Esther part nine

We are at the end of chapter three. The edict to destroy the Jews on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, of the twelfth year if Xerxes reign, has been sent out. "The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered."

When Mordecai found out about the edict, he went into mourning. He tore his clothes, wore sackcloth and ashes, and wailed loudly. Jews throughout the empire did the same thing, including fasting. What was this supposed to accomplish? 1 Kings 21:27-28, shows us an example of king Ahab doing this to show humility before god, so that god will change his mind about destroying him. In Genesis 37:34, Jacob mourns his son while in sackcloth. My commentary suggests the  author of Esther may have been familiar with Joel 2:12-17, Which suggests that mourning behavior can cause god to relent from sending calamity. There are also many instances of fasting, often as a sign if repentence.

While Mordecai was thus attired, he was not allowed to enter through the king's gate. Esther heard about Mordecai through her maids and eunuchs. She sent him some other clothes, but he would not wear them. Esther sent one of her eunuchs out to find out what the problem was. Mordecai told the eunuch the whole story and gave him a copy of the edict. The eunuch went back to Esther and reported what Mordecai had told him, along with a request for Esther to go into the king's presence and plead for the lives of her people.

Esther sent the eunuch back to Mordecai with a message. Everyone knew that to go into the presence of the king without being summoned was a risky enterprise. They could be put to death, unless the king extended his gold scepter. Plus, Esther had not been called to go to the king for a month. Mordecai sent a message back to Esther.   "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to this royal position for such a time as this?" This is the main theme of the whole story.

God is not mentioned at all, but Mordecai expects salvation for at least some of the Jews, if not for him and Esther. From whence cometh this salvation? Is hope in this salvation justified? Even today, after over 2,5000 years, there is a firm belief that there will always be a remnant of the Jewish god's chosen people on earth. Many Christians consider themselves part of that category.

Note: My bible commentary says that the other "place" where salvation arrives from may be a play on words, one of the names of god being "the place."

Next, Esther sends her message back to Mordecai. She wants him to gather up all the Jews in Susa and have them conduct a fast on her behalf, for three days and three nights. (Hmmm. That's a familiar time span.) Esther and her maids will also fast. After that she will go take her chances with the king. "Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's instructions."

Notice the contrast between the fasting and acts of humility and service of Esther and Mordecai and the extravagance and feasting of the royal household.

Mark part twenty six

We are now in Mark 14:39. Jesus has gone off to pray twice; and he has gone back to rebuke Peter, James, and John, twice, for sleeping while they waited for him. Now he does the same sequence a third time.I have been impressed by the number of times three has cropped up in this story. We have three disciples dozing while waiting for Jesus. Three times Jesus prays. Three times he goes back to the three disciples to rebuke them. What are the odds more threes will occur in this story?

The third time Jesus rebukes the three, he also announces his betrayer is coming. So, somewhere in between the twelve arriving at the garden and this moment, Judas must have left. Judas now appears with what can be described as a mob, sent by the chief priests, teachers of the law, and the elders. (Three authority figures) These people  are not said to be Roman soldiers. Remember, this is the night of Passover, a religious holy day. This should not have been happening. Back in 14:2, the chief priests said they didn't want to arrest Jesus during the Feast  for fear of a riot. The feast of unleavened bread lasted a whole week. In the context of the story, it appears to be only the second day of the feast, Jewish time.

Judas had arranged a signal to show the armed crowd who to capture. He went to Jesus, called him rabbi, and gave him a kiss. He was immediately arrested. Someone standing nearby cut off the ear of the chief priest's servant with a sword. The text does not name that person. It also does not say Jesus stuck the ear back on and miraculously healed it. Jesus verbally protests the necessity of the arrest, but says "the scripture must be fulfilled." Everyone deserted Jesus and ran away. Jesus was only with three other people at the time, unless all the other disciples decided to come see what the commotion was.

