Month: April 2010

bookmark_borderApr 29

Posted on by ErikaRS

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Old Testament

Yesterday, Abimelech killed all his brothers and started ruling over the Israelites. He accomplished this with the help of the people of Shechem. Today, we read about how the people of Shechem eventually rebel against him and, in the process, they both end up destroying each other. First, Abimelech destroys the people of Shechem:

Abimelech and his group stormed the city gate to keep the men of Shechem from getting back in, while Abimelech’s other two groups cut them down in the fields. The battle went on all day before Abimelech finally captured the city. He killed the people, leveled the city, and scattered salt all over the ground.

Then the people of another town, Thebez, kill him:

But there was a strong tower inside the town, and all the men and women—the entire population—fled to it. They barricaded themselves in and climbed up to the roof of the tower. Abimelech followed them to attack the tower. But as he prepared to set fire to the entrance, a woman on the roof dropped a millstone that landed on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.

We then read about a couple more minor judges, Tola and Jair. Jair is interesting mostly for this bit:

His thirty sons rode around on thirty donkeys, and they owned thirty towns in the land of Gilead, which are still called the Towns of Jair.

However, this seems inconsistent with earlier mentions of the “Towns of Jair”. In particular, both Numbers and Deuteronomy imply that they were called that because they were conquered by a person or clan named Jair before the Israelites crossed the Jordan. From Numbers:

Then the descendants of Makir of the tribe of Manasseh went to Gilead and conquered it, and they drove out the Amorites living there. So Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, descendants of Manasseh, and they settled there. The people of Jair, another clan of the tribe of Manasseh, captured many of the towns in Gilead and changed the name of that region to the Towns of Jair. Meanwhile, a man named Nobah captured the town of Kenath and its surrounding villages, and he renamed that area Nobah after himself.

It seems reasonable to suppose that Jair was a known legendary figure to the authors of all of these books, but it seems no one actually quite knew who he was.


Also, the Israelites fall into sin again, get oppressed again, and ask God for help again. After some hemming and hawing, he agrees to help them.

New Testament

Guess what! We finish Luke today. That means tomorrow, we move on to the Gospel of John. But before that, we get to read what happens after the resurrection. If you remember, Matthew and Mark only had a little to say after Jesus came back to life. Luke has a fair bit more.

There are a number of stories about Jesus’ disciples meeting with him. These stories emphasize the fact that he had a physical body. The stories show him eating and asking the disciples to touch him to remove their doubt.

“Why are you frightened?” he asked. “Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.” As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.

Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.

Although I cannot find a reference at the moment, I believe I read once (not on Wikipedia) that the author of Luke added these passages to emphasize that Jesus’ resurrection was a bodily one, not just a spiritual one, in response to people who were claiming that it was a spiritual resurrection.

Jesus then explained the scriptures to them and ascended into heaven. The End.

Psalms and Proverbs

Psalm 100! It is a psalm of praise to the Lord. One of the relatively few that could appear in a modern church service without editing.

bookmark_borderApr 28

Posted on by ErikaRS

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Old Testament

There’s so much in this little story!

Then Gideon asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “The men you killed at Tabor—what were they like?”

“Like you,” they replied. “They all had the look of a king’s son.”

“They were my brothers, the sons of my own mother!” Gideon exclaimed. “As surely as the Lord lives, I wouldn’t kill you if you hadn’t killed them.”

First, Zebah and Zalmunna are clearly sucking up to Gideon. He’s from the least important clan in his tribe. I doubt he and his family actually had the look of a king’s sons. Second, Gideon claims that he would not have killed the enemy leaders if they had not killed his family. Are we really supposed to believe that Mr. I’ll-kill-all-the-men-in-your-town-since-you-didn’t-give-me-food would have spared these two if they had not killed his family members? Instead, I am guessing that the killing of Gideon’s brothers provides something of a casting of legitimacy on his leadership, since he was the youngest (and, perhaps, it is foreshadowing what comes up next).

After this incident, Gideon lives a long and prosperous life.

Throughout the rest of Gideon’s lifetime—about forty years—there was peace in the land.

Then Gideon son of Joash returned home. He had seventy sons born to him, for he had many wives. He also had a concubine in Shechem, who gave birth to a son, whom he named Abimelech.

