Latest Posts
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Deuteronomy 32 World View
In recent posts, we looked at the deception in the garden of Eden that brought sin and death into the world (Gen. 3). We looked at the corruption that was caused by the disloyal, rogue sons of God (Gen. 6).… Continue reading
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Scattered By God
The third reason a Second Temple Jew would have thought the world was so corrupt comes from Genesis chapter eleven. The problem, as we will see, is man wants control, god-like status, and sovereignty over his world. Background The corrupt… Continue reading
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Corrupted By Sons Of God
The second reason a Second Temple Jew would have thought the world was so corrupt comes from Genesis chapter six. This passage is unusual because it has divine beings taking human wives and having children by them. If a divine… Continue reading
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Deceived By The Serpent
The first reason a Second Temple Jew would have thought the world was so corrupt comes from Genesis chapter three. Eden was God’s dwelling place on earth. He wanted a human family to manage the new realm and to represent… Continue reading
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Second Temple Literate Jew
What Is The Second Temple Period? The beginning of the Second Temple period (586 BC-AD 70) is marked by the return of Jews to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon in 538 BC. They were allowed to return under an… Continue reading
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Let Them Have Dominion
Read Genesis 1:26 as the announcement or decree, verse 27 as the accomplishment of the decree, and verse 28 as the blessing of and instructions for all mankind. 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our… Continue reading
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In Our Image
Previously I mentioned that something was different in verse 26 compared to the preceding 21 verses because of the “let us” language. But there is more. Another difference has to do with what was being created. Prior to verse 26… Continue reading
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Let Us Make Man
When God made the earth, a new realm was created with new inhabitants. The heavenly realm, where he rules and where his will is done, already existed. We describe one realm as “natural” because it is the one in which… Continue reading
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The Divine Council
So far we have noticed the way in which ancient Hebrew writers used the term elohim and bene elohim in Genesis and Job. Now, let’s look at a couple of passages in the book of Psalms. These were written after… Continue reading
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Bene Elohim
I remember growing up, hearing about the Roman and Greek gods and being told that they are false gods or that they weren’t real. Although ancient people believed in the gods, they didn’t always think of them as equals struggling… Continue reading