Asa of Judah

reign at twelve years old. The initial ten years of his rule was conceivably a cogency with his father, Hezekiah. Though Manasseh had the longest tenure as king of Judah, the bible reflects on Manasseh and his devotion. He is both a bad guy and a good guy but also a man of repentance. It is clear that Manasseh headed people of Judah far from love of the LORD (2 Chronicles 33:9). The individuals under his authority emulated the acts of the antiquated Canaanites; venerated agnostic divine beings…

The Syro-Ephraimitic War occurred in the eighth century B.C.E. This was of heavy concern for Ahaz because it presented a clear and present danger to his kingdom from attack by Syria and Israel (Tullock & McEntire, 2012). Isaiah’s advice for Ahaz was to pay no attention to these threats. “Instead, he counseled, “Take heed, be quiet, do not fear,” for the little tyrants threatening him would soon vanish” (Tullock & McEntire, 2012, p. 216). Isaiah tells King Ahaz that he must ask God for a sign…

In the beginning was the genesis of creation, where had God moved by his spirit to create the Heavens, Earth, and mankind for a companionship with one of his own image. God wanted a relationship based on freewill for the product of true love. But the free will of mankind resulted in the fall from the grace of God. Because of God’s love, we can see the movement of God throughout history to reconcile the relationship between God and mankind back into right standing. The movement shows a trajectory…

During the time of Samuel, why did the people of Israel desire a king? Saul, David, and Solomon are the most well-known kings of Israel, and the common attribute that each king either excelled in or struggled with was obedience. Obedience is what God asked from each king; unfortunately, not every king obeyed the commands of the Lord. Originally, they were not supposed to a king, but the people of Israel did not trust God and wanted to follow other nations. Samuel at the time was getting old and…

However, Elisha does not personally anoint Jehu, but sends a young prophet who tells Jehu that one of his objectives is to completely wipe out the line of Ahab and Jezebel. Jehu orchestrates a coup and kills both the king of Israel and the king of Judah and he also orders Jezebel’s death. After…

century, the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel faced the rising empires of Assyria and Babylon. In order to survive possible invasion or annexation, the Kingdom of Judah issued many religious reforms under Kings Hezekiah and Josiah. Religious practices before these threats were much more decentralized and had roots in earlier Yahwistic cultic practices. An example of these practices would be the High Places as areas of worship. With the downfall of the northern Kingdom of Israel, Judah had to prepare…

During the time of the 8th-6th century periods of BCE, Judah and Israel had an ongoing rival lasting for almost two hundred years. Bordered North and South, this rivalry would come to blows and both were dealt with invasions; not only from each other but also from foreign empires. It was also at this time Judah and Israel kingdoms were on opposite directions. Judah had begun to maintain a steady growth and prosperity where Israel was on a path to begin a steady downfall of their reign and…

The prediction of figure of the Immanuel in chapter 7 cannot be interpreted removed from the royal oracle of chapter 9. Using the name of Immanuel, the oracle depicts the ideal Davidic king to free and redeem Judah from her enslavement due to her sins against God. In connecting the two oracles, it is more likely that people understood King Hezekiah to be the one spoken of rather than a son of Isaiah for the Immanuel figure is of royalty. This king is described as having brought God’s people out…

The 40th chapter of Isaiah is difficult to interpret because of the ambiguity of the text. This chapter has caused numerous scholarly discussion leading to many different interpretations of the chapter. This paper will focus on verses one through eleven, answering questions regarding some of the difficulties of the text. A few questions that will be addressed are the following: Who is the speaker of the text? Is there multiple speakers in this passage? What is the main point of the message? Who…

Within the book of Isaiah there are three main geopolitical events which take place; as these events occur Isaiah plays a role in these eighth century conflicts as his message from God advises the people in power. These messages had a different meaning to the people around him than it does to the audience who reads the book of Isaiah today. The Syro-Ephraimite War, The Threatened Conquest of Egypt and Ethiopia (714 BCE),and Sennacherib's Siege (701 BCE) all add historical context to the message…