Tournier ( Escape from Loneliness. , pp. 25-6) talks about the instability that results from religious conversions: “One woman, a soul eminently sensitive and deep, born a Catholic, was converted to Protestantism under influences which naturally I would not criticize. For her it was from an inner maturity and a sincere will to obey the leading of the Spirit, all of which bore spiritual fruit. Nevertheless, this change from one religion to another is a trial, for one no longer... Read more
In his Escape from Loneliness. (pp. 22-3) , Paul Tournier laments the “tragic isolation of the elite” that he sees in the Swiss Protestant church. He writes, “I have rarely felt the modern man’s isolation more grippingly tha in a certain deaconness or a certain pastor. Carried away in the activism rampant in the church, the latter holds meeting upon meeting, always preaching, even in personal conversation, with a program so burdened that he never finds time for meditation, never... Read more
Phenomenology, especially in its Heideggerian variety, attempts to overcome the modern obsession with epistemology and return us to being, to ontology. What Heidegger in fact seems to do is overcome the divide between epistemology and ontology so that philosophy is both at the same time, but neither in their usual senses. If a thing is in its self-presentation, as Heidegger says, if the truth of a thing is its unveiling, then being and being-known are pretty much two ways to... Read more
Hezekiah is named in the first verse of Isaiah, but then disappears for the first 35 chapters. He comes on stage in person in chapters 36-39, but then disappears again for the rest of the book. We often read Isaiah’s portrayal in the light of the portrayal in 2 Kings, but it is a helpful exercise to examine the portrayal found in Isaiah itself. One of the interesting effects of this internal reading is how little information we have about... Read more
INTRODUCTION When the Assyrians first threatened Hezekiah, he went to the temple to get tribute to pay the Assyrian king (2 Kings 18:13-16). When Sennacherib invades, Hezekiah again goes to the temple, this time to pray (Isaiah 37:1, 14-20). He is the only king in Judah’s history to use the temple properly – as a house of prayer for all nations. THE TEXT “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered... Read more
The Rabshakeh’s second speech and the response to it (Isaiah 36:13-37:7) is structured chiastically: A. Hear! Thus says the great king Sennacherib, vv 13-14a B. Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, v 14b C. Don’t let Hezekiah make you trust Yahweh, v 15-16a D. Thus says the king of Assyria: A promised land, vv 16b-17 C’. Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you into trusting Yahweh, vv 18-20 B’. Silence, mourning, prayer from delegation and Hezekiah, 36:21-37:4 A’. Thus says Yahweh, who hears,... Read more
The story of Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem turns on hearing – who hears what and what do they do in response. The issue gets raised initially by the delegation from Hezekiah that meets with the Rabshakeh at the conduit of the upper pool. When the Rabshakeh speaks to them in street Hebrew, they ask him to speak instead to speak in the lingua franca of the day, Aramean (Isaiah 36:11). The literate officials can “hear” Aramean, but the mean on... Read more
My son Christian writes poetry and other things at http://pushlings.com/ . Take a look. Read more
In Isaiah 22, Yahweh threatens the house steward (the word is based on sakan , to dwell with or befriend) Shebna, warning him that he will be removed from his place, rolled like a ball, and thrown out into the countryside. He is replaced by Eliakim ben Hilkiah, who is given a tunic and key as a sign of his authority in the house of David. The same two names appear in Isaiah 36:3: The very same Eliakim ben Hilkiah... Read more
As I noted in a post a year and a half ago, Isaiah and the Rabshakeh stand in the same place, “by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field” (Isaiah 7:3; 36:2). The phrase resonates with promises of protection and blessing: “Pool” is berekah , a pun on the word for “blessing,” and “upper” is elyon , as in el elyon , God Most High. What is the import of this parallel? Mainly, it... Read more
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