Blog
Where
the blog
goes
On the Road: The Psalms of Ascent
Studies in Psalms 120-134, a set of pilgrimage songs.
Wayside Stops
Reflections prompted by life circumstances.
Holding the Flashlight
Assorted tips and helps for Bible study.
The Book of Daniel
Studies in Daniel 1-7 . . . where my blog began!
Recent Posts
What I Did on My Summer Vacation
I didn't blog. And, aside from two weeks teaching the book in Myanmar, I didn't think about Daniel. Thus, I am in need of review. Presumably, so are you. I will resist my teacherly urge to spend the next three blog entries reviewing (especially since I’m only writing...
Change = Life
I have a favorite children’s book entitled Tuck Everlasting. It weaves an interesting tale of “what if?” What if there really was a Fountain of Youth? What if we could pick a perfect age and stop aging forever at that point? After the first couple of chapters, it...
Can I Get a Witness?
Every time I teach this chapter, I have confused students. It’s not my fault – they’re confused when they come to class after working independently on the chapter. Of course, by the time they leave, all confusion is cleared away. Okay, I’m probably not that good, but...
Moving to a New Chapter…or not
Look! We’re starting a new chapter! That is, we’re starting a new chapter unless you happen to be reading the Hebrew Bible…then we’re still in chapter 3, verses 31–33. In any English Bible, the same verses are in chapter 4, verses 1–3. In these three verses...
At least he could count to 4…
Counting to ten is not in Nebuchadnezzar's skill set. When the king figures out that the three Jews didn’t, after all, misunderstand his command about bowing down to the golden image, his “image” changes. The narrator plays on the word “image” here, though the...
He’s Able, He’s Able, I Know He’s Able…or Is He?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are usually held up as paragons of faithfulness and of faith – they wouldn’t bow down and they believed God was able to deliver them from the furnace. Whether or not He would deliver them was another matter – but He certainly was able....
Men of Few Words
The heroes of the fiery furnace story are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but they are quiet heroes, speaking a mere forty-one (Hebrew) words in a single speech (vv. 16–18). The Chaldeans and the king are regular chatterboxes by comparison. The Jews are also...
He’s Too Much (ba-dum-bum-bum)
You’ve probably never associated Nebuchadnezzar with any part of Christmas – and I can understand why – but I’ve found a connection. As a child of the 70s, I loved the Christmas TV special The Year Without a Santa Claus – not because I wished for such a year (though...
The Bad Guy and the Worse Guys
The king is an arrogant fool in Daniel 3, but the real bad guys in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are the “Chaldeans,” a group of the king’s experts who specialized in astrology. When the population of Babylon fell down to worship the golden image (which...