03/30/10

Deuteronomy 31-34

In Deuteronomy 31, Moses tells the Israelites that "I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you." He tells them that the LORD has told him that he will not cross the Jordan. He then tells that Joshua will lead them and that "your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." Moses wrote down the law and gave it to the priests "and to all the elders of Israel," and told that every seven years during the feast of Tabernacles they should assemble all the people and "read this law before them in their hearing" because "their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." Moses and Joshua went into the tent of Meeting, and the LORD commissioned Joshua. Then the LORD told Moses that he was "going to rest with [his] fathers" and that the Israelites would "soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering." He taught Moses a song to write down and "teach...to the Israelites and have them sing it so that it may be a witness for me against them." Moses wrote "in a book the words of this law from beginning to end" and gave it to the Levites to carry inside the ark of the covenant.

And in chapter 32, Moses "recited the words of this song from beginning to end." The song praises the Lord, repeatedly calls him "the rock," and condemns the people who have "acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation." It is a song of both praise and judgement. Then, that same day, the LORD told Moses to go up to Mount Nebo in Moas and view Canaan, and then he would die and "be gathered to [his] people," just like Aaron died on Mount Hor, because they "broke faith" with God at the waters of Meribah Kadesh.

In chapter 33, Moses blesses the tribes of Israel, each tribe by name. Then, in chapter 34, Moses climbed Mount Nebo, "to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho," and the LORD "showed him the whole land" and told him it was "the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." And Moses died and was buring in the valley "opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is." he was one hundred and twenty years old "yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone." The Israelites grieved for thirty days. And after that, Joshua "was filled with the spirit of wisdom" and the Israelites "listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Moses's song would fit right in the book of Isaiah or Jeremiah, no questions asked. Parts of it would fit in Psalms, too. There is a common theme running through the Old Testament, and that is how badly the Israelites have strayed from God, no matter what he does for them.
• I've heard it said that the chapters had to be written by someone else, because Moses died, but I don't see any need for change in authorship. The whole Pentateuch is written in third person, and if Moses wrote some of the law specifically himself with his own hand, it seems doubtful that he would have written it all. Surely, there were scribes accessible to him, and whoever put the words down in "the book," they were certainly about Moses and with his cooperation and approval, until the last chapter. But that doesn't mean that there was any scribal change or significant difference in the way the last chapter was recorded. After all, it just says, essentially, "Moses died, the Israelites grieved, Joshua took over."
• Whatever else one wants to say about the relationship between God and the Israelites, one cannot say that they didn't get proper warning. Over and over and over again they were told what to do and what not to do. And over and over and over again they neglected the former and performed the latter.

Psalms 47

A psalm of praise. Unadulterated and exuberant, uninhibited praise of the Lord. The kind of praise we should be giving every day!

Psalm 47
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.
1 Clap your hands, all you nations;
shout to God with cries of joy.

2 How awesome is the LORD Most High,
the great King over all the earth!

3 He subdued nations under us,
peoples under our feet.

4 He chose our inheritance for us,
the pride of Jacob, whom he loved.
Selah

5 God has ascended amid shouts of joy,
the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets.

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm of praise.

8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.

9 The nobles of the nations assemble
as the people of the God of Abraham,
for the kings of the earth belong to God;
he is greatly exalted.

03/26/10

Deuteronomy 27-30

As Deuteronomy moves into chapter 27, there's a change in voice, as Moses is now joined by "the elders of Israel" in commanding the people. Together, they tell them to keep all of the commands that they are giving them, and they tell them that, when they cross the Jordan, they are to set up some large stones on Mount Ebal, plaster them and write the words of the law on them. They should also build an altar there and "offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God." Moses then told them that the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin were to stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali were to stand on Mount Ebal and pronounce curses on the people. And there were a list of curses for the Levites to recite, after each of which "all the people shall say, 'Amen!'" This is followed, in chapter 28, with a list of more blessings which would accrue to them for obedience to God's law, and a list of more curses which would befall them for failure to obey God's law.

