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Showing 1001 to 1025 of 1185 results

1001. The Baptism of Jesus

Matthew 3:13-17

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

... the Synoptics the voice from heaven is heard once again at the transfiguration (Matt. 17:5/Mark 9:7/Luke 9:35). The only other occurrence is in John 12:28 following Jesus’ prediction of his death. Rabbinic tradition held that, since the time when prophecy ceased, God spoke only on occasion by a voice from heaven, which they called baṯ qôl (the “daughter of the voice,” that is, “the echo of the Spirit which spoke through the prophets”; cf. Str.-B. vol. 1, pp. 125–34). The quotation (in v. 17 ...

1002. Images of War, the Hunt, False Accusation, and Wild Beasts

Psalm 35:1-28

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... witnesses guilty of betrayal (they repay me evil for good). Their treachery is illustrated by the contrasting responses to each party’s time of need: when they were ill, . . . I went about mourning, but when I stumbled, they gathered and “tore” (lit.) me without ceasing, and gnashed their teeth at me. Here the imagery of the opponents begins to shift to that of lions. (This image may also be echoed in the third cycle: “We have swallowed him up” in v. 25 and “they have widened their mouth over ...

1003. A Tree and Its Fruit

Matthew 7:15-23

Understanding Series

Robert H. Mounce

7:15–20 For several hundred years before the time of Christ it was generally believed that prophecy had ceased. The period between the two Testaments is sometimes called the silent years. With John the Baptist the prophetic voice returned, and in early Christianity prophecy flourished. To the crowd that gathered on the Day of Pentecost, Peter explained that the phenomenon of tongues was the fulfillment of Joel’s promise ...

1004. From the Darkness of the Grave

Psalm 88:1-18

Understanding Series

Craig C. Broyles

... the dead, particularly because they are disqualified from singing the praise of God (vv. 10–12). This last aspect becomes the most horrifying of all: the dead are cut off from Yahweh (v. 5) and from the worship of Yahweh (vv. 10–12) because he ceases to perform saving wonders beyond the boundaries of death (v. 10). The enigmatic phrase I am confined and cannot escape (v. 8b) probably continues to describe the speaker’s condition as one confined to the grave. As one considered dead, he cannot join his ...

1005. Nebuchadnezzer’s Dream of a Tree

Daniel 4:1-18

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... Prayer of Nabonidus it is used of the Jewish healer. In both stories an exiled Jewish person is a miracle worker: Daniel who can interpret dreams; the unnamed diviner (gzr) in the Qumran text. Both have the motif of sin: Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar to cease sinning and to act righteously (Dan. 4:27); in 4QPrNab, Nabonidus testifies that God forgave his sins (in the LXX, Dan. 4:30a has “I prayed concerning my sins in front of the Lord, the God of heaven”). Nebuchadnezzar inscribes a document to publish ...

1006. Daniel in the Den of Lions

Daniel 6:1-28

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... important to remember that the author of this book is more concerned to use Daniel’s story to preach to the people of his day than he is to record history. Consequently, in a sense, it does not matter how serious this temptation to cease praying was in that moment. The Jews under Antiochus IV, and Jews and Christians under later tyrants, would have grasped the message: do not stop practicing your religion, even though it means doing something illegal and threatens you with death. Having resolved to trap ...

1007. Daniel’s Vision of a Man

Daniel 10:1--11:1

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... God’s sovereignty. In fact, the book is permeated with admonitions to choose to obey God, by way of example. Jews should be like Daniel and his friends in keeping the dietary rules (ch. 1). They should not worship images (ch. 3) or cease practicing their religion (ch. 6), even when threatened with death. They should model themselves after the wise, who resist pressure to “forsake the holy covenant” (11:30), choosing to suffer rather than to apostatize (11:32–35). The apocalyptist is setting before ...

1008. Lord of the Sabbath

Mark 2:23-3:6

Understanding Series

Larry W. Hurtado

... suspect that Jesus may have deliberately healed on the Sabbath as a sign of the significance of his works. That is, his healing on the Sabbath linked his miracles with a day that symbolized for ancient Jews the future kingdom of God, when bondage would cease and the time of joy und messianic celebration would begin (see note). His Sabbath healings then were to be seen as foretastes and signs of the kingdom he confidently announced. Further, of course, by healing on the Sabbath Jesus forced people to make a ...

1009. Jesus' Burial

Luke 23:50-56

Understanding Series

Craig A. Evans

... in the area around Jerusalem” (Fitzmyer, p. 1529). 23:55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee: See note on 23:49 above. 23:56 But they rested on the Sabbath: The Sabbath is from sundown (6 p.m.) Friday until sundown Saturday. The command to rest (or cease from work) is found in Exod. 20:10; Deut. 5:12–15.

1010. The Thousand Years

Revelation 20:1-7

Understanding Series

Robert W. Wall

... as Satan’s jailer. In the one hand, it holds the key to the Abyss to lock and seal it over the devil, and in the other a great chain to bind him for a thousand years. His evil influence, which stems from deceiving the nations, has ceased altogether until the close of the thousand-year period when he must be set free for a short time. In keeping with our treatment of Revelation, this fourth vision should not to be understood as the next in a sequence of historical events that follow Christ’s parousia ...

1011. Joab Murders Abner

2 Samuel 3:22-39

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... part in what happened next. 3:22–39 Joab had been absent while these negotiations had been proceeding. The story of his successful raid, in which a great deal of plunder was taken, reminds readers that the struggles against the Philistine enemies had not ceased. Joab’s reaction to David’s having made peace with Abner was shocked horror. Joab saw Abner as his enemy. The rivalry of two skilled generals had been exacerbated by Abner’s having killed Joab’s brother Asahel. Joab could not envisage that ...

