tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post2190917088892395050..comments2024-03-28T13:59:11.445-07:00Comments on Left Behind and Loving It: Fleeing Wrath, Burning Rubble, and Turning AroundD. Mark Davishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-85675882924997954422021-12-12T06:51:23.193-08:002021-12-12T06:51:23.193-08:00Thank you, Vic. Warning, not wrath, is a great dir...Thank you, Vic. Warning, not wrath, is a great direction. <br />Thanks again,<br />MDD. Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-60171682378455846392021-12-11T16:13:59.931-08:002021-12-11T16:13:59.931-08:00Your excellent work provokes these thoughts in me:...Your excellent work provokes these thoughts in me: Perhaps the deepest meaning is of God's warning, not God's wrath. God is not trying to scare us into submission but warn us what will happen (on its own) if we do not listen.<br />Perhaps wrath is self-generating, not imposed from without.<br />Thank you!Vic Mansfieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06194671996997775313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-88175585866768897132018-12-31T05:05:01.813-08:002018-12-31T05:05:01.813-08:00I don't know, Bill. That question will be in t...I don't know, Bill. That question will be in the back of my mind whenever I approach this text from now on. Thanks.D. Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-65512286017091122662018-12-31T05:04:08.569-08:002018-12-31T05:04:08.569-08:00Thanks, Mark. Thanks, Mark. D. Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-86600579273364650502018-12-16T06:06:02.336-08:002018-12-16T06:06:02.336-08:00Do you see any difference in the words Luke/Acts u...Do you see any difference in the words Luke/Acts uses that are translated 'soldiers?' stratiōtēs vs. στρατεύομαι? The former seems to be used for 'commmon' soldiers. Could these have been 'generals' or leaders?<br /><br />Thanks for your work!Bill Schlesingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14304598437917344802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-35460181492866022322018-12-15T16:53:30.994-08:002018-12-15T16:53:30.994-08:00Children of Abraham: Entitlement or Calling? The...Children of Abraham: Entitlement or Calling? There's probably a sermon in that. Thanks for your insights; they provide food for thought which I pass on to my Bible Study class.<br />Mark HoughtonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-52733508708621390742018-12-09T06:04:01.373-08:002018-12-09T06:04:01.373-08:00I'm three years late on saying this, but thank...I'm three years late on saying this, but thanks for this interesting link.<br />MDD. Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12016377712982292924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-23239339982719681562015-12-07T18:29:36.356-08:002015-12-07T18:29:36.356-08:00There were Jews in the Roman army. See https://mus...There were Jews in the Roman army. See https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/shofar/v024/24.3schoenfeld.pdf Elizabeth and Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13599588708640802947noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-16341967688057559922012-12-17T18:36:35.350-08:002012-12-17T18:36:35.350-08:00Hi Victoria,
I had to change the identity procedu...Hi Victoria, <br />I had to change the identity procedure because of the intense amount of spam that was getting through before. Now I'll know you as Gaudetetheology. Nice. <br /><br />What great points you are making here. The verb ἐπηρώτων is often used to describe the religious leaders' questions to Jesus, as well as the disciples whenever they seem to be challenging him. <br /><br />I was only assuming that the audience gathered to hear John were Jewish because of the previous comment regarding their understanding of themselves as "children of Abraham." Whether they were God-fearers, Diasporan Jews, or something else is a great question. I don't know if I can answer it. Likewise, the question of whether they were volunteers, rather than conscripts. Great question to which I could only posit guesses as answers. <br />Do you know more than you're letting on about it? I'd love to hear if you do. <br />Sycophant: Nice observation. <br />Thanks for the notes. They'll keep me thinking. From Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08343191370740534861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-10046861786949809542012-12-16T07:56:05.231-08:002012-12-16T07:56:05.231-08:00(Hi, this is Victoria Gaile. The "Name/URL&qu...(Hi, this is Victoria Gaile. The "Name/URL" option seems to have disappeared from your comment form.)<br /><br />"The verb ἐπηρώτων can mean to question, inquire or interrogate." <br /><br />Your description of this verb made me think of two things. First, it sounds like the verb that might be used to describe traditional rabbinical debate, as when Jesus is challenged throughout his public ministry. Is it?<br /><br />But more relevant to this passage, thinking myself into the place of the crowd, a crowd gathered in a time and place when the Powers That Be must have seemed so overwhelmingly powerful and impossible to challenge in any meaningful way, a time when people must have felt helpless... I'm thinking "challenge" might be exactly right:<br /> "Oh yeah? What can *we* do, in the face of all that? What can we *do* that will make any difference?"<br /><br />I wondered who the solders were too. It feels like a very important question. I would have expected that Jews would have been exempted from service in the imperial army, in the same way that they were exempted from the imperial cult: do we know for sure that Jews were conscripted? Might some Jews have volunteered for the army? Was it a way to earn citizenship, earn money, gain social status? If they were Jewish, were they locals, or were they Diasporan Jews who had been sent to the area as occupying troops in the hopes of improving relations between the locals and the occupiers?<br /><br />If the only reason that we assume they were Jewish is that they came to hear this Jewish prophet speak, well, is it possible they might have been Gentile "God-fearers"? I ask because it would be an interesting foreshadowing of the presence and response of the Gentile Roman soldiers at the crucifixion. Or transposition, I guess, because that scene is not in Luke though it is in both Mark and Matthew.<br /><br />συκοφαντήσητε - I was struck by the cognate with "sycophant". Is that a possible meaning here? Telling the soldiers, basically, "don't suck up to the wealthy and powerful"?<br /><br /><br />παρακαλῶν - The relation to paraclete is really interesting here. If John was παρακαλῶν-ing the people in his ministry, that makes him a forerunner of both Jesus and the Holy Spirit, in a way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-89270511642884195472012-12-15T04:38:07.584-08:002012-12-15T04:38:07.584-08:00All good questions. I'm intrigued by whether L...All good questions. I'm intrigued by whether Luke is connecting viper spawnage with the serpent of Gen.3 or with being "children of Abraham." I hadn't thought about the virgin birth angle, especially since I've thought it was a Middle Ages concept to interpret the v.b. in terms of sin being inherited from the father. <br />I'm not quite at the point of saying that the connections are warranted by the text, except perhaps the contrast between Ab's offspring and viper offspring. But, my, they are suggestive and intriguing.From Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08343191370740534861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-24067317734913009202012-12-14T15:30:37.422-08:002012-12-14T15:30:37.422-08:00Great work on this text.
Do you see a connection ...Great work on this text.<br /><br />Do you see a connection to spawn of vipers and generation of Abraham? Does Genesis 3 shed light? Original sin? Virgin birth?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07139057873644115865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8320313747187588188.post-43649696689649261402012-12-11T10:41:20.548-08:002012-12-11T10:41:20.548-08:00If you tuned into this post before midday on Tuesd...If you tuned into this post before midday on Tuesday, please know that I have corrected one of the very obvious errors. I know that the writer of the Gospel of Luke should be called "Luke" and not "John," but sometimes I do things like that. Sorry. From Mark Davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08343191370740534861noreply@blogger.com