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This year I'll be posting the daily readings from a 1-Year Bible reading plan.  It runs straight through the Scriptures.  I'll also be linking to free audio downloads of an updated version of the American Standard Version, so you can listen if the reading isn't possible.  It may not be the best translation, but it is free and open source.

Today's Reading:  Genesis 7-9

MP3 Audio:

Gen 7   | Gen 8   |  Gen 9

Here's my personal translations from Genesis 1-11 that I blogged last year:

Genesis 7  Translation  

Genesis 8  Translation  

Genesis 9  Translation

For reading, I highly recommend The Five Books of Moses by Everett Fox as a great English version of Genesis-Deuteronomy.  In my opinion it captures the feel of the Hebrew text great, while also being a very readable and accurate translation.  I discovered it after I had worked on my translation and was thrilled that in some places I had made similar choices.

This year I'll be posting the daily readings from a 1-Year Bible reading plan.  It runs straight through the Scriptures.  I'll also be linking to free audio downloads of an updated version of the American Standard Version, so you can listen if the reading isn't possible.  It may not be the best translation, but it is free and open source.

Today's Reading:  Genesis 4-6

MP3 Audio:

Gen 4   | Gen 5   |  Gen 6

Here's my personal translation and commentaries from Genesis 1-11 that I blogged last year:

Genesis 4  Translation   |  Commentary

Genesis 5  Translation 

Genesis 6  Translation

For reading, I highly recommend The Five Books of Moses by Everett Fox as a great English version of Genesis-Deuteronomy.  In my opinion it captures the feel of the Hebrew text great, while also being a very readable and accurate translation.  I discovered it after I had worked on my translation and was thrilled that in some places I had made similar choices.

Bono lists his Top Ten for the next decade in the New York Times.   Here's an example of one:

Matter Doesn’t Matter

God, it appears, is a Trekkie. (God help us.)

Dr. Anton Zeilinger, an Austrian physicist, is becoming a rock star of science for his work in quantum teleportation, which I know very little about but which I think I may have achieved backstage one night in Berlin in the early 1990s. At any rate, it seems to have something to do with teleporting properties or bits of information, not physical objects; even though Dr. Zeilinger plays down the possibility of a “Star Trek” moment, his breakthroughs are catching the attention of the nonscientific world for their metaphysical implications. His own version of E=mc2 ends in a cosmic punch line: that when it comes to the origin of the universe, information matters more than matter.

The whole article is worth a read.

From an article about the first burial shroud from 1st century Judea being found:

"We really hit the jackpot."

Found in a first-century cemetery filled with priestly and aristocratic burials, the tomb was initially opened by looters, who left the shroud behind, apparently thinking it has no market value. Experts were able to retrieve the artifact before it began to disintegrate.

The so-called Tomb of the Shroud is a rarity among Jerusalem tombs from the time of Jesus.

For starters, the Tomb of the Shroud appears to have been sealed shut with plaster for 2,000 years, perhaps as a precaution against the spread of leprosy or tuberculosis, which was also detected in DNA extracted from the man's bones.

The tight seal apparently allowed the shroud—radiocarbon-dated to between A.D. 1 and 50—to survive the high humidity levels characteristic of Jerusalem-area caves.

Archaeologists were surprised to even find remains inside the tomb. Traditionally corpses were removed from such tombs after a year or so and placed in ossuaries, or bone boxes.

The article also briefly mentions the following significant discovery:

. . . the remains of the man wrapped in the shroud are said to hold DNA evidence of leprosy—the earliest known case of the disease.

So after all these years of connecting the leprosy of the Bible with skin disorders others than Hansen's Disease, maybe it was leprosy after all?

Very good "White Paper" by Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, entitled "Evolution, Creationism, and Christian Laypeople."  In the paper Keller addresses the issues of the genre and resulting interpretive options for Genesis 1 and 2, the possibility of accepting evolution and the Biblical version of creation, and Adam & Eve as sources of the Fall.  It is definitely worth a read.  Here are some excerpts:

The way to take the Biblical authors seriously is to ask ‘how does this author want to be understood?’ This is common courtesy as well as good reading. Indeed it is a way to practice the Golden Rule. We all want people to take time to consider whether we want to be taken literally or not. If you write a letter to someone saying, “I just wanted to strangle him!” you will hope your reader understands you to be speaking metaphorically. If she calls the police to arrest you, you can rightly complain that she should have made the effort to ascertain whether you meant to be taken literally or not. 

The way to discern how an author wants to be read is to distinguish what genre the writer is using.  In Judges 5:20, we are told that the stars in the heavens came down and fought against the Syrians on behalf of the Israelites, but in Judges 4, which recounts the battle, no such supernatural occurrence is mentioned. Is there a contradiction? No, because Judges 5 has all the signs of the genre of Hebrew poetry, while Judges 4 is historical prose narrative. Judges 4 is an account of what happened, while Judges 5 is Deborah’s Song about the theological meaning of what happened. When you get to Luke 1:1ff., we read the author insisting that everything in the text is an historical account checked against the testimony of eyewitnesses. That again is an unmistakable sign that the author wants to be taken ‘literally’ as describing actual events. 

