The Field's Musings

By Edmund Clowney In this lecture we will look at the structure of a sermon preached by Edmund called The Life of Joseph: From Pit to Palace the Lord’s Blessing through Testing based on Genesis 37. 1) God’s blessing on Joseph, the Lord was with Him Through the favour of the Father Through the dreams speaking of his future that God gave him God’s constant presence was with Joseph. This resulted in his success He was faithful in the service of all people. He was faithful to Potiphor’s officer. He was faithful to Pharaoh. Joseph gained favour in the eyes of Potiphor. Potiphor gave him authority over his state. God blessed Potiphor because Joseph was there. Wherever Joseph went blessing went. Potiphor’s wife took a liking to Joseph- this led to Joseph’s imprisonment. The officer in charge of the prison began to like Joseph. Joseph was given power to run the prison. Joseph interprets dreams successfully in the prison. There was constant success in everything he did. 2) Everything Joseph di...

By Edmund Clowney We must see scripture as a whole. When Christ met with His disciples leaving Jerusalem in Emmaus they were discouraged. Christ says that the disciples didn’t understand the whole of scripture. They didn’t understand that the concept of spiritual redemption came from the Jewish scriptures. Christ showed them that Old Testament is all about Him. The disciple’s hearts burned within them. In scripture we have one complete story with Christ being the completion of this story. We live in the time of climax. He said ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). The Lord in His own redeeming act initiated redemptive history The Exodus was a move of liberation on God’s part. The Israelites were delivered by the power of God. God didn’t only bring them out of Egypt; He brought the people into covenant relationship and the promised land of Canaan on eagle’s wings (Exodus 19:4). In Leviticus 26 God promises to walk among His people and be their God. He promises His presence through the construc...

Lectured Tim Keller In order to prepare a good sermon the preacher should be asking: What does this text tell me about the person and work of Jesus? In preaching the preacher should be asking the people: How am I failing to rejoice in and live as if this text is true about who Jesus is? The preacher should be showing that people are poor due to their lack of faith in Christ. The aim of every sermon is to experience Christ through the text. You need to get people to adore and enjoy Christ through the text. We shouldn’t preach principles or example to live up to but re-assure people that living a holy life is derived from faith in Christ. In a lecture the aim is to transfer information. In a sermon the aim is to be get the listener to worship on the spot. Three types of questions to evaluate a sermon: 1) Was it a sound sermon? Was Jesus the climax of the text? 2) Was it practical? Was Jesus presented as the solution to spiritual problems? 3) Was there a sense of God? Was Jesus made visib...

Structure 27-30 The Ratification of the Covenant 31-34 The Succession from Moses to Joshua The Ratification of the Covenant (27-30) 27:1-26 deals with the future ratification to happen in Canaan 28-30 deals with the current ratification at Moab Chapter 27 tells us that Israel is to have a covenant renewal ceremony after entering the land. Certain tribes line up on one side and the other tribes on the opposite side. In the middle the levitical priest attends the ark. The building of the alter for the sacrifice The law was to be written on stones The people remind themselves of the blessings and curses. The process is fulfilled in Joshua 8. Chapter 29 starts with a prologue reminding the people of their history. Then we see an emphasis on stipulations and careful obedience. (29:15 = this ratification is a model to come) If the people continue in sin they will be exiled. 30:1 there can be restoration after exile if the people repent. 30:11-19 = An exhortation to accept the terms of the co...

Introduction and Reminder Chapter 34 indicates that the book was written for the time after the death of Moses. 1:1-4 Preamble to the book 1:5-4 The Historical Prologue – God recites the blessings He had given them to call them to obedience In this lecture we are going to be looking at chapters 4:44-26:19 Structure of 4:44-26:19 1) Introduction (4:44-49) 2) General Stipulations (5-11:32) 3) Specific Stipulations (12-26:15) Conclusion (26:16-26:19) 1) and 2) Introduction and General Stipulations (4:44-11:32) Introduction (4:44) i) The Ten Commandments (5) ii) Loyalty to God (6) iii) Lessons from the Past (7-11) iv) The Call to renewal and commitment (11:26-32) i) The Ten Commandments There are differences between the two recordings of the 10 commandments Exodus 20:10-11 Hebrew word = ‘to remember’ Deuteronomy 5: 12 Hebrew word = ‘to keep’ Motivations for keeping the Sabbath: Exodus 20:10-11- Keep the Sabbath because it is a creation ordinance Duet 5:12-15 – Keep the Sabbath because you ...

We are looking at chapters one through four. 1:5-4:43 functions like a historical prologue. This acts as an ancient near-eastern treaty working to remind the people of all a King has done to cultivate respect, loyalty and obedience to that King. 1:5 = An introduction to a prologue. Before this we see a recital of the history of Israel. God has Moses recite what happened to the Israelites in order to call Israel to respond with loyalty. On the basis of His gracious benefits God expects His people to respond in worship. The Prologue begins with the time at Sinai and ends with Joshua as a leader. The Recital of History (1-3) 1) Literary Structure 1:6-8 The call of God to leave Sinai, 1:9-46 Establishment of leaders, spies sent into the land 2:1-23 the wanderings of the first generation 2:24-3:20 the victories of Israel across the Jordan 3:21-4:43 Joshua is established as leader to replace Moses 2) Overview God assures Israel that He will give them the land 1:9-18 the establishment of lea...

