India Islamicism

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:44 pm By Peter Leithart

Philip Jenkins has an excellent brief introduction to the thought of the Indian Muslim thinker, Syed Abul Ala Mawdudi, in the December 24 issue of TNR . He writes: “His guiding assumption was a totalistic view of Islam: Everything in the universe was God’s creation, so Muslims could freely use modern technology and organization—but only to build a visionary new Islamic order. Where Mawdudi broke from his contemporaries was in his utter rejection of all historic Islamic models as unworthy... Read more

Scapegoat

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:02 am By Peter Leithart

Priests used lots to select a scapegoat on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16:8-10). Joshua used lots to locate Achan the troubler of Israel; Achan was a scapegoat, whose death cleansed the people so they could defeat Ai. Haman threw lots, trying to pinpoint the time for offering the scapegoat Jews. (more…) Read more

Judaizing and the church calendar

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:45 pm By Peter Leithart

Some Reformed charge that celebration of the seasons of the church calendar is Judaizing, a reversion to the slavery of the Old Covenant. More the opposite: The Reformed anti-calendar view says that we keep appointments with God only when He strictly and explicitly commands it. They do not think human beings have authority over time, but are still children whose parents have to schedule everything. But we’re grown ups, and we can shape our own schedules. Besides, in the Old... Read more

Mother moon

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:10 am By Peter Leithart

Days, Months, Seasons, Years

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:52 pm By Peter Leithart

On the second day of creation, Yahweh divided waters, putting some waters above and some waters below. In between those divided waters, the Lord put the firmament, and he called that firmament “heaven.” At the end of Day 2, there were two heavens: In addition to the highest heaven in which the Lord Himself was enthroned, there was a second heaven, a heaven visible from earth, the blue dome of the sky. Later, on Day 4 of creation, the Lord... Read more

Earth

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:53 pm By Peter Leithart

A qualification to the previous post: It is not dry land as such that produces fruit. After the waters are gathered, the dry land emerges, but God immediately called the dry land “earth” ( eretz ). As eretz , the land produces fruit (v. 11). The same holds for all the historical analogues of Day 3: Dry land is a transition, a liminal passage, to fruitful eretz . At the exodus, Yahweh makes Israel emerge as dry land from the... Read more

Dry land

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:53 pm By Peter Leithart

The word for “dry land” in Genesis 1:9-10 is not adamah or eretz but the rare yabash . After Genesis 1, that word is not used again until Moses pours water that turns to blood onto the dry land of Egypt (Exodus 4:9), and the word shows up again at the great dividing of waters at the exodus (Exodus 14:16, 22, 29; 15:16). The exodus is a new creation, the emergence of Israel from the sea of Egypt. So is... Read more

Gathering the seas

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:42 pm By Peter Leithart

On Day 3 of creation, Yahweh commands the waters below heaven to be gathered in one place so that dry land can appear (Genesis 1:10). The sequence is repeated in the new creation after the flood:After the flood covers the earth, the seas again gather to a single place and dry land appears. More: The sea is Gentile, the earth Israel. Day 3 is a type of the coming gathering of the Gentile sea into one place, an act necessary... Read more

Nehemiah’s secret

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:09 am By Peter Leithart

A couple of thoughts inspired by grading a student paper on Nehemiah. First, the student, Courtney Wright, suggested that 2:9-20 form a chiasm, and that within this chiasm 2:11 and 2:17-18 match. The first tells us that Nehemiah was in the city for three days, and verses 17-18 records Nehemiah’s exhortation to “rise up and build.” The connection seems to be the third-day theme. Symbolically if not literally on the third day Nehemiah initiates a “rising” and begins building. Just... Read more

Naomi’s Son

Last updated on: September 7, 2017 at 12:09 am By Peter Leithart

A couple of reflections on Ruth, after reading some student papers. First, it’s fairly common to note the reverse inclusio around the book – Naomi loses sons at the beginning, and gains a son at the end. But in 4:15b, the women of the city claim that Ruth is better to Naomi than seven sons. The first replacement for Naomi’s dead sons is Ruth herself; the Gentile widow takes the place of Israelite sons. Second, the story of Ruth is... Read more