In chapter 29, the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, "in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb." Moses reminds them of the things that they have seen, the way that the LORD brought them out of Egypt. He reminds them of their victory over Sihon and Og, and how they took their land and vave it to Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. He tells them to "carefully follow the terms of the covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do." He makes it clear that the covenant is generational so that "I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today." They must be careful not worship the pagan gods of other nations. A person who does "invokes a blessing on himself and therefore thinks, 'I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way.' This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. The LORD will never be willing to forgive him." Disaster will come if they do not obey and they will be made an example of "because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers." And, in chapter 30, he continues to bless them with properity if they obey the covenant, and to curse them if they turn away. "I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Not content commentary, but this is, I think, the longest single reading thus far. Four chapters, one of which covers 68 verses, this is a total of nearly 4000 words in the NIV.
• The list of curses in chapter 28 is significantly longer than the list of blessings. Most of them ended up coming true.

Psalms 46

A praise psalm, with apocalyptic imagery to emphasize the faith that the psalmist has in the LORD. we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging...he LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress."

Psalm 46
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields [b] with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

03/25/10

Deuteronomy 23-26

Deuteronomy 23 addresses people who are to be excluded from "the assembly of the LORD," including those who have been "emasculated" ("he that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off" [KJV]), those of illegitimate birth (and their descendants), and Ammonites and Moabites. Edomites ("he is your brother") and Egyptians ("you lived as an alien in his country") are not to be "abhorred."

The next few verses deal with the issue of "uncleanness" when "encamped against your enemies," as the laws and regulations on uncleanness all deal with the tabernacle, and when encamped, they are some distance from it. They must set up a place outside the camp to relieve themselves, and they must keep the camp holy so that the LORD "will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you." The reset of the chapter contains some miscellaneous laws, including injunctions not to hand slaves back to their masters, not to become shrine prostitutes and not to practice usury with your "brother Israelite."

In chapters 24 and 25, the set of short and miscellaneous regulations continue, including the means and mechanisms for divorce, requirements that a recently married man "be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married" for one year, not to take millstones as security for a debt, to follow the priestly laws in the case of leprous diseases. There are a couple of these regulations aimed at protecting the "poor and needy...the alien, the fatherless and the widow. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this." Disputes must go to court and judges decide the case, flogging must not include more than forth lashes, a man who's brother dies must "take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law" and "the first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel." They must use honest weights and honest scales and "blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."

Deuteronomy 26 is another reminder passage. First, he reminds the Israelites that the firstfruits of the harvest must be given to the LORD. They must set apart a tenth of all their produce in the third year to give to the Levite and the unfortunate. And again, he tells them of their obligation to follw the LORD's commands, "carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Every verse in chapter 24 could be a sermon source. And probably has been at some point. There's a reason that the Talmud is much, much longer than the Torah. It's been said that God's law boils down to "love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Everything else is commentary." This section is commentary. It contains specific rules and regulations for that society in that place at that time, based on the more timeless principles of the Ten Commandments.
• I'm sorry, this one just made me laugh.
  

  If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity. (Dt 25:11-12)

  What the issue is here, I really have no idea. Is it purity/uncleanness? Womanly modesty? Is it considered grossly dangerous or unfair to attack a man that way? I don't know what to make of this one at all, but it made me laugh anyway. (Remember, this is Moses, not the LORD.)

Psalms 45

Another psalm with a tune specified.

This is interesting in that it is not really a prayer. There are a couple of verses praising God, but this is, well, a wedding song. I've never noticed it before, and it seems rather odd that it's in that book.

Psalm 45
For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil. A wedding song.
1 My heart is stirred by a noble theme
as I recite my verses for the king;
my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

2 You are the most excellent of men
and your lips have been anointed with grace,
since God has blessed you forever.

3 Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one;
clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.

4 In your majesty ride forth victoriously
in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness;
let your right hand display awesome deeds.

5 Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies;
let the nations fall beneath your feet.

6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.

7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy.

8 All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;
from palaces adorned with ivory
the music of the strings makes you glad.

