01/07/2010

Genesis 18-20

Chapter 18 tells of another meeting between Abraham and the LORD. It starts with Abraham seeing three men standing nearby. He encourages Sarah to bake bread, and he has a servant prepare a calf, and he feeds the men. At some point, it becomes obvious that the men either are manifestations of, or represent, the LORD. The LORD tells Abraham that he will return in a year and Sarah will have a son. Sarah, overhearing, laughs at the impossibility of having a son at her age, but denies it when challenged.

As the three are/the LORD is leaving, they/he look(s) toward Sodom, and the LORD informs Abraham of his intent to examine Sodom, discover if it is as bad as he's been led to believe, and destroy it if true. Abraham negotiates and wins the sparing of the city if it contains 10 righteous men.

Chapter 19 chronicles

• the Angels' visit to Sodom
• the attempt by the mob to rape them
• the rescue of Lot and his family from Sodom
• the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
• the turning of Lot's wife into a "pillar of salt"

It ends with the disturbing story of Lot's daughters being impregnated by their father.

In chapter 20, Abraham and Sarah travel to Gerar and deal with the king, Abimelech. As in Egypt, Abraham presents Sarah as his sister. As in Egypt, the king takes Sarah. As in Egypt, God punishes the king for taking another man's wife. And, as in Egypt, Abraham leaves richer than he came.

Thoughts, questions, issues
• To say that there is much in this section that I don't understand would be an understatement. (Although that statement would seem to indicate that there are sections that don't have much that I don't understand, and that's probably not accurate either...)
• Does the first half of chapter 18 contain an early reference to the Trinity? The story alternates between "three men" and "the LORD" as the entity or entities with which Abraham is speaking. Are they Angels? Manifestations of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Is the hospitality due to Abraham's recognition of them as holy messengers, or is that a cultural behavior?
• An omniscient God does not need to examine a city [Sodom, Gomorrah] to know what is going on, how bad the situation is, how many good men there are or anything else. This passage is strange, not only because of the limits implied, but because Abraham is seen not only debating with God, but leading him in argument, essentially teaching him.
• God's vision is not ours, God's motives are not ours, and the story, if true, may be true for good reasons that I'm incapable of, or possibly just lack context for, understanding.
• Why, on the other hand, would someone invent, at a late date, a story that makes the almighty God that they worship look so limited?
• I called the story of Lot's daughters disturbing, and it is. But there's almost nothing in chapter 19 that is not disturbing.
• The depth of depravity indicated by mobs pounding on Lot's door and demanding that the visitors be sent out to be ravished is, obviously, significant. To my modern eyes and sensibilities, it's not obvious that Lot's answer - here, take my virgin daughters - is any less depraved.
• There is some debate about whether the sin of Sodom was the homosexuality or the licentiousness. I have heard it argued, and it was compelling at the time, that that it was the former. I do not remember the details of the argument. It seems as if there was plenty of sin to go around, whichever position you hold.
• There is some similarity between the story of Lot's wife and the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Is this coincidence or cultural cross-contamination?
• The story of Lot's daughters getting him drunk and getting impregnated is disturbing. It also is the kind of story that makes all kinds of sense as a late invention.
  
  

  The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.
  

  The books of Moses were recorded at the time of the Exodus and the conquest. If you're going into land that is currently occupied, you are going to be more motivated, as a people, if you believe that the land is yours by divine right, and if the people currently living there are illegitimate descendants of drunken incest.
  
• The story of Abraham and Abimelech in chapter 20 is exactly the same story that we read about Abram and Pharoah back in chapter 12. There are no substantive differences, only trappings - place and persons. The behavior is identical. Is this one story that got told a couple of different ways and ended up recorded as two different stories?
• If they aren't the same story, if it did happen twice, and Abraham, having profited the first time, did it again with another ruler, isn't he, well, a pimp?
• Abraham tells Abimelech that Sarah is his half-sister, claiming that the "she's my sister" was not a lie. This is the first mention of their relationship being incestuous. As I've said before, and will have occasion to again, the story is set before the law was handed down. It is unclear to me when, exactly, humanity would have developed practical strictures against said behavior. It is not clear to me, then, that this is viewed as improper in context, no matter how we look at it now.

