Mar 23

Reference links:

Numbers 36:1-Deuteronomy 1:46 Luke 5:29-6:11 Psalm 66:1-20 Proverbs 11:24-26

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Book of Deuteronomy Overview of the Gospel of Luke Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Today, we finish Numbers and start Deuteronomy. This is going to be a tough book to get through because I really have trouble typing Deuteronomy. ::sigh::

But before we get there, we need to finish up the last chapter of Numbers. The last chapter discusses women who inherit property. You may remember that the daughters of Zelophehad get to share in the inheritance of land because their father died before the Israelites reached the promised land (Numbers 27:1-11).

The heads of the clan they belong to went to Moses to let him know that this situation displeased them. See, if the women inherited the land and then married men from other tribes, the land would go to those tribes. This would cut into their land. A legitimate concern. So God tells Moses the solution: let women who inherit land marry anyone they want as long as that person is from their own tribe. Not a terrible solution, I suppose, but kind of an annoying one.

On to Deuteronomy! Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

A large part of the book consists of three sermons delivered by Moses reviewing the previous forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and the future entering into the Promised Land. Its central element is a detailed law-code by which the Israelites are to live within the Promised Land.

In other words, recap! The recap serves the purpose of emphasizing the key themes of Israel's covenant with God.

Like with the other books of the Torah, tradition considers Moses the author of Deuteronomy, but modern scholars date it several centuries after Moses is traditionally thought to have lived (although the content may very well be derived from traditions and writings from earlier).

In today's Deuteronomy reading, we get a review of the time when God was going to send the Israelites into the promised land, but the scouts they sent brought back reports that made the people fearful. Because of their hesitation, God declared that none of the men of fighting age but Caleb and Joshua would enter the promised land. This threat causes the Israelites to reconsider their rebellion, and some of them try to enter the promised land. However, God is not with them, so the Amorites defeated those who entered their land.

While reading the recap, I thought of another way to interpret the basic facts. Let's assume, for the moment, that the Israelites really did reach the promise land, attack it, and leave. What would be an alternative narrative? Maybe the Israelites tried to attack and lost. Because they knew they were not powerful enough to defeat the locals, they continued wandering for forty years until their strength exceeded that of their enemies (either through their increase or the enemies' decline).

Now, my version is completely made up, but if it were true I could imagine that tradition would change the story around to make it more consistent with the idea that the Israelites were God's chosen people. A lost battle is inconsistent with the idea that the Israelites were God's chosen people unless the argument could be made that, for some reason, God did not want them to win at the time.

New Testament

More repeat stories in today's reading. These stories all share the theme of showing how Jesus is anti-establishment.

• Jesus eats with tax collectors and other disreputable sorts.
• Jesus' disciples do not fast even though John the Baptist's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees do.
• Jesus harvests and eats handfuls of grain on the Sabbath.
• Jesus heals on the Sabbath.

Of course, the Pharisees and teachers of religious law are annoyed at this.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today's psalm is a pleasant psalm of praise. I much prefer these to the psalms of constant whining.

Today's proverbs teach that it is good to be generous. I agree!

Mar 22

Reference links:

Numbers 33:40-35:34 Luke 5:12-28 Psalm 65:1-13 Proverbs 11:23

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

Old Testament

Today we finish up the travel log. Then God tells the Israelites (via Moses, as always),

When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines. Take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given it to you to occupy.

Let's assume, for the moment, that God exists and is not the moody, violent being that he has appeared to be so far. Even given that and even accepting that this God is the creator of all humanity, I do not think that he really has any right to tell the Israelites to drive people out of their homes and cities and to take possession of it. Having created self aware beings, even a creator God has certain responsibilities not to destroy or order the destruction of such beings, in my opinion.

We read a description of the boundaries of the land that God gives to the Israelites followed by a listing of the current tribal leaders and a description of the towns to be given to the Levites (since they do not get land of their own).

The reading ends with a description of cities of refuge. We first read about those way back in Exodus, and now we get a lot more detail. Cities of refuge are places where one can flee after accidentally killing someone else.

designate cities of refuge to which people can flee if they have killed someone accidentally. These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death. The slayer must not be put to death before being tried by the community.

After describing, by example, types of killings which constitute murder and types of killings which do not. If the community determines a death to be murder.

In such cases, the avenger [the victim's nearest relative] must put the murderer to death when they meet.

I still think that a system where murders have to be killed by a family member of the person they murdered is kind of disturbing. I think it probably does produce a more realistic understanding of the death sentence for the community as a whole, but it seems rather bad for the avenger's state of mind.

Obviously, in a system where murderers are killed, you want to be pretty sure the death was actually a murder.

All murderers must be put to death, but only if evidence is presented by more than one witness. No one may be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

And why must murders be killed? Because God lives among the Israelites.

And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder. You must not defile the land where you live, for I live there myself. I am the Lord, who lives among the people of Israel

That's right. Murder is wrong not because people are inherently valuable or anything like that, but because God thinks murder makes the land unclean. Now, I know pretty much nothing about theories of morality beyond that they exist, but I am pretty certain they can do better than "murder defiles the land".

If the community decides the death was accidental, the killer still faces punishment, but they also receive some protection.

The community must protect the slayer from the avenger and must escort the slayer back to live in the city of refuge to which he fled. There he must remain until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the sacred oil.

If the slayer leaves the city, he forfeits that protection.

But if the slayer ever leaves the limits of the city of refuge, and the avenger finds him outside the city and kills him, it will not be considered murder. The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest.

So pretty much, accidental killers are sent to prison for some time dependent on the life span of the high priest.

New Testament

Repeat stories. Jesus heals a man with leprosy, and tells him to keep the deed quiet, but the man lets people know. Jesus heals a paralyzed man after shocking the crowds by telling the man that his sins have been forgiven.

The bit of new material we get today is Jesus calling Levi (Matthew) as a disciple.

Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

Psalms and Proverbs

I like today's psalm because it's half about growing things, and I like growing things

You take care of the earth and water it,
making it rich and fertile.
The river of God has plenty of water;
it provides a bountiful harvest of grain,
for you have ordered it so.
You drench the plowed ground with rain,
melting the clods and leveling the ridges.
You soften the earth with showers
and bless its abundant crops.
You crown the year with a bountiful harvest;
even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the wilderness become a lush pasture,
and the hillsides blossom with joy.
The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep,
and the valleys are carpeted with grain.
They all shout and sing for joy!

Mar 21

Reference links:

Numbers 32:1-33:39 Luke 4:31-5:11 Psalm 64:1-10 Proverbs 11:22

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

Old Testament

Recap episode! The tribes of Reuben and Gad provide the frame for the recap. They think that the land that the Israelites have already conquered, Jazer and Gilead, perfectly fit their needs. They ask a favor of Moses,

The Lord has conquered this whole area for the community of Israel, and it is ideally suited for all our livestock. If we have found favor with you, please let us have this land as our property instead of giving us land across the Jordan River.

