"The Love of Bible Study"

During the 00s, I worked on a book manuscript of my own (rather than a commissioned work or one resulting from a successful proposal), that was an experiment which, ultimately, found no interested publisher. The title was The Love of Bible Study, and the text can be found here. I wrote as an introduction:

"For many years I’ve written church curriculum aimed at helping people understand the Bible, apply it to personal life, and interpret the text concerning modern topics. For an even longer time, I’ve read the Bible in order to grow in my faith, to clarify God’s will and purposes. For me, reading the Bible is a great joy!

"A few years ago I purchased a new NRSV Bible to replace (but more usually to supplement) the worn old Bible I’ve used since I purchased it for a college course in 1977.  Approaching my 50th birthday, I decided to take notes as I compared the two Bibles. Beginning with that time of midlife spiritual renewal, my notes became a blog called “Changing Bibles,” and then I “farmed out” the posts at that site to this one, and also to a companion site to this one (called Bible Connections), and to yet another site that focuses upon Psalm 121. So these four sites of informal notes and reveries are interconnected as the results of a common midlife resolution to study the Bible anew. My resolution clearly got out of hand, but in a good way.

"At first I hoped that the contents of the present blog would become a published book. But the material did not fit comfortably into a genre: academic study, curriculum, or memoir. So I stopped sending queries to publishers and “cut to the chase” by making my studies available to readers in this online form.

"Thereby, I hope I can help you—you who found this site—discover favorite scriptural passages of your own, and give you a fresh appreciation of the Bible, lengthy and intimidating though it can be for many of us.    

"As we study the Bible, we seek not only to understand things about the Lord but also to seek the Lord himself.  It can be easy for us to forget that the living Christ is right now helping us as we read and study. Thus my blog title has a double sense: we grow in enjoyment of Bible study so that we look forward to it, but we also grow in love of God and one another. We connect Bible passages to Christ, and as we do so we see how the living Christ and the Holy Spirit is present to us today, helping us learn and grow and draw closer to the triune Lord who has already accomplished more than we could think or ask (Eph. 3:20-21).

"Please feel free to comment and raise topics and questions, so that we can have a conversation about faith and life. Also, please feel free simply to browse. I managed to refer to every biblical book (even tiny Obadiah and 3 John), and I quoted or cited a few passages in the Apocrypha, the Talmud, and the Dhammapada. If anything here is helpful enough for you to use, you may certainly do so but if you quote something, please indicate the source."

The site has had only a very modest viewership, a few thousand during the last few years, but hopefully some have found it helpful. It certainly was to me, as I delved into the scriptures with that out-of-hand interest of which I wrote above.

"Walking with Jesus through the Old Testament"

I didn't post very much on this site in 2014 and 2015, partly because of school commitments, and also I was working diligently on a book manuscript for Westminster John Knox Press: Walking with Jesus through the Old Testament: Devotions for Lent. It's available here, and also on Amazon, Cokesbury, and other book sites.

I begin with the story of the walk to Emmaus in Luke 24, which includes the verse: “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures” (verse 27). Later, Jesus’ two friends declare, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (verse 32). Although we don’t know which scriptures Jesus discussed, I chose forty Old Testament passages that are especially important for understanding Christ, and wrote meditations on each passage for each of the days of Lent. I began with Jesus' beginnings, moved through the early days of his ministry, connected him with great themes of the Old Testament and with significant Old Testament figures, and then concluded with Holy Week, Easter, and the Holy Spirit. Each day includes a prayer and at least one spiritual exercise.

My hope is that people will enjoy the book as a Lenten study, but it can also be used outside of Lent as a study of important Old Testament passages, and a clarification of its relationship with the New. I stress continuity of the two testaments and try very hard to avoid supersessionism. Many Christians don't care much for the Old Testament, but I love it and wish that more Christians loved and understood it better. So I've hopes that the Spirit can use the book to help folks delve more deeply into the sacred scriptures.

