March 1

This the blessing before the reading of the Torah. Here is the translation:

Blessed Adonai, who is to be blessed.
Blessed Adonai, who is to be blessed forever and ever.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the universe, who chose us from all the peoples and gave to us your Torah. Blessed are you, Lord, giver of the Torah.


OT – Leviticus 24:1-25:46
Two really hard sections in this reading for me. The first one is the stoning of the son of the Israelite woman and the Egyptian father. The second is the whole section on slaves. Let’s deal with them one at time.
Per my Stone Chumash, there is more to the story than we get from the first read. His whole title “son of the Israelite woman” has implications. “Throughout the years of enslavement, this was the only such case, a remarkable testimony to Jewish family purity and morality. (Ramban).” Stone Chumash p. 693 Midrash says that this involved inheritance issues because the man wanted to dwell among the tribe of Dan. Jewishness follows the mother but tribe comes from the father. Moses ruled against the man who thus uttered the curse.
And this is why I have a problem with this story. If Moses did rule against the man living with his mother’s family, where is he supposed to live? Is he supposed to go back to Egypt? What about being kind to the aliens among us? That doesn’t extend to the mixed blooded? And this wasn’t even the man’s fault he had no kinship. It was his mother and father!
Okay, I know that he is the one who said the curse using the Lord’s name, Heaven forbid (this is how the Chumash says it). He is definitely responsible for that. But if it is the above, it really seems harsh.
The section on slaves also upsets me. There are one set of rules for Jewish slaves and another for non-Jewish slaves. You can’t keep the offspring of a Jew, you can’t work him at ‘inane’ jobs, you can’t subject him to back-breaking jobs. But an non-Jew. Well, treat him/her as you will. Doesn’t seem exactly on the up and up.

Just a note about the Sabbath years on the land. As a child, I was taught this was to ‘heal’ the land. As a gardener, I can tell you, the land doesn’t need to be healed. What it needs is to be rotated.
My Stone says that the Sabbath year is not about healing the land. It is about letting God be in charge. “The land’s rest in the seventh year teaches that the primary force in the universe is God, not the law of nature. By leaving his fields untended and unguarded for a year, the Jew demonstrates that this world is but a corridor leading to the ultimate world, that true life comes when man stops striving for material gain in favor of dedication to spiritual growth.” Stone Chumash p. 696 I emailed one of my friends who is currently working in a kibbutz in Israel to ask if they followed Sabbath year. This was Gailey’s reply:
“Not on your life! Dirt untended in Israel will blow away. Even when we pull up weeds, we lay down compost. We do, however, move the animals and crops around and around in a set pattern. “

NT – Mark 10:13-31
Verse 24 struck me when I read this story this time. ‘The Disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!” ‘Do we really believe it is hard to enter the kingdom of heaven?
I can recall going to funerals of great-uncles and people that I did not like. And people were talking on and on about how they were in heaven, having a good time. Well, I knew some of the folks that were in heaven (at least in my child’s point of view) and while I thought Aunt Belle and Aunt Dovey ought to be in heaven, some of the mean ones DID NOT. It would have been impolite to say, well, I don’t think he was very ‘nice’ (code for not in heaven). “We don’t speak ill of the dead, Sylvia.”
I am not trying to judge people’s hearts. I am just pondering whether or not we really think it is hard or is it just a matter of saying you love Jesus and walking on. And if it is only possible with God, what is the point about selling all your stuff (rich young man) or being nice (10 year old know-it-all bratty girl)?

On a personal note, I went to church today to practice my sermon for Sunday. I can tell you, it is rough. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would infuse my words and give them meaningfulness. I do not want to let my fellow Presbyterian Women down with a poorly written and delivered sermon.

February 29

Today, I reread the Book of Judith which is in the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha are a collection of books that are not canonical in most Protestant churches. Canonical means 'accepted standard' or 'rule'. When the books of the Bible were codified in the 4th century, the Apocrypha was accepted as canonical. However, when Martin Luther and later John Calvin split away from the Catholic Church, there were books and even passages (for example, Esther) that they cut from the Protestant canon of books. The Apocrypha is not accepted as canonical in the Hebrew Bible although, just as the Mishnah and the Midrash are part and parcel of the studies of Jews, so are the books of the Apocrypha.
No Bible that I ever saw growing up had an Apocrypha in it. However, one year when I was doing a church yard sale at Church of St Andrew, someone donated an ancient family Bible and it had an Apocrypha. I couldn't sell the Bible since it was clearly historical. While I waited for someone to tell me what to do with it, I read those 'secret' books.
What I found were some fanciful books (Bel and the dragon), some military strategy books (1st and 2nd Maccabees) and The Book of Judith. Being a budding feminist, Judith spoke to me right away.
Judith was a Jewish widow in a walled city that the Assyrians were assailing. Her community loses faith with the ongoing assault. Judith, already wealthy and well-connected, decides to act. She gussies herself up, prances down to the camp, seduces and makes drunk Holofernes, the commander of the army, and then cuts his head off.
Back she goes to her city, rallies the troops and they destroy the army.
I think I loved Judith for one of the same reasons that I loved Esther. They used what they had to accomplish their goals. In both cases, they did not cover up how gorgeous they were.
Now, not being gorgeous myself, you might think I would be jealous. But actually, what I was not using or was undermining was my intellect. Somehow, I had decided that it must not be a good thing to be smart, especially smarter than the men I worked for or worked with.
Reading Judith made me realize that God made me smart just like he made Judith beautiful. And he made us this way for a reason. I know this does not sound humble and if taken on face value you might think I am, as my mother would say, 'too big for my britches'. But what I really mean is that I quit hiding and dancing around my brain.
So that brings me to the question, what did God give you that he expects you to use for him and are you using it?
Blessings on your off day of reading.

February 28

Proverbs 10:19
This sounds just like a Chinese fortune cookie!
But I guess, like so many other snippets of wisdom, it is.
It is way too easy to embroider the truth. Best to stick to the facts and then shut up.

OT Leviticus 22:17-23:44
This section names the feast days that the Israelites were to observe. We already know about Passover and Yom Kippur (the day of Atonement), but this list adds another, one we haven’t heard about yet. It is known as the Feast of the Tabernacles or The Feast of Booths. It is also called Sukkot.
During Sukkot which lasts for seven plus 2 days, the Jews are commanded to live in booths, so that they will remember the wandering in the desert when God brought them out of Egypt. It is a joyous time, a feast time. A small shelter is built with branches and a low bench. Many observant Jews sleep out there but most have their evening meal in the booth. It is a harvest festival and during Jesus’ time, a trip to Jerusalem to the Temple was usually in order.
The foods eaten are harvest foods – lots of fruits and vegetables especially stuffed vegetables to represent the abundant harvest. The cornucopia originated here.
The Mishnah which is a rabbinic commentary on the Torah, says that when the Messiah comes, all will live in booths and all will be in Jerusalem. That is why Peter wanted to build booths for Jesus, Elijah and Moses.
An interesting tidbit about Sukkot is that our American Thanksgiving may be modeled on the Jewish festival of Sukkot. The Pilgrims wanted a harvest festival and searching their Bibles, they found one.

NT Mark 9:30-10:12

Check out this video regarding our passage for today:




Tomorrow is a free day because Bible in a Year does not recognize Leap Year. I am not going to take the day off. Instead, I am going to read Judith in the Apocrypha. I also highly recommend 1st and 2nd Maccabees for a great intertestament book. It gives the basis for Hannukah.
You can find the books on the web – type in Book of Judith and you should find several translations.
Blessings to you.

February 27

NT -- Mark 9:1-29
When Peter says to Jesus, “let us make for you a shelter, one for you, one for Elijah, and one for Moses” vs. 5; he was actually speaking about making a sukkot, a biblically mandated shelter that Jews make in observation of Sukkot, a weeklong festival honoring the harvest. In a weird coincidence, tomorrow, we will read Moses decreeing the observance of Sukkot or The Feast of Booths. According to the Mishnah, when the Messiah comes, everyone will come to Jerusalem and will live in these shelters made from the branches of trees.
Peter knew that the Messiah had come, he was on the level with the greatest leader – Moses and the greatest prophet – Elijah so all three got their own shelter.
I will post more on Sukkot tomorrow.
This is just an observation but I am glad I am not the only one who needs a ‘sign’ in order to believe. I have been called cynical and I am, I have been called a doubter and I am. But it took walking through the fire and having positive proof that God loves ME and MINE before I was willing to believe. I am glad that the disciples also had that same problem. I would like to think I wouldn’t have needed AS MANY signs as they did but I probably would have. I have such sympathy with the ones who continue to say “what does this mean????”.

