The One Year Bible: Cherry Picking

 

This week all of my reading was in the book of Leviticus.  It began with shocking story of the deaths of Aaron's oldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, before settling into a long list of the various laws, prohibitions, and requirements placed on the people of Israel.

I found myself doing a lot of cherry picking.  "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18).Ooh, I like that.  This is clearly God's timeless Word for us. 

But right beside it might be a verse that I've glossed right on over: "You shall not breed together two kinds of cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you mixed of two kinds of material mixed together." (Leviticus 19:19).  That one is certainly something from the Old Covenant--definitely not applicable anymore.  

And another verse over, here's something I'm just not going to think about because. . .well, I can't see how that could ever be okay:  "Now if a man lies carnally with a a woman who is a slave acquired for another man, but who has been in no way been redeemed, nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment; they shall not however be put to death because she was not free" (Leviticus 19:20). The New Living Translation sounds even worse, stating that the man must simply pay full compensation to her master and the case is closed.   

And here the Bible Defenders will rush to explain how we need understand Leviticus 19:20 in the context of the culture and time. Or they will try to explain how Leviticus 19:19 does still apply, at least in principle, if not literally. We'll hear about how while we may no longer have to worry about mixing seeds or fabric, we do want to take the principle of not mixing truth with error. We may not take these commands literally but we can still learn from them.

But it doesn't make sense to do that does it? Or at least doesn't if we are going to insist that we are following the whole Bible and not just choosing the parts we like.  But of course, that's exactly what we're doing. We all do it--even the fundamentalists (maybe especially the fundamentalists).  It's not necessarily a bad thing--I think we do have to make the distinctions.  The problem is when we casually pick "obvious" cherries that have damaging consequences to those it's easy to marginalize.  Thus it's easy to grab the low-hanging fruit of Leviticus 18:22 (and it's attendant punishment in Leviticus 20:13). It seems "obviously" wrong, we may be personally repulsed by the thought of it, and especially in today's culture it's a great way to show that we are not in sync with "The World". But is that really the best way to determine this fruit should be picked?  Over say, the legitimacy of slavery, to which quite a few verses are devoted (Leviticus 25:35-55, which it could be argued makes a horrifying case for "race" or at least "nationality" based lifelong slavery). 

I think it's dishonest to suddenly claim we're all about the "plain Word of God" and "All Scripture is profitable" when the truth is we are not claiming all of the Levitical law is still applicable today.  We (or our churches, or our culture, or tradition, or Biblical scholars) are deciding what still applies and what doesn't.  Once we acknowledge that, then we can talk about how we make those decisions.  For me, as a Christian, it comes down to what I know about the character of Jesus (and thus the character of God) and what the implications are for those we are most quick to marginalize in our society--not because of the "harm" they cause, but simply because they make us feel uncomfortable and disoriented.

Highlights of Leviticus 10-26

• Stuff that Makes You Unclean & What to Do About It
• Who You Should Not Have Sex with and The Consequences of Sex with Said Individuals
• Sins and Their Punishments
• Holidays
• The Year of Jubilee

Fun Facts

• Did you know how to get land real cheap in ancient Israel?  Just wait until a few years before the Year of Jubilee and you can get that property you've been coveting (well not coveting. . .) for a song.  The downside is you'll have to return it in the Year of Jubilee. Land sales in Israel were to follow a sliding scale, with sale prices dropping as you approached the year of Jubilee.  There's much greater a value in land that you'll have for the next 49 years, as opposed to land you'll only get a harvest or two out of before it goes back to the original owner.

• Did you know God was really concerned about the Sabbath Year?  We know all about the Sabbath day.  But did you know there is a Sabbath year too? Every seven years, God decreed as a Sabbath year when no new crops were to be planted, so that the land could rest.  And that year mattered to God. In Leviticus 26, God details the rewards that go with following His commands and the punishments that will fall upon His people if they don't follow His commands.  After God's people are "scattered among the nations" and the land becomes desolate, the land will finally get the Sabbath rest which His people had not given it. The people are receiving the consequences of disobedience in general, but He mentioned specifically their failure to observe the Sabbath Year as being rectified by their dispersion.

