Having Two Legs

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Solzhenitsyn on Conservatism

"Western thinking as become conservative: the world situation should stay as it is at any cost, there should be no changes. This debilitating dream of a status quo is the symptom of a society which has come to the end of its development. But one must be blind in order not to see that oceans no longer belong to the West, while land under its domination keeps shrinking. The two so-called world wars (they were by far not on a world scale, not yet) have meant internal self-destruction of the small, progressive West which has thus prepared its own end. The next war (which does not have to be an atomic one and I do not believe it will) may well bury Western civilization forever."

Sozhenitsyn's Criticisms of the West

Also from his 1978 Harvard address:

Solzhenitsyn criticizes the West's blindness to its own weaknesses: "But the blindness of superiority continues in spite of all and upholds the belief that vast regions everywhere on our planet should develop and mature to the level of present day Western systems which in theory are the best and in practice the most attractive. There is this belief that all those other worlds are only being temporarily prevented by wicked governments or by heavy crises or by their own barbarity or incomprehension from taking the way of Western pluralistic democracy and from adopting the Western way of life. Countries are judged on the merit of their progress in this direction... The real picture of our planets development is quite different."

"A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party and of course in the United Nations...And decline in courage is ironically emphasized by occasional explosions of anger and inflexibility on the part of the same bureaucrats when dealing with weak governments and weak countries, not supported by anyone, or with currents which cannot offer any resistance. But they get tongue-tied and paralyzed when they deal with powerful governments and threatening forces, with aggressors and international terrorists. Should one point out that from ancient times decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?"

"But should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively. No, I could not recommend your society in its present state as an ideal for the transformation of ours. Through intense suffering our country has now achieved a spiritual development of such intensity that the Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive... A fact which cannot be disputed is the weakening of human beings in the West while in the East they are becoming firmer and stronger. Six decades for our people and three decades for the people of Easter Europe; during that time we have been through a spiritual training for in advance of Wester experience. Life's complexity and mortal weight have produced stronger, deeper and more interesting characters than those produced by standardized Western well-being. Therefore if our society were transformed into yours, it would mean an improvement in certain aspects, but also a change for the worse on some particularly significant scores."

Solzhenitsyn: the Great Split and the Real Disease

From Alexander Solzhenitsyn's 1978 Harvard address:

"The split in today's world is perceptible even to a hasty glance. Any of our contemporaries readily identifies two world powers, each of them already capable of entirely destroying the other. However, understanding of the split often is limited to this political conception... The truth is that the split is a much profounder and more alienating one, that the rifts a are more than one can see at first glance. This deep manifold split bears the danger of manifold disaster for all of us, in accordance with the ancient truth that a Kingdom -- in this case, our Earth -- divided against itself cannot stand."

Solzhenitsyn goes on to show that the fundamental divide is between humanistic materialism found in both East and West and virtuous self government in submission to God. In this sense, communism, socialism, and humanism are all near relatives and tend to feed off one another. Solzhenitsyn quotes Marx who said: 'communism is naturalized humanism.'

He concludes: "The interrelationship is such, too, that the current of materialism which is most to the left always ends up by being stronger, more attractive and victorious, because it is more consistent. Humanism without its Christian heritage cannot resist such competition... I am referring to the calamity of a despiritualized and irreligious humanistic consciousness. To such consciousness, man is the touchstone in judging and evaluating everything on earth. Imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects... We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession our spiritual life. In the East, it is destroyed by the dealings and machinations of the ruling party. In the West, commercial interests tend to suffocate it. This is the real crisis. The split in the world is less terrible than the similarity of the disease plaguing its main sections."

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Twelfth Sunday in Trinity: Exodus 8:1-32

Introduction
Exodus is the story of God coming for His son, Israel and remaking a world for him (4:22-23), but God created the universe for Adam His first son, and ever after, God recreates the world for His sons to rule and glorify.

Creation and De-creation

Genesis 1
Day 1: Light/Darkness
Day 2: Heaven/Firmament
Day 3: Dry land
Day 4: Sun, Moon, and Stars
Day 5: Birds/Fish
Day 6: Animals/Man

Plague 1: Nile to Blood (in the morning, 7:15)
Plague 2: Frogs (command &
confrontation, 8:1)
Plague 3: Lice (no confrontation, 8:16)

Plague 4: Flies (in the morning, 8:20)
Plague 5: Livestock diseased (command &
confrontation, 9:1)
Plague 6: Boils (no confrontation, 9:8)

Plague 7: Hail (in the morning, 9:13)
Plague 8: Locusts (command &
confrontation, 10:1-3)
Plague 9: Darkness (no confrontation,
10:21)

The order and structure of the Exodus plagues reveals Yahweh systematically unmaking the Egyptian world. Moses is a righteous and faithful Adamson who is being led through a universe remodel. This is also giving Pharaoh what he wants: disobedience to the word of God is always an embrace of chaos.

A couple of transitions run through plagues 2, 3, and 4: first, the magicians go from mimicking Moses’ power (8:7) to not being able to keep up (8:18-19). This is perhaps part of the transition from making no explicit difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians to making a difference (8:22-23). Twice Pharaoh makes false promises to allow Israel to go sacrifice to Yahweh (8:8, 8:25ff). As these plagues fall, and Yahweh’s might becomes clear, Pharaoh hardens his heart (8:15, 19, 32).

Hardness, Heaviness, and Glory
One of the words used to describe the “hardness” of Pharaoh’s heart is the word kaved which means “heavy, dense, fat, glory.” It is first used in Exodus to describe the “slowness” of Moses’ mouth/words (4:10). Likewise it describes the kind of “heavy” labor placed on the Hebrews (5:9). This same word is used to describe the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart seven times in the story (7:14, 8:15, 8:32, 9:7, 9:34, 10:1, 14:40). What is striking is that the plagues are described with the same word: “heavy swarms” (8:24), “severe plague” (9:3), “heavy hail” (9:18, 24) “severe/heavy swarms” (10:14). Ultimately, Israel goes up out of the land with “dense” livestock (12:38). Thus, the whole narrative is structured by this theme which is driving toward Yahweh’s goal of being “glorified” by the Egyptians (14:17-18).

A similar thread can be traced through the use of another term: Yahweh says at the beginning of His first speech to Moses that when Moses goes to Pharaoh he will not listen except by a “mighty hand” (3:19). The word for “mighty” is khazaq and literally means “clenched” and can mean “hard, strong, severe.” Moses “seizes” the serpent with his hand (4:4) as a sign of Yahweh’s strength. But this word is also used to describe Pharaoh’s hardness of heart (4:21, 7:13, 7:22, 8:19, 9:12, 9:35, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4, 14:8). Ultimately the hearts of the Egyptians are hardened too (14:17). The word is used twelve times to refer to hard hearts.

Despite his refusal, Yahweh promises that Pharaoh will ultimately send Israel out of Egypt with a “strong hand” (6:1). The plagues come on Egypt because Pharaoh still “holds” Israel (9:2). Likewise the “strong” wind drives away the locusts (10:19), and ultimately the Egyptians “strongly urge” the people to go (12:33). And it is Yahweh’s strong hand that brings Israel out of the house of bondage (13:3, 13:9, 13:14, 13:16).

Conclusions & Applications
When God remakes worlds with His mighty hand, He unmakes old worlds in order to renew and refresh, driving history from glory to glory. The central question becomes how do we respond to God’s work? There is always temptation to hardness of heart, refusing to believe that God knows what He is doing, refusing to believe that this is glory. Faith receives the word of God, embraces the glory, and joins the story.

Jesus is the Mighty Hand of God, the strength and glory of God. God has triumphed over every Pharaoh and every Egypt in the cross and resurrection, and that event – as the greater Exodus – made possible and made certain that everyone who looks to Him in faith is being conformed to that glory. Whatever is heavy upon you, whatever seems to hold you, grasp at you, everything has to do with where you are looking. When we look away from Jesus, heaviness becomes hardness, but when we look to Jesus, the heaviness becomes glory.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Collecting Stamps and Drinking Hot Chocolate as Spiritual Warfare

Screwtape exhorts his nephew:

I would make it a rule to eradicate from my patient any strong personal taste which is not actually a sin, even if it is something quite trivial such as a fondness for country cricket or collecting stamps or drinking cocoa. Such things, I grant you, have nothing of virtue in them; but there is a sort of innocence and humility and self-forgetfulness about them which I distrust. The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring twopence what other people say about it, is by that very fact forearmed against some of our subtlest modes of attack. You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favour of the "best" people, the "right" food, the "important" books. I have known a human defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions.

Monday, August 09, 2010

Defending Orphans as Christian Nurture

While I've been known to criticize Walter Brueggemann's exegesis in some cases, in his essay "Vulnerable Children, Divine Passion, and Human Obligation" in The Child in the Bible, he helpfully traces two Biblical mandates: the nurture and training of children in covenant homes and the defense and care of orphans.

And rather than pitting these responsibilities off one another, he concludes that these "are elements of the same agenda."

Specifically, "The ultimate content of family nurture in this tradition is in order that our own children in faith have front and center in their vision the protection of orphans, a concern that is defining for faith. Family nurture in this tradition cannot be a narrow little enterprise about purity and safety; rather, it concerns inculcation into the peculiar ethical patterns of our faith." And by "ethical patterns of our faith," Brueggemann means taking active steps in the defense of the fatherless.

And these two strains come together in the passover instructions for the Israelites which might be paraphrased as Brueggemann has it, When our children ask "in time to come what lentils and doorposts and stones all mean; the adult answer might properly be: 'We know, directly from God, that protection of vulnerable children outside our own family is a central requirement of faith.'"

Jesus and the Women

It's commonly noted that women are the faithful disciples in the gospels. Where the male disciples flee, deny, and abandon Jesus, the women continue to follow Him, even to the cross, and they are the first to go to His tomb on that first Easter.

