Month: March 2010

Reference links:

Numbers 32:1-33:39 Luke 4:31-5:11 Psalm 64:1-10 Proverbs 11:22

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Recap episode! The tribes of Reuben and Gad provide the frame for the recap. They think that the land that the Israelites have already conquered, Jazer and Gilead, perfectly fit their needs. They ask a favor of Moses,

The Lord has conquered this whole area for the community of Israel, and it is ideally suited for all our livestock. If we have found favor with you, please let us have this land as our property instead of giving us land across the Jordan River.

Moses assumes that they want to get out of the rest of the fighting and starts ranting about God’s anger. This morphs into part one of the recap. Moses accuses the tribes of Reuben and Gad of being like the spies who, forty years earlier, had discouraged the Israelites from entering the promised land and bringing the time of wandering down upon the Israelites.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad reply that they do not intend to discourage the rest of the Israelites. They just want to settle in Jazer and Gilead because it fits their needs well. They promise they will help fight and conquer the rest of the promised land. Furthermore, they promise that they will not ask for that land, as long as they get this. Moses agrees to this. Oh, and somehow the half tribe of Manasseh also gets the same deal.

We then get a recap of the Israelites travels since they left Egypt up through Aaron’s death on Mount Hor. We start with a reminder of the atrocities in Egypt,

The people of Israel left defiantly, in full view of all the Egyptians. Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn sons, whom the Lord had killed the night before. The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt that night with great acts of judgment!

Interesting wording choice, “The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt”. In particular, the context does not imply that the Egyptian gods were fake nor does it imply with certainty that they were considered real. The ambiguity is what is interesting.

This is followed by a long list of presumably all the campsites of the Israelites. A straight average of how long the Israelites stayed at each campsite gives a bit over a year to each. Obviously, cross correlating this with the rest of the travel accounts would allow us to get a better estimate of how long the Israelites stayed in each location. I am sure someone has done that.

Also, the list of place names would make an excellent source of inspiration for character names in a video game or something. For example: Moseroth, Alush, Jotbathah, and Rissah.

New Testament

Jesus performs a bunch of miracles in Capernaum. He heals many people and casts out demons. We also read the story of how Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law. This time, however, it is not clear that this Simon is the same Simon that becomes Peter the disciple of Jesus. For reference, here are the Matthew and Mark versions of the story. In both those versions, Simon whose mother-in-law is healed is clearly identified as someone who is already a follower of Jesus. In Luke’s version, that is far from clear. In fact, it seems somewhat unlikely. In order, we read these three passages:

4:38-39: After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. “Please heal her,” everyone begged. Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them.

4:42-44: Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them. But he replied, “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent.” So he continued to travel around, preaching in synagogues throughout Judea.

5:8-10: [After Jesus miraculously makes Simon’s nets full of fish.] When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Why do I think these passages cast suspicion on the identification of the first Simon with the second Simon? After Simon’s mother-in-law is healed, Jesus travels around. This provides a narrative break between the story of the healing and the next story, where Jesus miraculously helps some fishermen. The narrative break implies that the second Simon need not necessarily be the same as the first. Additionally, we see in the second miracle story that Simon was so impressed by the fish miracle that he fell to his knees in amazement. It seems suspicious to me that Simon would be so impressed by the fish but not have had such a strong reaction when his mother-in-law was healed.

Of course, we already know that Luke is the most blatant historical fiction writer of the three, so what story tell purpose would this change serve? One possibility is that Luke wanted to get rid of the implication that Simon Peter abandoned his wife or, perhaps, the implication that he ever had a wife at all.

Even if I am wrong (quite possible), and they are the same Simon, the stories are still inconsistent. In Matthew and Mark, Simon is described as a follower of Jesus before his mother-in-law is healed. In Luke, the mother-in-law healing comes before Simon becomes a follower of Jesus.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing particularly noteworthy today.

Reference links:

Numbers 30:1-31:54 Luke 4:1-30 Psalm 63:1-11 Proverbs 11:20-21

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Sexist double standards in today’s reading! God tells Moses to tell the people that

A man who makes a vow to the Lord or makes a pledge under oath must never break it. He must do exactly what he said he would do.

