Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: Levi, disciple, evangelist, tax collector, the 12, the twelve, apostle, sermon on the mount, jewish audience, beatitudes, lord's prayer, great commission, parables, olivet discourse, mount of olives, olivet, synoptic

Showing 1151 to 1175 of 4942 results

1151. The Exodus

Exodus 12:31-42

Understanding Series

James K. Bruckner

The night of the exodus came. After the lengthy plagues, speeches, and extended instructions for the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread observances, the exit began. The second half of Exodus 12 continues to braid together the three themes of the Passover lamb, the death/life of the firstborn, and the necessity of bread without yeast. The narrative describing the beginning of the actual exit from Egypt forms the central panel (D) of the chiastic structure we saw in the previous chapter: C First Passover ...

1152. The Fall of Jericho

Joshua 5:13--6:27

Understanding Series

J. Gordon Harris

The Fall of Jericho: 5:13–15 Once the people are prepared to do battle in the name of the Lord, Joshua meets a mysterious visitor near Jericho (lit. in Jericho). The stranger is a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand (5:13). Joshua reacts like an alert sentry. He calls the man to identify himself: Are you for us or for our enemies? That request is especially relevant for a warrior standing with a drawn sword. The reply of the stranger puzzles interpreters. The NIV translates it, ...

1153. Boaz Marries Ruth

Ruth 4:1-12

Understanding Series

Michael S. Moore

Boaz’s Transaction: 4:1 Boaz does not go directly to Elimelech’s kinsman’s house, nor does he summon him to his own. Instead, he goes to the town gate. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along (lit. “wandered by,” ’abar), Boaz says, Come over here, my friend, and sit down. The narrator portrays this all-important meeting like the chance meeting of Ruth and Boaz in 2:3, but events only seem to happen by chance in Ruth. Boaz’s patient anticipation at Bethlehem’s gate contrasts sharply with the ...

1154. Opposition to the Rebuilding

Nehemiah 4:1-23

Understanding Series

Leslie C. Allen

Hurdles to Get Over: This section deals with a cluster of obstacles that had to be overcome. It is closely tied into the pattern of opposition we have already observed. Strictly speaking, verses 1–5 round off chapter 3: progress in wall building was countered by enemy opposition triggered by news of it (heard), which in turn was checked by a response from Nehemiah. Verses 6–9 reproduce this pattern of chess-like moves on a smaller scale. Verses 10–23 loosely continue the theme of overcoming obstacles. The ...

1155. Triumph of the Jews

Esther 9:1-19

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

The Victory of the Jews: The ninth chapter of Esther recounts the events that ensured Jewish victory. It begins with an emphasis on a particular day: On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar—a date that chillingly recalls the events in chapter 3 that led to this crisis. This chapter is about this day (and the next), about the victory the Jews achieved over those who hated them, and about the rest that followed. These events provide the etiology of the Jewish festival of Purim. Much of ...

1156. Drought, Famine, Sword

Jeremiah 14:1--15:21

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

The Drought (14:1-10): Boda (“From Complaint to Contrition: Peering through the Liturgical Window of Jer 14, 1–15, 4,” ZAW 113 [2001], pp. 186–97) has persuasively argued that the unit 14:1–15:4 reflects a transformation from lament to penitential prayer. He believes that the chapter reflects a public liturgy led by Jeremiah to unsuccessfully avert God’s coming judgment anticipated by a drought. While there are debates whether 14:1–16 and 14:17–15:4 are connected, he rightly points to the allusion to ...

1157. Judgment Against Israel

Hosea 5:1-15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

God’s Absence (5:1-7): In this oracle, Hosea describes the deeds of his three addressees in the exact reverse of their order in verse 1a–c. First, he tells of the murderous ways of the royal house, verses 1e–2a. Then he discusses the captivity of the Israelites to a spirit of harlotry, verses 3c–5. Finally, he turns to the cult where the priests officiate, verses 6–7b. And after each description, the punishment for such ways is stated, verses 2b, 5b–c, and 7c–d. The oracle holds together in a unified form ...

1158. A Call to Repentance

Joel 1:13-20

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

A Call to the Priests: This entire section, which may be divided into five strophes (vv. 13, 14, 15–16, 17–18, 19–20) is directed at the priests in the Jerusalem temple, for if communion with God has been lost in Judah, the priests are those primarily responsible. 1:13 It was the priests’ duty in biblical Israel to teach and maintain their people in the ways of the Torah. But that did not mean simply teaching the people the law. Rather, the priests were responsible for preserving and handing on to the ...

