Monday, April 13, 2020

Lev 18; Ps 22; Eccl 1; 1Ti 3

It remains a clear message to the God's people - you are not to live as you had done in your previous circumstances, and you are not to live as those outside of the church in your new circumstances - you are to look to my law and standards for living.... 
Leviticus 18:1-5
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘I am the Lord your God! 3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes. 4 You must observe my regulations and you must be sure to walk in my statutes. I am the Lord your God. 5 So you must keep my statutes and my regulations; anyone who does so will live by keeping them. I am the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 1:10 Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new”? It was already done long ago, before our time.

1 Timothy 3:14-16
14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you 15 in case I am delayed, to let you know how people ought to conduct themselves in the household of God, because it is the church of the living God, the support and bulwark of the truth. 16 And we all agree, our religion contains amazing revelation:
He was revealed in the flesh,
vindicated by the Spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed among Gentiles,
believed on in the world,
taken up in glory.

Note: tn Grk “great is the mystery of [our] religion,” or “great is the mystery of godliness.” The word “mystery” denotes a secret previously hidden in God, but now revealed and made widely known (cf. Rom 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; Eph 1:9; 3:3, 4, 9; 6:19; Col 1:26-27; 4:3). “Religion” (εὐσέβεια, eusebeia) is a word used frequently in the pastorals with a range of meanings: (1) a certain attitude toward God—“devotion, reverence”; (2) the conduct that befits that attitude—“godliness, piety”; and (3) the whole system of belief and approach to God that forms the basis for such attitude and conduct—“religion, creed.” See BDAG 412-13 s.v.; 2 Tim 3:5; 4 Macc 9:6-7, 29-30; 15:1-3; 17:7. So the creedal statements [given in verse 16] are illustrations of the great truths that the church is charged with protecting (v. 15).

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Lev 17; Ps 20-21; Pr 31; 1Ti 2

Leviticus 17:3-7
3 “Blood guilt will be accounted to any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat inside the camp or outside the camp, 4 but has not brought it to the entrance of the Meeting Tent to present it as an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord. He has shed blood, so that man will be cut off from the midst of his people. 5 This is so that the Israelites will bring their sacrifices that they are sacrificing in the open field to the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent—to the priest—and sacrifice them there as peace-offering sacrifices to the Lord. 6 The priest is to splash the blood on the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the Meeting Tent, and offer the fat up in smoke for a soothing aroma to the Lord. 7 So the people must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons, acting like prostitutes by going after them. This is to be a perpetual statute for them throughout their generations.”’


Proverbs 31:29-31

29 “Many daughters have done valiantly,
but you have surpassed them all!”
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting.
A woman who fears the Lord—she makes herself praiseworthy.
31 Give her credit for what she has accomplished,
and let her works praise her in the city gates.

1 Timothy 2:9-10
9 Likewise the women are to dress in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control. Their adornment must not be with braided hair and gold or pearls or expensive clothing, 10 but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Extra-M'Cheyne Reading...

I am reading Genesis 1–11: A New Old Translation for Readers, Scholars, and Translators
(Themelios review:  https://themelios.thegospelcoalition.org/review/genesis-1-11-a-new-old-translation-for-readers-scholars-and-translators/) and found the following quite interesting (pp. 54-56). It is clear that there are many considerations that affect our understanding of a text (and consequently our theology). I think that the following short section, just on the breaking up of sections of text (e.g, paragraphs) will influence how you see the story, its meaning and even how it fits into a systematic theology. 


SIGNIFICANCE OF SECTIONS
A further point is needed to justify including these sections in the presentation of the translation. As recognized since antiquity, where the breaks fall in a text will shape the experience of the reader. Consider three examples.

First, recent English translations usually put a paragraph break between Genesis 2 and Genesis 3, typically inserting a heading as well. When the text is divided that way, the reader is encouraged to see Genesis 2:4b - 25 as a second creation account. In Codex L, there is no break after Genesis 2. It is not read on its own, but as part of a story that continues on to the man and woman's disobedience.

