Month: October 2010

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Old Testament

Today we finish Lamentations. Both of today’s poems are rather despairing. The first describes the starvation and loss of health of those who remain in Jerusalem. The images, especially the ones about the starvation of children, are heartbreaking. The poet explores the reason this happens. It was, he believes, the Lord pouring out well deserved anger. As a result of this, the Lord has brought destruction and scattered his people. The poem ends on a vengefully hopeful note: Jerusalem’s punishment will end, but Jerusalem’s historical enemies will also be punished.

The second poem focuses on the reverse of fortunes of the people of Jerusalem. Slaves have become masters, plenty has been replaced with starvation, and the women and girls of Jerusalem, once praised for their virginity, are raped by their enemies. Jerusalem is a terrible place to be. The poem and the book end on a note of sadness and rejection.

To bring things back in context a bit here, this is set sometime after the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, or so it is believed. Thus, when we read about things like widespread rape by the enemies, it seems most natural to suppose that these enemies are the very officials and soldiers of Babylon that Jeremiah was encouraging the people to submit to. No wonder there were guerrilla leaders who were trying to murder the representative of the king and reclaim power. What right minded person would submit to a conquering nation that was allowing its women to be raped and its children to starve?

New Testament

Today’s reading contains a discussion of Jesus’ relationship to God, his relationship to man, and his affect on man’s relationship to God. Continuing yesterday’s theme, the author contains more quotations from the psalms and treats them as if they were about or spoken by Jesus.

We also see the start of the comparison of Jesus to the ultimate High Priest.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s proverb is, essentially, don’t judge a book by it’s pretty cover, but with clay pots and glaze.

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Old Testament

Today’s reading starts by finishing the second poem from yesterday’s reading. Before I mention the content, I want to say that it annoys me that the editors who chose the daily Bible divisions could not have kept the whole poem together; it would only have added three more verses to the previous reading. It’s not as bad as that proverb which was divided in the middle of a sentence, but it smacks of a lack of intention when dividing up the books.

The poem from yesterday finishes with some rather disturbing imagery meant to convey the desperation of those in Jerusalem: mothers eating their own children, priests dying in the temple, the bodies of boys and girls killed by the sword lying in the street. This poem does not end on a note of hope. It seems to express the sorrow of one who feels completely betrayed by their protector.

The next poem, the middle one of the book, is much longer and much more hopeful. Like the first two poems, this poem expresses sorrow over the fallen fortunes of Judah. However, it is much more personal. The author talks mostly of his own hardship and sorrow rather than that of the people. The author’s sorrow is tempered by hope that the Lord has not completely abandoned him. Because of the personal nature of the hardship described and the mix of sorrow and hope, the poem sounds a lot like many of the psalms attributed to David in his times of trouble.

New Testament

Yet another new book: Hebrews. Let’s see what Harris has to say about it:

The work of an accomplished stylist who combines allegorical interpretation of the Hebrew Bible with elements of Greek philosophy, Hebrews argues that Jesus was both a kingly and priestly messiah. The final and complete revelation of God’s purpose, Christ now serves in heaven as an eternal High Priest and mediator for humanity.

An old tradition that Paul wrote Hebrews, which was disputed even in the early church, is now generally discounted. … most scholars now conclude that the work is anonymous.

… scholars are also unsure of its intended destination … The date of composition is equally problematic, with estimates ranging from about 65 to 100 CE.

In short, we don’t know when this was written, who it was written by, or who it was written to. However, from the content it can be inferred that

The Book of Hebrews was written by an anonymous Christian scholar who was equally well acquainted with Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible and with Greek philosophical concepts. … the writer presents a dualistic view of the universe in which earthly events and human institutions are seen as reflections of invisible heavenly realities. Employing a popular form of Platonic thought, the writer assumes the existence of two parallel worlds: the eternal and perfect realm of the spirit above, and the inferior, constantly changing world below. 

In case you’re not familiar with Platonic dualism, it’s worth noting the dualism espoused by Plato was not simply that this world is imperfect and there is another perfect world. Rather, the idea is that everything in this world is an imperfect version of something in the eternal world of perfect forms. As Wikipedia puts it:

The objects that we see, according to Plato, are not real, but literally mimic the real Forms.

Thus, everything that is and happens in the here and now has, according to this view, a perfect counterpart in the realm of forms.

The bulk of today’s reading quotes the Hebrew scriptures out of context to show that Jesus is better than the angels. It’s really blatantly obvious in this instance of random use of scripture that the author is just combing the scriptures for statements that support his point and then assuming that they do, regardless of the original context.

Yes, I know this was a traditional way of working with the Hebrew scriptures, but I still find it annoying. If it is valid to use isolated quotations to build whatever case you want, then the Bible is as free of objective meaning as any other subjectivism.

Psalms and Proverbs

Proverbs against quarrels and gossip seem to be the current theme.

