tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308178702024-03-19T01:44:11.508-07:00Michael Reads the Biblea michael5000 jointMichael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-67560539342193833062023-12-10T18:42:00.000-08:002023-12-10T18:42:59.411-08:00The Book of Habakkuk<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGa_eELpXGSsvQpe2Z0Y6ZsY8O59ZNorY4EHYP-MhBZLyhE5g-4KjLzLSwXBH2XGlRSFJscDmsNc7XlSOarBJ35oKDPrKNKsCNBhxJokmYj7Uvibh1CVWUNehh4xYV6mRpLVJELNKCQtzyfDXOwdSBNVotFz2ysFCPkYz3HXbE4xS3om6U-P_FDg/s798/Habakkuk.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="798" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGa_eELpXGSsvQpe2Z0Y6ZsY8O59ZNorY4EHYP-MhBZLyhE5g-4KjLzLSwXBH2XGlRSFJscDmsNc7XlSOarBJ35oKDPrKNKsCNBhxJokmYj7Uvibh1CVWUNehh4xYV6mRpLVJELNKCQtzyfDXOwdSBNVotFz2ysFCPkYz3HXbE4xS3om6U-P_FDg/w400-h290/Habakkuk.jpg" title="Italian, Late 17th-Early 18th Century, Daniel in the Lion's Den with an angel bearing the prophet Habakkuk." width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div itemprop="name"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Italian, Late 17th-Early 18th Century. </span></span></i></span></div><div itemprop="name"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Daniel in the
Lion's Den with an angel bearing the prophet Habakkuk.</span></span></i></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table>
<br />I remember that, when I began this project and much of the Bible was known only in barest outline, that the Book of Habakkuk sounded especially exotic. Within a few years, I thought, I would be checking out Habakkuk, and would think some deep thoughts about what it contained, and share them with you, my devoted readers. <p></p><p>Well, I was considerably younger then.</p><p>Habakkuk is another short ‘un, with only three chapters. It also has three distinct sections, although the first and second section don’t exactly line up with the chapter division. The first section, labelled “Habakkuk’s Complaint,” begins with Habakkuk the Prophet asking God why he tolerates injustice, violence, strife, and corruption. God responds that he’s actually about to do something about that <i>that you would not believe even if you were told</i> (1:5), specifically that he’s going to have the Babylonians sweep down upon the region and conquer all before them. </p><p>The logic here, familiar enough from my earlier reading of the prophets, must be that the Israelites are to be punished en banc for their failings. It’s worth mentioning, though, that without this context the answer given by God is a bit counterintuitive. The first thought on how to remedy violence, strife, and injustice wouldn’t normally be an invasion from a neighbor with enormous military resources who <br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><i>fly like a vulture swooping to devour; <br />they all come bent on violence. <br />Their hordes advance like a desert wind <br />and gather prisoners like sand</i>. (1:8-9)<br /></p><p>The second section, reasonably labelled “Habakkuk’s Second Complaint,” is really a somewhat more elegant phrasing of the same question: why does God put up with the powerful and wicked picking on the decent majority? <br /></p><p>The answer this time is harder for me to understand, or possibly just a bit scattered. God’s response starts with deriding the wicked as arrogant, inclined to drink, and greedy. Then, if they behave this badly, and take people captive, <i>will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn…?</i> (2:6) This almost seems to imply that wickedness is self-limiting, since anyone who seriously steps out of line will be taken to task by the community. And, sure, that dynamic does exist in human communities to a certain extent, but it's not exactly foolproof, and I can’t imagine that poor Habakkuk would have found it a satisfying response. <br /></p><p>Later in the answer, though, there’s more indication that God will be taking an active part in the comeuppance – <i>The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory</i> (2:16). So, maybe we’re supposed to gather that the general humiliation of all the wicked is not just something that happens as a matter of course, but rather something that will come later on down the line as a part of divine retribution. <br /></p><p>The third section, “Habakkuk’s Prayer,” is a text for sacred music, as you can tell from the last line of the book: <i>For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.</i> (3:19) It is <i>On shigionoth</i> and has three areas labeled <i>Selah</i>, with footnotes to the effect that nobody really knows what these words mean. The text describes God rising up from the mountains in the form of a conquering army, causing plague and storms and natural disasters. This fills Habakkuk with terror and awe, yet also with joy: <i>The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go to the heights</i>. (3:19)<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p>Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-5665079007280923962021-10-28T06:00:00.001-07:002021-10-28T06:00:00.204-07:00The Book of Nahum: "An attacker advances against you, Nineveh."<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQRaMUoGytHY8SWqiwdHo3pXjHIlXb2VeDpGJQWRwOqfHiVfptBwNXnjEG8HTO87zmP3zQKXmXjRIx6Shn7Y2xnnDnMjie9bApUPmb6-b_uKfymU5c8ETZgY1XBvmJtjUeCf_pg/s900/Nahum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="823" data-original-width="900" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQRaMUoGytHY8SWqiwdHo3pXjHIlXb2VeDpGJQWRwOqfHiVfptBwNXnjEG8HTO87zmP3zQKXmXjRIx6Shn7Y2xnnDnMjie9bApUPmb6-b_uKfymU5c8ETZgY1XBvmJtjUeCf_pg/w400-h366/Nahum.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />The Book of Nahum is a short one – three straightforward chapters in two pages – so I think we can sort it out pretty quickly. Keep in mind that I’m a dope; no doubt there are Nahum specialists who dedicate a lifetime to uncovering the rich tapestry of meaning and inspiration that’s embedded in these two pages. No doubt there’s a school of thought that Nahum is the keystone to the whole Bible, the crux of the entire Judeo-Christian tradition and experience. I’ve been known to miss that kind of thing. <br /><p></p><p>But what I see is, Nahum is predicting some serious hurt for the city of Nineveh. It looks like they’ve been exerting a bit of the ol’ oppressive hegemony over Judah, that nobody much cares for their too-successful businessmen, and that everybody – at least, everybody in Judah – would like to see them brought down a peg. <br /></p><p>God, too, has had enough of Nineveh. He was merciful with them <a href="http://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-book-of-jonah-and-how-he-never-got.html">when they heeded the prophecies of Jonah</a>, but that is in the past. Or maybe the future, or on an alternative timeline, I'm not sure. In any event, instead of smiting the Israelites, this time he’s going to smite their opponents on their behalf.<br /></p><p></p><blockquote><i>1:12 This is what the Lord says:<br /><br />“Although they have allies and are numerous,<br /> they will be destroyed and pass away.<br />Although I have afflicted you, Judah,<br /> I will afflict you no more.<br />13 Now I will break their yoke from your neck<br /> and tear your shackles away.”</i></blockquote>As I’ve been observing in the other books of the Prophets, not frequently but for years now, there continues in Nahum the whiplash alternation between (mostly) the God of vengeance and violence and (occasionally) the God of peace and forgiveness. Well, in the dog-eat-dog world of the time, vengeance and violence towards other people may well have felt like peace and forgiveness for oneself.<br /><blockquote><i>1:6 Who can withstand his indignation?<br /> Who can endure his fierce anger?<br />His wrath is poured out like fire;<br /> the rocks are shattered before him.<br />7 The Lord is good,<br /> a refuge in times of trouble.<br />He cares for those who trust in him,<br />8 but with an overwhelming flood<br />he will make an end of Nineveh;<br /> he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.</i></blockquote>And that, really, is that. Filling out Chapters 2 and 3 is little more than an elegant stream of what we’d call “trash talk” – taunts, threats, the smug warnings of someone who is pretty confident they’re going to win the fight.<br /><blockquote><i>1:14 "...I will prepare your grave,<br /> for you are vile.”</i></blockquote> <p></p><p></p><blockquote><i>2:1 An attacker advances against you, Nineveh.<br /> Guard the fortress,<br /> watch the road,<br /> brace yourselves,<br /> marshal all your strength!</i></blockquote><p> </p><i><blockquote>3:5-6 “I am against you,” declares the Lord Almighty.<br /> “I will lift your skirts over your face.<br />I will show the nations your nakedness<br /> and the kingdoms your shame.<br />I will pelt you with filth,<br /> I will treat you with contempt<br /> and make you a spectacle.</blockquote><p> </p></i><i><blockquote>3:12-13 All your fortresses are like fig trees<br /> with their first ripe fruit;<br />when they are shaken,<br /> the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.<br />Look at your troops—<br /> they are all women!</blockquote></i>…or so says my NIV, which was printed in 1983. It looks like these days the NIV says “weaklings” instead of “women,” and ditches the jeering exclamation point. Hmm. I wonder whether that was a much needed fix to the translation, or if the actual sexist taunt has been bowdlerized, or if “it’s complicated.” Hang on…. OK, cross-checking with the other translations, I’m pretty sure the actual sexist taunt has been bowdlerized. It appears that the armed forces of Nineveh were indeed a bunch of girly-men.<br /><br />And once God has knocked them flat, is anybody going to feel sorry for them? No way!<br /><blockquote><i>3:19 Nothing can heal you;<br /> your wound is fatal.<br />All who hear the news about you<br /> clap their hands at your fall,<br />for who has not felt<br /> your endless cruelty?</i></blockquote><p></p>Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-38556715978868345982021-10-21T14:40:00.000-07:002021-10-21T14:40:01.448-07:00Wrapping up Micah<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIZ6cQ-mhZItTNA2A5O3ku3YC6l8qC0avFz7IqqYaRf20REcNkjzIJyDSHKA9_VZV1W1kLxenhjl6bU0Pz-BXphyeeh_YU1R-hOL38NEAYAYs-Imz40Gfwma7usdG31nlwMxhaQ/s500/Micah+-+icons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="376" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWIZ6cQ-mhZItTNA2A5O3ku3YC6l8qC0avFz7IqqYaRf20REcNkjzIJyDSHKA9_VZV1W1kLxenhjl6bU0Pz-BXphyeeh_YU1R-hOL38NEAYAYs-Imz40Gfwma7usdG31nlwMxhaQ/w301-h400/Micah+-+icons.jpg" width="301" /></a></div><br />In the course of my obviously inadequate religious education, I’d occasionally ask why the Old Testament was still kept in the Christian Bible – indeed, why it still makes up MOST of the Christian Bible – if it had been, as I was told, superseded by the New Testament. The answers amounted to so much hemming and hawing, but one thing I picked up is that it was important to have the Old Testament on hand since it contains the prophecies of the coming of Christ that are then fulfilled in the New Testament.<p></p><p>In retrospect, it was probably a little naïve to expect those prophecies to actually be there. They’ve certainly been conspicuous by their absence up to now, and even desperate stretches like “the fourth guy in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is obviously Jesus” have been pretty thin on the ground. So, it commands some attention that the heading for <b>Micah 5</b> is “A Promised Ruler From Bethlehem.” You have my full attention, Mr. Micah!<br /> </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><blockquote>2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, <br />though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah,<br />out of you will come for me<br /> one who will be ruler over Israel,<br />whose origins are from of old,<br /> from ancient times.”<br /><br />3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned<br /> until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,<br />and the rest of his brothers return<br /> to join the Israelites.<br /><br />4 He will stand and shepherd his flock<br /> in the strength of the Lord,<br /> in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.<br />And they will live securely, for then his greatness<br /> will reach to the ends of the earth.<br /><br />5 And he will be our peace</blockquote><p></p><p></p><p>Hmm. Jesus famously comes from Bethlehem, from a really distinguished family. Verses 4 and 5 certainly hold up, from a Christian perspective. Really, the only line that doesn’t quite fit is “one who will be ruler over Israel.” Otherwise, 90% of the prophecy pans out, which is about as flamboyant of a slam dunk as one ever sees in the predicting-the-future business.</p><p>The only problem is, the ruling over Israel part is really what Micah himself is interested in. If you back out just a little and capture 5:1 and the entirety of 5:5, you see that this is a prophecy about not just any leader from Bethlehem, but a leader from Bethlehem who will lead the Israelites to victory against the Assyrians next time they invade. And, as you continue into 5:6, it gets a little fuzzy whether the guy from Bethlehem is going to be individually awesome, or the foremost among a group of seven or eight guys who will “rule the land of Assyria with the sword.” (6) Ultimately, for the Israelites, their “hand will be lifted up in triumph over [their] enemies, and all [their] foes will be destroyed.” (9) And you know what? Suddenly I’m not really feeling like this prophecy has been very successful. Certainly it no longer seems to have much to do with Jesus Christ.<br /><br />In <b>Chapter 6</b> we turn briefly to the genre of courtroom drama. I’m speaking literally, for – at least in NIV translation – God announces through Micah that “the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.” The complaint is that God has done a lot for the Israelites on the understanding that they will behave, and they don’t behave. He reminds them that he freed them from Egypt, set them up with their own country, and set them up with a complete manual of how to live rightly, and all he asks in return is for them “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with [their] God.” (8)</p><p>Put that way, it sounds pretty reasonable. “My people, what have I done to you?” asks God (through Micah) in verse 3. “How have I burdened you? Answer me.” (3) Oh snap! There’s no way for the Israelites to answer that! I mean, God has been nothing but good to the Israelites, as long as you leave out the long litany of plagues, famines, and conquests which God has inflicted on the Israelites ever since he required them to “go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor” (Genesis 32:37) after the Golden Calf incident. <br /></p><p>The Israelites don’t mount this defense, though. Presumably they blurt out a full confession under questioning, like a Perry Mason villain, because we proceed directly from accusation to the punishment phase: “Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins…. Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of the nations.” (13, 16) Wow, I didn’t see that coming! Oh wait, actually I did. This is the punchline for a great many, if not most, of the prophecies.<br /><br />But in the final chapter, <b>Micah 7</b>, there’s something else that we have also seen before in the prophets: after all of the anger, the vindictiveness, and the gleeful, disproportionate punishments, there is a sudden transition to a vision of merciful, compassionate God. Here’s Micah:<br /></p><blockquote>18 Who is a God like you,<br /> who pardons sin and forgives the transgression<br /> of the remnant of his inheritance?<br />You do not stay angry forever<br /> but delight to show mercy.<br />19 You will again have compassion on us;<br /> you will tread our sins underfoot<br /> and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.<br />20 You will be faithful to Jacob,<br /> and show love to Abraham,<br />as you pledged on oath to our ancestors<br /> in days long ago.</blockquote>It’s a compelling, even beautiful way to end the book of Micah. And I suppose that an infinite and complex God, a God beyond understanding, could exhibit mercy and a vengeful spirit at the same time. The problem of course that we humans aren’t really capable of receiving mercy and punishment simultaneously. The very concept of mercy requires a withholding of punishment. So, the Prophets’ merciful/punishing God is hard to make coherent sense of. At best, it is an incomprehensible mystery. <br /><br /><p></p>Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-68657703589550202502021-07-05T13:36:00.002-07:002021-07-05T13:38:06.542-07:00Michael Reads Micah<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvSiU-J3ghlvHoGS0h_goaEH7-Bjx2qyZiYkbqAWGLj6oyx8nA311szyVzhKDELvaRCCI7iB4eF0u5Y-7t79U8xFuit76t24EQcL9vaGJ24lwS1A2mS6ftVbbBmWpWS2o-9bYXQ/s1024/micah+-+van+Eick.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="529" data-original-width="1024" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvSiU-J3ghlvHoGS0h_goaEH7-Bjx2qyZiYkbqAWGLj6oyx8nA311szyVzhKDELvaRCCI7iB4eF0u5Y-7t79U8xFuit76t24EQcL9vaGJ24lwS1A2mS6ftVbbBmWpWS2o-9bYXQ/w400-h206/micah+-+van+Eick.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Jan van Eyck, Micah, from the Ghent altarpiece, 1432.</i></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
