Lee Harmon's Blog, page 132
April 15, 2011
Matthew 2:21, When was Jesus Born?
So [Joseph] got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.
//Have you ever tried to harmonize the two stories of Joseph and Mary? You may feel such an exercise entirely misses the point of either birth parable, but humor me for a few moments. The story seems to run something like this, starting first with what Matthew narrates:
· Joseph and Mary are living in Bethlehem when persecution by King Herod forces them to flee to Egypt.· King Herod dies in 4 BC, and the two of them decide to return.· Arriving in Judea, they find Herod's replacement, his son Archelaus, to be no improvement. They forego Bethlehem and continue on to Galilee, settling in Nazareth.
Now we come to Luke's history:
· Perhaps ten years later, on or after 6 CE, while Cyrenius is governor of Syria, Caesar Augustus mandates a tax census.· Being registered in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary travel there to fulfill the required census.· While in Judea, they visit Jerusalem for a few days, offering sacrifice.· Joseph and Mary then return to Nazareth.
Amazingly, the two stories not only fit nicely side-by-side, but actually complement one another! Luke's story of a census suddenly makes sense, in light of Matthew's explanation that Joseph and Mary hailed from that town.
Just one little detail remains: When was Jesus born?
Luke, too, mentions King Herod in his birth story. But Herod died before Cyrenius arrived. Luke then tells how, twelve years after Jesus is born, his parents bring him to Jerusalem. One naturally wonders: Did Luke confuse two stories, and the taxation occurred when Jesus was twelve?
//Have you ever tried to harmonize the two stories of Joseph and Mary? You may feel such an exercise entirely misses the point of either birth parable, but humor me for a few moments. The story seems to run something like this, starting first with what Matthew narrates:
· Joseph and Mary are living in Bethlehem when persecution by King Herod forces them to flee to Egypt.· King Herod dies in 4 BC, and the two of them decide to return.· Arriving in Judea, they find Herod's replacement, his son Archelaus, to be no improvement. They forego Bethlehem and continue on to Galilee, settling in Nazareth.
Now we come to Luke's history:
· Perhaps ten years later, on or after 6 CE, while Cyrenius is governor of Syria, Caesar Augustus mandates a tax census.· Being registered in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary travel there to fulfill the required census.· While in Judea, they visit Jerusalem for a few days, offering sacrifice.· Joseph and Mary then return to Nazareth.
Amazingly, the two stories not only fit nicely side-by-side, but actually complement one another! Luke's story of a census suddenly makes sense, in light of Matthew's explanation that Joseph and Mary hailed from that town.
Just one little detail remains: When was Jesus born?
Luke, too, mentions King Herod in his birth story. But Herod died before Cyrenius arrived. Luke then tells how, twelve years after Jesus is born, his parents bring him to Jerusalem. One naturally wonders: Did Luke confuse two stories, and the taxation occurred when Jesus was twelve?
April 14, 2011
Book review: The Riddles of the Fourth Gospel
by Paul N. Anderson★★★★★
Paul Anderson has done it again. John's Gospel holds a special fascination for me, and this is simply good scholarship. The book is laid out like a college text, with chapter endings presenting "questions to consider" and "terms to understand." It's clearly meant for the classroom. It's divided into three parts:
1. Outlining the Johannine Riddles. Anderson presents, in tabular form, the theological, historical, and literary riddles that are spread throughout the Gospel.2. Addressing the Johannine Riddles. Who wrote the Fourth Gospel, when, how, and why? Multiple theories are presented, emphasizing origin and character.3. Interpreting the Johannine Riddles. Anderson takes a stab at answering John's conundrums, and calls for a "fourth quest for Jesus" with special consideration for the historical realism of John's Gospel.
