Restoration
Division of the Land
In dividing the millennial land among the people, God will give seven tribes portions in the northern part of the land (vv.1-7). Proceeding from the north these tribes will be Dan (v. 1), Asher (v. 2), Naphtali (v. 3), Manasseh (v. 4), Ephraim (v. 5), Reuben (v. 6), and Jud …
Putting the Spirit Within You
God promised to restore Israel not only physically, but spiritually. To accomplish this, God would give them a new heart for following Him and put his spirit within them to transform them and empower them to do His will (vv. 25-30). Again the new covenant was promised, ulti …
Absalom Returns to Jerusalem
Joab knew that David couldn’t stop thinking about his son Absalom (v. 1). Because of this, he sent someone to bring a woman from Tekoa to him and he asked her to put on funeral clothes and not use any makeup (v. 2). He told her to go to the king and pretend that she was m …
God Never Gives Up On Us
Because of the reference to captivity many Bible scholars believe this psalm was written at the time of Zerubbabel (Ezra.3:4) or more likely during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh. 2-4) (v. 1). At any rate it seems to belong to the early days of the return from Babylon. The th …
Forgiveness And Restoration
Remember what this book is about. The land of Israel is being overrun by hungry locusts. The crops are destroyed. There is nothing left. And it’s because of God’s punishment upon them for leaving their first love. These people have deserved to lose God’s blessing on t …
David Experiences Happiness And Relief From Guilt
The emphasis in this passage is on God’s care for his restored child (vv. 6-7). As long as David was out of God’s will, everything worked against him. But when he confessed his sins he was restored to fellowship with God and he could rejoice. This does not mean that God would she …
The Pruning Process Produces Restoration
This Psalm is a national prayer for restoration. The key word might be translated either “restore us” or “bring us back” (from captivity). The Palmist urges God to listen, wake up, and go to work to save His people (vv. 1-2). Three times is this chapter the wr …
The Temple is Completed
Darius commanded that the records be searched to determine if Cyrus had actually made a decree permitting the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem (v. 1). The document they sought was not found in Babylon but in Ecbatana, the capital of Media Province, where the Persian kings ma …
God Never Forgets His People
Jeremiah writes a letter to all the priests, prophets and people that Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon (vv. 1-2). The setting is probably after the fall of Judah in 597 b.c., following the deportation of Jeconiah (Jehoiachin). The couriers were from p …
The Second Pair of Tablets
Moses reminded the Israelites of God’s great mercy to them. The Lord acting on Moses’ request not to destroy the people, rewrote the Ten Commandments (vv. 1-5). When Moses broke the Commandments after Israel had made a golden calf, that symbolically broke their covenant …