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Showing 226 to 250 of 1354 results

226. Joseph's Brothers Go to Egypt

Genesis 42:1-38

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... sufficient money to return to Egypt to buy grain. This gesture, however, increased his brothers’ consternation, especially in light of the overseer’s charges. While they knew that they were innocent of spying, they were apprehensive about not being able to defend themselves before an accusation of theft when they had the money. This fate convinced them that they were meeting such pitfalls for having sold their brother. 42:29–35 Back home, the brothers reported their adventures in Egypt. Not wanting to ...

227. Woe to David’s City

Isaiah 29:1-24

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... not you, as we expect, but] your many enemies.” One would have thought that things had gone too far in verses 1–4. But the moment when everything seems lost is the moment of reversal. Jerusalem’s great enemy changes sides and becomes its great defender. Yahweh is coming to visit (the verb used again in v. 6) not Jerusalem itself but its enemies. The fire at the altar hearth will consume its attackers, not the city. The deliverance of which people could only dream (v. 8) becomes reality. Chapters 36 ...

228. The Helper of Israel

Isaiah 41:1-29

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... is awesome good news. This God is your Redeemer (v. 14). “Redeemer” (go’el; see on 35:8–10) is a family word. It denotes someone who is close to you in the structure of your family who therefore has a moral obligation to support or defend you when you are in need. The classic need is poverty and debt, which might mean selling yourself into “slavery” (indentured labor): you commit yourself to work for your creditor until you have paid your debt. This next-of-kin is then under family obligation to ...

229. Israel Blind and Deaf

Isaiah 42:18-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... court scene, and the argumentative form of verses 18–25 as a whole supports this. It is an innovative court scene in which Yahweh for the first time appears as defendant, not plaintiff (Westermann, Isaiah 40–66, p. 109). Jacob-Israel has brought Yahweh to court with the accusation that Yahweh handed the people over to looters. The defendant’s response is to turn the accusation back on the accusers. Yahweh wanted to make Israel a model community in which the wisdom of the torah was manifested to the ...

230. An Unholy History

Ezekiel 20:1-29, Ezekiel 20:30-49

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... astonishing and horrifying aspect of God’s reaction to Israel’s history of rebellion is yet to come. The Lord states: “I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by” (v. 25). Interpreters have long struggled to defend God’s action here. The Aramaic of Targum Jonathan reads not that God gave Israel bad laws, but that the people adopted bad laws. Moderns, too, have often balked at the bald statement that God corrupted God’s own law, preferring to see this as ...

231. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

Matthew 9:35-38, Matthew 10:1-42

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, and Jim Elliot) sang the hymn “We Rest on Thee.” The lyric of this great hymn, by Edith Cherry, exhibits the courage that we can have when we fear the Lord alone. The first stanza reads, We rest on Thee, our Shield and our Defender! We go not forth alone against the foe; Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender, We rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go. Strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender Hymn: “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” by Civilla D. Martin. The ...

232. You Reap What You Sow

2 Sam 13:1-39

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... ’s crime and contributes to the theme of poetic justice. 13:31 tore his clothes. Tamar’s vindication begins. In the aftermath of her rape, she tears her robe, the symbol of her virginity, to express her outrage and grief (vv. 18–19). Now David, who has not defended her honor, tears his garments in sorrow over the news of Amnon’s death. and lay down on the ground. Earlier David assumed this posture as he begged the Lord to spare the infant’s life (12:16); now he assumes it again as he mourns the ...

233. David’s Mighty Men

2 Samuel 21:15-22

Teach the Text

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... dimension. The Lord chose David to be the “lamp of Israel” (21:17b). When the enemy taunts Israel (21:21) and threatens to destroy its leader (21:16), brave and loyal supporters rally to his aid (21:17a). By divine providence these men become defenders of the Lord’s covenant community and his chosen king. Two times the narrator attributes the extraordinary achievements of David’s men to the Lord (23:10, 12), placing their deeds in line with earlier victories that he has accomplished through Saul and ...

