It's been a while since I've been able to sit and read. I just started some vacation time and now this morning am sitting on my deck, first to read, and now type. All accompanied by my faithful companion - a Diet Coke.
Judges is full of a bunch of crazy characters and stories. Every other page, the author tells the reader that this all happened before Israel had a king, so people just did what they thought was right.
There's Ehud, who killed Eglon, the King of Moab. Eglon was so fat that when Ehud put the sword in his stomach, even the handle got swallowed up by his fat.
Debaroh led an attack, and when her enemy Sisera hid in Jael's tent, Jael hammered his head to the ground with a tent peg. That's gotta hurt.
Gideon had an angel appear to him, and then God himself. I've always heard people talk about Gideon and elevate him, but when reading for myself, he was doubtful & fearful. He needed proof that it was God, then was afraid of his family. As the attack is being planned, God said, if you're still afraid, sneak into the enemy camp and you'll see that I will deliver them to you. Gideon snuck in. The author went out of his way to tell us Gideon was afraid and doubted.
After all that, "Gideon returned to his home in Ophrah and had the gold made into a statue, which the Israelites soon started worshipping" (8:27-29, CEV).
Abimelech, Gideon's son, killed all his brothers except Jotham, who in turn put a curse on him and those who installed him as "king." They eventually all got what was coming to them. Abimelech was died after a woman dropped a rock on his head and in his desire to not be killed by a woman, asked one of his men to run him through with a sword. Hmmm.
Jephthah, the son of a hooker, was used to deliver Israel. Then, made a promise to sacrifice the first person who greeted him upon his return. Not a lot of thought went into that promise - it was his daughter. He eventually sacrificed her.
Samson got a lot of time devoted to him in this book. He was chosen before he was born, did significant feats of strength against the Philistines, and gets smitten by a woman destined to be his downfall. He walks right into it, gets his eyes plucked out and eventually dies a cinematic death by taking out thousands of Philistines when he collapsed a roof.
The final story is a cornucopia of crazy. A Levite man visits Gibeah in Benjamin. Some of the locals demand his host sends him out so they can rape him. He sends out his wife, and the rape her so bad she dies. The Levite cuts up her body in twleve pieces, sends a piece to each tribe with a message. Fast forward, and the other eleven tribes attack Benjamin & defeats them, but only after thousands of people are killed on both sides. Then, they make promises not to let there daughters marry the few Benjaminites that are left, so they come up with a plan to manipulate the promise to give them wives.
All this happened before Israel had a king.
So, I'm sitting here, wondering what is my take-away. What have I learned and how am I better for reading this? What does God want me to learn?
God uses people who are messed up. Sure, killing and wars were a way of life then. It was civilized at that time, although it's hard for me to wrap my head around. But, the one constant is his people kept turning their backs on him and he kept saving their backsides. He's merciful and faithful; we're not. For sure, if Gideon, with all his doubt and then Samson, being stupid and arrogant as he was, could be used by God to do such great things, then he can use me with all my screw-ups.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Joshua
7:14 am. I’m actually writing this note before I write anything about Deuteronomy. It took me a few days to get through Deuteronomy only because work and church have monopolized my time. Right now I’m out of the city at a workshop, all my colleagues are probably only now getting ready for the day, but I was able to get up early and read Joshua. What’s weird though is we’re at this fancy resort, and they don’t have Internet access. I typed this in Word initially and copied it later (as per the time stamp).
Now, Moses died before Joshua did all these things written here, but something occurred to me about Moses as I read Joshua. If the speeches are any indication as they are recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, Moses certainly talked a lot. I say that because the first half of Joshua is action based, clearly outlining the people that Israel defeated and how they acquired the Promised Land. Most of the last half explains the boundaries of this land, but only the last couple pages are dedicated to speeches given by Joshua.
I think it is interesting, because when God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, Moses made up excuses why he could not; Exodus 4:10 (CEV) – “Moses replied: ‘I have never been a good speaker. I wasn’t one before you spoke to me, and I’m not one now. I am slow at speaking, and I can never think of what to say.’” So God promised to give him the words, but Moses still wasn’t satisfied, so God gave him Aaron, his brother, to help him.
