We are at Hebrews 2:14. The author has been putting old testament words into Jesus's mouth, having him declare god has given him children , which one can only assume are supposed to be Jesus's followers. Next follows more of the author's peculiar logic: "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." So, it is the devil who holds the power of death and not god? Who gave him that power? How in the world does one man's death destroy the devil (who doesn't even exist) by dying? How is anyone freed from the fear of death? We all still die. The prospect of death is a horror which we spend our lives pretending will never happen to us. Even those who are religious would rather live than die, in spite of what they preach.
Verse 16 goes on to say that Jesus's death does not help the angels but Abraham's descendants, (the Jews). So, he had to be made like his brothers (the Jews) in every way. News flash: it does not sound like this letter was written by Paul who insisted that the Gospel was about the gentiles also having salvation, maybe even being favored as god's children above the Jews! Jesus is said to have been human so that he could become a high priest who could make atonement for the sins of the people (the Jews).
Because Jesus suffered when he was tempted (Tell us again when that was?) he is able to help those who are being tempted. How? Seriously, what exactly does Jesus do to help someone who is being tempted? And what are these temptations? Do they have anything to do with breaking the hundreds of arbitrary rules and regulations of Judaism that their god gave them through Moses?
We move into chapter three. The brothers (probably Jews) who share in the heavenly calling (what's that?) are to fix their thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest. Jesus is a guy who wears many hats. So far he is the son of god; he speaks through the Old Testament; he is the son of man- a human; he is a brother to the children of god; he is a devil/ death destroyer; he is an apostle (?); and a high priest. (The apostle one stumps me. Maybe we will hear more about it later. Perhaps it means he was an apostle to the Jews as Paul considered himself an apostle to the gentiles.)
Next, we are told Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses. I bet that was shocking to Jewish sensibilities. God is the builder of everything, Moses was his faithful servant. The christ is the faithful son over god's house. "We" (the Hebrews/Jews) are god's house....if we hold on to courage and hope. Now I am even more thinking this must have been written to Jewish believers after the fall of Jerusalem, definitely not gentiles.
The next passage, verses 7-11 is another quote from the old testament, Psalm 95:7-11. The author of Hebrews tells us that this time it is the "holy spirit" talking. How can he tell the difference between the words of the holy spirit, god, and Jesus? If we read through the Psalm it appears to be speaking words that mention the lord/god in the third person. So, if the words are divine, who else could be saying them? The holy spirit! Duh.
The passage speaks of Jews hearing Jesus's voice and not hardening their hearts like they did in the rebellious Mosaic desert wanderings that lasted forty years. The brothers (jews) are not to have sinful unbelieving hearts. They must hold firmly onto confidence to the end. All those who Moses led out into the desert from Egypt were the ones who rebelled against what they heard. Moses was angry with them and they ended up dying in the desert because god swore they would never enter his rest as a result of their unbelief. "His rest" is a metaphor for the land of Canaan/ the promised land, which the author of Hebrews uses as a metaphor for an afterlife in some kind of paradise. We will see that in chapter four.
Till next time.
Showing posts with label promised land. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promised land. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Joshua chapter 24 part 2, plus wrap up.
*We have come to the end of the book of Joshua. Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance. Then he dies. He was 110 years old. That would make this somewhere around the year 1267 B.C.E. (I've been counting back from Bishop Ussher's date of 4,004 B.C.E. as the supposed date of the beginning.) Joshua was buried at his inherited land. The Israelites served Yahweh during the lifetime of Joshua. Joseph's bones, which had been brought from Egypt and presumably carried around this whole time, were buried at Shechem on a piece of land that Jacob had supposedly once bought. Though how they could know that after over 400 years in captivity is a mystery. Think of all the ways of record keeping we have today, and it is still very difficult to know much about our ancestors of 100 years ago, let alone over 400. The high priest Eleazor, son of Aaron, died and was replaced by his son Phinehas.
Wrap Up
*In this book, we are not told it is the word of God, or that it was written by Joshua. We find no mention of heaven, hell, satan, Angels, demons, etc., except for the hornet and we are not told what that is. The only obviously supernatural event is the crossing of the Jordan in chapter 3. It clearly mirrors the crossing of the Red Sea. There is no mention of a messiah. There are only earthly blessings and cursings that pertain to the lives and conduct of the Israelites, not their thoughts.
*Joshua has become the new conduit for Yahweh's commands and instructions after Moses's death. . He alone hears the words of Yahweh. The people are expected to believe and obey. Obedience is stressed over and over. Consequences of disobedience are usually death.
* Yahweh is a jealous God, vengeance is his, he will repay. He pelts hailstones at his enemies while they run away. He changed his mind about the no plunder rule. He orders the deaths of multitudes of men, women and children, so that the Israelites can have the land that he supposedly promised one of their ancestors over 400 years ago. He orders the torture of horses. His power to help eliminate the remaing tribes living in the promised land seems limited after the initial slaughter. He is currently living in Shiloh.