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<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">It has been not quite two years since the last entry in this
enterprise, which was begun 15 years ago this month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I guess it’s reasonable to stand back from
myself and say “Lo, here is a guy who has had trouble staying excited about reading
the Bible.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At the very least, I have trouble staying excited about
reading the prophets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of what they
have to say is reiteration of the formula that God will punish the people
because he’s angry about their bad behavior, and occasionally reward the people
for their good behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since “the
people” means a whole bunch of people, of whom most are surely behaving well
part of the time and behaving poorly part of the other time – we’re talking
about humans, here – this is much like saying “God is random.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, it’s not, because the prophets also
define what good behavior is, which is to say doing what the prophets
want.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This makes their message more like
“God is an incredibly powerful bully who will beat you up if you don’t do what
I say.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That’s my memory of it, anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Micah seems to jump right back into this
groove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first section heading of
Chapter 1 is “Judgement Against Samaria and Jerusalem,” the big cities of
Israel and Judah respectively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second
section heading is “Weeping and Mourning.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I actually don’t know where the section headings come from – they’re
just traditional editorial markings, I think, more or less consistent among
translations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they definitely
summarize Micah 1 well enough.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In Micah 2, we start with “Man’s Plans and God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first two verses warn of woe to thieves, especially
those who seize fields and houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then,
in the third to fifth verses, God says that he is going to crush “this people,”
humiliate and cast them off the land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
written, it’s one of any number of examples of the “because some people are
dodgy, everybody’s going to get it” mechanism.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Micah 2:6 to 11 is labelled “False Prophets,” but that’s not
actually what it’s about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s about
people complaining about the gloom and doom of prophets like Micah.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He mocks them for wanting more joyful
prophecies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, we end the chapter
with “Deliverance Promised,” in which God promises to gather up the “remnant of
Israel” like a happy, prosperous herd of sheep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I guess Micah is capable of busting out a little optimism after all.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Micah 3 is a fiery if vague condemnation of Israel’s civil
and religious elite – they “despise justice and distort all that is right” –
whereas Micah 4 is back in the joyful mode, predicting a happy future of
Jerusalem in which “every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig
tree” and the Jews will live happy in the protection of God:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i>All the nations may walk in the
name of their gods;<br />We will walk in the name of the
Lord our God for ever and ever.</i> (5)
</p><p class="MsoNormal">Also in Chapter 4, Micah makes reference to the Jews being
taken into captivity in Babylon and then being rescued and returned to their
homeland (10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without any better sense
of the context than what I’ve learned in this project, I am pretty sure that
that’s what all of Micah, or at least all that we're looking at so far, is about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To recap: after a long line of kings, Jerusalem fell to the
Babylonians and many of the elites were hauled off to that city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There, they forged a strong religious
identity, to the point which when they were allowed to return to their homeland
many years later, the relatively scruffy folks who had been living their lives
in the meantime seemed like so many heathens. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously they needed to be put back in their
place, and fairly obviously, I think, the Book of Micah was part of this
campaign.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, Chapter 1 begins by saying that it was written “during
the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah,” so the ruin he predicts for Samaria
and Jerusalem was a spot-on prediction!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chapter
2’s language about punishing those who steal fields and houses, and gathering
up the remnant of Israel, sounds like invective against people who took
possession of the property left vacant by the exiles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The happy ending in Chapter 4 is about the wonderful
new era of prosperity and serious religion that will return to Jerusalem, once
the exiles have reimposed their will over the riff-raff.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i>I will make the lame a remnant,
those driven away a strong nation.<br />The Lord will rule over them in
Mount Zion from that day and forever.<br />As for you, O watchtower of the
flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion,<br />The former dominion will be
restored to you; Kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem. </i>(7-8)
</p><p class="MsoNormal">Micah is a seven-chapter book, so we’ll be back sometime
within the next two years with coverage of Chapters 5, 6, and 7!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<br />Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-21115881787628699282019-08-19T12:07:00.002-07:002019-08-19T12:07:57.305-07:00The Book of Jonah: And how he never got to Tarshish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wMYmOrNDXX3bHlb78EYDx7Qp2A-O8KxuqmWp3dSDI_KXq0wfNh145AHhEZSyCxYM1WfwhRzzVUA35P2xrR0niIAxxjj9eOVpVIHBkQwJZKOWRB_evZ1QusMP1-Xn4lB9LRBDtQ/s1600/Jonah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="1200" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wMYmOrNDXX3bHlb78EYDx7Qp2A-O8KxuqmWp3dSDI_KXq0wfNh145AHhEZSyCxYM1WfwhRzzVUA35P2xrR0niIAxxjj9eOVpVIHBkQwJZKOWRB_evZ1QusMP1-Xn4lB9LRBDtQ/s640/Jonah.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Tucked incongruously among the angry denunciations of the other prophets, the Book of Jonah is a charming, upbeat tale of divine compassion and human frailty. It is of course the familiar tale of Jonah and the Whale, and as much fun as it would be to say, as I have before about other familiar tales, “it’s a different story in the text than the one you think you know,” that wouldn’t be true in this case. It is, in fact, exactly the story you know.<br />
<br />
But let’s recap: Jonah, son of Amittai, gets tapped by God to go deliver some prophesy against the large, prosperous city of Nineveh. Like many of us, he doesn’t feel cut out for the work of persuasion, so he books a ship to Tarshish. No one knows where Tarshish was, exactly, but it was some sort of Phoenician outpost in the Western Mediterranean. It was as far from Israel and from Nineveh as you could get, in other words.<br />
<br />
Now, since the Hebrews, although more or less monotheistic themselves, live in a polytheistic context where most folks believe in a multitude of local gods, Jonah’s strategy is rational enough. If he can get out of his god’s territory, maybe he’s off the hook. Except, of course, that his god is God, and isn’t tied to a locality, and therefore can’t be run away from. This, I suspect, is the main intended take-home of this story.<br />
<br />
Because, God isn’t going to let Jonah off the hook. He afflicts the ship with a mighty storm. The sailors realize that there must be supernatural forces at work, and through divination determine that the fault is Jonah’s. That their pagan divination <i>works</i> is an odd note, but we’ve seen plenty of this going all the way back to pharaoh’s magicians. Pay this detail no mind.<br />
<br />
Instead, enjoy <i>this</i> detail: when Jonah admits to the sailors what he has done, and tells them they will have to throw him overboard to survive, they don’t want to do it. They’re decent human beings! They do their best to try to make landfall without killing their passenger. But they can’t, and finally they do a lot of praying for forgiveness before they, well, kill their passenger.<br />
<br />
As you know, however, Jonah doesn’t drown! As the seas quickly calm around the ship and its newly converted crew, Jonah is swallowed by a whale, or at least a “great fish,” where he stays alive but presumably rather uncomfortable for three days. He finds this whole experience a rather convincing demonstration of God’s power, does some repenting, and gets vomited up on a beach. One pictures him waking up to see a crude arrow sign stuck in the sand, pointing the way to Nineveh.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>So, What Happens After the Bit With the Whale, Again?</b></span><br />
<br />
In the less familiar second half – the Book of Jonah, incidentally, has four short chapters and occupies only about a page and a half of my Bible – Jonah arrives in Nineveh. He delivers a message typical of Old Testament prophesy, to wit that they’ve been very wicked and that God will destroy their city in forty days. The people of Nineveh, however, have an unusual reaction to this news. They believe it. Like Jonah in the fish, they repent. “He’s right,” say all the people. “We are quite awful.” They begin to fast and wear sackcloth. When the king hears about it, he concurs entirely. Putting on sackcloth himself, he plops down in the dust. “Maybe if we forsake evil and ask God nicely, he’ll spare us,” he proclaims.<br />
<br />
Now, recall that God didn’t have Jonah say “shape up or else.” He had Jonah say “God will destroy your city in 40 days.” So on Day 41, when nothing happens, Jonah is really pissed off. <i>“That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish,” he complains. “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live”</i> (4:2-3). This is a very attractive vision of God, who elsewhere in the Old Testament is not remarkable for relenting to send calamity. To a very young reader, indeed, it might be confusing why Jonah is so upset. <br />
<br />
Why is he so upset? Well, God has “made him a liar,” as we say, and he fears he will look foolish to the people he was threatening. But more importantly, he is showing the unpleasant but wholly human trait of feeling righteous indignation when seeing other people avoid punishment. And I suppose thirdly, he may just be disappointed that he’s missing the show he paid for, like some people leaving an auto race where there were no fiery crashes.<br />
<br />
So Jonah hikes out in the desert to sulk.<br />
<br />
In the final act, God first grows a vine to shelter him from the sun, and then has it wither. Jonah is upset about this, too. God says something like, “you’re all bent out of shape about this one little vine. Nineveh has 120,000 people. Shouldn’t I care about them?” In a way, this seems like the opposite of the each-little-sparrow concept that we seem to see more often in the Bible, in which every detail counts and none more than any other. To me, though, this reasoning seems like a breath of fresh air. “Get a sense of proportion, Jonah! Not going to render an eighth of a million people homeless just so you feel a sense of closure about your prophecy gig!” This seems eminently reasonable.<br />
<br />
The book ends abruptly, so I will too.Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-56440986387935828512019-06-16T19:39:00.000-07:002019-06-16T19:39:08.365-07:00The Book of Obadiah<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdGTQ_bms4N6eW1yro8RNfw0Y-s191wf56eZir6QwcHdsqaocHhJSN_hv4X1VaXeqJp_UmYiVKUqGdKduTqjXcsAnPImu1_Nj9TS_DAXHM1dJ5HYnkbnJYtL6X3x-8WBn_TzjuA/s1600/Obadiah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="682" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdGTQ_bms4N6eW1yro8RNfw0Y-s191wf56eZir6QwcHdsqaocHhJSN_hv4X1VaXeqJp_UmYiVKUqGdKduTqjXcsAnPImu1_Nj9TS_DAXHM1dJ5HYnkbnJYtL6X3x-8WBn_TzjuA/s640/Obadiah.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Melozzo da Forlì,“Obadiah” in the Sacristy of St. Mark, ca. 1477</i>, <i>as snaffled without so much as <br />a how-do-you-do from <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/what-every-catholic-should-know-about-obadiah">another guy's Bible blog</a>.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The book of Obadiah is just one chapter long, and is probably – indeed, I have just confirmed it with a quick Google – the shortest book in the entire Bible. It is a pretty straightforward condemnation of the Edomites and the people of Esau, who God is going to punish but good. In order for this to make much sense, I had to look up who the Edomites were, and remind myself who Esau was.<br />
<br />
Esau, as I recalled when <a href="https://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2007/03/gen-2512-30-patriarchal-attitudes.html">consulting an eminent authority</a>, was the older twin brother of Jacob, son of Issac, son of Abraham, the one who didn’t get to be a patriarch because he was screwed out of his birthright in the famous “mess of pottage” scam. Well, he didn’t get to be an Israelite patriarch, anyway. Instead, it turns out that he took off to the southeast, and became a patriarch of the Edomites. <br />