Fast forward to Joshua’s book, and I’m reminded of Moses self-perceived weakness and God’s promise. Moses talked a heck of a lot more than Joshua. After reading Joshua, I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness to Moses.
As for Joshua, I have to say I enjoyed it, but all the details on the verbal maps were a bit much. I suppose if I knew more about the geography of Israel it might make more sense. I may come back to Joshua one day with the goal of studying these maps more closely, just to see how it lines up with today’s Israel. I‘m sure it has implications to the current fighting between Israel and Palestine.
I think it’s odd how in some cases God told Joshua to wipe out everything in a city, and in other cases they could keep things. It seems it was simply an issue of obedience. People disobey, they die; people obey, they get the Promise. Pretty simple, really.
All in all though, Joshua (the book) is cool because it describes in intricate detail how God allowed his people to collect on his promise to give them this land, a promise that was in place when Moses brought them out of Egypt. A promise that was kept by God, as he said he would, after 40 years of waiting. Inasmuch as he promised to help Moses to speak and kept it, he gave his people the land they were told they’d get.
Now, Moses died before Joshua did all these things written here, but something occurred to me about Moses as I read Joshua. If the speeches are any indication as they are recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, Moses certainly talked a lot. I say that because the first half of Joshua is action based, clearly outlining the people that Israel defeated and how they acquired the Promised Land. Most of the last half explains the boundaries of this land, but only the last couple pages are dedicated to speeches given by Joshua.
I think it is interesting, because when God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, Moses made up excuses why he could not; Exodus 4:10 (CEV) – “Moses replied: ‘I have never been a good speaker. I wasn’t one before you spoke to me, and I’m not one now. I am slow at speaking, and I can never think of what to say.’” So God promised to give him the words, but Moses still wasn’t satisfied, so God gave him Aaron, his brother, to help him.
Fast forward to Joshua’s book, and I’m reminded of Moses self-perceived weakness and God’s promise. Moses talked a heck of a lot more than Joshua. After reading Joshua, I’m reminded of God’s faithfulness to Moses.
As for Joshua, I have to say I enjoyed it, but all the details on the verbal maps were a bit much. I suppose if I knew more about the geography of Israel it might make more sense. I may come back to Joshua one day with the goal of studying these maps more closely, just to see how it lines up with today’s Israel. I‘m sure it has implications to the current fighting between Israel and Palestine.
I think it’s odd how in some cases God told Joshua to wipe out everything in a city, and in other cases they could keep things. It seems it was simply an issue of obedience. People disobey, they die; people obey, they get the Promise. Pretty simple, really.
All in all though, Joshua (the book) is cool because it describes in intricate detail how God allowed his people to collect on his promise to give them this land, a promise that was in place when Moses brought them out of Egypt. A promise that was kept by God, as he said he would, after 40 years of waiting. Inasmuch as he promised to help Moses to speak and kept it, he gave his people the land they were told they’d get.
Deuteronomy
7:34 am. Deuteronomy was interesting to read immediately after Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, because it is simply a repeat of the events and laws of those books. Moses summarizes a lot of things from before, and draws special attention to them.
As indicated in my notes about Joshua, I’m actually writing these reflections after I’ve written about Joshua, so my thoughts are not as fresh. It’s been a wacky few days. Nonetheless, there were a couple things that stand out in my mind.
The promise God made in Leviticus 26 is essentially repeated here: Deuteronomy 4:29-32 (CEV) – “In all of your troubles, you may finally decide that you want to worship only the Lord. And if you turn back to him and obey him completely, he will again be your God. The Lord your God will have mercy – he won’t destroy you or desert you. The Lord will remember his promise, and he will keep the agreement he made with your ancestors.”
