Bestselling author Charles Swindoll challenges us to take a closer look at Job's life, carefully examining his response to the unexpected and painful experiences that assaulted his once peaceful and God-honoring existence--and we might just find that Job is a hero after all. When you think of Job, you may think of a hapless victim of unfair treatment. His disastrous circumstances overwhelmed him, his so-called friends belittled him, and his distraught wife discouraged and abandoned him. Even God seemed to desert him. At first glance, Job may not seem like the traditional portrait of a hero, but Job's patience, strength, and dedication in the face of unforeseen suffering makes his story worth knowing. As Swindoll traces Job's life and legacy, he challenges us to apply the lessons Job learned firsthand to our own lives, including the importance of: Maintaining integrity no matter what happens Accepting the challenge to change Counting on the justice of the Lord to roll down in his time instead of seeking revenge Resting contentedly in God's plan, timing, and purpose for you We have no way of knowing what tomorrow may bring, but if it is anything like the past, we know that storms will always come. And when they do we have a choice--to react in bitterness and anger or fall to our knees like Job and trust God even though we cannot understand why he would permit such a thing to occur.

The Septuagint - the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible - was an influential translation for Jews and Christians of the first century. When the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament, they most often used the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX) translation. Thus the vocabulary and thought forms of the LXX had a significant impact on the development of New Testament theology. Although the LXX and the New Testament were both written in Koine Greek, much of their vocabulary and word forms are different. Thus students and scholars who desire to read the LXX need a reliable reference guide that will help them decode the host of word forms and meanings that go beyond New Testament Greek. The Analytical Lexicon to the Septuagint lists alphabetically every Greek word form found in the standard Rahlfs LXX text, along with a detailed parsing of each form. Besides correcting errors found in the previous (1994) edition, this expanded edition also includes basic glosses (definitions) for each Greek word from Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, compiled by Johan Lust, Erik Eynikel, and Katrin Hauspie. These glosses are translation equivalents rather than technical definitions, and provide literal meanings as well as metaphorical ones. In many cases, the glosses are accompanied by grammatical and contextual information that sheds additional light on the word's meaning. The combination of the exhaustive grammatical analysis of the Analytical Lexicon and the helpful glosses of the Greek-English Lexicon make this expanded edition an indispensible tool for everyone engaged in the study of the Septuagint.

Did Moses write about Jesus? Jesus himself made this bold claim (recorded in John 5:46). Yet while most readers of the Bible today recognize a few Messianic prophecies in the Pentateuch, they don't often see them as part of its central message. In The Messianic Vision of the Pentateuch, Kevin Chen challenges the common view of the Pentateuch as focused primarily on the Mosaic Law, arguing instead that it sets forth a coherent, sweeping vision of the Messiah as the center of its theological message. Each Messianic prophecy in the Pentateuch contributes to the fuller vision of the Messiah that emerges when it is appropriately related to the others and to the Pentateuch as a whole. Giving priority to exegesis of the author's intent, Chen's approach focuses on the meaning of the Old Testament on its own terms more than typological arguments do. Building on the work of John Sailhamer, he sheds new light on the topic of the Messiah using compositional exegesis of the Pentateuch as a unified literary work. From the prophecy about the "seed of the woman" in Genesis 3 to Moses' climactic blessing in Deuteronomy 33, careful examination of key passages reveals the intrinsic Messianic glory that shines through the Pentateuch and its compositional strategy. For Bible scholars, pastors, and thoughtful lay readers, The Messianic Vision of the Pentateuch provides a fascinating study and an exegetical basis for a Christ-centered biblical theology.

Veteran Old Testament teacher Mark Gignilliat explores the theological and hermeneutical instincts that are necessary for reading, understanding, and communicating Scripture faithfully. He takes seriously the gains of historical criticism while insisting that the Bible must be interpreted as Christian Scripture, offering students a "third way" that assigns proper proportion to both historical and theological concerns. Reading and engaging Scripture requires not only historical tools, Gignilliat says, but also recognition of the living God's promised presence through the Bible.

