and blessed by God, David's desire led to sin with Bathsheba, the death of Uriah the Hittite, and a desperate attempt to cover up his guilt. Like David, we often hide our sins out of fear of human judgment, yet nothing remains hidden from God. In mercy, God sent Nathan to expose David's sin and call him to repentance, showing that confession—though painful—leads to forgiveness and life. The message points finally to Jesus Christ, the true Son of David, whose sacrifice covers our sins completely, freeing us from fear and inviting us to confess our sins and trust in His mercy.
I truly enjoyed my conversation with Naveen.Even with all of his accomplishments, he's very humble and unassuming. When speaking about his mother, he fondly recalls stories of how his mother ran their household. Don't forget, at this time in India, women did not work. Their role was to make sure the home was well kept with generations of family members all living under one roof. Naveen's father was a Senior Officer in the Royal Service and it was an arranged marriage that brought the couple together. Jayalakshmi was an exceptionally talented writer of short stories and novels. Her first priority was at home taking care of the family. She never sat around. She carried a clip board around with her and wrote down her most cherished thoughts. On a daily basis, she kept all the financial records/household accounts of how much money was spent each day. She stayed up late every night to write in two different India languages. Naveen learned from his maternal grandmother that his mother, the first of eight children dropped out of school after sixth grade because she wanted to get married and settled down. Culturally that was accepted and the norm for the most part.My guest, the youngest of four children, had two sisters and one brother. As he says now, "I'm the last man standing." He grew up among elders including his aunt and uncle and his cousin all together in one household. Naveen shares three very touching stories about his mother including how and when she started her writing, her professional connections and her public recognition as a highly revered author. Again, in India, this is unheard of and she did this without fanfare or calling attention to herself.Naveen's mom, didn't have much of a sense of humor according to her son. She was very practical and a no nonsense kind of woman yet happy with her life.To find out more about my guest you can use the link below. This event is scheduled for August 28, 2022. https://thewashingtonmail.com/win-free-books/Books Naveen has written:A Hittite and a Shaman: At Queen Nefertari's Secret ServiceStarlight in the Dawn: The Poetic Priestess who chose to fightCandlelight in a Storm: Born to Be a Berliner"Candlelight In A Storm-Born To Be A Berliner" a biography of Naveen's wife who fled from WWII's violence, escaped from Communist regimes and traveled around the world. He is the recipient of the 2018 DaVinci Eye Finalist-The Eric Hoffer Award. “Courageous and resilient women in history: Women are under-represented in history. A closer look and even fantasy in fiction may help," say Sradhir.My guest has written several books about women who have overcome difficulties, oppression and more. Mr. Sridhar continues " women ,famous or not, who show their grit by way of resilience, adamance and courage, these women are quiet and not talked about, their stories untold. Instead of HIS-tory maybe it should be HER-story."Naveen Sridhar's website: https://www.naveensridhar.com/Languages Naveen Speaks: English, German, Hindi, French, Kannada, Spanish, Tamil, Urdu "Should Have Listened To My Mother" is an ongoing conversation about mothers/female role models and the roles they play in our lives. Jackie's guests are open and honest and answer the question, are you who you are today because of, or in spite of, your mother and so much more. You'll be amazed at what the responses are.Gina Kunadian wrote this 5 Star review on Apple Podcast:SHLTMM TESTIMONIAL GINA KUNADIAN JUNE 18, 2024“A Heartfelt and Insightful Exploration of Maternal Love”Jackie Tantillo's “Should Have Listened To My Mother” Podcast is a treasure and it's clear why it's a 2023 People's Choice Podcast Award Nominee. This show delves into the profound impact mother and maternal role models have on our lives through personal stories and reflections.Each episode offers a chance to learn how different individuals have been shaped by their mothers' actions and words. Jackie skillfully guides these conversations, revealing why guests with similar backgrounds have forged different paths.This podcast is a collection of timeless stories that highlight the powerful role of maternal figures in our society. Whether your mother influenced you positively or you thrived despite challenges, this show resonates deeply.I highly recommend “Should Have Listened To My Mother” Podcast for its insightful, heartfelt and enriching content.Gina Kunadian"Should Have Listened To My Mother" would not be possible without the generosity, sincerity and insight from my guests. In 2018/2019, in getting ready to launch my podcast, so many were willing to give their time and share their personal stories of their relationship with their mother, for better or worse and what they learned from that maternal relationship. Some of my guests include Nationally and Internationally recognized authors, Journalists, Columbia University Professors, Health Practitioners, Scientists, Artists, Attorneys, Baritone Singer, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist, Activists, Freighter Sea Captain, Film Production Manager, Professor of Writing Montclair State University, Attorney and family advocate @CUNY Law; NYC First Responder/NYC Firefighter, Child and Adult Special Needs Activist, Property Manager, Chefs, Self Help Advocates, therapists and so many more talented and insightful women and men.Jackie has worked in the broadcasting industry for over four decades. She has interviewed many fascinating people including musicians, celebrities, authors, activists, entrepreneurs, politicians and more.A big thank you goes to Ricky Soto, NYC based Graphic Designer, who created the logo for "Should Have Listened To My Mother".Check out the SHLTMM Podcast website for more background information:https://shltmm.simplecast.com/ and https://www.jackietantillo.com/Or more demos of what's to come at https://soundcloud.com/jackie-tantilloLink to website and show notes: https://shltmm.simplecast.com/Or Find SHLTMM Website here: https://shltmm.simplecast.com/Listen wherever you find podcasts: https://www.facebook.com/ShouldHaveListenedToMyMotherhttps://www.facebook.com/jackietantilloInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/shouldhavelistenedtomymother/https://www.instagram.com/jackietantillo7/LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-tantillo/YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@ShouldHaveListenedToMyMother
