Lee Harmon's Blog, page 83
September 10, 2012
Matthew 19:3, When Is Divorce Allowed?
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason"
//One of the "eight great debates" in first-century Judaism was this matter of divorce. Under what circumstances was divorce to be permitted? Respected rabbi's Shammai and Hillel espoused different teachings, and when the Pharisees came to "test" Jesus, they really were merely trying to nail down which side of the debate Jesus would take.
In this example, Jesus sides with Shammai ... interesting, because he usually sides with Hillel. But this time, Hillel, quite lax on the matter, argued that divorce was permitted "even if she [merely] burns his soup." Like the Pharisees ask, "Any and every reason." Shammai's stance was more strict, that divorce should only occur over a matter of immorality.
Thus we reach Jesus' teaching in Matthew, who chooses Shammai in the debate:
I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery. --Matthew 19:9
It's curious that only Matthew includes this exception about infidelity. It doesn't exist in Mark, the text that Matthew copies from. Mark simply says divorce is a no-no. But Matthew, apparently more familiar with the two sides of the big debate than Mark, adds the clause that a person is permitted to divorce under the circumstance of infidelity.
//One of the "eight great debates" in first-century Judaism was this matter of divorce. Under what circumstances was divorce to be permitted? Respected rabbi's Shammai and Hillel espoused different teachings, and when the Pharisees came to "test" Jesus, they really were merely trying to nail down which side of the debate Jesus would take.
In this example, Jesus sides with Shammai ... interesting, because he usually sides with Hillel. But this time, Hillel, quite lax on the matter, argued that divorce was permitted "even if she [merely] burns his soup." Like the Pharisees ask, "Any and every reason." Shammai's stance was more strict, that divorce should only occur over a matter of immorality.
Thus we reach Jesus' teaching in Matthew, who chooses Shammai in the debate:
I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery. --Matthew 19:9
It's curious that only Matthew includes this exception about infidelity. It doesn't exist in Mark, the text that Matthew copies from. Mark simply says divorce is a no-no. But Matthew, apparently more familiar with the two sides of the big debate than Mark, adds the clause that a person is permitted to divorce under the circumstance of infidelity.
September 9, 2012
Ruth 1:16, Your God will be my God
Your people shall be my people and your God my God.
//The book of Ruth is such a sweet little story, and this speech by Ruth is such an inspiring example of love. As Naomi heads back from Moab to the land of Israel, she instructs her daughter-in-law Ruth to turn back, go back to Moab. Ruth says, “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge.” But Ruth doesn’t stop there. She continues, “Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.”
But if other scripture is to be believed, Ruth could not have said these words, except in ignorance. Naomi could never have accepted them. No such thing should have been possible. The book of Deuteronomy is clear on the subject:
"An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt” –Deuteronomy 23:3-4
Supposing this story of Ruth and Naomi were true, can you begin to imagine the heartache Naomi would feel as she led Ruth back to a land that she believed could never accept her? Supposing this story were true, then what changed when they arrived back in Israel: the Law or the Lord?
//The book of Ruth is such a sweet little story, and this speech by Ruth is such an inspiring example of love. As Naomi heads back from Moab to the land of Israel, she instructs her daughter-in-law Ruth to turn back, go back to Moab. Ruth says, “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge.” But Ruth doesn’t stop there. She continues, “Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.”
But if other scripture is to be believed, Ruth could not have said these words, except in ignorance. Naomi could never have accepted them. No such thing should have been possible. The book of Deuteronomy is clear on the subject:
"An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever, because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt” –Deuteronomy 23:3-4
Supposing this story of Ruth and Naomi were true, can you begin to imagine the heartache Naomi would feel as she led Ruth back to a land that she believed could never accept her? Supposing this story were true, then what changed when they arrived back in Israel: the Law or the Lord?
September 8, 2012
Book review: Revelation: The Way it Happened
by Lee Harmon
★★★★
A writer is forever learning. In this review by Goodreads reviewer “Phil,” I learned never to park things atop the ark (too informal, I assume), and to be more sensitive about Jewish facial features. I made both modifications in my "corrected copy." (Seriously, I did! It's my job to learn and avoid what offends people!)
