Zephaniah

It was a great joy today to be with 8 other preachers at the John Owen Centre in Finchley under the guidance of LTS vice-principal David Green looking at the Book of Zephaniah in Hebrew.

David is a great enthusiast for the Hebrew language and an excellent teacher. He not only teaches Hebrew at the LTS but kindly provides Hebrew lessons for those able and willing to attend. I haven't been able to attend the regular classes for a while but he is currently offering (at a tiny cost, including lunch) some classes of a less demanding nature (though one has to have some idea to benefit I would guess). The hope is to do one a term and this was the first.

David's approach was to set out the Hebrew text on paper with thorough notes on the Hebrew. After a short introduction he proceeded to translate and make observations on the book verse by verse with some opportunity for comment. After each of the two sessions we had half an hour to discuss how to opreach the book. It was very stimulating time indeed and a great way to preapre for preaching through Zephaniah. Of course, it works best with small units and ould be difficult to replicate with larger book but may be there is a way. Anyway we need to walk before we can run. This was a very good start.