Bible Fiber

The descendants of Jacob became the people of Israel and the progenitors of the Abrahamic covenant. The descendants of Esau became the Edomites, a distinct people group that sometimes allied with her Judahite neighbor and sometimes warred against her. Thus, they fulfilled the message of the Lord, given to Rebekah while the twins were still in utero: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples b...

Obadiah is only twenty-one verses, the shortest book in all the Hebrew scripture. So, as part of our Bible reading challenge, the length of Obadiah is not the hard part to tackle. But the content of Obadiah requires a history lesson that goes well beyond the twenty-one verses. Obadiah is an oracle of judgement against Edom.  How did a short prophetic book written about the sins and punishment of o...

Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel. So far, in our reading challenge for November, we have worked our way through Amos’s bio...

Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel. Last week we studied the hardest part of Amos, the Oracles Against the Nations. Amos spe...

One reason this podcast is focusing on the Minor Prophets is because they are very difficult texts to read at times. The text is often organized by theme or literary style, rather than chronologically like in Genesis, Kings, or Chronicles. And as we talked about in Hosea, the nature of prophetic writing also means the voice can change from first to third person within the same passage and the lite...

We have now made our way through Hosea and Joel. Amos is our featured prophet for November. After studying this truth-telling, justice-seeking, Yahweh-exalting messenger, you will want to name your next born child Amos.  Normally, we read a chapter or two from the prophets each week as part of our Bible Reading Challenge. This week, however, to give Amos, the man, his proper introduction, I won’t...

Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel. Joel is our prophet for October.  A slim three-chapter book, you would think the book of...

Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel. Joel is a slim three-chapter book, but there is a lot going on. This week we are studyin...

Joel is a slim three-chapter book, but it still has plenty to unpack.  To begin each prophetic book, we need a little background on the author, the date of the composition, his relation to the other prophets, and his intended audience. For many prophets, writing their bio is a straightforward process. Six of the twelve make it easy by including a historical superscription: Hosea, Amos, Micah, Zeph...

We stopped in Hosea 9 last week but that was an artificial stop point. Really, the prophet’s judgement speech goes from 6:4 to 11:7 without pausing for a breath. We continue to gain insight in these last chapters into the purpose of God’s retribution. While Hosea is the prophet most sensitive to Israel’s inner spiritual life, he by no means ignores Israel’s more obvious signs of rebellion. Hosea i...

This week, we are continuing our study of Hosea so be sure to read Hosea chapters 6, 7, 8, and 9 as part of our Bible Reading challenge. As a refresher, the first three chapters of Hosea are all about the prophet’s marriage to Gomer and how Gomer’s infidelity is an extended metaphor for Israel’s unfaithfulness. Chapters 4 and 5 begin the message of Hosea. Gomer is never mentioned again and the pro...

Shabbat Shalom and Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel. The “minor” prophets are the most neglected books of the Hebrew Bible...

Shabbat Shalom and Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern. The “minor” prophets are the most neglected...

Welcome. I am Shelley Neese, President of The Jerusalem Connection. This week we are launching a new series called Bible Fiber. Bible Fiber will be a weekly audiocast teaching on our regular Youtube channel where we have posted twice weekly for a decade. But we are also launching it as a podcast, available on all the major podcast directories.  For the next year, I am challenging myself, along wit...