Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
5. Simeon and Levi: Brothers they destroyed. They treated violently their circumcised-covenant fellows. 6. "Into their counsel let not my soul enter. Into their assembly let not my glory join. For in their anger they killed a man, And in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. 7. Cursed is their…
The fact that there is a "week" of seven kings over Edom, before we come to an eighth, hints that perhaps these have some link with the days of Genesis 1, especially as we find this list in the book of Genesis. Clearly the list of seven speaks of the…
Remember, whatever sins are committed by those with whom you are in covenant are your sins as well. You need to fear the judgment of God if you continue to be part of this denomination. I have recently discovered that the above rationalization is floating around cyberspace to justify breaking…
While Samuel’s mother Hannah prays at the tabernacle, the high priest Eli sees her lips moving silently and concludes that she is drunk (1 Samuel 1:13-14). Hannah protests that she has poured nothing into her, but is "pouring out" her soul before Yahweh; far from being giddy with wine, she…
For the record: I believe that those whom God effectually calls, he also freely justifies: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone;…
Over the years, the ministry of Biblical Horizons has strongly advocated singing the psalms in worship. The Psalter is God’s hymnal, and we don’t need any prooftexts to know that as such, it should form the center of our praise to Him. To be sure, other hymns are permitted, just…
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The Servant comes, and the arm of the Lord is revealed (Isaiah 53:1). The Servant’s face and form are marred, stricken, pierced, crushed, chastened, scourged. It looks like the body that’s already there, the body of Israel: “Where will you be stricken again, as you continue in rebellion? The whole…
According to the NASB, Isaiah 53 says that the Servant has “no stately form ( to’ad ) or majesty ( hadar ) that we should look upon Him, nor appearance ( mar’eh ) that we should desire ( chamad ) Him” (v. 2). Two of those three terms appeared at…
Yahweh’s Servant prospers (or “deals prudently”), and so is raised, lifted, exalted greatly (Isaiah 52:13). But that exaltation is paradoxical, surprising, since the Servant that is lifted up is mangled and marred more than any of the sons of Adam (v. 14). The word translated as “astonished” ( shamem )…
The New Testament says several times that there is a day of accounting coming when all will be judged according to their deeds (Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:10). In Romans 2 especially, this is an individual accounting: God “will render to every man according to his deeds” (Paul…
Self-obsessed egoism is not, Zizek argues ( Violence: Six Sideways Reflections ), the essence of evil, and the “true opposite of egotist self-love is not altruism, a concern for the common good, but envy, ressentiment , which makes me act against my own interest.” The true evil is (citing Freud)…
We are often told that we live in a “post-political” era or an era of “bio-politics.” Slavoj Zizek ( Violence: Six Sideways Reflections , 40-2) defines the post-political as “a politics which claims to leave behind old ideological struggles and instead focus on expert management and administration” and “bio-politics” as…
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