Month: February 2017

The Bible in a Year – 16 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

16 February. Numbers chapters 11-14.

If these stories are taken to be in chronological order, then according to chapter 11, almost as soon as the tribes of Israel had started their march, some of them started complaining about a lack of decent food.  God provided quails to provide meat for them (though that does make me ask, what about the meat of all the bulls and sheep and birds that they were sacrificing on the altar?). The story has many elements in common with that in Exodus 16 so it may be a re-telling with embellishments, but of course God may just have worked the same miracle twice.  Either way though, what is interesting in this version, is that in between God’s promise of miraculous provision and its delivery is the coming of what later writers would call the Holy Spirit on the seventy elders who were to assist Moses, and they prophesied.  This looks like a foretaste of the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit came on thousands of people after Jesus’ ascension.  The lesson here appears that people have to be open to God working in their own lives, before he can make provision for others through them.

 

In chapter 13 the twelve “spies” were sent out.  Forget James Bond, these men would be better termed “scouts”. Two of them – Caleb and Joshua – were destined for greatness, and Caleb was confident after their scouting mission that with God’s help the Canaanites, big men though they were, could be defeated and the bountiful country settled. But the other scouts did not share his courage and persuaded the majority of the people that it was better to continue living in the desert alone than risk being subjugated by other nations.  Such decisions on the future of a people are never easy, and I imagine Moses must have felt much as Teresa May did after she took office as Prime Minister last year – disheartened that the majority of people had listened to misleading reports and voted against what she herself thought the better way.  But both leaders realised that it would not be in their interests to force the people down a route they did not wish to go.  I’m not going to push the comparison too far – the EU is not the Promised Land, Britain is no desert, and I’m not aware that God has cursed every Brexit voter to die before his plan can be accomplished.  The point is just that sometimes leaders have to accept that Plan B is the only realistic option.

 

The Bible in a Year – 14-15 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

14-15 February. Numbers chapters 7-10.

These chapters complete the instructions for the furnishings of the tabernacle and for the ministry of the Levite tribe. One little point of interest is that they were to commence their service from the age of 25 and retire from active ministry at 50 (8:23-25).  The prime of their lives was to be given to God, but not their youth or old age (50 being old then in a way that it is not now!).  Too many people leave the church in their teens or early adulthood because of other interests or family commitments, and only return after the age of 40 or 50, meaning that we end up with congregations consisting of mainly elderly people and a few young families.  How can we encourage people in that elusive 25-50 age bracket to come back and give of the best years of their lives to God?

 

Shortly after celebrating the Passover on the second anniversary of the Exodus, the tribes break camp and begin the first of many stages of wandering that would last a generation (38 more years, if the ’40 years in the wilderness’ is taken as accurate rather than indicative). All seemed well, but…

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 13 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

13 February. Numbers chapters 5-6

These two chapters are quite contrasting.  The first – the test of whether a woman has been unfaithful by seeing whether a drink of water with floor sweepings causes her to become infertile – sounds like the sort of barbaric “heads I win, tails you lose” procedures used by witch-hunters in medieval England.  This kind of divination is little better than witchcraft itself.  It is hard to see how even those who profess to take the Bible literally as a guide to modern living could apply this, when we have DNA testing if needed for such situations.

 

The second is more positive, and concerns the Nazirites – men who set themselves apart for God, either for a set period or for life, like Christian monks.  Their vows included avoiding not only alcohol but grapes in any form, and not shaving.  Samson was the most famous Nazirite, but John the Baptist may also have followed this tradition.  There is much to be admired in those who deny worldly pleasures and try to live a ‘holy life’ whether singly or in community, as long as the self-denial does not become an end in itself, or a way to salvation. But living either as a hermit or in a religious community is not easy. Let us pray for those who have made the commitment to do so, that they may live up to their promises and find a closer relationship with God.

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 12 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

12 February. Numbers chapters 3-4

These chapters concern the Levitical tribe that was responsible for the tabernacle – the place of worship.  What I find interesting is that the tribe is divided into three: the Merarites with responsibility for the “frames, bars, pillars and bases” – the structure of the tabernacle; the Gershonites responsible for the fabric, hangings and screens of the tent; and the Kohathites to look after the ark, lampstand, altar, tables and vessels – its liturgical furniture.

