Family Ties, Ancient Style

First off, I think I need this tee to wear to my OT class every Tuesday. (It's available at Think Geek.)

Now, some thoughts on the ancestors of Israel...

1. For years I have expressed the following motto to various Christians as a means to keep in check their spiritual commitment to their vow: Are you willing to give up Isaac? It's a beautiful example of the sacrifices we all have to make when being loyal to God. No doubt Abraham had regrets. I'm not sure it's possible to be human and not. Michael Coogan makes the point that "Abraham and Isaac never speak to each other again, and immediately after it Sarah, who has been absent from the narrative, dies." Abraham, in his immediate state, has been left by his wife, seemingly abandoned by his son, and is left alone because of his faithfulness. From a 21st century perspective, heck yeah I want some of that kind of treatment from my God! Yet, that's exactly what may be required of us: loosing those close to us in service to Him.

2. Circumcision. It seems like the Israelites were circumcised, in part, to distinguish themselves from the Babylonians while in Exile. Course, circumcision was also a right of passage not to mention a preparation for marriage in some cultures. But my 20th century mind cannot help but to get hooked on the idea that our ancients really dug the fact that they were circumcised and their Babylonian captors were not. This leaves me to imagine a number of smirks and chuckles not to mention innuendos that were likely to be available. What? Oh come on! You cannot tell me that our forefathers had no sense of humour!

3. One of the annoying things about a reading assignment when you are in 8th grade is when you get stuck with a book of the Bible that seems to contain nothing but genealogies. So and so begot so and so. Ya-a-a-wn. Any good 8th grader knows to read the first two lines of the list and the last two lines to realize that somehow, David and Jesus were actually connected. What they don't tell the average 12 year old is that these ancestral narratives are endogamy. (Yeah, I didn't get the term either.) Think of it as intermarriage for the purpose of preserving one's community, or more specifically, their identity and property. This is why later on, the people are going to look at Moses and wonder what the heck he was thinking marrying a Midian (never mind the fact that Abraham hooked up with an Egyptian and Esau got cozy with the Canaanites). In fact, it's something that kind of haunts his story among Jews even today as some Jews find it important that they marry other Jews simply to maintain the bloodline. "But Moooooom! Moses did it!" probably isn't a sound case for the average 20 something Jewish female.

4. Lastly, one of the most emotional things for me to come to understand about the Hebrew Bible is that God made some promises to the old folks, and he kept them, however, the old folks all had to die for the promises to be fulfilled. Granted, they brought it on themselves. Honestly, how often must God say, "Do it THIS way. No other way. Not that way. THIS way. Over here. Look. Right THERE. Yes, THIS way!" before we people get it? God promised land, descendants and blessings.

Abraham got land, but it was to bury his wife. Granted it was the right land. And God did eventually provide a lot more land to his descendants, but to Abraham, that's serious faith to stick with a God with not a whole lot of demonstration of fulfillment of his promise. Especially after the whole Isaac episode.

As for descendants, yes, there are some. Plenty actually. But a lot of the women were barren and had to hook up with God so that their wombs would kick in to service.

Lastly, the promise of blessing. Abraham was under the impression that other people out there would long for the kind of blessings he had. You can almost imagine Abraham, at some point in his life saying, "Riiiigggghhhhht." He experiences turmoil for Lot, watches cities rise and fall, has his wife taken into a harem, has turmoil in his house between his wife and household staff, is expected to obey God in sacrificing his own son, his wife dies, his son seemingly doesn't speak to him again, then takes a new wife and apparently concubines, only to die. And those are just the highlights. People did hope for blessings like his and continue to do so to this day. They hope for success for their children. They hope for God's favour. They hope for a better life. And it's God who provides that for them.

Before I go, I say forget the blogging tee. I want this one instead. And yes, it really does glow.

Kicking the Tree of Life

The sexualization of our young people is a constant worry for the elders of our society. The Hip Hop generation, Britney Spears, even good girl Miley Cyrus all draw comments - some good and some bad - about their sexuality. Our society is preoccupied with sex. And no one really knows how much is too much let alone where the line should be drawn for "appropriate" behavior. This is not only an issue in the US, but in various countries (for instance, compare and contrast nudity in Brazil and China).

While I always knew that there elements of sex in Genesis, I am still surprised to see the struggle of the Hebrews to make sense of sexuality. The nature of the creation story seems inspired to reflect themes common to the people of the times. It's not too a far leap to understand why the ancients may have included language reflective of sexual themes. Honestly, there wasn't much to do back in the day for recreation. They didn't have the internet. And what's life without the internet?

