What does the bible mean when it says the Israelites were “casting lots”? Is it like throwing dice, flipping a coin, or maybe like a “magic” eight-ball?
Continue readingCategory Archives: Connecting Old and New Testament
Lessons from the Old Testament revealed in the New Testament.
Ham’s Sin Against Noah
When most people encounter the story of Noah and Ham they usually have one view of what happened. Ham looked at Noah naked and mocked or made fun of him in some way, and Noah got angry and cursed his son, Canaan. However, the Hebrew text used phrases that are consistently used elsewhere in scripture as euphemisms for something more nefarious. This leads to other possible interpretations that reveal why the punishment for Canaan was so harsh.
Continue readingThe Exodus within Jericho
When reading the bible one may find interesting repeating patterns, as if God is being extra creative to sign his name on his handy work throughout history. In Joshua 2, I noticed a similarity to the Passover story with Rahab of Jericho.
Continue readingOld Covenant Promises in The New
Was Jesus poor, sick, or vulnerable? Are God’s people supposed to be poor, sick, and vulnerable? All of those are blessings in Deuteronomy chapters 7, and 28 are God’s promises to his people of good health, victory against enemies, protection from disaster, and multiples on top of multiples of livestock, crops, and children.
Continue readingDavid Eating Sacred Loaves
In Mark 2:26-28, (as well as Matt 12:1-8 & Luke 6:1-5) Jesus and his disciples are accused of harvesting on the Sabbath. However, all they did was break off a few grains to eat. This was actually allowed under the law and didn’t count as a harvest because it didn’t involve a “basket or sickle”, so it wouldn’t have been a problem on the sabbath because they weren’t actually harvesting, they were just eating. Harvesting from your neighbor without permission would be stealing, but eating handfuls is allowed. Deuteronomy 23:24-25 says “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, but you must not carry any away in a basket. 25 And when you enter your neighbor’s field of grain, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but you must not harvest it with a sickle.”
Continue readingKing Solomon’s Failure
King Solomon broke all of the restrictions on monarchs in Deuteronomy 17:16-17. The Kings of Israel were not supposed to buy horses from Egypt, accumulate a bunch of wives (especially pagan Gentile women), or accumulate vast amounts of personal wealth for themselves.
Continue readingThe Source of David’s Courage
Most people are familiar with the story of David and Goliath. When David went to face Goliath he was very confident that Goliath would be defeated, however, we must notice that he wasn’t confident in his ability to beat Goliath but rather God’s ability to do so.
Continue readingEvangelism in the Conquest of Jericho
Joshua chapter 2 presents itself as an interesting metaphor for the current covenant that believers in Christ are in. The Israelites are sent to conquer Canaan since it was the promised land. They were there to exile and wipe out the corrupt Canaanite culture and live there as a culture that represents God. This was how the old covenant started, but now we are in the New Covenant. In the new covenant, Earth functions as a spiritual Canaan, and the kingdom of God is like a spiritual Israel that will come and conquer this world when Jesus returns.
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