Proverbs 7

So this is sex day, I guess. Proverbs 7¹ starts with the now-familiar exhortation to "keep my words and store up my commands within you." And then continues to warn against "the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words." We get the (certainly allegorical) story of "a youth who lacked judgment" and was seduced by a woman of "crafty intent." "She led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk...like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life."

It is not surprising that Genesis would contain stories of a sexual nature, nor that Proverbs would devote significant time to sexual morality. The sexual urge is a fundamental and powerful aspect of human life. And it is easily corruptible. Behavior which is desirable and appropriate in one setting becomes inappropriate or troublesome if the circumstances are slightly different. Which is a compelling reason to devote significant effort to educating and warning about the effects of corrupted behavior.
 


¹ - Proverbs 7 in paragraph form:

My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," and call understanding your kinsman; they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.

At the window of my house I looked out through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who lacked judgment. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house at twilight, as the day was fading, as the dark of night set in. Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.)

She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: "I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and have found you! I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let's drink deep of love till morning; let's enjoy ourselves with love! My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon."

With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.

Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths. Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.

01/06/2010

Genesis 15-17

We've already seen God promise the land of Canaan to Abram. In chapters 15-17, we see the establishment of a formal covenant between God and Abram, whom he renames Abraham.

Chapter 15 begins with the Lord appearing to Abram in a vision and telling him that a great nation will be established of his descendants. Abram points out that he doesn't actually have any children and God assures him that he will. God instructs him to perform a sacrifice, and they establish a covenant.

Chapter 16 has Sarai, barren to this point, offering her maid Hagar to Abram as a vessel for producing an heir. But after Hagar is impregnated, she begins "to despise" Sarai. Sarai mistreats her and Hagar flees, only to have an angel of the Lord appear to her and send her back with news that the Lord would "so increase [her] descendants that they will be too numerous to count." So she returned and "bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne."

Then in chapter 17, the Lord confirms his covenant with Abram. He renames him Abraham ("for I have made you a father of many nations") and gives him "the whole land of Canaan." He also renames Sarai to Sarah. He sets circumcision as the sign of the covenant. He tells Abraham that Sarah will bear him a son and they are to call him Isaac. And then Abraham, and all of the men of his house, "that very day" were circumcised.

Thoughts, questions, issues
• Earlier, Abram spoke with God, or God spoke to Abram, and there really wasn't any detail about the communication. It sounded as if God were corporeal and they were sitting and chatting. Here, God is portrayed as appearing to Abram "in a vision."
• There are a lot of verses in these passages that can be read in multiple ways because of so many pronouns. Or rather, so few. 15:6, for example - "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." This may be clear in the Hebrew, as they may decline their pronouns, but in English, that could be "he [Abram] credited it to him [God] as righteousness" or "he [God] attributed it to him [Abram] as righteousness." I assume that the latter is the correct reading, but it's not clear from the English version.
• God tells Abram about the captivity in, and exodus from, Egypt. Given that these stories, however they were handed down, weren't necessarily written until the time of the exodus, this is the kind of thing that leads people to believe that they are myths.
• I'm not sure that I understand what the word "despise" means in the Old Testament. The contexts in which it is used seems to carry a connotation other than "hate," which is what I always thought it meant. Maybe that's close enough, but it doesn't feel right. There seems to be a sense of contempt, which I've never considered to be an aspect of despite. I'm probably wrong, but the usage here, for Hagar's feelings toward Sarah, just doesn't feel like "despise" to me, so I guess I'm not quite understanding it.
• It's not clear to me why the Angel's message - "He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers" - made Hagar think going back was a good idea. Or did she do it in order to cause torment, difficulty, problems for Sarah?
• The covenant is only one-sided until chapter 17. God has told Abram/Abraham a couple of times that he will the father of many nations, that his descendants would be a chosen people, but it isn't until chapter 17 that any requirements are laid on them. It's all one-sided - this is what the LORD God will do - until then.
• Abram didn't have to spend much time with the book of baby names.

