#biblical commentary

Matthew 25:14-30 KJV

"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: and I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

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‘Beginning and end’ is a pairing that represents the whole scope of history and time. ‘Alpha and Omega’ stretches from the first letter of the alphabet to the last, representing the whole alphabet in one swoop by referring to its extremities. ‘From head to toe’, ‘from top to bottom’, and ‘from cradle to grave’ all denote a spectrum through the use of pairs considered to be extremities of that spectrum. Take for example Genesis 1.1: God creates the ‘heaven and earth’, i.e. everything. Or even the phrase ‘there was evening and there was morning’, signifying the passing of a whole day.

Now return to Genesis 1.27: ‘male and female [God] created them’. Male and female. I think you can all see what I’m probably getting at here. The ‘and’ is not a binary ‘and’. Male and female can disclose a spectrum of varied gender identities in the same way that ‘Alpha and Omega’ discloses the whole alphabet, or how ‘from head to toe’ means the length of the whole body.

For #CoffeeWithACodex on February 27, curator Dot Porter will bring out Ms. Codex 1329, a 13th-century copy of Haimo's 9th-century commentary on the Song of Solomon, with an unusual layout presenting the biblical lemmata in the margins enclosed in decorated circles and triangles.

Coffee With A Codex is an informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Register here:

I 100% agree, and that was technically implicit in my statement, but I should have spelled it out.

The reason it was implicit is that I used the word 'tanakh' that is a word only used by Jews or to refer to Jewish texts, a christian translation would use the word 'bible' or 'old testament' and depending on the version would have different texts and different words beyond simple translation differences.

"Moses, Lowered by His Mother on the Waters of the Nile" - Alexey Vassilievich Tyranov, State Tretyakov Gallery, 1839-1842 AD

How many of us come into close contact with others who are spiritually dead?

When Jesus comes to Martha and Mary following the death of Lazarus, He asks her if she believes that He is the resurrection and the life, and she confesses her belief that He is the Son of God. It is her faith that plays an integral role in Lazarus' resurrection.

"Did not I say to thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God?" John 11:40b DRC

It can be hard to worship in smaller parishes, with less reverent parishioners. Where ugly red bricks abound, and the desire for fellowship is nonexistent. But I realized when reading these passages that when we truly believe in the power of Christ, He can bring the spiritually dead in the pews next to us back to life.