Lee Harmon's Blog, page 85

Micah 5:2 and 5:6, the Bethlehemite

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
He will deliver us from the Assyrian when he invades our land and marches into our borders.
//Micah prophesied the arrival of a military savior who would rescue Israel from the Assyrians. When no such savior appeared, this prophecy was retained in the minds of later readers as a general reference to the anticipated Jewish Messiah. 
The Christian claim, of course, is that Jesus was (and is) this very Messiah. Micah 5:2 is quoted by Matthew as evidence that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, so Matthew clearly recognized Micah's prophecy as relating to Jesus.
But why didn't Matthew read the entire chapter before referencing verse two? Did he really think Jesus would fight a military battle against the Assyrians? If Matthew expected a military victory from his Messiah, did he think the defunct Assyrian dynasty would be restored after 600 years? Do those who expect Jesus to return and fight at Armageddon expect the Assyrian dynasty be restored after 2,600 years?
These sorts of questions highlight the problem with taking Old Testament Bible prophecies of Jesus literally. Matthew was no idiot; he surely knew he was reinterpreting the Bible as he quoted Micah. If the authors of the Gospels, thought by many to be the very disciples sitting at the feet of Jesus, knew the prophecies were being fulfilled in a symbolic or other non-literal way, why should we read the Bible literally today? Why do we imagine, for example, that Revelation's horrors are to be interpreted literally?

Book review: Messiahs, Volume 1

by Christian Nseka

★★★
This is the first of a three-volume series about messiahs: Christ, the Messiah of 2000 years ago; Reverend Moon, the appointed Messiah of this age; and the many messiahs around us. In fact, everyone is a messiah. The book is well-written and easy to read, apologetic in nature, but it didn’t seem convincing enough to me to expect Bible-readers to embrace the ideas within. Thus, a three-star rating.
Nseka is a member of the Unification Church, and writes from that perspective. He believes literally in the Bible story; in particular, the story of the Garden of Eden and the Fall of mankind. This theme—the restoration of mankind from the Fall—pervades this entire volume. Adam and his wife Eve sinned, and history up to this point has been a redemption from sin.
Here’s how it works: Jesus is the Messiah, capital M, but the mission of the Messiah is to bring harmony. To establish the Kingdom of Heaven. Given that this has not yet happened—indeed, Satan has only grown stronger than ever—we may conclude that Jesus didn’t entirely fulfill the role of Messiah. For one thing, both Adam and Even sinned, and Jesus could only absolve Adam’s portion of the original sin;  both a male and female messiah are required to cover them both. Jesus represents only the second Adam. Had Jesus married, thus anointing a wife to serve as the female Messiah, perhaps he could have completed the messianic requirements. He didn’t, so we need a Second Coming.
Luckily, Reverend Moon is married. His first marriage didn’t work, but thankfully he found another wife, so the two of them can finish the job begun by Jesus. Jesus himself passed the torch to Rev. Moon, who serves as the Second Coming of Jesus. Rev. and Mrs. Moon are the True Parents, establishing a family and lineage under God in the Second Advent. Salvation comes through the marriage ceremonies for which Rev. Moon has become famous. Through the Blessing of a Moon-endorsed wedding (he plays matchmaker, selecting the wife for each man), humanity is able to conceive children within the lineage of God—children born without original sin, like Jesus.
And there you have it. Today, the Unification Church and the newly-inaugurated Kingdom of Heaven has grown considerably, and the providence of restoration has reached a point where Rev. Moon no longer needs to match people. So great has the movement grown, that in 2010 he retired from that service and instructed candidates on how to pick their own spouses.
No one has outperformed Jesus save for the Rev. Sun Myung Moon (p. 163).

1 Corinthians 10:4, The Rock That Followed

And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
//This is Paul talking, comparing Jesus to a rock. Remember this story? Israel, traveling through the desert, grew thirsty and God told Moses to strike a rock to produce water. Moses whacks it with a staff, and it bleeds water (Exodus 17:6).
Sometime later, the Israelites thirst again, and again God tells Moses to bring forth water from the Rock. Tradition says this is the same Rock as the first time, which had been following the Israelites around providing water, but now it had apparently quit producing.
This time, however, God commands Moses to merely speak to the Rock. It doesn't need further physical inducement. But Moses doubts, and whacks the poor Rock. It doesn't respond, so he whacks it again. This time, the Rock gives up its water (Numbers 20:11). God is displeased over Moses' inhumane treatment of the Rock, and decides Moses will be denied entrance to the Promised Land.
This is the traveling Rock that Paul writes about in today’s verse. John's Gospel further explains the analogy, describing the death of Christ: “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.” This act of piercing Jesus’ side, like that of Moses striking the rock, produced water but was unnecessary. Accordingly, as Moses was denied entrance into the Promised Land, so will these men be punished, while those redeemed by the blood/water of Christ are welcomed into the new age:
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)

Genesis 29:25, What Did Jacob Steal From Esau?

