Lord, how my enemies have increased! Many are rising up against me. Psalm 3:1 NASB Enemies – Have you noticed how often the psalms speak about enemies? This verse from the third psalm is just one example. Psalms 4 and 5 contain the same idea, and, of course, so do many, many others. These psalms are…
“And I—I appointed My king on Zion, My holy mountain.” Let me tell as is due of the LORD. He said to me: “You are My son. I Myself today did beget you.” Psalm 2:6-7 Robert Alter Beget – Perhaps the first thing we need to read about this verse is Alter’s comment: “Despite Christological…
A good name is better than good oil, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. Ecclesiastes 7:1 NASB Day of one’s death – Qohelet (Koheleth, “the Teacher”) is an empirical pessimist. That alone made the decision to place this work within the canon quite controversial. It’s virtually impossible that the material was written by…
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.” Joshua 5:2 NASB Second time – Paradigms are limiting factors in explanation. That’s why a group of physicists who held tightly to the Bohr model of the atom (the nucleus being the smallest building block…
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.” Joshua 5:2 NASB The second time – “I’ve never really understood this story,” said my rabbi friend here in Parma. “It just goes on and on, repeating the same event—and it doesn’t make a lot…
In peace, all whole, let me lie down and sleep. For You, LORD, alone, do set me down safely. Psalm 4:9 [Hebrew numbering] Robert Alter Let me lie down – Did you read my little footnote yesterday? You know, the one about the difference between the cohortative hey and the paragogic hey. Ah, probably not. …
I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. Psalm 3:5 [English] NASB Slept – Look at Robert Alter’s translation: “I lie down and I sleep. I awake, for the LORD has sustained me.” Notice anything different? Alter’s translation renders the verbs in the present tense. The action is happening now. The NASB renders the…
The distress of my heart has grown great. From my straits bring me out. See my affliction and suffering and forgive all my offenses. Psalm 25:17-18 Robert Alter Distress – Life handed you baggage. Some of it becomes yours before you were born, but when you arrived, no one told you that you inherited your…
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6 NASB Anxious – We have a common reply: “You’ve got nothing to worry about.” When you hear that, how does it really make you feel? I don’t know about you, but…
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you,” Hebrews 13:5 NASB Desert/ Abandon – The author of the letter to the Hebrews does what so many ancient writers of sacred texts tended to…