9 Daughters of kings are among your honored women;
at your right hand is the royal bride in gold of Ophir.

10 Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear:
Forget your people and your father's house.

11 The king is enthralled by your beauty;
honor him, for he is your lord.

12 The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift,
men of wealth will seek your favor.

13 All glorious is the princess within her chamber ;
her gown is interwoven with gold.

14 In embroidered garments she is led to the king;
her virgin companions follow her
and are brought to you.

15 They are led in with joy and gladness;
they enter the palace of the king.

16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers;
you will make them princes throughout the land.

17 I will perpetuate your memory through all generations;
therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever.

03/24/10

Deuteronomy 20-22

Deuteronomy 20 contains instructions from Moses to the Israelites on behavior when going to war. He urges them not to be afraid, even against "an army greater than yours" because God "will be with you." He outlines some of the things for the officers to say to get the right troops in the right attitude and then tells them that when they go to attack a city, they should first make an offer of peace. If the inhabitants accept, then they will be subject to the will of the Israelites. If they refuse, kill all the men and take the women and children, and goods, as plunder. This only applies to distant cities however, as the cities in the nations that God is giving the Israelites, those of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, are to be utterly destroyed - "do not leave alive anything that breathes."

Deuteronomy 21 and 22 have several different shorter sections of law. First, there are instructions for dealing with a slain man outside of a city "if it is not known who killed him." The elders of the town closest to the body must make a sacrifice and declare, "our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done" in atonement. Then, there are instructions related to capturing an enemy woman and marrying her after her period of mourning. The Israelite must "let her go wherever she wishes" is he doesn't want to keep her as a wife, because "since you have dishonored her." A man with two wives must honor his first-born son with the birthright (double portion) of the firstborn even if he prefers the other wife to the first-born's mother. A rebellious son, who will not obey his parents' discipline, can be taken to the elders and then stoned to death by the community, for "you must purge the evil from among you." And anyone put to death and hanged on a tree must not be left overnight, but buried the same day, "because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse."

Chapter 22 starts with several verses of law which do not appear to have a signficant common theme, including laws forbidding cross-dressing, taking mother birds, planting two kinds of seed in your vineyard, wearing wool and linen woven together and yoking an ox and a donkey together. Positive laws include requirements to help "if you see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen on road," to build a parapet around the roof of a new house so that no one will fall from the roof, and to wear tassels on the corners of a cloak. The rest of the chapter gets back to marriage and sexual matters, including dealing with various forms of adultery. For all of the concern about double standards (which might include the section in this chapter on female virginity), "if a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die." There's another interesting regulation on rape, whereas an unmarried girl is raped in a town, they are both to be stoned, because she could have yelled, but if an unmarried girl is raped in the country, "only the man who has one this shall die," the girl "has committed no sin deserving death...though the betrothed girl screamed, there was no one to rescue her."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• The instructions with regard to the Canaanite tribes are harsh and unambiguous. There is obviously a great concern about the example that those tribes will set, the influence they may have on the Israelites, if they are not destroyed.
• The passage on unsolved murders is very interesting. Murders form, for many of us, a high percentage of our entertainment, because there's always (or almost always) a clear right or wrong resolution. So we're very interested in "whodunnit," in books and movies and television shows. There is no consideration in this section whatsoever for "whodunnit." The primary concern is that someone needs to take responsibility for making the appropriate sacrifices. I'm positive that there's a good theological statement to be made here, based on it, but I'm not sure what it is at the moment.
• The crucifixion had special meaning for the Jews, because "anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse." In this way, Jesus takes God's curse for all of us. Again, it's all preparation for the incarnation and resurrection.
• I wonder at the term rape. It almost seems, at times, as if it is being used to describe consensual but non-married and thus illegitimate, activity.

Psalms 44

This is a fascinating psalm. For the first eight verses, the psalmist praises God, praises what "our fathers have told, what you did in their days." He makes it clear that he knows that "it was not by their sword that they won the land...it was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face." "In God we make our boast all day long."