1012. Ish-Bosheth Murdered

2 Samuel 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

1013. David's Officials

2 Samuel 8:15-18

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... subdued and often subjugated. Some, like Hamath (a tribe from the northwest of Israel above the Aramean region), who were not defeated in battle, nevertheless brought tribute (v. 9). Edom in the south, Ammon and Moab in the east, and the Arameans in the north ceased to cause any major problems for some time. Not only were Israel’s borders now well protected, but also garrisons were placed at key bases outside, in the north (v. 6) and the south (v. 14). Of course, none of the great powers were interested ...

1014. David Mourns

2 Sam 18:19–19:8

Understanding Series

Mary J. Evans

... , but not enough to lead to open rebellion for its own sake. Joab recognized that Ahithophel’s comments concerning David (17:2) applied equally to Absalom. Any further killing was unnecessary and was likely to prove counterproductive. Therefore Joab called an immediate cease-fire. Verse 18 describes the pillar that Absalom had set up as his own memorial. Apart from a heap of stones piled in the forest, this monument was all that remained to mark Absalom’s potential. David Mourns 18:19–33 Another ...

1015. The End Times

Daniel 12:1-13

Understanding Series

William Nelson

... the vile acts of Antiochus: the taking away of “the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host that will be trampled underfoot” (8:13). Therefore, the question is asking when the persecutions will cease. Similarly, what follows the question in Daniel 12 concerns the demise of Epiphanes: when the one who shatters the power of the holy people will come to an end. As a result, it is better to attribute the “astonishing things” to Antiochus ...

1016. Life Through the Son

John 5:16-30, John 5:1-15

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... rabbis and philosophers over the meaning of the biblical statements that God rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2–3; cf. Exod. 20:11). Their conclusion was that God did not actually stop working after six days, for if he had, the world would have ceased to exist. Instead, he simply ended his work of creation and began his work of sustaining and watching over the world (see, e.g., Philo, Allegory of the Laws I, 5f.). In this sense, God himself breaks the Sabbath. Building on this conclusion, Jesus argues ...

1017. “I Am from Him and He Sent Me”

John 7:25-44

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... of Tabernacles—the pouring of water from the pool of Siloam into a bowl beside the altar in the temple and the lighting of giant lamps in the Court of the Women, respectively (cf. the Mishnah, Sukkah 4.9–5.4). On the last day, when these rituals had ceased, Jesus proclaims himself the true source of water and of light—for Jerusalem and for all the world. In 8:12 he again extends an invitation and a promise, but again the note of hope is submerged in a context of rejection and judgment (8:12–20). The ...

1018. Jesus Prays for All Believers

John 17:20-26

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... ministry is largely negative; only a remnant believed (cf. 1:10–12; 3:19–21; 12:37–43). But one way or another, Jesus will realize his intention: Either the world will believe and know the truth redemptively as the disciples have done already (and in this way cease to be the world), or it will be brought unwillingly to the recognition that it is in the wrong and that Jesus and his disciples are the true messengers of God (cf. 16:8–11). In the latter case, the world is simply a theater for the ...

1019. Listening and Doing

James 1:19-27, James 1:1-18

Understanding Series

Peter H. Davids

... get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent. This clause is negative; the stress of the verse is clearly on the positive (accept the word), but the negative is the necessary prelude. Unless one recognizes sin for what it is, ceases justifying it, and decisively rejects it, further progress is unlikely. Thus in get rid James uses a term for conversion, picturing it like the removal of a soiled garment. The moral filth may be any moral evil, especially greediness. But he focuses on anger, or ...

1020. Shallum King of Israel

2 Kings 15:13-16

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... to the unstable government, implied by 1 Kings 14:15 and illustrated in 1 Kings 14–16, that preceded the houses of Omri and Jehu. That is what we now find. Reigns change in quick succession, as Israel plunges speedily towards its doom. All deliverance has ceased, and judgment lies just around the corner. 15:8–12 Scarcely has Jeroboam’s son Zechariah sat on his throne and repeated the evil of his fathers when he is assassinated. The promise has run its course (v. 12; cf. 2 Kgs. 10:30), and before ...

1021. Menahem King of Israel

2 Kings 15:17-22

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

1022. Pekahiah King of Israel

2 Kings 15:23-26

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

1023. Pekah King of Israel

2 Kings 15:27-31

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

1024. Amon King of Judah

2 Kings 21:19-26

Understanding Series

Iain W. Provan

... Asherah pole) in the temple (vv. 4–5, 7). The LORD of hosts (1 Kgs. 18:15; 19:10; etc.) has thus become merely a god among hosts, with a consort goddess for company, open to manipulation by occult means. It is the religion of a man who has entirely ceased to believe in the one true God—the creator of heaven and earth, transcendent in respect of the natural world (Gen. 1, esp. vv. 14–19; 2:1; cf. Deut. 4:19; 17:3), and beyond all human control. 21:10–18 Twice in the first nine verses we have ...

1025. King Artaxerxes' Letter to Ezra

Ezra 7:11-28

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

... God for the fact that the Persian authorities selected him as special commissioner. He credits it to God’s “steadfast love” (NRSV), that covenant love shown to past generations of believers (our fathers) and now revealed afresh. “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases” (Lam. 3:22, NRSV). Additional Notes 7:1 See the introduction for the vexed issue of the chronology of Ezra. 7:3 The genealogy in 1 Chr. 6:3b–15 lists six more names between Meraioth and Azariah. Some of those extra names ...

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