Bread w/out yeast and food from heaven:Exodus 13-20

This past week I managed to glean a bit of questions and comments from the Bible Reading Plan which at this point I’m so far behind in I’ve resorted to making up my own catchup schedule. This is hopefully entry 1 of 3 depending on if my hands don’t get too worn out at the keyboard. At any rate I’ll try to keep things shorter than my previous post on this topic. I found myself reading through Exodus 13-20 this week. I read it a few weeks ago but didn’t compile anything for a blog at the time but thought it was worth another read because there is so much there. In my previous post on this topic, Pharaoh sent the Israelites packing out of Egypt. There were about 600,000 men on foot not including the children and I’m thinking not including the women either. There were a lot of folks to put it mildly the County that I live in don’t even have a 1/6 th of that population of folks. So this large amount of people set off the the promised land they didn’t particularly know exactly where they were going, the first thing the Lord tells them is to consecrate to him every first born male, the next thing is to commemorate the day and to eat no bread containing yeast in it. Basically all reminders of what the Lord had done for them how he brought them out of Egypt and was brining them into the promised land. Keep in mind that this land was preoccupied by Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites and other “ites.” I found it interesting that he ask them to remember the day on the day they set out. Then give them instructions on how to conduct themselves after they come into the promised lands. The next place in the reading that stood out to me was verse 20 of chapter 13:2-22 “The LORD was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” I just think this must have been cool to see this pillar of smoke and pillar of fire. I wonder how the Israelites felt about this whole display of power?
Parting that Red Sea & Singing in the Desert
In Exodus 14 Pharaoh changed his mind again or should I say that God changed it for him? There is that odd line again about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart that I don’t understand. Understand it or not Pharaoh made a decision to pursue the Israelites with all his horses, chariots (the tanks of the day), and troops. They overtook the Israelites as they camped by the sea. The Israelites were terrified when they say the Egyptians and cried out to the Lord. They had a few words with Moses as well and God instructed Moses to raise his staff, stretch out his hand and divide the water so that the Israelite can go through the sea on dry ground. In verse 19 something pooped off the page at me as I read it, it said that the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. Yikes no wonder the Egyptians said , “let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord s fighting for them against Egypt. My point being that the Egyptians themselves recognized that god was at work. Unfortunately for them it was too late and they all drowned after the Israelites had crossed over and Moses stretched out his hand and the waters went back to normal. This whole thing is just mind blowing. Hollywood can only capture so much. I just wonder what it must have been like to see these great wondrous acts of the Lord. Then again as we’ll see in the next few chapters the people saw all that and still grumbled and complained against Moses. The whole parting of the sea was really cool and imagine seeing the waters of of the sea piled up on either side? Fishes swimming around in suspended water how cool is that? we are told in verse 31 that ” When Israel saw the great power which the LORD had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses. I like how the NIV renders the last part of that it reads “the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” The song in chapter 15 says it all. The scripture says that Moses and the Israelites sang the song to the Lord. I can’t help but wonder if anyone else heard this song? Remember these were 600,000 men not counting the children or the women so this must have caused quite a stir in the desert. I wouldn’t be surprised if the nations around them heard all this commotion.

God’s Provision: What is it? Quail from Heaven, Water from the Rock
At the end of 15 we are told that after crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites went into the Desert of Shur. For 3 days they travelled in the desert without finding drinkable water (the body of water they had finally found was bitter and not fit for drinking). They starting doing what any group of people who have been traveling in a desert without finding water would have done (remember there were lots of them and they had livestock with them) they started complaining to the “head honcho in charge” (Moses). Moses cried out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a piece of wood which he threw into the water and the water became sweet and drinkable. Later on they came into the Desert of Sin and again began to grumble against Moses and even Aaron. They were apparently hungry this time and got historical on Moses about life in Egypt. I’ve always thought that this was so ungrateful of the Israelites, I mean here they are free on their way to a promised and and all they can do is quarrel with Moses. These folks have seen so many miracles yet they still complain about not having food. I’m not saying that they would not have bee hungry and that God shouldn’t provide some food for them but did they have to “go there” with poor Moses. Anyway, God being gracious and merciful he causes Manna and quail to fall from the sky on their behalf. The quail covering the camp doesn’t bother me as much somehow I can see birds being re-routed but this manna thing is a whole other matter. so much so that manna literally means what is it? Obviously it was tasty and life sustaining coz the Israelites lived on it for 40 years. Having a lot of friends in the nutrition field I can’t help but wonder what was in that manna? What was the nutritional value? They were told to take only the manna they needed for a day and not to save any of it until morning (except for on the sabbath day) but like any other group of folks some people didn’t listen and he manna became full of maggots and began to smell. I would say serve them right but knowing me I would have been in this group. some people have to learn things the hard way I suppose. In chapter 17 we have more water shortage, more grumbling against Moses and God providing water this time from a rock. At the end of 17 the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites (so their journey didn’t go unnoticed after all). Here we have the familiar story of Moses standing at the top of a Hill with his staff raised and when his hands were raised the israelites were winning the battle but when his hands were tired and not raise the Amalekites were winning. Aaron and Hur did took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it and the both of them held up his hands so that his hands remained steady until sunset thus winning them the battle with the Amalekites. God instructed Moses to write down that “I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Apparently Moses wrote it down
Some good Advice from the Priest of Midian
In chapter 18 Moses is joined by his fater-in-law Jethro, his wife Zipporah and 2 sons. while Jethro was there Moses told him all the good things that God had done for Israel. Jethro’s response was to praise God and he brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Jethro in the presence of God. This is significant in that Jethro was not a full fledged Israelites he was the descendant of Midian who was a son of Abraham and his concubine Keturah (Gen 25:1-6) remember he was from Midian. Anyway, Jethro noticed the next day that Moses served as sole judge for the people and they stood around him from morning until evening. Jethro asked him why he was allowing this to happen? “Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. “When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.” Jethro tells him that what he is doing is not good that he will only wear himself out, that the work is too heavy for him and he can’t handle it alone. He gives him a solution to the problem as well: ” Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. “Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. “Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. “If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.” The scripture go on to say that “Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said.” I’ve always found this bit of scripture interesting. Here is Moses who God used to lead the people out of Egypt, God has used him to do all these miracles and all that. It could have gone to his head but it did not Moses wasn’t too proud to listen to good council even though he was the apparent leader he was willing to teach others and let them share in the work of leading. I know I can learn a thing or two about leadership from Moses how about you?

Mount Sinai & the 10 Commandments
So much for this blog entry not being long. Almost done though. In Chapter 19 Moses went up to God at Mount Sinai and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you [a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the LORD has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD. The LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said.”Several days later there was thundering and lightening with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. The scripture say that everyone in the camp trembled. The trumpet there is not the brass trumpet that we think of in modern times its more like a shofar or ram’s horn. If you have ever been in the presence of a good shofar blower as I have its quite a sound. It does make you tremble a bit especially if there is more than one being blown at once. No wonder the Israelites were afraid and did not want Gos to speak to them. In chapter 20 you have the 10 Commandments. The thing to note here is that the Israelites heard God speaking all these commands to them. They had also promised to do all that God said. Chapter 20 ends with God giving instructions concerning idols and building altars. I found this section a bit peculiar especially the instruction about not going up to the altar on steps.

