Home »
Archive by category Biblical Studies (Page 11)
In a place like the world of the Bible where people were given names like “Festive” (2 Samuel 3:4~ Haggith), “Hot” (Genesis 10:1 Ham), and “Wild Goat” (Nehemiah 7:58~Jaala), you might imagine that the names of their gods might also have some descriptive quality. Of particular interest is...
Continue reading
July 18, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
The painful lessons of life make the deepest impact on our delicate, and yet ever so dull, minds when we are children. Indeed, I’ve come to refer to pain as “The Great Teacher,” which, given the growing trend of parenting techniques as I reached marriageable age caused me...
Continue reading
June 24, 2016 Andrew Sargent
New Testament Studies, Society
No Comment
Let’s consider three different translations for 1 Thessalonians 4:4 in context. Paul uses a figure of speech that has many people scratching their heads. The King James takes a rather literal approach. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-6 reads: For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye...
Continue reading
June 20, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, New Testament Studies
No Comment
Covenant is a Genre based on the concept that the Holy is actively involved in the affairs of Man, Holding Men to their oaths. Men call upon the gods to bless or curse them in keeping with promises made concerning general or specific expressions of loyalty to another....
Continue reading
June 13, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
In our last few posts on 1 Samuel 15:27-31, we attempted to unpack the text in context in order to draw out of it, the narrator’s intended theological message… i.e. the reason he included the story in the larger Samuel narrative. Individual stories function in larger biblical narrations...
Continue reading
June 3, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
So far, we have considered 1 Samuel 15 from a different angles. We have discovered how serious Saul’s sin is. A sin akin to defiling the Ark of the Covenant and stealing the golden lampstand for good measure. We have examined the meaning of Saul’s grasp of Samuel’s...
Continue reading
May 30, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
We are looking at the divine condemnation of Saul’s dynasty in 1 Samuel 15, having already considered the seriousness of the sin which lead directly to it. In the midst of the exchange between discredited king and holy prophet, 1 Samuel 15:27-31, a strange social ballet of sorts...
Continue reading
May 27, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
Okay, Saul goofed. He failed to perfectly enacts a rather brutal command to exterminate another people group. It’s hard to get our modern hearts around this too much. We aren’t so keen on genocide these days, and we have more than a little resentment for the kind of...
Continue reading
May 25, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
Jesus declared that Love for God and Love for your Neighbor summed up the law and the prophets. So let me suggest as you read biblical law… and the prophets as well… by golly let’s just go the whole way and say all of Scripture… so as you...
Continue reading
May 18, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Old Testament Studies
No Comment
Even though I specialize in Old Testament Studies and interpretive methodology, I still find certain areas of study quite difficult to unravel. The world of the Old Testament has many secrets that the millennia have yet to whisper into our modern ears. The exact meaning of much...
Continue reading
April 29, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
Today we have a guest Blogger. John Donnelly, Biblical Literacy Ministries Educator, Church Planter, Part-year missionary to India. John has a Master’s in Old Testament Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Masters degree in New Testament studies from the same. So here he is on “The Unseemly Assumptions about...
Continue reading
April 25, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
Okay, so let’s get one thing straight; covenant is a genre. In fact, covenant is a genre with several sub-genres. (I’ll discuss sub-genres in another post.) This means that covenant has recognizable forms that developed in history through human interaction and communication in particular places among particular people.[1]...
Continue reading
April 20, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Studies, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies
Joseph Bonham, M.A. is today’s guest blogger. Joseph has his own blog called the Biblical Bean, linked below. In addition to a Bachelors in Biblical Studies, he holds a master of arts from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Biblical Languages / Hebrew Bible. ·He has agreed to address a question I...
Continue reading
April 18, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Meeting the Jesus of Mark
No Comment
We’ve been discussing some important points about Covenant both in Scripture and in the ancient world. So, if you’ve been following my string of posts on Covenant, here are our facts so far: Today, I’d like to add a 6th element to this list. So here goes: 6....
Continue reading
April 13, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
Since we live in a contractual world, not a covenantal world, a crash course in biblical era covenant cutting is in order. Now, don’t get me wrong, we still have the tattered remnants of covenant-making in our modern western societies, but it mostly resembles the scattered debris of...
Continue reading
April 11, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
No Comment
John 14:13 says “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do…” I have to admit, I find this very exciting… No, dizzying! A Jet Ski! I’ve always wanted a Jet Ski and a house by a lake so that I can ride it around whenever I...
Continue reading
March 9, 2016 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, New Testament Studies
No Comment
Some words require a serious amount of cultural packaging to define… (A Technical Term is not just a different Word; it’s a different World.) …such as our past discussion on the importance of Ancient Near Eastern war runners for understanding the meaning of Gospel.[1] Other words, however, give...
Continue reading
March 7, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Theology, Communication, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies
Angel, from Pune India, asked: Is getting a tattoo on the body against Scripture? Good question. There are health concerns and there are social concerns… but are there major religious concerns? Let us forget for a moment that health concerns and social concerns ARE ALWAYS religious concerns as...
Continue reading
March 1, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Communication, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies, Society
I am not sure how many of you already know this, but I love Xmas… not just Christmas, but Xmas. I think we should all love Xmas. You see, ink and parchment were expensive back in the days of the early church and for centuries afterward. The...
Continue reading
December 23, 2015 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Language Issues
Question: Job 1:4 – Is there a majority scholarly agreement with regards to what “every one his day” means? What is “his day”? I was always under the impression that it was each one’s birthday… What do you say? Is there scholarly agreement in general? If so,...
Continue reading
August 28, 2015 Andrew Sargent
Old Testament Studies, Question Posts