Next, an odd incident is included in the story, telling us that a young man, basically only dressed in his underwear or night clothes, tried to run off but was grabbed by the flimsy garment. He escaped by leaving the garment behind, in other words, buck naked. Since this seems such a non-sequitur, many bible readers through the ages have decided the purpose for including this story must be because the young man was the author, AKA Mark. There is no actual reason to believe this other than speculation.

They crowd took Jesus to the Jewish authority figures who had gathered, on Passover night. Peter followed them at a distance, to the high priest's courtyard, and sat with the guards (not said to be Roman) by the fire. The whole Sanhedrin was there, on Passover night. They had a religious trial, in the middle of the night. Unbelievable. They needed two or more witnesses who could agree and give evidence to any religious crimes Jesus had supposedly committed that would justify putting him to death. They didn't get what they needed. Some testified that Jesus said he "would destroy this manmade temple and in three days build another, not made by man." However, no two testimonies agreeed. (Many Christians believe the Temple referred to was a metaphor for Jesus's body.) Jesus refused to answer the charges against himself, instead remaining silent.

Then the high priest asked Jesus if he was the christ, the son of the blessed one. Jesus replied, "I am." In the old testament "I am" is what god calls himself, this would mean Jesus was making himself Equal to god. If that wasn't enough, he goes on to imply that he will sit at the right hand of god and appear with him in the clouds when he comes. This was clearly blasphemy, punishable by death. Jesus was condemned to die, spat upon, blindfolded, and beaten.

Jonah chapter 3

After reading chapter 3:

Yahweh tells Jonah to go to Ninevah, again, and give them his message. Then we are told Ninevah is such an important city that a visit requires three days. (The same number of days Jonah was in the big fish! Coincidence?) on the first day, Jonah goes into the city and starts proclaiming that Ninevah will be overturned in forty days. (Forty days is another very familiar number of days.) Lo and behold, the Ninevites believed Jonah! That was easy. They declared a fast and put on sackcloth.

When word reached the king, he must have believed it too, because he took off his royal robes and also put on sackcloth. Theses people were obviously not sceptics, if they believed a stranger who roamed around saying that a foreign god told him they are doomed. Nevertheless, the king issued a proclamation that every man and beast (poor beasts) was to be covered in sackcloth, give up their evil ways, and call urgently on God, maybe he would relent. Or... Maybe it never was going to happen in the first place.

The last verse of chapter three says that when God saw how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring the destruction on them that he had threatened. So, God promised to destroy Ninevah (said Jonah) but he didn't. He broke his promise? But, if this happened, there was only Jonah's word that God spoke to him. God didn't tell this to anyone else, not even a single Ninevite. A revelation to one man is just that. Why should anyone believe it?

Plus, have you noticed, we aren't even told what the "evil ways" of the Ninevites were.

Jonah chapter 2

After reading chapter 2:

*This whole chapter is a poetic prayer that Jonah prays to Yahweh, while inside a fish, without breathable air. The odd thing about this poem is it is written in the past tense. So, he's hanging out in the fish and he thanks God for saving him from a certain death in the ocean. Supposedly, as he was about to drown, he "remembered" Yahweh and he prayed. God saved him. Now he is safe inside the fish. (If you were inside a fish would you feel safe?), Now he will make sacrifices and keep his vows. Did he not believe Yahweh had any power before this? I would think if someone actually believed in a powerful god that could punish them, they would be mighty cautious not to irritate that god to begin with.

*Yahweh told the fish to spit up Jonah, and it did. Not only that, it conveniently spit Jonah on to dry land. After a three day belly ache, it just swam up to the beach and retched Jonah out. What's not to believe?

Jonah chapter 1 part 2

We left off with Jonah explaing to his shipmates why the lots chose him as the reason for their peril. The other seamen were terrified and asked Jonah what could be done to appease his god and calm the seas. Jonah told them they must throw him overboard. Being reluctant to do that, they tried to row back to land. I looked up ancient sailing vessels that need to be rowed and found a list with illustrations here: http://www.rodlangton.com/ancient/desc.htm

They were unable to return to land, so they prayed to Yahweh not to hold them accountable for his life before they threw him in. The sea was quickly calmed. The seamen decided to offer a sacrifice to Yahweh and make vows to him, in gratitude. Yahweh provided a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. This does not say Jonah was swallowed by a whale, but ancient people may not have recognized the distinction between whales and giant fish. 

