Jeremy Thompson

Category: Lectionary Readings

  • Boaz and Ruth in the Time of the Judges

    Today’s lectionary reading is from Ruth 1, and there is a lot going on here.  I will attempt to make two separate posts, but it has been a crazy day.  Notice the time period for the Book of Ruth: “In the days when the judges ruled,…”  I have already posted about the pattern of the…

  • The Most Unfathomable Part

    This morning I posted a link to Doug Chaplin’s thoughts on today’s Old Testament lectionary reading.  And, I just sat down to write my own thoughts about this strange text.  As Doug has said, there is certainly a lot going on here.  So, I wanted to post the reading in its entirety: The Spirit of…

  • Clayboy on the Bewailing of Jephthah's Daughter

    Today’s Old Testament reading is one of the most bizzarre Old Testament stories.  Jephthah makes a vow to the Lord that he will sacrifice whatever (or whoever) comes out of his door first if the Lord will deliver the Ammonites into his hands.  It turns out that the Lord does deliver them into his hands,…

  • The Pattern of Judges

    As I said, I mis-clicked on Monday and thought there was no Old Testament reading.  But, there actually was one – Judges 2.11-19.  Here we find the predominant pattern of the Book of Judges. The people sin (vs. 11-13) – The cycle starts with the people sinning.  Usually this sin is the sin of idolatry,…

  • Oh Man! I Missed a Judges Reading – What's a Biblical Judge Anyway?

    Yesterday I reported that there was no Old Testament lectionary reading.  I was actually incorrect.  I had clicked the wrong Monday on the lectionary calendar.  We actually do get some readings from Judges before the lectionary sells its soul by leaving out the Old Testament in favor of the likes of Revelation and 1 Thessalonians. …

  • He is a Jealous God who will not Forgive your Transgressions or your Sins

    Today’s lectionary reading is again from the end of Joshua and contains one of those sayings that well-meaning people like to hang up on the walls of their homes.  They may have it crocheted or artistically represented in some other manner.  And, it reads something like “As for me and my house, we will serve…

  • Free Course Guide – Eric Cline History of Ancient Israel

    Today’s lectionary reading was on the ark of the Lord being brought to Jerusalem.  And, it reminded me of an audio lecture by Eric Cline dealing with modern speculation about the current location of the ark.  It is a very interesting lecture in which professor Cline laments the fact that such endeavors waste research efforts…

  • Thoughts on Psalm 136

    Today’s response is Psalm 136.  Our Sunday night music group plays a song based on this Psalm with some regularity, but I must admit that this is one of the texts that I struggle with a great deal.  The refrain is “His love endures forever.”  If you have been around the field of Biblical Studies…

  • Joshua the Prophet

    Now that I have gotten over the shock of the fact that the lectionary skips over almost the entire Book of Joshua, I can make a few comments on the reading for today (Jos. 24.1-13).  Here we have Joshua functioning like a prophet.  We found out in Deut. 34.10 that Moses was a prophet.  A…

  • Skipping the Book of Joshua

    Wow! The lectionary readings skip way ahead today.  Yesterday was Joshua 3 and now we are at Joshua 24.  I can somewhat understand this since I’m not a huge fan of conquest narratives myself.  But, this caused me to step back a bit to check on how much of the Book of Joshua is actually…