There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces. — Proverbs 30:24, 28 The littlest spider grasped her thread in her hands and spun her web between the branches of a tree. She wove the thread back […]
The sycomore tree is a lesser known tree in the Bible. It is mostly known as the tree that Zacchaeus climbs to see Jesus. The sycomore tree in the Bible is a type of fig tree and is not the same type of tree as the sycamore trees found in other parts of the world, […]
The palm tree is another important tree in the Bible. The type of palm tree native to Israel is also called the date palm because it produces large clumps of fruit called dates. Dates were an important fruit in Bible times. They were a main food that everyone ate since dates grew abundantly in the […]
The fig tree is the third tree mentioned by name in the Bible, after the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve used the leaves of the fig tree to try to make aprons for themselves to cover themselves after the Fall. Fig trees are mentioned as […]
Oaks are one of the trees mentioned often in the Bible. This is a recognizable tree for many of us since oaks are found all around the world. The particular types of oak mentioned in the Bible are two kinds that grow short, gnarled, and broad with acorns that are slim and pointed. Oaks were […]
Recently, I was reading an article that stated that trees were the most mentioned living creature in the Bible after humans. Doing some digging myself by looking up the words tree, forest, wood, branch, bough, oak, cedar, palm, and including items made from wood such as rod, staff, and cross, I found over 800 references […]
The Synod of Dordt officially began on November 13, 1618 in the city of Dordrecht. It lasted through 154 meetings and ended on May 9, 1619. In a little less than six months, the delegates came to the decision that the Bible taught that all men are totally depraved, God’s election isn’t based on any […]
Planning for a national synod had begun early in 1618, even before Prince Maurice called for a synod. Because the church and state were tied together in the Netherlands, the churches in the Netherlands couldn’t call a synod themselves. Only the government, Prince Maurice, could call one. Representatives from all the provinces of the Netherlands […]
By 1617-18, the theological and political situation in the Netherlands had become tense. The truce would end in only three more years. What would happen when the war with Spain resumed, and the Netherlands was divided between Remonstrants and Gomarists? At the moment, the Netherlands was on the brink of a civil war between Prince […]
While the war with Spain had been waged across the Netherlands, another war had been quietly simmering in the background. Jacobus Arminius, a professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, had been promoting a theology that opposed the five points of Calvinism. When Arminius died in 1609, the same year as the truce […]