Podcasts about jeroboam ii

“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3) Amos was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II (son of Joash), who ruled the northern 10 tribes of Israel from 825 to 784 BC (

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 14:23-29 Jeroboam II was the 14th king of the northern kingdom of Israel.  He had a long reign of 41 years and enjoyed security, and even the expansion of his kingdom.  It was the most prosperous time in the history of the northern kingdom.  2 Kings 14;23-29 tell us of the material success of Jeroboam II, while Amos and Hosea … prophets contemporary with him … tell us of the spiritual corruption of Israel during this time. There was great expansion of territory under the rule of Jeroboam II (2 Kgs 14;25) and God saved the Israelites from its enemies (2 Kgs 14:26,27), but this was a display of divine grace because Jeroboam II "did what was evil in the sight of the LORD" (2 Kgs 14:24). But beneath the surface of material success was a dark spiritual reality.  The land was filled with lying, murder, theft, adultery, and oppression of the poor (Hos 4:1,2; Amos 4:1).  The people had forgotten God's law (Hos 4:6) … and His omniscience and judgment (Hos 7:2) … and His steadfast love (Hos 11:1-4).  Spiritually speaking, they were 'feeding on the wind.'  When we turn away from God, we replace Him with water that does not satisfy and bread that does not nourish.  In His mercy God beckons to us "Listen diligently to me, and eat with is good" (Isa 55:2).

Sermon Title: Jonah, pt 1–Why would someone run from God? Scripture: Jon. 1:1-3, Matt. 5:43-48 & 6:14-15, 2 Cor. 11:23-27, Lu 14:26-30, 2 Ki. 14:23-25, Am. 6:14 Main Points: 1. Forgiveness is Hard: Jonah despised the idea that God wanted to show mercy to Israel's enemies. An attitude of unforgiveness drives us from God. We run from mercy. 2. The Process is Hard: Jonah would have to travel 500 mi to preach to Nineveh. Sometimes we think the things God is asking are too much. So, we back away from His plans. 3. God Doesn't Make Sense: God tells Jonah to witness to the enemy that Amos says is going to destroy Israel! When God's plan doesn't make sense, we run. Logic and faith are not equals. Notes: Jonah was alive in the 700's B.C. He lived and prophesied at the same time as Amos, during the reign of King Jeroboam II. There is wickedness in the Kingdom of Israel. Jonah prophesied that God would still bless Israel, while Amos prophesied punishment. Jonah is speaking of victory over Assyria while Amos is predicting punishment from God at the hand of Assyria. They seem to be contrasting and wrong. Jonah is speaking of God's blessing through obedience, which Jeroboam II and Israel did not choose, and Amos is giving God's warning of punishment if Israel does not turn from wickedness. When Israel does not turn, it is Amos' prophecy that comes true and that directly overturns the prophecy given by Jonah. At the same time, Jonah is being asked to go and witness to this enemy so they can repent. It's a wild series of events that must be understood in context for Jonah's response to make more sense.

Daily Dose of Hope November 3, 2024 Day 1 of Week 32   Scripture:  Hosea 1-3; Matthew 16   Welcome back, everyone, to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Bible reading plan.    Today, we begin the book of Hosea.  Hosea was a prophet in the Northern Kingdom, probably active from about 750-721BC, when Jeroboam II was king of Israel until the time that the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom. Like Amos, Hosea is considered a minor prophet – not because his message was less important, but simply because his book is shorter than the major prophets (such as Isaiah and Jeremiah).  There are twelve minor prophets, including Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.   Similar to Amos, things were going well for the people of Israel during Hosea's time and they didn't want to hear any kind of message of warning. Yet, this was a time in which the people were incredibly rebellious against God. They broke the 10 commandments, they oppressed the poor, and they worshiped other gods. They still worshiped Yahweh, they still went through the motions of worshiping in the temple, making sacrifices, and looking outwardly religious (theme in most of these minor prophet books) but they were hypocrites. They pretended to be faithful to Yahweh but their hearts were far from God.   Hosea is the longest minor prophet book in the Old Testament and this book is a collection of his sermons and prophecies over the course of 25 years serving God obediently. Fair warning: It's mainly in the form of poetry and it's filled with metaphors. I'll be honest, it's kind of a weird book. In the first few chapters (what we read for today), God tells Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer who is a prostitute. Hosea's life becomes what we might call a living parable. They have three kids together and Gomer cheats on Hosea repeatedly. When she does, God tells Hosea to go find her and seek reconciliation. This whole dysfunctional marriage is intended to be a metaphor for how Israel is behaving. God is the faithful husband and Israel is behaving like Gomer, the wife who continues to betray her spouse. The people of Israel continue to betray God over and over again but he will continue to seek them, continue to try to draw them back to him.   Our New Testament passage for today is Matthew 16.  Jesus has taken his disciples on a retreat of sorts, and they have traveled away from Judea, further north into Gentile territory.  It could be to get away from the crowds or so they can speak more freely.  But Caesarea Philippi is pretty far north in Israel.  It was a quiet place at the headwaters of the Jordan River but also a place filled with idol worship and signs of Roman occupation everywhere.  And it's here that Jesus decides he is going to settle his identity with these men.  He asks each of them, “Who do people say I am?”    Over the two years that the disciples had been with Jesus, people had all kinds of thoughts about who Jesus was.  Some thought he was the precursor to the Messiah, others (like King Herod) thought he was John the Baptist reincarnated, and others thought he might be one of the prophets returned.  But Jesus presses them, “Who do you say I am?”  Now, it doesn't matter what the others say – who is it you say I am?    That's really the question for all of us, isn't it?  It doesn't matter who others say Jesus is.  If I were to do a man on the street interview right now, I'm sure I'd get all kinds of answers to who is Jesus?  A teacher, a healer, a crazy person, Son of God, the Savior.  But it doesn't matter what others say, what matters is what you believe and what you say about Jesus.  And that's what Jesus is asking his disciples.  What do you say about me?  What are you willing to confess about me?  This was really a rubber meets the road question for them, as it is for us.  What are you willing to confess about me, to others, publicly?   Jesus asked all of them but it was Peter who spoke up.  And he says, “You are the Messiah, Son of the Living God.”  The word Messiah means anointed one or God's anointed.  And the term “Messiah” was the Hebrew word for God's anointed, the term “Christ” was the Greek word for it.  Messiah and Christ mean the same thing, just in different languages.  I know this might come as a surprise to some of us but Christ is not Jesus' last name.  It is a title.  And Peter is giving Jesus this title, you are the Messiah, the anointed one.   In ancient Israel, when someone was given a position of authority, oil was poured on his head to signify his being set apart for God's service. I Samuel 10:1 is an example, Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it on Saul's head and kissed him, saying, "Has not the Lord anointed you ruler over his inheritance?  Kings, priests, and prophets were anointed in this way. Anointing was a symbolic act to indicate God's choosing.  Although the literal meaning of anointed refers to the application of oil, it can also refer to being chosen or set apart by God, even if oil is not literally used.  So, Peter is saying you are the anointed one, chosen, set apart by God, the Messiah.   But there is more to this.  Throughout the Old Testament, there are many, many verses that point to the Messiah delivering the Hebrew people from captivity, from pagan kings.  The Jews expected the Messiah to deliver them from Roman occupation via military might.  That was the expectation.  The Christ, the Messiah is the one who God sent to deliver his people, to make things right for them – the one they had been waiting for hundreds of years.  Thus, when Peter says that Jesus is the Messiah, he probably doesn't quite understand how Jesus is going to deliver them.  No one really got it that the Messiah would be the one to deliver people, not from the Roman occupiers, but from their own sin.    Peter says that Jesus is Messiah but then he says that Jesus is the Son of the living God.  Just to clarify something, in the Old Testament, there are a number of men, particularly prophets, who are called a son of God.  That was not an uncommon title for a Godly man.  But that is not what Peter is saying, Peter says that Jesus is THE son of the living God.    Let's clarify something here because I think we can get confused - Jesus is not God's Son in the sense of a human father and a son. God did not get married and have a son. God did not mate with Mary and, together with her, produce a son. Jesus is God's Son in the sense that He is GOD in human form – John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  Keep in mind, the term “Word” is referring to Jesus.  Jesus was there in the beginning.  Jesus was there with God in the beginning.  Jesus was there with God and Jesus is God.  Brain cramping yet?  Let's read v. 14, The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  So, the “Word”, Jesus, became human and lived among us.  Of course, that is the Christmas story, Jesus became a human being, was born to a woman named Mary, who became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.  When the angel comes to Mary in Luke and explains the situation, he tells her that this holy one you will give birth to will be called the Son of God.   This clearly separates Jesus from the prophets. He is not a son of God but the Son of the living God.  Jesus walks with a very distinct, specific authority.  I mean, look at his miracles.  He heals people with a word or touch.  He rebukes a storm and it listens to him.  He could read people's minds.  He raises Lazurus from the dead.  He doesn't argue with demons.  Think about it – when Jesus encounters a demon, they tremble.  Colossians 1, The son is the image of the invisible God…  He walks in a distinct, divine authority because he is the Son of the living God – the second person of the Godhead.    Blessings, Pastor Vicki  

11/3/2024 Amos 9:13-15 Israel Forever! Intro: The Book of Amos was likely written between 760 and 753 B.C. Amos is a shepherd and a fruit picker from the Judean village of Tekoa when God calls him, even though he lacks an education or a priestly background. Amos' mission is directed to his neighbor to the north, Israel. His messages of impending doom and captivity for the nation by the Assyrians in 722 BC because of her sins. His prophecies are very unpopular and unheeded, however, because not since the days of Solomon have times been so good in Israel. Amos' ministry takes place while Jeroboam II reigns over Israel, and Uzziah reigns over Judah. Amos can see that beneath Israel's external prosperity and power, internally the nation is corrupt to the core. The sins for which Amos chastens the people are extensive: neglect of God's Word, idolatry, pagan worship, greed, corrupted leadership, and oppression of the poor. Amos begins by pronouncing a judgment upon all the surrounding nations, then upon his own nation of Judah to the south, and finally the harshest judgment is given to Israel. His visions from God reveal the same emphatic message: judgment is near! But the book ends with God's promise to Amos of future restoration of the remnant. Israel indeed has a glorious future….and they will survived their problems then and they will today all because of God's promises!

