Month: April 2010

Reference links:

Judges 1:1-2:9 Luke 21:29-22:13 Psalm 90:1-91:16 Proverbs 13:24-25

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

Old Testament

Today we start the the Book of Judges. According to Wikipedia:

it contains the history of Biblical judges(not to be confused with modern judges), who helped rule and guide the ancientIsraelites, and of their times.

As for authorship we read,

The majority of modern scholars believe that Judges was originally part of a continuous work known as theDeuteronomic History stretching from Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, which was later broken up when the Torah was constructed by its redactor from the early parts of the Deuteronomic History and other writings such as JE and thePriestly source

The summary makes it sound like the content is going to be fairly entertaining.

Most of today’s reading is generally not thought to have originally been part of the text,

The majority of modern scholars believe that that first part of the introduction (1:1-2:5) was a late addition to the text, added after the Deuteronomist version of Judges was constructed.

Hopefully that means that the rest of the book will not be as confusing as today’s reading. The reading starts with,

After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Which tribe should go first to attack the Canaanites?”

Okay, so that sets the scene. Joshua is dead. The Israelites are looking to fight more.  We then read that the Israelites attacked the Canaanites and Perizzites. They then attacked Jerusalem and Negev and Hebron. And then

From there they went to fight against the people living in the town of Debir (formerly called Kiriath-sepher). Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the one who attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher.” Othniel, the son of Caleb’s younger brother, Kenaz, was the one who conquered it, so Acsah became Othniel’s wife.

Wait just one moment! This is supposed to happen after Joshua’s death. But we read nearly the same story in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 15:13-19)! It would not contradict the text in Joshua to claim that that passage was actually relating something that happened after Joshua’s death (i.e., the land was given to Caleb by Joshua but conquered after Joshua’s death), but there is nothing, nothing in the text to indicate this.

But back to those conquerings. We have some more terrible cruelties.

While at Bezek they encountered King Adoni-bezek and fought against him, and the Canaanites and Perizzites were defeated. Adoni-bezek escaped, but the Israelites soon captured him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

That is what I would call torture, even though Adoni-bezek did the same things to others. We also read,

The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it, killing all its people and setting the city on fire.

Oh, and the Bible is supposedly a moral book? What then, to make of stories like this, told without any hint of condemnation:

The descendants of Joseph attacked the town of Bethel, and the Lord was with them. They sent men to scout out Bethel (formerly known as Luz). They confronted a man coming out of the town and said to him, “Show us a way into the town, and we will have mercy on you.” So he showed them a way in, and they killed everyone in the town except that man and his family.

I cannot blame the man for saving his own skin, especially given the reputation the Israelites must have had. However, betrayal is hardly a “family value”.

After a few more descriptions of which areas the Israelites did and did not fully conquer and a scolding of the Israelites by an angel, we get what scholars consider to be the original beginning of Judges:

After Joshua sent the people away, each of the tribes left to take possession of the land allotted to them. And the Israelites served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the leaders who outlived him—those who had seen all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.

Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. They buried him in the land he had been allocated, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

I can see why scholars think the rest of today’s reading is a later interpolation. Otherwise, it seems bizarre to describe Joshua’s death like that again right after describing things that happened after his death.

New Testament

More talk of fig trees! I never had a chance to try figs while I was in Israel. It is too bad really because I have heard that you cannot really say that you do not like figs until you have tried really fresh ones, which we certainly do not have in Seattle. In any case, Jesus is talking about fig trees to indicate that just as leaves on trees indicate that summer is coming so those signs that Jesus was talking about indicate that the Kingdom of God is near. I guess that answers my question from yesterday: the text itself introduces the ambiguity of whether Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God (supposedly in the future) or the destruction of the temple (in the past).

Also, Judas agrees to betray Jesus and we get the setup for the Last Supper. Like with Moses, I cannot say I am glad that we are getting close to Jesus’ death (yet again), but I can say that I welcome anything that signals an end to this third repetition of largely the same material.

Psalms and Proverbs

2 psalms today! Weird. We also read a rather well known proverb today,

Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children.
Those who love their children care enough to discipline them.