Could a whale swallow a person whole? (Link)

Could a human survive being swallowed by a whale or big fish? (Link)

The gist of those articles is that a person swallowed by a wahale or fish would have no air to breath and would die. My personal thought is that humans also need water, and three days is hitting the maximum time possible to have no (fresh) water. Drinking seawater will kill you. A person swallowed by a whale would have to deal with the corrosive digestive juices, lack of oxygen, possible methane gas, and no fresh water. The conclusion is, no it's not possible for a person to live thre days and nights inside a fish or a whale. But, you know what, that won't matter to a fervent believer, because: miracles happen! God can do anything,  dontcha know, even make the impossible possible. When you get that response, there is often no option but to move on. You are talking to a brick wall. I know, it's extraordinarily frustrating. 

I've decided to have regular posts on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, unless there are other obligations that keep me from posting on a particular day. Maybe having a definite schedule will help keep me from procrastinating. Thanks to anyone who is still hanging around and reading.  

Jeusus and gentiles part 4

We continue to look at the book of Matthew.

*In chapter 15 of Matthew, we read a repetition of the story found in Mark of the non-jewish woman who had a daughter possessed by a demon/evil spirit. In Mark the woman was a Greek. In Matthew she was a Canaanite. In Matthew, Jesus significantly tells the woman,"I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." He did not say that in Mark. Also, in Mark, Jesus admires the woman's reply to his implication that non Jews are dogs. In Matthew, he admires her faith.

*At the very end of Matthew, we read another version of the "great commission." There
Jesus tells the remaining eleven disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit." This passage seems to clearly indicate that the disciple should have been out teaching gentiles after Jesus's ascension. However, we saw in Galatians and Acts that both Peter and Paul had to explain their ministries to the Gentiles and approval was sought from the jerusalem council of Jewish christians. Why weren't all the disciples out teaching and baptising "all nations?" There are traditions that this happened, such as Thomas in India, but there is no evidence.

Now let's take a look at Luke.

*In chapter 7, we have repetition of Jesus healing the centurian's servant, also found in Matthew 8. Here we are told people pleaded with Jesus that the centurian deserved the consideration of Jesus because "he loves our nation and has built our synogogue." In Matthew, the Centurian speaks directly to Jesus. In Luke, they communicate through friends.

*In Luke 8, we have a repetition of the story of the demon possessed man and the pigs, also found in  Mark and Matthew. This version is more like Mark's.

*I didn't notice anything else until Luke 24, where, instead of the great commission, Jesus tells the disciples, "This is what is written: The christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations (presumably including Gentiles), beginning at Jerusalem." First of all there is no OT scripture that actually says this. It is cobbled together from various passages in Psalms and Isaiah, which most likely were not originally intended to refer to Jesus. My study bible gives these references: Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Psalm 16:8-11, Isaiah 49. There are references to suffering and  passages that coincide with the NT descriptions of Jesus's death. We are told "All the families of the nations will bow down before him" (him being Yahweh). We are told Israel will be made a light to the gentiles. We are told a suffering servant will bear the sins/iniquities of many. But... We are not told all these things clearly in one place. We are definitely not told that a particular person called the christ will rise on the third day and people will preach in his name. That is something the (unknown) author of Luke made up.

So, I did some more looking into the "third day" claim. I found Hosea 6:2 that says, "After two days  he will revive us, on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence." The study bible does not claim this has any relationship to Jesus rising on the third day, good for them. There are numerous references to things happening on third days, a number of days that is very popular in the OT. But none of them seem to suggest the resurrection of a christ in any way. So why have Jesus raised on the third day? Well, the story of Yahweh appearing on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 may be the inspiration. After a period of three days, god appears with thunder and lightening and a loud trumpet blast. It doesn't really fit, but that's all I have.

