My Grandfather and Milton
My grandfather, Stan Claughton, was a Methodist minister in NSW. He retired about 50 years ago and I have only vague memories of going to his church as a young boy. He did baptise me when I was about six…
Category Genesis
Genesis 38
Genesis 38 is one of the most intriguing chapters in the book of Genesis. My own take of how to approach it, especially when it came to preaching the passage, has been to summarise the plot in Genesis 38 so:…
Delusion, deceit and the day of the Lord
I was reading an Ann Cleeves’ murder mystery last night entitled ‘The Darkest Evening’. I learnt that the title is taken from a Robert Frost poem ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’. In spiritual terms, the times that we…
Watkins on Promise
I referred to Christopher Watkin’s book ‘Biblical Critical Theory’ yesterday. I do like what he had to say about Promise in his chapter on Abraham (ch 9). “Promise is a biblical figure that nestles under the overarching category of grace.…
Wonderful Genesis 1 for kids
Following on from the previous post. Here’s a page from the Children’s book ‘Wonderful Earth’. It’s an illustrated book for young children, and none of the other pages has anywhere near as many words as this one. I always need…
Wisdom in 2 Samuel 13
I find that 2 Samuel 13 raises quite a few interpretation questions for me as I read it. In some ways the broad themes are very clear but there are all these small details and words and phrases which connect…
Marching in Spring?
“In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle…” (2 Samuel 11:1, ESV). The opening of 2 Samuel 11 looks simple enough in most English translations, but a closer look at the Hebrew reveals some…
Knowledge
The opening chapter of the book of Proverbs establishes the foundation of knowledge: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7). James Montgomery Boice has this note about knowledge in his…
The Bible’s Search for Order
In a recent post, I quoted some of the conclusion Graham A Cole’s book ‘God the Peacemaker’. Graham closes his book with a quote of the late Bill Dumbrell. Bill, like Graham, was one of my lecturers when I was…
The Faithfulness of God
“Genesis 15 packs a remarkable punch for us: God himself is willing to suffer the curse of the covenant.” (Davis, ‘Faith of our Father’, p 65) I came across this marvellous line by Dale Davis when I was preaching on…