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Tag: kings

a Failure of Kings Advent 4 of Christ
What do you think about Kings?
- Do you have a Sovereign?
- Would you like to follow one?
Who is your King?

Perhaps your gut response would be no different than that of the high priests of Jerusalem at the capital trial of Jesus.

The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

Gospel of John 19:15b King James Version

You may say that WE have no religious leaders in charge of a nation. But look closer at leadership titles where you will discover priests in politics. And don’t miss some presidents, premiers, prime ministers and even kings governing as Caesars.

Descendants of Abraham did not always have kings, nor did the kings of Israel, Judah and Judea always have power.

a reminder of Roger@TalkofJesus.com

a glance at kings of the Promised Land

Previously we witnessed pre-history as a timeline, essentially beginning again from the restoration of life at the time of NOAH.

Now is the Time Christmas Advent 3

Which kings in history have been successful and which kings were a failure?

TODAY, before we proceed to the recognized historical kings of Israel let’s also consider others from the Mosaic record.

kings and princes mentioned by Moses

mālaḵ verb, מָלַךְ

Strong’s H4427 in the following manner: reign (289x), king (46x), made (4x), queen (2x).. more

And Bela the son of Beor reigned^H4427 in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
- KINGS of cities (or later City-States in places such as Greece)
- Perhaps Prince would fit better.
- Or maybe, Mayor? (But they were military generals as well.)
meleḵ מֶלֶךְ

The KJV translates Strong’s H4428 in the following manner: king (2,518x), misc..

That these made war with Bera king^H4428 of Sodom, and with Birsha king^H4428 of Gomorrah, Shinab king^H4428 of Admah, and Shemeber king^H4428 of Zeboiim, and the king^H4428 of Bela, which is Zoar.

Genesis 14:2 King James Version

These are just a few of the kings who made war. (That’s what Kings tend to do.) Therefore, Abraham (a Prince without a city. So like these kings and generals he was treated as a king when he helped them win a battle.

And Melchizedek king H4428 of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

14:18 וּמַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם הוֹצִיא לֶחֶם וָיָיִן וְהוּא כֹהֵן לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן׃

Melchizedek NOT just the mayor of Jerusalem or a mere Prime Minister or even Prince (as Abraham was generally treated) — the כֹּהֵן – kōhēn – Priest of ʿelyôn ‘ēl –

THE MOST HIGH GOD לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן׃

IF in this 21st century of the Common Era WE independent evangelists (who know nothing of kings) attempt to compare Abraham, Melchizedek, David or Solomon to any common Caesar of this day,

or

IF WE anoint JESUS with simply the same royal title of any King (such as Charles),

THEN WE miss many overlapping roles of Sovereignty the Lord God gave to these men

AS WELL AS equally important roles of the Christ our High Priest and our Prophet dismissed and diminished by the common Caesar’s of these last days.

Roger@TalkofJesus.com

Kings of the Promised People

From a promise of the LORD to Abraham, a king without a country,

to David conquering King uniting twelve tribes, Solomon son of David built the Temple and an Empire.

You will be as familiar with the Dan to Beersheba borders as me.

Additionally you may have discerned that Solomon conquered to the north beyond Damascus as far as Tiphsah on the Euphrates River [1 Kings 4:24].

Solomon a distant memory of success

The Jews of Jesus’ incarnate days had visualized their glorious past in the empire of Solomon. These contemporaries of Jesus nostalgically recalled Solomon as a Caesar of Israel in his time.

From ~989 B.C. until his death in ~931 B.C. Solomon’s influence extended even into all the nearby world.

Centuries of Failed Kings Before Christ
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We still have not reached the center of all history and the Advent of the Messiah of Israel now to be predicted by the Prophets. 

Keep in mind that now Israel and Judah will have separate kings eventually overruled by conquering kings.
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King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh [king of Egypt]—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.

2 These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.”

1 Kings 11:1-2 BSB

Christian preaching makes much of monogamy here while ignoring common customs of marriage alliances between political rulers of nations through intermarriage. Yet the LORD had forbidden it.

And incentives inviting our cultural bias against the True God of Israel continue as a leaven diluting a Common Era Church to this day.

Frequently forced alliances led to the fall of Israel [722 BC] and decline through gradual apostasy compromised Judah just a century later [606 BC].

