Free Old Testament Audio Is Starting a Bible Commentary


Welcome Everyone! If you clicked through from Twitter, you will already be aware that I plan on starting a Bible Commentwary. Basically, I will send out a passage for the day and followers will be able comment on the passage in 140 characters or less. These comments can be historical-critical, application, spiritual, etc... I will not accept submissions longer than 140 characters in the spirit of Twitter. Some may complain that it's impossible to do justice to a passage in 140 characters, but I'll deal with that below. The comments that I receive will be posted on this website as an online resource or if there is enough response I will create a website strictly devoted the Commentwary.

What's the point? I really have two points in this and the first is simply for fun. I think it will be fun and interesting to see what the Twitterverse is saying about particular passages of scripture. I would like to use some of these comments in my own Old Testament courses (though I will include New Testament passages as well) to give my students an idea about how people from various backgrounds and perspectives approach a particular passage. When I bring in differing perspectives this seems to pique their interest.

Second, I think it is important to be concise. When I went to Seminary they taught us to make three points in a sermon, but I have lately accepted the opinion (though I no longer remember the original source for it) that if you say more than one thing you say nothing at all. I believe this exercise will help in narrowing down the most salient aspects of a particular passage. And, perhaps the 140 character comments will help those who teach the Bible in ministry contexts to become more focused in their teaching. This is my primary reason for keeping 140 character limit.

If this sounds like a fun or maybe even useful exercise to you, there are two steps that I think is necessary before we begin. First, we must agree that anyone who submits a comment by @reply gives me permission to post the comment on this website.

Second, we must first come up with an accepted set of abbreviations, so no one is like "OMG! Do I have to write out 'God' every time?" I have come up with a few abbreviations of my own and would like for you to @reply me with more abbreviations that you think will be helpful if you want to participate. Once we have our terminology down I think we can get started. Again, please send me your abbreviations and the ones I could think of off the top of my head are as follows:

Y =YHWH or LORD
G = God
Je = Jesus
A = Abraham
M = Moses
Pe = Peter
Pa = Paul
I = Israel
Ju = Judah