PHall | September 11, 2019
The Sunday after 9-11, I remember very well. I laid on the floor in my office during Bible class with my back causing major issues. I needed help getting dressed that day I was in so much pain. I prayed and prayed that I would be able to preach because I felt a deep need […]
Category: Habakkuk |
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PHall | August 23, 2019
You know the story. God’s son is born into an oppressive world, including the king trying to kill him. There is a famous scene between the murderous king and wise men. These wise men showed their fealty to their king. They did this by using gifts they had, that others did not. You remember what […]
Category: Matthew, Exodus |
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PHall | August 19, 2019
The Egyptian Pharaoh’s famously wore the Egyptian cobra (asp, serpent, or snake), used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt. Israel had become what mankind was commanded Genesis 1 – many. The new snake is afraid. And here is another echo. They Hebrew is different, but they are synonyms. […]
Category: Genesis, Exodus |
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PHall | August 18, 2019
Ever notice how Genesis ends as a reversal for how it begins? Adam and Eve are “home” and then forced to leave when death starts to come. Jacob/Israel is away from “home” (in Egypt), death comes, and is carried away back to home in Canaan. This is more than just a cool literary bookend. Herein […]
Category: Philippians, Bible, Genesis |
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PHall | August 16, 2019
Ever notice how Genesis ends as a reversal for how it begins? Adam and Eve are “home” and then forced to leave when death starts to come. Jacob/Israel is away from “home” (in Egypt), death comes, and is carried away back to home in Canaan. This is more than just a cool literary bookend. Herein […]
Category: Genesis |
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Tags: Bookends, Gospel
PHall | August 13, 2019
There was no food in Egypt due to a 7 year famine. Joseph through divine providence had stored up food for 7 years. Food meant life. The Egyptians, and other nations, came to Joseph to buy food. He was the only source. Then their money ran out. Next they sold their livestock. Then their livestock […]
Category: Genesis |
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Tags: Gospel
PHall | August 2, 2019
Often, I have been “bothered” or maybe a better word is “confused”, at how often the Bible is so unnecessarily repetitive within the same scene. I think I am discovering why. Check this out: Genesis 31:1-9 A – 1) Now Jacob heard what Laban’s sons were saying: “Jacob has taken all that was our father’s […]
Category: Genesis |
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Tags: Chiasm
PHall | August 2, 2019
When an apple tree bears apples that are not yet ripe for picking, are they still apples? There is a biblical term for children called “fruit of the womb” sometimes translated as “children” (Genesis 30:2). If unripe apples are still apples, why wouldn’t “unripe” fruit of the womb still be children?
Category: Genesis |
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Tags: Abortion
PHall | August 2, 2019
Is this significant or nothing: When reading Genesis 1, I noticed how the word seed was used repeatedly, even when unnecessary. Such an example of the latter is, “I have given you every seed-bearing plant…and every tree whose fruit contains seed” to eat. Why not just say plants and fruit? Would the significance be the […]
Category: Genesis |
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PHall | August 2, 2019
Abraham is admired and exalted as a man of faith, and rightfully so (Romans 4). But…I just noticed (or had forgotten) that although Abraham faithfully went to a land not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11) he did go empty handed! He took “all the possessions” and “all the people they had acquired” (Genesis […]
Category: Genesis |
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