Nov 21

Reference links:

Ezekiel 42:1-43:27 James 5:1-20 Psalm 119:1-16 Proverbs 28:6-7

Overview of the Book of Ezekiel Overview of the Epistle of James Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

We finally finish the description of the temple complex. Ezekiel would have benefited from some skill drawing architectural diagrams.

After the main description, the glory of God returns to the restored temple. Apparently, the purpose of this detailed description was to make the people of Israel ashamed of their sins:

Son of man, describe to the people of Israel the Temple I have shown you, so they will be ashamed of all their sins. Let them study its plan, and they will be ashamed of what they have done.

I am not quite sure how studying architectural descriptions would make them ashamed of their sins. Maybe because thinking about the temple in general made them ashamed and so God wanted Ezekiel to mention it as much as possible? In any case, I wonder if this description actually ever accomplished that goal.

In any case, Ezekiel is not done with boring descriptions yet. Now that the buildings of the temple have been described, we get to be subjected to a detailed description of the altar and how it was to be used. Goody.

Two things I wonder (but not hard enough to look them up) are: how do these descriptions compare to the descriptions of the old temple and how do these descriptions compare to the actual temple that was rebuilt?

New Testament

The author of the epistle talks about the sorrow and destruction that riches bring. I highly suspect there are modern American believers of predictable political persuasions whose heads would explode upon contemplating these passages too closely.

The author then goes on to encourage the believers to be patient as they wait for the Lord's return. This discussion touches on patience in suffering and also on how believers should not take oaths. Echoing the words attributed to Jesus, the author says that they should, "Just say a simple yes or no".

He also discusses the power of prayer and encourages believers to bring back those who have strayed. Contrast the latter instructions with the statement from Hebrews that those who have strayed can never be brought back to repentance. I suppose you could say that's not a contradiction, but I would be hard pressed to buy it.

And apparently that's the end of this letter. I have to wonder if the original ending was lost since this seems rather abrupt.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today's first proverb seems like one the author of James would have liked:

Better to be poor and honest
than to be dishonest and rich.

Although he might have gotten rid of "dishonest and".

The other proverb is about how it is good to live a lawful life and shameful to live a wild life.

Nov 20

Reference links:

Ezekiel 40:28-41:26 James 4:1-17 Psalm 118:19-29 Proverbs 28:3-5

Overview of the Book of Ezekiel Overview of the Epistle of James Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Further descriptions of the future temple. Or the present temple? I'm not completely sure.

In any case, we can add another day and a half to the completely and utterly useless readings. I wish I had kept track of this throughout so that I could tally how many weeks we would save if we through out all of the word-for-word redundant passages and all of the passages (like today's) which contain needlessly detailed descriptions.

New Testament

Today's reading contains a number of pronouncements against certain behaviors

• quarrels and fights among believers: which are due to evil desires within
• friendship with the world: which will make you an enemy of God
• judging others: because it amounts to a criticism and judging of God's law
• self confidence, especially in predictions about the future: because you don't know the future

In short, some good advice mixed with some questionable justifications, but nothing particularly mind boggling.

Psalms and Proverbs

Today we have one of those proverbs where I cannot puzzle out the connection between the first and second lines except in so far as both are bad:

A poor person who oppresses the poor
is like a pounding rain that destroys the crops.

I wonder what Paul would think of this next proverb:

To reject the law is to praise the wicked;
to obey the law is to fight them.

I would quibble with the second part of today's final proverb:

Evil people don’t understand justice,
but those who follow the Lord understand completely.

Nov 19

Reference links:

Ezekiel 39:1-40:27 James 2:18-3:18 Psalm 118:1-18 Proverbs 28:2

Overview of the Book of Ezekiel Overview of the Epistle of James Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Reading and writing about the Bible is hard after watching some Cosmos. When I hear about the richness of the vision of universal origins proposed by science (the rich, factually plausible visions of universal origins), the view of the world and the universe presented in the Bible seems so flat, petty, uninspired, and without basis. But in any case, less than a month and a half of the Bible left, so I will persevere.

