Mike Blogs

God spoke the last line of Chapter 5: "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule as the prophets direct; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?”   If God speaks to us through Scripture, and we believe that God does this, what is God saying to us today through the prophet Jeremiah? First comes a warning we should heed. “Prophets and priests” are religious personnel; so are today's p

Thanks to Luke, we have more insight into Mary’s thoughts, wishes, and suffering than we do for most other women in the Bible. Luke says that he “ investigated everything carefully from the very first.” My own guess is that, among his informants, that is, among the “ eyewitnesses and servants of the word” that he consulted, was Mary. Mary was young when Jesus was born, perhaps just 15, and we know that she lived into the AD 30s because she was at the cross. She could have li

God, through the prophet Jeremiah, is making his last call to the only remaining Jewish state in the ancient world: Judah.   The northern kingdom, which was called Israel, disappeared from the annals of history in 721 BC, one of many conquests of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-609 BC). The people living in Israel were deported in order to prevent them from organizing a rebellion against Assyria. They are sometimes referred to as ‘the ten lost tribes,” but they were not all lost

Did you ever feel like you are not getting the respect that you deserve? Other people are emerging as the big players on the field while you remain on the sidelines. It may be that this wife of David felt that way. Or perhaps early in her lifetime, she was in the game, maybe even cherished by David at one time, but we don’t read much about later in life. Her name was Maacah. She was the mother of Absalom, Tamar, and Hanan. And therein lies the tale.  After Saul and his son Jo

Hope for the nation of Judah? No. God has made that clear. Unless there is mass repentance, that is, the leaders publicly confess their sins and bow only to YHWH and people abandon their idols, ideals, and the ideology of military domination over other nations (power), of the legitimacy of fleecing the lower classes (greed), and the practice of abusing others for their own pleasure (lust). Unless there is widespread repentance and prayers for forgiveness, there is no hope for

Abigail you may have heard of, and David you know; or at least you think you do. Maybe you know the good parts with that one big mistake with Bathsheba. There is more, though, as you will see later.  While David was on the run, King Saul took back his daughter Michal and gave her to another man as his wife. From the devotionals for the last two weeks, we know that during this time he took a widow named Abigail as his wife. We actually know something about her.  However, at ab

Perhaps you have heard about the Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic. He lit a lantern during daylight hours and walked around town. When people asked him what he was doing, he said: “I am looking for an honest man.” Actually, according to the reports of other philosophers, he said he was tired of brutes and animals, so he was looking for a human. Of course, the ‘brutes and animals’ were human beings of little worth, and he could not find a human of any worth. Diogenes lived

Did I say that Abigail was clever? Actually, Scripture says “ The woman was clever and beautiful”  (I Samuel 25: 3). David said that she had good sense. At least one person in the marriage had good sense; Nabal did not.   Nabal failed in the basic community responsibility of hospitality to strangers and visitors. Nabal failed to discern God’s hand in the struggle of David against Saul. Nabal gave harsh treatment to David’s young men without a thought about the possibility of