Donald Wiseman points out that the word for the “coverings” over David in 1 Kings 1 is the same as the word for the coverings of the tabernacle. Perhaps David is being implicitly compared to the ark of the covenant; the Lord is “enthroned” above David, a notion that would be consistent with the parallels between David’s flight from Jerusalem during Absalom’s rebellion and the exile of the ark in 1 Sam 3-5. If this is right, then the royal... Read more
Mary and Martha form a double Israel, two women living in the same house. One spends her time housekeeping, ignoring Jesus because she has too much to do in her little home temple and grumbling (like the older brother in the Prodigal Son) that she is not appreciated. Mary gives attention to Jesus, and thereby chooses the better part. Read more
Would Adam have escaped the curse if he had repented when the Lord confronted him in the garden? To answer with a question: Did Josiah’s repentance save Israel? The threat of the covenant is, “dying you shall die,” and that happens whenever the covenant is broken. As Gowan points out in his wonderful book on prophets, the warning of the prophets is not that Israel will be saved if they only conform their conduct to Torah. They are required to... Read more
Would Adam have escaped the curse if he had repented when the Lord confronted him in the garden? To answer with a question: Did Josiah’s repentance save Israel? The threat of the covenant is, “dying you shall die,” and that happens whenever the covenant is broken. As Gowan points out in his wonderful book on prophets, the warning of the prophets is not that Israel will be saved if they only conform their conduct to Torah. They are required to... Read more
In his book on the gospel in Genesis, Warren Gage notes that the book tell a tale of three cities: “Cain set out to found and build an earthly city, his descendants developing a technology suited to creating an earthly paradise. Cain’s city was located in the east (4:16), which would have been watered by the Tigris, the easternmost river of paradise (Gen 2:14). Founded by a fratricide who lived in fear of his life, the city and its community... Read more
2 Kings 6:22-23: Elisha answered, You shall not kill them . . . . set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master. So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel. Throughout 1-2 Kings, prophetic stories are stories about food.... Read more
2 Kings 6:6-7: Then the man of God said, Where did it fall? And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there, and made the iron float. And he said, Take it up for yourself. So he put out his hand and took it. In our sermon this morning, we saw that this apparently trivial miracle of Elisha points to the fact that God is a God of reversals. The God of... Read more
Unlike pre-modern Christians, we think and talk little about angels. We are often functional empiricists, who instinctively believe that only visible things are real. Of course, there’s God up there somewhere, but we don’t think we have to press through a crowd of angels every time we move; we don’t think that a small angelic deployment runs ahead of us into danger; we don’t think, as the poet Francis Thompson did, that we disturb an angel every time we turn... Read more
A possible chiastic ouline for the stories of Elijah: A. Elijah appears suddenly, and leaves the land, 1 Kings 17 B. Fire from heaven in a contest of gods, 1 Kings 18 C. Elijah complains to Yahweh on Horeb, and is assured that Ahab’s house will perish, 1 Kings 19 D. Ahab spares the Gentile king Ben-Hadad, 1 Kings 20 D’. Ahab kills the faithful Israelite, Naboth, 1 Kings 21 C’. Ahab killed after being warned by a lone prophet,... Read more
INTRODUCTION Since the early church, Christians have struggled against “Marcionism,” the heretical idea that the Creator-God of the Old Testament is different from the Redeemer-God of the New. The Old Testament reveals a God of wrath and law, the New a God of love and gospel. Frequently, this takes the form of an “ethical Marcionism,” the idea that the Old Testament presents a different ethical system than the New. This chapter puts the lie to that idea. Elisha as much... Read more
Leithart
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