Category: One Year Skeptic

Reference links:

Jeremiah 44:24-47:7 2 Timothy 2:22-3:17 Psalm 94:1-23 Proverbs 26:6-8

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the Second Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

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.

Reference links:

Jeremiah 42:1-44:23 2 Timothy 2:1-21 Psalm 92:1-93:5 Proverbs 26:3-5

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the Second Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Today’s warning starts with the people and the guerrilla leaders asking Jeremiah to ask God for instruction. Jeremiah responds that the Lord wants the people to stay in Jerusalem.

‘Stay here in this land. If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you. For I am sorry about all the punishment I have had to bring upon you. Do not fear the king of Babylon anymore,’ says the Lord. ‘For I am with you and will save you and rescue you from his power. I will be merciful to you by making him kind, so he will let you stay here in your land.’

That does not seem quite consistent with the other things Jeremiah has said about staying in Jerusalem. When Nebuchadnezzar was attacking Jerusalem Jeremiah said:

Tell all the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death! Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life! For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.’

The same prediction is referenced is chapter 38 just before some officials decide to throw him in a cistern to die.

But now Jeremiah is singing a different tune. He is saying that the people who remain will prosper if they stay. Perhaps it is because Zedekiah surrendered to Babylon. Jeremiah made it clear early in Zedekiah’s reign that surrender would be peace:

But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as usual. I, the Lord, have spoken!

But the claim that the remaining people represent those who had peacefully surrendered just does not hold water. First, the description of the exile made it clear that the decision of who would and would not be left behind was class based:

Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, sent to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city as well as those who had defected to him. But Nebuzaradan left a few of the poorest people in Judah, and he assigned them vineyards and fields to care for.

Second, as yesterday and today’s readings make clear, the people who remained were being led by guerrilla leaders, some of whom had killed the king of Babylon’s appointed governor.

Thus, the only thing I can figure is that Jeremiah is blatantly contradicting himself. Either that, or he did not mean what he said about the people finding peace of they stay in Judah. As he himself says, he knows that the people will not believe him and will leave for Egypt anyway. Maybe Jeremiah lied to emphasize his warning against going to Egypt.

In any case, the people all go to Egypt. Jeremiah goes with them. A prophets job is to be with the people, I suppose. Jeremiah continues to spread his dire warnings. He tells the fleeing crown that Nebuchadnezzar will bring war and destruction to Egypt too.

We end today’s reading with Jeremiah chastising the people, especially the women, for worshiping a goddess, the Queen of Heaven. This, says Jeremiah, will bring them doom (wait, I thought going to Egypt would bring them their doom). Jeremiah is pretty adamant in his view of the consequences of worshiping this goddess, but the women make a couple of good points.

We will burn incense and pour out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven just as much as we like—just as we, and our ancestors, and our kings and officials have always done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For in those days we had plenty to eat, and we were well off and had no troubles! But ever since we quit burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and stopped worshiping her with liquid offerings, we have been in great trouble and have been dying from war and famine.

First, they point out that this worship was traditional. Despite the monotheism of the religious and political elite, this passage implies that monotheism was never really the norm amongst all of the people of Israel, especially the lower classes. They would worship the god who fit their needs at the time. And, as we saw way back in the earlier histories, Yahweh, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, always suffered from competition in times of peace. Clearly, there was something about Yahweh and his worship which did not strike a cord for many people.

The second good point that they make is that, despite the warnings of people like Jeremiah, it is unclear how the worship of various gods and goddesses (including Yahweh) corresponds to prosperity and tragedy. Jeremiah himself spreads the words of a god who causes ruin. These women point out that their traditional worship of the Queen of Heaven has been associated with prosperity. Now, there is probably some selective memory going on, but the point still stands that the case for Jeremiah’s monotheism is not as clear cut as it would seem.

New Testament

Timothy should be faithful in his role like a soldier, athlete, or farmer. Fighting over words is useless. Work hard. Be pure and God will use him as a special tool for good use.

Psalms and Proverbs

I proverb which advocates beating people. Two more which give contrary messages. One gives a reason not to answer foolish arguments. The other gives a reason to be sure to answer foolish arguments. As someone who has occasionally gotten into foolish arguments with people on the internet, I can see the point of both.

Reference links:

Jeremiah 39:1-41:18 2 Timothy 1:1-18 Psalm 90:1-91:16 Proverbs 26:1-2

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the Second Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Oh no! Jerusalem falls to Babylon in today’s reading. Nebuchadnezzar attacks the city and destroys it. He kills the nobles of Jerusalem and the sons of the king and then gouges out King Zedekiah’s eyes. This should seem familiar because we read it in the earlier histories.

