PRIDE AND repentance are the themes of this week’s Old Testament study. First we discuss the Book of Jonah, a short four-chapter study in obedience to God and His mercy toward those who repent.
Then we look at the kings of Israel and Judah during the second half of the 8th century B.C. (750-700 B.C.), especially Azariah (Uzziah), who led Judah to its period of greatest power and prosperity since the days of Solomon. Unlike the king of Nineveh, who was spared from destruction when he chose to repent in sackcloth and ashes, Uzziah responded with anger when the priests in the Temple stopped the king from burning incense in the Temple. This was a sin of disobedience for which the sons of Aaron were struck dead; Uzziah got off relatively easy with a case of leprosy.
We had some time left at the end of our readings today so we discussed the concept of divine weapons in the ancient Near East. Archaeologists have discovered that pagan temples often contained weapons that were believed to have been wielded by the gods. We talk about the clubs of Hadad (AKA Baal), with which the storm-god defeated the chaos-god of the sea, Yamm, and the mysterious weapon of Dagan. Scholars don’t know what that was, only that it required copper, the hide of some kind of beast, and animal fat. Hmm.
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Derek’s new book The Great Inception: Satan’s PSYOPs from Eden to Armageddon will be available very soon! For a free preview, click here for a series of articles drawn from material in the book.
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