Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2576 to 2600 of 3160 results

Philippians 2:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... . We do not know what Epaphroditus had told Paul about the state of the church, but at this time Paul found sufficient evidence of quarrelsomeness and selfish ambition in some sectors of the Roman church to make him anxious that nothing of the sort should manifest itself at Philippi. 2:1 Unity of mind is not easily cultivated when human beings of disparate backgrounds and temperaments find themselves sharing one another’s company, but the resources that make such unity possible are available to the people ...

2577. Do Not Forget the Lord

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... . The three opening verbs all have God as the active initiator: “he humbled you and he made you hungry and he fed you . . . ” The narrative of the manna in Exodus 16 puts more emphasis on the people’s grumbling, but still portrays the same sort of reciprocal learning. Thus, God was testing the people regarding their obedience (Exod. 16:4), but equally the people, as a result of the daily miracle to follow, would “know Yahweh” (Exod. 16:6, 12, 15). This gives a clue to the significance of the ...

2578. Miscellaneous Laws

Deut 23:15–25:19

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... removal of the sandal was a symbolic exposure of the unwilling brother’s genitals—an act of gross contempt. If this were the meaning, it would shed light on the immediately following law. The legal permission for a symbolic attack of this sort on the genitals of one who threatened a wife’s (deceased) husband’s progeny must never be construed as condoning a literal, physical attack on the genitals of an assailant who likewise threatened a wife’s (living) husband. See Eslinger, “Drafting.” 25 ...

2579. David’s Charge to Solomon

1 Kings 2:1-12

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... ’s house of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed (v. 31), both Abner’s and Amasa’s. This is all well and good; but there are some questions to be asked. Hitherto, David has apparently never felt compelled to take any action of the sort he is now contemplating. He has been content simply to state his own innocence and to leave the rest to God (2 Sam. 3:28–29). How seriously concerned can he have been, then, about this blood-guilt? Apparently not concerned enough to rid himself of someone ...

2580. Solomon's Officials and Governors

1 Kings 4:1-19

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... throne of Israel, then, enabled by God to rule in justice (1 Kgs. 3:4–28). What kind of kingdom results? First Kings 4:1–20 begins to describe it. It is a well-ordered place (4:1–19); it is a happy, prosperous place (4:20). It is the sort of kingdom one would expect, when a king has been gifted by God to rule (cf. Ps. 72, “Of Solomon”). 4:1–6 The chief officials are first described to us: those at the very top of the hierarchy, just one step down from the king himself. Azariah son of ...

2581. Preparations for Building the Temple

1 Kings 5:1-18

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... to a proper understanding of the relationship between the two kings as it is presented in 5:1–18. The point is this: the narrative proceeds as if Hiram had said nothing about work methods at all! In spite of his attempt to avoid cooperation of the sort that Solomon sought in verse 6, it is exactly such cooperation that we find described in verses 14 and 18. A task force was dispatched to Lebanon in shifts to help with the timber (vv. 13–14), the Israelites spending one month working in Lebanon and then ...

2582. Solomon's Other Activities

1 Kings 9:10-28

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... as labor out of choice, rather than out of necessity, because of his enthusiasm for building—and so willingly put himself at risk of their baneful influence. It should not pass unnoticed, either, that some of the building is of a highly questionable sort (v. 19; cf. the commentary on 4:26). 9:22 Government officials: The NIV’s translation obscures an important point, which a more literal translation brings out: “From among the Israelites, Solomon did not make any servant; they were his fighting men ...

2583. Solomon's Adversaries

1 Kings 11:14-25

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... . The only other occurrence of the root sḇl in Kgs. is, in fact, to be found in 5:15 (70,000 carriers, Hb. nōśēʾ sabbāl). What kind of group was this? We must certainly imagine, given the insistence of 9:15–23 that no Israelite was the same sort of “servant” as any Canaanite, that the authors do not wish us to regard the sēḇel as forced labor in the same sense as the mas; and indeed, the difference can be seen in Neh. 4:17, where we are again told of the building of Jerusalem’s wall ...

2584. Elijah Fed by Ravens

1 Kings 17:1-6

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... the word brings life. And so, as the Israelites had once been the beneficiaries of God’s provision of bread and meat in the wilderness (Exod. 16, esp. vv. 8, 12–13), now Elijah also eats bread and meat—even more liberally than they (each sort of food twice a day). 17:7–16 The theme of miraculous provision in the midst of life-threatening circumstances is developed further. The drought takes effect and the brook dries up; Elijah must move on. But that “must” is far from indicating constraint on ...