What Stood Out to Me

The Burnt Goat

Nadab and Abihu can be an upsetting story. Aaron's two oldest sons grab some random incense from the kitchen drawer, strike a match on the bottom of  their shoe and head off to offer incense to the Lord.  Fire from heaven roars down and strikes them dead (Leviticus 10). Wow.  That's rough.  I did some reading from different theologians and Christian thinkers and found their apologetics way more upsetting than the story itself.  There was much "there are no small sins" and "We must not take God's commands lightly."  It was enough to make me feel like God might as well zap me now too; there's no way I can live up to His exacting demands.  Instead of looking it that way, I see what happened to Nadab and Abihu as something akin to workers at a nuclear plant walking into a radioactive zone without proper protective gear.  It wasn't that God "got mad" and lashed out, any more than a fire "gets mad" and lashes out when you stick your hand in it.  God made it clear, "Here's what you need to do to be safe in My Presence."  Nadab and Abihu didn't follow the safety protocols and that was the result. (I was always taught that they were also drunk when they approached the tabernacle. Leviticus doesn't say that, but it could be implied, because right after they died Moses warned Aaron that the priests should never drink alcohol before conducting their duties.  It makes sense for Adventists to harp on that point given our traditional opposition to alcohol--and for other Christians to not to make it a central point.  Of the various responses to the story I read, only the Jewish theologians brought up the fact that they may have been drunk).

This perspective also helps me understand the second, less well known part of the story--that of the burnt goat.  The goat of the sin offering was supposed to be eaten by the priests, but Aaron let it burn up on the altar instead.  Moses was furious and demanded to know why he hadn't followed the command to eat the goat. Aaron provided an explanation that I found a bit opaque, but apparently Moses (and God) accepted his excuse.  At first, I wondered why Nadab and Abihu got executed, while Aaron who also disobeyed, was given a pass.  Once I understood Nadab and Abihu, I also understood Aaron and the burnt goat.  Yes, Aaron disobeyed, but his disobedience was more like eating the cookies I told you not to eat, not the disobedience of running out into a busy street.

The Year of Jubilee

I was really struck by the Year of Jubilee.  I'm not sure that Israel ever actually celebrated it as God intended but the idea of it really fascinated me.  Every fifty years, everyone got back the land that they had sold.  The system seemed to really be built to prevent wealth and power from ever being concentrated in the hands of a few people.  You couldn't really build generational wealth at the expense of others under this system.  It also seemed to be built on the assumption that no one would want to sell their family land unless they were in dire straits.  The year of Jubilee seemed to serve as a reminder that nothing is permanent and in the end, the land all belongs to God.

The One Year Bible: Blood

 

A bloody business

This week's reading was perhaps not the most exciting--a lot of the nuts and bolts of the elaborate requirements for the Old Covenant sacrificial system.  A lot of detail.  A lot of repetition.  And a lot of blood.

Blood on the horns of the altar.  Blood splattered on the sides of altar.  Blood sprinkled on the curtain of the most holy place.  Blood on the right ear, thumb, and big toe of the high priest.  Just a lot of blood. The details of the sacrifice are given in all their gory glory, and much of this week's passages read like a butcher's manual.  With our tendency towards an egocentric reading of the Bible--"What's all this got to do with me"--it's easy for us to lose sight of how vitally important these scriptures were to the people of God.  This was an instruction manual on the proper way to manage every aspect of the sanctuary service and was vitally important to the people of Israel.

