Beginning Judges.

As we begin Judges according to my handy Chronological Study Bible we enter a new time. A time of great development and transition. Transition from tribes to a nation. The leaders change from tribal divinely appointed judges to a kingdom. In these terms these changes sound exciting. Gods chosen people will develop and advance as a society. The archaeological findings from the Canaanite cities show well built houses, paved floors, cities with public drainage systems and sophisticated pottery. The findings from the Isrealite settlements were very different. The homes were built with crude stones with no uniformity, the art and pottery was crude. According to the Chronological Study Bible this fits with the book of Judges that shows the Isrealites as a poor, oppressed people threatened by the superior cultures that were their neighbors.
As I have started Judges there have been some interesting methods of killing or injuring people. They have cut off thumbs and great toes and have driven tent pegs into the temple of a general. All very interesting however I'm good with not going into any more details. I know this may become a problem for me as I go on with my reading. I saw some previews for The Passion and the violence is one of the reason's I didn't go see it. I am honestly seeing that as one of my major obstacles far more than any boring law parts.

Deborah....who is this Deborah person...She is the first woman I've come across with a significant speech-y type few paragraphs. She's seems like quite the leader. She is a judge for the Isrealites. A female judge, a divinely appointed female judge. Cool. Anyway, She is instructed by God that they need to go to war. She calls to Barak but he won't go without her. (chicken) So she goes. SHE goes to war. OK...I'm really thinking she's pretty cool. She is a judge, God talks to her, and she goes to war because Barak is too chicken to go alone.
So I'm reading in my Women of Faith bible about this...I figured it would be a good resource. What does it go on to say...
It talks about Jael and how she drives the tent peg through Sisera's temple. It mentions that his people were brutally oppressing the Isrealites for years but does that make the way of killing him right? It then goes on to say
"Now God's judgement comes down through the act of a woman. Was the act God's will? Perhaps not. But it did fulfill God's purpose by ending the oppression of Isreal at the hands of the Canaanites."

Really??? Are you seriously saying that this perhaps was not God's will? It seems that he places people for a reason. He seems very deliberate in the people he chooses to do his work. It seems he wanted two women to have active roles. I refuse to accept that this was a mere accident that she happens to be at the tent...oh come on....would the guy walk up to another guy and say "Hey, can I lay down in your tent for a while."

Whatever Women of Faith Bible....I'm going with the thought that God had this planned. He used Deborah and Jael and they acted according to his wishes.  I'm going with the fact that thus far these two women have acted as God has wished and hopefully they won't screw it up like the Isrealites seem to screw up everything!

Is this impending doom?

If you haven't been able to tell from previous posts. I can be dramatic. I'm more dramatic in speech/writing than in person I like to believe.
I like to say 50 people were in line when in actuality it was probably 8 or I like to say impending doom when really I mean dread regarding a topic.

Here's my dread...
I'm reading in my Archaeological Bible tonight about my upcoming book...Judges. As you know I'm reading Chronologically so some of my readings have come from other books such as Psalm or Chronicles so far but the majority is by book. Anyway, I was reading the little summary about Judges and here's a few little sentences from the Introduction that has me worried.

1. "Repeatedly the Isrealites broke their covenant with God, lost sight of their identity as his people and experienced punishment.

Ugh...really Isrealites??? Why do you do this? What is wrong with you people???? I don't get it. God was there with them...how much more divine intervention can you get than being brought out of slavery, provided with land and your success in war being guaranteed and aided by God. You still can't figure out that this is probably the one to follow and to listen to his rules?? Ugh

2. "It was common practice in the ancient Near East to pphysically mutiliate prisoners of war, thereby rendering them unfit for future military service."
- I'm hoping this is just a fun fact to share and not something that will be referenced in Judges...you can probably tell from previous posts that I don't like reading about war, killing or mutiliation. I don't watch it on tv and I don't like to read about it. It is because my imagination is really good. I end up having dreams involving these creepy punishments or wars so I like to avoid these types of things all together.


We will see what Judges has to say.
Happy reading to anyone that is reading along.

You can always find the reading plan and get e-mails sent to your inbox for each of the readings either daily or weekly at www.oneyearbibleonline.com

Numbers through chapter 21

I am truly amazed at the Isrealites. My frustration with them grows with each chapter. They have these truly amazing acts occurring before their eyes and the next day they complain that Moses is killing everyone.
Everyone warned me that I would tire of the laws of Leviticus and it would test my perseverance but Numbers is testing it far more. I find myself rolling my eyes (it's uncontrollable for me) with each new complaint from the Isrealites.
Numbers 19 discusses in more detail clean and unclean. I love these laws of cleanliness. I appreciate them. However, dead bodies making people unclean. Well, I can see this. If one dies from a plague or disease it aids in sanitation to encourage a little quarantine for those that touched the body. I appreciate the washing however 3 days after touching the body seems like a while to wait.

