2 Kings 16 – King Ahaz of Judah is 20 when he becomes king and rules for 16 years (732-715). He does what is not right, walking “in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even sacrifices his own son as a burnt offering, imitating the practices of the ancient Canaanite people of the region (16:3-4). During Ahaz’ reign, the kings of Syria (Rezin) and Israel (Pekah) join in an alliance against him – they are angry that he would not join with them in an alliance against Assyria - but…

I have posted an extended version of the article (of the same name) published in this month's Friends Journal at my blog on morality:

http://isabel.penraeth.com/post/24485040269/understanding-ourselves-respecting-the-differences

2 Kings 14 – In Judah, Amaziah, son of Joash of Judah, begins his reign. He reigns for 29 years (800-783), and does “what was right in the sight of the Lord” (14:3), but not completely. Again, he leaves the “high places” alone. As soon as he is securely in power, he kills the servants of his family that had been involved in the death of his father; but he spares their children. In this he is praised for following the dictate of Moses: “The parents shall not be put to death fort the…

Here are the last two weeks' podcasts on the biblical book of Acts: one on Quaker discernment from Acts 15 called "It Seemed Right to the Holy Spirit & to Us" by Paul Anderson, and one called "Are You Conscious?" on being mindful of what God is doing in the world around you, by…

1 Kings 12 – Joash (Jehoash) of Judah reigns 40 years (837-800). His mother is Zibiah of Beer-sheba. He “did what was right in the sight of the Lord all his days, because the priest Jehoiada instructed him” (12:2). They kept the high places, but that appears to have been seen as a shortcoming of a different order than the Baal worship, etc.

Joash set about trying to set up a revenue fund to make repairs on the house of the Lord.  The money from the assessment of…

It’s been a full week from one extreme to the next, life transitions, ups and downs and little time for quiet or spaciousness; yet there have been moments. Perhaps more than I have noticed.

 One happened Tuesday morning after I had arrived at…

2 Kings 10 – Jehu sends letters to the people responsible for overseeing the 70 sons of Ahab (Jerusalem Bible notes 70 is the number indicating “entire” and that sons here means all males heirs, particularly the sons of Joram) asking them to select one of them as king and get ready to “fight for your master’s house” (10:3). But they all respond that if he could beat the two kings he has already beaten – Jehoram and Ahaziah -- there is not much chance they will prevail against…

2 Kings 8 – Elisha warns the woman who has provided him with a place to stay for years and whose son he had raised from death that a famine is coming, that they should go and settle elsewhere for a while.  So she goes to the land of the Philistines for seven years.  At the end of this time, she returns and asks the king for her house and land back.  When she approaches the king (King Joram), he is talking to Elisha’s servant Gehazi about all the amazing things Elisha has done, and…

In the ‘Introduction’ to ‘The Second Period of Quakerism’ by William Braithwaite, Rufus Jones posits that the origins of Quaker Quietism are to be found in the writings of Robert Barclay.  The view of Jones is that Quakers were receptive to the teachings of Guyon and other continental Quietists because the basic teachings of Quietism are to be found in early Quaker works, particularly Barclay, prior to the Quaker community encountering continental Quietism.  Jones writes, “[I]t is a plain…

2 Kings 6 – The prophets in Elisha’s company feel crowded and suggest that they go to the Jordan to collect logs for a new dwelling (one log per prophet). He goes with them at their request.  They cut the tree down and one of the men loses an ax head – it falls into the water (6:5). They want to get it since it was borrowed from someone.  Elisha performs a miracle by cutting off a stick and throwing it into the water; this makes the ax head float…

In 1949, Elton Trueblood published a short book on The Common Ventures of Life: Marriage, Birth, Work and Death (New York: Harper and Row).  “The purpose of this book,” he says in the Preface, “is to help puzzled men and women to prepare for the intelligent and reverent facing of those experiences which are so central to man’s life that they have seemed supreme in all generations and in all cultures.”  Marriage is the first of those “common ventures” that Trueblood…