The Extrinsic Agents 1) Critical Viewpoints: Some say that there are old legal traditions that form the book of Deuteronomy (proto-Deuteronomy). It was composed by defecting Levites moving to Judah. These Levites brought with them laws. The proto-Deuteronomy was composed for Josiah’s reforms. The book is apparently found in 2 Kings 22. They claim that the people composed it in the days of Josiah. The conservative view argues for Mosaic Authorship. 2) Mosaic Authorship The book contains sermons and events that Moses witnessed. (1:1) Did Moses pen every word in the book? Chapter 34:1-12 features the death of Moses. From a plain reading of the text with have a portion written after the death of Moses. The sermons of the book are authentic Mosaic sermons. The sermons were taken and published after his death. 3) Date of Final Composition The book was composed after the time in Moab and before the death of Moses. The book has a focus on Joshua as a leader of God’s people. The Redemptive Hist...

Structure of Numbers 1-10 The constituting of the 1st generation army 10-25 The failures of the 1st generation when marching towards the land 26-36 The constitution of the 2nd generation army The Basic Content of 26-36 The new army is constituted 26-32 A call to conquest 33-36 The New Army 26-32 God is forming the second generation into an army as he did with the first generation 1) Literary Structure The count A military census A new leader In 28-31 we see the centrality of the tabernacle 2) Similarities and Differences in comparison with the first generation army The first generation consisted of 603,550 people. The second generation were counted to be 601,730. Why did God have Moses put these numbers in this book? The similarities in these numbers show us that the second generation were to replace the first. In sections 1 and 3 of Numbers (see structure above) the movement of the narrative is the same. First we read about the census secondly we read about the centrality of the taber...

The book of Numbers was written for the 2nd generation to help them to re-commit themselves to taking the land of conquest. Structure 1-10 The constituting of the 1st generation army 10-25 The failures of the 1st generation when marching towards the land 26-36 The constitution of the 2nd generation army We are going to look at chapters 1-25 in this lecture. The Constitution of the Army 1:1-10:10 Israel at Sinai is constituted into an army The army is then counted and arranged in a theocentric process The tabernacle personal and services A description is given of God’s presence with Israel. i) Literary Structure 1-2 The counting and arrangement of the army 3-9 The centrality of the tabernacle 9:15-10 The presence and future of the tabernacle ii) The counting and arrangement of the army The 1st generation census in chapter 1 parallels with the 2nd generation census in chapter 26. The censuses were designed to give a picture of the army that was formed for the conquest. iii) The total num...

The Extrinsic Agents 1) Critical Views Critics claim that ‘J’ (see JEDP theory) the 10th century writer wrote numbers to support David’s Kingdom. The final edition was the work of P the priestly writer from the 6th century. He was concerned about returning to the land. 2) Mosaic Authorship We believe that Moses wrote the book. Moses would have experienced direct revelations from God (1:1). 22-24 Could have been a separate story reported to Moses by human agents 33:2 At the Lords command Moses recorded the stages of the journey. 21:14 = direct reference to another source. This book is likely to be a book of poetry and adoration to God. It was named ‘the Book of the Wars of the Lord.’ The Hebrew of Numbers has been updated from the Hebrew that Moses wrote in. Numbers 12:3 says that Moses was a humble man. How can he be humble if he wrote it? It could be that Moses wrote what God told him to write. It could also be an addition under the Spirit of God. 3) The date of final composition ‘Acr...

Structure of Leviticus 1-7 Sacrifices 8-10 Regulations for Priests 11-16 Regulations of uncleanness and cleanness 17-25 General regulations for holy leaving 26 Blessing and cursing 27 Regulations of Vows In this lecture we will look at chapters 26 and 27. Through this book God was calling Israel to recommit themselves to the right way to worship. The Basic Content 1-25 Sacrifices, cleanliness and holy living 26 Blessings and Curses-the conditions of the covenant 27 Vows- recommitment to the covenant The concluding chapters (26 and 27) provide motivation to the laws. Blessing and curses appear at the end of other lists of stipulations. See Exodus 23:20-24 and Deuteronomy 29. Blessings and Curses (26) 1) Literary Structure 26:1,2 Introduction to the material with a re-iteration of previous material v3-13 Blessings for obedience v14-45 Curses for disobedience 26:46 parallels with the beginning of the chapter i) Blessings 26:12- I will be your God 26:46- God brought them out of Israel ii) ...

Structure of Leviticus 1-7 Sacrifices 8-10 Regulations for Priests 11-16 Regulations of uncleanness and cleanness 17-25 General regulations for holy leaving 26 Blessing and cursing 27 Regulations of Vows Basic Content 1) 11-16 Rules for Cleanliness 2) 17-25 Holiness Regulations 1) Rules for Cleanliness i) The Contents relationship to the Context 1-10 Sacrifice and the Priests. These chapters deal with specifics of holiness. 11-25 deals with how living become acceptable as worship. We are looking at holy living and cleanliness. Our concerns have broadened as Leviticus progresses. ii) Cleanliness 10:10 we get 4 words: holy, unholy, common, and unclean. 3 things are holy 1) God, 2) clean persons devoted to God, 3) clean things devoted to God Common things are not holy. These things can be clean or unclean. If clean they can be used in worship even though they are not holy. An unclean thing cannot be brought before the Lord. Through purification something unclean can become clean. It then ...