Category Archives: Bible Study

Jordan vs. Euphrates

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The_Euphrates_Valley_-_Syria,_Kurdistan,_et_cetera_by_Edward_Stanford_Ltd._-_WDL

  • The Jordan River starts near Mount Hermon and flows to the Dead Sea this distance is 124 miles (200 km) but because it meanders it is about 223 miles (360 km) in length.
  • The Euphrates River starts in Turkey near the Ararat Mountains and flows to the Persian Gulf, approximately 1,740 miles (2,800 km).
  • According to Google if you walk from one to the other it could take you 280 hours, about 12 days because it is 862.9 miles (1388.6 km).

The people who have inhabited these two river valleys have been at odds with each other for a very long time. In the Bible, the first mention of this fighting is in Genesis 14 where the kings of Elam and Shinar (Babylon) are attacking the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. The only reason this makes it into the Bible is that Abram’s nephew Lot is taken captive and is being carried away as a slave. Abram (Abraham) along with his allies quickly put a stop to this and chase away the Euphrates River kings. This thrashing went on for more than 40 miles and ended with a recovery of people and property.

http://www.britannica.com

“The Euphrates Valley – Syria, Kurdistan, et cetera by Edward Stanford Ltd. – WDL” by Edward Stanford Ltd. – http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11694/. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Euphrates_Valley_-_Syria,_Kurdistan,_et_cetera_by_Edward_Stanford_Ltd._-_WDL.png#mediaviewer/File:The_Euphrates_Valley_-_Syria,_Kurdistan,_et_cetera_by_Edward_Stanford_Ltd._-_WDL.png

Jehu and the Prophets

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Jehu had contact with at least three prophets (four if you count the one who anointed him) during his lifetime: Elijah, Elisha, and Micaiah. Jehu was an army commander during the days of Ahab and if you put together 2 Kings 9: 24 – 26 and 1 Kings 21: 17 – 23 it is apparent that Jehu was present when Elijah spoke the destruction that was to come to Ahab’s house. I find it interesting when someone is present when a word from the Lord is spoken and years later the hearer of that word is part of the fulfillment of the prophecy. No doubt Jehu would have also heard Elijah’s announcement from the Lord about how Ahab had humbled himself and that the word would come upon his son (1 Kings 21: 29).

As a commander of the army, it is also to be expected that Jehu was present when Micaiah prophesied against Ahab and he died. This should have had an impact on him and how he viewed words from the Lord. But his attitude is hard to read in the story of his anointing. At first, glance, when the young man came with the word from Elisha Jehu, seems to downplay his anointing until the other officers become serious about the oil dripping from his head (See Jehu – The Start). But this show of support may have been what he really wanted to see before he would act openly on that word.

Elisha was the other prophet that he would have been around and you have to wonder if he was the prophet who delivered the word in 2 Kings 10: 30. Jehu was promised and received four generations of his family as kings of Israel (See 2 Kings 15: 12). Elisha was present for Jehu, Jehoahaz, and Jehoash (13: 14). It is a shame that even with all of this help from the Lord Jehu would/could not follow the Lord more closely (10: 31) (See Jeroboam- The Lord Your God for the sin that Israel stayed in). But it must be pointed out that God in His love gave Jehu every chance and three solid men of God to help him.

I still am in awe of God for loving Israel so much that He sent Elijah and Elisha to them andJehoshaphat's Timeline not to Judah. God tried hard to get them to change but they would not. In reading the start of 2 Kings it would seem that Elijah’s chariot ride to heaven happened right after Ahab’s death but he wrote a letter to Jehoram condemning his treachery and pronouncing his death. That could add about nine years before the cloak fell to Elisha. So exactly when all of the miracles in 2 Kings 2 – 8 happened we can not tell because the chronicler talks about kings but does not name them. It is possible that Elijah was alive to see the word he spoke against Ahab come to pass.

