How The Bible Came To Be

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Exodus 17:14-16

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

 
 

Just as with Passover and manna, we see here again how important remembrance is to the people of God. Moses is instructed to write down, while the memories are fresh, exactly what happened in the victory over the Amalekites. This is the first time that “writing” is referred to in the Bible, and gives us a glimpse into the Bible’s own formation. For some reason, we modern people tend to think of the Bible dropping down from heaven to the church. In fact, it was written down over time after people had an encounter with the Lord. The gospels are a great example of this—the apostles knew Jesus, and then they set down in print what had happened.

When you read the Bible, you are reading what an ordinary person who had an extraordinary encounter wrote down!

 

Look Up at the Night Sky - Psalm 8

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NOTE: We are taking a week’s break from reading through Exodus; our Exodus readings will resume on Monday, February 19 with the account of the battle between the Lord and Pharaoh and the Ten Plagues.

I have previously mentioned that I read one psalm a day, every day. So, over the next week, I’d love to have you jump in and join me in my psalms reading plan. —Andrew

 

Psalm 8

1 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 
 

Every been somewhere really dark and looked up at the glory of God’s handiwork? It’s as if the Lord screwed each star into place. Psalm 8 comes from that kind of experience—the psalmist has looked up at the heavens and is reflecting on the universe that God has made and man’s place within it.

 

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

“The Gittith” is an unknown musical term that is lost to us.

1 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

In Genesis 1, we read that God created humankind to rule over the earth in his place—to be stewards and caretakers of all that God has made. The psalmist marvels that God has entrusted his precious creation to human hands.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 
 
 

Look Up at the Night Sky - Psalm 8

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Psalm 8

1 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

 
 

Every been somewhere really dark and looked up at the glory of God’s handiwork? It’s as if the Lord screwed each star into place. Psalm 8 comes from that kind of experience—the psalmist has looked up at the heavens and is reflecting on the universe that God has made and man’s place within it.

 

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

“The Gittith” is an unknown musical term that is lost to us.

1 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

In Genesis 1, we read that God created humankind to rule over the earth in his place—to be stewards and caretakers of all that God has made. The psalmist marvels that God has entrusted his precious creation to human hands.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

In your Psalms books, spend a few minutes writing down some of the things in creation that you find awesome and beautiful.

 

Morning Prayer - Psalm 5

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Apologies for the delay today—we had it set to go live at 3:30 PM instead of 3:30 AM! Better late than never, right?
—AF

 

Psalm 5

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
    consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
    my King and my God,
    for to you do I pray.
3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
    in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
    evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
    you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
    the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
    will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
    in the fear of you.
8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies;
    make your way straight before me.
9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
    their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
    they flatter with their tongue.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
    let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
    for they have rebelled against you.
11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
    let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you cover him with favor as with a shield.

 
 

Psalm 5 has often been used as a morning prayer, because of the words in verse 3.

Here’s what I want to do today: I’ll include the text of the entire psalm below, commenting as we move through it. Remember, the psalms help us pray through our emotions, thereby shaping and strengthening us to face the day.

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
    consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
    my King and my God,
    for to you do I pray.

The psalmist is desperate—we’ll see below that it seems people are lying about him—and he wants the Lord to know that things are not good in his life.

3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
    in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

He starts his day with prayer, and then he just sits…and waits. There is wisdom in that kind of behavior. Pray your worries early, and then just sit in silence.

4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
    evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
    you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
    the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

Here, the psalmist is reminding himself of what he knows to be true: the Lord does not support or favor the wicked. It’s like he just needs to hear himself say it out loud.

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
    will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
    in the fear of you.

And then he reminds himself that he does NOT behave like the wicked, but instead has been faithful to the Lord in the past.


8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies;
    make your way straight before me.

Like all of us, the psalmist needs guidance; in his case, he needs to know what his next step should be, in light of his enemies’ actions against him. There’s something powerful in praying for the Lord to show you your next step. Not every step, but your next step.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
    their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
    they flatter with their tongue.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
    let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
    for they have rebelled against you.

