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Showing 1326 to 1350 of 4943 results

1326. Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help

Esther 4:1-17

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... the decision as her own and emerges as a leader in her own right. It is she who “commands” Mordecai and the Jews how to prepare for a counter-scheme that only she knows (vv. 16–17). Esther’s Jewishness has been a secret, and she will continue to keep this identity secret. In this chapter, though, she resolves to be an active, loyal Jew. Her first responses to Mordecai indicate that she has not yet fully identified with her people. When she hears of the plot, she apparently assumes that she will be ...

1327. The King's Edict in Behalf of the Jews

Esther 8:1-17

Understanding Series

Timothy S. Laniak

... could not go to the king unbidden. But, having succeeded in that first breach of protocol, she is about to ask the king to do the “impossible,” to change unchangeable law (e.g., 1:19). The king extended the gold scepter (v. 4), a sign of his continued favor on her behalf. Esther increases her deference toward her king and husband: “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, . . .” The first phrase is a ...

1328. More Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 26:1-28

Understanding Series

Roland E. Murphy

... verse cannot be translated with any certainty. The NIV compares to a careless archer anyone who will hire a fool or a mere transient. See the Additional Notes. 26:11 See 2 Peter 2:22. This explicit comparison underscores the failure of fools to learn; they merely continue in their folly. 26:12 Self-deception (to be wise in one’s own estimation) is in a sense the greatest folly (and even the “wise” should be aware of it! cf. v. 16a; 28:11a). The blindness of such a person is simply incorrigible. The ...

1329. Jerusalem Under Siege

Jeremiah 6:1-30

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... with God pronouncing the results. They are hardened rebels. Therefore, they are base metals, bronze and iron, described as the “dross of silver” in Ezekiel 22:17–22. As the refining continues, it is impossible to separate the wicked people out from the righteous and therefore they are all rejected silver, worthy only to be discarded. The text does not specify the process by which Jeremiah is to accomplish his refining work. It is possible that this is done by his preaching. ...

1330. Sin and Punishment

Jeremiah 8:4--9:26

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... the light of the fact that they have set up false gods in his place. Immediately following this quotation of God comes another word from the people: time has passed (harvest summer) and rescue still has not come. Indeed, because of their sin, their sufferings would continue for years to come. Jeremiah responds to it all. He identifies with the people. He again uses the pervasive theme of Judah as a wounded person who needs a doctor (see M. L. Brown, Israel’s Divine Healer, pp. 191–95). He is crushed as ...

1331. Drought, Famine, Sword

Jeremiah 14:1--15:21

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... points to the allusion to drought, the major subject of the first pericope, in 14:22b, to show that the two sections are united. The two sections have a similar structure since both begin with a statement about a disaster (14:2–6; 14:17–18) and then continue with a communal lament (14:7–9; 14:19–22). After this, each ends with a proclamation of judgment (14:10; 15:2b) followed by a “prose dialogue between prophet and Yahweh” (14:11–16; 15:1–2a, 3–4). 14:1–10 The passage begins (v. 1 ...

1332. Day of Disaster

Jeremiah 16:1--17:18

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... throw fire down from heaven on Mount Carmel may also be explained by this mourning ritual (1 Kgs. 18:28). A New Exodus after a Double Judgment (6:14-21): It could be that the oracle that begins in verse 14 and includes verse 15 is a continuation of the thought of the previous unit (it begins with laken, translated however by the NIV, but it could also be translated “therefore”). We will treat it as part of a complex that comprises the second half of the chapter. In our analysis, verses 14–15 envision ...

1333. Judgment Against Evil Kings

Jeremiah 22:1-30, Jeremiah 23:1-8

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... he died. It is from Kings that we characteristically hear that he “did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as his fathers had done” (2 Kgs. 23:32). We are not given the details, though the presumption is that he allowed illegitimate religious practices to continue. The Jeremiah passage confirms the historiographic tradition when it tells us that he was taken away and died in the place of his exile. 22:13–23 In 609 B.C. Neco removed Jehoahaz from the throne, presumably because like his father he was pro ...

