Tag Archives: Bewildered (Baffled)

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

167 – Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream

Daniel 2:1-49

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that troubled him. He called his counselors and told them they were to interpret his dream. They said, “Tell us the dream and we’ll tell you what it means.”

The king said, “Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. You’re to tell me my dream as well as its interpretation. If you can do this, I’ll give you great rewards and honor you before everyone. But if you can’t do this, you’ll die a slow death, and all of your property will be destroyed. Now, tell me my dream!” 

His counselors were shocked. They asked a second time, “Please, tell us your dream and we’ll give you the meaning.”

Nebuchadnezzar grew impatient. “You’re stalling for time. You heard what I said. If I tell you my dream, you’ll simply make up something just to humor me. The only way I’ll know your interpretation is correct, is if you can tell me the dream.

At this point, the counselors begged him. “No king has ever asked their counselors to do this. Only the gods know what people dream when they’re asleep.”

Nebuchadnezzar became angry. He made a declaration that all the counselors were to be killed. So the guards started gathering them up. Daniel heard of this and immediately sent a message to the king, “Give me some time and I’ll tell you your dream, as well as the interpretation.”

God showed Daniel the king’s dream and gave him the interpretation. Then Daniel went to meet with the king. Nebuchadnezzar looked at him and said, “Is it true you can tell me my dream and its interpretation?”

Daniel was careful with his answer. “No man is able to do what you’re asking, but there’s a God in heaven who has shown me what you dreamed when you were asleep.

“He gave you a vision of what’s going to happen in the future of the world. You saw a massive statue in your dream. It had a head of gold. Its arms and chest were silver, and its belly and hips were bronze. It had legs of iron, and its feet were a mixture of iron and clay. Suddenly a stone was cut out of a mountain, but you couldn’t see the hands that did it. This stone hit the feet and the entire statue was destroyed.

“The pieces crashed to the ground and the wind blew it away as if it had no weight at all. As you watched, the stone got larger until it filled the entire earth.

“That was your dream. Now here is the interpretation. God has made you the head of gold. After you, will arise another kingdom that’s not as good as yours.

“Then a third kingdom of bronze will rule the world. The fourth kingdom will be as strong as iron and will crush everything in its way. This kingdom will divide into two parts like the legs of the statue. The last kingdom will also be divided into two feet with ten toes. It’ll have the strength of iron, but be as brittle as common clay.

“The stone carved out of the mountain is God’s kingdom, which will be formed without human hands. God will destroy all the kingdoms of this world, but His kingdom will never end.

“Oh king, God has shown you the future with a dream, and it’ll happen just as the dream has said.”

Nebuchadnezzar fell down with his face to the ground. He said, “Your God, he is God! He’s the Lord!” Nebuchadnezzar then made Daniel a great ruler in his kingdom.

Story Told
Insights

Audio

Story Board

Storyteller and Questions – Mickie O’Donnell
Click map to expand

A Book is Found

157 – A Book is Found

II Kings 22:1-20 II Chronicles 34:1-32

Josiah was eight years old when he became king of Judah. He walked with the Lord from the day he became king until the day he died 31years later. He was the last great king before the people of Judah went into captivity.

When he was 26 years old, he hired men to restore the Temple. Money had been given for that purpose, so he gave it to the workmen and said, “You have proven yourselves to be men of integrity. Therefore you don’t have to keep an account of this money.” 

One day, the high priest found the Book of the Law, written by Moses. He sent it to the king, who had it read out loud. When Josiah heard what was written in the book, he ripped his clothes and said, “Surely the Lord’s anger is great against us! Our ancestors made a contract with God and then broke it over and over. His judgment on us must be close at hand. Go and find someone who can ask the Lord about this.”

The priest went to a certain section of the city to the home of Huldah, a woman prophet. They asked her about what was written in the book. She said, “I have a message from God to the man who sent you here. God says, ‘The people of this land have totally turned against me. They serve idols and false gods. I’m about to fulfill the judgment written in the book you found. Disaster will soon fall on this place and everyone who lives here. Nothing can turn away the judgment that is coming.’ ”

Huldah then said, “I have another message to the king of Judah. The Lord says, ‘When you heard the words of this book, your heart was sad and you ripped your clothes and cried. You have sought me with humility, and I heard you. Therefore, you will not see the disaster I’m bringing on this place. I will wait until you die and are buried.’ ”

The priest took these words back to Josiah. When he heard them, he gathered together all the elders of Jerusalem and Judah. They in turn went and got the rest of the people. Everyone went to the Temple, where they heard the king read the Law of Moses. They heard about the agreements their nation had with God.