This does not mean that the Biblical author’s intent and the genre are always clear. Genesis 1 and the book of Ecclesiastes are two examples of places in the Bible where there will always be debate, because the signs are not crystal clear. But the principle is this--to assert that one part of Scripture shouldn’t be taken literally does not at all mean that no other parts should be either. 

 and

When Paul speaks of being ‘in’ someone he means to be covenantally linked to them so their historical actions are credited to you. It is impossible to be ‘in’ someone who doesn’t historically exist. If Adam doesn’t exist, Paul’s whole argument—that both sin and grace work ‘covenantally’—falls apart. You can’t say that ‘Paul was a man of his time’, but we can accept his basic teaching about Adam. If you don’t believe what he believes about Adam, you are denying the core of Paul’s teaching. 

You can read the entire work here via the BioLogos website.

The one major caveat I have with the article is that Keller seems to think that Genesis 2 is a narrative that is more "natural" and seems to imply that it corresponds more naturally with evolution.  The reality is that this is only felt in the English translations.  In the Hebrew of Gen 2:18,29 the natural reading is that God created the animals after he had created Adam.   The English translations often go against the typical Hebrew syntax (and my guess is that it has to do more with theological positions rather than solid arguments from Hebrew syntax).

The bottom line is that the Hebrew Bible does not see the world from a modern, scientific point of view but is grounded in an Ancient Near Eastern cosomology.  It isn't going to fit with modern models, nor does it present a view of the universe that corresponds to our post-Copernican view.  There are more difficult issues in Genesis 1-3 than 6 literal days or possibilities for evolutionary interpretation.  As I have brought up before, the raqia--or dome, frimament--in the sky that was commonly accepted as reality by ancients in Near East presents us with intepretive issues on how an ancient text is authoritative for us today. 

This year I'll be posting the daily readings from a 1-Year Bible reading plan.  It runs straight through the Scriptures.  I'll also be linking to free audio downloads of an updated version of the American Standard Version, so you can listen if the reading isn't possible.  It may not be the best translation, but it is free and open source.

Today's Reading:  Genesis 1-3

MP3 Audio:

Gen 1   | Gen 2   |  Gen 3

Here's my personal translation and commentaries from Genesis 1-11 that I blogged last year:

Intro to Genesis 1-11, part 1

Intro to Genesis 1-11, part 2

Genesis 1, part 1

Genesis 1, part 2

Genesis 1, part 3

Genesis 1, part 4

Genesis 2, Part 1

Genesis 2, Part 2

Genesis 3, Translation

Genesis 3, Commentary

For reading, I highly recommend The Five Books of Moses by Everett Fox as a great English version of Genesis-Deuteronomy.  In my opinion it captures the feel of the Hebrew text great, while also being a very readable and accurate translation.  I discovered it after I had worked on my translation and was thrilled that in some places I had made similar choices.

Here are the various versions of the birth/advent of Christ in NT sources:

The Gospel of Matthew:

The Gospel of Luke:

“Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire for taxes. This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David. He went to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him, and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified.But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord has made known to us.” So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger.When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean.So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.”

(Luke 2:1–20 NET)

The Gospel of John

“Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.”

(John 1:14 NET)

Paul's Letter to the Philippians

“. . . though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death –even death on a cross! As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow –in heaven and on earth and under the earth– and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

(Philippians 2:6–11 NET)

The Revelation to John:

“Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars.She was pregnant and was screaming in labor pains, struggling to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadem crowns.Now the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. So the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne, and she fled into the wilderness where a place had been prepared for her by God, so she could be taken care of for 1,260 days.”

(Revelation 12:1–6 NET)

“I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, “If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.”

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
"And I looked around and nobody was laughing"

Christmas Eve is a great time for the Church to remember that God didn't need wealth or power to save the world, but it is through the giving away and emptying of wealth and power that salvation arrives.  How helpless and foolish to the world it must seem.

It is also a good time for us to repent of following the ways of the world rather than the Way of Christ.

(HT to Jim West on the Kierkegaard quote)

  News of an early Roman period house that has been excavated in Nazareth.  This is the first residential building in Nazareth from the time of Jesus that has been excavated.  

An archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority recently conducted has revealed new information about ancient Nazareth from the time of Jesus. Remains of a dwelling that date to the Early Roman period were discovered for the first time in an excavation . . .

. . . 

According to Yardenna Alexandre, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "The discovery is of the utmost importance since it reveals for the very first time a house from the Jewish village of Nazareth and thereby sheds light on the way of life at the time of Jesus. The building that we found is small and modest and it is most likely typical of the dwellings in Nazareth in that period. From the few written sources that there are, we know that in the first century CE Nazareth was a small Jewish village, located inside a valley. Until now a number of tombs from the time of Jesus were found in Nazareth; however, no settlement remains have been discovered that are attributed to this period."  

Read the entire press release from the IAA here.