Daily Dose of Hope October 29, 2024 Day 3 of Week 31   Scripture:  Amos 1-3; Matthew 13 Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope!  I want to extend a huge thank you to Pastor Roberto who helped with this devotional while I was traveling in Mozambique.  I'm back but still jet-lagged so forgive me if today's post is not polished.  I should mention that our trip to Mozambique was amazing.  Zoe Empowers is the best poverty alleviation model I have ever seen and we witnessed the resilience of young people who will become leaders in their communities.  Most importantly, they walk closely with Jesus and rely on his strength just to get by.  To learn more about Zoe Empowers, be sure to check out their website at zoeempowers.org.  With that, let's move to our Scripture for today.  We start with Amos 1-3.  Amos was an unpopular prophet. He prophecies to the Northern Kingdom in the 8th century when Jeroboam II is king of Israel. This was a time of relative peace and prosperity for the area so the people thought this must mean that they had God's blessing. Things are going pretty well, the upper crust are living the good life and here comes Amos with this message of warning. Financially, the northern kingdom was doing great. The land was producing well. There wasn't any war. When Amos brings this warning of impending destruction, people thought he was crazy. Why did Amo's bring this warning to the people of Israel? Well, because while some people were living quite well and enjoying the bounty of the land, many others were not. The first part of the book of Amos, the prophet is proclaiming judgment against the nations around Israel. You can kind of picture the people cheering him on at this point...But then, it gets personal. In chapter 2, God, through Amos, gives a running list of the sins that Israel had committed. Amos 2:6-8,This is what the LORD says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent. They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. (While some were doing quite well and living a good life, others weren't. In fact, there was gross income inequality. Many people were so poor, they were going into debt to buy small items. In fact, the good religious people were living quite well while many in their community were literally selling themselves into slavery to feed their family or being sold into slavery because they could not pay a debt. Amos is emphasizing the low value placed on human life. The prophet continues in 2:7...They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. (Again, those who are poor and vulnerable are being oppressed. The powerful landowners stepped on the poor by using the courts to twist justice. The poor were literally being treated like dirt. As the book continues, we see this theme woven throughout–those who are religious, those who profess faith in Yahweh, are either actively engaging in this oppression or apathetic to the suffering of those around them. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name. (They misuse female slaves and break covenant with God) The Scripture continues in 2:8, They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. In the house of their God they drink wine taken as fines. (Garments taken on pledge would be clothing or items taken from the poor to pay a debt, the wine also would have been collected on late debts...) All of these accusations had to do with oppressing the weak, the poor, the most vulnerable of society. God is saying that the injustices that the people commit repulse him. Thus, he rejects their worship. What does it mean when God rejects our worship?  More on this tomorrow.    Matthew 13 is our New Testament chapter.  It includes quite a few of Jesus' most famous parables.  I thought today that I would focus on the parable of the wheat and the weeds.  It's powerful and it isn't one we talk about a lot.   In this parable, the owner sows good seed but the enemy comes in the dark of night and sows weeds. The workers are understandably upset and ask the owner if he caused this. This is actually a theodicy question–God, we thought you were good, why did you allow the “weeds” to grow in our lives? As believers, it is okay to question God and ask why the horrible occurred. This theology of protest doesn't demonstrate a lack of faith, but actually is an expression of faith.   Jesus also addresses the source of the weeds–the enemy has spread them. God is not the source of evil–God does not cause evil to occur so that we might grow spiritually or to perpetuate some grander divine plan. Rather, God's enemy is the source of all evil. Matthew 13:39 refers to the devil as God's enemy. Evil (Satan, the devil, whatever term you prefer) is a real force which both inhabits and transcends individuals, families, communities, nations, cultures, and economic structures. Why doesn't the owner in the parable want the workers to pull the weeds? Because in doing so, both the weeds and the wheat would be pulled out (Matthew 13:29). God can't just do away with all evil because, whether we like it or not, we are all are a complex and confusing mix of both good and evil.   Furthermore, this isn't how God deals with the world. Although God has the power to eliminate evil using brute force (the way humans might deal with it), this goes against God's character. God instead acts through the loving and yet “weak” power of the cross. God's answer to evil was sending Jesus Christ, the one who truly understands what it means to suffer and also the only one through which true and complete healing can occur.   But the parable doesn't end there. In Matthew 13:41-43, Jesus explains how in the end, evil will be vanquished; it will not have the final word. Although I firmly believe this is true, it fails to offer much comfort in the midst of counseling someone who is grappling with the death of a baby or a sexual assault in the here and now. What is helpful, however, is to point out how God's work in the world is often difficult to understand (think about the parable of the mustard seed and the yeast). We might not always see God's power at work, but it's there in the smallest and most unusual ways, changing and transforming us, guiding us, and leading us closer to Jesus (power in the form of “loving weakness”). God is waging war on evil, just not necessarily in ways we see or understand. When this seems insufficient, I lean on 2 Cor. 12:9, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness...”   Blessings, Pastor Vicki    

0630 耶羅波安二世 Jeroboam II by 靈修廣播站

Jonah is unique among the books of the prophets, which are typically collections of God's words spoken through a prophet. This book doesn't really focus on the words of a prophet; rather, it's a subversive story about a prophet who resents his God for loving his enemies.The prophet Jonah appears only one other time in the Old Testament, during the reign of one of Israel's worst kings, Jeroboam II. Jonah prophesied in his favor, promising that he would win a battle and regain territory on Israel's northern border (2 Kgs. 14:23-25) Now, it's important to know that the prophet Amos confronted Jeroboam II and that, through him, God specifically reversed Jonah's prophecy (Amos 6:13) You who rejoice in Lodebar, And say, “Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?” 14“For behold, I am going to raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord God of hosts, “And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath To the brook of the Arabah.”). Amos promised that Jeroboam II would lose those same territories because of his sin. So before Jonah's story even begins, we're already a bit suspicious of this character.More on this? Tune in and listen to this sermon. #advancingbyprayer#leadingofthespirit#fruitfulness2024

Hosea/Joel/Amos/Obadiah/Jonah/Micah/Nahum/HabakkukHosea-       Where and when? Northern Kingdom, before the fall to Assyria in 722 BC.-       To Whom? Hosea's prophecies are mostly in the form of poems directed toward the people of the Northern Kingdom. -       What's the big deal? Idolatry. The people were worshipping the Canaanite god, Baal. The relationship of Hosea and Gomer serves as a visual lesson from the content of the prophetic sermons. -       Text to Consider: Hosea 14:1–9Joel-       Where and when? Judah, Unknown – look at Joel 2:20-       To Whom? Inhabitants of the land of Judah-       What's the big deal? Destruction through a vicious army was coming, but Joel called on the people to repent.-       Text to Consider: Joel 2:12–19, 2:28–3:3, 3:11–16Amos-       Where and when? From Tekoa (Judah), but prophesied to Israel Northern Kingdom before the fall to Assyria-       To Whom? Northern Kingdom (Israel)-       What's the Big Deal? Oppression of the poor and needy, Day of the LORD -       Text to Consider: Amos 5:18–24Obadiah-       Where and when? Most likely Judah following exile to Babylon in 587 BC. -       To Whom? Judah, about Edom-       What's the Big Deal? Edom, ancient kinsman of Israel, had taken advantage of Judah during the exile to Babylon (Ezekiel 35, Ps 137:7). Day of the LORD (Obad 15)Jonah-       Where and when? Northern Kingdom of Israel during 700's BC in reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kgs 14:25)-       To Whom? The people of God-       What's the Big Deal? Chance for repentance for all nationsMicah-       Where and when? Judah, c. 742–687 BC.-       To Whom? Israel and Judah (both Northern and Southern Kingdoms)-       What's the Big Deal? Idolatry and covenant unfaithfulness-       Text to Consider: Micah 5:1–5aNahum-       Where and when? Unknown, but Assyria fell to Babylon in 612 BC.   -       To Whom? For the benefit of the people of God about the fall of Assyria (Nineveh) -       What's the Big Deal? Assyria's cruelty returned upon itself because of God's wrathHabakkuk-       Where and when? Before the exile of Judah to Babylon -       To Whom? The people of God concerning that exile-       What's the Big Deal? God was doing a redeeming and purifying work through the Babylonians

​Sunday Sermon by Kevin Jensen — In the stories of three consecutive kings of Israel, God demonstrates his profound compassion by showing grace even to undeserving kings and an undeserving nation. Text: 2 Kings 13 and 14:23-29

Israel's 13th ruler, Jeroboam II, reigned longer (41 years) and over more land than any other king of Israel.

The Minor Prophets - Hosea #1Redeemed from slavery.Text. Hosea chapters 1-3.We will look at Hosea in two surveys – even though it is 14 chapters long. That's because it neatly falls into two separate sections. Chapter One-Three is a COVENANT LOVE STORY. Chapter Four-Fourteen is a COVENANT LAWSUIT. (Or maybe three separate court cases!) The word Hosea Hosea 1:1. simply means ‘salvation' – In a limited way, Hosea is a sign – to point us to Jesus. Hosea worked in the Northern Kingdom, Israel, around the same time as Amos, – (during the reign of Jeroboam II.) but Hosea was from Israel. Hosea had a rather strange and unusual private and family life, so let's do some research into his personal circumstances…Read the NOTES HERE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A herdsman of Tekoa, who God called to be a prophet during the days of King Uzziah of Judah, and Jeroboam II of Samaria.

329 Sobrevolando la Biblia - 2 Reyes 14 Reinado de Amasías sobre Judá (Sur). Empezó bien pero después de una gran victoria militar tuvo una gran derrota espiritual y murió asesinado. Comienza el reinado de su hijo Azarías (Uzías). Reinado de Jeroboam II sobre Israel (Norte); políticamente bueno pero espiritualmente malo. Se menciona a Jonás.  https://revistabalsamo.com/2024/04/05/abril-2024/    

Worldly prosperity is not necessarily a sign of God's commendation- Jeroboam II led a renaissance of sorts as he reigned during the -late golden era- of Israel with borders extended to the those of the days of Solomon. Yet this was not because of the king but despite him. It was God's grace and compassion that once again -saved- Israel only to have the kings and nation utterly despise His grace. Alas, so do many still today-

Worldly prosperity is not necessarily a sign of God's commendation- Jeroboam II led a renaissance of sorts as he reigned during the -late golden era- of Israel with borders extended to the those of the days of Solomon. Yet this was not because of the king but despite him. It was God's grace and compassion that once again -saved- Israel only to have the kings and nation utterly despise His grace. Alas, so do many still today-

Worldly prosperity is not necessarily a sign of God's commendation! Jeroboam II led a renaissance of sorts as he reigned during the "late golden era" of Israel with borders extended to the those of the days of Solomon. Yet this was not because of the king but despite him. It was God's grace and compassion that once again "saved" Israel only to have the kings and nation utterly despise His grace. Alas, so do many still today!

We continue on a yearlong journey through the story of the Bible, from creation to Christ to consummation, with the book of 2 Kings. 17:7 & 21:15 connect the Exile back to the Exodus. Israel (N) & Judah (S) would be exiled into Assyria & Babylon because they did not cling to the Lord alone, who brought then out of slavery in Egypt. FROM ELIJAH TO ELISHA (CHAPS. 1–8)o Elijah v. King Ahaziah's men (chap. 1)o Elijah taken to heaven & Elisha's double blessing (chap. 2) -Shown in Elisha doing 2x the miracles of ElijahTHE ROAD TO EXILE IN THE NORTH (CHAPS. 9–17)o King Jehu's assassinations & executions (chaps. 9–10)o King Jehu's assassinations & executions (chaps. 9–10)o Jehoahaz > Jehoash/Joash > Jeroboam II > Zechariah > Shallum > Menahem > Pekahiah > Pekah > Hoshea (chaps. 13–17)o The Fall & Exile of Israel (chap. 17)THE ROAD TO EXILE IN THE SOUTH (CHAPS. 18–25) o Hezekiah (chaps.18–20)o Manasseh & Amon (chap. 21)o Josiah (chaps.22–23)o Jehoahaz > Eliakim/Jehoiakim > Jehoiachin > Mattaniah/Zedekiaho The Exile & Plunder of the Temple (chap. 24)o The Destruction of Jerusalem, further Exile & Plunder (chap. 25)o The Strange Ending with Jehoiachin in Babylon

Sunday School: January 28, 2024 Teacher: Pastor Nathan Ruble

01.11.24. Amos is sent to prophesy to Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II. "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lighthouse-church-of-god/message

Jonah 1:1 this verse allows us to find Jonah in 1 Kings 14:23-25. He came from a town in northern Israel on the south coast of the sea of Galilee near Nazareth. He appears to be a part of the  company of prophets surrounding the king of the norther tribes… Jeroboam II. The time frame would be 780 BC.... about 50 years before northern Israel would fall to the Assyrians.Why was Jonah giving Jeroboam II prophecies of victories at the same time Amos and Hosea were dishing out such hard criticism?

