Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy God in vain. Ex 20:7 Who are the elect? or, rather, to what are they elected? From the beginning, God has made distinctions; he has chosen some and not others. Eve and her seed are chosen over the serpent and his. Seth was chosen, appointed, as […]
Matthew [23] records Jesus’ lamentation over Jerusalem, “how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing, but you would not. See, your house is left to you desolate.” Pointing to the temple buildings, he said, “not one stone will be left upon another that will not be […]
A question arises: is the death that follows the eating of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil a penalty? The language used in the law—he shall surely be put to death, or the like—is not used here. The same emphatic verb doubling is used but the form of the […]
It is interesting that Paul calls death the wage, the earned payment, of sin, not the penalty. Sin as master pays death as the wage to those who work for it, who serve it. An eye-opening metaphor. We gain death incrementally—what we accrue as we work in, for, and to sin is death. The lusts […]
One fatal tree there stands, of knowledge called,Forbidden them to taste: Knowledge forbiddenSuspicious, reasonless. Why should their LordEnvy them that? Can it be sin to know?Can it be death? Paradise Lost, Book IV Adam was given only one rule or commandment regarding food: he may eat fruit of any of the trees of the garden, […]
In a straight reading of the first part of Genesis 6, verse 3 seems oddly placed. Verses 1 and 2 are beginning to tell about men multiplying on earth and the Sons of God taking wives of the daughters of men. Then comes verse 3, where God interjects that his spirit will not always strive […]
The sun moon and stars created on day four give light to the earth below. They are called rulers of the day and of the night, symbols or types of the spiritual and temporal rulers on earth. When Joseph dreams of the sun, moon, and stars bowing down to him, Jacob immediately and rightly understands […]
On the first day God created light. He separated the light from the darkness. He called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. These are divided; they’re not present together but one follows the other in rhythm. The days of the creation week are marked out by the repeated phrase evening and morning. […]
In the beginning, God created… This word beginning (Heb. reshiyth) is interesting. It can mean first in time and also in position or prominence, as in head or chief. It is also frequently rendered as firstfruits. The article, the in English, isn’t present in the Hebrew. It just reads b’reshiyth, In beginning… This is common […]
Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together to make a covering for themselves. In their own open eyes, they were covered. But in the revealing light of the glory […]