I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     King Uzziah succeeded his father Amaziah on the throne of Judah. The passage tells us that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, even as his father had done. However, he allowed the people to continue to worship at the high places. It is never quite clear what the problem with the people worshiping at the high places is. This translation refers to them as pagan shrines, but in earlier parts of the Old Testament they are sometimes referred to as places where people worshiped God. My belief is that as time went on, they became places where people combined worship of God with pagan religious practices. We are told that later in Uzziah’s reign, he is struck with leprosy and lives out his life in isolation with his son, and successor, governing in his place.
     Next we are told of a series of kings of Israel who did evil in the sight of the Lord. Several of these kings gained the throne by assassinating their predecessor. During this time, Assyria began to invade the area. One of the kings, King Menahem, bought off the Assyrians and used their support to consolidate his hold on the throne. This only kept the Assyrians out for a few years and under one of his successors the Assyrians again invaded.
     Uzziah’s son, Jotham succeeded his father on the throne of Judah and we are told that he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. King Jotham was succeeded on the throne by his son Ahaz. We are told that Ahaz did evil in the sight of the Lord, going so far as to sacrifice his own son to the fires. While Ahaz was king, the kings of Israel and Aram allied to invade Judah. King Ahaz sent a bribe to the king of Assyria to get his help against Aram and Israel. The king of Assyria, Tiglath-pileser, conquers Aram. While Tiglath-pileser is in Damascus, King Ahaz visits him there. King Ahaz had the Temple redone to reflect the design of the Assyrian temple in Damascus.

     While Paul was in Ephesus a group of Jewish exorcists who were traveling in the region began using the name of Jesus to cast out demons. This group was composed of seven sons of a priest. On one occasion when they tried this, the man with the evil spirit acknowledged the power of Jesus and Paul, but rejected their power. The man attacked them and drove them from the house naked and battered. When word of this spread, many who practiced various types of sorcery became believers and gathered their spell books and burned them. Note that they did not burn books that just talked about sorcery, but one’s that contained spells and incantations. Whether the spells and incantations worked or not, the sole purpose of the books was the practice of magic.
     About the time Paul began making plans to leave Ephesus and travel to Macedonia, a silversmith named Demetrius who made his living from the worship of Artemis stirred up other merchants who made their living from this worship against Paul and the believers. Demetrius got them so riled up that a riot began. The crowd rushed to the amphitheater and dragged two of Paul’s traveling companions along. Paul wanted to address the crown, but he was talked out of it. There was confusion among the crowd as to what the cause of the riot was. The Jews in the crowd put forward a spokesman to explain things to people, but he was shouted down. Finally, the mayor of the city was able to get the people to quiet down some. At that point, he tells them that everyone knows about the connection of Artemus with the city and that the men that have been forcibly brought there have committed no offenses against Artemus’ temple. He goes on to say that if Demetrius, or anybody else, has a legitimate complaint against these men, the courts are perfectly willing to here the case. He finishes by telling them that if they continue to riot, the Roman governor is likely to send the legions to restore order. This leads the crowd to disperse.

     The psalmist tells us to praise the Lord for He is great. God is so great and mighty that he can count the stars and name each and every one. The psalmist goes on to tell us that God does not favor the powerful and mighty, but instead favors those who fear Him and trust in His love.

     The wise are a source of wisdom to those around them in the same manner that a bubbling brook is a source of refreshing water to any who approach it. When the guilty are let go and the innocent punished a society will suffer.