Judith Gundry-Volf, in her essay "The Least and the Greatest" in The Child in Christian Thought, points out that given traditional roles of men and women in society, the prominence of women ministering to Jesus underlines Jesus' humility in the incarnation as childlike. Jesus Himself likens receiving the kingdom as receiving a child and says that those who receive children in His name receive Him and the One who sent Him. Thus, Jesus is a child, and perhaps predictably, He is abandoned by men and only the women continue to follow Him and care for Him in His greatest need.

Eleventh Sunday in Trinity: Exodus 7:8-25

Introduction
Last week we saw that Yahweh’s name is who He is and what He does, and therefore He is able to use the feebleness of normal human beings and glorify it into Godlike power and authority and grace. Not only are human beings “gods” in the world, it is also clear that there are other powers at work as well.

Yahweh and the Gods
This showdown in Egypt is not only between Moses and Pharaoh and not merely Yahweh and Pharaoh either but also between Yahweh and all the gods of Egypt (Ex. 12:12). And neither do we “wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12, cf. Rom. 8:38-39, Col. 2:15, Dan. 10:12-13, 20) We know for a fact that Israel was afflicted with evil spirits by the time of Christ, and these demons have some power and authority in this world (e.g. Mk. 3:22, 5:7). At the same time we know that the prophets call the gods of the nations nothing, gods of stone and wood and precious metals (cf. 1 Cor. 8:4-6). Yahweh is not merely doing battle with clever men and their card tricks (7:11, 22, 8:7). He is doing battle with the demons of Egypt, but before Him they are nothing.

The Dragons
We’ve pointed out previously that the word for serpent here is actually dragon or sea monster (7:9-10 cf. Gen. 1:21, Is. 27:1). This first sign is a reversal of Genesis 3. It was a dragon who deceived the woman, and now Pharaoh, the seed of that dragon has risen up again to fight against the word of the Lord. Many centuries later, Pharaoh is still referred to as a dragon (Ez. 29:3, 32:2, cf. Jer. 51:34). But every dragon is ultimately a picture of the descendents of the original dragon (Rev. 12:9). And there is ample evidence that this image is based in reality (Num. 21, Job 41:19-21), and the connection appears to be related to the seraphim (Num. 21:8, Is. 6:2, 6, 14:29, 30:6). This first sign is not just a fancy magic trick. Here, Yahweh shows himself as the Lord of the Dragon, the God who rules the Serpent and all seraphim (7:12). Who is Yahweh? Yahweh is the God who promised enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent and ultimately to crush the head of the serpent.

The Bloody Nile
Scholars have pointed out that this sign and the ones that follow are similar to naturally occurring phenomena. The Nile annually floods and then recedes, and in the annual cycle, there is usually a change of color in the Nile which is reddish and bloodlike. Furthermore, generally after this there are more frogs, and when the frogs die there is an increase in lice and flies. (Not to mention the nifty “stiff serpent trick” apparently attested to some ancient records.) What are we to make of this? God made heaven and earth, and it would be silly to worry that God might use “natural” momentum to perform miraculous deeds. If these things are attested to having happened, great, but there is a slippery slope in both directions. If God is directing these events in supernatural ways, then it doesn’t much matter if historical records show increasing frog populations after the Nile floods. It doesn’t matter much that piles of dead frogs would tend to attract lice and flies. The fact is that God is directing these events down to the minute. At the same time, there’s no need to examine what kind of chemical makeup would turn the Nile a bloody color. The text says that it turned to blood and everything died (7:21). There is clearly symbolism going on: this is the same body of water where the Hebrew baby boys were thrown 40 years earlier (1:22) and the Nile was worshipped as a god. But an ordinary, naturally occurring phenomenon cannot account for all that is in the text. At the same time, it is important not to miss the fact that the symbolism is not mere symbolism. Yahweh is carrying out holy war against the gods of Egypt and the Nile god who gave them life and sustenance has been struck dead. Yahweh rules the dragon and the sea, and we should not miss the connection with the rod (7:15, 17, 19-20): God is going to use Pharaoh (like a rod) to fill the Nile with Egyptian blood.

Conclusions and Applications
First, we need to recognize that we do not live in a materialistic world. Darwin and all his ugly stepchildren were wrong. We live in the world that God made which is both material and spiritual and consists of both visible and invisible elements. This world is a fairy land, and history is a grand and true fairy tale. This means we need to recognize that actions and words are full of weight. Positively, do not underestimate beauty and blessing, and conversely do be deceived: do not believe the lie that our actions and words somehow cannot affect others, our families, and our society (e.g. Achan, bitterness).

Secondly, we need to recognize that we serve the true God, and in Christ, he has triumphed over the prince of darkness, and we cannot be harmed by him. Therefore James says, “Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.” The power of the Devil and his angels has been broken. Jesus was lifted up and the god of this world was judged and cast out (Jn. 12:31-32).

Finally, we should see Christ and the gospel in this story. Jesus is the rod of Jesse who was hung on the pole of the cross as a serpent. He who knew no sin became sin for us that sin might be destroyed. He became the serpent in order to swallow all of the serpents. He died in order to to swallow up death. Look to the cross and be saved, be healed, and see the history of this world and your life as the story of the great dragon slayer Jesus and His armies.

Proverbs 29:8-10

29:8 “Scoffers set a city aflame, but wise men turn away wrath.”
The word translated “set aflame” ordinarily means “blow/breath” and is used a number of times in the proverbs to describe liars who “breathe lies” (Pr. 6:19, 14:5, 25, 19:5, 9). In one place it seems to refer to the opposite: breathing out the truth (Pr. 12:17) which is what God does. Likewise, at least once it describes the poor and needy longing for safety (Ps. 12:6).

The verb is causative suggesting that the scoffer is himself a small storm/coal that drives breath (maybe smoke) up out of a city, and it is used sometimes to describe judgment (Ps. 10:5, Ez. 21:36). The meaning here seems to be similar to Pr. 22:10 where the scoffer causes strife, quarreling, and abuse. In Ps. 10:5, the word seems to describe a kind of righteous derision/scoffing that Yahweh does toward his enemies. Given the parallel line “turn away wrath,” the “set aflame” in the first half seems consistent.

Interestingly, the word is used twice in Song of Songs to describe what “the day” does when the “shadows flee” which seems to suggest a poetic image perhaps like “giving up the ghost/breathing out the last” (Song 2:17, 4:6). It is used once more in the Song as the hope that the wind will “blow” upon the garden causing it’s spices/aroma to flow out. Here, the opposite is in view: a scoffer is a bad wind that cause a stench to rise up out of the city.

In one sense this proverb describes a basic cause and effect principle in a community. Scoffers/scorners have a particular effect on other people while the wise have another effect. The participle form of this verb is sometimes used more generically to mean “interpreter” (Gen. 42:23, 2 Chr. 32:31, Job 33:23). Elsewhere, a “scoffer” is described as “arrogant” and “proud” (Pr. 21:24). Back in Pr. 1:22 and Ps. 1:1, there is an implicit ranking of a “scoffer” which seems consistent with Is. 28:14 where “scoffers” are the rulers of Israel who have gotten drunk and disregarded the word of the Lord. Likewise, rulers are warned not to “scoff” in Is. 28:22,
Given the context, it is probably safe to assume that this proverb likewise has people in authority and responsibility in mind who do not receive instruction and then lead their people astray (Is. 43:27). They are like false prophets/interpreters.

29:9 “If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace.”

This proverb is clearly comparing two kinds of men. Unusually, the first line uses the noun/adjective combination twice: Literally: “man-wise enters judgment man fool.” The proverb is explicitly comparing two kinds of men.

But interestingly, where the first half is overly explicit, the second half of the proverb is rather ambiguous.

Literally, the second half of the proverb says “he rages and he laughs and there is no peace.” It is ambiguous as to exactly how the two halves relate.

Waltke suggests that the point of the proverb is comparing the two actions in the two halves. A wise man “contends” (probably in court) with a fool, but fools merely rage or laugh and there is no peace. In other words, the sign of a wise man is that he prosecutes folly in an orderly fashion. Fools cause disorder.

This might also be a parallel proverb to others that describe the response of scoffers/fools to correction, ie. what happens when you try to contend/go to court with a fool. They hate correction and will hate you for it (Pr. 9:7-8, 13:1, 15:12). A fool despises his father’s instruction and isn’t likely to receive it well from anyone else (Pr. 15:5, 16:22, 27:22).

29:10 “The bloodthirsty hate the blameless, but the upright seek his well-being.”

This proverb begins echoing 29:8 with “men of …” 29:9 Here we have “men of blood.” But the parallel may imply that the “men of scoffing” from 29:8 who bring judgment on the city are in that sense “men of blood.” These men of blood hate the blameless.

The proverb is structured:
Men of blood
Hate the blameless
Upright
Seek
His soul

And this could be taken in at least two ways: Perhaps the two halves describe a contrast: while the men of blood hate the blameless, the upright seek their own well-being (as my translation has it). Or the second half could be understood to be filling out and amplifying the first half: the men of blood who had the upright are the ones who seek the soul of the upright. This latter reading seems a little more convincing to me.

If the first reading is plausible perhaps there is something of a defense of the perfect/upright man within the broader context of shedding blood. While the upright is only seeking a good life, men of blood want them dead. If there is some continuity with the last couple of proverbs, you have scoffers who cause harm to their communities, and fools who rage and laugh and disrupt the peace, and the ultimate end of these kinds of activities is the shedding of blood. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

“Blameless/perfect” may also have sacrificial connotations which fits with the “blood” theme of this proverb. The “blameless” are sacrificial quality, but here, the “sacrifice” is a murder. This suggests that murder is always an attempted sacrifice, but perhaps there is also the implication that God sees and values the blood of the innocent/perfect. Abel’s blood cries out.

