On the Hevel Level - A Blog About Nothing

Excursus: Hilasterion and Hilasmos Reframed by the Story of Restoration Welcome back for part 2 (If you missed part 1, you can read it here:   link For a clear understanding, we need to address the key Greek terms usually rendered as "atoning sacrifice": hilasmos and its foundational partner, hilasterion . The frequent theological engagement tends to reduce these words to a debate between "expiation" (taking away guilt) and "propitiation" (turning away wrath), when their real roots run back to the Greek translation of Exodus.  To understand why that matters, we have to recognize that words derive their meaning from the narrative that inhabits them.  Take the word “bad”, what does it mean?  The answer is ‘it depends’.  The meaning is based on how it is used in a narrative.  For example what does the phrase “That is one bad car” mean? If someone said “My new car goes from zero to sixty in under three seconds and outperforms anything I’ve ever owned…...

The Odyssey recently came out, providing a fresh version of the story passed on through generations and captured in written form by Homer. In response to the recent release, I picked up a copy of the Iliad . When reading Homer’s epic poetry, recorded in the eighth century BC, about events set in the 13th century, it’s hard to not notice structural similarities in the biblical narrative. The telling of Israel’s pre-exilic existence reached its final form in the 6th century BC, but it concludes a history that goes back beyond the 13th century. The histories in either case are not told for the first time. Both are bringing prior oral traditions and written records into a fixed form that has persisted. While there are differences for sure, it’s hard to miss that both narratives come from a similar cultural river.  On the surface one obvious place to look is the human-divine interactions. In both narratives, these interactions between divinity and humans are often mediated through proph...

      Romans 9–11: “Paul, Moses, and the Fate of  All  Israel” Some Artistry, Some Meaning The story of Israel in Egypt begins with a groan. As an enslaved people, they cry out, and their lament rises to God. What follows is deliverance, failure, and intercession—Moses even offering himself in place of the people. But the story doesn’t end there. When Paul turns to Israel in Romans 9–11, he picks up the intercession seeing Israel’s continued need for deliverance from failure. Paul structures these chapters as a lament about the nation of Israel. It artistically looks back to Israel’s post-Exodus formation as a nation and looks forward to the salvation of all Israel. In this “What about Israel?” lament, he opens with a groan, telling about the “great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart” (9:2). But, as laments do, he works through it to a conclusion of praise. Chapter 11 concludes with, “Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God… To him ...

  “But the meek will inherit the land”   Psalm 37:11 “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth ”   Matt 5:5, Sermon on the Mount The Greek version of both of these verses has the same word translated differently; ‘land’ (Psalms) and ‘earth’ (Matthew), yet in English we get two different words.  Is there a difference in meaning between inheriting the land or inheriting the earth?  Or, more important, how would those listening to Jesus’ words have understood it? Jesus’ sermon on the mount was spoken to Jews who descended from Abraham.  God had promised a plot of land to Abraham and his descendants, marked out by specific boundaries (see Gen 15:18 or Num 34:1-10).  This land would eventually be called Israel - named after Abraham’s grandson. Jesus was giving the Sermon on the Mount to his fellow Israelites whose forefathers had returned from exile to live in their promised land.  Although they were physically living in the land they were ...

  When discussing biblical authority, it’s important to ask some questions. If the Bible is authoritative, how does that work? How is it that books in the Bible like Joshua, Ruth or Song of Solomon can be authoritative in life? What does that look like for a story to be authoritative? Before answering these questions, there’s some even more basic questions to ask. First, does anyone want another authority in their life? Second, when the claim is made that scripture is authoritative do people hear that as good news or bad news? Perhaps the answer depends on an individual’s experience with authority figures in their life. Without a doubt all people have had mixed experiences at best. As a parent, I can a ffi rm I’m not a perfect parent...and I know I’m not alone. Parents are the first experience of authority in a person’s life and the very best parents are flawed. After parents most of us have teachers, coaches, police o ffi cers, politicians and pastors to name a few. These roles c...

  King James Bible and the Unicorn A  Tidbit from our Tour of Stirling Castle The unicorn is Scotland’s official national animal.  During our Scotland visit we had been seeing it in the iconography all over the churches, buildings and monuments.  Stirling Castle had unicorns all over it as well.  The Queen’s Inner Hall even had the Passion Narrative expressed through pictures on each wall….with a Unicorn in each painting as Jesus As we continued to hear the history of James the IV, V and VI, the last of which was the one who commissioned the King James Bible something clicked for me.  I was aware that the King James Bible idiosyncratically uses ‘unicorn’ in a number of places for the Hebrew word ‘ reym’ ( normally ‘ox’) .    One example is Psalm 92:10, “But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an  unicorn : I shall be anointed with fresh oil.”  Another is Numbers 23:22, “God brought them out of Egypt; he hat...

History does not have much kind to say about the Caesars who ruled from Rome.  The emperors were unscrupulous in their quest to maintain power.  They could spend lavishly to gain the favor of the masses and then turn around and rob through taxation, extortion or murderous plunder of faithful subjects.  The powerful did as they pleased and the rest of the world paid for it in every sense.     Those who lived in close proximity to Caesar were frequently reminded that it was at his pleasure they were allowed to stay alive.  Caligula often remind his wife, or other women he was intimate with, that they had beautiful necks, but he could have those pretty throats slit at any moment. Those who displeased Caesar, with significant reasons or not, were often tortured or killed.  This was true for rivals, but also true for ‘friends’.   Living far away did not save you from the long shadow of Rome.  Joseph, Mary and the baby...