That’s it for now my fingers are tired and I’m getting a cramp from sitting in this chair too long.

The Blockbuster Gospel Mark Chapters 1-10

I like the way that Mark starts off, its like an action packed blockbuster movie. No long introductions, no lengthy genealogies, it just starts off with the main hero, who he is, what he is doing, how people are reacting to what he is doing and he pummels you with story after story of his deeds. Its like a roller coaster ride in a way. It starts off with a quote from the Book of Isaiah which is basically about John the Baptist (”the messenger”) and Jesus (”you”). We aren’t told much about John’s background here just that he was baptizing and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. We are also told that he wore clothing made with camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist (not the best dresser in those parts), and he ate locusts and wild honey. Lets just say if I were to meet John today I would think that he was a bit of a “nut job.” Yet there was something special about John, the passage says in verse 5 of the first chapter that the whole Judaean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. To say that he could draw a crowd here would be an understatement. Not only did they go out to him though but they confessed their sins and were baptized by him. Why were they so attracted to John? He wasn’t the best dressed? He didn’t eat at the best restaurants in town. They went after him because he spoke about the one who was coming. His message was about Jesus as he puts it “one more powerful than he the thongs of whose sandals he is not worthy to stoop down and untie. He said that ” I baptize you with water , but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Not sure if the people understood all this but they responded to the message. In verse 9 Jesus shows up and he’s baptized by John. As he’s coming out of the water, “he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert… So Jesus is coming out of the water after being baptized, he sees heaven torn open, a voice comes out of heaven and he disappears before a crowd of people. I wonder what the crowd was thinking at this point? I wonder if their eyes were wide open and jaws were dropping at this point. Wow Mark really gets the story going doesn’t he? Not a moment of rest from all the drama being plaid out in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and those who witnessed it.
Compassion & Faith
In chapter 1:40-42 a man with leprosy. Back in those days leprosy was taken seriously and people who had this disease was considered cursed by God and were usually isolated to leper colonies and such. Jesus did something here that nobody else at that time would have done. He reached out his hand and touched the man. Then he said be clean and the man was instantly healed. He didn’t have to take any antibiotic treatments he was healed on the spot. The thing that got me though was that Jesus not only healed the man physically but he did something else he touched him. the man probably hadn’t been touched by anyone in a long time. Jesus could have just said be clean and not touch him but he touched him. He basically broke all tradition, or way people treated folks suffering from this condition and touched him he gave him a bit more than just physical healing he gave him the warmth of a human touch. so many people need to be touched physically not just healed by a drug or even a miracle but they need a human touch on their hand, a hug, to know that they are valued, the matter that they are alive and someone sees them and cares about them. Our modern medicine is quick to dispense drugs to cure ills how much time do they really spend with someone though/ when was the last time they actually took the time out to touch that sick person hand with glove or no. The last time I was in the convenient care center the doctor was in and out of there in 5 minutes I barely have time to say what was wrong before he was writing me a prescription all I had was a sinus infection imagine if it was worse? In Mark 2 Jesus heals a paralytic; the cool thing about this story to me is the actions that the men took to bring the paralytic to Jesus. “Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” This man got healed because some of his friends went through great lengths to bring him to the healer. They weren’t going to let the crowd stop them from getting their friends to Jesus. I wonder whose roof they destroyed though and if they had to pay for repairs afterwards.

Parables &Possessions & A Prophet without Honor
In Mark 4 Jesus speaks to the crowd in parables. These parables were very farm oriented and being an agricultural based vulture at the time the people would have understood Jesus through his illustrations. However, this was not exactly the case and we find in one instance the disciples themselves were asking him to explain what he meant . He explains it to them and moves on to a few others. In Mark 5 we have the story of the demon-possessed man. Mark picks up on something a bit different here than Matthew here: Mark ends the section with the man who was healed wanting to follow Jesus and Jesus telling him to go home to his family and tell them how much the Lord had done for him, and how he had mercy on him. so the man went and away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. I hadn’t noticed that before in the reading of this story and thought that it was a nice aside. The man didn’t just get healed but he went and told his story to not only his family but to others as well. The scripture says that “an all the people were amazed” wouldn’t you be? I’ve always wondered why the story of the prophet without honor was stuck in Mark? why did he decide to tell this story? Basically Jesus went back to his hometown and taught in the Synagogue. Many who heard him were amazed but some folks took offense and began asking where did he get these things? Isn’t this the carpenter? Basically we know this fellow when he was this high isn’t he the carpenter? Mary’s son? who does he think he is? Have you had the experience of this kind of thing happening to you before? Perhaps you are someone famous yet to the people who know you back home, when you were a little one running around bare-footed you are still the kid who lived in the purple house at the end of the block or whatever color house you lived in. Don’t feel bad even Jesus had to deal with this kind of thing. Unfortunately for them, he could not do any miracles there and was amazed at their lack of faith.

Jesus Loves the Little Children
I like how Mark included he story of the little children and Jesus and I’ll end with this here. The thing that strikes me about this hero is that he wasn’t too busy to spend some time with the kids. He became indignant when his disciples were hindering those who was bringing them to him and he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them. Jesus gives us an example here as to how we ought to relate to children. I see so many people neglecting kids nowadays, they don’t even want to be around them, they treat children as if they are a curse or nuisance instead of the gift from God that they are. It was shameful then and its shameful now and like Christ we should be indignant about this.

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

That’s it the hands are getting tired…

Deliver Us from Egypt: Exodus 1-12

Catching Up on the Exodus
To say that I’m behind in my reading plan is a gross understatement, somehow I got off track and since the last month has been a blur I won’t attempt an explanation. Somewhere in the last few weeks I started reading Exodus. Exodus tells the story of Moses, the Israelites being delivered out of Egypt from the hands and Pharaoh, the parting of the red sea, wandering in the desert and other such fun stories. If you’ve seen the movie Prince of Egypt, then you are somewhat familiar with the some of the stories in Exodus. The origin of Passover is also in this story.

Too many Israelites in Pharaoh’s opinion & how he dealt with it
In the First chapter of Exodus we are told that a king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. we are also told that this king decided to enslave the people of Israel so that they would not join with their enemies and fight against them. He was basically scared because the Israelites were more numerous than the Egyptians at this point. Interestingly, the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and spread out and the Egyptians became even more fearful. Things got so bad that the King ordered the midwives to kill all the male children born to the Hebrews. The midwives however feared God and did not do such a thing but the king commanded the people to cast all sons born to them into the nile. Bottom line is that things went from bad to worse for the Israelites who kept multiplying. In chapter 2 we have the famous story of Moses being born, his mother placing him into a basket and putting him in the Nile, his sister watching him as he went down the nile and Pharaoh’s daughter finding the basket, opening it and taking the child for her own. His own mother ended up nursing him. How convenient. Not much to say here except I’ve always wondered how that basket kept afloat. having just read a story some months ago about a little baby being found in a plastic bag in a river somewhere in Brazil, this has always fascinated me. I throw in something here about God’s providence and protection. In the rest of Exodus 2 we are told how Moses grew up, saw and Egyptian beating one of his friends and killed the Egyptian, later he saw two hebrews fighting with one another and when he tried to break things up they asked him if he would kill them as he did the Egyptian.
Word reached Pharaoh who tried to kill Moses but Moses fled to Midian.

