Category Archives: Bible Study
the moneychangers
Sometimes, because biblical stories are so familiar, I forget to wonder about their origins, or even to ask simple questions of their meaning. For instance, the Gospel stories of Jesus ‘cleansing the temple,’ overturning the tables of the moneychangers. The … Continue reading
refreshment
While Deuteronomy is not specifically liturgical, the flow of the text is so poetic and ‘hymnal’ that many of the verses/phrasings have been plugged into Jewish and Christian liturgy as foundational prayers and catechism. For instance, one of the most … Continue reading
the beginning of mercy
Plugging away at Deuteronomy and stopped short at 4:31- For the Lord your God is a merciful god. He will not let you go and will not destroy you and will not forget your fathers’ covenant that He swore to them. It … Continue reading
a stumbling block
Numbers has been a stumbling block for me, and I wonder if you have had a similar experience? Yes, I cringed and yawned plenty through certain parts of Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, but nothing has felt quite so alien (and … Continue reading
i did it! (and you can, too, i promise)
Please forgive me if I take a moment of personal privilege to publicly pat myself on the back for – finishing Leviticus! I have spent the past three hours on a lumpy couch in my local coffee shop, plodding through … Continue reading
Oh, Leviticus, what am I going to do with you?
Kudos to anyone who has ever sat down with the Book of Leviticus, intent on reading the entire thing, start to finish. Whoah! But first, an admission of my frailty- I have only just begun. I’m speeding up quickly and … Continue reading
transitions
The more time I spend with Robert Alter’s The Five Books of Moses, the more I fall in love with the clarity of his translation and the poetry of his commentary. It’s a big book, meant for your ‘reference library’ … Continue reading
foreskin’s lament and a recipe for bread
Some responses, from my new best friend, Robert Alter: Bradley, Of Exodus 4:24-26, Robert Alter says this: “This elliptic story is the most enigmatic episode in all of Exodus. It seems unlikely that we will ever resolve the enigmas it … Continue reading
Family Dynamics and Violence in Genesis
In just nine days (if you began your journey on January 15th), we have covered an enormous amount of material. The Creation of the world, told twice (In chapter 1, and then again with chapters 2-3); the murder of Abel … Continue reading
begin at the beginning
As you begin to make your way through the familiar and unfamiliar stories of Genesis, I want to offer some background relating to the ‘genesis’, if you will, of the Bible, specifically, the first five books of the Bible, called … Continue reading
gather the folks. tell the stories. 