He vents his anger to the Lord by describing just how nasty are his enemies, and he begs the Lord to do something about them. It is healthy to ask God to defeat our enemies—the alternative is taking vengeance into our own hands, which is a dangerous step for us to take.

11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
    let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you cover him with favor as with a shield.

As with so many of the psalms, Psalm 5 ends on a note of reassurance. I think it’s precisely because the psalmist has cried out in pain and fear and frustration to God that he then feels a sense of confidence in the Lord. There is a lesson here for us—the Psalms help us pray through our fears and thereby lead us to a place of confidence. Always be honest with God in prayer, and the Psalms give us language for that.

One final point about the last verse:

12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you cover him with favor as with a shield.

It’s good to slow down and pay attention to the imagery in the psalms we read. How does a shield function? It blocks the blows of an enemy. Note that you only use a shield when you are being attacked.

The lesson: the life of faith does NOT mean we will not face opposition, it does NOT mean our enemies will not strike out at us. What it DOES mean is that the Lord will protect us and keep us from feeling the full weight of our enemies’ blows.

Be confident today: the Lord is your SHIELD!

 

Evening Prayer - Psalm 4

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Psalm 4

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

1  Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.
4 Be angry, and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
5 Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.
6 There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
    Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
7 You have put more joy in my heart
    than they have when their grain and wine abound.
8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

 
 

This is a psalm of lament that begins in pain and ends in peace. As is usually the case in the Psalms, the exact nature of the psalmist’s complaint is not specified, which means it is relevant for all people who feel themselves falsely accused.

This has often been used as an evening psalm, because of how it ends.

After the psalmist has poured out his complaint before the Lord, he feels better and says:

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Beautiful. Try it tonight.

 

Protected *Through* Not Protected *From*

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As we will see as we continue to read through Revelation, the message of Jesus to the churches is NOT that they will be protected from difficulties, but that they will be protected through difficulties.

In light of that truth, how will you react today to the inevitable problems that come across your path?

 
 

Today’s Revelation Reading (day 07 of 30):

Revelation 3:7-13

 
 

Seven Questions and Answers About the Book of Revelation

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I did an online Bible study last night as an overview to the Book of Revelation. (My notes are below.)

(I’ll cover today’s and tomorrow’s readings tomorrow, Friday.)

 
 

[If the above video doesn’t come through, you can find it here.]

 
 

Andrew Forrest

10/14/2020

 

Seven Questions and Answers About Revelation

 

What Does Apocalypse Mean?

 

An apocalypse is an unveiling.

 

 

 

What Is the Book of Revelation?

 

Revelation is the literary account of a vision given to a Jewish Christian prophet named John near the end of the first century.

 

The book takes the form of a circular letter sent among the churches of Asia Minor, meant to answer this question: What is the church’s role in God’s plan?

 

 

How Should We Interpret It?

 

The key to understanding Revelation is not today’s newspaper but the Old Testament.  If you use the newspaper to interpret Revelation, you’ll get it wrong.  If you use Revelation to interpret the newspaper, you’ll do what John wanted you to do: see reality from God’s perspective.

 

Revelation is the culmination of Old Testament prophecy.  Every image in it is somehow connected to the Old Testament.

 

 

What’s the Point of Revelation?

 

The Purpose of the Letter is To Tell The Churches of Asia Their Role in God’s Plan

 

Revelation discloses that the Church will conquer by being a faithful witness to Jesus, even unto death.  (See Revelation 11.)

 

The key passage of the entire book in Revelation 11, the account of the two witnesses.

 

 

 

 

Does the Vision Proceed Linearly?

 

No.  The vision proceeds cyclically and not linearly, in that the judgment section is telling the same thing in 3 different ways.

 

The book’s plot doesn’t play out linearly, but circularly: the 7 seals, 7 judgments, and 7 trumpets are making the same point, namely that the nations are not responding to judgment by repenting

 

The judgments are like Russian nesting dolls, with each 7th one opening up the next ones.

 

Each judgment gets worse

o   The seals destroy a quarter of the earth (6:8);

o   The trumpets a third (8:7-12, 9:18);

o   The bowls the entire thing. 

 

 

Who or What do the Monsters Symbolize?

