Douglas Jacoby Podcast

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Hebrew words: ‘Iyyov (Job) – perhaps “persecuted." 60x in the O.T.

Further study:

• In this podcast:
  • Job 1:1-22, 2:7-13, 3:1,24-26, 19:25-27, 31:1-40, 32:1, 40:1-8, 42:1-17
  • Job’s physical condition: 2:7,8,12; 7:4,5,14; 16:16; 17:1; 19:17,20; 30:17,28,30
  • Ezekiel 14:14,20
  • James 5:11
• Even more:
  • Job is part of the Old Testament Wisdom Literature.
  • To read The Problem of Human Suffering, by John Clayton, which explores the central issue of Job. Click here.
  • For more on the interpretation of Job, click here.
  • See also the comment on Job 19:26.
  • Why does a good God allow evil? Click here (and then scroll down) for the online audio lesson.
  • For a much fuller treatment of this book, please hear my entire audio series on Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.
  • For an insightful commentary, try Francis I Andersen's Job: An Introduction and Commentary, in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series.

Some things we learn about God:

• God does allow bad things to happen to good people – and vice versa. See also Matthew 5:45.
• His presence and nature are overpowering, utterly humbling.
• If we are awed and humbled by his work in the natural world, then we should also trust that he rules the moral world. God is just.
• The Lord is not pleased when he or his ways are misrepresented.
• God doesn’t always answer our questions in ways we expect.
• God uses suffering to mature us spiritually. He does not view suffering in the same way that we do!
• In the story of Job God foreshadows the death of another righteous and innocent man, whose suffering redeems the world: Jesus Christ.

For kids:

• Truth be told, the message of Job generally speaks much more to adults than to most kids. That is, few children have had to wrestle with the issues of theodicy (how God can be just, in light of the suffering and evil which he permit to take place in this life). Still, some kids have experienced tremendous suffering and loss, and insight into "Why bad things happen to good people" may in fact be highly meaningful to them. This is especially important considered younger children's tendency to internalize -- to blame themselvesfor bad things that happen. Just as for adults, the truth will set children free, too.

Key verses:

• Job 1:10 – Satan charges that God has put a "hedge" around Job. He severely doubts the purity of his motives.
• Job 1:21 – The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
• Job 31:1ff – Job has led a righteous life.
• Job 40:8 – God is righteous, nor should we charge him with wrong.
• Job 42:10 – Job prays for his friends.
• James 5:11 – He is the paragon of perseverance.

Next lesson: The Proverbs 31 Woman and Man

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Hebrew words/names:

• ‘Ester (eh-STAIR), “star,” 55x in the Bible.
  • After the Babylonian goddess Ishtar
  • Persian Sitâr
• Hadassah – myrtle. This was Esther’s original name.
• Mordecai, 59x. It seems that his name is influenced by Marduk (the Babylonian national god).
• Haman, 54x. He was an Agagite, a descendant of the Amalekites, bitter foes of the Israelites.
• ‘Achashverosh – Ahasuerus (Xerxes), 31x.

Further study:

• For the text of the apocryphal prayers of Mordecai and Esther, click here.
• For similar stories (national heroes/heroines), see Tobit and Judith (both part of the O.T. Apocrypha).
• Scholars say Esther is not among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yet it might be, if another cave is discovered, or if one of the unidentified fragments -- and there are many! -- is from the book of Esther.
• About the fact that the book of Esther does not mention name of God, click here.
  • Note: Song of Songs does not contain the name of God, either, apart 8:6 (as a suffix).
  • The Greek version of Esther contains many references to God. This is a later edition, apparently.
  • Perhaps for the lack of mention of God in the Hebrew text, Martin Luther abhorred this book.
• Esther 5:3 is the same construction as in John 2:4, "What to you?" While it may sound rude, it was not.
• Did Esther commit fornication by being in the harem of the king of Persia? Click here.
• About Xerxes: "He invaded Greece with an army, it is said, of more than 2,000,000 soldiers, only 5,000 of whom returned with him. Leonidas, with his famous 300, arrested his progress at the Pass of Thermopylae, and then he was defeated disastrously by Themistocles at Salamis. It was after his return from this invasion that Esther was chosen as his queen." -- Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Compare the parallels between the near "holocaust" of Haman (the aversion of which is commemorated in Purim) with the European Holocaust under Hitler. I think the parallel, though interesting, is fortuitous: no necessary theological connection. A more solid biblical parallel is between Mordecai and Saul. Both are from the tribe of Benjamin (through Kish), and both confront Amalekite(s). Haman is an Agagite, descendant (presumably) of the man spared by Saul but slain by Samuel (1 Samuel 15).

