Luke

It's so amazingly refreshing to hear the words of the Savior! I know I kept feeling like I've heard all these words before preached to me throughout my years in the church, but it's just so refreshing (I can't stop using this word) to read through these words from beginning to end. Not only that but after reading through Matthew and Mark before this, since a lot of the stories and language used are similar if not the same, it helps to cement them in. My prayer is that the Spirit will continue to remind me of these words long after I've moved on to other parts of the scriptures.

As it is, after reading through a lot of the Law and the OT, a lot of Jesus' words are ringing familiarity. I will read something and be like, "Now where have I heard that before? Oh yeah! That was in Numbers!" Without a study Bible it's kind of been nice to remember for oneself and not have to have someone else tell you where to find things and what to think about them. However, I have used Biblegateway to find exact pieces.

I realized somewhere in the middle of Luke that I've never read through this entire book before. A lot of things I attested to Luke were actually in Matthew. There were stories and verses that surprised me in here; I had either never heard them before or had not read them in the NLT version.

On to John. I'm excited because I relate more with John's Gospel than the others. It reads more as a narrative and life guide than a history book.

On to the Gospels

So recently I was at a His House event and a minister asked people to think of their favorite verses about prayer. I tried to think of mine but I realized I couldn't remember any! I figured out that all my reading of the law kinda pushed out my memories of the New Testament! So back to the Gospels I go!

I gotta be honest. I don't think I'm going to reach my goal of finishing the bible before the end of summer. However, I'm not really sure that this was a good goal in the first place, because I have reached a different goal which I think is far better. I actually enjoy reading the Bible again! Honestly, I felt like I had heard the whole scripture throughin and throughout repeated to me ever the years of my life in the Christian Church. When I read, I didn't find many new things or challenging things. I would have to read commentaries, the archeology bible, or completely other works of literature in order to grasp anything new out of the same scripture I knew.

However, I know I may be a bad christian for saying this, but I am actually and finally enjoying this experience and the Lord is teaching me a lot through it. I feel more versed at the scripture, feel more confident in locating scripture again, and it's sticking with me in my head. My hope is that I continue to find more nuggets of joy out of these words, that they continue to find new meaning in my life, and that the life giving words of the Lord will continue to show me how to live for Christ.

Deuteronomy

So I've finished the Pentateuch, the books of the law. I enjoyed the journey, at least now I know what the Hebrews had to live up to. Things I enjoyed were that I am amazed how much God honors women, widows, orphans, the poor, and the priests throughout the law. Those who in popular culture at the time had little to no rights were protected, provided for, and called the people to genuine compassion towards those the world downtroddens. I can understand and empathise with the poor rabbis and priests over the years who had to learn to interpret the law and figure out how it applied to their daily lives in their times. I feel bad for those whom Jesus called out in Mat 23:13, understand that they were just trying to figure out how to live God's law, but they were so blind to see that his law was being fulfilled right in front of them!

I also cannot believe that the Israelites wanted to hear the voice of a prophet rather than the voice of their God. I know the we have the Holy Spirit with us now who live in a most intimate way within our hearts, but I would have loved to just be there on the slopes of Sinai and heard the voice of the most high speaking directly to me. Not only did they ask for the prophets, they killed nearly every one of them! Apparently God's chosen people didn't want to hear God's voice no matter what the vehicle of delivery.

So now I think I need to move on to the Gospels. Apparently shoving in a bunch of the law is shoving out a bunch of the new testament in my head. I need my words of Jesus :)

Numbers

VICTORY!!! I finished Numbers and live to tell the tale.

Wow. And I mean, Wow! This was really tough to get through. I thought Leviticus with all its sacrificial rules, purification rights and such was harsh. No no no, my friend; try three censuses and thousands and thousands of pounds of gold, silver, tin, incense, goats, bulls, pigeons, unleavened bread... It's enough to make you say OI!

I am really really curious how many people left Egpyt. The censuses put the people around 600,000 or so. That would make sense seeing as tens of thousands die each time they put a foot out of line. However, in my archeology bible, it states that probably no more than 20,000 entered into Canaan. It's possible that after the sinful generation died out that only 20,000 remained, but I just don't see this as likely. I mean, look at the numbers of Israelites that died in the conquest of Canaan. Unless the Hebrews can breed like rabbits and are endued with growth hormones, I don't see this happening.

