On Creationism

The Book of Hosea was written around the fall of the Kingdom of Israel. These tumultuous times are explained as a punishment from God, as usual, as a reaction to the people worshiping false gods. Hosea is the first book to liken this to prostitution. If I was cynical, I would say this was because Hosea's wife was unfaithful to him, and he wanted to mitigate his shame. He still loved her, and eventually they got through it. Thus, after a quick intro, we read: Hosea 1:2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. That is one bizarre command! Rather more likely, he married the girl, she was unfaithful, and he later claimed to have that command. Sad that for thousands of years, poor Gomer has been know as a promiscuous woman. It continues with a...

I have been looking at messianic prophecies a lot recently, and struggling to keep straight what happened when. This timeline was centred on the Babylonian Captivity (bold below), but goes some way either side, and a later edit extends it even further. Dates are obvious approximate, some more than others. 843 Athaliah made herself Queen of Judah, killing all the royal family except Jehoash , who was rescued by Jehosheba, sister to the old king and wife of Jehoiada the priest. 2 Kings 11 837 Joash/Jehoash from  797 Amaziah from  792 Corecency from  783 Uzziah from 783 (the time of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada) 760 Big earthquate 760 750 Corecency from 750 (when Uzziah contracted leprosy) (the time of Amos) 742 Jotham ruled from 742 740 Start of Isaiah's ministry 738 Israel forced to pay heavy tribute to Neo-Assyrian Empire 732 Ahaz ruled from 732 (he was pro-Assyria, and a bad Jew) 720 Fall of Israel (Northern Kingdom) to Neo-Assyrian Empire after three years siege, trigge...

One of the requirements of being The Messiah was to be of the seed of David. It seems highly likely that this specifically meant a descendant though the male line. Women Are Not Important Why only the male line? Because women are not important. The Bible tells us Noah's name, and his three sons. But none of their wives gets her name recorded. Who they are is not important to the narrative. In Genesis 10, we read about Noah's descendant for the next few generations. Getting on for sixty men are named. Zero women. Genesis 35:17-18 relates how Rachel died in childbirth, but the midwife reassured her that she had had a son. Giving birth to a son was regarded as more important than surviving! Exodus 23:17 and 34:23, as well as Deuteronomy 16:16, has God demanding that all the males appear before him. As for the females, he is not interested. Leviticus 1:3 has God demanding a male sheep or goat in sacrifice; a female just will not do. Leviticus 12:2,5 tells us that a woman...