Sheep and shepherds were so much a part of the Biblical world, it's no wonder Jesus uses the imagery as a metaphor in several of His teachings. The shepherds of His day knew every one of the animals in their flock by sight and spent their lives pr... MORE
The Colosseum in Rome is famous for many reasons, not least of which because it was built by the spoils of war from the destruction of Jerusalem, the military defeat of the Jews. In the Roman world, it was assumed that if Caesar was... MORE
Jesus came with a unique message, preaching to the Jewish people that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). But from the beginning, there was another king who hates the shalom that God creates and loves life’... MORE
When the time came for God to choose a people, He didn’t pick the strongest kingdom He could find. He chose the weak, the nobodies – a family that would become the nation of Israel. God rescued them from Egypt and brought them into the... MORE
Over and over in the Bible, God used the image of fire to illustrate His power, holiness, and passionate love for His people. The fire on Mount Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments was just such a display of power, highlighting the holin... MORE
Interestingly, when God chose a person to lead His people out of Egypt by the power of His word, He chose Moses, a man with a speech impediment. In this lesson, consider the implications of allowing His strength to work in weakness as you discover... MORE
In the story of God making Himself known to His people, Passover is a foundational element. As the continuation of this redemptive process, the Lord's Supper finds its most profound meaning when taken in the context of Passover imagery. In this le... MORE
Of all the parables Jesus told, the one we call "The Prodigal Son" is possibly the most famous. In the story, a younger son demands his inheritance from his father and leaves the family behind, taking his riches to a far country. The imp... MORE
It was customary in the Roman world to consider the emperor a divine being. New emperors would claim this status because they believed that when the previous ruler died, he would ascend to heaven to be seated among the gods, making ... MORE
At one point during his ministry, the Apostle Paul was at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. He was accused by some Jews of bringing a Gentile into the courts where only Jews were allowed. He hadn’t, but they thought he did and a riot started. W... MORE
THE PEOPLE OF THE PALM BRANCHThe history of impassioned defense of freedom and the right to serve God alone was vivid in the collective memory of the people of Jesus' day. Only 150 years earlier, the deeply religious supporters of the Hasmonaeans ...
The term Zealot technically applies to a person who belonged to the party or "philosophy" that began in Gamla, but it is often applied to all Jewish rebels who resisted Roman authority and Jewish collaborators.For generations, the Zealot...
City in southern Judea controlled by Philistines. Achish, king of the Philistine city of Gath, gave Ziklag to David before David became king of Israel. David used the city as a base to expand his power with the people of Judea.
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