March 31

David's Rise to Power - 1 Samuel 16:1-23, 17:1-58

A bridge in Jerusalem for the city's light rail mass transit system.  Some say it resembles the strings of David's harp.  I hope this harp calms traffic tension as well as David's harp calmed the evil spirit afflicting King Saul.

"Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him." 1 Sam. 16:14

This is a hard passage.  And there are a lot of other things in today's reading I could focus on instead - the introduction of David into Saul's court, David's harp and the power of music, the Spirit filling David, the slaying of Goliath.  But I welcome the scriptures' mysteries.  I'm not worried that I don't know all the answers.  Because I know the One who does.  

Some think "an evil spirit from the Lord" means that when God removes his protection from a person it opens the door for an evil spirit to enter a person.  And it can be explained that way and it may be true.

One of the most difficult things for me to understand is that an all-knowing, all-powerful God allows evil to exist in the world.  That He even allows it to exist is He not in someway responsible?  Forgive me, Lord, but I do hold the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God all-responsible.  

Satan's existence and evil in the world is necessary if there is to be choice.  God makes freedom possible only by allowing evil to exist.  And God uses our freedom and our choices, good and bad, ultimately to the salvation of our souls.

So, yes, it can be said that an evil spirit can be sent from God.  He allows it to exist.  And, as hard as it is to fathom with all of the suffering in the world, I believe it is for our benefit.  Ultimately.  Eternally.

Oh, I know, I pray, we will be amazed on judgement day.  Because right now, we think we've got it figured out.  Just like the Jews had who and what the messiah would be figured out.  God is full of surprises and you can expect that He will do the unexpected.  Just because time and time again, we miss what He's all about.  

Lord knows.

My post last year on this date.

March 30

The Reign of Saul (Continued) - 1 Samuel 14:46-48, 52; 1 Chronicles 5:10, 18-22; 1 Samuel 15:1-35

God's tears

"Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him.  And the Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel."  1 Sam. 15:35

In the beginning, Samuel must have felt so sure of Saul.  God had spoken to him, had told him that Saul was the one.  Did he wonder if he'd gotten it right?  Did he blame himself at all?  Did he question God?  Why did God pick Saul to begin with if He was all-knowing?  Did Saul's failure create a crisis of faith for Samuel?  

Samuel's mourning is understandable.  But why does the Lord grieve?  He knew what was going to happen.  And doesn't it happen for a reason?  Isn't it the fulfilling of God's warning about the fallible nature of a king?

Or does this just show how deep the love of God is for us?  He knows what will happen and what must happen and ultimately uses it to our own good.  He knows.  And still he can't help but feel deeply for us, grieve for us.  Does he grieve that he made Saul king because He made a bad decision?  I don't think so.  Or does he grieve because of what it does to Saul and what it does to his faithful Samuel?  Does He grieve because this is what He knew what would happen and could not keep us from our desire for an earthly king.  He can't help but feel even though He warned us.

Or does He grieve because He knows the whole story, the inevitable.  Because of sin, He will have to send His son and His son will have to die.

Lord knows.

My post last year on this date.

March 29

The Reign of Saul - 1 Samuel 13:1, 14:49-51; 1 Chronicles 9:35-44; 1 Samuel 13:2-22, 14:1-45

A father and son fight together in Afghanistan.  You'd think fighting a common enemy would create a unique bond between a father and his son.  Not always.  Ask Jonathan.

I think the real story in this reading is Jonathan and his act of faith and bravery in attacking the Philistine's with his young armor-bearer.

"Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, 'Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows.  Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.  Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.'" 1 Sam. 14:6

In contrast, Jonathan's father Saul is a legalistic tyrant who orders his son death for innocently refreshing himself with a bit of honey and unknowingly violating the King's command not to eat until the battle is over.  Is the order to kill his son an early indication of Saul's jealousy toward anyone that outdoes him?  Or is this just more of the Jephthah-esque simple-minded thinking  that considers it is more unforgivable to change a stance or ask forgiveness for a rash statement than to kill your own child?

