After many years of reading the Bible, you start to ask questions because you see things that you know were “not there before.” Some of these blogs will be from “old treasures” and some will be “new treasure” because God wants us to keep moving forward going from “glory to glory” in our knowledge of Him.
A great reason to study the Bible on your own is what happened to me because of a place called Lo Debar (2 Samuel 9). A preacher had taught about Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, son of King Saul, who was living in Lo Debar. (see Lo Debar-Why Hide a Grandson There?) ( see Lo Debar – Another Look this is a look at all of the people in the story.)
Lo Debar means “no pasture or no communication”. The negative of the place was so emphasized that I have for 20 years thought that it was a “dump”. Well, another preacher taught about it and did not highlight the “dump” idea, so I knew it was time to study. Part of the study was to go look on Google maps to find where it was, that was fun and it gave me an idea why it may have been called that. One of David’s benefactors (Makir of Ammiel, 2 Sam. 17:27) was from Lo Debar and he brought to David as he ran from Absalom pots, vessels, and bedding, which is what was made in Lo Debar. On further study it seems that 
Lo Debar may have been a gateway to Gilead and important in its protection, so it seems that it may not have been a “dump.” Resources: Atlas of the Bible by Collins, Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance, and Easton’s Bible Dictionary
The map is from http://bibleatlas.org/lo-debar.htm ,the pic is a screen shot from Goggle Earth.
Mark's Bible Study 
If we hear a good speaker make a point we may have reason to accept it on face value. However this can lead to some problems in not seeing the full picture . Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth. Even thougt it took 20 years He is still at work in his faithfulness.
A couple of mounths ago I was sharing with a man that Christ in me was my hope of glory. At that time he asked me how many times I asked the Lord to forgive me of amy sin I may have comitted. I said not as often as I SHOULD. At that time he told me by doing this I was crucifying the Son of Man a new and could loose my salvation. Talk about good news ( not ) . The bad part he was serious! Looked up the verse to see how any one could get that out of what was written.The bad part I had to go back and pick the reaplacement part that was ordered. It got worse the second trip. Thank God for His word of truth.
Sorry that happened. I had someone say the same thing to me many years ago, it did not sound right then and it still does not.
I feel you. Thank God for truth. 🙂
Enjoyed this….tell me more!
I had always heard LoDebar was a desert! Amazing how we can get wrong ideas if we aren’t careful. I just heard a teaching tape on Revelation say that the flames of fire in Rev 4:5 were the churches – this was supposed to be proof that the church is raptured before the tribulation. Actually we are told in Revelation 1:20 that the lampstands are the churches but in 4:5 it says the flames are the seven Spirits of God. The Greek words aren’t even the same so how he got that one, I have no idea! We really need to be careful but the good news is we can know truth if we will look for it.
Look up desert and wilderness in a concordance, deserts (in the NIV) can support life like grazing sheep while a wilderness is the barren place.
Mark, your comment that after several years of reading the Bible, we see things that were not there before is funny and wonderfully true.
Pingback: The Number Eighteen in The Bible | Mark's Bible Study