Ancient Inscriptions and the New Testament

D. Clint Burnett explains here why he thinks that it is important to read ancient inscriptions alongside the New Testament. I think he is correct but one needs to exercise great care in using since many inscriptions lack context and there can be a tendency of committing the parallelomania error.

Songs of Revelation

Bob Kauflin has a good post here on the songs in Revelation 4 and 5. He notes that they are songs of exuberance, explanation, encouragement, and expectation.

Free Logos Books for April: The Universal Story: Genesis 1–11 and Thoughts in Solituade

The free Logos books for the month for April are The Universal Story: Genesis 1–11 (Transformative Word) by Dru Johnson and Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton. You can also purchase the following nine volumes at greatly reduced prices.

Faith Amid the Ruins: The Book of Habakkuk (Transformative Word)by Heath Thomas: $1.9

Singing in the Reign: The Psalms and the Liturgy of God’s Kingdom by Michael Barber: $1.99

Christ Above All: The Book of Hebrews (Transformative Word) by Adrio König: $2.99

Spurgeon Commentary: 1 John: $4.99

The Resurrection of the Messiah: A Narrative Commentary on the Resurrection Accounts in the Four Gospels by Farncis Moloney: $5.99

James Verse by Verse (Osborne New Testament Commentaries) by Grant Osbourne: $7.99

Reading the Sermons of Thomas Aquinas (A Beginner’s Guide) by Randall Smith: $7.99

High Definition Commentary: Galatians by Steve Runge: $9.99

Faith Comes from What is Heard: An Introduction to Fundamental Theology by Lawrence Feingold: $11.99

Nehemiah: A Pastoral and Exegetical Commentary By T. J. Betts: $14.99

Amos, Jonah, & Micah: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (EEC) by Johanna Hoyy: $19.99

1–2 Timothy and Titus: Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (EBTC) by Andreas Köstenberger: $24.99

You can also register for a chance to win the 64-volume Lexham Press Commentaries. For all these offers, go to the Logos' Free Book of Month page here and here.

Why Didn’t the Israelites Circumcise in the Wilderness?

David Frankel attempts to answer the question here. I don't agree with Frankel's conclusion which requires a fair amount of redaction and depends on a view of the authorship of Torah that I do not hold but the discussion is interesting nonetheless.

Exercising Caution in Reading Archaeological News Reports

It was reported here that a Tyrian shekel was found in recent conservation work at the so-called Tower of David. According to the reports, "the ancient coin was found inside a box of artifacts originally excavated in the 1980s." But technically, as my numismatist friend Russell Atherton points out, it is not a Tyrian shekel but a coin of Demetrius (or Demetrios) II, with the portrait of Demetrius not Melqart. This would make it a tetradrachm rather than a shekel. The name "ΔHMHTPIOY" can be seen clearly on the reverse although the date is hard to make out (see the picture below from the article).

In sum, it is a nice coin, but not especially rare and not correctly attributed. This is one example why one needs to exercise care in reading news reports on archeological finds.

Preaching Obadiah

Clint Archer provides six reasons for doing so here.

Elijah, Elisha, John and Jesus in Luke–Acts

Steve Walton has made his slide presentation available for a recent talk that he gave on Elijah, Elisha, John and Jesus in Luke–Acts here.This was part of a two-day online seminar on the use of the Old Testament in the New.

Psalm 42 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 42 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

The Fathers on Psalm 42: https://pursuingveritas.com/2019/08/27/the-fathers-on-psalm-42

Literary analysis of Psalm 42: http://psalmsstudy.com/psalms-literary-analysis-by-chapter/literary-analysis-psalm-42-presence-god

Into the Word with Paul Carter: https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/into-the-word/psalms-42-43

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps042-43.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_042.pdf

John Piper, Spiritual Depression in the Psalms: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/spiritual-depression-in-the-psalms

New Testament Exegesis and Hermeneutics Bibliography

Nijay Gupta and Cody Matchett have produced a helpful New Testament exegesis and hermeneutics bibliography. You can check it out here.

