Tag: language

In Theaters, April 24th Only: “Fragments of Truth: Can we trust the Bible?” (by Faithlife Films)

~ Bob Hayton ~ Leave a comment

This week, on Tuesday only, there is a one-day showing of a new documentary exploring the trustworthiness of the Bible. The movie is produced by Faithlife Films, and features Dr. Craig Evans and Dr. Dan Wallace among others. John Rhys-Davies (known for playing Gimli in The Lord of the Rings) is the narrator (he also narrated a documentary on the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible).

From everything I have heard and seen about the film, this looks like a good one to go see. Here is its description:

Can we trust the Bible?

Our faith is based on the New Testament—but can we really trust the Bible? Skeptics say no, arguing that the Gospel manuscripts have been doctored to push a theological agenda.

In this new Faithlife original film, Dr. Craig Evans takes this claim head-on, traveling the globe to track down the most ancient New Testament manuscripts. Along the way, he highlights groundbreaking new evidence, demonstrating that the case for the reliability of the New Testament manuscripts is stronger than ever.

Watch the trailer and click here to purchase tickets at a theater near you. Learn more about the film here.

UPDATE: If you go see the movie, you can get a $20 coupon to be used at Logos.com – details here.

Robert Stein on the Language of Prophecy

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

I wanted to share an important excerpt from Robert Stein’s helpful book on biblical interpretation. This helps in understanding the prophetic genre, and makes good sense of Peter’s quote of Joel 2 in Acts 2.

An additional proof for his claim comes in the recognition that the prophets often maek use of language from the covenant curses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. They are using a specific language intentionally – the language of covenant. They are not just describing a foreseen future in strictly literal terms.

Much of the terminology found in prophecy makes use of customary imagery used in this genre. For instance, in the judgment prophecy found in Isaiah 13:9-11 we read:

“See, the day of the LORD is coming — a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger — to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.”

Because of the cosmic imagery found in this prophecy, many interpreters assume that it is referring to the end of history. Yet it is clear from Isaiah 13:1… and 19… that the prophecy concerns the Babylonian empire of the sixth century B.C. The Babylonian kingdom that destroyed Jerusalem and the Solomonic temple, this empire that sent the cream of Judean society into exile, was about to experience divine judgment.

Yet this judgment is described in cosmic terminology. Such terminology, however, was part of the imagery and symbolism available to the prophets when they sought to describe God’s intervention in history and his sovereign rule over the kingdoms of this world (cf. Dan. 2:21; 4:17,25,34-35; 5:21). Such imagery was not meant to be interpreted literally. The sun was not actually going to be darkened; the moon would not stop giving its light; the stars would not stop showing their light. “What” the author willed to communicate by this imagery, that God was going to bring judgment upon Babylon, was to be understood “literally.” And that willed meaning, God’s judgment upon Babylon, did take place. This prophecy was fulfilled with the rise and rule of the Persian empire over the territories once ruled by Babylon, and the later readers of this prophecy knew that this prophecy had indeed been fulfilled. Babylon had been judged just as the prophecy proclaimed, and it was God’s doing just as the cosmic imagery described. The imagery, itself, however, was understood by the prophet and his audience as part of the stock terminology used in this kind of literature to describe God’s intervention into history.

In Acts 2:14-21 Peter and Luke interpreted the events of Pentecost in a similar way as they saw in it the fulfillment of the prophetic message of Joel:

“Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my SPirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'”

These cosmic signs did not literally take place at Pentecost, even though what the author willed to convey by those signs did. God did enter into history and bring about the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. God in fulfillment of his promises gave to the church the blessed gift of the new covenant….

There have been attempts to deny that the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32 was fulfilled at Pentecost. Usually this is due to a misunderstanding of the figurative nature of this cosmic terminology. Some have suggested that Luke and Peter believed that Pentecost was “kind of like” what Joel prophesied but not its actual fulfillment. Such a manipulative interpretation of this passage of Acts, however, is impossible in light of Peter’s words in Acts 2:16: “this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” Furthermore such interpretative gymnastics are unnecessary when we are willing to accept what the author meant by the use of such terminology. We need only note other passages to see how widespread the use of such cosmic terminology is in the Bible (Isa. 24:23; Jer. 4:28; 13:16; 15:9; Ezek. 32:7-8; Joel 2:10,31; 3:15; Amos 8:9; Hab. 3:11; Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24-25; Luke 21:25; Rev. 6:12). (Attempts to see Mark 15:33; Matt. 27:45; Luke 23:44-45 as the fulfillment of this prophecy also err. They do not explain the signs of Acts 2:19 and most of 2:20. Second, and more important, they err because Peter and Luke associate the fulfillment of these signs with what is happening then and there on the day of pentecost.

