Synonyms: thirstiness, dryness, parched, craving, strong desire, longing, yearning, avidity, hunger, voracity, keenness, eagerness, lust, appetite, passion, love, crave, want, covet, desire, hunger for/after, lust for/after, hanker for/after, have one's heart set on
Antonyms: aversion, distaste, apathy, dislike, hatred, antipathy, disgust, disregard, abhorrence, acrimony, wet, animosity, animus, antagonism, bad feeling, bitterness, be averse to, detestation
Showing 4326 to 4350 of 4959 results
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... turn to seek him. God will allow them some time, so that they will come to the point where they are willing to confess their sins, want to know God, and long to experience his healing (5:15). They must earnestly seek God, acknowledge who God is, and desire to know him so that they can experience the material and spiritual blessings of his coming. Although God wounded them in the past, they can be sure that he will revive the wounded if they seek God. God will leave a blessing (rain and fertility) for his ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... to care for his people by miraculously leading them through the hot and dry Sinai wilderness, giving them more manna and quail than they could eat (Exodus 16; Numbers 11). But when they came into the rich land of Canaan, they had everything one could desire. Although God had warned them not to become proud and forget him (Deut. 8:10–20), they became satisfied with their situation in the land and soon forgot that God gave it all to them. They became proud and self-sufficient and did not think they ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... an internal response of true sorrow and penitence. In the prophetic address to the rebellious community, he adapts an abbreviated version of the formula in Exodus 34:6–7 describing divine attributes (originally recited by the Lord to Moses, who desired to see the presence of God). The formula reveals the inherent character of God, who forgives covenant misconduct and remains faithful to his commitments to Israel. The Lord not only demonstrates forbearance and patience in light of his people’s continual ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... lament that traces the destruction of Jerusalem by the enemy, recalls the pleas of the captives, recounts the Lord’s deliverance, and describes his subsequent victorious battle over the evil nations. 2:18–27 · The jealousy of God provokes his desire for vengeance against the nations who have tormented his people. Deuteronomy describes the Lord’s jealousy as his demand for exclusivity among the Israelites, depicting his wrathful response to the infidelity manifested in idolatry (Deut. 32:16, 21). God ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... 21) provides a good historical example of this type of sin. As happens so frequently in the Prophets, the Lord chooses an appropriate punishment for these greedy and selfish men. It is tit for tat. The evil men plan iniquity; the Lord plans disaster against them. They desire status and riches at the expense of others; the result will be that men will ridicule them. Indeed, their own land will be taken away and given to others, even traitors. The reference in verse 5 may be an allusion to the future exile.
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... inspired blessing when he was paid to curse Israel (Numbers 22–24), and his bringing Israel into the promised land by a miraculous crossing of the Jordan. This leads to God’s instruction to Israel concerning what response he desires from them. How will the Israelites make their relationship with God right again? Micah contrasts external religious acts (sacrifices) with inward religious attitudes (justice, mercy, humility). These verses have been distorted to say that Micah and the prophets in general ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... are occasionally written in the first-person singular, the lament found in Micah 7 is best taken as an example of an individual lament, that is, as the prophet Micah’s mournful cry. Micah paints a dark picture of contemporary society. No one is left who desires to follow God. The only thing the people do well is evil. Micah is exceedingly distressed and likens his own reaction to that of a man who craves grapes and figs but arrives too late in the field to get any. In short, he is bitterly disappointed ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... for his faithful ones makes living by faith a categorical necessity. Having made clear the reasons for his patience with humanity over the long course of history, God now tells Habakkuk plainly that, despite the fact that he will allow the Babylonians’ natural desires to be satisfied in order to bring Judah to judgment, the Babylonians will nevertheless reap the fruit of their unrighteousness (2:6–20). God presents the self-destruction of the Babylonians in a series of pithy taunt songs in the mouth of ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... so as to set upon unsuspecting passersby. Israel’s overconfident enemy, however, will be rudely disappointed. In all of this God’s purpose is to be seen not so much in the fury of nature or in his ferocious assault against the enemy but in his desire to save his people. The term “your anointed” (3:13) has been taken to refer to Israel itself, Israel’s Davidic king, Moses, or the Messiah. The term is not used elsewhere of Israel, however, making those interpretations that take it to refer to some ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... program. All that is false and impure, all that is in opposition to God, will be removed in preparation for the establishment of his kingdom. Here the direct result of this shaking is the filling of God’s house with glory. “What is desired of all nations will come” (2:7) has commonly been understood as a messianic reference. There are, however, compelling grammatical and contextual considerations that lead some translators and commentators to see this as a reference to the great wealth of the nations ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... overtook” them (Zech. 1:6) as a fleeing thief might be apprehended by justice in pursuit. God warns Zechariah’s audience against following the same tragic path, which involved outer conformity to prescribed ritual worship but lacked heart response to God. God desires that they should seek him. Even though the people have been at work on the temple for several months already, they need to be reminded that more than outward obedience is needed. The blessing of God’s personal presence and fellowship is ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.” The knowledge of God is not knowledge about God or secrets pertaining to the priesthood. “Knowledge” is the ability to know and the desire to do the will of God on earth in accordance with his commandment. Knowledge is immensely practical, because it is in essence what could be called “godliness,” “wise living,” or “the way to holiness” (cf. Hos. 4:1, 6). The Lord has ...
