Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: touch, feel, sense of touch, tactile sense, tactility, contact, using one's hands, sensation, sense, suspicion, sneaking suspicion, notion, inkling, hunch, fancy, apprehension, presentiment, premonition, foreboding, love, care, affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, warmness, emotion, sentiment, emotional state, compassion, sympathy, empathy, fellow feeling, understanding, concern, solicitude, solicitousness, tender-heartedness, brotherly love, sensibilities, sensitivities, self-esteem, ego, pride, opinion, belief, view, impression, intuition, instinct, estimation, guess, theory, hypothesis, thought, way of thinking, point of view, atmosphere, ambience, aura, air, mood, climate, character, overtone, undertone, tenor, spirit, quality, flavour, colour, aptitude, knack, flair, bent, talent, gift, skill, art, trick, faculty, ability, propensity, inclination, sensitive, warm, warm-hearted, tender, tender-hearted, caring, soft-hearted, sympathetic, compassionate, empathetic, responsive, receptive, intuitive, thoughtful

Antonyms: bad feeling, acrimony, animosity, animus, antagonism, antipathy, aversion, bitterness, detestation, disgust, dislike, disrelish, enmity, friction, grievances, grudges, hatred, hostility, loathing, malevolence, malice

Showing 3776 to 3800 of 4770 results

3776. Moses to Die on Mount Nebo

Deuteronomy 32:48-52

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... acclaim the God who eternally loves God’s people and a people eternally saved by their God (33:27–29). 32:48–52 (Cf. Num. 27:12–14.) The Abarim Range of mountains lie at the northeastern end of the Dead Sea, across from Jericho, and thus had a view of much of the land of Canaan, with the southern hills of what would be Judah to the left, the central region of later Ephraim in front, and the northern hills of future Galilee to the right. In the first part of the “outer frame” of the book, the ...

3777. Solomon's Throne Established

1 Kings 2:13-46

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... , themselves remind us of this history with that curious phrase though not with Absalom in v. 28. Why mention Absalom here at all, if not to help us recall that this is Joab’s “first offence” in an otherwise blameless career, from the point of view of loyalty to David? What really differentiates Joab from Abiathar is not his history, but his importance in Solomon’s mind. He is uninterested in Abiathar, whereas he is utterly determined to settle with Joab. No doubt that is why Joab flees to the tent ...

3778. A Wise Ruling

1 Kings 3:16-28

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... assumption of the majority of exegetes that the complainant has been telling the truth. There is nothing in the Hebrew text of 3:27, however, that implies this. This text reads simply “Give the living baby to her,” not strictly specifying which woman is in view at all. Perhaps Solomon was pointing when he spoke, but we, unlike those present, cannot see him. And we are consequently in the dark about which of the two speakers in 3:16–22 is the true mother, and which was lying. An interesting question ...

3779. Solomon's Daily Provisions

1 Kings 4:20-28

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... where Deut. 17:16–17 is most obviously the text in the background—where Solomon is accumulating both gold (e.g., 1 Kgs. 10:14) and wives (1 Kgs. 11:3). The extremely large number in the Hb. text of 4:26 is to be expected in view of what the text is trying to say about Solomon as the archetypal multiplier of horses—and numbers in the OT characteristically do aim to do much more than simply communicate facts (see the introduction). 4:33 He described plant life . . . animals: Careful observation of the ...

3780. Solomon Builds His Palace

1 Kings 7:1-12

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... : “He completed (ḵlh) the temple (bayiṯ) . . . he spent seven years building it (ḇnh). But his own house (bêtô) Solomon spent thirteen years building (ḇnh), and he completed (ḵlh) the whole of his house (kol-bêtô).” There are two “houses” in view, and an emphatic contrast is made between them. The more obvious point of contrast centers on the verb ḇnh. Solomon spent much more time building his own house (palace, v. 1, referring here to the whole palace complex of several halls and ...

3781. The Temple’s Furnishings

1 Kings 7:13-51

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... on the south side of the temple along with the Sea and five on the north (v. 39). We assume that they, too, had a practical function (cf. 2 Chron. 4:6 again). Lastly we are told (v. 40) that Hiram made basins, shovels, and sprinkling bowls. In view of verse 45 (pots, shovels, and sprinkling bowls), we are probably to understand that these basins are not those of verses 38–39 but are different utensils used in cleaning out the altar (cf. Exod. 27:3). The close association in both 1 Kings 7:45 and Exodus ...

3782. Abijah King of Judah

1 Kings 15:1-8

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... just a hint here that Asa, too, departed from God in his old age (cf. 11:4) and was punished for doing so? Additional Notes 15:6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam: It is curious that a reference to Rehoboam should appear here, particularly in view of the reference to Abijam and Jeroboam in v. 7. Presumably the point is to stress the continuity between the two “wars.” It is not just that Abijam has picked his own quarrel with Jeroboam (or vice versa); the feud between the houses of Rehoboam and ...