Proverbs 6

Chapter 6 of Proverbs¹ contains exhortations to wisdom, pleas for the listener to hear and follow the lessons, and suggestions that the seductress or adultress is to be avoided. It is not the same as chapter 5, but, as I've already noted, the message tends to get repetitive. I'm sure that this is intended to emphasize and reinforce the message, but it's hard to take much from it in big chunks.

Thoughts, questions, issues
• There is a particularly memorable section in this chapter, though. The narrator lists seven things that the LORD hates, including "a heart that devises wicked schemes." That one is interesting because most admonitions in Proverbs, and elsewhere in the code of laws, are against behaviors. Here, we find that, even if we do not put these wicked schemes into action, just "devising" them is known and hated by God. It's indicative of the approach and attitude to the inner life that Jesus will later echo in the sermon on the mount.
• The section against adultery in this chapter does seem to be an actual "avoid adultery" message, rather than the "remain faithful to God" metaphor that I felt in the last one.
• I believe that this passage pre-dates Aesop's The Ant And The Grasshopper, but it carries the same message. The ant is used as an examplar of a kind of wisdom - it "has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest."

¹ -

Proverbs 6
Warnings Against Folly

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another, if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. A scoundrel and villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart— he always stirs up dissension. Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:

• haughty eyes,
• a lying tongue,
• hands that shed innocent blood,
• a heart that devises wicked schemes,
• feet that are quick to rush into evil,
• a false witness who pours out lies
• and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife.

Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life. Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched? So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished. Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.

But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away; for jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge. He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is.

01/05/2010

Genesis 12-14

In chapter 12, the story of the Jews really begins, as God calls Abram.

I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.

It is not the first time that God has chosen one man over others. He chose Abel's sacrifice over Cain's, and he chose Noah and his family over the rest of humanity. But it is the first time that he chooses one man to establish a line through which he will enlighten and bless humanity, as opposed to just not punishing one. So Abram, with his family and his brother Lot, moves through the Holy Land (which becomes the Holy Land in verse seven: "unto thy seed will I give this land") but continued south to Egypt because there was a famine in the land. Some unseemly, at least to our modern eyes, behavior benefits Abram before he heads north into the promised land once more.

In chapter 13, Abram and Lot, along with all of their possessions, arive back in Bethel. But they've accumulated so much wealth, in the form of cattle and sheep and camels, that the land will not support both of them and their possessions. Abram suggests to Lot that he (Lot) go one way (choose one) and he (Abram) will go the other. Lot chose "the whole plain of the Jordan." Abram moved to Hebron.

Chapter 14 tells the story of Abram's rescue of Lot. The backdrop was the war between the kings of many of the small kingdoms of the ancient near-east. Many of them were rebelling against Chedorlaomer (Kedorlaomer), having been subject to him for 12 years. Two of the kings were the kings of Sodom () and Gomorrah (). Lot was swept up or captured or kidnapped during this war, and carried away to the north. Abram went after them, and with "the 318 trained men born in his household," he defeated Kedorlaomer and brought back Lot and his possessions. The king of Sodom encouraged him to return the people and keep the possessions, but Abram refused to keep anything other than what his men had eaten, claiming that he had made an oath to God.

Odds & ends
• The passage in Egypt is, as so many of the Old Testament passages are, jarring to our modern sensibilities. Which may actually be an understatement. It is not difficult to imagine a scenario in which a man would fear for his life because of his wife and possessions, but the idea that he would have her pretend to be his sister and then just acquiesce to whatever happens is ... well, it's not one that is comfortable to us.
• If God punished Pharaoh because Abram lied to him, and Pharaoh found out, why did he send Abram off with valuable parting gifts?
• There are two mentions of a story yet to come. When Lot looks over the plain of the Jordan, the narrator informs us that "God had not yet destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah." When he pitched his tents near Sodom, we are told that "the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD."
• There are other anachronistic terms indicating a late telling of the story.
  