Psalm 43
Vs. 3 “Send forth your light and your truth , let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.” Think Peter knew this psalm? What happened when Jesus went up that mountain? ‘his clothes became dazzlingly white’. This also speaks to the gospel of John I Am statements : “I am the Truth and the Light”.
And who does the psalmist end up praising? His Savior and his God. Amazing how the readings dovetail.

February 26

OT—I know, we have read lots of this before.
This is just another of those incidents where the disagreement over which version was totally right ended up with both in. You just have to read them and move on.
What really interested me is that this version made absolutely no attempt to categorize the Do nots. You have observe my Sabbath between a daughter’s prostitution and don’t turn to mediums.
Many of them are quite interesting to me in the providence of where those social customs arose. For example, the rising in the presence of an elderly person. Can I just say that I got a right smart whipping for that one as a snotty 11 year old? Now I know where that came from. All my mother told me was that “You just do.” And I didn’t, hence the whipping.
And while I had a vague idea about Molech, here is what Wikipedia had to say about him/it. If you are squeamish, you might want to skip this section. Molech was a god worshipped by the Canaanites and the Phoenicians. The worship practices involved child sacrifices by placing a small child/baby in a compartment of a bronze statue that also had flour, other animals, oil, etc. The statue was then heated, killing all including the child while the father stood with the priests, beating a drum so that the cries of the dying child were drowned out.
Leviticus says this is an abomination and I wholeheartedly concur.

Psalm – Many of the psalms have been set to music and are the basis for many, many hymns. Here is a beautiful example of this.



Looking ahead, we will be finishing with Leviticus this coming week. Please stick it out. I know this book is hard but it is really important and has messages for us today.
Also, if you will be in Atlanta on March 4th, I am preaching at our 9 o’clock and 11 o’clock services and would love to have you come and worship with us. Regardless, I would love your prayers as I finish my preparations for this service.
Blessings on your Sunday.

Feruary 25

OT -- Is is just me or was the transition from the Day of Atonement and the blood violation to the No-Nos of sex abrupt? There are 2 chapters in Leviticus that deal with sexual immorality, chapters 18 and 21. Some of what we read is a euphemism. For example, vs. 9, indicates in a roundabout way, that the daughter was born out of wedlock. Same with vs. 12, that indicates that the sister of the father, being a ‘close relative’ is only a half-sister and not born in a marital relationship.
All of these rules were designed to further peace and harmony in the family. Thinking of all the proverbs we have read about sex bringing down a young man and you get straight to the heart of Leviticus 18. One of the many commentaries I read on this section of Leviticus points out that the marriage ceremony for Jews which is still used today begins with the man saying “You are consecrated to me” (made holy). Marriage is meant to be a holy thing, not just a place to relieve sexual tensions. Sexual relationships outside of the marriage are not sanctified and carry their own burdens and baggage (in these cases, children).
We have only to think of Jacob and his wives who were sisters and his concubines who belonged to the sisters to get a picture of what will go wrong. Ramban, a 12th century rabbi commentator says this about Jacob “the holiness of Eretz Yisrael (Holy Land) is so great that someone who lives outside it is regarded as if he has no God, in comparison to someone who lives there. For this reason, too, the Patriarchs recognized instinctively that the holiness of the Land required a higher standard of behavior, so they observed all the commandments in Eretz Yisrael, even before the Torah was given. Thus, Jacob married two sisters in Charan, and as soon as he and his family arrived in the Land, Rachel died. Because of her righteousness, she was privileged to die in the Land; because of his righteousnessk he did not live with sisters once he had arrived in Eretz Yisrael.” Hmmmm. Don’t think I buy that one and since Rachel had no control over being married along with her sister (remember Laban and Jacob struck the deal after the wedding night with Leah) so it seems sort of awful she is the one who had to die for it. But it is an interesting idea.

Proverbs – I am not sure what this proverb means. I have looked at it from several different angles and different translations and I still don’t understand why being wealthy gives you a castle but not having ruins poor people? And then when you go back and read yesterday’s proverbs or forward and read tomorrows, it really doesn’t make any sense. Anyone got a good clue on what that means and what it says to 21st century peoples?

February 24

I couldn't resist this old clip of Billy Graham preaching the Mark reading for today. I think it also speaks to the OT reading as well.
The clip is from 1958 -- in the middle of the Cold War and racial tensions in the US.



OT -- After having read the verses about a woman who has a discharge for 'many days at at a time other than her monthly period, I had to go back and read the healing of the woman who touched his cloak in Mark 5:25-34. By the Leviticus account, the woman shouldn't have even been in that crowd. Someone could have touched her and she would have made THEM unclean. I guess in the excitement of Jesus, all the normal social barriers were discarded, much like they seem to be on New Years Eve in Time Square.
Chapter 16 goes back to the stories of Aaron's sons and their deaths and begins the rules and rituals that are associated with Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the highest and most holy of all the Jewish feast and holy days. It is the day of atonement.
In our scripture, God tells Moses what to have Aaron do in order to be able to approach the inner sanctum of the Tabernacle. And in order to do this, he has to cleanse himself of his sin and the sins of the Israelites. Those the whole idea of a scapegoat. Interestingly, although the service for Yom Kippur is taken from this section of Leviticus, the scripture that is used is from Jonah! I guess we will figure that out when we get to Jonah in December. Will we remember? Doubt it so I wrote myself a note in the margin on December 14 to figure out why.

blessings on your readings, fellow journeyers.

February 23

Psalm – This is one of my favorite psalms. I love it for the stark gratitude that is on display from vs. 1- the end which is tomorrow. It also reminds me of things I can do to pull myself out of the ‘slimy pit’.
Here are some things from the psalm:
Sing a new song – I have a whole playlist on my Iphone that is called melancholy. It is full of songs that I can sing to – Take me home Country Roads, Tequila Sunrise, My Immortal. Yes, a lot of them are about sad things and have sad music. But when you sing, you release endorphins and that makes you feel better. Don’t believe me? Make your own playlist and the next time you have the blues, sing them.
Don’t turn aside to the false gods – for me that is food. It is used to be alcohol but Thank you, Jesus, I no longer drink. Everyone has them. It might be shopping, it may be recreational drugs. But when you abuse anything because you feel bad, it is not going to turn out well.
Many are the wonders God has made – get your fanny outside and look up, down, all around. If you can, escape to one of the nature parks in your town and OPEN YOUR EYES. Is it raining or snowing? Look at the National Geographic website – click here – and open their photography section. It will amaze you and show you how incredible our world is, the work of our Lord.
The things God planned for you – our many, many blessings. Write them down. Put them on a slips of paper in a basket as they happen and the next time you start to slide, pull one out and give thanks for the miracles YOU HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED.
I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly – everybody needs a group outside of work and family. A church, a community group, a sorority/fraternity. Once you get there, let everyone know who you belong to and I am not talking about your grandparents. Say out loud how God has blessed you. Then when you are down, there will be folks to comfort YOU who are like-minded.
May your love and truth protect me – from the hazards of bad behavior. Think the Proverbs and keep your feet (idiom or no idiom) on the paths of righteousness.

This Psalm deserves a big mark in your Bible for depression days.

OT- L- here in vs. 21 is another of the switch-out sacrifices. Keep in mind that mildew in a house of this time meant the preserved food was inedible. That would result in starvation at worst or the community having to feed the family at best. Alfred, according to Rashi, the ancient Israelites were not sick. Ever. It is only when they sinned that these physical manifestations showed up. “When Jews lived in their land and conducted themselves according to God’s wishes, there was an aura of holiness upon them, which was reflected even in physical radiance. And if individuals among them sinned, their fall would be reflected in the loss of physical beauty and the appearance of tzaraas (mildew) afflictions on their houses and clothing. Only in the Holy Land could spiritual flaws have such tangible effects.” Stone Chumash p.625
That being said, what on earth does this have to say to us 21st century cleaning freaks? I just listened to a Fresh Air segment where the guest was a mycologist, a person who studies mushrooms. He was talking about the worst place to have a mushroom and it was in your throat! Does this mean that this person was really, really awful? Mildew and mushrooms are both fungus.
I hope someone has a better answer than me other than, well, that was then and in the desert and Israel. Not the same in Atlanta. Home of humidity 100%.