I have to say, God, being all-knowing and not constrained by time, knew that his people would turn from him, and knowing that, made up his mind that if they turned back to him, he’d take them. Jesus shared the same sentiment in the story of the Prodigal Son. Turn our backs, sin, but come back and he will accept us with arms wide open.
Then, reading the laws, which indicate the kinds of sin Israel was capable of, and reading about the actual sins, makes me appreciate even more the depth of this promise. It’s not like we are fooling around and flirting with some sin – this stuff was blatant, and God was willing to take them back.
A couple other specific sentences stand out:
10:12-13 (CEV) – “People of Israel, what does the Lord your God want from you? The Lord wants you to follow him, to love and serve him with all your heart and soul, and to obey his laws and teachings that I am giving to you today. Do this, and all will go well for you.”
10:16 (CEV) – “Remember your agreement with the Lord and stop being so stubborn.”
That one’s a mouthful. Stubborn.
Perhaps the one section the stands out the most, though, is 15:4-11. It starts with “No one in Israel should ever be poor” and ends with “There will always be some Israelites who are poor and needy.” Later, in 27:14-26, Moses declares some curses, one of which was “We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who keeps the poor from getting justice, whether those poor are foreigners, widows, or orphans.” So, the poor are important.
This hit me for a couple reasons:
1. I know a bunch of Christians that say Christians shouldn’t be poor, which agrees with the first statement, but they say it in such a way that we’re sinning if we’re poor. Yet, later it says there will be poor, and that the ones who are well off should be happy to give to them, that it will make them successful.
2. My work is essentially with poor people. It encourages me to think that this might apply to me, that by being happy giving to the poor, the Lord might make me successful in everything I do.
Now, I’m not doing it to be successful. It’s not what I aspire to, it’s simply a matter or fact or progression. As well, I don’t define “successful” as money. I’m really not sure how I define “successful.” I’m sure God has a different definition than the rest of the world, but I know it’s good. If God says I’ll be successful, then whatever that looks like will be a good thing, and I like that.
As indicated in my notes about Joshua, I’m actually writing these reflections after I’ve written about Joshua, so my thoughts are not as fresh. It’s been a wacky few days. Nonetheless, there were a couple things that stand out in my mind.
The promise God made in Leviticus 26 is essentially repeated here: Deuteronomy 4:29-32 (CEV) – “In all of your troubles, you may finally decide that you want to worship only the Lord. And if you turn back to him and obey him completely, he will again be your God. The Lord your God will have mercy – he won’t destroy you or desert you. The Lord will remember his promise, and he will keep the agreement he made with your ancestors.”
I have to say, God, being all-knowing and not constrained by time, knew that his people would turn from him, and knowing that, made up his mind that if they turned back to him, he’d take them. Jesus shared the same sentiment in the story of the Prodigal Son. Turn our backs, sin, but come back and he will accept us with arms wide open.
Then, reading the laws, which indicate the kinds of sin Israel was capable of, and reading about the actual sins, makes me appreciate even more the depth of this promise. It’s not like we are fooling around and flirting with some sin – this stuff was blatant, and God was willing to take them back.
A couple other specific sentences stand out:
10:12-13 (CEV) – “People of Israel, what does the Lord your God want from you? The Lord wants you to follow him, to love and serve him with all your heart and soul, and to obey his laws and teachings that I am giving to you today. Do this, and all will go well for you.”
10:16 (CEV) – “Remember your agreement with the Lord and stop being so stubborn.”
That one’s a mouthful. Stubborn.
Perhaps the one section the stands out the most, though, is 15:4-11. It starts with “No one in Israel should ever be poor” and ends with “There will always be some Israelites who are poor and needy.” Later, in 27:14-26, Moses declares some curses, one of which was “We ask the Lord to put a curse on anyone who keeps the poor from getting justice, whether those poor are foreigners, widows, or orphans.” So, the poor are important.
This hit me for a couple reasons:
1. I know a bunch of Christians that say Christians shouldn’t be poor, which agrees with the first statement, but they say it in such a way that we’re sinning if we’re poor. Yet, later it says there will be poor, and that the ones who are well off should be happy to give to them, that it will make them successful.
