Should I study the Bible in original Hebrew and Greek? — Christian Today

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#Theology, Biblical, Greek, Hebrew, New Testament, Old Testament

Many people who move in the gifts of teaching, exhortation and knowledge love to read the Bible for all its worth and get excited about the careful study of the Bible in its original language. Should everyone follow and read the Bible the same way?

via Should I study the Bible in original Hebrew and Greek? — Christian Today

The Cloud Rider

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#Book Review

Shared from Spoiledmilks, a snippet of Lindsay’s excellent review of Dr. Mike S Heiser’s amazing book The Unseen Realm.

 

One of the biggest enemies of God’s people was another god called Baal. Israel was a monotheistic community, but they usually didn’t live like it. Baal was the storm and fertility god. So if his followers needed crops, they would pray for rain and grain. In some ways it was easier to be polytheistic, at least for the placebo affect. You don’t just pray to one god because, really, how can one God do it all? So you pray to all gods to get all of your prayers fulfilled.

Yet Baal wasn’t just another face in the crowd. He was one of the higher deities in the polytheistic pantheon. And Israel like to worship him, especially since one form of worship involved sexual rituals. Who could say no to that?

In some of the texts of Ugarit, Israel’s northern neighbor, Baal is called “the one who rides the clouds.” It pretty much became his official title. LeBron James shoots hoops, Baal rides cloud.

Yet, it wasn’t just Baal who rode clouds. To turn all the attention back to Yahweh instead of Baal, the biblical authors “occasionally pilfered this stock description of Baal… and assigned it to Yahweh…” (251). 

There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty (Deut 33.26)

O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, Selah
to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice (Ps 68.32-33)

Bless the Lord, O my soul!… He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire (Ps 104.1-4)

An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them (Isa 19.1)

“The effect was to… hold up Yahweh as the deity who legitimately rode through the heavens surveying and governing the world” (252).

Every instance in the OT where someone is riding the clouds, that “someone” is Yahweh. Except, there is… one exception. There is a second figure. A human figure…

 

Source: The Cloud Rider

Christo van der Merwe + Alex Andrason = Research you’ll want to read

Shared from Old School Script, a snippet, excellent piece.

 

This entry was posted on January 6, 2016 by Kris Lyle, in For the Advanced, Hebrew, Lexical Semantics, Linguistics, Writing and tagged Alex Andrason, Christo van der Merwe, co-authorship, Hebrew Studies, publications, qatal, semantic potential, verbal system. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment

Two people just put their minds together and produced a piece of content that you’re going to want to read: Alex Andrason and Christo van der Merwe.

I’ve written and worked with Alex on other topics and so I know, firsthand, the value that he brings to the table.

Assuming you care for linguistics and Biblical Hebrew, Christo needs no introduction; but I will say from my experience with him as an MA supervisor that any kind of collaborative research is such an energizing experience as he constantly positions himself as someone who can learn from you, though the reverse is often more so the case.

So what happens when these two work together? Now you get a chance to see…

Source: Christo van der Merwe + Alex Andrason = Research you’ll want to read

The Implications of Divine Hospitality

 

Shared from Faithlife/Logos Bible Software, a snippet, excellent teaching.

 

Study Colossians with Dr. Jipp In this course, Dr. Joshua Jipp takes you through each passage of Colossians, identifying important themes such as Christ’s work in creation and redemption, our union with Christ, and sanctification.

Source: The Implications of Divine Hospitality

Happy Are Those Who Are Persecuted

Shared from My Heart is for Israel, a snippet, excellent piece.

 

Sitting at the Feet of Yeshua

 In my last post, we began looked at the how happy are those who are peacemakers.  In this post, we will explore the last Beatitude regarding the persecuted.

“How blessed are those who are persecuted because they pursue righteousness! For the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. How blessed you are when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of vicious lies about you because you follow me! Rejoice, be glad, because your reward in heaven is great – they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.” ~ Matthew 5:10-12

Yeshua saved His toughest teaching for the last.  Only those who have gone through all the previous steps are qualified for advancement to this stage.  Oh joy, oh rapture!  Surely, this must be a misprint.  Being insulted and persecuted sure don’t sound like a good time to me.  But, these verses teach us that we can choose to be happy in spite of our circumstances.  They say, “I can remain positive and pardon those who persecute me, even when all else fails.”

If, after applying all of these previous positive attitudes to the best of my ability, I still find myself the abused victim in human relationships, I shall choose to believe that God can settle the score in His way and in His time.  I shall be blessed by knowing that my hurts, borne quietly, patiently, and positively, can be turned into halos.

Once again, Yeshua takes this lesson from King David.  Psalm 143:3,11-12 says, “For an enemy is pursuing me; he has crushed my life into the ground and left me to live in darkness, like those who have been long dead.  For your name’s sake, Adonai, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of distress.  In your grace, cut off my enemies; destroy all those harassing me; because I am your servant.”

Yeshua goes on to teach us, “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own.  But because you do not belong to the world – on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world – therefore the world hates you.  Remember what I told you, “A slave is not greater than his master.’  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours too.  But they will do all this to you on my account, because they don’t know the One who sent me” ~ John 15:18-21.

