...................................................................LET US LEARN TOGETHER WHAT IS GOOD. Job 34:4b(NIV)................................................................Some people see the Bible as a long and boring book filled with incidents and events from the lives of ancient people who probably never existed. The biblical stories are seen as fables. Romans 15:4 (KJV) reveals: For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. In this blog, many of the situations and conversations found in the divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible have been placed in categories that correspond to expressive sayings and phrases. Reference information, background information and links connecting the people and places are given to help you find a place to begin reading the Bible for yourself.

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Look, See, He's Trying to Start with Me

King Jehoram and Elisha the prophet

And it came to pass after this, that Ben-hadad king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day. But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See ye how this son of a murderer hath sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger cometh, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down into him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?-2 Kings 6:24-33***Joshua was an Israelite from the tribe of Ephraim, descended from Abraham (Abram the Hebrew) and Sarah (Sarai), Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob (Israel) and his 2nd wife Rachel, their firstborn son Joseph and his wife Asenath, and Joseph and Asenath's 2nd born son Ephraim, whom Jacob proclaimed to be his own son. Aaron and his younger brother Moses were Israelites from the tribe of Levi, descended from Jacob and his 1st wife Leah and their 3rd born son Levi. Forty years after Moses and Aaron led the Israelites away from Egyptian slavery, across the divinely parted Red Sea, into the desert wilderness of Shur, and the desert wilderness of Sin, and the desert wildness of Sinai, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died upon Mount Hor, according to the commands of the Lord God. Near the Promised Land, Moses began proclaiming his last messages to the Israelites, and spoke about the king they would appoint to rule over them, and the blessings that would come upon and overtake the Israelites if they listened to the voice of the Lord God and obeyed his commandments, and the curses that would come upon and overtake them if they did not listen to the voice of the Lord God and did obey his commandments and statutes. When Moses went upon Mount Nebo, the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet died, and was divinely buried. Joshua was Moses' aide and successor. The Lord God spoke to Joshua, and Joshua sent 2 spies to Canaan, the Promised Land, and Rahab hid the spies, and the spies returned, and Joshua led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. After 110-year-old Joshua died, and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, the Israelites were led by elders, judges and their own minds. Samuel the priest, prophet and judge was born into the tribe of Levi to Elkanah and Hannah. When Samuel was elderly, and his sons Joel (Vashni) and Abiah (Abijah) were not obeying the commands of the Lord God, and King Nahash and his Ammonite army were preparing to attack, the Israelite elders demanded that Samuel appoint a king to lead them, and Samuel anointed Saul, from the tribe of Jacob and Rachel's 2nd and last son Benjamin, to reign, according to the command of the Lord God. At Gibeah of God (the hill of God), the Spirit of God came upon Saul. At least twice, Saul did not obey the commands of the Lord God. Samuel told Saul that the Lord God rejected Saul from being king and had torn the kingdom from Saul. David was from the tribe of Jacob and Leah's 4th born son Judah, and lived in Bethlehem and was a man after God's own heart. While Saul reigned, the Lord God sent Samuel to anoint David to reign as king, and the Spirit of the came upon David, and the Spirit of the departed from Saul. After Saul heard about David's skills, strength, appearance, and favor with the Lord God, he commanded that David's father Jesse send David to him, and David began serving as a musician and an armor-bearer for Saul. Amid the Valley of Elah, David killed and beheaded Goliath the gigantic Philistine. David and Jonathan, Saul's son, made a covenant. The Israelite women sang of David higher than they sang of Saul, and Saul was angry. Saul wanted to kill David, and became afraid of David, and sent David on missions to get killed, and commanded others, including Jonathan, to kill David. Saul's daughter Michal was married to David and helped David escape from their home. After the Philistines killed Jonathan and his brothers Malchishua and Abinadab (Ishui?), and Saul's self-inflicted death on the same battlefield, men from the tribe of Judah anointed 30-year-old David, and David began to reign only over the tribe of Judah. Saul's son Ishbosheth (Eshbaal) ruled over the other Israelite tribes. Sometime after Ishbosheth was murdered, the Israelite elders went to David, and David made a covenant with them. The elders anointed 37-year-old David, and David began to rule over all of the Israelite tribes. Before 70-year-old David died, Solomon, a son born to David and Bathsheba, became  the 3rd king. Rehoboam, the son born to Solomon and Naamah, was the 4th king to rule over all of the Israelites. After Rehoboam 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. Ahab was the 7th king to rule over all of the Israelites in the northern nation of Israel. During Ahab's 22-year reign, Elijah  the prophet began proclaiming the words of the Lord God to the Israelites. Ahaziah, a son born to Ahab and Jezebel, was the 8th king to rule over all of the Israelites in the northern nation of Israel, and Ahaziah's brother Jehoram (Joram) was the 9th king. At the Jordan River, Elijah went up into heaven by a whirlwind. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal that Elijah's successor Elisha the prophet proclaimed the words of the Lord God to the Israelites. The king of Syria (Aram) launched an attack during Jehoram's 12-year reign, and Elisha sent warnings to Jehoram. The king of Syria sent troops to capture Elisha, and Elisha prayed to the Lord God, and the Lord God struck the Syrians with blindness, according to Elisha's prayer. Sometime thereafter, Benhad-dad, king of Syria, launched another attack and established a blockade around Samaria. The murder and cannibalism that involved at least 1 child and 2 women in Samaria led Jehoram to pronounce a vow against Elisha. Over 800 years after Elisha died and was buried, and a dead man began living again after contact with Elisha's bones, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, was born. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem into the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Judah's kings, to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin.-Genesis, Exodus, Numbers 13:1-14:45, 20:1-29, 26:1-27:23, Deuteronomy 31:1-34:1-12, 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, 2 Chronicles, Ezra 1:11, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26

Reference Information
cab = haqqab/qab = a small hollow unit of dry measure

ere = beterem/terem = before  

fourscore = bismonim = shmoniym/shmoneh/shemmoneh = eighty

rent = wayyiqra = qara = tore

within =  mibbayit = bayith = banah =  underneath, inside

Reference Scriptures
I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.-Leviticus 26:13...And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall  ye eat.-Leviticus 26:27-29

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:-Deuteronomy 28:15...And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:-Deuteronomy 28:53

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