 

The Beast (or earth-monster) is Roman imperial power, based on violent conquest.  Chapter 13 is thus about political power.  The Beast seems inevitable (13:3).

 

Babylon or the great whore/harlot of Babylon is Roman economic wealth, commercial success, and materialism, derived from exploitation and conquest.  Chapters 17-18 are thus about economic power.

 

The harlot rides the Beast (17:3) because Roman wealth comes from Roman military conquest; economic power comes from war.

 

The harlot offers beautiful things (17:4), but they are actually morally disgusting and filthy.

 

The dragon/serpent is Evil itself, the chaotic destructive power opposed to God.

 

The wounded head is Nero (13:14)  after his death there was civil war and the year of 4 Emperors, but then Flavius consolidated power and the beast went on. 

 

The beast thinks of itself as god, but we  are willing slaves (13:3-4).

 

The second beast or earth-monster probably represents the imperial priesthood in Asia.

 

The beast is totalitarian (13:16-17) and demands complete allegiance.

 

If Christians oppose it, they will be martyred.

 

 

 

Why Does John’s Vision Begin in the Heavenly Throne Room?

 

·       On earth as it already is in heaven—that’s what the throne scene tells us.

·       Either you worship God (and are set free) or you worship the Beast (and are enslaved).

·       It’s about true and false worship.

Apocalypse Now

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Today, we begin to read and study the last book of the bible, Revelation.

We’ll read through it over the next 6 weeks, with readings assigned Monday-Friday; we’ll finish on the Friday before Thanksgiving.

Feel free to share with anyone who might be interested. As always, the daily article will go live at 3:30 AM and will be emailed to anyone on my email list at 4:00 AM.

(If you haven’t yet picked up your Revelation book and bookmark, there are available for free at Munger; if you don’t live in Dallas, you can also order one for yourself here.)

 
 

Apocalypse is a Greek word that means “uncovering” or “disclosure” or “revealing” (from which we get our English word revelation). John is on the Mediterranean island of Patmos on a Sunday when he receives an apocalyptic vision which he later writes down and circulates among the churches of the wealthy Roman province of Asia Minor (the western part of modern-day Turkey).

The book of Revelation is that letter.

 
 

The difficulty of Revelation comes from the fact that John is writing as a Jewish-Christian prophet and sees his vision as the culmination of the entire tradition of biblical prophecy; this means his vision is replete with allusions to and images from the Old Testament, allusions and images with which we are not familiar.

The good news is that once you see that the key to John’s letter lies in understanding how he connects his vision to the Old Testament, it begins to actually make sense!

 
 

Today’s reading (day 01 of 30): Revelation 1.

 

John hears a voice, turns, and this is what he sees as his vision begins:

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The lampstands are the clue. Lampstands were meant to be used in the Temple; the lampstands here tell us that John’s vision has taken him to a version of the Temple, where heaven and earth meet. He sees Jesus in a robe—like a priest—but he is majestic and transfigured, so majestic and transfigured that John falls down upon seeing him as though dead!

Jesus graciously puts his hand on John’s shoulder and tells him not to be afraid and that his task is to write down the content of the vision and share it with the seven churches in Asia. Since seven is the number of completeness, the letter is actually for every church, and not just for the seven historical churches mentioned.

 
 

What All This Means

The churches are symbolized by the seven lampstands that Jesus is holding in his hand.

  1. The lampstand is imagery from the Old Testament Temple (which had been completely destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 by the time John has his vision). The Temple was supposed to be where heaven and earth came together; the Temple was supposed to be a new Eden. This means that, just as with the physical Temple before it was destroyed, the church is now the place where heaven and earth come together. Every church is meant to be Eden! What can you do to help make your church more like a Paradise for anyone who comes in contact with it?

  2. The lampstands are in the hand of the Lord! This means that, despite historical persecution or other challenges, the church can be confident that we are exactly where Jesus wants us to be today.

 
 

P.S. Bonus Content

The more familiar we are with the Old Testament, the more John’s vision will make sense. Here’s one quick example.