But that does not hold for women. If a woman under the thumb of a man makes a vow, that man may nullify the vow. The double standard of this law is softened slightly by the fact that the man only has the ability to nullify the vow the first day that he learns of it; if he does not the woman is under the same obligation to keep the vow as a man would be. But still, it’s kind of stupid.

God commands the Israelites to conquer the Midianites for their role in the sex and idolatry we read about a few days ago. Each tribe sent a thousand men, and they conquered the Midianites. Let’s read the account of the properly Biblical way to wage war (warning, it is primitive and inhumane).

They attacked Midian as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. All five of the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was furious with all the generals and captains who had returned from the battle.

“Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people. So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.

That passage contains plenty of morally terrible things to ruminate upon, but I will limit myself to a couple. First, genocide is bad. I do not care if God commanded it. Genocide is not morally acceptable. Second, we have this:

Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.

I highly doubt that the Israelite soldiers were different than any other soldiers throughout most of history. We can be pretty certain that the virgins, after living through the death of their family and friends, were given over to the soldiers and to become sex slaves. Despicable.

Finally, we notice that Balaam son of Beor was killed because it was, apparently, Balaam’s advice which caused the women to seduce the Israelites. Really, Balaam? The same Balaam who blessed the Israelites three times against the wishes of Balak? That came out of left field.

The genocide of the Midianites reminds me, whatever happened to Moses’ sons? Last we heard, they had been brought to Moses by his father-in-law (a Midianite). But then we never hear about them. Did they go back with Moses’ father-in-law? If so, they (or their descendants) must have been killed in this genocide.

New Testament

The Holy Spirit leads Jesus out into the wilderness where he fasts for 40 days. While there, the devil tempts him in three ways. First, the devil tempts Jesus to feed himself by changing stones to bread. Second, he tempts Jesus by offering him all the kingdoms of the world. Third, he tempts Jesus by asking him to jump off of a high tower so that the angels will save him.

When looking back at this passage in Matthew, I noticed that the order of the temptations changed. In Matthew the order was: bread, jump, rule. (Mark does not describe specific temptations.) The other thing that I noticed was the was that Luke seems to have a much better grasp of the size of the world. In Matthew we read,

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

As we all know, there is no peak high enough for anyone to see all of the world’s kingdoms from (plus, there’s the whole earth being round problem). In Luke we read,

Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

The phrase “revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time” is much more ambiguous than looking around from the top of a mountain. In particular, it is quite compatible with the devil showing Jesus a vision. Luke is doing his job of providing better narrative structure for the gospel story!

After his sojourn in the dessert, Jesus returned to Galilee where his teachings were well received. Then he goes to his hometown, Nazareth. He stands up in the synagogue on the sabbath and reads some scripture and then claims that he fulfills it. After that,

Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips.

Then he refused to do any miracles for them, and the crowd got angry at them,

Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

In addition to having a much more antagonistic tone than the version of this story in Matthew and Mark, Luke’s version occurs just after Jesus’ baptism and temptation. In the first two gospels, it occurs much later after he had gathered up the disciples and done a bunch of other things. This is all perfectly reasonable if you accept that Luke is basically writing fiction based on the existing legends about Jesus. It is not at all reasonable if you want to believe that the gospels contain consistent tellings of the life of Jesus.

Psalms and Proverbs

I learned recently that the standard translation for the Hebrew נפש (nefesh) is pretty much completely wrong, according to Joel Hoffman (And God Said by Joel Hoffman). It is usually translated as “soul”. However, based on contextual analysis, it probably means nearly the opposite: those aspects of life which are physically tangible (body, breath, blood, etc.). This has wider ramifications, which I will discuss when I finish and review Hoffman’s book.

However, for now I just wanted to note that the alternate translation makes a lot more sense in today’s psalm.

My soul [נפש] thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.

Doesn’t that passage make a lot more sense if נפש means all that makes up your physical being?

נפש is often paired with לבב (levav) in Hebrew. and we see a form of that word לב (lev) in today’s Proverbs reading. לבב is often translated as “heart”, but that, again, is not a very good translation. A better definition is “those aspects of life which are not physically tangible” (mind, emotion, intuition, etc.). Again, thinking about the contextually derived meaning makes the passage make more sense.