But the rest of the psalm is a lamentation. "Now you have rejected and humbled us." He insists that "we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant...our feet had not strayed from your path...or spread out our hands to a foreign god."

we can understand the lament, as we've all felt it. Which of us has not cried into the darkness, "how long, O Lord, how long?" We want things done on our time. We want answers, we want them immediately, and we want the answers that we want. But sometimes, we don't get those, and the answers take forms that confuse us. The psalm ends with a plea, a plea that we've all made, "Rise up and help us; redeem us because of your unfailing love." And we have faith that he will, as the psalmist still has faith, else would he not be making the plea. But the answers may not be answers we like, and they'll come in God's time, not ours.

Psalm 44
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A maskil.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God;
our fathers have told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.

2 With your hand you drove out the nations
and planted our fathers;
you crushed the peoples
and made our fathers flourish.

3 It was not by their sword that they won the land,
nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face, for you loved them.

4 You are my King and my God,
who decrees victories for Jacob.

5 Through you we push back our enemies;
through your name we trample our foes.

6 I do not trust in my bow,
my sword does not bring me victory;

7 but you give us victory over our enemies,
you put our adversaries to shame.

8 In God we make our boast all day long,
and we will praise your name forever.
Selah

9 But now you have rejected and humbled us;
you no longer go out with our armies.

10 You made us retreat before the enemy,
and our adversaries have plundered us.

11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You sold your people for a pittance,
gaining nothing from their sale.

13 You have made us a reproach to our neighbors,
the scorn and derision of those around us.

14 You have made us a byword among the nations;
the peoples shake their heads at us.

15 My disgrace is before me all day long,
and my face is covered with shame

16 at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me,
because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge.

17 All this happened to us,
though we had not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.

18 Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.

19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21 would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?

22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

23 Awake, O Lord! Why do you sleep?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.

24 Why do you hide your face
and forget our misery and oppression?

25 We are brought down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.

26 Rise up and help us;
redeem us because of your unfailing love.

03/23/10

Deuteronomy 17-19

Deuteronomy 17 begins with a reminder that the offerings to the LORD must be without "any defect or flaw," and continues with instructions to stone to death "a man or woman living among you...found doing evil in the eyes of the LORD you God in violation of his covenant," specifically with regard to worshipping other Gods. The punishment is only to be imposed, however, on testimony of more than one witness - "no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness." Moses then discusses the judging of difficult cases, telling the people that if cases come to court which are "too difficult for you to judge," take them to the priests and they will give you the verdict.

He tells them that when they have taken possession of the promised land and say, "Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us," to be certain that the chosen king is the one that God chooses. He must be "from among your brothers." And then he says that the king must not "acquire great numbers of horses for himself...take many wives...[or] accumulate large amounts of silver and gold." The king must "write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law...He is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God."

In chapter 18, Moses reminds the Israelites that the Levites "are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel," and that they "shall live on the offerings made to the LORD by fire, for that is their inheritance." He emphasizes, again, that they are not to "imitate the detestable ways of the nations" whom they are driving out of the promised land. He tells them that though the Canaanite nations "listen to those who practice sorcery or divination" but that the Israelites are not to do so. But the Lord "will raise up for a prophet like me from among your own brothers" and they must listen to him. But a prophet who would speak in God's name without God's word "must be put to death." They would know the truth or falsehood because "if what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken."

