The Fall (Genesis 3:1-24)
Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-16)
The story of Cain and Abel is the first following right after the events of the fall. The story of the fall is full of despair and fear of the uncertain future. Humanity lost everything: relationships (God and among themselves), home, and future. However, here a new story begins with a bright and...
Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:1-4:17)
Moses is a person who spoke with God face to face (Dt 34:10). On the first account, when God met Himself with Moses (Ex 3), God introduced Himself with the name: אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה "I am who I am". It was always difficult for translators to rightly translate this phrase. Key Hebrew word...
Passover (Exodus 12:1-51)
The celebration of Passover or Pesach in Exodus 12 is one of the most important parts of the whole Bible. It commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. In this text, the significant word form is the verb פָּסַח [pāsaḥ]. Its first occurrence is at Ex 12:13 (in the form of...
Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34)
The day of atonement represented the key event in the whole year for Israel. It was a time when holy sanctuary was cleased from sins. The sins of the people were transfered to a goat, who was expeled to the desert. In this manner all of Israel's sins were removed.
Priestly Blessing (Numeri 6:23-27)
The text of Numbers 6:23-27 is known as Priestly Blessing or Birkat Kohanim (coming from Hebrew ברכת כהנים). This liturgical text bears a strong expression of the idea of God in the Old Testament. The passage is a conclusion of a series of priestly legislation. The primary concern of the text is...
David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1-12:31)
This text narrates the story of King David's adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and the subsequent events leading to Uriah's death. After learning of Bathsheba's pregnancy, David attempts to cover up his sin by bringing Uriah back from battle to sleep with his wife. When this...
Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12)
Key word of eight beatitudes is word μακάριος (makarios) which could by simply translated as "happy". But in this case, the text has a much broader meaning in mind. Every beatitude is ended followed by reasoning why it is good to be so. And this reason assures that being such is not in vain....
Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 19:23-20:16)
Everyone is naturally content when other people treat him in a fair way. Unfortunately this view is not shared by everyone. One is quite used to that. But what in the case when God acts this way? Jesus is telling a parable about how things works in his kingdom (Mt 20:1). He tells it in context...