Paul's early life and mission as found in Acts, Part 1

*Now we will see what the author of Acts has to say about Paul's early life and conversion. We do not know who the author of Acts is, but whoever he is, he was not an eyewitness to the events we will cover. Acts had to have been written after 63 C.E. The book of Acts is written as though the narrator is omnicient. The author does not claim to have recieved his knowledge of the events from God. Nor does he claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit.

*Acts 7:58-9:  First we see Saul (supposedly Paul's original Jewish name, which Paul does not mention in the epistles.)  watching and giving approval to the stoning of Stephen, a disciple of Jesus. This is not mentioned in Paul's letters, but that is understandable. However, He does say he persecuted the church. In 8:3, we see Paul trying to destroy the church by dragging its adherents off to prison. In chapter 9, Paul asks the high priest for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to "The Way, " men or women, he could take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Pause.

*One thing that stands out to me so far is that the disciples were called members of The Way and they were meeting in synagogues. This means they were probably Jews and still considered themselves Jews. They had not separated themselves from the Jewish faith. The Way was not a separate religion. Also interesting is the fact that many Eastern religions had philosophies or practices called the way or the path,  including Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Shinto. I wouldn't be surprised if that concept was a component of most ancient religions, but I'm not going to look them all up.

*In Acts 9, as Saul is travelling to Damascus, a light from heaven (How did he know it was from heaven? My first thought is to wonder if this is a description of being struck by lightening. Some people think it sounds like he had an epileptic siezure.) flashed around him, he fell to the ground and heard a voice say,"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He answered the voice and said,"who are you, lord?" You want to be polite and respectful to disembodied voices that come with flashes of light, but how would Saul know if the owner of the voice was good or evil? The voice then said it was Jesus, whom Saul was persecuting. How does he know it's not a demon playing a trick on him? He was to get up, go into the city and he would be told what to do. Men travelling with Saul heard the sound but did not see anyone. It is not clear if they heard words or just noises. Saul got up from the ground but could not see, so he had to be led to Damascus by the hand. For three days he was blind and did not eat or drink anything. The Bible just loves three day stretches. Saul would have been pretty weak after three days of no food or drink. None of this is mentioned in the epistles.

*In Damscus there was a disciple called Ananias. The lord (God or Jesus?) called to him in a vision. How did he know it was the lord? We must take the author's word for it. The author must take the word of the person who told him. If Ananias existed, someone had to take his word for it. Ananias is not mentioned in Paul's epistles. God (or Jesus?) gives Ananias specific instructions about how to find a man from Tarsus named Saul. He was told that Saul was also having a vision of Ananias coming to heal his blindness by placing his hands on him. Paul never mentions he is from Tarsus in the epistles.

*Ananias speaks back to his vision, saying he has heard of the damage Saul has done to the people who are calling on the lord's name. Oh, I guess it is supposed to be Jesus, whom christians would have us believe is actually God in the flesh. But a vision doesn't have flesh, so how could a person distinguish between God and Jesus? Anyway, this lord tells Ananias that he has chosen Saul to carry the lord's name before the Gentiles, their kings, and the people of Israel. As an added bonus, he gets to suffer for the name.

I've run out of room. To be continued...

Joshua chapter 9

After reading chapter 9:

*Since the Israelites had defeated two local cities, the Kings in other cities near the Jordan were worried. They formed a coalition against the Israelites. Who can blame them? An exception was the people of Gibeon. Some Gibeonites went to Joshua pretending to be poor people from a distant country, saying they had heard of the Israelites and Yahweh's deeds, and they wanted to make a peace treaty. The men of Israel believed the Gibeonites and made a treaty with them, ratifying it with an oath. However, they forgot to consult Yahweh first. Three days later, the fact that the Gibeonites were really a nearby tribe was revealed.

*The Israelites were miffed, but they had given their oath in Yahweh's name which made it binding. The leaders decided they had to let them live, but nothing was stopping them from making the Gibeonites do menial labor. Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and told them they were now under a curse because of their deception. The Gibeonites believed it and grovelled. Their lives were spared, and "to this day" they are wood cutters and water carriers for the Israelites.

