Peter J. Leithart

The Gothic romance of Ann Radcliffe are still in print, but who reads them besides students taking courses in the early English novel or specialists in English literature?  Yet, Radcliffe has some claim to being the proto-inventor of the modern novel. Austen read Radcliffe and laughed; her . . . . Continue Reading »

Zechariah 8:19 answers the initial question about fasting posed in 7:3.  Zechariah says: Thus says Yahweh of hosts The fast of the fourth, And the fast of the fifth, And the fast of the seventh, And the fast of the ninth, Will be to the house of Judah Festivities Gladness Good assemblies Truth . . . . Continue Reading »

Zechariah 8:9-13 forms a single unit within the chapter, and is organized chiastically: A. strong hands, v 9a B. house of Yahweh, v 9b C. no wages, v 10a D. no peace, v 10b E. Not according to former days, v 11 D’. peace for seed, v 12a C’. produce of the land: inherit, v 12b B’. . . . . Continue Reading »

Zechariah 7-8 form a unit, enclosed by references to fasting (7:4-7; 8:18-23) , within which Zechariah reviews the warnings of the early prophets about Israel’s social injustices (7:9-14; 8:14-17). Chapter 8 includes two major speeches, marked by the phrase “the word of Yahweh of . . . . Continue Reading »

“Let Romamti-ezer bless with the Ferret- The Lord is a rewarder of them, that diligently seek him” (A 43). Sherbo notes that this connection is not necessarily arbitrary: “the association is with activities of the ferret as exemplified in the verb ‘to ferret . . . . Continue Reading »

It was Smart’s belief that God creates and sustains a cosmic harmony upon which the universe is contingent-in effect, God sings the universe into being-and the poet’s duty is to serve as a kind of choir-master leading the creation in an answering song. Because harmony between God and . . . . Continue Reading »

Jeremiah 6:7 says of Jerusalem, “As a well keeps cold its waters, so shee keeps cold her wickedness.” Cities are wells.  How?  Visually there is a resemblance: Walls enclose a city as walls enclose the shaft of a well.  No doubt too there is a third term in the . . . . Continue Reading »

Some observations on Zechariah 6 that are dependent on the helpful insights of several grad students: If we connect the chariots emerging from between the bronze mountains with the horses and chariots of fire mentioned in 2 Kings 2 and 6, and if the bronze mountains are the pillars of the temple, . . . . Continue Reading »

Between Genesis 10-11 and 2 Kings, “Babel” (or “Babylon”) is never mentioned.  It comes up again in the description of the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 2 Kings 17: The King of Assyria brings men from Babel and sows them into the Northern kingdom. The word . . . . Continue Reading »

Leviticus 26 uses the verb “make desolate” ( shamem ) seven times (vv. 22, 31, 32 [2x], 34, 35, 43).  Yahweh threatens to de-create the land. The link between the curses of Leviticus 26 and creation is not merely numerical.  The desolations follow, roughly, the events of the . . . . Continue Reading »