Thankfully the men around Saul have more sense to see that God is with Jonathan and that God's will has precedence over a King's whim.  They tell Saul, and rather boldly:

"Should Jonathan die -- he who has brought about this great deliverance in Israel?  Never!  As surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he did this today with God's help." 1 Sam. 14:45

 

So sets the stage.  This instance must have made it easier for Jonathan to stand against his father in support of his friend David.  I like Jonathan and I can help but feel sad for him.  He would have made a much better king than his father.  And because of his father, he will never be named king. 

God only knows why.

My post last year on this date.

March 28

Saul Appointed King - 1 Samuel 8:1-22, 9:1-27, 10:1-27, 11:1-15, 12:1-25

Maybe this should have been the symbol for the first king of Israel?

"But am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest tribe of Israel, and is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?  Why do you say such a thing to me?"  Saul to Samuel for identifying him as king, 1 Sam. 9:21

Who is the guy Samuel is to make king of Israel?  Not to offend, but he'll be the guy chasing an ass....  Do you think God is making an editorial comment?

Why select a king from the tribe of Benjamin?  Why pick the nation's ruler from a tribe that was so recently decimated by the rest of Israel for the evil it had done?  Is this a display of God's forgiveness?  A test of man's forgiveness?  Was it God saying, "So you really want a king?"  Did the people talk about it?  Was there immediate grumbling?  And would you expect anything less from Israel.  It doesn't even sound like a good idea to Saul.

The irony is the Lord picks the tribe of rebellion to fill the station of king, an office whose very existence was a symbol of the people's rebellion against God.  In other words, if the people were going to rebel against God and want a king than why not give them a king from the tribe who so recently rebelled?  

Yes, Saul is striking in his physical height, the perfect stature for a king and exhibits the prowess of a great warrior.  But a king is more.  I think the quote that began this writing is perhaps a glimpse of the poor self-concept that may have lead to his downfall.  

Because Lord knows.  It's the heart that matters most.

My post last year on this date.  

March 27

Samuel Brings about Transition (Continued) - 1 Samuel 3:1-21, 4:1-22, 5:1-12, 6:1-21, 7:1-17

Why do we look for Jesus in a slice of toast and not look for a word from the Living God?

"In those days the word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions." 1 Sam. 3:1

"Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord:  The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him." 1 Sam. 3:7

Why the lack of word from God?  Is it God or the age?  I ask the same question today.  I personally don't think God has stopped doing miracles or speaking openly or filling our dreams with visions because of God or some limitation He has placed on Himself.  God can do whatever He wants whenever He wants.  Perhaps He chooses not to do it when we're so much into self and so little into Him.  Like Eli's sons.  It's no accident that the ark of the Lord will be captured and leave Israel.

Apparently Eli isn't doing his job.  The Lord isn't appearing to the people or to him.  And he isn't  revealing the Lord to people...not even to Samuel the child given to serve God.  How is it that Samuel doesn't know the Lord yet?  And what did it say to Eli that He chose to appear to a child in his keeping, a child that had no knowledge, no experience, no education about the Lord?  What a slam.  The Lord appears to a servant child and not the High Priest.

Who is God raising up today?  Who is He speaking too?  Those of us whoever spent a lifetime in the church and know him but have done so little with that knowledge?  Or has He chosen to speak to those who don't know Him?  A child?  The people of a third world country who truly believe in God's power to work and take an active role in our lives?  I wonder.  Our we a country where it could be written in the chapters of the Bible our lives write today that..."In those days the word of the lord was rare; there were not many visions."  

Lord knows.

My post last year on this date. 

March 26

Israel as a Monarchy - Samuel Brings about Transition - 1 Samuel 1:1-28, 2:1-36

How much Hannah wanted a child to love.  Out of this love for a son was born the beginning of the reign of kings in Israel.  This beloved son, Samuel, would be God's agent on Earth to select the first kings.  What does this say, for I believe it says something, about Israel's desire for a king?  Is it a subtle contrast that God orchestrates for our learning?  That a parent's desire for a child is farm more perfect love than Israel's desire for a king?  