<br />
The Edomites are naturally a weak and sinful people, at least according to these scriptures written by the Israelites. We’ve seen them quite a bit over throughout the Bible, but if you’re like me you kind of blip over the unfamiliar names of the small neighboring peoples. Refresher: the Edomites are the ones who <a href="https://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2007/09/numbers-18-20-tough-times-for-moses.html">wickedly refused to allow the Israelites to route the Exodus through their county</a>, but were later conquered and vassalized by Judah during the age of Kings. They live south of the Dead Sea, where the roads coming out of Egypt up towards Babylon and Persia have to go through passes in the uplands, and therefore control bottlenecks on the trade routes used by neighbors much, much more powerful than themselves.<br />
<br />
So that’s the context. What the prophet Obadiah is angry about is that when Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem, the Edomites weren’t sad about it. There might even have been snickering. Indeed, there was probably a fair amount of complicity:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
13 <i>You should not march through the gates of my people<br /> in the day of their disaster,<br />nor gloat over them in their calamity<br /> in the day of their disaster,<br />nor seize their wealth<br /> in the day of their disaster.</i><br />
14 <i>You should not wait at the crossroads<br /> to cut down their fugitives,<br />nor hand over their survivors<br /> in the day of their trouble.</i></blockquote>
So: the Edomites have been conquered and are looked down on by the more powerful Israelites, who define them as the descendants of their own very clever ancestor’s stupid lummox of a brother. When the Babylonians, hugely more powerful than either, put Judah to the sword, at least some of the Edomites are more than willing to join in on the fun. This sense of being betrayed by a junior partner, and of being humiliated by those whom one is used to being able to humiliate, is naturally pretty galling to the Israelites.<br />
<br />
Hence Obadiah’s rage. And none of the happy ending business where God will relent after a few years of punishing the Edomites, either. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
18 <i>Jacob will be a fire</i><br />
<i> and Joseph a flame;</i><br />
<i>Esau will be stubble,</i><br />
<i> and they will set him on fire and destroy him.</i><br />
<i>There will be no survivors</i><br />
<i> from Esau.”</i><br />
<i>The LORD has spoken.</i></blockquote>
Did you follow that? The people of Jacob (the smart brother) and Joseph (Jacob’s even smarter son, he of the amazing technicolor dreamcoat) will not stand for this shit; they will take on the people of Esau (the dumb brother/uncle) and, well, there will be no survivors. I guess that last part was pretty straightforward.<br />
<br />
Now, it’s worth mentioning that when I was trying to figure out where Edom was, I stumbled on a little knowledge (which is of course a dangerous thing) about the Nabataeans, the Arabian group that would eventually build Petra. Seems that during the period that Judah was falling, the Nabataeans were expanding northward, into Edomite territory. This pressure, plus Judah’s weakness when its ruling class was in exile, tempted many Edomite herders to start migrating into the unprotected Israelite lands. It strikes me that this wouldn’t have been any too pleasing to the likes of <a href="https://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2009/02/book-of-nehemiah.html">Nehemiah</a> and <a href="https://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2009/01/ezra-return-of-israelites.html">Ezra</a> when they got back to town and set up shop. The Book of Obadiah, then, is fairly openly serving notice to the Edomites that they should, at best, consider themselves back under the yoke of Jerusalem.<br />
<br />Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-22810468936654975032019-06-02T18:20:00.000-07:002019-06-02T21:57:15.688-07:00The Book of Amos: “What do you see, Amos?”<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-KT1PUQHRvozIBxdXPFFUyaiBLZyFlLlPEjnJCM9XoIS2_1XCulT4TtVO1Zpg7Dfl4w0L9NlFHRbjmdpqAhNDwaxXXQ-2nCLM5HJfGQrys3VrmUZXsJYcL01WdDcgkOWx0HrIag/s1600/Amos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="810" height="572" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-KT1PUQHRvozIBxdXPFFUyaiBLZyFlLlPEjnJCM9XoIS2_1XCulT4TtVO1Zpg7Dfl4w0L9NlFHRbjmdpqAhNDwaxXXQ-2nCLM5HJfGQrys3VrmUZXsJYcL01WdDcgkOWx0HrIag/s640/Amos.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Amos (on left), with Nahum, Ezekiel, and Daniel. Detail of mural by John Singer Sargent, Boston Public Library.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Amos is another book of Old Testament prophecy. Obviously I am not zipping through the Old Testament prophets at a clip that keeps the details firmly in memory, but Amos seems very much of a piece with the rest of the prophets, which is to say: Rhetorical, focused on punishment to the point of ranting, accusatory, somewhat tedious to a modern reader. It has, like several of the other prophecies, a quiet little coda that says that everything will be great for Israel, after the countless years of horrible torments and comeuppance get wound up.<br />
<br />
I wonder if people who read the Bible quite regularly experience a different style, a different “feel,” among the various prophets. Probably they do. I actually don’t. For me, the Bible mostly reads like the Bible. It reminds me of reading Italian literature, which I always thought had a real sameness to it – but then one day I realized that the same guy, William Weaver, was the go-to translator for all of the marquee Italian novels. So, do modern Italians write in a similar style, or am I perceiving the style in English of William Weaver? Did Hebrew prophets write in similar styles, or am I perceiving the style of the NIV Committee on Bible Translation?<br />
<br />
Anyway, Amos is “one of the shepherds of Tekoa” and the book is “what he says concerning Israel two years before the earthquake.” (1:1) That “two years before the earthquake” is terrific, reminding us that this was written down for a specific audience that wasn’t us. This was originally intended for the generation that would be all like “Oh yeah, sheesh, the earthquake, I remember the earthquake. Two years before that? Oh yeah, that was when I still lived up in Abkahak. That must be why I don’t remember this Amos guy.”<br />
<br />
Anyway, Amos starts off by talking about how the Lord is going to punish all of Israel’s neighbors – Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab – for their various wrongdoing. There is a stock phrasing that gets repeated for all of them: “For three sins of [Damascus], even for four, I will not turn back my wrath.” It sounds great, but I don’t quite understand what it means. At first, I tried to make sense of it as meaning something like “I’ll forgive the first few sins, even the fourth sin I’ll let slide, but after that KAPOW!” But, that’s not what those words mean with the “not” in there. With the “not,” I’m not sure what they mean.<br />
<br />
I mean, obviously the gist is that God is going to bring on the punishments. And if the original Israelite audience is feeling pretty smug at this point, they have another think coming, because at 2:4 Amos says the same thing about Judah, and at 2:6, it’s Israel’s turn. And, it will remain Israel’s turn for the rest of the book. The message is pretty straightforward: “I will crush you as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.” (2:13)<br />
<br />
Chapter Three begins with a series of rhetorical questions to the effect that there is no smoke without fire, leading up to the idea that prophets wouldn’t make prophecies if God wasn’t speaking through them. Then, Amos says that God says that he will punish the Israelites mightily. Specifically, he will punish them because he is angry about “the oppression within her people” and “they who do not know how to do right, …who hoard plunder and loot in their fortresses.” (9,10) This is the kind of passage where someone with my own class background wants to cheer a little bit, because we like the idea of God taking on those fat cats with their oppressive ways and their disproportionate claim on a society’s resources. But wait a minute – the people of Israel isn’t just the fat cats, it’s also the working Joes and the widows and orphans on the other end of the exploitation stick. So why are they ALL going to get punished, Amos?<br />
<br />
The NIV’s section headings for Chapters 4 and 5 clarify it, if we were in any suspense: “Israel Has Not Returned to God” and “A Lament and Call to Repentance.” Don’t be fooled by Amos 4:4:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Go to Bethel and sin; Go to Gilgal and sin yet more.<br />Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. </i></blockquote>
<br />
It’s not a commandment! It’s supposed to be read in conjunction with 4:5:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings –<br />Boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.</i></blockquote>
So, Amos is mocking his audience for their bad behavior. He’s telling them that they sin all the time, that they regularly make pagan sacrifices but are lax in their responsibility to the temple, that their sacrifices to God are meager and don’t follow the proscribed rules, and then they brag about what little they gave. They’re a despicable lot, and they deserve whatever they have coming. People probably loved Amos; everyone would have thought he was brilliantly speaking some righteous truth about certain of their neighbors.<br />
<br />
In Chapter 6, the focus is on complacency and pride. The complacency section has some more of that vaguely leftist feel to it:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>4 You lie on beds adorned with ivory<br /> and lounge on your couches.<br />You dine on choice lambs<br /> and fattened calves.<br />5 You strum away on your harps like David<br /> and improvise on musical instruments.<br />6 You drink wine by the bowlful<br /> and use the finest lotions,<br /> but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.<br />7 Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;<br /> your feasting and lounging will end.</i></blockquote>
Again, the average Israeli goatherd probably wasn’t lounging on ivory beds, but this passage also begs the question of why it would be bad to emulate David, who was pretty much God’s favorite human who ever lived. I mean, I know why I personally don’t feel like David is a great role model, but I’m surprised to see him cast as a bad example right here in the Bible.<br />
<br />
In Chapters 7 and 8, there is a charming pattern where God shows Amos something and has him identify it, each time as a lead-in to some more stern prophecy. <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>8:1 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. <br />2 “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.<br />“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.<br />Then the LORD said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.”</i></blockquote>
I really love the pure rhetoric at work here. Baskets and fruit have nothing to do with it; the only function of the exchange is to bring up the concept of “ripeness.” And what a stretch! Because, you could show 100 people a basket of ripe fruit, and I’d guess fewer than ten would say “that’s a basket of ripe fruit.” They’d say “that’s a basket of fruit” or perhaps “that’s three apples, five bananas, and some grapes.” But Amos is the perfect straight man in this case. Then, God’s punchline sounds like something Mohamed Ali might have said. Of course, Mohamed Ali was picking on other prizefighters, which kept his threats from seeming especially sinister. There’s a different power dynamic when God says it:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>3 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies—flung everywhere!”</i></blockquote>
Which brings us to the final chapter, Chapter Nine, which has the NIV headings “Israel to be Destroyed” (10 verses) and “Israel’s Restoration” (5 verses). We’ll close with Verse 8, which pretty much summarizes not only the Chapter, but to an extent the whole Book of Amos and, come to think of it, much of Old Testament prophecy as a whole:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>8 “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD</i><br />
<i> are on the sinful kingdom.</i><br />
<i>I will destroy it</i><br />
<i> from the face of the earth.</i><br />
<i>Yet I will not totally destroy</i><br />
<i> the descendants of Jacob,” declares the LORD.</i></blockquote>
Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-63314265968500200872018-02-06T17:08:00.000-08:002018-02-06T17:08:01.128-08:00The Book of Joel: What the locust swarm has left... Other locusts have eaten.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVH-HiZipvsc_LTTC8T6N1HeiHDHQC8Ws1p59pofJiUokd028ee_xFzON7LYsIDD76hPhDX-Bk_RtcDxN9C7IaN7Q7lQqMh74wtve9Txy0IQL0PptJvkWIUFSDZBU2A2sMXIzhw/s1600/Joel_%2528Michelangelo%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="894" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVH-HiZipvsc_LTTC8T6N1HeiHDHQC8Ws1p59pofJiUokd028ee_xFzON7LYsIDD76hPhDX-Bk_RtcDxN9C7IaN7Q7lQqMh74wtve9Txy0IQL0PptJvkWIUFSDZBU2A2sMXIzhw/s640/Joel_%2528Michelangelo%2529.jpg" width="536" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Prophet Joel, in the Sistine Chapel</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The book of Joel is, according to Chapter 1 Verse 1, <i>The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethual</i>. It is only three chapters long, and it stands out as a pretty good read. If you squint, it’s something like a horror story. It even starts by telling us what an extreme a prophecy it’s going to be. The elders are asked if they’ve ever heard about something like this happening in the past. Everyone is assured that they’ll be telling the grandchildren about this amazing and horrifying event that's going to happen (or is perhaps already happening).<br />
<br />
The amazing and horrifying event is a swarm of locusts. Now, when I was a kid and liked chasing grasshoppers, I always wondered why the Bible takes such a hard line on locusts, but the problem is of course that they come in great numbers and, although each little bug doesn’t eat too much by itself, in the aggregate they eat, well, everything. So, if you are a desert agricultural society without much in the way of a surplus, watching the locusts go through comes with a sinking realization that your family may well be starving to death pretty soon. It’s pretty grim.<br />
<blockquote>
<i>What the locust swarm has left</i><br />
<i>The great locusts have eaten</i><br />
<i>What the great locusts have left</i><br />
<i>The young locusts have eaten;</i><br />
<i>What the young locusts have left</i><br />
<i>Other locusts have eaten. </i>(1:4)</blockquote>
Not much fun.<br />
<br />
Amid the scenes of environmental devastation in the first chapter and a half, there is this imagery:<br />
<blockquote>
<i> They charge like warriors;</i><br />
<i>they scale walls like soldiers.</i><br />
<i>They all march in line,</i><br />
<i>not swerving from their course.</i><br />
<i> They do not jostle each other;</i><br />
<i>each marches straight ahead.</i><br />
<i>They plunge through defenses</i><br />
<i>without breaking ranks.</i><br />
<i> They rush upon the city;</i><br />
<i>they run along the wall.</i><br />
<i>They climb into the houses;</i><br />
<i>like thieves they enter through the windows. </i>(2:7-9)<br />
<i></i></blockquote>
These are some really spooky locusts, sweeping across the land with a remorseless implacability.