Moses assumes that they want to get out of the rest of the fighting and starts ranting about God's anger. This morphs into part one of the recap. Moses accuses the tribes of Reuben and Gad of being like the spies who, forty years earlier, had discouraged the Israelites from entering the promised land and bringing the time of wandering down upon the Israelites.

The tribes of Reuben and Gad reply that they do not intend to discourage the rest of the Israelites. They just want to settle in Jazer and Gilead because it fits their needs well. They promise they will help fight and conquer the rest of the promised land. Furthermore, they promise that they will not ask for that land, as long as they get this. Moses agrees to this. Oh, and somehow the half tribe of Manasseh also gets the same deal.

We then get a recap of the Israelites travels since they left Egypt up through Aaron's death on Mount Hor. We start with a reminder of the atrocities in Egypt,

The people of Israel left defiantly, in full view of all the Egyptians. Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn sons, whom the Lord had killed the night before. The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt that night with great acts of judgment!

Interesting wording choice, "The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt". In particular, the context does not imply that the Egyptian gods were fake nor does it imply with certainty that they were considered real. The ambiguity is what is interesting.

This is followed by a long list of presumably all the campsites of the Israelites. A straight average of how long the Israelites stayed at each campsite gives a bit over a year to each. Obviously, cross correlating this with the rest of the travel accounts would allow us to get a better estimate of how long the Israelites stayed in each location. I am sure someone has done that.

Also, the list of place names would make an excellent source of inspiration for character names in a video game or something. For example: Moseroth, Alush, Jotbathah, and Rissah.

New Testament

Jesus performs a bunch of miracles in Capernaum. He heals many people and casts out demons. We also read the story of how Jesus heals Simon's mother-in-law. This time, however, it is not clear that this Simon is the same Simon that becomes Peter the disciple of Jesus. For reference, here are the Matthew and Mark versions of the story. In both those versions, Simon whose mother-in-law is healed is clearly identified as someone who is already a follower of Jesus. In Luke's version, that is far from clear. In fact, it seems somewhat unlikely. In order, we read these three passages:

4:38-39: After leaving the synagogue that day, Jesus went to Simon’s home, where he found Simon’s mother-in-law very sick with a high fever. “Please heal her,” everyone begged. Standing at her bedside, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. And she got up at once and prepared a meal for them.

4:42-44: Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them. But he replied, “I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God in other towns, too, because that is why I was sent.” So he continued to travel around, preaching in synagogues throughout Judea.

5:8-10: [After Jesus miraculously makes Simon's nets full of fish.] When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Why do I think these passages cast suspicion on the identification of the first Simon with the second Simon? After Simon's mother-in-law is healed, Jesus travels around. This provides a narrative break between the story of the healing and the next story, where Jesus miraculously helps some fishermen. The narrative break implies that the second Simon need not necessarily be the same as the first. Additionally, we see in the second miracle story that Simon was so impressed by the fish miracle that he fell to his knees in amazement. It seems suspicious to me that Simon would be so impressed by the fish but not have had such a strong reaction when his mother-in-law was healed.

Of course, we already know that Luke is the most blatant historical fiction writer of the three, so what story tell purpose would this change serve? One possibility is that Luke wanted to get rid of the implication that Simon Peter abandoned his wife or, perhaps, the implication that he ever had a wife at all.

Even if I am wrong (quite possible), and they are the same Simon, the stories are still inconsistent. In Matthew and Mark, Simon is described as a follower of Jesus before his mother-in-law is healed. In Luke, the mother-in-law healing comes before Simon becomes a follower of Jesus.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing particularly noteworthy today.

Mar 20

Reference links:

Numbers 30:1-31:54 Luke 4:1-30 Psalm 63:1-11 Proverbs 11:20-21

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

Old Testament

Sexist double standards in today's reading! God tells Moses to tell the people that

A man who makes a vow to the Lord or makes a pledge under oath must never break it. He must do exactly what he said he would do.

But that does not hold for women. If a woman under the thumb of a man makes a vow, that man may nullify the vow. The double standard of this law is softened slightly by the fact that the man only has the ability to nullify the vow the first day that he learns of it; if he does not the woman is under the same obligation to keep the vow as a man would be. But still, it's kind of stupid.

God commands the Israelites to conquer the Midianites for their role in the sex and idolatry we read about a few days ago. Each tribe sent a thousand men, and they conquered the Midianites. Let's read the account of the properly Biblical way to wage war (warning, it is primitive and inhumane).

They attacked Midian as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. All five of the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was furious with all the generals and captains who had returned from the battle.

“Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people. So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.

That passage contains plenty of morally terrible things to ruminate upon, but I will limit myself to a couple. First, genocide is bad. I do not care if God commanded it. Genocide is not morally acceptable. Second, we have this:

Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.

I highly doubt that the Israelite soldiers were different than any other soldiers throughout most of history. We can be pretty certain that the virgins, after living through the death of their family and friends, were given over to the soldiers and to become sex slaves. Despicable.

Finally, we notice that Balaam son of Beor was killed because it was, apparently, Balaam's advice which caused the women to seduce the Israelites. Really, Balaam? The same Balaam who blessed the Israelites three times against the wishes of Balak? That came out of left field.

The genocide of the Midianites reminds me, whatever happened to Moses' sons? Last we heard, they had been brought to Moses by his father-in-law (a Midianite). But then we never hear about them. Did they go back with Moses' father-in-law? If so, they (or their descendants) must have been killed in this genocide.

New Testament

The Holy Spirit leads Jesus out into the wilderness where he fasts for 40 days. While there, the devil tempts him in three ways. First, the devil tempts Jesus to feed himself by changing stones to bread. Second, he tempts Jesus by offering him all the kingdoms of the world. Third, he tempts Jesus by asking him to jump off of a high tower so that the angels will save him.

When looking back at this passage in Matthew, I noticed that the order of the temptations changed. In Matthew the order was: bread, jump, rule. (Mark does not describe specific temptations.) The other thing that I noticed was the was that Luke seems to have a much better grasp of the size of the world. In Matthew we read,

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.

As we all know, there is no peak high enough for anyone to see all of the world's kingdoms from (plus, there's the whole earth being round problem). In Luke we read,

Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

The phrase "revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time" is much more ambiguous than looking around from the top of a mountain. In particular, it is quite compatible with the devil showing Jesus a vision. Luke is doing his job of providing better narrative structure for the gospel story!

