Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 2826 to 2850 of 3852 results

1 Chronicles 6:1-30

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... section, illustrating the fluid character of this type of literature. One striking feature of the present list is that Samuel is included in the Levite lineage, as part of the Kohathites (6:27–28). According to 1 Samuel 1:1, though, he originated from the tribe of Ephraim. However, his dedication to the sanctuary makes his inclusion in the Levite genealogy, closely associated with the priesthood, not improbable. This may be the Chronicler’s way of bestowing a very high honor on an Ephraimite who ...

2827. Saul Takes His Life

1 Chronicles 10:1-14

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... shows that the Chronicler’s source material for 1 Chron. 10 probably did not differ significantly from the Masoretic Text of 1 Sam. 31. Ho’s theory that 1 Sam. 31 and 1 Chron. 10 made use of a common source, with 1 Chron. 10 closer to the original, cannot be accepted. See C. Y. S. Ho, “Conjectures and Refutations: Is 1 Samuel xxxi 1–13 Really the Source of 1 Chronicles x 1–12?” VT 45 (1995), pp. 82–106. 10:9–10 According to Frevel, references to female gods were systematically omitted by the ...

2828. Bringing Back the Ark

1 Chronicles 13:1-14

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... these sections points in the direction of some sort of a compositional unity at least. In my opinion, the peculiar position of 1 Chron. 14 should be explained in another way. It might be that 1 Chron. 14 (quoting from 2 Sam. 5:11–25) was detached from its original position after 1 Chron. 11:9 (quoting from 2 Sam. 5:1–3, 6–10). There the content of 1 Chron. 14 would have made good sense. If 1 Chron. 13 was directly followed by 1 Chron. 15–16, this would equally have created a direct connection with ...

2829. David Numbers the Fighting Men

1 Chronicles 21:1-22:1

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... the exclusion of Jerusalem from this guilt (I and II Chronicles [Londom: SCM, 1993], p. 378). 21:15 Although the NIV refers to Araunah the Jebusite, the Hebrew text has “Ornan the Jebusite.” The name Araunah, which is spelled similarly to Ornan in Hebrew (which originally had only consonants and no vowels), is used in the source text in 2 Sam. 24. The NIV translators therefore chose to keep that form in order to avoid any confusion. 21:20 The introduction of the angel here complicates the flow of the ...

2830. Preparations for the Temple

1 Chronicles 22:2-19

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... to employ them in the temple-building activities, specifically stonecutters to prepare dressed stone. The Hebrew term used for “aliens” (gerim) occurs frequently in the legal material of the Old Testament and normally denotes people of non-Israelite origin who have settled among the people of Israel and have adopted their religion. This category of people remained without legal rights in society, however. Many legal stipulations in the Pentateuch therefore give them protection together with widows and ...

2831. David's Plans for the Temple

1 Chronicles 28:1-21

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... had to be constructed. The specifications reflect ancient Near Eastern temple architecture, where storerooms and other amenities were included alongside cultic spaces. As in 28:19 (from the hand of the LORD upon me), the indication here is that the plans had a divine origin: all that the Spirit had put in his mind (see Additional Notes on 28:12 and 28:19). After giving Solomon the plans, David gives him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites and related matters (28:13). This short summary ...

2832. The List of Exiles Who Returned

Ezra 2:1-70

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... . 8:7; 9:4–5 refer to a similar name, Bani. Moreover, 1 Esd. 5:26, parallel to Ezra 2:40, has “Bannas” in place of Heb. bene, “sons.” This evidence suggests that here and in the parallel Neh. 7:43 the Levites were originally defined as the descendants of Jeshua, namely, Kadmiel, Bani/Binnui, and Hodaviah. See the comprehensive discussion of Barthélemy, Critique textuelle, vol. 1, pp. 525–29. 2:41–42 For the eventual incorporation of the singers and gatekeepers into the Levitical line, see H ...

2833. Rebuilding the Altar

Ezra 3:1-6

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... . 1, p. 527. The reference to the sons of Henadad . . . Levites poses a problem. In the Heb. this material dangles at the end of the sentence, unattached to what precedes. The NIV and NRSV have integrated it into the sentence by placing it earlier. It evidently originated as a marginal comment relating to the association of Henadad with members of this Levitical group in Neh. 3:18; 10:9 (see BHS, REB, NJB). 3:10 The foundation of the temple was a platform or podium, if this feature of Ezekiel’s visionary ...