 

Source: Happy Are Those Who Are Persecuted

Reading the Bible: An Observation

Shared Zwinglius Redivivus, a wise observation.

 

There are three ways to read the Bible:

1. Exegesis: reading what the text says and understanding it.
2. Eisegesis: reading into the text what you wish it to say.
3. Igsegesis©: ignoring what the text plainly says because of personal bias

 

Source: Reading the Bible: An Observation

5 January Deals You Don’t Want to Miss

Shared from Logos Bible Software’s Blog, a snippet of their January sale.

January’s monthly deals are here, and you can save on more than 100 products: commentaries, biblical and theological works, preaching resources, and more. Not sure where to get started? Here are five of this month’s best deals.

1. Continental Commentary Series (19 vols.)—50% off
   The Continental Commentary Series makes leading critical biblical scholarship from German and French scholars available to the English-speaking world. Engage biblical texts with comprehensive introductions, fresh translations, detailed commentaries, and insightful theological analysis.

2. Basic Bible Interpretation—31% off
   Dr. Roy Zuck gives a clear guide to biblical interpretation, defining key terms, addressing problems and challenges, and stressing the importance of interpretation for teaching and application. Start off the new year by honing your Bible study skills with Dr. Zuck’s guidance.

3. Focus on the Bible Commentaries (41 vols.)—44% off
   Explore what the Bible means for your life today with accessible chapter-by-chapter commentary written by by top evangelical scholars and pastors. Whether you’re interested in personal study, small group teaching, or preaching, you’ll find clear, helpful insights.

4. The Works of H.A. Ironside (65 vols.)—43% off
   Build your library with sermons, commentaries, and other writings from one of America’s most influential preachers. Get his writings on nearly every book of the Bible and thoughtful works on eschatology, prophecy, and much more….

 

Source: 5 January Deals You Don’t Want to Miss

Two Forthcoming Works to Strengthen Your Greek

Shared from Exegetical Tools, a snippet, excellent resources.

The New Year is getting off to a great start for those looking to strengthen their Greek. Kregel Academic is set to publish two volumes that the student of the Greek New Testament will want to add to their shelves. The following descriptions are from the publisher.

Discovering the Septuagint: A Guided Reader

Interest in the Septuagint today continues to grow stronger. Despite that interest, students have lacked a guidebook to the text similar to the readers and handbooks that exist for the Greek New Testament. Discovering the Septuagint: A Guided Reader fills that need. Created by an expert on the Septuagint, this groundbreaking resource draws on Jobes’s experience as an educator in order to help upper–level college, seminary, and graduate students cultivate skill in reading the Greek Old Testament.

 

This reader presents, in Septuagint canonical order, ten Greek texts from the Rahlfs—Hanhart Septuaginta critical edition. It explains the syntax, grammar, and vocabulary of more than 700 verses from select Old Testament texts representing a variety of genres, including the Psalms, the Prophets, and more.

The texts selected for this volume were chosen to fit into a typical semester. Each text (1) is an example of distinctive Septuagint syntax or word usage; (2) exemplifies the amplification of certain theological themes or motifs by the Septuagint translators within their Jewish Hellenistic culture; and/or (3) is used significantly by New Testament writers.

A Syntax Guide for Readers of the Greek New Testament

Only by immersing oneself consistently in the Greek New Testament can students, pastors, and other readers gain facility with the language. This invaluable guide from Charles Lee Irons streamlines and enhances the process, allowing readers to interact with the Greek text with minimal interruption and maximum understanding. By focusing specifically on syntax, this guide takes its place among other resources as a time-saving new tool that builds on, rather than replaces, what already exists. In the author’s words, it “picks up where these other tools leave off, presupposes their use, and moves on to more complex issues of syntax, translation, some textual criticism, and limited exegesis.”

Eminently useful, A Syntax Guide for Readers of the Greek New Testament

• Provides brief explanations of intermediate and advanced syntactical features of the Greek text
• Suggests translations to help the reader make sense of unusual phrases and difficult sentences
• Eliminates the need for the reader to stop and look up intermediate, advanced, or unusual grammatical features of the Greek text
• Recognizes Hebraic constructions, Semitic inferences,and Septuagintisms
• Closely follows the Novum Testamentum Graece, 27th and 28th editions

Find Discovering the Septuagint here and Syntax Guide here.

 

 

Source: Two Forthcoming Works to Strengthen Your Greek

And He Struggled With the Angel

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#Book Review

Shared from Spoiledmilks, a snippet of this excellent book review!

 

Since I didn’t want you to think The Unseen Realm was only about Nephilim, I wanted to write about the Trinity as seen in the Old Testament. Last time I looked at the blurring between the Angel of YHWH and YHWH himself in Genesis 22. In this post I’ll look at a few texts that deal with God appearing to Jacob. He Struggled With the AngelGenesis 32.24-30 says, 24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”…

Source: And He Struggled With the Angel

@Faithlife verse of the day

I’m reading Romans 8:30 http://ref.ly/Ro8.30 via @Logos