*The Israelites have conquered the land and taken posession, just like Yahweh promised. Sort of. The land was allotted to each of the Israelite tribe by casting lots. However, there is still plenty of clean up to do. Some pesky tribes refuse to be conquered so they are made to do menial tasks for the Israelites. Make sense of that.
*Finally, there is little to no historical evidence of any of the events in this book. It is probably historical fiction, used by the Israelites to explain and justify their presence in the land. It also was probably used to retroactively "foresee" the eventual conquering and exile of their people. This is attributed to disobedience, of course.
*This wraps up the story of the origins of "the people" of the land of Israel. It establishes their group identity. It is interesting to note that most ancient tribes had origin stories and a large percentage of them called them selves "the people" of some sort. Just take a look at some names of Native American tribes and their meanings. Look at the Preamble of the constitution of the United States, "we the people." It is natural for people to group themselves with those who are like them in culture and background and think of everyone else as "other." It makes us feel more comfortable, but it artificially separates and divides people from each other. This is one of the causes of war and genocide throughout history.
Edited
Wrap Up
*In this book, we are not told it is the word of God, or that it was written by Joshua. We find no mention of heaven, hell, satan, Angels, demons, etc., except for the hornet and we are not told what that is. The only obviously supernatural event is the crossing of the Jordan in chapter 3. It clearly mirrors the crossing of the Red Sea. There is no mention of a messiah. There are only earthly blessings and cursings that pertain to the lives and conduct of the Israelites, not their thoughts.
*Joshua has become the new conduit for Yahweh's commands and instructions after Moses's death. . He alone hears the words of Yahweh. The people are expected to believe and obey. Obedience is stressed over and over. Consequences of disobedience are usually death.
* Yahweh is a jealous God, vengeance is his, he will repay. He pelts hailstones at his enemies while they run away. He changed his mind about the no plunder rule. He orders the deaths of multitudes of men, women and children, so that the Israelites can have the land that he supposedly promised one of their ancestors over 400 years ago. He orders the torture of horses. His power to help eliminate the remaing tribes living in the promised land seems limited after the initial slaughter. He is currently living in Shiloh.
*The Israelites have conquered the land and taken posession, just like Yahweh promised. Sort of. The land was allotted to each of the Israelite tribe by casting lots. However, there is still plenty of clean up to do. Some pesky tribes refuse to be conquered so they are made to do menial tasks for the Israelites. Make sense of that.
*Finally, there is little to no historical evidence of any of the events in this book. It is probably historical fiction, used by the Israelites to explain and justify their presence in the land. It also was probably used to retroactively "foresee" the eventual conquering and exile of their people. This is attributed to disobedience, of course.
*This wraps up the story of the origins of "the people" of the land of Israel. It establishes their group identity. It is interesting to note that most ancient tribes had origin stories and a large percentage of them called them selves "the people" of some sort. Just take a look at some names of Native American tribes and their meanings. Look at the Preamble of the constitution of the United States, "we the people." It is natural for people to group themselves with those who are like them in culture and background and think of everyone else as "other." It makes us feel more comfortable, but it artificially separates and divides people from each other. This is one of the causes of war and genocide throughout history.
Edited
Saturday, April 16, 2016
Joshua chapter 23
After reading chapter 23:
*Joshua is now an old man. The Israelites rested from wars. He gathers the leaders of the tribes to give them a pep talk. He tells them to remember how the land was allotted to each tribe. Then he tells them that with Yahweh's help they will conquer the remaining nations that still live in the land that was promised to the Israelites. Again they were told to remain obedient to the law of Moses, to not fraternize with the natives, and to not worship other gods. Dire consequences will ensue if they disobey. He tells them that all of Yahweh's promises have been fulfilled, but again, they better be careful to obey if they want to stay in the land. In spite of talk of fulfilled promises, it appears that the Israelites still do not have complete control over the promised land, only portions of it, if the story is to be believed.
*Joshua is now an old man. The Israelites rested from wars. He gathers the leaders of the tribes to give them a pep talk. He tells them to remember how the land was allotted to each tribe. Then he tells them that with Yahweh's help they will conquer the remaining nations that still live in the land that was promised to the Israelites. Again they were told to remain obedient to the law of Moses, to not fraternize with the natives, and to not worship other gods. Dire consequences will ensue if they disobey. He tells them that all of Yahweh's promises have been fulfilled, but again, they better be careful to obey if they want to stay in the land. In spite of talk of fulfilled promises, it appears that the Israelites still do not have complete control over the promised land, only portions of it, if the story is to be believed.