Highlights from Exodus 35-40, Numbers 9:15-23, Numbers 8, Number 7, Leviticus 1-9

• The Tabernacle Constructed
• The Priesthood Consecrated
• The Sacrificial System: A Detailed Handbook

Fun Facts

• Did you know there is a passage in Numbers reminiscent of the 12 Days of Christmas? In Numbers 7, we read of the dedication gifts presented to the Lord by representatives of each of the twelve tribes of Israel. At first, I thought each tribe would present their own unique gift, but it turns out each tribe presented the exact same gift: two silver containers of specific weight containing grain offerings moistened with olive oil, a gold container of incense, a young bull, a ram , fiiiiive one year old male lambs, a male goat, two bulls, five male goats, and a one-year old male male lamb for burnt offering in a pear tree.  Ok, I added the pear tree part, but that's just how it reads.  For 89 verses.  Each tribe is described bringing that exact same gift. I admit somewhere between Simeon and Gad, I started skimming.

• Did you know the difference between a sin and a guilt offering?  A sin offering was presented as a sacrifice for sins committed by accident--things wrong that you did without intending to (Leviticus 5).  It makes sense that a sinful world we sometimes do things that are unintentionally hurtful--but that doesn't make them less hurtful.  Guilt offerings were for things you did deliberately --cheating, lying, stealing things like that. In addition to making restitution (usually with an additional 20% added on) a guilt offering was required (Leviticus 6) 

• Did you know a sacrifice was required if you made a foolish vow?  You know all those pinky swears and careless promises that you ended breaking?  Overcommitting and biting off more than you can chew so that you ended letting down those who depended on you? There's a sacrifice for that. It's a sin offering to be precise-offered when you "make a foolish vow of any kind, whether it's purpose is for good or bad.  When your realize its foolishness you must admit your guilt "(Number 5:4).  Put a pin in this, because we'll come back to in a few weeks.  There's a guy in the book of Judges that I wish had followed this command. It would have saved a young girl's life.

• Did you know that there were certain sacrifices that required a female animal to be sacrificed? I always thought of the sacrificial system was centered around the spotless male lamb.  But actually all kinds of animals were prescribed for different types of sacrifices--bulls, rams, goats, and turtledoves among them. While most of these animals were male, which one would expect in such a patriarchal culture, there were a few occasions where female animals were required for sacrifice. Specifically the sin offering required for an individual ordinary person (as opposed to leaders, priests, or the community as a whole) was a female sheep or goat

What Stood Out to Me 

"When I move, you move."

I really liked the description in Numbers 9:15-23 of how the people of Israel moved in response to the pillar of cloud/fire that contained the presence of God. I always knew they followed the cloud, but something about reading the description made it really come alive for me. Sometimes the Israelites might be one location for months, other times just for a few days.  Sometimes the cloud would stop just for the night and then be on the move again the next day. It didn't matter.  Whenever the cloud moved, the people moved.

"Washed in the Blood"   

We tend to become desensitized to the symbols and imagery of our faith.  They have lost their shocking power because we've grown so used to them.  This is really evident in videos like this of a bunch of cheerful kids singing enthusiastically about the power in the blood. It just feels really disconnected from the reality of what we are singing about. We celebrate streams and rivers of blood, blood we drink and bathe in. To an outsider, this must sound awfully ghastly.  "There is a fountain filled with blood."  Do we ever stop to think about the imagery?  I don't mean this as a criticism--just an interesting observation. The blood was an important part of the sacrificial system of the Old Testament.  The priests did so many things with the blood--sprinkling, spattering, dabbing, rubbing, and pouring.  But the one thing that they never did--that they were absolutely forbidden to ever do--was to consume that blood (Numbers 7:26-27). 

Knowing this its impossible to understate how stunned the followers of Jesus must have been when he called on people to eat his flesh and even worse drink his blood (John 6:53-58). This was in direct opposition to a direct command from the Lord.  Symbolic or not, this was a huge statement.  It's no wonder that "many of His disciples said, 'This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?" It was this polarizing and offensive speech that caused many disciples to stop following Jesus.

We tend to be grossed out by blood--some faint at the sight of it. And it's understandable---generally when we see blood outside of our bodies, it indicates at best discomfort and annoyance, and at worst serious injury or ghastly death. But blood is the vehicle for life inside the human body--it carries life-giving oxygen and removes life destroying waste.  We cannot live without blood.  Blood is life. It was the life of the animals that were sacrificed and therefore sacred.  And His blood is our life.  I think once we get past the initial discomfort of the imagery of blood, we arrive at the power and truth of it as a sacred symbol.  But, we can't really get to that truth without confronting the discomfort first.