Deuteronomy 19 talks about the sanctuary cities, the "cities of refuge," which were first described in Numbers 35. Three of them are on the east side of the Jordan and there are to be three more in the promised land. They exist to offer a place of refuge for one who accidentally, "without malice aforethought," kills his neigbor. If Israel obeys the Lord and prospers, such that their territory is enlarged, they are to add three more. "Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land." And he tells them again that "one witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed." And if someone perjures himself in order to injure another, the man guilty of perjury should be punished the same way that he tried to have the other man punished. They are told to "show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Over 200 years ago, our ancestors threw of the yoke of a king, and we feel that monarchy is a bad and outdated idea. The Israelites, however, lived in a time when that was considered to be an acceptable and desirable form of government. This will come up again, as the book of Judges continuously tells us that "everyone did what was right in his own eyes because there was no King." And Moses and the LORD knew that the Israelites would expect and want a king. So there were instructions left for him, and requirements for him.
• I have always tended to think of the Old Testament prophets as ... well, I'm not sure how to say this. Outside of societal norms, I guess. Someone that the average person would look at and tend to ignore. Here, again, we see that the context for those prophets is something that we need to understand. It's actually an official title for the LORD's messengers, and the Israelites know that they'll be coming and that they need to be listened to.
• I have always been a "well, the New Testament is where Christ is so that's the important part" Bible reader. But as I go through these Old Testament books in a more careful (and, hopefully, more thoughtful) way, it seems to me that everything here either points to Jesus or prepares the ground for his arrival. The whole of the law, it seems to me, creates a context in which Jesus can come to earth as a man and perform the act of redemption which enables us to know God, and we would be able to see and understand it. There had to be a sacrificial system for him to fit into. We had to have a context for understanding the "lamb of God." There had to be prophets for us to see that God could talk to man. The Old Testament is the history of the Israelites, but it is preparation for everyone for understanding the ministry and mission of Jesus.

Psalms 43

A psalm of supplication and praise. The psalmist is oppressed and prays God's help ("plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men") and feels cut off ("Why have you rejected me?"). But still, he has faith in God's will, and that God will help and he will praise God ("Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight.")

Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, O God,
and plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.

2 You are God my stronghold.
Why have you rejected me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?

3 Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

4 Then will I go to the altar of God,
to God, my joy and my delight.
I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

03/22/10

Deuteronomy 14-16

Chapter 14 of Deuteronomy includes a repeat of the dietary laws from Leviticus chapter 11, which explain that the Israelites "may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud." It also tells them not to "cook a young goat in its mother's milk." Moses also tells them to "set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year" as a tithe for the LORD. He tells them, if the place set aside for the making of offerings is too far away, to convert the offerings to silver and carry that, then convert it again at the other end of the journey. And they are told to bring all of the tithe's and "store it in your towns" every three years, to provide for the Levites "(who have no allotment or inheritance of their own)" and also for the "aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns."

In chapter fifteen, there is a reminder of the obligation to "cancel debts" among fellow Israelites every seven years (Lv 25), as well as admonitions not to abuse that. They are told that a Hebrew who "sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free." And they are reminded to set apart for the LORD "every firstborn male of your herds and flocks."

Deuteronomy 16 reminds the Israelites of the instructions to celebrate the Passover, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles, as they were told in Leviticus 23. They are also told to appoint judges "for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you," and warned, again, not to worship other Gods.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• If I'm not mistaken, Deuteronomy 14:21, "do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk," is the source of the kosher requirements for two sets of dishes, one for meat and another for dairy.
• Three of the Gospels tell the story of Jesus cleaning the money-changers and merchants out of the temple.
  
  

  "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' " (Mt 21:13)
  
  And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: " 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations' ? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.' " (Mk 11:17)
  
  "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be a house of prayer' ; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.' " (Lk 19:46)

  
  Many of us, first encountering Jesus' anger in the temple, assume that there's no reason for the "moneychangers" and "those selling doves" to be there in the first place, and therefore, Jesus' anger is prima facie justified. After reading Deuteronomy 14, however, the story makes more sense culturally, but the anger is harder to explain. There must be something behavioral going on beyond the mere fact of the existence and presence of money changers and dove sellers in the temple. That presence is, if not demanded, at least explained and justified in Deuteronomy 14:24-26.
  
  

  If that place [that the LORD orders for the sacrifices] is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish...

  
  So those merchants are necessary for Jews traveling too far to bring their sacrifices. Their mere presence should not cause the kind of reaction that Jesus had - there is more going on than that.
• They were certainly told often enough, or more than often enough, not to worship idols and other Gods. It didn't work.

