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Showing 4251 to 4275 of 5000 results

4251. The Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 10:1-32

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... a lazy messenger causes. On the sluggard, compare 24:23–24 and 26:13–16; and for the trustworthy messenger, see 25:13. 10:27–28 Antithetic. Long life (v. 27) and happiness (v. 28; cf. 11:7) are in store for the righteous, those who fear the LORD (see 1:7 for comment on this phrase). It will be just the opposite for the wicked. This is typical of the view of retribution in this book. See verse 21 for the comment on life. 10:29 Antithetic. The NIV (and the NRSV) replaces righteousness with righteous ...

4252. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 20:1-30

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... topic; see verse 10 and 11:1; 16:11. The MT has the abrupt phrase in verse 23b: “not good,” parallel to “abomination” in verse 23a. 20:24 Synthetic. This is another popular theme (cf. 3:6; 16:1, 9; 19:21; and Jer. 10:23). Since the LORD controls humans (cf. Ps. 37:23), two reactions (that do not necessarily exclude each other) are possible: hope (cf. v. 22), or a certain skepticism (as seen in the book of Job). 20:25 Synthetic. The NIV warns against rash vows (cf. Eccl. 5:2–6). However, the text ...

4253. God Rejects Zedekiah’s Request

Jeremiah 21:1-14

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... (the second is a priest, but the first may be as well) to Jeremiah to request that the prophet intercede with the Lord for them. We can get even more specific about the date because the prophet’s response to the priests’ request includes a mention ... including king Zedekiah, there is only further suffering. Nebuchadnezzar will put them to death. 21:8–10 In these verses, the Lord through Jeremiah addresses the people directly. There is still a glimmer of qualified hope; there is still the possibility of ...

4254. Flight to Egypt

Jeremiah 41:16--43:13

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... where we should go and what we should do. Jeremiah readily receives their request. He likely was encouraged by their earnest desire to seek the guidance of Yahweh in this matter. He promises them that he will inform them of the answer (I will tell you everything the LORD your God will tell us where we should go and what we should do). The people then respond and put themselves totally at God’s disposal. They promise on oath that they will do whatever God tells them to do whether they want to or not. They ...

4255. Disaster Because of Idolatry

Jeremiah 44:1-30

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... since the large assembly that comes together is said to come from Lower (northern) and Upper (southern) Egypt. 44:20–23 Jeremiah now responds to the people’s rejection of the divine oracle. He once again reminds them of their ignominious past. The LORD remembered the incense that the pre-exilic people of God burned to false deities. To remember entails more than cognition; it implies action. And as a result of God’s remembering, after his longsuffering patience ran out, the land of Judah became an ...

4256. A Message About the Philistines

Jeremiah 47:1-7

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... the Baal priests cut themselves due to the nonappearance of their god. Indeed, the Ugaritic Baal texts describe the high god El cutting himself when Baal is killed by Mot. 47:6–7 The oracle against Philistia ends with an address to the sword of the LORD, which is here personified and represents God’s destructive power. In the Hebrew it is unclear who is speaking to the sword. The NIV adds you cry but this is not found in the Hebrew (as indicated by half brackets in the NIV). This interpretation, “you ...

4257. How the Gold Has Lost Its Luster

Lamentations 4:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... description all the more remarkable. It’s equally a surprise that a people so blessed with an intimate relationship with the Lord could be so spiritually tarnished. The gems are no ordinary gems but sacred gems like the ones that adorned the ephod ... understand the surprise the king’s capture might evoke. The first stanza exposes the vanity of the nations trying to resist “the LORD” and “his Anointed One” (Ps. 2:2). The final stanza (vv. 10–12) admonishes the kings of the nations to submit to the ...

4258. Israel’s Sin

Hosea 11:12--12:14

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... give it arms and status in the world of nations. But all of Ephraim’s wealth cannot cover over the guilt it has incurred. Such is probably the meaning of 12:8c–d, following the LXX, rather than the rendering given in the NIV. 12:9–10 “I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt” reads 12:9a in the Hebrew (so too 13:4). That is the way God is identified throughout the OT. The one true God is the God who delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt and made Israel his own. And because Yahweh is ...