Some things we learn about God:

• God will often move powerfully through a single man or woman – or, in this case, through the collaboration by Mordecai, Esther, Esther’s maids…
• God is the helper of the fatherless (Psalm 10:14,18, 68:5, 82:3, 146:9), usually helping them through others (Proverbs 31:8).
• God is the ultimate power on earth, not human leaders.
• God is always working behind the scenes.
• He is at work even outside Israel (as in Daniel, Ruth, Jonah, and the Joseph cycle).

For kids: See the DLTK's website. Click here.

Key verses:

• Esther 2:7 – Mordecai adopts Esther.
• Esther 4:14 – Mordecai challenges Esther to speak up!
• Esther 5:1 – Esther risks her life for her people.

Next lesson: Job.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Hebrew words:

‘Ezra’ (Ezra) –  "help. 25x in the O.T.
Nekhemyah (Nehemiah) – “Yah[weh] comforts," 8x in the O.T.

Further study:

• Ezra & Nehemiah
  • Ezra: Ezra 7-10, Nehemiah 8
  • Nehemiah: Nehemiah 1-13
  • The occasion of Nehemiah 8: was it the renewal ceremony required by Deuteronomy 31:10-13?
  • Nehemiah 8:3 (NAS and Hebrew, not NIV) says that Ezra read from the Book of the Law. The implication is that he did not read the entire Torah, but only selections.
  • Ezra and Nehemiah seem originally to have been parts of the same book. The division into separate books appears to have taken place a century or more after Christ
  • Even more:
    • Has the Wall of Nehemiah been discovered? Click here.
    • Click this link on the chronology of the two books.
    • Read Hand Me Another Brick, by Swindoll: click here.
    • Check out Max Lucado’s Life Lessons, based on the lives of Ezra and Nehemiah.
    • Click here for my series on team leadership.
• Advanced: O.T. Apocrypha: 1-2 Esdras. These two books cover the same events and time period, but they have been put together differently. What does this suggest about how the Bible came together? about how important chronology is? about how the Word of God became inscripturated?
• Most scholars believe that the author of Ezra-Nehemiah transposed a chapter from Ezra to Nehemiah. Nehemiah 8 fits very well between Ezra 8 and Ezra 9, and may well be its original location.

Some things we learn about God:

• God doesn’t give all his gifts to one man; rather, by distributing them among various individuals, cooperation and teamwork are required.
• He provides leaders to rally the people of God in the work of God.
• He provides teachers to root the people of God in the word of God.
• He desires that, in hearing his Word, we discern and rejoice in his grace.

Key verses:

• Ezra 9:3, 10:1; Nehemiah 1:4, 5:6 – Both Ezra and Nehemiah are deeply concerned about the spiritual state of Israel. They connect with the problems and with the people on the emotional level. Neither falls into romanticism or pragmatism.
• Ezra 7:10 – Before he attempted to teach others the law of God, Ezra had immersed himself in its statutes. He knew what he was talking about.
• Nehemiah 8:8,12 – Working with Nehemiah, Ezra is able to bring about a revival among the people of God.

Next lesson: Four characters from the book of Esther.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Hebrew words:

• Yoshi’yahhu (Josiah) -- “healed by Yah[weh]”
• Appears 55x in the Old Testament.

