A Gentle Ramble Through the Bible - Chronologically

2 Kings 18-21 and 2 Chron 32-33 and Isaiah 36-39, 49-53

Despite Isaiah going naked in warning, Hezekiah still turns to Egypt for help. Assyria pounces and Hezekiah quickly realizes his mistake.

But then the King of Assyria dares to disparage YHWH, the God of Israel. He dares to say YHWH cannot be trusted. And so, YHWH shows up. Hah!

Later, after a miraculous 15-yr life extension, Hezekiah dies and his 12 year old son Manasseh becomes king.

Manasseh is a disaster. He does it all--worshipping idols, bringing them into the Temple, sacrificing his own son. He ends up a captive in Babylon where he finds...YHWH?

We finish up with a look at the four “Servant Songs” in Isaiah, especially Ch 49 which is typically taken out of context.

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 18:1-12 and 2 Chron 29-31 and Isaiah 14 (v24-end), Isaiah 18-20

When Ahaz dies, his son Hezekiah becomes king and immediately tosses all the idols out of the Temple. He calls for a renewed devotion to YHWH. Frankly, he’s looking for all the help he can get to avoid being conquered by the Assyrians.

But this first effort is a comedy of errors. Will Hezekiah decide to hedge his bets by forming an alliance with Egypt?

Things get pretty dicey, and the Lord calls on Isaiah to step up in a graphic way. This lesson needs to come with a warning label.

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 17 and 2 Chron 28 and Isaiah 9 & 50, Hosea & Micah

The Lord’s going to take one more shot at saving Israel, and it’s going to be a dramatic one. This time, he doesn’t just have the prophet speak the words...the Lord has him act them out.

Israel, the Lord’s chosen wife whom the Lord has wooed and protected and fed and cherished, has been hopelessly unfaithful for their entire marriage. She’s run away with idols every chance she’s gotten. So as shocking as it is, it should be no surprise that the Lord wants Hosea to act out the “state of the marriage.”

The Lord tells Hosea to find a prostitute to marry--specifically one Hosea is 100% sure will be unfaithful to him. Meanwhile, in Judah, the prophet Micah adds another prophetic voice, calling both kingdoms to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 15 and 2 Chron 26 and Isaiah 1-4

What if you were attacked on all sides simultaneously? And what if the Lord showed up and said, “Don’t worry. I will protect you. Let me prove it to you.” That’s an offer you jump at, right?

But the King of Judah turns to the King of Assyria for help instead. Say, what? You think Assyria is going to protect you, when they are already poised to crush you? It's like asking the fox to protect the hen house.

The results are disastrous for both Israel and Judah. Thousands of Israelites are deported to far-flung places across the Assyrian Empire.

Don’t miss the discussion and additional whiteboard session in the second half where we dive into Isaiah’s “A virgin shall conceive” and find out it doesn’t mean what we thought it did!

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 15 and 2 Chron 26 and Isaiah 1-4

King Uzziah of Judah is pretty proud of himself. Judah is thriving under his economic leadership. So he figures he should be more important than anyone, including the priests. He shows up with incense and crashes the Holy Place in the Temple.

Hmmm...I wonder what could go wrong here?

Israel is in complete turmoil as the kingdom changes hands three times in seven months. Into all this chaos, the Lord sends Isaiah. We take a peek at future events so we have a good frame of reference for understanding Isaiah's messages.

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 15 and 2 Chron 26 and Amos

Amos isn’t a prophet--nobody in his family is a prophet--but the Lord takes him from Judah and sends him to Israel to proclaim the coming disasters about to overtake Israel, Judah, and all the surrounding nations.

As long as he speaks against Israel’s enemies he is welcome company, but as soon as he starts calling Israel out, he is quickly given the boot.

In this revealing class, we’ll look at the difference between the Lord’s grievances against the foreign nations and his grievances against Israel and Judah. We’ll think about what the Lord says he wants instead of sacrifices and praise songs.

And we’ll consider the “plumb line” Amos saw. What might that be, and does it have significance for us today?

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 14 and 2 Chron 25 and Jonah

Israel gets Jeroboam version 2, and he's as bad as his namesake. You'd think the Lord would come down hard, right? The problem is--Israel's borders have shrunk so much it's in danger of disappearing altogether. So either the Lord will let Israel be wiped out or he'll have to let this wicked king be a victor in battle. What will the Lord choose?

We know one thing for sure--the Lord's gonna send a prophet. And guess who it is this week? Jonah! Yay! This is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. Jonah is sent to both Jeroboam and to Assyria. Crazy! This week is a ton of fun.

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 11-13 and 2 Chron 23-24 and Joel

Athaliah seizes power in Judah and kills all her own grandchildren. True story. She misses one though, due to some heroics by a gal named Jehosheba. That boy, Joash, eventually becomes king. He starts well but ends very poorly. Even Jesus calls him out 800 years later!

We say goodbye to Elisha and hello to the books of the prophets. This takes to a whole new level of understanding Scripture. You don’t want to miss this. We start with the book of Joel. He introduces the concept of “The Day of the Lord” and provides a thumbnail sketch we can use as a template to understand all the rest of the prophets.

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 8-10 and 2 Chron 22

As do her son, the King of Judah, and her grandson, the King of Israel. It's a complete rout and lots of old prophecies get fulfilled--as the story says, "Not a word the Lord speaks falls to the ground."

The thing is, though, those prophecies were like 12-14 years old. God told Elijah to do them, but he dies and apparently passes the work to Elisha, who then dawdles around before suddenly doing it all. Why is that? What does that say to us about how WE are to understand when and how to do what the Lord tells us to do?

Here's the link to the TED talk about Liquid Lead that I reference during class.

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.

2 Kings 2, 6-7 and 2 Chron 21

Elijah goes out with a quite literal bang, and Elisha gets a double portion of his spirit (Elijah told him to be careful what he wished for!). Elisha gives the King of Aram fits in a hilarious story that results in the Arameans slinking away with their tails between their legs.

Meanwhile in Judah, sixty years of being governed by relatively good kings comes to an abrupt end. The bloodlines of the royal families of Israel and Judah are joined, and we witness the beginning of the end of the nations.

We don't do separate breakout groups this time. Instead we stay together and use our backpack tools to figure out why a crazy story about bald heads and bears is in the Bible.

A free Study Guide is available. A video version of the class is available on YouTube.

Click here for an index of all classes.

More info at PastorintheWild.org.