Here are the complete list of songs on my melancholy playlist. Feel free to tell me your songs:
Always on my mind –Elvis
At Seventeen – Janis Ian
Blue Christmas – Elvis
D-I-V-O-R-C-E – Tammy Wynnette
Delta Dawn – Helen Reddy
Do it Again – Steely Dan
Desperado – Linda Ronstadt
Don’t Pull your love out on Me Baby – Joe Frank Hamilton
Early Morning Rain – Peter Paul and Mary
Finally Moving – Pretty Lights
Fallin’ – Alicia Keys
Golden Rings – Tammy Wynnette and George Jones
He Stopped Loving Her Today – George Jones
How can you mend a broken heart – Trafalgar
I fall to Pieces – Patsy Cline
I go Crazy – Paul Davis
I’m Sorry – John Denver
If I could Turn Back Time – Cher
In the Ghetto – Elvis
Leaving on a Jet Plane – Peter Paul and Mary
Long, Long Time – Linda Ronstadt
My Immortal – Evanescence
A Pirate Looks at Forty – Jimmy Buffett
Please come home for Christmas – Funky New Year
Please come to Boston – Dave Loggins
She’s Got you – Loretta Lynn
Solitary Man – Neil Diamond
Some Days are Diamonds – John Denver
Someone like you -- Adele
Take me Home Country Roads – John Denver
Tequila Sunrise – Eagles
Wedding Bell Blues – Fifth Dimension
You Raise me Up – Josh Groban

What’s on your list?

February 22

OT -- This is a bad story on myself but I will tell it anyway. For YEARS!!!! I have used the mildew section of Leviticus 13:47-58 as the reason why I had serious issues with lots of things in the Bible. After all, what god would condemn a person for having mildew on their clothes? I say that, knowing full well, that there is mildew in all three of my showers that I should be bleaching instead of sitting on my fanny, reading.
Well, once again, my Stone Chumash has shown me up.
The whole discussion of mildew in Leviticus is predicated on the fact that they are in the desert. Mildew in the desert is not common and means something so abnormal as to be a ‘sign’. This is what this is – a sign from God that the person who owns these garments is NOT in right relationship with God. So, God sends the mildew, it shows on clothing and leather, and sends the person to the priest to get themselves back to good standing with the Lord.
Even the destruction of the afflicted garment has redemptive qualities. After all, the monetary blow caused by destroying perhaps ½ to a 1/5 of your wardrobe is intense. Again, humbling the afflicted person into getting themselves back to right relationship.

NT -- See how our readings continue to dovetail. The disciples were sent out with how many items of clothing?? One tunic. One. Better not show up at someone’s door with mildew on your sash or there will be body parts on display.
This whole reading in Mark is very brief but it probably encompassed lots of time. If the disciples were walking to a village, gathering a crowd, preaching repentance and then healing and casting out demons; I think this is probably several days to weeks depending on how trusting a village may be. And then for the ‘news’ to reach Herod… I am thinking a good while.

Psalm – Vs 4-5 is such a tempting question to ask. Who wouldn’t want to know their life span? Well, me for one. I see movies and hear people say “what if you just had one week to live?” Cole commented today that a big black cloud was the precursor to zombies. My response? I am going home and baking an entire pan of brownies and eating it all myself. Not going to diet on my last pre-zombie attack day.
In all seriousness, working with the elderly does give you a sense of urgency. You can see all their bad life decisions and the cruelties of aging. It truly makes you value small things like the ability to walk upright, quickly and without stumbling. But I still don’t want to know how long I have. I will just have to try and do the best I can with the knowledge I do have.

On a personal note, my son Matthew is still in a lot of pain from his shoulder injury so we are seeing an orthopedist tomorrow.

Many thanks for taking time out of YOUR day to join me in this Bible study. I had 3 conversations today that all revolved around what I have learned and why I am doing this. I know some of the readings are hard, and seem pointless and maybe even brutal. But in the reading yesterday, we discovered WHY Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple and we even got a peek into their financial situation. Why did they go? Because Leviticus said that Mary had to take Jesus to the Temple on the 41st day after his birth for presentation. And they didn’t have enough money for the lamb (the LAMB!!!!) so they paid for 2 doves. And yes, L, there are multiple times that we will read about substitutions.
I find that fascinating and love hearing your thoughts, joys, even struggles, and ponderings.
Blessings to you all.

February 21

NT – Thanks! Alfred! I had always assumed that mustard green and mustard tree were the same. The seeds look identical. Here is a great website with photos, and all sorts of interesting facts such as the mustard tree is also called the toothbrush tree as it has anti-bacterial properties that resist tooth decay. Also, it originated in Persia. Hmmm – do you think that the returning Jews from captivity brought it with them?
At any rate, go check it out and learn something new!
The Mustard Tree.


OT-- These are the laws of kashrus. If you ever see a K inside of a circle on packaging or in the window of a deli, this means a rabbi has certified this as following ‘kashrus’.
Many people assume the reason for the restriction of the animal sources is due to health issues. Every rabbi that I have ever talked to has denied this up to and including the ones I spent the last 6 weeks eating with at my Interfaith Conference.
Here is a parable from Rashi regarding kashrus:
A doctor came to visit two patients. To one of them he said, “you may eat whatever you like”. To the other he gave a precise and restrictive diet. Soon, the first patient died and the second recovered. The doctor explained that there was no hope for the first patient so there was no reason to deny him what he loved to eat, but the second patient was basically healthy, so it was important to give him a diet that would return him to his full health. So it was with Israel. Because the Jewish people have the capacity for spiritual life, God ‘prescribed’ foods that would be conducive to their spiritual growth.
Stone Chumash p. 597
I will say the most logical answer came from one of my father’s friend’s wives who is an Orthodox Jew. She said, “Food is a requirement for everyone. If your food is different for whatever reason, it sets you apart. In order to keep the family together, it was important to be set apart from the world.”
Additionally – p.605
“In conclusion, the Torah places these laws in a new perspective. The consumption of these foods impedes a person’s ability to elevate and sanctify himself, it contaminates the soul in ways that no physical examination can decipher, and it creates a barrier between the Jew and his perception of God. Small wonder that those who consume forbidden foods cannot see the logic of these prohibitions, just as one who lives on analgesics finds it strange that other people cry out in pain at stimuli he does not feel. Painkillers dull the nerves and forbidden foods dull the spiritual antennae.”

As one who has dieted most of my adult life, I stand in awe that people actually are able to maintain kashrus.

Psalm – This psalm provides a gruesome portrait of someone whose wickedness (in this case David) has made him sick. Here is what my NIV study Bible has to say about this psalm:
This psalm provides a vivid reflection on how lives can be affected by unresolved sin. David admits his wrongdoing and unpacks the depth of his troubles since. Physically, he is troubled by the malaise of lethargy, and weakness. His immune system is compromised; he suffers backaches, heart palpitations, blurred vision and constant pain. Psychologically, he feels alienated from God, his family, his friends and his community. He has phobias about his enemies and is almost catatonic with inner distress and depression. Spiritually he is troubled by doubt, self-pity and anxiety.
David is not overreacting nor is he a hopeless hypochondriac. He lived a long and prosperous life, was esteemed by thousands and wrote many poems and songs that speak of spiritual and emotional health. Whatever prompted this psalm revealed the kind of physical, spiritual and emotional disease that can afflict us when we move outside of God’s good ways.
Wow.

February 20

OT – I am thinking that chapter 10 of Leviticus needs to be read at all ordination of preachers. Just as a cautionary tale, you know?
Aaron’s sons just had to try that fire out on their own, now didn’t they. I don’t know a single boy that isn’t interested in fire. So much so, that when my guys were little, we had a candle on the table for dinner every night and whoever’s day it was got to light and blow out the candle. I hoped!?! this would take away some of their interest in fires but we eventually had to work up to lighting camp fires and the grill to satisfy that. One year when I was teaching 5th grade Sunday School, I was amazed to find out that only one child out of the 15 in my class could light a match. The rest had no idea how to strike one much less safely light one. I think we have gone too far over the edge with ‘don’t play with matches’.
But back to Aaron’s sons. Rashi says that saying Aaron remained silent means that he was weeping and wailing but stopped when Moses gave the edict from God. The comment ‘still in their tunics’ meant that the fire consumed them from the inside (their soul) but left the outside intact. He also said that the caution on not drinking means that the boys HAD been drinking.
How incredibly hard it must have been to be the first priest. You sort of have to make it up as you go along and then Moses corrects you and says ‘hey, you WERE supposed to eat that goat’. Maybe our preachers are luckier than they know since they have generations of role models for the dos and don’ts of their positions. But one thing remains the same – stay away from the bottle before you light the match!

NT – Loved this animated message about the mustard seed.


