In your video on numerology, you said that we should pay attention to the presence of very specific numbers in surprising places. One possible example I’d like for you to discuss is the five smooth stones of 1 Samuel 17:40. Why be so specific about FIVE stones, when he only ended up using one? And is there any point to the other peculiarly specific details here?
Category: Questions and Answers
Numerology
Can you present some guidelines for a responsible handling of Biblical numerology? Many numerologists go way overboard, and many sober-minded theologians reject its use wholesale. Can you inject some moderation into this?
Theopolis Podcast: Q&A with Peter Leithart, Alastair Roberts, & David Field (Laughter, Temple, Preaching)
The Theopolis podcast recently started a Curious Cat account, where listeners can leave their questions. This week, Peter Leithart and I were joined by Dr David Field, to answer a selection of the questions we had received.
You can follow the Theopolis podcast on Soundcloud, iTunes, and on most podcast apps. You can read show notes over on the Theopolis podcast website. You can also see past episodes I have contributed to by clicking the ‘Theopolis Podcast’ link in the bar above. If you would like to leave a question for us to answer, please do so on our Curious Cat page.
Seventy Times Seven
Do you know if there is any connection between the “seventy and sevenfold” of Genesis 4:24 and Jesus’s “seventy times seven” in Matt 18:22?
Transcript of A Biblical Theology of the Household
One of my supporters has very kindly transcribed this video, on a biblical theology of the household. I don’t have time to transcribe my videos myself, so anyone willing to volunteer to transcribe one video every week or fortnight would be greatly appreciated! The transcript is very lightly edited at a few points for the purpose of comprehension.
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Why is the Apostle Peter Called Simon Bar-Jonah?
I found it odd that Jesus would address Peter as “Simon bar-Jonah” after his declaration of Jesus as the Christ (Matthew 16:17) — not because it’s uncommon for men to be referred to as “the son of” someone in the biblical text, but because the occurrence takes place so soon (in the text) after Jesus’ declaration that the only sign that the “wicked and adulterous generation” would receive was “the sign of [what I assume to be the prophet] Jonah” (16:4). Do you see anything beyond the coincidental double appearance of the name Jonah here?
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The Test of Jealousy
How should we interpret the water of bitterness in the ordeal for adultery in Numbers chapter 5? Is this some sort of a miracle on demand? If not, how much of an idea can we get regarding what’s going on?
Why Doesn’t Eleazar Die in the Wilderness?
What does the entrance of Aaron’s son Eleazar into the promised land say about the curse upon the generation which rebelled at the edge of the promised land? We see him in Numbers 3, Numbers 4 (apparently as an adult), Numbers 16, in Numbers 19, and we see him taking over Aaron’s office in Numbers 20. Unless another Eleazar is meant, he doesn’t die until Joshua chapter 24. Based on the curse in Numbers 14 “your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward” are we to conclude that Numbers had described Eleazar as assisting with priestly service at some age younger than twenty, or is this an indication that the curse isn’t to be taken literally, and that some men from that generation other than Joshua and Caleb survived?
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Levirate Marriage
What were the purposes of levirate marriage? I can see that it would help to provide for widows, but its described purposes appear to go beyond that. In our culture, if a brother dies, he and his brother already share a name and his nieces and nephews by a brother will carry on the family name. My understanding is that the Israelites did not have family names in the same manner as modern English-speaking cultures. What was different about Israelite culture that causes the first child born of a levirate marriage being described in Deuteronomy 25 as assuming the name of the dead brother (and what does such a taking of the brother’s name mean, in cultural context)? Also, does levirate marriage imply polygamy because of how, with regard to the levirate marriage, it apparently contains an increased risk that the surviving brother will not have a child from that marriage to succeed him (if, for instance, he only has one son by that wife)?
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Image of God
In your video “Created in the Image of the Angels” you say that humans were supposed to grow into the Image of God, but don’t discuss how this relates to the verse you referenced in passing earlier in the video: “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—” Can you expand on the meaning of this verse in the context of the passage (did the serpent speak part of the truth earlier in the passage, or is this just a verbal play on what the serpent had said?) and in the context of what you believe the Bible teaches about redeemed humanity and the image of God. (I realize I could have asked via a comment to the video, but this is an issue a wide range of Bible readers, with different levels of familiarity with the scriptures, find perplexing, and a video might be helpful.)
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Adversaria Videos and Podcasts 