Proverbs 16:18; Isaiah 14:12-15 There’s something so fitting about an arrogant fool cut down to size. — The Bond villain declaring “I am invincible” seconds before his grisly death. — The cocky athlete slowing down for the cameras and then tripping before the finish line. — The deluded despot, overstretched and finally overthrown. At these […]
Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-5 Just the phrase ‘forbidden fruit’ makes our mouths water. And that fact tells us everything we need to know about the kind of humanity we have inherited. “Forbidden fruit” is not a phrase directly from the Bible but it has become a shorthand to refer to “the fruit of the tree of […]
Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:21-33 There are three prominent prepositions used about Adam and Eve in Genesis 2. For, From, and To. She is for him. From him. Then brought to him. Which means the whole thing is heading towards a fourth preposition. And I’m afraid I can’t avoid all the connotations of this next word, but let’s hold […]
Genesis 2:25; 3:6-13 Genesis chapter 2 is a very common wedding text. And then at the rehearsal the minister has to coach a blushing bridesmaid through the final verse of the reading. Gulping, they exclaim, “Is this really in the Bible?!” “They were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Genesis […]
Genesis 2:24; Psalm 63 It’s no accident that the key verbs of Genesis 2:24 rhyme. The King James translation was written to be read aloud. They would have been glad to find a rhyme that so naturally arises from the Hebrew. And certainly preachers for the last four centuries have enjoyed the fact that their […]
Click for source Genesis 2:23; Zephaniah 3:14-17 It was not good for the man to be alone. The beauty of the garden, its endless delights, the challenges of work, the excitement of exploration were not enough for Adam. And swans, dolphins, baboons, wombats, poodles – none of them solved this ‘aloneness’ either. Creation in and […]
Click for source Genesis 2:18-25 “Spare Rib” was a feminist magazine launched in 1972. Its title was a defiant play on the account of Eve’s creation in Genesis 2. ‘Woman is far more than a spare rib’, was the message. And the Bible would agree. Eve’s origins are far more exalted than Adam’s. He came from […]
Genesis 2:4-7 What does dirt have to do with deity? Quite a bit actually. Here’s our verse for the day: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7) It doesn’t get any more earthy than […]
Genesis 2:7-8; 1 Corinthians 15:20-23 Let’s think about two modern sayings where ‘Adam’ features. We say “as old as Adam” when we mean ancient. And, at least whenever I use it, it has the connotation of intransigent. If there’s a stubborn fact of existence and if it has ever been thus, it’s “as old as Adam.” Frustrations […]
Genesis 2:8-25 Even the phrase “garden of Eden” should make us home-sick. “Eden” is taken from the word “delight”. And “garden” when translated to Greek is “paradise”. The highest plane humanity has reached thus far was at the outset. In fact Genesis 2 means to communicate this truth, even topographically! The four rivers flow down from this hill-top […]