Once the reading of the Law was done, Josiah stood in the place reserved for the king. In front of everyone, he made those same commitments to the Lord. He vowed that he would follow God’s commandments with all of his energies and power. All the people agreed to do the same.

Story Told
Insights
Audio
Click map to expand

Evil King Who Repented

156 – Evil King Who Repented

2 Chronicles 33:1-25 2 Kings 21:1-26

Hezekiah was one of the best kings of all the descendants of David. His son Manasseh, however, was one of the most wicked of them all. He became king when he was 12 years old, and he ruled for 55 years.

He acted worse than the kings of Canaan before the Israelites got there. His father had destroyed all the altars to false gods, but Manasseh had them rebuilt. He put several inside the Temple itself. He led the whole nation to practice witchcraft, and even sacrificed his own sons to false gods. 

God spoke to Manasseh and the nation of Judah, but they didn’t listen. Finally, the Lord allowed military commanders from Assyria to capture the king. They put a ring in his nose and led him away in bronze chains. He was put in a prison in Babylon.

This was the darkest time of Manasseh’s life. So he humbled himself and called out to God. The Lord heard his prayer and was gracious to him.

The time came when God allowed him to go back to Jerusalem and once again be king. Once he was there, Manasseh knew that the Lord had done this for him, and he was grateful.

He removed all the idols and altars from the Temple. He restored the altar of God and used it to give thanks to the Lord. He built up the walls of Jerusalem and made the city more secure. Through his leadership, the military became stronger.

When Manasseh died, his son Amon became king. He ruled for only two years, but he was as evil as his father had been in his early years. Unlike his father, however, he did not turn to the Lord.

His servants plotted against him and finally killed him. A mob of people in Judah hunted down those men and executed them.

They then took Amon’s son and made him king. His name was Josiah, and he was only an 8-year-old boy. Still, Josiah became a great king of Judah.

Story Told
Insights
Audio
Click map to expand

Jonah & the Fish

146 – Jonah & the Fish

Jonah 1:1-2:10

The Lord said to Jonah the prophet, “Leave right now and go to Nineveh. You’re to tell them I’m going to judge them because of their wickedness.”

Jonah knew that God was merciful and would forgive Nineveh if they repented. He didn’t want that, so he ran away from God’s will and went to the seaport town called Joppa. He bought a ticket and got on a ship going to Tarshish. He wanted to get far away from God’s will so there would be no possibility of Nineveh’s repenting.

Once the ship was out to sea, God sent a violent storm to hit it. The sailors were terrified because the storm was about to destroy their boat and drown them. They threw their cargo overboard to lighten the load. When that didn’t help, they prayed to their various gods. While all of this was going on, Jonah was fast asleep down in the hold of the boat.

The captain woke him up and said, “How can you sleep? We’re about to die. Get up and pray to your god.”

Eventually the sailors figured out that this storm was directed at only one person on the ship. They cast lots to see who it was. The results showed that Jonah was the reason for their troubles. They said, “Who are you, and what have you done?”

He said, “I serve the Lord God, who made the sea and the dry ground. But I’m running away from him.” Suddenly the storm got worse! The men screamed at Jonah, “What should we do to you to calm the storm?”

Jonah yelled back, “God only wants one thing, and the storm won’t stop until He gets it. You’re to grab me and throw me overboard.”

The men didn’t want to kill an innocent man, so they worked even harder to fight against the storm and get to land. Finally they realized they couldn’t fight God. They cried out to the Lord and asked him for mercy for what they were about to do. They then grabbed Jonah and threw him overboard.

Immediately, the storm stopped! The men were shocked at the power of God. They fell to the deck and worshiped the Lord and vowed to serve only him.

God had a large fish waiting for Jonah as he went into the water. The fish immediately swallowed him, and he stayed in the fish’s stomach for three days.

Jonah prayed and acknowledged that it was God who put him in the fish. He finally said, “I’ll give you what you want. I’ll thank you for your will, and do what you want me to do.”

With that, the Lord spoke to the fish. It went to land and vomited Jonah onto the shore.

Continued in the next story

Story Told
Insights
Audio
Story Song
Southern Altai Language in Siberia – Throat singing with captions
Insights and Comments on the Southern Altai Story Song
Click map to expand

Elisha Crying

140 – Elisha Crying

2 Kings 8:1-15

Elisha went to the Shunammite woman and said, “Take your family and leave Israel as soon as you can. A famine will hit the land and last for seven years.”

She did as the man of God said. Her family left Israel and moved to the land of the Philistines and stayed there seven years. When she came back to Israel, she went to the king to ask that their family house and land be returned to her. 

