When God began to create, the heavens and the earth . . . Genesis 1:1 JPS When – For years we’ve been exploring the differences between the Near Eastern paradigm of the Bible and the Western paradigm of the Church. These differences make all the difference, particularly when we attempt to understand what the Near…
make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Philippians 2:2 NASB Being of the same mind – What do you suppose Paul means with the plea “by being of the same mind”? Are we to read this as “thinking the same things”? Or…
So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 NASB Traditions – Since the question of the authority of the Bible is so important to our faith, it’s worth taking the time to investigate once more Craig…
So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 NASB Traditions – Craig Allert’s book, A High View of Scripture?, goes a long way toward settling the mythology of an early Christian canon of the New Testament. …
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 NASB Faithfulness – We end at the beginning. This entire lament starts here, with a declaration of God’s faithfulness. But that’s what makes it so strange. Here, in the midst of a book of poems about the tragedy of…
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” Lamentations 3:24 NASB My portion – When everything is stripped away, what sustains you? That’s the kind of question Job had to ask himself. It’s the same question the people of Israel needed to ask when Babylon erased their world. Maybe it’s our question as…
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. Lamentations 3:25 NASB Discovering Despair – Hebrew Scripture uses two words for the concept of seeking. Translated identically, they actually have important differences. The two are bāqaš and dāraš. TWOT notes: Our word is distinguished from its frequent parallel and equivalent bāqaš (q.v.)…
It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:26 NASB Salvation – The goal of silence is freedom. Really? Do you experience silence that way? Or is silence a fearful thing, a place where you just don’t have any answer to your puzzles, a place where God was jailed for vagrancy and…
It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. Lamentations 3:27 NASB Yoke – This is not a “my yoke is easy” verse, The loss of an entire nation is a heavy price to pay. The burden isn’t light. Since Lamentations is reflection on the exile and the destruction of…
Let him sit alone and be silent since He has laid it on him. Lamentations 3:28 NASB Since – Like good Hebrew exegesis, we start at the end to discover the beginning. No sense beginning at the beginning since Hebrew has a way of turning the tale upside-down at the end. So let’s start where it ends in…
