Thoughts and Notes
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Heroes
From the introduction of Everett Fox’s translation of Genesis: A word should also be said here about hero traditions. In the great epics of the ancient world the hero often stands as a lonely figure. He must overcome obstacles, fight monsters, acquire helpers (whether women, “sidekicks,” or magic objects); and his triumph in the end…
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Humble servant
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep…
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Leviticus 24 chiasm
Leviticus 24:13-23 forms a chiasm. I’ve modified this a little from the original posting. The “A”s didn’t quite line up as well as I would like. A. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head,…
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Love leads the way
Polycarp, a disciple of the apostle John, wrote a letter to the Philippian church exhorting them to lead lives of righteousness. Speaking of the letter previously written to them by Paul he says, if you study them carefully, you will be able to build yourselves up in the faith that has been given to you,…
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Blood curse
God pronounced a blood curse on the royal family of Judah in Jeremiah 22: Is this man Coniah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for? Why are he and his children hurled and cast into a land that they do not know? O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord!…
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There will your heart be
Vapor of vapors, says the Preacher. Vapor of vapors! All is vapor. – Ecc 1:2 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is,…
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Things revealed
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. – Deuteronomy 29:29 God has secret things, things he has chosen not to show or explain to us. These things belong to…
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The incarnation of God
In Peter Leithart’s forthcoming book The Four: A Survey of the Gospels he quotes N.T. Wright’s summary of Jesus as the incarnation of Yahweh: Let us suppose that this God were to become human. What would such a God look like? This is the really scary thing that many never come to grips with; not…
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Balaam’s oracles
Balaam takes up seven discourses, four of them “against” Israel which points to Israel’s “fourness” – that is, that Israel is the land (four corners of the earth). There seem to be hints of a creation theme sprinkled throughout. The third oracle talks a bit about plants: Like palm groves that stretch afar,like gardens beside…
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Fruitless trees
Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the King And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom…