Esther was a young girl living in Persia with her Uncle Mordecai. How young, oh, maybe 12 or 13, something like that. They were minding their own business having a pretty good life when the trouble started. The problem was that they were Jews and so while life was good for them they were still on the bottom of the social rung. But Jews were used to that kind of life and still to this day are somewhat marginalized in cultures around the world. Yet, Jews live well and prosper.
King Xerxes came to power and ruled Persia from 485–465 B.C.E. It was the custom in those days for a new king to party for 6 months to show people who's boss. People would come from all over the empire to get down with the new king. The shindig lasted 6 months because it took leaders from all over the empire that long to travel to the capital.
One day when the king and his cronies were higher than kites from too much fine wine he decided to show off his queen, Queen Vashti. Now he did not just want to show her off because she was beautiful, he wanted to show his friends that she had the best body in the land so he sent word that she was to appear before him in just her crown. She was like a trophy wife. He wanted people to see what he as king was capable of having not only in all the wealth and power of being king, but in womanhood too.
Queen Vashti would have been young too but she was not dumb. You don't get to be queen just by tossing your beauty pageant Tera in the ring. Vashti knew the jig was up. Because of her drunken king husband her days were numbered. If she appeared nude she would be disgraced and probably killed when the king sobered up. If she refused she could be killed from disobeying the king. She took the high road and refused. After sobering up the king met with his court and decided to banish Vashti to his harem where there could be a couple hundred other women guarded by eunuchs. There she would live out her life not being able to fall in love or be loved. I suppose it was better than being executed.
Now there is no queen. So the cronies came to the king with a plan. We will have year long beauty contest and find the hottest chick in all the land to be your queen. And guess who won the contest? Esther the Jew. And yet, she could not let on that she was Jewish. Uncle Mordecai told her to keep her pretty mouth shut about it.
So Esther becomes Queen. Now the plot thickens. A dude named Haman is the highest Nobel in the king's court. He has it made. All kinds of power, nice house, latest chariot, best slaves, his own modest harem and an insane hatred of Jews.
Why are people prejudiced? Maybe it is a chicken mentality. I am told that if a chicken gets some blood on it all the other chickens in the coop will peck it to death. We all know that in grade school through high school, kids that are a little different are picked on. Our own history in the United States reflects how we whites have oppressed minorities. There were times that white people could hang a black man or shoot him and there were no ramifications. There was a movie staring Woody Harrison called "Natural Born Killers." It was about two psychopaths crossing the country killing people. At one point Woody's character tells a TV crew that "We are natural born killers." The viewer realizes at the end of the movie that the message is that humans are natural born killers. Chickens aside, no other animal kills just for the enjoyment of killing as do humans.
Be that as it may, Haman became enraged when Uncle Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor. Mordecai was a faithful Jew and would only honor God. Haman naturally decided to do away with Mordecai and all the other Jews in the country.
There is a lot of intrigue and double dealing and underhanded and highhanded interaction among all the participants for several chapters. It is well worth reading. The end result is that Haman built a high tower to hang Mordecai on. Haman threw lots (purim) to determine the day upon which all the Jews would be wiped right out. Queen Esther and Mordecai are faithful to God and Esther risks it all by going to the king and telling him of the plot by Haman to wipe out the Jews and hang Mordecai. You could be executed for appearing before the king without permission. I guess it startled him if someone just showed up. Those were the days when a king could have anyone beheaded for any or no reason.
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE.
This is one of the many stories in the Bible where there is a reversal of fortune. When the king is made aware of the plot to kill the Jews he has Haman hung on the very gallows that Haman prepared for Mordecai. Bummer for Haman huh? But he had it coming.
Today the Jews celebrate the Feast of Lots (purim means, lots or throwing or casting lots)to celebrate the victory of the Jews over Haman who was casting lots (purim) to decide what day the Jews would be wiped out.
Jews do not take this book as actual history but inspired by God to show the importance of being faithful to God. There are some problems with the book. If he Jews were taken into captivity in 586 and Xerexes came to power in 485 Esther would be 100 years old if she was an infant when carried off to Babylon. The Jews were freed from Babylon in 533 and many Jews stayed behind in Babylon or moved north to Persia and continued to live normal lives. Jews also recognize the unlikilyhood that a Jew could be come queen. There are other improbabilities at the end of the book as well.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
SEX
Now that I have your attention...
As one is reading along in Genesis which is full of sex, betrayal,shenanigans, and skulduggery; the saga of Joseph and his 11 brothers comes into view. Joseph is thrown into a well, then dragged out and sold to a caravan and later sold into slavery in Egypt, put in prison and then fills out a civil service application I guess because he becomes second in power in Egypt only to Pharaoh.
The story is interrupted for a message from another author putting his two cents worth in. The story is about Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar and how they had twins together. Sounds like a Jerry Spring episode. (Genesis chapter 38).
In the ancient times a woman had to have a male child for her husband. Not to do so was a big disgrace. You couldn't show your face in the market and you were often featured in grocery story tabloids as a big sinner whom God disliked. As it happened Tamar was a Canaanite woman, not a Hebrew, but married into the Judah family. Judah was one of the 12 sons of Jacob. This family became the 12 tribes of Israel; very important in the unfolding drama of the Bible.
The Bible says "Judah got a wife for his oldest son Er." Yes, that was his name. Er. No jokes about "Er what?" Er did evil in the eyes of the Lord so the Lord killed him. That's right, in those days if God became annoyed with you it was lights out. But, Judah, is head of the household and responsible so he hooked Tamar up with his next oldest son. They did not get married but Judah told the next oldest son Onan, saying, "Onan you can have the day off from your chores and go have sex with Tamar." "Oh dad," he responded, "do I have to?" "Yes, you know the law of the desert son, as a family we have to make sure Tamar has a boy so your brother Er has an heir."