Second, in English translations, the story of the garden ends with the stationing of the cherubim and sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life (3: and 24 closed) . That might seem like the obvious place to have a break: it makes the story of the garden conclude with the banishment from Eden, just as Paradise Lost so memorably does. In Codex L, the story of the garden ends differently, with a moment of blessing, as the Lord clothes the man and woman (3:21). With this way of dividing the text, the banishment from Eden belongs to the story of Cain and Abel. Such an ending to the story of the garden fits a pattern in Codex L of dividing the text so that large units end with hope amid despair (e.g., open sections after after 4:26, after 6:8, and after 12:9).

Third, consider Genesis 10. Other translations usually put a break before 10:6, at the seam between the nations of Japheth and those of Ham. Codex L has no break there. It does divide the chapter into thirds, but not the expected ones of (1) Japheth, (2) Ham, and (3) Shem. Rather, the thirds are (1) Japheth and Ham apart from Canaan, (2) Canaan, and (3) Shem. The divisions in Codex L emphasize Canaan, especially the contrast between Canaan and Shem, a contrast that mirrors the opposition of Noah to Canaan in the preceding story.

Thus, the sections found in Codex L and presented here are both ancient and significant.

* The "Codex L" being referred to is the "Codex Leningradensis, s renowned manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, housed in the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg (previously Leningrad). It is the most authoritative complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in the Masoretic Text tradition, and was copied in Old Cairo (Fustat) by Samuel ben Jacob in 1009." (p. 207)

Monday, April 6, 2020

Lev 10; Ps 11-12; Pr 25; 1Th 4

Pro 25:21 — Pro 25:22
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat,
and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
for you will heap coals of fire on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.

1Th 4:13 — 1Th 4:18
Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Lev 9; Ps 10; Pr 24; 1Th 3

Lev 9:10 — Lev 9:11
The fat and the kidneys and the protruding lobe of the liver from the sin offering he offered up in smoke on the altar just as the Lord had commanded Moses, but the flesh and the hide he completely burned up outside the camp. 

Leviticus 9:24
Then fire went out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar, and all the people saw it, so they shouted loudly and fell down with their faces to the ground. 

Proverbs 24:10
If you faint in the day of trouble,
your strength is small!
Notes: a tn Heb "show yourself slack" (NASB similar). The verb רָפָה (rafah) means "to sink; to relax." In the causative stems it means "to let slacken; to let go; to refrain; to fail; to do nothing." In the Hitpael stem BDB 952 s.v. defines it as "to show yourself slack." It has also been rendered as "give up" (NCV, CEV); "fail" (NLT); "falter" (NIV). The colon implies a condition, for which the second part of the verse is the apodosis. 
c sn The test of strength is adversity, for it reveals how strong a person is. Of course a weak person can always plead adverse conditions in order to quit. This is the twenty-fourth saying.

Pro 24:17 — Pro 24:18
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and when he stumbles do not let your heart rejoice, lest the Lord see it, and be displeased, and turn his wrath away from him.

1 Thessalonians 3:8
For now we are alive again, if you stand firm in the Lord.

Friday, April 3, 2020

Lev 5; Ps 3-4; Pr 20; Col 3

Psalms 4:3
Realize that the Lord shows the godly special favor;
the Lord responds when I cry out to him.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Lev 5; Ps 3-4; Pr 20; Col 3

Colossians 3:16-17
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:25 For the one who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there are no exceptions.
Notes: tn Grk “that which he did wrong.”
sn It is a common theme in biblical thought that punishment for sin involves being fully given over to its consequences (cf. Rom 1), and this is also true of believers. Here Paul’s implication is that believers who sin and disobey the Lord whom they serve will receive the consequences of their actions, which is a fitting discipline.
tn The Greek word used here is προσωπολημψία (prosōpolēmpsia) and is usually translated “partiality.” It is used to describe unjust or unrighteous favoritism (Rom 2:11, Eph 6:9, Jas 2:1). When it comes to disciplining his children for their sins, God will treat all equally with no partiality.