exists

July 25, 2016

Oracle about Damascus (Isa 17:1-17:1)

“An oracle

Concerning Damascus.”

Damascus was the Syrian capital city about 130 miles northeast of Jerusalem, fairly close to the older northeastern territory of Manasseh. Damascus still exists today as the capital of Syria. It was under Aramean rule from 950-732 BCE so that is often referred to in the Bible as Aram instead of Syria. However, the Assyrian people conquered them in 732 BCE. Damascus was an important city with over 100,000 people during the biblical times, about half the size of Babylon. Thus it is often mentioned in the Bible as the northern neighbor of Israel.

September 10, 2015

Yahweh created the world (Ps 33:6-33:7)

“By the word of Yahweh,

The heavens were made.

Their entire host came to be,

By the breath of his mouth.

He gathered the waters of the sea

As in a bottle.

He put the deep areas in storehouses.”

The heavens came to be with the simple word of Yahweh, the creator God. All that exists, the hosts of things, were created by the breath of Yahweh. Yahweh gathered all the seas and waters as if he poured it out of a bottle. He had storehouses for the depths of the seas. In very colorful anthropomorphic language, Yahweh speaks, breathes, and gathers water in a bottle as the creator of the world.