One model of revelation we invoke often is “the still small voice,” which phrasing comes from Elijah in 1ki 19:12. But scripture and history often provide us with multiple models, and I think there’s another one we should consider.
Category: Old Testament
Scrooge, Jacob, and Forgiveness: A Christmas Message
This is one of several posts I will update and repost each year at the appropriate season. This was originally a Sacrament Meeting sermon I preached.
Christmas is a season of generosity, of new beginnings, of babies, family… and ghosts of the past who haunt our lives and our minds. Sometimes they are of our own creating. Remembering them can help us change.
Continue reading
Covenants and Kinship: Jesus as the Father?
I chat with a lot of missionaries, and have heard this question repeatedly recently. I also heard a lesson from a recent RM who expressed puzzlement as a sidebar to his lesson. So, let’s talk about Jesus-as-the-Father.
Come Follow Me: Amos
I really like Amos; so much, in fact, that I’m ignoring Joel completely today. I have an old podcast on Amos here, much of which is reflected in the text below. Amos is a powerful straight-shooting no-nonsense guy, but also subversive, “confrontational and abrasive. There is no attempt to win over the people he condemns.” (Collins, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible) Continue reading
Old Testament Gospel Doctrine lesson 34: Hosea
First off, my very old podcast and transcript on Hosea are here. The (old) manual suggests primary focus on Hosea 1-3 (the marriage metaphor) and 11, 13, 14 (invitations to repent.) However, Hosea is not long, and reading the whole thing in preparation is fairly quick. I also recommend this post from the Mormon Women Project. Continue reading
Rough Stone Rolling: Daniel 2, The Church, and Joseph Smith
Today we focus on Daniel 2, a vision. The story goes like this.
In King Nebuchadnezzar’s 2nd year, he has a dream. According to Daniel 1:1-2, Daniel and friends don’t get carried off until Neb’s third year, although they’re present here. Either Neb can’t remember what it was (like many of us with our dreams) or he’s being unreasonable. Either way, he demands all his wise men tell him both the dream itself, and the interpretation. When they can’t, he wants them all killed for incompetence. Daniel hears about this and offers to interpret (like Joseph in Egypt), which he does, thus saving everyone.
The content of the dream involves a statue representing various political/national entities, and a stone cut out of the mountain, which smashes them all.
Easy enough, right?
As it turns out, the books written just on Daniel 2 could fill an entire library, arguing over what exactly it’s referring to. Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Daniel 1,3,6 AND Esther 3-5, 7-8.
Obviously from the fact that the chapters I’m covering today don’t match up, I haven’t had time to revise these.
Today we are rushing through an intro to Daniel AND Esther, and the next post is devoted solely to Daniel 2. What’s interesting is how the comparison between Daniel and Esther actually serves the manual’s purpose, which is to “help class members have the courage to live according to gospel standards.” How so? Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Intro to Ezekiel and chapters 18, 34, 37
Before I get to Ezekiel, note that I have put up my first post of recommended NT resources, a shortlist of Top Five books.
Up until this point, prophets have largely been “northern” or “southern,” but this post-exile thing is a whole new ballgame. Ezekiel is the first of the classical prophets to be prophesying in Babylon.
Come Follow Me: Jeremiah 16, 23, 29, 31
Jeremiah 16 opens with several verses commanding Jeremiah’s celibacy. Not because there’s anything particularly holy to celibacy, but due to circumstance. Continue reading
Come Follow Me: Jeremiah 1–3; 7; 16–18; 20
Jeremiah! The man, the book, the bullfrog…
Jeremiah is the second longest book in our longest book of scripture. (Only Psalms is longer). We know more about Jeremiah than any other Old Testament prophet because, for reasons unknown, much more biographical information is included. Continue reading
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