Surprise of the Day

The book of Hosea is the complete opposite of the Song of Solomon.

Hosea  –  Song of Solomon  –  Ephesians 5:22 to end  –  Revelation 21:2  –  Revelation 22:17 & 20

Fact of the Day

• The Song of Solomon is about a bride and groom and their unquenchable love for each other, always longing to be together. IT IS ALSO ABOUT JESUS and the sacrificial time and attention he gives HIS BRIDE, THE CHURCH to rescue us.
• The book of Hosea is about the prophet who rescues and marries a prostitute and her ingratitude by always running back to former lovers.  IT IS ALSO ABOUT ADULTEROUS CHRISTIANS and the selfish time and attention they give their former LOVES – their worldly interests – instead of their husband, their Savior.
• In both instances, they help us today understand how we fill our God’s heart with joy and grief.

Oops & Surprise of the Day

If a person has been righteous for 50 years but slips the year before they die, God will let them into heaven anyway

Ezekiel 28:24-29

Fact of the Day

No! On the Day of Judgment, a formerly righteous man who becomes bad at the end of his life will be condemned. 

But a formerly bad man who becomes righteous at the end of his life will be saved.

Oops of the Day

The Jews were slaves only in Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria.

Judges 3:8-4  –  Judges 4:2-3  –  Judges 6:1  –  Judges 10:8  –  Judges 13:1

Fact of the Day

No!  After they moved into their promised land as led by Joshua, the Jews started worshiping the gods of the pagans still living in Canaan or in nearby kingdoms, and ended up serving each of their pagan kings a total of 59 years.

Oops of the Day

There was only one Joshua in the Bible.

Numbers 13:16  –  Zechariah 3:1-10  –  Matthew 1:21

Fact of the Day

• No!  The aide of Moses started out heing called Hoshea by his father, Nun, meaning one who saves.
• Moses changed his name to Joshua meaning Jehovah saves. 
• The prophet Zechariah had a vision of a Joshua wearing the crowns of both the high priest and king – a prophecy of the promised Messiah. 
• Joshua is the Hebrew pronunciation;   JESUS. is the Greek pronunciation of the same name.   Jesus, the Son of God, became both our priest and king.

 

Surprise of the Day

Before Jerusalem and the Temple were burned down and the Jews taken into custody by the Babylonians, they practiced child sacrificing, legalized temple prostitution, and CANABALISM.

Leviticus 26:27-30  –  Deuteronomy 28:53-57  –  2nd Kings 6:24-29  –  Jeremiah 19:7-10  –  Lamentations 2:20  –  Lamentations 4:10  –  Ezekiel 5:7-11 –  Micah 3:2-3 –

• Leviticus 26:27-30 – predicted
• Deuteronomy 28:53-57 – predicted
• 2^nd Kings 6:24-29 –mothers
• Jeremiah 19:7-10 – predicted
• Lamentations 2:20  –  mothers
• Lamentations 4:10 – mothers
• Ezekiel 5:7-11 – fathers & sons each other
• Micah 3:2-3 – leaders

II Kings 21 shows how Manasseh was the most evil king in hundreds of years, even more evil than the pagans. Since the Israelites followed his example, that made Jerusalem the most evil city in hundreds of years, even more evil than the cities of the pagans.

Oops of the Day

God doesn’t mind if I miss worshiping on Sunday.  After all, a person has to live.  What’s one or two ball games?

Exodus 31:13-14

Fact of the Day 

No!  People today who “skip worship” on Sundays are similar to the Jews who “skipped the Sabbath Day” in Bible times.  It is serious. What will happen to them? 

“You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.  Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it (does other things that day) is to be put to death.”

Oops of the Day

Bethlehem was a little village, just as the Christmas carol says (calling Bethlehem a little town).