Paul Tripp on Marriage

A number of good thoughts on marriage and love over at Justin Taylor's blog from Paul Tripp's new book on Marriage. There are also several helpful video clips.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Playing with Dragons like Dad

I've suggested elsewhere that part of Yahweh's answer to Job regarding the Leviathan is an invitation to learn to play with Leviathan (Job 41:4). Yahweh plays with dragons, and growing up into the glory and wisdom of the sons of God means growing up to play with dragons: Like Father, like son.

The first "wonder" that Moses performs for Pharaoh is essentially the same thing. The point of the sign of Moses' staff is not primarily turning the staff into a serpent (though that is of course part of it). The real point is that Moses is able to take hold of that dragon by the tail and it submits to him (Ex. 4:4). The sign of the staff is Moses playing with/taming a dragon which is significant because Pharaoh is a dragon (cf. Ez. 29:3, 32:2), and Yahweh rules over him and can play with him. And Moses is a son who is learning to play with dragons (demons/human tyrants) like his Dad.

And ultimately this goes back to Adam in the garden. Adam failed to tame/play with the dragon and allowed it to seduce his wife. But God is a gracious Father, and He trains His sons to tame and conquer the dragons: sin, death, and every form of wickedness and evil.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Funerals, Feasting, and Little Ones

In Exodus 10, urged by his servants, Pharaoh offers to let Moses and Aaron and the men of Israel go worship Yahweh in the wilderness. However Moses says that old and young alike, sons and daughters, flocks and herds must go and keep the feast (10:9). Pharaoh insists that only the men go, but Moses goes out from the presence of Pharaoh and the Lord orders him to strike the land with the eighth plague of locusts.

There are a couple interesting points to make. First, the feast to Yahweh must include the children. Later in the law, the requirement specifically stipulates that it is all the males who must present themselves before the Lord three times a year (Ex. 23:17, Dt. 16:16), but it seems (based on this) like it was nevertheless the norm (or ideal) for their families and children to attend with them.

Second, there is an interesting contrast with the observance of Jacob's funeral in Genesis 50 where the text explicitly refers to "their little ones, their flocks, and their herds" that were "left in the land of Goshen." (Gen. 50:7-6). One immediate implication is that a feast to Yahweh is not a funeral. Families and children are ordinarily part of feasts but not necessary for funerals.

Clearly, little ones were part of the celebration of Passover (Ex. 13:8ff), which I believe is the feast that they are asking to celebrate. But this suggests implications for the celebration of the New Covenant passover meal, the Lord's Supper. Just on the surface, one implication would be that the presence or absence of children at the Lord's Supper is the difference between a feast and a funeral.

And, ironically for the Egyptians, it is the feast in which the children participate that becomes the means by which the Angel of Death strikes the firstborn sons of Egypt. When the children feast, the enemy is struck down.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Exile as Promised Land

"Signs and wonders" come to a nation when it is being judged and destroyed. Egypt is the great example of this. Yahweh multiplies His signs and wonders in the land of Egypt in order to destroy Egypt and bring His armies out of the land. And throughout much of the rest of the law "signs and wonders" repeatedly refer back to what God did in Egypt. However this changes under the prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel in particular, who become "signs and wonders" in Israel (Is. 8:18, 20:3, Ez. 12:6, 12:11, 24:24, 27).

This implies that by the time of the prophets Israel has become an Egypt, and Yahweh is once again on the move to free His enslaved people. This is why obedience to Yahweh eventually means defecting to Babylon. "Staying in Israel" when the prophets call the people to submit to Nebuchadnezzar is equivalent to "staying in Egypt." The kings and priests of Israel are no better than pharoah and his magicians. Following the prophets and going with the Spirit of God into exile is the historical equivalent of going into the Promised Land. Where the Spirit of the Lord is; there is freedom.

Tight Fists or Open Hands?

Trinity's Men's Forum study resumes this Sunday evening beginning a study of Old Testament economic laws with the book Tight Fists or Open Hands? by David L. Baker. The book is available apparently in its entirety from Google books or you can order a copy from Amazon. We'll discuss the first two chapters.

The God Who Remembers

Why do we celebrate this meal week after week? First of all, we celebrate this meal in obedience to Jesus who told us to celebrate this meal. But Jesus also told us why we are to celebrate this meal. Jesus said that this meal is the new covenant in His blood, and we are to celebrate this meal as a memorial. What is frequently translated, “Do this in remembrance of Me” is really better translated, “Do this as My Memorial.” A memorial is something bigger than merely a reminder for us. It is a reminder for us, but this meal is a reminder also to the world around us and most importantly, a reminder to God Himself. Of course God does not forget like we do, but God loves to be reminded of His promises. The rainbow was placed in the sky to remind God never to flood the earth again. The blood of the Passover was a reminder to the Angel of Death not to strike the firstborn of that particular Hebrew house. The sacrifices of Israel served as memorials ascending to God, reminding of His promises of fellowship, forgiveness, and blessing.

Some of the most glorious words in Scripture, are the words that God remembered His people. When God remembers His people wonderful things happen. When God remembers His people, sins are forgiven, slaves go free, battles are won, the sick are healed, the barren give birth, leaders are born, the proud and haughty are cast down, and the humble and meek inherit the earth. When God remembers us, we have no reason to fear. When God remembers us, the only fitting response is something like glad and relieved laughter and tears. It’s all going to be alright. And that’s what this meal is. It is a reminder, a memorial, that God Himself has sworn He will never miss. He will never overlook this. When we celebrate this meal in faith and joy, God remembers. And as you eat and drink in faith and serve your neighbor with a glad heart, God remembers you. So come in faith, believing and giving thanks.

Tenth Sunday in Trinity Season: Exodus VI: Knowing Yahweh: Exodus 6:1-7:7

Introduction
It is not enough to know about God. We must strive to know God, and the central means to that knowledge is in the priestly ministry of the people of God. And this ministry flows into and out of worship.

My Name Yahweh
Moses has just gotten in hot water with the elders of Israel and has brought his case before the Lord (5:20-23). God’s response is initially to remind Moses of his name (6:2-5). God is not talking about mere knowledge of his name; the patriarchs use the name “Yahweh” throughout their narratives. God means that there is some knowledge of Yahweh that will be new: the fact that He is a God who delivers his people and keeps His promises (6:1, 6-8). Yahweh is the God who redeems with “an outstretched arm.” Yahweh is the God of Exodus. God’s word does not seem to affect Israel’s view of Moses because of “shortness of breath” and “hard labor” (6:9). And Moses asks God how his words will have any effect on Pharaoh if his own countrymen aren’t moved (6:10-13).

The Family of Moses
We need to do a little bit of math here to understand the genealogy correctly. We know that God promised Abraham that his descendents would be in bondage for 400 years (Gen. 15:13). However, here in Exodus 6 we find that 400 years has not elapsed between Levi and Moses (vv. 16, 18, 20). If we add these years end to end we get 407 which some have taken to mean that this is merely a symbolic number. But the Apostle Paul gives an inspired commentary on this chronology in Galatians 3, indicating that the 400 years should be reckoned to begin from the covenant made with Abraham (Gal. 3:17). If we estimate the chronology (not being sure exactly when people were born during their father’s life) we might estimate that Israel went down into Egypt proper about half-way through the 400 or 430 years (cf. Ex. 12:40-41). We conclude that “bondage in Egypt” refers to the entire time Abraham and his descendents lived in the land as strangers under foreign domination (i.e. Egypt primarily).

Why this Here?
First, we know that this genealogy precedes the beginning of the heart of the “showdown” between Yahweh and Pharaoh. The genealogy makes sense here to introduce the main characters. Secondly, God has just declared who he is in terms of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (6:3-4, 8). The genealogy here clearly illustrates that for God to be Yahweh, the promise keeping God, the God who delivers his people, he must act now (it’s the fourth generation cf. Gen. 15). Notice also that this passage is concerned to record the “heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites” (6:25). The redemption of Israel is not coming through the oldest sons of Jacob: Reuben and Simeon. It’s coming through a younger brother (remember Joseph), and it’s coming through the liturgical tribe. It’s not the royal tribe (Judah); it’s the tribe given the task of teaching Israel and leading her in worship.

As God to Pharaoh
After the genealogy, Moses again reminds God that he was not a good public speaker (6:28-30). But Yahweh responds by saying that he has made Moses God to Pharaoh (7:1). Yahweh said something similar when Moses protested that he was not a good speaker. Yahweh told him that he would be as God to Aaron his brother who would speak on his behalf (4:16). The set up is a little different here, and Aaron is described as Moses’ “prophet” (7:1). Clearly, Moses is not becoming Yahweh, but Moses because of his interaction with and knowledge of Yahweh, is being made God to Aaron and Pharaoh. This should remind us of Adam in the garden. Adam enjoyed perfect communion and interaction with God. His communion with God was so perfect that he could be said to be God to the world (cf. Ps. 82). Moses is a picture of righteous image-bearing because he knows and speaks with Yahweh.

Conclusion & Application
Jesus is called the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15) and the “express image” of His person (Heb. 1:3). And Paul tells us that in Christ, we and the whole creation are being renewed and remade.This is what God has predestined us to: to be conformed to the image of the new Adam, the Lord Jesus (Rom. 8:29). But how are we conformed to that image? By knowing God in Christ (Jn. 17:3, 1 Cor. 2). And the NT ties this “knowing God” to imaging God (Eph. 3:19, 1 Jn. 4:7-8). Therefore we may rightly say that God has made you God to the world. This is not a call to some kind of arrogant, power-tripping lifestyle. This is actually a call to a priestly ministry of redemption which turns to God in prayer and worship and turns to the world in love. Levites lead the armies of God (6:26).