Ultimately, though, this is a prophecy with a relatively happy ending, for in the second half of Chapter 2 Joel offers a way out:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Return to the LORD your God,</i><br />
<i>for he is gracious and compassionate,</i><br />
<i>slow to anger and abounding in love,</i><br />
<i>and he relents from sending calamity.</i> (13)</blockquote>
If the people “rend their hearts,” God will turn away troubles and restore prosperity:<br />
<blockquote>
<i> I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—</i><br />
<i>the great locust and the young locust,</i><br />
<i>the other locusts and the locust swarm —</i><br />
<i>my great army that I sent among you.</i><br />
<i> You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,</i><br />
<i>and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,</i><br />
<i>who has worked wonders for you.</i> (25-26)</blockquote>
And indeed, Chapter 2 ends, after a brief return to apocalyptic visions of <i>the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord</i>, on a singularly triumphant note:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>And everyone who calls<br />
on the name of the LORD will be saved;<br />
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem<br />
there will be deliverance,<br />
as the LORD has said,<br />
even among the survivors<br />
whom the LORD calls.</i> (32)</blockquote>
OK. So, one question here is: are we really talking about locusts? As we have been seeing, much of Biblical prophecy is couched in political-cartoon metaphor, and for all I know Joel may well be making references to invading armies of Moabites or Babylonians or Egyptians that would have been perfectly transparent to a contemporary audience. It could be a story about how the destruction and disruption of war is bad for farming – which it really, really is. <br />
<br />
Then too, if it’s a story about locusts, is it a reference to an actual locust swarm that was really happening? Or is it a locust storm of the imagination, a kind of bronze age dystopian piece, a concrete metaphor to represent the many more subtle possible manifestations of God’s wrath? Who knows!<br />
<br />
And finally, unfortunately in a way, it’s always interesting to check the footnotes. For just as you have formed your vision of the vast wave of locusts – the great locusts, the young locusts, the locusts beyond number – you will see that “the precise meaning of the four Hebrew words used here for locusts is uncertain.” So, not only might the locusts be metaphorical, they might not be locusts. This could be a vision of an unstoppable wave of alligators, seagulls, trout, and walking trees, and we'd be none the wiser. I imagine that the Biblical scholars have made a pretty good guess with locusts, but you can’t rule out the possibility that there is a truly bizarre prophecy hidden right here in plain sight, if only we knew those words.<br />
<br />
Chapter 3 is a little different. Labelled “The Nations Judged,” it is a promise of revenge against <i>Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of Philistia</i>, all of the peoples who have opposed Judah and the Israelites. All of the nations are told to get ready for war, to <i>beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears</i>, and to come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which might be the gully just to the east of Jerusalem, or might be a mythic location. There, they will get their comeuppance, and subsequently (17-21) God will bless and protect Jerusalem and Judah eternally.<br />
<br />
Let’s take a look at the “comeuppance” verses:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>“Let the nations be roused;</i><br />
<i>let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,</i><br />
<i>for there I will sit</i><br />
<i>to judge all the nations on every side.</i><br />
<i> Swing the sickle,</i><br />
<i>for the harvest is ripe.</i><br />
<i>Come, trample the grapes,</i><br />
<i>for the winepress is full</i><br />
<i>and the vats overflow—</i><br />
<i>so great is their wickedness!”</i><br />
<i> Multitudes, multitudes</i><br />
<i>in the valley of decision!</i><br />
<i>For the day of the LORD is near</i><br />
<i>in the valley of decision.</i><br />
<i> The sun and moon will be darkened,</i><br />
<i>and the stars no longer shine.</i><br />
<i> The LORD will roar from Zion</i><br />
<i>and thunder from Jerusalem;</i><br />
<i>the earth and the heavens will tremble.</i><br />
<i>But the LORD will be a refuge for his people,</i><br />
<i>a stronghold for the people of Israel.</i> (12-16)</blockquote>
I read this as a rather florid account of a military ambush. The people of Tyre and so on, overconfident with their recently repurposed weapons, all flood in to attack Jerusalem and are caught in a classic low-ground trap. The Israelites will be able to cut them down like ripe grain, to trample them like grapes, and generally put them to rout, God will preside over the day with supernatural gravitas.<br />
<br />
But not everybody reads it that way. When I looked up “Valley of Jehosaphat,” I learned that many people read this passage as a prediction of an actual final-judgement event to be held at the end of the world, or at least at the end of this phase of the world’s existence. Some feel that God will actually sit in the little valley to the east of Jerusalem, issuing judgements. This is, of course, the literal meaning of the words in Verse 12, but it hardly needs pointing out that cherry-picking this passage for literal interpretation is a pretty fanciful way of approaching the text.<br />
<br />
The end of Joel 2 can also be read as an “end times” sort of prophecy, now that I go back and look at it – but only if you already expect it to read that way. As written, these passages are very much in the context of “present times.” God will help us turn back the locusts, and then Jerusalem will be OK. God will help us defeat our military enemies (which, again, may well be what the locusts are supposed to be understood as), and then Jerusalem will be OK. It’s a prediction of the future from the time frame of the prophet-narrator, but on the scale of “we will get through this bad year and be all right, as long as we keep the faith.” To regard this as a prophecy that is still “live,” that is still referring to things in our own future, the future relative to 2018, is almost to say that nothing written in the future tense can ever really happen, because it will always remain in the future.<br />
<br />
But whatever our thoughts on end times, I think we can all agree that a vast swarm of robots advancing over the land in a relentless, unswerving synchronized mass is one heck of an apocalyptic vision.Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-24089255508807302182018-01-29T12:00:00.000-08:002018-01-29T12:00:34.788-08:00Hosea 11-14: God’s Love for Israel/The Lord’s Anger Against Israel<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGTakIVmOf7uYSrLmhNuB-mj8pO5Pt_u8LP11Q-q_VF85EcAZGy5HLy3V73N6PJWkhpiMadZcw2xf7QBP7QbHHZpqJbqCc2SCdQ4YX2t1Bwioe_x2ZrUjvUCp4l4kWwKcJDSVgUg/s1600/Gillis_van_Coninxloo_-_Mountain_Landscape_with_River_Valley_and_the_Prophet_Hosea_-_WGA05181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1101" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGTakIVmOf7uYSrLmhNuB-mj8pO5Pt_u8LP11Q-q_VF85EcAZGy5HLy3V73N6PJWkhpiMadZcw2xf7QBP7QbHHZpqJbqCc2SCdQ4YX2t1Bwioe_x2ZrUjvUCp4l4kWwKcJDSVgUg/s640/Gillis_van_Coninxloo_-_Mountain_Landscape_with_River_Valley_and_the_Prophet_Hosea_-_WGA05181.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gillis van Coninxloo (1544-1606), <i>Mountain Landscape with River Valley and the Prophet Hosea</i>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Book of Hosea is 14 chapters long, so we’ll wrap up the last four of them today. They are a fairly unified set of four, and each is given a section heading in the NIV:
<br />
<blockquote>
11: God’s Love for Israel<br />
12: Israel’s Sin<br />
13: The Lord’s Anger Against Israel<br />
14: Repentance to Bring Blessing</blockquote>
As the titles would suggest, Chapter 11 is reassuring:
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>How can I give you up, Ephraim?</i><br />
<i>How can I hand you over, Israel?</i><br />
<i>How can I treat you like Admah?</i><br />
<i>How can I make you like Zeboyim?</i><br />
<i>My heart is changed within me;</i><br />
<i>all my compassion is aroused.</i><br />
<i>I will not carry out my fierce anger,</i><br />
<i>nor will I devastate Ephraim again.</i><br />
<i>For I am God, and not a man—</i><br />
<i>the Holy One among you.</i><br />
<i>I will not come against their cities.</i> (8-9)</blockquote>
And Chapter 13 is not:
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>When I fed them, they were satisfied;</i><br />
<i>when they were satisfied, they became proud;</i><br />
<i>then they forgot me.</i><br />
<i>So I will be like a lion to them,</i><br />
<i>like a leopard I will lurk by the path.</i><br />
<i>Like a bear robbed of her cubs,</i><br />
<i>I will attack them and rip them open;</i><br />
<i>like a lion I will devour them—</i><br />
<i>a wild animal will tear them apart. </i>(6-8) </blockquote>
The prophesy in Chapter 12 is pretty dire:
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>…Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;</i><br />
<i>his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed</i><br />
<i>and will repay him for his contempt.</i> (14)</blockquote>
And the prophecy in Chapter 14 is pretty hopeful:
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>I will heal their waywardness</i><br />
<i>and love them freely,</i><br />
<i>for my anger has turned away from them.</i><br />
<i>I will be like the dew to Israel;</i><br />
<i>he will blossom like a lily.</i><br />
<i>Like a cedar of Lebanon</i><br />
<i>he will send down his roots;</i><br />
<i>his young shoots will grow. </i>(5-6)<br />
<i></i></blockquote>
In short, what is the message of the prophet Hosea? Well, clearly he is in favor of adherence to religious law and against dabbling in competing faiths. Beyond that, what does he tell us about the nature of God, or what is to happen in his future? The answer might be that he tells us so many contradictory things as to let us decide whatever we want, or so many contradictory things as to tell us nothing, or -- reasonably -- so many contradictory things as to suggest that God is too complicated to be easily pinned down in words.
Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-64694726744221934492018-01-22T12:00:00.000-08:002018-01-24T07:29:30.320-08:00Hosea 6-10: What can I do with you, Ephraim?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQ2X69J5ETyspla-0ow0tWURDf18ZB4r_V_6DrI3adn80FUydaf4BfDuVqFekvtaxQZ2y3IH3OiqkS7EkgxWCj3rwHkTi2TiVaiV4syV0i4hGuVBVmFHGjrJcyxq4dktniJfMow/s1600/Hosea%252C+Sargent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1075" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQ2X69J5ETyspla-0ow0tWURDf18ZB4r_V_6DrI3adn80FUydaf4BfDuVqFekvtaxQZ2y3IH3OiqkS7EkgxWCj3rwHkTi2TiVaiV4syV0i4hGuVBVmFHGjrJcyxq4dktniJfMow/s640/Hosea%252C+Sargent.jpg" width="430" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Hosea the Prophet, as imagined by John Singer Sargent.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As noted last time, the Book of Hosea (which is, apparently, the first of the twelve books of "Minor Prophets") fits comfortably into what we've seen so far of the prophetic literature of the Bible, which is to say it is largely a series of complaints by God about the faithlessness of the Israelites and predictions of the punishments that will therefore be their lot. There is not much in the way of story here, so instead of giving a narrative summary I’ll just pick out some of the details this time around.<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter 6:</b> There are several gentle bits in this short chapter that I find very compelling. For starters, Verses 1-3.
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Come, let us return to the LORD.</i><br />
<i>He has torn us to pieces</i><br />
<i>but he will heal us;</i><br />
<i>he has injured us</i><br />
<i>but he will bind up our wounds.</i><br />
<i>After two days he will revive us;</i><br />
<i>on the third day he will restore us,</i><br />
<i>that we may live in his presence.</i><br />
<i>Let us acknowledge the LORD;</i><br />
<i>let us press on to acknowledge him.</i><br />
<i>As surely as the sun rises,</i><br />
<i>he will appear;</i><br />
<i>he will come to us like the winter rains,</i><br />
<i>like the spring rains that water the earth.
</i></blockquote>
Then there’s Verse 4, which is a tender lament for the wayward love of the Israelites:
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>What can I do with you, Ephraim?</i><br />
<i>What can I do with you, Judah?</i><br />
<i>Your love is like the morning mist,</i><br />
<i>like the early dew that disappears.</i></blockquote>
And there is Verse 6, which presents the face of God that many people, I think, look for in scripture.