That was the law but Onan spilled his seed, as the scripture says, on the ground instead of impregnating Tamar. Many Bible thumpers consider this a sin against masturbation because after spilling his seed on the ground God killed Onan. I suspect he pulled out rather than give Tamar a baby and masturbation had nothing to do with it. We run across something like this in The Book of Ruth which will be featured in a later post. Onan might not have wanted to share his inheritance with his dead brother's child. Had he given Tamar a son that son would have been considered Er's son but Onan would have to share his estate with his own son and Er's son which was really Onan's son but considered Er's son. Anyway, fat lot of good it did Onan because he was zapped by God.
Now Judah had another son, Shelah, a little boy. Judah told Tamar that she had run out of men for the time being so she had to live as a widow until Shelah grew up and he could give her a baby. Judah may be thinking that Tamar had a curse and did not want to lose Shelah too so that relationship never happened. This left Tamar childless and disgraced and the butt of many jokes around the village well. The village well was a gathering place and was the traditional site where people poked fun at those not in the in-crowd.
But she would not be denied. She dressed up as a prostitute and sat by the side of the road where Judah would be riding by on his ass. When he saw the prostitute on the side of the road he got off his ass, and what can a guy do, he had sex with her. In those times I guess, you see a prostitute and you have to have sex with her. I don't think it was a law of the desert or anything but Judah felt it was the right thing to do. As luck would have it Judah forgot his wallet so promised to send her a young goat. That's what every prostitute needs, another young goat hanging around. Tamar asked for an IOU regarding the goat. Judah gave her his staff as a promise. No, not that staff, a regular staff with some fancy decorations on it. So Tamar became pregnant and was happy as a clam.
Later Judah found out Tamar was pregnant and he was miffed because the widow of his son was not supposed to be fooling around. She was supposed to just live in disgrace and be happy about it. So Judah said we have to put her to death. The head of the family had that kind of power in those days. Then Tamar whipped out his staff. The decorated one. "Well dog my cats," exclaimed Judah (or something like that, it loses something in the translation). "That little scamp Tamar pulled the wool over my eyes. She is more righteous than I because by the law of the desert, I was to give my son Shelah to her and did not." Tamar had twins and they all lived happily ever after. Tamar was no longer in disgrace and the tabloids forgot all about her.
The Messiah is not mentioned in the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah or Pentateuch. So I am sure this story is a much later addition that was stuck in the story of Joseph. The story of Judah and Tamar covered about 20 years in their collective lives. It is important to the Old Testament narrative because one of the twins is named Perez. Through Perez comes Ruth's husband in The Book of Ruth. His name is Boaz. Ruth and Boaz have a baby and name him Obed. Obed was the father of Jessy and Jessy the father of David. Ah HA! The Messiah which shows up in the writings of the prophets like Isaiah and others would come from the line of David!
Which just goes to show: Tamar has been truer to her relationship with God than Judah has. Once again in the ancestral narrative, a person who stands outside of the community of promise (that is the God's promise to the Jews) proves to be faithful to what God intends for human community, indeed for the community of promise. In fact, she is a Canaanite! At least in part because of his evaluation of Tamar, Judah receives a praiseworthy place in the ancestral narrative (49:8), and his staff becomes a scepter that “shall not depart from Judah” (49:10).
In the Bible there are many instances of a reversal of fortune (Esther and Ruth for example and of course Tamar) It shows that in our faithfulness to God and God's agenda, we sometimes have to bend the rules.
As one is reading along in Genesis which is full of sex, betrayal,shenanigans, and skulduggery; the saga of Joseph and his 11 brothers comes into view. Joseph is thrown into a well, then dragged out and sold to a caravan and later sold into slavery in Egypt, put in prison and then fills out a civil service application I guess because he becomes second in power in Egypt only to Pharaoh.
The story is interrupted for a message from another author putting his two cents worth in. The story is about Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar and how they had twins together. Sounds like a Jerry Spring episode. (Genesis chapter 38).
In the ancient times a woman had to have a male child for her husband. Not to do so was a big disgrace. You couldn't show your face in the market and you were often featured in grocery story tabloids as a big sinner whom God disliked. As it happened Tamar was a Canaanite woman, not a Hebrew, but married into the Judah family. Judah was one of the 12 sons of Jacob. This family became the 12 tribes of Israel; very important in the unfolding drama of the Bible.
The Bible says "Judah got a wife for his oldest son Er." Yes, that was his name. Er. No jokes about "Er what?" Er did evil in the eyes of the Lord so the Lord killed him. That's right, in those days if God became annoyed with you it was lights out. But, Judah, is head of the household and responsible so he hooked Tamar up with his next oldest son. They did not get married but Judah told the next oldest son Onan, saying, "Onan you can have the day off from your chores and go have sex with Tamar." "Oh dad," he responded, "do I have to?" "Yes, you know the law of the desert son, as a family we have to make sure Tamar has a boy so your brother Er has an heir."
That was the law but Onan spilled his seed, as the scripture says, on the ground instead of impregnating Tamar. Many Bible thumpers consider this a sin against masturbation because after spilling his seed on the ground God killed Onan. I suspect he pulled out rather than give Tamar a baby and masturbation had nothing to do with it. We run across something like this in The Book of Ruth which will be featured in a later post. Onan might not have wanted to share his inheritance with his dead brother's child. Had he given Tamar a son that son would have been considered Er's son but Onan would have to share his estate with his own son and Er's son which was really Onan's son but considered Er's son. Anyway, fat lot of good it did Onan because he was zapped by God.
Now Judah had another son, Shelah, a little boy. Judah told Tamar that she had run out of men for the time being so she had to live as a widow until Shelah grew up and he could give her a baby. Judah may be thinking that Tamar had a curse and did not want to lose Shelah too so that relationship never happened. This left Tamar childless and disgraced and the butt of many jokes around the village well. The village well was a gathering place and was the traditional site where people poked fun at those not in the in-crowd.