I suppose that these days many people assume that this is a metaphorical rod of discipline.

Reference links:

Joshua 24:1-33 Luke 21:1-28 Psalm 89:38-52 Proverbs 13:20-23

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

Old Testament

Today we finish Joshua! Joshua gives a summarized overview of the history of the Israelites. I appreciate that Joshua gives a more concise history lesson than Moses did. Joshua ends by reminding the Israelites that God helped them to murder all of the people in this land they now live in. Therefore, they should honor and worship only their God and no other. But he does not think they will be very good at it. The people agree to worship only their God.

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem, committing them to follow the decrees and regulations of the Lord. Joshua recorded these things in the Book of God’s Instructions. As a reminder of their agreement, he took a huge stone and rolled it beneath the terebinth tree beside the Tabernacle of the Lord.

Joshua said to all the people, “This stone has heard everything the Lord said to us. It will be a witness to testify against you if you go back on your word to God.”

 I suppose we are supposed to take the rock’s hearing the covenant to be symbolic, although it does not seem any more symbolic than many of the things people take literally. Also, terebinth trees seem to be pretty!

After that Joshua dies and is buried (at the age of 110). Eleazar also dies. The people of Israel finally bury Joseph’s bones, which they have been carrying with them since they left Egypt.

The bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought along with them when they left Egypt, were buried at Shechem, in the parcel of ground Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor for 100 pieces of silver. This land was located in the territory allotted to the descendants of Joseph.

Tomorrow we start Judges!

New Testament

A widow is praised for donating all she has. On the one hand, I agree with the sentiment that sometimes a smaller gift can be more generous depending on the means of the donor. On the other hand, it makes me think about how much of the money given to churches is not used for the good they do but is only used to propagate their own message.

Jesus talks about… the end times? the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem? It is unclear. We read,

Some of his disciples began talking about the majestic stonework of the Temple and the memorial decorations on the walls. But Jesus said, “The time is coming when all these things will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

“Teacher,” they asked, “when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to take place?”

Now, this “prediction” is referring to the destruction of the Temple during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. I put “prediction” in quotes because the gospels are generally believed by critical scholars to have been written after the Siege. But in any case, the disciples are clearly asking when the temple will be destroyed.

Jesus then goes on to describe a bunch of weird and terrible things. However, they are effects that I have at least on occasion seed associated with the end times and with Jesus’ second coming. Clearly, one of these things has happened and the other, in most people’s view, has not (and in my view, never will). I suppose this prediction could have a dual meaning like is attributed to all of the so called prophecies that Jesus fulfills.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today we get the third and final part of the psalm we started two days ago. You may remember that the first parts of the psalm talk about how God is wonderful and David his chosen king. Today we get the dramatic plot twist!

But now you have rejected him and cast him off.
You are angry with your anointed king.
You have renounced your covenant with him;
you have thrown his crown in the dust.
You have broken down the walls protecting him
and ruined every fort defending him.
Everyone who comes along has robbed him,
and he has become a joke to his neighbors.

 The psalm ends with the psalmist praising God after a request that God stop hiding. Cheery.

4 proverbs today! Why is it that we get 1 some days and 4 other days. Maybe they are grouped thematically, but not significantly so. I would personally have a more even distribution.

Reference links:

Joshua 22:21-23:16 Luke 20:27-47 Psalm 89:14-37 Proverbs 13:17-19

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

Old Testament

So the people of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh were not trying to rebel against God. They were just trying to build a reminder to the people to the west of the Jordan that they too have the right to worship God at the Tabernacle. This was considered a sufficient answer:

Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the other leaders left the tribes of Reuben and Gad in Gilead and returned to the land of Canaan to tell the Israelites what had happened. And all the Israelites were satisfied and praised God and spoke no more of war against Reuben and Gad

Also, I noticed something tricky today. So, Eleazar is the priest and is, therefore, still alive. Furthermore, he has been around for awhile, since he was already a priest when his brothers were burned to death. But didn’t everyone over 20 at the time of the people’s rebellion die (except for Joshua and Caleb). Ah! But wait. The passage from Numbers says:

Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die.