4338. Jesus’s Birth
Matthew 1:18-25
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... drawing attention to the situation. Jewish engagements at this time were enacted by a marriage contract, although the wife would not move to her husband’s household until a year after becoming engaged. If a breaking of the engagement was desired, a legal dissolution of the marriage contract was required. This provides the context for Joseph’s plan to “divorce” Mary. (If later rabbinic writings indicate first-century marriage practices, Mary and Joseph were likely in their teens: Mary between the ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... impurity was required before eating. The likely background for this practice is the Old Testament command for priests to wash their hands (and feet) before entering the Tent of Meeting and before offering sacrifices (Exod. 30:17–21). Pharisees desired to bring the rigors of purity rites associated with the temple into everyday experience. Washing their hands before meals would have mirrored priestly temple practices. Jesus’s critique of the Pharisees’ expectation that his disciples follow the oral ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... and hence required not simply healing but divine cleansing (a word that occurs four times here). In desperation, this leper breaks the fifty-pace buffer zone (Luke 17:12) to reach Jesus. Jesus responds not by reviling him but by declaring his desire to cleanse him. In touching the leper, Jesus demonstrates the power of “divine contagion” to heal disease contagion. Jesus sternly commands the cleansed leper to remain silent and to present himself to a priest, whose function it was to render a certificate ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... forgiveness of sins shifts the story abruptly from the paralytic to the scribes. Offended by Jesus’s pronouncement of forgiveness, the scribes accuse Jesus of blasphemy, for only God can forgive sins (Exod. 34:6–7; Ps. 103:3; Isa. 43:25; Mic. 7:18). Desiring the onlookers to know that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (2:10), Jesus provides evidence of forgiveness of sins (which cannot be verified) by healing the paralytic (which can be verified). As in 1:21–28, the authority ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... her act as a sign of faith. Immediately she is healed from her long-incurable disease. Like the man in 3:1–6, in bringing her infirmity to Jesus, she is healed. The woman’s intent to touch Jesus is rivaled by Jesus’s desire, despite the disciples’ remonstrations, to know who touched him. Not content simply to dispatch a miracle, Jesus wants to encounter the woman. For Jesus, miracle must lead to meeting. Jesus’s tender response, “Daughter, your faith has healed you” (5:34), overcomes the woman ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... Antipas’s impotence and by sacrificing the honor of her daughter in order to eliminate the Baptizer. The daughter, whom Josephus identifies as Salome, inflames the celebrities, officials, and leaders of Galilee with an explicit dance at Antipas’s birthday banquet. Desiring to impress his glittering guests, Antipas promises the girl “up to half my kingdom” (6:23) for her performance—a promise that Rome would not possibly allow. At the order of Herodias, the girl requests the head of John. Mark does ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... change” or “transform,” in this instance into dazzling light. The figures of Elijah and Moses, who epitomize the Old Testament prophets and law, appear in audience with Jesus, signifying that the law and prophets lead to and are fulfilled in Jesus. Peter’s desire to erect three “shelters” (9:5) is not as foolish as is often supposed, for the Greek word skēnē,“tabernacle,” recalls the tabernacle in the wilderness erected to the glory of God (Exod. 40:34–36; Tobit 13:11). The cloud that ...
4345. “On the Way” to Jerusalem
Mark 9:33-37, Mark 9:38-41
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... were arguing who was the greatest. The placement of this story after the second passion prediction accentuates the contrast between Jesus and the disciples: he embraces humility, they argue who is greatest; he surrenders his life in service, they desire recognition and distinction. The second passion prediction is thus followed by a second misunderstanding. “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve” (9:35). In sitting and summoning, Jesus assumes the role and authority of a rabbi. “Anyone who wants to ...
4346. Divorce
Mark 10:1-12
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... what grounds. Here opinions varied widely, from conservative rabbis like Shammai, who permitted divorce on the sole ground of adultery, to liberal rabbis like Hillel, who allowed divorce (at least in theory) for virtually any reason. In posing the question, the Pharisees desire both to maintain an easy divorce policy and to catch Jesus in violation of torah. Jesus asks what Moses (i.e., the law) commands (10:3). The Pharisees promptly quote from Deuteronomy 24:1–3, that “a man [may] write a certificate ...
4347. Gethsemane
Mark 14:32-42
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... from God (15:34). “Abba” (14:36; Aramaic “Papa”), an address of God seldom if ever used by rabbis, expresses Jesus’s consciousness of being God’s Son and his intimacy and trust with the Father. “Take this cup from me” reveals Jesus’s human desire to avoid the cross, but his plea is finally resolved in submission to the Father’s will: “Not what I will, but what you will” (14:36). Ironically, at the point where Jesus feels most distant from God’s presence, he is closest to his will ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... and servant. This passage is not teaching that Jesus was adopted as God’s Son, for Luke 1:35 shows that Luke considers Jesus to be God’s Son from the beginning. The inclusion of the genealogy of Jesus (3:23–38) here is explained by Luke’s desire to give Jesus’s ancestry before the onset of his ministry. In addition, there seems to be a link between 3:22 and 3:38, for Luke’s genealogy is distinctive in that it ends not with a human being but with God. Obviously, the genealogy is not attempting ...
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... in and of itself bring a reward; the person who is rewarded is the one who is hated because of his allegiance to “the Son of Man.” Clearly, then, these verses also have a spiritual dimension; Jesus is speaking to his disciples, whose longings and desires will not be fulfilled in this world. This does not mean that the literal meaning of the words should be excluded, but one should not simplistically conclude that all the poor and the hungry of the world are blessed. Jesus is not teaching the virtue of ...
4350. Teachings of Possessions
Luke 12:13-21, Luke 12:22-34
One Volume
Gary M. Burge
... worry, not laziness. Worry is also senseless because it does not accomplish anything (12:25–26). No one can live even a day longer by worrying. The root problem with worry is lack of faith (12:29). It is understandable that pagans are consumed with the desire for security, but believers need to remember that the Father knows what they need (12:30). If believers make the kingdom their consuming passion, then God will take care of other needs (12:31). Disciples, then, are not to fear but to trust God (12:32 ...
Showing results