— Excerpt from A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules by Robert H. Stein, (Baker Academic, 1994), p. 91-93

Commentary Roundup: “A Commentary on Judges and Ruth (Kregel Exegetical Library)” by Robert B. Chisholm, Jr.

~ Bob Hayton

A Commentary on Judges and Ruth (Kregel Exegetical Library)Commentary Roundup posts are a series of short reviews or overviews of Bible commentaries. I’m working my way through a variety of commentaries, new and old, and hope to highlight helpful resources for my readers.

Book Details:
• Author: Robert B. Chisholm, Jr.
• Publisher: Kregel Academic (2013)
• Format: hardback
• Page Count: 688
• ISBN#: 9780825425561
• List Price: $39.99
• Rating: Highly Recommended

Publisher’s Description:
A thorough exegetical and homiletical analysis of each passage of Judges and Ruth.

This commentary sheds exegetical and theological light on the books of Judges and Ruth for contemporary preachers and students of Scripture. Listening closely to the text while interacting with the best of scholarship, Chisholm shows what these books meant for ancient Israel and what they mean for us today. In addition to his perceptive comments on the biblical text, he examines a host of themes such as covenants and the sovereignty of God in Judges, and providence, redemption, lovingkindness, and christological typology in Ruth.

Of special interest is Chisholm’s introduction to Judges. In it he asks and answers some difficult questions: What is the point of Judges? What role did individual judges play? What part did female characters play? Did Judges have a political agenda?

Chisholm offers astute guidance for preachers and teachers by not only providing insightful exegetical and theological commentary but also by offering homiletical trajectories for each passage to show how historical narrative can be presented in the pulpit and classroom for rich, responsible sermons and lessons.

Commentary Type:
This is a technical/semi-technical commentary that provides both a detailed exegetical analysis of the Hebrew text and a variety of homiletical helps for applying the message of the text for today’s hearers.

Structure and Features:
Robert Chisholm’s Commentary on Jugdes and Ruth is organized in such a way as to provide the most help for the busy preacher or teacher who will use this volume to help in preparing to teach through these books for the benefit of the church.

Each Bible book gets a detailed and incredibly helpful introduction. Questions of authorship, date and genre are covered, as are practical concerns like what to make of the dates in Judges, and how best to understand the structure of the content in each book. Chisholm displays a concern for the literary and canonical context of these books, spending some time discussing where Ruth should fall in the order of the canonical order, and how each book fits into the larger themes of this section of the Bible. Included in the introduction are a survey of available commentaries for each book, and a helpful discussion of homilitecial strategies and a sample sermon series for each book.

After the introduction, each Bible book is divided into sections. Each section of the text is then methodically studied: first the translation (Chisholm’s own, a slightly revised version of that he supplied for the NET Bible) is provided in segments, line by line – and arranged in such a way as to highlight the narrative structure. Clauses are categorized as “sequential” or “consequential,” “resumptive” or “supplemental,” “focusing” or “dramatic,” and etc. Back in the introduction, Chisholm gives an explanation of the narrative structure of each book and which Hebrew grammatical clues (wayyiqtol and weqatal clauses, negated and asyndetic perfects, and more) lead him to these syntactical conclusions. Important translational and syntactical notes appear in the footnotes in this section (and the footnotes are nice and easy to read, as is the font throughout the volume).

After offering the text and structure, the commentary provides an outline and then discussion on the literary structure. Next is a detailed exposition section, followed by an application section which fleshes out the thematic emphases, theological principles, and offers homiletical trajetories and preaching ideas. Finally an extensive list of references follows to round out the volume.

Excerpt:
This excerpt is taken almost at random, it illustrates Chisholm’s attention to detail and interaction with the Hebrew text. Normally Chisholm will offer translations for Hebrew words in the commentary, but not always, as this passage illustrates. I am not going to reproduce the ten footnotes that are interspersed throughout this section. Hopefully this excerpt will give you a flavor of Chisholm’s care in handling the text. The section concerns Judges 5:24-27.