But she would not be denied. She dressed up as a prostitute and sat by the side of the road where Judah would be riding by on his ass. When he saw the prostitute on the side of the road he got off his ass, and what can a guy do, he had sex with her. In those times I guess, you see a prostitute and you have to have sex with her. I don't think it was a law of the desert or anything but Judah felt it was the right thing to do. As luck would have it Judah forgot his wallet so promised to send her a young goat. That's what every prostitute needs, another young goat hanging around. Tamar asked for an IOU regarding the goat. Judah gave her his staff as a promise. No, not that staff, a regular staff with some fancy decorations on it. So Tamar became pregnant and was happy as a clam.
Later Judah found out Tamar was pregnant and he was miffed because the widow of his son was not supposed to be fooling around. She was supposed to just live in disgrace and be happy about it. So Judah said we have to put her to death. The head of the family had that kind of power in those days. Then Tamar whipped out his staff. The decorated one. "Well dog my cats," exclaimed Judah (or something like that, it loses something in the translation). "That little scamp Tamar pulled the wool over my eyes. She is more righteous than I because by the law of the desert, I was to give my son Shelah to her and did not." Tamar had twins and they all lived happily ever after. Tamar was no longer in disgrace and the tabloids forgot all about her.
The Messiah is not mentioned in the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah or Pentateuch. So I am sure this story is a much later addition that was stuck in the story of Joseph. The story of Judah and Tamar covered about 20 years in their collective lives. It is important to the Old Testament narrative because one of the twins is named Perez. Through Perez comes Ruth's husband in The Book of Ruth. His name is Boaz. Ruth and Boaz have a baby and name him Obed. Obed was the father of Jessy and Jessy the father of David. Ah HA! The Messiah which shows up in the writings of the prophets like Isaiah and others would come from the line of David!
Which just goes to show: Tamar has been truer to her relationship with God than Judah has. Once again in the ancestral narrative, a person who stands outside of the community of promise (that is the God's promise to the Jews) proves to be faithful to what God intends for human community, indeed for the community of promise. In fact, she is a Canaanite! At least in part because of his evaluation of Tamar, Judah receives a praiseworthy place in the ancestral narrative (49:8), and his staff becomes a scepter that “shall not depart from Judah” (49:10).
In the Bible there are many instances of a reversal of fortune (Esther and Ruth for example and of course Tamar) It shows that in our faithfulness to God and God's agenda, we sometimes have to bend the rules.
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Tree of Knowledge: A set up??
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” (Gen 2.15-17 NRSV)
OK, God, you create a perfect Garden of Eden and then you put the naughty tree in the middle and tell the guy not to eat of it or you will die. Then you create a woman to keep the dude company. A nice Golden Retriever would have been nice and we could have avoided all the problem. Adam must have told Eve about the tree because it was she that entered into conversation with the serpent. The Hebrew word translated into serpent is "smooth." It might have been a lizard with smooth skin because later God took its legs and made it crawl on the earth.
However, when you read chapter 3 you see that good old Adam was standing right there and did he intervene between Eve and the serpent, nooooooo. When the fruit is offered to him he just chomped away. When God came around asking questions he blamed everything on Eve. "This woman you gave me made me eat..."
But I digress. The question that comes up is why did God make a perfect life for Adam and Eve and give them a life that would never end and then put temptation right smack in the middle of the garden? Anyone would, after a few hundred years of life around the forbidden fruit just take a bite to break the boredom of perfection. And maybe that is the answer to the dilemma. Wouldn't life be boring without evil and temptation to combat?
The reality is that this is a story, a way for the ancients to explain why a perfect God created a perfect garden and yet there is evil in the world. It explains that people not God are the cause of sin. I would offer that God created all that exists in perfect balance. Good and evil and all the rest. God does not interfere in our choices but is able to work within pain and suffering for good when we are surrendered to God. A great example can be found at http://www.bandssullivan.blogspot.com/
OK, God, you create a perfect Garden of Eden and then you put the naughty tree in the middle and tell the guy not to eat of it or you will die. Then you create a woman to keep the dude company. A nice Golden Retriever would have been nice and we could have avoided all the problem. Adam must have told Eve about the tree because it was she that entered into conversation with the serpent. The Hebrew word translated into serpent is "smooth." It might have been a lizard with smooth skin because later God took its legs and made it crawl on the earth.
However, when you read chapter 3 you see that good old Adam was standing right there and did he intervene between Eve and the serpent, nooooooo. When the fruit is offered to him he just chomped away. When God came around asking questions he blamed everything on Eve. "This woman you gave me made me eat..."
But I digress. The question that comes up is why did God make a perfect life for Adam and Eve and give them a life that would never end and then put temptation right smack in the middle of the garden? Anyone would, after a few hundred years of life around the forbidden fruit just take a bite to break the boredom of perfection. And maybe that is the answer to the dilemma. Wouldn't life be boring without evil and temptation to combat?
The reality is that this is a story, a way for the ancients to explain why a perfect God created a perfect garden and yet there is evil in the world. It explains that people not God are the cause of sin. I would offer that God created all that exists in perfect balance. Good and evil and all the rest. God does not interfere in our choices but is able to work within pain and suffering for good when we are surrendered to God. A great example can be found at http://www.bandssullivan.blogspot.com/
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Why is the Bible so hard to understand????
Why is the Bible so hard to understand when I try to read it.
1. You might be reading the King James Version. Set it aside and get a New International Version or a New Revised Standard Version.
2. It is helpful to buy Bible commentaries from a Bible store. You can get them on the entire Bible (not recommended) or each book of the Bible. You may be able to get the entire Bible and commentary on a disk called the New Interpreters Bible. (Highly Recommended)
Even then the first five books of the Bible are hard to understand because they were written by four different traditions called J. E. P. D.
J stands for Jehovah or Yahweh. I prefer Yahweh because Jehovah is a mistranslation. Jehovah or henceforth, Yahweh is rendered “LORD” in most translations. It has several meanings: Self-Existent, Eternal One, LORD of Justice, and many other meanings such as Good, Gracious, Generous, and Holy. Generally speaking it could be said that Yahweh is the Eternal LORD of Justice. Notice in the Old Testament, LORD is always all caps.
