In Is. 22:15-25, Isaiah prophesies about the contrasting future careers of two men who were stewards at the time of King Hezekiah, Eliakim and Shebna. The passage describes Shebna’s demotion and Eliakim’s promotion. A particular difficulty in the interpretation of… Read More ›
Old Testament Exegesis
Jesus Heals a Boy with an Evil Spirit . . . but is there a Deeper Significance?
In Mark 9:14-29 we read of Jesus’ return from the Mount of Transfiguration and of His healing of a boy with an evil (unclean) spirit – a healing which the Disciples had been unable to accomplish. It is widely recognised… Read More ›
The Song of Solomon and the Gospel of John
This article below is an additional handout I produced for a recent local Scripture Study Group meeting on the Seven Women in John’s Gospel. In the article, I look particularly, but not exclusively, at references to Mary of Bethany/Mary Magdalene… Read More ›
Strength in Weakness: the “Israel of God” and the Structure of Gal. 6:15-16
In this article, I look at the structure of Gal. 6:14-17, in particular concentrating on verses 15 and 16. One of the aims of this investigation is to see whether Paul’s intriguing use of the term “without strength” in relation… Read More ›
The Restoration of Sodom in Ezekiel Ch. 16 – a Proposed Interpretation
One of the difficulties in the exegesis of Ezekiel Ch. 16 concerns the “restoration of the fortunes” (v. 53), and the “return to an original state” (v. 55), of three cities, Jerusalem, Samaria and Sodom. The main difficulty here concerns… Read More ›
The Prophetic Foreknowledge of the Ascension of Elijah
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 ›
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 ›
Famous Fox Book Publishing 