The Jewish Studies Blog

There is another interesting possibility that has been largely overlooked. In Jesus’ time, the concept of the Wicked Priest was known among Essene-influenced Jews. Writings regarding the Wicked Priest are well represented in the Qumran Collection (Dead Sea Scrolls Collection). Presumably the Qumranite Jewish monks, who left Jerusalem in protest and established the headquarters of the Israelite Essene movement in Judean Desert (a century before Jesus), were persecuted by this Wicked Priest (of Jerusalem Temple). The Essenes had a figure they called the Teacher of Righteousness who was the oppositional counterpart to the figure of the Wicked Priest.

It is possible that we have long misinterpreted this verse (I do not receive glory from people). You may say what is there to misinterpret!? Jesus says that he does not seek praise from people, but only from God Himself. It’s pure and simple. But it is not that simple. During the Second Temple period, in addition to Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Samaritans there were other Israelite groups. Not much later some rabbis derogatorily referred to a group that is of particular interest to us here as the “people of the land.”

Dear participants in Jewish Studies for Christians study group, shalom! First, I wanted to thank you all for taking part in so many discussions throughout the blog! It’s been nothing short of exhilarating to interact with you, something that I very much love to do. Just by the way of update I am now preparing […]

Ok…. if you are going to listen to a Christian sermon one day. Make it a good one. As for me I have only two preachers that I listen to. Timothy Keller is one of them, Steve Brown is another. Enjoy… and let me know what you think! Steve was a preaching professor, during my […]

When we do not spend most of our time attempting to harmonize the Gospel accounts, surprising insights sometimes emerge. Moreover, it is by highlighting the sometimes sharp differences between the accounts of Jesus’ life we encounter what otherwise has proven to be an enigmatic enterprise – discovering John’s original intention, context, and purpose for composing this Gospel.

Another extremely important function of the chiasm is to point the reader/hearer to the key concept within the literary unit. While everything in John 5.19-30 can be said to be important, within the unit there is a section that is highlighted as being of greater importance. Which verse or verses are the most important? Simply put it is the center verse/s, the point at which the forward movement stops and then begins to move in a backward direction. In terms of content, that formation (in this case D1 and D2) is emphasized as the crucial point of the entire literary unit.

If you have never heard of such a thing called chaism do not be alarmed, most people living in the modern times and reading modern literature have not. Yet a simple google search will uncover a huge literary and interpretive field that makes use of interpreting the Bible with the help of finding all kinds chiastic structures throughout the Bible seemingly omnipresent.

Timothy J. Keller is an American Christian apologist, author, speaker, and the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, New York. He is the author of several books, including The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, which garnered awards from World Magazine and Christianity Today and was No. 7 […]

It is not that his claims to be the Son of Man/Logos of God did not have a place in Judaisms of the time, but simply that Jesus was not allowed to take that place. The Jerusalem leaders did the math. If things continue “as is,” Jesus would surely have put them out of a job with his prophetic speeches that were validated by his great miracles.

Today I would like to raise an interesting question: What do Israeli soldiers and the woman of Proverbs 31 have in common? In Modern Hebrew, a male soldier is Hayal (חייל) and female soldier is Hayelet (חיילת). Since Hebrew is a root language, we can clearly see how this word connects with others. For example, […]