Biblical Studies / Books of the Bible

  • Choose This Day by Niel Nielson

    FROM TABLETALK | June 2008

    Recently, an acquaintance of mine gathered these statistics on the choices available today: 200 cable channels; 255 ways to order a Big Mac; 19,000 possible combinations for coffee at Starbucks and 78,998 for ice cream and toppings at …Read More

  • The Reluctant Prophet by Steve Kreloff

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2008

    Anyone who has ever attended a Sunday school class knows that Jonah was the man who was eaten alive by a fish and then vomited out three days later. But that’s about the extent of most people’s understanding …Read More

  • The Prophets by Bryan Estelle

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2008

    The post-exilic prophets include Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and probably Joel. They convey the message of God for this period of time with cumulative clarity since they come at the end of a long age of prophetic indictment against the people …Read More

  • The Prophets by O. Palmer Robertson

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2008

    Ezekiel and Daniel experienced exile. The words slip over the tongue with such ease. We are glad to know this “brute fact” about these two prophets. Next time we get involved in a Bible trivia quiz, we will be sure …Read More

  • Jesus’ Family Tree by Joel Beeke

    FROM TABLETALK | January 2008

    Genealogies are hardly spellbinding. Perhaps, like me, you are tempted to skip them in your Bible reading. Yet genealogies are a significant part of God’s infallible Scriptures. They, too, are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction …Read More

  • The Song of Solomon by Harry Reeder

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2007

    I confess the Song of Solomon has always intimidated me as a preacher. Its vivid and excitable statements of marital sexual intimacy and the penchant of commentators to interpret it allegorically have combined to make me cautious. Even the ancients …Read More

  • The Book of Job by R.C. Sproul

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2007

    In the arena of biblical studies, there are five books that are generally included under the heading of “wisdom literature” or “the poetic books of the Old Testament.” They are the books of Proverbs, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and …Read More

  • In The Beginning by Richard Phillips

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2005

    The Bible opens by saying, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The purpose of the creation account was not to answer twenty-first century scientific skeptics, but to teach the people of Israel about their God. The …Read More

  • Ancient Promises by R.C. Sproul

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2005

    “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.” This famous statement by Saint Augustine expresses the remarkable way in which the two testaments of the Bible are so closely interrelated with each other. The …Read More

  • The Final Word of God by Douglas Kelly

    FROM TABLETALK | January 2004

    Many years ago some of us were facing a potentially negative situation in a small community; one in which we felt great evil could be let loose if there were not divine intervention. An elderly cousin of ours from the …Read More

  • Hebrews— Does it “Do Anything” For You? by Sinclair Ferguson

    FROM TABLETALK | January 2004

    A friend — his face wrinkled in a cheerful grin — described an incident that took place at the end of a conference address I had given recently. One hearer, apparently full of the blessings of the passage I had been trying …Read More

  • The Supremacy of Christ by R.C. Sproul

    FROM TABLETALK | January 2004

    I wonder if it is proper to have a “favorite” book of the Bible. The idea scratches like fingernails on a chalk-board. What would induce us to prefer one portion of the Word of God to another? It would seem …Read More