Memory Text: Hebrews 11:24-25 KJV “24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”

Sunday, April 29 Faith and Archeology
Luke 19:40 NIV “"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."”
John 20:24-31 NIV “24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." 26 ¶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28 Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Monday, April 30 Some Prophecies Confirmed
Nineveh - Nahum 3:2-7 KJ21 “2 The noise of a whip and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses and of the jumping chariots! 3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear, and there is a multitude of slain and a great number of carcasses. And there is no end of their corpses—they stumble upon their corpses— 4 because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavored harlot, the mistress of witchcraft, that selleth nations through her whoredom, and families through her witchcraft. 5 "Behold, I am against thee," saith the LORD of hosts, "and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. 6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. 7 And it shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will bemoan her?’ From whence shall I seek comforters for thee?"”
Nahum 2:7 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN led away captive--The Hebrew requires rather, "she is laid bare"; brought forth from the apartments where Eastern women remained secluded, and is stripped of her ornamental attire. Compare Isa 47:2,3, where the same image of a woman with face and legs exposed is used of a city captive and dismantled.
SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY, p. 109 – When Xenophon with his 10,000 Greeks passed the ruins of that city [Nineveh] in 401 b.c., only about two centuries after its destruction, not a man of the region was able to give him the real name of the ancient city…Lucian, an Athenian writer of the 2d century of the Christian Era, exclaimed, “Nineveh is so thoroughly destroyed, that no one can say where it stood; no trace has been left of it.”
Babylon – Isaiah 13:19-22 KJ21 “19 ¶ And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces; and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged."”
Isaiah 13:20 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY The prophet was not so much concerned with its impregnable walls and stately palaces as with its pagan religion, heathen culture, and military might. His graphic picture of the city as an abandoned ruin emphatically declares that the proud empire of his day would vanish from the earth. The centuries testify to the accuracy of Isaiah’s prediction, for nothing remains of that ancient civilization but its ruins.

Tuesday, May 1 More Affirmations
Hittites: Genesis 15:30 NRSV “the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,”
Exodus 3:8 NRSV “and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”
Joshua 1:4 NRSV “From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory.”
1 Kings 10:29 NRSV “A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty; so through the king’s traders they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.”
2 Chronicles 1:17 NRSV “They imported from Egypt, and then exported, a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty; so through them these were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.”
Moab: 2 Kings 3:4-27 NKJV “4 Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheepbreeder, and he regularly paid the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and the wool of one hundred thousand rams. 5 But it happened, when Ahab died, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. 6 ¶ So King Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. 7 Then he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?" And he said, "I will go up; I [am] as you [are], my people as your people, my horses as your horses." 8 Then he said, "Which way shall we go up?" And he answered, "By way of the Wilderness of Edom." 9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, and they marched on that roundabout route seven days; and there was no water for the army, nor for the animals that followed them. 10 And the king of Israel said, "Alas! For the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab." 11 But Jehoshaphat said, "[Is there] no prophet of the LORD here, that we may inquire of the LORD by him?" So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat [is] here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah." 12 And Jehoshaphat said, "The word of the LORD is with him." So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. 13 Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, "What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother." But the king of Israel said to him, "No, for the LORD has called these three kings [together] to deliver them into the hand of Moab." 14 And Elisha said, "[As] the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you, nor see you. 15 "But now bring me a musician." Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him. 16 And he said, "Thus says the LORD: ‘Make this valley full of ditches.’ 17 "For thus says the LORD: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.’ 18 "And this is a simple matter in the sight of the LORD; He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. 19 "Also you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall cut down every good tree, and stop up every spring of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones." 20 ¶ Now it happened in the morning, when the grain offering was offered, that suddenly water came by way of Edom, and the land was filled with water. 21 And when all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to bear arms and older were gathered; and they stood at the border. 22 Then they rose up early in the morning, and the sun was shining on the water; and the Moabites saw the water on the other side [as] red as blood. 23 And they said, "This is blood; the kings have surely struck swords and have killed one another; now therefore, Moab, to the spoil!" 24 So when they came to the camp of Israel, Israel rose up and attacked the Moabites, so that they fled before them; and they entered [their] land, killing the Moabites. 25 Then they destroyed the cities, and each man threw a stone on every good piece of land and filled it; and they stopped up all the springs of water and cut down all the good trees. But they left the stones of Kir Haraseth [intact]. However the slingers surrounded and attacked it. 26 And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too fierce for him, he took with him seven hundred men who drew swords, to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. 27 Then he took his eldest son who would have reigned in his place, and offered him [as] a burnt offering upon the wall; and there was great indignation against Israel. So they departed from him and returned to [their own] land.”
2 Kings 3:5 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY the death of Ahab and the sickness of Ahaziah would be Moab’s opportunity for revolt. How successful the revolt was may be judged from the record of the Moabite Stone. Not only did Moab regain its sovereignty, but Israelite towns were taken and many Israelites were put to death. Thus Mesha says of his taking of Nebo from Israel that he “took it and smote all of them, 7,000 men, boys (?), women, girls (?), and maid servants, for I had devoted it to Ashtar-Kemosh”

Wednesday, May 2 Elba and Other Discoveries
Sargon: Isaiah 20:1 NKJV “In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it,”
SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY, Vol. 1, p. 115 - One of the first fruits of the deciphering of cuneiform inscriptions by Rawlinson and his colaborers vindicated the Bible at a time when the higher critical schools of Europe apparently stood unchallenged. This was the discovery of the name of King Sargon of Assyria, a king then known only from the Bible (Isa. 20:1). Since none of the classical authors ever mentioned him, his very existence was referred to the realm of legend by some of the higher critics, though others thought that Sargon was only another name of Shalmaneser. Today Sargon, who claimed to have conquered Samaria and led its population into captivity, is a well-known figure of Assyrian history.
Sennacherib: 2 Kings 19:36-37 ESV “36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.”
Message: Hebrews 11:1 MKJV “Now faith is [the] substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Thursday, May 3 More Insights
Moses’ Loss: Hebrews 11:24-27 KJ21 “24 By faith Moses, when he had come of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.”
God’s Wrath: 1 Samuel 15:2-3 NLT “2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. 3 Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, camels, and donkeys.’"”
1 Samuel 15:3 SDA BIBLE COMMENTARY When a country was put under the ban, everything belonging to that nation was looked upon as accursed. The people were to be killed, also the cattle and other living things, but such things as silver and gold were to be brought into the treasury of the Lord (see Joshua 6:17–19). A similar custom existed among other nations of the Near East in ancient times.
Principle: Genesis 15:16 NLT “After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, when the sin of the Amorites has run its course."”