The 613 Mitzvot

A couple years ago, I posted some aspects about the Torah, here. Lately I've been studying a wonderful book book by Harvey J. Fields, A Torah Commentary for Our Times, Volume Two: Exodus and Leviticus (New York: URI Press, 1991). In the chapter on the Parashat Mishpatim (the Torah portion Exodus 21:1-24:18: parashat means section and mishpatim means laws or rules), the author notes that this is not the only Torah section dealing with laws and mitzvot, which are found throughout the Torah, but it does begin a listing of laws following the giving of the Ten Commandments. The author notes that the 4th century Rabbi Simlai was perhaps the first to ask how many mitzvot are given in the Torah, and he gave the classic answer, agreed upon by Rambam (Maimonides): 248 positive commands (“you shall...”) and 365 negative ones (“you shall not...”). The number corresponds to the parts of the human body and the days of the solar year, respectively (p. 53). Other rabbis distinguished mitzvot bein adam le-Makom, or mitzvot “between human being and God”) and mitzvot bein adam le-chavero, mitzvot between a person and other persons. But this distinction between ritual and ethical commandments doesn’t imply that one is more important than the other, and rituals often lead to proper ethical actions (p. 54).

An aside: I know that this is a common Christian idea about the Torah: that ethical commandments are more important than the rituals. That may be true for Christians, but there is no basis in the text or in Jewish tradition.

Another aside: a rabbi friend tells me that about 300 laws can still be observed today. Those that pertain to the Temple, priesthood and sacrifices are not observed because those institutions no longer exist in Judaism, although even those laws can be studied and meditated upon today. Other laws are certainly followed by Jews today, although Jews do differ on issues of contemporary interpretation (just as Christians differ among themselves about biblical topics).

The author Harvey Fields discusses the views of Maimonides and other teachers, that the commandments are given to Jews by God in order to uplift one’s life to God’s will and to submit oneself to discipline (pp. 54-55). This includes the commandments that seem to have no particular connection to ethical improvement, or those for which the meaning is no longer understood. By practicing and/or meditating on the meaning of mitzvot, “we become more just and loving and add to the good n our lives and in the world” (p. 55).

Fields concludes, “the 613 commandments form the essential core of Jewish practice and tradition. Their blend of both the ethical and ritual is unique” (p. 56), for other religions tend to separate the two kinds of teaching.

How about the laws themselves? The Judaism 101 site has a helpful listening of the laws, arranged topically: http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm She indicates which laws can still be followed and provides the scripture links.

The book I cited in that earlier post is by a Presbyterian author, William J. Doorly, The Laws of Yahweh: A Handbook of Biblical Laws (New York: Paulist Press, 2002). Chapter 6 gives all the laws in order.

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin has a wonderful book, from which I've taken notes elsewhere in this blog: Biblical Literacy: The Most Important People, Evens, and Ideas of the Hebrew Bible (New York: William Morrow, 1997). Part Two pertains to "laws and ideas" (pp. 397-510). Then Part Three gives a short summary and/or discussion of all the laws in order of appearance (pp. 511-592).

Tribute to Brevard S. Childs

When I attended the Society of Biblical Literature convention this past November, I purchased a book that I'd not yet seen, The Bible as Christian Scripture: The Work of Brevard S. Childs, edited by Christopher R. Seitz and Kent Harold Richards.

Childs (1923-2007), was professor of Old Testament at Yale in 1958 till 1999 (and Sterling Professor in 1992-1999) He was known for his "canonical criticism," which focused upon the biblical text as canon, in contrast to the historical-critical method. He wrote several books, a notable one of which was Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (1979). I was very privileged to have him as my Old Testament professor at Yale Divinity School during the Fall 1979 semester, when that book was just beginning to be discussed. I am diligently searching for a letter he wrote to me in the early 00s in response to a grateful letter that I had sent to him.

During these past several years of renewing my personal Bible study, I've enjoyed studying again not only his Introduction book but some of his others. The past few weeks I've been enjoying reading through Seitz's and Richards' book, a tribute and assessment of Childs' work. (I didn't know Seitz but I vaguely remember that he was an Old Testament doctoral student at the time I did my masters degree there.)

The contents of the book:

Preface by Christopher R. Seitz

The Works of Brevard Springs Childs

Tribute to Brevard S. Childs, at the International SBL Meeting in Vienna, Austria, by Christopher R. Seitz.