1. "Would you be free from your passion and pride?
   There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
   Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide;
   There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood."
2.                                            -- Lewis E Jones "Power in the Blood"

The One Year Bible: The OT God

 

"Are you satisfied with the life you're living?

We know where we're going
We know where we're from. . .

Exodus, all right! movement of jah people!"

                                             --Bob Marley, "Exodus"

This week we dive deep into the heart of the Old Testament God.  Thunder flashing from Mt. Sinai, His wrath breaking forth among His people.  The jealous God.  It can be deeply discomfiting reading.  There's Jesus, the gentle shepherd and then there's this fiery Deity.  Can they even be the same God? I believe they are, but as a Christian I have to believe we--and Moses--are looking through a glass darkly.  What Moses saw may not accurately reflect the heart of God.  But there are hints, and even here among the fire and smoke, is one of my favorite stories in the whole Bible--a tender and intimate moment between God and a human being-a palpable sense of longing on both sides to be closer to each other.

Highlights from Exodus 13-34

• The Crossing of the Red Sea
• Wilderness Wandering--The People Complain, God Provides, Rinse & Repeat
• The Ten Commandments
• The Ten Commandments: The Fine Print
• Detailed Plans for the Tabernacle Presented
• The Golden Calf
• Moses on the Mountain

Fun Facts

• Did you know Moses was a workaholic? Early into the Exodus, Moses was already working himself to an early grave, trying to do everything and be all things to everyone.  His father-in-law had to have a sit-down with him and encourage him to delegate. "You've got capable people on your staff, Moses.  Empower them, so you can focus on the big picture!" (Exodus 18:14-27)

• Did you know God planned for the Israelites to gradually conquer the land of Canaan so that it would remain inhabitable.  Specifically, so that the wild animals wouldn't become too much for them. (Exodus 23:29-30)  The whole idea of the conquest of Canaan is uncomfortable for me, but we'll have plenty of opportunity to reflect on that later in our reading when the conquering actually begins.

• Did you know that the leadership of Israel got to see God's feet? Exodus 24:9-11 has this fascinating description of an unforgettable meal shared by the Hebrew leadership team in God's presence:  "Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of the Israel climbed the mountain.  There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself.  And though these nobles gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence." (NLT) The reason I assume they didn't see all of God, perhaps just His feet even though the text doesn't specify this is because later on God asserts that it's not possible for anyone to see His face and live.

• Did you know that Aaron made up some insane story about the golden calf to avoid getting in trouble? The people of Israel had gotten busted worshiping the golden calf (which by the way, they had designated as God himself.  They were over the weird invisible God unrepresented by any image--so different from basically everyone else in the world at that time.  So the calf was to represent God to them. Apparently the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night was not sufficient).  In Exodus 32:21-24 Moses confronts his brother about how this came about and Aaron comes back with:  "Come on Mo, you now how these people are.  They're awful. . " You can almost hear the whine in his voice.  "So I asked them for any gold they might have and I threw it into the fire and out came this calf."  Out. Came. This. Calf.  Smh.  Like a middle schooler caught in the act making up a lie. I find it remarkable that Aaron wasn't included in the punishment for the Golden Calf Incident.

What Stood Out to Me

Good Principles, Harsh Punishments

I found much of Exodus 23 interesting.  You get a good sense of what matters to God--and these are themes we'll see repeated throughout the Bible.  God desires to see a fair and impartial system of justice that favors neither rich nor poor. God does not want innocent animals to suffer simply because they belong to someone who hates you. God is concerned with the fate of the poor and the struggles of the foreigner. It appears from Exodus 23:12 that part of the reason for the Sabbath rest is so that those that never get the privilege of choosing rest--their livestock, their slaves, and those not a part of the tight-knit community of God's people--have a chance to "be refreshed."  These themes--impartially in justice, good treatment for immigrants, and keeping the Sabbath pop up repeatedly in the book of Exodus.

