Dr Paul Allen

English: Zechariah of Israel was a king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel, and son of Jeroboam II. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel , and Jerusalem .” ( Zechariah 1:18-19 )   Immediately after seeing the horsemen that were sent to determine the state of the earth, Zechariah observes four “horns” amid the myrtle trees. Zechariah is told that they represent the authorities responsible for scattering the people of the two nations of Judah and Israel , destroying Jerusalem in the process as well.   The image of horns usually refers to empires in other passages of Scripture. The horns of the goats in Daniel 7 and 8 and the horns of the seven-headed dragon used in Revelation 13 and 17 are good examples. Zechariah may have understood this specific vision as a reference to N...

Jeroboam sets up two golden calves, from the Bible Historiale. Den Haag, MMW, 10 B 23 165r (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “The word of the LORD that came to Hosea , son of Beeri, during the reigns of Uzziah , Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah , kings of Judah , and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel” (Hosea 1:1). Although Hosea began prophesying about ten years after Amos, his prophecy is first in the Book of the Twelve (the Minor Prophets). There is a good theological reason for this: Hosea’s prophecy is the longest and the most complete. In a sense, he sets up all the major themes found in the other books in the collection: covenant, judgment, and restoration, and the Lord’s personal relationship with His wayward people. We are not told this explicitly, but Hosea is the only prophet who seems to have come from the northern kingdom of Israel rather than from the southern kingdom of Judah . His familiarity with the culture and ways of Israel has persuaded most ...

The Prophet Hosea, by Duccio di Buoninsegna, in the Siena Cathedral (c. 1309-1311) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Hosea 11:8 says “How can I give you up, Ephraim?  How can I hand you over, Israel ?  How can I treat you like Admah ?  How can I make you like Zeboyim ?  My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. Many would say that since God knows all things, he does not change his mind. Yet the Bible frequently speaks of God’s mercy in terms of God relenting from threatened judgment.  God’s intentions —both for blessings and punishment—are often tied to our response.  God in his sovereignty can make promises that are conditional, dependent upon the obedient response of his people.  God’s judgments can also be conditional, dependent on the continued refusal of his people to repent. Jeremiah 18:8-10 "and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had p...

King David in Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all." ( 1 Chronicles 29:11 ) This is one of the great doxologies of Scripture, originally a part of King David's prayer at the time of Solomon 's coronation as his successor. Although David and Solomon were the greatest kings of Israel , and two of the greatest kings in the world of their age, David rightly acknowledged that the Lord Himself was the true King, not only of Israel , but of all heaven and Earth . He is head, the supreme ruler, over all. This is the first occurrence in Scripture of the great testimony of worship: "Thine is the kingdom." In the modern world, however, there are relatively few who acknowledge Him as King of creation. Except for a small minority, most people bel...

English: Abimelech was a son of the great judge Gideon (Judges 9:1) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) After Abimelech had reigned over Israel three years, God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem (Judg. 9:22–23a). Abimelech reigns for three years, and not just as king of Shechem but as king of Israel! His coronation by the Shechemites seems to be accepted by the nation as a whole, though his enthronement in Shechem on the Manasseh-Ephraim border may mean little to the far-flung tribes. In any case, as Matthew Henry notes, “It is not said, ‘He judged Israel,’ or did any service at all to his country, [only that] he enjoyed the title and dignity of a king.” Then God makes His first—and, indeed, His only—appearance in the narrative of chapter 9. He sends “a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem … that the crime done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might be settled and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and o...