Author: benspackman

Saul and David, by Rembrandt

Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 23: 1 Samuel 18-24

June 22, 2022 /

David on the Harp.

(Reposted, but not updated. If you find a broken link, you can plug it in to the Wayback Machine to get the content.)

Here’s the podcast on these chapters, with some useful notes.

The purpose of this lesson is to focus on the friendship between David and Jonathan, but the narrative is primarily about David trying to avoid being killed. The guy trying to kill him is no other than his father-in-law Saul (since he married Michal), who is also Jonathan’s father.  Your in-laws don’t seem so bad now, eh? Continue reading

Public domain

The new Church History evolution topic essay, with commentary

June 15, 2022 /

A new Church History Topic essay on Organic Evolution appeared recently. These are not full-blown essays, like the Gospel Topics. Rather, they are meant as concise historical/conceptual summaries provided as background for the Saints volumes, not as a stand-alone lengthy exploration of a subject. You can find them linked, in footnotes, in Saints online.  I’d like to provide some notes and comments on this short background essay.

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Ed Berret, from the BYU website.

Tales from the Archive: William Berrett on Scholarship in 1958

June 14, 2022 /

William E. “Ed” Berrett (1902-1993)  figures prominently in 20th century LDS education history. He taught seminary, wrote manuals for the Church and served on the General Sunday school board, briefly became assistant US attorney in Alaska before opening his own practice in Salt Lake, and then returned to Church service. He became a BYU Religion professor, served as vice-president of BYU and CES, and eventually head of Seminaries, Institutes, and Church colleges (excluding BYU.)

On July 11, 1958, President Berrett gave an address to Seminary and Institute faculty at BYU, titled “Scholarship.” It’s quite surprising, in some ways. Below, some excerpts.

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Come Follow Me- Ruth and Samuel 1 (updated)

June 12, 2022 /

Today, we’re focusing entirely on Ruth, and then just on a small section of Ruth. (I’d really like to write a long article for Ruth as I did for Judah and Tamar, but my list of projects is long.) Ruth is a short and masterful novella. If you haven’t read it yet, give it a quick read. It’s four chapters, minimal characters. I’ll assume you know the story for the rest of this post.

I do have a podcast on Ruth as well as Samuel 1! (links to old podcasts now fixed.) And I discuss the “redeemer” and atonement concepts found in Ruth in depth in my BYU Studies article on The Israelite Roots of Atonement Terminology.
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Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 19- Judges

June 12, 2022 /

The Book of Judges begins with the death of Joshua, and is arranged in very distinct and obvious cycles: Israel prospers, forgets God and embraces idolatry, is allowed to be enslaved/captured by its neighbors until it repents, and then God raises up a charismatic military leader or “judge” who delivers Israel from captivity. Wash, rinse, repeat. Continue reading

Come Follow Me: Numbers 11-14, 21

May 11, 2022 /

(Minimal time to update this content, but wanted it back at the top of the posts.)

The Book of Numbers takes its English name from the Greek Septuagint title, a description of the census-taking in its first four chapters. The Hebrew title is a bit more descriptive, bemidbar sinai, “in the wilderness of Sinai.” Note the time in Numbers 1:1. Two years have passed. In 14:29-33, God decrees that that generation— everyone over 20— will die in the wilderness and their children will suffer because of their unfaithfulness. Continue reading