After Gideon’s death, the Israelites start worshiping foreign gods again (of course). Gideon’s son by a concubine decided he wanted to be king so killed most of his brothers. Side note: anyone know of good references for the roles of women in this time period and the significance of being concubine verses being one of many wives? We can infer from the context of the story that the former is of lower status, but it is hard to tell what else was being implied. But back to Abimelech, he killed his brothers, all 70 of them,

He went to his father’s home at Ophrah, and there, on one stone, they killed all seventy of his half brothers, the sons of Gideon. But the youngest brother, Jotham, escaped and hid.

Jothan goes on to rant against Abimelech. I am sure that tomorrow we will be reading about what a terrible ruler Abimelech turned out to be.

New Testament

Jesus dies. Joseph of Arimathea buries Jesus in his personal tomb. A bunch of women (“Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women”) find the empty tomb and tell the disciples about it (note that it was two women in Matthew and three in Mark). The disciples do not believe them except for Peter, who goes to look at the tomb and finds that it is empty.

Psalms and Proverbs

One of today’s psalms actually contains some wisdom!

Each heart knows its own bitterness,
and no one else can fully share its joy.

No one can ever really fully comprehend the feelings of others. Perhaps this is part of the reason ideas like Jesus and God appeal to some people. People want to be understood. The idea of being understood perfectly might be appealing.

bookmark_borderAbout Green Building: Costs and Benefits

Posted on by ErikaRS

Green building provides a lot of benefits for the homeowner. A green home will often be higher quality and more livable because of the intentional design. It should have cheaper (sometimes much cheaper) utility bills over the lifetime of the house. Residents should have a quality of life when they are not surrounded by materials that are leaking chemicals. For those who care about such things, living in a green home leaves you with the knowledge that your home construction resulted in less waste and likely used recyclable or renewable materials.

Some of this may come at a cost — wool carpet is more expensive. Low-VOC paint may cost more because it is less common. However, other choices, such as choosing bamboo flooring over exotic hardwoods or choosing local manufactured stone, may save money. Labor costs may be higher for new construction techniques, but money is saved when less material is wasted. High performance windows may cost more, but your energy costs are much lower over the lifetime of the home (plus, you will be less impacted if energy prices rise significantly).
Green building does not have to cost more; but in practice it is rare enough that we are still paying a premium due to the limited sources of green products and the limited number of workers trained in the proper building techniques. If nothing else, most green buildings probably have more time and effort put into design than a standard home, and that will increase costs. However, we think the cost will definitely be worth it for a better home in the end.

bookmark_borderApr 27

Posted on by ErikaRS

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Old Testament

God wanted to make sure that the Israelites did not take credit for the victory that God was going to give Gideon. Therefore, he had Gideon reduce his force of 32,000 men by two orders of magnitude to a force of 300. 22,000 of the men left when they were told they could,

Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight.

To get rid of the last 9700, God had Gideon divide the troops based on how they drank water from a stream,

When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group put all those who kneel down and drink with their mouths in the stream.” Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths in the stream.

I suppose that is as good an arbitrary division of people as any.

Before Gideon attacked, he surveyed the enemy camp and learned that some Midianite had a dream that the Israelites would defeat them (well, it was actually about bread and tents, but that’s what it meant). From this, Gideon concluded that his victory must be certain and attacked.

Of course the Israelites defeated the enemies at their camp. Once the enemies were fleeing, Gideon called for help, and they chased down and defeated all the enemy. But not without a little drama. The officials of the towns of Succoth and Peniel refused to give Gideon and his men food, so Gideon said he would get his revenge on them after he was victorious. I think that is a bit unfair of him. Gideon is attacking the powerful army that has been subjecting the area. Of course the people in that area do not want to be perceived as helping him until they are certain it won’t cost them their town.

Of course, those townspeople did not account for the fact that the Israelites, or Gideon at least, could also be pretty cruel. After he won,

Gideon then returned to Succoth and said to the leaders, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna. When we were here before, you taunted me, saying, ‘Catch Zebah and Zalmunna first, and then we will feed your exhausted army.’” Then Gideon took the elders of the town and taught them a lesson, punishing them with thorns and briers from the wilderness. He also tore down the tower of Peniel and killed all the men in the town.

At least he only killed all the men in the town instead of killing everyone and their livestock before burning the town to the ground.

New Testament

Pilate tries to set Jesus free. The crowd claims they want him crucified. As I pointed out one of the other times we read about Jesus’ trial, it seems awfully odd that the religious leaders were so afraid of the people yet all we hear from the people at Jesus’ trial is “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

The soldiers crucify Jesus. People mock him. Then we read about the people crucified with Jesus. In Matthew and Mark we read that Jesus was crucified with two criminals who both ridiculed and insulted him. In Luke’s version of the story, one criminal ridicules Jesus, the other acknowledges him as Lord.