Brevard Childs and Form Criticism, by David L. Petersen

The Wrath of God at Mount Sinai (Exod 32; Deut 9–10), by Jörg Jeremias

The Contrastive Unity of Scripture: On the Hermeneutics of the Biblical Canon, by Bernd Kanowski

Brevard Childs as a Historical Critic: Divine Concession and the Unity of the Canon, by Stephen B. Chapman

Theological Interpretation, the Historical Formation of Scripture, and God’s Action in Time, by Neil B. MacDonald

Faith Seeking Canonical Understanding: Childs’s Guide to the Pauline Letters, by Leander E. Keck

Childs and the History of Interpretation, by Mark W. Elliott

Biblical Theology and the Communicative Presence of God, by Murray A. Rae

The Doctrine of God is a Hermeneutic: The Biblical Theology of Brevard S. Childs, by C. Kavin Rowe

A Shared Reality: Ontology in Brevard Childs’s Isaiah Commentary, by Mark Gignilliat

A Tale of Two Testaments: Childs, Old Testament Torah, and Heilsgeschichte, by Don Collett

Reflections on the Rule of Faith, by Leonard G. Finn

Childs and the Canon or Rule of Faith, by Daniel R. Driver

Psalm 34: Redaction, Inner-Biblical Exegesis and the Longer Psalm Superscriptions—“Mistake” Making and Theological Significance, by Christopher R. Seitz

Allegory and Typology within Biblical Interpretation, by Brevard S. Childs

The Pentateuch

This past winter, before the hectic semester began, I took notes from the enjoyable article on the Pentateuch in the New Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary. The author, R. W. L. Moberly, discusses issues of interpretation and content. For instance, narrative tensions can be found throughout the various books. Isaac’s blessing of his two sons (Genesis 27) implies that Isaac was near death; but Isaac died years later, after Jacob returns from his fourteen years with Laban (Genesis 29:15-30, 35:27-29) (p. 432). The number of Israelites who left Egypt seem to be a comparatively smaller group---that can be accommodated by twelve springs and by water produced from a rock (Ex. 15:27, 17:6). But elsewhere the narrative describes the group as 600,000 men on food, not including women and children, or nearly two millions people (p. 433).

Another contrast is the status of women: Exodus 20:17 places “wife” after “house,” while the corresponding commandment in Deuteronomy (5:21) places wife before house. Similarly, Deuteronomy 22:22 makes a woman accountable for her actions, although in Genesis, when Sarah is taken into Pharaoh’s harem (and later Abimelech’s), it is Abraham who is accountable (Genesis 12:18-19, 20:10) (p. 433).

Still another contrast is the difference between the Ten Commandments, usually in small details, but notably in the difference between the Exodus and Deuteronomy versions of the Sabbath commandment, where two different reasons for the commandment are given (Ex. 20:11, Deut. 5;15) (p. 433).

The article lists several similar examples, reflecting the different traditions that have been brought together in the writing and editing of what became the canonical text. But I was particularly interested in points made in the section "Genesis as ‘the Old Testament of the Old Testament’" (p. 434-435). The focus is on the fact that, in Exodus 3:13-15, God reveals the divine name to Moses as a new name, and in Exodus 6:2-3, it is stated that the patriarchs knew God, not as YHWH but as El Shaddai. But in Genesis, God uses the divine name (Gen. 15:7, 28:13), and the name is frequently used throughout the book (p. 434).

A possible explanation is that, for the hypothesized writers named as the Elohist and the Priestly sources, the divine name was made known to Moses but not before, while the source called the Jahwist used the divine name all along, in Genesis 2, in Gen. 4:26, and so on. Still, these different traditions were preserved together when Genesis was written. (Another explanation is that the divine name was familiar to the authors and used in the test, even if it is anachronistic: p. 435.)

Moberly writes that the divine name becomes attached to the covenant of Moses and therefore to holiness and exclusivity (as in Exodus 12, where the Egyptians did not known the true God.) And yet, the Lord named by the divine name YHWH is traditionally called the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob---Moses' forebearers. As Moberly puts it, “The one God can apparently be known in markedly different ways. This poses the ancient problem: how should one recognize as religiously authoritative material that is full of religious practices different from or even forbidden by Mosaic torah (compare, e.g., Jacob’s setting up a pillar in Gene. 28:18 with the strong prohbition of such in Deut. 16:22)?” (p. 435).

