Bible Study Lessons
Translation challenges occur throughout the Bible, but numbers in the Old Testament present us with a special challenge. In Exodus 12:37 the ESV says that Israel consisted of about 600,000 men. Since we’re not given the number of women and children, there’s no way to be certain about the total population. A popular guess gives … Read more
Where do you expect to find God? What earthly location would God visit? The prophet Isaiah gives us a surprising answer. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah focus on divine judgment, but chapter 40 begins with these words: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem” (vv.1-2a). Why? Because the time of … Read more
Most teachers would agree that full-time teaching is difficult and demanding. That assertion is supported by the high turnover rate among teachers. Since I have a few years of experience as a full-time high school Bible teacher, I’ll focus on that particular subject, but some of the following thoughts apply to teaching in general. Here’s … Read more
Of the four Gospels only Matthew and Luke give us narratives of Jesus’ birth. Luke’s narrative is about three times as long as Matthew’s and therefore usually receives more attention. (If memory serves correct, even Charlie Brown quotes from Luke and ignores Matthew.) In this brief post I want to highlight a few of the … Read more
I’ve written one post entitled Reasons to Trust the Four Gospels but I’ve just come across an excellent youtube video giving more reasons to trust the Gospels. In this 53-minute lecture, Dr. Peter Williams gives an overview of new (and old) reasons to trust the Gospels with a particular focus on the use of names … Read more