For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Joshua 11:20 NASB Utterly destroy – Verses like this generated the liberal view that the God of the…
“Now it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today. Deuteronomy 29:14-15 NASB Not with us – Yesterday we explored the idea of revelation and canonization. We discovered that…
“Now it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today. Deuteronomy 29:14-15 NASB Not with us – Does God speak to us today? Oh, I don’t mean, “Do you…
Knowledge is too wonderous for me, high above—I cannot attain it. Psalm 139:6 Robert Alter Too wonderous – The translators have taken a bit of poetic license here by rendering pilʾîy-yah with the superlative “too.” The verb is simply pālāʾ, that is, “be marvelous, wonderful.” In the derivative, pilʾî, it means “wonderful, incomprehensible,” but as…
I will not act in My blazing wrath, I will no more destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I do not desire to root out. Hosea 11:9 Robert Alter Not a man – Christian theology employs texts like this one to support its view…
All the people, experiencing the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the smoking mountain, were afraid Exodus 20:18a The Message Experiencing – When was the last time you saw thunder? Ah, probably never. We perceive thunder as audible, not visual. So when we try to translate this particular verse from Hebrew, we run into…
I have recently read most of an online book on the impact of scholarly biblical criticism on the Jewish faith. Of course, the material applies to anyone who thinks of the Bible as sacred material, but in this collection all of the authors are Jewish. One article in particular struck me as critically important for…
But God will redeem my soul from the [a]power of [b]Sheol, for He will receive me. Selah Psalm 49:15 NASB Will redeem – “I am redeemed,” said the new convert. “I am free at last.” Is that how you felt when you realized your sins were forgiven? Was there an emotional experience of relief? Did you feel like a new…
Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. Joshua 6:4 NASB Seven – The numeral 7 in Hebrew is the word shiva. Like almost all Hebrew nouns, it has…
And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Let My people go . . .’” Exodus 5:1a NASB Go – A new Gregorian year begins. This wasn’t always the case. Until 1582 the Julian calendar was the common civil calendar. Even today, some religious…