3783. Jehoshaphat King of Judah

1 Kings 22:41-50

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... 1:2 Baal-Zebub: Lit. “Baal/lord of the flies.” There is some manuscript evidence of a version of this name (“Beelzebub”) in a few Gospel texts that refer to Satan (Matt. 10:25; 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18, 19). This is interesting in view of the links between OT spirit possession and NT demon possession that have been noted in our discussion of 1 Kgs. 18 (cf. the commentary on 18:15–29 and the additional note on 18:29). The OT figure of Baal stands explicitly behind the NT figure of Satan ...

3784. The Lord's Judgement of Ahaziah

2 Kings 1:1-18

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

3785. Naaman Healed of Leprosy

2 Kings 5:1-27

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... Rom. 6:1–5; 1 Cor. 6:11; Col. 2:11–15; Titus 3:4–7). Naaman embodies new life, and Gehazi embodies the old, crying “LORD, LORD” (v. 20) while his actions reveal where his heart really lies (Matt. 6:19–24; 7:21–23). From this point of view, Jehoram’s words about life and death in relation to Naaman (v. 7) begin to look prophetic. 5:18 May the LORD forgive: The language is reminiscent of 1 Kgs. 8:22–53, the only other section of Kings thus far in which this Hb. verb slḥ, forgive, has been ...

3786. Ahab's Family Killed

2 Kings 10:1-17

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

The Destruction Continues: Elijah had prophesied that the LORD would consume Ahab’s descendants and cut off from him every last male in Israel (1 Kgs. 21:21; cf. the previous prophecies against Jeroboam and Baasha in 1 Kgs. 14:10; 16:3). It comes as little surprise, in view of the literal fulfillment of such prophecy in 1 Kings 15:29 and 16:11–12, to find that Jehu is not content with the deaths of Jehoram and Jezebel but now looks to wipe out Ahab’s family in toto (2 Kgs. 10:1–17). Nor is it any ...

3787. Joash Repairs the Temple

2 Kings 12:1-21

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... group not yet mentioned. There is a Hb. verb mḵr, “to sell,” that can be used more generally in the sense of “give over into the power of” (e.g., Deut. 32:30). It may be, then, that we should translate the phrase “each from his donor.” For the view that makkār is priestly income from the sale of portions of the sin and guilt offerings (cf. v. 16) see L. S. Wright, “Mkr in 2 Kings 12:5–17 and Deuteronomy 18:8,” VT 39 (1989), pp. 438–48. 12:10 Counted the money . . . put it into bags ...

3788. Amaziah King of Judah

2 Kings 14:1-22

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah: If the Hb. leḇôʾ ḥamāṯ is indeed intended as the name of a city, then the question arises as to its location. It is commonly supposed to be located to the southwest of Hamath itself. The difficulty with this view, however, is that in 1 Kgs. 8:65 the phrase “from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt” seems intended as a designation of the whole Solomonic empire, analogous to the phrases “from the River to the land of Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt ...

3789. Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

2 Kings 18:17-37

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... in Egypt, dried up all her streams with the soles of his feet (v. 24). Did he measure all the trees? How did his feet come to have such absorbent qualities? The passage is not meant to be taken literally. It is the very point that Sennacherib has an exaggerated view of his own accomplishments, as Assyrian kings often did. He thinks of himself as a god. He claims to have brought judgment—as only the LORD can do—upon the cedars of Lebanon (cf. Ps. 29:5; Isa. 2:12–13; Amos 2:9; Zech. 11:1–3) and upon ...

3790. The Book of Law Found

2 Kings 22:1-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... peace: It has sometimes been argued that this is a reference to the manner of Josiah’s death and that as such it stands in conflict with 23:29, where Josiah’s death is violent rather than peaceful. It is not the manner of Josiah’s death that is in view here, however, but its timing. He will die before the terrible events prophesied in 21:12–14 and 22:15–17 come to pass—while Judah and Jerusalem still know peace, rather than the sword. See further Provan, Hezekiah, p. 149.

3791. Jehoahaz King of Judah

2 Kings 23:31-35

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... judgment is to die, like righteous Josiah (cf. John 19:37), at the hands of a foreign power, a suffering servant to his people. His fate is also to be “restored to health” after three days (like Hezekiah; cf. b. Ber. 10b for the rabbinic view that Hezekiah’s recovery was a near-resurrection from the dead, comparable to the Elisha miracle in 2 Kgs. 4:18–37). There will be a second coming, when Jerusalem and her remnant will once again know salvation. Victory, rather than defeat, will be experienced ...

