Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
Why there is more to Jephthah than meets than eye It was not that long ago that I realized the Jephthah-story and the Jesus-story were basically the same story. Sounds crazy, I know. But here is a one-paragraph synopsis of both: The people of God have gone their own way,…
G.K. Chesterton famously said that the Gospels don’t reveal Jesus’ mirth. It’s true we never catch Jesus laughing. But can we believe He never did? I don’t think so. Laughter is human, and Jesus was fully human. Jesus promised that those who mourned would laugh. He mourned; would He not…
Matthew 2 has all the elements of an exodus story. There’s a murderous king, who slaughters Jewish babies. There’s a infant who will be Israel’s future deliverer, saved from the murderous king so He can later return to save His people and lead them to the Promised land. There’s an…
The calendar of Israel was primarily theological, centered on commemorating the salvific acts of God, but also agricultural, celebrating the creation-restoring effects of those salvific acts. The feasts of the first month celebrated the reviving of the world in the Spring, and typified the cutting off of the Savior in…
The chiastic shape corresponds to the shape of human life. This should not surprise us, because we are made in the image of God, and God is manifest in Word and Spirit. If we are living epistles, our lives will look a bit like the literary shape of the books…
Back in January, Venkatesh Rao wrote a fascinating post on the Ribbonfarm blog, discussing different forms of models of narrative. Engaging with Ursula LeGuin’s talk ‘The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction’ , Rao explores her contrast between the (male) ‘hero narrative’ and the (female) ‘carrier-bag story’, and suggests a third…
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Is identical repetition possible? It would seem not. Sequence A (say, a musical theme) is repeated as sequence A’. The same notes are played. Is it identical repetition? No, because A’ has the distinct quality of coming AFTER A, and therefore is modified by that temporal context. Every sequence is…
1 Kings 3:15 The story of Solomon?s request for and reception of wisdom is framed by references to worship. At the beginning of the story, Solomon is in Gibeon, worshiping at the bronze altar that Moses built in the wilderness, and then he ascends to the ark-shrine in Jerusalem, the…
Earlier this month, we celebrated the end of the first year of our existence as Trinity Reformed Church. This occasion gives us reason to pause to reminder ourselves what we hope to do as a local congregation. Since we started Trinity, the elders have been laying out a number of…
There’s a fairly neat chiasm in the first part of Rom 7: a. law rules while one lives b. woman bound while husband lives; if husband dies, freed (KATARGEO) c. while husband lives: adulteress d. if husband dies: joined to another without adultery e. you died through Christ, through body…
Eyes, Jim Jordan constantly points out, are organs of judgment. God “sees” the light and judges it good, and His eyes are open to judge the righteous and the wicked (Ps 11). 1 Kings 3, however, seems to make some play with this. Solomon is asking for discernment and wisdom…
It seems that Solomon begins his reign with a breach of the law. Deuteronomy 7:3-4 forbids Israel from intermarrying with Gentiles, Canaanites in particular, and the usage in Deuteronomy 7 is very similar to that of 1 Kings 3:1. Solomon ?became son-in-law to Pharaoh,?Eand Deuteronomy 7 forbids the Israelites to…
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