News media at this time of year often have stories of extravagant gifts given by the ultra-rich to their families or friends. Although some of these gifts – the cars, jewelry, and other items – may seem incredibly expensive to most of us, they often are small compared to history’s greatest gifts. To mention only two examples, the famous Taj Mahal monument in India was a gift from a Mughal Emperor for his wife that in today’s value would be worth almost one billion dollars. In 1778 America signed a treaty of alliance with France and in return was given a gift of supplies and money to help in the Revolutionary War. In today’s value, the French gift was worth about $20 billion.
But even incredibly large gifts such as these are dwarfed by the gift the prophet Isaiah foretold:
“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” ( Isaiah 9:6).
Notice that this was not just to be a child who would be born, but one who would specifically be given by God. This, of course, refers to the messiah Jesus Christ who the apostle John tells us was born because “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
We are all familiar with John’s words – a scripture that could well be called the “gift message” that comes with the greatest gift ever made – but we may not be as familiar with some of the other things the New Testament tells us about God’s gift. Consider what the following scriptures show us:
Magnitude of the gift
“To them that received Him as Savior, to them gave He the power to become the children of God” (John 1:12).
Undeserved nature of the gift
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23); “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
Certainty of the gift
“for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29); “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).
Result of the gift
“Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin … For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:16–17).
These are certainly things we can ponder at this time of year and whenever we hear of extravagant gifts. No matter how massive some human gifts may be, God’s gift to us goes beyond the combination of all other gifts ever given. And while we may measure even the largest human gifts in monetary or other physical ways, we should remember the truth behind the apostle Paul’s words when he wrote: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).
Archaeology is something most people think of as either Indiana Jones-like adventuring for strange artifacts in exotic settings, or as the realm of technicians using state-of-the-art equipment to almost magically analyze or date artifacts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Shroud of Turin in scientific laboratories.
The reality, of course, is usually at neither of those extremes, and many people would be surprised to learn how archaeologists must often cope with very limited data or techniques that are far from perfect. An example is carbon-14 dating which most people presume can be applied to anything made from organic material to find its age. The reality here is that carbon-14 dating is actually hampered by the fact that for the period of approximately 800-400 BC it is affected by a calibration issue (called the Hallstatt plateau) which means that material from that period cannot be dated with any certainty.
This problem is particularly significant for biblical studies, as the period 800-400 BC is a vitally important one in Near Eastern history – a period in which many important biblical events such as the destruction of Jerusalem and other Judean cities occurred. But now the application of another dating method – that of archaeomagnetism – shows great promise for biblical archaeology in general and this period of biblical history in particular. The method works on things such as pottery sherds, bricks, roof tiles and ovens (which are found on most archaeological habitation sites) that record the Earth’s magnetic field as they are burned at high temperatures. Because the direction of earth’s magnetic field has changed over history – and the dates of the changing directions can be calculated – we can look at the magnetic field “fixed” in a burnt object and tell when it was burned. This is particularly useful in situations where biblical cities were affected by Aramean, Assyrian, and Babylonian military campaigns that left behind destruction layers.
The archaeomagnetic dating technique has actually been used by archaeologists for several decades, but is only now being used with success on archaeological sites of biblical significance. Recently, archaeologists working in Israel reconstructed the magnetic field recorded in twenty burnt destruction layers at seventeen archaeological sites. The study included the analysis of over a thousand specimens from some 144 samples, and the recovered data meshes well with what historical anchors we have for the time period.
As the Times of Israel reported: “The method utilizes excavation layers that have already been reliably dated to create baseline anchors for the archaeomagnetic data, which can then be applied to other sites that until now had been impossible to confidently date. The more anchors are created, the researchers say, the more finely calibrated the dating method will become” (25 October 2022).
This means that archaeologists working on biblically significant sites will now be able to date objects and whole archaeological layers that were previously difficult or impossible to date with accuracy – especially in the problematic period of 800-400 BC. So archaeomagnetic dating is now being used as a complementary dating tool that promises to further improve our understanding of the archaeology of biblical times – and ultimately, of the Bible itself.