A World Where Faith is Blessed

In today’s sermon text, Moses recalls the genealogy of his family. And it’s easy for this snap shot of the history of the family of Levi from a helicopter to look overly pristine. We hear these names, these generations and they arrive at Moses and Aaron, and people can sometimes think that God just randomly picks people to serve Him. And of course, it is always God’s grace and mercy pouring over our lives, but God’s sovereign grace is not random or arbitrary. It is deep and unfathomable, but if the genealogies teach us anything, it’s that God loves the stories of generations. He loves the time it takes for little kids to grow up, he loves the story of young families growing up into older families. And he loves for his people to trust him, to rejoice in him, and to cry out to him as they walk before him. The evolutionary worldview that permeates our culture wants faithfulness and success to seem random and unexplainable. If chimpanzees sometimes turn into people then sometimes faithfulness sprouts out of hard hearts. But that’s not the way God made the world to work. God made the world such that children thrive when their fathers love them and spend lots of time with them. And He made the world such that children droop and struggle when their dads check out. He made a world in which a woman that is loved and cherished grows in beauty and glory and is the crown of her husband, and in this same world, a woman who is neglected or mistreated is a garden overgrown with weeds. God made the world such that homes are glorious and beautiful when wives and mothers rejoice in their callings to be the glory of their husbands and love the gift of little ones, and that same glory can be turn into terrible ruin when bitterness and complaining and fear and worry are served up for dinner night after night. God is sovereign and rules over all the details of every life, every story, but faith looks to the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. Don’t compare your family to the family next to you. Don’t resent what God has given you. Begin by giving thanks for your people, for your parents, for your spouse, for your children, and then look to Jesus in faith. We live in a world where faith is blessed.

The God Who Saves Us So That We Might Know Him

In our sermon text Yahweh emphasizes His name to Moses. And we noted that God’s name is all bound up with who God is and what He does. And when God makes His name known to the people of Israel, He will simultaneously rescue them from their slavery in Egypt and redeem them with His mighty outstretched arm and great judgments. And when Yahweh does this, He will take Israel as His own people and be their God, and then they will know that Yahweh their God is the one who brings them out from the bondage of Egypt.

Notice several things about this passage. First, notice that God is determined to save His people despite what they think. When Moses goes and tells the people again what God has promised to do, they do not listen to Moses. Yahweh is content to save His people despite what they think or believe. But this really isn’t surprising since the act of salvation is itself a manifestation, a display of who God is. After He rescues them, after He redeems them, then they will know that He is Yahweh their God.

Notice also the order of events. First, God is the one who keeps His promises. He remembers His covenant with the fathers, then He keeps covenant with the children in bondage, then He saves the children in bondage, and He makes them His people and He calls Himself their God. And it’s only then, after God has done all of this, that God says they will know Him. We love Him; because He first loved us. We know Him; because He first knew us. We serve a God who comes for His people even when they resist Him, even before they know Him, before they want Him to. And this is what it means for God to be Yahweh for Israel. He is God for them, the God who saves.

But all of this becomes even more glorious in the New Covenant. The God who was revealed in the Exodus has drawn even more near to His people. And there is a new name, a name that is above every name, the name Jesus which means Savior. And this Jesus came for us while were still enemies of God. This Savior always comes for His people. He remembers His promises to our fathers, to be our God, to forgive our sins, and to raise this entire world to new life.

And the pattern is still the same. God remembers the children of His people. Like the slaves in Egypt, all children are born enslaved to sin and death, but God comes to us with promises. And He says to us, I will bring your children out of bondage. I will bring your little ones out with my outstretched arm. I will redeem you with great judgments. And the only question is: do you believe this. Do we believe that the promise is to us and to our children? Dan and Amy, you are called to believe this today and all the days God gives you teaching, training, and loving Isaiah.

This God’s way: He promises and remembers us and our little ones. And then rescues us and our children, and He makes us as His people and He calls Himself our God. And the pattern is that after God has claimed us, after God has called us His people, then we come to know Him. Then we come to know His name as the God who saves, the God who rescues, the God who comes for His people. And every infant baptism is a picture of this glory. Here Isaiah is a son of Adam who needs to be rescued from the old world of sin and darkness and be joined to the life of the Kingdom of the Son. And God does this by placing His name on our children, making them part of His people, and calling Himself their God. In this baptism, God calls Himself the God of Isaiah Bakken. And as God does this, we are to look in faith to God believing that Isaiah will come to know this God who saves Him.

Beloved Sons for Battle

It's not an accident that in the gospels when God the Father declares that Jesus is His beloved Son, Jesus is immediately led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Mt. 3:17-4:1). When God loves His people, He sends them into battle.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

These are the Names

The book of Exodus begins with the line "And these are the names of the sons of Israel..." In the Hebrew Bible the name of the book of Exodus is an abbreviation of this line, simply "names."

Exodus 6:14-27 is clearly an echo of that opening sentence. The word "these" is used once in Exodus 4 in a more generic way, but after Exodus 1:1, the word is used seven times in Exodus 6 signaling a new beginning. And the text seems to underline this point as it climaxes with the tribe of Levi. It begins with, "these are the heads of their fathers' houses," and then moves to "these are the families of Reuben" and then "these are the families of Simeon," and finally "these are the names of the sons of Levi..."

The three fold repetition of the "these are..." culminating in a line that echoes Exodus 1:1 nearly word for word underlines this new beginning, this new creation that is coming about through the tribe of Levi.

But looking more closely, it's also clear that this genealogy is laid out in a chiastic structure:

A. These are the heads of their father's houses (6:14a)
B. These are the families of Reuben (6:14b)
C. These are the families of Simeon (6:15)
D. These are the names of the sons of Levi (6:16-18)
C'. These are the families of Levi (6:19-23)
B'. These are the families of the Korahites (6:24)
A'. These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites (6:25)

The center of the "these are the..." is "these are the names..." just like Exodus 1 began.

One other interesting point is that the text switches to a singular form of "these" in 6:26-27. My NKJV still uses "these" but the word is different; it's the singular masculine pronoun "he" better translated in this context as "this" except for the fact that the singular pronoun doesn't agree with the plural nouns "Moses and Aaron" which is why it is rendered as a plural "these."

But the connection is still there, and the point is clear. "These" families, "these" names are people that God knows and loves, and "these" men, Moses and Aaron are included in that number and are specific instruments for the fulfillment of God's purposes with these families, these names.

And it does not seems like an accident that Yahweh has just revealed (again) His name and insisted that it will be known and understood in a new way by His people (6:2-3). These are the names of the people who bear the name of Yahweh their Redeemer.

Psalm 82 and Human Gods

The Psalms refer to men as "gods" in a number of places, and Jesus defends His own deity on the basis of Psalm 82.

"God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods... I said 'You are gods,' and all of you are sons of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." (Ps. 82:1, 6-7)

In the middle portion of Psalm 82, the psalmist complains that the rulers of the earth do not do justice or perform mercy. He calls them to defend the poor and the fatherless, to free the poor and the needy from the hand of the wicked. But they do not understand; the foundations of the earth are unstable. And so they will fall and die even though they are princes. The psalmist ends by calling upon God to arise and judge the earth and inherit the nations.

"Gods" in this psalm clearly refers to people, rulers, sons of the Most High. The "gods" have failed to deliver, to save, to heal, to hold up the earth in security as they ought.

But where other psalms are perhaps a bit more vague or ambiguous, this psalm teaches that we ought to read "gods" as a broader category than merely "carved images" or other demonic/evil beings or natural/created phenomena bolstered by imagination and superstition. Human beings are "gods," and therefore Yahweh is "a great God, a great King above all gods" (Ps. 95:3) Worshipers of images should be ashamed of themselves, and all the gods should worship Yahweh (Ps. 97:7). Yahweh is great and a Lord above all the gods (Ps. 135:5). Give thanks to the "God of gods" for his mercy endures forever (Ps. 136:2). David sings praises to Yahweh before the gods (Ps. 138:1).

While there are clearly places where the "gods" refers to carved images and false/evil gods, having a broader category of "gods" implies a broader application of these psalms, particularly in the New Covenant where Jesus has triumphed over the principalities and powers and shown the worthlessness of idols. In the New Covenant era, while there is still idolatry and evil spirits in the world, the western Christian world is largely doing battle with human gods. The central question is whether the gods are in submission to the God of gods, the Lord of lords or not.

What is striking is that Jesus defends His own deity in at least one place on the basis of Psalm 82: Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "you are gods."? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him who the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? (Jn. 10:34-36)

But this doesn't confirm some kind of Jehovah's Witness or Mormon anti-Trinitarian theology by any stretch. There are plenty of places to turn to defend and explain the full, eternal deity of Jesus. But in our haste and delight in the doctrine of Incarnation and Trinity, we should not miss the fact that the humanity of Jesus is not only essential for the atonement, for bearing the just sentence we deserve on the cross, but His humanity is also all bound up with the original and final intent of God for His sons. The Son of God came to be a perfect son so that He might bring many sons to His glory. God came for the fallen gods of this world so that He might cause us to share in His divine nature, restoring us to His glory so that we, like Him, might be gods who heal, deliver, redeem, and save.

Being God

When Moses protested that he was not a good public speaker Yahweh said that Aaron could be his spokesman. Yahweh would make Moses "like God" to Aaron (4:16). As God speaks to Moses and instructs him, Moses would be like God and speak to Aaron and instruct him.

Later, when Moses again protests that he is not a good speak, a "man of uncircumcised lips" (6:30), Yahweh responds by saying that he has made Moses "God to Pharaoh." And again God says that Aaron may speak on his behalf. Aaron will be Moses' "prophet" (7:1)

Between these two very similar conversations is a concentrated declaration/review of who Yahweh is and what He is planning to do in the Exodus: I am Yahweh who redeems you (6:2-8). In that proclamation, Yahweh says something similar to these other statements. He says that when He redeems Israel and brings them to Himself to be His people, He will be "as God to them" (6:7).