The downhill slide of Northern Israel's monarchy continues. Jeroboam II goes down the same bad path as Jeroboam I. The Kings who come after him do no better. Will the downward spiral ever cease? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eatscripture/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eatscripture/support

The downhill slide of Northern Israel's monarchy continues. Jeroboam II goes down the same bad path as Jeroboam I. The Kings who come after him do no better. Will the downward spiral ever cease? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eatscripture/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eatscripture/support

Predicador: Mtro. Francisco Pintos

====================================================SUSCRIBETEhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNpffyr-7_zP1x1lS89ByaQ?sub_confirmation=1==================================================== DEVOCIÓN MATUTINA PARA MENORES 2023“SIGUIENDO LAS HUELLAS”Narrado por: Linda RumrrillDesde: Gran Canaria, EspañaUna cortesía de DR'Ministries y Canaan Seventh-Day Adventist Church02 DE OCTUBRE OSEASDice el Señor: "Yo, el Señor, soy tu Dios desde que estabas en Egipto: No reconozcas como Dios a nadie sino a mí, pues solo yo soy tu salvador"» (Oseas 13: 4).El libro del profeta Oseas es el primero de doce que se conocen como los libros de los profetas menores. «Menores» porque sus profecías son más breves en comparación a las profecías de Isaías, Jeremías y Ezequiel. Oseas significa «salvación». Se considera que era originario del reino del norte, pues su escrito destaca entornos propios del norte y se refiere al rey del Israel como «nuestro rey» (7: 5). Sus mensajes proféticos se extendieron desde el año 755 hasta el 725 a. C. Estos estuvieron dirigidos tanto al reino del norte como al reino del sur; en cuanto al norte, su ministerio coincidió con una época de bonanza material que había sido la marca distintiva del reinado de Jeroboam II; más tal condición de prosperidad marcó el declive espiritual y una corrupción generalizada en los diferentes ámbitos de la vida nacional.Por lo tanto, sus mensajes al reino del norte fueron una continuación de los mensajes que previamente el profeta Amós había compartido. Asimismo, Oseas fue contemporáneo de los profetas Isaías y Miqueas, quienes profetizaron en Judá.El mensaje central del libro es el amor de Dios por el pueblo de su pacto, a pesar de la idolatría. El libro abunda en metáforas e ilustraciones. La principal figura es el matrimonio. Lo destaca como una figura del tipo de relación que Dios quiere tener con sus hijos. Uno estable, que se caracterice por la confianza, cercanía, exclusividad e intimidad, refleja el ideal divino; por otra parte, lo opuesto ejemplifica apartamiento de los caminos de Dios.En el libro, Oseas representa a Dios y su esposa Gomer, que lo abandonó, representa a Israel que desconoció a Dios como el dador de los bienes que poseía. La separación de Gomer de Oseas fue del conocimiento en cada rincón del país. Esa condición sentó la base para que Dios le indicara que buscara a su esposa, la perdonara y restablecieran la relación. Tal situación impactó a muchas personas más de lo que hubieran sido impactadas por muchos sermones.En esencia, Oseas nos recuerda que Dios es amor y podemos volver a él aún después de habernos apartado hasta el sitio más lejano.

Amos 1:1 – 2; 2:4 – 16 NLT This message was given to Amos, a shepherd from the town of Tekoa in Judah. He received this message in visions two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel. 2 This is what he saw and heard: “The Lord's voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem! The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up; the grass on Mount Carmel will wither and die.” Chapter 2:4 – 16 4 This is what the Lord says: “The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They have rejected the instruction of the Lord, refusing to obey his decrees. They have been led astray by the same lies that deceived their ancestors. 5 So I will send down fire on Judah, and all the fortresses of Jerusalem will be destroyed.” 6 This is what the Lord says: “The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sell honorable people for silver and poor people for a pair of sandals. 7 They trample helpless people in the dust and shove the oppressed out of the way. Both father and son sleep with the same woman, corrupting my holy name. 8 At their religious festivals, they lounge in clothing their debtors put up as security. In the house of their gods, they drink wine bought with unjust fines. 9 “But as my people watched, I destroyed the Amorites, though they were as tall as cedars and as strong as oaks. I destroyed the fruit on their branches and dug out their roots. 10 It was I who rescued you from Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years, so you could possess the land of the Amorites. 11 I chose some of your sons to be prophets and others to be Nazirites. Can you deny this, my people of Israel?” asks the Lord. 12 “But you caused the Nazirites to sin by making them drink wine, and you commanded the prophets, ‘Shut up!' 13 “So I will make you groan like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain. 14 Your fastest runners will not get away. The strongest among you will become weak. Even mighty warriors will be unable to save themselves. 15 The archers will not stand their ground. The swiftest runners won't be fast enough to escape. Even those riding horses won't be able to save themselves. 16 On that day the most courageous of your fighting men will drop their weapons and run for their lives,” says the Lord.

Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c14yBKgV7zsEver wondered about the real-life Jonah beyond the Sunday School story of him being swallowed by a big fish? We're peeling back the layers of this extraordinary tale, bringing you face to face with the man himself, an Israelite prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II. We'll dive into the bustling ancient cities of Nineveh, Joppa, and Tartarus, and discuss why we're convinced Jonah's story is more than a fascinating legend - it's a factual account.We also unpick the thread of divine grace, mercy, and love woven into Jonah's narrative. Like Jonah, we often stumble, finding ourselves at odds with God's plan for our lives. Through Jonah's story, we reveal the magnitude of God's mercy, illustrating how He can move mountains to guide us back to His path. We'll tie this in with Jesus' monumental sacrifice on the cross, the ultimate act of divine mercy, offering us eternal life. We'll wrap up by reflecting on our role as God's servants, and how we can share the beacon of hope that is the gospel, with those yet to know Him. Get ready to immerse yourself in an insightful exploration of divine love, mercy, and grace as played out in the life of Jonah.

In the process of relating the events of history to prophecies, let’s ask if we can come to deeper understanding of prophecy and prophets. We need to understand more clearly the historical situation in which the prophets fit: Where is he, when was it, what was going on at the time?We now have an opportunity to put that concept to the test. We come to one of the earliest of the prophets and one that you are very familiar with.First of all let's set the time. We're about 150 years, at this point in time, after the division of the kingdoms between Jeroboam and Rehoboam—when Jeroboam split off the ten northern tribes, and changed the timing of the Holy Days of God. He also changed the worship—the outward form of worship—and he even changed the priesthood. All of these things are pointed out as Jeroboam's sin which he did which caused all Israel to sin.So the time is about 150 years after the division of the kingdoms; and if you took, let's say, the American Revolution in 1776 and moved 150 years forward (just to give the perspective), you would be looking at the year 1926. That would be the length of time that has passed.A king now comes to the throne, another one named Jeroboam; and we will call him Jeroboam II, who will reign for 41 years. That would bring us from 1926 up to the date of 1967. So you’re dealing with a rather lengthy period of time in Israel's history.During this period of time, there are three significant prophets in this man's lifetime who come on the scene in the ten northern tribes. Let’s take a look.

Israel implodes after the death of Jeroboam II, its Second Golden Age empire crumbling into apocalyptic civil war. Under Tiglath-Pileser III, Assyria rises from the ashes to form a revolutionary new world empire. Despite the memorable warnings of the prophet Hosea, Israel's elite is drawn once again into Assyria's orbit.   Ian explains his controversial position that reading the Bible in cover-to-cover order is not a good introduction to the Old Testament canon.  

In this episode, Calvin explains why only Jeroboam II is mentioned in 1:1 while four kings of Judah are named, despite Hosea being a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Calvin then holds Hosea up as an example of courage and fidelity of Scripture.

