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At the Holy Spirit's prompting, I am surveying "Bible art" to give God glory, as many of these artists have done, and for my own amusement and learning; and I thought others might enjoy it and be blessed by it, too. My plan is to proceed methodically from left-to-right, Genesis to Revelation, as the Lord wills. Back soon with another.

The Bible encourages us to meditate on it (Ps. 1:1-3, 119:11-16, etc.); these artists have done so, and their works can assist us and enrich our own thoughts about biblical characters, incidents and concepts, and increase our faith in He who is behind it all. As you encounter and consider these images and the related Scriptures and the Spirit enlightens your understanding, please share it with us!

But it is not only oil-on-canvas that can so help us; I refer to the astonishing video series The Chosen, which strolls through the four Gospels at the most leisurely pace. The eight episodes of Season 1 are finished, and the second of a planned seven seasons is being filmed right now. I say "leisurely" because after an entire year's viewing Jesus still has only seven of the apostles (although He's preparing to call up Thomas from the minor leagues--but Thomas is skeptical, of course). Anticipating a canvas of fifty-plus hours instead of a movie's paltry two hours, The Chosen turns the characters (especially including Jesus!) into three-dimensional humans and brings the Gospels alive--you have never seen anything even remotely like it! Here is the Official Trailer.

Here is a link for free viewing of The Chosen: "Works with your phone, tablet, and you can cast to your Roku or Chromecast." Last fall I paid $34.98 for DVDs and ongoing internet access—best 35 bucks I've ever spent (I don't recall how much our marriage license cost, but then it was 43 years ago).

Thanks. there is a lesson in Josiah's life for all Christians.

But first a contrast between him and King David. Mind you, King Josiah was the most righteous King ever of both Kingdoms. Including when the Kingdom was united under David and Solomon. This from 2 Kings 23:22

Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.

However, he refused to believe God spoke to him through the Pharaoh.

His death in battle reminds me of the time when David was preparing to battle the Philistines.

David had already defeated them in a similar battle, in 2 Samuel 22:19

So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

Well again the Philistines came upon David for battle, and this time the Lord told David not to go into battle as he did before. 2Samuel 22-25

Then the Philistines went up once again and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim. Therefore David inquired of the LORD, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. “And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.

Thus David could have figured, he defeated them once he can do so again. Had he done so, he would have been defeated, and killed. Now mind you, God would have allowed him to die, because at this time Solomon had already been born. This was after his encounter with Bathsheba and God blessed her with the birth of Solomon. So God's promise to bring the Messiah through David was already cemented. Yet David was faithful and inquired instead of leaning on his own understanding and good King Josiah did.

If King Josiah did not trust the prophecy from the Egyptian Pharaoh, he should have inquired of the LORD himself through his prophets, and then he would know from the Lord that he should not go to battle, and he would not have died so young.

As I looked for any time God removed a good king from power. I could not. So my mind told me God will not remove trump. Then I remembered good king Josiah. He made one mistake, and not cost him his life.

This is a lesson we Christians need to understand about the Law of Moses. We have Christ so we can err, and still gain forgiveness, but the Mosaic Law says that unless you follow the WHOLE LAW, you are in violation of it. So these legalistic individuals who want to hold tight to certain Jewish rules and regulations, like observing the sabbath on Saturday, but yet others they do not. They fail to realize that observing any Mosaic Law, outs you in bondage to them all.

An example of this would be, a person who some how was able to follow the whole Mosaic Law from birth till a very old age. They are the perfect Christian. So, one day they are traveling to their church on Saturday, and someone pulls out in front of them and just before the cars collide, the perfect human yells out, "You fool", then a second later they collided and the perfect man flies through his windshield and lands on the pavement dead.

Darn, he almost made it. Too bad, too sad, he went to hell, because the Law could not save a person who broke even one commandment. He should have put his trust in Jesus, the perfect Lamb fulfilled the whole law, without ever breaking even one commandment.

This is the lesson of Josiah for us Christians. He was the best king of all, yet he failed to head God's warning. He could have inquired from a prophet, but he didn't like where the warning came from. Kind of reminds you of Balaam and the Talking Donkey. Doesn't it.