The Book of the Twelve
(The Book of the Twelve is another name for the “Minor Prophets”, Hosea – Malachi).
Peter Leithart has an illuminating post on the unity of these 12 books entitled Book of the Twelve.
Blog Category:
Old Testament
They don't do much, do they?
Think Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.
Think Isaiah 40-46.
Then read the story that appeared on the BBC News website today, entitled Hindu gods [sic.] get summons from court.
Blog Category:
Leviticus in a nutshell to the glory of God
Baffled by Leviticus? Struggle to see how it is a part of the Christian Scriptures?
David Field has posted a blogpost entitled Leviticus – an eight para intro which introduces, summarises and gives to us the book of Leviticus in just 8 paragraphs.
The last paragraph of David’s 8 shows us how the book points us to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, and ends in praise to that God.
Enjoy David’s summary. So enjoy the book of Leviticus. So enjoy the God of whom it speaks.
Blog Category:
Does God know the future?
That depends on which God you are talking about.
People who embrace a set of views known as “open theism” like to say that God does not know the future (either his own, or that of his world, or both – there are different versions).
I’m reading Isaiah 41-44 again, and am freshly struck by what is here. God sets out one test or characteristic that will distinguish him, the true God, from an idol or false God.
God can tell you what is going to happen; an idol cannot
Here is the test, for example, in 44:7
“Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.
A few proverbs
The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth. (Proverbs 17:24 )
Blog Category:
Tying together Jonah 1 and 2
— Jonah sent to Nineveh (1:1-2)
—— Jonah goes to sea – boards a ship (1:3)
——— Jonah in the belly of the ship; the sailors cry to their gods (1:4-6)
———— Jonah tells the sailors that he worships the one true God (1:7-10)
———— The sailors worship the one true God (1:11-16)
——— Jonah in the belly of the fish; Jonah cries to his God (1:17-2:9)
—— Jonah back on land (2:10)
— Jonah sent to Nineveh (3:1)
Corroborates my suspicion that Jonah’s ministry to the sailors is very important to these chapters
Blog Category:
Job, the man of sorrows
Job is one of those books of the Bible that I still feel I don’t really know what to do with. I’m not happy with treatments of it that read it as if the bulk of the book were a paranthesis. But I can’t do better. So I keep reading it, to see what I can learn.
Blog Category:
Jonah 1 and representative responsibility
I’m doing some work on Jonah 1 at the moment (again!), and it seems that we have another fine example of responsibility being passed between groups of people and representative individuals.
Jonah seeks to flee from the presence of the Lord; as a result, distress comes on the entire crew of the ship. Jonah is very clear in verse 12 that this is “on my account” that this has happened. His individual sin has led to judgement on the whole crew.
Daniel 7-12
OK: I know this may be too general (macroscopic) to be useful, but does this work? If it does, broadly, work, I know for sure that my headings will need refining.
Blog Category:
Ernest Lucas on Daniel 8
"Within the context of this vision 'the end' (19) need not be 'The End', the ultimate end of history. The earlier Hebrew prophets used the term 'the end' to indicate the end of a particular evil state of affairs or the final day of reckoning for a particular people (e.g. Amos 8:1-2). Sometimes what might seem to be 'end of the world' language is used of such events, though they clearly occur within history (e.g. Is. 13:9-22). These events within history are seen as foreshadowing the final day of reckoning, rather than being simply identified with it. This may be the case with the dreams and visions of Daniel, though at the end of the final vision there is a 'fusing' of the horizons of the end of Antiochus' career and the end of history."
Blog Category:
Pages
