Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 901 to 925 of 1230 results

Neh 9:38–10:39

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... as governor recorded in chapter 13. This close affinity with chapter 13 suggests that the communal pledge was sworn after the events recorded there; it was the community’s adoption of a codified version of Nehemiah’s ad hoc measures. However, in the ideal presentation offered in the current arrangement of texts, which would serve as a model for the community thereafter, the pledge is put earlier, as a final step in a threefold program of reorientation. As part of this scenario, the people of God were ...

902. The Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 10:1-32

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... spreader of slander—a fool. This is perhaps a rare example of synthetic parallelism in this collection: the dissembler hides hatred by lies; a slanderer is a fool. The parallelism lacks any bite; the text may be corrupt. 10:19 Antithetic. Careful speech is an ideal in all cultures. The value of careful speech and appropriate silence is delineated in Ecclesiastes 9:13–18 and Sirach 20:1–7. Verses 19–21 are unified by the topic of speech. Human nature being what it is, garrulousness leads to all kinds ...

903. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 14:1-35

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... (e.g., 16:12–13), and verse 28 should not be separated from these. 14:29 Antithetic; cf. verse 17a. The quick-tempered (lit. short of wind/spirit), as opposed to the patient, is a frequent topos in the wisdom literature. Self-control is the ideal. In the teaching of Amenemope there is frequent warning about the “heated man” (e.g., chs. 2–4; AEL, vol. 2, p. 150). 14:30 Antithetic. This psychosomatic observation is not unlike verse 29. Envy is too narrow a meaning; rather “passion” or “jealousy ...

904. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 19:1-29

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... even greater social upheavals. On slaves as ruling, see 30:22 and Ecclesiastes 10:7. The saying does not envision a successful servant who rises to the occasion (cf. 17:2). For a lengthy treatment of servants, see Sirach 33:25–33. 19:11 Synonymous with intensification. The ideal of the wise person is to be disciplined, calm, and resist anger (e.g., 14:29; 15:18; 16:32). The presumption is that the offense is not criminal. See 10:12. 19:12 Antithetic. For verse 12a see 20:2. On the power of the king, see ...

905. Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 20:1-30

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... ) of the children. The association between parent and children is expressed also in 13:22; 14:26. Verse 7a can also be translated: “The one who walks in integrity is a just person.” 20:8 The saying characterizes the honest decision-making of an ideal king. Compare verse 26, which mentions winnowing (of wheat from chaff, good from bad) again. 20:9 This question reflects the general biblical sense of human sinfulness. Only the Lord can judge (16:2); see also 15:3, 11 for God’s sharp vision. Despite ...

906. Sayings of King Lemuel

Proverbs 31:1-9

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... alcohol. It should be provided for those who are perishing and in anguish, to help them forget their pitiable condition. The intention seems to proceed from pity, since justice has been insisted upon. 31:8–9 The commands in verses 8–9 return to the ideals of justice expressed in verse 5, especially for those with special needs: (e.g., those who cannot speak for themselves). See Additional Notes. Additional Notes 31:2 Hb. mah (“what”) of the MT has been interpreted as a negative, “No!” and as an ...

907. Let Him Kiss Me

Song of Songs 1:1-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Huwiler

... for her exotic beauty, scorn at her need to work out of doors, or simple curiosity at her difference. The brothers are introduced on a negative note. They were angry and assigned the woman to take care of the vineyards. Although the Song is primarily an idealization of young love, there is this recurrent note of opposition not only from the brothers but also from the city guards (5:7) and unnamed others (8:1). Vineyards (v. 6) is a loaded term. In the simplest, most literal, sense of verse 6d, the woman ...

908. Remember, O Lord, What Has Happened to Us

Lamentations 5:1-22

One Volume

Tremper Longman III

... as he asks God to restore them to the kind of relationship they had in the past (days of old). Of course, the immediate past was a time of rebellion, indeed so was much of the past relationship between God and his people. It is possible that an ideal past is in mind. Another possibility is that the poet has in mind the past when God was simply not punishing them. While the book of Lamentations ends with a question mark, modern readers have the advantage of reading the book from a future standpoint. We know ...

