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Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Biblical Horizons

OPEN BOOK: Views and Reviews

Isaac E. Mozeson, The Word: The Dictionary that Reveals the Hebrew Sources of English (Northvale, NJ: Jacob Aaronson Inc., 1995), 310 pp. Reviewed by James B. Jordan. Once there was only one language in the world, the language God spoke to Adam. At the Tower of Babel, there came to…

by James B. JordanJune 28, 1996
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Esther

Esther: Historical & Chronological Comments (IV)

2. The Setting of the Book of Esther A. Xerxes (continued from previous issue) Ezra 6:14 says that the Jews finished building "according to the command of the God of Israel and the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia." The problem with this verse is that…

by James B. JordanJune 28, 1996
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Acts

Jesus and Amalek

This essay goes with our previous study of the Amalek pattern back in Biblical Horizons No. 2. Since many do not have this essay, entitled "The Battle of Gog and Magog," let me cite the relevant paragraphs: Note in Genesis 12-15 that Abram moves into the land after escaping Pharaoh…

by James B. JordanJune 28, 1996
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Proverbs

The Strange Woman

Proverbs 7:6-23 is one of several passages early in the Proverbs in which Solomon warns his son about the wiles and dangers of the "strange woman." It is certainly quite proper to take these as straightforward warnings against sexual sins, and these are certainly warnings that need to be impressed…

by Peter LeithartJune 27, 1996
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Biblical Studies

Some Observations

1. In Luke 4:20 we read that after Jesus finished reading from Isaiah, "the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him." This is usually taken in a psychological sense: They were amazed at Jesus somehow. I suggest that, as always, a merely psychological reading is a modern…

by James B. JordanMay 28, 1996
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Esther

Esther: Historical & Chronological Comments (III)

2. The Setting of the Book of Esther Up to now we have assumed what we must prove, that the king in Esther is Darius the Great. While Biblical chronologists have usually taken this position, commentators on the book of Esther have often taken others as the king. One view,…

by James B. JordanMay 28, 1996

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Defoe and the news

In Richard West’s fascinating biography of Defoe, he claims that he was “the first master, if not the inventor, of almost every feature of modern newspapers, including the leading article, investigative reporting, the foreign news analysis, the agony aunt, the gossip column, the candid obituary, and even the kind of…

November 6, 2005

Defoe on liturgical posture

In one of his works, Daniel Defoe, a well-known non-Conformist, posed as an Anglican who was asked to defend kneeling at the communion by a Dissenter. Spying an altar piece of the Last Supper, the Dissenter asks, “how can your people prosecute us for refusing to kneel at the Sacrament?…

November 6, 2005
Literature

Bunyan, Defoe, and the Novel

I want to examine Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Daniel Defoe in the context of the rise of the Western European novel. Some scholars suggest that novel-like writing is evident in the ancient world, in medieval Japan, and medieval Europe. But the novel-writing that began to take over Europe in the…

November 5, 2005

True and False Union

There are a number of “ecumenical” movements in 1-2 Kings. The first is pursued by Rehoboam, who attempts to reunite the 12 tribes by force and is warned off by a prophet. The second, more successful and elaborate example is the Omride dynasty, which rules Israel for several generations and…

November 5, 2005

Renewal and the Death of the Mainline

Elisha’s ministry of life was, according to 1 Kings 19, a ministry of judgment. Elisha, after all, was a force of destabilization. By giving life and freedom to the faithful poor, the loyal sons of the prophets, he upset the “natural” hierarchy of the Northern Kingdom. By engaging in a…

November 5, 2005

The smooth way

The NASB translation of Proverbs 11:5 says that the righteous and blameless will walk on a “smooth” way, while the wicked will fall into the potholes that dot his path. The way of righteousness looks easy; the way of wickedness is the difficult way. Yet, Jesus says that the wide…

November 5, 2005

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