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.

Ken Brown, The Vision in Job 4 and Its Role in the Book: Reframing the Development of the Joban Dialogues
Reviewed by Tobias Häner

Danna Nolan Fewell, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative
Reviewed by Hannah M. Strømmen

Dorotei Getov, A Catalogue of the Greek Manuscripts at the Ecclesiastical Historical and Archival Institute of the Patriarchate of Bulgaria: Volume I: Backovo Monastery
Reviewed by W. Andrew Smith

Dominic S. Irudayaraj, Violence, Otherness and Identity in Isaiah 63:1–6: The Trampling One Coming from Edom
Reviewed by Soo J. Kim

Robert Knapp, The Dawn of Christianity: People and Gods in a Time of Magic and Miracles
Reviewed by Lee M. Jefferson

Kevin McGeough, The Ancient Near East in the Nineteenth Century: Appreciations and Appropriations: I. Claiming and Conquering
Reviewed by Jason Anthony Riley

Jason M. Silverman and Caroline Waerzeggers, eds., Political Memory in and after the Persian Empire
Reviewed by Jenny Rose

David Stern, The Jewish Bible: A Material History
Reviewed by Barry Dov Walfish

Michael E. Stone, Uncovering Ancient Footprints: Armenian Inscriptions and the Pilgrimage Routes of the Sinai
Reviewed by Sergio La Porta

Timothy Wiarda, Spirit and Word: Dual Testimony in Paul, John, and Luke
Reviewed by Mark Matson

"Placebo Buttons"

This is an interesting article on "placebo buttons" and how they give people the illusion of control. Surely, there is a sermon illustration or two here.

Red Heifers and Dominus Flevit

See this post by Carl Rasmussen connecting red heifers with Dominus Flevit. I had seen the story on the red heifers but was not aware of the possible connection to Dominus Flevit. For biblical references see Numbers 19 and Hebrews 9:13.

The Names of the Shofar Calls

This article explains the names of three of the the traditional shofar calls. Only three are discussed because the article relates to the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah which apparently only uses three discussed. The word shofar occurs about 44 times in the Old Testament.

Free Audio: Old Testament Theology

Credo Course is offering free audio here of their Old Testament Theology course taught by Tremper Longman. I am not sure how long this offer will be available.

The Book of Revelation and a Hotel in Vietnam

See this National Geographic article on a hotel in Vietnam that is inspired by imagery from the book of Revelation.

The Garden of Eden

The post entitled, "10 Things You Should Know about the Garden of Eden" is interesting. But, the title is a bit imprecise. Actually, only five (or maybe only four) of the points relate specifically to the garden itself while the rest specifically concern Adam and Eve. The post is also pretty much extrapolations from the text rather than dealing with the text of Genesis 2-3.

Free Audio Book of the Month: How to Battle Depression and Suicidal Thoughts

Christianaudio.com's free audio book of the month is Ray Comfort's How to Battle Depression and Suicidal Thoughts,  a timely offer in light of the recent suicide of a pastor in California. To read more about this resource and to get your free audio download in either MP3 or M4B formats go here.

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.

Kenneth Cuffey, The Literary Coherence of the Book of Micah: Remnant, Restoration, and Promise
Reviewed by Julia M. O’Brien

T. M. Derico, Oral Tradition and Synoptic Verbal Agreement: Evaluating the Empirical Evidence for Literary Dependence
Reviewed by Arie W. Zwiep

Carl R. Holladay, Acts
Reviewed by Kenneth D. Litwak

Wolfgang Kraus, Michaël van der Meer, and Martin Meiser, eds., XV Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies
Reviewed by Theo van der Louw

Noel Lenski, Constantine and the Cities: Imperial Authority and Civic Politics
Reviewed by Young Richard Kim

Jack R. Lundbom, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: Mandating a Better Righteousness
Reviewed by Charles L. Quarles

Heikki Räisänen, The Bible among Scriptures and Other Essays
Reviewed by Davina C. Lopez

Vítor Hugo Schell, Die Areopagrede des Paulus und Reden bei Josephus: Eine vergleichende Studie zu Apg 17 und dem historiographischen Werk des Josephus
Reviewed by Lars Kierspel

Carolyn J. Sharp, ed., The Oxford Handbook of the Prophets
Reviewed by Phillip G. Camp

