I came across a helpful set of resources yesterday from the Virginia Theological Seminary called Bible Briefs. They are very short introductions to Biblical books, both Old and New Testaments. The set of books is not complete yet; however, if you are studying a particular book, it would be valuable to check to see if one of these resources is available for it. They are in pdf format and are available for free download. If you want to check them out, click here. So far the volumes include:


Old Testament

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Job

Psalms

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations

Daniel

Amos

Obadiah

Micah


New Testament

Matthew

Mark

Luke/Acts

John

Romans

1 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

Philippians

1 & 2 Thessalonians

Hebrews

Revelation Read More...

Tags: Old Testament Study

Since today's posts have all been about the Decalogue I couldn't resist posting this Mel Brooks video that shows why we have 10 rather than 15 Commandments:

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Tags: Popular Culture

I was pointed to this link a while back by Chris Brady on his blog Targuman. It is a very different (but fun) version of the 10 Commandments. Timothy McSweeney has put together what the 10 Commandments would have looked like had God texted them. Can you decipher them? Read More...

Tags: Popular Culture

I have been away from blogging on the lectionary readings for a couple of days (busy week at work). I sat down to look at the Old Testament reading for today and bam - The Decalogue. Impossible not to post on that. Then, I started thinking ... "The" Decalogue. Is this a proper name for this passage in Exodus 20?

One of the important exercises that I had students do when teaching the Pentateuch was to have them compare versions of the commandments side-by-side. Many beginning readers of the Old Testament do not realize that there are at least three versions of these commandments. The first set is here in Exodus 20 from which we get today's reading. The second version is in Exodus 34 and the third in Deuteronomy 5. The two sets in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are very close to one another, but not exactly the same. For instance, the Sabbath has a different motivation in each and the last commandments have a slightly different structure. However, the version in Exodus 34, often referred to as the Cultic Decalogue (or something like that), is very different. Yet there are enough connections to think that this is another version of the Decalogue (see vv. 14, 17, 21).

Why not try this exercise for yourself? Read the passages in Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, and Exodus 34 and see what you think? What are the similarities? What are the differences? What do these say about the different authors? Read More...

Tags: Lectionary Readings, Old Testament Study

Kudos to Rob Kashow at Tolle Lege! (I found it through John Anderson at hesed we'emet) for finding this! It is a full version of the old International Critical Commentary series online. They are publishing new commentaries and the old ones are out of copyright. The uptake for you is that the older ones are all online for free in pdf format. Obviously some of the information in these texts will be outdated, but there is still an abundance of good material in them. This link will definitely be making its way onto my website and to my e-mail list (be sure to join so you can keep up to date on things like this). Thanks again John. Read More...

Tags: Old Testament Study

Did anyone see that movie Signs with Mel Gibson in it? If so, there is not much reason for watching Knowing (unless you really, really liked Signs). The whole time I was watching it I kept thinking, "This is just like that movie Signs." Read More...

Tags: Popular Culture

I've noticed a bunch of these "Seven Blogs I Read Most" posts lately. It looks like the posts started with number one in the list below. Most of the blogs listed on these pages are related to Biblical Studies, both Old and New Testaments. If you are interested, check out the lists on the links below. I've subscribed to a number of RSS Feeds today just from checking out the links within these posts: Read More...

Tags: Blogs, Old Testament Study

In today's responsive reading (which comes from Exodus 15 rather than Psalms), the Exodus is presented as a Type of creation. This is suggested by verse 5 of the chapter, which reads "The floods/deeps covered them." The word "deeps" is the same word from Genesis 1 where darkness is over the "deep." In both scenarios, something important happens in relation to a watery chaos. WIth this link back to creation, it is beneficial to think of the Exodus as the creation of something new. Scholars have noted that this is the creation of a nation. Whereas Israel goes down into Egypt as a family, they come out as a nation. Read More...

Tags: Exodus, Old Testament Study, Lectionary Readings

Last night I stayed up reading and thinking for a little while, and I decided to look ahead at today's Old Testament readings (Ex 14:21-15:1). I am not sure why exactly I was struck by this again last night, but for whatever reason I was struck by just how matter-of-factly Biblical stories are told sometimes. I am thinking here particularly of verse 23: "The Egyptians followed in pursuit..." No deliberation, no anything, just followed in pursuit. There is no Egyptian perspective whatsoever. So, I tried to think of some funny things that some of the Egyptians could have thought or said to one another if some Hollywood style comic relief were added to the story. And, here is what I came up with for some dialogue between one Egyptian soldier and another as they looked on at the sea that had been parted (please forgive my brutally terrible sense of humor): Read More...

Tags: Exodus, Personal, Lectionary Readings

In today's reading (Ex. 14.5-18) we find a potential example of what is referred to as redaction, which is basically another word for editing. It looks like there may have been two sources for this particular story that were combined together by an editor. This can be seen in an abrupt shift that takes place. I will briefly trace out the story line: Read More...

Tags: Exodus, Old Testament Study, Lectionary Readings

Form critical scholars who have studied the prophetic books have identified a number of common forms of prophetic speech. Today's reading from Jeremiah 23.1-6 is an example of a prophetic "Woe Oracle." These oracles begin with the Hebrew word that is translated "woe," and there are strings of these types of oracles in places like Isaiah 5 (or in the NT Matthew 23). However, this is not the most interesting aspect of the woe oracle. Read More...

Tags: Prophets, Old Testament Study, Lectionary Readings