Exodus 21-22 has some other finer points of the ten commandments as well--all mentioned in what seems a random order.  What's notable is the harsh punishments for violating so many of these comments.  Death is the punishment for everything from  striking your parents to kidnapping to murder to breaking the Sabbath. Capital punishment is called for in cases of sorcery, bestiality, sacrificing to other gods, oppressing immigrants.  The punishments seem awfully severe.

The Blood of the Lamb

This is a minor thing, but it really stuck in my brain. As I read about the amount of blood involved in the sacrificial system God was setting up--the bloodletting, the blood sprinkling around the sanctuary and on the garments of the priests, I couldn't help wondering how long it was until the priestly garments were all stained a rusty red.  There's no mention of how or if these garments (or any other parts of the tabernacle) were to be cleaned.

Restless

One of my favorite passages in the Bible comes in Exodus 33-34. God and Moses are communing on just after the Golden Calf Incident.  God is suggesting he might just let the people make their own way to the promised land--He's just so frustrated with them and worries that He might end up wiping them all out.  "Look, I'll send one of My deputies ahead to drive out the Canaanites for you, but I'm out."  Moses responds with an impassioned appeal to what he knows of God's character, boldly reminding God of who He claims to be and suggesting God will ruin His own reputation if He abandons His people.  To me it's clear, that God is not really considering abandoning or destroying people.  This is about drawing out Moses' own character and knowledge of the kind of God he served. I can just see God smiling to himself as Moses passes the test with flying colors.

And then my favorite part in Exodus 33:14-23.  I love this entire exchange between God and Moses.  I sense such a longing on their parts to be closer.  Moses asking to see God's glory and God jury-rigging together this plan that will allow Moses to at least see His back. He places Moses in a crevice and covers him with His Hand as He "walks" by, removing His hand after He has passed so Moses can see His back.  In the midst of all the blood and fire and smoke and death, all those things that make it hard to see--here is this glimpse of a God who is restless to be close to His people--and at least one person, who wants the same.

"He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock 

that shadows a dry, thirsty land.

He hideth my life in the depths of his love,

and covers me there with his hand,

and covers me there with his hand."

                                --Fanny J. Crosby, "He Hideth My Soul"

The One Year Bible: God's Eye View

So this week I finished the book of Job and began the book of Exodus.  They are quite different in many respects--so much so that I almost thought about doing two blog posts this week--one to focus on the conclusion of Job, and a second one to reflect on the opening chapters of Exodus.  But in the end I found a through line between the two--the power of God and it's implications.  God's power can be comforting, but also confusing and frightening at the same time.  That's because we lack the God's Eye Perspective (not to mention that we are reading these passages through the lens of our own culture and values that do not fit comfortably with those of the author and original intended audience).

In the book of Job, God's arrival on the scene gives me a great deal of comfort--and I think it did the same for Job too.  For many years, I felt God's response to Job was a little rough.  "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" God demands, and than sarcastically invites Job to teach Him--if he can.  Knowing the backstory, it's hard to understand why God wouldn't be a little gentler with the poor put-upon Job.  But now I find myself awed by the magnificent description of God's knowledge and power.  I am reminded that my perspective is so limited, and that without having that God's eye view--without having both His knowledge and His power, it's hard to make an accurate judgement of how God handles things.  But more than that, I think it's just God being there that gives me--and Job--peace.  "I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes" (Job 42:5 NASB)

Perhaps the biggest reason that I find so much peace at the end of Job is that God vindicates Job.  After drawing Job out of himself and challenges him to consider the big picture, God fiercely defends Job's conduct:  "You have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has"  (Job 42:7 NLT).  In doing so, God validates Job's feelings of frustration throughout the entire book and likewise makes it okay for us to cry out when life is cruelly unfair. Meanwhile God's erstwhile "defenders" are the ones who are instructed to have Job pray on their behalf in order to be forgiven.  How many other of us so quick to defend our God at the expense of others (because after all we're just preaching "Truth") will find ourselves hearing the words "not so well done Thou not so good and faithful servant, but I forgive you." 

