May 19 The Feasts of Israel

Ah, boy, mothers got named for evil-king sons too. It was nice while it lasted, I guess.

Josiah was the best king ever. I wonder what the people thought about his reforms. Did they grumble and complain? Did ancient Israelites adjust to change readily? Did they think it was ridiculous to reinstate Passover? My guess is that they secretly hated Josiah’s reforms because they backtracked very soon and because the remnant fled to Egypt so quickly because they feared the Chaldeans. Egypt…the pharaoh of which struck down Josiah the moment he saw him, as opposed to the Chaldeans, who don’t sound so bad in this portion of scripture. Egypt…where Israel had been slaves.

People had trouble believing Jesus – even his brothers weren’t believers. Would I have believed?

How low can you go?

You can get very low. You can:

• continue to make sacrifices in high places – for years and years
• carry out a palace coup and sit on the throne as a pretender
• rip open pregnant women
• burn your children as sacrificial offerings
• become stubborn and despise the statutes of the Lord
• follow the example of other nations and make all kinds of idols

And the Lord still gave Israel a savior. He gave him for all of us, no matter how low we sink.

I mentioned this in AIM, but you didn’t reply, Jayce, so here it is again – just something that makes me wonder:

In Kings, when they name a king they tell whether he did good in the sight of the Lord or evil in the sight of the Lord. If he did good, they tell who his mother was. If he did evil they omit the mother. Weird, huh?

Edited to add: I decided it is a good thing because mothers only have to take credit for their good kids, and mothers of rotten kids can hide behind anonymity.

Offering up your son

Great wrath against Israel.

I wonder what the connection is.

Elijah and Elisha’s succession reminds me of Jesus and Peter. They both do the same thing three times (going through the same conversation) as a form of rhetoric, but also as a pointer of what was to come. What a strong connection.

It’s been a while

I feel like Ahaziah. I should wait for God. Instead, I look for an answer anywhere else. How long should I wait? How long should I despair? I lay by the wayside.

A Broom Tree

Another tree:

April 17: A Tamarisk Tree

I have no clue about these things. I have no talents, and horticulture is one of the more lacking abilities in my arsenal. This is a Tamarisk tree. I like it. I think the density of the leaves would create a nice shady place to cool off.  I see why Saul would be holding court there.

April 18: From Whom Do You Learn?

1 Samuel 25-26 Abigail! I love her; she’s discerning and beautiful. I had a discussion with a philosophy student last summer, who said the more important thing was that she was beautiful. I happen to think that her appearance was incidental and her discernment was her saving grace. Abigail reasons with David that taking Nabal’s life, and the life of all the men in his household as well, will weigh on his conscious long after God has established him as prince over Israel. That’s pretty sound reasoning. Was David actually moved more by her good looks? (I think not) She was right; God avenged David 11 days later.

Abigail’s thinking obviously made an impact on David because in the very next episode, David cautions Abishai not to take Saul’s life but that, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.” It seems that the whole Nabal affair changed David’s way of dealing with his enemies. They take the spear and the water jug but leave Saul in God’s hands. Could it be that Abigail’s words helped?

Okay, so maybe he married Abigail because she was hot. I’ll grant that. I wonder what Michal and Ahinoam looked like?  Sorry…this student’s preoccupation with beauty gets to me sometimes. There is one other thing that strikes me about Abigail; she talks smack about her husband, Nabal. She calls him a worthless fellow, makes fun of his name (which means “fool”), says folly is with him, and implies that she has to circumvent his poor decisions on a regular basis. I wonder how the relationship gurus deal with such disrespect since they (or at least this one philosophy student) proclaim that a man’s greatest need from his wife is r-e-s-p-e-c-t?

And…enough raggin’ on this poor guy. He has trouble enough without me tearing apart all he has learned from his relationship books.

Luke 16: 19-31 The Rich Man and Lazarus – Since I am in flux about what I think happens to us between death and resurrection, I don’t know what to say about this story. I really, really think the last sentence is the punch line, so to speak. “He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Max McLean reads this line so perfectly! I listened to the whole story over just to hear it again.) Ahem. Anyway, Lazarus (how coincidental — he has the SAME NAME!) was resurrected and they wanted to make him die again. Jesus was resurrected. Did they ever believe Him?

April 15: Kings

1 Samuel 17-18 David is so different from me; he lives in extremes, I live in the middle (most often.) Goliath scoffs at David, Eliab is irritated by him, and Saul is beside himself with jealousy because God is with him. Michal is infatuated, Jonathan loved him as he loved his own soul, and the daughters of Israel greeted him with songs and dancing. David moves people, they are either moved to love or hate him, no one seems indifferent. How much is Jesus, the Son of David, like him? Is it true that He divides, separating even families?

Luke 15: 1-10 We get the parable of the Good Shepherd on the same day that David recounts killing bears and lions to deliver lambs from their jaws.

I’m tired, I’m worn to a frazzle, I’m feeling old and used up. This is what depression makes me think: When the shepherd frees the lamb from the teeth of the beast, there are wounds that take a while to heal, and, perhaps, scars that never fade away. Sin shreds, yet we’re not devoured. It is all going to be renewed, redeemed, resurrected.

April 10: You Really Can’t Tell God How To Do Things

1 Samuel 4-6 The Ark – Silly Israel; they are losing so they have the bright idea to trundle in the ark for good luck.  At first it seems like it could work because the Philistine remember how God dealt with Egypt and were terrified, but they decide to man-up and fight for their lives. And they are victorious and capture the ark, to boot. God didn’t, and doesn’t, provide a talisman for people to pull out when the going gets rough. God is in total control and we need to trust Him, and that’s it.

You can tell God’s in control because the very next thing that happens fulfills prophecy; Hophni and Phineas die on the same day … along with Eli and Phineas’s wife. What a sad day.

Meanwhile the Philistines realize that they were right about God because tumors and panic break out where the ark ends up, not to mention Dagon ending up on the floor, with his hands and head somewhere else. “Send it back, send it back!”

Luke 12: 35-59 Oh, and the Kingdom? It’s going to be hard, messy, divisive, and somewhat surprising. So, for Pete’s sake, get your ducks in a row before you get before the judge.

April 9: A Scary Dialogue with God

It really struck me as something I never noticed much – first, that Eli is given a word from God against his household, and then Samuel is given a word also against Eli’s household.  I can definitely understand the fear that is given when Eli asks Samuel what He said to him, but at the same time, I am amazed at Eli’s resignment to his household’s fate.  He has no love for the deeds of his post-Judges children, where they did as they saw fit.  Was the temple as corrupt as it was in Jesus’ time?  Was God clearing the way by redefining the temple priests around a holy people?  I wonder if there’s a connection there.

And then look at how Christ speaks of the soul!  Definitely not dualism as is so commonly spoken in American Evangelicalism.  But all the same, he tells us to fear God and none but God.

Why is that so hard to do?  Why do we desire so much the acceptance of the people of God?  The created ones who steal away from us our love of God?

Yeah.