The Lord detests people with crooked hearts [לב],
but he delights in those with integrity.

“Crooked  hearts” is such a familiar phrase, that we can more or less make sense of it in this context, but the concept implied by לב is actually much richer than that implied by the English “heart”.

Reference links:

Numbers 28:15-29:40 Luke 3:23-38 Psalm 62:1-12 Proverbs 11:18-19

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Descriptions of all the sacrifices to be offered for the various festivals. In summary, lots of bulls, rams, and lambs should get killed and lots of flour should get mixed with olive oil.

New Testament

The complete contents of today’s reading is a genealogy of Jesus. As I am sure we all know, this genealogy does not match the one in Matthew 1. There are two traditional apologetics for this. One of the genealogies (traditionally Luke’s) is actually Mary’s genealogy, not Joseph’s, as the text states. Alternately, Joseph had two fathers (e.g., a biological father and a legal one). Neither of these positions has textual support, and it seems much more likely to me that they were both just made up. Wikipedia has a much more detailed discussion.

Of less import but almost as much interest, Luke’s genealogy goes from the present back all the way to Noah while Matthew’s genealogy goes forward from Abraham.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s psalm is pleasant (although still on the inexhaustible topic of protection from enemies).

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. 

Reference links:

Numbers 26:52-28:14 Luke 3:1-22 Psalm 61:1-8 Proverbs 11:16-17

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

We are reaching the home stretch on this whole dessert wandering adventure:

So these are the results of the registration of the people of Israel as conducted by Moses and Eleazar the priest on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Not one person on this list had been among those listed in the previous registration taken by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They will all die in the wilderness.” Not one of them survived except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

In other news, when land allocations are being decided, the daughters of Zelophehad get an allotment because their father had died without any sons. We learn that when a man dies without leaving any sons, his land may be passed on to his daughters. But the important part of this story is that the man’s name was Zelophehad! I like it!

God chooses Joshua to lead the Israelites after Moses’ death. It sounds like Moses’ death will be coming up soon.

Finally, we get a review of the regular offerings to be given by the community:

• Daily: 2 one-year-old lambs with no defects. With each lamb, 2 quarts choice flour mixed with 1 quart pure olive oil, and one quart of alcoholic drink.
• On the sabbath: In addition to the normal offering, 2 one-year-old lambs with no defects, 4 quarts of flour moistened with olive oil, and a liquid offering.
• On the first day of each month: In addition to the normal offering, 2 young bulls, one ram, and 7 one-year-old male lambs, all defect free, of course. Plus 6 quarts of flour moistened with olive oil per bull, 4 per ram, and 2 per lamb. Plus 2 quarts of wine per bull, 1/3 gallon for the ram, and one quart for each lamb.

New Testament

The time the author of Luke gives for the start of John the Baptist’s ministry is very precise.

It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests.

In any case, John starts baptizing people, and he rants at them when he comes to them.

When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

At the end of today’s reading, we read about how John baptizes Jesus.

One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

 Maybe I’ll be able to get into this book more once I have recovered from the hour time shift.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

Reference links:

Numbers 26:1-51 Luke 2:36-52 Psalm 60:1-12 Proverbs 11:15

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

God does not kill anyone today! Yay! I like days of not killing. Instead, Moses conducts another census.

Let’s see how each tribe fared in God’s recent string of killings (original numbers from the beginning of Numbers):

Overall, about half the tribes lost population and half gained. Manasseh gained the most, and Simeon lost the most (it was a man from the tribe of Simeon who was sleeping with a Moabite woman; maybe they felt the brunt of those deaths extra heavily). Overall, the population went from 603,550 to 601,730, a net loss of 1820. (And no, there was no real point to that. I just like numbers.)

And, because it entertains me, a list of names from today’s reading (* indicates a woman): Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, Carmi, Jemuel, Jamin, Jakin, Zohar, Shaul, Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ozni, Eri, Arodi, Areli, Shelah, Perez, Zerah, Hezron, Hamul, Tola, Puah, Jashub, Shimron, Sered, Elon, Jahleel, Makir, Gilead, Iezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Shemida, Hepher, Mahlah*, Noah*, Hoglah*, Milcah*, Tirzah*, Shuthelah, Beker, Tahan, Eran, Bela, Ashbel, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, Ard, Naaman, Shuham, Imnah, Ishvi, Beriah, Heber, Mlkiel, Serah*, Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, Shilem.

