Jeremy Thompson

Category: Old Testament Study

  • Oxford History of the Biblical World – Chapter 1

    I posted earlier a quote that I liked by Michael Coogan about Old Testament parallels; however, I must admit that I was a little disappointed with the first chapter of this book.  From the preface and list of authors, it seems like this will be an excellent volume.  In particular, I normally like Coogan.  I…

  • Michael Coogan on Old Testament Parallels

    I started reading The Oxford History of the Biblical World tonight. Here’s an interesting quote from Michael Coogan found in the first chapter. He suggests that parallels between Biblical literature and the literature of the Ancient Near East are ubiquitous, though direct parallels are difficult to point out: It is rarely possible to establish a…

  • Boring, Boring, Boring

    If you are looking for the most boring way possible to begin an introduction to the Old Testament (or the Bible as a whole for that matter) and to immediately lose your audience, make sure to start with source theories.

  • Words for Idols

    Words for idols in Hebrew are almost always very interesting.  In the Responsorial Psalm for today, many translations of Psalm 96.6 read: “For all the gods of the people are idols…” (NRSV, NASB, among others).  Yet when one looks at the root idea of the word underlying the translation idols it appears to mean something…

  • What Does it Mean for Revelation to be Prophecy?

    In Revelation 1.3 one reads, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy,…”  In the Old Testament sense of the word, what does it mean for something to be a prophecy?  This is not meant to be an across the board assessment.  I am certain that ideas concerning prophecy developed into…

  • Scotteriology on Mark Driscoll Stretching Some Biblical Hebrew Big Time

    HERE is a link to a post on the blog Scotteriology that analyzes a video of Mark Driscoll.  Driscoll is attempting to show that the Trinity is in Genesis 1, but has to pull some pretty major stretches to reach his conclusion.  For one, he says the word “God” is plural but doesn’t deal with…

  • Ruth the Moabite

    The lectionary reading for today is once again about Ruth.  And, I am glad because I didn’t get to post yesterday about Ruth being a Moabite, which is part of the today’s reading in Ruth 2.2.  I discussed Moab once before in a previous post I did about Moses’ death.  However, the the origins of…

  • 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,…