After his sojourn in the dessert, Jesus returned to Galilee where his teachings were well received. Then he goes to his hometown, Nazareth. He stands up in the synagogue on the sabbath and reads some scripture and then claims that he fulfills it. After that,

Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips.

Then he refused to do any miracles for them, and the crowd got angry at them,

Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

In addition to having a much more antagonistic tone than the version of this story in Matthew and Mark, Luke's version occurs just after Jesus' baptism and temptation. In the first two gospels, it occurs much later after he had gathered up the disciples and done a bunch of other things. This is all perfectly reasonable if you accept that Luke is basically writing fiction based on the existing legends about Jesus. It is not at all reasonable if you want to believe that the gospels contain consistent tellings of the life of Jesus.

Psalms and Proverbs

I learned recently that the standard translation for the Hebrew נפש (nefesh) is pretty much completely wrong, according to Joel Hoffman (And God Said by Joel Hoffman). It is usually translated as "soul". However, based on contextual analysis, it probably means nearly the opposite: those aspects of life which are physically tangible (body, breath, blood, etc.). This has wider ramifications, which I will discuss when I finish and review Hoffman's book.

However, for now I just wanted to note that the alternate translation makes a lot more sense in today's psalm.

My soul [נפש] thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.

Doesn't that passage make a lot more sense if נפש means all that makes up your physical being?

נפש is often paired with לבב (levav) in Hebrew. and we see a form of that word לב (lev) in today's Proverbs reading. לבב is often translated as "heart", but that, again, is not a very good translation. A better definition is "those aspects of life which are not physically tangible" (mind, emotion, intuition, etc.). Again, thinking about the contextually derived meaning makes the passage make more sense.

The Lord detests people with crooked hearts [לב],
but he delights in those with integrity.

"Crooked  hearts" is such a familiar phrase, that we can more or less make sense of it in this context, but the concept implied by לב is actually much richer than that implied by the English "heart".

Mar 19

Reference links:

Numbers 28:15-29:40 Luke 3:23-38 Psalm 62:1-12 Proverbs 11:18-19

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

Old Testament

Descriptions of all the sacrifices to be offered for the various festivals. In summary, lots of bulls, rams, and lambs should get killed and lots of flour should get mixed with olive oil.

New Testament

The complete contents of today's reading is a genealogy of Jesus. As I am sure we all know, this genealogy does not match the one in Matthew 1. There are two traditional apologetics for this. One of the genealogies (traditionally Luke's) is actually Mary's genealogy, not Joseph's, as the text states. Alternately, Joseph had two fathers (e.g., a biological father and a legal one). Neither of these positions has textual support, and it seems much more likely to me that they were both just made up. Wikipedia has a much more detailed discussion.

Of less import but almost as much interest, Luke's genealogy goes from the present back all the way to Noah while Matthew's genealogy goes forward from Abraham.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today's psalm is pleasant (although still on the inexhaustible topic of protection from enemies).

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. 

Mar 18

Reference links:

Numbers 26:52-28:14 Luke 3:1-22 Psalm 61:1-8 Proverbs 11:16-17

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

Old Testament

We are reaching the home stretch on this whole dessert wandering adventure:

So these are the results of the registration of the people of Israel as conducted by Moses and Eleazar the priest on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Not one person on this list had been among those listed in the previous registration taken by Moses and Aaron in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, “They will all die in the wilderness.” Not one of them survived except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

In other news, when land allocations are being decided, the daughters of Zelophehad get an allotment because their father had died without any sons. We learn that when a man dies without leaving any sons, his land may be passed on to his daughters. But the important part of this story is that the man's name was Zelophehad! I like it!

God chooses Joshua to lead the Israelites after Moses' death. It sounds like Moses' death will be coming up soon.

Finally, we get a review of the regular offerings to be given by the community:

• Daily: 2 one-year-old lambs with no defects. With each lamb, 2 quarts choice flour mixed with 1 quart pure olive oil, and one quart of alcoholic drink.
• On the sabbath: In addition to the normal offering, 2 one-year-old lambs with no defects, 4 quarts of flour moistened with olive oil, and a liquid offering.
• On the first day of each month: In addition to the normal offering, 2 young bulls, one ram, and 7 one-year-old male lambs, all defect free, of course. Plus 6 quarts of flour moistened with olive oil per bull, 4 per ram, and 2 per lamb. Plus 2 quarts of wine per bull, 1/3 gallon for the ram, and one quart for each lamb.

New Testament

The time the author of Luke gives for the start of John the Baptist's ministry is very precise.

It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests.

In any case, John starts baptizing people, and he rants at them when he comes to them.

When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God’s coming wrath? Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

At the end of today's reading, we read about how John baptizes Jesus.

One day when the crowds were being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. As he was praying, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit, in bodily form, descended on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”

 Maybe I'll be able to get into this book more once I have recovered from the hour time shift.

Psalms and Proverbs

Nothing of particular note.

Mar 17

Reference links:

Numbers 26:1-51 Luke 2:36-52 Psalm 60:1-12 Proverbs 11:15

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

Old Testament

God does not kill anyone today! Yay! I like days of not killing. Instead, Moses conducts another census.

Let's see how each tribe fared in God's recent string of killings (original numbers from the beginning of Numbers):

• Reuben: 46,500 → 43,730 (-2,700)
• Simeon: 59,300 → 22,200 (-37,100)
• Gad: 45,650 → 40,500 (-5,150)
• Judah: 74,600 → 76,500 (+1,900)
• Issachar: 54,400 → 64,300 (+9,900)
• Zebulun: 57,400 → 60,500 (+3,100)
• Ephraim son of Joseph: 40,500 → 32,500 (-8,000)
• Manasseh son of Joseph: 32,200 → 52,700 (+20,500)
• Benjamin: 35,400 → 45,600 (+10,200)
• Dan: 62,700 → 64,400 (+1,700)
• Asher: 41,500 → 53,400 (+11,900)
• Naphtali: 53,400 → 45,400 (-8,000)

Overall, about half the tribes lost population and half gained. Manasseh gained the most, and Simeon lost the most (it was a man from the tribe of Simeon who was sleeping with a Moabite woman; maybe they felt the brunt of those deaths extra heavily). Overall, the population went from 603,550 to 601,730, a net loss of 1820. (And no, there was no real point to that. I just like numbers.)

And, because it entertains me, a list of names from today's reading (* indicates a woman): Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, Carmi, Jemuel, Jamin, Jakin, Zohar, Shaul, Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ozni, Eri, Arodi, Areli, Shelah, Perez, Zerah, Hezron, Hamul, Tola, Puah, Jashub, Shimron, Sered, Elon, Jahleel, Makir, Gilead, Iezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Shemida, Hepher, Mahlah*, Noah*, Hoglah*, Milcah*, Tirzah*, Shuthelah, Beker, Tahan, Eran, Bela, Ashbel, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, Ard, Naaman, Shuham, Imnah, Ishvi, Beriah, Heber, Mlkiel, Serah*, Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, Shilem.

