1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Meanwhile in Judah
1 and 2 Kings for Everyone - Meanwhile in Judah
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Meanwhile in Judah 1 Kings 14:21-15:24 A couple of weeks ago a student asked me with some anxiety whether there was any evidence that any of the events in the Old Testament actually happened. Were there any records from surrounding peoples that people such as Abraham or Moses or …
Exodus and Leviticus - Making Reparation
Exodus and Leviticus - Making Reparation
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Making Reparation LEVITICUS 5: 1- 6: 7 When my wife and I knew we were in love and wanted to get married, my wife’s parents opposed the match for various reasons. I was a mere would-be pastor with no career prospects to compare with Ann’s as a physician. I was too informal and no…
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Meanwhile, in the Whorehouse
Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone - Meanwhile, in the Whorehouse
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Meanwhile, in the Whorehouse JOSHUA 2: 1-24 In this commentary, Joshua 2 is the only chapter for which I will not attempt to provide an opening story in accordance with the usual format of The Old Testament for Everyone series. How could I compete with this actual story about the…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Maintaining the Family Name
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Maintaining the Family Name
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Maintaining the Family Name Deuteronomy 25: 1-19 I have just read about a court in Britain sending a woman to prison for killing someone in a car crash that happened while she was texting. The victim’s mother and the prosecution are appealing for a stiffer sentence. The newspaper…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - No, But...
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - No, But...
by SPCK - John Goldingay
No, But… Deuteronomy 1:46- 3: 29 I noted at the beginning of this commentary that my wife, Ann, died just before I started writing it. She had multiple sclerosis for forty-three years. The Sunday after her death, the set Scripture readings included Paul’s account in 2 Corinthians…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Negotiations and Love Songs
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - Negotiations and Love Songs
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Negotiations and Love Songs NUMBERS 30:1- 16 About a year after he got married, one of my students set off from Los Angeles for Chicago, driving the opposite way to the one recommended in the song “Route 66,” in order to begin graduate school. Only subsequently in an e-mail did h…
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Never Again
Genesis for Everyone Part 1 - Never Again
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Never Again Genesis 8: 21b- 9: 4 A few years ago, a couple who were friends of mine left the seminary and moved to another part of the country; he, to be a pastor; she, to be a counselor. We kept in occasional touch through e-mail, and it eventually emerged that their marriage wa…
Psalms for Everyone - Neither Militarist nor Pacifist
Psalms for Everyone - Neither Militarist nor Pacifist
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Neither Militarist nor Pacifist Psalm 68: 19-35 On the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, I read an article by a Pakistani titled “Why Do They Hate Us So Much?” It picked up a question people in the United States asked after those attacks but reversed it in light of convict…
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Nationalization
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - Nationalization
by SPCK - John Goldingay
Nationalization Genesis 47:1-26 In the recession of 2008 and its aftermath, a new n-word was uttered in hushed tones in the United States. To many people, “nationalization” was as frightening a notion as government-organized health insurance. But the question had to be asked: Was…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Mutual Support
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Mutual Support
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Mutual Support Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone NUMBERS 32:1- 42 1Now the Reubenites and the Gadites had much livestock, very extensive, and they looked at the country of Jazer and Gilead: this was a place for cattle. 2So the Gadites and Reubenites came and said to Moses, …
Job for Everyone - On Learning From the Past
Job for Everyone - On Learning From the Past
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Learning from the Past Job 8: 1-22 The other Saturday we were sitting in a restaurant by the ocean, and a woman came to talk to us who is a student at the seminary. This particular beach is an hour away, so I asked her if she lived nearby. She explained that she came here on S…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Missing Garlic
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Missing Garlic
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Missing Garlic NUMBERS 11: 1-35 My mother didn’t know about garlic. This is not unreasonable; she had learned to cook in the days when British cooking was boring, before Elizabeth David introduced us to proper cooking (she was our Julia Child) and before immigration from the I…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Killing Enemies
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Killing Enemies
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Killing Enemies Deuteronomy 7: 1-6 In the modern age, the way the Old Testament talks about the Israelites’ destroying people troubles many Jews and Christians in the United States. It did not do so before the modern period, and it is not felt as so much of a problem in other …
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Letting Your Son Die
Genesis for Everyone Part 2 - On Letting Your Son Die
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Letting Your Son Die Genesis 22: 3- 10 What on earth does it do to you to have your father go to the edge of killing you? What does it do to your relationship to your father, and what does it do to your view of God? A seminary colleague of mine in England, who (like me) was al…
Isaiah for Everyone - On Mixed Motives
Isaiah for Everyone - On Mixed Motives
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Mixed Motives Next week my wife and are to speak at a retreat for students aimed at helping people maintain a connection with God while they’re studying theology. I’m looking forward to this event because we have the experience of going through seminary and watching generation…
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Keeping Things Separate
Numbers and Deuteronomy for Everyone - On Keeping Things Separate
by SPCK - John Goldingay
On Keeping Things Separate Deuteronomy 22: 1-12 A house where we once lived in England had a small back garden with a nice rose patch but no room for growing vegetables (the previous occupant was a big gardener but had an allotment elsewhere for growing huge amounts of things to …
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall
Psalms for Everyone Part 2 - People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall
by SPCK - John Goldingay
People Who Are Standing Need to Watch Lest They Fall Psalm 78: 38-72 A few months ago one of the members of our church, a lively lady in her nineties who always had something to contribute, suddenly became less consistent in coming to church, and then didn’t appear for two or thr…
Job for Everyone - Pastoral Care That Makes the Sufferer's Position Worse