I arranged this post on purpose from top to bottom to tie it all together with a message. (emphasis mine)
[source: NamesForGod.net]
God of heaven is a name for God that states God’s presence and dominion in the spiritual domain.
You won’t find heaven on an interstellar map! Although the Bible speaks of it in quite physical terms, it is a spiritual domain. God is spirit and He dwells everywhere. However, all the names of God must condense different attributes of God into restricted human language. At first glance, that language can mislead us.
According to the Hebrew worldview, there were three spheres of the heavens: the atmosphere, stellar heaven, and God’s dwelling (the third heaven). The phrase, “heaven and the heaven of heavens,” might be a reference to the last two. The Hebrew word for heaven, shamayim, is constructed like a plural—perhaps a reflection of the worldview. The word can refer to anything in the created universe that is not solid: air, sky, space. It can also mean the dwelling of God. The equivalent Greek word ouranos has a similar meaning. The New Testament tells us that Jesus (Yeshua‘) has passed through or above the heavens and that Paul was once caught up to the third heaven.
written by R. Tuck
[source: BibleHub.com]
Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
This seems to have been the Babylonian name for the God of the Jews. "Lord of heaven;" "King of heaven." It expresses the apprehension gained by the Babylonians (see Nebuchadnezzar's acknowledgment, Daniel 5:37). It intimates that Jehovah, though an all-powerful God, was in no sense a local God, with a limited kingdom and ordinary earthly claims. To call God the "God of heaven" is at least making a beginning towards the realization of him as spiritual.
I. GODS OF EARTH. Explain the strictly local and limited area of the kingdoms possessed by idol gods. Bel belonged to Babylon; Ra to Egypt. There were "gods of the hills and gods of the valleys." There were distinct conceptions of, and representations of, Baal for each country and almost for each city. Jealous over their own particular divinity, no missionary idea found place in the ancient world. Nobody wanted to share his god with any one else. (A striking exception to this is found in the proselyting spirit of Jezebel.) Curiously, the god of the limited district was conceived as almighty within his limits. Even when the world conquering idea took possession of nations, such as Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Grecia, Rome, in no case did propagating the religion become a primary inspiration. The conquerors freely left the conquered their local religion. So we can see the force with which the local limitations of the gods took possession of the ancient mind.
II. GOD OF HEAVEN. Observe the strong contrast. Jehovah is unlocalized, above earth, and doming all the earth. It is impossible to express, not only the superiority, but also the essential difference, of Jehovah in more brief and succinct terms. Down on earth, a multitude of small spaces, each with a petty deity. Up above, ruling from rim to rim, the one eternal God. The all-hallowing dome is heaven. This was more strikingly apprehended when the prevailing idea was that earth was a flat surface, with the blue heaven fitting to it like the cover of a dish. Work out these points concerning the "God of heaven."
1. His forces are not exclusively material. He does control the material, but he commands the spiritual.
2. His forces are working universally. We can think of no sphere in which we may not find their operation.
3. His forces claim for him universal recognition. See how the Christian revelation has taken this figure for God, and glorified it.
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[source: Biblehub.com]
(verse 5) Idols. -- Literally, nothings; Heb., elilim, with a play on the word el, God. This plainly shows that by Gods, in Psalm 96:4, the heathen deities, and not angels, are meant. (See Note, Psalm 95:3.) The LXX. sometimes renders the Hebrew word "idols," sometimes "vanities," but here "demons." Symmachus "nonexistences."
But the Lord made the heavens. -- Nothings could not do that, but only Jehovah.
[source: Biblehub.com]
Verse 5. - For all the gods of the nations are idols; rather, vanities, or nothings. In the original there is a play upon the words - the elohim of the nations are mere elilim. Elilim is a favourite designation of the heathen gods in Isaiah. Compare the statement of St. Paul, "We know that an idol is nothing in the world" (1 Corinthians 8:4). But the Lord made the heavens. That which is nothing can do nothing, can make nothing. How far superior is Jehovah, who "made the heavens" (comp. Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 44:24)!
Strong's 457: Good for, nothing, by anal, vain, vanity, an idol.
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[source: BibleHub.com]
(verse 3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me. -- Hebrew., There shalt be to thee no other god before me. The result is the same, whether we translate Elohim by "god" or "gods;" but the singular verb shows that the plural form of the name is a mere plural of dignity.