I prefer to wash that night when I get home from work after some of the dead bodies I touch. While I have never realized I was "unclean" for the next 7 days I will admit it probably takes me about 7 days to stop thinking about it. In nursing a prehospital work dead bodies are a guarantee. I've seen alot of them. They occasionally bother me. Some more than others. The very few scary movies I have seen have stuck with me. So, it takes me about 7 days or so for the random flashes from the latest dead body to stop popping in my head. Does this happen to every nurse or paramedic? I don't know but it happens to me. I can't guarantee that it's 7 days....I said about. The bad one's stay there a lot longer.

Numbers highlights and scrolls

Continuing our journey through Numbers today. I have been sick for several days and today I'm starting to have more energy to resume my study of the bible. I have been reading my assigned readings daily but have not been able to research, cross reference and ponder the readings as usual. So I've been going back and reviewing, researching, and reading my multitude of resources about my transitions from Leviticus to Numbers. While this is not a dedicated summary of my readings for the past few days it is a list of things I've learned or key items/versus that I enjoy.
I have been referencing my wonderful Archaeological Bible (which if you don't already own this bible...hop to Amazon and order it...I'll wait)
I will also be referencing the "People of the Covenant. An Indroduction to the Old Testament" which I have borrowed from our hospital chaplain. (Also highly recommended)

Highlights and things I've learned

1. Numbers....doesn't mean Numbers like counting numbers or we are counting people...Numbers is hebrew for "in the desert"

2. God has an amazing amount of patience with the disobedient and whiny Isrealites.

3. It is believed that the numbering system was different then based on the numbers provided and all those math minded people trying to figure it out. There may have been translation or terminology variations with regard to the actual number of people in the desert.

4. OK...This is really cool....
"In 1979 archaeologists unearthed a burial site at Ketef Hinnom just south of Jerusalem, near the Biblical boundary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Excavated from within a burial repository were two small, rolled plaques of thin, pliable silver, each about the size of a credit card. When unrolled, they revealed delicately etched inscriptions that included a shortened version of the priestly benediction recorded in Numbers 6:24-26. One section has been translated as follows:
The Lord bless and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you and give you peace.


Archaeological and Paleographic evidence dates these plaques to the late seventeenth century BC, thereby making them the earliest written citations of Scripture." The Archaeological Bible.

5. It is interesting that despite the frequent disobedience God still remains with these people in the desert, guiding them, speaking to Moses frequently and creating the laws for their culture.

Verses I love:

Numbers 6:24-26 "The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord life you up His countenance upon you, And give you peace."
Numbers 10:9 "When you go to war in your land against the enemy who opresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God."

The Golden Calf and the not so Golden Isrealites

So I'm continuing my journey through Exodus and wondering how much more ridiculous the Isrealites can become. It seems with each page they are given food,water and provided for by God but the second something is uncomfortable or they have gone 30 minutes without some divine sign they are ready for a new God. While Moses is on the mountain talking to God and getting commandments the Isrealites are hanging around their tents bored and coming up with new Idols. They are like spoiled children. They are really kind of annoying to me.



God sees that they have made a Golden Calf as an Idol (a calf really?) and tells Moses he is going to show is wrath on those people and what does Moses do? He tells God...No don't do that. I'll go check it out and take the commandments with me. He gets to the bottom of the mountain where the Calf is and hears them singing about the calf, is furious, breaks the commandments (that GOD wrote....really Moses....you break those?......come on.....) and commands the followers of God to take their swords and kill those that do not follow God....
Really Moses??? Did you not read those commandments...Thall Shalt Not Kill....really? So you go command those to kill others. Ugh.
Then the Lord plagues whomever is left of the calf worshippers.

Exodus 34:17 - "You shall make no molded gods for yourselves"
So it is mentioned about 200 times that you shall not have any molded gods, no religious objects that you pray to. I'm curious if this stance will change as I progress through the bible. If not...I'm going to be very concerned about all those people that have crosses, figurines of Jesus, etc. It seems like (so far anyway) these items are a big No No. I know that God sent Jesus but still. Should the cross with Jesus on it or the cross be at the front of every church?