When she arrived, she found that the king was listening to Gehazi, who was talking about some of the great things Elisha had done. It happened that the servant was telling about the time the prophet brought the dead boy back to life.

Just then, the Shunammite woman walked in. Gehazi said, “My lord. This is the woman I was talking about. It was her son that was raised from the dead.”

The king asked her to tell the story from her viewpoint. After she told the story, he said to a court official, “Make sure this woman gets everything back that belongs to her. Also, give her whatever money was made from her fields while she was away.”

Some time later, Elisha went to the capital of Syria. The Syrian king was sick. When he heard that Elisha was in town, he sent his servant Hazael to the prophet. “Take some gifts to the man of God and ask him if I’ll recover from this illness.”

Hazael took 40 camel-loads of all kinds of goods as a gift. He said to the prophet, “The king of Syria wants to know if he’ll recover from his illness.”

Elisha said, “Go tell him that he’ll recover from his illness. But that’s not true. The Lord has told me that he’ll die.”

Then Elisha stared at Hazael. He stared so long that Hazael became embarrassed. Then the prophet broke down and cried. Hazael said, “Man of God, why are you crying?”

“Oh, because of the horrible things you’ll do to the people of Israel. You’ll burn down their cities and kill their young men. You’ll crush the heads of babies and rip open pregnant women.”

Hazael said, “How can I do these terrible things? I’m only a servant.”

“Oh, the Lord has shown me that you are going to be the king of Syria.”

Hazael left the prophet and went back to his master. The king asked, “What did Elisha say?”

“He said you’d recover from your illness.”

The next day, Hazael dipped a heavy cloth into water, and used it to suffocate the king. After he died, Hazael took his place as king of Syria.

Story Told
Insights
Audio
Click map to expand

Four Lepers

139 – Four Lepers

2 Kings 6:24 – 7:20

The king of Syria once again invaded Israel. His army surrounded Samaria and set up camp just outside the city walls. They cut off all supplies going into the city. Eventually there was no food, and the people started to starve. It was so bad that a donkey’s head sold for two pounds of silver, and a small bowl of dove’s droppings sold for two ounces of silver.

A woman saw the king walking along the top of the city wall. She asked him to help her. He said, “I don’t know if I can. What’s your problem?” 

She said, “My friend won’t keep her promise. We agreed we’d eat our two sons, mine on the first day and hers on the second. So, we boiled and ate my son, but now she has hidden her son.”

When the king heard this, he ripped his clothes. He said, “I’ll get Elisha for this if it’s the last thing I do.” He sent a guard to cut off the prophet’s head.

Elisha was sitting in his house with several elders of Israel. He said, “Our murdering king has sent a guard to cut off my head. The king is right behind him.”

Just then the king walked in. He yelled at the prophet. “You said all this trouble is from God. So why should I serve him if he acts like this?”

Elisha said, “I have a message from God. He said this disaster is almost over. Tomorrow at this time, people will buy a sack of fine flour for a few coins. They’ll buy a large sack of barley for the same price.”

The king’s chief adviser said, “Impossible! We couldn’t have that much food around here even if God opened up the windows of heaven.”

The man of God said, “You’ll see it with your own eyes, but you won’t eat any of it.”

During the night, the Syrian army heard a loud noise like a large army marching toward them. The noise got louder and sounded like the army had many horses and chariots.

The Syrian soldiers thought Israel had hired other nations to come and help them. They yelled, “Let’s get out of here!” They got up and ran away, leaving everything behind.

Before light the next morning, four lepers were sitting just outside of the city gates. One said to the others, “Why are we just sitting here slowly dying of hunger?”

Another one said, “Well, it’s no better in the city. If we go in there, we’ll still die of hunger.”

“Well that’s true, but we can’t stay here. Let’s go into the Syrian camp. If they kill us—well, we’re about to die anyway. But maybe they’ll have pity on us and give us food.”

So, the four men got up and walked toward the camp, not knowing it was empty. They went into the first tent and found food, gold, silver, and expensive clothes. The first thing they did was eating the food. They then took the other things away and hid them. They came back and hid what they found in the next tent.

Finally they said, “What we’re doing isn’t right. People are dying of hunger on the other side of the wall. God will punish us if we don’t go tell them about this.”

So they went to the city gate and yelled to the gatekeeper, telling him exactly what they found. When the king heard about this, he thought it was a trap. He said, “The Syrian army is hiding out of sight, waiting for us to come out of the city.”

So he sent a few soldiers to scout out the land. The men found the route the Syrians had taken. It was full of clothes and equipment the army had thrown away so they could run faster.

The soldiers went back and told the king what they had found. With that, people flooded out of the city to raid the Syrian camp. The price of food immediately dropped.