The prophet Zechariah was active in Jerusalem at the time that the first wave of exiles (led by Zerubabbel) returned in 538 BC from Babylonian captivity. Zechariah had his own apocalyptic vision, and this is part of it:

4 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

Zechariah 4:1-7

Sound familiar? It’s the background for the initial part of John’s vision, above.

As we will see, this part of Zechariah’s vision is very important to John because of what the angel tells Zechariah: it is not human power but the Spirit of God that will win the victory. More to come on this fourth chapter of Zechariah later, especially when we get to Revelation 11.

Majestic! [Psalm 8]

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Every been somewhere really dark and looked up at the glory of God’s handiwork? It’s as if the Lord screwed each star into place.

Psalm 8 comes from that kind of experience—the psalmist has looked up at the heavens and is reflecting on the universe that God has made and man’s place within it.

 

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

“The Gittith” is an unknown musical term that is lost to us.

1 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.

The psalmist imagines that the simple praise of little children is stronger than the malevolent work of God’s enemies.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

The moon and the stars are amazing, but so is a baby in the womb. God made the heavens, but he also made us, and the psalmist is in awe.

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

In Genesis 1, we read that God created humankind to rule over the earth in his place—to be stewards and caretakers of all that God has made. The psalmist marvels that God has entrusted his precious creation to human hands.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

In your Psalms books, spend a few minutes writing down some of the things in creation that you find awesome and beautiful.

Morning Prayer [Psalm 5]

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Psalm 5

 

Psalm 5 has often been used as a morning prayer, because of the words in verse 3.

Here’s what I want to do today: I’ll include the text of the entire psalm below, commenting as we move through it. Remember, the psalms help us pray through our emotions, thereby shaping and strengthening us to face the day.

 

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;
    consider my groaning.
2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
    my King and my God,
    for to you do I pray.

The psalmist is desperate—we’ll see below, it seems people are lying about him—and he wants the Lord to know that things are not good in his life.

3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
    in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

He starts his day with prayer, and then he just sits…and waits. There is wisdom in that kind of behavior. Pray your worries early, and then just sit in silence.

4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
    evil may not dwell with you.
5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
    you hate all evildoers.
6 You destroy those who speak lies;
    the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

Here, the psalmist is reminding himself of what he knows to be true: the Lord does not support or favor the wicked. It’s like he just needs to hear himself say it out loud.

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
    will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
    in the fear of you.

And then he reminds himself that he does NOT behave like the wicked, but instead has been faithful to the Lord in the past.


8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies;
    make your way straight before me.

Like all of us, the psalmist needs guidance; in his case, he needs to know what his next step should be, in light of his enemies’ actions against him. There’s something powerful in praying for the Lord to show you your next step. Not every step, but your next step.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
    their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
    they flatter with their tongue.
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
    let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
    for they have rebelled against you.

He vents his anger to the Lord by describing just how nasty are his enemies, and he begs the Lord to do something about them. It is healthy to ask God to defeat our enemies—the alternative is taking vengeance into our own hands, which is a dangerous step for us to take.

11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
    let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
    that those who love your name may exult in you.
12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you cover him with favor as with a shield.

As with so many of the psalms, Psalm 5 ends on a note of reassurance. I think it’s precisely because the psalmist has cried out in pain and fear and frustration to God that he then feels a sense of confidence in the Lord. There is a lesson here for us—the Psalms help us pray through our fears and thereby lead us to a place of confidence. Always be honest with God in prayer, and the Psalms give us language for that.

One final point about the last verse:

12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
    you cover him with favor as with a shield.

It’s good to slow down and pay attention to the imagery in the psalms we read. How does a shield function? It blocks the blows of an enemy. Note that you only use a shield when you are being attacked.

The lesson: the life of faith does NOT mean we will not face opposition, it does NOT mean our enemies will not strike out at us. What it DOES mean is that the Lord will protect us and keep us from feeling the full weight of our enemies’ blows.

Be confident today: the Lord is your SHIELD!

Evening Prayer [Psalm 4]

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This was supposed to have been published this AM as normal, but I just realized I set it to publish on the wrong date! Sorry for the delay. Tomorrow we should be back on our regular early AM schedule.

