The Latest Issue of the Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member to read them.

Bob Becking, Identity in Persian Egypt: The Fate of the Yehudite Community of Elephantine
Reviewed by Gard Granerød

Channing L. Crisler, Echoes of Lament and the Christology of Luke
Reviewed by Heather M. Gorman

Sébastien Doane, Analyse de la réponse du lecteur aux origenes de Jésus en Matthieu 1–2
Reviewed by Nathan C. Johnson

Seth M. Ehorn, 2 Maccabees 1–7: A Handbook on the Greek Text
Reviewed by Jan Willem Van Henten

Kathy Ehrensperger and Shayna Sheinfeld, eds., Gender and Second-Temple Judaism
Reviewed by Cynthia M. Baker

James R. Harrison and L. L. Welborn, eds., The First Urban Churches 3: Ephesus
Reviewed by Robert Brian Lewis

Ian Christopher Levy, Introducing Medieval Biblical Interpretation: The Senses of Scripture in Premodern Exegesis
Reviewed by Craig S. Farmer

Annette Yoshiko Reed, Demons, Angels, and Writing in Ancient Judaism
Reviewed by Matthew L. Walsh

Scott C. Ryan, Divine Conflict and the Divine Warrior: Listening to Romans and Other Jewish Voices
Reviewed by William Horst

Lisa Michele Wolfe, Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes)
Reviewed by Thomas M. Bolin

The Dating of Acts

I am very interested in Karl Armstrong's recent work on the dating of Acts, namely, that it should be dated to the 60s. This is a view that I already held but it is nice to see other scholarly affirmation. Here is a fair and balanced review of Armstrong's monograph, Dating Acts in Its Jewish and Greco-Roman Contexts.

R. H. Charles' Commentary on Daniel

I have posted before about the good work of Rob Bradshaw and Biblicalstudies.org.uk whose mission is to "to make high quality theological material freely available throughout the world, thus providing Bible teachers and pastors with the resources they need to spread the Gospel in their countries." To this end they make PDF copies of older, but still helpful, books available for free. Today, they posted a notice here of R. H. Charles' commentary on Daniel here. While this work represents an older generation of scholarship. it is still a thorough treatment of Daniel.  

Who or What is Azazel?

Anna Angelini has a fairly thorough post here on Azazel mentioned in Leviticus 16. Here is a table comparing two interpretations.

Reading Hebrews without Supersessionism

Jesper Svartnik argues for a non-supersessionist reading of Hebrews here. I think one ought to read the Bible in a non-supersessionistic way although I might differ here and there on some of the details of Svartnik's reading.

The Narrative of Ruth: Plot (Part 2)

Plot Structure in the Book of Ruth 

Prologue: A famine in Bethlehem results in Naomi and her family moving from Bethlehem to Moab (1:1-2).

Introduction of Problem: The death of Naomi’s husband and two sons, and the subsequent abandonment of one daughter-in-law leave her feeling empty both relationally (without a family) and spiritually (1:3-21).

Development of Plot: Naomi and her other daughter-in-law Ruth return to Bethlehem during the time of the barley harvest which ultimately provides for their physical sustenance, but does not address Naomi’s familial or spiritual emptiness (1:22-2:23).

Turning Point: Ruth, following Naomi’s suggestion, comes to the threshing floor at night to ask Boaz’s to redeem her (3:1-9). Boaz offers to redeem Ruth (3:10-13).

Consequence: Ruth spends the remainder of the night at the threshing floor and is given a gift of grain to give to her mother-in-law (3:14-18).

Resolution: Boaz addresses the final obstacle (a closer kinsman) to full redemption of Naomi and Ruth, marries Ruth, and provides a “son” to Naomi through Ruth (4:1-17).

Epilogue/Coda: The narrator, stepping into the present, provides a genealogy linking the Naomi’s “son” (Obed) to King David (4:18-22)

The Latest Issue of the Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member to read them.

Benjamin Ogechi Agbara, Universal Mission: The Climax of Matthew’s Post-resurrection Account: An Exegetical Analysis of Matthew 28
Reviewed by Edwin Broadhead

Alma Brodersen, Friederike Neumann, and David Willgren, eds., Intertextualität und die Entstehung des Psalters: Methodische Reflexionen—Theologiegeschichtliche Perspektiven
Reviewed by Phil J. Botha

Marlene Crüsemann, The Pseudepigraphical Letters to the Thessalonians
Reviewed by Matthew Jensen

David J. Downs and Benjamin J. Lappenga, The Faithfulness of the Risen Christ: Pistis and the Exalted Lord in the Pauline Letters
Reviewed by Troy M. Troftgruben

Johannes Hahn and Volker Menze, eds., The Wandering Holy Man: The Life of Barsauma, Christian Asceticism, and Religious Conflict in Late Antique Palestine
Reviewed by Christine Shepardson

Antti Laato, The Origin of Israelite Zion Theology
Reviewed by Ryan P. Bonfiglio

Josef Lösel and Nicholas J. Baker-Brian, eds., A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity
Reviewed by Avram Shannon

David E. Nyström, The Apology of Justin Martyr: Literary Strategies and the Defence of Christianity
Reviewed by H. H. Drake Williams III

Karl Shuve, ed., Books and Readers in the Premodern World: Essays in Honor of Harry Gamble
Reviewed by Clark R. Bates

Mitzi J. Smith and Jin Young Choi, eds., Minoritized Women Reading Race and Ethnicity: Intersectional Approaches to Constructed Identity and Early Christian Texts
Reviewed by Denise Kimber Buell

Top Ruth Commentaries

Jenny Matheny lists and annotates her top commentaries on Nijay Gupta's blog here. It is a decent list but I would have found a place for commentaries by Block and Hubbard.

The Narrative of Ruth: Plot (Part 1)

Ruth is a brief but powerful picture of God's redemptive provision. The book can be studied in a variety of ways, one of which is from a literary perspective. And one way to do so is to try and analyze the plot structure 

As I see it, the Book of Ruth is a “problem based” plot. In this kind of plot, a problem is introduced in the beginning which will be addressed in the rest of the story. The major problem is the emptying of Naomi’s life through the death of her husband, two sons, and a daughter-in-law.

Naomi’s plight may have symbolic, theological, and canonical implications. That is, Naomi may be representative of the nation Israel as a whole, her plight and redemption highlighting the loyal love of Yahweh, and the book’s place within the so-called “Bethlehem Trilogy”involving two stories in the book of Judges involving Bethlehem.

In a forthcoming post I will lay out this plot as I see it.

New Issue of Tyndale House's Ink

The ninth issue of Tyndale House's magazine Ink is now out. You can check it out for free here.

Psalm 53 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some helpful links that I discovered during my research. It includes a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 53 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Into the Word with Paul Carter: https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/into-the-word/psalms-52-54

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps053.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_053.pdf

Psalm 53 devotional: https://www.generations.org/devotionals/66

Psalm 53 in canonical perspective: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1010-99192013000300004