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.

Joshua chapter 2

After reading chapter 2:

*Here we have the famous story of Rahab. Joshua secretly spent two spies to Jericho to look over the land, presumably in preparation to attack. The spies lodged in the house of a woman named Rahab, who was a prostitute or an innkeeper, depending on your source. Of course she could have been both. The king of Jericho found out about the spies and sent some men to Rahab's house to tell her to send them out. She lied and said they had left and she didn't know which way they went, but she had really hidden them on the roof under some stalks of flax. So the men went on a wild goose chase after the spies and got shut out of the city because it was after dusk, when the gates were shut.

*Before the spies went to sleep, Rahab went up to the roof to tell them that the people of Jericho had heard the stories about Yahweh, the Israelites, and their conquests. The people of Jericho were afraid. They believed that Yahweh was the almighty God over heaven and earth. Rahab asked the spies to swear to be kind to her and her family and spare them from death,  because she was kind to them. The spies promised to spare their lives after the conquest of Jericho. This is in spite of the fact that back in Deuteronomy 20  the Israelites were told not to spare anything that had the breath of life when they conquered the land that they were going to live in.

*Rahab then let the spies go out her window on a red cord, because her house was part of the city wall. The spies were to hide for three days until their pursuers had come back without them. The men told Rahab that they would keep their promise if she and her family would stay in the house during the battle and if a red cord was hung in her window as a sign to the Israelites. She was also bound to secrecy. So, they left and she tied the red cord to the window. The men hid for three days, then went back to Joshua and told him everything that had happened.

*My study bible says the Scarlett cord was a symbolic equivalent to  blood on the doorpost at passover. Death would not visit her house if it was there.

Joshua chapter 1

After reading chapter 1:

*Moses has died. Now Yahweh talks to Joshua and no one else. He tells Joshua to get ready to cross the Jordan with the Israelites so that they can take over the promised land from the people who live there. Yahweh will be with them and no one will be able to stand against them. They are to be strong, courageous and obedient to "this book of the law." Is Joshua a book of the law? How can they be obedient to it before it is written, because it surely wasn't written until after all the events in it had already happened.

*Joshua tells the officers to tell the people to get ready to cross the Jordan in three days. The wives, children and livestock of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Mannasseh get to stay behind, because land on that side of the Jordon was given to them as their inheritance. The men of those tribes must go with the other Israelites and help them fight to tak possession of the land of Canaan. Then they can go back to their own land.

*The people agreed to do whatever Joshua commanded and declared that whoever disobeyed Joshua should be put to death.

Numbers chapter 19

After reading chapter 19:

*In this chapter Moses and Aaron get a new everlasting ordinance from Yahweh. This time they are told how to slaughter and burn an unblemished red heifer in great detail. Its ashes were to be gathered and kept in a ceremonially clean place outside of the camp. They were to be used in water when a  ritual cleansing was to be done, for purification of sin. The water with  heifer ashes in it is the "water of cleansing." The water was to be used to purify a person who has touched a dead human body, even old bones.

*The person who touched the dead body was unclean. He had to put some of the heifer ashes in a jar with water and a clean person had to sprinkle the water on him and on everyone and everything else associated with the body, on the third and seventh days of their uncleanness. Then they had to wash themselves and thier clothes. If they don't do this they will remain unclean and will be excommunicated. The weird part, if this isn't wierd enough, is that the clean sprinkler becomes temporarily unclean and anyone else who touches the water of cleansing becomes unclean til evening!

*Here you have it: Magic heifer ashes make unclean people clean and clean people unclean.

Numbers chapter 10

After reading chapter 10:

*The first part of this chapter is about the creation of two silver trumpets to be used by Aaron and his sons.
-Both trumpets blown at the same time signal a community assembly at the entrance to the tabernacle. Though how you get a million or so people to hear two trumpets, plus gather together and assemble in one spot, is a mystery.
-One trumpet means only the heads of the clans are to assemble.
-One trumpet blast, of a different signal, means the eastern camps start moving. A second blast after that and the southern camps start moving. The text doesn't mention the western and northern camps
-A trumpet blast before a battle will ensure they are remembered by God and are rescued from their enemies. God needs reminding.
-The trumpets will also be sounded at feasts, festivals, and over burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. So, I'm guessing the trumpets would have been sounded fairly often. This reminds me of a scene in the Sound of Music.