And with that I bring you... more prophecy against Gog. Goody gumdrops. Once God has destroyed Gog, the Israelites will gather all of the weapons for 7 years worth of firewood. Then they will spend months burying the dead. Birds will be called to eat the dead flesh. And this, of course, is all so God can prove how powerful he is. (If God were really godlike, you would think he would realize he has nothing to prove.)

And then Israel will be restored. This is sounding almost painfully familiar. Although today's reading does have the interesting variation that Ezekiel's God claims that none of his people will be left behind when Israel is restored. This seems at contrast with the many declarations that only a remnant will be restored.

We end today's reading with a list of detailed measurements of the restored temple.

New Testament

The author of James continues to emphasize the importance of good deeds as a demonstration of faith. Unfortunately, he rather weakens his case by bringing up Abraham's willingness to murder his son when so ordered as an example of a "good" deed. The author's point was that faith and actions complete each other, but still, bad example in my opinion.

The author of Hebrews then discourages most people against becoming religious leaders because they will be held to higher standards (by other people? by God? it is not specified). This leads in to a discussion about the importance of controlling what you say, summed up with:

For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

Not a bad piece of advice generally although the author starts to wander into the woods a bit when he starts talking about how the tongue is evil and full of poison. That seems to be a bit of rhetorical exaggeration. Like people, the tongue is not all good or all evil.

Today's reading ends by contrasting wisdom from God (peace loving, gentle, willing to yield, merciful, full of good deeds, etc.) with bad wisdom (jealous, selfish, earthly, unspiritual, demonic). Not surprisingly, I think this is, once again, something of a false dichotomy. The very same traits that can be good in some situations (e.g., being willing to yield) can be terrible in others, and sometimes bad traits (e.g., selfishness) can be beneficial.

Psalms and Proverbs

Rotten governments are easily toppled; wise governments are stable.

Nov 18

Reference links:

Ezekiel 37:1-38:23 James 1:19-2:17 Psalm 117:1-2 Proverbs 28:1

Overview of the Book of Ezekiel Overview of the Epistle of James Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Back to visions and performance art. These are much more entertaining than the prophecies of doom. The theme of all of this is the eventual restoration of Israel. Ezekiel has a vision of bones brought back to life. The bones represent the people of Israel whose hope is dead. The restoration of the bones represents the restoration of the people and their hope.

The performance art consists of Ezekiel bringing together two pieces of wood, one which represents Judah and another which represents Israel. This symbolizes the eventual reuniting of the two kingdoms in everlasting peace and prosperity. How nice.

And then we're back to prophecies of doom and gloom against countries we don't care about. Ezekiel's God is really terribly consistent in his unpleasantness. Even his restoration of Israel comes gains a tingle of the unpleasant in so far as it arises from his desire not to let other nations think badly of him.

In any case, the main point of interest for today's gloom and doom prophecies is that they are about how Gog will be destroyed because they will take advantage of Israel in the future. This is in contrast to most of the prophecies which say that countries will be punished for things they have done to Israel in the past or are doing in the present.

New Testament

We start out with some good advice,

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

After that, the author goes on about how you are just fooling yourself if you do not take action based on God's word in your heart. Given that I am a big fan of action, I suspect I would like this if I were a believer.

I also like the bit about how people do not hold their tongue or care for widows and orphans have a worthless religion. As an atheist, I have been on the receiving end of many a tiresome lecture from people who think that they are superior to me just because they believe even if they are rude, condescending people who resist helping others as much as they can. Certainly, not all believers (not even all lecturing believers), are like this, but the ones who are could afford to spend some time reading this epistle.

And while they are at it, they might notice the next bit about not preferring some people over other. Judging people based on their appearance and social status is presented as a clear wrong. And if I were in the business of commenting on current events, I might make reference to these verses in a discussion on tax cuts for the rich and welfare for the poor.

