Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When I wrote my commentary on Ecclesiastes A Table in the Mist I took Eccl. 11:1-2 as a reference to the risk of international trade. It sure did seem to me like a reference to Solomon’s risky trade with other nations. Israel exported grain (bread) and Solomon’s ships returned to…
When we read an alphabetical psalm in English, we miss the fact that each verse begins with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I have found one way to get around this, which is for the leader to announce something relevant about each letter before reading his half of…
How does the Lord’s Supper proclaim the death of Jesus until He comes? (1 Corinthians 11:26). Historically, liturgists have attempted to locate some act in the rite of the Supper that corresponds to the death of Jesus: the fraction (breaking of bread), or the fact that bread and wine are…
These notes are posted here by request. We all now live in the age of slob worship thanks to the “sixties.” I never experienced sitting for prayer until 20 years ago. Jesus was unhappy when His disciples could not watch and pray for one hour. Today’s slob Christians complain if…
On September 11, 2001, Jesus brought judgment upon the United States of America. Following His normal procedure, He used an even more evil force to do it (Habakkuk 1-3). The warning Jesus gives throughout the Bible to those He uses to punish others is that they need to repent, or…
Because of Donald Trump, the “Birther” issue is heating up. It is not going away, and is only part of a larger cluster of issues in regard to the President. Virtually all of the relevant documents concerning who he is and where he has been, have been suppressed, at great…
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Peter Turchin offers a sobering analysis of the state of America in 2020. He thinks we're in a potentially revolutionary moment. Revolutions are products of structural instabilities combined with triggering events. America's structural dislocations are serious: “increasing popular immiseration (declining incomes, falling life expectancies, growing social pessimism and despair), elite…
The description of the rite of ordination ends with a brief notice of what the priests are to do at the altar as a “continuous” ( tamiyd ) daily offering (Exodus 29:38, 42). Verses 38-42 are arranged in a simple chasm: A. Continuous offering each day, v. 38 B. Morning…
In a recent Theopolis podcast, Alastair Roberts called attention to the chameleon quality of the apostle Paul. When the magistrates of Philippi want to send him away quietly, Paul reveals he’s a Roman citizen – news both to the magistrates and to readers of Acts (Acts 16:35-40). In Jerusalem, his…
All Levitical sacrifices are food rites. Sometimes, Yahweh alone eats from His altar-table (the ‘olah , “ascension offering”). Sometimes, He shares His bread with the priests (certain forms of the hattat , “sin offering”). Sometimes, the food gets split three ways, among Yahweh, priests, and worshipers ( shelem , “peace…
Matthew Bates argues in The Birth of the Trinity that Trinitarian theology emerged from prosopological reading of the Old Testament. This isn't the same as typology. In a typological reading, David, say, is “regarded . . . as a type or pattern for the future Christ, while at the same…
In the midst of the COVID pandemic, many today put their hopes in a vaccine. It’s a vain hope. Our capacity to control the world of viruses is very limited. Microbes are the most common forms of life on our planet, with “5 x 10 30 bacteria” and ten times…
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