1159. The Nations Judged

Joel 3:1-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

God’s Case against the Foreign Nations (3:1-8): 3:1–3 The NIV has eliminated two important words in the translation of verse 1. In the Hebrew, the verse begins, “For behold,” which not only connects this passage with the preceding poem, but also emphasizes the content of verses 1–4. In 2:28–32, Joel has announced those signs that will precede the coming of the day of the Lord. He now tells what will happen at the time of the day itself. When the day comes, God will save Israel (v. 1) but will gather ...

1160. Jonah Flees from the Lord

Jonah 1:1-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

The Command and the Flight (1:1-3): 1:1–3 The NIV has omitted several rhetorical devices in these first three verses that are significant for an understanding of Jonah. Verse 1:1 begins with way e hî, which may be translated, “Now it came to pass,” or simply “Now.” The word is a sure indication that what follows is a story or narrative (cf. MT of Josh. 1:1; Judg. 1:1). Verse 2 begins with “arise” (RSV; NIV: go; qûm), and this verb is repeated at the beginning of verse 3: “But Jonah rose (qûm) to flee to ...

1161. Weeping and Mourning

Micah 1:8-16

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

The Prophet’s Lament over Samaria (1:8-9): 1:8–9 Micah now breaks into a lament over the destruction of Samaria that he has announced. Because of this, because the northern kingdom will be destroyed, he must mourn Israel’s fate, stripping himself of his usual clothing, walking about barefoot, as was the custom in grief (cf. Isa. 20:2; 2 Sam. 15:30), and crying out with howls like those of jackals at night or with screeches like those of ostriches. (The NIV improperly reads jackal, singular, and has owl ...

1162. Woe to Nineveh

Nahum 3:1-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Yahweh Confronts the Bloody City: Chapters 1 and 2 only hinted at the reasons for Yahweh’s anger, but the opening and close of chapter 3 are more concrete. Here Yahweh speaks all through the chapter. Yahweh confronts the city because it is responsible for the deaths of so many people as a result of its desire to accumulate wealth, which has led it into empire-building and war-making. Its apparent strength will not save it. 3:1–4 Woe is an over-translation; the Hebrew hoy resembles English “Oh,” which we ...

1163. Warnings and Exhortations for Jerusalem and Judah

Zephaniah 2:4-7, Zephaniah 2:8-11, Zephaniah 2:12, Zephaniah 2:13-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

Declarations Concerning Other Peoples—and Jerusalem: The main part of this section comprises four declarations about different nations. They vary considerably in form and thus look like prophecies of separate origin that have been brought together here to form a sequence. As a result, they offer a survey of the surrounding nations, like the surveys found in Isaiah and Amos, but briefer. Zephaniah began with the world as a whole (1:2–3a) and then moved to the implications for Judah (1:3b–18). He follows the ...

1164. The Gold Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees

Zechariah 4:1-14

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

Vision Report: Golden Oil: 4:1 An interval during which Zechariah was not alert ends when the angel who talked with him returned and wakened him. After his experience in the divine council Zechariah had not been asleep, but the angel/messenger had to rouse him forcibly, as a man is wakened from his sleep. 4:2–5 In this fifth vision, Zechariah saw a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top. Excavations have discovered pottery versions of this sort of lamp stand in which a tubular base supports a ...

1165. The Lord Comes and Reigns

Zechariah 14:1-21

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

The Lord Will Reign: Zechariah 13:7–9 prophesied eschatological death, destruction, survival, answered prayer, and renewed covenant in familiar language. In the final chapter of Zechariah the same story includes bizarre images that describe the overthrow of the world as we know it. There is no clear chronological arrangement of the material in Zechariah 9–14, but this chapter brings us to the consummation of the book’s eschatology. The Creator will reshape the creation and will rule from Jerusalem as king ...

1166. The Vision of Obadiah

Obadiah 1:1-21

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

Pride Brought Low (1:1-4): Edom enjoyed natural fortifications. Its highlands rose southeast of the Dead Sea in three great steps of sandstone cliffs to a height of more than 5,000 feet. A maze of mountains, cliffs, chasms, rocky defiles, and stony plateaus, with arable land mostly on the east and in its wider defiles, Edom was easily defended. In Obadiah’s time, it was densely populated, with abundant water in its gorges and ample food for all. It thought itself secure and independent, superior to its ...

