December 2020 – Mars Hill Press

End of Year

The end of the year 2020 has finally arrived. It’s been a year marked by a lot of things, not least, complaining. I preached this past Sunday, and I tried to put a bit of a positive spin on some of the main events of 2020. Sorta. If you listen to the sermon, you mightContinue reading “End of Year”

Little by Little

Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it. Proverbs 13:11

The Authorship of Ecclesiastes

The book of Ecclesiastes bears no author’s name. The very first verse says that the book contains the words of someone called “the Teacher.” In Hebrew, this is the word qoheleth (קהלת), and the traditional Hebrew name for this book is Qoheleth, and often modern scholars will refer to the author as Qoheleth. The GreekContinue reading “The Authorship of Ecclesiastes”

Old Testament Survey: Completed Series

I’m excited that Mars Hill Press now has another completed series of Bible studies: Old Testament Survey. That makes about 2 1/2 completed series on this website, including a complete series on the Gospel of Luke and a series about halfway done on the Book of Daniel. The Old Testament Survey series is a littleContinue reading “Old Testament Survey: Completed Series”

David and His Psalms

In the fourth century AD, Theodore, bishop of Mopsuestia, wrote a commentary on the Psalter in which he ascribed all of the psalms to David. Even the psalms with superscriptions listing other authors (e.g. Psa 42, to the sons of Korah) he attributed instead to David. Even psalms that Theodore interpreted as describing events hundredsContinue reading “David and His Psalms”

Superscriptions of the Psalms

All ancient texts of the Psalter include before many of the psalms superscriptions or “titles” designed to inform the reader about who wrote the psalm, how to sing or perform the psalm, and/or what type of psalm it is. In addition, Modern English translations also typically insert newly devised headings that summarize the content ofContinue reading “Superscriptions of the Psalms”

Bonhoeffer on the Importance of Reading Scripture

In his book Life Together, in which he is promoting a new kind of monasticism, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes about “The Day Together” in chapter 2. I am using the translation in the Deitrich Bonhoeffer Works (DBW) series, and more specifically the Reader’s Edition (DBW-RE). There are a lot of good things in this chapter, butContinue reading “Bonhoeffer on the Importance of Reading Scripture”

Bonhoeffer’s New Kind of Monastery

In Poland there is a fairly large city called Szczecin, Poland’s seventh largest city, with a population of 400,000. It’s near the border with Germany, so near, in fact, that before World War II it was within the borders of Germany and it was known as Stettin. According to Google Maps, it’s about a 2-hourContinue reading “Bonhoeffer’s New Kind of Monastery”

The Afterlife in the Book of Job

I have recently read through the book of Job again, and this time I made special note of all the places where it looked like one of the characters was describing the afterlife, or what they thought of the afterlife. As close readers of the Bible have long realized, the conception of the afterlife inContinue reading “The Afterlife in the Book of Job”

Thorin’s Final Words

In Tolkien’s novel, The Hobbit, Thorin, the leader of the dwarves, was wounded in the Battle of Five Armies, and before he dies he wants to make amends with the hobbit Bilbo for some things he said earlier. He apologizes on his deathbed. And then he says this: If more of us valued food andContinue reading “Thorin’s Final Words”