John’s Targumic Allusions

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Two other favorite words for “God” in the targum tradition are אִיקָר (ikar, “glory”; variant יְקָר ) and שְׁכִינָה (shechinah, “dwelling; presence; Shechinah”). … The Hebrew of Exodus 25:8, “And I will dwell among them,” is rendered by the same targum as “And I will put my Shechinah among them.”… For instance, John did not use a normal Greek word for “dwell.” Instead he picked a rare verb, σκηνόω (skenoo, “dwell “), which contains the Greek equivalent of the same consonants (s-k-n) as the Hebrew and Aramaic word for “presence, dwelling“—שְׁכִינָה (shechina, “Shechinah”).

On “Blood” in the Apostolic Decree (Acts 15:19-20)

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The second reference is to the offerings eaten by the Jewish people in Leviticus 7:26-27, “Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings whither of bird or beast. … “Therefore I said to the children of Israel, No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.” Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust, for it is the life of all flesh. … You shall therefore keep my statues and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled) lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

Hebrew Nuggets, Lesson 33: Gehenna

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The modern view of hell as the dwelling place of the devil where the demons torment the damned is a conglomeration of biblical and non-biblical ideas that were not part of the imagery associated with Gehenna. In rabbinic literature ge·hi·NOM is a fiery furnace where the wicked are burned up and obliterated at the final judgement. ge·hi·NOM is not the dwelling place of the devil, nor do demons inflict punishments there.

Feast of the Circumcision (New Year’s Day)

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This painting correctly depicts the circumcision of Jesus not in the Temple, but in the family’s private dwelling. … This painting correctly depicts the circumcision of Jesus not in the Temple, but in the family’s private dwelling.

The “Only Begotten” Son

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In the above sense we could say that Jesus is the only son of God, who is the exact image of God and in whom the full nature of God dwells, as it is written: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (

The Teaching of Balaam

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And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword: ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

The Surprise of Finding Anti-Semitism in the Heart of the Early Church Fathers

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The other disease which my tongue is called to cure is the most difficult… And what is the disease? The festivals of the pitiful and miserable Jews which are soon approaching.

— Saint John Chrysostom (349-407)

The worldwide Church, individually and corporately, needs to consider apologizing to the Jewish people as a result of anti-Semitic remarks by the Early Church Fathers as evidenced in the fourth century works of Saint John Chrysostom called Λόγοι Κατὰ Ἰουδαίων (Discourse Against the Jews).Joannis Chrysostomi, ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ, ΤΟΥ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΥ, ΤΑ ΕΥΡΙΣΚΟΜΕΝΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ (ed.

Remember Shiloh!

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Reading the larger context of Jeremiah 7:11, one encounters the following:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place…. … But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel…I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did in Shiloh.”

Treasures in Heaven

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The image above shows Jonah being swallowed by the great fish as illustrated in the Kennicott Bible of 1476. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. In the Gospel of Luke we find an interesting sequence of verses: .

The men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

A Body, Vultures and the Son of Man (Luke 17:37)

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It dwells among the rocks and there it lodges; its station is a crevice in the rock; from there it searches for food, keenly scanning the distance, that its brood may be gorged with blood; and where the slain are, there the vulture is.