The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; Genesis 2:16 NASB Freely eat – Hebrew has a funny way of expressing emphasis. If the sentence calls for an exclamation point (which doesn’t exist in Hebrew), the phrase often doubles the important word. So, in Hebrew it actually reads,…
Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6 NASB Laughter – Why does Peter list Sarah as a heroine of the faith (1 Peter 3:6)? With all that we have learned about her, it seems that Zornberg’s assessment, a life of “grim realism,” is more accurate than Peter’s praise. …
Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” Genesis 21:6 NASB Laugh– Abraham’s household journeys to Gerar. Once again he faces a king who might consider Sarah a prize. Abraham does not wait to measure the morality of the king. He retreats to a strategy that worked in the past. He pawns Sarah…
just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear. 1 Peter 3:6 NASB Calling him lord – Peter places Sarah in the hall of saints. But of course he would. She is the matriarch of all matriarchs, the first, the original. …
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden . . .” Genesis 2:16 ESV Surely eat – “It is primarily in the way in which we gratify physical needs that the seed of holiness is planted.”[1] Is Heschel right? Is holiness really about how we…
“God has made a joke of me” Genesis 21:6 I don’t think we know the people of the Bible very well. We are the victims of years of watered-down teaching. The stories of the lives of our spiritual ancestors have been “sanctified”. We know the triumphs of their faith, but we have little appreciation for…
“you are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but” Genesis 2:16 Free to eat – What did God have in mind when He made the garden and placed Man in it? Did He expect Man to be a passive recipient of its beauty? No, Man was given work to do. Did He…
