Dear Members of the Jerusalem Perspective Neighborhood,
It is with great sadness that I must share with our readers that Jerusalem Perspective’s founder, David Bivin, died this week on the 14th of July. For the last few years of his life David had been struggling with Parkinson’s disease, and for the last several months of his life David had been extremely weak, rendering him incapable of communicating with JP’s readers or anyone else outside his closest circle of caregivers, family members, and friends. When he died David was surrounded by loved ones. He was buried today at a cemetery on Emek Rafaim Street in the German Colony of Jerusalem. Our hearts go out to his family and to all those who knew him and derived benefit from his scholarship.
The course of David’s life was shaped by the teachings of Jesus. Thirst for understanding the meaning of Jesus’ words motivated David to go to Israel to study. Desire to dig deeper drove David to study biblical languages. Hunger for Jesus’ message compelled David to delve into the origins of the Gospels.
Not only did David desire to learn, he also enthusiastically shared his learning with others. He taught students to read and speak Hebrew. He gave lectures and seminars on how ancient Jewish literature sheds light on the words Jesus spoke. And David founded and published Jerusalem Perspective, which began as a four-page newsletter and evolved into a vibrant website with hundreds of articles, to explain to readers the first-century contexts of Jesus’ life and teachings.
And even more to his credit, David not only studied and taught about the words of Jesus, he put Jesus’ teachings into practice. David was warm and hospitable, he was generous and honest, he was trustworthy and merciful. He was a friend to those in need and a neighbor to strangers he’d only just met. I can personally attest to all of these qualities, since David chose to befriend me while I was just a student at the Hebrew University, and several years later when I was in need he took me on board to work with him on his Life of Yeshua project, an invitation that changed the course of my life.
The life David led in pursuit of Jesus’ words was not without cost. Much like the disciples, he left his home and family in Oklahoma to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, where he lived nearly all his adult life. Even in Israel his studies took him away from family as he burned the midnight oil studying the Greek texts of the Gospels and attempting to reconstruct the Hebrew sources that stood behind Jesus’ words. This pursuit was not a lucrative one. While the Lord met his daily needs through the generous support of numerous donors, he was never wealthy or extravagant in his lifestyle. Yet the sacrifices David made for the sake of the Gospel were, I think, insignificant in his eyes compared to the inestimable treasure of receiving and sharing the Kingdom of Heaven.
Death has now done the worst it can do to David. The time of suffering from his illness is over, and we can confidently await the day of resurrection when the Son of Man will acknowledge David, his good and faithful servant, who did so much to bring knowledge and understanding of Jesus’ life and teachings to women and men all around the world.
In the days and weeks ahead we will look for ways to honor David and to pay tribute to his life’s work and legacy. For the time being, we will take some time to mourn and to be comforted by the knowledge that David is now safe in his Master’s hands.
בָּרוּךְ דַּיָן הָאֱמֶת (bā·RŪCH da·YĀN hā·’e·MET, “Blessed be the true and faithful judge”).
Joshua N. Tilton, editor
Jerusalem Perspective
