Exodus 10:4-5: Tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you . . . . Continue Reading »
Cassuto suggests that there may be a reference to Ra the Egyptian sun god in Exodus 10:10. Pharaoh dismisses Moses and Aaron with “look, for evil is before you,” but the word for evil is ra’a . Cassuto suggests that Pharaoh means, “know that the power of my god . . . . Continue Reading »
Throughout the early chapters of Exodus, Yahweh is hardening Pharaoh’s heart. By the end, there is a heart of stone in the heart of Egypt. To say that Israel has a heart of stone that needs to be turned to hearts of flesh is to say that Israel is an Egypt that needs to be re-Israelized . . . . Continue Reading »
Exodus 10 contains the first biblical references to locusts, and in that chapter the word is used 7 times. It’s enough to make one suspicious – suspicious that there’s a creation motif here, suspicious that the seven references might obliquely hint at the days of . . . . Continue Reading »
Yahweh’s opening speech in Exodus 10 is arranged as a parallel structure: A. Go; I have hardened Pharaoh’s heart B. That I may perform signs C. that you may tell to sons and sons of sons A’. I made a mockery of Egypt B’. I performed signs C’. that you may know I am Yahweh A . . . . Continue Reading »
Steven Wedgeworth writes: “You might want to be more skeptical of Torrance. You (and he) are right to sniff a problem, but the genealogy of that problem is a bit more complicated. Just one example. You blogged on visible and invisible and said that Torrance claimed later . . . . Continue Reading »
In his Beyond Greed , Brian Rosner makes the arresting claim that God is a contented God. The fact that God has created a world distinct from Himself Rosner takes as a kind of divine self-limitation. Put that to the side, we can still see the contentment of God in the creation account. . . . . Continue Reading »
Kevin Bywater of Summit Ministries adds this to my comments about Glenn Beck’s “9 principles”: “Beck, being nestled within the Mormon worldview, has no problem conjoining inspiration with imperfection. That is the Mormon understanding of the Bible, is it not? And the . . . . Continue Reading »
In the October 14 issue of TNR , Leon Wieseltier gives a curmudgeonly defense of publishing negative reviews, specifically of the negative review of Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom published in the same issue. It’s bracing: “A shabby treatment of a consequential subject or a . . . . Continue Reading »
The Bible has a lot to say about abuse and oppression of the poor. My question here is, Who are the oppressors? Scripture’s answer is non-discriminatory. All classes and categories of people, as well as institutions and nations, oppress the poor, the helpless, the powerless and . . . . Continue Reading »
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