2. My work is essentially with poor people. It encourages me to think that this might apply to me, that by being happy giving to the poor, the Lord might make me successful in everything I do.
Now, I’m not doing it to be successful. It’s not what I aspire to, it’s simply a matter or fact or progression. As well, I don’t define “successful” as money. I’m really not sure how I define “successful.” I’m sure God has a different definition than the rest of the world, but I know it’s good. If God says I’ll be successful, then whatever that looks like will be a good thing, and I like that.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Numbers
Numbers was a bit of a tough read. More sacrifices, more laws and a few interesting stories. But, I got through it in two sittings, which was my goal - try to see the whole thing as, well, a whole.
Of course the title of the book is a dead giveaway as to what happens - Moses counts the Israelites. Then, after some laws and instructions on sacrifices, and some stories, counts them again. Between counts, God killed a bunch of them for disobedience.
The Israelites got a bit more agressive in Numbers with their sins. Before, they would grumble and complain about the lack of food or water and say they wanted to go back to Egypt. Now, they're starting revolts and rebellions trying to take over leadership from Moses. Even Aaron got upset at one point, with his sister, but Moses and God straightened them out. He's one of the few that didn't get killed for it.
God was creative in the punishment as well. He didn't just kill them with disease, but had them swallowed by the ground at one point. Now that's a cool effect to put in a movie. A couple times Moses had to beg God not to kill off the works of them.
The odd part for me was about Balaam. He refused to curse the Israelites, as requested by a king, and instead spoke blessing over them four times. It's odd because he was not an Israelite, yet he is presented as serving the same God. Second, when the Israelites conquered Midian, Moses makes it a point to say they killed Balaam, son of Peor. Odd.
Either way, the Israelites are still messed up in Numbers, if not worse, but more organized about it and in the end, still favoured and protected by God. This is good. My wife and I just made public a decision we believe God wanted us to make. It's good to know he has our backs.
Of course the title of the book is a dead giveaway as to what happens - Moses counts the Israelites. Then, after some laws and instructions on sacrifices, and some stories, counts them again. Between counts, God killed a bunch of them for disobedience.
The Israelites got a bit more agressive in Numbers with their sins. Before, they would grumble and complain about the lack of food or water and say they wanted to go back to Egypt. Now, they're starting revolts and rebellions trying to take over leadership from Moses. Even Aaron got upset at one point, with his sister, but Moses and God straightened them out. He's one of the few that didn't get killed for it.
God was creative in the punishment as well. He didn't just kill them with disease, but had them swallowed by the ground at one point. Now that's a cool effect to put in a movie. A couple times Moses had to beg God not to kill off the works of them.
The odd part for me was about Balaam. He refused to curse the Israelites, as requested by a king, and instead spoke blessing over them four times. It's odd because he was not an Israelite, yet he is presented as serving the same God. Second, when the Israelites conquered Midian, Moses makes it a point to say they killed Balaam, son of Peor. Odd.
Either way, the Israelites are still messed up in Numbers, if not worse, but more organized about it and in the end, still favoured and protected by God. This is good. My wife and I just made public a decision we believe God wanted us to make. It's good to know he has our backs.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Leviticus
What a trip. I finished reading Leviticus yesterday morning. Some of the laws were pretty insane, but I guess at the time it must have been common practice so God needed to tell the Israelites not to be engaged in certain things. A lot was said about 1. Sacrifices, 2. Sex, and 3. Mold. There are very specific guidelines as to how to deal with mold. Lots of opportunity for humour, if you ask me.
But really, I walked away from the book with two things: 1. People sinned as much then as they do now, and 2. We really needed Jesus to come and fulfill this law and be the sacrifice once for all. The amount of sacrifice required otherwise is crazy.
In the midst of the blessings for obedience and cursing for disobedience, God makes one simple statement that speaks to his faithfulness: 26:44-45 (CEV) - No matter what you have done, I am still the LORD your God, and I will never completely reject you or become absolutely disgusted with you there in the land of your enemies. While nations watched, I rescued your ancestors from Egypt so that I would be their God. Yes, I am your LORD, and I will never forget our agreement.