2834. The Decree of Darius

Ezra 6:1-12

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... , the mission of rebuilding the temple was to be accomplished in its entirety. The details of its construction should probably be taken as intimating its close correspondence, and therefore continuity, with the old temple of 5:11, just as the restoration of the original vessels “each to its place” (NRSV) does. Their return served to confirm the testimony of the Judean elders in 5:13–15. Readers are left with no doubt that, in basic format and in ongoing function, the second temple had the same value ...

2835. Ezra's Prayer about Intermarriage

Ezra 9:1-15

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... in 10:9. In the gap, we expect that Ezra would have taught The Torah to the people. This is just what we read in Nehemiah 8, dated in the seventh month. It is most likely that this chapter, more precisely starting from Nehemiah 7:73b, was originally part of the Ezra memoirs—and the editor moved it to its new position for good reasons. Readers are still meant to presuppose from 7:10 that Ezra read the Torah and applied it hermeneutically to the current situation. Ezra’s “counsel” in 10:3 seems to ...

2836. Nehemiah’s Prayer

Nehemiah 1:1-11

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... in line with Ezra 9:8, 13–15. The Nehemiah memoirs generally do not discriminate between returnees from exile and nonexiled Judeans. As governor of the province of Judah (5:14), he would have been responsible for all Judeans there. It is probable that the original reference was to all Judeans descended from survivors of the exile of 587, whether returnees or not, as Vogt, Studie, pp. 44f., has argued. 1:3 Here and in 2:17 disgrace is an objective term referring to humiliation at the hands of enemies (see ...

2837. Artaxerxes Sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem

Nehemiah 2:1-10

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... ’s human answer to bad news about Jerusalem (1:3), he was himself bad news to them. It is significant that, as in the prayer of chapter 1, Nehemiah closely linked the fortunes of Jerusalem and the covenant people. Additional Notes 2:1 The term before, lacking in the original, is correctly added in translation to bring out the pluperfect force the verb must have in the context. 2:3 For the courteous introduction May the king live forever in addressing a king, see 1 Kgs. 1:31 and Dan. 2:4; 3:9. 2:6 So I set ...

2838. Builders of the Wall

Nehemiah 3:1-32

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... had a “share,” a “claim,” and a “historic right” in Jerusalem (2:20), and who proudly exercised their privileges by rebuilding its wall. Nehemiah evidently persuaded them that the “welfare of the Israelites” (2:10) was at stake. This section seems to have originated as a separate list found in the temple archives: it gives pride of place to the high priest (v. 1). Instead of first-person references to Nehemiah, he is probably mentioned in the third person in verse 5. Chapter 3 describes the ...

2839. Opposition to the Rebuilding

Nehemiah 4:1-23

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... . 15): see BHS and NJB. 4:23 Even when he went for water is a desperate attempt to make sense of one Heb. word, hammayim “the water” (MT v. 17). A conjectural emendation widely advocated is hēmînû “they kept in their right hand.” Then the consonants hmym were originally hmynw and the Heb. letters nw and m were confused, as has happened elsewhere. The NRSV, REB, and NJB have adopted this emendation.

2840. Nehemiah Helps the Poor

Nehemiah 5:1-19

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... the source of information about Nehemiah’s achievements on behalf of God’s people. Additional Notes 5:1 For a defense of ch. 5 in its present setting, see Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah, pp. 235f. Throntveit, Ezra-Nehemiah, pp. 61, 123f., regards it as originally following ch. 13 on the grounds of content and style, but that chapter’s chronological setting of Nehemiah’s second term of office does not favor his view. The men and their wives would be better translated as “the people and especially their ...

2841. Further Opposition to the Rebuilding

Nehemiah 6:1-14

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... :10–13. There may have been an extreme nationalistic group in Jerusalem that advocated his kingship, but Nehemiah denies this possibility in v. 8. 6:9 The interpretation of v. 9b is uncertain and depends on the Heb. verb rendered strengthen. But I prayed is not in the original, nor is “O God” (NRSV). If the verbal form is intended as an impv., a rather abrupt prayer is implied, vividly recalled in the narrative, like the one in 4:4–5. But one does expect a voc. “O my God,” as in v. 14, like “O ...