2585. Elijah and Obadiah

1 Kings 18:1-15

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... ”). This is not the only place in the OT where this is so. Numbers 11:16–30 and 1 Samuel 10:5–6, 10–11 come to mind. Even more striking are 1 Samuel 18:10–11 and 19:18–24, where we find precisely the bizarre sort of behavior evidenced in 1 Kings 18. The condition is commonly referred to as “ecstatic,” because the person involved “stands outside himself” (Gk. ekstatis) in a state of spirit possession. In OT thinking this possession can be by good influences or by bad (cf. the Spirit of ...

2586. Elijah Flees to Horeb

1 Kings 19:1-8

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... to it, for Horeb (also known as Sinai) is not just any mountain. It is the “mountain of God” (v. 8)—the place where Israel herself, having been sustained in the wilderness (Exod. 16:1–17:7), met with the LORD and discovered in some detail what sort of God he served (Exod. 19–20 etc.). This is significant; it appears that the LORD is intent here, not only on reminding Elijah of his recent history but also on teaching him something new. The emphasis at Carmel had been on God’s spectacular ways and ...

2587. Naboth’s Vineyard

1 Kings 21:1-29

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... of others). The consequence is that God delays the disaster that will fall on his house (v. 29). This is curious, because the reader did not necessarily expect disaster to fall during Ahab’s lifetime in any case. It has always been the case thus far in Kings that the sort of prophecy of which we have just read comes to pass, not in the reign of the king addressed, but in the days of his son (v. 29; cf. 15:25ff.; 16:8ff.). Presumably we are to take it that Ahab’s sins were so very bad that he could ...

2588. Jehoshaphat King of Judah

1 Kings 22:41-50

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... is a Davidic king, so we anticipate no major disasters in his reign (cf. 1 Kgs. 11:36), particularly since he is evidently pious (cf. 1 Kgs. 22:5). Ahaziah, on the other hand, is an Israelite and a son of Ahab. We anticipate wickedness, and disaster of the sort that has fallen upon all the successors of northern kings who receive negative oracles about their house (cf. 1 Kgs. 14:1–18 with 15:29–30; 16:1–4 with 16:11–13; 21:21–24, 27–29). These expectations are largely fulfilled, but there is a ...

2589. Moab Revolts

2 Kings 3:1-27

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... (cf. 3:13; 9:22; 10:18–28). Indeed, the sacred stone survives until the reign of Jehu (cf. 10:26–27). Jehoram is presented, then, as tolerating the Baal cult while not himself necessarily participating in it. His own sins are of the less spectacular sort committed by the sons of Jeroboam and Baasha (1 Kgs. 15:25–26; 16:13), who worshiped, and encouraged others to worship, the calves of Jeroboam (cf. Hb. ḏḇq, clung, of Solomon and his lovers in 1 Kgs. 11:2). His sins are still, of course, worthy ...

2590. Naaman Healed of Leprosy

2 Kings 5:1-27

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... occasions when he is found in Rimmon’s temple in the course of official duties (v. 18; cf. 2 Kgs. 7:2, 17). 5:20–27 Gehazi, on the other hand, has not grasped the meaning of what has happened, or does not care. His “grasping” is of a baser sort. He pursues profit (vv. 20–21). He concocts a story that is designed to explain Elisha’s change of heart (he has two new arrivals to provide for, v. 22). It is a clever ploy, for the amount requested is not excessive in relation to the massive sum Naaman ...

2591. Joash Repairs the Temple

2 Kings 12:1-21

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... temple income: payments made in relation to the periodic census of male Israelites (Exod. 30:11–16), and payments connected with personal vows (monetary equivalents for things dedicated to God, Lev. 27:1–25). The wording of the Hb. with regard to the third sort of payment, however (which we may render “all the money that it is laid upon someone’s heart to bring”), strongly suggests that this is a special fund-raising campaign similar to that initiated by Moses, at God’s command, in Exod. 35 ...

2592. Jehoahaz King of Israel

2 Kings 13:1-9

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... Given that Elisha has in mind a series of victories in 2 Kgs. 13:18–19, it may well be that his use of “Aphek” (v. 17; cf. 1 Kgs. 20:26, 30) is not meant to signify the location of Jehoahaz’s victories but to inform him of the sort of victories he can expect. 13:21 Elisha’s tomb: Since tombs in ancient Israel were characteristically dug out of soft rock or located in caves (e.g., Gen. 23), they did not present the difficulties of access to people in a hurry that more modern Western forms of burial ...