Moses rescues the seven sisters, met the Priest of Midian & Got married all in one day
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters who came to draw water so they could water their father’s flock, some shepherds came and drove them away but Moses stood up and helped them and watered their fathers flock. When they came to their father he asked them how come they were back so early and they told their father how Moses helped them. next thing we know Moses is invited to eat with them and he gets married to Zipporah one of the seven presumably the eldest. Zipporah bore Moses a son and the next thing we are told is that the King of Egypt died. We are told at the end of that chapter that the sons of Israel cried out to God so much so that God took notice of them.

The Burning Bush
In chapter 3 we have the story of the burning bush. The end result of which God sends Moses to Pharaoh to deliver the people of Israel. I find the little excuses that Moses makes about him not being eloquent of speech in chapter 4 pretty interesting. God realizes this though and sends his brother Aaron with him. It is also interesting that God gives him a staff with which he could perform miracles here. Moses obeys the Lord and took his wife and children back to Egypt with him. In verse 24 of Chapter 4 24 we are told that at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met Moses and sought to put him to death. I was puzzled about this passage until I realized that it had something to do with circumcision, apparently he hadn’t circumcised his firstborn son according to the Law. Apparently, his wife realized this and saved him by taking a flint and cutting off her son’s foreskin and throwing it at Moses’ feet. This is still puzzling here is God about to use Moses to deliver his people yet he was about to kill him for his apparent memory loss. I wonder if Moses even knew about the law having grown up in the house of Pharaoh. Thank goodness his wife did.

Going back to Egypt
In chapters 5-6 Moses goes to Pharaoh and inform him that the God of Israel said to let his people go so that they may celebrate a feast to him in the wilderness the King of course declined and made their labors even more arduous commanding them to gather their own straw to make bricks but meet the same daily quota, they of course could not and thus they were mistreated even more severely than before. In Chapter 6 God promises to take action and the chapter ends with a genealogy of the heads of Israel.

The Plagues
In chapters 7-10 of Exodus things started to heat up in front of Pharaoh. each time Pharaoh refused to let the people of Israel go another plague came. First Aaron throws down his rod in front of him and it became a snake. We are told that the magicians of Egypt did the same. Aaron’s staff however ate up their staff. Next the water of the Nile turned to blood first thing I thought was that must have been an awful smell. The fishes died and it was indeed foul. We are again told that the Egyptian magicians did the same with their secret arts and Pharaoh did not listen or let the people go. Next came the frogs, the magicians did the same as well to prove to Pharaoh that this wasn’t a big deal, next came flies interestingly the magicians could not reproduce this particular plague, then came the pestilence on the livestock and the livestock of the Egyptians dies, the livestock of the israelites did not die, next came boils, by this time the magicians ad given up hope coz they had boils all over them to contend with, next came hail, then locust, then darkness. You would have thought that Pharaoh would have given up by now but there is a passage in the text which have puzzled me to no end “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.” what does this mean was Pharaoh’s heart ever soft in the first place? Was there a point where he had a choice in the matter or did God not intend to show these wonders before Moses & Aaron showed up in the palace the first time? In chapter 11 you have the last plague; the killing of the first born. In chapter 11 God tells Moses what he will do. I have one other comment about the story of the plagues. We saw in some of the earlier plagues how the magicians on egypt were able to re-produce them by their secret arts. This means that there are secret arts that can be used to mimic what God can do. There are more than a few examples of this in the Bible but often time we forget these things and is wowed when someone comes along that can do something supernatural. This passage remind us that not all things that are supernatural is from God or is good. Pharaoh should have let those people go instead his magicians were distracting him with their own sign and wonders thus helping Pharaoh not to trust what God was doing or listening to his requests.

The Passover & the Exodus Begins
In chapter 12, God we get a background on the story behind the Passover

“Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. ‘Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste–it is the LORD’S Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments–I am the LORD. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.

You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. And you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes And the people bowed low and worshiped.”

We are told in the passage that the sons of Israel did just as the Lord instructed and that at midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn of the Egyptians and that Pharaoh called Moses and told him to take the Israelites and go. At the end of Chapter 12 we have the start of the Exodus and the observance requirements for Passover.

Dreams, Famines, Taxes & Ressurections

Dreams & Famines

In my previous post I left off at Chapter 31 of Genesis between chapters 31-36 are some interesting stories and although there were a few parts that made me go humph especially chapter 34 I’ll skip them and put in my 2 cents on the story of Joseph. Besides the fact that its a classic Bible Story its just too interesting to pass up. Anyway we are told at the beginning of chapter 37 that Joseph was 17, we are also told the following about Joseph:

• he brought a bad report about his brothers to his father (he was a tattler)
• his father loved him more than his other children and made him a richly ornamented robe and;
• his brothers hated him.

In verse 5, Joseph had a dream and we are told that when he told his dream to his brothers they hated him all the more. Why did they hate him because of his dream? well this wasn’t any old dream, in this dream he dreamt that his brother’s sheaves gathered around his sheaf and was bowing down to it. In the second dream, the sun, moon and eleven stars were bowing down to him. Here he was the youngest kid in the family, the one who got the others in trouble by gabbing on them and now he’s claiming that they are going to bow down before him, signifying that he will rule over them. I’ve always wondered what would have happened if Joseph would have kept his mouth shut at this point. Was it prudent for him to tell his brothers his dreams especially after their first reaction? How did he felt after he told them? I’m also reminded of my own follies as I read this part of the story. I’m a bit of a dreamer myself. Don’t worry I haven’t dreamt of anyone bowing down to me that I can remember but on more than a few occasions I’ve foolishly told my dreams to others without thinking first and have found myself in some awkward situations or have had people relate to me strangely afterwards. I guess the big lesson is don’t tell everyone your dreams and some of them are best kept to yourself. Hard to remember but after a few incidents I’ve become less eager to share dreams with others. In the most recent case of my forgetfulness, I have a friend that seems to be using my dreams to suggest things that she think that I ought to do/ be doing. Now I’ve got a situation on my hands. After relating the dreams to his brothers, Jacob sent Joseph to go find his brothers and bring him back a report on what they are doing. Basically, he went to spy on his brothers… Besides the fact that I’ve always thought that Jacob should not have encouraged this type of thing, I’m more annoyed with Joseph for doing this. No wonder when his brothers saw him coming from afar they plotted to take his life (remember these were the same brothers who murdered the men at Shechem back in chapter 34).

