Bible Times 96

  Bible Story - Elijah: Ravens in the Wilderness   The land of Israel was spiritually dry long before the drought began. Under King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, idolatry flourished, the worship of Baal was promoted, and the people abandoned the God of Abraham. Into this darkness stepped Elijah, a prophet whose very name means “My God is Yahweh.” He confronted Ahab boldly, declaring that no dew or rain would fall except at God’s word. Immediately after this prophetic announcement, God did something that seems unexpected: He told Elijah to leave the public arena and hide. “Go eastward,” God said, “and turn toward the brook Cherith.” Elijah obeyed. He slipped away, not to a palace or a safer city, but to a secluded stretch of wilderness, where a small stream wound its way through rocky ground. There, Elijah drank from the brook. But food was a problem. He was alone, without fields, markets, or companions. Then came the miracle: God commanded ravens to feed him. Morning...

  Jeremiah (KJV) 14   14 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth.   2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.   3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.   4 Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads.   5 Yea, the hind also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass.   6 And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.   7 O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.   8 ...

  Bible Commentary Deuteronomy 34   Having read how Moses finished his testimony, we are told here how he immediately after finished his life. This chapter could not be written by Moses himself, but was added by Joshua or Eleazar, or, as bishop Patrick conjectures, by Samuel, who was a prophet, and wrote by divine authority what he found in the records of Joshua, and his successors the judges. We have had an account of his dying words, here we have an account of his dying work, and that is work we must all do shortly, and it had need be well done. Here is, I. The view Moses had of the land of Canaan just before he died, ver. 1-4. II. His death and burial, ver. 5, 6. III. His age, ver. 7. IV. Israel's mourning for him, ver. 8. V. His successor, ver. 9. VI. His character, ver. 10, &c.   Moses on Mount Pisgah.   B. C. 1451.       1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is ov...

  Bible Commentary Deuteronomy 33   Yet Moses has not done with the children of Israel; he seemed to have taken final leave of them in the close of the foregoing chapter, but still he has something more to say. He had preached them a farewell sermon, a very copious and pathetic discourse. After sermon he had given out a psalm, a long psalm; and now nothing remains but to dismiss them with a blessing; that blessing he pronounces in this chapter in the name of the Lord, and so leaves them. I. He pronounces them all blessed in what God had done for them already, especially in giving them his law, ver. 2-5. II. He pronounces a blessing upon each tribe, which is both a prayer for and a prophecy of their felicity. 1. Reuben, ver. 6. 2. Judah, ver. 7. 3. Levi, ver. 8-11. 4. Benjamin, ver. 42. 5. Joseph, ver. 13-17. 6. Zebulun and Issachar, ver. 18, 19. 7. Gad, ver. 20, 21. 8. Dan, ver. 22. 9. Naphtali, ver. 23. 10. Asher, ver. 24, 25. III. He pronounces them all in general blesse...