New Testament

The prophet Anna praises Jesus. Even though I have read this before, I did not remember the prophet Anna. She plays a minor role in this story, but given that the Gospel of Luke supposedly contains the most sympathetic treatment of women, seeing a female prophet seems kind of neat.

Jesus grows up to be healthy and strong and full of wisdom. At the age of twelve, he amazes the religious teachers in the Temple with his questions and answers. He did not tell his parents he was going to be there, so they were rather worried about him. However, Jesus seemed to think that they ought to have known he was there. But, in any case, Jesus was a very obedient child and

grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.

Despite the better narrative structure of this gospel, I am really having trouble getting into it. Somehow “and everyone was perfect and wonderful and obedient to God” does not make for an engaging story.

Psalms and Proverbs

A lot of the psalms have little notes at the beginning. Today’s psalm has the most detailed of these yet.

For the choir director: A psalm of David useful for teaching, regarding the time David fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and killed 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. To be sung to the tune “Lily of the Testimony.”

The psalm itself is same old, same old.

Today’s proverb has good advice.

There’s danger in putting up security for a stranger’s debt;
it’s safer not to guarantee another person’s debt.

Reference links:

Numbers 24:1-25:18 Luke 2:1-35 Psalm 59:1-17 Proverbs 11:14

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

As should not come as a surprise after yesterday’s readings, Balaam blessed the Israelites for a third time. Apparently, the Israelites have beautiful tents. Also, they are awesome, but I like the part about tents.

Balaam’s blessings do not please Balak, but Balak gives one final message. The summary version: the Israelites are totally going to crush everyone. This message is interesting because it has a passage that some claim the author of Matthew was referring to in the story of Jesus’ birth (note that this is a weak connection):

I see him, but not here and now.
I perceive him, but far in the distant future.
A star will rise from Jacob;
a scepter will emerge from Israel.

In context it is not ideal, but not really worse than many of the other so-called fulfilled prophecies in the New Testament.

The last part of today’s reading talks about how the Israelites were terrible people and had sexual relations with the locals (the Moabites). Some of the people even worshiped their God, Baal. God commanded Moses to execute all those involved in this worship. Then we get an odd little story.

Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into his tent, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as everyone was weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. He took a spear and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, but not before 24,000 people had died.

God is super pleased by this murder, but that’s not what’s odd about this story; that, in fact, is perfectly normal for God. The minor weirdness is that Moses was married to a Midianite woman, so this sudden outbreak of anti-Moabite and anti-Midianite sentiment seems odd. The second odd thing is that no earlier passage had mentioned God plaguing anyone in this instance, so where to the 24,000 that had died come from? Both of these weirdnesses are fairly easy to rationalize, but they make the story awkward.

Also, I feel like the God approved penetrating of two people by a spear while having sex is a great opportunity for a feminist analysis. Sadly, I am not up to the task.

New Testament

Jesus is born in a manger. Shepherds come to visit after an angel tells them of Jesus’ birth. (Luke’s version of the nativity has no wise men or star.) Eight days after his birth, Jesus was presented in the temple, and Simeon, a man who had been waiting for the birth of the Messiah, recognized Jesus as such. This whole story is so familiar that it is hard to find anything new to say.

One thing that has differentiated the Gospel of Luke from the Gospels of Matthew and Mark so far is the emphasis on Jesus’ position as the Messiah and the son of God even from before his birth. The first two gospels are much less clear about this. Given just those gospels, it is easy to see how the “adoptionist” belief could come about (this is the belief that Jesus was human and adopted as God’s son only when he was baptized by John). The author of Luke, on the other hand, wants to make it clear that that is not his position.

Psalms and Proverbs

Without wise leadership, a nation falls;
there is safety in having many advisers.