E. Stands for Elohim. When you read the name God in the first chapter of Genesis the author is using the name Elohim and it is translated, “God.” Elohim is the powerful God of Mercy. When we read Genesis chapter 1, it is the power God of Mercy creating the universe.
P. Stands for Priestly writers. They will be concerned with sacrifice. Notice in the study on Noah that when the writer uses the word God Noah takes only two of each creature. When LORD is used, Noah is told to take seven of each creature. That is so there will be spare animals and fowl for sacrifice.
D stands for deuteronomic traditions. Deuteronomy means second telling. The Book of Deuteronomy is the second telling of much that proceeds it. I would offer that those sections of the first five books of the Bible that differ from earlier writings might be D writers trying to clarify or correct.
Scholars can read the Pentateuch and tell us what tradition wrote what part. The above is hard enough to comprehend so naturally the Pentateuch is difficult to understand.
So sometime between 400 and 200 before Christ or BCE, Before the Common Era, meaning from 0 to the present (C.E. or Common Era); the head Rabbis got together, took all the traditions, and compiled them into the current Pentateuch. They argued, cried, compromised, and finally agreed on those writings that met the cannon, (measurement) of being the purest inspiration of God.
So we have four different traditions writing about the same topics and stories with four different agendas. Then a couple hundred years later a committee tore all the scrolls apart and pasted the parts they liked the best together (metaphorically speaking) to make up the first five books of the Old Testament.
It is all very complex and when you find parts you don’t understand, please don’t be too frustrated or angry because you belong to a big club. The, “What The Heck Does This Mean Club.” I believe as I mentioned before in another study that the history reflects a “Lesson Mentality.” The Hebrews only had 120 years of prosperity and power. After the kingship of Saul, David, and Solomon things went south for the Hebrews. The kingdom divided in 930 B.C.E. When the kingdom divided with 10 tribes in the North and 2 tribes in the south, or Judah, we can then historically call the people Jews. Before this time in writing, I try to remember to refer to the people as Hebrews. Assyria in 722 B.C.E absorbed the Tribes of the Northern Kingdom. In 586 B.C.E. the Southern Kingdom was carried off captive to Babylon for 50 years.
I think much of the writing of the history answered the question, “If we are the chosen people, why the heck are we having all this trouble.” The answer reflected by the stories is that the “People Of The Book,” turned away from God and the paths of righteousness. The writers often used natural disasters like floods and earthquakes to tie the LORD’s wrathful justice to a perceived wrongdoing.
It is possible that a lot of the history, the stories came from or were refined during and after the exile in Babylon. I will add again that these stories are inspired by God but they were written by men (men did almost all the writing and teaching in those times) with their own agenda belief system, and their own theology. So as we read the Bible we need to listen for the voice of God within us trying to help us know what God wants us to learn from each story or part of the Bible.
As I reflect on what I’ve written here, I realize it is as confusing as the Bible itself. So if you have any questions or if you want to share your own belief on this or any subject make a comment below.
1. You might be reading the King James Version. Set it aside and get a New International Version or a New Revised Standard Version.
2. It is helpful to buy Bible commentaries from a Bible store. You can get them on the entire Bible (not recommended) or each book of the Bible. You may be able to get the entire Bible and commentary on a disk called the New Interpreters Bible. (Highly Recommended)
Even then the first five books of the Bible are hard to understand because they were written by four different traditions called J. E. P. D.
J stands for Jehovah or Yahweh. I prefer Yahweh because Jehovah is a mistranslation. Jehovah or henceforth, Yahweh is rendered “LORD” in most translations. It has several meanings: Self-Existent, Eternal One, LORD of Justice, and many other meanings such as Good, Gracious, Generous, and Holy. Generally speaking it could be said that Yahweh is the Eternal LORD of Justice. Notice in the Old Testament, LORD is always all caps.
E. Stands for Elohim. When you read the name God in the first chapter of Genesis the author is using the name Elohim and it is translated, “God.” Elohim is the powerful God of Mercy. When we read Genesis chapter 1, it is the power God of Mercy creating the universe.
P. Stands for Priestly writers. They will be concerned with sacrifice. Notice in the study on Noah that when the writer uses the word God Noah takes only two of each creature. When LORD is used, Noah is told to take seven of each creature. That is so there will be spare animals and fowl for sacrifice.
D stands for deuteronomic traditions. Deuteronomy means second telling. The Book of Deuteronomy is the second telling of much that proceeds it. I would offer that those sections of the first five books of the Bible that differ from earlier writings might be D writers trying to clarify or correct.
Scholars can read the Pentateuch and tell us what tradition wrote what part. The above is hard enough to comprehend so naturally the Pentateuch is difficult to understand.
So sometime between 400 and 200 before Christ or BCE, Before the Common Era, meaning from 0 to the present (C.E. or Common Era); the head Rabbis got together, took all the traditions, and compiled them into the current Pentateuch. They argued, cried, compromised, and finally agreed on those writings that met the cannon, (measurement) of being the purest inspiration of God.
So we have four different traditions writing about the same topics and stories with four different agendas. Then a couple hundred years later a committee tore all the scrolls apart and pasted the parts they liked the best together (metaphorically speaking) to make up the first five books of the Old Testament.
It is all very complex and when you find parts you don’t understand, please don’t be too frustrated or angry because you belong to a big club. The, “What The Heck Does This Mean Club.” I believe as I mentioned before in another study that the history reflects a “Lesson Mentality.” The Hebrews only had 120 years of prosperity and power. After the kingship of Saul, David, and Solomon things went south for the Hebrews. The kingdom divided in 930 B.C.E. When the kingdom divided with 10 tribes in the North and 2 tribes in the south, or Judah, we can then historically call the people Jews. Before this time in writing, I try to remember to refer to the people as Hebrews. Assyria in 722 B.C.E absorbed the Tribes of the Northern Kingdom. In 586 B.C.E. the Southern Kingdom was carried off captive to Babylon for 50 years.