Here in Georgia, mustard plants don’t grow to tree size but they do produce an overwhelming amount of greens, are virtually indestructible in the fall, winter, and spring, and then in summer, if you don’t pull them up, they ‘bolt’ or grow flowers and a seed head. These flowers are incredibly, brilliantly yellow, much like yellow mustard (although yellow mustard gets it color from turmeric, a spice, not the mustard seed). Being the somewhat lazy gardener I am, I have occasionally let a mustard plant go to seed and have always regretted it. The plant will come up anywhere and everywhere.
The Jesus in Mark always confuses me. In 3:11, he tells the people he healed NOT to say who he was. The man possessed by the demons name Legion he tells to go back to his family and give them the blow by blow. I heard a sermon one time that attempted to explain that the first was to the Jews and they didn’t believe in him and the second was to Gentiles (we know that because they were keeping pigs) and they DID believe. But the people who owned those pigs wanted to run Jesus off so that doesn’t really feel right to me.
Also, he tells the people only parables, only ‘what they can understand’. But the disciples got the full explanation. 6 verses later, they are totally stunned that he can calm a wind storm. In the words of a previous story (the paralytic lowered through the roof), which is harder – to heal a sick person or to calm the wind? Sounds like the wind would be fairly easy if healing also involved forgiveness of sins and all THAT entails.
My Harper’s Bible Dictionary calls Mark ‘the secret gospel’ because of all the secrets that are spoken, not kept, told to only a few, or seen by only a few.
In doing my research for today, I bumped into a great documentary “From Jesus to Christ”, a Frontline documentary. It is long, but it is so worth it. I watched this several years ago and while I don’t agree with all of their commentators (when have I ever???), it is very interesting and illuminating. I am putting the link here as well as up above in its on space on the sidebar.

From Jesus to Christ

February 19

NT – The other lists for the disciples are in Matthew 10:2-4 and Luke 6:14-16. The only differences between the list is that Mark and Matthew name the disciple Thaddaeus and Luke calls him Judas son of James.
Also, I apologize right up front for this post as I have spent my evening at Children’s Medical getting Matthew’s shoulder X-rayed. He hurt it wrestling yesterday in the State tournament and was in a great deal of pain when I picked him up this afternoon from the Gwinnett Arena. He does not have a break but the muscles are either severely strained or torn. Hopefully the first one. Everything here at the McAdam ranch is a little discombobulated.

OT – 8:5-6 Per Rashi: The Sages say that Moses’ status among the Israelites was almost king. Therefore, it would have been unthinkable for him to degrade his regal standing by washing and dressing Aaron and his sons as related by the verses. Consequently, Moses informed the crowd that everything he was about to do was commanded by God.
Fast forward 1500 years and another king was washing body parts of his underlings. Just saying. Don’t skip the readings even if they seem inane.

Psalm – do you just love the lists in this psalm?
Wicked: plot against righteous, draw the sword and bow against the poor and needy, borrow and don’t repay.
Righteous: upheld by the Lord, their inheritance will endure forever, they don’t wither in times of disaster, they will have plenty in times of famine, won’t fall when he stumbles (remember the idiom there?), won’t have children begging.
Which list do you want to be on? The naughty or the nice?
It seems like in Bibleland, there is either one or the other. In real life, I would like to think there is some gray. It also seems like the wicked SET out to be bad whereas the righteous get their reward from God by doing whatever made them righteous in the first place. And then there is the Hitler in the bunker question. What if you were SS wicked all your life but repented and spent the last 60 seconds being righteous? How much righteous do you have to have to be on the nice list?

Friends, we have covered 2/13 of the Bible. Keep reading, keep pondering. Don’t give up. Also, please invite others that you know to join us. You just don’t know who needs the fellowship of knowing others are walking the same path. They can start right where we are. Genesis and Matthew will be waiting next January for them.
Have a blessed Sunday.

February 18

Left Nineveh behind. Looking forward to the Promised Land, again.

NT – Got to love the family! Vs 20-21: Then Jesus entered a house and again, a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
I do have sympathy for his siblings. How hard it must have been to have been the ‘Son of God’ when they were mere mortals. But I have a big old bone to pick with Mary. She KNEW. Or did she?
That is the trouble with conflagrating the gospels. We have this tendency to smush them all together and read it like that. However, Mark may not have even known Mary. Luke is the one that seems to have either interviewed her or one of the other children. He has the intimate knowledge of the birth. It is hard not to assume that all of the gospel writers knew all the details but clearly, they didn’t.
Regardless, in tomorrow’s reading, his mother and brothers show up. But Jesus turns them away. He KNEW he wasn’t out of his mind. Do we? Whose side do we fall on? The family or Jesus?

OT – A word or two about Leviticus. Or maybe a few more. Leviticus has approximately 21,900 words. All about ritual laws, sacrifice, duty of the priesthood and cleanliness rituals. Brace yourself. The good news is we are only in Leviticus for 2 weeks and then we get to Numbers.
http://www.biblestudy101.org/Lists/statisticsHB.html
My big question today was about eating the fat of animals. Now, I happen to like the crispy part of a pork chop (I know, I know, not kosher…), and I LOVE the crispy fat part of a good Ribeye steak. But when I checked my Stone Chumash, here is what it had to say “The prohibition against consuming fats and blood applies to all sheep, goats, and cattle, whether they are consecrated or not. Although the word **** is commonly translated as fat, there is no English word that defines it precisely, for in terms of this prohibition, “fat” means only the fatty tissue that is placed on the Altar in the case of offerings.” This fat was the fat around kidneys and the innards. The rest of the fat you can use. You can eat fat from other clean animals that aren’t used as sacrificial animals like deer. Or chicken. Otherwise, a lot of kosher delis in NY are in trouble with their chopped liver.
So, my steak fat is okay on a ribeye!

Check out this sermonette and keep reading. Blessings on your meditations.

February 17

Still in Nineveh. But I am assuming that Jonah got his fanny up and went home and wrote the book so I must as well.

OT- Today’s reading brings up the whole “I didn’t know it was wrong” defense. I have been going to an Interfaith group every Thursday night for the past 6 weeks. It has been FABULOUS. One of the best things they did was assign us all tables and that is where we have sat for the last 6 weeks. When you study the Bible together, no matter what, if any, is your faith, you really get to know folks. One of the Jewish guys at my table is named Sandy and he, by his own definition, is an ambulance-chasing lawyer. We had a great conversation several weeks ago about the differences between the Jewish idea of sin and the Christian. (Biblically speaking.)
Sandy said that sin was sin was sin. Whether or not you knew something was wrong or unclean, if you did it or touched it, you were guilty. Once guilty, you had to atone (make recompense) for your sin. Thus the massive animal slaughter.
I thought that was really harsh. I felt like it was much more an intention issue. If you didn’t intend to do something or you didn’t know it, it wasn’t a sin. There might be consequences but sin was really doing something deliberate, something hurtful. Which is why I have a hard time with passages like this one in Exodus. I mean, if you don’t know that it is unclean but you touch it, is that really a sin and worthy of having to drop everything and go kill a goat?
Sandy said yes. It doesn’t matter. Even if you didn’t mean to kill someone, if they died because of what you did, they were still dead. But I thought that was overstating the point and when I said that, Sandy reminded me that the atonement, the recompense, was not going to the dead person or the dead person’s family (although that does come later – the consequence), no, the atonement is going to GOD.
And remember the definition of sin – anything that cuts you off from God. Therefore, in order to right your relationship with God, you must atone. In the ancient Biblical world, that was animal sacrifice. In 21st Protestant, it is already handled. The atonement part. Not the consequence nor the behavioral change. Just the intercession between us and God when we mess up whether it was intentional or not.

Psalm – I found today’s Psalm really beautiful and calming. I think it was the word ‘oracle’ in vs 1 which grabbed my attention and the rest of the piece never let it go.
If you remember your Greek mythology, you remember the Oracle at Delphi was where you went not just for prophesy but really for wisdom and clarity of decision. In the case of our psalm, it is really that the writer has thought about the differences between the wicked and the righteous. His ‘oracle’ is that he is able to discern the difference.
When I went to Biblegateway.com to look at the different translations, I was astounded. My ‘oracle’ is not present in anything except NIV.
Here is a few of vs. 1:
I know the sinful utterance
of the wicked:[a]
No fear of God
confronts their own eyes,

Sin speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts;
they reject God and do not have reverence for him

The God-rebel tunes in to sedition— all ears, eager to sin.
He has no regard for God,
he stands insolent before him.
He has smooth-talked himself
into believing
That his evil
will never be noticed.

That made me wonder if oracle was placed there, just for me. No other translation strikes me today like this one did.


Friends, if you are in Nineveh, come home and find refuge in the shadow of God’s wings. If you are feasting in Israel, welcome the pilgrims in. May God bless you wherever you are.