4259. God's Zeal for Salvation

Joel 2:18-27

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... Ezek. 37:27–28; Hos. 11:9; Zeph. 3:15, 17). No longer will Israel seek after other gods and goddesses, but it will know that the Lord alone is God, because he alone has saved it (cf. Isa. 45:5, 6, 18, 22; 46:9). Israel’s apostasy will be done and gone, ... Father (2 Cor. 5:17–19). His cross and resurrection have now imputed to us that righteousness in which we may stand in the day of the Lord (Rom. 8:31–39; 1 Cor. 1:8; Eph. 4:30; 6:13). His gospel has given us joy in his abundant life and worship (John ...

4260. The Indictment and Punishment of Israel Spelled Out

Amos 4:1-13

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... as king, according to one of the traditions (1 Sam. 11:14–15), and was a place of pilgrimage and sacrifice in the eighth century BC (Amos 5:5; Hos. 12:11). Israel had long worshiped at these sites, but its upper classes loved themselves and not the Lord. They practiced their piety before others in order “to be seen by them” (Matt. 6:1, 2–6), not in order to commune with or give glory to God. The following verses of 6–11 testify to the long-suffering patience of God with the northern kingdom. God ...

4261. Israel’s Restoration

Amos 9:11-15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... his good purposes for humanity and his world to fulfillment. God can never overlook human sin (cf. Jer. 7:16–20; Hab. 1: 13). The inhabitants of the northern kingdom could not profane the name of Yahweh and go unpunished; otherwise Yahweh would not be the Lord. But human sin is never the last word. God has the final say. And because God is a good God of love, the final word is always one of hope and restoration and salvation. With God alone, however, rest all our hopes for salvation. Significantly, Amos ...

4262. The Woman in a Basket

Zechariah 5:5-11

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... 10, the stork-winged women move by means of their wings and carry something. In the final scene of this vision report (v. 11), however, the stork-winged women set the basket of wickedness in place to be worshipped. How could creatures that serve the Lord prepare a temple for an image? 5:10–11 When Zechariah asks, “Where are they taking the basket?” the interpreting angel/messenger describes the third scene to him. It will take place in the land of “Shinar” (NIV margin). This is an ancient name for ...

4263. Mourning for the One They Pierced

Zechariah 12:10-14

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... the identity of the pierced one. In the NIV translation of verse 10, the one they have pierced is the speaker who says, “They will look on me,” and who is the antecedent of the third-person pronoun in they will mourn for him. Since the Lord is speaking, “me” identifies God as the pierced one. Could the people’s rebellion have hurt God so severely that it could be expressed in this metaphor of stabbing? The description of physical distress in Hosea 11:8c comes close (cf. Simeon’s prophecy to Mary ...

4264. Shining as Stars

Philippians 2:12-18

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... Corinthians in the situation reflected in 2 Corinthians 10:6, they had always shown obedience, not so much to Paul as to the Lord whose apostle he was. If it is felt to be strange that obedience should be mentioned at all in a letter from a friend ... be reviewed. He said, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court” because, as he said “it is the Lord who judges me” (1 Cor. 4:3, 4). Time and again he makes it clear that he will face the day of review with confidence if his converts ...

4265. Thanks for Their Gifts

Philippians 4:10-20

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... little; in fact, he had schooled himself to do so. I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances, he says, supplying the words that John Bunyan expanded in the shepherd boy’s song: I am content with that I have, Little be it or much, And, Lord, contentment still I crave, Because thou savest such. Fullness to such a burden is That go on pilgrimage: Here little, and hereafter bliss, Is best from age to age. “Be content with what you have” (Heb. 13:5) seems to have been a general precept in the ...

4266. Let Us Love One Another

2 John 1:1-13

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... same: “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15); “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me” (John 14:21); “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love” (John 15:10). Not all those who say, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom, but only those who do the will of the Father (Matt. 7:21). While love is defined by walking according to his commands (v. 6a), the heart of all God’s commands is love (v. 6b; Matt. 22:37–40; Rom. 13:8; Gal. 5:14 ...

4267. Worshipping Other Gods

Deuteronomy 13:1-18

Understanding Series

Christopher J. H. Wright

... to purge the evil from among you. It was a self-preserving act of removing a threat to the nation’s health and survival, like a body ejecting a poison. Two further aspects of the offense are specified here. First, the phony prophet preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. This, of course, was the basis on which Israel was commanded to love Yahweh and to have no other gods (5:6f.; 6:20–25). So deliberately going after other gods ...

