Yesterday we saw the way God had opened up for the people to cross the Jordan river. In a Red-Sea-like miracle, the new Israel “passed over” with Joshua (meaning “Jesus”) at their head. This event proclaimed the way sinners can enter God’s rest. Only through His initiative, only through a Passover-like salvation, only with Jesus […]
The story is told of a wealthy man’s funeral at which “Guide me O thou great Jehovah” was the opening hymn. It may have been a typo or it may have been requested as the deceased’s last laugh, but the final verse read as follows: “When I tread the verge of Jordan Bid my anxious […]
We can’t credit the Authorized Version with this one. But it is from the bible. And it goes back a lot further than people think. Its origins don’t lie with Mafia bosses, nor even with Judas but with Moses. Here’s how it happened… Moses has finished the last of his Deuteronomy sermons to the Israelites. […]
When we say “I fell flat on my face” we’re usually speaking figuratively. e.g. “I tried to impress the girl with my scant knowledge of Italian arias. Turns out, she’s a classical soprano. I fell flat on my face!” We use the phrase to indicate embarrassment. But in the bible, falling on one’s face is […]
What will the future bring? Blessings or curses? Wouldn’t it be nice to send someone on ahead to make sure the future’s bright? That’s what the Israelites do in the book of Numbers. Let’s catch up with the story so far… In Genesis, Israel begins as the seed of Abraham then, with Joseph, they head […]
Children love “staring competitions” with their parents. But we all know the “competition” is a front. We know what the child wants, we know what the parent wants. Face to face. Or think of the long-distance relationship. Lovers who are sick of letters and phone-calls. They want face to face. Or the misunderstandings of work […]
“I never knew Christ was all I needed until Christ was all I had.” I heard this saying from an African Bishop recently. But Christians the world over can attest to the truth of it. It’s the very essence of what God was teaching the Israelites in the wilderness. And it’s exactly what Christians are […]
Egypt was not a bad land. In fact it was a very good land. Genesis 13:10 describes it as “like the garden of the LORD”! And under the wise and righteous rule of Joseph it had flourished with the Israelites enjoying “the fat of the land.” But since Joseph had been forgotten (Exodus 1:8) it […]
In English we say “the cream of the crop”. In Hebrew they would say “the fat of the land” (Genesis 44:18). Not that the ground is particularly oily (they’d also talk about “the fat of the wheat”; Psalm 81:16). The fat is the best portion. And this is what Pharaoh offers to Joseph’s brothers: “Pharaoh […]
“I knew her… in the biblical sense” said the ribaldrous fellow with a wink and a nudge. Many are aware that “knowing in the biblical sense” is shorthand for sex. But few know what it is that’s ‘biblical’ about that ‘biblical sense.’ Well it all goes back to Genesis 4:1: “And Adam knew Eve his […]