2593. Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

2 Kings 18:17-37

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... lit. “surely word of lips is counsel and power for war,” implying that Hezekiah thinks that mere talk (cf. “word of lips” in Prov. 14:23) is sufficient preparation for the confrontation. The NIV translation is thus unfortunate. Hezekiah is not claiming any sort of military strength, and quite evidently does not have sufficient troops to be able to take advantage of military hardware if he possessed it (vv. 23–24). He depends on “the word”; and the word is, of course, sufficient for the crisis ...

2594. Isaiah’s Commission

Isaiah 6:1-13

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... indeed fail to experience it; those who acknowledge the justice of God’s judgment and turn from the ways that earned it can escape it. The sign of cleansing that Isaiah receives is absurdly inadequate. How could being touched with a coal effect this sort of purification? The insufficiency of the sign highlights the fact that the cleansing originates within the person of the holy God. Sacramental rites such as this are the means by which Yahweh incarnates grace to humankind. 6:8–10 It now becomes clear ...

2595. Judgment Against the Nations

Isaiah 34:1-17

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... that the prophet sees the people as Edom’s victims and sees this judgment as their deliverance. That becomes explicit in verse 8. Vengeance (judicial recompense; see on 1:24) and retribution indicate the conviction that there is some justice to be sorted out with Edom. And to uphold Zion’s cause implies not the instinct to support my country, right or wrong, but rather the conviction that Zion is in the right. Inside this bracket, however, the “total destruction” of Edom again indicates that ...

2596. The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

Isaiah 52:13--53:12

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... the direction Yahweh lays before them. They know that they are the kind of people for whom there is therefore no shalom, no peace or well-being or wholeness. They (or the prophet) now affirm that this servant is the key to their becoming that sort of people, and that this has come about through his being afflicted just as they were, but without deserving it. 53:7–9 The next two realizations go beyond that. The fourth mistaken assumption is that nevertheless he was presumably as much a sinner as anyone ...

2597. The Year of the Lord’s Favor

Isaiah 61:1-11

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... 42:1 (and as there, capitalizing “Spirit” risks giving a misleading impression). Like the Poet in 49:1–6 and 50:4–9, this prophet reckons to be the very embodiment of that servant vision in 42:1–9. This gives us a clue to the sort of ministry the prophet exercises. To put it another way, as Second Isaiah stands in the shoes of First Isaiah, so Third Isaiah stands in the shoes of Second Isaiah. This prophet also has a distinctive way of understanding that commission: the LORD has anointed me ...

2598. Signs, Sayings, and Oracles of Judgment

Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-11, Ezekiel 14:12-23

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... Akkadian word karu, “most commonly used of binding in a magical sense.” Most probably, then, the NIV is correct to see these as magical amulets worn as wristbands (compare the NRSV “bands”). The versions agree that the second term refers to some sort of head covering; the NIV’s “veil” is a fine rendering. However, Saggs argues that this word should rather be rendered “net,” in light of the use of the expression tsud (“hunt, ensnare”), particularly in the simile in v. 20, “you ensnare ...

2599. Jerusalem’s Siege, in Parable and Sign

Ezekiel 24:1-14, Ezekiel 24:15-27

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... meat, the empty pot itself is left on the fire till it becomes hot and its copper glows so its impurities may be melted and its deposit burned away (v. 11). Of course, anyone who has accidentally left a pot on the stove knows that nothing of the sort is going to happen. Rather than cleaning the pot by burning away the encrusted food, leaving the pot on the fire is going to ruin the pot. That, the Lord says, is exactly the case with Jerusalem: It has frustrated all efforts; its heavy deposit has not been ...

2600. Epilogue to the Law of the Temple: River, Land, City

Ezekiel 47:1-12, Ezekiel 47:13-23, Ezekiel 48:1-29, Ezekiel 48:30-35

Understanding Series

Steven Tuell

... pp. 53–56). The Hethlon road past Lebo Hamath to Zedad. The NIV has rightly followed the LXX here (compare 48:1). In the MT, the name “Hamath” was miscopied following, rather than preceding, Zedad. This is a fairly common mistake in lists of this sort. 48:1–29 On the division of the land according to the wilderness battle camp see Levenson, Program of Restoration, pp. 116–21, and M. Greenberg, “Idealism and Practicality in Numbers 35:4–5 and Ezekiel 48,” JAOS 88 (1968), pp. 59–65. 48:8 ...

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