The Hardness of God

He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.  Psalm 62:2 ESV My rock – Other human beings may idolize the Man of Steel, but David looks to the God of Rock.  The Hebrew text (as you must have guessed by now) does not contain the verb “is.” …

Play Station

For God alone my soul waits in silence, from Him comes my salvation.  Psalm 62:1  ESV (English text) Comes – I think it’s important to recognize how the very structure of our language subtly alters how we understand the text.  The fact is that Hebrew doesn’t even work like English or any of the Indo-European…

Silent Night

For God alone my soul waits in silence, from Him comes my salvation.  Psalm 62:1  ESV (English text) Silence – “Silent night, holy night.  All is calm.  All is bright.”  These familiar lines demonstrate the time when silence is good.  But the Hebrew word dumiyyah can also be used in a negative sense.  For example,…

Speculative Practices

Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.  1 Corinthians 11:2  NASB Traditions – Now that we have some justification for understanding paradoseis as the oral Torah, we might ask, “What practices could Paul have been speaking about?”  Paul doesn’t…

What Isn’t the Law

Now I praise you because you remember me in everything, and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.  1 Corinthians 11:2  NASB Traditions – Do you find Paul’s praise a bit misplaced?  After all, he’s writing to the Corinthians!  These are the people whose orderliness in worship is a mess,…

Untranslatable

For God alone my soul waits in silence, from Him comes my salvation.  Psalm 62:1  ESV (English text) Alone – What does it mean to wait on God alone?  We probably think this means that we are waiting for God and no one else.  He must answer.  No one else will do.  That’s at least…