Yearly Archives: 2007

Hockey Night Brawl in Canada

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Hockey is a big part of Canadian self-identity. When I started coaching and managing my son’s hockey teams, I somehow felt more Canadian. I love watching my son play — it’s really a lot of fun to watch (and he loves playing).

What saddens me is when it is taken too seriously — usually by parents. Take a look at this video of a brawl at a novice hockey game in Ontario. These are eight year old kids. What’s perhaps worse is that some of the parents starting fighting on the bench! What role models they were!

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It’s a game. It’s for fun. Your kid will NOT make the NHL. OK, some kids do make the NHL, but there is more likelihood that you will win a lottery. When I was at a Hockey Canada safety certification course a week ago, the instructor noted that just over 40 kids worldwide born in any given year make it to the NHL. That’s it.

Let’s  work to make hockey what it is – the best game in the world (next to rugby, that is!).


In Remembrance

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Today is Remembrance Day (11 November) in Canada (as well as in the UK, Australia, and other Commonwealth nations), a day that we remember the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and civilians in times of war and peacekeeping.

All schools in Canada will have Remembrance Day assemblies and one of the traditions is to recite a famous Canadian poem about World War I, “In Flanders Fields.” Here is the poem:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— John McCrae

One of my favourite Dire Straits songs is “Brothers in Arms,” a haunting ode to the foolishness of war.

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These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you’ll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And youll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
Ive watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

Theres so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the suns gone to hell
And the moons riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But its written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
Were fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

May we never forget.

He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more (Isa 2:4)


A Major Pet Peeve: Writing in Library Books

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I really really hate it when I take out a library book only to find that some doorknob has written in it — I don’t care if it is just neat little underlines or asterisks in the margin or dumb comments. I also don’t care if you intend to erase your pencil marks when you are done — it still damages the book. If you want to fold, spindle, or mutilate a book, then buy it yourself!

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If you write in library books considered yourself on notice! And stop it!

(And for what it is worth, I personally only make very minor marks in pencil in my own books)


Commentaries on Chronicles Galore!

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There has been a resurgence of scholarly interest in Chronicles, which is evident in the number of commentaries recently published on this oft-neglected book. There is truly a wealth of resources in English for those interested in studying this theologically facinating book of the Bible. My division of the commentaries into those for “Scholars and Teachers” and “Pastors and Students” is admittedly somewhat artificial. Assiduious readers will glean much excellent information from most of the commentaries listed below.

Commentaries for Scholars and Teachers

With recent publications by Klein and Knoppers, there is no shortage of academic commentaries on Chronicles — especially 1 Chronicles. The academic heavyweights for 1 Chronicles are clearly Gary Knoppers‘s Anchor Bible volumes and Ralph Klein‘s Hermeneia commentary. Knoppers is second to none in terms of text-critical analysis, while Klein’s work is solidly academic, though also easily accessibly for pastors and students. I find Johnstone‘s analysis of the Masoretic text of Chronicles to be rather refreshing and original.

Other commentaries geared more for scholars and teachers include the excellent WBC volumes by Braun and Dillard (perhaps the best from an evangelical perspective) and De Vries, who is quite insightful in his analysis (but is limited by the format of the FOTL commentary series). Another commentary that is hampered by the format of the series, yet is invaluable for scholar and student alike, is Williamson‘s NCB commentary. Other scholarly volumes worthy of perusal include Jarick‘s interesting reading of Chronicles that “tunes out” other competing traditions, Dirksen‘s thorough historical critical study, as well as Curtis and Madsen‘s more traditional (albeit dated) philological commentary.

Finally, pride of place for academic commentaries on the book of Chronicles still has to go to Sarah Japhet‘s majesterial volume, not only because it covers both 1 and 2 Chronicles in one volume, but more importantly, it is both insightful and thorough in its exposition.

Commentaries for Teachers and Pastors

There have been a number of new commentaries published on Chronicles from a popular perspective in recent years. Selman‘s two volumes are quite good, as are the works by Thompson and Tuell. Pastors will find Allen‘s and Hill‘s commentaries quite useful, though I find Allen’s discussions of modern applications to be closer to the mark. Out of all of these more popular commentaries I would probably give the strongest recommendation to McKenzie‘s volume. I have used it for seminary and undergraduate classes and have found that it both represents the state of current scholarship and is theologically sensitive.

I would welcome your comments — what commentaries on Chronicles do you find most useful and why?

For more commentary recommendations, see my “Old Testament Commentary Survey.”


Beware of White Cats!

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cat_shaved_sm.jpgIf you think I meant black cats in the title, you’re wrong.

While popular Western culture has vilified black cats as evil omens associated with witchcraft, this is not the case in all societies. I was reading some omen texts from ancient Mesopotamia and came across this reference to cats:

If a white cat is seen in a man’s house — (for) that land hardship will seize it.
If a black cat is seen in a man’s house — that land will experience good fortune.
If a red cat is seen in a man’s house — that land will be rich.
If a multicolored cat is seen in a man’s house — that land will not prosper.
If a yellow cat is seen in a man’s house — that land will have a year of good fortune.
(CT 39 48:5-9 from William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger, The Context of Scripture [Leiden; New York: Brill, 1997], 424).

It seems to me that white and multicolored cats are the ones to watch out for!

You may also want to see my previous Halloween post on Witches in the Hebrew Bible.