New Testament

The prophet Anna praises Jesus. Even though I have read this before, I did not remember the prophet Anna. She plays a minor role in this story, but given that the Gospel of Luke supposedly contains the most sympathetic treatment of women, seeing a female prophet seems kind of neat.

Jesus grows up to be healthy and strong and full of wisdom. At the age of twelve, he amazes the religious teachers in the Temple with his questions and answers. He did not tell his parents he was going to be there, so they were rather worried about him. However, Jesus seemed to think that they ought to have known he was there. But, in any case, Jesus was a very obedient child and

grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.

Despite the better narrative structure of this gospel, I am really having trouble getting into it. Somehow "and everyone was perfect and wonderful and obedient to God" does not make for an engaging story.

Psalms and Proverbs

A lot of the psalms have little notes at the beginning. Today's psalm has the most detailed of these yet.

For the choir director: A psalm of David useful for teaching, regarding the time David fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and killed 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. To be sung to the tune “Lily of the Testimony.”

The psalm itself is same old, same old.

Today's proverb has good advice.

There’s danger in putting up security for a stranger’s debt;
it’s safer not to guarantee another person’s debt.

Mar 16

Reference links:

Numbers 24:1-25:18 Luke 2:1-35 Psalm 59:1-17 Proverbs 11:14

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

Old Testament

As should not come as a surprise after yesterday's readings, Balaam blessed the Israelites for a third time. Apparently, the Israelites have beautiful tents. Also, they are awesome, but I like the part about tents.

Balaam's blessings do not please Balak, but Balak gives one final message. The summary version: the Israelites are totally going to crush everyone. This message is interesting because it has a passage that some claim the author of Matthew was referring to in the story of Jesus' birth (note that this is a weak connection):

I see him, but not here and now.
I perceive him, but far in the distant future.
A star will rise from Jacob;
a scepter will emerge from Israel.

In context it is not ideal, but not really worse than many of the other so-called fulfilled prophecies in the New Testament.

The last part of today's reading talks about how the Israelites were terrible people and had sexual relations with the locals (the Moabites). Some of the people even worshiped their God, Baal. God commanded Moses to execute all those involved in this worship. Then we get an odd little story.

Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into his tent, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as everyone was weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. He took a spear and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, but not before 24,000 people had died.

God is super pleased by this murder, but that's not what's odd about this story; that, in fact, is perfectly normal for God. The minor weirdness is that Moses was married to a Midianite woman, so this sudden outbreak of anti-Moabite and anti-Midianite sentiment seems odd. The second odd thing is that no earlier passage had mentioned God plaguing anyone in this instance, so where to the 24,000 that had died come from? Both of these weirdnesses are fairly easy to rationalize, but they make the story awkward.

Also, I feel like the God approved penetrating of two people by a spear while having sex is a great opportunity for a feminist analysis. Sadly, I am not up to the task.

New Testament

Jesus is born in a manger. Shepherds come to visit after an angel tells them of Jesus' birth. (Luke's version of the nativity has no wise men or star.) Eight days after his birth, Jesus was presented in the temple, and Simeon, a man who had been waiting for the birth of the Messiah, recognized Jesus as such. This whole story is so familiar that it is hard to find anything new to say.

One thing that has differentiated the Gospel of Luke from the Gospels of Matthew and Mark so far is the emphasis on Jesus' position as the Messiah and the son of God even from before his birth. The first two gospels are much less clear about this. Given just those gospels, it is easy to see how the "adoptionist" belief could come about (this is the belief that Jesus was human and adopted as God's son only when he was baptized by John). The author of Luke, on the other hand, wants to make it clear that that is not his position.

Psalms and Proverbs

Without wise leadership, a nation falls;
there is safety in having many advisers.

Remember this proverb, especially the second part, the next time someone in the intersection of devout Christians and people who complains about the president's "csars". ;-)

Mar 15

Reference links:

Numbers 22:21-23:30 Luke 1:57-80 Psalm 58:1-11 Proverbs 11:12-13

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

Old Testament

Let's continue the adventures of Balaam! But first, a remark on story continuity. Today we see a painfully obvious seam between what I guess were two versions of Balaam's story. Yesterday we read,

That night God came to Balaam and told him, “Since these men have come for you, get up and go with them. But do only what I tell you to do.”

That verse ended yesterday's reading. In the very next paragraph (the start of today's reading), we read,

So the next morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and started off with the Moabite officials. But God was angry that Balaam was going, so he sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the road to block his way.

Either God cannot keep his opinion consistent for one night or the text cannot keep its story straight for two paragraphs. Either way, such inconsistencies prove distracting for the reader.

In any case, that angel of the Lord blockw Balaam's way three times. Balaam cannot see the angel, but his donkey can. Each time the donkey shies away from the angel, Balaam beats him. God eventually gives the donkey the ability to speak, and the two of them have a little dialog about the beating. After this, God opens Balaam's eyes, and he is able to see the angel. The angel lets Balaam know that the donkey has saved his life. If the donkey had not shied away, the angel would have killed Balaam.

Balaam reaches the place where Balak (son of the king of the Moabites) is and

Balak took Balaam up to Bamoth-baal

That has no particular significance, but it is fun to say. Try it three times fast!

Up on Bamoth-baal, Balak and Balaam build 7 altars and sacrifice seven young bulls and seven rams on the seven altars. The goal of this exercise is to persuade God to let Balaam curse the Israelites. After the sacrifices, Balaam goes off to consult with God, and God sends him back with a blessing for the Israelites (surprise!). This upsets Balak, so he tries again. On another hill, they go through the same routine with the same results. They then try again on another hill, but the reading ends before we can see the result. Cliff hanger! (Well, not really; we can guess what's going to happen.)

The particular wording of God's second message to Balak through Balaam is interesting:

God is not a man, so he does not lie.
He is not human, so he does not change his mind.

God does not change his mind? How many times in the last couple weeks has he threatened to exterminate the Israelites and then changed his mind after Moses asked him not to?

New Testament

Elizabeth gives birth to John the Baptist, Zechariah gets his voice back, and everyone rejoices. Today's readings were rather heavy on verse. We had Balaam's blessings in the Old Testament reading, the Psalm and Proverbs readings, and a prophecy in verse from Zechariah. Zechariah basically prophecies that John will be an awesome prophet of God. And after all that detail about John's conception and birth Luke's perspective zoom's way out:

John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.

