Household Gods in the Greco-Roman World

Carl Rasmussen has a post here on how household gods might have been worshiped in New Testament times by looking specifically at ruins in Ephesus and Pompeii.

Whales, Leviathan, Jonah, and the Talmud

Here is an interesting article related to recent discoveries both archaeological and actual whales in the Mediterranean Sea.

Reading Those with Whom You Disagree

Marty Duren makes the case here for reading those with whom you disagree.

Greg Beale on Biblical Theology

Fred Zaspel interviews Greg Beale here on the subject of biblical theology.

2018 Text-Driven Preaching Workshop

Mark your calendars for the 2018 Text-Driven Preaching Workshop at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. This year's focus will be on the book of Job. You can get details here.

Turning True Statements into Truth Nuggets

Merely articulating a truth can be helpful but packaging that truth in a winsome or memorable way is usually preferable. So Michael Cooper explains how he turns true statements into truth nuggets that transform lives 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. 

Garrick V. Allen, The Book of Revelation and Early Jewish Textual Culture Reviewed by Juan Hernández Jr.

Paul N. Anderson, Felix Just, S.J., and Tom Thatcher, eds., John, Jesus, and History, Volume 3: Glimpses of Jesus through the Johannine Lens
Reviewed by Harold W. Attridge

Drew W. Billings, Acts of the Apostles and the Rhetoric of Roman Imperialism
Reviewed by Davina C. Lopez

Dylan M. Burns, Apocalypse of the Alien God: Platonism and the Exile of Sethian Gnosticism
Reviewed by Glen Fairen

Micah D. Kiel, Apocalyptic Ecology: The Book of Revelation, the Earth, and the Future
Reviewed by Héctor Martín

Max Kunze, ed., Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem: Führer durch die Sammlungen
Reviewed by Wolfgang Zwickel

Alan Moss, Proverbs
Reviewed by Bernd U. Schipper

Nele Spiering-Schomborg, “Man kann sich nicht entscheiden, als was man geboren wird”: Exodus 1 im Horizont von Intersektionalität und empirischer Bibeldidaktik
Reviewed by Gottfried Adam

Michael E. Stone, Armenian Apocrypha Relating to Angels and Biblical Heroes
Reviewed by Adam Carter Bremer-McCollum

Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, Ezra-Nehemiah: Israel’s Quest for Identity
Reviewed by Lester Grabbe

Amillennialism and Revelation 20

Matt Waymeyer has a post here challenging the standard Amillennial approach to Revelation 20.

Parents and Children in the Old Testament

Claude Mariottini has a helpful post here related to parents and children in the Old Testament and how the godliness (or lack thereof) of the parent is not a reliable indicator of how their children turn out. There is also also a good pastoral word to believing parents whose children are not walking in wisdom or obedience.

LMLK Seals

Here is a pretty good article on Judean LMLK seals.

John 2 and the Wedding at Cana

Ian Paul has a helpful post on the wedding of Cana pericope in John 2 here. I hold that a creation motif runs through the account and that the turning of the water to wine is a divine act of creation. On an additional note, during a recent trip to Israel I was able to visit a late Second Temple stoneware factory and found a couple of fragments from stone vessels.

Free Audio Book of the Month: Reading the Bible Supernaturally

Christianaudio.com is offering John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally as their free audio download for the month of July. To read more about this resource and to get your free audio download in either MP3 or M4B formats go here.

Free Logos "Book" for July: Mobile Ed: NT308 The Reliability of New Testament Manuscripts Course

The free Logos "Book" for the Month for May is Craig Evans' The Reliability of New Testament Manuscripts course. You can also purchase Mark Strauss' Introducing Bible Translations course for $9.99 and/or Craig Keener's Critical issues in the Synoptic Gospels course for $19.99 and register to win the four-course Text of the Bible bundle. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here.

The Portrayal of Nebuchadnezzar in 2 Kings and Jeremiah

Claude Mariottini has a nice post here about the portrayal of Nebuchadnezzar in 2 Kings and Jeremiah.

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.

Johannes Beutler
A Commentary on the Gospel of John
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11870
Reviewed by Stephen C. Barton

Christiane Böhm
Die Rezeption der Psalmen in den Qumranschriften, bei Philo von Alexandrien und im Corpus Paulinum
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11811
Reviewed by Max Botner

Lisa M. Bowens
An Apostle in Battle: Paul and Spiritual Warfare in 2 Corinthians 12:1–10
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11822
Reviewed by Gudrun Nassauer

John Paul Heil
The Gospel of John: Worship for Divine Life Eternal
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10999
Reviewed by David Rensberger

Robert D. Holmstedt and John Screnock
Esther: A Handbook on the Hebrew Text
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10791
Reviewed by Ethan C. Jones

Lydia Lee
Mapping Judah’s Fate in Ezekiel’s Oracles against the Nations
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11404
Reviewed by John T. Strong

Eugene E. Lemcio
Soaring with St. John: Flight Paths of the Eagle; A Pedagogical Aid
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10065
Reviewed by Jey J. Kanagaraj

D. Eric Lowdermilk
Two Can Play That Game: Manipulation, Counter-manipulation, and Recognition in John 21 through the Eyes of Genesis
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11564
Reviewed by Kasper Bro Larsen