I also like that Job's family and friends rallied around him at the end, not with advice or criticism, but with comfort and gifts (Job 42:11). It's worth noting that they "consoled and comforted him" after his fortunes were restored.  Its an acknowledgement that even though things are "better"  the hurt of loss doesn't just automatically disappear.

And of course Job gets everything back twice over.  He even has seven more children.  That part used to bother me too. It seemed too tidy.  Well look at that he's got 1000 female donkeys instead of 500 and he even gets seven replacement children.  Like that's supposed to make it all okay. Like children are replaceable. But now I see it differently.  I see in those final verses that Job, who would live to the age of 140, found joy again.  Despite the incredible pain and grief he suffered there came a day when Job could experience joy again.  That gives me hope.

Highlights from this week's reading Job 33-42 and Exodus 1-12:

• God challenges Job
• Job is vindicated and rediscovers joy
• Moses--the Baby in the Basket
• Moses--The Shepherd in the Wilderness
• Moses and Pharoah Face Off, Ten Plagues Ensue
• The Passover

"And a princess pulled a baby out of the water
He was hidden in the rushes
Sleeping in a basket made of reeds
And you never know who God is gonna use
A princess or a baby
Or maybe even you or me"

                            ---Rich Mullins, "Who God is Gonna Use"

In the story of Moses, we again see God demonstrating his mighty power, albeit in a much more frightening way--at least if you happened to be a citizen of the great nation of Egypt. If you were a Hebrew slave, you were heartened by the display of power on your behalf. If we take this story with our modern sensibilities, we tend to think of poor innocent Joe Egyptian caught up in this power struggle between Pharaoh and the God of the universe.  But if we think of it like a movie, with the Egyptians as the bad guys and the Hebrews the resurgent underdog good guys, the story is a bit more palatable.  One thing that is clear is that God is on the side of the oppressed. 

Fun Facts

• Did you know that Job's second set of three daughters are mentioned by name (and none of his son from either set are)? There's no clear reason why Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch are mentioned or why they were given an inheritance along with their brothers, but I think it's cool that they are mentioned.

• File under What the What? : Did you know God tried to kill Moses, but his wife Zipporah saved him with a bloody foreskin.  Yes, you read that right According to Exodus 4:24-26, after God had called Moses from the burning bush, after God had chosen him to lead His people out of bondage, and while Moses was on his way to fulfill that task, God sought to kill him. Apparently Zipporah pulled off a super-quick circumcision of Moses's son, placed the foreskin at Moses' feet (I think) and told him "Now you are bridegroom of blood to me."  And so crisis was averted, Moses goes on to challenge Pharaoh and lead his people out of slavery.  This is definitely one of the stranger stories of the Bible.  I have so many questions!  It just does not add up. I kind of wonder if this just wasn't a big misunderstanding on Moses part.  Maybe he ate some bad food and thought he was going to die and that God was trying to kill him.  I don't know. 

•  Initially, I didn't bother doing any research on what Biblical scholars had to say on this, because I felt like I already knew what I would find--Zealous defenders of the Lord--kind of like Job's pals--trying to justify the unjustifiable, and I just don't find that satisfactory.  And sure enough, that's what I found in a review of the initial commentary by Christian authors. Interestingly, I had better luck when I modified my search to focus on Jewish interpretations. I found Jewish thinkers less inclined to provide a solid answer and more willing to admit to a lot of uncertainty about the passage.  It's from these sources that I learned that it may not have been Moses that God sought to kill but his first born son because he wasn't circumcised.  Despite the lack of authoritative answers to this strange story, I found the Jewish interpretations put in God in a better or at least more reasonable light.