—AF [11:00 AM on Thursday, 4/16]

Psalm 4

 

This is a psalm of lament that begins in pain and ends in peace. As is usually the case in the Psalms, the exact nature of the psalmist’s complaint is not specified, which means it is relevant for all people who feel themselves falsely accused.

This has often been used as an evening psalm, because of how it ends.

After the psalmist has poured out his complaint before the Lord, he feels better and says:

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Beautiful. Try it tonight.

The Good Friday Gospel According to Joseph

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Today we’ve come to the end of a great work of art—a masterpiece and a wonder—and I feel a sense of loss. It’s bittersweet to have finished the Book of Genesis, because reading and working through it these last 3 months has one of the most thrilling experiences I have ever had with scripture. I am in awe at the beauty and power of the first book of the Bible and am deeply moved that the Lord who can create light with one word would choose one man and one family as the means by which he would save the world. “From you,” the Lord says to Abraham, “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis is the book of beginnings, but until the Lord returns and the New Heavens and New Earth are begun, all things in this world must come to an end. And so, here we are.

And yet every ending is also a beginning, and the ending of Genesis is no different: it ends and the story of Israel begins.

The final chapter of Genesis also contains one of the greatest descriptions of the grace of God in all of the Old Testament, and even, perhaps, outside of it.

 
 

Jacob has died, and the brothers immediately fear that Joseph will now seek vengeance on them for the evil they did to him so many years before. Joseph, as I have been saying, is a complicated moral figure, but here—perhaps in spite of himself—he so perfectly captures what the grace of God is like that I’m not sure anyone apart from Jesus himself has ever said it better:

“What you intended for evil, God intended for good.” [Genesis 50:20]

Is there a better verse for Good Friday?

What we intended for evil—the Crucifixion of the Son of God—God intended for the ultimate Good.

Cross before Crown, yes, but don’t ever forget that Crown follows Cross.

The rest of the entire Bible—which is really one unified story that leads to Jesus—will be about God using human evil to bring about the Good News of the Gospel.

Amen.

 
 

P.S.

Like all great stories, Genesis ends with a note of sadness and with a few loose ends. Joseph dies, but unlike Jacob, he is not buried back in the Promised Land. Before his death, I think he sees clearly the mistakes he has made in Egypt by turning his back on his heritage; he tells his descendants that they will need the help of God to get out of Egypt and return to the Promised Land, and he makes them promise that when that day finally comes they will carry his bones with them back to the land of his fathers.

And then he dies, and is embalmed after the custom of the Egyptians.

And so Genesis ends with Joseph as a mummy in Egypt.

 
 

P.P.S.

But the Children of Israel never forgot their promise to Joseph. And generation unto generation, they were reminded that the day would come when God would bring them out of slavery, and that when that day came, they were to carry the bones of their brilliant ancestor Joseph with them. And so, this is what happens when the long-awaited Exodus finally occurs, so many centuries later:

19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” [Exodus 13:19]

I said before that Genesis ends without all the loose ends tied up. That may be true, but you know what?

In God’s time, all loose ends are eventually tied up. There are no details that the author of Creation forgets.

 

Today’s Scripture (Our Final Reading from Genesis)

Genesis 50:15-26

To My Genesis Readers! (Some Penultimate Thoughts)

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I’m sorry I’ve been so bad at posting my weekday Genesis commentaries since all this virus craziness began. Please forgive me! It’s been nice hearing from you folks that you actually read them. Who knew?

It’s been hard for me to get into a new writing routine that works with the rhythms of life in quarantine. But, we start Psalms next week, and I’ll do better—scout’s honor!

Below I’ve included some bullet points about Genesis from the last few weeks of readings.

Tomorrow at 4:00 AM I’ll email out my final post on Genesis, to go with our last day’s reading.

This is a long post, so if you are having trouble sleeping at night these days, this is just what the doctor ordered.

(However, if you skip the ending of this post, you’ll miss reading what is one of the greatest and most moving images in the entire Bible….)

