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Posts tagged Covenant
John the Baptist is an important figure in all four gospels. Mark begins with John’s baptisms, Luke with the events of his birth, and John weaves him into the prologue of the incarnation as one sent from God. One thing that the New Testament does NOT begin with,...
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August 10, 2022 Andrew Sargent
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Oaths are self-curses made before God or gods to establish the trustworthiness of promises or testimony. Oaths were religious tools for securing good faith between potential enemies so that they might have some relationship or safe interaction. Think of our common school yard oath, “Cross my heart and...
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July 25, 2022 Andrew Sargent
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Even a brief scan of 1 Samuel 15 should be enough to perplex the average reader. Here YHWH commands Samuel to command Saul to utterly destroy a people called the Amalekites. (Sounds like a somewhat bloodier version of most homes… “Sally, tell Tommy to tell Alice to clean...
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April 23, 2019 Andrew Sargent
101 Most Misunderstood Verses, Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Old Testament Studies, Text Criticism Issues
So you are reading a prophetic vision story in the Bible, perhaps say, 1 Kings 22:19ff, and God appears sitting on a heavenly throne. Have you ever asked yourself the question… “Who invented the throne… God or People?” For that matter, who invented the chair? Did God sit...
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April 22, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Old Testament Studies
Once upon a time in a far away land, people made covenants. They were very happy with their covenants and everyone understood them. These covenants were so powerful in their message and work that the great God of the land, Yahweh he was called by those who knew...
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April 19, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Old Testament Studies
In our last episode, we introduced the bare bones essence of water baptism as an ancient covenant ratification act saturated with typical death imagery and corresponding OT interests in ordeal (the divinely ordained safe passage through the maws of death, representing divine election and/or divine decrees of innocence). ...
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April 18, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Intertestamental History & Literature, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT
So you read the whole Old Testament. You read it several times. Having immersed yourself in the literature that your Bible, by its basic structure, seems to promise as the precursor to the rest, you finally turn to the New Testament. This is how it always goes isn’t...
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April 16, 2019 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Inductive Study Methods, Meeting the Jesus of Mark, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
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....
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June 13, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, New Testament Studies, NT's Use of the OT, Old Testament Studies
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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...
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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
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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...
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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
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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]...
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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...
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April 18, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Biblical Theology, Meeting the Jesus of Mark
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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....
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April 13, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Language Issues, Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, HAGALAH, Old Testament Studies
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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...
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April 11, 2016 Andrew Sargent
Bible Backgrounds, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Studies
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