*On the twentieth day of the second month, of the second year, the cloud over the tabernacle lifted. The Israelites broke camp and followed the cloud from the desert of Sinai to the desert of Paran.
The divisions of clans set out in a particular order, Judah's camp divisions left first. Again, the tribe of Judah is being given priority, even though Reuben was the oldest of Israel's sons. I wonder if this is another case of the younger brother symbolism found so often throughout the bible narrative. It looks ahead to a time when the  of tribe of Judah  becomes the leading tribe in the kingdom of Judah. If so, that clearly means this narrative was not written till after that time, which was not till at least the 9th century B.C.E., a few hundred years after these events would have taken place.

*The Gershonites and Merarites were to leave with the first Israelite clans so they could set up the tabernacle in the new spot before the Kohathites arrived with the holy accoutrements.

*Moses invited his brother-in-law Hobab to come with them. He declined and said he was going back to his own people. Moses begged him to stay and help them out. He promised Hobab a share of the spoils. So they travelled for three days. (A standard journey for those times.) Every day they set out, and every time they camped, Moses repeated some magical words to get Yahweh to stay with them.

Exodus chapter 19 part 2

*On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightening, a thick cloud of billowing smoke, a loud trumpet blast, and the mountain trembled, very much like a volcano. The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and the voice of God answered saying, " I am the great Oz, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." Oops, wrong story. You must admit it was very theatrical.

*Yahweh descended to the top of mount Sinai from somewhere up above. He  called Moses up to the top of the mountain. Moses went up, even though it was supposedly covered in billowing smoke. God warned Moses to warn the people that they would die if they tried to force their way through to see him. Who would kill them? Moses had to remind God that he had  already ordered boundaries to be put around the mountain. Then Yahweh told Moses to go down and fetch Aaron, but the priests and the rest of the people were not to come up or he would " break out against them." Moses went back down again to tell the the Israelites what they already knew.

* Wait a minute. Where did those priests come from? Does it have anything to do with Yaweh's declaration in verse 6 that they would be a kingdom of priests?

Exodus chapter 15

After reading chapter 15:

*Moses and the Israelites sing a song about how awesome Yahweh is for killing all those Egyptians who were after them. Not only that, but other nations will hear about this and tremble as the Israelites pass by. Yaweh will plant the Israelites on the mountain of his inheritance. Miriam, Moses's and Aaron's sister, and all the Israelite women, sang and danced with tambourines. So, how did all the Israelites know this song? Did somebody write down the lyrics, make a million copies,  and pass them out? or did they spontaneously burst out in song all at the same time? There must have been hundreds of thousands of women. The text says all the women followed Miriam's example. That's a lot of tambourines. If we seriously think of these events as actual events, happening in real time, it should be easy to recognize the practical impossibilities.

*The song also says "Who among the gods is like you?" This implies there are other gods.

*Then, Moses led the people away from the Red Sea, or the Sea of Reeds, depending who you ask, into the desert of Shur. For three days over a million people wandered in the desert without finding water. When they did find some, it was bitter. The people complained. Moses cried out to Yahweh who showed him a piece of wood to throw in the water to make it sweet. Next, Yahweh speaks of himself in the third person to tell the Israelites to obey him. If they do, they won't get any Egyptian diseases. Then they come to a place called Elim, where there are trees and water.

Last Edited 9/12/15

Exodus chapter 10

After reading chapter 10:

*God tells Moses he has hardened Pharoah's heart so that some day the Israelites will have exciting stories to tell their grandchildren. Then Moses and Aaron go threaten Pharoah with locusts like he had never seen before. Pharoah's officials advise him to let the Israelites go, Egypt is already ruined because of them.

