Defining Moments (3)

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”  Exodus 3:13  NASB To you – When Moses arrived,…

Defining Moments (2)

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”  Exodus 3:13  NASB Has sent me – Sometimes divine…

Defining Moments (1)

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”  Exodus 3:13  NASB Has sent me – Perhaps character…

Character Reference

Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”  Exodus 3:13  NASB What – What a stupid question! …

Who Are You?

Yet I have been the Lord your God since the land of Egypt; and you were not to know any god except Me, for there is no savior besides Me.  Hosea 13:4  NASB Any god except Me – Martin Buber comments on passages like this one in Hosea: “Only by acknowledging YHVH as One, Whom they are willing to follow in…

A Civilized World

When God began to create heaven and earth—the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water—God said . . .  Genesis 1:1-2  JPS A wind from God – One might reasonably argue that this text forms the backbone of the Western…

He Speaks!

“Many daughters have done worthy things, but you—you surpass them all.”  Proverbs 31:29  Robert Alter You—you – This hymn to wives is well known in religious circles.  Apparently written by the mother of King Lemuel, it is not only a glorious recounting of the strength and valor of a wife, it is also a stern…

Hole in the Heart

Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, so that I will not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” and that I will not become impoverished and steal,  Proverbs 30:8b-9a  NASB Impoverished – What does it mean to be impoverished?  Poor?  Financially destitute?  The Hebrew is yāraš, in the…

Flying Carpets

then you shall inform your children, saying, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’  Joshua 4:22  NASB On dry ground – Are you having fun yet?  You’re probably asking yourself, “How many times are we going to look at this incident?  È già abbastanza (It’s enough already).”  But, you know, I’m just fascinated by the oddities…