606 B.C. Some captives taken to Babylon. (Daniel included)

597 B.C. More captives taken to Babylon. (Ezekiel included)

586 B.C. Jerusalem is destroyed by fire.

Kings of Chosen Captives

Without dwelling on all the kings of both Israel and Judah who ‘did evil in the sight of the LORD,’ we’ll move forward to those left powerless by defeat and the refining of the Lord our God.

2 Kings 17 – Failure of Israel

3 Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria.

And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year.

Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
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Egypt's king (not so much a god and Pharoah to an Assyrian king) wouldn't help Hoshea out of his political servitude to Shalmaneser king of Assyria. 

Does this king's representative vassal relationship sound somewhat prophetic of a later Herodian whoredom with Rome?
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Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria…

2 Kings 17:5-6a ESV ~724BC -722 BC

Meanwhile, back in Judah

Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. No king of Judah was like him, either before him or after him. He remained faithful to the LORD and did not turn from following Him; he kept the commandments that the LORD had given Moses.

7And the LORD was with Hezekiah, and he prospered wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and refused to serve him. 8He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its borders, from watchtower to fortified city.

2 Kings 18:5-8 BSB
- 701 B.C. 200,000 of the inhabitants of Judah captured by Sennacherib
- 621 B.C. Nineveh, Assyria falls to Babylon and Media (the Medes)
- 586 B.C Judah falls to Babylon, the rebuilt Temple destroyed and captured families of the leading Jews led captive to Babylonia
Flight of the Prisoners, Artist: Tissot, Photographer: John Parnell, Photo © The Jewish Museum, New York

600 years Before Christ, No more Kings of Israel;

No King of the Jews in Jerusalem!

Hope only for a few

Biblical Foundations of Freedom

The Prophesy of Isaiah, with some familiar to Christians as prophesy foreseeing the Messiah born in Bethlehem of Judea (formerly Judah), is set earlier than what we have just read in the context of the divided kingdom.

Isaiah 10:

Here in part is Isaiah’s and the LORD’s lament:

11 ” ‘..shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images

as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’ ”

19 And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few

that a child could write them down.

22 For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.

Two mote Empires (Before Christ & Rome)
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For those who like me may have occasionally fallen asleep in history class I'll make this rise and fall of three Empires brief.
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- a remnant does return to Jerusalem and rebuilds its wall and Temple
  - 536 B.C. Cyrus the Great permitted the return. 49,897 Jews returned from Babylon to Jerusalem.
- 516 B.C. The temple was completed. source
  - (Jerusalem will later get a Governor, Nehemiah and a Priest, Ezra),
  - But still no King since they are subjects of Persia.
If not a king, how about a Queen?

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Esther 2:17 KJV

Yet Esther becomes co-regent of the Medes and Persians [~478 B.E.] not simply a small remote city of Jerusalem.
- Malachi’s prophecy likely came sometime after the ministry of Nehemiah around BC 458-445.
- Malachi is the last prophet to speak before Christ.
  - source
Before Caesars, Greeks

The advent of Christ takes place in Judea and beyond, documented in Greek texts as was the whole New Testament. Persia.

It’s a period of some 400 years Before Christ.

Jews from Persia in the east, in Samaria to the north and even west as far as Rome became divided in their interest in the Bible given by Moses and the Prophets.

Thanks to Alexander the Great, the nearby world of the Herod’s and Jews spoke Greek (not Hebrew or certainly not the Latin of Rome).

In the timeline of all history Rome’s consequent defeat of other kings, princes and generals after Alexander’s death and division of yet another Empire would set the stage for the birth of a King from before all time born into it in a little Judean town unnoticed by a vassal King appointed by Caesar, a king of a captive Israel actually raised in distant Rome.

These centuries of ADVENT lead up to a glorious day central to all of history and all of mankind.

NEXT: Christmas 2024 of the Common Era, God-willing
December 22, 2024
DOCTRINE – WHO SAYS?
GOD IS One and FIRST

Is God’s TRUTH not found in SCRIPTURE?

“How long will you waver between two opinions?
If the LORD is God, follow him.
1 Kings 18:21b CSB – the question of the Prophet Elijah to the sons of Israel and false prophets at Mount Carmel

It’s a great QUESTION Elijah asks of men ‘limping between two opinions’ [LSB].

Wouldn’t it logically follow to ASK the same QUESTION of TRUTH?