Next stop: Numbers.
But really, I walked away from the book with two things: 1. People sinned as much then as they do now, and 2. We really needed Jesus to come and fulfill this law and be the sacrifice once for all. The amount of sacrifice required otherwise is crazy.
In the midst of the blessings for obedience and cursing for disobedience, God makes one simple statement that speaks to his faithfulness: 26:44-45 (CEV) - No matter what you have done, I am still the LORD your God, and I will never completely reject you or become absolutely disgusted with you there in the land of your enemies. While nations watched, I rescued your ancestors from Egypt so that I would be their God. Yes, I am your LORD, and I will never forget our agreement.
Next stop: Numbers.
Monday, June 06, 2005
Exodus
The first thing that struck me as I read Exodus yesterday and today was that Moses powered through over 400 years of history in order to introduce himself, then he says about himself: "He was a beautiful Child." Third person, and confident.
The second thing I realized was after I got to 13:19 (CEV) - "Moses had them take along the bones of Joseph, whose dying words had been, "God will come to your rescue, and when he does, be sure to take along my bones." This got me thinking about Joseph. He told his brothers, as recorded in Genesis, that it was God's plan all along for him to be in Egypt; they sold him to slavery, but God intended it for good, in order to save Israel. So, God lead the Israelites into Egypt, knowing full well the 400 or so years that would pass and move them from prominent and honoured among the Egyptians to slaves of the Egyptians. Then, to show his glory, God would deliver them.
Even as God was working in Pharoah, God allowed him or caused him to become stubborn, so that the Israelites could remember how God saved them. God was writing history for his glory. I'm not sure what to do with that just yet.
Another thing I see is the constant excuses and mistakes of the Israelites. It seems the only reason they were God's people and he was watching over them was because he chose to do so. There's been no change since Genesis - the people were still messing up. Right from the getgo, God tells Moses he will deliver his people, and Moses comes up with an excuse - "Yeah, about that God, here's the thing, I'm not good at public speaking." God finally convinces him he can do it by getting the assistance from his older brother, Aaron.
Then, once God delivers his people and they leave, even after all the miracles to get them out, including walking across the dry bed of a sea, they complain and gripe asking where is God, will he let them die, they'd be better off as slaves, and so on. Each time, God in his patience, sometimes with Moses' convincing, makes himself known to them. Even Aaron made excuses about the idol he built for the people while Moses was on the mountain - 32:22 (CEV) - "You know as well as I do that they are determined to do evil."
Moses covers a lot of ground in the first half, taking us through dozens of stories to get to the point where he is able to tell us about God's laws. Twenty chapters of laws on two stone tablets. It must have been big tablets or some seriously small font. Either way, Moses was very deliberate to tell us about the laws. In fact, in great detail he records it as God told him, then he records it again as he told the people and as it was being built. Obviously, it was very important. It made me be thankful that Paul in his writings tells us that we're no longer under law, but grace. I don't think we'd be looked too kindly upon now if we were killing rams and smearing their blood over stuff now. Of course, the Israelites sinned a lot, so it required a lot of blood.
The book began and ended in the same theme. The beginning records how God helped his people leave Egypt and at the end he is still directing them, but in a means that is visible to all of them - a cloud by day and a cloud of fire by night. All he seemed to want was to be in realtionship with them, and this book sets out the guidelines or infrastructure for that to happen.
I remember two incidents in Genesis and at least one in Exodus where Moses says specifically that someone looked at God, or was in his presence, and lived to tell about it. As a matter of fact, they seemed surprised that they walked away from it. No wonder so many rules and directives were necessary. If God's people recklessly came into his presence, it's a good chance they wouldn't live to tell about it, then God wouldn't have a people to have a relationship with and someone to show his glory through. The rules were necessary in order to let them live to enjoy his blessing. I don't think I ever saw that before.