Exodus

This week is Exodus. I continue to admit that I know the name Moses...but my knowledge other than that is pretty minimal. This is not anyone's fault. I truly believe that my quest this year is supposed to happen. I have always been meant to create my own path and my beliefs will be after research, understanding and ultimately my decision. Well, I will take credit for this even though some of you reading my blog just laughed. I know you are laughing at the statement "ultimately my decision" but hey...that's where I'm at now.
Exodus. Wow. There's a lot here. I've been reading and wishing I had blogged as I went instead of this once a week-ish business. I'm not liking it and I will be going back to my more frequent blogging.
Chapter 2 is the birth of Moses and he is left in a basket near the Nile and the Pharaoh's daughter finds him and takes him as her own. It is very interesting that he is raised by the Egyptians but does not like them and flees. I wonder if the Pharaoh's daughter told him he was not Egyptian or if he could tell.
Chapter 3 is the burning bush. I'm sorry I know I should be somewhat serious but I just think of the Three Amigos standing at the Singing Bush.
In Chapter 3 God tells Moses that he is to go to the Pharaoh and demand the freedom of the Isrealites. Moses does not feel he is adequate for this task. Chapter 4 God does 3 different acts and gives Moses the ability to prove to the Pharaoh that God is with him.
1. He turns Moses' staff into a snake when it is thrown on the ground which turns back to a staff when Moses picks it up. I am not sure I would ever get my staff back if it turned into a snake.
2. Moses hand will turn leprous (various diseases affecting the hand, not necessarily leprosy - according to my Archaeological Bible) when he places it inside his cloak.
3. Moses is to take water from the Nile and pour it onto dry ground and it will become blood.
Moses meets up with his brother Aaron and they go together to the Pharaoh. God has told Moses that he will harden the Pharaoh's heart. This is interesting to me because God is hardening his heart and then all these plagues follow as a result of the continued hardening. I wonder how hardened his heart would have remained if God hadn't hardened it.
The Hebrew people were to make bricks without straw and were subjected to punishment when they were not able to keep up with their required amount of bricks produced.
Aaron and Moses both threw down their staffs infront of the Pharaoh and they became snakes. The magicians of the Pharaoh did the same and their staffs were then ate by Aaron's snake. The Nile river was turned to blood. Then their was the plague of frogs. Then the plague of Gnats. (which the frogs would have enjoyed) Then the plague of Flies (the frogs would have also enjoyed) Then the plague on Livestock sparing of course the Isrealites livestock, Then the plague of Boils (yuck...I can't imagine how bad it must have smelled after all these plagues) Next up was the Plague of Hail (good thing there weren't insurance companies then) Then the plague of locusts (I'm sure that was loud - frogs would have enjoyed this one too) Then the plague of Darkness. The really interesting thing about the plague of darkness is what I read in my Archaeological Bible about it. It says "The Plague of Darkness was almost certainly a challenge against Ra, an Egyptian sun god. This would have been a direct challenge to the Pharaoh, since Egyptian kings were referred as the sons of Ra." Ch.11 is the Plague on the firstborn. This is where the firstborn Egyptian son from every home as well as the firstborn of the cattle as well will die. However, the Isrealites will not be harmed.
Ch. 12 is the Passover. This is really neat. I really like this because I have heard of the passover but I had no idea what it was! Now I know!!! The lord told Moses and Aaron that on the tenth day of this month a lamb should be slaughtered. It was also careful to mention to only slaughter what will be eaten and if your household cannot eat an entire lamb to invite others and share but it must all be eaten. This is the beginning of rules including to take blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes, eat the meat roasted, Do not leave any of it till morning, any left must be burned, eat with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and staff in hand, eat in haste.
12:13 "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you." 12:14 "This is a day you are to commemorate, for generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord-a lasting ordinance."
12:42 "Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Isrealites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come."
Ch.13 discusses the consecration of the firstborn. It says the firstborn either man or animal belongs to the Lord. I am just curious what this means. So....are they sacrificed or is it just known that the firstborn holds higher value?
Later in Ch.13 Moses and the Isrealites leave Egypt and head toward the Red Sea. Moses is carrying Joseph's bones because Joseph did not want them to remain in Egypt. The lord guided them by a pillar of cloud during the day or a pillar of fire at night. The Egyptians went after the Isrealites and the Lord gave Moses the power to part the sea with his staff. The sea was parted and the Isrealites walked on dry ground through and when the Egyptians attemtpted to follow the water flowed back and none of them survived. The Isrealites saw this and put their trust in him and in Moses. This is amazing to me. All the plagues and all the other acts weren't enough to prove to them that the Lord was present. Wow talk about skeptics.

That's all for today. Next time continuing on through Exodus starting at Ch.15.