"And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof; That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; And old shoes and clouted upon their feet, and old garments upon them; and all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy. And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us. And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you? And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the Lord thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, And all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, which was at Ashtaroth. Wherefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spake to us, saying, Take victuals with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say unto them, We are your servants: therefore now make ye a league with us. This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go unto you; but now, behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy: And these bottles of wine, which we filled, were new; and, behold, they be rent: and these our garments and our shoes are become old by reason of the very long journey. And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them. And the children of Israel journeyed, and came unto their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kirjathjearim. And the children of Israel smote them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the princes. But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the Lord God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. This we will do to them; we will even let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath which we sware unto them. And the princes said unto them, Let them live; but let them be hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation; as the princes had promised them. And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us?Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the Lord thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing. And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.And so did he unto them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, that they slew them not." Joshua 9: 1-26
Pastor John Ryan Cantu brings this week's message, “Wrong Place.” 2 Samuel 11:1-5 ESV: “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”” If you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe and share it with your friends on social media. For more information about PNEUMA Church, visit our website at mypneumachurch.org.Connect with Us: Instagram: https://instagram.com/mypneumachurch YouTube: https://youtube.com/mypneumachurch Facebook: https://facebook.com/mypneumachurch Time Stamps: 00:00 - Introduction 00:30 - Welcome 03:32 - 2 Samuel 11:1-5 ESV 04:55 - Wrong Place
A @Christadelphians Video: **YouTube Video Summary / Description**Is the Bible just a collection of ancient stories, or is it something more? In this thought-provoking presentation, we examine the evidence for the Bible's divine authorship. Many dismiss the Scriptures as mere mythology, but what does the historical and prophetic record actually reveal?Join us for an insightful exploration where we tackle common criticisms and present compelling evidence that vindicates the Bible's truth. We delve into outstanding archaeological discoveries, like the Hittite civilization, that confirm the Bible's historical accuracy. We also examine a specific, precise prophecy in Ezekiel 26 concerning the city of Tyre, a revealing divine fingerprint on history.When we consider the Bible's internal consistency across 1,500 years, dozens of authors, and three continents, the case for its divine inspiration becomes powerful and transformative. This isn't just an academic exercise; understanding that the Bible is God's Word changes how we live and think. Discover how this exceptional book can provide purpose and direction for your life.**Chapters / Timestamps:**00:00 - Introduction: Is the Bible the Word of God?01:13 - Addressing Common Criticisms02:09 - Archaeological Evidence: The Hittites04:51 - Archaeological Evidence: King Belshazzar06:57 - Prophetic Evidence: The Prophecy Against Tyre09:41 - The Unified Story and God's Plan11:42 - The Bible's Testimony About Itself12:11 - Conclusion: The Transformative Power of God's Word13:14 - Q&A: Tips for Consistent Bible Reading15:23 - Q&A: What is God's Unified Plan in the Bible?19:46 - Q&A: Why is the Bible Long and Seemingly Complex?**Categories & Bible Verses:**
In this ProveText Podcast conversation, Dr. T. Michael W. Halcomb sits down with Old Testament scholar Dr. David Firth (Trinity College Bristol) to discuss foreigners, immigrants, and belonging in the Old Testament—especially across Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings.Dr. Firth challenges the common assumption that the Old Testament is broadly hostile toward foreigners and argues that the biblical story consistently centers loyalty to YHWH over ethnicity as the defining marker of God's people. Along the way, they discuss Rahab, Caleb, Jael, Uriah the Hittite, Elijah, and more—and why modern immigration debates often flatten biblical categories into political talking points.Topics include:- Are “foreigners” consistently portrayed negatively in the Old Testament?- Rahab, Achan, and the question: Who belongs to God's people?- Key Hebrew terms for “foreigner/sojourner” and why context matters- Why “legal vs illegal” can distract from the deeper biblical question: what is just?- A fresh take on ḥerem (חרם) as renunciation/devotion rather than simply “destruction”- Refugee language and why modern labels can cause Christians to talk past each otherResources mentioned:
