Biblical Studies / Old Testament

  • The Grief of God

    1 Samuel 15:10-16

    Many today believe, as Saul seems to have thought, that what one does is not as important as the sincerity behind the action. But God wants us to have right motives and right actions. True good deeds are motivated by ...Read More

  • The Heart of the Man

    1 Samuel 16:1-13

    God delights in accomplishing His will in ways that astonish human beings. How like Him to select a shepherd boy, the last of eight brothers, as His king. David was a nobody, but he did great things because God was ...Read More

  • The Hope of Restoration

    Leviticus 26:40-45

    God’s grace to His people in the restoration is shown in two primary ways. First, He provides His Son to fulfill perfectly all the requirements needed for Him to restore all creation. Second, He elects a people to salvation ...Read More

  • The Joyful Noise of Trumpets

    Psalm 98

    Paul tells us that God will judge us according to our righteousness on that last day (Rom. 2:1–11). Yet if we depend on our own works that day, all hope will be lost for us. Instead, we must ...Read More

  • The Land of Egypt

    Exodus 1:8–14

    Pharaoh’s oppression of Israel did not take God by surprise (Gen. 15:12–16), and so we should understand that the trials we encounter do not take Him by surprise either. The blessings of the Lord upon us may ...Read More

  • The Latter Days

    Isaiah 2:1-5

    Today’s passage is ultimately fulfilled in Christ, the temple of God who is exalted over all the nations (Mark 14:58; John 2:13–22). How much of this Isaiah clearly understood is hard to say, but he knew ...Read More

  • The Law and Slavery

    Galatians 3:26–4:20

    How many of us are really comfortable with the level of Christian growth we have attained at this point in our lives? Would God’s assessment of our level of maturity bring honor or shame? While you yet have time ...Read More

  • The Levitical Priests

    Jeremiah 33:17–18

    Even on those occasions when God does not reveal conditions explicitly, we can be sure that His ultimate blessings work through the means of our faith and repentance. This faith and repentance is not something we create but is rather ...Read More

  • The Line of Seth

    Genesis 5:1–32

    Today’s passage illustrates the principle that “whenever a good man dies, God takes him, takes him from here, and receives him to himself” (Matthew Henry). Even though most of the Lord’s people will have to experience physical death ...Read More

  • The Little Apocalypse

    Isaiah 24

    The final judgment in today’s chapter was predicted to come after the exile of Israel and Judah. We live on the other side of this exile, though the New Testament does not foresee it coming to its full and ...Read More

  • The Lord Saves Israel

    1 Samuel 14:16-23

    Saul gives the appearance of “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). He gives more heed to rituals than to the God behind them. Rituals are good so long as they bring us closer ...Read More

  • The LORD’s Glorious Branch

    Isaiah 4:2-6

    When we come to the New Testament, we find that the unexpected—from our perspective—has happened. The latter days of judgment and blessing have been extended for many years, with the Lord’s blessing being emphasized through the preaching ...Read More

  • The Lord Spares Nineveh

    Jonah 3

    God’s Word always achieves the purpose for which it is ultimately intended (Isa. 55:10–11). Sometimes His promise of judgment prompts people to repent, as it did when Jonah preached it to Nineveh. Sometimes it makes people harden ...Read More

  • The Monarchy Instituted

    Deuteronomy 17:14–20

    For decades, presidents, parliaments, and other ruling bodies in our country and around the world have paid lip service to the rule of law while acting as if they are above the laws of the land. We can do something ...Read More

  • The Nephilim

    Genesis 6:3–4

    Matthew Henry comments on this passage that “if the Spirit is resisted, quenched, and striven against, though he may strive long, he will not strive always.” The Lord will not allow sin to reign without consequence. Those with true faith ...Read More