909. A Lament and Call to Repentance

Amos 5:1-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... . 1:16–17; see also Rom. 12:9), they have in mind no set of virtues or standards outside of God. The “good” in Hebrew thought was what Yahweh commanded, and it was good because he commanded it. No ethical code, no set of religious rules, no ideals existed apart from their grounding in the will of God. Life could be had only in relationship with the source of life, and apart from trusting and loving and obedient communion with the Lord, life was impossible. Thus, in the great assize of Matt. 25:31–46 ...

910. Man's Plans and God's

Micah 2:1-5

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... of love, Yahweh loaned the land to Israel to live upon, and all families of the covenant people were to share equally in the benefits of that loving loan (cf. 1 Kgs. 21, esp. v. 3). A family’s land was its inheritance from the Lord, and the ideal was that each person would “sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree” and no one would make them afraid (4:4). Those whom Micah addresses, however, plot how to increase their landholdings, probably by foreclosing on loans (cf. Isa. 5:8) or by corrupt ...

911. Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

Micah 3:1-12

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... , mišpāṭ had a “saving” function, as can be seen in sentences such as, “Judge the fatherless” (Isa. 1:17, Hb.), or “He judged the cause of the poor and needy” (Jer. 22:16 RSV). This “saving” function of a judge was the prophetic ideal (cf. Amos 5:15; Isa. 11:3–5; 61:8). Far from aiding the innocent and punishing the guilty, however, those who were appointed judges in Jerusalem were treating the people like a butcher slaughtering an animal—skinning it and then chopping up its meat ...

912. A Call to Build the House of the Lord

Haggai 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... land and to people earning wages is noteworthy. In a Western context, earning wages is a natural phenomenon. A traditional society such as OT Israel is for the most part not based on the principle of selling one’s labor and it is not a monetary economy. The ideal is for the family to farm its own land and make a little surplus in order to cover needs that it could not meet from its own activity and to lend to families in need (and to pay taxes). But in Haggai’s day neither self-sufficient, subsistence ...

913. The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem

Zechariah 8:1-23

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... and girls to be playing there. The young and the very old and infirm are among the first to fall when cities are occupied and populations are deported. When families are destitute, then every member must work. God promises a restoration of ideal circumstances from the past (Once again). The people who rebuild and resettle Jerusalem will grow old and will see their grandchildren. People in every generation hope to enjoy the blessings of long life and offspring. The least productive members of the household ...

914. The Vision of Obadiah

Obadiah 1:1-21

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... void (cf. Isa. 55:10–11). The Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of God (1:19-21): 19–21 The picture that Obadiah finally paints is that of the kingdom of God come on earth, with a united Israel once again in possession of the whole ideal kingdom from Halah in the north to Edom in the south, from the western coast of Palestine and Syria to the eastern limits of Gilead and Edom beyond the Jordan, verses 19–20. Many of the prophets’ pictures of the glorious future of Israel portrayed the northern ...

915. John the Baptist's Testimony about Jesus

John 3:22-36

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... ’s parable, and John is merely the trusted friend who rejoices when the bridegroom summons him to the festivities (v. 29). As he completes the role of forerunner, John takes on the more modest role of confessor and disciple of Jesus. He becomes a kind of ideal disciple who hears Jesus’ voice (cf. 10:3, 27) and finds his joy made complete (v. 29; cf. 15:11; 16:24). The real answer to the implied question of John’s disciples comes in verse 30. What they see happening in Judea is historically inevitable ...

916. The Death of Lazarus

John 11:1-16, John 11:17-37

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... help) to overcome the false prudence of verse 8 and to respond with courage and good will to the challenge that Jesus puts before them. He neither commends nor rebukes them for their zeal. Thomas’ proposal that they follow Jesus even to death expresses an actual Johannine ideal of faithful discipleship (12:26; cf. 6:52–58), yet it has about it something of the rashness of Peter’s claim after the last supper that “I will lay down my life for you” (13:37). If Jesus had asked Thomas as he asked Peter ...

917. The Impending Departure I

John 14:1-4, John 14:5-14, John 14:15-31

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... questions and answers that comprise most of the farewell discourse and the summary with which it concludes. If 13:36–14:31 is viewed as a farewell discourse complete in itself, verses 25–31 can be regarded as John’s way of making a transition from the idealism of the discourse to the realism of the Passion narrative. The crisis will come in the person of Satan, the prince of this world (v. 30), and Jesus calls the disciples to join in confronting this their greatest foe (Come now; let us leave, v. 31 ...

