Over the first few months of 2023, I plan to preach through the book of Esther. Below are my notes, resources I found worthwhile, and other things that I found useful. This is a work in progress – feel free to recommend resources to me! Structure Structure: On either side of the turning point are repeated phrases, some reiterated in reverse order and unusual idioms used three times (first half, second half, and in Esther 5:11-6:3. Note also that entire verses from Esther 3:10-15 are repeated in chapter 8. Recommended Reading Articles Duguid, I. M. (2006) “But Did They Live Happily Ever after? The Eschatology of the Book of Esther,”…
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Jonah in Luke’s Gospel
We recently had Luke 8:22-56 preached at Christ Church Hemel, and it struck me that Luke alludes (quite strongly) to Jonah in the first section (Luke 8:22-25). Just consider the similarities: Jesus, like Jonah, falls asleep on the boat. (Luke 8:23, Jonah 1:5) Shortly after a storm rises, threatening to sink the boat. (Luke 8:23, Jonah 1:4) The disciples cry the same thing as the captain (Luke 8:24, Jonah 1:8) The response of the disciples and sailors is fear. (Luke 8:25, Jonah 1:16) There is a striking difference though. Jesus actually went and offered salvation to the Gentiles, whilst Jonah did not want to. And if Jonah was meant to…
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Notes on preaching Hosea
Here are my findings as I preached through Hosea at Christ Church Hemel between January and April 2020. This is a live page, so I plan to keep this updated with further research as time progresses (and allows). To hear my sermon series on Hosea, please visit the sermon archive. Big picture Below is the big picture structure for the book of Hosea. This will be fleshed out further on in this page: Passage Theme Hosea 1-3 Hosea and Gomer’s marriage is a picture of God and Israel’s relationship Hosea 4:1-3 God lays out his charges against the people of Israel Hosea 4:4-6:3 God has a charge against Israel because…
