The One Year Bible: Out with the Old

 It's been a few weeks since my last post and in the intervening time, I've reached the end of the Old Testament in my one year journey through the Bible.  I've read about Daniel and Esther,  the end of the Exile of God's people in Babylon, and the return  and rebuilding of Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. 

I'm a bit partial to Ezra since my  son carries his name.  What's cool is that his best friend at school is named. . .you guessed it--Nehemiah

 I found I particularly enjoyed Nehemiah's first hand account of the work of rebuilding Jerusalem.  The challenges, missteps and ultimate successes of the Jewish people as they begin again make for interesting reading.  Nehemiah also contains probably my favorite list of Biblical participants.  The Old Testament does this a lot--a long list hard-to-pronounce Hebrew names to indicated who did what, whose ancestors are who and so on.  But Nehemiah Ch. 3 is different.  It reads like a movie montage, with interesting little details about the builders and what specific parts of the Jerusalem wall they helped rebuild.  We learn that the people of Tekoa who worked without their leaders because the leaders wouldn't work with the construction supervisors.  We learn Shallum worked with his daughters to help rebuild his section of the wall and that Baruch didn't merely repair his section but "zealously repaired" it.  We are told that some of the workers repaired parts of the wall right across from their homes.  The whole chapter creates such a nice picture of people working together towards a common goal. 

The final readings, in chronological order, are from Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament and the entire book of Joel.   These readings end with a little bit of reprimand (Malachi 3:8-10 contains everyone's favorite tithe text: "Will man rob God and yet you have robbed me! Bring all the tithes etc". I half expected Malachi 3:11 to read "We give thee but thine own" since that song always follows that scripture in church!), a little bit of doom for the enemies of God's people, and a promise of restoration.  

Looking back at the Old Testament as a whole, here are my takeaways:

What matters to God:  

Good news for the "social justice" warriors and purveyors of the "social gospel."  It's very clear from the Old Testament what matters to God and it is the treatment of the poor, the weak, and the marginalized. God is deeply angered by economic injustice, policies that enrich the rich at the expense of the poor.  God hates the shedding of innocent blood (and no He doesn't really refer to unborn babies here, though I suppose you can make that reach if it suits you).  God has a lot to say about humbling the proud and bringing down the mighty.  To be honest, He almost sounds a bit socialist. I'm just saying.  Read it for yourself, if you don't believe me.  

While God does not like the neglect of his laws, He's not interested in ceremonial lip service.  Showing up to worship while your heart is inclined to other gods doesn't work for Him. God really is not okay with worshiping other gods but what's interesting is that his condemnation of idol worship is often in the same breath that he calls out Israel for corruption and bloodshed. It's almost as if the the two are connected in His mind.

I was really surprised by how much the Sabbath comes up across the Old Testament. It's a lot more than I expected.

It's notable and sobering that what matters to God in the Old Testament and what seems to matter to much of His church today are inverted. Ironically, it sometimes seems that the more "Biblical" the Christian claims to be, the more out of sync they are with what matters to the God of the Old Testament. But hey,  maybe that's what the "New Covenant" is for?  My reading of the OT makes me more skeptical than ever of talk of "Biblical living" and following "Biblical principles" for modern life.

A Shift in Focus:  

I notice the latter parts of the Old Testament shift from a focus on prophecies of doom to prophecies of hope and restoration. As Israel moves into and then out of Exile there are hints of a coming Messiah, glimmers of a future hope that is global in scale.  There is still the occasional correction, and doom is still prophesied--but now it's not for God's people but for those who would destroy God's people.

The Skipped over Parts: Ezekiel's Temple

I was surprised by significant portions of Old Testament prophecy that seem to have been "skipped over" by my denomination. It came as a bit of a surprise, since I've been enculturated to believe that Adventists don't "skip" parts of the Bible.  One of the big ones is Ezekiel's temple.  This is a prophecy that begins in Ezekiel 40 and continues to the end of the book. It describes in minute detail a new temple that will be built, the division of the land of Israel in this new era, and includes some fascinating descriptions of a Prince in the new kingdom and a river of healing that will flow from the Temple.  The reading itself can be mind-numbingly tedious in places.  I actually found a video on YouTube that really helped me visualize the details that tended to get jumbled up in my mind.  But what it describes is a temple that was never built.  These plans were not what guided the rebuilding under Nehemiah and Ezra.  This temple is massive, a structure that dwarfs anything that has ever been built around Jerusalem.  