We are all so familiar with the twenty-third psalm, “The Lord is my shepherd …”, that we do not tend to see the rest of the story – that the shepherd motif is only half of what this beautiful psalm is telling us. David begins the psalm “The Lord is my shepherd” and continues in verses 1-4 by developing the metaphor through the analogy of God’s looking after and providing for the needs of his followers – as a shepherd would his flock.
Those who know animals, as David did, realize that sheep are almost entirely dependent on their shepherd not only to find water and pasture for them, but also to protect them. The clear theme of the first half of the psalm, then, is that God protects his people and provides their basic needs. But the second half of the psalm, beginning in verse 5, changes the metaphor to show how much further God goes beyond this basic care for those with whom he has a closer relationship:
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
God is no longer shown as the Good Shepherd in this second half of the psalm. Nothing that is said here applies to shepherds or shepherding. Rather, in this second half of Psalm 23 the metaphor used is that of God as the divine host of a great banquet, and we see the significance of this in every detail of the latter part of the psalm.
Here, “you prepare a table before me” is synonymous with preparing a “feast” – the blessings of the divine Host being symbolized by the good things of a banquet. Even “In the presence of mine enemies” is relative to a festive meal, as ancient kings would often celebrate their victories with banquets at which captured enemies would be placed on view. In the same way, “You anoint my head with oil” is not an allusion to the anointing of kings or religious leaders to office – which always uses a different word – but to the custom of anointing the head of those attending banquets (see, for example, Psalms 45:7; Amos 6:6; and Luke 7:46).
Although in verse 6 most older Bibles say something like “your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life”, many modern versions (such as the CSB, LSV, NET, etc. ) translate this more accurately as “your goodness and love will pursue me …”, and the small difference is important. God’s blessings do not so much follow – as though unable to quite catch up with us – but actively pursue us like a king actively sending servants to invite people to a great banquet (Luke 14:15-24).
The closing words of psalm 23 “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” have been used of the afterlife in countless memorial services, but their original meaning may have been somewhat different. The Hebrew Scriptures actually never use the term “house of the Lord” for God’s heavenly dwelling, only for the earthly temple. In fact, the term “forever” that closes this psalm is literally “for length of days” – and connotes an extended time. The verse signifies that David looked forward to “dwelling in” or “returning to” the house of the Lord many times – a statement found in other psalms such as Psalm 27:4.
Although the concept of the afterlife is clearly seen in other psalms, Psalm 23 focuses, in fact, on God’s care for his people expressed symbolically as the care of a shepherd and a host, and the two are different. While the shepherd cares for all his sheep and provides for their needs, the host metaphor narrows this group by implying the added blessings God bestows on those he invites to his banquet.
For example, in verse 5, “my cup overflows” not only conveys the richness of the banquet the divine Host provides, but is in strong contrast to the statement “I have what I need” (CSB and other newer translations) in the first part of the psalm. While the opening of Psalm 23 celebrates God’s care and provision for all his people, the second part of the psalm gives the rest of the story – the greater blessings and fellowship of those who walk more closely with God.
Matthew sat alone in his cell staring at the letter. Imprisoned in a country not friendly to Christianity, Matthew (not his real name) was kept in relative isolation, and the only contact he had with the outside world was in the form of occasional heavily censored letters he was allowed to receive from his family. The letters had any words of encouragement – especially scripture quotations – completely covered over by the heavy black markers of the government prison censors.
In the long months Matthew had been imprisoned he had come to deeply resent those patches of blackness that cut him off from the love of his family. Until today. Now, Matthew looked at the patches of black obscuring much of the latest letter he had received and smiled. Matthew was a happier man.
