Of the primordial triad of Israelite forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is Jacob that serves most faithfully as a representative character sketch of our own selves. This forefather is praised, not for his righteousness, but for his grit. He would eventually receive the name ISRAEL – quite literally meaning – he strives with God. The story of Jacob’s complicated love life is a story that only continues this theme of striving. After having fled his homeland, Jacob comes to the land of...

Matthew 5:13 is often disassociated from the Beatitudes, as nearly every Bible printed in the English language separates the contents of verses 1-12 from what follows. Yet, this consistent separation of the two passages impoverishes what Matthew’s gospel is communicating to us here. Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount by telling his disciples that in God’s upside down kingdom, the blessed ones are those that the world considers despised: the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, etc....

Here in Amos 8, we find that God is enraged at the growing disparity between rich and poor. We find a people who spend the entirety of...