The period after the return from exile was one of deep confusion for Israel. For while she had indeed been set free from captivity, the deliverance was partial at best. The Persians remained the sovereign political and military power in the region (later replaced by a series of empires beginning with Alexander the Great and...
Tag: understanding the old testament
Understanding the Bible 12: God’s Promise of Restoration
Waiting is profoundly difficult; all the more so when you know the one you are waiting one is capable of acting immediately. Yet this is God’s call to exiled Israel – to wait upon the Lord for the day of salvation (in this case release from captivity). But this waiting is not to be passive...
Understanding the Bible 10: The Prophets and Their Warnings
What is prophecy in the Bible? And what is a prophet? And why do I feel I want little to do with either? My personal allergy to the word “prophecy” stems from the fact that most contemporary discussion thereof involve a vast departure from the biblical understanding. From Harold Camping’s dating of the end of...