Peter J. Leithart

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 »

Bart Bruehler points out in an article from CBQ that the oracle to Zerubbabel in Zechariah 4:7 employs language (“might and power”) typically used to describe military prowess.  Yet Zerubbabel doesn’t lead an army; he organizes a construction project. He is a new Solomon. . . . . Continue Reading »

Stead again.  He points out the intertextual connections between Zechariah 4:7 and Isaiah 40:4, 42:16.  In all these passages, mountains are being brought low.  One of the remarkable contrasts is that in Isaiah (especially 42:16), Yahweh Himself levels mountains; in Zechariah, . . . . Continue Reading »

Michael Stead ( The Intertextuality of Zechariah 1-8 (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies) ) the golden lampstand of Zechariah 4 is not Yahweh nor Israel but the temple.  He notes that verses 2-3 provide a vision that verses 6-14 answer, in the same sequence. In verses 2-3, the . . . . Continue Reading »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoE9Zm7NtWo . . . . Continue Reading »

Shakespeare’s Troilus stated the dilemma of desire with poetic concision: “The desire is boundless, but the act is a slave to limit.”  Human desire is indeed boundless, and that is so deeply embedded in human existence that it is hard to imagine human beings otherwise.  . . . . Continue Reading »