Month: May 2010

Reference links:

1 Samuel 17:1-18:4 John 8:21-30 Psalm 111:1-10 Proverbs 15:11

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

The story of David and Goliath, a classic! Goliath, the Philistine champion, stood nine feet tall in heavy bronze armor. He taunted the Israelites to send a champion to fight him. The consequence would be slavery for the nation whose champion lost. David persuades Saul to let him fight Goliath. Armed only with some rocks, a sling, and the faith that God will not let his people be defeated. With a single head shot, David brings down Goliath. After that, the Israelites easily defeat the rest of the Philistine army.

One thing that is interesting of this story is that it does not fit at all with yesterday’s reading. In yesterday’s reading, we read how Saul heard of David’s ability to play the harp and sent for him. In today’s reading, Saul obviously does not know David:

As Saul watched David go out to fight the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of his army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?”

“I really don’t know,” Abner declared.

“Well, find out who he is!” the king told him.

Even if we allow these stories to be in the opposite chronological order, things still do not work out. In yesterday’s reading, we read that Saul sent for David to play the harp for him. Today we read that after the battle,

From that day on Saul kept David with him and wouldn’t let him return home.

Obviously, we once again have two different narratives smooshed together.

New Testament

Jesus continues to spew on about how he is awesome and in tune with God. Is the Gospel of John done yet?

Psalms and Proverbs

Another nice praise filled psalm with no wishes for violence to others.

Today’s proverb:

Even Death and Destruction hold no secrets from the Lord.
How much more does he know the human heart!

I would generally interpret Death and Destruction holding no secrets from the Lord as God knowing all about them. However, given all of the violence in the Old Testament, I am currently inclined toward the interpretation is that is a reference to how effective God is at killing and destroying.

Reference links:

1 Samuel 15:1-16:23 John 8:1-20 Psalm 110:1-7 Proverbs 15:8-10

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Apparently God felt like he has not had a good genocide in awhile, so Samuel tells Saul that God wants him to fight the Amalekites:

Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.

Sault wins, but he disobeys Samuel’s commands.

Then Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt. He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, but completely destroyed everyone else. Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.

This really annoys God, and he tells Samuel,

I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.

Now, I know that the Biblical conception of God changed over time, but it certainly feels odd to me, as someone use to a God who is considered all knowing and eternal, to have a feeling such as regret attributed to God. It seems downright ungodly.

Samuel tells Saul that he has lost God’s favor and will lose his kingdom. He then kills the Amalekite king after telling him,

As your sword has killed the sons of many mothers, now your mother will be childless.

I imagine that the Amalekite king, if he was thinking anything other than “I am about to get killed!” was thinking “Dude, Saul killed all the Amalekites but me and some animals. My mother is already dead.” In short, way to be a jerk Samuel.

Samuel goes away from Saul along with God’s favor. He secretly anoints David, the youngest son of many sons of Jesse. From that time, the Spirit of the Lord comes to David and leaves Saul. Instead, God sends Saul tormenting demons,

Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.

Not very nice, but then again, God hasn’t killed significant number of Israelites in ages. He’s probably getting antsy.

New Testament

Today’s reading contains the well known story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus tells the woman’s accusers,

All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!

According to my reading, this whole story is not found in the most ancient manuscripts. The funny thing is that my translation put that note at the very end of yesterday’s reading. It’s almost like they wanted to put a day of separation between the implication that this well known story may not be authentic and the story itself.

Jesus then goes on to “respond” to people who, like me, get frustrated that Jesus just goes around declaring himself to be God’s son and wonderful and the way to salvation and all that:

The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.”

Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me. You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone. And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”

So Jesus’ response is that his self testimony is valid because he knows that it is true and because his non-present Father whose voice only he can tell supposedly corroborates his testimony? Any deluded lunatic with an imaginary friend can claim as much. There is still no reason for anyone else to believe that he is right.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s psalm is one of those ones that the New Testament wants us to think is about Jesus even though there is no good reason to think so.

