By Admin | Family trees , Jeremiah
The Bible reports the lives of many families, and God portrays himself as a father who invites people to be his children.
The people of Israel are called by that name because Jacob was given the name “Israel” by God – their name comes from the behaviour of their ancestor almost 4,000 years ago.[1] Continue reading
Maps make me feel more at home. I like Bibles with maps; I like text books with maps; I like novels with maps. Maps help me to know where a character, or a story, is headed – whether it is Paul on his missionary journeys or the hero of a novel.
Until now, I have not produced any maps related to the series Terror on Every Side! because it seemed too difficult to include all the places of interest when some are only a hundred metres apart while others are scattered over thousands of kilometres.
This article is a list of places of interest in the story of the life of Jeremiah, and they are grouped in categories from the smallest area (Jerusalem) to the largest area (the Middle East). Two of the maps have now been finished and are included below. The other (the map of Jerusalem) is also included below in its current form, but I am still working on it, so it may be updated.Continue reading
One of the most popular posts on the Bible Tales website is “Joseph: Timeline and family tree”, which presents a timeline of Joseph’s life, prepared as part of my research for the novel “Joseph, Rachel’s son”. Since it has been so popular, I decided to create a similar timeline of Jeremiah’s life.
This sounds like an easy thing to do, but there are so many things that are not known about Jeremiah – at least, not exactly. Continue reading
For most of us, shoes are surprisingly important. I say surprisingly because most of us would think them less important than various other items of clothing, yet badly-fitting shoes or shoes that do not protect us from stones or thorns will quickly leave us unable to continue walking. An ill-fitting shirt causes much less trouble!
I came across some unusual references to shoes or sandals in the Bible while researching the footwear Jeremiah may have worn. Writing biblical fiction has frequently led me into interesting research and the footwear of the Old Testament is no exception. Continue reading
By Admin | Miscellaneous
The return of Jesus will be like when a husband has worked all through the night and is very tired. After telling his wife that he will get up sometime for lunch, he is finally free to sleep.
And when he rises from sleep, his wife smiles happily and welcomes him gladly. He sees that his lunch is already cooked and sits bubbling on the stove. The table is laid ready, with utensils and a plate in each place. Beside his plate, a glass with a cool drink awaits him. The husband and wife sit down together and share a meal.
I tell you the truth, that man will treasure his wife forever.
In the same way, make sure that you have everything ready for Jesus before he returns.
By Admin | Jehoshaphat
The Bible mentions armour-bearers several times. Their job title would give us the impression that all they did was carry armour, but that is a long way from the truth.
We are never given a full job description for an armour-bearer, but as far as we can tell, they were special bodyguards for important people such as kings, princes or commanders. Continue reading
Jeremiah was a prophet, but he was also a priest.[1] Was he the son of the High Priest? At the start of his book, Jeremiah is described as the son of Hilkiah,[2] and we know that there was a High Priest called Hilkiah in the time of Jeremiah. In references to him, he is called Hilkiah the priest[3] or Hilkiah the High Priest[4] rather than mentioning what his father’s name was, as was a common way of distinguishing between people with the same name. Only in the genealogy of the high priests do we find that his father’s name was Shallum. This consistent use of the name Hilkiah without saying who he was the son of suggests that saying he was a priest was enough to uniquely identify him. Continue reading
The book of Jeremiah is not in chronological order.
Many books of the Bible tell us of events that happened during certain years, and sometimes this is refined to the month and day or even the time of day. Other events, however, are reported with very little to locate them in time. The book of Jeremiah includes some passages that are anchored to particular days, while others are not located in time at all. By itself, this would make it hard enough to work out exactly when things happened in Jeremiah’s life, but the situation is worse than that: even the passages with dates are not in order! Continue reading
Putting the events of the final siege in chronological order can be done with reasonable confidence. The list of events in descriptive point form follows in chronological order. For some of these, we know exact dates, but for most we do not, we only know the order: Continue reading
In our previous article, we listed the three times when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem and then looked in some detail at the second siege. In this article, we look at the third siege, which is the best known and the most devastating of Nebuchadnezzar’s attacks on Jerusalem, resulting in the complete destruction of the city.[1] By that time, Nebuchadnezzar was reigning over a large empire, yet he dedicated almost two years to the conquest of Judah (during the 17th-19th years of his reign[2]). Continue reading
The Bible reports that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem three times:
By Admin | Jeremiah , Minor prophets
2 “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.”
Habakkuk 1:2-4