Remember this proverb, especially the second part, the next time someone in the intersection of devout Christians and people who complains about the president’s “csars”. 😉

Reference links:

Numbers 22:21-23:30 Luke 1:57-80 Psalm 58:1-11 Proverbs 11:12-13

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Let’s continue the adventures of Balaam! But first, a remark on story continuity. Today we see a painfully obvious seam between what I guess were two versions of Balaam’s story. Yesterday we read,

That night God came to Balaam and told him, “Since these men have come for you, get up and go with them. But do only what I tell you to do.”

That verse ended yesterday’s reading. In the very next paragraph (the start of today’s reading), we read,

So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way.

Either God cannot keep his opinion consistent for one night or the text cannot keep its story straight for two paragraphs. Either way, such inconsistencies prove distracting for the reader.

In any case, that angel of the Lord blockw Balaam’s way three times. Balaam cannot see the angel, but his donkey can. Each time the donkey shies away from the angel, Balaam beats him. God eventually gives the donkey the ability to speak, and the two of them have a little dialog about the beating. After this, God opens Balaam’s eyes, and he is able to see the angel. The angel lets Balaam know that the donkey has saved his life. If the donkey had not shied away, the angel would have killed Balaam.

Balaam reaches the place where Balak (son of the king of the Moabites) is and

Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth-baal

That has no particular significance, but it is fun to say. Try it three times fast!

Up on Bamoth-baal, Balak and Balaam build 7 altars and sacrifice seven young bulls and seven rams on the seven altars. The goal of this exercise is to persuade God to let Balaam curse the Israelites. After the sacrifices, Balaam goes off to consult with God, and God sends him back with a blessing for the Israelites (surprise!). This upsets Balak, so he tries again. On another hill, they go through the same routine with the same results. They then try again on another hill, but the reading ends before we can see the result. Cliff hanger! (Well, not really; we can guess what’s going to happen.)

The particular wording of God’s second message to Balak through Balaam is interesting:

God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.

God does not change his mind? How many times in the last couple weeks has he threatened to exterminate the Israelites and then changed his mind after Moses asked him not to?

New Testament

Elizabeth gives birth to John the Baptist, Zechariah gets his voice back, and everyone rejoices. Today’s readings were rather heavy on verse. We had Balaam’s blessings in the Old Testament reading, the Psalm and Proverbs readings, and a prophecy in verse from Zechariah. Zechariah basically prophecies that John will be an awesome prophet of God. And after all that detail about John’s conception and birth Luke’s perspective zoom’s way out:

John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.

Psalms and Proverbs

Break off their fangs, O God!
Smash the jaws of these lions, O Lord!
May they disappear like water into thirsty ground.
Make their weapons useless in their hands.
May they be like snails that dissolve into slime,
like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.
God will sweep them away, both young and old,
faster than a pot heats over burning thorns.

The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged.
They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

This sort of attitude really bugs me. It really triggers my anger when someone who claims to be good rejuices in the suffering of other people. The truly wicked deserve punishment, but those who enjoy the punishment of others are also wicked.

Quite reasonable advice in today’s Proverbs reading:

It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor;
a sensible person keeps quiet.

A gossip goes around telling secrets,
but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

Reference links:

Numbers 21:1-22:20 Luke 1:26-56 Psalm 57:1-11 Proverbs 11:9-11

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Violence! Lots of violence today.

The Canaanites attack the Israelites. The Israelites ask God to help them. He does, and the Israelites completely destroy the Canaanites and all their towns.

The Israelites continue their travels and, of course, complain,

Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!

God punishes the people with poisonous snakes,

So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

Fortunately, God listens to Moses’ prayer.

Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Frankly, I find that whole story to be a bit weird. It would, however, fit perfectly in a story book of myths.

The Israelites continue their travels, and, for once, God gives them water before they start complaining about it. Maybe he’s learning!

Then back to violence. King Sihon of the Amorites refuses to let the Israelites pass through his land. Instead, he attacks them.

But the Israelites slaughtered them with their swords and occupied their land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River.

A similar thing happened with King Og of Bashan (he he, Og).

The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, along with all his people and his land. Do the same to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.” And Israel killed King Og, his sons, and all his subjects; not a single survivor remained. Then Israel occupied their land.

