Learning to Blog

To All, this is my first blog other than the posting that Bryan did for me. I had to begin by remembering what my password was.

Death be Proud: In Bryan’s blog he said, "What I'm beginning to think is that God allows death to come prematurely in some cases to actually prevent evil from destroying lives. Consider again, John the Baptist..." Let me add to his examples the story of Hezekiah, which the Bible says, "There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses." (2 Kings 18:5-6). Hezekiah restored the operation of the Temple, tore down the high places, built his tunnel to bring water from the Gihon spring into the city and performed many righteous acts. After GOD defeated the king of Syria, HE told Hezekiah through Isaiah, "Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover." (2 Kings 20:1). We know the rest, Hezekiah prayed to the LORD (2 Kings 20:3) and the LORD added 15 years to Hezekiah’s life (2 Kings 20:6). Because he lived, a child was born to Hezekiah named, "Manasseh." Manasseh "led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites." (2 Chron 33:9). I wondered if GOD foresaw that Hezekiah would have an evil son to lead Israel away from GOD and therefore sought to prevent this son from being born? Otherwise, why would GOD cut short the life of Hezekiah who had been such a righteous king?

Circumcised Egyptians: In response to Bryan’s question, I think that the reference to the circumcised in Egypt, Judah, Edom, etc. could be Jews who lived in those countries. One of most significant gatherings of Jews outside of Israel was Alexandria in Egypt. This was named after Alexander the Great so it did not come into existence until 331 BC. Jeremiah writes around 580 BC so Alexandra would be in the future which is consistent with "The days are coming." The dispersion of the Jews to other countries begins with the conquering of the northern empire around 700 BC and then Jerusalem in 586 BC.

Circumcised Egyptians!?

Do these verses strike you as odd?

Jer 9:25-26

25 "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh — 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the desert in distant places. For all these nations are really uncircumcised, and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart."

I understand the "circumcised only in the flesh" idea. That's the reasoning behind my baptism post earlier.

What's with all those non-Jewish nations observing circumcision? Any thoughts?

Bryan

Death Be Proud? Perhaps for Some.

Thinking again about the Isaiah 57 passage, "... the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death," (Isa 57:1b-2).

I was reading about King Jeroboam's tragic reign over the splintered northern kingdom of Israel. The account from 1 Kings 13-14 indicates that, despite God's provision, Jeroboam led Israel into the worst rebellion they had ever seen up to that point. However, Jeroboam had a young son who was good. The irony is that God strikes the child with a fatal illness. In His explanation to Jeroboam's wife, God says, "I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam.... As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good." (1 Kings 14:12-13).

I don't know about you, but this significantly enhances my understanding of how God overcomes the sting of death. What I'm beginning to think is that God allows death to come prematurely in some cases to actually prevent evil from destroying lives. Consider again, John the Baptist...