Was Bathsheba clever or not? When we come to the moment that Adonijah approached her, we have to ... more Was Bathsheba clever or not? When we come to the moment that Adonijah approached her, we have to discern whether she was savvy and saw right through his ruse or whether she naively went along with it. Was she shocked when Solomon pronounced the death sentence on Adonijah, or grinning?
On a number of occasions in the Bible in the midst of a speech the writer will insert the phrase ... more On a number of occasions in the Bible in the midst of a speech the writer will insert the phrase וַיֹּאמֶר or וַיְדַבֵּר. At first sight, “and he said” or “and he went on to say” or “he said further”, looks redundant. We believe that these phrases must be there for a purpose—indicating a pause. What does the pause infer? A study of each of these lacunae reveals a fascinating variety of possible motives.
At the age of forty, Moses murdered an Egyptian. He had to flee into exile (Exodus 2:12–15). He... more At the age of forty, Moses murdered an Egyptian. He had to flee into exile (Exodus 2:12–15). He spent forty years in the wilderness. At the age of eighty, he was chosen by God to lead Israel out of exile from Egypt to their Promised Land (3:6–10). But he spent the next forty years in the same wilderness because of the crimes of others. Jehovah decreed that all those who had lost their faith in him would die in the wilderness (Numbers 14:20–34). Over those decades Moses witnessed the death of thousands and thousands. Then, just as he was about to step into the land that he had yearned to inherit for so long, he committed another crime for which Jehovah deemed him liable to death (Numbers 20:12; Deuteronomy 3:26–28). This is the backdrop to Psalm 90—the judgements and punishments from Jehovah and the transience and the fragility of life.
Jesus prayed often, but we know very little of what he said in prayer. Here are Jesus’s prayers ... more Jesus prayed often, but we know very little of what he said in prayer. Here are Jesus’s prayers that we have, with the number of words in the Greek (WH) in brackets: Matthew 11:25, 26 (29); 26:39 (19); 26:42 (15); 27:46 (4); Luke 10:21, 22 (29); 23:34 (8); 23:46 (8); John 11:41, 42 (26); 12:27, 28 (20). This makes a total of 158 words. However, the prayer in John 17 is 486 words—three times more than all the other prayers combined. This makes Jesus's prayer in John 17 significant.
To many commentators this psalm appears to be in two parts. “Is this two psalms or one? If the ... more To many commentators this psalm appears to be in two parts. “Is this two psalms or one? If the latter, what explanation is there for the complete change of tone at vs. 7? If it is a composite psalm, why did someone join such different songs together?” (Interpreter’s). The aim of this paper is to show that the psalm was composed as one piece. Verses 1 to 6 are the exuberant words of David who had been rescued and who is now fearless. The past acts of his God have assured him that he is now safe. However, it should be noted that Wilcock identified two key ideas running through the psalm—confidence (verse 3 and 13) and seeking (verse 4 and 8). He wrote that “the four sections of the psalm crystallize around them, in a chiastic pattern like those which we found in Psalms 6 and 7: confidence/seeking//seeking/confidence”. This means the poem is not quite so easily divided into two parts; there are different feelings moving through David as he composes it. Sommer notes that “Intimations of distress can be found in the first stanza [verses 1–6], while elements of confidence underlie the worshiper’s plea for help in the second [verses 7–12]. The psalm’s movement back and forth between confidence and need, between believing in God’s reliability and worrying about God’s absence, reveals the essence of this psalm”. When we have prayed for help and we have received it, we are just like David in the opening verses—grateful and buoyantly confident. When a new threat advances towards us, we sometimes quaver. This psalm is therefore a portrait of that mixture of feelings.
a c h s a h Joshua 15 Verse 15 Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the n... more a c h s a h Joshua 15 Verse 15 Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir before that was Kiriath-sepher.) ר פֶ ת-סֵ יַ ְ ר קִ ים נִ פָ לְ ר בִ ם-דְ שֵ וְ ר בִ דְ י בֵ ֹשְ ל-י אֶ ם שָ מִ ל עַ יַ וַ
This is the darkest passage in the Bible. This story is longer than any other in the book of Jud... more This is the darkest passage in the Bible. This story is longer than any other in the book of Judges except the story of Gideon. Why does the Bible devote so much space to such a grotesque episode? Why does the narrator slow down and give us so many of the painful details? And how is God involved? To what extent is he directing events, tolerating them or permitting them? This essay seeks to find the answers to these questions.