Psalms and Proverbs

Break off their fangs, O God!
Smash the jaws of these lions, O Lord!
May they disappear like water into thirsty ground.
Make their weapons useless in their hands.
May they be like snails that dissolve into slime,
like a stillborn child who will never see the sun.
God will sweep them away, both young and old,
faster than a pot heats over burning thorns.

The godly will rejoice when they see injustice avenged.
They will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

This sort of attitude really bugs me. It really triggers my anger when someone who claims to be good rejuices in the suffering of other people. The truly wicked deserve punishment, but those who enjoy the punishment of others are also wicked.

Quite reasonable advice in today's Proverbs reading:

It is foolish to belittle one’s neighbor;
a sensible person keeps quiet.

A gossip goes around telling secrets,
but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.

Mar 14

Reference links:

Numbers 21:1-22:20 Luke 1:26-56 Psalm 57:1-11 Proverbs 11:9-11

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

Old Testament

Violence! Lots of violence today.

The Canaanites attack the Israelites. The Israelites ask God to help them. He does, and the Israelites completely destroy the Canaanites and all their towns.

The Israelites continue their travels and, of course, complain,

Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?” they complained. “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!

God punishes the people with poisonous snakes,

So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and many were bitten and died. Then the people came to Moses and cried out, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take away the snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.

Fortunately, God listens to Moses' prayer.

Then the Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and attach it to a pole. All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!” So Moses made a snake out of bronze and attached it to a pole. Then anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze snake and be healed!

Frankly, I find that whole story to be a bit weird. It would, however, fit perfectly in a story book of myths.

The Israelites continue their travels, and, for once, God gives them water before they start complaining about it. Maybe he's learning!

Then back to violence. King Sihon of the Amorites refuses to let the Israelites pass through his land. Instead, he attacks them.

But the Israelites slaughtered them with their swords and occupied their land from the Arnon River to the Jabbok River.

A similar thing happened with King Og of Bashan (he he, Og).

The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, along with all his people and his land. Do the same to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon.” And Israel killed King Og, his sons, and all his subjects; not a single survivor remained. Then Israel occupied their land.

The rest of today's reading deals with how Balak, the son of the king of Moab, tried to get Balaam, a dude good at blessing and cursing people, to curse the Israelites. Balaam refuses because God tells him that the Israelites have been blessed.

New Testament

The birth story of Jesus in Luke is quite elaborate compared to that in Matthew (Mark, if you remember, has no birth story). The angel Gabriel, who earlier visited Zechariah, visits Mary and tells her she will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Mary visits Elizabeth, and the baby in her womb (John the Baptist) jumps for joy. The Holy Spirit fills Elizabeth. She praises Mary. Mary praises God.

Psalms and Proverbs

Much of the time, Proverbs annoys me greatly, especially when the writings reflect negative attitudes that I have experienced at the hands of Christians. From today's reading,

With their words, the godless destroy their friends,
but knowledge will rescue the righteous.

This is not a verse I have had quoted at me (thankfully), but I have certainly had someone pull away from me because I was an atheist and, therefore, not fit to associate with. It is a painful experience to be on the receiving end of.

Mar 13

Reference links:

Numbers 19:1-20:29 Luke 1:1-25 Psalm 56:1-13 Proverbs 11:8

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

Old Testament

We already learned that touching a dead body causes defilement for seven days. Apparently, that seven days was qualified. The seven days must be accompanied by purification on the third and seventh day. If the purification does not proceed in the required manner, the uncleanliness will not be removed and the unclean one shall be banished from the community. Although this logic applies to dead bodies, maybe similar reasoning can be used to reconcile the discrepancy I discussed earlier about what happens to those who have sex during a woman's period.

The water of purification, just so you know, is made by burning a perfect red heifer that has never been yoked, throwing some cedar, scarlet yarn, and hyssop into the fire, and then mixing the ashes of all that with water.

Miriam dies while the people are camping at Kadesh, and the people start complaining again. However, their complaint is pretty legitimate: they have no water. (And yes, this story should sound familiar). God tells Moses to talk to the rock, and it will pour out its water. Instead, Moses strikes the rock like he did last time and takes credit for it (maybe, that requires some reading into the text). This, not surprisingly, annoyed God.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!” This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means “arguing”) because there the people of Israel argued with the Lord, and there he demonstrated his holiness among them.

Notice how this place was called Meribah, just like in the similar version of this story in Exodus? Two events or two versions of one legend?

The kingdom of Edom refuses to let the Israelites pass through their land, forcing the Israelites to turn around. I would not let a group with 600,000 men of fighting age pass through my land on nothing but their good word either.

Finally, Aaron dies and Eleazar, his son, is made high priest.

New Testament

Today we start the Gospel of Luke. According to Wikipedia, the general consensus attributes authorship to Luke, a physician and companion of Paul. For once, this agrees with traditional beliefs. Based on textual claims and stylistic similarity, the author of Luke is believed to be the author of Acts. Acts suggests that that author is a companion of Paul. Although there is no firm evidence that that companion had to be Luke, Luke was a known companion of Paul, so it seems reasonable to accept the traditional attribution. Note that although the general consensus is only accepted by about half of scholars, there is no other strongly supported authorship claim.

Because it is believed to be based on the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke is often dated to between 80-90 AD. Obviously, accepting a later or earlier date for Mark would change that estimate. The latest date for the composition of Luke is in the mid-2nd century; at that point, we start to see surviving contemporary references to Luke. Some scholars believe that Luke may have been composed as early ad 37 AD.

Thematically, Wikipedia describes the Gospel of Luke as such:

The author, commonly understood to be writing from a Gentile perspective, is characteristically concerned with social ethics, the poor, women, and other oppressed groups. Certain popular stories on these themes, such as the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan, are found only in this gospel. This gospel also has a special emphasis on prayer, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and joyfulness.

 Also of note is the following comment,

Luke, however, was a superior storyteller and sometimes rearranged events in Mark to improve the story. For example, Mark has Jesus recruit his first disciples before he has performed any miracles, and Luke moves the recruitment scene to a point after Jesus' first miracles.

Thus, we should not expect the chronology of the gospels to be consistent. (I will probably do a supplementary post on attempts to reconcile the timelines of the gospels later.)

On to today's reading! In today's reading we find a short  introduction which explains that Luke compiled this record from what he considered the most reliable sources.

This is followed by the birth story of John the Baptist, which is unique to this gospel. Zechariah, a priest, and his wife Elizabeth, also descended from Aaron, followed all of the Lord's regulations, but could not conceive a child. One day, while performing his duties, Zechariah is visited by the angel Gabriel. The angel tells Zechariah that his wife will conceive a son.

Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.

Zechariah expresses some doubt, so he loses his ability to speak until after the birth of the child. Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth conceives.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today's proverb is one that is laughably wrong.

The godly are rescued from trouble,
and it falls on the wicked instead.