2 Samuel 11:1-4, 5-10, 13-17 (You have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife)
With the release of Season 2 Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+, the Muses thought our listeners might like to know the stories behind some of the characters and creatures they'll meet in the series! In Minisode 5, continuing our previous tie-in series, we enter the fast and furious world of chariot racing. [Transcript for Minisode 5] ----more---- More on Chariot Racing: Homer - The Iliad: Book XXIII From World History Encyclopedia: Chariot Racing in Ancient Rome Ramses II fighting in a chariot at the Battle of Kadesh, 1274 BCE Ceremonial chariot of Tutankhamun, c. 1330 BCE, found in his tomb: A Hittite war chariot, c. 1650-1250 BCE: Assyrian war chariot, c. 640 BCE Diagram of the Roman Circus Maximus, from DK Ancient Rome: The Circus Maximus as it appears today:
The story of Jacob is well-known to students of the Bible. What may not be as well known is why God would bless a man whose character, at first, was so clearly out of sorts with godliness. Today we'll learn about the path the Lord used to bring Jacob to a place of faith, trust and obedience. Join us in this face-paced look at Genesis 28, which also will skim Genesis 25, 26, & 27! DISCUSSION AND STUDY QUESTIONS: 1. When was there a time in your life where you consciously made a life decision in light of your standing as a member of God's people? What was the outcome of that decision? 2. Take a moment to evaluate your personal commitment to the kingdom of God. On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to reflecting God's kingdom now and investing in God's kingdom to come? Why did you choose that number? 3. Why do you think that the Lord allowed Isaac and Rebekah to not be able to have children until later in life? What impact would this (or should this) have on the spiritual lessons they would teach their children? Did it? 4. How would you describe the family dynamics in Isaac's household? What kind of problems did their favoritism create? Who was responsible to rectify these problems? What are some possible reasons for why these problems weren't properly addressed? 5. In Genesis 25:23, what was the Lord's promise to Rebekah about the twins she was bearing? How is this promise important as the story of Jacob's life unfolds? 6. What were God's promises to Isaac in Genesis 26:3 and 4? How was this similar to the Lord's promises to Abraham? What would these promises also indicate about Isaac's role as the patriarch of his family? What would these promises mean for the role one of his sons would have over these future descendants? 7. In Genesis 25:27-34, why do you think Esau sold his birthright to Jacob? Was this a true "sale"? Was the birthright his to "sell" anyway? How does this set the tone for the unraveling of Esau's role as firstborn? 8. In Genesis 26:34-45, Esau marries two Hittite women. What significance might his marriage have on the direction of his leadership over the descendants of Abraham? 9. Esau didn't cherish his birthright because he didn't cherish God's promises. If he did, what would that have looked like in his life? What does it look like, in our world today, to cherish God's promises and live in light of them? Why is this sometimes difficult to do? 10. Although the study didn't address very much from Genesis 26, you have probably read it by now. As you reflect upon the events of Genesis 26, what do they show you about the quality of Isaac's faith? Why do you think his faith was like this? 11. The Bible often reminds us that although we are to walk in God's ways, it's not to curry His favor, but rather to glorify Him. Both Abraham and Isaac show us that God uses imperfect people. Why do you think that is? What encouragement does this give you if and when you struggle in your walk? Check out our Bible Study Guide on the Key Chapters of Genesis! Available on Amazon just in time for the Genesis relaunch in January! To see our dedicated podcast website with access to all our episodes and other resources, visit us at: www.keychapters.org. Find us on all major platforms, or use these direct links: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6OqbnDRrfuyHRmkpUSyoHv Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/366-key-chapters-in-the-bible/id1493571819 YouTube: Key Chapters of the Bible on YouTube. As always, we are grateful to be included in the "Top 100 Bible Podcasts to Follow" from Feedspot.com. Also for regularly being awarded "Podcast of the Day" from PlayerFM. Special thanks to Joseph McDade for providing our theme music.
"And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it: And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments. For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb. And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name." Exodus 33:1-17
This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd travel back to a time when God had a wife named Asherah... or did he? To help them answer decipher the ancient goddess, our co-hosts enlist the help of Dr Steve Wiggins, a world-leading expert on Asherah. Together, they explore how Asherah came to be associated with the God of Israel, discuss inscriptions and figurines associated with the goddess, and consider why the question of God once having a 'wife' remains so controversial today. Steve Wiggins earned his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1992 and taught Hebrew Bible at Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary from 1992-2004. His revised dissertation, A Reassessment of Asherah: With Further Considerations of the Goddess, was expanded in 2007 and came out as a paperback version in 2025. It is the only full-length treatment of the Ugaritic source material on Asherah, and combines that with comprehensive examination of textual sources from the Hebrew Bible, ancient Mesopotamia, Epigraphic South Arabian sources, Hittite sources, as well as Hebrew inscriptions that may mention the goddess. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINEIf you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription.DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHYCheck out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.
