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The Worthy, Vigorous, Substantial Woman - Reflections on Proverbs 31:10-31, Proper 20 Year B
Lectionary Reflections on Proverbs 31:10-31, Proper 20 Year B, October 22, 2024
The Lively Lectionary Old Testament is a blog that reflects on the Old Testament text from the Revised Common Lectionary each week.
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Of Wise Ones and Dolts - Reflections on Proverbs 1:20-33, Proper 19, Year B
Reflections on First Testament Reading for Proper 19, Year B, September 15, 2024
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Life’s Realities Questioned - Reflections on Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 for Proper 18, Year B
Lectionary commentary for Sept 8, 2024.
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The Dangers of Simplistic Religion - Reflections on 1 Kings 8 for Proper 16, Year B
Lectionary Reflections, Proper 16, Year B
Long Live the King! - Reflections on 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 for Proper 15, Year B
Reflections on 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 for Proper 15, Year B
A Complex King - Reflections on 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
The figure of David is among the finest literary portrayals in the ancient world, as I have tried to prove in the preceding weeks of our too brief look at the man. Today is no exception, as our fabulous narrator offers to us a David rather more complex than we may have imagined him to be.
The Payment Comes Due - Reflections on 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
What happens in this passage today demonstrates one of the Bible’s crucial truths: human power and will have decided limitations in the face of the power of YHWH.
The Beginning of the End - Reflections on 2 Samuel 11:1-15
The brilliant narrator of the long story of Samuel, Saul, and David has given to us the very pinnacle of story art in this fabulous tale of David and his dalliance with Bathsheba and his calloused murder of her husband, Uriah. There is no better example of the genius of the Hebrew Bible narrative than this one.
A Rather Different David? - Reflections on 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
It strikes me that after reading and evaluating the picture of David we have seen from his introduction to us in 1 Sam.16 that he is in need of a more straightforwardly traditionally pious portrait, and such is given to us in 2 Sam.7.
That Slippery Old Ark - Reflections on 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
I suggest that this tale in 2 Sam.6 indicates that any sacred object, connected to God, is not some plaything for any king to employ as he desires or thinks he needs. There remains something mysterious and uncontrollable about our God, and we, who tend too often to want to bring God into our way of thinking or doing, to sanctify in the name of God, what we already wish to do, need never to forget that strangeness in our God.
What About the Blind and the Lame? - Reflections on 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
It is occasionally necessary to look closely at the omissions that appear in the lectionary collector’s choice of texts. In this Sunday’s text, there is a small series of verses that have been left out: 2 Sam.5:6-8. To be sure, they are certainly odd and troubling lines, difficult to translate and understand. And yet, there is something about those omitted verses that are intriguing and potentially important. Hence, I will focus my attention there in the essay and see why they may be worth a second look.
A New King? - Reflections on 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
The story about the astonishing choice of David—8th son of 8 sons of the shepherd, Jesse—is rightly focused on here, since David will become Israel’s undisputed greatest king, despite his wanton and cruel behaviors later in his life.
