Some who might claim that they’ve “heard it all” from the Bible would have a difficult time actually even quoting ten Bible verses if they were pressed to do so.  Yet others who have been exposed to a lot more still likely haven’t heard it all- let alone retained and understood it all.  Here we will look at a sample of some very obscure Bible passages.  You’re not likely to have heard a lot of emphasis on many of these at whatever church meetings and Bible studies you might have been at.

This opening Scripture takes place after the more well known event of Jehoshaphat King of Judah compromising and going to battle with Ahab the wicked the king of the northern kingdoms of Israel.  Ahab has died in battle now.  Jehoshaphat gets rebuked here by a true prophet as he returns from the battle.  Jehoshaphat receives the rebuke and acts accordingly in repentance.  This is a great lesson for Christians who have been duped by Zionism.

2 Chronicles chapter 19: “And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.  And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?  therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord.  Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.  And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers.  And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city, And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment.  Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts (bribes).  Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord, and for controversies, when they returned to Jerusalem.  And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart.  And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in your cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the Lord, and so wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass.  And, behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, for all the king’s matters: also the Levites shall be officers before you.  Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with the good.”

Later on in 2 Chronicles we have King Joash descending into idolatry after Jehoiada the Priest had died.  Jehoiada was a godly spiritual mentor who was responsible for preserving Joash’s life and causing him to inherit the throne.  Joash did not respond to rebuke well like Jehoshaphat did.  In each case though, we see the conditional nature of being in covenant with God.  This testifies against those who believe that Israel and/or Christians are in God’s favor unconditionally.

2 Chronicles 24:15-24: “But Jehoiada waxed old, and was full of days when he died; an hundred and thirty years old was he when he died.  And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house.  Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king (King Joash).  Then the king hearkened unto them.  And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.  Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the Lord; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.  And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper?  because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you.  And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.  Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son.  And when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it.  And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.  For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the Lord delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.  So they executed judgment against Joash.”

Later on in 2 Chronicles, there is this comment about Judah’s righteous King Hezekiah.  Since God gave His law as a guide to faith, and not as a means of atoning for sin and obtaining justification, it was never impossible to be pleasing to God and obtain a good report of Him through faith.  Nobody has a good excuse not to follow in Hezekiah’s footsteps in their own circumstances and duties before God and man.

2 Chronicles 31:21: “And in every work that he (Hezekiah) began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.”

Then, after 2 Chronicles finishes its account of Hezekiah’s reign, it gives a longer account of the reign of Hezekiah’s son Manasseh which is not found in the parallel account in 2 Kings (it is the same with all of these passages which we are looking at from 2 Chronicles).  The details in Chronicles are more thorough in these instances-yet they are considerably further back in the Bible and near the middle of the Old Testament.  This is probably a big reason why they aren’t talked about as much and seem very obscure to many.  However, we need to heed every Word of God.

2 Chronicles 33:1-16: “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: But did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.  For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.  Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever.  And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.  And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.  And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.  So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.  And the Lord spoke to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.  Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.  And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,  And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom.  Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God.  Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah.  And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city.  And he repaired the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.”

Though 2 Chronicles (like 2 Kings) closes with the carrying away of Judah and Jerusalem into captivity in Babylon for their rebellion against God, we see before that a proper response to God’s Word from King Josiah.  He received a lesson which the Zionists do not receive.  Israel was never in God’s favor unconditionally though His wrath towards man’s wickedness might be delayed.  We also see here that the Jews did not have to do wickedly in God’s sight; and that Israel being a faithful nation was indeed possible.  That is really why disobedience and unfaithfulness to God are so atrocious.  

Either Christ would not have been murdered if He had come in Josiah’s days or those who murdered Him would have been swiftly executed themselves by Josiah’s righteous government.

2 Chronicles 34:19-33: “And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law (a book of the law has been found and brought before King Josiah), that he rent (tore) his clothes.  And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah a servant of the king’s, saying, Go, enquire of the Lord for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do after all that is written in this book.  And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college:) and they spoke to her to that effect.  And she answered them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell ye the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah: Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.  And as for the king of Judah, who sent you to enquire of the Lord, so shall ye say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend (tear) thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord.  Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same.  So they brought the king word again.  Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.  And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.  And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant which are written in this book.  And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it.  And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.  And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God.  And all his days they departed not from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.”

It is common knowledge that Job’s three friends who came to visit him said some ill-advised things and gave a lot of overall misguided counsel.  Yet there was another man in the picture named Elihu (who is not mentioned in the Book of Job until after Job and his three friends had gone through several cycles of discourses).  Elihu, despite being younger than the other three, was a faithful counselor to Job.  Job chapters 32 to 37 are Elihu’s words to Job before the Lord spoke to Job directly.  These chapters contain many gems.

Job 32:21-22: “Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.  For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.”

This statement about not showing partiality nor exalting man too highly also reminds of the perhaps somewhat obscure place in the Psalms where God is called Reverend.  

Psalm 111:7-10: “The works of his hands are verity (truth) and judgment; all his commandments are sure.  They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.  He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”

Since no man is called “Reverend” in the Bible while God is called Reverend, how can anyone call another man “Reverend?”  And how can any man take such a flattering title?  Why do they not fear God like Elihu?

Job 33:27-30: “He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.  Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.”

Job 34:31-32 (the surrounding context of these verses is especially wonderful in my opinion): “Surely it is meet (fit) to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.”

Job 36:5-12: “Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.  He preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor.  He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.  And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction; Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.  He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.  If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.  But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.”