I think much of the writing of the history answered the question, “If we are the chosen people, why the heck are we having all this trouble.” The answer reflected by the stories is that the “People Of The Book,” turned away from God and the paths of righteousness. The writers often used natural disasters like floods and earthquakes to tie the LORD’s wrathful justice to a perceived wrongdoing.
It is possible that a lot of the history, the stories came from or were refined during and after the exile in Babylon. I will add again that these stories are inspired by God but they were written by men (men did almost all the writing and teaching in those times) with their own agenda belief system, and their own theology. So as we read the Bible we need to listen for the voice of God within us trying to help us know what God wants us to learn from each story or part of the Bible.
As I reflect on what I’ve written here, I realize it is as confusing as the Bible itself. So if you have any questions or if you want to share your own belief on this or any subject make a comment below.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Noah: Is it real?
A friend in the United Church of Christ gave a sermon titled: "Noah, is it a true story? Probably not." I told her that was a gutsy sermon. It is gutsy to share that from the pulpit because there are many people in even the most liberal church, and the UCC is liberal, that need to believe these Bible stories are the absolute dictated word of God.
They are inspired by God and taken from cataclysmic events, but they are not historical fact. God inspired these stories for specific reasons for a specific messages. Having said that, a thousand people can read the stories and God will speak to each of them in the same way and different ways.
There were horrific floods all over the world and almost every ancient society has flood stories with a moral or a meaning. The meaning is almost always, "Watch your back when it starts to rain."
The flood story from which the Noah story comes is the Gilgamesh Epic of Mesopotamia. One can find much information on that subject online.
The Jews were taken into captivity by the Babylonians from around 587 to 533 BCE (Before the Common Era- or before the year 0. While in captivity they learned the Babylonian creation stories and formed their own creation stories and flood story as found in Genesis.
After Cain did away with his brother Able for being a show-off, Cain went into the world and built cities, and children and grandchildren by the thousands I guess. Although CIS Nod investigated the murder, no one was ever brought to justice on on the Able murder. God has the final word however and Cains offspring were not unlike the old man. So in the sixth chapter of Genesis we find God annoyed with humankind and God's self.
Genesis 6.5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created--people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the LORD.
9 These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. (Genesis 6.5-12 NRSV).
You know the rest of the story. But here it is in a nutshell. Noah built the ark and God brought the rain for 40 days and 40 nights. After the flood was over God made a covenant with human kind and the sign thereof was the rainbow.
Why is the story important? A few reasons perhaps but I think it was to establish the first covenant between God and God's people. The covenant is found in chapter 9 of Genesis and is the first covenant between God and God's creation. At this time in history there were people but not Jews or Hebrews or any other nation. This was one family from which all people would come. These are called the Noahide Laws by the Jews today and in Jewish culture it is the means by which non Jews can go to heaven.
Genesis 9.1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life.
6 Whoever sheds the blood of a human,by a human shall that person’s blood be shed;
for in his own image God made humankind. 7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it.” 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9. 1-17 NRSV)
There are 7 laws here. 1. Be fruitful and multiply. 2 Be stewards of all creation. 3 Eat all animals and plants. 4. Do not eat flesh with blood in it. 5. Do not kill other people. 6. The person that kills another shall be killed. 7. Value life of men and women because they are made in the image of God.
I think the reason for the story of Noah is to establish this covenant between God and people and all creatures on the earth.
The careful reader will see that in Chapter 6.20 God tells Noah to take two of every creature and in chapter 7.2 the LORD says take 7 of each creature. As mentioned in the study of Cain and Able different authors wrote about the same things at different times with different agendas. Notice too, that in chapter 6 the author uses the name God while the chapter 7 author uses the name LORD in all caps. This too shows two different authors. While our translation of the ancient Hebrew does not tell us the difference, God means Yahweh and LORD is Elohim. They mean two different things about God.
The chapter 7 author wants 7 of each creature because he is a priestly writer and wants animals for sacrifice when the Ark comes to rest.
Any questions?
They are inspired by God and taken from cataclysmic events, but they are not historical fact. God inspired these stories for specific reasons for a specific messages. Having said that, a thousand people can read the stories and God will speak to each of them in the same way and different ways.
There were horrific floods all over the world and almost every ancient society has flood stories with a moral or a meaning. The meaning is almost always, "Watch your back when it starts to rain."
The flood story from which the Noah story comes is the Gilgamesh Epic of Mesopotamia. One can find much information on that subject online.
The Jews were taken into captivity by the Babylonians from around 587 to 533 BCE (Before the Common Era- or before the year 0. While in captivity they learned the Babylonian creation stories and formed their own creation stories and flood story as found in Genesis.
After Cain did away with his brother Able for being a show-off, Cain went into the world and built cities, and children and grandchildren by the thousands I guess. Although CIS Nod investigated the murder, no one was ever brought to justice on on the Able murder. God has the final word however and Cains offspring were not unlike the old man. So in the sixth chapter of Genesis we find God annoyed with humankind and God's self.
Genesis 6.5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created--people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the LORD.
9 These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. (Genesis 6.5-12 NRSV).
You know the rest of the story. But here it is in a nutshell. Noah built the ark and God brought the rain for 40 days and 40 nights. After the flood was over God made a covenant with human kind and the sign thereof was the rainbow.
Why is the story important? A few reasons perhaps but I think it was to establish the first covenant between God and God's people. The covenant is found in chapter 9 of Genesis and is the first covenant between God and God's creation. At this time in history there were people but not Jews or Hebrews or any other nation. This was one family from which all people would come. These are called the Noahide Laws by the Jews today and in Jewish culture it is the means by which non Jews can go to heaven.
Genesis 9.1 God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 For your own lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning: from every animal I will require it and from human beings, each one for the blood of another, I will require a reckoning for human life.