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic BostonChurch. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston,or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing it is to gather as your people to hear from your Holy Spirit, from your holy scriptures. We thank you, Lord, that you did not leave us in the darkness of our ignorance. Often we have fled from you, from your presence, from your word, from community, and we've done it intentionally, and we've done it in order to further our ignorance. Instead of leading us groping in the darkness, Lord, you send us people, messengers, ambassadors, evangelists, missionaries, Christians, believers, those who spoke the truth with love in a way that compelled our hearts. Lord, if there is anyone who is not yet a believer, a follower of Christ, a child of God today, save them. Today, override their reluctant will, and, Lord, save them from their sins. And for those of us who are your children, Lord, remind us that you have commissioned each one of us to go and make disciples, people of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Bless our time in the holy scriptures today, continue to expand your holy church, Lord. Jesus, you promised that you will build your church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, so continue to expand your kingdom, your church, and take territory from the enemy. I pray all this in Christ's holy name. Amen. We are beginning today a brand new sermon series through the Book of Jonah. We're really excited about it. It's four chapters, four weeks, and then we believe the Lord is leading us to do a deeper study of the life of Joseph, in Genesis 37 through 50. And then that'll take us through the end of the summer. The series title is Reluctant Believer. The title of the sermon is I Fear God, kind of, and that's who Jonah is. He's a rebel. He's not just reluctant or recalcitrant. He's often resentful of God in his ways. It's the only book about a prophet gone rogue. I had a brother approach me after the service and he said, "When I was younger, I scoffed at Jonah, and said, 'What a moron. Why would he run from God?'" And he said, "After 10 years in the faith, I can relate." And I think we all can relate. The other reason why we chose this book is because as we studied through the Book of Romans, we saw that the gospel, it's not just new news, like new news. No, the gospel was grounded in Old Testament, Hebrew scriptures. The Apostle Paul constantly quotes from the salter and the prophets to show us this was the plan from the very beginning. Romans 1:16, "For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the good news for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." The gospel is for everyone. This isn't new. This was the plan from the very beginning, God's family has room for everyone. This is the message at the heart of the Book of Jonah that God's compassion extends to the most wicked, even to the Gentiles, even to us. That nothing can thwart God's purpose to save sinners. And that purpose is not limited to any one group. The Gentiles, or the nations, we're always in the heart of God. He longs for people of all nations to come and to pray to him. The Jewish people were blessed with possession of the scriptures. They were told by God to bring this message that every person can be reconciled with Yahweh, to bring this light to the Gentiles. But they failed miserably as missionaries to the nations, as we'll see with Jonah, mostly because they started taking God's grace for granted. "Well, of course God loves us. We are the chosen people, of course." And we as Christians, we have to fight that tendency as well. Paul and the other apostles had to be taught, this is surprising, that God had always included the Gentiles in the number of his elect children. And that for they not all Israel, who are of Israel, Paul writes. So Jonah was the first Jewish missionary to a Gentile nation. He's called one of the 12 minor prophets. Minor, not because lesser in importance, but because of what they wrote was just shorter. Jonah was only four chapters, compared to Isaiah 66, Jeremiah 52, Ezekiel 48 chapters. The book is all about God's love. It's not about Jonah, it's about God. It's about God's pursuit of rebels. It's about God helping us overcome our pride, showing us our sin, exposing our self-righteousness and leading us to repentance by giving us the gift of grace. And then we see that God is a missionary God. God longs to save people from all nations. And ultimately, this book is all about the gospel that God's love, the Lord, Yahweh is a God of boundless compassion, not just for us, Christians, or in the story Jonah, the Israelites, but also for them, the pagan sailors, the Ninevites. And we have to keep a guard of our own hearts and the culture of our church to make sure that we continue to be welcoming to absolutely anyone and everyone. It's not us and them. It's not, "We are Christians because we're better." No, no, we're Christians because God saved us. God superimposed his will upon our will. He regenerated us. And if there's hope for us, even us, there's hope for absolutely everyone. This is the message of the Book of Jonah. So today we're in Jonah 1:1-17. Would you look at the text with me? Now, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of amortized saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going down to Tarshish. So he paid the fair, went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship and to the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone into the inner part of the ship and had laid down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper. Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us that we may not perish." And they said to one another, "Come let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. They said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country and of what people are you?" And he said to them, "I'm a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the city in the dry land." Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "what is this that you have done!" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. And they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore, they called out to the Lord, "Oh Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, oh Lord, have done as it pleased you." So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. This is the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and infallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Is it a fish or a whale? Let's start with a really important questions. According to our graphic, that looks like a whale, looks like a whale in the graphic. I don't know. The Hebrew says fish, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Billy Graham said, "If you believe that in the beginning God created the world," and he's like, "even if it said Jonah ate the fish, I'd still believe it." So that doesn't matter. What matters is that God is sovereign. There are many lessons to learn from this text. Three points to frame up our time. First, the compassionate commandment of God. Second, the stiff-necked rebellion of a religious man, and the relentless pursuit by the hound of heaven. First, the compassionate commandment of God. God comes to Jonah and says verse one, now the Lord, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." Well, first of all, you got to pause and say what an honor. What a great honor that God's word would come to you, and that God would so be gracious to you to give you a job, to give you a calling. A prophet being called by God to journey to Nineveh to deliver this message. This is an extraordinary phenomenon. Prophetic Oracles against nations were commonplace, but they were spoken in the prophets native land for his fellow nationals. So if we follow the pattern of the other prophets, it would be word of Lord comes to Jonah. Jonah get up in front of the Israelites, and say, "The people in Nineveh, they're terrible." And obviously, everyone in Israel is like, "Yeah, we agree." That's not the mission. Here he is given the mission and he's selected for a role to bring a word of judgment upon the people, kind of like the angels were sent as agents of divine destruction against Sodom in Genesis 19. Jonah, what do we know about him? He was a contemporary of Elijah, most likely he was one of the sons of the prophets of Elijah referring to Elijah's school. Elijah was a man and Saint john tells us that, "Elijah was a man." Elijah, one of the greatest prophets. And in the same way that Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, we can pause here and say, you know what? Before we start knocking Jonah, "You should have known better as a great man of God." He's still a dude. He's still a guy. The fact that these prophets were given a divine commission and divine inspiration did not make them not human. They still had a temper and they still had their own character and their own flaws, and the prophetic call was something apart from and altogether independent of their intellect or even their will. So what do we know about Jonah as the man? Well, the Hebrew name for Jonah means dove, which is nice. And if you go the allegorical route, you can infuse lots of meaning here, dove and the New Testament is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Jonah, like the Holy Spirit brings revival to Nineveh. But what's fascinating is that Jonah is more like a hawk than a dove. He's not a dove at all. He's not happy about this mission. He's not happy about being a man of God. He's not happy about having to preach the gospel. He's not happy about people getting converted. But God can use the personality of even a stubborn person or a strong-willed person, like Jonah or Peter or Sampson or Paul. But first, God needs to break a man before he uses a man. He has to teach him, or a woman, obedience before they're used in service. The other thing I want to point out here is that God has been incredibly compassionate to Jonah. Jonah grew up in a believing family. His father was a believer, follower of the Lord, and Jonah has given the task of being a prophet, and he's given grace to live in a time where the people of God deserved judgment. 2 Kings 14:25 sets Jonah in the reign of eighth century BC King Jeroboam II. Well, Jeroboam II, he was a sinner. He did not do what God wanted him to do, and yet God, because of his grace on these people, on Jonah, he allowed the kingdom to expand. So 2 Kings 14:25 about Jeroboam II, he restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he had spoke by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. So Jonah had experienced God's grace firsthand. He saw that God can restore even a kingdom for his people, because of God's great compassion. His compassion overrides the waywardness of the people. So Jonah has been given grace, and it's expected that Jonah who has received grace is going to now share that grace with the people of Nineveh. He did not want to do that. Why? Because Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire, the sworn enemies of Israel. Nineveh was found in east of, today, Syria, northern part of Iraq. It's on the east side of the Tigress River. Even today, Jonah's association with that place is well known. There's a Muslim shrine there to the prophet Yunus or Jonah. And this is the last capital of the Assyrian Empire. From excavations, we know it was a grand city, had famous hanging gardens, dams, parks, a 50-mile aqueduct, great roads, a double wall protecting the city. The wall was world renowned, greater than Babylon. The wall was a 100 feet high, so broad that three wagons might be driven on it at the same time. The walls were fortified with 1500 towers at proper distances. Each rising 200 feet in height, rendering the city seemingly impregnable. No one can touch us, we're fortified. The city was also wealthy. It was the center of commerce between the East and the West. And the wickedness of Nineveh kept pace with its commercial importance and external greatness. Why Nineveh? Why Nineveh? Well, God chose Nineveh, but also we see that God often uses this same method to reach a people. This is the same way the St. Paul reached the Roman Empire. He picked city centers, urban city centers, places of influence, places where ideologies were formed and from which they were shipped. And this is where he wanted to plant the gospel. So you see the New Testament, you see all the epistles and the epistles are usually written to city centers, churches in city center, the epistles to the Romans, you got Rome, Ephesus, Thessalonica, et cetera. So in a way, this city, Nineveh, was a city set on a hill, unrivaled in splendor, but also an influence. Something that happened here would be heard about everywhere. So if the gospel, if the message of mercy, that God is a loving God, a merciful God, that our evil has come up before Him, but if we repent, He will relent of sending the wrath that we deserve. God is saying, "Jonah, go plant the gospel in the heart of your enemy's greatest city." That's what He's doing. Obviously, the parallels to what we're doing here in Boston are very clear. The reason why we came here, the reason why we're working so hard to establish this church in this city, is because Boston, pound for pound, is the most influential city in the world. Historically speaking, between the last three, four, five decades, look at the influence of this city upon the world. This is an ideology center of the world. People come here, their minds are filled with ideology, and the export the ideologies elsewhere. What is God telling us? He's saying, plant the gospel where you are. Plant the gospel in the heart of your enemy's greatest city. Plant the gospel in the heart of your enemies. This is how the Lord operates. And what's the job that Jonah is given? He says, "Call out against the city, for their evil has come up before me." None of us described as a great city, great in population, great in resources, great in the enormity of its crimes. Later on in chapter four at the end it says that there are 120,000 people that know neither left or from their right. Most likely it's talking about children. So if you say that children are one fifth of a population, you're talking about maybe 600,000 people in population, maybe upwards of a million. Incredibly, incredibly powerful, but also sinful. People who are committing acts of evil against God, heaven daring iniquities. And we're reminded from the very beginning that that God is holy. And before Jonah brings a message of forgiveness, which he didn't want to bring, he does bring a message of judgment. That evil, our evil, the Ninevites personal evil, their evil has come up before the Lord. We're reminded that God is holy. There are things that you and I get used to, but God as our holy creator never will never get used to, He's revolted by. Idolatry and lying and cheating and stealing and hatred, adultery, murder things we get accustomed to. Things we write off as weakness, God deems wickedness. He does use the word evil. So point number one, well, I said that God is given a message of compassion to Jonah. Well, where's the compassion in going to a people and calling out their evils? Where's the compassion there? Well, friend, that's the most compassionate thing you can do. The absolute most... If we believe that God is truly holy, and if we believe that one transgression against his commandment is enough to render us guilty for eternity, and unless we repent of our sin and turn to Christ, we will spend eternity in hell, and internal damnation. If you really believe that, the absolute most compassionate thing that I can do is to tell you the truth that God can do. This is the most compassionate thing. That there is evil that you have committed that has come up before the Lord. We need to know this and we need to respond to this mission. Realize the gravitas of the situation that we stand condemned before a holy God. So what does God do in his love? He sends a messenger who will bring this message. And this is a good reminder that our salvation does not begin with ourselves. How did you come to faith? And by the way, this is a great practice in your community group. Maybe this week share a little bit, maybe one to two people about how you came to faith. And specifically about whom did God send into your life to nudge you over? Whom did God send to nudge you over? He sends a lot of people to prepare us, and I was kind of like this. I grew up in a Christian family. I went to Christian camp. My dad would be like, "Yeah, believe in Jesus." And I was like, "Yeah, but you're my dad." And then one time I went to this, randomly, this conference, I heard this guy speak. He was a Slavic immigrant that grew up here, was educated here, spoke Russian fluently, spoke English fluently. What's dead serious about God, did not take himself seriously at all. So he cracked jokes, and I was nine and I liked that. And he just explained the gospel. He was like, "Yeah, you're a sinner, you're going to hell." I was like, "Yeah, that's true." And he's like, "Just trust in Jesus." And I was like, "That's all he takes." He's like, "Yeah." And I was like, "All right," so I repented my sins. I trusted in Jesus. He didn't say anything that was new or novel or different, but for some reason the Holy Spirit took his words and just nudged me over the edge. So God, this is how He operates. Did God bring someone to preach the gospel to you, to explain the gospel to you? Praise God for those people, but also understand that it wasn't them. Before they came and they spoke this message to you, God moved their hearts. God filled their hearts with compassion, and God moved their will to speak to you. So friends, also a reminder that you perhaps are that person for someone. You are that person for someone. There are people in your life perhaps that are ready. You just need to nudge them over the edge. Continue speaking the truth. Continue speaking it in love. Point number two is a stiff-necked rebellion of a religious person. Tarshish got all my S's messed up. Jonah 1:3, but Jonah rose to fleet to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fair and went down into it, to go with them at Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. What's fascinating, first of all, whenever God tells you something or tells someone something, if the next word is, "But Jonah," the story isn't going well. This is only verse number three. Come on, we're just getting started, so that's... The other thing, I call the guy stiff-necked because Tarshish is literally the opposite direction of Nineveh. He literally went to the ship station and he is like, "Where is diametrically opposed to this place? I want to go there." And that's why I call him stiff-necked. Stiff-necked is you know exactly what God's will is, but you're doing the opposite. I use that phrase because in the Old Testament, that's how God describes the people of Israel, stiff-necked. Over Christmas break, I went shark hunting. It's just a cool way of saying I went fishing for sharks, but I went shark hunting and I caught a bunch of sharks. They were epic. They were massive. They were so big, they almost ate me. No, they were tiny. They were so small. And so you reel it up, and then like you got to grab this thing by the neck to take the hook out. My goodness, I've never felt a more powerful neck on a tiny little creature, and I've got children, so that's why that's a big deal. He's stiff, "No, I'm not going. I'm going the opposite direction." Literally, he goes, trying to get away from God away from the presence of the Lord. You see this phrase over and over, away from the presence of the Lord. It sounds ludicrous. You can't get away from the presence of the Lord. So what is happening in your mind, Jonah? Well, first of all, you've got to ask and say, who's running? Well, this is a prophet. This is a religious man. This is a man of God, but for some reason, something happened where there is just a major gap between his relationship with God and his religion. In some ways, his religion became more important than his relationship with God and his word. It was his religion that prevented him from obeying God, because his religion taught him, he thought, and that was actually a man-made interpretation. No, no, no, no, no, love your enemy? No, no, no, you got to hate your enemy. Hate your enemy. Despise your enemy. That's your sworn enemy. That's who the Assyrians were. That's who Ninevites were. If your religion friend prevents you from loving your enemy, then you are not a child of God, because God loved us when we were yet enemies. God loves His enemies. He loved His enemies so much that he gave his son up for us. Lesson, you can be religious and sitting at the same time, and Jonah was running away from the revelation of God. He believed that God only spoke to his prophets in Israel. He thought, "If I get out of Israel, I get out of the confines of God's presence." But what we see here more than anything else is that Jonah gives us a definition of sin. Sin isn't just transgressing a commandment, it's transgressing the will of God. There are sins of co-mission, when we break a commandment we have committed a sin. But there are also sins of omission, where if you know the good that you ought to do, the good that God has called you to do, and you do not do it, you've disobeyed God in the same way as if someone transgressed the law. So what is sin? It's disobeying the will of God. And if that's the definition of sin, my goodness, everyone's guilty, and that's the point from the very beginning. The wicked Ninevites are as guilty as Jonah, the prophet. The pagan sailors, who at the end of this chapter bring sacrifice to the Lord, they are in trepidation, trembling, fear of God. They're making vows worshiping God, because they understood that they also were sinners. A definitive word comes from God. When Jonah chooses to disobey, he chooses to base his understanding of reality on religion, on nationalism, ethnicity, tradition, et cetera. So he runs from God. He isn't running from the spacial presence of God as much as he's running from the relational presence of God. Do you know that feeling, when you know you're in sin? We know it. It's like the Bible becomes kryptonite. It's just like a magnet, it's pushed away from you, the Bible is. Christians, no, all of their phone numbers blocked. Blocked, you're not reaching. First thing you do, you drop out of community or drop out of church, you drop out of... What are you doing? You know that when you're with the people of God, you feel the presence of God. You know when you're a holy scripture, you feel the presence of God. So when you know when you're in sin, you're stiff-necked and you're like, "I want to get away from the presence of God," because at that moment, the presence of God is not comfortable. The presence of God is convicting. It's a fool's errand to run from the spirit of God. He's everywhere. Psalm 139:7-12, where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol,, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. It was not that God was not everywhere present, but that there were consecrated places that represented the presence of God, and he wanted to get away. Obviously, it was silly, but we've all been in situations like this. Where you know the Lord has brought you in a situation, perhaps a relationship, and he's like, "So you got to stay here," or in a church community, sins been exposed, "stay here, work through it." Sometimes we run like Jonah. Perhaps God has a particular call on your life. Are you fleeing it? Tarshish was a city on the coast of Spain. So they're headed there. And we see in the language, it just describes this dissension that's happening with Jonah. He arose to flee. He goes down to Joppa. He found a ship, pays the fair, went down into it, down, down, down. Trying to flee from the presence of Lord always brings you down. Why did Jonah run? Well, he tells us in chapter four, the thought is he's afraid. Assyrians, they're going to kill him. That's what he's afraid of. Well, I don't think that's the theory because for a number of reasons. First of all, the guy's suicidal. Four times he's like, "Just kill me. Just kill me. I don't want to do anything. I don't want to be here. Lord, just kill me." And God's like, "Nope. Nope. Nope." He also does tell us, he's like, "Lord, I knew what would happen if I preached to the Ninevites." This is Jonah 4:1-4, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. He preaches to the gospel one time. He goes through a stroll. He is like, "You're all going to die. You're all going to die." That's like the dream sermon, man. I would love to do that. Just walk the streets to Boston, "Everyone's going to die!" But the thing is, I got to keep living here. Jonah gets to leave. So he preached the gospel. Everyone gets saved, and he's bummed about it. He's so mad. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, "Oh, Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore, now, oh, Lord, please take my life from me, for it's better for me to die than to live." And the Lord said, "Do you do well to do anger?" He was afraid not that the Ninevites would not repent, no, he was afraid that they would repent. That's how much he hated them. He's like, "God, I would rather die than spend eternity with these losers." That's the sentiment in his heart. So God sends Jonah to preach to the Gentiles, even though Jonah despises them. This would be like Yahweh sending a patriotic South Korean evangelist into North Korea to preach to Kim Jong Un, same situation. And so Jonah is representative of his people, as the elder brother in Luke 15 is representative of the Pharisees. It's like Jesus spending time with tax collectors and sinners. Similar to the parable of the unforgiving servant who's forgiven a huge sum only to deny forgiveness to a colleague over trifling debt. Jonah too is a sinner saved by divine grace who wants to do everything possible to not allow pagan sinners to be the same recipients of the same grace. We're all like Jonah in many ways desiring justice for others, but grace for ourselves. "Yeah, I don't deserve it, but that person deserves it even less than I do." This is the sinful, self-righteousness in Jonah. So what happens? Well, point three, the relentless pursuit by the hound of heaven. And I get this phrase from CS Lewis who talks about God like that. He said the night of his conversion, he was in his dorm room on his knees. He felt the presence of God really heavy in the room, didn't want to repent. He's like, "I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it." And then finally submits to the Lord. And he said, "That night I was the most reluctant and despondent convert in all of England." Like, "Yeah, I'll believe in you, but I'm not happy about it." That's the same situation with Jonah. Verse four, but the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so the ship threatened to break up. Who sends the storm? God sends a storm. God sends a storm because Jonah needed a storm. And God at times uses pain to get our attention. It's a means of grace. In storms, the real you comes out. Storms reveal who you are and your need for God. That we are contingent, we are dependent. As Lewis writes, "Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." This is the function of pain on the lowest level. It's to shattered the illusion that all is okay and to plant the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel's soul. On a higher level, pain shatters another illusion that we are self-sufficient. We are not. Verse five says, the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the seat to lighten it for them. And Jonah had gone into the inner part of the ship and had laid down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish." So you see the sailors using emergency measures, jettisoning cargo. This is the last grasp at life. And the captain comes in and says, "What do you mean? What do you mean?" I like the King James version, "What meanest thou?" Where it was like, he just doesn't have any. Like, "What are you doing? We're all in the brink of death and you're sleeping here." And Jonah's like, "Yes, that's the point. I'm trying to die." And in storms, we see that people do get religious. All the sailors, they're pagans, and they're like, "We're praying to our god. Do you have a god? Our gods aren't working. Do you have one? Try your god out." And of all the men in the ship, Jonah was the person that should have been awake more than anyone else. Nevertheless, he was asleep, fast asleep. The creaking of the cordage, the dashing of the waves, the howling of the winds, the straining of the timbers, the shouting of the sailors nothing can arouse this guy. He's fastened in the arms of sleep. The Hebrew word here is radam, which means the deepest sleep. The word is used to describe the sleep that God puts on Adam when he takes the rib from him, like anesthesia, deep sleep. Many a preacher commentator said that, "Jonah hears asleep because his conscience is asleep." The great pastor Charles Spurgeon has a great sermon on this. If your conscience is asleep, you should read that sermon. But I don't think that's what's going on here. I don't think he's asleep because of a seared conscience. Later on, because I see that he's very quick to repent. No, I think there's something else going on here. I think this is an anguish of the soul. The Holy Spirit has been convicting him and he's been trying to fall asleep. Just before his crucifixion, Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. And as he prayed, he sweat great drops of blood, and then Jesus found his disciples asleep. Why were they asleep? Luke 22:45 tells us, and when he rose up from prayer and had come to his disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow. Sometimes the response to grief is sleep. I will tell you that rebelling against God is exhausting, and it's exhausting at the soul level. Jonah's retreating from God, from the presence of God. Perhaps God had removed His gracious presence and replaced it with His disciplinary presence. We're not sure. A Jonah 1:7 says, they said to one another, "Come let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. When the trial by lot was resorted to figure out what was going on. I think at that moment the lot falls on Jonah, Jonah felt the arrest of God's hand upon him. It said, "Jonah, you're exposed, sovereignly exposed, what do you do now?" Verse eight, then they said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea in the dry land." Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done!" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Jonah, maybe he doesn't understand, maybe it's cognitive dissonance or something, but even the sailors get it. "You just said you fear the Lord and then you told us that you're running from the presence of God. We're all about to die and you keep telling us that you're a great follower of the Lord." No, no. They're rebuking him. The pagan sailors are rebuking a man of God. God rebukes him, the storm rebuked him, and the pagan sailors rebuked him, because this is not fear of God. Fear of God is to hate evil. Well, it's evil to disobey God. So no, you do not fear God in the moment that you disobey him. You fear something greater. You can't but admire the frankness of Jonas confession of guilt, and he's willing to surrender to the claims of justice as we're about to see, when he could have denied the whole thing. At this moment, the captain comes to him and says, "Wake up owe you sleeper, what meanest thou?" And Jonah wakes up and says, "I meanest nothing. Leave me alone. I'm ready to die." "Is this your fault?" "Nope, not my fault. Not my fault." "Who do you believe?" "Don't worry about it. I'm going back to sleep." He doesn't do any of that, so that's why I don't take the interpret interpretation that he was asleep because of seared conscience, because as soon as providence forces him to deal with this issue, we hear of no shuffling excuses, no dishonest evasions, no blame shifting, but only the unreserved utterance of a heart already conscious of guilt. He's ready to take on the judgment that he knows he deserves. Verse 11, then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea might may quiet down for us?" For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great temp has come upon you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. These men are over overawed by the manifestation of divine justice that they're seeing right in front of their eyes. Some preachers would get up and like, "Hey, you should believe in Jesus. Here's my testimony. Everything was terrible. I believe in Jesus, and everything was awesome." Jonas, the anti-testimony, he gets up and he is like, "Look, if you disobey God, this is what's going to happen to you." So they're absolutely freaking out and they think that they see God's vengeance upon this person, and they're like, "This same God sent the storm," so they are absolutely humbled by God. They're doing everything possible to protect themselves from God's judgment. That's why they're rowing so hard. And finally, verse 14, they called out to Lord, "Oh, Lord..." Oh, Lord, that sounds like believers. They believer. "Oh, Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, oh, Lord, have done as it pleased you." Oh yeah, they believe in the sovereignty of God. So they picked up, Jonah hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. And then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah feared God, kind of, because of his example. We see these men that fear God and they fear him exceedingly. The fish, this was miraculous, but it just shows the sovereignty of God. Here, I want you to meditate with me real quick on both severity and the mercy of God toward Jonah. Did you notice it's not enough for Jonah that he confessed his transgression and condemned himself on account of it? Why doesn't the storm stop at that moment? Jonah gets on his knees and says, "Yahweh, I repent of my sin. I'm so sorry. Forgive me." The storm should have ended. That should have been the end. He should be like... they all get saved. And then he's like, "Church isn't a cruise ship, it's a battleship. Let's go, gentlemen. We're go to Nineveh." Rallies up the troops and goes take Nineveh. That's not what happens at all. There wasn't enough. Why doesn't God stop the storm immediately after the confession? Why? Because justice demands more. Why such painful severity here? Because the ends of the divine government required it. First, in the instance of Jo Jonah himself, he had sinned presumptuous against God. He must bear the penalty. It was a righteous thing for God to do and inflict such judgment. Hebrews 12, dear Christian, a lot of Christians live and they operate with theology that's completely removed to Hebrews 12. And in Christ, there's no condemnation for my sins, but if I sin against God and I do it willfully, like Jonah does, Hebrews 12 kicks in friends. Hebrews 12, go back and read Hebrews 12:5-12. It says, if God loves a son or daughter, and the son or daughter are walking wayward, disobeying, what does... God does discipline those whom he loves. Still more was, which this is an example of severity needed for the good of others. The honor and the cause of God were at this time particularly bound up with the faithfulness of Jonah and having failed in the way of duty to promote the glory of God, he must in another way, become an instrument in advancing the glory of God. He should have glorified God by preaching to the Ninevites. And God would've blessed them and God would've been glorified. Instead, God will be glorified through this man, even though the man doesn't want to be glorified as an anti example, don't be like this guy. Thus, we learn from his experience that a near relationship to God purchases no immunity from sin or from discipline, and that's Hebrews 12:5-11. 2 Timothy 2-20-22 talks about this. Do you want to be a vessel of honorable use in the house of God or dishonorable use? I would recommend you read that. What befell Jonah was severity, but also the mercy of God. No sooner is he cast out, as a victim of divine justice into the raging deep, a great fish was ready to swallow him. Not for instant destruction, but for safe preservation. Jonah is spared final death with a temporary death. People wonder how in the world did he live 72 hours in the belly of a fish simmering in gastric juices? I just like saying that phrase. That's a juicy phrase. You can practice it, gastric juices. I think he died. I don't know. I would've died. I don't know. Whatever happened, he was entombed. Did God keep him alive? Did God resuscitate him? Did God resurrect him? That doesn't matter. What doesn't matter is he's taken to darkness to finally be brought to light, and God often does that. 2 Corinthians 4:6, for God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Fast-forward about 750 years from the storm, from Jonah's entombment in the belly of the fish, comes Jesus Christ, the greater Jonah. Jesus began his messianic mission by preaching the gospel to crowds in the Galilee region, which was at the heart of the northern kingdom one time, before being captured by Syria. As the crowds grew, Jesus' popularity grows. His opposition from the religious leaders, Pharisees, also grew. So Jesus is doing miracles, and yet they won't submit to him. They finally come to him and they say, "Give us proof that you are the Messiah." Matthew 12:38-42. Mind you, this is after Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand, healed two blind men, restored the life of a young girl along with countless other miracles. Matthew 12:38-42, then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him saying, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here." Knowing that they were trying to trick him, Jesus says, "The only sign that you're going to get is the gospel, the sign of the prophet Jonah. What is it? It's death, it's burial and it's resurrection." And Jesus says, "What happened with Jonah was just a sign pointing to Jesus Christ." Jesus speaks of this forthcoming sign, His death, His resurrection as the sign of Jonah, those Ninevites who believe Jonah's preaching will be called by Yahweh as witnesses on judgment. They will testify that they believe in Jonah's preaching on far less evidence than Jesus has given the scribes and the Pharisees, because it's never a question of evidence. It's never a question of evidence. It's always a question of will. If the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you seeing what God did there and the gospel of Jesus Christ, where God should have just killed all of us, a storm on all of us, we're all just dead, spend eternity in hell. No, no, no. Jesus Christ, willingly, Himself, God comes incarnate, lives a perfect life, perfectly, in this broken world, surrounded by evil people, surrounded by sinful people. This same God goes to the cross to die for our sins. What is Jesus doing there? He's bearing the wrath of God that we deserve for our evil. The same condemnation that the Ninevites deserve, that Jonah deserves, and that the sailors deserve, we deserve. And Jesus goes, and on the crust, he's bearing the wrath of God for our sins. He's taken the storm of the wrath of God, the raging of the wrath of God that we deserve for choosing our own will. For every single moment in life, when we said, "No, no, no, God, not your will, my will be done." For every single one of those moments, Jesus Christ comes and he says, "No, no, no. For that moment, I paid. I paid by saying, "Not my will, Father, but yours be done." Jesus Christ, the perfect servant of God, submits himself not just as a testimony to us and an example to us. That's all good and well, but he does that to save us from our sins. He wasn't forced to do it, he did it willingly. Out of love for us here. Here just a message for believers and unbelievers alike. I've met many of people who like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll come to God on my time. All right, I'll, I'm going to go to Tarshish for a bit. I'm going to take a ship. I'm going to get on a boat, and I'll come back. I'll do my job." Let me just tell you something. After studying Romans and studying Jonah, do I believe in free will? The closest we get to free will in the book of Jonah is the fish, Free Willy. There is no free will. There's zero free will in this book. Jonah does not want to preach. "Jonah, you're going to preach." "I'm not going to." "You're going to preach." "God, I want to die." "You're not going to die yet. You're not going to die. You're not going to die." "God, I don't want them to get saved." "They're going to get saved." This guy is stubborn and he was forced by God into submission to bow. His lips were compelled to utter words, which of himself he would've never done. It was all the Lord's doing. God will accomplish His will in your life. The only question is, will you come willingly and joyfully? Which you should, come on. Or reluctantly and begrudgingly? Christ's death and resurrection is the foundation for the gospel, which is to be preached to the ends of the earth and is the sign of Jonah, which lives on. And the commission that God gave each one of us go and make disciples of all nations. So friend, if you are not yet a Christian, a child of God, if you're not sure, just know your evil has come up before the Lord, and if your evil is not dealt with on the cross of Jesus Christ, it will be dealt on you for eternity. So we plead with you, receive God's grace, repent, and believe in Jesus Christ. And for those of you who are Christians, let us not forget our marching orders. We are to follow Christ in making disciples. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly, Father, we thank you for this wonderful text. We thank you for this wonderful book. We pray that you continue to make us a people full of your compassion, the same compassion you feel for others. Let us feel it as well. In particular, in sharing the gospel, helping people meet you and be ushered in to the kingdom of God. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.