Rats in the Bible

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There are not a lot of references to rats or mice (KJV) in the Bible. The first is Leviticus 11: 29 where the eating of rats and other animals is forbidden. They were and are used as food by the people in surrounding countries. You can see Peter’s dream in Acts 10: 12 containing all of these animals.  If you have ever owned mice or hamsters you know they like to surround themselves with their fecal droppings and it is a safe bet that is why God did not want them eaten. The second reference is the one that most people think about when you talk about rats or mice in the Bible; 1 Samuel 6 tells the story when the Philistines have captured the Ark and God inflects them with tumors and they send a guilt offering of golden rats and tumors. The last verse is Isaiah 66:17 were a special curse is reserved for those who go to pagan temples and eat rats. 2 Kings19: 35 historically is connected to rats chewing on equipment and spreading the disease to Sennacherib’s army. Chewing and gnawing on things and destroying fields of grain is what rats/mice do and they are really good at it.

See Rats #2 for ideas about their meaning and appearance in dreams.

Several references will tell you that there are many species of rodents (twenty-three at least) in the land of Israel. They are hamsters, sand rats, Jerboas (a hopping rat with big ears), and a gopher/groundhog/mole-like animal. My NIV concordance specifically listed Jerboas as a possibility for the animal in Samuel. The pictures are a sand rat and the sore is from a parasite that uses them as a host for their larva. If those sores are what the Philistines had no wonder they wanted to get rid of the Ark of God.

Psammomys_obesus_roudairei_(Psammomys_roudairei)_-_Museo_Civico_di_Storia_Naturale_Giacomo_Doria_-_Genoa,_Italy_-_DSC02815                     Leishmaniasis_ulcer

 

 

Jehu – The Start

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Jehu, the army commander, which the Lord commissioned to destroy the house of Ahab and then to rule Israel almost, missed his appointed time. If it were not for the officers that were with him that day he would have ignored the prophet. A look at why the attitude is necessary.

The Northern Kingdom under Jeroboam had diluted the worship of Jehovah and started a new priesthood. Jeroboam had made images of a bull and goat and set them up as the gods of Israel. God’s love was manifested at this time by Him sending prophets to Judah and Israel, but mainly to Israel so that they would not forsake Him (See Prophets of Rehoboam and Jeroboam) but the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat continued. Ahab and Jezebel added to this sin by starting Baal worship and killing off the Lord’s prophets. This confused mixture of religions is what Jehu grew up in. In 2 Kings 9:11 Jehu responds to the mocking of the officers, that called the prophet a “madman” by playing off the anointing. The facts here, however, provoke the officers in verse twelve to keep asking: 1. They recognized the young man as a prophet of the Lord 2. Jehu has oil dripping from his head 3. The young man runs.

Jehu trying to brush off the anointing may have been a “wait and see” response. So when the officers took this scene to the next level by blowing trumpets and spreading cloaks Jehu still responds with a, “If this is how you feel.” Knowledge of the true God was still present and real and the anointing was taken seriously and replaced the mocking but you get the feeling it could have gone either way.

Jehosheba – A Hero

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Jehosheba – A Hero

Jehosheba is definitely not a household name, which is a shame, and is only mentioned in one story of the Bible but her act of bravery is one of the greatest in the Bible. Her story is found in 2 Kings 11 and 2 Chronicles 22: 10 -12. In the KJV two variations of her name are used but the meaning of her name is “Jehovah sworn.” I will apply that meaning to God’s love and promise to David to have one of his heirs on the throne of Israel.

Her story starts with Jehoshaphat’s fixation with the fallen Northern Kingdom of Israel (See – A Warning For Today). Jehoshaphat chose for his son and heir, Jehoram, a wife (Athaliah) from the family of Ahab king of Israel. She was probably the daughter of Jezebel, it is implied but not stated but it would add a deeper twist to the story. Jehoram followed after Israel’s sins and was killed by Jehu when he killed the family of Ahab (2 Kings 9). When this happened Athaliah started to kill off the royal family (her grandchildren) so she could be the ruler of Judah. Jehosheba bravely takes her youngest nephew, Joash, and hides him from her mother. She has already seen her uncles killed by her father so when her mother starts killing her nephews she intervenes. I have no doubt that Athaliah would have killed her own daughter and I am sure that Jehosheba knew that also. For six years Jehosheba and her husband Jehoiada, the priest, hides her nephew until he is seven. This really is a brave, defiant act of righteousness and allowed the promise of God to David to be fulfilled.

FYI: The “sheba” part of Jehosheba is connected with the number seven. “Jeho” is from Jehoshaphat's Timelinethe name of God Jehovah.