Ezekiel's Prophecies Against Egypt

Safwat Marzouk does a pretty nice job working through Ezekiel's prophecies against Egypt here.

Preachers and their $5,000 sneakers

I don't even know what to say about this article. Lord have mercy.

HT: Amy Downey

What You Should Know About the Dead Sea Scrolls

 Joe Carter does a pretty good job listing nine points here.

Illegitimate Totality Transfer

 A bit of hermeneutical humor seen on Facebook.

 

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.

James P. Allen, Mark A. Collier, and Andreas Stauder, eds., Coping with Obscurity: The Brown Workshop on Earlier Egyptian Grammar
Reviewed by Julia Clare Francis Hamilton

Scott D. Charlesworth, Early Christian Gospels: Their Production and Transmission
Reviewed by Danny Yencich

Christian Frevel, Desert Transformations: Studies in the Book of Numbers
Reviewed by Josef Forsling

Jack Levison, A Boundless God: The Spirit according to the Old Testament
Reviewed by Christopher J. H. Wright

Darian R. Lockett, Letters from the Pillar Apostles: The Formation of the Catholic Epistles as a Canonical Collection
Reviewed by Martin C. Albl

Grant Macaskill, Living in Union with Christ: Paul’s Gospel and Christian Moral Identity
Reviewed by Robert L. Foster

Ken M. Penner, ed., The Lexham English Septuagint: A New Translation
Reviewed by Marieke Dhont

Nickolas P. Roubekas, ed., Theorizing “Religion” in Antiquity
Reviewed by Andrew Durdin

Claudia Setzer and David A. Shefferman, eds., The Bible in the American Experience
Reviewed by Stu Halpern

Joseph Yahalom, Sources of the Sacred Song: Crossroads in Jewish Liturgical Poetry [Hebrew]
Reviewed by Michael D. Swartz

The Number Seven in the Old Testament

Elaine Goodfriend has a nice post here on the number seven in the Hebrew Bible.

Hebrews 5:7-10

The it is difficult to understand and untangle the many implications of the incarnation. So one can appreciate Justin Dillehay's attempt here to wrestle with Hebrews 5:7-10, especially verse 8 that reads, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered."

New Archaeological Discoveries in the Dead Sea Area

The Israel Antiquities Authority has announced some significant finds from their "rescue" operation in the numerous caves in the Dead Sea region. The most important finds for biblical studies is the discovery of some additional Dead Sea Scrolls that include a portion of Nahum and Zechariah. It will be interesting to see some of the more academic treatments of the finds when they are published. In any case, you can read about it here. 

 

Peter's Curse (Matt 26:74)

Peter's denial of the Lord and the fact that he uttered curses is well known. But there is some ambiguity grammatically as to intended recipient of the curse. At least three options are possible: (1) Peter himself, (2) the bystanders, or (3) the Lord. Of the three, the bystanders view seems least likely since it would not really be a denial of the Lord. On the other hand, I have taught that Peter was uttering a self-imprecation, that is, calling a curse(s) upon himself as a way of bolstering the veracity of his denial. But R. T. France has made a really strong case that Peter's denial involved the Lord. If so, it certainly magnifies the grace extended to Peter, one who not only denied knowing the Lord but actually uttered an imprecation against him! In any case, here is the pertinent part of France's comments on Matthew 26:74.

"Again Peter denies, and again he uses an oath. But this time Matthew’s wording goes further, and the verb “began” indicates a new element in this third denial. The verb “swear” alone would have indicated merely another oath as in v. 72, but it is preceded by katathematizō, a verb which occurs only here but is generally agreed to be synonymous with the verb used in the Marcan parallel, anathematizō, “to curse, anathematize” (and in the LXX “to devote,” especially to destruction). Anathematizō elsewhere is always a transitive verb requiring a direct object to denote the person cursed; cf. Paul’s use of anathema as a curse formula in 1 Cor 12:3; 16:22; Gal 1:8, 9, in each case applied to a person other than the speaker. If the verb here meant, as some versions have suggested, that Peter is putting himself under a curse if he is lying, it would require “himself” as object, as it has in Acts 21:12, 14, 21. Here, where the object is not expressed, it means that Peter is cursing someone other than himself, and the most natural sense in this context would be that he now began to curse Jesus, as a way of dissociating himself from him; this was precisely what Pliny later required those accused of being Christians to do, in order to prove their innocence (Pliny, Ep. 10.96.5; cf. also Justin, Apol. 1.31.6). Matthew and Mark, by leaving the object unexpressed, refrain from stating in so many words that Peter cursed Jesus, but it is hard to see what else the choice of these transitive verbs could be meant to convey."