Check out the size of this temple compared to the others (and to a football field). It's literally too big to fit on the current Temple Mount

What's further surprising is that other Christian denominations have a lot of thoughts on Ezekiel's temple.  They haven't skipped over it (don't worry, there's other things they have skipped over too).  This temple--when and where it will be built and what it's significance will be is a big part of other evangelical end-time scenarios.  Here's one P.O.V. (according this guy Ezekiel's temple is "hotly debated" among Biblical scholars.  Who knew?).  As an Adventist I don't remember learning about this temple at all.  I listened to a hour and fifteen minute YouTube sermon by an Adventist preacher that claimed to cover the entire book of Ezekiel. It was a good sermon.  But Ezekiel 40-48 barely got a mention.

I'm not saying my church is right or wrong not to have given more attention to this incredible edifice in Ezekiel.  I'm just noting it, mainly so that we can slow down a little bit with our perhaps arrogant assumption that we have cornered the market on a theology that takes into account the "whole Bible" and "not just the parts we like."  At least for me, taking into account the "whole Bible" and not skipping any parts leaves me with more questions than answers.  And I think that's a good thing.

The Out of Context and Culture Parts: "I hate divorce"

Now there's a passage that's caused a lot of grief, especially for women, over the centuries. It's ironic because taken in context, the Lord's hatred of divorce is about protecting women.  Check it out-Malachi 2:13-16:

"13 Here is another thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and groaning because he pays no attention to your offerings and doesn’t accept them with pleasure. 14 You cry out, “Why doesn’t the Lord accept my worship?” I’ll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her, though she remained your faithful partner, the wife of your marriage vows.

15 Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his.[a] And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. 16 “For I hate divorce!”[b] says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,[c]” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”

What's clear in context is that what God hates is a specific kind of divorce.  The kind where you cheat on your wife, divorce her, and move on to a "newer model."  And yet this passage has been part of a doctrine that has taken a hard line against divorce of any kind, a doctrine that has often overwhelmed women, even more than men, with cruelty. 

The Old Testament--indeed the Bible as whole--is full of stories that require an understanding of culture and context.  Sometimes, that context and culture is evident as in this case; sometimes it's not.  In the end, that reality should make us cautious about taking scripture passages from here and there and insisting they mean what we feel they should mean or what seems "obvious" and "plain" to us.

What's Missing:

It's notable that Satan gets barely a mention in the Old Testament after he shows up at beginning of our story.  We see him in Job, and he gets the blame for inciting David to conduct the census in 1 Chronicles.  There are the famous passages about the King of Tyre in Ezekiel that definitely hint at someone of a supernatural nature and Gabriel talks about being resisted by a powerful prince that prevented him from coming to Daniel sooner.  But that's about it.  He's not a major player. And while God has a lot to say about other gods, He doesn't seem to describe them as other  real spiritual entities per se. He treats them as entirely made-up, completely powerless creations of the nations around Israel.

Also missing is virtually any reference to the afterlife.  All God's punishments and warnings are entirely about what will happen to his wayward people in this life.  There's no caution about the eternal cost of their wrongdoing.

I'm not saying that Satan and the afterlife aren't important or real. Just noting that their absence in this part of the Bible.

It's the Back Story:

The Old Testament for the Christian provides important context.  But it's not the main event.  All of the Old Testament is prelude to what our faith is all about: Jesus. Everything about the Old Testament, it's stories, it's commands, and most importantly it's picture of God are subordinate to the Word made flesh: Jesus Christ.  The heart of our faith is a Person not a book.  For those that would make the Bible the central element of our faith, well, there's a religion for that.  It's a good religion, a wonderful faith. It's just not Christianity.

Covid Comes Home: A Corona Chronicle

My positive test. I hadn't been feeling good all day but chalked it up to allergies.  On the way home from school, I noticed I had chills--which is not a symptom of allergies!  I took my temperature when I got home and found I had a fever over 100 degrees.  I then took the Covid test and it came back positive almost instantly. 

 From the earliest days of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, I imagined what it would be like to write this entry.  Back then, I wasn't sure that I would ever have to write it and apprehensive about what it might entail.  Eventually, I became certain I'd write this entry and was unfazed by the prospect.  And now it's here.

