Tag Archives: scripture

Crack That Whip!

Posted on June 19, 2015 by ehurst

Ever read that part in the Gospels about Jesus Cleansing the Temple? Wikipedia editors show their ignorance by leaving out the background stuff found in even the cheapest Bible commentaries. There was some ambiguity in the minds of the Temple … Continue reading →

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Proverbs 14

Posted on June 15, 2015 by ehurst

Solomon’s theme here seems a matter of building a just and holy life. 1. A wise woman builds her house, but the foolish plucks it down with her hands. Back when Israel lived in tents, it was an ancient custom … Continue reading →

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Conquest Evangelism

Posted on June 15, 2015 by ehurst

It’s not as if Jesus never used military metaphors. The problem is how we read our militarism back into His comments. Perhaps you may have heard a very popular worship song from the 1980s, “Blow the Trumpet in Zion.” It … Continue reading →

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Backporting Your Assumptions

Posted on June 10, 2015 by ehurst

In software development lingo, “backporting” is making adjustments in software code so that it works on some older OS. Software development typically takes place using the latest and greatest software environment. Backporting often means rewriting the code so that it … Continue reading →

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Gentle Heart

Posted on June 8, 2015 by ehurst

It’s a simple idea: Gentle is the opposite of brutal. Whenever I have encountered folks with a brutal streak, it boils down to a handful of things, sometimes in combination — self-righteousness, genuine hatred (rejoicing in someone else’s suffering), other … Continue reading →

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Proverbs 13

Posted on May 27, 2015 by ehurst

1. A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, but a scorner does not hear rebuke. The Western approach makes this a matter of inflated reverence, even fearfulness, for the social system. Hebrew folks were not like that; there is no … Continue reading →

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Proverbs 12

Posted on May 23, 2015 by ehurst

We start to see a number of proverbs that appear little more than statements of obvious fact. These are most likely figures of speech meant to apply quite broadly as parables of something deeper. 1. Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge; … Continue reading →

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Heart: Awake and Clear

Posted on May 22, 2015 by ehurst

We have two concerns when we study how the Hebrew and other ANE cultures took seriously the heart as a superior intelligence. First, we have a massive barrier in the form of Western Civilization. It’s not enough that the West … Continue reading →

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Proverbs 11 (Part 2)

Posted on May 21, 2015 by ehurst

16. A gracious woman keeps honor, and the strong keep riches. This one is a little ambiguous and often mistranslated. The image is not a contrast between men and women, but a woman who either acts like a lady or … Continue reading →

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Proverbs 11 (Part 1)

Posted on May 20, 2015 by ehurst

(This chapter in Proverbs is a little long with my commentary, so I won’t burden you with more than the first half. We’ll cover the second half later.) We begin to see a more frequent grouping of proverbs by common … Continue reading →

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