This implies that "being God" is not merely an ontological claim. Yahweh makes Moses like a God to Aaron and Pharaoh, and he has not ceased being a man. And we would likewise insist that Yahweh has not ceased being God while Israel was in Egypt. But if Yahweh's "being God to Israel" is the paradigm for Moses "being God" to Aaron and Pharaoh, then "being God" has to do with speaking, instructing, declaring truth. It has to do with personal presence. When Yahweh is God to Israel, He seems to be specifically referring to Mt. Sinai where He will meet with His people and speak with them. "Being God" has everything to do with presence and communion, and this goes back to the image of God in man. Man is a communing being, and particularly a being who communes through his presence and speech.

This underlines how powerful and dangerous being human really is. God has created human beings to be "gods" whose words and actions are momentous. Our presence and absence echoes God's own presence and absence. Our words mimic His Word which creates, destroys, heals, and judges. Being human has the potential to save and redeem or to destroy and tear down.

I am Yahweh

Yahweh's speech at the beginning of Exodus 6 is arranged chiastically:

A. I am Yahweh (6:2)
B. Promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (6:3-5)
C. I am Yahweh who brings you out (6:6a)
D. I will rescue you (6:6b)
E. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm (6:6c)
D'. I will take you as my people (6:7)
C'. I am Yahweh who brings you out (6:8a)
B'. Promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (6:8b)
A'. I am Yahweh (6:8c)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Feast of Forgiveness

Every week we celebrate this meal as a ministry of forgiveness. Specifically, Jesus gave this cup to his disciples and told them that is was for the remission of sins. I just want to take this meditation to emphasize this point. Consider this an extended, underlined absolution and assurance of pardon. When you take this bread into your mouth and taste this wine, the word you need to hear and believe is ‘forgiven.’ Guilt is a tyrant. Guilt is a pharaoh that exacts quotas of good deeds and moralistic hypocrisy. Forgiven is a word that gives life and health and blessing. Forgiveness is water that flows down like a summer storm and the thirsty fields drink their full. Guilt just shoots up weeds trying to blend in with grass. Forgiveness is something that God loves to do. Jesus went to the cross so that God’s mercy might flood this world. His blood was shed for short tempers, his blood was shed for porn problems, his blood was shed for liars, his blood was shed for parents who fail their children, his blood was shed for children who have rebelled against their parents, his blood was shed for hard, bitter hearts, his blood was shed for addicts and abusers and cowards. His blood was shed for women who have had abortions. His blood was shed for husbands and fathers and boyfriends who encouraged and facilitated abortions. No one comes to this table apart from grace. No one comes to this table who is not first covered in blood. But make sure that it is Christ’s blood covering you; guilt cries out for blood and people exact the price from themselves or others close to them. But there is no freedom in the Egypt of Guilt. There is only freedom in Christ, there is only forgiveness in the blood of Jesus. And it’s free. I know we don’t usually give altar calls; and I’m not going to start now. But if you are struggling with guilt, and you hear me talking about forgiveness and you’re not sure if you have that, please talk to me. Talk to one of the elders or deacons. Talk to your parents. But the short answer is right here: Jesus knows your sins and He says, come lay them down and eat with Me. This bread and wine is for you; it’s my body and blood for you. Come eat, drink, and rejoice.

Worship as Defiance

Every week we gather here for worship in defiance. We gather here as revolutionaries. And this service of worship is our revolt. Here as we proclaim the Triune Name, as we sing the Psalms, hear the Word of our King, feast at His table and receive His blessing, we do so in defiance of all the powers of sin and darkness and evil. Here in our worship we defy the greed and materialism of our culture and state, and we give tithes and offerings to our King for the growth of His Kingdom. Here we defy every form of sexual tyranny and oppression and the guilt of sexual sin. Here our Master who knows our dark hearts and sees the horrific tragedies all around us, here He assures us of His love and washes us clean. He proclaims our utter and complete innocence and silences every accuser. Here we defy the arrogant claims of military and political powers who brandish their missiles and guns and economic sanctions. We sit down at the table of the Lord of Armies, and we eat our bread with joy and our wine with joyful hearts trusting the Lord of Armies to crush the heads of the proud and the violent. But we defy sin in every form. We defy the wretched sin in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our church. We come here not because we see all things put right, but because we refuse to make peace with the way that sin ravages lives. We come here torn and brittle and broken, week after week, because we see all the ways in which sin seeks to destroy us and our loved ones and our world. We see families torn apart; we see children abandoned and neglected; we see our loved ones grow old and suffer from disease; we see our brothers and sisters across the world raped and beheaded and burned for the love of Jesus. And despite all of this, despite the giants who taunt us, despite the sin and guilt that haunts us, despite all of this, we gather here to defy it all. Despite the dark clouds, we gather here to proclaim that the giants will fall. We gather here to proclaim that our King rose from the dead and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Him Lord of all. And this means that we gather here in defiance. We proclaim that there is one King, and His name is Jesus, and that we will serve Him until our dying day. And we will serve no other. And wherever and however sin clings to us and to our families, we are gathered here to say “No, we will not serve you anymore.”

“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself. This He said, signifying by what death He would die.” (Jn. 12:31-33)

Eighth Sunday in Trinity: Exodus V

Introduction
God’s claim on the lives of his people is always public, and there are always competitors to His authoritative voice. And when we obey and the voices collide, the faithful frequently suffer. How do you handle the challenges of obedience?

To Feast and Sacrifice
Notice that the dialogue is set up to present Yahweh speaking directly to Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron speak as the mouth of Yahweh (4:15-16, 5:1). Pharaoh even understands this in his response by questioning why he should listen to Yahweh’s “voice” (5:2). When God sends a servant, they always speak in His authority. Since the beginning of Exodus we have noted this contest between the word of God and the word of the pharaoh (cf. Gen. 1-3). The reason given to Pharaoh for letting Israel go is initially so that Israel can go “feast” before Yahweh (5:1). After Pharaoh’s rebuff they elaborate that they are to go only three days’ journey into the wilderness to offer a sacrifice (5:3). This second request is more closely the actual wording that was given by God (3:18). Their reasoning is that they must obey Yahweh lest He strike them with sword or pestilence (cf. 9:3, 15). But the Pharaoh immediately changes the subject: why are Moses and Aaron interrupting the work of the Hebrews (5:4)? We assume that the elders of the people were with Aaron and Moses (3:18), and therefore Pharaoh was not just referring to Moses and Aaron.

Bricks without Straw
Pharaoh’s strategy is actually quite brilliant. His plan is to turn the people against Moses and Aaron. He does this at two levels: first he assigns the taskmasters not to give the usual rations of hay for making the bricks without lessening the number they have to make (5:8, 11, 13). He accuses them of laziness (5:5-8). They have too much time on their hands; that’s why they are listening to Moses and Aaron, “gazing on false words” (5:9). The task masters go out and call the people together and announce “Thus says Pharaoh..” which is the exact same preface that Moses brought to Pharaoh from Yahweh (5:1). The contest is between two “words” claiming authority over Israel. The text says that the people “scattered” to gather straw over the “whole land” (5:12) much like God scattered the nations at Babel (Gen. 11:4-9). Secondly, Pharaoh knows this won’t work out very well and the officers are beaten for not producing the same number of bricks, for not completing the “ordinance/command” of Pharaoh (5:14). Not only are the voices competing, but there are two competing laws (e.g. 12:24, 15:26). The officers respond by pleading with Pharaoh as abused “servants.” Pharaoh has made Israel “serve” him (1:13-14), but Yahweh demands that his people “serve” him (3:12, 4:23). But the officers are pleading with Pharaoh as though he is their rightful master. Pharaoh’s response reveals what kind of master he is: he is a cruel lord (5:17-19). This not only turns the people against Moses, but it also turns their officers against him (5:21).

Let Yahweh Judge
When the officers come out of the presence of Pharaoh, they “meet” Moses and Aaron, the very same word used to describe how Yahweh has come to Israel (5:3). This is exactly what will happen shortly: Israel will go out from Pharaoh and “meet” Yahweh, but in the mean time, Moses is God to them (4:16). Their pleas for mercy having been rejected, they utter what is meant to be a curse, asking Yahweh to look on Moses and judge what has happened to them. They say that their “smell stinks in the eyes of Pharaoh.” This will not be the last time God causes Pharaoh to be offended with foul smells (7:18, 8:14). In fact they have become such a bad smell they fear that there is a sword in the hand of Pharaoh’s servants to slay them (5:21). The very things that Moses and Aaron warned would come from Yahweh (5:3) the officers accuse Moses of inciting in Pharaoh. The sword and pestilence have come.

Conclusion & Application
Moses immediately returns to Yahweh and asks why He has done evil to this people and why He has sent him (5:22). And his final complaint is that Yahweh has not delivered his people since Moses has gone to Pharaoh and things have only gotten worse (5:23). Of course we remember that God has already promised that Pharaoh will need lots of convincing (3:19, 4:21), but Moses is still pleading with God according to His Word (5:23, cf. 3:8).

This whole story probably took place over a considerable period of time, probably a period of at least a number of months. Time has a way of making us doubt the Word of God. This chapter presents the struggle between masters, between laws, and ultimately between words. Whose word is Israel bound to obey? Who holds the sword? Who rules the plagues? Given the officers’ response, there is a vast difference between the grace of Yahweh and the grasping of Pharaoh.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Proverbs 29:3-7

29:3: “Whoever loves wisdom makes his father rejoice, but a companion of harlots wastes his wealth.”

This proverb returns to some of the basic themes from the beginning of proverbs. Here we have a comparison and contrast between certain kinds of love. In the first instance, love attaches to wisdom which is described as a woman early in proverbs (Prov. 3-4, 8-9). This wisdom is specifically the instructions of a father to his son, and this is one of the reasons why loving wisdom makes a father rejoice. In contrast, early in Proverbs the harlot/adulteress was the competitor to Lady Wisdom (Prov. 5, 6:24ff, 7:6ff).

