I am glad Osama bin Laden is dead. He was an evil man. And I think the surgical method used to kill him is commendable. The Bible, especially Judges, endorses assassinations: Kill the head, and the body becomes powerless . Wars slaughter thousands, or hundreds of thousands of relatively innocent young men, always on both sides. War is costly, especially in human terms. Better to destroy war-mongers who start wars. That said, my enthusiasm for this operation is tempered by... Read more
Tyre is monumental in the background of Revelation 17-18, which draws extensively on Ezekiel 26-28. If the chapter describes the destruction of the harlot-city Jerusalem, why is Tyre so much a part of the texture of the prophecy? Beale notes that Isaiah 23:17 is one of the rare instances where the imagery of harlotry is applied to a Gentile power, specifically to Tyre (cf. Nahum 3:1-7). The phrasing of Isaiah 23:17 (“play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the... Read more
Beale notes the connection between Revelation 18:1, which describes the glory of the angel lighting the earth, and Ezekiel 43:2: “the earth shone with his glory.” The LXX overlap is not strong, but the two passages are clearly connected in meaning. What’s striking is the difference in context. Ezekiel 43 is describing the glory’s return to Jerusalem. Historically, that return was connected with the fall of Babylon, and that helps to explain the sequel in revelation 18, where the illuminated... Read more
Beale notes the connection between Revelation 18:1, which describes the glory of the angel lighting the earth, and Ezekiel 43:2: “the earth shone with his glory.” The LXX overlap is not strong, but the two passages are clearly connected in meaning. What’s striking is the difference in context. Ezekiel 43 is describing the glory’s return to Jerusalem. Historically, that return was connected with the fall of Babylon, and that helps to explain the sequel in revelation 18, where the illuminated... Read more
In WCF 8.6, we read that the “virtue, efficacy, and benefits” of the work of redemption were “communicated unto the elect” even before the actual accomplishment of redemption in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. “From the beginning of the world” these benefits were given ” in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices wherein He was revealed.” Gospel benefits, in short, are communicated to those under the law. So how, exactly, is Torah a republication of the covenant... Read more
Revelation 18 falls out in a fairly neat chiasm: A. Angel descending and illuminating the earth: announcing fall, 1-3 B. A second voice: Get out because of the double retribution for her sins, vv 4-8 C. Kings lament, vv 9-10 D. Merchants lament, vv 11-17a C’. Shipmasters and sailors lament, vv 17b-19 B’. heaven rejoices, v 20 A’. strong angel, vv 21-24 The matches are pretty strong: (more…) Read more
The twenty-four uses of the verb “fall” (Greek pipto ) are distributed in an interesting way through the book of Revelation. Initially, falling is an act of worship (1:17; 4:10; 5:8, 14; 7:11). Most of this falling is done in heaven (apart from John, 1:17). Through the next several chapters, heavenly things are falling to the earth – stars (6:13), including the star Wormwood (8:10) and an unnamed star that opens the abyss (9:2). On earth cities (16:19) and kings... Read more
According to some Reformed thinkers today, the law was a republication of the covenant of works, and as such offered the promised inheritance on the “principle” of law. Do this and live; do this and inherit the land. That is the principle of law at work. The WCF 7.5, however, gives a very different account of the law. For starters, it is an administration of the “second covenant,” the covenant of grace, not the covenant of works. Besides, all the... Read more
Luke’s genealogy of Jesus is a “Gentilic” genealogy, with 77 names, a riff on the 70 nations of Genesis 10. But embedded in the genealogy are other numerologically important sequences. Ruth ends with a ten-generation genealogy from Perez to David, inclusive of both. Luke’s genealogy preserves the ten-generation gap, but in his list the ten generations are arrived at by excluding David – Luke adds the name “Admin” that doesn’t appear in Ruth (Luke 3:33). When we count from Judah,... Read more
Yahweh promises Israel that he will raise a banner around which the exiled people of God will gather (Isaiah 11:12), but this gathering is also a gathering for battle (11:14-15). At the beginning of the oracle against Babylon, Yahweh again promises to raise a banner, and again it is a military standard, mustering God’s holy warriors (13:2-3) Later in chapter 13, Isaiah explicitly mentions the Medes who are stirred up against Babylon (v. 17), and perhaps Yahweh’s “holy ones” and... Read more
Leithart
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