Greetings!
Peace, mercy, and grace be with you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Happy Earth Day! We do well to prove faithful stewards of all the good gifts which God has given us, and that does include this creation.
Sunday, April 21, 2024
The Voice 14.16: Military Preparations in the Wilderness | Numbers 1:1-2:34
Thus begins an exploration into the book of Numbers in an article series.
It really is a terribly named book. There’s only a couple of numerical lists in it. The Hebrew name, Bemidbar “in the wilderness,” is much more appropriate.
But Numbers 1:1-2:34 does have some of those numerical lists and camp organization. The numbers are a bit eye-popping in light of all we know about the population of the ancient Near East in the Late Bronze Age.
But above all, God was preparing the people to enter the land of Canaan . That it would take much longer would become an issue later; it is not present in Numbers 1:1-2:34. In fact, Israel proved quite obedient to God in Numbers 1:1-2:34.
Lesson: Children of Freedom | Galatians 4:1-5:1 | Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
Outline | Podcast | Conversation
Paul continued his arguments regarding the Galatian Gentile Christians and why observing circumcision and Jewish religious days would alienate them from the grace and Spirit they obtained in Christ.
Associating the customs of Moses with the stoicheia, or basic principles of the world, was quite a rhetorical move, and one which few have seemed to make much about. I would assume most commentators have been a bit embarrassed at the suggestion of observing Mosaic customs as little different from observing idolatrous ways, and both lead to enslavement in Christ.
Likewise with Paul’s allegory/typology. I’ve read plenty of screaming about how he violates conventions, but precious little taking seriously how Paul would have known the conventions, knew he was breaking them, and how the way in which he broke them was the point. Those who had been free children of Sarah and Isaac, after rejecting liberation in Christ, really prove enslaved as children of Hagar and Ishmael. Again, very inconvenient message for those who want to keep importing old covenant concepts and practices into the new covenant. Yet absolutely inescapable as Paul’s argument throughout Galatians.
Jesus came to set us free so that we might no longer be enslaved to that which could not truly justify. For Gentiles, that was the futile ways of our ancestors. For Israelites, it was the Law. If Jewish people needed liberation from the Law in Christ, why do people keep insisting on importing the Law into the faith in Christ, submitting again to a yoke of enslavement that alienates one from Christ?
We again return to the British Museum and some of its many (way too many) treasures.
These are some of the “Amarna Letters.” In the middle of the 14th century BCE, Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten had decided to establish a new capital and royal city for Egypt in middle Egypt at Akhetaten, which today is called Tell el-Amarna.
Akhetaten only endured for a generation; Pharaohs after Akhenaten returned to Thebes, as did the court. While much of the material goods of the administration also returned to Thebes, at least part of the “foreign office” communications remained stored at Akhetaten. These communications were discovered in the late nineteenth century; they were discovered by local Egyptians and sold in the regional antiquities market, and so Amarna Letters can be found in museums around the world.
Most of the Amarna Letters were written by Egypt’s client kings in Canaan; the above come from kings of Gezer, Hazor, Lachish, Megiddo, and Shechem. They are written on clay tablets in Akkadian, which was the language of diplomatic correspondence in the ancient Near East in the Middle to Late Bronze Age. Most of them communicate whatever challenges, difficulties, or internal issues were going on at the time. No doubt Egyptian foreign office representatives would have responded in turn, and their responses would have been preserved in the “foreign offices” of these various kings. As far as we presently know, they have not been preserved.
These Amarna Letters would date to the period of the Judges if one goes with the “early” 1450 BCE date of the Exodus, or as still during the Egyptian sojourn if one accepts a “late” 1250 BCE date for the Exodus.
If only we had more of the “foreign office” communications from the ancient world…
Book Reviews
Today’s books represent the best of form and literary criticism. They can provide valuable insights into the message of God in Christ when working within the framework of the texts in their contexts.
John the Evangelist tells a good story. Our appreciation of that story can be strengthened when we consider certain literary devices he used.
David Wead wrote a great treatise on some of the literary devices and uses of terms in John’s Gospel in The Literary Devices in John’s Gospel (affiliate link).
He explores the literary point of view of John the Evangelist as coming after the resurrection and demonstrates throughout the text the various points at which this becomes manifest, and what it all means. He considered John’s use of “sign” and its implications. He explores John’s frequent use of “double meaning”, starting with the famous “from above/again” in John 3 and going through many more examples, many not immediately obvious to the English reader. He explored John’s use of irony throughout the text, and in the process also gave a literary history of the idea of irony. He concluded with the various metaphors John used, and how, apparently, neither Schweitzer nor Bultmann really understood the concept of metaphor.
This edition features a significant foreword in which the author’s influence on these topics was thoroughly considered.
This is a great resource when studying the Gospel of John to help appreciate how John has well related the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are some obvious statements which yet can prove profound in their implications. Sinners sin, for instance. And also: Paul wrote letters.
Well, sure; everything we have of Paul in the New Testament is in the form of a letter. Yet in our exegesis and application we can easily de-contextualize Paul and imagine he was just sitting around writing abstract theological treatises.
Jeffrey Weima has done a great service in Paul the Ancient Letter Writer: An Introduction to Epistolary Analysis (affiliate link; galley received as part of early review program). He systematically laid out what epistolary analysis is, an understanding of letter writing in the Greco-Roman world, and then detailed analysis of each aspect of epistolary form: the opening, thanksgiving, body, and the closing, and concludes the work with a full epistolary analysis of Paul’s letter to Philemon.
The author well argued and demonstrated how Paul generally maintains the form of Hellenistic letters but will modify the form and the substance for his specific purposes. He charted out every greeting from Paul, for instance, and then highlighted how Paul’s greeting to the Galatians was far more expanded than the rest, and suggested it had to do with the specific challenges he was confronting with the Galatian Christians. The reader is thus able to see patterns and those places in which Paul would deviate from those patterns, and given feasible reasons as to why. Each aspect is discussed in terms of the specific forms and types which Paul uses, expanding on specific examples and setting forth the form, function, and theological significance of each.
The final exposition on Philemon well demonstrated the importance of epistolary analysis, and how effective use of epistolary analysis can help in exegesis and therefore faithful application.
All Christians in their study, and those who labor in preaching and teaching, do well to thus learn about epistolary analysis and always keep the form and functions of Hellenistic letter writing in mind when interpreting Paul’s letters. They may feature a lot of theology and practical exhortation, but they never stop being letters, and we do well to never forget that.
Thanks again for your continued interest and support. Please share and subscribe!
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Ethan