The odd thing is that the comparison doesn’t seem completely symmetrical. The father rejoicing doesn’t seem quite parallel with the wasting wealth. It doesn’t seem to contrast neatly at first glance. However, wisdom is part of the inheritance of a father to his son, and wisdom is itself a kind of wealth and the ability to live and work in order create and maintain wealth. On the other hand, folly wastes wealth.
We might also note that the wealth wasted may be more general than just family inheritance (though it seems to include that). Loving wisdom is familial and economic blessing in general, and the pursuit of family-destroying lifestyles is a bad economic policy. This suggests that the repercussions for these decisions can be quite broad and public, especially for a king/prince.

Literally, the word for “companion” is “pasture” or “graze.” A man who feeds upon wisdom is a blessing to his father and receives his wealth. But the son who feeds on harlots despises his father.

There’s something of an interesting comparison in the person of Jesus. We know that Jesus was the great lover of wisdom and made his father rejoice, and at the same time, he was known as a “companion of harlots” and sometimes this was associated with the “waste of wealth” as well (e.g. Mt. 21:31-32, Lk. 7:37ff, Jn. 12:3ff).

Finally, we should note that the prodigal son is the “fool” of this proverb squandering his inheritance on harlots and displeasing his father (Lk. 15:11ff). But the father is the eager forgiver, and when the son returns there is great rejoicing. And there are always temptations for the “wise” to reject this kind of mercy like the older brother.

29:4: “The king establishes the land by justice, but he who receives bribes overthrows it.”

Literally, a king causes a land to stand by justice, but the man of offerings tears it down. So this proverb is about building and tearing down land. Justice makes a land stand up, but relying on money and gifts makes it fall. Part of the proverb is built on an ironic play on words. These offerings are T’rumah which are literally lifted up. This is the word of generic offerings taken up in Israel (e.g. Ex. 25:2-3, 30:13-15), and it is used specifically for the “heave” and “wave” offerings which were lifted up into the air when they were offered at the tabernacle (Lev. 10:15, Num. 6:20, 15:19). Offerings may seem like glory; they may appear like exaltation but a land does not stand by offerings. It stands by justice and just judgment.

Part of the point may also be that a king who receives or exacts offerings is acting like God. God calls for T’rumahs, but a king who calls for them or accepts them is acting like Yahweh. In other words, perhaps T’rumahs are only for Yahweh. Frequently maintaining justice is for the defense of the weak and the poor (e.g. Ex. 23:6, Dt. 10:18, 24:17, 27:19). Specifically, justice is contrasted with bribes and inability to see righteousness, and this is bound up with inheriting the land (Dt. 16:19). If justice is particularly for the protection of the poor, then “offerings/bribes” can describe the ways that the rich steal justice from the poor and the defenseless. Even if these “offerings” are not all bribes, the proverb could be pointing out that even virtues must be prioritized.

The description of “tearing down” the kingdom suggests martial imagery. The king is either attacking and throwing down his own land or allowing others within the kingdom to seriously compromise its stability.

Waltke points out that 29:5-6 both employ hunting imagery to describe different kinds of deceitfulness.

29:5: “A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.”
This man is a “strong man” and a hunter and at first glance it is not clear whether he is catching the feet of his friend in the net or his own feet. He is literally “smooth/slippery” with his friend. He uses smooth words and flattery to lull the victim into a sense of false security. As a “strong man” he ought to be protecting the weak, but instead he is using his strength to exploit. This may be thematically related to the previous proverb with regard to justice for the poor.

Another related meaning of the word for “flatter/be smooth” is “to divide up/apportion” which suggests that this “strong man” is conquering and plundering his neighbor. This man apparently thinks that he is setting a net for his friend, but the following proverb makes it clear that he is actually setting a net for his own feet.
Rather than the usual word for feet/legs, literally the proverb says that the net is spread for his “footsteps,” suggesting even more hunting, stalking imagery. The deception is like a hunter moving through the forest incognito aiming to kill and plunder. But all the stealth will ultimately backfire.

29:6: “By transgression an evil man is snared, but the righteous sings and rejoices.”
Here the contrast is between an “evil man” and the “righteous.” The “righteous” is like the king who causes his land to stand up through “justice” in 29:4, and he rejoices like the father of a son who loves wisdom in 29:3 (cf. 29:2).

While the “transgression” is not specified, the result of being snared fits with 29:5 and suggests some kind of deception. His own action is the cause of his being snared. The word can also mean “bait” or “lure” which underlines what was probably an attractive pursuit at first.

In a positive sense, Moses was described by the Egyptians as a “snare” who was causing the downfall of Egypt. Likewise, those who worship idols in Israel are described as “snares” which will cause Israel to perish from the land (Ex. 23:33, 34:12, Dt. 7:16, Josh. 23:13). This connects back with the king who either establishes his land or tears it down. Various forms of idolatry are a sure way to tear down a nation.

The verb for “sings” means to shout out loud or even sing. It might suggest being rescued or barely avoiding various snares. The righteous do not fall into the traps all around them, and they rejoice in deliverance and protection. They are full of thankfulness and recognize the mercy that surrounds them. Righteousness is always a gift of grace.

29:7: “The righteous considers the cause of the poor, but the wicked does not understand such knowledge.”

We have suggested that protection of the poor and careful use of wealth and strength stands behind several of the previous proverbs, and this proverb seems to make that explicit. Here the righteous literally “know/learns the judgment of the poor.” This may mean studying the situation of the poor, but it is the mark of the righteous man and presumably the righteous man with means and ability and strength to do something about it. But the wicked man does not understand this knowledge. He doesn’t understand why this matters.

On the other hand this may also be a more general statement about authority and responsibility. Those in authority have the responsibility to know the weakest members of their kingdom, and when they act wisely this is righteousness. Whereas there are plenty of fools with good intentions who crush the poor with their economic policies and programs which amounts to wickedness.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Passover Warfare

Every time we gather at this table we are celebrating the great and glorious Passover of Jesus Christ. We lift up the blood and body of Christ, reminding God that we are covered in the blood of Christ. And as we do this, proclaiming our Lord’s death, the Angel of Death passes over us and does battle on our behalf. God is at war with all our enemies.

Therefore, this is our Exodus meal. And every week we prepare once again to enter the Promised Land, to take dominion, to follow God’s law, and to plunder the Egyptians. But we do not rule by might or by power. We rule in the power of the Spirit. And that does not mean that we do not rule. It means that we believe that the most powerful force in the history of the world is resurrection, and we will not settle for anything less.

In battles, great generals have sometimes made their troops wait until nearly the last minute before firing, making sure that the first volley gets the greatest effect. In the gospel we proclaim the death of Christ as the death of death. Therefore our General bids us lay our lives all the way down, to become servants and slaves of all. For the last shall be first. The least shall be greatest. He who gives his life up will find it. This takes great faith in our general. But we do not serve a King who has not gone before us. Our King has already gone ahead into this fight, laying His life down for us, so that we might be given the power and courage to do the same.

This is the power of the resurrection, the glory of Passover, and the authority of the Spirit of God who does battle on our behalf. Some come and rejoice.

Seventh Sunday in Trinity: Exodus 4:1-31

Opening Prayer: Almighty and gracious Lord, we humble ourselves before you now and ask that you would deal with us. We thank you that you do not deal with us only where we should have been, but you come and meet us where we are. Empower your word and remake us. And as we are humbled before your word, lift us up and exalt us and free us to serve You. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen!

Introduction
Who are you? Who are you to pray, to decide, to plan? Your identity is bound up with the God who sends you, the God who is with you (Mt. 28:18-20). And it is not humility to doubt this. True humility believes and obeys.

The Signs for the Elders
Both of the first two signs have to do with healing and making useful. The serpent is the same word for serpent in Genesis 3 suggesting that Moses will lead the people to reverse the dominion of the serpent (“dragon” in 7:9ff). Remember, that Pharaoh is a “seed of the serpent” at war with the “seed of the woman” who is being “fruitful and multiplying.” Notice also that both signs have to do with the hand. The hand of man is his tool for work, the most basic technology. The rod of course is an extension of a man’s hand, a tool for shepherding sheep. As we noted with the burning bush, these signs are probably also meant to picture something fundamental about Israel and her situation in Egypt. Under Joseph, Israel had exerted great influence for the blessing of Egypt. Israel, under Joseph’s leadership had been a “helping hand” and a “shepherd” for Egypt and even all the nations around them. But Israel has fallen from this high calling. Leprosy will always have strong associations with Egypt as a plague (Num. 14:3, 37, Lev. 13-14). The final sign shows how God is going to accomplish his work. Through Moses, not only is God going to tame the serpent-Pharaoh and heal the uncleanness of his people, but Yahweh will also do battle with the gods of Egypt. The Nile was the most important source of life in ancient Egypt and one of their principle gods. But God rules creation, and Moses will pour out the Nile on the ground and instead of being fruitful and giving life it will turn to blood and death. Remember, it has already been a source of death to the Hebrew baby boys. The Nile god has killed the sons of Israel. Idolatry is death.

Moses and Aaron
Moses is a little more than reluctant to take up God’s call on his life. This is somewhat understandable given how his leadership was taken 40 years ago (2:14), but Moses’ persistent reluctance is not excusable (4:14). He has gone from asking “why me?” (3:11) to “what is your name?” (3:13) to “what if they don’t believe me?” (4:1) to “I’m not a good public speaker” (4:10) and now finally “send someone else, please” (4:13). This passage could also be described as a battle of the “I’s.” The Hebrew first person pronoun for “I” is used repeatedly back and forth between Moses and God (3:6, 11, 12, 13, 4:10, 11, 12, 15, 23). While this is not particularly strange, it seems significant given the name God has given himself of “I AM” (3:14). Moses may have any number of excuses for being reluctant, but the fact is that God doesn’t care. God is the God of our fathers, the God who rules nature, the God who is with our words, and the God who is determined to accomplish his purposes. We are not sufficient of ourselves, but we are not by ourselves. “I AM” is with us and with our mouths (4:12, 15). Finally, God allows Moses to share the task with Aaron, but this concession is not a relenting of God’s purposes.