  • In Gen 14:13, we Abram referred to as "Abram the Hebrew." This is the first appearance of the term "Hebrew"¹ in scripture.
  • In verse 14, we are told that Abram chased them as far as Dan.
  • Melchizedek king of Salem (Jerusalem) is referred to as "a priest of God most high." It is difficult to know exactly what that would mean in the time before the birth of Israel.
• There are some who believe that these stories, indeed all of the stories of the patriarchs, are later inventions, just myth-making. There is significant evidence to the contrary, from the relative frequency of name forms to the price of slaves to the forms of covenants to placing action in cities that were unoccupied and unknown at the time of the alleged invention.
• I am not positive, but I believe that Chedorlaomer is one of the historical figures for whom there is extra-biblical evidence. UPDATE: A google search suggests the existence of Babylonian texts where the name appears, but significantly later than the time of the patriarchs.

Proverbs 5

Four chapters in, we come to what appears to be a specific topic. Chapter 5² deals with avoiding the "strange woman" (KJV) or "adulteress" (NIV). The admonitions are to avoid this woman, to cherish "the wife of your youth," to "drink from your own cistern," etc. In other words, to be faithful.

The question is, faithful to what? On the surface, this is a chapter about sexual morality, about maintaining faithfulness to one's spouse and avoiding the sin of adultery. But I'm not convinced that that's actually the message. Keep in mind that we've already seen wisdom referred to as "she" and been warned about the "strange woman." Also, we know that this sort of imagery will be used by Isaiah and Jeremiah in warning the people to be faithful to God, to avoid the "whore of Babylon." The advice here obviously works on a surface level, as adultery is a sin, faithfulness is a virtue, and the brief physical pleasures that might come from straying cannot compensate for the loss of fidelity. But I think it not only works on a "Israel needs to be faithful to God" level, I suspect that that was the original intent.

I have nothing, by the way, to back that up. That's my perception of the message.


¹ - Some sources indicate "sojourner" or "wanderer" or "one who crosses over," from the root "br" which means "to cross over a boundary." I don't know, and while I know someone who certainly does, if I went to him with every question that arises in this process a) I'd be pestering him constantly and b) it would cease to be mine.

² - Chapter 5 in paragraph form

My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.

Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside from what I say. Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel, lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich another man's house. At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors. I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly."

Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer — may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.

Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife? For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.

01/04/2010

Genesis 10-11

At the end of chapter 9, the earth has been de-populated, as God washed away most of mankind in the flood. So the next step is repopulation. Chapter 10 is a genealogy chapter, listing the descendants of the sons of Noah. There's very little narrative, though it does contain the first mention of Nimrod, son of Cush, "a mighty hunter before the LORD." He is credited (though we might use that term advisedly) with establishing a kingdom in Babylon, and building the city of Nineveh. Each of those is a kingdom that will be viewed negatively by the people of God, so maybe "blamed" would be a more apt description than "credited."

And then, in chapter 11, the world re-populated promptly lapses again into sin. The story of the tower of Babel is, surprisingly for a story with such reknown and impact, only 9 verses long. And that's followed by more genealogy, as we get the line of descent from Shem to Abram.

And that is more than enough of the "book report" format.

Odds & ends
• Interesting to see the sons (Magog, Canaan, etc.) whose names appear later as places or tribes.
• A note at the biblegateway says that "sons may mean descendants or successors or nations" so I guess it isn't that interesting.
• Likewise, of course, "father may mean ancestor or predecessor or founder."
• In modern speech, "anti-semite" tends to refer only to hatred/dislike/discrimination against the Jewish people. But the Semitic people are the descendants of Shem, and most are not Jewish, as we're still several generations before the birth of Israel.
• Apparently, some traditions attribute the building of the tower of Babel to Nimrod. I wasn't aware of that, but it's not hard to see why. He has just been mentioned as one that built a powerful kingdom, "a mighty hunter before the LORD" doesn't mean the same thing as a mighty hunter for the LORD, and the names Babel and Babylon may be (apparently are) the same name. UPDATE: I've checked the Hebrew, and yes, the Babylon of chapter 10 and the Babel of chapter 11 are the same word. Exactly the same word, not just sharing a root, but exactly the same - Bet-Bet-Lamed.
• In a pattern that is to be repeated throughout the Old Testament, and indeed, human history on scales both great and small, punishment does not bring about permanent change. It has some immediate effects, but as time increases, past punishments lose their motivating impact. The first generation may be more-or-less permanently corrected, but sin creeps in to the second, and subsequent generations don't have any experience of the correction. It's just a story. Some are better preserved and more obviously true than others, as Edmund Burke said, "example is the school of mankind and they will learn at no other."
• Also, a "fallen" mankind, infected with "original sin," can not avoid continuing to sin.
• The story of the tower of Babel has a particularly unflattering portrait of God.
  