When morning came, there was Leah! 
//If you said Jacob stole Esau's birthright, you're right.
If you said Jacob stole Esau's blessing, you're right.
If you said Jacob stole Esau's wife, you're right.
According to oral tradition in the Kabbalah, the story goes that Laban's two daughters had been betrothed to Isaac's two sons all along. Rachel to Jacob, the older Leah to the older Esau. Jacob falls in love with Rachel and agrees to work seven years for her, while Esau wanders off and ignores his bride. So, after the seven years are over, Leah remains unmarried, and according to custom, the older must marry first, so in the morning Jacob wakes up to find not Rachel in bed with him, but Leah! He has married the one betrothed to his brother! 
He works another seven years for Rachel, and Esau seems unperturbed about losing Leah (she had "weak eyes"), so all's well that ends well.

Book review: Elijah, the Last Prophet

by Mickey Mullen

★★
I met Mickey, this book’s author, on a public forum at Goodreads.com, where he insisted on spouting the most insane, impossible story of his Christian conversion. God gave him a new heart. No, I mean it, a real one. God sucked the old one out and replaced it with a new blood pump.
Mickey doesn’t know it, but I watched him for months, telling his story and enduring the ridicule. I can’t believe his story … I’m just not wired to swallow that kinda thing … but whatever the heck happened to Mickey that day, it left an impression. He may have been a hell raiser before his conversion, but today he’s an absolute saint for what he puts up with on Goodreads.com, and never loses his cool. My curiosity sparked, and I offered to review a book he had written.
Turns out he’s more than a saint. He’s the prophet Elijah, and he’s got a message for us. For one thing, we shouldn’t bother reading most of the New Testament. Stick to the Gospels and stay away from the Satanic influence of Paul. Mickey's writing style is a bit unorthodox, and the punctuation questionable, but I’m not sure I’d have it any other way … somehow it sets just the right tone.
I was captivated for about 40 pages, while Mickey recounted stories of his childhood. Setting the stage, I assumed, for what was to come: a miraculous conversion experience. Reading the book is a bit like sitting on a log around a campfire, listening to grandpa reminisce. But the storytelling grew old, and I began to wish he’d get on with the supernatural stuff, so I was more than ready when the book turned preachy. Finally, we must be getting to the point! Okay, Mickey, I’ll swear off Paul, if you’ll tell me what happened to you! But the preachy stage came to an end, and the reminiscing began again. Along the way I learned how to drive safely, how to roast hot dogs, I learned just about everything except what I hoped. Mickey’s miraculous baptism by the Holy Ghost blew by in a couple sentences without fanfare, and the storytelling began to meander again without direction until it simply petered out on the final page as if he ran out of breath and decided to call it a night.
Mickey, you seem like a fascinating guy, it would be fun to stoke the campfire together, but your book doesn’t go anywhere.

Revelation 6:14, The Heavens Roll Up

The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
//This verse may be difficult to picture from today's understanding of the cosmos, but in the day it was written, it actually made perfect sense. The sky was pictured as a dome overhead, enclosing the flat earth, and when the day came for the earth to be destroyed, the dome was rolled up and discarded. Whether or not Jews truly expected a cataclysmic end to the universe or were merely playing with metaphors, at least the idea made sense back in the day.
The image of the universe as a big scroll holds me spellbound. Revelation alludes to another mysterious scroll, with all of the mysteries of God written therein. In Islamic thought, God provides two great tools for our understanding: The Qur'an and the physical universe are twin manifestations of God Himself. The universe can be pictured like a written scroll, perhaps slowly unrolling to teach us about God's glory and the meaning of his creation. It invites us to explore and learn. One day, of course, it'll come to an end ... “The Day when we shall roll up the heavens as a recorder rolleth up a written scroll.” (Qur'an 21:104). 

Genesis 23:1-2, How Did Abraham's Wife Die?

Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Arba. 
//Do you picture Isaac as a young boy when Abraham took him up the mountain to sacrifice him? Most people do. But one wonders how he is able to carry the wood for the sacrifice on his back if he's a child.
Instead, according to both the Talmud and the Kabbalah, Isaac was a fully-grown man of 37 years old. Now, if we do the math, Isaac was born to Sarah when she was 90, and Sarah died when she was 127 years old, so that would make Isaac 37 years old. Thus Sarah died in the year God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his son.
We can probably pin the time of her death down even further. After Abraham (and presumably Isaac) trudge back down the mountain after the aborted sacrifice, they head off to Beersheba. The very next thing we read is that Sarah died at Kiriath Arba (Hebron), and Abraham "went" to mourn for her. So Abraham never saw his wife again alive after he left to sacrifice Isaac. Batteries hadn’t been invented yet, so Abraham’s cell phone would have been no help. We are left with the assumption that Sarah died of heartache from Abraham travelling off to murder her only son.
So, God saves Abraham's son from sacrifice but the ordeal kills his wife?

Book review: What is the Bible?

by Rev. Anne Robertson

★★★★
This little booklet serves as a basic textbook to introduce the Bible in the Dickinsen Series Program of the Massachusetts Bible Society. It’s intended for class session, recognizing that there may be two levels of learners in each class: some may be taking the course out of general interest only, while others may wish to pursue a Certificate of Biblical Literacy, requiring more in-depth exercises, and earning Continuing Education Units. The four books in the course include:
[1] What is the Bible?[2] Introducing the Old Testament[3] Introducing the New Testament[4] The Bible in Context (a look at the culture and surrounding events of the various times in the biblical narrative)
Book one (today’s topic) is sort of a “What’s the big deal?” treatment, introducing the two Testaments, what’s hidden in the Bible, how it was put together, why there are so many translations, and why people argue so vehemently over words like “inerrant” and “inspired.” Above all, this introduction stresses tolerance and understanding for the different ways of reading scripture. It encourages you to examine your own beliefs objectively so that other opinions about the Bible can be appreciated (remember, it’s written to be used in class discussion), and it serves as a great lead-in to the coming volumes.  Robertson’s writing is engaging, written with humor and lots of little anecdotes. It reminds me a little of the “Dummy” instruction series. But as friendly as it is, it’s like any textbook: If ya don’t do the exercises, ya don’t get the benefit.

Psalm 90:4, How Old is the Universe?

For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.
//Here’s one for you guys who think the universe is really thirteen or fourteen billion years old. Hogwash, right? My Bible says the world began in the year 4,004 BC. That’s just 6,016 years ago, folks.
Of course, the book of Psalms indicates that for God, a thousand years goes by like a watch in the night. A few hours.
Lamentations 2:19 describes the first watch, presumably from sunset to 10 pm. Judges 7:19 describes the second, from 10 pm to 2 am. Exodus 14:24 gives us the third, the “morning watch,” from 2 am to morning light. So there are roughly four hours in each watch.
Now, let’s do a little math. Apparently, 1,000 years for God goes by in four hours, and the number of four-hour periods in 1,000 years is 2,190,000. God’s time runs 2,190,000 times faster than our time.
So the universe began 6,016 years ago, from God’s perspective? How long is that in “human years?” 6,016 X 2,190,000 = 13.2 billion years.
Hey, maybe our scientists got it right!
(Corollary: Methuselah lived to be 969 years old. That means he died at the ripe old age of three hours and fifty two minutes. Well, every theory has its problems.)

Genesis 7:7, Noah's Studly Sons

And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood.
//According to the Bible, all humans share two common ancestral sets of parents: Adam and Eve, and Noah and his wife. When the flood came, it wiped out all life except Noah’s family, so we all descend from Noah as well. (Note that we descend from other genealogical lines as well, through the wives of Noah’s sons, who accompanied him onto the ark.)
The most recent research in human evolution uses mitochondrial DNA (mitDNA) to trace human origins through mother-to-daughter inheritance, and nuclear DNA to trace through father-to-son inheritance. It turns out all males share a common father, a sort of Y-chromosomal Adam, projected to have lived about 80,000 years ago. Curiously, however, when we trace the matrilineal line to find a common mother, we have to go clear back to 150,000 years ago. Researchers call her Eve.
So, does that mean Adam lived 70,000 years after Eve? How can that be? Should we instead figure the discovered common father to be Noah, not Adam? This leads to a couple conclusions:
[1] The flood happened about the year 80,000 BC, and the creation about 150,000 BC.
[2] It takes 70,000 years for the ancestors of all the wives of Noah’s sons to converge back through time into a single Eve. Wow, just how many wives accompanied these three sons on board the ark? Is that why the ark had to be so big?