Psalms 42

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God." A wonderful image, and deep down, I believe it's true. But up on top, it's hard. Do we really "pant...as the deer pants for streams of water?" Many of us, I fear, are scared of the commitment that comes from desiring God that way. What if we commit ourselves, our souls "thirst[ing] for God," and then "men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?'" We fear having to ask, ""Why have you forgotten me?"

Jesus said that "blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled." May it please God to have that be us, all the time, hungering and thirsting for righteousness and for God.

Psalm 42

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.

2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6 my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?"

10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

11 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

03/21/10

Deuteronomy 11-13

Deuteronomy chapter 11 contains an extended exhortation to love and obey the lord and "keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always." Moses reminds the Israelites that they need to remember that "your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the LORD your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt." He warns them to be careful "or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD's anger will burn against you."

In chapter 12, Moses reiterates the command to completely destroy the nations that they will be driving out of the land, all of their altars and idles and "wipe out their names from those places." The Israelites must not be seduced into the worship practices of those nations. And once they have taken possession of the promised land, "the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name" and all sacrificed must be brought there. "Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose." If the place is too far distant, the sacrifice can be converted to money and then exchanged at the place for the appropriate sacrifice, but they must not worship as the other nations do.

In chapter 13, he emphasizes yet again the importance of not worshipping other Gods. For example, if a prophet should announce a miraculous sign which takes place and then urges them to follow other Gods, "you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• Moses gave the Israelites, explicitly, both a blessing and a curse. Entirely dependent upon their behavior.
  
  

  I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse - the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods

• Earlier, during my commentary on Leviticus, I mentioned that I understood why Christians didn't need to perform animal sacrifices, but I didn't know why Jews no longer did. A little bit of research indicated that it was related to the destruction of the temple and instructions to do it only in a specific place. Part of the answer is here in Deuteronomy 12.
  
  

  Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. 14 Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.

  
  Presumably, the LORD ended up telling them to do it in Jerusalem, they built the temple, and that's where the sacrifices were done. And then the Romans destroyed the temple, and now the place where they needed to do the sacrifices isn't there anymore. The interesting question now is, if they were to rebuild the temple, would the ritual sacrifices re-commence?

Psalms 41

In a random universe, coincidences will occur. In a God-created and directed universe, coincidences will occur. Whether we see divine providence in them will obviously depend upon our world-view, and often on the import and unlikeliness of the coincidence. There have been a couple of things happen during the course of the year so far where different items have lined up with my reading/writing schedule, and today saw another of them. Today was Enable Boston Sunday where we had a ministry moment and a testimony at church related to the Enable Boston ministry, a ministry dealing with differently able persons with all sorts of disabilities. In addition to the testimony, ministry moment and prayer, the sermon touched on the topic, and a blind woman played the offeratory on the piano (spectacularly.)

And I opened up the reading schedule to see that the wisdom reading for the day is Psalm 41.

Which opens, "blessed is he who has regard for the weak."

Coincidence?

Psalm 41
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak;
the LORD delivers him in times of trouble.

2 The LORD will protect him and preserve his life;
he will bless him in the land
and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.

3 The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed
and restore him from his bed of illness.

4 I said, "O LORD, have mercy on me;
heal me, for I have sinned against you."

5 My enemies say of me in malice,
"When will he die and his name perish?"

6 Whenever one comes to see me,
he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander;
then he goes out and spreads it abroad.

7 All my enemies whisper together against me;
they imagine the worst for me, saying,

8 "A vile disease has beset him;
he will never get up from the place where he lies."

9 Even my close friend, whom I trusted,
he who shared my bread,
has lifted up his heel against me.

10 But you, O LORD, have mercy on me;
raise me up, that I may repay them.

11 I know that you are pleased with me,
for my enemy does not triumph over me.

12 In my integrity you uphold me
and set me in your presence forever.

13 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Amen and Amen.

03/20/10

Deuteronomy 8-10

Deuteronomy eight is an exhortation from Moses for the Israelites to remember the Lord, to "remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you...as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you." And remembering the Lord means observing his commands, "walking in his ways and revering him." He extols the virtues of the land that has been promised them, and tells them to praise the Lord "when you have eaten and are satisfied," to be careful not to forget. Because "if you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods...you will surely be destroyed."

