Podcast
Simple Gifts
Hosted by John and Jenny Wise · EN
Simple Gifts is the gift of time and freedom. It is the simple presentation of the written word spoken without commentary. Join us in ruminating on great stories, poems, history, philosophy, theology, art and science. Amidst chaos, find the “valley of love and delight,” a true simplicity, where “to bow and to bend we will not be ashamed,” where we can ponder the greatest words ever written, turning them over and over, “till by turning, turning, we come round right.”
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1CHRONICLES, Chapter 27
2d ago00:04:55Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1CHRONICLES, Chapter 26
3d ago00:04:45Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1 CHRONICLES, Chapter 25
6d ago00:03:48Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1 CHRONICLES, Chapter 24
6d ago00:03:47Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1 CHRONICLES, Chapter 23
1w ago00:04:24Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1 CHRONICLES, Chapter 22
1w ago00:03:39Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1 CHRONICLES, Chapter 21
1w ago00:05:19Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1 CHRONICLES, Chapter 20
2w ago00:01:43Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1 CHRONICLES, Chapter 19
2w ago00:03:40Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →1 CHRONICLES, Chapter 18
2w ago00:02:32Tap to summarizeIf the Book of Kings (Sefer Melakhim) records the corporate fall of man (Israel) in the Promised Land, the Book of Chronicles (Divrei Hayamim) records the covenantal return of man upon a restored foundation. Covering much of the same historical ground, Chronicles is not a duplicate account but a theological re-presentation. Where Kings moves toward exile, Chronicles writes from the other side of it, asking not how the kingdom died, but how it can live again. The Temple and the Kings of Judah (2 Chronicles 1–36): Solomon builds the House, and the history of Judah unfolds as a single question: will the people seek the LORD at the place where He has set His Name? The northern kingdom largely recedes from view. The decisive moments are not military but liturgical: humility or pride, reform or neglect, seeking or forsaking. Here the logic is immediate and instructive: those who seek the LORD find Him; those who abandon Him fall. The Open Ending (c. 539 BCE): The book concludes, not with the destruction of Jerusalem, but with the decree of Cyrus: “Let him go up.” The final word is not exile, but invitation. The foundation remains. The way back is open. Authorship: Jewish tradition associates Chronicles with Ezra, and its language, priestly focus, and genealogical concerns place it firmly within the post-exilic scribal world reflected in Ezra and Nehemiah. Drawing on the same historical traditions as Kings, the Chronicler does not merely preserve the past; he reshapes it for a people who must now live again in light of it. Here, the author is no covenantal prosecutor. He is a theologian of return. His measure is not only whether Israel avoided the error of “YHWH-plus,” but whether they have learned, through judgment, to seek the LORD with a whole heart and to order their life around His presence. History here is not only the record of a fall, but the meaning of that fall, now known in the wisdom of the return.
Transcribe →