1334. The Fall of Jerusalem

Jeremiah 39:1-18

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... of the name as Nebo-Sarsekim has just been confirmed by the discovery of a cuneiform tablet in the British Museum (July 2007 by the Assyriologist Michael Jursa), which mentions him as the “chief eunuch of Nebuchadnezzar. The details of this list continue to escape the modern reader. However, the gist is clear. Leading Babylonian officials are now in charge of the city. 39:10 There is considerable scholarly debate at present about the extent of the exile. Some texts, including this one, would lead ...

1335. A Message About Moab

Jeremiah 48:1-47

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... call goes out to put salt on it. This was both a symbolic act of complete devastation as well as a method of keeping the ground from producing crops. See the similar action by Abimelech after he took the city of Shechem (Judg. 9:45). 48:10 The oracle continues with a curse on those commissioned by the Lord to execute his violent judgment against Moab but who refuse to do so. We are not to think that the Babylonians and others were slow to attack their enemy, but this curse is a way of expressing God’s own ...

1336. The Charge Against Israel

Hosea 4:1-19

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... people, any more than many clergy in our day have taught it from the Scriptures. 4:7–10 The logic of the passage continues in verses 7–10, which further spell out the Lord’s judgment on the priests. In verse 6e, God says, he will also ... of the MT. Israel’s Enslavement to Sin (4:11-19): 4:11–12 The NIV has read all of verse 11 as a continuation of verse 10, adding the second preposition to in order to maintain the connection. In the Hebrew, “to harlotries” (NIV: prostitution) at the beginning ...

1337. God’s Love for Israel

Hosea 11:1-11

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... goes far beyond all legalistic reckoning to find its essence in the deepest devotion—as we have said before, in the love of an obedient son for his father, or in the love of a faithful wife for her husband. Further, God’s love for his people has been shown continually in God’s ongoing education of them. Such is the meaning of the calling of Israel in verse 2. God’s love for his people has included his nurture of them through the words of prophets and priests (cf. Isa. 1:2; 30:9; Jer. 3:14, 19, 22; 4 ...

1338. Israel Will Rise

Micah 7:8-13

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... passage, which in its tone so much resembles songs of trust found in the Psalter (cf. Ps. 4; 11; 16; 23; 27:1–6; 52; 131), should not be interpreted apart from what has gone before in 6:1–7:7. The setting of the court case (6:1–8) continues. Israel has been indicted (6:1–8); its sins, specified by the sins of Jerusalem, have been set forth (6:9–16); Jerusalem has recognized and lamented those sins (7:1–7) and turned to Yahweh as its only possible savior (7:7). And in that turning lies Jerusalem ...

1339. Habakkuk’s Prayer

Habakkuk 3:1-19

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... ’s coming has not silenced him, but it has alarmed him and encouraged him. The world is in turmoil; Habakkuk is now consumed by turmoil of his own at the prospect of what Yahweh intends to do to resolve the world’s turmoil. He expects that situation to continue. But at the same time he comes near to silence in declaring his commitment to “settling down” in the midst of all this turmoil as he awaits the act that corresponds to the vision, as Yahweh had urged (2:3). 3:17–19 Habakkuk’s last verses ...

1340. 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

... as in Habakkuk 2:18–20 it has a place in the midst of the declaration. The rhetorical significance of this placement will become clearer at 3:1 (see the comment below). There the “Woe” will encourage us to read 3:1 in continuity with what precedes (and then to find ourselves mistaken). Here it marks a transition from speaking about the Philistines to (rhetorically) addressing them. One could imagine the prophet, who is directly addressing people in Jerusalem, shouting to the far-off Philistines and ...

1341. A Call to Build the House of the Lord

Haggai 1:1-15

Understanding Series

John Goldingay

... people’s neglect of Yahweh’s house while their own houses are in good shape, and their economic difficulties. You expected much. They had good reason to do that. Prophecies such as those in Isaiah 40–55 had encouraged them to do so. The sentence continues, but see, it turned out to be little. Their experience in the land was nowhere near as wonderful as one would have expected in light of such promises. Wherever people looked, there was disappointment. Haggai’s explanation is the fact that they were ...