2 Kings 14 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 Amaziah son of Joash began to rule over Judah in the second year of the reign of King Jehoash of Israel. 2 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother was Jehoaddin from Jerusalem. 3 Amaziah did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, but not like his ancestor David. Instead, he followed the example of his father, Joash. 4 Amaziah did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there. 5 When Amaziah was well established as king, he executed the officials who had assassinated his father. 6 However, he did not kill the children of the assassins, for he obeyed the command of the Lord as written by Moses in the Book of the Law: “Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.” 7 Amaziah also killed 10,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He also conquered Sela and changed its name to Joktheel, as it is called to this day. 8 One day Amaziah sent messengers with this challenge to Israel's king Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz and grandson of Jehu: “Come and meet me in battle!” 9 But King Jehoash of Israel replied to King Amaziah of Judah with this story: “Out in the Lebanon mountains, a thistle sent a message to a mighty cedar tree: ‘Give your daughter in marriage to my son.' But just then a wild animal of Lebanon came by and stepped on the thistle, crushing it! 10 “You have indeed defeated Edom, and you are proud of it. But be content with your victory and stay at home! Why stir up trouble that will only bring disaster on you and the people of Judah?” 11 But Amaziah refused to listen, so King Jehoash of Israel mobilized his army against King Amaziah of Judah. The two armies drew up their battle lines at Beth-shemesh in Judah. 12 Judah was routed by the army of Israel, and its army scattered and fled for home. 13 King Jehoash of Israel captured Judah's king, Amaziah son of Joash and grandson of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. Then he marched to Jerusalem, where he demolished 600 feet of Jerusalem's wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. 14 He carried off all the gold and silver and all the articles from the Temple of the Lord. He also seized the treasures from the royal palace, along with hostages, and then returned to Samaria. 15 The rest of the events in Jehoash's reign and everything he did, including the extent of his power and his war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 16 When Jehoash died, he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And his son Jeroboam II became the next king. 17 King Amaziah of Judah lived for fifteen years after the death of King Jehoash of Israel. 18 The rest of the events in Amaziah's reign are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. 19 There was a conspiracy against Amaziah's life in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But his enemies sent assassins after him, and they killed him there. 20 They brought his body back to Jerusalem on a horse, and he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. 21 All the people of Judah had crowned Amaziah's sixteen-year-old son, Uzziah, as king in place of his father, Amaziah. 22 After his father's death, Uzziah rebuilt the town of Elath and restored it to Judah. 23 Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, began to rule over Israel in the fifteenth year of King Amaziah's reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria forty-one years. 24 He did what was evil in the Lord's sight. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. 25 Jeroboam II recovered the territories of Israel between Lebo-hamath and the Dead Sea, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had promised through Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher. 26 For the Lord saw the bitter suffering [...]