Micah 5:2   –  I Chronicles 11:17-18  –  II Chronicles 11:5-10  –  Ezra 2:21  –  Matthew 2:6  –  II Chronicles 11:5-10

Fact of the Day 

No! 

c. 1000 BC – I Chronicles 11:17-18 says the well in Bethlehem was just inside the gate into Bethlehem.  Why would there be a gate if it had no walls?  

c. 900 BC – II Chronicles 11:5-10 says King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, fortified Bethlehem, meaning he turned it into a military fortress with watchtowers, etc.

c. 700 BC – Micah 5:2 says the Bethlehem had few leaders in the Tribe of Judah. 

c. 450 BC – Ezra 2:21 says that, when the Israelites returned from Babylon, there were only 123 men from Bethlehem compared to nearly 3000 from other towns. 

c. 50 AD – Matthew 2:6 updated what Micah has said, explaining that now Bethlehem was NOT the least among the tribe of Judah.  

Oops of the Day

Jonah did not want to save the people of Nineveh in Assyria because they tortured the enemy they captured, even by skinning them alive, in order to scare their captives into not rebelling.

Jonah 3

Fact of the Day 

No!  That practice had ended  a century earlier when the Assyrians began emptying their cities and giving new cities to some of their people.  Then, after capturing the enemy, they brought them to local cities where they did not know the language or customs and did not know exactly where they were.  This, then, kept their captives from rebelling.

Further, by the time Jonah arrived at Nineveh, they had a new king – ASHURDAN II WHO WAS ONLY 14 YEARS OLD and, even after grown, he was considered a “weak king” who gave in to the enemy too much.

 

 

Surprise of the Day

530 years before Jesus’s birth, the exact years Messiah would be born, begin his ministry, and die were predicted.

Daniel 9:24-27  –  Numbers 4:47  –  Ezra 1:1-2; 4:4-7  –  Haggai 1:1,14  –  Haggai 2:1  –   Ezra 6:13-15  –  Ezra 7:7-10  –  Nehamiah 3:16-32  –  Zechariah 6:11-13  –  Zechariah 6:11-13

Fact of the Day 

King Cyrus II – 550-530 BC – His 1st year (550 BC), he said BUILD THE TEMPLE (II Chronicles 36:22-23)

(King Cambyses II – 530-522 BC A different DARIUS, HIS COUSIN rules)

King Darius I:  522-486 BC In his 2nd year 520 BC, he said “RE-SUME rebuilding the Temple AND              START rebuilding  JERUSALEM  (Daniel 9:25)

Priests began public service at age 30 (Numbers 4:47)

PROPHECY FULFILLED

 520 BC Darius ordered Jerusalem rebuilt

  –30 years of age when Priests begin public ministry (Jesus’s age when he began his ministry)

-490 BC = 70 “wks” (after temple repairing resumed and  Jerusalem rebuilt) (The year Jesus began his public ministry)

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BUT

493 BC = 62 “wks” x 7  +  49 “wks” 

 -3  1/2  years = the middle of one week, one 7 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

490 BC    (Jesus began his public ministry)

460 years (490 years – 30 years of age) The year Jesus was born

Oops of the Day

Satan declared he was God.

Ezekiel 28:1-10

Fact of the Day 

No! The passage in Ezekiel refers to a MAN.  Satan is never called a man.  Also, this person DIES. Satan never dies.  Nearly all kings in ancient times declared they were God or a god including the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Kings of Assyria, the Kings of Babylon, the Kings of Persia, the Kings of Greece, and the Roman Caesars. 

• Aram-Sin          2255–2119 BC        Mesopotamia/Babylonia
• Shulgi                2037–2028 BC        Mesopotamia/Babylonia
• Amar-Sin          2046–2037 BC        Mesopotamia/Babylonia
• Shu-Sin             2037–2028 BC        Mesopotamia/Babylonia
• Empedocles       490–430 BC           Italy
• Pharnavaz           326–234 BC          Iberia
• Antiochus IV    215–164 BC           Greece
• Antiochus I         6 BC-38 BC          Persia
• Pharaohs           3150–30 BC            Egypt
• Naram-Sin       2255–2119 BC        Mesopotamia/Babylonia
• Emperors           221 BC–1911        China
• Alexander        356 BC-323 BC       Greece