After that, we get some content that is, if I remember correctly, new to Jeremiah. The other histories end when the exile begins and then pick up again as it is ending. Jeremiah talks a bit about what happened in Judah following its fall.

Jeremiah gets off pretty well. Apparently the Babylonians know of him, so they treat him well. He is given the option to stay in Judah or go to Babylon, and he is provided with food and water. It makes one wonder whether they heard about Jeremiah after conquering Jerusalem or if there was more to the claim that Jeremiah was defecting than the author of this book wants us to believe.

Other folks are not doing so well. As you would expect of a country that has just been destroyed, had its leadership killed and taken away, and was left with a government put in place by the conquering king, the situation in Judah is chaotic. Leaders of a guerrilla movement come to Jerusalem to see Gedaliah, the governor appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar. Some of the guerrilla leaders seem to be on his side. Others plot to murder Gedaliah. They eventually succeed.

This causes the leaders to split. Johanan’s group, the ones that were loyal to the governor, chase after the group led by the murderer, Ishmael. They free the captives and Ishmael and his companions flee.

What is interesting about this story is that if Ishmael had succeeded in his rebellion, he would now be considered a hero, possibly of stature of King David. Like David, he was engaging in guerrilla warfare against the leadership. He opponent, Johanan, is cooperating with the leader installed by the invading king. However, since Ishmael is being presented as a murderer and a rebel, I am guessing he fails.

New Testament

New letter! 2 Timothy. Most of the background for 1 Timothy also apply to this letter. The additional information that Harris gives is that of the three pastoral letters, 2 Timothy has a tone that is closest to the rest of Paul’s letters. However, scholars still think that it was probably written by the author of the other pastorals rather than Paul.

Today’s reading is noteworthy mainly for the number of personal details it contains. It mentions Timothy’s mother and grandmother, the fact that Phygelus and Hermongenes have abandoned Paul, and praise for Onesiphorus. A large part of the content is centered around Paul’s imprisonment.

One bit that seems somewhat unlike Paul is this:

Timothy, I thank God for you—the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did.

The bit about “just as my ancestors did” seems at odds with the break Paul usually made between his new self and his Jewish heritage.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note except for the implication that curses are real.

Reference links:

Jeremiah 37:1-38:28 1 Timothy 6:1-21 Psalm 89:38-52 Proverbs 25:28

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the First Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Narrative day!

Jeremiah makes unwelcome predictions and is thrown in prison when he is suspected to be defecting to the Babylonians. Jeremiah claimed he was not defecting, but given that his policy is “surrender to Babylon”, I am not so sure he is telling the truth.

After that he has a secret meeting with Zedekiah and gets moved to a nicer prison. Then weak willed Zedekiah agrees to let some other people try to kill Jeremiah and, when someone else protests, lets Jeremiah be rescued again. Zedekiah was obviously not a very strong or decisive king, which is probably why the Babylonians put him on the throne. I do have some sympathy for him. He seems to be a very confused man in want of some guidance.

Perhaps that is why he arranges yet another secret meeting with Jeremiah. Jeremiah predicts that only in surrender will Zedekiah find safety for himself and his family. Zedekiah does not want his officials to hear about this and so he asks Jeremiah to lie and say that he was just begging the king for his life. Jeremiah agrees.

New Testament

We finish 1 Timothy today. There are some final instructions, including those warning against too much desire for wealth. The most interesting part of the reading is this:

Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth.

and

Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness.

Why is it that the author of 1 Timothy feels the need to imply that questioning is the way to doom?  I think this attitude against inquiry is quite possibly the most harmful effect of Christianity. In my experience, I have found that those who do not question their beliefs, whatever they may be, hold those beliefs in a weak and shallow way (and almost always fail to realize it). Those who question their beliefs, again whatever they may be, come to be stronger in their understanding. They may change their beliefs or they may not, but they understand why they believe what they believe and, more importantly, they understand what it would take to change their beliefs.

But it is, I suppose, easier to keep the bulk of believers in that shallow place of immature belief because, as many a former Christian atheist knows, for many people, Christianity fails upon examination.

Psalms and Proverbs

Self control is good!

Reference links:

Jeremiah 35:1-36:32 1 Timothy 5:1-25 Psalm 89:14-37 Proverbs 25:25-27

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the First Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

I just noticed that Jeremiah never seems to do any miracles. He does little performances, makes predictions, and gives speeches, but he does not perform miracles. Did Isaiah perform miracles? It seems thus far that Old Testament prophets who seem likely to have had their words set down by contemporaries or near contemporaries are not thought to have performed miracles. This, in turn, reinforces the idea that the miracles reported in the Bible are not historical. Rather, they some combination of legends, tradition, and fabrication.