In this worldly world, we often see that godliness no protection against trouble and wickedness is no guarantee of it.

Mar 12

Reference links:

Numbers 16:41-18:32 Mark 16:1-20 Psalm 55:1-23 Proverbs 11:7

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Mark Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Yesterday God killed a bunch of people for threatening to rebel against Moses. Today, we learn that perhaps murder does not make a good management strategy.

But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people!” As the community gathered to protest against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tabernacle and saw that the cloud had covered it, and the glorious presence of the Lord appeared.

The people are rebelling again. God's attempt to force obedience through murder failed. Fortunately, God has a plan. Kill even more people!

Moses and Aaron came and stood in front of the Tabernacle, and the Lord said to Moses, “Get away from all these people so that I can instantly destroy them!”

God starts sending a plague through the people. Moses reacts quickly and asks Aaron to burn some incense to purify the people. Not sure why burning a little incense will stop God's rage, but apparently it works. Because of the quick actions of Moses and Aaron, "only" 14,700 people died instead of the whole community of Israel.

To give a final proof that Aaron was the chosen leader of the Israelites, God commands Moses to have every tribal leader give Moses a staff inscribed with his name. Moses places the staffs in the Tabernacle overnight, and God makes the chosen leader's staff bud and blossom. God, of course, chooses Aaron's staff. As a result, the Israelites seem to accept Aaron's leadership, but they still are not happy with it.

Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed! We are dead! We are ruined! Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle of the Lord dies. Are we all doomed to die?”

In short, we should be thankful that we no longer have God's presence quite so directly among us. It's a death sentence.

But seriously, it seems that the real purpose of the stories in the last several days readings is to discourage questioning of authority. If any sign of rebellion against God and his chosen leaders is punished by death, then even reasonable dialogs about authority are cut off.

Also, the Levites in general and the priests in particular get to keep all the loot that the Israelites give to God (except the parts that are burnt) because they do not get land. As with the other passages that are about what the priests get, this passage reads very differently depending on whether you accept the traditional authorship of Moses or the more modern belief that the authors were Levitical priests.

New Testament

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome go to Jesus's tomb (didn't Matthew say it was  just Mary Magdalene and the other Mary?). When they arrive at the tomb, the stone is rolled away, and an angel is there to tell them Jesus rose from the dead. They fled from the scene, saying nothing to anyone because they were too frightened. This is where the most reliable manuscripts end.

There are two alternate endings to this gospel. The majority of manuscripts contain the longer one. The shorter one is only a paragraph more. After fleeing, the women tell the disciples about Jesus, and then Jesus himself sends out the disciples to spread a message of salvation.

In the longer ending, Mary Magdalene meets Jesus (in Matthew all the women meet Jesus). Mary tells the disciples Jesus is alive, but they do not believe her. Then two more followers meet Jesus, but again, no one believes him. Finally, the disciples meet Jesus, and he rebukes them for not believing in his resurrection. Jesus sends out the disciples to preach and then is taken up into heaven. The end!

The particular things Jesus tells the disciples before sending them out (in the long ending) are... interesting.

Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.

By this statement, I guess there are either no true believers, or they are keeping their poison drinking, snake handling, and miraculous healing skills secret. (Jesting aside, there are actually people who take these ideas (e.g., snake handling and faith healing) seriously. Scary and dangerous.)

Psalms and Proverbs

In today's psalm David is dealing with betrayal at the hands of a close companion. This verse stuck out as me as perhaps being applicable in the modern world. I'll let you figure out how on your own since I try ever so hard not to talk about current events.

Its walls are patrolled day and night against invaders,
but the real danger is wickedness within the city.

Mar 11

Reference links:

Numbers 15:17-16:40 Mark 15:1-47 Psalm 54:1-7 Proverbs 11:5-6

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Mark Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Unintentional sins can be forgiven by making the right sacrifice, but those who intentionally sin must be cut off from the community. I am not so big on the actual punishments, but I do like that the law differentiated between intentional and unintentional sin without letting unintentional sinners get off without consequences. I think that it is important to hold people for their actions, even if the harm caused by those actions was not intended, but I also think it is important to recognize that motivation does have an impact.

According to today's bit of case law, those who violate the Sabbath should be stoned to death. I still think stoning is an unreasonably cruel death, even given the limited execution choices at the time. It is unreasonably cruel for the suffering it causes (as I have mentioned before), but also because it makes the whole community actively complicit in the killing. Now, this may have some advantages (it is easier to accept killing criminals if it is being done out of sight), but there is something deeply disturbing about the idea of a community coming together to kill one of their own members.

Speaking of killing, God murders more people. Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On incited a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. 250 community leaders sided with them. Moses challenges them to come to the Tabernacle and let God choose who should lead. The men eventually agree to come. They lit incense before the Lord's Tabernacle, and God's presence appeared and was annoyed.

God, as seems to be normal, threatens to kill the whole community.

Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to the whole community, and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Get away from all these people so that I may instantly destroy them!”

Moses and Aaron ask him not to, and he relents and decides only to kill the rebels. He burned the 250 men who were offering incense. However, for the men who instigated the rebellion, a worse fate was in store.

So all the people stood back from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Then Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, together with their wives and children and little ones.

...

[Moses] had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned. So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings.

Not only does God kill the ring leaders and all their followers. He kills their families, including the children. Once again I ask, even if he exists why would anyone find such a God worthy of worship?

New Testament

Pilate tries Jesus. Pilate can see that Jesus has been set up by the Jews, but Jesus does not defend himself, so Pilate, it seems, can do nothing. Note that in this version, Pilate's wife does not make an appearance.

I noticed something in today's reading that was interesting. Both the two men crucified next to Jesus and Barabbas, the man the people chose to free instead of Jesus, are described as revolutionaries. Tradition, as far as I am familiar, has it that all of these men are criminals and/or murderers. The difference seems significant, especially in the case of Barabbas. It seems much more reasonable for the Jewish people to choose to release a revolutionary instead of Jesus than it seems for them to release a murderer. Especially since, I am guess, Barabbas would have been a Jewish revolutionary acting against the Romans.

After Jesus is sentenced to crucifixion, the Romans mock him, take him Golgotha (forcing some dude named Simon to carry Jesus' cross), nail him to the cross, and divide up his clothes. The passers by mock Jesus as do the men he was crucified with.

Jesus' death causes quite the commotion. Darkness falls across the land and the curtain of the temple is torn in two. The author of Matthew, unlike the author of Mark, does not mention earthquakes or zombies. This almost reaches the level of a contradiction. On the one hand, the author of Mark does not say there were not earthquakes and zombies, so it could have happened. On the other hand, it seems like a rather large omission.

