Psalm 26 is a chiastic text: A. I have walked with integrity and truth, vv 1-3 (Yahweh 3x) B. I don’t sit with the deceifful or wicked, vv 4-5 C. I wash in innocence, process around the altar, love Yahweh’s house, vv 6-8 (Yahweh 2x) B’. Do not take me away with wicked, vv 9-10 A’. I walk with integrity and my food is firm, vv 11-12 (Yahweh 1x) David’s washing, procession at the altar, thanksgiving, and love for God... Read more
George Friedman doesn’t think so. Putin’s posturing over Ukraine continues his strategy of expanding Russian power and, just as importantly, of projecting the image of Russian power: “The Russians cannot simply allow [Ukrainian independence] to stand. Not only does it create a new geopolitical reality, but in the longer term it also gives the appearance inside Russia that Putin is weaker than he seems and opens the door to instability and even fragmentation. Therefore, the Russians must respond. . . . the... Read more
Pastor Rich Lusk observed in a sermon that the name “Jairus” (Mark 5) means “Yah awakens” (yah ‘ur). Others have suggested an etymology that connects ”-rus” with the verb “to give light – “Yah illumines.” Both fit with the baptismal symbolism of the passage. Jesus comes to a dead daughter, touches and brings her to life, and then demands that she be fed. It’s a baptismal illumination, a baptismal awakening. At every baptism, Jesus comes near to touch, to awaken in... Read more
In her book on The Jews under Roman Rule(225-6), Mary Smallwood observes that the Jews of Alexandria sought to retain their cohesion not only by synagogues but through formation into quasi-civic organizations known as politeumata: “A polieteuma was a recognized, formally constituted corporation of aliens enjoying the right of domicile in a foreign city and forming a separate, semi-autonomous civic body, a city within a city; it had its own constitution and administered its internal affairs as an ethnic unit through... Read more
What sort of religious vision animates the novels of Cormac McCarthy? That’s the question Todd Edmonson examines in a comparative study of McCarthy and Wendell Berry, Priest, Prophet, Pilgrim. It’s not an easy question to answer, given McCarthy’s famous reticence about himself and his beliefs. The man won’t even give Oprah a straight answer. When she asked about the “God thing,” McCarthy answered, “Well, it depends on what day you ask me. Who or what to pray . . . doesn’t... Read more
Jesus judges everyone according to his works (Revelation 2:23), and the letters to the churches present a refined assessment of works. In Ephesus, they do their works but they (or at least the angel) has left his first love. Repentance means returning to the works that they did at the beginning (2:4-5). The works of the saints in Thyatira age well: The last are first, the best, and the first are the last, a point neatly signified by the placement... Read more
Each of the seven letters in Revelation 2-3 corresponds to a period of Israel’s history. Jesus’ identification, the assessment of the church, and the promised reward all link together in a complex Old Testament scheme. Believe me for now, because I’m not going to try to prove it. But the letter to Thyatira is the royal letter, corresponding to the Davidic period. Jesus’ self-introduction is royal through and through. He is the “Son of God,” a title that the Old... Read more
Yahweh makes water in the wilderness, and where there is water there is a city (Psalm 107:33-38). Water may not seem a very stable foundation for urbanization, but it is the necessary basis for the life of any human community. Without water, people can’t live, their livestock won’t survive, nothing will grow. Hydraulics is the first science of civilization. By giving water in the wilderness, Yahweh gives an oasis in a dry place, and an oasis is the promise of... Read more
Maya Jasanoff reviews Rose George’s Ninety Percent of Everything, a study of the gigantic and largely unnoticed shipping industry. Shipping is one of the key factors in globalization, and today’s shipping is cheap and efficient as a result of “containerization”: “In the 1960s, the shipping industry was transformed by the widespread adoption of the standardized shipping container. Developed by American trucking entrepreneur Malcom McLean, the container served as a one-size-fits-all package for goods. These twenty-foot boxes could be packed at the... Read more
Maya Jasanoff reviews Rose George’s Ninety Percent of Everything, a study of the gigantic and largely unnoticed shipping industry. Shipping is one of the key factors in globalization, and today’s shipping is cheap and efficient as a result of “containerization”: “In the 1960s, the shipping industry was transformed by the widespread adoption of the standardized shipping container. Developed by American trucking entrepreneur Malcom McLean, the container served as a one-size-fits-all package for goods. These twenty-foot boxes could be packed at the... Read more
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