In the “great commission,” Jesus instructs His disciples to “teach” the nations to keep all that He has commanded and taught them. From the first, Matthew shows, there is an alternative gospel, with an alternative form of discipleship, an alternative teaching. . . . . Continue Reading »
Chief priests and elders assemble ( synago ) repeatedly in the Passion and resurrection narratives of Matthew, always with nefarious intent. They gather to plot Jesus’ death (26:3-4), for Jesus’ trial (26:57), before Pilate to convince the governor to kill Jesus (27:17) and to . . . . Continue Reading »
The word archiereus , “chief priests,” is used twenty-five times in Matthew. They are always cast in the role of villains. They first appear as advisors to Herod (2:4), then as the ones who will cause Jesus to suffer many things (16:21). They appear in person again . . . . Continue Reading »
Some of the guards from the tomb go back to the city to report to the chief priests ” all that had happened.” Presumably, tbhey said, “there was a severe earthquake, and an angel descended from heaven, and rolled away the stone, and he looked like lightning with garments . . . . Continue Reading »
In his lively recent study of creation, The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science, and the Ecology of Wonder , William Brown uses the typical weapons to neutralize the historical claims of Genesis 1: ANE parallels, hermeneutics, a one-sided view of biblical authority. He takes . . . . Continue Reading »
The same Jewish commentary mentioned in the previous post has a couple of interesting comments about the declaration that love is better than wine. Rashi points to various passages (Esther 7:8; Isaiah 5:12; 24:9), where “wine” refers not just to the drink but to a banquet, a . . . . Continue Reading »
Why is the Song of Songs the best Song? According to a contemporary Jewish commentary ( Shir Hashirim / Song Of Songs: An allegorical translation based upon Rashi with a commentary anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic sources (Artscroll Tanach Series) ), it is this: “in . . . . Continue Reading »
So. I picked up a book the other day, The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America , a sprightly narrative about a group of Harvard professors from the 1960s/70s who experimented with . . . . Continue Reading »
INTRODUCTION Jesus death was not the end of His ministry, and neither is His resurrection. He rises to commission His disciples to carry on His work to the Gentiles. “Go” said the angel; “go,” Jesus repeated to the women; now, again, “Go” (28:7, 10, 19). . . . . Continue Reading »
In his comments on Zechariah 4:7, Stead notes that the adjective connected with stone is unique in the Hebrew Bible. It looks like a feminine of the common word ro’sh (head) but might also be linked to ri’shon (first, beginning). Stead opts for “topstone” as a . . . . Continue Reading »
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