If you're familiar with Anderson's work, you may be tempted to skip certain sections, as much has been covered before, but the emphasis on tension and prepared contradictions—what Paul labels John's "riddles"—forces you to reexamine familiar texts within a directed theme. Anderson drills into us the dialectical thinking of John. The Fourth Gospel appears to make a point of presenting both sides of every theology. Jesus is both the most human and the most divine in this gospel. He is judge, but he judges not. He is equal to the Father but subjective to the Father. He fulfills all prophesies yet promises a future eschatology. Perhaps most frustrating of all to me as a scholar of Johannine writings, John's esoteric, spiritual passages encourage non-literal interpretation, but are liberally peppered with verifiable historical accuracies. These tensions are frustrating but intentional, purposefully forcing us to examine all sides.
My conclusion: This is an important, well-organized book whose careful research demands consideration.
(click picture to buy on Amazon)
April 13, 2011
Isaiah 34:14-15, Lilith
Wildcats shall meet with hyenas, goat-demons shall call to each other; there
too Lilith shall repose, and find a place to rest. There shall the owl nest
and lay and hatch and brood in its shadow. //Here is the perfect verse if you enjoy idle speculation. The Hebrew word
Lilith in this verse is a hapax legomenon-that is, it occurs just once in
the Bible, so its meaning can't be determined by comparison to other
passages. Scholars are forced to interpret its meaning by resorting to
related languages, other early translations of the text, or Jewish
tradition.
And what is Jewish tradition? Lilith is generally thought to be related to a
class of female demons. This isn't far from the Assyrian word "lilitu," a
nasty female spirit. Jewish folklore tells us Lilith was the first wife of
Adam, but Adam's domineering ways proved to much for her, and she left him
for an angel. This paved the way for Adam's second wife, Eve. The resulting
Lilith legend still finds its way into various occult and fantasy settings.
Naturally, tradition is unacceptable. We can't have a mythical figure
meandering around in our Bible. A plethora of Bible interpretations render
the word in different ways, from "screech owl" to "night creature" to "night
hag" to "night monster," most of them playing on its similarity to the
Hebrew word "laylah," meaning "night."
All of which is quite unconvincing. I think this is one of those mysteries
of the Bible we'll never uncover.
(If you're interested in a fun, tongue-in-cheek introduction to the Lilith
of mythology, you might check out this Dubious Disciple book review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/154076051. For obvious reasons, this
book, while "religious" of sorts, didn't quite fit the genre of my blog.)
too Lilith shall repose, and find a place to rest. There shall the owl nest
and lay and hatch and brood in its shadow. //Here is the perfect verse if you enjoy idle speculation. The Hebrew word
Lilith in this verse is a hapax legomenon-that is, it occurs just once in
the Bible, so its meaning can't be determined by comparison to other
passages. Scholars are forced to interpret its meaning by resorting to
related languages, other early translations of the text, or Jewish
tradition.
And what is Jewish tradition? Lilith is generally thought to be related to a
class of female demons. This isn't far from the Assyrian word "lilitu," a
nasty female spirit. Jewish folklore tells us Lilith was the first wife of
Adam, but Adam's domineering ways proved to much for her, and she left him
for an angel. This paved the way for Adam's second wife, Eve. The resulting
Lilith legend still finds its way into various occult and fantasy settings.
Naturally, tradition is unacceptable. We can't have a mythical figure
meandering around in our Bible. A plethora of Bible interpretations render
the word in different ways, from "screech owl" to "night creature" to "night
hag" to "night monster," most of them playing on its similarity to the
Hebrew word "laylah," meaning "night."
All of which is quite unconvincing. I think this is one of those mysteries
of the Bible we'll never uncover.
(If you're interested in a fun, tongue-in-cheek introduction to the Lilith
of mythology, you might check out this Dubious Disciple book review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/154076051. For obvious reasons, this
book, while "religious" of sorts, didn't quite fit the genre of my blog.)
April 12, 2011
Book review: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
by Jonathan Edwards★★★
This is a little pocketbook sermon Edwards preached in Enfield, Massachusetts in 1741. From the back cover: "With this marvelous sermon, Jonathan Edwards changed history and helped spark a spiritual awakening … Historians recognize Edwards as one of the most brilliant men of all times."
The torments of hell are vividly described, but according to the book, "Throughout the sermon Edwards demonstrates the utmost compassion for the lost." See if you can locate the compassion in this quotation from the sermon:
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath toward you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire.