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,</i><br />
<i>and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.</i></blockquote>
But people who like Verses 4 and 6 might be troubled by the temperament of the verse that comes in-between:
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,</i><br />
<i>I killed you with the words of my mouth—</i><br />
<i>my judgments flashed like lightning among you.</i></blockquote>
<b>Chapter 7:</b> And yet it is the violent and vindictive temperament, in Hosea as in the earlier prophets, that is foremost:
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>Woe to them,</i><br />
<i>because they have strayed from me!</i><br />
<i>Destruction to them,</i><br />
<i>because they have rebelled against me!</i><br />
<i>I long to redeem them</i><br />
<i>but they speak lies about me. </i>(13)<i><br /></i></blockquote>
<b>Chapter 8:</b> This chapter has a metaphor that seems very familiar, although I don’t know whether it is used elsewhere in the Bible as well:
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>They sow the wind</i><br />
<i>and reap the whirlwind.</i> (7)</blockquote>
It sounds pretty cool, but I realized I wasn’t sure what it meant. I guess the idea is that the Israelites “sow the wind,” which is to say, plant their fields with nothing, by not adhering to the laws of God. They “reap the whirlwind,” which is to say come into a great deal of trouble, through God’s resultant wrath.<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter 9:
</b><br />
<blockquote>
<i>Even if they rear children,</i><br />
<i>I will bereave them of every one.</i><br />
<i>Woe to them</i><br />
<i>when I turn away from them!</i><br />
<i>I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre,</i><br />
<i>planted in a pleasant place.</i><br />
<i>But Ephraim will bring out</i><br />
<i>their children to the slayer.</i> (12-13)</blockquote>
Who is this "Ephraim"? The name is used throughout Hosea, and it clearly refers to the Israelites. I don’t remember seeing this usage before, so I looked it up. Seems that Ephraim, the original Ephraim, was one of the sons of Joseph, the patriarch of Technicolor Dreamcoat fame. In some places, says Wiki, the Bible talks about the Tribe of Joseph, and in other places it’s broken down into the Tribe of Ephraim and the Tribe of another son of Joseph, Manasseh. The homelands for these groups was in the northern kingdom, which is to say Israel (as opposed to Judah). So Hosea is more or less using “Ephraim” to mean “the people of Israel.” Mind you, he occasionally throws in an aside to the effect of “You too, Judah!”<br />
<br />
<b>Chapter 10: </b>
<br />
<blockquote>
<i>When I please, I will punish them;</i><br />
<i>nations will be gathered against them</i><br />
<i>to put them in bonds for their double sin.</i><br />
<i>Ephraim is a trained heifer</i><br />
<i>that loves to thresh;</i><br />
<i>so I will put a yoke</i><br />
<i>on her fair neck.</i><br />
<i>I will drive Ephraim,</i><br />
<i>Judah must plow,</i><br />
<i>and Jacob must break up the ground.</i> (10-11)</blockquote>
It’s interesting that to punish the Israelites for straying away from orthodox worship of the God of Abraham, the God of Abraham often punishes them through defeat by neighboring powers. It’s a good punishment, but you can see how the victorious neighbors might interpret it as a gift of triumph from their own gods. Or even, although this probably wouldn’t be their first thought, they could see it as a reward from the God of Abraham for not ever believing in him in the first place.<br />
<br />
Elsewhere in the Old Testament, God has often expressed his desire that people will recognize his might by seeing his intervention in the affairs of his people. It is hard, however, to imagine an Assyrian sergeant saying something like “Geez, your God must be really angry at you guys, to let us beat you so badly!” Wouldn't he be more likely to interpret events as showing the superiority of the Assyrian religious system, or even just the superiority of the Assyrian army?<br />
<br />
<i><b>Next Week:</b> Wrapping Up Hosea.</i>Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-14605227082430702532018-01-15T20:57:00.000-08:002018-01-15T20:57:10.894-08:00Hosea 1-5: Adultery, Metaphor, and Raisin Cakes<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJgmFdLoPqMdxjwDWb71Qg685GLitmXqxx7f521OjYzFg4xFMwSqf1hP0zGxJ-BbsxooYBtgRDxTroer2XnqS5UF5b9oBPbYYISJF50qWQZ-RdSz5QwC2UUeDt_3g41Z3B6K26A/s1600/Hosea%252C+by+Raphael%252C+from+a+preparatory+sketch+for+a+fresco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoJgmFdLoPqMdxjwDWb71Qg685GLitmXqxx7f521OjYzFg4xFMwSqf1hP0zGxJ-BbsxooYBtgRDxTroer2XnqS5UF5b9oBPbYYISJF50qWQZ-RdSz5QwC2UUeDt_3g41Z3B6K26A/s1600/Hosea%252C+by+Raphael%252C+from+a+preparatory+sketch+for+a+fresco.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Prophet Hosea, detail of a working <br />sketch Raphael used in preparation for a fresco.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Book of Hosea, we learn in the first verse of the first Chapter, is “<i>The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel</i>.” In the rest of the first chapter, God gives Hosea a series of instructions that seem kind of bitter and cynical in tone: he is supposed to find and marry an adulterous wife (Gomer daughter of Diblaim, in one of scripture’s less flattering walk-on roles), and he is to give his children strange and unpleasant names. I mean, how much therapy did Lo-Ruhamah need to get over being named “not loved”? We are not told.<br />
<br />
In the second Chapter, Hosea is told to tell his brothers and sisters that they should rebuke their mother, because she is an adulteress. She has “conceived them in disgrace,” and she has claimed that all of her wealth, all of her food and drink and cloth and oil, were gifts from her lover instead of being provided by her husband. From Verse 9 to Verse 13, he – God, that is, speaking to Hosea – lists various punishments he is going to inflict on the wife, but then Verses 14 to 23 are surprisingly tender promises of reconciliation to come.<br />
<br />
Now, the family tree implied by Hosea 2 would be awfully confusing, if the whole thing were not transparently a parable for God’s relationship with the people of Israel. That relationship, here as in the entire Bible hitherto, is a rocky one. The Israelites are constantly haring off after Baal and assorted other regional deities, and God is constantly raging at their infidelity with threats, actual dire punishments, and occasional promises of wonderful glories to come. The brothers and sisters of Hosea 2 are the Israelites, and the mother is, I guess, also the Israelites. God is the jilted husband, and the illicit lover is the other gods the Israelites go running around with.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sB1kuAybBudJDngYAbgw3Ucw3NJ2HX8IPUDoQEK1HcgpvFE7QFUbZ98Bx848TdGNjYVj-T_LwSxT2OkTp9ESCqgTo7_ziHm3SRUzSGXAdhl1Ag68ZDJrYARsO7DIhhYb5npVCw/s1600/Dead+Sea+Hosea+manuscript.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sB1kuAybBudJDngYAbgw3Ucw3NJ2HX8IPUDoQEK1HcgpvFE7QFUbZ98Bx848TdGNjYVj-T_LwSxT2OkTp9ESCqgTo7_ziHm3SRUzSGXAdhl1Ag68ZDJrYARsO7DIhhYb5npVCw/s320/Dead+Sea+Hosea+manuscript.jpg" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This is not the first blog post to wonder about the metaphorical nature of the Book of Hosea. This scrap from the Dead Sea Scrolls, from the first century BCE, "refers to the relation of God, the husband, to
Israel, the unfaithful wife. In the commentary, the unfaithful ones have
been led astray by 'the man of the lie.'"</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It’s a little unclear how this extended metaphor fits in with Hosea’s actual marriage, but in Chapter 3 he is instructed to make up with the no-good cheatin’ Gomer. He is told to, in a delightfully quirky passage, “<i>Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes</i>” (1). Raisin cakes must have been, what, sacramental food of a competing faith? Or just a luxury to turn one away from a proper ascetic habit of worship? Either way, the specificity of the phrase rings oddly today. He seems to go out and buy her back with a bit of silver and barley, and tells her that they need to be faithful to each other... because, Israel and God need to stick together too. So, this is a strange framing narrative, in which the narrator's troubled marriage is worked on, or possibly in which a prophet's metaphor escapes his preaching and encroaches on his actual life. This would be an interesting idea for a Borges story. <br />
<br />
With the familiar theme of God's anger with his stiff-neck people established, Chapters 4 and 5 and, indeed, most of the rest of the Book of Hosea, are largely God’s invective against the faithless straying of the Israelites. There is passing attention to general bad behavior – “cursing, lying, and murder” – and occasional callbacks of the adultery metaphor, but mostly it is a general denunciation of the waywardness of the chosen people and a foretelling of the awful things that will happen to them. In this way, Hosea is quite in keeping with the prophetic literature we have seen in the half-dozen Books that precede it.
Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-14026292807226501802017-03-27T05:00:00.000-07:002017-03-27T05:00:22.436-07:00Book of Daniel: SupplementalDid you feel like twelve chapters was not quite enough Book of Daniel for your taste? Well, you might be in luck! <br />
<br />
When I was looking for images to go with my last post, I kept running across paintings of incidents I hadn't read about. After a bit of research, I found out that this is because I happen to have a <i>Protestant</i> Bible. If I had a <i>Catholic </i>or <i>Orthodox</i> Bible, there would be three additional episodes in Daniel.<br />
<br />
One, the "Song of the Three Holy Children," is at the end of Chapter 3, and consists of prayers and songs from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the three young men from the fiery furnace.<br />
<br />
Another, "Bel and the Dragon," is Chapter 14 of the expanded Daniel. It's the first detective story on record! There is an idol, Bel, which is given rich offerings every night in a sealed chamber. Every morning, the offerings are gone, so Bel must have eaten them, QED. But Daniel scatters ash on the chamber floor one night, and in the morning there is a trail of footprints to the secret door where the priests haul out the loot. Good story.<br />
<br />
Then there's Chapter 13, which is the story of "Susanna and the Elders." It might be the first courtroom drama on record! Susanna, a nice woman bathing in her garden, is being spied on by some dirty old men. They threaten to accuse her of consorting with a young man unless she, well, lets them screw her. She won't do it, they follow through on their threat, and she is about to be executed for adultery when Daniel happens along and suggests that it might be a good idea to question the accusers separately about what they saw. Since their accounts don't line up, it's clear that Susanna was falsely accused, and so the men are put to death instead of her. It's a good tale, a victory for virtue and due process alike, and so naturally it has been a favorite subject of painters over the centuries. Here's Artemisia Gentileschi's version.<br />
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<b> </b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTfDDb1GQNQrCLW8ZHmuhVWEPulhur0DRaTBNPVwkiFfucGaCiLxe8JxUgAkRVwvw5ceKMRL08X1e6If8ztxPoTttiQx2Ew8VHi0JIWGhpWs8Hp92LKNmfGq1kLK-4xVsUnsMttw/s1600/Daniel+13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTfDDb1GQNQrCLW8ZHmuhVWEPulhur0DRaTBNPVwkiFfucGaCiLxe8JxUgAkRVwvw5ceKMRL08X1e6If8ztxPoTttiQx2Ew8VHi0JIWGhpWs8Hp92LKNmfGq1kLK-4xVsUnsMttw/s640/Daniel+13.jpg" width="446" /></a></div>
<br />
Here's Carlo Francesco Nuvolone:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMQgTGvv7NVBRwnWa9k3TRrdeM6777nxLoVXO65Ljfw9mmLGC7sDC7SFuKC7FefI9vRfzdDiFOeTg89umE3Ia7gsNXKB7Uc4y2-xt-pRzlNJ8XdHewuU4ez0NCzhUD0P7arLeOg/s1600/Daniel+13a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMQgTGvv7NVBRwnWa9k3TRrdeM6777nxLoVXO65Ljfw9mmLGC7sDC7SFuKC7FefI9vRfzdDiFOeTg89umE3Ia7gsNXKB7Uc4y2-xt-pRzlNJ8XdHewuU4ez0NCzhUD0P7arLeOg/s400/Daniel+13a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Paul Serusier:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaFhuFy4QYNYC3wQVF2SCNSakm7SWbWNV5_fWoqdgt8QWE9Awf1YeDxdF4Df-jVnVkX6d_fNjF4SbfC5grRGEX7E38oBfdKudOOHRQxVXuQvxZPsaYFCs4Km-yRhHHmNduBOKNxw/s1600/Daniel+13b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaFhuFy4QYNYC3wQVF2SCNSakm7SWbWNV5_fWoqdgt8QWE9Awf1YeDxdF4Df-jVnVkX6d_fNjF4SbfC5grRGEX7E38oBfdKudOOHRQxVXuQvxZPsaYFCs4Km-yRhHHmNduBOKNxw/s640/Daniel+13b.jpg" width="422" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Thomas Hart Benton:<br />
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<br />
Picasso:<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
Or, if you like, here's Alan Macdonald's 2009 <em>The Elders Surprised by Susannah:</em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9Vmm7_fZdtmauru9fnxnoYKNkMPZLUqWoSOlSp8csNUssBoWFNkUdxitdNwkdIdIfZujb1ONrItgsjIgf_bOJskEGMvU6XM1tN_xPj-YmCnRWKGnbafEgqGEnb2Rd1k5d_aFkA/s1600/Daniel+13e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM9Vmm7_fZdtmauru9fnxnoYKNkMPZLUqWoSOlSp8csNUssBoWFNkUdxitdNwkdIdIfZujb1ONrItgsjIgf_bOJskEGMvU6XM1tN_xPj-YmCnRWKGnbafEgqGEnb2Rd1k5d_aFkA/s400/Daniel+13e.jpg" width="316" /></a></div>
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Anyway, Daniel stands out as a Book rich in stories -- richer, perhaps, than any since the accounts of King David, back in the day. On strictly literary grounds, it's a shame that Susanna and Bel are missing from the Protestant Book of Daniel. But, I suppose it's not just about the stories. Right?Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-74568560707553695332017-03-24T05:00:00.000-07:002017-03-24T05:00:00.186-07:00Daniel 7-12: Daniel the ProphetAfter the famous stories of the first half of the Book of Daniel, the second half settles into more conventional prophecy. Daniel is, after all, a prophet. He has a dream in Chapter 7, a vision in Chapter 8, has a prayer answered by a mysterious man named Gabriel in Chapter 9, and then has a long apocalyptic vision of “End Times” in the final three chapters.<br />
<br />
Like a lot of Biblical visions, Chapter 7’s deals with grotesque animals.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>7 “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.
