Basil of Caesarea has this to say about the variety of plant life: “What a variety in the disposition of their several parts. And yet, how difficult is it to find the distinctive property of each of them, and to grasp the difference which separates them from other species. Some strike deep roots, others do not; some shoot straight up and have only one stem, others appear to love the earth and, from their root upwards, divide into several shoots... Read more
Michael Williams of Covenant Seminary provides a serviceable introduction to a covenantal/biblical-theological reading of the Bible in his recent book from P&R, entitled Far As The Curse Is Found . Williams’s interpretations are judicious and one of his fundamental themes is that salvation restores rather than cancels creation, a theme that we can hardly hear often enough. The simplicity of the writing and argument is deceptive. If this isn’t an earth-shattering book (and it’s not), there is a lot of... Read more
INTRODUCTION The Omride dynasty ends in a bloodbath, and will shortly see the Baal temple in Samaria destroyed. This is a warning for the house of David: Omri’s house began with a David-like hero, and ended disastrously. David’s house too will end in blood and Jerusalem’s temple will be destroyed. THE TEXT “And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, ‘Get yourself ready, take this flask of oil in your hand, and... Read more
2 Kings 8:6: So the king appointed for her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now. Israel’s land was a land flowing with milk and honey, but it’s surprising how often we read about famine in this supposedly fertile land. Abraham had to leave the land for Egypt because of a famine, and Jacob and his sons went to Egypt... Read more
Galatians 3:26-29: For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Baptism is always an adoption ceremony. By birth into the... Read more
We often put our minds into automatic pilot when reading the “boring bits” of the Bible. The details of sacrificial ritual in Leviticus, the rules of uncleanness, genealogies, the repetitive accounts of kings – these are not the juiciest bits of Scripture, and we tend to skim over them without much thought. The last part of 2 Kings 8 is one such passage. After recounting the weird and wonderful ministries of Elijah and Elisha for a number of chapters, the... Read more
In Richard West’s fascinating biography of Defoe, he claims that he was “the first master, if not the inventor, of almost every feature of modern newspapers, including the leading article, investigative reporting, the foreign news analysis, the agony aunt, the gossip column, the candid obituary, and even the kind of soul-searching piece which Fleet Street calls the ‘Why, Oh Why.’” And more: “He was a pioneer of the bogus Letter to the Editor, foreign stories written in London, and libel... Read more
In one of his works, Daniel Defoe, a well-known non-Conformist, posed as an Anglican who was asked to defend kneeling at the communion by a Dissenter. Spying an altar piece of the Last Supper, the Dissenter asks, “how can your people prosecute us for refusing to kneel at the Sacrament? Don’t you see there, that though our Saviour himself officiates, they are all sitting about the table.” Read more
I want to examine Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Daniel Defoe in the context of the rise of the Western European novel. Some scholars suggest that novel-like writing is evident in the ancient world, in medieval Japan, and medieval Europe. But the novel-writing that began to take over Europe in the 17th century was historically unique, and has become the chief genre of fiction writing in the modern world. A novel is a long prose work in which the main characters... Read more
There are a number of “ecumenical” movements in 1-2 Kings. The first is pursued by Rehoboam, who attempts to reunite the 12 tribes by force and is warned off by a prophet. The second, more successful and elaborate example is the Omride dynasty, which rules Israel for several generations and also successfully establishes marriage alliances with the Davidic line. The third is that of Jehu’s dynasty, which appears to gain effective hegemony over Judah following the war between Jehoash of... Read more
Leithart
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