Fun Stuff

Hilarious baby video

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As some of you heard, Natalie bled a lot more Saturday evening, so we had to take her back down to ER. The doctor did a D&C around 11 pm to clean out her uterus and stop the bleeding. Amazingly, she was discharged about an hour later and we got a good night’s sleep. Natalie is feeling much better today.

We’ll be waiting and praying this week to see if this solves the problem for good. Natalie has an appointment scheduled for Friday. They think this should fix the problem, but if bleeding persists, she may need a hysterectomy. We certainly hope that won’t be necessary, but continue to trust in God. For the moment, all is quiet. Natalie’s mom drove down today to help out, which will be really nice the next few days.

After all the drama this weekend, we really appreciated this video. It provided some great comic relief. Enjoy!

Journal

Another hospital adventure

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Thanks for all who were praying for us yesterday. Natalie started having more heavy postpartum bleeding around 8 am yesterday. She continued to bleed throughout the morning, so she called the triage nurse at her doctor’s office and was advised to go to the hospital. By the time we got a babysitter, fed Abigail, drove down the hill, and arrived at ER, it was a little after 1 pm. By the time we got there, her bleeding had already slowed considerably.

It was a very busy day in the ER. The waiting room was packed, and the ER halls were lined with beds everywhere. One staff joked that beds were going to be all the way out to the front lobby! And at one point, we overheard that there were five trauma patients being treated, including a baby.

Natalie, Abigail, and I waited a few hours in the waiting room, then were moved into the ER hallway to wait a few more hours on a hospital bed. An early blood test showed her hemoglobin count was still OK. Around 6 pm, Natalie was taken back for an ultrasound. The radiologist said the results looked very similar to the pictures taken two weeks ago when we were at ER, though the mass in her uterus appeared even a little more engorged. Nurses seemed confident at first that she would need a D&C. The waiting game continued, and around 11 pm, the doctor finally came to visit and said there was nothing they would be doing that night.

The nurses and doctor seemed to lean toward the need for another D&C due to her enlarged uterus and this persistent mass of tissue, but the doctor also said it can sometimes resolve on its own over a period of weeks or months. Since her blood count was OK and bleeding had slowed down, there really wasn’t much they could do in ER. However, if she has another bleeding episode like yesterday, we are instructed to go back down to ER and start the whole process over again. Otherwise, we just need to call the doctor on Monday, set up an appointment, get examined, and possibly schedule a D&C. Not the resolution we had been hoping for. By the time we got our discharge papers and left the hospital, it was after 1 am. We walked out feeling like we had more questions than answers. The only thing we knew for sure is God is still sovereign!

Please pray for Natalie’s continued protection, and for Abigail’s immune system to be strong after being in ER for a whole day. In spite of all the setbacks and question marks, we still find many reasons to be thankful to the Lord: that Natalie’s bleeding subsided and blood count is OK; that Natalie was in very little pain other than some cramps that morning; that we were placed at the furthest hallway away from much of the ER commotion and germs; that Abigail did very well overall; that we had an excellent ultrasound technician with an attention to detail and a willingness to explain what was on the screen; that the mass in Natalie’s uterus has not grown significantly; that we had a little time to read and pray together throughout the day; that Lila came on short notice to watch Dylan and Heidi all day long; and that we had all of you praying!

Teaching, Theology

When weak becomes strong

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Two of the most common “adversative” or “negative” conjunctions in Greek are δέ (de), and ἀλλὰ (alla). δέ is the weaker of the two, and can be translated either “and” or “but” depending on the context. ἀλλὰ, on the other hand, is a stronger contrast. Of the 628 times it appears in the New Testament, only once is it translated “and,” and in this instance, it still carries an adversative idea (Mt. 18:30). The vast majority of the time, it is translated “but” or “yet.”

In the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus contrasts the external rules of the Jewish tradition with the internal laws of His Messianic kingdom, I naturally expected Jesus to choose the strong adversative ἀλλὰ. But this isn’t the case! In all six instances, He actually chooses the weaker conjunction δέ:

Matthew 5:22 But I tell you,     ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν
Matthew 5:28 But I tell you,     ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν
Matthew 5:32 But I tell you,     ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν
Matthew 5:34 But I tell you,     ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν
Matthew 5:39 But I tell you,     ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν
Matthew 5:44 But I tell you,     ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν

Why didn’t Jesus use the stronger ἀλλὰ to show the sharp contrast between the Jewish traditions and His own teaching? Perhaps it’s because contrast has already been supplied by the pronoun ἐγὼ, which is emphatic. Lit., He says, “But I Myself tell you.” Leon Morris writes,

“[Jesus] uses the emphatic ἐγώ. France comments, “This is not a new contribution to exegetical debate, but a definitive declaration of the will of God. It demands (and receives, 7:28–29) the response, ‘Who is this?’ Thus this passage contributes another aspect to the presentation of Jesus as the Messiah which is Matthew’s overriding purpose.”

