Sermon outline for Feb 15: In the Robbers’ Den, Luke 19:1-48 INTRODUCTION After a long journey, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, and we learn that all along his goal has been the temple. He enters the city of the Great King as a king (19:37-38), and begins to drive out the moneychangers in the temple (vv. 45-46). Jesus’ arrival is the “time of visitation” for Jerusalem, but because Jerusalem refuses to accept her king the city will be destroyed (vv. 41-44).... Read more
The JSOT also includes an article by Daniel Hays arguing that 1 Kings 1-11 portrays Solomon in a very negative light. It is not merely that Solomon falls in 1 Kings 11; there are hints throughout these chapters that Solomon has gone badly wrong. I don’t agree with everything in Hays’s article (he criticizes Solomon, for instance, for not offering sacrifice before the ark, but in this criticism he misses the fact that the tabernacle has been disrupted and separated... Read more
F. Gerald Downing of Manchester has an intriguing paper on “Aesthetic Behavior in the Jewish Scriptures” in the December 2003 issue of the JSOT . Among the points he makes are these: 1) There has been remarkably little attention to Hebrew conceptions of beauty. This is due in part to a modern aesthetic bias in which “functionlessness” is a key component of art. A beautiful object that is designed for a particular function is demoted to “craft.” To deal fairly... Read more
Matt Jackson-McCabe argues in the current issue of JBL that the epistle of James presents a version of Messiahship different from much of the NT. Instead of a Messianic idea centering on the death and resurrection of the Messiah, James describes a “national restoration” in which the 12 tribes (dispersed abroad) will be restored by an “avenger Messiah.” It would be wrong to pit these two Messianic ideals against each other; indeed, from the perspective of Ezek 37, a “national-restoration”... Read more
Gary Knoppers argues in a JBL article that, contrary to accepted scholarship, the Chronicler shows the signs of influence of Greek historiography. I find this kind of article tedious and this kind of evidence unconvincing, but along the way Knoppers makes some useful comments about the organization of the Chronicler’s genealogies. In particular, he shows (following many others) a chiastic outline of 1 Chron 1-9: A. Peoples of the world, 1:1-54 B. Judah, 2:3-4:23 C. Simeon and transJordanian tribes, 4:24-5:26... Read more
A student of mine, Erin Linton, is working on the rituals and theory of guest friendship in Greek culture, particularly in the Homeric epics. She has pointed to the inclusio within the Iliad, which begins with a duel between Menelaus and Paris to resolve the war and ends with a reconciliation, partial and temporary though it is, between Achilles and Priam. She also points to the “reconciliation” of Agamemnon and Achilles as an example of a kind of guest friendship... Read more
Azzan Yadin argues in an article in the JBL (122/4: 601-26) that in several passages of the OT, the Hebrew word QOL refers to a hypostatic, mediating reality. That is, when the text says “I heard the voice speaking,” it is not saying merely that someone is using his voice to speak but that the voice IS the speaker. He interprets Numbers 7:89, Ezekiel 1:24-26, 9:1, and the “voice” at Sinai in these terms. The “voice,” in Christian terms, is... Read more
Azzan Yadin argues in an article in the JBL (122/4: 601-26) that in several passages of the OT, the Hebrew word QOL refers to a hypostatic, mediating reality. That is, when the text says “I heard the voice speaking,” it is not saying merely that someone is using his voice to speak but that the voice IS the speaker. He interprets Numbers 7:89, Ezekiel 1:24-26, 9:1, and the “voice” at Sinai in these terms. The “voice,” in Christian terms, is... Read more
In a brief Critical Note in the JBL (122/4: 731-33) argues that the “stones” in Exodus 1:16 are neither a birthing stool nor a reference to male genitals. The author, Scott Morschauser, suggests that the word means potter’s wheel (referring to Jer 18:3), and points to Egyptian evidence that the “potter’s wheel” was an image of gestation ?Ethe baby being on the “potter’s wheel” was being formed in the womb into a “vessel.” Hence, what Pharoah demands is not that... Read more
In a brief Critical Note in the JBL (122/4: 731-33) argues that the “stones” in Exodus 1:16 are neither a birthing stool nor a reference to male genitals. The author, Scott Morschauser, suggests that the word means potter’s wheel (referring to Jer 18:3), and points to Egyptian evidence that the “potter’s wheel” was an image of gestation ?Ethe baby being on the “potter’s wheel” was being formed in the womb into a “vessel.” Hence, what Pharoah demands is not that... Read more
Leithart
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