TODAY'S TREASURE…Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.” Thus says the Lord, “‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.'” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” 2 Samuel 12:7-14 ESVSend us a comment!Support the show
TODAY'S TREASUREIn the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. The one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 2 Samuel 11:1-4 ESVSend us a comment!Support the show
Every once in a while, I read a d'var Torah that takes my breath away—an interpretation that is original, creative, casts a new light on an old question, and does it so persuasively that I can no longer see any other way to read the text.Josh Foer is the founder of Sefaria, a free online digital library of Jewish texts. He is also the co-founder of Lehrhaus, a Jewish tavern and house of learning in Cambridge. He is also on the board of The Jim Joseph Foundation where he recently offered a new lens on Esau. According to Josh's stunning read, Esau was the first Jew who was not into Judaism. He would not be the last. He is the patron saint of many Esaus today.Esau's father was Isaac, his mother was Rebekah, he had family yichus, but he preferred to marry a “leggy Hittite,” in Josh's phrase. This reading of Esau offers us a lens for all our children and grandchildren who choose not to value or live out their Judaism. This chronic challenge has never been more acute.There are our children and grandchildren who opt out because they never saw the value in it. Because they were never wired to connect to Jewish life. Because they fell in love with and married a non-Jewish partner, and raising Jewish children is not their priority. Because they are alienated by Israel and the posture of their parents and Jewish institutions to support Israel in these polarized times.What do we do when our rising generation is not into it?Here Josh Foer offers his most sparkling insight. Why did Esau forgive Jacob? Why did Esau kiss Jacob? Josh's answer: Because Esau was deeply good with his own life. In the intervening twenty years, Esau had moved on. Esau was busy and happy living his own life as a patriarch of his own clan. Esau was not living a Jewish life. But he was living a very happy and fulfilled life.After the reconciliation, the Torah offers us the genealogy of Esau, page after page of Esau's descendants. Historically Jews never got Genesis 36. What is it in the Torah for? Why does the Torah bother to give us five pages of who begat whom in the unimportant story of Esau. Synagogues seldom to never dwell on the eye-glazing irrelevancy of Esau's generations. The classic Jewish voice on Esau's generations is that of Rashi, who dismisses it as so much sand that a person sifts through until they find the pearl, the thing that matters, the person that matters, the story of Joseph and his brothers.Josh Foer's brilliant read on Esau reminds us that Esau is doing just fine. We who do not see him are the poorer for his not being part of our life. If Josh is right, and if we ought not to lose a single soul, what are we to do about the many, many Esaus in our families today? If we love and accept them for who and what are, is that wisdom? Or is that giving up on the Jewish story? Do we have a choice to make here, and if so, what is that choice?
1 Kings 15:5 ESVBecause David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
Ranking Resilience and the Importance of Water: Colleague Eric Cline uses definitions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—coping, adapting, and transforming—to rank ancient civilizations, attributing the survival of Egypt and Assyria partly to their access to major river systems, a resource the failed Hittite empire lacked; the Phoenicians and Cypriots are ranked highest for "transforming" and becoming antifragile, while Egypt is described as merely "coping," and the Cypriots eventually lost their independence to Assyrian expansion despite their initial post-collapse success. 1953 Retry
Genesis 25-26 25:1 Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore to him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were the sons of Keturah. 5 Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; 6 but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east. 7 These are all the years of Abraham's life that he lived, 175 years. 8 Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. 9 Then his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, 10 the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth; there Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. 11 It came about after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived by Beer-lahai-roi. 12 Now these are the records of the generations of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave woman, bore to Abraham; 13 and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages, and by their camps; twelve princes according to their tribes. 17 These are the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years; and he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people. 18 They settled from Havilah to Shur which is east of Egypt going toward Assyria; he settled in defiance of all his relatives. 19 Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham fathered Isaac; 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children; and the Lord answered him, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is so, why am I in this condition?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people will be stronger than the other; And the older will serve the younger.” 24 When her days leading to the delivery were at an end, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 Now the first came out red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding on to Esau's heel, so he was named Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. 27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a civilized man, living in tents. 28 Now Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game; but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 When Jacob had cooked a stew one day, Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted; 30 and Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a mouthful of that red stuff there, for I am exhausted.” Therefore he was called Edom by name. 31 But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” 33 And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore an oath to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and got up and went on his way. So Esau despised his birthright. 26:1 Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Live for a time in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed Me and fulfilled his duty to Me, and kept My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” 6 So Isaac lived in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is beautiful.” 8 Now it came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through a window, and saw them, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she certainly is your wife! So how is it that you said, ‘She is my sister'?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘otherwise I might be killed on account of her.'” 10 And Abimelech said, “What is this that you have done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will certainly be put to death.” 12 Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundred times as much. And the Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; 14 for he had possessions of flocks and herds, and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with dirt. 16 Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.” 17 So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there. 