Moberly suggests that the patriarchs “become types and/or figures of Israel” for instance, Abraham’s journey to Egypt. The Abraham stories aren’t rewritten to reflect later religious realities but they remain authoritative heritage for Israel. Christians, of course, do the same thing in their interepretation of Abraham, Moses, and other aspects of the Old Testament (p 435).

Another interesting point made in the article concerns the Shema, not only Deut. 6:4-5 but also Deut. 6:6-9. Christians tend to ignore 6-9 as Jewish practices. Yet Christians feel scriptural obligations to follow other teachings of scripture (as in the "do this" of 1 Cor. 11:23-26, et al.). It’s just that Christians have appropriated other practices for their own heritage. "Of course, some Christians traditionally have practiced equivalent to those of Deut. 6:6-9, most obviously int he regular recital of the Lord's Prayer and in the display of the prime Christian symbol of the cross---often on a necklace but also over the gates of critics in the historic Christian empire of Byzantium, where they symbolically depicted the identity and allegiance of the place one was entering, just as Deut. 6:9 envisages the working of the Shema doing for Israel's homes (private space) and cities (public space). Deuteronomy does not envisage the recital and display of an equivalent to the Shema, but of the Shema itself. Yet Christians only receive Deuteronomy as part of the larger canon of Scripture… and that makes the difference" (p. 437).

Traveling Mercies

I met the Old Testament professor Walter Brueggemann the other day. I was working on a new writing project at our nearby coffee shop, and he came in for coffee because he was in town for a local event. I was a little starstruck as I introduced myself and told him I used his books in some of my classes.

A few days later, my project took me into his commentary on Exodus (1), and I was intrigued by his thoughts about the tabernacle. As always on this blog, my thoughts here aren't "mine" at all but are notes about the Bible from books I like.

Here is the concluding paragraph (NRSV) of Exodus:

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.

Brueggemann contrasts the presence of the Lord in the tabernable, with the fact that the tabernable by its nature is portable for the Israelite’s journey. Sometimes it is the Ark of the Covenant that “contains” the presence (as in Numbers 10:33-36). In this Exodus text, the presence is contained in the cloud and the fire. “One can see that, in the collage of ark-cloud-fire-glory, Israel struggles to articulate presence that is powerfully known and confidentally trusted but that has not been made directly available for administration” (p. 979).

This articulation of presence has its dangers, as in priestly elitism, and overstatement concerning presence. Nevertheless, the presence of God in the tabernacle shows “God’s own resolve and commitment” to the community, to limit God’s freedom as it were to accompany the community journeying “in a world of emptied, one-dimensional profanation” (p. 979).

The dual themes of “abiding presence” and “traveling fidelity” continues in the New Tetament, with Jesus abiding with his people (e.g., John 14:23) and journeying “on the way” with the disciples---and authorizing them to journey and travel, too, as he is promises to be “with you always” (Matt. 28:19-20) (p. 980). It isn't just a matter of God's omnipresence, but also God's pledge to accompany us.

In this passage there is also the powerful theology of “traveling mercies.” Brueggemann points out that the promises of God’s presence has already been seen in Gen. 28;15 and 46:4), and see see it here, as well as the psalms. (p. 980).

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
   
I fear no evil (Ps. 23:4a).

Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
   
the Most High your dwelling-place, 

no evil shall befall you,
   
no scourge come near your tent. 

For he will command his angels concerning you
   
to guard you in all your ways. 

On their hands they will bear you up,
   
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. 

You will tread on the lion and the adder,
   
he young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot (Ps. 91:9-13).

The Lord is your keeper;
   
the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 

The sun shall not strike you by day,
   
nor the moon by night. 

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
   
he will keep your life (Ps. 121:5-7).

Our dearest theological ideas have to come from somewhere, and the promise that God accompanies the faithful is rooted here in Torah.

Note:

1. Walter Brueggemann, "The Book of Exodus," in The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 1 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994).