From Phil:
It seems it has taken me a long time to read this book, but there were two factors - one, I enjoyed it so, that it gave me food for thought, and, two, a minister friend (not on Goodreads) was so captivated by my description of it, I had to lend it to him.
Pity the poor librarian who has to classify the book! It is neither exegetical commentary on the Book of Revelation nor an historical novel! (Official rules state, however, it must be classed as fiction.)
I might have given the book the full five stars, except for some "infelicities."
For example, the Cherubim can be said to have been placed on the Ark of the Covenant, but "parked"?
And the description of Samuel's deceased wife's nose as "dainty ... so contradictory to her Jewish heritage ..." Seriously ??
Otherwise, I enjoyed this largely Preterist commentary on Revelation.
★★★★
A writer is forever learning. In this review by Goodreads reviewer “Phil,” I learned never to park things atop the ark (too informal, I assume), and to be more sensitive about Jewish facial features. I made both modifications in my "corrected copy." (Seriously, I did! It's my job to learn and avoid what offends people!)
From Phil:
It seems it has taken me a long time to read this book, but there were two factors - one, I enjoyed it so, that it gave me food for thought, and, two, a minister friend (not on Goodreads) was so captivated by my description of it, I had to lend it to him.
Pity the poor librarian who has to classify the book! It is neither exegetical commentary on the Book of Revelation nor an historical novel! (Official rules state, however, it must be classed as fiction.)
I might have given the book the full five stars, except for some "infelicities."
For example, the Cherubim can be said to have been placed on the Ark of the Covenant, but "parked"?
And the description of Samuel's deceased wife's nose as "dainty ... so contradictory to her Jewish heritage ..." Seriously ??
Otherwise, I enjoyed this largely Preterist commentary on Revelation.
September 7, 2012
Acts 18:18, The Haircut That Cost Paul His Life
Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Before he sailed, he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken.
//Ever wonder about this vow made by Paul? I wish Paul himself had written about this vow, but he didn’t, so we’re left to speculate. So speculate I shall.
“'Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies,” says Leviticus 21:5. But non-priests were free to cut their hair, and in fact, it became a way of mourning or sealing a vow to God in times of distress. Like wearing sackcloth and ashes. To underscore the vow, Israelites cut the hair off their head and burnt it at the altar of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Paul appears to have made a vow in Corinth and sealed it with a haircut at Cenchrea. He was about to embark on a lengthy journey which would eventually land him in Jerusalem. His purpose was to deliver a collection of money needed by the Jews there, but his friends begged him not to go, knowing the danger. But Paul had made a vow and wouldn’t listen. He seemed determined to go personally to the Temple in Jerusalem, perhaps carrying his hair to be burned.
You know the rest: He was captured, taken to Rome, and probably was never again a free man. There, in Rome, he was beheaded.
//Ever wonder about this vow made by Paul? I wish Paul himself had written about this vow, but he didn’t, so we’re left to speculate. So speculate I shall.
“'Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies,” says Leviticus 21:5. But non-priests were free to cut their hair, and in fact, it became a way of mourning or sealing a vow to God in times of distress. Like wearing sackcloth and ashes. To underscore the vow, Israelites cut the hair off their head and burnt it at the altar of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Paul appears to have made a vow in Corinth and sealed it with a haircut at Cenchrea. He was about to embark on a lengthy journey which would eventually land him in Jerusalem. His purpose was to deliver a collection of money needed by the Jews there, but his friends begged him not to go, knowing the danger. But Paul had made a vow and wouldn’t listen. He seemed determined to go personally to the Temple in Jerusalem, perhaps carrying his hair to be burned.
You know the rest: He was captured, taken to Rome, and probably was never again a free man. There, in Rome, he was beheaded.
September 6, 2012
Genesis 20:17, The First Prayer Answered For Another
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again.
//The story goes that when Abraham lived in Gerar, he deceived Abimelech, king of Gerar, telling him that his wife Sarah was really his sister. So Abimelech, knowing no better, "sent for Sarah and took her." (Not really; two verses later, scripture explains that he didn't have opportunity to get near her, but it was apparently a close call. God intervened.)