A couple verses struck me. First, in chapter 10 it talks about the trumpets to be made and that they will remind the Lord of His covenant with Israel. I'm curious if there's any parallels here with the trumpets in Revelation? Verse 11:29 brings to mind the spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 14. I enjoyed chapter 12, especially when God speaks to talking to different people differently. "He sees the Lord as he is." Awesome. I also love the amazing amount of social rights that God allows to women in chapter 27. These were unprecedented and completely innovative for this time period in history! God is not repressive to women at all, he aids them and hears their cries and petitions as much as anyone else.

After I finally read the whole story of Balaam in context, it made a lot more sense and had a lot more significance than just a talking donkey. I mean, seriously, why do we take every story in the bible having to do with animals (Noah, Jonah, Adam and Eve) and turn it in to a children's story?! There's some messed up, violent, erotic, and genocidal stuff that goes on in these stories!! The bible is not a children's book. I don't know, maybe my opinions will change once I have a child... maybe...

Well, on to the last book of the Pentateuch. Maybe then I'll skip over to the New Testament, you know, just to mix it up :)

Struggling

I'm struggling through Numbers right now, have only completed 8 chapters in three days. People have always told me it's boring but I just thought they couldn't handle it... poor, sad, silly Jesse.
If you read this, motivate me! I don't have much time left on my goal...

Leviticus

Gotta say thank you to Ben who suggested getting through Leviticus in two days. If I went through this in my study bible or my archeology bible, it would have taken me weeks!

I fully recognized when I went through this that this book wasn't necessarily for me or for the general public, but as the title suggests, the book is primarily for the Levite priests. Because of this, for the majority of the book, I didn't think it was necessary to pay that close attention to the specifics.

I liked reading through the commandments and regulations just for the knowledge factor behind it: "Well, at least now I know... not that I have to do anything about it because of Jesus and all." I think if we were still required to obey all these laws: (1) We'd have no more animals left on earth, (2) PETA would sue us all, and (3) there'd probably be less worshipers of YHWY. Praise be to God for Jesus fulfilling the law!

I was surprised by how many times I read "be holy because the Lord is holy."

I've also head that the law was meant to bring life, not death, but it's difficult for me to see how the commandments were life giving except for the fact that if you obeyed the law you were probably less likely to get diseases, spread infection and live a healthy sexual life. Other than that I didn't really feel inspired by the law. But that's ok.

Conversation I had with Lodi: "So, what are you supposed to do with red mildew?" "Well first you get the priest to check it out and close up the house, then if it's still there and spread 7 days later you..." on and on and on. Funny how much I actually retain, eh?

Exodus

This was the first time that I've read Exodus from cover to cover, and after doing so it makes a lot more sense. When I've read this book per-verse (not perverse) it seemed pretty disjointed and God seemed incredibly grouchy. But after reading everything in context, God's actions against the Egyptians and occasionally the Hebrews seem very justified.

In regards to the Ten Plagues, I found this article to be very helpful in my understanding of why God brought these specific plagues against Egypt. http://hubpages.com/hub/Ten-Plagues-For-Ten-Gods Granted it's just theory and conjecture, for who can truly know what happened and who can truly know the heart and intentions of the Lord? But with some 3000 years to study these events, we're probably at a good position to offer explanations and analysis.
The thing that I've struggled with over the years about the Exodus story is (1) why would God punish the Egyptians so harshly and (2) why would God purposefully harden the heart of pharaoh as the book says many times? Some explanation might be found in chapter 3 verses 19-22, where it says that pharaoh will not bend unless under harsh pressure and to allow the Hebrews to plunder their slave master. To some people this seems to harsh to the Egyptians, but I invite these people to go under the slave master's whip sometime and say the same :) I also think some explanation might be found in 4:22-23 where God calls Israel his firstborn son, so he will take the firstborn son of the Egyptians. God also says throughout the Bible that he brought these plagues in order to punish the gods of Egypt and to spread his fame through His wonders. God refers to this story over and over again throughout the Bible because this is His story, His great battle where He saved His people. Read 9:15-16.