Reuben intervened and convinced the brothers to leave him in an empty cistern (Reuben was planning to rescue him later and take him back to his father). They placed him in the cistern but later changed their mind and sold him for 20 shekels (8 ounces) of silver to some Ishmaelite merchants who took him to Egypt. To cover this up, they got Joseph’s ornamented robe, slaughtered a goat, dipped it in the blood and went home and gave it to their father Jacob who assumed from the blood and the condition of the robe that Joseph had been devoured by some ferocious animal (guess this wasn’t uncommon at the time)…Meanwhile poor Joseph is on the way to Egypt. I know this wasn’t exactly in his dreams. In chapter 39 we are told that Joseph was bought from the Ishmaelites by a man named Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, captain of the guard. Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything in his household, and entrusted to him everything he owned. We are told that the Lord blessed everything Potiphar owned because of Joseph. Now Potiphar had a wife and seeing that Joseph was well built and handsome she couldn’t resist trying to get him to sleep with her. We are told that she pestered him day after day and unlike some people I know Joseph actually resisted these advances. Things got so bad for Joseph one day he ran out of the house naked, leaving his cloak in the woman’s hand. Her parting gift to him was to lie on him and claim that he was trying to abuse her. This of course resulted in Joseph being put in jail. Some time later, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker offended Pharaoh and he had them put in jail. While in jail they had a dream and Joseph who was put in charge of all those in the prison (he seems to be put in charge just about everywhere he goes), came to them and saw that they looked dejected. When he spoke to them they told him their dreams and he interpreted the dreams for them. The results of the dreams happened just had Joseph had interpreted it. The cupbearer was restored to his position and the chief baker was hanged. Two years went by and Joseph was still “doing time” then the big moment happened… In Chapter 44: 1-7 we are told that Pharaoh himself had a dream: “Now it happened at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the Nile. And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the (A)marsh grass. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and gaunt, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke. He fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good. Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them.The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream”. Pharaoh was of course disturbed and sent for the magicians and dream interpreters throughout Egypt who of course could not interpret the dreams. The chief cupbearer finally had a memory spurt and next thing you know he remembers his own dream and Joseph in prison. They of course sent for Joseph and after he washed up and shaved he came to present himself before the king. Pharaoh told Joseph the dream, Joseph informs him that God will give him and answer and he interprets the dream. Essentially the interpretation was that there would be 7 years of plenty and another 7 years of famine in all the land. Joseph not only interprets the dream but gave a course of action. In return he’s rewarded by being put in charge, Specifically, Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. He had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, “Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as his wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt. Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt.

To make a long story shorter, Joseph’s brothers shows up in chapter 42 to buy grain during the years of famine, Joseph of course recognized them and give them a little grief but not too much then finally his brother Benjamin and his Father came down and saw him and yes they did have to bow down before him (so his dream came true after all). After the death of their father Jacob, Joseph’s brothers became concern that Joseph would take revenge on them for what they had done to him. We are told in 50: 19-21 that Joseph said ” Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. “So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

His brothers settled in the territory of Goshen which sets the stage for the Exodus, the topic for the next blog. We are told at the end of 50 that Joseph made his brothers swear an oath not to bury him in Egypt then he died at the age of 110. Not bad for a dreamer hey!

Matthew 22 Taxes & Resurrections:

I’ll cover the last few chapters of Matthew next blog but for now I have to pick on chapter 22 just a tad. Its tax time, my favorite season of the year NOT! I don’t like sitting there and figuring this stuff out no matter how easy it has become of late it still for some reason takes me a whole day to do this. In chapter 22: starting at 15, the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus asks if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar or not. Substitute uncle same, the IRS or Bush if you want here. Jesus ask them for a coin then asks them whose portrait and inscription was on it. They reply Caesar’s. He replies

“give to Caesar what is Caesar’s , and to God what is God’s” So as much as I hate to sit down and plug and chug those numbers gotta give to the IRS what is the IRS’s.

The second story is interesting since I have a fascination with eschatology. The Sadducees, who say their is no resurrection, came to Jesus and ask him a question. Essentially, Moses said,

IF A MAN DIES HAVING NO CHILDREN, HIS BROTHER AS NEXT OF KIN SHALL MARRY HIS WIFE, AND RAISE UP CHILDREN FOR HIS BROTHER.’ Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh.”Last of all, the woman died. “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.”

Jesus answered them saying “

You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven”

. I’m like what are angels like exactly? I guess I can say that angels aren’t married but what did Jesus mean that they are like angels? I’ve never seen one of these or know what they are like so I’m not surprised that the Sadducees were a but stumped with that answer. It always amazes me how Jesus speaks as if he’s literally living in two parallel worlds. I realize that he was technically but he also spoke like it. What do you do with this? Jesus goes on to say

“But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

Again, I’m sure Jesus knew Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was alive and well even though to us on this side they are dead but there he goes again speaking of things not of this world.

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Family Feuds & Cursed Figs

This week’s readings were an eyeful. Basically we were supposed to cover Genesis 23-45 & Matthew 19-23 depending on where you are in the catching up game. I have to say that I fell a bit behind on Genesis and only did up to 31, I’ll write about the other chapters later. Anyway, as I was reading through Genesis I was struck by a couple of things:

1. Jacob & Esau- I was pondering the whole predisposition thing. I mean we are told (in Gen 25:22) that Rebekah is pregnant and that the babies were jostling within her (that must have hurt) anyway she asked why this was happening to her and the Lord informs her that “two nations are within her womb… one people will be stronger…the older will serve the younger.” So she gave birth and we are told later that Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob for some stew and later Jacob steals Esau’s blessing. My big question is why are we surprised at this? This was foretold before they were born i.e. thus said the Lord. Could Esau have changed his mind if he wanted to? He was going to do this thing from before he was born so did he have a choice in the matter?

2. Jacob marries his cousins- Talk about messed up. Can you imagine your brother being your brother and your cousin at the same time? What a mess. I won’t even dwell on the fact that Rachel and Leah were Jacob’s cousins. People frown on this type of thing now and they should. It wasn’t God’s plan or his doing but Jacob was deceived by his uncle. I supposed back in those days it was OK to marry your cousin but yikes what a mess Jacob had on his hands. He didn’t just marry the cousins though but their maids as well. This put some modern day polygamist to shame. Its no wonder that they had such deceptions, scheming, rivalry and favoritism going on in the family. The cool thing about all this though is that God chose to bless all people’s though Jacob and his offsprings. God chose them even in the middle of the mess. God even heard the cries of Leah when she wasn’t loved, heard the cries of Rachel when she couldn’t have children.

3. The passages in Matthew were pretty familiar to me and I didn’t have much issue with them except that fig tree story. Why did Jesus curse the fig tree? did he do this as an object lesson for his disciples? Was the fig tree supposed to have fruit on it but had problem producing figs? Was it late? What is the significance of this story?

Technorati Tags: Bible

Job Concludes & Other Stories

It was a struggle this week to read because I had so much stuff rummaging through my mind but I was able to double up the last few days which made all the difference. For this blog I won’t cover Genesis, I’ll simply roll all the Genesis passages in the next one and focus on the rest of Job and Matthew today. Lets start with Job. This week I read Job 34-42.

