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 2451 to 2475 of 2815 results
Understanding Series
Cheryl A. Brown
... they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers did. Perhaps God was looking not for further proof of their disobedience but for their repentance, their turning back to him. The picture of God calls to mind Jesus’ parable of the gracious father (Luke 15:11–32); God was ever waiting to welcome them home into fellowship with him, ever holding out the hope that this testing would produce positive results. 3:1–6 The chapter division artificially separates the beginning verses of ...
Understanding Series
Leslie C. Allen
... God to vindicate him by providentially punishing these Samarian officials and the local prophets, who had evidently played the same sort of game as their colleague Shemaiah. By this means justice would be done—such justice as the widow persistently pleaded for in the parable of Luke 18:1–8. 6:15–16 Nehemiah could now proudly announce the completion of the wall, presumably including the doors (v. 1; 7:1). It was a red-letter day, probably in early October 445. The extensive repair work, probably begun ...
Understanding Series
Roland E. Murphy
... The homestead itself (including the servants) will have plenty to live on (v. 27). This passage is very detailed, when one considers the brief references to farming in 10:5; 12:10–11; 24:27; 28:19. It is less likely that we have here a parable (see Van Leeuven [Context]) about the king’s care for his people. Additional Notes 27:9 V. 9b is also ambiguous in that the Hb. preposition min can be translated as indicating source (see NIV, springs from) or comparison (“better than one’s own counsel” as ...
2454. Sayings of Agur
Proverbs 30:1-33
Understanding Series
Roland E. Murphy
... for a safe home (cf. Ps. 104:18). Hordes of locusts wipe out crops, like an army, but with no king or leader. The lizard (or spider) is easily caught, but it can end up in unexpected places, such as palaces. The Hebrew style for these “parables” is quite expressive. 30:29–31 Another numerical proverb in 3/4 style. The only certain items are the lion, whose stately stride is augmented by his irresistible power, and also the king. The translation of verse 31 is uncertain (see Additional Notes). Moreover ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Huwiler
... its object. 4:5 Ruins himself: Lit. “eats his flesh.” Later usage would allow the reading “eats his meat,” acknowledging that even the inactive fool survives. 4:8 There is: The lib. expression y?š suggests a hypothetical situation: “imagine someone.” The usage is almost like the “certain man” of Jesus’ parables. 4:12 Cord of three strands: The reference to “three” seems odd in the context of “one” and “two.” Qohelet may be quoting a popular proverb.
2456. Bread Upon the Water
Ecclesiastes 9:13--12:8
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Huwiler
... If the dialogic interpretation of the context is correct, then these verses may provide a call to take risks, again in response to the warning to be careful. Others have read it as approval of international trade. The last verse may even anticipate Jesus’ parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1–9). 11:3–6 This short segment, which is difficult to join with either the preceding or following verses, is a collection of sayings. They come mostly from an agricultural milieu (11:5b is the exception). They ...
Understanding Series
Tremper Longman III
... of the Egyptians” and a “successful incursion into Judah by the Babylonian army group which returned from the Egyptian border could be included in the claim that at that time Nebuchadnezzar conquered ‘all Hatti’” (Wiseman, Notes, p. 18). 25:4 Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who rented his vineyard to wicked tenants who refused to pay rent (Matt. 21:33–45). At the conclusion of the story it is clear that the wicked tenants are the Pharisees to whom Jesus is speaking, and they represent ...
Understanding Series
Elizabeth Achtemeier
... God’s tutelage of him, Jonah himself has not learned the spirit of mercy toward others. He has reveled in being forgiven, but he wants no other wicked persons like himself to share in the same forgiveness. He is the model of the unforgiving servant in Jesus’ parable (Matt. 18:23–35). Third, Jonah is being told—as are we and all readers—that God’s love extends to the whole sinful, wicked world of violence and wrong. Jonah, who is really a symbol of all of God’s elect in this story, full of ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” Jesus could tell what this Pharisee was thinking. So he said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” The Pharisee answered, “What is it, Teacher?” Jesus instructed him with a parable. “A certain creditor had two debtors, one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more.” Jesus said ...
Sermon
King Duncan
... I suppose it is because so many of us have never been on the receiving end of such treatment. Pastor Jamie Buckingham says he was on the receiving end of such rejection one time and it radically changed his attitude. He tells about it in his book, Parables. Jamie Buckingham was at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Thousands of Jews were there to pray. As an obvious gentile he tried not be conspicuous. Close by was a huge fountain where the Orthodox Jews, with their beards and long side curls, dressed in their ...
Children's Sermon
King Duncan
... can see it carefully. What do you see? You see yourself, don't you? You are unique. You are a marvel. Today's lesson from the Bible is about a king who gave His servants some money to see what they would do with it. This lesson is really a parable about the gifts God has given us-- gifts He expects us to use. One thing you might give God thanks for this Thursday is yourself--your body, your mind, your personality. He has made you to be something wonderful. Why? Because He loves you.
Children's Sermon
King Duncan
... , his fist was clenched. "Let go of the penny!" a friend said to him. But he refused. So the vase remained stuck to his hand for a long time. Finally he let go of the penny and was able to get his hand out of the vase. This is a parable, isn't it? Some people become very attached to money and what it will buy. They can never get enough. Even worse they judge other people by how much money they have or how big their house is or how nice their clothes are. Some people even begin worshiping money ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... the Messiah’s coming (cf. 1:20, 23). In his imagination, John sees the present time as a wedding (cf. 2:1–12; Mark 2:19–20; Matt. 22:1–14; 25:1–13), but he himself is not the bridegroom. Jesus is the bridegroom in John’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 ...
