Whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and obtains favor from YHWH; but whoever misses me does violence to his very being [nephesh]; all who hate me love death. Proverbs 8:35-36 NASB with revisions Love death – “Since the culture of ancient times tended to value a person in light of the role performance, personal values…
Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Genesis 50:2 NASB The physicians – The NASB translation of the Hebrew ha-rof’im misdirects us. David Fohrman points out that the word actually means “healers.” The fact that we think of healers as physicians means that our conception of the…
The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Genesis 1:2 NASB Formless and void – “So, how’s that working out for you?” The fundamental question about our assumptions concerning life. The most important question of…
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 NASB To die – Jack Nicholson delivered the classic line in the movie, The Departed. “We all die. Live accordingly.” But how many of us think like this? We are so busy with life that we forget its true meaning is…
The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. Psalm 18:5 NASB Cords/surrounded – What are the cords of Sheol? How will we know what to do to avoid them unless we understand what they are? Perhaps we can begin by discovering what they are not. First, the cords of Sheol are…
nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will…
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; Exodus 34:6 NASB Compassionate – Consider the last twenty-four hours. Oh, not the ones that have just gone by, although after the coming investigation you might want…
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. Psalm 51:14 NASB Bloodguiltiness – Unfortunately this text doesn’t actually say “bloodguiltiness.” That is an interpolation of the actual word, dam. The text literally says, “Rescue me from blood.” It could also be read, “Deliver…
Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7 NASB Purify me – The key to correctly translating this word is hyssop. If we understand the history of hyssop, then we can comprehend David’s request. Otherwise we are left with a very odd verb,…
For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, 2 Corinthians 5:1-2 Earthly tent – Mas. Chagigah…