Christian Stettler, Das Endgericht bei Paulus: Framesemantische und exegetische Studien zur Paulinischen Eschatologie und Soterologie
Reviewed by Jermo van Nes

Free Logos Book for September: Preaching and Teaching the Last Things

The free Logos Book for the Month for September is Walt Kaiser's Preaching and Teaching the Last Things: Old Testament Eschatology for the Life of the Church. You can also purchase Kaiser's Preaching and Teaching from the Old Testament: A Guide for the Church and Toward an Exegetical Theology: Biblical Exegesis for Preaching and Teaching for $2.99 and $3.99 respectively. There is also a contest to win the 18 volume Baker Academic Theological Interpretation Collection. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

Praying the Psalms

Christopher Ash gives seven reasons to do so here.

Journal for the Study of the New Testament 41:1

The latest issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament is out. Here is a list of the articles and links to abstracts.

Introduction

Reading the New Testament as Second Temple Jewish Literature: Introduction - Benjamin Wold

Articles  

Parables and Proverbs in the Jesus-Tradition and Rabbinic Literature- Menahem Kister

Reading Gospel Parables as Jewish Literature - R. Steven Notley

Comparing Matthew and Luke in the Light of Second Temple Jewish Literature - George J. Brooke

Rewriting and the Gospels - Garrick V. Allen

Oral Group Memory – Written Fragmented Memory: A Note on Paul and the Jews - Doron Mendels

Paul as an Early Witness to the Jewish Notion of Liberation-through-Torah - Serge Ruzer

Universal and Particular Law in the Letter of James and Early Judaism - Benjamin Wold

The Poetics of Angelic Discourse: Revelation 2–3 and the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice - Noam Mizrahi

Melchizedek in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature - Loren T. Stuckenbruck

Those Who Can Do, Can’t Teach

The title is a bit overstated but the point made in this New York Time's editorial is worth considering.

New Resource on Psalm 23

Bible Places has just announced the release of their latest  volume, a collection of photos illustrating Psalm 23. There are 100 photographs in PowerPoint ready presentations here. There is also a photo book which you can purchase at Amazon here. As I have noted before, Bible Places has the BEST Bible-related photo resources available anywhere. If you are a preacher or teacher, you need to consider adding this volume to your library.

Not only that, but this week they have an introductory special price of only $19 (including immediate download and free shipping in the US). That includes 100 photos in PowerPoint format, all provided with informative descriptions, plus some bonus photo sets. 

You can check it out here or purchase it here.

Exodus 40:16-33: "The LORD Commanded Him”

In a recent chapel message, I noted that in Exodus 40:16-33 the phrase, “the LORD commanded him” is used in v. 16 and “as the LORD had commanded Moses” occurs seven times (vv. 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32; cf. Exod 7:6, 10, 20). Clearly, a key concept in the erection of the tabernacle is one of obedience.

Obedience in the Bible is both a negative and positive idea. Negatively, obedience takes three forms. First, obedience means that we do not do what we are not supposed to do (e.g., the “thou shalt nots”). Second, obedience means that we do not do what we are not to do when we are not to do it (e.g., work on the Sabbath in the OT). Third, obedience entails refraining from doing things in a manner we are not supposed to (e.g., moving the ark [2 Sam 6:1-8]). 

Positively, obedience also commonly takes three forms as can be seen in Exodus 40. First, in obedience one does what God tells you to do. Moses demonstrates this marvelously. See 40:1-2 and 40:33. Secondly, obedience involves doing what God tells you to do when he tells you to do it. The Lord tells Moses, that he is to ierect the tabernacle “on the first day of the first month” and according to 40:17, “in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected.” And thirdly, obedience is doing what God tells you to do how He tells you to do it. Notice the sevenfold repetition of “as the LORD had commanded Moses.” Furthermore, Moses completes the tasks in erecting the tabernacle in exactly the same order that the Lord had commanded in 40:1–8. 

Let me conclude with the same challenge that I made in chapel. 

· Do what God tells you to do – No matter the cost

· Do what God tells you to do when he tells you to do it – No matter the time

· Do what God tells you to do how He tells you to do it – No matter the difficulty

Five Seminary Myths

Jeff Robinson articulates five common myths concerning seminary here.