The Monoethnic Mosaic Covenant

  
Steven Coxhead has an interesting post on the monoethnic nature of the Mosaic Covenant.
 

Latest Issue of Review of Biblical Literature

  

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below.

Ovidiu Creanga, ed.
Men and Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8008
Reviewed by Stuart Macwilliam

Katharine J. Dell, Graham Davies, and Yee Von Koh, eds.
Genesis, Isaiah and Psalms: A Festschrift to Honour Professor John Emerton for His Eightieth Birthday
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7895
Reviewed by Jeffery M. Leonard

Helen Leneman
Love, Lust, and Lunacy: The Stories of Saul and David in Music
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8012
Reviewed by Christina Landman

Amy-Jill Levine, ed.
A Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7870
Reviewed by Renate Viveen Hood

Joseph F. Mali
The Christian Gospel and Its Jewish Roots: A Redaction-Critical Study of Mark 2:21-22 in Context
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7951
Reviewed by Tom Shepherd

Hugh R. Page Jr., ed.
The Africana Bible: Reading Israel's Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7357
Reviewed by Gerald O. West

Emanuel Pfoh
The Emergence of Israel in Ancient Palestine: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7586
Reviewed by Jeremy Hutton

Pekka M. A. Pitkänen
Joshua
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7886
Reviewed by Thomas B. Dozeman

Alf H. Walle
Pagans and Practitioners: Expanding Biblical Scholarship
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7808
Reviewed by Daniel K. Darko

John Walliss and Lee Quinby, eds.
Reel Revelations: Apocalypse and Film
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=8002
Reviewed by T. Michael W. Halcomb 

The Five Love Languages of Leviticus

  
See this post.
 

Ten Tips for Reading Scripture in Public

  

I have been trying to improve my public reading of Scripture and I found these ten tips helpful.

1. Acknowledge that the public reading of the Scriptures is important.

2. See for yourself how interpretation and verbal nuances makes a difference.

3. Make sure you understand the meaning of the passage.

4. Become comfortable with expressing a wide range of emotions.

5. Read some children's book aloud.

6. Use the very effective communication device called the pause.

7. Look up from your reading only to reinforce the message.

8. Read; do not act.

9. Prepare ahead of time by reading aloud.

10. Be open to critique.

Daniel L. Akin, Bill Curtis, and Stephen Rummage, Engaging Exposition (Nashville: B & H Academic, 2011), 156-57.

   

Clowney on Study and Sermon Preparation

  
Edmund Clowney in discussing the sermon preparation process, reminds us that preparation in God's Word is not merely an academic exercise but rather a spiritual one.

"Do you need reminding to be aware of the presence of the Lord as you study His Word? Of course, reading his Word is also the prime way of seeking his presence. How do we ever manage to forget that it is the Lord who addresses us?"

Edmund P. Clowney, Preaching Christ in All of Scripture (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003), 46.
  

The Task of Old Testament Theology

  
“This is a theology of the Old Testament. The Theology of the Old Testament will never be written. Each generation sees new vistas within the Scriptures of which earlier generations were unaware. Thus the Theology of the Old Testament has to be represented to each generation in the language and thought of that new generation. He who seeks to represent it thus must also take into account the ever-growing heritage both of the world of science and of the world of biblical studies.”

George A. F. Knight, A Christian Theology of the Old Testament (London: SCM, 1959), viii.
   

Witherington on the Kind of Bible Teachers We Don't Need

  

"There's hardly anything sadder than to run into a teacher of the Bible who does not believe the Bible and may even have a guilty conscience about making a living from teaching the Bible. I have known a few such folk, and they, perhaps above all Bible teachers, need our prayers. It is true, of course, that God can write straight with a crooked stick. We all know the story of God's using not only Balaam, but Balaam's donkey to convey the truth. But these examples are far from ideal. Jesus wanted disciples, not mere marionettes that he could manipulate to talk for him.

"The warning that "not many of you (Christians) should presume to be teachers" could be further amplified if we are talking about people who are not even inclined to believe the Bible, or even worse are prepared to caricature, ridicule, and stereotype the Bible, or use it to pursue their own unbiblical agendas. We don't need Bible teachers like that, especially in a biblically illiterate culture already prone to dismiss the Bible as a relic of the past."  

Ben Witherington III, Is There a Doctor in the House? An Insider's Story and Advice on Becoming a Biblical Scholar (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 126. 
  

The Limitations of Wisdom in Ecclesiastes 1:12–18

  

How does Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 relate to Ecclesiastes 1:1-11? I suggest that in 1:12-18 Qohelet anticipates someone who might wonder whether the meaninglessness and frustration expressed in 1:1–11 could be attributed to failing to apply wisdom to the observations made in these verses. Perhaps if one could understand life then such an understanding would result in significance and meaning. However, Qohelet puts an end to such speculation in 1:12-18 with his comments concerning the limitations if wisdom. As one author suggests, Qohelet is shutting off all escape routes.[1]

[1] Michael A. Eaton, Ecclesiastes: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, ed. D. J. Wiseman, vol. 16 (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity , 1983), 61.