 

Echoes of this can be seen today in the legal duties of Churchwardens in the Church of England to take care of the building, its fixtures, fittings and the equipment used for worship. If there are two wardens (as is usually the case), often one will be responsible for the building maintenance, and the other for arrangements for worship.

 

The reason for this is that church buildings are neither irrelevant (despite what members of house-churches might say) nor the most important matter for the congregations.  We need places to meet, and it is right that they should be kept in good condition.  But of all the activities that take place in the church, alongside meetings, entertainment, foodbank collections, or whatever, it is worship that is most important. It is what sets us apart from any other community centre.  Some churches have lots of liturgical furniture and fittings, candles and incense burners; others are much plainer. Modern buildings may have audio-visual installations and sound systems instead of an organ and hymnbooks.  But virtually all will have at least a communion table, a font and musical instruments of some sort.

 

Tomorrow I will be part of a panel (including our priest and churchwarden) interviewing four architects to take forwards our plans for repairing and reordering our church building for the 21st century (at present part of it dates from the 19th century although it was partly rebuilt around 1970).  We will be looking for someone who can take good care of the building, but also has a vision for how it can be re-equipped to help us sing God’s praise and tell his story to the next generation.  Someone who is both of the clan of Merari, and the clan of Kohath.  A tall order.  May God guide us.

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 11 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

11 February. Numbers 1-2

The book of Numbers may be so called because it starts with the taking of a census, and at many other points also includes recitations of tribes and their smaller constituent groups. Whereas during the initial Exodus from Egypt what mattered was getting the whole people across the reed sea in time, in family units, now the larger tribal affiliation matters more.    But the tribal camps are equally arranged around the central ‘tent of meeting’ with no priority, to emphasise that there is no place for rivalry between them on this journey.

 

The census is that of men fit for military service, and the references to camps, standards (flags) and marching is all very militaristic.  Although God had promised Canaan to Abraham’s descendants, and kept renewing that promise, they were going to have to get fighting fit in order to claim it.  While the church is not called to fight physical battles, if we are serious about God’s mission we do have to be well organised and have a plan, as well as trusting in God’s leading.  Also, it is good to have a sense of belonging and commitment to our ‘tribe’ (whether local congregation or wider denomination) but not to the point of seeing other Christians as rivals or enemies. In the language of motivators, “we are all in this together”.

 

The Bible in a Year – 10 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

10 February. Leviticus chapters 26-27

These last two chapters of the book are a ‘conclusion’. Commentators tell us it represents the typical ending of a political treaty, with blessings for keeping it and curses for breaking it.  In that respect, a covenant between God and people is no different from human contractual arrangements.  Whether a business deal, a marriage or a political arrangement (such as the European Union which Britain has chosen to leave), you cannot expect to unilaterally break it without suffering consequences.

 

God will always be faithful to us, if we are faithful to him, but if we are unfaithful to him – saying that we practice religion but actually living selfishly – then we cannot complain if he fails to bless us.  What the nature of those blessing is, though, is another matter – it is not as simple as saying that if we worship God, he will make us rich.  There are plenty of stories through the Bible that disprove that idea.  Blessings lead to happiness, contentment but not necessarily riches.

 

The Bible in a Year – 9 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

9 February. Leviticus chapters 24-25

Part of chapter 24 is one of those rare passages where Leviticus breaks off from giving general rules, to tell a story of certain individuals. “Shelomith daughter of Dibri” is one of the few women mentioned by name in this part of the Bible – possibly the only one apart from Moses’ sister Miriam, and strangely we are not even given the name of her son whose sin of blasphemy is at the focus of the story, nor of her Egyptian husband.

 

Maybe it was the influence of his foreign father behind the man’s offensive use of “The Name” (the sacred name of God which ordinary Israelites where not even supposed to pronounce) but he was the son of an Israelite mother and therefore one of the tribe – Jews still reckon the mother’s lineage more important than the father’s even now.