This comprehensive yet user-friendly primer to the Septuagint (LXX) acquaints readers with the Greek versions of the Old Testament. It is accessible to students, assuming no prior knowledge about the Septuagint, yet is also informative for seasoned scholars. The authors, both prominent Septuagint scholars, explore the history of the LXX, the various versions of it available, and its importance for biblical studies. This new edition has been substantially revised, expanded, and updated to reflect major advances in Septuagint studies. Appendixes offer helpful reference resources for further study.

This six-session LifeGuide(R) Bible Study of Ruth we meet not only Ruth herself but also other significant players who populate the drama: Naomi, Elimelech, Mahlon, Kilion, Orpah and Boaz. In addition there are other unnamed characters: a kinsman, reapers, elders and neighbors. Like us, each of these characters in their own way needs the Redeemer who is foreshadowed here.These six studies follow the popular inductive study approach that has marked LifeGuide Bible studies for the past thirty years. For over three decades LifeGuide Bible Studies have provided solid biblical content and raised thought-provoking questions--making for a one-of-a-kind Bible study experience for individuals and groups. This series has more than 130 titles on Old and New Testament books, character studies, and topical studies.

The Wisdom Literature of the Bible (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs) is filled with practical principles for everyday life. While some Christians are deterred by the secular character of these matter-of-fact guidelines, they are as integral to God's purposes for His people as the explicitly theological material that dominates other parts of Scripture. The Wisdom books tie these two streams of God's revelation together in a way that enriches and strengthens the church. Examining the background and perspective that characterizes Wisdom material, this book provides guidance for interpreting and proclaiming this part of Scripture. It is a thorough resource for pastors and teachers to help them navigate the sometimes bewildering waters of the Wisdom Literature.

Are We Not Men? offers an innovative approach to gender and embodiment in the Hebrew Bible, revealing the male body as a source of persistent difficulty for the Hebrew prophets. Drawing together key moments in prophetic embodiment, Graybill demonstrates that the prophetic body is a queer body, and its very instability makes possible new understandings of biblical masculinity. Prophecy disrupts the performance of masculinity and demands new ways of inhabiting the body and negotiating gender. Graybill explores prophetic masculinity through critical readings of a number of prophetic bodies, including Isaiah, Moses, Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. In addition to close readings of the biblical texts, this account engages with modern intertexts drawn from philosophy, psychoanalysis, and horror films: Isaiah meets the poetry of Anne Carson; Hosea is seen through the lens of possession films and feminist film theory; Jeremiah intersects with psychoanalytic discourses of hysteria; and Ezekiel encounters Daniel Paul Schreber's Memoirs of My Nervous Illness. Graybill also offers a careful analysis of the body of Moses. Her methods highlight unexpected features of the biblical texts, and illuminate the peculiar intersections of masculinity, prophecy, and the body in and beyond the Hebrew Bible. This assembly of prophets, bodies, and readings makes clear that attending to prophecy and to prophetic masculinity is an important task for queer reading. Biblical prophecy engenders new forms of masculinity and embodiment; Are We Not Men?offers a valuable map of this still-uncharted terrain.

Allen Hilton examines how pagan critics ridiculed the early Christians for being uneducated, and how a few literate Christians took up pen to defend the illiterate members of their churches. Hilton sheds light on the peculiarity of this "defense", in which the authors openly admit that the critics have the facts on their side, noting that the Book of Acts even calls two of its heroes, Peter and John, illiterates. Why did the authors of these biblical texts, intent on presenting Christianity in a positive light, volunteer such a negative detail? The answer to this question reveals a fascinating social exchange that first surrounded education levels in antiquity, and proceeded to make its way into the New Testament. This volume provides context for pagan education as opposed to early Christian illiteracy - touching upon the methods of ancient learning and the relationship between Christian and pagan schools - and analyses the 'uneducated virtue' of the Apostles. Hilton provides a useful window onto the social construction of ancient education and ushers readers into the everyday experience of ancient Christians, and those who disdained and defended them.