To be honest it's anticlimactic. 

I finally got Covid. In fact, as of yesterday morning, with  Kai's positive test, our whole family has had it (Barbara and Ezra both got it last month).

Of course we're late to the party.  By this time, almost everyone we know has had Covid.  It's no longer a great shock to hear that someone has the dreaded virus nor does it seem necessary to put the whole prayer chain on high alert.  Frankly, I'm glad that I got it when I did.  The current variant is much less severe, especially for those who are vaccinated and boosted (which I am) and when I got the positive test, there was little doubt in my mind that the ride wouldn't be too bumpy.  And so far my experience with Covid has been mild.

 I tested positive this past Wednesday, September 21 and went into isolation that day. (I've been staying in Ezra's room on the bottom bunk. It was easier to have him move into our bedroom with Barbara because Barbara's back can't take the bunk mattress).  I felt pretty rough  Weds and Thursday.  Friday, I felt better but was fatigued and slept a lot.  Yesterday, I didn't sleep as much and had more energy.  Today, I feel better still.  Tomorrow is my last day of isolation and I expect to feel close to normal by then if the trend continues.  I might even try to mow the lawn tomorrow!   Kai is only into his second day of isolation but I can hear him on the other side of the wall in his room jovially talking on the phone with a friend.  I'm guessing he's going to be fine too.

So what does it all mean?  It's been a little more than a year since I closed out my regular Covid updates.  I predicted then--correctly-- that we had essentially decided to return to normal life and to do our best to live with the virus.  Back then the most contagious variant of the virus--Omicron was not yet on our radar.  Omicron would prove to be the most relentless Covid version yet, one that would shift the goalpost from preventing infection to preventing severe illness and death. By winter of 2021 we had the highest case counts ever seen, and yet. . .life went on for the most part as normal.  There were no mass shut-downs, no social distancing mandates, and masks remained optional.  By summer of 2022, my biggest fear was not of getting Covid, but of getting Covid at the wrong time. I had a string of trips lined up and I didn't want any of my plans upended by an inconveniently timed positive test.   I managed to dodge the virus all summer.  While colleagues and students were felled just before the 8th grade class trip, I made it to and from Hawaii untouched.  A cancelled flight caused me to arrive in Jordan several days late, just in time the miss the virus's passage through our dig team, infecting four along the way.  I made it to Florida, including an anniversary trip to Miami without incident.  And though I did get sick after that trip, multiple tests insisted it wasn't Covid. And finally, I was able to make a quick trip out West about a week ago.  I think it was on the flight home from that trip that Covid finally caught up with me. 

Covid isn't quite "just like the flu" yet.  According to a recent article in The Atlantic, Covid is projected to continue to kill about 100,000 Americans annually for some time to come. That's three times the typical annual death count from flu.  Yet it's hard to even say where we are currently with case counts and such.  The New York Times still includes the maps and data in it's now-occasional Virus Briefings, though the link isn't provided in each briefing like it was before.  Todays numbers show the spread of the virus has been flat throughout the summer--neither low nor high--but just consistently the same, and has recently even begun to decline.  Of course with so many tests being done at home and thus not reported (ours among them), it's no longer certain how accurate those case counts even are.   We know people continue to sicken and die from Covid, but at a pace our hospitals seem to be able to manage.  Recently hospitalizations have been declining, which is encouraging, though over 400  Americans on average continue to die daily from Covid.  It's really worth taking a deep dive into the most recent NYT data. The good news according to this data is that by every metric we are doing better than we were a year ago.

I've heard some say that we mustn't get complacent.  This virus is still serious! And I don't suppose they're wrong. After all some of the more vulnerable in my life--my mother and mother-in-law for example--have managed to evade infection so far, and I want that to continue!  But I'm just not sure what vigilance looks like at this point?  Are the disruptive measures--the school and business shut downs--worth the good they might achieve?  Wouldn't avoiding crowds and masking every time we go out have be permanent parts of our lives now?  And is that how we want to live?  And would any of these measures even work given how infectious the current variants have proven to be?