I'm speechless. What can I say? My generic rating of three stars reflects an utter refusal to grade the sermon.
One minister on the platform pulled on Jonathan's coat and cried, "Mr. Edwards! Is not God merciful?" Yet the results were remarkable. People cried aloud and grasped the back of the pews lest the ground open up and swallow them alive into hell. Others fainted, wept uncontrollably or quivered like a leaf in the wind.
Gimme that old time religion.
(The text of the sermon may be read here: http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/je-sinners.htm )
(click picture to buy on Amazon)
April 11, 2011
Psalm 137:8-9, How can we sing in a foreign land?
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us—he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
//In my book about Revelation, I suggested that this psalm may be the both the most heartrending and the most disturbing passage in the Bible. Can you imagine being so consumed by hatred for your captors, that you dream of dashing their babies against rocks?
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
This psalm provides a testament to the suffering the Jews endured through the centuries, as the Bible was being compiled. If not for such hardships, our scriptures would perhaps be lifeless.
//In my book about Revelation, I suggested that this psalm may be the both the most heartrending and the most disturbing passage in the Bible. Can you imagine being so consumed by hatred for your captors, that you dream of dashing their babies against rocks?
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
This psalm provides a testament to the suffering the Jews endured through the centuries, as the Bible was being compiled. If not for such hardships, our scriptures would perhaps be lifeless.
Psalm 137:8-9
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us—he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
//In my book about Revelation, I suggested that this psalm may be the both the most heartrending and the most disturbing passage in the Bible. Can you imagine being so consumed by hatred for your captors, that you dream of dashing their babies against rocks?
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
This psalm provides a testament to the suffering the Jews endured through the centuries, as the Bible was being compiled. If not for such hardships, our scriptures would perhaps be lifeless.
//In my book about Revelation, I suggested that this psalm may be the both the most heartrending and the most disturbing passage in the Bible. Can you imagine being so consumed by hatred for your captors, that you dream of dashing their babies against rocks?
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
This psalm provides a testament to the suffering the Jews endured through the centuries, as the Bible was being compiled. If not for such hardships, our scriptures would perhaps be lifeless.
April 10, 2011
Book review: Why God Won't Go Away
by Andrew Newberg, M.D., Eugene D'Aquili, M.D, Ph.D., and Vince Rause★★★★
A single quote from this book probably explains all we need to know about why God won't go away:
So impressive are the health benefits of religion … that after reviewing more than a thousand studies on the impact of religion upon health, Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University Medical Center recently told The New Republic, that "Lack of religious involvement has an effect on mortality that is equivalent to forty years of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day.
What more evidence do we need that evolution has wired us for religion? The subtitle is Brain Science & The Biology of Belief, and the back cover copy promises, "This fascinating, eye-opening book dares to explore both the miracle and the biology of our enduring relationship with God."
The book begins with a short overview of the brain; in particular, the orientation association area that defines the "self." The authors believe this area is extremely important in the brain's sense of mystical and religious experiences.
Religion is far from new. The graves and shrines of the Neanderthals are the earliest known evidence of religious behavior. As soon as hominids began to behave like human beings, they began to wonder and worry about the deepest mysteries of existence—and found resolutions for those mysteries in the stories we call myths. This observation is central to the authors' quest for understanding our religious need. Why would the human mind compel us, in every culture and throughout time, to seek answers to our most troubling problems in myth?
The book next discusses ritual, mysticism, and the mind's search for absolutes … for the "realer than real." Our minds are drawn by the intuition of a deeper reality, an utter sense of oneness with the Absolute. God, say the authors, will not go away, so long as we are capable of sensing something more.
