Category Archives: Jewish History/Culture

Love’s First Use

Love’s First Use
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Genesis 22:2 This is the first appearance of the word love in the Bible. In a book we often describe as God’s love letter to…
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Saving Daylight

Saving Daylight
Daylight savings time starts again this coming week. I have never understood why we have undertaken this practice. We don’t actually “get an extra hour” or lose one at the other end, we are merely shifting our template. Historical arguments range from productivity, energy savings and psychological preference, but our time structures are artificially imposed…
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Is Esther a Godless Book?

Is Esther a Godless Book?
God is not mentioned in the book of Esther. He is hinted at when Mordecai talks of providence and also when Esther fasts, but there is no explicit acknowledgment. What can we learn from God’s seeming absence? God declared that He would live with His people in Israel. His temple was a symbol of dwelling…
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God’s Love: Top to Bottom

God’s Love: Top to Bottom
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Matthew 27:50-51  We all mourn differently. In the Eastern culture of the Bible, grief is displayed outwardly – tearing the clothes, wearing sackcloth or putting ash…
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