The rest of today’s reading deals with how Balak, the son of the king of Moab, tried to get Balaam, a dude good at blessing and cursing people, to curse the Israelites. Balaam refuses because God tells him that the Israelites have been blessed.

New Testament

The birth story of Jesus in Luke is quite elaborate compared to that in Matthew (Mark, if you remember, has no birth story). The angel Gabriel, who earlier visited Zechariah, visits Mary and tells her she will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Mary visits Elizabeth, and the baby in her womb (John the Baptist) jumps for joy. The Holy Spirit fills Elizabeth. She praises Mary. Mary praises God.

Psalms and Proverbs

Much of the time, Proverbs annoys me greatly, especially when the writings reflect negative attitudes that I have experienced at the hands of Christians. From today’s reading,

With their words, the godless destroy their friends,
but knowledge will rescue the righteous.

This is not a verse I have had quoted at me (thankfully), but I have certainly had someone pull away from me because I was an atheist and, therefore, not fit to associate with. It is a painful experience to be on the receiving end of.

Reference links:

Numbers 19:1-20:29 Luke 1:1-25 Psalm 56:1-13 Proverbs 11:8

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

We already learned that touching a dead body causes defilement for seven days. Apparently, that seven days was qualified. The seven days must be accompanied by purification on the third and seventh day. If the purification does not proceed in the required manner, the uncleanliness will not be removed and the unclean one shall be banished from the community. Although this logic applies to dead bodies, maybe similar reasoning can be used to reconcile the discrepancy I discussed earlier about what happens to those who have sex during a woman’s period.

The water of purification, just so you know, is made by burning a perfect red heifer that has never been yoked, throwing some cedar, scarlet yarn, and hyssop into the fire, and then mixing the ashes of all that with water.

Miriam dies while the people are camping at Kadesh, and the people start complaining again. However, their complaint is pretty legitimate: they have no water. (And yes, this story should sound familiar). God tells Moses to talk to the rock, and it will pour out its water. Instead, Moses strikes the rock like he did last time and takes credit for it (maybe, that requires some reading into the text). This, not surprisingly, annoyed God.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!” This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means “arguing”) because there the people of Israel argued with the Lord, and there he demonstrated his holiness among them.

Notice how this place was called Meribah, just like in the similar version of this story in Exodus? Two events or two versions of one legend?

The kingdom of Edom refuses to let the Israelites pass through their land, forcing the Israelites to turn around. I would not let a group with 600,000 men of fighting age pass through my land on nothing but their good word either.

Finally, Aaron dies and Eleazar, his son, is made high priest.

New Testament

Today we start the Gospel of Luke. According to Wikipedia, the general consensus attributes authorship to Luke, a physician and companion of Paul. For once, this agrees with traditional beliefs. Based on textual claims and stylistic similarity, the author of Luke is believed to be the author of Acts. Acts suggests that that author is a companion of Paul. Although there is no firm evidence that that companion had to be Luke, Luke was a known companion of Paul, so it seems reasonable to accept the traditional attribution. Note that although the general consensus is only accepted by about half of scholars, there is no other strongly supported authorship claim.

Because it is believed to be based on the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke is often dated to between 80-90 AD. Obviously, accepting a later or earlier date for Mark would change that estimate. The latest date for the composition of Luke is in the mid-2nd century; at that point, we start to see surviving contemporary references to Luke. Some scholars believe that Luke may have been composed as early ad 37 AD.

Thematically, Wikipedia describes the Gospel of Luke as such:

The author, commonly understood to be writing from a Gentile perspective, is characteristically concerned with social ethics, the poor, women, and other oppressed groups. Certain popular stories on these themes, such as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, are found only in this gospel. This gospel also has a special emphasis on prayer, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and joyfulness.

 Also of note is the following comment,

Luke, however, was a superior storyteller and sometimes rearranged events in Mark to improve the story. For example, Mark has Jesus recruit his first disciples before he has performed any miracles, and Luke moves the recruitment scene to a point after Jesus’ first miracles.

Thus, we should not expect the chronology of the gospels to be consistent. (I will probably do a supplementary post on attempts to reconcile the timelines of the gospels later.)