8 “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.</i></blockquote>
Later on, Daniel asks “one of those standing there” what the vision was about – it’s unclear whether this takes place within the vision, or afterwards – and he is given a kind of key of what the various things in the vision stood for:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>23 “He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. 24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.</i><br />
<i>26 “‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’</i></blockquote>
This kind of vision is, I suppose, a little like the political cartoons that used to anchor editorial pages, where comic drawings were given little label that indicated which parties or issues they were supposed to represent. After a goat attacks a ram in the Chapter 8 vision, Gabriel explains that “the two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king” (20-21). This pattern of symbolic dream followed by interpretation is, when you think about it, kind of a singular way for prophecy to proceed. If Daniel was to be given a message about an impending conflict between Greek and Persian forces, for instance, why did it need to be dressed up in a dream about animals? Why not something a little more straightforward? Well, it’s a mystery of course.<br />
<br />
The culminating vision of the last three chapters is pretty apocalyptic. The dead will rise from the earth, “some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (12:2). The smartest folks will “lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” (3) This sounds kind of last-judgementish, so it’s reasonable to ask “When will this happen?”<br />
<br />
Well, if you follow the thread from Daniel 10 on, you see that from the time of Cyrus of Persia in which Daniel said he was writing, there was to be four more Persian kings, who would then be supplanted by a particularly powerful king of uncertain nationality. When he dies, his domain would be split between Kings of the North and South, who will engage in various wars and intrigues for a few generations. Then another king will come along, a guy who worships a god of fortresses, and he’ll go to war with the King of the South and the King of the North both. The list of things that are going to happen – for it is a straight narrative prophecy this time, with no animal analogies or intermediaries – is quite specific. For instance<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>5“The king of the South will become strong, but one of his commanders will become even stronger than he and will rule his own kingdom with great power. 6After some years, they will become allies. The daughter of the king of the South will go to the king of the North to make an alliance, but she will not retain her power, and he and his power will not last. In those days she will be betrayed, together with her royal escort and her father and the one who supported her.</i></blockquote>
Still, it’s specific enough that you could map it out, and the long and short of it is that there is something like 8 to 12 generations between Daniel and the End Times. Since the vision is dated to the third year of the reign of Cyrus of Persia, which is, hmm, 536 B.C., the dead will rise and the end times will come no later than… say, 100 B.C. So, that’s interesting.<br />
<br />
Now, apparently many Biblical scholars think that Daniel was written a long time after the date claimed by its author. Along with other evidence putting the composition in the neighborhood of 170 B.C., the line of events described in Chapter 11 is highly accurate up to around 167 B.C. and thereafter diverges abruptly from the historical record. This has led people to speculate that somebody, whose name wasn’t necessarily “Daniel,” wrote the Book of Daniel in 167 B.C.<br />
<br />
To even think that way, of course, you have to start with the concession that there might not have been a guy named Daniel in the Babylonian exile who had prophetic visions of the future. Personally, I don’t find that to be much of a leap. It would not be the first time I’ve been called cynical.<br />
<br />
<b>Another Way of Looking at Daniel</b> <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz44PGYX4-p7fXGmB3SqBOJ842EWTh3wAWbR4Mmff5YzZzKhidmO3JYIeewpJq_suVj4aTCNTqeoUxjE9ZxwMPRgXEOe7MZzetMhCNODBlA6HlcHxbfOO_cRyc0jyABKmCcMikqQ/s1600/Daniel+Chart.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz44PGYX4-p7fXGmB3SqBOJ842EWTh3wAWbR4Mmff5YzZzKhidmO3JYIeewpJq_suVj4aTCNTqeoUxjE9ZxwMPRgXEOe7MZzetMhCNODBlA6HlcHxbfOO_cRyc0jyABKmCcMikqQ/s640/Daniel+Chart.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This terrific chart of the Book of Daniel, drawn in 1916, lays out the contents and gives you a sense of how Old Testament material is often back-interpreted from a Christian perspective. In this "vision" of Daniel's prophecies, so to speak, Chapter 10 becomes a "Vision of Christ." Personally, I don't see anything in Daniel 10 that even remotely invites this interpretation, and it seems quite odd to me. Mr. Larkin, who drew the diagram, would probably have a rebuttal at the ready.<br />
<br />Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-34299744022975824662017-03-21T20:29:00.001-07:002017-03-21T20:37:20.332-07:00Daniel 6: In the Lion's Den<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i>This entry was written in August 2014, but I was a bit slow in getting it to press.</i> </div>
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<br /></div>
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Daniel 6 is the chapter with the famous story of David in
the lions’ den, which I shall now summarize.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Darius annexes Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom to the Persian
Empire, he sets up 120 district officers (“satraps”) who report to three
cabinet-level administrators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daniel,
whom you might have expected to be swept out with the new broom, is one of the
three, and he does a great job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
satraps are jealous of him, and look for a way to knock him down a peg.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What they do is have Darius enact a 30-day law saying that
no one can pray to any god except for himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Daniel ignores this law, as the satraps knew he would, and they go to
his house and catch him in the act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
run off to Darius, remind him of the law he made, and tattle on Daniel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing that this distresses Darius, they
pointedly remind him that according to Persian/Mede jurisprudence, an emperor’s
decree can’t be changed, not even by the emperor who made it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[These satraps!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are pretty stupid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Court intrigue does not, cannot work if you
antagonize the king while you’re doing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What good is removing Daniel going to do, if the king hates them
afterwards for forcing his hand?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dummies.]</div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCTrfSyb5YKd7nztYGW99qUPHX2ebukYgTahF4TA8xWC00UbmlFIuWZZkWBlVOZ5lsa2uL3_k48mM2yR4q3Z8ytY04Tt75iPHn3TxmMSE1Pp_KVPujwxv2H3ZSUofwb8jBgywIg/s1600/Daniel+in+the+Lion%2527s+Den.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuCTrfSyb5YKd7nztYGW99qUPHX2ebukYgTahF4TA8xWC00UbmlFIuWZZkWBlVOZ5lsa2uL3_k48mM2yR4q3Z8ytY04Tt75iPHn3TxmMSE1Pp_KVPujwxv2H3ZSUofwb8jBgywIg/s640/Daniel+in+the+Lion%2527s+Den.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peter Paul Ruebens, 1615ish.</td></tr>
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Darius has Daniel thrown into the lion’s den, but is very
decent about it: “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!”
(16)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can’t eat, he can’t sleep, and
the next morning he runs to the den before sunrise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To his relief, Daniel is perfectly uneaten,
so he’s hauled out and restored to office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Darius decrees that “in every part of my kingdom people must fear and
reverence the God of Daniel,” (26) which is why the Persians have practiced
Judaism from then down to the present day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wait, what?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Well anyway, everyone loves a happy ending, especially if
there’s comeuppance, and so you have to cheer when the satraps who set Daniel
up are thrown into the lion’s den, along with their wives and children, and
“before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and
crushed all their bones.” (24)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So, that’s a very familiar sort of story, in which a good
person is put into danger by bad people but overcomes adversity, and the bad
people are punished for the wrong they do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You could make a case that it is only by telling ourselves these sorts
of stories as often as we can that we preserve such civil order as we’ve
got.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, captive lions got to
eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m really trying not to be
bothered by the comeuppance, here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The other aspect of the story that makes me think too much
is the, well, the premise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s
Daniel’s explanation of why he passed the night unbitten: “My God sent his
angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, O
king.” (22)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we are, I believe,
supposed to assume that Daniel is right about what happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s a prophet, after all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Because Daniel is innocent in God’s sight, he is saved from
physical harm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Same deal, I think, as
with his three buddies in the fiery furnace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And the obvious question is, how come these four get special
treatment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we supposed to believe
that innocent people are always protected by God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That if we keep ourselves innocent, that God
will protect us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely not, as the
Bible can’t suppose that we were born yesterday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we supposed to assume that Daniel and his
friends have a level of righteousness greater than what we can aspire to, that
affords them special protection?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, is
this an instance of God making specific one-time interventions in human affairs
to advance the interests of his chosen people, or in order to (as he so often
talks about) publicize his own existence?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So this is an interesting thing about a good story: if it is
compelling enough in rewarding the good and punishing the evil, and has some
tension, and some animals, we can effortlessly take in the story and the moral
too, even when it in discord with our experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The moral of the story of the lion’s den is that
if we do right and show courage, like Daniel, we will fall under the material
protection of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet we do see
people do right and show courage, don’t we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And we see so few miracles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
most innocent of the satraps’ wives and children must have felt some
disappointment when the lions leapt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
at least it was quick.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-30669674437830676212014-08-18T00:30:00.000-07:002014-08-18T09:03:13.577-07:00Daniel 1-5: Bible Stories<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGThkMgAofTpE9GDjI2PNTehenCU-cz3kfNCncVvNc67PODOybX66W9-nYkre9ugU7v1V0A4ebYV7ry5UvNvpOK1ZNGSwYe0HFm4ah5HbBuvxsBJvZBftwq1QDYHvSNrDXk6TrGg/s1600/Daniel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGThkMgAofTpE9GDjI2PNTehenCU-cz3kfNCncVvNc67PODOybX66W9-nYkre9ugU7v1V0A4ebYV7ry5UvNvpOK1ZNGSwYe0HFm4ah5HbBuvxsBJvZBftwq1QDYHvSNrDXk6TrGg/s1600/Daniel.jpg" height="373" width="400" /></a>It’s not hard to see why young Jane Eyre (see sidebar quote) likes the book of Daniel. It has stories! Narrative tales! And although there are plenty of those in the early going, Genesis, Exodus, and on up through the tales of King David, it has been a long time now since the Bible was quite so accessible.<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>The Prophet Daniel</b></span><br />
<br />
Daniel is one of four young Hebrew men in the Babylonian exile who are picked out for their brains and good looks and sent to school to train for the civil service. It’s only a three-year course, but seems to be the equivalent of a modern MPA. It was a simpler time. Either because of dietary restrictions or to preserve their independence, they refuse to eat the court food and go on a vegetarian diet instead; the text seems mildly surprised that this doesn’t kill ‘em. They can get away with being a little eccentric because they are the stars of their class, and <i>in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom</i>. (1:20)<br />
<br />
Nebuchadnezzar – the king – has a disturbing dream, and tells his magical staff that they must give him a proper interpretation or die. Now interpreting dreams is like shooting fish in a barrel, of course, but Nebuchadnezzar throws in a twist: he doesn’t say what the dream was. Everyone in the wisdom industry is sweating bullets, but God tells Daniel what the dream was and how to interpret it. After this coup, Daniel and his friends get a big promotion.<br />
<br />
<b>The Fiery Furnace</b><br />
<br />
Did I mention that Daniel’s friends are named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Once you know that, you probably know what’s coming. I did, anyway, partly because it’s such a well-known story that it penetrated even my lack of religious consciousness, and partly because – you will not hear this next phrase uttered very often – I am quite fond of George Dyson's 1935 oratorio <i>Nebuchadnezzar</i>. What happens is, the king commissions a huge golden idol and requires all of the movers and shakers to worship it. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego try to quietly avoid the issue, but there are tattletales about and Nebuchadnezzar pushes the point. If they won’t worship his idol, he says, he will throw them into the furnace.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nebuchadnezzar living as a beast, as imagined by William Blake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Their response: <i>O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.</i> (3:16-17) That’s exactly the kind of response calculated to piss a king off, so after ordering the furnace <i>heated seven times hotter than usual</i> (a preparation you would expect to be as unnecessary as it is impossible) he tosses them in. They survive, walking around the furnace with a fourth person whom Nebuchadnezzar takes to be an angel. (From images of the event online, many people clearly take the fourth guy to be Jesus Christ, which seems like it might be more theologically innovative then they realize. But maybe not.) The king is so impressed by all this that he writes Daniel 4 in (mostly) first person, telling how he lost his mind and lived as an animal for seven years, but then his sanity was restored and he became a committed… how to say it… worshiper of the God of Abraham, is perhaps the best way to put it. Which is kind of surprising.<br />
<br />
Also surprising, when you think about it, is the confidence of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that God will save their physical selves, and also that they are right. Obviously, we ought not to expect that God will do the same for us, even if we are quite devout, as witness the sufferings of all the thousands and thousands of saints. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Handwriting on the Wall</b><br />
<br />
Anyway, Daniel 5 is the famous story of the writing on the wall. I’ve always been a little confused by this one; now, after reading the text, I am confused in a slightly more informed sort of way. In a nutshell: Nebuchadnezzar has a real Edgar Alan Poe moment and sees a hand writing “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Peres” on his wall. According to the footnotes, this might mean something along the lines of “numbered, numbered, weighed, divided,” but Daniel the interpreter says it means that God is angry with Nebuchadnezzar for still paying attention to idols, and so his time is up. Nebuchadnezzar, surprisingly, rewards Daniel richly for his interpretation, and is promptly killed and replaced with Darius the Mede.<br />
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In the Babylonian record, as I understand it, Nubuchadnezzar did not have any period of madness, and was followed by his son Amel-Marduk after his death. Six years and two additional kings later, Nabonidus would be the last King of Babylon. He spent an extended period away from the capital, and was replaced with Cyrus the Persian, so may have been blended in with the Biblical Nebuchadnezzar a little. Bottom line: although “seeing the writing on the wall” is a good way of saying “the jig is up,” and although the image of a king aghast at the nightmare image of a hand writing on his walls is a good ‘un, it is really hard to figure out what’s going on in this story. Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-86504105521268668292014-08-14T12:30:00.000-07:002014-08-14T12:30:00.393-07:00Inspirational Thursday #6: Ezekiel 40:1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1kAyuP-_BmEOylh76D6zJHGibxj1S3uvoTDJmEeHQrLZgH0vjCX2KUjt9-Y_OEzhSfUNrERUBFTgWhxnUcdAGYwLJyckN6SChiXFKo9b9hV0ixGmehG3HbinYpwV8iiz9Y8bFQ/s1600/Ezekiel+41+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1kAyuP-_BmEOylh76D6zJHGibxj1S3uvoTDJmEeHQrLZgH0vjCX2KUjt9-Y_OEzhSfUNrERUBFTgWhxnUcdAGYwLJyckN6SChiXFKo9b9hV0ixGmehG3HbinYpwV8iiz9Y8bFQ/s1600/Ezekiel+41+1.jpg" height="439" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-70843387503606116622014-08-11T08:30:00.000-07:002014-08-11T20:34:50.929-07:00Ezekiel 40-48: The Vision of the Future Temple<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkxXpu8G-5PcUuMrIv-ooBy-R8XNlkbOdA5QeGfal49oBOI_WHsRVuTUcUaDzWeJTcI_qBv_KOq9ZrvJGMCKXpJoUlqy9hJEsxK3yYJOJuC_K4jhaJ2idbMskgFM-6BVIW-nqOg/s1600/Ezekiel+Illum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwkxXpu8G-5PcUuMrIv-ooBy-R8XNlkbOdA5QeGfal49oBOI_WHsRVuTUcUaDzWeJTcI_qBv_KOq9ZrvJGMCKXpJoUlqy9hJEsxK3yYJOJuC_K4jhaJ2idbMskgFM-6BVIW-nqOg/s1600/Ezekiel+Illum.jpg" height="400" width="397" /></a>Ezekiel 40 through 48 are our last nine chapters with the “son of man,” and make up one continuous narrative sequence. It’s a vision. In it, God plucks Ezekiel up from Babylon, carries him back to Israel, and shows him the plan for the temple, city, and country that he wants the Israelites to build, once they return. It’s a little bit like a return to the books of Moses, because we once again see god as architect and social engineer, explaining how he wants everything laid out.<br />
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When Ezekiel is first set down, he meets “a man whose appearance was like bronze” (3), which unfortunately made me visualize… well, I won’t say, why should I pass it on to you? Anyway, the bronze guy gives Ezekiel a detailed, measured tour of a new temple. This, with some digressions, takes up four full chapters, with passages like:<br />
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<i>Now the upper rooms were narrower, for the galleries took more space from them than from the rooms on the lower and middle floors of the building. The rooms on the third floor had no pillars, as the courts had; so they were smaller in floor space than those on the lower and middle floors. There was an outer wall parallel to the rooms and the outer court; it extended in front of the rooms for fifty cubits.</i> (42:5-7) </blockquote>
And so on. It would be kind of fun to map out the temple from this verbal description, but then a lot of things would be fun, and I’m sure plenty of folks have beaten us to the punch anyway.