In 36-37 Elihu speaks about God’s justice, God’s dealings with Men, and God in the back of a storm. Although I found these words valid and such I’m still left with gosh do you really need to throw this stuff at this guy right now? I guess there is something to be said that in times like these we need to be reminded of who God is and what he’s done in our lives and such but I still struggle with this whole exchange between Job and his friends. I’m thinking that Job needs to hear from God directly which I think was Job’s point here rather than being reproached by Elihu and company. There is room for encouragement and such in times when our friends are suffering though and there is a time for us to remind them of God’s faithfulness but harping on the persons sin which Elihu end up on doesn’t help much either.
God Speaks- Finally in chapter 38 God speaks to Job and I found it so interesting that I wrote a song about it mainly using the same verses, arranged a little differently with a refrain added in after each section. The tune to the song sounds beautiful when played on a bodhrán (kinda hard to explain unless you hear it). Here it is:
Were you there when he laid the earth’s foundation
Who marked off its dimension surely you know
Who stretched a measuring line across it
On what were its foundation set

Where oh where oh where were you
Where oh where oh where were you
Where oh where oh man were you
Surely you must understand these things
You have lived so many years

Do you know who shut the seas behind doors
or when it bursts forth from the whom
Were you there when he made the clouds their garments
When he set its doors and bars in place
Have you ever given orders to the morning
Have you ever shown the dawn its place
Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
Or walk in the recesses of the deep

Who oh who oh who are you
Who oh who oh who are you
Who oh who oh man are you
Surely you must understand these things
You have lived so many years

Can you bind the beautiful Pleides or
loose the cords of Orion
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
Or lead out the bear with her cubs
Do you know the laws of the highest heavens
Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth
Can you tip over the water jars of the heavens
or cut a channel for the torrents of rain

Can oh can oh can can you
Can oh can oh can can you
Can oh can oh man can you
Surely you must understand these things
You have lived so many years

In the rest of Job God goes on about various things which I think gives you a bit of an idea as to how all-powerful and all-knowig God really is and how small we are in comparison. Some creatures are mentioned that the footnotes speculate about but I’ve yet to see a leviathan or a behemoth so they’ve always seemed a bit way out there to me. Job hardly gets out a reply but humbles himself before the Lord and in the epilogue we are told that God deals with Job’s friends and tells them that he is angry with them and instructed them to repent and for Job to pray for them. In the end we are told that [The LORD (restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold). Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no women were found so fair as Job's daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. And Job died, an old man and full of days].

Matthew 14-18:

Head on a Platter and other stories. This part of Matthew is rich with some of my favorite Bible stories some of which
have puzzled me to this day. This section starts off with a story about a little girl who danced and pleased a King so
much that he vowed to give her anything she wanted. This King happened to be her uncle and was hooked up with her mother who was the wife of his brother. Talk about some serious dysfunctional family. Prompted by her mother the little girl asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter and the King not wanting to lose face gives it to the little girl. Now I’m thinking gross what kind of a mother ask a child to ask for someone’s head on a platter this is just morbid and gross. Most parents now try to protect their children from death and destruction this mother had no such desire to protect her child at all. I look back at these Biblical times in my mind and I’m quick to not remember the gross violations of human lives that happened in those days, I only think of Jesus and his disciples walking around in their togas and sandals and preaching and healing and forget about the people being flogged, the crucifixions, the Romans harassing the Jews more than likely dragging off a host of them to prison for no good reason and yes some people like John even lost their heads now and again coz the King wanted it or in this case his mistress wanted it that way.

Feeding the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes : Now after Jesus heard about the death of John he went off to be by himself a little while (understandable since he just lost his friend) Like before the crowds got wind of it and followed him on foot. Now Jesus I’m sure still grieved for his friend had compassion on the crowd and starting healing the sick. I’m thinking if I just lost a good friend I would seriously want to get away from the crowd and go hide and bawl somewhere but not Jesus. He started healing people and not only that he wouldn’t send them away to get food to eat as his disciples had instructed. Jesus made it seem like these folks came to visit him in his house and I won’t send them away hungry… He said to his disciples you give them something to eat. They scrounge up 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes and Jesus prayed over it and it multiplied enough that everyone ate their fill and they had plenty of left-overs (12 basket full) I don’t know the size of the baskets but they had left overs after feeding 5000 men not including the women and children from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. Wow what would happen if we applied this type of faith to the starving folks in Africa and other places? I remember on one occasions a few of us had cooked for our fellowship meeting. The food turned out to be a bit on the small side that is we didn’t have enough to feed everyone by the looks of things. We prayed and that food most definitely multiplied, expanded or something coz everyone had enough and even went back for seconds. We kinda laughed it off nonchalantly and said God multiplied the food. I haven’t forgotten the experience though and know that this kind of stuff can and does happen. Having little money in my wallet this week I’m hoping for some serious multiplication of food in my fridge. No pun intended.

The Canaanite Woman: In chapter 15 Jesus encounters a woman from the vicinity of Tyre & Sidon who kept crying out to him to heal her daughter who was demon possessed. Jesus did something very puzzling to me he ignored her. The woman of course did not let this get to her and kept up the commotion so much his disciples got fed up and asked him to send her away. He tells the woman “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” she in turn came and knelt before him and asked him to help her (talk about not getting a clue). He replies that “it is not right to take the Children’s bread and toss it to their dogs” an apparent insult. I like this woman, she has gusto she knew what she wanted and she wasn’t giving up. His statement did not deter her one bit and she says to him “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Jesus’ reaction? “Woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. I am humbled and challenged by this example. I think sometimes when I ask God for something important I give up too easily. I’m not persistent I just ask half way and hope for the best. This woman pressed Jesus until she got what she wanted… healing for her daughter. She wanter her child to be well again and no disciple or Jesus’ initial reaction was going to keep her from her daughter being healed. She knew where to go, she knew he could do it, she persevered and it was credited to her as faith and her daughter was well again.

The Transfiguration: In Chapter 17 we are told that Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. The passage says that “his face shown like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light.” To add to this Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking to Jesus. Can you say weird? First of all Moses and Elijah are supposed to be dead , second Jesus looks totally different, he’s got some kind of glow going on. He’s talking to these two dead guys and a cloud came down and enveloped them and a voice from the cloud started speaking. Now the disciples did what I would have done (they fell down on their faces terrified) except maybe I would have fallen backward down the mountain in addition. Jesus touches them and tells them not to be afraid then tells them not to tell anyone until he was glorified. I would have had some more questions about the glorified bit at this point but the disciples got into some discussion with him about the law and Elijah instead.