On to today’s reading! In today’s reading we find a short  introduction which explains that Luke compiled this record from what he considered the most reliable sources.

This is followed by the birth story of John the Baptist, which is unique to this gospel. Zechariah, a priest, and his wife Elizabeth, also descended from Aaron, followed all of the Lord’s regulations, but could not conceive a child. One day, while performing his duties, Zechariah is visited by the angel Gabriel. The angel tells Zechariah that his wife will conceive a son.

Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.

Zechariah expresses some doubt, so he loses his ability to speak until after the birth of the child. Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth conceives.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s proverb is one that is laughably wrong.

The godly are rescued from trouble,
and it falls on the wicked instead.

In this worldly world, we often see that godliness no protection against trouble and wickedness is no guarantee of it.

Reference links:

Numbers 16:41-18:32 Mark 16:1-20 Psalm 55:1-23 Proverbs 11:7

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Mark Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Yesterday God killed a bunch of people for threatening to rebel against Moses. Today, we learn that perhaps murder does not make a good management strategy.

But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!” As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious presence of the Lord appeared.

The people are rebelling again. God’s attempt to force obedience through murder failed. Fortunately, God has a plan. Kill even more people!

Moses and Aaron came and stood in front of the Tabernacle, and the Lord said to Moses, “Get away from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!”

God starts sending a plague through the people. Moses reacts quickly and asks Aaron to burn some incense to purify the people. Not sure why burning a little incense will stop God’s rage, but apparently it works. Because of the quick actions of Moses and Aaron, “only” 14,700 people died instead of the whole community of Israel.

To give a final proof that Aaron was the chosen leader of the Israelites, God commands Moses to have every tribal leader give Moses a staff inscribed with his name. Moses places the staffs in the Tabernacle overnight, and God makes the chosen leader’s staff bud and blossom. God, of course, chooses Aaron’s staff. As a result, the Israelites seem to accept Aaron’s leadership, but they still are not happy with it.

Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed! We are dead! We are ruined! Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle of the Lord dies. Are we all doomed to die?”

In short, we should be thankful that we no longer have God’s presence quite so directly among us. It’s a death sentence.

But seriously, it seems that the real purpose of the stories in the last several days readings is to discourage questioning of authority. If any sign of rebellion against God and his chosen leaders is punished by death, then even reasonable dialogs about authority are cut off.

Also, the Levites in general and the priests in particular get to keep all the loot that the Israelites give to God (except the parts that are burnt) because they do not get land. As with the other passages that are about what the priests get, this passage reads very differently depending on whether you accept the traditional authorship of Moses or the more modern belief that the authors were Levitical priests.

New Testament

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome go to Jesus’s tomb (didn’t Matthew say it was  just Mary Magdalene and the other Mary?). When they arrive at the tomb, the stone is rolled away, and an angel is there to tell them Jesus rose from the dead. They fled from the scene, saying nothing to anyone because they were too frightened. This is where the most reliable manuscripts end.

There are two alternate endings to this gospel. The majority of manuscripts contain the longer one. The shorter one is only a paragraph more. After fleeing, the women tell the disciples about Jesus, and then Jesus himself sends out the disciples to spread a message of salvation.

In the longer ending, Mary Magdalene meets Jesus (in Matthew all the women meet Jesus). Mary tells the disciples Jesus is alive, but they do not believe her. Then two more followers meet Jesus, but again, no one believes him. Finally, the disciples meet Jesus, and he rebukes them for not believing in his resurrection. Jesus sends out the disciples to preach and then is taken up into heaven. The end!

The particular things Jesus tells the disciples before sending them out (in the long ending) are… interesting.

Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.

By this statement, I guess there are either no true believers, or they are keeping their poison drinking, snake handling, and miraculous healing skills secret. (Jesting aside, there are actually people who take these ideas (e.g., snake handling and faith healing) seriously. Scary and dangerous.)

Psalms and Proverbs

In today’s psalm David is dealing with betrayal at the hands of a close companion. This verse stuck out as me as perhaps being applicable in the modern world. I’ll let you figure out how on your own since I try ever so hard not to talk about current events.

Its walls are patrolled day and night against invaders,
but the real danger is wickedness within the city.