18 Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they argued with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah. 22 Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” 23 And he went up from there to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac's servants dug a well. 26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath, and Phicol the commander of his army. 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We have seen plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘An oath must now be taken by us,' that is, by you and us. So let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” 30 Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they got up early and exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away, and they left him in peace. 32 Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac's servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. 34 When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; 35 and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah. BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com GIVE - The Listener's Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here: https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net
Egyptian-Hittite Diplomacy. In the aftermath of the Treaty, Ramesses II and Hattusili III got down to business establishing their brotherhood. From prospective summits in Canaan, to fabulous gift-exchanges by Nefertari and a prince, the Egyptian and Hittite courts negotiated their new bonds. Alas, things weren't always rosy, and the issue of Urhi-Teshub caused great friction between the two Kings. Finally, we meet the man who shuttled back-and-forth between these kingdoms, delivering the goods: the Egyptian royal messenger Netjerwymes aka Pirikhnawa gets a look in... Logo image: Hititte drinking vessel in the shape of a fist. Silver, 15th--13th Centuries BCE. Boston Museum of Fine Arts https://collections.mfa.org/objects/322343/drinking-vessel-in-the-shape-of-a-fist Music: Luke Chaos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The book of Judges shows us what life looks like when a people try to live without God. Israel was religious, but their religion had drifted far from the God of Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua. Judges tells us bluntly that a generation arosewho did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel(Judg. 2:10). Surrounded by nations with kings, Israel wanted one too. Wanting a king wasnt the problemGod had already promised a coming ruler from Judah:The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the rulers staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples(Gen. 49:10). He even gave instructions for Israels future king in Deuteronomy 17. The issue wasnt the idea of kingship, but Israels motivation. They wanted a king not to be more like God, but to be more like the nations. Their first king, Saul, looked the parttall, strong, impressivebut his heart was far from God. He cared more about preserving his image than obeying the Lord. The breaking point came when God commanded him to destroy the Amalekites. The Amalekites were a brutal nomadic tribe who had been Israels sworn enemies since the days of Moses, attacking Israel from behind when they were weak and exhausted (Ex. 17). Instead of obeying fully, Saul spared their king and kept what pleased him. So the Lord said through Samuel: Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrificesAs in obeying the voice of the LORD?Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice,And to pay attention than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as reprehensible as the sin of divination,And insubordination is as reprehensible as false religion and idolatry.Since you have rejected the word of the LORD,He has also rejected you from being king. (1 Sam. 15:2223) Saul finally confessed,I have sinned because I feared the people and listened to their voice(1 Sam. 15:24), but the damage was done. Samuel told him the kingdom had been torn from him and given toa neighbor of yours, who is better than you(v. 28). That neighbor was a young Judean shepherd named Davidsomeone no one expected. When Samuel arrived at the home of Jesse (Boaz and Ruths great-grandson), he assumed Israels next king would look like one of Jesses oldest sons. But God corrected him:Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart(1 Sam. 16:7). After seven sons passed by without Gods approval, Samuel asked,Are these all the boys?Only then did Jesse mention his youngestDavidso overlooked that even his family hadnt considered him. But when David appeared, the Lord said,Arise, anoint him; for this is he(v. 12). And from that moment on,the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward(v. 13). David Was Gods Man The first time we are invited to look into Davids heartand to see what set him apart from everyone elseis in 1 Samuel 17 when he faced Goliath in battle. While Israels army stood frozen on the front lines, David had only been sent to deliver food to his brothers. The Philistines had proposed a champion-to-champion battle: Goliath against anyone Israel dared to send. The stakes were highthe losing side would become the servants of the winner. No one in Israel wanted to step forward. After Goliath roared,I defy the battle lines of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together!Saul and all Israel weredismayed and extremely afraid(1 Sam. 17:1011). For forty days, the giants taunts filled the valley. And for forty days, young David went back and forth between tending his fathers sheep and tending to his brothershearing the escalating tension firsthand. Eventually David had heard enough. Offended by Goliaths insults against God and His people, he asked,What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he has dared to defy the armies of the living God?(v. 26). When word reached Saul, David was brought before the king. Without hesitation, he said,May no mans heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine(v. 32). David stepped forwardnot with armor, experience, or military strengthbut with confidence in Yahweh. Armed only with a staff, a sling, and five stones, David stood as Israels champion. Goliath mocked him, saying,Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?and cursed him by his gods (v. 43). He then threatened,Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild animals(v. 44). But Davids response revealed everything about his heart and his source of confidence: But David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a saber, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I will strike you and remove your head from you. Then I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that this entire assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lords, and He will hand you over to us! (1 Sam. 17:4547) Davids confidence was not in his ability, but in Gods character. The God who had rescued Israel before would rescue them again. David slung one stone, struck the giant in the forehead, and killed him with what seemed like nothing more than a slingshot. There was no earthly guarantee that David would defeat Goliath. But he knew God had promised Abraham that Israel would represent Him among the nations, and that a king would one day rise from Judah, the one to whomthe scepter shall not depart and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples(Gen. 49:910). David trusted that Gods purposes could not be stopped by a Philistine giant. David Was Israels Flawed King Under Davids leadership, Israel finally defeated and subdued the Philistinesthe nations greatest threat throughout the time of the Judges and during Sauls reign. David had been one of Sauls most successful military commanders, and the women of