R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2007), 1033–1034.

Old Testament Prophecy as a Puzzle

I am not the first one to use the analogy of a puzzle in regards to Old Testament prophecy. Interpreters have remarked on how it is like a puzzle with missing pieces (due to the progress of revelation) or how one is putting the pieces together without the benefit of a picture on the box. But I was recently struck by how a puzzle might help to illustrate Zechariah 9. Consider the picture below picturing the first three Star Wars movies. Various scenes from all three movies are arranged into one picture. Just by looking at the picture, one would be hard pressed to know that significant time had passed between the various scenes or their exact order unless one were already familiar with the Star Wars' trilogy. In a similar way, it seems to me that Zechariah  9–14 presents an eschatological picture of Israel's redemption and restoration through the juxtaposition of various events related to the overall picture. Seen this way, one can understand how vignettes of Alexander's conquests, the Maccabean Revolt, and the First and Second Advents, etc. can form a collage of Zechariah's overall eschatological picture.

 

Psalm 41 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 41 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.  

Literary analysis of Psalm 41: http://psalmsstudy.com/psalms-literary-analysis-by-chapter/literary-analysis-psalm-41-blessed-adonai-god-israel-times-times-amen-amen

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps041.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_041.pdf

David Guzik’s notes, “Psalm 41 – Prayer for Help in Sickness and Against Whispering Traitors”: https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-41

The Shapira Scroll

The New York Times have published an interesting article on the so-called Shapira Scroll. The article highlights the recent work of Idan Dershowitz, a scholar at the University of Potsdam who argues (along with others) that the manuscript might have been ancient and authentic. I am a bit skeptical, but this is not my area of expertise. It will be interesting to see how the debate plays out. In any case, you can read the article for yourself here. 

A "Biblical Fertility Amulet" Found in the Negev

This story is reports on a "biblical fertility amulet" found recently by an 11-year-old in the Negev. Here is a photo from the story. This is an interesting find but so much is unknown that caution needs to be exercised about calling it "biblical" and a "fertility amulet."

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.

David Allen and Steve Smith, eds., Methodology in the Use of the Old Testament in the New: Context and Criteria
Reviewed by Maria Brutti

John Binns, The T&T Clark History of Monasticism: The Eastern Tradition
Reviewed by Robert A. Kitchen

Sarah H. Casson, Textual Signposts in the Argument of Romans: A Relevance-Theory Approach
Reviewed by David J. Neville

Brandon D. Crowe, The Hope of Israel: The Resurrection of Christ in the Acts of the Apostles
Reviewed by David M. Allen

Edward L. Greenstein, Job: A New Translation
Reviewed by James L. Crenshaw

Max J. Lee, Moral Transformation in Greco-Roman Philosophy of Mind: Mapping the Moral Milieu of the Apostle Paul and His Diaspora Jewish Contemporaries
Reviewed by Timothy A. Brookins

Jeffrey J. Niehaus, When Did Eve Sin? The Fall and Biblical Historiography
Reviewed by Mark A. O’Brien

Donald W. Parry, Exploring the Isaiah Scrolls and Their Textual Variants
Reviewed by Jacob Stromberg

Jordan D. Rosenblum, Rabbinic Drinking: What Beverages Teach Us about Rabbinic Literature
Reviewed by Claudia D. Bergmann

Joachim Schaper, Media and Monotheism: Presence, Representation, and Abstraction in Ancient Judea
Reviewed by Matthew Lynch