On to today’s actual content. We have gone back in time to the reign of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah uses the Recabites to teach yet another lesson. The Recabites appear to be a nomadic people driven to Jerusalem by the Babylonians. They live the life they do, abstaining in alcohol and living in tents, because an ancestor of theirs commanded it. Similarly, God has given Judah commands, but they have not obeyed. Thus, they will fall into disaster and the Recabites will always serve God.

After that, we read about a time when Jeremiah dictated all of the messages he had received thus far to Baruch. Baruch read the message in the Temple, and the priests took him rather seriously. The surprise which the priests showed upon hearing the message surprised me. Jeremiah has been preaching for years and is currently under arrest, presumably for his prophecies, but the priests act as if they have never heard the message before. Was Jeremiah not sharing everything with them in the past? If so, he should have because it seems like it was pretty convincing. Was he making stuff up for Baruch? Did they just forget?

I lean toward the “Jeremiah was making it up theory.” The original scroll was read to Jehoiakim, and he burned it. After that Jeremiah dictated a new scroll with even more content. But the first scroll was written under this command:

Get a scroll, and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the first message back in the days of Josiah, and write down every message, right up to the present time.

So the first scroll contained “every message, right up to the present time”, but for the second scroll,

He wrote everything that had been on the scroll King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire. Only this time he added much more!

How could everything have been on the first scroll if there was “much more” to add to the second? Seems to me like Jeremiah was making it up as he went along rather than just recording messages he had received in the past.

New Testament

After some instructions about respect, we get a rather long passage on the proper treatment of widows and what a widow must do to qualify to be on some list (presumably the list that is used to determine who gets aid from the church). We have heard nothing of these qualifications before. This, to me, speaks of a church that has been supporting widows for a long time and has decided that it’s rather expensive. Rather than continuing to support the less fortunate church members, the author of 1 Timothy is looking for ways to add bureaucracy to decrease the number of people they are obliged to help.

In contrast to those widows who should not get money if it can be helped, the elders of the church should be paid well. I will resist the urge to talk about how much these statements well paid pastors and a neglect of the poor resembles certain contemporary megachurches.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

Reference links:

Jeremiah 33:1-34:22 1 Timothy 4:1-16 Psalm 89:1-13 Proverbs 25:23-24

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the First Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Today’s reading starts out with nothing new: Jerusalem will be punished and restored. However, this passage does contain an interesting bit. Jeremiah declares that a descendant of King David will always sit on the throne of Israel. Generally, Christians take this descendant to be Jesus. However, if the statement about David’s descendants is to be taken at face value, it seems the same should be done for the parallel statements in the same passage:

For this is what the Lord says: David will have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel forever. And there will always be Levitical priests to offer burnt offerings and grain offerings and sacrifices to me.

Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “This is what the Lord says: If you can break my covenant with the day and the night so that one does not follow the other, only then will my covenant with my servant David be broken. Only then will he no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. The same is true for my covenant with the Levitical priests who minister before me. And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.”

The Levitical priests and their offerings are promised the same longevity as descendants of David. Yet I have never heard anyone bring that up when discussing Jesus as a fulfillment of prophecy.

After that we read a warning for Zedekiah followed by a tale of broken promises. The people of Judah, at the urging of king Zedekiah, freed all of their Hebrew slaves. However, some people later changed their minds and made the slaves come back. This upset God who decided that further punishment must be heaped upon Judah. I thought Judah’s fate of destruction had already been sealed.

New Testament

False teachers are bad. They will teach things contrary to what the author of this letter teacher. The recipient of the letter should teach his fellow believers and develop his spiritual gifts.

Psalms and Proverbs

Gossip is bad as is listening with quarrelsome folks.

Reference links:

Jeremiah 31:27-32:44 1 Timothy 3:1-16 Psalm 88:1-18 Proverbs 25:20-22

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the First Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Wow. Another day of relatively cheery text. Israel will be restored. Jerusalem will be rebuilt. People will be punished for only their own sins, not the sins of their parents. God will enter a new covenant with his people:

I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already

Unless one is willing to make a whole lot of assumption, I feel like this passage should be problematic for those who give weight to the standard lines of modern apologetics. But I try not to talk about modern beliefs too much on this blog. =)

While imprisoned by King Zedekiah, Jeremiah buys some land to show his confidence in the future of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was imprisoned because he was declaring that resistance to Babylon was futile. The Babylonians will triumph, but Jeremiah predicts that Jerusalem will be restored someday.

