Category Archives: Bible

A primer on Hebrew poetry

Walking With Giants Posted on by

It was a great eye-opener for me to learn, many years ago, the rudiments of how Hebrew poetry works.  I have found that this greatly assists in the appreciation and understanding of many parts of the Bible.

Hebrew poetry is characterised

  • not by rhyme (phonetic agreement; parallelism of sound)
  • or by rhythm (metric agreement, parallelism of time)
  • but by thought-parallelism.

Among the several varieties are:-

1.  Synonymous parallelism

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple

(Psalm 19:7)

Deliver me from my enemies, O God,
Protect me from those who rise up against me.…

Christ and the Bible

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The Living and the Written Word

Christ and the Bible – the Living Word and the written word – are sometimes placed in opposition to one another.  The Living Word is (rightly) magnified, but (wrongly) at the expense of the proper honour that is due to the written word.  In fact, the very high view that we should have of the inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures is inculcated by Christ himself.

John Stott reminds us that we should not think of Christ, the living Word, and Scripture, the written word, apart, for they witness to one another:-

‘Our Christian conviction is that the Bible has both authority and relevance—to a degree quite extraordinary in so ancient a book—and that the secret of both is in Jesus Christ.

…

The waning influence of the Bible

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The Folio Society offered its fifty thousand members a list of fifty books and asked them to say which had exercised the most significant influence on their lives. When the votes were counted, pride of place went to J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy, The Lord of the Rings, which was judged the most influential book. The Bible came in at number thirty-five, sandwiched between Don Quixote and Flaubert’s novel of provincial adultery, Madame Bovary. Writing in the Bible Society’s magazine, TransMission, Dan Beeby commented, “Ironically, rejected by many as legend and myth, the Bible lost out to fable, fantasy and fiction.…

Feminist Biblical Interpretation

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The Bible, writes Phyllis Trible, was born and bred in a land of patriarchy, and abounds in male imagery and language.  The interpretation of the Bible, too, has largely been in the hands of men.  Only recently has any critique of this male dominance begun to emerge.

With particular reference to the Hebrew Scriptures, three approaches to the study of women may be identified:-

1.  The case against women

The first approach emphasises the case against women. …

Seven Synoptic ‘Problems’

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Writing on the Historical Reliability of the Gospels in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (IVP), Craig Blomberg discusses seven areas of apparent disagreement between the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke).  For each, Blomberg indicates how the apparent difficulty might be resolved:-

(1) The theologies of the Evangelists may seem to conflict. Mark portrays the disciples as without understanding following Jesus’ walking on the water (Mk 6:52); Matthew has them worship him as the Son of God (Mt 14:33).…

Isaiah 14:12 – Is Satan a fallen angel?

Walking With Giants Posted on by
Isaiah 14:12 Look how you have fallen from the sky,
O shining one, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
O conqueror of the nations!

Since God created everything, Gen 1:1, Jn 1:3, Col 1:16, and everything he created was good, Gen 1:3, Ps 104:24, 1 Tim 4:4, it seems reasonable to suppose that Satan was originally part of that good creation, but ‘fell’ into evil.

Many interpreters have seen in this prophecy (and also Eze 28) a cosmic dimension, although its primary reference is clearly to a man – the king of Babylon, Isa 14:4.…

Debating inerrancy

Walking With Giants Posted on by

I’ve been listening to one of Premier Radio’s Unbelievable podcasts.

This one was held on 14th June 2008 between Dr Alex McFarland, President of  Southern Evangelical Seminary in the US, and agnostic Stephen Pilcher.

The topic of discussion was ‘biblical inerrancy’.  I found it one of the less satisfying episodes of this normally excellent show.

Stephen came up with a typical selection of supposed ‘contradictions’ – was there one pair, or seven pairs, of animals in Noah’s ark? …

Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

Walking With Giants Posted on by

New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham appeared recently on Premier Radio’s ‘Unbelievable’ show.  He discussed his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses with fellow New Testament scholar James Crossley.

Here are a few notes on some of the arguments presented by Bauckham:-

His book sets out new arguments in favour of the ‘traditional’ view of the authorship and historicity of the four Gospels, and, in particular, that they present reliable eyewitness testimony of the life and ministry of Jesus.…

Significance of names in the Bible

Walking With Giants Posted on by

In biblical times, a name often had a significance far deeper than that of a mere personal label.

1. A name was given by a person in a position of authority, Gen 2:18ff.

2. The giving of a name signified the appointment of the person to a specific function or relationship, Gen 35:17-18.

3. The giving of a name sometimes expressed a hope, Gen 29:32-35, or prophecy, Hos 1:4.

4. Often, names were given as a result of some circumstance at birth, Gen 10:25; 19:22; 25:30.…

Genesis or evolution: do we have to choose?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

‘What About Genesis?’, ask Denis Alexander, in his book Creation or Evolution: Do We Have To Choose?  What follows is based on Alexander’s discussion.

Two preliminary points.  The final authority of Scripture in all matters of faith and conduct is fundamental.  Although modern science can shed light on the interpretation of the Bible, the relationship between the Bible and science is not such that we should relying on science to determine the meaning of the biblical text, or vice-versa.…