Lee Harmon's Blog, page 38
January 12, 2014
1 Samuel 25:43, David Steals King Saul’s Wife (part I of II)
David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
//Nestled in between two curious verses about David’s wives is this even more curious verse.
Verse 42 tells how, after Nabal dies, his wife Abigail hastens to marry David. Then verse 43 tells how David also married Ahinoam. Finally, verse 44 tells how Saul had given Michal, David’s wife, to another man. So in these three consecutive verses, David gains two wives and loses one.
But who is this Ahinoam? In all of the Bi...
January 11, 2014
Book review: The Brother of Jesus
by Hershel Shanks and Ben Witherington III
★★★★★
This is really two books in one, and both are excellent. Hershel Shanks (editor of my favorite mag, Biblical Archaeology Review) tells the story of the discovery of the James ossuary, and Ben Witherington describes the person both scholars believe this limestone burial box belonged to: James, the brother of Jesus. I’ve been following Shanks’ arguments in BAR over the years, so I already know he’s a proponent of the ossuary’s authenticity.
The box...
January 10, 2014
Luke 3:3, The Rise of the Baptists
And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
//Today’s verse tells of John baptizing people in the river Jordan. This was done, according to Luke’s Gospel, so that they could repent and be forgiven of their sins.
This seems to imply that only a person aware of their sinful nature, and a believer in Christ, could be properly baptized. In other words, not an infant. Yet over the centuries, infant baptism became very popular.
Enter a...
January 8, 2014
1 Samuel 8:15-17, Samuel’s Prediction Comes True (part II of II)
And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
//Israel wanted a king, but Israel’s prophet, Samuel, warne...
January 7, 2014
1 Samuel 8:11, Samuel’s Prediction Comes True (part I of II)
And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
//Israel wanted a king, but Israel’s prophet, Samuel, warned against it. Today’s verse tells why Samuel was against the idea.
But Saul, the appointed king, didn’t seem to promote himself in this manner. Indeed, Saul’s reign appeared quite humble in many respects. Nor did David, who succ...
January 6, 2014
Book review: Seismic Shift: From God to Goodness
by Keith Martin
★★★★
On the heels of a fascinating book about transitioning from various spiritualities to Christianity (Is Reality Secular by Mary Poplin) I present this book describing one person’s journey in just the opposite direction. I do enjoy reading these different personal discoveries, if for no other reason than to remind myself that every person is in a different place in their spiritual journey, and has differing spiritual needs. This is a good one: sincere yet in all ways respectf...
January 5, 2014
John 18:38, What is Truth?
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
//When I was in 6th grade, my teacher sent me home with an assignment to prove that parallel lines never meet. I’ve never forgiven him.
When I came back to school the next morning, the best I could say was “I believe they never meet … but I can’t prove it.” After all, what architect could feed his or her family if parallel lines DID meet?
But I was believing something that was not necessarily true. Maybe parallel lines do meet; there was no way to know for s...
January 4, 2014
1 Samuel 18:7, David Hath Slain His Ten Thousands!
And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
//In today’s verse, the women of Israel honor returning warriors David and King Saul with this little ditty. The hyperbole is obvious, meant to imply that David’s battle heroics far exceed even the magnificent warrior Saul.
How do we know it’s hyperbole? Well, the Philistine population at its height probably numbered about thirty thousand. If David slew tens of thousands (plu...
January 3, 2014
1 Samuel 16:17, How Did King Saul Meet David?
And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.
//There are two contradictory stories in the Bible about how Saul came to know David. The first story of how Saul and David meet is recorded in 1 Samuel 16:17. Today’s verse tells how Saul requested a musician to sooth him. David, son of Jesse, is recommended for his skill in playing the lyre. So Saul sends for him, and David plays for Saul.
And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved h...
January 2, 2014
Book review: Is Reality Secular
by Mary Poplin
★★★★★
Well, this book was a trip. Great book, yet Mary Poplin and I definitely do not agree on all matters. I highlighted many passages that Poplin presents as fact but which critical scholarship concludes are otherwise. The book of Daniel wasn’t really written 600 years before Christ. Peter couldn’t possibly have written the book of II Peter. There really are mythical beings in the Bible (Poplar claims there are not). I experienced a wide range of emotions as I read the book: an...
