Biblical Theology of Judges

Judges: A Biblical Theology 

Main Idea: There is chaos and confusion in the land due to the fact that the people have disobeyed God doing what is right in their own eyes and are without a strong moral leader, a king.

              This main idea is shown through the repeated phrases of “And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Along with the repeated phrase “In those days there was no king in Israel.”  These phrases highlight the condition of the people of God. They were rebellious and had no leader to help straighten them out. The confusion of the people is highlighted in a major way at the towards the end of the book with the story of Micah and the idol he makes. His mother tells her son that she has dedicated the silver to the Lord so that he can make an idol out of it. This is the sign of a depraved and confused nation. They are making idols and calling it worship to YHWH.

            The chaos in the land is due to the fact that the people have sinned right at the beginning of the book it is stated that this is what will happen to the people because they have disobey. “But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be snare to you” (2:2b-3).  Furthermore “They abandoned YHWH and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of YHWH was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies so that they could no longer withstand their enemies” (2:13-14). These two verses draw out the fact that Israel had sinned and the result of this sin is that God has given them over to their enemies who have come to plunder the land, which resulted in confusion. War always brings chaos and confusion with it and all throughout this book the people are confused and in a constant state of war with small peace times scattered throughout.

Luke 1.1- 4:30 Commentary

Luke 1.1- 4:30 Commentary

Introduction: Luke 1.1-4

Luke begins his gospel with an introduction that sets up his whole gospel (English Standard Version, Luke 1.1-4). The reason Luke puts this introduction into his gospel is that it helps to set up and give a clear purpose to why Luke is writing and what he is attempting to do with his gospel. Luke also gives his credentials for writing this gospel (Lk 1.3). It is important that we know the reason that Luke is writing and his credentials if we want to understand his flow and if we want to believe him. The introduction also gives us the person whom Luke is writing to, Theophilus, and why Luke is writing to this person (Lk 1.3-4). This gives us the method that Luke uses in composing his gospel. It is to be an “orderly account” (Lk 1.3) this is important because it shows us how Luke is going to be laid out.

Study of Matthew 16:18-19

Matthew 16:18-19

Passage:

¹⁸ "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.  ¹⁹"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."[1]

Exposition

            This passage seems to be Jesus talking directly to Peter and placing him in charge of the Church as a whole. Upon closer examination of the passage what Jesus is doing is speaking about the larger church to come and the salvation that will come from the church.

            This passage is sandwiched between the confession by Peter of who he is and Peter’s failed rebuke of Jesus. This context sheds a bit of light on the passage. Matthew is using a bit of wordplay with Peter’s name, which means rock. Jesus uses two different words when talking of Peter, petros, and rock, petra. Peter’s name means a small stone while the word for rock that is used denotes a massive rock or cliff. This seems to point to the idea that while Peter is small his confession is quite massive and it is upon the confession that he, Jesus, will build his church.

Luke 1:1-4:30: Main Idea

Preface: This is part of a larger term project on Luke 1-4:30. It will post this paper in sections as it is quite a large amount of content. This section deals with the main idea of the passage and how this main idea is supported though out the passage. 

Luke Main Subject 1:1-4:30: Luke shows Jesus’ preparation for ministry and shows how he is the messiah with a gentile audience in mind. 

            Luke’s gospel starts with the miracle of John the baptizer’s birth (Lk 1.5-24, 1.57-80). By starting with John Luke is showing that both Jesus and John where conceived miraculously. Yet John, while a miraculous birth announced by an angle was not the messiah it was Jesus who is the messiah because of the virgin birth. That is the point that Luke is making in the first chapter of Luke. The whole ministry of John the Baptizer is to prepare the way for the coming of the Christ (Lk. 1.76-77). By placing the story of John the baptizer first Luke reinforces the ministry of John to come and prepare the way of the Christ.

Collossians

Preface: This is a brief outline and summery of the book of  Colossians. Along with some editorial comments This is just a first pass that deals with the broad strokes of the book.      

Main Idea: We have been buried and risen with Christ therefore should replace our earthly actions with heavenly purists since we are alive in Christ and not dead in our sin.  

Inerrancy

Preface: This paper was written by myself, Austin Way, and Melissa Neago. It contains within it several issues pertaining to inerrancy and hopes to bring some clarification to this difficult issue.  

Biblical Inerrancy

What is Biblical Inerrancy?

            Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the bible is fully trustworthy and a guide that will not deceive us. Several confessions have statements that deal with biblical inerrancy, The 1647 Westminster Confession talks of the bible’s “infallible truth,” The 1561 Belgic Confession calls the bible an “Infallible” rule, and in 1380 Wyclif dubbed it the “infallible rule of truth.” These point toward a deep understanding and belief by the church fathers that the bible is inerrant. While the word inerrant did not appear until the 19-century the belief has been around since the founding of the church (Ferguson, Wright, Packer, 337). 

            The term inerrancy came about during the 19-century when enlightenment skepticism called into question the trustworthiness of the bible. New ideas were formed to create a new theology and interpretive approaches were created in an effort to take God’s authority out of the text. Those in the reformation used this term to describe their belief that all text in the bible was true and correct (Ferguson, Wright, Packer, 337).      

            The doctrine of biblical inerrancy is foundational for understanding the bible and trusting it as God’s word. If the book that is written by God has error in it how then can we trust such a book when it talks of things like Christ’s death and resurrection. The doctrine of inerrancy becomes very important when we deal with these types of questions.

The definition of inerrancy that we are going to use is: “The bible always tells the truth concerning everything it talks about” (Grudeum 67). This is a simplified definition of what inerrancy is. This definition basically means that when the bible teaches something or discusses an event it has accurately recorded that even or teaching by that person. This definition puts more of an emphasis on the meaning of the passages being inerrant. By holding that the meaning of passages are inerrant you are able to side step the issue of grammatical errors in the bible.  

The Twelve

Preface: A short preface before this post. This paper is the beginnings of my ideas on the book of The Twelve. I have not done extensive enough reading of The Twelve let alone other people to hold my view closely. This is just the forming of a thought so far.

The Twelve and Differing Orders

            The Minor Prophets have been hypothesized to be one book that has twelve chapters corresponding to the twelve oracles. If this is true, then the order of the Twelve become important in understanding the books as a whole. If there are differing orders of these books it then either needs to be understood that one is correct and the other is wrong or that the twelve is more like a loose collection of writings that is not necessarily relevant to understanding the Twelve. Currently there are three possibilities for the order of the books. The Masortic text (MT), the order found in the western bible. The second is the order found in the Septuagint (LXX), and the third is the order given by the Dead Sea scrolls.

            If one of the orders can be proven to be the order of the Minor Prophets then it would give weight to the idea that the Minor Prophets are really just one book and should be studied as such. While the closeness of the texts in terms of themes and motifs throughout the Minor Prophets stacks the deck in favor of a one-book approach it would be a confirmable order that tips the scales in it favor.

The Trinity and the Gender Debate

Preface: This paper is attempting to reach a conclusion on whether or not the function and relationships with in the Trinity are able to be used in the debate about gender roles. Hope you find this intriguing and thought provoking. 

The Trinity and the Gender Debate

           

            Both sides of the gender debate look to the relationships with in the trinity to help support their understanding of men and women’s relationship to each other and their roles within the church. This paper will first explore the interpersonal relationships within the trinity specifically rated to the idea of a hierarchal trinity. Then consider weather the relationships within the trinity shed any light on the relationships between men and women and the roles of them in the church.    

Psalms Analysis

Preface: This is a mini commentary from my perspective on psalms 7 and a outline and short explanation of psalm 9 & 10 which in reality are one psalm. 

Psalm Analysis

Psalm 7

I)            The superscription of this psalm is important without understanding this the whole contents of the psalm is difficult to understand. The superscription mentions Cush a Benjamite, while Cush is not mentioned anywhere else in the bible he is mentioned here as being part of the tribe of Benjamin. This is important due to the fact that Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. With this in mind the whole rest of the psalm comes into focus. When listing to this psalm and the heart of David here it harkens back toward the story in 1 Samuel 16 where a Benjamite was throwing dirt clods at David. This psalm conveys the mood that David was probably in during this time. Understanding this superscription is key to unlocking the mood and temperament of the psalmist as well as the meaning and reason for writing the psalm.     

II)             The Psalm opens with a cry from David to be saved as well as his plea of innocence. (vs. 1-5) this is one major unit that is held together by the repeated phrase “O, Lord my God,” found in verse 1 and verse 3. This is a structural marker that the psalmist is beginning a new plea in verse 3 separating it from the previous cry for deliverance. Also this phrase signals that David is crying out to God. He is using both the personal name and the impersonal name for extra emphasis. David is imploring God to listen to his two separate pleas.

The Tamid Psalms

Preface: I apologize for the length I am still trying to figure out how to attach this as a PDF and publish just an abstract. But for now this is the only way I have to publish these. 