It was probably only a matter of time before they started to wonder who (or what) thought up the idea of intercourse. Humanity seems to always want to know "why" as evidenced in the story of Eve and the serpent, for by eating the fruit one will "become like God, knowing good and evil". Which brings us to the word "know". "Knowing" always gets us into trouble. To know the difference between good and evil put Adam and Eve into a pretty bad spot. To know one another suggests a level of sexual intimacy that could be problematic in terms of survival if not committed between one another. Needing to "know" can lead us down unhealthy paths that lead to other sinful behaviors both of commission and omission.

So, does having sex make you knowledgeable? And do we, when having sex (outside the confines of marriage), insult God by seeking knowledge we are not yet meant to have? Do we commit sacrilege by seeking to be God-like in arrogant ways? When we act sinfully do we kick the tree of life and stick out our tongues at God?

A Little Heresy, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Dead Men Who Tell Tales

Being Bible geeks we all love a good read. You know, when we have the time to plug in a little extra between our 480-900 pages a night we have to do for classes. The editors, writers, copy boys and coffee girls of Biblical Archeology offer a list of free download-able books covering a range of topics from the burial of Jesus to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Grab a cup of wine and settle in for some archaic reading.

Here's a little tid bit that may prove to be a very juicy bit of heresy. The National Geographic Channel opens Exploration Week with a new tablet that may offer evidence of a "preexisting messiah" - Simon. From the website:

He called himself the King of the Jews, likely considered to be a Messiah. Just around Passover, the Romans killed him and crucified many of his followers outside Jerusalem. But his name was not Jesus... it was Simon, a self-proclaimed Messiah who died four years before Christ was born. Now, new analysis of a three-foot-tall stone tablet from the first century B.C., may speak of an early Messiah and his resurrection. We'll go to Israel to assess this unique and mysterious artifact, including comprehensive review of the script and content by a Dead Sea Scroll expert. Then, from Jerusalem to Jericho, we'll investigate key archeological ruins that could help prove Simon was indeed real.

Meanwhile the Spaniards have dug up a city along the Euphrates dating 2,600 years before Christ. Not that archeological finds always shake up the roots of our faith but, hey, this one is kinda cool. It's circular. See, that wasn't quite so common in the Euphrates Valley. In fact, this is only the second one found with this kind of layout, the other about 200 km away. Archeologists are comparing the find to Pompeii in significance. See? Dead guys really do tell tales.

E Plus E plus Jezabel plus Ben plus E plus oh wait...

The end of First Kings (and beginning of Second Kings) is filled with stories only a political scientist or adventurer at heart would love. Rise to power, miracles, some Baal worship for fun, bonfire of the bulls, a little slaughter of priests, party at Jezreel and a nice rain shower, greed in the vinyard, political assassination that leads to public death, yeay! Wine!, some more prophecy, all ending in one big circus of war where kings die, kings ascend to power, prophets prophesy, and one old trollop lady gets trompled by horses then eaten by dogs. And that's just Elijah's story.

Who wouldn't love the old testament?

I am constantly amazed at the continual disobedience of the people of Israel. Granted, the warnings were probably not always eminent. But truly, how can a people, chosen by God himself, blessed with promises by covenant with David, who are ensured land for all eternity, forget, especially given everything these people had suffered over the generations. Was the message of God not before them in daily life? If not, why not? And if so, how could one so easily choose to disregard what was known to be true?

Today the message of Christ's love is drowned out by Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Britney Spears (the top three videos on MTV's website as of this moment). Middle aged adults huddle around their brand new HDTVs purchased not for gaming but so that Lou Dobbs or O'Rieley come in crystal clear. Tweens stumble upon themselves to get the newest gear that makes them appear to be the closest thing to a rock star. Young adults wander around bumping into things, their i phones in hand, emailing, tweeting, plurking, surfing, wiki-ing, playing with their dashboard and Djing from their hand held devices. In all the noise, where is God? Were the Ancients like this too? Distracted? Was Baal their version of Apple?

Goth's Night Out

It's so important to learn a foreign language in this global economy. Church Historians may want to start here. (If the video does not load, please visit Gothic For Goths: Episode Three.

Roll da Blog

Every so often people share with me a few internet delights I find worthy of the pass along. For instance, Jason Santa Maria is a graphic designer who lives in New York, teaches at the School of Visual Arts, sits on boards, and does all the typical grown up things grown ups do. He's created a blog that plays with layout in such a way that the content drives the appearance, rather than the appearance driving the content. He fully admits it may not work out for everyone, nor that it's perfectly browser friendly. Maybe that's why he writes on The Mathematics of the Tootsie Pop.

Granted this web site isn't the most beautiful, or even the most exciting (it's all geek stuff). However, it does explore educational uses for the groovy new Google Wave hitting the beta scene as of, well, a while ago. I'm on the much desired roll out list for a much desired invite much to my OMG YES I'M SO EXCITED joy. I've already played with the software and it's pure delight! Okay, it's more like when you move to a new city and discover one day you know how to get to the grocery without a map. THAT kind of joy. (This is when my friends say something like, "Ok. Breathe. Yes, in. Out. You can do this...")