A New York Times Bestseller! In Finding Jesus in the Old Testament, David Limbaugh unlocks the mysteries of the Old Testament and reveals hints of Jesus Christ's arrival through all thirty-nine Old Testament books. The key to the secrets of the Old Testament, Limbaugh argues, is the crucial New Testament encounter between the risen Jesus and two travelers on the road to Emmaus. With that key, and with Limbaugh as a deft guide, readers of Finding Jesus in the Old Testament will come to a startling new understanding of the Old Testament as a clear and powerful heralding of Jesus Christ's arrival. Limbaugh takes readers on a revealing journey from Genesis through Malachi, demonstrating that a consistent message courses through every one of the Old Testament's thirty-nine books: the power, wonder, and everlasting love of Jesus Christ. Previously titled The Emmaus Code

In this book, Brett Maiden employs the tools, research, and theories from the cognitive science of religion to explore religious thought and behavior in ancient Israel. His study focuses on a key set of distinctions between intuitive and reflective types of cognitive processing, implicit and explicit concepts, and cognitively optimal and costly religious traditions. Through a series of case studies, Maiden examines a range of topics including popular and official religion, Deuteronomic theology, hybrid monsters in ancient iconography, divine cult statues in ancient Mesopotamia and the biblical idol polemics, and the Day of Atonement ritual in Leviticus 16. The range of media, including ancient texts, art, and archaeological data from ancient Israel, as well theoretical perspectives demonstrates how a dialogue between biblical scholars and cognitive researchers can be fostered.

This book provides a new reading of the biblical book of Numbers in a commentary form. Mainstream readings have tended to see the book as a haphazard junkyard of material that connects Genesis-Leviticus with Deuteronomy (and Joshua), composed at a late stage in the history of ancient Israel. By contrast, this book reads Numbers as part of a wider work of Genesis-Joshua, a carefully crafted programmatic settler colonial document for a new society in Canaanite highlands in the late second millennium BCE that seeks to replace pre-existing indigenous societies. In the context of the tremendous influence that the biblical documents have had on the world in the last 2,000-3,000 years, the book also offers pointers towards reading these texts today. This volume is a fascinating study of this text, and will be of interest not only to biblical scholars, but to anyone with an interest in the history of the ancient Levant, and colonisation and colonialism in the ancient world more broadly.

In Ecclesiastes, the authorial voice of Qohelet presents an identity that has challenged readers for centuries. This book offers a reception history of the different ways readers have constructed Qohelet as an author. Previous reception histories of Ecclesiastes group readings into "premodern" and "critical," or separate Jewish from Christian readings. In deliberate contrast, this analysis arranges readings thematically according to the interpretive potential inherent in the text, a method of biblical reception history articulated by Brennan Breed. Doing so erases the artificial distinctions between so-called scholarly and confessional readings and highlights the fact that many modern academic readings of the authorship of Ecclesiastes travel in well-worn interpretive paths that long predate the rise of critical scholarship. Thus this book offers a reminder that, while critical biblical scholarship is an essential part of the interpretive task, academic readings are themselves indebted to the Bible's reception history and a part of it.

Can a book about suffering sparkle with warmth, humor, and encouragement? Yes, it can-and Ray Stedman's Let God Be God is that book. So turn the page and prepare to be instructed, inspired, and comforted by the life-changing truths of one of the oldest and greatest stories in human history-the story of Job.

This book is designed to serve as a textbook for intermediate Hebrew students and above. Sung Jin Park presents the fundamental features of the Tiberian Hebrew accents, focusing on their divisions and exegetical roles. Providing innovative methods for diagramming biblical texts, the volume explores the two major rules (hierarchy and dichotomy) of disjunctive accents. Students will also attain biblical insights from the exegetical application of the biblical texts that Hebrew syntax alone does not provide. Park's volume shows how the new perspectives on Hebrew accents enhance our understanding of biblical texts.