 

The sin of stoning for blasphemy seems overly harsh to modern western liberals, and yet not only was it one of the reasons behind Jesus being brought before  the high priests leading up to his crucifixion, but also people are still killed for this offence in countries such as Pakistan. If God is believed to be so holy that his very name is unpronounceable, then someone who does so in the course of committing a crime (getting involved in a fight) is doubly guilty.  People of faith even in a liberal culture wince when “OMG” is used in a trivial way, or the name of Jesus or Mohammed (Peace be upon him) is taken lightly.

 

In the following chapter (as I remarked in the post for 7th February, this relates to a late settled phase of Israel’s history) there is an interesting distinction between land and houses in the countryside which had to be returned to their original owners every fifty years – in other words could only be bought ‘leasehold’, with a sale price proportional to the length of years left on the lease – and houses in towns that after an initial year’s rental could be bought freehold by the tenant.  This speaks to our society in which tenants have little security of tenure (in Britain that is, unlike other European societies) but in which the houses in country villages are bought by wealthy people retiring from the city, pushing prices out of reach of local young couples.

 

The Bible in Year – 8 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

8 February. Leviticus chapters 22-23

Chapter 23 describes the rituals of the main Jewish seasonal festivals that eventually came to be established. Some of them have equivalents in modern Christian worship (Passover/Good Friday; Sabbath / Sunday; and with a different climate we just have one Harvest festival to their three of Weeks, Firstfruits and Sukkot). I commented on the Day of Atonement in a recent post. It does not mention Hannukah, as that comes from an even later historical development.  What all these have in common, even the solemnities of Atonement, is that they give thanks for God’s gracious presence in both the everyday life of a farmer, and the dramatic events that make history.

 

A post-religious age has nothing comparable to celebrate, and it is sad to see that “festivals” such as Black Friday and Halloween have taken their place alongside a secularised Christmas and Easter (Star Trek Advent calendar, anyone?) as the significant dates in the calendar. Even those ‘family festivals’ of Valentine’s, Mother’s and Father’s Day are more about commercialism than true love, and leave out those who through no fault of their own have no partner, parents or children alive. What can the church do to draw people back in to the celebrations of God’s goodness in which everyone can participate?

 

 

 

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 7 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

7 February. Leviticus chapters 19-21

Despite what some more fundamentalist Christians will tell you (including the people at Bible Gateway whose plan I am following) the whole of the first 5 chapters of the Bible (the Torah) was not written all at one go before any of the rest of it.  Most modern commentaries reckon there are at least four sources for this material from various times in Israel’s history.

 

That this section (from here to the end of Leviticus) was written well after the time of Moses is evidenced by many references to a settled agricultural life rather than a nomadic desert existence.  For example chapter 19 has rules for harvesting crops in a way that the very poorest can get a share of them, paying hired workers fairly, and planting of orchards.

 

Sadly, many agricultural workers (or even farm owners) don’t get a fair share even now. Not only in developing countries where  the Fairtrade system and similar ‘trade marks’ are needed to evidence that workers are paid well and able to improve their standards of living, but also in the UK where gangs of overseas workers live in inhumane conditions, and dairy and sheep farmers can hardly make a living for themselves, let alone a profitable business.

 

Turning from one still very relevant issue to another, chapter 20 refers to the sacrifice of children to Molech. Not that I’m suggesting there is child sacrifice in Britain, but the injunction not to ignore any suspected child abuse is still a message that needs teaching in safeguarding courses..

The Bible in a Year – 6 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

6 February. Leviticus chapters 16-18

The day of atonement (Yom Kippur) was originated in this desert period and is still observed by Jews to this day as a day of fasting, prayer and confession of sin.  For those not part of a religious tradition such practices may seem strange, but to those who do belong to such a tradition, they are essential elements of it, although various religions express them differently.  For Christians, the fasting element is generally less important than it is for Jews and muslims, although many Christians do observe some kind of fasting during the period of Lent (40 days before Easter).  Confession, though, is still important, for although we believe that Christ died “once for all for the forgiveness of sin” thereby putting to an end the need for any animal sacrifice, as individuals we do still keep turning away from God and need to come back to him to renew our relationship by recalling his loving mercy and seeking his pardon.