“In the Mediterranean world, deception is a legitimate strategy at the service of honor; it is a means value. Those who excel in deception are cheered by the crowd, even as those they have "taken in" smart from the shame and plot retaliation.”
“Despite biblical prohibitions against lying, the Bible rarely offers an evaluation of its characters or their conduct, thus leaving the moral ambiguity regarding the Bible’s attitude towards the ethical nature of deception open to interpretation by the reader.”
Source: Ethical Ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible: Philosophical Analysis of Scriptural Narrative
“...the OT never categorically prohibits deception, but only deception that brings unjust harm or disadvantage to another person.”
Source: Just Deceivers: An Exploration of the Motif of Deception in the Books of Samuel
“For trickster saves the world. The paradoxical trickster-creating order through chaos, the underdog that overcomes, the liminal role, and all the dangers associated with it, personified Israel. So in Exile when the canon is beginning to form, the Israelites tell of their ancestors as tricksters. For the trickster represents not only the threat of a marginalized existence, or the danger of the liminal status, but also the salvific role in which Israel still paradoxically believed it functioned.”
Source: The Trickster Revisited: Deception as a Motif in the Pentateuch
“We can know all the scriptures, do all the stuff, obey all the rules, but if we aren’t willing to be offended by His reconciling love, if we aren’t willing to repent, to change our thoughts, to step away from us and them thinking, then we are missing the whole point.
This Jonah story is on every page of the Bible and in every cell of our bodies. Over and again, God is revealing Himself perfectly through Christ as gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, forgiving, redeeming, restoring, abounding in love, and desiring to save us from calamity.”
“How can you trust God who is not true to his word? Isn’t that what the Bible is?
Because God is larger than a platitude. A platitude is sweet, concise, and fits on a throw pillow. God is larger than that. With the sufferings in my life, I need more than a platitude. I need this Larger Story God I’ve come to know.”
Source: Trust Issues With God: Because Life Is Unfair: Bible Study, With Video Access
“Mark 9:8, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched," comes directly from Isa. 66:24, but whose voice are we listening to in the preceding verses? It might be Jesus, but then again, it might be anybody. Then as now, there were plenty of fire-and-brimstone preachers. And, since the climax of the pericope is a quotation of Isaiah, implying the whole thing is something of a sermonic commentary on it, we must deny it to Jesus. Again, who remembers the great man quoting someone else?”
Source: The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable is the Gospel Tradition?
“Keep to your Bible and to your fairy tales, sweet girl. One is for your soul and the other is for your daydreams. Both will help you through this, and in both you’ll find your story (pp. 245-246).”
Source: Hope Between the Pages
“Do we recognize our helplessness, that even our very desires need to be changed by the Spirit’s transforming grace? Or do we approach Scripture pridefully, thinking we’ve “got this,” attempting to impress God, others, and even ourselves by our obedience? (p. 39).”
Source: Help for the Hungry Soul: Eight Encouragements to Grow Your Appetite for God's Word
“For too many years, this was the way I approached Scripture, because I didn’t understand my neediness. I thought that by opening my Bible I was seeking something good and right to do, rather than primarily seeking someone to love (p. 39).”
Source: Help for the Hungry Soul: Eight Encouragements to Grow Your Appetite for God's Word