*Pharoah tells Moses and Aaron they can go worship their God. Then he asks, "By the way, who is going with you?" Moses says that all the Israelites and their livestock are going to celebrate a festival to Yahweh. Pharoah thinks they are up to no good and says only the men can go. Then Moses and Aaron are kicked out. Moses stretches out his magic hand and God made an east wind bring in hordes of locusts. They covered everything. They ate everything that had been left after the hail. Even  though the hail had supposedly stripped all the leaves from the trees, this time they were really really destroyed. Pharoah called Moses and Aaron back and asked them to pray for the locusts to go away. They did, and God sent a west wind to blow all the locusts into the Red Sea. Pharoah still would not let Moses and his people go.

*God tells Moses to stretch out his hand toward the sky and a darkness that can be felt will cover Egypt. The darkness was so thick that none of the Egyptians could see anyone else for three days. The Israelites, however, had light where they lived. Then Pharoah told them they could all go to worship Yahweh, but they had to leave the animals behind. Moses said all the animals must go because they had no idea what God would want for a sacrifice once they got to the desert. (Excuses, excuses.) Pharoah wasn't willing to let all those people and animals go. Pharoah told Moses to go away from his sight  and never come back or he would be killed. Moses said, "As you wish."

* I notice that in the last few chapters Moses is no longer using his staff, but his hand. He also appears to be relying on Aaron less. I wonder where Moses was staying during this time. Did he travel back and forth constantly between Goshen and the capital city where the Pharoah lived? Or did he camp out in front of the palace?

Last edited 9/12/15

Genesis chapter 42

After reading chapter 42:

*The famine reached Canaan. Jacob told ten of his sons to go to Egypt to buy grain. Benjamin, the youngest son of Rachel, was left behind. When Joseph's brothers arrived in Egypt, they went to Joseph and bowed down to ask for grain, without knowing who he was. He knew them and remembered his dreams that he would one day rule over them. He accused them of being spies even though he knew they were not. They explained who they were and why they were there, but Joseph continued to act suspicious. He put them in custody for three days and told them that one of them needed to go back and get the youngest brother to prove they were not lying. After the three days, he changed that to one remaining and the others going back.

* The brothers discussed why this had happened and became convinced it was because of the way they had treated Joseph when he was young. Unknown to them, Joseph overheard and began to cry. Then he had Simeon taken and tied up. He had their sacks loaded with grain and their silver put back in the sacks. When they stopped to camp, they discovered the silver and were afraid. They thought God was punishing them 27 years after the fact.

*When they got home, they told Jacob everything that had happened. He was very upset. Reuben offered to have his two sons put to death if Bejamin was not brought back safely. ( nice) Jacob was not going to allow Benjamin, the only surviving child of Rachel, to go to Egypt. He would surely die if Benjamin left.

* Notice that the brother's three days in prison echoes the three days between the interpretation of the cupbearer's and baker's dreams and their release from prison.

Genesis chapter 40

After reading chapter 40:

*While in prison, the warden assigned Joseph to serve the king's chief cupbearer and the king's chief baker. The king  was angry with them and had them imprisoned. One morning Joseph found them both in a dejected state of mind. They had dreamt weird dreams and could not interpret them. (Because weird dreams always mean something, right?)

*Joseph said the interpretation of dreams belongs to God. He must be god, because he proceeded to interpret those dreams himself. The chief cupbearer's dream meant that he would get his old job back. (His head would be lifted up.) Joseph asked him to mention Joseph to Pharoah when he was back in Pharoah's employ. He wanted out of prison. The chief baker's dream meant that he would be hung from a tree and eaten by birds. ( His head would be lifted off.)

*On his birthday, three days later,  Pharoah gave a feast for all his officials and released the cupbearer and baker. Joseph's predictions for them both came true. However, the cupbearer forgot all about Joseph.

* Herod Antipas is the next biblical king  that has a birthday party with all his officials. John the Baptist was in prison at the time and Herod had him beheaded, an interesting coincidence.