• Did you know God told Moses from the jump that the Passover would happen? Yes from early on, before any of the plagues God told Moses the endgame.  He says in Exodus 4:22-23 (right before the bizarre encounter where God tries to kill him--I think there may be a connection) that Pharaoh will refuse to let the people go and God will kill his firstborn son. He doesn't even bother mentioning the intervening nine plagues.

• Did you know that the first two plagues could be duplicated by pharaoh's magicians?  Pharaoh's guys used their own dark arts to turn water into blood and to conjure up frogs (though they couldn't get rid of them). After that, God outpaced them in the plague-producing department. It's also worth noting that the first three plagues--all of which were mostly annoying, rather than dangerous--may have been experienced by everyone in Egypt, including God's people, not just the Egyptians.  The next six plagues (the flies, the death of the livestock, the boils, the hail, the locust, and the darkness) were only experienced by the Egyptians.  

• Did you know some Egyptians got a clue?  Depending on the translation, one or several of Pharaoh's officials hustled to get their remaining livestock indoors ahead of the plague of hail, once they heard it was coming. I wonder if these same people went ahead put the blood of a Passover lamb on their door as well.  There's nothing to indicate that the angel of death was favoring the Hebrews in the final and worst plague.  If you put the blood on your door, your family was safe. 

What stood out to me: The Parts that are Hard to Pass Over.

What does it mean that God hardened pharaoh's heart?

God is not one to pass the buck, I've noticed. If things go sideways, He takes responsibility. But sometimes I feel like He goes too far with that. For example, He says that He hardened Pharaoh's heart but when you read the passage you don't get the sense of someone acting under compulsion.  To me it's clear that Pharaoh is stubborn all by himself.  If anything, by choosing not to intervene in some miraculous way that would perhaps have softened Pharaoh's heart, God let things play out knowing what the result would be.  It's not a great explanation, but it makes more sense to me than God willfully preventing Pharaoh from letting the people of Israel go. I've done a little bit of research into commentaries on this issue--I could definitely do more.  Again, I find many Christian thinkers a little over-eager to "explain away" difficult passages like this and I find that annoying.  Is it really so hard to sit and be uncomfortable with a story in the Bible without losing your faith?  I do find I liked the The Bible Project's explanation a little better than some of the others.

Passover

This story is so familiar, we even tell it to our kids, despite the horrific details.  The firstborn male of every creature in the land destined to die--the final and worst plague, the one that would finally break Pharaoh's stubborn will.  Only the blood of the sacrificial lamb, painted on the doorpost of each home would protect those inside from the angel of death.  Of course for Christians we see a direct connection between the Passover lamb and the Passover Lamb, Whose blood on our behalf assures us of escaping death as a permanent end.  And it's worth noting, that anyone--Egyptian or Hebrew--that had the blood on their door would be spared.

Up until very recently most people were intimately familiar with what it took to get that roasted lamb on the table for dinner.  Most of us now live comfortably removed from the harsh realities of the slaughterhouse and butcher shop (which is just as well;  the meat we now eat likely suffered much more on it's way to our table, than the sheep, goats, and cattle of Biblical times did before they became dinner).  The idea of animal killed, eaten and it's blood a life-saving sign might not have seemed so macabre to generations past.

Finally, it's inescapable that the story of salvation is rooted in sacrifice.  We do not have a faith that boils down to: Humans--"My bad" and God--"It's all good."   The defeat of death requires death. The vanquishing of evil requires the sacrifice of the Innocent.  I can't say why this is so, but only that it makes a kind of deep down sense to me.  The human predicament is not merely a product of good intentions gone awry, something that can be fixed with casual remorse and forgiveness.  The wound is deep and cost of healing is nothing short of epic. I don't really understand it in my limited human perspective. I can't quite grasp the big picture the way God can. What I do know is this, the story of the Passover does not have to be the story of death. It can be the story of deliverance.

92: The One for Those Who Say Good Riddance

 It's something unpredictable

But in the end, it's right

I hope you had the time of your life

                                          --Green Day, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"

A lot of people miss the caustic undercurrent, hidden behind those plaintive guitar chords and seemingly sentimental lyrics.  The title tells you, if you miss it in the lyrics.  For many people, it sums up how they feel about their high school years:  Good riddance.

