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Showing 3901 to 3925 of 4681 results

3901. The Aaronic Blessing

Numbers 6:22-27

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... , brought us peace with God (Rom. 5:1). All these blessings are possible because God’s name is associated with his people (Num. 6:27). God’s blessing, protection, favor, grace, and peace are poured out on his people precisely because they bear his name. Illustrating the Text If we want God’s blessings, we must live under his authority. News: Sean and Elizabeth Canning were thrust into the international spotlight in 2014 when their daughter, Tanya, secured a lawyer and sued them. Her contention ...

3902. Ingratitude and Judgment

Num 11:1-35

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... this passage. The task of spiritual leadership can be overwhelming (vv. 10–16). Moses complains, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant?” (v. 11). Moses feels like a foster father to infantile people (v. 12). Dealing with them is too much to bear (v. 14), so Moses is ready to quit or even die (v. 15). The task of spiritual leadership is too much for any one person. God mercifully provides seventy elders to take some of the burden of leadership from Moses (v. 16). Spiritual leaders need ...

3903. Racism and Envy

Numbers 12:1-16

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... foreigner Rahab the harlot, who helps the Israelite scouts, also converts and is welcomed into Israel (Josh. 6:25). She too becomes an ancestor of David and Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5). Evidently, a Cushite woman marries into the royal family of Hezekiah and bears a son named “Cushi” (“Cushite”), from whom the prophet Zephaniah is descended (Zeph. 1:1). God predicts through Isaiah that in the future the Cushites will come to worship God in Zion (Isa. 18:7), a prophecy that Zephaniah repeats (Zeph. 3:10 ...

3904. Priesthood Confirmed and Its Mediation Duties Specified

Num 17:1–8:7

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... your family. This is literally “your fathers’ house” (ESV), probably in reference to the Kohathite clan, from whom Aaron is descended (Exod. 6:16–20) and who were in charge of the most holy items in the tabernacle (Num. 4:2–20). bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary . . . for offenses connected with the priesthood. In other words, the Kohathites and the Aaronites come between God and the people to do the precarious work around the sanctuary. The Kohathites are in charge ...

3905. Balak to Hire Balaam

Numbers 22:1-20

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... ” (NJPS) seem unlikely: Balaam surely has the tools of his own trade, and these elders are unlikely to have been experts in divination. 22:8 the answer the Lord gives me. On the surface, Balaam seems pious in wanting time to consult with Yahweh, though one must bear in mind that he is a pagan diviner (v. 7) who, in violation of God’s law, employs sorcery (Num. 23:23; 24:1). Moses, not Balaam, is the real prophet of God. Balaam, the anti-Moses, may be merely using his divination arts to consult Israel ...

3906. The Daughters of Zelophehad (Part 1)

Numbers 27:1-11

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... in Israel. As Jacob Milgrom points out, an example of how this worked is found in 1 Chronicles 2:34–36. There the man Sheshan has no sons, so he gives his daughter in marriage to Jarha, his Egyptian slave. Jarha and the daughter bear a son, Attai, who ultimately inherits Sheshan’s land and continues his bloodline in the genealogy. Theological Insights Retribution in human law involves punishing criminals in proportion with their crimes. The lex talionis principle of eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and so ...

3907. Cities of Refuge

Numbers 35:6-34, Numbers 35:1-5

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... after the flood and not just to Israel, and it is not contradicted by the New Testament. Paul in fact seems to imply that the state has the right to inflict capital punishment when he speaks of the state’s right given by God to “bear the sword” (Rom. 13:4). Executing murderers certainly protects society from repeat offenders and deters at least some from committing murder. Those who prefer to spare such murderers might do well to consider this talmudic proverb: “Those who are kind to the cruel will ...

3908. The Daughters of Zelophehad (Part 2)

Numbers 36:1-13

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Joe M. Sprinkle

... , Zelophehad. But the mixed tribal lineage of these children could in practice create confusion about the tribe to whom the land should belong. That confusion concerning patrilineage could result in land transferring to a different tribe. Or these women may fail to bear surviving sons, in which case the land would revert to their husbands and their tribes. This matter is somewhat urgent because Gilead has already taken possession of its territory in the Transjordan (Num. 32:39–40). 36:4 Year of Jubilee ...