3792. The Lord's Anger Against Israel

Isaiah 9:8--10:4

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... third indictment powerfully states the OT conviction that right and wrong bring their own results by an immanent process. This declaration sits alongside the repeated strong statement of Yahweh’s personal involvement in bringing disaster to the wicked. There are thus two ways of viewing the same processes. To put it one way, wickedness sets the world on fire. To put it the other way, Yahweh’s wrath sets the world on fire, passionate in its anger and active in the exercise of Yahweh’s powerful hand. By ...

3793. The Lord's Devastation of the Earth

Isaiah 24:1-23

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... Israel much later than Isaiah’s day. Many come from the period after the last of the OT writings (“apocalypsis” is the Greek word in the title of the NT book of “Revelation”). Many apocalypses focus on world disaster and renewal. The traditional critical view is thus that this material comes from a yet later period than that of the actual arrangement of chapters 13–23, and that these are in fact the latest chapters in the book. But precisely because they refer hardly at all to specific nations ...

3794. Woe to Ephraim

Isaiah 28:1-29

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... the Assyrian storm is about to break out. The warning begins by describing the impressiveness of the Ephraimite capital, the city of Samaria. It sits on a hill that rises gently but firmly from the rolling slopes of northern Israel, and from the top commands a view for miles around of country whose fertility might be the envy of Jerusalem. It had been fortified and beautified with stone and ivory (see Amos 3:15; 6:4–6). With its walls it stands like a garlanded head above the “shoulders” of the slopes ...

3795. Woe to the Obstinate Nation

Isaiah 30:1-33

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... Jerusalem. All the other OT references to Topheth come in Jeremiah except for the account of its defiling by Josiah in Jeremiah’s day (2 Kgs. 23:10). This and the links with Deuteronomy, such as that reference to Yahweh’s name, support the view that this passage comes specifically from the late seventh century when Assyria’s fall was indeed imminent (Sweeney, Isaiah 1–39, p. 396). In this case, the reference to Assyria would have to be taken more literally. The focus on the “Assyrian” king and ...

3796. Distress and Help

Isaiah 33:1-24

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... invaded them, the people obscure in their speech (translated “deep” in 30:33, “greatly” in 31:6), of strange tongue (see 28:11). 33:20–24 This vision of a restored city repeats the double invitation to look and see from verse 17 (NIV there “see” and “view”). The eye turns to the other of the two objects of Yahweh’s love and choice that Judah especially treasured (cf. Ps. 132). Zion/Jerusalem is the city of David (29:1; also 32:13), the tent of David (16:5). It was the subject one verse ...

3797. Comfort for God's People

Isaiah 40:1-31

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... . It does not say “In days to come God will send a message of comfort to people who have been punished,” in the manner of a passage such as 30:19–26. It says, rather, “God is now comforting you who have been punished.” The traditional view is that these chapters were written by Isaiah ben Amoz, and we may assume that God could have revealed to Isaiah the message to be addressed to the people in Babylon 150 years after Isaiah’s day. But the way the chapters themselves speak suggests that they ...

3798. The Servant of the Lord

Isaiah 49:1-7

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... neither does Yahweh’s servant. If prophet ministers and Yahweh acts, the world will see and respond. And it has. The fact that we are reading Jacob-Israel’s book is a result. Additional Notes 49:1–6 R. N. Whybray rightly comments, in view of the fact that in the prophetical books generally the subject of speeches in the first person singular, when it is not Yahweh and not otherwise indicated, is normally the prophet himself, it is remarkable that this identification should have been contested in this ...

3799. Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience

Isaiah 50:1-11

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... 52:12 as 49:7–50:3) receive more attention. The first subsection introduces a motif that runs through the section: there are four double occurrences of the verb “waken/awake” (50:4; 51:9, 17; 52:1). There is no reason to resist taking the obvious view that the “I” in 50:4–9 is the prophet, as in 40:1–6. Before the notion of “servant songs” sidetracked the interpretation of Isaiah 40–55, commentators could assume so. 50:1–3 There is another objection that Yahweh can hear in the heart of ...

3800. Praise and Prayer

Isaiah 63:7--64:12

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... s human spirit was grieved. While the Holy Spirit’s activity includes this holy spirit, the Holy Spirit’s activity also includes many other aspects of God’s activity, such as the acts of God’s hands. The capitalization causes us to narrow our view of the Holy Spirit’s activity in OT times—as if the Holy Spirit was present only where a phrase such as “holy spirit” occurs. 63:11 KJV/RSV “Then he remembered the days of old . . .” correctly represents MT. NIV’s translation perhaps reflects ...

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