I don't know who I'm writing this to. But in a class of one hundred I know there have to be at least a few that did not have the time of their lives and are more than happy to leave it all behind.  And I want to say, for the record, that is okay. For those of you who want nothing more to do with Forest Lake Academy or any of the people who went there, I say, you also are part of our band of misfits that make up the class of 92. I honor your decision to turn away from a painful past and move on.  With our 30th alumni reunion just four weeks away, I understand that there are some of you out there who have no intention of attending this reunion or any other for that matter (And let's be real--the likelihood that you are reading this post if you feel this way is pretty slim, but still).  And I accept that.

Because let's be honest, not everyone had a great time at Forest Lake Academy. Not everyone was happy. It wasn't the best years of everyone's life (And there's something to be said for that--nobody wants to peak in high school!)  It certainly wasn't mine.

This photo was taken on our senior class trip. And while I was clowning when the photo was taken it is a window into how I was feeling at the time.

By the second half of my senior year--right this very moment thirty years ago--I was in the midst of pretty severe depression and was even flirting with suicidal ideation.  There were a lot of reasons for this--ones I won't get into here--but suffice it to say that much of the second half of senior year was a pretty dark time for me. I doubt many people knew that--I don't think it really showed, but nonetheless it was a reality. I was fortunate to have some good friends that helped me through that time--J Carlos, Chandra Maloney,  Chris Cotta, Carissa Berard, the group of girls I affectionately called The War Pig (Susan Scott, Jennifer Burrill, Linda Park, Tonya Simoes, and Lena McDowell) and others were a crucial support to me then whether they knew it or not.  By the time we hit graduation, I was done with Forest Lake and determined to get as far away from the school and everyone I knew there as I possibly could. Thus my decision to attend Andrews University rather than Southern. My freshman year at Andrews this was one of my "theme songs:"

"'Cause yesterday's got nothin' for me

Old pictures that I'll always see
Some things could be better
If we'd all just let them be"

                             -Guns N' Roses, "Yesterdays"

What's odd is that though I wasn't exactly happy for much my senior year, for some reason I still look back on high school with mostly warm feelings. Despite my misery, I have good memories from my senior year--memories I'll always treasure.  

That's a bit of my story, but I know that many of you have your own story, your own reasons why you did not have the time of your life at Forest Lake.  Maybe it was because we--your classmates--were not very kind.  Even though we might not have had the typical cliques in our class, with the athletic heroes at the top, there was still a definite pecking order and we all knew it.  Maybe there are people you have fallen out with--people who you once called friends, but who you now have no desire to call or see at all. Or perhaps you have changed a lot since those days three decades ago and don't care to be reminded of the person you used to be.  It could be that you've stepped away from the religion of our youth and have no interest in returning to a damaging spiritual experience. Maybe it was a toxic experience of racism, sexism, or homophobia, of  knowing that "we can't have that at Forest Lake." Maybe the FLA years are stained by grief and trauma.  It's possible that like me, you struggled with depression or other mental health challenges during your high school years.  Or it could be that you have no particularly strong feelings one way or another about high school. It is simply in the past and you feel no need to revisit it.  All of these feelings are valid and  I just felt our journey thirty years back in time would not be complete without acknowledging those among us who quietly do not wish to go.

So to whoever you are, wherever you are, I hope that you are okay.  I hope that life has been better to  you than it was all those years ago. I hope you are at peace and happy.  I wish you well.

"We don't talk much but I just gotta say
"I miss you, and I hope that you're okay"

Address the letters, to the holes in my butterfly wings
Nothing's forever, nothing is as good as it seems
And when the clouds are ironed out
And the monsters creep into your house
And every door is hard to close

Well, I hope you know how proud I am you were created
With the courage to unlearn all of their hatred
God, I hope that you're happier today
'Cause I love you, and I hope that you're okay"

                                            --Oliva Rodrigo "Hope Ur Ok"