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Old Testament

Today we start lamentations. Sounds like it’s going to be a cheery one, doesn’t it? Lamentations comes in a a mere five chapters, about an order of magnitude less than Jeremiah or Isaiah. Let’s see what Harris has to say about it:

Ascribed to Jeremiah, Lamentations is a collection of five poetic dirges and laments about the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. The lyrics explore the causes of evil and suffering and Yahweh’s reasons for permitting the triumph of unbelieving nations.

… While the prophetic books record public pronouncements of doom against the Judean capital, Lamentations embodies the private anguish of individuals who witnessed the fulfillment of Yahweh’s harsh judgment.

Although a relatively late tradition assigns Lamentations to the prophet Jeremiah, its authorship is unknown. The book itself does not mention the writer, and many scholars believe that it is the work of two or three different poets. 

The book is annually recited in Jewish tradition.

On to the actual reading. It is exactly what you would expect it to be given the above: two poems mourning Jerusalem. The first poem, chapter 1, contrasts Jerusalem’s previous state to its defeated state. Before she was like a queen, now a slave; before the roads were filled with celebration, now they are filled with mourning. It then goes into the sinful nature of Jerusalem and its people. This admission of guilt leads to the poet pleading for the Lord to acknowledge Jerusalem’s pain and punish those enemies who defeated Jerusalem.

The second poem focuses on God’s anger and lack of mercy towards Jerusalem. This resulted in complete destruction which the second half of the poem mourns.

This section also contains the lines:

Her prophets receive
no more visions from the Lord.

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Old Testament

A continuation of the prediction of Babylon’s destruction. We then read a narrative bit which implies that these prophecies were made before the destruction of Judah, during the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign (for context, Zedekiah reigned about 11 years before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem). Which just goes to show, I suppose, that Jeremiah did not really like anyone.

And after that, it is declared that we have reached the end of Jeremiah’s messages. We finish the book with a historical postscript. It would have been much more useful to have this historical postscript earlier; maybe between the prophecies during Zedekiah’s reign and the narrative bits about the people going to Egypt.

One interesting thing about this postscript is that it puts numbers on the people who were exiled to Babylon: about 4600. That’s not many at all. I wonder if this is only counting the important people? Or maybe just the people from Jerusalem? If not, then Judah had dwindled terribly from any estimates we have ever seen of its population.

Also, as we have heard before, Jehoiachin was eventually treated pretty well by the Babylonians.

Tomorrow we start Lamentations.

New Testament

Submit to the government, do not slander, be gentle and humble. God through Jesus saved people from their terrible ways. Don’t get into foolish discussions or fights about Jewish law. Ignore disruptive people after warning them a couple times.

And then it the letter is closed. Altogether, Titus was a wholly uninspiring letter. It was pretty much redundant with the other pastorals, and it was kind of boring.

We are done with the pastorals. Hurrah!

Psalms and Proverbs

People who lie to their friends cause lots of damage. True true.

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Old Testament


Continued predictions of suckage for Babylon, including imagery of Babylon as a golden cup which made the world drunk. Plus a bit about how God is more awesome than idols.

New Testament

A description of the way that old men, old women, young women, and young men should live. Plus, more encouraging slaves to submit to their masters.

Psalms and Proverbs

Interfering in someone else’s argument
is as foolish as yanking a dog’s ears.

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Old Testament

Jeremiah has more gloomy prophecies against various nations. The most noteworthy of these note are the prophecies that Jerusalem will be restored someday and Babylon will be destroyed. Jeremiah predicts that Babylon will become a desolate wasteland. It will be completely destroyed and no one will live their any more. This, not surprisingly, contradicts the actual history: the Persians, led by Cyrus, were, for a hostile takeover, relatively peaceful and benign. Certainly not the bringers of complete destruction predicted by Jeremiah.

New Testament

Today we start the last pastoral letter, Titus. As one of the pastorals, it is generally believed to have not been written by Paul. In addition to our background on the pastorals, Harris has this to add:

Although it is the shortest of the pastorals, Titus has the longest salutation, a fulsome recapitulation of Paul’s credentials and the recipient’s significance. This highly formal introduction would be inappropriate in a personal letter from Paul to his younger friend, but it is understandable as the pastor’s way of officially transmitting Paul’s authoritative instruction to a postapostolic successor.

… Like the “Timothy” of the other pastorals, however, “Titus” is a symbolic figure, representing a late postapostolic generation interested in preserving Pauline traditions. Hence, “Titus” functions as a mediator to a later age who can establish the requirements and some of the duties of church leaders who will adhere to Pauline orthodoxy. 

Harris also sums up the influence of the author of the pastoral letters:

… Although the pastor’s style is generally weak and colorless compared to Paul’s (except for some passages in 2 Timothy), he successfully promotes Paul’s continuing authority in the church. His insistence that Paul’s teaching (as he understood it) be followed and that church leaders actively employ apostolic ideas to refute false teachers helped ensure that the international Christian community would build its future on a (modified) Pauline foundation.