Hannah desperately wants a child.  Israel desperately wants a king.  God will grant both desires.  Hannah unselfishly and sacrificially gives her child to God.  And, for all she knows, Samuel might be her one and only child.  Can't you just read the incredible love and motherly aching pouring from this one matter-of-fact, understated verse:

"Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice." 1 Sam. 2:19

Can you imagine how she longed for the day they would travel to the Tabernacle in Shiloh and she would see her son again?  How slowly the year passed until that day.  Interesting, too, that the day she would see her son was a day so entwined with God and being made whole and pure again as a people and a person.  All because the sacrifice of a son.  I see in Samuel, the beloved son, an archetype that is Jesus. 

Contrast all of this to the people's desire for a king and how from the very first those kings are self-serving rather than God-serving.  Is it any wonder that when a heavenly king finally comes to Earth it is as beloved child rather than an earthly ruler?

My post last year on this date.

March 25

Civil War with Benjamin - Judges 19:1-30, 20:1-48, 21:1-25

Why Lord? Israel seeks to punish Benjamin for horrid abuse and death of a Levite's concubine (Yet another Not-Ready-For-The-Fannel-Board Story). So their war is just, right? They even consult the Lord. He speaks. So their mission is blessed, right? And then they are routed by a much smaller force? What's up with that, Lord?

Why Lord? Is it when and what and how they asked Him? They didn't consult Him on the decision to punish Benjamin. They asked who should go first into battle. After their defeat, they think twice, and ask if they should even go up against Benjamin. God says, "Go up against them." Ok, but they lose again. Then they go all out. Their hearts have been touched. And, perhaps, that is the answer. God isn't just a Weegee Board or a Magic Eight Ball. He wants more than our questions. He wants our hearts and minds and souls.  Do we look to God to rubber stamp our decisions or do we look to Him for guidance?

The whole nation, all Israel, go to the Lord, weeping and fasting and sacrificing and then they ask. And the Lord not only says "Go," He says they will be victorious. And they are.

This is followed by even more mystery and strangenous. After Israel defeats Benjamin and wipes them out except for a reminent, Israel regretes they made an oath that their daughters will never marry a Benjamite. The Benjamites are doomed to disappear (or, at the very least, will be forced to look outside Israel for brides or mailorder or something.) So how to get around that vow, hmmmm. We got it. Do we learn something from our last unfortunate situation? Do we consult our good friend and protector, God? Noooooo. Let's just tell Benjamin it we'd look the other way if they forced a few virgins to be their brides in yet another Another-Not-Ready-For-the-Flannel-Board Bible Story. This reminds me of the story of Jephthah and his daughter. They let a rash vow justify something horrible. Something I view a bigger sin than breaking a vow or asking the Lord to forgive them of their vow. What would the Lord say? We don't know because they never asked. The Lord loves justice, yes. But is He a slave to it? Like we are? Or did He write the laws for man and not man for the law?

Why Lord? Why are you silent here?

Perhaps the real question is Why Man? Why are you silent and not involving God in your life as a people? The last verse of this reading seems to suggest then when it sums up the whole reading with this:

"In those days Israel had no king, everyone did as they thought fit." Judges 21:25

But they did have a king...God. But nobodies listening to Him. Any more than they will listen to a king on earth.

My post from last year on this date.

March 24

Micah and the Danites - Judges 17:1-13, 18:1-31

What really are our America idols?

How blatant idolatry has become in Israel.  Incredibly, Micah, who has crafted his own idols, thinks he can placate the Lord by having a priest in his home.  As if the Lord is placated by appearances and form rather than substance.  While it seems inconceivable that Micah would think his personal priest could possibly make things right, don't we think like that?  That maintaining the proper appearance is what it's all about?

My post last year on this date.

From last year:  "Not sure why the story of Micah is in here or why it gets more verse-time than Enoch or Methuselah or Jair's 30 sons on 30 donkeys.  Maybe just for us to see how far from God Israel has wandered."

March 23

Samson the Strong Man - Judges 13:1-25, 14:1-20, 15:1-20, 16:1-31

Samson is among those whose birth was foretold by an angel.  People like Isaac, John the Baptist and Jesus.  Good company.  

I'm intrigued by what the angel says when Samson's father, Manoah, asks his name.