Further study:

Mentioned in passing: Deuteronomy 2:27, 5:32, 17:20, 28:14; Joshua 1:7; 1 Kings 22:34; Psalm 119:72.

See the parallel account in 2 Kings 21-23.

Contrast Josiah's reaction with the dismissive attitude of his grandson Jehoiakim, in Jeremiah 36.

See also 1 Kings 13:2, where an unnamed prophet prophesies the iconoclast king by name. This is very unusual, though for a parallel see Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1, where the reign of the Persian king Cyrus is foretold.

Is Jeremiah the uncle of Josiah? Click here.

Some things we learn about God:

• God brings us his word through others, who were in turn taught by others, and so on...
• He expects a response to his message: not a dismissive but a determined effort to follow his Word.
  • The right reaction is not: “Well, I obeyed the gospel when it was explained to me. I have arrived."
  • It is, rather, “I continue to search and investigate and make whatever changes in my life that are required by the word of God or in step with the leading of the Spirit of God.
• Though the Lord honors those who fear him, and is a God who answers prayer, he does not pardon everyone on account of the vision of a single person. Repentance is an expectation not only of leaders, but of all the people of God.

For kids:

• Write out a number of passages on brightly colored (or otherwise obvious) slips of paper, rolled up in the shape of a miniature scroll, and place them in different rooms (or areas) of your home.
• Using whatever pretext is necessary to bring about the discovery of the scrolls, ask the children to go into these various areas (one per child). When they return (having discovered the passages), talk about the implications, and how God is looking for change – for a responsive heart.
• Then send the kids out a second time (to other locations); this time they are actively looking for anything they may have missed in the word of God. When they return, let them unroll and read and talk about what they are reading.
• Ask, How should we respond when we discover something in the Bible we did not realize was there? (We ought to take it seriously, and if there is something we should change, we ought to make this change quickly and without delay.) And how can we actively search for God’s word? (Read it, pay attention in church, think about the ideas and stories in the Bible, etc.)
• See the lesson on Josiah in Good Kings, Bad Kings – these sheets may be colored.

Key verses:

• 2 Chronicles 34:2 – Sought the Lord at a young age (8)
• 2 Chronicles 34:14 – Hilkiah the priest finds the book of the law of the Lord (material from Deuteronomy)
• 2 Chronicles 34:19 – Josiah responds humbly, and the Lord hears him (v.25)
• 2 Chronicles 34:30ff – He reads the Torah aloud, and he and the people make a covenant.
• 2 Chronicles 35 – He celebrates the Passover, in a way not done since the time of Samuel (v.18).
• 2 Chronicles 35:24 – Dies of battle wounds, and the prophet Jeremiah chants a lament (v.25).

Next lesson: Ezra & Nehemiah

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.

Hebrew words:

• Menashsheh – Manasseh (“Who makes me forget”)
• About 25x in the OT.

Further study:

• Passages covered in this podcast
  • 2 Chronicles 33:1-22
  • 2 Kings 21:16
  • Mentioned in passing: Ezekiel 34, Daniel 4, Romans 5,
• Further:
  • Parallel account in 2 Kings 21
  • Apocryphal: The Prayer of Manasseh 1-15. The complete text follows.

O Lord Almighty, God of our ancestors, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous offspring;  2 you who made heaven and earth with all their order;  3 who shackled the sea by your word of command, who confined the deep and sealed it with your terrible and glorious name;  4 at whom all things shudder, and tremble before your power, 5 for your glorious splendour cannot be borne, and the wrath of your threat to sinners is unendurable;  6 yet immeasurable and unsearchable is your promised mercy, 7 for you are the Lord Most High, of great compassion, long-suffering, and very merciful, and you relent at human suffering.

