Entering the Deut.

I'm now into Deuteronomy. That word is daunting to me. I'm not sure why. I have no idea what to expect of this book. I've never read any of it.

I recently purchase a little flip chart type insertion for my bible. It's called the Bible Overview by Rose Publishings. It has neat little tidbits and overviews for each book of the bible. This is important and handy for someone like me who much of this is new and somewhat foreign. It is hard to keep everyone and everything straight.

Here is what is says about Deut.
Book - Deuteronomy
Who is the author - Moses
What is they type of writings - Sermons by Moses
Where was it written - Plains of Moab
When was it written - c. 1401bc - 1400bc
Why was it written - To remind the people what God expects from them
Outline -
- Sermon 1: Journey Review (1-4)
- Sermon 2: Laws (5-28)
- Sermon 3: Covenant (29-30)
- Final Farewells (31-34)
Key Verse
Hear, O Isreal:The Lord our God, The Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your strength. Deut.6:4,5

I have mentioned before that I have book addictions. When I see my mom and sisters I understand that I come by it honestly. We are all the same. We all have tons of books and many of which we have and enjoy for their beauty as well as their content. I have decided that one day when I win the lottery my home will feature a beautiful library.

In surfing for a picture for the bible overview I have a stumbled onto another book to add to my amazon wish list. Rose publishers have some really interesting books and this is one of them.

I'm thinking I could get away with purchasing this book because it technically isn't a bible. (Which my husband has nicely banned me from buying any more of.)

On a side note also related to bibles...The past weekend when spending time with my husbands family I was reminded by his aunt that she had given us a bible for our wedding present. I had an immediate sinking feeling as I didn't know where it was. I must painfully admit that at the time of our wedding I had no interest in the bible, nor had I ever before. So, honestly and selfishly I did not treasure the gift as I should have. During that weekend my mind began to race. Surely, I would still have the bible somewhere in my house. Was it on my bookshelves and I didn't realize it? Was it in a box with other wedding gifts? The location and mental searching continued the entire weekend. I must admit the mental searching and immediate guilt was thought consuming. When I got home I told my husband about the bible and that we absolutely had to find it. I had my search mentally narrowed to 2 different locations and began immediately. It was within minutes that I found the bible. Sigh of relief! I immediately floated upstairs to my husband and showed him the bible. Sent a message to his aunt that I found it. It now resides on my bedside table as it should. Here's a picture of it. I am thinking along with my library in my fantasy house I will also have a bookshelf next to my bed as I keep alot of special books there. Is it normal for people to keep their favorite or more treasured books next to their bed?

I've got to get back to Deuteronomy and I must say that since I have read that Moses will not be able to go to the promise land but can only see it from a mountain top I feel bad for him. He did God's work, put up with those whining Isrealites for over 40 years and wasn't able to even enjoy the promise land for one day.

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."

Finishing up Leviticus and starting Numbers

We are through Leviticus and I've gotta tell ya...not bad. Everyone warned me that it would be a challenging read and boring and potentially would bother me with all the rules but really it was entertaining in parts. I do have to say as a nurse a big thank you for those rules about cleanliness and frequent washings especially with regard to drainage/discharge. Although, it is apparent that some people have not read the bible and do not follow this rule. I honestly can say I'm not surprised at the correlation. Yet another reason we need to focus a little more on religion in our society. CLEANLINESS!!

Leviticus 26:44 "yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God."

I like this because it shows God's nature that even though he can be very harsh and has his expectations if you are in need he is always present. He will not turn you away.

Numbers - the census and continuing in laws (according to the little summary at the beginning of my Chronological Study Bible)

So it seems according to the numbers that there are possibly 603,550 men of age to fight in a war. So between the ages of 20 and above. It doesn't specify to what age and considering the amount of travel thus far and the living conditions in Egypt. I can't imagine they have a long life span. Anyway...thought it might be interesting to see where the Isralei military is now. 2000+ years later.
Here's their numbers according to my ever faithful Wikipedia. 187,000 active personnel and 565,000 reserve personnel, all isralei citizens male and female are required to join the military at age 18 unless there is a reason for them not to go such as being Arab, religious preference, physical or psychological reasons. Women are required to serve for 2 years and men 3 years. They have a very large number of "available for military service" numbers that can be utilized if necessary.

OK back to Numbers. The Levites were not counted in this census because they were assigned by God for a different task. They were to care for the Tabernacle of the Testimony, over all it's furnishings and all things related to it. While I'm sure war is not an appealing option nor is the wrath of God if you put one of those fiber vails in the wrong place.

After the census it just amazes me that all these people are just hanging out in the desert. They have to take up a lot of room even if this is the desert. That's a lot of people to stick in the desert to go unnoticed. How did Moses communicate with all these people. There weren't t.v's,newspapers, nothing. How did they all know that they were in the desert for a reason. A good reason and just keep hanging out. Surely they didn't all know that all the sacrificing of animals was going on...all 600,000 and that's just the men of war age...
How would they know anything that was going on. Was someone blogging all this??? Yep, that's how we ended up with the bible right?

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 through Chapter 19

I apologize for the slight delay in my posting. I am a part time college student and I had to spend the past two days doing not so fun research on bioethics and nursing history...blah!
But, I'm done for today. I can't take anymore. I attempted to work on a worksheet and I have a test Friday on APA style of writing but I just can't go there right now. I really dislike that and I'm not looking forward to it at all. Luckily, the test is open book.
Anyway, on to fun stuff....Exodus!
Moses has lead the Israelites out of Egypt, through the red sea and now into the desert. The Isrealites sang the praises of God after the Red Sea engulfed the Pharaoh's army. That was quite short lived however, They traveled into the desert and on the third day they were after Moses to provide water and food for them. He spoke to God and water was provided then Manna and Quail were provided. The Manna when it was described reminded me of the bread at church. The little round pieces of whatever those are. Exodus 16:14 "When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor."
Naturally the Isrealites did not listen to Moses and took more than they were supposed to of the bread and it turned into maggots. Then there is another great line. Exodus 16:32 "This is what the Lord has commanded:Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt."
Again in the very next paragraph the Isrealites are after Moses for God not providing water. It seems their faith is very weak considering all the signs God has given them. They still feel certain that the shall never want again and that he should provide for them without their asking.

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.