Nevertheless, God is angry, and says Abimelech had better make things right with Abraham or he will die. God also "closed up every womb in Abimelech's household" so that Abimelech couldn't conceive an heir.
Abimelech pleads with Abraham, and Abraham is moved to pray to God, not only to spare Abimelech's life but to restore his ability to conceive. God hears the prayer, and opens the wombs of Abimelech's wife and slave girls.
Legend tells us that this was the first time in human history that God fulfilled the prayer of one human being for another. Not the first time someone prayed for another; Abraham had previously begged God to spare Sodom, though God refused. But Abraham's incessant pleading for others wore God down. Indeed, as the legend goes, the very reason God conversed with Abraham at all was because of Abraham's concern for others: when Abraham begged for leniency toward Sodom, God said, "You take delight in defending My creatures, and you would not call them guilty. That is why I have spoken to no one but you during the ten generations since Noah."
//The story goes that when Abraham lived in Gerar, he deceived Abimelech, king of Gerar, telling him that his wife Sarah was really his sister. So Abimelech, knowing no better, "sent for Sarah and took her." (Not really; two verses later, scripture explains that he didn't have opportunity to get near her, but it was apparently a close call. God intervened.)
Nevertheless, God is angry, and says Abimelech had better make things right with Abraham or he will die. God also "closed up every womb in Abimelech's household" so that Abimelech couldn't conceive an heir.
Abimelech pleads with Abraham, and Abraham is moved to pray to God, not only to spare Abimelech's life but to restore his ability to conceive. God hears the prayer, and opens the wombs of Abimelech's wife and slave girls.
Legend tells us that this was the first time in human history that God fulfilled the prayer of one human being for another. Not the first time someone prayed for another; Abraham had previously begged God to spare Sodom, though God refused. But Abraham's incessant pleading for others wore God down. Indeed, as the legend goes, the very reason God conversed with Abraham at all was because of Abraham's concern for others: when Abraham begged for leniency toward Sodom, God said, "You take delight in defending My creatures, and you would not call them guilty. That is why I have spoken to no one but you during the ten generations since Noah."
September 5, 2012
Book review: The Jewish Gospels
by Daniel Boyarin
★★★★★
Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, along comes Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmudic Culture and Rhetoric at the University of California.
You think Christianity’s unique contribution to Judaism was the introduction of a god-man? Wrong. Could it be the idea of a suffering savior? Wrong again. Maybe that Jesus rejected Jewish dietary laws and Sabbath restrictions, freeing us from the Law? Hardly; Boyarin paints a very Jewish Jesus in his reading of the Gospels, certainly a Jesus who keeps kosher.
Christianity’s one claim to fame may be the insistence that the Messiah had already arrived, but that’s about the extent of its uniqueness. Otherwise, Christianity is a very Jewish offshoot of a Jewish religion. Boyarin draws from texts like the Book of Daniel and 1st Enoch to explain the title Son of Man (which, it turns out, is a much more exalted title than Son of God) and in turn to expose the expectation of many first-century Jews of just such a divine savior.
This is a fascinating, controversial book presenting a very different look at Jesus as one who defended Torah from wayward Judaic sects (the Pharisees), rather than vice versa. I don’t think the arguments are fully developed yet, but certainly Boyarin introduces “reasonable doubt” against traditional scholarship. Let the arguing begin.
September 3, 2012
1 Timothy 2:15, Saved Through Childbearing
But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.
//This particular section of scripture (attributed to Paul, though probably written after his time) draws little appreciation from most women. First, "Paul" insists that a woman may not speak in church, but should "learn in quietness and full submission." Then he says that women will be saved by having children.
Really?
Actually, there is another interpretation of this verse. In no translation does it actually say saved by having kids. It says through, or in. And what, exactly, does "saved" mean? We tend to read the New Testament through the lens of today's afterlife-oriented Christianity, but that may be inappropriate.