6 Whoever sheds the blood of a human,by a human shall that person’s blood be shed;
for in his own image God made humankind. 7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, abound on the earth and multiply in it.” 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.” (Genesis 9. 1-17 NRSV)
There are 7 laws here. 1. Be fruitful and multiply. 2 Be stewards of all creation. 3 Eat all animals and plants. 4. Do not eat flesh with blood in it. 5. Do not kill other people. 6. The person that kills another shall be killed. 7. Value life of men and women because they are made in the image of God.
I think the reason for the story of Noah is to establish this covenant between God and people and all creatures on the earth.
The careful reader will see that in Chapter 6.20 God tells Noah to take two of every creature and in chapter 7.2 the LORD says take 7 of each creature. As mentioned in the study of Cain and Able different authors wrote about the same things at different times with different agendas. Notice too, that in chapter 6 the author uses the name God while the chapter 7 author uses the name LORD in all caps. This too shows two different authors. While our translation of the ancient Hebrew does not tell us the difference, God means Yahweh and LORD is Elohim. They mean two different things about God.
The chapter 7 author wants 7 of each creature because he is a priestly writer and wants animals for sacrifice when the Ark comes to rest.
Any questions?
Friday, October 16, 2009
Cain and Able and Cain's wife
Cain and his wife. Where did she come from? It’s a common question for folks as they read the beginning of Genesis.
Genesis 4: Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD." 2 Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field" b And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?" 10 And the LORD said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." 13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me." 15 Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch. (Genesis 4. 1-17 NRSV)
The Old Testament is hard to understand because many parts such as the first several chapters of Genesis were written by different authors with different agendas at different times decades apart.. An easy example would be four different authors writing about George Washington. One would write a book about his military history. Another would write about his political work. The third would write about his farming, and a forth would write about his youth. One hundred years later a committee would take all four books, tear out the pages, and put them together making adjustments and compromises to get their favorite parts into one book. Confusing huh? That’s basically how the history in the Old Testament was compiled.
The Jewish peoples in ancient times suffered at the hands of evil kings and foreign nations. Much of the history was an explanation of why bad things happened to them as God’s people. The history explained what they felt they did wrong and why God punished them. They felt God was vengeful, jealous, and angry. At the same time they believed God was a merciful God that wanted to rescue them.
Another important part to the puzzle that asks where Cain’s wife came from is that we cannot read the Old Testament from the ancient Hebrew and for those that can it is difficult to translate. Ancient Hebrew writing had no vowels, punctuation, or spaces.
Readers today do not understand that Adam means man, or humankind. When the scripture says God created man, it means humankind, all people. The creation story in chapter 1 and the second creation story in chapter 2 of Genesis are not historical fact but just as suggested, creation stories. When it says God created Adam from the ground there is a clever word play there. God created humans from the humus. As we read the creation stories if we take them literally we are unable to understand God was creating a bunch of humans so when Cain went into the world there were a lot of women to choose from and he found one and had a baby with her. Very simple huh?
Why did God reject Cain’s offering in verse 3? Cane brought an offering of fruit of the land but not the best fruit. Able brought the very best, the fat of his livestock. This lesson tells us that when we give back to God we are to give God our very best rather than half- hearted efforts. When Cain killed Able he was jealous and so perhaps this was the first religious war. Short and on a small scale perhaps. But a religious war nonetheless.
Cain went out and was the father of the nations that were a thorn in the side of the righteous nations. So all the trouble up to the time of Noah stemmed from Cain not giving the very best of his crop to the Lord. We will read in the next blog how God took care of the problem temporarily by wiping every thing out with a flood.
What was the mark of Cain? Since the story is historical fiction and symbolic the mark of Cain is symbolic. It means God’s grace extends to everyone. Even one who kills his brother. No matter what we have done we are not beyond grace and redemption.
Genesis 4: Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD." 2 Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field" b And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?" 10 And the LORD said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." 13 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me." 15 Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch. (Genesis 4. 1-17 NRSV)
The Old Testament is hard to understand because many parts such as the first several chapters of Genesis were written by different authors with different agendas at different times decades apart.. An easy example would be four different authors writing about George Washington. One would write a book about his military history. Another would write about his political work. The third would write about his farming, and a forth would write about his youth. One hundred years later a committee would take all four books, tear out the pages, and put them together making adjustments and compromises to get their favorite parts into one book. Confusing huh? That’s basically how the history in the Old Testament was compiled.
The Jewish peoples in ancient times suffered at the hands of evil kings and foreign nations. Much of the history was an explanation of why bad things happened to them as God’s people. The history explained what they felt they did wrong and why God punished them. They felt God was vengeful, jealous, and angry. At the same time they believed God was a merciful God that wanted to rescue them.
Another important part to the puzzle that asks where Cain’s wife came from is that we cannot read the Old Testament from the ancient Hebrew and for those that can it is difficult to translate. Ancient Hebrew writing had no vowels, punctuation, or spaces.
Readers today do not understand that Adam means man, or humankind. When the scripture says God created man, it means humankind, all people. The creation story in chapter 1 and the second creation story in chapter 2 of Genesis are not historical fact but just as suggested, creation stories. When it says God created Adam from the ground there is a clever word play there. God created humans from the humus. As we read the creation stories if we take them literally we are unable to understand God was creating a bunch of humans so when Cain went into the world there were a lot of women to choose from and he found one and had a baby with her. Very simple huh?
Why did God reject Cain’s offering in verse 3? Cane brought an offering of fruit of the land but not the best fruit. Able brought the very best, the fat of his livestock. This lesson tells us that when we give back to God we are to give God our very best rather than half- hearted efforts. When Cain killed Able he was jealous and so perhaps this was the first religious war. Short and on a small scale perhaps. But a religious war nonetheless.
Cain went out and was the father of the nations that were a thorn in the side of the righteous nations. So all the trouble up to the time of Noah stemmed from Cain not giving the very best of his crop to the Lord. We will read in the next blog how God took care of the problem temporarily by wiping every thing out with a flood.
