We read the exciting and dramatic account of Elijah’s ascent to heaven in 2 Kings 2. At the very start of that narrative, we, as readers, are told that Yahweh was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a… Read More ›
Old Testament Exegesis
Jesus Heals a Boy with an Evil Spirit: an Intertextual Reading of Mark 9:14-29 and the Golden Calf Incident in Exodus Ch. 32
Many commentators have noticed a similarity between Jesus’ return from the Mount of Transfiguration and Moses’ return from Mount Sinai with the 10 Commandments. In both cases there is a chaotic scene of failure which Jesus and Moses resolve. In… Read More ›
Christ in Genesis Chs. 1-2 and John 1:1-2:11
A recent video by Alastair Roberts looks at the likelihood of a “creation week” at the start of John’s Gospel which “tracks” the creation week at the start of Genesis, and thus links the new creation in Christ with the… Read More ›
Some Chiastic Structures in Luke Ch. 4: Part 2
In this article, I attempt to describe the structure of Jesus’ sermon, delivered in the synagogue at Nazareth, about Elijah and the widow of Zarephath and about Elisha and Naaman the Syrian in Luke 4:25-27. I also look briefly at… Read More ›
The 153 Fishes and Solomon’s Temple – an Inter-textual Reading
This article is actually chapter 3 of my book Chiastic Structures in the Interpretation of Scripture. The article is a Word document and can be accessed below or from the Articles page of this website. In his Gospel, John makes many… Read More ›
A “Timeline” for Jonah Chapter 2 (Jonah’s “Psalm”)
Jonah chapter 2 is basically the prayer that Jonah says from the belly of the great fish. In it he “rehearses” to Yahweh the events that have led up to his rescue. Now some of these events were things that he… Read More ›
Jonah – a Chiastic Analysis of the First Two Chapters – Part Two
This article is a continuation of what I hope will be a series of articles exploring the possibility that the first two chapters of Jonah (or, more accurately, Jonah 1:1-3:2) constitute a chiasm. The centre of the proposed chiasm is… Read More ›
Jonah – A Chiastic Analysis of the First Two Chapters (Part 1)
I have been looking at chiastic structures in Jonah, and am currently investigating the possibility that the first two chapters (or more precisely, Jonah 1:1 – 3:2) constitute a fairly large single chiasm. In this first article on this topic,… Read More ›
Lazarus and Absalom – an Inter-textual reading
This is an article I wrote a long time ago, (and which is probably in need of revising at some stage!) It is basically an attempt to show that the events described in the Old Testament account of Absalom’s… Read More ›
Jonah and Nineveh
I recently attended a Biblical Hebrew workshop based on the text of the book of Jonah, and this reminded me of an article I prepared some time ago based on James Jordan’s most helpful insights into this book. The article originally appeared… Read More ›