2842. Queen Vashti Deposed

Esther 1:1-22

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... the conventions for drinking. According to his determination, everyone was to drink in his own way (v. 8). The Hebrew word for law (dat) is introduced here to refer to the king’s ruling. This is our first clue that Persian life is governed by laws that originate in the palace. It is highly ironic that the only law in this story that the king puts into effect without the counsel of his advisers is one that lets others do as they please. This foreshadows Haman’s abuse of dat. The double feast of verses ...

2843. Esther Made Queen

Esther 2:1-18

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... of the name for the Babylonian deity Marduk. Esther has a Jewish name, Hadassah, but her common name in this story is a variation on the name for Ishtar, the goddess of eroticism and love (!). Some scholars have supposed that the entire story was originally a myth about these two principal deities. (The name Haman may also be related to the name of an Elamite deity.) However, the story’s attention to historical detail and its links with known historical events and personages suggest otherwise. It is more ...

2844. Mordecai Honored

Esther 6:1-14

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... as in 5:9–14), Haman recounts what has transpired since their last meeting. This time, his advisers and his wife are not forthcoming with encouraging advice. Rather, they see in these events an omen: “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!” (v. 13). There is little doubt that an ethnic rivalry was at the root of Haman’s enmity with Mordecai; now it is clear to those closest to Haman that the Jewish side ...

2845. Haman Hanged

Esther 7:1-10

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... garden in a rage, leaving Haman painfully aware that the king had already decided his fate (v. 7, literally, “his ruin”). Perhaps his ruin was not as certain as he thought at this moment, for it was the king’s ring that had sealed the original edict. But circumstances will help isolate Haman in his culpability. Haman “falls” before Esther, begging for his life, in verse 7. How the tables have turned! Esther was “seeking” (bqsh) her life as a result of his edict in 7:3; now he is seeking (bqsh ...

2846. The Greatness of Mordecai

Esther 10:1-3

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... person—a woman in both stories—a Moabite in Ruth’s case, an orphan in Esther’s case. Neither woman has any acquired status by birth. Once the threat to the family is resolved, the focus shifts back to the original persons most immediately threatened. It is the threatened figures (Mordecai, Naomi) whose experience represents the plight of the whole community. The whole community, therefore, can vicariously celebrate their vindication in these characters while maintaining the highest regard for their ...

2847. Wisdom's Call

Proverbs 8:1-36

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... 22b suggest. “Dominion” in the marginal note is less likely. 8:23 The NIV indicates in the margin another possible (and preferable) meaning for appointed: fashioned; see Additional Notes. The several verbs employed suggest a mystery surrounding Wisdom’s origins from the creator, and the following verses go to great lengths to emphasize that she is preexistent to creation. About six times various idioms are used: “when there was no,” “before,” etc. This formulaic style is reminiscent of the ...

2848. Invitation of Wisdom and of Folly

Proverbs 9:1-18

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... a personification in the collections that follow. Plöger sees this figure as an illustration of a close personal relationship between the Lord and Wisdom. I would like to put it in the following way. No matter what theories may be devised to explain the origin and development of the growth of the figure of Woman Wisdom, there is no denying that she is a communication of God , and that she finds joy among human beings (8:31). She is inextricably involved with them and their observations about life. Their ...

2849. The Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 10:1-32

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... ], pp. 75–81). Proverbs 10:1–32 10:1 The opening verse highlights a frequent theme; cf. 13:1; 17:21, 25; 23:24–25, and verse 1a is identical to 15:20a. These sayings provide support for home and family as a setting, if not the origin, for wisdom teaching in Israel. It is noteworthy that the first saying deals with the son after so many references to “my son” in chapters 1–9. As C. R. Fontaine remarks, “the proverbs of chap. 10 restate the vocabulary and themes present in 1–9” (“Proverbs ...

2850. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 12:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... prizes from this reading. 12:28 V. 28b cannot be rendered as in the NIV. In addition, the word “not” is the particle used with verbs, and not with nouns; “not-death” is the doubtful Hb. that is made to yield immortality. Perhaps the original was “to death” (ʾel for ʾal), as the LXX and Vulgate suggest. Along that path of the NIV is also problematic. The ancient versions suggest a contrast—something like “a path of wickedness/abomination (?) is to death.” The REB reads, “but there is a ...

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