Amos 7:7-17 At the time of the prophet Amos, the people of Israel were in a time of peace and prosperity. However, prosperity had led them to forget their covenant with God. God had delivered them from bondage in Israel, and in return, they were to show their faithfulness to God by living lives of…

2 Kings 5:1-14 From Abram’s initial call from Ur to the death and resurrection of King Jesus, Israel’s vocation was clear: Embody the light, goodness and justice of your God to every nation. Much of scripture, though, is spent explaining how Israel excelled in doing the opposite. In this short vignette from 2 Kings, an…

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 Second Kings continues the history of Israel from 1 Kings. Elijah will soon be leaving Elisha and ascend or be “taken up” to heaven. Elijah and Elisha have set out from Gilgal. As Robert Wilson points out in the footnotes on 2 Kings in “The Harper Collins Study Bible” (Harper Collins,…

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a Poor Elijah! Before this particular passage, Elijah has just experienced a spectacular victory in the “Whose God Is the Best?” competition against 450 prophets of Baal. But his “reward” is receipt of Jezebel’s murderous vow, and Elijah quickly shifts from God’s über-prophet to just a common fugitive, running for his…

Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a My great aunt had a small vineyard, just a few vines on trestles, and I played under them with my cousins growing up. I heard stories of how my aunts and uncles had played under them, and later watched the next generation play under them as well. My great aunt also…