IF Yᵊhōvâ IS ĕlōhîm come to HIM — the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

GOD is first in my life. Do YOU have a problem with that?
Roger @ Talk of JESUS .com

God’s TRUTH

As a matter of fact,
- MOST people do have a problem with putting GOD and Jesus Christ FIRST and before all else.
- Many refuse to study TRUTH of what GOD has revealed for human creatures to consider.
Why Study GOD ?
- I have already provided an initial reason AND DEFINITIONS related to doctrine in a brief introductory apologetic.
a Brief Apologetic for Doctrine

“Have centuries of history defined by the word of Almighty GOD fallen into a bottomless black hole of godless futility?” – RH
- In my previous look at The LORD God I intentionally offered only QUESTIONS for YOUR consideration without reference quoting the Bible.
Theology always Begins with GOD

“Acceptable Doctrines of the Common Era include a PAN-THEON poised in aTheist theory, pagan myth and stone-cold idols of every egregious god and any false prophet. – RH
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SO NOW WHAT? (Do YOU have answers?)
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the QUESTIONS of doctrine-based Theology

What is God? – Q4 Westminster Shorter Catechism
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In case you haven't done your homework, I'll provide an introductory ANSWER HERE, although You'll have to READ the (9) Scriptural answers on your own [referenced in the link above] from which this DOCTRINE is rooted.
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Quest. 4. What is God?
Ans. 4. God is a Spirit,(1) infinite,(2) eternal,(3) and unchangeable,(4) in his being,(5) wisdom,(6) power,(7) holiness,(8) justice, goodness, and truth(9)
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WHY STUDY GOD?

IF God is all of this (and more), why would we NOT study more about the Almighty, Eternal and Good LORD, WHO IS the Creator of all things and initiator and sustainer of our own life?

Certainly YOU have more QUESTIONS about GOD
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Perhaps you have questions similar to those I suggested last time from DOCTRINE taught through the Baltimore Catechism, which was formerly and formally endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church *before this Common Era).
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* officially replaced by the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults in 2004 C.E.
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Who is God?

Why did God make you?
1. Q. Is there but one God?
  A. Yes; there is but one God.
2. Q. Why can there be but one God?
  A. There can be but one God, because God, being supreme and infinite, cannot have an equal.
3. Q. How many Persons are there in God?
  A. In God there are three Divine Persons, really distinct, and equal in all things-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Source: https://sacred-texts.com/chr/balt/balt1.htm *

DISCLAIMER About Sacred-Texts – This site is .. about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics.

[*note this aTheist approach]
‘This site has no particular agenda other than promoting religious tolerance and scholarship.’
the Baseless questions of philosophers and scholars

Scholarship, teaching and atheistic claims as an ‘unbiased‘ or ‘scientific approach” to theological and anthropological QUESTIONS frequently lack the logic and truth they claim.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

There is ONE GOD and one TRUTH.

“How long will you be limping between two opinions?
1 Kings 18:21b LSB

All of us have become like something unclean…

“Now I know this: that you are a man of God and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth.”
1 Kings 17:24 LSB – witness of a widow in Zarephath of Elijah after the Prophet raised her son from the dead

Answers of TRUTH through Scripture

All Scripture
is God-breathed
and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness
2 Timothy 3:15 LSB – θεόπνευστος [inspired by God]

This is NOT to say that the BIBLE contains ALL TRUTH, but that those things revealed by the Lord God through Scripture are TRUE and reliable.

IF any man should claim some additional ‘truth,’ NOT found in the Bible, THEN this humankind creature made in God’s image imagines the unprovable (even IF its human claim is ‘science‘).

Are ALL truths EQUAL?

OF COURSE NOT!

What claim of man can stand against GOD?

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.

The instruction of the LORD is perfect..

the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy..

The precepts of the LORD are right..

the command of the LORD is radiant..

The fear of the LORD is pure,

enduring forever;

the ordinances of the LORD are reliable

and altogether righteous.
Psalm 19:1,7a,c,8a,c,9 CSB

The LORD Speaks!

בָרִים (Deuteronomy) 4:1 וְעַתָּה יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁמַע אֶל־הַחֻקִּים וְאֶל־הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְלַמֵּד אֶתְכֶם לַעֲשׂוֹת לְמַעַן תִּחְיוּ וּבָאתֶם וִירִשְׁתֶּם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם נֹתֵן לָכֶם׃

“Then the LORD spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice. – Deuteronomy 4:12

“The LORD spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain. Deuteronomy 5:4

“The LORD spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and total darkness on the mountain; he added nothing more.