Monday, April 4, 2016
Joshua chapter 15 and 16
After reading chapter 15:
*Here we are told which portion of the land was alloted to the tribe of Judah. Caleb got a portion of Judah's land in Hebron. Caleb's daughter was married to Caleb's nephew Othniel as a reward for Othniel's capture of Debir, whose destruction we've already read about in chapter 10 verses 38-39. Caleb's daughter asked for springs of water and was granted them. All together, the tribe of Judah supposedly acquired at least 113 towns and villages. We are also told that Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites who continued to live among them up to the time of the writing of this passage. Those Jebusites must have been mighty strong to be able to resists Yahweh's plans of total annhiliation. In spite of that, there seems to be some doubt that they ever existed.
After reading chapter 16:
*Here we are told the boundaries of the land allotted to the tribe of Ephraim. Apparently, the Ephraimites could not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer, but they forced the people of Gezer to do manual labor. This seems like a silly statement. They can't get rid of them but they can enslave them? Even stranger, we were told back in chapter 10 verse 33, that the entire army and the King of Gezer had been wiped out by the Israelites.
*Here we are told which portion of the land was alloted to the tribe of Judah. Caleb got a portion of Judah's land in Hebron. Caleb's daughter was married to Caleb's nephew Othniel as a reward for Othniel's capture of Debir, whose destruction we've already read about in chapter 10 verses 38-39. Caleb's daughter asked for springs of water and was granted them. All together, the tribe of Judah supposedly acquired at least 113 towns and villages. We are also told that Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites who continued to live among them up to the time of the writing of this passage. Those Jebusites must have been mighty strong to be able to resists Yahweh's plans of total annhiliation. In spite of that, there seems to be some doubt that they ever existed.
After reading chapter 16:
*Here we are told the boundaries of the land allotted to the tribe of Ephraim. Apparently, the Ephraimites could not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer, but they forced the people of Gezer to do manual labor. This seems like a silly statement. They can't get rid of them but they can enslave them? Even stranger, we were told back in chapter 10 verse 33, that the entire army and the King of Gezer had been wiped out by the Israelites.
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Joshua chapter 3
After reading chapter 3:
*The morning after the spies reported to Joshua, the Israelites that were going to cross the Jordon moved to camp by the Jordan river. Remember, we are talking about at least a million people. After they had been camped for three days, Joshua walked among the people giving them instructions. When they saw the priests carrying the ark of the covenant they were to follow in a proscribed order, probably that given back in Numbers chapter 2. However, they were to stay 2,000 cubits back from the ark, which is about half a mile! Think about it. How easy is it to see people half a mile away? Can you see what they are carrying or doing, hear what they are saying? It would partly depend on the terrain and the vegetation, wouldn't it? You can read about the geography surrounding the Jordan River here and here. As far as I can determine, the Jordon River itself is currently a little over half a mile wide at its widest point and could have been up to a mile wide in antiquity. The river is in a depression in the Jordon Rift Valley.
*Joshua promises that Yahweh will do amazing things. Then he tells the priests to take the ark, go to the river and stand in the water. After that, he tells the Israelites they will know God is with them when they are able to drive the previous inhabitants out of the land. Then they are told to choose twelve men, one from each tribe, but we are not told why. As soon as the priests with the ark will set foot in the water, the flow will cease and the water will pile up in a heap.
*The priests and the people did what Joshua said. Supposedly, the river was at flood stage, but as soon as the priest's feet touched the water, it stopped flowing and piled up in a heap "a great distance away" near Zarethan, which was apparently about 30 miles away from the crossing near Jericho. All those people then crossed over on dry ground while the priests with the ark stood firmly in the middle of dry river bed. So how did the all the people cross and maintain the required half mile distance from the ark? How did the river bed dry so quickly? However they did it, we are told everyone got across safely. By that time the heap of flood waters near Zarethan must have reached incredible hieghts. I wonder if anyone in that vicinity noticed?
*Can you see the resemblance of this story to the crossing of the Red Sea back in Exodus 14? This time, however, they are not being chased, they are on the attack. The two crossings are like bookends to the time in the desert.
*The morning after the spies reported to Joshua, the Israelites that were going to cross the Jordon moved to camp by the Jordan river. Remember, we are talking about at least a million people. After they had been camped for three days, Joshua walked among the people giving them instructions. When they saw the priests carrying the ark of the covenant they were to follow in a proscribed order, probably that given back in Numbers chapter 2. However, they were to stay 2,000 cubits back from the ark, which is about half a mile! Think about it. How easy is it to see people half a mile away? Can you see what they are carrying or doing, hear what they are saying? It would partly depend on the terrain and the vegetation, wouldn't it? You can read about the geography surrounding the Jordan River here and here. As far as I can determine, the Jordon River itself is currently a little over half a mile wide at its widest point and could have been up to a mile wide in antiquity. The river is in a depression in the Jordon Rift Valley.