To end this section, in Chapter 18:15-35 Jesus instructs his disciples on handling conflicts with each other then he ends with the story of the unmerciful servant. He instructs them that if a brother sin against them they are to first go to the brother and show him his fault, just between the two of them. I know we have a hard time with this, its easier to first go to someone and tell them how the brother did this and that without talking to the offending brother first. Only if going to the brother fails are we to bring in 1 or 2 others and confront the offending brother, if he refuses to listen then take it to the church, if he still refuses then that’s it. Peter asks how many times he is to forgive a brother that sin against him I suppose the law at that time required 7 times. Jesus multiplied it by saying 77 times. To further illustrate his point he tells them the story of the unmerciful servant. In this story a king wanted to settle his accounts with his servants and found a servant who owed him 10,000 talents (from the notes this is millions of dollars) talk about a large credit card debt. Anyway, the servant could not possibly pay up so the king was going to have him and his wife and kids and their possessions sold to pay off the debt. The servant pleaded for mercy and the king cancelled the debt and let him go (wish the bank would do this today). Anyway, this guy should have been ecstatic with joy but what does he do? He finds a servant who owes him 100 denarii (a few dollars) grabs the man by the throat and ask him to pay up. The fellow servant pleaded for mercy and what does this fellow do? He had the man thrown in prison for a few dollars. The other folks who witness this were distressed and went back and reported it to the king. The king confronted him about it and had him thrown in prison and tortured until he could pay back all he owed. This is a jarring story of how much we ought to forgive but not only that how much we have been forgiven. Here is this servant forgiven $1 million and he could not forgive someone who owed him a few dollars. How much do I do this though? I have been forgiven much yet the question I ask myself is how much do I forgive?

Identifying with Suffering & Avoiding Cults

I’m finally caught up on the Bible reading plan for the week. It was a bit rough catching up though. I’ve decided to blog what really stuck out to me in the passages instead of doing a chapter by chapter summary coz quite frankly I find myself spending too much time typing away at this keyboard. The fingers need a rest since I do this 7 days a week. Anyway, I’ll start with Job this time. In this week’s reading I covered Job 20-33. The format was chapter after chapter of Job having to defend his integrity to his friends who were constantly trying to tear him down instead of building him up as they should have done. I’ll mention again that he poetry in these chapters are simply beautiful… I was really struck by chapters 29 and 30 where Job reflects on his past and then look at his future. In 29 Job reflect by saying:
“Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God watched over me; When His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I walked through darkness; As I was in the prime of my days, When the friendship of God was over my tent; When the Almighty was yet with me, And my children were around me; When my steps were bathed in butter, And the rock poured out for me streams of oil! When I went out to the gate of the city, When I took my seat in the square, The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the old men arose and stood. The princes stopped talking And put their hands on their mouths;The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to their palate. For when the ear heard, it called me blessed, And when the eye saw, it gave witness of me, Because I delivered the poor who cried for help, And the orphan who had no helper. The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me, And I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind And feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy…”
In 30 Job goes on to say “But now those younger than I mock me…And now I have become their taunt,
I have even become a byword to them. They abhor me and stand aloof from me, And they do not refrain from spitting at my face… They have cast off the bridle before me. On the right hand their brood arises; They thrust aside my feet and build up against me their ways of destruction. They break up my path,They profit from my destruction; No one restrains them. As through a wide breach they come, Amid the tempest they roll on. Terrors are turned against me; They pursue my honor as the wind, And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud…”

I guess the thing that I was reflecting on is this: How do we treat people who are suffering around us… I look around and I see the homeless walking the streets, begging, cold, and alone. There are many… Add to that the sick, the weak, the kids down the block who have lost their parents to cancer or a car accident and you have a bunch of suffering folks out there. How many times do we extent a hand? Do we look away? Make them feel worse? Do we taunt them? Do we ever think what their lives were like before they ended up on the streets? Before their parents died or left? Before they were sick? When they were healthy and strong? Did they have a nice cushy job before this? A nice home? Spouse and kids? What happened? Is there a “Job” among them? Closer to home how do I treat my friends or family when they are suffering through something? Do I console and encourage? Help out or attack their character? Do I listen to them or give them my good for nothing two cents? Do I impart wisdom from God or rattle off idle and empty words to them that does more harm than good? Such were the counsel given to Job by his friends in his time of need… What counsel will I give the next time a friend or family member is in dire need? What will be my reaction the next time a homeless person ask me for a $1. Are they not worth a moment of my time? Will I taunt in my heart? Blame them for their misery or simply look away with coldness and move on?
Matthew-10:21-42 to 14;22-36 ; I’ll like to pick out Matthew 10:36-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38″And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39″ He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it) because I have some odd memories associated with this passage and to this day when I read the passage I remember… Anyway I was in undergraduate at the time and a friend of mine asked me to a movie (Ghost), no big deal I wanted to see the movie so I went. As it turns out there were a bunch of other people at the movie from her church gosh it must of been at least 20 other folks from her church. I guess that they were excited to see Ghost too. I didn’t mind that either and I sat down and enjoyed the movie. The movie theatre was a bit far from home so I got a ride back which was the understanding. On the way back to the dorms we took an unexpected side trip that my friend failed to mention was going to happen. The next thing I knew we were stopped at someone’s apartment and the only thing that kept me from running out at this point was this girl that I knew from my high school days. I said hi to her and we struck up a little conversation which put me at ease just a little bit. Anyway, I sat down in the living room waiting for my ride and the next thing I knew several people from my friend’s church came in and whipped out their Bibles at me and started asking me if I was a Christian (they used the term disciple) with the basic assumption being that I was not. They proceeded to prove that I wasn’t a Christian (disciple) by pointing out this very passage. They are really big into discipleship and what it means. In fact, they didn’t use the term Christian at all they used the term discipleship from beginning to end. After 10 minutes of this, I was not feeling good about the situation… Here I was in the middle of I didn’t know where with these folks who were asking me a lot questions, defining terms, and throwing out scriptures from left and right at me… I was not a happy convert and I would have none of it. BTW at that time, I was attending meetings with IVCF and while I wasn’t a committed Christian at that time, I was interested in learning more and these people confused the daylights out of me and gave me the creeps. I can’t remember what I said to them that made them take me home but they did so and kept calling me until one day I finally told them to stop calling me. Granted the passage says what it says and there is definitely a cost in following Christ which I’ve come to realize over the years but having it ram down your throat when you don’t even know what all this is about and taken out of context to prove their point is quite annoying. I later found out that they were a cult and use this passage a lot mainly in isolating people from their families and such. The church have gone through a lot of changes of late, repented and is currently under “reform”. I later found out what being a Christian meant with the help of some good friends but I now read this passage with great care and realize the harm it can do when shoved down someone’s throat.
This has been longer than I had planned but I finally downloaded what’s been swimming in my head for a few days now…
go mbeannaí Dia thú!