The Bible tells us that David was a man after God's own heart, but what does that mean in practice? David, the Old Testament shepherd, king, and psalmist, offers an answer in the shape of his own incredible life. Poet, musician, courageous warrior, and national statesman, David distinguished himself as one of God's greatest men. He modeled invincible confidence in the face of impossible circumstances. He made decisions with wisdom and equity. And he wrote with transparent vulnerability and quiet trust. But how well do we really know David? In Great Lives: David, the first volume in Charles Swindoll's bestselling Great Lives series, Swindoll gives us a closer look at this incredible man who had his fair share of difficulties. Throughout his life, David was gripped by destructive passion, rocked by family chaos and personal tragedy, and motivated by political expediency. Like all of us, David was far from perfect, but Swindoll teaches us that David had the chance to become great when he placed himself at the Lord's disposal. As Swindoll guides us through David's remarkable life and legacy, he asks and answers key questions along the way, including: How did David become the national hero of God's chosen people? Why is he the one character in the Bible described as "a man after God's own heart?" How can modern believers become people after God's own heart? Join Swindoll as he teaches us that we can all endeavor to live a life marked by the humility, dependability, and integrity of David.

Beloved author Dale Ralph Davis looks at one of the most fascinating characters in the Bible, and the God who was faithful to him. The character of Jacob that we meet in chapters 25-35 of Genesis is a fascinating one. A kaleidoscopic blend of deviousness and doggedness, of trickery and tenacity, of folly and faith. As readers we can't help being drawn into his story. With his trademark wit and perceptive comments Dale Ralph Davis guides us through the story of this rogue and traces the evidence of grace, providence, blessing throughout his life. Taking us chapter by chapter through this fundamental section of scripture, Davis highlights not only the character of Jacob, but the character of the God who cared for him and faithfully kept his promises to him.

Biblical Foundations Award Finalist Have you ever wondered what the Old Testament-especially the Old Testament law-has to do with your Christian life? You are not alone. Some Christian leaders believe we should cast off the Old Testament now that we have the New. Carmen Joy Imes disagrees. In this warm, accessible volume, Imes takes readers back to Sinai, the ancient mountain where Israel met their God, and explains the meaning of events there. She argues that we've misunderstood the command about "taking the Lord's name in vain." Instead, Imes says that this command is about "bearing God's name," a theme that continues throughout the rest of Scripture. Readers will revisit the story of Israel as they trudge through the wilderness from a grueling past to a promising future. The story of Israel turns out to be our story too, and you'll discover why Sinai still matters as you follow Jesus today.

Abraham is known as the "father of Israel" because God appeared to him and promised that his descendants would become a great nation. Yet Abraham is much more than the patriarch of a select group of ancient people. Through Abraham's descendants, God's own Son, Jesus, was born. It's through Abraham that God blessed all people. In this study, pastor John MacArthur will guide you through an in-depth look at the historical period beginning with Abraham's call from God, continuing through his relocation in the land of Canaan, and concluding with the story of his grandsons Jacob and Esau. This study includes close-up examinations of Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac, as well as careful considerations of doctrinal themes such as "Covenant and Obedience" and "Wrestling with God." -ABOUT THE SERIES- The MacArthur Bible Study series is designed to help you study the Word of God with guidance from widely respected pastor and author John MacArthur. Each guide provides intriguing examinations of the whole of Scripture by examining its parts and incorporates: Extensive, but straight-forward commentary on the text. Detailed observations on overriding themes, timelines, history, and context. Word and phrase studies to help you unlock the broader meaning and apply it to your life. Probing, interactive questions with plenty of space to write down your response and thoughts.

Reading the Poetry of First Isaiah provides a literary and historical study of the prophetic poetry of First Isaiah, an underappreciated but highly sophisticated collection of poems in the Hebrew Bible. Informed by recent developments in biblical studies and broader trends in the study of poetry, Dr J. Blake Couey articulates a fresh account of Biblical Hebrew poetry and argues that careful attention to poetic style is crucial for the interpretation of these texts. Discussing lineation, he explains that lines serve important rhetorical functions in First Isaiah, but the absence of lineated manuscripts from antiquity makes it necessary to defend proposed line divisions using criteria such as parallelism, rhythm, and syntax. He examines poetic structure, and highlights that parallelism and enjambment create a sense of progression between individual lines, which are tightly joined to form couplets, triplets, quatrains, and occasionally even longer groups. Later, Dr Couey treats imagery and metaphor in First Isaiah. A striking variety of images-most notably agricultural and animal imagery-appear in diverse contexts in these poems, often with rich figurative significance.