On the less epoch scale, The Biggest Apple is written by an American ex pat living in the UK. Our author studied in New York, has lived in the Netherlands, and occasionally snaps pictures of things he digs. He seems to enjoy music (see The Coward). And he has a delicious sense of humour for curating the collectibles (see Dear Andy). I thank him tremendously for this little video find. (For those of you who are youngin's visit The Warhol to appreciate this letter.)

Mark Boulton is a designer, an author, a speaker, runs a small design agency and publishes books as he goes. The personal disquiet of Mark Boulton is a blog about design and design graphics. Take a peek at the stunning drop caps he had his sister-in-law work up for placeholders.

A Working Library is a blog about reading—both an exploration of and an advocate for the reading experience. Being an aspiring bibliophile, this site makes me drool but maybe not as much as The Biggest Apple. Here's a nice post on the definition of a reader.

Meet Denice. She's your classic nerd. She writes on anything. Really. Anything. She lives in Utah and spends 95% of her time on her Mac. No wonder why she has such a lovely little blog entitled, "Hello! What are you doing here? Did Phil send you?". She blogs things that I like. For instance, would you take the stairs more often if someone made them more fun? I know I would.

Lastly, in the interest of wasting a tremendous amount of time over the period of a year, you can Beat my Brute. Just remember to save your character by entering a password.

Coolness.

Thanks to http://thecasualobserver.net for the borrowed Tootsie Pop image.

Haoles, Locals, and the Big Kahuna

I have spent several weeks attempting to make some sense of the nature of ancient history of the prophets. Seeing the invasions move across a whiteboard in a counterclockwise motion brought meaning to the purpose of the prophets. Finally I was able to put two and two together: the prophets were commentators, orators, messengers, criers and guardians of the people who would suffer attack, loss of lands, homes, family and possessions, time after time, oppressor after oppressor. These prophets helped to interpret what was to happen, why, by whom and how. As such, they seem to me to be comforters. Understanding why a tragedy happens somehow makes it easier to accept, even if you do not accept the causer's motivation of the action.

I suppose this is why I find some ease (finally) in the DtrH history. Like Poland, the territories of Israel expand, shrink, expand, move, return, unsettle and resettle. Isaiah's concerns about the identity of the people make much more sense now. Humans tend to nest and find identity in place. For example, Stephen Fry recently completed a travel documentary entitled Fry in America during which he toured America sharing his British perspective. After a brutally cold hunting expedition for bowhead whales with the Inuits in the most northern part of Alaska, Fry concluded his mini series in Hawaii where he met a man who was a long term ancestral local and resident of Kaua'i as well as a world renowned champion surfer named Titus Kinimaka. They discuss development and haole tourism, and when asked if he considers himself "American", Titus responds, "I am Hawaiian". He speaks not with resentment but with reverence to his heritage which could very easily be pushed out by eminent domain in his lifetime.

The Israelites were a people who laid divine claim to their land, somewhat (but likely without divine compact) like Titus and his family lay claim to theirs. It is no surprise that Isaiah is worried about them getting too cushy in Babylon. Those who treated the Exile as resettlement would find new identity in place. They needed a reminder of their covenant, purpose and home.

Understanding this makes understanding previous eras much more simple. The centralization of worship of the Yahwehists to protect them from the potential Assyrian onslaught may not have been simply a matter of protection. It may have proved to have several uses including an attempt to solidify a "national" identity before the anticipated "punishment" as well as a way to ensure that Yahweh was being worshiped in an appropriate way that would be pleasing to God and not bring further punishment upon their heads.

I can only imagine the sense of desperation Josiah could have felt having this knowledge and being able to only do so much within his earthly confines. Much like Jeremiah, I can imagine him feeling as if he wanted to scream, "Listen to me! The day of the Lord will come! Join us here, worship Him properly, give him due honor! Turn from your sinful ways! Obey the Great Commandment! There are consequences for your actions!!!" Additionally, you can imagine him saying, "Golden calves, really?" The sin of Jeroboam would bring ruin to his people and there wasn't much else he could do about it. Give the Big Hahuna the worship he deserves or we're all going to suffer!

I wonder what others see and feel in Kings. The stories are so rich! I mean honestly, apart from the Lady of the Lake, where else do we see metal float in the written word other than in 2Kings 6:1-7?

By the way, had I read Coogan's chapter on Kings before the last exam I would probably have been much further along in my understanding. I am not sure one can truly appreciate the prophets without having studied the United Monarchy first. It is a matter of context in significance - if one does not understand the significance, the context is jumbled. No wonder I ate it. The lip of the gnarly bomb really axed me. I totally barnwalled the line. Let us hope next time I ride the party wave without a serious wipe out.

For surfing lessons with world champion surfer Titus Kinimaka, visit trykauai.com.