1167. Jesus Changes Water to Wine

John 2:1-11

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The journey home to Galilee is not described. The writer focuses instead on a single incident that took place after the group arrived. Debates about whether one could reach Galilee from Bethany in two days are pointless, first, because the exact location of Bethany is unknown (see note on 1:28), and second, because the phrase on the third day could sometimes be used to express a short indefinite period of time (like “a couple of days” in colloquial English). Strictly speaking, the phrase means “the day ...

1168. Jesus Clears the Temple

John 2:12-25

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

Jesus’ first visit to Jerusalem, like each of his subsequent visits, takes place in connection with one of the Jewish feasts. He comes as a pilgrim, to keep the Passover Feast. In particular, the wording of verse 13 corresponds closely to that of 11:55, which signals the last Passover and the beginning of Jesus’ Passion. When the notice here in chapter 2 is followed by an account of the temple cleansing, an event associated in the other Gospels with the Passion week, it appears that this first Passover is ...

1169. Spiritual Blindness

John 9:35-41

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

To complete the story, it remained only for the former blind man to meet Jesus in person. Like a shepherd looking for his lost sheep, Jesus took the initiative in this reunion. He found the man after his expulsion from the synagogue (v. 35), just as he had earlier found the sick man in the temple after the healing at Bethesda (cf. 5:14). He merely warned the sick man he had healed against further sin, but here he makes a serious attempt to elicit faith: Do you believe in the Son of Man? This is the only ...

1170. The Shepherd and His Flock

John 10:1-21

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The brief exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees in 9:39–41 is only the beginning of a discourse extending (with one interruption) through most of chapter 10. The pattern found in chapters 5 and 6, a miracle followed by a discourse interpreting it, is maintained here as well. What chapter 10 interprets, however, is not the healing of the blind man as such but the events that followed the healing, that is, the former blind man’s expulsion from the synagogue and his confession of faith in Jesus. Two ...

1171. Crucified, Dead, and Buried

John 19:17-27, John 19:28-37, John 19:38-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

The mention of the soldiers by the NIV in verse 16b makes the natural and probably correct assumption that it was the Roman soldiers of verse 23 who took charge of Jesus. Though the verb took charge is, strictly speaking, used impersonally (i.e., “they” took charge of Jesus, or Jesus “was taken into custody”; see the first note on 18:28), its close link with verse 16a suggests the continuing involvement of the chief priests (and their officials) in all that happened. Clearly, they are present, as is Pilate ...

1172. The Third Appearance

John 21:1-14

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

In contrast to a series of careful time designations reaching back at least to 19:14 (“it was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour”) and continuing through 19:31, 42; 20:1, 19, 26 (“the day of Preparation,” “the Jewish day of Preparation,” “early on the first day of the week,” “on the evening of that first day of the week,” “a week later”) the account of Jesus’ last resurrection appearance begins with the vague expression afterward (v. 1; cf. 5:1; 6:1; 7:1). How long after, we are ...

1173. Test the Spirits

1 John 4:1-6

Understanding Series

Thomas F. Johnson

In a style typical of the Elder, a subject introduced at the end of the previous section (the Spirit, 3:24) becomes the main issue at the beginning of the next. Throughout 4:1–6 the Elder is concerned to help his readers correctly discern truth from error (4:6b) and true prophetic speaking (4:2) from false (4:1a, 3). This effort is part of the writer’s larger project to strengthen the Johannine Christians and to assure them of their right standing with God (4:4, 6) in the face of the continuing attacks on ...

1174. Cain and Abel

Genesis 4:1-26

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

Cain Slays Abel and Lamech Boasts: The first siblings are unable to live in harmony. Hatred propels Cain to murder his own brother. The tragic, brute power of sin also finds expression in Lamech’s boasting song, in which he brazenly gloats over a wanton killing while pronouncing threats against others. These incidents illustrate how Adam and Eve’s disobedience unleashed sin as a destructive power in society and brought death into the world. This chapter has four parts: the births of Cain and Abel (vv. 1–2a ...

1175. The Covenant of Circumcision

Genesis 17:1-27

Understanding Series

John E. Hartley

The Covenant of Circumcision: A year before the birth of the promised son, Yahweh strengthens the relationship with Abram by renewing their covenant. Covenant is central to this narrative: “my covenant” occurs nine times (vv. 2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 19, 21) and “covenant” four times (vv. 7, 11, 13, 19). The use of the word “everlasting” captures God’s firm resolution to establish a people through Abram. That word occurs three times with covenant (vv. 7, 13, 19) and once with possession (v. 8). Here God ...

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