A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

The fall is arguably the most important time of the year in Judaism. Three of Israel’s holiest days are celebrated then, and all in the space of 3 weeks. They are  Yom Teruah, also called the Feast of Trumpets, followed 10 days later by Yom Kippur,

For about 1400 years we've celebrated the Lord's birth on Dec. 25. Are we wrong?

In chapter 10, Daniel tells of a revelation he received in 539 BC concerning a great war that was coming. It was still over 200 years away and would last nearly 200 years after that, and would pit the Seleucids against the Ptolemys. Remember from our previous study that Seleucus and Ptolemy were two of the four generals who assumed power at the death of Alexander the Great and divided the Greek Empire among them.

Two years after Daniel's vision of the four beasts that we described in chapter 7, he had another vision, this one of a ram and a goat. As we'll see, it was intended to give both him and us more detail on the things to come, because the vision has a dual fulfillment.

From about 1,000 to 900 BC Israel had been the most feared and admired nation on Earth. Then, following Solomon's death and the civil war that ensued, the nation had fallen from its exalted position into a kingdom divided over idolatry. Israel's enemies saw their chance and took it.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in... for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:25,29)

The Lord wanted His people to trust in Him for their security, not in their material possessions. Had man permanently adopted these laws as his own, there would be very little poverty in the world today, and almost no war or oppression...

"When men began to increase on earth and daughters were born to them, the divine beings saw how beautiful the daughters of men were and they took wives from among those that pleased them. It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth - when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown." (Genesis 6:2-4, from a Jewish translation of the Torah.)

The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: "When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth."

It didn't take long for Nathan's prophecy about my family to start coming true. Remember, the Lord had Nathan tell me that as a consequence of my sin with Bathsheba calamity would come out of my own household. (Warning: Content may not be appropriate for all ages!)