Notes on Daniel

The book of Daniel is the last and, next to Lamentations, the shortest of the major prophets’ books.  It is also, to my mind, the most distinctive.   It does not focus on warning of destruction to Israel or lamenting it, as the other major prophets do.  It contains instead a narrative of six more … [Read more…]

Notes on Psalms

This is a book of prayers, and it is fitting that it should be literally in center of the Bible and is one of its longest books (with its longest (119) as well as its shortest (117) “chapter”), since what is more important to a believer than prayer, and what can be more valuable to … [Read more…]

Notes and Lessons from Lamentations

Lamentations is a book of five poems, each a chapter and the first four of which are acrostics (a typical form of poetry in Hebrew — see also Psalms 37, 119, and 145, and Proverbs 31:10-31).  The author is Jeremiah:  Having unsuccessfully warned his people in the book of Jeremiah to turn back to God … [Read more…]