Walton on Sarai's Barrenness

John Walton has an interesting post on the cultural background for Sarai's (or Sarah's) barrenness as recorded in Genesis. You can read it here.

Applying Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Philip Brown has some helpful thoughts on applying Deuteronomy 6:6-7. Read his post here.

Dr. Harold Hoehner (1935-2009)

Dr. Harold Hoehner has gone to be with the Lord. This comes as a profound surprise to me since I just saw him yesterday. Please be in prayer for his wife Gini and the rest of his family. There is a nice tribute for Dr. Hoehner at the Dallas Theological Seminary website which you can access here.

Free Audio of the 2009 Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology

Free Audio is available here for the 2009 Nashville Conference on the Church and Theology. The featured speakers of this year's conference were John MacArthur, Bruce Ware, and Byron Yawn. You can also access 2008's conference featuring D. A. Carson, Steve Lawson, and Tim Challies as well at the same link.

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews that may be of interest from a Bible Exposition perspective include:

John M. G. Barclay and Simon Gathercole, eds.
Divine and Human Agency in Paul and His Cultural Environment
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6554
Reviewed by Stephan Joubert

George J. Brooke and Thomas Römer, eds.
Ancient and Modern Scriptural Historiography/L'Historiographie Biblique, Ancienne et Moderne
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6542
Reviewed by Ernst Axel Knauf

Maurice Casey
The Solution to the 'Son of Man' Problem
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6442
Reviewed by Paul Owen

David J. Chalcraft, ed.
Sectarianism in Early Judaism: Sociological Advances
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6468
Reviewed by Boris Repschinski

Mary Ann Getty-Sullivan
Parables of the Kingdom: Jesus and the Use of Parables in the Synoptic Tradition
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6577
Reviewed by Dan O. Via

Rowan A. Greer and Margaret M. Mitchell
The "Belly-Myther" of Endor: Interpretations of 1 Kingdoms 28 in the Early Church
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5977
Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus

Stefanie Ulrike Gulde
Der Tod als Herrscher in Ugarit und Israel
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6029
Reviewed by Matthew Suriano

Yigal Levin, ed.
A Time of Change: Judah and Its Neighbours in the Persian and Early Hellenistic Periods
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6443
Reviewed by Oded Lipschits

J. G. McConville and Karl Möller, eds.
Reading the Law: Studies in Honour of Gordon J. Wenham
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6459
Reviewed by Eckart Otto

V. George Shillington
An Introduction to the Study of Luke-Acts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6523
Reviewed by Nils Neumann

Stanley D. Walters
Go Figure! Figuration in Biblical Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6390
Reviewed by Paul Elbert
Reviewed by Richard S. Briggs

Timothy L. Walton
Experimenting with Qohelet: A Text-Linguistic Approach to Reading Qohelet as Discourse
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6120
Reviewed by Andreas Wagner

Mounce on Hebraic Genitives

Bill Mounce has posted on the use of Greek genitives in general and Hebraic genitives in particular. Read it here.

Apologetics Resources

Patrick Chan has provided some helpful links to some free apologetic resources. You can check it out here.

Reasons to Study the Septuagint

In honor of the International Septuagint Day, Tyler Williams has provided a mostly-serious list of reasons for studying the Septuagint.

• The Septuagint preserves a number of Jewish-Greek writings from the pre-Christian era not contained in the Hebrew Bible (known in Christian circles as the Apocrypha or the Deuterocanonical works)
• As such, study of the LXX can provide a glimpse into the thought and theology of diaspora Jews before the common era.
• For the majority of the books of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, the LXX provides us the earliest witness to the biblical text (earlier than most of Hebrew witnesses found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, for example) and is indispensable for textual criticism.
• The LXX provides a unique glimpse into the literary and textual development for some books of the Old Testament (e.g., Jeremiah, Esther, Daniel), as well as the sometimes fuzzy border between literary development and textual transmission.
• Insofar that all translations are interpretations, the LXX provides one of the earliest commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.
• The LXX gives us a glimpse of the shape of the OT canon before the common era (at least for Greek-speaking Judaism in the diaspora, perhaps not for Palestinian Jews).
• The LXX functioned as the Bible of most of the early Greek-speaking Christians (and continues to function as such for the Greek Orthodox Church).
• In connection with the previous point, the LXX often served as a theological lexicon for the writers of the NT, and as such it provides a fruitful avenue of research into the background of many of the theological terms and concepts in the NT.
• The LXX was the preferred Scriptures for many of the early church fathers and is essential for understanding early theological discussions.
• It’s a great conversation starter at parties (Attractive Woman/Man: “Read any good books lately?” Budding LXX student: “Why yes, I was just reading the Septuagint today!” Attractive Woman/Man: “The Sept-tu-a-what?” Budding LXX student: “Let me buy your a drink and tell you more…”)

Read the entire post here.

Interview with Simon Kistemaker

See this interview of Simon Kistemaker by W. Ryan Burns on teaching and the seminary.

Books on Sin

Joe Thorn has posted his recommendations for books related to the doctrine of sin. Read the recommendations here.

Walton on the Tower of Babel

John Walton has posted on the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) in particular and ancient ziggerats in general. Read it here.

The Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl Judgments in Revelation

Alan Bandy has a nice summary of the relationship of the seal trumpet, and bowl judgments to one another. Bandy cautiously affirms the telescopic view, a view which I also hold. Read it here.