The Amazing Bible. Book Club

The prophet Hosea's life was an object lesson to the nation of Israel. He was called to take a wife who was unfaithful, and after he married her and had children with her, she remained unfaithful. The Lord commanded him to go and buy her back unto himself, and that is what the Lord did for us in the NT when Jesus died on the cross. He rose again on the third day, and as Hosea 6:2 says, "After two days He will revive us; o...

Amos was a shepherd from Judah, whom God sent to Israel, to declare the day of the Lord. The king of Israel was Jeroboam II and the king of Judah was Uzziah, and Amos saw what was going to happen to Israel because of their sin of social injustice and idolatry. It starts off with judgment to the nations around Israel, then 2:4 it says, "This is what the Lord says, 'For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn ba...

Jonah was a prophet of Israel who declared the word of the Lord during the time of Jeroboam II, who reigned around 793-753 BC. Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, and Jesus mentioned him in Matthew 12:38-41 and Luke 11:29-32, saying that the men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment against the people of Israel in Jesus' time, because this non-Jewish city repented and turned to God with just the 1/2 hearted preaching of Jo...

In this chapter Amaziah was king of Judah, and once he was fully established, he executed the men who killed his father, King Joash. He defeated the Edomites and expanded the southern border of Judah. After that victory, he was prideful, and asked for a face off with Jehoash, king of Israel. Jehoash called the king of Judah a thistle in comparison to Jehoash as a cedar in Lebanon. Amaziah did not head the warning, and the Jehoash o...

This chapter focused on the kingdom of Israel. Jehu was the king that took down Ahab's family, Jezebel, plus the prophets and temple of Baal. Since the king of Israel was also related to Ahab, he also died. Since Jehu brought down the house of Ahab, the Lord promised he would have four generations of descendants sit on the throne of Israel. His first son to become king was Jehoahaz, who reigned around 814-798 BC. Verse 3 tell ...

These chapters focus of the southern tribes of Judah. After Jehu killed Ahaziah, king of Judah, his mother Athaliah, killed off everyone from the family, and she became king for six years. Thankfully she did not kill off everyone, for Ahaziah's sister, hid her baby brother, Joash, also known as Jehoash. She took him and his nurse to the temple of the Lord to hide until it was time. When he became seven years old, the priest, J...

These three chapters begin with a story of the Shunamite woman, whose son was brought back to life through Elisha. The Lord brought a famine to the land, and Elisha told to woman to leave for seven years until the famine was over. When she came back, it seems that her elderly husband had died, and so she went to the king to ask for her home and her land back. When she entered into the king's presence, it just so happened that ...

These two chapters begin with a miracle of the Lord that was done through Elisha. A company of prophets had grown so large, that they needed to build a bigger place to meet with Elisha, so they asked him to come with them to the Jordan River so they could cut a pole and build a bigger place to live. While doing so, one of the men who had borrowed an iron ax, was chopping, and the ax head fell into the water. He cried out to Elisha ...

Today's lesson covers the story of Naaman the Aramean, who had leprosy. During one of the raids Aram conducted in Israel, they had taken a young girl, who became Naaman's wife's servant. She told her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy!" Naaman got permission to go to Samaria to the king of Israel, and his master sent a letter, "With th...

Today's lesson covers five miracles from the Lord through Elisha. The first is with a widow whose husband was a prophet. Now that her husband died, a creditor was going to take her two sons to pay their debt. She cried out to Elisha, and he asked, "What do you have in your house?" She only had a little oil, so they were to ask their neighbors for as many jars as possible. They did, and they were able to fill the jars...

In this chapter, Elisha is revealed to the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom, that he is a prophet of the Lord. Joram is now king of Israel, and his brother before him, Ahaziah died after only two years after he found out that the king of Moab was going to stop paying the 100,000 lambs and wool of 100,000 rams (vs. 4). Now that Joram is king, he seeks the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat's assistant in attacking Moab. They take the s...

As Roy L. Honeycutt said in his commentary of this chapter, "Elisha is Confirmed as Successor to Elijah, and the Confirmation of Elijah's translation." Elijah and Elisha start off at Gilgal, then go to Bethel, and then to Jericho. Each of these places have a company of prophets living there. Each time Elijah tells Elisha to stay there with the prophets, but each time Elisha says, "As surely as the Lord lives and...

This is Elijah's last recorded confrontation with a king of Israel, Ahaziah.  As Paul R. House said in his commentary, "Elijah delivers his life's message one last time." King Ahaziah was hurt by falling through the lattice of his upper room, and instead of seeking wisdom from the Lord, he sent his messengers to the god of Ekron, a Philistine city. This brought the Lord to send His messenger, an angel, to Elijah...

This last chapter of 1 Kings ends with the death of king Ahab of Israel. His death was predicted at the end of chapter 21 because in their last battle with Ben-Hadad of Aram, he made a pact with the king instead of killing him, Ben-Hadad promised to give all the cities that used to belong to Israel back, plus Ahab had access to sell trade in Damascus. Since Ahab spared his life, a prophet told Ahab it would be his life for Ben-Hada...

This chapter focused on king Ahab in the Northern Tribe of Israel. He wanted a beautiful vineyard that was close to his palace, but it belonged to Naboth the Jezreelite. Ahab offered to buy it, or replace it with another vineyard, but Naboth refused because it was his inheritance from his father. Ahab sulked, laid in his bed, and refused to eat. His wife, Jezebel, came home and asked what was the matter? When she found out she said...

In this chapter, king Ben-Hadad of Aram, the country north and east of Israel, planned on attacking Samaria, the capital of Israel. He first sent word that if King Ahab would give him their silver and gold and the best of their wives and children, then they would not attack. At first the king of Israel agreed, but then Ben-Hadad added wanted his men to search the palace and the official's houses for anything of value. Ahab met...

Queen Jezebel has threatened to kill Elijah so he ran. He left Israel and ran down to Beersheba where the Lord had spoken to Jacob, also known as Israel (Genesis 46:1-4). Elijah left his servant there and then went into the dessert, he cried out to the Lord, "I have had enough, Lord. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors!" Yet the Lord did not yell at him or even rebuke him, instead an angel of the Lord allowed h...

After three and a half years, the Lord told Elijah to go tell Ahab that He would send rain to the land, so he went and found Obadiah, Ahab's overseer of the palace. We learn that Obadiah fears the Lord and has protected 100 prophets of the Lord from Jezebel who was killing the Lord's prophets. Obadiah was fearful to tell Ahab, thinking that Elijah would hide again, but Elijah gave his word that he would present himself be...

Elijah came to king Ahab, the most wicked king of the northern tribes of Israel, and said, "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except by my word!" This began the showdown between the God of Israel, and Baal and Asherah, the gods of the Phoenicians. Baal was supposed to be the god of storms and rain, but this drought showed that it is the God of Isra...