Willing, able, and energetic Jael stands in stark contrast to unwilling, passive, and accursed Meroz (vv. 24-27). She receives a special blessing for her loyalty to Israel and the Lord. When opportunity came her way she marshaled her cunning and strength to destroy the enemy general.

This poetic account abridges and streamlines the earlier narrative in some respects, but also highlights Jael’s cunning and effectiveness through additional information and the poetic device of repetition. In the poem we read nothing of Sisera’s arrival or of Jael’s initial gestures of apparent concern. Instead the focus is on her offer of milk. The narrative tells how she gave him milk when he asked for water; the poem adds that she brought him curdled milk in a bowl fit for a noble, which he must have seen as an obvious gesture of loyalty. The poem mentions nothing of Jael’s tucking Sisera into bed; instead it focuses on the deadly deed. The narrative account uses only one verb to describe the murder stroke (see 4:21); the poem employs four synonyms, emphasizing the deadly force of the blow and forcing us to replay it in our minds. The narrative, while describing how the peg went through his skull into the ground, notes simply that he died (4:21-22); the poem uses seven finite verbal forms (כּרע and נפל appear three times each, and שׁכב once) to emphasize the efficiency and finality of the deed). The repetition serves to “slow the action almost to a standstill in order to allow the audience to vent their hatred of the Canaanites as they savor Sisera’s fall.” It also repeats the location of his death (“between her legs”) to set up an ironic connection with verses 28-30 (on which, see below), and concludes with a resounding passive form, “murdered” (שׁדוּד, literally, “violently destroyed, devastated”).

The narrative informs us that Jael killed Sisera while he was fast asleep (4:21), but the poem depicts her deed as a heroic military act. It makes no reference to Sisera sleeping (though v. 25b might suggest as much) and describes Jael’s actions as an aggressive attack–she grabs her weapons and strikes. It then depicts Sisera as slumping to his knees and falling to the floor, as if she struck him down while he stood before her. Rather than trying to harmonize the accounts at the literal, factual level, it is probably better to see the poem as a creative figurative version of the story designed to magnify Jael and to lampoon the Canaanite general, whose capitulation to Jael’s deceit was tantamount to being defeated by her in hand-to-hand combat. For a warrior to die at the hands of a woman was considered utterly humiliating (see Judg. 9:54), but in this case it was appropriate, for the fleeing Sisera is viewed as cowardly. (pg. 240-243)

Evaluation:
This is an accessible and immensely helpful volume. It is written with a pastoral heart. I appreciated its Christological emphasis, and willingness to examine the typological connections between Judges and Ruth and the other books of the Bible (as in Othniel’s identity as the archetypal judge against whom David must measure up, and the echoes of Samson’s shortcomings in Saul’s inglorious career as outlined in the books of Samuel).  The discussion on the dates in Judges was incredibly helpful, as was the section on the role of female characters in Judges, and how they pave the way for Hannah’s account which opens up 1 Samuel.

Chisholm has a mastery when it comes to Hebrew grammar, and I appreciate how he interacts with the text and helps us see the narrative flow intended by the biblical author. His eye for literary connections and the interplay of various genres, make this volume more useful and full-orbed. His interaction with the full breadth of scholarship related to these books, inform and guide the reader in their study of the text.

This commentary is a must-have for every pastor. The combination of practical and homiletically helpful, with technical and exegetically robust is unmatched. No matter your level of familiarity with Hebrew, interacting with this volume will be worth your time. If you skip the footnotes and just interact with the text you will still be rewarded for your effort. I highly recommend you consider picking up this volume and exploring other titles in the Kregel Exegetical Library.

About the Author:
Robert B. Chisholm Jr. (ThD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is Department Chair and Professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is a translator and the Senior Old Testament Editor of the NET Bible. Chisholm’s other publications include Interpreting the Minor Prophets, Handbook on the Prophets, and A Workbook for Intermediate Hebrew.

