Thankfully Delayed

How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me?  Psalm 119:84  NASB When – The great question of theology isn’t “Why is there evil?”  Yes, that’s a big one, but it’s resolution doesn’t really change our circumstances.  We live in a broken world no matter what.  The real…

The Wheels of Justice

And it shall be that the one who is selected with the things designated for destruction shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has violated the covenant of the Lord, and because he has committed a disgraceful thingin Israel.   Joshua 7:15 NASB Disgraceful thing – This is a very strange story. …

The Rationale for Suffering (2)

Happy the man whom Yah chastises, and whom from His teaching He instructs, to make him quiet in evil days until a pit is dug for the wicked.  Psalm 94:12-13  Robert Alter Quiet – I’d like the NASB version to be true.  “So that You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, until a pit is…

The Rationale for Suffering (1)

Happy the man whom Yah chastises, and whom from His teaching He instructs, to make him quiet in evil days until a pit is dug for the wicked.  Psalm 94:12-13  Robert Alter Chastises – Are you happy?  Maybe today, but what about the days when nothing goes right?  What about those days when you truly…

The Way Back

Zion shall be redeemed through justice, and those who turn back in her, through righteousness.  Isaiah 1:27  Robert Alter Through – The NASB renders this verse differently.  “Zion will be redeemed with justice And her repentant ones with righteousness.”  The difference is the translation of the preposition bĕ.  As you know, Hebrew prepositions play a lot of…

Hebrew Greek

because God did not make death nor does he delight in the destruction of the living.  Wisdom of Salomon 1:13  A New English Translation of the Septuagint Death – It’s fairly widely recognized that The Wisdom of Salomon was composed in Greek in the mid first century B.C.E. It contains many Hellenistic themes, most likely imported…

Hell on Earth

“For the day of the Lord is near for all the nations. Just as you have done, it will be done to you.  Your dealings will return on your own head.”  Obadiah 1:15  NASB Done to you – Obadiah is a very tiny book of the Tanakh.  Most people probably don’t know anything about it other than the name. …

Say What?

Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.  For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is…

The Scales of Justice

So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.  Job 5:11  NASB Sets on high – Eliphaz the Temanite offers Job an answer to his plight.  It’s not what you want to hear, and certainly not the explanation Job desires, but it’s a pretty common argument when…

Modern Marcionites

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28  NASB Good – Marcion of Sinope was born in 85 C.E. in Turkey.  Before he died in 160 in Rome, he changed the entire Christian world forever after.  How did…