While none of the Mosaic Bible texts [Holy Bible: Mosaic NLT (Meditations)] overlapped the lectionary texts for today, I think it was quite appropriate, if coincidental, that the texts chosen deal with dealing with the poor and outcasts. The texts were Leviticus 19:1-18, Psalm 119:33-40, James 2:1-7, and Luke 6:27-42. These passages emphasize that our…
Psalm 119 is one of my favorite (at least top 10) passages in the Bible, especially since I had to memorize it (in the KJV) back when I was about 12 years old. Bob MacDonald is writing a series on it in Hebrew that is well worthwhile following. Start with his first post.
I did the Old Testament/Psalms portion of my lectionary reading today from the Jewish Study Bible. The notes draw attention to the difficulty in separating Psalm 107 into the next book. The division between books 4 and 5 of the Psalms occurs between Psalm 106 and 107. But these divisions are later than the text…
In Judges 4:1-7, when the Israelites cried out, what did they have to say? With Psalm 123 included along with Judges 4:1-7 in Proper 28 / Ordinary 33 / Pentecost +27, I think we have an interesting possibility for preaching on prayer in trouble. My basic starting point would be to suggest to the congregation…
September 14, 2003 17th Sunday after Pentecost The following are the suggested passages: Proverbs 1:20-33 and Psalm 19 or Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1 Or Isaiah 50:4-9a and Psalm 116:1-9 James 3:1-12 Mark 8:27-38 Proverbs 1:20-33 This hymn to Wisdom personified is both beautiful and very important to the balance of the church. …
Easter Evening, Year A March 27, 2005 I didn’t manage to restart these notes before Lent as I had planned and stated on the web page, but they are restarted now. I am no longer including my working translation so I can focus more on the interpretive process. Where I have worked such translations over…
One of the long term projects I have for this blog is to take a brief look at the major passages of scripture that relate to inspiration or that are used in discussions about it. I’m taking these passages from various sources, including comments made on this blog, but also from personal conversations, books, letters,…
Since Psalm 104 is in the lectionary for Pentecost (May 11), I thought I’d take this opportunity to link again to my essay on that Psalm which dates from when I was working on my MA. I created a critical (or reconstructed) Hebrew text, provided a translation and notes, and did some analysis on the…
Don has a post titles 10 Tough Psalms for Worship Songs that deserves some serious thinking. I relate it to my recent post Psalm 95 and 81: Interrupting Praise with Prophecy?. Do we tend to censor the more challenging material in our worship?
A few days ago I blogged about Psalm 95 and how I felt that Matthew Henry had missed the emphasis. I’ve mentioned before that my current devotional exercise is to read the lectionary texts for coming Sundays starting two weeks ahead until the Sunday in question. Thus I’m continually reading two sets of lectionary texts….
