Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments and his commandments, alway. And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, and his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day; and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place; and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel: but your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did. Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land the floweth with milk and honey. For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.-Deuteronomy 11:1-12
Reference Scriptures:From the Bible: people, places, lessons, and stories described and put in categories.
Sunday, December 31, 2023
Year In and Year Out
Saturday, December 30, 2023
A Prayer Request
Friday, December 29, 2023
Rejoicing, Rejoice and Joy
publican = telones = tax collector, one who worked at the tollhouse collecting taxes from the Israelites for the Roman Empire
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Seen for Herself
The queen of Sheba
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice. And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.-1 Kings 10:1-10
And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones. And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day.-1 Kings 10:11-12
And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.-1 Kings 10:13***Before the Lord God rained brimstone and fire upon Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, the Lord God spoke of and to Abraham (Abram the Hebrew), the man he knew would command his children and household after him to do justice and judgment, leading them to do what is right and just. David was an Israelite from the tribe of Judah, descended from Abraham and his wife Sarah (Sarai), their son Isaac and his wife Rebekah, Isaac and Rebekah's youngest fraternal twin son Jacob (Israel) and his 1st wife Leah, and Jacob and Leah's 4th born son Judah. Over a decade after David was born, Samuel the priest, prophet and judge from the tribe of Jacob and Leah's 3rd born son Levi, anointed David to reign as king over the Israelites in the Promised Land, according to the command of the Lord god. When David was 30 years old, he began to reign only over the tribe of Judah. When David was 37 1/2 years old, he became the 2nd king to rule over all of the Israelites in the Promised Land, the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. Before 70-year-old David died, Solomon became the 3rd king to rule over all of the Israelites. Gibeon was in the portion of the Promised Land allotted to the tribe of Benjamin, the Israelites descended from Jacob and his 2nd wife Rachel, and Jacob and Rachel's 2nd and last son Benjamin. The tabernacle and the altar of burnt offering were in Gibeon. When Solomon was in Gibeon, he sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings to the Lord God. The same night, the Lord God appeared to Solomon in a dream and told Solomon to make a request. Solomon asked the Lord God to give him wisdom, knowledge, and an understanding heart to judge the Israelites. The Lord God spoke to Solomon and gave Solomon a wise and an understanding heart, riches, wealth, honor, and the possibility of long life. In Jerusalem, during the 4th year of Solomon's 40-year reign, Solomon began building the temple of the Lord. King Hiram, ruler of Tyre, sent Solomon trees from Lebanon, according to Solomon's request. During the 7th year after the foundation of the temple was laid, the 11th year of Solomon's reign, the workers finished building the temple, and each sacred item was put in its proper place. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal that Solomon was the wisest man, spoke 3,000 proverbs, spoke knowledgeably about trees and wildlife, received 120 talents of gold from Hiram, and at least 420 talents of gold, and regularly received an abundance of silver and gold from other foreign kings and visitors. Moreover, silver and gold were abundant in Jerusalem during Solomon's reign. The queen of Sheba visited Solomon and gave Solomon approximately 4 tons of gold. Throughout Solomon's reign, Solomon was married to 700 idol worshiping princesses from foreign kingdoms, and Solomon became an idolater. Rehoboam, the son born to Solomon and Naamah, was the 4th king to rule over all of the Israelites. After Rehboam gave a specific answer, the Israelites split into 2 kingdoms, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of Solomon. Judah was the nation in the south, Jerusalem was the royal city and Rehoboam was the 1st king to reign. Israel was the northern nation, Samaria was the final royal city, and Jeroboam, the son born to Nebat and Zeruah, was the 1st king to reign. Less than 200 years after Jeroboam's son Nadab became the 2nd king to rule the northern nation, the Assyrians invaded the kingdom and conquered Samaria, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Rehoboam's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson Zedekiah (Mattaniah) was the 19th king to rule Judah. During the 11th year of Zedekiah's reign, the Babylonians (Chaldeans) conquered Jerusalem, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Over 500 years after Israelites began returning to Judah and Jerusalem, John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, were born. John the Baptist was born into the tribe of Levi to Zechariah (Zacharias) the priest and his wife Elizabeth (Elisabeth). Jesus the Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Elizabeth's relative Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Judah's kings, to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin. Approximately 30 years after Jesus was born to Joseph and Mary, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Jesus having prayed, the heavens tearing open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and lit upon Jesus. The Lord God in heaven audibly acknowledged his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert wilderness. Jesus fasted 40 days and nights and was tempted. Afterwards, Jesus was tended to by angels, and Jesus went to the area near John the Baptist, and John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, and testified that Jesus is the Son of God. In Galilee, Jesus told specific Israelite men to follow him, and Jesus began to preach, teach and perform miracles among the Israelites, the treasured and chosen people of the Lord God. While teaching his disciples and other listeners, Jesus spoke about Solomon. When Jesus was answering a group of scribes and Pharisees, Jesus spoke about the queen of the south, widely regarded to be the queen of Sheba.-Genesis 11:26-50:26, Exodus, Numbers 13:1-14:45, 20:1-29, 26:1-27:23, Deuteronomy 31:1-34:12, Joshua 1:1-4:24, 23:1-24:33, Judges 1:1-2:23, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles 1:1-34, 2:1-17, 3:1-24, 6:1-81, 10:1-29:30, 2 Chronicles, Jeremiah 39:1-18, 52:1-34, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26
Reference Information:Wednesday, December 27, 2023
From This to This and This to This and This
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.-Genesis 5:1...And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.-Genesis 5:28-29