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?

You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. -Micah 7:19

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.

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.

The Lord said to Job, "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?" -Job 40:8

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.)

There is a way that seems right to man but the end thereof is death.
Prov 14:12

That day the Lord showed me that opportunity does not equal mandate. Just because you can do something doesn't mean it's the Lord's will that you should.