Israel even sang,Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands(1 Sam. 18:7). Under Davids rule the borders of Israel expanded, and the promises made to Abraham appeared closer than ever to becoming reality. Some of the high points of Davids reign include making Jerusalem the capital of Israel, bringing the ark of the covenant back into the city as the visible sign of Gods presence, preparing the way for Solomon to build the temple, and establishing Jerusalem as the spiritual and political center of the nation. David wanted God to be at the center of everything Israel did, reflecting Gods covenant at Sinai where the people were called Godstreasured possession, Hiskingdom of priests, and Hisholy nation(Exod. 19). But David is also remembered for one of the darkest moments of his lifehis adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband in a desperate attempt to cover up his sin. Uriah, one of Davids most loyal soldiers, was a man devoted to his king and to Israel. He also happened to be married to a woman of striking beauty named Bathsheba. We are told in 2 Samuel 11 that while Israels army was out fighting, David remained in Jerusalema decision that placed him exactly where temptation could reach him. What follows is one of the most sobering accounts in Scripture: Now at evening time David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the kings house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent messengers and inquired about the woman. And someone said, Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? Then David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he slept with her.(2 Sam. 11:24) Soon after, Bathsheba sent word back to the king:I am pregnant. David never imagined his sin would come to light so quickly. Like many who try to hide their sins, he moved from temptation to adultery, and from adultery to deception. He brought Uriah home from battle, attempting to manipulate him into sleeping with his wife so the pregnancy would appear legitimate. But Uriah refusedhe would not enjoy the comforts of home while his fellow soldiers risked their lives. With his plans unraveling, David chose a darker path. He wrote a sealed letter to Joab, the commander of the army, and sent itin Uriahs own hand as messenger. The letter read: Place Uriah at the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck and killed (2 Sam. 11:1415). It was a death warrant. And David made Uriah carry it. Uriah died just as David intended, and for a moment the king must have felt deep reliefhis sin was concealed. But the covering of sin never hides it from God. The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to confront David, and when the truth broke through Davids self-deception, he finally said,I have sinned against the LORD.[1] The difference between David slaying Goliath and Davids failing with Bathsheba was not his strength, his ability, or his statusit was his dependence on God. When David trusted God, giants fell. When David trusted himself, David fell. We Need a True and Better David It was before Davids great sin with Bathsheba that God promised him that through his linage would come another king in 2 Samuel 7:1216; this moment is one of the most breathtaking moments in the entire Old Testament. Before a flawed king of whom God knew would fall terribly. The One David worshiped exclusively announced that the hope promised to Adam and Eve, the covenant repeated to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that would one day burst into reality through one of Davids descendants: When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. (2 Sam. 7:1216) This covenant echoes the very promises God made to Adam and Eve, and later to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a promise given specifically to Judah, and its path can be traced through some of the most unlikely people in Scripture. It moved forward throughTamar, a Canaanite woman surrounded by scandal. It continued throughRahab, another Canaanite woman who married Salmon of Judah and became the mother of Boaz. Boaz then marriedRuth, a Moabite widow, and they had a son named Obed. Obed fathered Jesse, and from Jesse came David. Consider the astonishing depth of God's grace, mercy, and loveHe chooses to accomplish His purposes through people with significant flaws. The covenant God was fulfilling through them is what theologians refer to as an unconditional covenanta promise not reliant on human strength, virtue, or even obedience, but founded solely on the perfect will of our good and holy God![2] Think about the weight of the promise made to David: Aforever throne that will never be compromised by sin.Aforever kingdom that will never be overcome by evil.Aforever King whose righteousness will never need improvement. Israel didnt just need a brave king, or a talented king, or even a repentant kingIsrael, and indeed the entire world, needed a perfect King. A King who would never fail, never fall, never waiver, and never walk away from God the way David did on the roof that night. And here is where the grace of God overwhelms:God chose to fulfill His forever covenant promise through the very place of Davids greatest failure. Bathshebathe woman David exploited, the woman whose husband he murdered, the woman whose story began with sinis the very woman God folded into the line of redemption. Bathsheba bore David five sons; the first was conceived through their affair and was taken from them by God through death. Of the other four sons listed in Scripture, was Solomon and the last child listed was Nathan. ThroughSolomon, the royal line flowed to Joseph, throughNathan, the line flowed to Mary. And standing at the end of both genealogies is the One the prophets longed forJesus, the Son of David. Jesus is the King that David could never be. He is the flawless Son whom God promised.He is the Shepherd-King of Ezekiel 37 who gathers the broken, restores the wandering, and rules with justice and compassion. He is the One who never surrendered to temptation, never hid His sin, never needed to be confronted by a prophetbecause He lived in perfect dependence on the Father every moment of His earthly life. Every one of us knows what it is to stand in front of a Goliathan addiction, a fear, a bitterness, a woundand feel small. And every one of us knows what it is to stand on the roof like David, spiritually lazy, drifting, self-confident, and one decision away from disaster. But Gods purpose was never for David to be the hero of IsraelDavid was the signpost, not the destination. His victories pointed to the kind of dependence God wants from us, and his failures pointed to the kind of Savior we desperately need. The remarkable message of the gospel isnt simply that God offers us another chance, but that He provides us with a greater Kinga true and better David. This King never surrendered to temptation, never acted out of pride, and never misused His power for harm. Instead of taking anothers life to hide His wrongdoing, He willingly gave His own life to atone for ours. Jesus, as the Son of David, is the true and better Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Boaz, and David. He is the King David could never be. And to the weary and the woundedto the Davids who have fallen, and to the Bathshebas whose stories have been marked by anothers sinHe speaks: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matt. 11:2830). [1] David is remembered as a great king, but also as a deeply flawed man. And yet, Scripture still calls hima man after My heart(Acts 13:22). [2] Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you wrongdoers. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, My plan will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure... (Isa. 46:8-10).