What was the mark of Cain? Since the story is historical fiction and symbolic the mark of Cain is symbolic. It means God’s grace extends to everyone. Even one who kills his brother. No matter what we have done we are not beyond grace and redemption.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Book of Job, why bad things happen to God's people
Many people need to believe that all the stories in the Bible are absolute history. For those if that is what you need great. I would not tell anyone what to believe.
In reality, Job is not history. It is inspired by God and has an important message, but is not literal history. Who would have been taking notes as the story developed:
6 One day the heavenly beings a came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Job 1.6-12 NRSV
The Hebrew understanding of Satan is not the red-horned-spike tailed-hoofed-pitch fork monster throwing transgressors and backsliders into the lake of fire. Satan is like a policeman and prosecuting attorney. Satan means in Hebrew, Accuser. As the scripture suggests he has been seeking people to accuse of wrongdoing at the Lord’s court.
To make a long story short the Lord holds up Job as a righteous man and Satan agrees saying that Job is righteous because Job is rich, has a house full of children, servants and hired hands etc. Take that away and he will curse you. So God and Satan enter into a wager of sorts and the Lord tells Satan to do what you want with Job and we will see if he curses me.
We must again understand that this story is inspired by God but is not a true story. It may be an allegory without a moral.
Allegory:
1. a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.
2. a symbolical narrative: the allegory of Piers Plowman.
Many authorities say Job is the oldest book in the Bible. The book addresses the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people or why do bad things happen?” It shows us how long we have been asking this question.
It is very important to understand that this is a story and God would never make a wager that involved the taking of lives. In the story of Job all of Job’s children are killed. In addition he loses all of his wealth and tangibles assets.
We can all identify with the death of someone wonderful, someone we love dearly like a child, spouse, parent or dear friend. If we have not experienced that loss personally we know someone that has or we can imagine what it would be like and we fear it happening to us. The fear of losing a child or grandchild is ever present in our lives.
Job loses everything dear to him except his wife who later says to him, “Why don’t you just curse God to his face and die.”
Job sat by the fire in unbearable physical and emotional pain. Three friends came to support him and sat with him in silence for 7 days and so ends chapter 3. The three friends are doing exactly what we should do when someone is in such pain. We just need to sit with them and say nothing.
Many authorities on the Book of Job say that in its original form Job was a very short story of the first few chapters and the last few chapters.
For the next 30 + chapters Job’s friends point out his shortcomings and reasons why God is punishing him. This is quite a clever ploy by those that added these statements in the following decades after the original was written from oral stories. It is what we tend to do, try to find rationalization for suffering. The writers are setting us up for God’s final answer that is: We humans are in error when we try to explain why bad things happen to ourselves or to those we love.
God speaks in Chapter 38 and 39. I will not print it here. I suggest the reader spend some time in your own Bible or look those verses up online reflecting on those chapters.
We humans tend to think of ourselves as the center of all creation. God has created the entire universe and holds it in balance. Everything is important to God from the conception of a sparrow to the death of your loved one. There is a balance of good and evil in creation. A loved one dies, a baby is born. Hurricanes destroy and humans restore with divine help and inspiration.
There are no words or actions than can quickly heal a broken heart that is suffering the loss that Job and zillions of other humans have suffered. With the gift of being God’s highest creation we have the curse of suffering loss and the curse of long memories. In the story of Job, Job’s fortunes are restored and God provides him more children. In real life, no such thing can heal the loss of his original family. This is an allegory however and the restoration reflects that faith is rewarded and through faith in a loving God we can heal. Not overnight, and not perhaps for years. But it does get better. God works for good in the lives of those that believe.
We are not required to be successful, but we are called to be faithful.
In reality, Job is not history. It is inspired by God and has an important message, but is not literal history. Who would have been taking notes as the story developed:
6 One day the heavenly beings a came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Job 1.6-12 NRSV
The Hebrew understanding of Satan is not the red-horned-spike tailed-hoofed-pitch fork monster throwing transgressors and backsliders into the lake of fire. Satan is like a policeman and prosecuting attorney. Satan means in Hebrew, Accuser. As the scripture suggests he has been seeking people to accuse of wrongdoing at the Lord’s court.
To make a long story short the Lord holds up Job as a righteous man and Satan agrees saying that Job is righteous because Job is rich, has a house full of children, servants and hired hands etc. Take that away and he will curse you. So God and Satan enter into a wager of sorts and the Lord tells Satan to do what you want with Job and we will see if he curses me.
We must again understand that this story is inspired by God but is not a true story. It may be an allegory without a moral.
Allegory:
1. a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.
2. a symbolical narrative: the allegory of Piers Plowman.
Many authorities say Job is the oldest book in the Bible. The book addresses the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people or why do bad things happen?” It shows us how long we have been asking this question.
It is very important to understand that this is a story and God would never make a wager that involved the taking of lives. In the story of Job all of Job’s children are killed. In addition he loses all of his wealth and tangibles assets.
We can all identify with the death of someone wonderful, someone we love dearly like a child, spouse, parent or dear friend. If we have not experienced that loss personally we know someone that has or we can imagine what it would be like and we fear it happening to us. The fear of losing a child or grandchild is ever present in our lives.
Job loses everything dear to him except his wife who later says to him, “Why don’t you just curse God to his face and die.”
Job sat by the fire in unbearable physical and emotional pain. Three friends came to support him and sat with him in silence for 7 days and so ends chapter 3. The three friends are doing exactly what we should do when someone is in such pain. We just need to sit with them and say nothing.
Many authorities on the Book of Job say that in its original form Job was a very short story of the first few chapters and the last few chapters.
For the next 30 + chapters Job’s friends point out his shortcomings and reasons why God is punishing him. This is quite a clever ploy by those that added these statements in the following decades after the original was written from oral stories. It is what we tend to do, try to find rationalization for suffering. The writers are setting us up for God’s final answer that is: We humans are in error when we try to explain why bad things happen to ourselves or to those we love.
God speaks in Chapter 38 and 39. I will not print it here. I suggest the reader spend some time in your own Bible or look those verses up online reflecting on those chapters.