Reference links:

1 Samuel 13:23-14:52 John 7:30-53 Psalm 109:1-31 Proverbs 15:5-7

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Jonathan, son of Saul, an interesting character as we will see going forward. But that is getting ahead of ourselves. Today is our first substantial introduction to Jonathan. He takes on a Philistine outpost with only the help of his armor bearer, and they defeat twenty Philistines. This defeat causes panic, and that panic is only increased by an earthquake.

Now, you would think that it would be hard to tell this story badly, and the author of Samuel doesn’t exactly do so, but he misses out on so much potential.

So they climbed up using both hands and feet, and the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer killed those who came behind them. They killed some twenty men in all, and their bodies were scattered over about half an acre.

Suddenly, panic broke out in the Philistine army, both in the camp and in the field, including even the outposts and raiding parties. And just then an earthquake struck, and everyone was terrified.

Between this and the fact that the two different sources for Samuel have been blended together more clumsily, I am quickly coming to the conclusion that the author of Samuel is not one of the better Biblical authors.

The rest of today’s reading talks about the semi-successful pursuit of the Philistines and some mistakes made during that pursuit. Saul commanded his men not to eat anything until that evening, so the men did not eat. Jonathan, Saul’s son, did hear this and did eat. Because of this, God stayed silent when Saul asked if they should pursue the Philistines. By lot it was determined that Jonathan was the source the trouble:

“I tasted a little honey,” Jonathan admitted. “It was only a little bit on the end of my stick. Does that deserve death?”

“Yes, Jonathan,” Saul said, “you must die! May God strike me and even kill me if you do not die for this.”

But the people broke in and said to Saul, “Jonathan has won this great victory for Israel. Should he die? Far from it! As surely as the Lord lives, not one hair on his head will be touched, for God helped him do a great deed today.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he was not put to death.

If it were not for the fact that Jonathan was chosen by the casting of the lots, we might be able to interpret this as God’s silence stemming from Saul’s imprudent oath. Because the lots were cast, we know that blame is falling on Jonathan for eating in violation of an oath he was not aware of.

This reminds me of the story of Jephthat’s daughter (although, fortunately, the killing did not occur this time). God seems perfectly happy to hold people to bad oaths and to punish people for the violation of them (even if they did not know they were violating those oaths). I find this behavior surprising coming from a God who is supposedly just. I would think that a just God would see that it is better to have people admit when they have made a mistake rather than punish them for not holding to a bad oath.

New Testament

The Pharisees try to arrest Jesus and fail. This provides an interesting contrast to the other gospels. When Jesus is arrested, Matthew, Mark, and Luke all report him asking why they did not arrest him publicly. Mark’s version:

Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous revolutionary, that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there among you teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me.”

But today they did try to arrest Jesus publicly and failed. It is hard to reconcile these passages.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s psalm is a long one. The psalmist talks about how his enemies unfairly accuse him and how they wish to heap all sorts of curses on him. The psalmist then wishes they these curses become the punishment given to his enemies. Not very nice.

Reference links:

1 Samuel 12:1-13:22 John 7:1-29 Psalm 108:1-13 Proverbs 15:4

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Today’s reading is rather confusing. It shows clearly that the 1 Samuel is made up of narratives from several sources. I noticed today that the Wikipedia article on Saul had a perspective on those interleavings that is a nice supplement to the article on the book.

Samuel gives his “goodbye” speech. Unlike Moses and Joshua’s goodbye speeches, Samuel does not give his just before he dies. He only gives a little review of the past (hurrah!) and reminds the Israelites how terrible they were for wanting a king.

We also learn Saul’s age and the length of his reign. The length of his reign is very significant:

Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty-two years.

