The Bible in a Year – 20 June (1)

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

20 June. Obadiah

One of the shortest books in the Bible, Obadiah is a prophesy of woe against Edom followed by one of the restoration of Israel.  The point of the woe seems to be that Edom (the tribe of Easu, Joseph’s brother) was part of the wider Abrahamic family, and although not counted among the twelve tribes of Israel should have at least offered more than mere human rights to their brothers. But in fact they had “gloated over your brother on the day of his misfortune”, “looted his goods on the day of his calamity”, and “stood at the crossings to cut off his fugitives” (12-14).  For that God would punish them severely, so that their land would forever be desolate.

 

The relevance of this today is surely that there is much violence in the world between rival ethnic or religious groups, but that between any combination of Christians, Jews and Muslims who share the common monotheistic faith of Abraham, or between Semites and Arabs who share a common ethnic heritage, is especially heinous.  How can one group of people fail to help those in need who share their origins, or treat as enemies those who also believe in the same God of mercy?   Which is why each of us needs to examine our own actions and attitudes.  For the reference to “standing at the crossings to cut off  fugitives” reminds us of the need for great compassion for our fellow humans, many of them sharing our faith, who are fleeing from Syria and other countries across the sea to Europe.  God will judge us like the Edomites if we do not help them.

 

The Bible in a Year – 19 June

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19 June. Amos chapters 6-9

The section headings found in most modern Bible translations are not part of the text, but a useful guide to it. Today’s reading is headed “Complacent self-indulgence will be punished”, and the verses that immediately follows is “Alas for those who are at ease in Zion” – which is then expanded by a picture of rich leaders living a life of luxury while ignoring the suffering of the poor.  Indeed such arrogance is always wrong, and the complete opposite of the model of the “servant king” embodied by Jesus.

 

But God’s condemnation was not only for the leaders.  In chapter 8 it is market traders and similar who are singled out – “Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, … [saying] We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practise deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat” (8:4-6).   The poorest people suffered not only from a government insensitive to its peoples needs, but from rampant profiteering. The same charges could be laid against many (though not all) of our own politicians and business people and we should not be surprised if God raises up a prophet like Amos to highlight them.

The Bible in a Year – 18 June

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18 June. Amos chapters 1-5

Amos dates his prophetic ministry to the days of King Uzziah, which makes him roughly a contemporary of Isaiah.  Interestingly it says he “saw” the words rather than hearing them (1:1).

 

The first two chapters consist of short but devastating prophecies of God’s judgement on all the nations of the near east, including Judah and Israel.  But note this: the sins for which the Syrians, Philistines, Edomites, Ammonites and Moabites are to be punished are military ones: reneging on treaties, taking entire communities captive, even “ripping open pregnant women”.  The ordinary individual can do very little to change such situations, where military and political leaders give the orders.

 

On the other hand, Judah’s sin is that of not keeping God’s law, and Israel’s sins, expanded at length in chapters 3-5, are those of injustice within its own society – discrimination, overtaxing the poor, trade injustice, promiscuity, and suppressing the voice of the prophets whose message challenged them.  These are charges laid more against ordinary people.

 

It seems that God’s own people, who have been given the privilege of hearing God’s commandments for right living, are to be judged by a higher standard than the ‘heathen’.  This is quite explicit: “You only [Israel] have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” (3:2).

 

Ordinary people may not be able to do much about corrupt politicians and military dictatorships, although those of us living in democratic countries do have more of a say than others. But each of us is responsible for being honest, fair and sensitive in our dealings with others, and for that God will hold us to account.   And lest we think that the Bible only addresses men, the women are in the firing line too, addressed as “cows” (presumably as much an insult then as now): “[you] who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, ‘Bring something to drink!’” (4:1)

 

All the people of Judah and Israel had to do was to “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate” (5:15) – to return to practising the law they had been given – and God would have spared them.  But they would not, and it was too late.

 

The Bible in a Year – 17 June

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17 June. Joel chapters 1-3

Joel is one of the shortest books of the Bible, a mere three pages in most editions.  Its theme – that of God’s punishment of Israel for idolatry and other sins by sending the Assyrians and Philistines to conquer them, and a later restoration of the land to reoccupation and economic prosperity – is found in many other Biblical writings of the period.

 

But it also contains some of the most profound revelations of God’s future plans for his people.  Chapter 2, verses 28-32 are quoted by St peter in his address to the crowds on the day of Pentecost to explain the coming of the Holy Spirit: “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions … everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved”.

