Opening the Old Testament
John C. Holbert, Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics Emeritus, Perkins School of Theology, earned his B.A. degree from Grinnell College, the M. Div. from Perkins and a Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies from SMU.
The Lively Lectionary Old Testament is a blog that reflects on the Old Testament text from the Revised Common Lectionary each week.
The Spirit’s Real Power - Reflections on Ezekiel 37:1-14
The issue of the day is the power of God’s spirit, and the marvelous Ezekiel text focuses directly on that very point.
Peter the Teacher - Reflections on Isaiah 50:4-9a and Mark 14:66-72
I want to offer today something rather different: a 21st-century imaginative reading of Is.50 and Mark 14, surrounding the apostle Peter.
That New Covenant - Reflections on Jeremiah 31:31-34
This short passage from Jeremiah has long played an outsized role in general discussions of the Bible. It did not take long for early New Testament commentators to see in these words a prediction of the appearance of the documents based on the life, death, and resurrection of the one they called Messiah, Jesus, that they thought would finally and definitively replace the Hebrew Bible as the crucial sacred text for them.
Those Snakes Again - Reflections on Numbers 21:4-9
Allegorical interpretation, a method of reading long used in Bible interpretation from its earliest days, is rarely found persuasive in our time, the problem being that anyone can make the Bible say whatever they want, limited only by their wild imagination. So, what are we preachers to do with this tale of fiery serpents and sympathetic magic? It turns out that there is something unique about this story.
I am YHWH! - Reflections on Exodus 20:1-17
Today in Lent three, we are presented with the famous Ten. I choose the first of them for examination, because it continues this theme of the character and person of the God we worship uniquely in the Lenten season.
What’s in a Name? - Reflections on Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
“When Abram was 99 years old,” is a most unpropitious way to begin a story of a promised baby! Nonetheless, that is exactly how the so-called Priestly author begins his tale of the coming birth of Isaac to the aged couple, Abram and Sarai. The older narrative, written by the J/E compiler, several centuries prior to P’s account, may be found in the chapters that follow. Such an absurd story is certainly worthy of more than one telling!
A Bow by Any Other Name - Reflections on Genesis 9:8-17
As we enter once again the season of Lent, we would do well to reflect on the relationship that God has to the world that God created. When we practice our prayer and meditation during this generally contemplative time in the church year, just what sort of God is it that we are contacting?
Elijah Flies Away - Reflections on 2 Kings 2:1-12
The startling scene of Elijah’s ascension into the sky by means of a fiery chariot, drawn by equally fiery horses, is often paired with the transfiguration tale of Jesus.
YHWH’s Wonders - Reflections on Isaiah 40:21-31
Truly, this text for today is one of the Bible’s greatest poems. Its language and cadence are unforgettable, its theological thrust unmatched, its structure a superlative example of ancient Israelite verse.
A True Prophet - Reflections on Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Those who claim to speak for God may be believed for a moment, or even for a brief time, but over time their words and things may prove empty and hollow, given what finally comes of their words.
The Joke’s on Us - Reflections on Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Jonah is the Bible’s best joke book. It is “Saturday Night Live,” “John Oliver,” and Jerry Seinfeld rolled into one. One simply cannot preach from this book with a straight face or without tongue squarely in cheek.