If we look at the registration we see,

But as the Lord had commanded, the Levites were not included in this registration.

So it is okay that Eleazar is still alive.

Also, Joshua’s dying. He warns the Israelites to keep themselves separate from those around them or else God will get angry.

New Testament

More repetitive exchanges between Jesus and the religious teachers.

Psalms and Proverbs

A continuation of yesterday’s psalm: “Yay, yay! God is wonderful, and so is David his chosen king.”

Reference links:

Joshua 21:1-22:20 Luke 20:1-26 Psalm 89:1-13 Proverbs 13:15-16

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

Old Testament

Half of today’s reading is a listing of cities given to the Levites.

The rest looks like it might get interesting. The tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh return home. On the way, they build an altar in the land of Canaan. The rest of the tribes of Israel do not like this.

So the whole community of Israel gathered at Shiloh and prepared to go to war against them. First, however, they sent a delegation led by Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, to talk with the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

The delegation tells those who had built the altar what terrible people they are. The delegation tells them how angry God is going to be with all of them. What happens next? We’ll have to wait and see.

New Testament

More repeats: the Pharisees ask Jesus where his authority comes from, and he refuses to tell them because they will not answer a question about John the Baptist. Jesus tells a parable about some tenant farmers that was clearly a criticism of the religious teachers. Jesus evades a trap set by those folks when he says that taxes should be paid because Caesar’s face in on the coin.

Psalms and Proverbs

Another “God is awesome” psalm. Another couple “wise people are awesome, fools are not” proverbs.

Reference links:

Joshua 19:1-20:9 Luke 19:28-48 Psalm 88:1-18 Proverbs 13:12-14

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

Old Testament

More geography plus designation of the cities of refuge. Of vague interest, relative to the rest,

This was the homeland allocated to the clans of the tribe of Simeon. Their allocation of land came from part of what had been given to Judah because Judah’s territory was too large for them. So the tribe of Simeon received an allocation within the territory of Judah.

New Testament

Jesus steals/borrows a donkey to ride into Jerusalem. His followers praise him. The Pharisees do not like that. He claims that if they did not rejoice, the rocks would. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Jesus clears people out of the Temple and starts teaching there.

I think the bit about the fall of Jerusalem is often considered some sort of prophecy, but the effect is rather dulled when you consider that Luke was almost certainly written after the destruction of the Temple.

Psalms and Proverbs

Cheery psalm today. Here’s a representative excerpt:

I have been sick and close to death since my youth.
I stand helpless and desperate before your terrors.
Your fierce anger has overwhelmed me.
Your terrors have paralyzed me.
They swirl around me like floodwaters all day long.
They have engulfed me completely.
You have taken away my companions and loved ones.
Darkness is my closest friend.

I do like the first of today’s psalms:

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.

Reference links:

Joshua 16:1-18:28 Luke 19:1-27 Psalm 87:1-7 Proverbs 13:11

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

Old Testament

More land allocation descriptions. The most exciting part of today’s reading is this:

Joshua replied, “If there are so many of you, and if the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for you, clear out land for yourselves in the forest where the Perizzites and Rephaites live.”

It is strange that Joshua is giving the people of Ephraim the land where the Rephaites live given we have read several times that King Og of Bashan was the last of the Rephaites.

New Testament

Today’s reading contains a story about a short tax collector climbing a tree. I am amused.

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name.“Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

This story also provides an interesting contrast to the story of the rich man who wants to know how to get into heaven (in Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, and Luke 18:19-30). To quote Luke’s version of that story,

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

In today’s story, the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector, we read,

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Why is it sufficient for Zacchaeus to give away half of his wealth? Is it because he volunteered it while the rich man had to be told to give up his wealth? Is it because Zacchaeus was sinful while the rich man kept the law, and so Zacchaeus’s sacrifice represented a larger change in himself? It’s a mystery!

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s psalm is kind of odd, but in a nice way, no wishing suffering upon anyone.