 

Chapter 3 contains what seems like a vision of a final judgement of all people in the “valley of Jehoshaphat”.  The latter was a name of a king of Judah, but as the name simply means “The Lord has judged”, there is no real clue as to what location might have been intended.  It does however tie in with other Biblical prophecies such as that of Armageddon, suggesting that whatever the “last day” might be, it will involve some kind of war or other physical encounter in the Bible lands.

 

The penultimate verse of the book is a wonderful promise: “But Judah shall be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem to all generations.” It has not been fulfilled literally, for there was a time when the holy city was abandoned, but it is still revered by all three Abrahamic religions as a holy place, and in Christian thought “Jerusalem” is a metaphor for the Church wherever it is found.

The Bible in a Year – 16 June

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16 June. Hosea chapters 8-14

In this second half of Hosea we see as clearly as anywhere in the Bible the tension that exists in the Godhood between retribution for human sin, and compassion for his creatures.  Neither on its own is enough to describe our creator.  A God of justice and punishment, without compassion, would be unbearable; but one who always showed love and forgiveness without responding to the suffering that comes from human sin would be unrealistic.

 

The other thing that comes out strongly in this book of prophecy is feminine imagery.  In the first half there was an extended metaphor of whoredom (prostitution) as a way of describing the shock and disgust that God himself feels when those who are supposed to worship him give their love and attention to false gods or vain idols.

 

In this second half there are many references to conception, childbirth and breastfeeding. These are used mainly in a negative sense of Ephraim (Israel):  “No birth, no pregnancy, no conception! Even if they bring up children, I will bereave them until no one is left… Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts” (9:12,14).  “The pangs of childbirth come for [Ephraim], … at the proper time he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb.” (13:13).

 

But there is also a very tender feminine image of God’s love: “Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them.” (11:3-4).

 

Maybe it was Hosea’s marriage to a prostitute (at God’s command) that made him more aware of women’s bodies than most men of the time.  Perhaps also he was more involved in childcare than most men of his time.  And maybe his own love for his wife despite her background either sprang from, or opened him to, an understanding of God’s caring and redeeming love.  These are all guesses, but what is certain is that God is both father and mother, a parent who both disciplines and yet still loves his people.

 

The Bible in a Year – 15 June

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15 June. Hosea chapters 1-7

There are two interesting points even in the first chapter of this action-packed book of prophecy. Firstly, Hosea was a prophet, a man of God.  And yet God’s first call to him was to do something that would make him ritually ‘unclean’: to marry a sex worker and have children by her.  What does that tell us?  Principally, that in God’s sight anyone can be redeemed, and that love is the way of redemption.

 

The concept of “making an honest woman” [or man] of someone by marrying them may seem archaic or patriarchal, but the principle is still valid that for those whose lives are broken by their own upbringing or the circumstances of life, patient, forgiving, accepting love is the only way out.  In chapter 3 this is spelled out – Gomer has been bought by Hosea to redeem her from prostitution, as God had redeemed his people from their sins, and she was therefore expected to remain chaste during their marriage, as Israel was expected to remain faithful to God.

 

To understand the rest of the book we need to note that in this wandering through the Bible, we have jumped back a couple of centuries in time from that of the exile of Jerusalem to the time of Uzziah (which dates Hosea’s prophecy to the same era as that of Isaiah).  The northern kingdom of Israel is about to be punished, but not yet the southern kingdom of Judah.

 

The second thing we learn, then, is that their first three children were to be called Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi. Names are vitally important in the Bible, and we need the footnotes in a modern translation to explain them.  These children were called “God sows”, “Not pitied” and Not my people”.  Explanation for the latter two is given in the text, as God would love Judah but not Israel, and just as the husband of the prostitute would love her children as his own, so God as the husband of Israel (who had been unfaithful to him) would love her descendants, i.e. the generations to come.

 

Chapters 4 and 5 set out the ways in which Israel has been unfaithful: idolatry of course, but also “swearing, lying, murder, stealing, adultery and bloodshed … drunkenness and orgies”.  In other words they have broken every one of the commandments given through Moses which are the basis of civilisation to this day.   Chapter 7 adds to this the charge that Israel relied on the military support of Egypt whence their ancestors had been rescued by God, rather than on God himself.

 

In and among all this, chapter 6 offers a sudden and refreshing change.  Its opening verse, “Come, let us return to the Lord” is one that echoes down the ages, an offer that is always open.  The results of turning to him are many: he has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck down, and he will bind us up; after two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him” (6:1-3) The latter verse may be understood as a reference to the resurrection of Christ.   And: “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings (6:6) is another them found running through the words of the Prophets.   Repentance, love, faith, understanding: these are the only antidotes to sin.

 

 

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 14 June

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

14 June. Ezekiel chapter 46-48

Much of these last chapters of Ezekiel is the same sort of material found in the book of Leviticus, suggesting that they were written at the same time (although some people, including whoever produced the Bible reading plan that I am following, insist that all the “books of Moses” were written in his day).