3909. Barren No More

1 Sam 1:1-20–2:11

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... of tension to the story by informing us that the Lord is responsible for Hannah’s condition.3 In the biblical world, events and circumstances that we might call natural occurrences are attributed to God. We probably would not think of a woman’s inability to bear a child as being due to divine displeasure. But Hannah’s family and even Hannah herself might wonder if God is displeased with her since she seems to be excluded from his promise of blessing (Exod. 23:25–26; Deut. 7:14). When the Lord ...

3910. The Lord Chooses a Prophet

1 Sam 3:1--4:1

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... are intergenerational implications for sin, and thus patriarchal figures must pay close attention to the behavior of those within their family units.”6 3:18 He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes. Eli’s resignation to God’s judgment bears out the truth of what he has told his sons: one cannot appeal to a higher authority when the Lord pronounces sentence (2:25). His resignation also shows that he understands the Lord’s message to be irrevocable, as one suspects from the oath formula ...

3911. The Ark Does Some Damage

1 Samuel 5:1-12

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... the lie when Shift tells the Narnians that Aslan and the Calormene god Tash are one and the same. But now, as Tirian looked round on the miserable faces of the Narnians, and saw how they would all believe that Aslan and Tash were one and the same, he could bear it no longer. “Ape,” he cried with a great voice, “you lie. You lie damnably. You lie like a Calormene. You lie like an Ape.” He meant to go on and ask how the terrible god Tash who fed on the blood of his people could possibly be the same ...

3912. Be Careful What You Ask For

1 Samuel 10:9-27

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... is a dark side to this. The king whom the Lord chooses has obvious flaws, and one senses from Samuel’s rhetoric that there may be a disciplinary or punitive dimension to the granting of a king. Later prophetic reflection on this event seems to bear this out (cf. Hosea 13:10–11). How do the exilic readers of the Former Prophets respond to this story? In addition to encouraging them with the Lord’s continuing commitment to his people (see commentary on 9:1–10:8, under “Theological Insights”), the ...

3913. David’s Faith Ignites a Victory

1 Samuel 17:1-58

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... Philistines (14:22). 17:33 you are only a young man. Once more Saul assesses the situation strictly on the basis of what he perceives with his senses (cf. v. 11), without factoring God into the equation. 17:34 When a lion or a bear came. The verbal sequence in verses 34–35 (conjunction with perfect form) indicates that these actions are customary. David is not describing an isolated incident. As a shepherd he has encountered predators on several occasions, and on each occasion he has followed the ...

3914. The “Nine Lives” of David

1 Samuel 19:1-24

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Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

... God to Guide Thee,” by Georg Neumark. Here are some sample lines from this hymn (1641) of confidence in God: If thou but suffer God to guide thee, And hope in Him through all thy ways, He’ll give thee strength, whate’er betide thee, And bear thee through the evil days. Who trusts in God’s unchanging love Builds on the rock that naught can move. Be patient and await His leisure In cheerful hope, with heart content, To take whate’er Thy Father’s pleasure And His discerning love hath sent, Nor ...

3915. Adversity of a Righteous Man

Job 1:1-22

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Daniel J. Estes

... in this epic that some critics have called him the hero of the poem, a contention C. S. Lewis seriously disputes in A Preface to Paradise Lost (1942). Nevertheless, few works anywhere so powerfully display Satan in all his demonic, fallen glory. Many passages bear reading; one suggestion would be from Book I, which describes the fall of this huge, powerful being who chose to compete with God. Who first seduced them [Adam and Eve] to that foul revolt? Th’ infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile Stirred up ...

3916. Eliphaz

Job 4:1-5:27

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Daniel J. Estes

... of this hymn is found in Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Some of the appropriate words are as follows: Be still, my soul—the Lord is on thy side! Bear patiently the cross of grief and pain; Leave to thy God to order and provide— In ev’ry change He faithful will remain. Be still, my soul—thy best, thy heav’nly Friend Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Eliphaz Thinks He Knows the Answer Big Idea: Eliphaz ...

3917. Job Considers a Legal Dispute with God

Job 9:1–10:22

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Daniel J. Estes

... to his adversity or answers to his questions. 9:26 They skim past like boats of papyrus. Boats constructed from papyrus were very light and fast (cf. Isa. 18:1–2), but they were also fragile and easily destroyed. Job’s life under affliction bears both of those traits. 9:30–31 Even if I washed myself with soap and . . . with cleansing powder. The terms “soap” and “cleansing powder” indicate two very strong cleansing agents, soapwort and lye (cf. Isa. 1:25; Mal. 3:2). Using these rather ...