Garth Heckman The David Alliance TDAgiantSlayer@Gmail.com Keep me running Keep me moving Keep me always on the go David is on the run… 1 Sam. 22 it is his throne but King Saul is after him. Hiding in the cave of Adullum… Its been almost 7-15 years between being anointed king by Samuel and fighting Goliath. He builds 400 mighty men. - He attracts the unattractive He had 3, 30, 400 and 600 distress, in debt, or simply discontented with life under Saul's increasingly paranoid rule. These were societal rejects—failures by worldly standards—from diverse backgrounds, including obscure rural towns like Bethlehem and Tekoa, various Israelite tribes, and even foreigners like Uriah the Hittite. What drew them wasn't wealth, power, or promises of glory, but David's personal magnetism as a God-anointed leader (1 Samuel 16:13) who embodied hope amid rejection. David didn't recruit the strong; He attracted the poor, broken, betrayed etc… he embraced the weak, transforming societal discards into a cohesive band through shared exile and purpose. Men were tired of King Sauls agenda of seeking the life of David over protecting the Kingdom. As a warrior-poet, he painted a vision of victory over Saul's enemies, appealing to men's sense of adventure and redemption. **But what attracted them would not keep them if David would not have been a man after Gods own heart!
It's Complicated SE2 WK5 - David the Parent. In this conversation, pastors Andreas Beccai, David Ferguson, and Paddy McCoy discuss the complexities of moral culpability and the consequences of sin, particularly in the context of the story of David and his sin with Bathsheba and her husband, Uriah the Hittite. They also look forward to see how the sins of the father, David, were past on to the children, and what happened next. God forgives, completely, but consequences still follow.
The Egyptian-Hittite Treaty. In regnal year 21 (c.1272 BCE), Ramesses II announced a treaty with Hattusili III. The two kings united in "peace and brotherhood, forever," and agreed to a raft of provisions regarding their territories, vassals, rules-of-succession, and more. As the first (surviving) treaty between the two Great Powers, the year 21 agreement is a landmark in the history of diplomacy. We explore the text and its impact... Music: Luke Chaos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Moves and counter-moves. In the aftermath of Kadesh, Muwattalli (King of Hatti) seems to consoldiated hold over Syria. Border territories like Amurru fell to Hittite influence. At home, Ramesses spent at least one year regrouping before launching his reponse. Soon, pharaonic armies were marching into northern Canaan (around Galilee) and east, into Moab (Mwibw). The pharaoh's imperial authority had taken a beating; it was time to assert his strength. The History of Egypt Podcast: Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com. Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast. Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/BHC6MGDBC6SXU. We have merch! Browse our designs at Dashery by TeePublic https://egyptpodcast.dashery.com/ . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What if Genesis 1 wasn't about the origin of matter—but the enthronement of God? And what if “rest” wasn't the end of work, but the beginning of reign? In this episode, Rachel Booth Smith, author of Rest Assured, joins Dru Johnson to explore how the Genesis creation story contrasts with other ancient Near Eastern accounts. With a storyteller's gift and a pastor's heart, Smith explains how comparing biblical cosmogony to Egyptian or Hittite myths can actually strengthen, not weaken, our faith in the text. “Sometimes the campfire would get very upset,” she says, imagining ancient neighbors reacting to Genesis' claim that the sun and moon are just objects—not gods. She also unpacks the significance of Sabbath as sacred reign, not divine nap time. “Rest is like saying sitting down at a throne because everything is operating correctly,” she explains. The seven-day structure wasn't arbitrary—it was holy, “marked out,” signaling both the order of creation and the rhythm of life. Most importantly, Rachel shows how this re-reading of Genesis leads us to trust. “If I can get to the end of a Sabbath and realize you are God and I am not, I feel like that was a win.” For Rachel's book "Rest Assured," head here: https://www.moodypublishers.com/rest-assured/ We are listener supported. Give to the cause here: https://hebraicthought.org/give For more articles: https://thebiblicalmind.org/ Social Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HebraicThought Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hebraicthought Threads: https://www.threads.net/hebraicthought X: https://www.twitter.com/HebraicThought Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hebraicthought.org Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:08 The Genesis of Understanding Creation 03:55 Bridging Ancient and Modern Perspectives 07:08 The Concept of Rest in Creation 10:18 Sabbath: A Rhythm of Work and Rest 13:22 The Nature of God's Power and Authority 16:01 Cultural Contexts and Creation Narratives 19:23 The Role of the Sun and Other Deities 22:07 The Significance of Seven in Creation 25:14 The Uniqueness of Genesis' Creation Account 28:06 The Implications of a Non-Conflict Creation 31:16 The Importance of Trusting God 34:09 Conclusion: Insights from Ancient Near Eastern Literature
The Failure of the Hittite Empire: Plague, Poor Leadership, and Destruction AUTHOR NAME: Eric Cline BOOK TITLE: After 1177 BC, The Survival of Civilizations; 1177 BC, the year civilization collapsed The Hittite Empire failed due to internal decay, including a plague that ravaged the royal family and subsequent poor leadership. Their capital, Hattusa, was attacked and burned, possibly by the Kashka. Although the main empire vanished, rump states like Carchemish in North Syria survived as Neo-Hittites. These resilient trading centers, however, were continuously forced to pay tribute to aggressive Neo-Assyrian kings like Shalmaneser III after battles such as Qarqar in 853 BC.
