its all good in beantown

19 May 2008 — art

I would have given my left pinky toe to be at Fenway tonight for Jon Lester’s no-hitter. This was his first complete game as a major leaguer and the fourth no-hitter that Jason “O Captian, My Captain” Varitek has caught. What makes this even more special is that in 2006 Lester was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer, and returned to pitch for the BoSox late last season. Similar to last year’s no-hitter by Clay Buchholtz, the rookie sensation Jacoby Ellsbury made a ridiculous catch to save Lester’s no-no. Last year it was my main man Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in BoSox. Tags: , , , . 2 Comments »

books to look for

19 May 2008 — art

I have to repent of my envy. These are some interesting books that I can’t wait to get my hands on….especially the new Enns and Keller books… Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Theological Nerd. Tags: , , . 4 Comments »

was moses born circumcised?

19 May 2008 — art

It is well known that the sign of God’s covenant with Israel is circumcision (Gen 17.9-14). The last verse of this pericope actually states that if a male is not circumcised then they “shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant” (Gen 17.14). When you read the Moses birth narrative in Exodus 2.1-10, you find something missing: his circumcision. That raises an interesting question: how can Israel’s leader—a proto-typical prophet, priest, and king—be uncircumcised? How can be be right before God if he violated his covenant?

In the Exodus narrative there is a clue as to how this can be resolved. This clue, which was picked up by some second Temple Jewish interpreters, is found in the second verse: “The women conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months” (Ex 2.2). The term “fine” is a translation of the Hebrew term tov, which is usually glossed as “good, fine, agreeable.” In the LXX the term asteios is used, which has the gloss “beautiful, well formed, acceptable, well pleasing.” It was in this term that interpreters Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in New Testament, Old Testament. Tags: , , . 16 Comments »

midrash mondays 14

19 May 2008 — art

Every Monday there will be a midrashic fable posted from Louis Ginzberg’s classic collection Legends of the Jews. This week the midrash concerns the birth of Moses.

The beginning of Exodus jumps right from a recounting of the sons of Israel, to a decree by the new Pharaoh to kill on the male Hebrew children, to the birth of Moses. There is a lot of room within this short introduction for legends to be born. The background of his midrash is that Amram (Moses’ father) had decided that all Hebrew couples should get divorced so that they would not be tempted to have “relations” that would result in the birth of a boy, because then they would be guilty of violating the Torah (i.e., “You shall not murder”). But Miriam (Moses’ older sister) argues with her father and Amram reconsiders. Once he remarries Jochebed (Moses’ mother), her youth returns to her and Moses is born.

It is interesting that when Moses is born a radiance fills the entire house. In Jewish legend this is also true of Noah’s birth. This radiance, in the Moses narrative, is explained Read the rest of this entry »

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