I hope this is a satisfactory way of handling this section. It is the simplest from my point of view but I am aware that you may not be able to see all the segments side by side on a wide screen like I can. I am sure however you will find a way of cutting and pasting this so you can see it well enough to compare them. The segments in columns have been clipped straight from E-Sword’s Harmony tool on this passage. They appear to be concatenated (or the columns all follow each other left to right) so you ought to be able to cut and paste and arrange in a way that suits you if your screen doesn’t hold this layout. The important thing is to be able to compare these side by side. Once you have them side by side, then compare them to see what each writer is doing in their own way.
We will talk about it in the next Gem. If you haven’t time to do that yourself at the moment you have three options.
- Save in a folder and do it when you can
- Wait for he next Gem when I show you what I’ve found.
- Send me an email to tell me you don’t want Bible Gems any more because it is getting too hard.
A word of advice: when you are doing some Bible study in the synoptic gospels or even in John when there are parallel passages on the same event in the other gospels, it is always wise to compare the accounts. It gives a good sense of what is happening to the text. The new elements each writer has introduced to make their own point. The shared material they have omitted to make their point. How they have rearranged or reordered or altered in some way to make their point. Either way you get the point more clearly. Do you get my point? It’s pointed. That’s the point if you don’t make an appointment to spend time to work on it.
Visionary people are like eagles, they see from a vantage point, others don’t understand why and cannot see why, but they (visionaries) can see it clearly.
Pascal Lasmana
God is ‘The Great Engineer’, creating circumstances to bring about moments of divine importance, leading us to divine appointments.
Oswald Chambers
Talent is only a starting point. You’ve got to keep working that talent.
Irving Berlin
To do good Bible study you need to follow the author’s thread or point they are making. Don’t stop too soon.
Ian Vail
Any married man should forget his mistakes, there’s no point in two people remembering the same thing.
Anon