Christina Petterson
From Tomb to Text: The Body of Jesus in the Book of John
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11569
Reviewed by Alicia D. Myers

Clemens Scholten
Theodoret, De Graecarum affectionum curatione: Heilung der griechischen Krankheiten
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10383
Reviewed by Jonathan Douglas Hicks

Susanne Scholz
Introducing the Women’s Hebrew Bible: Feminism, Gender Justice, and the Study of the Old Testament
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11879
Reviewed by Laura Quic

Yves Simoens
Homme et femme: De la Genèse à l’Apocalypse
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10479
Reviewed by Jeffrey M. Tripp

Gary V. Smith
Interpreting the Prophetic Books: An Exegetical Handbook
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11467
Reviewed by Patricia K. Tull

Marvin A. Sweeney
The Pentateuch
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11986
Reviewed by Eckart Otto

Ben Witherington III
A Week in the Fall of Jerusalem
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11834
Reviewed by Joshua Schwartz

Balaam and Rembrandt

Here is an interesting article on Rembrandt's interpretive depiction of Balaam and the donkey.

Bibliography on Jews in Acts

Michael Kok has provided a brief but solid bibliography covering scholarly views on how the Jewish community is portrayed in the book of Acts here.

A Series of Posts on Σκύβαλον

Mike Aubrey posts his complete discussion of σκύβαλον here.

Recent Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls

There have been a number of recent challenges to the authenticity of at least some of the recently acquired fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls including this one by Kipp Davis.

Tips for Bible Memorization

Bible memorization is a wonderful and ancient spiritual discipline. Here are five tips to help one do it.

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.

Garwood P. Anderson
Paul’s New Perspective: Charting a Soteriological Journey
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11472
Reviewed by B. J. Oropeza

Kenneth E. Bailey
The Good Shepherd: A Thousand-Year Journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11465
Reviewed by Wayne Baxter

Dianne Bergant
A New Heaven, A New Earth: The Bible and Catholicity
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11219
Reviewed by John Painter

Ben C. Blackwell
Christosis: Engaging Paul’s Soteriology with His Patristic Interpreters
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11437
Reviewed by Joshua Madden

Jeremiah W. Cataldo
Biblical Terror: Why Law and Restoration in the Bible Depend upon Fear
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11574
Reviewed by Shawn J. Kelley

Lisbeth S. Fried
Ezra: A Commentary
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11128
Reviewed by Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

T. Christopher Hoklotubbe
Civilized Piety: The Rhetoric of Pietas in the Pastoral Epistles and the Roman Empire
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11876
Reviewed by Mark Harding

Torsten Jantsch
Frauen, Männer, Engel: Perspektiven zu 1Kor 11,2–16
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11398
Reviewed by J. Andrew Doole

Yung Suk Kim
Resurrecting Jesus: The Renewal of New Testament Theology
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10639
Reviewed by Joel Stephen Williams

Jon D. Levenson
The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10905
Reviewed by J. Michael Thigpen

Kelly D. Liebengood
The Eschatology of 1 Peter: Considering the Influence of Zechariah 9–14
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10040
Reviewed by John H. Elliott

Robert Mucha
Der apokalyptische Kaiser: Die Wahrnehmung Domitians in der apokalyptischen Literatur des Frühjudentums und Urchristentums
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10660
Reviewed by Russell Morton

James Nogalski
Interpreting Prophetic Literature: Historical and Exegetical Tools for Reading the Prophets
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10819
Reviewed by Ryan P. Bonfiglio

Gabrielle Oberhänsli-Widmer and Michael Welker, eds.
Liebe
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10914
Reviewed by Oda Wischmeyer

Richard E. Payne
A State of Mixture: Christians, Zoroastrians, and Iranian Political Culture in Late Antiquity
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11047
Reviewed by Jason M. Silverman

Andrew E. Steinman
1 Samuel
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11538
Reviewed by David G. Firth

Nicole L. Tilford
Sensing World, Sensing Wisdom: The Cognitive Foundation of Biblical Metaphors
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11676
Reviewed by JiSeong James Kwon

Dorothy Jean Weaver
The Irony of Power: The Politics of God within Matthew’s Narrative
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11796
Reviewed by Glenna S. Jackson

Philip Y. Yoo
Ezra and the Second Wilderness
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=11734
Reviewed by Roy E. Garton

Otto Zwierlein
Die antihäretischen Evangelienprologe und die Entstehung des Neuen Testaments
https://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=10917
Reviewed by Eric Scherbenske

David and Goliath

Carl Rasmussen has a good post on the geography of the battle between David and Goliath.David and Goliath here.

A Four-Horned Altar near Tel Shiloh

I was finally able to see the four-horned altar at Givat Harel, near Tel Shiloh today. I don't know that much about it but some information on it can be found here. and here. Unfortunately, the area was not well maintained. 

Free Revelation PowerPoint

Credo Courses is offering Mark Hitchcock's slides from his Revelation course for free here. Note only the PowerPoint is free.

Imprecations in Lament Psalms

Gordon Wenham addresses the problem of imprecations within the lament psalms by making the following three points (with some modification).

1. It is surely better to pray for God to punish the wicked than do it yourself.
2. These prayers for God to punish the wicked are expressions of hope in God’s justice.
3. Imprecations can be prayerful expressions of sensitivity for the suffering of fellow Christians.

Wenham, Gordon. The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 49.