Where to Buy:
• Westminster Bookstore
• Christianbook.com
• Amazon.com
• Direct from Kregel

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Kregel Academic. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

“Greek for the Rest of Us: The Essentials of Biblical Greek” by William D. Mounce

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Greek for the Rest of Us by William D. MounceBook Details:
  • Author: William D. Mounce
  • Category: Biblical Language
  • Book Publisher: Zondervan (2013)
  • Format: softcover
  • Page Count: 320
  • ISBN#: 9780310277101
  • List Price: $29.99
  • Rating: Highly Recommended

Review:
Have you ever wanted to learn Greek? A good number of Bible students and faithful church attenders have given a yes to this question. But these same people are often perplexed as to how they can actually learn Greek, Some may find themselves overwhelmed in a introductory Greek class and conclude that it will have to always be “just Greek to me.”

Bill Mounce, perhaps more than anyone else, has made it his mission to make the study of biblical Greek accessible to everyone. Not content to be the author of the most widely used introductory Greek textbook (Basics of Biblical Greek), Mounce has provided a wonderful resource for those of a less scholastic bent with his excellent book Greek for the Rest of Us: The Essentials of Biblical Greek. Now in its second edition, Greek for the Rest of Us is more useful than ever and comes complete with a host of online and additional resources to guide the reader into a greater understanding of biblical Greek.

Why study Greek?

Some may wonder why all the fuss about Greek. If the English of the King James Bible was good enough for the Apostle Paul, why do we need to study Greek? In all seriousness, why exactly should we bother with the study of Greek? Mounce sees at least five benefits from the study of biblical Greek:

  • making sense of the information that Bible software shows
  • finding what the Greek words mean
  • seeing the author’s flow of thought and his cental message
  • understanding why translations are different
  • reading good commentaries and using other biblical tools that make use of Greek (p. viii)

Three books in one

Mounce’s plan of attack is to teach the reader just enough Greek for what they need. His book is divided into three sections which will teach the reader foundational Greek, church Greek, and finally functional Greek.  Those making it through the entire book, with the online homework assignments, will actually cover the equivalent of two years of Greek. But many will not need that level of detail. Here is how Mounce delineates what each level of Greek will cover:

  • Foundational Greek teaches you enough Greek so you can use the Bible study software, understand a Strong’s Bible, and do Greek word studies.
  • Church Greek teaches you more Greek so you can understand a reverse interlinear and use better reference works, especially commentaries.
  • Functional Greek teaches you even more Greek so you can be comfortable working with a traditional interlinear and go even deeper into the best commentaries. (p. viii)

Greek on the bottom shelf

Mounce is a teacher extraordinaire. He has a gift in bringing concepts down to the bottom shelf where anyone can understand them. Illustrations, charts, pictures and examples abound. In everything he stays very practical and helpful. The layout of the book is easy to read and clear. He gives sample entries in Greek dictionaries that are recommended for those in foundational Greek. He provides screenshots from a variety of Bible software programs (some accessible freely online) and explains how to use them. And he covers interlinears and references a host of Greek tools that would be a benefit for those aiming to keep their Greek. 

One of the best features of this book is his development of phrasing. He shows how to break down a passage of Scripture into meaningful phrases and examine how they are strung together in the text. As the level of Greek understanding grows, he returns again and again to the phrasing model adding more and more to the exegetical strategy he is teaching. Finally he provides a wonderful group of semantic tags for the functional Greek student to use in selecting which relationships different phrases have to each other in a given text. This method has immediate relevancy for Bible teachers, students and pastors.

Helpful cautions for the budding scholar

Along the way, Mounce offers careful cautions to those just stumbling into the stimulating world of Greek. He reins in the tendency to find meaning in a word’s etymology and make too much of word studies divorced from the actual context of a given passage. He also provides some helpful thoughts as he begins to expand on verb tenses:

[After covering this material,] does this mean you can look at a verb and decide for yourself what its nuance is? Probably not…. Does this mean you can argue with a commentary or translation based on your knowledge of Greek. Absolutely not. You just don’t know enough Greek…. Will you be able to see why translations are different and be able to follow the discussion in commentaries? Yes. (p. 126)

He also gives a thorough treatment of Bible translation differences and the differences between the different Greek text families (Byzantine manuscripts vs. Alexandrian, etc.). There again he cautions those who are not fluent in Greek from presuming to know more than they do when it comes to the realm of textual criticism. As a Bible translator himself, he explains how all Bible translations are interpretive by their very nature and highlights the difficulties inherent in translation. Even so, he does not recommend dynamic translations for serious Bible study (p. 268).

Mounce also details what to look for and how to use good Bible commentaries. In short, Mounce doesn’t leave you with Greek on the brain, but brings you to where you can apply the Greek you have in ongoing Bible study.

