Why is the Bible so full of chiasms? A chiasm, we should recall, is a literary mountain, where the emphasis is placed upon the center and everything before and after that center parallel with one another. We observed a number of chiasms last year during our study of Leviticus, which is chiastically structured around chapter …
Why Numbers? Because it was next. The first series I preached at Western Meadows was Genesis 1-11. Only three years since have been without a series through a portion of the Pentateuch. By the Lord's grace, we have completed Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus, which brings us now to Numbers. We will not study the whole …
Author Moses is traditionally understood to be the author of Numbers, since it belongs to the Torah or the Pentateuch, which are also called the Five Books of Moses. I say "traditionally" because some scholars argue that Moses was only one source among several and that the Pentateuch was compiled much later than Moses' lifetime. …
Even though, by many standards, the world has never been better or, at least, more comfortable, we still find ourselves in a strange place. We have electricity, refrigeration, modern medicine, and antibiotics. People no longer die from simple infections. Diarrhea is a nuisance rather than a leading cause of death. For the first time in …
Continue reading The Apostle Paul’s Guide to Mental Health | Philippians 4:4-13
"It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It Is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." "After all, tomorrow is another day." "He loved Big Brother." "Now at last they were being Chapter One of the greatest story which no …
Continue reading Make Haste, My Beloved | Song of Songs 8:8-14
As we said previously, the Song of Songs is a chiasm; therefore, we can picture the structure of the poem as being like a mountain. The peak of the mountain was 5:1, which either was their wedding day or evoked that same newlywed love. As we have moved through the descent, we have noted some …
Quite often, when it comes to marriage or the Christian life, we want a detailed, five-step plan for success. Something clean and precise. But life is rarely clean and precise. And marriage is not a formula; it is a dance. Now, dances do have steps to learn. True. You must practice some basics, but at …
Continue reading A Dance Between Two Armies | Song of Songs 6:4-8:4
We have been to the summit of the Song of Songs, the peak of the poem's chiastic structure. He saw her coming up from the wilderness and then delighted in her as with a garden paradise. She then invited him into her garden, and their friends rejoiced over them. That was the very center of …
Last week, we began the section of the Song of Songs that takes us today to the very center of the poem. It began in 3:6 with the question of who or what is coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke? I made the argument that both of those translations are correct …
Father,forgive them,for they know notwhat they do. Luke 23:34 ESV In the final chapter of Genesis, Joseph's brothers were in great fear after their father's death that Joseph would begin to exact his revenge upon them. However, Joseph wept at the very thought and told them, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but …
B. C. Newton 