How I loved Your teaching. All the day it was my theme. Psalm 119:97 Robert Alter I loved – We’ve reached the end of the Mem section of this acrostic, but before we continue, we need to recognize a larger pattern. The acrostic is made up of blocks (verses that begin with the same letter). Each…
How I loved Your teaching. All the day it was my theme. Psalm 119:97 Robert Alter Theme – Remember the “perfect” tense—the completed action—of the first part of this verse. The psalmist is describing his collective experience of God’s instruction. He’s not projecting or anticipating something yet to be realized. He’s saying that he has already…
I am Yours, save me; for I have sought Your precepts. Psalm 119:94 NASB I am Yours – While the English captures the idea, the Hebrew isn’t quite so straightforward. The phrase is lekā-‘ănî’. It’s really a preposition (l – “to, towards, in regard to”) and two pronouns (kā – you, and ănî – I). Literally, “to…
This has become mine, that I comply with Your precepts. Psalm 119:56 NASB Comply – Did you think we’ve completely mined this verse after yesterday’s investigation? Well, we learned that “This has become mine” is probably better understood as a statement of identity rather than possession. It’s not something that I have acquired. Rather, it’s a…
This has become mine, that I comply with Your precepts. Psalm 119:56 NASB Has become mine – My wife, Rosanne, carries an Italian identity card. Anywhere she goes in the EU, all she needs is this little card as her identification document. Of course, this is an entirely modern invention. In the past, identity was a…
I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. John 13:34 NASB New – But this isn’t new at all, is it? Leviticus 19:18—“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Yeshua even cites this passage as the equivalent of loving God. So, how can…
and to put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4:24 NASB Put on the new self – Paul is an orthodox Jewish thinker. Among other things, that means his theology is rooted in the Tanakh, interpreted by the rabbinic traditions. When he writes, even…
A merciful person does himself good, but the cruel person does himself harm. Proverbs 11:17 NASB Does himself good – Arthur Branch, the District Attorney in the television series Law and Order, quipped, “Sometimes the good you do doesn’t do you any good.” Regretfully, he seems to be correct. Human experience suggests that doing good doesn’t always…
Why should I fear in days of adversity, when the injustice of those who betray me surrounds me, Psalm 49:5 NASB Why – This question in Hebrew begins with the combination of a preposition and an interrogative: la-mah. It seems insignificant to us, but it has important implications in Hebrew. Literally, “until what” brings into view…
Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. Genesis 32:24 NASB Man – In one of the strangest verses in Scripture, no clue is provided about the identity of the “man” who wrestles with Jacob. He suddenly appears. No history. No motivation. No name. We are immediately cast into the world…
