Trade-offs (The End of the Empire 8)

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words,  I am going to send for all the tribes of the north, says the Lord, even for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all these nations around; I will utterly destroy…

The Nuclear Option

Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy; I will not endure one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart.  Psalm 101:5  NASB Destroy – This psalm makes an incredible claim.  God will totally eliminate those who slander others in secret.  It’s hard to miss the audacity of this statement.  The Hebrew verb, ṣāmat, used…

Tolerance with a Vengeance

For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.  Joshua 11:20 NASB Utterly destroy – Verses like this generated the liberal view that the God of the…

Dead End

Your burning anger has passed over me;  Your terrors have destroyed me.  Psalm 88:16  NASB Destroyed – Not just any trauma.  No, this is trauma of a special kind: bi·ʿûṯ.  “events that cause fear and destruction or death, with some focus on the wrath of the punisher.”[1]  What is the result?  ṣāmat The word ṣāmat occurs…

The End

“It is all one; therefore I say, ‘He destroys the guiltless and the wicked.’”  Job 9:22  NASB Guiltless– You and I will be rewarded.  We are followers of the King.  We believe.  Therefore, He will protect us.  Right? All those terrible consequences that are destined to befall the wicked will not scratch us.  We will emerge whole, perfected, saved.  Right? …

Seduced!

But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.  2 Corinthians 11:3  NASB Led astray – “Everyone’s human.  I just made a mistake!”  That might be the conclusion we draw from the translation “led astray.”  After…

Losing Your Way (3)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28  ESV Body – In this verse, the translator of Yeshua’s comment uses the Greek word soma.  We might expect soma to be the substitute for basar (Hebrew:…

Losing Your Way (2)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28  ESV Destroy – [WARNING:  This a long because the subject is complicated.]  Does Yeshua teach the destruction of the soul?  If He does, doesn’t this stand in…

Losing Your Way (1)

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  Matthew 10:28  ESV Destroy – It is my intention, over the next several days, to deal with the concept of body and soul.  We can begin with this verse…

‘Arum/ ‘Arom

The one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense; he who would destroy himself does it. Proverbs 6:32 Destroy –  Hebrew poetry rhymes ideas.  The first thought is elaborated in the second thought.  In this verse, both phrases are about the same action – adultery.  The proverb teaches us that adultery is stupid…