Jul 24, 2021

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.

Helen K. Bond, The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark’s Gospel
Reviewed by Elizabeth E. Shively

John D. Currid, The Case for Biblical Archaeology: Uncovering the Historical Record of God’s Old Testament People
Reviewed by Joe D. Seger

Françoise Ernst-Pradal, Scribes d’Ougarit et paléographie akkadienne: Les textes juridiques signés
Reviewed by Juan-Pablo Vita

Nijay K. Gupta, 1 and 2 Thessalonians
Reviewed by Najeeb T. Haddad

Michael Langlois, ed., The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Reviewed by Marcel Krusche

Chris W. Lee, Death Warning in the Garden of Eden: The Early Reception History of Genesis 2:17
Reviewed by Almond Ka Kwan Sin

Petra Schmidtkunz, Das Moselied des Deuteronomiums: Untersuchungen zu Text und Theologie von Dtn 32,1–43
Reviewed by Richard D. Nelson

William M. Schniedewind, The Finger of the Scribe: How Scribes Learned to Write the Bible
Reviewed by Sidnie White Crawford

Carlos Raúl Sosa Siliezar, Savior of the World: A Theology of the Universal Gospel
Reviewed by Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III

Daniel L. Smith and Loren T. Stuckenbruck, eds., Testing and Temptation in Second Temple Jewish and Early Christian Texts
Reviewed by Malka Z. Simkovich

Jul 23, 2021

Sermon Planning

Aaron Earls summarizes some Lifeway research here related to how pastors plan their sermons.

Jul 22, 2021

Psalm 47 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 47 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

The Text this Week: http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm47.htm

Jerome Creach: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3652

Into the Word with Paul Carter: https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/into-the-word/psalms-46-47

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps047.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_047.pdf Psalm 47 devotional: https://www.generations.org/devotionals/58

Jul 21, 2021

Where Is Ur?

Dave Armstrong has a pretty good discussion here related to the city of Ur mentioned in the book of Genesis (11:28, 31). He interacts with both the traditional southern location and an alternative location farther north. I remain a bit agnostic on the issue but the alternative view is argued well by Barry Beitzel in The New Moody Atlas of the Bible (pp. 98-100).

Jul 20, 2021

Handwriting and a Wall

Todd Bolen at the BiblePlaces blog has some careful and helpful assessments of two recent archaeological discoveries in Israel. You can read about the so-called "Jerubbaal inscription" here and the section of a second temple wall here.

Jul 19, 2021

Reading Lamentations Intertextually

Reuven Kimelman has a good post here showing intertextual links in Lamentations to other books in the Old Testament.