Proleptic Passover
After asking for Jethro’s blessing to leave, God speaks to Moses once more and makes even more explicit his interest in his people. Israel is his son, and he will take Pharaoh’s son if he does not let His son go to serve Him (4:22-23). This is to be a battle between fathers. Yahweh is jealous for the service of his son, and Pharaoh is effectively a kidnapper. Then, on the way into the land, Yahweh comes to kill Moses’s son (4:24). We know it is his son because it is the circumcision of his son that turns away God’s wrath (4:26). This is a somewhat mysterious event, but given the context we should be able see what God intends to teach Moses here. Evidently, Moses’ son had not been circumcised. Circumcision is the sign of God’s covenant promises. This display of blood reminded God of his promise to Abraham to be his God and make him into a nation (Gen. 15). Here, Zipporah circumcises her son and touches it to her son’s legs (4:15). Many translations do not get this right. The point is that Zipporah is displaying the blood of the circumcision to turn away the “angel of death.” She calls him a “bridegroom of blood” reminding us that the covenant is a marriage to God and His people. This is yet another preview of the Exodus in the life of Moses.

Conclusion & Application
Moses and Aaron call the elders of the people together. Aaron speaks and Moses performs the signs (4:30), and the response of the elders is worship (4:31). This is the driving motivation for bringing the Israelites out in the first place (3:18). Of course God knows (and Pharaoh knows) that the freedom to worship would turn into freedom in life. Worship drives culture and society. We’ve previously noted that the Israelites had fallen into idolatry in Egypt (Josh. 24:14). Liturgical idolatry is slavery and leads to a slave culture.

We are called to worship God faithfully and in faith; this is the single most important thing that we do. But this worship is not unrelated to the rest of our lives. Freedom here necessarily creates freedom out there. But freedom is never just doing whatever we want. Freedom is receiving the Word of God with faith and joy. Freedom is the ability to do what we were made for. Freedom is the opportunity to lay our lives down for others. If Moses had looked back in faith, he ought to have seen how God had been preparing him to obey. Just as He always does.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!

Daily Crosses

The Christian life is not an easy life. Jesus does call us to rest in Him, to take His burden which is lighter than any other. But Jesus calls us to follow Him, and in order to follow Him, we must deny ourselves and take up the cross. Now we have heard this many times. We say it frequently, but this must translate into real denial and real sacrifice or we are kidding ourselves. Of course everyone wants to be a hero. Maybe some of us would even dream of being a real live martyr. But there’s a million or so deaths that Jesus calls us to every day that no one really wants to submit to. Men would prefer not to take responsibility for their families and lovingly lead them. It’s easier to go home and collapse on the couch. Women would prefer not to respect their husbands. It’s easier to be critical and point out all the ways he could do better. Children would prefer not to obey their parents and honor them. It’s easier to slouch through the day, just getting by, flying under the radar, doing the bare minimum to stay out of trouble. We would prefer not to discipline and teach our children. It’s time consuming, it messes with our schedule and plans, and sometimes it doesn’t seem like it’s even working. We would prefer not to have to meet new people, invite our neighbors over for dinner, or invite an unbelieving coworker to church. It’s awkward, embarrassing, and could go badly. I’m just not up to it, we say. Those are not my gifts, we say. But the Christian life is not an easy life. Jesus did not call people to follow Him so that all their preferences are met. Following Jesus means denying self, denying what you want, denying what you may want very badly. And not only does it mean denial, putting down, giving up what you love, it then means embracing the cross. And the cross means obedience in faith, obedience and faith even to the point of death. And in only that sort of death is there hope of resurrection and glory.

Friday, July 09, 2010

Reformed Singles

Some friends are working on a new project called Reformed Singles, an online resource for singles in the Reformed community.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Joseph the Dreamer

When Matthew's gospel opens with a Joseph who has dreams (1:20, 2:13, 2:19, 2:22), we cannot pretend that we have never heard of this sort of thing before. And when Matthew writes: "... an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt..." we ought to even wonder for a brief second exactly where we are in the Bible. Is this the end of Genesis?

Of course there are many other details that confirm exactly where Matthew wants us. We have a child-murdering Pharaoh in the character of Herod, and Matthew explicitly refers to the first Exodus story by quoting Hosea 11. Only God's Son is called out of Egypt in order to deliver Israel.

The geography is all reversed. Israel has become an Egypt, and the Israelite king has become a pharaoh. Instead of fleeing to Midian for safety, the holy family flees to Egypt for safety. And when John comes preaching and baptizing, he is inviting Israelites in the Promised Land to embark on a new Exodus, to cross the Jordan and enter the land again, in a new way.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Like, Who's that Naked Guy?

It's no accident that there are four gospels. God intentionally gave us four records of the life of Jesus. More so, God gave us four records that are fairly similar (obviously), and they were canonized as the first four books of the New Testament. This means that the faithful, diligent reader must read through the same material four times.

This means that thinking through the literary and theological effects of four gospels seems a worthy pursuit. Assuming that the Bible is meant to be read straight through, we run into repetition in a few places in the Old Testament. Chronicles is a retelling of Kings, and there are portions of stories that are retold such as 2 Kings 18-20 and Isaiah 36-39 as well as songs (compare 2 Sam. 22 and Psalm 18). Deuteronomy recaps various portions of Exodus and Numbers and Leviticus. Judges overlaps with Joshua. And the instructions of the building of the tabernacle are repeated at the end of Exodus as those instructions are carried out. We might also point out the genealogies that repeat names and family lines in various places of Scripture.

But when a reader comes to the gospels there is something even more obvious and startling going on. The three synoptics with John's fourth gospel piling on top emphasize, underline, and echo with various stories, parables, sermons, teaching, miracles, and of course the passion narratives in particular. If there are various portions of Old Covenant Scriptures that repeat themselves, the gospels are way over the top.

What kind of readers/hearers does this kind of repetition create? What is usually called the "synoptic problem" with regards to sources and dissimilarities seems rather actually to be something of an intentional solution, part of the plan. As the Word has its way with God's people, there are a number of tracks that are meant to be played repeatedly. If God wanted us to have to plow through the same material four times every time we started the New Covenant Scriptures, we might ask 'why?'.

What does a fourfold repetition of very similar stories do to us? For example, the repetition makes minor characters closer to major characters. Mary, the mother of Jesus is important as the Virgin Mother of Jesus, but she really does not play much of an explicit role elsewhere in the New Testament, but her presence in the gospels gives her a four-fold standing in the story. By the time we get to John, and she is asking Jesus to help with the wine-shortage problem at the wedding in Cana, we feel like we really know this woman a bit more than when we began in Matthew's gospel. A relatively minor character (in terms of time on stage) grows and expands and matures over the course of four gospels.

But this works not only by repetition, but also by absence. Because of the similarities, there is a constant invitation to compare the gospels, and therefore especially the first three. And then not only do the similarities stand out, but so do the dissimilarities. Like, who's that naked guy running in the garden after Jesus is arrested in Mark's gospel? A seemingly tiny detail becomes huge, startling, and seemingly important. We might not remember a random event like that in Judges as well as we ought to if we're regularly reading straight through the four gospels.

What else does having four gospels do to readers? What kind people does a fourfold repetition of the central story of our faith create?

Monday, July 05, 2010

The Sign is a Promise

“And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (3:12).
We noted earlier that the striking thing about this statement is that the sign is a promise. And this almost seems like cheating. Of course later, God will give Moses signs for Pharaoh and Israel, but this sign is for Moses so that he knows that God has sent him. This requires Moses to simply believe the word of God and obey. When Moses has any doubt in Egypt, he must simply remember and believe the promise of God. It is common to refer to the sacraments as signs, and sometimes this is explained poorly, but it can be helpful in this respect. Sometimes signs are extraordinary and miraculous: rainbows, healing, etc. But fundamentally signs are promises of what God is doing and what God promises He will do. This meal in one sense is very ordinary. We have bread and wine, some of the most basic sorts of food in the world made from grain and grapes. But the sign is in the promises of God. God promises that our sins are forgiven, that the death of Jesus reconciled us to Himself and one another, that He is feeding us with His life through this meal, that this forgiveness and life are for the world, and that Jesus will reign until His Kingdom fills the earth. And we have been called to believe all of this and to live in a way that is consistent with that belief. And this is the point: Moses saw a burning bush at the foot of a mountain, and the sign that Moses had been commissioned to go to Egypt was a promise that he would return and worship there. But we have something even better than this. Every week we gather here at this table and then God sends us out into the world. And this shall be the sign that you have been sent by the Lord into the world: you will return and serve God here on this mountain. And we do. Week after week, we return and we worship the Lord here at this mountain and then He sends us out again. He sends us to our jobs, our families, our neighborhoods, our enemies to live and proclaim the freedom and forgiveness found in Christ. And if we should have any doubt during the week, we are called to remember and believe the promise of God. We will return and serve God on this mountain. So come and worship.

Sixth Sunday in Trinity: Exodus III

Opening Prayer: Our Father, we thank you that you have called us each by name. And that you have placed Your name upon us, and that when we gather here in Your name, You speak to us. And so we ask that you would give us ears to hear. Help us to repent of thinking we already know what you’re going to say. And give us grace to believe and obey, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen!

