I received an email today asking this question: "Mike - is this a good rendition? I read where an early rendition of Deuteronomy 33.2-3, when Asherah’s influence had not yet been fully subordinated reads: 'YHWH came from Sinai and shone forth.... at his right hand his...
Masoretic Text
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 104 – How We Got the Old Testament
The episode is live. Naked Bible Podcast Episode 104 offers a clear and myth-busting exploration of how the Old Testament—or Hebrew Bible—came to be recognized as authoritative Scripture. Dr. Michael Heiser carefully walks through the Jewish historical context,...
Why Should You Care About the Septuagint?
Here's one answer. The link leads to the Oxford University Press website and points to a new book on the LXX. But it also contains a good overview answer to the question that I'd recommend to readers. Here's a related answer that I wrote for Bible and Spade in 2010....
Why Use the Septuagint?
I found this on the Logos blog today. It's something I wrote for the Logos blog in 2007, and I don't think I ever posted it here. Forgot I even wrote it (I'm doing some LXX thinking today at work so I found it via Google!). Here's the short article -- it addresses...
Hobbins on the Canon, Part 3: An Excerpt
I may post more from John Hobbins' third installment later. I'll keep it here to this one extended excerpt. I think you'll find what John is angling toward interesting: Sooner or later the pluriformity of the tradition that eventually came to be included in a variety...
Hebrews 10:5-7 and Its Quotation of Psalm 40:6-8 (LXX 39:6-8): Another Very Tough Road to Hoe for the Traditional Inspiration View
Someone asked me about this passage this morning, and I thought it was another great illustration of why we need to affirm freedom on the part of the biblical writers, as opposed to God dictating the words to them (audibly or through some sort of mysterious...
Another Consideration for Inerrancy: The NT Author’s Quotation of (or Alteration of) the OT
In three previous posts I sketched out three principles I think are important to keep in mind for an accurate and honest statement of inerrancy. I list them here for review: 1. Taking the Bible on its own terms. 2. The idea of divine accommodation. 3. Distinguishing...
1 Samuel 13:1 – The Matter of Missing Words in the Bible
1 Samuel 13:1 is sort of a classic OT textual criticism problem. The United Bible Society's Handbook for Translators of 1 Samuel describes the problem this way:[1. Omanson, R. L., & Ellington, J. (2001). A handbook on the first book of Samuel. UBS handbook series...
The Naked Bible’s Thoughts on Inspiration, Part 5 – Which Edition of the Book of Jeremiah Originated with God but not the Human Writers?
It's been pretty quiet at The Naked Bible. The last post on the multiple editions of Joshua didn't get much of a response. It's made me wonder about posting more edition "problems" -- especially this one -- but I promised. Again, the issue of the biblical books being...
The Naked Bible’s Thoughts on Inspiration, Part 4 – Which Edition of the Book of Joshua Originated with God but not the Human Writers?
My focus for this post is Joshua 8:30-35. For centuries scholars have considered the placement of Joshua 8:30-35 to be a odd problem in that book. The reason is that it is completely out of place (or so it seems) with the campaigns of Joshua. In Joshua 5 the new...
Was Cain Fathered by the Devil? No, Wait — Extraterrestrials
I've gotten more emails on this topic than I can shake a stick at, so I've decided to blog it and then just direct people to this post in the future. I don't know who started this on the internet-probably one of those "I found secret knowledge about the Bible" people...