Job 37:1-5: “At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place.  Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.  He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.  After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.  God thundereth marvelously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.”

More from the Psalms.

Psalm 5: “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.  Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.  My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.  For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.  The foolish (boastful) shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.  Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing (lies): the Lord will abhor the bloody (it’s talking about those who shed blood unrighteously) and deceitful man.  But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.  Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.  For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulcher; they flatter with their tongue.  Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.  But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.  For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”

Psalm 7:11-12: “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.  If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.”

Psalm 39:4-6: “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.  Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily (truly) every man at his best state is altogether vanity.  Selah.  Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.”

Psalm 68:20-21: “He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues (escapes) from death.  But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.”

Psalm 73:11-20: “And they say, How doth God know?  and is there knowledge in the most High?  Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.  Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.  For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.  If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.  When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.  Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.  How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment!  they are utterly consumed with terrors.  As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.”

Psalm 147:1-6: “Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely (fitting).  The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.  He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.  He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.  Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.  The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.”

Some call Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel the major prophets.  Yet buried within these longer books are some especially powerful statements and sharp insights which many churchgoers have never heard a sermon about; and which may have escaped the attention of many who say they’ve read the Bible cover to cover.  

Isaiah 29:1-16: “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!  add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.  Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel (this is talking about Jerusalem).  And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.  And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.  Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.  Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.  And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.  It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.  Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.  For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.  And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men (my note- many know this is quoted in the New Testament- yet not a lot of people know the Old Testament reference- when the New Testament quotes from the Old Testament we should look up the reference): Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us?  and who knoweth us?  Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?  or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?”

Isaiah 44:9-20 (this is a powerful rebuke to, as well as exposure of, idolatry- this should make Roman Catholics cringe): “They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.  Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?  Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.  The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.  The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.  He heweth (chops) him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.  Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.  He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.  They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.  And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination?  shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?  He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Jeremiah 9:1-16: “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!  Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring (traveling) men; that I might leave my people, and go from them!  for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.  And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord.  Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders.  And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.  Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.  Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?  Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.  Shall I not visit them for these things?  saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?  For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.  And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.  Who is the wise man, that may understand this?  and who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?  And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.  I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.”

Jeremiah 14:10-16: “Thus saith the Lord unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the Lord doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.  Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.  When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.  Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.  Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spoke unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought (nothing), and the deceit of their heart.  Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.  And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.”

Ezekiel 21:8-17: “Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished: It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth?  it contemneth the rod (the scepter) of my son, as every tree.  And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.  Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.  Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod (my note- the rod here means the scepter- Israel’s kingdom was lost by the Babylonian captivity- Christ will one day sit on the throne of David- but David’s throne will not be rightfully occupied until then)?  it shall be no more, saith the Lord God.  Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together. and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy (secret) chambers.  I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah!  it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.  Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.  I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the Lord have said it.”

Much can be learned from God’s warnings of judgment on the rest of the nations which are seen throughout the Old Testament.  Yet I don’t believe these are preached on often in churches, let alone applied properly to those in modern times in terms of the lessons about God’s dealing with mankind which can be gleaned from them.  Ezekiel chapters 25 to 32 are a key example of such warnings of judgment upon the nations. 

The books of the Bible which are commonly called “the minor prophets” should not be called the minor prophets.  No words which are inspired by God’s Spirit are minor.  Here are a handful of especially hard hitting, sharp quotes from the books which are wrongly labeled as the books of the minor prophets.

Hosea 8:11-12: “Because Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.  I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.”

Hosea 13:9-11: “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.  I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?  I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.”

Amos 9:1-6: “I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.  Though they dig into hell (below the earth), thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel (a mountain), I will search and take them out thence (from there); and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.  And the Lord God of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up (or swell) wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt (that is, as by the Nile River).  It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name.”

Nahum 1:1-8: “The burden of Nineveh.  The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.  God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.  The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.  He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.  The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.  Who can stand before his indignation?  and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?  his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.  The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.  But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.”

Not even Israel’s religious leaders in Jesus’ time accounted for Nahum, as well as probably at least a few other righteous men in the Hebrew Scriptures, when they wrongly yet assertively claimed that no prophet arises out of Galilee.  Scholars and other religious leaders in the realm of professing Christianity are often no less confident and no less silly in many of the false claims they make which are related to the Bible.

Zephaniah 1:12-18: “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.  Therefore their goods shall become a booty (a prey), and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.  The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.  That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.  And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.  Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.”

Zechariah 1:1-6: “In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.  Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.  Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.  Your fathers, where are they?  and the prophets, do they live for ever?  But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers?  and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.”

We’ll only look at one from the New Testament since the most obscure Bible passages to Christians are typically in the Old Testament.  With that said, to many professing Christians most of the Bible seems very obscure- including vast portions of the New Testament.  I’ve done studies on many of the less commonly known books in the New Testament (verse by verse studies) which you can find on the Eternal Evangelism site.  

We’ll close with Mark 1:21-26: “And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.  And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.  And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?  art thou come to destroy us?  I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.  And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.  And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.”

I include this last one because even though most churchgoers probably have heard it, they may very well not have considered at least one of its key implications: One might regularly attend a meeting where the Bible is preached and still be wicked- perhaps even demon-possessed- while also not being confronted with their enmity against God.  

There are many scribes, but not many faithful men with real authority from the true God who preach the Bible with precision and no compromise.  One visit of that nature can expose wickedness that was never diagnosed nor exposed in many, many, many meetings beforehand.

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR FRONT PAGE FOR ALL THE STUDIES

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR 3RD WORLD MISSION TO THE IMPOVERISHED