2 Kings 15 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 Uzziah son of Amaziah began to rule over Judah in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel. 2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. 3 He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. 4 But he did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there. 5 The Lord struck the king with leprosy, which lasted until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house. The king's son Jotham was put in charge of the royal palace, and he governed the people of the land. 6 The rest of the events in Uzziah's reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Judah. 7 When Uzziah died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. And his son Jotham became the next king. 8 Zechariah son of Jeroboam II began to rule over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of King Uzziah's reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria six months. 9 Zechariah did what was evil in the Lord's sight, as his ancestors had done. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. 10 Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah, assassinated him in public,[c] and became the next king. 11 The rest of the events in Zechariah's reign are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 12 So the Lord's message to Jehu came true: “Your descendants will be kings of Israel down to the fourth generation.” 13 Shallum son of Jabesh began to rule over Israel in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah's reign in Judah. Shallum reigned in Samaria only one month. 14 Then Menahem son of Gadi went to Samaria from Tirzah and assassinated him, and he became the next king. 15 The rest of the events in Shallum's reign, including his conspiracy, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 16 At that time Menahem destroyed the town of Tappuah and all the surrounding countryside as far as Tirzah, because its citizens refused to surrender the town. He killed the entire population and ripped open the pregnant women. 17 Menahem son of Gadi began to rule over Israel in the thirty-ninth year of King Uzziah's reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria ten years. 18 But Menahem did what was evil in the Lord's sight. During his entire reign, he refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. 19 Then King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria invaded the land. But Menahem paid him thirty-seven tons of silver to gain his support in tightening his grip on royal power. 20 Menahem extorted the money from the rich of Israel, demanding that each of them pay fifty pieces of silver to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned from attacking Israel and did not stay in the land. 21 The rest of the events in Menahem's reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 22 When Menahem died, his son Pekahiah became the next king. 23 Pekahiah son of Menahem began to rule over Israel in the fiftieth year of King Uzziah's reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria two years. 24 But Pekahiah did what was evil in the Lord's sight. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. 25 Then Pekah son of Remaliah, the commander of Pekahiah's army, conspired against him. With fifty men from Gilead, Pekah assassinated the king, along with Argob and Arieh, in the citadel of the palace at Samaria. And Pekah reigned in his place. 26 The rest of the events in Pekahiah's reign and everything he did are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel.

