Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” Genesis 38:16a NIV Sleep with you – Okay, so we’re past the scandalous nature of this event. We think of it religiously as if it’s about inequity, and, of course, ultimately, about the…
Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” Genesis 38:16a NIV Sleep with you – Of course, the Hebrew doesn’t use our modern circumlocution. The Hebrew text reads, “let me come in to you,” perhaps a bit too graphic for our…
Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; Genesis 44:27 NASB My wife– Sometimes we just read over critical details in the text because we know the stories so well. As a result, we don’t experience the emotional impact in the text. We end up with the Sunday school version—theologically…
For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me—for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?” Genesis 44:34 NASB See the evil– When you read the story of Joseph, there appears to be a detour in the plot. We recently investigated this detour, noting that…
and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” Genesis 37:32 NASB Please Examine– I think we should create a new Bible board game. We could call it CLUE. We would provide various verses on cards and little…
When Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face. Genesis 38:15 NASB Harlot – Don’t read the Bible as if it were written with the cultural morals that you have! If you do, you will make a lot of mistakes trying to explain away the behavior of its…
“Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? Genesis 49:9 NASB Lion – Most of us are familiar with the phrase “lion of Judah.” It has taken on Messianic meaning for centuries…
But Naomi said to her two daughter-in-law, “Turn back, each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt kindly with the dead and me!” Ruth 1:8 NJPS Deal Kindly – Once before we noticed that hesed is the crucial term of the story of Ruth. We…
