Videos on Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

The video for this year's Advanced Expository Preaching Workshop held on October 5 focusing on the topic of preaching Christ from the Old Testament is available on Youtube using the following links.

Session 1 with Vern Charette

Session 2 with David Allen
Session 3 with Matthew McKellar

Session 4 Panel discussion

 

Was Balaam's Donkey an Agent of the Lord?

I am enjoying a read through Kenneth Way's book, Donkeys in the Biblical World. In his discussion of the Balaam story, he addresses the "exceptional treatment" of the animal as evidenced in Numbers 22:33: "The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, surely just now I would have killed you and let her live" (ESV, my bold). Way proposes the following explanation.

Why is the jenny exceptional? Baruch Levine opines that "she would not have been slain in such an encounter, as she was only an animal." But the fact that "she is "only an animal" may just as well be a reason to slay her along with her rider.

In Num 22:22–30, I would suggest that the jenny has a special function as YHWH's agent (cf. §1.6.4). YHWH not only employs her natural behavior for his purposes (vv. 22–27), he also endows her with supernatural ability for his purposes (vv. 28–30). The jenny is the vehicle that YHWH uses in this story to remind Balaam that he may only speak the words of YHWH.  The jenny is therefore quite exceptional and shares a status akin to that of the angel of YHWH. The reason why the angel feels differently about the jenny is that they are both employees of YHWH.

 Kenneth C. Way, Donkeys in the Biblical World: Ceremony and Symbol, History, Archaeology, and Culture of the Levant (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011), 190-91  

How to Read Job

Although I do not have a copy yet of How to Read Job, a new book by two well-known Old Testament scholars, John Walton and Tremper Longman, it looks interesting. I look forward to getting it and perhaps incorporating it into my Old Testament wisdom and poetry course. Here is the table of contents.

Acknowledgments
Part One: Reading Job as Literature
1. What Is the Book of Job About?
2. What Is the Rhetorical Strategy of the Book of Job?
3. Job in the Context of the Ancient Near East
4. Is Job a Real Person?

Part Two: Getting to Know the Characters of the Book of Job
5. What Do We Learn About God from the Book of Job?
6. Who Is "Satan" in Job?
7. What Is the Role of Job in the Book of Job?
8. How to Assess Job’s Human Advisers
9. Who Is Job’s Advocate?
10. Behemoth and Leviathan, the Most Powerful Creatures Imaginable

Part Three: The Theological Message of the Book of Job
11. The Retribution Principle and Theodicy in Job
12. The Retribution Principle in Wisdom Literature
13. Does Job Believe in the Afterlife?
14. Learning About the Cosmos from the Book of Job
15. The Theology of Suffering in the Book of Job
16. Job’s View of God

Part Four: Reading Job as a Christian
17. Job and Jesus
18. The Message of the Book of Job for Today
19. Does the Book of Job Provide Comfort?
20. Applying the Book of Job

Appendix: Commentaries on the Book of Job
Notes
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture Index

How I Preach: Paige Patterson

Abraham Kuruvilla continues his "how I Preach" interview series with this interview of Paige Patterson. Here are a few of Patterson's responses that stuck out to me.

Most used English Bible version:
New King James Version.
(I am not at all a King James-only type, but I am so old that I knew some of the 1611 translators personally. Indeed, I even dream in Elizabethan English, so my commitment to the KJV is a matter of habit and memory.).

Use of Greek and Hebrew (light/moderate/heavy)?
Pretty heavy. I never preach without translating the passage for myself.

What tools/aids for sermon prep can’t you live without?
I depend heavily upon my 30,000-volume personal library.

One word that best describes how you preach:
Text-driven or expository.

Now go and read the rest of the entire fascinating interview.

New and Improved Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts Website

Just in case you missed it this weekend, The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts has launched a new and improved version of their website here.

Five Words that Weaken Sermons

Jason Allen provides interesting insight on five words that weaken any sermon here.

The Death of Printed Academic Books?

See this interesting article.

