Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.
Azariah the Son of Oded Azariah, son of Oded, comes to Asa, King of Judah. The prophet tells the king, “If you see God, you’ll find him. If you walk away from him, he’ll walk away from you” (2 Chronicles 15:2). That is, to seek God first. King Asa takes the prophet’s warning seriously and […]
Contrary to the Law of Moses King David Reassigns the Duties of the Levites In the book of Numbers, Moses details the assignments and responsibilities of the tribe of Levi, mentioning them over fifty times. Though the priests, descendants of Aaron, are from this tribe, the rest of the Levites have God-assigned responsibilities too. Chief […]
The third line of Jabez’s prayer is: “that Your hand would be with me” Having just asked God for greater blessing—in order to bless others—and more influence—in order to help others—Jabez realizes that he needs God’s direction and guidance so that he may proceed wisely and justly. Indeed, having more blessing and more power can […]
Living Water Flows from God’s Temple and Is for Our Benefit In the Old Testament, the people perceived that God lived in the temple. They saw this as his residence on earth. To connect with him meant they had to go to the temple. As Ezekiel winds down his lengthy prophecy, the man in his […]
In my prior post, entitled Cannibalism, Holy Communion (aka the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist) was seen as a spiritual invitation to salvation. Communion is a symbolic rite reminding us of Jesus’ sacrificial death for us as the solution for the wrong things we have done. This is all good. However, Paul warns against the abuse of […]
God Does What It Takes to Get People’s Attention God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel and gives him a prophecy against Ammon, against Moab, against Philistia, and against Tyre. The prophecy against Tyre is the longest and most devastating, but all four carry the same rationale. God will inflict them with punishment for their past […]
Love versus Fear As we struggle with the paradox of fearing God and loving God, there’s another thought on the subject. John writes that “perfect love drives out fear.” Perfect love never fails. Perfect love is love that’s without fault, consistent and always present. God embodies perfect love. Paul gives us a list of what […]
In Ezekiel’s Day the People Did What God Detested In the eighth chapter of Ezekiel, God takes the prophet to Jerusalem to see the area around the temple. Each place God takes him, Ezekiel looks and sees the people doing things God abhors. God says he’ll drive them from his sanctuary. After several recurrences, the […]
Last week in my post, How Important is Knowledge?, I noted that many in our society—and the Western Church—esteem knowledge above all else, while Paul says that love is more important. That is, love matters. In another place Paul elevates love over several other things as well, such as supernaturally using other languages, giving prophetic […]
May We Never Be Lax about Doing the Work of God The book of Jeremiah contains prophecies about many of the countries that surround God’s people, many countries that tormented them in the past or are tormenting them during Jeremiah’s time. One of these countries is Moab. Here’s the backstory. Lot’s oldest daughter has a […]