He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Deuteronomy 5:22

Inerrancy of the Bible

inerrant /ĭn-ĕr′ənt/

adjective
1. Incapable of erring; infallible.
2. Containing no errors. Of or pertaining to inerrancy.
3. Without error, particularly used in reference to the Bible.
  - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition •
“.. the Bible says that God’s words are the ultimate standard of truth.

If the entire Scripture contains the communication of God to humanity,

then it can be logically inferred that its contents will reflect the perfect nature of God.

The logical result of these truths is that God’s Word is without error in everything that it says.

Therefore, it is proper to call the Bible inerrant, infallible or a number of other terms that Christians use to describe its nature.
Source: Don Stewart :: Does the Bible Testify to Its Own Inerrancy?

True Witnesses of God’s Word

This was the appearance of the likeness of the LORD’s glory. When I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking. He said to me,

“Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak with you.”

As he spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and I listened to the one who was speaking to me.
Ezekiel 1:28b-2:2 CSB

Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the speaker, “How long will the events of this vision last — .. While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me someone who appeared to be a man. I heard a human voice calling from the middle of the Ulai:

“Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”

So he approached where I was standing; when he came near, I was terrified and fell facedown.

“Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision refers to the time of the end.”
Daniel 8:13a, 15-17 CSB

a Voice from the cloud

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. Suddenly,

Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light…

While he [Peter] was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said,

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him! ”
Gospel of Matthew 17:5b [vs.1-3,5]

Why study God through the Word of Scripture?

God-willing, we will study this question further NEXT in our look at Doctrines of the Common Era.

Our point today is that Truth comes from God and not from mankind (humankind, scientists and philosophers).

The Source of Truth is exclusive to God and what the Lord chooses to reveal to some or all of his mortal human creatures.

Believe in God and Know the Truth

You believe in God; believe also in me.
Gospel of John 14:1b NET

Jesus replied,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father
except through me.
Gospel of John 14:6 NET

Talk of JESUS .com

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
May 25, 2024
Jerusalem – a City Stirred Up
Then the whole city was provoked…
Acts of the Apostles 21:30 NASB20

CROWD REACTIONS with violence, retribution and vengeance, WAR between two opposing forces where some claim PEACE while others besiege it with competing claims of war and tolerance…

Nothing is new under the sun, most especially in Israel !

Jerusalem, Jerusalem!

~ In the year of our Lord 30

So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.

Look, your house is left to you desolate.
Gospel of Matthew 23:37-38 NIV {in context of vs. 31-39}

JESUS had testified against these same leading trouble-makers.

Now the Apostle Paul has returned to the same Jerusalem where many years before this up and coming Saul of Tarsus had stood with the leaders of the Temple who then stoned Stephen to death.

https://talkofjesus.com/stephen-indictment-of-our-founding-fathers

~ A.D. 32 – Stephen martyred in Jerusalem
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* ALL estimates of YEARS are provided for chronological comparison to other events and for historical context.
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*approximately A.D. 54-55

https://talkofjesus.com/mission-to-macedonia-with-more-exhortation

Paul has also encountered these zealous Jews in many cities throughout the ten years of his three missionary journeys; including in Ephesus of Asia Minor from where the Apostle has just returned. And Jewish opponents of the Gospel have also traveled to Jerusalem for the festival.

Acts of the Apostles 21:
~ A.D. 57

Photo of door in gate of Jerusalem's wall from ~A.D. 1900
And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.
Acts of the Apostles 21:30 NKJV

Little doubt that the Apostle Paul, who had seen the Lord Jesus Himself along a road to persecuted Christians in Damascus twenty years ago (in ~A.D. 37) knew the similar intent of these same anti-Christs who had stoned Stephen.

Yet due to the prophesy of Agabus (Acts 21:20-21) Paul knew of a different outcome the Lord had in store for the Apostle.

Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
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Oh, did I mention that JERUSALEM is still UNDER the control and administration of ROME and NOT its appointed Jewish leaders (who incite the mobs to their own political advantage)?

Just like when Pilate governed JERUSALEM is controlled from beyond its oft-breached walls.
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He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them.