This is followed by a short discussion about breaking laws: people will be judged for breaking any of them, not just for breaking all of them. It's also interesting to see a reference to any Old Testament laws as "the law that sets you free." While the laws referred to are not the detailed Levitical laws that Paul rails against, this author's attitude toward the law seems like another potential point of contrast between him and Paul.

Speaking of contrast, today's reading ends with the crux of the contrast between Paul and the author of this epistle.

What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ... So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

I certainly would not go so far as to call this contradictory to Paul's view of faith, but it certainly provides  a strong counterpoint.

Psalms and Proverbs

Super short psalm. And today's proverb declares the wicked to be cowards.

Nov 17

Reference links:

Ezekiel 35:1-36:38 James 1:1-18 Psalm 116:1-19 Proverbs 27:23-27

Overview of the Book of Ezekiel Overview of the Epistle of James Overview of the Psalms Overview of the book of Proverbs

Old Testament

Edom will be destroyed for taking advantage of Israel's misfortune. Israel will be restored. I did like the imagery of Israel as a land which devours its children. It's a depressing image, but a well painted one.

We also get this gem which shows, once again, that God is more concerned with his reputation than with people:

They polluted the land with murder and the worship of idols, so I poured out my fury on them. I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived. But when they were scattered among the nations, they brought shame on my holy name. For the nations said, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but he couldn’t keep them safe in his own land!’ Then I was concerned for my holy name, on which my people brought shame among the nations.

And this, apparently, is the reason he is restoring the people. To save his reputation.

I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations.

God could do more for his reputation if he brought about world peace and gave everyone a new heart as he says he will do for the returned Israelites:

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

Also, it's funny how this heart transplant doesn't seem to be considered any sort of violation of free will. Other than the lack of choice, the bit above could be considered to be proto-Christian, but that lack of choice makes a vital difference (unless you're a believer in predestination, but that opens its own can of worms).

New Testament

A new book means it's time for background! Let's see what Understanding The Bible has to say about the Epistle of James:

A Jewish-Christian anthology of ethical instruction, James defines both religion and faith in terms of humanitarian action. 

So far so good. Humanitarian action is generally a good thing. What else does Harris have to say:

Although relatively late church traditions ascribe this epistle to James, whom Paul called "the Lord's brother", most scholars question this claim. The work reveals no personal knowledge of either Nazareth or Jesus, to whose life or gospel the author never refers. ... Scholars regard it as an anonymous compilation of early Christian ethical advice made between about 80 and 100 CE. Accepted only reluctantly by the Western and Syrian churches -- perhaps because of the writer's attack on the Pauline doctrine of faith -- it was one of the last New Testament books to obtain canonical status. 

A collection of ethical precepts and proverbial counsel, it strongly resembles Hebrew wisdom books. Its tone is impersonal and didactic; its advice is extremely general. Without a discernible controlling theme, James present practical exhortation on a series of miscellaneous topics ranging from gossip to the misuse of wealth. 

Although this books lacks a unifying theme, one principle that lends some coherence to the work is James' conception of religion, which he defines as typically Jewish good works, charitable practices that will save the soul and cancel a multitude of sins. The religion God approves is eminently practical

I am a big fan of practical. =)

Finally, on the relationship between this and the Pauline epistles:

James' conclusion that faith without actions is as dead as a corpse without breath seems to repudiate Paul's distinctive teaching. Some commentators point out, however, that James may have intended only to correct a common misuse of Paul's doctrine. 

Today's reading reminds me of "The Secret":

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

Why does this remind me of "The Secret"? Like "The Secret" this verse leaves an out for things not going as expected. If you don't get wisdom, your loyalties were divided. If you don't get whatever your intentions point to, it's because you actually held contrary intentions. It's a perfect unfalsifiable system.

In any case, the point of this is to celebrate hardship as God's way of testing them.

After that we get to read the claim that

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.

This is often used as justification for saying that non-Christians cannot love or do good. Fortunately, most people, even most Christians, realize that such a claim is idiotic.

Psalms and Proverbs

Proverbs about the pastoral life.