“Each one’s death is his own” seems like an obvious truism, but in fact it’s culturally specific. In the Bible, the dying gathers together his family for final words, blessings, sometimes curses (cf. Genesis 49), and after he dies he is “gathered to his people.” . . . . Continue Reading »
The Joseph narrative that ends the book of beginnings (Genesis 37-50) gathers together some of the main narratives from the earlier part of the book. Joseph v. his brothers is a replay of Cain v. Abel and Esau v. Jacob. Joseph’s sojourn in Egypt links to Abraham’s journey to Egypt. . . . . Continue Reading »
In 1890, Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis published “The Right to Privacy” in the Harvard Law Review . According to Jill Lepore ( The New Yorker ), the article proposed that “there exists a legal right to be let alone - a right that had never been defined before.” It was . . . . Continue Reading »
Matthew Mason offers some further thoughts in response to my post on the genealogy that ends Genesis 22 . The remainder of this post if from Matthew: The genealogy of Nahor’s sons in ch. 22 also links with the genealogy of Jacob’s sons in ch. 35. The one in ch.22, it is preceded by . . . . Continue Reading »
The book of Genesis is neatly divided into sections by toledoth statements: “These are the generations of” or some variation. The phrase means “these are the things generated by” so and so, and the things generated are often children. But there is a variation within the book . . . . Continue Reading »
As many have observed, Paul alludes to Psalm 106 in his condemnation of the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men in Romans 1. Paul writes that human beings “exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed animals and . . . . Continue Reading »
What makes the United States ” one nation “? I offer some thoughts at Firstthings.com this morning. . . . . Continue Reading »
Karen Joines ( The Incomparable Divine Kinsman of Second Isaiah ) gives this fine summary of the Old Testament description of Yahweh as go’el : ” Go’el used of God means that he is the ‘kinsman’ of those without kinsmen, that he can withhold life from the jaws of . . . . Continue Reading »
O’Connell ( Concentricity and Continuity: The Literary Structure of Isaiah (Library Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies) , 244-5). Historically, the sequence is: Isaiah prophecies concerning Judah’s cultic and social sins, but Judah is too blind and deaf to respond. The prophet and his . . . . Continue Reading »
Yahweh is going to redeem Israel in the latter days, and the deliverance will be so dramatic that Israel will forget her former deliverance (Isaiah 43:18). As Robert O’Connell points out ( Concentricity and Continuity: The Literary Structure of Isaiah (Library Hebrew Bible/Old Testament . . . . Continue Reading »
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