Psalms and Proverbs

Exciting imagery in the first of today’s two psalms!

Dark clouds surround him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire spreads ahead of him
and burns up all his foes.
His lightning flashes out across the world.
The earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.

bookmark_borderAbout Green Building: Design and Energy Use

Posted on by ErikaRS
A green home is designed to use much less energy than a standard home. Some of this is related to construction techniques — a tighter seal and better insulation all around prevents heat loss (or heat gain in the summer). With a heat-recovery exchange system you can still get healthy ventilation without losing all the heat from your house. Similarly, using very insulated windows with heat glazing can help keep out the sun when it is hot and keep in or out the heat from leaking through.
But a lot of the energy efficiency comes down managing solar energy as well as possible. In the winter, you want to capture as much sun as possible to heat your home naturally. This means taking advantage of the fact that the sun is higher in the sky in the summer than in the winter. In many locations, a green home will be built with south-facing exposure to capture the sun the winter sun. To prevent the higher summer sun from entering, a green home can have eaves over the windows at the appropriate angle and extent to block most of the sun in the summer. Clerestory windows and light shelves help bring light deeper into rooms to avoid using electric lights (and without transferring all the heat in the summer, too).
Bedrooms can be put on the east side of the building to take advantage of the morning sun (although around here, that needs to be balanced with getting sun too early in the summer). Rooms that you use at the end of the day, for example, the dining room or office, can be put on the western end of the house.
Proper orientation with respect to sunlight is probably one of the biggest advantages for the homeowner — having the right light in the right room at the right times of day can make a home feel very livable, inviting, and comfortable. Getting the layout right requires more thought than a cookie-cutter plan from a book, but the resulting home will likely have a better layout and be more usable.
Of course, you can also analyze the suitability of your site for wind power and photo-voltaic array. A green home can be pre-wired for solar at a minimal cost (hundreds of dollars added to the total cost of the home). Even if solar power isn’t economical now, it may be in 5 or 10 years as prices on PV cells come down; being able to install them and connect them to existing wires will be much cheaper than trying to retrofit the wiring.

bookmark_borderApr 26

Posted on by ErikaRS

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Old Testament

Fourth grade book report style!

So the Midianites, they were mean. Very mean. And because the Israelites did bad things, the Israelites had to deal with being bossed by the Midianites. For seven years! No fun at all. So the Israelites call out to God, and he totally sends an angel to talk to this guy, Gideon.

Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press. He was at this place called Ophrah. That’s kind of like Oprah, but not because it has an ‘h’. Anywho, so the angel told Gideon that he was a mighty hero when he said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

He said that even though he (that’s Gideon) was just threshing wheat. That does not seem very heroic.

The angel told Gideon he was going to save the Israelites, but Gideon was all like, “but I’m the least important person the the weakest clan in my tribe.” But God’s all like, “That’s okay dude! I’ll help you.”

Gideon was kind of a doubting Thomas sort of guy, so he made God give him a sign. He cooked some goat and bread for the angel, and the angel set it on fire and then disappeared. I don’t know what he (the angel) disappeared for.

Gideon built an altar and destroyed the old one (that was an altar to Baal, who God did not like), but that made everyone really mad. God said those altars were bad, but the people liked them. But that was because the people were bad. When the people got mad at Gideon, he totally told them that Baal could defend himself. But I see people say that about God (like, God God, not Baal or anything), but he never strikes them down or anything, so maybe gods just don’t do that? But the people seemed to think that it showed that Gideon was right, so they did not kill them.

Gideon got together an army, but then he wanted God to do more miracles to prove that he was with him (Gideon, that is). He asked for something kind of weird. He told God to make a fleece (that’s like a cloth) wet when the ground was dry, and then he asked God to do the opposite the other night. God did both. But aren’t we supposed to just have faith in God? Why didn’t God get mad at Gideon for asking for a miracle? And why didn’t Gideon ask for something cool, like lasers to shoot at the enemy? That would have been awesome!

And that’s all. I bet tomorrow we’re going to read about how Gideon beats the Midianites. That will be cool, because there will be killing.

