This week we took a slight detour to explore the question: Whose idea was Solomon’s Temple?! This is the first of two class times we spent digging into the question about whether or not the LORD commanded David and/or Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem. We are looking into the possibility that God (1) […]
This week we continued our in-depth study of Stephen’s defense speech. He brought up the consistent problem of idol worship—both at the foot of Mt. Sinai and in the wilderness during the 40 years of wandering. He began laying the foundation for his argument (?) that the Temple should not have been built which we […]
This week we continued our in-depth study of Stephen’s defense speech before the Sanhedrin. Once again, Stephen focused on leaders who worshipped God pre-Temple and outside of the promised land. As he recounted Moses’ defining moments, he made it clear that: he was not anti-Moses; Moses met with God outside the promised land; and Moses […]
As we examined the “inconsistencies” between Stephen’s words and the Genesis/Exodus narratives, as well as manuscript differences between the Hebrew scriptures and the Septuagint, we saw how multiple sources lend credence to the historicity of the accounts as recorded. And the “inconsistencies” aren’t that inconsistent after all. >> Click to read this week’s passages in […]
We circled back to take a closer look at the first part of Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin. Although some see no point to Stephen’s sermon outside of developing his character to provide the backdrop for his murder, we discovered that Stephen was actually laying out a perfect defense of himself and an offense against […]
