Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.
When Barak and the Israelite army routes Sisera’s army, Sisera escapes and takes refuge with Jael. He seeks her because her clan has a favorable history with his country. Pretending to protect him, Jael takes him in, attends to his needs, and then slays him by bashing in his scull while he sleeps. Though a […]
Two Reactions to Miracles The people of the nearby town who are told of this miracle have two ways to respond: First, in awe of Jesus’ power and authority, they could turn to him and follow him. Second, out of fear of the unknown and the uncomfortable, they could reject Jesus and push him away. […]
As we already noted, Enoch (1) is a descendant of Cain, whereas Enoch (2) is a descendant of Seth. To give us some historical perspective, here are the world’s first nine generations, from Adam to Noah: As we can see, Enoch is the great-grandfather of Noah, as well as six generations removed from Adam. Scripture […]
Elisha travels to the city of Shunem, and a wealthy woman urges him to stay for a meal. From then on, whenever he’s in the area, he stops by. Realizing he’s a man of God, she makes a room for him to stay when he’s in town. Grateful, Elisha wants to do something nice for […]
In Nehemiah and the Wall, we saw Nehemiah’s great leadership at work, stirring up a passive and floundering people to act, quickly accomplishing what had long been languishing. He also ushered in numerous reforms and ignited a spiritual revival. Yet he lacked one thing. He did not train a replacement. After leading his people for 12 […]
The Bible tells us that Adam has many sons and daughters, but it only lists three sons by name. They are Cain, Abel, and Seth. Most people know about Cain and Abel, with Cain killing Abel out of jealousy. He then flees his family to live in the land of Nod. As a result, Adam […]
The widow of one of Elisha’s followers comes to him for help. Her husband left her with an outstanding debt, Since she has no means to pay off the debt, the creditor demands her two sons become his slaves. Elisha asks what resources she has. “Nothing,” she replies, “except for a small jar of olive […]
Zechariah’s Vision One night the prophet Zechariah has a vision. It’s about a wall of fire. In this supernatural dream, he talks to an angel who is about to measure the city of Jerusalem to see just how big it has become. But before he leaves to do this, another angel arrives. He tells the […]
The Bible lists no genealogy for Abel, so we can guess that he died before he had any children. Scripture focuses on the descendants of Seth but gives a short recitation of Cain’s genealogy first (in Genesis 4). We must be careful in reading these names in Cain’s line, since two names also appear in […]
The story of Tamar is a tragic one. The beautiful daughter of King David caught the eye of her half-brother, Amnon, who lusted for her. At the advice of his cousin, Amnon feigned illness and manipulated Tamar into his bedroom. Once alone, he grabbed and solicited her. Three times Tamar refused. When her pleading wasn’t […]