October 27

OT -- Jeremiah 51:1-53
Verse 9 is in quotations. I wonder who he is quoting? The original quotes means that J is quoting from God but my Bible has an additional set of quote marks. Sorry, but Cole is currently working on SAT grammar and this is one of the things that frequently appears on the SAT, apparently.
This is where a Rashi commentary would be mighty handy.

NT -- Titus 2:1-15
One of Paul's infamous slavery passages that previous generations used to justify enslavement is found in vs. 9-10. In the past, I would just have dismissed these verses as "just part of the times that Paul was living in". But recently, a rather negative email pointed out that the Bible is the "literal Word of God". And Presbyterian rhetoric is that the Bible is the "Inspired Word of God". If this is so, where is the condemnation of slavery? Or did God intend for there to be slavery and if so, then the Civil War justifiers were right?
It's a tricky slope there if 'most of the Bible' is 'literal' or if 'most of the Bible is inspired'. Well, what parts aren't?

I know, I know, I am being harsh tonight. Certainly, there is a back story to this letter that we do not know, any more than we get the whole 'don't turn around when you plow oxen (you don't plow a straight line) bit in Matthew' because let's face it, I haven't spend a great deal of time with oxen and I probably am the most farm-based of all of us.
But that is the very reason WHY I would like the commentary on these passages. ALL of the Jewish scriptures have the sages arguing and fussing over every little detail. What it meant, who it referenced, why it was in this place rather than that. If you start parsing New Testament scripture that way, all the sudden, you are a heretic. I personally would LOVE to hear what Augustine had to say about Titus. And Pope John III. I might even like to hear what Martin Luther had to say and I really, really would love to hear what Martin Luther King, Sr. thought about this passage. Not Jr, Sr.
Maybe that will be my task for the next great Bible study I do. To gather up those commentaries and paste them around passages that are really troublesome to me.
For now, I will just have to go with the words that Paul wrote to Titus' older women "be self-controlled and pure, be busy at home, be kind, and be subject to my husband." Well, I bombed on most of those. But there is always tomorrow.

Grace and Peace to each of you.