I suspect that in this case, using the stronger adversative conjunction ἀλλὰ may have actually stolen emphasis away from the pronoun, where Jesus wanted all His shock and emphasis to land. So Jesus instead chose a weaker conjunction and put all the emphasis squarely on the pronoun ἐγὼ. He says, “It is I alone, and not the tradition of the elders, who will instruct you in God’s Law.”

A new authority had arrived in town. His name was Jesus, and He was singlehandedly overturning centuries of oral tradition with one sermon.

Teaching

Herod who??

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I must admit, I still get confused by all those Herods mentioned in the New Testament. To keep them straight, I find it helpful to read the biblical text with a genealogy of Herod’s family at my side (here’s one from the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible).

Well, so much for simplicity. Even this chart looks more like an engineering schematic than a family tree. To boil it all down, there are four key members of Herod’s family mentioned in the Gospels…

Herod the Great. This is the original Herod of them all. The very name sent shivers up the spine of ancient Jews. Son of Antipater, he was a cunning politician, ruthless dictator, and brilliant architect. He was responsible for constructing the temple mount in Jerusalem, fortress palaces at Herodium and Masada, and a harbor at Caesarea — all which continue to astound archaeologists and engineers today. In addition to killing several kin who threatened his throne, Herod murdered all the young boys in Bethlehem at the news that a baby king named Jesus had been born (Mt. 2:16). Herod died a short time later, splitting his kingdom between three sons.

Herod Philip – son of Herod the Great through his wife Cleopatra. Ruled over a vast area of NE Palestine until AD 34. The city of Caesarea Philippi up in the foothills gets its name from this man.

Herod Antipas – son of Herod the Great through his wife Malthace. Ruled over Galilee and Perea until AD 39. Antipas is the one who stole Herodias from another half-brother named Philip (Mt. 14:3) and was responsible for executing John the Baptist (Mt. 14:10). He’s also the Herod who appears during the Roman trial of Jesus (Lk. 23:7).

Archelaus – Another son of Herod the Great through his wife Malthace. A vicious and inept king who ruled for about a decade over Judea and Samaria, but was de-throned while Jesus was still a child (he is mentioned only in Mt. 2:22). By the time Jesus began His public ministry, this region had long been taken away from Herodian control and assigned to Roman procurators/governors.

There are even more descendants of Herod mentioned in the book of Acts, but I won’t take time to discuss them now. Here’s a map from the Holman Bible Atlas showing the political boundaries right after Herod the Great’s death. This is how Israel looked when Jesus’ family returned from Egypt and settled up in Nazareth.

Books, Teaching

Book review: Wycliffe Bible Commentary

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Someone recently asked me what I thought of the Wycliffe Bible Commentary. Overall, it’s a good conservative commentary.

Though relatively brief (the 1990 edition is only one volume), the WBC goes a step deeper than today’s Study Bibles like the MSB, ESV, and HCSB which have notes alongside the text. However, it’s certainly not as deep (or expensive) as a more scholarly multi-volume commentary. The WBC is rather dated (originally published in the early 60s) and fairly light on application, but could be a very good starter tool for Bible students and teachers.

Jim Rosscup, in his book Commentaries for Biblical Expositors, says, “Conservative and premillennial scholars here have been experts in their fields. The work contains brief introductions and attempts to give a verse-by-verse exposition, though it does skip over some verses. The treatments vary with the authors, but as a whole it is a fine one-volume commentary for pastors and students to use or give to a layman. Outstanding sections include, for example: Whitcomb on Ezra-Nehemiah-Ester; Culver on Daniel; Ladd on Acts; Harrison on Galatians; Johnson on 1 Corinthians; and Ryrie on Johannine Epistles.”

Below is a description from the book’s introduction:

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary is an entirely new commentary on the whole Bible written and edited by a number of scholars representing a wide cross section of American Protestant Christianity. Within the limits of its more than a million and one-quarter words, it attempts to treat the entire text of the Old and New Testaments on a phrase by phrase basis. In addition, summaries of the major sections of each Biblical book generally appear in the text in connection with the main headings in the outline. Thus, the reader is permitted an overview and a detailed discussion of a passage of Scripture at the same time.

In the commentaries on the various books the writers present the results of their own careful, personal Bible study. But also they have preserved some of the best work of the older commentators and have utilized the insights of contemporary scholarship. While they infuse the whole with a fresh spirit, at the same time they manifest their unflinching belief in the divine inspiration of Holy Scripture…

The basic aim of this volume is to determine the meaning of the text of Scripture. It is therefore, strictly speaking, neither a devotional nor a technical exegetical treatment. It seeks to present the Biblical message in such a way that the serious Bible student will find extensive help within its pages.

If you’re looking for a single-volume commentary on the Bible, then the Wycliffe Bible Commentary may be just for you.

Thoughts on Life and Leadership