This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3 NIV Just and right – mišpāṭ and ṣĕdāqâ. We know both these concepts. The first, mišpāṭ, isn’t just about…
For if you are careful to keep all of this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and cling to Him, Deuteronomy 11:22 NASB To keep all – Are you careful to keep all the commandments? Are you meticulous, diligent, dutiful, missing nothing? Great! Ah, but there’s a difference between the “letter” and the “spirit,” isn’t…
Then afterward he read all the words of the Law, the blessing and the curse, according to everything that is written in the Book of the Law. Joshua 8:34 NASB All the words – According to the text, following the successful conquest of Ai, all Israel gathers between two mountains and a series of religious rituals are performed. One of these,…
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law instinctively perform the requirements of the Law, these, though not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, Romans 2:14-15 NASB A law to themselves –…
Fear of the Lord will add days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened. Proverbs 10:27 Chabad Fear – The fundamental insight of biblical wisdom is fear of the Lord. That might sound harsh. We’re used to the Western Christian idea of the love of God. Fear seems like something ominous, foreboding,…
Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” Exodus 19:5-6 NASB My…
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has shut off? Job 3:23 NASB Way is hidden – The verb is sātar. Its uses are important. The root in its basic meaning “hide” is common to West, Southwest, and Southeast Semitic. The subordinate thought of protection involved in the root, which helps…
My life is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget Your Law. Psalm 119:109 NASB Continually in my hand – Do you find this verse rather odd? After all the deference to God’s sovereign governance, we would expect that psalmist to say that his life is entirely in God’s hand, not his own. So, what’s happening…
How then can mankind be righteous with God? Or how can anyone who is born of woman be pure? If even the moon has no brightness and the stars are not pure in His sight, Job 25:4-5 NASB Righteous – Before we try to answer Job’s rhetorical question, we need to know the standard he employs. That is the Hebrew term…
If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. Deuteronomy 28:1 NIV Carefully follow – Just how rigid are God’s commandments? How carefully must we follow each and every one? Is there wiggle room or are they absolute…
