If you have ever read through the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, you have probably found it somewhat depressing. After all, when the author starts out of the gate telling you that everything is meaningless you can’t help but calling the local Party City to order balloons for the pity-party that is getting ready to ensue.   Life Is Meaningless? According to Ecclesiastes everything in life and even human existence itself is “vanity’ . The Hebrew word used here is ‘Hebel’ has  been treated in many of the major translations as vain / vanity and by a few others as meaningless or pointless. The concept of  Hebel  can be explained by the analogy of making it one’s life purpose to building a sandcastle on the beach. That would be pretty dumb, right? But, in a sense, that is exactly what the author and many of us do. Maybe not literally, but we consume our life’s with temporary things that have no eternal significance. While the ...

As we look at Jeremiah as a whole we see a number of different narratives that play out, and a number of different sins that are to be judged, but the over arching theme of the book is a theme of judgement.  If we were to look for somewhere to find this theme in all of its glory, we need look no farther that chapter 7. It is here that we can find every hope that the people of Judah had dashed to pieces like a piece of china on a tile floor. It is chapter 7 that really sets the tone for the entire book when Jeremiah gives not a ‘feel-good’ sermon, but a sermon of coming judgement. One of the main issues that Judah had against them could almost be considered was a problem that would haunt the Pharisees in the gospels. They thought that their religion was enough even without the fruits of religion. It is the same religion that the New Testament writer of James, would call worthless. (James 1:26)   Judah had even got steps beyond this treating the Temple as some type of ‘good...

The book of Deuteronomy is well known as the last book of the Pentateuch. The book itself, as stated by Hamilton is, “In relationship to the rest of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy is considered something of an oddity”. Hamilton, (p. 367) While it may be true, that the position of Deuteronomy in its place with the first books of the Bible may seem odd, we must understand a few key point that the book itself points us towards, in order to understand and believe it’s validity as part of the Pentateuch. Firstly, we can see that the book of Deuteronomy acts as a “doorway” of sorts to the rest of the old testament. While the book is not a narrative as many of the other books in the beginning of the scriptures, it makes the way for us to see the rest of the Old Testament in the correct light. We see that the book takes place during the, “two resting times are the times when God speaks (mostly through his servant Moses) definitively and extensively to his people. It is in these camping, les...

In the book of Deuteronomy, we find a theological that is termed as the "Deuteronomic Theology". This concept explained by Hamilton as, “those who follow the Lord may anticipate blessing”. (Hamilton p. 446) This theme seems to hold through most of the Old Testament. We see those that follow the Lord rewarded with blessings, and those that disobey find themselves under judgment. We can see this concept played out though many of the narratives in scripture, one of the clearest of these being in the book of Malachi. God speaks to the children of Israel, explaining to them that their disobedience has caused them to be under a curse of sorts. (Malachi 3:8) In this same portion of scripture, we can see the promise of blessing for their obedience. (Malachi 3:10-11) So, is it then assumed that those of us who live today can be wealth, healthy, and wise by following Jesus? Not at all! It may have been termed best by C.H. Spurgeon when he said that the, “promise of the old Covenant was...