O Lord, according to your great goodness you have promised repentance and forgiveness to those who have sinned against you, and in the multitude of your mercies you have appointed repentance for sinners, so that they may be saved. 8Therefore you, O Lord, God of the righteous, have not appointed repentance for the righteous, for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who did not sin against you, but you have appointed repentance for me, who am a sinner. 9 For the sins I have committed are more in number than the sand of the sea; my transgressions are multiplied, O Lord, they are multiplied! I am not worthy to look up and see the height of heaven because of the multitude of my iniquities. 10 I am weighted down with many an  iron fetter, so that I am rejected because of my sins, and I have no relief; for I have provoked your wrath and have done what is evil in  your sight, setting up abominations and multiplying offences.

11 And now I bend the knee of my heart, imploring you for your kindness. 12 I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned, and I acknowledge my transgressions. 13 I earnestly implore you, forgive me, O Lord, forgive me! Do not destroy me with my transgressions! Do not be angry with me for ever or store up evil for me; do not condemn me to the depths of the earth. For you, O Lord, are the God of those who repent, 14 and in me you will manifest your goodness; for, unworthy as I am, you will save me according to your great mercy, 15 and I will praise you continually all the days of my life. For all the host of heaven sings your praise, and yours is the glory for ever. Amen

Some things we learn about God:

• He is angered by sin.
• He gives us opportunities to repent.
• He will pardon even the most hardened sinner, provided there is repentance.
• Even so, a change of heart does not erase the consequences of wrongs done. God may bless us, but he does not rewrite history.
• The Lord is willing to give us a fresh start.

For kids:

• Read the story. Good Kings, Bad Kings.
• Color in the figures (younger children).
• Questions:
  • Even though we may have been honest and admitted what our wrong, there may still be consequences. For example, if you steal something and turn yourself in, you should still give back what you stole, and apologize for your wrongdoing. Also, you may not be trusted for a while.
  • If God will forgive so freely, how should we feel and behave when we are hurt by our brother or sister? a mother or father? someone at school?

Key verses:

• 2 Chronicles 33:1 – Manasseh begins to reign at age 12.
• 2 Chronicles 33:9-10 – He abused his power, leading the people of God astray, and refusing to heed spiritual correction.
• 2 Chronicles 33:11 – God chastens Manasseh severely.
• 2 Chronicles 12-13 – Manasseh turns to God, and God responds.
• 2 Chronicles 33:18 – His prayer was recorded. (Does it survive today in the apocryphal Prayer of Manasseh ?)

Next lesson: Josiah

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Hebrew words:

• ‘Uzziyyahu (contraction of Azariah, ‘Azaryah) = “Yah(weh) is my strength.”
• The king is mentioned several dozen times in the Bible.

Further study:

• Our chapter: 2 Chronicles 26.
  • Exodus 28:36-39
  • Leviticus 22:4; Numbers 5:2
  • We also read Deuteronomy 17:18-20.
• A parallel chapter: 1 Kings 15
• Deuteronomy 8. In a microcosm, Uzziah’s life is the experience of Israel: Blessed by God, prosperous, ungrateful, and ultimately suffering enormous loss.
• Compare the lives of two other lepers: Miriam (Numbers 12) and Naaman (2 Kings 5).

Some things we learn about God:

• God and God alone is sovereign. No one is above the rules.
• Leaders form or mentor other leaders, and sometimes when their influence is withdrawn, the depth of conviction in the younger leader is revealed.
• God will work to challenge leaders who need to be reined in through those courageous enough to speak out.

For kids: Click to view the lesson from The One Year Bible for Children.

Key verses:

• 2 Chronicles 26:1 – Uzziah becomes king at age 16.
• 2 Chronicles 26:5,15 – God causes him to prosper, and become powerful.
• 2 Chronicles 26:16 – Pride and arrogance undo him.
• 2 Chronicles 26:19 – Rejecting critique, he suffers the penalty of a lifelong social stigma.

Next lesson: Manasseh

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.