2464. The Healing at the Pool
John 5:1-15, John 5:16-30
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing (v. 19). But Jesus is not backing down, for his words reiterate the claim of verse 17 that the works he performs are the very works of God (v. 19). His language is like that of a parable; he is like a son apprenticed to a human father, learning by example and imitation (v. 20). His authority is absolute, not in spite of the fact that he does nothing by himself, but because of it. His authority is a derived authority. In all that he does he is ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... Like a laborer determined to finish his job before nightfall, Jesus summons his disciples to join him in taking full advantage of the remaining daylight hours (cf. 11:9–10). It should be remembered that the references to day and night constitute a brief parable about the ministry of Jesus. They do not look beyond it. Elsewhere the Gospel writer can look back on Jesus’ ministry with the comment that still “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:5, margin). From the ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... care). It is another way of saying they “do not belong to God” (8:47). With the words, because you are not my sheep (v. 26), Jesus returns to the imagery of verses 1–18. What follows in verses 27–30, however, is best understood not as parable but as a self-revelation of the Son using the metaphor of shepherd and sheep, very much in the style of verses 14–16. The self-identification, “I am the good shepherd,” is here implied rather than expressed, but Jesus’ activity as shepherd and Son is ...
2467. Jesus Prays for His Disciples
John 17:1-5, John 17:6-19, John 17:20-26
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... were meant to apply to the contemporary church as well. But occasionally the bridges become visible—for example, in Mark 13:37 (“What I say to you I say to everyone: ‘Watch’!”) and Luke 12:41 (“Peter asked, ‘Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?’ ”). In the present instance, a visible bridge is appropriate because of the universal scope of verses 1–3; with the explicit notice of verse 20, Jesus is returning to horizons already set at the beginning of the chapter. The ...
Understanding Series
J. Ramsey Michaels
... . All such theories are highly speculative, and none is at all convincing. The most intriguing observation is that of Jerome, who in the fourth century claimed that Greek zoologists listed 153 different kinds of fish (Commentary on Ezekiel 47:6–12; cf. Jesus’ parable in Matt. 13:47, in which the net gathers in “all kinds of fish”). One must take Jerome’s word for it, however; the surviving texts of the Greek zoologists contain no such statement, and the tradition may have arisen among Christians ...
2469. God’s Love and Ours
1 John 4:7-21, 1 John 5:1-12
Understanding Series
Thomas F. Johnson
... view of the opponents’ eschatology; Epistles, pp. 95–97, 130) but 1 John gives us little evidence for the opponents’ eschatological views. 4:18 The only other use of “punishment” (kolasis) in the NT is in Matt. 25:46, at the end of the parable of the sheep and the goats with reference to eternal or eschatological punishment. On the relationship between fear and punishment, “the point of the author is that fear arises out of anticipation of one’s destiny in the final judgment” (Kysar, I, II ...
Understanding Series
Christopher J. H. Wright
... translations, of which strength is the most common. However, the earliest Jewish versions (including the Targum) translated it as “your substance” or “your possessions”—an acceptable possibility that has some support in Proverbs 3:9 and may lie behind some of Jesus’ parables and conversations (such as Matt. 6:19–24; Luke 12:13–21). It may even be that this third word is simply intensifying the other two as a climax. “Love the Lord your God with total commitment (heart), with your total ...
Understanding Series
Christopher J. H. Wright
... a universal phenomenon in the behavior of human beings, governments, and nations. In its prophetic power to challenge a complacent people, it matches the uncompromising rhetoric of Amos. In its unwelcomeness to national leaders and myth-makers, it stands alongside the parables of Jesus and the speech of Stephen in Acts 7. In its relevance to modern claims and counterclaims to “right” in international conflicts, it still speaks today. 9:1–3 The opening verses of Deuteronomy 9:1–10:11 summarize many ...
Understanding Series
Iain W. Provan
... Both Gospels associate this teaching, in fact, with other teaching about “not storing up treasures on earth” but in heaven, lest the heart go astray (Matt. 6:19–21; Luke 12:32–34). Luke makes the issue doubly clear by associating the teaching also with the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13–21) and with the injunction to “sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33). The emphasis in these texts on God’s provision of the necessities of life and on the imperative to share wealth ...
Understanding Series
Iain W. Provan
... 20:41–42. It seems to be taken for granted that a talent of silver is simply an impossible amount to raise—which it would have been, of course, for the ordinary soldier. Death is the only option that can realistically be considered. A similar scenario is painted in the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matt. 18:23–34. The servant is put in prison until he pays back what he owes; but he owes such a fabulous sum of money that it is inconceivable that he will ever be able to raise it.
Understanding Series
John Goldingay
... line that makes clear that the term refers to Jerusalem, which David had once besieged. Parabolic communication is again at work. Isaiah has caught our attention. What does he mean? It is the last meaning, hearth, that especially counts. It suggests a grim parable for Yahweh’s intentions. The ongoing cycle of worship makes the altar of key significance to understanding the city, but the city is then inclined to think that this round of worship somehow protects it. But one recalls 1:11–15. Yahweh intends ...
Understanding Series
John Goldingay
... from earlier chapters but uses them with a different meaning. It thus utilizes the paronomasia that appears elsewhere in the book (e.g., 5:7). This has several effects. One is to make readers think and look at things from new angles, in the manner of a parable. Another is to imply connections that we have not thought of. It invites us to believe in a linked wholeness of the real world that lies behind the prophecy, the world of Yahweh. Reality is not a collection of separate and independent bits. It is a ...
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