Peter J. Leithart

James Jordan noted in a lecture on Zechariah that the date of Zechariah’s night visions is specified as day, month, and year. This stands in contrast to the introductory verses (1:1-6), which date only by the month and year. Jordan’s conclusion was that biblical datings are more precise . . . . Continue Reading »

In his first vision, Zechariah sees the Angel of Yahweh among the myrtles. James Jordan suggests that the small but beautiful and aromatic myrtle is the new tree for the returned exiles. As the terebinth was the tree of the Abrahamic period, and the cedar the tree of monarchy, so the hadas is the . . . . Continue Reading »

According to 2 Chronicles 26, Uzziah was a powerful and successful king, but his power went to his head and he became proud. The Hebrew word behind “become proud” is gabah , related to gibeah , “high place.” Uzziah’s attempt to offer incense in the temple treated the . . . . Continue Reading »

In the same lecture, Meyers notes that the apostles at the beginning of Acts charge the Jewish leaders specifically with putting Jesus on the cross. That charge disappears from Acts after the church disperses from Jerusalem. When Paul returns to Jerusalem, his indictment of the Jews is different. . . . . Continue Reading »

In a superb Biblical Horizons lecture, Jeff Meyers pointed out that Jerusalem’s Jews become more intensely hostily to the gospel through the course of Acts. Priests and the council attack the apostles at the beginning, but let them go with a warning. Finally, they join to stone Stephen, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Human labor is an imitation of and participation in the creative work of God, and fulfilling human labor has the same structure as God’s creative work. We take hold of the world, tear it apart, reassemble it, give it a new name, and then evaluate the products of our labor (as James Jordan has . . . . Continue Reading »

Wise observations from Mead: “Perhaps the rarest thing in the United States today is to find a well-educated young American who sees earning the respect of ordinary Americans on an ordinary job as the necessary foundation to a strong personal character and valuable career. Plenty of young . . . . Continue Reading »

A variety of Hebrew words are used for “covering.” The seraphim cover ( kasah ) their eyes, hands, and feet with wings, while the wings of the cherubim cover ( sakak ) the ark (Exodus 25:20), Yahweh’s hand covers ( sakak ) Moses as His glory goes by (Exodus 33:22), and . . . . Continue Reading »

One of the cruxes of the structure of Isaiah is the question of why Isaiah’s call and commission occurs in chapter 6 rather than, as in most of the prophets, at the beginning of the book. There is some resemblance between Isaiah and John in this respect, but John is commissioned as a prophet . . . . Continue Reading »

The numbers are numbing. All the quotations below are from Walter Russell Mead. “In the last five months of World War II, American bombing raised killed more than 900,000 Japanese civilians, not counting the casualties from the atomic strikes against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is more than . . . . Continue Reading »