  And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

  We know that God is a "jealous" God (and I'll discuss that when I get to that usage), but rather than a punishment, this actually reads as a preemptive strike against a presumptive foe. As if mankind actually represents a threat to God's sovereignty.
• The postdeluvian numbers have changed significantly. In the genealogy from Adam to Noah, the sons were born to fathers aged 65 to 180. From Shem to Abram, the typical ages are 29-35. Shem was 100 and Terah was 70, but the rest are at what we would now consider typical ages for first children.
• Terah had three sons - Abram, Nahor and Haran. But Haran is clearly both a person (the son of Terah, brother of Nahor and Abram, father of Milcah and Iscah) and a place ("they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.")
• If the relationships are correct and complete (that is, there aren't intervening generations or unnamed persons involved) then Nahor married his niece. Obviously, this long predates the Levitical laws in which that would be forbidden. And I don't know when humanity would have grasped the biological fact of the problems associated with close blood relatives procreating.

Proverbs 4

I'll be honest - I'm not certain that I could tell chapter 3 and chapter 4 apart. As I said last time, there are an enormous number of individual "sayings" in this book, and many of them are saying exactly the same thing. Sometimes, the words are a little bit different, or ordered a little bit differently, but it would take a far more detailed examination of the book than I'm likely to do, including source and textual criticism, to wring out any more than the surface meanings.

For example, consider this passage from chapter three:

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.

and this one from chapter four

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

Not exactly the same, true. But not very different, either. It's hard to say that we've seen anything in these last two chapters other than exhortations to wisdom. Which is all well and good, and obviously it's better to be wise than otherwise¹, but once you've acknowledged that, are the additional poetic exhortations really helpful?

I suppose that this is a form issue. One of the things that we need to remember is that we're not reading Proverbs - we're reading an English translation of a 2500-3000 year-old Hebrew text. A text that was composed at a time when the printing press was not available. Many (most? all?) of the Old Testament books are arranged in verse form, rhythmic and/or rhyming to facilitate memorization. They are designed to be sung or chanted and memorized. So much of what we see as excessive poetry, excessive verbiage, is probably there to structure the message. In current parlance, it's formatting.




¹ - Which puts me in mind of what I once saw referred to as Carson's Law: "It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick."

² - And, like chapter three yesterday, here is chapter four in paragraph form:

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me,

Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.

Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.

01/03/2010

Before I get to today's reading, I need to make an update to yesterday's. I misread my schedule, and instead of reading Genesis 3-4, I should have read Genesis 3-5.

So a quick comment on chapter 5.

Chapter 5 contains the first (but certainly not the last) extended genealogy in the Old Testament. It was previewed at the end of chapter four with a brief genealogy of Cain to Lamech and his sons. But chapter 5 makes it explicit up-front - "this is the book of the generations of Adam [KJV]." (Or "this is the written account of Adam's line [NIV].")

Clearly, this passage is historical in nature. There is no poetry, almost nothing that can be taken as prophecy, or metaphor, or wisdom. The lineage of Adam to Noah:

Adam->Seth->Enos[h]->Cainan (or Kenan)->Mahalale[e]l->Jared->Enoch->Methuselah->Lamech->Noah.