918. Jesus’ Love and the World’s Hatred

John 15:1-17

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... point, Jesus’ words powerfully reinforce what he had said in 13:17: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” Friendship finds its realization in loving service. Friendship and servanthood are not set against each other as contradicting ideals, for the contrast is used solely to highlight the importance of revelation. The unfulfilled promise of 8:32 is at last coming true—though not for those who first heard it—“you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free ...

919. Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... . 3:20 see E. Stauffer, New Testament Theology, pp. 296, 297. For the heavenly metropolis cf. Gal. 4:25 (“the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother”). For Gentile analogues see Plato, Republic 9.592B (on the pattern of the ideal city laid up in heaven); and Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 3.11 (“dear city of God”). E. Lohmeyer (ad loc.) draws attention to the rhythmic structure of the words beginning we eagerly await a Savior, as though Paul were quoting a Christian hymn or confession ...

920. Thanks for Their Gifts

Philippians 4:10-20

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... of covetousness, against which both Jesus (cf. Luke 12:15) and his disciples uttered solemn warnings, describing a “greedy person” as “an idolater” (Eph. 5:5). The word rendered content (Gk. autarkēs) was current in Stoicism to denote the ideal of the totally self-sufficient person. Paul uses it to express his independence of external circumstances. He was constantly conscious of his total dependence on God. He was not so much self-sufficient as “God-sufficient”: “Our competence comes from ...

921. Walking in the Light

1 John 1:5--2:14, 1 John 2:15-17

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

... Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?”) In fact, the author says that it is one of his purposes in writing (cf. 1:3–4) that the community will not sin, that they will completely reject sin as a way of living. The Christian ideal remains not to sin (John 5:24; 8:11; 1 John 3:6). He calls his readers my dear children (lit., “my little children”). The Greek teknia is a diminutive expressing affection (Marshall, Epistles, p. 115). It also implies parental authority and is complemented by the ...

922. The Table of Nations

Genesis 10:1-32

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... ’s descendants went down to Egypt [46:27; Deut. 32:8]). While there are seventy-one names in this table, most think that the list proper consists of seventy names, given the importance of the number seventy in Hebraic thought. One way to gain this ideal number is by not counting Nimrod, who is a person, not a tribe (Cassuto, From Noah to Abraham, p. 177). Another option is not to count the Philistines, for they are identified in relationship to geography, not by lineage as the other members of the list ...

923. Abram in Egypt

Genesis 12:10-20

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... defined as incestuous in the law (Lev. 18:9, 11)? In answer to this last problem, God had not revealed to Abram the standards of the covenant. Moreover, Abram’s failures, including this one, remind us that Abram was a real person, not a perfect, ideal character such as is found in heroic tales. At times he displayed great courage and acted in bold faith; at other times he succumbed to fear and acted in a weak, self-serving manner. While his failures warn us against stumbling, his journey informs us ...

924. Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

Genesis 19:30-38, Genesis 19:1-29

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... nations, which were to be a thorn in Israel’s side for a large part of its history, were related to Israel through Lot, Abraham’s nephew (Deut. 2:9, 19; 23:3; Ps. 83:6). Lot also confirmed in going to the east that he chose to leave the ideals by which Abraham lived. 19:30–31 With his dreams of becoming a citizen of Sodom shattered and with the loss of his wealth (13:5–6), Lot suffered great trauma. He left Zoar and with his two daughters went to live in a cave in the mountains of Moab ...

925. Isaac and Rebekah

Genesis 24:1-67

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

... Abraham to Isaac, not only for the servant, but also in the unfolding history of God’s people. This beautiful story witnesses to the reciprocity between the servant’s trust in God and God’s directing the flow of events. Not only does the servant find an ideal bride for Isaac, but remarkably she is willing to leave her father’s house for the long journey to Canaan to marry a man she has never met. In so ordering circumstances God shows loyalty and faithfulness to Abraham (vv. 12, 14, 27, 49). A note ...

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