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Matthew 1:1-17

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... ) for specific purposes. Matthew indicates at 1:17 that the reader is to hear three movements of fourteen as important. The genealogy begins with Abraham, signaling the origins of Israel as a people. The first grouping ends (and the second begins) with David, the prototypical king of Israel. The second grouping ends (and the third begins) with the time of exile to Babylon, highlighting that time in Israel’s history when there was no king in Israel and the people were exiled from the land. An exilic motif ...

77. Jesus’s Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

Matthew 27:27-31, Matthew 27:32-44, Matthew 27:45-56, Matthew 27:57-61, Matthew 27:62-66

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... (cf. Matthew 1–4), anticipating the day when God will vanquish all enemies, including death. It is as if, with the raising of these holy ones, resurrection spills over into human experience prior to Jesus’s own resurrection—the first and prototypical resurrection: “With the death of Jesus history has begun its final rush to the eschatological denouement” (Nolland, 1214). The final response to Jesus’s death and its accompanying signs comes from the Roman guards, who exclaim, “Surely he was the ...

78. The Man of Lawlessness

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

One Volume

Gary M. Burge

... of God or the church, as neither could be described as a place where this figure declares himself to be god over all other deities. Alternatively, Paul may have in mind the imperial cult that flourished in Thessalonica during this period and that served as the prototype for the event Paul describes in this passage. In this case, we could translate 2:4b “in the temple of the god,” that is, of the one who calls himself god. The Thessalonians should have remembered this teaching (2:5). Again and again the ...

79. The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

Luke 1:5-25

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... 12) but finds expression in rabbinic writings as well: m. ‘Eduyyot 8.7; Pesiqta Rabbati 4.2; 33.8; Seder Eliyyahu Zuta 1 (169); Sipre Deut. 342 (on 33:2); Midrash Psalms 3.7 (on 3:6). Talbert (pp. 27–30) suggests that Luke presents the Baptist as a “prototype of the Christian evangelist.” He cites Luke 1:14–17, 57–80; 3:1–20; 7:24–35. 1:15 He is never to take wine or other fermented drink: Abstinence from alcoholic beverages is the main requirement of the Nazirite vow (see Num. 6:3; Judg. 13 ...

80. The Crucifixion

Luke 23:26-43

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... 69:22). These allusions would indicate that Jesus’ experience parallels the experience of the righteous sufferer of the Psalms. Moreover, since these Psalms were attributed to David (see their superscriptions) allusion to them would only underscore Jesus’ relationship to King David, the prototype of the coming Messiah. In v. 35 the people are to be understood as the Jews. Their rulers jeer at Jesus; if he were truly the Messiah then he could save himself as he supposedly had saved others. Likewise in v ...

81. Righteousness Through Faith

Romans 3:21-31

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... over sin indefinitely. This introduces Paul’s second understanding: animal sacrifice had a proleptic function; it was a harbinger of a final sacrifice which would remit the full consequences of sin. It is hardly surprising that early Christianity saw in such imagery the perfect prototype of “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). 3:26 God’s righteousness is revealed in two ways in verses 25–26. In the past it was revealed in forbearance by “leaving sins committed ...

82. Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:1-14

Understanding Series

James R. Edwards

... ’s resurrection, for his resurrection is unique, for death no longer has mastery over him (v. 9). The death and resurrection of Christ resound like a trumpet blast through the corridors of time— once for all . Not even the raising of Lazarus (John 11) is a prototype of Christ’s resurrection, for Lazarus died again. Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the eternal God. Because he lived for God he did not live for self; because he did not live for self he knew no sin; because he knew no sin death held ...

83. The Ark in Ashdod and Ekron

1 Samuel 5:1-12

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... in the heart of his own territory, whereas the Lord is powerful everywhere. The irony is clear—the ark of God had been placed beside Dagon, as if to indicate worship, but Dagon is found first fallen on his face before Israel’s God in the prototypical worship position and then broken. R. P. Gordon (1 and 2 Samuel: A Commentary, p. 92) picks up the humorous element in the text when he pictures Dagon as “turned into Humpty Dumpty,” but the outbreak of painful tumorous boils would have been far from ...

