Who deserves to be honored, and for what reason? That’s really the question that the “cancel culture” is asking when it defaces or destroys monuments to heroes of generations past. And it’s no longer just ignorant mobs that are seeking to rewrite history. Princeton University has decided to remove the…

“The inheritance of my fathers.” That’s what Naboth called his vineyard in verse 3, and just to make sure we get the point, the author repeats the same phrase in verse 4. In short, what made his vineyard important to Naboth wasn’t its fertility or its beauty or its location….

“God wants you to be happy and healthy and wealthy – just put your hand on the TV and send in a donation!” We’ve all heard these sorts of presentations from the peddlers of the prosperity gospel. But today’s passage should be sufficient to silence them all. In I Kings…

What happens to a country when its rulers set themselves above the law? This was, after all, what Jeroboam had done. He had been made king of the northern tribes of Israel after they had revolted against Rehoboam and the dynasty of David that was based in Jerusalem (I Kings…

Yesterday, we saw how Rehoboam and the people of Israel repented, how they turned back to God in a time of great distress (II Chronicles 12:6). But wouldn’t it be better to learn from the sins of our ancestors instead of repeating them? Wouldn’t it be better to devote ourselves…

It’s an all too familiar pattern – when people become prosperous and peaceful they cease to have any time for God. That’s what seems to have happened to King Rehoboam and his subjects: when his kingdom was “established and strong,” he and all his people “forsook the law of the…

“Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all…

“Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” That’s what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:13. So, how well did he do in living according to his own wisdom? How consistently did he follow God’s law in his own life? It’s easy to see that he missed…

“Education is overrated.” That’s not exactly what we would expect to hear from Solomon, who has spent the entire book of Ecclesiastes trying to get us to think about our lives, to examine our priorities in greater depth. And he gave it his best shot, as “he pondered, searched out…

What is the secret to the good life? A new car? A bigger house? Having the sort of fame that mass media attention or lots of followers on Facebook or Twitter bring you? The freedom to go where you want and do what you want? Solomon tried all the options….