So there are a couple of interesting things in this genealogy:

• In the line of Adam through Cain, back in chapter 4, we had Enoch and Methushael->Lamech. In the line of Adam through Seth, we have Enoch->Methuselah->Lamech. If we go to the Hebrew, names of Lamech's father are identical other than the last two characters. It may mean nothing, but it makes me wonder whether one of the lists might not be a corrupted version of the other.
• Enoch "walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." Literally¹, "and-he-walked Enoch with the-God (elohim) then-he-was-not because he-took him God." So Enoch, alone of human beings recorded in the Bible, never died.
• Adam lived 930 years. Jared lived 962 years. Methuselah, 969. The nine generations from the birth of Seth to the birth of Noah spans 1056 years. Either people were very different back then, or the world was very different, or something is wrong with the dating. I don't have any idea why that would be. Somewhere, I ran across the idea that mankind was fresh from Eden, and they lived a life closer to the natural life-span God intended. My inclination is to believe that the years referred to in the list are not the same 365 day years that we talk about today. I have no evidence for that, none whatsoever. It's just what occurs to me as a likely reason.

Not as quick a comment as I had intended. Ah, well...

Genesis 6-9

I wonder if there's any better known story from the Bible than the story of Noah and the flood. It's been told so many times in so many ways that I wouldn't even know where to begin to try to add anything to it, and it's one of the most straightforward stories in the Bible. God "saw how corrupt the earth had become" and said, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth." Noah was a righteous man, did what God asked, and he and his family were saved, as well as two of every animal, male and female.

This is not the only version of the flood story in the ancient near-east. It is likely, overwhelmingly likely, in my opinion, that this is based on a historical event. But it also reads as a theodicy, a meditation on the nature and behavior of God.

• Who were the Nephilim?
• What is the distinction between "sons of God" and "daughters of men?"
• The covenant in chapter 9 is the first biblical covenant that we see. It won't be the last.
• If he only took two of each animal, what species are we missing because of the sacrifice after they landed?
• If I'd known that Ham was the father of Canaan (and I guess I must have, as I've read it before), I'd forgotten.

Proverbs 3

In some ways, Proverbs is a very easy book to read. It is filled with very short passages, one or two lines, that express an idea. Many are of the form, "do this and good things will happen," or, "do this and punishment will ensue." But it's hard to read as a book, or to summarize, because it seems to be very disjoint and repetitive. There is no narrative flow, and it is difficult to actually get anything out of more than a small chunk. Which is probably why the schedule only has one chapter of it every day. It's still almost too much.

In some places, I find it easier to deal with in paragraph form. Chapter three combines pretty nicely into five paragraphs².

1-4: Imploring the reader not to forget the the teaching, for they will bring prosperity and help win favor in the sight of God and man.
5-12: Trust in the LORD, honor the LORD, fear the LORD and shun evil. Don't despise the LORD's discipline for he disciplines those he loves, "as a father the son he delights in."
13-20: Blessing for those who find wisdom, for "she" is "more precious than rubies," her ways are pleasant and her paths are peace. "By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations."
21-26: Again, preserve the teaching of wisdom and it will benefit you in all you do.27-35: Negative recommendations - don't withhold good when it is in your power to act. The LORD "detests a perverse man but takes the upright into his confidence."

• In Genesis, the LORD is Elohim. In Proverbs, the LORD is YHWH. (Yahweh, Jehovah - the tetragrammaton.)
• Verse 13 is a beatitude. "Blessed is the man...for..." Jesus used this form in his teaching, most extensively in Matthew 5.

¹ - The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament, John H. Kohlenberger III


² -

My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father [b] the son he delights in.

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew.

My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.

Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"— when you now have it with you. Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you. Do not accuse a man for no reason when he has done you no harm. Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways, for the LORD detests a perverse man but takes the upright into his confidence. The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. The wise inherit honor, but fools he holds up to shame.

01/02/2010

Genesis 3-4

The third and fourth chapters of Genesis bring us two stories. The second is Cain and Abel. The first is the central story, the central issue, of both Christianity and Judaism - the fall of man.

To start with, I cannot accept this passage, actually any of the passages in at least the first third of the book of Genesis, as literal history. Setting aside the fact that there was no witness to the creation - at least no human witness - there are issues that arise when comparing these stories with what science tells us about the history of the world, and what common sense tells us. (Did Cain and Seth marry their own sisters, children of Adam and Eve about whom we aren't told? I don't believe that, but some people do.) Certainly, much of the passage reads as history, but not all of it. The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" sounds metaphorical, the "cherubim and flaming sword" guarding Eden sound poetic.