New Testament

Peter denies Jesus. Jesus is accused by the elders. Jesus stands before Pilate. Jesus stands before Herod Antipas. Wait a second… I don’t remember that part from Matthew or Mark. That’s because neither of them mention it. In both those gospels, Jesus goes from the elders to Pilate to death. Luke just adds this bit in here! Now, the other gospels do not say this did not happen, but if it were true, it’s a pretty huge detail for them to just leave out. Fortunately, we know that Luke is, at best, more like a writer of historical fiction than a historian.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

bookmark_borderAbout Green Building: Materials

Posted on by ErikaRS
Green materials are usually natural, made from renewable resources, or use low-energy manufacturing techniques. Some people consider materials sourced and processed locally to be more green than those that are not. Some materials combine these properties, but not all of them do. For example, bamboo cloth is made from a natural and renewable resource (bamboo grows very quickly), but it requires a lot of nasty processing to make it into suitable cloth.
For wood, this usually means avoiding exotic woods that are from endangered species, or have to be shipped from far away. There is plenty of nice renewable hardwoods available from the US. A green home can use salvaged wood (e.g., from old buildings) that has some interesting character to it. Salvaged woods do not need to be harvested, and salvaging saves them from the dump. However, some sources of salvaged wood may have toxins, so it should be obtained from a reliable source.
Marble or quartz is not very renewable, but many manufactured stones are made from recycled materials. Paperstone is made of recycled paper bound together with resins. NovuStone creates counter tops from recycled glass; the glass is sourced and processed in the Pacific Northwest.
A green home would avoid most synthetic carpets. These carpets are made from petroleum producs and use nasty treatment chemicals to make them flame retardant. Natural wool carpets provide a green alternative, and they are naturally flame retardant.
Green homes avoid using paints with lots of VOCs and use low-VOC or zero-VOC paints made from plant oils or natural minerals instead.
These materials often provide benefits for the home owner as well as the environment. Low-VOC and zero-VOC paints improve air quality — the air is cleaner from the beginning, and you don’t have to worry about any possible health effects (VOC concentrations can be up to 10 times higher indoors than out). Wool carpets also reduce the amount of VOCs in the air. They can also be more durable, more stain resistant, and are less prone to collecting dust mites. Plus, they often feel a lot nicer. Of course, this comes with a cost. Wool carpets are significantly more expensive than their synthetic counterparts.
Synthetic and manufactured stones often come in a wider variety of styles an colors than natural stone. Some can be made to custom-order. Some types of manufactured stone counter top can be created as a single slab (which makes cleaning easier).

bookmark_borderAbout Green Building: Construction Techniques

Posted on by ErikaRS
What does ‘green building’ really mean? There are certifications that describe this in more detail: LEED is a common one, though early on it was more targeted towards commercial buildings; BuiltGreen is a standard aimed at residences in Western Washington. But what does green building entail, and what does it mean for the home owner?
Green building aims to reduce the impact of a house on the planet through construction techniques, material choices, and building design (particularly related to energy usage).

Not everything described here is applicable to every development; in particular, not everything listed will be used for the Taltree development. This is more a general overview of the types of things available for green building.

Each area will be considered over the next several posts.
Construction Techniques
Green construction techniques try to cause the least possible disruption of the site and avoid wasted materials. For example, for the Taltree site, the builder wants to save as many of the existing trees as possible, especially the important trees and tree groups. In today’s standard development practice, the land is cleared entirely, then completely replanted with grass and a few new trees. The Taltree site has a lot of really nice, older trees. When possible, these trees will be left in place. If there are mature, healthy trees in planned building areas, the trees will be carefully moved to a new location to keep them alive. This avoids throwing away a lot of cut-down trees, avoids the need to buy a bunch of new trees that will take years to grow, keeps around trees that are comfortable in the native climate and so don’t need a whole lot of work to keep them healthy, and provides much nicer surroundings from the very beginning for the residents.
There are a variety of techniques for cutting down on wasted materials during construction. One example is using pre-fabricated panels called SIPs (structural insulated panels). These are used for the wall, and are fabricated to spec in a warehouse; so they are manufactured to the correct size, and they are assembled just like a puzzle on site. This means no cutting boards down to size or anything like that, which results in very little waste.
Advanced Framing is an an alternative to SIPs. This framing technique reduces the amount of lumber used, achieves the same strength as standard framing techniques, and increases the thermal efficiency of the home.

bookmark_borderApr 25

Posted on by ErikaRS

Reference links:

Old Testament

Unlike Shamgar, the judge got a measly two sentences at the end of yesterday’s reading, today’s judge, Deborah, gets a whole day’s worth of reading to herself. An early passage sums up the story,

Deborah, the wife of Lappidoth, was a prophet who was judging Israel at that time. She would sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would go to her for judgment. One day she sent for Barak son of Abinoam, who lived in Kedesh in the land of Naphtali. She said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: Call out 10,000 warriors from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun at Mount Tabor. And I will call out Sisera, commander of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and warriors, to the Kishon River. There I will give you victory over him.”