The timelines of Matthew and Mark also seem like they might be inconsistent, but are not. According to Mark, Jesus was crucified at 9am. The sun went dark at noon, and he died at 3pm. The author of Matthew does not give a start time, but that book does say that it was dark from the sixth to the ninth hour. I initially interpreted these as the sixth to ninth hour of crucifixion, but I realize now that it probably refers to the sixth to ninth hour of daylight, which maps correctly.

After Jesus' death, Joseph of Arimathea requests permission to bury the body. He gains permission and Jesus is buried in Joseph's tomb.

Psalms and Proverbs

Same old, same old.

Mar 10

Reference links:

Numbers 14:1-15:16 Mark 14:53-72 Psalm 53:1-6 Proverbs 11:4

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Mark Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Yesterday, scouting reports terrified the Israelites. Today, they continue to doubt God's ability to help them conquer the land contemplate finding new leaders who will lead them back to Egypt. And we all know the God of the Old Testament hates doubt. God's response to this doubt:

“How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them? I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!”

God once again, I think for the second time, threatens to murder all of the Israelites and to make a new nation from Moses. Fortunately, Moses once again calms him down and mass murder is prevented. Moses used the same approach as before: appeal to God's vanity.

But Moses objected. “What will the Egyptians think when they hear about it?” he asked the Lord. “They know full well the power you displayed in rescuing your people from Egypt. Now if you destroy them, the Egyptians will send a report to the inhabitants of this land, who have already heard that you live among your people. They know, Lord, that you have appeared to your people face to face and that your pillar of cloud hovers over them. They know that you go before them in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Now if you slaughter all these people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of your fame will say, ‘The Lord was not able to bring them into the land he swore to give them, so he killed them in the wilderness.’

“Please, Lord, prove that your power is as great as you have claimed. For you said, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.’ In keeping with your magnificent, unfailing love, please pardon the sins of this people, just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.”

This passage also highlights how little we have actually been shown that God is slow to anger and has unfailing love for the Israelites.

Instead of killing all the Israelites, God decides to make them wander about in the dessert for 40 years. In the midst of that passage, we get this tidbit:

The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land—the ones who incited rebellion against the Lord with their bad report— were struck dead with a plague before the Lord

I personally am very glad that God no longer goes around killing those who work against him.

New Testament

Jesus is tried. The religious teachers cannot find any evidence against him. Fortunately for them, Jesus commits blasphemy:

Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, “Well, aren’t you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?” But Jesus was silent and made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?”

Jesus said, “I Am. And you will see the Son of Man seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

The casing on the "I Am" conveys that Jesus was using a phrase of self reference that was only considered appropriate for God. Jesus is essentially saying that he is equal with God. I do not condone executing someone over blasphemy, but I can certainly understand why the religious teachers were so deeply offended by his words. From their point of view, Jesus was one of many who performed miracles and taught. Maybe his teachings were more profound and his miracles more powerful, but unless the religious teachers had been at one of the events where God talked from the sky (John's baptism of Jesus or Jesus' transfiguration) or had heard about them from a source they considered reliable, they had nothing but Jesus' claims about himself to go on. We have even read that Jesus tried to keep his identity as the Messiah rather hushed up from those outside of his inner circle. Would you, with their knowledge, believe someone's claims to be the Messiah?

In today's reading, we also read about how Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crows twice (once before the first crow and twice more before the second crow). Minor contradiction: in the version of this story in Matthew, the prediction that comes true is that Peter will contradict Jesus three times before the cock crows even once. Oops.

Psalms and Proverbs

Repeat! And a rather annoying one at that. Today's psalm, Psalm 53 is almost exactly the same as Psalm 14. This is the psalm that says that only fools say there is no God. I have already commented on why Christians should not quote this passage (in short, it makes them sound like jerks).

Mar 9

Reference links:

Numbers 11:24-13:33 Mark 14:22-52 Psalm 52:1-9 Proverbs 11:1-3

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Mark Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Moses gathered 70 elders and the spirit of God descended upon them. This made Moses very happy because now he would not have to handle the whole load of dealing with the people himself. Hurrah for delegation!

Remember how yesterday God promised to send meat until the Israelites get sick of it? Today he does so. However, he loses his temper (again) in the midst of it all.

But while they were gorging themselves on the meat—while it was still in their mouths—the anger of the Lord blazed against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.

Maybe God was mad at them because they were drying some of the quail. We know that he does not like the manna to be saved. Maybe he does not like any miraculous food to be saved.

Miriam and Aaron criticize Moses for marrying a Cushite woman. Are they complaining about Zipporah? But she was a Midianite woman. Are they the same thing? Or was this a second wife? How confusing!

In any case, God gets mad at Aaron and Miriam for criticizing Moses (Moses did not get mad because he is humble). God curses Miriam with leprosy which she has to suffer from for a week. Why did God punish Miriam with leprosy and not Aaron? That seems unfair.

But I think that the criticism against Moses and the punishment for it was not the real point of the story. The real point was to give God a chance to say this,

“If there were prophets among you,
I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions.
I would speak to them in dreams.
But not with my servant Moses.
Of all my house, he is the one I trust.
I speak to him face to face,
clearly, and not in riddles!
He sees the Lord as he is.
So why were you not afraid
to criticize my servant Moses?”

This passage seems to attempt to explain why God never talks to anyone directly anymore even though he chatted with Moses nearly constantly. Moses was special!

A bunch of scouts investigate the land the Israelites are going to and find that it is wonderful and fertile and full of well established and powerful people. The scouts were scared enough of these people that they tried to spread the rumor that

All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!

New Testament

Jesus offers bread and wine as his body and blood. He tells the disciples that they will deny him. He prays at Gethsemane. Judas betrays him. Jesus is arrested. The disciples flee. This is all very similar to Matthew's version.

Psalms and Proverbs

The Lord detests the use of dishonest scales,
but he delights in accurate weights.

God is particular about measuring things accurately. He's a nerd. =)

Mar 8

Reference links:

Numbers 10:1-11:23 Mark 14:1-21 Psalm 51:1-19 Proverbs 10:31-32

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Mark Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Ack! It's late.

God tells Moses to make some trumpets that can be used to signal the Israelites to resume their wanderings. The Israelites set out on the march again. The Israelites complain about their wandering. God gets angry, and reacts unreasonably:

Soon the people began to complain about their hardship, and the Lord heard everything they said. Then the Lord’s anger blazed against them, and he sent a fire to rage among them, and he destroyed some of the people in the outskirts of the camp. Then the people screamed to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire stopped

Remember, they are screaming to death because God is burning them to death. I cannot help but imagine it, and it is sickening.

Despite God's anger, the Israelites keep whining. They whine about how they have nothing to eat but manna. Moses calls out to God in frustration asking why he was put in charge of such stubborn people. God responds by helping Moses to find some assistants and promising the Israelites meat

Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it.