(click picture to buy on Amazon)
April 9, 2011
Exodus 20:2-17, The Ten Commandments
You know the story. God called Moses up the mountain, and there transcribed a series of commandments upon stone tablets:
I am the Lord your GodYou shall have no other gods before meYou shall not make for yourself an idolDo not take the name of the Lord in vainRemember the Sabbath and keep it holyHonor your father and motherYou shall not murderYou shall not commit adulteryYou shall not stealYou shall not bear false witness against your neighborYou shall not covet your neighbor's wifeYou shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor
Moses came down the mountain, found the Israelites worshiping a golden calf in his absence, and flung down the tablets in anger. They broke, and he trudged back up the mountain for a new set. This new set can be read in Deuteronomy chapter 5 (Jewish tradition holds that the original instructions in Exodus were the broken tablets, and the new instructions in Deuteronomy are the replacements). The two sets of commandments roughly agree.
Inexplicably, however, the Deuteronomy reprint indicates that there are only ten commandments. Bet you didn't notice: there are twelve listed above, and careful reading of the text may uncover as many as fourteen or fifteen separate directives.
What to do? Various faiths began combining the twelve basic instructions in different ways, to get the count down to ten. The Jewish Talmud combines 2 and 3, and 11 and 12. Anglican Christians write off 1, and combine 11 and 12. Orthodox Christians combine 1 and 2, 11 and 12. Roman Catholics combine 1, 2 and 3.
Can we at least agree on these twelve? Unfortunately, no. The Samaritan version makes room for a new tenth on the sanctity of their holy Mount Gerezim. Islam teaches that the Bible has been corrupted, and honors a different ten. Jesus, in Matthew 10, found only a few commands worthy of attention: "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and,You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Now, you may ignore the Sabbath, worship whom you please, and covet your neighbor's wife, as long as you love her as yourself.
Mark's Gospel provides only two final commands: Love your God, and love your neighbor. In a way, these two embody all of the original twelve, but John's Gospel drops one of Mark's two, leaving us only with the instruction to love one another. This omission seems to jibe with the series of commandments Jesus dropped in Matthew.
In the end, we're left with one command: Love. Maybe that one will take care of the rest.
I am the Lord your GodYou shall have no other gods before meYou shall not make for yourself an idolDo not take the name of the Lord in vainRemember the Sabbath and keep it holyHonor your father and motherYou shall not murderYou shall not commit adulteryYou shall not stealYou shall not bear false witness against your neighborYou shall not covet your neighbor's wifeYou shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor
Moses came down the mountain, found the Israelites worshiping a golden calf in his absence, and flung down the tablets in anger. They broke, and he trudged back up the mountain for a new set. This new set can be read in Deuteronomy chapter 5 (Jewish tradition holds that the original instructions in Exodus were the broken tablets, and the new instructions in Deuteronomy are the replacements). The two sets of commandments roughly agree.
Inexplicably, however, the Deuteronomy reprint indicates that there are only ten commandments. Bet you didn't notice: there are twelve listed above, and careful reading of the text may uncover as many as fourteen or fifteen separate directives.
What to do? Various faiths began combining the twelve basic instructions in different ways, to get the count down to ten. The Jewish Talmud combines 2 and 3, and 11 and 12. Anglican Christians write off 1, and combine 11 and 12. Orthodox Christians combine 1 and 2, 11 and 12. Roman Catholics combine 1, 2 and 3.
Can we at least agree on these twelve? Unfortunately, no. The Samaritan version makes room for a new tenth on the sanctity of their holy Mount Gerezim. Islam teaches that the Bible has been corrupted, and honors a different ten. Jesus, in Matthew 10, found only a few commands worthy of attention: "You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and,You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Now, you may ignore the Sabbath, worship whom you please, and covet your neighbor's wife, as long as you love her as yourself.
Mark's Gospel provides only two final commands: Love your God, and love your neighbor. In a way, these two embody all of the original twelve, but John's Gospel drops one of Mark's two, leaving us only with the instruction to love one another. This omission seems to jibe with the series of commandments Jesus dropped in Matthew.
In the end, we're left with one command: Love. Maybe that one will take care of the rest.
April 8, 2011
Book review: The Jews in the Time of Jesus
by Stephen M. Wylen★★★★★
This book is now fifteen years old, but it remains one of my favorites, and I wanted to share it. Stephen Wylen is a rabbi at Temple Beth Tikvah, Wayne, NJ, and I so enjoyed his book that I asked him to contribute a back-cover blurb for my own book. He did even more: he contributed a full review: http://www.thewayithappened.com/reviews.shtml. I'm indebted to him, but luckily, his is an easy book to recommend.
Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, and this book does a great job of describing the world Jesus lived in. His world can hardly be understood without some background of Jewish history, both political and religious. The two are interrelated: As the Jews were surviving the period of the Maccabees and Hellenistic integration, they were also seeing the age of prophecy transition into Messianism and Apocalypticism. Wylen spends a great deal of time discussing first-century Judaism: the Synagogue, Sabbath observance, ritual purity, and so on. Jewish understanding of God, Satan, Logos, and their practice of prayer and worship differed from neighboring nations, but did not escape subtle influences. Judaism itself was also fragmented, between Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots and Pharisees.
Wylen also discusses the trial of Jesus. From what the Mishnah tells us about Jewish law there are some problems with the trial story as it stands. For example, the gospels say that the Sanhedrin found Jesus guilty of blasphemy, yet none of Jesus' words or deeds are blasphemous according to Jewish law. Nor could Jesus have been tried on a capital offense in the manner told in the gospel. According to the Mishnah there were many judicial rules designed to protect defendants accused of a capital crime. The trial had to be held before a full court. The sentencing and hearing had to occur during daylight hours. They could not convict on the day of the trial, as described.
For these reasons and more, Wylen concludes Jesus must have been tried by a kangaroo court called together by the high priest Caiaphas, acting on orders from the Romans. Pilate then convicted Jesus of being a revolutionary and sentenced him to crucifixion, just as he slaughtered numerous other innocent Jews.
Wylen delves into why Jesus was killed, whether Pilate was guilty or innocent, how the crowd felt about Jesus, and how much of the passion story is historically true. An excellent and informative book, written in an easy-to-understand style.
(click picture to buy on Amazon)
Book review: The Jews in the Time of jesus
by Stephen M. Wylen★★★★★
This book is now fifteen years old, but it remains one of my favorites, and I wanted to share it. Stephen Wylen is a rabbi at Temple Beth Tikvah, Wayne, NJ, and I so enjoyed his book that I asked him to contribute a back-cover blurb for my own book. He did even more: he contributed a full review: http://www.thewayithappened.com/reviews.shtml. I'm indebted to him, but luckily, his is an easy book to recommend.
Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, and this book does a great job of describing the world Jesus lived in. His world can hardly be understood without some background of Jewish history, both political and religious. The two are interrelated: As the Jews were surviving the period of the Maccabees and Hellenistic integration, they were also seeing the age of prophecy transition into Messianism and Apocalypticism. Wylen spends a great deal of time discussing first-century Judaism: the Synagogue, Sabbath observance, ritual purity, and so on. Jewish understanding of God, Satan, Logos, and their practice of prayer and worship differed from neighboring nations, but did not escape subtle influences. Judaism itself was also fragmented, between Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots and Pharisees.
Wylen also discusses the trial of Jesus. From what the Mishnah tells us about Jewish law there are some problems with the trial story as it stands. For example, the gospels say that the Sanhedrin found Jesus guilty of blasphemy, yet none of Jesus' words or deeds are blasphemous according to Jewish law. Nor could Jesus have been tried on a capital offense in the manner told in the gospel. According to the Mishnah there were many judicial rules designed to protect defendants accused of a capital crime. The trial had to be held before a full court. The sentencing and hearing had to occur during daylight hours. They could not convict on the day of the trial, as described.
For these reasons and more, Wylen concludes Jesus must have been tried by a kangaroo court called together by the high priest Caiaphas, acting on orders from the Romans. Pilate then convicted Jesus of being a revolutionary and sentenced him to crucifixion, just as he slaughtered numerous other innocent Jews.
Wylen delves into why Jesus was killed, whether Pilate was guilty or innocent, how the crowd felt about Jesus, and how much of the passion story is historically true. An excellent and informative book, written in an easy-to-understand style.
(click picture to buy on Amazon)
