Dr. John Walton, Professor of Old Testament at Wheaton Graduate School, author of many books and articles relating to the background, literature, and theology of the Old Testament, has contributed several episodes to this podcast. In this conversation with David Capes he discusses a passage widely thought to be about the fall of Satan. Where did that tradition originate, and what does the context of Isaiah 14 tell us about the intended referent of the taunt?
“Exegetically Speaking” is a weekly podcast of the friends and faculty of Wheaton College, IL and The Lanier Theological Library. Hosted by Dr. David Capes, it features language experts who discuss the importance of learning the biblical languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—and show how reading the Bible in the original languages “pays off.” Each podcast lasts between seven and eleven minutes and covers a different topic for those who want to read the Bible for all it is worth.
Dr. Ingrid Faro is Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, IL, and also teaches at the Scandinavian School of Theology in Sweden. Among other things, she is the author of Evil in Genesis: A Contextual Analysis of Hebrew Lexemes for Evil in the Book of Genesis. She tells of how she learned modern Hebrew in Israel, separately experienced the deep pain of relational abuse and loss, and eventually studied both ancient Hebrew and Greek. From that learning, she draws out the aspects of meaning appreciated through a knowledge of the Hebrew wording of Isaiah 61:1-3, the passage Jesus applied to himself in Luke 4.
“Exegetically Speaking” is a weekly podcast of the friends and faculty of Wheaton College, IL and The Lanier Theological Library. Hosted by Dr. David Capes, it features language experts who discuss the importance of learning the biblical languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—and show how reading the Bible in the original languages “pays off.” Each podcast lasts between seven and eleven minutes and covers a different topic for those who want to read the Bible for all it is worth.
Dr. David Baer, an alum of Wheaton College, is Professor of Old Testament & Biblical Languages at Medellín’s Biblical Seminary of Colombia and directs United World Mission’s Theological Education Initiative. He joins David Capes on Exegetically Speaking to talk about how ancient translators of the Hebrew resisted the language of Isa 57:15 so as to preserve a strong notion of God’s exalted status. In fact, this verse communicates the truth that the high and holy God actually dwells with the lowly.
“Exegetically Speaking” is a weekly podcast of the friends and faculty of Wheaton College, IL and The Lanier Theological Library. Hosted by Dr. David Capes, it features language experts who discuss the importance of learning the biblical languages—Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek—and show how reading the Bible in the original languages “pays off.” Each podcast lasts between seven and eleven minutes and covers a different topic for those who want to read the Bible for all it is worth.
When Jesus heard that John the
baptizer had been imprisoned, he left the Jordan valley and went north toward
the district of Galilee (Matt 4.13). His baptism by John in the river had
been the turning point of his life. From here on everything would be
different. Jesus had lived a private life; now he would become a public
person. He had earned his living as a carpenter selling his goods in
Nazareth and likely Sepphoris, a larger, more affluent city a few miles away;
now he would become a preacher of the Kingdom of God, healing and making
disciples throughout Galilee, Judea, Samaria and the Decapolis. He had
grown up in Nazareth; now he would leave behind his hometown and settle in
Capernaum.
But why did Jesus go north to
Galilee? Why didn’t he head straight for Jerusalem, the city of
prophets? Well, the answer is simple. He was guided by
Scripture. Hundreds of years before Mary labored and gave birth to her
male child, the prophet Isaiah had foreseen a day when hope returned to the
land mortally wounded by invaders from the north. He prophesied:
Isaiah 9:1-2 (NASV) But
there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times
He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but
later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other
side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walk
in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light
will shine on them.
Jesus knew the Scriptures. He
understood that the renewal was to begin up north, in the ancestral lands of
Zebulun and Naphtali, districts known in his day as Galilee. That
was only right in the justice of God because it was these regions that fell
first to Assyrian and Babylonian aggression. The villages and towns first
to fall and walk in darkness were to be the first to have the light shine upon
them. Jesus was that light. Capernaum would become his city.
Rather than return to Nazareth, his hometown, the Gospels tell us that Jesus “moved” to Capernaum and made it the headquarters of his ministry. Capernaum was a village on the north-west corner of the Sea of Galilee. It was the home of two sets of brothers–Simon and Andrew, James and John. Fishing provided their families a living on the Sea of Galilee. The sea also provided plenty of fresh water for the people residing there. Population estimates during Jesus’ day for the village have conservatively been set between 1200-1700 inhabitants. Although most of Capernaum’s citizens were Jewish, there is evidence some non-Jews also made it their home. Still this is no thriving city. Unlike larger cities it had no wall to protect it, no aqueducts, no colonnaded streets, no administrative buildings and no theater. Its only significant public space was a synagogue that served as both a place of worship and a community center. Had Jesus not made Capernaum his base of operations, it is likely most would never have even heard of it.
A Word in Edgewise 
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