Delilah and the timnite woman

Previously, I have written on the problematic character of Samson. Yes, he’s a bombastic, excessively violent, and bratty character who I love to hate. But let’s not forget the women in his story. His wife, a nameless woman from the Philistine city Timnah, and his girlfriend Delilah are widely considered despicable villains, but in reality, […]

A Faithful, Wise, and Imperfect Servant

Bumper stickers, t-shirts, posters, and memes will all tell us “Jesus is coming – look busy!” These facetious art pieces, despite their humorous and flippant tones, highlight a deep-seated anxiety in today’s America. We are afraid to be perceived as not-good-enough. If we are not always busy doing good work, then we are wasting our […]

The Closeted God

Throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is constantly asking people not to tell others about him. From chapter 1 in which he drove out demons and “would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was,” (Mark 1:34) and throughout his ministry, Jesus warns those heals and who witnesses the miracles he performs […]

Jonathan and Brock Turner

But the men said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die – he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God’s help.” So the men rescued Jonathan, and he was not […]

Eve’s Punishment

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” – Genesis 3:16 For most of Christian history, Eve has been painted as a villain. Thomas Aquinas said that women lacked […]

Why Work for Justice?

“I say it kindly but none the less dogmatically, but it is one of the inanities of the human intellect and a foible and fable of man’s imagination that any method contrary to God’s method will succeed.” – J. Vernon McGee J. Vernon McGee, a plain-folk preacher in California in the mid-2oth century, was a […]

King of the Trees

“It is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” – Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe When Abimelek son of […]

Magi

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” … After they had heard the king, […]

The Shunammite Woman

Hidden within the politics and violence of 1st and 2nd Kings stands a bold, shrewd, and unnamed woman. Assertiveness In chapter 4, she is described as a “well-to-do woman,” and she used her resources to host the prophet Elisha any time he was in Shunem (v. 8). Eventually, she wanted to make a guest room […]

Michal and Paltiel

We all know about that time David stole Bathsheeba from her husband Uriah and had Uriah killed so that he wouldn’t find out about the unexpected pregnancy. This incident is largely seen as a small blip on the otherwise clear radar of the “man after God’s own heart.” Interpreting this story this way is problematic […]