We then read about Saul going to battle, but getting cursed because he did not wait for Samuel before asking for God’s blessings; note that we have not heard about Samuel asking Saul to wait seven days for anything since he was anointed. However, that must have been a long time ago because in this story, Saul’s son Jonathan was old enough to lead a battle. Given that Saul was only 30 when he became king, it seems that this episode must be years later.

Then again, the whole naught sacrifice bit is considered by some to be a redaction to explain why later traditions considered Saul to be a terrible king despite being God’s chosen king: he did something to loose God’s approval.

Actually, I find the “Classical Rabbinical Views” section of the Wikipedia article to be quite useful for understanding the confusing narrative flow in this book. It explains how the two hypothesized sources for Samuel, often called the republican and monarchical sources, have conflicting views of Saul and correspond to  two conflicting rabbinical traditions. The former tradition sees Saul as not worthy of the throne and guilty of sins against God. The other tradition sees him as basically good, almost too good, and that is what leads to his eventual downfall. Such conflicting opinions explain the frequent mood and narrative shifts in this book.

Christianity, as far as I can tell, generally seems to accept the “Saul sucked” interpretation. This is probably because Jesus is claimed to have descended from David, and interpretations that take blame away from Saul generally put more blame on David.

New Testament

Today Jesus lies. He tells his brothers that he is not going to the Festival of Shelters in Judea, and then he does go, emphasis mine:

Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because my time has not yet come.” 

After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee.But after his brothers left for the festival, Jesus also went, though secretly, staying out of public view.

Today’s reading also contains an interesting perspective on the “Lord, Liar, Lunatic” false trilemma. For those who have not heard it, this bit of “reasoning” goes, “Jesus was either a liar, a madman, or who he said he was. He clearly was not a liar or a madman, therefore he must have been the Son of God.”

This is a false trilemma because there is no reason to believe these are the only three options. For example, a more reasonable set of options is “Lord, Liar, Lunatic, Legend” (this expansion is a general favorite because it retains the alliteration =D ). However, today’s reading makes it seem that the liar and lunatic options may not be as far fetched as people presenting the trilemma think they are. Obviously, the author of John thinks Jesus is the Son of God, but he writes about people who are claimed to have seen Jesus and thought he was a liar or a lunatic. In support of liar we read,

There was a lot of grumbling about him among the crowds. Some argued, “He’s a good man,” but others said, “He’s nothing but a fraud who deceives the people.”

In support of lunatic we read,

The crowd replied, “You’re demon possessed! Who’s trying to kill you?”

Now, I personally lead toward the legend option, but today’s reading shows us that lord is not the only feasible option out of lord, liar, and lunatic.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

Reference links:

1 Samuel 10:1-11:15 John 6:43-71 Psalm 107:1-43 Proverbs 15:1-3

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Samuel anoints Saul and tells him that he has been chosen to rule over Israel. Samuel describes a number of signs Saul will see on the way home. They come to pass.

Saul arrives home and meets his uncle. He tells his uncle about meeting Samuel, but not about being anointed as king. Too modest? Too secretive? Too doubtful that it will happen? Who knows!

Samuel calls the people of Israel together to choose a king. The king is chosen by lot, and Saul, of course, is chosen. However…

And finally Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?”

And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.” So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else.

Again, modesty? Fear? Just general weirdness? Who knows! But whatever the meaning, it is entertaining.

Saul’s first act as king: fight some Ammonites who are abusing some Israelites. This story is kind of confusing. First we read, in a passage that apparently is in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not the Masoretic Text, that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, had gouged out the right eye of all of the Israelites living east of the Jordan river. We then read how King Nahash threatened to gouge the eyes of the Israelites, and this motivated Saul to come save them.

The Spirit of God came upon Saul, and he motivated the Israelites to follow him. Interesting side note, Israel already seems to be at least somewhat divided into “Israel” and “Judah” at this point:

When Saul mobilized them at Bezek, he found that there were 300,000 men from Israel and 30,000 men from Judah.