February 16

I found today’s reading a hard one. Partly because I am tired, partly because I have had a bad afternoon but mostly because it just didn’t speak to me.
I don’t particularly want to know exactly how to kill an animal and burn its flesh so that it is wasted so that it’s ‘aroma can be pleasing to God’. I also don’t want to know how Aaron and his sons skim off the top of the offerings getting their share of the grain.
The New Testament reading was okay. But I have heard the story of the paralytic more times that I can count beginning with a skit when I was 6 years old and in Vacation Bible School.
I liked the part in Psalms from 26-28 especially how God was going to put all those who ‘gloat’ over my troubles to shame. But I’ve heard that before too.
And can I say, I am beginning to think that the young man that Proverbs was written WAS simple. How many times do you have to tell them to ‘stay away from the wicked woman’?

I poked around some on the internet trying to find a good sermon to plop down. None seemed to do the trick.

Ever had one of those days?

My favorite book heroine, Anne Shirley Blythe of Anne of Green Gables calls these days “Jonah Days”. There it is again. A Bible reference.
So I ditched the stated scripture and headed for the book of Jonah. Oh, not the whale part. That was well covered in Veggie Tales and a hundred other Vacation Bible School stories. I went to the last part. Chapters 3 & 4. This is where my temper is right now.
The question before me is: am I going to be like Jonah and be grouchy when things are going right for someone else but I am having a hard time. And a hard time with diddly stuff, like no thank yous for clean clothes or my workout partner standing me up. What is that compared with the truly awful stuff?

My solution was to apologize to Don for my snapping, get Matthew a chocolate milk, set the table and have all of us sit down to a good dinner and then go to bed. Things always look better in the morning.

May your Jonah days come at 10 PM when bedtime is 10:15.

February 15

OT-- The ephod was a type of garment worn by the high priests. It is not a complete garment but more like a tunic. It was probably heavy with all those precious stones on it that symbolized the 12 tribes of Israel. If it sounds like we have read this section before, we have. It was contained in chapters 29 and 30 of Exodus. Remember that there are at least 2 different strains of writings that were merged into one scroll. I guess when they could not decide on whose was right, they put both in.
My Stone Chumash says that the passive voice in Vs 17 “the tabernacle was set up” means that the Tabernacle was too heavy for anyone to set into place on the rods and acaia wood supports. God told Moses to do it and it was far too heavy for him to lift so the Tabernacle ‘stood up by itself, miraculously’. Another back story/verb tense that would have simply passed me by without Rashi.
On Sunday, we had our meeting of Presbyterian Women for the month and Melisha was teaching. She gave us all pink hearts with the words “where have you seen God” on them. To me, this is the every day miracle of being God’s child. I see Him in Publix where they give Zach, a Down’s Syndrome man, a job bagging groceries and allowing him to be independent and responsible. I see Him at the gym where a little old man tripped over the curb and 4 huge body builders rushed outside, picked him gently up and carried him in and held his bleeding hand while they waited for the ambulance. I see Him in so many places.
Is it any wonder His Tabernacle would lift of its own volition as a testament to His wonder?

NT – Mark’s gospel begins with John the Baptist. The story of John the Baptist is one of the 7 stories that are in all 4 gospels. In specific, it is the phrase “not worthy to untie his sandals” that is in all 4. This should cause you to stop and take stock of this. What does this phrase mean and why was it so important that all 4 of them included it?
Untying sandals was a slave’s job in 1st century Palestine and a disagreeable job at that. When you have pack animals in your roadway, you have poop. Lots of it. Sanitation at this time, indeed up until we started using cars and trucks for transport, made walking really hard on the feet and cleanliness. It makes you unclean to touch poop. Thus the slave.
So if John was ‘unworthy’, that meant he was lower than a slave in position to Jesus. Apparently, even when the gospels were written 30-70 years after Jesus’ death, John was still very much a force to be reckoned with although he had been executed before Jesus. Josephus mentions him “who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God”.
John was the inheritor of the OT tradition of prophets. He spoke out against the corruption and impiety of the people. He was the herald of Jesus. He was really, really good, at least as far as a human can be. And yet he was lower than a slave. What does that say about me?

Book of Matthew Quiz

Click here to take the Book of Matthew Quiz. While I did not author the quiz, I found it to be comprehensive. See how well you score!

February 14

OT – The reference to ‘lampstands’ rang a bell from last year’s PW study on Revelation. I got my book and sure enough, look at Rev 1:12, golden lampstands – 7 of them! They represent the 7 churches that John is writing to – some good news, some chiding. How cool is that!! But there are 7 lamps on the Tabernacle lampstand. I have this incredible feeling that by the time we get to Revelation in December, so much of that book will be – well, okay, of course he is speaking about -- whatever. And I want you to know that I MADE myself read this section.
I also should admit that I was not able to picture the lampstand. It was only after I went searching for an image for this post that I realized the lampstand was a Menorah. Yes, sometimes I am obtuse. The reason Jews light the Menorah at Hanukkah is because that was what was lit in the Temple that lasted 7 days instead of one with the remaining oil!! And why was it in the Temple? Well, because God told Moses to put one there!
Friends, do not give up. Don’t glaze your eyes over. Read half a chapter and ask yourself some questions to make sure you are really absorbing it. You never know where this stuff may pop up again or in what context. Could win you some money on Jeopardy!

NT -- This is our last day in Matthew. Tomorrow, I will have a short quiz for you to take to see how much you have retained. I had forgotten how abruptly this gospel ended. I always like stories that show you the ‘after’ of the crisis. This does not give us that. We will have to wait for Luke and John for those stories. But I did want to reflect for a moment on what is called The Great Commission (vs. 19-20).
One of the purposes of doing this blog was to do that for me. I had envisioned that unschooled in the Bible, maybe even not Christians, might stumble into this and decide to read the Word alongside of me and the others. I don’t do evangelism very well. But I do like to study and I thought this might be a way to combine.
Every day, this blog gets 3 hits from Russia and 1 from Germany. I don’t know anyone in Russia or Germany, currently. I also am not sure of who the 30-40 hits I get from the USA are. Maybe you could comment and introduce yourself? Or feel free to lurk. I hope that what I am writing is encouraging you in your faith journey. I know that this study is pushing me along in mine. And I am thrilled that Jesus is with me, to the very end of the age!

Psalm 34 is a sensory poem. Yesterday, the author was praising with his lips, seeking and finding the Lord, tasting and finding the Lord was good. Today, he is with the children, listening, speaking, and having the eyes and the ears of the Lord upon him. The mood of this psalm is definitely upbeat. It is filled with gratitude and delight of the saved.
While I have heard bits of this psalm, (for sure, the taste and see that the Lord is good), I don’t think I have ever read the whole thing. I find it slightly disjointed as if several were put together that had roughly the same slant. It makes me wish I could read Hebrew and see if it was just the way it was translated.
I went to Biblegateway.com and looked it up. This is the heading of the Psalm!! It is not in my Bible in a Year book!!
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.
All I have to say is OK.

This is from St Augustine:
Watch, O Lord, with those who wake,
or watch, or weep tonight,
and give Your Angels and Saints charge over those who
sleep.
Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ.
Rest Your weary ones,
Bless Your dying ones,
Soothe Your suffering ones,
pity Your afflicted ones,
Shield Your joyous ones,
And all for Your love's sake.

Amen.

February 13

Proverbs – When I was in high school, I spent several weeks in England, much of it in London. While I loved the British Museum and all its incredible mummies, statues and art, my absolute favorite place was Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. We went almost every afternoon that we were in London. It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter had just sent in the ill-fated helicopter mission to rescue the hostages in the Iranian Embassy. It fascinated us that ANYONE could bring their produce box, step up on it, and start yakking their heads off without waiting for someone else to finish, have a script, heck, even bathe before showing up. At one point, one of the speakers was thoroughly trashing the US. I couldn’t retype the names he was calling us. Blogger would ditch me. I stepped up and started yelling back.
Of course, I made no impact. He easily shot me down and kept going.
But when I read today’s proverbs, that man is who I thought of.
We try so hard to turn the thoughts and words of fools. The proverb says this is wasted energy. Only someone who is wise (who probably doesn’t need us anyway!) will listen and continue in relationship. I also think this applies to advice. The only people who will listen to advice are those who don’t need it.

OT – Acacia wood is featured prominently in the construction of the Tabernacle. This plant is thought to be the ‘burning bush’ that Moses encountered when he fled Egypt. It is a desert plant but where there is water, it does grow into a tree-like form. It is usually very fragrant. Probably a good thing since the animal blood and animal sacrifice is not the most pleasant smell.
I was also struck by 36:4-7. When has a church ever said “enough offering”?