Was Bathsheba clever or not? When we come to the moment that Adonijah approached her, we have to ... more Was Bathsheba clever or not? When we come to the moment that Adonijah approached her, we have to discern whether she was savvy and saw right through his ruse or whether she naively went along with it. Was she shocked when Solomon pronounced the death sentence on Adonijah, or grinning?
On a number of occasions in the Bible in the midst of a speech the writer will insert the phrase ... more On a number of occasions in the Bible in the midst of a speech the writer will insert the phrase וַיֹּאמֶר or וַיְדַבֵּר. At first sight, “and he said” or “and he went on to say” or “he said further”, looks redundant. We believe that these phrases must be there for a purpose—indicating a pause. What does the pause infer? A study of each of these lacunae reveals a fascinating variety of possible motives.
At the age of forty, Moses murdered an Egyptian. He had to flee into exile (Exodus 2:12–15). He... more At the age of forty, Moses murdered an Egyptian. He had to flee into exile (Exodus 2:12–15). He spent forty years in the wilderness. At the age of eighty, he was chosen by God to lead Israel out of exile from Egypt to their Promised Land (3:6–10). But he spent the next forty years in the same wilderness because of the crimes of others. Jehovah decreed that all those who had lost their faith in him would die in the wilderness (Numbers 14:20–34). Over those decades Moses witnessed the death of thousands and thousands. Then, just as he was about to step into the land that he had yearned to inherit for so long, he committed another crime for which Jehovah deemed him liable to death (Numbers 20:12; Deuteronomy 3:26–28). This is the backdrop to Psalm 90—the judgements and punishments from Jehovah and the transience and the fragility of life.
Jesus prayed often, but we know very little of what he said in prayer. Here are Jesus’s prayers ... more Jesus prayed often, but we know very little of what he said in prayer. Here are Jesus’s prayers that we have, with the number of words in the Greek (WH) in brackets: Matthew 11:25, 26 (29); 26:39 (19); 26:42 (15); 27:46 (4); Luke 10:21, 22 (29); 23:34 (8); 23:46 (8); John 11:41, 42 (26); 12:27, 28 (20). This makes a total of 158 words. However, the prayer in John 17 is 486 words—three times more than all the other prayers combined. This makes Jesus's prayer in John 17 significant.
To many commentators this psalm appears to be in two parts. “Is this two psalms or one? If the ... more To many commentators this psalm appears to be in two parts. “Is this two psalms or one? If the latter, what explanation is there for the complete change of tone at vs. 7? If it is a composite psalm, why did someone join such different songs together?” (Interpreter’s). The aim of this paper is to show that the psalm was composed as one piece. Verses 1 to 6 are the exuberant words of David who had been rescued and who is now fearless. The past acts of his God have assured him that he is now safe. However, it should be noted that Wilcock identified two key ideas running through the psalm—confidence (verse 3 and 13) and seeking (verse 4 and 8). He wrote that “the four sections of the psalm crystallize around them, in a chiastic pattern like those which we found in Psalms 6 and 7: confidence/seeking//seeking/confidence”. This means the poem is not quite so easily divided into two parts; there are different feelings moving through David as he composes it. Sommer notes that “Intimations of distress can be found in the first stanza [verses 1–6], while elements of confidence underlie the worshiper’s plea for help in the second [verses 7–12]. The psalm’s movement back and forth between confidence and need, between believing in God’s reliability and worrying about God’s absence, reveals the essence of this psalm”. When we have prayed for help and we have received it, we are just like David in the opening verses—grateful and buoyantly confident. When a new threat advances towards us, we sometimes quaver. This psalm is therefore a portrait of that mixture of feelings.
a c h s a h Joshua 15 Verse 15 Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the n... more a c h s a h Joshua 15 Verse 15 Then he went up from there to the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir before that was Kiriath-sepher.) ר פֶ ת-סֵ יַ ְ ר קִ ים נִ פָ לְ ר בִ ם-דְ שֵ וְ ר בִ דְ י בֵ ֹשְ ל-י אֶ ם שָ מִ ל עַ יַ וַ
This is the darkest passage in the Bible. This story is longer than any other in the book of Jud... more This is the darkest passage in the Bible. This story is longer than any other in the book of Judges except the story of Gideon. Why does the Bible devote so much space to such a grotesque episode? Why does the narrator slow down and give us so many of the painful details? And how is God involved? To what extent is he directing events, tolerating them or permitting them? This essay seeks to find the answers to these questions.
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