 

I have little interest in the regulations concerning sacrifices of animals (chapter 46). But the first part of chapter 47 is more interesting as Ezekiel has a vision of water flowing to from the Temple towards the East (i.e. perhaps towards Babylon – remember all these last chapters are said to be a vision he had while still living there).  The water gets deeper as it flows along, and nourishes trees “whose leaves are for healing”. This is very similar to the vision of the New Jerusalem that St John saw in his Revelation. Perhaps what is meant is that the presence of God in the holy city will bring healing to the rest of the world – an idea which makes sense in later Christian understanding of the Church taking the place of Jerusalem, and Christ’s presence being made known throughout the world through the Church.

 

The reallocation of land to the tribes in chapters 47/48 is strictly equal – inequalities had arisen over the centuries but the return from exile would be a chance to start again with a fair allocation.  No longer is the land east of the Jordan counted as part of Israel, so the tribes that had lived there would now have an equal width strip between the Mediterranean and the Jordan Valley along with the rest.  But Judah and Benjamin would have land closest to Jerusalem, as before.

Thus ends the book of Ezekiel. Tomorrow, Hosea.

 

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 12-13 June.

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12-13 June. Ezekiel chapters 42-45

The vision that Ezekiel is given of a future temple is completed, first the building, then the purpose of its chambers is given, and then the glory of God is seen returning to the new Temple, just as in a previous vision Ezekiel had seen it departing. In this, God was promising a new start for his people.  Their ancestors’ sin had finally driven the presence of God away from them, but he would return to start a new relationship with them.

 

But this is still very much a priestly understanding of worship, all about sacrifice by priests on behalf of the people.   It was not yet a revelation of the New Covenant that Jesus brought.  So the presence of God is followed by the erection of a huge altar, chapter 44 defines who can be a priest and what their responsibilities would be, and chapter 45 includes instructions for where they would live and for offerings and festivals, just as found in the book of Leviticus. There would have been no point (to the understanding of the Jews of his day) in offering sacrifice until God’s presence was there.  Religion should never consist only of ritual for its own sake; any ritual should only serve to honour the presence of God and bring people into his presence.

 

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 11 June

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11 June. Ezekiel chapters 38-41

Chapters 38-39 are totally unexpected after what came before, and seem out of place here. Just as Ezekiel has started describing God’s favour to the Israelites and promising them peace and security, here comes a prophecy of a future invasion by “Gog” against their unprotected towns and villages.   The Israelites would win, however, and God’s punishment would be on Gog.  So, unexpectedly, we are back to an older understanding of God pitting one country against another and judging whole peoples rather than individuals.

 

At the beginning of Chapter 40 Ezekiel is transported in the Spirit to Jerusalem for a second time (the first such experience, described in chapters 8-11, was to reveal the future destruction of the city). As I explained then [1 June], such experience of physical transportation from one place to another as a part of extreme spiritual experience is not unique in religious writings.   From here to chapter 45, Ezekiel is given a vision of a future temple.  Chapters 40-41 are concerned with the overall dimensions of the walls, gates and the buildings within the courtyard.

 

Although the basic concept of outer and inner courts, nave and “most holy place” are familiar both from Solomon’s earlier temple and in later Christian church plans, the description of this structure is not that of the temple that was actually built in the following generations under Nehemiah.  Depending on which websites you look at (Jewish or Christian) and on your understanding (if any) of the “Millennium” referred to by some Christians, it might have been a vision for how that temple should have been built, or for an actual physical temple that will, someday, be built, or it may be an allegory of some kind.  The latter view is taken by this website  which does include a helpful 3-D illustration of Ezekiel’s vision.

 

 

 

 

The Bible in a Year – 10 June

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10 June. Ezekiel chapters 35-37

Ezekiel 36:26 is one of the most quoted verses from this book: “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh”. Its prime meaning is usually taken as being that in future people would no longer live selfishly, and regard Gods commandments as onerous and to be avoided, but would willingly embrace a new and loving relationship with God and welcome his laws as rules for living well.  The context is the restoration of Israel as a nation on its own land, which occupies the rest of this book.

 

Chapter 37 is equally well known for its vision of the dry bones of the dead which God restored to life and breathed his spirit into them.  The promise that God would “open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people” (37:12) could possibly be seen as a belief in reincarnation, but such a belief is not found elsewhere in the Bible, so is much more likely to be a way of saying that Israel would be re-founded as a kingdom. In fact the last section of the chapter makes it clear that this would happen, and that the former division of Israel and Judah would be healed, and they would be one nation again.