In chapter nine, Moses warns the Israelites not to attribute God's promises to them to their own righteousness. They are going to drive out the larger nations currently holding Canaan with God's help because of the wickedness of those nations, not the righteousness of the Israelites. He reminds them of the Golden Calf at Mount Horeb, and how "you also made the LORD angry at Taberah, at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah," and how, when the Lord sent them out from Kadesh Barnea to take the land, they had rebelled and angered him again. He told them how he has stood between them and the Lord's wrath on many occasions and reminded God that the Israelites are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm."

In chapter ten, he tells them that he chiselled out two tables, like the first ones which he had destroyed, and the LORD wrote on them. And how they made the ark and the tablets with the Ten Commandments lay within. He reminded them how the LORD had set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark and to minister and pronounce blessings in his name. And again, he reminds them to fear the Lord, "to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good." He reminds them that Israel went into Egypt as seventy men "and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• The summary and rehash continues. It's like a valedictory address.
• I don't remember this passage from the last time I read this book:
  
  

  You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

  
  There are a lot of people, myself as much as anyone else, who need to remember that.
• That does not, however, give someone else the right to confiscate it.

Psalms 40

A psalm of praise. "I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry...he set my feet on a rock...put a new song in my mouth."

Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.

2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.

3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.

4 Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust,
who does not look to the proud,
to those who turn aside to false gods.

5 Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.

6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but my ears you have pierced;
burnt offerings and sin offerings
you did not require.

7 Then I said, "Here I am, I have come—
it is written about me in the scroll.

8 I desire to do your will, O my God;
your law is within my heart."

9 I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips,
as you know, O LORD.

10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD;
may your love and your truth always protect me.

12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.

13 Be pleased, O LORD, to save me;
O LORD, come quickly to help me.

14 May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.

15 May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!"
be appalled at their own shame.

16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
"The LORD be exalted!"

17 Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.

03/19/10

Deuteronomy 5-7

Deuteronomy five continues the summary and review of the law that Moses is giving the Israelites who will take the promised land. It starts with the ten commandments, as previously set forth in Exodus 20, which were then written on stone tablets and given to Moses. He tells them that they "heard the voice out of the darkness" and responded that they would "listen and obey." So they must "walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess." These reminders are followed, in chapter six, with repeated exhortations to "love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." And they were to teach their children about God bringing them out of Egypt, and if they were "careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."

In chapter seven, Moses tells them that when they take the promised land, and drive out (with God's help) the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, they must utterly destroy those nations, their altars and idols and every remnant of their civilization. "Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you." He emphasizes the importance of the "commands, decrees and laws I give you today," and stresses that God will bless them if they do that, and punish them if they do not.

Thoughts, questions, issues

• One of things that's interesting in the first seven chapters of Deuteronomy is that the voice being heard is Moses'. We're not getting "the Lord said to Moses" at all, just "Moses said to the Israelites." Now, much of what he's saying is, "remember that the Lord said..." but it's specifically Moses attributing it, and the author attributes to Moses rather than the Lord directly.
• This is, again, a repetition of earlier material. We don't learn, generally, on being told something once, so here God's word is repeated for the Israelites. Moses is not going to cross the Jordan with them, and everyone knows it, and he's the one who has been in direct communication with the Lord. It is important for everyone that he highlight and emphasize the important parts of the message, and repeats it in such a way that they will be able to remember it when he's gone.
• Thus far, there's been no "action," if you will, and no new law or even commentary. This is the summary of the lessons of the forty years in the wilderness.

Psalms 39

Many of the psalms read like proverbs. This reads like a passage from Ecclesiastes. The teacher says many things like "you have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." And here, the psalmist is aging and, in the words of Dylan Thomas, "rag[ing] against the dying of the light." It's interesting in that this one ends with a plea for God to turn away. There's a strong sense of alienation, and it isn't the joyful or penitent prayer that so many of the psalms are.