 
 

The Plan for Psalms

Speaking of Psalms, we start our Psalms schedule this coming Monday, April 13; we’ll read 1 psalm a day until September. I’ll write a daily commentary, and if you’re receiving this email, you’ll keep getting the Psalms emails.

More info here.

 
 

My Video on Genesis

I know I’ve missed lots of days of commentary. Remember, though, that I did a whole hour talk on the Joseph story on March 4. Seems like forever ago!

 
 

Quick Bullets on the Joseph Story

  • I think the Bible wants us to have an ambivalent opinion on Joseph: on the one hand, he is obviously a genius, but on the other hand he becomes totally Egyptianized, which is not good because it means he’s forgotten that he is a child of Israel.

  • The Bible makes it clear that the Lord was with Joseph when he was enslaved and imprisoned, but we aren’t told that the Lord is with Joseph when he is raised to power in Egypt. Why? I think it’s because it seems that Joseph forgets the Lord when he is delivered from prison and raised to power. As I mentioned above, he becomes so totally acculturated in Egypt that he doesn’t even live with his family when they settle in Goshen!

  • I think Jacob’s blessing of Joseph’s two sons is fascinating. Jacob is blind, but he can still “see” and he deliberately blesses the younger—Ephraim—over the elder—Manasseh. He even crosses his hands to do so. An amazing scene.

  • Hundreds and hundreds of years later, Daniel is an Israelite who finds himself serving a foreign king—in this case, the Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel, however, never gives up on his Israelite identity, and God still uses him and he still retains his high position.

  • I wonder if Joseph’s problem was thinking that there is no way he could have kept his high position apart from turning his back on his heritage. Of course, if the Lord wanted Joseph to be Pharoah’s right hand, then it would have happened. It is almost as if Joseph stops trusting in the Lord at the very moment when things begin to turn around for him.

  • I think Joseph’s economic measures are morally questionable. He saves Egypt and the Middle East from starvation through his prudent planning, but he also enriches Pharaoh and strengthens Pharoah’s grip over all of Egypt, thereby turning the people into little more than indentured servants to Pharaoh. Could not he have saved the people another way?

  • All throughout the story of Joseph the central question has been, Who will lead the family after Jacob is gone? Jacob’s final blessings of his sons tell us the answer (though we’ve already figured it out): Judah, the fourth son, will be the leader! Read the blessings carefully and see how Jacob hasn’t missed anything. He remembers, e.g., how Reuben slept with his wife/concubine so many years before, and how Simeon and Levi led the brutal slaughter at Shechem. By the way, Judah is the tribe from which David comes, and later Jesus. Do you know that praise song “Lion and the Lamb”? This is why the songwriter describes the Lord as “the lion of Judah”.

 
 

Thoughts on the Death of Jacob, our Penultimate Reading

I have a bit more to say tomorrow about our final day’s reading, but I want to leave you with what is one of the most powerful images in all of the Bible: the burial of Jacob.

Remember, Joseph has forgiven his brothers, but they are not really reconciled with each other. Joseph, the right hand of Pharaoh himself— is living like an Egyptian, whereas Israel and his sons are living as shepherds in Goshen, sojourning in a foreign land. Joseph has settled the family there, but for all intents and purposes he is not one of them any more.

Jacob’s death, however, unites the brothers for one last time.

Jacob makes his 12 sons swear a deathbed oath (the same oath, by the way, that Joseph will subsequently make his descendants swear to him):

29 Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. 31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.”

33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. [Genesis 49-29-33]

Jacob, whose life’s journey has been long and winding, knows that his place is in the Promised Land, and so he will be buried with his fathers.

Joseph gets the necessary permission from Pharaoh and then joins the whole company as they make the long sad trek back to the land that the Lord promised Abraham.

And then we get what is one of the most moving images in the entire Bible:

12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them: 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite. [Genesis 50:12-13]

Jacob’s 12 sons, erstwhile enemies in life, united in the death of their father:

The twelve sons of Jacob carry their father on their shoulders as they lay him to rest with his fathers in the land of Promise.

Wow.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 49:29-50:14

 

P.S.

Today is Winston Churchill day, and in remembrance of Mr. Churchill, I’ve included below an image from his funeral procession. May we take on some of his stubborn courage today.