2 Kings 13 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 Jehoahaz son of Jehu began to rule over Israel in the twenty-third year of King Joash's reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria seventeen years. 2 But he did what was evil in the Lord's sight. He followed the example of Jeroboam son of Nebat, continuing the sins that Jeroboam had led Israel to commit. 3 So the Lord was very angry with Israel, and he allowed King Hazael of Aram and his son Ben-hadad to defeat them repeatedly. 4 Then Jehoahaz prayed for the Lord's help, and the Lord heard his prayer, for he could see how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. 5 So the Lord provided someone to rescue the Israelites from the tyranny of the Arameans. Then Israel lived in safety again as they had in former days. 6 But they continued to sin, following the evil example of Jeroboam. They also allowed the Asherah pole in Samaria to remain standing. 7 Finally, Jehoahaz's army was reduced to 50 charioteers, 10 chariots, and 10,000 foot soldiers. The king of Aram had killed the others, trampling them like dust under his feet. 8 The rest of the events in Jehoahaz's reign—everything he did and the extent of his power—are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 9 When Jehoahaz died, he was buried in Samaria. Then his son Jehoash became the next king. 10 Jehoash son of Jehoahaz began to rule over Israel in the thirty-seventh year of King Joash's reign in Judah. He reigned in Samaria sixteen years. 11 But he did what was evil in the Lord's sight. He refused to turn from the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had led Israel to commit. 12 The rest of the events in Jehoash's reign and everything he did, including the extent of his power and his war with King Amaziah of Judah, are recorded in The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel. 13 When Jehoash died, he was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Then his son Jeroboam II became the next king. 14 When Elisha was in his last illness, King Jehoash of Israel visited him and wept over him. “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” he cried. 15 Elisha told him, “Get a bow and some arrows.” And the king did as he was told. 16 Elisha told him, “Put your hand on the bow,” and Elisha laid his own hands on the king's hands. 17 Then he commanded, “Open that eastern window,” and he opened it. Then he said, “Shoot!” So he shot an arrow. Elisha proclaimed, “This is the Lord's arrow, an arrow of victory over Aram, for you will completely conquer the Arameans at Aphek.” 18 Then he said, “Now pick up the other arrows and strike them against the ground.” So the king picked them up and struck the ground three times. 19 But the man of God was angry with him. “You should have struck the ground five or six times!” he exclaimed. “Then you would have beaten Aram until it was entirely destroyed. Now you will be victorious only three times.” 20 Then Elisha died and was buried. Groups of Moabite raiders used to invade the land each spring. 21 Once when some Israelites were burying a man, they spied a band of these raiders. So they hastily threw the corpse into the tomb of Elisha and fled. But as soon as the body touched Elisha's bones, the dead man revived and jumped to his feet! 22 King Hazael of Aram had oppressed Israel during the entire reign of King Jehoahaz. 23 But the Lord was gracious and merciful to the people of Israel, and they were not totally destroyed. He pitied them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day he still has not completely destroyed them or banished them from his presence. 24 King Hazael of Aram died, and his son Ben-hadad became the next king. 25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recaptured from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the towns that had been taken from Jehoash's father, Jehoahaz. Jehoash defeated Ben-hadad on three occasions, and he recovered the Israelite towns.

Hosea is a book of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible, which is named after the prophet Hosea. Hosea was a prophet who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II. Hosea was called by God to deliver a message of warning to the people of Israel, who had turned away from God and were living in sin. The book of Hosea is a powerful reminder of the consequences of sin and the unending love and mercy of God. Hosea's message is one of both judgment and hope. He begins by indicting the people of Israel for their sins of idolatry, unfaithfulness, and injustice. He compares their unfaithfulness to that of a prostitute, and he calls upon them to repent and return to God. In Hosea 6:1-3, the prophet speaks of the Lord's desire to restore His people: “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea's message of hope is rooted in God's love and mercy, which never fails. He speaks of God's steadfast love and His desire to redeem His people, despite their sinfulness. Hosea 11:8-9 says, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not a man—the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.” Throughout the book of Hosea, the prophet uses vivid and powerful imagery to illustrate his message. He uses the metaphor of a marriage to describe the relationship between God and His people. Hosea compares Israel's unfaithfulness to that of a wife who has committed adultery. He describes how God has been faithful to His people, but they have turned away from Him to worship other gods. Despite the harsh judgment that Hosea delivers, his message ultimately points to the hope of restoration and redemption. The prophet reminds us that God's love is steadfast and His mercy endures forever. No matter how far we may have strayed from God, He is always ready and willing to welcome us back with open arms. In conclusion, the book of Hosea is a powerful reminder of God's unending love and mercy. It is a call to repentance and a reminder of the consequences of sin. But ultimately, it is a message of hope and restoration, as God promises to heal and restore His people, no matter how far they may have strayed. As we read the book of Hosea, let us be reminded of God's faithfulness and His desire to redeem us, and let us turn our hearts back to Him. SendMe Radio is now an online streaming internet radio station, packed with all the messages on the podcast. Listen to awesome Interviews, thousands of Gospel Music, and discover new businesses and they're inspiring stores. Also if you would like a radio commercial for your Church, Social or Business event contact us via email at digitalink@sendmeradio.com Google Assistant Google Action is available on Google Home:
https://assistant.google.com/s... Alexa skill is available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BL... SendMe Radio Apple Store App for IOS https://apps.apple.com/us/app/... SendMe Radio Google Play App for Android https://play.google.com/store/...

With Assyria facing apocalyptic chaos and Aram outflanked, a Second Golden Age of Israel and Judah began in the 8th century BC. Ian and Caleb introduce the military empires of Jeroboam II and Uzziah, the Book of Jonah and the dawn of canonical prophetic literature, and the art of Jehuide Israel and Judah.

This is why arrogance is so dangerous: Jeroboam II became king in 782 BC. As they celebrate his coronation, what God knows—what the people have no idea about—is that the northern kingdom of Israel has less than 60 years left in its history! The Assyrians are gearing up to destroy Israel and the people haven't got a clue. Arrogance, sin, pride, an unwillingness to repent before God, costs a lot more than any of us are willing to pay…I said earlier that Israel's history was about over. I find often that God pours out His blessings on those about to be judged. It's His kindness which He hopes will lead to repentance. Now, I know God knows what people will do. He knew exactly when Israel would be judged. Still, by blessing them, He is taking one final chance to show them His love for them. It's too bad they wouldn't listen…

Reading through the stories of the last kings of the house of Israel, I always get a feeling of ineffable sadness. That nation had been served by two of the greatest prophets who ever lived—Elijah, the archetype of all prophets, and Elisha, who had a double portion of the spirit of Elijah. There were only two more significant prophets during the entire history of the house of Israel. The first was Amos, who wrote during the last years of Jeroboam II. Then came Hosea, who wrote as the age of violence descended upon Israel. But after Hosea, God seems to have written Israel off. And I guess you have to expect that. There comes a point in time—when prophets are sent to them…and ignored, when they drop deeper into sex and violence—that they are judged as simply being beyond redemption. There is no significant prophet who speaks during the last 40 years of the kingdom.In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and captured Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. And Hoshea the son of Elah led a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and struck him down, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.2 Kings 15:29–30 KJ2000A good-sized part of the kingdom was just gone, and four of their last five kings were assassinated by their successors. For the Kingdom of Israel, the decay is well set in, and the patience of God grows short.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.O.T. backgroundRemember separation of Israel and Judah, two centuries earlier (1 Kings 12:25-33), under Jeroboam IRival shrines – with idolatryRival priesthood – low standard of leadershipRival holidays – to prevent northerners from choosing to blend the two religious systemsThis evil king is immediately challenged by a prophet (1 Kings 13).It just so happens that in Amos' time (8th C. BC) the northern king is Jeroboam II.Amos was written near the end of his reign.Amaziah is false priest at Bethel in the time of Amos (d.767)Recall  the promises and threats related to covenant faithfulness (Leviticus 26, Deuteronomy 28)Blessings: physical, economic, military, and national blessingsPunishments: agricultural failure, anxiety, pain, fear, exileThe earthquake: in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah (742 BC). See also Zechariah 14:5.Economic situation760s-750s is a boom timeNeighboring nations are too weak or distracted to constitute any significant threat to the prosperity of Israel.International trade is strongBorders restored to limits of 931 BC (end of time of Solomon)Leisured upper class with a decadent lifestyle (2:8, 4:1, 6:1)The poor are oppressedBut the bubble is about to burst in a serious way!The oppressive upper class will be brought down.The nation will be delivered over to its enemies (Assyrian exile, 722 BC).The manEarliest writing prophet and earliest minor prophetContemporary of Isaiah, Hosea, MicahA shepherd and dresser of fig trees (7:14-15)From Tekoa, a town in southern Judah6-10 miles south of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14:2,4,9; 2 Chronicles 11:6, 20:20; Jeremiah 6:1)The modern Arab village of Tekua, 2700' above sea level.The wilderness of Tekoa sinks 4000' to the east.He was a southerner called to preach up north.Amos is Hebrew for “load, burden.” What was his burden? With what message had the Lord loaded him?Prologue to the Book of Amos (1:1-2)Roar of a lion -- see 3:8 (also Joel 3:16, Hosea 11:10).Like most of the prophetic literature, Amos is a mixture of poetry and prose.Usually prophets mix judgment and restoration oracles. In Amos, little hope is expressed till the very end.Withering of the top of Carmel (usually green) signifies the extreme judgment of GodSpiritual drought > literal drought (e.g. 8:11-12)Message of the BookReligion without righteousness is worthless.Malachi 1, Revelation 3.Moderation, "balance" render religion worthless.How we treat others reflects quality of our relationship with God.Similarities to James. The James of the O.T.No other prophet so carefully scrutinizes and condemns the justice system in Israel.Demand for justice (5:24).Idolatry has no ethical demands! True religion is invalidated if we do not love our fellow man.God isn't only interested in the covenant people; he's concerned about the nations.See 3:9, 4:10, 6:14, 9:7.International vista!Israel will be punished.The 16 oracles mainly feature doom.Not until the end of chapter 9 is there any hope.ImpactIn the Bible:Amos significantly influenced Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets.A couple of passages are quoted in the New Testament, which we will cover later on.In our dayInspiration for Civil Rights movementSocial consciousness among many churches todayOur own lives: If they were held responsible to practice the righteousness of the God whom they worshipped, aren't we even more responsible to take a stand for the justice of God?Conclusion"The words of Amos burst upon the landscape of the Northern kingdom, Israel, with all the terror and surprise of a lion's roar. Though their main targets were the palaces of Samaria and the shrines at Bethel and Gilgal, the prophet's words were to resound throughout Israel's entire landscape leaving no part nor person unscathed" (Tyndale commentary, p.87).Advanced:Amos comes immediately after Hosea in the LXX.Learn about Jeroboam I by listening to Old Testament Character podcast 33.Further study:Francine Rivers, The Prophet (Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House, 2006)Hosea-Jonah, The Word Biblical Commentary (New York: Word, 1987)The Twelve Prophets, Volume 1 : Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, The Daily Study Bible Series (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1984)Joel & Amos, The Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove:  Inter-Varsity Press, 1989)Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1999)Podcast on the person Amos (at this website), here.