"He [the angel of the Lord] replied, 'Why do you ask my name?  It is beyond understanding?'" Judges 13:18

What does he mean by that exactly?  That we haven't grasped the angelic tongue?  That it's something like Ooniemme, Galgaliel or Soqed Hozi?  Is it the pronunciation that's beyond understanding?  Or is it the power found in the name of this angel?  Some think that whenever "the angel of the Lord" appears it is Christ or God's presence in angelic form.  It would certainly make sense that Jesus is the name beyond understanding.  I wonder.

One thing that I pray for:  That everyone would be saved and I do mean everyone.  And, after that, three things more: I pray for...a vision...a word from the Lord...a visitation by the angel of the Lord.

It's a presumptuous prayer.  Lord knows.  But I believe He can and does say yes.

My post last year on this date.

March 22

The Story of Ruth - Ruth 1:1-22, 2:1-23, 3:1-18, 4:1-22

Seems like the unexpected way is God's way.

"Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.  They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth." Ruth 1:3-4

Ruth was a Moabite woman.  

Think about it.  God warned Israel not to marry into the foreign nations they would live among for fear they'd adopt their gods.  But Ruth arises from a people separated from God's people, a people hostile to God's people (Remember fat King Eglon?), a people who are descendents of Lot's incestuous relationship with his older daughter.  Can you think of anything more repugnant?  Yet, these are the people that, through Ruth, demonstrate what true love and faithfulness is.  God always seems to rely on the unexpected.  Expect it.

Ruth is totally devoted to her mother-in-law and that famous verse used in weddings ("Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and  your God my God.") isn't about a love between a man and a woman.  It's about something purer still - a love that's not requited by the pleasures of sex and intimacy, a love at whose heart is the true concern for the well-being of another.

And Ruth is a Moabite woman.

God's people aren't restricted to the chosen.  His people are those who share His heart.  Not only is this Moabite woman a symbol of love, she is part of the lineage of Christ and so a part of the ultimate expression of God's love for all mankind.  How appropriate.  And, yet, at the same time, so unexpected.  God goes outside the circle of his chosen to choose those who truly know Him.

What does this say to us now?  What surprises await us?  Where do His people arise nowadays?  Where do you expect them to come from...think about that and then think again.  His people will and have and do arise from where we least expect them and when we least expect them.

Do we draw our circle of believers too narrow?

Lord knows. 

My post last year on this date.

March 21

Jephthah and Five Others - Judges 10:1-18, 11:1-40, 12:1-15

The story of Jephthah just might be a cautionary tale to the overzealous.

To a father of a daughter, this is one of the saddest passages in scripture:

"And he let her go for two months.  She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry.  After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed.  And she was a virgin." Judges 11:38-39

The story of Jephthah and his daughter is one of those that haunts me.  Yet, another story that doesn't make the flannel board.  How would we explain it to the kiddies?  I'm sure it would put an end to those who ran out to greet their daddy when he came home from work.

Jephthah is rejected by his own family and then remembered and called up when they're in desperate need.  He is made the leader on condition that he gets them out of the trouble they're in.  It's the story of Israel and the Lord  in microcosm. 

But then, in what I take to be Jephthah's zeal to be victorious and honor god, he makes a vow that if the Lord gives him victory, then he will sacrifice the first thing that comes out the door to meet him when he returns home after battle.

His daughter welcomes him.  His one and only child.

First of all, what curious promise to offer up on Jephthah's part.  Second, if he was doing this to honor God, why didn't God have something or someone less precious run out to greet him?  I vote for the family cat.  The mother-in-law?  A bill collector who just happened to be in the neighborhood and was knocking on Jephthan's door.  But, no, it's his daughter.  Is this a test or a punishment?  What was in his heart?

Let's compare the story of Jepthah and his daughter to Abraham and Isaac.  Jephthah  makes a rash, rather odd oath that results in the sacrifice of his one and only child.  God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son.  Both father's are willing to do it.  In the case of the two children, Jephthah's daughter actually knows she is to be sacrificed and willingly yields.  Based on the question he asks his father, you wonder how much Isaac actually knows what is about to happen.  But the most significant difference between the two stories is that Jephthah actually kills his daughter.  The Lord stops Abraham and offers a means of escape.  So, tell me, who has the greater faith here?  The one who follows through?  Why wasn't Jephthah and his daughter offered a means of escape?

