Free Webinar: Contextualizing Your Preaching

David Allen is offering a free webinar on Thursday, January 19, on how to contextualize preaching. You can sign up here.

Praying the Psalms

Claude Mariottini has a nice post on the topic here.

Free eBook: Of Martyrs, Monks, and Mystics

Wipf and Stock is offering a free eBook copy of Of Martyrs, Monks, and Mystics: A Yearly Meditational Reader of Ancient Spiritual Wisdom by Charles Ringma and Irene Alexander. I did not see an expiration date so you might want to act sooner rather than later. Here are the instructions to get your copy.

1. Click on this link.
2. Click "BUY" on the eBook option.
3. Click "Add Coupon" and use the code "RINGMA22"
4. Upon checkout completion, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions of how to download your free eBook.

The OT Background to Jesus' Baptism

Ian Paul has an interested discussion here on the OT background to Jesus' baptism focusing particularly on Matthew's account. 

I would make just one minor comment concerning Paul's statement that, "Contrary to all artistic depiction (including the mosaic above from Ravenna), what happens next occurs after Jesus has ‘gone up out of the water’, in other words, once he has left the river and is on the bank once more." While the text does state, "Jesus came up immediately from the water" (NASB), this does not have to mean that he would have have to have go to shore. For example, one could say that "a whale came up out of the water." Furthermore, the idea of "immediately" (εὐθὺς) seems more naturally to refer to coming up out from under the water than hastening back to shore. So, I am not sure certainty is warranted in either case.

Bible Reading

One of my regular practices is to read through the Bible every year. There are many reasons to do this and Tim Casteel give five of them 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 to read them.

Israel Finkelstein and Mario A. S. Martin, eds., Megiddo VI: The 2010–2014 Seasons (Eisenbrauns)
Avraham Faust

H. H. Hardy II, The Development of Biblical Hebrew Prepositions (SBL Press)
Elitzur A. Bar-Asher Siegal

Brian Larsen, Archetypes and the Fourth Gospel: Literature and Theology in Conversation (T&T Clark)
Paul N. Anderson

Hanne Løland Levinson, The Death Wish in the Hebrew Bible: Rhetorical Strategies for Survival (Cambridge University Press)
David G. Firth

Kevin M. McGeough, Representations of Antiquity in Film: From Griffith to Grindhouse (Equinox)
Philippa Carter

Nicolò Rizzolo, Pesher: L’interpretazione della Parola per la fine dei giorni (Peeters)
Jeffrey L. Morrow

Love Lazarus Sechrest, Race and Rhyme: Rereading the New Testament (Eerdmans)
Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder

Wilbert P. Stelzer, A New Reconstruction of the Text of 2 Corinthians in Pelagius’s Commentary on the Pauline Epistles (Gorgias)
W. Andrew Smith

Free Logos Resources for January

Logos is offering two freebies this month: After God’s Own Heart: The Gospel According to David by Mark Boda and Herbert McCabe's The New Creation. You can also purchase other resources at significant discounts and enter to win the 13-volume Eerdmans Commentary Collection." These offers can be accessed here and here.

Year in Review

Faculty Focus has posted a nice year in review here. For those who are teachers, there are posts that are worth reading or reading.

Psalms Today Videos

Peter Mead has created short videos for each of the 150 psalms. You can see his post introducing them here.

Another Top Ten Discoveries in Biblical Archaeology List

Bryan Windle posts his list here.

The Real Color of Papyrus

Super nerdy but I found this post and the article it was based on related to papyrus production fascinating.

Top 10 Discoveries in Biblical Archaeology in 2022 and Much More

Todd Bolen has posted his top ten discoveries in biblical archaeology in 2022 and he also includes several other noteworthy lists. You should check it out 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 to read them.