Consider, for example, that Timothy (the letter's addressee) lived in Ephesus. Just down the street from him would be the world-famous temple dedicated to Artemis, the goddess who protected women from harm as they gave birth to children. I've heard it said that one out of two women in Ephesus died during childbirth; if that's true, then Artemis wasn't doing a very good job.
Artemis’s failure should come as no surprise. Recall God's promise to Eve because of her sin in the Garden of Eden: To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. But in the new age, the paradise of Eden will be restored, and this age, according to the first Christians, lived in its birth pangs. It was supposed to be just around the corner.
Thus in today’s verse "Paul" exposes Artemis as a fraud while at the same time reminding believers of the promise of safe child bearing through faithfulness to the true God.
//This particular section of scripture (attributed to Paul, though probably written after his time) draws little appreciation from most women. First, "Paul" insists that a woman may not speak in church, but should "learn in quietness and full submission." Then he says that women will be saved by having children.
Really?
Actually, there is another interpretation of this verse. In no translation does it actually say saved by having kids. It says through, or in. And what, exactly, does "saved" mean? We tend to read the New Testament through the lens of today's afterlife-oriented Christianity, but that may be inappropriate.
Consider, for example, that Timothy (the letter's addressee) lived in Ephesus. Just down the street from him would be the world-famous temple dedicated to Artemis, the goddess who protected women from harm as they gave birth to children. I've heard it said that one out of two women in Ephesus died during childbirth; if that's true, then Artemis wasn't doing a very good job.
Artemis’s failure should come as no surprise. Recall God's promise to Eve because of her sin in the Garden of Eden: To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. But in the new age, the paradise of Eden will be restored, and this age, according to the first Christians, lived in its birth pangs. It was supposed to be just around the corner.
Thus in today’s verse "Paul" exposes Artemis as a fraud while at the same time reminding believers of the promise of safe child bearing through faithfulness to the true God.
September 2, 2012
Psalm 118:8, The Center Of It All
Open your Bible to its center; chapter 118 of the book of Psalms.
This chapter sits between the shortest chapter and the longest chapter in the Bible. There are 594 chapters before it, and 594 chapters after it.
Add up all those chapters and you get 1188. So, let's read ahead to verse 8. Psalm 118:8. This verse, I'm told, is the very center verse in the Bible.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
There you have it.
This chapter sits between the shortest chapter and the longest chapter in the Bible. There are 594 chapters before it, and 594 chapters after it.
Add up all those chapters and you get 1188. So, let's read ahead to verse 8. Psalm 118:8. This verse, I'm told, is the very center verse in the Bible.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.
There you have it.
September 1, 2012
Genesis 25:1, Who Was Abraham's Second Wife?
Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.
//After Sarah died, Abraham married again, to a woman named Keturah. Together, they had several more children. 1 Chronicles 1:32, however, calls Keturah not a wife but a concubine. So which is it? Wife or concubine?
Answer: Maybe both. Keturah was Sarah's maidservant and bore a child to Abraham years before she became Abraham's wife. How do we know this? Because if oral tradition is to be trusted, we already know this woman well. Keturah is another name for Hagar, the woman who bore Ishmael. The woman whom Sarah demanded be cast out into the desert with her son. Keturah means "perfumed," and the tradition notes that Hagar was "perfumed with good deeds."
So with Hagar out on her own, how did this reconnect with Abraham transpire? Well, it turns out that Isaac had been living in Beerlahairoi before he married, which hints that he had been living with Hagar and Ishmael. See Genesis 16:14, 24:62, 25:11. Evidently, after Sarah died, the influence of Isaac and Ishmael brought Hagar and Abraham back together ... one happy family once again. When Abraham died, Isaac and Ishmael together buried him.
A speculative scenario, but a pleasant one.
//After Sarah died, Abraham married again, to a woman named Keturah. Together, they had several more children. 1 Chronicles 1:32, however, calls Keturah not a wife but a concubine. So which is it? Wife or concubine?
Answer: Maybe both. Keturah was Sarah's maidservant and bore a child to Abraham years before she became Abraham's wife. How do we know this? Because if oral tradition is to be trusted, we already know this woman well. Keturah is another name for Hagar, the woman who bore Ishmael. The woman whom Sarah demanded be cast out into the desert with her son. Keturah means "perfumed," and the tradition notes that Hagar was "perfumed with good deeds."