Some make the case that the sacrifice of his daughter was all Jephthah's doing.  Jephthah made the rash vow and he honored it.  Did God require him to honor it?  Or was the death of his daughter just the work of an overzealous follower?  Isn't killing your daughter a greater sin than breaking the vow would have been?

My answer, my comfort, my confidence in all of this is I have not read the conclusion to all of this.  God is still writing His story.  What I read here leaves too much out.  The final word will be read in the next life.  We shall see clearly then.  The 67th book of the Bible will be handed out in heaven and we will all say "Ahhhhhhh, now I get it.  Thank you, God.  I had no idea."

Now, for a bit of comic relief, or as much comic relief as the death of 42,000 can privide, look at the story that the NIV humorously titles "Shibboleth or Sibboleth." [Judges 12:4-6] The scene soulds like a Monty Python skit.  What emerges from this battle is a victory for Gilead...and a case for really good diction.

Much of the above comes from my post on this reading last year.

March 20

Gideon and His Son (Continued) - Judges 8:4-35, 9:1-57

The Gideon Family Van

How does this happen?  Gideon is so humble and has things so in perspective that he refuses the offer to be king of Israel, saying, "'I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you.  The Lord will rule over you.'"

How does he have a son that murders his brothers and elevates himself to the office of king?  How does that happen?  You could just as easily ask how is it that God's creation shows such disregard for Him?

Free choice.  That's the answer.  

Or does Gideon neglect Abimelech and so rebels against his father's example?  You have to wonder given the fact that Gideon has seventy sons and who knows how many daughters.  How do you raise that many children?  How much time would any of them spend with their father?  I'm sure a father's involvement in the raising of children differed in ancient cultures.  But 70 children?  It's (pardon the pun) inconceivable to me.

Let's say Gideon had half as many daughters, one girl for every two boys?  That's 105 kids.  How do you remember their names?  How do you remember which face goes with which name?  Can you imagine saying a prayer and mentioning each child in it?  Some families have enough kids to field a baseball team.  Would you believe a baseball league?  And enough left over for fans in the stands.

But as incredible as this is...even more incredible to me is that one of the sons, Abimelech, kills all 69 of his brothers.  Such horrific evil.  A woman dropping a millstone on his head and cracking his skull seems too kind a punishment.  Lord knows. 

My post last year on this date.

March 19

Gideon and His Son - Judges 6:1-40, 7:1-25, 8:1-3

The angel oak in South Carolina is a tree thought to be 1,500 years old.

"The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat...." Judges 6:11

I like this picture.  I seem to always bump into angels in the Bible who are busy delivering a message, leading a battle, keeping company with an ass, wielding a flaming sword and always on the move.  So I like this picture of the angel of the Lord at ease, sitting beneath an oak.  

I wonder what angels think about what God is doing down here?  What do they think about this earth He created for us?  Are there things about the earth they enjoy?  Must be.  The Lord himself pronounced so much of it "good."  So do the angels long to get sent down to earth to enjoy it for a bit before getting on with the task?  Or is an angel all work and no play?  I can't imagine that because even the Lord thought enough about kicking back that He dedicated one day every week to it.

So here is an angel that has come to earth to let Gideon know he's been picked to fight against the dreaded, camel-riding Midianites.  But before he delivers his message to Gideon, he takes a moment to sit under an the canopy and the protection of a thick-limbed oak tree to savor the lush grass and leaves, to just kick back and just take it all in, if only for a moment.  He's in no rush to get the job over.  He sort of likes the earth.  It's different.  Not as real as heaven. But something beautiful in the rawness of it, like folk art or a child's finger painting.  

I'm going to start looking under more oaks.  To check for angels.

My post last year on this date.

March 18

Deborah and Barak - Judges 4:1-24, 5:1-31

Couldn't help myself.  Here's an image that comes up when you Google "Barak and tent peg."  And while not tent pegs, it's the result of a nail gun accident.  Unlike Sisera, this construction worker survived.

Ah, reading about Barak in the time of President Barak.  But it's the women who are the real story here.  

While Deborah shames Barak and his army into fighting Sisera, commander of Cannan King Jaban's forces, it's really a woman named Jael who nails this story.  Literally.  In yet another not-ready-for-the-flannel-board moment, the dainty Jael drives a tent peg through Sisera's temple.  Talk about resourceful.  