And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done.
Acts of the Apostles 21:33 ESV – The arrest of Paul in Jerusalem
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SOUND FAMILIAR? 

Will an arrest in JERUSALEM to appease shouting crowds restore a pax Romana? 
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21st Century of the Common Era

MAY, 2021 of the Common Era

Observant readers of Talk of JESUS .com will have noted that the COVER PHOTO of today’s post is contemporary rather than from the time of the Apostle Paul.

Palestinians protest at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 21, 2021. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

7 October 2023 C.E.

Most of us recall an initial incursion by militant Islamists into a pax UN of Israel tenuously instituted in 1949 after an A.D. 20th century holocaust of the Jews.

Their own atrocities of war and proven provocation of Jerusalem has led to great evil perpetrated by both sides.

Although I take no side in this divisive war I would ask you to consider current outcomes in light of entrenched positions which have led up to these current events.

23 May 2021

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

OP-ED
Losing the war

2024 C.E.
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"Meanwhile, Israel celebrated the nation’s 76th anniversary on Tuesday." - IMAGE of Gaza (date uncertain) 
By The Bharat Express News
May 14, 2024
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‘What does all this have to do with Paul and ACTS of the Apostles?‘
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While you consider and compare  A.D. FIRST CENTURY JERUSALEM with a 2024 of the Common Era Jerusalem, Israel let's LOOK BACK at what 1st c. A.D. JEWISH leaders already knew about their City.
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Before Christ
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* ALL estimates of YEARS are provided for chronological comparison to other events and for historical context.
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~1000 Before Christ + David rules a United Israel for 40 years

Now Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice..

“However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.”
1 Kings 11:9,13 LSB
- 930 B.C. Solomon dies. The Kingdom (which did not include Philistia & Gaza) had grown since David’s reign to influence all of the world from the Nile to the Euphrates. It now becomes divided between his sons.
- 721 B.C. Fall of Israel [Samaria] to Assyria
Assyria takes Samarian captives 722 BC & Babylon takes Judah’s captives 607-537 BC
- 661 B.C. on Yom Kippur (the day of atonement)
Now the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God, ‘Why do you trespass against the commandments of Yahweh and do not succeed? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, He has also forsaken you.’”

So they conspired against him and at the command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of Yahweh [the Temple].
2 Chronicles 24:20-21 LSB
- AFTER refusing to listen to Prophets sent to them by the LORD Judah also falls.
- 587 B.C. Jerusalem falls
Flight of the Prisoners, Artist: Tissot, Photographer: John Parnell, Photo © The Jewish Museum, New York

And Judah was taken away into exile to Babylon for their unfaithfulness.
1 Chronicles 9:1b LSB
- 559 B.C.
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,

‘Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Ezra 1:2 LSB

331 B.C.

After having defeated Tyre, Alexander the Great seizes Jerusalem, Gaza and much of Egypt.
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We'll skip past the Seleucid Empire to the east and Egyptian Empire to the west of Jerusalem, BOTH threats to Judea and ROME, as well as a familiar Jewish political/religious tiff between the Maccabees and Hasmonaeans.
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63 B.C.

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus or Pompey the Great captures Jerusalem and creates an alliance with the part-Edomite King of Jerusalem, Herod the Great. – Source

48 B.C.

Julius Caesar (100BC – 44BC)

Roman Rule (Before & in the years of Christ)
- Caesar was a politician and general of the late Roman republic – source BBC
- A civil war broke out, and Caesar’s soldiers were victorious against Pompey.
- Pompey escaped to Egypt in search of refuge upon losing the battle. Instead, he was assassinated in the Egyptian pharaoh Ptolemy XIII’s bid to win over Caesar. – source
August 9, 48 BC – Battle of PHARSALUS (in Greece)
- (Gaius Julius) Caesar went on to become the ruler of Rome, proclaiming himself to be the sole consul and dictator.
Paul: more than just a Jew
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Returning once more to  Jerusalem in A.D. 57 ... 

(where those present do NOT know that ROME will completely destroy Jerusalem and its Temple just 13 years from now...)
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Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another.

And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd,

for the mob of the people followed, crying out,

“Away with him!”
Acts of the Apostles 21:36 ESV (vs. 34-36 above)

Sound familiar?

NEXT, God-willing, we will continue with Paul’s troubles in Jerusalem

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
May 15, 2024