Demons, Healings & Job Loses Everything

I have to admit although I am much closer than I was a few days ago to catching up, I’m still behind a few chapters in my reading. At this point mainly because I find myself noting a lot of things. Thus far I have 12 pages of handwritten notes and I haven’t finished the last few chapters of Job yet for week two. I have to stop writing so much. This blog is basically the notes I’ve compiled in the last two days. Its a bit long so bear with me. Matthew 8:1-27 Matthew starts off this section by presenting us with a series of miracles. We get the story of the man with the leprosy and the centurion. In both cases they ask for healing and in both cases they had faith for the healing. Its interesting that the leper asked Jesus if he was willing, and the centurion was commended for his faith. How often have I asked God for something and doubted? Too many times… Have I had the faith that he would provide/ whether it was healing or not? Not as often as I care to admit. We often get tangled up with this issue of faith and healing as if it is a formula of some kind. Sometimes one can ask God for something and it doesn’t happen the thing is really a matter of if he’s willing as the leper asked Jesus in this passage. Seems that there is this faith that has to happen on our part but a willingness on God’s part as well. I’ve struggled with this over than over so I do not have any answers on this one but its interesting to note. Now we come upon one of the stories which leaves me shaking my head every-time I read it… The story of Jesus calming the storm. Basically Jesus & his disciples are in a boat, Jesus is sleeping and a violent storm breaks out. His disciples wake him up and says Lord save us we are going to drown. My question here is if they believed that Jesus could save them then why did they think that they are going to drown? Jesus of course rebukes them for their little faith and quieted the wind. The reaction of the disciples is that they are in awe and amazement. I can see them doing a double take as they try to wrap their minds around what just happened. I can rip on the disciples all I want but quite frankly I can remember a time not too long ago when God did something for me after I cried out for help and I had that wow and amazement look on my face. I was as surprised as they were. It was sometime in the summer and I was driving to church as I had done any other Sunday, it was a gorgeous day too sunshine and all. I’m behind a pickup truck, stopped at a red light no big deal until for some reason my foot suddenly shift to the gas instead of the brakes and next thing I know I’m headed for the pickup truck infront of me. To say I sent up a quick prayer for help would be an understatement but I do remember that much. Next thing I know the steering wheel is turning the car glides into the left lane and I’m taking a left turn. All I can say is someone else was driving at that moment coz I didn’t even notice that the left lane was empty and all I could think of was the fact that I was going to hit that pickup truck. After a 1/2 a block or so I started driving again and I went around the block and made it to church a few minutes later. Big shock on my face, heart racing, wondering what just happened and amazed at how I got from behind the pickup truck safely in the other lane and on the other street. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it I still can’t.

Matthew 8:28-34: The demon possessed men- After reading this story again I have 2 questions 1. Why did Jesus send the demons into the pigs as the demons had requested? 2. Why did people pleaded with Jesus to leave their territory? I would have thought that they would have thanked him for delivering them from the two violent men demons and all. It seems to me that these folks were concerned mainly about their livelihood, perhaps they were fearful of Jesus if he could drive out demons what else could he do? OK perhaps that’s more than two questions.

Matthew 9: The healing of the paralytic & the sick woman- In the healing of the paralytic it is interesting to note the reactions of the teachers of the law and the reaction of the crowds. The teachers of the law accused Jesus of blasphemy while the crowds responded by praising God. We see more criticism from the Pharisees who had an issue with the fact that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. This brings up a classic point that as Christians who do we associate with? Do we associate with the tax collectors and sinners of our time? Or are we comfortable in our circle of Church going friends? In 9:18-34 we have the story of Jesus healing the woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years. She knew Jesus was her only hope and believed that if she just touched his garment she would be healed. His reply? “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” and it was so. I admire this woman’s faith and courage to push through that crowd and touch Jesus. Could learn a few lessons about perseverance from her. Jumping to 27-34 Jesus heals two blind men then tells them not to tell anyone. Now if you were blind and someone laid hands on you and then you could see wouldn’t you be telling everyone? I for one would be blogging my fingers off… so why did Jesus tell these guys not to tell?

Matthew 10: Sending Out the 12- Jesus called his 12 disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness then he gives them a set of instructions of where to go, what to take, then he launches into this whole section on persecution that the disciples will face. Nothing much to say about this except that I find it interesting that Jesus speaks of both the near future and way into the future here as this scripture applies to our time as well as back then when he was sending the 12 out. One question to note here does this type of stuff happen nowadays/ Does God appoint people to go out and heal the sick and drive out evil spirits? I remember someone saying no this doesn’t happen today a while back… Yet most of the missionaries that I’ve encountered who have come back from parts of Africa & S. America have a stack of such stories.

Job 1-16: Job has been one of those books that I find hard to swallow. Not that I’m in the habit of eating my books but wow its a difficult book to wrap my brain around. We are told at the beginning that Job is blameless and upright. That he feared God and shunned evil. He was a wealthy man and had 10 children and that he was the greatest man of all the people of the East. He would send and have his children purified and offer burnt offering on behalf of all his children just incase they had sinned on a regular basis. Now here is where my mind starts to flip flop. In verse 6 of chapter 1, the angels come to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. Besides the fact that I’m thinking the angels come and present themselves before the Lord on a regular basis? I didn’t realize that Satan was allowed to present himself before God. This kind of throw out all the sermons I’ve heard of God not being able to have evil in his presence. There was Satan before God… and God was having a conversation with him. He ask Satan where he came from then after Satan tells him from roaming through the earth (his usual mischief) God asks him if he has considered his servant Job. Then God brags on Job a bit and Satan being the destructive sort incites God to stretch out his hand against Job. That is he ask God permission to mess up Job’s life in order to prove to God that Job will curse God if all he has is taken away from him. God gives him permission (problem… why? God why?) Satan of course got to work right away and the result is that Job loses his wealth and his children all in one day. All he’s left with?His wife who incites him to curse God and die.

My problem point blank is why did God allow this to happen to Job? What did Job do to deserve this? Why was Satan given an audience here with God? I don’t understand these things at all. The amazing thing is that Job does not curse God. Instead he reacted by worshipping God. The end line of chapter 1 says that through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. Chapter 2 begins with Satan presenting himself a second time before God , similar conversation happen and this time the result is that Job is covered in painful sores from head to toe. Again Job did not curse God. The end of Chapter 2 Jobs friends showed up and they sat down with him speechless for 7 days and 7 nights. What could they say really. What do you say to someone who have lost everything and is now inflicted with a disease such as what Job had? In chapter 3 Job cursed the day he was born. Aside from the obvious depression here I find the poetry quite something in this lament. I tend to like laments in general for the prose but you can see where Job was at in those words. In chapters 6 to 16. Job’s friends go back and forth with Job by giving him their opinions on the situation, telling him what he should do, challenging his character, and speaking ill of God in the wake. I’ll sum it up by using Job’s own words: “A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow, but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels. Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go up into the wasteland and perish. The caravans of Tema look for water, the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope. They are distressed, because they had been confident; they arrive there, only to be disappointed. Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.” It goes to show that your friends can sometimes be more a hinderance than a help when you are going through a painful situation. Hopefully none of us will have to endure what Job did. BTW if your friends begin to give you advise by starting off something like this “A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:… do yourself a favor: close your ears and send him/her packing.

All in all I’ve enjoyed this bible Plan so far. I’m not seeing the parallels yet from a Chronological point of view but it has been helpful in aiding me to read the Bible daily and think about what’s going on in the stories and such as well as to draw some application form my own life and story.

Bible Reading Plan

I joined up last week with my friend Marcy to keep up with a one-year chronological Bible reading plan. The plan involved two readings per day but since it had already started I was ~1 week behind. I’ve been needing something like this because my Bible readings have been ad-hoc of late. Her announcement in church at the right time… Anyway, as you can imagine I went through the first week more than doubling up per day plus I have to keep up with the current week. I haven’t gotten caught up yet mainly because my brain tend to take a break from reading much of anything after Wednesdays it just shifts into weekend/give me a break now please mode. I’m aiming to catch up by tomorrow though and will blog the second week sometime tomorrow or Monday. Anyway, in the first set of readings I went from Genesis 1-22 and Matthew 6:19-34. Marcy has posted a pretty good summary of the major points so I won’t go into all of it just major things that stuck out to me.