Introduction
We said last week that God calls us to know Him so that we might walk and talk with Him as sons. But too frequently we are reluctant to take up this calling. How do we know what God wants? Who are we to think that we know what’s best? But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 that God chooses the weak things of this world to undo the strong and the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

The Burning Bush
In Acts 7 we are told by Stephen that Moses was 40 years old when he fled from Egypt, and that he was in Midian for 40 years before returning to Egypt (Acts 7:23, 30). As he is leading the flocks by Horeb (Mt. Sinai), he sees the Angel of Yahweh in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush (3:1-2). The wonder according to the text is that this bush is not being consumed by the fire. This is not merely a bazaar gimmick to get Moses off the path so that God can get his attention (although it works!) (3:3-4). It is also a vision of sorts meant to image what God is going to speak to Moses about. The bush is Israel in the crucible of Egypt, burned but not consumed (cf. Dt. 4:20). The place where Moses is standing is “holy ground” (3:5). The point of course is God’s presence, but more so, this is a reversal of the curse of the ground (Gen. 3:17). This same reality was later pictured in the Tabernacle and Temple where great attention is paid to the rest of the priests’ uniform, suggesting that the priests were barefoot. But this points forward to the full and final restoration of creation and the reversal of the curse of sin and death.

The Promise of God
God identifies Himself as the covenant God of Israel, the God of Moses’ father (3:6). God has heard the cries of his people in Egypt (3:7), and He intends not only to deliver them out of bondage but to also bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey (3:8). This is how God always works: His deliverance is always out of death, slavery, cursing into life, freedom, and blessing. The language of a land “flowing” with milk and honey would have reminded Israel of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:10-14). But this is an Eden glorified. This is also the way God always works; we are called to a life of continual conversion, continual repentance. Nor is He content with the status quo or merely what was good back then. He always strives for better. God hears the cries of his people, but it should be pointed out that this is exactly what God had promised 400 years ago to Abraham (3:8-9, cf. Gen. 15:13-14ff). God calls Moses to go to Pharaoh to bring His people out of Egypt, but when Moses questions this plan, God gives Moses a sign, the promise that he will return and “serve God on this mountain” (3:10-12). The sign is a promise. This is a reminder that we are never called to obedience apart from faith.

The Name of God
Moses asks God what name he should give to the people if they ask who has sent him (3:13). And God says, “I AM WHO I AM.” He goes on to command Moses to also tell them that “the LORD God of your fathers… has sent me to you” (3:14-15). The all-caps LORD in our Bibles is the name “Yahweh” which is something like the third person form of “I AM,” something like “HE IS.” But the name is tied to the fathers also: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are referenced three times in this passage (3:6, 15, 16). This is nearly God’s name. His name is not merely a title or position. His name is what he has done. His trustworthiness is bound up in who He has been God to. God’s name is bound up with the names of particular individual people. God’s name is bound up with us. This is how we know that God can be trusted: he has staked his reputation on us (cf. Mt. 28:19).

Conclusions & Application
The passage closes with God’s promise that Moses will be accepted by his brethren, but will be rejected by the king of Egypt (3:16-18). They are to go and ask permission to sacrifice to Yahweh, three days’ journey into the wilderness (presumably at Horeb/Sinai), and yet God promises that the king will not allow them to until after God has done “all the wonders” that He will do (3:19-20). Then they will go out with articles of gold and silver and clothing, plundered notice, by women (3:21-22).

We have to realize that Egypt was the greatest civilization the world over at this time. Not only was it a phenomenal feat to attempt the freedom of this enslaved people, it was seemingly a great folly to think that Egypt would be plundered by women. God is not worried about armies, popularity, science, or foolish laws made by men. He does not care about the polls. God has determined that the nations of this world are to be the inheritance of Jesus Christ. Just as God set Jeremiah over the nations of the world, he has set Christ, the great Jeremiah over this world (cf. Jer. 1:10).

So who are you? The answer to Moses’ question (3:11) was bound up with who was with him (3:12). You are God’s people, and therefore you may not doubt or worry about your lives or the state of this world. God threw down the greatest civilization on earth at the time through the feeble efforts of an old man with a walking-stick. Likewise, simple acts of obedience may look like foolishness. Husbands leading their families and loving their wives; wives submitting to their own husbands and rejoicing in their children; children obeying their parents and despising the treasures of this world; eating meals with gladness, serving the poor, loving our neighbors, blessing our enemies – all for the love of Christ: All of these look like acts of weakness and folly. But what are we doing? Toppling kingdoms and freeing slaves.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!

Closing Prayer: Almighty God, God of our Fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we declare that you are the Creator and Ruler of All. No one can stop your hand; no kingdom or nation is invincible to your will and rule. We know and believe that you have given this world to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that he will rule until every enemy submits, until all the earth is filled with your glory. Give us grace to live in this grace. Through Jesus our Lord and Master, who taught us to pray, singing…

Swallowing Camels, Straining Gnats

In Matthew, Jesus says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” Here Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees not for doing sinful things, but for doing righteous things at the expense of other righteous things. In other words, Jesus does not condemn them for tithing; He condemns them for tithing in such a way as to neglect more important things. He condemns them not for vices but for swinging their virtues around and turning them into vices. He pronounces woe upon them for putting extra hours in at work at the expense of their children. He condemns them for doing family devotions in a way that teaches their children to hate family devotions. He rebukes husbands for being harsh with their wives and insisting they were only joking or only explaining their point of view. He’s talking about perfectionist parents who in the name of high standards constantly recall to the failures and struggles of their children to others and one another and do not notice the small people at their feet listening in their own ways, and children grow up only hearing the tones of disappointment or frustration. Jesus is talking about people who cross their theological t’s and dot their philosophical i’s in such a way as to drive friends and family away.

But how can we repent of our virtues? How can we know if we are tithing mint like hypocrites? Well, what’s the flavor flowing out of your house? Is it sarcastic, critical, complaining, bitter? Or is it peace and joy? Is it honest, thankful laughter or is it nervous and full of sideways glances?

What we need is wisdom to see ourselves accurately, and James says that if we lack wisdom, we need to ask God for it. But we must ask in faith, not doubting. But the warning is that if we ask while doubting that God will give us what we ask for, we will end up worse off than when we began. We will end up driven and tossed by the wind, unstable and double minded, swallowing camels while straining out gnats.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Proverbs 28:28-29:2

Proverbs 28:28

“When the wicked arise, men hid themselves; but when they perish, the righteous increase.”

This connects back with 28:12 which had a similar point: “When the righteous rejoice, there is great glory; but when the wicked arise, men hide themselves.” In both places the word translated “men” is literally ‘Adam’. And while there is a different word used to describe Adam hiding himself (Gen. 3:7), the parallel is there, and the same word is used when Cain describes his exile (Gen. 4:14).

The second half of the proverb continues some of the allusions: first, the word for “when they perish” has all three letters in the word ‘Adam’ and sounds and looks similar. But when the wicked perish, the righteous “increase” or “multiply,” the same word used in Genesis for men and animals are supposed to do under the blessing of God (Gen. 1:22, 28).

Peter Leithart points out that this suggests that the story of the Fall is not merely the story of Adam’s failure and shame, but it suggests that Adam hides because Sin and Death have begun to rule. They have listened to the voice of Satan and given him authority, and this drives them into hiding. In some ways, human history continues in this state until Jesus comes to be lifted up so that these wicked rulers may be cast down and the righteous may be revealed and come out of hiding. So that they might multiply and fill the earth.

This proverb may be a simple description of fact: when the Nazis are in power, the Jews hide. But part of the conclusion of this proverb also implies that the way to “multiplying” in obedience and righteousness is through making sure that the wicked die/perish.

29:1

“He who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

This echoes 28:14: “Happy is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.”

The archetype of “hardness” is Pharaoh who hardens himself to the correction and rebuke of Yahweh (Ex. 7:3, 13:15). He was suddenly destroyed in the sea and that without remedy. But this specific phrase “hard neck” is what later describes the people of Israel that God brought out of Egypt (Ex. 32:9, 33:2, 33:5, 34:9), the generation that died in the wilderness for their hard hearts and unbelief (Ps. 95:8, Heb. 3:7ff). God likewise destroyed generations of Israel in the time of the judges who persisted in their hardness. (Judg. 2:19).

The point of the proverbs is that at some point correction and rebuke are no longer valuable. There is no hope for certain kinds of fools (cf. 6:15). Perhaps this really only at death where there is no more hope of remedy, but certainly humanly speaking there are points at which people seem truly beyond remedy because of the depth of sin and deception. Clearly this is a warning about the nature of refusing to listen to correction. Disregarding instruction and correction once can seem harmless enough, but the implication is that this kind of “hardness” is hard to back out of. The phrase “no cure/remedy” suggests that “hardness of the neck” is like a cancer, a disease that if allowed to grow is ultimately fatal (cf. 2 Chron. 21:18). By contrast the tongue of the wise brings healing (Prov. 12:18).

This suggests that while Israel was offered the wisdom/healing of God through the law and the covenant, they ultimately clung to the hardness disease of Pharaoh and were destroyed in the wilderness. And the same warning applies to Christians who have been enlightened and tasted the heavenly gifts.

29:2

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.”

This proverb is like 28:12 and 28:28. The word for “authority” is the same word used for “multiply” in 28:28. Here instead of hiding, the people “groan” when the wicked rule. Again, there seems to be an allusion to the Exodus story where the same word is used to describe Israel’s groaning because of their slavery (Ex. 2:23). Interestingly, this is the word used to describe the groaning that God heard. When they groaned and cried, it came up to God.

The proverb contrasts the responses of “the people” rejoicing and groaning, and the difference is between the wicked ruling and the righteous multiplying. The implication is that authority and numbers are related. Sometimes numbers precede authority and sometimes authority precede numbers, but they frequently go together and this is consistent with God’s original commissioning of Adam and Eve (Gen. 1:27).
There is also an implied difference between the ruling of the wicked and the righteous based on the responses of the people. The people rejoice because the righteous use their authority to serve and bless while the wicked use their authority to crush and grab. Again, the wicked rule like Pharaohs fearful of competition and threat, while the righteous rule like Christ, leading through self sacrifice.
We might also use this proverb to suggest a kind of litmus test for all sorts of communities. Are the people “rejoicing” or “groaning”? In your family, school, business, church, nation? Of course sometimes people groan out of laziness and hardness of heart, but a wise ruler/authority knows when he is generally heading in the right direction because there is the right tone among the people, the right kind of joy.

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