Reflections and meditations about the Bible by Peter DeHaan, PhD.
Discover the Fitting Capstone of King David’s Life In the last recorded words of King David, we learn more about him and his relationship with God. David’s words may come across as bragging, but remember that God said David was a man after his own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22). Here’s what King […]
Lying to Achieve a Better Outcome May Backfire Mortally wounded in battle, King Saul commits suicide. A young man, an Amalekite, later happens upon the scene and concocts a plan that he’s sure will bring him a reward. His strategy, however, isn’t to tell the truth about what he saw. Instead he fabricates a story […]
Fear Causes Saul to Make a Bad Decision Though God chose Saul to be the first king over Israel, Saul has some character flaws that lead to his undoing. One time the Philistines come up against Saul and his army. Overwhelmed by the force opposing them, Saul’s men cower in fear. Impatience and Fear Samuel […]
The Son of Man Stands to Welcome Stephen Into Heaven Stephen stands before the Sanhedrin. His testimony becomes a sermon, which smartly recaps the story arc of the Old Testament, starting with father Abraham and spilling over into the New Testament, ending with a sacrificial death of Jesus. Though I would never suggest someone skip […]
Discover How One Person Can Make a Difference In the book of Ezekiel, God said he looked for one person who could make a difference. One person who could build up the wall and stand in the gap for his people. But God could find no one. What if he had found someone? Instead of […]
There are a number of sermons (teachings, messages, and proclamations) found in the book of Acts. While the definition of what constitutes a sermon and the precise number of them may be open for debate, I put the number at eleven. There are three from Peter, one from Stephen, and seven from Paul: In other […]
When We Don’t Get Credit for What We Do As a child someone told me that Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. This has stuck with me, and I still consider Paul as the book’s most likely author. But as I look for confirmation of this early lesson, I find little support. Though initially attributed […]
After prior discussions about adding to or taking away from the Bible, it gives one pause in considering footnotes in some translations, which effectively note that a certain phrase or verse is “not found in all manuscripts.” Consider the Lord’s Prayer. The end is one such example: “For yours is the kingdom and the power […]
The Runaway Slave The focus of Paul’s letter to Philemon is Onesimus, the runaway slave. Ironically, Onesimus means “useful.” After Onesimus flees, he encounters Jesus through Paul. Paul mentors the escaped slave and the two begin working together. However, it is not right for him to remain with Paul—even though what they are doing is […]
Another judge, who is prominently noted in the book of Judges is Jephthah. Jephthah, the son of a prostitute which doesn’t say much for his dad was exiled from his people. However, when they became oppressed by a foreign power, they turned to him, asking for his help. Eventually he agreed to their petition, doing […]