The whole thing is commemorated by a duet sung by Deborah and Barak.  Check out the lyrics:

"Most blessed of women be Jael,

     the wife of Heber the Kenite,

     the most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

He asked for water, and she gave him milk;

     in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.

Her hand reached for the tent peg,

     her right hand for the workman's hammer.

She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,

     she shattered and pierced his temple.

At her feet he sank,

     he fell; there he lay.

At her feet he sank, he fell;

     where he sank, there he fell -- dead."

Judges 5:24-27

Now that's got all the makings of a hit country song.  A killer.  Can you imagine Israel's grade school children singing that for their parent's day spring concert?  "Smile children when you sing 'she crushed his head....'  All together now!"  That's one campfire story that kids wide awake when they went to bed...and with big sister so close to the tent pegs.

The Lord does work in mysterious ways.  And His stories are anything but dull.  Even when you know the ending.

Lord knows.

My post last year on this date.  

March 17

Apostasy and the Judges - Judges 2:7; Joshua 24:31; Judges 2:10-23, 3:1-31

"After the whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel."  Judges 2:10

"But when they cried out to the Lord, He raised up for them a deliverer...." Judges 3:9

These two verses pretty much sum up the era of the Judges.  The people seem to return in a figurative way to wandering back and forth in the wilderness.  But it all begins because someone - actually, many someones - didn't tell the story leading right up to their part.

It's an incredible thought to realize the Bible is still being written and we are part of God's story.   

This back and forth between faith and unbelief.  It's so easy to see as the reader how obvious, how silly, how short-sighted it is.  It's easy to be the reader in my favorite comfortable chair near the window.  But standing up and leaving the room to go out and live, well, it's much harder to see our folly in the moment.  I'd like to say we are more original and less predictable, more advanced in our understanding of spiritual things.  But we're not.  Sometimes I think our so-called scientific advancements and wired life make us think we are highly advanced in other ways.  How little we've really changed.  Why does God continue to watch the same reruns?

Thankfully, as predictable as our pattern of falling away in the good times is God's forgiveness and help in the difficult times when we cry out to him.

Lest we get too depressed by our personal failings today's reading provides a bit of comic relief (and I do mean relief).  Ehud delivers a pointed message from God to Eglon king of Moab in the form of a double-edge sword that he sinks into the king's fat.  Eglon escapes when the servants think the king's silence means he's taking a potty break.  "They said, 'He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the house.'  They waited to the point of embarrassment...."  Judges 3:24-25.  

As the great Skidmore of Murfreesboro would say, not exactly a Bible story that made it to the flannel board.  

Flannelgraph or YouTube, we have to tell the story.

My post last year on this date.

March 16

Three Burials - Judges 2:8-9; Joshua 24:29-30, 24:32-33; Additional Conquests - Judges 1:1-10, 1:16-19; Joshua 15:13-19; Judges 1:20, 1:11-15, 1:22-26

"And Joseph's bones which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt were buried at Schechem...." Josh 24:32

Finally -- some 400 years later -- Joseph's bones are buried.  I wonder who's been responsible for keeping up with the sack of bones?  Someone's had charge of them for the last four hundred years, right?  Perhaps they were passed down in a family like your aunt's ashes in an urn.  Maybe were they were divided - "Great, we've got 'em all here except the left femur.  Ok, people, who's got that femur?  It's time to put this project to bed!

Maybe they forgot who had them?

     "I thought Uzziel had them?"

     "No, No, Zuriel had them last.  I'm sure of it."

     "Noooooo, I talked to him and he said his wife would let him keep them in the tent so he gave them to Shimel."

     "Yeah, but Shimel is of the people who make spittoons of bronze and hunt with dogs and he couldn't keep his best birddog away from Joseph.  I'd swear on a stack of stone tablets that he gave them Mahli.  Or was that Mushi?  I can't keep those two straight."

Finally, Joseph's bones are laid to rest in the Promised Land.  It's almost symbolic.  So much is passed and laid to rest.  There direct connect to Moses and to the miracles that freed them from Egypt are long ago laid to rest, too.  It is all distant memory no and the voices are silenced that will remind them.  Gone and buried.