HT: Ben Blackwell

The Provenance of Philemon

Phillip J. Long has a nice summary of the proposed provenances of Paul's letter to Philemon here.

Capturing and Saving Quotes

Wayne Stiles has a helpful post on how to capture and saving great quotes found in a variety of formats here.

Leland Ryken on What Every Book of the Old Testament Is About

See this post at the Crossway blog in which Leland  Ryken provides a brief paragraph explaining what every book of the Old Testament is about.

Granville Sharp's Birthday

Anyone who has taken Greek in either Bible college or seminary has probably heard of the Granville Sharp rule. The rule regarding a certain construction involving the definite article was first articulated in Sharp's book, Remarks on the Uses of the Definitive Article in the Greek Text of the New Testament: Containing many New Proofs of the Divinity of Christ, from Passages which are wrongly Translated in the Common English Version. In any case, Granville Sharp was born on this day in 1735.

Free PDF of William Ramsay’s The Cities of St Paul

Rob Bradshaw has made a free PDF of William Ramsay’s classic work The Cities of St Paul available here.

Kent Hughes Reflecting on 40 Years of Pastoral Ministry

See this blog interview with R. Kent Hughes reflecting on forty years of pastoral ministry.

Beale on the Garden of Eden as Temple

Although, Beale's book, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God, has been out since 2004, Tony Reinke does a nice job summarizing Beale's argument that the Garden of Eden was the first and prototypical temple here.

Reading J. C. Ryle

Ben Roger's explains why seminarians should read J. C. Ryle here.

Recommended Resources on Exodus and the Decalogue

Timothy Raymond has a brief but good list of recommended resources for studying the book of Exodus and the Decalogue here and here.

HT: David Murray

NIVAC Commentaries on Sale

Zondervan has all volumes of the New International Version Application Commentaries on sale in the ebook format for $4.99 per volume or even a bit less if you buy the volumes in a bundle. For example, the Pentateuch bundle has four volumes for $17.99. To see what is available and links to purchase go here.

Free Audio: Sex & Money by Paul David Tripp

Christianaudio.com is offering a free audio download of Paul David Tripp's book Sex & Money here.

Free Logos Book for November: Ulrich Luz's Matthew 1-7

The free Logos Book for November is Ulrich Luz’s commentary on Matthew 1-7 in the Hermeneia series. You can also purchase Luz's commentary covering Matthew 8-20 in the same series for $1.99 and enter to win the entire sixty nine volume Hermeneia series. Go the Logos' Free Book of Month page here to enter and download your free book today!

Particle Board Preaching

Nicholas Batzig has a good post on what he calls "particle board preaching" here.

The Sin of Sodom

See this interesting discussion of Sodom's sin from a Jewish perspective.

Reading the Bible Devotionally in the Original Languages

Todd Scacewater offers five tips on reading the Bible devotionally in the original languages here.

How to Act Less Stupid

The Washington Post has an interesting article concerning how to act less stupid here. According to a recent psychological study discussed in the article, stupidity commonly involves three kinds of behavior. The first and highest level of stupidity involves "confident ignorance." This occurs "when a person's self-perceived ability to do something far outweighs that person's actual ability to do it." Second, "lack of control" "is when someone does something because they have, on some level, lost their ability to do otherwise." Finally, "absentmindedness — lack of practicality" occurs when people "weren't paying attention or simply weren't aware of something." The Bible would also indicate that stupidity has a spiritual component as well, either in rejecting the Lord or His wisdom.

Free Academic Articles Via Twitter?

According to this article in The Atlantic, there is a movement to gain access to academic "paywalled" articles via Twitter. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I understand that some of the fees for accessing articles are too high and often in biblical studies there is little if any financial reward for the fruits of one's research. On the other hand, this appears to be a blatant attempt to circumvent legal access and probably violates copyright laws. Thoughts?

Free Hebrew, Arabic, Akkadian, Aramaic Notes and Charts

Those interested in Semitics (e.g., Hebrew, Arabic, Akkadian, Aramaic) night want to check out my friend Steven Anderson's website here for free charts and notes.