Whether the story of the fall is historical or metaphorical, it is the background assumption for everything that follows. "Since by man came death," wrote Paul to the Corinthians, "by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." And indeed, this 3rd chapter of Genesis also contains the first Biblical allusion to Christ, as God addresses the serpent:

I will put enmity between [the serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

Certainly, "her offspring" is a foreshadowing of the incarnation, and the crushing of the serpent's head represents Christ's ultimate victory over death.

Are we all tainted by "original sin?" J.I. Packer, in Concise Theology, describes original sin as the doctrine that

makes the point that we are not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we are sinners, born with a nature enslaved to sin...[and] it derives to us in a real though mysterious way from Adam, our first representative before God.

It's a doctrine that has always bothered me. But I certainly cannot argue that I'm aware of any counter-examples that falsify it. Well, other than Jesus, of course. I will say that as I age, I become more aware of my own shortcomings, moral and otherwise, and if "total depravity" and "original sin" aren't technically accurate terms, well, they'll do until we figure out what the correct terms are.


The story of Cain and Abel - that I don't really know what to do with. If it's not historical, if it is supposed to be a metaphor, well, I don't understand what the metaphor is¹. All I have are questions. Why was Cain's offering rejected? Who was the mark of Cain supposed to protect him from? What is the lesson here?

OK, on one more re-reading (this time in the NIV) something stands out that didn't when I read the KJV. In verse 7, the Lord says to Cain, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." This is the free will argument. We are faced with the world, and many choices. Cain chose wrong, he did not master his sin, and was punished as a result. Is this just an extension of the lesson of chapter 3? Punishment comes to those who do not follow God's will.

Well, maybe...

Proverbs 2

IFF:

You receive wisdom,
keep it with you,
seek after it,
cry out for it

THEN

you will understand the fear of the Lord

BECAUSE

The Lord

gives wisdom,
keeps the paths of judgement,
preserves the way of his Saints (his faithful ones)

If the first chapter focuses on or describes the "why" of the book, much of this chapter seems to focus on the "why" of wisdom itself. Clearly, the implication is that this books contains, not the wisdom of Solomon, but the wisdom of God himself. A wisdom that is a gift from God used for the support and protection of those faithful to him, AND a gift that God provides to those who seek it. who cry out for it.

This wisdom enables its recipient to avoid "the evil man" and "the strange woman." The evil man is easy enough to understand - he's one of those

13 who leave the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,

14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,

15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.

The "strange woman" is a temptress, a seductress. Sometimes, she's literally a seductress, but at others, I think, "she" is just a wrong choice. A bad religion, a pagan idol, a path that the "evil man" presents in a tempting form.

Is the "Land" here symbolic language for "God's Land," that is to say, Eden or heaven itself? It seems as if it might be...




¹ - As I said up-front, this is for me, by me, and I'm untrained. I would imagine that this passage is well-understood, and probably fits nicely into a Theology or History of the Bible 101 course somewhere. I don't have this common knowledge.

01/01/10

Genesis 1-2

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...

As I read the creation story today, I am struck (not for the first time, but maybe the most clearly) by how closely the Genesis account of creation meshes with the "scientific" account of creation. That is to say, if one were to describe creation in the way many scientists now believe it occurred to one with the scientific background and knowledge of someone living 4,500 years ago, that description would be very similar to what we see in scripture.

"God said, 'Let there be light.'" He spoke the universe into existence. I suspect that there was a pretty "big bang" when that happened. He gathered the waters and the earth. Life began in the water and moved to the land. The animals were created and then man.

All sounds like the process and progression that scientists now claim created - uncaused and unguided - the universe and life.

Proverbs 1

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction...

While I'm not generally a fan of the very modern translations, I like the "New Living Translation" version of Pv 1:2-4...

2 Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline,
to help them understand the insights of the wise.

3 Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.

4 These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young.

I think that's an excellent summary of what the book is.

Or, to be more specific, what my perception of the book is...