Saul successfully defeated the Ammonites, and the people make Saul their king. Didn’t Samuel already make Saul king? Perhaps the people did not actually accept Samuel’s anointed king until he proved himself in battle. In any case, good for Saul for saving people from getting their eyes gouged out.

New Testament

Jesus continues to talk about the importance of believing in him. In the process, we get this process which, taken out of context, sounds rather terrible (really though, it does not sound much better in context):

I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

Ewww. And yes, I know the basics of the standard explanations, but still, this particular passage, eww. Apparently, I am not the only one who has thought so. After making this declaration, some of Jesus’ disciples  start to leave him.

At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.

Jesus’ opinion on the situation implies that they left because believing the truth of Jesus’ words was too hard. I think they left because believing the truth of Jesus’ words seemed straight up repulsive.

Psalms and Proverbs

Rather long psalm today. 43 verses long, all in one day. But that’s okay because it provides some variety of form, at least. The psalm lists a number of ways that people were separated from God and how they were eventually reconciled again. E.g.,

Some were fools; they rebelled
and suffered for their sins.
They couldn’t stand the thought of food,
and they were knocking on death’s door.
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.

The gist seems to be that people eventually turn to God in their times of trouble, and then he saves them.

One good proverb today!

A gentle answer deflects anger,
but harsh words make tempers flare.

As someone with a fair bit of temper, I certainly know the truth of this one, from both the giving and the receiving side.

Reference links:

1 Samuel 8:1-9:27 John 6:22-42 Psalm 106:32-48 Proverbs 14:34-35

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Remember how Eli’s sons brought ruin upon themselves by being bad people and taking the Ark of the Covenant into battle? Apparently Samuel’s sons, while not that bad, are not so great themselves:

As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.

Because Samuel’s sons were corrupted, the elders of Israel demanded a king. God claimed that this meant that they were rejecting him:

Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”

However, we saw time and time again in Judges that the Israelites get trampled by their enemies when they do not show strong leadership. With Samuel getting old and his sons obviously corrupt, of course the Israelites worry about what will happen next.

Samuel warns the people that a king will be terrible for them, but the people say they want a king any way. Again, they are probably thinking that the alternative is another round of slavery under some of the other locals.

God sends Saul to Samuel. Samuel tells Saul that God has sent Saul a special message. Saul does not learn what the surprise is today, but we readers all know that he will be made king. Despite the fact that Samuel and God think that giving the Israelites a king is a terrible idea, Samuel still does his proper duty and treats Saul well.

New Testament

The morning after the bread miracle and water walking, the crowd asks Jesus when he got to the other side the lake. He replies,

I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.

That is something of a non sequitur.  Luke was a much better writer than the author of John. He, at least, made sense most of the time.

The crowd demands a miraculous sign from Jesus, and he talks about how he is the bread of life and they do not believe in him despite what he has already shown him,

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me. However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.

If those that God has given to Jesus will come to him (thus implying that believing in Jesus is not a choice and so he is wasting his breath berating those who do not believe in him), why did God only choose to have some people believe in Jesus? Since God is doing the giving, he has either preprogrammed them to choose to believe or overridden their free will to do so. Under either scenario, God’s apparent picking and choosing is disturbing.

Psalms and Proverbs

More history review: the Israelites were terrible. And that’s the end of that psalm.

Reference links:

1 Samuel 5:1-7:17 John 6:1-21 Psalm 106:13-31 Proverbs 14:32-33

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

It was a bad day for the Philistines when they decided to take the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelites. First, they put it in their temple, but the statue of their God, Dagon, falls down in front of it. Then the people of the town where the ark was kept were plagued with what my translation calls tumors and other translations call sores. The ark is sent to other towns, and they are equally afflicted. This makes for an entertaining story, but I do not think it reflects well on God’s character.