*Joshua promises that Yahweh will do amazing things. Then he tells the priests to take the ark, go to the river and stand in the water. After that, he tells the Israelites they will know God is with them when they are able to drive the previous inhabitants out of the land. Then they are told to choose twelve men, one from each tribe, but we are not told why. As soon as the priests with the ark will set foot in the water, the flow will cease and the water will pile up in a heap.
*The priests and the people did what Joshua said. Supposedly, the river was at flood stage, but as soon as the priest's feet touched the water, it stopped flowing and piled up in a heap "a great distance away" near Zarethan, which was apparently about 30 miles away from the crossing near Jericho. All those people then crossed over on dry ground while the priests with the ark stood firmly in the middle of dry river bed. So how did the all the people cross and maintain the required half mile distance from the ark? How did the river bed dry so quickly? However they did it, we are told everyone got across safely. By that time the heap of flood waters near Zarethan must have reached incredible hieghts. I wonder if anyone in that vicinity noticed?
*Can you see the resemblance of this story to the crossing of the Red Sea back in Exodus 14? This time, however, they are not being chased, they are on the attack. The two crossings are like bookends to the time in the desert.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Deuteronomy 34
After reading chapter 34:
*So, Moses climbs Mount Nebo and there Yahweh shows him all the promised land across the Jordan that he will never set foot on, all the way to the western sea (the Mediterranean). That's quite a distance. At 120 years old, Moses has bionic eyes.
*Moses then died and was buried in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but "to this day no one knows where his grave is." "To this day" means that at the time this was written Moses had been dead long enough for the Israelites to have forgotten where the grave was. This would also happen if there never was a Moses and consequently no grave to find. This passage does not say Moses's death actually took place on the mountain. It just says he died in Moab. However, his death occurring on the mountain itself is very strongly rooted in tradition. Tra-di-tionnnnn!
*We are told that Moses was strong and clear sighted when he died. Then why did he die? Clearly it was not of natural causes. So, was it suicide, foul play, or did God just snuff out his life? After his death, the Israelites mourned Moses for a month then Joshua became the new leader, because Moses had laid his hands on him and had given him the spirit of wisdom. Whoa, shades of the apostles: passing the gift of the spirit by the laying on of hands.
*Deuteronomy ends by saying that since Moses there never has been a prophet as great and powerful as he was. This means that the book of Deuteronomy was written long after Moses lived and died, even after there had been other prophets in Israel.
We are finally done with Deuteronomy!!!
*So, Moses climbs Mount Nebo and there Yahweh shows him all the promised land across the Jordan that he will never set foot on, all the way to the western sea (the Mediterranean). That's quite a distance. At 120 years old, Moses has bionic eyes.
*Moses then died and was buried in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but "to this day no one knows where his grave is." "To this day" means that at the time this was written Moses had been dead long enough for the Israelites to have forgotten where the grave was. This would also happen if there never was a Moses and consequently no grave to find. This passage does not say Moses's death actually took place on the mountain. It just says he died in Moab. However, his death occurring on the mountain itself is very strongly rooted in tradition. Tra-di-tionnnnn!
*We are told that Moses was strong and clear sighted when he died. Then why did he die? Clearly it was not of natural causes. So, was it suicide, foul play, or did God just snuff out his life? After his death, the Israelites mourned Moses for a month then Joshua became the new leader, because Moses had laid his hands on him and had given him the spirit of wisdom. Whoa, shades of the apostles: passing the gift of the spirit by the laying on of hands.
*Deuteronomy ends by saying that since Moses there never has been a prophet as great and powerful as he was. This means that the book of Deuteronomy was written long after Moses lived and died, even after there had been other prophets in Israel.
We are finally done with Deuteronomy!!!
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Numbers chapter 34
After reading chapter 34:
*This chapter delineates the borders of the land Yahweh is giving the Israelites. The wikipedia article on the promised land has maps that show where these borders would have been. Notice that the area of the promised land differs from that which yahweh promised to Abraham's descendants at the end of Genesis chater 15. There, the the northern border was the Euphrates and the southern border "the river of Egypt."
*After that, Moses says this land will be divided up among the remaining nine and a half tribes, after the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh get the land they requested on the east side of the Jordan. A leader was to be chosen from each of the nine and a half tribes, for the purpose of portioning out the "inheritance" of the Israelites.
*This chapter delineates the borders of the land Yahweh is giving the Israelites. The wikipedia article on the promised land has maps that show where these borders would have been. Notice that the area of the promised land differs from that which yahweh promised to Abraham's descendants at the end of Genesis chater 15. There, the the northern border was the Euphrates and the southern border "the river of Egypt."
*After that, Moses says this land will be divided up among the remaining nine and a half tribes, after the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh get the land they requested on the east side of the Jordan. A leader was to be chosen from each of the nine and a half tribes, for the purpose of portioning out the "inheritance" of the Israelites.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)