What I find most interesting about Deborah’s story is that there appears to be no fuss over the fact that a woman was a prophetess and one of the great judges of Israel. This is especially interesting when you consider that the text later does point out the oddity of a woman going into battle.

Barak told her, “I will go, but only if you go with me.”

“Very well,” she replied, “I will go with you. But you will receive no honor in this venture, for the Lord’s victory over Sisera will be at the hands of a woman.” So Deborah went with Barak to Kedesh.

Of course, Deborah and Barak were victorious. However, they are not the only ones who win praise that day. Sisera, the leader of the enemy, had fled to the home of Jael. She pretended to hide him and then,

when Sisera fell asleep from exhaustion, Jael quietly crept up to him with a hammer and tent peg in her hand. Then she drove the tent peg through his temple and into the ground, and so he died.

Gruesome, but effective I suppose.

New Testament

Today we read again about how Jesus prayed before his arrest. This version of the story differs from Matthew and Mark’s versions in interesting ways. Unlike the earlier versions, this version does not name the disciples that Jesus brings with him (Peter, James, and John, in the earlier narratives). Was Luke intentionally deemphasizing the role of those disciples during the prayer? Perhaps he just wanted to maintain continuity between the events that come before and after the prayers (the last supper and Jesus’ arrest) by keeping all of the disciples around for all three events.

This version of the story has an angel appearing to strengthen Jesus. In the earlier versions, we just have Jesus directly appealing to God. According to the footnote, the two verses that describe the angel do not appear in early manuscripts of Luke. A third interesting difference is that in Luke’s version of the story, Jesus only goes back to find the disciples asleep one time, not three.

(One uninteresting difference between Luke’s version and the earlier versions is that the earlier versions are set in an olive grove in Gethsemane while this version is set on the Mount of Olives.)

Psalms and Proverbs

The second of today’s proverbs entertains me:

Without oxen a stable stays clean,
but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.

bookmark_borderApr 24

Posted on by ErikaRS

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Old Testament

Exciting stories today! To start, the Israelites are yet again failing to follow God’s instructions to them.

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.

The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. 

The Israelites suffer at the hands of their enemies, but eventually God sends them help. The text sets up a pattern for the behavior of the Israelites. God raises “judges” over Israel. While a judge is alive, Israel prospers. Once the judge died, there was corruption again. In so far as this is based on any real shared cultural memory, it seems to me that Israel prospered when they had strong military leaders and had problems with their enemies when they were not. This is not unexpected historical behavior, and it does not seem necessary to bring God into it.

Today we read the stories of three judges (although the third can hardly be called a story). The first judge is Othniel (the same one who married Acsah). The Israelites do evil. God hands them over to their enemies. Othniel defeats the enemy. There is peace until his death. The most interesting part of this story is the enemy king’s name: King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim.

The second judge has the most exciting of today’s stories. After Othniel’s death, the Israelites sinned again, so God gave them over to King Eglon of Moab. Ehud defeats the king, but not in any conventional way. Instead,

Ehud walked over to Eglon, who was sitting alone in a cool upstairs room. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you!” As King Eglon rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand, pulled out the dagger strapped to his right thigh, and plunged it into the king’s belly. The dagger went so deep that the handle disappeared beneath the king’s fat. So Ehud did not pull out the dagger, and the king’s bowels emptied [Or “and it came out behind”]. Then Ehud closed and locked the doors of the room and escaped down the latrine [Or “and went out through the porch”].

Kind of icky, but super entertaining!

The third judge is hardly worth mentioning. His whole story is this,

After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath rescued Israel. He once killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad.

New Testament

Continuing the last supper. Jesus predicts that one of his disciples will betray them. The disciples argue over who it would be. Then they argue about which one of them is the greatest. Jesus says that,

Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.

Jesus then predicts that Peter will deny knowing Jesus three times before the next morning.

Psalms and Proverbs

Two psalms again! Both are psalms of joyful praise.

Today’s proverbs:

A wise woman builds her home,
but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

Perhaps it’s because I’m fortunately unfamiliar with Biblical arguments for a woman’s place being in the home, but I’m kind of surprised that I have never heard this proverb in support of that.

Those who follow the right path fear the Lord;
those who take the wrong path despise him.

What about those of us who are just indifferent to the Lord? (Because it’s hard to fear or hate something that one does not believe exists.)