Judges 4: 1-7 A victim of Joshua’s victory over him, Jaban the King of Hazar, now wants revenge.  He mobilizes a large, well-equipped army for the conquest of Israel.  The alarmed Israelites turn to a well-respected leader, the prophetess and … Continue reading →

Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25 Joshua gathers together  the tribes of Israel.  He tests the limits of their loyalty to the God of their origins through Abraham and Sarah.  The first test is between their loyalty to God and the gods … Continue reading →

All Faithful Departed: November 2 Wisdom 3: 1-9 Probably written in and for the large Jewish community in the intellectual capital of Alexandria just a few decades before the life of Jesus, The Wisdom of Solomon challenges the beliefs of … Continue reading →

Revelation to John 7: 9-17 Under duress as a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire, the writer recalls for the community of followers of Jesus (from memory?) fragments from the prophets, especially Amos, Jeremiah and Isaiah as well as  Psalm … Continue reading →

Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25 We are now in the hands of an author/editor commonly known as the “Deuteronominist,” whom Robert Alter assumes to actually be the prophet Jeremiah assisted by his secretary, Baruch.  (Who Wrote the Bible, p. 146 ff)  … Continue reading →

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12, 15-18 Moses climbs another mountain, Mt. Nebo, from  which he sees the land promised by God to Abraham and re-affirmed to Isaac and to Jacob/Israel.  And so the Torah concludes with the death and burial of Moses, … Continue reading →

Exodus 33: 12-23 Moses continues to press the Lord, who has given him the responsibility for leading the Lord’s people, to reveal the Lord’s-Self: “let me know Your ways, that I may know You….”  The Lord promises that “my presence” … Continue reading →

Exodus 32: 1-14 The narrative about God’s relationship with God’s people in the wilderness continues, (after seven intervening chapters of cultic law).  Moses,  who had led God’s people out of slavery, has been unseen and unheard from for forty days … Continue reading →

Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9 God identifies God’s-Self to Moses as the same God known by prior wondrous acts of deliverance– the God “who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…” — is the … Continue reading →

Exodus: 17: 1-7 Just three days after their miraculous delivery from slavery, God’s people start to “murmur” against their leaders about the lack of water (Ex 15: 22ff); just two months later, they “murmured” about the scarcity of food and … Continue reading →