The second thing I realized was after I got to 13:19 (CEV) - "Moses had them take along the bones of Joseph, whose dying words had been, "God will come to your rescue, and when he does, be sure to take along my bones." This got me thinking about Joseph. He told his brothers, as recorded in Genesis, that it was God's plan all along for him to be in Egypt; they sold him to slavery, but God intended it for good, in order to save Israel. So, God lead the Israelites into Egypt, knowing full well the 400 or so years that would pass and move them from prominent and honoured among the Egyptians to slaves of the Egyptians. Then, to show his glory, God would deliver them.
Even as God was working in Pharoah, God allowed him or caused him to become stubborn, so that the Israelites could remember how God saved them. God was writing history for his glory. I'm not sure what to do with that just yet.
Another thing I see is the constant excuses and mistakes of the Israelites. It seems the only reason they were God's people and he was watching over them was because he chose to do so. There's been no change since Genesis - the people were still messing up. Right from the getgo, God tells Moses he will deliver his people, and Moses comes up with an excuse - "Yeah, about that God, here's the thing, I'm not good at public speaking." God finally convinces him he can do it by getting the assistance from his older brother, Aaron.
Then, once God delivers his people and they leave, even after all the miracles to get them out, including walking across the dry bed of a sea, they complain and gripe asking where is God, will he let them die, they'd be better off as slaves, and so on. Each time, God in his patience, sometimes with Moses' convincing, makes himself known to them. Even Aaron made excuses about the idol he built for the people while Moses was on the mountain - 32:22 (CEV) - "You know as well as I do that they are determined to do evil."
Moses covers a lot of ground in the first half, taking us through dozens of stories to get to the point where he is able to tell us about God's laws. Twenty chapters of laws on two stone tablets. It must have been big tablets or some seriously small font. Either way, Moses was very deliberate to tell us about the laws. In fact, in great detail he records it as God told him, then he records it again as he told the people and as it was being built. Obviously, it was very important. It made me be thankful that Paul in his writings tells us that we're no longer under law, but grace. I don't think we'd be looked too kindly upon now if we were killing rams and smearing their blood over stuff now. Of course, the Israelites sinned a lot, so it required a lot of blood.
The book began and ended in the same theme. The beginning records how God helped his people leave Egypt and at the end he is still directing them, but in a means that is visible to all of them - a cloud by day and a cloud of fire by night. All he seemed to want was to be in realtionship with them, and this book sets out the guidelines or infrastructure for that to happen.
I remember two incidents in Genesis and at least one in Exodus where Moses says specifically that someone looked at God, or was in his presence, and lived to tell about it. As a matter of fact, they seemed surprised that they walked away from it. No wonder so many rules and directives were necessary. If God's people recklessly came into his presence, it's a good chance they wouldn't live to tell about it, then God wouldn't have a people to have a relationship with and someone to show his glory through. The rules were necessary in order to let them live to enjoy his blessing. I don't think I ever saw that before.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Genesis
Today I read the book of Genesis. I don't recall ever reading it through before in one sitting, but I did it today. What happened? I've just finished reading a few books that have challenged me in a big way: The Barbarian Way, Blue Like Jazz and Searching for God Knows What. All three are very good books. Anyhow, the authors (Erwin McManus and Don Miller) both seem to have some keen insights into Scripture, and one thing I noticed as I read their books was the ease with which I could reference parts or themes in their their books after the fact, like it actually stuck in my brain.
Growing up in church, I was preached at from the King James Version and was told I needed to read God's Word. However, I rarely understood it and often fell asleep or drifted into Neverland (not Michael Jackson's place - it wasn't around).
A few years ago the Canadian Bible Society published the Contemporary English Version (CEV), which I have been flirting with but have never fully converted. After reading the three other books recently and thinking about how I might get something fresh from the Bible, I thought I'd experiment - read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation, one book at a time and as much as possible, one book each sitting, each book as it was meant - a book. Today was my first day.