This is what I'd like to see--and how I plan to live going forward:  

• Vaccines and the annual or so booster continue to be our primary weapon of defense against severe Covid.  In a few months, when my immunity is likely starting to wane, I'll pick up the  latest booster and probably throw in a flu shot as well.
•   I'd love to see masking when feeling sick normalized.  If I've got the sniffles or maybe a mild sore throat, I'll put on a mask to protect those around me from whatever I might have--Covid or not. 
•  I'd like to see people really commit to staying home when they don't feel good instead of toughing it out.  I know that can be difficult, especially when you apply that stricter standard to your kids too and you have limited sick days at work.  But we can at least be more intentional in this regard.

I predict that Covid will continue to evolve as a more contagious but less virulent disease.  I know it's possible that it could take an ugly turn, but I think that's unlikely.  I do suspect that at some point a new contagion will arise and unfortunately, I predict we will be no better prepared for that outbreak than we were for this one.  It's just not in our character to do the disciplined work required to keep these viruses at bay.

Now that Covid has come home to our family, I doubt there will be much left to say about this virus that hasn't already been said.  I hope that's the case any way.  We will see.

The One Year Bible: Of Bad Shepherds and Dry Bones

 

I don't know why this time around I'm getting so much more out of Ezekiel than I have in the past. Maybe it's not my least favorite book in the Bible after all.

This week, I'm briefly highlighting two stories from the performance art prophet that stuck with me. One is fairly well known, the other almost seems to provide the inspiration for one of Jesus's most well-known parables.

In Ezekiel 33, instead of a sweeping condemnation of His people as a whole, God zeroes in on the corrupt leadership of Israel, casting the ordinary people as the victims of their abusive rule. He describes them as shepherds who feed off their sheep instead of feeding them. He accuses the leaders of Israel of not caring for His people and causing them to scatter.  This is a kind of the anti-good shepherd parable where the shepherd doesn't bother to go looking for those who have wandered away and are lost.  In this passage, as in Jesus's story, God is the good shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep, who binds up their wounds, feeds them and gives them a place of peace, plenty and rest.

And then God addresses the flock itself, a kind of prefiguring of the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. His indictment of the rich abusing the poor is stinging, and should give us all pause: "Isn't enough for you to keep the best pastures for yourselves?  Must you also trample down the rest? Isn't enough for you to drink clear water for yourselves? Must also muddy the rest with your feet? Why must my flock eat what you have trampled down and drink what you have fouled?"

Ezekiel 37:1-11 is probably one of the most well-known passages in the book.  It's another fantastic vision where God takes Ezekiel to a valley filled with dry bones. "Son of man, can these bones become living people again?" God asks.

By this time, Ezekiel has had enough experience with God and His ways to not be too sure of anything so he replies, "O sovereign Lord, you alone know the answer to that."  Better to avoid either doubt or presumption and just trust God to make it plain.  

What follows a thrilling vision in which as Ezekiel prophecies to the dead, the bones come together until an army of restored corpses lie before him.  Then Ezekiel is instructed to prophesy again, to call on the breath of the four winds to breathe on these bodies, and instantly a vibrant living army leaps to it's feet.  It's a powerful image and I love how the rapper Lecrae captures it in Chris Tomlin's rousing anthem "Awake My Soul."

After weeks of endless doom, this vivid promise of resurrection and restoration is such an encouragement.

The One Year Bible: The Worst Story in the Bible

 A Reflection on Sudden Death

In the end, I suspect that all of our struggles with God, our engagement with faith and religious matters, boil down to death.  Our fear of it, and our resistance to it.  It is the awareness of our own mortality and our wish for eternity that drives it all. In one way our another all religions and beliefs are wrestling with this ultimate human conundrum.  We don't want to die.  And we especially don't want the people we love to die.

The story of the prophet Ezekiel's wife is not gory or violent.  There are no thunderbolts or fire from heaven. It's a quiet, short account, one of Ezekiel's many real-life parables that are the hallmark of his prophetic style.  And yet I have found it one of the most difficult stories in the Bible to accept.

Here it is, Ezekiel 24:15-25:

15Then this message came to me from the Lord: 16“Son of man, with one blow I will take away your dearest treasure. Yet you must not show any sorrow at her death. Do not weep; let there be no tears. 17Groan silently, but let there be no wailing at her grave. Do not uncover your head or take off your sandals. Do not perform the usual rituals of mourning or accept any food brought to you by consoling friends.”

18So I proclaimed this to the people the next morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did everything I had been told to do. 19Then the people asked, “What does all this mean? What are you trying to tell us?”

