Ron Hendel notes, “The exodus from Egypt is a focal point of ancient Israelite religion. Virtually every kind of religious literature in the Hebrew Bible—prose narrative, liturgical poetry, didactic prose, and prophecy—celebrates the exodus as a foundational event. Israelite ritual, law, and ethics are often grounded in the precedent and memory of the Exodus. …Continue reading “Theology of Exodus in Kings: Solomon’s Pharaonic Shadow”
Category Archives: Textual Studies
Taxes and Death: Incarnation and Subversion (Luke 2)
Jesus’ birth was a deeply subversive affair in at least a few ways. Last time, we looked at how Luke and the angels subvert Roman authority and emperor cult, but the Incarnation was also deeply subversive to Jewish hopes and expectations, particularly for national hopes of rebellion. This subversion of expectations and hopes comes fromContinue reading “Taxes and Death: Incarnation and Subversion (Luke 2)”
Gods, Angels, and Emperors: Subversion and Incarnation (Luke 2)
Jesus’ birth was a deeply subversive affair in at least a few ways. Perhaps most obviously, the proclamation of the angels recorded by Luke was a direct assault upon the power of the Roman Emperor. When Augustus was finally crowned in 9 BC, the assembly explains their reasoning thus: Divine providence which orders our livesContinue reading “Gods, Angels, and Emperors: Subversion and Incarnation (Luke 2)”
Four Gospels; One Jesus: Reading Vertically
\”…the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight\” (Rev 4.7) Each of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—draw their own, inspired portrait of their Lord and Savior, JesusContinue reading “Four Gospels; One Jesus: Reading Vertically”
Plundering Temples and Paying Off Nations: The Treasury in Kings
One of the more interesting questions to ask when studying the book of Kings is what genre we read it as. Often times, we’re subtly influenced even by the categories present in our Bibles. For example, most Protestant Christians categorize their Old Testaments according to the taxonomy of Law (Genesis–Deuteronomy), History (Joshua–Esther), Poetry (Job–Song), andContinue reading “Plundering Temples and Paying Off Nations: The Treasury in Kings”
Laps and Levirite Marriage: The Proper Care and Feeding of Children in Ruth 4
By the time we get to the end of a story we generally have a pretty good idea of who the characters are and what the plot is about and, probably, what the conclusion of the tale has in store for us. The book Ruth is much the same. When we get to chapter 4–whatContinue reading “Laps and Levirite Marriage: The Proper Care and Feeding of Children in Ruth 4”
Subverting Commands and Expectations: Racism and Womanhood in Ruth 3
Antiquity was super racist. Or, as I’ve talked about before, antiquity was super “proto-racist.” Geography was destiny and where you were from told everyone everything they wanted to know about who you were and what your character was like. As horrible as that is—and let’s be clear, whether we want to call this proto-racism, racism,Continue reading “Subverting Commands and Expectations: Racism and Womanhood in Ruth 3”
Reading Genesis and Reading Joseph: Land
Whenever you come to a particular pericope (yes, pericope, not periscope Microsoft Word!) there are a few questions that you should ask. What is the point of this single narrative episode? In other words, if this text existed in a vacuum, how would we interpret it if the only context we had was the contextContinue reading “Reading Genesis and Reading Joseph: Land”
Beginning at the End: Structure and Solomon
“Check me out. I’ve got blonde hair! That’s how I know this is a dream.” -Solomon Good writing has structure. What we see at the beginning prepares us for what comes at the end. Better writing prepares us at the beginning for what comes at the end without making it obvious. On other words, itContinue reading “Beginning at the End: Structure and Solomon”
Father, Mother, Sons, and Strife: Reading Stories Intertextually
A few posts ago, I talked about how intertextuality—the practice of lining up two or more texts that are close enough to compare in order to emphasize differences or help aid in interpretation—can help us better understand the Bible. Both of these posts used Genesis 19 to show how this text can help us betterContinue reading “Father, Mother, Sons, and Strife: Reading Stories Intertextually”
Ben Neviim 