INTRODUCTION Last time, we reviewed the structure of this passage, and noted that it is an acrostic poem, describing the excellent wife from A to Z. This passage fits into the larger structure of Proverbs by picking up on the descriptions of Lady Wisdom from the opening chapters of the book. The . . . . Continue Reading »
When the Lord devastates Moab, the fugitives from Moab will flee to Zoar (Isaiah 14:5). It’s a meaningful flight, for Zoar is a city near Sodom, toward which Lot fled when the Lord destroyed the cities of the plain. Now the cities of the plain of Moab are being destroyed, and people flee . . . . Continue Reading »
The last two lines of Isaiah 14:29 create a dense web of allusiosn. This burden is delivered “in the year king Ahaz died,” which links the prophecy back to the call of Isaiah in the year Uzziah died (6:1). Seraphs appear in both chapters (“flying serpent” in 14:29 is saraph . . . . Continue Reading »
Isaiah uses the image of “root” a number of times in his prophecy (the word appears 7x). From the root of Jesse a Branch grows (11:1, 10). In chapter 14, the root that struck Philistia produces serpentine fruit that will cut Philistia to the root (vv. 29-30). In these early uses of the . . . . Continue Reading »
In a section discussing early nineteenth-century American expansion, Robert Kagan’s Dangerous Nation: America’s Foreign Policy from Its Earliest Days to the Dawn of the Twentieth Century (Vintage) , from which I drew the last several posts, includes several quotations from JQ Adams in . . . . Continue Reading »
Said smiling Alexander I to future President John Quincy Adams, “On s’agrandit toujours un peu, dans ce monde.” (From Adams’ diary, May 6, 1811.) A multiply revealing statement: The smile, a worldly smile, a smile of co-conspiracy; the Tsar’s evident presumption that . . . . Continue Reading »
John Quincy Adams was stung by British sneers that the US was a “peddling nation” with “no God but gold.” But we’ve shown them: The Brits are now attempt to “alarm the world at the gigantic grasp of our ambition.” This is America’s future: “If . . . . Continue Reading »
One last response to Witherington’s criticisms of Defending Constantine , and I’d be an ingrate if I didn’t express my appreciation for the many positive things that Witherington said about the book. I’m grateful that he thought the book worth interacting with at all. His . . . . Continue Reading »
In a post some months ago, I suggested that Isaiah 1:2-6 was a unit of the opening chapter. After further examination, it seems that 1:2-4 forms a separate section to itself (David Dorsey makes this same division). The verses are not perfectly symmetrical, but they are sufficiently so to indicate . . . . Continue Reading »
Back to Witherington, and nearly done. Several of his comments defend against my charge that pacifists tend toward Marcionism. He writes: “it is not Marcionism to recognize that the OT tells the story of covenants that Christians are no longer under, and which the NT says quite clearly . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
