Isaiah 59:13b begins and ends with similar phrases: “speaking oppression” translates dabber-‘osheq , and the verse ends with the phrase “lying words” ( dibbre-shaqer ). In between, Isaiah uses an analogy of conception and birth to describe the plans of the wicked: They . . . . Continue Reading »
Few passages of Scripture have so high a concentration of terms for sin as Isaiah 59. To wit: pasha’ = rebel, transgress (once as verb, v 13; 3x as noun, vv 12, 20) awon = guilt (3x, vv 2, 3, 12) awen = sin, iniquity (3x; vv 4, 6, 7) chattat = sin (2x; vv 2, 12) ra’ = evil (2x vv 7, 15; . . . . Continue Reading »
North Korea keeps warning that it’s ready to test devastating weapons. Sometimes the warnings include a threat against South Korea or the United States. As George Friedman points out, it doesn’t seem to make sense to develop a weapons system in public: “If the test fails, you look . . . . Continue Reading »
Gombis ( The Drama of Ephesians: Participating in the Triumph of God , 51-2)illustrates the way powers work by transcending individual choice and creating enslaving institutions by describing a discovery that he and his wife made when they began to work with the urban poor. Why do people remain in . . . . Continue Reading »
Timothy Gombis argues ( The Drama of Ephesians: Participating in the Triumph of God , 28-31; ch. 4) that Paul follows a “divine warrior” story-line in Ephesians 1-2. Drawing on Longman and Reid’s God Is a Warrior , Gombis says that the divine warrior story moves through these . . . . Continue Reading »
“Clothes gave us individuality, social polity; clothes have made men of us, they are threatening to make clothes-screens of us.” All our earthly interests are “hooked and buttoned together and held up by clothes . . . . Society is founded upon cloth.” This is one of the . . . . Continue Reading »
When Wang bought some meat at a Wal-Mart in China, it didn’t taste right. He knows what donkey tastes like , and this definitely wasn’t donkey. He thinks it tasted a lot like fox. Donkey is popular in China: “As rising disposable incomes have boosted demand, prices for popular . . . . Continue Reading »
Department stores in Thailand put up Christmas trees, snowmen, advertise Christmas specials. In November, 800+ school children formed a record-breaking human Christmas tree at a mall in Bangkok. In India, you can buy Christmas meals at restaurants, carolers sing in the malls, and cities are . . . . Continue Reading »
The Hebrew Bible speaks of “thought,” but by that it rarely means what we think of as “abstract” or “pure” thought. Ancient Hebrews gave thought to things in order to set their purposes and develop their plans. Thought was forward-looking, oriented to practical . . . . Continue Reading »
“Fine linen are the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:8). Believers are clothed in Christ (Galatians 3), but in Revelation their clothing is their own righteous works. Not everyone’s clothing is acceptable. Some dress in pride and violence (Psalm 73:6). At the center of . . . . Continue Reading »
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