Isaiah 7: 10-16 Walter Brueggemann makes a sharp difference between the two distinctive ways God acts: one is through normal human experiences and processes; the other is something “utterly new.”  He regards Isaiah 7:14 as an example of “the sovereign … Continue reading →

Isaiah 35: 1-10 This chapter is a hinge chapter; either it belongs to the previous thirty-four chapters or it is a bridge to a later addition of the final Book of Isaiah.  It retains the intensity found throughout the Book … Continue reading →

Isaiah 11: 1-10 Isaiah is unrelenting in his realism about the dire current threats from invading superpowers as well as the failures of the nation’s leaders and institutions.  Yet he persists in proclaiming hope in an ideal future.  From the … Continue reading →

Isaiah 2: 1-5 The North had already fallen to Assyria and the South had bought time by arranging a tributary agreement with the superpower.  Isaiah was a realist.  He understood and described starkly the dire situation in which God’s people … Continue reading →

Deuteronomy 26: 1-11 Robert Alter writes that this excerpt near the conclusion of the Book of Deuteronomy is “the first full-fledged liturgy in the Torah, to be recited by each Israelite farmer.” (The Five Books of Moses, p. 1004)  Each … Continue reading →

Jeremiah 23: 1-6 Jeremiah has expressed his contempt for the last king to rule in Jerusalem just before the Babylonians captured the city and exiled the leaders, and now turns his derision on the “shepherds,” who have failed their duties … Continue reading →

Isaiah 65: 17-25 The text of the Book of Isaiah concludes this section with a description of God’s breathtaking promise to restore, renew and even totally re-create “new heavens and a new earth….”  The power of the promise is conveyed … Continue reading →

Ruth 3:1-5;4:13-17 The Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, has cast her future with her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, who becomes concerned about Ruth’s future “security.”  Naomi instructs her to go to where Boaz could be found at evening.  She also tells Ruth to … Continue reading →

Habakkuk 1: 1-4; 2: 1-4 The text of Habakkuk describes an era when justice was “slack” and judgment “perverted.”  But, it also announces that the Lord will act boldly. Psalm 119: 137-144 The psalmist feels overwhelmed– “Puny as I am … Continue reading →

Joel 2: 23-32 The text of the Book of Joel has, so far, dwelt on the travails of God’s people, but now ( v18 ff) breaks out in exuberant promise of something totally new, beyond expectations.  Walter Brueggemann describes these … Continue reading →