So with Hagar out on her own, how did this reconnect with Abraham transpire? Well, it turns out that Isaac had been living in Beerlahairoi before he married, which hints that he had been living with Hagar and Ishmael. See Genesis 16:14, 24:62, 25:11. Evidently, after Sarah died, the influence of Isaac and Ishmael brought Hagar and Abraham back together ... one happy family once again. When Abraham died, Isaac and Ishmael together buried him.
A speculative scenario, but a pleasant one.
August 29, 2012
Book review: The Searchers
by Joseph Loconte
★★★★★
Well, I screwed up this time. I picked up The Searchers from Booksneeze, and let it sit on my shelf for two months while I took care of other promised reviews.
Stupid me. This is a fantastic book, intelligent and raw. Raw, not in the vulgar sense, but in the lead-you-to-the-edge-and-curl-your-lip sense. Then it will draw you back from the edge, like the scent of marsh mellow cocoa by a warm fire. Combine all that with a captivating writing style, and you have a winner.
Two men walked side-by-side one day twenty centuries ago, heads bowed, on the way to Emmaus. A stranger appeared asking why they were so downcast, and they marveled at the stranger's ignorance of what was happening in Israel. The rabbi Jesus, the hope of their nation, had been rejected by God's appointed leaders and then brutally killed by the Roman Empire.
Loconte draws us back to this first-century image of a pair of bewildered and beaten men over and over as he discusses the faith-shaking events within Christianity over the years. In so many ways, religion does seem like the poison that many believe it to be. Where is God in all this confusion? As Loconte walks us through the insanity of our world today, with its suffering and wars and occasional inhumanities, we’re tempted to ask the same question. The Searchers is a book about finding “faith in the valley of doubt.” It is a journey, not a book which can be surface-scanned, but one that requires walking in the shoes of others.
Note that this is not an apologetic book. The one little attempt to help us believe in the historicity of the resurrection seemed to me incognizant of the first-century Christian atmosphere, but I won’t dwell on it, because argument is not the focus of the book. Hope is. As we zero in on the close of the book, we’re once again reminded of those two men and their solemn journey home on the Emmaus road. The moment came when their eyes were opened to see the Lord, and for joy, they rushed back to Jerusalem. Hope lives!
★★★★★
Well, I screwed up this time. I picked up The Searchers from Booksneeze, and let it sit on my shelf for two months while I took care of other promised reviews.
Stupid me. This is a fantastic book, intelligent and raw. Raw, not in the vulgar sense, but in the lead-you-to-the-edge-and-curl-your-lip sense. Then it will draw you back from the edge, like the scent of marsh mellow cocoa by a warm fire. Combine all that with a captivating writing style, and you have a winner.
Two men walked side-by-side one day twenty centuries ago, heads bowed, on the way to Emmaus. A stranger appeared asking why they were so downcast, and they marveled at the stranger's ignorance of what was happening in Israel. The rabbi Jesus, the hope of their nation, had been rejected by God's appointed leaders and then brutally killed by the Roman Empire.
Loconte draws us back to this first-century image of a pair of bewildered and beaten men over and over as he discusses the faith-shaking events within Christianity over the years. In so many ways, religion does seem like the poison that many believe it to be. Where is God in all this confusion? As Loconte walks us through the insanity of our world today, with its suffering and wars and occasional inhumanities, we’re tempted to ask the same question. The Searchers is a book about finding “faith in the valley of doubt.” It is a journey, not a book which can be surface-scanned, but one that requires walking in the shoes of others.
Note that this is not an apologetic book. The one little attempt to help us believe in the historicity of the resurrection seemed to me incognizant of the first-century Christian atmosphere, but I won’t dwell on it, because argument is not the focus of the book. Hope is. As we zero in on the close of the book, we’re once again reminded of those two men and their solemn journey home on the Emmaus road. The moment came when their eyes were opened to see the Lord, and for joy, they rushed back to Jerusalem. Hope lives!
