To conclude this portion of his interrogation of Job, the Lord asks him, if it were by his (Job’s) wisdom that the hawk takes flight (Job 39:26). The hawk is a very swift bird of prey, and, as a carnivore was considered unclean in the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 11:13, 16). However, the ancients celebrated its swiftness. Men stood in awe of the hawk’s great ability to move effortlessly and so speedily across the sky up to our modern day, when our engineered vehicles began to exceed the hawk’s great speed. Then the Lord mentioned the hawk’s flight to the south, its sense to migrate to a warmer climate during the winter months, and he asked Job, if it were by Job’s wisdom that the hawk did so (Job 39:26). Read the rest of this entry »
Since John 7:14 to this point, we have been considering what the Lord said and did during the season of the Feast of Tabernacles, 29 AD. In fact, most of what is recorded by this Gospel narrator was said and done on the Last Great Day of those annual holy days occurring in the seventh month of that year.[1] The record continues without a break and without any reference to another day. Therefore, it is natural to assume what the narrator records in John 10:1 to 10:21 also occurred on the Last Great Day, during its closing hours (sunset to sunset). So, Jesus had been speaking to the Pharisees who were with him. They may have been among those who were willing to believe he was the Messiah, but were hesitant to accept everything Jesus taught (cp. John 9:40). Jesus had just said that he had come into the world to give light to the spiritually blind and to disclose that those who thought they were able to see, were, in fact spiritually blind (John 9:39). When the Pharisees questioned Jesus’ conclusion, he told them they continue to be blind, because they won’t admit that all men, including those who think they see, are really spiritually blind. Read the rest of this entry »
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There was a pool in the city of Jerusalem near the sheep gate called Bethesda (John 5:2), and five porches or porticos (G4745 – stoa) were placed close by. Porches or porticos served as covered gateways or entryways to buildings, or courtyards, where folks could gather and talk, conduct business or rest in solitude protected from the heat of the sun etc., as they took in their surroundings. This pool seemed to have special significance for those who were ill or handicapped in some manner. The text claims that the waters of Bethesda were stirred from time to time by an angel, and the first person to get into the pool would be cured by the troubled water, if he suffered from an infirmity (John 5:4). Consequently, the porches were filled with folks who were physically weak, folks who were blind, lame or lost the use of a limb etc., and they waited for the angel to stir the pool. Read the rest of this entry »
It is imperative that we understand that Jesus didn’t teach in parables until his second year of public ministry. During his first year, his speech was clear, very plain, and should have been understood by everyone. Indeed, on the very first day of his public ministry, when he stood up to read in his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:16), Jesus read from Isaiah 11 saying: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” and claiming he was able to administer the office of Messiah (Luke 4:18-19), he added: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:21). There was nothing dark or mysterious about his speech at that time. Jesus was very clear in his claim. Nevertheless, the response he received from the rulers of the synagogue and the people with them was: they rose up to seize him and thought to cast him off a nearby cliff (Luke 4:29). Read the rest of this entry »
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