The Tamid Psalms

The Mishnah in Tamid 7:4 records a sequence of seven psalms that are to be sung, one for each day of the week. The statute is as follows:                                    

“This was the singing which the levites used to sing in the Temple. On the first day they sang The earth is the Lord’s and al that therein is, the round world and they that dwell therein; on the second day they sang Great is the Lord and highly to be praised in the city of our God, Even upon his holy hill; on the third they sang God standeth in the  congregation of God, he is a judge among the gods; on the fourth day they san O Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth, thou God to whom vengeance belongeth show thyself; on the fifth day they sang Sing we merrily unto God out strength, make a cheerful noise  unto the God of Jacob; on the sixth day they sang The Lord is King, and hath put on  glorious apparel. On the Sabbath they sang A psalm: A Song for the Sabbath Day; a Psalm, a song for the time that is to come, for the day that shall be all Sabbath and rest in the life everlasting” (Danby, 589).

 The sequence of psalms is known as the Tamid Psalms and is as follows: 24, 48, 82, 94, 81, 93, and 92. These psalms have many of the same themes and are connected in pairs. While there are many themes that flow through this collection, the most cohesive pattern is evident when a narrative approach is applied to the collection.

This paper will attempt to argue that the Tamid collection is a narrative that the editors placed together. This narrative depicts the relationship between Israel and Yahweh while looking forward to the day when they will be reunited together. This paper will give a basic analysis of each psalm and its major themes, show the connections between the psalms, and give an argument for looking at the collection as a narrative.

Holiness in Leviticus.

Preface: Here is another theme study dealing with the idea of holiness in Leviticus and once again the most important part of these studies is the end result now that we see these themes how does this shape our understanding of the book and how the book fits into the metanarrative of scripture most importantly how do we respond to them and impact our lives. 

Holiness in Leviticus 

It is most holy

2:3, 2:10, 6:16-17, 6:25-26, 6:27, 6:29, 7:1, 7:6, 10:12, 10:13, 10:17, 14:13, 16:24, 19:24, 21:22, 24:9, 27:28, 27:30, 27:32-33

“The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings made to the LORD by fire.” 2:3

"'But nothing that a man owns and devotes to the LORD -whether man or animal or family land—may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD” 27:28

The Holy Place

6:30, 10:18, 16:2, 16:16-17, 16:20, 16:23, 16:27, 16:33

“Since its blood was not taken into the Holy Place, you should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded." 10:18

“The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.” 16:2

Holy to God

5:15, 10:10, 19:8, 25:12, 27:14, 27:23

“Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has desecrated what is holy to the LORD; that person must be cut off from his people.” 19:8

Made holy/is holy

6:18, 6:27, 27:9-10, 21:8, 21:15, 21:23, 22:9, 22:16, 22:32

“Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Consider them holy, because I the LORD am holy—I who make you holy.” 21:8

“So he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the LORD, who makes him holy” 21:15

God is Holy

10:3, 19:2, 20:26, 21:8, 22:32

"Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy” 9:2

“You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” 20:26

Be Holy

11:44-45, 19:2, 20:7-8, 20:26, 21:6, 21:7, 27:21

This

“I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” 11:44-45

"Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy” 9:2

Profane the Holy Name

20:3, 21:6, 22:2, 22:32,

“I will set my face against that man and I will cut him off from his people; for by giving his children to Molech, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.” 20:3

“They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the LORD by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy.” 21:6

Love in Deuteronomy

Preface: The following paper traces the theme of love through the book of Deuteronomy. After which it is important that we understand not just what the theme is but what do we do once we understand this theme? How do we respond to the theological truth that we see in the book of deuteronomy. How do we apply love to our lives. That is the more important issue rather then finding themes it is what do we do with the implications how does it impact our lives and change us.

Love in Deuteronomy

  

Keeping the commandments

7:9, 7:12, 10:12, 11:1, 11:13, 11:22, 19:9, 30:16, 30:20

“For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.” Dt. 30:16 (NIV)

“And that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Dt. 30:20 (NIV)  

Love of your Family

21:15-16, 28:54, 28:56

“If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.” Dt. 21:15-16 (NIV)

Love God

6:5, 7:9, 13:3, 30:6

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Dt. 6:5 (NIV)

“The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live” Dt. 30:6 (NIV)

God’s Love Toward his people

4:37, 7:8-9, 7:13, 10:15, 23:5, 33:3, 33:12

“Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,” Dt. 4:37 (NIV)

“However, the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.” Dt. 23:5 (NIV)

Love foreigners

10:19

“And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.” Dt. 10:19 (NIV)