Times were tough for the first recipients of the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah. They needed to be encouraged to resume the work of reconstructing the temple - to awake from their lethargy and to be enthusiastic for a life lived in obedience to God. The people were still very materialistic in... (more)

The ministry of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi is a record of how God deals with people he has restored as they try to translate their basic loyalty to him into practical action. Restoring their temple and the physical trappings of their ravaged kingdom was not an end in itself. God was, and is, prim... (more)

The NIV Application Commentary Series The setting: Jerusalem. Recently returned from Babylonian captivity, the Jews are occupied with personal pursuits while the temple of Yahweh lies in ruins. To the prophets Haggai and Zechariah falls the task of calling God’s people to their forgotten priorit... (more)

Originally, the Gospel of Mark was read aloud to first-century audiences eager to hear more about the life of Jesus and how his teachings could touch their own lives. Now Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, an expert who has written about and taught Mark for twenty years, brings us back to that original set... (more)

‘In all the world there is nothing to equal the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies.’ Even allowing for hyperbole, this statement by a second-century rabbi contrasts sharply with the attitude of some Christi... (more)