“And in the greatness of Your excellence You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff.” Exodus 15:7 NASB Burning anger– God is mad! Watch out! That’s what Moses is talking about in this verse. The Hebrew verb is ḥārâ, “to burn (of anger).” The verb is always…
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46 NASB My God – Why does Yeshua cry out from the cross? Some time ago we discovered that his words are really the opening statement of a psalm of…
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. Proverbs 31:11 NASB Trusts – What does it mean to “trust” your wife? How will that turn out to be prosperous for the husband? In the past we examined the Hebrew word bāṭaḥ in the context of the ‘ezer kenegdo, God’s design for…
Indeed, I was born through iniquity; with sin my mother conceived me. Psalm 51:5 (David Lambert translation) Born– My goodness, what theological mileage has been fueled with this verse! Augustine told us that it confirmed the essential sinfulness of human beings. It is a standard proof-text for the doctrine of original sin. Others have tried to…
and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Exodus 33:22 ESV Cleft of the Rock – Serenity. Safety. Solace. I know this place, but I don’t visit it often enough–in body or spirit.
In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. Psalm 5:3 NASB Order my prayer – First, a modest correction. “My prayer” is not found in the text. It might be that the context is correct, but the verse reads, “I will order toward you.” Once we remove the…
Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning. Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. Psalm 5:1-2 NASB Give ear – “In prayer we seek not to make God visible but to make ourselves visible to God.”[1] David doesn’t open his prayer with a “fix…
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28 NASB You have heard that it was said – “Interpretive tendencies survive because readers share elements of…
When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him. Acts 28:16 NASB Rome – From a Messianic perspective, Rome is the epitome of all that is wrong about Christianity. It is religiosus corruptus, a history of power, persecutions and personal agendas. Despite the fact that Rome plays…
“Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” Exodus 3:10 NASB My people – About a month ago we examined thirteen changes that radically affect interpreting the Bible. The first few involved names. “Jesus is not his name” was at…