Although the pastor values continuity and tradition, he does not seem to show an equal regard for encouraging  the individual revelations and ecstatic experiences that characterized the Pauline churches. (Regarding the “laying on of hands” as the correct means of conferring authority, he would probably not welcome another like Paul who insisted that his private experience of Jesus — not ordination by his predecessors — validated his calling.) Using Scripture, inherited doctrines, and the institutional church as guarantors of orthodoxy, the pastor sees the Christian revelation as already complete, a static legacy from the past. He ignores Paul’s injunction not to “stifle inspiration” or prophetic speech; his intense conservatism allows little room for future enlightenment. 

Today’s reading includes the formal greeting mentioned above, a description of how how church elders should live their lives, and a rather rude ad hominem attack on the people of Crete.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s proverbs are all about lazy people.

I know that we have previously had spans of time where we had multiple verses from proverbs each day, but this time, given that we’re getting reasonably close to done, it’s easy to get the impression that the editors were like “Oh no! It’s the end of October. We need to finish this!”

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Old Testament

Jeremiah predicts things about other countries: Things will not go well for Moab. The Ammonites will suffer and be restored. Edom will be destroyed.

This is one of those readings that make me wonder what the point of including it was. It was probably just included because Jeremiah was considered an awesome prophet, so all of his prophecies had to be saved. Even the tedious ones.

New Testament

We finish 2 Timothy today. After the author gives some advice to the recipient (nothing particularly new), the letter contains a number of personal touches. In particular,

Timothy, please come as soon as you can. Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus has gone to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry. I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, be sure to bring the coat I left with Carpus at Troas. Also bring my books, and especially my papers.

On the one hand, personal touches make a letter sound more authentic. And it would make sense for Paul to make more personal requests of an individual than a whole church. But still, this passage has a “the lady doth protest too much” feel to it.

Psalms and Proverbs

Move proverb meta commentary. Employers should be careful about who they fire. Fools repeat their foolishness. But fools are still better off than those who think they are wise.

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Old Testament

We finish up yesterday’s stories about the people who worshiped the Queen of Heaven. Jeremiah and God wash their hands of them, but disaster will come upon them as a result.

After that, we jump back in time to the time of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah deliver a message from God to Baruch, his scribe. Baruch should not strive for greatness since God will destroy Judah, but God will also save Baruch.

After that, we get some prophetic poems about Egypt and Philistia.

The background for the one about Egypt is that Egypt had just been defeated in a battle against Babylon. Jeremiah predicts that the Egyptian army will be defeated and conquered:

Pack up! Get ready to leave for exile,
you citizens of Egypt!
The city of Memphis will be destroyed,
without a single inhabitant.
…
They will cut down her people like trees,” says the Lord,
“for they are more numerous than locusts.
Egypt will be humiliated;
she will be handed over to people from the north.”

As far as I can tell based on skimming Wikipedia (articles on pharaohs Hophra and Ahmose II, King Nebuchadnezzar, and the Babylonian empire), this prophecy never came true. Unlike other prophecies that had a conditional nature, this one seems pretty unconditional. This is not the first time this has happened. So what makes Jeremiah a good prophet?

The prophecy about Philistia is equally dire.

New Testament

The author of 2 Timothy gives some good advice and then ruins it at the end:

Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

It’s great to say that people should be kind and teach gently. It’s rank stupidity to claim that everyone who disagrees with you has been ensnared by the devil

After that, the author gives the the recipient some advice about what the last days will be like. Now, if this actually had been a personal letter from Paul to Timothy, this would be rather good support for the generally well supported hypothesis that Paul thought the end days were imminent. Why would Paul mention what the last days would be like if he did not think it would be relevant to Timothy in his own life? Now, since this letter was not written by Paul to Timothy, we cannot conclude anything from this allusion to the last days.

In this passage, the author mentions some folks I didn’t remember:

These teachers oppose the truth just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses. They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith. But they won’t get away with this for long. Someday everyone will recognize what fools they are, just as with Jannes and Jambres.

Jannes and Jambres, who are they? Well, it seems I was confused for a reason. They are not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. Apparently, other Jewish tradition identifies them as some of the magicians who were up against Moses and Aaron in the Pharaoh’s court during the ten plagues in Egypt (NET Bible, Wikipedia).

He also makes some disparaging comments about women, but that’s about what you’d expect from the author of the pastorals.

The author ends by once again asking Timothy to remain faithful to what he has been taught. This ends with the well known passage about all scripture being inspired by God. However, the more interesting bit comes just before that:

But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.

Ummm, that’s not how it works. The fact that you trust the person who teaches you and the fact that they believe what they are teaching to be true does not, in fact, have any bearing on the actual truth of what is taught. Being sure about something, unfortunately, has a very low correlation with actual real world truth.

To say otherwise is to imply that those who disagree with you, such as all of those people who sincerely believe the religions they were brought up in, were taught in bad faith and are teaching their own children in bad faith. Perhaps some people believe that, but I cannot see such a claim and anything short of ridiculous.

Psalms and Proverbs


Proverbs about fools. The second one goes meta:

A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is as useless as a paralyzed leg.