On the holy mountain
stands the city founded by the Lord.
He loves the city of Jerusalem
more than any other city in Israel.
O city of God,
what glorious things are said of you!

I will count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me—
also Philistia and Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia.
They have all become citizens of Jerusalem!
Regarding Jerusalem it will be said,
“Everyone enjoys the rights of citizenship there.”
And the Most High will personally bless this city.
When the Lord registers the nations, he will say,
“They have all become citizens of Jerusalem.”

The people will play flutes and sing,
“The source of my life springs from Jerusalem!”

I suspect that today’s proverb had a little modernization in the exact choice of phrasing,

Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.

That said, I am amused to see that the concept of get rich quick schemes have been around for a long long time.

Reference links:

Joshua 15:1-63 Luke 18:18-43 Psalm 86:1-17 Proverbs 13:9-10

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

Old Testament

More geographic description including, oh joy! lists of city names. I have never been into textual descriptions of geography. For me, this may be the dullest days of reading so far.

The only thing that approaches remotely interesting is this,

Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the one who attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher.” Othniel, the son of Caleb’s brother Kenaz, was the one who conquered it, so Acsah became Othniel’s wife.

When Acsah married Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. As she got down off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She said, “Give me another gift. You have already given me land in the Negev; now please give me springs of water, too.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

Yes, the most exciting thing in today’s reading is that a guy’s daughter gets married, asks for something from her father, and gets it.

New Testament

Today we read a couple more stories, and we learn that the disciples were pretty dense.

The first story is the story of the rich man and Jesus. A rich man asks Jesus what he needs to do to get eternal life. Jesus tells him that he must be good and, if he already does that, he must give up all his possessions and follow Jesus. This makes the man sad. Jesus comments that it’s hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, but fortunately, God helps them.

The other story involves a blind man who persistently called out for Jesus to heal him. Jesus eventually did, and everyone praised God. I suppose you could read this as supporting the theme from one of yesterday’s story that persistence gets results in matters of petition.

Between these two stories, we get the following episode,

Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true. He will be handed over to the Romans, and he will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon. They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.”

But they didn’t understand any of this. The significance of his words was hidden from them, and they failed to grasp what he was talking about.

Now, Jesus is not being that mysterious this time, at least with respect to the facts of the situation. Thus it seems that either the disciples are dense not to understand any of this, “understand” is meant to imply “understand the significance of”, or they were so use to not being able to take Jesus at his word that even something as straightforward as this is perplexing.

Psalms and Proverbs

Wow! A whole psalm that could be used as a modern prayer without having to cut out any awkward bits!

Reference links:

Joshua 13:1-14:15 Luke 18:1-17 Psalm 85:1-13 Proverbs 13:7-8

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

Old Testament

Land is divided. Lots of place names. Balaam’s death is brought up again.

New Testament

Today we read a parable that seems to have a similar lesson to Luke 11:5-8, don’t give up when you pray. If you keep asking, God will eventually get annoyed and give you what you want. A widow bugs a judge who will not give her justice until he does. Since it had to do with a judge, Jesus could say,

Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!

The problem with this is that the judge did not give justice to get the widow to stop bothering him, he gave her whatever she wanted to get her to stop bugging him. If, indeed, it was the other person who deserved justice, there is nothing in this story to indicate that the judge would not have given the widow her way anyway to get her off his back. In fact, there is everything to imply that he would have given her her way anyway.

Like yesterday, we get another story that could be summed up with its punchline:

For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Also, Jesus blesses some children. Awww.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s psalm: God, you did wonderful things in the past. Do them again, please! He totally will, I know it.

Reference links:

Joshua 11:1-12:24 Luke 17:11-37 Psalm 84:1-12 Proverbs 13:5-6

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

Old Testament

I forgot to mention yesterday that one of the kings defeated in yesterday’s reading was from Gezer. This is funny because Gezer means carrot in modern Hebrew. No relation as far as I know, but still entertaining. Other than that, we just read about more death and slaughter. Included in this was the following,

The Israelites chased them as far as Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward into the valley of Mizpah, until not one enemy warrior was left alive. Then Joshua crippled the horses and burned all the chariots, as the Lord had instructed.