4268. Abijah King of Judah

1 Kings 15:1-8

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... the pattern for all subsequent Judean kings, who are measured in terms of whether they have been “like David” or not. 15:1–8 Abijam was just as bad as his father and, indeed, his grandfather in his later years: his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God (cf. 11:3). Because of the special place held by David and Jerusalem in God’s affections, however (11:11–13, 31–39; 14:21), the idolatry of Solomon and Rehoboam had not brought upon them the judgment of God that had been expected. It is ...

4269. Famine in Besieged Samaria

2 Kings 6:24-7:2

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... he himself will not eat. Salvation for the people will involve judgment for this one man, for to mock the prophetic word is to mock the LORD. 7:3–11 A leper had first brought the Arameans to Samaria during Jehoram’s reign (2 Kgs. 5:1–7), and four men with ... a consequence of siege in other places in the OT (Deut. 28:53–57; Lam. 2:20; 4:10; Ezek. 5:10). 6:26 Help me, my LORD the king: The plea is directed to the king as the ultimate court of human justice, as in 1 Kgs. 3:16–28, where we also find ...

4270. Amaziah King of Judah

2 Kings 14:1-22

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... we shall not read of another Judean king who is “like David” until we read of Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 18:3; contrast 15:3, 34). There seems to be some doubt in the authors’ minds about the wholeheartedness of the Davidic kings’ commitment to the LORD throughout the period from Joash to Jotham, but they have not revealed to us their reasons for holding this opinion. 14:7–14 Amaziah’s military exploits included a successful campaign against the Edomites in northern Edom (v. 7; cf. the Valley of Salt in ...

4271. Jotham King of Judah

2 Kings 15:32-38

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... right), as the king walks in the ways of the kings of Israel and the high places become centers, not of the worship of the LORD, but of the fertility cult. The language is largely that of 1 Kings 14:23–24, where Judah’s adherence to the fertility cult was ... to expect now, when a Judean once more follows the detestable ways of the nations and when we are reminded, not of the LORD’s promise to David, but of his “driving out” of the nations before the Israelites because of their sins? Is the Davidic ...

4272. The Book of Law Found

2 Kings 22:1-20

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... royal court that was apostate for fifty-seven years and subjected all opposition to a reign of terror should not be aware of the LORD’s demands, and he is not blamed for it. As soon as he was aware of the contents of the book, our authors insist ... NIV footnote). God has noted Josiah’s reaction to the reading of the book of the law, however. Because he has humbled himself before the LORD (Hb. ḵnʿ, v. 19), he will not personally see all the disaster that is to fall on Jerusalem (v. 20). There is to be a ...

4273. The Disciples Confess Jesus as the Messiah

Matthew 16:1-4, Matthew 16:5-12, Matthew 16:13-20

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... the view of Herod Antipas that Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead (14:1–12); here others think the same. Elijah. This identification fits the portrait of Yahweh sending “the prophet Elijah to [Israel] before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes” (Mal. 4:5). Jesus’ activity, possibly his warnings of coming judgment (e.g., 11:20–24; 13:40–43, 49–50), has caused some to identify him with this preparatory figure. For fuller discussion, see comments on 17:12. Jeremiah or one of ...

4274. Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a Peaceable and Humble King

Matthew 20:29-34, Matthew 21:1-11

Teach the Text

Jeannine K. Brown

... went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.” Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem is now nearly complete. 20:30 Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us! These two blind men call Jesus “Son of David” and call out for mercy, as do other ... is more likely, however, that prearrangement of these details is to be inferred. As R. T. France suggests, “The brief formula ‘The Lord needs them’ [21:3] would serve well as an agreed upon password, but would not persuade any but a very gullible ...

4275. The Authority of Jesus over Nature and the Cosmic Powers

Mark 5:1-20, Mark 4:35-41

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

... the man (v. 4), so they are totally shocked at the sight of him sane and at the feet of Jesus (see v. 6). They are so afraid that they beg Jesus to leave their region, lest other things be destroyed as well. 5:19 tell them how much the Lord has done for you. Jesus acquiesces to the plea that he leave, but as he is getting in the boat to return to Galilee, the man begs to be allowed to become one of Jesus’s disciples (Gk. met’ autou, “be with him,” the first step of discipleship in 3 ...

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