Psalm 22:1-2

Lee Fields has a nice post here on Psalm 22:1-2.

Psalm 71

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

Michael Easley Sermon: https://immanuelbible.church/resource/sermons/message/reflecting-on-aging
 

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps071.pdf

Eric Mathis: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2753

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_071.pdf

John Piper, The Prayer of an Old Saint: https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-prayer-of-an-old-saint

Psalm 71 devotional: https://www.generations.org/devotionals/84

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.

Brian P. Bennett, Sacred Languages of the World: An Introduction
James W. Watts

Bradley L. Crowell, Edom at the Edge of Empire: A Social and Political History
Piotr Bienkowski

Michael Flexsenhar III, Christians in Caesar’s Household: The Emperors’ Slaves in the Makings of Christianity
Isaac Blois

Martin Goodman, Josephus’s The Jewish War: A Biography
Thomas E. Goud

Koowon Kim, 1 Samuel: A Pastoral and Contextual Commentary
David G. Firth

Will Kynes, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Wisdom and the Bible
Brandon R. Grafius

Emilie M. van Opstall, ed., Sacred Thresholds: The Door to the Sanctuary in Late Antiquity
Kevin L. Tolley

Dalit Rom-Shiloni, Voices from the Ruins: Theodicy and the Fall of Jerusalem in the Hebrew Bible
Lisbeth S. Fried

Mark Smith, Between Temple and Tomb: The Demotic Ritual Texts of Bodl. MS. Egypt. a. 3(P)
Lingxin Zhang

Jackson W., Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes: Honor and Shame in Paul’s Message and Mission
Troy M. Troftgruben

Herman C. Waetjen, Matthew’s Theology of Fulfillment, Its Universality and Its Ethnicity: God’s New Israel as the Pioneer of God’s New Humanity
Hyun Bo Sim

Free eBook: Defining Jesus

Wipf and Stock is offering a free eBook copy of Defining Jesus: The Earthly, the Biblical, the Historical, and the Real Jesus, and How Not to Confuse Them by Richard N. Soulen. The offer is only available until April 15. Here are the instructions to get your copy.

1. Click on this link.
2. Click "ADD TO CART" on the eBook option.
3. Use the code "REALJESUS22"
4. Upon checkout completion, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions of how to download your free eBook.          

Free Logos Resources for April

Logos is offering Pastoral Leadership: For the Care of Souls and Aquinas at Prayer: The Bible, Mysticism and Poetry as their free offerings for April. You can also purchase other books at significant discounts and enter to win the 50-volume Lexham Press Preaching & Teaching Bundle. These offers can be accessed here and here.

The House Church at Capernaum

Leen Ritmyer has followed up his excellent post on Capernaum here with this post on the church that was built at the site of Peter's house. The illustrations in particular are very helpful.

Difficult Passages

Elliott Clark has some good advice on how to approach them here.

Ben Witherington on Personal Libraries

I think Witherington's post here is spot on. Unfortunately, I find student's much less interested in building a personal library than when I was in seminary.

The Dead-Sea-Scroll Discovery—75 Years Later

John Currid provides a short overview here.

Ratzah in Leviticus 26

Though this article is from a Jewish rather than a Christian perspective, it argues that the best way to understand the use of רצה ratzah in Leviticus 26:34, 40 is that these texts (and others) teach that sin is a debt that must be repaid. The article is interesting at a variety of levels but I appreciate that it supports a key element of the penal substitutionary view of the atonement that sins need to be "paid" for. I find it ironic that at a time in which more and more Christian theologians are questioning the penal substitution view this Jewish article affirms it in a way. 

Using Greek in Preaching

Preaching rules can be broken but David Alan Black has a concise but good caution here about using (or misusing) Greek (or Hebrew for that matter) in preaching. I would disagree somewhat with the point that people are wholly uninterested in references to the original languages. I have found that they often are. The problem is that they are typically interested for the wrong reasons (e.g., it makes the preacher or preaching more authoritative, it settles complex interpretive problems, it makes a particular explanation of the text deeper, etc.). These misplaced notions are one reason why preachers are tempted to use the languages and a good reason why they should avoid doing so.

HT: Henry Neufeld

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 Alan Black and Benjamin L. Merkle, eds., Linguistics and New Testament Greek: Key Issues in the Current Debate
David H. Warren

Rachel L. Coleman, The Lukan Lens on Wealth and Possessions: A Perspective Shaped by the Themes of Reversal and Right Response
Kenneth D. Litwak

Bart D. Ehrman, Craig A. Evans, and Robert B. Stewart, Can We Trust the Bible on the Historical Jesus?
Tobias Ålöw

Noel Forlini Burt, Encounters in the Dark: Identity Formation in the Jacob Story
Joanna Kline

John Goldingay, Genesis
Adam L. Bean

Jonathan Homrighausen, Illuminating Justice: The Ethical Imagination of the Saint John’s Bible
Paul Korchin

Milena Kirova, Performing Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible
Stephen M. Wilson

Joseph A. Marchal, ed., After the Corinthian Women Prophets: Reimagining Rhetoric and Power
Greg Carey

Neil Martin, Regression in Galatians: Paul and the Gentile Response to Jewish Law
Tyler A. Stewart

Julia Rhyder, Centralizing the Cult: The Holiness Legislation in Leviticus 17–26
Stephen A. Long

Free Ebook: Exploring Intertextuality

Wipf & Stock is offering a free copy of Exploring Intertextuality edited by B. J. Oropeza and Steve Moyise. You can access this deal by going here, choosing the ebook option, and using the coupon code “OROPEZA22.” The deal is good until the end of the month.

HT: Nijay Gupta 

Capernaum and Peter's House

Leen Ritmyer has a very nice post here on Capernaum in general and what is likely Peter's house in particular.

Psalm 70

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

W.H. Bellinger Jr: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2198

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps070.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_070.pdf

Psalm 70 devotional: https://www.generations.org/devotionals/83