Amos 1 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 This message was given to Amos, a shepherd from the town of Tekoa in Judah. He received this message in visions two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, was king of Israel. 2 This is what he saw and heard: “The Lord's voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem! The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up; the grass on Mount Carmel will wither and die.” 3 This is what the Lord says: “The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They beat down my people in Gilead as grain is threshed with iron sledges. 4 So I will send down fire on King Hazael's palace, and the fortresses of King Ben-hadad will be destroyed. 5 I will break down the gates of Damascus and slaughter the people in the valley of Aven. I will destroy the ruler in Beth-eden, and the people of Aram will go as captives to Kir,” says the Lord. 6 This is what the Lord says: “The people of Gaza have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sent whole villages into exile, selling them as slaves to Edom. 7 So I will send down fire on the walls of Gaza, and all its fortresses will be destroyed. 8 I will slaughter the people of Ashdod and destroy the king of Ashkelon. Then I will turn to attack Ekron, and the few Philistines still left will be killed,” says the Sovereign Lord. 9 This is what the Lord says: “The people of Tyre have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They broke their treaty of brotherhood with Israel, selling whole villages as slaves to Edom. 10 So I will send down fire on the walls of Tyre, and all its fortresses will be destroyed.” 11 This is what the Lord says: “The people of Edom have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They chased down their relatives, the Israelites, with swords, showing them no mercy. In their rage, they slashed them continually and were unrelenting in their anger. 12 So I will send down fire on Teman, and the fortresses of Bozrah will be destroyed.” 13 This is what the Lord says: “The people of Ammon have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! When they attacked Gilead to extend their borders, they ripped open pregnant women with their swords. 14 So I will send down fire on the walls of Rabbah, and all its fortresses will be destroyed. The battle will come upon them with shouts, like a whirlwind in a mighty storm. 15 And their king and his princes will go into exile together,” says the Lord.

The story of Jonah reveals so much about the character of God. We learn about the great extent of God's mercy and forgiveness – not only toward Jonah, but also toward the Assyrian Empire. We see His justice and righteousness as he sends Jonah to a people to tell them to repent because their wickedness has come up before him. We see God's authority and power as he creates the storm that eventually causes Jonah to get cast into the sea. And we see his sovereignty as he accomplishes his purposes, even if he has to use a reluctant prophet to do it. The First Message God's calling to Jonah to go and preach a message of repentance in Nineveh wasn't his first mission. Jonah lived in a time when the nation of Israel had been split into two kingdoms; the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Jonah lived in the north. The northern kingdom had been led by thirteen consecutive kings that did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and as a result of their consistent disobedience, they were suffering. God had every right to punish them, but he saw their suffering and was merciful. This is where Jonah first appears in the Bible. 2 Kings 14:25-27 Jeroboam II recovered the territories of Israel between Lebo-hamath and the Dead Sea, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had promised through Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher. For the LORD saw the bitter suffering of everyone in Israel, and that there was no one in Israel, slave or free, to help them. And because the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel completely, he used Jeroboam II, son of Jehoash, to save them. Like Jonah, sometimes we love God's messaging. After all, the Bible is good news, filled with great and precious promises! But a pursuit of God doesn't always serve up the message we want to hear. Sometimes God calls us out of our comfort zones. The Second Message Jonah's next calling from God was a different matter altogether. This time God wasn't calling him to give another message to the Israelites – but instead to a pagan, Gentile city. Jonah 1:1-2 The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai, “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. This time Jonah was called to be the bearer of bad news. Instead of responding in obedience, Jonah ran – in the exact opposite direction of God's calling! Like Jonah, sometimes we push against God's messaging and we want to run. We want to accept the good news and reject the bad. We pursue God on our own terms, and when we don't like what we hear, we run. And like Jonah, we can always find a boat going in the wrong direction. Collateral Damage Consider the scene from the sailors' perspective. They didn't invite Jonah onto their boat or into their story; he just showed up. Little did they know that this disobedient prophet would cause them great material and emotional loss, even to the point of risking their lives. The Providence of God The story of Jonah is a tale of incredible miracles, and here's the most shocking one: a changed life. The sailors didn't know God at the beginning of the story, and by the end they're offering him a sacrifice of praise. Notice that they didn't make a vow to God if he would deliver them; they did it because he had already done it. Romans 8:28 (NLT) And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pursuegod/support

One Single Story: Day 187 Jeroboam II reigned in Israel 41 years. He did evil in the sight of God, yet God used him to regain territory that was a promise of God. Pastors Sheryl Daughety, Zack Unkenholz and Stephen Mizell talk about the benefits and challenges of long-term leaders. July 6th Reading: 2 Kings 14; 2 Chronicles 25 For more on One Single Story, visit onesinglestory.com.

Sovereign Over All: In the series introduction to Jonah's story, we see all sorts of unexpected things. We see a prophet running from God. We see pagan sailors praying to and praising God. Most importantly, we see a God who is sovereign over all of creation, including the wind and the waves, the seas and the storms. Recorded on June 5, 2022, on Jonah 1, by Pastor David Parks. This message is part of our "Sovereign to Save" sermon series from the book of Jonah in the Bible. Jonah's story is well-known both in and outside the church for his encounter with the great fish. But Jonah is really about the incredible heart of a sovereign God to save even his enemies. Sermon Transcript All year, we've been focusing on, The Greatness of God. And today, we're starting our last sermon series under that annual theme called “Sovereign to Save.” This series is from the book of Jonah in the Bible. The basic story of Jonah is well-known in and outside the church. But when you dig into what it actually says, you find a God who is sovereign, with divine power/authority over all. In Jonah, we see that this is a very good thing, because we find the great compassion and love of God, even for his enemies, and we see the lengths he went to save them. Our God is sovereign to save. Today, we'll start the story by considering the sovereignty of God over all of creation. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Jonah 1. Jonah is a narrative, but since we're working through a whole chapter, we'll unpack it as we go. V. 1. Jonah 1:1-3 (NIV), “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.” Ok, let's pause here. So why in the world would a prophet of God run from God? The answer really is because Jonah had a major problem, not with the message of God's word, but with the intended audience. You see, God had called Jonah to go and preach to the great city of Nineveh, which was not in Israel. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. To give some context, we know from 2 Ki 14 that this was happening during the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel who reigned from around 750 - 800 BC, in other words, Jonah lived during a time of utter chaos/crisis for his people. The Assyrians were the most powerful empire in the world at that time and would eventually conquer Israel and kill many friends and family members of Jonah. Historians sometimes point out that the Assyrians were the first empire we have who used phycological warfare to terrify and subjugate the peoples they conquered. Let's look at a map here. But when Jonah, son of Amittai, a prophet from the city of Gath Hepher in the northern kingdom of Israel was called to go some 700 miles to the northeast to Nineveh, instead, he flees to Tarshish, a city somewhere in the far west in the Mediterranean, perhaps in modern Spain, some 2,000 miles in the other direction. Why would he do such a thing? Later in chapter 4, we learn that Jonah did this because he knew what God was like, that God was gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in love. And he knew that if the Assyrians listened to his preaching and repented (the goal of any good preacher), the Assyrians would receive the grace/mercy of God. And Jonah would rather disobey God than see his hated enemies receive the grace/mercy of God. How would God respond? Would he throw up his hands? Would he stomp his feet? Would his plans be somehow frustrated? Not for a second. v. 4. Jonah 1:4-6 (NIV), “Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten t...

Part 24 of the series in 1 and 2 Kings.  Amaziah begins well as king in Judah but acts foolishly and ends up being assassinated.  Meanwhile, Jeroboam II strengthens the northern kingdom further as God blesses, speaking through the prophet Jonah.  Two more godly kings of Judah - Azariah and Jotham - and a quick sucession of kings in the north as Assyria rises on the scene.

Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel.Last week we studied the hardest part of Amos, the Oracles Against the Nations. Amos spent those first two chapters calling out the injustices of Israel's enemies and neighbors, but his last and longest oracle was a formal accusation on his listening audience, the people of the Northern Kingdom. Today, we are studying chapters 3, 4 and 5, the middle section of Amos. These three chapters are a collage of literary styles—lists, poems, hymns, and speeches. They connect in that they are all expressions of Yahweh's judgment against Israel and her leaders. All three chapters open with the phrase “Hear this word.” There is an urgency to the prophetic message, and the sense that there still may be time for the people of God to repent and avert disaster. Amos uses satire, rhetorical questions, sarcasm, laments, and a doxology to expose Israel's guilt and delusional thinking, warn of her punishment, and plead for her restoration. Amos is clear that above all else, Yahweh's name must be exalted. Because of the righteousness of Yahweh, He cannot accept the moral failure of Israel. At the outset of the judgement oracle, Amos 3:2 reminds Israel that they are chosen by God: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” The first time the Bible uses this phrase is when Yahweh promised Abraham, a thousand years earlier, that through his descendants “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). The election of Israel and the responsibilities they incur through the covenant relationship is a recurring theme in Amos. But as we know from the last two episodes, Israel is far from being a blessing or righteous example. Instead, they are an object of judgement.Amos 3 asks a series of rhetorical questions. Each question has a quality of cause-and-effect. They start off as mundane encounters. For example, Amos asks, “do two walk together unless they have made an appointment?” and “does a lion roar in the forest, when it has no prey?” The list of encounters builds up to the inevitability of an encounter between Israel and Yahweh. Yahweh is warning them that the encounter will end badly. In this same passage, Amos also aims to establish the authority of all God's prophets, the messengers entrusted to act as the mouthpiece of God as recipients of His revelation. Amos says, “surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets” (3:7). Like the other prophets, Amos is dutybound to blast the trumpet on the walls of the city, as the last warning before the arrival of the advancing army. Yahweh invites two of Israel's enemies, Philistia and Egypt, to come observe the deprivations of Samaria. Samaria was Israel's capital city. During the reign of Jeroboam II, it was at its height of wealth and power but the prophet Amos sees the fortifications and strongholds as the institutions of corruption and violence. The invitation of two idolatrous nations, Philistia and Egypt, hardly known for championing human rights, is meant to be both shaming and ironic. Amos, in his own poetic way, calls out all of Israel's wrongdoers. He first indicts the military and political leaders for “stor[ing] up violence and robbery in their strongholds” (3:9-10). He then denounces the religious leaders of Israel, specifically pointing to the coming destruction of the sanctuary in Bethel (3:14). Bethel was the chief sanctuary for the Northern Kingdom, and a center of brazen idolatry since its establishment by the evil king Jeroboam I (1 Kings 12). Lastly, Amos ridicules the opulent lifestyles of the ruling class with their seasonal properties and collections of luxury goods. Yah

2 Reyes 13:3-15:5 Resumen: Reinado de Joacaz; profecía y muerte de Eliseo; reinado de Amasías; reinado de Jeroboam II; reinado de Azarías

Shabbat Shalom and Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.The “minor” prophets are the most neglected books of the Hebrew Bible, but they are all major messengers from the Lord whose poetry and prose still ring true today.This week, we start with the book of Hosea and its first three chapters. Please be sure to read the first three chapters on your own as part of the Bible Fiber weekly challenge. We are here to hold each other lovingly accountable to the discipline of scripture study as we dive deeper into God's whole word.The book of Hosea can be divided into two primary sections: Hosea's Marriage and Hosea's Message. The marriage of Hosea to Gomer constitutes the first three chapters of the book. The story in this section is written mostly as narrative, as opposed to the remaining 11 chapters which passed down to us as poetry.The book of Hosea begins with a historical superscription: “The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.” Scholars believe Hosea's prophetic career lasted around forty years. We know that Jeroboam II's reign ended around 746 BCE, and Hosea's ministry started sometime before Jeroboam's death. Hosea says he was still prophesying at the time of Hezekiah, and we know Hezekiah's reign began in 716 BCE. Judging from Hosea's own historical timestamp, the prophet's work took place between 746 BCE and 716 BCE.