Order, Order! I have, in recent days, been chewing over two trinities of names that occur in the early pages of Genesis and with which we are very familiar because of the order in which they appear. We have “Shem, Ham and Japheth” (5:32; 6:10; 7:13; 9:18; 10:1; 1 Chronicles 1:4) and “Abram, Nahor and…
I came across an interesting chronological conundrum in my studies that somehow I have managed to overlook in my previous studies in these passages and I thought I would share it with you, as well as others I come across on my journey. I do so because although some of the issues may seem a…
I was reflecting this morning on what James tells us about Elijah and prayer. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not…
Genesis 5 brings us the first of numerous genealogical lists in the Bible and it’s worth taking a few moments to consider it. 5:1-2 The opening, introductory verses contain an expression, with a slight variation in this case, frequently found in Genesis. It is one of the 10 incidences of the “toledoth formula”, from the…
Unlike most people I have come across, I am someone who finds the genealogies of the Bible utterly fascinating. One of my main leisure pursuits, for many years, has been family history research and, building on a great deal of careful work done my mother – all without the aid of a computer, it has…
In his devotional comment on Ezra 7:10 – “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” – Don Carson highlights a danger for students of the Scriptures: Ezra devoted himself to the observance of the Law. For…