Meditate on it

Last Batch of Kings I18--Hoshea- Hoshea assassinated Pekah. He ruled in Samaria for 9 years and began his reign in the 12 year of Ahaz of Judah.  Last king of Israel, conquered by and jailed by Assyrians. J12-Hezekiah --Ahaz's son, he was 25 when he became king and reigned for 29 years.  He co-reigned with his father Ahaz for 14 years. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah.  He tore down altars, broke Moses' bronze serpent because people had been sacrificing to it.  The text states that he was "faithful to the Lord" and that he "trusted Him."  He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay tribute to him.  Hezekiah is also credited with conquering the Philistines.  J-13  Manasseh - -55 years, only son of Hezekiah, 12 years old when began reign, first king to not have a direct experience with Israel who had gone into captivity.  Re-instituted pagan worship and undid reforms of his father.  The Assyrians put a ring in his nose, but he

I sometimes dread reading the prophets but have disciplined myself to study them. The genre of prophetic literature has its own code--its own expectations and jargon. A piece of understanding the prophets requires understanding the code. But, personally, I enjoy them best when I get lost in the poetic imagery.  Isaiah 55 is a beautiful passage to wander and get lost in. I'm writing to "pick some flowers" along the way and take time to study them: "...eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." -Isaiah 55:2 A fat soul? Give me that! A soul that feasts well on God and His promises becomes fat, sated. More well-fed imagery: "And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." Isaiah 25:6 I love these promises of fatness and fruition. Sometimes my soul is heavy with the sad things o

I t's odd to think of the Word as having magical properties. The secular word magical gives me the creeps but thinking it through, isn't magical among the synonyms for supernatural? And as a Christian, I am admittedly reluctant to make room for the supernatural---I hold the supernatural at arm's length, inspecting it long and hard. Here's one of my favorite passages about the Word, from Isaiah: "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." -Isaiah 55:10-11 This is from the Cambridge Commentary: This purpose of salvation is embodied in the word which goes forth from Jehovah’s mouth. The “word” is conceived as endowed with a self-fulfilling ener