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Give Us A KingYou may have learned somewhere that God did not want Israel to have a king. Most Christian churches teach this to youngsters early in Sunday school. But it is wrong. God did want Israel to have a king; he just had a certain kind of k...
MOREJesus commanded his followers to "go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation?" (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8). It took his followers a while to understand the good news and what all the world meant, but as the Holy Spirit ope...
MOREPeople in the ancient world worshipped a multitude of different gods. Each had its own story, its own myth, of the origin, the character, the blessings and curses they offered, and the worship each demanded. These myths often recalled ancient even...
MOREHellenism: Center of the UniverseSatan tempted the first humans in the Garden of Eden in a clever way. "Did God really say...?" (Gen. 3:1) he asked. Adam and Eve were faced with an earthshaking choice. Who or what is the ultimate source ...
MOREHerod's FamilyHerod lay dying in his opulent palace in Jericho. He had been seriously ill for a long time. From the description in Josephus' writings, Herod had gangrene, severe itching, convulsions, and ulcers. His feet were covered with tumors, ...
MOREThe city of AradAs far back as 3,000 BC, a large Canaanite city stood in the Negev, where the small town of Arad sits today. This city probably existed when Abraham and his family lived in Beersheba, a nearby desert region.Arad was eventually dest...
MOREWho Was Baal? Baal was the primary god of the Canaanite fertility cults. He was often depicted as a man with the head and horns of a bull, who carried a lightening bolt symbolizing destruction and fertility.Baal supposedly won his dominance by def...
MOREMany Westerners think of the "green pastures" mentioned in Psalm 23 as tall, lush grasslands like those in North America. But such pastures don't exist in Israel.The regions in Israel where shepherds live are predominantly wilderness are...
MOREDiffering MotivationsHerod the Great thought highly of his abilities and power, and spared no effort to impress the world with his greatness. He was a schemer who feared the loss of his power and ruthlessly destroyed all potential rivals with incr...
MOREMeans "Praise the LORD!" This word is made by putting together two Hebrew words: Hallelu (meaning "praise") and Yah (for the name of God "Yahweh," or "the LORD").
MOREDynasty of Jewish kings belonging to the family also known as the Maccabees.
MOREDecreed king of Judea by the Romans in 40 BC. Poorly accepted by the Jews because of his questionable heritage as a descendant of Esau and a native of Idumaea (Edom). Most infamous for trying to kill the infant Jesus by ordering the slaughter of a...
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