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  Bible reading for weekend July 30 -- Aug 1 July 30 -- Jeremiah 26 and Mark 12 July 31 -- Jeremiah 27 and Mark 13 Aug 1 -- Jeremiah 28 and Mark 14 ================    "And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, 'Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.'" (Jeremiah 28:15) PUBLIC OPINION (ch 26) . Here we see the fickleness of the crowd hearing Jeremiah's message. At first they want him to be killed, but then they don't. Jeremiah is spared, finding support from Ahikam (v 24), the son of Shaphan (who had served as royal secretary under King Josiah). Jeremiah is seen as negative, gloom-and-doom, and unpatriotic. This fickleness of public opinion (btw, there will be no need for public opinion polls in heaven!) is characteristic of fallen humanity. Public approval and disapproval -- "likes" and "dislikes" -- sway one way at one moment, and then soon another way. This was true in Jerem...

  Bible reading for July 26 -- 27 July 26 -- Jeremiah 22 and Mark 8 July 27 -- Jeremiah 23 and Mark 9 ================    "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land." (Jeremiah 23:5)    ABUSE OF POWER (ch 22) . King Josiah, himself a good and godly ruler, had two sons and a grandson mentioned in this chapter. Shallum (renamed Jehoahaz) ruled briefly after Josiah's death and was subsequently deposed by Pharaoh Necho and taken to Egypt, where he died. (At that time, before Babylon defeated Egypt, Jerusalem was subject to Egyptian power.) Eliakim (renamed Jehoiakim) replaced Jehoahaz and ruled oppressively. He used forced labor to build himself a lavish new palace. Jeremiah says, however, he would have a donkey's burial (vv 18-19). We also read of Jehoiakim's response to Jeremiah's prophecies later in chapter...

Bible reading for May 19 -- 20 May 19 -- Isaiah 19-20 and 2 Peter 1 May 20 -- Isaiah 21 and 2 Peter 2 ================    "In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians." (Isaiah 19:23) STRIKING AND HEALING (ch 19). The expansion of the Assyrian empire was impressive: the Assyrians would conquer both Egypt (lower Nile region) and Cush (or Nubia; upper Nile; which would encompass Sudan and/or Ethiopia). The distance from Nineveh (Assyrian capital) to Khartoum (upper Nile) was over two thousand miles. There was conflict between Egypt and Cush at that time (reflected in 19:2), but Cush was the ruling power. Be that as it may, both would fall to the Assyrians around 670 BC. This chapter shows the process of judgment against Egypt (vv 1-16), which included national division and infighting, confusion, poor counsel, drought, collapse of the economy, and widesprea...