Joseph the Brilliant Bureaucrat

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Not only does Joseph understand Pharoah’s dreams, he understands how to use the dreams to his advantage:

“And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt.” [Genesis 41:33]

Joseph knows exactly how to pitch his idea to Pharaoh so that the result will be that Joseph will be the man Pharaoh chooses. He’s brilliant.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 41:15-40

Joseph in the Pit

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It’s worth slowing down and really trying to see the story as it unfolds.

Imagine the terror Joseph feels when his brothers strip him of his prized robe and violently throw him into the pit.

Imagine what it was like to be kept there under the unmerciful sun while your brothers decide how to dispose of you.

Imagine the screaming helplessness he feels as the Midianite slavers take him captive.

Imagine the brothers slaughtering a goat and rinsing Joseph’s prized robe in animal blood.

And imagine Jacob receiving the news and seeing the brown spots on the torn robe.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 37:12-36

Isaac and The Twins

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Remember, the central question of Genesis 12-36 is about family: what will it take to raise the next generation so that the Covenant can be successfully passed down?

Alarmingly, it is unclear at first whether Isaac will be an adequate link in the chain. Compared to Abraham’s activity and far-sightedness, Isaac seems weak and is literally blind in his old age. And he certainly doesn't seem capable of making wise decisions with regard to his sons. Esau, as the story about the stew and the birthright shows, does not have what it takes to be the next carrier of the Covenant. [I’m preaching on that passage this Sunday.] Fortunately for Isaac, he has married well! Rebekah is more than capable of ensuring that the right son is chosen as the next link in the chain. That son is Jacob, though he has a lot of learning and suffering to do before he’s ready to be a Patriarch.

Though Isaac is not the great man his father was, nevertheless he is still his father’s son and therefore highly favored by the Lord. What the stories of Isaac and Abimelech tell us is that even for those who are not as naturally great as Abraham, the Lord’s favor is powerful for those who are part of Abraham’s family!

I take comfort in this fact. What about you?

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 25:19-26:33

The Terror and the Awe and the Horror of the Greatest Story in the Bible

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[“The Sacrifice of Isaac”. Caravaggio. 1603. Uffizi.]

[“The Sacrifice of Isaac”. Caravaggio. 1603. Uffizi.]

The binding of Isaac is the greatest and most terrible story in the Bible. The terror and the awe and the horror of Abraham’s slow journey up the mountain are unlike anything else in scripture, or out of it.

It resists easy interpretation and neat categorization; it is a mystery in the deepest sense of the word. The only way to make sense of it is to connect it with Jesus on the Cross. Remember what he cries out? “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
— Paul the Apostle [Romans 8:32]

I’ve included the entire story below.

Find a quiet place today. And slowly read it.

“The Sacrifice of Isaac”. Rembrandt. 1635. Hermitage Museum.

“The Sacrifice of Isaac”. Rembrandt. 1635. Hermitage Museum.

22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.

 

P.S. One quick note on Genesis 23: the cave that Abraham purchases through his shrewd bargaining as a burial place for Sarah will be the Children of Israel’s sole legal foothold to the Promised Land during their long centuries of slavery in Egypt. Abraham is a great man, not only because of his faith but also because of his far-sighted shrewdness as the patriarch of a people.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 22:1-23:20

The Fifth Day

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The NIV translation lets us down a bit in its translation of Day Five. In v. 21 in our translation, we read of “the giant creatures of the sea.” However in Hebrew, the text literally speaks of “sea monsters.”

Why does this matter? You and I know that what ancient peoples called “sea monsters” are only the marvelous and mysterious creatures that God put in the deep seas—whales and the like. The Israelites were not a seafaring people, and were terrified of the Deep, but even ancient mariners had only the briefest of glimpses of these majestic animals. The nations surrounding Israel spoke of dark powers at work in the seas and sacrificed to the sea monsters to keep them safe on their maritime voyages.

How foolish, says Genesis 1—everything in the seas was made by God, even the sea monsters. Don’t worship the sun, and don’t worship the sea monsters, says the Bible.

God is so creative: He even made the whales!

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 1:20-23