Many thanks Alex. Three quick thoughts:
1 In the Ancient Near East before David it was common for the just or ideal king to be referred to as a shepherd, so David is not only extrapolating from his own experience but drawing on a common analogy of his time and portraying YHWH as the ideal shepherd/king.
2 I have a friend who taught architecture who wrote a book on the Divine Architect, seeing the traits and likeness of God in his professional experience. Could we all reasonably extrapolate our professionalisms in the same way? Certainly my years writing insurance policies gave me good insight into God as a Divine Insurer, our policies even began 'herein this deed and covenant', you get the connection !
3 Interesting to hear about Yamauchi discussing the Persian Magi. Did he touch on the possibility that, like Daniel and his friends, the Magi who visited Jesus might have been (to my mind most probably were) Jewish Magi, or at least infused with ideas & insights from the Persian Diaspora?
Frank Booth
Many thanks Alex. Three quick thoughts:
1 In the Ancient Near East before David it was common for the just or ideal king to be referred to as a shepherd, so David is not only extrapolating from his own experience but drawing on a common analogy of his time and portraying YHWH as the ideal shepherd/king.
2 I have a friend who taught architecture who wrote a book on the Divine Architect, seeing the traits and likeness of God in his professional experience. Could we all reasonably extrapolate our professionalisms in the same way? Certainly my years writing insurance policies gave me good insight into God as a Divine Insurer, our policies even began 'herein this deed and covenant', you get the connection !
3 Interesting to hear about Yamauchi discussing the Persian Magi. Did he touch on the possibility that, like Daniel and his friends, the Magi who visited Jesus might have been (to my mind most probably were) Jewish Magi, or at least infused with ideas & insights from the Persian Diaspora?
Frank Booth