Today’s Word
Who Makes the King?
“And I—I appointed My king on Zion, My holy mountain.” Let me tell as is due of the LORD. He said to me: “You are My son. I Myself today did beget you.” Psalm 2:6-7 Robert Alter Beget – Perhaps the first thing we need to read about this verse is Alter’s comment: “Despite Christological…
The End of the Game
A good name is better than good oil, and the day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth. Ecclesiastes 7:1 NASB Day of one’s death – Qohelet (Koheleth, “the Teacher”) is an empirical pessimist. That alone made the decision to place this work within the canon quite controversial. It’s virtually impossible that the material was written by…
Once Wasn’t Enough? (2)
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.” Joshua 5:2 NASB Second time – Paradigms are limiting factors in explanation. That’s why a group of physicists who held tightly to the Bohr model of the atom (the nucleus being the smallest building block…
Once Wasn’t Enough? (1)
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make for yourself flint knives and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.” Joshua 5:2 NASB The second time – “I’ve never really understood this story,” said my rabbi friend here in Parma. “It just goes on and on, repeating the same event—and it doesn’t make a lot…
Cohortative
In peace, all whole, let me lie down and sleep. For You, LORD, alone, do set me down safely. Psalm 4:9 [Hebrew numbering] Robert Alter Let me lie down – Did you read my little footnote yesterday? You know, the one about the difference between the cohortative hey and the paragogic hey. Ah, probably not. …
Lullaby
I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustains me. Psalm 3:5 [English] NASB Slept – Look at Robert Alter’s translation: “I lie down and I sleep. I awake, for the LORD has sustained me.” Notice anything different? Alter’s translation renders the verbs in the present tense. The action is happening now. The NASB renders the…
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