New Testament

Today’s discussion is largely a discussion of how various leaders in the church should behave. After that there is a poetic affirmation of the “great mystery of [Christian] faith”.

Psalms and Proverbs

Don’t be too cheerful around those who are sad. Be kind to your enemies because that will make them feel even worse.

Reference links:

Jeremiah 30:1-31:26 1 Timothy 2:1-15 Psalm 87:1-7 Proverbs 25:18-19

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the First Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

We are back to prophetic verse, but at least it’s moderately cheerful compared to normal.

Today’s reading is framed by a couple interesting incidents. At the beginning of the reading, Jeremiah reports that God has asked him to write down the prophecies he received. This brings up the question of how accurate the writings are. Did Jeremiah have a super excellent memory? Start writing things down as he went along at some point? Reconstruct his memories? Have new visions? I believe we’ll be getting more info on the actual origins of this book as a written work, but I don’t know that these questions will be answered.

The bulk of today’s reading is verse which conveys the idea that Israel will have to deal with being punished because they have been terrible and deserve it. However, someday they will be restored and things will be better than ever. Of note to those types who like to think about poetic imagery: this verse contains many images which are the opposite of the negative images given earlier. E.g., references to virgin Israel in contrast to earlier references to Israel as a prostitute.

The readings end with:

At this, I woke up and looked around. My sleep had been very sweet.

So now we know that at least some of Jeremiah’s messages from God came as dreams in his sleep. Was this how most of them came? What about for other prophets? If dreams were the usual means of receiving messages from God, it explains why some of Isaiah’s were so bizarre. It also makes them that much more unreliable.

New Testament

The recipient of the letter should pray for everyone. After that, there’s a bit of exposition on the role of Jesus. As part of this discussion, the author uses what seems to me to be a rather odd phrase: “God our Savior”. As far as I know, there’s nothing technically wrong with this according to Christian belief. It’s just that one would expect “Jesus our Savior”.

Then some annoying bits about the role of women which, as usual, I’m glad I don’t have to care about because I would be unlikely to stay civil.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today’s first proverb is straightforward: telling lies about someone is as bad as doing physical violence against them. I don’t think that’s quite literally true, but I agree with the gist of it, and it’s a lesson we could all take more to heart (especially people in the world of politics).

The second is more ambiguous:

Putting confidence in an unreliable person in times of trouble
is like chewing with a broken tooth or walking on a lame foot.

Obviously, none of these things are good, but I don’t think the point of the proverb is to say “putting confidence in an unreliable person is bad”. Both chewing with a broken tooth and walking on a lame foot are sometimes necessary. So perhaps the message of the proverbs is “putting confidence in an unreliable person is sometimes necessary, but it should be done as little as possible to avoid making things worse than they are.”

Reference links:

Jeremiah 28:1-29:32 1 Timothy 1:1-20 Psalm 86:1-17 Proverbs 25:17

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the First Epistle to Timothy Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

The saga of the yoke continues with a duel of the prophets. Hananiah prophecies peace and restoration of Jerusalem. Jeremiah points out that prophets generally prophecy bad things, so a prophet of peace should be doubted until his prophecies come true. I rather disagree with this assessment in so far as it implies that prophets of doom do not bear that burden. I think all prophets need to offer better assurance than their word.

Continuing on… Hananiah decides to take Jeremiah’s approach of using objects to emphasize his point. He takes Jeremiah’s wooden yoke and breaks it to indicate that the yoke of Babylon will be broken. Jeremiah declares that the yoke has just been broken with a yoke of iron and Hananiah will die soon. Two months later, he does. That bit would almost be impressive if we had any assurance that the prediction and its fulfillment were historical. (Much more impressive than predicting continued oppression by the Babylonians. Someone was bound to be predicting that.)

Next Jeremiah raises more ire by writing letters to various folks. These letters declare that the exile will be long and the people should settle down in the lands they have been taken to. This letter ends with a warning against listening to two particular false prophets.

Jeremiah then receives more threats (it is unclear to me whether or not this passage is related to the letter described above; it doesn’t really matter since Jeremiah seems to have never been particularly loved). Shemaiah falsely declares in the name of the Lord that Jeremiah should be put in the stocks. Jeremiah responds that Shemaiah lies.

New Testament

The pastoral letters. Even when I was taking a class on Paul’s letters in college, it seemed obvious to me that the pastoral letters were not genuinely Pauline. Since the evidence against the three pastoral letters is the same, I will let today’s summary stand for 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.

