In Part Two of his commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations, John Bracke provides a powerful interpretation of the prophet's message to a nation refusing to repent and obey God and points beyond exile and suffering to God's restoration of the people and renewal of the covenant. Books in the Westminster Bible Companion series assist laity in their study of the Bible as a guide to Christian faith and practice. Each volume explains the biblical book in its original historical context and explores its significance for faithful living today. These books are ideal for individual study and for Bible study classes and groups.
Lifting out the understated themes of love, grace, promise and renewal in Jeremiah and Lamentations, this commentary by Hetty Lalleman opens our eyes to an important chapter in salvation history.
"The prophet Jeremiah declared the word of the Lord at a critical time in the history of ancient Israel. In this first volume of a two-part commentary on Jeremiah, John Bracke provides a powerful interpretation of the prophet's message to a nation that refused to listen to the call to repent and to renew covenant living in obedience to God's commandments." "Bracke considers Jeremiah's words to Israel relevant to the church today, a warning against trusting in deceptive words and against clinging to comfortable ways in the false belief that it does not risk judgment. He encourages us to read the book of Jeremiah and apply its lessons to our own lives." --Book Jacket.
Who should use this guide? Anyone who desires to pronounce the names of people and places in the Bible with confidence. Do you read passages of the Bible in public? This book is for you. In private devotions, do you gloss over the difficult names? This book is for you. This book was originally begun as a pronunciation guide for myself as I was recording the Douay-Rheims Audio Bible. When I was commissioned to do that work, I was surprised to find that there was apparently nothing currently in print specifically for the Douay-Rheims version that could help me to properly pronounce names of people and places. In order to expedite the narration, I began to compile a list of names and carefully researched pronunciations, and that list became the book that you now hold in your hands. Somewhere along the way, I decided to include the spellings and pronunciations of all the English translations I could find. As far as I know, every spelling of every name in every English translation of the Bible is included in this guide. Since the the genesis of this guide was for the Douay-Rheims Audio Bible, which is a Catholic Bible, names included in the Apocrypha appear here as well. Great effort has been made to include every English Bible translation’s names and places in this work. If the reader would be so kind as to write to me at [email protected] if the reader is aware of omissions, I will include additions in subsequent editions of this guide. It is important to note that in my research, I became aware of the fact that there are differing opinions on the correct pronunciations of many of the names contained in the Bible. Often there really is no one “correct” way to pronounce a specific name. Languages do morph over time, and pronunciations can change. This guide includes the generally accepted pronunciations in the United States in the year 2012.
*Uses both a narratological and historical-critical method to read these specific passages of Jeremiah *Demonstrates that the story of Jeremiah and Zedekiah is not the typical god prophet/bad king story found in much of prophetic literature and the Deuteronomic History *Provides an intertextual reading of the passages which connects Jeremiah to other figures in the Old Testament The book offers a narratological and intertextual reading of Jeremiah 37:1-40:6, a text that features the dynamic interaction between the prophet Jeremiah and King Zedekiah in the context of events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem. While there have been many literary studies of biblical texts, there has been little such work on the narratives in the book of Jeremiah. This fact is surprising since the Jeremianic stories are narrated in a lively and sophisticated manner and contain complex characters and vivid dialogue and action, reminiscent of texts in the Primary History which have received much more literary attention. Roncace's book begins to uncover the richness of the prophetic narratives in Jeremiah. The study focuses on issues of characterization and point of view as well as the text's connections with other passages in the book of Jeremiah and those beyond it, particularly the Deuteronomistic History. Roncace argues that the text develops complex images of both Zedekiah and Jeremiah. It is not a story of the good prophet and the bad king; times as chaotic and confusing as the final days of Jerusalem do not call for a black-and-white story. Rather the text invites both sympathy and criticism for Jeremiah and Zedekiah. Jeremiah is the embattled prophet of God; yet at times he appears deceptive and manipulative, more concerned about his own well-being than that of the people, and his message can be ambiguous and in the end is not fully correct. Zedekiah, for his part, appears receptive to Jeremiah's word and protects the prophet from others who would harm him; yet he is too irresolute to take any action to save the city. The ambiguity in the portrayals of both figures is further developed by intertextual connections. Jeremiah can be compared to Moses, the Rabshakeh, Daniel, Joseph, Samuel, Nathan, and Micaiah, while Zedekiah can be compared to the monarchs that correspond to these figures (Pharaoh, Hezekiah, Saul, David, and Ahab).
A replacement volume in the Bible Speaks Today Old Testament commentary series, this book offers a new exposition on Jeremiah, a book of the victory of God's love and grace. The prophet's redemptive, reconstructive work comprises the book's portrait of the future--a future that we see fulfilled in the New Testament through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.
This new edition of a bestselling evangelical survey of the Old Testament has been updated throughout. It is lavishly illustrated with four-color images, maps, and charts and retains the pedagogical features that have made the book so popular: · chapter outlines, objectives, and summaries · study questions · sidebars featuring primary source material and ethical and theological issues · lists of key terms, people, and places · further reading recommendations Additional resources for students and instructors are available through Textbook eSources.
Covenant: A Vital Element of Reformed Theology provides a multi-disciplinary reflection on the theme of the covenant, from historical, biblical-theological and systematic-theological perspectives. The interaction between exegesis and dogmatics in the volume reveals the potential and relevance of this biblical motif. It proves to be vital in building bridges between God’s revelation in the past and the actual question of how to live with him today.
