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by Wayne Blank
One of the most tragic letters was that carried by Uriah the Hittite. It
was a letter from King David to a military commander at the front lines.
Unknown to Uriah, the letter carried his own death sentence. David had ordered
the commander to put Uriah somewhere in the front line of battle where he
would surely be killed, which is what happened. It was a dark chapter of
David's life, all to cover up an incident of adultery with Uriah's wife.
We have come to know the New Testament letters as "epistles" which is the Greek word for letter. A substantial part of the New Testament is made up of these letters to individual churches. It is interesting to note that these were written in the form of a letter from person to person. We could wonder if the authors of the epistles had any idea of how widely their mail would eventually be read!
The Book of Revelation also refers to letters to various churches, which although addressed to churches of the time, have wide use for us today. They are both doctrinal and prophetic.
Ancient letters of the Bible were often written on papyrus, rolled and/or folded, and tied or sealed. We could be reasonably sure that the letter that Uriah carried was very well sealed.
Fact Finder: Who wrote the letter to the Galatians?
(a) Luke (b) Paul (c) Matthew (d) John the Baptist
Galatians 1:1
