Still reading, lax on blogging

Right now I'm in Psalms and today I had to put it down because I just wasn't getting that much out of it. I mean some passages really resonated with me because I recognize them in the songs I sing or have sung.

Other passages where David is asking God to annihilate his enemies, well I'm having a hard time understanding that.

So I finally picked up a book I have by Philip Yancy called The Bible Jesus Read. Perhaps I've had the wrong idea about Psalms. Yancy says the Psalms are prayers to God. And they are prayers from various people famous (like David) and otherwise (just regular Israelites) that are recorded for our benefit. It is like reading someones prayer journal that they write to God. They teach, but not in the way that Paul teaches in his letters. Mostly they help us relate. They validate how we feel.

One other note, the Bible isn't just for Americans. I sometimes forget that. Someone in the Sudan may more identify with some of the Psalms that call down wrath upon the writer's enemies. All the emotions are there and maybe the lesson is that God's people bring their requests, whatever they may be, to the Lord. Even in prayers where they call for annihilation of their enemies they are recognizing that such actions, if they are to come, must come from God.

Job

Job is a book that I will go back and study. It reminds me of the play Everyman in some regards. One thing I realized that I'd not before is that Elihu is not one of the three friends. He is a young man that waits, out of respect, until the three friends have finished and then he speaks. He says that there are other reasons besides punishment that cause God to allow things to happen to righteous people.

In the end though, this book raises more questions and provides one answer: God is God. In the end that is the only answer Job needs.

Now in Ezra

Here is a particularly vivid quote:

King Darius decrees that the Temple of the God is to be rebuilt. Darius is a Persian king. In it he writes: "Furthermore, I decree that if anyone changes this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house and he is to be impaled on it."

In Genesis we are given two accounts of creation. The first is a sort of outline of what happened. Day one, day two, day three, etc. Then there is the story of man's creation, woman's creation and then the fall. The first account seems to give the overall setting and then the second is much more personal.

I haven't read far enough in to tell so all of this might be premature, but 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles seem much like the first chapter of Genesis. Mostly a listing of the kings, even their names seem impersonal. Perhaps the Prophets and the poetry books will be more personal as well.

Chronicles

Chronicles is just like it says. A Chronicle of all that has happened thus far in the Bible. I have read a seemingly endless list of of geneologies.

One interesting note. Abraham had another concubine besides Hagar and other children. I don't recall reading that in Genesis.

Bring in the next King!

I am now in 2 Kings. And the Kings just keep coming. They mostly do evil in the eyes of the Lord and lead the entire nation of Israel (which is now actually two nations) into sin. Even the ones who do right in the sight of the Lord do not take down the high places where the people continue to offer sacrifices and offerings.

The whole King system is not going well--to say the least.

Just like God parades the animals in front of Adam so that Adam will see what will not do as a helpmeet, it seems that the Old Testament parades every possible solution for a "helpmeet" for God and nothing seems to really work. All these people are just running around acting like a bunch of animals.

David and Absalom

My reading up to the episode of David and Absalom had caused me to question. Why does God deal so harshly with some individuals. In the desert, the Israelites wander for forty years. They complain. He sends plagues. Some members plan a revolt and the ground swallows them up along with their children. Uzzah reaches out to grab the ark and God gets angry and strikes him down.

And then David doesn't seem all that great. He does some pretty terrible things. Should he have raided villages while he was in exile? The entire Bathsheba incident involving adultry and murder. How come God seems so pleased with him?

God gave me three insights.

1. I have very little insight into the mind of God or his dealings with creation. I have to understand that I won't know everything here on this earth. Even David didn't know why God killed Uzzah.

2. Evidently there is a book about Alexander the Great by John Preva. Preva writes of Alexander's later years. I think he only lives to be thirty three, take into account that King David ruled for forty years. Apparently at the end of Alexander's reign Alexander becomes an absolute Tyrant who sets himself up as God. And he believes he is God. Those who give him information he does not like usually find themselves dead a few days later. Finally, his own teacher (Aristotle) poisons him. He is like a circus animal that became too unruly and has to be put down. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And in his case it took about ten years. It should be noted that he did not start out this way. He began his rule at a young age and in the beginning he was loved by his men. In the end, his men want him dead.

In contrast, David rules for many years. And in the case of Bathsheba he is corrupted by power. This incident occured at the height of his reign. But, when confronted with his sin by Nathan, he doesn't have the messanger killed. He shows great kindness to Mephibosheth. And who can not help but be moved when David mourns Absalom's death, "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you--O Absalom, my son, my son!"

3. Which leads me to the third insight. If anyone lived in a garden of Eden it was Absalom. Actually all of David's children lived in Eden, metaphorically speaking. Amnon raped his sister. And he did it knowing that he could have married her with the blessing of his father (Although God did not condone such relations). Absalom could have been king, but instead, seduced by his own power, he tries to become king on his own and it leads to his death. It just seems that very few people can handle Eden. In this world Eden corrupts. I once wrote about an experiment about monkeys here. I'm afraid without Christ we are alot like animals. Why sadness and poverty? Why a constant supply of unmet needs? Why is there scarcity among so many? I think the short answer is that in Eden, without Christ, we all become monsters.

King David

Evidently being a man after God's own heart doesn't exempt you from a rather ruthlessly true portrayal of you in scripture.

David's relationships are vividly portrayed in Samuel. And his loyalty to Saul is above reproach. But he does not treat his wives kindly. He takes Michal away from her apparently doting husband (a habit he repeats in a terrible fashion later on), then dismisses her after a spat. It seems as though Michal wasn't too fond of being his wife and embarrassed at his dancing before the Lord. Perhaps the following verse which tells us that Michal had no children is a subtle way of telling us their marriage, for all practical purposes, ended that day.

For some reason this verse stands out to me: "I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor." I wonder if this is a passage that Jesus points to when he walks on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection and explains to the men the scriptures and how they should now be interpreted. But I am getting ahead of myself I think.

Today, I'm a bit disturbed. God seems arbitrary. Even now while I type that I'm looking for lightening bolts sent my way.

Uzzah reaches out to catch the ark from falling and God gets angry at him and kills him. Even David, the man after God's own heart, doesn't seem to understand. And a few chapters after that, God allows David and Bathsheba's son to die. But after that David and Bathsheba have another son, a son and it simply says , "The Lord loved him."

And so I guess that is the paradox we find ourselves in. I need a God that is good. A God in whom I can find rest and refuge. And God seems to grant that rest rather arbitrarily. And so I grow frustrated at my inability to change the heart of God. Yet isn't that supposed to be a good thing? I mean if he grants his love based upon my worthiness then, well, I don't measure up, or I spend my resources, time, talents trying to earn it. But then again, a God I can attain? How can he be God?

There are some really good one liners in the Bible

I haven't been recording them, but I'm going to start.

Here is one that doesn't often show up on the AWANA's memorization list: "Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me! Must this man come into my house?" 1 samuel 21:15

Context: David was in Gath at King Achish's place. Fearing for his life, David (In Hamlet like fashion) begins to feign madness. I can understand how the king feels. I taught ninth grade English.