The king gave his chief adviser the job of crowd control at the gate. Soon, he was trampled to death. All of this fulfilled what the prophet had said.

Story Told
Insights
Audio

Blind Soldiers

138 – Blind Soldiers

II Kings 6:8-23

The king of Syria invaded the land of Israel. He brought in his military leaders and told them his plans—where he was going to set up camp and how he was going to attack the Israelites. As soon as he spoke the words, Elisha went and told the king of Israel exactly what the Syrians were planning. The army of Israel made preparations and won the battle.

This happened several times until the king of Syria finally realized that the Israelites always knew exactly what he was planning. He said to his commanders, “Which one of you is a spy for Israel?” 

One of them said. “My lord, we’re all loyal to you. It’s Elisha, the prophet. He is the one telling his king about your plans. He knows what you say, even when you’re in your bedroom.”

“Where does this prophet live?”

“He lives in Dothan, my lord.”

So the king sent a large army with horses and chariots to Dothan. They arrived at night and surrounded the city.

Elisha’s servant got up early and stepped outside. Suddenly he saw this massive army. Running back inside, he yelled, “The Syrian army has surrounded the city. What are we going to do?”

Elisha was surprised. “Why are you afraid? Our army is much bigger than theirs.”

Then he prayed, “Lord, open this man’s eyes so he can see.” So the Lord opened his eyes. He looked out and saw that the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire. All of them were for Elisha.

At that point, the Syrians started moving in on the city. The prophet prayed, “Lord, please make all these men blind.” Suddenly the Lord struck them with blindness.

The prophet walked up to them and said, “Somehow you’ve gotten on the wrong road. You’re at the wrong city. I’ll guide you and take you to the right place.”

He then led them to Samaria, the capital of Israel. Once they were inside the gate, he prayed, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” The men looked around and realized they were in Samaria.

The king of Israel saw this and said to Elisha, “Should I kill them? ”

“No. You can’t kill these men. You didn’t capture them in battle. They’re your guests. Give them food and drink, and let them go back to their master.”

So the king prepared a great feast for his guests. When everyone had had enough to eat and drink, they went back to the king of Syria. It was a long time before Syria invaded Israel again.

Story Told
Insights
Audio

Naaman

136 – Naaman

II Kings 5:1-14

Naaman was the commander of the Syrian army. He was a brave warrior and led his men to win many victories. His king considered him a great man. During one of their wars with Israel, he captured a young girl and brought her back to be a servant for his wife.

In time, Naaman realized he had leprosy, a crippling disease of the skin. The young slave girl said, “I wish my master could go to Israel. They have a prophet who’s able to heal people, even those with leprosy.” 

Naaman told this to the king. Immediately, the king made preparations to send Naaman to the king of Israel. He sent gifts of gold, silver, and fine clothes along with a letter saying, “I’m sending my servant Naaman so you can cure him of leprosy.”

The king of Israel was shocked when he read the letter. He ripped his clothes and yelled, “Who does he think I am? I’m not God. I can’t cure people of leprosy! He’s trying to start a war with me.”

Elisha heard about this and sent a message to the king. “Why are you ripping your clothes? Send the man to me so he’ll know there’s a prophet in Israel.”

So Naaman and his men rode to the prophet’s house and stood outside. Elisha sent his servant Gehazi out with this message. “Go down to the Jordan River and wash seven times. After you’re done, you’ll be healed of leprosy.”

Naaman couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He became furious and stormed away. He said, “A true prophet would come out and stand in front of me. He’d pray to the Lord and wave his hand over my skin. If I thought washing in a river would help, I’d bathe in one of the beautiful rivers of Syria—not a dirty river like the Jordan.”

His servants said to him, “My father, if the prophet had asked you to do something hard, you would’ve done it. But he told you to do something easy—wash and be clean.”

So Naaman went to the Jordan River and dipped into it seven times. Suddenly his skin was healed just as the prophet said it would be. In fact, it was like the skin of a young boy.

Continued in the next story

Story Told
Insights
Audio
Click map to expand

Oil, Stew, Bread, and Ax

134 – Oil, Stew, Bread, and Ax

II Kings 4:1-4 38-44 6:1-7

Elisha was in charge of the school of the prophets. There are several miracles associated with that group of young men:

One of the prophets died. His wife came to Elisha and said, “You know my husband followed the Lord and honored him. When he died, he owed a man some money. Now that man is coming to collect. He is going to take my two sons and sell them as slaves.”

The prophet said, “Let me think. Surely I can help you. Tell me, do you have anything in your house that is valuable?” 

She said, “No, I don’t have anything of value in the house. Well, I do have a small jar of oil.”

