Meta-exegesis on April Fool’s Day
A lamp to my feet is Your word and a light to my path. I swore and I will fulfill it—to observe Your just laws. Psalm 119:105-106 Robert Alter Lamp/ light – What is the plain meaning of the text? Isn’t that what we all want to know? Don’t confuse me with theological propositions or…
History in the Making
Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Matthew 6:9 NASB Hallowed – “Thus, to ‘hallow’ here is no longer any single action; it is the transformation of all that is into a new ‘holy’ existence as God wills. It is the course of the world and of each individual life from creation…
The Case for Christ
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44 NASB No one – Given this statement, it is remarkable that Western Christianity believes in apologetics. Over and over Christian authors and theologians have offered “proofs” for the faith, arguments that…
The Holocaust Question
“For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear about it, and they will surround us and eliminate our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?” Joshua 7:9 NASB What will You do – The people of Ai defeat the Israelites. Many die. Joshua is dumbfounded…
Hide and Seek
But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24 NASB Lost – There are four senses to the Greek term apóllymi: to destroy or kill, to suffer loss or to lose, to perish, and to be lost. Most of the time the word is used in…
Heresy Number 2* (this will take some more time)
Do your duty to the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to [a]keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, 1 Kings 2:3 NASB What is written – Yesterday, we learned that…
Heresy Number 2 (this will take some time)
Do your duty to the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to [a]keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, 1 Kings 2:3 NASB What is written – Occasionally you read a…
The Other View
We have become a disgrace to our neighbors, scorn and contempt to all round us. How long, O LORD, will You rage forever, Your fury burn like fire? Pour out Your wrath on the nations that did not know You and on the kingdoms that did not call on Your name. Psalm 79:4-6 (Hebrew Bible)…
The Minds of God
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Isaiah 1:18a KJV Reason – Despite the later translation corrections of this Hebrew verb (yākaḥ rendered in the NASB as “debate” and in the NIV as “settle”), most believers of a certain age recall this verse in its King James vernacular, “let us reasontogether.” We won’t…
