The arrogant utterly deride me, yet I do not turn aside from Your Law. Psalm 119:51 NASB Utterly deride – How do you handle insults? How do you react to blame? What does it feel like when someone shows contempt toward you? What happens when someone mocks you? All of these questions seem to be front and center…
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. Joshua 7:6 NIV Tore/ fell/ sprinkled – These three actions indicate the gravity of the situation. Joshua never expected to have any losses at all in the…
Because for You I have borne reproach, disgrace has covered my face. Psalm 69:8 [Hebrew Bible] Robert Alter Because for You – David makes an astounding claim, a claim that hardly seems accurate. He says that the damage to his reputation is due to his upholding God’s name. Has he forgotten his sins? How can…
Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. Job 1:22 NASB 1995 Nor did he blame – But the Hebrew isn’t quite what we think of when we read these words in English. We think of “blame” as assigning responsibility or finding fault. So, in our Western theology, if God is…
Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt?” Exodus 14:11 NASB To die in the wilderness – I wish I’d never started. It was so…
Because of Your indignation and Your wrath; for You have lifted me up and thrown me away. Psalm 102:10 NASB Lifted me up – As we know, the Hebrew word nāśāʾ is “used almost six hundred times with basically three separate meanings: “to lift up”; “to bear, carry, support”; and “to take, take away.”[1] “To bear”…
“Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.” Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian.” Numbers 31:2-3 NASB The sons of Israel – Moses is about to die. …
“I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, because it is You who have done it.” Psalm 39:9 NASB Become mute– Where have we heard this before? Oh, yes, verse 2. The same verb, the same tense. Bound. Tied up. But between verse 2 and verse 9, David has really said quite a bit. He has revealed…
“Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish.” Psalm 39:8 NASB Reproach – David’s song reaches a crescendo. It starts with silence, then proceeds to murmur, explodes in what appears to be judgment, but swiftly turns into an indictment of humanity and a personal disclosure. The audience is kept off guard, reeling…
Because of all my adversaries, I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. Psalm 31:11 NASB Reproach– Are you the Mary Mallon of sin? Remember her? She was “the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic…
