Thematic Bible: National


Thematic Bible



For I will drive out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. Verse ConceptsNationalismGod's ProvisionThree Times A YearGod Sets BoundariesThe Lord Will Drive Them Out

When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, "I want to eat meat just as I please," you may do so as you wish. Verse ConceptsFood DefinedEating Meat

If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them, Verse ConceptsEnlargementborders

Jeroboam then thought to himself: "Now the Davidic dynasty could regain the kingdom. If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord's temple in Jerusalem, their loyalty could shift to their former master, King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah." After the king had consulted with his advisers, he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, "It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt." read more.
He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves. He built temples on the high places and appointed as priests people who were not Levites. Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival celebrated in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices.

The priests and Levites who lived throughout Israel supported him, no matter where they resided. The Levites even left their pasturelands and their property behind and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as the Lord's priests. Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the worship centers and to lead in the worship of the goat idols and calf idols he had made.

Now send out messengers and assemble all Israel before me at Mount Carmel, as well as the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah whom Jezebel supports. Verse ConceptsFalse GodsSchool Of ProphetsTablesAssembling IsraelFour To Five HundredFour And Five HundredFollowers Of BaalProphets Of Other GodsServing Asherahjezebel

The priests and Levites who lived throughout Israel supported him, no matter where they resided. The Levites even left their pasturelands and their property behind and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as the Lord's priests. Jeroboam appointed his own priests to serve at the worship centers and to lead in the worship of the goat idols and calf idols he had made.

one beka per person, that is, a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, for everyone who crossed over to those numbered, from twenty years old or older, 603,550 in all. Verse ConceptsMiddle AgeCoinsTwentyThree To Nine Hundred ThousandHalf Of ThingsComparative MeasuresRight MeasuresTax To Be Paid

The Lord spoke to Moses: "When you take a census of the Israelites according to their number, then each man is to pay a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. Everyone who crosses over to those who are numbered is to pay this: a half shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel weighs twenty gerahs). The half shekel is to be an offering to the Lord. read more.
Everyone who crosses over to those numbered, from twenty years old and up, is to pay an offering to the Lord. The rich are not to increase it, and the poor are not to pay less than the half shekel when giving the offering of the Lord, to make atonement for your lives. You are to receive the atonement money from the Israelites and give it for the service of the tent of meeting. It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord, to make atonement for your lives."

Jeroboam then thought to himself: "Now the Davidic dynasty could regain the kingdom. If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord's temple in Jerusalem, their loyalty could shift to their former master, King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah." After the king had consulted with his advisers, he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, "It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt." read more.
He put one in Bethel and the other in Dan. This caused Israel to sin; the people went to Bethel and Dan to worship the calves. He built temples on the high places and appointed as priests people who were not Levites. Jeroboam inaugurated a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival celebrated in Judah. On the altar in Bethel he offered sacrifices to the calves he had made. In Bethel he also appointed priests for the high places he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month (a date he had arbitrarily chosen) Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had made in Bethel. He inaugurated a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to offer sacrifices.

But they did not obey their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord's commands, but they did not. Verse Conceptsethics, basis ofGod's WaysProstitutionRevelation, Responses ToDifferent Gods

Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family. Verse ConceptsephodsProstitutionTrapEvil Trapping

But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and worshiped instead the gods of the native peoples whom God had destroyed before them. Verse ConceptsProstitutionUnfaithfulness, To God

They were defiled by their deeds, and unfaithful in their actions. Verse ConceptsActionsFalse ReligionSpiritual HarlotryDebaucheryProstitutionSin, Effects Of

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize how I was crushed by their unfaithful heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices. Verse ConceptsConversion, God's demands forApostasy in OTRejection Of God, Results OfHeart, Of Unregenerate PeopleHedonismForsaking GodEscaping EvilIdol WorshipHating Individualsheartbroken

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers and engage in prostitution with detestable idols? Verse ConceptsAbominations, Idolatry IsImitating Wicked PeoplePeople Polluting ThemselvesThe Great Prostitute

"Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, you must bear now the punishment for your obscene conduct and prostitution." Verse ConceptsThrowing AwaySpiritual Harlotryconsequences

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner's staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery against their God. Verse ConceptsSpiritual HarlotryIngratitudeSpirit, Emotional Aspects OfWoodHarlotsCausing People To TurnIdol Worshipwhores

Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; because a spirit of idolatry controls their heart, and they do not acknowledge the Lord. Verse ConceptsForgetting GodSpiritual HarlotryIngratitudeProstitutionSalvation, Necessity And Basis OfSpirit, Emotional Aspects OfDecadenceNot Returning To God

O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute's wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain. Verse ConceptsFaithfulness, To GodSpiritual HarlotryIngratitudeMarriage, Between God And His PeopleServants, Working Conditions OfUnfaithfulness, To GodLack Of RejoicingWages Of A ProstituteThe Great Prostitute






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