Journeys Home to God: Hosea

from oca.org

Researching the Bible for a new writing project, I was intrigued by Gale Yee’s commentary on the book of The New Interpreter’s Bible (Vol. VII, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996). Our Sunday school class in Ohio had studied Hosea for a time, became downhearted by the many prophetic warnings, and switched to something more cheerful: Lenten scriptures! But I enjoy reading about how the seemingly random and difficult texts of the Prophets fit together, in ways that you're likely to miss unless you have a good commentary in hand. In this case I also enjoyed learning that there are “journeys home” motifs in Hosea.

1. The book has three sections chapters 1-3, 4-11, and 12-14. Chapters 1-3 concern Hosea’s relationship with his adulterous wife, Gomer, and their three children. But the people of Israel worship false Gods, which is “adultery” to God. God wants to reconcile with his “wife,” as Hosea does so with Gomer (ch. 3) (p. 198). As Gomer loves many men, the Israelites love the Canaanite fertility gods, the baals (p. 200).

2. Chapters 4-11 change the metaphor of God and Israel to parent and child; here, the child is rebellious. As with an adulterous wife, a rebellious child could be punished (p. with death but God does not want that, as summarized in the well known chapter 11 (p. 198). In 12-14, the two metaphors are interwoven, again with a good ending as land is restored to beauty and bounty (p. 198).

3. Within each section are important structures, as illustrated by the way chapters 3, 11, and 14 conclude the sections. The sections tell part of a story: of Hosea and Gomer, of God the husband and Israel the wife, of God the parent and Israel the child. Each section also has a “journey motif”: of the wife/son making a journey back to the huband/parent, and of the people journeying from exile back to the land (p. 198). For instance, as the earlier israelites journeyed from Egyptian exile to the land, so will the “son” (the people of Hosea’s time) journey back to and enjoy the good land, if they repent (11:10-11) (p. 235).

4. With these journey’s of repentance to faith and of exile to home, there are also journeys from barrenness to bounty, with the fertility of the wife (a theme elsewhere in scripture) symbolizing the fertility of the land (p. 198). “Hope” passages (5:15-6:3, 10:12, 11:10-11) are included in order to help motivate readers, too, to repent (p. 234). In chapters 4-11, the journey from barrenness to fertility begins at 6:1-3 (p. 250). Needless to say, Hosea believes that fertility does not come from the baals who are gods of the rain, but from the true God who is creator and lord of all creation (p. 200).

5. Interestingly, too, the worship of baals was an intrinsic part of worship of the Lord, as reflected in Hosea (3:4, 4:11-19, 10:1-2, 5, 8, 9:1-3, 13:2, 14:8). The baal worship was itself a “journey” of barrenness and death toward newness of life, and although the exact nature of this combination of Israelite and Canaanite worship is now difficult to reconstruct, the Israelites would not have thought such practices inappropriate. Hosea, of course, strongly condemned Baal worship as adulterous and rebellious (pp. 202-203).

6. Also interesting is the relationship of the 8th century Hosea and 6th century deuteronomistic history. The condemnation of idolatry is a strong theme of both, and Yee discusses the possible influence of Hosea upon the later history as well as redaction and editing of the Hosea material (pp. 204-206).

7. Memory is a component of the journey. Hosea connects the people of his time back to the earlier Israelites who journeyed from Egypt to the land (9:10, 11:1, 11:3-4). Of course, the faithfulness and provision of the Lord is the key thing to remember and reclaim (p. 279).

8. Unfortunately, the people of Hosea’s time were, indeed, cast into exile when they were defeated by the Assyrians. As Yee writes, "the Hosean text challenges us to reckon seriously with the religious and political choices before us… Hosea warns us that we, too, can ‘return to Egypt,’ if we turn a blind eye to racial/ethnic tensions and hostilities in our midst” (p. 279).

Themes of marriage and parent/child continue in the New Testament. God's Son Jesus Christ is, of course, one of God's people the Jews. Seeking a non-supersessionist way to think about this, I would say that rabbinic Judaism continued to strive to be faithful to God's Torah as Christians look to Christ who redeems the church as the in-grafted branch. Paul uses the marriage imagery to speak of the relationship of Christ and the church as analogous to God toward Israel and to the husband-wife relationship.