• Genesis 1-3: The creation story & the fall: The whole creation story has always fascinated me. I liken it to a master artist painting a masterpiece except that he knows exactly what he’s painting as he’s doing it and having fun. We have this repeating phrase God saw that it was good after he created light, the land, the earth, the seas… as if he’s going wow that’s cool! He seems quite taken with the creation as it unfolds. In (v.24-25) he said “let us bring forth living creatures after their kind…” in vs 26 he says something quite different ‘let us make man in our image, according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds… and over all the earth…” Besides the fact that I always ask who is he talking to who is us? when I read that passage, God seems to make a distinction between man and animals here. Animals after their kind, Man [woman] in His image and likeness. The other thing that I find interesting is that at the end of chapter 1 God gives man and woman plants and fruits to eat. To the beasts he gives plants. I’m thinking hmmph I guess God’s original plan was for us to be Vegans? In chapter 2 you have God resting from his work and the creation story being repeated again except this time there is more detail on the creation of Eve. It is important to note that Eve was the crescendo of his creation the final touch on the canvas so to speak. In verse 18 God makes an interesting remark “it is not good for the man to be alone.” Perhaps this is why guys who are married tend to live longer than the ones who don’t. Anyway God said he will make him a helper suitable for him. In vs. 24 the foundation for marriage is set fort. In Genesis 3 the fall takes place and at the end Adam & Eve gets kicked out of the Garden of Eden and the trouble for all sons and daughters of Adam & Eve begins. The thing that struck me about the Fall is that Adam was right there when the snake was tempting Eve and he didn’t do anything about it, he was passive. I’ve always wondered what would have happened if Adam did not eat of the tree. Would God have exiled Eve and made Adam another one or what? At the end God also did not want them to eat from the tree of life after they had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil I’ve heard a few ideas on this but wonder what the consequence would have been if they had in fact eaten from this tree. Does anyone else out there get a kick out of all these important trees that were in the garden or is it just me. Imagine a garden full of trees that cured diseases and other ills. I find this whole garden fascinating and have wondered where this thing is and if you happen upon it if you can see the cherubim and flaming sword. I’ve got more than a few questions to ask on this matter eternity side.

• Genesis 4-6: Descendants of Adam & Eve- These stories are quite familiar to me and I didn’t have much of a problem with God rejecting Cain’s offering and accepting Abel’s it seems to me that Cain just didn’t give God his best he did the minimum while Abel gave God his firstlings of his flocks suggesting that he gave God the best. He was sincere. Cain’s later actions also tells me that his heart was not in the right place. He killed his brother in jealous anger and when God asked him what he had done he got annoyed and asked God if he was his brother’s keeper. The thing that I’ve always mused on here is vs. 14 “Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Who are these people that Cain & God is referring to and later on who is this wife of Cain? Did Cain marry his sister? Did God create some other folks and scatter them throughout the Earth after Adam & Eve? Are all these direct descendants of Adam & Eve? I guess the long life makes sense then… You can imagine the other questions I have here. Chapter 5 talks about the descendants of Adam and reads like a typical genealogical record not much to fuss over there except for those folks with long life. Methuselah was 969 years when he died (wow that’s almost 1000 years). What did these folks eat back in those days? Chapter 5 ends with Noah (the guy who built the ark). Chapter 6 opens up with a line in verse 2 that is quite odd to me “the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose”. Who are these? Then later on in verse 4 it talks about “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Besides the fact that this sounds like something out of LOTR (the Numenoreans) I’m wondering who these sons of God are and these Nephilim. Some folks have suggested that the sons of God refers to angels but you can understand this boggles the mind and lead to more questions and wonderings about this whole thing. maybe aliens aren’t so far fetched after all

• Genesis 7-9- The Flood & the Rainbow- Here we have the familiar story of God wiping out every living creature man, woman, beast and child upon the Earth (except for those in the ark) via flood (it rained for 150 days). I’ve always wondered what the people around Noah said to him when he was building the ark, and imagined the ridicule that he and his family must have endured during that time. The water eventually subsided and those in the ark came out. Interesting what God says to Noah about food… something changed from the story of Adam & Eve 3 “Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. 4 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Does this means its OK to eat meat now or what? Anyway, towards the end of the chapter God establishes a covenant with Noah and every living creature on the earth never to destroy the earth by flood again. The sign of His promise, a rainbow. I’ll like to dwell on the rainbow for a moment I find it fascinating that where I live the rainbow means something else entirely. There are many people with rainbows on their cars only it does not mean what God intended at all. I find this quite ironic.

• Genesis 10-12- The Descendants of Noah- The story of Abraham and Sarah is told here I don’t have much to comment on that one at all. Also there is the tower of Babel story which is a bit of interest to me since it seems that this has contributed to the creation of the many cultures and languages that exists today. I also found it fascinating that God did this on purpose and that his remark was “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. My mind begins to wonder here about the motivation and push us modern day folks seem to have of late for one universal language, governmental structure and such.

• Genesis 13-22- The rest of this section to chapter 32 has some interesting stories of Abraham & Sarah having a child in their old age (seems no big deal to me on account that Adam had Seth at 130 I’m assuming Eve was around the same age). What have always gotten me about this section is that Abraham was always hiding the fact that Sarah was his wife and getting the guys that would take her as wife in trouble with God. He did this a number of times and I found this quite annoying. Melchizedek is mentioned in Chapter 14 the importance being that he was both King & Priest.. a foreshadowing of Jesus. The Destruction of Sodom is presented in chapter 19. I’ve always wondered why Lot lived in that place if the outcry against it was so great that it went up to God. Then I wonder about where I live and what the outcry to God is regarding this City. I didn’t have much of an issue with Abraham willing to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham had heard so much from God and walked with him for so long that he figured God would provide a way out. The good news is that God did just that and Abraham’s willingness to offer God his only son was credited to him as righteousness. God later made a covenant with him in 16-18 of Chapter 22.

• Matthew 1-6: I always appreciated the book of Matthew perhaps because it is a very practical book. The first chapter lays out the genealogy of Jesus then moves on to his birth and the response of the Magi & Herod’s response. I thought it interesting that this beautiful story of the birth of Christ and the response of the magi is contrasted by such horrors as Herod’s actions in Chapter 2:16 and the eventual flight of Joseph and Mary to Nazareth. Chapter 3-4 is basically Jesus overcoming temptation (wish I can remember how he dealt with this in my own dealing with temptation), his baptism and the beginning of his ministry including the calling of his disciples. I thought it interesting that in 4:21 James and John just up and left their father Zebedee in the boat and followed Jesus. I’ve wondered would I have done the same if I was in that boat. Chapter 5 gives the famous sermon on the mount and in chapter 6 we are taught how to pray. I’ll end with that here:• “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

[posted with ecto]