Susan Ackerman, Gods, Goddesses, and the Women Who Serve Them (Eerdmans)
Laura Quick

Gilles Dorival, The Septuagint from Alexandria to Constantinople: Canon, New Testament, Church Fathers, Catenae (Oxford University Press)
Leonardo Pessoa da Silva Pinto

Raanan Eichler, The Ark and the Cherubim (Mohr Siebeck)
David A. Falk

Paul Laffan, The Fabricated Christ: Confronting What We Know about Jesus and the Gospels (Lexington/Fortress Academic)
Tobias Ålöw

Béatrice Oiry, Le temps qui compte: Construction et qualification du temps de l’histoire dans le récit des livres de Samuel (1 S 1–1 R 2) (Peeters)
Raoul Baziomo

Justin Pannkuk, King of Kings: God and the Foreign Emperor in the Hebrew Bible (Baylor University Press)
David B. Schreiner

Richard Walsh, ed., T&T Clark Companion to the Bible and Film (T&T Clark)
Melody D. Knowles

Merry Christmas!

 

Free PDF: The Future of New Testament Theology.

Joel Green has edited some essays on New Testament theology that are available as a free PDF here.

HT: Sean du Toit

Academic Writing

There is some helpful advice here.

HT: Steve Walton

The Day of Atonment and the Eden Narrative

L. Michael Morales makes a thought-provoking observation linking the Day of Atonement with the Garden of Eden with the former providing a ritual reversal of the expulsion from Eden. Part of the move made by Morales is to highlight the parallel between Adam and the high priest and Eden and the tabernacle. Here he states,

"Not only is Adam's job description, best translated as "to worship and obey" (Genesis 2:15), used elsewhere only to describe the work of the Levites at the tabernacle (Numbers 3:7-8) but even Yahweh's clothing of Adam and the woman reappears later in the description of Moses' clothing of the priests (Genesis 3:21; Leviticus 8:13). While it is accurate enough to call Eden an archetypal sanctuary and Adam as an archetypal high priest, the theological message of the Pentateuch seems rather to focus on how the tabernacle, with the holy of holies, comprised an architectural Eden, with a garden, and how Aaron's priesthood functioned as renewed humanity, the high priest serving fundamentally as a new Adam figure. The Eden narrative of Genesis served to explain the logic of Israel's cult, providing God's people with a narrative backdrop for understanding their divinely ordained liturgy."

L. Michael Morales, Exodus Old and New: A Biblical Theology of Redemption (Downers Grove, InterVarsity, 2020), 100.

Top Ten 1 Corinthian Commentaries

B. J. Oropeza offers his annotated list here.

Joseph, Potiphar, and Potiphar's Wife

Rachel Adelman has an interesting post here on Genesis 39–41, specifically on Joseph, Potiphar, and Potiphar's wife in Jewish traditional interpretation.

Cupbearers in Bible Times

Ferrell Jenkins has a nice post here on cupbearers in biblical times. This blog is one that I regularly look at.

The Economic Status of Jesus' Family

Ian Paul has a very interesting post here on the economic status of Jesus' family.

When Christmas Day Is Sunday

This article highlights a debate among Christians as to whether their churches should meet on Christmas day when that day is also a Sunday. I believe that this is a matter of conscience and that grace should be extended to both sides. But, I would lean toward having services even though the church I attend has gone the other direction.

Psalm 99

I am 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 99 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps099.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_099.pdf

Psalm 99 devotional: https://www.generations.org/devotionals/112

Steven Cole sermon: https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-99-holy-he

Scott Hoezee commentary: https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2022-02-21/psalm-99-4

Journey into God's Presence through the Offerings

Using Leviticus 9 primarily, L. Michael Morales suggests a "procedural order" in the sacrifices ([1] the purification offering, [2] the whole burnt offering, and [3]) the peace offering that represent a "cultic exodus" into fellowship with God (see diagram below). That is, not only do the offerings represent what is necessary to enter into God's presence but the order itself matters. Frankly, I had not ever considered this before. Very interesting.

L. Michael Morales, Exodus Old and new: A Biblical Theology of Redemption (Downers Grove, InterVarsity, 2020), 91-98.

D. A. Carson on One of the Saddest OT Texts

D. A. Carson explains here why 2 Kings 39 is one of the saddest Old Testament texts.