3918. Yahweh Speaks as the Master Teacher

Job 38:1--41:34

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Daniel J. Estes

... for their own use, the animals retain the potential to assert their own will and do as they please. Job may well have seen the mountain goat, or ibex, leaping upon the cliffs. The ibex, however, keeps its distance from humans, so Job cannot watch when it bears its young, or even calculate how long the gestation period is. Although Job can observe some of this animal’s actions, he knows little about its habits. How its young are born, how they mature, and when they set out on their own are all mysteries to ...

3919. “You Are My Son; Today I Have Become Your Father”

Psalm 2:1-12

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C. Hassell Bullock

... reference to the founding of the Davidic dynasty. become your father. The NIV rendering of this phrase obscures the verb “to beget” used here. While this verb (causative stem) is used of a man’s role in the conception of children (a woman “bears,” a man “begets,” using the same verb in different Hebrew stems), the idea does not seem to be literal here since the “today” of begetting and the proclamation of the king’s reign are synonymous.6 The Old Testament is careful to distinguish ...

3920. “In Peace I Will Lie Down and Sleep”

Psalm 4:1-8

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C. Hassell Bullock

... too was complicit in the “great wrong” of this horrific war that divided the nation. We have a tendency, in conflict, to see the other person as “the unholy enemy” and ourselves as “the righteous victim.” The reality is that in almost every conflict, we bear some burden of responsibility, if even limited to what we are thinking about the other person or persons. Even if we are beyond reproach in the conflict, we too are sinners in need of God’s mercy. In Psalm 4:1, we see David, the victim ...

3921. “Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit”

Psalm 31:1-24

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C. Hassell Bullock

... :7, 16, 21), and from that covenant context he calls the covenant people (hasidim) to covenant faithfulness (“Love the Lord, all his faithful people!” 31:23). Third, he plays on the Hebrew word ki (“that,” “because”/“for,” “indeed”), and seven times this conjunction bears the weight of his lament or trust: 1. “For you are indeed my rock” [NIV: “since”] (31:3) 2. “For you are my refuge” (31:4) 3. “For I am in distress” (31:9) 4. “For my life is consumed” [NIV does not ...

3922. “Blessed Are Those Who Have Regard for the Weak; the Lord Delivers Them”

Psalm 41:1-13

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C. Hassell Bullock

... very important. The last word should always be grace. The first word picture is expressed in these words: “In my integrity you uphold me” (41:12a). The picture is that of God holding David up or supporting him. That is what the verb “uphold” (tmk) means, “to bear the weight of, to support,” which is the effect of daily grace. It can be the burden of our sin, or an illness, or the weight of our everyday worries and cares. The second word picture is found in verse 3b and is a rather surprising one ...

3923. “If I Were Hungry I Would Not Tell You, for the World Is Mine, and All That Is in It”

Psalm 50:1-23

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C. Hassell Bullock

... (50:16), but they really hate God’s instruction (50:17). This is illustrated by their violation of the eighth (“you shall not steal,” Exod. 20:15), seventh (“you shall not commit adultery,” Exod. 20:14), and ninth (“you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” Exod. 20:16 ESV) commandments. Rather than keeping the commandments, the wicked fall in line with thieves and adulterers (50:18) and “sit and testify against” their brother (50:20). In a general way, the two tablets of ...

3924. “Be Exalted, O God, above the Heavens; Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth”

Psalm 57:1-11

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C. Hassell Bullock

... this case, in the middle of the invocation, surrounded by the voice of the psalmist. It is the merger of art and theology. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.The unusual verb form of “take refuge” is a past tense bearing a present-tense meaning.11The metaphor “shadow of your wings” appears several times in the Psalter (17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 63:7). The image is that of a bird gathering its chicks under its wings (Isa. 34:15; Matt. 23:37; Luke 13:34). Also, there ...

3925. “May All the Peoples Praise You”

Psalm 67:1-7

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C. Hassell Bullock

... climax in Psalm 67 with the salvation of the nations (67:2, 7), positioning the reader for the celebration observed in Psalm 68.4 Outline/Structure Psalm 67 has a well-balanced structure, with the refrain (67:3 and 5) and the middle verse (67:4) bearing the thematic weight. The refrain highlights the universal theme of the psalm, that “all the peoples” praise God, and verse 4 as the center verse (excluding the title) gives the reason why the nations can and ought to sing God’s praise so joyfully: God ...

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