234. Job Presents Evidence against the Retribution Principle

Job 12:1--14:22

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... has said. The second and third cycles of speeches do not show much evidence that the friends have heeded Job’s appeal to them in this verse. 13:7–10 Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Although the friends doubtless presume that they are defending God’s cause, Job charges that they are telling lies in a vain attempt to cover up for God. As Job views it, they are committing perjury by giving false testimony against him (cf. Deut. 19:16–19), twisting the facts in order to make their points ...

235. Job’s Hope against Hope

Job 19:1-29

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... needs human compassion. Despite the apparent hopelessness of his situation, Job is able to imagine a desirable future for which he can hope, if only dimly. He states that he knows that someone will stand up as his go’el to be his legal defender. He cannot identify who that defender will be, but he is confident that after the deep adversity that has destroyed his life, he will at last see God and be restored to favor with the Lord, who has seemed to forsake him. This is Job’s hope against hope that ...

236. Bildad’s Final Attempt to Answer Job

Job 25:1-6

Teach the Text

Daniel J. Estes

... one-sided doctrine of God leads him to draw false conclusions about how God regards humans in general, and by implication Job in particular. One’s view of God will inevitably affect how one views humans, whom God has made. Bildad seems to want to defend his theological system of retribution at all costs. Building on the reality of God’s transcendence, Bildad insists that God’s rule allows for no disorder in his world. God has innumerable angels to do his bidding, and his realm extends wherever the sun ...

237. “Their Violence Comes Down on Their Own Heads”

Psalm 7:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... :4; 35:7–8; 37:14–15; 57:6; 141:10; and Proverbs 26:27. 7:17 because of his righteousness; . . . of the Lord Most High. Calvin says God’s righteousness “is to be understood of his faithfulness, which he makes good to his servants in defending and preserving their lives.”10 See the comments on 7:8 above regarding the “Most High.” Theological Insights The title designates the poem as a psalm that David “sang to the Lord.” It is a prayer song about the divine name, as Terrien has suggested ...

238. “In the Lord I Take Refuge”

Psalm 11:1-7

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... is of one piece with his actions in human society, and he renews hope in a world where the godly have vanished and human speech has become a lie. In the vacuum of truth, the Lord arises to protect his people. Interestingly, it is not to defend his word, or justify its truthfulness—even though this would be appropriate—but it is to protect the oppressed from “those who malign them” (12:5). A point that grows homiletically out of the psalm is the question, “What happens to a society when truth is ...

239. “Ride Forth Victoriously in the Cause of Truth, Humility and Justice”

Psalm 45:1-17

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... sanctuary or in the royal palace. Psalm 45 falls into this category and was most likely performed, perhaps even by its author, in the palace on the occasion of the royal wedding (45:1). At the same time, it is reflective of the heavenly King as the model and defender of truth and justice (45:4, 6–7). It is tempting to look for information and clues to what brought Psalms 44 and 45 into next-door proximity, but they are difficult to find. Perhaps the best we can do is to recognize the general themes of the ...

240. “They Will Proclaim the Works of God and Ponder What He Has Done”

Psalm 64:1-10

Teach the Text

C. Hassell Bullock

... the evildoers by observation, and the righteous by faith—are sure that God is up to the challenge of evil.7He will not stand by and watch his people destroyed by malicious words, but he will exhaust the enemies’ own arsenal of destructive weapons to defend his own people. Some may doubt his resolve, but when they see it acted out in reality, they will “ponder anew what the Almighty can do,” and others will rejoice because their faith in him has been vindicated. Divine judgment is always a match for ...

241. Instructions for Conquest and Settlement of Canaan

Num 34:1–36:13

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... of refuge. Accidental manslayers can flee to these from avengers of blood, kinsmen of those who died, in order to survive and receive fair trials by the community. If the examination of circumstances surrounding a death shows that the defendant did not intentionally cause the death, the defendant will be safe within the city of refuge (but nowhere else) until the death of the current high priest and then will be free to return home. However, a person who commits first-degree murder, as attested by more ...

242. Job's Second Reply to Bildad

Job 19:1-29

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... confidence that his goel is alive and ready to take up Job’s cause in the (likely) event of Job’s death. Job’s preference, though, is expressed in 19:26b–27. Job, while still alive (NIV’s “in my flesh”), would rather stand before God to defend himself. The NJPS captures these lines well: But I know that my Vindicator lives; In the end He will testify on earth— This, after my skin will have been peeled off. But I would behold God while still in my flesh, I myself, not another, would behold ...