It was actually good for me to read all the commandments that God laid out for them on Sinai. From the limited knowledge I have of ancient culture's laws, these laws that God is laying out here in terms of social responsibility, sacrifice, rest and work, these ideas were revolutionary for their time. Never before had woman had such protection! Just one example. And yet we don't read this as particularly revolutionary because these laws are almost woven into the fabric of modern society (except the sacrificial animals bits).

I also love the narratives of Moses' relationship with God. They had a fitful start (ie. 4:1, 10, 13, 24-26), but their relationship grew as God tested Moses' character and refined him to care for his people (ie, chapter 32, specifically verses 9-14). In the end God came to view Moses as His friend (33:11, 17). I hope that someday, through testing and refining, that I may come to know God in this way and that I may be his friend because my actions and thoughts are so close to the Lord's.

After reading about all the wonders that God performed, I'm still surprised every time I read this that the people rebelled so much. Good riddens that He killed off 3000 or so.

By the way, I want and ephod and chestpiece. Easy way for the people to discern the will of God. Although we have the Spirit with us now and He is able to tell us the will of the Lord, sometimes it's still ambiguous and hard to discern. I can't imagine with the Urim and Thummim it was always easy, but it took out a lot of ambiguity.

24:9-11 are some of my favorite verses in the Bible. I want to do this someday.

Wish there was a way to widen the columns in this blog so it doesn't seem like I'm writing so much. Honestly! When I'm writing it in the new blog posts section, it doesn't even seem a page long!
Also I'm hoping I got the comments' settings worked out now that anyone can comment. If it doesn't work just send me an email :)

1 & 2 Samuel

So I finished 1st and 2nd Samuel over the last couple days. Here's some thought I remember from my readings.

I can't really tell why these books were named after Samuel. He fades out of most of the stories after a while and by the first half of 2nd Samuel he dies (granted he's brought back by a medium, but hey, who's counting posthumous encounters?). I never realized that Samuel was a judge either. I've always viewed him as a prophet, but it's not like the Judges never served as prophets at all, so it makes sense. But I always put Samuel in the elite class of prophets with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Not to say his status was lowered at all in my mind, just a different nuance to the man I never noticed before. I gotta say that after reading these texts, I really really respect the character of Samuel. Out of everything written down, he did everything right! He was a badass Nazarite with the hippie hair and started out really young, but he never set a foot out of line! Here was a man who knew the character of God because he could stand up to kings and rebuke them to their faces under threats of death; but Samuel knew the God of Israel was behind him so there was no fear.

For Saul, I actually feel really sorry for the guy. His main beginning downfalls were impatience and greed. Impatience for not waiting for Samuel to get there before offering the sacrifices, which implies he was fearful and not trusting in the Lord. And either his greed or his sympathy overtook him when it came to Amalikites; greed for plunder which God told him to destroy, or sympathy for not wanting to kill all the children and women (and their king apparently). I have to wonder, if God put me in this position, would I do the same?
His son Jonathan continues to be one of my favorite people in the Bible. He is loyal to a fault. He trusts in the Lord and defeats his enemies while Saul and his priest are still praying for a sign. He protects the life of his friend and honors the covenant between them to his death. It's a shame that he had to be caught up in the death of his father, but I suppose the sins of the father pass on.

I'd like to take a minute to talk about the relationship between Jonathan and David. People have used this friendship and the love between them to suggest that Jonathan and David were homosexual lovers, that no men could love each other like these two did without being romantically involved. I gotta say, I just can't see it this way. I'm not going to say "absolutely not!" because I wasn't there and I didn't see it. However, it seems to me that God was punishing every itty bitty sin and ignorance of the law on pain of death and plague; He didn't let anyone get away with anything that went against his laws. So why would God ignore a breach of His laws that specifically outlined that homosexual relationships were forbidden? Why would He ignore this in his chosen King when God pointed out every other sin that David had committed? My inference would be that there was no breach of the law, there was no romantic relationship.
I think that the lesson that should be taken from this friendship is that this is the ideal of what male companionship should be: being loyal, honoring, protecting and committed friends. A lot of men these days don't know how to be friends. I barely do! Men's companionships have been so tainted by the threat or appearance of homosexuality, or because of a hyper-inflated view of masculinity, that we don't know what a true male friendship should look like. But "Jonathan loved David as much as he loved himself. 1 Sam 20:17" and David said of him "Oh, how much I loved you!And your love for me was deep,deeper than the love of women! 2 Sam 1:26." The bond between David and Jonathan went deeper than friendship, deeper than lust or sex, deeper than what men typically view as a friendship; it was more of a brotherhood, a second self in a way. I hope people don't sully the relationship that was here by suggesting it was something it was not, but I hope more men can experience the kind of true friendship that David found in Jonathan. The world would probably be a better place for it.