Hebrew words:

• Chizqiyyah, Chizqiyyahu, Yechizqiyya, or Yechizqiyyahu (Hezekiah) -- “Yah has strengthened”

About 125x in the Bible

Further study:

• Passages covered in this podcast:
  • 2 Kings 18-20
  • Referred to in passing: 2 Kings 16:20; Numbers 21:4-9; 2 Chronicles 16:12; Judges 6, Isaiah 7, Matthew 4;
• Further:
  • Parallel accounts: 2 Chronicles 29-32 and Isaiah 36-39
  • Hezekiah is also mentioned in the Assyrian records. Read the account from the Sennacherib Prism (701 BC).
  • See also the Assyrian reliefs from the siege of Lachish, after whose conquest Jerusalem became the next target. Click here.
  • Read the Passover passage in 2 Chronicles 30:1-20. What do we learn about God in this passage? about his grace? his willingness to make exceptions?

Some things we learn about God:

• When we trust and obey, God prepares us for significant service.
• God is concerned for his honor. To him (alone) is the glory.
• Sometimes God heals through physicians. Such recoveries are no less answered prayers simply because medicine is involved!
• The Lord gives those who trust him comfort and direction, through spiritual men and women of God.
• God responds to heartfelt prayer.

For kids: You will find an interesting Bible lesson on Hezekiah here.

Key verses:

• 2 Kings 18:2 --  Becomes king at age 25.
• 2 Kings 19:1 -- Responds penitently when Jerusalem is threatened by the Assyrians.
• 2 Kings 19:14ff, 20:2ff -- He prayers sincerely and expressively.
• 2 Kings 20:6 -- The Lord adds 15 years to his life. He dies (v.21) at age 54.
• 2 Kings 20:19 -- Despite his strong walk with the Lord, Hezekiah shows a certain complacency.

P.S. This lesson was prerecorded. (I didn't record during our wedding anniversary celebration!)

Next lesson: Manasseh.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.

Hebrew words:

• Yehu' (Jehu) -- Yah(weh) is He, or He is Yah(weh)
• 54x in the O.T., by my count. (There are three other Jehus as well.)

Further study:

• Passages covered in this podcast:
  • 1 Kings 19:16
  • 2 Kings 9-10
  • 2 Chronicles 22 (parallel passage)
  • Romans 12:11; Proverbs 19:2; John 2:13ff.
• The kings of Israel and Judah (parallel tracks)
  • Kings of Israel:
    • Saul – Ishbosheth – David – Solomon
    • Nadab – Baasha – Elah – Zimri – Omri – Ahab – Ahaziah – Jehoram – Jehu – Jehoahaz – Jehoash – Jeroboam II – Zechariah – Shallum – Menahem – Pekahiah – Pekah – Hoshea
  • Kings of Judah:
    • Saul – David – Solomon
    • Rehoboam – Abijah –Asa – Jehoshaphat – Jehoram – Ahaziah – Athaliah – Joash – Amaziah – Uzziah – Jotham – Ahaz – Hezekiah – Manasseh – Amon – Josiah – Jehoahaz – Jehoiakim – Jehoiachin – Zedekiah
  • Judah more righteous than Israel. God gives her extra time.  Northern Israel collapses, captured by the Assyrians, in 722 BC.  More than a century later, in 586 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah falls to the Babylonians.
• In 2 Cor 11:2, Paul is jealous [zēlô] with a zeal [zēlō]; the two words, even in English, are closely related.
• Even more material:
  • Is there a contradiction in Hosea 1:4?
    • This is one solution (mine, at the main website).
    • But there are other ways to look at the problem. Click here
  • Review the Phinehas podcast, in the present series, for more on zeal.
  • See my 2003 paper on Forceful Men, and also my 2005 paper on Driven Men.
• Let us strive to combine fiery zeal with gentle humility.
  • "Truth without enthusiasm, morality without emotion, ritual without soul, are things Christ unsparingly condemned. Destitute of fire, they are nothing more than a godless philosophy, an ethical system, and a superstition." -- Samuel Chadwick
  • "Certainly zeal for your house consumes me" (Psalm 69:9; John 2:17).

