Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Bible Passages

  • Review – Cornerstone Biblical Commentary 1-2 Chronicles

    I previously reviewed the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy on my book blog and have posted a number of notes about it on this blog.  So when I had an opportunity to review the volume in the same series on 1 & 2 Chronicles, I jumped at it.  I would say many of the same things I said about that previous volume with regard to this one, so if you want my thoughts on the series in general, read that previous review.

    Chronicles as a whole is not a staple of Christian teaching.  We use a number of individual passages, especially the various prayers, but as a whole, the method is a bit foreign.  From a historical point of view Samuel-Kings is closer to the events it relates as an historical source, while the emphasis on genealogy in Chronicles goes against the grain of our western minds.

    In this commentary, author Mark J. Boda has managed to continue the quality commentary that I expect from this series.  My personal tendency is to criticize a commentary such as this one for not including enough comment on issues of biblical criticism, the language, and translation issues.  But those are not the primary focus here.  This commentary is designed to be read by the non-theologian and people who do not read Hebrew.

    At the same time it does have considerable information on the structure of the book and on the language.  I found the introduction to the genalogies (pp. 25-31) particularly helpful, because it takes on issues such as the purpose of the genealogies and why they are included in the way that they are.  I’ve previously written about the importance of genealogies and why they should not be neglected.  These pages make many of those points and a number more as well.

    In the section on 1 Chronicles 1-9, the commentary section follows a consistent structure that differs from what it follows in the rest of the book.  The first portion discusses sources.  Chronicles is one of those sections of the Bible where we have source explicitly referenced and easily discernible.  The second portion discusses structure and content.  While most readers will probably be going more directly for content, the excellent discussion of structure is one of the strong points of this commentary.  Finally, there is a section on significance, particularly important because we are dealing with genealogies.

    The whole commentary is 449 pages, including the text of the NLT.  The remainder of the commentary starting with 1 Chronicles 10 is follows the more standard format of comment on short passages in succession.  The discussion is thorough.  References to Hebrew are transliterated and explained adequately for someone who does not know the language.  (Those who do read Hebrew will, or at least should, want to know more.)

    I would like to have an index in a book like this.  I realize that people generally read commentaries by going to the section on a passage in which they have an interest.  I would like to be able to follow some themes, such as prayer, through the commentary, and an index would be extremely helpful.

    The bibliography occupies 13 pages, and will prove useful.  I don’t have enough knowledge of the literature in this area to criticize the content, but it looks quite good in general.

    I’m delighted to be studying these two books using this commentary.  I personally want more comments on the language, but that is something I can get from other commentaries.  This one is accessible and useful especially to the pastor or teaching in the church.

  • Worship Song Rant

    I loved this post by Jeremy.  Enjoy!

  • Gifts to Build the Body

    T. C. Robinson has a post on the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:13.  He makes several points that I think are important, but I did not draw from that particular passage, though I did draw from Galatians 5:22-26 with the fruit of the Spirit.  T.C. points to the importance of 1 Corinthians 13 in connection with the purpose and use of the gifts.

    I wanted to connect this with a series of posts I wrote that make a similar point amongst others.  I think it is tragic that 1 Corinthians 13 is often disconnected from 12 & 14 in discussions of the gifts.

    Here’s the series:

    I illustrate the connection between the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts as follows:

    A B&W version of that slide is used in my book Identifying Your Gifts and Service (Workbook), designed for use in a classroom setting, and I discuss the issue in the Small Group edition of the same book.

  • Gordon Fee Discusses Interpreting Revelation

    … in this video, which has been all over the biblioblogosphere.  Sorry, I don’t even remember where I first saw it.

  • Text Today – Slave of Righteousness

    So now that you have been freed from sin, you have become enslaved to righteousness. — Romans 6:18 (my translation)

    Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. — Romans 6:18 (NLT)

    And yet there are those who think Paul taught easy believism!

  • Reading Genealogies

    I discuss why I think we should pay attention on the World Prayr blog today.

  • Text Today – Worth of the Gospel?

    This text struck me this morning.  How often to we forget this part of the gospel?

    27Only carry out your activities in a way that is worthy Christ’s good news, so that whether I come and see you or whether I’m away, I’ll hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, putting out your effort together as one person to advance faith in the good news. 28Don’t be afraid of those who are against you under any circumstances.  Their stand demonstrates that they are on the way to destruction, while yours shows you are on the way to salvation, and that it comes from God.  29Because you have been graciously granted not only the opportunity to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him.  30You face the same battle that you saw me have, and now you hear I still have.  — Philippians 1:27-30 (a bit paraphrased)

  • Devotionals on 2 Corinthians

    My wife Jody notes that in my talk at a local church last Sunday night I commented that people read 1 Corinthians more than 2 Corinthians.  I must add that I also said they read more Romans and Galatians than any Corinthians, but that’s beside the point.  In any case she’s meditating her way through 2 Corinthians for her devotional list, and I’m finding the posts pretty interesting.  The first one is here.

  • Lectionary and Mosaic Bible – Pentecost + 3

    I’m ending a hiatus in blogging of just over a month.  I see my last post was dated May 8, 2010, but I was pretty sparse for a month before that.  I’ll get a post up about what I was doing during that time.  No, nothing adventurous; just trying to do necessary work to grow my publishing business.

    This morning I looked again at the lectionary passages for the week, and compared them to the Mosaic Bible.  Three of the lectionary passages do have material connected with them in The Mosaic Bible, though there is no overlap in the texts for this week.  The lectionary gives us 1 Kings 21:1-21a (again deleting what I think is some relevant material starting with 21b),  Psalm 5:1-8, Galatians 2:15-21, and Luke 7:36-8:3.  Of these, only Psalm 5 is not connected, though Galatians only overlaps with verse 20 used for Easter in the Mosaic Bible.

    This simply reaffirms the way in which I think the Mosaic Bible is most useful for those who already use a reading plan oriented to the church year–it provides a rich range of readings that relate to the various church seasons that will be helpful in lesson and sermon preparation.  For those who do not use a reading program tied to the church calendar, I think the Mosaic Bible provides a more friendly starting point than simply diving into the lectionary.  Often the lectionary texts prove a challenging combination–individually helpful, but seeming quite scattered as a group.

    The focus for this lectionary reading seems to be evil men.  One interesting twist is just how you read the story in Luke.  Naboth’s vineyard gives you a pretty clear set of bad guys and good guys, with Ahab in the role of very bad guy.  One interesting approach might be to contrast the response of Jesus to the woman who is a sinner as opposed to the judgment meted out to Ahab.  That could lead to really interesting discussions of varying types of sin as well.  No matter how often we claim that sin is sin, I think we really do have “clean” sins and “dirty” sins. Most commonly “dirty” sins are the ones you commit, and “clean” sins are the ones I commit.  (See the host in the story in Luke.)

    I find the possible range of topics presented by each collection of lectionary texts quite fascinating, and this week was no exception.

  • Alden Thompson – Jesus Solves All the Problems in Your Bible

    I located this video today, and while I’m not blogging much these days, I wanted to share it.  Alden was one of my teachers at Walla Walla College when I was in the Biblical Languages program there.  I now publish his book Who’s Afraid of the Old Testament God?, now in it’s fourth edition.

    There will be some references to specifically Seventh-day Adventist events and issues, but the majority of the material here relates to controversies that will be familiar to all of us.

    And no, I didn’t post this just because he mentions me and says a couple of nice things about me.