Lord knows.

My post last year on this date.

March 15

Joshua's Farewell Addresses - Joshua 22:1-34, 23:1-16, 24:1-28; Judges 2:6

"If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole community of Israel." Josh. 22:18

God wants us to know and deal with and work through and come together in community.  Lord knows it will be a struggle.  Every relationship in life is - parent child, sibling, husband wife, brothers and sisters in the Kingdom.  He made it that way.  But, I believe, it is for our good.  

It's especially difficult in a land that stresses individuality and the rights of the individual (as long as those individuals live on this side of the womb).  The struggle to achieve a cohesive community that works as one in the Lord is difficult.  We don't know our neighbors.  We don't in the mistaken belief that this sacrifice will buy us unity.  It's love and sharing together that brings us together.  Not silence.

Why is that opinions and views other than our own threaten us?

In today's reading, the children of Israel almost go to war because they misinterpreted the religious expression of the Ruebenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh.  On their return to their homeland on the other side of the Jordan, these fellow children of Israel stopped to build an altar.  Over this religious point, the people almost go to war.  Ironically they all most kill one another to preserve unity.  

The Ruebenites, Gadites and half-tribe of Manasseh fear that a river separating them will lead to the failing of their one faith.  But it's the figurative distance, the lack of communication and faith in the hearts of others that is almost their undoing.

My post from last year on this date.

March 14

Division of the Promised Land (Continued) - Joshua 18:1-28, 19:1-51, 20:1-9, 21:1-45

"'Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it.  Then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here at Shiloh in the presence of the Lord.'" Josh. 18:8

Imagine leaving something as important as determining your ancestral land, the place that God has promised you, to "dumb luck." Wouldn't we consider casting lots leaving it up to chance?  You've wandered for 40 years and fought numerous battles only to cast lots for your property.  

Do we have that kind of faith?  And what exactly do we believe God is capable of?

We say we believe God hears and answers prayers.  But when we pray for the sick to be made well or healed and they are, sometimes snatched from the very door jam of death.  Do we think it miraculous or the hand of God?  Or do we think it was the work of doctors, modern medicine, they weren't really that sick or, yes, perhaps, even chance?  

Do we believe God can act through the roll of a dice or the casting of lots?  Would we leave a decision as important to us as the neighborhood we live in totally up to God and flip a coin?  Or do we believe God is only capable of working through us, through people?  How big is our God?  How involved is He?  And how much faith do we have...really?

Lord knows.

Sometimes I think God only works miraculously in third world countries because those are the only places where the people rely on Him so totally and believe that He can and will.  And we hear of a miracle in a third world place reported by third world people...don't we typically attribute it to superstition and their lack of education?

Lord knows.

Limiting God's work in the world, limits what we can see and know of Him and rejoice in but I also think we take comfort in the fact it limits our chance of disappointment.

I have witnessed at least one miracle in my life.  How about you?

My post last year on this date.

March 13

Division of the Promised Land - Joshua 13:1-33, 14:1-15, 15:1-62, 16:1-9, 17:1-18

The Devil's Corkscrew in the Grand Canyon.  I've learned that hiking trails that make reference to Hell or Satan in their names are guaranteed to be challenging.

I wonder if they thought they were at their journey's end?  They'd come so far, endured and fought for so much.  They were in the Promised Land and at the point of dividing it among them.  They must have thought - "We're here."  

Whether we find ourselves in good or bad circumstances in life, it's far from over.  Something eternal can't be over.  It's an overworked phrase but, perhaps, because it's so true - The journey is the destination.  

So Israel wanders and Jesus walks and Paul journeys.  

Getting it isn't getting there.

I'm here for the hike.  In fact, taking it all in is what I enjoy on a hike.   

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost,

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

J.R.R. Tolkien

My post from last year on this date.

March 12

General Conquest of Canaan - Joshua 9:1-27, 10:1-43, 11:1-23, 14:15, 12:1-24

"There has never been a day lie it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a man."  Josh. 10:14

We don't seem to make as big a deal of God answering Joshua's request that the sun would stand still so that he could continue to route Israel's enemy.  But this request and God's answer has incredible implications.  God doesn't simply hear us.  He listens and acts in miraculous ways.  He defies the laws of nature in our behalf.  He is willing to change what He has set in order.

