Mike Blogs

I have repeated verse 11 to begin today’s study below because I do not want to lose the continuity that Matthew provides for this glimpse...

14: 20  The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends. We have an interesting couplet, verses 20 and 21,...

5: 1-2.  When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and...

Sometimes it is obvious who is righteous and who is wicked. Other times, it takes a while and we only realize in retrospect who had our...

Jesus has been anointed for ministry through John’s baptism in the Jordan River (Matthew 3). Jesus has survived hunger and parried the...

Memorizing verses is a great practice. When I was a child, at church we had contests to see who could quote the verse that our youth...

What did the previous chapter look like, especially the Baptism of Jesus? Was there not some similarity to the way that we commission...

These verses seem to provide us with a theme. There is a running contrast between ‘the righteous’ and ‘the wicked’, sometimes under...

With the phrase, “In those days,” Matthew begins a new section that runs on to 4: 16. The verse after that, 4: 17, begins with “From that...

From here on in Proverbs, I am going to pick a few verses in each chapter for us to meditate on. This makes sense in that the verses are...

Matthew said near the end of the last chapter that he was going to tell us about the birth of Jesus. But, compared to Luke, he told us...

Beginning here, Proverbs looks more like a list of individual folk wisdom without order or connection. Unfortunately, some people treat...

The genealogy that began the chapter is necessary for framing Matthew’s story of Jesus’ birth. Somehow, Matthew has to demonstrate that...

This chapter is the conclusion of Solomon’s introduction which is chapters 1-9. Chapter 10 has a heading for a new section: “The Proverbs...

You probably thought that when we finished our study of Genesis, you wouldn’t have to wade through any more lists of name in a genealogy....

The following reads like a poem. Solomon has tried, in various ways, to highlight wisdom and to emphasize how close wisdom is to...

Introduction Who doesn’t know that the first gospel, the first book of the whole New Testament canon (that is, authorized Scripture for...

In this chapter, Solomon warns his son, or children, or students, to make wise financial decisions and not to be entrapped by a...

I argued last week that the writer, presumably Solomon, uses metaphors, saying one thing in order to understand another thing. Good...

Many commentators assume that Solomon is talking about sex here, a prostitute in Las Vegas, perhaps, or a neighbor’s wife who seduces a...