God sure comes across as angry, cruel, and spiteful today, doesn't he?

New Testament

Oh, such disappointment! I misread today's reading in a way that I knew was immediately wrong, but my misreading was so much more awesome than the original.

While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nerd nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.

If only it Jesus had been anointed with essence of nerd!

Also, Judas agrees to betray Jesus, and Jesus and the disciples partake in the Last Supper.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today's psalm sounds very Christian, by which I mean that it is all about God's forgiveness and mercy and man's sinful nature. A small sample (the rest goes on in the same vein):

Have mercy on me, O God,
because of your unfailing love.
Because of your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins.
Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin.
For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.

In fact, out of what we have read so far, it is only in the psalms (and only in some of them) where we seem to get a glimpse of what seem to be presented as the core messages of modern mainstream Christianity. You can overlay such messages on the gospels (most of the time), but it is just an overlay, they do not, at least to me, seem to contain the message on the surface. As for the Old Testament readings, well, not so much.

We continue with the proverbs of the form, "The godly do X, the wicked do Y". Since the proverbs seem to split the world along the lines of godly or ungodly, the proverbs just come across as annoying. Of course, if they split the world along the lines of good and wicked, they would just come across as tautological. That's life, I suppose.

Mar 7

Reference links:

Numbers 8:1-9:23 Mark 13:14-37 Psalm 50:1-23 Proverbs 10:29-30

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Mark Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Moses dedicates the Levites to serve in the temple; this, of course, requires many offerings and animal sacrifices. The Israelites celebrate the second Passover; those who are unable to celebrate at the proper time are told they may do so one month later. God settles on the Tabernacle in the form of a cloud (a fiery cloud at night); the cloud lifts and leads the Israelites whenever they should travel.

New Testament

Jesus talks more about the end times. Apparently,

"The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing where he [translation note: or "it"] should not be."

If that makes sense to you, chime in. Is something lost in translation here or was it this unspecific in the original? [ETA: Qohelet points out that this is a reference to the Abomination of Desolation. So the problem was a translation one, kind of. My translation uses a different phrase than is traditional, making the reference less recognizable.]

When this, whatever it is, occurs the people must flee to the hills without stopping to pack. These will be terrible times, so terrible that everyone would die if God did not shorten them. Many false Messiah's will try to fool the people. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars will fall from the sky (I am not quite sure how that last bit makes sense, but sure, we'll run with it). Then the Son of Man (Jesus) will come and gather the chosen ones from all over the world. Very dramatic.

No one knows when this will happen except God. Not even Jesus. So Jesus' followers have to stay alert.

Psalms and Proverbs

Our God approaches,
and he is not silent.
Fire devours everything in his way,
and a great storm rages around him.

More great imagery from today's psalm. Goes rather well with the New Testament reading today. Also, we learn that God does not need sacrifices, just the sacrifice of thankfulness. In that case, why did we have to spend so much time reading about the rules for sacrifices? It was boring!

Proverbs continues the theme of "godly = good, wicked = bad".

Mar 6

Reference links:

Numbers 6:1-7:89 Mark 12:38-13:13 Psalm 49:1-20 Proverbs 10:27-28

Overview of the Book of Numbers Overview of the Gospel of Mark Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Today's reading covers two main topics. First, the regulations that must be followed when one takes the vows of a Nazirite. These include:

• Consuming no grape products
• Consuming no alcohol or anything derived from alcohol
• Never cutting hair for the duration of the vow
• Avoiding any dead bodies
• Giving a bunch of sacrifices

We do not learn why one would take the Nazirite vow, but we did learn that its effect would be to set one apart as holy to God.

Reading the Wikipedia article, we learn that Nazirite and Nazarite are the same term. This sheds interesting light on the idea of "Jesus of Nazareth". Some people believe that the author of Matthew misinterpreted the Scriptures (possibly willfully) when, in Matthew 23, he had Mary and Joseph settle in a town called Nazareth:

So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Although the New Living Translation does not provide a reference for this supposed prophecy, some believe it refers to the birth of Samson in Judges 13:5-7.

You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.”

The woman ran and told her husband, “A man of God appeared to me! He looked like one of God’s angels, terrifying to see. I didn’t ask where he was from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he told me, ‘You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. For your son will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the moment of his birth until the day of his death.’”

As usual, it seems doubtful that this actually applies to Jesus. However, ignoring that, we can see that this use of Nazirite clearly referred to the vow, as in today's reading. It does not indicate a city of Nazarene. Of course, the interpretation of Jesus as under the Nazarene vow from birth presents problems. For example, he was, according to Biblical reports, quite fond of wine.

The other topic covered in today's reading is the offerings given by each of the tribe leaders at the anointing of the Tabernacle. Each tribe gave stuff. What is noteworthy is the amount of repetition is this description. Each tribal leader gave the exact same thing, and it was described as exactly the same way.

On the [Nth] day [so and so] son of [such and such], leader of the tribe of [whatever], presented his offering. His offering consisted of a silver platter weighing 3¼ pounds and a silver basin weighing 1¾ pounds (as measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel). These were both filled with grain offerings of choice flour moistened with olive oil. He also brought a gold container weighing four ounces, which was filled with incense. He brought a young bull, a ram, and a one-year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, and a male goat for a sin offering. For a peace offering he brought two bulls, five rams, five male goats, and five one-year-old male lambs. This was the offering brought by [so and so] son of [such and such].

Repeat that 12 times and you have read the vast majority of Numbers 7.

New Testament

Today's teachings:

Beware of the teachers of religious law who like to preach in public! Funny how prominent TV evangelicals never apply this to themselves (oops, still not talking about contemporary issues).

Those who give all they have give more than those who give a small amount of their surplus, even if the dollar amount is smaller. It is true, but we should remember that Jesus only said the widow's offering was worth more, not that the offerings of the rich were worth nothing.

After Jesus predicts the fall of the temple (for versions of "predict" which take into account that this was probably written after the fall of the Temple), he talks about the end times.

“Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many parts of the world, as well as famines. But this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.

Now, either this is a very general prophecy, and not worthy of being called a prediction of the future or the end times have been going on for 2000 years. Either way, not terribly impressive.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today's psalm: God is great because someday the wicked will die and be forced to leave behind all the wealth they acquired in life. The psalm has several verses which imply that the wicked will just die and be dead, not be tortured forever.

The grave is their eternal home
where they will stay forever.
...
They will die, just like animals.
...
But as for me, God will redeem my life.
He will snatch me from the power of the grave.
...
But they will die like all before them
and never again see the light of day.

Proverbs also continues to talk about the terrible fate of the wicked.