1342. Judgment on Israel's Enemies

Zechariah 9:1-8

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... population of Jerusalem whom David incorporated into Judah (cf. Amos 1:8b). The site of the temple was purchased from the Jebusite, Araunah (1 Sam. 24:16–18). 9:8 The passage reaches its goal in Jerusalem, at God’s house. The Lord continues to speak in the first person, “I will encamp (wekhaniti) at my house because of an army (mitsabah)” (the NIV paraphrases this first sentence). This promise reverses the threat against Jerusalem in Isaiah 29:3, “I will encamp (wekhaniti) against you all around ...

1343. Jesus Talks with a Samaritan Woman

John 4:1-26, John 4:27-38, John 4:39-42

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... water is itself the metaphor for life. The Spirit is the one who “gives life” (6:63; cf. 1 Cor. 15:45). Spirit baptism is an impartation of life, the beginning of a new creation (20:22; cf. Gen. 2:7). Jesus’ ministry is more than merely a continuation of John’s. Whatever baptizing activity Jesus may have carried on in Judea is of secondary importance and is now behind him. His real work is not to baptize in water but to do what John had predicted he would do: baptize in the Holy Spirit. The metaphor ...

1344. The Healing at the Pool

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

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... ), pp. 142–47; J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem as Jesus Knew It (London: Thames & Hudson, 1978), pp. 95–104. 5:3 At the end of this verse, a number of manuscripts add the words “and they waited for the moving of the waters.” Of these, there are some that continue with the words “From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had” (NIV margin). These additions were made by scribes ...

1345. The Shepherd and His Flock

John 10:1-21

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... relationship to God but also the stubborn fact that he has given sight to the blind (v. 21). The issue raised by the blind man himself in the preceding chapter is still very much alive (9:32–33). Both the words and the works of Jesus continue to challenge his audience and force them toward decision. Additional Notes 10:3 His own sheep: Some have argued from this phrase that sheep belonging to several shepherds or owners are grouped in one sheepfold. But the phrase “the shepherd of his sheep” in v. 2 ...

1346. Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

John 13:1-17, John 13:18-30

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... 10:16; Matt. 18:5). All of this suggests that, in washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus is preparing them for a mission to the world. Their servanthood to one another (v. 14) is not an end in itself but a means toward the greater end of continuing and extending Jesus’ own mission. Far from being merely parenthetical, verses 16 and 20 are crucial to the understanding of verses 1–20 as a whole. This will become clear as Jesus explains more fully in his farewell discourses the significance of what he has ...

1347. Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:1-5, John 17:6-19, John 17:20-26

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... of the chapter. The point of the transition is not to distinguish between the two groups in any sharp way or to assert specific things about one that are not true of the other. On the contrary, the purpose of verses 20–23 is to affirm continuity from one generation of disciples to the next. In general, it makes little difference whether any particular statement appears before or after verse 20. If there is a development in the petition, it has to do with the relationship of Jesus’ disciples to the world ...

1348. The Second Appearance and Its Sequel

John 20:19-23, John 20:24-31

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... . 6:63: “the Spirit gives life”). The Spirit, depicted in the farewell discourses as a person (“the Counselor,” 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7) is here seen as the divine power by which the disciples will be enabled to complete their mission, that is, to continue the work of Jesus himself (cf. Paul’s allusion to Gen. 2:7: “So it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being,’ ” to which he adds, “the last Adam, [i.e., Jesus] a life-giving spirit,” 1 Cor. 15:45). Specifically, the work ...

1349. Imitating Christ's Humility

Philippians 2:1-11

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... . It may well be that, in a meeting of the church, the first mention of the name of Jesus was greeted by marks of homage—the bending of knees in his honor and the confession of his lordship. The congregation thus reflected on earth the continual worship presented in heaven. But the confidence is expressed that this worship is destined to be yet more widespread—that even those who at present refuse to acknowledge, by action or word, that Jesus is Lord, will one day render that acknowledgment. There is no ...

1350. Pressing on Toward the Goal

Philippians 3:12-4:1

Understanding Series

F. F. Bruce

... , against ascetics on the one hand, who would have liked to forbid marriage (1 Cor. 7:1), and against libertines on the other hand, whose slogan was “everything is permissible” (1 Cor. 6:12). The grace of God is received in vain equally by those who continue to live under law and by those who think they should “go on sinning so that grace may increase” (Rom. 6:1). In verses 18 and 19 Paul is concerned about people who took the latter line, in practice and teaching alike. Christ endured the cross ...

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