Twice in the New Testament, people appear crying out to God for salvation, or praising Him for accomplishing it, holding palm branches. Why palm branches? The Hebrew word “palm” is tamar , the name of Judah’s daughter whose husband die and who has to disguise herself as a temple . . . . Continue Reading »
“My belived” ( dodi ) is as a cluster ( eshchol ) of camphire or henna from the vineyards (Song 1:14). The word eshchol is typically used for bunches of grapes. The dream of the cup-bearer that Joseph interpreted involved wine from eshchols of grapes (Genesis 40:10), and the spies . . . . Continue Reading »
The Hebrew word “give” ( natan ) is used in a wide variety of senses in Scripture. It is used in contexts where it means “teach”: Wisdom is given to the wise man (Proverbs 9:9). Words are “given” as well as “spoken.” Privileges are . . . . Continue Reading »
Reflecting on the precipitous decline in Lincoln’s reputation in the last third of the twentieth century, Barry Schwartz ( Abraham Lincoln in the Post-Heroic Era: History and Memory in Late Twentieth-Century America , pp. 258-9) notes in passing: “Before the 1960s, textbook writers . . . . Continue Reading »
In the last week, I posted a tweet where I raised the question whether “doctrines of substance and natures” constitute a form of idolatry. Some friends have suggested this is too complicated a subject to twitter about. They are right. It’s a subject too complicated and fraught to . . . . Continue Reading »
Building on some insights from James Jordan’s lecture on Revelation 7, where he explains the absence of Dan from the tribal list there. Dan is the first Rachel son, not a son of Rachel herself but of her handmaid Bilhah. He is the firstborn that comes from Rachel’s house. Dan means . . . . Continue Reading »
We can see, hear, taste, touch, smell. Why? Where do senses come from? What’s the theological rationale for sensation? Why this “mediation” of the world through sensible experience? (Or, is that even the right way to ask the question?) My speculative guess that the answer is in . . . . Continue Reading »
The scene in the first stich of Song of Songs 1:12 pictures the king “at his table.” Some translations say that the king is at his couch. The Hebrew word here is from a verb that means to “surround” ( sabab ). It might be translated as “While the king was compassing . . . . Continue Reading »
Bonnie MacLachlan considers archaic Greece the The Age of Grace . Charis was everywhere: It “flickered when beautiful women sparkled; soldiers brought charis to their commanders when they fought well; charis graced appropriate behavior and speech and was a distinguishing mark of nobility; it . . . . Continue Reading »
At the end of a highly technical 1966 article in the Journal of Hellenic Studies , JH Quincey contrasts Greek expressions of thanks to modern English expressions: “The Greeks’ habit in accepting an offer, service, etc. was to confer praise and not thanks. The difference between their . . . . Continue Reading »
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