NT – Please be warned that this video is extremely graphic. It is a medical doctor explaining the physiological effects of Jesus’ treatment after the arrest and during the crucifixion. I have to admit, I could not watch it all in one fell swoop. But I find it compelling for the simple reason that I don’t like to think about the suffering that Jesus went through for me.


Friends, we are 3/26th of the way through the Bible. I know we are in a hard place with some of our readings. Please keep going and keep praying. There are messages for us here.
Peace to you and yours.

February 12

NT – the whole Pilate drama is one of the 7 stories that are common to all 4 Gospels. Wikipedia has an incredibly interesting article about Pilate, much of which I did not know. Click here if you would like to read it.
By far, the most interesting part of the arrest and trial scene to me is the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus. Pilate is the Prefect of Judea. That means, in essence, that he is the Roman ruler of Judea. There is a “Jewish” king, Herod, but he is merely a puppet of the Romans. The real power was Pilate.
There are 3 extra-Biblical references to Pilate. One is Josephus, one is Philo, and the other is a stone with an inscription that references Pilate as Prefect of Jerusalem. Both Josephus and Philo have extremely unkind words to say about Pilate and his methods of maintaining order. And he was in Jerusalem that day because he needed to maintain order.
The Old City of Jerusalem is very small – less than .35 of a square mile. Put a couple of thousand extra people in the city to celebrate – having drunk all those glasses of Passover wine – and you get a mob.
Pilate’s job was to keep the people, not at ‘peace’ but not in rebellion.
This makes the exchange between Pilate and Jesus all the more compelling. Both Philo and Josephus mention other rebellions that Pilate brutally put down. Not Jesus. Pilate was willing to let him go. Even Pilate recognized someone startlingly different from your ordinary rabble-rouser.

Psalm – My son, Cole, and I went to see Red Tail this evening. I highly recommend the movie. It is about the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII. They embody this Psalm.

May your Sunday be filled with worship and rejoicing

February 11

The readings today were something they normally are not – jarring in their dissonance. I have been amazed at how the readings from the different sections track either by subject or by mood. Today was different. I went from depressed after Moses had the priests kill 3000 of their fellow Israelites for disobedience to the wrenching stories of Peter and Judas to the almost giddy Psalm. Even the Proverb felt lightweight compared with some we have read.
I wanted to explore that feeling of dissonance and unease that I have with how Moses treated the ‘stiff-necked’ Israelites. This isn’t the first time they have acted this way with him but his response seems really harsh. And he didn’t kill Aaron nor did he single people out and let them explain, he just sent the Levites through with drawn swords. My Stone Chumash gives an explanation for it but I am not buying it. Here is what Rashi and his fellow rabbis said.
1. Golden Calf was not an idol to replace Hashem (God). It was a stand-in for Moses who was late.
2. Aaron knew better but in order to protect his life (the other man Hur left with him having been killed), he agreed.
3. Aaron did his best to delay the proceedings. He asked for the gold from the women and children expecting them to put up a fight for what they had been given upon leaving Egypt. But because of the mob, everyone ponied up.
4. Aaron didn’t fashion the calf, Egyptian sorceresses did. This is based on Exodus 22:19. Apparently, there were about 3000 hanger-on-ers who left Egypt with the Israelites. They included a bunch of thieves and sorceresses. Aaron bound up the gold and tossed it into the fire, it came out a calf. Only magic could have done that so it must have been the work of the above.
5. Aaron tried again to delay. He asked them to wait until the following day and to have a festival, not to the calf but to Hashem (God).
6. These 3000 hanger-on-ers were the real rabble-rousers. The faithful Jews just didn’t stop them. That is why Aaron and the Levites could kill with abandon.
When I read commentaries like this, what I see is that people need to EXPLAIN why they are uncomfortable with God and Moses’ behavior. Why do we need to do that?
It also happens with Peter in the courtyard. Why was he even there? Why was he chatting up those folks so that they could recognize his accent? Why didn’t he pull a Tolkien Strider and lurk in the shadows? Keep his mouth shut and wear a cloak? But he needs to defend or explain or at least be some sort of participant.
When I was younger, it used to drive me crazy that I couldn’t make my religion fit neatly with my beliefs. Now, it just makes me crazy that I am still, 30 years after starting an intensive study of the Bible, learning new and ENORMOUS facts, figures, ideas, back stories and revelations.
May all our studies jar us a little so we are awake to God’s revelations.
.

February 10

OT – Per my Stone Chumash, “The Torah teaches that it is forbidden to count Jews in the ordinary manner, and that when it is necessary to conduct a census, it should be done by having the people contribute items, which would then be counted.” The Stone Edition of the The Chumash p.484.
Click here to read the scriptural notes.
Okay, I have heard the Christmas story ALL MY LIFE. I think at one point, I memorized the Christmas section in Luke for a Sunday School prize. Never, never, never have I heard that it was forbidden to take a ‘normal’ census. Think about what that statement in Luke 2:1-3 means knowing that a census is forbidden.
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.”
Think what this must have been like to have been an inheritor of the Moses tradition to be oppressed. To have to deny your religious teaching and conform.
To come from this incredible, elaborate, super Tabernacle with its coverings of gold, special smelling incense, oil that is only usable by the priests to being counted like a cow. We put tags in cows’ ears these days. Hitler branded the Jews with numbers in his day.
We cannot read the story of Moses without the background of oppression. Oppressed in Egypt. Freed for a little while, then a series of oppressions by the Philistines, Amorites, Hittites, and Jebusittes. If I have forgotten someone, sorry. A brief period of freedom under Saul, David and Solomon and then a series of really bad kings that gave away the glorious pieces and parts of The Temple. Oppression and deportation by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians and Persians. Another brief period of relative freedom then oppression by the Greeks and ultimately the Romans.
Is it any wonder that we have these elaborate, detailed descriptions of all the goodness and glories that Moses concocts for the worship of the Lord? Or that Moses, with all his impediments, arrogance, murder one history, and problems is the uber leader of the Israelites and every generation afterwards. Moses LED THE ISRAELITES TO FREEDOM.
Knowing that, peek back at Matthew 17 and tell me who Peter, James and John saw when they went up on the ‘high mountain’.
They saw Moses, the ultimate leader, and Elijah, the ultimate prophet.
I have reread today’s OT scripture with new eyes, thanks to Kim and her comment and thanks to Rashi and his illumination.


NT -



Psalm -- If you despair in your reading, post this on a notecard on your desk:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you. (32:8)
The instruction that the Psalm is referring to is our scriptures.
Read, question, research, take counsel, pray.
Blessings to you and yours.

February 9

OT -- The OT rabbi/scholar Rashi says that not one word in the Torah is there by mistake or should be considered irrelevant. If this is true, what must we make of the elaborate dressing rituals that described in our current spate of readings? Some observations, random though they may seem:
Why did Moses have to dress them? Why did they need Aaron and his sons at all? Moses is clearly sufficient to speak with the Lord and communicate his messages. Why Aaron and his sons? Where are Moses’ sons? By sprinkling the garments with blood every time a new person was invested, wouldn’t there be a lot of blood on the garments? That seems like an awful lot of rams to sacrifice – 2 each day no matter what. Where do these rams come from and why is this meat, from people who are waiting for the bread to drop from the sky and birds to flap down, allowed to be burnt up? Doesn’t this seem a bit elaborate and chic-chic poo-poo for a nomadic people? They have to haul this stuff around with them. And set it up and take it down. Seems like a ton of work?
What do you take away when you read this section of Exodus?

Proverbs -- I had to go back to yesterday’s readings to realize who was speaking. Wisdom is speaking and she has glorious words for those who follow her. Her yields surpass silver. Wisdom comes straight from the Lord and she was ‘appointed’ (present) before He did anything else. In high school English, this is called Personification. (Giving human traits – actions, characteristics, feelings – to inanimate objects, places or ideas.) I think this is a literary device but others have interpreted these types of statements as coming from a Being. If you are interested in knowing more, here is a Sophia (Greek for wisdom) website that gives greater detail.

If you are struggling with trying to keep up with the readings, you are not alone. I received an email today from one reader who wailed (in writing) that she was ‘slogging’ through the OT readings and felt like the Psalms weren’t speaking to her. Every night was an ordeal. I don’t have an answer for that – my feelings for the Psalms range all over the book. We ended up agreeing to pray for each other and for her reading. If you feel this way, please comment. She was so sure that no one else was trudging along. And as for me, I am just grateful that you are along for at least this part of the journey. Walk a little bit farther with me and open your hearts to our Lord.