The truth of the situation had dawned on Matthew like a personal revelation. He had come to see that the black marks and patches on his letters did not obscure his family’s love for him – they highlighted it. He saw that every obscuring black mark was not a denial of the love felt for him, but proof of it. Sometimes he could guess that there was a scripture behind the blackness from quote marks not obscured at the beginning or end of the marking. If the censors blacked out words individually he could guess from a short word blacked out after the quote marks that it was probably the reference to a quoted verse in Psalms, which his family knew was his favorite book of the Bible. Very occasionally, if he held the letter up to what light he had, he could make out faint traces of what was written and have some idea of what was being said to him.
As time progressed, Matthew came to resent the black marks less and less. Sometimes he would take out a letter and just look at the marks, because he knew that behind them was the love of his family, and understanding what lay behind the black marks – even though he could not see through them – sustained Matthew until he was eventually released.
Sometimes, when we go through the trials of life, it’s hard to see God’s love for us. We may even come to resent the black marks and clouds of life: the illnesses, job losses, persecutions, or whatever seems to obscure God’s love and concern for us. But if we learn to view them as we should, we can come to see behind the black patches in our lives. On occasion we may be able to make out the writing of loving correction in things that go wrong (Hebrews 12:6), but this is not always the case and often, like Job, we may see that we are being given an opportunity to learn or grow. But, again like Job, we don’t always see God for the storm – until we realize we are being taught something and we hear the voice of God speaking through the dark clouds (Job 38:1) or through the dark patches that seem to come between us and him.
In fact, if we come to see the black patches of life as we should, we realize that once we have committed ourselves to God, we can know that his love is always behind them even if we do not see it clearly (1 Corinthians 13:12). We can remember that every dark patch of life, although it might seem to obscure God’s love, in reality is being used to teach, guide, and form us or to help others in some way. We come to realize that the black patches of life do not deny Gods’ love for us; they actually affirm that it is there.
There is a very cynical saying that you can get through life with just two things – a good memory and a good lawyer. The fallacy of that saying is evident in every life made miserable by divorce, lost friendship and broken business arrangements – to name only three examples – where both a good memory and a good lawyer were involved.
The truth is, although there is a place for right legal counsel and representation, it doesn’t always work – and a “legal” opinion can sometimes hurt you. This applies on the personal psychological level, also. Everyone grows up with what we might call an “inner lawyer” – and it’s a defense attorney. We all have such a lawyer – an unscrupulous one – deep within ourselves, no matter how good our overall intentions may be. You may not remember hiring the lawyer within you, but that “lawyer” is certainly there and is always on call at a moment’s notice.
Remember the last time you made a dumb mistake and when you were challenged by someone about it, you had an almost instant answer or excuse? That was your inner lawyer talking. Remember the last time you debated whether you should do something that wasn’t really right, but you came up with some pretty good reasons why you should do it anyway? That may well have been counsel from your inner lawyer.
Our human nature just naturally learns to defend itself in some of the ways a lawyer might defend us. Human nature will tell itself it’s not to blame for something, or even blame a situation on others. It will tell us that a thought, word or deed is not that bad – especially if it is OK in the letter of the law – because no one can keep the law perfectly, right? (You may have noticed that inner lawyers can quote scripture.) But just as the Gospel of Luke tells us: “… the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves …” (Luke 7:30 ESV), although our inner lawyer’s arguments may sound good, they really are at odds with what God is trying to accomplish in and for us.
Unfortunately, as a result, we will never grow spiritually or find real transformation as a Christian as long as we retain that inner lawyer. Psychologists may call what we are talking about “self-justification,” but it helps to think of the process as an inner lawyer because this makes it easier to spot the manner in which it works. Whenever possible we need to take time to think before we let that inner lawyer speak – and what’s more, when the inner lawyer does start to wrongfully justify us, we need to be willing to fire him or her on the spot. It’s a kind of representation we really don’t need and are better off without. This is easier said than done, because we can fire the inner lawyer today and still have him or her show up again tomorrow – or even later today. It may take time to make this a habit, but if we want to really make progress in our Christian lives, to paraphrase Shakespeare, perhaps the first thing we need to do is fire all our inner lawyers.
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