Author: Skip Moen, Ph.D.

  • The Wrong Preposition

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry;  do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a sojourner like all my fathers.”  Psalm 39:12  NASB Stranger with You– David’s short autobiography is coming to an end.  It is coming to the only end possible: a cry for mercy.  “Hear my…

  • Back to the Beginning

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; surely every man is a mere breath.”  Selah.  Psalm 39:11  NASB Precious– By now we should have noticed that David’s vocabulary pushes us back into the history of Israel.  From allusions to Moses, we returned to Egypt. From Egypt we made our…

  • David and the Midrash

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; surely every man is a mere breath.”  Selah.  Psalm 39:11  NASB Reproofs– The apostolic letters don’t stray far from roots in the Tanakh.  We should not be surprised.  The letters are commentary on the Bible of the apostles, the Tanakh.  So…

  • Contagious

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “Remove Your plague from me; because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing.”  Psalm 39:10  NASB Am perishing– There’s a lot of important vocabulary here.  There are also a lot of “connect-the-dots” clues.  Let’s start with “remove.”  The verb is sur, here in the imperative, ha-ser.  In other words, David doesn’t ask.  He demands. “YHVH,…

  • The Mathematician in Our Midst

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    Some of you are privileged to know John Adam.  He regularly attends the conferences in Virginia Beach.  He is a mathematician and teaches at Old Dominion University.  His passion is mathematics in nature.  Here are two short videos that explore this theme in ways that will enthrall you. These videos are available through the Old…

  • Back to Square One

    BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

    “I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, because it is You who have done it.”  Psalm 39:9  NASB Become mute– Where have we heard this before? Oh, yes, verse 2.  The same verb, the same tense.  Bound.  Tied up.  But between verse 2 and verse 9, David has really said quite a bit.  He has revealed…