Chapter 44 lays out the rules for the priests of the temple, including how they are supposed to dress, what their duties are, and whom they may marry. It also mentions that the east-facing gate of the temple sanctuary is to remain permanently closed. That’s the door God came in through, and nobody gets to use it but him. After a few digressions, Chapters 45 and 46 return to use of the temple, particularly the matter of sacrifices and how much of which animals and crops are to be sacrificed.<br />
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The digressions are interesting, too. One is an earnest plea for a well-regulated system of weights and measures, something we have seen intermittently throughout the Bible. Then, Ezekiel 46: 16-18 segregates the wealth of “the prince” – the prince, presumably representing a new or re-established line of kings, is mentioned repeatedly throughout this vision – from that of the people. The prince is not allowed to give gifts out of his own fortune, nor is he allowed to take from the possessions of the people. (If that sounds like a terrific tax holiday, keep in mind that the sacrifice system takes a great deal of wealth from everybody, and although the sacrifices are given to God, they are eaten by the priestly class.)<br />
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At the beginning of Chapter 45, then continuing from the middle of Chapter 47 to the conclusion, the geography of the new Israel is drawn out. Anticipating Thomas Jefferson by I do not know how many centuries, Ezekiel divides out the land is suspiciously tidy squares and rectangles. There’s a rectangle about 3 by 7 miles centered on the temple, and given over to the use of the priests. Next to that, there is a smaller square for the city, which I suppose must be Jerusalem (although the final line of the Book of Ezekiel is “And the name of the city from that time on will be: The Lord is There.” It would not surprise me if Jerusalem is a pun on this phrase; that’s how place names tend to work in the Old Testament.)<br />
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The prince is given a fat chunk of land around this core; that’s where his wealth is going to come from, and why he is not supposed to need to raise levies from the people. Around this, the territory of the twelve tribes is laid out in a rough five by two grid, and the boundaries of the country specified in surprising detail. It is all very exact and geometric, and this makes me wonder if it ever could have been put into practice in even its most general rudiments. I’m thinking probably not.<br />
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I’ve left out only the river from Chapter 47. The bronze man shows Ezekiel a little stream coming out from under the temple. They walk a few kilometers and it rapidly deepens into a substantial river. The bronze man tells him that this river will flow down to the Dead Sea and make the salt water fresh, that it will be abundant with many kinds of fish, and that fruit trees will grow abundantly on its banks. It’s quite a lovely vision of life-giving water in the desert, and I’m uncertain about what it is supposed to mean. Whether it is meant to represent a literal river, or some sort of metaphorical river, I am quite unsure.
Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-87688547090843979442014-08-04T00:30:00.000-07:002014-08-04T00:30:02.439-07:00Ezekiel 33-39: Justice, Sheep and Shepherds, Bright Futures, and... Reanimated SkeletonsIn the first twenty verses of Ezekiel 33, God lays out a theory of justice to the “son of man.” First, through a “watchman” metaphor, he says that a person who allows someone else to do wrong out of ignorance is themselves culpable of the wrongdoing. Secondly, he indicates that righteousness is not entirely cumulative. If you’ve done a lot of bad stuff, in other words, you can still get credit for cleaning up your act. If you’ve been very good, on the other hand, you can’t coast; you have to keep up the good work to stay in God’s good graces. Finally, God judges everyone individually, “according to his own ways.” (20)
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At Verse 21, Ezekiel 33 changes course and talks about what will happen to the Judeans remaining in Jerusalem. Because they violated dietary laws, worshipped idols, shed blood, and slept with their neighbors’ wives, they are out of favor. “As surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of a plague.” (28) Now it must be said that when God talks like this, it doesn’t really sound like everyone is being judged individually, according to his own ways. But perhaps it’s a kind of shorthand, or generalization: “those left in the ruins who are unrighteous, which is an awful lot of them, will fall by the sword,” etc.
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Ezekiel 34 is a long analogy involving shepherds and sheep, which eventually gives up and admits that it is about the ruling class and the general citizenry. God holds “shepherds” accountable for the well-being of the “sheep,” and will treat them accordingly. Moreover, big powerful sheep are not to bully small, weaker sheep. And from Verse 25 to the end of the Chapter, God indicates that he is going to set up a lovely agricultural paradise for the House of Israel to live in again.
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In Chapter 35, Ezekiel is told to prophecy doom against Edom (again, I think) for opportunistic occupation of the territory of the Israelites after their kingdoms had been uprooted by larger neighbors. In Chapter 36, he speaks to the mountains of Israel, assuring them that the Israelites will return to their land to rebuild, saved from their uncleanliness.
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Then we get to Ezekiel 37, which is seriously strange. God takes the prophet to a valley that is littered with human bones. There is a rattling noise, and the bones reassemble into skeletons, attach together, and are covered with skin. Then God has Ezekiel speak some words, and the skeletons come to life and stand up, a great host of the risen.
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<i><sup>13</sup>Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. <sup>14</sup>I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’ ”</i>
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Whether this is just an analogy for the return from exile, or something much more supernatural, I’m at a loss to say. Then, in the second half of the chapter, Ezekiel is to bind together sticks representing Judah and Israel to indicate that this split of the chosen people is no longer relevant. There will never be two kingdoms again, but only a single king. Oddly, the text specifies (twice) that from now on, all the Israelites will be ruled by King David, who has been dead for many, many generations. Again, I’m not sure if this is meant to be read as literal and supernatural, or as some sort of metaphor.
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Chapters 38 and 39 are prophecies against a warlord named Gog of Magog. God, through Ezekiel, declares that he will cause Gog to try to invade the land of the Israelites while they are away, but then cause them to be crushed utterly for doing so. The mass grave of the dead invaders will make a barrier to travelers. Indeed, it will take seven months to get all of Gog’s dead buried, and the folks living around will be able to use the wood of their weapons as cooking fuel for seven years. Birds and wild animals are promised a great feast of blood and human flesh. This is all very bad news for the Magog troops, of course, but at the end we see that here, too, the ultimate message is the forgiveness and rehabilitation of the Israelites:
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<i><sup>25</sup>“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name. <sup>26</sup>They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness they showed toward me when they lived in safety in their land with no one to make them afraid. <sup>27</sup>When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will be proved holy through them in the sight of many nations. <sup>28</sup>Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. <sup>29</sup>I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
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Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-50762584482267254792014-07-17T12:30:00.000-07:002014-07-17T12:30:01.558-07:00Inspirational Thursday #5: Ezekiel 25:17<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is absurd that, out of the 197 Verses I read for Monday, the random number generator would give me Ezekiel 25:17 to work with on Inspirational Thursday. But there you have it.<br />
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Here, again, is the Quentin Tarentino Version (QTV) translation of Ezekiel 25:17.<br />
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But as I mentioned on Monday, that isn't really Ezekiel 25:17. That's three lines Tarentino paraphrased from a kung-fu movie, followed by a kind of garbled Ezekiel 25:17. Well, the character of Jules in <i>Pulp Fiction</i> may be one $&*@#% articulate assassin, but you can't expect him to be a stickler for Bible study.<br />
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Here's Zeke 25:17 for real: <i><b>I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them</b>. </i>It is a very clear example of what I was complaining about on Monday, actually -- that it is discouraging to have God, who is supposed to be setting a high moral tone, portrayed as glorying in revenge and punishment.<br />
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For Context:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3>
A Prophecy Against Philistia</h3>
<i>15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with malice in their hearts, and with ancient hostility sought to destroy Judah, 16 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines, and I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy those remaining along the coast. 17 I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them.’”</i></blockquote>
Here we see that the verse is not, as so many people assume, about Brett's theft of a glowing suitcase from Mr. Wallace, but rather about God's destruction of the city and kingdom of Philistia, a neighbor and sometimes rival of Judea.<br />
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It's hard to know how to upstage Samuel L. Jackson with my inspirational image, but the isolated text is definitely about <i>vengeance </i>and the accompanying picture shouldn't be too upbeat. Let's see what I can find<i>.</i><br />
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<br />Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-54368168345278084072014-07-14T00:30:00.000-07:002014-07-14T00:30:00.951-07:00Ezekiel 25-32: Bad News for the NeighborsStarting at Ezekiel 25, we return to a theme that we have seen with our earlier prophets: the Israelites are doomed, but all of the peoples are around them are too. (see eg. <a href="http://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2010/06/isaiah-17-24-bad-news-for-your-kingdom.html">Isaiah 17-24</a>) Ezekiel delivers the bad news to the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites, and the Philistines (25); to Tyre, (26-28); to Sidon (28); and to Egypt (29-32). The section on Tyre includes a “lament” (27) with an interesting section describing all of the merchandise that flowed through that port, and where it came from, which amounts to a little economic geography of the contemporary Levant. Cool! Chapter 31 is an allegory that, in the NIV, is incorrectly titled “Pharoah as a Felled Cedar of Lebanon.” The Felled Cedar of Lebanon actually represents Assyria, in a story meant to unnerve Pharoah. (Read Verses 3 and 18 if you don’t believe me.) It’s kind of surprising to find this kind of editorial mistake in a text as thoroughly-studied as the Bible, for crying out loud, but maybe the scatteredness of the “Lebanese cedar, Assyrian state, Egyptian king” passage threw the NIV committee off their game.<br />
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Anyway. With prophecy, it is always reasonable to ask “did it come true.” With the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Philistines, Tyrians (?), and Sidonites (??), the answer is of course “maybe! Who knows?” There don’t seem to be many folks around these days who describe themselves as Moabites, for instance. Egyptians are of another stripe altogether, however, and although of course the nation has had its ups and downs over the millennia, there has always been an Egypt. The extravagant capacity of the Nile Valley to produce food has made it a global center of population since before the first harvest. And this makes many of the specifics about Egypt (e.g. “Egypt will become a desolate wasteland” (29:9)) essentially wrong. (If you are into forensic climatology, and who isn’t really, there is a counterargument that could be made here based on the historical aridification of the Sahara. But, the rightness of that argument is pretty thin relative to the entire prophecy’s wrongness.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The most famous quotation from Ezekiel in many circles. Not, however, an actual quotation from <br />Ezekiel. The verse in question, with the King James language, reads "And I will execute <br />great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the <br />LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them." Ezekiel 25:16, the preceding verse, goes <br />"Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines,<br /> and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast." Tarantino <br />got the first three sentences from a kung-fu movie, which should surprise no one.</td></tr>
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I haven’t mentioned this before, but there is a catchphrase that shows up again and again in Ezekiel, and I wince every time I see it. It shows up after almost every prophecy of doom. Here it is in reference to what’s coming for the Philistines: “Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I take vengeance on them.” (17) Why the wince? Well, it’s just such a sulking, childish thing to say. It boils down to “Ha, THAT will show them!” When a fellow adult human talks like that, you’re embarrassed for them, both for their vindictiveness and for their failure to understand human psychology. So, it’s pretty uncomfortable having that language placed in God’s mouth. I understand that God is said to surpass human understanding, and it’s even a logical proposition, but I also recognize petty ignorance when I see it, and so do you.<br />
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Honestly, I’m feeling a little bit let down by Ezekiel. He got off to such a <a href="http://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2014/06/ezekiel-1-7-i-saw-visions-of-god.html">great start</a>! And now he’s just another pessimistic political commentator with a conservative agenda and a passion for bringing bad news. One suspects that, then as now, such folks are a shekel a dozen.
Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-21487904041508410052014-07-10T12:30:00.000-07:002014-07-10T12:30:00.015-07:00Inspirational Thursday #4: Ezekiel 23:48<br />Here's the verse that the good folks at <a href="http://www.random.org/">random.org</a> pointed us towards this week:<br />
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<i>“So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you.”</i><br />
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– Ezekiel 23:48</div>
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Taken in isolation, and assuming that "I" is God, this sounds something like a good old-fashioned call to "family values," as they are defined by the more priggish families. It has a whiff of slut-shaming about it. That's how it seems to me, anyway.<br />
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Let's look at it again in local context:<br />
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<i>42 “The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; drunkards were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the wrists of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.’ 44 And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah. 45 But righteous judges will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.
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46 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder. 47 The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.
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<u>48 “So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you.</u> 49 You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”</i></blockquote>
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Now this is of course deeply unpleasant stuff, and an example of why, as I mentioned <a href="http://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2014/07/ezekiel-19-24-prophecy-by-analogy.html">on Monday</a>, an informed response to Old Testament prophecy would have to be more along the lines of the fear of a angry and jealous God, as opposed to an embracing of the love and mercy of God. For the Sovereign Lord who proposes to give people "over to terror and plunder" is frankly not coming across as very loving, or very merciful. <br />
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Except, local context hasn't really clarified our verse of the week either, because Ezekiel 23 is actually a long political cartoon in which "those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah," represent Samaria and Jerusalem in the time before the Babylonian exile. God isn't condemning two women to terror and plunder, but two countries. And the approximate meaning of Verse 48, finally, is that God plans for the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem to show that lewdness in a nation is not to be tolerated, and that the countries of the world will take note of this example and clean up their act.<br />
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These subtleties don't really come across in my inspirational image.<br />
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Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-72305245131193557602014-07-07T00:30:00.000-07:002014-07-07T00:30:02.822-07:00Ezekiel 19-24: Prophecy by Analogy, Prophecy by Doom<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPVNX5mU2wza30hbmMy4MjzNlU9zelv_M-AFK-E-HkPnGUa2r0hBrSH7rAqQGxfYYQAS6giBkepVS4_afHYyeJDKv0sH36ddhYjxoo5O4WH2WxUsOfoaHiEu-aQEtSzlEsKY-pjQ/s1600/Ezekiel+Duccio.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPVNX5mU2wza30hbmMy4MjzNlU9zelv_M-AFK-E-HkPnGUa2r0hBrSH7rAqQGxfYYQAS6giBkepVS4_afHYyeJDKv0sH36ddhYjxoo5O4WH2WxUsOfoaHiEu-aQEtSzlEsKY-pjQ/s1600/Ezekiel+Duccio.JPG" height="640" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ezekiel, from a triptych by Duccio, c. 1310.</i></td></tr>
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As I continue to make my way through Ezekiel, some of the excitement I felt during its cinematic opening passages has really worn off. Here in the center Chapters, there is no longer much in the way of narrative pulse. Each Chapter sits more or less unto itself, and shows Ezekiel in what I called last week "doing prophecy," which is to say communicating the messages that he says God has given him.<br />
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<b>Prophecy by Analogy</b> is exemplified in Ezekiel 19, which has two stories about "your mother." In the first, "your mother" is a lioness whose sons, although they are great lions, are eventually captured and taken to Egypt and Babylon. In the two, "your mother" is a vine that was once very verdant, until the weather changed and withered it. These stories are introduced as <i>a lament concerning the princes of Israel</i>.<br />
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<b>Prophecy by Doom</b> is a reasonable name for Chapters in which the prophet's message is a rebuke coupled with a threat. I have often heard the Old Testament, or at least the books of prophecy, dismissed as nothing but a relentless threat of imminent woe, and I'd always assumed it was just so much stereotyping. But no, there is a <i>ton</i> of Doom Prophecy, and it is certainly not entertaining reading. Ezekiel 20 is a representative example, as Ezekiel, speaking for God, complains through several paragraphs about how the people of Israel worship idols, and don't keep the sabbath, and so he's really going to punish them now. In isolation -- and perhaps to Ezekiel's listeners -- it might be sobering and disturbing, but in the context of the Bible it is further rehashing of very familiar themes, with an angry, ranting edge that does not always seem entirely stable. There are of course those who emphasize the fear of God -- the god-fearing -- and, if we are to trust the prophets, they have a much greater weight of scripture on their side than those who celebrate the love, mercy, wisdom, or justice of God.<br />
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Chapters 21 and 22 follow in the Prophecy by Doom line, and like most of the Book of Ezekiel they are mostly warning of the impending destruction of Jerusalem. So, in its way, is Ezekiel 23, but here we are back in the mode of Prophecy by Analogy. Chapter 23 reprises <a href="http://michaelreadsthebible.blogspot.com/2014/06/ezekiel-14-18-doing-prophecy.html">a metaphor from Chapter 16</a>, which casts Jerusalem and the Israelites as a depraved and sluttish prostitute. It is a bit much. The Jerusalem-prostitute (her name is Oholibah) sees pictures of Babylonian men, and gets so hot and bothered that she sends messengers asking them to <i>come to her, to the bed of love</i> (17) and do the obvious thing. <i>There she lusted after her lovers</i>, we learn, <i>whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses</i>. (20) I believe the Judean leadership is being criticized here for too accommodating a foreign policy; Ezekiel is clearly not one to hesitate over "going negative" with political rhetoric.<br />
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There is another analogy in Chapter 24, which claims to be a prophecy from the first day of the final siege of Jerusalem. It involves cooking a meat stew. The more interesting part of the Chapter for me is the second half, in which God announces to Ezekiel that he (God) is going to kill his (Ezekiel's) wife, but that he must not grieve or mourn. <i>So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died,</i> Ezekiel reports. (18) <i>Then the people asked me, "Won't you tell us what these things have to do with us?"</i> (19) Ezekiel tells them that just as God has handed him a terrible loss and will not countenance grieving, God is about to give all of them a terrible loss -- the fall of Jerusalem and the Temple -- and he will not countenance any mourning out of them, either.<br />
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So, this is not cheerful stuff. There is one passage, the end of Chapter 20, that strikes me as quite funny. It has classic comic timing, and a punchline that subverts a stern and solemn lead-up with an ingenuous (but not unreasonable) question that kind of undermines the mood. But is it <i>supposed</i> to be funny? I certainly doubt it. But here, you be the judge:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>45 The word of the Lord came to me: 46 “Son of man, set your face toward the south; preach against the south and prophesy against the forest of the southland. 47 Say to the southern forest: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to set fire to you, and it will consume all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and every face from south to north will be scorched by it. 48 Everyone will see that I the Lord have kindled it; it will not be quenched.’”
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<br /><i>49 Then I said, “Sovereign Lord, they are saying of me, ‘Isn’t he just telling parables?’”</i></i></blockquote>
Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-89986118783255932522014-06-26T12:30:00.000-07:002014-06-26T12:30:00.822-07:00Inspirational Thursday #3: Ezekiel 16:44This week's Inspirational Thursday is a great demonstration of an obvious point: a lot of Bible verses aren't going to mean much out of context.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>44 “‘Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.”</i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
– Ezekiel 16:44</div>
</blockquote>
Aw, so sweet! If a bit of a <i>non sequitor!</i> Can't you just see it on a Mother's Day card? It shares a paragraph with Ezekiel 16:45:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span class="text Ezek-16-45" id="en-NIV-20808"><sup class="versenum">45 </sup>You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband
and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who
despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite
and your father an Amorite.</span></i></blockquote>
Ooh, less sweet! "You" is not the reader, though. In Ezekiel 16, "you" is the people of Judah, in a long and deeply unflattering metaphor in which they are compared to children who grow up to be extremely disappointing to their parents. <br />
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This is of course not a widely illustrated Verse. It is kind of fun, although not especially surprising, to find that the saying "like mother, like daughter" was an old saw even back in Biblical times.<br />
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Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-30332779053714343132014-06-23T00:30:00.000-07:002014-06-23T00:30:00.841-07:00Ezekiel 14-18: Doing ProphecyOur first two installments of Ezekiel were kicked off by strong narrative passages where the first-person author talked about his experience of receiving visions from God. At this point in the Book, however, Ezekiel has moved on to actual prophecy, in the sense of delivering messages from God. These messages don't necessarily involve predictions or revelations about what is going to happen in the future; I'm calling them "prophecy" because their delivery is the function of the prophet, Ezekiel.<br />
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There are six discrete messages in this section (which I should make clear is arbitrarily defined by how far I read tonight before I got tired. Chapters 14 to 18 don't necessarily have a logical unity).<br />
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<b>Ezekiel 14:1-11</b> -- Message: God says that anyone who worships idols may not consult with his prophets, and his prophets may not deliver his messages to them.<br />
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<b>Ezekiel 14:12-23</b> -- Message: God says that the presence of good individual men within a community -- his examples are Noah, Daniel, and Job -- will not save that community from his judgement or vengeance. An individual's righteousness will save only himself. Or perhaps herself; it's not specified.<br />
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<b>Ezekiel 15</b> -- Message: In this very short Chapter, God compares the people of Jerusalem to the wood of a vine. To wit, both are pretty useless.<br />
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<b>Ezekiel 16</b> -- Message: In this very long Chapter, God compares the people of Jerusalem to a child that is lovingly brought up by a doting parent, himself, but who then becomes wayward and wildly promiscuous. <i>You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the Lord. </i>(58) The people will be punished for breaking the covenant, God says, but the covenant will be made again.<br />
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<b>Ezekiel 17</b> -- Message: <i>Son of man</i>, says God to Ezekiel ("son of man" is what God always calls Ezekiel), <i>set forth an allegory and tell the house of Israel a parable</i>. (2) The parable is a puzzling one involving eagles and vines, and would not make a lick of sense if the second half of the chapter didn't explain it. It turns out it's kind of a political cartoon, criticizing the last king of Judah, the one put in place after Babylon claimed the first wave of exiles, for trying to set up an alliance with Egypt. <br />
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<b>Ezekiel 18 --</b> Message: God wants <i>you people</i> to stop saying that in Israel <i>"The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge</i>." (2) That sounds very cryptic, but it's explained in detail and is actually quite interesting. What people have apparently been saying is that in Israel people are always paying -- probably through God's judgement on the nation as a whole -- for the mistakes of the previous generations. And no, says God, it doesn't work like that. The children of a good man are not immune from punishment, and the children of a bad man will not be punished for that man's misdeeds: everyone is judged and punished only for their own behavior, virtue, and righteousness as an individual.<br />
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It's a very clear and definitive statement of how God's justice works. Having said that, it is very puzzling to read it two-thirds of the way into the Bible, after dozens and dozens of instances where whole communities are explicitly punished for sins of individuals, and where communities are punished for things done or at least begun in the times of their parents or grandparents. The Second Commandment, to take a high-profile example, goes like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="hang-3">
<i><span class="text Exod-20-4" id="en-NIV-2056"><sup class="versenum">4 </sup>“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.</span> <span class="text Exod-20-5" id="en-NIV-2057"><sup class="versenum">5 </sup>You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,</span> <span class="text Exod-20-6" id="en-NIV-2058"><sup class="versenum">6 </sup>but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.</span></i></div>
</blockquote>
Is Ezekiel 18 supposed to be understood as a change of policy, then? As in, ~henceforth~ everyone will be judged on an individual basis? Because otherwise, it seems to fit very uncomfortably with God's conception of justice in the rest of the Old Testament to this point.<br />
Michael5000http://www.blogger.com/profile/10148584819327475239noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30817870.post-15004217721901243792014-06-19T12:00:00.000-07:002014-06-19T12:00:00.442-07:00Inspirational Thursday #2: Ezekiel 13:20With the second installment of my project to make inspirational images from random Bible verses, the random number generator threw me a bit of a curveball:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against your
magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear
them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like
birds.”</i><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
– Ezekiel 13:20</div>
</blockquote>
It is from the coda to Ezekiel 13, which is for the most part God's inveighing against false prophets; towards the end, he also condemns market-stall magic and the period equivalent of the telephone psychics.<br />
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Not surprisingly, it is not a widely illustrated Bible verse. I found <a href="http://priscillamachado.deviantart.com/art/Ezekiel-13-20-143705338">one online artist riffing on it</a>, but not at all in the "inspirational image" genre.<br />
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