Yom Kippur

On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord.  You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf…

Paradise Lost

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide the Bear with her satellites?”  Job 38:31-32  NASB Constellation – One of the great tragedies of the world is electricity.  “Wait a minute,” you’ll reply.  “Electricity has provided so many benefits in life. …

Doing God a Favor

Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.  Leviticus 20:26 NASB Holy to Me – We’re familiar with the citation of this Levitical command in the gospel of Matthew (5:48) where the Greek text translation changes the meaning from “holy”…

The Land of Nod – Rewind

you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth Genesis 4:12  Berean Study Bible Fugitive and wanderer – (This study was first published on my birthday eleven years ago.  With some corrections, it is essentially the same.  My recent dreams during sleep reminded me to take another look at the Hebrew nōd.) Aimless….

Confronting the Dark

Immediately the Spirit *impelled Him to go out into the wilderness.  Mark 1:12  NASB Impelled – Why was Yeshua “impelled” to go into the wilderness?  The Greek term is quite strong.  ekbállō isn’t just personal compulsion.  It is literally, “throw out.”  Yeshua was thrown out into the wilderness, the sort of thing that happens without choice.  Mark…

The Wonderful Plan (2)

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8  NASB Tradition – “It is tragically true that we are often wrong about God, believing in that which is not God, in…

The Wonderful Plan (1)

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8  NASB Tradition – About half a century ago this verse was one of the standards I used to evangelize those poor souls…

Unemployed

Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9  NASB Where – Man was created to be useful.  In fact, he was assigned an indispensable role on the earth—to steward it on God’s behalf.  “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it…

The Voice

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  Genesis 3:8  NASB The sound – You’ll remember Avivah Kushner’s brilliant exegesis of this unusual verse (CLICK HERE).  She points out that…

The One and Only

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and  truth;”   Exodus 34:6  NASB Compassionate – Exodus 34:6-7 is God’s personally endorsed self-description.  As such, it is vitally important, perhaps one of the most important parts of the entire Bible.  If you want to…