Books Of The Bible
Week 5
Lamentations
Lamentations means crying with sorrow and grief.  Jeremiah wrote these poems in sorrow over the destruction of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel
The prophet Ezekiel was taken to Babylon in captivity.  He prophesied to the Israelites that Jerusalem would be destroyed and burnt.  God brought punishment to the Israelites because of sin and over 60 times in the book of Ezekiel God says that they “shall know that I am the LORD”.  One is in Ezekiel 6:10, “And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.”  Ezekiel had many signs and visions, such as the valley of dry bones in chapter 37.  God showed him a valley full of dead, dry bones and asked him if the bones could live.  God told him to prophecy to the bones and they came together, bone connecting to bone.  God gave them skin and breath and they stood up as a great army. This was a sign to Israel that they would live again in their own land. 

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There is an old spiritual folk song about the dry bones in Ezekiel 37.   There are several different versions, but this one found on Events-in-Music.com is the one I remember singing as a child.  The song was written by James Weldon Johnson.


Dem Dry Bones

E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
E-ze-kiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Oh hear the word of the Lord.

(Tune ascends up in half steps)

The foot bone connected to the (pause) leg-bone,
The leg bone connected to the (') knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the (') thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the (') back bone,
The back bone connected to the (') neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the (') head bone,
Oh hear the word of the Lord!

Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun'
Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun'
Dem bones, dem bones gon-na walk a-roun'
Oh hear the word of the Lord!

(Tune descends in half steps and we retrace the body)

The head bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the foot bone,
Oh hear the word of the Lord!

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Daniel
Daniel was a young prince in Jerusalem who was taken captive to Babylon.  Daniel and his three friends were ten times wiser than all the wise men in Babylon.  Chapter 3 tells of his friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being cast into a burning, fiery furnace because they would not bow to the king’s golden image.  The Lord was in the fire with them and they did not get burned.  Chapter 5 tells of the hand that appeared and wrote on the wall after King Belshazzar drank from the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple of the house of God at Jerusalem and praised his false gods. Chapter 6 tells when Daniel was cast into a den of lions because he prayed to God, but God sent an angel who shut the lions’ mouths.  There are many dreams and visions in the book of Daniel.  Some of the prophecies were during Daniel’s time, but some are of things to come in the end of time.

Hosea
God told Hosea to take a wife that was unfaithful to show the Children of Israel that they had been unfaithful to God.  They worshipped false gods.  One of the sad verses in the book is when Hosea’s wife, Gomer,  has her third child.  “Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.”  (Hosea 1:9)  Gomer left her family and became a slave but Hosea bought her back because of his love for her.  This is a story of how God loves us and gave His Son to buy us from a life of sin.


Joel
The book of Joel begins with a plague of insects, which leaves the people without any food for themselves or their animals.  “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.”  (Joel 1:4)  Joel goes on to tell about fire that burned their trees and dried up their water.  He pleads with the people to cry out to God.  God promises to give His people rain and food again and also send the Holy Spirit.  “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall see visions: And also upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.”  (Joel 2:28-29)  Peter quoted these verses when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost in Acts 2:17-18.

Amos
Amos begins his prophesy against Israel’s enemies.  “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof;…”  (Amos 1:3)  In Amos 1:6 God says that He will punish Gaza, then in verse 9 He will punish Tyrus, verse 11 Edom, and verse 13 Ammon.  Chapter 2 begins with punishment to Moab.  The people were all glad to hear that God would punish their surrounding enemies.  Then the sermon turned against Judah and Israel.  “Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.  Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;”  (Amos, 2:4-6)  Amos told the people how they had sinned against God and how terrible their punishment would be.  The priest of Bethel told Amos to go back home to Judah to prophecy, but Amos told him that he was not a prophet, but a shepherd.  “And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.”  (Amos 7:15)  In Amos 3:3 God asks the question, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”  We can’t walk with God if we don’t obey God.

Week 5 -- Do You Know???

1.  Who was told to preach to dead dry bones?  __________________

2.  What happened to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they would not bow to the king’s statue?  ___________________________

3.  Matching

____  Lamentations    A)  Visions like the Valley of Dry Bones
____  Ezekiel    B)  Shows God’s love to an unfaithful people
____  Daniel       C)  Warned of God’s judgment to all the nations
____  Hosea       D)  Prophecy of the filling of the Holy Spirit
____  Joel   E)  The book of sorrow and tears by Jeremiah
____  AmosF)  Was thrown into a den of lions when he prayed