Some things we learn about God:,

• God may use us for his purposes but that hardly means he approves of everything we do.
• In O.T. times, God allowed a degree of violence among his people. In Jesus, however, the perfect will of God is revealed: love for enemies.
• Christ alone embodied the perfect balance…

For kids: See how well Mary Batchelor has rewritten the stories about Jehu for children. Click here and then scroll down to lessons 183-185.

Key verses:

• 1 Kings 19:16 -- Elijah is told to appoint Jehu as king of Israel. Yet...
• 2 Kings 9:6 -- Elisha has a junior prophet anoint Jehu.
• 2 Kings 9:20 -- Jehu drives like a madman! Is this man zealous to the point of recklessness?
• 2 Kings 9:24-33 -- Jehu kills J(eh)oram, king of (northern) Israel, Ahaziah, king of (southern) Judah, Jezebel, (former) "queen" of Israel.
• 2 Kings 10:11 -- Jehu kills Ahab's remaining descendants.
• 2 Kings 10:16 -- "See my zeal for the Lord."
• 2 Kings 10:18-31 -- Jehu eliminates Baal worship in Israel. He is not careful, however, to reverse the sins of Jeroboam.

Next lesson: Hezekiah.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.

Hebrew words:

• 'Elisha' (Elisha) -- "God is salvation," 59x in the Bible
• 'Gekhazi (Gehazi) -- 12x in the Bible

Further study:

• Elisha: 1 Kings 19; 2 Kings 2-9, 13; Luke 4:27.
• Gehazi: 2 Kings 4, 5, 8.
• Did Elisha make a mistake? Click here.

Some things we learn about God:

• His miracles are not arbitrary. Prophetic miracles legitimize the prophets as spokesmen for God, directing the people to the word of God.
• To some he imparts wisdom and empathy to understand and relate to others.
• He may combine qualities of gentleness and firmness, hard and soft, in the same person.
• The Lord works through mentors--though a mentoring relationship does not guarantee virtue or character.

For kids: Check out the nine studies on Elisha from Bible Study Planet. Click here.

Key verses:

• 1 Kings 29:21 – Elisha becomes Elijah’s assistant.
• 2 Kings 2:13 – Elisha takes Elijah’s mantle.
• 2 Kings 5:16 – He is not in it for the money.
• 2 Kings 5:27 – Gehazi and Naaman exchange conditions, dermatologically.
• 2 Kings 6 – Elisha sees the chariots of fire.
• 2 Kings 13:20-21 – Elisha dies and even then is used to work a powerful miracle.

Next lesson: Jehu

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.

Hebrew words:

• ‘Eliyyah (Elijah) – My God is Yah (Yahweh)
• 100x in the Bible (71x in the OT, 29x in the NT)

Passages covered in this podcast:

• 1 Kings 19
• James 5:17 -- Elijah was effective in prayer!
• Malachi 4:4-6 -- plus the N.T. passages where John the Baptist is compared to Elijah.
• 1 Kings 17-21, 2 Kings 1

Even more:

• Did Elijah go to heaven? Click here.
• What he reincarnated in John the Baptist? Click here. For more on John the Baptist, click here.

Regarding his appearance during the Transfiguration of Christ, click here.

• Elijah pours 4 jars of water 3 times: 4 x 3 = 12 -- as in the 12 Tribes of Israel = Unity!

Some things we learn about God:

• God listens to man's voice.

God speaks to us in a voice, in his word – not only through impressive natural phenomena.

Though our moods and feelings may change, God’s word does not change.

The future will take care of itself when we are trusting the Lord.

For kids: You will find lots of ideas for teaching children about Elijah if you click here.

Key verses:

• 1 Kings 18:21 -- Elijah calls Israel to decision
• 1 Kings 19:3 -- After a triumph, the prophet becomes fearful and depressed.
• 1 Kings 19:19 -- He chooses a successor, and begins to mentor him.
• James 5:17 -- We should aim to pray like Elijah!

Next lesson: Elisha & Gehazi