Elisha said, “Go to all of your neighbors and borrow as many containers as they have. Don’t stop with just a few. Once you have them, go into your house with your sons and close the door. Pour oil into all those containers. Each time one is full, set it aside and fill the next one.”

She and her sons went to every house and borrowed as many jars as they could. They took them into their house and closed the door. She then started pouring the oil into each jar. Her sons kept bringing her the empty ones. When they were all full, she turned and said, “Son, bring me another container.”

He said, “Mother, there are no more.” With that, the oil stopped.

She ran and told the man of God what had happened. He said, “Go and sell the oil. Pay your debt and live on what is left over.”

At another time, there was a famine so severe that there was very little to eat. When Elisha returned from a trip, the prophets gathered around to listen to him teach. He said to a servant, “Fix a large pot of stew for these men.”

One of the young men went into the forest to get some herbs for the stew. He found a vine of wild gourds and didn’t know they were poisonous. He gathered as many as he could carry, cut them up, and put them in the stew.

Once it was ready, some men tasted it and realized what had happened. They yelled, “Man of God. Watch out. There is death in the pot. Don’t eat it.”

Elisha said, “Bring me some flour.” They gave him the flour and he threw it in the pot. 

He then said, “Come, eat.” Everyone ate, and there was nothing wrong with the stew.

Once a man came to Elisha with 20 small loaves of barley bread. It was the first bread from the harvest. The man of God said, “Serve this to the prophets so they can enjoy it.”

“Sir, there are 100 men, and we only have 20 loaves of bread. There isn’t enough for everyone.”

Elisha said, “Give it to them. The Lord says there will be enough, and we’ll have some left over.”

So the bread was served to the men, and it was just like the Lord promised. There was enough for everyone, with some left over.

There came a time when the prophets realized their facilities were too small for them. Elisha gave them permission to go to the Jordan River and cut some logs for a new building. He even agreed to go with them.

One of the men borrowed an iron ax and was using it to cut down a tree. Suddenly the ax head fell off and went into the water. The man yelled, “Master! I borrowed that ax and now it’s ruined.

Elisha said, “Where did it fall into the water?”

The man pointed to the spot. Elisha then cut a stick and threw it in the water at the spot the man showed him. The ax head floated to the surface. The man got it and fixed the ax.

Story Told
Insights
Audio
Click map to expand

Ditches of Water

133 – Ditches of Water

II Kings 3:1-27

For many years, Moab was controlled by Israel and paid them high taxes. When Ahab died, the king of Moab refused to pay Israel any more taxes.

Ahab’s son, King Joram organized his army and prepared to march against Moab. He sent a message to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. “Please join me in our campaign against the king of Moab. He has rebelled against me.” 

Jehoshaphat agreed and the two armies marched south of the Dead Sea and into Edom. The Edomite army joined them. So all three continued their march toward Moab.

Soon they realized there wasn’t enough water in that desert for all their men and animals. Joram said, “I think the Lord has led us here so we could all be captured by the Moabites.”

Jehoshaphat said, “Do we have a prophet of God with us?”

One of the officers said, “Yes, Elisha is here.”

The three kings went to him. When he saw Joram, he said, “Why are you coming to me? Why don’t you talk to one of your idols?”

Joram said, “Please, I think the Lord your God has led us here so we would be captured by the Moabites.”

Elisha said, “If it was just you, I wouldn’t give you the time of day. But I have great respect for King Jehoshaphat, so send someone with a harp.”

As the harp played, the Lord gave Elisha a message for Joram. “Dig ditches in this dry riverbed. You won’t see a storm, but this riverbed will fill up with plenty of water. There will be enough for you and your animals. This is an easy thing for the Lord to do. He will also help you defeat the Moabite army, and you’ll be able to capture their cities.”

The next morning, the water suddenly started flowing, so much so that it flooded the land. The Moabite army got up early and looked in the direction of the three kings. The sun was shining on the water and made it look red. They shouted, “Look at all that blood. The armies of the three kings have turned and killed one another. Come! Let’s go collect the spoils from their camps.”

When they got to Israel’s camp, the Israelite army attacked them. They chased them back into Moab, and started taking city after city. Finally, there was only one left that hadn’t been defeated.

Israel surrounded it. The king of Moab tried to escape by taking 700 of his key soldiers and breaking through the front lines. The plan failed, so he grabbed his oldest son and sacrificed him as an offering on the city wall. The sight of this was so horrible that the Moabite soldiers went into a frenzy of rage.  Seeing this, the three armies withdrew and went home.

Story Told
Insights
Audio
Chart
Kings-of-OT

Click map to expand