Dec 20, 2020
To establish Himself as the strength of Israel, God required every firstborn male—which was considered the ‘strength’ of the herd or family—to be presented to Him (Ex. 13:2). As the firstborn son was set apart for God, the parents had to redeem or ‘buy back’ their son from service to the Lord with 5 shekels...
Dec 13, 2020
Throughout history, shepherds have been primarily lower class and often poor and uneducated. In a family, shepherding was usually done by the youngest son or hired out by owners that could afford it. Bethlehem was a rural town five miles from Jerusalem with open fields for grazing sheep. Though shepherds graze sheep any...
Dec 6, 2020
Joseph was probably in his late teens to early twenties, living in his father’s house in Nazareth, when he met Mary. For Joseph, becoming a responsible man able to support a wife meant learning a trade or occupation—probably from his father, Jacob. God has tied masculine responsibility to occupational reality. While...
Nov 29, 2020
Growing up in a rural area of northern Israel in Nazareth, Mary came from a family with no great social influence. Like most young women of her time, she would have been happy to marry a man she loved, start a family, and please God by being the wife and mother she was called to be. While not special by cultural...
Nov 22, 2020
Once Gideon gathered the Israelite army of 32,000, God sent 22,000 scared men home then reduced the 10,000 men that were left to 300 by drinking at a stream (Judg. 7:2-7). Knowing they will get slaughtered by the massive Midianite army, Gideon is apprehensive about his calling from God. Not only are his men overmatched...