June 26 – The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser

TODAY’S BIBLE READING CHALLENGE:
2 Kings 9:14-10:31
Acts 17:1-34
Psalm 144:1-15
Proverbs 17:27-28

2 Kings 9:22 — Jehu seems to be a moral crusader. He even avenges Naboth (2 Kings 9:26). Will he hang with his commitment to the LORD?

2 Kings 9:34 — The first time Jehu failed in his obedience. The prophet told Jehu that the dogs would eat Jezebel and there would be none to bury her (2 Kings 9:10), but Jehu contradicts the prophet by ordering Jezebel to be buried.

2 Kings 10:6 — Jehu executes the judgment against Ahab’s family (2 Kings 9:8) that Elijah prophesied, and he again proclaims fidelity to the LORD in 2 Kings 10:10. He obeys the Lord in 2 Kings 10:17 by continuing to exterminate the lineage of Ahab.

2 Kings 10:29 — No!!! Jehu followed the LORD except in regard to the Golden Calves! 2 Kings 10:31 – he didn’t follow the Lord completely.

Interestingly, the only king of Israel or Judah that we have a depiction of is Jehu. The Israelites were forbidden from making graven images or “victory statues” of themselves (Exodus 20:4). The only graven images we have are from the secular nations such as the Assyrian Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III in the British Museum.

“The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden tumblers, golden buckets, tin, a staff for a king [and] spears.”

Acts 17:6 — This is a great testimony: “These that have turned the world upside down!” Most Christians have left their neighborhood right side up!

Acts 17:11 — The noble Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily! May we be of their tribe!

Acts 17:22 — How does Paul preach to the intellectuals on Mars’ Hill? He uses an illustration – the altar to the Unknown God (Acts 17:23) – but he then proceeds to describe this God as the Creator first (Acts 17:24).

Acts 17:26 — Who made us? God did, and He made us of one blood. Ken Ham has written on this.

Acts 17:31 — At the BibleWalk Wax Museum in Mansfield, Ohio, they have a life-size portrayal of the Judgment Seat of Christ. The museum says that up to half of the people who come through the facility ask them if the Judgment Seat of Christ is really in the Bible. People are familiar with the Passion of Christ but are not as familiar with the fact that God will judge the world! It was this idea that judgment will come after God raises the dead that was so controversial in Paul’s day (Acts 17:32).

Psalm 144:1 — The Soldier’s Prayer.

Psalm 144:15 — Happiness comes to those who follow the LORD!

Proverbs 17:27-28 — How much knowledge and understanding do you have?

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