This fact may help me as I struggle with the difficult concepts in today's reading.  My struggles are summed up in this single scripture:

"He left no survivors.  He totally destroyed all who breathed just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded."  Josh. 10:40

Over and over again in this reading, as Joshua moves North and South, every nation he meets (with the exception of the Gibeonites who use trickery to avoid annihilation), Joshua's army kills not only the ruling king and his army but also everyone in the city.  Everyone.  Time and time again in this reading, our eyes pass over the poignant refrain:  "They left no survivors."

Even the groups God seems to have a heart for elsewhere in scripture - widows, children, aliens, elderly - they all died under Joshua's sword at God's direction and with the Lord's power.  This is genocide and ethnic cleansing practiced at a staggering level. How do we, how does God justify this?  It seems like a total disregard for human life.  And there are detractors today who use these horrendous massacres to call into question the notion of a "loving" God.  And if God is truly love, how can He not only allow this but demand it?

The editor's commentary in the Daily Bible seems to dismiss it (unsatisfactory to me) as follows:

"Though it affords little comfort to the modern mind, it must be remembered that extermination of defeated enemies is expected of victorious armies at this time.  The record further hints that  God is using the Israelites as his instrument in punishing the pagan Canaanites for their continual wickedness." Daily Bible, March 12, p. 322

That explanation doesn't do much for me.  I'm of the mind that the right and good is not influenced by culture or era in history.  We cannot look back on American history and say that slavery was ever right even though people back in the early days of our country didn't have the sensitivity to the subject we have today.  Driving the Cherokee out of their homelands on the Trail of Tears was just as evil then as we is it is today.  Evil is always evil.

So how can God order the execution of a nation?  Even a wicked nation?  I acknowledge that He certainly has the right to do it and that in the eyes of the all powerful it could be chalked up to justice.  But then why forgive Israel's sin and idolatry?  Yes, He punishes it but He doesn't have the people completely annihilated.  Why forgive our evil?  Why make allowances and have mercy on us and not on these nations?  So there are levels of sin?  Children are not born without sin?  And God does punish the innocent for the sins of the guilty?  The implications of this are far reaching.

So what is it?

First I trust in God's love and I acknowledge I cannot and do not fathom the mind of the Creator of the Universe.  All He does, I believe is ultimately for our good and our salvation and I constantly remind myself that He sent His Son to die for all.  So comforting myself in those thoughts...I turn to these passages.  What can I take away from any of this?

God cannot and does not exercise fully what holiness and justice demands.  If He did, we would all be exterminated.  And the glimpses we have of pure justice are indeed horrible.  This is one of them.  It should make us weep for the souls of the wicked...for our souls.  And to pray for the souls of the wicked...for our souls.  We do not want justice or fairness or equal treatment under the law.  We need mercy.  We must have it to live.  For justice is a thing too awful to behold as are these passages for many.

There are things we do in this age as a people that justice would require our complete annihilation it would seem.  We fight for the right to use embryonic stem cells to save lives because we hold our lives so dear and yet sacrifice the lives of so many unborn.  I cringe at this slaughter of the innocent just as I cringed at the slaughter of Canaanite children.  And God stands by and reserves His judgement though the specter of today's reading should teach us He doesn't withhold justice forever.....  Those who know me know this is a tough issue for me because my mother was encouraged to seek an abortion because of the birth defects that were "certain" in my case.  But that is another story.

In short, in these passages, we see what absolute justice looks like and we understand we do not want it.  

I am also comforted by the fact that earthly punishment doesn't equate with eternal destination.  In other words, it is one thing to be sentenced to death and quite another thing to be sent to eternal damnation.  All we see here is God's judgement on earth.  And as horrible as it might be it pales in comparison to eternity.

I trust the eternal outcome of this might differ slightly from the story on earth.  Lord knows.

And I pray daily, it is my continual desire that God save all men everywhere from every era.  God have mercy.  There but by the grace of God go I.  And I know...for in this same reading I am given the hope that God does listen to man.

My post last year on this date.