Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening; and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming. Genesis 24:63 NASB 1995 To meditate – Hapax legomenon. That’s what the word śûaḥ’ is. A once only occurrence in the entire Tanakh. If you look in a lexicon, you will find…
When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. Genesis 37:21 NIV Tried to rescue – Jonathan Sacks makes an interesting comment about the literal Hebrew in this verse: It is at this point that the Torah does something it does nowhere else: It makes a statement…
Hide Your face from my sins and wipe out all my guilty deeds. Psalm 51:9 NASB Hide/ wipe out – Two actions are needed before we find relief from past mistakes. The first involves re-establishing a right relationship with God. For that to occur, God must take the initiative. Since He knows everything about us,…
Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones You have broken rejoice. Psalm 51:8 NASB Joy and gladness – I love to listen to the Blues. For years the plaintive cries of those lyrics have echoed my own struggles. They remind me of M. Scott Peck’s famous opening sentence, “Life is difficult.” Yes, it is. And…
If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had not been for me, surely now you would have sent me away empty Genesis 31:42a NASB Fear – It seems that everyone wants to rescue Isaac from the text. Jonathan Sacks’ statement may be Jewish, but it is reflected over…
I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the ruins. Psalm 102:6 NASB Pelican/ owl – Why pelican? Why owl? First, let’s address the Christian mythology about the pelican. It starts with Thomas Aquinas. During the breeding season, the Dalmatian pelican’s pouch turns blood red, and the birds often press…
And God said to Moses, I am the one being. And he said, Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, The one being had sent me to you. Exodus 3:14 LXX I am the one being – Hinnēni. “Here I am” is the common Hebrew expression for humbly identifying oneself in conversation. There…
“Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:23 NASB And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will…
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;” Genesis 12:1 NASB Go – Unfortunately, English translations of this crucial command obscure the depth of God’s request. In Hebrew, the verb is not “Go.” It is lĕk-lekā’ (lekh lekha), literally,…