We humans tend to think of ourselves as the center of all creation. God has created the entire universe and holds it in balance. Everything is important to God from the conception of a sparrow to the death of your loved one. There is a balance of good and evil in creation. A loved one dies, a baby is born. Hurricanes destroy and humans restore with divine help and inspiration.
There are no words or actions than can quickly heal a broken heart that is suffering the loss that Job and zillions of other humans have suffered. With the gift of being God’s highest creation we have the curse of suffering loss and the curse of long memories. In the story of Job, Job’s fortunes are restored and God provides him more children. In real life, no such thing can heal the loss of his original family. This is an allegory however and the restoration reflects that faith is rewarded and through faith in a loving God we can heal. Not overnight, and not perhaps for years. But it does get better. God works for good in the lives of those that believe.
We are not required to be successful, but we are called to be faithful.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sodom and Gomorrah
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is typically understood as God's anger against homosexuality. Recently many scholars argue that it is a lesson regarding the importance of hospitality. An important commandment of the Old and New Testament is to "Love your Neighbor." Jesus states that there is no greater love that one person has for another than to lay down their lives for their friends. He instructs us to love our enemies. In the Old Testament God gives us rules to assist and help travelers. These things lend themselves to the thought that bonding, helping, lifting up, and sacrifice is very important to God in our relationships with each other.If we look at the beginning of the story in Genesis 18 we find the LORD appears to Abraham. The Lord takes on the plural form here. Don't be confused by that because it just a way to show God and two men (angels) as travelers. The two angels later in the story go to the cities to check things out. Abraham is super hospitable to the travelers. We read too of the ongoing covenant between the Lord and Abraham in the promise of a son. In verse 16 it appears that there are two men (angels) with the Lord. The Lord wonders if he should tell Abraham what is to become of Sodom and Gomorrah. The two men (angels) head toward the two cities. In parables and allegories and stories in general there are details that we question. It is important not to get bogged down in these details but try to stay on track as we travel through the story and bring meaning out of the story for our lives today.The Lord does not say what the sins of the cities are only that he has "heard" that it is an evil place and that he is going down there to check it out. Which we understand as we read on that the angels are going down to see and report back perhaps by Twitter. I don't know. It does not matter. Abraham then suggests as we might: "Are you going to destroy all the men women and children that are without blame to punish those that are bad?" Our understanding today is that a loving God would not do such a thing. If this is how God operates there would not be a city standing on earth. So Abraham bargains with the Lord. "If there are 50 good people there -- if there are 45 there, 40 there and so on..." Chapter 19 finds the angels in Lot's care (Lot is Abraham’s nephew). Lot has extended hospitality to the angels that of course appear as men. Now comes the townspeople that want Lot to send out the men so they can have sex with them.This is where the modern reader gets derailed. We think this desire for homosexuality and rape is what makes God so angry God will destroy two cities. Let’s say that the point God wants to make to us by inspiring the story is that God's anger is against not being hospitable. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus exaggerates the sin of the younger son. It could be suggested that in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah the events are also exaggerated to make a point. Say you were trying to tell a similar story for that same reason, that is God wants us to be helpful to each other. You might have two travelers passing through a remote area when their car breaks down. They would walk on foot in the hot sun until they were hungry, thirsty and tired. Finally they come upon a farmhouse where they seek help.Instead of hospitality what is the worse thing that the inhabitants of the house could do to the travelers? They could kill them and rob them I suppose but even worse would be to beat and rape them. Then in your story the travelers would escape and God would send a tornado to wipe out the farm and kill the abusers. Those listening to your story would have to discern why God punished the abusers. Was it for rape and beating? Many people would think that. However the rape and beating is hyperbole for not given help to the traveler. If the residents of the farm just refused help and sent the travelers on their way and then God wiped them out with a tornado the listener might think it was rather an extreme punishment or a coincidence. With the rape and beating however a definite connection can be made between the act of rape and beating and the punishment. The danger is that the listener might never make the real connection and think only the punishment was for rape and beating. A few thousand years ago listeners and readers of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah would understand the true reason for the destruction of the cities. Oral traditions and stories in those times were like our movies today. Modern stories and movies typically have a meaning, something we can learn from. If we just say, "God wants us to help each other, to love our neighbors as ourselves," most people really don't get how important it is. But if we hear a story like Sodom and Gomorrah with all the violence and destruction it makes an impact on us. Unfortunately the deeper meaning is lost on the modern reader. We just absorb the surface material and don't realize the point is that God inspired the story so we would know how important it is to take care of each other through support and sacrifice. In the ancient times of the Old Testament, travelers would die in the wilderness without the help of others. In addition to the story as it is, is that two cities near the eastern side of the Dead Sea were destroyed probably by earthquake a few thousand years ago. It was horrific with falling buildings and fire and widespread death. What made the story of Sodom and Gomorrah so real to ancient listeners is that they would have known about the destruction of those two cities. So the oral and later written tradition of this story ties in a real event with a tangible reason for the destruction. In those days people thought bad things happened because of God's anger. People would have asked why those cities were destroyed? There were probably many stories about it but the one that survived and later was placed in the Bible was the one that was most exciting. It was inspired by God of course but filtered through the understanding of storytellers and writers within the structure of their understanding and superstitions. What can we learn from the story today. Certainly we know better than to rape and beat people seeking help. We can give someone a ride or even a car if possible. We can help each other in the workplace and in our villages and cities. What can we do for the homeless and the hungry beyond what we are doing now? If someone loses a loved one how can we help? How can we reach out to people. In the story of Job his three friends come and just sit with him without saying a word for a week. That is really the best thing to do in that situation, just be there for a friend in loss. Why does God not stop pain and suffering we ask. Why does God not send someone to help? The answer is that God works in all those situations by sending us. We are God's eyes and hands and heart and that is how God works. God does not change disaster and suffering but God works for good in all things for those that believe by using us. God is a transforming God and can transform people in the midst of suffering when we work together for good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)