Make Your face shine upon Your servant, and teach me Your statutes. Psalm 119:135 NASB Shine upon – An idiom, of course. But a nice one with a long, long history. The idiom is based on the verb ʾôr, found first is the fifth verse of Genesis. It means “to become light, to shine.” “Light is…
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 NIV Light – How about some reflective history. Let me, please, make a comment about what it’s like to write these (now) 8000+ word studies. “Today’s Word” is not your standard approach to Scripture. Yes, the theology is conservative and…
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Genesis 1:3 NASB Let there be – I suppose this is a bit better than Paul McCartney’s version (“Let It Be”), but it still sends us in the wrong direction. The English suggests that God was involved in some kind of command bringing light into…
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. Genesis 1:3 NASB Let there be– Unfortunately, translating this text usually ignores the Egyptian background of the intended audience. What I mean is this: the Genesis stories aren’t written in some kind of pre-modern proto-scientific vernacular, as if God were describing how He kicked the universe…
Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” Genesis 32:26a NASB Dawn– There are a lot of strange verses in the story of Jacob’s encounter with the “man” at the brook Jabbok. If you’ve read Crossing,[1]then you know just how odd the story really is. Recently I read a comment by Michael Wyschogrod that provides…
The people went out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened. Luke 8:35 NASB In his right mind– “If you sum up what people tell you…
Make Your face to shine upon Your servant; save me in Your lovingkindness. Psalm 31:16 NASB Shine upon– Facebook is a failure. So is texting, and any other form of personal communication that diminishes the human requirement of face-to-face relationship. Yes, all of those electronic (and other) forms of communication convey information, but they do not allow real…
His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power. Habakkuk 3:4 NASB Hiding – Now pay attention. Think carefully about the simile in this verse. “His radiance is like sunlight.” What does that mean? What is sunlight like? Well, first, it is a…
and shouting with a loud voice, he said, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” Mark 5:7 NASB What business do we have with each other – This entire phrase is a gloss attempting to capture a Greek…
This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. John 3:19 NASB Evil – When you read this verse in John’s account, what comes to mind? Do you see a great cosmic battle between good and evil? Do…
