All Posts by Mark Morgan

About the Author

Mark Morgan was born in Australia and has been deeply involved in religion all of his life, working as a lay preacher, Sunday School teacher and missionary – trying to balance the many demands of spiritual life with those of family and paid employment, first as an engineer and later as a software developer. Happily married and blessed with eight children, he has spent many years reading the Bible and learning to teach its lessons. Writing Bible-based novels now fills much of his time.

Jul 15

Habakkuk’s Questions – Prayer and Violence

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah , Minor prophets

Habakkuk:

Habakkuk’s questions (Complaints!)

One of Habakkuk’s questions was a simple question we might often have asked ourselves: did God listen to his prayers? But that wasn’t the end if it. Would God answer him? And did Habakkuk want to hear the answers anyway? You see, Habakkuk’s questions weren’t just questions, they were more like complaints.

Habakkuk’s first complaint to God

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

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Jun 03

Polluting the land – spiritual pollution

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah

They worshipped however and whatever they wanted. From Sweet Publishing / FreeBibleImages.org(http://freebibleimages.org/illustrations/moses-golden-calf/ Slide 3) License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Can a land be unclean?

When I was growing up, my family followed a Bible reading chart to make sure that we read all of God’s word and not just the parts that seem initially to be more interesting.  After a while I started to recognise that there were some fascinating details in unexpected places – including God’s opinion of what moral or spiritual pollution is.

As a teenager, I noticed that there were several times during the year when we read of various things that made the land of Israel unclean. But was it the physical earth of the land that was meant or did it mean something else?

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Jan 10

The prophet Habakkuk

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah , Minor prophets

What should we call him:

Habakkuk the prophet

Habakkuk was a prophet in ancient Judah.  We do not know exactly when his visions took place, but in some ways it doesn’t matter, since his questions are universal and the answers can be easily applied to any time.

God chose people to be his prophets and they delivered his messages.  False prophets chose themselves and delivered whatever messages they wanted – probably often whatever would get them the most popularity and power.  God criticises them often (Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 13:9, 22:28; Jeremiah 5:31), particularly towards the end of the life of the nation of Judah.

This was the time when Habakkuk prophesied.

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Dec 11

Were prophets and priests meant to fight?

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah

Many of God’s prophets predicted God’s judgement on Israel would come through attacking nations.  Jeremiah predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would attack Judah from the north.  He was also a priest.  Were prophets and priests meant to fight?

Are there any examples we can learn from?

Elisha the prophet was with the army of Israel when Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram king of Israel and the king of Edom went to attack Mesha the king of Moab (2 Kings 3:9-12). We don’t know if he was there to fight or just sent by God to make sure that a prophet was available when one was needed.

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Nov 08

Joseph’s timeline and family tree

By Mark Morgan | Family trees , Joseph , Timelines

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and then Joseph: here are Joseph’s timeline and family tree in multiple languages.

Joseph’s life – timeline

Joseph lived for 110 years – which seems like a long time to us, but was significantly shorter than the lives of his ancestors, including his father Jacob, who died at the age of 147.

Only a small part – just 11 years – of Joseph’s life was spent in the land of Canaan. About 93 years were spent in Egypt.Continue reading

Oct 16

Babylonian or Chaldean?

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah

Babylonian or Chaldean – what is the difference?

While reading some parts of the Bible I have always wondered about the names “Chaldea” and “Babylon”.  In the past I have always let my uncertainties drift along, while my questions remained unanswered.  Were the two just different names for the same place; did the names change with time?  Why were the differences there?  This time, I decided that I needed to know properly! Continue reading

Sep 18

Where was Joseph’s prison?

By Mark Morgan | Joseph

Where was the prison?:

Where was Joseph’s prison?

Joseph was sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt where he was sold as a slave to an Egyptian called Potiphar. After some time, Joseph was falsely accused of attempting to rape his master’s wife and thrown into prison.

It may not seem a very interesting question to you, but: Where was Joseph’s prison?Continue reading

Aug 21

What should we call him?

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah

What should we call him:

What should we call him?

Many of us have nicknames that only our friends would use. Others may have a short form of their name that most people will use and friends may use a longer form. With a name like “Mark” no-one can shorten it much, so sometimes friends call me “Marcus” instead!

In the Bible there are many people who are given more than one name. Abraham and Sarah were names given by God to replace the their original names. Jacob was renamed Israel and even King Solomon was given another name. Can you think of other examples? If you can, why not send me a list?Continue reading

Jun 26

Weapons and warfare

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah

Weapons and warfare:

Weapons and warfare

The study of history is difficult. Written records do not always tell the whole picture (and some records don’t even tell the truth!), while archaeology can only analyse what is found. Altogether, this will always give us an incomplete picture. An example of this in relation to warfare is shown when some people conclude from archaeology that the Babylonians did not have bows. In such cases, the Bible can add to our knowledge as history written at the time, or even before the events took place. The Bible has a few references to bows and arrows being used by the Babylonians. One of them is the chilling warning found in Jeremiah 5:16 that “Their quiver is like an open grave” (see also Jeremiah 6:23 and Jeremiah 51:56). The threat of the attacking Chaldean army was very real.Continue reading

May 06

Seals and signets

By Mark Morgan | Jeremiah

Seals and signets:

Seals and signets

When God challenged righteous Job to acknowledge his sovereignty, he said that the light of dawn makes the features of the landscape stand out in the same way as when clay is shaped under a seal (Job 38:12-14). The glare of light can highlight the detail of shapes in just the same way as the glare of truth can highlight dishonesty. Seals and signets were used to avoid dishonesty, so let’s see how.

Why use a seal?

Throughout the Bible we read of people sealing documents to make sure they were not changed. A scribe would use damp clay to form a seal, then press a carved object into it.  Anyone trying to tamper with the document would damage the impression left in the clay.Continue reading

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