243. The Lord of the Sabbath

Matthew 12:1-14, Matthew 12:15-21

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... specific applicability of other regulations being governed by mercy (and justice, faithfulness; 23:23) as well as by the eschatological truth of the arrival of the Messiah (who is greater than the temple). In the second Sabbath incident, Jesus heals a man’s shriveled hand and defends the action by an argument from lesser to greater: as anyone would rightly rescue a sheep from a pit on the Sabbath, it is even more in keeping with the law to do good to another human being on the Sabbath (12:11–12). Again ...

244. Paul’s Arrival at Jerusalem

Acts 21:17-26

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... at least show his observance of the Mosaic law. The second question has to do with the position of the Jerusalem leaders. The fact that they do not stand up to defend Paul against false accusations may reflect their own doubt concerning the missionary practices of Paul. That none of these “many thousands” of Jewish believers (21:20) defend him when he is later arrested (cf. 21:27–36) only strengthens this suspicion. On the one hand, Luke’s failure to mention the reception of the collection that Paul ...

245. Signs of the End of the Age

Mark 13:1-31

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... Gentiles. 13:11 Say whatever is given you: What is meant is explained in the next clause about the Holy Spirit inspiring the disciples with an ability to speak. Obviously, this means that in the trial situation, the disciples are not to be concerned primarily with defending themselves but rather with proclaiming their faith. This is the only reference in Mark to the Holy Spirit being given to disciples, but cf. John 14–15; 20:19–23; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8. 13:12 Put to death: It appears that Jewish courts ...

246. The Weak and the Strong

Romans 14:1--15:13

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... 11, is anything but a scissors-and-paste act on God’s part. Their salvation was inherent in God’s promise to Israel from the beginning! There should of course be nothing very surprising in this. The God who once defended the cause of an abandoned slave people in Egypt, and later defended the cause of the sojourner, widow, and orphan in its midst, now advocates the cause of the distant Gentiles (Eph. 2:11–13). And the same Lord who draws them into salvation builds bridges between them in the community ...

247. The Rider on the White Horse

Revelation 19:11-21

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... by Christ alone; however, its blessing belongs to all those who “follow the Lamb wherever he goes.” Like most narratives of war in Scripture, Christ’s conquest of God’s enemies is unconventional. The point of biblical battles is not to defend militarism; the point is to defend the faithfulness of God. Thus, Christ destroys the evil nations not with a literal sharp sword but with the proclaimed word that comes out of his mouth (cf. 1:16; Isa. 11:3–5). But what words come from Messiah’s mouth ...

248. Job's Reply to Eliphaz

Job 6:1–7:21

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... :4. 6:27 The fatherless (yatom) orphans are among those classes of defenseless persons (including widows and aliens) who have no one to represent them in society, and are thus left at the mercies of the powerful. It is clear from the many exhortations to defend these helpless ones that exploitation of these groups—or, at the very least, the tendency to ignore their needs altogether—was very often a reality in Israel (e.g., Exod. 22:21; Deut. 24:17, 19–21; 27:19). For the author of Job, the oppression ...

249. Job's Third Reply to Eliphaz

Job 23:1--24:25

Understanding Series

Gerald H. Wilson

... who oversees their well-being and acts to punish those who abuse or oppress them. Their inclusion here, as objects of exploitation by the wicked, emphasizes Job’s point that God has so removed himself from active participation in human affairs that he fails to defend those who are forced to rely solely on him. A pledge is an item of property offered as security for a loan. God commands the Israelites to exercise compassion in regards to pledges taken from the poor and defenseless (see the discussion on 22 ...

250. Hearts / Repentance

2 Corinthians 7:2-16

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... 20–21; 11:7–8; 12:13–18). Paul has already turned this argument back on his opponents in 2:17, where he accuses them of peddling the word of God (cf. 11:20). 7:3 Paul explains that it is not his purpose to condemn the Corinthians by defending himself against these accusations. As we saw above on 6:11, the final section of Paul’s apology for his apostleship refers back to the previous context of his defense, particularly to the very beginning of it. Here again in 7:3, Paul refers back to the previous ...

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