Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.
When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh answered him, "Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! This one will restrain My people" (1 Samuel 9:17) Many English versions of 1 Samuel 9:17 read, "This one will rule over My people," but that is a mistranslation. The Hebrew verb is `atsar…
We have arrived at the tentative date of A.M. 3474 for the decree of Cyrus, and we have determined to operate as if the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 are literal years. We also decided that Messiah the Prince arrives at the beginning of the 70th week, after the 69…
The book of Proverbs appears as a largely random collection of aphorisms drawn from experience saturated in law. Despite its random arrangement, however, the book does have an over-arching structure that reinforces its main themes. One way to gather clues regarding the structure of a biblical book (or any book)…
I recently had the privilege and pleasure of reading the first draught of Gary North’s Economic Commentary on Leviticus , which will be out some time next year. Gary’s comments on Leviticus 27 were stimulating, and caused me to take another look at the passage. The results, which I sent…
As we have seen in this series, each time there is a new covenant, there is a break in the year-by-year chronology. At the same time, each time the break is crossed by information provided in the text. Thus, the year-by-year chronology breaks down at the birth of Abraham, but…
The Openness of Literature Let’s discuss literature for a moment. There are two ways a story or novel can close. The first is called poetic justice. When a story ends with poetic justice, the bad guys are all punished and the good guys are all rewarded. This kind of story…
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A ugustine spends a lot of time in various treatises, especially in City of God , Book 12, explaining the nature of time as a created reality and distinguishing the Christian view of creation from Greek, especially Platonic, views of eternal matter and an eternal world. He believes the Platonic…
Augustine famously presented a “privation” view of evil., Evil is not a substance but a privation of being. This does not mean that evil has no reality of any sort. It is simply not a created substance. This account helps Augustine to locate the core of the corruption of the…
Psalm 104 celebrates the glories of creation, both the events of the original creation when Yahweh stretched out heaven like a tent curtain and made the clouds His chariot (vv. 2-3) and the continuous glory of the world that we know - the mountains and the sea, the springs that…
The first angel in Revelation 14 announces what most translations calls an “eternal gospel” (v. 6; Gr. euaggelion aionion ). David deSilva prefers to translate it “an age-long accession announcement” (279). The picture in view is this: “this angel in the role of herald of a great ruler, a supra-mundane…
Music intersects with all theology and all culture. Scripture is full of “data” about music, and possesses a musical quality in its composition. Christian worship is musical worship, and is itself a through-composed symphony. As an art form, music raises questions about our relationship to the material world (instruments and…
Augustine argues that certain hierarchies are built into the creation ( City of God 11.16). There is, for instance, a natural hierarchy of sentient, intelligent, immortal souls. In addition to these natural hierarchies, he suggests that there are hierarchies of “use.” Hierarchies of use are often the reverse of natural…
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