From Understanding The Bible:

The Pauline authorship of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, however, has been under critical attack since the eighteenth century. Besides the fact that they do not appear in early lists of Paul’s letters, the pastoral epistles (or pastorals) seem to reflect conditions that prevailed long after Paul’s day. Their views of ecclesiastical offices, “bishops,” “elders,” and “deacons,” mirror the more tightly organized church of the second century CE, in which such offices had for more specialized functions than in Paul’s time.

Lacking Paul’s characteristic ideas about faith and the Spirit, the pastorals are also un-Pauline in their flat style and different vocabulary (containing 306 words not found in Paul’s undisputed letters). Scholars belief that a single Pauline disciple — who possessed little of his mentor’s fire or originality — wrote all three, between about 100 and 140 CE.

Earlier, Harris writes:

Following the Hellenistic-Jewish practice of pseudonymity (writing in the name of an honored religious authority of the past, such as Moses or one of the apostles), some Christian authors composed letters in Paul’s name, using their understanding of the Pauline heritage to address problems of their own day. Whereas Paul’s genuine letters invariably deal with specific problems besetting individual congregations (and presume a relatively informal church structure), pseudonymous letters such as 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus (the pastoral epistles) typically deal with such issues as maintaining the doctrinal purity of apostolic traditions and presume a much more structured church administration. 

On to today’s content! After the greeting, 1 Timothy contains warnings against getting caught up in pointless discussions. This is good advice regardless of who wrote the letter. The particular topic of these pointless discussions was the law. Here the author of the pastorals takes a distinctly un-Pauline tone when discussing the law.

We know that the law is good when used correctly.

This is way too calm and friendly to be any discussion of Paul about the law. The author’s discussion of his conversion also lacks Paul’s characteristic passion and assertion of the validity of his authority.

Given the generality of some of the statements the author makes to the recipient, it seems to me that Paul and Timothy are each supposed to represent a everyman. Any believer could repeat the author’s words about being the worst of sinners and feel grateful about being saved. Any believer could take to heart the author’s words that the recipient cling to his faith and keep his conscience clear. (This, perhaps, may contribute to the tenacity with which believers cling to the traditional authorship attributions and the authority that implies.)

Psalms and Proverbs

These days, a better proverb than this might be one exhorting us to visit our neighbors more.

Don’t visit your neighbors too often,
or you will wear out your welcome.

Reference links:

Jeremiah 26:1-27:22 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 Psalm 85:1-13 Proverbs 25:16

Overview of the Book of Jeremiah Overview of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

I’ll admit it here and now. I’m a wimp who prefers narrative to prophetic poetry. Today we get some lovely narrative. Not content wise; that’s all gloom and doom as usual. But there are good stories to be had.

Jeremiah pronounces the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple if the people do not change their ways and he is threatened with death! The palace officials rush over for a sudden trial. After a passionate presenting of accusations against Jeremiah and an equally passionate defense of his innocence, the officials declare Jeremiah’s words to not be worthy of death. Then some wise old men rise up, speak of prophets of old, and indicate that Jeremiah should be listened to. Later we learn that this required persuasion from Ahikam son of Shaphan.

To show how amazing Jeremiah’s rescue is, we are then presented with the story of Uriah, another prophet who predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The king threatened to kill Uriah. When Uriah fled to Egypt, men were sent after to drag him back. Then he was killed. The political environment was not friendly to prophets.

And that’s an illustration of why I am glad I live in a country that supports free speech. Even though I think religious folks often despair at the way that we evil atheists use our free speech, without giving everyone protection, the potential Jeremiah’s would also be unable to express their unpopular views.

The other story in today’s reading involves a bit of performance art. Jeremiah wears around a yoke to show how Judah and the surrounding nations should submit to the yoke of Babylon. The false prophets may spread good news, but Jeremiah is convinced that Babylon will take away what little independence they left Judah with after the first deportation.

The existence of these other prophets makes me skeptical of the idea of Biblical prophets. Jeremiah’s prophecies were, one would assume, included because he was determined to be a true prophet. This was, I against would assume, at least partially because the people who chose the canon realized that Jeremiah was right. But it sounds like you could find prophets to predict any outcome. Thus it seems that whatever the outcome of the conflict with Babylon, there would have been some prophet to canonize, some prophet whose words were correct. This makes the correctness of the general gist of Jeremiah’s prophecies much less impressive.

New Testament

We finish 2 Thessalonians. Paul requests prayers and asks the people to live proper lives. This includes working for a living. The author of the letter also show what a diversity of early Christianities there were by preaching avoidance of those who do not obey what is in this letter. Like with Jeremiah and the people who could have taken his place, I wonder who would have taken Paul’s place if some other variant of Christianity had won out.

Psalms and Proverbs

Do you like honey?
Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!