The Philistines decide to send the ark back to the Israelites. They ask their priests and diviners what to do and receive a pretty elaborate answer involving cows, gold sores, and gold rats. The Philistines set up the return of the ark as an experiment: send it back in exactly this way, and see if the desired result occurs.

Now build a new cart, and find two cows that have just given birth to calves. Make sure the cows have never been yoked to a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves away from them in a pen. Put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, and beside it place a chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors you are sending as a guilt offering. Then let the cows go wherever they want. If they cross the border of our land and go to Beth-shemesh, we will know it was the Lord who brought this great disaster upon us. If they don’t, we will know it was not his hand that caused the plague. It came simply by chance.

Of course, the cows did what was expected of them. Now, this was done by the evil terrible Philistines, so we cannot take it as an example of what ought to be done. That said, isn’t it odd how God rarely gives such clear answers to the modern world? Here God easily convinces the Philistines of his power in this story, yet he does not now. He neither sends such clear and obvious punishment for displeasing him nor sends such obvious relief for remedying that. Funny that.

New Testament

The Gospel of John actually has some overlap with the other gospels. Amazing! Jesus turns five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed 5000 people, and then he walks on water. We do get a line today that makes the Jesus from the Gospel of John slightly more likable than the tedious Jesus we have seen so far,

When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

I can certainly feel some sympathy for the Jesus who just needed to get away sometimes.

Psalms and Proverbs

Unlike the last historical psalm, which seemed to ignore all of the times God threatened to murder the Israelites, this one dwells on it. That makes it much more amusing.

Reference links:

1 Samuel 2:22-4:22 John 5:24-47 Psalm 106:1-12 Proverbs 14:30-31

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

What does Wikipedia have to say about our current book? The most interesting bit is that apparently there has been a fair amount of churn in the way this book and the ones following it were divided:

The Books of Samuel (Hebrew: Sefer Sh’muel ספר שמואל‎) are part of the Hebrew Bible. The work was originally written in Hebrew, and the Book(s) of Samuel originally formed a single text, as they are often considered today in Jewish bibles.

Together with what is now referred to as the Book(s) of Kings, the translators who created the Greek Septuagint divided the text into four books, which they named the Books of the Kingdoms. In the Latin Vulgate version, these then became the Books of the Kings, thus 1 and 2 Samuel were referred to as 1 and 2 Kings, with 3 and 4 Kings being what are called 1 and 2 Kings by the King James Bible and its successors.

Which means that I will not be bothering with an introduction for 2 Samuel. Wikipedia also has this to say about authorship,

Traditionally, the authors of the books of Samuel have been held to be Samuel, Gad, and Nathan. Samuel is believed to have penned the first twenty-four chapters of the first book. Gad, the companion of David (1 Sam. 22:5), is believed to have continued the history thus commenced; and Nathan is believed to have completed it, probably arranging the whole in the form in which we now have it (1 Chronicles 29:29).

Modern scholars consider that the text is clearly not the work of men contemporary with the events. Roughly in the order they are believed to have been created historically, the sources used to construct 1 & 2 Samuel are: [list of a bunch of sources]

On to today’s reading!

Remember that Eli was the current priest. His two sons failed to live up to the standards they should have been living up to:

Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

Eli asks them to stop, but they do not, but the reason for that is peculiar:

But Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to put them to death.

Reminds me of Pharaoh.

Eli’s family is cursed by God first through an unnamed man of God and then through Samuel. Samuel’s version shows the uncertainties of a young prophet.

Suddenly the Lord called out, “Samuel!”

“Yes?” Samuel replied. “What is it?” He got up and ran to Eli. “Here I am. Did you call me?”

[this happens a couple more times]

Then Eli realized it was the Lord who was calling the boy. So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed.

[Samuel does this and God speaks of the things he will do to Eli’s family]

Samuel stayed in bed until morning, then got up and opened the doors of the Tabernacle as usual. He was afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him. But Eli called out to him, “Samuel, my son.”

