For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a person and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor follow other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I…
Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near, because the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests. “Then it will come about on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all who clothe themselves with foreign garments.” Zephaniah 1:7-8 NASB Sacrifice – Robert Alter makes an important comment…
For my days have ended in smoke, and my bones have been scorched like a hearth. Psalm 102:3 NASB Have ended – Legacy. Does that term bother you? Do you think about what you will leave behind? Ecclesiastes suggests that your legacy better not be money, fame, or power. Those ephemeral status symbols won’t mean much after…
A Prayer of the afflicted when he is weak and pours out his complaint before the Lord. Psalm 102 NASB Complaint – You’re praying. You feel oppressed and downtrodden. You acknowledge your total dependency on God. You’re weak; He’s strong. You kneel before Him—His servant, His child. And you complain? Before we tackle the noun “complaint” we…
The second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39 NASB Is like it – Why does Yeshua say that the commandment to love your neighbor is hómoios aute (like it)? How can any other commandment be like the first one: to love God will all your heart, mind, and strength? …
You drew near when I called on You; You said, “Do not fear!” Lamentations 3:57 NASB Near – Lamentations is not high on our list of “good reads.” It’s basically a funeral dirge coupled with tragic poetry about God’s absence. It’s depressing. We would rather read Psalms. Furthermore, since sin is the cause of all this…
To do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:3 NASB Righteousness and justice – Jewish religion in the Old Testament (yes, I know that’s a Christian denotation) is all about sacrifice, right? At least that’s what most of us were taught (along with the classification “Old” Testament). And sacrifices—all that killing and blood…
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Revelation 21:22 NASB No temple – As you know, I rarely write about verses from John’s apocalyptic vision. The reason is simple: Apocalyptic literature is filled with ambiguous images, symbolic words, and suggestions. This is intentional since apocalyptic literature is not predictive…
“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock.’” Leviticus 1:2 NASB Of you – Many years ago I hiked in the Cascade mountains of Washington State on a…
He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Genesis 22:12 NASB Fear God – It’s an ancient but very important story. Christianity sees it as a type of the…
