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Introduction: The Context of Joseph’s Story The story of Joseph (Genesis 37, 39-50) is one of the longest sustained narratives in the Old Testament, and is the longest in the Book of Genesis. This week’s (...)

On the last Sunday in Advent, we end where we began: with lament. Psalm 80 offers a profound description of suffering, particularly the suffering of God’s apparent absence. This Psalm expresses our longing for God’s (...)

The good news of Psalm 46 is essentially the same as that of last week’s psalm (see Psalm 91:9-16, Twenty first Sunday after Pentecost) — that is, God is “with us.” This message is reinforced (...)

Hebrews 7:23-28 occurs in the middle of a larger argument about Jesus being a heavenly high priest. This is one of the central ideas of Hebrews, and it is a unique contribution in the New (...)

Although it is not entirely unique in the Psalter, the most striking thing about Psalm 91 is that it ends with a divine speech in verses 14-16. Usually when God speaks in the Psalms, it (...)

Psalm 116 is a song of thanksgiving of an individual, a poem written after a difficult time of life has been endured, survived, or overcome. It may seem strange, at times, to recite an individual’s (...)

Leadership is a buzzword in many disciplines these days: business, law, medicine, education, politics, and congregational life. The study of leadership has become a sub-discipline in many academic and professional fields, and in the past (...)

The story of David slaying Goliath, violent though it is, has been used for generations to open the imagination of children to the LORD’s power. At the heart of the story is the dramatic moment (...)

Psalm 130, best known by its Latin incipit De Profundis, “Out of the Depths,” has inspired church musicians for centuries, usually in the context of a Requiem Mass. One need only mention Johan Sebastian Bach’s (...)

Psalm 116 is a prayer of thanksgiving. Like other psalms of this type (see Psalm 30; 32; 34), Psalm 116 begins by saying that God has rescued the psalmist from trouble (verses 1-2). Then the (...)