84. Paul's Vision and His Thorn

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Understanding Series

James M. Scott

... speaks here of visions and revelations in the plural, we are reminded that in merkabah mysticism the ascent to heaven was made during the lifetime of the mystic (i.e., not just after death!) and could be repeated numerous times. Moses’ revelatory experience provides the prototype of repeated entrance into the presence of God. According to the book of Acts, Paul received a number of visions (cf. Acts 9:12; 16:9–10; 18:9–10; 22:17–21; 23:11; 27:23–24). The genitive “of Christ” (from the Lord ...

85. Suffering for Doing Good

1 Peter 3:8-22

Understanding Series

Norman Hillyer

... both of v. 18 and v. 22. Spirits in prison: According to the book of Enoch, popular in Peter’s day, these spirits were patrons of powerful kings of the earth and as such promoted heathenism. Their punishment in the Flood was considered the prototype of the coming judgment of all heathen rulers who oppressed the people of God. “This judgment wherewith the [imprisoned] angels are judged is a testimony for the kings and mighty ones who possess the earth” (1 Enoch 67:12). The tradition, based on Gen ...

86. Jeroboam Rebels Against Solomon

1 Kings 11:26-40

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... case, however, a knowledge of OT texts about the temple and its worship is important if we are to understand much of what the NT has to say about Christ and his church, particularly in both Hebrews and Revelation, which develop the idea of the heavenly temple that is both prototype of the earthly temple (e.g., Heb. 8:3–5) and its eschatological fulfillment (Rev. 3:12; 7:9–11; 11:19; 15:5–8; 21:22).

87. Solomon's Death

1 Kings 11:41-43

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

88. Army Divisions

1 Chronicles 27:1-15

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

... the Levite (generic) functions are described. Since these chapters deal so explicitly with the divisions within the cultic community, we should pause for a moment to reflect on the factors that could have motivated the construction of such a prototype and could have contributed to such a process of intragroup self-categorization. The establishment of a separate province of Yehud during the Persian period and the shifting of the administrative center back to Jerusalem from Mizpah brought a new sociopolitical ...

89. Officers of the Tribes

1 Chronicles 27:16-24

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

90. The King's Overseers

1 Chronicles 27:25-34

Understanding Series

Louis C. Jonker

91. King Artaxerxes' Letter to Ezra

Ezra 7:11-28

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... the same document from the temple archives was used in both writings. The descending genealogy preserved in Chronicles is here turned into an ascending one so as to focus on ancestry rather than descent. In its present form it is even more selective than the prototype, skipping six names in the middle. Whereas 1 Chronicles 6:14 continues the listing to Jehozadak, the exiled son of the last high priest before the exile, this list begins with his father Seraiah. We recall from Ezra 3:2, 8; 5:2 that Jehozadak ...

92. A Prophecy Against Egypt

Isaiah 19:1-25

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... the feebleness of Egyptian wisdom. Pharaoh thought he had a corps of skilled political advisers. They told him that was what they were. They had wisdom collected over the centuries. Israel knew it well. At least one section of Proverbs was adapted from an Egyptian prototype, the Thirty Sayings in Proverbs 22:17–24:22. In the conviction that all truth is God’s truth, Israel was quite open to learning from the culture and religion of other peoples where that could fill out and fit with what they knew of ...

93. Close Calls

Mark 4:35-41

Sermon

Ron Lavin

... we will ever know. To see what I mean, consider interpreting this scripture story with another scripture story. Consider the story of Job, in many respects, a parallel story to the apostles in an unstable little boat in chaotic waters. Generally speaking, Job is a prototype of unjust suffering. After all, he was a good man, trying to follow God in every way. Then whoosh, like a storm, life came tumbling in on his head. A man of God doing his duty should be rewarded with blessings on blessings, right? But ...

The act of birth is the first experience of anxiety, and thus the source and prototype of the affect of anxiety.

Sigmund Freud

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