January 30

Proverb – I should go ahead admit that if I lived in a perfect world, I would never have to get up before 7 AM. I am not a morning person. Early on, my children learned that the smaller interaction they had with their mother early in the morning the better. I do try really hard to be nice but it is really best not to talk to me at all until about 8 am. Don, bless him, has never learned this. He is a morning person and gets up, on his own, at 6 AM every day. Ready to go. Me, not so lucky.
So this proverb hit especially close to home. I do get up early. Matthew has to be at school just before 7 AM every day for weight training and this has been true since he entered into high school. I also have chickens to feed, a dog to walk, dog and cat to feed, breakfast to make and some laundry to accomplish before Cole and I get out the door at 7:45. In the summer, I usually have some gardening chores to do as well. Maybe when Cole starts to drive himself to school this will ease a little and definitely when Matt goes to college. But it seems to me that I get more done in the 2.75 hours before I leave for work than I do in the 5 hours after I get home. Is it just that I am on a time restriction or do I really have more energy and enthusiasm (well, not that!) at 6 AM. Our proverb says that sleeping in, or napping as the case may be, is a sure way to poverty. And we should be more ant-like in our storage practices. Maybe in our day and time, it would be load up during the Buy One Get One Free at Publix offers.
If you went into my pantry, what would that tell you about my ‘ant’ qualities? What would yours? If you listen to my friends who are “preppers” – click here for a sampling – they would tell you to have at least 6 months supply of your stuff. Do you? If you do, why? Is it the fear of not having enough? Or being unprepared for the ice storm that is surely to come?
OT – Exodus 12:2, according to Rashi, is where the Torah should have started. It is where the very first commandment that God gave all Jewry resides. And it is about the Passover. The original one. Now, Rashi’s claim that this should have begun Torah here is that the Bible is a book of laws and since this is the first one given to all, this is where it should have begun.
(Rashi was a medieval French rabbi who is famed as the author of commentaries on the Talmud as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh (which is what the Jewish people call their Bible). If you want to read his commentaries, they are still available in what is called the Artscroll Chumash (Five Books of Moses). Wikipedia says that “his commentary on the Chumash (Five Books of Moses) – is an indispensable aid to students of all levels. The latter commentary alone serves as the basis for more than 300 “supercommentaries” which analyze Rashi’s choice of language and citations, penned by some of the greatest names in rabbinic literature.” I was hooked. I ordered one from Amazon today.)
Having said that, I have pondered for several hours if I agree that the Bible is a book of Laws. Maybe it is my age, maybe it is my rebelliousness, maybe it is just how I perceive the Bible but it is not a book of law to me. True, it contains them. True, if I follow them I live so much better and my relationship with God is so much better. But more than that, it is a continual story of humankind’s reaching for God and God searching for us. Much more of a puzzle book, to me.
NT – Which brings me to the NT passage. Oh, the vineyard story. That one. Madam Fairness here. When I am the first worker, I dislike this story. When I am the last to be rounded up, I LOVE it. If this were laws, wouldn’t this be straight forward? Pay everyone such and such. But I get that this is not how God works. And I get that I do not get to impose my belief system (whether I am #1 worker or the last) on God. After all, it is God’s kingdom of heaven, not Sylvia’s.
And that brings me right back to the Proverb. Because it is so much easier and less trouble and work not to prepare or to sleep in or to not have my lamb ready for Passover. Or at least, I think it is. Until the bad times come and there is nothing I have in reserves. So maybe it is a law book in the sense that you are supposed to live one way and here all these examples of folks who didn’t and this is what can happen. Or, here is how much God loves you that he gave you this structure for your own benefit. Disregard it at your peril. In some cases, your eternal peril.
So, Rashi, I buy your argument. I am however, glad, that we had all the familiar Genesis stories to start our year off reading. It eased us into the daily reading and contemplation of the Word.
We are now officially 1/13 of the way through our study. I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am. Peace to you and yours.