Salome

Today I came across an idea which I had never heard before; that the apostles James and John, the sons of Zebedee are the cousins of Jesus, as their mother is Salome, who is Mary’s sister. I was beginning to wonder how I had managed to read the Bible and do several years of biblical studies (including papers in Luke and John) without encountering this idea before. It was distracting me so much that I had to go and find out where it came from. As it turns out, it is fairly simple, traditional view, albeit a tad presumptive.

The Greek Old Testament

Old Testament Texts Translated into Greek

As discussed in the previous post (here), the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and passed down for thousands of years to form the basis of our Old Testaments today. However, the New Testament was written in Greek, as by the first century AD the common language of the Roman Empire – which Israel was a part of – was Greek and a majority of the people spoke it (often in addition to their indigenous languages). When the New Testament authors came to quote the Old Testament (their Bible), they would quote from a Greek translation known today as the Septuagint. It had existed alongside the Hebrew for several hundred years by the first century AD.  

The Hebrew Old Testament

It has been my experience that most churches today prefer to preach from the New Testament and almost totally ignore the Old. It is true that the material in the New Testament is more familiar to congregations and appears easier to handle than some Old Testament passages. But if it is barely ever mentioned in church (other than Sunday school), then the average Christian is also less likely to read it themselves. This means they miss out on having the stories and wisdom of the Old Testament explained to them and being able to engage with it in their own reading. After all, without it the New Testament makes little sense. 

The Book of Jonah: Assyria and the Northern Kingdom of Israel

A Difficult Question Asked and a Response.

 

A few weeks ago I was asked a very probing question about Jonah by a colleague. I will attempt to respond to here because I think it was a valid, but also very challenging question.

Considering that the events of Jonah were supposed to have taken place only a few decades before the Assyrian defeat of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, how did Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, go from repenting and professing a belief in God, to destroying the northern half of the kingdom that he had given to his chosen people?

After giving it some thought, I think there are a few things I can say in response to this.

Jonah 4:4-11: Translation and Comments

Jonah 4:4-11

4 And YHWH said, “Is it right for you to be angry? [lit. is it rightfully hot for you?]” 

5 And Jonah went forth from the city and he sat down east of the city and he made for himself there a booth and he sat down under it in the shadow until he would see what would become with the city.

6 And YHWH God supplied a plant and he made it grow up over Jonah to be a shadow over his head to take him away from his misery and Jonah rejoiced over the plant with great joy.