“Here I am,” Samuel replied.

“What did the Lord say to you? Tell me everything. And may God strike you and even kill you if you hide anything from me!” So Samuel told Eli everything; he didn’t hold anything back. “It is the Lord’s will,” Eli replied. “Let him do what he thinks best.”

Awww! How cute! =)

The Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant in a battle. Eli’s sons die, Eli dies, and the wife of one of Eli’s sons dies. Cheery. So now Samuel and his descendants are marked as the new priests “forever”, where, as in the case of Aaron’s descendants, “forever” lasts until God changes his mind.

New Testament

John’s Jesus just goes on and on and on and on. He is still going on about how listening to and believing in him will give eternal life and how he only executes God’s will and how the scriptures all point to him. I get the point. Jesus is claiming that he’s all that and a bag of chips.

So if he’s so great, why can’t he get around to actually saying something to show how great he was. Give an analysis of exactly how some of the scriptures point to him (and no, random quoting of so called prophecies does not cut it). Point out some information that could not have been known by mere mortals at the time of the writing of the Bible (no the temple destruction does not count because it happened before the gospels were written).

Jesus gets annoyed at people who demand signs and proofs from him, but really, if all he is doing is claiming  to be the son of God what distinguishes him from any other person who makes outlandish claims? Nothing! People often claim that if you read the Bible, then you will see its obvious truth of Jesus’ claims. What I see is a bunch of hot air and contradictory accounts.

Okay, I guess I was feeling ranty today. =)

Psalms and Proverbs

It looks like we may have another multi-part history review psalm.

The first of today’s proverbs is another one where I think that my translation is a bit silly. Even if cancer is a more modern concept than rotting in the bones, it is also a highly technical term and feels out of place in this context.

A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body;
jealousy is like cancer in the bones.

Good point though. Psychological and physical health and closely linked.

Reference links:

1 Samuel 1:1-2:21 John 5:1-23 Psalm 105:37-45 Proverbs 14:28-29

Overview of the Books of Samuel Overview of the Gospel of John Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

I will go over the background information for 1 Samuel tomorrow (or maybe the next day). Today, I want to be quick so I can get to bed.

This is another story that involves the birth of a special person. In this case, Samuel.

Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah did not.

Hannah wishes for a child, and eventually prays to God for one. That story is hilarious, almost as hilarious as the angel making it so Zechariah could not speak.

As she was praying to the Lord, Eli watched her. Seeing her lips moving but hearing no sound, he thought she had been drinking. “Must you come here drunk?” he demanded. “Throw away your wine!”

“Oh no, sir!” she replied. “I haven’t been drinking wine or anything stronger. But I am very discouraged, and I was pouring out my heart to the Lord. Don’t think I am a wicked woman! For I have been praying out of great anguish and sorrow.”

“In that case,” Eli said, “go in peace! May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of him.”

“Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed. Then she went back and began to eat again, and she was no longer sad.

Hannah’s desires came to past. She had a child and dedicated him to the Lord. The son, Samuel, became a valued assistant to Eli the priest, and God gave Hannah three more sons and two daughters.

New Testament

Jesus heals a lame man. Later, Jesus sees the man again and tells him to stop sinning. We are not told what the man’s sin was.

Jesus once again claims to be the son of God.

Psalms and Proverbs

We finish the history lesson psalm with a super brief summary of the wanderings in the dessert and the conquering of the promised land. This super summarized version leaves out all of the times God wanted to completely destroy the Israelites.

They asked for meat, and he sent them quail;
he satisfied their hunger with manna—bread from heaven.
He split open a rock, and water gushed out
to form a river through the dry wasteland.

If I remember correctly, the quail incident and one of the miraculous water incidents (though perhaps not this one) resulted in God killing or threatening to kill many or all of the Israelites.

Good proverb today:

People with understanding control their anger;
a hot temper shows great foolishness.