Lee Harmon's Blog, page 39

2 Samuel 22:1-2, Did David Write the Psalms?

And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;



//In today’s verse, David speaks (or perhaps sings) a song that we know as Psalm 18. Did he write that song? Indeed, David’s name isin the superscription of nearly half of the Psalms (73 out of 150).

I’m not aware of any Bible scholar who thinks the book of Psalms was...

Mark 15:41, Jesus and the Female Followers

In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

//Quite often, I find myself in a discussion about the role of women in early Christianity. It seems many women held positions of responsibility and respect, despite the suppressive tone of later New Testament writings like the book of Timothy. Why is this so? Why did Christianity break the social rules and give women more respect than did other Judaic branch...

Luke 5:14, Cleansing the Leper

Then Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”



//All four gospels tell the story of a leper whom Jesus heals. Jesus then orders the man to go show himself to the priest in the temple, and offer the appropriate sacrifices.

This command puzzles many people. the ritual to which Jesus alludes is this: The leper, in order to be cleansed, must bring two birds to a priest. One of...

Book review: The Gospel According to Femigod

by Femigod

★★★

In what appears at first to be an anonymous book, “Femigod” first questions mainstream and organized religion and then presents various spiritual and philosophical alternatives as superior. The author, it turns out, is named Femi (whether male or female I was unable to detect) and concludes that we are all gods in our own right, more powerful than we are led to believe. “Femigod” describes his/her own spiritual enlightenment by lightly skimming a plethora of belief options.

The tr...

Matthew 2:1, How Many Wise Men Were There?

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.

//Question: How many wise men were there?

The Bible doesn’t say. We’ve probably all heard many times over that the Christmas stories have it all wrong, and nobody knows how many wise men there really were.

But if you said three, you’re probably right.

Perhaps the idea of three wise men derives from the three gifts they brought: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Or ano...

Matthew 17:2-3, Moses and the Transfiguration of Jesus

There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

//This is Jesus being “transfigured” on the mountain. But what do Moses and Elijah have to do with this story? Well, I don’t know about Elijah (except to say that many Jews expected both of them to return to earth to inaugurate the age of the Messiah, which they seem to be doing here) but Moses’ appearance m...

1 Samuel 17:4, How Tall Was Goliath?

And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.



//The Bible tells the story of how David, who is described as less than intimidating in his height, takes on a Philistine champion who measures “six cubits and a span.” If a cubit measures the distance from fingertip to elbow, that equates to about a foot and a half. A span is from thumb to little finger, another half foot. So, six cubits and a span equals about nin...

Book review: All You Want To Know About Hell

by Steve Gregg

★★★★★

I really enjoyed this one. I asked for a review copy because I had previously devoured Steve Gregg’s Revelation: Four Views. This guy is an engrossing writer who gets right to the heart of the matter. While Gregg doesn’t entirely mask his own opinion, he does manage to fairly represent several alternative views with these books, and this time around he gives voice to the following opinions about hell:

Traditionalists, who stick with the common view of everlasting conscious t...

1 Samuel 25:3, The Real Story of Nabal

Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings;

//Thus are we introduced to a man named Nabal, whom David quarreled with. The very first thing we learn is that he is “churlish and evil.” But what happens if we read this story from Nabal’s viewpoint?

Here is what seems to happen. A group of bandits running a protection racket appear out of nowhere. They...

Matthew 23:36-38, The Desolation of Jerusalem

Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.”

//Just as the majority of the Old Testament focused upon the destruction, return to, and rebuilding of Jerusalem, the New Testament was strongly influenced by the desolation of Jerusalem. In...