Psalm 39
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David.
1 I said, "I will watch my ways
and keep my tongue from sin;
I will put a muzzle on my mouth
as long as the wicked are in my presence."

2 But when I was silent and still,
not even saying anything good,
my anguish increased.

3 My heart grew hot within me,
and as I meditated, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:

4 "Show me, O LORD, my life's end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.

5 You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Each man's life is but a breath.
Selah

6 Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain;
he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

7 "But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.

8 Save me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the scorn of fools.

9 I was silent; I would not open my mouth,
for you are the one who has done this.

10 Remove your scourge from me;
I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

11 You rebuke and discipline men for their sin;
you consume their wealth like a moth—
each man is but a breath.
Selah

12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD,
listen to my cry for help;
be not deaf to my weeping.
For I dwell with you as an alien,
a stranger, as all my fathers were.

13 Look away from me, that I may rejoice again
before I depart and am no more."

03/18/10

Deuteronomy 1-4

The book of Deuteronomy follows Numbers, and opens with the Israelites camped on the east side of the Jordan. Moses "spoke to all Israel in the desert" and for the first three chapters, he reviews with them the events which have followed the Exodus, as they have wandered the desert. In chapter one, he talks about the command to leave Horeb (Num 10), the appointment of leaders among the Israelites to help Moses (Num 11), the spying excursion into Canaan (Num 13) and the rebellion when the people would not go into the promised land (Num 14). Chapter two talks of how they wandered in the desert for thirty-eight years while "that entire generation of fighting men [who rebelled and refused to take the promised land] had perished from the camp," and how they defeated Sihon, the King of Heshbon (Num 21). Chapter three covers the defeat of Og, King of Bashan (Num 21), the division of the land on the east side of the Jordan (Num 32), and of Moses being forbidden to cross the Jordan (Num 20, 27).

Chapter four begins a restatement of the law, starting with admonitions to be obedient to the law of the Lord as he has given it to them. "Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb...He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow." Idolatry is forbidden, and if the Israelites "become corrupt and make any kind of idol...you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess." The Lord is God - "acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other." After setting aside three sanctuary cities east of the Jordan, Moses reiterated the "stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt."

Thoughts, questions, issues

• "These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert..." If I remember correctly (and I'll know for sure in a week and a half), those opening words are an excellent summary of the book.
• The first few chapters are a summary of the things that have happened to the Israelites since they came out of Egypt. No new law is handed down, no new events take place.
• The ways of the LORD are not our ways, and we cannot see all that he sees. How can God allow bad things to happen to good people? "The LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance...From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you..." There are no easy answers, and sometimes even the true answers are not comforting.

Psalms 38

The psalmist prays for comfort and help, struggling under a load of guilt. Many of the psalms are martial in nature, with afflictions caused by worldly enemies. This one is penitent, recognizing the wrath which sin has earned.

Psalm 38
A psalm of David. A petition.
1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.

2 For your arrows have pierced me,
and your hand has come down upon me.

3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
my bones have no soundness because of my sin.

4 My guilt has overwhelmed me
like a burden too heavy to bear.

5 My wounds fester and are loathsome
because of my sinful folly.

6 I am bowed down and brought very low;
all day long I go about mourning.

7 My back is filled with searing pain;
there is no health in my body.

8 I am feeble and utterly crushed;
I groan in anguish of heart.

9 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord;
my sighing is not hidden from you.

10 My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
even the light has gone from my eyes.

11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
my neighbors stay far away.

12 Those who seek my life set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they plot deception.

13 I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear,
like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;

14 I have become like a man who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply.

15 I wait for you, O LORD;
you will answer, O Lord my God.

16 For I said, "Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."

17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.

18 I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.

19 Many are those who are my vigorous enemies;
those who hate me without reason are numerous.

20 Those who repay my good with evil
slander me when I pursue what is good.

21 O LORD, do not forsake me;
be not far from me, O my God.

22 Come quickly to help me,
O Lord my Savior.