Delight Your Marriage | Relationship Advice, Christianity, & Sexual Intimacy
How a Farmer Learned to Lead & Love in His Marriage On the outside, Jake looked like a happy-go-lucky farmer. But inside, his marriage was falling apart. Control, years of infertility struggles, alcohol abuse, and pornography created a wall between him and his wife. Even counseling couldn't break through the scar tissue of pain she carried. At one point, she said her willingness to work on the marriage was zero—she was ready to leave. Jake was out of options. Yet, in God's kindness, what seemed like the worst day became the turning point. His confession of addiction cracked open the first door to healing. What a Farmer Learned About Love in Marriage As a man who worked with horses and cattle his whole life, Jake knew how to communicate safety and calm with animals. Yet God showed him—through the story of David, Bathsheba, and Nathan's rebuke—that he wasn't doing the same for his wife. The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.' - 2 Samuel 12:1-10 The revelation was life-changing: God entrusted him with His daughter. Loving her meant creating safety, trust, and gentleness. Jake realized that real leadership wasn't control—it was love. Learned to Lead by First Laying Down Pride When Jake finally joined the program, he discovered what he had been missing for years: a biblically based roadmap for marriage. The forgiveness modules were the breakthrough. He had carried anger for so long that it felt like part of his identity. But through forgiveness, Jake experienced freedom he had never known. Old wounds didn't need apologies to be healed—he released them to God. His wife noticed almost immediately. For the first time in years, she felt safe with him. From Walls to Sanctuary: A Marriage Transformed The changes weren't just in Jake. His home transformed. He stopped reacting in anger—even when a box fell on his head in the garage. His kids froze, waiting for the outburst that never came. That moment opened his eyes to the unsafe environment his rage had created—and the freedom God was now building in its place. His home shifted from a place of survival to a sanctuary of love. He began looking forward to coming home, slipping away with his wife for time together, and seeing joy reflected in his children. Leading with Love in Everyday Life Jake learned to lead as a husband and father, not by demanding respect but by modeling Christlike love. When walking in after a long day, he chose to bring joy instead of frustration. When tension rose, he chose reassurance over arguments. When intimacy came, it was no longer duty—it was connection, passion, and contentment. Jake also says he has never felt so sexually satisfied, not because of more encounters, but because of the depth of love in his marriage. A Legacy of Leadership The transformation didn't stop with Jake and his wife. His children are being raised in a different household than they were 12 weeks earlier. His daughters now see how a husband should love his wife. His son now has a model of godly leadership to follow. Generations are being changed because one farmer decided to learn how to lead with love in his marriage. Final Thoughts Marriage was never meant to be endured—it was designed to be a sanctuary of love, trust, and joy. Jake's story shows that no matter how high the walls are, God can dismantle them brick by brick. True leadership in marriage doesn't come from control but from gentleness, safety, and sacrificial love. And the care that you give in other areas of your life is worth investing your family as well. For any husband who feels stuck, hopeless, or unsure of how to change, remember: you can learn to lead. And when you lead with love, everything changes—your marriage, your family, and your legacy. Blessings, The Delight Your Marriage Team PS - Ready for the next step? Our team of Clarity Advisors are ready to talk with you. Call +1 332-239-2379 or visit delightyourmarriage.com/cc to take the next step of faith in healing your marriage. PPS - Here is what (another) recent grad has to say: I was blindsided and stuck in my own self righteousness. He has wronged me in many ways in the past too but the course allowed me to see my own behaviour too, and I have forgiven him for the past and I feel we can really start afresh, looking at him with new eyes again. I am very hopeful for the future and I enjoy the weekends spending time with my family. Even if we may go through bad patches in the future we now have a framework to use. Nobody told us any of this before.
7/8. Professor Eric Cline's books detail the Hittite Empire's collapse as a societal failure due to poor leadership, a devastating plague (killing the royal family, including Suppiluliuma I), and attacks from enemies like the Kashka. Unlike other major powers, the Hittites were the only "G8" not on a major river system, a factor in their vulnerability during periods of drought. While the main empire vanished, "Neo-Hittite" city-states in northern Syria, such as Carchemish, adapted and survived, often paying tribute to the Neo-Assyrians.
Ramesses, Muwattalli, and the Trojans(?). In June of 1287 BCE, the Great Kings of Hatti and Egypt were on the verge of a major confrontation. Ramesses, marching across Sinai and into Canaan, made careful preparations for his assault on Kadesh. Alas, even the best-planned campaign could not be hidden from a watchful enemy. In Hatti, Muwattalli II sent calls to his vassals, summoning them to fight. The Hittite army, and its allies, is a remarkably well-documented force... For the Kikkuli Text of horse training, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikkuli and https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:9782188. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fr. Mike breaks down David's tragic downfall as he commits adultery with Bathsheba and kills her husband, Uriah the Hittite. We learn that David's road to grave sin began with small acts of disobedience and selfishness. Today's readings are 2 Samuel 11, 1 Chronicles 14-15, and Psalm 32. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.