February 8

NT – Being slightly Obsessive/Compulsive, I love checklists. I have a checklist for cleaning the house, doing yardwork, doing my paperwork, going on vacation. And for goodness sake, don’t ask my bosses Alfred and David about my love of checklists! I go a little overboard about them.
Which is why I have a love/hate relationship with our NT scripture today. Want to know who is in and who is out of the kingdom? – well, here is your checklist.
1. Feed the hungry
2. Give drink to the thirsty
3. Give clothes to the naked
4. Visit the sick
5. Visit the prisoners.
I love that there is a checklist. I just have a hard time with what is on it. For example, my friend Pearl (who also shares this dilemma with me) and I have tried for years to check #5 off our list. She thinks I have a toe up on her because I once picked my boyfriend up at the DeKalb County Jail where he had stayed all night on a drunk driving charge. I don’t think that counts especially since I refused to come get him at 2 AM and post bond for his sorry butt.
But how do you go about visiting prisoners? The one prisoner I know had a list of people he would see. He refused to put Pearl and me on it. So that was out.
And why prisoners? Where did that come from?
Well, in my Harpers Bible Dictionary, it says this comes directly from the prophets of the OT especially Amos and Micah. Micah 6:8 says “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Not a bad mission statement. And from Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.”
If you were in first century CE Palestine, you could go to prison for ANY number of things. Mouth off to the local Roman regiment leader – disappear. Don’t pay your taxes and won’t sell your daughter, off you go. And once you got there, it was up to your family to feed and clothe you. They didn’t do it, you starved to death. And we complain now about the restrictions on how the prisoners’ commissary accounts are handled! (FYI, if you have a loved one in prison in South Carolina, you cannot send them money via check or any money order EXCEPT postal money order. All else will be returned to you. And you can’t send them more than $50 as it would make them ‘too richy’. )
On the other hand, having loved one in a Palestine prison was horrible for your social status.
Thus, Jesus’ commentary on going to the prisons.
But does that still apply to us today? Do all of them? Is it enough to give to food pantries and drop off our used clothing at Goodwill? Somehow, I think Jesus would not think that was enough. And that is where my uncomfortableness with the list comes into play. See, I think we are supposed to feed the hungry personally. To be with them. To ease their burdens face to face. To show them empathy, not sympathy.
I think I don’t get to check much off of this checklist. I am afraid I am closer than I want to think I am to being a goat, rather than a sheep.

February 7

NT – As one who has gambled and lost in the stock market, I can safely say, I might fail the investment test. I have a hard time investing my ‘real’ money with any degree of risk. I cannot imagine investing someone else’s money especially someone that holds my life and death in their hands.
But in thinking this through, I have come up with a different way to look at this parable.
What if it wasn’t money? What if it were LIVES?
The first servant is given 5 underlings to develop and raise up into good, productive worker bees for the master. They like the way the servant/master runs things and they are learning so much and enjoying themselves that they invite 5 other friends to come and learn the business.
The Second servant is given 2 underlings to develop and raise up into good, productive worker bees for the Master. They like the way the servant/master runs things and they are learning so much and enjoying themselves that they invite 2 other friends to come and learn the business.
The last servant is given 1 underling. He doesn’t know how to raise up good, productive worker bees and he is afraid. So, he gives him to a neighbor who works him hard and wrings all he can get from this free laborer.
Now, when God comes back to check, servant one has grown his evangelical flock from 5 to 10 and they are getting ready to open a brand new church. Praise, praise, praise.
Servant two has grown his evangelical flock from 2 to 4 and their church is creating new missions to help in their city. Praise, praise, praise.
The last servant has a broken, angry laborer who refuses to go to church. That church’s pews are empty except for the servant, his organ master and the old people who refuse to change and are dying off like flies. The bankers are circling and soon the church buildings will be sold to a used car dealership.

Too harsh? I don’t think so. This is a really harsh section of Matthew. I mean, he didn’t let the silly virgins in!! Feel differently? Let me know.

Psalm – Verse 5 says “into your hands I commit my spirit, redeem me, O Lord, the God of Truth”. Sound familiar? Think crucifixion. But that brought up the word “redeem”. I looked it up
http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/hebrew/nas/padah.html
And the word we translate as redeem is the Hebrew word Padah. It means, literally to ransom or rescue by means of a ritual-sacrifice or blood payment. Brings a whole new flavor to that phrase to me.
Watch this video and KNOW that Jesus knew what the meaning of that word was and what it took to ransom us all. Including the third servant.

February 6

OT – We have no actual drawings of the Ark of The Covenant but here are a few artist renditions based on today’s reading.

NT – I spent most of today thinking of church ministry work. It started when I got an email from a friend who is pastor of church in Charlotte, NC. He was bemoaning what I think is a standard fact for churches – 10% of the people do 90% of the work. Later, when I was at Sunday School, the lesson for today was Galatians 3 which is Paul’s great treatise on being saved by faith alone, not by works. I mentioned the email to the other students in the class and one of the ladies gently admonished me saying “we don’t know what they do in their lives. It is not up to us to judge.” And I am not. I get a lot of satisfaction out of church ministry work. As a matter of fact, I get more out of it than I put in. It just has always struck me funny that there are loads of people at church who don’t do ANYTHING.
In the lesson today for our readings, I found my answer. And just as Laura said, it isn’t for me to judge. But it is for me to DO. I know Jesus. I know what he expects of me – to use my gifts to further his kingdom. Not to do so would be the servant who is beating his fellow servants and drinking with drunkards. (vs 49). Is that how you interpret vs 45-51? Or do you have another take on it?

Psalm 30 – I love this psalm for vs 5b “weeping may remain for a night but rejoicing comes in the morning”. There in a nutshell is the memory verse for those of us with night terrors, nightmares, night worries, insomnia. I’ve written this on a index card and intend to keep it by my bed. The rest of the Psalm is excellent as well. This is written as a high note, a gratitude poem to God for deliverance. If you are in despair, this one would be a good one to use as a prayer. Write above it – ‘when I need God’s help the most’.
Which brings me to a procedural note. I got a comment today from one of the young people in my church regarding my Bible. This time it was not about the cover. It was about all the ‘stuff’ that is in my Bible as well as the highlighting and the underlining. I had dropped my Bible and since it has all sorts of stuff in it, he was amazed. He said he didn’t think you could write like that in a Bible. That God might get mad. I told him that I hoped God wouldn’t be mad but that I thought he was probably just pleased that I was taking the time to studying and reflect on his Word. I am not sure he agreed.
Do you write in your Bible? My mother’s Great Aunt Belle’s Bible was the oldest one I ever saw. It had been patched with pasteboard, mailing tape, and at some point, reglued. That Bible was precious. There were commentaries on sermons she had heard, cut out prayers from the paper, baby announcements and funeral notes. My mother was her favorite and lived with her during some hard times in her family. When she was dying, Aunt Belle asked Mother what she wanted and Mother told her ‘just your Bible’. When she asked her cousins for it after the funeral, they told Mother that they had thrown ‘that old ratty thing out. Who would want that?’ Oh, oh, oh.

May this be a week of drawing closer to God. Blessings on your studies and meditations.

February 5

Proverbs – If a picture is worth a thousand words, this YouTube should be shown to all.



I do have to say, that just like in the parable A Prodigal Son, I find myself in a different position than when I read this as a young adult. I clearly identified with the ‘simple young man’ when I first read Proverbs in my 20s. Now, I am sure that I identify with the old man writing these proverbs. I have seen the devastation that adultery wrecks on a family. It NEVER ends up well. And I would spare my children and their children that agony if I could. In the case of the prodigal, well, let’s just say I have been all characters from the prodigal to the jealous older brother to the father who disregards the slights imposed by his child.
That is the great thing about the Bible. It has meaning no matter what your time of life or situation is.

NT – Matthew 24:15-28 is a type of writing called apocalyptic literature. The entire book of Revelation is apocalyptic as well as good amounts of Daniel and Isaiah. Sometimes these are called ‘prophetic writings’ since they tend to speak of future events. They usually have good vs. evil fight. This section of Matthew is a good example. Frequently, readers are frightened or confused by these texts.
When Presbyterian Women did a yearlong study of Revelation at Mt Vernon, we ended up offering another class just because so many of the women were afraid (or refused!) to study Revelation. Let’s not be frightened by Scripture. Empowered, strengthened, drawn closer to the Lord, but not frightened.
When I was growing up, I spent a good amount of time in graveyards. My childhood neighborhood backs up to Arlington Cemetery and whenever I wanted to dodge chores, I would grab my book and hop the fence. We visited my mother’s family’s graveyard in Blairsville frequently and my dad’s mother lived across the street from the best cemetery of all – Dalton Cemetery. Someone asked me if I was afraid of being in cemeteries so much and my reply was no, I am not afraid of dead people, it is the living that scare the h*ll out of me.
The same should be true of scripture. Yes, it can be challenging. But it is there for us to learn about God, all sides of him. Yes, even the Judge. And let us not ever forget that we have Jesus as our intercessor.