Before me--literally, before my face--means strictly, "side by side with me"--i.e., "in addition to me." God does not suppose that the Israelites, after all that He had done for them, would discard Him, and substitute other gods in His place, but fears the syncretism which would unite His worship with that of other deities. All polytheisms were syncretic, and readily enlarged their pantheons, since, when once the principle of unity is departed from, whether the plurality be a little greater or a little less cannot much signify. The Egyptian religion seems to have adopted Ammon at a comparatively late period from Arabia; it took Bar, or Baal, Anta, or Anatis, Astaret, or Astarte, Reshpu, or Reseph, and co., from Syria, and it admitted Totuu from Ethiopia. Israel, in after-times, fell into the same error, and, without intending to apostatise from Jehovah, added on the worship of Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, Chemosh, Remphan, and co. It is this form of polytheism against which the first commandment is directed. It asserts the sole claim of Jehovah to our religious regards.
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[source: BibleHub.com]
Verse 3. - Thou shalt have. The use of the second person singular is remarkable when a covenant was being made with the people (Exodus 19:5). The form indicated that each individual of the nation was addressed severally, and was required himself to obey the law, a mere general national obedience being insufficient. No one can fail to see how much the commands gain in force, through all time, by being thus addressed to the individual conscience. No other gods before me. "Before me" literally, "before my face," is a Hebrew idiom, and equivalent to "beside me," "in addition to me." The commandment requires the worship of one God alone, Jehovah - the God who had in so many ways manifested himself to the Israelites, and implies that there is, in point of fact, no other God. A belief in the unity of God is said to lie at the root of the esoteric Egyptian religion; but Moses can scarcely have derived his belief from this source, since the Egyptian notions on the subject were tinged with pantheism and materialism, from which the religion of Moses is entirely free. Outwardly the Egyptian religion, like that of the nations of Western Asia generally, was a gross polytheism; and it is against polytheistic notions that the first commandment raises a protest.
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1 “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets. 3 A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.” 5 This is what God the LORD says— He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it: 6“I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations.
Isaiah 42:5 Pulpit Commentary
Verse 5. - Thus saith God the Lord; literally, thus saith the (One) God, Jehovah. The entire utterance, vers. 1-4, is the utterance of God; but, as that fact is gathered by inference, not asserted, the prophet suddenly stops, and makes a new beginning. It must be made perfectly clear that the announcement of the "Servant of the Lord" and his mission are from the Almighty; and so we have the solemn announcement of the present verse. He that created the heavens, etc. (comp. Isaiah 40:12, 22). The earth, and that which cometh out of it; i.e. all that the earth produces - gold, and silver, and precious stones, and corn, and wine, and luscious fruits, and lovely flowers - all that sustains life, and all that makes life delightful - nay more, life itself - the breath and the spirit that make men living beings.
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Matthew 12 Berean Standard Bible
[source: BibleHub.com]
The Lord of the Sabbath
(1 Samuel 21:1–7; Mark 2:23–28; Luke 6:1–5)
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3 Jesus replied, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests.
5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.
7 If only you had known the meaning of ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
(Mark 3:1–6; Luke 6:6–11)
9 Moving on from there, Jesus entered their synagogue, 10 and a man with a withered hand was there. In order to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored to full use, just like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
God’s Chosen Servant
(Isaiah 42:1–9)
15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Large crowds followed Him, and He healed them all, 16 warning them not to make Him known. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18 “Here is My Servant,
whom I have chosen,
My beloved,
in whom My soul delights.
I will put My Spirit on Him,
and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
19 He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear His voice in the streets.
20 A bruised reed He will not break,
and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish,
till He leads justice to victory.
21 In His name the nations will put their hope.”
A House Divided
(Mark 3:20–27; Luke 11:14–23)
22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed the man so that he could speak and see. 23 The crowds were astounded and asked, “Could this be the Son of David?”
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.”
25 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
The Unpardonable Sin
(Mark 3:28–30)
31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the one to come.
Good and Bad Fruit
(Luke 6:43–45)
33 Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure. 36 But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
The Sign of Jonah
(Jonah 3:1–10; Luke 11:29–32)
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 Jesus replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh will stand at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now One greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and now One greater than Solomon is here.
An Unclean Spirit Returns
(Luke 11:24–26)
43 When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ On its return, it finds the house vacant, swept clean, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and dwell there; and the final plight of that man is worse than the first. So will it be with this wicked generation.”
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
(Mark 3:31–35; Luke 8:19–21)
46 While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, His mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to Him. 47 Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.”
48 But Jesus replied, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” 49 Pointing to His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
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