So after killing all the enemy warriors, the Israelites crippled the horses because God said so? God sucks.

New Testament

Today we read another story that appears only in Luke. In this story, Jesus heals 10 lepers in a village. He does, and only one, the Samaritan, comes back to thank him.

Jesus also talks about the coming of the Kingdom of God. In summary, it will be surprising.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing noteworthy.

Hmm, that ended up short. Today just was not that novel.

Reference links:

Joshua 9:3-10:43 Luke 16:19-17:10 Psalm 83:1-18 Proverbs 13:4

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

Old Testament

I am not very good with violence. I close my eyes even at the moderately violent parts of movies. Thus, these readings about Israel’s conquering of the promised land have been difficult for me to read. Despite the fact that I know there is no reason to believe they actually occurred, I get a knot in my stomach every time I read about how the Israelites completely destroyed another city. Today’s reading was particularly difficult.

It starts with a story about how the Gibeonites saved their lives by fooling the Israelites into effectively making them their slaves instead. They pretended to be from a distant land and asked the Israelites for a peace treaty.

They sent ambassadors to Joshua, loading their donkeys with weathered saddlebags and old, patched wineskins. They put on worn-out, patched sandals and ragged clothes. And the bread they took with them was dry and moldy.

The Israelites were easily fooled, supposedly because they did not consult with God. When the Israelites learned that the Gibeonites lived nearby, they regretted their oath. However, they were bound to uphold it for it had been made in the name of their God. This regrets prompts Joshua to ask a very stupid question,

Joshua called together the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you lie to us? Why did you say that you live in a distant land when you live right here among us? May you be cursed! From now on you will always be servants who cut wood and carry water for the house of my God.”

The Gibeonites give the obvious answer: the choice was to fool you or to be completely and utterly destroyed.

They replied, “We did it because we—your servants—were clearly told that the Lord your God commanded his servant Moses to give you this entire land and to destroy all the people living in it. So we feared greatly for our lives because of you. That is why we have done this. Now we are at your mercy—do to us whatever you think is right.”

The next story is kind of weird. Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, decided to get a bunch of the local kings together to attack the Gibeonites for making a peace treaty with the Israelites. This seems kind of stupid. If they are going to go to the effort of banding together, they should attack the real enemy, the Israelites. In the end, the Gibeonites call for help, so they end up fighting the Israelites anyway.

The Israelites win, of course. This is the battle that gives rise to the reasonably well known story of Joshua causing the sun and the moon to stand still in the sky.

Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the Lord answered such a prayer. Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day!

The Book of Jasher is, according to Wikipedia, a lost book of the Old Testament. I bring this up because some people think that if the Bible is God’s word, then God can be depended on to shepherd it through the ages. The existence of lost books does not discredit that belief, however, it does bring up something that those who hold to the belief have to explain.

Oh yeah, then the Israelites kill a whole bunch more people. =(

New Testament

Today’s reading starts with a story whose whole point, I feel, is to provide build up for the punchline,

But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.

Really, I feel like we would have gotten the same amount of value with a slight expansion of that single statement.

Today’s reading also contains a passage that illuminates the idea of forgiveness. I feel that people often assume that being forgiving means to be a pushover. However, today’s passage provides insight into the process of forgiveness,

If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.

To be forgiving does not mean to accept wrongs. Wrongs can and should be rebuked. However, if a person is receptive to that correction, then they should be forgiven even though they may stray again. This does not address the issue of what forms the rebuke should take or how to know if a person is sincerely asking for repentance, but knowing that is not necessary for extracting wisdom from this.

Psalms and Proverbs

God’s ignoring the Israelites again; they want him to wake up and kick ass:

O God, do not be silent!
Do not be deaf.
Do not be quiet, O God.
…
As a fire burns a forest
and as a flame sets mountains ablaze,
chase them with your fierce storm;
terrify them with your tempest.