It all starts like we remember it: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." I heard a fellow preach once for two hours on "In the beginning God" -- I have no idea what it was about, because how do you talk about such a small topic for two hours? God was before it all. It takes longer to type than to say it. Either way, it turns out I could have read Genesis from 1 to 50 during that sermon.
It's funny. Moses..... Now, there's another thing. My sister-in-law is a seminary student so I told her I was going to read Genesis by Moses. Turns out Moses may not have written the whole thing. You'd think I would know that. Anyway, Moses starts out with this glorious story about how God systematically created the heavens and the earth, one day at a time, culminating with man and woman, and then he took a break. It's a beautiful story, and reading it from a different translation helped me appreciate it like a new book I hadn't read before.
Then Moses goes a little more in depth about God's interactions with Adam and Eve, and it all goes downhill from there. Each story Moses tells is essentially the same: Man does something stupid, somebody gets hurt, God tries again. When we get to Noah, God seems to have had enough, destroys the whole lot of it and starts over with Noah's family. Abraham lost his patience and had a child by his wife's slave, then he and Sarah had their own, Isaac. Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him the birthright entitled to his brother Esau. Joseph's brothers pretended he was dead and sold him such that he ended up with the Egyptians. Joseph ends up in charge of Egypt and saves his family, but not before toying with his brothers for what they did.
In the midst of it all, God seems to be trying to get through to these people, wanting to be in relationship with them, performing miracles for and through them. Man keeps doing stupid stuff, God keeps promising them his blessings.
Then, I got to the last verse of Genesis: "So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of one hundred ten: his body was embalmed and put in a coffin." How's that for irony? It starts with creation, it ends in death.
65 more books to go. If I didn't know the end of the story, I'd expect that God would give up on us.
Growing up in church, I was preached at from the King James Version and was told I needed to read God's Word. However, I rarely understood it and often fell asleep or drifted into Neverland (not Michael Jackson's place - it wasn't around).
A few years ago the Canadian Bible Society published the Contemporary English Version (CEV), which I have been flirting with but have never fully converted. After reading the three other books recently and thinking about how I might get something fresh from the Bible, I thought I'd experiment - read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation, one book at a time and as much as possible, one book each sitting, each book as it was meant - a book. Today was my first day.
It all starts like we remember it: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." I heard a fellow preach once for two hours on "In the beginning God" -- I have no idea what it was about, because how do you talk about such a small topic for two hours? God was before it all. It takes longer to type than to say it. Either way, it turns out I could have read Genesis from 1 to 50 during that sermon.
It's funny. Moses..... Now, there's another thing. My sister-in-law is a seminary student so I told her I was going to read Genesis by Moses. Turns out Moses may not have written the whole thing. You'd think I would know that. Anyway, Moses starts out with this glorious story about how God systematically created the heavens and the earth, one day at a time, culminating with man and woman, and then he took a break. It's a beautiful story, and reading it from a different translation helped me appreciate it like a new book I hadn't read before.
Then Moses goes a little more in depth about God's interactions with Adam and Eve, and it all goes downhill from there. Each story Moses tells is essentially the same: Man does something stupid, somebody gets hurt, God tries again. When we get to Noah, God seems to have had enough, destroys the whole lot of it and starts over with Noah's family. Abraham lost his patience and had a child by his wife's slave, then he and Sarah had their own, Isaac. Jacob tricked Isaac into giving him the birthright entitled to his brother Esau. Joseph's brothers pretended he was dead and sold him such that he ended up with the Egyptians. Joseph ends up in charge of Egypt and saves his family, but not before toying with his brothers for what they did.
In the midst of it all, God seems to be trying to get through to these people, wanting to be in relationship with them, performing miracles for and through them. Man keeps doing stupid stuff, God keeps promising them his blessings.
Then, I got to the last verse of Genesis: "So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of one hundred ten: his body was embalmed and put in a coffin." How's that for irony? It starts with creation, it ends in death.
65 more books to go. If I didn't know the end of the story, I'd expect that God would give up on us.
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