Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. Psalm 37:5 NASB He will do it– It wasn’t supposed to be like this. All this study. All this investigation, debate, dialogue. All this struggle to align with the perspective of the author and audience when reading God’s word. We weren’t supposed to…
“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Joshua 24:14 NASB Sincerity – Are you sincere? Ah, your answer could depend on your heritage. The meaning of “sincere” seems to vary even in contemporary cultures. Trilling notes: “In…
Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Genesis 27:19a NASB I am – Some time ago (September 28, 2018) I wrote about the shift in the idea of “individual.” I noted that ancient, non-industrial cultures exhibit group consciousness rather than discrete, individual consciousness. I cited works by Gabor…
Behold, I am with you Genesis 28:15a NASB I – hinneh ʾānōkî (“Behold, I”) says YHVH to Jacob in the famous dream of Genesis 28. Here the text uses ʾānōkî rather than the shorter form, ʾānî. But since ʾānōkî and ʾānî are both translated “I,” we would have a hard time distinguishing the two. Sometimes they are used interchangeably. But sometimes they…
Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; Genesis 44:27 NASB My wife– Sometimes we just read over critical details in the text because we know the stories so well. As a result, we don’t experience the emotional impact in the text. We end up with the Sunday school version—theologically…
This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 Peter 3:1 NASB Sincere mind– How often have you heard someone say, “Well, at least he’s sincere.” Or maybe, “What he lacks in understanding he makes up for in sincerity.” In our common…
Reading, studying, meditating, exploring God’s words is something like this: Do you see my shoe on the way down? Want to follow me into the depths? The Hebrew idea of time. A journey into the interior. Might make you dizzy but it will be worth it. TRAVEL MOTEL I am presently in the bush in…
Examine me, O Lord, and try me; Test my mind and my heart.Psalm 26:2 NASB Examine– I don’t have to tell you that life is complicated. If you think it isn’t, then you are probably less than twenty-five. I also don’t have to remind you that life is messy. We plan; God laughs. So say the sages. And…
For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me—for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?” Genesis 44:34 NASB See the evil– When you read the story of Joseph, there appears to be a detour in the plot. We recently investigated this detour, noting that…
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7 NASB Man– He was never born. He had no mother, no father. He didn’t come from a family. He had no cultural DNA. He had no country, no ethnicity, no expectations. He knew no…