20So I said to them, “A message came to me from the Lord, 21and I was told to give this message to the people of Israel. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will defile my Temple, the source of your security and pride, the place your heart delights in. Your sons and daughters whom you left behind in Judah will be slaughtered by the sword. 22Then you will do as Ezekiel has done. You will not mourn in public or console yourselves by eating the food brought by friends. 23Your heads will remain covered, and your sandals will not be taken off. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins. You will groan among yourselves for all the evil you have done. 24Ezekiel is an example for you; you will do just as he has done. And when that time comes, you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

25Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, on the day I take away their stronghold—their joy and glory, their heart’s desire, their dearest treasure—I will also take away their sons and daughters."

"And in the evening my wife died."  He says it so tersely, so matter fact.  And it hits you like a blow to the gut.  It feels like. . .well it feels like sudden death.  It's pretty harsh, isn't it.

God took away Ezekiel's wife and then didn't allow him to properly mourn her.  All to send a message, to make a point to the people of Israel.  To paraphrase Jesus's disciples: "This is a hard story, who can accept it?"

I wasn't really interested in the usual Christian apologetics--trying to somehow justify God's actions here. I find the argument "Well, He's God so whatever he does is good" to be particularly useless. While technically true, if God can behave in any way He wants and it automatically becomes good, it makes any arguments about moral behavior moot.  While we are held to an exacting standard of moral accountability, God can move the goal posts as He sees fit and we should not make a peep, because "His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than I thoughts."

To paraphrase Bono: "The God I believe in isn't like that, Mister!"

So what to make of this awful story?  After giving it a lot of thought in prayer, this is where I'm at:

If I believe in a good God (and I do), there has to be more to this story that we're just not told. There's a lot that goes unsaid, and what we assume about that missing context says a lot about what we believe about the character of God. Unfortunately, for me--and I suspect many other believers, there's a tendency to assume the worst of God, because deep in our hearts we view Him not with love and trust, but with wariness and fear.  For example, we assume that God "killed" Ezekiel's wife as a means of delivering His latest prophetic message.

But isn't it possible that Ezekiel's wife wasn't killed by God, at least any more than anyone else who dies is killed by God?  It's true that God can always stop death and thus in a way is responsible for it, thus God's statement "With one blow, I will take away your dearest treasure."  But it's possible that Ezekiel's wife had been ill, and God was simply letting Ezekiel know that she wasn't going to make it.  Or she might have been totally healthy, but a brain aneurism or freak accident was going to take her out.  Sudden death is a tragic part of life. None of us are immune from it. And we all have a hard time accepting it. We are all praying for one more heartbeat. We all know death cannot be avoided--we just keep hoping for a delay.  Ezekiel's wife's death seems to be "different" but it's not. 

 Really, the only thing that makes this death stand out from mere ordinary tragedy is that God told Ezekiel it was coming.  And while God telling Ezekiel his wife was going to die in advance seems cold, it's a mercy I would have given anything to have with the people in my life that have died without warning.  One day of advance notice?  Over the phone call that brings you to your knees? I'll take it! 

The more I think about it, the more I find the most challenging part of the story is not Ezekiel's wife's death but his not being allowed to mourn her.  That prohibition seems particularly cruel, especially in a culture where the rituals of grief were so important (in our Western culture a stoic response to grief is considered "strong" and the person who doesn't cry and just gets on with life is seen as "handling it pretty well").  But I also think that the lack of public grieving was the message--not the death itself.  It was Ezekiel's lack of mourning that drew the the attention of the people.  "What does all this mean?" they asked as they observed Ezekiel, dry-eyed, with a stiff upper lip that would make any Englishman proud, burying his dear wife. "What are you trying to tell us?" Had Ezekiel grieved as was the normal custom, there would have been no message to give.  This, not the death, was the Big Ask God made of His prophet. And Ezekiel, having committed himself fully to the work of delivering God's message no matter the cost, was willing to make that sacrifice.

And I'm sure that night, after everyone had gone home, that Ezekiel wailed into his pillow, while the God of the universe rubbed his back.

I still think this is the worst story in the Bible, but I don't think the worst of God anymore when I read it.

"Oh, sometimes the good die young
It's sad but true
And while we pray for one more heartbeat
The real comfort is with You"

                          --Wayne Watson, "Home Free"