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The Monsters: Behemoth, Leviathan and Rahab |
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Written by Rev. Justin Lee Marple
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Monday, 10 May 2010 12:56 |
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The Bible mentions several interesting creatures, not least among them Behemoth and Leviathan. The first monsters mentioned in Scripture are actually in Genesis 1. "And God created the great Tanninim [the standard Hebrew lexicon says, "serpent, dragon, sea monster"]" (Gen 1:21). Usually English translators wimp out with "the great sea creatures" (ESV) or "the great creatures of the sea" (NIV), but the NASB gets it right with "the great sea monsters." The 'im ending is plural. We know that people in all places throughout the world have believed in dragons and similar great monsters. The Ancient Near East was no different. These Tanninim were monstrous serpent-dragons of the sea. The difference between the creation account in Genesis 1 and other ANE accounts is that God created the Tanninim. In the myths, these kinds of monsters were rebels against the gods. But in Genesis 1, they are creatures of God. [For example, so says Waltke, Genesis, 63 (same page as later references)]
These myths were also coopted by the Biblical authors in Isaiah and Jeremiah and in Psalms and Job.
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Last Updated on Thursday, 19 January 2012 23:13 |
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The Structure of Lamentations |
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Written by Rev. Justin Lee Marple
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Sunday, 14 March 2010 13:23 |
The parallel book in the chiasm, Song of Songs, is incredibly difficult to divide into poems. In fact, that book seems to be a disorganized compilation of erotic poetry. On the other hand, Lamentations describes a very chaotic situation in a very structured way. There are five poems just as there were five books of Torah and just as there are five books of the Psalms.
The first two poems are alphabetic acrostics in Hebrew where each verse begins with a new letter of the alphabet from a-z (so to speak).
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Last Updated on Saturday, 21 May 2011 21:29 |
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Written by Rev Marple
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Monday, 15 February 2010 00:00 |
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Sailhamer notes that form-critical studies see a lament pattern common in the Psalms as follows: emergency, promise, faith, certainty. He sees the same pattern in the Torah. Genesis 15 and Exodus 3-4 both reveal this pattern. Numbers 14 and 20 also show this pattern but highlight unbelief rather than faith (cf. Numbers 14:11, 20:12). In the Numbers 14 incident almost everything is reversed. For example, the promise is a threat. But for now, let us focus on the contrast being developed between Abraham and Moses: Abraham believed, Moses did not.
This contrast is especially apparent with the theme of land.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 21 May 2011 21:28 |
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Written by Rev Marple
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Wednesday, 06 January 2010 00:00 |
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In my post, "The Scriptures: A Written Conversation" I noted the chiastic structure of the Writings (the third section of the OT canon) highlights Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) as the central book. I said, "This ending to the central book of the chiasm of the Writings is fitting. It is similar to ending the New Testament with the Book of Revelation given how Revelation ends warning about adding or subtracting from it. The effect of Ecclesiastes 12:12 is to say, the Writings are now complete until prophecy resumes, beware of adding to or subtracting from them."
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Last Updated on Saturday, 21 May 2011 21:25 |
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