Evaluation

This book is the most helpful introduction to Greek I’ve seen. It can be used for a wide variety of contexts, and would make a perfect resource for a church-led Bible institute class. It would allow some to be exposed to Greek and give others the tools to pursue it at a greater level. There is also a nice laminated resource sheet with declensions and common vocabularly words that is available along with this title and would make a great learning aid suitable for such an institude class.

The book would also serve well as a reference tool in its own right for those trying to remember some Greek fact which has been muddied by the passage of time. There are online tools and even vidoe sessions that go along with the book, making it ideal for personal study, and it could even work for a homeschooling family aiming to introduce biblical Greek to their children.  

One point to bring out here, is that this book will highlight differences in Bible translations and while it doesn’t answer every question raised, his explanation does favor the modern scholarly consensus favoring the Alexandrian texts. It can still be used with great benefit by those favoring a Majority text view, in my opinion, however. There may be various points where one may disagree with Mounce’s approach, but in the whole he is to be thanked for giving the church such a useful resource.

Author Info:
William D. Mounce (PhD, Aberdeen University) lives as a writer in Washougal, Washington. He is the President of BiblicalTraining.org, a non-profit organization offering world-class educational resources for discipleship in the local church. Formerly he was a preaching pastor, and prior to that a professor of New Testament and director of the Greek Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of the bestselling Greek textbook, Basics of Biblical Greek, and many other resources. He was the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version translation of the Bible, and is serving on the NIV translation committee. See www.BillMounce.com for more information.

Where to Buy:
  • Amazon.com
  • Christianbook.com
  • Direct from Zondervan

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Zondervan. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

“The Handy Guide to New Testament Greek: Grammar, Syntax, and Diagramming” by Douglas S. Huffman

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

The Handy Guide to NT Greek by Douglas HuffmanBook Details:
  • Author: Douglas S. Huffman
  • Category: Biblical Language / Reference
  • Publisher: Kregel Academic (2012)
  • Format: softcover
  • Page Count: 112
  • ISBN#: 9780825427435
  • List Price: $16.99
  • Rating: Highly Recommended

Review:
It goes without saying that learning Greek can be daunting. And the only thing that gives ministerial students more nightmares than Greek is Biblical Hebrew! Whether one is currently immersed in the world of Koine (NT) Greek or if they are years removed from their time spent buried in Greek grammars and syntax books, they are sure to find this new book from Douglas Huffman a true God-send.

The Handy Guide to New Testament Greek: Grammar, Syntax, and Diagramming (Kregel, 2012) is an accessible yet fairly comprehensive resource for the Greek student. And everything from its size and shape (designed to fit nicely next to a UBS4 or NA27/28 Greek NT) to its detailed discussion of phrase diagramming is geared to provide practical help for the average pastor as well as the up and coming Greek student.

I was impressed that it didn’t skip the basics — even covering the Greek alphabet for those of us who occasionally hit a mental block when we try to think Greek again! It provides declensions and grammatical rules, and a helpful listing of syntactical options for the various noun cases, verb qualities (tense, aspect, mood, etc.) and participles. It covers purpose clauses and conditional statements; reviews the prepositions and conjunctions; and it does all this in an incredibly useful format — making this the go-to resource for orienting yourself to the Greek text before eventually giving up and consulting the technical commentary or larger grammatical reference tool.

I most enjoyed the phrase diagramming how-to section, which discusses arcing and sentence diagramming before focusing on phrase diagramming and illustrating how helpful it can be for sermon and lesson preparation. The section on diagramming is worth the price of the book all on its own! The charts and diagrams which fill almost every page of this manual, are clear and crisp; and the explanations stay succinct enough to keep the handbook small and convenient in size.

You won’t be disappointed in picking up this reference tool. Even if you aren’t well versed in Greek, this tool can help you understand the options and make sense of some of the linguistic discussions in critical commentaries. This tool will find a place next to my reader’s Greek NT and will be my first place to turn when trying to work my way through the Greek text on my own.

Author Info:
Douglas S. Huffman is professor and chair of the Department of Biblical and Theological Studies at Northwestern College in Minnesota. He is the co-editor of God Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents God.

Where to Buy:
  • Christianbook.com
  • Amazon
  • direct from Kregel

Disclaimer:
Disclaimer: This book was provided by Kregel Academic. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.