The Book of Ezra records Israel’s return to the land after the Babylonian exile. The first half deals with Zerubbabel’s return and its ramifications (Ezra 1–6) and the second half deals with Ezra’s return and its ramifications (Ezra 7–10). Chapter 7 has a decree by Artaxerxes that gives Ezra permission to return, chapter 8 records the return. Then in chapter 9, Ezra learns that Israel had been intermarrying with pagans and prays and chapter 10 shows how Ezra dealt with this sin. The Book of Nehemiah would have originally been part of the same volume, so chapter 10 would actually be part of a 23-chapter book, though the versification was not added until much later.[Read More]
Semitic languages
Four Objects Related to the 70-Year Chronology
Lately, I have been doing some work with the Book of Ezra, which begins with Cyrus’ decree that was issued, “that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished” (Ezra 1:1). Ezra does not actually quote Jeremiah, but assumes that the reader is biblically literate. The work that I am doing will explore the biblical issues further, but as I studied for that project, I came across some archaeological items that are worth discussing here.[Read More]
Postponement Theology and Rabbinic Literature
Last weekend, we had an ISBH webinar on Dispensationalism and Rabbinic Literature. It was a good time; we had some great speakers in English and German. We are currently working on translating everything and getting it posted online.
I did a session on Postponement Theology and Rabbinic Literature, which I am posting here.
The Prophet of Deut. 18:15 (TL;DR; it’s Messiah)
There is a debate as to whether Deuteronomy 18:15 refers to the Messiah, or Joshua, or maybe even both or more. It seems to me that Messiah is in view here.[Read More]
Ancient Forerunners to Theistic Evolution: The Cosmological Compromise and Ramifications of רקיע in the LXX
We had our first event for the International Society for Biblical Hermeneutics. It was a webinar on “Topics in Cosmology.” I spoke on the raqia of Genesis. You can watch the presentation above. We will be posting it to a future ISBH website, so stay tuned!
Rabbinic insight on Matt 5:17ff
Here is an excerpt from some research on the Sermon on the Mount. Positive feedback may be submitted through email and negative feedback may be submitted by shouting at your nearest wall.
Just kidding. We would love to hear your negative feedback as well 🙂[Read More]