Dig deeper. One CHUNK at a time.

Chunks Bible Mini-Podcasts are devotional studies of Scripture in 5 - 10 minute episodes.

Your host is Cameron Lee, a long-time seminary professor, teaching pastor, and author.

Latest Episodes

Episode 152: The beginning, the middle, and the end

Psalm 150 is the fifth and final Hallelujah Psalm and the last psalm of the Psalter. How does one end such a diverse collection of songs and poems? With praise, of course—indeed, perhaps the purest example of a psalm of praise in the entire collection. In this final episode, I’ll suggest that the Psalms as a whole tell a story, a story that begins with a vision of how life should be, then takes twists and turns through both joy and suffering before arriving at the joyous ending we expected from the start. That’s why the last word of Psalm 150, the last word of the Psalter, is hallelujah.

Episode 151: With sword in hand

Drawing upon the apostle Paul, Christians believe that the Bible is the inspired and authoritative word of God. That kind of inspired revelation necessarily includes prophetic wake-up calls for God’s people to take sin seriously. Still, how do we reconcile the vengeful words of Psalm 149 with the teaching of Jesus, or for that matter, of Paul? Here, I’ll use the concept of progressive revelation to suggest how the New Testament reinterprets the militarism of the psalms, calling believers today to a different kind of warfare.

Episode 150: Praising God with a vengeance

Some psalms draw you in with words of joyful praise and gratitude, then seem to suddenly pivot to words of anger, cursing, and vengeance. Psalm 149, the next to last of the Hallelujah Psalms—indeed, the next to last psalm!—is jarring in this way. What begins as joyful celebration, filled with music and dancing, suddenly turns to the language of holy war and stays there. The psalmist even suggests that it is the glory of the people to be God’s instrument of vengeance on other nations. How should we understand this, especially as those who follow a crucified Savior? We’ll explore that question here and in the next episode.

Episode 149: Let all heaven and earth praise God

Have you ever gazed up in wonder at a sky filled with stars, or had your breath taken away by a glorious sunset? In this podcast, we’ve explored what are sometimes known as “creation psalms,” psalms that express wonder at the majesty of creation and its Creator. Psalm 148, the third of the Hallelujah Psalms, goes a step further, calling all of creation, everything and everyone in heaven and on earth, to join in the praise of God. And to do so, the psalmist suggests, is itself the God-given strength of his people. 

Episode 148: God sustains the humble

We can only take guesses at when or in what context each psalm was written. Psalm 147, the second of the Hallelujah Psalms, appears to have been written sometime after the end of the Babylonian exile, giving praise to God for the return of a remnant of the people. The psalm celebrates God’s covenant relationship to his people, a relationship God has with no other nation. The psalmist also teaches that God does not delight in military might, but champions the humble. Did the people therefore finally learn their lesson? The book of Nehemiah suggests not…