In that day, YHWH made a covenant with Abram Genesis 15:18 Made – Today you need an attorney, but in ancient Semitic cultures, contracts between two parties were signed, sealed and delivered with sacrifice. God tells Abram (later Abraham) that He wants a contract between them. This valid contract obligates two parties to certain actions. …
Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men, from every nation under heaven. Acts 2:5 Devout – Peter addressed the crowd and 3000 were added to the messianic community that day. Who were these people? The popular version suggests that these were non-believers, but that isn’t what Luke tells us, nor is it what…
It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you have made it a den of thieves. Matthew 21:13 Den – Jesus quotes Jeremiah. No doubt about it. “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers?” (Jeremiah 7:11) The metaphor underlines the fact that the…
It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you have made it a den of thieves. Matthew 21:13 Prayer – David danced naked before the ark. Although Scripture doesn’t comment on it, I am quite sure that David also prayed naked. I don’t mean that he fell to his face…
But you shall cut down their altars and break their images and you shall cut off their shrines. Exodus 34:13 Break – Let’s be very clear about this. What God tells us to smash into pieces is never to be put back together again. What God says we are to cut down is never to…
For the whole law is fulfilled in this one word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:14 One Word – What’s the matter with Paul’s arithmetic? This isn’t one word. It’s a whole bunch of words, an entire commandment. Why does Paul say that the whole law is fulfilled in this one word?…
For, brothers, you were called to freedom. Only do not use the freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love serve one another as slaves. Galatians 5:13 Gain – How did you attain freedom? That’s the question behind Paul’s argument in Galatians. Did you earn your freedom by spiritual effort or noble works or…
“For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.”” Acts 17:23 Unknown – You may have heard this story too often. It has become familiar fodder for gospel grist. Until we really recognize the depth of Paul’s cultural analysis,…
And YHWH called to Moses and spoke to him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Leviticus 1:1 Spoke – Why did God wait until His presence rested over the tabernacle before He spoke to Moses about the sacrifices? Some contemporary translations of this verse omit the word “tabernacle,” but we shouldn’t! The tabernacle…
And YHWH called to Moses and spoke to him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Leviticus 1:1 Called – If you had to decide which book of the Bible you would use to train your children in the ways of God, would you choose Leviticus? Probably not. You would probably decide on some…