Finally to talk about David. Now that I've read his whole story from front to back instead of in little pieces, I gotta say that I really respect this man. I would love to have known him. He seems like the most human character in the old testament, filled with joys and love of the Lord, pains and sorrows, triumphs and defeats, high points and embarrassments. He truly loved the Lord, throughout his entire life! The funny thing is that, speaking of masculinity, he was a warrior and a king, but he was also a poet and a musician. These things are typically not attributed to bounding masculinity, but I don't think anyone would ever accuse David of being a sissy! Here was an all around man of God, full of passions, violence, artistry, command, and strength. His commitment to keep God's precepts and honor his name just amazes me.
Now when it comes to David's 'downfall', given his adultery with Bathsheba and his killing of Uriah, I think this is just another example of how human David is. How many men of power throughout history have we heard of that have taken the path of David in one form or another? Power corrupts. And David paid for it tenfold just as God promised in 12:11&12. Not only did his son through Bathsheba die, but Absalom's rebellion can be seen as a direct result. His 'humanness' isn't to say he is not at fault or that we give him too little credit, but I think this story is in here to remind us that God works his wonders through fallen people. His word is hidden in jars of clay: failing, faulting, fumbling people. Through Bathsheba God not only punished, but He worked through it by giving birth to Solomon and by establishing David's rule later in life after Absalom. Not only that but his life was worked as an example for us that no matter how hard or far you fall, the Lord can forgive us and restore us if we admit our sins and turn back to him.

Difficulty Points: The parts I had difficulty with in the books were first, that it was not in chronological order. I understand that this is a persnickety qualifier for the Western thinker and that this is an Eastern thinker story line, but it really would have helped when it came to clarifying questions. This make me not look forward to reading Chronicles.
Second, in 2 Sam 24 it says that God caused David to Israel by taking a census. But when David actually does take a census, it's seen as a sin in God's eyes (probably for greed or pride). So my question is, did God cause David to take a census knowing full well that David would sin as a result? Or did God cause David to take a census, but the intent was changed in David's heart from something honoring God to a prideful self-centered thing, and then David sinned? The first scenario doesn't sit well with me. I don't like knowing that God's plans include men sinning against Him, it seems to be the opposite of God character, and James 1:13 says that God never tempts anyone. The second scenario doesn't sit right with me either because there's just not text to support it. I hope that God will open my eyes to understand his will in this. I you, dear reader, have any incite I'd love to hear it.

Further in and further up.

Ruth

So maybe this book is lost on me because I'm a man, or maybe just because I'm not an Israelite and don't understand the context. Either way, I really don't get a lot out of this book. It's a great thing to me that Ruth drops everything to stay with and support her mother-in-law, adopting her people and God as her own. However, at this point, Ruth really didn't have much anyway; her husband's dead, she has no property or children or inheritance, and if she goes back to her own people, who's to say they'd ever take her back anyway? Pastors of my past have lauded Ruth for her faith that God would take care of her, but I kind of think that may be reading into the story a little more than what's actually there, or religifying the text more than what's actually there; she really didn't have a whole lot of options.
I actually admire Boaz more in this story than Ruth. He took pity on Ruth and generously helped her and treated her with special favor, beyond what was necessary or even required by the law. He also made sure, when he was sure he wanted to marry Ruth, that he took all the proper and legal steps to make sure it would happen. He didn't just jump right into marriage and say screw it to the consequences; he made sure he did the right thing by making sure no one else had claim on Ruth or Naomi's property before he did. Honestly, this story shows me that Boaz's character was admirable and upright than that of the women of this story who seemed to just be looking out for their futures.
I also don't really understand why this story is here in the Bible in the first place (except to establish a genealogy to David). What does the story teach us except how to catch a man? I'm praying God opens my eyes to a little more incite, to read between the lines a little, but it's just not coming. Any thoughts out there?