OT – one law really struck me today – it is 23:8 -- can we send this to the Georgia House where they are currently working on ethics bill?

Have a refreshing and relaxing Sunday.

February 4

NT – This is probably a cheat but this commentary on Biblegateway.com on Matt 23 is AMAZING. Please click here to go to it and read it. I learned so much!

OT—And so it begins. We get the first of 2 of the 10 Commandments. Please get a ribbon or a really nice bookmark and mark Exodus 19. We will come back to this over and over again and you will want to have this readily handy. I have a bookmark that Carol Beckman’s Jessica painted for me and it stays always in this place.
The first 5 books of the Bible are known as the Law. And they are known that for a reason. There are A LOT of them. Your eyes, like mine, will tend to glaze over and you will have read that section and absorbed nothing. Don’t do this. Stop when you start to do this and ask yourself what the basis for this law really was. If you don’t know, type it into a search engine on the internet and see what comes up. For example, Vs 7 really made me mad. Are you surprised? Any man that gets to sell his daughter and she doesn’t get to go free when her 6 years of servitude are up. So, I typed into Google Man selling daughter and here is what comes up:
http://bible.cc/exodus/21-7.htm
Fascinating! And the reality is, he only got to sell his pre-pubescent daughter and then only in dire need. And the reason she didn’t get to go free was because she was intended to be some sort of concubine/inferior wife. So, the stricture was really to provide some sort of help to the daughter that she not be sold off to someone else or cast aside if the son of the household didn’t really want her once she grew up.
I ask you not to gloss over these laws but to really read them and ponder them. Ask yourself, why would these laws have stood the test of 2500 years at the bare minimum? Was there one that really struck you? What did you learn by looking it up on the web? Share, please.

Psalm -- look at verse 3. What does that remind you of? Doesn’t that sound just like what Jesus was talking about with the Pharisees? Can’t you just see a beautifully coiffed woman, smiling at everyone she know while inside she is repeating gossip and thinking really evil thoughts. Last night, one of the rabbis in our interfaith discussion group pointed out a Southernism. You can say *ANYTHING* about a person, as long as it is followed by “Bless his/her heart!”. That is what verse 3 says to me.

Blessings on your reading. May you find challenge and strength in the Word.

February 3

top image is of the prayer shawl with long tassels. The tassels are also worn underneath shirts daily.
bottom images is a Phylactery. Imagine trying to lift someone else's burdens with that wrapped around your arm. They are worn when studying the Torah.
NT – In today’s reading, I kept coming back over and over to the first 12 verses in chapter 23. Jesus’ imagery especially of the heavy load that the Pharisees place is so vivid. I kept thinking of the overloaded donkeys and camels of the desert trips and how the pack animals plod along, so slowly, so very slowly. And supposedly, these were people that the Pharisees loved. Their own that they want to teach so that the people could draw nearer to God in their rule perfection. In my own little family, we call that ‘piling on’.
When I fight with Don or yell at the kids, I have a bad habit of saying ‘and another thing…’. Past hurts, slights I had let go by, beds unmade or bathtubs unscrubbed. Piling on is my way of evening the score. Putting all things back to right. Except, it isn’t right. If I let the tub go unscrubbed on Saturday, it is unfair to yell at Cole on Tuesday when I am in the midst of fussing about leaving the garbage can where Howler, the dog can get to it.
Same is true for the Pharisees. They deliberately pile on and make it impossible to follow the rules. There are too many variables, too many subsets. And the worst thing is, they want to spread their doctrine to all. Remember when our reading compared the Pharisees to yeast? Yeast is a bacteria that is activated by moisture, starch, and heat. Some Bibles translated it as ‘leaven’. In Bible times, there was no Baking Powder or baking soda. Leavening was yeast, carefully preserved so that wheat would rise. The bacteria permeate the bread mixture, you let it “sit” in a warm place and you get a poofy loaf of bread. Pharisee yeast gets a group of people who have to act a certain way or they are ‘not following the Law’. You are either an insider (Law follower) or out.
The Pharisees sat in ‘Moses’ seat’, the place of Jewish authority and legal wisdom. As a coincidence (?!?), our OT test today talked about the judges and officials that Moses appointed to handle the simple, uncomplicated disputes. They sat ‘in Moses’ seat’. But you couldn’t sit in that seat unless you were an upright man, full of the knowledge of the law. Jesus also says this about the Pharisees. Then the question becomes – is he being sarcastic when he says obey them or not.
I do not think sarcasm is here. I think he truly thinks you should do what the Law says. But I don’t think Jesus wants his disciples to emulate the Pharisees because Jesus didn’t think the Pharisees followed the Law. Just a few paragraphs earlier, Jesus had been asked, “Teacher (remember he didn’t want his disciples called Teacher or Rabbi), which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love you neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”. Piling on is not loving your neighbors. Place of honor, the lovely long tassels (long tassels meant you could do no physical labor. They would get dirty and hence unclean….), important seats, etc. These are not taking care of others. These are taking care of self.
(As an aside, when this post was being proofread, the reader said, you can’t equate the love your neighbor stuff with the Moses seat stuff. They are in different chapters. Matthew did not write his gospels in chapters. The chapters and verses were added in the Middle Ages. Click here for a great tutorial in this. )
But back to the Pharisees.
If you truly loved your neighbor as yourself, wouldn’t you try to ‘lift’ their burdens? You wouldn’t ‘pile on’, you would simplify, you would take care of others. Maybe even others who were on the ‘out’.
Friends, don’t let us be the pilers. Let us be the encouragers, the simplifiers, the kind ones.
And for goodness sake, close the cabinet door on the garbage.

http://www.zianet.com/maxey/reflx284.htm

February 2

NT – I love Beth Moore. I love how energetic she is. I love how prepared she is. I love how hard she has studied and worked. I also love how thoroughly put together she always is. Perfect clothes, hair and makeup. But she is always telling a funny story on herself. Always showing her soulful imperfections. Watch this clip and laugh along with me and then let’s talk about the Pharisees.

The word that we translate hypocrite is from the Greek word ‘hupokrites” meaning stage actor. So, a hypocrite is someone who does not ‘act’ as he truly believes or is. Look at vs. 18. ‘Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said “you hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?” Why, indeed?
What risk was Jesus to them? Let’s remember who the Pharisees were. They were the ones that did all the synagogue teaching. They were the ‘true’ interpreters of the Torah. They told the people how to act, when to act, and what to wear when they were acting. There is that word again. ACT.
I think Jesus’ main problem with the Pharisees is that they were acting. Just like Beth didn’t want the cleaning lady to know she might have ear wax, the Pharisees didn’t want anyone to know what was in their heart. It wasn’t that they didn’t love God, it was that they put more faith in the ‘act’ rather than the heart.
So, go back to the risk part. How was having Jesus in their midst a cause for concern? If they were so perfect in their ‘act’ why would they care if some bozo who doesn’t do all the handwashing, appears to drink too much and eats the wrong thing on the wrong day, and gets himself unclean by touching yucky people shows up in their midst? Why were they afraid of him? Why try to bring him down? Show him up? Trap him? Don’t tell they didn’t have other weirdos running around Jerusalem and Israel. There are ALWAYS weirdos.
But Jesus appeared to be different. The crowds liked him except at home. There was that whole cloak and palm branch thing. He had a bunch of followers and some of them, well, some of them ‘smelled’. As in not ‘the right kind of people’ smell.
So, continuing from yesterday – who in your life are you a hypocrite to? How can you fix it and how, in Beth’s words can you ‘cut the bull’.

Psalm – Theses two stanzas of Psalm 27 are in the typical Hebrew contrast style. Vs 1-3 is stanza 1 and it is all about fear. Vs. 4-6 is about serenity and calmness which appears when the writer is ‘dwelling in the house of the Lord’. Even though he professes that the Lord is his salvation, clearly he is assailed on all sides and with people bent on destroying or ‘devouring’ him. It is only in the safe place of the Lord that he feels secure. “he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle”.

Proverb – this proverb reminds me of something my dad told my brothers. He said his grandmother Florence Hackney told him this.
“A bad woman can shovel more out the back door with a teaspoon than a good man can shovel in the front door with a coal shovel”. You have been properly warned, young men.

Keep reading! You are doing so great.