Was Adam’s mate intended as a subservient assistant, or an equal partner? A lot hangs on the meaning of an innocent-looking Hebrew preposition in Genesis 2:18, where God says, “It is not good for the human to be alone. I will make for him a help(er) negedō.” What this little word means is foundational for the relationship of male and female in Biblical theology. Read more
God issues a Sex Mandate in Genesis 2:24: “The two [man and woman] shall become one flesh.” Perhaps you thought I was referring to the first words of the Creation Mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply.” No, the “sex mandate” to which I refer is the central Biblical teaching on sexuality, the foundation on which all other Biblical evidence on the subject must be measured. Read more
Jesus never spoke one word about conserving the environment. But I firmly believe it is an insult to the Creator to trash the Creator’s masterpiece. Read more
On the fifth day of the Genesis creation narrative (Genesis 1:21), we are told that God created the “great sea monsters” (tanninim). While some see these creatures as “monsters” or mythological creatures, like the NRSV does, my default setting is to see them as real. Which leads to the question, “What exactly were they?” Read more
What is the “firmament” in the Genesis creation account? Is it a solid dome over the earth, as some claim? Or is Genesis talking about what we call the atmosphere? Earth_from_space Could "firmament" in Genesis 1 be better translated "expanse" or "atmosphere"? Photo: NASA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons. The Hebrew word raqi‘a (most often translated “firmament”) is used nine times in Genesis 1. The raqi‘a is the focal point of the second day of creation: “Let there be a raqi‘a in the midst of the waters” to separate the waters above from the waters below, “and God called the raqi‘a Sky/Heaven.” Read more
How did creation happen? Is there a special word for what God did? At what taxonomic level did God create life? And how long did it take? Read more
People in Biblical times believed that the earth was flat? It’s a modern lie, designed to depict the ancients as too backward for us to listen to. Read more
In this post, we continue our look at surprising, sometimes humorous fun details to be found in the Latin Bible (see http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tomhobson/2017/08/fun-latin-bible/ for last time). The Latin also adds punch to the evils spoken of in Job 31:11 (lusting for a virgin, or for someone’s wife) and Leviticus 20:13 (same-sex intercourse) as being not just malum (bad), but nefas (a notorious evil), the same word used by the people when Saul decreed that Jonathan should die (hoc nefas est! –... Read more
The Latin Bible is full of surprising, sometimes peculiar, sometimes humorous fun details to explore. Here in this two-part post, I will package as many of them together as possible, for those who have never had time to find them, and/or who have never had Latin. Never fear – no advance knowledge of Latin needed. Read more
The Greek version of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, is full of fascinating, surprising, often fun details, most of which you’ll never hear about unless you take the time to cruise through the text and find them for yourself. Not everyone is equipped to do so, of course, so I have attempted to package as many of those fun details as I can together here in one place. Read more
Biblical Words and World
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